Not much progress since last post. I blame the weather. It's raining cats and dogs outside. I think it's impossible to run when the weather is so bad, surely? I'll get over these excuses eventually and harden up.
Tomorrow I face some demons as I have the first visit with the cardiology team at the SAN. I've been taking it easy on drinking recently so I should be okay there, but I've been working both sides of the clock again so I expect to be half asleep while they see how easily I break on a treadmill. Throw a punch at me, I double-dare you.
This morning we attended Em's end-of-year pre-school concert. So cute. All these little kids trying to do their best to sing loudly, dance and clap in time and keep a brave face on in front of so many doting parents. I thought it was funny that Em was leading her male counterpart all through one dance while he looked awkward and then I realised that pretty much all the girls were leading the dances - that's probably consistent up until the late teens, I reckon. Or well into our thirties?
"Away in a manger" didn't feature as prominently as Em had forewarned, which was good, because the whole little lord jesus bit always gets my goat.
Oh, that reminds me: Happy Hannukah, Ostrins. We love you guys ;).
That kind of an uncomfortable segway deserves an external link, here we go:
Hanukkah
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
An average week, but progress
Well, it's been a few days since my last update.
Wednesday and thursday I didn't get any workout in - slack bastard. I did keep my drinking down from normal levels at the social outings, so that's a win, but without any workout it's a small win.
Friday I finally fired up the limbs and got going. I did a 2km walk/run combination and it didn't feel too bad. I had told myself at the start that if I went over 20 mins I'd be embarrassed, so when I saw my helipad-watch ticking over 19 mins with a little to go I pushed myself above an acceptable heart rate and finished the 2km in 19:41. Goal-achieving but still embarrassing.
Still, I feel a lot better today. A little sore in the quads, but nothing major. 2km didn't seem that hard, I reckon I ran about half or a bit under, so I look forward to improving that on the next run.
Since I've skipped the training plan so far this week, I'll review it tomorrow and plan to recover or just keep working on into the second week. My nose should be okay to get back to kickboxing next week as long as I avoid getting hit, so it'll be pad and bag work for me.
I also researched Cardio checkup programmes and found a good one at the nearby Sydney Adventist Hospital (SAN). I called them and initially they said the programme was only for people who had already had 'incidents' or surgery and was aimed at recovery. They asked about my family history and when I said "My father died of a heart attack at my age", they said "you're in". I start there wednesday. They'll work with me on nutrition and monitoring my workouts under cardiologist supervision, so I reckon it's a good move. The more I can add to the fitness plan, the more likely I'll get something done.
Before the next run I need to read up on heart rate zones and programming alarms into my watch. As I workout, I want to work within limits and I'm sure I'll see my capability in those limits improve.
Oh, I did win at poker on wednesday too, so that was nice ;).
Wednesday and thursday I didn't get any workout in - slack bastard. I did keep my drinking down from normal levels at the social outings, so that's a win, but without any workout it's a small win.
Friday I finally fired up the limbs and got going. I did a 2km walk/run combination and it didn't feel too bad. I had told myself at the start that if I went over 20 mins I'd be embarrassed, so when I saw my helipad-watch ticking over 19 mins with a little to go I pushed myself above an acceptable heart rate and finished the 2km in 19:41. Goal-achieving but still embarrassing.
Still, I feel a lot better today. A little sore in the quads, but nothing major. 2km didn't seem that hard, I reckon I ran about half or a bit under, so I look forward to improving that on the next run.
Since I've skipped the training plan so far this week, I'll review it tomorrow and plan to recover or just keep working on into the second week. My nose should be okay to get back to kickboxing next week as long as I avoid getting hit, so it'll be pad and bag work for me.
I also researched Cardio checkup programmes and found a good one at the nearby Sydney Adventist Hospital (SAN). I called them and initially they said the programme was only for people who had already had 'incidents' or surgery and was aimed at recovery. They asked about my family history and when I said "My father died of a heart attack at my age", they said "you're in". I start there wednesday. They'll work with me on nutrition and monitoring my workouts under cardiologist supervision, so I reckon it's a good move. The more I can add to the fitness plan, the more likely I'll get something done.
Before the next run I need to read up on heart rate zones and programming alarms into my watch. As I workout, I want to work within limits and I'm sure I'll see my capability in those limits improve.
Oh, I did win at poker on wednesday too, so that was nice ;).
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Well, not quite
Ok, didn't make the run today :(. Started very early on management calls, ended late and then had the dinner with the management team. On a positive note, I did avoid the copious amounts of wine drinking, so I call it a small win today.
Tomorrow is tough to fit something in as well, see how I go. From thursday I should be clear.
Tomorrow is tough to fit something in as well, see how I go. From thursday I should be clear.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Gadgets at the ready
Every good project needs a gadget. "Sharp minds need sharp tools", I once heard someone (Rockoff) say.
So, I've fired up the Timex Ironman watch I bought on a whim while on my recent holiday to the US. I can hear Pete groaning as I type this ;). Here we go:
The time is wrong. That's because it seems to use the GPS to establish the time and at 11pm I'm too lazy to go outside and try to establish a GPS connection. This watch is *way* too complicated ;). I messed about with the buttons but I barely figured out anything. I'm going to need to RTFM.
I did manage to get one additional fitness data point from it: resting heart rate = 78 bpm. One the one hand, that seems high to me, but on the other hand I recently had an episode of tachycardia after my nose surgery and so I'm happier with 78 for now. It's a starting point.
I've scoured the neighbourhood and mapped out a couple of paths near home. One is conveniently precisely 1km from outside my door and back and it's fairly flat. Well, it's a bit of a downhill for the first 500m, then I turn and come back uphill, but the hill is quite slight.
The other goes from near my door and makes a full circle around the neighbourhood and measures at about 800m. It starts with a much steeper hill (quite steep), then goes down a small hill, up about the same and then all downhill for the rest.
I'm going to figure out how to use these paths in my training. First step is tomorrow: the training plan suggests I run an easy 1km, so I can use the first path for that purpose. I've not really figured out enough of the Timex yet to make good use of it, but I'll do the 1km anyway.
So, I've fired up the Timex Ironman watch I bought on a whim while on my recent holiday to the US. I can hear Pete groaning as I type this ;). Here we go:
The time is wrong. That's because it seems to use the GPS to establish the time and at 11pm I'm too lazy to go outside and try to establish a GPS connection. This watch is *way* too complicated ;). I messed about with the buttons but I barely figured out anything. I'm going to need to RTFM.
I did manage to get one additional fitness data point from it: resting heart rate = 78 bpm. One the one hand, that seems high to me, but on the other hand I recently had an episode of tachycardia after my nose surgery and so I'm happier with 78 for now. It's a starting point.
I've scoured the neighbourhood and mapped out a couple of paths near home. One is conveniently precisely 1km from outside my door and back and it's fairly flat. Well, it's a bit of a downhill for the first 500m, then I turn and come back uphill, but the hill is quite slight.
The other goes from near my door and makes a full circle around the neighbourhood and measures at about 800m. It starts with a much steeper hill (quite steep), then goes down a small hill, up about the same and then all downhill for the rest.
I'm going to figure out how to use these paths in my training. First step is tomorrow: the training plan suggests I run an easy 1km, so I can use the first path for that purpose. I've not really figured out enough of the Timex yet to make good use of it, but I'll do the 1km anyway.
A plan...first day: rest!
Ok, we survived our 'Little Miss Sunshine' event yesterday. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but I must say it showed tendencies...the little ones and the older ones were really good, but the whole "uncomfortable stages of pubescence" in the middle, dancing to the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry seem a little out of place to me. I clearly wasn't the only one uncomfortable through some of the dances.
Em was fantastic - I was so proud of her and her group doing 'So Many Animals'. Em was dressed as a monkey which was appropriate given that we've always called her our cheeky little monkey.
Well, on to the 7kms planning. I downloaded the training plan from the official website to see if it might work as a guide and it looks pretty good. It's a 12 week plan and I have pretty much 11 weeks to go, so I figure I'll skip week 5 or 6 - probably week 6 because 6 and 7 are not too different.
I've marked this all up on a paper calendar (what's this "paper" thing, old man? surely computers can do "paper" by now?) and I'll track things from there for the time being.
So, today is day 1 and the plan says: "rest". What the hell kind of an action plan is that? I'm not kidding, go checkout the website yourself...day 1 is "rest".
Oh well, that seems achievable. It will give me some time to get to the next most important topic: gadgets. More on that in the next post.
This week I have 2 major challenges (well, 3 if you consider getting past the "rest" stage). Tuesday night is a management team dinner which historically involves lots and lots of wine. Wednesday night is our monthly work social event which historically involves lots and lots of beer (and poker). Let's see how well my nutrition improvements go this week.
I jumped on the Wii Fit last night to get a gauge of my starting weight (and I also ended up playing for a couple of hours with Em, which included a little bit of a workout).
Starting weight: 128kg. Heavy. Very heavy. But, down a few kilos from recent past and I'm glad to be starting under 130kg so that I can pretend I was never over...
Em was fantastic - I was so proud of her and her group doing 'So Many Animals'. Em was dressed as a monkey which was appropriate given that we've always called her our cheeky little monkey.
Well, on to the 7kms planning. I downloaded the training plan from the official website to see if it might work as a guide and it looks pretty good. It's a 12 week plan and I have pretty much 11 weeks to go, so I figure I'll skip week 5 or 6 - probably week 6 because 6 and 7 are not too different.
I've marked this all up on a paper calendar (what's this "paper" thing, old man? surely computers can do "paper" by now?) and I'll track things from there for the time being.
So, today is day 1 and the plan says: "rest". What the hell kind of an action plan is that? I'm not kidding, go checkout the website yourself...day 1 is "rest".
Oh well, that seems achievable. It will give me some time to get to the next most important topic: gadgets. More on that in the next post.
This week I have 2 major challenges (well, 3 if you consider getting past the "rest" stage). Tuesday night is a management team dinner which historically involves lots and lots of wine. Wednesday night is our monthly work social event which historically involves lots and lots of beer (and poker). Let's see how well my nutrition improvements go this week.
I jumped on the Wii Fit last night to get a gauge of my starting weight (and I also ended up playing for a couple of hours with Em, which included a little bit of a workout).
Starting weight: 128kg. Heavy. Very heavy. But, down a few kilos from recent past and I'm glad to be starting under 130kg so that I can pretend I was never over...
Sunday, November 21, 2010
First post, Day Zero
There are so many different cliche ways to start this BLOG. I thought of putting the old "one man, one goal, ..." kind of title in place but that sounded trite, as did the "One man's journey of weight loss" kind of thing, which is not too different.
Better to cut to the point, I reckon. I'm not happy with my health. Overweight, far from an acceptable level of fitness, I'm worried about being the next heart attack victim in my family. More on that later.
But I felt I needed a goal. Something tangible, something more than "get fit" or "eat well" or "lose weight" (even though "lose weight" is pretty tangible ;)).
I found that goal when the Sydney Morning Herald spam-mailed me to tell me about their Sun Run (http://www.sunrun.com.au). It's about 12 weeks away (I'll figure out the full details in due course) which is about the right size goal.
It's a seven kilometre run (hence the clever BLOG title) through the nice Northern Beaches outskirts of Sydney, so I figure it's a pretty nice run. Seven K's sounds like a lot to me today, but then on the other hand it sounds doable in a few weeks.
So, there's the goal. I'm calling today 'Day Zero', because I'll actively start a training plan tomorrow. Today will be a planning day, although I'm not sure how much time I'll have in the end because the whole family are off to Em's end-of-year Jazz Ballet Concert.
I can't wait to see my little one strutting her stuff on stage after weeks of practice, I just wish I didn't have to sit through a day of hundreds of anonymous kids doing the same ;).
Better to cut to the point, I reckon. I'm not happy with my health. Overweight, far from an acceptable level of fitness, I'm worried about being the next heart attack victim in my family. More on that later.
But I felt I needed a goal. Something tangible, something more than "get fit" or "eat well" or "lose weight" (even though "lose weight" is pretty tangible ;)).
I found that goal when the Sydney Morning Herald spam-mailed me to tell me about their Sun Run (http://www.sunrun.com.au). It's about 12 weeks away (I'll figure out the full details in due course) which is about the right size goal.
It's a seven kilometre run (hence the clever BLOG title) through the nice Northern Beaches outskirts of Sydney, so I figure it's a pretty nice run. Seven K's sounds like a lot to me today, but then on the other hand it sounds doable in a few weeks.
So, there's the goal. I'm calling today 'Day Zero', because I'll actively start a training plan tomorrow. Today will be a planning day, although I'm not sure how much time I'll have in the end because the whole family are off to Em's end-of-year Jazz Ballet Concert.
I can't wait to see my little one strutting her stuff on stage after weeks of practice, I just wish I didn't have to sit through a day of hundreds of anonymous kids doing the same ;).
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