Days 64-70 - Guilt, Decisions and Fitting It All In..

Guilt Trip?

Why do we feel guilty for missing a workout? Its something that really bugs me. Anyone who regularly trains, watches what they eat and lives an active lifestyle knows that missing one workout isn't going to reverse time, add layers of fat or make us inconceivably unfit.  So why do we beat ourselves up over it? Over the past 10 weeks I've been working really hard to maintain consistency in my training routine, and healthier eating regime. As time has gone by, I've noticed how much easier it has been getting to get myself to the gym, or choose the healthy meal for dinner. I've survived the past 70 days on a balanced diet of guilt, inspiration and reward. But why? Well, I've been reading up on this....

The real fire starter that made me start writing about it was the events of the past week (grad week). As I look back upon a very busy week; a week packed with early starts, long days of presentations  about naval stuff, and late evenings spent social networking; I recall the amount of guilt I felt for skipping a few training sessions, and for the social drinking I've participated in (and there was a lot of that). I woke each day, a little slower, each day hoping to get some exercise, and punishing myself if I didn't get some. I managed two 90 minute football (5-a-side) games, some gym time and a lunch time swim between Tuesday and Friday. Sunday I punished myself at the Flinders Street Fitness First, and today I had a glimpse of a normal day, compressed into the evening session. It was a wicked to give my back and abs the blast they needed, plus a good 15 minute spin, followed by a quick 13 minute 500m swim just about finished me off.

So, after each session, and in particular tonight's, I started to lose all feelings of guilt, once I had punished myself. It's been annoying me as to why I felt guilt in the first place...So, lets talk this one out....

Different Points of View

Is developing a healthy mindset a vital component of a healthy lifestyle? I believe it is. I also believe that making decisions and taking ownership of our choices keeps us on track, without the twang of guilt that makes us feel so bad.

One article I read suggested that a primary reason for people skipping workouts is that the drudgery that can occur when workouts are forced, or in other words, if we want to be successful we need to stop forcing ourselves to do the things we don't like doing. Well, that seems sensible.

My research led me to a US Football Coach, John Gagliardi, who is accredited with being the most successful college football coach in the history of football coaches....wow. He has a philosophy thats so simple its cringe worthy. Intrinsic Motivation.

So, what is Intrinsic Motivation, well it's funny but this was also mentioned during the week at one of the naval presentations by a well regarded Captain. It is the key to longevity in all things; but lets keep it fitness related....It basically this: if you like it or enjoy it or find it fun, you'll keep doing it. FULL STOP.

So if liking exercise is the key to sticking with it, what makes us like it? Apparently, there's three things that we need:

1. Autonomy - the choice to do it is made by YOU, not someone else.
2. Competence - you know what you're doing, or are at least you're improving.
3. Relatedness - the activity connects you in some way with other people.

That's how the US footie coach did it, by creating an environment with all three, nearly 60 years ago.

Points to Remember: 

• Exercise is a choice, not a jail sentence - Knowing that you are in charge of what you do may assist you in getting started.
• Exercise is a commitment you make everyday - Some days you're more committed than others. You need discipline and consistency to keep you getting out of the door.
• Every day is different - Some days you need to work harder to get motivated.

Skipping....?

I often find myself, feeling guilty for asking the following question - How will skipping affect my day? Well, I've discovered recently that a workout isn’t just important for burning calories, it can affect every part of your day, both physically and mentally. I try to remind myself that getting in a workout routine:

Gives you more energy

Improves your confidence and self-satisfaction

Starts your day on the right foot

Helps you concentrate better

Helps you get more things done

Allows you to actively re-commit to your goals

Exercise is one of the few things you can do that seeps into all areas of your life. Just a few minutes and some sweat will pay off in the long run.

I guess, the crux of my research points to mindset. Develop a healthy relationship with your training. Have fun, and enjoy what you're doing. Don't be hard on yourself if you need to skip, but remember why you train and how good you feel and use that as motivation to get yourself back on track. It's not looking like an exact science, so have fun with finding out what works for you... I do.

Day 56 - The Week 9 Intensification Process!

Not Long Now...

Yo! How ya going? What an amazing Monday. I thought it would be a great idea to give week 9 an injection of energy, focus and well, something a little more intensive. Plus, I'm highly motivated by the simple fact that I am going home to my wonderful wifey this weekend... 4 More Sleeps :)

How exciting....

Intensification

So, in an effort to up the stakes on this my 56th day, after such a big weekend of achievements I decided to do a morning workout that meant very little breaks and a whole other level of work.

Last week's back workout, although tough, seemed a little like it needed more. So, I decided to couple it with abdominals. How's that any different? Well, instead of back, back, back then abs...I decided to go back, abs, back, abs...no breaks. So after each set of back, I threw in a set of abs. Just because.....

I did a little research on back exercise routines last night, and decided to revamp the whole routine. I started with four sets of axle dead lifts to warm up, I managed to get to 55kg on the bar (75kg total)... After I got stuck into the new plan, with reverse grip bent over rows (with the barbell), with roller abs using the same barbell between sets. I did 4 sets of 8 reps of each, increasing the weight each time to a maximum of 30kg (until I get my technique perfect) - this is actually much harder than it reads....

I set the barbell up using the floor plate (landmine), then conducted sets of T-bar rows, with Landmine 180's between sets. I needed to drop the weight each time for the land mines, but got to 45kg with the rows, and was working up a sweat on the land mines on 30kg! 4 Sets of each later...I was feeling the burn!

I continued with Lat Pull downs - wide grip and narrow, before moving onto the cage farmers walks - today my farmer's walks reached 110kg (new PB). To finish my workout, and since time was getting sparse, I knocked out back hyperextensions, coupled with leg raises and knee crunches. I then punched out 4 chin ups, before moving into the hanging knee crunches and retractors to finish... all 4 sets of 8 reps each... Boom, another 75minute burnout! 

Not to be out done by this morning's effort, I wanted this evening's workout (predominantly cardio based) to challenge me. Subsequently I opted to do a 30 minute leg workout. I incorporated Smith Squats, Leg Press, Hack Squats, and Calf Raises.. I felt a little twinge in my calf so moved to the cardio part.... Incidentally, I PB'd on leg press tonight (180kg), which is another indication that my endurance and strength are really improving....yay for me!

Bricks

So, as you know, one of the new training tools to help me train for triathlons, is the brick session. So, I decided to do an out of sequence Bike then Swim. Since my pride and joy is packed for her trip home, I opted for a 30 minute spin, followed by an attempt at a speedy swim...

So, after a little leg stretching I jumped on the spin bike. 30 minutes later, feeling very comfortable I pulled up having travelled 15km. Nice. I quickly got changed and jumped in the pool. Now, I wanted to work my speed so I thought, hmm a snappy 500m to finish? I was aiming to finish in 15 minutes or less.... However, with my arms burning, and perhaps a little additional blood flowing in my legs I worked particularly hard to complete the swim. When I touched the poolside and stopped the clock, it read 09:52, my fastest lap was 01:06, and 01:58 per lap average. How funny, my best ever!

Day 49 - Week 8 Commences

Rest is Best...

This week is going to be a weird one. All of my classes are in the afternoons and evenings, which leads to only mornings being free to train. I will endeavour to make sure I get at least one of my normal daily workouts, and I'm certain I will make up for it at the weekend and into next week....

I clearly needed to recover from my ride yesterday, even though I'm not sore, my body needed to replenish itself...I therefore slept a little longer (through 2 alarms in fact!). I still hauled my butt out of bed, rocked up at the gym at 0745h and trained until 0900h.

Back Day

Monday is "back day", so I pushed through a relatively quiet 60 minutes. This week I have decided to continue with core development, and increase strength work - basically to be an alround strong triathlete, I'm gonna need to train for it, and that includes adding endurance workouts (not just endurance cardio). I'm achieving this a slightly different way. I am increasing the number of sets I perform on each exercise, and trying to maintain 8 reps on each, until I have loaded to a max set of 4 reps. In addition to this, to enable the longer endurance on my muscles I am incrementing the weight increase each time, by a smaller amount. This is allowing me to run around 5 sets of work, ending up at (or close to) my normal finishing weight. I have noticed, however, that this is very hard to do... So, this week should be interesting!

I worked pretty hard in barbell rows, deadliest and lat pull downs. I added some isolation exercises, then did a particularly long set of declined/leaning rows. I completed my back session with high, medium, low single arm rows using the cable crossover. By the time I got to this I was feeling really strong, and managed 3 sets of each side, on each level, using 15kg. After this I closed out using the rope to row and tweak my back using 15kg, but going slow for 3 sets of 8.

As usual, I finished with abdominals. I did hang knee crunches,  and overhead holds interchanging to reduce rest time to zero. I then did a similar activity with leg raises, knee lift crunches, farmers walks and obliques using 20kg disks (for the walks and obliques).

Freestyle Training

After a strange, but interesting day, we were let go at around 1730h - which was pretty cool. As we leaving to go for dinner Mr Peds asks "are you going to dinner, or dya wanna train tonight?"...to which, without thinking, I said that I would prefer to train...after eating lots of snacks (healthy snacks of course) in class today, it felt like a good idea. We decided on a swim, so I quickly grabbed my stuff and we headed to the pool.

After thinking about it for a while, I jumped into the pool (which felt cooler than usual) and so did Mr Peds. He was 'planning' a quick 100m then a 500m swim, initially... I just said that I was going to try and go as far as I could using only freestyle!

I wasn't very warm, so the first 10 laps felt like an eternity on my aching arms and legs, but as I reached the end of 500m I started to drift into a focus-zone (or meditative state) that allowed me to think/mantra: "...1, 2, 3, Breathe.... 1, 2, 3, Breathe...." and before I knew it I was at 20 laps. My first kilometre out of the way and behind me, I decided to push for 2km. At the 1500m mark I decided to make that 3km.... at 50 laps I thought, Nah, I can do 4km and thats the stuff of Ironmen, like IronRay! 

With that as motivation, and trust me IronRay is highly inspiring to me, coupled with the sight of Mr Peds zipping along beside me, pushing just as hard (if not harder) than I was, made me stay focused  to make the 80 laps. I normally get to 2km of pure freestyle and start to keel over. Today, I was driven, inspired by Mr Peds, thoughts of IronRay's recent Ironman success, and the possibility that I might actually make it through this swim. Mr Peds stopped at 3km, good job buddy! He did some laps with the pool buoy, so I hope his shoulders are now burning as much as mine are!

I completed the last 20 laps in the pool, by myself. Yet another relaxing end to a dreary Cerberus day!

80 Laps, 4km in 02:00:57, which is an average pace of around 30 min/km, and a the icing on the cake is the very pleasing 1422 calories burnt! I'm pretty pleased with that effort! Now I need to build swim speed, with more speed sessions, so I can improve upon it! Oh, and this was my first time to 4km with freestyle only! Strangely enough, the only areas I am remotely sore are my abdominals (why is this?) and my shoulders (which is obvious)....

I can never seem to wash the smell away....

With my swim session over, I decided to rinse off and head home. I now plan on relaxing with a yummy bowl of Steaming Quinoa, Raw Spinach and a beautifully Smoked Salmon fillet! I'll also enjoy my Casein shake before bed tonight. I've even earn a glass of 'Nudie' apple juice it! :)

Determination

To me the real thing about this whole process I'm going through, 49 Days in, is that to be consistent, to Just Freaking Do It, to be satisfied (and the rest); I need to have real, focused Determination. In my mind, and really that's why I write this blog (to unload my thoughts each day), determination is the will to keep trying, to set a goal and smash it. Its knowing your limits and pushing yourself, safely beyond them each and every day. 

Rewind to pre 2000, When I used to kick box, remember the good old days Mr Mouldie, I used to say that to deliver a good hit, sometimes you need to take a few to get inside their guard. I took a lot of hits, but I'm not an ice sculpture, not made of glass. If on the first try I got knocked down, I got back up (cue the Rocky soundtrack) and I tried again....and again, and again until I did succeed.

So fast forward now to today, I still live like this. I push, push a little bit more and keep pushing until I get what I want...Soreness is a sign that I'm trying hard, but I'm good with that - I'll sleep easy knowing I woke up with determination, and kept the intensity all day and now I sleep satisfied!

Don't just half-arse it, bloody well do it. Get stuck in and keep going, even if it hurts a little. Break your Personal Bests and keep doing it. Goodnight.

Day 44 - Tri-Harder!

Well, here we are again.... Another fun-filled, exercise fuelled training day. 

Mornings

Getting out of bed at the crack of dawn is really getting easier. I'm just rolling out of bed, with a spring in my step. I briskly walk in the dark every day, planning my training session, thinking about the things that drive me to keep going. I seem to arrive at the gym, and I'm all prepped and ready to go. I step into the gym, with a focus and determination unlike any other. I train my heart out and feel great because I'm training so well.

Training Chest

I'm getting a lot out of chest day. Since adding some additional sets to my bench workouts, I'm feeling really strong. I powered through 7 sets of flat, inclined and declined bench. I tried a powerful lift followed by a slow return. I gradually increased from 50kg to 85kg, and reduced reps from 8 reps down to 4 on the last. I repeated the same process, on the incline bench, but reached a maximum of 75kg. On the declined bench I repeated for a third time focusing on technique reaching a maximum of 85kg again.

After Barbell-ing the heck out of the benches, I did a quick three set dumbbell pectoral fly, to warm up for a big set of fly drills on the cable cross overs. I worked slow, long fly drills with lower weights working the squeeze on my pectorals. I set up the cables with a central position (mid-chest height), then high, then low. After this I moved into abdominals (hanging knee crunch-lifts, leg and knee raises, farmers walks and over head holds).

Big session, but I felt awesome, for the rest of the day!

Tri-Hard!

During class today, Mr Ped offered a good idea for Wednesday arvo tri-club training - A Swim/Bike brick session. Since I was ahead of schedule, I decided to push it a little further. I decided to try a little harder during my cardio-endurance session. I decided that I'd knockout a 1.5km swim, followed by a good hard spin session - planned distance 40km, target time under 2hours, preferably within 90minutes....but that'd be pushing it.

Whilst on my swim I pushed through a multitude of things; soreness in my upper arms and shoulders, initially crap breathing rhythm, heavy legs and then a bit of a slog for the last 5 laps. I did pretty good. I swam the first 500m in 13 minutes, the second in 13 minutes and the third leg was 14 minutes. So an overall 1500m swim of 41 minutes was a great result, since I did swim only freestyle too!Very happy about that! As I jumped out of the water Mr Ped jumped in. He was planning a shorter swim - I think I knocked over a 10 minute 500m - awesome time dude!

After a quick rinse, to remove the stinky chlorine from my skin, I was soon gearing up to hit the spin bike. My plan was ambitious, and I worked hard, even though my heart rate stayed relatively low throughout. I was working with a heart rate of 120-130bpm, and was spinning at 85-95rpm in gear 6 from start to 10km, then up at gear 8 for most of the ride. I stayed seated and tried to simulate my awesome road bike - the only saving grace with a spin bike is the pre-fitted aero bars that make it a really good work out. Whilst spinning, I managed to employ my over infectious enthusiasm and motivation, to draw in Mrs Legal-oh. She's a Reserve lawyer who is posted to Cerberus for a few months. Missing her hubby (who is in West Australia), she's turned to fitness to fill her spare time - good girl! Oh and thanks to Mrs Legal-oh, we had some music to spin along to.

After about 10km, Mr Peds joined us and got settled onto his bike. It was nice spinning at a "talking pace", since I love having a good chin-wag. I pushed myself and ended up finishing my ride not that long after the others had left me. I was a sweaty mess as I pulled into the final 5km, with very little time to cover the ground, and being so near to my target goal of 90 minutes I stepped it up a notch. I lifted gears to 11 and powered through with a few short stints of standing. I ended up finishing the ride at 40km, in 89 minutes - Stoked! I got off the bike, stretched (way longer than normal) and made my way back to my cabin.

I actually got caught as I walked back, to stand at attention, and watch sunset. Its the RAN ceremony that is conducted at sunset each day that returns the Australian White Ensign and Australian National Flag from their flagpoles.

After dinner this evening I relaxed in the comfort of knowing how well I'd worked through my training session, and enjoyed a couple glasses of red wine with Holmie and Mrs Legal-oh.

Now I'm going to bed early....ish.

Days 39,40 & 41 - 6 Weeks, already?

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!

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!

Ride

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!

Start

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....

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!

Day 22 - Week Four Commences...

Love this.

As week 4 begins I find myself all a-tingle with the excitement that making new habits brings. I find that although it is hard being away from my beautiful Winnie, I am getting better at dealing with being away from the person who actually gets me best. It's still hard, but training is my coping mechanism.

Six O'Clock Shoulders

This morning was a toughie. A bit down after such a weekend of awesomeness, I got out of my bed and got on with my normal routine. I trudged to the gym in the rather 'fresh' cool air, which hit like knives after my cosy bed, and got into my first muscle group of the week. Shoulders were the pick of the day. I found myself starting slow, but warming up pretty quickly. It was good to see Mr Q at the gym - he's not so much of an early bird, but kudos to him for getting down there! Shoulders today, I focussed on the pushing my existing limits (carefully) and really training the muscles connecting my shoulders with some little tweaky exercises. I used a few tricks I've been learning lately to find the sweet spot in my training, and it feels like its starting to come together. I just hope I can sustain it, over easter! I incorporated more free weights into the core workout, then utilised the machines to 'finish' me off.

The workout this morning concluded with some light weight burn out sets to failure on the cable cross-overs, doing isolated single arm work - front raises and flyes to the side. I can definitely feel like I gave my shoulders a pretty good go over. Boom!

Pumped Cardio 

So, iPhone pre-loaded with new upbeat tracks I headed to the gym for the second time today. I feel its also important to point out that I try to include cardio into my routine, it seems to calm my mind and flush me with memories of the bad-old days of hardcore kickboxing, squash and gym training with Mr Mouldie. I miss that dude! Perhaps one day he'll bring Miss Kimbers to Australia to visit?….

I spent 60 minutes doing another fairly hardcore cardio burnout: Bag work (mostly upper body), shadow boxing, side lunges using the half-ball thingo, med-ball wall bounces with lunging calf-raises (I progressed from 5 sets of low, medium and high using the 4kg ball to the same with a 5kg ball), speed bag / reaction boxing and kwon board uppercuts and jabs. I spent a couple of tracks just rotating between skipping and burning up my shoulders using a big rope and a kinda drumming action (insert imagination here - think of me sweaty and jacked into the music drumming with huge ropes, making sinusoidal patterns with it!). I followed this up with around 15 minutes of abdominal work.

Swim-Chillax

Swimming is my cool down at the moment, so I jumped in and smashed out a 500m swim in 14 minutes. A little slower than usual, I was working on technique. I was focusing on the tumble turn and kick off to conserve some energy. I'm finding knocking out 500m-1km quite comfortable these days - which is my aim! After my swim, I was reluctant to jump out of the 28 degree bathtub in the fresh cool evening air…and relaxed, leaning against my arms on the pool edge, with body in the water in the shallow end…I drifted off. I was initially meditating, my usual relaxing internal chant and breathing with relaxed deep inhalations and exhalations….I was dreaming, and very cosy until I heard one of my instructors talking to his young daughter (about how hard a day I'd had…lol) which roused me and brought me back into the now! I think I could've stayed there heaps longer otherwise!

It's important to properly cool down and relax after a big workout, so after the relax part I jumped out and walked briskly back to my cabin - in my damp gym gear (after dark)….brrrr! Slightly fresher than this morning! A nice hot shower and pre-warmed PJs (thanks to my radiators) saw me warm up nicely!

Day 12 - Just Do It

Fridays are always a dilemma at the moment. Do I get up early and train in the gym, or get up early and study for this weeks' exam? Well, last week I chose gym so for contrast I chose study. I wanted to test a theory about gym versus study on a friday prior to my exam. I was feeling awesome from the gym, but slightly under prepared for the exam - you know, last minute "did I study enough" syndrome.

Round 2

So, still I still got up, and bounded out of my rack and got my life in order. By 0520h I was chomping on my gluten free cereal and eating a ripe banana, whilst reading through my revision on Fluids Management…. How apt, because everyone knows that early morning draining of the "main" is essential! I digress.

Study done, I went to the revision class then sat my exam. A few curve-ball questions in I felt fairly happy with my progress, albeit a little guilty for not training yet…strange how that works!

After the exam, whilst smashing a frozen yoghurt smoothie, I decided to go for a gym session after lunch, then swim for cardio.

Ding, Ding!

After frustratingly honest and accurate conversation with Mr P, I realised I was perhaps idling on my training, and not paying enough attention to my whole nutrition improvement plan. Angered at this, but acutely aware at how he had me pinned - "Grr, I hate it when people are so right, and can't understand why I don't get it!" - I decided to skip lunch in lieu of the fact I'd not long ago had a smoothie and should do some exercise.

Mr P - I get it, but will power is part of my journey - Yea! I said it journey!

I've decided to adopt a few changes, to draw a few lines on the ground and mark out some modifications to my diet and training. They are a work in progress so will likely change if I decide to get more into it…..(that was my disclaimer)

My Challenges:

1. I plan to swim 2-3 lunch times every working week, and have a liquid lunch.
2. I test out my metabolism by eating more frequently, but smaller portions throughout the day
3. I will try to use self-control to reduce and eventually remove sugar nasties and less than healthy choices
4. I will not eat late at night, or directly before bed
5. I will continue to hydrate and include more electrolytes into my diet

Freaky Tri-day

So, by 1430h I had realised I had skipped lunch but I'd need to get out training. I left the wardroom set in my mind - Ride 20km then swim 1km, follow it up with a shoulder burn out in the gym. I think that was a better plan...As I cruised into the 15km point on my ride, very close to Crib Point, I had yet another Rocky training montage come to mind, which pushed me to think about my workout as I rode. I ended up deciding I'd do a quick transition from ride gear to run gear and add a 5km run into the workout. Well that meant a quick three storey climb up the fire escape stairwell with my awesomely light weight road bike a quick strip off (in my cabin) and change to run gear. We can call that T1. It took about 2-3 minutes, I even smashed a huge gulp of water as I slammed the door behind me and switched my Garmin 910XT into Run mode. 

I ran around HMAS Cerberus, and decided on the fly that I would be running off-base (lucky I have an awesome bro in law & sis in law) so glad I had my ID card in my "SPIBELT" pouch! I continued off-base and enjoyed the run towards the local golf course, at the 4km point I turned about and head back. I finished the short 8km run by running back up the fire escape, grabbing my pre-packed swim bag (and another gulp of water) and running down to the gym! As I heaved at the counter, sweating all over the place I quickly signed in and headed to the pool. I got changed into my "nut-huggers", grabbed my goggles and jumped into the pool - T2 - remembering to switch my watch over to Swim mode right at the last second. T2 took less than 3 minutes.

As I swam the first of 20 lengths of the 50m pool, which was completely empty besides me, I started to feel really motivated, like a heightened focus to swim as hard as I could to knock it over! I reached the deep end and attempted my first tumble turn, and pulled it off (I only do at the deep end, but I'm learning at least). Before I knew I was already half way through my 1km swim and feeling pretty good. I completed the swim in a not too embarrassing time and gave my legs and arms a proper stretch.

I'd just completed a triathlon (albeit out of sequence) in 02:04:58 and it was my first ever! So here's how it went:

Ride: 20.43km, 49:49

Run: 8.234km, 44:30

Swim: 1.0km, 30:38

After a quick change, post swim,  I spent the next 60 minutes training hard in the gym - busting some new moves on my already aching shoulders. I think I'll incorporate a few of those new exercises into my workout for shoulders next week too!

Motivation

Anyway, so motivation huh? It comes in all sorts of packages, ways and wonders. Its also quite revealing to have frank discussions occasionally, that lift you up and make you push harder. Motivation is great, but its hard to conjure when you're feeling homesick, tired or hungry. So train hard, wake up early and hydrate. Talk to your loved ones, tell them you love them and stay focussed. 

Train hard. Get stuck in. Just Crack On. 

Day 7 - Rest Day?

On a Personal Note

Well Hello, and Happy Sunday! Oh and Happy Mother's Day to my Mumma in England, I miss you very much. It was lovely chatting to you earlier!

For Mr Q

Moving On…

Interesting day Sunday. A day to rest, a day to organise for the week ahead or is it business as usual?

Today, my intentions were simple - relax, chill out, go grocery shopping, take some time to look ahead, to plan…. After waking at my new and improved early weekend time 0f 0730h, I found I had some spare time to 'kill', so I did some study, organised and got a yummy breakfast from the wardroom. I then organised with Mr Norm and Mr P to head into Frankston to go shopping, and Mr Q joined us too. 

Mr Q likes to take his time, and chase people (me) with Mars Bars and mock my glutardiness, but generally he's a pretty decent fella, even if he is still offering / taunting me with mars bars as I write this….

I removed Mr Q's name...

We all jumped on the train, got to Frankston and went for a chillax coffee. I finished a sudoku puzzle and soaked up some of the warm sunshine. I then departed the group and went to do my own thing. I had already put together my shopping list this morning, so went to get my groceries - a man with a plan!

After, I jumped on the next train back and joined Mr Norm and Mr P. On my return I got stuck straight into preparations for next week. First my uniform, then my boots, then I juiced some oranges (somehow the pips got thru the mesh and now I need to strain) but I'm looking forward to something new and healthy each day!

Hummus, made by Bullet

Yes, you read it. I made my very own hummus. I'm pretty certain Winnie will have blogged on ETD regarding the fine details of this hummus - needless to say it took less than 5 minutes to prep and make. Best of all, I needed two things - a knife (check) and a blender (check). I guess-timated the measurement - since I'm something of a kitchen demon at home, so man-made (literally) and totally tasty spicy hummus! A short while later I had sliced and diced half a bag of carrots in perfect batons and distributed into little zip locks!

Hummus by Bullet

Left Peanut & Cocunut Spread, Right My Hummus

How to kill boredom in the RAN…

Well, you could watch a movie, have a sleep, do more study (yea-right) or train. Since I'm working on getting my body fit to be a father, triathlete and 'hubba-hubby'…I opted for cake.

Only JOKING! I went to the gym with Mr P. We did a fairly intense Shoulders session, which I topped off with nice 500m swim (15 minutes of slog), complete with 5 fairly crappy (I'm learning) tumble turns!

Not bad for 'rest day'…

What did you do today? I hope you found some crazy last minute motivation, or had some time to chill and eat cake (jokes). No Seriously.

I like this.

Day 5 - TFI Friday!

Today is a little milestone, on what appears to be a long journey for me. Today marks 5 days of solid training and the highs and lows that accompany it.

This week I've pushed harder, sweated more and felt more driven. I've fallen off my wagon and got back onto it again. I've learned a few life lessons along the road, but mostly I've enjoyed it.

Early Morning Activity

Well, my take on Early Morning Activity (EMA) of any kind is that it gets your blood pumping, forces you outta bed and makes you focus before you head to work, or wherever you need to be later. EMA is as much about discipline as it is about forging a pattern, a way of being and getting fit. I also would like to think it stops me being lazy; and when that alarm buzzer goes off it should pull you from your cosy, warm slumber! You then have two choices:

1. Stay put and let your brain start to procrastinate (bad move)
2. Just get the heck out of bed and move yourself before your brain takes over and starts to try and reason with you!

I used to take option 1, now I make a really huge effort to take option 2. I hear the alarm go off, I turn on a light, check my phone, and roll out of bed. I then scupper around making my warm lemon water and get dressed for the gym. I walk out of the door knowing I'm on track.

Discipline

Thats nice I hear you say… He gets up early - whoopdie-doo! Well, this brings me to a point that is important to me - Discipline. It is vital. We wanna get ourselves feeling a little regimented first thing. We really like not having to think first thing in the morning, just do what is necessary before getting stuck into any work or activity.

Living a more disciplined lifestyle has afforded me so many things. Be being more consistent with what time I roll out of bed, I have so much more useful/productive time each day. Being strict with my diet, cutting out gluten for example, I find that I need to be disciplined and this ties in nicely with self-control! 

So, I'm trying to be more disciplined with this new routine of mine. Its helping me to create some new habits and its helping me to steer clear of the bad habits!

Focus

So, I find that these early gym sessions get me going. They help me stay focused for the rest of the day. Which is why, when I woke up this morning, I forced myself to break from my habit of revision, cram, revision (prior to my usual Friday morning exam) and I got up at 0500h and went to the gym. I did a shorter than normal workout - the purpose of my workout was to "keep the routine" and reinforce the new habit. It worked. I trained Back for 40 minutes and promptly returned to my cabin to shower and study. I felt more focused and this meant I could really direct my revision. Subsequently, I think I did pretty well in my exam and will be sure to do some form of EMA next Friday!

Legs!

After doing some housekeeping in my cabin - ironing my uniform and preparation for tonight's Wardroom Mess Dinner, I decided to take Mr P's (p for protein) offer of joining him for "legs day", and went back to the gym for a 90 minute leg workout - my first. I went through all the exercises with him, and worked within my body's limits, I listened to my body and gave it my best! I kind of enjoyed legs, so I'll be sure to maintain a day for legs each week! We did a whole manner of squats, curls, lunges and raises - and I knew I'd be sore tomorrow if I didn't loosen it all up a bit…so I went for a quick 500m swim. 14 minutes later I was stretching again! One thing I have to tell you, is I'm a self-developed freestyle swimmer and I only transitioned from Breast stroke a year or so ago… and today was the FIRST time I'd ever attempted (or even pulled off) my first Tumble Turn! I'll be sure to start adding that into my swims from now on!

Navy Tradition

Now, this post is being published late, so I felt it necessary to say why. Last night I was obligated to attend a Naval Tradition. Officers occasionally get the 'opportunity' to socialise in a formal setting known as a Mess Dinner. We all get dressed up in our 'Mess Undress' uniforms and attend a formal sit down (silver service) dinner with pre drinks, flowing wines and speeches. There's traditional things that go on during a Mess Dinner, and some of them date back to the times of Sir Lord Admiral Nelson, some new modifications to those traditions are also present. We had a formal "parading of the meat" (the stewards carried out the meat flaming on a platter), there was a lovely band playing, fantastic conversation with new colleagues and friends. There was a guest speaker, who had some very interesting stories about his career in the RAN, and some excellent advice from him to all of us! There was plenty of Port and that was awesome! I took a few pics (although I foolishly didn't get a snap of dessert).

I think its important to remember that being part of an organisation such as the Royal Australian Navy, and being a commissioned Officer within its hierarchy, that life and work are disciplined, but we have a lot of fun too (where appropriate). This was a fun occasion and its a major separator between civilian life and service. Thanks to XO for the event, and for sharing the fun of HMAS Cerberus' 100 years since commissioning with us.

HMAS Cerberus Commissioning Mess Dinner

Me in my Uniform

My Place Setting

Looking toward the top table

A View of the Vice-President

Shameless 'Selfie'

GF Tomato Soup

Sneaky Shot of Mr P

Beautiful Lamb Rack

This was and is the principle reason why I am posting this a few hours late! The function went on quite late, and then after sharing this experience with my parents (via FaceTime) in the UK, I was too tired to complete the post…. That does mean you'll get to read my Saturday (Day 6) post very soon too!