Week 1 Done and Dusted

So round 4 started with a bang last week with my 2.9kg weight loss.  This was a huge start, but how was I going to maintain that?  Julie and I had decided that we were going to give it everything this round, red flag days and all.  How was I going to do this?  Looking at the 10K running program I have decided to follow I was thinking that there was not enough on that for me to lose the weight I wanted to.  I needed to step it up. 

So after reading another blog written by the wonderful CoCo Girl, where she mentioned how she was planning out her round for food and training, I decided that I needed to do something similar, food was not an issue but lack of planning with training was.  I looked at what training I was doing and if this actually was enough in my mind to achieve my goals.  I decided it wasn’t but what was I going to do to step it up. 

For the last 2 rounds I have usually done a workout a day which only consisted of burning 500 calories or over.  I decided that this needed to change and I also needed to mix up the training to hopefully shock the body and move some of the kilos.  The weekend started with a 3.9km run prior to our usual garage session.  Nice way to start the day with the sun shining and the runners puffing.  We then did a 6 station tabata circuit, which had all of us huffing and puffing and finished off with a little bit of boxing.  All done and dusted by 8.30am before the heat kicked in.  Thankfully Sunday was a little cooler and I was able to get out for a bike ride.  I had planned on going for at least 50kms which would have taken me approx. 2 hours, but after 16kms I noticed I had a buckled back wheel and needed to turn and head home.  So at the end of my ride I had only completed 35kms and burnt 1200 calories.  This normally would be something I would be happy with, but this time I was hoping for more.  I decided that after dinner I was going to go for a run.  I managed to run 3km in just over 18 minutes, which is my fastest time for that distance.  I was stoked with this especially when my legs were feeling a little heavy after the bike ride and the previous 2 days running and tabata.  To think that 24 weeks ago I couldn’t even run 1km non-stop in my time trial (time of 7:14) and now I did 3kms at an average 6:02 per kilometre.  I am pretty confident that the next time trial in a couple of weeks’ time I will be able to go under 5 minutes.

Last night I had to drop my daughter off at ballet and wait around for 90 minutes, so it was a perfect opportunity for me to go on a long run.  My training said I was only to go on a 2km tempo run, but I had done that Sunday night so to speak, so I thought I would make the most of this opportunity and do some extra.  Well the first 2km was okay. My legs were heavier than I had hoped or expected, but as this was my 4^th day of running in a row, not at all surprising.  I managed to make it to 3km and wanted to keep pushing but I was not feeling great in the legs and my calf problem was starting to come back.  I wanted to try and push it out to the 4.5km mark which was the turn around, but I also did not want to overdo it and get an injury.  I stopped running at the 3.4km and I was gutted.  Gutted because I had chosen to stop, gutted because my body was telling me enough is enough and gutted because I was not going to get the workout I had hoped and ultimately not lose the weight this week I had hoped for and was working towards.  I walked a little further to the 4km mark and turned around and on my way back I made sure I ran in bursts.  I was not going to walk all the way back, that is not me anymore, but I did not want to overdo it either and pick up an injury which would stop me running for a period of time.

At the end of my run/walk I had covered 7.9 kms in just over an hour.  Not bad when you consider the first 3kms were done in just under 20 mins, with a total calorie burn of 780 for the night.  I have now realised that my body can’t sustain the running every day and that I need to ensure that if I want to do double sessions on any day that I am mixing it up more and that my running is allowing my body rest from the previous session and not to overload it.  It is not easy work carrying 111kgs around at any speed but putting extra pressure and stress on the joints everyday will only do me harm.

Julie also gave me a dose of reality when she told me that it doesn’t matter if I don’t drop the big number I want this week, it will happen and I need to just keep working and be patient.  I know she is right in this regard, but I also know that she has the same mentality as me in that she wants to see the big numbers and gets disheartened when it doesn’t come.

It seems that there needs to be more planning in my planning so I have thought about exactly what I am going to do each week.  I can’t wait to see what the scales show me in the morning.