And so it begins …

by Bill Wallace on January 1, 2012

Happy 2012 everyone. I hope you are able to make sense of today if you had a big night last night. I’m off to my daughter’s for breakfast and allowing the son to sleep off whatever he did last night. :)

But today is the first day of the new year and the rest of my life. One of my goals this year is to get to 75kg by 31 March 2012. That is a drop of around 11kg from today. Around 24 pounds. Not a lot for some but the only time I have been 75kg before was as I passed it on the way to mid to high 80 kgs!

So, today is Sunday, 9:24am. I have has 2 x short macchiatos so far so I doubt they will make a big difference to my morning weight.

Drum roll please ….

January 1, 2012 and my weight is: 86.0

Eleven kilograms to go.

A walk later today to kick off the new year on a good note and the next weigh in next Sunday.

Have a great day!

{ 2 comments }

2012 Goals – The K.I.S.S. Principle

by Bill Wallace on December 31, 2011

I’ve decided to keep it simple in 2012.

There are only going to be four goals. Three of the goals will be events, the 4th goal is a 365 day “being” goal.

Goal 1: Complete the 2012 Perth Marathon – June 2012. This is the 3rd year I’ve decided to do this so perhaps 3rd time is the charm.

Goal 2: Complete the 2012 City to Surf (Late August) in under 60 minutes.

Goal 3: Get down to 75kgs by March 31, 2012

Goal 4: To be prepared for all three goals above – a year of preparing in other words.

That’s it. They are the goals for 2012. I figure that if I can complete those 3 then Goal 4 must be underway.

I am also interested in a more philosophical way in “preparation”. How we are ready for what life can throw at us. Maybe a post on that later.

{ 1 comment }

Jetts, Fitocracy

by Bill Wallace on December 30, 2011

I was editing my other blog (www.painlessmangement.com – it’s just in its formative stages) and through browsing for a reference from Leo Babauta’s site on time management, I came across the site Fitocracy (www.fitocracy.com). Leo had an invite code so I used that to join and had a browse around. As you can sometimes do on the Net you find yourself on a page that you never intended to go to or look for (no, people, not porn!) but held your interest anyway.

The page in question was the group on healthy eating and how to really tone up. The overwhelming advice from the group members was HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Being the Christmas break I have time on my hands so I thought of “not thinking too hard” and racing out and getting a treadmill for this sole purpose. I know me, you see, and if I just try and do this while running, well, I won’t do it. I need a machine to force me! Yes, I am weak! :)

But a good machine is over $1,000 and the Christmas break has already seen the credit card smashed to smithereens. Then I remembered we have a 24 hour Jetts gym (www.jetts.com.au) down the road. So,to get me into this regime of HIIT, I decide to join them. At least the payments are relatively small and I can stop them any time I want to.

Just wondering if anyone else has joined them and how they have found the service, equipment and convenience?

{ 0 comments }

New “Home Page” :)

by Bill Wallace on December 30, 2011

A funny thing happened when I cleaned the Mac yesterday.

I was using one of those magic wipes to clean the PC and somehow changed my home page. Normally it’s just Google (www.google.com.au) but the “magic” in the wipe turned my home page into …

http://www.%22;%5Bpoiuytrewqqwe5678123%5C/.com)

Stick that in your search engine! :)

(Don’t, it’s rubbish and goes nowhere! :) )

NYE

Hope you are all getting ready for a great new year celebration! We plan to go to Hillarys, the FBH’s favourite spot and hopefully wait it out till the clock strikes 12. More realistically, we’ll have dinner, walk around and head home to be in bed by 9:30! But I’m sure our unwakefulness won’t stop the inevitable. :)

{ 0 comments }

Pic of the Day – Scarborough, WA

by Bill Wallace on December 29, 2011

Waiting for a mate the other day, I had to sit here on the Scarborough grass until he showed up! :)

Glorious weather in Perth at the moment!

{ 0 comments }

New Year, Old Goals

by Bill Wallace on December 29, 2011

First of all, a very belated Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays etc to you all. I hope it has been a relaxing time and full of enjoyment. We had a “Paul Kelly” Boxing Day here in Australia. Meaning a roast, regardless of the fact it was mid 30′s ( or around 100F ).

It’s December 29, 2011. The last month or so has seen a complete disregard for any real discipline. Poor food choices, copious amounts of Christmas “cheer” has left the lose 10kg goal in complete disrepair. In fact I have topped out at 86.8 kg the other day!

To add to that the weather the in Perth has been hitting 43C and not really conducive to the much needed exercise. In fact it has been hard getting off the couch.

So, knowing that it isn’t going to be anything but sheer “make a decision” I decided to make one. Off the couch and outside. In this heat though there wasn’t going to be much running, just a brisk walk in 38.5C “warmth”.

I picked a 7 km route that will give me an hour of walking and get me back into the swing of things.

Having done this twice in 2 days gives me some momentum for the new year. It also brings the weight down to under 85 kg.

I guess the point is we all have challenges. For some it may be running at least 10 km per day. While for others it can be just getting out there. I am the latter at the moment.

Plus the Christmas season is full of challenges. Great food, good beverages, plenty of events where food is almost always central.

I guess it is what you do with what you have that is the point. I didn’t feel like getting out into the heat. But I am always glad after the fact. Especially when I stand on the scales the next day. :)

I have a few challenges in 2012. Run a marathon, get down to 75 kg ( and stay there ), eat really well, sleep better (more on that in another post).

They are the same old goals that I’ve always had. But they are not bad goals and how I achieve them in 2012 will be interesting (at least to me).

{ 2 comments }

Santos 53km Bike Ride

by Bill Wallace on November 27, 2011

This post is a bit late but better late than never. :)

Last week I participated in the Santos Great Bike Ride.

There were 3 races:

  • the family ride – 10km
  • the 53km ride
  • the 106 km ride (2 x the 53km route)

I did the 53km ride and was so pleased I didn’t do the 106! 53 was enough thank you very much.

The ride was a really good scenic tour of Perth and some of its more wealthy suburbs (Dalkeith, Nedlands, Claremont, Peppermint Grove, Mosman Park etc). The day was great for riding except perhaps for the wind but it was not “gale like” so not too bad really.

Starting in the Perth CBD we headed to the University of WA (Nedlands and then rode through these streets of multi million dollar homes and multi million dollar views. Of course by the 10km mark I was just head down bum up. Bugger the views! ;)

The inclines were fair to middling until we got to Mosman Park where we climbed 57m in around 400m. Needless to say many, including yours truly, got off the bike and walked. The reality though was that walking up hill was just as hard! By comparison the rest were mild but some were long for the untrained rider (i.e. me!). You can see the spike in elevation quite clearly below.

Then a few downhills which might have caught a few of the unwary but we didn’t hear of or see any major injuries.

Fueling Up

I ate pasta the night before, breakfasted on Fruit Loops (sugar hit) and took some Allens Snakes with me to keep the energy up. There are probably better things to eat. I have tried that “goo” stuff but I feel ill afterwards. My water bottle was filled with Endura which I really like and my water bottle is insulated (camelback) so it stayed cool for quite a while. I have one of the camelbak flasks that you just squeeze, no need to pull the top to open it, more of a valve type function. Very handy.

About the 20+km mark I was ready to give up. Bum was sore. Couldn’t get any kind of comfort and was just getting frustrated. Thing is, the FBH was visiting her mother and her car can’t take a bike. So it would have been an hour plus before she got to me. So I may as well pedal on. The second wind hit me around the 30km mark plus the course began to flatten considerably. (Soft, I know!)

In the end the last km I think was one of my fastest (flat, tail wind) and I finished in an official time of 2:17. I had planned on 2:30 so I was relatively happy. Until I found out I was in the lowest 25% of all males. That is just not on.

Good to have done it though. About a month before I did the MS Society Ride of 35 km. The pace of that was about 2:20/km, where as last week’s ride was 2:37. Expected to be a bit slower I guess.

I just finished a 5km run today. Used the old orthotics. Still shin splints. Getting them looked at this week. Hopefully more pleasing runs to follow.

{ 2 comments }

An easy 4k run

by Bill Wallace on November 14, 2011

So yesterday was an easy 4 k run. If you’re just starting out a 4 k may seem like a world tour. However if you stick at it 4 k becomes the basic run.

Back in 08 all I could do was light pole to light pole. Seriously. But then I doubled that and did … TWO light poles. :)

So if you’re looking to lose weight exercise will be a part of it. Do what you can and don’t stress. I went from light poles to a 12 k city to surf in 4 months. Though when I was doing light poles I wasn’t really thinking of 12 k runs.

This morning I stood on the scales and got a bit of a fright … 85.5 kg! And I’m supposed to be losing weight!!

Breakfast this morning was a fried egg and grilled tomato and 2 short macchiato coffees.

The run stats from yesterday were:
Distance: 4 k
Time: 24:11
Pace: 5:57/km
Calories: 354

I haven’t prepared any lunch today do it will likely be sumo salad.

Next update tomorrow. My weight tracking will be in the sidebar later this week through skinnyr.

Have a great day.

Bill

{ 3 comments }

How to Lose 10kg – Day 1

by Bill Wallace on November 13, 2011

Why only 10?

That is how much I have to lose and keep it off. The next few weeks and months will be more of a daily diary than a full on blog so the posts will be relatively short, to the point and honest.

For example, today is the first day I took no sugar with my coffee. Processed sugar is one of the main contributors to weight gain so it’s time to cut the bad boy off!

Just a reminder that I am not a doctor, sports scientist or a dietician. I’m just like the 99.9% of people in the world who works a busy job, has a family, financial responsibilities and daily challenges. I commute to work by bus. I own one car and a motorbike.

So, on with the show!

The starting weight is 85 kg (I just weighed myself!)

The goal weight (for the mathematically challenged) is 75 kg.

I also need to manage my blood sugar levels.

I will continue to run on the odd occasion so I will post my stats here (distance, time, calories burned etc)

I use Nike+ which I find to be accurate enough (as I said I am no scientist).

I eat a basically primal diet which I have posted about before so that will include egg, bacon, meat, veggies, butter, oil and full cream milk.

I do not eat cereal or bread if I can help it. I do eat almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts, berries.

I have high cholesterol which I manage with Vytorin (a statin that I am not happy taking but at the moment it is a necessary evil!)

Ok, that’s pretty much me. I’m married to the FBH (Far Better Half) and have 2 kids that have pretty much left home. Oh, and Sasha the German Shepherd (she hasn’t left home).

{ 4 comments }

Are You Ready? (Am I?)

by Bill Wallace on November 13, 2011

It’s been 6 weeks since I posted and, basically due to nothing to post. Little to report on the diet and little on exercise. I am even back to my starting weight of 85kg!

So, what’s to tell? (and to all of those who have fallen off the wagon a time or two!)

I started this journey 3.5 years ago with my first post on April 8, 2008. Since then there have been good periods and less than good periods.

The good period was when I had my first race in July 2008 and broke the 5min/km time for a 5 km run. I haven’t done that since!

And then there was my first City to Surf where I ran 12 km in 64 mins. I was well prepared for that but then backed off considerably and haven’t had a better one.

Good times. Good times.

I plan on having a good time again. Nothing amazing in terms of world records or outlandish goals. Just get in shape, eat well and enjoy the journey.

One thing that has been on my mind recently is preparation. Everything is based on how well prepared I am. Whether it be food, exercise, work, play. We enjoy life more if we are “prepped”.

Here are some examples I have experienced linked to health and fitness …

  • I attended a quiz night a  year or so ago and it was hosted by one of the contestant of the “The Biggest Loser”. One of the table competitions was how many push ups could you do? I represented our table and did 30 “correct” push ups. I could have done more if I had kept to my 100 push ups regime and been prepared! (The winner did 56 but I would’t have called the all push ups! :) )
  • Attended a reunion and after 3.5 years of being conscious of my health and fitness I turn up as I “was”. After all that time and effort I wasn’t prepared. A bit vain but the point is I wasn’t fully prepped.
  • Rode in the Multiple Sclerosis big bike ride a few weeks ago. 35km ride and for the first time in cleats. Did an okay time but wasn’t ready for the cleats and, to be honest, wasn’t ready for the saddle! :)
These are just small examples I know but it all comes down to preparation. Put the time in, get the results out.

Sometimes preparation time can seem to cramp our relaxation time. I have a difficult task tomorrow so I am prepping tonight to make sure it goes as planned. But in the end, being prepared will allow me more relaxation in the mind and emotions than cramming at the last minute.

So, the next post will be a restart Day 1. Let’s get this show on the road.

{ 2 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →