The "c" word

On Thursday, during my PT session with Paul from Alive, I said a word I never ever like saying when I'm training.

I "can't".

In the past week, I've discovered a CrossFit exercise that I really struggle with..

BOX JUMPS.

I struggled with the higher ones on Tuesday at B32, but I still tried hard to get a few out.

On Thursday, the bench Paul set out for me to jump on wasn't even as high as the tyre from Thursday. However, I froze. I couldn't even TRY one. It was the weirdest and wrongest feeling.

So. What to do? I'm going to have to practice them at some point, and make sure that never happens again, and hope that I don't find anything else to say I "can't" to. 

"Skinny" jeans? Yes please.

This morning while putting on my jeans, the jeans that have only recently started fitting again, I noticed they were feeling a bit large. So I thought it might be time to pull out the few pairs of "skinny" jeans I have floating around.

I have three pairs of "skinny" jeans. A pair of Roxy jeans, which I believed to be the closest to fitting, a pair of Giordano jeans, which I wore all the time in my last year in Brisbane & first year in Canberra, and a pair of size 9 Jeans West jeans that I bought right after I got out of hospital with pneumonia and I think fitted for about 2 weeks.



Roxy jeans



Giordano jeans



I first tried on the Roxy jeans, which I believed to be the biggest. It was a struggle, I could technically do them up but there would be no way I could wear them. Damn. Jeans fail.

I thought that would've been it, none of the jeans would fit. However, I decided to give the Giordano jeans a go, mostly to see if I could even do them up (last time I couldn't get close).

 

Amazingly, they fitted!

 

They fit!!



I then took a look at the sizes of these jeans. The Roxy jeans are a size 10, and the Giordano jeans are a size 27! 27?! That's apparently a size 9. Wtf! They must've done some serious stretching over the last few years...

I guess it could also be the jeans. The Roxy jeans are really stiff around the waist, where the Giordano ones are a bit stretchier.. and maybe the thigh area is bigger? Who knows. Damn inconsistent sizing.

 This is me in 2007 wearing the same jeans:



Around 5kg lighter.



Regardless, I don't really like the Roxy jeans, they're just there as a body shape indicator, on how much cms I'm losing.

Last night I went to my gym to get a re-assessment, I wanted to see how many cms I've lost. Turns out they've lost my records. Boohoo. I can just imagine they were good, big numbers.

The next challenge will be these babies:

These are my size 9 Jeans West jeans that I bought in January 2008. It was a month after I was in hospital with pneumonia, and I got under 60kg. I think they fitted me for a few weeks.

Actually, they may have never fitted. When I bought them I wanted the size 10, but the guy at Jeans West said to go down a size because they will stretch.

BIG MISTAKE.

I stretched instead.

Goals and how they change

In a few days, I have had this blog for 6 months. That means it has been nearly 6 months since I have been actively and seriously trying to lose 10kg.

How close am I? So very close, I'm 1.6kg away! I've been consistently at 8.4kg loss for a little while now. This is how my body seems to do things. It finds a weight, stays there for awhile, then drops, stays there for awhile, etc. This was annoying when I was 5kg heavier, but right now, I'm pretty damn happy with my weight. Not in a hurry to get that last 1.6kg off me.

Of course, once I have lost that final 1.6kg, I'm not done. I still want to lose at least another 3kg, but in time, and  just as a side effect of my training.

Going back to my first ever post on here, on 2 November 2010. I wrote out some goals, they were:

• 2km in under 10 minutes
• 5km in under 30 minutes
• 10km

Two of those goals done, the only one left is the first one. 2km in under 10 minutes. Tough. I haven't even tried a fast 2km in MONTHS. I've done a few single kms.

Looking at these goals, they're not over ambitious. The 2km is definitely the hardest, because, when writing the goals, it was the one I had never achieved (according to my old LJ I did, but I can't prove it, so, I say I lied).

It's probably time to write out some new goals. I hope that in 6 months I look at these and have either done them, or find them too easy.

• Run a marathon
• Run 10km in under 55 minutes

That's the main two I can think of. I'll probably start thinking of other goal soon (such as CrossFit related goals). But that's a good start. I guess 2km in under 10 minutes is still there.

When I'm just not enough

After the February 100km Challenge, I found myself with less motivation. My weekly kms dropped significantly. Even though I had the half marathon to train for, I really wasn't putting in the effort I should've been (and wanted to).

Yes, my half marathon was a success, I finished under my goal time, and mentally it was one of my most enjoyable runs, ever. However, before and after, I was a little off my game.

Afterwards I was allowing myself some slack, as I had achieved one of my major running goals, a goal I've had for over 5 years. But that was still no excuse. I meant to go for a run on Tuesday, didn't happen, meant to go for a run on Wednesday, didn't happen. Thursday I believe I only exercised because I had a PT session...

With winter coming up, I know I need more motivation than I can provide myself. I used to be fairly against having work out 'appointments' (group classes or PT sessions), but now I think they are very important to keep me focused and to add structure, which is going to be especially important over the next 5-6 months as I train to do the Melbourne Marathon.

Yesterday I met a guy called Ross, who has a CrossFit gym, B32 Crossfit, in Fyshwick. This came about from my search for a CrossFit gym, however I think I am going to get a lot more from Ross and his gym than I initially expected when searching for a CrossFit gym.

Ross, being an ex elite triathlete, knows a lot about running, and in particular, knows how CrossFit and running can work together.
I'm going to learn a lot from Ross, and hopefully change and improve myself, my running and my fitness for the better. The one thing I am really hoping to get out of training with him and at his gym, is the structure and focus I've been lacking lately. I want to feel accountable, I want to not let people down, and I want to achieve my goals. What I don't want? To make excuses, to slack off over winter, and to stop pushing myself.

Today I headed down to B32 for my first try out session. First up was mobility, which was AMAZING. I want to do this every day. I woke up pretty sore from my Thursday Fran workout, and have been walking around like a robot. I was very worried that this would interfere with the CrossFit workout I had in store. However, after the mobility exercises, I felt so relaxed and so much more flexible.

After this, was the 'warm up'. We did some skipping (something I haven't done in years, and knew it would come up soon). I actually found this to hurt the balls of my feet quite a bit. I suspect this was from doing it in my Frees. I think the more I do it, the easier it will be. We also did some inch worm pushups, which were okay (pleased not too many push ups, my enemy of exercises).

We then moved onto some kettlebells, which was hard work! And then we got prepared to do the REAL hard work.

Today we did anchored sit ups, with 10 jumpy things in between. 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 sit ups. Holy moly. That's a lot of sit ups. This was for time. I wasn't too concerned on going crazy, especially as it was my first workout with these guys. With how I was feeling at the 30 rep point, I was pretty happy just to finish the lot. Phew. Think I managed to do them in 9:01. Amazed at how fast some of the guys can smash them out.

Every time I've done a CrossFit workout, during it, I hate it so much. Absolute hate. However, the feeling afterwards is pretty good. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have done it a second time.

Heading back to B32 on Monday for my next torture session.

No pain, no gain, right?

Half marathon wrap up

Woke up at 5am, after getting to sleep at around 1am (went to bed before 10pm...).

Showered, had breakfast, had some tummy issues that were slowly sorting themselves out.

Headed to Telopea, and it was RAINING.

Smashed down a Gu Gel, some nutrient water, and headed to the back of the pack.

Start of the race was great, felt very happy. First 5km was over before I knew it, the rain did not stop though, and going through the trees meant the rain was a bit heavier coming off the trees.

Heading up the slight incline towards Parliament House, ran around it, we came back down the same way we went up, I decided to speed up since it was a slight downhill. Not long after this I started to notice that my socks were most definitely wet, and they felt like they were scrunching. I stopped for a second to pull them up. Kept going.

Just before 10km there was a water station, I smashed down another Gu Gel and had some water to wash it down. Around this point I could tell I definitely had a blister, I told myself who cares, ignore it, keep going.

We turned around somewhere near 10km to start lap two... heading up to Kings Ave wasn't as incliney as I was expecting, but once we got there I looked forward and towards Parkes Way looked like much more of a hill than I was imagining. Groan.

After the hill, I felt super, it was about 12-13km at this point I think. Sped up a bit, even did a bit of singing.

Gu station was at 15km, I grabbed one for later. High fived a kid on the side of the road (one of the highlights!).

Once we hit the 'marathoners go this way, half marthoners turn around here' I started to feel a bit fatigued, I think this was about 16km. There was a small hill getting onto Commonwealth. Marathoners were over taking me left and right. This was also the most I had ever run.

I set miCoach up so that it would keep me within the pace I wanted to be in. This was between 8km/h and 9.5km/h. If I went too fast (which I generally ignored, because if I was running fast it was because it felt right) it told me to slow down, if I went too slow (which only happened on water stops and one of the inclines) it told me to speed up.

I always imagined that once I got off Commonwealth Ave bridge that the end would be in sight, there was less than 4km to go, which would be what, 25 minutes at that pace? I could tell I was well on pace to finish under 2:30 (my time goal), however earlier on in the race I thought I might even get under 2:20!

Just getting off the bridge I felt the struggle, I had another Gu, some water, and pushed through.

I overtook a lady that I remember overtaking in the 10km Sri Chinmoy run, this made me pleased.

19km there was another water stop, took it. Needed the push for a fast final km.

Around this point this couple that I had been over taking, being over taken by, etc over took me. Couldn't let this happen. I pushed forward and got under 6min/km. This was really really difficult. At one point I had a near out of body experience. My legs felt a bit of burn, but not too much. Groan again.

The guy who won the Marathon passed me just after the 20km point, my aim was to finish at approx the same time, hey, I was only a 1km behind!

Once I passed the corner and could see the finish I went for it, got up over 12km/h and just kept going.

Think I finished at 2:26, miCoach says 2:25:30. But miCoach told me I did an extra km.

It rained the entire way, I don't remember it stopping for a second.

I have multiple blisters, chaffing in numerous spots and I'm frigging tired.

But considering I not only finished, but beat my goal time, I'm pretty happy!

One kg at a time

Today I finally weighed in at a new low weight. It's been awhile.

I've been taking it pretty easy in terms of weight loss, with the focus being on running and training for the half marathon. It's still nice to see the efforts paying off on the scales.

I've lost 9.4kg since August, 8.4kg since November!

Slack fingers, faster legs

Gosh, it's been awhile since I updated.

It's been a fairly eventful few weeks. Achievements to note:

15km run
This was in training for the half marathon that is THIS SUNDAY. I did it in 1:53:40. Don't really care how long I took, main thing was that I did it.
After the run I was a wreck, and when I say wreck, that's an understatement. I was pretty sure I was dying, and close to sending myself to hospital. This was due to not getting any food into me for 2 hours after the run. Rookie mistake. After some toast and gastrolyte I was all good.

Fast 3km
Just 2 days after the 15km, I pushed out a 3km in 17:52, which broke the 6min/km pace goal I am on. It was significantly easier than the 3km that I did in 18:17 a couple of months ago. Pleasing.

Faster 1km
Lately I've been pushing out some sub 5 minute kms. I've done a handful recently. They're all very much just under, with my best being 4:57. Main thing is it's consistent. But I hope that next week to I can get closer to 4:30.

They have all been pretty good achievements. But overall I have been pretty slack. I tried to get a 10km done on Sunday (last chance training before half marathon), but didn't even make 3km. This was from bad food choices during the day, but I also suspect from not training enough lately.

So....

Today I forced myself to go to the gym at lunch, I nearly piked because I was hungry, but I shovelled down some fruit and went anyway.

Guess what I did.

SUB 30 MIN 5km!

Finally! And not only sub 30 minutes, but my BEST 5km EVER recorded. EVER. My previous best was 29:45, and this was in 2006. Today I did 29:20.

It was pretty easy going, but afterwards I was very red for quite sometime. Got a lot of comments at work, but I was on a big rush from the speedy run that I didn't care at all.

I think this is due to a combination of longer runs and the fast kms. Because my fast kms are running well over 12km/h speed, running at 10km/h is pretty cruisy now, and I can now maintain that easily for 5km.

Next I have to double that.

But not only that, I have to take a few more minutes off. Challenging some guys at work in the Mothers' Day 10km, and we're aiming for sub 55min 10km. I think I can actually do it, I know the course well (bridge to bridge run x 2), there are pretty much no hills... yeah, I can do it.

But, before that. I have to run 21.1km. Did I mention that is THIS SUNDAY.