Major Mental Achievement

Sunday this week marked only 7 days until I compete in my first triathlon. I've also registered the kids & my husband, so they have to do it with me. We've had about a 10 week period since I decided we'd be doing this to D-Day. Considering I am a weak swimmer and back in December I couldn't swim 25m without "dying", the swim leg is the one which scares me. The run I'm not too concerned about because I know I can walk that if I need to, but the swim - if I stop, I drown.

So we've been doing what we call "tri-training" most weeks. This has been us riding our bikes the 7.5km to a local 25m public pool and then swimming laps. The first week I managed 200m. I have gradually built it up to 1000m in the hour we are there. Then we ride home.

This week, the weather was shocking, so a bike ride was not very appealing, so we decided to try out the indoor pool nearby. It's a Olympic standard 50m pool. Hmmmm, you wouldn't think that swimming one 50m lap would be too much different to swimming 2 x 25m laps without stopping  nor pushing off between laps, but it is. OMG! I eventually managed to swim 700m before I gave up. I'm pretty happy that I was swimming 200m in about 6 mins. That's how far the swim is in Raby Bay for the triathlon.

We are going to have to train at this pool now (for my next tri in April) in order to improve. Unfortunately the roads to this pool are not suitable for bike riding so we will have to drive, but the harder workout will be worth it.

Gee my shoulders hurt the next day.

And it was dark and raining when my alarm went off at 5am. Oh to sleep longer, excuses, excuses. But I did need to get up to go to the loo about 20 minutes later, then once I was up, I was up! Workout clothes on, shoes on, phone in a waterproof phone bag, and out the door I went.
Mish wanted me to do interval training this morning, so, as I'm trying to do everything she tells me to, interval training I did. I did 1 minute intervals - 1 minute walking and 1 minute running (not jogging, but running). I managed 3km in 28 mins and then I was stuffed / bugger / rooted, yet so proud of myself.

But then the day went downhill with crap at work, and I had to fight my internal voice wanting me to snack and eat those biscuits which are provided in the lunchroom.
 Noooooo! But there was a light at the end of the tunnel ...

Major achievement - Every month at work we have training on some boring tax topic, followed by morning tea to celebrate the birthdays for the month. The food supplied is hot sausage rolls, party pies and samosas. Followed by a selection of cakes from The Cheesecake Shop. "Just don't go to the morning tea" I hear you say - easier said than done - we have to be in the room as this is when the latest firm news is given and sometimes our knuckles are rapped. Every month I struggle with the desire to just have a little bit because the smell is overwhelming. Well, this week, I had no desire whatsoever to eat any of the food - I managed to sit in the room and eat my yoghurt I'd brought from home. MAJOR MENTAL ACHIEVEMENT! In fact, I can't even recall smelling the hot food, though I know the smell was there because everyone commented. Happy Dance!

And finally, for this post, I like to read other people's blogs to learn out their journey and struggles and realise that I am human, plus some of them inspire me. One such person is Jeepie who writes "The Confessions of a Snacking Shiftworker" http://snackingshiftworker.blogspot.com.au/

Lightbulb moment - Jeepie mentioned about how shiftworkers are more likely to grab takeaway after / during their long and irregular shifts rather than get into a routine to cook at home. BINGO! I used to do that! And looking back I realise that it was about those days that I started to really put on weight. I worked in hospitality and fast food and it was easier to grab anything not healthy from the shop / restaurant I was working in (plus dessert, because it was either free or discounted), or at the 7-11 on the way home at 3am, than to cook. Then once children came along and I was no longer doing shiftwork, my husband was. Again it seemed so much easier to grab takeaway on my way home from work for the kids and I when my hubby was not going to be home because the kids wouldn't (or so I thought) eat what I'd cook, plus I was soooo tired.  Thanks Jeepie for that insight :-).

Back on the wagon

I finished Round 4 off with a massive weekend of partying and celebrating with new and old friends from near and far (see previous post) ready and pumped to smash out the new Round of 12WBT, so it was a bit of a shock to wake up on Monday morning at 5am to exercise. FAIL! I turned the "weekday workout" alarm off and slept another hour until the "slacker late alarm" chimed.

At least I ate "clean" all day. I was quite disappointed in myself because after about 7 weeks of slacking off, today was going to be the day to re-start. I did get some exercise done though, Monday nights I have started "Physie Culture" dance classes. It's a ladies beginner class and this was my second night. I'm having so much fun getting back into dancing after a 30 year break. "Physie" is a combination of many dance styles and also some yoga and Pilate's. the routines are sort of like choreographed exercises. You (apparently) develop a great core strength by participating in Physie. I can see how - there's a lot of strength involved and boy my muscles hurt the next morning.

Alright then, Tuesday, lets get this started..... Whoo hoo I JFDI'd and got myself out of bed and downstairs and did Mish's programmed workout. This Round I'm doing the Intermediate program. Ouchie - yep, it's a bit harder than beginner, but I'm also a lot fitter now and although today's workout was hard, it wasn't too hard. It's gonna hurt....

So Wednesday - wake up, wee and weigh-in (in my birthday suit). Yay! fist pump! I've lost 500g. That's huge considering the big weekend I've had and the fact I've on;y really been following the program for two days. Ok, so I'd better go and smash this workout now that I'm up.

Run, oh, boy, Mish wants me to run at 5am on a weekday morning. OK, whatever you say Mish. Call me your robot. Off I went, and ran! Yep, me, I ran! i ran for 15 mins and did about 2km, then Mish suggested we find some hills. Well, it's pretty flat around here but there is one hill in the park. Sounds like this'll be it then - I walked up and down and up and down this hill for almost 20 mins. The other people in the park must have thought I was crazy, but hey, it was a good workout & I could feel it in my legs. Oh gee, can I go back to bed now - nope, work time....  The sunrise was nice though.

Oh yeah, drats, that's right, tonight I have to go into the city after work for a class for my CA (Chartered Accountancy). Hmmm, this usually involves me stopping at Maccas on the way for "dinner", eating the totally yummy freshly baked cookies which are provided at the break time, and then stopping at the 7-11 on the way home for "dessert". The first bit of planning for success meant that I left work with only just enough time to get to the class without stopping on the way. Yay, no Maccas pitstop. Then surprise, surprise, they provided Subway at the breaktime. Wow, that made it easy, as I know I can have a 6 inch Subway (with certain meats & no cheese) and stay within my calorie goal. And, you know what, the Subway filled me up so that I wasn't hungry on the way home. I do have a confession though, our "facilitator" bribed us with Freddo Frogs about half an hour before we finished, and yes I ate one. It was really yummy. I will not beat myself up about that as I've definitely consumed way less calories than I would have normally on a CA night.

Thursday was another busy day, but I got up, did my toning workout as hard as I could, went to work and then began the Thursday night kid taxi run. First I make a 45min detour to pick them up from their grandparents who mind them 2 afternoons a week, then raced home for dinner and to drop one child off. No time for dinner, so straight to Hip Hop classes for the other child. We got home about 8pm and raided the fridge for leftovers. That's one plus of the kids whinging about some of the healthy meals we have - my hubby and I get some great tasting leftovers for lunches or nights like tonight. The kids had to fend for themselves and ate baked beans. (Mother of the Year award here haha).

By Friday I was really starting to flag. I still haven't recovered from the weekend, so it took me 20 mins to swing my feet out of the bed today. Luckily Friday's workout (abs) is a short one and I still got it all done before the "slacker late alarm" went off to let me know I needed to get showered and ready for work. I even managed to be coordinated to skip for 5 minutes for the warm up.

Finally I've made it to the weekend, oh, but no sleep in - it's SSS day, so a 5am start again, get dressed and grab a piece of toast and out the door with the whole family by 5:25am and on our way to our Crossfit gym. Today, being Week 1 of a new Round is usually an easier workout and has lots of new faces. Well there were lots of new faces, but the workout was HARD!
 And it was raining so our runs had to be done in the rain. And, even though I hate running and even more so in the rain, by the end of the workout when we were told to do more mountain climbers after having already done 500 of them, our trainer suggested we might prefer to run 400m in the rain - yes please! Anything but more mountain climbers. I don't think she thought we would.  Once again I forgot to start my Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) until after the warm up, but by the end of the workout it said I'd burnt 630 cals.

I am PUMPED!! Yeah baby, I'm going to SMASH this round.

Many of us from training went for a welcome breakfast afterwards and it was great to catch up with old friends and make new ones, and to hear the success stories of the people who've lost lots of weight on this program. They are certainly inspiring.

Once we got home I had to study, and study, and study, but we also ducked out to the shops and while we were there we got a new game for the Wii - "Just Dance 4". This game has you mirroring the character on the screen and learning the dance moves to popular songs. As I mentioned earlier, I love to dance, so with the kids being punished and being banned from all electronic things, I took my chance and played / danced. I danced for about an hour and sweated up a storm. I enthusiastically attempted all the dance moves - something I never would have done 6 months ago. Wow I had so much fun! I can't wait until I get another chance to play again.

So how do you think I slept Saturday night? Like a log? Nope, DOMS were starting to set in and I was very dehydrated. Bugger, this was my only chance for a decent sleep and a sleep in for another week. Oh well, at least I didn't waste Sunday by sleeping all through it.

Once thing I'm starting to notice is the change in my face. It's certainly getting slimmer. I can't stop looking at my (lack of) chins as I walk past mirrors and reflective windows. Am I becoming vain?? LOL

Find out in my next post ....

Celebrations!!

Now what to do to celebrate this success? Attend the Finale of course!! Finale was in Brisbane, my home town, this time, so of course I just had to go.

I put my hand up to volunteer at the group workout in the morning and I'm so glad I did. I had the best time, met some lovely people and got my own intense workout.

I arrived at the venue in my crew shirt just before 7:30am and snapped a few photos of the "I smashed it" 12WBT billboard, then found my volunteer group.

 I was rostered to the waiver team which meant I had to make sure everyone going into the Great Hall to participate or watch the workout had a signed waiver form. This was a fabulous job because I got to speak to so many happy people. Some started out looking scared, but once I came over in my 12WBT shirt & cap and said Hi and made them feel welcome, they started to feel more comfortable. Others, they were so pumped that it was hard not to get excited with them.
I got to see my friends from far and wide (Perth, Townsville, Toowoomba) and from my own "Redlands Crew".
One of the highlights was getting a group photo with Mish (in fact I managed to get a few, being with the volunteers, the Redlands Crew, and the Defence Spouses), plus I got her autograph and a one on one photo. I was just a little star struck!

Once my volunteer time was up I was able to go in and join in on workout, but, the bag drop area was in desparate need of help, and I love to help, so I raced in and sweated a ton of calories off running back and forth in the heat dropping off and organising bags. We managed to get a 10 minute break to have something to eat, and then the workout was over and we rushed around again. OMG I was so exhausted by 1pm, but it was so rewarding. The big question now is, at the next finale, do I volunteer again, or do I join in the intense workout which all my friends said was fantastic? Oh well I've got 12 weeks to decide.

I had time for a quick trip home for a 30min nanna nap and then had to get ready for the big evening event - cocktail party. First I went out to dinner with a group of girls from my Crew (and my best friend who was my plus one for the evening), then we headed to the party.
Of course we took tons of photos as we all looked stunning. Some photos were a bit less sedate than the normal group shot and deserve to remain under wraps. LOL.

Oh what a Night! We danced, sang, danced, drank a little, ate a little, talked, danced, took lots of photos, and all in all had a fantastic night. It was wonderful to spend this evening with my gym buddies - nice to see them in a different light. Now some of us are much better friends and will support each other further through our weight loss journey.
I even managed to work out how to use Twitter and a couple of my posts were shown up on the big screen feed a few times through the night. How special did that make me feel???

Then to top off the night, one of our crew was named the 3rd place Top Transformer - Go Logan! She won a heap of prizes including a trip to Bali.
Finally, as if I could get any more pumped and motivated to SMASH the next round, over comes Margie Cummins, winner of The Biggest Loser 2012. She's a friend of one of the girls in our group, so she came over and had a big chat and we all got photos.

WOW, this is a night I will not forget in a long time.

Reflections on a Ho-hum Round

Well today marks the end of Round 4, 2012 12WBT. I haven't kept up with my blog this round, so this post is a quick wrap up.

I haven't been as successful this round as in the previous round, but I'm happy to say that even with the couple of HUGE hurdles I've had to face this round, I still managed to lose 5kg and to increase my fitness. For someone who couldn't even swim 25m, I can now swim 1000m (albeit with a couple of rests) and I can also now run 1km without stopping!

During the 12 weeks of Round 4 I successfully went camping for 2 weeks and did not put on weight; I came through the Christmas and New Year period lighter than before it began; I suffered food poisoning for more than 2 weeks and ended up in hospital, but still managed to do some kayaking and mountain bike riding (though not too far from a toilet);

And to top it all off we lost my dear father-in-law to depression & suicide which meant we shut ourselves off from the rest of the world for a couple of weeks to take stock.

But still I lost those 5kgs. Thank-you Mish!

It was the skills I've learnt on this program which got me through - eating healthily, making good choices, and keeping moving. These skills are starting to become a part of me.

So I couldn't control the food poisoning, nor the death, but I did have some control over the big red flag - camping for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. What was different this time? The food for a start. This time I planned the food to a certain extent. We chose 12WBT friendly breakfasts and had a selection of wraps, meats and salads for lunches. For Christmas Day we followed one of Mish's menus and cooked a turkey roll over the campfire. Yummo!

Then for dinners we had lean meat with frozen vegies (we have a camping fridge / freezer) or baked beans. We didn't do the packet pasta & sauce we used to do, we didn't add rice, we didn't get takeaway while in town, we didn't snack all day on dips, cheeses and chips, we didn't drink softdrink, we hardly had any alcohol, and we SURVIVED and had FUN! Who'd a thought?
The next big change to our usual camping trips was that everyday we did some kind of energetic exercise. Kayaking on the lake, mountain biking to the dam or to the campground 5 kms away.

I climbed this long set of stairs up the side of the dam wall. And all of this while I was not feeling 100%. Yes, I did spend a lot of time sitting and reading (and a little time in hospital due to dehydration as a result of my food poisoning - I was still managing to eat, but keeping up the fluids was hard), but I spent a lot of time participating in activities, instead of standing back & taking photos as I used to. I still got enough photos to remember the holiday by, but I got in and lived life. What a difference!

We got rained out (twice), we had to rebuild our campsite 3 times due to the cyclonic winds and wet sandy ground, and my car was trapped surrounded by a moat of rainwater, but we had fun! AND I lost weight :-)

Week 3 Bits and Pieces

(Photos to come)

A 5am alarm on a Saturday so we could get to our SSS at 6am at Redland Bay was a new experience. I can't believe this new me si getting up that early on a weekend to exercise. There wer only 5 other people brave enough to turn up this early, but it made for a good session. James participated in most of the session, including showing off by blitzing the jumping chin ups.

 Mady sat on the sidelines and read a book - she's had a very full on week with her school musical performances the past few nights.

During sit-ups I was managing to get my fingers to my knees - a huge improvement on 6 weeks ago where my fingers would only reach half way up my leg, so Tina encouraged & pushed me. She stood on my toes to give me a little help and guess what? I actually got all the way up! I did that about 10 times with Tina standing lightly on my toes, but could not do it by myself...yet. On the next round (after 2 x200m runs, 30 push ups, 30 burpees, 30 jump ups (hanging from bar and jumping up to a chin up) and 30 squats, ) I actually managed to do a full sit up myself! I even managed to do 23 of them in a "row". It took me a long time, but I did it!

 In the final "intensity" push, we had to do 60 ball slams (10pd medicine ball for me),

50 up & downs (similar to burpees, but not all the way down and not all the way up), 40 kettle ball swings (I'm using a 16 pound KB) and 30 jump squats. Unfortunately I got quite light headed during the up & downs and had to stop so I didn't fall over. I moved onto the KB swings, but part way through those I had to spew. Bugger. Though, it does show that I was pushing myself to the absolute limit. And maybe my blood pressure has finally come back down causing me to get light headed with that fast vertical movement. This is the second time in two weeks that standing up quickly has sent me into a head spin, which used to be a regular occurrence when I had low blood pressure. After my spew, I got back on board and finished the KB swings and squats. I didn't get back to the up & downs, but that did not worry me. Afterwards, a few of the others said the up & downs were making them dizzy too - we had to push through them really fast!

Home time & some quick running around for us - breakfast (high protein) at a coffee shop (no time to go home) dentist for Mady, shopping quickly to get morning tea & birthday cake, home to quickly clean & tidy as the cleaner was unable to come yesterday, a quick shower and then everyone arrived to celebrate James & Mady's birthdays (which are next week). Phew! We managed to get a couple of hours relaxing and socialising in before everyone left us so that I could study for my big exam on Tuesday.

Unfortunately I looked up the results of the class component of my subject and found out I got 40% less than I expected. I was devastated! My first impulse was to cry (which I did) my second was to binge on chocolate. Luckily there wasn't any in the house. AND I hadn't had lunch yet so I made myself a healthy lunch. BUT I still wanted chocolate, so I compromised on a skinny, water based hot chocolate from our coffee machine. Still want chocolate, but I did exercise my willpower machine.YAY ME.

I spent most of the rest of the arvo studying, until I just go so tired that I could not keep my eyes open. Went for a snooze on the couch & then (with the kids away with the grandparents for a birthday treat) Stephen & I went out for a treat meal which ended up just being takeaway from Subway. But still, we didn't have to cook! Home by 5:30pm and straight into a hot Epsom salts bath for my sore muscles. Now, 7:30pm, I'm totally buggered and will be in bed shortly. Must get up early and keep studying.....

Little surprises:
We had breakfast at the same place we had breakfast 4 weeks ago. Then it was very uncomfortable for me to sit in the chairs as the arms of the chairs where they meet the seat at the front dug right into my thighs. this week, although my thighs were still touching, the arms were not painfully digging in. Yay
Then in my Epsom salts bath I noticed that no longer do my thighs wedge up against the sides of the bath but I could even fit one hand on each side! Yeehaa

Week 3 Weigh In & Some Recognition

Wednesday = wake up, wee, and weigh in.  Whoo Hoo, I've lost another 1.1kg. That's a total of 6.7 kg since I signed up on 5th August. Oh it's so exciting. Even though it's been hard, it's actually been a hell of a lot easier than many of my other weight loss attempts.

That little win helped me push through my workout this morning in which I struggled. I'm a bit tired and my legs are still hurting from all those stairs on Sunday, so I really struggled with completing the running intervals this morning. I did it though.

Then to keep me on my happy dance high, one of the girls at work asked me if I'd lost weight because it looks like I've lost a "heap" of weight! Yeee-haa! Someone at work noticed!!! I now can't wait until I come back from my two week holiday in a few weeks. A few more people might notice then when they haven't seen me for a couple of weeks. Exciting....

BUT, when am I going to feel energised? I'm just so tired all the time. Even more tired than I usually am with all my work and study. I'm falling asleep at night at 8pm before the kids. And I certainly don't have any energy for special cuddles....

Maybe after my exam on tuesday when I can get back the energy I'm devoting to that, I will get some energy. Stay tuned....

Our Own Private Bootcamp

With the Perth finale and Brisbane Stampede on this weekend, there weren't any SSS's on, but Tina decided to hold a Bootcamp on Sunday morning. We booked ourselves in and turned up at Redland Bay at 7am on Sunday morning, along with .... no one else! It was just us. Everyone else was recovering from Stampede yesterday and the FB Group celebratory dinner the night before. No worries, we ended up with our own private family bootcamp. Just the four of us :-)
We had to run (yay - NOT), jump, squat, do tricep dips, push ups and more.

The tyres came out again and we had to flip them (the big ones) and carry them (the smaller ones).

 We also had to carry this insanely heavey and thick rope.

Mady and James put in a really good effort and participated in the whole bootcamp with only a few whinges.
But we weren't finished yet ..... next came a jog to the stairs. Oh No! Stairs! And not only once, but again and again, up and down, up and down, one at a time, two at a time, and back up again. Phew! I was slow, so only made it up and down five times, but Tina pushed Stephen hard and made him to it ten times. Meanwhile, James counted the stairs - 64. Which meant that Stephen went up 640 stairs and down 640 stairs. OUCH. No wonder our (his) calves were hurting the next day, and the next day, and even still on Wednesday.

Finally it was time to stretch. OMG that felt good. I can't do the quadracepts stretch while standing, but can do it lying down, Tina thought that was hilarilous and captured this "lazy" posing shot of me.

Yeah, thanks! LOL