I love Boxing Day!

Although I love Christmas, I don't think anything can beat the "chilled out" feeling I seem to always have on Boxing Day. It is teeming with rain, the girls are playing with their presents (Miss G is drawing on a sketch pad and Miss S is playing Mario Kart on the Wii. We're all still in our PJs at 10am after having a rather lazy breakfast of croissants, smoked salmon and tropical fruits and some Melbourne Breakfast tea.

This makes me wonder, after all the Christmas madness, how anyone can be possessed to go shopping on Boxing Day. Though I will admit to eyeing off the David Jones Stocktake Catalogue in today's paper. I'm hoping to get some really good non stick cookware - the sort where you can even use a metal utensil and it doesn't affect it whatsoever (I hope these pans exist!). Also hoping to pick up a nice bedroom duvet set for our new bed and the new house.

Speaking of the house, it looks now to be February when we move in. The house has been rendered and painted and the concrete for the driveway is going to be poured in the middle of January. We have to fit the lights, put the oven and dishwasher in, polish the wooden floors and organize curtains and carpets. Luckily, we've picked the type and colour of carpet which is a great time saver. The theme of the house is blue and cream - both hubs and I love blue and we laughed at how we both seem to gravitate towards blue things - probably because blue is such a relaxing colour.

I haven't decided when my next workout will be - I had plans not to train until Wednesday when I have to teach RPM and Step again but after a good rest today, who knows - I might feel up to a run tomorrow. Sometimes we forget the importance of recovery and getting away from the gym or the studio or whatever. Seems to be testament to the fact that we all love to be in equilibrium!

Almost forgot to say I had a lovely Christmas Day - Santa brought me a chair for the study as well as some foot massage cream and a lovely wooden massager.

I hope Santa brought you some lovely gifts too!

Strength and Function

Recently I googled "Fitness Blogs" and I was blown away just by how many people write about being "fit". At this time of year it is a common theme, I read a lot of posts about how 2010 is going to be the year that the author got really "fit".

For some that means having single digit bodyfat, which has more to do with nutrition as opposed to "fitness", but for me, the term "fitness" means being able to do all that I want to do (and then some) without being limited by pain or weakness. For example if I set my goal to be able to bench press my bodyweight, then I want to be able to do it without injuring myself. If I want to run a sub 45 minute 10k, I want to be able to do it without developing shin splints or a cranky pelvis.

Which means that for most of us, it's good to work from the ground up - make sure your body is in the best alignment/posture given your anatomical limitations, your core musculature works properly and that you follow a nice steady progression in load/duration rather than jump in at the deep end. Many of us find the foundational type of work rather dull, but when you think about the long term benefits, I find it rather exciting.

Today's training involved an easy 40 minute run and 30 minutes of self myofascial release work using a foam roller and some pilates. As I mentioned in a previous blog, the class I taught on Saturday was a real rip snorter from the intensity point of view, my quads and hip flexors were tight this morning from all that riding, so today's workout makes good sense physiologically and psychologically. First, I worked on stretching out my hip flexors and quads and then focused on the pilates side of things (mostly glute activation stuff and lower ab coordination) - then repeated - much better activation after releasing some tone from the front of my thigh.

Tips for foam rolling:
1) Be gentle! If you're in pain, you're doing little to initiate the "relax" reflex!
2) When you find a tight spot, rather than rolling backward and forward over it, just be still and focus on that particular spot - in muscles lies something called a Golgi Tendon Organ which relaxes the muscle in response to tension. Once you have "released" the spot, move onto the next.
3) Don't overdo it - just go over each spot once.

Lightness and Being 10 years on

I had an interesting conversation with Lisa yesterday alluding to the fact that when you feel strong, you walk differently. I can attest for this phenomena being true - when I know that I have made improvements in whatever training I am doing, I walk taller, prouder and I feel strong. I believe this sensation comes out of a love for what we are doing...

I have always been a big believer in loving what you do - recently I have been combing through my old bookcase and came across a training log I had made and written in, circa 1998. I used to make my own training logs out of spiral notebooks and cover them with inspirational sayings and pictures. This particular training log had quotes all over it pertaining to love and particularly, love of exercise.

"Love isn't a sin, it's a necessity, for with love as our guide, we imagine our bodies moving the way our bodies were meant to move: we can do marathons with our feet, lift pounds with our arms, have stars in our eyes and do a nifty tango".

and:

"You feel funny inside. You feel funny outside. You feel you could do anything and noone would dare laugh at you."

These little quotes and bits and pieces continue to inspire me today. Here is my log from March 2000, six months after having Miss S and slowly losing weight from first pregnancy:

"Yahoo! What joy! The run I did on the treadmill this morning was awesome! I felt so strong, centred and almost invincible! What a great feeling! I have climbed one mountain and about to start on the next one!"

It was really interesting reading my journal - yes - I was trying to lose weight after childbirth, I was struggling with my eating, but page after page is littered with the joy of exercise and the feelings of accomplishment it gave me and still continues to give me 10 years on. It was once I started solving the nutrition puzzle that things really fell into place.

Even though I eat well, like most of us who live in first world countries, I have the innate tendency to want to eat well past fulfilling hunger, because the food is there and secondly it tastes fantastic. Pretty normal scenario there I would say. Over the past few months I have getting out of maintenance and into action. I've become very practised and accomplished at maintenance and all of a sudden going back into action felt really difficult. I was hungry (and baulked at the "discomfort" of it), I had to think more, I just had to do it.

After a good kick in the tush by someone in my circle of influence and upon seeing photographs of myself (yes, the camera never lies) - I have got on with the job. At the same time, I ditched the diet drinks, noticing that my consumption of these increases dramatically when I'm stressed and pretending not to be hungry. Water and tea is now rocking my world. There has been payoff, not immediate mind you (which is always hard for the "I want it now" part of my psyche) but I am looking and feeling leaner, fitter and faster and it feels good.

end of week wrap up

Wow, it's been a long week and not much blogging going on in my corner of the Universe. Things on the fitness front have been progressing, albeit slowly. I am up to walking on the treadmill at 5.6km/hr and yesterday I went into the RPM room and did a Track 2 by myself - I was huffing and puffing by the end of it - I have really lost quite a bit of fitness. The plan is now to attend RPM three times a week and sit up the back of class and do what feels good and ditch the rest. I estimate it will probably take about six weeks before I feel ready to teach again, but we will see.

Have had two shoulder treatments this week and am achieving much better range of motion. Still have to book in for MRI scan though! I have high hopes of being able to start training with weights again in 4 weeks.

It is amazing how much condition one can lose when you don't consistently exercise - I feel flabby and weak now, but know in the fullness of time, this will be a distant memory. I think achieving a fit body is akin to a small miracle unfolding - it is exciting to progress and get better and better.

Seems like I am PMSing with everyone else in blogland right now - had an unusually large sugar hit yesterday which has seen me pay for my indiscretions with an upset tummy and hangover type headache this morning. Sometimes an ugly eating episode can make you feel so glad you eat well the rest of the time. I feel ordinary now, but in another 48 hours I will be back to my old self. It takes three days to detox from a sugar blowout. I'm sitting here sipping a post dinner peppermint tea - I enjoyed grilled salmon and veggies - a favourite here.

Day 3 Back to Base and they call it "Swell Hell"

Today's training: 25 minute walk outdoors. Today I felt like I could walk a bit faster and I enjoyed being outside in the fresh air.
Eating:
Oats, Whey, tomato juice, skim
Stuffed Mushrooms x 2
Turkey,cranberry, tomato melt on Burgen bread
Stuffed Mushroom, half cup Special K (felt like something crunchy)
Risotto with chicken breast, mushrooms and steamed greens
Apple with smudge of cottage cheese.

Despite the exercise, I've been on a real downer today - the cause - what they refer to on plastic surgery forums as "Swell Hell" has set in. My poor old belly is very very swollen today. Apparently this can happen when one begins to exercise, though I don't really count going for a 25 minute amble, barely breaking a sweat, exercise. I certainly hope that lots of mushrooms help!

I am happy to announce however that I purchased my very first T Shirt bra in a 12 C. I remember trying on one in a 10 A and being embarrassed that I couldn't fill the darn thing as I think they give boobs a nice shape. I may think I look massive, but the mirror distorts the true image of your body. Taking a photo is way more honest - made sure I have the spin bike in the background for good measure.

Fitting it in!

This morning I did most of Cathe's Cardio Fusion DVD before Miss G's swimming lesson. Miss G has been "out of sorts" all day. We invited her little friend around for a play - Miss G was rather excited, but she showed that she was truly not 100% when she organized toys for her little mate and jumped into bed and fell asleep. So I had to pop her little friend home whilst she was asleep. Luckily she only lives about 4 doors away from us and I was able to drop her off and come back home relatively quickly. I am just relieved that she didn't wake up!

Sometimes it is hard to juggle in time for fitness with motherhood, but staying relatively fit makes me a much happier mother, so it is worth the effort. I am definitely fitter, faster and stronger since I had both children - I don't know why this is, but maybe that we just have to have this desire to put in our best and then some or whether there is a physiological component to it as well. I am definitely more body aware, but that is probably due to my wacky hip joints - I'm always trying to push the fine line, but know where my limits are with my joints.