Task 7: Organise & Diarise

Ok... here we are!

This is my favourite part of the pre season tasks - planning!!

Luckily for me, I have had my upcoming schedule booked in for a couple of weeks now as I am now at uni and definitely need to plan my life to avoid catastrophe!

I have created a pic of my schedule (below) - please try not to be scared (as I am!!) at how full it is.  I have had to fit in uni, work and my workouts into my week as well as taking some time out for me (saturday mornings).  It all looks a little chaotic, but I really hope that it's doable.  I have spent every moment of my free time in the last week dedicated to studying and I'm not yet where I would like to be! Hopefully the exercise and healthier foods will help my concentration levels!

To keep it simple, basically all of the purple are my workouts :)

Milestones

So, another part of this task is to come up with a 4, 8 and 12 week milestone.  Luckily for me, there are 3 fun runs in Canberra around those times!!

Week 4 - Sri Chinmoy 4km Fun Run/Walk - 12th March 2012

Week 8 - ActewAGL Women's & Girls 5km Fun Run/Walk - 1st April 2012

Week 12 - Mother's Day Classic 5km Fun Run - 13th May 2012

This one will be the BIG one - I have actually signed up to do the run!!!! (You can sponsor me below by clicking on the picture if you would like to)

I also have no excuses for not doing them, as I have already signed up to the Sri Chinmoy and the MDC.  I would have signed up to the other one as well, but their registrations aren't open yet.

Can't believe I want to be a runner... lol!

Crippled by Fear

So a while ago I posted about some goals that I wanted to achieve, and these have been on my mind ever since.  I have been seriously considering how I can make these work.

Today I considered calling up the local pool to see about their next technique class, but I have to admit, I started feeling nervous again about actually taking the class!! 

A little history on me and swimming - when I was little, I did a lot of swimming lessons and I remember having a lot of fun!  However, somewhere along the way I became scared of swimming... terrified in fact!  I remember crying in high school to my parents about having to do swimming for PE, and crying in PE class about having to swim and being scared to put my head under the water.  The fear of putting my head under the water is actually something that I have bought with me into my adult life.  I have actually had to condition myself into being able to put my face under the shower without panicking!!

I am quickly realising that this really is a fear, and it is something that needs to be fixed.  It would even be something that would be a great milestone for the next round (ie being able to swim 5 laps - I can probably only do 1 lap.... maybe.... lol)

Crazy, Crazy Week!

Where has all of my time gone??  I seem to be packing as much as I possibly can into my days lately, and I am already feeling the strain!  I need to get a few things off my to-do list to be able to get things under control, at this point I feel like I have 50 things trying to get my attention, and I have to say there is only so much that I can do.

In saying all of that, I have actually made it to the gym 6 days last week, and sadly, I know I won't do it this week.  To help remove some of the strain in my life at the moment, I have decided to focus on getting my flat ready to rent.  This means moving the last of my stuff out (at this stage I am not even bothering with cleaning out as I go unless it is something really obvious) and cleaning.  Then I need to organise insurances, fire alarm testing and signing off the paperwork for the property manager.  I would really like to get all of this done this week.  Aside from just trying to get something off my to do list, it is also a bit of a necessity as I quit my job!!! 

I am going from full time work/part time study to part time work/full time study.  I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this!!  The last year or more I have been feeling so unhappy with my life, or how my time was spent to be more exact.  I felt like I was losing myself and just couldn't seem to settle.  I felt as though I was constantly on the go and couldn't fit everything in.  Lucky for me I have a very supportive boyfriend who wants to see me succeed and to be happy.

Now, a little more on my actual 12WBT journey!

Let's see... this last week I have had my weekly weigh in, my Week 8 fitness test and my Week 8 milestone!

So, my weigh in was as follows

Week 8
Wednesday 2 November

		Change	Total Loss
Weight:	91.6kg	-1.1kg	-4.9kg
Arms: (ea)	28.5cm	-1cm	-1cm
Bust:	108.5cm	-2cm	-5.5cm
Waist:	118cm	-1cm	-5.5cm
Hips:	118.5cm	-1.5cm	-6cm
R Thigh:	54cm	-2cm	-4.5cm
L Thigh:	54cm	-2cm	-4.5cm
Totals:		-10.5cm	28cm

I didn't actually realise until now that I have only lost 1.1kg in 4 weeks.  To say I am disappointed in myself is an understatement.  It seems quite dismal.  I will confess and tell you all that I haven't been sticking to the program 100%.  We aren't very organised when it comes to grocery shopping or planning meals or getting it all sorted.  We were in the beginning, but I think since we stopped following Mish's plan exactly and since the fridge died.  All excuses, I know, but right now my mind isn't into the whole planning side of this... I just need to get a few things out of the way first.

I also did my Week 8 Fitness Test and can I just say that I am gobsmacked at how much I have improved!!!  I actually did the tests a bit all over the place by doing them on different days, but I don't think it matters much.

My 1km time trial was simply amazing!  We did have to change the location as the oval we were using no longer had any lines marked, but we managed to find an even better one!  The best thing is - I did the 1km in 4 minutes 34 seconds!!!  Thats 2 mins 17secs off my time 4 weeks ago and 2 minutes 42 seconds faster since I started the 12WBT.  I even ran almost the entire time!  I didn't run for about 1/4 of a lap (so about 100m).

I also smashed my wall sit!!  Last time I lasted 26 seconds, this time I made it to  1 minute 5 seconds!!!

I managed to do 42 push ups compared to 4 weeks ago where I did 31 pushups.

My sit & reach was also smashed where I was able to reach 5cm more. 

And finally, I have made it to a Level 1  in the sit up test!!!!!  It was so excited!! I promise - there was cheering and squealing in the house that night!!

Now, my Week 8 Milestone was to go paddle boating!! and OMG!!  It is hard!!  I have had bad knees in the past and had a lower back injury as well, so maybe I didn't think this one through that well... We only did half an hour, and I am so glad that we only did that!! It wasn't long before my knees were so sore!!  I think it was

more joint sore than muscle sore - which isn't good.  However, in saying that, it was a great day out on the lake!  Even managed to take a couple of photos! Sorry mine is a little dark and you can't really see my face lol  I was worried about getting sunburned! lol The photo of my partner turned out much better!

Week 4 Milestone: Complete!

I realise it is a late blog post, but I just wanted to come in and let you all know that I completed my Week 4 Milestone today - a bushwalk at one of the National Parks here. I am only 2 weeks late, but I think it's still good that I have done it! My partner was going to do it with me, but with him being away this weekend, and the weather being good, and me finally feeling well enough to do it, I just wanted to get it done! So, I called in the help of my friend and fellow 12wbter, Carrie. Originally my goal was to do the Devils Gap 6km walk which was quite steep, but we changed our minds, and it was a good thing we did!!! We ended up doing the Cascade walk which was 2km, and the steep parts in that had us buggered!!

When we went to do the walk, we wanted to do the Cascade trail as well as the Lyrebird add on, however our careful map reading skills and excellent sense in direction meant that we missed the turn off! But we did actually go into the koala enclosure on our way home and had a wander around in there too. I love being out in nature,especially the forrest. I have always had a bit of an affinity to the forest as opposed to any other ecosystem. As soon as we were out in the bush, we could hear so many different birds, and as we walked along we could hear the lizards scurrying away from the path to hide. We did see a few lizards, a butterfly and even (what we think was) a numbat as well as a gorgeous koala. There were little waterfalls and creeks along the way and there were a few times that we were out of breath and struggling a little as we made our way long.  There were some really nice views, gorgeous flowers and amazing trees - including a tree stump that was continuing to grow!!  Refusing to give up I suppose!!  We even bought along lunch and bottles of water, and we stopped on one of the bridges near a waterfall/creek to eat and have a small break.

It was so refreshing to get out of a normal routine, to go somewhere different and to challenge ourselves with something new.  Carrie and I discussed where we both were in our 12wbt journey, how we are feeling now compared to when we started and what we want to achieve by the end.  It's only been 6 weeks, and we are now half way, but so much has changed.  For me personally, I have found that I don't have the same excitement as when I first started, although in saying that somehow something has managed to stick where I haven't given up, I am just trying to plod along and do what I can while at the same time I have lost all motivation.  I still want to complete the round and lose as much as I can, and I am planning on signing up for another round, but I do miss the excitement of starting something new and having all of my hopes encouraging me along.

By doing the 2 walks of about 2.7km, we exercised for an hour and a half and burned almost 500 calories!!!  I am very happy with that!  I did take photos on my way around - I hope you enjoy the slide show I put together for you!  I had better get to bed now, I have to be up early to do the walk for diabetes tomorrow!!  Will post an update about it next :D