New exercise plan

Ha! Stupid no-running depression, I am totally kicking you to the curb with my new little exercise plan...

Instead of my usual:
4 x runs per week
2 x kickboxing (which I haven't been doing due to work + injury + christmas hols since NOVEMBER ugh)
1 x easy cross-train (swim/elliptical)
3 x weights (usually only manage one per week anyway)

I now have planned:
4 x swims per week (1 long, 1 fast, 2 easy)
2 x indoor bike (1 HIIT, 1 hills)
1 x easy cross-train (probably some game on Wii or modified yoga to only use upper body)
3 x weights sessions (mostly arms, though I think squats would be OK?)

It will be different, and hell yes I will still miss running, but this is a way to keep myself sane....

Oh, and I finally got the results for the cross-country I ran on the weekend... yes with my broken toe (I was clearly in some serious denial). I came 56 out of 86, lol... 20th out of the females and 6th in my age group. The girl who came first in my age group ran at a 5:13 pace. Totally doable, if I had actually run at race pace.... gets me motivated for next time!!

Here's some pics from the locations where the race was:

Yep that's my tiny little city in the background :) 

So purdy!

2012 Running Goals

I've been pretty slack with both blog posting and blog commenting, even though I have been reading people's blogs. Not really sure why! I even missed WIAW because I was too slack to take pictures ;) Actually I've been pretty slack in everything. I've still been keeping to my running plans but all my other fitness plans have fallen by the wayside... this happens to me every now and then so I suppose I'll just take it in my stride and know that the motivation will be back again :)

I have been playing a disturbing amount of The Sims 3.... hey, don't judge me, I've got a 4 month break and have to fill my time somehow ;) I've had this legacy family that I've been playing with for years, and I'm almost up to the 10th generation! It's begun to go all slow and laggy though and is a pain to play... anyway, END that nerd talk! Ha!

Anywho, back to my original topic... or beginning my original topic? Instead of doing December goals I'm thinking of my goals for 2012. It's early, I know, but I have some pretty big goals for 2012.

Today I joined the WA Marathon Club (WA = Western Australian), who run a heap of fun runs throughout the year (3-4 runs every month!) and I plan on pretty much doing as many of those as I can. You have to do eight to get recognition in the yearly award things, so I'll aim for at least eight. There's a few cross-country runs too, which I have never run, so I'm excited for that.

I also plan on running a half-marathon in August, and have made myself a super-conservative rough plan on increasing mileage super slowly up until then. I figure I'd rather slowly up it instead of doing one of those 12 week super-quick increase plans. Makes sense to me, anyway. I've made it so it stagnates for a couple of weeks, then increases by 10% for a couple of weeks, then drops every 4 weeks by about 5 km for a "rest week" followed by going back to the previous week's mileage. If that makes sense?

eg:
Week 1: 25 km
Week 2: 25 km
Week 3: 27 km
Week 4: 29 km
Week 5: 25 km
Week 6: 29 km etc etc

The club also runs a couple of free training sessions during the week, so hopefully I'll be able to make those occasionally. Excited!!!

The difficulty again is fitting in kickboxing and strength work ;) I always find that difficult! Running is so much easier for me to stick to, because I can go at any time in any place.... kickboxing is at 7:45 pm at night, which is super late and I often spend all day finding reasons not to go (I'm always happy when I do go though!). Strength work... well sometimes I like it, but mostly I don't. Necessary evil to me.

Next semester I'm excited for my classes:
Cancer Control
Introduction to Psychology
Mental Health Promotion
Sexology.

None of them really have much to do with Nutrition but I think these will be very interesting. Not really sure what Sexology will involve just yet but I think it has to do with what makes your sexuality or something?? Only one of these classes has an exam so that's pretty cool too :) The rest are assignment based.

Anywho enough rambling for today. I'm off to decide what to make for dinner...

All or Nothing

This is somewhat of a "negative nancy" or "debbie downer" post *and there may be triggering material*, but I'm getting increasingly frustrated at several things. First, my perfectionist attitude. Last semester at uni, I got all high distinctions, and was upset because they were not 90% high distinctions, but 80%. This semester I know I can't get high distinctions and therefore I don't feel like putting the effort in. What's the point if I can't get the highest mark? I know I've already passed all my topics before the exams, so that motivation isn't there either.

Then I did a fitness test this morning. I got the exact same score for 2.4 km (1.6 miles) of 12:40 mins as I did last year, when I was way more unfit(?) and doing way less running... it just frustrated me, especially as I definitely did not hold back this morning!

Also this morning I weighed myself and I had gained 1kg (2 pounds) from last week. Which makes my BMI now 24.5. (Much too close to overweight category for my liking...) This is beginning to be a really irritating constant struggle for me. Gain, lose, gain, lose, gain, lose, gain... it's the same as maintaining, I suppose, but it's almost like... one week am I doing it right, and the next I'm not? Or is that just normal fluctuation of maintaining? Am I eating enough, too much? Am I exercising enough? What am I doing wrong? Sometimes I think... well, the only thing that has ever worked for me to lose weight has been eating disorders, so maybe I should just do that again. But then my rational brain takes over, and says hell no! No WAY am I going back to that.

Anyway, I know I've lost it healthily before, but that was before I had ever known about calorie counting. I think it's pretty difficult once you have calorie counted for a long time to stop. After all, even if you do stop, you still know the calorie, fat, carb content of the majority of the food you eat from counting it for so long. I've tried stopping so many times, but I can't help but still count in my head. Or I go the other way and eat way too little or too much.

It doesn't even seem to make a difference when I make small changes, like increase intensity of exercise slightly / amount, or eat slightly less, or eat slightly more. I've tried all these little experiments... the main one I did was eating at "maintenance" calories for a month or two - which made me gain two kilos (4.5 pounds) which I just cannot lose again (A really GREAT experiment that was.... :( )

Even when I went on that hike for a week last month, and did 30 hours of hiking in a week.. I lost nothing.

I should not be still obsessed with my weight, because I am supposed to be recovered. I mean, I'm not obsessed the way I used to be... but I think it's just hard the days I weigh myself more than anything. At least now I'm doing exercise because I enjoy it rather than to burn calories. Honestly, I am so deeply in love with running and kickboxing right now. If only I could do it more often than I do! I've been sore a lot lately.

Because I don't like being a negative nancy for too long... I went to the shops for retail therapy... and bought TWO new running shorts, THREE running magazines, and some other stuff. One of my pairs of shorts is fluro orange :D How do you spell fluro, because blogger says that's incorrect?

So one of my plans is to incorporate more HIIT into my training schedule... I'm just not sure where to fit it... this is another problem of mine. How do I fit in one week:

Running x 3  (at the moment just increasing mileage, but eventually want 1 x long, 1 x intervals in that)
Kickboxing x 3
Weights x 2
Swimming x 1 (I use this to work on my breathing / as a recovery)
HIIT x 1
Yoga x 1 (usually after long run day)
Rest day x 1

... That's 11 days worth of workouts! Unless I double up on four of those days, it doesn't really work. There's the all or nothing again... this is kind of what I did before I got my ED - running every day, kickboxing every night.

OK... / end confusing rant.

October Goals & September recap

So here's the goals I had for September, and how I went...

1. Eat something which offers little to no nutritional value once a week 

Had chocolate caramel slice, hot potato chips, a giant sugary muffin and actually loads of stuff on my week away bushwalking... since I didn't have control... and it was OK!

Kinda failed at the rest of these... I think it was kind of hard with the week away and actually starting my goals 10 days into September! Plus cleaning my car is not really a priority!

2. I will complete 2 strength workouts a week - (minus the week away)

3. I will actually follow the 100 pushup plan!

4. I will clean my car... been putting this one off too long :)

So I'm setting some easier goals for October:

1. Reduce the amount of coffee / diet coke I drink - get down to 1 coffee every two days, 1 diet coke a week.

2. Prepare my lunch for the week on the weekend.

3. Actually schedule me-time that isn't exercise related into my study schedule, rather than procrastinating being my me-time.

And that should do it!

So in September I:

Challenged ED thoughts by eating things that had no nutritional value.

Tried pumpkin oats and kombucha

Went for a 90km bushwalk in the beautiful South West of Australia

Beat my 5km personal best time

Rediscovered my love of kickboxing

Wow, it really gives you a boost writing it all out like that and seeing what you've achieved!! 

Oh, and here's this week's plan:

SAT (today): bodypump & yoga

SUN: 6k run

MON: swim?

TUES: run 3km OR spinning (pretty sure you can guess which I will pick..)

WED: weights/bodypump & kickboxing

THURS: swim & kickboxing

FRI: rest

SAT: Run 8km

It will probably change though... it always does!

Blisters and Natural beauty?

I'm baaaack...
I had a fantastic time bushwalking through the south west of Australia, it is such an amazingly beautiful part of the world and such untouched beauty!
The four of us got along really well and we had a great time.
In the end, we managed this:
Day 1: 31.2 km (~ 7 hrs)
Day 2: 26.1 km (~ 7 hrs)
Day 3: 22.7 km (9 + hrs)
Day 4: 10 km  (5-6 hrs)
Total: 90 km.
The reasons for the progressively slower timings?? Bad planning... Me and the other girl on the trip had horrendous blisters by the end of day 1, which just slowly got worse. One of the other guys stuffed up his knees. So the three of us pretty much limped about 60 km of that entire walk. It is the furtherest I have ever pushed my body beyond pain. We were seriously walking less than 2 km an hour by the last day, and it was really, really slow going. I am really pleased with the fact that even with painful blisters and really tight calves, we still pushed our bodies, still kept going and it was really amazing how much your body will put up with!
I also saw my first snake in the wild and didn't totally lose it, although I did scream one night on a trip to the long-drop toilet when I heard a noise as I opened the door.
The terrain was constantly changing - beginning with tall trees and fallen leaves underfoot, changing to beach flora and fauna and constant undulating terrain - enough to drive you batty. Seriously, the day of 22.7 km (day 3) was so painful. There was about 3+ hours of non-stop up-down-up-down-up-down the sand dunes, and one GIGANTIC mountain of a sand dune which was like, 1 km long and took us about an hour!! It is seriously hard work climbing those dunes!
I was planning to upload some pictures but I'm short for time. So this will do for now.
Oh, and despite over 30 hours of exercise in one week, I lost only 1 kilogram. I'd like to hope that means that I ate well enough to support all the exercise, but I know that I actually didn't eat enough... so what is going on there, I don't know, but I feel better about myself anyway and lots of cardiovascular fitness likely gained from the endless hills!

Ahh, and for this week?
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Yoga & 3 km easy run (not sure how this will go due to one blister on my big toe being infected and extremely large...?)
Wednesday: BodyPump
Thursday: Hill run 3km
Friday: cross/trainer & BodyPump
Saturday: swimming 30 mins
Sunday: 5km race

Turtle slowly catching up to the hare!

This week I didn't keep a very good log of what I did, as I got a bit lazy with everything except running!
But in saying that...
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 3km run, 3km walk
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: rest
Friday: rest
Saturday 3km run, 3km walk
Sunday 3km run, 3km walk

So 3 runs and 3 walks, I don't mind being lazy this week since next week I'll be doing 110 km of walking with a big pack on my back :)

Yesterday's and today's runs were awesome. I felt way faster than usual and it showed in my timings. I tried a few things on each run, such as counting in my head "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2" which actually worked, trying to keep a better posture, and also splitting my "outing" up with a 10 min walk, then the 3km run, then the 10 km walk, so "warmup" and "cooldown". I think the combination of these things all helped, and I feel sooo good! Yay!!!!

I'm all packed and ready to go for tomorrow morning, it's a 5 hour drive and then we're chilling out in a hostel for the night before starting up the first day with a fairly easy 17 or 19 km walk (forget which?)

The weather looks like it might rain... every day... but at least that means it will be warmer at night. I've got the beanies and thermals packed anyway, especially as my sleeping bag SUCKS and I could not afford a new one.

Oh, and fitness plan for this week?

Monday: rest OR yoga
Tuesday: 17.5km bushwalk
Wednesday: 39.8 km bushwalk
Thursday: 22.7 km bushwalk
Friday: 19.9 km bushwalk
Saturday: 21.1 km bushwalk
Sunday: rest OR yoga

Hoping to come back feeling nice and fit!!

Ahh and slight confession... I also ate this today:

It was one of my favourites from back in the day, but had since been banned due to its sugar / fat content. Well, let's just say today I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not punish myself for it, or go on an all out binge after eating it :) So proud! (And soooo tasty...)

Sticking with the plan.

I made up a fitness plan for myself after the City2Surf finished, but I'm finding it hard to follow. Every time I've put down to do weights, I end up going for a run instead. It's just so much easier to put on some sneakers and get out there, than to drive to the gym and need to remember water bottle, towel, keys, wallet etc... but I really need to do some strength work!
I've never liked strength work. I just find it boring. I like to be huffing and puffing and "feeling it". I did like BodyPump for a while but it's so same-same. Anyway. Today I actually drove to the gym all ready to do BodyPump, and then I couldn't find a car park. I drove around and around, but nothing. This is a growing problem with my local gym and it's really frustrating me. So I drove down to the local park which is about 500 metres away from the gym, and went for a run again.
This time though, it was a nice change. I usually just run around home and the route gets a bit boring, but it was really pretty around the park, and all flat for a change... since my home is around a hilly area. Plus it was a beautiful day.

Canola flowers starting to bloom... I totally took this mid-run.

Close up of canolas and some other blue flower...

The lake, and there's some white birds in the pic too but iPhones don't have a zoom, that I'm aware of!!

So after that I didn't feel so bad about having to change the plan again. I'd like to think I'll be able to wake up at 5.30 am tomorrow for BodyPump (since I can actually get parking at that time), but the reality is, I have work tonight and it may finish as late as 2 or 3am (I have to run the bar).
In other news... my brother got me the best 3-months-late birthday present EVER.... 100% chocolate!!! And I thought the 99% was good. I haven't trialed it yet, but he got it in a little bag with all sorts of really good quality chocolate, and I tried the 72% mexican one, and it was divine.

 Ingredients: 100% cocoa mass from Dominican Republic. oOOh yeah.

Yum, even wrapped in gold wrapping...

So... what's the best way to stick with your plan?? Start early in the morning I suppose, when people aren't at work yet and hogging all the car parking spots!! As for motivation, that's another story :)

I do try to stick with Jillian Michael's thing of "Just go for 10 minutes, and if you don't feel like it, come back...", but you can't really leave in the middle of a BodyPump class ;P

How do you train for a hike?

Last week's plan went sort of to plan - except I didn't do Saturdays or Sunday's planned workouts because I'd had about 6 hrs sleep thanks to work Saturday, and Sunday...worked again, plus well, my shins are still quite tender so thought I'd have another day. I'm also really bad if I have one day off, I find it easier to take another :(. But not to worry, will make up for it tomorrow!! Going to start "training" for the hike, not really sure how since I've never really trained for a hike, but I'm thinking 5km walk every day, with maybe a longer walk on weekends... plus my normal running training??? Will somehow make it so I'm not tired for Sunday's race. SO... here's my draft plan for this week....

Sunday (today): rest.

Monday: 5km (3.1m) run + 5km walk + 100 pushups program

Tuesday: BodyPump

Wednesday: 5km run + 5km walk (hills) + 100 pushups program

Thursday: 5km walk

Friday: swim + 100 pushups program

Saturday: rest / maybe yoga?

Sunday: Race, 12km (7.5 m) :D

I am feeling a little restless at the moment actually, so I might end up getting on the exercise bike for a bit tonight.

Weekly Plan

o yesterday... or whenever it was.. I posted a weekly recap of my workouts, so this time I might post a plan in a hope to stick to it, haha (including yesterdays)

Monday: Boot Camp, 100 pushups program (did 79 - oh they hurt)

Tuesday: Did a 3km run, not feeling too well.

Wednesday: Boot camp, 100 pushups program

Thursday 5km walk, maybe something strength related in the afternoon.

Friday: Last Boot Camp!!, 100 pushups program

Saturday: swim 50 - 100 laps

Sunday: long run. again, depends how the shins feel.

I'm kinda reluctant to give myself KM's at the moment because of the way my shins are feeling. I did a bit of a run to my car last night when it was raining at uni and they hurt a bit, so we'll see how we go. I was going to cross-train today with a gym class but I've missed it by sleeping in :/

Oh, and I gained .7 kg this week. Why does this keep happening? You can't gain this much muscle every week. I must eat too much, but I'm reluctant to restrict myself...