A+ report card

This afternoon I had my physio appointment.

Had there been any improvement?

More importantly, would I be allowed to run?

What would my report card say?

Flashback to 5 weeks ago: doing 100m intervals. On the last one for the night I overdid it and felt that telltale crunch or pop, followed by an immediate stop mid-pace. Diagnosis: torn hamstring up at the attachment. How bad we didn’t know, without an MRI. The decision was made to treat it conservatively and see how it goes. The first week it was so sore – couldn’t walk far, couldn’t stand for long, even sitting was painful, given where the tear was.

I have been a model student, doing my prescribed exercises. And slowly, ever so slowly, I could do more. Now? Now I can do weighted lunges, squats, and hamstring curls. I can walk briskly (a surprise to many, including me!), use a recumbent bike and cross trainer. I’ve also followed my 12WBT program, working around the exercises I could do and substituting for those I couldn’t. No excuses.

And now? Now I can introduce short intervals of running during my walks, whether on the treadmill or outside. Woo hoo! Progress! I’m to use discomfort as a guide as to whether to continue, slow down or stop. Common sense really. I can also get on a conventional bike. And incorporate step ups in my program.

I also have some neural stretches to do to prevent scarring around the sciatic nerve, as the hammie heals.

I have a glowing report card – I’m an A+ student who applies herself diligently.

So, tomorrow it’s my cardio day. I’m off to the gym in the morning for a combination of the bike, cross trainer and treadmill and now I can include some…running! Glory be! Hallelujah! Woo hoo! And one helluva happy dance!

And your time starts now…

Wow, this week’s challenge is proving to be very challenging.
300 push-ups in a week?
No worries.
Try a different food or recipe?
Easy.
Aim to get to bed by 9.30pm?…omg this is really testing me!

Tonight I get home from work. And, as they say in Masterchef world, “your time starts now”…cook dinner – Cajun pork with coleslaw & sweet corn.
Get my gear ready for tomorrow morning.
Was going to go swimming but then changed my mind and instead I will do a 6km walk before work. Throw on a load of washing – that’s the downside of exercising every day, lots of washing.
Eat dinner.
Prepare tomorrow’s lunch – roasted beetroot & zucchini salad with goats cheese & walnuts.
Clean up after cooking – the kitchen looks like a bomb’s gone off.
Stack dishwasher. Wash those pots/pans that can’t go in dishwasher.
All the time trying to watch Masterchef!

And so it goes. The time is ticking away. Tick, tick, tick….will I make it?! I have to admit, it is making me very time efficient. No faffing around tonight!

And to other things: this morning it was legs & chest day at the gym. And the really exciting thing was that I could use the xtrainer (for 5min), and do squats, lunges and leg extensions! It may seem strange to be so excited by this but given that for the past 4 weeks these have been on the banned list, so to speak, this is progress.

What a jerk!

Dinner tonight: Jerk fish. Verdict: delicious.

According to Wikipedia (what else!) Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning principally relies upon two items: allspice (called “pimento” in Jamaica) and Scotch bonnet peppers (similar in heat to the habanero pepper).

The 12WBT recipe has dried thyme, allspice, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, chilli, oil & onion in the marinade. Once marinaded, the fish was char grilled and was served with steamed chat potatoes and a green salad. It was a really tasty meal.

Now for the week in review. This is a milestone week so there was fitness test to do as well.

Monday – I braved the early morning for another walk but with so many layers on I probably looked like the Michelin Man. Be prepared was today’s motto as I prepped Mondays meals as well as Tuesdays as I was going to the movies after work.

Tuesday – from jelly arms at the gym to getting good/not so good news from the physio to seeing The Great Gatsby, today had it all. No popcorn, pop tops or wine at the movies. Diet Coke and yoghurt & berries I had prepared the day before kept me going.

Wednesday – a 900g loss! A very filling egg white omelette for lunch at a Canberra institution: Gus’s to celebrate (belatedly) Ruth’s birthday.

Thursday – another meal out. This time breakfast with work colleagues at a nearby cafe. Another omelette. No grumbling gremlins today! The highlight? Getting next weeks menu plan in my inbox. Love it!

Friday – challenging my core and my balance on a Swiss ball. These things are best done in the privacy of my own home.

Saturday – another awesome SSS including a 1km swim. Also repeated the pushups and plank tests that I last did 4 weeks ago. Have improved immensely In push ups department! Finally faced my fear: Brussels sprouts. Traumatised as a child but decided to give them a chance. Discovered that oven roasted Brussels sprouts are delicious. Who would’ve thought!

Sunday – sleep in yay! And because I enjoyed the Brussels sprouts I had yesterday, decided to have them again today. This time I char grilled them. Yummo! Definitely worth a second chance if the last time you had them was as a child. I also re-did my measurements today and have lost a total of 3.2cm, mainly legs and hips. Biceps are increasing

Tonight’s meal: Jerk Fish

Upsy Daisy Day

Did you know that it is National Upsy Daisy Day today? No? I thought as much.

This day is a day set aside to encourage you to face the day positively, and to get up ‘gloriously, gratefully and gleefully’ each morning.

National Upsy Daisy Day, an “unofficial” National holiday (US) was created by Stephanie West Allen is 2003. Her desire in creating National Upsy Daisy Day was to make humor, laughter and a positive attitude part of the Upsy Daisy Day way.

To be honest, I can’t say that I got out of bed gloriously, gratefully and gleefully this morning. No sireee. Mr CJ was working this morning so got up at his usual time and brought me a coffee before leaving, at 5.20am. However, I didn’t have to get up for another hour as the pool/gym doesn’t open until 7am on weekends. This gave me an hour when evil CJ tried to convince me that I didn’t need to swim today.

That just a gym workout would be enough…

In fact, maybe a walk later in the day might be enough…

Despite the fact that today is my SSS.

Truly, I’m better off waking up just before the gym opens, have my coffee, get ready and go. No time for thinking. No time for evil CJ to think up lots of reasons why I don’t need to go.

So I used the 10 minute tactic this morning: show up, do 10 mins and if I’ve had enough, call it a day. It was really the swimming that I was resisting. I was okay with doing the gym workout. But true to form, once I got in the pool I forgot about the 10 min rule and completed my swim session: 1km.

This was followed by 6 x 25m of pool walking in the shallow pool.

Up in the gym I alternated between bike and treadmill: a total of 20min on the bike & 25 min on the treadmill. In between there were lunges, squats, push ups, bridges, SSS twisting crunches and planks. Total time in the gym: 1hr 04.55min.

Continuing with the new food/recipe challenge, I made kale chips this afternoon which were delicious. And tonight for dinner, with the lemon & chilli marinated pork and roast pumpkin, I am having roasted Brussels sprouts with toasted almonds.

So all in all, I think I had an upsy daisy day!

“Everyday is a gift and if we remember that as we rise each morning, it will help us carry a good attitude throughout the day, whatever the day may bring us. Life is full of challenges and bumps in the road, it is our attitude that helps us over the bumps and through the challenges to move onward with a smile.” – Upsy Daisy Day, National Day Calendar

Lift. Sweat. Repeat

It’s Thursday. That means its weights day. Some days operate like clockwork. And some days its a bit more random!

Ever have one of those days when you always seem to be chasing your tail? When you’re always about 10 steps behind? Yep, today was one of those days!

However I had a great weights session this morning. I was on a tight time schedule because I had an 8am breakfast date – with work colleagues at Sugacube cafe. So I was focus personified at the gym this morning. I included lunges today, as well as bridges with my feet on a bench. There were more push ups, lateral raises, assisted chin ups, chest press, biceps curls, dips as well as abs. I increased my weights so it was a hard but challenging workout. Definitely lots of sweat involved!

Despite my best intentions to get to breakfast on time I ended up being 20 mins late. Not that it mattered. Service was really slow and no-one had ordered yet. Because the cafe didn’t have gluten free bread I opted for a mushroom, tomato and shallot omelette which was delicious and very, very filling. In fact, I didn’t need anything further to eat until lunchtime, and even then I only had a small snack.

Next weeks meal plan popped up in my inbox this morning. Highlights include French toast with banana, berries & maple syrup for breakfast (can’t wait to try this), roasted beetroot and zucchini salad with goats cheese for lunch, and beef, pumpkin and prune tagine for tea (even Mr CJ will approve of this.

And next week’s challenge will be a huge challenge for me: to get to bed early. In bed by 9.30pm and lights out by 10pm. This will be interesting but I’m up for the challenge!

The week that was: review of week 3

I can’t believe that it’s been almost 3 weeks since I started this round of 12WBT. It used to be said that to form a habit takes 21 days. However there seems to be a shift in thinking lately that it takes anywhere between 26 – 66 days depending on the habit you’re either trying to make or break.

However I have noticed that I’m not picking at food between meals, I’m trying to differentiate between head and stomach hunger (ie kicking the emotional eating habit) and most of the time I’m satisfied with less on my plate. It does help that the weekly menus offer up tasty options and for someone who loves variety, this program offers plenty of variety.

Not that I’m anywhere near perfect, no way, not by a long shot. Ask me again in 66 days!

This was how week 3 panned out for me:

Monday – froze on my early morning walk. Note to self: wear more warm clothes! Dealt with a social event with amazing restraint. Diet coke anyone?!

Tuesday – apparently I’m an elite athlete according to a health check I had today! On the serious front, my cholesterol ratio is improving. This has been a long time coming. Had my weekly physio appointment and there has been some teensy improvement – I have been given the go ahead to use a recumbent bike at the gym!

Wednesday – lost 300g! Discovered that lentils and I have an uncomfortable relationship. Underwhelmed with dhal.

Thursday – weights session and 5 mins on the recumbent bike! Amazing how little things like this can make my day! Busy planning next weeks menu and exercise program.

Friday – a hungry day. The grumbling gremlins made their presence felt in the afternoon. Drove me crazy. But I didn’t attack the charity chocolate box (just thought about!)

Saturday – my version of a SSS – swim, pool walking, bike, treadmill and weights. The grumbling gremlins hung around again today. Deployed my secret weapon. I also made and ate an awesome chicken, roasted eggplant and capsicum roll with ricotta & baby spinach for lunch. Did the final 50 push-ups for a total of 300 for the week (two weeks now).

Sunday – rest day. Loved the smoked salmon cases with salad for lunch. Very fancy schmancy!

Week 4 – bring it on!

Those fancy schmancy smoked salmon & tomato cases with salad

Doing it my way

Super Saturday Session (aka SSS) today. So no sleep in but instead I was up early to get ready for swim and gym. I was wondering why on earth I was doing this, as I was drinking my coffee. I’m injured so surely that’s my get out of jail card? Well, no. Lame excuse really, but was worth a try

First up was my swim session: 200m warm up, then 500m with pull buoy, and finally 500m without. Total: 1.2km

Next: 4 x 25m pool walking.

Gym session: I had to modify today’s SSS because I can’t do any of the lower body exercises such as burpees, lunges, etc (there is a god!). So I did things my way!

5 min warm up on the bike
Then 3 circuits of the following:
20 bridges
20 push ups
5 min bike
20 one arm rows (10kg)
20 dips
20 barbell shoulder presses (10kg)
20 barbell bicep curls (10kg)
5 min treadmill walk
Total: 63 min

The grumbling gremlins had started before I even left home this morning so the grumbles from my my stomach were almost deafening by the time I got home again 2 hours later! I was starving.

It’s been a wet, miserable and cold day – appropriate for the first day of winter. I’ve had to employ my secret weapon this afternoon to stop any unnecessary snacking. It doesn’t help that Mr CJ had bought a packet of chocolate coated marshmallows, waves them under my nose and then proceeds to eat them in front of me, one by one.

Is it time yet?! Is it?! Is it?!

This is what I’m like as I’m waiting for 10am to tick over. Why? Because that’s when I can get access to next weeks exercise and meal plans. I always look forward to these so I can see what meals and exercise are in store for me next week. Actually the exercise not so much as that only changes every fortnight.

So next week I can look forward to meals such as banana quinoa porridge for breakfast, satay egg, cucumber & carrot corn thins for lunch and wholemeal creamy pasta bake for tea, among others. I’m sure Mr CJ will appreciate the nights when beef fillet with roast pumpkin and herb & parmesan veal schnitzel are on the menu.

The weekly challenge for next week is about trying new foods – this is a little easier than 300 push-ups I’d say!!! Each day we should try something different or new ie cook with a new ingredient or try a recipe that I normally wouldn’t go for. Actually that has been my commitment for this round – stick to the program and follow the nutrition to the letter. That has meant no embellishing of recipes and it has also meant that I have cooked recipes I would normally skip over. And I must admit I have been pleasantly surprised in the process.

I had another weights session at the gym this morning. And the exciting thing was that…drum roll…I could use a recumbent bike! Ok it was only for 5 minutes but at least it was something different. I barely glanced at the arm crank contraption today. That’s one machine I’m not going to miss. There is boring and there is mind numbingly boring, and the arm crank falls in the latter category. My upper body weights session included super sets of assisted pull ups and incline chest press, bicep curls and dips, lateral raises and push ups, and one arm rows.

I’m an elite athlete!

This morning I had my work-based health check-up:
Blood pressure – good
Random blood glucose – good
Total cholesterol – it’s coming down, down, down (woot! This is the best it’s ever been)
HDL cholesterol – this is going up, up, up!
Waist circumference – good
BMI – good
Aerobic capacity – ELITE!

There was more to the check-up but you get the general gist of it. I’m actually in good shape. Actually I would’ve fallen off my chair if she’d said otherwise, except when it comes to my cholesterol. This has always been on the high side – can’t fight family genes. But the really good thing is the ratio of HDL:LDL is good ie my HDL is increasing and the LDL decreasing, and this has been the first time I’ve ever seen movement in the right direction.

And according to the results of the aerobic capacity test I am in the elite category. This test measures your aerobic fitness at rest. The result apparently is comparable to maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) which is commonly used to evaluate aerobic fitness.

Though when I read that top athletes typically score values above 70 (men) and 60 (women), my score isn’t that impressive. My score is…ahem…49, so gosh, I’m not quite there yet. Though I could’ve told you that without having done this test! Olympic-level endurance athletes can reach values as high as 95. Values tend to be highest in sports that involve large muscle groups, such as running and cross-country skiing.

This ‘elite athlete’ was at the gym at 6 this morning pumping iron, as you do! The session consisted of a warm up on the treadmill, pec deck, shoulder press, lat pull downs, low cable rows, bicep curls, triceps pushdowns and push-ups. It’s getting monotonous just concentrating on upper body weights so I’m hoping that someday soon I can start on the lower half – it badly, or sadly, needs work! Then it was on to an abs circuit, because as you know elite athletes have pretty good abs. Well obviously there is some work to be done here!

I topped off the morning with berry bruschetta for breakfast ie fresh blueberries and raspberries and ricotta cheese on toast. At dinner last night some of us had this discussion about what we would be willing to pay for fresh raspberries, given that it’s not the really the season for them now. My tipping point is $8. Anything below this and I’m willing to pay for fresh. Lately they’ve been selling for $8 and above in the shops. However a certain supermarket was selling fresh Australian raspberries for $6 recently so I grabbed a punnet or two. Like I said, you can’t beat fresh raspberries!

Lunch was a curried egg and sprouts sandwich. I haven’t had an egg sandwich in years – this took me back to my school days! And it’s dahl for dinner tonight. Judging by the comments on the forums and on the recipe, this dish is very popular. I’ve not made dahl before so this is will be a learning experience. Somehow I don’t think this meal will appeal to Mr CJ so he’s getting homemade mac and cheese instead.

Postscript: the verdict is out on the dahl. It is said that it tastes better the next day. Well I’ve got it for lunch so we’ll see. Mr CJ however enjoyed his mac and cheese. I won’t even write what he said about my bowl of dahl!

Physio update: more improvement, less pain. I can now add some kicking to my swimming though I haven’t quite said farewell to the pull buoy. I can also add in some pool power walking. And in the gym I can try the recumbent cycle. And by the end of the week I can add some single leg bridging to the double leg bridging.

Baby steps but in the right direction.

There will be no pronking today!

Meaning: 1. To stot, to leap straight in the air with the back arched, bringing all four legs off the ground. Gazelles and springboks are most widely known for this behavior, but horses, sheep, and goats (especially playful kids) do it, too. 2. To prance, show off, strut. (alphaDictionary.com)

It’s my rest day so there’ll be no prancing, showing off or strutting today! And I can’t leap straight in the air, back arched, bringing all four limbs off the ground. Just saying.

It was heavenly to sleep in this morning. I may have briefly opened one eye at 6am to glance at the clock and then gratefully closed it again, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Week 2 in review:

Monday – it was back to the pool as part of my cardio, with the proviso that all swimming is done with a pull buoy – till death do us part (or at least until the physio gives me the go ahead to start kicking again). It was also the start of the 300 push-ups challenge. I had opted for doing 50 push-ups a day.

Tuesday – an upper body weights session at the gym and meeting the arm crank cycle for the first time. I’m hoping this won’t be a long relationship. The push-ups challenge is going well. I had my physio appointment this afternoon. Some slight improvement in extension but still restricted to walking and swimming with pull buoy.

Wednesday – another swim but I’m starting to find my groove. More push-ups.

Thursday – apart from selecting the wrong weight on the assisted pull ups machine and thinking I’d lost all strength in my upper body before realising my mistake, the rest of the session went to plan. Did I mention push-ups?! It was also the Biggest Morning Tea which could’ve been a challenge as there were GF Florentines and brownies on offer but I wasn’t tempted!

Friday – strengthening my core by focusing on the plank and its variations. Not feeling the love for fancy planks. I’m not sure if it was the weather but I was constantly hungry and clock watching between meals today. And all I could see while grocery shopping after work were chocolate bars and biscuits calling my name. But I resisted! And let’s not forget the push-ups!

Saturday – my first SSS (was not allowed to exercise last week due to acute injury). And my regular monthly massage in the afternoon. And my final 50 push-ups making a total of 300 for the week. Mission accomplished!