AND THE WINNER IS ........ drum roll.........

 ....... the extra session won out over the rest day - but only by a cat's whisker. 

Last night I got my gear ready and set my alarm which indicated that deep down I was happy to do the extra session. Originally my plan was: gear ready, no alarm but get up if I woke up on time. Then I had a little change of heart and turned on my alarm. Well it went off at 5am and I quickly turned it off and contemplated going straight back to sleep. But there in the bedroom doorway was our favourite feline and knowing that she would soon harass me for food, I took the plunge and got up.

Today's training was intervals on our spin bike. 10 x 30 second sprints/30 second recoveries and then 10 x 1 minute standing hill climbs/30 second seated recoveries. All up this lasts for 35 minutes with warm up and cool down and its far more effective than just pedaling away while I read a magazine (although I prefer the latter.) If you're gonna do it, make it count.

My logic as I approach the weekend is this: I rarely have time to train on a Saturday morning so that often becomes an enforced rest day. Then on Sunday our routine will be turned upside down with Fathers Day. I'm still planning a run but it will take ALL of my discipline to get out and do it after we've had our traditional family lazy breakfast in bed. Later in the day, mum and dad will come to our place for my traditional lamb shank dinner followed by a decadent dessert - I'm thinking baklava cigars as they are a dad favourite and everybody else likes them too. Hoowee I'm anticipating the sugar high already. LOL.

Life isn't always a flat line of routinely eating well and getting all your training in and this weekend will be a prime example but I'm feeling pretty good knowing I've got an extra training session or two up my belt and as long as I don't eat my body weight in pre-dinner nibbles and dessert all should be good for my longer term goals. Its all about balance, being sensible and enjoying the day rather than stressing about how many calories/fat grams/carbs were in that delicious meal.

Happy weekend to you all

:-) M

 

EXTRA SESSION VS REST DAY

Well yesterday was a bit all over the place again. The school called me at lunch time to pick Mitchell up as he wasn't well. I wasn't surprised because he wasn't 100% in the morning but we didn't think he was sick enough to be home either. At least he gave it (school) a go.

So there I was with another 1/2 day off work and wondering how best to use it, especially as in the middle of the week the house doesn't need cleaning and there wasn't enough washing to justify a load. After checking FB (again) and blogging I had some spare time to burn. I decided to do Friday morning's weights session - shoulders, bis and tris. Now I'm still at the mercy of some pretty fierce chest DOMS and the shoulder work was pretty tough as I pushed through that pain but I got it done. I cant tell you how good I felt when I wrapped it up knowing that the week's weight training was done and that I'd added the extra session going to two upper body sessions instead of one.

Over dinner last night I was pretty smug with myself telling Peter that I ws ahead on my training and could now have Friday off (I would have done my 4 runs by then as well.) Oh the joy of no alarm and a lie in :-) So why did he ruin it for me by urging me to get up and do an extra session?? 

Me: "But I've done all my muscle groups and they need a rest before I train then again."

Him: " So do something else."

Me: "4 runs / week is a safe option. I don't want to risk overdoing it and aggravating my back."

Him: "So do a bike ride or a row."

Me: just looking exasperated - this is not how I wanted the conversation to go. 

I now have this niggling voice inside my head going "do an extra session. do an extra session." battling with the voice reassuring me that a rest day is well deserved (but I usually don't train on Saturdays either.)

So, which voice do I listen to? Extra session or rest day? 

M   

DAIRY FREE SEPTEMBER

Although I've blogged about this before, it was some time ago and I cant easily link to it so for those who know this already, my apologies, I'll keep the background brief.

 

Several years ago I had a very bad bout of psoriasis that required attention from a 'special skin specialist' (because of where it was located.) I had a biopsy which showed no nasties except that the specialist sent me away with a long list of rules on how to manage it over the years to come. Aaargh, what a cramped lifestyle that would have been and one that really had no appeal so I sought a second opinion from a naturopath that I had seen recently (back then) for other reasons.

 

Boy, did he know his stuff!! His naturopathic advice was really simple:

 

1. Cut out white flour.

2. Cut out dairy.

3. Cut out sugar (as much as possible).

4. Cut right down on alcohol (perhaps he could tell that 'cut out alcohol' was going to be a certain fail LOL)

5. Increase intake of oily fish.

 

Well, all that was quite doable so off I went to see what these changes would do. I was amazed at how well and how quickly the psoriasis cleared up (and trust me, it was a BAD bout). Ever since then I've sworn by these simple rules when my skin looks like its going off the rails. They work for me.

 

Chapter 2

 

For several months I've been croaky, coughing and phlegmy. Its bad in winter and eases off in the warmer weather but never seems to go away completely. A year ago my GP said I probably had a wierd strain of virus that was hanging around from the usual winter lurgies. Odd, as I hadnt had a winter lurgy for something to remain and hang around from. Plus it hung around for months, eased off in summer and then as soon as it got cold again this year, it was back.

 

Well I didnt think my GP had it right so Google became my medical adviser except I found the Chinese medicine sites to be the most informative. Reading up about mucus (because I had been coughing it up) became my new pass-time. What I gleaned from several sources was an interesting (yet not surprising) opinion of  what were mucus forming foods. And voila, there was dairy at the top of the list (like I said, not surprising.) I filed the article for future reference and am thinking now just might be the time to trial 'dairy free' and see what effect it has on my phlegminess.

 

So my aim is to have a dairy free September (with maybe a little exception on Peter's birthday as I suspect he'll ask mum for her delicious cheese pastries for his birthday cake.) But I can handle soy coffees and cut out the little other dairy that I have. There were other mucus forming foods listed which I'll revisit, but dairy was number one.

 

When your general health is good, I believe the little things that arent quite right can be self-healed by tweaking diet, lifestyle etc. The older I get the better I am at reading my body and know that the small changes can make big differences.

 

:-) M

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



HOW TO SPICE UP SEPTEMBER??

Sadly there is no mooching around home today for me. Not sad though that Mitchell is much better and hence back at school :-) Had another day of convalescing been required, his Dad was geared up to do the home duty today.

Well my early to bed theory failed me today. It took me 5 minutes to get out of bed after some serious stern talking to myself about blowing off today's training. LOL. I guess I'm only human and there will be 'I just don't feel like it days'. But I ignored the Lazy Lucy voice, sucked it up and did my leg weights followed by 100 abs. It was a really mild morning today and Peter got it right by doing his run today. So much so that he almost conceded the run to be 'enjoyable'. (Those two words rarely appear in the same sentence for him.) I, on the other hand will be running again tomorrow when the rain has set back in, as forecast for later today :-(

As August wraps up on Friday I'm considering what I can do to spice up September in terms of my training and diet. Whilst I'm a firm believer in 'if it aint broke, don't fix it' I'm also aware that too much of the same thing can get a bit *yawn* boring. So I've got a couple of training ideas that I'm pondering and on the diet front, things may be dictated by circumstances rather than choice.

I've noticed lately that my right thumb is itchy,  tingly and red which can mean the start of another bout of dermatitis. I've been plagued by some nasty skin conditions previously but an excellent naturopath put me onto a sure fire cure some years ago. It was all dietary and quite miraculously a very nasty and persistent case of psoriasis cleared up beautifully when I made some simple dietary changes. It might be time to go down that path again to keep the dermatitis in check and reap a couple of other health benefits from the change.

Lets see what the rest of this week brings first though.

:-) M    

MOOCHING AROUND HOME

Today my boy is home with an awful runny and blocked nose. He doesnt feel sick but he's so congested and nasally that we thought it best that he stays home from school. At least it saves the "please come and pick up your sick child from school" phone call during the day. I could tell this was going to be the case yesterday already so I didnt set my alarm for 5am (YAY!!). Instead I headed out at 6.30 in semi daylight and knocked off another 45 minutes of cardio including jogging for 30 minutes straight. Inhaled a bowl of sultanas/bran/oats/egg whites and LSA for breakfast. I was HUNGRYYYYYY!!

 

So with a day free to mooch around (I wasnt set up to work from home today) I've been happily pottering and getting a myriad of things done. But the most important was a weights session for back, chest and core. I'm loving my training at the moment but am looking to tweak it to 3 weights sessions / week instead of just 2. Today was the perfect opportunity to get that 3rd session in without having to train at an odd time. The sun was out. My studio was warm. I stripped down to a tank-top and rocked out an awesome session at the end of which I could barely move, let alone lift my arms. LOL.

 

Geez, I could get used to this life if only my salary kept landing in our bank account each fortnight :-)

I'VE FOUND MY GROOVE

Today marked a bit of a monumental occassion.

 

I jogged continuously for 30 minutes.

 

I know, that's just earth shattering and news worthy!!

 

I dont know how many times I (re)kickstarted my running training with this goal in mind and never made it for whatever reason - couldnt be arsed, went on holidays or got injured (again). But earlier this month the number on the Metal Monster crept to one that was closer to 75 than 70 gasp and I knew it was time to stop faffing around. Four weights sessions and a bit of half hearted cardio every week just wasnt cutting it and it was time to pull out the big guns to get the results I wanted.

 

So at that awfully heavy weight I hit the road for my first running training of 5 minutes walking/5 minutes jogging and did that 4 times that week. The second week it was 5 minutes walking/10 minutes jogging and the third week it was 5 and 15. Every session was about 45 minutes and on Sundays I did about 50 -55 minutes.

 

Today being week 4, it was time to join up the 2 x 15 minute jogs into a continous 30 minutes. Deep down I knew I could do it but I've purposely gone slow and gentle so as not to aggravate my lower back, hip and associated areas injury. So far, so good.

 

Couple that with a bit of semi-Paleoish eating paying attention to portion sizes and the odd bit of IF depending on how I was feeling and what circumstances presented, and the number on the MM has been moving in the right direction. Today I said goodbye to the 70s with the intention that its for the last time.

 

But the best bit is that I've found all this relatively easy to implement and I'm not doing anything that feels like its a hard diet and/or training slog. My earlier nights have made it easier to get up early to train. I have always loved running. I still eat carbs (but mainly in the morning and then just fruit during the day). I drink cappuccinos. I have wine with some nibbles a few days every week. And I dont stress about having dinner at mum and dad's place every Tuesday. I'm going with the flow and just letting the fat melt away.

 

I seem to have found my groove and by God I'm gonna stay here!!

 

Good night all

 

:-) M

MY SECRET INGREDIENT

Well after a tumultuous last week of grumpy early mornings, hissy fits, swearing like a wharfie and just being a big sissy, I'm proud to boast of my amazing turn-around this week. So what's my secret weapon, my secret ingredient? Drum roll, please .......... going to bed earlier.

 

Yeah I know, I'm a total nana but just getting off to bed about 15-20 minutes earlier (a bit more on some nights) has made the WORLD of difference. I cut my social networking time down a little and get in some reading to make me really sleepy so then I easily fall asleep between 9.30 and 10pm. I've been waking up before my alarm. I feel rested and at that hour of the day there is only one thing to do ... GET UP AND TRAIN.

 

This week I've managed 4 solid days and I know tomorrow will be number 5. I even got out this morning despite a dreadful weather forecast. Well it WAS all quiet at 5am so I dressed for my run and was on my way by 5.15. At just before 5.25 I saw the first lightening flash followed by the clap of thunder and sure enough the rain wasnt far behind. Fortunately I do a lot of my running along a road with shops and cafes which have decent verandahs so when the rain hit - and it was fierce - I was under cover and just stayed there running laps in front of 3 or 4 shops. I managed 45 minutes and hardly got wet despite a couple of torrential downpours. GO ME!!! Tomorrow I'm weight training so it doesnt matter what the weather does.

 

The funny thing is, when I make my training a priority and modify my lifestyle to support it, I find it easier to eat well and maintain a really positive headspace. Its like one little good thing, leads to another little good thing, leads to another ... you get my drift. Before I know it, its all just happening in beautiful synchronicity and I feel like I'm slaying dragons.

 

Can you tell, I'm pretty happy about this??

 

 

TAKING IT BACK TO THE BARE BONES BASICS

I'm fortunate to work in a government department that invests well into its employees' health and wellbeing. I can have a free flu vaccine every year (I dont because I'm not in the high risk category), discounted massages are available fortnightly (or perhaps monthly) and some of our OHS training is pretty good. I did a personal wellbeing for managers seminar a little while ago but today I did the bees knees of all these seminars. It was called 'The Crook Back Clinic' and it was run by an ex PE teacher, now qualified trainer. He was knowledgeable, dry and straight down the line with a really simple message. After asking who in the room had - and he rattled off a list of ailments a mile long - he then went on to explain some really back to basics stuff.

 

 

1. If your problem was not the result of a trauma (eg an acute injury) then  in 80% of cases, 80% of your recovery, healing, fixing of the problem comes down to things you can and should do.

 

 

2. He talked at length about muscles being tight and what affect they have on your overall posture and how you feel in terms of aches and pains.

 

 

3. He sang the praises of actively strengthening your muscles again in order to reduce and eventually eliminate those aches and pains we were all complaining of.

None of this was rocket science but in all honesty, how many people do it regularly and properly to manage their conditions. I was the only person in the room who had a regular strength training program and one or two of the other ladies did pilates but overall the group totally bombed out in these areas. Shamefully I have been a total slack-arse when it comes to flexibility. Its been ages since I did Bikram yoga and now I just do a 10-15 minute dabble in back stretches and ITB releases a couple of times a week.

We did a whole range of exercises to determine which of our muscles were tight, how bad they were and then were shown some basic but effective stretches. We also did a general fitness test for strength and flexibility and answered lots of health/lifestyle questions for him to review and provide us with an individual stretching and strengthening program.

 

 

It was really interactive with us on the floor in all sorts of wierd and wonderful positions, often squealing or moaning in pain LOL. But my colleague and I were both of the opinion that it was very worthwhile and very informative. The presenter's opinion of chiros and physios was an interesting one. He remained diplomatic and wasnt at all derogatory but the point he made was that we can usually manage  and fix our own problems by diligently stretching and strengthening our problem areas. He did make one (well deserved) dig at the public service spending mega bucks on 'ergonomic chairs'. His point was" nobody needs those fancy, expensive chairs. They just need to sit properly at their desk" and he went on the describe the correct sitting position for us all.

 

 

Over the months and years of my own back problems I have spent countless hours trying to understand what my problem was and honestly believing that my injury was 'special or unique'. I always thought there was no cure and that I'd be resigned to a lifetime of chiro visits just to manage it. I can tell you, I chronically overthought and over-agonised my whole situation. So for me to be told in basic and simple terms that I can help myself and to be given clear instructions on how to do it was - well it was priceless.

Thanks SA government

:-) M

LIFE'S LESSONS - A MUM'S PERSPECTIVE

The weekend gone was a bittersweet one. We had a great time at a friend's 50th on Sunday afternoon and I attended another friend's birthday/housewarming on Saturday. All sweet and good fun :-) But the bitter was that it was assessment day at ice skating and Mitchell didn't pass his current level.

My boy has no natural sporting ability whatsoever. If he is to be good at anything sporty, he's going to have to work really hard for it. He's 10 and this whole concept of working hard is pretty much lost on him. Every level of skating he's had to do twice before he passed it. This current level he failed twice and is now on his third attempt.

We sorta knew he wouldn't pass. Some of the moves require pretty good leg strength which he just doesn't have. I've tried to 'train' him to improve his leg strength but its a constant barrage of whinging and total lack of desire to apply himself to it. Peter has been throwing around the 'you'll just have to stop the lessons blah, blah, blah".

This is where I step in and insist that he not quit and Mitchell doesn't want to anyway. I've had to state my case firmly that a really important life lesson is that you don't quit just because something's hard. I don't want Mitchell to grow up thinking that's the answer when the going gets tough. I've put it out there that we haven't supported him to succeed at this level. Every other level we (I) have found a way to get him along to extra practice except this one - undoubtedly the hardest one. Now its time for me/us to find a way to get him on the ice for extra practice and we've amended our schedule to accommodate this.

I hate seeing my kid disappointed and he truly was when he didn't go up a level. I can tell he really likes ice skating and I want to nurture and support him to keep going and along the way learn some important life lessons. I guess that's a pretty typical mum thing although from what I see, 'typical mums' are reigning in their sons from participating in too much sport. LOL.

Is my son alone or have other mums struggled with the sport part of raising boys (or girls)?

M 

   

 

A CASE OF DUTY NOT LOVE

WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE AHEAD.

Not sure what planet I was on today. Its been bitterly cold and stormy here in lil ol’ Adelaide. I’m even told that it hailed overnight. I must have been having one fantastic sleep.

Let me paint the scenario.

Alarm at 5am. Switch off quickly and ignore it. Miss Moneypenny meows and I know she won’t stop til I get up and feed her. She can be so selfish sometimes.

Its quiet outside and my running gear is all ready to be put on and in all honesty I don’t want to do a leg weights session. Dress in running gear. Do morning duties including feeding the demanding moggy and step outside in about 9 degrees.

Hmm its not too bad (in my sheltered side yard.) Off I go, not happy but ok with it all.

Reach the main road close to our place and turn south onto it. FAAAARK its blowing a gale L L it feels like its about minus 5 degrees.

What the fuck am I doing out here?

I fucken hate this!

This is fucken ridiculous. NOBODY comes out in this weather at this stupid hour.

I’m fucken going back home and I even turn right, back towards my home, swearing and cussing as I now jog along.

Coming from the opposite direction is woman I regularly see out walking early. We always say a quick hello as we pass each other and yes she’s out powering along.

Hmm well if she can do this, then maybe so can I. I’ll just keep going for a little while but still go home early.  And this is how I felt for the first 25 minutes. At about the 30 minute mark I started to feel good knowing I only had one more walk interval (5 minutes) and 1 jog interval (10 minutes).

Fuck, I’m gonna nail this today. If I’ve suffered through this much shit up to now, I might as well get the job done properly. And I did.

Apologies for the swearing but it’s my true life account of this morning’s exercise. Definitely a case of duty and not love.

THE 5AM LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP

Even though I’ve been doing it pretty regularly since December 2006 (*gasp* that’s almost 6 years), I still detest getting up at 5am to exercise. Actually I go through phases of liking/tolerating/hating it. I’m in a hating it phase right now.

Obviously winter is the biggest passion killer when it comes to early morning exercise. It’s cold. It’s dark. Sometimes its raining and I need to change plans at the last minute and sometimes I just DON’T WANT TO DO IT!!! A few times lately I’ve quickly turned my alarm off so as not to wake Peter and then dozed back off to sleep. Ironically this is how I introduced the mini-exercise session where I do some yoga stretches for my back (sorry the names of the moves escape me) and then roll my ITBs over my rolled up yoga mat – ala foam rolling.

I still remember vividly the last time I was having a love affair with the 5am training. Rewind to October 2009 and we had moved to a little cottage in a suburb called Unley, just 3kms from the city. The room that was meant to be the gym/study just wasn’t working and using my gym gear became impossible due to space and noise. It was Hilde from Get Active on Line who said to me “Magda, don’t worry about the weights, just keep up your running.” (I had just gotten back into it after a decent break.) So I did and I ran and ran and ran some more through the late spring and early summer. We had an early heat wave that year so I had some steamy, sweaty runs which I loved. Before I knew it, I could run for an hour and it sparked my desire to do a Half Marathon.

Ah, those were the days when getting up at 5am to run was a delight. I honestly LOVED it. I was working with Pat Carroll as my coach, following his program diligently, measuring my pulse upon rising every morning, sending through my weekly training results and looking forward to his feedback. Dare I say it, I felt like an athlete (LOL).

I cant run those distances now but whether I love, hate or something in between the morning training I suck it up and I do it. To me its still better than being sedentary, unfit, fatter and flabbier. And no matter how much I hate getting up early, when I’m done, I feel amazing. And that’s what drives me to keep going.

What’s your take on this? Do you exercise out of love or duty?

M

THE NON-BLOG POST

I am constantly swamped by moments of inspiration to write some deep, meaningful and rivetting blog posts. Ideas swirl in my head, phrases jump to mind, witty analogies come easily to me and then ......... I sit down at my computer in the evening and I stare blankly at the screen. My brain goes into 'idle' after losing every skerrick of inspiration it registered during the day. Hello, is there anybody home?

How many times can I write about my diet and exercise without boring myself to tears, let alone anybody accidentally dropping by? I share my ups and downs like they are national events worthy of noting. 'Life As I See It' is probably much like everybody else sees it, or maybe not. What makes my perspective special?

Well probably nothing other than its mine and there isnt another 'me' in the universe. Nobody else has lived my life, faced my challenges, rejoiced my achievements or walked in my shoes. So my perspective will, to a great degree, be unique.

Blogging is about sharing, asking, informing, celebrating, commiserating and anything else you want to make it. Whether I have one reader, one hundred or one hundred thousand, its my unique voice and a place where I can come and speak it. If you're listening, great. If you're switching off, so be it. I like coming to this place.

And as proof that my brain is idle and devoid of inspiration I just want to say, today I ate ........... and did an awesome workout of ..............

LOL

:-) M

CHICKEN AND EGG

The Metal Monster and I met yeterday morning and we were both pretty happy with the outcome of our exchange. Well, I was. He just flashes a few numbers up at me before being turned off and pushed back under the bathroom vanity. Little does he care what they are and how they might affect me? In fact, it’s taken a long time but I no longer freak out at the number on the scales. I instinctively know when it’s up and I can tell when it’s gone back down. I just get on for confirmation and a bit of feedback. Plus I’m still a little anal about the number and I make no apologies for that. It’s the way I’m happy to be.

So yesterday’s number was the same as when I got back from my holiday. What? No progress, you say. Err, I actually progressed the WRONG way first (anybody for cake with lunch!!) before heading back the right way. Yep one morning I saw a number that I REALLY didn’t like and it was a bit of a wake up call to get my shit together both with food and exercise.

Step one: enter stage left, the morning runs as of last Monday. I managed 3 last week and then 1 on Sunday. However I blew off my weight training L as there are only so many hours in the day and I’m also doing some yoga stretches for my back and ITB releasing.

Step two: ditch the cake at lunch time. This one is a no-brainer. Honestly, sometimes I have no brain, or maybe just my tastebuds take control. So now brain is back on, cake is gone and voila the number heads back down.

My number 1 goal this week is to better balance my training so yesterday morning it was into my studio for an upper body and core workout. I had 40 minutes and spent it wisely doing:

Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns supersetted with DB Chest Presses: 12 r x 3 s sets

Narrow Grip Lat Pulldowns supersetted with Lat Raises: 12 r x 3 s sets

Barbell Overhead Presses supersetted with Tricep Dips: 12 r x 3 s sets

At the end of each block of exercises I did a 1 minute plank on my toes.

Hooly dooly I was buggered at the end of this but I did feel good.

Number 2 goal is to keep the food sensible. Skip the cake at lunch time (and most other times), bring something yummy from home for lunch (I do this pretty much all the time anyway), stay away from the ‘chips for charity’ box and remember that hot lemon water is my friend.

Simple really. Oh and it helps that I’m in a happy and good headspace which incidentally is helped along by my clothes fitting better and me feeling better. Did someone say ‘chicken and egg.’

THAT WAS AN AWESOME WEEKEND

Wow! What an awesome weekend that was.

I took Mitchell to chess on Friday night while Peter stayed home as he’d been struck down with the dreaded lurgy since Tuesday afternoon. Sadly there was no win at chess but Mitchell played well against an older and more experienced opponent.

On Saturday I was up early to be at the hairdressers by 8am. I was in a good mood because I’d decided that I was going to enjoy this weekend. I got all adventurous again and had my hair cut short with lots of copper and blonde highlights. Here’s a (blurry) pic of my noo do:

Saturday was crazy, busy as usual with ice skating, dropping Mitchell to my mum’s, grocery shopping, picking Mitchell up blah, blah, blah. I was so on the go that I ended up having a day of accidental intermittent fasting (IF). I’d read a little about it on FB and other blogs and found it intriguing yet daunting because I always thought I could never go for long periods without food. Plus, who in their right mind would fast in the middle of a cold winter when one of life’s comforts is a hot meal. Anyway, the day ended up with me having 2 skim cappuccinos – one before the hairdresser and one at around 3pm.  I had a few nibbles with a glass of bubbly at 5pm and then later a few canapés with several glasses of champagne.

It seems this and the mandatory shape wear was all I needed to have a lovely flat stomach in my clingy dress for my GF’s party that night. I love it when an (accidental) plan comes together. Here I am before heading out.



Sadly I went to the party alone as Peter was still not well but I knew many people there and was never at a loss for company. I had a fantastic time. My GF looked gorgeous and her family (3 stepchildren, her son and her son with her current husband) were all there and 2 of the boys gave the BEST speech about her. At the end of the night, with several champagnes in me, I taxied home still feeling really happy.

Yesterday I joined her and a few close friends for lunch back at the party venue. That was a far more subdued affair as SOME people were suffering mega hangovers (LOL) but again it was a lovely day. I made sure that we had our pic taken together as a memento of her special occasion.

So there you have it - a snapshot of my awesome weekend. I managed to exercise on Sunday morning despite feeling a little seedy myself and was back out today cranking it up to the next level. My own five oh is coming and bugger if I want to greet it feeling fat and frumpy.

Cheers all

M

SAD - POST SCRIPT

First of all thank you to all my lovely Blogger friends who took the time to leave a comment on my last post. I've read them all and felt supported and less 'alone'. I've also considered carefully the advice given and decided to let this go.

My friend is enjoying a really significant and happy event in her life. She's turing 50 with as big a bang as she can manage and thats just the sort of (wonderful) person she is. I dont feel right sharing my disappointment with her and possibly making her feel bad about Tuesday night. She would be mortified over it and I'd feel like a big sooky lala because I got the last invite (we cant all be invited at the same time). I dont want to cloud her celebrations becasue if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd be pretty upset over the upset (if that makes sense.)

Knowing who was there on Tuesday, I realise I would hardly have fitted in anyway. I just dont socialise with that particular group - maybe occassionally with some of them, but like I said in my last post, I'm just not such a party animal any more.

So on that note, I shall put my big girl knickers on, pull myself together and let it go. I shall buy her a lovely gift and join in the celebrations on Saturday night. This is her special occassion and I'm not going to even remotely spoil it.

M

SAD :-(

I've had an odd day. Feeling like things have derailed and its left me feeling sad.

My BF turned 50 yesterday. We've been friends since we were teenagers, been through thick and thin together, know each other REALLY well although in the last few years we havent been catching up frequently.

I called her to wish her a happy birthday and during our conversation she said that although its hard for us (Peter and I) to get out during the week, she was inviting us to the XX Hotel for 8.30 after dinner. There would be a band and it would be nice to have a drink to celebrate. Well of course I could go but Peter would have to stay home with Mitchell. Sadly I got the hotel mixed up with another that has an almost identical name, went to the wrong place, called her and her husband but neither could hear their phones, called her son at home blah, blah, blah and tried to find where they were. Typically neither google nor the internet would work on my phone so I came home to look up where the correct hotel was. By now its was latish and I didnt fancy going to this location, parking the car at night and walking on my own to the pub where they were. I missed her birthday celebration.

She called me this morning to reassure me that my trying to get there was good enough for her and she considered me there in spirit. But during the course of the conversation I realised that the night out had been planned for some time with all her best and closest friends. I felt really sad that I missed it. How come my invite was THAT day?  I felt like an afterthought.

I know lately she's really into partying out with her other friends quite often. She is a very outgoing and social creature while I'm more of a homebody. Maybe we've just become too mismatched. I guess I'll just have to put on a brave face for her cocktail party on Saturday night. It all still leaves me feeling sad :-(

M

WELCOME BACK AWESOMENESS

Yesterday my awesomeness returned with a vengeance. I woke before my alarm went off, dozed on and off and got up just before 5. I blew off my weight training and went for a walk/jog instead. 5 mins of each with my last interval being 8 1/2 mins jogging for a total time of 43 1/2 mins. I felt great running, the best I've felt for ages. I was in the zone. Ate well and just felt goooood.

Still on the high from yesterday I did a rinse/repeat for this morning. Same times, same intervals but pushed my HR a bit higher. Whilst not exactly in the zone today, I still did incredibly well.

So, slowly lining up my little ducks physically, mentally and emotionally. It feels good to be ticking some of the boxes that are important to me.

:-) M

:-)

When you're surrounded by choices and not sure which way to go, sometimes the Universe sends a message at JUST the right time and you know deep down that its the answer you were looking for.

You want to make sure you're right and in doing so, you uncover the most AMAZING bit of information. Another message from the Universe???

When you make the decision you know deep down that its right as long as you listen to your own advice and take on board what you know to be true.

Beam me up Scotty. Its all systems go.

M

POST HOLIDAY BLUES

I've been feeling really flat and uninspired this week. I've dragged myself through my work days, every task feeling like its a mammoth mountain to climb. My unproductivity has been impressive and to make it worse I've had all the "whats it all for?" thoughts and feelings. Moping has been my middle name.

With no birthday celebration looming and no holiday on the horizon, I've really had the post holiday blues that often come after a long(ish) time away. The only reason I think they've hit now and not straight after getting home is that I had the excitement of my birthday for a couple of weeks. Now thats over, I'm left wondering "what now?"

Well there is this small matter of approximately 10 kilos that I'd like to release with the view that it leaves and never comes back because it doesnt belong here in the first place. There is some work to be done on this front and to save my sanity I'm thinking only of small manageable chunks to start with. I only need to string about 3 or 4 together and I'll be just where I want to be. Simple really when you express it that way :-0

However to raise the challenge factor in this endeavour, I'm contending with a mojo gone AWOL and choices, choices, choices. I'm just waiting for that lightning bolt to hit and bring all the answers in a puff of wisdom and enthusiasm. Yes, I'm ready for it to arrive.

The sensible and logical me knows that this too shall pass and I'll be back to my usual glass half full outlook but this is my blog and I'll come here to cry (or vent) when I want to. If youre still reading - thanks for listening..

M

PS Hilary has nominated me for a different version of the Liebster blog award and I will tackle it when my misery guts mood leaves the building. Thanks Hilary.