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Monday 29 March 2010

Do i have the time?....... the answer has to be yes!

All day i had been planning to head out on a bike ride after work, i knew what time i needed to leave and how long it would take me.... but today was one of those days where everyone and everything was determined to thwart me!
Despite trying to finish work on time the cash machine broke in the venue which then had to be fixed, i had several last minute phone calls which turned into mamouth conversations where i truly find myself wondering if the person on the other end really needed to tell me this right now!
I finally manage to set off in the car only to find im stuck behind a dear old lady doing 35 max in a 60 ahhhhhhhhh im beginning to wonder if i have the time before it gets dark
I get home and im madly running about again with the phone tied to my head as i try to sort ourt some work stuff and try to carry out my road bike at the same time..... the bruises on my legs show this really wasnt working :-)
finally i head off in the car to the bike ride location on the way i manage to persuade a friend to meet me out there.
Finally im there i get on the bike and i realise the scambling to get away from the office, the falling out of the door as i try to rush out the house with the bike, and the keeping my patience with little old ladies was all .....................completely worth it!
Later as i ride my friend joins me, and we soon realise its time to head in... partly due to the fact it was now difficult to see where we were going, note to self get light for road bike to avoid near death collisions with geese!
So when you are wondering do i have the time..... just make that concious decision to push through and do it anyway. whats the worse that could happen.... you finish a little later than you had planned. get up get out and have fun. After all whats the point in working if you dont have the time to enjoy yourself every now and again.

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Reasons not to go shopping when hungry....... naughty things jump into ur basket

its never a great idea to go food shopping when your hungry... but a long and hectic week has meant that tonight was the first chance i have had to go food shopping. And as you all know from my manic tuesdays blog i train both morning and evening on this day which made for a very hungry me come food shopping time at 8pm.
But in my defense these items of naugtiness really did jump into my basket and despite all my efforts to throw them out they just kept jumping back in :-)
what are these said items you say?
well i have attached said photographic evidence ...
Ok i know pizza isnt really good but its not something i have often and this is a small vege pizza so its practically calorie free :-) and hey ive worked hard in the gym so i can still enjoy the things i like once in a while.
As for the ice creams well we all deserve the odd treat, and its not like im going to eat them all in one go or even one week (in the old days fat mairi would have polished them off in one sitting), it will be one icecream a week probably at the weekend where i allow myself the odd treat.
and lets also take a look at the rest of my shop... this will put in perspective the changes i have made to my life.... its fine to have the odd treat if the rest of your shop looks like this :-)
Remember its all about balance...... chocolate should never be a sin and training should never be a chore.

Sunday 21 March 2010

Rubbish butt.... and wet weather training

Well i had an appointment the other day at the hospital and with a physio.... it turns out that the cause of my lateral knee pain is ITB Syndrome.... essentially this is one of the muscles which goes down the outside of your thigh.... its getting inflammed and rubbing against my femur... what is the cause you may ask.... well it turns out i have a rubbish Butt.
i know can you believe it for all the things to have wrong its a rubbish bum.... essentially my gluts are weak so i now need to strengthen my butt to enable my gluts to be strong enough to hold my leg in the correct line when i run. So for the next 2 months i am not allowed to run.
But thats fine it means im going to miss out on my 10k next week (but i shall be supporting the rest of my mates who are doing it) and the spring triathlons are out of the window... but it just means i will have time to really work on my bike and swim.
now my swim is pretty strong 14 min 12 secs for open water 750m, but my bike is rubbish. So i will be getting the bike out far more now the weather is getting better.
Mind you i say that and i arranged with a couple of mates to go out for a training session round homepier pont yesterday (great for training as its a 5k lap) and when we got there the heavens opened. this of course didnt stop us but it was pretty amusing the state of us by the end of it. i ment to take some photos but as we looked like and felt like drowned rats at the end the desire to get home, warm and dry meant i completly forgot to get some pics for the blog. however i do have some pics of my brand new trainers which were white and are now more of a muddy brown... why did i not wear my old trainers!
Now i timed a lap round the lake and it was just under 13mins.... this realy needs to improve as that essentially means we were only going about 23kph, but i must point out down one side of the lake the riding is awesome, down the other it feels like your pushing against a 12 tonne elephant due to a horrid head wind. this combined with the torrential rain actually means for a first training ride this is not too bad, but i hope to get it down to about 10 min per lap so 30kph ave. this of course means hammering it up the easy side and sustaining a good pace against the wind on the other... but thats what makes it all the more challenging.
and as my rubbish butt means no running for a bit i have no excuse but to grab the bike and get training.
note to self though.... must get some designated bike shoes (clip in preferably) to save my poor running trainers from the trauma that has now left them whimperring under the radiator :-)

Monday 15 March 2010

Change of plan

I had finishes another long day at work and i was heading for the gym when i decided on a change of plan. I headed home........ and no i didnt stop there..... i picked up my four legged running buddy and headed for a near by lake for a sunset run. Im so glad i did it was gorgeous, with my ipod on and new running jacket donned i thoroughly enjoyed the change of scenery.
It wasnt the fastest 5k ive ever done but im still carrying a nagging IT band injury, but it was such a breath of fresh air.... its been so long since the weather and sunlight has allowed for this sort of thing and now im feeling positive about the year to come. every day will get warmer and longer and i will be able to get out in the great outdoors more often.... who needs a gym when you have this on your doorstep.... ok no i wont be giving up my treasured gym membership but i will be spending more of my time outside, and only heading to the gym for classes and strength training. No treadmill beats pounding the pavement.
Hurrah for changes of plan, and my four legged running buddy!

Tuesday 9 March 2010

I love manic tuesdays.... such a Good Day

tuesday is a crazy day, for some reason my insane self thinks its a great idea to train twice in a day.... and no i dont do this to be a crazy fool its just i train every tuesday morning in a shared personal training session with my always 5 mins late gym buddy. and in the evening i do a half hour abs class and a spin session. somewhere inbetween all that i fit in a crazy day at work.
Now it does make for a hard long day, but i love spin on tuesdays with tim (a iron man triathlete with a wicked sense of humour and a great if dated sound track), but also tuesday morning is the best day for PT sessions due to my work commitments.
Now by no means do i recommend or suggest that people should train twice a day every day.... i certainly dont! but its just the way my tuesdays are.... but do you know what i love them.
Even though every tuesday when my alarm goes off at 6am my relluctant body screams no, i drag it up and once up i look forwards to being beasted by toby and the feeling i get of starting a day on a good foot.
Work was absolutly manic today, and i was tired getting to the gym tonight but again the classes and my many gym friends boost me and i love every sweaty minute. Not to mention that a couple of gym buddies and i rounded the day off with a trip to nandos and some healthy chicken dinners :-)
i have also lost another stubbourn kilo this week (first for a while) ............................................. today was indeed a good day!

Sunday 7 March 2010

Never be afraid to sweat!

I notice quite often in the gym that there are those people both big and small who seem to think that just by being in a gym they will loose weight and get fitter... as though gyms have some magic power that works on you as you step in the door to remove all those unwanted pounds. i often see people who come to the gym day in day out but never get a single bead of sweat on them, they play with the machines swapping frequently and never really achieving much, except they keep there fashionalble gym clothes pristeen and makeup smear free. (why you would want to wear makep in the gym i have never understood). But for some reason these people think this will work.
Now i can tell you that this is not true.. it takes a bit of hard work, commitment and yes you've guessed it SWEAT!
Sweat is not something you should be afraid of, noone is looking at you pointing and laughing just because you have a sweat patch appearing under your arm... the likely hood is they have just the same if not bigger. Now unless you are some how biologicaly lucky enough to be some kind of human robot (like a certain pint sized friend of mine), it is inevitable that as soon as you begin to excercise you will sweat. Far from being a bad thing this is a good thing, its the bodys way of keeping you cool when you work out.... to do this it need to burn some fuel ... and guess what that means calories! YES IF YOU ARE SWEATING YOU ARE BURNING CALORIES!
I used to feel the same, when i was bigger i was consumed with the thought everone was watching me, and i was horrified when i began to sweat thinking everyone would be saying it was just becase i was fat. however i pushed through, ignored the thoughts in my head and now several sizes smaller i still sweat.... in fact because i am now able to push harder for longer i probably sweat more. I often look like a drowned rat coming out of a spin class, but now its not a sign of embarasment its a sign that ive had a good work out.... if im honest if im not dripping i dont feel like ive worked hard enough!
so embrase your sweat and dont become one of these gym plonkers who spends money on posh gym clothes never to achieve any kind of result. get on your baggy t and trackys and get a sweat on........ just dont forget to keep your fluids up and drink some water as you go :-)

Saturday 6 March 2010

And the journey begins

Well ive finally done it, ive booked onto the course which i hope will change mine and others lives!
I find it utterly crazy that only 1 year ago i was obese, unfit and if i truly admit it unhappy, but then i met someone who changed my life for the better, someone who showed me i could do it even when i felt every part of me would fall apart (and believe me when it came to just doing a few squats i thought i would collapse)...... my personal trainer toby. Now 1 year on im fit, on the whole healthy except for a few little niggles which come along with training, and a whole heap happier and i want to pass this on.
Yes you guessed it...i am going to become a personal trainer....... i finally booked onto a course today and by the end of july i will be fully qualified (watch out world).
Just finally making the step towards becoming a personal trainer is amazing, i couldnt control my happines today and now every minute i spend training or competeing will be getting me one step closer to my goal... helping others to make the positive change that i have, showing them they can, and hopefully giving them the motivation and inspiration they need for that lightbulb to switch on and lead to happier, healthier more balanced lives.