More outside

Saturday:

Yesterday was not very exciting. We did the grocery shopping and walked to pick up the old car Nugget in the afternoon. The engine is sounding much better.

This morning we cleaned house for two hours ready for yet another weekend of inspections - the auction is on Thursday! Then we went out to another park on another sunny day.

We started by the lake (that is a pelican in the background, there were also lots of ducks)

then Aiden and I followed the creek upstream to its source. I suppose it was only a few hundred metres but it twisted and turned and was interrupted by little ponds and miniature waterfalls and we hopped over stepping stones and it was very nice. Then we met up with Tim and Jasmine again and the kids played on the flying fox thing.

Aiden wanted to show the others the lovely creek so we walked back to the start where it bubbled out of the ground and played "Pooh Sticks". For those of you whose childhood didn't include the books about Winnie the Pooh (a teddy bear) and his friends in 100-Acre Wood, Pooh Sticks is where you each put a stick (or leaf, or piece of bark, or whatever you find) in a fast-moving stream and then run along beside shouting in excitement and dislodging it when it gets stuck in an eddy and then see who wins.

It was lunchtime so we had pizza by the lake at a place we hadn't tried before but was really good. Sriracha pulled beef! Yummy. By then everyone would have finished looking at our house so we went home. To find big black marks all over the kitchen floor lino!? Someone dragging a freshly polished shoe? A kid in roller skates? Luckily the marks came off easily enough. I'll have to ask the real estate agent.

In the afternoon Jasmine went to a birthday party at SkyZone (trampoline place) and then both children went to their irregular semi-weekly kids' Dungeons and Dragons session at a friend's house.

I had the silliest conversation with the real estate agent. While chatting, I mentioned that I was born in the city of Melbourne. He asked which part, and I said "Geelong". He immediately said his family was from there and launched into talking about the suburb, its pros and cons, and which bit his ancestors were from and how they moved there in 1933 etc. Now firstly, we moved away from Melbourne when I was one year old and I have rarely visited any part of that city since then. And secondly I am not from Geelong. I have no idea why that name fell out of my mouth. I have no association with that suburb at all, and don't know why it was even in my brain. So I sat there wondering why I had instantly said Geelong, and listened to him talk about it. There didn't seem to be any point I could break in and say "Actually I'm not from there, I don't know why I said that," without embarrassment, so I kept silent. Completely unimportant, but I felt a bit silly.

Aunt Beverley

Monday:

I slept really well last night; according to my fitbit I barely moved a muscle all night. It was a great catch up. But then I logged on to my email to the news that my aunt died yesterday of inoperable stomach cancer. She was only diagnosed less than two weeks ago. And only about ten weeks since my mum, her older sister, died of cancer. My aunt Beverley was only 66. It's very sad. My cousin Kim and I have been messaging and she said "I'm still in shock. The pain is unbearable." I've discussed here before about whether it's better to have warning of a loved-one's death, and I've decided definitely yes. I had a year to get used to the idea that my mum was going to die soon, it was hard but I was prepared and I'd spent time with her first. My aunt was diagnosed less than two weeks ago. Ten days, I think. That is still a little time, I guess, but not much. I think a sudden death, like a car accident, would be the worst. You would probably feel so many things left unsaid, guilt for not resolving an argument or not being a perfect daughter or whatever, cheated that you didn't get to spend any more time with them. They are just suddenly gone. Even though it means seeing your loved-one in pain, knowing ahead of time still gives you some time for resolution. And my mum had time to settle her affairs and say goodbye and was ready to die. I didn't even have time to visit my aunt in another city, I found out last Wednesday.

I had already decided that after the weekend, what I needed today was a long walk out in the autumn sunshine. And after that news, even more so. It just seemed much more appealing than sweating it out at the gym or jumping around my lounge room. So I went to the lake with the warm sun and fresh breeze and the water views and the trees thinking about turning to autumn colours.

 

I was tired by the end of the 5K and also hungry. I had brought an apple in the car but after I dropped it onto concrete twice and it rolled into a filthy gutter I decided against eating it. I had to wait until I got to the shops and then had a banana. Grocery shopping was weird, they had hardly anything I wanted in the meat section. I plan my meals ahead of time and get a bit frazzled if I have to make last minute changes. So I just bought ingredients for the next two days then I'll shop again. No whole chickens, raw or cooked?! No beef ribs for casserole?! No steak that looked up to my high standards! And then I went to my favourite rotisserie chicken shop to buy lunch and guess what: no chickens ready for takeaway! 25 minute wait! Bugger that. Too hungry to wait. It was a bit annoying, as well as having some for lunch with salad it would have been the basis of the kids' lunches for a couple of days. Is there some kind of protein shortage in Canberra today? I made a less-healthy choice instead.

As well as the cake, we had a few things left over from the party. I put a couple of tempting things away in the cupboard. Why? Because a) at some point in the next few days it was magically going to be ok for me to binge on them? or b) I wanted to binge on them and if they were there I could, and then blame it on my poor judgement in keeping them? Not "current self's" fault for eating them, it was "past self's" fault for keeping them. Guess which is the right answer. But last night after I went to bed I got up and put them in the bin, carefully pouring the contents out so they couldn't be salvaged. So good job there. I definitely would have eaten them today. Now we only have stuff that doesn't tempt me. And they will go to supper tonight with Tim and his D&D friends.

I weighed myself this morning, a small increase after the weekend but nothing too dramatic. But my weight has crept up all fortnight - with three weekend events in a row - and I am above last month's weigh-in for dietbet. Yet I need to lose 3% from that winning point in the next fortnight. I really don't think there is any possible way to make this month's goal without losing a limb. Yet I am not giving up. The point of doing a six month dietbet is so I won't give up just because one month is going badly. I just have to keep trying for that end goal. It's a struggle, but one that has to continue for my health's sake. It will continue to be tricky, I imagine we will be travelling soon for my aunt's funeral, and then the following weekend is Easter and I love chocolate.

Report card:
Diet: Ok. Bad lunch, but good the rest of the day. I'm glad I took action last night to avoid a binge today. Because I really wanted those Malteasers.
Exercise: Good. 11,500 steps.
Water: Good.
Sleep: Good.
Mental health: Sad. I am not looking forward to the funeral, whenever that is. I can feel the roomful of misery already. It is going to be hard to keep it together.

A walk in the sunshine

Monday:

This morning I went for a walk around the lake. It was lovely weather, a little cold when the sun went behind a cloud but otherwise good. I didn't hurry, but stopped lots of times to take photos and just enjoy the day.

This is a series of pillars with the names of Australian of the Year since that started. The pillars stand on the five lines of a musical stave, and if you played them as notes it would sound out our National Anthem.

This swan started heading towards me as soon as I stopped to take photos. Was it a particularly vain bird, or just hoping for food?

Part of the path was blocked off but the diversion through the sculpture garden of the art gallery was lovely, well worth the bit of extra distance. I should go that way again.

The carillon looks like a smokestack, but that is just a cloud behind it. The carillon is actually a bell tower that chimes every quarter hour, and they also have regular recitals. It is on its own little island on the lake.

Ducks. Since they look slightly different, I assume a male and a female mated pair. I wonder if there will be little ducklings soon.

Swans in the shade under the spring blossoms. It looked like they were eating grass. Do they? I know geese eat grass.

My total walk was 5.64 km in 1 hr 15 mins. And I really enjoyed it.

Then it was time to do the grocery shopping. I had planned to bring my morning snack to eat after my walk, but forgot. No problem. I just bought some individual cheese serves and a bag of baby carrots. I also bought some strawberries, but then I asked myself - am I doing this carb cycling diet or am I not? And my answer was that I am. So I have kept the strawberries for tomorrow, when I can eat them without guilt. I sat outside the supermarket and ate my cheese and a couple of carrots, then got on with the shopping. I noticed that although they don't have Christmas decorations up yet, they did have Christmas themed foods available - little plum puddings and festive cakes. Since we don't do Thanksgiving or Halloween here, there is nothing for a long time after Easter. Christmas starts very early!

By the time I got home and made and ate lunch, it was well after 2:00. Nearly time for the kids to get home. No writing today.

Breakfast was roast beef, cucumber and tomato. And tea.

Then I remembered I have carbs with breakfast, even on a low carb day. So I had an apple. I only ate half, I was too full.

No photo of my morning snack at the shops. Lunch was chicken breast, mushrooms and onion, finished with a dash of cream. (I didn't eat it all.) It was really delicious. And tea. And half a mug of a new batch of vegetable broth.

 

My afternoon snack was some cashews with a cucumber and a small carrot. The cucumber looks like it has been on The Biggest Loser, it has a waist! Or maybe it wanted to grow up to be a skittle in a bowling alley.

 

Dinner was bolognaise with zoodles.

 

A very good day in terms of food and exercise. I do feel like I'm missing a bit of life balance, though. The whole day was spent planning, purchasing and preparing food, eating healthy food, or exercise. All important things. But I didn't get any "work" done. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Chase the Stars 2

Monday:

This morning I weighed in at 85 kg exactly. Still going up, and now only 1 kg lower than my highest PREGNANT weight. I was dreading this so much that it was almost a relief to see the number. No, not almost, an actual relief. Weird, huh? It was like, ok, there it is, now I can stop worrying I'll hit that number and just get on with it.

This past weekend was the second official Chase the Stars 5k. I didn't get out there and do it, no excuse, but I went first thing this morning. To make sure, I even drove the kids to school and went straight on to the lake. I was scared if I got everyone out of the house, first day of term, I would then sit down with a nice cup of tea and relax the day away.

When I got there it was cloudy and cold, I had some layers on but my hands were pretty chilly.

But by half-way round the sky had partly cleared. I took a few pictures of swans. That is the National Library in the background, and the avenue of trees that I get to in the next picture.

 By the end it was sunny and lovely. Here is some autumn colour. This is why I love walking around the lake! So pretty.



It took me a long time to walk around. I was doing my Zombies, Run! app, I had to run away from zombies a couple of times but otherwise was walking briskly. It's a bit more than 5k and it took me about 1 hr 05 mins. Unfortunately the app froze at 1 hr and then inexplicably only recorded 4.12 km in 50:10 min so it went back in time and space. It has recorded me for more than an hour before so I have no idea why it did that. Anyway, I did my 5k walk and got my exercise done for the day!

Being a good host?

Thursday:

If health scares (and shrinking clothes) aren't enough to shock me into working on my health, well then I'll just have to do it anyway.

It is just under ten weeks until my birthday. A good slice of time to work with. Lets see what I can do in ten weeks.

I tried to take the kids to see a movie (the Lego movie) today but the shopping centre was so busy that I couldn't get a parking spot. There were queues of cars going round and round, hoping to pounce when someone left. It is a long weekend here from tomorrow (ANZAC Day, which is to thank our military for their sacrifices) so I guess it was people stocking up on food for that plus school holiday crowds of parents looking for something to do with their bored children. It was weird though, I've never seen it that bad except in the days before Christmas. We gave up after a few laps of the three sections of car-park and came home and they watched Harry Potter on DVD. I was glad I'd done all my grocery shopping earlier in the week.

My dad visited yesterday with his new girlfriend, we went on a boat cruise around the lake then dinner here. He's visiting his brother today but will be back for dinner again tonight. I try not to be a food pusher but my idea of being a good host includes having food available, so chocolate biscuits on the table at afternoon tea time, dessert at dinner time, and cheese and crackers for supper. Wendy had mentioned to me that she had recently lost of lot of weight (nearly 30 kg, 60 pounds) after gaining it when her husband died, and I felt guilty later about offering her all that unhealthy food. I didn't force anything on her (I offer once and don't press) but her idea of being a good guest might include accepting what is offered, especially if the host made it themself and also I know myself that it's not a easy thing to turn down something you like if it's right in front of you. What do people suggest in this circumstance? I know that no-one needs snacks between meals or dessert but it is normal to offer. I suppose I should just make sure there are healthier options available, like fruit maybe, and continue to only offer each thing once.

Unexpected walk

Wednesday:

My annual parking pass for the Arboretum finally arrived so I was going to go and write at the café there this morning, but apparently there was a five-car pile up near there and the traffic was really bad so I ended up going to the lake for a walk. I was dressed right for a walk because I'd planned to go on a short stroll at the Arboretum anyway before getting down to work, but I didn't have a drink with me or sunscreen on my arms (only SPF face-cream on my face and chest).

It took me a while to get into a good walking rhythm. It was a really hot day, even at 9.30am, and I don't like the heat much, and the flies were really bugging me. But after a while I started enjoying it. I was listening to a zombie mission and my own music playlist and there was lots to look at and find pleasure in. The circuit between the two bridges used to be 5K but they've done some work on the paths and the road crossings and I think it is significantly further now - actually just checked my zombie app and I walked 5.73 km - at around 4.5 km/h, which for me is brisk walk. So it took me well over an hour. About one km from the end I suddenly ran out of energy. I could barely drag myself back to the car, and I would have stopped to rest except I was also really hungry and thirsty. There are bubblers (drinking fountains) at intervals around the lake but I'd only had one drink early on and then didn't find another one in the last bit when I needed it.

I had a banana in the car so I sat in the shade and ate that, and then I had a dilemma. I was really thirsty, and there were a couple of food outlets within a couple of hundred meters of my car where I could have bought a bottle of water. But I was also ravenously hungry, and I didn't trust myself to make good choices if I exposed myself to the sight and smell of calorie-laden food. I'd already decided not to go into the library to write, I was too hot and tired and sweaty, so I just went home. All the way home I imagined tearing into a slice of roast beef! I used that to keep my mind off more starchy and sugary foods. As soon as I got home I had two glasses of water and ate my lunch (even though it was only 11.15) of leftover roast. Delicious.

The soles of my feet were very sore by the end, I need to toughen them up again with more long walks. My hips didn't hurt while walking but they were very stiff and sore when I got out of the car at home after sitting for a quarter of an hour after the walk, and still hurt now two hours later. Got to get this body a lot fitter and more flexible! And maybe start carrying sunscreen in the car; the sides of my neck, exposed by a ponytail and not covered in face cream, are a bit pink.

So I've done my exercise for the day, 9000 steps so far, but that doesn't absolve me from my other work so I'd better get on with it.

photo by longreach

Even more steps

Tuesday:

It's only just past lunchtime and I'm nearly 13,000 steps! After picking up the kids from school later and incidental movement, I might even make 15,000 today. It is a big time commitment. But I'm enjoying it.

I did a similar routine to yesterday. Walked around the lake with a stop at Floriade about 3/4 of the way around. Yesterday was sunny and still, today was windy. A bit chilly beside the lake, and when I was walking over the long bridge the wind was whipping up from the water so hard that I not only had to hold my hat on, I also had to hold my t-shirt down or it would have been around my neck! My eyes were watering so much I could hardly see where I was going. But it was nice on the calmer side (is that the lee side?).

I sat at a café at Floriade, overlooking lovely tulip beds, and had a cup of tea and my banana while I read for a while. I am judging the Aurealis Awards again this year (fantasy short story section) and I am a bit behind with my reading. Then more walking. I tried to always take the long way round, on the interesting twisty paths.

Yesterday I'd forgotten to take my headphones so I couldn't listen to music or zombies and just had to immerse myself in the day, which was kind of nice, but it was even better today with my tunes and the zombie story to distract me from tired legs. My body was actually pretty tired this morning, but it will just have to get used to moving around again.

Even though I had jumped in the car the moment I got the kids to school this morning, I still missed out on an all-day parking spot and had to settle for three hours again. This didn't give me enough time to sit in the library and write, so I'll have to do that at home now before I run out of kid-free day.

Tonight is our usual Tuesday night D&D game and supper. I am NOT going to binge this week. I am contributing a cheese platter and I am saving a dairy serving and a carb serving so I can have some. I know crackers are not a healthy carb but I got wholegrain ones. And I will have some chocolate as a planned indulgence.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will mention that I have had some food samples at Floriade. A taste of sour candy, some "stupidly hot" chilli sauce on a cracker, sips of herbal tea. Yesterday I had a couple of Vienna almonds (with vanilla & sugar crust), toasted sunflower seeds on a morsel of buttered bread, and a smidgin of rocky road. I do know that a nibble here and a bite there can add up, but I am keeping my eye on my intake and I think I am ok so far. The servings are honestly teeny tiny. Nevertheless, I will continue to be conscious of how much I am having. I took my own banana for morning tea and came home for lunch.

Saturday at the lake

Saturday:

Thursday was ANZAC day (when Australia and New Zealand thank our war heros) and Tim took Friday off so we're having a nice family long weekend. We couldn't go away because my mum was staying with us, and also I still have editing work to finish.

I always stress about food when mum comes to visit. The irony is, of course, that she would be happy to have cheese on toast or something. She always gives us the same thing when we visit her. But I like to show off my culinary skills. Unfortunately my mum is affected by salicylates which are heavily concentrated in a lot of vegetables and fruit and almost all spices. And processed or packaged foods. And she is not that keen on eating a lot of meat. Which doesn't leave a lot of choice. Starches and fat, basically.

Anyway, we've had a calorie-laden weekend. Home-made chocolate cookies and banana bread, fried pork schnitzel and potato bake, croissants for breakfast, and we went to Pancake Parlour for lunch today as an early Mother's Day celebration. She went home this afternoon but it's not over yet -- still lots of left-overs!

After she'd gone we went out to the lake for some exercise. The kids took their razor scooters and Tim kept pace with me as I did my zombie run. He's much fitter than me so it's kind of embarrassing for him to see me struggling but it was also nice for us all to be out together.

Week 4 of the program was a bit different; it had alternating slow and fast walking, knee lifts (which are hard) and 30 second running intervals. There was a 5 minute free run at the start and a 15 minute one at the end -- I continued to do 30 second intervals but not that many. I didn't feel like I got in as much running as last session but it was harder nonetheless.

My shins hurt straight away on the first run after the warm-up and Tim had to remind me to stretch, so we stopped to do that a few times and it really helped. A bit more pain than last session, but it was ok. Not as much as poor Jasmine who came off her scooter half-way around and hurt her knees and hands.

Tim and I are in agreement that it is harder to get back on the healthy wagon after a binge; it is a downward spiral. But it must be done.

Intervals

Tuesday:

I had been looking forward to doing my interval training today out in the lovely spring weather but when I woke up a bit sore this morning (from BodyPump yesterday, maybe there is a reason 5 k training is only every second day!) I started to feel a bit scared that I wouldn't be able to do it. The brief was to run for 1.00 minute eight times with 1.30 walk in between. Could I even run (jog) for a whole minute? I had no idea. I probably had done it, but eight times in a row?

After taking the kids to school I faffed around at home for a while, putting it off, but finally drove to the lake around 10.00 am. Warm day with a lot of cloud cover and a little breeze, perfect. Had my iPhone, hat, sunglasses, and sunscreen.

After a 5 min warm-up walk RunKeeper beeped and I started on my first run. Quick short steps, trit-trot-trit-trot. There was a sculpture of Whitlam, a politician, beside the path a bit ahead of me and I thought it was about the right distance. I wasn't far off, I was nearly there when the beep notified me my minute was over. That wasn't too hard. I could do that eight times, surely. I worked on my running rhythm and style, taking slightly longer more relaxed steps. Third interval was hard. Fourth interval was really hard. I'm sure this would be ridiculously easy for anyone used to running -- a minute at a time?! So slow it was barely faster than my walk! Ha! But it was hard for me.

Fifth interval I somehow suddenly hit my stride. It felt much better. I could have gone further instead of slumping back to a walk. And the final three intervals were the same. Not easy, never easy, but they felt much right-er than the first four. I did my eight intervals without stopping. So I just have to learn to keep that up for 30 mins straight ...

I was 2 km around the 5 km lake loop and kept walking, having the occasional drink from the bubblers (public drinking fountains). The breeze was blowing seeds off the trees, each one buoyed up by a wisp of white fluff. It was like walking through a warm blizzard. I got back to my starting point feeling strong.

And then I went around again, to achieve my personal goal for the month of walking 10 km straight. I started to need to pee after the first lap, but Floriade had just finished on the weekend and there were fences all around the park while they dismantled stuff so I had to go a fair way. After that brief stop I was suddenly tired and sore. And my feet started to really hurt. I wasn't bothered by the tired legs, but the balls of my feet were so sore that I was trying to walk on the outside edges of my feet for the last kilometre. Not so fun. I used to get sore feet doing 5 km walking, now at least I get to about 8 km. Presumably the wicking socks are helping. But that last bit was miserable. They are still quite sore now, a couple of hours later after a shower, but at least I can walk.

The school day is nearly over and I haven't got anything done! Except exercise. I've got my exercise done today.

Family walk

Saturday:

After seven days with no exercise (arg!), today we went out for a family walk around the lake. It had been a nice morning but by the time we got out after lunch the sky had closed in and there were sprinkles of rain. We set out regardless, Tim & I walking, Jasmine on her new razor scooter and Aiden on his bicycle. It's too small for him (he's getting a new one on his 6th birthday in a few weeks) and it looks a bit comical. He's fast though! The scooter he chose yesterday was a cheap one plastered with Ben 10 regalia but it's a piece of junk and I'm going to take it back and get him a decent one that doesn't rattle and wobble. Jasmine's is much better -- luckily they had a pink one in a studier make.

This time I was able to accurately measure the lake distance with RunKeeper, just over 5 km which is perfect. I don't have an precise measurement because it started raining much more heavily just as we were nearly back to the car so I cut diagonally across some grass and did exactly 5 km, if I'd walked back to my starting point it might have been another 200 metres or so. With one short jog near the end we did it in 61 minutes.

I've signed up for RunKeeper beginner 5 km training, I'll be doing their suggested program from Monday. Starting with a 2.4 km easy walk/jog. I think it's an 8 week program; then I'll try the local Saturday 5 km friendly race!

The kids will be back at school on Monday, I'm completely well and so is my ankle, no more excuses.

Walking and peeing

Tuesday:

I weigh myself every day, mostly because I would always rather know something than not know. I hate suspense of any kind. This morning I was 78.5 kg. 800 g (2 pounds) up from yesterday! I rarely get off and on the scale to check, but I did this morning. Nup, still that revolting number. After two and a half hours of exercise yesterday! Ok, I did have some twisties and chocolate. Maybe I was retaining water or something. It was really annoying and a bit discouraging but I didn't let it stop me getting on with an active day.

I walked for 1 hour and 45 mins, a lap of the lake and then briskly around Floriade. I had wanted to get an accurate reading of the distance around the lake (other people had posted it as anything from about 4.6 km to 5.2 km, possibly depending on which path they took and how many corners they cut). I wanted to know how far my official lake walk was. But it was not to be, my bladder refused to cooperate. I have no idea what was going on, I've been fine for the rest of the day and I had only had one drink prior to my walk. And I went to the toilet before the 10 min drive to get there. But I needed to pee almost straight away. I paused RunKeeper and diverted off to the park toilets. Went back to the same spot and restarted. About 2 mins later I needed to pee again. Floriade had a public toilet right next to my path, so I didn't stop RunKeeper that time. Continued on my way ... 5 mins later needed to pee again. Another public toilet luckily near the lake. A bit worrying really. Is it possible that I somehow retained so much water that it affected my weight by nearly a kg and then was all trying to get out this morning? I went again when I got back to the first toilet after a full lap, so including my original emptying at home that was five times in a bit over an hour.

RunKeeper got very confused and tried to tell me that the lake was actually nearly 6 km around, and I had been walking at a cracking pace. I'll check it again next time, hopefully when my bladder is behaving normally.

I did a tiny bit of taste testing at Floriade and then bought some Vienna macadamias -- a native Australian nut but I belive they also grow them comercially in Hawaii now.

I drove home and zoomed around the house tidying with only 10 mins before the guy came to give me a quote on new window coverings. I had to pick up a lot of toys in the kids rooms just so he could access the windows to measure them!

After lunch I got 15 mins gardening in. With the school walk, that is another two and a half hours of exercise today. I am actually a lot tireder than yesterday. All that walking! I have mostly eaten well today but still have D&D supper to get through. I wonder if we will have a bit more healthy food tonight? I say mostly. I cooked pork belly for dinner, the first time ever. It was very good too, but so fatty. I cooked it on a rack so all some of the fat dripped off, but still. Crackling. Eating is my weak point at the moment.

My legs are really tired and I have a bit of a headache. I wish I could go to bed right now instead of sitting up to play games. I'd even give up the junk food if I was allowed to just go to sleep.

photo by Stephan Jurgensen

A positive, active day

Friday:

I managed to put all my whiney feeling-sorry-for-myself behind me and just got on with it today. After walking the kids to school I bought an elastic ankle support at the chemist. I don't know if I need it or if it helps but I haven't re-injured myself today so maybe it is working. After doing some housework I went to the gym and spent an hour and a half using the weight machines. I avoided a few that seemed to put too much pressure on my ankle or my bad shoulder, but still ended up with fifteen different exercises on thirteen machines. There were a couple I only did one set of ten reps on but on the rest I did three sets of ten reps. I started with mainly the lightest possible weight, 10 kg, but was putting on a bit more by the end; and then when I had finished I went back and did another three sets of ten reps on the first five machines, but with heavier weights. So in total I did 20 exercises, 540 reps! I think I will be feeling it tomorrow.

After going home for lunch and a shower, I drove to Floriade. As usual when we go to that area I parked some distance away, a little hidden carpark further along the lake that is never full even during festivals, and then I walked briskly to Commonwealth Park and wandered among the tulips. With that and the school pick up I did a total of an hour walking today, so that is two and a half hours of exercise. Go me! And it was a really lovely sunny day, a little cool with the lake breeze but perfect once in the park.

While at Floriade I went to the exhibition stalls (pausing RunKeeper) and taste-tested everything available. I love free stuff! I tried five different flavours of fudge and then bought some of the raspberry flavour. I'm not even all that keen on fudge, I just felt obscurely guilty for trying so much. But the kids loved it and we saved some for Tim so that is ok. Also, carrying a bar of fudge around proved I was a genuine buyer not just a taster! I also had four or five kinds of exotic herbal tea -- I rather liked the Turkish green apple which tasted a lot like apple juice but it only came in a big $20 cannister -- a sour watermelon lolly which I didn't like much, some really hot chilli that left my lips burning for a while, and nuts encusted in various things like chilli/lime and toffee. Next time I am going to buy some Vienna macadamias, they were really yummy. Not sure what was on them, vanilla sugar? Despite casually wandering past the better nut stall several times (there was another one that wasn't as good), I didn't really eat that much and it was nice afternoon snack made up of a multitude of different tastes.

There were plenty of other stalls with gardening tools and handmade soaps and jewellery and silk scarves and things, sometimes I look at that stuff but not today. I really go to Floriade to look at the flowers, but I didn't look closely at those today either, I walked around briskly and got a general overview. I'll be going again, several times I hope. I haven't looked at the dresses-made-of-flowers exhibition or sat in the cafe overlooking the gardens or done the wine tasting or anything yet! And there is a petting zoo for the kids, they love that every year.

Feeling so much more positive today.

photo by sallysetsforth

What not to do.

Wednesday:

Oh dear. My eating has been terrible the past couple of days. PMS plus available junk is a dangerous combination. I won't go into details; but it has involved cheese (not junk, but fatty), chocolate, and Doritos.

Ok, onto the good. I have exercised each day. This morning I went to the lake. It was a beautiful warm autumn day -- in fact a little too hot for running, and I even got sunburnt -- and I started off strongly, alternating walking and jogging. I was making pretty good time, but I got to about half way around the 5 km circuit and just ran out of juice. I couldn't spur myself into another jog. Not surprising really, considering the rubbish I have been fueling myself with. I walked the rest of the way and ended with a time of 56 mins. I felt like this was not a great effort, so I just kept walking. I did a second lap. My legs were already tired from the running and my feet got really sore by the end, but I did 10 km today.

I had an embarressing incident when I visited the toilets at the lake. It was a unisex cubicle that opened directly out the the public path. I locked the door and even rattled it to check it was secure, but a few moments later I had just pulled up my undies but not my shorts when the door opened! The woman quickly made an apologetic noise and pulled the door shut. I just glad it was a woman, and not 10 seconds earlier.

I burned my arm on the edge of the wok while I was making a stir fry for my lunch; so I currently have a 10 cm long sore line there, sunburnt shoulders, aching legs, and sore feet. Not feeling at my best. But at least I have done my exercise for the day.

The mojo has not left the building

Wednesday:

I think I have my mojo back. There is such a huge difference between getting hot and sweaty and exhausted exercising because you are working hard, and getting hot and sweaty and exhausted exercising because you are unwell. I feel back on track, despite all the pre-Christmas food.

On Monday I went to BodyPump, using my old lighter weights. It was hard work, but only because I have lost a bit of fitness and muscle in the past month. Lifting weights made me feel strong and powerful again. Tuesday I had a haircut so missed the 9.30 class, so I just used the treadmill.

Today I did a lap around the lake. It was great weather for it; cool and cloudy like we've had most of the summer so far (really odd for December in Australia). I found being out in the fresh air lovely. Trees and grass and lake and lots of ducks and swans. I took the iPod for the first time and listened to music which really helped me keep the pace up. I didn't have my watch or heart-rate monitor on so I couldn't time myself properly -- it was 1 hour 10 mins from car to car but that included extra distance down to the lake from the carpark and back, and quite a long diversion around some roadworks near one of the bridges. I think it was probably about an hour once I remove those. I am very happy with that, considering.

It is Jasmine's last day of school today; Tim has finished work for the year and Aiden has finished preschool and childcare. Holidays! I have an editing job to do over the holidays and more than 30 books to read over the next two months, so I will still be pretty busy. But Tim is home and can help with the other stuff, like housework and childminding, so we should be able to carve out some fun family time. And Christmas in four days!

photo by Rowan Atkinson

Jogging

Tuesday:

I tried to get up early to work today but my 5 year old (I can't believe he's 5!) was already up and he insisted on chatting to me, so we went back to bed for a cuddle instead.

I hadn't been back for a walk around Lake Burley Griffin for a while but I've wanted to, and today it worked out that I could give my husband a lift to work near there so it was a good day for it. I wore my expensive joggers and my expensive moisture-wicking socks (for the first time on a long outdoor walk) and my gym pants with the pocket for my keys and sunglasses and sunscreen and was ready to go.

The other three or four times I'd done the walk had all taken around 1 hour 15 mins. It is approximately 5 km (I think, I plotted the walk on a mapmywalk thing), so I was only walking an average of 4 kmph. Not very fast. Um, I have short legs? My goal (for a Pandora charm) is to get that down to 1 hr. My goal for today was to jog 10 times during the walk; around 50 metres each time. I know that isn't far, but it's what I can do right now. I had never done that much jogging -- I think 2 times or possibly 3 in one session was my record. So 10 was a lot. But I did it! By about 2/3 of the way round, after 7 jogs, I was pretty tired; but I kept going. I noticed I was slumping forward and slowing down and staring at the ground; so I made myself straighten up and walk faster. And I got back to the car after 1 hour 3 mins! Excellent time! After I nail this one, I am going to try for 45 mins.

I guess, after all, I must be quite a bit fitter than last time I did that walk a couple of months ago. It is happening so slowly I often feel like all this exercise isn't achieving much -- but it is. I wasn't sure if I could jog that much, but I could. I managed to jog around half a kilometre in total. Amazing.

After my walk, I got my bag out of the car and sat in the shade to eat my fruit salad. By the time I drove home and got out of the car my legs had stiffened up and now I can hardly walk! Ouch. But at least my feet didn't do that thing where they swell up and get really painful, so maybe the moisture-wicking socks really worked.

... I was feeling quite proud of myself until I just went back over this and looked up distances and worked out how slowly I was going before. My 5kmph average today doesn't seem that great. But it is great, a great improvement. It is an achievment for me, and that is what matters. So what if a couple of skinny women passed me with their prams, stopped in the shade to feed their babies, and then managed to pass me again (at a walk!) about a kilometre later. So what if their walk is a lot faster than my walk plus jog? I can't compare myself to them -- only to the earlier version of me.

Now stop procrastinating and get back to work.

photo by spelio

Fresh air and sunshine

Friday:

I found that I didn't have time today to do two lots of exercise, so I chose a walk around the lake over Zumba. Lovely day, already significantly warmer than last week. The photo is of the fountain that spurts up from the lake, on a windy day you can get quite wet walking past. Photo credit to Rowan (Atkinson, presumably not the famous one).

I took a little under 1 hr 15 mins; I think I walked at the same pace as last week but I didn't detour over the little bridge to the Carrillon to read the timetable, and I didn't stop for a drink except at one bubbler (drinking fountain). Last time I carried a backpack with a waterbottle, a banana, my wallet, my phone, and a book just in case I needed to have a break. This time I just put my phone, keys, & ID in my pockets and relied on the bounty of nature.

My feet were a bit sore again by the end, but not as much as last week. Strange that walking for a bit over an hour can make my feet sore when more strenuous exercise doesn't.

I did some work this morning and then went to my daughter's school assembly because her class was hosting; so I did my walk after lunch and went straight from there back to school pick-up.

I really enjoy my walks. I haven't taken music mainly because the iPod needs recharging, but it is nice without music anyway. It gives me thinking time that other forms of exercise that need concentration don't give me.

I have bacon & eggs & hash browns & other unhealthy things lined up for Fathers' Day on Sunday. Still need to work on my diet.

Only one week left of my devoted-to-exercise time. Where did the days go?

More sunshine

Sunday:

I am determined that this is the week I am going to start losing weight. It is clear that even lots of exercise isn't enough. Over the past 6 weeks, since I returned to the gym, my weight has fluctuated between 79.2 kg and 80.9 kg; which could be explained just by daily fluctuations. Today I weighed-in at 79.9 kg -- one kilo less than last week but exactly the same as two weeks ago. Obviously I need to rein in my eating if I want to actually lose some fat.

I did formal exercise on five days last week, which I think is pretty great. On Friday I had a rest day, and yesterday I didn't go to the gym but I spent about three hours house-cleaning, which I think was a pretty good work-out. I needed that rest, my body was getting very fatigued. I have my mojo back today.

Today I had a health check, which actually just involved weighing and measuring me. I didn't write it all down (it's all on file at the gym) but I was 79.9 kg and my waist measures 102.5 cm. My BMI is now 34.58, which I am actually happy with -- I am "overweight" not "obese"! [Edit: according to the Wikipedia article on BMI, between 30-35 is still obese, just obese category I not II, also known as seriously obese, which I used to be. Obese III, above 40, would be morbidly obese.]

I got on the treadmill for 10 mins: 92% zone 0, 8% zone 1, 20 calories; and then did a BodyAttack class, which I haven't done before. Some of it was the same as the first half of the 50/50 class that I missed due to my health check. Bascially aerobics, with lots of running and jumping which I had to modify a bit. Stats: 45 mins (I didn't do the last track which was floor work I can't do), 38% zone 0, 45% zone 1, 17% zone 2, 147 calories, 111 average HR, 136 peak HR.

After what seemed like a long time, I checked the clock to see if the class was nearly finished -- I was drenched in sweat and exhausted. The clock said 10.30. What? Only half over? That couldn't be right. I was half convinced that the clock had stopped on 10.30 days ago. But I looked at my HR monitor, and it also said that it had been tracking me for 30 mins. Arg! I dragged myself through the last 20 mins.

A food-related victory -- my husband suggested Kingsley (fried chicken) for our picnic lunch and I said no! Go me. He rarely suggests fast food, it is usually me, and I don't think I have ever resisted before.

We went to the lake and walked for about 20 mins from our parking spot to the Carillon (bell tower) to listen to the recital while we ate our sandwiches and salad. The kids were riding their bikes so it was a fairly brisk walk. Then Tim and I lay on the picnic blanket in the lovely late-winter sun while the kids played around us a bit before we walked back to the car to dump the picnic paraphernalia and the bikes. We walked through the park to the kids playground where I read for a while before we headed home. In all, about an hour walking and lots of much-needed sunlight.

I feel like I've done lots of exercise today and eaten quite healthily (only one cupcake!), and also spent time with family and replenished my vitamin D stores. A lovely day. Now I get to play computer games until it's time to cook roast lamb... mmm...