Wild Again!

What wild weather we've been having - bushfires, heat waves, flooding and mega-surf:

Yacht washed up on the breakwall
(actually, it smashed against the side,
then a crane lifted it up - but it looks freaky!)

Wild and woolly surf conditions for my run this morning!

Makes for fun running anyway!

But enough of that, Weathergirl! What of it being Wednesday and all???

Possibly in the realms of over-sharing and Too Much Information, I have been suffering with a lack of toilet-going in the lead-up to this morning's weigh-in. Alas, Metamucil and water have not been sufficient to unblock me, so no "bog and log" (as a Facebook friend so eloquently put it!) this morning.

I hopped on the scales and was pretty happy to see 70.4kg. Went and got my iPhone, which apparently weighs half a kilo and saw this:

70.9kg - 156.3lbs

Try as I may, the bugger would not go back to the original reading! So (sniff) I'm going with 70.9kg this week and have bowel emptying, clean eating, no drinking and the 60s and a total 10kg weight loss in my sights for next week!!!

What a difference a year (or 12 weeks) makes!

It's getting to the pointy end of the 12 Week Body Transformation now. We have started Week 11 - just two more weeks to go, and I have to say, I'm getting a tiny bit excited about taking my "after" photo and comparing it with "before" (which I hated taking and bravely shared with you). I reckon I will look a bit different.

But after checking out Finding Carol, and how much just her face had changed in 12 months and 3 Rounds of 12WBT, I was curious. You are too, aren't you?

January 2012

January 2013

That photo yesterday, even though I was a beetroot, was the first photo in quite a while that I actually liked the way I looked. 

And now, comparing it this time last year (even though they are not from the same angle), I'm really happy with my progress! I have more work to do and this "lifestyle" has to be a permanent thing, even when I reach my goal weight (and I will!), but when you see evidence like this, it makes it worth it and you realise just how far you've come.

Stay tuned kiddies, more over-sharing to come!!

Like a blister in the sun...

"When I go walking, I strut my stuff and I'm so strung out

I'm high as a kite, I just might, stop to check you out"

Don't panic, I'm not strung out and I'm not doing drugs! But I enjoyed listening to this song again (ahhh the joys of my youth) whilst re-watching Gross Pointe Blank the other night (huge John Cusack fan!).

And you know how I had a callous that I ped-egged:

And you know how last week in the rain, that baby-soft (well, not really) area got a blister?

And you know how I ran for 10km yesterday? Well, the last couple of kilometres, apart from being hot, sweaty, humid and just freaking hard work were also a bit painful, because baby came back:

How lucky are you lot
  that I own an iPhone
and get to record
every tiny detail
of my life to share with you???

I posted a thread about blisters on the 12WBT website and got good feedback, which I will share with my extensive readership here:

• if it's small (no) and not in a inconvenient spot (no) leave it alone. If it's big and giving you grief, insert a sterilised needle and let the liquid ooze out of it (it spurted out of mine! Gross!).
• don't pull the skin off - it will get infected
• cover with Compeed (or similar) blister bandaid thingy
• to prevent further blisters, make sure your shoes fit properly
• get good running socks (thought I had, but I'm going to look into 1000 miles socks)
• cover offending area with said bandaid thingys or athletes tape

You can rest assured I will share with you the gory details of how I get on!

"Let me go on, like a blister in the sun

Let me go, big hands I know you're the one"

(I have no idea what those lyrics mean, but I know I dance like a demon to them!) 

10K Milestone!

So, long run on Sunday this week, as my running buddy Tracey had a Kick class on Friday, but didn't want to back up on Saturday. That was OK, because I had to work yesterday, but not today!

We had a big storm last night and I was hoping it wasn't bucketing down. It wasn't - it was just warm (23C) and HUMID. Yuck.

You can see the lights of the fishing boats at 6am!

We did 8.5km last week, so were keen to give it a nudge and go the 9, but the route we took pushed us over the 10km mark.

I felt fine until about the 6km mark, when things got a little harder. I paused then to slug some water (I was sweating like a PIGGY) and a little gel. I didn't think I would be able to run up my Heartbreak Hill the second time, but I did and kept going....until about the 9km mark when my body just gave up. I had a little walk break and then shuffled along. I'm not totally convinced I could call the last kilometre actually "running" but it was marginally faster than walking, so I'll take it!

The conditions were a bit tough - no cooling rain or breeze, so I just got slower and slower:

Don't count that last km - I'd stopped then!

No matter how slow I went, I didn't stop and we did it! Tracey ran the whole way - what a legend!

We stretched and drank gallons of water! Legs are tired now...but I can finally call myself a 10km runner!

Time to print out the shopping list and go shopping and get organised for the week ahead :-)

Weigh-in Wednesday Woot!

I was quietly optimistic about this morning's battle with the scales. I've worked hard and ate clean this week (99% of the time). So I was totally chuffed to see this:

I reckon my legs are looking skinnier!
71.2kg - 157lbs

That's a loss of 1.2kg this week! Can I get a WOOT?? So proud of me! And those 60s are within sight!

Been running - tempo run was my fastest yet:

And because it was very humid, did my toning in my underdaks. I have abs under there somewhere - and one day soon, they may make an appearance!!!

I think I've convinced at least 2 other people to join the 12WBT madness next Round! I'm so excited that they are inspired by me!!!!

And this morning I got up and ran my little hills. I got a belated-Christmas Garmin watch from hubby, so had fun trying that out too (I can upload data to Runkeeper, so I can keep all my history together).

We were child-free this evening, so I caved and got takeway. BUT, I didn't eat the rice and just had a small bowl of szechuan chicken and just 2 glasses of low-alcohol wine. Times have changed, people!!! 

Up again tomorrow to work on the legs and to improve those abs so that one day, when those layers are peeled away, they'll be up to the task of being looked at!

The Girl Gets Around!

This was the temperature at lunchtime on Friday:

46C - 115F

Can anyone say climate change??? Friday broke all sorts of records for temperature - it certainly was the hottest day in our little seaside village EVER. It was like an oven out there and our home air-con really struggled...

You think I'm exercising in that? Think again! I couldn't even think about exercising, so I was very happy when a big ol' southerly change blew through that afternoon, instantly dropping the temperatures about 20 degrees.

I awoke at 5:30am (OK, so I pressed the snooze button and re-awoke at 5:40am) to grey skies, 21C and drizzle - perfect!!!!

And caught a tiny glimpse of sun to light up my way:

Met up with fellow 12WBT-er Tracey, who left me in the dust two weeks ago as I struggled with 7km. Today was ear-marked for 8km. How did I go??

That my friends is 8.57km of all running, no walking, no stopping! It felt really good! I kept up with Tracey all the way (including up Heartbreak Hill) and we even picked up the pace for the last few hundred metres! That run is how you want to feel when you run! Woo hoo! We rock!

My fiddling with my callous and the damp conditions have given me my first running blister though:

But that's OK - I ran in the rain and got a blister - I'm hardcore!!

Ready to eat clean for the next few days, work hard at my toning (which I've been slacking off a bit) and push my tempo run and hills. Let's see what number turns up on Wednesday, shall we???

Weigh-In Wednesday!

So this morning I did a "modified" version of the hills run they had on offer at 12wbt. Instead of driving to the beach as usual, I just took the dog straight out the front door, stopped for a wee (him, not me), stopped for a poop (again, not me) and yet another wee, dropped off the doggy bag and then finally got running!

Headed out to our local lighthouse, which as luck would have it, has a series of rolling hills leading up to it. So I ran hard up the hills and took it easy on the downhill.

Those pace spikes at the beginning are the wee and poo stops!

Turns out, it was a bit warm and humid out and turns out I look HOT after my runs:

Actually, I think I meant SWEATY!

Max thinks I'm hot too, and loves to snuggle up and keep warm during stretches:

While you're just lying there,
do you think you might like to play with me?

So after that effort, I jumped in the pool and it was DIVINE.

Yesterday was our first "Accelerator Day" - no simple carbs (yanno - all the good stuff like bread, biscuits, bread, potato, bread, pasta, bread, rice and oh, did I say bread?). Maybe it was a mental thing, but I was starving and hanging out for (drumroll) bread!

Did this translate into a big loss this week?

72.4kg - 159.6 lbs

Alas - only 400g, but a loss is a loss and I'm under 160 lbs!!!

This weekend is supposed to be the 8km run, but the weather is forecast to get really hot again...so you will just have to wait with baited breath to see if/when it eventuates!

The Rhythm of the Heat

Looking out the window

I see the red dust clear

High up on the red rock

Stands the shadow with the spear

The land here is strong

Strong beneath my feet

It feeds on the blood

It feeds on the heat

The bushfires are still hanging around, not affecting property at this stage, but smoke hanging in the early morning air creates spectacular sunrises over the ocean! And I'll have you know that I got up in the 5s to take this sunrise photo just for you :-)

So, to escape the heat for my long run (and take gorgeous photos) I set the alarm for 5:30am and was at the beach before 6am and sunrise. Left the dog at home (he has a propensity for sitting down mid-run lately - maybe it's been too hot for him?). I don't generally eat breakfast before I run - I just get out there and do it, but after last weeks struggle, I took a Gatorade "pre-exercise" drink thing. I also paused mid-run and had half a gel and some water. I think these things made a difference for my long run, because although it was still quite warm (around 25C) and I still sweated buckets, I was able to run the whole thing (except my little break) and didn't feel quite so much like dying. I was running solo as well, so I ran as slow as I could and just focussed on endurance and lasting the distance: (average running pace 7:55min/km):

I reckon I must be a "real runner" now because my feet are starting to show the effects of long hours shuffling back and forward. This photo may in the realms of "TMI" but I have developed a hard-won callous on my right foot: 

Lucky for me (and you!), I fished out my Ped Egg and collected a lovely lot of dead skin off my poor old feet. The callous is much smoother and hopefully will be less irritating when I run. Aren't you lucky I share??!

I don't know what possessed me to buy one
of these, but I'm glad I did.

I can also feel the first twinges of plantar faciitis coming back in my left foot (just to balance things out) and also my left hip flexors are feeling it. So I need to make sure I really do my stretching and strengthening properly, or I'll be sidelined. 

Today was much cooler (15C) and I just did an "out and back" tempo run ('twas supposed to run for 35min, but couldn't be bothered running too far away from the car, so cut 2 min off that). Probably not as fast as I'd hoped, but I also had to dodge a stack of people, dogs, prams and because this morning was garbage morning, garbage cans (average running pace 7:45min/km):

The weather is set to heat up again this week, so I'll enjoy the brief respite in warm temps while I can.

The rhythm is below me

The rhythm of the heat

The rhythm is around me

The rhythm has control

The rhythm is inside me

The rhythm has my soul

Cruel Summer...

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I sweat. A lot. Just another great genetic inheritance which also includes premature grey hair, a non-existent chin and early menopause. Just as well I really love my mum.

Anyhoo, I'm proud of myself, not only for losing weight and doing so over Christmas/New Year, but also for continuing to exercise and run in this heat!

On Saturday, I got up at sparrows fart (in the 5's, I tell you!!!) to avoid the heat and the crowds for my big attempt at running 7km. Left the dog at home and ran with a friend who is also tackling the 10km program on 12WBT. She was worried that I would leave her behind because she hadn't run further than 5km before (bahahaha!!!).

Oh. My. Goodness. Didn't make it without resorting to a walk break. It was just one of those sucky runs. I was HOT - sweaty, hot, almost delirious! It was just HARD WORK and I wasn't feeling the love almost right from the start. But I didn't walk for long and managed 8:10min/km for my 7km. My friend ran the whole way and I am so freaking proud of her (go Tracey!!). Maybe next week I'll be with her. Also next week I think a little better fuelling/hydration might be the go for running in summer for over an hour.

I remembered my swimmers and I have to say that ocean felt amaze-balls. I'm sure it helped my legs recover (plus the magnesium tablets) because they felt fine the next day (unlike their jelly-like state immediately afterwards).

Now, obviously I live on the coast, and so, in reality, we have "mild" weather - Goldilocks weather, if you will - not too hot and not too cold. And so, it could be much hotter in summer (I could live in the western suburbs of Sydney or even worse, Western Australia) and it could actually be so cold it snows in winter. So I'm not complaining.

Except for today. The forecast is for 43 degrees (Celcius) - that is 109.4 Farenheit. A bit bloody hot. And humidity in the single digits. And hot, northerly winds. And a catastrophic fire warning - which means if a bushfire was to start, there is no hope of saving your house, even if it was especially designed to withstand fires. Just go.

We live in the black bit.

I can safely guarantee you I won't be running today. Stay safe everyone!

Happy New Year!

My daughter stayed up late on NYE to draw this

Oh yeah, I'm happy! First proper loss in weeks - 1.5kg to bring me to 72.9kg!!! Yes, that's 3 exclamation marks because I'm that happy.

72.9kg (160.7lbs)

The lowest I got to in 2012 was 73.6kg, so that was my mini-goal - to get below that - and this week I achieved it! Next mini-goal is to get into the 60s - haven't seen a 6 at the start of the scales for a few years (2009 I think). And 150's in the pounds stakes.

It's so good to see the hard work and good choices paying off. Gives me motivation to keep going. 

Sticking pretty much to the 12WBT nutrition plan now, following the toning and the running.

Meeting up with another fellow-12WBTer for my long run on Saturday - upping the ante by another 1.5km to 7km. Bit of a challenge, but the furthest I ran (not in a fun run) in 2011 was 7.32km in one hour, so I'm keen to get back there - importantly, injury free!

So let's bring it!!