Finally! It was a GREAT run day

happy face, happy dance followed ;o)

Some days are pure gold and today was one of those running days.  Maybe it was the day off yesterday with no exercise that made me run with such enthusiasm and without the concrete legs.  It was so exciting and I knew before I had even finished my first run cycle it was going to go well ... probably because I was still breathing slowly and my brain was functioning without the usual oxygen depletion it works on while I'm out running!  More than likely, however, it was a result of the addition fitness work I have been doing and now its finally paying off, not that I'm impatient or anything ;0)

This week I will tackle Week Four and even if its a grind, get it done and run as best I can.  At the end of the week I'll reevaluate and work out whether I can can carry on or whether another redo will be in order.  No point in looking ahead though as one thing I have learnt over the last month is that every running day is completely different to the next!

In other news the Paleo Whole30 is going pretty well ... I miss the sugar in my now decaf coffee but hopefully by the end of the month I won't miss it as much as I do now!  I am over the first weeks lack lustre energy with the change in eating habits and am feeling much better today.  I was starting to get quite demoralised by the end of last week but things are looking far rosier the last couple of days and I have been branching out and trying lots of recipes from Pinterest ... I just forget to take photos as often its so good I forget to stop eating it :0D.  Below are a couple of the recipes the household have tried and enjoyed with links to their sources.

almond meal pancakes from its time to burn

this is the curried beef recipe from nom nom paleo, clearly mine didn't make
it into a frittata just into lettuce wraps :)

and on Thursday night we had these delicious Paleo Hawaiian Hamburgers,
idea from against all grain but i didn't use the recipe as we didn't have the
right ingredients, however the concept was awesome and so was the version
the peeps and i made!

Feeling Down

It's not me to feel down, I don't do down well but the last couple of days I have been ... well ... deflated. There is really no other way to describe it.  I was more disappointed than I gave myself permission to be about having to redo week three before moving on to week four of the running program.  In that same period of time I have written two blog posts and then got sidetracked and lost both of them as neither saved ... apparently I am also a slow learner this week as well ;0)  As such, I got grumpy with my devices and haven't been able to bring myself to write the posts again until this evening!  I got some great encouragement from my dear friends today and it has spurred me into action and I feel much better about my progress and the adjustments I have made to my running program and eating.

Love the track, so do the peeps!

The peeps and I have been out running and walking using various routes around our local district.  Today we headed back to the Hawkes Bay Sports Park to use the track, probably my favourite place to run as it reminds me of the cool atmosphere at the cca in Bukit Timah.  It was a good session, I ground out my run as opposed to springing along today but done is better than perfect :0) Tomorrow is another day and I am determined to get my smile and enthusiasm back as I'm doing just fine.  Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was my ability to run 5K!

Tonights Paleo Dinner ... Hawaiian Hamburgers!

Last nights dessert, 3/4c of berries, 1/4c of coconut milk, 1 tbsp coconut,
add to a pot and heat ....

Thank you for this recipe Caryn, its divine at the end of the day!

Back to Week Three

The Support Crew!

The running was really hard for me beginning of Week Four.  I managed to get through it but only just and I felt shattered afterwards and like it was a step too far.  So for today's run I went back to Week 3 Day 3 and think I will do this run for the remainder of this week.  I don't want the running to be so hard that it makes me not want to go out and do it.  I would rather get to the destination later and enjoy the journey getting there!  Thankfully I have enough time up my sleeve to afford this luxury before the 1 December race date.  Took the peeps out with me today.  They have until March 2014 before their first race.  It's probably just as well as Ben spends the majority of his session dancing his way up and down the street enjoying his tunes not running!  Polly needs new orthotics so her running has been downgraded to walking until we get her fitted for new ones.  Running will happen for all of us eventually :0)

To help ease the running not only have I taken the Paleo Whole30 challenge, I have also added walking into my life to increase my fitness levels ... I'm going with the no stone unturned theory :0) The walking is really enjoyable as I spend the whole time on my phone chatting to my dear friend in Auckland who goes out walking at the same time. We are slightly nuts but we have always encouraged each other with regards to fitness and it gets us both out there and enjoying it!

Short and sweet for today, tomorrow I'll be testing out some Paleo recipes I have found on Pinterest ... let you know how it goes!

Todays Paleo lunch ... not bad, not bad at all!

Its a Paleo kinda day or 30 DAYS!

I have been taking lots of advice about food, and as I've said before I've been in a quandary about what the next step to take should be.  Apparently if you wait, the answer will come hunt you out and tell you where you are next heading without needing to do anything!  My dear friend and running mentor Caryn spent time chatting with her Nutritionist Mikki Williden last week and has been convinced to do a Paleo Diet for 30 days, more commonly referred to as Whole30.  I emailed her back to see if she wanted some company on this journey and as we both like doing things with others, she of course said yes!  So today I organised myself into a Paleo lifestyle!

Paleo is all about whole foods and no gluten, sugar, dairy, potatoes, legumes, grains, and cereals. This is a way of eating that loves unprocessed foods which are mainly protein rich with plenty of nourishment from vegetables as long as they aren't starchy.  There is also no allowance for caffeine or alcohol!  For me Paleo seems like the next logical step in refining my eating habits so they are healthy and wholesome 95% of the time.  Since being gluten and dairy free I have had a reliance on sugar ... especially where my coffees are concerned!  Going from milk laden lattes to long blacks was a step too far without adding in a sugar ... the sugar was the saving grace for my long blacks and now I'm addicted to the sugar in my coffee :o)

Many of you know there are few things I do in life without consulting Pinterest, so to get over the initial fear at what I had signed up to for the next 30 days I began my Pinterest research!  I gathered so much information and so many recipe ideas my new Paleo board started filling up quickly!  There was so much information, the recipes all looked awesome, and I moved from fear to excitement ... thank you Pinterest.

I have a goal to lose 10kgs by Christmas, ambitious yes, doable certainly!  So I have weighed myself and put it into a tracker.  Caryn then informed me once I had weighed myself I wasn't allowed to weigh myself again until the 30 days were up ... ok, a little fear again but I am game and it is only for 30 days.   I will be letting you know how I am going with this and you will see some recipes sourced from Pinterest appearing on this blog over the next month that are all Paleo certified!

I am REALLY hopping this change in diet helps with the running because it was insanely hard today ... I got through the session, but only just.  I think week four will have to be redone before I will head to week fives sessions.

At least the sun was out!

Fitness Apps

As promised I have been busy organising some apps for toning over the last day and have found some good ones.  I have been spurred on to put some toning into the daily fitness regime by a friend of mine but it actually started at a get together at our house last weekend.  I was busy trying to recruit runners for the 5K on the first of December.  Some bright spark (Alana Mill you are trouble!) decided we needed to do some exercise right then  ... there is nothing like peer pressure so five females took to the floor to tone our abs and butts while waiting for Otane takeaways to make it home!!  

As is the way nowadays, two minutes after the idea was mooted an app had been downloaded and we were into our first five minute butt toning exercise session.  Two days later the pain set in and it became apparent some toning should be continued ;0)   I am all in favour of doing things with others so when one of my dear friends thought we should Skype each other six evenings to continue on, I was all for it!  I figured it was pointless having a gorgeous J Lo butt in the future if other parts of me weren't also toned, especially as I need a well toned core for my running endeavours.  After some app research I have downloaded ab and arms workouts to go with the butt one.  All of them have varying degrees of difficulty and last between five and ten minutes so they are perfect for slotting into the day without impacting on your time too much ... And BONUS they were all free too!!

So this week the anti has been upped and toning will hopefully be taking place all over the body!  Tomorrow I will be posting on a new diet I am undertaking for the next 30 days starting tomorrow ... yikes, the body won't know what's hit it!!

Three Weeks of Running Done and Dusted!

It was COLD ... Spring has temporarily disappeared!

BUT today it was forced ... really forced!  It was freezing outside and inside the fire was going and I have a thousand jobs I want to get done, as you do when you move into a new home.  The morning passed by and I did not feel the need to venture outside, I was having way too much fun helping my girl peep sort out play with her Lego.

I eventually got out the door and started my last session for week three when it started to rain :0(  It was a big change from the 30+ temperatures I have been used to in Singapore.  I must have looked hilarious, I had BRIGHT pink shorts on and I had completely red legs from the single digit temperature mixed with pouring rain and wind chill :0D ... mmmm, probably not my best look of the week!  I got home and felt pretty proud I had continued and done the run even in those conditions.

Three weeks done and I am starting to think about additional ways of increasing my fitness so the running becomes easier.  The legs don't want to give out on the runs but the breathing could be a whole lot better.  For me that means incorporating some walking into the off days, along with some toning exercises and a strengthening of my non-existent core.  When I started Caryn advised me that running requires a strong core as it makes it easier and more comfortable.  I know as a result of back surgery last year I don't have a particularly strong core.  If I had bothered to use my core muscles over the last thirty years I probably wouldn't have had any lower back issues ;o)  I have made progress in this area, I now know where it is and can turn it off and on ... and that's pretty much where my core excitement stops!  My goal over the next couple of days is to find a beginners guide to developing core strength and incorporate that in as a daily habit.  

Tomorrow I'll let you know what the toning and core activities are going to entail and we may also have a change in the diet coming up .... xx

Still Running, The Posting Just Went Wayward

Beautiful Spring day for running

Ok, I have now changed countries and while I have made sure the running hasn't stopped, the posting did for the last several days as I am shattered.  I have been away from home in Otane for seven weeks and during that time I don't think I stopped ... too much fun and way to many things to do and enjoy.  I even came home to a small party to thank our builder, plasterer, kitchen maestro, and the lovely Vanessa from Mitre 10. Today I sat down and stopped and in doing so I became really really tired!

Before I sat down and stopped I took the peeps up to Hawkes Bay Sports Park for a run.  What a beautiful place, nobody was there when we arrived and it made me think back to the atmosphere at the cca in Bukit Timah and miss it greatly.  However, the scenery was beautiful, the track was premo, and the sky was brilliant blue.  Halfway through our session we were joined by a cross fit group and some runners who looked like they needed a break from their day jobs!!

I have now completed W3D2 and its fair to say the running is becoming more prevalent in each session and I have also realised I don't work well with two days rest so I am going to run every second day.  It will make my weeks six day weeks but two days rest isn't currently working in my favour as the legs seem to cease up.  If it works out to be too much this way, I may look at going back to a seven day week and adding in a walk to the week instead but I'll try the six day week first.

My next post will be a little more enthusiast but for now that's about all I can muster!  Singapore I MISS you, New Zealand it is NICE to be home :0)
 



This is why I need more muscles, too much shopping!