Ahh Friday.....

Although you would think that most days feel like a Friday to me. Not the case - the simple fact that I have Mark around on the weekends makes such a big difference!

Today I am going to head to the gym for a circut class - normally I would do this class on a Saturday but we are heading to the Coast this weekend for a little dose of warmth.

I honestly don't think this winter has been all that bad so far - it is the next couple of months that really get me down because I don't like wind and August and September are bitterly windy here in Canberra.

I realised after my run yesterday that there is great value in doing exercise that is slightly higher in intensity a few days per week rather than just walking. It was almost as if I could feel the afterburn from going for a run yesterday. That is what revs me up and keeps me motivated - that little afterburn. Today - instead of dreading doing something - I am actually looking forward to it. Not to mention the fact that I am more inclined to eat better when I feel that little afterburn effect.

I measured yesterdays run on google Earth and it turns out it was close to 5km - which I found surprisingly easy. I was umming and ahhing about actually doing the Canberra times fun run - but I am going to go and put my entry in today - that way there is no umming and ahhing anymore.

I am biting the bullet and getting it done.

Didn't want to but I did

I find that if I dont exercise in the morning that I generally don't feel all that much like exercising at all.

That is what happened today - mainly because it was a disgusting day here in Canberra today and it was just too cold and awful to go outside.

I wanted to take Harris to story time at the Library but I also wanted to go the gym but they kind of clash with each other - so I thought (with excellent intentions) that I would just get on the spin bike when I got home. But I ended up having coffee with a friend and then Harris was asleep and I didn't want to wake him by putting him in the car so I stayed out a lot longer than I expected to.

So by the time I got home I had pretty much talked myself into having the day off - even though I know that is not the pont of the 100 day challenge exercise. Believe me - I was having a big internal fight with myself.

So I offered to walk the dog - knowing that I had really wanted to get a run in at some point today.

I ended up run/walking about 5km which was great.

It so much easier without a pram!

After I was done I felt great and I was glad I had done it. (Which as we all know to be true 99.9% of the time)

98...

Well I stayed up too late last night fiddling with my blog and now I am all tired and paying for it.

Thus the reason I am blogging in the morning today - I'm getting it out of the way in case I feel the need to have an early night tonight.

We are having a quiet day today. Going to mothers group and then coming home again.

It's at a girls house who lives in the next suburb so I am planning on walking. I'll map it on my phone so I know how far it is - probably about 3km I think.

I'll probably do half an hour on the spin bike today as well while Harris is asleep.

So that equates to 5.5km for the whole day.

Have a nice day all!

If I could walk 500 miles.....

I have decided to add on to my goals for this 100 day challenge - still keeping it simple - I thought that I did need to make it a little more challenging.

The goal is to "Travel" 500 Kilometers by the end of the 100 days.

That equates to 35 kilometers per week and 5 km per day.

As I don't always walk/run I figured that I need to allocate an arbitrary number to the days that I do cardio that does not translate to a distance or I am unable to measure the distance.

So:

1 Hour of Cardio activity = 5km distance travelled

so for example - a cardio class at the gym is equal to 5km OR 30 mins on the bike or elliptical is equal to 2.5km.

I realised that some days I might physically do more than 5km - especially if I am walking - so I am not limited to only 35 km per week, I am able to bank kilometers - as long as the tally at the end is equal to 500 - thats is all that matters!

I thought of this today while I was out walking - last year when I was training for the half marathon I used to tally the number of kilometers I had run and rode each week and it was like a little game to see if I could better it each week. I thought it might be nice to add a little fun challenge into the mix.

99 bottles of...

water....days to go... definitely not bottles of beer.

Not that I'm really counting down because I don't necessarily want the 99 days to be over.

Today we walked again. We parked at the AIS rowing shed at the Yarralumla stretch of the lake and walked towards the zoo. My ipod died around the halfway point - I had been out for just over 30 mins so I decided to turn around at that point. I think it was about 6km. I have a GPS tracker on my phone but the phone is the ipod is the phone so they were all dead.

It felt like we were in and out of the car all day tday and it made it a very long day.

Tuesday is swimming day for me and Harris - so right now I am very tired. I take Harris to Aquatots and so far I think it is really great - I can see us going to swimming there for a long time. Its really about water awareness than swimming at this stage. Harris is in the 'Periwinkles' group and they do little songs and activities each week. It is very cute.
Poor little boy - I think he likes swimming but half an hour is a long time for a 5 month old baby in the pool.

So there was a few things I wanted to do on the net tonight but they will have to wait I think because I need an early night! Planning on a more quiet couple of days coming up - I think I am turing into a real homebody - never thought that would happen!

100 day challenge - I'm in

So that means that it's day 100 right?

I plan to approach this using the K.I.S.S. approach!

I was already committed to 10 weeks - and I still plan to work towards that goal of 0.5kg per week for the next ten weeks.

My goal for the 100 day challenge is simple - be active everyday and blog about it.

So that means go to the gym, do a crcut at home, get on the spin bike, walk the dog, go for a walk to the shops rather than driving etc etc.

I have become lazy by being a stay at home mum and often I find it easier just to sit at home rather than get off my butt and do something.

My focus for the next 100 days is about being active and mindful about my health.

That translates to what I'm eating and drinking as well (.e I need to drink more water each day). But I will stick to the main goal of increased activity for this purpose.

It seems simple I know - but simple is what I need right now.

So what is on the cards for today? I need to go into the Canberra centre to get a few things. I'm going to park at the Museum and walk in rather than park in the city and pay. It's 2.7km each way - so that is a decent walk!


I don't know why that is such a rubbish picture - but you get the idea!

So While Harris has been asleep for the past 45 minutes I have been doing some internet chores, paying bills, ebay purchases etc now he is waking up! Better go!

and now I'm paying

for the torture I submitted myself to yesterday. I swear that every muscle in my body is hurting right now.

It hurts to pick Harris up!

I think this is one of the reasons I was scared to get back to the gym.

BUT it has to be done if I want to achieve this goal!

I feel so unfit!

I went to the gym this morning for the first time in ages! I was trying really hard to focus on my self talk being positive - which was a good thing because had I not I may well have walked out!
I did a circut class by oh my goodness did t make me feel unfit! Simple things that before I could do so easily are now really quite difficult!
It made me realise that rebuilding my fitness is something that I really need to do.

Cardio wise I'm not too bad - it's the strength department where I am really lacking.

I should have guessed this because the past few weeks the scale number has been consistently dropping but the % Body Fat figure is not dropping very much at all - which essentially means I am losing muscle to some degree.

So yesterday I dug my spin bike out of the back room so that it now confronts me in my study daily.

I have set myself a goal to attempt to lose just 0.5kg each week for the next ten weeks. I am hoping that I can come a cross a charity ball or some event such as this towards the end of this time so that I have a nice event to look forward to looking great at! The reason I chose 10 weeks is because Harris's swimming term goes for ten weeks - so by the end of that time I hope to be feeling a little leaner in my swimmers than I do now!

I feel like 0.5kg is a really achieveable goal point for me, it's something that I feel like I can tangibly grasp and doesn't feel too difficult in my mind.

As a secondary advantage to this - it means that by the end of the ten weeks I will have lost 5 kg - which will put me around the 69kg point - only 1 kg off my pre pregnancy weight and 1kg off the point I wanted to be at before I went back to work.

I have been reading a lot of motivational blogging over the past week - so keep it up !

Destruc-a-baby strikes...

Today...my new Real Living magazine arrived in the mail...

Just now I walked back into the lounge to find this:

and what do those innocent eyes say? "What...isn't that why you left it out for me?"

and he can't even crawl yet...eek!

Struggling with selfishness

I admit it - I am having a hard time getting back into training - but not for the reasons I thought I would (i.e. lack of motivation) - it is because I feel selfish for dumping Harris in the childcare at the gym and not spending time with him.

Initially I was trying to get him back into a solid routine and I didn't want to go out when I knew it would mess his routine up for sleeping - now I know that I can work around that - especially if I walk to the gym with the pram.

But I just feel so selfish for leaving him there. I don't know where this has come from really because before I got sick last month I had no problem leaving him at the gym creche.

What got me thinking about it really was listening the the wonderful Lia interview both Rae and Michelle Nazaroff for Lindy Olsen at the All Female competition. ( you did a great job Lia).
Listening to Michell Nazaroff talk about managing her baby as well as training got me thinking about it all.

I need to feel OK about giving time to get myself back to where I was before. It is OK to leave him with a carer for a few hours so I can be the best I can be. It is OK for me to want to be the best I can be.

I guess I haven't really done a lot of navel gazing lately - but perhaps I should start again.

Lately I have had a very much "this is good enough" attitude. There has been lots of excuse making going on. Lots of "it doesn't really matter because I actually look OK. I haven't really been feeling bad about the way my body looks but perhaps I have a bit of a hazy view - perhaps I'm not really looking hard and being critical of myself anymore - perhaps that is a good thing?

On a side note I was reading in a parenting magazine about a woman who organises runners to participate in half marathons; fundraising for premature babies and equipment for hospitals etc. I think that this might be something that I would like to participate in. Since having Harris my heart goes out to anyone with a sick baby or child and the doctors who work the miracles to save them. I can't even watch stories about sick cchildren on RPA and shows like that anymore without tearing up. It is something that I have come to feel very strongly about. I need to do some more research though - so watch this space!

the power of banana!

We recently started giving Harris one meal a day of real food in addition to what he gets from Breast milk.

It has been a funny experience and frustrating at times but at the same time it is fascinating to watch my small boy figure out what he does and doesn't like and introduce him to the world of food.

It's also very interesting to watch his reactions to different food.

Now it is all very bland and simple at the moment - he just has single foods - like mashed pumpkin, or sweet potato, rice cereal, mashed pear, mashed apple, banana and avocado.

I guess it is like the opposite of an elimination diet because you can tell when something has affected him differently.

He's not too picky but he definitely doesn't think too highly of apple!

He likes all the veges though - and loves the rice cereal.

I made an interesting observation about the energy inducing effects of banana - we don't actually give him banana at night any more because it gives him a huge energy zing - whereas on the nights he has the nice low GI carb sources - placid happy baby!

It's fun and I am enjoying it!

Now I just have to start setting him a better example with the food choices I make!

September 13th Here I come

Fittingly September 13th is Harris's 7month birthday - an appropriate date to recommence my running passion I think.

Mark and Harris will be cheering me on from the sidelines - my simple goal is to complete this even and do it in under 1 hour.

The sub goal is to find that bug that I was talking about in my last post again!

I'm sure it won't be too hard once I get started.

So the plan for this week is simply to run three times!

3km twice
and 5 km once - probably on Sunday.

It sound so small and measly compared to what I was doing before but hey - things aren't the same as they were before and I have to change my thinking to reflect that change.

I also have decided to work on getting the cale weight down to 71kg as well.

There is a bg list of things that I really want to achieve before I go back to work and as each day ticks by the date when I am going back to work gets closer and closer. One of those things was to lose all of the weight I put on while I was pregnant. It is coming off slowly without me trying too hard but I think I may be losing muscle because my body fat percentage isn't really getting any lower.

So while my end goal weight is around 67 kg, for now I am going to focus on 71 and if I want to have a little break once I get to 71 I will. I really need to be back at aroun 25% BF as well but I'm not too worried about that - it will come in time.

It could be the few glass of red wine I have had speaking but I'm excited!

The Bug

I was out walking today with Harris asleep in the pram and the music from the ipod blaring in my ears - I am positive that is when I accomplish my best thinking.

I was thinking about how motivated I was to train when I was training for the half marathon and what the factors were that contributed to that motivation and I decided that it's "The Bug" that contributes a lot for me.

So what exactly is "the bug" - it's that unexplanable drive and motivation you get when you immerse yourself into a project and you just can't get enough of it - when you are realy looking forward to the outcome or the upcoming event. One of my favourite things in the world is looking forward to an upcoming event and having the excitement build.

In the terms of an athletic event part of that involves the build up events and actions that remind you of the nervous tension and excitement and the reason why you are there doing it in the first place. Those little events that keep the fire alive in side the bug (Perhaps we should call it the firefly).

So I've lost my bug! I realised that this was what I was missing - all those little things that keep me immersed. The gym alone isn't enough.

But when I go out for walks and get these tidbits of inspiation I feel like the bug is there floating around the edges of me.

So I have my event and it's time to try and reignite the bug.

I know I know

... it has been a long time without blogging for me but to be honest I just haven't really felt like it in the past few weeks.

In the haze of sleep deprivation that has been the highlight of the past month I see to have started to lose my mojo for many things - exercise adn blogging being two of them.

I literally have felt like we have been living in a haze. It doesn't help that we have been sick on and off for the most of the past month.

We seem to all be on the mend now though - I just have to find that motivation again.

I promised one of our extended family members that I would do the Canberra times 10km fun run on the 13th of September.

So what am I doing about it.... just thinking about what I need to do rather than doing it.

I have the hesitation of fear of hard work surrounding me at the moment.

I think I may just need to jump in the deep end.