Tuesday 31 March 2009

Muscles!

I have been getting myself a little depressed recently as my flabby arms are always the last thing to shrink when I get fit. Even today, I was walking through my local mega shopping complex, catching my reflection in shop windows and feeling like I had 2 hams hanging from my shoulder sockets. That said, the difference between now and before I started weight training/boxing etc is that when I flex the muscles in my upper arms you can actually see them! They may be under a layer of fat, but they are there and probably bigger than ever! I love running my hand over the outside of my arms and feeling the definition and I love feeling strong and powerful. I am looking forward to taking off my veil of fat and letting the world see my fully carved biceps and triceps.

I completed 2 of my tasks today. I put some gorgeous Raco pots and pans on layby. I got $500 worth for $199!! Bargain shopper!! And we started getting the car organised for repair.

I thought of 4 other things I need to get done this week though.

1) Call Office Works to see if we can do a Bushfire Appeal sausage sizzle out the front.

2) Call Chocolateir (spelling??) to see if they are selling Fair Trade easter eggs this year. We got some last year for $5 each.

3) Use some Fair Trade chocolate to make our own easter egg gifts for our friends and family.

4) Make a new playlist for my mp3 player to make my Run for the Kids experience a little easier.

I played netball tonight which brings me to 4 exercise sessions this week (including Sunday). I am going to rest tomorrow and do toning on Thursday (easy on the legs), Cardio Saturday (taking it easy all over!) and the 14.2km run for the kids on Sunday. I am going to try and run/jog the whole thing but if I need a walk break up the bridge I wont hate myself for it. A couple of weeks ago I ran 12.35km without dying so I should be able to manage it. Most of it is fairly flat apart from the bridge and tunnel. I plan to keep up the running as I intend to do the 21km half marathon as part of the Melbourne Marathon. Sunday will be a good chance to see how my legs pull up.

Looking forward to carb loading on Saturday night as I made a yummy recipe from Kek's blog last night and it was so good I wanna do it again. It was creamy chicken and bacon fettucini (creamy with light philly!). mmmm! So many veggies and so little fat!! I made satay mince with mash and green veggies tonight. It was really tasty. I have been enjoying food so much recently. Fresh ingredients are tasting particularly great so I have been having a lot of salads/ salad wraps/ salad sandwiches etc etc.. And fruit, lots of yummy seasonal fruit like pears! Oh the pears are heaven aren't they!?

Tomorrow night is the blogger dinner at Southbank. I'm really looking forward to it! It's been too long!

Hope you're all having a nice day/night... whatever!

:)

Sunday 29 March 2009

Things to do...

I am notorious for having great ideas but not following through, so I thought I'd write down a few of those things that are on my list of things to do and do them in the coming week..

- Put new set of pots and pans on layby

- Get car looked at (had a bingle yesterday and need to work out what to do- wasn't our fault thank goodness!)

- Bake another few lots of hot cross buns for friends and family

- Bake a loaf of rye bread

- Buy a new pair of jeans

- Finish letter to Philippa

- Find a cute new pair of shoes to wear on Wednesday night for dinner with the blogger chicks



There we go... Those are manageable but I can't believe how I have put off most of those things! They are things I actually enjoy doing (shopping, baking and writing) however I have not really been that motivated to do much recently. Not sure why, it's just the way it is at the moment. But if I have some goals then I can focus on them and move forward. I could probably do most of these things in one day really depending on how organised I am.

This morning I went running (last running group :(..) around docklands and southbank and it was so nice to run in the fresh air as the sun was coming up. The city was surprisingly quiet and I ran at a comfortable pace for an hour. We all went and had some breakfast and coffee afterwards and it was just so nice. I will miss my running group. I wonder if any of them would like to continue on Sunday mornings. I will definately keep the habit of exercising on Sunday mornings up as it is a great way to start/end the week.

I had a bucket of hot chips today. I really really felt like them. I never really eat chips.. Maybe one or 2 at mums if they get chicken and chips but I usually don't want them- they always seem to get stuck in my throat and are all claggy.. but today I enjoyed them so much. I don't know if I was craving salt or starch but they did the trick. It was so nice to want something like that, and decide to have it and for it to just really hit the spot.. mmmm! I don't really get any cravings these days. My mind rarely dwells on food like it used to. In the old days, I rarely didn't think of food. It was always either thinking about what I should or shouldn't eat or what I had just eaten or wanted to eat. Now I generally think about food when I get hungry and then I see what we have and try to make the best choice with the options available. It's become as un-complicated as that. What a freeing feeling!

I haven't mentioned that I am totally decaffinated! It took 7 days of headaches and tiredness but I'm back and it feels good. So it's all about the herbal teas and water now and I feel quite cleansed. I just felt that my body was not doing what it should and it was probably due to the large amounts of chemicals I was putting into it with my un-quenchable diet coke habit. So it's gone from my life now and it's really exciting. I am sleeping so so so much better and waking up feeling like I hve actually rested my bod properly! I have the occassional decaf skim latte but that's more of a ritualistic/nice thing to do with the boy type thing.

That's all for now.. I'm feeling very bloggy today.. tee-hee!

Saturday 28 March 2009

Boot camp torture...

Ok.. well, it wasn't that bad.

No.. it really was.. it WAS torture!

But it was the kind of torture I like (I like it in retrospect, at the time all I feel is hate). Right now, I can feel every muscle I used this morning and it is now 5pm! I'm still tingling from such a hard workout.

Saturday morning cardio training is usually a 1 hour circuit or a road run which is still a decent workout but nowhere near what Tess, our trainer had planned for us this morning. I got worried when there were only a couple of witches hats out in the park as a circuit has lots of stations and a road run doesn't need hats. Then I bacame more worried when Tess said "I have an idea, I have made something up for you all".... gulp!

She then led us through a warm up and stretches. This is what happened next.... a non-stop, no break, 50 minute boot camp style workout consisting of the following;
-sprint 50m, butt kicks back
-sprint 50m, high knees back
-travelling lunges with upper body twist 50m, run back
-plank hold 15secs, plank with alternating knees to chest, mountain climbers, pushups
-run round the park
-side to side and touch the ground 20 reps
-lunge hold 30 secs each leg

REPEAT 3 MORE TIMES!

It was fantastic! Horrible, but fantastic!

I looked in my rear vision mirror when I got back into my car and the Nike phrase "Run yourself ugly" popped into my head... good job!

Sunday 15 March 2009

WANTED: FAMILY SIZED FRIDGE!

If anyone can help me out, I'm not wanting to spend much but we need a bigger fridge!

Running group...

Every Sunday for the last 6 weeks I have been going along to a running group (part of Step into life Yarraville). Each session has been different going from flat, long sessions to sprints to hills and stairs and back to flats. The group is so encouraging and there are all different fitness levels. This morning we tackled some huge hills in Keilor and Essendon. The only time I really had to stop was when I desperately needed to find a toilet!


Here's a pic of the group with our 1st big hill in the background!


Saturday 14 March 2009

Blogger Meet

I have had a request to re-schedule the blogger meet to a later date as it is close to the meet with Diet Girl Shauna on April 1st. However I would still like to go ahead with the meet next weekend. If you only want to go to one that's fine, but I'm a bit of a party animal so I will be attending both.

Come on girls, don't be shy!

Date: 21st March
Time: 7:30
Venue: Town Hall Hotel, Errol Street, North Melbourne (next to Bakers Delight) There is a good menu of dinner type meals there at a reasonable price. I will be eating there.

Remember! Bring your cameras!

Please respond in the comments section of this post if you will be attending so we know how many to look out for.

Yay! Fun!

Wednesday 11 March 2009

Changing times...

Our housemates (John's sister and her hubby and 2yo son) are moving out. They told us last week... Friday I think it was.

It makes me sad but I understand as the house we're in is far too small for the 6 of us. But I have loved living with them (mostly) and it is going to be a big change for all of us. We've lived together since the end of 2007. So just over a year. Hmm..

On the bright side, a close friend of mine is moving in. She is into getting fit and eating healthily and she participated in a triathlon with me last year. We are planning to do a Around the Bay in a Day in October which is a 210 km bike ride around melbourne. She's really inspiring and we get along really well. She's also been in a share house since she left home and she is really easy going and considerate. I think it will be a great change for all of us. It is better that this arrangement ends before it gets too hard. We have a wonderful relationship with John's sister and we want it to stay that way!

I haven't been here on the blog for a while as I have been busy living and haven't had the time to sit down and post. But I have been reading all your blogs and am keeping up with what you are doing without commenting. Sorry! Hehe!

I have decided to participate in 101 goals in 1001 days. Please visit www.ashs101.blogspot.com to view my goals if you are interested.

I am loving my job so much! It is just perfect for our life right now.

I'd better go as my eyes are falling out of my head with tiredness...

Love to all!
Facebook me!
xox

Ash