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.

Personal Best

If you've been reading this blog, you'll know that for a few years I've been talking about getting my 5km time under 30 minutes. My PB stood at 31 minutes, so near and yet so far! Today I beat it. Not only did a beat it, I smashed it! New PB stands at 29.44

I haven't been doing a lot of running lately, throughout the summer I've been spending most of my workout time on my bike. I'm trying to build up my distance again as I'm finding 5km a chore at the moment and I have committed to the Rudolph run and Half Marathon again. My aim today was to increase my distance a little. I was going for around 6km, maybe a little more. I wasn't really concerned about the time and figured on recent performances it would be a bit of a plod.

I set off surprisingly well and felt comfortable at a good pace. A couple of km in and the app in my ear told me I was still holding a good pace but then came a km of steady uphill, which has been a challenge in the past. I expected to slow but was determined not to stop. As I turned the corner into the uphill road, I was greeted by an unwelcome headwind. Though unwelcome, it served to increase my determination and I started to pump my arms a little more. As I turned the corner back on to a flat road at around the 4km mark, the app told me I was still doing well and I started to think about the PB. At 4.5km I knew I was on and that spurred me on to pick up the pace a little bit more. Ironically, in the back of my mind I was thinking that the objective of today's run was to increase my distance and it would be a shame if I ran so hard that having hit the PB I would then want to rest and recover rather than keep running. At 5km the app told me I'd done it in 29.44 and a smile spread across my face. I wanted to do a fist pump but in fear of looking like a poor shadow of Rocky, I held it in. I resisted the urge to walk and revel in my glory, and kept running. At the risk of sounding like Forrest Gump, I just kept on running. At this point I was still a couple of km from home so if I stopped to walk it would just be a long walk home. When I run for distance, I do this deliberately so that even if I quit early, I still have to walk home. I made it to 7km leaving a short cool down walk to finish. On checking my stats I discovered that my fastest pace was the sixth km, the one straight after I hit the PB. Perhaps I flew it (or more likely it was the tailwind)?

I'm feeling so good at the moment, if a little perplexed that of all the times I ran with the PB in mind, the time I wasn't aiming to challenge it was the one that did the business. I'd also like to give a little shout out to the new trainers I got for my birthday, Some top quality Asics. I'm sure they helped.

So now the 30 min 5km is no longer the challenge, so what now? For me, it feels like Roger Bannister cracking the four minute mile. Of course, I will continue to try and better the PB, but shall I set 25 mins as a new goal? Could I do that? Or do I focus on maintaining the pace over a longer distance to better my 10km PB? Well that's one for me to ponder for a while, I think. For now I'm just happy with today. That's one in the bag for "Faster" #FasterHigherStronger

I am officially a "runner"!

I did it! I completed the Rudolph run and even more impressively the Half Marathon.

Both were blighted by ill health annoyingly. I have only had two colds all winter, the first was a week or so before the Rudolph run. I made a good recovery but was still struggling a little with a blocked up nose. It was a bitterly cold day down by Southend sea front, about 5 degrees, as I recall. I was nice and warm once I started running even though I only had a vest top on. Darren on the other hand was nigh on frozen standing waiting for me to finish. I completed the 5 miles in 50:47 which I was quite pleased with considering the breathing issues.

The second cold was actually Flu and kept me in bed for two days. It struck around 6 weeks before the Half Marathon. I had got up to 18km in training (the race would be just over 21k - I train in km even though this race is measured in miles, a bi-product of doing 5k's for so long). I didn't do any running for about 3 weeks as breathing was tough. I tried a couple of bike rides just to get something in but it was a struggle. By the time I felt well enough it was getting close to the race and I didn't want to over do things or risk injury so I just got in a couple of 5k runs. I was really hoping to have gotten in a couple of 18-20k runs before race day but it wasn't to be. I would just have to hope that adrenaline and pure determination would be enough to get me to the finish line.

Race day was very favourable with the weather. It was colder and wetter than it had been the weekend before but thankfully the rain stopped and the sun came out shortly before I started and didn't change until we were in the car and well on our way home. For that, I am eternally grateful. I don't know how I would have faired in worse weather, especially if it were windy.

We had a ten minute walk from the stadium to the start line (which I was not impressed with). Olympic medal winner Mo Farrah sounded the horn at the start line and we all set off. It felt like literally every single runner was passing me, but I had my tracker app feeding information through my ears and I was very conscious of my pace. I knew I must not get tempted in trying to keep up with them. I saw some official race pacers who were labelled as "2:15 pacers". I knew I would be 2:30 or over so I was happy to keep them in my sights for a while. I know that my pace slows towards the back end of the race (which is something I'm working on). Before too long I could see the soaring arch of Wembley and we weaved our way towards it. As we came into the underground car parks of the stadium there was a thunderous roar dwarfing any sounds coming through my headphones. Just as I wondered what it could be, I turned a corner and there were a whole bank of drummers and I imagined that I was a player getting ready to run onto the pitch to the roar of the crowd. And then, there it was, the pitch in front of me, the seating surrounding me like an all encompassing hug. I was smiling, which the race photographers managed to miss it seems. Within seconds it was over and it was all about the homeward slog. The trouble now was that I had made a note of a couple of the hills I had enjoyed running down, knowing full well that I would now have to run up them. As I approached the worst one I tried to clear my thoughts, get my head down and power on up. As I did so one of my very favourite songs "Mr Brightside" came through my ears giving me just the boost I needed. I started to think about the 2:15 pacers, who were now long gone into the distance. That was not an issue but it occurred to me that I had seen faster pacers but I had not seen any slower pacers. Were there any slower pacers? Perhaps they didn't bother with anyone slower than 2:15? As I passed the 10 mile marker my question was answered and I watched 2:30 pacers pass me. I was ok with that. I had 3.1 miles to go and I wasn't too far off the pace. I knew though that I was only going to get slower and hoped I would not grind to a halt. By the time I got to 12 miles all I wanted to do was walk. I knew if I walked though that it would just be longer until the pain was over and it would only get tougher and tougher. I tried to walk for a few seconds once or twice but my muscles were so tight I actually couldn't straighten my legs enough to walk properly. I stopped to stretch a couple of times then cracked on with it. As I came back round into the Saracen's stadium towards the finish line the course took us across some grass which was a little muddy and uneven. Within seconds of setting foot on it my left foot went into a painful cramp, unable to deal with contouring to the bumps. Thankfully I managed to shake it off. What bad luck it would have been to have to limp over the finish line now! As I came towards the finish line I looked up to the clock which was reading 2:45. I knew my chip time would be a little under that. Then I looked for Darren and found him. I found a little energy for a wave and a smile as he filmed me then over the finish line with my hands in the air. I was aware that there was a rubber bump across the finish line hiding wires and it was an effort to lift my feet over it. Having readjusted my stride, I found myself slightly off skew for a second rubber strip. I nearly tripped over it and as I corrected myself I could feel another cramp shooting up my calf muscle. I managed to walk and keep it at bay, again fearful of an unglamorous ending to my race!

And that was it! Done! The official chip time was 2:43:20.

When I was younger, and going for job interviews, I would always struggle if asked "what is your greatest achievement" or "tell me about something you are proud of". Now I can answer easily. Despite Doctors telling me not to run if it hurts, I took control of my life and my destiny. I didn't need gym memberships, personal trainers or anyone else to motivate me. I got off my butt and done it by myself, for myself. Now I am a "runner" and this runner ran a Half Marathon!

Remember: its not a "Half" of anything, its a "Whole" 13.1 mile race.

New Challenges

Well my focus has changed since I last posted. I have signed up for a Half Marathon! I can't believe I'm going to do it! Having decided I can do one, I was looking for one next year in the summer, giving me plenty of time to train. Then I saw an ad on Facebook for one in London. It starts at the Allianz stadium (Home of the Saracens rugby team) and runs down to Wembley stadium, through the grounds of Wembley and back up to the Allianz. The idea of running through Wembley really appeals to me so I signed up. The down side is that its in March. This means I've got about three months less than I'd hoped for to train and also that the weather will be more unpredictable. Hey ho, minor details.

And so, with that in mind, my training is now more focussed towards running. I am still looking to do runs of varying lengths including sprints and hills but now I am looking to increase my max distance in preparation for the 21km (13.1 miles) Half Marathon. After a couple of months of training I am able to run 16km now (that's just short of 10 miles) and my 3,5 & 10k times have all improved. I have also signed up for a 5 mile Santa run in a couple of weeks. It's in Southend and raising money for Action For Children. I recently came across a deal on Groupon for the gym I was looking to go to and got 10 sessions for £13.95, which is fantastic. I must admit I'm a little nervous about working out in a gym and looking silly on machines I don't know how to use, I've got so used to doing my own thing indoors.

My diet has still not changed (regrettably). Like everybody, I find it harder to resist the comfort food in the colder weather, but I really must make more effort. If you want any more proof of how important diet is, I can tell you that I have run nearly 45 miles this month and I have not lost a single pound!

My joints are coping admirably with all the running. The pain kicks in around the 8k mark in my knees and hips. I tend to be in a lot of pain in the evening after a long run and some pain the next day. Runs of 5k or less do not bother them too much anymore, which is a great improvement. I am still not taking any full term medication. I take Co-codamol before long runs and then Ibuprofen gel usually suffices afterwards, though occasionally I still need Paracetamol or Co-codamol in the evening.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about how things are going. Obviously, Christmas is coming so I need to limit the mince pie intake. I'm bulk cooking some Mediterranean chicken and a Turkey sausage casserole so I have some healthy, low fat meal choices in the freezer.

Onwards and Upwards!
#FasterHigherStronger

What Next?

I'm on a mission again! I'm reasonably happy with how I look and how I feel but my weight is starting to go in the wrong direction again and I need to reign it back in. I need to lose between two and two and a half stone to get back to ideal weight. I also want to be stronger so I can smash up next years Nuclear Rush (mud obstacle race).

In terms of my diet, it's really about going for the less healthy options less frequently and cutting out the bad snacks. I eat healthy most of the time but tend to favour cheese on toast for lunch when I'm at home so I'll be swapping that for an omelette with salad. I favour pasta (wholemeal) in the evenings because its quick and easy and I've usually already pre-prepared mince (often turkey mince) to go with it. I'll be trying to eat more lean meat and fish with vegetables when I am home in time to cook. Lastly we have got back into a bad habit of having snack nights with crisps and chocolate which needs to stop.

When it comes to exercise its difficult for me to commit to a three times (or more) a week kind of plan as my work hours vary. Some weeks I may only do two or three workouts but another I may do five. So with this in mind I develop my plans over a monthly basis. I have designed 3 weights based workouts which I plan to do 3/4 of each per month. I also plan to do various running programs including hill sessions, short speed intervals, longer (6-10k) runs as well as some outdoor plyometric training (preferably without tearing muscles this time). I hope to do one of each type of run over the month.

I am contemplating visiting a gym as well, maybe once a week or fortnight. Although I am happy working out at home and can get good results, there are a couple of things I would benefit from in the gym. I don't have a proper squat rack at home which means whatever weight I squat, I have to pick up and lift over my head first. As the weight is getting pretty heavy now , this is getting difficult to do safely. I am struggling (like many people) to do pull ups and although I can find ways to compensate, for example doing incline pull ups at home, if I went to the gym, I could use an assisted pull up machine. They also have a good climbing simulator machine which looks interesting. There is a good gym quite local which offers a PAYG membership of £5 per session.

I started the first workout this week and somewhat overdone it. My legs were quite achy but not too bad but my arms were really bad. Three days on, I still cant straighten my arms properly! I think the incline pull ups were the biggest culprit. I may need to knock a couple of reps off next time. Even with achy legs, I still did the hill session which went really well. I was surprised by how comfortable I found it considering even a year ago I would have run out of steam half way up even the shortest hill and would have walked. Now I barely even flinch at a short hill. Lots of hill running on holiday probably helped too.

Today I should really be doing a weights workout but as I said I still have quite bad DOMS in my arms, therefore I will be going for a run instead and perhaps some core exercises too.

The goal for now is to get back into my skinniest of jeans by Christmas.

Life's little trials and tribulations

So this is really an update to the last two posts. In the post "Then and now" I talked about my joint pains and how I am on full time medication to manage the pains. I also spoke about how the pains are not as bad as they used to be. Some other health issues caused me to discuss my tablets with my doctor. The result of the conversation was that I agreed to try and manage without taking them. I could still take other painkillers as and when required. That was over two months ago. I have managed better than I ever thought I would, and in fact have only needed painkillers on a couple of occasions. I recently returned from my holiday to Menorca. This is often a painful time due to the hilly terrain, not to mention the beach steps. Previous years I have taken painkillers almost every evening. This year I ran up and down those hills, I trekked up and down the rocky coastal paths and I even knocked fifteen seconds off my time for running up the beach steps, clearing 181 steps in 100 seconds flat! I didnt take a single pill! What a turn around! Definitely nailed the "Stronger" part of my mantra.

What about my other goals for the year? Well its not gone quite to plan. I completed the obstacle course in a respectable time of 1hr 30mins. We finished 411th /12th/13th out of over 1000 participants (despite me suffering an excruciating calf cramp on an obstacle near the end). We were happy with that and Darren and I are looking forward to doing it next year.

Having done the course though, I identified where I need to improve for next year and so I started working on my strength and explosive power. I had until recently confined my efforts to the house gym but decided to make up the anti and take it outside. I found some things to climb and jump over. Unfortunately I didnt even survive one session! I tripped and fell whilst jumping over a small fence and ended up tearing a muscle just to the side of my knee. That was the week before the Race for Life! I somehow still managed to run it but was not able to go for a record breaking time, finishing in something like 43 minutes.

That injury as well as other health issues had caused me to scale back my efforts somewhat. I'm on the mend now though and intend to set new workouts and a running plan within the next week. Watch this space!

Then & now

I thought I'd do a little update on how my fitness has developed over the last few years. One of the key factors for me losing weight was how I felt, probably more so than how I looked to be honest. If you know me or you've been reading this blog, you will most likely know that I have a chronic joint pain disorder. Due to the pains and several mis-diagnosis over the years I became very sedentary. I took expert advice that I should refrain from "high impact" exercise, particularly with regards to my knees (the worst affected joints). I was told to avoid; running, jumping, squats and lunges amongst other things. I was advised to keep exercise non weight bareing, such as cycling and smimming. I didn't realise at the time but that was actually making the condition worse as my joints became weaker and less stable. My knees became so weak and painfull that I was unable to step up on to something knee height without holding on to something or someone, and getting back down was worse. Jumping of any kind was out of the question.

Dont get me wrong, this is no miracle story, I'm still in pain. I'm still on full time pain management medication. But the pain is less frequent and less severe now. I can not claim this to be purely down to my fitness, as my medication is better now, and also I have learn't over the years how to limit and manage the pains better. But what I want to talk about here is what I am physically capable of doing now compared to three or four years ago when I started this blog. And so I am just going to give you examples of what I used to do (or not do) and what I do now.

Then: 5km run/walk (pains in hips & knees for a week)
Now: 10km run (Pains for 2-3 days)

Then: Squats holding on to something for support (2 sets of 5)
Now: Squats with over 20kg on a barbell (20 sets of 20) OR squat to press with 2x 3kg dumbells on a Bosu ball (unstable platform)

Then: 5 lunges (each leg)
Now: 2 sets of 15 lunges (each leg) with 2x 5kg dumbells OR 2 sets of 10 jumping split lunges

Then: Need assistance to step on/off box
Now: 2 sets of 10x jumping OVER the box

Then: 20  second plank (because shoulders hurt too much)
Now: 1 minute plank on upturned Bosu ball (unstable platform)

Then: 5 Girly press ups (because wrists  and shoulders hurt too much)
Now: 2 sets of 10 Men press ups

Then: Unable to run at 6mph on treadmill
Now: Able to do sprints of over 9mph

Then: Unable to wear healed shoes for more than an hour or so due to knee pains. Take a week to recover
Now: Able to stand all night in heels (not 6 inch though!) Able to make short walks in heels. Able to repeat two or three nights in a row before needing recovery.

All of these acheivements, I never thought possible. I believed I was destined to be in pain and discomfort for the rest of my life. I honestly believed there was a fair chance I could be wheelchair bound by the time I was 50 and that scared the Hell out of me!

Whilst reading stuff on the internet about joint pains and arthritis (which a was told I had) I happened across a couple of articles about building joint strength. There was stuff about jogging, about how, contrary to all the hype about it being "high impact" and bad for the knees, if it was done right, the benefits of building joint strength and bone density far outweighed the effects of wear and tear. There was stuff dismissing the historic claims that squats are bad for you and actually saying that weight bareing exercise can help ward off bone degeneration (osteoarthritis). To cut a long story short, I thought it was worth a go! So here I am, hitting the big 40 this year and I can honestly say I feel younger and fitter than I did five years ago and maybe even ten years ago. This year I am Running the Race For Life, yes RUNNING! Not jogging, not run a bit/walk a bit. Running, you know, like a fit person! I'm also doing a mud obstacle race and I sure as Hell dont see myself in a wheelchair anytime soon!

I am so proud of myself, I can't begin to tell you! But what I want to say to you is that if you can identify with my story even a little bit, if you can empathise on any level, you don't have to have the medical condition but maybe you have pains or old injuries? Maybe the future is not already written for you? Maybe you can take control and be who you want to be?

Faster Higher Stronger!