RECENT DOINGS AND HAPPENINGS...............
G'day all! A while since I've written I know. Just seem to have been crazy busy of late, (not totally in an organised way mind you).
First mention is that unfortunately I knew of one of the victims of the Christchurch Earthquake. She was in my year at school in 1997, (my last year of school and I changed schools and stayed in a hostel that year). She infact boarded in the room beside mine along with about 10 of us from my year. She was lovely, someone I looked up to in terms of being organised, into everything, great at sports and also an A student. She was much more popular than me so I didn't get to know her really closely but she was nice and friendly to me and many others on a general level and the group in my year at the hostel had many good times together. She unfortunately left behind a husband and a 3 yr old and 1 yr old daughter. The whole situation makes me shudder to think of. Not to mention the Japanese disaster since then. But onwards and upwards, I can't use her as an excuse to be a drain on others however it again illustrates that we can't take our lives for granted.
Work has been mega busy. We've had some bad luck with machines breaking down. Also we had no water for 2 mornings last week and had to carry cold water in buckets a block away to wash the produce etc we use. The water was turned off due to roadworks and re-construction of the city directly outside our building.
I don't have much to report regarding training. I'm going hard at work with moving, walking fast, bending, lifting etc trying to think ahead and be as productive as possible. Have been doing some overtime which is very helpful at the moment too. And just general jobs. However outside of work have been a little disorganised but flat out otherwise. Eating wise, um, not the best but 2-3 coffees a day and constantly being on go must have kept metabolism ampped up enough to at least not gain weight. I braved the scales this morning at 72kg. I was 71.8 at the beginning of the month feeling rather hungry and dehydrated before the scales mind you. I had a decent tea and quite a bit of water last night and didn't feel at all famished when waking up so I will say I weigh the same.
I really need to kick it to the next level to fine tune organisation. Work will still be flat out but still need to fit in training. 15 weeks today till Gold Coast half marathon. And that requires 15 consistent weeks of prep and really cutting back the alcohol to just social occasions again.
I've been mindful of getting my accommodation booked for the Gold Coast. I'm there for 4 nights. I arrive on 1 July, the race is 3 July and I leave on 5 July. I'd normally be happy to stay in a backpackers but with race relaxation, early starts etc I prepared myself to check into a cheapish apartment, hotel or motel for those 4 nights. I didn't want all the cheapies to go to be left with only options costing $500 a night or more. Anyway I found somewhere today! It's called 'BreakFree St Tropez' and is located on Orchid Ave in Surfers. They have a current deal of 'book 4 nights, pay for 3' and the total cost is $381 for those 4 nights. They required a $200 deposit to guarrantee the room which I could afford to pay today without shifting money around and cheating on my budget. It's also less than 500 metres from nearest free shuttle to take us to start of race. (Race starts at 6am but I wanna be there at least 30 mins prior).
Starting tomorrow my training prep will go something as follows:
* 1 long run every week, (prob Sunday) Maybe start at one hour, adding another 5 mins on each week
* 1 session of interval training per week, (either outdoors or on treadmill) covering 30 mins minimum
* either a 5km speed run or as far as poss on treadmill in 30 mins.
* Some weeks will want to add another run, maybe a 5-10km effort.
* Still need to do my 15 mins resistance 3 times per week.
* Still need to get a 30 min turbo bike ride in every week and a swim at least every second week.
Gosh it's lots hey! Most half marathon and marathon training programs seem to recommend running 4 times a week, (some are lighter effort/recovery weeks) plus some other cardio and resistance work is recommended.
So I plan on aiming for 3-4 runs per week, (sometimes 3, sometimes 4). A challenging ride every week of at least 30 mins to keep those legs turning over. A swim at least every fortnight focussing on developing an effective technique working toward triathlon season next year. The resistance stuff is painful at times but I think great with muscle tone, strength, and I hear to help with preventing some injuries.
Gosh, if I can pull off completing the half marathon under 2 hours and being comfortably under 68kg, (72 now) having body fat at or under 25%, I will feel like I'm floating on clouds after that race! My last attempt at that race was 2 hrs, 15 and I was about 85kg then.
Talk soon,
Pip :-)
Pip
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Monday, March 07, 2011
SHORT POST TONIGHT.............
Howdee!
Just decided to post to say I'm back safely from my trip to South Aussie. I had a fantastic busy fun time and was very lucky to stay with and be shown around by Kristy. Also I was very lucky to meet Magda.
I have just posted 75 new pics with descriptions of each pic on facebook.
I feel very lucky to have taken that trip. I have learnt heaps. I've started making a photo album with the pics I've developed and am writing captions with each pic.
I will be back with a SA report very soon. I feel very much on track as the first thing I did today, (after returning home at 11.30pm last night) was to infact go on a 9km hilly run today. This involved quite steep hills, gravel, steps, very skinny pathes on route etc etc. Anyway I knocked off over 4 mins since my last attempt. I was pleased to see it was still possible for me to run 5km in 26 mins, 50 secs on a flat track in Adelaide, (my best outdoor 5km in ages). Now if I can maintain that pace for just over 4 times that long I will easily get under 2 hours in my half marathon in July! And found out I can still even do 20 pushups, plank and the rest.
Will be back to talk soon.
Pip :-)
Howdee!
Just decided to post to say I'm back safely from my trip to South Aussie. I had a fantastic busy fun time and was very lucky to stay with and be shown around by Kristy. Also I was very lucky to meet Magda.
I have just posted 75 new pics with descriptions of each pic on facebook.
I feel very lucky to have taken that trip. I have learnt heaps. I've started making a photo album with the pics I've developed and am writing captions with each pic.
I will be back with a SA report very soon. I feel very much on track as the first thing I did today, (after returning home at 11.30pm last night) was to infact go on a 9km hilly run today. This involved quite steep hills, gravel, steps, very skinny pathes on route etc etc. Anyway I knocked off over 4 mins since my last attempt. I was pleased to see it was still possible for me to run 5km in 26 mins, 50 secs on a flat track in Adelaide, (my best outdoor 5km in ages). Now if I can maintain that pace for just over 4 times that long I will easily get under 2 hours in my half marathon in July! And found out I can still even do 20 pushups, plank and the rest.
Will be back to talk soon.
Pip :-)
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
MARCH 1 WEIGH IN...............
Righteo, I weighed in at 71.8kg today before brekkie today.
We compare that to 72.5 on 1 Feb and 74.5 on 31 Dec 2010.
Not that weight number is the most vital thing at all, (but it's an easy accurate immediate gauge). I'd love to get my skinfolds done or know my body fat %. In general when around my weight my BF is about 31-32%. Physically what I can see on me is that my shoulders, upper arms, calves are toning up rather nicely, even to the point of seeing a small bit of muscle definition in photos when just looking casual. Nice to perhaps see the arms and shoulders as a new area to aquire definition through the hard work of pushups, dips, some weights and training resistance work as well as my normal lifestyle. Thighs aren't bad, they are in proportion but not lean enough to see muscle, still a couple of dimples lol! I can see face is leaner than when 10-15 plus kg heavier, same with neck, - all good! Torso is the last to go. It still has quite a bit of annoying flab although it has definitely reduced. Actually upper back is kinda looking better. Just area around stomach is most stubborn and is a while from looking anything lean but tape measure says it's reducing. So there has it.
Something I noted last night was I tried on my sis's original size 12 bridesmaid dress. It actually fits enough to the point of in my way being acceptable to wear out in my view. My stomach still shows through a bit, I've gotta be careful of how I move my chestline however in my opinion.......it's OK! Now I can't wait to find an excuse to wear it out. When I was actually a bridesmaid for my sis in Nov 2009 I was about 10kg more and wore a different homemade dress in about a size 16ish. A couple of months ago I was 75-76kg but just felt sis's original bridesmaid dress didn't yet look 'wearable'. I may post a couple of late night pics of me with it on all done up properly, no make up and they are a bit fuzzy.
So.............Feb started off great, we had BF's birthday party. I was a bit slack for the 2nd and 3rd week of Feb, firstly with bushfire disasters in Perth and BF's party leftovers, then having a sore back for a week. Training almost stopped, nutrition was a bit slack but work was very busy and full on. However only went up by about 1.3kg those 2 weeks. This past week have gotten back into training and better dietary control. So I guess a big win is being able to rein it in sooner or not let things get out of hand in the first place.
Anyway: Goals for March:
* No weighing till 1 April!
* Shooting for below 70kg by then!
* Keep to training standards unless of injury or reason I'm satisfied with and ideally improve strength and see some speeding up on run, bike and swim times.
* Keep to alcohol goals.
* Be happy with my eats for a month.........I'm not that strict either.
BF gave me a lingerie voucher for Christmas that doesn't have an expiry date. When I see 68.0kg or below I allow myself to use it! And at that point want to get either my skinfolds done or body fat done to see where it stands and am hopeful of not being too far off 25% BF at that point!
I've decided to stop one guideline too. That is the one about only eating confectionary based sugar on social occasions where I feel rude if I don't blah blah blah............ It's mostly quite an easy thing to stick to at times when I do. However I decided to break that rule 2 weeks ago when I bought a takeaway skinny flat white from a shop that is also famous for local handmade chocolates. I avoided them choccies. However on top of my coffee I was served one homemade choc button about the size of a 20 cent coin as part of the service. I wanted to try it...........but was hesistant about my rule of breaking not eating any confectionary by myself. I could have thrown it........but I ate it.
Not a bad thing though! In the past deciding off hand to have just 'that' would likely have resulted in heaps of self loathing, it would have erased self confidence, I would likely have felt 'burnt'. I may have dug deep and with a huge effort got back on track at times.........only to a few days/weeks later do the same and totally lose focus and feel a um kinda failure for a bit. The result being mega bingeing, putting off stuff and putting on 10-15-20 plus kilos in only a couple of short months before 'getting serious' again. My 'cut off point' used to be 90kg, it got lowered to 85kg successfully for a year so I made the goal of lowering it to 80kg and succeeded at that one all last year.
This year cut off point is 75kg, (successful to date). My little episodes of getting 'off track' seem to be heaps shorter, (however still long enough to gain 3kg or so and lose momentum) if I allow. Also I find I just can't shed the kg as quick as I used to but then again it's not so out of control these days so that's cool.
So the message of my post rigmarole etc is:.........no rules about food other than if I'm gonna feel good enough/in control/ok with my choices I can go ahead with what I consider a controlled amount I'm happy with. If feelings like........'I shouldn't be eating this', 'I'll have to pay for it next week but can't be bothered controlling myself now' then yep.........no! Water and control! Less ways for mishaps!
Pip :-)
Righteo, I weighed in at 71.8kg today before brekkie today.
We compare that to 72.5 on 1 Feb and 74.5 on 31 Dec 2010.
Not that weight number is the most vital thing at all, (but it's an easy accurate immediate gauge). I'd love to get my skinfolds done or know my body fat %. In general when around my weight my BF is about 31-32%. Physically what I can see on me is that my shoulders, upper arms, calves are toning up rather nicely, even to the point of seeing a small bit of muscle definition in photos when just looking casual. Nice to perhaps see the arms and shoulders as a new area to aquire definition through the hard work of pushups, dips, some weights and training resistance work as well as my normal lifestyle. Thighs aren't bad, they are in proportion but not lean enough to see muscle, still a couple of dimples lol! I can see face is leaner than when 10-15 plus kg heavier, same with neck, - all good! Torso is the last to go. It still has quite a bit of annoying flab although it has definitely reduced. Actually upper back is kinda looking better. Just area around stomach is most stubborn and is a while from looking anything lean but tape measure says it's reducing. So there has it.
Something I noted last night was I tried on my sis's original size 12 bridesmaid dress. It actually fits enough to the point of in my way being acceptable to wear out in my view. My stomach still shows through a bit, I've gotta be careful of how I move my chestline however in my opinion.......it's OK! Now I can't wait to find an excuse to wear it out. When I was actually a bridesmaid for my sis in Nov 2009 I was about 10kg more and wore a different homemade dress in about a size 16ish. A couple of months ago I was 75-76kg but just felt sis's original bridesmaid dress didn't yet look 'wearable'. I may post a couple of late night pics of me with it on all done up properly, no make up and they are a bit fuzzy.
So.............Feb started off great, we had BF's birthday party. I was a bit slack for the 2nd and 3rd week of Feb, firstly with bushfire disasters in Perth and BF's party leftovers, then having a sore back for a week. Training almost stopped, nutrition was a bit slack but work was very busy and full on. However only went up by about 1.3kg those 2 weeks. This past week have gotten back into training and better dietary control. So I guess a big win is being able to rein it in sooner or not let things get out of hand in the first place.
Anyway: Goals for March:
* No weighing till 1 April!
* Shooting for below 70kg by then!
* Keep to training standards unless of injury or reason I'm satisfied with and ideally improve strength and see some speeding up on run, bike and swim times.
* Keep to alcohol goals.
* Be happy with my eats for a month.........I'm not that strict either.
BF gave me a lingerie voucher for Christmas that doesn't have an expiry date. When I see 68.0kg or below I allow myself to use it! And at that point want to get either my skinfolds done or body fat done to see where it stands and am hopeful of not being too far off 25% BF at that point!
I've decided to stop one guideline too. That is the one about only eating confectionary based sugar on social occasions where I feel rude if I don't blah blah blah............ It's mostly quite an easy thing to stick to at times when I do. However I decided to break that rule 2 weeks ago when I bought a takeaway skinny flat white from a shop that is also famous for local handmade chocolates. I avoided them choccies. However on top of my coffee I was served one homemade choc button about the size of a 20 cent coin as part of the service. I wanted to try it...........but was hesistant about my rule of breaking not eating any confectionary by myself. I could have thrown it........but I ate it.
Not a bad thing though! In the past deciding off hand to have just 'that' would likely have resulted in heaps of self loathing, it would have erased self confidence, I would likely have felt 'burnt'. I may have dug deep and with a huge effort got back on track at times.........only to a few days/weeks later do the same and totally lose focus and feel a um kinda failure for a bit. The result being mega bingeing, putting off stuff and putting on 10-15-20 plus kilos in only a couple of short months before 'getting serious' again. My 'cut off point' used to be 90kg, it got lowered to 85kg successfully for a year so I made the goal of lowering it to 80kg and succeeded at that one all last year.
This year cut off point is 75kg, (successful to date). My little episodes of getting 'off track' seem to be heaps shorter, (however still long enough to gain 3kg or so and lose momentum) if I allow. Also I find I just can't shed the kg as quick as I used to but then again it's not so out of control these days so that's cool.
So the message of my post rigmarole etc is:.........no rules about food other than if I'm gonna feel good enough/in control/ok with my choices I can go ahead with what I consider a controlled amount I'm happy with. If feelings like........'I shouldn't be eating this', 'I'll have to pay for it next week but can't be bothered controlling myself now' then yep.........no! Water and control! Less ways for mishaps!
Pip :-)
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