The Commando

Posted on July 21, 2015 by admin

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 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.

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 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

Posted on April 28, 2015 by admin

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

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.

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

Posted on January 15, 2015 by admin

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

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.

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.

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.

I’m having a moment

Posted on November 19, 2014 by admin

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.

The week that was – Quarterly Report

Posted on September 8, 2013 by admin

I have not done a weekly wrap up for waaaay too long so I thought I would call this post the Quarterly Report.

The reason for being MIA is a combination of numerous things:

1) Pregnancy – it is hard to find things to write or brag about when you are not striving for new goals, it has taken a few months to realise that you can’t be doing PB’s whilst in 2^nd and now 3^rd trimester of pregnancy, you are carrying an important cargo and must take things a little easier than before.

2) Sickness – for about 6 weeks on and off I have been sick, lethargic, tired and whingey (if you believe my hubby). It has been a combination of never ending runny nose, horrid reflux and flu-like symptoms and not being able to take medication has made it drag on and on. Occasionally I would have a good week and then relapse again. I am pleased to say I have been sickness free for about 2 weeks. During my sickness, cake, sweet food and take-away has been my friend and in 6 weeks I have put on about 5kg.

3) Candy Crush – OMG anyone who plays this absurd time-wasting phone/Facebook app/game will understand its addictiveness, I started playing this game about 6 months ago but got really addicted while I was sick and plonked on the lounge, bored with TV choices I would play it non-stop from the time Miss 3 would go to bed until I could barely keep my eyes open or run out of lives. I heard on the lolly-vine that the game had an ending so I played it so much until finally about a week ago I finished Level 335 and it would not let me play anymore. THE END. I have been having massive withdrawals and checking almost daily that they have not created an update for the game which may let me play on. I hope that day never comes or enough time has lapsed that I stop looking for more Candy Crush.

So with all of my excuses behind me it was time to get my head back into my fitness and keep my pregnancy weight gain under wraps. It had been over 8 weeks since I had a review of my gym program so I scheduled that in to get me on the right track for where I was with my pregnancy.

Whilst I was sick I was still managing 1-2 sessions a week when I could function and was still doing a little bit of jalking (jog/walk) during my outdoor class and some running intervals on the treadmill.

This week I managed to get to my Tuesday Buggy Fit (mums n bubs) class, I have slowed down a lot to a jog or brisk walk, but found things like push-ups, burpees and other exercises where you go from ground to feet a lot more difficult. Some of this weeks’ exercises involved some short runs and then 3 push-ups, my theory or logic was if I’m getting on the ground I’m going to make the most of it, ie 10 push-ups, so that is what I did.

Wednesday morning I went for my gym program review, the outcome was no more running on the treadmill, instead do a fast walk on an incline and to drop down my leg weights by about half, like leg presses and leg raises but keep arm and upper body the same. It was also suggested to do cardio and legs 1 day and then cardio and arms in another session. So I stuck around and did my cardio/legs session before work.

Saturday morning after a terrible night’s sleep I decided to push through the tiredness and did my cardio/arms session. The weather was beautiful and warm and later in the day I really wanted to go for a swim in our local ocean pool. I feared that I would get to the pool and dip a toe in and chicken out, hubby suggested not dipping a toe in and just diving in the water. I made a pact that if the water temp was 19 degrees or warmer I would go. So hubby gets his Google on and tells me that the temp was 19 on the dot, damn him and Google. So off I went. Upon putting on my swimmers and boardies on I felt like a beached whale, best not to look in the mirror. I realised that I had not been swimming at all since I did my last triathlon and I was concerned that I have lost a lot of my fitness. Anyway I got in the water up to my knees and was having 2^nd thoughts it was cold, but after standing there for a few minutes I decided to dive off the step and just get wet. So I plunged in, gasped a little bit (unlike a similar time last year, read about it here) and proceeded to do a few laps, I managed to do 500m starting and stopping, I could have done more but decided after already being at the gym to not push too hard, but swimming is something that I think will get me through this 3^rd pregnancy trimester.

So after getting 3 sessions and a swim in 1 week I was happy and have a bit of motivation back. This weeks’ goal is to do it all again and maybe swim for longer (in a princess heated pool). Lay off the cake and I have been indulging in a bit too much soft drink so I need to back off that a bit too.

The Week that was – boring, boring, boring

Posted on April 22, 2013 by admin

So for the last few weeks I haven’t done my weekly wrap, I think it stems from being bored with my workouts and bored with writing about being boring. I have been a bit lazy, busy and pre-occupied and my workouts have suffered.

I have ditched my Monday night Indoor Rowing and PT session for the last 2 weeks (not feeling well). My gym EnVie sent me my very first SMS and email this week saying I hadn’t been to see them in a week and it was almost to the minute, I had been in the previous Wed morning and by Wed lunchtime the nagging had commenced. Needless to say I was in there Wed afternoon.

I think also not having an immediate goal to work towards, (triathlon or other event) makes me lack some motivation. There are plenty of things on my radar, fun runs, family cycling event but the other thing I need to consider is the cost, these events all range from $25 to $100 so on top of all my training costs each month it is hard to justify the spend and then I get excited and want to do a couple a month, something I can’t sustain. I know most of them are to raise money for very worthy charities but it is still out of pocket expenses that must be considered.

So I am going to try to step it up this week and attend all my normal sessions and make the weekly read next week a lot less boring.

So who likes reading my weekly updates or what would you like to read more about?

The Year that Was 2012

Posted on January 6, 2013 by admin

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 39^th 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 22^nd and 4^th 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

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.

TheThe Week that Was – Finally kicking it up a notch

Posted on December 23, 2012 by admin

So finally I got off to a great start this week.

Monday, I did a morning swim, 1500m including drills. Afternoon I did a mixed cardio and strength session with my PT.

Tuesday a hectic morning/day, took Miss 3 to her swimming lesson and then headed to post office and gym, so picture an armful of different bags, parcels, her swimming bag, my gym stuff and her snack bag and my handbag, (I looked like a pack horse when I left the house). Did a good 30 minute cardio including 15 mins interval running on the treadmill which up until 2 weeks ago I vowed I would never do. With a bit of persistence from my trainer at the Gym she said just do 5 minutes, which I have now built up to 15 minutes and I have to eat my words because I am enjoying it.
I headed home for a quick shower and then drove an hour to visit my nephew for his 13th birthday and took him and his bro (9) and sis (14) along with Miss 3 out for McDonalds and then to the park for a play. I love that these kids are so energetic and a little bit competitive. I was telling them about the Mud Run and convincing them to do at least the kids run next year and they wanted me to time them doing obstacles around the playground, over the logs, across the monkey bars, up the ramp, down the slippery dip and running around the swings and up an over picnic chairs. It was a stinking hot day and we were the only group at the playground, they had so much fun and Miss 3 was following them around like a mad girl. The funny thing was every time they went to go down the slide they got a static electric shock off the metal, I told them to toughen up. Then they did running races with Miss 3 and pretended to fall over so she could win. Such a fun day, I wish I saw them more.

Wednesday after work I headed out to Wollongong Harbour where the local Tri club was doing a training session for the upcoming Aquathon, a swim/run event. So the full training was a 500m swim and 5k run. I asked hubby if he would like to come and bring Miss 3 to the playground nearby and take her for Fish and Chips.
The swim was in the harbour but there was a wicked wind blowing and there was a pretty good swell. I can’t remember the last time I SWAM (properly) in anything other than a pool, so this was a struggle. I managed to do about 350m, I probably could have done the whole thing but I was conscious of my family waiting for me and that I would be the last 1 in the water if I didn’t cut my 2nd lap short, something that was not appealing to me right on dusk. Then I headed out for the run, I could see Miss 3 was really whingy and tired so I made the decision to cut this short as well and probably did about 3k, again I struggled, a few little hills really got me and I tried to go a bit faster than normal so got puffed and had to do a few walks throughout the run. But it is all training so glad I did it.

Thursday I headed to the gym for a weights and abs session and then took Miss 3 to the local pool for a swim and catch-up with some of my Mothers Group friends. Myself and another mother did some swapping babysitting and she headed off to do some laps and then I did the same, such a great way to train when 2 people have like-minded goals. I just did a quick 500m.

Friday I allowed myself a day of rest.

Sat and Sunday, no workouts but a massive amount of cleaning and incidental moving, getting the house ready for Christmas. In honour of my family descending up on us on Boxing Day I wrote a poem in appreciation of those who host Christmas each year especially my mum and MIL, both amazing ladies.

Twas the weekend before Christmas
and all through the house
nobody was relaxing….
We were cleaning the house

The cooking and baking
created a mess
So we clean again?
Again, I said “Yes”

We normally go
to somebody’s house
And this year they say
We’ll come, it’ll be grouse

I clean out the shed
For somewhere to dine
Our house is too small
The shed will be fine

Plotting and planning
How many to seat
To make it look pretty
I’m gonna be beat

The toilets are scrubbed
I’ve added blu-loo
And we’ve cleaned the spiders
Off the furniture too.

“Don’t do that
stop making mess
Mummy get cranky
And have a big stress”

So thanks to our mums
Who do it each year
To keep us all fed
And we say “Were Here”

To finish off my Weekly Wrap I managed to get Miss 3 to visit Santa and convince my friend Cindy to bring her son Brae for our 2nd annual Christmas snap with Santa, it’s not getting any better, but it’s still funny, hopefully next year……..

Is it sad when the mum’s are having more fun than the kids?

Portion Sizes

Posted on October 2, 2012 by admin

So I am doing a Photo a Day Challenge for October as found on Fat Mum Slim blog and to be honest I have never participated in anything like this before in fear of losing interest. But I have caved and thought I would give it a go.

Yesterday was titled “where I stood”, and the picture I put up on my blog yesterday was of my runners sitting on my bike as I had just been for a swim/ride, ie I had just stood in those shoes.
Today’s topic was lunch so I thought I would take a picture of my lunch (so creative).
(stay tuned I might just keep doing it)

With Hubby being home sick Miss “Almost 3” and I ventured out to the Gym, post office and then I thought we would grab a bite to eat, giving hubby some quiet time, (something that never happens with us 2 girls around).

This post is not about exercise so I won’t bore you with what I did at the Gym today, but I did go. We went to a nice little Café called Jaffa* and I perused the menu for something good to eat, the only thing that seemed moderately healthy and to my liking was a grilled chicken club sandwich, although it did have a bit of mayo and bacon, it seemed like a good option compared to Jumbo Burgers, chicken parma or focaccia etc. My thought was I could deconstruct it and eat bits off it. When I re-read it I realised (although I knew but wasn’t paying attention) that a club sandwich has 3 slices of bread, which to me is ridiculous, so when I ordered, I asked for no 3^rdslice and hold the lettuce (I feel it is unnecessary on a sandwich and makes it difficult to eat). It was also served with chips/fries which I thought Miss “Almost 3” would like.

Chicken Club Sandwich, hold the “Club”

When my not quite a Club Sandwich came out it was enormous, the bread was THICK white sliced bread which I loooove (imagine if there was 3 slices) and all the fillings looked delicious and moderately healthy. It came with potato wedges which I was not happy about, I am not a fan, too thick and gluggy for my liking, but suffice to say Miss “Almost 3” loved them and of course I was not going to eat them anyway.

To cut to the chase and the purpose of this post, I could only eat half of the sandwich and left the crusts, Miss “Almost 3” ate a good handful of the wedges but there was heaps left over and I asked the lady to pack up the other half of sandwich to take home for hubby.

So our 1 meal fed 3 people. Old Rachael would have eaten most of it until I felt sick and ordered extra chips/wedges for the child (because I never used to share well with others).

Are portion sizes just crazy at some places?
Would you like to ask for a half serve of something?

* Jaffa had the best skim Chai latte I have tasted in a long time.

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