Row a Marathon! Are you crazy?

The word Marathon had only ever been used in my vocabulary with the word ‘Movie’ in front of it, involving the delight of plonking on the lounge for hours on end.

But, a year ago I used the word Marathon with a Half in front of it, and accomplished 21,097m on the Concept 2 Indoor rower, whilst on an adrenalin fuelled whim I said “hey maybe next I’ll try a Marathon” (crazy).

I never thought it would come to fruition as I was always postponing the date due to surgery and, to be honest, lack of time and commitment. I needed to set a date and stick to it. I also had added pressure by saying I would row for charity*, a little local girl Sophia who needed surgery in USA to correct her rare limb deficiency, donations still welcome and read more of her story here. Being a woman of my word I had to get it happening.

I procrastinated a bit more, trained for short distance events like the 1 Minute Challenge and Australian Indoor Rowing Championships and it was while I was at this event in Brisbane that I saw an opportunity. The host gym Urban Rowing was holding a Christmas Marathon Day on 13th December 2015, so I decided I would hold my own event in NSW on the same day.

It was only a month away so it was time to get in some longer distance training on the rower in preparation. So depending what time I could fit into my busy life I would do anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, 3 times a week. When I did the 2 hours I rowed 24,000m it was hard but doable and this was to be my longest training row.

Now when I say I only had a month to train, I had been doing A LOT of training before this so I just increased it to more of the longer distance rows. (The experts recommend a minimum 4 month training program, so don’t go from zero to hero in a month.)

Finding a venue was easy, the amazing owners of my gym EnVie Fitness were happy to let me host the event at their studio, as I didn’t know anyone else who would row the full Marathon with me, I attempted to fill 2 other rowers as a continuous marathon relay. So taking advantage of the gym Christmas party and a few slightly intoxicated members I recruited enough people to commit to rowing 2k or 5k or even 10k and more.

As I confirmed the relay rowers more and more started pulling out and made the lead up to the event which made me very anxious, whilst some had good reasons for cancelling it still didn’t help. But calling upon friends is the best thing a girl can do and they came, stayed, filled in gaps, rowed twice or even 3 times and made my row a lot less stressful.

Now MY Marathon row, let me tell you all about it. It started more worried about music and technology rather than the distance, my vintage Ipod failed to charge and my carefully selected Row Ho Ho playlist was never to be heard.

The starting line-up, Amanda, myself and Jules

The starting line-up, Amanda, myself and Jules

I started as schedule at the stroke of 7am, trying to chat to my fellow rowers rather than focusing on the time and numbers, it was great to chat to friends and meet new people who I hadn’t got to know from the gym previously.

Alita the owner of EnVie on the left and Coby on the right doing their bit.

Alita one of the owners of EnVie Woonona on the left and Coby on the right doing their bit for the relays.

The first 18,000m was, dare I say, relatively cruisey, and from then on hitting each milestone was an achievement in metres and in time, 21,097 half way, over 2 hours then became my longest ever row, when you see the numbers tick down from 20,000 to 19,999 and especially when it went to 9,999 that was epic. But the realisation that 10k meant nearly an hour to go at my current pace was hard to grasp.

Pleased to see some festive spirit from Kate on the right and our token male Scotty "Unreal" who says he really needs to work more on his cardio.

Pleased to see some festive spirit from Kate on the right and our token male Scotty “Unreal” who says he really needs to work more on his cardio.

With about 8k to go, shit started to get real, my body hated me, my mind wanted it finished, I couldn’t pull harder if I tried and the more I looked at the estimated finish time the more it was creeping up to 3 hours 40 minutes. There was my amazing pit crew at the end Kim and Kate who were adjusting my foot hold up and down to change positions slightly, I was lifting alternate buttocks off the seat on every other stroke for some rear end relief, I was taking many sips of drinks and all too often I would just stop for a second here and there but never putting the handle down, it was getting really really tough mentally and physically.

I rowed for a while hunched over so I wouldn’t look at the screen just to get a few more metres done. To my surprise this seemed to work. Then the counting down of every kilometre, when it ticked over 3 hours I was feeling some relief that the home stretch was in sight. I just kept rowing. My mantra was “still less painful than 3 days on a horse”, I’m still yet to blog about that experience and in saying that this was a different kind of pain, more intense but I kept repeating it to myself and occasionally out loud (weirdo).

It was around this time that my darling husband brought the kids in to the gym, this put a little pep in my stroke, but it was short lived.

The pain is real, but the end is nigh. My cheer squad kept me going.

I had now stopped talking to my rowing buddies, a new lady got on to finish 1 of the relays and I hadn’t met her before, I said “I’m really sorry but I’m not feeling very chatty right now” (how rude).

There was a small crowd of dedicated supporters to whom I’m very thankful, some not exactly yelling what I wanted to hear like “go harder” but knowing they were there to support me was more important.

Such a welcomed distraction when Ella climbed on next to me.

Such a welcomed distraction when Ella climbed on next to me.

With less than 1000m to go my daughter Ella climbed on the rower next to me to finish off 1 of the relay rows, completing about the last 300m, this inspired me to give it all I had, but when I went to push harder with my legs I felt on the verge of a cramp in my quads so I calmed down a bit but still faster than I was going, at this stage I was aiming for sub 3 hours 42 minute but I was just happy to be so close to the finish.

The pain and relief of THE END

The pain and relief of THE END

And then, THE END.

I had made it, my amazing pit crew removed my feet from the straps and I waddled like a little old lady to a mat on the floor and lay down collapsed. EVERYTHING hurt.

Get me off this thing. Thanks Allison and Kim for helping me escape.

Get me off this thing. Thanks Allison and Kim for helping me escape.

I just lay there for a few minutes feeling sore and sick to the point of almost vomiting.

Once I peeled myself off the floor the enormity of what I had done still hadn’t really sunk in, it was all pure relief of being off that damn rower.

I'm dying here, but still have my festive spirit. Row Ho Ho.

I’m dying here, but still have my festive spirit. Row Ho Ho.

Here’s my acceptance speech for my virtual award:

I would like to say a massive thanks to Alex and Alita from EnVie Fitness Woonona for allowing me to take over their studio (again). To all the amazing people who came along and rowed you will never understand how much your support means to me. To Kate and Kim for hanging around and helping me as well as filling in rowing gaps in the relays where it was needed and especially for your support at the painful end. To my deer husband (yes it’s spelt right for us) for you never ending

And the winner is ….. everyone who finishes a Marathon. I’ll take this certificate and display it with pride.

support of my crazy ambitions and coming to cheer me on “row fatty row” (it is an approved cheer) and for my adorable children yelling “row mummy row” before wandering off to play with your friends, I can only imagine how boring it was to watch for 10 seconds but my little angel Ella who rowed with me at the end almost made me cry and she still brags about how she beat me.

 

So for those who care for the numbers, here are my stats:

Distance 42,195m
Time 3 hours 41 minutes and 56.6 seconds
Calories burned 2149
Average HR 154
Max HR 171

In conclusion, would I do it again, well on the day, and the week that followed I would have said no way, no chance, no how …… but some time has passed since that fateful day and I am contemplating that it could be an annual event, never say never.

Thanks for reading
Row Ho Ho

* From this event alone we raised over $1000 for Save Sophia’s Leg Charity Appeal but still so much more is needed.

1 last picture to share, the next generation of rowers.

1 last picture to share, the next generation of rowers.

The Commando

There could be no other title for this Blog post other than “The Commando”

I was lucky enough to win a group training session with Steve Willis AKA The Commando. (For those overseas readers or if you live in a bubble he is 1 of the trainers on our Australian version of the TV show The Biggest Loser).

I’ve been a fan of The Commando since he first appeared on our TV screens on The Biggest Loser reality show in 2007, he appeared tough, mysterious and man of few but firm words and instilled fear into all the contestants. Using Tractor tyres, heavy ropes, and often mud he was a force to be reckoned with. I’ve seen his group motivation that if someone dropped from a plank or other move the whole group had to start again. I think it was probably borderline TORTURE. I also read his book NO EXCUSES in 2010 which was where I heard about the crazy world of Crossfit. Now Crossfit is everywhere and something I would love to try 1 day.

So how did I win a torture session with The Commando? From an Instagram hashtag, #garmincommando. Unbelievable but true. I never thought anyone won anything from Instagram or Facebook but I am living proof.

The nervous wait to get start our session with The Commando

The nervous wait to start our session with The Commando

So thanks to Garmin Australia, my friend Belinda and I along with 60 of Commando or Garmin’s biggest fans descended on a secret location in Sydney for a group training session.

The group of lucky winners. - Photo courtesy of Garmin Australia

The group of lucky winners. – Photo courtesy of Garmin Australia

The Commando started the session advising everyone to work to their own capability (best thing I’d heard so far), because despite wanting to push myself and to be pushed, but I needed to still be able to function walk after. We started with a 5 minute warm-up which was as much to test our brain as it was to warm up the body. With the group running around an indoor basketball court and Commando calling out changes, high knees, bum kicks, side steps, backwards running, change direction etc and firing the changes at a rapid rate. I was like a deer in the headlights, with coordination not being my strong suit, however I was pleased to say I wasn’t the only 1. By the end of the 5 minute warm up I could tell this session was going to be a world of pain.

We then progressed to yoga style moves and stretches before getting into the hard core workout.

Now I don’t want to give away all the Commando’s secrets and to be honest there wasn’t many exercises I hadn’t attempted before, but the way he put the session together tested how tough you were. I’ve got 2 words for you “Bear Crawls”, now I hate these at the best of times but the surface of the basketball court was some crazy hard plastic criss cross concoction which hurt your hands like nothing else, so I was more a princess about my hands than the cardio workout I was getting, there was also a whole list of other exercises that I cringe at including burpees which almot stopped me in my tracks. I pushed on doing my own version as best I could. Now I don’t want to brag but during the session he high fived me, I never saw him do that to anyone else, yay me. I don’t know why I deserved that but I’ll take it.

After 3x 4 minute tabata rounds with a 4 minute rest (yes he let us rest) we finished off with a group game before a motivational talk.

My Commando Steve quote of the day: “Be the person you want the world to be.”

Some others quotes he uses are:

“Keep it simple and do the work”

“You can’t OUT TRAIN a bad diet”

“There are NO EXCUSES”

And 1 of my all time favourites that I have embraced over the last few years:
“BEING FIT IS AS MUCH ABOUT THE MIND AS THE BODY”

 

I was a little disappointed I didn’t get “The Commando” off the TV, I would have loved to flip a tractor tyre (at least once), however according to this article from 2013 Steve is happy that he can smile and put his personality into training his contestants.

So all in all a great workout 1050 calorie burn according to my Garmin Vivofit and so glad I could take my friend Belinda along for the ride.

We survived and still have smiles all round.

We survived and still have smiles all round.

Garmin dished out some cool North Face backpacks, Garmin t-shirts and caps after the event. I think everyone was secretly hoping for a new Garmin watch (a girl can dream).

The Commando, very generous with his time for photos with all the attendees.

The Commando, very generous with his time for photos with all the attendees.

The Commando was very gracious with his time and knowledge after the event, allowing everyone the opportunity to chat and take pictures. Did I mention I lined up twice. Well the 2nd time I waited til right at the end to have a chat to him about Indoor Rowing on the Concept 2, something I know he is passionate about in the hopes that he may be involved in upcoming events. Watch this space.

Someone asked me what he was like, and as with all celebrities, he is human, but also very approachable and I found him extremely motivating (and easy on the eyes). All in all a great morning.

I’m currently doing The Commando’s Get Commando Fit 13 week program so follow along on Facebook to see my results.

* This post is not sponsored by The Commando, Get Commando Fit or Garmin Australia, but I would like to be, hint hint.

I’m NOT with the Band

Twenty something years ago I was an amateur Band Manager and my Saturday night quote was “I’m with the Band”. My weekends were spent having a couple lot of drinks and watching live bands in some seedy awesome establishments.

Not actual band I managed, but they were almost as good. Image Courtesy of http://www.rockbandaide.com

Not actual band I managed, but they were almost as good.
Image Courtesy of http://www.rockbandaide.com

Fast forward 20 years and the only bands, I’m talking about are hair bands for my mummy bun and my daughters pigtails.

The other band I am not afraid to talk about is my Lapband or Gastric Band.  I got my lapband in June 2010, (read about that here) because I didn’t want to be morbidly obese and pass on my poor food habits to my children. In the 10 years leading up to having my daughter I had put on 50kgs (read about that here). From having my Lapband in until now I have maintained a 22-25kg weight loss. I have no regrets.

But for the past few years my Lapband has been causing me grief with reflux that medication couldn’t always control. This in turn inflamed lower oesophagus and stomach ulcers (that I didn’t know I had), caused internal bleeding (which I didn’t know about) and these unknown complications potentially caused me to pass out while shopping one day with both my kids (5 and 1 year olds), really scary stuff.  I was thankful to be in Athlete’s Foot Wollongong at the time buying school shoes for my daughter and I joked about the price of her shoes causing the fainting episode. The store owner, staff and random members of the public were amazingly helpful and the kids and I got a free ride in an ambulance.

Initially after some tests they thought my fainting was caused by dehydration and low blood pressure, which dropped substantially when going from lying to standing position. A follow up appointment with my doctor 2 days later and it was discovered that it was a combination of all of the above complications. So although the Lapband wasn’t the cause of this it was a bi-product.

So after the last few years of procrastinating about getting my Lapband fixed or removed it all came to a head and I made the decision to have it removed. I went in for surgery just before Easter for what was potentially a 1 or 2 night stay that turned into 3 nights. The surgeon did warn me that getting it out can be a longer recovery than putting it in and he was not wrong. I had really low blood pressure, blurred vision and vomiting and I felt just plain awful.

So 4 weeks post-surgery I am on the mend, I’m back to the gym on light weights and cardio, getting my head around eating well with no restrictions. I will see my surgeon again in 3 months and I have set a weight loss goal of 9kgs. I am focusing on low carb (not cutting carbs completely) and high protein style eating plan as per his recommendations and every other reputable trainer, coach, dietician etc I have ever met.

I am terrified of weight gain. I have just got to the point in my recovery where I am feeling hungry, I have passed through the liquid diet phase of my recovery and had my chocolate binge, milk and milo fix and ice-cream binges (because they are a liquid) and I have thankfully stopped that shenanigans.

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My latest mantra is “Don’t waste the fortuity”, (because opportunity wouldn’t fit on my Typo Lightbox) I have to remember that the last almost 5 years with the Lapband have not been easy and I have slogged out countless hours of exercise, mummy guilt abandoning the family to go to the gym, emotional rollercoasters, stress, relationship struggles and wondering if I had done the right thing, to let it all slip away by eating and drinking stupidly.

Weight-loss is made in the kitchen so I am focusing on this primarily and exercise secondly because, honestly, the exercise for me is the easy part.

So the future is uncertain but I am going to give it my all now that I am no longer “with the Band”.

Half Row Ho Ho – completed

To inspire me to get back onto the Indoor rower I needed a goal, something to train for, because as much as I enjoy exercise (most of the time), having a personal challenge motivates me to get out the door and get moving. My second motivation came from raising funds for The Salvation Army Australia for their Christmas Appeal, donate here but don’t delay my appeal page finishes on 17 Jan 2015.

My personal goal to complete attempt a Half Marathon happened on Saturday 20 December 2014. I was pleased to have 3 great people alongside me with my long time rowing Coach Ian Gibson of Pioneer Fitness, Kathy who I met a few years ago through Ian and Kim a long-time friend who nagged me to join HER gym EnVie a few years ago, something I have never regretted.

OUR awesome gym EnVie at Woonona was the host for the event, even allowing a MALE into their all-female environment (Ian tells me he even put the seat down).

 

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

WARNING – this next part will contain numbers and figures which may only be understood by fellow Indoor Rowers or Concept 2 users.

We kicked off almost at the stroke of 7am (get it stroke, rowing/clock, double meaning and all that).

Ok time to get serious, my goal was to finish in 1 hour 45 minutes which would have been an average pace of 2:29.3 per 500m and strokes per minute around 20-21.

The nervous excitement and adrenalin of the challenge saw me start too hard and I had to talk myself back to a more maintainable pace and slow my stroke pace down, eventually settling at about 2:26 I felt comfortable but was afraid that I was going too hard.

Once I got through the first third of the row I picked up the pace and was maintaining about a 2:24 pace. All was going well until about the 17000m mark and with 4k to go my arms turned to heavy logs and I feared they wouldn’t get me home. By this stage of the event we had a small cheer squad of Gym trainers and fellow rowers who offered some much needed advice, some of which was “use more legs” so focusing back on my technique and getting the very tired legs to do more of the work, I struggled through the next 3k.

With 1000m to go the adrenalin kicked in and excitement that I was soon to get off the damn rower, so I picked up the pace and averaged a 2:19 pace, even pulling under 2:00 for a strong finish.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

End of uber technical details, resume normal programming.

My stats for half marathon on the rower, which for those who don’t know the distance is 21097m, time was 1:41:46.4 with an average pace of 2:24.7 per 500m average stroke rate was 21 spm.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

It felt mighty good to finish and this could be the post row adrenalin talking but I committed to have a crack at a full MARATHON on the rower 42k at 42 years old. Watch this space, coming to you from a gym sometime in April 2015.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

I’m having a moment

Tonight I am spiralling out of mental control. I am analysing and over-analysing my life, my goals, my body, my family, my reasons for doing all that I do and trying to figure out why I am doing it and who I am doing it for.

Tonight’s options as I saw them were A) go and have a shower and go to bed and everything will be fine tomorrow and I will just carry on doing what I am doing, or B) write that crazy shit down and share it with the world.

It all started tonight with my weekly group PT session, I took my little dude “Mr Just Turned 1” and asked my friend to bring her daughter to play with him. Whilst she did her best to entertain him, about 20 minutes into the class he got a glimpse of me and starting screaming, several attempts to calm him and get back to the class failed, I assumed he was probably tired, so I packed us up and went home, I don’t know about you but I can’t finish a workout hearing my baby crying.

The next thing that was getting me worked up was my daughter reading the Junk Mail toy catalogues and getting all excited about Christmas. I was trying to calm her down and say you can ask for things but you may not get them. How do you explain this to a 5 year old, who gets almost everything she asks for? I really want her to have a lean Christmas and not for any other reason than she has too much stuff. Last year after opening all her presents she said where are the rest, it made me want to cry.

So I thought my spiralling mental state was caused by an interrupted workout, upgraded by a spoilt 5 year old. I then started the plotting and planning with my husband as to his start time and when I might be able to get some kid free time at the gym, and I opted for 5am tomorrow, but really who wants to be at the gym at 5am.

The next mass of analysing and in no particular order:
why am I going to the gym so much;
I should be spending more time with my kids;
why do I feel guilty about working out;
why did I even contemplate taking little dude to an evening class, he needs to be home snuggling with a bottle;
why did I have lapband surgery when I still eat crap A LOT;
why am I dreaming of losing weight when I eat the wrong foods;
why can’t I be happy as I am and therefore stop going to the gym;
was I happier when I was fatter and inactive;
why am I nagging my husband to go to the gym when clearly it is not something he wants to do;
does he resent me for nagging him, when all I want is for him to be healthy;
why am I like I am;
why have I had such issues with food ALL MY LIFE;
why should I go to the gym at 5am, what is the point;
maybe I’m not spending enough quality time with my daughter and she is compensating by asking for things, you know PRESENCE not PRESENTS;
what can I eat RIGHT NOW, I’m upset so I deserve something;
would I be happy if I was at my goal weight;
why is my house such a mess, maybe I should spend less time at the gym and more time cleaning;
(I was vacuuming with tears whilst all these crazy thoughts were going around in my head)

I could keep going on ……….

Now amongst all of these negative thoughts I did have a few positives:
I go to the gym because I feel better after;
I’m really enjoying my indoor rowing and training for something (half marathon on the rower);
I prefer to workout for fitness not for weight loss;
I deserve a little ME time every once in a while;
I love to hate running;
running is stupid but now I can do it because I taught myself;
I enjoy being around people.

So there it is, tonight’s mind on a PLATTER (and there’s that food thing again).

Anyone care to share that they could be as loopy as me, don’t leave me hanging out here in crazy land all by myself.

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Stop the Procrastinating – 10 Goals to a better me

Goal setting has aided me in the past and whilst I have had these in the back of my mind for a while I was inspired by reading a blog Imperfect Life to put fingers to keyboard and get this documented. Andrea has also had WLS (weight loss surgery) so I connected with a lot of what she had to say and completely agree the Surgery is a tool which sparked a complete overhaul.

The problem I have found with WLS is that whilst it treated the immediate problem of weight, it doesn’t always fix the underlying problem of food addiction, so for many like me it is a constant battle.

Andrea runs a Fitness Challenge whereby she encourages you to participate in 10 races or your own fitness goals which will physically challenge you to be faster, stronger and better than you were before. I am not participating in her challenge but it really struck a chord with me because whilst I used to compare myself to others and I am still curious about what other people do, lift and run, I am much more focused now on beating myself.

So here are my 10 Races/Goals: 

  1. Go skydiving. Hubby bought me a voucher for my 40th Birthday so now over a year and a half later I am busting to do it. I have to weigh a maximum of 105kgs so I am aiming to weigh 103kg before booking my date.
  2. To crack the double digits weight goal. 99kgs by the end of September 2014.
  3. Pinkies Triathlon – October 2014 Long course (which in the world of Triathlon is like an Enticer).
  4. Leg Press “The Stack” at my Gym EnVie Woonona which is 103kgs x 5 reps. (Currently 82kgs 3 sets of 10 reps 15 July 2014)

    The leg-press stack, currently at 79kg plus the 3kg drop = 82kg, watch this space.

    The leg-press stack, currently at 79kg plus the 3kg drop = 82kg, watch this space.

  5. Play a Paintball Tournament – The Masters November 2014
  6. Mud Run or similar before Christmas 2014.
  7. Run 7km non-stop. (Just cracked 5k on 12 July 2014 and beat my time today 26 July 2014).
  8. Aquathon – Australia Day 2015
  9. Husky Enticer Triathlon – Feb 2015
  10. Sydney City to Surf 2015 – 14k (more of a longer term goal but it’s on my bucket list, run, walk or crawl, who’s keen?).

So there are my goals, I will keep you updated on my progress. Who has some goals they would like to share, I love to hear what everyone else is striving to achieve.

Monthly Challenge – Squats

The Fit Fab Forty Monthly Challenge group tackled Push-ups for March. This was the aim of the game courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

I find push-ups hard especially on my toes but the only way to get better is to practice. At the beginning of this challenge I could barely do 10 on my toes and my depth of push-up was very very poor, more like a pulse than a push-up.

I have attempted to stick to the Challenge as best I could, I was a bit intimidated to do Decline push-ups at the gym so occasionally I would do another set of Toe Push-ups instead. I missed a day here and there, but I think something is better than nothing, life does get in the way, sometimes I would double up another day but other times I would just accept that it didn’t get done and move on. I can now consistently do 3x 10 toe push-ups still not as deep as I would like but I am definitely getting better with the last 2 days to go I can’t wait to see how many I can do when I push myself to fatigue on the last day.

I have also continued with my planking from the February Challenge and so at the end of every workout I would try to do 3x 1 minute planks which is about 4 times a week.

The April Challenge starts tomorrow and this month is Squats, I found this 1 on Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans a great blog so go on over and have a read of some of their other posts.

Don't be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

Don’t be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

If you would like to join the group for daily inspiration comment on Facebook and I will add you to the group.

Monthly Challenge – February the dreaded PLANK

I have created a Facebook group as a spin-off to my Fit Fab Forty Facebook page. The aim of the group is for members to inspire and motivate each other and to keep their fitness momentum going. Within the group I have decided to do monthly challenges, members can decide if they want to participate or not. Now monthly challenges are nothing new to blogs and I am not going to take “the cred” for designing each challenge. The world-wide-web is full of fitness challenges that someone (probably way more knowledgeable than me) has created so if I know who the creator was I will absolutely give them credit and link to their page.

The month of February was a Plank challenge that went something like this:

Day 1 – 20 seconds
Day 2 – 20 seconds
Day 3 – 30 seconds
Day 4 – 30 seconds
Day 5 – 40 seconds
Day 6 – REST
Day 7 – 45 seconds
Day 8 – 45 seconds
Day 9 – 60 seconds
Day 10 – 60 seconds
Day 11 – 60 seconds
Day 12 – 90 seconds
Day 13 – REST
Day 14 – 90 seconds
Day 15 – 90 seconds
Day 16 – 120 seconds
Day 17 – 120 seconds
Day 18 – 150 seconds
Day 19 – REST
Day 20 – 150 seconds
Day 21 – 150 seconds
Day 22 – 180 seconds
Day 23 – 180 seconds
Day 24 – 210 seconds
Day 25 – 210 seconds
Day 26 – REST
Day 27 – 240 seconds
Day 28 – PLANK FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!

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At the beginning of the month I was sceptical as to whether I would be able to complete it. I will admit I didn’t follow it exactly, I always planked at the end of a workout, so as long as I worked out that day I got my planking done. So at the beginning of the month my planking record was 30 seconds on my toes, throughout the month I was planking during a gym class and apparently my form on my toes was not good so I was advised to drop to my knees and get my form better. So this is what I did. As disappointed as I was to be a “pussy” planking on my knees it is better to have good form and not do yourself an injury. If I was unable to go the distance on any given day I would do sets of planks and not finish until my total planking time was at least what the daily time limit was. So yesterday I completed it (better late than never) and my final set of planks were still on my knees – 81 sec, 53 sec, 65 sec = 199 seconds. So from where I was at the beginning of the month I would say massive improvements.

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Here are some of the comments from the Group about the Plank Challenge:

“I’m thinking of doing it again next month. I like what it is doing to the body.” Kelly

“I was yelling at the stop watch tonight lol” Nicole

 

So this month (March) is a push-up Challenge if you would like to join the group contact me on my Facebook page and I will add you.

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Definition of the different push-ups in the challenge:

Almost-There Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind, core engaged and pulled in, utilizing knees

Push Up – The Classic Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in

Incline Push Up – Hands on elevated platform, arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in

Decline Push Up – Arms directly under shoulders, straight line from head to behind to feet, core engaged and pulled in, feet on elevated platform

The Push-up Challenge was brought to you by www.heandsheeatclean.com so go on over and check out all the other awesome challenges and info they have on their site.

I am going to continue the planking and add the push-up challenge to my repertoire.

Go hard on those Push-Ups and I would love to hear via comments if  you are playing along.

 

The Year that Was 2012

To look back upon a year it is often hard to remember what you did, how you felt and just how far you have come, especially when you have mothers brain (yep blame the poor child for my lack of memory). Thankfully in this era of gadgets, social media and mobile apps it can help to trigger my memory.

The year started with some very vague ‘gonna lose weight and get fit’ resolutions, just like every other year.

January my trainer starting me on running in our regular weekly session – hell but I wanted to try.

When February came around and I had my 39th Birthday I think a bit of impending OMG I’m 40 next year hit me and I wanted to achieve more than just lose weight and get fit, I needed some goals. So apart from wanting to be able to run, I wanted to be able to do a Triathlon like my trainer had been bugging me about.

I was not in a great state mentally, my relationship with my husband was not all rosy, it was not all bad either (probably difficult to be perfect when you are comparing it to my daily half hour of Bold and the Beautiful). I had not been diagnosed or medicated for anything but I was a little bit sad a lot of the time which was very unlike me. I had seen a counsellor a few times which helped, basically I talked (a lot) and she listened and gave me some non-judgemental guidance on how to turn negative thoughts around. It’s not something that is easy to tell people, but it should not be taboo to talk to a professional, without which I would say was a potential trip to the loony bin. We seek out professionals them out in all other aspects of our life so why not our mental health.

Exercise also became an outlet as did my reconnection with music once I figured out my gadgetry. I went from running/exercising with my Android phone for GPS/distance, Ipod for music and Heart Rate monitor and managed to get it down to HR monitor and phone with music/GPS on it.

Some people will say why all the gadgets, I am a numbers person, I need to know my numbers which is why I have enjoyed my Indoor Rowing for the past 6 years, it is all numbers in front of you and you can constantly adjust to improve your time/speed/distance. So I wanted the same from my running and cycling. We have all this modern technology so why not use it.

I know that exercise has all the medical benefits of improving your heart, lungs blah blah blah, but I was also enjoying the improved mental state. I am pleased to say that this year and my exercise has improved my ‘head’ and I am back to my happy self (most of the time).

So continuing on with my training and goal of doing a Triathlon, I won’t bore you with all the details of how I got to be able to run you can read about that in my Couch to 5k post but it was a big achievement to do and if I can do it anyone can, you may do it slower or faster than me but just keep trying.

As the year cracked on so did my desire and panic about doing the Triathlon, I had bought myself a new bike, I went from a super cruiser heavy weight to an ultra-light racing bike with the skinny wheels and those hanging down handles (yes very technical I know but upon researching bikes I realise it was like learning a whole other language, I don’t have time for that). I loved the new bike, once I got used to it and again plugged into my music would enjoy going for a ride. I have not really ‘trained’ for the bike, I just get on and ride, I assumed that all other training I am doing would improve my cycling as well.

The 1 thing I left til last was my swimming; it is such pain to swim, shower, wash (long) hair, style hair, get ready for work not in the comfort of your own bathroom and if I didn’t get it done in the mornings then I wouldn’t do it. Not to mention I found it boooring, no music to keep me company. I started back swimming in June 2012 and only did 1-2 swims each month, my goal was to just get through the swim leg of the triathlon alive, awesome goal setting. So I would dive in the pool, swim 300m and then go, ok I’m alive, do a few more laps for ‘training’ purposes and call it done. I am pleased to say I can now do 500m no problems (not fast) and a training session usually consists of 1500m before I get bored, I have been swimming in Ocean pools, indoor heated and outdoor heated Olympic pools and 1 time in a harbour. My next challenge is to do some Open Water swimming to train for any Triathlons that may not be in the luxury of a Harbour and certainly very very few are in the “Princess” comfort of an Olympic pool.

So to look at my milestones this year:

Running – I could not run more than about 200m without stopping to walk and have now done numerous 5k training and even a 6k training run. Even managed to do some treadmill running which I vowed I would never do.

Swimming – I used to swim 50m and stop every single lap for a rest, can now swim 500m non-stop, probably more if I tried and can do 1500m in a training session.

Bike – New bike, much faster and easier to go longer distance, my cleats and I are having a love hate relationship. I don’t train for the bike, just get on and ride. Biggest ride was only 24k from memory, I just lack the time to do more. Mostly my bike ‘Juliet’ and I are happy together.

Indoor Rowing – Held onto my State Championship title in the 500m and 4 minute distances and at last glance I still held my World Rankings of 22nd and 4th respectively (the Rowing year has not finished yet). See more about that here.

Weight Loss – I dare not go there but I will, I have to. So according to my weight tracking app and cross referenced with my own spreadsheet, it would appear that I started the year 2012 at around 110.5kgs, I dropped down to about 105-106 at my lowest throughout the year but finished it off after the Christmas binge at 109.8, however I am please to report that the Christmas Kilo’s are coming off almost as fast as they went on and I am really trying to eat well.

Goals – when I actually put my Goals out in Blogland in August 2012 I had already started working towards them, but never fully believing that they will all happen and like anything need to be tweaked.
No.1 was the work, life, workout and family balancing act. I am hoping I have done that Ok (I won’t profess to being mother or wife of the year), perhaps I should ask Miss 3 and hubby to comment on this.
No.2 was the Pink Triathlon, read about it here, but in short I DID IT!!.
No.3 was the National Indoor Rowing Championships, my training was not optimum for this event, too much focus on the Tri but I had a good crack at it, read about it here.
No.4 was the Mud Run a 7+ klm trail run with mud and other obstacles, heaps of fun, I finished it, read about it here.

Full length photo taken in Dec 2012

Full length photo taken in Dec 2012

I am pleased to say that apart from my weight loss goal I have achieved all my others, through many ups and downs that life throws at you and battling my own emotions and insecurities.

I must say I have never had as many compliments as I have had this year regarding my appearance and I appreciate every single 1 of them. I know with all my training I am changing body shape, however it is sometimes hard to receive a “you look great, how much weight have you lost” compliment when you have lost only a miniscule amount or nothing. Weight loss is something I hope to seriously tackle this year (yes I’m saying it again like I have for the last 20 years).

Happy New Year to all my friends, family and followers and I hope 2013 is your best year yet. Set some goals, you never know what might happen.

Who am I?

I am Rachael a 39.5 year old wife and mother of Miss 2.75.

So here I start 6 months before my 40th Birthday, debating whether I am going through a mid-life crisis and freaking out by focusing on exercise and trying, trying, trying to eat better.

I have a wonderful husband, family and friends who support me in everything I do, we have a daughter “Miss 2.75” who is adorable, cheeky, a little bit naughty, super cute and super super smart.

This is a recent photo weighing in at 108kgs. Taken at Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Tasmania, Australia

Fat to Fit and Fabulous by Forty is a blog about my current journey of weight-loss and fitness, my personal challenges, food addiction, insecurities and everything that goes along with being “Double Extra Gorgeous” and just wanting to be “Mildly Extra Gorgeous”, not to mention how the hell I got here in the first place. I am a fun, “CAN DO” kind of person, I will have a go an anything once, and if I love it will do it again and again, I think that is where my addictive personality comes out. I see myself as the “Funny Fat” girl. I have been overweight all of my life, always being the biggest at school (or so I though) and blossoming in my 20’s, excessively blossoming in my 30’s and hitting my biggest after our Honeymoon and then exploding during pregnancy. To give you some idea I am 168cm tall and on my Wedding Day I weighed 124kgs, after the Honeymoon (6-8 weeks later) weighed 132kgs and on the day I gave birth was 146kgs and was 146cm around the middle (coincidence) who knows.

About 8 months after I having our daughter, hubby and I both decided to have “Lap Band Surgery”, we had debated it prior to our wedding but thought we could do it (lose weight) on our own. We were of the opinion 1 in all in (ie both of us should do it or not at all) and he decided against it, so I chickened out as well. But it is amazing what bringing a small person into your life will do, the desire to live longer, be healthier and not inflict your poor food choices onto your “Offspring” becomes a major priority. My parents helped us out financially with the “Gap” costs of the surgery and we were very much supported by both our families.

So here I am about 25kgs down from prior to the Surgery and weighing in at 107.7kgs, I have plateaued for about 12 months going up and down by a couple of kgs over that time.

I invite you to follow my journey for the next 6 months to see if I can achieve my weight loss and fitness goals.

Rachael