Cruising through my Saturday

Sitting in a downtown cafe, drinking coffee and eating a fruit salad, before I go to the beauty therapist and have her tidy up a few of the hairy bits which have got a bit scruffy!

The start of my day wasn't quite so leisurely - half an hour on the treadmill, of which 25 minutes was running, followed by a full body resistance workout. Then another quick 10 minutes on the treadmill to shift the lactic acid before some lovely long stretches. 1 hour and 45 minutes all up.

I've been shuffling my exercise around to suit my schedule, but should still end the week pretty close to my targets. Eating has been great, except for yesterday. There's something about the traditional Friday morning tea in the Auckland office that I find hard to resist...

A couple of short weeks coming up - either side of Easter - and next week I only need to do a day trip to Auckland. I'll have close to 2 weeks of being at home very night - what a treat!

And speaking of treats - tomorrow I am meeting Lucinda at the airport, as she starts her great New Zealand adventure!

New pic of me

Here's a new pic of me - although it makes my hair look completely the wrong colour!

Bee-arch!

I did a deep water aqua class last night. The first one I've done in a very long time (pre-injury). I've never had this instructor before. I hate her. I love her.

She worked us so damn hard. Every inch of my body hurts. During the class I even got cramp in my shins! How the hell do you do that? I know you can choose the level you work at in aqua - I choose to work hard. A decision I may have regretted slightly when I discovered how hard it was to convince my quads to let me sit down this morning.

So, I was dog-tired when I got home last night and still haven't got round to taking up the new trousers I bought Mark two weeks ago. Bloody slack tart!

27 March summary
Breakfast: yoghurt and bran
Lunch: a very average Caesar salad - not buying there again
Dinner: stir fried chicken with corn, capsicum, spinach and lots of chilli
Snacks: apple juice, a trim flat white, an apple
Exercise: torture in the form of deep water aqua

Why weigh monthly?

Because so much happens monthly! Month end for our billings, the 478 various monthly reports I have to write (477 of which probably never get read), the automatic payments to the bloody mongrel power company...oh, yes, and my cycle! My weight fluctuates a fair bit during the month, no matter how good I'm being with food and exercise, so I'm going to stop it from messing with my head by only weighing once a month.

So, less worship of the scale-god and more thinking about how I feel.

Went for my run on the streets today - always harder than the treadmill. Especially when you're being towed down the road by Moose-the-extremely-stupid-dog. I have to develop this odd, lopsided, one-armed running style. And save my breath so I can growl 'No, Moose, not lunch' whenever we see a cat. Still, he does love a run!

26 March summary
Breakfast: yoghurt and bran
Lunch: immensely yummy bagel with roast vegetables and tomato pesto in it
Dinner: pasta with tuna, tomato and spinach
Snacks: blueberries, two trim flat whites, two apples, some beans and some lovely fresh dates
Exercise: fifteen minute warm-up on the treadmill and a full lower-body workout in the morning. In the evening - 45 minutes out with Moose, of which 25 minutes I ran

A break, but not broken

Hi everyone!

Lots of stuff going on, so I've had a bit of a break - from blogging, from exercise and from most of my life, really. Eating - well you can guess.

Things are pretty much okay, just some things I have to work through. And, no, I'm not going to share any more than that. It's mostly work stuff, anyway.

What I will do is NOT let it affect all areas of my life anymore. Letting my routines slip just makes me feel worse, not better.

Time for an action plan! Time for a 12 week action plan! Because this year I am going to reach my goal of 72 kilos, goddammit.

General plan for the first four weeks below, each week the details will be on my sidebar.
Week 1 (26 March) - Couch 2 5k week 7, 3 x weight sessions, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 1 x exercise class. NoCount eating, no sugar points (including alcohol)
Week 2 (2 April) - Couch 2 5k week 8, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 2 x exercise classes. NoCount eating, no alcohol, 2 x hot cross buns on Good Friday, 200g chocolate on Easter Sunday
Week 3 (9 April) - Couch 2 5k week 9, 5 x weight sessions. NoCount eating, 3 x alcohol but no other sugar points
Week 4 (16 April) - 2 x half hour runs, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 2 x half hour bike rides, 2 x weight sessions

In other changes - I'm only going to weigh on the first of each month and half changed my stats for the year to reflect that.

No shit, Sherlock!

I was eating my nice salad for lunch today - grilled chicken, blue vein cheese, walnuts, baby spinach, spicy lemon dressing. One of the guys in the office wandered by and said 'I bet you used to eat more than that for lunch before you lost all that weight'.

Really? Ya think?

Brrrrrrr!

Summer finished with a THUMP yesterday - although hopefully we will switch to autumn soon, rather than the fully fledged winter blast we got yesterday.

Couch to 5k is going really well - this week (week 7) I have 3 x 25 minute runs to do, and have finished two of them without too much of a struggle. I'm not running fast, but I am running.

Eating? Well, not so good, but not so bad either. Holding steady weight-wise, and will give it another good nudge in the next few weeks.

I've had a nice few days at home, but the schedule goes a bit nuts again for the next week. Off to Auckland Thursday morning, then Friday night I'm driving to Taupo, before heading to Havelock North to see a girlfriend on Saturday, then home on Sunday. Home for two nights, then back to Auckland for Tuesday and Wednesday. AND next week, Mark is in New Plymouth for three days then Taupo for three days for a company conference.

I feel some severe cuddle-deprivation coming on! Still, it keeps the relationship fresh...

Photo catch up

Some photos I promised a few weeks back. I still haven't managed to take a decent shot of my new (brown) hair.

This one is my lovely Jake at his grandparents' house in Kerikeri. Behind him is the sculpture we all gave them for the 50th wedding anniversary. Jake and his uncles smuggled it over the fence in the middle of the night - and got caught by the cop who lives next door.

Coopers Beach in the Far North, on a lovely summer Saturday. Told you it was crowded.

Jake with my Mum and Dad, at a pa site overlooking Mangonui Harbour.

The tasty delights from the Mangonui fish and chip shop. They really are the best fish and chips in the world. I kid you not. That day the fish was blue nose - it had been caught that morning.

It's back (the 70s, that is)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Especially from the Adelaide sister, from whom I got a text at 1.30am on Sunday - pointing out that it was still my birthday over there! LOL!

I had a great birthday weekend. Mark and I had a lovely dinner at Logan Brown on Friday night - it's just always good there. Mark got to see the gorgeous Prada sunglasses he got me for my birthday, too.

Saturday I did my 3rd workout for week 5 of C25K - a full 20 minute run. I really enjoyed it. This programme is working well for me - my cardio fitness is improving and my knee feels great (so long as I stay away from too much lateral movement).

I had a HUGE exercise week last week - two sessions most days, so planning on a lighter week for a bit of recovery.

And this morning's weigh in, after a three weeks break - an nice even 79 kilos.

Ants in my (pretty) pants

I get to go home tomorrow, so I'm having trouble sitting still because I'm SOOOOOOO looking forward to it!

Not helped by not doing exercise this morning - needed to get a nice early start at work, so I'll do my workout tonight instead.

I did manage to race into a lingerie shop today and come out with THREE news bra and undies sets. Underwear buying is definitely one of my new-found pleasures...

When I get home Friday night Mark and I are going out for a nice dinner - because the next night is my birthday and he will be away racing.

I plan to do sweet-eff-all this weekend; just enjoy being at home. Well, for a little while - I'm back up here for three days next week!

Ow!

The hardest thing about running this morning? Moving my arms!

I have neglected my upper body workouts a bit in the last couple of weeks, so gave it a good bash yesterday. Especially the Swiss ball chest flyes.

So this morning when I ran my legs were fine and breathing was okay - but, boy, did my pecs hurt! Much better by the end of it, though.

Last night I did 20 minutes on the cross trainer at the hotel ('cause I'd only done 10 minutes at the gym in the morning). Afterward I went back to my room to stretch, still wearing my ipod. A couple of great songs came on and I danced around like a mad thing. And then realised the guys in the apartment across the road were having a BBQ on their balcony. I did get a round of applause though! One of the songs was Steriogram's Walkie Talkie Man - the song ipod actually used in one of their ads.

Just two more sleeps and I can go home.

I haven't been posting my food lately, but here's what I had yesterday, which is a fairly typical week day at the moment:
Breakfast: bran, blueberries and yoghurt
Lunch: smoked chicken and mushroom risotto (left over from the night before, with yummy smoked garlic from the Kerikeri market and rocket)
Dinner: pasta with low-fat feta, cherry tomatoes, artichoke hearts, snow peas and fresh basil, with lots of fresh-ground black pepper
Other: a trim flat white, 2 glasses of pinot gris, 2 plums and a punnet of Cape gooseberries (eating them always reminds me of my Gran)

Are you coming with me?

I've decided to do another duathlon - the Real Women's one on 6 May. This is actually the same one as I did at Easter last year, just under a different name. It's a good thing to aim for as I get back into my running. And I'd like to have a go at beating last year's time (59 minutes 12 seconds). And I know the whole course is flat, so I'll only have Wellington wind to contend with.

So, Wellington bloggers and those nearby - are you coming with me?

Ran the first day of week five of the Couch to 5K this morning. This week the three days have a different workout - 3 x 5min run on day one, 2 x 8min run on day two and 1 x 20min run for the third workout. I'm feeling strong, so hopefully I won't self-talk myself out of being able to do that 20 minute one!

Only four more sleeps until I get to go home.

The Far North

Jake and I are in Kerikeri, spending the weekend with my Mum and Dad.

I always feel so good when I come back to Northland - it just feels like home. Of course being so warm helps.

Today we drove to Cooper's Beach for a swim, then went to Mangonui for the best fish and chips in the world. It's true, they are. I have photos of the lovely beach, but my download cable is in Auckland, so you'll have to wait.

Sometimes I can be so stupid

I know you find that nearly impossible to believe - but it's true!

First of all there was Monday. I was tired and snappy and generally feeling overwrought. I put that down to the big weekend.

Monday night - I whined about being lonely on my blog.

Tuesday morning. This was a classic. I tripped on the treadmill and face-planted the console. Now I'm not a particularly graceful exerciser and co-ordination isn't my strong point, but I've never actually FALLEN OVER on a piece of equipment before. It's kinda difficult to pretend that's part of your routine. And then pretend you're fine, when all you want to do is sit on the floor and sob with humiliation.

But that's not the stupid part.

Mid-morning Tuesday I got my period. Oh. Yeah. Right. That would explain it - tired, grumpy, clumsy, unreasonably emotional. D'oh!

It's not like it doesn't happen every month. You'd think I'd have it worked out by now.

Hello, my lovelies!

Thanks for the subtle hint (by text) today Helena - it certainly is time for a post.

The Taupo relay was another great success. A few of my personal highlights:
Me yelling down the phone at 5am on Saturday 'What do you mean, you've lost the pregnant client?'.
Ditto when they couldn't find the Managing Director after his transition.
Fed, watered, wined and beered 43 people.
Less sleep for me than last year - two 10-minute naps on Friday night, five hours on Saturday night. The drive back to Auckland on Sunday was something of a struggle!
In excess of $2500 raised for Paralympics (which our company then matched 2 for 1).
The fact we take our clients away for the weekend, make them share rooms with people they've never met (people who often work for opposition companies), drag them out of bed in the middle of the night, make them run or walk for miles on roads which are either deserted or crowded with main road traffic, abuse them if they're too slow - and they love it so much they're already signing up for next year!

So, anyway, back to my Auckland stint.

This week is mostly about working and working out. I'm repeating Week 4 of C25K this week, as I didn't feel up to Week 5.

Lovely hot weather here - hope no-one can see into my apartment tonight as I sit here in my tee shirt and undies!

Eating - rubbish over the weekend, pretty much fine since.

Feeling a bit lonely though.

Who, me? Invisible?

Can you guess this week is really busy? No posts from me, I haven't visited your blogs - how rude!

Everything's fine, just not much spare time available.

I've found a different gym to go to in Newmarket, which opens at 5.30am so it fits my schedule better. Week 4 of C25K is going really well - as is my exercise generally.

I didn't remember to weigh myself at the gym on Monday, so I've decided to go the whole three weeks without weighing. My eating has been mostly fine.

Ciao for now, will update after the big weekend in Taupo. Hope you're all okay, I'll have lots of reading to do to catch up on all your news.

Packing

I'm off to Auckland today for my three week stint, so I'm packing everything into a suitcase that looks like a small apartment building.

And I do mean everything! Apart from the obvious - just about every piece of summer clothing I own, six pairs of shoes (down from the original eleven), exercise gear, skincare, cosmetics, hair product, etc - I'm also taking: my yoghurt maker, plastic containers to pack breakfasts and lunches for work, the companion speakers for my ipod so I have decent tunes in my apartment, plenty of books, and so on and on and on.

Apart from packing for my trip, I'm also packing stuff that needs to go to Taupo next weekend so I can look after the 45 people in our teams for The Great Lake Relay. I know everyone thinks I'm obsessive about this, but after years of tournaments I've got this down to a pretty fine art. I'm packing: giant fish bins - everything gets carried up there in them, and then you fill them full of ice to hold the drinks, coffee plungers, a gazebo, stockpot because motels never have anything big enough, my aromatherapy oils for doing rubdowns, my good knives because (again) the motel ones are always shit, my apron so I can look like Susie Homemaker, blah, blah, blah!

All that stuff will get brought to Taupo by someone else, thank goodness!

In one way I'm really looking forward to the three weeks away. The workload will call for some long days, but I feel a quiet determination to be very disciplined about my exercise and eating. It is a good opportunity to set up an environment with very few temptations.

Most especially, I'm looking forward to spending a weekend in Kerikeri with my parents (and Jake of course).

I weighed in a day early today, for a nice 800 gram loss. I'll use the gym scales to take comparative weights each week so I can track my weight.

AND I'm going to try my first time back at boxing tomorrow! Yeehaw!

Catch y'all soon.

CKK - baby, could you please email me so I can be your friend?

Just to prove my geekhood

I love this joke:

Today is Einstein's birthday. He would have been 107.
Few people remember that the Nobel Prize winner married his cousin, Elsa Lowenthal, after his first marriage dissolved in 1919.
He stated that he was attracted to Elsa because she was well endowed, and postulated that, if you are attracted to women with large breasts, the attraction is even stronger when there is a DNA connection.
This came to be known as Einstein's Theory of Relative Titty.

Go on, admit it, it's funny!

Goddamn mad day in Auckland today, barely time to breathe.

8 February summary
Breakfast: bran, flavoured full fat yoghurt (restricted choice in the Koru Club)
Lunch: sushi
Dinner: chicken breast stuffed with mushroom and green salad
Other: three slices of Gruyere with my glass of red wine
Exercise: nope

How old is too old?

At what age is your son too old for you to take him into the women's changing room at the pools (where my gym is)?

A couple of times a week, about the time I'm dressed and ready to leave the gym for work, a woman comes in with her young son. I'm struggling to place his age, but it's probably somewhere around six. Surely he could wait on the seat outside in the foyer while she gets changed? Because this kid is ALL EYES when he's in that changing room.

Either she's risking turning him into a perve, or she's going to scar him for life!

I'm all for people being open about their bodies, but the other people in that room haven't been given a choice in the matter.

And, yes, I have mentioned it to the pool staff, who have said they'll keep an eye out and have a word.

Later edit - of COURSE they have family change rooms. Right, now I'm quite happy to say something to her myself.

7 February summary
Breakfast: bran, yoghurt and blueberries
Lunch: beef and roast vege salad
Dinner: BBQ pork with brown rice and red cabbage salad
Others: three trim flat whites, pear, apricot, capsicum, a glass of red
Exercise: C25K week three and core body workout

Dopey tart

I did the first workout of week two of the C25K this morning. It seemed like significantly more running than week one. When I got to work and checked the spreadsheet, I realised I'd jumped straight to week three! Right, so that explains it then.

Nice girl, not very bright! Oh well, I'll just keep going with week three, now that I've already started.

And of course this morning's weigh-in saw me jump back up to over 81kg. Can't say I didn't earn it. Bloody 70s will never make a comeback.

Hooray for a day off tomorrow and a great weather forecast - think I'll stick in some extra exercise.

5 February summary
Breakfast: bran, yoghurt and blueberries
Lunch: marinated fish and watercress salad
Dinner: steak and roast veges
Other: bean sprouts, strawberries, two trim flat whites and a lake of herbal tea
Exercise: C35K week three, upper body workout - lat pull downs, chest flyes, triceps extensions, bicep curls, shoulder raises (front and side)