Extra day

I was going home to Wellington tonight, but now I need to stay an extra day.

I'd just like to point out my decision has nothing to do with the fact they're forecasting 140kph winds at Wellington airport tonight (I go all cold and clammy just typing that).

Lucky I did some washing in my hotel last night so I have some clean undies!

I'll be able to do another HIIT in the hotel gym tonight. Did my first one last night (6 minutes) on the treadmill and loooooved it. Boy, does that get the sweat glands pumping. Eeewww!

I'm on track with my promises for this week (except for a slice of the boss' birthday cake yesterday). I'll have to weigh on Saturday now, so I'll set my targets for next week then.

Hopefully next week will be calmer for me - only in Auckland on Monday night - but Mark is working in Fiji all week.

Oh, well, separation keeps the relationship fresh!

Promises

I was doing the blog-troll thing this morning, searching for new ideas on how best to kick myself in the butt.

I have considered looking at other weight management programmes, but when I'm honest with myself, I know that's just another form of procrastination. I have all the tools I need to lose and maintain - I just need to work out how to get my head to agree with me.

While reading about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) over at Marla's place, I came across this gem, about how she felt the first time she completed her 8 week HIIT programme:

I felt SO empowered and strong; it really focused my efforts and taught me a lot about discipline and motivation. I felt so proud of myself for doing this; nobody was forcing me, there was no obligation to anyone but myself, but I learned to take that obligation seriously - a promise to myself should be treated with the same respect I give a promise made to someone else.

This is spot on. So much of this is about self-respect. I would never let someone else down week after week; why am I doing it to myself?

So, what promises do I want to make to myself? There's no point in promising things that I can easily do. But I can't make my expectations too difficult to reach - that's a sure way to hit the self-destructive spiral.

I also need to consider what my lifestyle is like at the moment. I am traveling out of town every week. I have done this before and know that it becomes easier (less tiring) once you get into the swing of things. But when I used to travel before I was over 130kg. I'd sit in my hotel room at night and eat crap. I have to break the mental association between the two.

So, my big promise is:

September will be a month of change for me. The change will be that each week I will set achievable food and exercise goals, based on what I know is coming up that week. And at the end of each week I will review and report on my progress.

Because Friday is the day I weigh myself, I will set each week's goals that day. With five days to go till the first Friday in September, here's my warm-up plan:

Food:
Take cereal with me to Auckland so I eat good breakfasts. If we have a breakfast meeting, eat in my room first and just have coffee at the meeting. Because I know the muesli at Mink is just loaded with sugar and fat.
I'm out for dinner Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Make choices that fit the NoCount plan, don't feel obliged to finish everything on my plate, don't have dessert. Maximum of two glasses of wine each night, no other alcohol the rest of the week.
No chocolate or other sweets. I ate enough of that shit in the weekend. Have a Jarrah hot choc each evening as a treat - but only if I have stuck to the no sweets rule.
Make sure lunch fits the NoCount plan.

Exercise:
I did nothing this morning, so I only have four days to get going.
Two HIIT sessions. These fit in well with the hotel 'gym' - a large cupboard with a treadmill, a cross trainer and a bike. They are all good quality machines, though, and there is a plasma screen so I can watch MTV or the news.
One high intensity cardio session - either a boxing class or 30 minutes of treadmill running/cross training.
A one hour walk.

Accountability:
Report back on Friday.

But how much?

Okay, I briefly mentioned it in Friday night's bitch post, but how much did I put on last week?

1.6kg!

There a lots of 'reasons' - travel for the tournament and for work, my period, hardly any exercise, drinking way more (booze) than usual, eating like a pig. And I've continued doing that (the porcine eating thing) even after I weighed in on Friday and saw how much damage I'd done.

There's even more background stuff behind all that, but it really boils down to LAZINESS. Too lazy to exercise, to eat properly, to think about why I'm behaving like this.

And I'm not going to promise an instant turnaround. Each day I'm just going to TRY and do better.

The dinner on Friday night was okay, but yesterday was pretty awful. The weather matched my mood - we had 100mm of rain in 10 hours. So, the drive to Levin and back was a bunch of fun, and the boys lost. Coming back was particularly slow as the main road at Paekakariki was closed again - half the hill was sitting on the road.

Mark and I decided not to go to the stadium last night, so Jake took some of his mates. It was much more pleasant watching at home (especially because Wellington won) - our season seats are under cover, but you still get soaked walking there and back from the carpark.

And getting up at 1am was worth it too, to watch the ABs dish out a hiding to South Africa.

Having a much more pleasant day today, but desperately ignoring all the work I have to do...

Hopefully this is a rare occurrence

I try not to bitch and moan on here too much, but today I just have to get it out.

I'm tired, I've barely exercised all week, my eating is bizarre, I've gained weight, I have a pimple on my chin and I need to kick something.

Okay, yeah, I have my period.

And I was looking forward to a nice quiet weekend, but that's been stuffed up by my own stupidity.

Tonight we have an end of season dinner for the 1st XV and I have to take a plate. I'd completely forgotten about the whole thing until about midday today (and I only got home from Auckland after 7 last night anyway), so I've picked up a dozen bacon and egg mini-bagels from Wholly Bagels. That should earn me plenty of 'white girl can't cook' looks. To cap it all off, I'm chairman of the club so I have to make a speech. That should be fun.

Tomorrow our 2nd XV have their semi final. I offered to take a car (cut my tongue out) without realising they are playing in Levin - 75 minutes drive away. There goes Saturday.

To the stadium tomorrow night to watch Wellington play Auckland. I love my rugby and the Wellington team, but they're playing like crap and I have the feeling it's going to be just awful.

Two social events to fit in Sunday afternoon - ones that I'd usually enjoy, but I'll have to snap myself out of this blue funk first!

Now, how should the speech go tonight?

I guess 'You had a damn average season and never got close to reaching your potential' will go down like a cup of cold sick?

How about 'I hope next year's team is better coached' or 'If you thought more about rugby and less about fighting you might run in a few tries'?

See, I told you I was in a foul mood. Where's my book of socially acceptable cliches and platitudes...

This might take a while...

Well, the last few days have been pretty busy. I have lurked at a few blogs, but not commented, and certainly haven't got round to a post of my own - obviously.

I was intending to do a big catch-up from my hotel room (Auckland again) last night. After work I went to the gym, showered, had some dinner and sat on the bed to relax. I woke up at about 9.30, took off my clothes and got between the covers instead of on top of them. Laptop stayed in its case.

I do have to admit four days away at tournament was pretty tiring (coffee is my friend during the day, Jack Daniels is my BEST friend in the evening). But what has wiped me out this week has been getting home at 10pm on Sunday after a six hour drive, then flying out again at 6.30am on Tuesday. The 30 or so hours in between were a whirl of unpacking, packing, working out what the hell is happening at work (my offsider is away), laundry, food shopping and some sleep.

Enough moaning - here are a few events from the trip to Rotorua.

HIGHLIGHT I got to meet Lee-Anne! She very kindly came up to the motel to see me at a moment's notice after work on Friday. We managed to squeeze in a couple of glasses of wine and a quick gasbag. We have a lot in common, I think, and it was a real pleasure to meet such a lovely woman.

SORT OF HIGHLIGHT Our junior team won the gold medal in their division. I don't mean to be grudging with my praise, but I do care more about our senior team...

LOWLIGHT Our senior team only got fifth out of the ten teams in their division. May not sound too bad to you, but they are usually in the medals and have never finished outside the top four before.

INJURY LIST Jake ended his record of not subbing out of the pool at all for the last four seasons when he took a massive kick in the back - right where his stress fractures are. Of course, he was only out of the pool for about a minute. Ben had clearly done some damage to his foot (trying to forcibly open one of the motel rooms!), so we followed the age-old treatment of strapping it tight and telling him to put his big-boy panties on. Subsequent x-rays showed no major damage.

HUMOUR HIGHLIGHT On Saturday evening we took all the boys to the Heritage hotel over the road to watch the All Blacks batter the Wallabies into submission on the big screen there.
A very attractive young woman was working in the bar - and of course our older boys immediately started acting five years older than they really are in a desperate attempt to impress her.
It was an opportunity too good to miss. The sports teacher with us convinced her to slip Jake her cellphone number - but it was really the teacher's number.
An exchange of texts between them in the next couple of hours ended with Jake going back over to the hotel to meet up with her - only to get his photo taken by the group of so-called adults waiting there to catch him.
He did take it in very good humour, but I suspect the teacher will need to watch his back for the rest of the year. A revenge attack is very likely.

STUPIDITY STORY At 6.30am one morning I went out for a run. It was clearly a bit frosty out, but I just wore my usual get-up of running tights and a dri-fit shirt. After all, I'm a Wellington girl and we know all about cold. Stupid, stupid girl. Well, as I got further down into the valley it just got colder and colder. My hands were bright purple and twitching from the cold. Eventually I had to stop running because my lungs were too sore. All the local runners must have been able to spot the tourist from a mile off - they were all wearing long sleeves and gloves.

FOOD Over three days, the 23 of us consumed:
10 dozen bread rolls filled with ham, cheese and salad
12 loaves of toast bread and various spreads to go with them
2 boxes of Weetbix, 4 of Honey Puffs, 2 of muesli and 2 bags of cornflakes
38 litres of fruit juice
16 litres of milk
8 bags of pasta
8 jars of pasta sauce
4 kilos of mince
4 kilos of chicken breast
2 kilos each of carrots, courgettes, mushrooms and spinach
12 boxes of muesli bars and 8 of fruit roll-ups
9 kilos of apples and about 15 kilos of bananas
6 litres of ice cream
Assorted containers of home-baking
3 dozen raspberry buns
Takeaways for dinner on the way home to Wellington
Whatever junk the kids bought themselves
An enormous amount of tea and coffee
(about 8 bottles of wine consumed by the adults and an undisclosed amount of Jack Daniels consumed by yours truly)

PHEW!

Roadtrip and other ramblings

Jake and I (and 16 other boys and 7 other adults) are off to Rotorua this morning for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Underwater Hockey Championships. I have always made it a policy not to travel on the bus with smelly teenage boys, so Robyn (mother of Jake's best mate) and I are going in my car. We're also taking her teenage daughter to drop her off in Taupo on the way.

Girlie roadtrip, my favourite! Plenty of coffee and a quick stop at that Bendon factory outlet in Otaki. Sweet!

The roads will probably be busier than expected, as half the country seems to be headed for Ngaruawahia for Dame Te Ata's tangi.

This will be the third year of the last four Jake and I have been away for Mark's birthday, as it always clashes with winter tournament week. The cupboards are well stocked with treats for him while we're away (including a little chocolate mud cake). He won't suffer too much - there's an industry function on Thursday night and he's racing the 600 (not the new bike) at Manfield on Saturday.

Hopefully he'll have eaten all the cake before I get back!

The motel in Rotorua has no ovens (!), so the usual feeds of roast chicken and baked pasta dishes are out. I have some lovely big stockpots with me, so stovetop pasta dishes and butter chicken look likely. Unless they've got a BBQ, in which case homemade burgers will make an appearance.

About the $900 clothing spree - sometimes you need to take me with a grain of salt. Although I did get two pairs of Levis yesterday. I haven't worn Levis for about 15 years and I just love them. Marg, I had to chuckle when Mark pointed out I now have a gap between my legs, it reminded me of an old post of yours.

A big wave to my parents, who are on their 2 month holiday in Canada. They were flying from San Francisco to Canada the day the terrorism arrests were made, so you can imagine they had all sorts of fun getting on that flight - particularly as they didn't know about it all until they got to the airport.

My August exercise challenge looks like going down the toilet. When I set all my goals I didn't know I would be going to Auckland every week. I'm not going to get bent out of shape about it, so long as I get some sort of exercise every day and my weight heads in the right direction. Eating-wise, the Auckland trips are quite good for me - I stay in an apartment and the only food is what I buy, so there can be no pantry-grazing. I stock up on fruit the day I get there and then usually get something like Japanese takeout for dinner. Lots of healthy options in Parnell, so that makes it easier. Although I have to admit, Emily, there is the treat of Burger Fuel just up the road.

Time to pack up the car and wake up the boy.

How well do you know your man?

I figure that after close to 15 years, I know mine pretty well, as the following little tale demonstrates.

When Mark got home from work last night, I was pottering about in the kitchen, as you do. His normal routine would be: put on the kettle, go upstairs and get changed, come down and make a coffee, go down to the garage to drink said coffee, smoke cigarettes and watch the news.

Instead, he hung about in the kitchen 'chatting'.

"Hmmmm," thought I, " something's up, here."

Now the atmosphere tended to hint that whatever was up wasn't about to break my heart or cause a panic, so I waited it out instead of pumping him for information.

"I accidentally bought another motorbike last night" was the eventual admission.

Of course, one accidentally buys vehicles every day.

Turns out he put a bid on a bike on TradeMe, not realising it had already reached the reserve, so he ended up winning the auction.

We're only talking $900 here, so it was easy for me to be calm and understanding. And his bikes are his hobby, so another race bike won't hurt.

But I'm sure he knows me well enough, too, to realise he's just given me license to 'accidentally' buy $900 worth of clothes...

Thanks Kathryn

I want to thank Kathryn for making it to goal. Of course I want to congratulate her as well, but mostly I want to say thank you.

I have spent the weekend chanting her motto for last week everytime I have felt tempted to stuff something I don't need in my mouth.

I'm hoping to make 'Stop dicking around' my eating mantra for the next little while - is it okay if I borrow it Kathryn?

We all know I've got the exercise thing pretty well nailed, but my eating really needs work.

Tagged

A couple of you have tagged me, so here goes...

THE RULES: The player of this game starts with "5 weird things/habits about yourself ". In the end you need to choose 5 people to be tagged and list their names. The people who get tagged need to write a blog about their 5 weird things/habits, as well as state this rule clearly, then tag 5 more victims. Don't forget to leave your victim a comment that says "you're tagged!" in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

My five things:

1. I was born with pierced ears. It's true! At the top of my ears, where the front joins onto my head, there is a small hole. It doesn't actually go all the way through, but it looks like a piercing. This is a family thing, although some of my siblings don't have it, and some only on one side. It hasn't continued onto the next generation at all.
2. Continuing the birthday theme others have started: my birthday is the third of March - 03/03. My two dearest friends have their birthdays on 02/02 and 08/08. That would probably have got us burned at the stake in the Middle Ages.
3. I always unpack in hotel rooms. Even for just a one-night stay, I unpack everything and put it in the drawers, etc. The only exception is if it's just one night on the way to somewhere else and I have a couple of week's worth of clothes - but I still unpack what I'll be wearing the next day.
4. To stop myself hyperventilating during take-offs, landings and turbulence while flying (I'm flight-phobic), I clench and unclench my fists with each breath. This helps me keep the speed of my breathing under control, but I think my fellow passengers find it somewhat odd.
5. I don't have house plants. They all die on me, because I'm not interested in looking after them. My sister gave me a lovely begonia a few weeks ago, and I'm struggling to keep it alive.

I've completely lost track of who has or hasn't been tagged, so if you want to do this, tag yourself.

Gluttony

Not your standard type of gluttony, though. Nope, I didn't inhale a 2 litre tub of hokey pokey icecream sprinkled with a crumbled Flake or six. Nor did I chow down on a blue-grilled T-bone steak with crispy kumara fries smothered in garlic mayo.

Uh-uh, none of the straightforward food-based gluttony for me.

I am officially a glutton for punishment.

Obviously my exercise schedule isn't enough for this masochist. I can't be satisfied with six gym workouts, 2 aqua classes and learning to skip.

Tonight I let the boss talk me into going to boxing with him.

One hour of punch combinations, bag work, pushups (I still do girls' ones), squats and killer ab stuff to finish it off. And we started with 5 minutes of skipping - during which I only stopped half a dozen times due to entanglement issues.

I'm now sitting in my hotel room (I'm in Auckland) quietly aching. I suspect that might turn into pretty damn rowdy aching by morning.

And, yes, I loved it.

By the way to the Auckland bloggers: I'm only in Auckland one night this week, but starting the week after next I'll be here three days a week for at least a month. We'll have to get something organised...

As if I needed another exercise challenge...

...but of course I can't resist!

My gym is running a 5 minute rowing challenge - how far can you row in 5 minutes.

On my first go I managed 1135m.

That puts me third among the women. Apparently the two people ahead of me are a 14 year old basketballer who stands over 185cm (6'1") and a 30 year old triathlete.

Therefore, I consider myself to be leading the masters' section!

I'll try again next weekend. I've worked out I have to stay over 42 strokes a minute (geek) to whip their arses.

Not that I'm competitive...

Pine trees, noisy birds and other ramblings

I woke during the night with a snuffy nose and a sore throat.

Yeehaw!

Why would I be happy about this? Because I know it's caused by the pollen from the pine tree out front. And that means that spring is just around the corner.

This was reinforced this morning by hearing a bird tweetering before I heard the first international flight leave the airport (which happens just after 6am) so the days are definitely getting longer.

I can cope with the effects of hay fever (with the assistance of a few chemicals) better than I can cope with the effects of winter.

We had an early, hard winter this year and I am well over it. Now it seems spring is just around the corner and surely my spirits will rise.

I had a 300 gram loss this week, so I now have to lose 1.5kg to meet my end of August goal of 76kg.

Jake managed to crash his car yesterday (it's okay Gran, he's fine) after losing the back end on a sharp corner in the wet. Because we only have 3rd party insurance on that car it may not be worth fixing. And, of course, he was counting on selling it to pay for part of his trip next year. Oh well, he'll just have to work harder...

I've bought my skipping rope (August Exercise Challenge). I'm going to take it with me to the gym in the morning and give it a whirl. The place is usually pretty deserted at 6am on a Saturday - I'm obviously a sad bastard with no life! My trainer will be there though, and no doubt will laugh his arse off.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Challenges

Yesterday marked the end of my Winter Exercise Challenge.

My tasks were:

Walk the half-marathon course
Ride 50 km
Have two weeks where I go to the gym six times (like I used to)
In one week, swim for half an hour, three times
Try a new form of exercise I've never done before - maybe a group class?
Learn to use six machines at the gym I've not used before.

The only one I didn't do was the 50km ride. That was an overly ambitious goal, as I haven't been bike training at all, I've never ridden over 20km before and the weather wasn't likely to co-operate. So, I'll add that one to a challenge over summer, I think.

I completed everything else, and now have my new form of exercise (aqua) as part of my regular routine.

I really enjoyed this challenge format and have decided to make it a monthly thing - and have extended it a bit as well...

August Exercise Challenge
Go to the gym five times a week every week in August.
Try a Pilates class (I have a voucher for a free one, so money is no excuse).
Buy a skipping rope and be able to skip for 10 minutes without stopping (or tangling my feet and breaking my nose on the garage floor). Many thanks to Marg for throwing down that particular gauntlet.
Make sure I go for at least two one-hour walks during the four days I'm in Rotorua for nationals.

August Domestic Challenge (a bid to bring more order to my home, as well as my body)
Get the family photo I had taken for my mother-in-law framed and sent away.
Tidy up the office at home (unpack everything and get shelves to put it on).
Clean out my WHOLE wardrobe (including the shelves at the top), sort all the clothes and actually get around to taking them to Women's Refuge.

August Weight Challenge
I've joined Paulene's Spring Challenge, which will get me through the next three months. For the first part of it, I want to be at the top of my healthy weight range - so 76kg - by the end of August.