Thursday, October 31, 2013

Today's session was actually okay

I thought it was going to be awful. Mostly because I didn't shut off the laptop till 1am (I was frantically getting a Halloween costume together for a party this weekend, way to be prepared!) and I was suuuuper tired. I was tired all day yesterday and wanted to get an early night; best laid plans and all that...

Anyway, I got my fat ass out of bed and went to the park. I did 5.09km in 50:42. I told you I was slow!! I did the same route (plus a bit extra) as the time my GPS said I did 5.03km in 46 minutes. I think it's safe to say that's definitely incorrect. I've manually changed it to an estimated 4.65km, which is still slightly faster than my average page has been but at least it's more in line.

Now that I've established that I can actually get through 5k of walking/jogging, I need to get the speed up. I think the best way is to either push harder through intervals and cover longer distances?

My diet hasn't been wonderful the last few days. Totally my own fault, but I'm going to blame it on my Mum's birthday because it's easier. Blog post to come on that later - with pictures!

I've done a pretty good amount of exercise so far, even though I missed my spin class. I was still on the waiting list anyway so whatevs. On Tuesday I did a 792m swim as well at the 5k training in the morning (the pool was 18m, I didn't pick this length to be awkward...) and my Dad and I had a bit of a race. He said he could tell that I was getting stronger and fitter as he couldn't catch up to me. Whoa, awesome.

Is it bad that I don't proof read my posts? Probably.

Anyway, Happy Halloween from this Runner 5*!


*Zombies, Run! reference. Because I'm cool like that.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Today's run sucked

Seriously. It was balls.

Since my GPS did some crazy shiz on Saturday, I was going to do the same route again today so I could get a better estimate of the distance. Apart from the fact that I couldn't do it. I ended up being way slower than Saturday, slower than I've been in a few sessions. 

This was the slowest session I've done in a while and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I know that some days aren't going to be as good as others and that overall progress is what counts. It could be chalked up to a lot of things (not enough sleep, not enough energy, those million lunges and squats in body pump yesterday...) but there's no point in focussing on it. At least I went out and did it, right?

Zombies, Run! 5k Training Week 4 is coming up next. It's exciting that I'm nearly halfway through. Just under 5 weeks until the charity 5k. Ahhhhhh!!


Monday, October 28, 2013

I really need to come up with some catchy titles

This is what I ate today (in another terrible collage format, woooo!)


Breakfast: leftover roast beef, scrambled eggs and tomato
Lunch: lemon pepper chicken and salad
Snacks: mini babybel, greek yogurt (added a tsp of honey), banana, wafer biscuit (not pictured)
Dinner: wholewheat tortilla, garlic and coriander prawns, shredded lettuce and tomato, avocado, radish & spring onion salad
Dessert (whoa, dessert on a monday?!): baked apple

Seeing what I've eaten in pictures is kind of weird. It makes me evaluate my choices a bit more, I think. Saying that, I'm sure lots of not-so-stellar food is going to be consumed tomorrow due to the anniversary of my mothers' birth. I'm going to take pictures of it all so you can see what a fatty I am. It'll be good times, I swear.

I made her a little hamper as her birthday present, 'cause I'm cute like that.


Exercise: 55 minutes of body pump.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

This weekend

This weekend was pretty good. Lots of fun times, friends, alcohol and food. Awesome for life, not awesome for the diet. C'est la vie, right? Right.

Saturday

Woke up later than I intended, but still early enough to do week 3 workout 2 of Zombies, Run! 5k training. As I was putting my running shoes on, my Mum annouced that she was going to go for a walk in the park also. I was so proud that I almost cried, I'm not even kidding.

My mum is one of the laziest people I've ever encountered (I tell her to do more exercise at least once a day, she knows where I stand on this issue). I don't know what spurred her on to go on this walk, but I'm glad whatever the reason. I told her that I was going to be about 45 minutes, but she said she was only going to do 20 minutes in total.

We both set off to the park with Merlin (our dog) in tow and once we were there I went ahead and started my new favourite app. I was determined to do as much as I did in the w3w1 training session, so after the 5 minute walk warm up, I started a 5 minute jog. I jog really slow; as in, I could probably walk faster than I'm jogging. Whatever. About 5 runners passed me down a path, it was excellent.

The walk-run drills started after the 5 minute free form run and after those, I had two 8-minute free form runs with a 2 minute stretch break in between. On my last walk-run drill, I was at the bottom of the park where I start to head back on the route I take. As I'm walking off the last 1 minute run (it kills me, seriously), I see someone waving. It's my mum. I was unbelievably shocked that she'd walked that far (especially cause you need to walk back, y'know) and I was, once again, incredibly proud. I gave her a quick hug and continued on.

The first 8 minute free form run starts at the bottom of the (relatively small) hill in the park. I measure distances by signs, bins etc in the park and usually I jog slowly (reeeeeeally slowly) up it to a dog poop bin. I crapped out (lol, perfect phrasing right now...) before it, which sucked. I didn't have the energy. It also reminded me that I should really eat half a banana or something before going.

Anyway, I walked the rest of the free form and did some stretching in the break. In w3w1, I jogged the whole of the second 8 minute free form, so I wanted to at least match it. I did match it and I didn't almost puke this time, so that was pretty successful. I walked for a bit longer until I had to put Merlin on the lead again and then stopped the app. The distance was at 5.03k, AMAZING right?!

Wrong.

Sometimes the GPS gets a little very sketchy. Once it told me I did 4.36k, when in reality it was somewhere between 3.92 and 3.95 (did the same route the sessions before and after). I checked the map when I got home and there was a huge spike in it for no reason. So, yeah. My last session was at 4.5k so I probably did a little more. It gives me confidence that in another few weeks I'll be able to (run?) jog a 5k.

After sweating my (metaphorical) balls off, I came home, showered and cleaned the house before going to my friends' place. I took a 30 minute nap on their sofa (what, I was tired?) and then we got ready for the 1920s par-tay. It was excellent. Everyone looked so wonderful all dressed up!

I made a terrible collage in paint. Don't judge me.

Drinking, dancing, photo-taking and 1am pizza took place. Sadly I didn't take many photos.

It was a lovely evening with lovely people.

Sunday

I watched 'Up' for the first time this morning and it was really sad. Wtf is wrong with you, Pixar?!

We went to the pub for lunch and then I had a loooooong journey home. At least I didn't get blown away by the brewing storms (lol, one time where being fat works in your favour).

Mum's made a roast for dinner and I'm currently laying in bed as I type.

Being horizontal is my fave.

Friday, October 25, 2013

This week

This week has been a little crappy on the diet and exercise front. My usual week has been something like the below (5k training days sometimes change but it's 3 times per week):

Monday - Body Pump
Tuesday - 5k training (morning), 2hrs belly dance (evening)
Wednesday - Spin
Thursday - 5k training
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 5k training & light swim
Sunday - 1-2 hour walk with the doggy

This week has been:

Monday - hangover
Tuesday - 5k training, 2hrs belly dance
Wednesday - nothing
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing (yet?)

So yeah, real good, right?

Wednesday night I didn't actually sleep at all. When I was about to fall asleep at just after 5am, my dog threw up.

On my bed.

Awesome.

I was crazy tired all day, so Thursday was a complete write off. I was actually pretty sad that morning, because the weather was perfect for an autumn run*.

This morning, I managed to sleep through my alarm so didn't get up in time to go out before work this morning. I'm hoping to get out this evening, but I'm still (super) tired from the no-sleep-Thursday-night issue, so it will most likely Saturday morning.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll only make 2/3 training sessions this week, and that's okay. Sometimes things don't go as planned. I should be able to make up for missing one in the coming weeks.

My diet hasn't been terrible this week, but not wonderful either. Time to step it up.

Aside from that, it's almost the weekend. Hooray! I'm really looking forward to my friends' birthday on Saturday, it's a 1920s themed night so should be a lot of fun.

Too much alcohol is going to be consumed this weekend.  Don't judge me, I'm half Irish. It can't be helped.

I really need to curb my alcohol intake while out with friends, though. It's not conducive to a good diet, weight loss or having the motivation to exercise. Balls.


*walk/jog

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Blog resurrection!

So, it's been just over two years since I had my short stint of blogging. A lot of things have changed since August 2011, so I'll give you a brief overview of the last two years:
  • Wedding happened. I looked amazing, not gonna lie. It was awesome.
  • Divorce is in progress. Unfortunately, some people turn out to be epic douchebags. Strong enough to walk away from a bad marriage? This is awesome.
  • I have more friends than I had this time 2 years ago, this is awesome.
  • I'm fitter than I was this time 2 years ago, this is awesome.
  • I'm fatter than I was this time 2 years ago, this isn't awesome.
I actually really enjoyed reading over my old posts, so I'm going to keep them. I had a good few giggles over them. This time, we're (well, I... not 'we') going to be sensible and not do a crazy 500 calorie per day shake diet that you're destined to fail at (hello unsustainable lifestyle choices). Yeah, sometimes I don't have the brightest ideas. Shut your face hole.

The goal is to get fitter, healthier and stronger. Gain muscle, lose fat. Eat good food, limit food that is not-so-good (take it seriously, Ani, limit means limit) and exercise.

Simple, yes? Simple if you don't love food like it was your goddamn first born child and your natural activity level is about that of a sloth.

Maybe that was an exaggeration*.

Some stats (obviously not posting my actual weight on here because I'm not down with that. I mean, duh I'm fat. If you look at me, it's not hard to miss. Just something about the numbers. I know it's stupid, whatevs).

Weight
Loss from HW: 28lbs
Gain from LW: 36lbs (ouch)

Inches from biggest measurement
Waist: -7
Bust: -7
Under bust: -4
Hips: 0 (thanks, hips...)
Total:  -18 inches
(I forgot my thigh and arm measurements)

There are a few things I attribute the weight gain to:
  • Not putting 100% into eating well
  • Not moving enough
  • Health issues
Two are my own fault, one isn't. The health issues kind of definitely contributed to the lack of movement and poor food choices (oh hey meds that make you the hungriest ever for high-sugar carbs and slow down your metabolism). Ext-to-the-reme weight gain was pretty much expected by my doctor due to the medication side effects. It's sort of an excuse, but still not really good enough.

Anyway, weight gain happens; such is life. Let's deal with it and move forward.

*it wasn't.