23 Homeward stretch

I have to say I did indulge a little more than usual last week. The worst part being more than a few wines on Friday night. Nothing to get annoyed about though, as each day is a new day, and one blow out won't ruin all my hard work. What was annoying was being too tired yesterday to exercise. I managed to get to the gym this morning though, and squeak in my three work outs.

My second time around the Hagley fitness track with Ron on Thursday was great. Weather was lovely and warm and there's a great feeling of achievement, and that you've worked some neglected muscles pretty hard for several days afterwards.

I've been contemplating the tri that Jacquie sent out, and wondering if I'm going to be able to fit it into my week. I'd like to at least have one go to see how long it takes me. Out of the three, the biking part is the biggest unknown quantity as I never get on a bike at the gym - unless it's a spin bike, of course.

This week is the start of the new self defense for fitness rec programme and Pioneer. That should be awesome fun. I've certainly tried some great new forms of exercise over the last eight weeks or so, and many of them I plan to continue.

Tomorrow, I'll walk to work, and maybe try and get out for a jog at lunch. Tuesday will be more walking and pilates. Wednesday is the new rec programme and netball if they don't clash. Thursday, I'm not sure yet :-)

22 Fourth Weigh In

August 27th
Weight: 64.4kgs
Body fat: 32.8%

September 23rd
Weight: 63.3kgs
Body fat: 32.1%

October 14th
Weight: 62.3kgs
Body fat: 31.5%

November 1st
Weight: 62.4kgs
Body fat: 27.3%

So effectively no weight loss - I don't count 100grams as a gain as I'd eaten lots and had work clothes on - but an oddly large decrease in body fat %.

This is a fab result, if it's correct. It's a body fat competition, afterall. I was hoping at the last weigh in to get my body fat under 30% at the end of the 12 weeks, so I can't honestly believe I knocked that target off since the last weigh in. It feels really good.

21 Out and about

The walk up the Rapaki track this morning with Jacquie and Dan was great. I was surprised at how many people were up and out there doing just the same thing this morning, and probably half of those were cyclists, grinding their way up the slope.

I used to have a bit of a fear of walking uphill, but it's definitely got easier as my fitness has increased, and I think I'll have to start doing that walk a bit more regularly. Definitely a nice reward of an amazing view when you reach the top too :-)

20 Getting past that point

I think I read somewhere the other day that the six week mark is where it starts getting hard when it comes to new diet and exercise regimes. I've definitely noticed it getting harder over the last couple of weeks.

This will be the first week that I won't tick off my three facility visits. I was stressing a little over this, as I hate to not do something once I've started, but then I realised that I'm still on track with exercise, and the end result will still be the same.

I've also been a bit tired physically on a couple of days, which has been a bit of a wake up call. I need to pace things, and not go out too hard with something that I haven't done for a while, e.g. the five k run on Monday.

Am looking forward to the group activities coming up. I have really wanted something high calorie to eat over the last week, so have found myself eating more than normal, albeit healthy food. I still feel pretty okay about next week's weigh in. As long as I keep going down, that's a win in my book :)

19 On the run

First week away from Pioneer, done and dusted.

Yip, it was hard to fit gym sessions into my week. I managed the three eventually, but it went down to the wire. I'm back to the walk to work, which I love. Now the days are lighter earlier and later, I'll probably walk both ways, a 10k round trip, when I can. I just have to fit in morning visits to Centennial on my way.

I went for my first 'decent' run today in about six months. I started jogging, as that's really what it is, about 2 years ago. Mostly so I could say that I could run around Hagley park. I lived really close to it at the time, so it seemed wrong to not at least give it a go. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to work up to it, but I got all the way around the outside on my second attempt, which I felt pretty happy about. I'd never known before that the start was the hardest. Once you get into a rhythm, it becomes easier. I'd previously gone out hard and then found it too much for me withing the first kilometer and promptly given up. To say I started jogging probably suggests I do it regularly, but I don't. When I lived in town the round the park circuit was a once a week thing. It was hard, and still is hard work. When I'm out there I wonder how the hell people could want to train to run a half or full marathon. And when I stop, it takes me a good half hour before my legs work properly again. An hour later, and I feel great. So it's the health benefit, the emotional benefit and the energy benefit I get from it.

On a related note, I bought some new running shoes. On Ron's advice, they were not too expensive, $50, and nice and lightweight, and possibly alarmingly, they came from Number 1 shoes. They're good so far, but I'll let you know after a few weeks :)

18 Third Weigh In

August 27th
Weight: 64.4kgs
Body fat: 32.8%

September 23rd
Weight: 63.3kgs
Body fat: 32.1%

October 14th
Weight: 62.3kgs
Body fat: 31.5%



Happy with that. Very much so. I was initially pretty frustrated about how much effort it was taking to lose seemingly so little, but now I can see that it's steady and consistent, and hell, this isn't easy. If it was, you wouldn't see so many overweight people walking around.

It's awesome listening to fitness professionals talk about this stuff. I now have a much better idea of the way I should be training to actually see results.

Up until working at Pioneer I'd been walking to work. In the summer, I walk both ways and clock up over 10kms a day. I've been thinking how virtuous I am doing this, and how much good it must be doing be, where in reality, I've been stuck on my comfy little plateau for months now.

I'm already thinking of smarter, harder ways to train when I move back into town to work. I'll definitely be making use of Hagley park as an outdoor training venue, and Centennial will be my fitness centre of choice once again.

I might cut out some of the walks in favour of an earlier start at the gym a couple of days a week.

Overall, I'm happy with where things are at. Really looking forward to some more group training sessions, and seeing how I can overcome the challenge of not working at a fitness centre anymore.

17 Up and down and up and down...

We're a lazy bunch, us humans, so working around a bunch of awesome fitness professionals who know how to motivate and push you has been absolutely wonderful.

I've loved the two outdoor training sessions I've been to so far as part of the challenge. First was Ron's Hagley Park fitness circuit, and this morning was the dreaded 'stairs'.

I'm as guilty as the next exerciser of not pushing myself, so it's great to have someone else do the pushing and make me go that extra mile.

Hagley park showed me just how weak my upper body still is, but I still felt an enormous sense of achievement in what we did. It's been great to try different things since this challenge began, and doing this outdoor bootcamp style training session has definitely been a highlight.

This morning with the ever motivating Mr and Mrs Hibbs a small but willing group of us tackled 'the stairs'. I'd heard of these stairs, but that was all. Turns out there are 108 of them. Yes, we got Dan to count.

It's amazing how quickly the fatigue sets in, but also amazing how much you can do when you just keep at it. We spent 45 going up at down at various speeds in various ways - every second step, at speed, lunges.

Tomorrow will be interesting. My legs were like jelly for much of this morning, but I love that feeling of having worked really hard. I know it's what I need to do to get real results.

Bring on the next outdoor challenge!