Monday 24 September 2012

Back in the Game



As I posted a few months back, the hours and hours of relentless pounding away while training for this year’s London Marathon took its toll on my body and I had the joys of suffering with shin splints, although I really do like my physio Cathy, having my shins 'ironed out' is not something I enjoy at all!

Strangely think this injury came at the right time for me, I had really had enough of running and I was struggling to enjoy running with Regency Runners, so I decided to concentrate on losing weight and come back to the running at a later date. Unfortunately this meant dropping out of the Great North Run and Great Birmingham Run, it was no easy decision to pull out but sometimes you just have to make these sacrifices. I really didn't want was to injure myself to the point where I couldn't do anything at all!

As I posted last week, I've now lost a stone. It's not a great deal as ideally I need to lose another four but it's a great start. A lot of the training I have been doing recently has been focused around spin/RPM classes so I have been working on my level of aerobic level of fitness. These classes are great fun, and really push you to your limit. I do moan a lot about my gym (pretty much endlessly), it's one of those chains that only seem to care about the money and don't value their members, but what they do very well is the range of classes they do and the instructors they have are excellent. I had started to look around for a new gym to attend but I just can't find one in the area that run a spin/RPM programme that is anywhere near as good, so I shall stay put, for now.

Last week I started to notice a real change in my fitness levels during classes, after the sprints when I slowed my legs, I was surprised with the resistance that I had on, whereas not so long ago I was 'free-wheeling'. I also started to notice that during the climbs I couldn't get my resistance right, I thought the bike had broken at first, but soon realised that I'm getting stronger, so I need to find the next level to challenge me again. I have since made sure that I turn the resistance up even more so I get the most out of each track and I have really been feeling it!

This past weekend was spent getting frustrated as I had a stinking cold. I had convinced myself last week that it was hay fever and that it would soon pass but as it got worse I realised that it wasn't going anywhere. I trained really hard last week, so by Saturday I was done, I woke Saturday morning and couldn't breathe, so I forfeited my training session and rested, thinking I would be ok to train the following day, I was wrong! I was so determined to go but after a conversation and a good telling off from my friend Paul and a big strop from myself I decided to go back to bed. I didn’t wake up after midday, so I really must have needed it! I hate it when Paul is right!
I felt loads better that evening so decided that I'd set my alarm for the next morning and try a little run. The park behind the house is roughly a mile and as I didn't want to go too far I thought once round would be just right. I woke up and it was chucking it down, this is my favourite running weather so off I went after a fair bit of whining to anyone who would listen.
I only had to run to the end of the road to remember why I love running so much, I felt great! I was wearing my Garmin but made a point not to check it, I didn't want to chase a time just see how I got on and if I would get any pain. Before I stopped running a few months ago, my pace was a very slow about 12 minute miles, on a good day.  Today’s run, short as it was, was at a much improved 10:24min mile pace, and it didn't really feel like I was pushing it so when I got home and looked at my watch I was chuffed.



I have always run because I love it, and although at times I would get frustrated with my slow pace I was just happy to get out there and do it. Paul has always called me a proper runner; to be honest I don't know why as he thinks that a 2 hour half marathon is slow! But anyway, recently I have started thinking about my pace and realised that this is now really important to me, I want to become that 'proper runner' that Paul seems to think that I am, and of course to beat him in the 2014 Regency 10k, yes, that is how long I will need to get the pace!

So, in every session I will be channelling Jilian Michaels to myself!



 







Tuesday 18 September 2012

Building the base

Again, I seem to have left it way too long since my last post but rather than excuse myself I thought I'd just get on with it!

So, since my mental decision to compete in a 70.3 triathlon next year, the realities of that challenge have started to sink in, along with how much this thing is going to cost! As I am neither made of money or have a money tree in my back garden (actually I haven't even got a garden so that doesnt really work) I am really having to think about where the money to pay for it is going to come from, so, while I think about that I am using my time wisely and kicking my own arse at the gym, building the base for the training that will no doubt take over my life!

Since I started this blog, the weight hasn't come off as quickly as I may have liked, in fact I think it has come off rather slowly considering how hard I am working and the changes that I have made to my diet (just 14lb, and that has been a little up and down with a recent holiday to Sicily) But hey, they do say the longer it takes to come off the more likey it is to stay off, apparently. I also think that I am still building muscle as the majority of my workouts are resistance based. My sessions with Oli and Phil at Peak Fitness have come to an end (see above for my lack of cash flow!) so I am now doing it alone, which was ok at first but I am now finding it quite difficult to keep focused during sessions. My friend Paul seems to think that I find my focus easily when I am in the gym, but its not doing the exercise that I lose focus on, I just get on with that, it's the variation and lack of knowledge to think of new and effective things to do that I find difficult. So, basically, tell me to do something and I will do it, and I will try my hardest, but thinking of new things, I'm just shit!

My focus on diet is pretty good. I'm still doing self hypnosis every night and now I am into a routine I know where I am and am finding the choice of food when eating clean is actually really varied, you just have to be a little creative! I am finding it amazing how much better I feel, none of that bloating that I always got before, my skin, hair and nails are in really good condition and I have so much more energy! And they say that energy comes from carbs? Rubbish! I'm also enjoying learning about this choice of diet and it completely makes sense to me now, I'm starting to understand what the food that you put inside you does to your body. I tried to explain to some work colleagues who were eating 'low fat' yoghurt and checking the calories on their every bite that the body needs fat and its the sugar content that they need to be concerned with. They looked at me like I was an alien, well, they are on this Slimming World diet, enough said!



When it comes to working out, I am in the gym five days out of seven, minimum (I even took my small weights and Davina DVD with me on a works overnight stay).

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I am still doing plenty of spin classes and do my weights sessions beforehand so I can get the best out of it and burn more fat. I have continued to follow Oli's plan and do lowerbody straight into upperbody, 30 seconds rest and repeat x 4 before moving onto the next two exercises, so some examples being walking lunges (my nemises) straight into pressups, squats straight into shoulder press with 8kg dumbells, single leg squats straight into lat pull down, I think you get the picture! I am able to mix these up and add in new ones as long as it is lowerbody going into upperbody. I think for a girl I am doing pretty well with the weights, I am now able to chest press 40kg (although I think I did way more weight with Oli but like I said the focus is hard when there is noone stood next to you pushing you on) and I am getting 45kg on the lat pull down.

I'm starting to get more interested in the reasons behind each workout and as I need to be tailoring my own workouts now I don't have a PT, I am doing lots of reading and research on this. I am even tampering with the idea of training to become a PT and completing a Level 3 Diploma, using myself as a project but again, this again will all boil down to money! I really want to do it though and I think I will be pretty good at it so I will keep persuing this, so hopefully come January I will be able to enrol.

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I'm a fatty trying to get to be a thinny!