This Girl Can

"We just come as we are. We don't *look* at each other. We might have our rough days. We don't mind that. We don't see that." [Netball lady in Behind The Scenes]

This has to be one of the most powerful and appropriate campaigns to get more women into sport.  It hits on the head one of the main contributors preventing women getting into sport: the fear of judgement/what other people think.

I'd say almost all women have thought or still do think a combination of the following when they consider doing sport either at all, or if they already do sport, when they get their kit on to do it (there's only one on the list I *haven't* thought myself):-

• I look lumpy/like a bag of sausages
• My boobs are uneven
• My belly is huge
• My back spills out around my bra straps/my belly/sides spills out of the top of my shorts/tights
• My arms/thighs/boobs/belly will wobble
• My knees are fat
• Someone will see my stretch marks
• I can't do $particular_movement elegantly
• I'll go red and blotchy/get sweaty patches in embarrassing places
• My makeup will run
• I might fall over/off (my bike/scooter/horse/treadmill/stepper...)
• I'll come last

And it either results in putting women off starting to do sport (or sometimes starving themselves if they already do do sport).  The thing is... none of that list matters, nobody will actually care and nobody will point and laugh at you.  Most people are in their own little world, most people are thinking those things themselves and focusing on their own difficulties and the rest are enjoying themselves.

This campaign focuses on the fact that most of us aren't perfect, most of us do have blemishes and jiggly bits (even elite and professional athletes, trust me) and that's OK 'cause you can enjoy yourself, push yourself physically, have your own "you" time when you're not just a label (wife, mother, carer etc.) and how you look doing it, compared with a fantasy ideal, doesn't matter.

This is me (below) after a triathlon last year.  I would usually pick a photo where I look muscular, slim and have no visible bulges and lumps, but this is how I looked on the day.  I wasn't quick, I didn't look slinky, I had lumps, jiggly bits and dimply legs, my boobs were wonky and spilled out under my arm-pits.  But I had fun!  I enjoyed it!  And nobody at all laughed or pointed at me.

So, watch the film and pass it on.  (Cry a bit, like I did.  It's OK.)  And watch the behind the scenes clip too... I love the first quote, "We just come as we are. We don't *look* at each other. We might have our rough days. We don't mind that. We don't see that."

And go do some sport!

It looks like I've been a very good girl

This morning was a scheduled check-up on the ankle and maybe, if I was good, I'd get out of the plaster cast and into an air boot, but definitely no weight bearing still.

So here's the air boot; I must have been good.  Complete with a lovely sock and integrated pump to add air should it be needed and a valve to let air out.

But it doesn't stop there!

I must have been very good indeed.  Once the boot was adjusted to fit and on, and I'd been shown the exercises I need to do and the massaging around the ankle and over the cut, I was told to get off the couch and walk to reception!  OK, with crutches, and it'll take 7-10 days to wean off the crutches and then I'll likely be good get started on rehabilitation exercises.

But still.

I'm on my feet again!

(Yeahhh, the air boot has a much thicker sole than my shoes, so I'm gonna be wonky ;o))

Yep, I like me a Mule

Those little Mule MegaBites really are the trick.  I've had to buy a load more.  They're just great; a perfect little ~100kcal boost before or after a training session.  Just keeps the wolf from the door and the mental frame a bit more even.  Even at 99p a bar from Evans, I'm not bothered about trying to make my own version.  Life's too short.

Gym wilderness

Since I got my latest personal trainer (Geoff the Awesome), I've been in a bit of a resistence training wilderness.  When we do training sessions, he gets me doing stuff that I can sometimes do by myself, but quite often not; either because I don't have the equipment available (like the Bulgarian Bags) or because I need a spotter or more learning of the technique (like the handstands I did the other week - yes, me, handstands!  I've never done one in my life until recently.)  That, along with the need to work on my inner quads and glutes at the moment means I'm, for want of a better phrase, "making it up" somewhat in the gym.

Today's fun was:-

• 5 minutes on the x-trainer to warm up
• bulgarian split-squats: 3x10x2 (with 2x 14kg dumbbells
• kettlebell swings - 3x15 (with a 20kg kettlebell)
• standing side-crunches - 3x10x2 (with a 20kg kettlebell)
• jerks - 3x10 (with the Olympic Bar with 2x 5kg)
• standing on an upturned bosu (squishy side down) - 3x10 squats, 3x10 alternate toe-touches
• assisted pull-ups - 2x8 wide overhand, 2x8 narrow underhand, 2x8 ring-style, 2x8 dips (no rest between grip changes, 35kg assist)
• swiss-ball bridges and hamstring curls - 3x15 curls with 30s hold at the start of each set
• plyometric cleans - 20 with a bare Olympic Bar
• cool-down and stretch

Now, I have no idea if that's well-balanced enough or not.  What do people think?

Also, today I commuted to work on my fixed-up commuter bike for the first time since I got knocked off.  Tell you what, I've improved in power/cadence/other technical stuff while I've been away from bicycle commuting.

Red Nose Day?

Blimey, I hope I get to go home at a reasonable hour today. I've successfuly managed to avoid going to the gym despite temptation, but mostly due to the fact that it's still mentally busy at work. (I just had to explain to a supplier on the phone that we're not doing anything for Red Nose Day because we have utterly no sense of humour at the moment).  Really excited about Sunday's race now... first one of the year.

Oh, and don't forget to get your entries in for my Weight Watchers Vitality Show competition to win tickets and a goody bag!

Delicious DOMS

I has them :o)

My cobbled together routine from my first real session with Geoff does the business:-

• Warm up (500m on the rower at L7, aim for under 02:00)
• Squats - 3x10
• Kettlebells - Dual arm swings, 3x15
• Kettlebells - Single arm swings, 3x10x2
• Cable lat pulls - dual arms, 3x10
• Cable push down rows - single arms, 3x10x2
• Kettlebells - walking lunges, 3x12
• Straight leg raises with twists - 3x20
• Weighted plyometric squats - 3x8
• Arnold presses - 3x10

 Shoulders, back and thighs are acheing really nicely from doing that on Wednesday and Friday.  I didn't want to go any earlier in the week due to being exhausted and more than a bit broken.  Gymming in that state would have been a very bad idea.

Amusingly or not, we went to bed at 2am after me being on a work call until 11.30pm and got woken up early by the bedroom being stiflingly hot.  I opened the windows a bit and turned off the radiator.  Then the shopping came.  Then I had to be on another call at 9.30am.  The short of it was that the thermostat button got stuck on "+" and was reading "30C", which explained the insane heat.  And then we had a nap at 3pm.

The chicken is roasting and the veggies are about to go on.  It all smells incredible in the kitchen and we're going to watch a film and I'm not doing any more work this weekend.

Plyometric squats

They're all the rage, or so it seems.  My new trainer had me doing them with a Bulgarian Sack in our first full session and this afternoon, in the gym where I used to train with my old trainer, I found two trainers doing them with 2x28kg dumbbells.  Despite neither of them being my old trainer, they persuaded me to have a go and with 2x16kg dumbbells.  I managed 6, 8, 8 without huge strain and I reckon I could have done better by myself.  Oddly, I find that I need to try something by myself a couple of times, without an audience, before I can really get stuck in to it.  This does not seem to apply with my new trainer though, which is good.  He manages to really push me without me having the oddness I usually have.

*blarf*

Well, it was a hard session for a few reasons I think.

We had a bit of a chat about where I'm at, what I've done and what I want out of my gym sessions and then set off into some warm ups on the TRX.  I did mention I won't usually want to use those as my gym local to work doesn't have them but this was a getting-to-know-you session so it didn't matter so much.  That wasn't so bad, and there was some nice stuff to get the core going with bodyweight exercises on the TRX straps.  Then we launched into... kettlebells!  Yay!

And, gosh, either I was really not physically up to this session (tail-end of a nasty cold, plus perhaps not well fuelled enough either) or they really are a bugger the first (few) time(s).  Each set made me feel light-headed and vomitous (no idea what my heart rate was but given the feeling I had, I'm guessing well over 180) but I pushed on through.  I think I get it a lot better now that I've had Geoff explain how to do the various swings and snatches and it's very different.  More practice required.  A few bits and bobs with some cables and we were done.

Warm up on TRX -

• incline pull ups - 2x10
• incline W pull ups - 2x10
• incline push ups - 2x10
• jackknifes - 2x10
• cycling legs - 2x2x10
• rotating jackknifes - 2x10
• pikes - 2x10

Kettlebells -

• 2 arm swings - 2x10 (16kg)
• 1 arm swings - 2x2x10 (12kg)
• 1 arm squat and snatch - 2x2x10 (12kg)
• 1 arm swing and snatch - 2x2x10 (12kg)
• Military press - 2x10 (2x8kg)

Cable machine -

• 2 arm row - 2x10 (??kg)
• 1 arm row - 2x2x10 (??kg)
• Squat with row - 2x10 (??kg)
• Incline row - 2x10 (??kg)
• 2 arm lat pull-down - 2x10 (??kg)
• 1 arm lat pull-down - 2x10 (??kg)

My HRM really isn't playing ball at all these days.  I've replaced the battery in the transmitter, washed the strap umpteen times, made sure it's really sopping wet each time I use it and there's no low battery warning on the watch itself so that's fine.  But it still craps out and registers stupid heart rates like 221 randomly and the heart symbol flashes erratically instead of with my heart beat.  Very tempted to throw in the towel and get a new watch.  It'd be a shame as I've got 176,6xx kcals of exercise on the totaliser on this watch and it'd've been nice to break 200,000 with it, but... it's just getting too frustrating now to keep plugging away with it at the moment.

Anyhoo... first proper session booked now with Geoff (silly moving work deadline permitting) and I'll have a few more goes with the kettlebells this week beforehand (if I get to go to the gym during the week this week).

Tiny bit nervous

I've not been to the gym for a week (mostly work related but slightly illness related).  I've not had a session with a personal trainer since October.  I have a session with my new trainer at 13:30 today and I'm nervous about it.

I have loads of confidence in my new trainer; I've seen him around in the local gym lots and read his bio and he gives off quite an aura of quiet competence.  Will let youse all know how it goes when I get back.  Wish me luck!

Rawr!

GOOD gym today!  Increased my clean and presses to 30kg!  OK so I only managed 8, 8, 4 but still... a while back I couldn't get it over my head even once :o)  Unassisted (no counter-weights on the Smith machine) squats at 45kg as well... feeling faberlous!

Roasted a Black Farmer organic chickie for dinner and feeling great given that I've dropped some fat since coming back from hols (down to 66.6kg today from over 68kg on hols :o)) and gymmage went nicely.  Plus, I'm feeling a lot less stressy not logging foods though I have cheated a bit during the week and discovered I've been heading way low on active days so ended up snacking in the evenings.  It is nice not to feel that I have to eat at particular times to fulfil my set snacking through the day, but that I can eat -something- when I get hungry anyway.  And... getting hungry... well, I've been a bit scared of it and ending up scarfing loads of food but having available snacks in the office is helping a lot there.  Nibble on an appropriate amount of dried fruit/nuts/yogurt&fruit/carrot&houmous/beef jerky and I feel fine to wait until a reasonable meal time etc.

Brekkie was nice this morning (see photo)... again prepared by Mr TOTKat.  Toasted wholemeal seeded Food Doctor bagel with butter, Marmite and a poached egg.  NOM!

Sometimes I have to remind myself of basics

After 2 weeks off from any exercise, going in with 3x return trip cycles to work and 2x gym sessions in a 7 day period (3850kcals overall)... is potentially a bit much.  So, time to remind myself not to thrash myself to bits out of nowhere and not feel bad that I didn't do 3x gyms this week.

I gave in and did a body fat measurement today, having been dreading it for a while.  And it wasn't horrible!  25.2% (at 67.5kg); up from 24.9%(at 65.7kg)  back at the end of July but that's not bad at all, all things considered.  I was expecting it to be higher.  More interestingly, I've gained 1.2kg lean body mass in that time period without particularly trying.  OK, yes, I've gained fat too (0.65kg), but not as much as the muscle and that was probably while we were on hols and I wasn't doing any exercise.

I've not had many food photos recently, so here's one of my afternoon snack today, that Mr TOTKat prepared so prettily for me.

First gym in a little while

Last time I did any proper exercise was 20th September - an off-piste gym session at the Cornwall Hotel Spa and Estate which had a tiny gym equipped with lots of cardio machines but not so well on the free weights front.  No Smith machine, only a wobbly bar and bar weights up to 5kg to add on.  Still managed a reasonable couple of routines in that gym though, which was nice.

This morning... back to the last routine from my trainer and I was expecting to be weak and pathetic after almost 2 weeks off.  But no :o)  Increased weights on most stuff and added in a couple of extra bits from previous routines as well:-

• Warm up 1km on the rower (L7 04:30)
• Squats - Smith machine (no counter-weight) with Olympic bar plus 15kg - 3x10
• Clean and press - 25kg barbell - 3x10 (A)
• Reverse crunches - bodyweight - 3x15 (A)
• Overhead squat - 3x10 - 12kg ViPR (B)
• Crunch with overhead lift - 3x10 - 12kg ViPR (B)
• Planks on 3x medicine balls - 2x60s
• Pressups on 3x medicine balls - x5
• Squat and swing - 18kg dumbbell - 3x10
• Lunge and horizontal press - 3x10x2 - 10kg ViPR
• Lunge with overhead swing - 3x8x2 - 16kg ViPR
• Cool down on x-trainer - 5 minutes (L7, L6, L4)
• Stretch on the Powerplate.

 RAWR!  Gonna hurt tomorrow :oD

Photos from holiday(s) and some further thoughts later... it's been a bit sorty-outy this weekend so far and I could do with sitting on my arse a little bit.

Back in a bit...

Had a few days down in Cornwall.  Gymmed twice and ran once!  (drank every day, but not loads, ate a fair amount)  Came back, said hello to house-sitters and cats.  Heading back down to Cornwall on Friday for a week.

Feeling the size of a house and retaining fluid like a doodah, but still in thermometer jeans and tiny dresses, so.

Gym at the hotel was tiny, but I managed to do two different routines with significatly heavier weights than the last time I did them (squats with clean and shoulder press with 12kg dumbbells and squat and overhead swing with 18kg dumbbell :o)) and we ran for 40 minutes, which is the furthest I've run in a year...

Feeling lovely... just lovely

Not cycling since Friday appears to be agreeing with me.  Also the new bed linen :o)  The extra hour in bed due to taking the tube and not needing to beat the rush on the roads is a huge plus too.  I think that maybe I should just bite the bullet and try cycling in later to see how bad the traffic really is at 8am vs. 7am.  Walking to the tube this morning, the traffic looked pretty OK, but that's only a very small sample of the whole route.

I gymmed yesterday, increased some of the weights since I started with this routine (up to 45kg on the Smith machine for squats, from 30kg, for example) and it's going quite nicely.  I'm not bothering with any cardio at the end as with all this cycling there's no point really thrashing myself to bits even more with that.  That said, the overhead swing and lunge with ViPR gets my heart rate up to 185 (dropping to 135 within 1 minute), so that's cardio enough for me.

Also, not having the MP Max Total Breakfast is nicer too.  "Eating" that every morning was getting a bit much, it's quite sickly, thick and difficult after 3 mornings of it on the trot, so I'm quite pleased to be back to Total Greek yoghurt (2% - which is really really nice for the extra couple of kcals per portion vs 0%) with MP Max True Whey, Cookies and Cream flavour, and a good dollop of fruit compote.  Lovely, sweet, fruity, proteiny, creamy... just blimmin' nice!

Sorry...

Not really feeling it at the moment.

Random thoughts...

• At an average of 1500kcals over maintenance per week vs. calorific output including exercise, I'm slowly losing a little weight
• Lots of cycling during the week is getting easier (even with the frustrations of a gazillion extra cyclists and cars on the road today due to the tube strike)
• My core strength has come on hugely (I did some reverse crunches at the gym yesterday and they were -phenomenally- easy, so I did them for a count of 5 per crunch at 3x15 reps and it was still easy!)
• I've really enjoyed playing about with Greek yoghurt recipes, adding it into porridge for an extra kick of creaminess and there's still a couple more to come - the ice-cream was a HUGE hit with me - it tastes like it's been made with clotted cream
• I'm really enjoying making curries from scratch without using pre-made pastes, never mind sauces from jars
• I'm very much looking forward to Mr TOTKat coming home on Saturday (huge understatement!)
• This week is going to be possibly the biggest week for routine exercise, with the exception of the week we went skiing
• I'm really not keeping up with reading blogs at the moment... it's not you, it's me.  (honestly!)

And so, almost time to bed.  With tea.  And a kitty.  Or two.

I aten't ded

4,495kcals of exercise this week and I'm not dead.  Nothing like the week I first started to cycle to work which had me exhausted by the weekend, though I did bike to work and back 4 days that week.  This week I "just" did 2 gym sessions, 3 two-way commutes and a medium ride today, but it was enough for a post-race week :o)  I've been eating less carefully than usual, and having more than a couple of drinks; last night we had veal escalopes for dinner in a roasted garlic, lemon, mustard, shiitake mushroom and cream sauce with bashed new potatoes and broccoli, as an example of a pretty good meal, but then there was the day I had a packet of crisps in the morning -and- takeaway pizza for dinner, plus I've had beer a couple of times and wine a couple of times too.  It'll take a while for any adverse effects to show in terms of either weight or fat gain and with a non-standard week next week it won't exactly be clear after that.

Next week is a lowish exercise week as there's a wedding to go to and I need to work around that whilst not overdoing it on the other days.  So, the plan is:-

Mon - cycle to work, weights session at lunchtime, cycle home
Tue - cycle to work, cycle home
Wed - swim at lunchtime (less to pack than gym kit), head to wedding
Thu - wedding/rest day
Fri - late finish/rest day
Sat - weights session
Sun - run

And that leaves one final week of actual proper cycling and weights before the taper week into the final TTT race, then 3km open water swim.

Last week:-
Exercise count: 11
Exercise time: 08:01
Exercise kcals: 4,495
Kcals difference from loss for the week: +3181
Kcals difference from maintenance for the week: -319
(+ is excess vs. quota, - is deficit below quota) 

Since 15th June 2009:-

Exercise count:326
Exercise time: 223h
Exercise kcals:122,033

Day		Quota	Exercise	Total	Consumed	Difference	Difference for Week
Mon		1297		1297	1757	460	460
Tue		1293	782	2075	2417	342	802
Wed		1287	402	1689	2240	551	1353
Thu		1292	730	2022	2665	643	1997
Fri		1300	1018	2318	2710	392	2388
Sat		1296		1296	2224	928	3316
Sun		1288	967	2255	2119	-135	3181
Total		9053	3899	12952	16132	3181

Slight diversion

Wednesday was good.  I had another go at my current weights routine as my trainer needed to reschedule but I wasn't properly recovered from the bad-ass negatives I've been doing.  Another prawn dinner, only this time I put in 1.5 chillies as the 1/2 chilli I had last time wasn't enough.  Heh.  *sweat* *pant*  ohyes it was good :o)

Exercise - 54 minutes gymming

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1666 2251]
Protein (g)	133.7 (32.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	176.8 (40.6%)
Fat (g)	48.5 (26.7%)
Fibre (g)	33.8
Fruit & Veg	16.8

Thursday was a rest day and dinner out.  I had sparkling water in the pub before dinner, then a nice Bellini and some wine during dinner.  2 bottle between 4 of us and I didn't keep up with the boys, so I definitely had less than 1/2 a bottle through the meal.  However, this morning... hangover.  Not headachey, just really tired, a bit sick-feeling and constantly hungry.  *sigh*  Dinner was really nice though.  I had beef tartare with toasted bits of bread to start (see! looks gorgeous, doesn't it?) and Sea Bream with chicory and fennel for my main course.  No dessert and still not too badly over maintenance kcals for the day.  And a quite impressive protein grammage for a non-exercise day too!

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	2048 1791]
Protein (g)	155.2 (31.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	144.2 (27.1%)
Fat (g)	66.7 (30.1%)
Fibre (g)	22.1
Fruit & Veg	12.1

Premature peaking!

I've been working towards an exercise milestone; 100,000 kcals burned in recorded exercise since I bought my heart rate monitor and started to use it on 15th June last year.  I had intended to hit that 100,000 mark tomorrow, but I got my sums wrong and instead of needing to stay under 521kcals today, it should have been 511.  So, when I reached 514kcals and stopped today... oops.  All-time total; 100,003kcals.  Argh!  I missed it!

Still, I increased the weights on the lunges with cross arm to opposite knee to 5kg and still 3x10.  Which was a struggle, but I managed it :o)

Lunch today was a real treat!  I had leftover beef chilli with roasted tomatoes and red peppers and it was -gorgeous-!  Really tasty, a lovely change from salad and kept me full for absolutely ages this afternoon.  Having worked out that it costs £1.90 per portion of beef chilli that we make, I think I'll be having it for lunch again.  Oh.  Yes.

And having had chilli for lunch, salad for dinner wasn't boring at all :o) It being a chicken and avocado one helped even more! I was tempted to add bacon, but the fat % for today was already a bit high and even very trimmed bacon comes up quite high on the fat content on average.  (So how come ham is so lean?  Same animal!  And bacon is so very trimmed these days, you just try to get any -with- rind in a supermarket *mutter*)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - fruit and nut bar (I'll take a photo of one of these before they all vanish!)
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - beef chilli with roasted cherry tomatoes and red peppers
S - cottage cheese with Dr Karg crisp-bread
S - greek yogurt with fresh mango and chopped mint
D - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, baby new potatoes, avocado, chicken breast and a honey, mustard and cider vinegar dressing

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1779 2237
Protein (g)	161.1 (36.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	161.6 (34.6%)
Fat (g)	55.4 (28.5%)
Fibre (g)	23.2
Fruit & Veg	11.4

Almost Friday!

Last nights munchies went away after a while.  I think my only one snack in the afternoon recent schedule hasn't been working very well and I was just really hungry by dinner time; the usual "wait for it to go down a bit" patience worked and I soon had the proper sateity sensations.  *phew*

Rest day again today and a proper update later.  I'm not in the best state of mind about food and exercise at the moment, though I am zeroing in on 100,000kcals recorded exercise  for a 12 month period.  I have until Tuesday to hit that target and I'm currently at 99,489kcal mark so it'd be really hard not to reach the goal :o)  That might just help shift this meh-ness I'm feeling.

New routine

More for my own memory as my trainer's handwriting is almost as bad as mine ;o)

• Squat and swing with 10kg (like a kettlebell swing) - 2x10
• core pendulum swings (lying on the floor, legs up, swing legs/rotate hips) - 2x10 each side
• Lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee (same side arm and leg working, 4kg dumbbell) - 2x10 each side
• clean and press 15kg barbell (use box) - 2x10
• reverse lunge with row (cable machine) 12.5kg - 2x12 SUPERSET
• side plank with row (4kg dumbbell) hold 3s each- 2x10 SUPERSET
• 3x 30s sprints on cross-trainer (L6, 60s recovery)
• warm down 5 minutes and stretch

I suspect most of the 2x10 will turn into 3x10 over time and quite quickly.