Life is weird... One day you can be sitting at work just fixing bugs as usual and then you get the phone call that every parent dreads: "Your son has had a bad fall and he's on his way to hospital." The next minute you're being told that your two year old needs surgery and it has to be done under general anaesthetic.
Then the very next day (three stitches and a fat lip later, he's fine) you can feel great for no reason whatsoever, hit the gym and smash through all personal records.
In January I started incorporating a little running into my cardio and at the beginning of February, out of nowhere I got on the treadmill and managed to run for a continuous 20 minutes when I'd previously only been doing 3 minutes consistently. That day I was so inspired that I signed up for Race For Life, a women's only 5k race to raise money for Cancer Research.
Since then I've obviously been featuring running in my training a lot more. I have focussed on time rather than speed. My standard workout is a three minute walk to warmup followed by 3 blocks of running with two minutes walking after each one. I started out running 4 minute blocks, then 5, 6, 7 and this week I took it to 8.
I only run 3 times a week so I add on the minute to one block per day so today was my day to do 3 x 8. I was in my 10th minute about to slow down to the walk and I thought to myself, "I feel good today, I could do another endurance test. I wonder if I could do a full 3k continuously?" You know how you have a dialogue with yourself in your mind. "No, no, I'm not in the mood, I don't want to feel that pain". "But there will be pain any time I do it, today is a good day, I can take it." All this only took a moment in my head but before I knew it I'd passed the 11 minute mark and I was on my way.
Today would be the day I set another record for myself.
So, there I am pounding away on the treadmill and I realised that this time it's not about time, its distance. Consciously I thought to myself that I didn't really want to run 3k, I wanted to run 4. But subconsciously I knew that even that was a lie. I wanted nothing less than 5k. So I started to push up the speed. I usually run at a very slow 7.2 but I gradually pushed it up to 7.8. I didn't stay there for long and settled down to a fairly comfortable 7.5.
Then in the 17th minute disaster struck. I heard the familiar noise of my shoe laces coming undone and smacking onto the treadmill. I still don't have proper running shoes and that's fast becoming a priority. I hadn't tightened them before I started. I carried on for a bit longer hoping they were just a bit loose but nope, after another 30 seconds or so they were completely undone and I had to stop. I hit the emergency stop and tied them up as quick as I could and pushed the speed straight back up again. I stopped for no more than 30 seconds but I felt like a failure.
I beat myself up about this for several minutes. How I could I count my efforts when I'd stopped in between? How could I have been so stupid not to check them? I continued berating myself for quite some time that I hadn't noticed that I had just whizzed past my previous 20 minute record!
That changed my state a bit! I realised how much easier it was this time than just 7 weeks earlier and that the 5k was really in my grasp. 4k came and went and I absolutely knew my goal would be achieved. The only real question was how long would it take?
42 minutes and 5 seconds! However, that unfortunately includes the 3 minute warmup walk, as does the 5k distance. Ideally I would reset the machine after the warmup but both times I have done this I didn't know I was going to do it until I had been going for some time.
Sometimes you gotta just grab the opportunities when they hit you even if conditions aren't perfect. The feeling I got when I saw 5k on the distance meter is amazing. I think it was even better than last time because I knew I could have done more. But I was already late for work so I thought I'd better stop :-)
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
Saturday, 17 March 2007
One Week Committment - Week 2 Check In
Two weeks ago I started a "one week" committment to really make a change to try and breakthrough a plateau that had lasted for months. My committment was:
1) To absolutely stick to my planned food, no cheating!
2) To increase my exercise to twice daily, one cardio, one weight training, 5 days a week
After my first week there was absolutely no change, though I hadn't been able to stick to it 100% as I missed a day's exercise due to a minor injury. Undeterred I reduced my calories a little and tried for another week. I still wasn't quite able to stick to it as I had a day off work this week and my gym is at work so no work = no gym. Sure I could have worked out at home but I didn't :-)
I'm sure my scales are lying to me (I changed them a few weeks ago and I don't trust them!) but this week they're telling me good lies. An astonishing three pounds lost this week! Now I don't believe for a second that I lost nothing the first week, and 3lbs magically melted off this week. I never lose more than 1lbs a week.
However, I just realised that its been that time of the month (well for me, that time of the 10 weeks) slap in the middle of this fortnight which could have caused the apparent standstill the first week due to bloating. I often show weight gain around this time but I had forgotten all about it.
Anyway, obviously I'm so delighted at the results that I'm sticking to my committment. My stats show a slight muscle loss despite breaking all weight training records in the gym so I'll kee an eye on that. It could just be fluctations or innaccuracies in the measurements but if it drops again I'll put the calories back up to what they were.
So, to anyone who's hit a plateau, take a close look at your behaviour. Could you be slacking a bit? Could you try a little harder for just one week (or two!)?
1) To absolutely stick to my planned food, no cheating!
2) To increase my exercise to twice daily, one cardio, one weight training, 5 days a week
After my first week there was absolutely no change, though I hadn't been able to stick to it 100% as I missed a day's exercise due to a minor injury. Undeterred I reduced my calories a little and tried for another week. I still wasn't quite able to stick to it as I had a day off work this week and my gym is at work so no work = no gym. Sure I could have worked out at home but I didn't :-)
I'm sure my scales are lying to me (I changed them a few weeks ago and I don't trust them!) but this week they're telling me good lies. An astonishing three pounds lost this week! Now I don't believe for a second that I lost nothing the first week, and 3lbs magically melted off this week. I never lose more than 1lbs a week.
However, I just realised that its been that time of the month (well for me, that time of the 10 weeks) slap in the middle of this fortnight which could have caused the apparent standstill the first week due to bloating. I often show weight gain around this time but I had forgotten all about it.
Anyway, obviously I'm so delighted at the results that I'm sticking to my committment. My stats show a slight muscle loss despite breaking all weight training records in the gym so I'll kee an eye on that. It could just be fluctations or innaccuracies in the measurements but if it drops again I'll put the calories back up to what they were.
So, to anyone who's hit a plateau, take a close look at your behaviour. Could you be slacking a bit? Could you try a little harder for just one week (or two!)?
Saturday, 10 March 2007
One Week Committment Check In
Earlier in the week I posted about breaking plateau's. I commited to try an experiment for one week:
1) I would stick to my diet 100% as I had been cheating a lot
2) I would exercise twice per day. One cardio and once weight training. (weekdays - gym at work)
Here's my results: Diet wise, the only cheating was 1 biscuit and 1 chocolate in the entire week. (I dont use cheat meals, as I figure they come naturally with my lifestyle) Exercise wise I was doing really well until Wednesday evening when I sustained a slight injury at karate and was out of action Thursday. However I picked things up yesterday and swam in the morning (foot still dodgy so I avoided the usual treadmill / crosstrainer), and did weight training at lunchtime. In all I did 4 x cardio, 4 x weight training and 1 x karate which is 2 hours, so thats quite a lot.
The result? No change AT ALL. No weight change, no measurement change. Nothing, zip, nada. I'm trying very hard not to be disappointed.
I think these things are sent to test us. There are several things that I could try. I'm going to start with the simplest to implement: Eat Less. Obviously I hang on to fat a lot so I must be a bit endomorphic so I'm dropping my deficit to 28%, which is a drop of about 100 calories a day. Ugh, that means I need to go adjust a bunch of recipes again. *sigh*.
Oh well never mind. It's not like I'm just going to give up because that wont get me nearer to my goal.
1) I would stick to my diet 100% as I had been cheating a lot
2) I would exercise twice per day. One cardio and once weight training. (weekdays - gym at work)
Here's my results: Diet wise, the only cheating was 1 biscuit and 1 chocolate in the entire week. (I dont use cheat meals, as I figure they come naturally with my lifestyle) Exercise wise I was doing really well until Wednesday evening when I sustained a slight injury at karate and was out of action Thursday. However I picked things up yesterday and swam in the morning (foot still dodgy so I avoided the usual treadmill / crosstrainer), and did weight training at lunchtime. In all I did 4 x cardio, 4 x weight training and 1 x karate which is 2 hours, so thats quite a lot.
The result? No change AT ALL. No weight change, no measurement change. Nothing, zip, nada. I'm trying very hard not to be disappointed.
I think these things are sent to test us. There are several things that I could try. I'm going to start with the simplest to implement: Eat Less. Obviously I hang on to fat a lot so I must be a bit endomorphic so I'm dropping my deficit to 28%, which is a drop of about 100 calories a day. Ugh, that means I need to go adjust a bunch of recipes again. *sigh*.
Oh well never mind. It's not like I'm just going to give up because that wont get me nearer to my goal.
Monday, 5 March 2007
Overcoming a Fat Loss Plateau
I've been at a plateau with my weight loss since January. I had put on a few pounds over Christmas and manage to lose it again fairly quickly but then I got stuck again but I didn't really notice it until this weekend just gone because I kept making excuses for myself - my brothers birthday, night out with friends, being sick with a cold, etc etc.
Anyway, I looked back over my log and was shocked to see just how long I have been going up and down just one or two pounds and not really making any solid progress. In reality this plateau has not just been since Christmas - it goes back to November! I find it really hard to diet in the winter time.
Here is what I am doing: I'm making a commitment to myself to take the following steps for one week only and then I'll re-evaluate:
1) I will stick to my diet 100%. So far I've been cheating and I know it
2) I'll do my cardio every weekday morning
3) I'll swap 3 weight training sessions at home (which I often skip) for 5 at lunchtimes
That's two more weight training sessions than I'd usually do but it also has the added advantage that I'm far less likely to skip it because I don't like being stuck in the office all day so I look forward to going to the gym at lunch. As for the diet, I've been cheating so much! I wrote a diary of my cheating for a few days and I was going over by as much as 200-300 calories on some days on all those little things that you don't count!
Lastly, and this may seem a bit odd, but I've decided that reaching my bodyfat goal is the single most important goal in my life right now. I've written out a statement in big letters saying exactly what my goal is, the date for its achievement, and exactly what I'm commited to do in order to achieve it. I printed it out, laminated it and stuck it on my fridge! Furthermore I'm going to read it out loud every day lol!
Anyway, I looked back over my log and was shocked to see just how long I have been going up and down just one or two pounds and not really making any solid progress. In reality this plateau has not just been since Christmas - it goes back to November! I find it really hard to diet in the winter time.
Here is what I am doing: I'm making a commitment to myself to take the following steps for one week only and then I'll re-evaluate:
1) I will stick to my diet 100%. So far I've been cheating and I know it
2) I'll do my cardio every weekday morning
3) I'll swap 3 weight training sessions at home (which I often skip) for 5 at lunchtimes
That's two more weight training sessions than I'd usually do but it also has the added advantage that I'm far less likely to skip it because I don't like being stuck in the office all day so I look forward to going to the gym at lunch. As for the diet, I've been cheating so much! I wrote a diary of my cheating for a few days and I was going over by as much as 200-300 calories on some days on all those little things that you don't count!
Lastly, and this may seem a bit odd, but I've decided that reaching my bodyfat goal is the single most important goal in my life right now. I've written out a statement in big letters saying exactly what my goal is, the date for its achievement, and exactly what I'm commited to do in order to achieve it. I printed it out, laminated it and stuck it on my fridge! Furthermore I'm going to read it out loud every day lol!
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