From Average to Athlete

What happens when you have a smallish breakfast, spend the rest of the day out and about and drink only a couple of coffees?

You eat! A lot!

I spent the day out in Fremantle yesterday and just whiled away the hours doing a spot of reading, not really feeling like food but had a couple of my favourite short macchiatos (topped up, no foam). I did feel hungry but as I’d gone off the healthy food diet I thought a day of no food was in order.

Noooo!

I came home and tried to finish off the home made pasta and sauce of the night before. That’s two plates, on toast, with butter, and a slice of (very nice) steak!

Tastes good, but!

Oh well, on to the jogging track and the stationery bike for a “few more” minutes.

I am having a hankering for food.

Good food. European food which is a downfall of mine. I love pasta especially and it is one of those foods you can make quite easily. Tossing in an ingredient as you think of it and drinking a nice wine while conversing in the kitchen with the rest of the family. Slow food, I think it’s called. Very relaxing.

Only problem is you enjoy eating it and the weight gain ensues.

The alternative is the very well behaved Andrew who went to a party and had very little food and his pictures support his perspective. If you look at his before and after photos you will see how well he has done. It really is amazing.

Anyway, I am taking Andrew’s advice and getting back on track “one day at a time”.

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It’s funny how a blog makes you accountable.

A few things have been happening in my world that have caused me not to blog lately and then, due to the lack of blogging, I have felt a little embarrassed at not blogging, and therefore, have not blogged! (And it’s been a month! 30 days!)

If that confused you, relax, I am a little confused as well.

Rather than bore everyone with the whole sordid detail I will write it all down on a new page entitle WSQ? (Why So Quiet?). It really has been a tough period mentally and a little emotionally (don’t worry there won’t be too much self disclosure!) but it may be good to get it down on “paper”. Stay tuned.

I’m on a week’s break at the moment so you would think I’d be blogging myself senseless - but at the same time as my break I decided to modify my broadband plan which has left me wireless-less this last week and until tomorrow (I am was at my favourite coffee shop right now when I wrote that yesterday).

Exercise. Yes, I used to know what that was. It was the point of the last 178 days, in fact. Lessons learned there that’s for sure.

Weight. Well, what goes down must come up (this usually refers to the over intake of alcohol) so I am back above 80kg when once I had got down to 78.6kg (a mere slip of a lad!)

100 Push Ups. Who is Steve Speirs anyway???  Just kidding. I’m trying to get back on track here.

I’m not sure how this blog will evolve from here. I have done a couple of short runs (6kms) and have started the push ups again (3 x 20 on Wednesday). The weight has ballooned to around 83kg which is not obsessively obese but it’s a good bag of potatoes away from the intended goal of 76kg.

It’s back to the “think less, do more” style of life and eating proper (healthy, regular) meals.

So, I’m starting again of sorts and there are few expectations apart from the above and some small goals, such as:

• getting down to the magical 76kg,
• going for a body fat of 18% (currently around 22%) and;
• running a half marathon between now and the triathlon I have planned for March 09.

All sounds very noble but the past few weeks haven’t been noble at all. I’ve struggled to say the least and it has weighed on me more than I thought it would. I’ve also found myself getting more and more frustrated at a number of things and they all come back to my failure to act.

As a friend of mine once said: “you got yourself into this hole so you have to get yourself out.” He didn’t mean I have to do it alone but I do have to take the corrective actions at the end of the day.

Until I blog again …

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Official City to Surf Results:

• Time: 1:04:20
• 4,323 overall (out of 37,000+)
• 3,575th male
• 610th in the 40 - 49 category
• 5th out of 43 for VDM Group - company I work for

So I’m still basking in my City to Surf glory!

However, as I mentioned in a previous post there is a half marathon coming up and I need to get into training for it.

I found this (and the author, Ben Wisbey) has agreed to allow me to publish it.

Half Marathon Training Program

So feel freee to visit Ben’s site and get some more cool information.

I thought I’d add in some weird and wonderful learning’s from the City to Surf. This is more from a beginner’s point of view so feel free to have your own views and share them via the comments if you have some particularly crafty strategies.

1. Go at your own pace - I had little choice in this with all the walkers getting in the way but my first goal was “the hill” (Malcolm St) and I made it,  partly due to having to go slow at the beginning but hitting that first goal was important.

2. Drink stations are essential (and dangerous) - I couldn’t get to the first one it was so crowded but I also learnt that people drink and just drop the cup. So you have a combination of broken plastic on a wet road. Slippery and dangerous, watch your footing.

3. Drink stations require their own training - the 3rd to last drink station was where I needed to remind myself to swallow and not breathe in at the same time! I was choking for the next 100m. <– loser!

4. Run all inclines - I learnt this way back in 2000 when I went training with a real athlete. “No matter how slow you go, always run up hill.” It’s stuck in my mind and I kept to it. Hitting that goal was a thrill each time.

5. Small Goals make a BIG difference - running with over 37,000 others there was always someone to catch up to, even if they were only 5m ahead. These small goals kept me moving forward and running until I either kept a steady pace with them or overtook them, thus improving my time.

6. Music - I was listening to Ultravox all the way (Ultra-who??) and it was great. All the old songs of the 80’s were good motivators, even Sleepwalk! The only crazy thing was at the end where the song Vienna was banging in my ears and as I ran the last 50m the words were “This means nothing to me!” which, obviously, was completely untrue.

This Weekend …

… is Father’s Day so I get breakfast in bed but then it’ll be off to the Bridges for a 10k run.

Enjoy YOUR Father’s Day (if you’re lucky enough to be pampered) otherwise, just keep running!

Bill

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Cue evil music …

The last few weeks, combined with little exercise, has also been little keeping to the diet.

The recent City to Surf showed me just how far I’d come even though I had slacked off.

But it begs the question: “How good could it be?”

So it’s back to the diet of more fresh fruit and vegetables, more water and less eating out.

This is a good lesson for me as I often coach people at work when they have relapses into old habits that they are just that: relapses. They should dwell on them and get right back to knowing what they know to do.

I’m setting some new goals this week that I hope to achieve by the end of the year. I’ll update my goals page when I have decided on them and begin working towards them.

For those of you in business you have probably heard of the GROW Process. It is a simple but very effective coaching process that asks the coachee to respond to the acronym G-R-O-W as follows:

Goals - what are you looking to achieve? What, specifically, are you wanting to gain? In my case it;s a lower weight, less body fat, lower race times, better fitness

Reality - where am I now and what am I doing? Are my actions moving me clearly towards my goals?

Options - okay, so what are my options? I can keep doing what I’m doing if they are productive actions but if they are not then I need to take different options. What are they?

Will/When - am I determined (will) to make the required changes to achieve the goal (mostly in my head) and when do I plan to start?

As I said I’ll update my goals page under this format by the ened of the week (another goal )

By the way, I have reverted to the tagline “From Average to Athlete” very consciously. It is more motivating to me, personally, and helps me focus more on actions rather than the true, but more vague, “Eat Better :: Move More.”

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LONG POST FOLLOWS - APOLOGIES

Exercise Summary:

• Perth HBF City to Surf: 12.1km
• Time: 1:04:27
• Avg Heart Rate: 166bpm
• Calories: 1062

It has been ages since I posted so apologies to all the loyal fans regular readers those with a passing interest.

The last few weeks, as Ive posted before, have been pretty hectic at work and I have not been as diligent as I could have been with my updates. I have been keeping to a mild regimen but nothing like I was.

Last weekend I was in sunny Queensland and managed a 4km walk (tried to run but just couldn’t) and then a couple of 3km runs at the Novotel resort on the Sunshine coast.

This week just gone there has been no running and I was pleased that I ran up a flight of stairs - how sad it that?

The City to Surf

So to the event that I registered for 77 days ago - the Perth HBF City to Surf. A 12km run with quite a few climbs, not overly harsh but long and that takes it out of you me.

We kicked off at around 8:23am as I crossed the start line. The day was cold to start with but no wind or rain so in the end the weather would be called perfect as there was no heat and no debilitating cold. You were able to generate your own heat without the sun beating down on you. My sunnies were perched on the top of my head for most of the run.

The initial climb (Malcolm St) is a 900m climb that takes a lot out of you right at the start. Fortunately the next 3-odd kms are pretty much down hill so you get to recover after the climb.

They set up the run in categories of A-B-C-D and walkers to help those who take off faster to have an easier path. Unfortunately, many walkers just started from the front causing runners to veer round them while trying to get up the hill. I started in D (slow runners) to make sure I kept out of the way of the faster groups (shouldn’t have bothered! )

I had a couple of goals today:

• run all the way (I haven’t run anything like this distance)
• do it in under 70 mins (under an hour would be a stretch goal)

I felt if I could do the above I’d be happy. I’d run the course before (well, an edited course of 11.3km) in 66 mins so the 70 mins was a fair target, I thought.

Preparation - The Night Before

This turned out to be not the best preparation. Both kids were out on the town and were coming home at various hours.

CN1 (daughter) sauntered in at 3:15am.

CN2 (son) slept over a mate’s place after work so we hadn’t seen him for a while.

When there is alcohol involved you just never know what will happen and while our to kids are pretty responsible we have to do our job as parents and worry a bit! They have now been told that “when dad has race there is to be no night time activities.” (Why are you laughing? I’m serious!)

I was up at 5:30am. Had a good breakfast and then realised the race didn’t start till 8:15am and I didn’t need to be in town until 7:45. Back to bed. Up at 6:30!

In the end, I hit my two targets so I’m a happy man. Running all the way was a huge bonus as it really was back to the “mind over matter” issue that I’ve raised a couple of times. Though my legs felt like jelly afterwards, I knew that if I stopped at all, all I would think about after was “I didn’t run the whole way.”

Resolutions

1. Waiting to start this morning I realised my lack of training may count against me. I know that if I plan to do more of these I want to be ready. Today was good but I did put my effort at risk simply by not keeping up the training. So, as of Tuesday (tomorrow’s a rest day) I’m back in training.
2. Prepare for a half marathon. I’ve just downloaded a half-marathon training program that I plan on keeping to.
3. The diet needs to be reviewed and re-established. I’ve had a good weekend food wise and it hasn’t helped the weight loss.
4. Write shorter blog posts!

Oh, I know at least one other keen blogger have had a significant run today. I’m going to be keen to read their progress.

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Exercise Summary:

• Sunday: 4kms, no time; no heart rate; 40 push ups (2 x 20)
• Monday: 6.6km, no time, no heart rate, 40 push ups (2 x 20)

Exercising has been a bit of a lost cause lately. No excuses really. Just … haven’t … done … it!

The lack of charging the good old Forerunner has left me a bit cross too as I have twice gone out on a run, seen it start up and then later into the run it has gone blank!

Memo to self: charge the watch!

And what is more frustrating is that it is all in the head. Andrew has a short post on this here.

The good news is it can all chnage with a new or different thought.

If everything starts with a thought and I can control my thoughts I can control how things start.

Actually, everything starts with a stimulus, generally external, and that triggers the thought. But the first thing I can control is my thought, my response or my reaction.

I can see this when I decide to go for a run.

I can see this when I set a target as to how far I’ll run and whether I am comitted to the goal - whether it the proverbial “next light pole”, or run 5 kms without stopping. I know in my head at the start how successful I’m going to be.

Funny isn’t it?

It’s all in the head.

I have the City to Surf next week (refer countdown on right hand side) and this is almost down to single figures as I write this when it once was 77-odd days away and seemed so far off in the future.

How will I go? The answer to that is another question: “How do I think I’ll go?”

• I’ll finish - yes! Easy.
• I’ll do under 70 minutes for 12 kms - yes! Anything less would be disappointing.
• Will I do under 60 minutes? Ahh, that is what I must commit to if I am to succeed.

As Henry Ford rightly said:

“If you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right!”

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Exercise Summary: Rest Day

Month to date: 35.8km (Target 100km)

Rest day today but sticking to the diet.

Plan on reading through my favourite blogs tonight for more inspiration.

Yesterday’s 9.4k run was with a pretty big headwind so time was relatively slow.

Went to the movies and watched “Batman: The Dark Knight” - with popcorn and licorice (I’m not taking my diet seriosuly am I?)

Exercise this week: Swimming. Trying to increase my aerobic capacity before the City to Surf in just over 19 days time!

Olympics: so over them already (except the hockey!)

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Exercise Summary: 9.4km; 57:57mins; 745 cal; heart 146

It’s been around 4 months since I started getting serious about my health. There were a lot of signals over the years that caused me to get here. I’ll post about these later on because I think it is important we know why we are doing what we do.

One discussion I have with a colleague at work is the difference between living a healthy lifestyle and keeping to a “regime”.

Both of us want to enjoy food, good times and the occasional beer fest - or whatever takes our fancy.

So while we are both trying to lose weight to get to our goal, we’re not going to become monks or hermits (no offense to either monks or hermits).

So how do you do it?

The main thing, in my humblest of opinions, is to prepare…

• Prepare a shopping list of what you plan to eat - this is fun because you can buy the pasta, the meat, the sauces etc to make really scrumptious meals and then look forward to making them.
• Prepare your meals for the week - this is the best bit. If you know what you are going to eat and it doesn’t always have to be 100% healthy*, then you can plan your exercise to accommodate.
• Prepare an exercise program - write down your goals for the week
• Prepare your tools for the exercise - set them out the night before, for example

Now the UNPREPARED part: don’t think too much harder than this. Just do it. Eat the meals but also do the exercise.

At the end of the week you’ll have eaten relatively healthy, you’ll have exercised the required amount and you’ll find you’ve lost a little bit of weight.

And you’ll find you’re just a teensy bit motivated to do it again!

What I am looking for is a lifestyle, not a sentence. I don’t want to be held to some overly strict regime that I begin to resent eating great tasting food. Occasionally I want a second helping, I want that extra beer of glass of wine.

I realise with this I will need to exert myself, regularly. But if that exercise means I can have that rump steak occasionally and the rich food once in a while then bring it on!

* = I’m neither a doctor or health expert so when I say meals don’t have to be 100% healthy, common sense still applies.

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Exercise Summary:

• Wednesday: 6.85km; 41:30mins; 552 cal; heart: 142bpm
• Saturday: 6.07km; 33:48mins; 515 cal; heart: 150bpm
• Month to date: 26.5km

These last 3 weeks at work have been pretty intense and I have not been posting like I should. I have read through my favourite blogs for inspiration though so thanks to those who have continued to blog.

The only thing I think I have been maintaining is the running schedule. Where once it was the last thing I would do it has become the exercise I CAN do with little effort (to get going) and know that it’ll have a positive impact on my weight, fitness and mindset.

In term of getting healthier it still comes down to Eat Better : Move More.

So what gets in my way?

I have to say my appetite is seriously worrying me (aka snacking!) I used to come home after work, have my Jenny Craig meal, a snack and that was pretty much it. Now I am finding I am just hungry and it seems to be all the time.

That means snacking is increasing and while I am still running my weight lost isn’t as good as it could be.

Snacking has to go. So I did a search on ways to stop snacking and came up with this. Ryan blogged this back in 2005 but it makes a lot of sense to me - brush your teeth after a meal.

“So here’s my simple technique to help you stop snacking: Brush your teeth immediately following a meal.

I find that doing this prevents me from snacking between meals for three reasons. One, whatever I eat after brushing my teeth will most likely taste bad. Two, I don’t want to go to the trouble of brushing my teeth again. And three, I don’t want to mess up that fresh feeling in my mouth by eating junk food.”

So this week, after my evening meal, this is going to be what I do. Just to see if it works.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are often the best.

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