Back to Basics

Time to Fess Up! 
Time to admit that I haven't been blogging about weight loss, because I haven't been losing weight... in fact I have reverted back to my old habits, and if I keep it up I will revert back to where I started and I am not about to let that happen.

So at least 15 times I have started over, and not got to the end of the day before I have fallen off the wagon. I'm so frustrated with myself, and today was a particularly bad 'binge' day so I need to start again, again.  Obviously its not as easy this time around. The reasons excuses I have been using are - Its so cold, I'll wait until Spring (**excuse me, Spring started 19 days ago**),  Work has been getting me down, and I am eating through my emotions (**true, but lets find an alternative coping strategy**), I'm too tired - hitting snooze too many times in the morning... and the list goes on. I have lost my Just Do It mantra.

So what do I do to get back on track?

I think I need to :
Start small..Baby steps, and slowly build up momentum
Be accountable - Tell you what I have planned and own up if I don't do it
Go through the mind exercises again - Get real, Plan, and Set Goals.

So here we go -
Tomorrow I plan to start on the basics
WATER - Drink 2 litres (I didn't have any water today, or yesterday)
RUN - a morning run before work. If I leave by 6am, I am back by 6.45 and still have at least an hour before I need to leave for work,
BREAKFAST - Non-negotiable, no more "I'll have it at work", and then getting to 11am before realising I haven't had it.

So that's it! The plan for this week is above, I will check in tomorrow and let you know how it went.

Zero to 10km in 6months

Who remembers about 6 months ago when I posted a little commitment video on my blog, promising a certain Mrs Cass Thurston that I would run a 10km fun run. I meant it, but I didn't believe it, and today I did it.

I JUST FRICKEN DID IT.

Here is Video of the proof!

I like the fact that this race was on June 30, the last day of the first half of 2012. Because it was on the first day of 2012 that this journey started, and I am pretty damn proud of myself for going from being able to run zilch, to 10km in 6 months... imagine where I could be in another 6, or this time next year.

Going for Distance...

Why is it that I do my best thinking in the shower?  Doesn't everyone though? Is it the lack of interuption, the rhythmic sound of the water falling, the warmth, the comfort - it allows your mind to settle, and your soul to awaken, inspiration can kick in, it's me time - time to get in touch with me. 


I have discovered another time when I feel this same way, the rhythmic sound of my breathing, of my shoes hitting the footpath. I am alone, and most often watching the sunrise or sunset, and I can have that conversation in my head that does not have the opportunity to do during the busy working day.


I'm shocked to say it, but I am beginning to love running. It's my 'me time'.

I have been a little freaked out about the 10km in 2 weeks. The last few 5km runs, I have pushed myself for a better time, and felt completely shattered by the end of the 5km, and it made me really worried about how I was going to cope with 10km.


So this morning I set myself a goal to go the distance, to run further than I have before, to not be concerned with time, but to run the distance I set myself. 
You would have seen me talk about my lake before, some of you may remember when I achieved my goal to run a lap of the lake without stopping.


Well, I now know that from my front door, around the lake and back to my front door is 4.9km, So I thought I would do 2 laps, and it should be about about 9km door to door....and further than the 8km Mothers Day Classic (when I did walk about 500m at the 6-7km mark).

So I set off, at a slower, comfortable pace. My Run Keeper was telling me I was running at an average of 8.03mins per km(I have gotten my 5km down to average 7mins per km). The first lap was fine, no breathing issues, just nice comfortable steady pace.  The second lap was harder, but I was more than halfway through the second lap before I started to feel fatigued.
My back was starting to hurt, I tried to pick up the pace but my legs were getting heavier, but I got to the end of the second lap, and continued on to the next exit (the lake path has about 4 entry points), and then up the path, and down the street to home.


RESULT. 9.27km  in 1hr 14mins. 


Although I felt like I had nothing left in the tank, I've gotta say, I was in less pain than when I finished the 8km, and with only 750m more to make 10km, I now know I CAN DO IT.   


I have been hoping for a 10km time of around 80mins.  70mins meant doing 2 x my fastest ever 5kms back to back, so I thought 80mins was more realistic, so to do 9.27 in 74mins, puts me right on pace for the 10km in 80mins.


I'm really pleased that I JFDI today, as it has taken the fear out of the actual 10km run on June 30....and you know what else I learned today...?
I learned ... I AM A RUNNER!

What have I gotten myself in for?

Why oh why did I post this on Facebook?
  

6 hours in and I had 56 'Likes'.... by 9.30pm Monday I had 65... 2 and a half hours before the deadline.... will there be anymore?
So in my excitement of discovering parkrun, and entering all these fun runs... have I over estimated myself?    


Plan of attack:
Mon, Wed, Thurs - Run the 4km Lake or Run Part of my 6.5km walk to work (4km x 3 = 12km)
Sat - Park Run (5km)
that is 17km per week, minimum.
4 weeks until 12WBT finishes  17km x 4weeks = 68km .... I CAN DO THIS!


I will dedicate each km to a person who 'liked', and during that Km I will think about them, and use them to help me through it.

You see, Motivation to get up and "JFDI" is difficult, well when you are Motivated it's easy, it's when that nasty motivation is hiding, and you just can't find it wherever you look... that's where the struggle comes.  I know from experience that I promise myself the world, and let myself down time and time again, but when I promise someone else something, then I absolutely HATE letting them down. So thanks to everyone who participated in this, your one little click is going to keep me motivated... This is one challenge I am not going to forget in a hurry.


In other news... It's the end of the 4 day weekend, back to work tomorrow, and  less than 36 hours until Weigh in.  I want my weight to start with a 7 sooooo badly.  This morning I was 300g away.  I'm so close I can taste it, and boy it is easier to resist chocolate easter eggs when you are that close to something you want!


Week 9 of the programme has Michelle introducing Accelerator Days, where on a Tuesday we will eat no simple carbohydrates. No fruit, no bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, or excess sugar. Our day will consist of vegetables and protein. This is designed to accelerate our weight loss, reduce water retention and boost the intake of vegetables. Cass swears by them, so I am looking forward to seeing what affect it has on the scales.

Breakky - My Egg will be boiled instead 

Lunch is a Fritatta with Salad

Next post will be the Weigh in Result... wish me Luck!

I did it!

I set of from home at 6.15 to go to my first ever Fun Run.  Well I had done the walking part of a Fun Run/Walk before, but I had never actually RUN in a Fun Run. Todays event was a 5km race for me.  The Runaway Bay Super Sports centre and a company called Corporate Challange put on this series of races as a build up to the Gold Coast Marathon 30June-1July.

Cass is doing the progressive series, meaning each race the distance is increasing, so she can build up to her Half Marathon.  Each progressive race is accompanied by a 5km race.  So today I entered the 5km, and Cass was in the 8km.

Taking a self portrait with the Start Line in the background.

So at 7am I started running, and I didn't stop until 38mins and 18 seconds later, when I crossed the finish line (official time yet to be released, but I will update when it is).  'Unhealthy Me' didn't even bother arguing with me this time. She knew I was serious, she knew I had run 4km before and really I felt ok until that last km, and by that time I knew the finish line was in sight and I just had to keep going.  My goal was to run it without stopping, without walking, and I did it. 

I was surrounded by ladies who were walking, then running, then walking, then running, and we were constantly overtaking each other.  I kept telling myself that it didn't matter what they were doing , that I was running my own race, keeping my nice constant pace.  By the 4km mark I realised I had left those ladies behind me.  I had one lady who was about 20 metres in front of me the whole way who was walking occasionally, and I would nearly catch her, and then she would run again and get away from me... she was my inspiration. I just wanted to catch her. 

When I got to the entrance of the track , with 400m to run, she stopped to walk, and by the 200m mark I had caught her!  

"C'mon", I said, "Lets finish this"... and we sprinted the last 150m... I gave it everything, getting my heart rate up to 200!  But she finished ahead of me by 2 seconds. 

Crossing that finish line was cool, they called out your name and time over the microphone... next time I will be taking a cheer squad to share it with.  This time it was me, doing it for me. 

So after an electrolyte drink, and a sit down to stop the legs from Shaking, I found a nice spot to wait for Cass to come in from her 8km run.  I really have her to thank for me achieving this today, she believed I could do this well before I even thought it might be possible.  I have been following her lead by doing the 12WBT, and now fun runs, so I absolutely had to get the 'after' photo with her.

Cass and I after our Races.

So what's next? 

29th April... either the Runaway Bay 5km fun run again (Cass will be doing the 10km), or the Gold Coast Bulletin Fun Run in Robina.  Haven't registered yet, just waiting to see if any of the family wants to join me.. if we join up at the family price, the kids are basically free.  Any one else want to join me?

Better late than never...

Well it's Saturday morning, and I haven't yet been accountable for the Weigh in on Wednesday.


My excuse is that I have been a bit to busy to sit down and type up a blog post, but I have now found the time so here it is.


Before I start, I would be irresponsible if I didn't reflect slightly before I revealed the stats... I mean my last post was all about how I had not coped, and ate bad things to help me get through a tough few days.  But I took Michelle's advice, and took all emotion out of it, and looked at the situation pragmatically, and realised that the 'blow out' that I was describing, while still not being ideal for the 12 week body transformation, was really nothing compared to what a 'Binge' or 'Pig out' would have been prior to starting this journey.  I simply can't eat the amount of or type of food that I used to eat.

There is a school of thought, that a small binge can actually help weight loss. Your body gets into a rhythm, with it's metabolism, and when you have a little binge, your body realises it needs to boost the metabolism to burn off that food.  I wasn't sure if I believed this, and I think it is dangerous to binge to try and make this happen, but it is ray of hope after you have overindulged.


Anyway, Wednesday morning scales read 81.6kg, a loss of 1kg!  
I was pretty damn happy with that, because I was scared I wouldn't lose anything, or worse still... gain!


That means that I have now officially lost:

•  20kgs from my heaviest ever weight of 102kg (20% of body weight)
• 18.3 kg since August 1st 2011 (18.32%)
• 11.4kg since starting 12WBT preseason.(12.26%)
• 6.5kg since Official day 1 of 12WBT (7.4% of body weight)

This also means that I am closer to reaching my goals.

• 1.7 kg to get into the 70's (will also be 20kg since August)
• 3.5 kg to 10kg lost on 12WBT
• 9.1 kg to a Healthy BMI  - Which was my original goal.

The most exciting news (or nervewracking) is that tomorrow, I will be RUNNING in my first ever 5km run.  On monday I ran 4km, and felt quite comfortable so i fully believe I can do this. My Goal is to run the whole thing, without stopping, don't care about time, or placing... last is fine! I just want to prove to myself that I can do this.


Look out for a post tomorrow, so you know how I got on.

Milestone

In the 12 week program, we have set some milestones to achieve, at about week 4, week 8 and week 12. We're about to embark on week 3, so I'm a week or two early but I wanted to give my self a practise attempt first for my first milestone.... just in case I needed to work up to it.


My first Milestone that I set myself was to run a lap of the Regatta Waters Lake.

Aerial Shot of my Lake.

My Beautiful lake - a pic taken the other night after the storm,
by a local man from "Higgins Storm Chasing"  Just gorgeous.

So this morning I got up and into my exercise gear before my mind had a chance to argue, and I set of on my misson.  I knew the lake track was approximately 4km, and the most that I had run without stopping was about 1.5km... so I was a bit apprehensive.

However I also really wanted to achieve this, so I had written it in my diary, I told heaps of people that I was going to try it, and I even wrote it on my blog.


So I had the goal, and I had the determination, but I also had an internal battle going on between Unhealthy me, and Healthy me.   Unhealthy Me came up with sooooooo many excuses, Healthy Me stood strong.


the Internal dialogue went something like this....


U.M. Oh it's raining, we can't go
H.M. ah... correction, it WAS raining, it's not now, and even if it was.. you are not made of sugar!


U.M. You can't do this you know, you'll quit
H.M. I can do this, it doesn't matter how much it hurts or how slow I go, I'm not going to stop running


U.M. Well, you will let me stop at the water fountains? I will die if I don't get water.
H.M. You can drink after, you will not die.



U.M. OOOh look there are puddles, we have to stop and walk through those, or we might slip.
H.M. No we will run carefully through them


U.M. Owww our legs hurt
H.M. It will pass, once we go from Anaerobic to Aerobic it will be more comfortable. Hang in there.



U.M. Hey theres another runner, we better pull to the side and wait for them to pass

H.M. The path is more than wide enough for both of us.


U.M. We look stupid, we are not made for running. I bet those people are thinking how pathetic we are.

H.M. I don't care.


U.M. We're halfway, that's enough isn't it?

H.M. No


U.M. We are running so slow, we would be faster if we walked
H.M. Speed is not the issue, we are not walking


U.M. We have run further than ever before, haven't we proven a point already?
H.M. NO!


U.M. Owww, our back hurts
H.M. Suck it up, not far to go now... we can see the end.


U.M. There is the exit path, can we stop now

H.M. ah... correction, that is where we used to stop our walk, that is not a complete lap from where we started.. Stop trying to cheat me.


U.M. We are there! We can stop now.

H.M. We are there! We can stop now. I am proud of you.


So there we have it. I DID IT!
My ipod was serendipitously playing "I made it" by Kevin Rudolph as I stepped over the line that marked one full lap.

STATS:

Distance: 3.95km

Time: 33.27 mins

Avergage Speed : 8.28 mins per km.

HRM Cals burned: 488 (incl walk to & from start)

and my evidence that I actually did it!

Screen shot from the Runkeeper App

So I can now tick of more mini goals from my list.

A Marathon Effort

I'm kidding ...Right?
I don't really think I can run a Marathon yet...Do I?
Nah, you are right...I don't.  But I did have a Fun Run/Marathon of some sort on my Bucket List, and it is one thing that I really thought I would never cross off. 


I can, however, work towards a 5km or 10km Run at this years Gold Coast Marathon on June 30 2012.  I'm thinking of doing 4km or 8km on May 13, 2012 in the Mother's Day Classic

GULP!!
Did I really just say that....out loud!


Cass (I told you about her yesterday) has convinced me that I will be able to achieve this Goal, so I am officially starting the 20 week Training Programme.  I have a running programme to follow. It starts with interval training, run 4mins, walk 2mins (x 4) and slowly increases each week until I can run 10km. It's called the 'Beginner 10K Training Programme' so if I follow it, and then can't do the 10km route at the GCMarathon, then I'm suing for false advertising .


I am going to get up at 5am tomorrow morning and start Day 1... Baby steps.

It'll be real when I have officially entered, but I actually think I can do this.  Me saying that in the first place is a miracle, only a few days ago I was still thinking Cass had rocks in her head.


There...I have written it down, I am now accountable to you.

Universe, I put in my order...

I've been singing this song in my head since I wrote the last post.
It's prophetic in a way. I have nowhere to run and hide, not now that I have put this out here in cyberspace... 
but I do have somewhere to run to.

You see.. this is me

and this is who I want to be.

I have long dreamed of the life I want to have; I have read The secret, watched Oprah, made vision boards and 'put it out there'.

Of the many things I told the universe that I wanted, one was a life where I was fit and healthy, where I would get up in the mornings and go for a run along the water before work.

Problem was, I was obese*, lazy, undisciplined.. the list really could go on. 

I told the universe what I wanted, and sat back and expected it to come to me.  The universe (or God if you prefer that name) is amazing and can provide the most awesome things, but you need to do the work to recieve the rewards.

You would have heard the story, and if you have read or seen Eat Pray Love, by Liz Gilbert you would know the following anecdote 

So, I hadn't even realised that since I originally 'put in that request' with the universe in 2006, 5 years later I am living in a house which is less than 100m from a lake with an awesome 4km track around it that I could run every morning. The universe had fulfilled my request, all that was missing was me.

As much as I want it, I have to do it, no one can do it for me. I needed to get up every morning and buy a ticket for the life I asked for... and for goodness sake the ticket is free.  What the hell was i waiting for?

At 101 kilos (the heaviest i got - that I know of) starting to run is a bit daunting. I couldn't do it. My body didn't want to. It hurt, and cried and pleaded to stop every time I tried. 
The truth is I hated exercise, and would avoid it an any cost.
Excuse after excuse after excuse after excuse....
Then the universe gave me a helping hand.  It gave me Zumba.
It took me about 8 weeks of saying I was going to give it a try, before I actually got brave enough to walk into that hall on my own and try a class!


That was the first day of the rest of my life.
Moving my body to music, ...they call it dancing, ... is exercise, and I loved it.  I was buzzing from the first class, I was uncorordinated, unfit, sweating, puffed, but it was ok.. the music pulled me through. 
An hour once a week, quickly became not enough, increased to two, then three.  
I felt different. I joined in on a workplace challenge to increase activity, and started walking the lake to increase my 'minutes' of activity.
Before i knew it Zumba had me fit enough to actually try running, starting at a certain mark on the track, and each time trying to improve on that if only even a few steps.

The route around the lake - I have increased my run to 

So there we have it! The universe has given me my request, and I hadn't even realised. I am running around the lake.  I have a long way to go to reach my goals...which you will hear about tomorrow.


*World Health Organisation says a BMI greater than 30, is in the Obese category.