Breaking out of the rut.

Let me first start by making an amendment to the last post; it turns out I didn't reach a PB and finally break the 30 minute 5k. My app was off as the new phone case I had was disrupting the GPS signal. Bit of a bummer but it didn't come as a surprise.

So this post is about 'breaking out of the rut'. For a while now I feel like I've been talking about various goals and not really achieving them for one reason or another. One of my very own motto's is "If you are sick of starting over, stop quitting". I need to take my own advice. There have been too many 'treats' and 'cheats' and all too often they have outnumbered the good stuff. I have been fairly active but not pushing myself the way I should in order to get the results I want. I don't really do New Years resolutions because I think resolutions should be made whenever necessary, not just once a year, but I have taken this time to re-assess what I am doing and get focussed again.

For me, at least for now, there will be no cheats, no treats. I'm an all or nothing kind of girl and one thing leads to another so I'm best just saying no, full stop. That includes my meals too, I tend to excuse a little sauce or a little bit of cheese or an extra spoonful of something and it all adds up. I have long since given up eating any kinds of 'diet' food or 'low fat' options, for me it's all about eating good 'clean' food. That means whole fresh foods rather than processed packaged stuff. I will get back to basics with that and keep a check on portion control. I have in the past tried to cut down on bread with limited success (back to the all or nothing problem) and so, for now, it is off the menu. Simple carbs (potatoes, pasta, rice) are limited and larger portions are reserved for heavy workout days. I am also trying to cut down on drinking indoors and laying off the cider. Since reading about the possible link between Aspartame (artificial sweetener) and cancer, and also its negative affect on weight loss I have tried to avoid Diet Coke and therefore my alcoholic drink of choice at the moment is vodka and soda water. I am going to see if I can make it through January without drinking indoors (and since we don't have any nights out planned, possibly not drinking at all).

I have realised that I have not been pushing myself out of my comfort zone when it comes to exercise. I am also struggling to workout effectively to work towards all of the different goals I have. I want to work on strength and power (especially upper body) in order to perform better in the Nuclear Rush (6km mud obstacle race) but I also need to train for the Half Marathon which I am doing again this year. I also have a 10km race at the end of January. I have used a personal trainer (Ben) twice, who I met through the bootcamps I used to go to. The training is exactly what I am looking for, lots of squats, lunges etc. to work those big muscles and burn fat as well as strength and endurance work. He works me so hard that I want to puke, which is what I need but it leaves my legs too knackered to do long runs if I don't get a few days recovery. Also it is difficult to fit in the sessions around work and not to mention expensive. I think I would like to do a session once a fortnight. I need to do a long run at least once a week at the moment. I would also like to do a bootcamp style session. I could either do that with my personal trainer who now runs his own fitness camp or with Mike who used to do the bootcamps and now has an indoor venue called Hurtlocker which offers a similar style of training but without the mud and rain. Darren also bought me the Insanity Workout DVD's for Christmas which I want to do, but same problem occurs with legs being too tired to run. For now the running needs to take priority and I will try to do at least one strength session per week.

The main things for now are to eat right, drink less alcohol, and to train effectively and with a purpose. I want to lose around two and a half stone by holiday in August. I'd like as much of the weight gone as possible by the Half Marathon in March, as excess weight will only make it harder. I say two and a half stone as a goal but that is simplified. I am more concerned with what I look and feel like so body composition is a bigger factor for me than weight loss (fat loss vs muscle gain). I feel like I'm back in the zone, which I haven't been for a while, so I've just got to stay there.