New blog! Weee!
Wait, where was I? Oh right...
I had a moment today where I had to stop and actually ask myself: “How on earth did this all begin?”
It feels so long ago that Rhi and I started on this journey that I don’t even remember the mind set that placed us on this yellow brick road.
I tried to imagine how Rhi and I might have tiptoed around the conversation. Around such an insane idea.
Don’t let me dismiss the genius behind it all either. It was Rhi’s out loud and spontaeous mumble that started everything.
“I want to do a marathon”.
Half speaking to herself, half saying it aloud in case someone such as myself might agree with the notion.
I tried to remember that moment when the insane/funny/unbelievable suggestion turned into an invitation of athletic comradeship.
Because, I am such an awkward person.
I hate socialising with people I don’t know, and in general don’t relish the thought of socialising with people I do know.
I don’t have many close friends and that suits me because I find that I prefer my own company than the company of others.
I look forward to the end of a hard day’s work, if it is rewarded with a quiet house, with headphones, a keyboard, or a good book to read next to a giant glass of wine.
So at what point did I nervously decide to take up an adventure with a fellow colleague I barely even knew?
I can’t even remember. And yet that moment is probably the most important moment of it all so far.
That headspace where I simply thought “fuck it” and went against my usual instinct of solitude and joined in something crazy.
If it weren’t for that moment then I wouldn’t be involved in the biggest and best thing that I have ever done just for myself.
That is a moment worth remembering.
That is a moment worth repeating.
Rhi and I felt some nostalgia as we started up the 10K app for our run on Tuesday morning.
Having that beautiful voice tell you what for is somewhat comforting, but because we were interval training again with walking rests, we almost felt like we were cheating.
When the time came to walk for a minute, we both felt as though we wanted to keep going, and at the end of it, Rhi looked at me with some regret and stated that we probably didn’t do enough.
For the first time since we started, I forgot to map out our run with MapMyFitness, so when we got back to the office, I jumped on Map-O-Meter to see what we had achieved, and then cracked up laughing.
“Dude, we just ran 6.6km”.
Yeah. We so cheated ourselves.
Even though my boss made some comment about how hard we had obviously worked this morning based on how I looked. Cheers, mate. I still felt like I could have done more.
Rhi and I are doing the Kayla Itsines workouts for cross training this week, and since I had done it before, I wasn’t relishing the idea.
All I remember was burpees. And we all know how I feel about burpees.
Not only that, but all of these floor and body weight routines always include pushups and I have not been able to do a single complete “boys” pushup since I was about 10 years old.
I jumped onto the ever providing companion, Google to see if there was any way I could train to achieve an actual pushup, and I came across an article this site: “How to Progress Your Way to a Perfect Push Up”. That’ll do.
Turns out these guys are crazy about pushups, and go to lengths to make pushups extreme and exciting.
I didn’t need exciting. I just needed to do ONE.
Like most things I research out of curiosity, as soon as I start reading, I realise most of the theory is common sense.
I have always thought that if I do elevated pushups on a bench or wall for long enough then I might some day magically have enough upper body strength to do real pushups.
While this might be true to some extent, there is much more to it.
Again, common sense, but these guys talk about pushups as a moving plank. Well, I can do a plank right? Right?
If you start at a plank position with your arms fully extended, keep your core firm and then slowly lower your body until your form fails, you my friend, have found your “sticking point”.
Apparently, if you continue to do this to your sticking point and then ‘reset’ your pushup to the beginning over and over, you will eventually move your sticking point down until it no longer exists and voila! magical pushup complete.
There are other ways to train into completing a pushup but this one seemed the most logical for me, so I was gonna give it a go.
I jumped into my first Kayla Itsines (KI) routine on Wednesday afternoon.
I had actually stayed home from work due to some severe sinus pain but I was far too stubborn to pike out of the first of our new routines.
Wednesdays are now Legs and Cardio. These days can also be known as “Kill everything from the waist down” days.
I hate pretty much everything on that routine, but I managed to complete it anyway. I had 7 minutes to complete each circuit, and I had to complete both circuits twice, with a 60 second break in between.
This shit burns your lungs and turns everything to jelly, including your brain. I tried to tell myself that this will make me stronger. This will make me a better runner. I didn’t believe a word I said until after it was done.
Thursday Arms & Abs routine bought me just as much excitement.
The only difference now was that I was so sore from yesterday’s adventures that I was already in pain before I even begun. But I persisted anyway.
This routine faced me with another issue. I cannot do situps unassisted. After maybe 2 (?) I fail to be able to continue to use my core to pull my body up and end up using my legs. I know it sounds weird, but when you have strong legs like mine, you find a way to use them for almost everything.
This obviously missed the point entirely, but luckily I still had my fit ball, so I finished the rest of my situps on the fit ball, and completed my pushups on my knees and finished up with a couple of concentrated full pushup training planks at the end, just to see if I could find that ‘sticking point’ I was talking about earlier.
I was so sore Friday morning, my attempts to get out of bed would have made my 70 year old grandmother look like a spirited cheerleader.
I could feel muscles I didn’t know I had, and was deliciously sore in many places I didn’t even know I had targeted.
I felt sore, but I also felt satisfied.
Being sore was no longer an excuse to stay in bed, but a motivator to get into the next workout.
I know, you won't understand this unless you have been there. I never understood this until I visited this madhouse for myself.
I rushed out the door super early to get into the city for my usual morning run before work.
Rhi wasn’t feeling well, and I hate running with music now, so instead of following the interval prompted 10K app running program with headphones in, I decided I would just head down to the Torrens and do the usual 5km track instead.
It was a good run. I made great time and was able to push my pace a little to get there.
Friday ended quickly (TGIF!) and the weekend was upon me yet again.
Chris has been away for work the last couple weeks and it is bizarre how unappealing an empty house can be, even if it is way cleaner than what it ever has been without himself leaving his shit everywhere.
After a long overdue coffee visit with Shaz on Saturday, I headed home and sulked around the house for the rest of the day. I was so dedicated to the sulk, that I followed through right to bedtime, without doing my full body crosstraining for that day.
Burpees, situps and pushups in the one routine? I wasn’t even sorry I missed it.
Rhi and I were to finally re-joining our Start Running class on Sunday morning, but I woke up late with a mere 10 mins to get ready, and after a frantic text to Rhi, found out that she was still feeling really sick (we seem to be swapping sinus infections like candy at the moment. Ew.) so I was relieved to be able to just stay at home and do a good old fashioned burb run. I even thought to follow the 10k app with some heafphones in and do some intervals.
Instead of a burb run, I decided to do a freeway run. There is a relatively new expressway up our way with a shared walking/bike track formally known as the “Stuart O-Grady Bikeway” that runs along side it. The whole thing goes from Port Wakefield Rd to Gawler which is about 20kms, but I only needed a small portion of that.
I don’t live far from the express way so, ever optimistic, I bounded out the door and was on my way.
I immediately remembered how hot it was supposed to be that day. The forecast was for warm weather, but also for storms, and that meant that it felt as though the sky was pressing down on me.
The sun wasn’t even properly up yet, and I could feel the heat on all sides of me.
Plus, there were so many flies. How do I always forget how many flies there are up around my way?
Aside from helping a motorist with a flat tyre to call a ride, the run was pretty uneventful.
I was sweating more than should be legally possible (sorry motorist) and could hardly breathe, but I completed the intervals like I was supposed to and felt good about it.
So it was a pretty good week over all. The new routine seemed to be doable and should really help us on our way to achieving our goals.
Since Chris has been away for work, I have had much more discipline when it comes to food.
I have kept to a strict routine of purchasing groceries on a Sunday and doing cooking prep for the week so I have access to easy meals instead of coming home tired and jumping to an unhealthy fast food alternative. That is a big deal for me.
I am also completely obsessed with making interesting breakfasts at the moment.
Thanks to a great suggestion by my friend Michelle on facebook after a plea for healthy breakfast alternatives, I decided to try and find a recipe for this Chia Pudding everyone keeps talking about.
I have heard about it and seen it many times, but the look of the pre-packaged stuff in the supermarkets looked disgusting so I never thought to try making it myself.
After some digging around good old google, I found an excellent recipe that I have been messing with.
The original recipe I tried was from The Minimalist Baker:
http://minimalistbaker.com/overnight-chocolate-chia-seed-pudding/
Author: Minimalist Baker
Recipe type: Dessert, Breakfast
Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten Free
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (360 ml) Almond Breeze Almondmilk Original Unsweetened
1/3 cup (63 g) chia seeds
1/4 cup (24 g) cacao or unsweetened cocoa powder
2-5 Tbsp (30-75 ml) maple syrup if not blending (can sub 5-9 dates, pitted if blending)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp sea salt
optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Add all ingredients except sweetener to a mixing bowl and whisk vigorously to combine. If not blending, sweeten to taste with maple syrup at this time. If blending, you can sweeten later with maple syrup or dates.
Let rest covered in the fridge overnight or at least 3-5 hours (or until it's achieved a pudding-like consistency).
If blending, add to a blender and blend until completely smooth and creamy, scraping down sides as needed. Sweeten to taste.
Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for 2-3 days, though best when fresh.
Serve chilled with desired toppings, such as fruit, granola or coconut whipped cream.
While delicious, I have been doing the following adpatation instead – super quick and easy to prepare for a few days brekky in advance, and pretty good for you too. I don’t add a sweetener because without it, this tastes a little like dark chocolate, especially if you use dutch cocoa, which I love!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Almond milk (I use Vitasoy)
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 scoop (25g?) protein powder – vanilla works, but strawberry is amazing.
Topping:
5-6 Fresh/Frozen berries
5-6 walnuts
1Tbsp Shredded coconut
Optional – 1Tbsp Greek Yoghurt
Instructions
I whisk everything together and then split into 3 small mason jars and leave overnight for the chia to swell and turn gelatinous.
In the morning before I take a jar to work, I add a bunch of fresh or frozen berries, a sprinkle of shredded coconut and about 5 walnuts.
Delicious optional: Add a tablespoon of greek yoghurt – yum!
Enjoy!