SEPTEMBER WRAP UP. OCTOBER AHEAD.

Well who'd have thought that the last day of September would come around so quickly? Where has the month gone, I ask? Well its gone with Father's Day being celebrated and then 2 weeks later, Peter's birthday. I started my Running For Fat Loss program and have completed 12/28 runs so far. Saturday's run was Fartlek training which I enjoyed because I could choose my high intensity intervals. I threw in quite a few - some shorter , some longer and made the session count. Its a shame that yesterday's 350 workout followed by a 35 minute walk just didn't cut the mustard as far as intensity goes. I struggled to get my heart rate up and keep it in my training zone. Me thinks that tomorrow being a new month and all, it may be time to mix things up a bit and replace the 350 with something else. I shall scour my fitness mags for something inspirational.

Apart from  a silly upward spike over the weekend, my weight has gone down a bit and September saw the skinny jeans come out of hibernation. Now THAT felt good, I can tell you. I've also been comfortably wearing some of my smaller pants and skirts but haven't tested the summer black dress for work and the boyfriend jeans yet. Plenty of time to conquer those. After all, you've got to enjoy the journey as much as the destination :-)

Without being all strict, obsessive or neurotic, I've been eating pretty well lately and have been commensurately feeling good for it. Interesting that if I have a bit of an indulgence of say cake AND ice cream (yesterday was just the weather for it) then my body subtly  lets me know that wasn't such a good idea by sending along an annoying little mouth ulcer this morning. Just a gentle reminder that one or the other is ok but I'm better off not having both LOL.

I have no big earth shattering goals for October other than to keep going as I have been. Sure I need to keep my training interesting and effective but half of it is done for me so its just the other half that I need to work on. Keeping a balanced and positive headspace, choosing to be happy and grateful  and not sweating the small stuff should see another great month ahead.

Do you have any big, hairy arsed goals for October or are you on Content Street with me?

:-) M  

 

TEN OF THE WEIRDEST THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

1. I make my family's lunches (not weird) and every time I put spinach leaves on Peter's sandwich I think of Michelle Obama (VERY weird).

2. I was a smart kid (often top or 2nd in my class) but I couldn't do mental arithmetic - not even the basic, easy stuff. If I couldn't see the question written down, my brain couldn't compute the answer.

3. I love medical shows and used to watch RPA (in all its gory glory) whilst eating my dinner in front of the TV whilst Peter made sure he was never in the room when it was on (wuss!).

4. Crowds and large gatherings bring out my emotions and I'll often get teary for no real reason.

5. As a kid I used to be terrified of crossing bridges. I wonder if in another life I had died in a drowning accident after falling off a bridge.

6. I have Egyptian feet in that my second toes are longer than my big toes (not THAT weird but interesting).

7. I love liver and if I never ate chocolate again I wouldn't be upset (MEGA weird!).

8. I have a precise step by step method for drinking a cappuccino which includes licking off any chocolate that has stuck to the rim of the coffee cup (but I swear if I never ate chocolate again, it wouldn't bother me).

9. I've been a homeowner since my early 20s and I still hate gardening. For all the people who told me that will change when I have my own place I say "Wrong!!".

10. I got a kick out of sharing this weird (and wonderful) side of me.

Any takers to do the same??

M   

TEMPO RUNS AND MEAGRE RATIONS

This morning I nailed my 20 minute tempo run after feeling quite nervous about it. All it took was a bit of logical thinking to identify what sort of a not-easy-pace I could maintain for 20 minutes. It was never going to be really fast (like my 3 minutes fast pace) but it had to be at a run pace + a little extra and I think I nailed it. In fact, during my last 5 minutes when it was feeling REALLY hard, I swear I could feel the fat just melting off my thighs LOL. I then added 20 minutes of walking to clock up a total of 45 minutes and finished with 'Celebration' by Kool and the Gang playing to me. Yep in myself I was having a little celebration :-)

I'm loving the structure of my running program and the fact that its keeping me accountable and takes me out of my comfort zone. Previously I would never have got up and thought "I'll run as fast as I can for 20 minutes and see how that feels." No, I just repeated my easy steady state runs day in, day out, varying the total time but little else. I think the program is also delivering on its name "Running for Fat Loss" as evidenced by my skinny jeans now fitting. I must test my Boyfriends and see if they're ready for their first outing.

I think Peter's diet is slowly dying off. Smaller quantities off food and the subsequent reduction in fibre intake have left him feeling heavy, sluggish and unhappy. I was gobsmacked when straight after dinner last night (we'd had BBQed calamari rings with Greek salad) he asked if there was anything else to eat and then went on to request a toasted ham and cheese sandwich so that he wouldn't feel weak and light-headed. I hadn't realised that my meagre rations were having such a bad effect on him. I shall be feeding him better from now on that's for sure. And I wont be too sad when things go back to normal for him.

:-) M

     

HISTORY - SUCCESS - OLD FRIENDSHIPS

This weekend my beautiful friend Kerry Ware won overall at the Adelaide NABBA/WFF body building show. I'm sure this has been a goal since she first started competing in 2007. And I know just how hard she has worked for this honour.

I met Kerry through body building. In 2007 we were both training for our first shows and Josh Dickinson was our coach. On his website forum I could see that Kerry was also from Adelaide and it was Josh who suggested we meet each other. So we did and we hit it off immediately. Finally, somebody to talk to about diet, training, suffering (LOL) and all stuff comps that no mere mortal would understand. It was no surprise that we never bothered to talk about much else. 

It was only when I put a picture on my blog of my family at the Royal Adelaide Show that Kerry saw my boy Mitchell and lo and behold we found out that we BOTH had adopted children from South Korea. Go figure!! We also determined that we had already 'met' during the adoption process when she and her husband spoke at a group information session that Peter and I attended.

I'm going to take some delight in saying this as I know its something I'll never be able to say again but I beat Kerry that year:-) She placed second to me. LOL she could wipe the floor with me now during her off season let alone when she is in top condition. But all jokes aside she has worked really, really hard to get where she is right now and I'm honestly delighted for her and proud of her.

As for me, well most of you know my history and post comp was a really tough time. I went through some bad times battling with my Binge Monster, the Metal Monster and various other issues. A lot of my angst and struggles were played out right here as I had nowhere else to take them. Too many times I felt like I was fighting a losing battle, feeling like I'd never break free of the rut I was stuck in. But I never gave up believing that one day I would.

Life plays out in interesting ways. It appears that six years later we've both achieved something we've been working really hard for, albeit they are quite different things. I just know that we are both in a good, happy place. Would I choose her path over mine? Well I never say never because you don't know what you might want to try in future, especially when you're in a new league - the 50s club. But for now I'm happy being me with the life I have :-)

M

   

I SWALLOWED A MAGIC PILL

There is a lot to be said for getting to the end of your training week, knowing that you really gave it your best. Whether it was my 350 workout, any one of my runs or my 2 weights sessions, I know that I got the most out of each and every session.

Irrespective of what the Metal Monster says when we next meet, I'm just damned happy with where I'm at right now. And it goes deeper than just fitting back into the skinny jeans or enjoying my new jeans being looser. Its about feeling good, being happier, more confident and generating that out the world. Its almost like I swallowed a magic pill when I turned 50. One that said "hey, it'll all work out and you will be where you want to be."

:-) M

 

THE SMILE OF THE RUNNING GODS

Today the Running Gods did smile down on me. 

We were awoken at 3:20am by the sound of torrential rain. It persisted for quite a while but I eventually got back to sleep. I woke up just before my 5:00am alarm. More rain. Decision time and after a brief deliberation I decided to get up and do today's scheduled run. I certainly didn't want to run 2 days in a row knowing the 2nd day would be a hard session. I also knew that scheduling the run for later in the day was almost a guaranteed fail. So out I headed lucky that the rain had stopped again.

Five minutes in and there was a sprinkle but I could stay mainly under shelter so all was good. The rain stopped again. I did my 40 minutes at a steady pace, arrived home, stepped inside and 2 minutes later..... torrential rain.

My run is done and tomorrow is a legs rest day which will be very welcome. I love having a plan and then sticking to it :-)

M 

 

MY HAMMIES ARE NOT HAPPY

Today my hammies are NOT happy. It was leg day this morning and I achieved a new PB on squats working my way up from a light warm up weight to what was quite heavy for me and belting out 2 sets of 10 at the heavy weight. I shall call that 'progress'. Then it was onto static lunges (or some call them split squats). Again a little extra weight on the dumbbells had me working hard but I could tell my glutes just wouldn't engage :-(

Finally it was stiff legged (or Romanian) deadlifts. Feeling ambitious I increased my weights only to find my hammies were like lead ropes and getting any stretch in them was really painful. But I persevered and on the 3rd set there was some relief and I was able to go lower down. My 4th set was definitely my best. I wrapped up my workout with 3 1 minute planks held on the toes. Noice!!

All I can say is that after tomorrow's 40 minute steady paced run, I'll be hangin out big time to rest my legs. They need it and I need it if I'm going to nail Friday's 10 minute fast intervals.

M

 

DA SKINNIES ARE IN DA HOUSE AND DAMNED INTERVALS

Da skinnies are in da house as of last night. Yes last night I tested my skinny jeans and by jove... they fit. Just to clarify these are not your traditional skinny legged jeans (which my tree trunks can NEVER fit into) but they are a size 11 bootleg styled jean that is not made from denim with any give or stretch in it. You either fit into them or you don't because they don't stretch over your bigger bits LOL. I tell you, this just about warranted a squeal of delight followed by a little happy dance :-) The boyfriends have not been tested yet.

Week 1 of my R4FL program had 4 steady runs of 30 minutes each. I was up early for Saturday's run and it felt quite exhilarating to be out in the early crisp air. My session went for a little over 50 minutes due to some added walking. Yesterday I did a modified hour of power comprising of a 350 Workout followed by a 35 minute walk to rest my legs for today's run.

So I had checked RK and the workout was displayed as 3:3 intervals. I flicked over to the detail of the session and it said 3 mins fast:3 mins slow and showed a total of 5 intervals. "Ooh a nice short but hard session", I thought to myself and off I set at 5:20am this morning. I also decided to run it around my block to avoid intersections and possible traffic. I walked the 5 minute warm up and then hit the first fast interval. Holy cow! 3 minutes is a long time to run fast but I pressed on eagerly awaiting change to the slow interval. Fast interval 2 came around too fast (LOL) and I was off again feeling the pain in my lungs. Slow interval provided some relief but I was jogging them and not walking. Then it was time for the (I thought) last fast interval so I gunned it and gave it everything I had. No point not emptying the tank and I recorded my best interval split of 5:55 mins/km. I was smokin!! Until the trainer came on with "next interval 3 mins steady." Huh??? What do you mean next interval?? There is no "next interval". But alas there was and in fact the total intervals were 5 of each. Needless to say my last 2 fast intervals were anything but :-( I did however do my best considering I had emptied the proverbial tank on the 3rd interval. I even added 7 mins walking to the end to rack up 42 mins in total.

My lungs are still telling me they worked extra hard but they will be ok. Wednesday's run is 40 mins steady which should not be a problem then on Friday its 10 mins fast:5 mins walking x 2 repeats. SHOOT. ME. NOW.

M  

THE BIRTHDAY WEEKEND PLAN

This week marks the first time in a long time where I'll be exercising on a Saturday. My R4FL (Running for Fat Loss) program requires running every second day and I have a 30 minute steady paced run due for tomorrow. Now that's going to take some dedication to get my arse into gear early enough to fit it into what is normally a very busy schedule.

Add to that Peter's birthday also being tomorrow and I've had to pull out all stops in being super-organised ahead of time so that everything flows. Here is my plan for the weekend:

1. Leave work early today, pick Mitchell up from school and head over for a chiro appointment to get my sore neck fixed.

2. Arrive home at a reasonable time and prepare an awesome birthday dinner for Peter. I have fresh oysters which I will serve kilpatrick and fresh (1/2 dozen each to share). Then I'm making prawns thermidor (Lobster is too exxy right now @ $80+ for a meagre 1/2 lobster). He's going out for a work colleague's birthday drinks so I have the place to myself to cook to my heart's content which I love.

3. Enjoy wonderful dinner and a good bottle of wine with Peter and do birthday presents tonight so he can indulge in his favourite Haighs chocolates for dessert. I considered making coffee and walnut cupcakes for dessert but quite frankly we are not short on sweet temptations at home right now.

4. Saturday morning: run, eat (maybe), shower, dress, strip bed, washing, ice skating.

5. Saturday afternoon: lunches for my boys, casual lunch out, grocery shopping, unpacking, continue washing, cleaning, deliver Mitchell to mum's for a sleep over.

6. Quiet pre-pre-dinner-drink and relax with Peter at home before heading out to a local pub for a pre-dinner drink and then to one of our nice local restaurants for dinner.

7. Sunday: pick Mitchell up from mum's, hour of power, domestic chores (eg. weekly lunches), maybe a coffee out, family dinner at mum and dad's for Peter's birthday. Collapse in a heap and wish you had an extra day to recover from the weekend :-)

How's your weekend shaping up?

M

      

THE DIETING HUSBAND CHAPTER 2 - THE SUPPORTIVE WIFE

Let me preface this post by stating that I no longer diet. Yes I watch what I eat and consciously make healthy choices most of the time but I don't agonise over calories, macros, the old "I want to have XXX but I shouldn't" mentality and lots of other dieting behaviours. The more relaxed and 'go with the flow' I am, the better things go for me. There are always swings and round- abouts, ups and downs but they seem to even out more easily these days.

So its with some trepidation that I have stepped up to support Peter in his weight loss efforts. CalorieKing has been back in my life this week, although I feel that our relationship must end soon. We are not a good match as it seems to bring out obsessive behaviours in me and is a big time guzzler to boot. I think it'll be gone this weekend. 

I'm now more conscious than ever of the meals I prepare and their serving sizes. No longer do I eagerly request 2 large salmon fillets at the fish shop. They have been replaced by 2 small - medium ones :-( Last night I was preparing chocolate chip cookie dough for tonight's post- dinner sweets (mum and dad have dinner at our place on Thursdays and we always have a small sweet treat available.) Before I baked them I asked Peter if he wanted me to delay baking them until tonight to reduce the temptation of having them in the house. (A quick check of his calorie tracking app showed that he had enough spare calories *insert sarcastic snigger here* to have said biscuit so I happily baked.) I don't even want to mention the sadness I feel at having introduced 2 more alcohol free nights each week :-( :-( (That one warrants 2 sad faces, not just 1.)

In fact I sit here on Thursday after a week of super-healthy eating and I can hear my stomach calling out "Enough!! Send some junk down to save me" as it gurgles and churns from the barrage of vegetables its been subjected to. Tomorrow's lunch might just be a chicken / cheese and avocado foccacia. Yuuuum!!  

M

   

THE DIETING HUSBAND

Has anybody lived with a husband/boyfriend or partner that is/was dieting. I'm not talking hard core comp dieting (coz that's in a realm of its own) but just general, every day 'I need to lose 5 kilos' type of dieting. Let me elaborate on what is a big part of my life right now.

I mentioned in a recent post (no I'm not linking to it) that Peter has gained some weight lately and he's not happy about it. This is a good thing (not being happy about it as opposed to gaining the weight) as he's quite conscious about not getting too heavy and unfit which we are both very prone to. So he's on a mission to drop said weight in time for summer. We're talking 3-5 kilos and for him its all about the number on the Metal Monster. He's very old school and believes that its all about cardio. He hates weight lifting and only makes pathetic attempts at it every so often. For him its as simple as the number on the MM being ?? and he's happy.

I'm loving that he's taken control of this endeavour but this has manifested into a small obsession with the calorie tracking app (I think he uses My Fitness Pal) and a constant barrage of questions such as " how much do you think XXX weighed?", "what am I having for lunch/dinner?" or "how many calories do you think were in ??? (something he cant find on his app)?". This is the easy bit.

Then we move into "XXX is not good calorie value". "If I have YYYY I get better value for my calories" and I end up trying to cater for the YYY. For example I make some really yummy applesauce and fruit muffins from Tosca Reno's Clean Eating cookbook. I work out that the calories are ??? and I think that's pretty good. But no, apparently they're not good calorie value. Apparently fruit scones are better calorie value (personally I think his app gets a few things wrong but who am I to argue with the expert). I offer to bake a batch of date scones which is greatly appreciated (and lets face it they are dead quick and easy to make). I go the extra mile and use Natvia instead of sugar and proudly calculate the new calorie value ONLY ITS MORE THAN THE APP SAYS AND THEY ARE NO LONGER GOOD CALORIE VALUE. GRRRRRR.

FUCK IT!!! Eat the f*cken scones (or eat a carrot which is exemplary calorie value!).

*sigh* Every day I pray that the 3 to 5 kilos will fall off and life can go back to normal. Eat what you enjoy and not too much. Make mostly healthy choices without obsessing over calories and move at least 5 days of every week. But  no we need it far more complicated than that.

M 

PS This is written with a little tongue in cheek and literary license (just in case you thought I'd turned into a heartless bitch of a wife LOL)

    

TO BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG

It was interesting to read on FB last night how many bloggers are struggling with their blogging. Whether it be from sheer contentment with life and therefore little to angst over, apathy/loss of interest, a chronic shortage of time or just taking a break to change direction, there seemed to be a mini avalanche of bloggers declaring a serious lack of drive and interest. 

I must admit, I have felt pretty much the same lately. After declaring that I'll be launching a new blog, came the realisation that on the weekend I need to devote some serious time to setting it up. Then the weekend rolls around and I'm mega busy on Saturday and frankly I'm filling my Sundays with stuff I just love to do. Blogging just hasn't been making the cut. During the week I manage 1 or 2 posts during my lunch breaks (if I'm lucky) but then days go by when its totally neglected. 

So therein lies the question: to blog or not to blog? On the one hand I've got an idea for a new blog and I toy with the possibility of growing it to have a large readership (BTW I have absolutely no idea how to go about that, but one can dream). Then I look at my motivation for my current blog and I ask myself "what were you thinking??"

Hence I'd love to hear your opinions on this. If you're here reading this, what brings you here, what do you enjoy reading? If you're a blogger as well, how do you get over these hurdles, or do you quit when the joy/drive/interest is no longer there? I sometimes think, if you're going to do something, do it well or not at all. But then that may be too harsh as I certainly have other areas of my life that are not products of this motto.

I'm all ears.

M 

SURPRISES, INJURIES AND NEW GOALS

Gosh last week was all over the place. On Fathers Day I missed my hour of power workout AND ate WAY more than I needed. The start of the week was pretty normal and then from Wednesday onwards I was quite out of sorts after my boss dropped the "you're acting Director while I'm on leave next week" bombshell on me. Eek, I wasn't expecting that.

On Thursday morning during my upper body workout I was pressing a 16kg barbell overhead when I heard a definite crackle from my neck. Hmm, not a good sound, nor a good feeling but it was my last rep in my last set so I just pushed on to my next exercise and finished my workout. Needless to say, my neck stayed pretty sore and I skipped doing weights on Friday morning but got LOTS of incidental exercise walking from my city carpark to the show grounds and back with Mitchell as we had a day at the Royal Show.

Yesterday I was back into my running with a RunKeeper program which will structure my training over the next 8 (I think) weeks. I've chosen 'Running For Fat Loss' in the hope of shifting 2-3 kilos so I can rock a LBD I have for work in summer AND to fit properly into a new pair of boyfriend jeans I bought in London. Silly me bought them in a snug size 10 but they need to be loose and slouchy. The good news is that 2 or 3 kilos should do it. Yep, I've seriously adjusted my beliefs and standards about my weight and I can tell you its VERY liberating. 

This morning was 350 Workout day backed up with 10 hill climbs on the spin bike. I love starting the week with a great sweat fest. Oh and even after a topsy turvy week of missed training sessions and some less than stellar eating, the Metal Monster showed a drop to a number that I'm quite happy with. I just need those boyfriends and that LBD to look good and I'll be the proverbial pig in shit :-)

M