Tuesday, February 2, 2010

GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL

(Imagine that title in a South American football commentator's voice, please. One of my favourite sounds in sports viewing. The other is the sound of an F1 car.)

Today I got talked into several events, courtesy of a workmate who is currently training for a marathon and who is keen to get me running/training/being fit with her.

So... what are my firm goals?

1. Swing Dancing lessons - I am taking these up with Tia at the end of this month. The goal is to start taking these classes as it has been on the cards for a while.

2. Run the Mother's Day Classic. This is on Mother's Day (hence the name), and is an 8km fun run. I need to be able to run 8km easily and be at my goal weight by this date. Both are achievable, but I am a little apprehensive about getting my running up to par.

3. Run the City2Surf. Another fun run, this one is in August and is 14km.

4. Do a mini triathlon - September. More details to come on this as 2010 race details haven't come out yet so I don't know exactly what I'll be up for.

Whew! All this is going to make this year very busy. I'm also an emergency reserve on a social netball team and I am considering entering a social tennis competition.

My current training plan is focussed towards my first event. Boxing twice a week, running three times a week and dancing once a week. All up: six sessions but a mix of muscle groups being worked out.

If anyone has any tips on mixing up the training so I don't kill myself trying to do all this (I have to pick up swimming and cycling at some point too) I'd be very grateful!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Kickstart

It's been back to reality for me this week - back to work, back to boxing and back to healthier eating.

I had a bit of a backwards slide leading up to Christmas. Portion sizes grew, more junk was eaten and coffee was being consumed at an amazing rate.

Over Christmas, while I kept up with my running and also acquired a Wii Fit Plus to try and combat the lazies on rainy days, I still managed to come out the other end not feeling or looking my best.

This week has been a kickstart into this year's effort. I'm tracking my food intake again while I recalibrate my serving sizes and get used to eating the healthy stuff (again). My training is also starting to get serious now. I'm in the latter half of my running training and the increase in pace is getting almost exponential. My trainer has also demonstrated that boxing is going to ramp up quickly - the newbies have had a bit of a wake up call this week! I really need to watch my training and food carefully while I get used to this pace - just to make sure that I'm getting the right nutrition and I don't get injured.

I've had a bit of shin pain today. I'm pretty sure it's been caused by me deciding to use my old pair of runners for boxing - they were causing me shin pain when I replaced them as my runners. I'm going to swap them out next week to see if it makes a difference and give my shins a rest for the next day or so. I'm hoping it clears up quickly.

Here we go...

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Treadmill vs Land

Well... More resolutions? That never-ending battle to have the "perfect" body.

I do, however, wonder about jogging on treadmill vs land. I was in Canberra over the New Year, and I went for a jog in the park nearby and around the block after 2/3 weeks of no gyming. I found it hard to keep running constantly at a high pace for more than a minute at a time, and it didn't help with the weather being hot.

When I got back into Sydney, I went to the gym, and found it a lot easier to keep jogging consistantly for 10 minutes. Is there something with the treadmill that makes it easier? I'm guessing it's because it's accelerating for you that you aren't necessarily needing to push yourself off the ground per se, and therefore probably less effort.

I'm also starting to write in my diary measurements to monitor any body changes. If it stays the same, then it's ok because I haven't gained, and if it goes lower then it's a bonus. I'm also going to take note of the days I exercise so I know how frequent I am doing so. This week has been slack, and due to the weather I'm a bit lazy as well... Need to readjust my sleeping pattern as well so that I don't go to sleep at 3 or 4am and wake up at 11 or 12 in the morning. I'm thinking of maintaining a food diary too so I can monitor what I've been eating, so that I can't fool myself into believing that I am eating healthily when in actual fact I'm not.

I haven't really made huge progress on losing weight last year, but to me it's always an ongoing thing - even if I do reach my goal it's still work and effort to maintain it at that point.

Hope everyone is coping in the (Australian) heat! Happy health! :D