Motivation Monday

What's motivating me today? Me!

I feel great. Yesterday at the gym was one of those breakthrough days - I ran a bit further, rowed a bit harder and grinned like a maniac through my weights programme.

I feel fit and trim. Not the fittest and most trim I've been, but a definite improvement on how I felt a few weeks ago.

I'm looking forward to exercise this week. I'm especially looking forward to the 50km ride this weekend.

Just generally, I'm looking forward.

Life keeps changing

It has been a really tiring couple of weeks as Craig has been closing up his business. Very stressful for him, coping with that, and migrating himself, his staff and his major client - to the same company I work for!

So now I get to call him the new boy and threaten him with the fact that I usually do all the process/systems training with the new staff. It has been decided I won't in this case, but no doubt I'll get to act as the after hours help desk.

This is a very good move for him, as he was really over running his own business and competing in such a tight market. Despite the stress of change, I can already see him starting to relax and enjoy his work again.

Luckily we don't have to work in the same offices - that would be just a bit too much time together.

We're going to have another nice quiet weekend at home and give the garden a good tidy up. Off to the caravan next weekend and our 50km ride at Waikanae. Will be interesting to see if having road tyres on our bikes improves the times much compared to last year. Must put the bike computer back on my bike so I can pace us properly.

BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK: Jake has booked his tickets home and will arrive in NZ on 2 December. I'm not allowed to tell his mates, though, as he wants to surprise them by turning up at some concert that's on here the next night. Can you imagine how excited I am that my boy will be home in a couple of months? Even if he is sporting this new addition to his body:

Paddling muscles required

Have survived my first proper session with Karl - although some of it was learning the routine, so I probably wasn't pushed as hard as I will be when I go right through properly. Will put the programme on my sidebar when I can remember what's in it!

My favourite part - having someone else to push my stretches for me...

Oh, and I really love going to the gym during work hours because there is hardly anyone there.

He's given my some great upper body work, which I'm rapt about for two reasons - my shoulder still needs strengthening, and Craig and I are about to buy a couple of these:

No, not the small child - the sit-on-top kayak!

They only weigh 18kg, so we can carry them the 100m from our house to the beach, and also they're easy to put on top of the ute when we go away.

So we'll be one of those couples that arrive at the camping ground with all the flash gear - caravan, mountain bikes, kayaks. You know, the people that make you go "Oh sure, you really use all that stuff! We know it's just for show!".

Exercise revisited

How many of you are Healthy Food Guide readers? I've loved this magazine from when it first hit our shelves, and have had a subscription for ages.

The October issue has some great stuff that sits well with how I'm feeling about food right now - making positive changes to build a healthy life. If you get a chance, I really think it's worth a read.

I've made a big change to exercise this week - for the first time I have a personal trainer. I really needed to work out why I wasn't making any progress with my running. This running thing is weird: I have no ambition to be 'a runner', but I really want to be able to run if I want to. And I want to be able to run this duathlon in November, not walk.

My first session with Karl (seems like a typical PT name to me!) was to assess my fitness - mostly he wanted to see how I run so we could work out what my problem is. He quickly decided it was what I suspected - my shallow breathing. My technique is okay and my fitness is good, I just run out of puff.

So he's going to concentrate on pushing the top end of my fitness. At the moment this centres around the bike: I start on Level 9 with rpm around 95. Each minute for five minutes I increase the level by 1 till I reach 13, then drop straight back down to 9. This is repeated 4 times. So my heartrate steadily climbs and then drops down for a recovery before climbing again. Have to admit there was a fair bit of sweat involved!

I'm going to see Karl twice a week for the next four weeks - hopefully it will make a big difference to my fitness. It will also cost me a chunk of money, but I reckon that will help motivate me; why waste the money by not pushing myself to get as much benefit from this as possible? After that I think I'll just see him every couple of weeks for a while.

I'm getting my full progamme from him on Tuesday - really looking forward to that!

This week I have been toying whether or not I want to keep blogging. But I think it will help me with this exercise focus, so I'll stick with it for now.

Running fool

So, last week's training wasn't great as far as regular exercise, but there were a couple of good things going for it:
I did two run/walks, and on one of them I ran a total of 3km, which is the most I've done this year,
Craig put road tyres on my mountain bike for me (and we rode 18km). Man, are they faster and easier!

This week I'm doing some research into how to run properly. That might sound silly, but I've never looked at the techniques of running - which is surprising when you consider what a geek I am! I will spend my running time this week practicing a couple of things I hope will help.

If I'm going to force myself to run, I may as well be smart about it.

Just when you thought it was safe...

I'd been lulled into that false sense of security September often brings. The blossom was coming out, my carrots were poking their leaves above the ground and I've been able to leave the house without 2 layers of merino underwear.

So spring must be here, right? Right!

So long as your accepted definition of spring is a few nice days interspersed with freezing cold rain and driving southerlies.

I do love Wellington weather, honest!

Mind you, I was lucky enough to have two glorious days in Christchurch early this week. Surely nothing can beat running in Hagley Park in the morning surrounded by spring blossom and daffodils.

Wish I had got out of bed to do it!

Hold your balls please

Okay, I didn't quite say it like that, but I certainly got a funny look from the waiter at our local Italian restaurant last night.

What I did say was "Can I have the spaghetti and meatballs without the meatballs, please?".

I love their spaghetti sauce. The meatballs, not so much.

My eating was dreadful last week. Days of over-indulging and WAY too much wine. And of course my weight has suffered. But there's no panic here yet.

Having read Anne's fabulous post about balance, I'm even more clear that I don't want to go back to a strict eating regime. I want to work out how I am going to eat for the rest of my life, so I can be healthy and maintain a healthy weight.

So, perseverance, my friends.

Yes, dammit, I am awake

For those of you who have never read The Food Whore - you should, because that is where I swiped this quote from:

Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the Devil says;
"Shit, she's awake".

Boy, do I love that sentiment.

A bit bilious

Last night I ate a meal I regretted.

The meal tasted really good. It was well-prepared and made from fresh, organic ingredients.

I didn’t regret it because of any ‘diet’ guilt.

I regretted it because I didn’t feel good after it – in fact didn’t feel good for the rest of the evening and still don’t feel too flash this morning.

Why didn’t I feel good? Because it was just too rich!

It was chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce, served with gnocchi, pumpkin and spinach. The richness wasn’t helped by the fact the gnocchi was fried not just boiled.

Yes, the meal tasted great, but it just wasn’t worth how I felt afterward.

This is a big lesson for me – think of food not just in how it tastes and whether I ‘should’ be eating it from a calorie and fat intake point of view. Think of how food is going to make feel after I have eaten it.

Really, the Thai beef salad would have been a much smarter choice.

Rack off!

Right, Mr New Trainer Dude at the gym trying to drum up clients.

No, I don't want to chat about my programme. Not right now. When I'm 40 minutes into my run/walk intervals.

Need a hint on why not? Well, the sweat dripping off the ends of my hair would be a good start. Or the face the colour of a baboon's arse. Or maybe the fact my earphones are slipping out of my ears*.

Next time, try approaching me before I start exercising. I'll still tell you to rack off, but I'll be able to breathe while I say it.


*Am I the only person who suffers from sweaty ears?

In the zone?

The first week of duathlon training went really well. The weekend 10km ride got pushed to 12km, and as well as my run/walk session yesterday we went for a great MTB ride in the reserve near where our caravan is parked at the moment. I have to admit though, some of those steep climbs were pretty hard on the thighs after running only a couple of hours earlier.

I am enjoying having a structured training schedule again. Although I was exercising most days before, it was easy to slack off by doing slightly fewer exercises or less distance. Now I have my expectations down in writing, I'm much more likely to hit my targets. For instance last week Craig didn't feel like going to the gym one day, so I did circuit training at home instead of using that as an excuse to do nothing.

Of course not wanting to be shown up by my workmates adds extra motivation!

Also, Craig and I have decided to do the 50km ride at Waikanae again this year. That's mid-October, so 5 weeks before the duathlon.

Eating-wise, still feeling my way, but enjoying this style of eating much more than a rigid plan. I'm paying most attention to portion sizes and getting rid of mindless eating.

I get a whole week at home this week too, which is nice. Off to Christchurch next week as we have a new company down there, so some poor sucker needs to be trained on the World According to Sue.

Idle observations

• Sitting in the club lounge at the airport. The only people who don't look tired are the ones speaking in irritatingly loud voices. Does constantly striving to be noticed give you an energy boost? I would have thought it would be dreadfully exhausting
• Why are drivers so reluctant to give way to emergency vehicles now? Don't they get the whole life-saving situation thing?
• Exercise done when you really don't feel like it truly is doubly rewarding
• Most men wear their trousers at least 3cm too short
• I know having all this lovely oestrogen racing round my body keeps me looking young, but, really, I'm over getting pimples with every period, like some cruel gift-with-purchase

Sorry folks, guess I'm tired and grumpy!

BHAG time (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)

We were talking duathlons at work this morning. As you do.

Somehow, I seem to have challenged all my staff to join me in one. Well, my three Wellington staff anyway. The two in Auckland don’t yet know what a lucky escape they’ve had.

The four of us haven’t just decided to do a duathlon. We’ve decided the short course is too easy. We’re doing the medium instead – 4km run, 24km ride, 4km run. Of course, I could just wimp out and walk instead of running. But no-one else seems to be going for that option. And I do hate to be shown up. Even if I am the oldest.

The good part about it – we’re doing it in mid-November. So when it was suggested we should go the whole hog and do a triathlon, I could legitimately point out the necessity of a wet suit when swimming in the sea at that time of year. No-one here has one, so we dropped that idea. Phew! I swim about as well as a three toed sloth does aerobics. I don’t think even the Grade 4 AC dislocation/torn rotator cuff excuse would have got me out of that one – but luckily the cost of wet suits did.

Of course, I once did fancy I could do triathlons. The biggest relief of my life was when they cancelled that swim.

So, serious training time again. And at the perfect time of year to get fit for summer. At least it’s only 5 weeks till daylight saving starts. That always makes training easier.


Hence – the return of Sue’s exercise-geek sidebar.

Spreading hips

This is the photo that really drove home to me that the creeping weight was starting to show. Of course it was after a week in Paris and 10 days in London, so all the eating and boozing with my sisters and my boy hadn’t helped. I used to be able to take those pants off without undoing them. Not anymore.

Nice story to the photo though. Jake and I are standing in front of the church in Willesden (NE London) where my parents got married – 53 years ago. Mum and Dad are were an ‘item’ at training college in Auckland. They both headed off on their OE in the early 50s – separately of course. They met up again in London, got married and stayed until Mum got pregnant with my oldest sister. The first time they went back was in their golden anniversary year – and they visited the church too.

Isn't my boy looking fine?

Easily derailed

In fact, it sometimes seems the tracks aren’t there at all!

Having decided I really want to get my weight down, at least back into the (once briefly visited) mid-70s, I am struggling to keep my focus going for more than a few days at a time.

I know exactly why this is happening, but that doesn’t help me get it under control.

When I first lost a large amount of weight – 46kg in that first year – it was easy to become very self-centred in my approach. I didn’t realise it fully at the time, but my life was not really a very happy place. Apart from my son and my work, I wasn’t getting much fulfilment. So, it was easy to throw myself into eating plans and exercise schedules. More importantly, it was easier to stick to them when I had so few distractions.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not moaning about being deliriously happy. No way, baby!

But now I need to take a new approach, and it’s taking me some time to get my head around. In the long run, it will be a more realistic approach, because it will be how I live the rest of my life.

It’s no longer about being strict, about firmly defined limits. It’s about being flexible. There will be much more ‘listening’ to my body, and thinking about whether I really want something, or if it’s just a short term urge that will go away if resisted.

I’m actually very excited about this. There are lots of things involved that I’ve only be playing lip service to for a long time – portion sizes, healthy choices, self control. But it will take a bit of trial and error to get right.

Exercise continues to be very important to me. Not just because I love it, but because it helps keep me focused. I know how much better I run if I haven’t had those two glasses of wine the night before – so if I have a run planned it is easier to abstain. Basically, it is easier for me to eat well if I am exercising well.
So, in a world where sustainability is the buzz word of the moment, here’s to a more sustainable approach to my health.

Thank you Shauna

How often have you rolled your eyes as you spot the latest bestseller wonder-diet book on the shelves? Are we really convinced that ballroom dancing changed Norm Hewitt’s life, or that the Movie Star Diet is the thing for us?

I certainly won’t waste my time reading books that tell me everything I’m doing wrong, or spend money to be preached at about how I should live.

The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl by Shauna Reid fits into none of these categories. Shauna isn’t claiming she can change your life or save you from yourself. She is, quite simply, telling you her story.

Not that the story is simple. Shauna takes her readers through not just the journey of her weight loss, but the journey of a huge part of her life – the influences that created her weight issues, her struggles with social isolation, and her battles with depression. But it’s not all about the hard stuff – what superhero adventure would be complete without triumph: overcoming evil, exciting travel adventures and a great love story?

I chose to read Dietgirl in two sittings – three hour flights to and from Sydney. I was crying within the first dozen pages and cursing Shauna for wreaking havoc on my makeup. Sleepy passengers were several times close to lynching me for snorting with laughter. But mostly there was most un-Sue-like silence as I devoured the story of this amazing woman.

I suspect Shauna would tell you she is just an ordinary person. If she is, then she has an extraordinary ability to communicate. If you have visited the Dietgirl website you know that, but reading the book shows the depth of her ability.

So Shauna, thank you for bring us your story. You may have changed your own life, but you have touched mine profoundly.

Owwweee!

Oooo, it hurts. Somehow it doesn't matter how fit you think you are, there is always something that will prove you're not.

Last night I couldn't face running in the freezing cold again, so I decided to do my kickboxing DVD instead. For the first time in like 18 months.

And it burns. Thighs, butt and that bit at the top of my calves.

Of course adapting the routine to fit in a living room the size of a bread bin was interesting too!

What a lovely weekend

The weather was still vile on Friday night – no surprise there, it really has been a hard winter. We wandered into Petone to see how opening night was going at Lone Star. Had a margarita there and then bailed because of the crowd. Very nice meal at Gusto though.

On Saturday the forecast looked better for Paekakariki than Petone, so we headed up to the caravan about lunchtime.

It was still less than 10 degrees, but we headed off for a ride on the trails in Queen Elizabeth Park. Great fun and great exercise. Good for my confidence too, which I’ve been struggling to get back after my accident. If I went any slower downhill up be peddling backwards up the hill!

We got caught in a heavy downpour, but were only about 5 minutes from home, so toughed it out and got back to the caravan dripping wet.

Freezing overnight, but Sunday dawned to one of those magnificent winter days – clear and still, so the cold doesn’t seem to matter any more. Back on the bikes for another great ride – down to the beach for coffee, along the beach to Raumati and then back on the trails again.

Then it was time for the great shift – we needed to get off the site we were on at the caravan park as it had a long-term booking. After much wandering about, scratching of chins and working out the angle of the sun, we decided where to go.

So, pack a few things away and hook up the truck. Easy. Did I mention it’s been a vile winter? And that the ground is really wet? And that our truck and caravan combined weigh in at over 3.5 tonne? That’s right; we got stuck in the mud. Chewed the hell out the grass and then couldn’t go either forward or back.

Had to go and get the tractor from the camp owners and pull the van to another site. We’ll leave it there for a month or so till the ground dries out.

Of course now there’s lots of mud to clean off both vehicles…

All round, it was a great week of exercise. I aim to do at least 240 minutes a week, spread over 6 days. This week I got to 320 minutes.

I told you it was cute

Actually, you can't help but say 'cute' when you see it. And just wait until we finish the renovations inside....

Our perfect little love nest!

Hellooooo?

Just in case anyone notices I’m here, here’s some of the stuff that has gone on in the last six (!!) months.

I went to Paris and London with two of my sisters – and got to spend over a week with Jake
My shoulder took a long time to get really better, but I’ve been back on full time exercise since the middle of May
We now live in a cottage in Petone – it is incredibly cute and tiny, only 70 square meters, but just perfect for us and less than half a block from the beach
We are also the proud owners of a caravan. It is very flash and luxurious – but I am now officially trailer trash, apparently. We have left it up the coast for now and pop up for as many weekends as we can
Between lack of exercise and being incredibly happy, my weight had gone up to over 88kg. I've been working on that for the last six weeks and am back under 83kg. I still have a hankering to get down to that 72kg mark

Not sure if I'm back to full-time blogging - will try for a weekly update for now.