Hit the gym yesterday, finished C25K Week 4! So I’ll start Week 5 next time I go to the gym (probably today), which is kind of cool. Did my weight circuit — I love the feeling that I’m getting stronger each time. Today I’m sore, but certainly nothing like I used to be. Before, it was all over my arms, my torso, etc. Now, it’s my torso (but not as bad as it could be) and my  upper arms/chest (really need to learn the names of these things). The former is because of the stupid crunches, which I still can’t do. The latter is because I bumped up the weight for my Lat pulldown (so maybe my…lats.?…are sore?) by 5kg because I decided it was too easy.

So I feel great! Got some good news but will wait until Sunday — my official WI day — to share it.

Did have a very sore leg last night — felt like what I was told were ‘growing pains’ as a child. Called my Mum because the pain went from the low right pelvic region, through the top of my thigh, around the knee, the back of my calf and into my ankle, and it was this weird, dull ache. I couldn’t understand why or where it comes from — although I vaguely remember this pain as something I’ve felt before. She thinks it’s to do with the Sciatic Nerve, because apparently our entire family has issues with it. Mum used to have issues with it, and my brother’s physio mentioned something about him having issues with it…until now I was never active enough to be affected, I guess. But she told me some stretches to help with it…it’s possible I just pinched the nerve.

I think when I was younger this happened quite a bit, because I do remember the pain. I know how far I’ve grown, because until now I would have gotten incredibly angry at how my body was betraying me…actually, that’s a common feeling through my childhood. But now that I’m exercising and getting to know my body, I’m learning how strong I am…and I guess also my remaining weaknesses and how to deal with them. I’m going to turn myself into Archilles, and find out how to minimise my heels..I’m going to be unstoppable!

Posted at 10:10 am | No Comments »

Woke up at 10ish (a well needed sleep in) and then had some weetbix for breakfast, got dressed and headed for the gym. I hit the treadmill and managed to do the C25K, Week 4 Day 1. I thought I was going to die from the stich I got halfway through, but I just turned the speed down a little and kept going. Then I did my weights and power plate and now I think my arms will be screaming in pain tomorrow, argh.

I also weighed myself. This week, I lost 1.3kg, one of my biggest losses to date! It just goes to show what happens when you’re in the right frame of mind. Last year I struggled with food. Because I struggled with food, I never got the headset for exercise. And now? No problems. I get it.

I did have a bad night on Friday, but it was because I forgot that I wouldn’t be back at home for dinner. Ended up having pizza. And drinking a lot. And the next day, I had chips for dinner and just veged. But it was just a day. No big deal.

Am going to my sister’s tomorrow, and we’ll see how I go. Neither of them track or watch their weight in a real way (my sister may occasionally talk about it and do more exercise, but never food-based), but they do eat a lot of vegies, so hopefully I’ll fit in somewhere. Just up the exercise and it’ll be fine, right? Right.

Current Stats
Current Weight: 85.5
Loss/Gain This Week: -1.3
Total Loss: 14.8

Posted at 2:21 pm | No Comments »

So baby steps, yes? Finally went for a walk/run today. Went out my street and kept going until I found water, then turned down another street and came home. Worked out my route using running ahead afterwards, and I went 4.41km today. Which is 2.7 miles and doesn’t sound nearly as impressive. But it is more than I would do at home. And I wore a scarf which helped a lot with fixing my lung-issue. I have to pull it over my mouth and nose, and I must look like an idiot running like that, but it’s so worth it. Now, I want to find a 3km run so that I can work on being able to run all of it, and then I will increase to the 5 and then to the 10. Woot. I think my baby steps will have me doing at least the 3km each day, since it’s basically just around the block. And I’ll try to do my exercise DVD, etc. too.

For dinner last night I was very impressed with myself — I made a pasta with tomato, zucchini, mushroom and capsicum sauce. Today I think I’ll do roasted cherry tomatoes and spinach with cheese (and maybe some muchroom, since I need to use it up.) The french girls are making dinner, which is nice of them. I don’t want to think about the amount of calories in their cheese, though. So I’ll just ignore it.

Posted at 11:49 am | No Comments »

England! The land of (huge amounts of) tea, food that is baked, boiled, and imported, and incredibly cold, cold weather. And for some reason, I love it.

I flew in yesterday morning at 6am. I was lucky in that I got about 6 hours of sleep at the end of my last of 3 flights. It was enough to push me into being awake for the day, although I did end up going to bed quite early indeed.

My sister picked me up and at about 3pm, in an attempt to stave off the need to sleep, we decided to make pasta. My sister is an absolute inspiration; a whiz in the kitchen who just kind of wings it and manages to make it good. A very large amount of what she makes is homemade, simply because she likes the taste and because it’s cheaper. So we made Ravioli from scratch. It’s very easy, although time consuming to use the pasta-stretcher. But it does taste fantastic.

So we had ravioli filled with spinach and (full-fat) ricotta, since that’s what was in the cupboard. As a sauce, we took a can of tomatoes and mixed in some capsicum, mushrooms and zucchini and let it simmer for a while. Maybe one day I’ll take a picture and do some recipes, because it was delicious and felt so light.

Then today she and I went for a run. I started the C25k week 3, Day 2, but it just didn’t work. My body isn’t used to the cold, and my lungs just couldn’t deal with the knife-edge of the frost. So I think i’m going to drop back to week 2 and hopefully build up again. It’s frustrating and it felt almost like I was being betrayed by my body — but I’m still determined. And it feels so good when it works.

I’m really quite excited about being here. It’s such a change and the people I know here live so well. My sister is incredibly inspiring, so naturally healthy and it will be wonderful to embrace that. I only hope that I can continue it once I get to Scotland (tomorrow), and I’m pretty sure that I can — which is a funny but reassuring feeling.

Posted at 12:48 am | No Comments »

C25K! Week 3, Day 1 today. I was so very reluctant to go into it because I was convinced in my mind that I couldn’t do it. 3 minutes? My mind would say. You’ve never stuck to strenuous exercise for 3 minutes in your life! You get winded at 1 minute!

My alarm went of at 4:55 this morning and I lay there for 10 minutes, partly trying to go back to sleep, and partly trying to think of what the best excuse to use on my Mum would be today. I didn’t get much sleep, I thought. And I’m not going to be able to have a nap today. Really, it’s better for me to go back to sleep. That’s totally reasonable. And then my Mum bursts in. “Come on!” She says. She’s got her ‘no excuses’ voice on. It’s the one thing that will never stop fitting her. It’ll never be too big or too small. She wears it far too well. “It’s time to go! Hurry up!” I groan and roll over. Benefit of a small room: I don’t have to get out of bed to go to my clothes dresser.

The thing I always find amazing is that it takes me 7 minutes to get ready for the gym at college. I know this because I have my sleeping timed down to a T, to maximise the happy-place. But at home, regardless of how organised I am the night before, it will always take me 15 minutes to get ready. At least. Always.

So the end result is: We ran. And for the first time in my life, I ran for 3 minutes straight. I was supposed to do it twice, but that dreaded stitch happened halfway through the second time. I can outrun a stitch for 30 seconds or so, but not for a minute and a half. It just hurts. But each time I go, it takes longer for me to get it, so by the end of this week I should be able to do it.

And, I think my sentiments to my Mum at the end of the run stand true: “Mum,” I say, “I just ran for 3 minutes. I am obviously the most awesome person on earth. I mean, who else can run for three. whole. minutes?!”

She just grins at me. “Yes dear,” she says, “You’re the most awesome person on earth.”

Gosh, I love mothers.

C25K
Day 1, Week 3
Distance: 3km
Time: 23min
Average: 7:40/km

Posted at 7:42 am | No Comments »

Mum and I attempted (and failed) to do another C25K training session yesterday. It was mostly because I was exhausted from lack of sleep — Christmas does that — and didn’t want to get up at 6am just to go running. I needed that constant sleep yesterday, not something all broken up.

So we went at about 5:30pm, and my god, it was so difficult. It was hotter, stickier, each 90 seconds lasted longer…it felt like you couldn’t breathe because of the humidity. So we ended up going halfway and then walked the rest. I’ll stop arguing about going at 5am from now on.

The other news was Weigh In today. My meeting was a Weigh-And-Go, so I just..didn’t. I got up about 9am and did an unofficial weigh in on my scales. But my scales are pretty similar to the official ones, so I’m still good with that. And the results are: I lost .9 this week. Over Christmas. I’d like to think I’m awesome. (I’m a little worried it’s a fluke.)

Current Stats
Current Weight: 88.1
Loss/Gain This Week: -.9
Total Loss: 12.2

Posted at 9:54 am | No Comments »

Day 1 of the all-consuming-obsession went very well. I clocked up 18.5 points, was full all day, ticked off all of my boxes and therefore must be awesome. This was helped along by my obsession with stationery (what can I say, I’m addicted.) that verges to the point of insanity. I sit at breakfast/lunch/dinner and work out my points, tick all the pretty boxes… and the only reason I do it now, this way (instead of online), is because the new program has fold out points trackers. Turning a page? No! Not for me! It must fold out! It must be glossy! It must be an aesthetically pleasing magenta-purple colour! It must have boxes to tick for every point I use!

It makes me want to drink so much water I’m peeing like a Russian racehorse each day. What will I do if I haven’t ticked that last box? It makes me want to find lame excuses to drink milk, or want to eat two salads a day to hit those serves. It makes me want to torture myself into a sweaty mess, just so that I can tick the ‘30 minutes’ box for exercise.

Speaking of torture, the C25K happened again this morning. We went onto week 2, and it was like dying. Who would think that 30 extra seconds could be so much harder? I’m plodding along like a sweaty mess, all red and huffing. I’m timekeeping like a fiend and trying to look at the watch and the road at the same time and then BAM! stich. Just like that. Every time. Always in my right side. So I start to walk, and then I have to sit down for 30 seconds. Then we run some more (because apparently I hadn’t learnt) and then I couldn’t do the 90 seconds, I could only do 60, so Mum (who can now be known some kind of torture artist specialising in the cruel and unusual…and possibly manipulation) runs on ahead. When I call time, she goes, “Well if I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it.”

I nod, suck air into my lungs and thank god that I still have 2 minutes before I have to run again. When we get to the next interval, I start jogging with her. I’m going okay. I’m pulling out in front a little (longer legs), my eye is on the clock. 45 seconds, 30 seconds, 20 seconds…and around that point I realise that I’m not so much jogging as I am limping at a fast pace, like someone’s numbed my bloody legs and I don’t know how to use them properly. So I stop and let Mum on ahead. I care about getting fit. I don’t want to turn myself into an idiot while I do it. And what’s 45 seconds between training partners, anyway?

C25K
Day 1, Week 2
Distance: 3km
Time: 26min
Average: 8:40/km

Posted at 11:50 am | No Comments »

My alarm clock breaks into it’s soulful rendition of You Could Be Happy and I roll out of bed with a groan. I search blearily for my clothes and it’s only when the sports bra sits securely on my chest that I begin to feel like doing what I planned.

Mum’s already waiting for me and we head off. I react to viciously early wake up calls and punish the world by being obnoxiously perky at obscene hours. It’s just who I am. “Good morning sunshine!”

She grunts.

We start the interval training and by the third running session I’m there. I smile, let myself get into it, rather than pace alongside Mum, let my legs get into it. It’s amazing. I love that my body can do this, that I can feel so basic and so wonderfully complex. I can feel my legs stretching and my lungs working and in that instant, I feel like I could do it forever.

Five seconds later, I get a stitch and have to stop running for the next few intervals. But that feeling just beforehand — that was awesome.

C25K
Day 3, Week 1
Distance: 3km
Time: 29min
Average: 9:40/km

Posted at 8:23 am | No Comments »

Am at home and have swapped to core, because I’m tired of trying to work out points each day. It’s going well so far — I didn’t realise there’d be so much freedom on this program. As long as I address the way I cook it, I can eat almost everything I like without having to worry about it. It just comes down to moderation now, which is kind of cool. And because I’ve got this approach, my family have joined in. My brother not quite so willingly, but since Mum and I cook it, he’s stuck with it. Mum’s completely on board and it’s kind of wonderful. She tried Tony Ferguson a while back and while it definately worked for her — she looks great — the last 5kg or so have just not been coming off, and the 1 shake a day, very strict diet just wasn’t working for her in the long-term sense. Once you get to maintenance they apparently give you a new plan, but she wasn’t there yet and she was floundering a little. So we’re on core, which is wonderful because for me it satisfies this desire to eat well — even better because I am craving vegetables after college.

And I’m back on the 100 Push Up Challenge. Currently on week 4, and today I got to 75 push ups, which kind of feels awesome. I’m really enjoying pushing myself with a goal. I think these programs work best for me because they have an end-goal, and a way to map your progress. I mean, when I started the 100PU Challenge, I could only do 3 girlie push ups in a row. Just three. Now I can do 75 (although not in a row.) My goal after doing 100 Girlie Push Ups is to learn to do the ‘real’ ones.

I’ve also started the Couch to 5 kilometres running program, and I’m really enjoying it. I walk every time I go to the gym, but this time I have my goals, etc. And I discovered Running Ahead, a website where you can track how far you’ve walked, and your walking routes. You can even list your shoes and it’ll tell you how cost-effective you’re being (currently 78cents for each kilometre). It’s perfect for people who love to know everything like me — and the graphs it spits out are just so pretty. So consider this the first real, enthusiastic plug for this website: if you’re into running, go and check it out, because it is awesome.

Posted at 8:17 pm | No Comments »