Saturday, March 30, 2013

Easter

Sunday:

Happy Easter!

When we got to my mum's house late on Thursday and decided to stay even though she was sick, I was only worried about inconveniencing her and the difficulties of finding a motel. Not germs. When I told her not to get up and cook us breakfast, but she did anyway, I was only thinking about how she wasn't feeling well. Not germs. Now my eyes have been watering for two days and are sore and burning, my body aches a bit, I'm so tired I fell asleep slumped in my armchair this afternoon, and my throat is starting to hurt. Maybe I should have thought about the germs a bit more.

We had a nice Easter egg hunt around the house this morning and as we don't allow the children to eat much at a time their stash will probably last them months. Even though we made them eat breakfast before any chocolate, and then moderated their intake, by late morning they were both in tears and fighting. Usually they play beautifully together. Much better after a blood-sugar-moderating lunch.

We had pancakes for afternoon tea; Jasmine & I had nutella on ours (chocolate spread, very Eastery), Aiden had plain, Tim had honey. About 30 grams of carbohydrate each for the pancakes, plus toppings -- so at the most 45g which is not excessive even for a diabetic but the problem is the form it came in. I just thought to test our blood sugar. It's been about a hour and a half since, so not an official time for testing blood sugar but still indicative of issues. Mine was 7.8 which is the top of the normal range and quite satisfactory -- I haven't had any really bad numbers for a while. I feel that I am gradually getting better. Tim's was 12.5. Terrible. In actual diabetic (not just pre-diabetic) range. I will test him again at the two hour point, but that is a bad number, worse than either of us have ever had.

He went to the doctor recently but she only sent him for a fasting blood test (results not back yet) which probably won't tell him anything as I think he has impaired glucose tolerance, not necessarily imparied fasting glucose. He needs a proper test. That will be next.

The fact that our children had an obvious behavioural change after a relatively small amount of sugar worries me too. It was probably exacerbated by a couple of days of junk food and poor sleep, but still. Or are they coming down sick too? I've actually noticed this change in my daughter before specifically at Easter.

I'm going back on low carb tomorrow. My huge chocolate bunny will have to be spread out over a long time.

Royal Easter Show

Saturday:

We drove to Sydney on Thursday after school/work (McDonald's on the way, yuck) and stayed at my mum's house. She greeted us at the door by pointing to a sticker on her shirt that read "I have laryngitis"! She'd come down sick since I last spoke to her. We stayed anyway because we weren't planning to be much trouble.

In the morning we went to the Royal Easter Show and ended up being there for ten hours, which was tiring but fun. It included rides (a kid-sized roller coaster and a little plane that you could make go up and down as it went round); then seeing various animals and feeding the baby ones (I loved the fawn best); fairy floss for the children; the flower arrangement, pumpkin and bonzai exhibition; trick horse-riding, motorcar driving, and motorbike jumps; woodchopping (the World Treefelling final); flyball (a dog sport involving a tennis ball and hurdles); a jazz band; and lots of free food tasting. Got the tired little kidlets back to mum's house in time for bed.

The only problem really with staying at my mum's is that Tim & I have to share a narrow hard fold-down futon couch. It is so uncomfortable! And I'm always worried about rolling off when I turn over. Two nights in a row of not enough sleep.

Then today we went to my sister-in-law's house to see the new baby -- we'd seen her still in hospital but now she was two weeks old. So cute. Jasmine was very excited to hold her. I got to talk to the new mum about lots of baby stuff.

I refused to go to McD again on the long drive home so we went to a proper restaurant before we left Sydney. Much better choice.

Tonight the Easter Bunny will visit and leave numerous little gifts of chocolate all over the house. Excellent.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Slogging on

Thursday:

I decided to just go with C25K week2 today so after a nice walk I went to the oval. I knew I wouldn't be able to manage 90 second intervals, and I couldn't. (Of course that is a rather self-defeating attitude which may have something to do with it.) Of the six intervals, I did one of 60 seconds and then the rest of only about 30 seconds. So not even good enough for week1!

But if I'm consistent maybe I'll be able to build up the running fitness a bit.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Or not

Wednesday:

I can't get a refund on that race without a medical certificate and going back in time a week. So now I don't know. I could just walk it. I like walking. But if I'm going to be in a race with people running all around me, I am going to want to run a bit. And if I'm going to run (on and off) then I should probably train for that.

It's only two and a half weeks away. Maybe six training sessions. I guess I'd rather do six unpleasant training sessions so that I can run a little better in the actual race, and not be disappointed in myself like I was last weekend. So I'm taking back the quit until after the 5K.

My thinking was also influenced by Biggest Loser (Australia) last night. We're only two weeks in and they had to do a half-marathon! Well, in relay. Tied together in their parent/child pairs, everyone had to run one 3K lap and then the team could decide who did the extras -- some pairs ended up doing 9K. Generally there was one person in each pair (sometimes the parent, sometimes the child [over 15 yrs old]) who was a lot fitter and/or more determined, and one who lagged back on the tether. One young man got really frustrated with his dad who wouldn't jog much. It made me think about how much I would like to be able to run. To start and be able to just keep going.

Week 2 of the C25K training involves running for 90 seconds. I can barely do 60. I've already done week 1 twice. Do I just keep doing week 1 over and over? Push myself into week 2 and do what I can? Forget the C25K and just do my own long walks with a few bits of jogging thrown in?

We are going to the Royal Easter Show this weekend. Yes that will involve fast food and maybe one showbag (the kids are allowed one each) but also lots and lots of walking. And watching burley men chop down trees. And seeing dogs herding sheep. And petting baby chickens. And seeing giant murals made out of fruit and vegetables. And cheering on the girl trick-riding. And criticizing the judges for not picking the prettiest goat. And maybe the kids getting to milk a cow. I love the Show!

Monday, March 25, 2013

Quitter

Tuesday:

I have this 5K in three weeks. Less than three weeks now. I don't like running but was determined to do this one race (the other race I did was only 3.4K and I wanted to complete a real 5K). I didn't want to be as unready as I was for the Tower Race on Sunday. So this morning I went for a walk and then to the oval for a training run.

I went back to W1 D3 of C25K because I can barely run 60 seconds, let alone move up to 90 seconds. I did three intervals on sopping wet grass covered in clippings that got all over my legs, then halfway through the fourth intervals I just stopped running. I mean, why the hell was I doing this form of exercise that I dislike so much and that I am terrible at (and which seems to damage my body) when I could be actually having fun dancing -- smiling and enjoying it instead of slogging through misery?

Another consideration is that I recently found out that the Canberra String Festival is on the same weekend as the race, and Jasmine's violin performance is two hours before my race. Even assuming they are on time, it would still be a rush to eat something and get to my race.

So I walked home.

I looked up the race website and I can't get a refund, so I am still thinking about just walking it. I feel a bit sad and guilty about being such a quitter; my previous plan had been to run this 5K and then quit running forever. I'm feeling very torn. Why do something I hate when I can still get exercise doing something I like -- even love?

And now my ankle is hurting again.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Verti-cool results

Monday:

Race results just came in. My time was 10:36 (so my guess of 11 min was pretty close). This was not a particularly good time. I came 230th of 236 people who finished the race; 140th of 145 women. When you take out the serious runners, I came 124th out of 129 walk/joggers. The average time was 6:11.

I didn't come last!

Interestingly, the winning time was 3:16 this year (4:15 for fastest female), but last year it was 2:47 (3:26 female). I am assuming that they added the run at the start this year, that would account for the longer time. I certainly wasn't expecting that run. For me, at my fitness level, I know it added way more to my time than the actual run itself which probably took me a bit over a minute.

Time to start working towards the 5K.

Abs

Monday:

I was really tired after my race yesterday and went to bed for nearly two hours after lunch. I was a little bit sore in places, particularly my shins, but not too bad and that has gone today. But I am really sore in my abs and down my sides from planks.

I have really really weak stomach muscles. Since having two children (and not working on toning them) they are like overused knicker elastic. I can't do sit-ups/crunches or the ab machine at the gym because of my shoulder issues. I can, however, do those other ones where you lie on your back and raise and lower your legs ... but I only do that at the end of gym classes when they make me. So basically they are muscles that rarely get worked.

On Saturday night my daughter and I got down on the floor and did some planks together. She did over a minute with little effort (she said her arms got tired after a while) -- I just made it to thirty seconds with my torso trembling. We did three.

Yesterday afternoon a band low around my stomach was hurting. I confirmed that this was from the planks and not the race by trying to do another plank. It was agony! I barely made it to 10 seconds. I did a 30 second one on my knees, I don't know if girly planks are even a thing. Clearly I need to work on this area even more than I thought.

The upside is that I can actually do planks as a way to tone my stomach. Not for long, but my shoulders didn't bother me which is great.

My stomach is the part of my body I like the least. It is that part I see the most; either in the mirror or looking down. Clothes pinch at the waist or strain to fit over that area. And the sag of my inelastic lower stomach is especially unappealing. I know I also have to get rid of the fat, but it would nice to have a bit of tone underneath.

I'll start with three planks of 30 seconds every night.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Verti-cool challenge completed

Sunday:

This morning I did the race up Telstra Tower, 403 stairs. I was pretty confident, even though I had hardly trained at all, that I could run up quite a few of them and get a decent time (I was hoping for something like 6 minutes, my primary goal being that no-one from the following group overtook me). But then we got there and found that they get you to run a few hundred metres to the Tower first.

For any runner, those few hundred metres would seem like nothing. But I would say (going by my body's response) that it was probably further than I've ever run before. They sent small groups off every three minutes, I was in group 26 with three young fit-looking men and two slender young women dressed in cute leopard costumes. We started, and I was instantly lagging behind the group. Up a short hill, then around a marker and back down the hill past the onlookers (it's the only place they could see us as the rest of the race was inside the Tower), looping round behind the building and into the basement. The others in my group were well ahead and out of sight by the time I got halfway down the hill.

I got to the bottom of the stairs completely exhausted. I'd run at a good pace (for me) because everyone was watching, but I had already depleted most of my energy and hadn't even climbed a stair yet! Gone were my dreams of sprinting up. I started to walk up. And up. And up. They had a steward every 100 stairs or so to urge you on. It was a narrow stairwell with metal steps, no windows or anything. My legs were ok, but my breathing was horrible. I was gasping, my lungs burning, the whole way. At the halfway point, people from the next group started to pass me. They were strung out, but by the end I think six people had passed me so that would be the whole next group that left three minutes after me.

At about 250 stairs I was starting to wonder if I could even do it. I had to stop and crouch for a moment, trying not to vomit or pass out, and got my panting under control a bit. Very short break, then off I went again. Finally made it to the top, and out into the fresh air of the viewing balcony.

I don't know my time yet, I didn't check my iPhone at any significant moments but I am guessing around 11 minutes. A bit over my goal!

Oh well, I did it.

As usual, I was too tired to feel a real sense of achievement (I don't think I've ever had any kind of high from exercise). Also a bit disappointed that I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped, the run at the start completely undid me. The whole thing was a lot harder that I had expected, and I let myself down with my lack of fitness. I am not feeling at all keen to do this 5K in three weeks, that I also haven't trained for (yet). But I'll keep trudging on.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Elegant birthday lunch

Friday:

Yesterday was Tim's birthday. I hope he had a good day. We started with presents in bed, then French toast with raspberries for breakfast (my blood glucose was a bit high after). He went to work for half a day then I picked him up and we went to a swish restaurant; the kind that has beautifully plated food that also tastes delicious. We had three courses but each one was quite small so the total amount of food was just right for a decadent but not gluttonous lunch. Then back just in time to pick up the kids from school. Aiden begged off gymnastics because he was so excited about the computer game he had given daddy for his birthday, so that was how the boys spent the rest of the afternoon.

Unfortunately that cake I bought yesterday wasn't very nice, we had some for afternoon tea but it was rather disappointing. Oh well, you can't win them all and the rest of the day went very well. I made the requested veal schnitzel and potato bake for dinner, and everyone chose vanilla icecream instead of more cake for dessert (I didn't have anything). A rather carb-laden day.

And I have paid for it today with intense carb cravings, which I have totally given in to. I'm also very tired and lurgy. It's going to take a big effort to put the brakes back on.

I've spent the day finishing an editing job, got that done and sent off.

Totally under/un-prepared for the stair climb on Sunday! I've used work and rain as excuses not to do some stair-climbing the past couple of days. I've done a bit of dancing, but no sprint work which is what I really need.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Eating live frogs

Wednesday:

Yesterday I finally got five stars on all the original dances for Just Dance 4! Achievement unlocked - Megastar! I bought myself a new charm, a little owl.

I'd been faffing around doing this and that, and read a blog post about how if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day; it was about how procrastination drains energy but if you just eat the damn frog first thing then you'll get a sense of achievement and momentum. I identified my two frogs as exercise and editing (my paid freelance work). I don't hate either of those things, but they are what I procrastinate over. 'Cause I need to read my blog feed. And have a cup of tea. And put on a load of washing. And check how my iPhone virtual farm is going. And read my emails. And I'm sure something else needs doing before I settle down to work.

But I decided to buckle down and get my exercise done for the day and the result was flying through the last few dances: ones that I had only done once or maybe twice and hadn't achieved five stars in yet. Six of them crushed under my dancing heel in less than an hour. And I did indeed feel good.

I had two days of eating beautifully until last night's D&D supper when I had quite a few chips (even though I didn't like any of the three flavours people had brought, I ate them anyway) and some chocolate biscuits. Certainly not a full-blown binge, and straight back onto healthy food this morning.

I had a frustrating (first world problem alert!) morning today; it's my husband's birthday tomorrow and the kids finally decided what they wanted to give him so I set out to do some last minute shopping. But one thing was sold out and I couldn't find it anywhere. Then I did the grocery shopping and went to buy this yoghurt that I have found that I don't actually hate, and they didn't have any. And I asked, and they don't stock it anymore! It was only a couple of weeks ago that the shelves were empty of my breakfast cereal and I was told they don't make that anymore. I went to four shops but no one had any left. Now the yoghurt. Arg! I grabbed a couple of other brands to try, but they are the much higher fat Greek style. I just want plain unflavoured yoghurt to stir my fruit into.

So in a slightly put-upon mood I went to buy the birthday cake my husband asked for. And the shop wasn't there. Whole shop, just gone. Like one of those shops that sell you a weird magical harp or something and are gone when you try to return it the next day after playing it sent you into a fantasy land where everything tried to eat you.

At this point I realised I had exactly 10 minutes to drive home, put the perishable shopping in the fridge, change my shirt as the day had warmed up, pee (I'd needed to go for about an hour now), and have lunch before having to go out again. Dashed home, ate tuna straight out of a can and back out to pick up my husband from his work, watch my son's school assembly (his class sang and he also read his one-paragraph essay about why he loves Canberra), drive my husband back to his work, and then try a different set of shops in the city.

Present successfully found and purchased, I tried a supermarket to see if they had my yogurt. No luck there, but I checked the cereal aisle and what do you know; right up on top of the highest shelf -- where they put the spare stuff that won't fit -- I could see three boxes of my cereal. Possibly the last three in existence. But getting them was no easy matter, I am 5 foot tall (152 cm) and the boxes were way out of my reach. I could have gone and found help, and would have if needed, but thought I would try on my own. First I grabbed a clothes brush from a nearby display, still in its cardboard and plastic packaging, climbed onto the lowest shelf and held on to a sturdy post with my free hand, and used the clothes brush to swipe the first two boxes down onto the floor (somewhat to the surprise of a passer-by, but luckily I didn't brain her). The last box lurked up the back, too far even with my extended reach. I looked around some more and voila! A set of BBQ tongs! Luckily the packaging didn't stop me being able to open and close them. Back into my precarious position on the shelf, long reach with the tongs (careful not to push to box further back) and got it! Talk about sense of achievement.

So I have three boxes of cereal, with a use-by date in three months. I had a serve for afternoon tea when I got home, hungry after my inadequate lunch. Yummy.

While still in the shopping centre, I went to the duplicate of the other cake shop (it's a franchise or chain). Or tried to. Also disappeared. It's a conspiracy. So I had to get a different cake somewhere else. I should have just made one, but my husband wanted a particular type that I don't have a recipe for. Anyway, hopefully this one will be nice, we've had good things from that shop before.

I was glad to pick up the kids, get home, and relax. No exercise or editing today, but very busy all the same.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Baby cuddles

Monday:

We had a lovely weekend driving to Sydney to see our new niece (my kids' first cousin), Emma. She is very cute and I got to hold her for quite a while. We spent some time with family and had a good time but of course not great food/exercise-wise.

I'm back on the healthy food wagon today. Didn't have time/make time to exercise, Monday is our busiest day.

Australian Biggest Loser started last night. Love that show. This year it is generations; each team is one parent with one child (the youngest is 15). They've already jumped off a cliff, had their first weigh-in, been shown what they will look like in 20 years if they continue to abuse themselves, and vomited during their first work-out. Good times.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

I have a niece!

Friday:

Little Emma was born at 7.26 this morning, so I am now an auntie! Can't wait to see her on the weekend (it's a long drive). I have no other details yet, just a text from the daddy. We'll talk to him tonight, I don't want to bother him now as they were probably up all night. They already said they don't want visitors in the first 24 hours which I think is perfectly reasonable. I remember when I had my first baby, she was born at midnight after more than 50 hours of unofficial and official labour and then I was trying to rest with people going in and out of my room all day. Midwives, cleaners, visitors, doctors. Phone calls from friends. Hospital is really not a good place to get rest, but I had to stay for a few days due to the difficult birth. I remember one woman came in and I really had no idea what she wanted from me, I eventually told her to talk to my husband later as I was just sleep-deprived and clueless, which she didn't seem happy with as she wanted some kind of response right away. I worked out later from the brochure she left that she was a professional photographer wanting to know if I wanted expensive newborn baby photos!

My most embarrassing moment was a couple of days after the birth when I was using an electric breast-pump to express some milk, basically I was hooked up to a milking machine. Then my husband's cousin, who I had met about twice, came in for a visit. He is a shy young man and didn't know which way to look and I hardly knew what to do either. I think I just tried to "act normally" and pretend I didn't have a noisy machine sucking away at my exposed breast.

I'm not having any more children, two is enough (and I am 42 now), so I am really excited about getting some baby cuddles from my new niece.

My life, the musical

Thursday:

Went for a nice long walk this morning, an hour, just around the suburbs listening to music. I don't know about you, but generally when I am listening to music by myself I am imagining that I am performing it (if I'm in private I will actually be singing). Like my life is a musical. I string the songs together into a storyline. I was really enjoying this morning's little world, but I had to keep skipping songs that didn't fit in with the story.

Kept myself busy all day and really felt like I got a lot done, so that was nice. Ten boxes out of fourteen ticked on my to-do list. I'm trying to ignore the huge pile of clean clothes that I didn't get around to folding and putting away, and the kid's suitcase that still hasn't been unpacked from last weekend. Can't do everything. Overall a good day.

This afternoon on TV I noticed a Biggest Loser ad immediately followed by a KFC ad. At first I thought that was a bit ironic, but actually they probably both cater for the same demographic! I'm quite excited about the new season of (Australian) Biggest Loser starting on Sunday. Love that show.

My sister-in-law still hasn't had her baby.

One week until my husband's birthday and I thought of another good present today. Kids still haven't decided what they want to get him.

Monday, March 11, 2013

A quiet day at home

Tuesday:

It's been a quiet day at home because Aiden was sick today, vomiting all morning. He seems a lot better now, lying in front of the TV and has eaten some fruit without throwing up. I've been creeping around the house trying to let him sleep. Still not 100% well myself.

I wasn't able to go shopping today, and after the long weekend the cupboard is pretty bare. One little kangaroo fillet in the freezer for Tim, mac & cheese out of a box for the kids. A few vegetables left for a small salad. Plenty of eggs and bread. I know some people can last a month eating what they have in freezer and pantry, but I shop to a list of things we actually need for meals I'm going to make that week. I don't like freezing things so I shop for meat and vegetables twice a week. It means our meals are fresh and tasty, but in the event of a zombie apocolypse we'll only last a few days on tinned corn and plain rice before we're out joining the masses hunting for brains. Braaaiiiinnnnnnsss.....



Wedding weekend

Monday:

Drove to Sydney on the weekend for my cousin's wedding which was fun. The reception had 250 people and was right in the middle of the city on the harbour next to the Harbour Bridge. We left the kids with Tim's cousin overnight so we got to stay out late. I was the designated driver (we stayed at my mum's house and drove her and my brother back) but driving through the city with lots of confusing roadworks at midnight was nauseatingly stressful. And my mum forgot her house keys so my brother had to climb in the bathroom window, while I got decimated by mosquitos waiting in the garden. Strange end to the night.

Lots of unhealthy food on the drive there and back. I was unwell a lot of last week and today so I haven't done much exercise for a while. I thought I was better but had a bit of a relapse today, maybe from overdoing it on the weekend or too much fast food. But luckily my weight has remained pretty stable -- 78.4 kg this morning. I am "good" for a week and lose a kg then am "bad" for a week and gain it back. Back on the healthy wagon today.

Lower carb really seems to work for me in terms of weight-loss but if I go too low I feel very depressed so I am still working on finding that balance.

My sister-in-law is due to have her baby tomorrow, but of course it might not happen for a week or so. Very exciting. My kids don't have any cousins yet. We visited her yesterday and she was looking pretty big, but the midwife had said the baby hasn't fully engaged (dropped into pelvis) yet. When I had Aiden he moved down six weeks early and we thought he was going to be born early, but no. Having a baby's head in your pelvis really makes you waddle!

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I can be a zombie if I want so shut up

Thursday:

I have both PMS and the flu so I'm not feeling at my best. Eating junk and zombie-ing around the house.

I have a trip away this weekend including my cousin's wedding plus road-trip fast food so I'll be honest, I'm just putting the diet on hiatus for a few more days. And if you think that is a really bad idea, please just keep it to yourself unless you want a smack in the face.

I've told my friend Joe I'm not going to run with him any more. I'll still be doing training for my 5K (when I get over this flu) but I refuse to get up at early to do it. I hate getting up early. I work very flexible hours from home so I can exercise whenever I damn well like. And if it is raining I'll damn well exercise inside in front of the Kinect instead of slogging through sodden long grass.

I think I'd better go back to bed now.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Not walking away from running. Yet.

Tuesday:

Had a pretty horrible sleepless night. Tim's was even worse. I got woken the first time when he came to bed rather later than me. Then we were woken twice by the kids calling (Tim got up) then he started coughing and sneezing. All the rest of the night. I might have been able to sleep through some of it except I was on a very light trigger as I had to wake early to go running. So every sound was WAKE UP! Oh, not yet. Must have woken at least 10 or 12 times.

But the morning weather was lovely and the grass, although a bit damp (dew? night-time automatic watering?) had been mown so my shoes only got wet, not soaked. The Week 1 Day 3 training run got off to a good start. I pushed through the first five intervals. Then my ankle started to hurt so I dropped back to a walk for the remainder of the time. Slowing down as soon as it started hurting seems to have helped as it has only been mildly sore today, much better than last week. I've decided not to run again this week, I'll leave it until next Tuesday. I might go an see a physio to get some ankle exercises.

I don't enjoy running. (And I hate getting up early.) But I am determined to do at least one 5K before I give up on it.

Tim stayed home from work, feeling awful. By mid-afternoon my throat started to hurt and now I have a headache and get dizzy every time I stand up. Some fun times to look forward to, then. Oh well, as long as I am better by the weekend to go to my cousin's wedding.

So tired.

Only two and a half weeks until the Verti-cool challenge! Gotta do some more training for that.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Overstuffed

Monday:

D&D was moved to last night this week, instead of Tuesday. Lately we've been mainly snacking on fruit plus chocolate, but last night -- whether because it was the weekend or because we were all taking a break from our diets or something -- just about everyone turned up with junk. Raspberry chocolate muffins, cheesy crackers, chips, chocolate, alcoholic cider. We all gorged. It felt great at the time. I'd almost forgotten how great that overstuffed stomach can feel. Until it stops feeling great.

Up during the night with upset stomach. Like I was last Tuesday after D&D. Hmm, coincidence?

Did some dancing today as my exercise. I unlocked an alternate version of "You're just too good to be true" that featured a man in a pro-wresting outfit (purple tights and hood) doing an extremely effeminate dance. It was hilarious and dancing along was a really enjoyable few minutes. I was smiling all over my face. So exercise doesn't have to suck.

On the other hand ... off to bed so I can get up early for my running session. At least it hasn't rained for a few days so I won't be wading through soggy muddy grass!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Up and down again

Sunday:

I climbed Mt Ainslie with Caroline again this morning. Lovely weather for it, cool but clear. I was panting and sweating but we got the the point where last week I felt I couldn't go any further and I really didn't feel that bad. Then Caroline made me sprint, twice. Just 10 or 20 seconds, but up a steep hill. I thought I was going to pass out or throw up. When we got right to the top I ran up the last dozen or so stairs. Time of 38 min 40 sec, about a 3 min improvement. We did the whole walk in the same total time as last week (1 hour 15 min) so we must have gone a little slower on the downslope. We both had a sore ankle and the downhill is hard on ankles and knees.

Not too bad an improvement for one week.

Friday, March 1, 2013

Ravenous

Saturday:

There may be more than one thing going on here, for instance it has been really cold for three days which also affects hunger. But yesterday I went back on carbs for the first time in a week. And this morning I woke up utterly ravenous.

Usually I struggle to eat breakfast at all and will be full with a piece of fruit. But this morning I wanted warm oats. Unfortunately after FOUR supermarkets yesterday I called the company and found they don't make my favourite anymore and the one I tried wasn't nice at all. So I had two pieces of toast. Then some grapes. Then chocolate. For breakfast. And was still hungry.

After a short break I had some more carbs and a cup of tea. With sugar.

Not sure how to deal with this.

Low carb was making me tired and unhappy. Eating carbs again (quinoa last night for goodness sake) is making me binge. Will these feelings of insatiable hunger pass and let me get back to normal?

Or maybe it is nothing to do with the carbs. This is the second day of autumn and it's suddenly freezing, feels more like winter, so maybe I'm just trying to lay down some fat deposits for warmth. It's still a few days to TTOM so it shouldn't be that.

Hungry.