Week Two – Getting Harder (Saturday 25 October 2014)

So it’s day 13 on this new program. I’ve done as many days of heavy-weight, low repetition and light-weight, high repetition exercises and I’ve smashed myself with intense cardio intervals. Today’s Chest, Abs, Cardio smash was freaking brilliant – plus I had the gym to myself…. This meant Oasis, The Killers and Ministry of Sound being played on the music box for around 90 minutes! J

On this ship, we have a selection of cardio machines and I’ve mostly been using the spin bike (of course), the rower and cross trainer. I’ve also been making up my HIITs with rapid high repetition (low weight) leg press, calf raise and hamstring curls. The spin bike and I have covered close to 120km of 1km sprints, the cross trainer has seen me smash 4km per 12 minutes of 1 minute intervals per session (4 sessions so far means 16km total), and the rower and I have effectively travelled 10km in 4 sessions of 1 km sprints. So, I’m going pretty hard!

The abdominals everyday element is highly addictive and increasingly more difficult, but it is helping me feel less ‘blubbery’ and more taught if that’s possible (?) coupled with my program’s intensity. I’m researching and trying new exercises for abdominals, and feeling constantly that I’m working them. I even feel my core getting stronger, especially during the weights exercises, meaning I can lift heavier, or for more reps! Awesome.

That’s about all from me for now, except I’m still feeling the pinch of, maybe, a trapped nerve or muscle tweak in my shoulder – but I’m not made of glass and Yoga has taught me to listen to my body better. I’ve even started to Savasana at the end of my really hard workouts (most days!) – which must look weird since I’m doing it on the gym floor for 2-3 minutes as my cool down, calm down meditation. Love combining all this stuff I’ve learnt in the past few years.

6 Days into the program I switched my supplements around. The ON Hydro Builder is dee-lish! Plus, it’s giving me what I need to replace lunch (alongside a WinGaz style berry, superfood smoothie-yum!). The OxyShred is an interesting product because it really kicks my workout into a new gear; the thermogenic is less aggressive, but it turns up the heat! The good this is the absence of heavy stimulants and I’m not ‘buzzing’ just getting into the ‘zone’ of my training. Happy.

That’s all from me, from the middle of nowhere. Hopefully, I can upload soon.

Do yourself a favour, immerse yourself in some good old school tunes and get sweaty. Work at whatever level you are comfortable, to achieve YOUR goals.

“Never Back Down, and don’t succumb to your own justifications. Ignore them and Just Freaking Do It!” (Thanks Mish)

Day 54 & 55 - There and back, and back.

Challenge Set

Ride to Melbourne from Frankston, then if we have enough left in the 'tank', ride back. Approximated total distance 100km... Mr Peds was keen, and so was I.

Saturday 0500h...beep, beep, beepety-beep! Snooze? Hell No! After a quick breakie, I was dressed and ready to meet me bike buddy, Mr Peds, to head into Franko. It was dark, but not so cold outside. I tested my lights, checked my water bottles were full up (with water and electrolytes), stuffed my pre-packed ziplock of dates, and a four spare fizz-bomb electrolyte tabs into my back pockets of my jersey. I tested the Garmin, and as I finished my pre-start tests...My ride arrived!

The wind was already starting to blow when we started our ride from Oliver's beach, at 0645, but the sun was not rising. The tale tale white peaks on the water told me the wind was going to be consistent, I was expecting a little wind....the forecast said it was going to be blowing from the north.... Eeep!

Challenge Met

With the wind in our faces, this trip was going to be as psychological as it was physical. Keeping positive, and almost enjoying the wind burning my cheeks to a new shade of rosie, was in order. Mr Peds and I kept up the motivation in the early stages of the ride with the excitement factor of getting going with this challenge. Later on in the ride we talked about a manner of interesting things to kill the time. I found myself really buzzing throughout this experience. I really enjoyed the sunrise, watching the world around you light up so slowly, but with intensity is really special. Plus, when you start to see things ahead of you it really amps you up. In no time at all we had reached Mordialloc, and the Tour de Cafe. We stopped for a quick comfort break, and headed on. I got an electrolyte get for later, and stuffed in my back pocket.

Cycling from Mordialloc toward Melbourne was very quick in places, thanks to the big riding groups we encountered. Less nervous about riding in a pack, I was really getting into the whole process. Before I knew it we were smashing hills, and moving at a speed of around 35-45kph! This was fairly easy to achieve, since the slip-stream really helped everyone keep pace. I even ended up at the front of the pack for a few minutes - which was quite the opposite, I felt the drag from the whole group and the wind was back in my face! I managed to get my heart rate up to 173bpm! When I eventually dropped back in the group I could barely talk - SHOCK HORROR! What an awesome experience it was; all the fellow rider gee-ing you along, and giving their hand signals for things in the road, movement and such. I find yourself checking and thinking about the pack more than you think about the pain/agony of riding so fast!

At around Black Rock, the pack was all but gone. We were back to riding at around 22kph, and the wind was getting stronger. We joined lots of smaller packs as we went, and before we knew it were in St Kilda.

As we reached this area, Mr Peds pointed out that over in Williamstown you could see both of the new Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) vessels - what an awesome sight to see, Nuship Canberra and Nuship Adeliade parked top to tail, side by side... a rare sight, and it made us both feel quite "charry" - lol, Love Navy!

After this we turned in toward the city and our half way marker...

During the ride my front wheel had developed a lovely jingle-jangle sound, which was coming from the hub. We decided to head to Cycles Galleria to get it checked...one problem, it was only 0800h! So, we headed over to Flinders Station for our celebratory photo (and proof we made it).

After this 'photo shoot' we headed for another comfort break, and returned to the saddle. Knowing (and hoping) that wind would still be blowing from the north, we were confident we'd make the return.

Mr Peds took us out of the city a different way, but it was really busy traffic wise, and we decided to take a detour to make it fun. Just prior to this we spotted a bike shop, with a coffee shop attached (in fact they even had a spin studio for the fit-freaks who can't get enough). I asked for their opinion on my hub. As it happens, some good advice - your hub is a warranty! The bearing cover was meant to be pressed on, by machine, but mine had sheared off - well now the roller bearing were exposed - engineers, we know what that means....bad juju for the bearings! Not much I could do about it on this trip, and safe in the knowledge my wheel wasn't going to shit itself on the way home, I decided to carry on. My bike was gaining some new "memories" from the ride now too....

Whist in the coffee shop we had a lovely cappuccino, and some free protein balls. Yummy. The girl behind the counter was from my hemisphere, Clapham (London) and so we got to talking which was nice to help us relax for a few minutes.

 

 My Protein Balls never come out this tasty. I need more practice, clearly...

Hills...

I'm finding hills to be a great experience. I've learnt to prepare my gear shifts in advance, to make transitioning into the hill climb easier. I've learnt that there's a whole lot of technique in climbing and descending hills. Most of all, I think you need a strong core and endurance in your muscles. Since working on my core more frequently in the gym and training specifically for endurance, I've noticed a new gear in my riding. I've got my power in my legs because I'm holding my core better, my shoulders and chest are better positioned (not perfect, still developing) so that they support me as I ride, and climb. I even got to the point, on the return leg, where I was powering up hills with Mr Garmin (a rider dressed in a Garmin suit) who had monster calves, and I feel suitably bed for leaving Mr Peds standing on those occasions. I did however slow down and he caught me up - I did not want my ride buddy and I to be separated for long! Mr Peds commented on how he thought I'd improved, even since we'd last ridden together. Thanks Mate! As I passed my Personal Best to date of 83.97km, I gave out a good cheer "Boo-Ya" and felt very happy that whatever happened, I was in the realms of a new PB! Smiles all around.

The Route

Breaking 100...

So as we got close to the end, we realised we were going to be around 4-5km short of the target of 100km. So, we decided to turn around at Oliver's beach and do a short loop of 2.5km out and back to make it up.... As we approached those last few kilometres we were both feeling pretty happy, in my case almost euphoric to have accomplished something, that only a few months ago seemed like a dream. I remember, laughing and almost being shocked when IronRay, or Mr Keish would talk about 60km rides. Mr Keish would regularly ride home from the central NSW coast to Sydney, and IronRay is a machine from cycle-hell sent to make us all ride harder. I never thought, and said very frequently that I would never be "caught doing that kind of crazy".... How times change.

3 hours 52 Minutes and 49 Seconds of riding, and I loved every second.

So, as we finished, I played a mental fanfare in my head (well out loud actually), and took a pic of my Garmin screen. I took off my cycle shoes, stretched and prepared for our post ride 2km walk to realign blood flow... Oh My Gosh...We did it Mr Peds...plus we burned 2951 calories on that ride!

 

Achieving Your Impossible

So, as a reflection...and I know this has been said a million times before, so you get my swing on this. IMPOSSIBLE is something we all read wrong. It actually says IM POSSIBLE. Therefore, ergo, there should be nothing that you cannot achieve. For example, my spiritual guide and good friend Peaceful Warrior (PW) took some time off work recently. Without any significant training, she just climbed to base camp of Mt Everest - She completed it Thursday, I believe....but with slow internet on Everest, posted yesterday...you know, time delays, comms lag...blame it on the ISP! She always tells me that impossible is just an excuse. Well, I think, for my slowly ticking off my milestones, and achieving my impossibles, that she might be onto something.

Please, set goals, take baby steps if you need to, but work (like Michelle Bridges says) with Consistency, Consistency and Consistency. Never give up, never back down. I'm on a roll and I'm not planning on going back now. My life is infinitely better since committing to being healthy. It's actually changing my outlook on my whole life plans, and together with my amazing Winnie, and my amazing like-minded friends, I'm doing it.

And Back Again...

Well, thanks to my good mate Mr Peds, and the generous loan of his car, I was able to head straight back into the city to see the peeps at Cycles Galleria. After a quick call had organised a wheel for me. On arrival they told me the it was a "loaner" wheel, since its an upgrade, and that I should contact my local Sydney based shop, to organise the appropriate Cannondale warranty replacement. So, what is meant by "loaner" I asked, they responded with, this is a "free-loaner" as in you can keep it! So, I bagged a freebie Shimano RS21 Rim. As they replaced my tyre and tube onto said rim, my old tube exposed, so they replaced that for free too. I ended feeling a little guilty at the excellent customer service, so purchased some Endura Electrolye gels (which they subsequently reduced for me)...Great afternoon!

When in Rome...

Whilst in Melbourne, and well the parking fee was already paid for, I headed to get some lunch / dinner....it was 1600h by now. I ended up eating a delicious gluten free Thai Pork Vermicelli salad in a cute place on Russell. After, I walked past The Lab nitrogen gelato place...I noticed they had a special on this week only. Sorry Winnie, but I just had to try it (her favourite flavour) Ferrero Rocher, made their way. It was a gelato/sundae to be amazed by....people were queuing for this thing, and I just rocked up, they recognised me (how funny) and I ordered! Boom! It was delicious. The wafers on it were not gluten free, but were made with some type of flour that has yet to even effect me. OMG what a great celebration!

 

On my way home I collected the bike travel bag from a dude in St Kilda, and we removed the pedals and wheels. We locked it in the bag and I need to complete the packing of that bag later today. A fun exercise I'm sure. I was quite sad to see my trusty pedal machine being striped for travel :( I didn't take pictures because it was just too sad. 

Kicking Back...

Today I'm taking a full day of rest, not so much to recover, but to give myself a chance to readjust and relax so I can go hard next week. I've had a long morning, spent snoozing and just ate lunch. Now I plan to work on packing the bike and relaxing some more.

I think thats reward enough for my biggest challenge this year!

Have a great Sunday.

Day 52 - Gym-Happy

I saw this today and it really made sense, plus it's what I've been doing all week....

Happiness

Today, I've been really quite chirpy. A happy soul. I've been smiling and enjoying the sunshine, I've trained really hard and I'm going to go out in Mornington tonight, for a birthday celebration....Major thing here, thanks to Mish Bridges, is that 8 weeks into my regime, I'm not going to feel guilty about going out. I'm going to control what I eat (a glutard's lot) and drink, but I'm not gonna stress...this way of being makes me very happy.

I've started seeing changes, mostly in functional strength, some size changes in my body and there's a twinkling of minor definition coming in mu physique. All major contributors to my happy state. I feel good, therefore I am good.

Another quite interesting thing is going on for me, I've only just realised that people actually read this blog. So, thanks for your feedback - I love it. Like I said, 52 days ago, this blog is to hold myself accountable, and to document the transformation that I'm intending to occur. So far, so good. Like I said yesterday, it's not easy but I'm not a quitter....

As my training is becoming more functional, and more aggressive in its nature, I'm becoming very keen to see how far I can push my body. It's all about limits; understand them to surpass them. I'm improving so much at the moment because I work to this, and I also know were the 'line' is, when to stop myself, apply controls to prevent injury....well, so far, so good.

Training Arms

Today is arms day! I had a massive session. At the start of this week I applied a little of my research into functional training, and endurance training. I also found that there are heaps of training videos and tutorials online to help further develop this knowledge. To that end, I've totally changed up my arm workout to suit. Still working on sets of higher reps, and more sets to accompany each exercise; I decided to focus my attention (whilst working mostly compound exercises) toward developing forearms, biceps and triceps. I decided that I'd give my favourite session a little workout, to boost it and shock it.

I started with forearms. Using the barbel cage I conducted farmer walks - not only are they goof for core, but also in the development of strong forearm and grip strength. I worked hard, walking around the gym floor with this thing. I ended up with 90kg (plus the bar weight - I think 10kg extra) on the frame, so good feel it very early on. I ended up doing about 8 sets, which was really good fun!

 

Start position for cage bar farmer walks... 

After I continued with forearms - and possibly the hardest exercise I've encountered: Palms Down Barbell Wrist Curls, over the edge of a bench. I ambitiously started with a 15kg bar, but ended up realising very quickly that I had to drop to 10kg to get used to the exercise, then after 3 sets of 8 reps I bumped up to 12.5kg for another 3 sets. Very hard, my forearms were getting the workout they've never had! I completed a similar set doing the Palms Up version of the exercise, which are way easier - so I returned to 15kg bar and completed 5 sets relatively comfortably. My last exercise was a set of standing olymipc plate squeezes. This is really a grip and forearm burnout - so, naturally 3 sets of 10 reps sealed that up nicely!

With my forearms still throbbing I moved into biceps. I grabbed a couple of 10kg dumbbells to allow me to do standing Zuttman curls. 5 sets later I could feel this was going to be an AWESOME arm burn! I moved to the E-Z Bar to do Spider curls - you lean against the angled part of the biceps bench, so that your arms drop down fully to work the flu range of the muscle. Hard. I managed to get, after 5 sets, to 30kg plus bar (approx 5kg extra) on the 4th and 5th set, which was a good place to be!

Next, I continued by working through 5 sets of inclined (leaning on incline bench belly down) bicep curls, using the 17.5kg bar. I finished biceps off with some good and heavy barbell bicep drags, using 30kg as a maximum was pretty good!

My E-Z Spider Curl Set Up

Now, Forearms really singing, Biceps swollen I moved into Triceps. Starting with the E-Z Bar to run through 5 sets of skull crushers, followed by cable work to really push them. This included Overhead Tricep Extenders, Reverse Grip Tricep Push downs, and Triceps push downs. ON the push downs I actually stacked the cable machine (45kg) for 8 reps! Boo-Ya!

For my final tricep workout I took the rope connection and moved to the seated row cable machine. I hooked in the cable. I then took a lying position, with my head near to the pulley end. IUsing my whole body, I pulled the rope overhead, then inline (but parallel) to my body, twisting out the tricep at the end. This worked my lats, core abdominal region and triceps....awesome!

Abdominals

Yesterday I was saying I need to improve my ab workout. Well, I did today...like, I really pushed hard. Since I was entering the third hour of my workout, and still going strong, I decided to start with suspended/hanging knee up crunches - I did 8 sets of these, each with 8 reps. Next came a new exercise, Landmine 180s. These are using the barbell and the hinge piece that it slots onto to create a big pivot arm. I started with a warmup of the exercise, no weight, for 10 reps. I then added a 15kg disc and did 2 more sets of 8 reps. This was NOT an easy abdominal exercise, I could feel it working everything on my body all at once! I ended up with 20kg on the bar (plus the bar which is 20kg) so, a good long start to abs!

Me, doing landmine drills..these are awesome hard work!

After the Landmines, I went over to the cables to do Pallof Press Core stabilisers, with weight. These burn your arms, lower back and middle abs. I did three sets on each side, ending up with 30kg load. After I did 3 sets of 8 Cable Lifts, with only 15kg load. These are like enhanced wood choppers. I found the Spell Caster dumbbell twists to be really uncomfortable, but 3 sets of 8 reps, with 6kg dumbbells really tested me!

Whilst doing abs Mr Q had entered the gym, and asked me to 'spot' him whilst doing bench, then assist him on pec deck so he could do a burnout. Good Job Q! You're looking much stronger these days too. In between helping Q, I pushed through 4 sets of Full Rectractors. These are especially hard because your upper body and feet are not in contact with the ground (except before and after each set). I did sets of 10 and by this time by body was cooked, like a chicken! I decided it was time to start to relax!

Day 38 - Harsh Realities

Its all about the hard yards. I'm finding out that day by day, the challenge of travelling from fat to fit is more about the willpower, resilience and the ability to go the distance, than it is about much else.

Going The Distance

The ability to go the distance is pretty important. The way I see it, you need to be in it for the 'long haul' if you want to achieve more than just a temporary fix. You gotta put in 100% everyday, with consistency (of course), but more than that. You have to be prepared to sacrifice a few things, or take on new burdens, to take a few hits on the way. The pathway to success is not smooth. I'd say, I've always said that:

"You have to fully appreciate the rough in life to get the most out of the smooth."

This is one of those occasions. After my glutard-slip the other morning, which after 37 days is pretty good (although going back to day 1 bowel/intestine cleansing sucks, but is required), kinda bites just a touch. I've got a lovely array of mouth ulcers, a swollen gut, achy joints and I'm feeling really irritable and tired to boot. These are my "immediate" impact symptoms of eating just the tiniest amount of gluten. I'm paying for my flawed eating choice, and I'm learning too. It's hard coping with this, but it is a necessity. I am far from perfect, and I'm not too proud to admit when I make blunders such as this. This blog holds me accountable, which is nice, but really truthfully when I'm led in my bed tonight (and last night) groaning with stomach pains, the accountable doesn't come into it at that point. Whats going on there is an internal dilemma. I'm fighting the pain, with knowledge, knowing that I can and must go longer than 37 days, that I must fight the pains and cramps. You see, you don't stop until you hear the bell ring. 

The Old Glutard-Slip-The Jab!

"It ain't over, 'til its over."

Today, was hard for me. I couldn't concentrate, my body was sore (and not from training) and yet life goes on...and so do I. Tough Titties! Cry me a river...blah blah blah. When you know you messed up and that you need to re-hash the plan to prevent it happening again, do just that...don't dwell or get cranky - just fix it, move on and shut the heck up! 

So, thats what I did; I talked to the 'peeps in power' today, organised (hopefully) better glutard-friendly food, trained my tired mind in the classroom, achy muscles in the gym and more over I forced myself to run in the very cool and drizzly night air, alone! I pushed through all the crap going on and decided to fight, not frown.

I'm telling you this, because you might be giving up smoking, or have to quit sugar, or have some special reason to go against the grain in your life.. You might feel like giving up, reverting back to your former less strict self, or just falling off the wagon...worse still, you might just be crying about all the wrongs you've been dealt..... DON'T YOU EFFING DARE! 

Just don't, okay? Keep your chin up, it happens to the best of us, but the difference between someone who wins and someone who quits is very slight:

Isn't that right, Mr Mouldie

You are NOT made of glass and you WILL not crack, shatter or splinter.... Every slip is a new opportunity to learn something, to put new measures in place to prevent it. As an engineer, I know its part of the process - making mistakes is ok, just don't make the same one over and over and over! Learn, move forwards, take the hits and be proud of your resilience to all the BS. Tough talk, but its needed.

So, how do I prevent this happening to me again? Well, firstly a few 'safe guards' are now in place at work. I have also invoked the help of others to pull me through, so hopefully one less failure point and some extra support. But I know, life is a minefield and occasionally you might just set another one off...oh well, learn from it.

Now, I want to win, I want to prove to myself (and all those neigh sayers) that I can achieve this lifestyle change. I will not give up.

Arms & Abs

This morning's workout was powerful, hard work session of arms (biceps and triceps) and abdominals. I used the whole 60 minutes for arms, plus an extra 15 for abs. I was almost late for class. I think even though I was training hard, I felt the pain early on - my stomach was sore and my joints ached...Being swollen makes you feel nauseous, but I pushed through and blasted some 'ripper' burps and farts as I did!

The whole workout, and time sat in class today, I was planning my punishment session for this evening....

Run-Time 

Not the cool run-time you stick to when diving deep and technical, run time...the times when you go running and don't enjoy it! Tonight's punishment - run at least 10km outside of Cerberus. Run in the cold and dark and drizzle. Pretend to enjoy it, be you know I didn't. It worked, I pushed through did almost 11km in 60 minutes and really went through it all. The elation of finishing, the procrastination pre-starting...Mr Joe and Edd both can attest to my tardiness in getting started! I felt the aches of running with soreness, the wind (and moist farts that always make you worry) the burps and puke-feeling you get when you train through indigestion or stomach cramps. My knees hurt, my feet were sore....every excuse my body and brain tried to get me to turn around, I ignored. I pushed through....Just Frickin' Do It... (I'm starting to hate this phrase, but it seems to work). The dim lit streets around Crib with all that wild, unkept foliage and trees was the real test...I can't remember how many times I got whipped by a tree, bush or shrubbery! My brain said: "NO, Gaffa, NO!" but I chose to GO GO GO!!!

How I felt after 11km Running, tonight.

I can remember the surge of joy, then pain, then followed sleepiness. I felt so tired on return to my cabin...I dozed there and then....lost about 20 minutes, sitting in a chair - hadn't even removed my shoes. After, I took a long, warm shower and feebly stretched, groaned and burped some more pukey burps...

 I still feel a bit wasted, but I do know this: I made positive changes today - I stepped forward after taking some hits. I pushed through a range of emotions, justifications and 'reasons not to'...I passed my own test, now it's time to rest.

Day 37 - Start Early, Finish Late...

The Early 'Morning' Watch

Wednesday, 0300h and the familiar sound of my wake up alarm roused me from my shortened slumber. The 'Morning' watch lasts from 0400-0800h, and as a result I knew I'd be missing my early wake up workout. I threw in extra effort yesterday and planned to do the same this evening. However, my wake up was still with much gusto. I got up, dressed and made myself a nice cup of strong tea. I smashed down a thermogenic and a bowl of gluten free cereal. A small breakie at this early time, was all I needed... The watch was another educational and beneficial experience, that allowed me to broaden my engineering experience - a taste of what I'll be doing in the near future.

Sadly, by 0600h I was so hungry that before I'd realised it, and without thinking too hard upon it, I ate the breakfast that came to our watch. It was a bacon and egg roll with melted cheese. The roll was not gluten free, and I felt yucky for the rest of today...with fresh mouth ulcers and a swollen gut in tow... I look back a little embarrassed at my hunger....and subsequent emotions that always come with being hungry. Winnie says I get "Hangry" when I don't eat, or don't eat well, or when I don't get yummy sweet treats...perhaps she's right - I have been on edge all day and feeling less than perfect because of my slip-up.... I will however, detox tonight and onwards until my stomach pains subside. Everyday, we each learn something new about our bodies... Today, I realised that I can slip on my gluten free journey - glutard diets are not easy, especially in a job where all of your food is provided - and that I really cannot afford to do so. I will remain better in control of my hunger in future.

Feel The Burn!

Train hard or don't train at all - that's my new mantra for gym time. I headed to the gym after class today, set for a big chest workout. I was aiming for 60minutes of full on, pump. I started on the bench, really pushing myself today, I worked the flat, inclined and declined benches with wide and narrow grip. I tweaked the chest muscles with a pyramid style set for each, going from light to heavy to light, with reps going from high to low to high. This took about 5 minutes per grip style, for each bench type. My chest was pretty pumped and I decided to do a quick set of dumbbell flyes, on the inclined bench. After a short wait for the pec-deck, where I squeezed out a couple sets of chest press machine, I was working the pectoral muscles to a point of pleasurable/agonising burn! Love it!

After I jumped on the cable cross over machine and worked a low, medium, high cross-over pectoral squeeze-burn. This was low weight, low reps (8 reps) to tweak those muscle fibres. It was interesting to see that my body is starting to change - I could see my chest muscles (before this week I had never noticed this)...perhaps I'm starting to sculpt / turn some of the old fat into fit!

It got me to thinking during this set and my abdominal workout, that before today I had been training to try and create habits, make changes and start building my own confidence. Today, however, I realised a few things.... I'll discuss in just a second, but first. I finished my workout and dived into the pool. Swimming 500m, alternating freestyle with breast stroke on a length by length basis, for 15 minutes of solid cardio to finish.

My Thoughts

I realised that I'd taken a few more steps than I had previously thought. I had made a plan, made myself accountable for achieving my goals (this blog is evidence of that), and I had put them into action. So, that made me realise that if by doing those simple steps, and by repeating them day in, day out I've been reprogramming my body. I've challenged my mind, my emotions and my body. I have learnt that consistency (thanks to @mishbridges) is really the answer. To set and maintain routine, you need to be disciplined. You need to apply controls and measures to make sure you don't cheat - use your friends, write a blog and grow a conscience. I also realised that in doing all these things I've made myself a new lifestyle, and its starting to work. Seeing small changes makes you feel good. I've started standing taller, my shirts feel a little looser, my trousers feel less pinching around my hips and gut. I'm taking care of myself better, I try to sleep earlier, I try to eat well (sometimes I slip - I am human after all), but most of all I'm seeing that I'm being very habitual about these things. I'm just out there enjoying my new lifestyle, enjoying the sensations that come as daily rewards for my hard work. These rewards give me a new found confidence about my body, my presence and best of all my health. I feel stronger, I feel less soft and squishy, I feel more alert, less achy and less hunched over. I feel like I'm shaving years off of my age, keeping up with people 10 years younger and enjoying the pace!

Small steps. I was once told that its the "smallest things that can make the biggest difference" - in my case, the small things constitute tightening my belt, or less belly rolls as I sit down, or my muscles looking and feeling firmer. The big difference is the way that effects my emotions, the way I conduct myself and so much more. If the last 37 days has given me nothing else, I'm so glad I've found my toes again! The view from up top was getting lonely!

Some small improvements, big on confidence boosting!

Motivation to keep training, pushing and being strict with myself is getting easier with results - plus something Michelle Bridges said when I met her at Filex a few weeks ago, really, really run home.

"...Make the choice, before the choice is removed from you..."

At so many times in my life, I could've chosen to stop eating so much bread, donuts, cakes, yummy pasta and pizza...I didn't know about Gluten Intolerance, or Coeliac Disease, but even if I had known I would have been one of those people who ignores it and says "that's not me". It brought a tear to my eye and choked me up when Michelle said this, because that's my lot. No more gluten, no yummy foods or easy fill me ups...Now my choice has been removed. Very simple, very stupid to ignore the symptoms for so long! Now, because I'm acutely aware that my "intolerance" and "hypersensitivity" could get worse, leading to full blown Coeliac (since I test positive for the gene) I have NO choice but to be healthy. You don't see me complaining (too much) about being healthy, except when I want cakes or pasta that I can't have :)  but I'm using this knowledge and the hard hitting words of Michelle Bridges to keep me on track.

It's not easy, there will always be neigh sayers, people who mock you or those who just don't understand; but focus, determination and inner spirit help me along - plus my Wifey really can make some yummy gluten free treats! I sense a care parcel should come soon...hint hint?

So,  here we are. 37 days down, and 58 days until I go on my honeymoon with Winnie. I have my goals. Now I have a deadline. Boo-Ya!