Friday 26 October 2012

Operation sub30 5K

Since my return to running, it appears that I'm actually quite good at it! I have to give credit to the spin/RPM classes as I know that’s what kick-started my improved fitness but also losing the weight has had a massive impact.

Myself and my running friends (Jo, Sharon and Clair) or as Jo called us "The Regs" have entered a 5k race on 17th November and the goal is to get sub30.

I think if I can achieve this then I can safely put myself in the 'proper runner' category. I've had great fun since my return to Regency Runners, running with my friends again is great and I'm so happy I had a long break so I could appreciate it again. It has also helped that my sister Helen has started running again after having a baby, she's doing amazingly well and has joined "The Regs" at the back as she builds back up to her usual 24minute 5k! According to Jo, the back is where all the cool kids hang out, I reckon she's right! Well she must be as secretly all the fasties love running with us Regs!

As I agreed with Oli I'm running with group just once a week, which means I don’t get any over kill. Regency Runners are really great with running sessions that keep you on your toes, so over the last few weeks I've been joining in with the out and back sessions, hills, pace runs and 3k runs so I've been able to work on my pace.

I have also been using the treadmill to help me with pacing, running at 10kph and increasing the distance by 500m at a time. There has been a couple of near misses with this, firstly I started running and came close to losing my running bottoms (I decided to scrap that run) and during my next visit I decided to do my 10 minute warm up on the treadmill, this turned into an attempt at a PB for a mile, I surprised myself and managed 8.57, which  is great, but I must remember that when I press the cool down button, that the treadmill doesn't stop, as I nearly came belting off the back of it!

I'm on track with this pacing, up to 3k at just under 18minutes, and I felt like I could carry on as I felt really comfortable. So it's all going well just now, I'm just hoping that I don't get my usual shit Race Day where everything just seems to go out the window and I limp home with yet another shitty time! My friend Paul experienced that last weekend when his chain broke on the Grim Dualthlon totally wrecking his race! At least I know it’s not just me!

Thursday 25 October 2012

The lastest

It seems I'm getting a bit rubbish at keeping these posts up to date, as it has been pointed out to me by Paul that it has been 4 weeks since my last post so to be quite honest, I don't know where to start, there's far too much to say about what’s been going on recently!

During the last post, I talked about how my training had been centred around spin/RPM classes and I had just started running again after a long break due to shin splints, well, things have changed, again! I'm now running again, I'll post about that separately I think, but I'm no longer concentrating on spin/RPM classes, after a little (MASSIVE) bit of a telling off from Oli!

So I took myself off to my PT session (financial constraints mean that I am having one session a month now) where I was due to be weighed in and to be honest I was feeling pretty confident as I knew that I had dropped quite a bit of weight since my last weigh in. I had done all sorts to keep myself motivated and to stay focused, including this on my lounge wall: (I'm not mental......honest!! OK maybe a bit!!)




Unfortunately my confidence was shattered with the results of the weigh in, I had dropped weight, 15lbs, which you would think would make me happy, but the remaining results were not such happy reading! I had gained 4% body fat and lost a massive 4kg of muscle! My resting metabolic rate had dropped from 1750 to 1625.

Oli knew immediately without me having to tell him what I had been doing, he rightfully suggested that I had been sticking the diet well (with maybe a couple of slip ups), neglecting my strength training and upping my aerobic activity. I knew that I was risking losing muscle but not as much as I actually did! It was gutting, all that hard work building muscle and I had blown it, all of a sudden the drop in weight meant nothing to me, all I could see was that 4% gain in body fat, not something I can afford to do at my weight!!

Oli was really good at explaining to me what had happened, I would try to explain it to the rest of you but I would most likely get it wrong, but in short the spin/RPM was eating away at my muscle, not my body fat, so it was agreed (reluctantly by me) that I would drop the classes and go back to strength training, apparently what I do best as I am constantly reminded by Oli that for "a lass" I am actually quite strong. It was agreed that I should keep to running with Regency Runners once a week to do 3 strength training sessions a week. My immediate response was that surely this wasn't enough but Oli basically said, if you can do more than 3 strength sessions a week, you're not working hard enough!

So, Oli put me through my paces, starting with those f@%£ing walking lunges that I love so much! (I don't love them, that was sarcasm, just to be clear) Oli noticed that my form had improved (I was faking) so handed me a couple of 3kg weights and was told to go and do it again.
It was to get better when I had done that, straight into press ups, 4 sets. The next set of exercises were squats (ass to ankles) holding a 12.5kg kettle bell - nice, then straight into lat-pull down, I don't know the weight I did, as Oli keeps it hidden from me (probably to stop the whining), again 4 sets, and then 3 sets of kettle bell swings, with the 12.5kg. This doesn't sound very much I know, but at the end of it I was done! Oli had really kept the intensity up had been quite strict on my form so I was a bit battered when I stumbled out of there!

I spent the next few days trying to a) walk and b) get my head around the no cardio thing. The worst thing about this was I know damn well why I need to concentrate on strength training and not cardio, but I still convinced myself that there was no possible way that I was ever going to lose any weight by doing this....crazy I know! I don't think it helped that Oli told me my weight loss might slow down as I gain the muscle again. After spending the entire weekend whining to Paul about it I decided to go down and see Oli for a chat, I just needed everything confirmed and explained again to me which Oli did, this really got me focused again and ready for losing the next chunk of weight.

Since then, I have chucked out the size 18 pair of jeans that were constantly falling down (what a great feeling) and I'm now back in a pair of 16's, a teeny bit snug but it won't be for long, the goal is to get to a size 14 for Christmas, and then a size 12 for April.

The strength training sessions are going ok. They're bloody hard and are made that little bit harder by my stupid gym not having any kettle bells and having stupid shaped dumbbells that dig into my wrists! I'm remembering my "unless you faint, puke or die, keep going" from Jillian Michaels, which helps keep my focus in the gym and stops me slacking and taking too long a rest in between sets! I've managed to adapt from the equipment at Peak Fitness to the stuff that’s in my gym, and am much more confident in there now I know exactly what I need to do, and of course now I have dropped some weight and I don't feel as self-conscious!




I have managed to keep my weight pretty stable since my last weigh in, which I can only see as a good thing and I hope that means that I am building muscle and losing fat. My next weigh in is 5th November where Oli will also switch up my program, although I'm guessing that as he has successful in "switching my glutes on" that I can expect more of the same, just in a even more evil way!!



About Me

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