83 down

Kilometres that is.

For the month of January I ran 83km towards my goal of running 1000 km in 2013.

 

So how am I coming along?  Well right on track actually.

As you can see from the nike+ screen dump, I had 13 runs with an average distance of 6.4km (6.4 x 13 = 83.1 km).

Considering it was also the holiday period and what not, I’m happy with the result.  I didn’t get to run as often as I would like or as far as I wanted, but that doesn’t matter, I still went out and did it.

Now February is a shorter month, but that doesn’t phase me, I’m still going to do my best to totally smash my goal.

A Year of Fine Tuning

So last year (2012) was a year of just getting fit, and pushing myself.

This year I plan on just maintaining my fitness.  Yes I still have fitness goals, but my fitness goals are different to what they were.

For example in June I set these goals:

1. Get to 62kg
2. Run a sub 55min 10km
3. Run a sub 25 5km
4. Finish a half marathon
5. Run a half marathon

But now those goals are:

1. read/listen to 30 books
2. run 7 fun runs
3. run 3 half marathons
4. be a pace runner for a run
5. run a fun run in another state

I should mention that these are in no particular order.

The other thing that I’m fine tuning is what I’m eating.

Notice I didn’t say diet.

That’s right, I’m not on a diet.  I’m just eating way better. I’m eating way more veggies and whole foods.  I’ve cut down my carbohydrate intake and increased my protein intake.

My protein intake use to be anywhere from 10-20% of my total food intake.  Which is really low.  I was eating anywhere from 40-80 grams of protein a day.  Which in the grand scheme of things is not a lot.  My carbohydrate intake was insane! It was anywhere from 180 grams to 300 grams a day!

Protein is important as it helps to build and sustain muscle.  I also found out recently that our body will naturally convert protein to carbohydrates if it’s needed (how cool is that).

So my percentages for my carb/protein/fat intake was as follows:  55% Carbohydrate / 15% Protein / 30% Fat.

I’ve now changed it to the following: 40% Carbohydrate / 30% Protein / 30% Fat.

It’s taken me a month to get use to the changes, but let me tell you, eating more protein has done many things.

1. It’s filling me up faster.
2. I’m not feeling as tired
3. I’m not craving sugar as much

And those are the things I have noticed.  I still have to fine tune it, but I’ll get the hang of it.

The other thing I’m doing is I’m trying out a lot more new recipes.  Especially paleo recipes.

Why Paleo? Because that’s what our ancestors ate.  And no I’m not talking cave people (although they would have been paleo eaters), I’m talking our ancestors of just 100-200 years ago.  In the sense of if they didn’t grow it, kill it, or make it themselves they wouldn’t eat it.

I don’t know if I will ever go full paleo because I know carbohydrates have a place in a runners diet. And well I’m a runner (and I do like my carbs), but I will try to make better choices.

A calorie is a calorie is a calorie

Or is it?

So I have been Listening to the podcast “The Smarter Science of Slim”. And well the subject of this particular podcast was CALORIES. Yes I’m putting that in capitals, cause well I think it’s important.

When I first started out on my weight loss journey it was all about calories. Calories in vs calories out. But now that I have progressed in my journey I now know that a calorie is not JUST a calorie.

For example take a look at the following:

 

 

vs

 

So why did I pick these 2 particular foods?

Well 1 because I have both of them in my house, and 2 they are extremely different.

Now let me tell you I ate 50g of jelly beans the other day (about 24 jelly beans, yes I weighed and counted them), and I felt really gross afterwards.  I was mindless eating, just putting things in my mouth cause it was there.

So is a calorie a calorie?  Well yes a calorie is a calorie, BUT it all comes down to the quality of the calorie. I mean just look at the difference in macro’s between the 2 foods.

In the broccoli we have 7g of carbs, and 2g of sugars.  Compared to 98g of carbs and 80g of sugar in the jelly beans.
The broccoli also has dietry fibre, sodium and potassium, vitamins a & c, and calcium and iron, while the jelly beans have none of that.

One thing for sure, I’d rather eat 100g of broccoli than eat 100g of jelly beans.

Ok so yeah I might eat 100g of jelly beans in one session, but I wont feel good afterwards.  But if I eat the 100g of broccoli, I will feel full and satisfied. And I rather feel satisfied that meh/blah.

So like anything it comes down to quality. They weren’t joking when they say “you are what you eat”.  So don’t be fast, cheap and easy, and majority of the time fake.  Go with the quality foods.

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Fit Test Results & Comparison

 

In September 2011 I started insanity.  I only did 1 month of it though and went back to Turbofire.

This time however I have stuck with it.  Well doing it with running at least.

My fitness has improved tenfold from when I started. But I think I was kidding myself with some of my results.  I say this because today I did my fit test (i haven’t done it since April, so I thought I should do it).  My form was perfect, but I did not get the same results as I did last time.  This is why I say I think I was cheating, cheating with my form. Here are my results either way. I’ll let my results speak for themselves, please not that I haven’t including all my results from all my fit tests.

 

 

Date	26.9.2011	14.11.11	27.04.12	20.06.12
Item	Amount	Amount	Amount	Amount
Switch Kicks	53	62	65	55
Power Jacks	34	56	53	50
Power Knees	76	97	100	101
Power Jumps	25	48	43	50
Globe Jumps	7	10	10	10
Suicide Jumps	11	15	18	18
Push up Jacks	13	22	22	24
Low Plank Obliques	37	63	64	65

An Achievement

How things change in a year. If a year ago you would me I would be a runner, I properly would have laughed in your face. Never would I have expected how my life has changed in just a year. See it comes down to time again.

I use to always look at runners, and thought ‘wow I wish I could run’, but every time I tried I HATED it.  I hated everything about it.  My lungs felt like they were going to burst, my shins killed me and I just did not like it at all.  One thing for sure is running really tests your fitness.  You might think you are fit, but unless you run, you ain’t fit.  Running just helps you in all other aspects of fitness.  It really is fantastic for endurance.

A year ago I decided I wanted to try to run.  So I started off small, 3km.  That was tough.  Invested in the nike+, attached that too my shoe to find out how I was progressing.  It’s not a bad device when it’s calibrated, when it’s not, it’s accuracy is way off. I then slowly built myself up to 5km.  However I didn’t really schedule a lot of running days.  Considering when I started my fitness journey it was winter.  (A bit of rain doesn’t phase me now). As I got fitter, running did get easier.  However my passion for running only changed this year.
When I started to like running it was the end of seasons for the SAAC (this was back in Oct 2011).    So I asked for my name to be put on the list for next year (2012). The season didn’t start up again until April this year (2012). However thanks to entering run for the kids, and actually finishing it I got the running bug.  My first race with the club was 5km handicap.  I ran it in 28.55mins with a handicap of 6mins, my time ended up being 34.55mins.
One thing I like about the handicap is that they try to time it so everyone finished at the same time. And there is nothing like someone on your heals to make you go faster.

I haven’t been able to come to every race. Family commitments and other events have caused me only to get to about 5-6 races. However I love how it’s a really family friendly environment.  Kayla has done 2 races now with the club and Miles 1.  They do the sub juniors, so they aren’t running huge distances, ranges from 1km to 2km.  Kayla runs faster than some adults, she does so well, so super proud of her achievements.

Well yesterday (16th June), was the Gary Rice Handicap. I was given a handicap of approx 7mins. I’m not too sure how they work out the handicaps.  But that’s the time I was given so I just went with it. There were 2 other runners ahead of me, acutally 3, but 1 was a junior and she wasn’t running the 6.5km she was doing less.  I did run with her for a little bit, she did really well too.
I didn’t catch up to Mrs L until my 2nd lap.  I could see her at the end of my 1st lap, but took a while for me to catch up to her.  Once I passed her, I could see Mr G.  Took ne about 500m to overtake him. Once I got to the last leg of the run (it was 6.5km) I went for it, I could actually see the other runners behind be by then, even though they were are least 200m away.  Just the thought of someone overtaking you at the last bit really motivates you to go faster.  The last part was up a hill.  Now this hill wasn’t steep but it was gradual, and I was working hard.  But I did it!  I came in at 35.26mins SAAC Gary Rice 6.5km Handicap by matilda_i at Garmin Connect – Details. It was my fast time for this distance.  My average pace is about 5.40, and I was running a lot faster than that.  I actually didn’t realise that I had come in first until Mrs S came in.  She was the 3rd runner in, and it wasn’t until she said “omg I forgot about you’, that made me realise that I actually did come 1st.

Coming in first is a good feeling.  Makes me realise that all the hard work that I’m putting in is actually paying off.  I don’t expect to win again any time soon, but it’s nice to be acknowledge for my achievements.  And the bottle of wine and gift voucher, well they are a bonus!

I will post the link to the article when it’s up on the website.  I also plan on keeping the paper, and framing my achievement.