I think now it's acceptably light to be in the park

It's still not really light out though. Just an acceptable level of lightness.

Alas, if I leave now I won't have enough time to get ready. On a normal day I would (but I don't usually wear makeup/need to be properly presentable). I think on a normal day, as long as I leave before 7.30, I can get it done, even if it's cutting it fine.

Oh well. I might have a cheeky nap till 8am, then.

Rubbish

It's just slightly too dark to run right now (I'm not going into a creepy park in the dark on my own, it sounds like the start of your typical horror movie... maybe I'll get over this one day) and I need to get ready for the 2013 Business Show (or whatever the correct title is) so I guess I'm not training today, which I'm kinda bummed about. I keep looking out the window every minute to see if it's getting lighter. It's not.

The good thing is that I'll probably be on my feet for most of the day walking around a big exhibition centre.

I still feel like a lazy whale. True story.

It's still dark.

The charity 5k is on Sunday and if I don't get a session in before then, I'll still have 7 training sessions to go before I complete the programme. Yeahhhh I'm behind. Getting ill really screws up your plans. I've resigned myself to the fact that there's no way I'll be able to run the whole distance or even use it to get my base time, but that's okay (I'm trying to convince myself, but I'm pretty disappointed...)

I'm also supposed to go out drinking on Friday (bad for diet, probably bad for an attempt at running on Sunday) so I have this sneaky plan of ordering lime & soda water when I get drinks. I haven't quite thought about how I'm going to avoid friends buying me drinks, though... I mean, I COULD be straight and say "I've got a 5k on Sunday so I can't get ruined for that"; but I'm pretty I'd get "oh, it's okay, we'll just have one or two drinks" and then the one or two turns into sambuca shots and jagerbombs.

Don't pretend like this doesn't happen to you.

Anyway, I think by the time of the February 5k I'll be good to go. That's just over 2 months away so I've got a while to get better at this running thing (why did I decide to start running?). I plan to keep up training over the Christmas break too. Guilt free Christmas dinner, maybe? I hope so.

The one good thing is that I think I'm doing well on the training programme in comparison to others (and being severely fat, this is a wonderful thing). I stalked the My Fitness Pal forums a while ago and they have a Zombies, Run! 5k training thread. For a while I've been running for longer and further than a few people that have posted their times, so that gives me hope.

Yep, still dark.

Busy, busy

Work is busy and I was at a conference all day yesterday.

I might've had chips at lunch today (I did).

I'm really sleepy.

I went belly dancing last night and it was very fun. Practice, practice, practice.

Can't seem to type in long sentences. Cool.

Normal blogging to resume... post-winter(?)

No motivation to go to the gym

When it's dark at 4.30pm. I hate winter.

Let's be honest, I probably won't get to the gym this side of the new year.

I will still run though, at least it's light in the morning. Compromise? We'll go with that.

#failingatlife
#imgonnabefatforever
#idontevencare
#letmehibernate

I had a really lazy weekend

Pretty much didn't move from my bed, it was great. Didn't run at all, my bad.

Got out this morning even though I didn't want to. Laaaaaazy. It wasn't too bad, I'm finally getting back to improving my pace.

5 min walk warm up, 10 min free from run (jogged all of it), however long for squats & stretches, 5 min walk, 7 min free form run (jogged about 5 mins), 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run (jogged about 6 mins), 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run (jogged about 6 mins).

All in all, not too bad. Pretty good considering 2 months ago I couldn't jog longer than a minute.

Breakfast: latte (shhhh...)
Lunch: tuna & salad
Dinner: salmon & some kind of veg

Gonna attempt to go spinning tonight too. Let's see if that actually happens.

Saturday weigh-in 23.11.13

Loss from HW: 31.5 lbs
Loss this week: 1 lb
Gain from LW: 32.5 lbs

Not great by any means, but still a loss. Yay.

So tired today. Merlin is chilling on my bed right now, I think he's tired too.

Body pump ain't happening

My legs hurt. I fail at life.

Probably shouldn't lift things till after the operation anyway, but oh well. Maybe next week.

I am really grateful for the NHS

But my god do they take forever sometimes. I waited an hour an a quarter before my appointment this morning. I was veeeeeery bored.

I have my pre-op assessment tomorrow so I have a bunch of forms to fill in, fun times.

Run was achieved this morning. I'm still 36 seconds/km slower than my fastest time. Dunno what's wrong with me. It was good though, I ran for about 1 km without stopping which is the longest distance I've run so far. It's not very long, but still, progress!

The training today was a 5 min walk warm up, 10 minute free form run, squats, walking, squats, 7 min free form run, 2 min stretch, 7 min free form run, 2 min stretch and 7 min free form run. I didn't manage to run any of the full 7 minutes, but when I did run I really pushed myself in short spurts, in the hope that will make me better overall when I try and run for a longer. I dunno, this is all assumption!

Catching Fire.... wooo!

Going to see Catching Fire with the bestie on Saturday, can't wait!

I haven't been to the cinema in over a year.

Exciting times.

It's so cold. Seriously, brrrrrr.

I'm currently in bed and going to watch some Supernatural.

Run tomorrow, fun times. Body pump... maybe.

I also have my 2nd appointment with the hand specialist surgeon dude tomorrow. Surgery scheduling, what a barrel of fun.

My laziness knows no bounds

I've needed to pee for the longest time, but I can't be bothered to get out of my chair.

Yep.

Slow, slow, slow

Gaaaaahhhh.

I'm still 36 seconds/km slower than my fastest time. What is going onnnnnn?

Frustrating.

I have a theory. I think that maybe because I haven't been spinning/swimming/body pump-ing in a couple of weeks, it's affecting my running improvement. I dunno, it's just a theory.

Body pump is scheduled for Thursday, spinning for Monday. I'll try and get a swim in at the weekend.

Since I won't have even finished the 5k training by the time of the charity 5k, I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna win at it. I have 4/9 sessions left before it... yeah. 5 missing sessions is a lot of practise...

Hopefully I can make it up at the next 5k in February. By then I should be a 5k pro, right? Right?!

Blah

I woke up every few hours last night feeling like I was going to throw up. Not awesome.

Breakfast - latte (bad, bad Ani)
Lunch - chicken & avocado ciabatta roll
Dinner - steak and veg

Not a great diet day today but not terrible either. Hopefully my stomach will be better tomorrow. I couldn't stomach eggs for breakfast and tuna salad for lunch. Sad, but true.

Gonna sleep early tonight and hopefully I'll be fighting fit to run tomorrow.

Lazy Sundays are the best

True story.

Puppy cuddles, tv shows, bed and naps.

Perfect.

Saturday weigh-in 16.11.13

Loss from HW: 30.5 lbs
Loss this week: 2.5 lbs
Gain from LW: 33.5 lbs

It's been just over 3 weeks since I revived my blog and posted about weight. In that time, I've lost 2.5lbs. Truth be told, it's been this week that's really done it, especially since the last few weekends were alcohol based.

I haven't taken my inches, but I probably should. Maybe next week. I'm on my bed now and therefore too lazy to go downstairs to get the tape. I'm also naked and too lazy to get dressed. Whatever, it's the weekend.

At least the scale is moving down after not changing for so long. Onwards and downwards!

I just had a 4 hour nap

Bet you're jealous.

Did 5k training this morning and it was slow. Really slow. As in 40 secs/km slower than my last session, slow.

Oh well, happens sometimes I guess. At least I got out there, right?

Breakfast and lunch was a banana and 2 bagels (traditional style, not the bread-with-a-hole type) with salmon, cream cheese and cucumber. Yeah, TWO, I was real hungry.

I'm making pizza for dinner (on focaccia instead of a pizza base, yummy!) and will probably have some ice cream.

Not the best diet day ever but not horrendous either. Homemade pizza is always going to be better than takeaway pizza (unless I dump the whole bag of cheese on it, then prob not).

Tomorrow is an omelette for lunch and my mum's making tomato & chilli chicken for dinner so that's not too bad. I am making sticky toffee pudding for dessert though, that IS pretty bad.

My diet isn't religiously strict on the no wheat/grains (obviously from the above) but it is during the week. I'm sure it balances. I've never really had an intolerance to bread, unless it's the white bread they make out of paste, so once a week bread probably won't hurt anything. If weight loss doesn't happen or stalls then I know what to look for.

I cleaned my room today too. Wooo, productive. We also took Merlin to the groomer. He smells beautiful so he's allowed on my clean sheets.

On another note, I think I have a small blister on my nipple?! It hurts like a bitch. I assume it's from the boob bouncing while running that happens. Ow, dude, ow.

Just realised that I used parentheses a lot. Oh well, it's my blog. Suck it.

Gonna chill with my dawg and have a lazy one.

Buh-bye!

Goals

I started this writing as a kind of New Year's resolution/goal list; but I'm able to start working towards them now (or at least lay the foundations), so why wait?

This has been one of my best years so far, not gonna lie. I've made some amazing friends and had unbelievable amounts of fun and craziness with them.

There are so many things that I want to achieve in the coming months and years and I've made a list of some of them. I may think of more or revise them slightly, but I think this is a pretty good starting point.

Health & Fitness

• Run 5k without stopping
• Run 5k in less than 30 minutes
• Run 10k without stopping
• Run 10k in less than 60 minutes
• Run a 7 minute mile
• Run and finish a half marathon, no time goal
• Finish a sprint or standard distance triathlon, no time goal
• Gain more upper body and core strength
• Have optimal blood pressure instead of normal
• Lose some a lot of fat
• Cut down on smoking

Diet

• Eat less carbs, eat more protein & (good) fat
• Stop partaking in office 'fat Fridays' EVERY week
• Remember that lattes (either skinny or normal) are not for every day
• Remember that diets don't stop just because it's the weekend
• Remember that eating well still counts even when I'm drunk, hungover, sick etc
• Alcohol in moderation / less frequently :'(

Knowledge & Learning

• Read more nutrition books
• Read more about running, weight training and general fitness
• Learn a language to a good conversational standard
• Dedicate a few hours each week to learning how to play the bass once my wrist is sorted out
• Keep up with current affairs
• Read more novels

Finances

• Save at least £1,000

Travel/Activities

• Thorpe Park!
• Travel somewhere new inside the UK
• Travel somewhere new outside the UK

Personality

• Think before speaking
• Be kind
• Listen
• Be helpful

Miscellaneous

• Stop biting my nails (again)
• Sing, laugh and dance more

Outlook

• Appreciate everything, even when things are hard
• Learn to view myself in a positive manner

Life

• Be happy

So full, omg. Cheaty day today.

Breakfast - Latte (I was looking forward to it all week, how sad)
Lunch - Lamb curry, cauliflower, a few spoons of rice & some bread (grains! wheat!)
Dinner - Scallops with cauliflower puree, plaice with caper butter & asparagus

It's not called fat Friday for nothin'.

My legs hurt

Can't quite decide if it's a good or sucky feeling. Maybe a bit of both?

5.57 km done this morning. Distances are creeping up slowly! Good stuff.

Eggs & bacon were had for breakfast. It was yummy. I'm still not the worlds biggest bacon fan, it's one of those foods that I can take or leave.

I'm on my 2nd green tea already, slightly addicted to the mango & lychee flavour. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

Feeling good, but I'm really sleepy today. What I'd do for a nap or some quality time with my bed...

Nomnomnom

Another good food day. I'm on a roll. Woo.

This is probably pretty boring. Maybe I need to go and eat 5 pizzas to make things more interesting. No? Okay.

Breakfast - dairy free, wheat free, grain free muffin.
Lunch - chicken with tarragon, avocado and 1/2 a red pepper
Dinner - mini asian style turkey burgers, roasted carrots, raw courgette pickle & homemade aioli
Snack - 1 tbsp pine nuts

My family really liked dinner, which was awesome. I love it when I cook for people and they enjoy it, it gives me the happies.

Time for bed, early-ish sleep. Run tomorrow. Come at me, zombies!

5k training didn't happen today

Boo. I am slightly sad about this, but there's still tomorrow.

I was way too tired. I spent about 15 minutes trying to evaluate whether I was actually too tired or just being lazy. Internal arguments are great.

It was a perfect morning too, which sucks. Although, I'm sure there will be other lovely mornings in my lifetime, so there's that.

Exercise is important but sleep is more important, in my opinion. If you're genuinely tired and do a reasonably tough session, there's no benefit.

Looking forward to a long sleep tonight and training tomorrow.

Bring ittttttttttt.

Two good days in a row? Really? Excellent.

Today has been great so far, apart from being hella tired.

Need to run tomorrow, must have an early night tonight. No staying up late and watching Supernatural...

I'm gonna go shake my stuff at belly dancing soon. I'm only doing 1hr per week until the new year as I can't afford 2 hours at the moment, sad!

Today's food (because that's obviously really exciting):
Breakfast - 2 egg omelette with chicken and onions
Lunch - can of tuna with an avocado (yes, a whole one) and some olives
Dinner - salmon with brussel (or is it brussels?) sprouts and mashed swede (made with butter, of course)
Snack - A few almonds and pine nuts

Feeling good with less carbs. I was pretty hungry yesterday but I think my blood sugar has levelled out today.

Time to leave work, hooray!

Today has been a good day

5k training - done. Not as bad as I thought it'd be. Slower than my last session but I'm still winning, so whatevs.

Good food day.

Breakfast - scrambled eggs with onions, garam masala and coriander.
Lunch - lemon pepper chicken with lettuce, carrot, cucumber and avocado.
Dinner - Jewish chicken soup (basically a chicken broth with veggies. I'm totes gonna eat a chicken breast in it because I'm a hungry hippo)
Snacks - an apple, small handful of nuts, a paleo pancake (was ridic hungry when I got home so I made some of those bad boys; they were a hit with the family #winning).

1 day, done. A lifetime, to go.

 WINNARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

My mum is the best

She just spent a lot of money buying store cupboard ingredients I need for Paleo recipes. 

I love her.

This weekend has been very uneventful

I've pretty much just stayed in bed and slept. I think I'm still at the tail end of recovering from whatever the hell I had.

Think I'll try and get out for a good walk today since I've been in the house way too much and Merlin needs some exercise.

Going to continue with 5k training tomorrow. Slightly apprehensive about how that will go considering I've not done it in over a week. I'm just hoping that you don't lose fitness that quickly. Oh well, gotta get back on the horse sometime.

Now I'm gonna snuggle with this dude

Ahhhhh, Zombies!

Saturday was a Halloween party, so I thought I'd grace you with some pictures.

It was much fun and lots of alcohol was consumed.

Note to self: alcohol is not your friend, even if it tells you so.

Me and the 'no eye' deer

This is my classic drunk pose

Mmm, brains...

Duckface!

 Creepy clown

 

Cute couple #1

Cute couple #2

Cute couple #3

 Clooooooown

 Auto-erotic asphyxiation gone wrong... yeaaaah

 Bats!

 Boarded up windows

 

I am recovering but I also need surgery for an entirely unrelated issue...

I feel so much better than I did 2 days ago. I'm still exhausted, but my throat is less sore and my head is less pound-y, so that's awesome.

I just got back from a hospital appointment with a consultant about my wrist. I've got Kienbock's disease, which is a rare disease where your lunate bone dies and collapses. Apparently, only about 20 people in the UK have it. I'm super special.

He said that there are 4 stages and I'm at about 3b, so probably not much time until it deteriorates to a point past saving. Scary stuff.

I have 3 options for surgery. One is to fuse my bones together, eliminating pain but also eliminating any range of motion (they also do this at the final stage when no other options are available). The other is to remove three of the bones in the wrist which should preserve some range of movement and take away the pain. The third option is an experimental surgery where they remove some of the tendon from the foream, replace the lunate with a synthetic bone and thread the tendon through to hold it in place. This is supposed to be as close to a 'normal' wrist so theoretically should have the same range of motion etc.

I think I'm going to go with the experimental one, purely because if it doesn't work, I still have the option of removing 3 bones.

Funnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. I'm slowly turning into the bionic woman, limb by limb.

Guess who feels like they've been hit by a freight train?

-points thumbs at self- THIS GIRL

The running Gods weren't kind on this one.

I'm pretty sick right now and I think my tonsils are getting infected again.

I feel like death. Sad I can't run. Everything hurts.

I want to be in bed with my puppy.

I think I'm getting a cold

This is definitely not awesome.

I can feel it in the back of my nose and throat. Ew.

No dinner was had today which is usually one of the signs. Or it's because I had a pretty big lunch today; halloumi, hummus and shawarma were consumed. Be jealous.

I've taken Vicks First Defence twice this evening and I'm going to bed to try and sleep it off so I can get out for a run tomorrow.

Please have mercy on me, running Gods, especially since my first ever 5k is in 3 weeks and 6 days.

Panicpanicpanic. Terrible timing, TERRIBLE.

G'night, internets.

Diet and things

I actually took pictures of most of my food this week, but there's little point in posting them now since days have passed (lazy blogger). I've pretty much eaten 50% really well and 50% poorly.

Such is life, I suppose. Some weeks will be better than others, but you (I) need to keep going at it.

I do need to start being more strict with my diet, though. My weight hasn't changed at all which means I'm eating too much, no if's or but's. Sorry, self, the truth sucks. Who would think that you can't eat all the food half the time and healthy the other half and still lose weight?!

My fitness has come a long way in the last few weeks too, so that's fantastic, and my mindset has changed. Before, exercise was done strictly during the week and if I ever went to the gym on the weekend, I felt like it was a free pass for all the noms. Now, it's just part of my routine and I don't even think about it (I am still guilty of sometimes eating all the noms). I get it done in the morning so I'm free to do whatever in the afternoon and evening. If I've gone for my 5k training or a swim, then I feel energised and be productive (like actually cleaning my room).

Clearly exercise makes me win in other areas of my life.

I'll end with some pictures of my Mum's birthday. In short, we had fun and lots of delicious food was eaten.

Week 4, workout 2 - DONE

5 minute walk
5 minute fast (for me) jog
Walking drills
Running drills
13 minute slow jog (no stopping, new record!!)
Sprint in the last 30 or 45 seconds.

I made a bin my marker and went for it. Let's be honest, my sprint was probably as fast as someone's normal running pace but whatever. I almost puked when I finished; I was standing catching my breath and gagging after it.

Awesome times.

5.06km in 47:39. I'm getting faster!

This workout was my fastest pace to date - 9:24 min/km. It's nothing to write home about (aka still really slow), but I'm still really proud considering:

a) this is my 4th week of training
b) I'm not running the entire time yet
c) my starting pace was 12:40 min/km.

50% through the Zombies, Run! 5k training. Excited for the last half and progress to come.

Now, bring on the weekend and Halloween festivities tonight!