Task 4

Task 4 of this round of Mish Bridges 12wbt preseason is to 


Say It Out Loud 

..so here goes! 

I am going to be at my goal of 65 kilos 
(top of my healthy BMI range for the first time in over 20 years! Thanks Mish!!) 
at the start of the round.

I have committed myself to the Train for a 10km Fun Run Program.

In order to do that I am going to follow Mish's program. 
I have also signed to do a 5 week running technique workshop culminating in a 5 km fun run on March 3. 
I am also joining a gym for the duration of this round so I can do some leg strengthening exercises.

This Saturday I am doing the 5km Aus Day fun run.
In March I am doing the Women's 5k with the intention of running the entire 5kms (I can only run 2km non stop right now).
In June I am going to do the Launceston 10. 
In August I will do the City to Surf 14km in Sydney.
September Ross half marathon (round after this will be train for a half marathon)
November I am going to do an 8km Raw Challenge 
and December the Santa Run in Las Vegas.

 I will add in any other little races that come up and I can do.

I will also do parkrun on long weekends and school holidays.

The next three months I am going to 

think like a warrior, 

train like an athlete 

and try not to let my inner geriatric panic too much lol.

Exercise and Inspiration

This time last year my exercise routine consisted of a 20 minute walk on my treadmill 2-3 times a week.  I would strain to fit that in.  One hour out of an entire week.

How times have changed!  This week my exercise routine goes like this:

Thursday - Bootcamp in morning - 7km shuffle walk pm
Friday - 5km walk with friends
Saturday 5 km fun run probably with and extra kilometre at the start and finish to warm up and cool down.
Sunday pm Running Technique Class
Monday Tempo run for 30 minutes Strength and Stretch at lunch time
Tuesday Rest Day... Perhaps a play on Wii Fit and a walk.
Wednesday Run with a friend and 30 minute sprint running alone
Thursday Bootcamp in morning then Yoga in evening.
Friday One hour run/walk.
Saturday Bootcamp and then a hike.

Plus I am doing a daily tricep push up challenge (I can do 10 now on my toes) and daily situps.

The scary thing about this list is that my 12wbt Round starts in the second week of February so my running will increase and I will be joining a gym to throw in some weight training as well.

Well that is not really the scary thing.

The scary thing is that after a minor panic about how exhausted it's going to make me, how much pain I will suffer and how on earth will I fit it all in, I looked to my inspirations (my sister who trains daily on top of working 12 hour days in a high pressure job, Lydia Hantke (Australian Biggest Loser Contestant),  Sailor Vee and Mish Bridges) and knew they would say "Suck It UP and JFDI!)

"Have you lost weight?"

Weigh in day on the 12wbt program is Wednesday.  Today is Thursday and as yesterday was a little bit disappointing with only a loss of 100gms I did a SWI (sneaky weigh in).   The reading was 66 kilos exactly.  Bringing my total loss to 57 pounds and putting me only 2.2 pounds off goal weight.

As you can imagine losing so much weight has made me look a little bit different.  In fact people who have not seen me for a while do one of three things.

The first is the vague smile and hello.  They know they should know me but don't quite know where from.  I have had a few apologies from people who worked it out later.

The second is the amazed gushing, "OMG you look so good.  You've lost so much weight! You must feel so much better!"  I can only make of this how bad I looked before.

The third is the quiet hello then the confused look and then the,

"Have you lost weight?" 

This last one is the most disconcerting.  I see the pursed lips and the wrinkled brow and I know when I reply in the affirmative that the next question is,

"How?"   

My answer is always "Well I lost 10 kilos on my own and then  another 16 doing Michelle Bridges Program."

I am a bit of a walking advertisement.

Then the clanger...

"Is it easy?" 

I could say that it's easier than feeling breathless and ill all the time, being borderline diabetic, depressed and worried about heart disease.  I could say that it's easier than trying to tie my shoelaces used to be or finding clothes that made me look half decent.  But I don't.

I say,

"It's hard.  But it's so worth it."

Because it is.

Back on Track

Here's to a new year and getting my mojo back.  I weighed in this morning at 66.5 kilos or (146.3 pounds) which is the least I have weighed since starting this life change.  

I signed up to do a third round of  Mish Bridges 12 week body transformation and because I am so close to my goal weight I am opting to do the "Train to run 10 Km" program.  To start this program I need to be able to run 2 km or 20 minutes non stop.  I have managed that on around two occasions.  I am trying to run at least 3 times a week to get better at it.  I keep telling myself that I can do it.  Two years ago I could hardly walk 100 metres.  Seven months ago I could front brace for all of 10 seconds and I could not do a sit up. By doing a little bit over and over I have improved.

One of the runs I do is Park Run.  This is a 5km run that is held weekly at sites all around the world.  It's not a race against anyone but yourself.  I can recommend it for anyone who is wanting to get out and move.  There is no pressure and everyone taking part is in a good mood. 

Sometimes they take photos of participants.  A picture is worth a thousand words. 

I love the thought of running.  I love how I feel when I finish running.  I love planning to go for a run. As for the actually running - I don't love it so much.  

Another Type of Loss

October 2012 was hard.  A lot of stuff happened culminating in my father passing away from prostate cancer.

I was so lucky that my sister was able to spend time with him before he passed, and then with me, afterwards.  I am lucky that I got to spend over a year helping to care for my father and he basically got to see the change in me step by step.

I know it made him smile when I complained about trying to run and he would tell me to keep doing it because it was good for me.

I know he was really proud of me and my siblings, his grand kids and how we are living our lives.

I now know that if I am feeling really sad or stressed that going for a walk or a run is a better fix than stuffing my face.

In a while when we are ready, we are going spread his ashes at a place called Duck Reach.  We lived there for a while when I was really young and he loved the water and the bush there.  He would also get a kick out of knowing that to go visit "him" we have to walk up and down over 100 really steep steps.  RIP Papa.

Got My Mojo Back!

This is the sixth week of Round 3 of 12WBT.  It's my 18th week and after a bit of a lull, I seem to have my mojo back.  I think my inner teen was raging against going straight from one round into the next with no time to "treat" myself or have a "break" from the program.  My back problem made my inner grumpy old woman complain that I was really too old to be doing all this silly stuff like trying to run.

What has kept me going is Mish's voice in my head saying JFDI.  Every day my new thinness brings a new surprise.  I am beginning to wonder when I will become used to this new body I am in.  At first it was being able to bend and tie my laces while being able to take a breath.  Then it was being able to climb stairs and be able to breathe.  Now it's the feel.  A pointy elbow.  My biceps starting to have some definition. My shoulder blades hitting against a chair back.  My 40 plus pound overcoat has gone and no treat or break is going to be better than that.  In 1.4 kilos I will weigh less than I have for 20 years.  It's usually at this point, just slightly about my healthy BMI, that I fall out of the weight loser zone and the coat starts to creep back on.

There seems to be no sign of that happening this time.

Tonight I ran just under 5 kms in around 35 minutes.  It wasn't non stop.  I didn't push myself really hard.  I felt light on my feet and comfortable most of the time.  As I was running I thought, I can't wait for how good it's going to feel when there is even less of me to carry.

I have had a bad back.  I didn't hurt it exercising.  I hurt it standing.  A couple of weeks ago I went on a hike with friends and then went home to shower before spending the next 4 hours helping at a charity BBQ.  It was aching a little while I was there and after dinner it was really hurting.  I put heat packs on it, rubbed it and finally had a couple of painkillers.

The next morning I could hardly get out of bed.  I couldn't stand straight or sit down .. very inconvenient first thing in the morning.  This was all made a little trickier by the fact that I was meant to be dancing later that day with a group of mums.  I am not a dancer btw.  Its just a fun thing we do once a year.  Still I had to be able to lift my legs and bend a little.  Icing it and rubbing it with deep heat and taking strong pain killers got me through.

This week I have been slowly getting back to running a little and my back is feeling lots better.  It was a bit of  a wake up call on taking my body for granted.  Pencil in more stretching and longer warm ups for this old duck from now on.