Weekly Update, Treadmills v Rowing Machines

by Bill Wallace on July 31, 2011

I just realised it has been 11 days since my last update. Well, not a lot has happened but worth a weekly update.

Weight today is 82.2 kg which means I am “hovering”. No exercise this week so that will have something to do with it. However I have also eaten well and it hasn’t really gone up so this new diet continues to do wonders.

Yesterday was bacon, eggs and grilled tomato which kept me going till 3pm -ish.

Dinner was Indian takeaway which, although we get “small” portions, we can’t eat it all so I have left overs for today. :)

Treadmill

I’ve been thinking of getting a treadmill lately. And have been that annoying person who goes into fitness equipment shops to ask banal questions about the treadmills just to see if I want to fork out for one. So far they haven’t got me. I figure if I get one then I can “force” myself to do intervals, or rather the machine will force me to do them.

So I went into another shop to ask about them yesterday and the sales person asked a good question: “Why do you want one? What are you trying to achieve?”

I said I want to get faster in my running and by programming in an interval regime that would help. He suggested a rowing machine and I decided to try it. I’ve rented one of these for 3 months.

Water Rower

A quick Google research suggests they are good low impact full body workout. Here’s hoping. It arrives Wednesday morning so my first workout will be that evening.

The (very quick) try in the shop seemed quite good and the one I have hired allows you to connect to the web to race against others and I think has a virtual reality mode where, if you have a TV it will show a screen of a river that you row.

I know, I know, “Just get out and run for crying out loud!”

I went over to Andrew’s site (always good for a read) and read through his workout and health tips. Really good reading so if you want some ideas to try you could do far worse. And Andrew’s regime certainly works for him.

28 Days to the City to Surf so I’m going to take my own advice and go do a workout. Something similar to Andrew’s.

Have a great week. :)

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Blip!

by Bill Wallace on July 20, 2011

Sometimes we have a blip. All is traveling well and one day you step on the scales and … Blip! You’re up!

Yesterday I blipped! I was under 81kg on the weekend. Yesterday I was 83.2kg.

Still had to do my “ablutions” but still a but of a shock.

Ablutions over, showered and all cleaned up and I’m back to 82.6kg. Unhappy as I don’t think I’d eaten anything to make that much difference.

Worse to come … Blood sugar @ 7.7!

Key thought – watch my diet and wait 24 hours.

Today I’m 81.8 and glucose is 5.5 … Phew!

I guess (hope) it’s just a blip.

No alcohol this week and regular exercise.

I’m not advocating we should become obsessive about weighing ourselves every single day. Weekly is when I take stock. But if I know I have overdone it a bit checking the scales is an “audit” of sorts for me.

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8km in 80 mins

by Bill Wallace on July 20, 2011

Doesn’t sound fast. And it’s not. In fact it’s just walking pace. This was about losing weight not increasing speed. Part of my regime is to get ready for Perth’s City to Surf. Another part is just to maintain an active lifestyle to manage the weight.

I work in Perth’s CBD and catch the bus to work. The bus is good as I can catch up on my reading, listen to music or a podcast on anything from business to health and fitness. I have an iPhone 4 so I use Pulse as my magazine reader and Reeder as my RSS reader. Both are really good.

Any way, back to the point … I get off the bus before the CBD which is a 2km walk to the office. It takes about 18 or 19 minutes at a brisk pace and, if nothing else happens that day, I’ve at least had a good walk. Since my training for the city to surf has just started I credit this small interlude as helping me manage my weight over the past few weeks. Not that  have lost vast amounts of weight but it has kept it stable. And …it can’t hurt.

Yesterday I did the usual 2km walk to work but the Daughter was flying out to Europe yesterday as well. She lives in an apartment just outside the city. 2kms from the CBD in fact! :) It was my duty to drive her and her partner to the airport.

So, at around 12:00 I walked to her apartment to pick up their car and drive them. Drove back to her apartment afterwards to drop the car off and the and other 2 km back to the office. (6km in total)

As we are looking after their car while they are away I had to walk back to their apartment after work to get the car – another 2km – 8km for the day! :)

Going back a few years, I would have caught public transport – so much easier! But this way, with a long day at the office and no way to get a run in, this 4 x 2km was a good way to get some exercise.

So, exercise done and, when I got home around 8pm, the FBH had a very tasty scotch fillet and veggies waiting for me.

Tonight we are going out for dinner. Probably the Mt Lawley strip just outside of the CBD. It’s about  4.5 kms from the office to the centre of Mt Lawley where the restaurants are. I could walk …. but today is a rest day! ;)

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Improving the Intake

by Bill Wallace on July 19, 2011

Today’s the first day for a while without alcohol at all. That sounds really bad like I have some sort of addiction but (maybe I do! :) ) I generally have one drink per night and well with in the guidelines. I thought I’d just sworn off beer but the boy reminded me, quite directly, that it was all alcohol!

And today is that day. No great crisis really. The FBH had a nice red when I arrived home but with the response from the boy I decided against.

Dinner tonight was red Thai curry with lots of veggies and a bit of a kick. Lovely. A ladle of white rice and then raspberries and greek yoghurt for dessert.

All washed down with about a litre of fresh water.

Today was a rest day from running and the legs were/are feeling it from 16 km on the weekend. But back in training and with my new 310XT I’m keen to head out again.

It will be interesting to see the blood glucose in the morning and how the weight goes with this increase in exercise. More than likely I’ll be a little more hungry.

Today at work was the usual small tub of nuts (brazil, almonds and walnuts) and two green apples. In addition I think it was either 2 or 3 x 600ml of water throughout the day.

Food Cravings

I’m finding that I am not craving food as I get through the day. And if I’m not craving then I don’t eat. Being really busy helps I have to admit. I’d love to think it’s all discipline and character but the truth is work is very manual and busy. You’re on the go all the time. So when lunchtime comes around it’s 2:00 – 2:30.

The nuts dampen the appetite quite quickly so there is little of that “stomach thinking your throat is cut”. And it’s good that the apples are tasty. I hate it when you bite into any kind of fruit and you get a taste you are not expecting or it’s lacking the crunch it is supposed to have. Ugh!

I’m hoping that the little water symbol on my scales will eventually go as the water intake increases. I have no real idea how it measures the water volume in your body, but I’ll take its word for it.

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Daily Diet

by Bill Wallace on July 18, 2011

Getting a bit more serious now about the diet.

The Primal Diet is clearly working for me with regard to weight loss and insulin levels. My blood sugar each morning is more stable and generally under the 6.0 that it is supposed to be. However, the last couple of weeks have seen the beer intake increase so I’m cutting that back to Friday nights only.

If I can get my cholesterol under control I will be an amazingly happy man health wise. Mostly because I can ditch the statins and know that diet alone can make such a difference.

Breakfast now a couple of eggs in an omelette. I was adding cream and/or milk but had a dairy free omelette the other day and it was quite tasty so its back to 2 eggs only plus some parmesan chess sprinkled through it. (Er, that’s dairy isn’t it? ;) )

A handful of Brazil nuts and almonds during the day. I also have a tub of Greek Yoghurt at work which I can dip into.

Steak/meat and veggies at night.

Oh and a delicious bowl of Yoghurt and raspberries or blueberries for an after dinner snack.

Somehow simplifying the menu has its own merits. Plus, some people are concerned that eating primal food (free range, organic, unprocessed etc) can be more costly. I’d have to say that some ingredients are, indeed, more expensive. However, I am finding that I am generally eating smaller quantities so perhaps that means we are breaking even at worst.

If you’ve gone primal, let me know how you are finding it cost wise.

p.s. Comments have been having issues lately so I apologise and I hope everything is rectified now.

Bill

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Rest Day

by Bill Wallace on July 18, 2011

After a couple of runs on the weekend today is a rest day and I think my legs will thank me. They are a tad sore.

Looking forward to a good week this week. Work is getting some structure though we have a lot going on and few automatic systems.

Going to try and get in a couple of sessions of Malcolm Street which is the first hill in the City to Surf. From the start line to the top is 1 km of a gradually increasing climb. By the time you get to the top (for average runners like me) you’re buggered and there’s just 11km to go! :) However, the next couple of kms are a gentle decline so you can regroup.

That plus, as I said in my last post, a couple of trips to the pool each week will be good for no impact aerobic training. I don’t like swimming at all, mainly because I’m no good at it! (How’s that for an affirmation!? :) )

Garmin 310XT

Purchased a new toy yesterday from The Running Centre and it’s charging as we speak. Looking forward to having a Garmin on my wrist again.I loved my 305 but it died a few months ago. I got it as a bargain for $213 in ’08 so I kind of choked on paying over $400 for this new one. But, I enjoy getting the details out of it at the end of a run.

Plus while it is still a beast of a size it is a better model than the 305. I was contemplating the 610 but I am comfortable with the button pushing than the screen touching. The 610 looks great but I also like the size of the 310XT’s screen.

First go with it tomorrow. :)

Have a great week!

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In Training

by Bill Wallace on July 17, 2011

Decided to get a bit serious after yesterday’s pretty good run. It’s been great weather in Perth recently with a lot of sunshine and cooler temperatures so headed out to do the bridges. A fairly flat 10km with quite picturesque views of the city and South Perth.

After yesterday’s 6k run I wasn’t sure how this would go and I was a bit sore so after running 3k I settled into a 500m run/walk regime. Pretty easy but I did notice the thighs were hurting a bit so today probably should have been a rest day.

At the finish is was just on 10k in 1:06:13. Not a fast pace but it’s not going to be when you walk a lot of it. Interestingly I found it hard to run “slow” today. The run segments were under 6:00 per km which at the moment I find too fast. Must learn to control that.

Tomorrow will definitely be a rest day and the a 5k run on Tuesday to get the miles into the legs. Also need to do some workouts on the home gym to do some upper body work. Running is fine but I think if I am going to reduce my race times it has to be a whole body thing.

I’m not a fan of swimming either but I think I’m going to have to hit the pool to help with the lungs and breathing.

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City to Surf

by Bill Wallace on July 17, 2011

City to Surf 2010

Have to get back into training to ensure I beat my goal of under 60 minutes this year.

I thought of joining Jetts the 24 hour gym but was reminded by the FBH that a close friend has a treadmill they are not really using and I might be able to borrow it for a while.

In the end I headed out for a run in the good old (free) fresh air!

Had a great run. 6.33k in 38 minutes. Not fast but no shin splints, a good hill thrown in (that tuckered me out at the top) and back in time for dinner.

Dinner last night was scotch fillet and veggies. I’m not sure if I’ve shared how we do our scotch fillet but if you like this sort of thing and want it always to be tender try cooking it 2 minutes each side. Then 10-12 minutes in the oven (pre-heated) at 190C. This always turns out tender and tasty.

Veggies were broccoli, cauliflower and carrots in a little butter.

Dessert was vanilla Greek yoghurt and blueberries. Awesome!

The weight is stabilising around 81 – 82 kgs with a low of 80.9 last night. Happy with that, especially as I have had only 3 runs this month. Still need to get down to around 78 by the time the City to Surf comes round.

This morning’s blood glucose was 7.3 which is well above the 6.0 required not to be diabetic. Probably due to a few chocolates last night after dinner. Will cut them and the beers out and I’d expect to see that figure get back to normal.

Next set of blood tests are mid August so cutting out the sugar and beers is probably a good idea now.

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21st

by Bill Wallace on July 12, 2011

Last weekend was a fairly big weekend. Son had his 21st and I am so pleased to say that after all the arranging, organising and invitationing … All turned out really well.

Around 80 people turned up for the Boy’s celebrations and everything turned out well.

Catering by Golden Roast was excellent. Not sure of their names but the 2 staff who did all the cooking and prep were fantastic. The food was great and plenty of it. We are still getting through the leftovers.

Everyone drank responsibly so there were no issues with that kind of behavior.

The speeches by the Boy’s mates were great.

And, to top it all off, the afternoon of the party the Boy’s hockey team had to travel to their game to play a fairly serious opponent and won with just a couple of minutes to go through a penalty stroke. Needless to say the Boy was pretty excited after the game.

A big weekend and with all the organizing we crashed the night after.

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Fit & Fun

by Bill Wallace on July 12, 2011

I was doing my normal internet browsing and I popped into Zen Habits by Leo Babauta. Leo’s always a good read and today’s post (I think, as he doesn’t date his posts) was around food and fitness being fun. And I guess that’s the point. Or at least it makes living healthier easier if you look forward to it and enjoy it.

I know I really enjoy my food now when it’s meat and veg (Leo is a vegetarian and that works for him). My weight is more stable, my blood sugars are steady and I feel better overall.

Fitness could be better. At the moment all I think of is running k’s and that isn.t always inspiring. I got a 3 day pass to Jetts Fitness yesterday to have some gym time and that will break it up a bit. Especially the treadmill as it will force me to run faster as I notch it up.

City to Surf is just 6 weeks away and if I’m going to break an hour I need to get off my a$$. And I just realised I haven’t signed up yet! :)

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