It's all good

Sorry, I know you all must think I've dropped into the depths of despair with Jake's departure, but I just haven't got around to blogging.

The departure wasn't as bad as I expected - the lead-up was much worse! Once we got busy with packing, washing, shopping, etc, I was pretty much fine.

Lots of his mates came to the airport to see him off on Thursday morning. And now that he's gone, well, I just keep thinking what an exciting time they're having.

Jake rang on Saturday from London and we've had an email as well. The flight was hellish - not helped by his hangover! They were overawed by London on their first day, but got their bearings by doing an all-day bus tour the next day. Jake reckons it was like visiting the Monopoly board.

I went to watch his old rugby team play their first game of the season on Saturday. And, of course, while I was there I got roped into managing a team - the 2nd XV this time. I just couldn't bear to see the coach struggling to organise it all himself. And I do like to stay in touch with the boys. So that will help fill my weekends!

My exercise has been rubbish for nearly two weeks, but eating has been okay. I'll weigh in tomorrow on the first of the month, (expecting a gain) and then hit the routines again.

Auckland tomorrow - life is never quiet!

This time tomorrow...

Yes, Jake leaves tomorrow morning.

As the time draws near I am finding this increasingly hard to face with good humour. So far my meltdowns have been in private, but the airport tomorrow is going to be incredibly difficult.

We haven't seen much of Jake in the last week or so, as he rushes about fitting in all the social things he wants to do before he goes. I suspect there is also an element of keeping busy so he doesn't have to think about leaving.

Last week we gave his poenamo so he could carry his homeland and family with him.

His bag isn't packed, his washing isn't done, his room isn't tidied. No doubt his loving Mum will help him get all the essential things done this afternoon and then finish the rest after he goes.

And somehow I will find the strength to let him get on that plane.

Quickly

Hi, y'all!

Flat out, back soon, not much news anyway.

Chris - not ignoring your lovely compliment, just thinking on my nominees.

Eating good, exercise average, life good too.

Likes to get his gear off!

No, the painting didn't go down any further than the top of his jeans. If it did, believe me, he would have been showing you the whole thing!

This boy has no body issues at all. In fact, one of nick names is Ridgey (we all know how much Matthew Ridge likes to get his gear off in public!).

Remember, this is the boy who posed for this:

And he's the boy who turned up at his girlfriend's school on Valentines Day, wearing a cowboy hat and a sequined thong.

And he's the boy who walked into McD's in his boxers to order his meal - because someone else would pay for it if he did.

The list goes on...no body issues at all!

It's an jungle out there

Last night (Saturday) I heard Jake come home in the small hours of the morning. The fact that I heard him come home made me suspect he'd packed away a fair bit of booze at whatever party he'd been to - if he's sober he usually manages to not wake me.

After listening to him rattle up and down the stairs a couple of times, I called out to see if he was okay. He came into our room, turned on the light and looked like this:

What a classic. He and his mate Casey were going to an dress-up party - animal theme - so Casey's father painted them to look like this. Apparently there was a guy at the party wearing a tiger suit - he took it off when these two guys arrived!

Spent the afternoon with Lucinda today. I dragged her along to a water polo game - Jake's old team made (and then won) the national secondary school finals today. Then we just hung out at my place until I fed her a homemade roast dinner and dropped her home.

And so the weekend is over and another hectic week begins. I do feel rather like I need a holiday.

Edit after Mandy's comment: the father is a mural painter and cartoonist, and did lots of backdrop work for Lord of the Rings.

Yay for the weekend!

The last few days have been very hectic, so exercise has fallen by the wayside, but my eating has been fine. I'll be able to make up for much of the missed exercise over the weekend - starting with a nice long walk around the shops today; feel the need for some new winter clothes!

The house has been full of teenagers this week. Jake's not working anymore and quite a few of his friends are on varsity holidays, so there have been many marathon X-box sessions and some all-night cricket watching. The wheelie bin is full of beer bottles and pizza boxes!

It's not just Jake I'm going to miss - I'll miss having my house full of young people having a good time.

Last night we were firmly reminded that rugby is a winter game - it was about 8 degrees at the stadium. Good win by my beloved Canes though.

Escaped a Black Friday without any major incidents - and not being in Auckland I didn't have to follow the office tradition of black Sambuca shots!

Slightly stuffed

Things I have learned today: I cannot run 5km at 7.30 at night. It is just too late. Especially on a day when I've got up before 5am, flown to Auckland and spent much of the time training a new staff member.

So I gave up after 5 minutes running and just walked for half an hour. Hard. Still worked up quite a sweat.

Haven't had a great day with eating - succumbed to a chocolate hit this afternoon. And a Burger Fuel burger tonight (threw away the top half of the bun, though). I'm not too worried about it - it's not like it's a daily lapse.

11 April summary
Breakfast: muesli, yoghurt and bran
Lunch: salmon, potato and egg salad
Dinner: burger with bacon and avocado
Snacks: juice blend from Tank, trim flat white, 60 grams bittersweet chocolate
Exercise: 30 minutes on the treadmill

Slightly confused

Anybody else struggling to work out what day it is? I'm bad enough most weeks, because I so often travel on different days, but chuck in a week the starts on a Tuesday and I'm screwed!

Oh well, so long as I remember to turn up for my flight in the morning...

The other struggle I had today was convincing my legs to work properly - especially my quads. And my hamstrings. And my calves. That's okay though, I punished them for their reluctance with another gym session tonight.

10 April summary
Breakfast: wholegrain rolled oats with apple juice and blueberries
Lunch: grilled eggplant salad with feta and sunflower seeds
Dinner: spag bol with plenty of mushrooms
Snacks: more blueberries, two crackers with fig and olive salsa (no, I didn't bloody make it myself), banana, cherry tomatoes, three trim flat whites, a glass of bubbly
Exercise: 10 minute warm-up on the cross-trainer, tricep pulldowns, chest press, shoulder press, chest flyes, hamstring extensions, Swiss ball squats, leg press, inner thigh machine, outer thigh machine, prone bridges, oblique bridges, back crunches, medicine ball exchanges, 1o minute run on the treadmill, 7 minute cool down on the treadmill. And stretch.

(More than) slightly stoked

Today I ran five km for the first time ever (without stopping).

Woodiddlyhoo!

And not on the treadmill, on the road. I drove to the gym, then went for a run around Evans Bay before my workout.

The 5km took me 31 minutes - not that fast, but actually better than I thought I would do. Once again I would like to thank the Wellington City Council for installing these little doohickeys around the waterfront - there's one every 500m for 6.5km.

After that I did a full body workout - gotta admit the leg stuff was getting pretty hard after that run.

Been another gorgeous day here - can't remember the last time we had such a lovely long weekend. It did mean I didn't get as much work done as planned, but tomorrow is another day...

There's still lots of chocolate lying about the house in post-Easter temptation style - but I'm not tempted. Okay, actually I am, but I'm resisting. Successfully.

9 April summary

Breakfast: poached eggs on crumpets

Lunch: chicken and brown rice with pasta sauce

Dinner: steak, potatoes, mushrooms and leeks

Snacks: 2 apples, banana, 3 vita wheats with vegemite and cottage cheese, pineapple

Exercise: 5km run with 5 minute walk before and after, lat pulldowns, seated row, tricep extensions, chest flyes, bicep curls, travelling lunges, leg press, hamstring extensions, Swiss ball squats, Swiss ball frogs, crunches, held crunches, oblique crunches, ten minutes on the cross-trainer and streeeeeeetch

Slightly sick!

Ate my whole 200 gram chocolate bunny! Just can't pack away the choccy like I used to! It was yummy though...

It was a simply stunning day here in Wellington. A bit of drizzle when I went for my run at 7.30, but that soon cleared away and we had a lovely blue-sky day.

So, I couldn't bear to go to the gym this afternoon - had a lovely walk on Lyall Bay beach instead. Then cups of tea on the balcony with the Wellington sister, followed by cups of tea on the balcony with dear friend Ruth.

I have completed my whole exercise plan for the week. I also stuck to my eating plan - except for the creme egg slip yesterday!

Because this week I only did cardio exercise (plenty of it!), next week I will focus more on resistance training. That, and the last week of the C25K training programme.

8 April summary
Breakfast: 2 crumpets with cottage cheese and banana
Lunch: chicken cooked with tomato
Dinner: roast chicken and corn on the cob
Snacks: 2 coffees, an apple and the planned and simply enormous chocolate bunny
Exercise: C25k week 8 and a 45 minute beach walk

Slightly smug

It's Sunday morning and I've already done all my exercise for the week - not necessarily all on the planned days, but done all the same. Might have to throw in an extra hour at the gym this afternoon.

Enjoying my four day weekend - will need to work tomorrow, but having three days off is a treat for me anyway.

Jake's visa for the UK arrived yesterday, so there's nothing holding him back now.

7 April summary
Breakfast: crumpet with vegemite and cottage cheese
Lunch: pumpernickel bagel with hummus
Dinner: baked pasta dish with tomato based sauce, 2 eggs and cottage cheese
Snacks: 2 apples, one trim flat white and one long black, a Cadbury Creme Egg - damn your gooey sweetness, blueberries
Exercise: 60 minutes of kick boxing - couldn't be bothered dragging my arse to aqua

Slightly mystifying

This time last year, I was a couple of days out from doing a duathlon. I had decided that running was a stupid idea and I would never do it again after this event.

This morning, I got up and went for a 4km run. And enjoyed it.

What's up with that?

I can't quite remember when running went from something I didn't like doing, but did because it burns more fat than walking, to an enjoyable activity!

Although I didn't enjoy it when I went to the gym last night. I did a day trip to Auckland yesterday and fell asleep on the plane on the way back. When I got on the treadmill I had that awful disoriented feeling one gets after a nap and just couldn't hit a decent rhythm. So I did a one hour cardio blast instead, with my treadmill work being walking with the incline set at increasingly high levels.

But this morning's run? Lovely!

6 April summary
Breakfast: rolled oats, apple juice and raspberries
Lunch: cheese on toast
Dinner: steamed wontons with chilli dipping sauce
Snacks: apple, nashi, some bagel crisps, 4 tomatoes
Exercise: C25k week 8

Didn't have my promised hot cross buns today - had them at morning tea yesterday.

Coffee is my food

At least that's what the barista at our local cafe reckons.

It's not that bad! I really do eat! It's just that it's often coffee that keeps me going during the day. And I am back up to at least three of them a day (which is fine so long as I'm getting plenty of exercise to work it off).

And, okay, it is 6.05am and I am sitting in the Koru Club waiting for yet another flight to Auckland and I am having my second macchiatto of the day.

Okay, so I'm a caffiend.

4 April summary
Breakfast: bran, yoghurt and strawberries
Lunch: Thai chicken salad
Dinner: steak and salad
Snacks: four trim flat whites, bean sprouts, apple, nashi pear
Exercise: 30 minutes on the treadmill - 20 minutes of that running, with 2 x 5 minute HIITs included, 30 minutes on the bike - 90 second alternations between level 6 and level 9 at 100rpm (sweaty)

Moving right along

Okay, no more wallowing about Jake going away - no point in being sad before it even happens!

Bumped into Lucinda in the street today - I think she now believes me about what a small town Wellington really is!

My schedule is still pretty insane. Starting work before 6 each day to keep on top of things, so most of my exercise is taking place in the evenings - and running between meetings, of course. After aqua this evening, it was still so mild (with a beautiful big harvest moon) that I couldn't resist taking the dog for a run. It was lovely! He's snoring his head off on his bed now.

3 April summary
Breakfast: bran and yoghurt
Lunch: pasta with veges and chorizo
Dinner: chicken, tomato, chili and coriander with (more) pasta
Snacks: three (!!!!!) trim flat whites, blueberries, apple
Exercise: deep water aqua AND 30 minute run

Just in case I've forgotten to tell you...

Jake leaves on his OE on 26 April.

Yikes! He really can't be old enough to be doing this. Where did my little boy go?

Week one round up

Pretty good first week on the 12 week action plan. Did all my planned workouts except one and almost stuck to the no sugar points - undermined by a particularly yummy carrot cake. No alcohol though. Feeling pretty smug. This week's plan is on the sidebar now - I'm allowing myself Easter treats. So far, I've managed to give away every piece of chocolate I've been given.

It was lovely to meet Lucinda yesterday. She's taking a big step - says it all feels very surreal - but she sure is meeting the challenge head on. She's a lovely, positive woman. I took her up Mt Victoria when I picked her up, to hopefully help set her compass so she has some idea of the layout of Wellington.

2 April summary
Breakfast: half an English muffin and some fruit (all that was worth eating at the charity breakfast I went to - Eric Rush was a very funny speaker, though)
Lunch: an OSM - not something I try to make a habit of, but great when you just have no time to stop
Dinner: stir fry with chicken, prawns, mushrooms and brown rice
Snacks: two trim flat whites, apple juice, mango, grapes
Exercise: C25K week 8

Weigh in and hairy bits!

1st of the month, so I weighed myself this morning. 400 gram loss this month - but I'm quite pleased with that as things were pretty out of control until about a week ago.

Okay, Chris, which hairy bits?

Well, I had my usual brow shape, but for the first time ever I had a Brazilian!

I've never had so much as a bikini wax before, not being of a particularly hairy nature, but I've been building up the courage to do this for a couple of months.

Yes, it did hurt, but not as much as I expected. And now it feels great! Not sure I'm so keen on how it looks, though. Perhaps I'll get used to that.

It was nice to go to the stadium last night and actually seen the Hurricanes win. Of course the game was as boring as bat shit, but I can put up with that for a win.

31 March summary
Breakfast: cheese and Vegemite on toast
Lunch: a few crackers, fruit salad with yoghurt
Dinner: chicken and coleslaw
Snacks: two trim flat whites, two apples, bean sprouts, apple juice
Exercise: total of 40 minutes on the treadmill, travelling lunges, leg press, Swiss ball squats, hamstring extensions, Swiss ball frogs, tricep extensions, chest flyes, push-ups on the barre, shoulder presses, back crunches, those evil medicine ball exchanges and side-to-sides for my abs!