Even Alex Trebek would have kicked me of his show for my behaviour last week.
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So I’m asking for a do over. All the whinging in the world is not going to get me through my life. I need to buck up and just do it. I’m talking about my health, which is directly related to my life, work, etc.
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Let’s talk about a few things then:
1) Weight Watchers – do or do NOT, but nothing in between. So I’m going to go back to point counting and logging online daily to keep track.
2) Reducing stress levels – have already discussed the working from home thing; is 99% sure to be a go. Already next week I work from home on Tuesday (dentist appointment), week after that I’ll be at home on Wednesday (dietitian appointment).
3) Exercise and Food Planning. More on that in a bit.
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Last week, despite my stress levels through the roof and the apparent lack of time for exercise I actually clocked 18KM running. Of course 9.6 of that was my race in Wageningen, but that detail doesn’t matter. 18KM is 18KM! Right? The race itself wasn’t really hard, but it wasn’t easy either. I think the most difficult parts of the race were the pitch darkness about midway through the course (my way was lit only by other runners with small head-flashlights) and the wind. It was raining and while I don’t really mind running in the rain, a lot of muddy puddles were on the course, puddles that I could not see, therefore puddles I regularly splashed in. I was cold all the way to the bone by the time I finished.
And speaking of finishing, I was 24/27 of my age group and 122/126 of all the women in the 9.6KM. Which means… I’m not very fast! If you guys have been following along though, you know I really don’t care about speed much, but lately I have the feeling that I don’t really want to be one of the last ones in anymore. I would definitely like to do this race one more time, simply to beat my time and placement. Lucky me, they have it again in April :)
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A little about point 3 above; yesterday Hubs and I made our dinner plans and shopping list again like we did a few weeks ago. I’m learning (and totally “listening” to Fran here as she is a planner and that clearly works for her) that planning is really key – well, wait, in fact I already knew that, and am a preacher of planning, but I haven’t been doing too well in that area, so it’s time to kick it up a notch again. Plan, plan, plan, plan, plan!
Dinners are planned, even already pre-cooked the meal tomorrow so I can just throw it in the oven when I arrive home. Will also premake a few other meals whilst cooking or preparing lunches/snacks for work. Lots of healthy stuff for lunches too. Am kind of looking forward to food this week!
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Exercise plans as well this week; Tomorrow running, Tuesday gym (spinning maybe?) Wednesday running (at work – I have a Cooper Test whatever that is), Thursday my yoga DVD that I received and haven’t taken out of the package yet, Friday rest, Saturday morning gym.
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I’m going to get through this. I’m going to stop thinking how unfair it all is or how much I’m struggling to lose weight. Really, maybe I’m not doing everything I possibly can. So, unfair or not (and who is to say, everyone is different), I’ve just got to move on, stop comparing myself to others and work on the only body I’m going to get in this life.
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So that’s me. A re-do commences now.
I knew you would come around :) I was so pleased to read this latest post after your previous one but I know I go through really bad phases where I just want to give up too. Please don’t look at my blog today.. I’ve been a bad girl :(
Your planning sounds great and I think you are right about it being the key to success. I’m going to be in Jordan for work this week so I’m hoping I can try to be as healthy as possible even though I have no idea what will be on offer to eat.
On the running front I’m sure you have probably tried this but I was told that doing interval bursts of faster running really helps you to up your speed. Have you tried this? Just doing a sprint every few minutes can really help you increase your capacity to run faster. I am still incredibly envious of your amazing running news. I can’t even run for 5 minutes at the moment!
Keep it up :D you are an inspiration to us all!
thanks for the response Emilie :)
are you doing a running program? I only have been running since March 09 and I couldn’t run even a minute then!!
AWESOME! I’m happy to hear about the change of heart. And totally impressed by your race and running last week…after all, you have so much more on than I do, and yet ran a whole heck of a lot more than I did!
so, yeah, you’ve inspired me to blog again tonight..it’s been awhile. Stay tuned!
Ah thank you so much Fallon! and now I need to get to my reader, where I have several posts of yours to read at this point!
I have to say that I was glad I cancelled the Bergrace when I saw the weather. Know what you mean, I’m not fast either but I don’t like being one of the last either anymore. Tempo runs in your shorter runs and interval runs might help you get faster.
Planning helps a lot, I know it works for me.
Hey Fran, I have actually been doing more intervals, but it’s been too sporadic at the moment. I am really just trying to find my routine. I will be glad when the Zevenheuvelen race is over and then I can get back to actually just going out and enjoying whatever I decide to run, not feel like I have to.
Planning did help last week! It didn’t go completely as I would have liked, but it’s a start. Thanks for being “out there” and motivating me (even if you didn’t realise it!)!
Good on you for deciding to stick with it and keep a positive attitude. I’m three days in to my new ‘eating healthier’ creed and it’s been hard cutting back on the things I was used to treating myself to. But I know it’ll be worth it and eventually I’ll notice the results.
Good luck!
Hey Chris, thanks! hope things are going well for you?