Wednesday 31 October 2007

Putting it out to the universe...

(thanks for the idea Beck)I'll have one Enell Sports Bra please!! Size 14D!! (one back size smaller cuz I'm getting smaller!)

Not sure if that's being too cheeky to the universe but hey, you can't blame a girl for trying!!

Wow!

17 posts in one month! Not bad!

Scary!

My mum was rushed to hospital today.

She was driving to work and started to feel a bit funny- short of breath, dizzy and had a pain in her left shoulder and arm. She turned right back around, came home and called the ambulance.

Our worry was of course her heart. Not only because of the symptoms but because there is heart disease in our family (my pop holds the record for the most bypasses at one time at the Alfered Hospital... 8! A double quadrouple bipass!).

So after a lot of anxiety on my part and a lot of tests etc the verdict is that her heart is ok.. Problem is we don't know what was wrong!

She'll be home soon so I'll have to find out exactly what they said.

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Handy hint #1

Find a good pair of bathers with boob scaffolding and wear underneath your chosen sports clothing.

It is the ONLY way I can run right now!

I have a lot of lose skin from pregnancy and fatnancy, and quite a lot of excess fat that has the potential to cause a passing child some serious injury! But wearing a body bra (aka bathers) really helps to support and hold in those wayward (soon to be gone) bits of fat... how lovely!

It also gives you a nice sleek shape under tight tops so no "back boobs" or "fudubadahs" to be seen....

Haha! You can only make fun of fat when you are of have been fat!

xox

Back in the saddle(bags) again... nah!

I had a lovely time in Sydney with mum and Molly! We did a DIY contiki tour (aka speeding around all the sights in the short amout of time we had in between conference sessions. My presentation went very well and I may have scored myself a trip to Canada out of it... woohoo!

It has taken me a couple of days to get my eating right and I nearly didn't come and blog because I have eaten chips and chocolate today... but you want the REAL story here right?! Not some pretend perfect person who never slips up yeah?! So anyway, that's out of my system and I have just got home from another killer body pump class where, once again, I upped all my weights and have come home feeling all shaky, warm and tingly and now I'm eating some delicious tomato and onion flavoured tuna, brown rice and veggies to help me recover and BUILD muscle instead of losing it! (which is what happens if you weight train without eating right!)

I went to Triathlon Pink training at Elwood beach on Saturday morning and got a tad sunburnt! Not used to this glorious weather yet! We had a great session where I did my first ever open water swim! It's a lot harder than the pool and I swallowed a lot of salt water but got the hang of it eventually... I really have some work to do though if I want to race well on the day (Nov 25th). My cycling and running has much to be desired but every time I try hard, I want to work harder to get better.

In my pump class tonight I was admiring the female instructors body- all firm and shapely, and had to remind myself that she looks so great because she has worked very hard to get there. She has had to build her fitness gradually like all of us and now she is lifting with the big boys! Well, she's lifting more with her legs than the boys!!

So- the moral of the story??

Eat well, eat balanced, keep focussed, train hard= strong, fit body!!

Sounds simple huh??! Yeah- but if it were that easy wouldn't we all be prancing around in bikinis this summer???

What I need to continually work on is the mind stuff... addressing the reasons why I still dive head first into a block of chocolate or a packet of bikkies when I feel low. More to come on this... I need to have a think first.

Hope you're all having a fabbo day/night and all you Melbournians are looking forward to the long weekend! I'm not a GG fan but enjoy the time to spend with family and friends! Gotta love a long weekend!

Ash
xox

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Dinner last night..

John and I went out to the Rosstown Hotel for dinner last night- we are a bit broke at the moment so we shared a meal. We bought hoisin chicken with rice and veggies and got two small plates to split it on to. We got some funny looks from family (who also offered to by us another meal as they felt sorry for our broke little souls) but we were both SO FULL afterwards!

I am so glad we did it and we'll do it again next time. The Rosstown Hotel has a lovely salad bar too so before the meal came we had a big salad each- I'm sure that helped us feel fuller.

Okay- I'll stop writing posts now... I really have to go get ready for the trip! *lol*

Sore

My upper body feels like it's dragging along the ground today! YES! That's what we want!!

Live who you want to be and you'll become her sooner!

xox

WOW!



Thanks Beckie for bestowing this award upon me!! *lol* Sound a bit up myself for posting this award on here but I am just so pleased to have been able to motivate other people while I have been working so hard to shave off some lard... ooh that rhymes! I work hard to shave off the lard!

Anyway- Welcome to all the new faces who have popped in from Beck's blog. It is fantastic to know there are people out there willing to read about my challenge and be so encouraging. Thank you!! It's people like you ... yes YOU... who keep me going when I feel I can't go on any more. It's YOU that makes me choose the rice crackers instead of the chips when I feel like I want to splurge and its YOU who inspires me to do just one more rep or add on another kilo when lifting weights. So please keep popping in and leaving comments- now you know how much YOU.. yes YOU... mean to me. MWA!! xox

So I'm off to Sydney at 2pm today. I nearly wasn't going to take my runners as I don't have a lot of room in my bag but after recieving this lovely award and knowing there are so many of you cheering me along I know I need to take them and get into the hotel gym tomorrow morning. There is also a 24 hour pool so I'm taking my bathers with me too. I want to pack some protein powder but I am worried the airport will think I've got drugs so I might just get some ready to drink shakes when I get there. *lol* Yum- chocolate flavoured cocaine!!

Okay- that's all for now. If there are any Sydneysiders who'd like to meet up please email me.

All my love! Thanks for the inspiration!!

xox

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Bright and early!

This morning I got up at 5am (thanks Molly!!) and was at the gym by 6:15am!

I rushed out of the house so I'd catch the early pump class but when I got there I looked at the timetable and realised I must have dreamed that there was a class on as there was nothing on the timetable except a spin class and I did one of those last night . So I did a really heavy upper body session- I lifted double what I usually do.

I love the feeling of pushing myself to do things I have never done!!

Yesterdays eats went like this:
B. muesli with skim milk
S. an apple and a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt (all that was left!)
L. 1 slice soy lin toast with a tuna and creamed corn mix I made... very yum!
S. chocolate protein shake with soy milk and a skinny latte later in the arvo
D. chicken and bean thing that John made with 1/2 cup brown rice and veggies
S. 1/2 cup natural yoghurt mixed with one serve jarrah chocolatte over 1/2 serve protein crunch (YUMMIEST THING!!!)

Running woman!


Don't I look focussed!?

Monday 22 October 2007

Week 3 plan...

Last week went ok... most of the week was good and then along came my mum's 50th birthday!! I ate too much and exercised too little!! Oh well.. today is another day and I have eaten well so far and am going to the gym tonight!

I have to go to Sydney to speak at a conference on Wednesday arvo till Friday night but the hotel I am staying in has a gym so I am going to try and not let my trip ruin my good intentions! Mum is coming (bless her) to take care of Molly over the few days we are there so I will be able to slip away for a quick workout at some point each day.

So heres my plan of action (POA) for this week:

Monday: 6:30 spin class
Tuesday: 7:30pm pump class
Wednesday: Morning run
Thursday: Weights in the hotel gym
Friday: Run in the hotel gym
Saturday: Tri training and 4pm pump class
Sunday: rest day and free meal day

I am going to have to be really dilligent to eat properly while I am away as this is usually the first thing to go when I am on holidays... I am not on a Body For Life holiday! I can take that wherever I go!! I can still eat out while doing B4L- I just need to make sure I choose some lean protein, some yummy green veggies and some complex carbs in each meal and stay away from the junk. Sounds easy right? Well, we'll see how we go!

Weigh in from last week (before mum's birthday so it probably doesn't count) was 85.1kg- a loss of 1.1kg! I'm not going to weigh till Saturday morning now to give me a chance to burn off some of the junk I ate!

:)

Wednesday 17 October 2007

On friday...

... I will be able to post the pic of me running in Sunday's fun run from www.sportingimages.com.au - I hope my face doesn't look TOO beetrooty!

Look what I'm going to try!!!

Courtesty of Ajay Rochester from Healthy Body Club...

Interval running 101

Start on a slow walk speed...do a warm up for about 3 mins
....then for 4 mins run at a slow 6 kmph
then drop it back to a walk pace for 1 min
then 3 mins at 6.5 kmph then 1 min walk
then 2 mins at 7 kmph then 1 min walk
then 1 min at 7.5kmph then 1 min walk

THEN
4 mins 6.5kmph 1 min walk
3 mins 7 kmph 1 min walk
2 mins 7.5kmph then 1 min wlak
1 min 8 kmph then 1 min walk

THEN

4 mins 7 kmph then 1 min wlak
3 mins 7.5kmph 1 min wlak
2 mins 8 kmph 1 min walk
1 min 8.5kmph 1 min walk
then about a 5 minute cool down.

As you get faster and fitter start at a higher speed.This is a great workout and will have you dropping so much fat you will be blown away.......runners are thin so run to win!!!

Monday 15 October 2007

Pics...

Here are a couple of pics from the run yesterday and my new "before" pics for this challenge...


There we go! They're out there now!! I am eagerly anticipating posting my pics in 11 weeks
time!


Okay, here's my plan for this week.

Today: Haven't decided yet- trying to work out if John's home early tonight so I can go to the gym. Might end up taking Molly out for a brisk pram walk in the sun
Tuesday: Body pump or weights in the evening
Wed: Spin or interval running in the evening
Thurs: Body pump
Friday: Swim
Sat: Body pump or weights
Sun: Rest

Things to do to make it work:

  • Call gym and book Molly into creche for Thurs morning.
  • Get to the shops to buy some salad stuff, some fresh meat and some tuna and salmon
  • Clean house today so I don't have to think about it for a few days (thus having no barriers to getting out and exercising!!)


Sunday 14 October 2007

This weeks exercise...

45 mins Spinning -689
60 mins Body Pump -735
15 mins Free Weights, vigorous -138
20 mins Walking 5 kph -101
15 mins Walking 6 kph -92
30 mins Jogging 8 kph -367
tri training yesterday-312

Exercise Total 2433-YES!! GO ME!!

5198-2433= 2765 to go to go for the month of October!!

FFFWWWOOOOAAAHHH!

I feel so fit right now!!!

Yesterday I went to triathlon training and had a good bike ride and ran up and down practicing flying leaps onto my bike. Afterwards I got chatting to someone who seemed very familiar and I asked her where she worked. It turns out she is the fit lady who I admired at the gym a while ago. I told her about my goals and 12 week challenge and she asked if I needed any help with my weights etc. How nice!! Anyway as it turns out she's an instructor at Fitness First where I go and she ended up inviting me to come to her pump class yesterday afternoon- which I did! I worked so hard knowing very well that I'd have sore legs for the run today!! Oh well- the only way out is through!!

So John and I got up nice and early, had a nice light breakfast before heading off to the Alexandra Gardens for the Anlene Series Spring into shape fun run. We decided to do the 4km run instead of the 8km as I am still not as fit as I'd like to be!

I had no big time goal as far as this run went- I just wanted to complete it! Ideally though I wanted to run at least 2/3 of it- which I did!! John and I slowly ran the first 2km before slowing for a drink, we then walked very fast for the 3rd km (probably faster than the jogging I was doing before!!) and then once we got to the final km John said "should we run the last one??" and I said "nah... you go ahead of me and I'll meet you at the end". So off he went. Not too long after that I started thinking really positively and began some really good self talk saying things like "I can do this!" "this is what the last 1km run in the tri is going to feel like!!" "I can't wait to tell John I ran the last km too!" "Am I really in pain??... No!! Then I'll keep going!!" "Slow and steady slow and steady"... And before I knew it I was coming up to the finish line and with 20 metres to go I started running faster with long strong strides and finished looking like the runner I want to be! The runner I am becoming!!

Go me!!

:)

Friday 12 October 2007

First potential obstacle!

I have just got my first period since Molly was conceived! That's 18.5 months ago!! I know it doesn't have to be an obstacle to my challenge but it does explain my sugar cravings recently! I am determined not to let it affect me as it is the most natural of womanly occurances and I should be celebrating my fertility and feeling it- not eating it away! I do feel pretty good though- so that's a bonus!

So here's my plan!

Food:
Breakfast options: porridge made with water, scrambled eggs (one yolk only) on grainy bread, toast with natural nut butter, eggwhite omelette, natural muesli with skim milk

Lunch options: A portion each of lean protein, complex carb and veggies/salad

Dinner options: Same as lunch eg. chicken breast with a small potato and steamed broccoli and asparagus

Mini in-between meals: chocolate or vanilla EAS protein shake made with skim milk, fruit, low fat yoghurt, handful of raw nuts

Other stuff: Try to drink 3 litres of water and herbal teas each day, take my breastfeeding multi plus some additional fish oil and glutemine daily

Exercise:
Mon: Upper body weights*
Tues: Spin class
Wed: Lower body weights*
Thurs: Swimming training/running
Fri: Upper body weights*
Sat: Triathlon training
Sun: Rest
*weight training runs on a 2 week cycle so in week two I will do 2 lower body workouts

My routine will change when I finish the triathlon.

Other:
I will try to get in here as often as possible with updates and I may use this as a food and training diary too.

:)

Thursday 11 October 2007

Week One...

Beginning today, October 11th 2007, I am embarking on a total body transformation. This will involve twelve weeks of hard work and dedication to weight training, cardoivascular exercise and eating very well. I have been inspired by the Body for Life principals and will be submitting my entry into the Asia Pacific competition. I am at a very good place in my life to complete this challenge as I have my days free and a lovely well equipped gym with a creche. There is no reason that I can see as to why this wont work. It WILL work! Boy am I excited!

I will be using this blog to record my progress and work through any emotional issues that are bound to come up along the way. I will work through my issues as oposed to eating them up!!

I am also doing my first triathlon on November 25th and am training for this also.

I'll be back tomorrow with my plan of action for te challenge!!

Giddy up!!