12WBT +56

Today was to be the triathlon day.  Guess who was so oblivious to that as he was trying to work out what to do this weekend?  In my head, I had a mini-milestone challenge (for which I was going to use the 10km fun run last weekend but changed my mind as I thought of that as cheating too much).  I'm nuts!


During the week I'd been plotting what I could do.  In the end, I decided I'd go for another walk.  The last mini-milestone saw Wifey and I walk from Taronga Zoo to Balmoral, which was about 13-odd kms.  I had to top that - mainly because I'm figuring I must be getting closer to being fitter than I was (given I'm a wee bit less fatter).  My idea - to do my old walking route (that includes steps, hills, off-road and...umm, pavements) not once.  Not twice.  But three times (and I know one shouldn't start a sentence with 'but' - sue me...not literally, unless you want to pay off my student loan debt in NZ; I'd happily part with that).  Three times.  Say it like that and it doesn't seem a lot.  I guess it's not really - but, one lap of my route is 10kms.  That's 30kms all up.  Sounds a s**t load more.


Alarm set for 5.45am (I wanted to do this as early as possible, which unfortunately didn't sound too appealing to our house guest who would've otherwise been happy to come along for a stroll) but I was clearly looking forward to this too much as I woke up at 5.30am.  By 5.50am, I was walking out the door for my mammoth effort.


Lap one.  Fine.  No probs.  Well, no probs if you ignore the fact that I'd forgotten to put my glasses on and on one of the bush tracks (about 30mins - if that - into the walk) went for a six.  Tripped on a tree root or something, rolled my ankle and grazed my knee.  I was most grateful that at not long after 6am there wasn't anyone around to see me do it!


Lap two.  Not quite as quick as lap one.  The sun was starting to get hotter and I could feel myself waning during the bits in the shade and picking up the pace in the heat of the sun (just to get out of it).


Lap three.  Knackered.  Pooped.  You're getting the picture.  I did the first lap in 1hr 15min, the second in just on 1hr 20min - the last was about 1hr 35min.  I see a pattern.  Still.  I'm happy.  Scarily, I felt that I had a wee Mish sitting on my shoulders (though she would've been flying off when I tripped earlier on) telling me to get a grip and get on with it.  She was showing no mercy with me the whole way around.  I could hear her saying silly little things like, "suck it in" or "shoulders back, chest proud".  It was weird.  Perhaps I was still sleeping.


All up, I was walking for 4hr 05mins.  The only stops I made were to fill up my water bottle.  What I think impressed me more (other than the number of people who seem to go for walks/runs/jogs around 7am on a Saturday) was that I, possibly for the first time in my life, have finally gone into calorie deficit! Huzzah!  In fact, if I stick to my usual eating plan, I'll be in calorie deficit for the whole weekend - even if I don't do anything else for the rest of it.  I burnt off a massive 3006 calories in the 4hrs.  Go me!  Doubt I'll ever be able to do this again, but hey, most people who climb Everest only do it once too ;)

Non-stop walking, baby!

Oh, bugger.  Not quite 30kms then - 29.5.  Close enough.  If I allow for a margin of error there may be a chance of it being more than 30kms...  This doesn't show the elevation, but it's not all on the flat.

Whilst on the topic of burning...after getting home, showering and having a shake for brekkie (I don't think my stomach could've coped with anything heavier), I threw some laundry on and thought I'd have a lie down in the hammock and read until the laundry was done.  1.5 hours later I woke up...my legs are slightly red.  Ouchies.  So are my arms...and my face.  Moral of this story, don't lie in the lovely warm sun with a book and tell yourself it's only for 15-20 minutes - especially if you have a known knack of falling asleep quickly (including a witnessed time of literally falling asleep before your head hit the pillow!).


Aside from that, an uneventful day.  I hope my legs will be less stiff tomorrow.  PT sent a text asking if I wanted to do a weights session tomorrow.  Hmm...  Over 4000 calories in two days?  What would you say?


Food: 1 whey shake, 1 bowl of puffed wheat with Greek yoghurt & honey, 2 slices of banana bread (that nice stuff from week 1 or 2's menu) and some rice crackers.  Had almost zero appetite today.  Did drink litres of water though - could explain the lack of appetite?


PS:  today is exactly 2/3 of the way through...only another 1/3 to go.  Would you believe I'm already getting excited about the next round?  :)

12WBT +55

Okay.  Grump time.  PT wanted a session on Friday not Saturday.  I can handle that.  She wanted it in the evening and not the morning.  Again, I can deal with that.  What I am not happy about is that she waits until only a couple of hours before it to break it to me that she wants me in the gym.  Really?  Me?  Gym?  I'm not thinking so.  Have been hurling abuse (of the good natured kind) at her since.  At the time of writing this, I've not been...and I'm still not happy.


Had an 8am meeting at work this morning so was lazy...again...and took a couple of crumpets to have (bare, of course).  Even though I was in the office just gone 7am, I never had a chance to get to them until 9.30am.  Boy, did I enjoy them or what!?  If I've not eaten by about 8am now, my stomach feels that my throat's been cut.  It's bad!


Lunch, again because we were running late yesterday and I was in a lazy mode, comprised of four rice thins.  Sadly, we had no cottage cheese to put on them so ended up having them like my crumpets - naked. Not overly filling but at the same time, I haven't felt peckish since.


Went and met PT at the gym.  I waited outside (not being a member and all) and she came out.  Think she spotted the "Not happy, Jan" expression on my face and suggested the park.  All smiles and we were off ;)  I'm not one for praising a PT session much, but man, I thoroughly enjoyed this one!  It wasn't any different to others, really, so I don't know why.  Perhaps it was the running (sick puppy I am, eh?).  I was well happy afterwards (just over 1000 calories in just over an hour).  I made the ultimate deal with PT.  When I get down to 85kgs, I will start going to the gym.  She thinks that's very achievable...  Damn, maybe I should've said 75kgs ;)


When I got home I had a quick shower and then cooked dinner.  Wifey's off doing her Duke of Edinburgh purgatory and we've got a house guest for the weekend so I thought I'd best do something tasty...which I did (even if I do say so myself).  An adaptation of the pork salad on this week's menu (i.e., hardly anything suggested in the recipe and more of what we had left in the house (apple, pear...).  Poor guest - it was all a little too healthy for him.  He had to go and get the mayo and some bread & butter.


Oh, well talking about food (mmm, food...*drools*), how uber chuffed was I to read Mish's email and to see my name as a winner of a prize?  Bit of a shock there, but yay!  I've got about two or three George Foreman grills back home in NZ (either in storage or in Mum's cupboards...or possibly given away - can't remember) but we don't have one here.  I quite like using them as it saves wasting the electricity heating up the oven (will admit to not liking cleaning them...but then, I don't like dishes duty, either - haha).  Big congrats to the other 19 winners of that challenge, too.  There were some scrummy sounding recipes in there (even the fish dishes sounded & looked good...and I don't do food from the ocean).  Hmm...I might've just been bitten by the winning bug after a lifetime of never winning much.  Perhaps I should start eyeing up the overall first prize for myself? ;)  Haha - not even.  Too many more deserving in the program than me (I find myself lapsing too much).

12WBT +54

Rest day.  Nothing much happening.  Why a rest day?  Well, given my PT session is now tomorrow and not Saturday, and I'm doing exercise on both Sat and Sun, a rest day is called for.  Also, meeting Wifey at work at 6pm meant that I didn't have time in the end to sneak anything in.  Lazy or what? ;)


Still happy that, despite feeling like it's a fat week, I still managed a loss.  Here's hoping for a few more before the end of the program (vanity is taking over - I need to look good to impress at the end of season party - haha).


Food?  What've I had on this fine day?  Brekkie was crumpets (naked as the day they were packed).  Lunch was the left over minestrone.  My only issue with lunch was not so much the food but the fact that the microwave heated the plate up too much and I burnt my finger.  Even have a lovely wee blister to show for it - grr ;)  Ended up having a late dinner as by the time I'd met Wifey and we'd popped in to the supermarket for her to collect things for a school excursion thingee she's going on, it was about 7.30pm when we walked in the door (s'funny - walking in the door.  You're not really walking in the door, per se, are you?  Odd turn of phrase).  Had the chicken parmigiana.  Was nice, filling dish.  Just what was called for.


I was naughty again with snacks.  Had a few rice crackers while arsing about in the kitchen again.  Oh well.  We don't normally have them so I figure it's not so bad (let me keep telling myself this - it helps make EP a happy chappy ;) ).

12WBT +53

Weather.  It plays havoc with one's body.  Okay, so I'm not 100% positive I can blame the weather, but it makes for a good excuse.  When I woke up it was like the plug had been pulled through the night and the battery hadn't charged.  Energy levels were low...very low.  Even sitting up was enough to make me let out a huge sigh - big enough to make anyone think I'd just run around Australia a couple of times.  Seriously.  Pooped.  


The day didn't get much better, either.  Weighing in was a blunder and a half.  I was more than adamant that I'd gained weight, which was not helping with the mood.  Stepped up to the plate, sighed and stepped on.  So didn't want to look.  I was standing there toying with the idea that I'd just make up a number (i.e., guesstimate how much I'd put on) rather than looking and facing the truth.  Turns out, had I done that I would've been guesstimating the wrong way.  Dropped 1.2kgs.  I know it's a loss and I'm more than happy about that but...I'd like it to be more (as would everyone weighing themselves).  It seems like my thoughts on the last couple of weeks (not being very good in terms of enthusiasm etc) have played out on the scales.  I know I have lots more weight to go but short of upping the exercise and starving myself, I just can't see it happening.  Don't get me wrong, I don't expect it to fall off; I'm likening myself to Oliver now - "please sir, can I lose some more?" ;)


Work was the most boring place to be today.  It was one of those days where time stands still.  By 10am, I could've gone home - it felt like I'd been there for well over the standard 7.5 hours (and it had only been 2.5 hours!).  It was productive though, I'll grant it that.  Got lots of little things done and am now ready to start getting into doing the literature reviews I have to do.  Sadly, I'm looking forward to this.  Geeky, eh?


I really enjoyed lunch today.  Rather than the leftover minestrone from the night before, we had the Mediterranean vege sandwich.  Tasty.  Although, it might be another one that needs assembled at work as it was fairly soggy...


Again, second consecutive day of loving the DVD even more than usual.  Perhaps it was because of the thunder, lightening and rain outside that I was purposely blocking out...  Still.  Who am I to complain when in 50 minutes I can knock off 705 calories.  Yeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Just wish I could keep it up and it result in bigger losses...  Finally finished the last of the fitness tests.  Who would've thought that I spoke too soon yesterday about not improving?  Not me, that's for sure.  I finally made improvements in the abs! From a measley level one to a mediocre level three.  I'm quietly chuffed about that.  Also made a huge gain in press ups (from 29 to 41 in a minute).  The wall sit was a bit of a let down this time around.  No progress.  Overall, more gains across the board, even if they weren't all great.  Go me!

12WBT +52

I'm feeling the need to get into my old routine again.  No, not the come home and flop down on the couch until it's time for bed.  The old routine of being disciplined: exercise and blog maintenance.  It's so easy for one to become almost complacent and slowly fall back into the old, bad habits.  I feel that, upon reflection over the last couple of weeks, this is what I've done.  There are no excuses.  It's just a case of not keeping an eye on the ball.  Some of my entries - even though each and every day since the first day of the pre-season are documented - are rather poorly done.  In part, this is due to not having anything to say.  It's also been a case of not wanting to express all my feelings about this process.  Why not?  I dunno.  It's just my personality, I guess.  I'm one of those people who is like a sponge; I will sit and absorb the surroundings and, wherever possible, avoid being put in the awkward position of being the centre of attention.  I like being a people-watcher or the person who does the work behind the scenes.  Always have; always will.


This seems like an odd introduction to today's post as it's all over the place (mind you, if you think that's bad - try walking around for a day with my head.  It's hard following all the trains of thought that go on in there...especially with the high frequency of derailments!) but I do have a point (otherwise I'd be pointless - get it?  ;) ).  I popped into the forums again the other night and read a few of the posts.  What I realised (re-realised, actually) is that the online arena for me is just like real life.  While it's often said that people take on a different personality online, I'm not one of them.  I am who I am.  It's interesting being the observer in the (online) room and watching the various personalities.  What I notice is there appears to be a lot of people who, more than likely without any intentions of doing so, shut others out/down by the way they speak (just like in real life).  Perhaps I'm more aware of this not so much because I am one who sometimes feels I get shut down, but because I've worked in the online environment before (teaching postgraduate courses online).  Who knows.  I just know that it kinda wiggs me out.  Also, the more people there are in a room (be it physical or online), the more I shrink away into a corner.  That doesn't help matters.


Can I just give an example of what I mean by feeling almost shut out/down?  People who are, by my comparison, tiny (e.g., close to half my starting weight) who are 'struggling' to get to their goal weight.  I mean, good on them for having a goal and working towards it - that's great!  But when you're about twice their weight and struggling to drop something (and no where near what your ideal weight would be), it's kind of difficult to comprehend.  It makes me think of all the advertising for gyms and a lot of the weight loss programs out there.  Let's have yet another place for the beautiful people to show off (not that anyone on this program is showing off - in fact, one thing I like about it is that it's advertising all seems to be word of mouth!).  


All that negativity aside, the one good thing about the forums is that the positivity exudes from every virtual corner.  Even people who are having a rough time of things are still, in various ways, rather positive.  Sure, you'd expect it to be like that given everyone in the program has a common goal (or an element of a common goal).  It's great to see that if someone is having a bad day/week/month, then (a) they're not alone in it and (b) there are some wonderful, supportive people around to help keep them chipper.  


I suppose I never expected there to be so many people taking the program up and, as mentioned, the more people - even online - the more I will try to blend into the background.  It all comes down to me having a general lack of confidence within myself.  I've always associated my lack of confidence with being overweight (I also think that's why I'm such a sarcastic bugger - always tried to use humour/wit about myself to starve off other people doing it for me (no pun intended there, either)).  I think when I lost weight while living in London (without even trying to!), my confidence increased a wee bit.  Since I've been in Australia and gained a bit of that weight back, it kinda sunk again.


Hmm.  Guess who's having a case of the 'fats' (I don't think I'm going to be losing any weight this week so I'm all 'negative Nigel').  Enough of that now.  One shouldn't be allowed to write such crap on the Internet (it's already got more than enough!).


So.  Today.  Brekkie was cereal with berries & yoghurt.  I've gone back to putting in the rolled oats (low GI) with the cereal, along with cinnamon & ground linseed with the yoghurt.  It really is amazing how the rolled oats do help keep you fuller for longer.  Now, saying that, I was quite peckish today and ended up having my lunch earlier than I normally do (by about an hour).  Lunch had to be modified again today - we had lettuce, tomato, grated babybel (mmm) and quinoa wraps.  I really do love quinoa.  Wasn't so sure about it the first time Wifey introduced me to it; now - different story.  Another low GI portion and it's worked, too.  Not even hungry after doing my exercise when I got home.


Actually, exercise was fun today (and killing 665 more calories doesn't hurt).  I know, if you know me, you'd find that to be the oddest thing you'd ever hear (or read) me utter.  It's true though.  Don't know why, but I really, really enjoyed it.  Perhaps it's because yesterday the blisters were a bit niggly and I couldn't do it.  I really don't know.  Here's hoping I can keep up with the enjoyment of it :)


Had the minestrone for dinner.  We halved the menu size (not realising that we were meant to keep some for leftovers at the time) and still had enough left for a lunch each.  How good was that :)  It was a lot more filling that the lamb cutlets.  I had all good intentions of finishing off the fitness test bits that were still outstanding...but didn't get to them.  Tomorrow is another day.  Now, after lamenting above about the forums, I did slip on and post a couple of comments.  One was (more lamenting) about not being able to improve in my ab section of the fitness test.  I just can't seem to get past the first one, which is embarrassing (when you consider that I've not had babies or the likes - I'm just fat and lazy).  The second one was about the confusion about the new accelerator day being introduced.  Apparently, despite it not being on the menu etc when I printed it on Friday and Mish saying it started next week, it started this week.  Oh well.  I don't mind too much.  Next week is fine for me.  Just a wee glitch (and the only one I've noticed in the program so far - major small one, that is ;) ).  No one is perfect (except me ;) ).

12WBT +51

Another day, another dollar.  Don't know who coined that, but how appropriate is it today?  I'm not really complaining.  I finished work at 3pm today (they owe me hours from last week and by joves, I'm going to claw them all back...or just take them).  


Came home to do my daily exercise.  Did about 20mins of it before my tootsies were giving me an ultimatum: "continue or suffer the consequences of the pain of burst blisters - that's right.  More than just one blister, baby.  Go on.  Dare ya.  Double dare ya.  I will even physical challenge ya".  Who was I to argue with the wrath of the blisters?  I was happy I survived 20mins, but really, spare the effort.  Tomorrow it'll be right though.  It's my turn to throw the ultimatum at those there blisters on my tootsies: "I shall concede one day to you but no more.  If you ain't calmed down by the time I get home from work tomorrow I will inflict the curs'd needle upon thee and strike each of you down with one foul sweep of it.  Ha!  Haha!".  


Not really that crazy.  I don't usually have imaginary conversations with blisters.  I think I shall sit here and wait for the meds to kick in...


Fitness test today.  Oh, how much do I love Mish for throwing these at us every four weeks?  Well, I don't mind most of them - I just don't like the ones that I can't seem to do any improving in (typically the sit ups and the stupid one with the ruler (see - really dislike that one!)).  Let's see if there are any improvements this time around?


Well, there are some improvements.  That's a good sign.  The measuring tape is showing minor signs of liking me more (I guess, less is more sometimes).  Didn't end up doing all of the tests - improved on the 1km again (much less of an improvement than four weeks ago, but hey).  Will do the rest tomorrow evening (read: when I can be arsed ;) ).


Had crumpets for brekkie today.  Didn't feel like cereal.  Just sayin'.  Am getting quite used to them without the massive blob of butter I used to enjoy.  Not missing it.  At all.  Lunch was not what was on the menu.  There seems to be a lot of fish in this week's menu so we've swung into adaption mode.  Wifey made a lovely four bean salad with lettuce, egg, carrot and capsicum...and a drizzle of balsamic.  Scrummy!  I think the fact that it was my day off from making lunches made it taste even sweeter :)


Dinner comprised of the lamb cutlets.  They were nice (beautifully cooked) but I don't know.  Neither Wifey or I were satisfied afterwards.  Not sure what it was - just something wasn't resonating.  I forgot to pick up the green beans at the supermarket so we ended up with frozen corn & peas.  That wasn't the problem.  Wish I could put my finger on it...


I am beginning to question what's happened to the "old" me.  I'm having great difficulty in believing that I am so getting into these fun runs that I've even collated a list of runs next year that we may enter.  Fortuitously, someone on the forums happened to ask if anyone knew of any more coming up - just after I'd compiled my wee list (even though I know it's by no means a complete list!).  Will be interesting to see how many I can get through next year.  I know we won't be even considering the first one on the list (the "resolution run") in early January.  We'll be most likely sunning ourselves on Zanzibar when that's on (even then, the old me wouldn't have been too keen on doing that, either.  He was a fussy, lazy sod!).

12WBT +50

Woke up to the city covered in mist.  I love days like this.  It means it will all burn off and we'll be left with a glorious, sunny day.  Perfect for those of us getting up to do the 10km fun run out at Olympic Park.  Just sayin'.


The downside is that, for Wifey and I, it takes 1hr 20mins to get there (and, obviously, the same to get back).  At 6.30am, we were out of the house and on the way to the bus (would've been a train but there are track works).  Short of the fact that neither of us were really ready to be awake then...on a Sunday (I'm sure I whinged yesterday about being up and out of the house early...I'm good like that).


By the time we got to Olympic Park, the sun was out and the mist gone.  Beautiful.  It was bound to be a good day.  Met up with my family, also doing it, and a girl from work.  Standing around talking was a good start.  By the time the starter's gun went off and we crossed the starting line I was so pumped and ready to run.  I felt really good about it.  My pace was steady and I was breathing well, not huffing and puffing...much.  Sadly, by the 3km mark, I had a foot that was killing me.  On the inside of my foot I could feel a huge blister coming on.  Why now?  Why at all?  I can only put it down to my sneakers being soaked from yesterday's training session (because someone still can't face a gym yet - no prizes for guessing who). I couldn't run it all (or even most) like I'd planned.  Rather, I thought I'll run/walk it.  Run for a couple of minutes, walk for a couple.  This was going well...until I caught up with my workmate just past the 5km mark.  At this stage, we decided to walk it to the 8km mark and then run home, which we did.  I ended up doing it in 1hr 12min.  Not as good as I'd have liked - but I did it.  It was about the same as the 9km bridge run time so huzzah!


My poor tootsies are suffering though.  I hate blisters.  They're more annoying than sore, but I'll build my bridge after a bit more grizzling about them ;)


The run managed to kill 1184 calories - am happy with that (considering all I had for brekkie was a shake...and lunch was only a couple of crumpets with honey - oh, and one with marmite...mmm, marmite!).  I wish someone could explain calorie burning to me though.  I might ask Mish about it.  Why could I burn 1184 in 1:12:32, when Wifey did 780 in 1:23:??.  I hate not knowing this stuff...  I guess this reminds me, I should ensure the HRM has an accurate weight...


I was rather pooped by the time we got home and I won't say that I had a grandpa nap ;)  Really don't know how we spent the arvo...it just slipped by.  Had the lovely basil & mushroom risotto for dinner (even if I do pick out all the mushroom chunks it still tastes goodly).  Even had a can of creamed rice for dessert.  Hey!  98% fat free.  We deserved it - lol.  Just means we won't have it later in the week when it's on the menu :)


PS: 50 days of the program.  Only...28 or so left to go.  That, my friends, is beyond scary - it's terrifying!  How fast is this program flying by???