I spent some time online looking for some local running races to keep me motivated, and have put together a training program so that I don’t just go from race to race, which would be stupid.  The next step is to find my old weight training and abs workouts, and add those to my schedule, and find my old eating plan (from a dietitian – I definitely believe that eating properly is the way to lose weight, quick weight loss just results in even quicker weight gain).

I have had a really lazy Sunday so far, but I am determined to go for a run this afternoon! I’m aiming for a nice relaxed 10km run, but will be taking it easy

So – my new training regime will consist of 2 short runs during the week, a longer run on the weekend, 3 weight/abs sessions at the gym, 1 or 2 spinning sessions, and some time spent on the squash court. I’m going to stick to the eating plan, and I’m going to try to lose 500g a week, that way it’s more likely to stay off in the long run!

What do you do to stay motivated to stick to your training and eating plans?? I suspect that I will need some help, so any suggestions will be welcome

I plucked up the courage to hop on the scale on January 4th (I was still travelling home on Jan 3rd), and was quite pleased to see that I was at 66kgs – this meant that I had not gained any weight over Christmas (go me). I then dusted off my eating plan, and decided that this time, I am going to stick with it. I got through the first week without too much hassle, and was all excited to see how the scale had reacted. First thing on Monday (10 January) morning, I climbed on the scale and saw … 67!!! What?!?! How?!?!?! I’d stuck to my eating plan!

I spent a little time thinking about this, and ending up remembering that this is not the first time that this sort of thing has happened.  I have a history of having a bad week, and being rather happy that there was no change in my weight (or even a small loss) and then the next week, after sticking to an eating plan, lo and behold, the weight goes up. I have concluded that I personally have a week lag in how good / bad I have been, and I must therefore not be upset about Monday’s weigh-in, but stick to my plan, and see how things go tomorrow (17 January). Also, if I do happen to have a bad week, I must not become complacent when the number on the scale does not reflect this, I must remember that it will take another week to show, and I must therefore be slightly more vigilant when selecting my menu for the week to attempt to counter any gain that may occur.

This week, I have been very good with menu planning and sticking with it. It definitely has helped me that one of my colleagues is on a very similar weight-loss eating plan, and we have coordinated our snack times, so that we don’t feel as though we are alone. It also makes turning down the extra lattes and chocolate offers so much easier when you are not alone! So, thanks C!

On a much less serious note, our little puppy isn’t much of a puppy anymore, and has definitely turned into a little dog… And he now needs to go for runs, rather than walks, which means at least two 3km runs with him every week on top of whatever exercise I am already doing (I have decided that these 20min jogs cannot count as part of my exercise routine, and they will simply be bonus exercise.

I can’t possibly finish off this post without a photo of my newest running partner, so here he is (photo taken from my photography blog, where I am busy embarking on a 52 photo challenge):

I was doing really well with my weight loss, and then after the week of carboloading before the race, I seem to have forgotten to be good again – and with Christmas just around the corner, I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to manage my food over the next few weeks so that I don’t start the year depressed again.

I am starting to worry about the triathlon that I have entered this Saturday!! I am confident that I will manage the swim leg (800m) without too many hassles, and the run leg (10km) should also not be a problem. The cycle leg (30km) on the other hand… I have barely been on my bicycle lately (I’ve been doing some spinning, but it’s not really the same), and I am concerned about how tired I will be after the cycle leg, before I begin the run leg. If any of you have any suggestions on how I can get over this fear/stress, please let me know.

I think that some of the lethargy is simply because I am short of sleep and simply feeling run down. I’m sure that after 2 weeks off over Christmas, I will be relaxed and recharged. I am definitely looking forward to spending time with my friends and family, without too many plans. I will be doing some training because by the time Christmas rolls around, I will be starting to train for a 100km cycle race which I have already entered. I have decided that I am not going to repeat the fiasco that was this year’s race – I neglected to train, and instead of the race taking me 5 hours, I ended up cycling for 7 hours!!!! There will be more detail on my training as the schedule begins. I am hoping to keep running through my cycling training (cross training is good, right?) – M and I will try to do one or two short distance races between now and March. M is starting to run, and I would like to support him, as he has always been very supportive of my sport.

In other news, I am wanting to start taking more photos. I think that I may challenge myself to taking 52 good photos in 2011 (I keep seeing 365 challenges, but I know that that is unrealistic for me, I think that one a week is probably more achievable).

The past week, I ended up skipping my 8km easy run on Tuesday and then ended up cutting my tempo run down to 4km. I was feeling rather lethargic all week, but after taking things a little easier, I am feeling much better today. So much better, in fact, that I managed to run 14km today! That’s the furthest that I have run EVER! M and I got up bright and early, ate some breakfast, and then got ready to do my long run. M joined me on his mountainbike, and we headed off. I had mapped out a route with a few hills because the half marathon that I’m training for has one massive hill at about the 15km mark, so I thought that some hill training would be a good idea, unfortunately, I only put the hills at the beginning of the route. My splits were:

• 1km – 7:25
• 2km – 6:19
• 3km – 7:04
• 4km – 7:43
• 5km – 7:15
• 6km – 7:43
• 7km – 7:15
• 8km – 5:56 (this was the start of the downhill section)
• 9km – 7:20 (stopped to eat and drink)
• 10km – 6:48
• 11km – 6:54
• 12km – 8:31 (some waiting at traffic lights)
• 13km – 6:55
• 14km – 7:17
• Total time  = 1:41:35 (average pace of 7:10)

My parents are coming to visit this Thursday for 10 days or so, so I will have to be a little more creative when scheduling training sessions, and I will probably have to eat very carefully, because we usually end up eating out more often than M and I usually do.

This week’s training plan:

• Monday: 12h00 squash coaching; 18h00 squash training
• Tuesday: 05h00 spinning; 17h00 8km easy run
• Wednesday: 05h00 1km swim; 17h00 weights
• Thursday: 05h00 weights; 17h00 8km tempo run
• Friday: 05h00 spinning; 17h00 squash training
• Saturday: 06h30 cycle; 10h30 weights
• Sunday: 06h30 16km long run; 09h00 5km cancer awareness walk

I have also decided on my next two events!!! My company is organising a triathlon on 27 November for all employees and suppliers, which can be done either as a team or as an individual, to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. There are 2 routes, the short route is 400m swim, 15km mountain bike, 5km run; and the long route is 800m swim, 30km mountain bike, 10km run. I’m not sure if I am being brave or stupid, but I have entered the long route as an individual, which is why I’m having to add swimming to my training schedule for the next few weeks. And then, I want to do a 10km trail run on 4 December starting at Lourensford Wine Estate.

I think that having some extra events on my list, as I am a lot more motivated to train when there is a specific goal to train for. How do you stay motivated to keep training and eating healthily?

• Current Weight – 66kg
• Goal Weight – 60kg
• Current Body Fat % – 30%
• Goal Body Fat % – 27%
• Workout: run 3 times every week leading up to my half marathon (7 November), spin twice a week, do yoga once a week
• Nutrition: pack lunch for work every day, only eat sweets/chocolate ONCE a week
• Other: drink 1litre of water daily

I really hope that by putting it out there, I will be more inclined to stick to the plan

Over the weekend, I took the time to plan the menu for the next week, including all of my snacks based on how much exercise I am planning on doing every day, to ensure that I have enough energy to train to my full potential, but also so that I don’t overeat and therefore not achieve my weightloss goals. I think that I managed to put in enough snacks for during the day to ensure that I don’t turn to sweets/chocolates which is usually where I fall apart during the day (it really doesn’t help that we have a mini grocery store on the ground floor of the office).

My mini goals for this week are:

• Workout: do all workouts this week (including doing the club ride of about 50km on Saturday)
• Nutrition: no extra snacks, pack lunch the night before
• Other: get 8hrs sleep every night

I hope that this will allow me to lose the 0.5kg which will be necessary if I am going to achieve my 12 week goal of losing 6kgs.

I started the week off well, and packed oats for breakfast, a salad with tuna for lunch, and lots of fruit to snack on throughout the day. I managed to survive on the snacks and didn’t end up going downstairs to buy more food, but it took some serious willpower. I’m pretty sure that the need for chocolate is simply a habit that I need to break, so I’m going to do my best to do that!

I did alright today on my weekly goals, I only ate what I had packed for lunch, I played squash as planned, but I am probably going to miss the 8 hours tonight, it’s already 21:00 and I need to be up at 04:15 – ooops! An afternoon nap will probably have to be added

As promised, here are the stats from my run yesterday:

• 1km – 06:13
• 2km – 05:55
• 3km – 05:36
• 4km – 05:36
• 5km – 06:19
• 6km – 06:18
• 7km – 05:36
• 8km – 05:58
• 9km – 06:23
• 10km – 06:19
• 11km – 05:58
• 12km – 05:05

Which gave me a total time of 1:11:22, and an average pace of 05:57! Oh, and I burnt 852kCal.

Ok, I know, this was on a treadmill, with no hills, but still, I’m quite chuffed with myself.

I didn’t end up doing my 7km run on Thursday evening – there were 45km/hr winds gusting, and it was threatening to rain… being a bit of a fair-weather runner, I decided that it would be better to do the run on Friday morning. Somehow, this week was particularly bad when it came to actually waking up with an alarm clock, and my run was immediately rescheduled to before my squash game with my brother. I managed to get home from work at a reasonable time, and got out on the road in time to play squash!!! Success!!!

Splits:

1km – 7:00

2km – 5:37

3km – 6:16

4km – 5:26

5km – 7:11

6km – 6:55

6.68km – 5:17 (I was not in the mood to run around the block for the last 300m or so)

I then had a really good game against my brother, winning for the first time in about 3 weeks (the score was 18-16 to me in the 5th, so that I took the match 3-2). It was a little bit close for comfort, but at least it was a win!

I ended up collapsing in bed at around 21:00 with every intention of waking up to go for a 50km cycle… well… that alarm problem happened again! I ended up waking up at 09:00 and rushing off to squash by 10:00!!! It was a good training session though, and I worked hard, which was nice.

We had friends round for a braai in the afternoon while we watched the rugby (Sharks vs Western Province). The Sharks unfortunately lost, but still ended the round robin on the top of the log, which means a home semi-final next week… Another braai will be happening, I am certain of this!

I got up bright and early this morning, and started making my oats for breakfast. I was going to eat quickly, and then head off for my 12km long run before going to a friend’s 50th birthday. Well, somehow Cape Town has not realised that it’s Spring, and it was raining (again). I ended up staying in the warm indoors watching tv, and then we went to the birthday. I knew that I would feel extremely guilty if I didn’t do my run, so after the party I hit the gym and slogged out the 12km on the treadmill! I couldn’t believe that I managed that! I was extremely grateful for the Commonwealth Games being shown on TV at the gym – I had something to take my mind off the boredom and pain. As I sat down to stretch after my run, my iPod battery died (what perfect timing) – I can’t imagine trying to do that run without my tunes!!!! I have splits, but they are on my desktop, I will post those tomorrow too!

Tomorrow is a semi-rest day (I’m just playing some squash after work), and I am looking forward to the easier day. Work is going to be quite interesting – we all had to pack our desks up into boxes, as they are rearranging the seating plan of our floor! I guess that I’m going to spend most of the morning unpacking and getting my desk back to the way that I like it. I have planned out this week’s training and have even gone as far as planning all of my meals for the week – I will post this tomorrow (in the hopes that once it’s out there, I will be more likely to stick to it!). At least it’s easier to say no to that afternoon chocolate, now that I know that that’s what’s been ruining my runs!!! I discovered that the hard way, unfortunately.  I think that I would have preferred it to have been the coffee, but alas, it was the chocolate (more details tomorrow).

How was your weekend? And do you have any special plans for this week?

I managed to convince my brother to be a running buddy and join me on my 6km run this afternoon, which meant that I couldn’t bail on the run – this really helped and it ended up being a really nice run.

Splits:

1km – 6:51

2km – 5:30

3km – 6:32

4km – 6:39

5km – 6:35

6km – 5:54

I was really impressed with my time, considering that my legs were still feeling rather heavy after my mammoth squash game on Monday night.

I managed a quick 45min squash session after the run, which also went relatively well, which is nice!

Tomorrow, I’m going spinning in the morning, then some squash in the afternoon, and then I have a 7km tempo run. I’m going to join the running section on the time trial for the first 4km, and then do another 3km on my own afterwards. Considering that I have to ensure that I run slightly faster than normal, the competition of the time trial will be really useful!

A bit of a scheduling clash meant that I ended up playing squash for 1h49!!! The thought of a run was immediately tossed, and I sighed as I realised that yet another long run had been thrown away. Note to self: Must complete all long runs because the half marathon is getting really close now!

Today (Tuesday) ended up being turned into a rest day, as my body protested loudly about that squash yesterday! ooooops! M made a really nice stir-fry with spaghetti for dinner (I really do love the fact that M enjoys cooking!) I am having to learn to listen when the body says that a rest day is needed, so the revised training plan for the rest of the week is:

Wednesday: 16:45 6km easy run; 18:00 squash drills

Thursday: 05:00 spinning intervals (depends on my energy levels); 16h30 squash; 17h45 7km tempo run

Friday: 05h00 spinning tempo; 17:00 squash

Saturday: 06:30 50km cycle; 10:30 squash

Sunday: 12km long run (compulsory)

Then on Sunday afternoon, M and I have been invited to one of my squash friend’s 50th birthday party which is being held on one of the wine farms nearby, I’m most definitely looking forward to that. I think that it will be the perfect reward for a hard 12km run in the morning (nothing that a little motivation won’t help)

At the moment, I’m sitting on the couch, watching some of the Commonwealth Games squash matches with my two kittens next to my while I wait for M to get home from the movies (I don’t do action films, so he and a mate went together). I think that a cuppa tea may just be what I need, and then off to bed before my busy day tomorrow.

Wednesday:

75min spin class, work and then a squash game in the evening. I was rather sore while spinning, my legs are definitely better suited to running, but I will persevere. Squash went really well, I’m definitely playing a lot better, and I am feeling much better about all the hours of training I do, they finally seem to be paying off.

Thursday:

I was really looking forward to doing the usual 4km time trial with the running section, but one of my friends was visiting South Africa (she lives in London) and she was only in Cape Town for 3 days, and the only time that we could get together was at exactly the same time as the time trial. I decided that friends definitely come first, especially when you only see them every few years. I did manage to get some squash in before seeing her, and amazingly it went well (that’s now 3 games in a row!) – I’m definitely feeling better about all of this!

Friday:

I had scheduled a 5km run on Friday morning – the aim was to drive to the Sea Point promenade before work, run the 5kms quickly, then head to the office. This meant waking up at 4:30, running at 5:30 and getting to the office just after 7:00… well, I woke up at 6:20, lying on top of my cellphone (I use my phone as my alarm)… Clearly, I had woken up to the alarm, and fallen asleep again almost immediately, still holding onto my phone. It seems to have survived the ordeal, and I will be putting the phone at the opposite end of the room from now on! After work, my brother and I played squash for just under an hour – it was a hard fought match, and he eventually won 16-14 in the 5th to take it 3-2. He’s been working hard on his fitness, so I’m going to have to work hard to start beating him again!

Saturday:

I ended up doing an hour or so of squash drills with a friend (Z), and then we all (Z, her hubby R, their son H, and my other half M), all went out for lunch at a local pizza place. H had an absolute ball – the waiter brought a plate of dough to the table for him to play with, and he took full advantage of being allowed to play with his food! I thought about going for a run, but ended up being remarkably lazy – next week is going to be a hard week of training. It absolutely has to be!

Sunday:

Shortly after eating breakfast, we were hit by a power failure. Unfortunately, M hadn’t had breakfast yet, and when we reported the fault, we were told that there was no indication yet as to when the power would be back on. We decided to go out so that M could have something to eat, and we could have some coffee (it’s amazing how the craving for coffee increases the moment that it can’t be obtained!). After breakfast, I had a 9:00 squash game, and then intended running home (I had a 10km long run on the training schedule). Little did I know, my squash game would be an extremely hard fought battle, and my legs told me most definitely that a 10km run was not going to happen. I decided to take a semi rest day, and chill with a book for the rest of the day, and I’m going to get up and do my long run tomorrow morning before going to work – morning training always makes me feel a lot better!

My training plan for the next week:

Monday: 05h00 10km run, 18h00 squash training, 19h30 yoga (if I’m not too exhausted)

Tuesday: 05h00 1hr spinning; 17h00 6km easy run

Wednesday: 05h00 90 mins spinning

Thursday: 16h30 squash training, 17h45 7km tempo run

Friday: 05h00 1hr spinning intervals, 17h00 squash training

Saturday: 50km cycle and some squash

Sunday: 12km long run

I’m hoping that the exercise keeps me motivated during the week, work’s been feeling like a bit of a drag lately, I guess we all go through patches like this, and thankfully exercise helps keep me going! What do you do to keep yourself motivated when things seem slow? Any other suggestions for me? Please leave me a comment!

After dinner, we headed off to see Jeff Dunham! I had booked the tickets in APRIL and the show was sold out! He was absolutely amazing!!!! I was particularly impressed at the amount of research he had done, almost all the jokes were specific to South Africa! I was surprised when he said that of all the YouTube hits on his Achmed the Dead Terrorist skit, South Africa made up the majority!! I hope that it doesn’t mean that South Africans can relate to dead terrorists, that would be weird!

On Saturday morning my squash training got canceled as I was about to head down to the courts, so I changed into my running gear, had a quick snack, and decided to head out for a run. I had an 8km run on the schedule, so I thought that I’d get it over with early in the day. As I got to the 1.5km mark, I realised that this run was not going well (I was feeling a lot like I did on Thursday), luckily for me, my local gym is about 2km into the run, so I stopped there for a bit, and carried on when I felt a bit better, unfortunately, I didn’t get much further before I decided to turn around and head back home. Completing the run was just going to make me feel rotten, and I didn’t want to risk wanting to throw in the towel.

When I got home, I had a message asking if I could play squash later in the afternoon, which I decided would make up for the missing 4km from my run. The squash went a lot better than the run had, so I was glad that I agreed to play. I actually played really well – clearly it helps when I’m forced to think about where I put the ball!

I decided to turn Sunday into a rest day, which my body most definitely appreciated!

I got up at some ridiculous hour early on Monday morning and headed to the gym for a spinning workout:

Total time = 57 min, total distance = 29.6km

12 min warm up

6 min at 70-75%

7 min active recovery (65-70%)

(REPEAT X3)

12 min cool down

I ended up cutting the cool down a little short as I was running out of time, and really wanted to spend some time with a foam roller and then doing some stretches.

After work I played squash for about 45 mins with R – we worked really hard! I was rather impressed, as I was playing quite well, considering that last week was really not a good squash week at all! I’m hoping that this means that I am finally leaving that plateau behind me! I’m really looking forward to my game tomorrow, and I’m keen to play my heart out

I ended up sleeping in this morning (ooops, but it was wonderful) and missed my spin intervals. I’m going to do them tomorrow morning before work, and then play squash with V, which I’m really looking forward to. During the day, I managed to convince my brother to join me on my 5km easy run after work – he says that he hasn’t run for a few years, but he’s fit, so I was pretty sure that we’d be able to keep each other company. The run started off well, until, you guessed it, the 1.5km mark – and my stomach told me that running is just not something that it wants to do today! I managed to walk/run a bit, and then after a quick break, we were able to run the last 2.5kms back together. A big thanks to the brother for putting up with my varying pace!