Yes! This!
Friday, June 24, 2016
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Mini Goals Achieved!
I'm just gonna put this here. .. and then do a hop, skip and jump!!!
- 5km in under 40 minutes - tick!
- Under 8 minutes a km - tick!
- And a bonus of distance of 6km, and 45 minutes+ of consecutive running with no walking - tick!
Happiness is a lekker run!
Next goal: 7 minutes per km - but this is a long shot and it's going to take me a while, me thinks...
EDIT. I just realised it's a month since my last blog post where I still struggled to fit a 5km into my exercise time and now I did a 6km. "I still got a lot of fight left in me!"YAYNESS!
EDIT. I just realised it's a month since my last blog post where I still struggled to fit a 5km into my exercise time and now I did a 6km. "I still got a lot of fight left in me!"YAYNESS!
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Accomplishment & Self-doubt
On Tuesday I completed my C25k programme, yay! I felt so proud and happy. I am really impressed by this programme, it helped me a lot and pushed me into running for longer after struggling for so long on my own. Although the programme is called Couch to 5k, it only helped me to run for 30 minutes straight (with extra walking for a warm up and cool down), but I can't run a 5k in the time frame expected as yet. For instance, this morning I ran for 30 minutes, walked 3 minutes to rest a bit and then ran 10 more minutes and in the 43 minutes I ran for a total of 4.75 km. So I basically now just have to work on my speed. My plan is to try every morning to fit a 5 km into my allotted exercise time (I only have about 40 to 45 minutes) - I am nearly there. After that I want to push to get the 5 km done in 40 minutes and then I'll take it from there again and plan new goals.
Even though I completed the programme this week, I experienced a lot of self-doubt since Monday. I think it has a little bit to do with the running app I downloaded to monitor my speed, so I see that it takes me 9:15 to run a km and I want to do better. Now I have these negative feelings towards myself - I am too slow... I am not good enough... Am I really a runner? I lost almost 4 kg this past 3 months, but thinking it's also too slow and not good enough even though I worked my ass off for it. Saw pics hubby took of me yesterday and I look fatter than I feel :( Oh and my ankle hurts from an old injury, my calves pain, I am stiff from my run. Urgh, I know I am being silly and I will get over myself, but blegh... just blegh.
This popped up in my news feed yesterday and I need to remind myself of this on a more regular basis.
Note to myself from myself:
You did bloody well, girl, you have come so far. Keep going and stop doubting yourself, you will keep going and accomplish a whole lot more, I just know it. Your body is changing and you can feel it, people comment on it and even though it's slow-going, it's going. You will make yourself proud, you will make your hubby and children proud. Don't care about the opinions of those who does not care for your journey. Love yourself, love your body - it's doing an amazing job, love how strong you are getting, love your accomplishments. You go girl, am rooting for you! xxx
Even though I completed the programme this week, I experienced a lot of self-doubt since Monday. I think it has a little bit to do with the running app I downloaded to monitor my speed, so I see that it takes me 9:15 to run a km and I want to do better. Now I have these negative feelings towards myself - I am too slow... I am not good enough... Am I really a runner? I lost almost 4 kg this past 3 months, but thinking it's also too slow and not good enough even though I worked my ass off for it. Saw pics hubby took of me yesterday and I look fatter than I feel :( Oh and my ankle hurts from an old injury, my calves pain, I am stiff from my run. Urgh, I know I am being silly and I will get over myself, but blegh... just blegh.
This popped up in my news feed yesterday and I need to remind myself of this on a more regular basis.
Note to myself from myself:
You did bloody well, girl, you have come so far. Keep going and stop doubting yourself, you will keep going and accomplish a whole lot more, I just know it. Your body is changing and you can feel it, people comment on it and even though it's slow-going, it's going. You will make yourself proud, you will make your hubby and children proud. Don't care about the opinions of those who does not care for your journey. Love yourself, love your body - it's doing an amazing job, love how strong you are getting, love your accomplishments. You go girl, am rooting for you! xxx
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Running!
Murphy is a biatch! I wrote last about starting week 4 of my running programme and how chuffed I was with completing the first run of the week. Well as Murphy would have it, I completed Week 4, excited to move on to Week 5 of the 8-Week programme and then the very next day after I did my last Week 4 run I got sick with a terrible, terrible bug that kept me ill and in pain for 8 days.
With that, Easter weekend and my boy who is at home with the school holidays I did not get to run for a full 12 days and I started back today. I did not want to run, I was lazy this morning, my body is still run down and tired after being sick, and my little girl is not herself and sleeping poorly as well. Plus I was scared to see how much progress I lost in the almost 2-weeks. Somehow I motivated myself... they say after all the hardest part of the run is the first few steps out of the house... So I decided to do a Week 4 run again. I am happy to report that I managed that easily! But I think I will do another Week 4 run tomorrow to be on the safe side and then move on to Week 5's runs a bit later this week.
A few things I have learned about running and myself this past few weeks:
A dear friend invited me to do a 5km race with her in a month's time and I accepted and immediately signed up and paid for it. If all goes well (and let's face it life likes to throw lemons) I will be able to complete my C25k programme by then and I am hoping I will be able to run most of it, although I think it's going to be slow and hard. I am so looking forward to it though!
With that, Easter weekend and my boy who is at home with the school holidays I did not get to run for a full 12 days and I started back today. I did not want to run, I was lazy this morning, my body is still run down and tired after being sick, and my little girl is not herself and sleeping poorly as well. Plus I was scared to see how much progress I lost in the almost 2-weeks. Somehow I motivated myself... they say after all the hardest part of the run is the first few steps out of the house... So I decided to do a Week 4 run again. I am happy to report that I managed that easily! But I think I will do another Week 4 run tomorrow to be on the safe side and then move on to Week 5's runs a bit later this week.
A few things I have learned about running and myself this past few weeks:
- I am really enjoying it. Who would have thought...
- Running with music in my ears is the only way to go.
- I need a programme to help push me further. I realize now how much time I have wasted December to mid February by trying to run on my own, because if my legs/brain says I'm tired I stop running, but with the programme I run when it says run and I walk when they say walk and they challenge me each time to do better.
- I can not work on endurance and speed at the same time... hence I am only working on endurance for the moment... so snail pace it is!
- I need to get out of my own head when running... I need to let my thoughts wander and not think about me running. I just need to put one foot in front of the other automatically and let my mind go. Hence the music helping.
- It really, really helps me to lose weight!
A dear friend invited me to do a 5km race with her in a month's time and I accepted and immediately signed up and paid for it. If all goes well (and let's face it life likes to throw lemons) I will be able to complete my C25k programme by then and I am hoping I will be able to run most of it, although I think it's going to be slow and hard. I am so looking forward to it though!
Friday, March 18, 2016
Progress!
We are almost through a third of this year and I am sorry to say I don't get to update my fitness blog the way I want to. But here we go with an update:
In my last blog post I mentioned I took up lifting and running in December. Since then I decided to let go of the lifting for a while until two things happen. 1) I break through the BIG 80kg barrier as strength training helps me to lose cm, but it stalls weightloss for me... don't ask me why, but I experienced this numerous times 2) I got my running up to scratch so that I can alternate the running and lifting.
With regards to the weightloss, it's been a bit over two years since I came 3 - 4 odd kilograms close to breaking through the 80's, but then I fell pregnant, had baby and got rid of the preggy weight, picked up a bit of weight again thanks to sleep deprivation, lost some, then last December came and I picked up some again (weighed end of January and saw a 3kg gain). I am almost close to that stage again and I really hope to get rid of the 80's soon. I am working hard at this and hoping my running will contribute to my weightloss success.
With regards to my running - I am so chuffed and the reason why I am quickly writing this blog post today. I started the C25k (Couch to 5k) running programme a couple of weeks ago, and finished Week 3 yesterday which entailed running for 90 seconds, walking for 90 seconds, running for 3 minutes, walking for 3 minutes; repeat; and I checked out what Week 4 would entail and got nervous, it looked so much harder... 3 minutes run, 90 seconds walk, 5 minutes run, 2.5 minutes walk, repeat - it looked like so much more running vs walking and I am not running fit by a long shot.
This morning I almost did not go out, fearing I would fail, but I started the first run of Week 4 and I did it! I managed every single interval - I managed to run for 5 minutes at a time! Wooohooo! It felt so good! My legs were jelly at the end of it, especially since I did some extra walking afterwards, but it felt fantastic and it feels like a huge achievement to me.
The programme promise that one will be able to run 5km after the 8 weeks are completed and I am looking forward to that!
I'm starting to think of myself as a runner. I just need to get over my fears... there is a lot. I am scared of snakes in the road, there are huge open field areas in my neighbourhood and I spotted quite a few snakes and snake skin already, dogs - there are a lot of people in the area who does not keep their dogs properly enclosed like they should and I have been bitten by one 2 years ago, so the fear is real, and then of course living in South Africa - thugs, but I run with my pepper spray and I will spray anyone who comes to close and I keep to busy streets.
Here's to completing this programme and having a lot more fab runs :) :) :)
I'm starting to think of myself as a runner. I just need to get over my fears... there is a lot. I am scared of snakes in the road, there are huge open field areas in my neighbourhood and I spotted quite a few snakes and snake skin already, dogs - there are a lot of people in the area who does not keep their dogs properly enclosed like they should and I have been bitten by one 2 years ago, so the fear is real, and then of course living in South Africa - thugs, but I run with my pepper spray and I will spray anyone who comes to close and I keep to busy streets.
Here's to completing this programme and having a lot more fab runs :) :) :)
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Fighting
Every single day I am fighting a battle. I am fighting with myself, I am fighting cravings, I fight against laziness, I fight and I fight hard. It is a battle I wish to win. This year is my year, this here is my song, my fight song.
Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
And all those things I didn't say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
Like how a single word
Can make a heart open
I might only have one match
But I can make an explosion
And all those things I didn't say
Wrecking balls inside my brain
I will scream them loud tonight
Can you hear my voice this time?
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I'm alright song
My power's turned on
Starting right now I'll be strong
I'll play my fight song
And I don't really care if nobody else believes
'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Hello 2016!
Oh wow, more than two months since I updated here - not because I did not honour myself and stuck to my journey, but rather because of hectic hecticness in my life on a personal level. So herewith my long overdue update of what I've been up to since November!
In November I continued along counting macros and exercising. I did a lot of Jilian Michaels and Kayla Itsines workouts. Then December came and I bought myself a barbell and some weights and started lifting! I really enjoy working with heavy weights and so far dead lifts are my favourite. I also started jogging again on alternate days, or rather walking/running/walking/running whilst tracking with a wonderful app called Runtastic so it's easy to constantly motivate myself to do better, to do a km quicker, to go further, to perform better. I really found my fitness groove in December. I carried on with this for most of December but lost a bit of mojo after Christmas until I started working again.
Eating-wise was not so great after I went on leave. I did try, but with kids and hubby and lots of things to do, it's so much quicker to grab a piece of toast on the run in the morning than prepare my usual oatmeal, smoothie or eggs. I also had far too many ciders, glasses of wine, sweet desserts and chocolates, but I don't regret one single calorie. There are 52 weeks in a year and if I take 3 weeks off to relax a bit, it certainly isn't the end of the world!
My scale's battery went dead around beginning December and I decided not to replace the battery for a while and stay off the scale and I must say it's liberating! I realise now that I've used the scale as my only/most important measure of success and it's just not right. So I concentrate now more on how I feel, if I stuck to my macros daily, if I reached my fitness goals for the week, if I pushed myself hard enough and if I bettered myself in any way. I must say, it feels awesome, it means a lot to me to do it this way and it helps my journey to self-love and acceptance immensely. Will I weigh again? Yes most definitely... When? Gosh I'm not sure perhaps before Vday, perhaps before then or perhaps at the end of next month - I will still decide.
Now I've been back on the wagon for a week and I continued where I left off - with lifting and running and eating the IIFYM way. First week almost done and dusted and it's been a good one! I even managed to stick to my macros over the weekend. Even went out for a big breakfast this morning, although it means I'm on poverty macros for the rest of the day.
My goals for the year? I usually say I want to lose x amount of kilograms, but this year my goals are to get more fit, lift heavier and get stronger, run faster and further and lose a bucket load of cm and tone up. I really want to fit in smaller clothing sizes. In all reality if I accomplish the above the figure on the scale WILL go down, so yay.
Here's to a fit and fab 2016!
In November I continued along counting macros and exercising. I did a lot of Jilian Michaels and Kayla Itsines workouts. Then December came and I bought myself a barbell and some weights and started lifting! I really enjoy working with heavy weights and so far dead lifts are my favourite. I also started jogging again on alternate days, or rather walking/running/walking/running whilst tracking with a wonderful app called Runtastic so it's easy to constantly motivate myself to do better, to do a km quicker, to go further, to perform better. I really found my fitness groove in December. I carried on with this for most of December but lost a bit of mojo after Christmas until I started working again.
Eating-wise was not so great after I went on leave. I did try, but with kids and hubby and lots of things to do, it's so much quicker to grab a piece of toast on the run in the morning than prepare my usual oatmeal, smoothie or eggs. I also had far too many ciders, glasses of wine, sweet desserts and chocolates, but I don't regret one single calorie. There are 52 weeks in a year and if I take 3 weeks off to relax a bit, it certainly isn't the end of the world!
My scale's battery went dead around beginning December and I decided not to replace the battery for a while and stay off the scale and I must say it's liberating! I realise now that I've used the scale as my only/most important measure of success and it's just not right. So I concentrate now more on how I feel, if I stuck to my macros daily, if I reached my fitness goals for the week, if I pushed myself hard enough and if I bettered myself in any way. I must say, it feels awesome, it means a lot to me to do it this way and it helps my journey to self-love and acceptance immensely. Will I weigh again? Yes most definitely... When? Gosh I'm not sure perhaps before Vday, perhaps before then or perhaps at the end of next month - I will still decide.
Now I've been back on the wagon for a week and I continued where I left off - with lifting and running and eating the IIFYM way. First week almost done and dusted and it's been a good one! I even managed to stick to my macros over the weekend. Even went out for a big breakfast this morning, although it means I'm on poverty macros for the rest of the day.
My goals for the year? I usually say I want to lose x amount of kilograms, but this year my goals are to get more fit, lift heavier and get stronger, run faster and further and lose a bucket load of cm and tone up. I really want to fit in smaller clothing sizes. In all reality if I accomplish the above the figure on the scale WILL go down, so yay.
Here's to a fit and fab 2016!
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