Our unofficial official end of round Finale Party

Okay so it's Wednesday now, I'm still reporting on last Saturday's activities, but after a nanna nap in the afternoon (actually I hear on the rumour mill there may have been a number of us having a nanna nap on Saturday afternoon after the workouts) I was ready to have fun with my friends.

Here's a snap, yes yes I'm still on the Instagram (have got quite a thing for it now) so it's been formatted square.  Because of netball and football and all those other things that get in the way, we only had six of us out for dinner.  Another three ladies were in the restaurant at other functions too.  

What a lovely time we had enjoying a wonderful meal (all of us making good choices) and fantastic conversation with good good friends, all met through our group on 12wbt.  I love that about this program, meeting like minded people and becoming good friends.

Don't mind me, we were all going to pick up our glass and make a toast to the camera, and being the last to arrive I didn't have a drink yet so I picked up the champagne bottle!!!  Truly I drank soda water all night.  

So in case you know us, from L to R, top to bottom - Lynn, Jacinta, Lisa, Debbie (yes you may have recognised her from two past finales strutting her stuff on stage in the top 20), Kellie and yours truly.   I am so lucky to have met these ladies and enjoying my time on the program with them by my side.  Go Warrnambool & Surrounds!!!

So Round 3 almost commencing, I'm pumped and ready to go.  I've signed up to the 10km program this round.  I know I've run it a few times now, but I really am such a plodder.  I want to run smarter, and faster, and stronger, so I want to go back to basics and build, rather than must go out and plod.  I want to learn it right.  

And who knows, the round after, which I'm aiming to be my last round (but then again, who knows!!!) I might just do the half marathon program.  Because I have that half marathon to run before I'm 50 and by my calculations that means I need to do it in the next 13 months!  Gulp.

So to those doing this next round good luck.  To those going it alone, continued success to you.  

And to anyone who is reading this and thinking, hmmmm what is the deal with all the 12wbt talk - SIGN UP NOW!  :-)

Great SSS to finish the round on

Another rolling workout for the Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt crew.  Love these girls.  We did this a few weeks back, you'll recall the stairs of horror in our Week 8 Mini Milestone Challenge.

So these rolling workouts that have been planned, you join in to whichever session you want, dip out whenever you need to, do all of them or only some of them.  Being that we are Warrnambool "and surrounds", the surrounds go for quite a few miles, let me tell you, so there can be a bit of travelling in it for us.

So today started off nice and early at 7.30am (brrrr it was cold!!!) in Woolsthorpe (where's Woolsthorpe I hear you ask? look it up people!!).  We had a fabulous session with Kazz from BodyMoves.  She really put us through our paces, a combination of teamwork (Gooo Scorpions!!!) and exercise and dance moves combined with exercise and conquering mind over matter with some super balancing poses and a fantastic meditation session at the end.  Loved it !!!  The support from Kazz today and the enthusiasm from our girls, it's such a win-win for all of us.

[some of the group at the end of the session - excuse us crouching down -

I had the phone camera balanced on the stage in the hall

and used the self-timer app]

Then over to Port Fairy for a workout in the local basketball hall by Commando Lisa.  Lisa is one of our 12wbt girls and is so bright and bubbly and effervescent, you can't help but be caught up with her enthusiasm.

Then to the Belfast Aquatic Centre in Port Fairy for a Spin Class.   Got to hand it to some of the girls who did all three sessions.     As we are having our official unofficial local finale party tonight in Warrnambool, I decided there was enough travelling around the countryside being done today for me and ended up just doing the Woolsthorpe session, being that I will be heading back into town tonight.

Plus today was quite the milestone for me.  I did my first ever (actually I did three) pushups on my toes.

EVER.

THREE OF THEM.

Count them people.  One, two, three.

I was over the moon.  But way to get shot down in flames.  I am bragging to Mike about it when I get home and so he thumped his chest like a caveman and dropped and did 10 in his workboots, not only that instead of palms down he did them on his knuckles on the slate floor.

pffffft  ... SHOW OFF!  

Let's see you run 11.8 kilometres Mike then we'll talk.  Hmmmmm????

Now ... off to pick an outfit to wear tonight.  I would have loved to have gone to Adelaide for the finale, but it was just too hard for us to get to.  Either we had to drive a ton to get to Adelaide.  Drive a ton to get back to Melbourne to fly over the top of our house.  Take a train that would get us there that morning or two days before.  Nope, I'm just going to celebrate the round quietly (or not so quietly) in my own way tonight with these ladies who mean so much to me.

I broke my bottom !

Ha!  Well that title made you look didn't it?   I was in Melbourne on Friday so stayed with mum overnight in Geelong on the way home.  Hmmm, thought I might go running around my old stomping ground on Saturday morning, so I hightailed it down to the bay for a run along the foreshore nice and early.

Have you ever been down to the Geelong foreshore?  It really is lovely.  I also love the Bollards they have placed along it showing the history of Geelong.  They've been there for an age, long before I left Geelong, and still never fail to draw me in.

So I parked down near the yacht club and ran along the waterfront to Rippleside Park over in Drumcondra, then back east along the same path to the big pool at Eastern Beach for a loop around the pool and then back to the car.   It wasn't going to be a huge run (only 6.7km ... heck when did I insert an "ONLY" when I was talking about distances like that??) but it was a brilliant morning, people were out running and walking and PT classes were exercising.  It was great.  I had my zippy pink jacket to brace against the cool air, I was set.

On the way back from Rippleside I slowed down at a few of the Bollards to take photos with my phone ... as you do!  All in the name of some entertainment for the blog here.  And at one Bollard I moved forward to take a pic and missed a step and went for a tumble, tried to over correct and landed on my bum!

What was worse, it was witnessed by walkers and runners alike.  That was probably more painful than my butt cheek I will admit.  Tears instantly sprang to my eyes and I quickly wiped them away pretending I was wiping away sweat, when some ladies asked if I was okay.  Stupid stupid.  Yes, yes, I'm okay I said!!  I got up and kept running, but I was loping like the Hunchback of Notredam until I ironed the kinks out.

So apart from my good friend Kylie, who I know who didn't slip on a banana peel, but slipped on a rogue mango on the ground I do believe ... who else has come a cropper and wants to share???

Come on, make me feel better people!

So in an effort for entertainment here are those said Bollards I was aiming to take pics of.

The local Constabulary were out in force, just checking I wasn't speeding by them.  

Although he was busy eating an icecream to be too fussed about me!!

The bathing beauties down at Eastern Beach.

What can I say, married to a Scot I always have to stop for a man in a kilt.

And well after all I was in "cat country" only fitting a turn of the century

footballer was down at Ritchie Boulevarde.

And me not long after I went for my tumble, thought I better document the run,

tears had been wiped away, and the tall strong silent type behind me

was giving me the eye! 

Bruised bottom aside, I figured at that stage it could have been worse, I could have completely tumbled over and ended up in the drink.  Thank heavens for small mercies!

The Great Apple Crumble Debacle of 2013

That's what I'm going to call it.  Okay let me backtrack.  A couple of weeks ago I went to a casserole night and I did pretty good, I only chose casseroles that were mainly vegetables and didn't eat all that much anyway.  Because I work during the day they asked me to bring dessert as I wouldn't have a couple of hours to make up a decent casserole, so I had made an apple crumble.  Easy peasy.

So I had a helping.  Oh Lordy Lord I had a helping and I do believe I got that sweet taste craving back.

So after my fabulous everything has turned a corner weekend in the last post, on Sunday night I made another small apple crumble (as a treat for Mike yanno!!! it wasn't about me at all, oh yeah!)  I'm raising my eyebrows at myself as I type.  And I had another helping of apple crumble.

WHY?

I have no flipping idea.  And since then I've noticed a few bad habits creeping back, one of them being eating in the car.  That was my big thing, to have a munch on this and that in the car.  Almost like it didn't count because I wasn't sitting at the table.  Oh how easily we fool ourselves.

Then Wednesday's weigh in and all my ups and downs over the last 10 or so weeks and I'm now 200 grams more than when I started the round.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?  I know I've done the damage to myself.  I know I've loosened the reigns.

So I started thinking this morning that I had completely thrown away the round.  What a waste.  But have I?  I know it's been a waste in the numbers game, the fitness game not a waste definitely, I'm fitter than ever before.  Maybe ... just maybe ... this was the round I needed, to frighten me enough to know that I have to be ever vigilant every single day of my life.  That I can slip and keep slipping and end up into a bottomless pit of apple crumble never to surface again.  Or... scare me enough to take stock, pull up my big girl panties and stop whinging and whining and get back to business.

So that's what I did this morning.  I slapped myself silly and made a commitment to myself, sitting at the kitchen table, on my own, enjoying my diet Carmen's muesli for breakfast, with my trusty sidekicks Molly and Lucky at my feet.  Today was the day I was turning things around.

12wbt isn't the magic pill that's going to make me healthy and slender and confident and feeling wonderful.  It is however the tool in which to use to build all that myself and maintain it for the rest of my life.

BUT IT'S UP TO ME.

Okay, that's said, let's move on.    I want to talk about the Pen Pal Project.  More specifically a wonderful young lass named Emily from the blog energyandEmily fame.   Emily arranged a 12wbt Pen Pal Project, what a great idea.  We signed up, she gave us a name, we contacted and the rest as they say is history.

I was to send a gift to a lovely lady Katrina and I will post a pic of what I sent her in the next post, the photo is still on my big camera, I haven't downloaded it yet.  I actually liked it so much I made one for myself too!!

Another lovely lady Alissa was given my name, and I was well and truly spoilt.   She made up the most magnificent 12wbt survival pack which was full of beautifully packaged ingenious little gifts.  I'll give you a couple of for instances.  I don't want to say everything in the package here and the quirky little comments she put down, because I tell you she ought to make these up as a sideline, it was fantastic:

• SHINE:  Let your soul shine and nose be delighted by this vanilla scented candle.  (How on earth Alissa knew my favourite scent is vanilla is beyond me, in fact it was a joke at my old work that I wore vanilla scented perfume all the time, one of my old Sergeants once was heard to say "Mmmm Carol, you smell like the inside of a newly cleaned fridge") Hmmmmm.

• REFRESH:  Sip on this organic Higher Living Ginger Kick tea for instant refreshment.  Ginger is great for circulation and stomach upsets.   (Looking forward to this one)

• HEAL:  Patch up your war wounds with these Elastoplast Band-Aids.  You might need these for blisters after all that training!!  (Obviously Alissa knows of my disasters with blisters).

I won't go into detail of the 12 different little gifties in the pack, but needless to say it blew me away and I feel very warm and special having received it.  I've said this to Alissa privately by email, but THANK YOU SO MUCH.  And thank you Miss Emily for arranging such a fun thing to do this round.

And because I am an instagram nut now, this photograph went up immediately.  Love love love.

Feeling pretty great right now

Amazing how in this weight loss, get fit, get healthy game that there are so many highs and lows.  One day you can be at your depth of despair, ready to throw it all in, or at least the fleeting thought crosses your mind.  Other days have you feeling like a rock star.

Well today is my rock star day.  :-)

I have strung two great days together and what a feeling of power comes with it.   Today was my day off so Thursday finished the work week for me.  After work last night I headed down to the breakwater and ran along the foreshore and back along the pier.  When I say pier, it's like a train or something used to go on it, it's all concrete with old rickety train tracks along it until you come to a concrete wall at the end.  One side of it is a wall with the ocean beyond it, often the waves hitting the wall and breaking over the top, the otherside the bay.  One of the fishermen at the end saw me coming and he yelled out "hit the wall, because it doesn't count if you don't hit the wall".  Love that!

I ran 5.3 km last night and as I was doing my stretches at the end of the pier, the sky put on the most magnificent light show for me.  It was like a prize just for me especially for all my hard running.  I just kept on stretching and enjoying the show.  And yes, again with the Instagram, I'm hooked okay!

And a good thing happened yesterday too, the batteries stopped working in my scales, so I'm on a self-imposed exile from sneaky weigh ins.  I'm not going to buy new batteries until Tuesday, ready for Wednesday weigh in.  So there scales, I'll show you!!!

So being that today was my day off, I went running again this morning.  I did a big loop of the golf course and then hit the highway, well it's a big grassy verge way off the highway right up to the paddocks, so I was no where near the cars and trucks.  I ran clear out of town all the way to the start of the Avenue of Honour, a big row of cypress trees as you enter our town that goes on for a couple of kilometres .  It was a slow run, I'll grant you that, still favouring my right side, but I'm getting there.  Total of 8.8km this morning.   

Here I had gotten to the start of the trees and ready to head back into town.  Hmmm, how come I always look like I have thunder thighs in shadow shots, grrrr.   I was running on the grass to the right of the right hand side trees there, you can't see it in this pic, and it was wet.  The sun was glorious this morning, I ditched the long sleeved jacket before I left and ran in a tank top, but the grass was wet and my feet felt like blocks of ice.  I came home and had the best shower I've had in a long time.

I document all my runs on Runkeeper, and this year joined a facebook group called "I'm going to run or walk 1000 kilometres in 12 months".  I get a lot of encouragement from this group.  My runs are child's play compared to some of the runners in it, but be it a small run or a long run, they are always there with words of support, it's great.  So we're adding up our runs, it's kind of a check in place.  So far this year I have run 334 kilometres.  I really must work out on a map how far that is.  

So we're over half way through the year, at this rate I haven't a hope of making it to 1000, but no matter.  It's 334 kilometres more than I would have run pre-12wbt.  So it's all good.

So continuing on with my rock star couple of days, I went to my local CWA meeting this afternoon (yes, you may chuckle, I'm a CWA girl and proud of it) and survived the afternoon tea.  And tonight my husband is taking me to the local pub for dinner and I feel so strong that I just know I'm going to eat clean.  Go me!  Let's keep this momentum going.

Hope your weekend is a great one.

Mini Milestone Challenge ... not so mini!!!

Well the Warrnambool & Surrounds 12wbt crew did it again!  A mini milestone challenge was created, which didn't end up to be so mini.  It was a rolling challenge, join in where you could, dip out if you had other commitments (darn work gets in the way sometimes!!) and if you are like some of the ladies, do the whole lot.  Kind of made me think of those old days when we would go to progressive dinners!!

It went like this:

• 7am - Boxing PT session at Koroit for 45 mins.
• Travel to Tower Hill.
• 8am - Run circuits up and down the Crater Climb at Tower Hill for an hour.  Every time you got to the bottom a specially designed interval challenge had been created by Lisa D, which consisted of burpees, push ups, sit ups, planks, etc.  She created three different levels dependent on whether you were beginner, intermediate or advanced.  Go Lisa!
• Travel to the Breakwater at Warrnambool.
• 9.15am - run (or walk) from the Breakwater along the foreshore for as far as you could to get back by 10am.  I ran with 5 other ladies and we got as far as the Flume and back.
• 10am - the all important debrief over breakfast, and what a delicious breakfast it was at the Pavillion Cafe.

I didn't get to the Boxing Session as I already had an hour's drive to get across there, so I met the girls at Tower Hill.

The morning seriously was fantastic.  It didn't matter that it was freezing!  It didn't matter whether you were just starting out or aiming for kicking goals.  What made me so proud was that we JFDI.  One of the ladies Ms. C kicked so many personal goals and PB's today.  She had only ever made the crater climb once before, today she did it three times back to back.  Not only that but she ran along the foreshore, first time ever running in public.  

That is what it is all about, the support and encouragement and confidence you get from 12wbt, particularly when you hook up with a local group.  Love these girls, I swear I wouldn't have gotten as far as I had if not for them.

Of course the photographs  :-)

Do we look just a little bit cold here, meeting at the bottom of the crater climb.  

It was flipping freezing, plus drizzling rain.

The crater climb consists of many many (slippery) stairs 

as well as a lot of seriously inclined cobblestone paths.

Here I am looking down at the last lot of stairs.  Yep it's steep!

And yet check it out, our girls just powered through it.

Our drenched towels on the ground as we were doing the challenges,

looks like some Turkish sit ups here, although Lisa had called them

Turkish lie downs!!

Here I am with Ms. C who totally blew us away with her 

enthusiasm today.  We need to bottle the determination this lady shows.

Time for a quick selfie, we had a rainbow over yonder, which meant the rain

was coming, lucky it was almost 9am.

Okay so looks like I was running like Phoebe from Friends.

Stop laughing!!

Awww, there's the rainbow, what a lovely sight to end this session on.

So onto the Breakwater for our run along the Foreshore.

Now I'm not one to run with people, I find it really hard to talk and run,

but it was sooooo enjoyable this morning.  I loved it.

Rebecca snapped this pic of some of us at the Flume.

And yes, another rainbow, they were chasing us I tell you.

Mmmm some of us at breakfast, where I had the most amazing rice porridge EVER!

Rice porridge happens to be my newest favourite thing.

What an absolutely fantastic morning, I really enjoyed myself.  I know I keep saying it but I'm so lucky to have this group and these girls in my life.  

So on to tomorrow where Mike and I are going to a Christmas in July.  Oh Lordy Lord, if it's not enough to have to survive one Christmas lunch, I now need to survive two per year???!!!

Well that blew my theory out of the water, hmmmm...

I had a theory, and thought I'd test it.

I am a habitual weigher.  There, I've said it.  Mark it on my forehead as a sign of shame.  I can weigh in twice a day no probs, first thing of a morning, and when I get home and get out of my work clothes.  Why?  Well you know, I don't really even know an answer to that, apart from the fact it's become a habit.

At my darkest point, I remember early early one morning the cat woke me up about 4am or so and she needed to go out, so I groggily got out of bed, pad my way down to the back door, let her out, walked back down the passageway almost in a sleep walk, went to the loo (why is it the moment you get up, you have to go to the loo????), returned to the back door to let cat back in, went to head back to bed, detoured again to the bathroom, hopped on the scales, then went back to bed.  Errr, by this time it was probably about 4.10am.

Is that the stupidest thing ever.  And of course at 6am when I got up for real I would have weighed myself again.

Now I don't "think" that the numbers rule me.  I don't break out in a sweat when I see them.  I tell myself it's to keep tabs on how my week is going ... but then one might wonder why two or three times a day???  But what I do think is that I get to the weekend, see that I'm going pretty well, then loosen the reigns.  A bit of a bigger helping here, an extra snack there, that kind of thing.  After all, I am doing so well up until that point.  Don't I deserve it??  Hmmmm.

So it got me to wonder if my doing this, my little bit of splurging on the weekend, is why I'm stagnating and my weight isn't really going anywhere, up or down at the moment, this round in particular.

So in an effort to break this habit I set myself a challenge last Wednesday that I would go through the whole week without weighing myself.  I issued the challenge to some crazy weighing girls like myself in the Warrnie crew.  We were on board.  Scales be gone until Wednesday.  This was going to test my theory that if I don't "know" that I'm going well, I won't in turn sabotage my efforts.

So I got through the week. It was hard, at times I looked lovingly at them, yes they were still there in full view in the bathroom, I had to build up a tolerance didn't I?  I could look but not jump on.  By yesterday a whole week had rocked by and I felt sooooo good.  Almost like a weight had been lifted off me (pardon the pun).  So yesterday morning I hesitantly stood on my old friends.

AND NOTHING!  No loss, no gain.  I had stayed the same.

My theory blown.  A scientist I ain't.

I am however going to try again, go another week without weighing every day, as hard as that is.   And I'll report back again next Wednesday.

So tell me ... are you a habitual weigher like me?  Or not?