So my trainer Andy told me to write these affirmations down before the race on saturday:
* Hard work gets results
* If i put in the effort I can reap the rewards
* I can do whatever it is i put my mind to
* Positive thinking leads to positive outcomes
and one that i cant even think about without saying it like I am He-Man
* I have the power
So you all know that i had 4 goals when i started this new part of my life.
1. Run 10km
2. Get my weight down to 100kg
3. Get some strength in my arms
4. Trek Kokoda
Well its official. I have run 10km. On wednesday i was out with Andy (my trainer) only going to run 9k as part of my training for the GC Marathon. We got to the turn point for 9k and Andy says to me “what time do you start work?, lets keep going and do 10k” I was so fired up I just kept going. It was a little dumb considering it started raining on the way back but I sucked it up.
I managed to do the 10k in 1 hour 20 mins. Now I still need to run the 10k at the GC Marathon and that will still be my official completion of the goal in my head (cause thats always what i wanted to do) but its good to know that I can at least keep at this.
The biggest thing that has been helping me other than Andy is what i have been listening to during the run. I have a small ipod shuffle with just one type of music on it called “Cadence” It really helped keep me at a certain pace for the whole run and kept me going. I just hope that i can get away with using it at the Gold Coast. Might have to sneak it into my stuff 😉
So here is hoping. This time next week I will be coming to the end of my run!
The geek in me has been creeping out this last week. I have been reading more and more of the usual nerd stuff (wired is getting back into my life) like games, tech etc. And then after merely going to buy an Ipod shuffle for running I walked out carrying a 2TB (thats Terabyte) external hard drive, 500GB portable hard drive and had my eyes set on a little thing to make my life easier with all those *cough*downloaded*cough* shows.
So then i looked at it. Why hide this part of me? I like being a geek. I am happy being a geek. So why hide it from people, I am all about lately changing the old Mal and showing a new side. But why hide what is essentially a big portion of who I am. Why change that. I love my games, i love planes & travelling. I love technology. Learning about it, living with it. I am still someone who loves to be connected and I am an utter media junkie. One of the websites I go to at work when I am not doing anything or stuck or just want a few minutes of switch off time, is straight to Brisbane Times. It’s the local online news media (no way would I ever use news.com.au).
But today it took the cake for me. I purchased this. It’s essentially a mini media pc about the size of a Wallet. Into the side you plug your USB hard drive (either a nice big chunky external or a nice little portable drive) and instant media pc. It won’t play Hi Def but then I don’t have a lot of stuff that is in Hi Def. The old portable hard drive I had is now serving its place plugged into the side and can easily be topped up now. What an awesome purchase.
Also i picked up a copy of Battlefield Bad Company 2 in the hopes that I can get myself back into gaming. I used to love all the games and the last one I really played was TF2. But Bad Company 2 looks good and I used to love playing Battlefield way back when. Back into it i go!
Anyway i best do some stuff before Steam finishes updating… yay!
Saturday night made me think a little. After getting a late notice invite to come out and then crashing someone elses drinks for the hell of it. It was good. I proved to myself i can go out, not drink and still have a good time (been a long time). But I have noticed that the Bar Culture in Brisbane is slowly evolving.
I mean when I first started going out way back in the days of the dinosaurs, it was all big ass pubs like The Victory etc. Now on Saturday night I headed out to the valley. And look at all the new bars etc there. I mean yeah you do have the Mega Clubs/Venues like Family & Cloudland but then you have tiny itty bitty bars like Mana.
Mana is like my favourite place. It may be tiny, but its awesome. Where else can you play video games on a night out with a drink in your hand. AWESOME. And you don’t have to hide being a geek. Even Better!
Then if like me, you dont mind a good well made cocktail, then somewhere like Bowery would be the place. A very small bar, long and thin, you could walk past it and not even know it was there. The windows are covered with curtins so you cant really see it from outside, but once your in. You don’t want to leave. A good well made cocktail, made with passion and finesse is a wonderful thing. The kind of thing your not really worried about paying $15 or so for.
But now I have a problem. I need to go out with my friends and scout out where to have my birthday this year. I want somewhere good that I can go and enjoy myself thats not some more than usual blah blah pub.
any ideas?
So 6 months ago i made the first post about how my life was going to change. And change it has. I will run through some stats in a bit but my life has really changed. I feel better. Even though I always feel tired, i know that i can accomplish more than what I did when i started. I feel better in the morning after a work out and the same in the evening. I can walk & run however I want and i dont have a problem (although we wont go into hills right now) with feeling like I am going to die after the first 10 seconds.
Don’t get me wrong, this has not been an easy 6 months. I started this journey with a Groin Injury, and I have had niggles in my legs and knees and joints ever since. But I continue to follow the motto that keeps me going. I am pretty sure I have posted it here before, but when Navy Seals go through their training they are told time and time again. “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday.” It pretty much means that yesterday was only easy because it is over. Each and every Day is a new challenge that I need to work through and get past so that I can continue on in life.
I have met some amazing new people who I never thought I would meat. They help me every day in getting through all of this and I have to thank them as without their help, I wouldn’t be here. I know a lot of people come up to me every day and say how good I look, and it is reassuring to know that all of this hard work I am putting in is working.
But day in and day out, I just have to keep myself going. I test myself all the time with little things to keep myself going (and this is apparently a good thing). But as this weight loss challenge starts to come towards its end, a new challenge begins. And thats keeping it off. Its going to be a whole new challenge with a whole new way of thinking. I need to be able to manage it all, I am sure I can do it, I know you will all be there to help me to.
Now for some stats.
Weight:
6 Months ago i weighed 172kg. On Monday at the last weigh in, I weighed 117.5kg Thats around a 55kg loss in 6 months. Thats a LOT. There is a backpack at the gym that is full of weights, it couldnt fit anymore at 45kg. Probably need another one to get the rest of it in. I still have that remaining 17.5kg to lose but thats a challenge I know i can do. I have had my ups and I have had my downs. Ive had weeks of 3kgs of loss and I have had a week of a 300g gain and that really affected me. I have had to try and get my mind around not getting on the scales every day and then beating myself up over every little thing. Its all in your head!
Fitness:
6 months ago when I first started. My trainers took me on a 2k walk and timed it to see how long it would take. Took me about 30 minutes. Thats pretty slow. These days, my 2k PB is 15m 30s This is still not as fast as people I know but this is a good improvement for me. 6 months ive knocked that time in half. I couldnt walk that far when I started. 2k was killing me, I have more and more gone up and up in my distances. I started doing 2k on the treadmill every evening. then up to 2.5k, then 3k, then 3.5k. Its now up to 4k in around 43mins. I have started to walk longer distances, Around christmas time I did a 5k walk in the morning and it took about an hour. I didnt even realise I had walked that far it was my trainers way of introducing me to distances. Then I started walking 7.5ks, then 10ks, then 11k, then 12.5k and I have done one 15k walk. I am now on average walking 10k in around 1hr 34min. I have walked on my own a lot but a few people have come with me and I really thank them for this. You guys know who you are and when you walk with me, it takes my mind off the usual things I do when i walk and thats beat myself up over everything.
Eating & Drinking:
Last year when I was in the USA you would of seen some of the foods I had eaten. Loco Moco, Mixed Plate, Giant Cheeseburgers, Pancakes the size of dinner plates or man hole covers. I have had to move away from those foods. The foods I love. Because they would put me in a grave earlier. But eating healtheir doesn’t mean that I have had to give everything up. I can still eat (hell I feel like i eat more these days then I did before) but I have had to adjust these eating habits and just replace things. Getting hungry, have a snack of some fruit. Need something sweet after dinner, some diet jelly should do it (ps i am addicted to it now, Aeroplane Diet Jelly ftmfw). Adjusting recipes so that I can try and still have those things I love while still being healthy. I have almost given up alcohol (1 drink in 5 and a half months) and I don’t really miss it. Don’t get me wrong, there is no way I would go fully sober. But i think I will need to go back to the way I used to drink years and years ago. And that is drink for the taste, not for the alcohol. No more binge drinking. This means the return of the high end booze for me really. The more exxy the booze the less of it I am going to drink. Seems good on my brain but not good on the wallet unfortunately. But then i would only be having one or two drinks.
So there you have it guys. 6 months down and many more months to go. Thank you all for your support, god knows I have needed it!