Envigorated - and an incredible milestone

Today marks 4 years since I took the decision to lose weight and turn my health around.  4 years on and I'm still maintaining a 30kg weight loss (which took 6 months to effect purely through diet change and calorie deficit), having had a little hiccup part way through when my scales stopped working properly and I put on a good half stone.  That was worked off again and I've been working on lowering my body fat %, taken up running and got back into swimming.  I've done my first 10km running race (2 minutes faster than I wanted to do it), my first sprint triathlon (10 minutes faster than I wanted to do it; and 2 more tris to come through the year), done a 5km swim for charity (in less than 2 hours despite no training) and signed up for a 2 mile swim down the Thames later in the summer.  I've come a long way and am still moving forward.  I may well be very hard on myself most of the time, but I have done well and continue to do so.  So it calls for a little celebration.  Dinner out tonight!

Despite still aching quite a bit, I went to the gym with Mr TOTKat this morning.  And I really went for it.  Full body weights session with a good 15 minutes cardio at the end.  I feel great!   Mr TOTKat's trainer even commented on my walking lunges with kettlebells, which was pleasing!  My thighs ought to calm down a bit by the morning too. :o)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, maca root and some Dorset Cereals fruity muesli
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk with water (we ran out of milk!)
L - sandwich; Sainsburys wholemeal crusty roll with ham, Philadelphia and lettuce
S - cottage cheese with pineapple and maca root
D - hot smoked salmon with beetroot and watercress, duck breast with pureed cauliflower and spinach and a portobello mushroom, chocolate brownie with vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce, champagne, dessert wine and coffee with Amaretto

Exercise - 65 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2570 2303]
Protein (g)	159.2 (25.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	234.4 (35.8%)
Fat (g)	67.5 (24.7%)
Alcohol (g)	47.6 (13.6%)
Fruit & Veg	6.6

Teensy bit whacked out

So I swam.

Having done all of about 3 swims this year so far, and only one of those being in the last fortnight, I swam 5000m today for charity.  Still with the tail end of a chest infection.  And I didn't drown (too much, well of course the guy in front of me for 1/2 the time caused enough wake to force water into my face quite a few times, but I didn't actually drown or anything).  There were three of us sharing a lane; one tiny whippet of a boy who did 2.5km and one of the pool staff members who was also doing 5km with me.  Annoyingly the bloke and I were similarly paced, so we would overtake each other and then whoever was behind would speed up a bit.  The last two times I overtook him (length 128 and length 153) I got mind-bendingly bad cramp in my left ankle, the kind I sometimes get at night that's so bad I end up curled up in a ball in tears with my foot at a mad angle 'cause the joint is so badly spasmed.  And it lasted for 6-8 lengths each time, which was very much not amusing.

I got to length 158 and the lap counter leaned down to say "the next one is your very last one", I was so surprised I squeaked "REALLY!?" (I thought I had 10 more to go at that point) and then zoomed off for the last two lengths and put in my fastest length overall on the last one !

Yes, it wasn't the best time nor one that I feel is representative of what I'm capable of but given the circumstances I think under 2 hours was pretty damned good going.  So I finished in 01:57 and wobbled out of the pool, demanding bacon sarnies :o) and happily accepting my medal:-

Feeling quite light-headed, but a lot better after a bacon buttie, tea and a huge chocolate chip cookie!

Swimathon training completely off

Not being up to the planned long swim today, there's now no time left to do any training that would make the slightest bit of difference to Sunday's Swimathon.  I'm off work again today; having had a better day yesterday, I deteriorated late afternoon and have delightful green/brown snot today, rather than the yellowy stuff from before.  Anyhoo.  No swimming, no work and definitely an afternoon nap later.

Today is all about rest, getting lots of fluids and fruit and veg...

Morning snack was a new try-out of cottage cheese with pomegranate seeds:-

Lunch was the usual salad, but with some herbs as my taste buds are very depressed with this chest thing:-

Along with a blackcurrant Lemsip:-

One afternoon snack of something that came as a free sample in the grocery shopping; a deeeelicious yogurt:-

And dinner, due to total fed-upness with the usual humdrum and lack of inspiration and enthusiasm, and a need for carbs, is lean steak mince with onion and tomato sauce over fresh tagliatelle (cooked by Mr TOTKat :o)) :-

B - porridge made with water, with raisins and chopped banana
S - cottage cheese with pomegranate seeds
L - salad; chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, celery, capers, lettuce, pomegranate seeds, lemon juice, thyme and black pepper
S - Tim's Dairy Wholemilk Toffee Yogurt
S - Dr. Karg Emmental and Pumpkin crispbread with cottage cheese
D - fresh tagliatelle, lean steak mince, tomato and onion sauce

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1749 1782]
Protein (g)	116.6 (27.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	228.6 (50.9%)
Fat (g)	40.1 (21.4%)
Fruit &Veg	10.4

Swimathon training completely off

Not being up to the planned long swim today, there's now no time left to do any training that would make the slightest bit of difference to Sunday's Swimathon.  I'm off work again today; having had a better day yesterday, I deteriorated late afternoon and have delightful green/brown snot today, rather than the yellowy stuff from before.  Anyhoo.  No swimming, no work and definitely an afternoon nap later.

Today is all about rest, getting lots of fluids and fruit and veg...

Morning snack was a new try-out of cottage cheese with pomegranate seeds:-

Lunch was the usual salad, but with some herbs as my taste buds are very depressed with this chest thing:-

Along with a blackcurrant Lemsip:-

One afternoon snack of something that came as a free sample in the grocery shopping; a deeeelicious yogurt.  And dinner, due to total fed-upness with the usual humdrum and lack of inspiration and enthusiasm, and a need for carbs, is lean steak mince with onion and tomato sauce over fresh tagliatelle.


B - porridge made with water, with raisins and chopped banana
S - cottage cheese with pomegranate seeds
L - salad; chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, celery, capers, lettuce, pomegranate seeds, lemon juice, thyme and black pepper
S - Tim's Dairy Toffee Yogurt
S - (not sure yet)
D - fresh tagliatelle, lean steak mince, tomato and onion sauce

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1650 1782]
Protein (g)	107.5 (27.1%)
Carbohydrate (g)	223.3 (52.7%)
Fat (g)	35.8 (20.3%)
Fruit & Veg	12.0

Still laid low

Woke up wheezing and aching this morning, mostly in the chest and lower ribs.  Still filling tissues and feeling flattened, so no school today.  Ended up crashed out on the sofa, asleep, for 2 hours this afternoon despite awfully "difficult" music playing.

My training plan for Sunday now looks like this:-

7th - 1600m normal swim - DONE!
8th - rest
9th - 1600m normal swim rest
10th - rest
11th - 3200m distance swim rest
12th - 850m sprint swim rest
13th - rest
14th - 1600m normal swim 2500m normal swim (if I'm up to it)
15th - rest
16th - 850m gentle swim
17th - rest
18th - 5000m challenge!

Hah.  *sigh*

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop and 40g fruity muesli
S - 1 slice wholemeal granary toast with Marmite
S - banana
L - salad; chicken breast, lettuce, sweet pepper, capers, celery, pomegranate seeds and mustard and honey dressing
S - 1/2 toasted ciabatta with stilton mashed up with Philadelphia
S - 1/2 toasted ciabatta with black cherry conserve
D - venison sausages with onion and courgette ribbons

Exercise - none, rest, 2 hour nap!

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1770 1781]
Protein (g)	140.7 (32.8%)
Carbohydrate (g)	182.7 (39.9%)
Fat (g)	52.2 (27.4%)
Fruit & Veg	11.0

Start of training

Training for the 5km swim started today with a 1600m "normal" swim, alternating strokes, doing legs only and arms only to get going with checking the basics.  I've not done a lot of swimming since January and with less than 2 weeks to go to Swimathon, there's certainly some work to do, so I have a plan:-

7th - 1600m normal swim
8th - rest
9th - 1600m normal swim
10th - rest
11th - 3200m distance swim
12th - 850m sprint swim
13th - rest
14th - 1600m normal swim
15th - rest
16th - 850m gentle swim
17th - rest
18th - 5000m challenge!

I'm over half way to my sponsorship target, thanks to some generous people at work and people I work with through work, but there's still more to go.  I'm hoping I will actually make the target, but this close to the event it's not looking so good.

Anyhoo, today went like this...

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and grape nuts
S - banana
*swim*
S - 1 scoop in skimmed milk
L - salad; a chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, sweet pepper, capers, pomegranate seeds and lettuce with honey and mustard dressing
S - Dorset Cereals bar; 3 fruit, nuts and seeds
S - carrots and houmous
D - salad; a salmon fillet, sweet pepper, toasted pine nuts and lettuce with olive oil dressing and a ciabatta roll

Exercise - 33 minutes swim

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2102 2091]
Protein (g)	155.5 (29.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	194.8 (35.1%)
Fat (g)	81.0 (35%)
Fruit & Veg	10.0

Swimathon 2010

I've signed up with less than 2 weeks to go, to complete the 5km challenge in this year's Swimathon (for Marie Curie Cancer Care).   5km is a heck of a long way to swim... for reference, in the 30m pool I'll be doing it in, it will be 167 lengths; in the pool near where I work, it would be 294 lengths!  I've only ever swum 3.2km in one day before and that was over 10 years ago now.  It's going to be long, it's going to be tiring, but it's something I can actually do right now when the physio won't let me do much else.  We're in the sporting season now, and dammit I want to do sport!  Especially when it's for a good charity.

So, please take a look at my fund-raising page and donate if you can.  It would mean a lot to me, and a lot to the Marie Curie Cancer Care fund too!