NEVER GIVING UP...........

Here we go again.  I didn't commit enough, things have come up where I could have reacted to my liking better, I've been very in-consistent with action and more time has passed.  Anyways..........

I turned 36 last week.  Had a nice little gathering, appreciated catching up with friends and family, was shouted a lovely facial and massage from bf and got lots of social media messages, texts etc to which I am very gratefu.

Now just over 10 weeks till this Mt Cook half marathon.  Still wanting to make improvements to diet, start the process of getting fitter and shedding fat.  And carry it through.  Also start making forward progress with my debts so the goals of SOME long term savings and the ideas of the awesome holidays/travel I want to take start feeling more real.

WEEK 1 GOALS, - starting tomorrow.

* 1 vegetarian day where I make one vegetarian meal from scratch, (eggs allowed this week).
* At least 5 alcohol free days.
* Record expenditure
* 10 coffees max in a week
* 2 litres water per day minimum
* 15km running, (over at least 3 runs, outside or treadmill)
* 2 times 20 min sessions on turbo trainer
* Not buying of confectionary/refined sugar stuff and otherwise be mindful of appropriate food choices and portions.
A mini power tower workout at least 4 days this week.

Here goes!
Catch up soon, Pip

REPORT 11 MAY 2016, and SOME IDEAS

These reports won't be daily, however today

* 5k run TICK, (actually 7.4k, 47 mins 18, flat terrain but some gravel), couldn't help but push it.
* Push ups till failure TICK, - only managed 11 on toes when I could once do 28
* Chin ups till failure  TICK, - only 3 with blue band, then 9 blue/red band combined after rest
* 20 ab swings,  TICK, - (did 21)
* 20 air squats, TICK, - (did 21)
* AF day,  TICK, - (2/2)
* Car clean, - TICK  As a bonus gave fridges a thorough clean.

I did bum around till I started the resistance work as I was dreading to find how much form I had lost.  But here we go.  Good to achieve what was set out to do.

TOMORROW'S TARGETS:
* Either 20 min workout on turbo trainer/bike, (doing intervals but enough to push/get out of breath) OR a 15k outdoor bike ride with cleats etc on road bike.  Follow that with a jog to end of street and back, (1.4k)
* Some basic stretching
* 20 ab swings
* 1 set chin ups with both resistance bands, (many as poss)
* 1 set push ups till failure
* Organise/clean bedroom till I'm happy with the standard of it when I walk in, (don't OVERLY stress if not everything in drawers is not overly neat though).

Yesterday I talked about briefly outlining some longer term targets I'm *considering*.
One is the Mt Cook Half Marathon on 8 Oct this year, (never been quite to that area and boyfriends birthday is the following day).  Another is Queenstown Half Marathon mid Nov.  At some point I'd still love to achieve a sub 2 hour half, (3 mins, 6 secs off a few years back).  But more importantly I want to be happy with my conduct and commitment on the lead up to anything I fully commit to.

Challenge Wanaka Half Ironman is still at the back of my mind.  I pulled out this year.  Right now I'd be in slightly worse shape than this time last year.  No need to make a decision right now, but either way over the coming 2016/2017 season I will do a triathlon at least of a sprint distance.  And working toward overseas travel or holidays to new locations is always on the horizon.

Pip :-)

*THINKING NEEDING TO TURN INTO ACTION*........

I am back.

It has been tough deciding whether I keep a written diary, or whether I do my *diarising* all here!

The pros of me keeping it here are:

*I am much more time efficient on a keyboard than to pen/paper.

*Less books/paper to worry about

*Someone may one day be interested to read

Cons:

*Being online I need to keep content relatively general.  A little bit personal, all good but I need to know where to draw the line.

*I need to be careful not to be too *guna guna* or repetitive with unresolved issues or whingy without solutions, (but potentially a good thing).

SO.....it's here.  Really time to live in line with my values for once and all, (at least 80%ish) and it WILL stay that way.

Today's small victory = no alcohol.  Succeeding after a few days with wine each day.  Too tired for some today, too late now, have no urge so totally safe.

Tomorrow's plan:  Make to 2 from 2 AF.  Attempt a 5k run, outdoors or treadmill, (no pressure on performance but I know once I start I will try hard).  As I'm just re-entering running zone need to make sure I warm up, then stretch a little before hand.

1 set of as many push ups I can do before failure.  1 set of 20 squats.  A set of chin ups on my power tower with my blue resistance band till I can't do any more.  Also 20 ab swings on power tower.

Also outside of my work and normal routine I will clean car inside and out, it's been shitting me for too long. :-)  For the last few weeks until this week I had been working 12ish hour days occupying all daylight hours but that is finished for the year so no excuses.

For anyone reading, I am aware of not rushing totally full trottle into a training regime when I've done next to nothing the last few months.  Have accepted that and am currently after consistency for the next couple of weeks and to find out where I'm at.

I'm not even going there with diet just yet.  I do know the quality always does improve when I train more and drink less and am more organised so am actually going with that for now.

As for body composition/weight/aesthetics etc I want to keep away from regularly ranting on too much with figures etc like I did on my old blogs.  And the same with countless before and after pics.  But for reference, height is 1.71m.  While I currently don't want to get on the scales in the morning I suspect I'm high 70's, (kilos) could tip 80 if unlucky.  One day will have a look.  Of course I want to get that down, (and improve body composition and fit other clothes along with the rest)  but it's the overall picture, (living in line with values, consistency, lifestyle, well being, relationships, financial goals etc) that I'm looking at.  Fitness and personal challenges sit high on the 'values' thing for me.

Enough for today.  Will let you know how I go tomorrow with my objectives, and outline Thursdays goals as well as maybe mention a few longer term targets I'm considering, (haven't committed to).

Pip :-)

MAY 8 2016.........

LONG TIME NO BLOG.........

Welcome back.  Time to get this blog on the way again.  I am leaving up a few posts from last years as I put in a few sort of better stints as illustrated, but am here now to achieve more.

I didn't compete in Challenge Wanaka half ironman this Feb.  Infact I pulled out late December where I could get a 50% refund.

This year, particularly the last 2 months training has been very limited, like an average of a 5k run every 2-3 weeks, more in Jan/Feb and in particular less the last few weeks, (I went a whole month without one run).  I took the road bike round the 15kish block once or twice a week in Jan/Feb, and did about 3 decent mountain bike rides in March of 40k plus.  But that is basically it.  

Long work hours at mundane type work, (12 plus a day 5-6 days a week), wrong priorities, too much wine, followed by junk food at times equalling too little sleep meaning coffee is a priority in morning, over training.  Also not managing home life as well as I could.

This all shows me that I'm not living in line with my life values and it is mandatory I change some things to feel more content.  For now I have decided I'm ok with working in a mundane job, (I realise attitude can change this too) if I am meeting targets outside of work.

SO WHERE TO FROM HERE...........

*  I am to make a training program for the week ahead and record my doings on this blog, - not too much too fast but!  Then do this week by week.

*  I will change my relationship with alcohol, (most probmatic wine) for good.  I gave up all forms of alcohol for 2 solid months Jan and Feb last year.  This year I did a 6 week consecutive period where I drank no more often than 2 days a week tops.  For now I want to get back to the 2 days a week tops thing, and also be really mindful of how much/what I drink/the situation if I choose to do so.

*  I am in the process of Reading '20 Golden Rules' from Jason Shon Bennett.  He gives his view with lots of statistics and on how to structure your diet and lifestyle to give one the best shot of healthy longevity.  In a nutshell with lots of stats he recommends an organic plant based diet with fermented foods, and periods of fasting along with activity, enough sleep etc.  I haven't got to the fasting bit yet, but for now want to incorporate one vegetarian day per week where I make at least a vegetarian meal from scratch.  Things will ideally progress a bit from there as I love vegetarian food.  As for animal protein the hardest for me to give up would be fish and seafood so I could easily become a pescatarion.  

* 10 coffees tops per week and never more than 2 a day.

* At least 7 hours dark shut eye in bed per night.

Things will improve from here but we have a starting point!

Haven't confirmed it yet but am *thinking* my next big event will be the Mt Cook Half Marathon on 8 October!  I've never been to Mt Cook base so this would mean visiting new territory to take part in an exciting event.  My boyfriends birthday is the 9th October so this could be a cool memorable weekend/experience for us both!

Talk soon!

Pip