Has it been 6 weeks already? Wow! This training regime thingo is really making time fly - or am I just using time more efficiently these days?
So 6 weeks, a relatively short period of time and the half way point in any recommended 12 week training / transformation plan. At this point in time I'm noticing a great many things about myself. I'm less conscious of what other people think of my activities in the gym, pool or outdoors; meaning I'm less worried about looking stupid - I just work out, sweat, ache and get what I need to do done. I've faced a few hurdles at the start and in week 6, but I've learnt heaps and gained a great deal of tips from people in the know to ensure it doesn't happen again (or too often). My body is changing, its slow changes but I feel certain things. I'm definitely stronger, and stand taller - my posture is improving I guess. My swim, cycle and run fitness are maintaining and gaining traction, so that means I'm balancing my routine too.
So, I've been asked to talk about Willpower, and before I do, I wanted to just say that this is all coming from my own personal dealing with these issues, and how I deal with or control them.... My personal disclaimer!
Willpower
Well, Willpower can mean different things, to different people - it all depends who you ask. In the context of this blog, I'm referring to staying power (not to deviate from your chosen course of activity) and, of course, willpower from a nutritional sense. When posed this question by Miss Han-Wan I have to say I did not feel qualified to answer, but in hindsight I believe I am actually very experienced and demonstrating willpower, and as such I'll give my few pennies worth.
Staying on track in any healthy living regimen is a matter of how badly you want to make changes, and how determined you are to stay on track. It is also, a process whereby if you train hard, eat well and get plenty of rest - you can place rewards to keep you on track. A reward is exactly that, and should not be a daily thing otherwise it loses its meaning. It is a milestone, for all your efforts. Mr P believes a person should have a day of rest that includes eating and drinking the things you sacrifice during training. Thats not too bad a philosophy, one I kind of have in place for myself. I don't reward myself weekly, but after set milestones. I have a rough plan of what I want to achieve, and by when. After all the difference between a goal and a dream is a deadline! I set deadlines, milestones and work toward them. So, Firstly, I set a goal of 4 weeks regular and consistent training and healthy eating. After week four I evaluated my progress (using this blog, my food diary and a mirror). I decided I could have a treat day, but waited and saved up my treat day for time spend with my awesome wifey - I didn't feel guilty about the food and drink we shared on her birthday, or over easter because I knew I could cope with it.
After week 4, I started to intensify my workouts and utilise a method of tracking my diet, in terms of calorific input, output and measurable values for protein, carbohydrate and fat intake. I use the "my fitness pal" app on my iPhone, and have done some study into the caloric burn for weight training - I use my Garmin 910XT for my cardio calories. Now, I'm not calorie counting to lose weight, I'm using it as a tool to determine just how well I eat, drink and exercise. I utilise another app (sleep time) for my iPhone for monitoring my sleep habits also. I do all of this to gain a better understanding of how my body is functioning, and what I'm doing to my body. Here's a couple examples from this week:
Since fully integrating both of these interesting applications into my overall health and fitness routine, I've noticed that I'm thinking before I eat, I review how much rest I'm getting and I can see if I should or should not treat / reward myself. These coupled with a strict diet, sleep and training routine is helping to keep me on the right track. I regularly review my progress, and know when I've not put in my normal 150%!
Willpower with regard to nutrition is hard. I found out the hard way this week; No matter how strong you get, how resilient you feel when you're active and energised and happy - it boils down to nothing when you respond unfavourably, when you're tired, pissed off or not so active. I learnt that when you consume something you're body rejects, you will get side effects and you will be punished for it by your body. That said, if you train and eat smart, you'll reward yourself in a healthy way. My wife makes raw and vegan cakes, that are sugar free, gluten free, lactose free....in fact I'm not sure what she actually puts into them, but these are our treats for doing well.
Ask yourself, why are you rewarding yourself with something you're trying to give up? It's like having a cigarette a month after you've finally quit and cleansed your system - does it seem crazy to you?
If you like chocolate, and you don't want to give it up, work out a way to include it into your eating routine so its not a reward, or a regularity. Mr P's method of once a week might help? Never feel guilty, that would imply you've done something wrong, and that just goes against the programming you are doing to yourself. It's ok to have nice things, if you're prepared to sacrifice it with something else - namely train harder, or ensure you don't go over your caloric intake maximums on those days, so cut something else out...try things, and see what works for you - but keep things positive and I guarantee you'll never have to quit something you don't want to. I like to drink and go for nice dinners, so I train like a mofo to ensure I'm comfortable with indulging on those occasions. I'm a foodie, and a wannabe master chef, so my weakness has always been in my diet - so I'm learning day by day to cope with sacrifice and reward...its working for me and I'm cool with that.
I hope that makes sense?
What have I been doing?
Day 39 was a rest and recuperation day. After secure from work, and a nice gluten free lunch, I slept until dinner, then repeated the same until the next day. I never sleep this much, but this is yet another side effect of my poor judgement - that dang bacon and egg roll!
Day 40 was fun.
Unclip!
So, at 0700h Mr Ped calls me up to ensure I'm awake and to tell me he is almost here. We had planned a saturday morning bike ride and short run. We were travelling to Frankston, to enable us to start there and cycle to Mordialloc, a nice easy round trip of 35km.
On route to Mordialloc we cycled amongst a pack of cyclists, my first time doing so led to me not really getting in tight or close enough, perhaps a little nervous distance between on my part. After around 10km, Mr Ped and I were separated at traffic lights. As I went to pull away, and re-clip my cleat in I slipped and lunged forward, kicking my left leg into my left front fork - ouch! My first scar of the day. Upon recovering and getting underway I caught up to Mr Ped (who had waited for me) and we resumed our ride. The cool crisp air was invigorating, coupled with a warm sunshine I was quite comfortable cycling at 25kph / 80rpm - my new cadence sense is the bomb - I get and use so much info these days - Knowledge is Power!
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| Happy Cyclist |
After a nice cappuccino and a yummy gluten free breakie, we were back on the road heading back. The ride was good, comfortable and pleasant - I was getting a real opportunity to share stories and discuss life in general with my new shipmate. Mr Ped is a really cool guy, and I'm actually looking forward to spending that time at sea (hopefully) with him! Around 2-3km outside of Frankston, Mr Ped was showing me how to slow down at traffic lights to avoid stopping and unclipping...well, as we did so, I slowed a little too abruptly and came to a halt. Mr Ped saw me freeze-frame list, lean and topple into the warm tarmac - unhurt (just my pride) we both laughed it off and continued our ride! I'll need to practice that one!
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| Ride |
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| Run |
After reaching our destination, we quickly put the bikes into his car, and set off for a quick 2km run. Blood sits in different areas of your legs when doing triathlon, and the objective of this exercise was to train through this awkward sensation. It was made worse for me because I foolishly did a sprint finish on the ride, leaving more blood in my quads than desirable....wobble wobble!
A very enjoyable ride, that I hope we can repeat or improve upon very soon.
Day 41, Today, I decided to do a swim in honour of my brother in law. He was busy for 11hours and 3 minutes completing his first Ironman, IronRay, did a great job making it look easy - from what my sources tell me...those scamp sign wavers and photo takers!
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| Start |
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| Finish |
Well, done brother I am very proud of you. Next time, maybe we can try it together! I better train harder....
So in honour of IronRay's awesome achievement, I decided to do some endurance cardio - namely a swim. I jumped in the pool at 1358h and jumped out 02:32:12 later at 1630h. In that time I continuously swam a total of 100 lengths, totalling 5000m. I did train a little differently since it was my first enduro swim in a while. I did:
Laps: Stokes - Set Info
01-10: 1x50m Freestyle, 1x50m Breast Stroke - 5 Sets
11-20: 2x50m Freestyle, 2x50m Breast Stroke - 2 Sets and 2x50m Freestyle
21-30: 3x50m Freestyle, 3x50m Breast Stroke - 1 Set and 3x50m Breast Stroke & 1x50m Freestyle
31-40: 4x50m Freestyle, 4x50m Breast Stroke - 2x50m Freestyle
41-50: 5x50m Freestyle, 5x50m Breast Stroke
51-60: 6x50m Freestyle, 4x50m Breast Stroke
61-70: 7x50m Freestyle, 3x50m Breast Stroke
71-80: 8x50m Freestyle, 2x50m Breast Stroke
81-90: 9x50m Freestyle, 1x50m Breast Stroke
91-100: 10x50m Freestyle
A challenging workout, but a good one!
Now, although I'm finishing this blog a little later than planned, no 04May would be complete without a geeky Star Wars Reference....so here they are....
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