Second race of the season and my new TT bike

It's upon us already; the second race of the season.  And like the first one it's going to be cold and potentially wet too!  It's going to be an even earlier start than last time as transition closes at 06:15 on Monday (the race director will be on site from 04:30!!)

I'm a bit excited, but not so excited that I'm even thinking about racing on my new baby when I've only just picked him up:-

I call him "Stormtrooper" (thanks to the new chap at Triathlon Zone for putting that idea into my head :o))

I'll be racing on my usual Fuji Team Pro Special Edition now that the guys at Prologue Bikes have made it feel right again.  I had it in for a full service at Evans a couple of weeks ago and it came back with a rattle at the back end, which we thought we'd fixed after taking the cassette apart and putting it back together again, but the rattle came back.  One of the guys at the Wimbleball familiarisation weekend we went to, one Sam Baxter, recommended a shop in Sheen so I went and found it this morning.  Turns out they're really nice guys.  They stripped down the cassette again, found that two spacers were missing (one that came with the wheel and one that came with the cassette), replaced them, adjusted the slightly out of whack back wheel, the rear and front derailleurs and didn't charge me a penny!  All rattling has stopped and I feel confident throwing the bike around the road again.  Much much happier about racing on it on Monday now!

*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).

Good new routine!

I really didn't like the last routine... too much isolation and relying on machines, though I did really like the ViPR stuff. Thankfully it was only a 3 week routine so not too long to be pissed off with it. Today was then New Routine day with my trainer; we usually run through 1 set of everything then do some intervals and knock off after 50 minutes or so in total. Today, my new routine only took 30 minutes to run through, so we had some fun after that... which involved some dynamic lunges with rows and knee raises and then some fun with 3x medicine balls.

Take 3x medicine balls. Balance on them such that no body parts touch the floor. This is best done with one ball under each hand and both feet on the 3rd, straight arms, straight back and legs. Now hold that position for 60 seconds. :o)

Oh, and then do pressups from there :oD  Like this...

God, that was fun! It even had a passing cleaner say "gosh, she's strong!" to my trainer, which had me grinning all over my face.  I managed 3 pressups before my feet fell off the back ball.

And here's the new routine; I said I didn't want any machines involved and I wanted a full body workout with lots of compound exercises:-

• Warm up for 4-5 minutes
• Deep squats - 3x10 -Olympic bar plus 2x5kg
• SS1 Clean and press - 2x10 - Olympic bar
• SS1 Press with knee-lift against Swiss Ball - 2x10 - bodyweight
• SS2 Overhead squat - 2x10 - 8kg ViPR
• SS2 Crunch with overhead lift - 2x10 - 8kg ViPR
• Lunge and horizontal press - 2x10 - 8kg ViPR
• Lunge with overhead swing - 2x10 - 10kg ViPR
• Sprints on x-trainer - 6x30s with 60s recovery - L8-10 (180-200 speed)
• Cool down and stretch

Love it!  Can't wait to get cracking with it on Monday!

First run through

My new routine is only set for 3 weeks and today was the first full run through.  Of course my trainer gave me 2 sets of everything and the first thing I do is up it to 3 sets of everything.  It's a leg-heavy routine which is why I didn't want to be cycling anywhere after doing it, though I will be cycling tomorrow.  It's pretty disappointing with respect to kcals burned for the routine, despite the rowing intervals at the end; the lower number of compound exercises is to blame this time, there's really only a couple of those.  Anyway, I'll see how my legs feel in the morning, but it was hard going on the single leg squats and the leg extensions.  Cycling in to work may have to be gentle.

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, Yeo Valley fruit compote and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, celery, chicken fillet
S - carrot and houmous
S - greek yogurt with strawberries and agave nectar
D - Waitrose pork and plum tomato sausages and butternut squash mash

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1343 2163]
Protein (g)	112.7 (34.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	127.7 (36.3%)
Fat (g)	43.3 (29.5%)
Fibre (g)	27.1
Fruit & Veg	15.3

New Routine!

Sunday was another rest day after being a tiny bit tired out on Saturday.  Lots of sport on the telly and I napped through at least some of it; just crashed out on the sofa after my yummy ham, lettuce and Philadelphia wrap (looks so clean and simple and it is!).  Then it was lots of cooking... a big batch of chilli to last a couple of weeks of quick dinners when it's too much like faff to cook something long; a roast chicken for Sunday dinner; and a batch of fruit, nut and seed bars.  This was iteration number 4 of the fruity ones and the latest recipe has cherries and cranberries in it.  It's less proteiney and fibrey than the last iteration and I think that's because there's less peanut butter in this one.  And they certainly turned out a lot thinner and darker than the last lot but that's probably because I have a new baking tin that's actually metal this time instead of the ceramic dish I was using before.  So, I may need to drop the temperature and keep the cooking time the same.

Ingredients

• 50g Oats
• 100g Pure Clear Honey
• 80g Crunchy Peanut Butter
• 30g Soft Dried Pitted Dates
• 40g Wholegrain Brown Puffed Rice
• 40g Raisins
• 40g Natural Cashew Butter
• 40g Walnut Pieces
• 40g Pecan Nuts
• 15g Pumpkin Seeds
• 25g Hulled Sunflower Seeds
• 25g Dried Cherries, Dried
• 25g Dried Cranberries

Method

Pre-heat oven to 140-150C and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper.

Weigh oats and rice into a bowl. Weigh and chop fruit and nuts into the bowl and add in the seeds.

Weigh nut butters and honey into a separate bowl. Microwave for 30s, stir and microwave for a further 15s.

Mix all of it together thoroughly and dollop into the baking tin. Press down very firmly (use the back of a spoon or a bit of greaseproof paper and your hands which I find easier).

Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool until hard - press it down again as soon as it come out of the oven if the dried fruit has swollen up and pushed the mix apart a bit. Then turn out and chop with a sharp knife into portions.

Nutrition Data Per Serving
Calories (kcal)	209.4
Carbohydrate (g)	21.9
Protein (g)	4.9
Fat (g)	11.5
Fibre (g)	2.3
Fruit & Veg	0.1

So, today I can has new routine!  And it's a leg-thrasher :oD

• Warm up on the cross-trainer or rower for 4-5 minutes
• One leg squats (pretty much ATG) - 10x2 at 20kg
• Hamstring curl on the Swiss Ball - 15x2 with bodyweight
• Leg extensions with slow negative motion - 10x2 at 35kg
• Superset - Leg raise with press using Vipr - 15x2 at 10kg
• Superset - Walking lunges with side-swipe with Vipr - 10x2x2 at 10kg
• Reverse lunges with row using Kinesis α - 20x2 at L4
• Crunches with leg cycles using Kinesis δ - 10x2x2 at L2
• Intervals on the rower - 4x30s with 60s recovery at L5
• Cool down and stretch

I'm not sure what to substitute in for the Kinesis δ jobbie in my local gym to home, but I'm sure I'll think of something for that one.  It's only a 3 week routine and today counted even though I did only one set of everything.  Obviously I'll try to up the sets to 3 across the board as my first progression before thinking of upping the weights (apart from the Vipr which felt really rather light).

Low kcal burn at the gym today so slightly lightish foods...

B - greek yogurt with Yeo Valley fruit compote, 1 scoop MP Max and flaked almonds
S - cottage cheese spread on a Dr Karg crisp bread
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; leftover roast chicken, sweet pepper, cherry tomatoes, celery, beetroot and lettuce
S - greek yogurt with strawberries
S - carrots and houmous
D - stir-fried roast chicken, chorizo, wholegrain rice, baby corn and peas

Actual leftovers dinner tonight with the roast chicken pan fried up with chorizo, wholegrain rice and some veggies... looks quite pretty I think :o)

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1565 2077]
Protein (g)	128.8 (32.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	148.9 (37.3%)
Fat (g)	52.3 (30%)
Fibre (g)	21.4
Fruit & Veg	10.6

First run of new routine

It was pretty fun and really hard on the upper arms, especially my weak left arm.  It feels quite light on the legs, this new routine, but there are clean and presses in there so it should maintain things at least.  As expected, I really pushed it and upped the sets all to 3.

• Squat and swing with 10kg (like a kettlebell swing) - 3x10
• core pendulum swings (lying on the floor, legs up, swing legs/rotate hips) - 3x10 each side SUPERSET
• Lunge with single arm swing opposite arm to knee (same side arm and leg working) 4kg dumbbell - 3x10 each side SUPERSET
• clean and press 15kg barbell (use box) -8, 10, 10
• reverse lunge with row (cable machine) 12.5kg - 3x12 SUPERSET
• side plank with row (4kg) hold 3s each- 3x10 SUPERSET
• 3x 30s sprints on cross-trainer (L6, 60s recovery)
• warm down 5 minutes and stretch

And tonight, one of my absolute favourites for dinner!  Chicken in black bean sauce with noodles:-

So high protein with the extra black beans in there as well :o)

Oh and my vegetables are starting to sprout!

Pak choi:-

Which look very much like they're going to need thinning out real soon now.

Spinach:-

The courgettes and sweet peppers aren't showing yet, so obviously I'm worried about them!

B - 1 scoop MP Max in greek yogurt with blueberries and flaked almonds
S - Dorset Cereals bar, berries and cherries
L - EAT soup, Smokey Bacon and Lentil
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk and an apple
S - beef jerky
D - chicken in black bean sauce with buckwheat noodles

Exercise - 55 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1479 2211]
Protein (g)	158.4 (43.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	150.4 (39.1%)
Fat (g)	27.3 (17.0%)
Fruit & Veg	7.1

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.

New routine coming soon

I've got a session with my trainer on Wednesday so I reckon I'll get a new routine then.  Hopefully he'll remember most of the one we tried to put together just before I went skiing; that was fun and I felt amazing afterwards!  So, today was the last day of my existing routine and I ramped up the walking lunges a little bit, up to 10 per leg x3 sets and a body-weight only set of 20 at the start.

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - EAT Natural, cranberries, apricot and yogurt bar
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in skimmed milk
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sweet pepper, beetroot, celery, Food Doctor herb boost, 4x quail's eggs and leftover roast chicken
S - MP beef jerky
D - beef chilli, couscous, peas and sweetcorn
S - chunk of banana and pecan cake and a mug of tea

Exercise - 50 minutes gym

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1850 2163]
Protein (g)	166.9 (36.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	180.2 (37.4%)
Fat (g)	51.7 (25.7%)
Fruit & Veg	12.2

<3 new bike

Just back from a toddle around on my new bike and it's GORGEOUS!  14.2km including some hills (100m climb in total, roughly) and it felt nippy, zippy and tight.  Tiny bit tricky on the back brake and a bit too much play in the gear levers but all totally live-able-with.  Overall it feels absolutely lovely to ride and made Wimbledon Hill a buttload easier to get up!

We checked out the other Virgin Active near the house and the pool there is much much better than the other one.  They're almost equidistant, but the traffic can be worse on the way to and from the one we went to today.  Still, very nice to find a decent pool near here (yes there are a couple of municipal pools but they're not very nice and they don't even have swimming costume spinners in the changing rooms).

Lunchies today was one of my favourites; spiced butternut squash, carrot and orange soup:-

To make 2 portions:-

• 310g butternut squash
• 200g carrot, 10ml olive oil
• 1/4tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 50ml orange juice with bits
• 450ml boiling water.

Cube the butternut squash (don't peel it, but do de-seed it), chop the carrot into chunks.  Place squash cubes on a baking tray, drizzle with half the oil and season.  Place carrot in a pan with the rest of the oil and the spices.  Bake the squash for 25-30 minutes at 175C.  Sweat the carrots with the oil and spices, then add the stock (make up with the cube and 450ml water, then add to the carrot pan).  Cook the carrots until quite soft.  Once the squash is baked, add to the carrot pan and cook a little together.  Remove pan from the heat and blend it all together with a hand blender.  Add the orange juice once it's all smooth and blend a bit more.  Return to the pan and heat until bubbling (add more water if it's too thick).  Serve!

And now, after my ride, I'm having a slab of yesterday's banana and pecan cake with a mug of tea:-

NOM!

B - toasted, buttered Food Doctor wholemeal seeded bagel with Marmite and a poached egg
*swim*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in semi-skimmed milk
L - spiced butternut squash, carrot and orange soup with a chunk of buttered ciabatta-style baguette
*cycle*
S - banana and pecan honey cake
D - roast chicken with roasted parsnips, boiled potatoes, peas and gravy

Exercise: 30 minutes swim, 45 minutes bike

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1973 2449]
Protein (g)	104.5 (21.6%)
Carbohydrate (g)	203.8 (39.5%)
Fat (g)	83.9 (39%)
Fibre (g)	27.3
Fruit & Veg	6.0

3/3 weights, coming up!

On track for 3/3 this week, though weights will have to be tomorrow with Mr TOTKat as I'm at home for bike delivery - if it arrives this morning, I'll head into the office, otherwise I'm working at home all day.  Either way, I can't go to the gym during my "lunch break" today.

I decided to have a run this evening after taking a chunk out of the back of my hand on the big cog while taking the new bike out of the box.  Not really up to gymming with a sore hand, my grip is a bit off.  Nice run too, tiny bit faster again than the last one, which is always satisfying.

And here's the new baby (with temporary pedals on for now until I get more confident, when I'll put the cage pedals on):-

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop MP Max, blueberries and Grape Nuts
S - cottage cheese on a Dr. Karg cheese and pumpkin seed crisp bread
L - salad; lettuce, cherry tomatoes, celery, sweet pepper, beetroot, capers and chicken breast
S - latte made with semi-skimmed milk, with a sprinkle of maca root
S - fruit and nut mix (brazils, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, almonds and raisins)
*gym*
S - 1 scoop MP Max in semi-skimmed milk
D - baked tilapia with broccoli and sweet potato wedges

Exercise - 29 minutes running

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1624 2093]
Protein (g)	156.7 (39.1%)
Carbohydrate (g)	148.8 (34.8%)
Fat (g)	46.6 (26.1%)
Fruit & Veg	11.4

Rest day

But it so nearly wasn't.  I nearly ended up going to the gym after work, but in some ways it's good that I didn't.  Today was always going to be a rest day, just because I ate/drank too much yesterday doesn't mean I should thrash myself to bits today to make up for it.  So.  Rest.  And I know I was going to eat to maintenance on non-weights days, but as I was about 500 over maintenance yesterday instead of 500 under it, I'm not going right up to maintenance today.

I was expecting my new bike to arrive today, but it's not coming until tomorrow now; photos as soon as it's out of the box, I promise!

Nice little evening snack; an after-dinner classic of (Pie D'Angeloys) cheese on (organic, wholemeal) biscuits with grapes:-

B - greek yogurt with 40g Dorset Cereals Tasty Toasted Spelt muesli
S - cottage cheese on Dr. Karg cheese and pumpkin seed crisp bread
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, cherry tomato, celery, beetroot and roast chicken
S - MP beef jerky
S - 1 small tin of pineapple slices in pineapple juice
D - beef chilli with couscous, sweetcorn and peas
S - Pie D'Angeloys on Dove Farms organic, wholemeal digestives and white seedless grapes

Exercise - rest. YES! REST!

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1685 1801]
Protein (g)	136.8 (33.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	193.4 (44.9%)
Fat (g)	37.9 (21.2%)
Fruit & Veg	14.0

New Toy!

I got me a new laptop :o)

My Macbook had served me well for the last 3.5 years, and survived one bout of case cracking and free repair by Apple but the second time (only a few weeks ago) was a duct tape repair job as I just didn't want to deal with it again, plus it was cracked on both sides of the track pad this time.  Seeing as I'd had a nice little tax rebate from a few years ago, I decided to treat myself to a better laptop with better resolution as the Macbook had been annoying me on that front for a while.  I didn't want anything massive, so a 17" was right out of the question, but a 15" would be bearable and give me a few extra pixels.  Handily,  just as I was about to give in and buy a 15" Macbook Pro, Apple announced some new ones with shinier processors -and- extended graphics options to give even better resolution on the 15" model.  Yay!  So I got one.

And I'm using it now and it's -lovely-!

The old Macbook will be recycled as a spare *cough*Windows*cough* machine(!)

Right.  So.  I forgot that I'd be at Info Security Europe today and unable to go to the gym, so static bike work didn't happen.  Not wanting to run or swim two days in a row, I've decided to take a rest day today instead.  It's not like any work I do this week will make much difference to my performance on Monday (unless I overdo it, of course), so I'm not feeling bad about taking a rest day where I hadn't planned to.

B - Bran Flakes with semi-skimmed milk and a chopped banana (we ran out of yogurt!)
S - Small skinny latte
L - Crussh Strawberry Cooler with extra ginger and Crussh Crayfish and Buckwheat Noodle Salad with Sweet Chilli Sauce
S - Nakd Bar; Cashew Cookie
S - Marmite biscuits with Marmite XO and cottage cheese
D - venison steak with butternut squash and sweet potato mash

Exercise - rest day

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1477 1790]
Protein (g)	92.9 (26.1%)
Carbohydrate (g)	223.7 (58.9%)
Fat (g)	23.8 (15.1%)
Fruit & Veg	7.9

Accidental dinner out

My office is in an area of the city which is undergoing lots of redevelopment; scaffolding and dug up road everywhere!  Anyway, this is resulting in lots of nice eateries and cafes popping up around the office; most recently a Brasserie Blanc which I can see from my desk.  It officially opened last night so we decided at about 5pm to go for dinner :o)

We both had the starter from the specials menu; a sausage salad with tiny poached egg and potatoes:-

Which was pretty delicious.  The tiny piles of crisped wisps of onion were gorgeous!  The potatoes were just perfectly cooked and really tasted of potato, like the Castle Potatoes (a single, smallish potato still in its skin, sliced along the fat axis into 1/8" slices and, I think, roasted with no oil) I had with my slow cooked veal for main course.


Mr TOTKat (below) had steak for a main course and it was delicious!  Much better than the ones at Relais de Venise, L'Entrecote over the alley.

And it all went a bit pear-shaped after that and we ended up having loads of bread before the meal and at the end with cheese and dessert wine.  Oops!  Still!  It was a lovely night out and the food and drink was really rather good (though the cheese wasn't all that exciting, which was a tiny bit of a shame).  I don't think I'm going to be losing any more weight over the next couple of days :o)  (which is a good thing as I don't want to lose any more thanks very much!)

Teensy bit ded

New routine day yesterday with the trainer.  And it's a killer.  I won't get the printed version 'til I'm back from hols, but we ran through it yesterday and ohboy!  Somewhat optimistically, I also ran part-way home; consequently, this morning, my legs are saying "hello!" to me a lot.  And my arms.  And my abs.

I ended up 760kcals under maintenance yesterday, up to and including dinner.  So I just -had- to have some cheese and biscuits for supper to get things to a less silly level.  It was a total hardship I can tell you!  :oD

No exercise today as it's a rest day and probably none tomorrow, but I have to run out to the shops at lunchtime to get more base layers for skiing, cause the weather is looking a little chilly for where we're going *cough*

Wednesday:-

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
L - salad; lettuce, sweet pepper, celery, cherry tomatoes, capers, chicken breast
*gym*
S - 1 scoop in semi-skimmed milk
S - beef jerky
S - 4x nut, seed and raisin biscuits (no added anything horrible except soya lecithin)
*run*
D - beef chilli with sweet potato and carrot mash
S - oat cakes with stilton

Exercise - 61 minutes gym, 29 minutes running

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1703 2465]
Protein (g)	165.2 (39.7%)
Carbohydrate (g)	166.8 (37.6%)
Fat (g)	41.1 (22.2%)
Fibre (g)	23.9
Fruit & Veg	12.7

The best laid plans...

I was going to run part-way home tonight, but I got invited to an event tomorrow night which is black tie.  "How does that add up?", you might ask.  Well, I have one dress suitable for black tie events and it's needed dry cleaning since Christmas and I've not got around to it.  So, in order to be suitably attired tomorrow, I had to (ohyes, had to!) run out at lunchtime and buy a new dress.  Um, and shoes to go with it:-

Which meant that I had to get them home tonight as there was no way I was leaving them in the office overnight.  So, I wasn't going to cram them into a tiny rucksack and ruin them either, so no running this evening.

So.  The trick now is planning for tomorrow; I need to pack gym stuff, evening stuff and wear stuff during the day that I won't mind crumpling up into my desk drawer overnight tomorrow night.  Complicated!  Big gymmage session planned for tomorrow to help with potential excess in the evening, but I'm going to have to be very careful for lots of reasons; it's mid-week, I'm almost there with that 2lbs I wanted to finally shift, and my new dress is very figure-hugging, so not much room for scoffing anyway :oD

Also, we are sans functioning kitchen scales at the moment (they got a bit dropped and have been quite unhappy since), so breakfast was slightly estimating this morning, though I did look up the conversion for US cups to grams of yogurt, which helped.  I cajoled the scales into working long enough to weigh bits of tonight's dinner and the new scales will arrive tomorrow but then they'll sit in my desk drawer until Thursday evening as well as my office clothes for the day.

Today went like this:-

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop, blueberries and flaked almonds
S - a pear
L - salad; spinach, sweet pepper, capers, celery, apricots and a chicken fillet
S - tangerines and a small handful of yogurt coated banana chips
S - carrot and houmous
D - salmon fillet with couscous, peas and sweetcorn

Exercise - none

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1390 1788]
Protein (g)	115.9 (33.2%)
Carbohydrate (g)	136.1 (36.5%)
Fat (g)	47.0 (30.3%)
Fruit & Veg	8.2

Guesstimating

So, the run through of my new routine last week with my trainer took 47 minutes and I did 1 set of everything and no cool down on the cross-trainer; that earned me 370kcals. Today's full session of 3 sets of everything took around 45 minutes, but I worked hard all the way through it rather than yapping with my trainer, so I reckon I must have burned through another 60kcals at least. So, guesstimate for today's exercise is 430kcals, but then subtract the background kcals to give 374kcals.

This is what I was given:-
•Warm up rower 5 minutes
•Walking lunges (kb) 8-12 kg 2x 10-12 reps
•Squat clean shoulder press (db) 8-10 kg 2x 8-10reps
•Dips+ planks with lift to palms (body) 2x 15-20 reps
•Single arm lateral pull (machine) 6-20 kg 2x 10reps
•Reverse fly(kinesis) 1-3kg 2x 8-12reps
•Reverse crunch (abs) 2x 15reps
•Swiss ball/Bosu core work - 2x 15 reps
•Cool Down on a cross-trainer 5 minutes on a low intensity.

This is what I did:-
•Warm up rower 1km in 04:20 (L7/10)
•Walking lunges (kb) 12 kg 3x 12 reps
•Squat clean shoulder press (db) 9 kg 3x 10 reps
•Dips (3x10)+ planks with lift to palms 3x 10 reps
•Dual arm lateral pull (machine) 2x12.5 kg 3x 8 reps
•Reverse fly(kinesis) 1kg 3x 10 reps
•Reverse crunch (abs) 3x 12 reps
•Swiss ball tuck/roll - 2x 8 reps _ 1x 5 reps
•Cool Down on a cross-trainer 5 minutes (L7/25).

It was a good routine. Oh yes. Really got my heart pounding and my legs felt worked hard with the walking lunges.

Yesterday was a bit of a train-wreck with regard to eating. Having had a couple of cheats on Friday with lots of wine, yesterday was at least another 3, what with the Chinese takeaway and a couple of (smallish 4%) beers. Actually, I reckon I probably could say it was pretty much all 7 cheats between those two events. The week ended at 400kcals under maintenance, so not the end of the world, but it could have been better. And, to be honest, yesterday was a bit stressful so I can be excused not being saintly. I just can't have these excuses every single week. I need to focus on getting body fat % down to target and that means a bit of hard work right now.

I've been looking forward to today's dinner for a few days now; it's hard work to make but ohhhhsogood - lamb vindaloo with ribbon courgette, onion and toasted pine nuts:-


Exercise - 45 ish minutes weights (HR unknown)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad - lettice, celery, sweet peppers, chicken fillet and honey & mustard dressing
S - 1 pear
S - leftover egg mayonnaise from yesterday
D - lamb vindaloo with courgette, onion and pine nuts

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maintain weight (inc. exercise)	1683 2176 (est.)]
Protein (g)	144.7 (34.9%)
Carbohydrate (g)	126.7 (28.6%)
Fat (g)	67.3 (36.5%)
Fruit & Veg	13.7

Peeved

Today was going to be a first full run through of my new weights routine. But idiot here forgot her HRM watch. I have the strap and transmitter but not the damned watch. Meh. Cross.

I'll still go to the gym today but I'll have to guess the burn (and take a proper reading on Wednesday when I do it again, with the damned HRM watch). And I don't have last week's stats to hand now either. Double meh!

New routine!

370kcals burned going through a 1 set run-through of it in 47 minutes today with lots of stopping and talking in between and no real cardio-based cool down (but including a warm up of 1km rowing at the start). So I'm quite impressed by that. Mike(?) is very enthusiastic, really encouraging (slightly OTT on that front) and very attentive to form. He's put together a really nice full body routine full of complex (as in multiple-muscle group) exercises and showed me some new toys in the gym that I previously pooh poohed (mostly the Powerplates and Kinesis jobbies). As we went through the routine he modified them to fit me better (most notably when I mentioned that my left arm and shoulder is significantly weaker and I end up compensating for it, so he broke out clean and press barbell into squat and press dumbbells on each side to help build up the left side a bit more to even things out a bit). I have to wait for him to write up the routine with the extra notes from today's session (mmm, new plank variation and its tricky!) and he'll email them to me in time for my Monday work out. I'll post the routine once I get it.

Today's real highlight is dinner. 250g Bison rump steaks. They look incredibly lean, if a little on the thin side, but if they're anything like that buffalo I pot roasted, then we're in for a real treat tonight! And I get to have my weekly wine treat which takes me to 5 units of alcohol this week.


Only 1 cheat so far this week (the wine), but then there's the weekend which is a bit on the unplanned side at the moment, so plenty of scope for more cheating there!

Exercise - 47 minutes run through at the gym (HRmax 180, HRavg 142)

B - greek yogurt with 1 scoop vanilla, frozen blueberries and flaked almonds
S - banana
*gym*
S - 1 scoop chocolate in skimmed milk
L - salad: spinach, sweet pepper, celery, walnuts, chicken fillet and lemon juice
(sneaky chocolate from the box I was handing 'round the office)
S - tangerines
S - carrot and houmous
D - bison rump steak; sweet potato, potato and carrot mash, cauliflower and wine

Calories (kcal) [kcals to maitain weight (inc. exercise)	1860 2105
Protein (g)	166.1 (36.3%)
Carbohydrate (g)	150.7 (30.9%)
Fat (g)	34.2 (16.8%)
Alcohol (g)	41.6 (15.9%)
Fruit & Veg	9.1

Not ideal, but ready to re-set.

I've over-indulged just a tiny bit (really, not being sacrastic for once!) in the last 2 days. Under maintenace kcals 2 days ago but had lots of wine and then over maintenance yesterday with a potato wedges and pizza dinner. This has resulted in 1.2kg gain in 2 days! I know it's not real weight and my weight on the day before that was unrealistically low (I think, though I was very hydrated, so perhaps it was real). I know with sensible eating choices and keeping hydrated that that 1.2kg will fall away again.

BUT

3 days of all-inclusive, gorgeous, gourmet food and wine and champagne starts today. There -is- a gym and I -have- packed gym kit and swimming togs and HRM. I -fully- intend to do weight training once and swimming at least once.

But I feel afraid that I will put back on fat that I keep working very steadily to lose (at a rate of roughly 0.5-1kg per month). 1kg can take me 1-2 months to lose at the moment because training hard makes me hungry so I need to eat 5-7 times a day (not equal meals, but 3 meals and 2-4 snacks of fruit, nuts, carrots, celery, houmous etc.).

I don'd do New Year's resolutions because I feel they're just so false. You can resolve to change something at any time, why pick New Year why not just do something when you've decided you want to do it? This year, however, I feel the need to just relax a bit for a couple of weeks - keep up the exercise of course, but lay off beating myself up about not being at least 250kcals under maintenance every day. Until the New Year.

4th January I start a new plan to fine-tune the strenght and body fat. I'm looking at some of the Rachel Cosgrove stuff and some of the Maxitone stuff and will ponder over the next few days the exact plan. Until then, I'll try very hard not to panic about getting fat from a few days of rich food and drink. Honest. I'll try.

I may have over-done it on Wednesday

I did my new routine in full for the first time on Wednesday and had to guess some of the weights as the markings are different on the machines in my new gym compared with the old one. Two days later and my shoulders are still really quite sore, even to the touch. I did get a sports massage yesterday but it didn't get to the sore bits on the tops and fronts of my shoulders. However, the knots around my shoulder blades are a lot better than last time.

Anyhoo... too sore to swim yesterday and too ill to do anything today (which is good as my shoulders are definitely too sore and weights training would have been a bad idea). My throat is sore and partially closed, making me feel queasy a lot of the time, but eating seems to quell the vileness so I've been eating all blimmin' day. If my throat improves tomorrow, I'll go to the gym, if not, I might go for a gentle swim, but the showers at the local gym aren't all that warm so it's not an enticing prospect.

I think I need to go back to posting my food and nutrition stuff here as it's been slipping and I've been convincing myself that I've been eating non-trivially less than maintenance calories (including exercise calories) and it's simply not the case. I'm hoping being more public about it will make me see that better and maybe get some hints from people on alternative foods to help even out the hunger throughout the day. I've got very used to my breakfast, morning snack, exercise, chocolate milk after exercise, lunch, early afternoon snack, late afternoon carrot and houmous, dinner and sometimes supper. I've got very used to eating pretty much every 3 hours throughout the day and on plain maintenance kcals with no exercise, that's pretty hard to do.

I -have- been losing fat, slowly, but I'm keen to get to my target, dammit! 1.3% to go and no access any more to the fat monitor that I've been being measured with for the last 5 months. I have tried to compare it with the one I bought - a "proper" full body analyser, 4 point bio-impedance jobbie - but I can't tell whether it is simply offset at 1.8% higher than the one at my old gym, or whether it's more complicated than that. I suspect the latter, mostly seeing as bio-electrical impedance is very sensitive to hydration levels and electrode positioning, but what can I do? As long as I'm consistent going forward, that's what matters. So, I will assume a 1.8% offset and work from there.