Miss organised

Well Monday was such an challenge... I took the plunge and got ready for work at gym.  Phew what an event!  I never knew you had to be so organised to achieve this - now I have a great appreciation for everyone who gets ready at gym every day!

So I thought I was super organised but I still managed to forget something.  I dont know why that is... you know how often I have to travel for work, well you'd think I'd be used to packing everything by now - but no... Hil has to forget something doesn't she?  On Monday I forgot to take a COMB for goodness sake.  Luckily I had one in my handbag, which was in my car.  So I left the gym totally blowdried and totally dishevelled, but I was able to rectify that once I reached the car.

So I'm going to do this 3 days per week, just while I'm commuting down to northern NSW every day.  Gives me a little more time for cardio after weights, and not rushing so much.  The other two days I will still come home and get ready.  I just cant be that organised for 5 days in a row!!!!  This morning was a much better experience - I didnt forget anything for once!!  I have to say that I do not like using public/gym showers though. *shudder*

I baked up a big batch of homemade protein bars on the weekend - just used a Tom Venuto recipe that I got from somewhere.  They turned out pretty nice, so I'm able to eat one while driving to work.  Its basically just oats, banana, egg white and chocolate protein powder.  Tastes good though :-)

Have had a great week of training so far.  PB's on deadlifts, and today I worked my biceps so hard that I could barely make 6 reps on the last few sets.  Just need to keep the energy up for the rest of the week.  I have to make sure I get to bed early each night otherwise I'm going to be cactus by Friday!

Ups and Downs

Its been a bit of a funny week.  Definetely not as good as last week, but at least that gives me something to work on.  I still have sore triceps from Tuesday, but I haven't trained as much as I wanted to.

No training yesterday cos I had my endoscopy (upper Gastroscopy), and it all went well.  I wasnt nervous at all, although I was rushed through everything so quickly that I began to feel a bit like I was being herded like cattle.  For some reason I thought I would have to get changed into a gown, and wear a hair net, take all my jewellery off and all that.  Well I didn't even have to take my jumper off!  The only thing I had to remove was my shoes.  So I laid down on the bed, and one minute I was having the cannula put in my hand and told to lie on my side, the mouth guard went in, and the next minute I woke up in the recovery area!  I checked my watch and only about 20 minutes had passed.  Anyway, I felt good, a bit groggy though.  The only side effect I had was that I developed the hiccups, which lasted for about 30 minutes.  Then about 3 hours later I got the hiccups again.  Weird.

I have to wait a week for the pathology results, then I can go to the doctor and find out the story.  The gastroenterologist said everything was fine.

This morning I got up to go to gym, and because its been raining so much in Brisbane lately I managed to bog my car in the gravel driveway... I was SOOOO angry!  I drove it forward, then reversed back only to bury the car deeper in gravel.  OH managed to get it out for me (although he only did the same as me - why did it work for him and not me???).  By then it was too late to go to gym, and I couldn't do a DVD at home because the little man arrived to do the wet-seal in our bathrooms at 6am.  So I was seething...

Anyway, put it behind me - if it keeps raining I will do a cardio sculpt DVD tomorrow morning, and if it stops raining I will take the dogs for a big powerwalk too.  There are still two more days left in this week - all is not lost!

Week 1 done

Off to a great start last week.

I've started working down at the Murwillumbah branch, so I've had to become super organised to get everything done.  From the time I get home from gym at about 6.45am, I've got about 30 minutes to get showered, dressed, hair done, make up and breakfast and be on the road.  Its taking me an hour and 15 minutes to get to work, and that's pretty much driving at 110 km/h the whole way.  In the afternoon it takes me about an hour and a half to get home. 

I had a fantastic week of training last week - I was pushing out some really good weights, had a seriously sore back and lats after Wednesday's session too.  My eats were on track, and I was feeling great, pretty tired though from not being able to sleep properly.  Then I hit a wall on the weekend.  On Saturday afternoon I was hit by this wave of exhaustion, wow it was bizarre.  I felt drunk!   I couldn't string sentences together properly (cos I couldn't think straight), I was dizzy and clumsy.  Within a few hours I had whacked my head into a vertical wall (so hard that my skull bounced!), slammed my finger in a sliding door, and almost poked my eye out.  We went out for dinner and I couldn't walk straight in my heels.  I must have looked like I was smashed.

Anyway, I think I might have been coming down with something, but I think I've managed to fight it off.  Yesterday I just lazed about, it was all I had the energy for.  OH thought I was getting the flu, but I didn't have any other symptoms other than extreme fatigue.   I managed to keep my food under control, and only added some extra carbs yesterday to help me out.  It was certainly weird, whatever it was.

I'm finally having my endoscopy on Thursday, fingers crossed! 

So again this week I'm aiming for progress.  All the little things add up to big things - so make em count!!

Ready, set...

GO!

Since my last challenge fizzled due to illness and lack of motivation, I've decided to bite the bullet and go for it again. I feel very soft and "frumpy" at the moment, and I dont like it. While in reality I have gained about 2kgs this winter, my muscle has definetely disappeared and I feel wobbly!

So on Saturday I bought myself a new goal/inspiration book, and spent hours on the internet printing off pictures of inspirational bodies. My favourtie is Maggie Diubaldo - how freaking inspiring is she???
So my new catch cry is "I will have a body like Maggie". I was showing OH her pictures on her website. I think he was highly amused that I was looking at pictures of half-naked women on the internet! Anyway, he highly approves of my choice. I'm pretty stoked with that cos he normally thinks all the fitness girls I admire are too big in the arms. Well, I want my arm-dents back. I want shoulders. I will be lean.

So on Saturday night after eating dinner,OH reached for his container of lollies (which unfortunately resides on the coffee table). I took a couple too, and had one halfway to my mouth when he said...

"Bet Maggie doesn't eat lollies..."

Mmmmm. Touche.

Sunday I was working out my training for the week when I suddenly realised with horror that on Monday the gym wouldn't open til 8am, since it was a local public holiday today (I still had to work though). So I dug out some fitness DVD's which I've had for months but never even looked at. And guess what - I did one then and there. It was sort of like a Pump class, with sections of cardio built in throughout. I used the lightest of handweights... and woke up SORE this morning! eeeek! Told you my muscles had disappeared!

So I got up at 5.30 this morning and did a kickboxing DVD in the loungeroom. OH was getting ready for work, I was horrified at having to do this when he was at home. I had visions of him sitting in the kitchen giggling at me behind my back. But I did it anyway, and I didn't hear him laugh once - not out loud anyway. Doing roundhouse kicks, jabbing, uppercutting and punching kinda make me self conscious - especially since OH used to do Muay Thai training.

So now my legs are sore from all the kicking and lunge-ing (sp?) - and tomorrow is scheduled to be back at the gym to train legs. I can feel the pain already.

Anyway, I'm feeling great and ready for a fantastic week. I'm focusing on achieving small daily goals, and focusing on progress, not perfection.

Time to just do it.

How's the serenity...

Montville is a breathtaking spot. We got back this afternoon after a relaxing couple of nights away.

This was the view from the balcony of our cottage - you can see over the ranges to the ocean on the sunshine coast.

So a bit of R&R was just what the doctor ordered for both of us. My poor man has not had a day off in months, when he finishes building other people's houses through the week, he comes home and renovates/extends ours on the weekend. So it was lovely to have some time away and not think about work.

I'm still coughing up a lung and I've got an awful "rattle" in my chest when I breathe deep, but I feel so much better. I've been taking this horrible stuff called Olive Leaf Extract, which is meant to boost your immune system - so far so good. Combine this with the disgusting cough syrup I'm taking, and I'm pulling faces on a regular basis from such horrible tastes! My last cough syrup was quite nice, but OH says that if it tastes nice then it cant be doing anything. Apparently if it tastes horrible then it must work. That's his theory anyway!

This got me wondering about the things we grew up thinking would make us feel better. I used to suffer from tonsillitis constantly when I was little, and the one thing mum used to give me to soothe my throat was Lucozade (along with traditional meds of course). So I grew up thinking that Lucozade made me feel better, because mum said so. So now whenever I get a sore throat, I feel like/crave having Lucozade.

Anyway, I'm rambling...

Here's a funny little pic of my cat Connor. He loves his bed, and in winter spends most of his time in it. I lay a blanket over the top and he's perfected the art of crawling in and out without disrupting the blanket on top - so he always stays nice and warm. Who says cats are silly???

And when he gets a bit hot in bed he kicks one leg out... just like his mum does! When he does this I just wanna tickle his toes!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Spoke too soon...

Well I spoke too bloody soon in my last post didn't I! Hmmmph after saying that I was finally getting over my cold, on Wednesday night it hit me again, but instead of a headcold it has now travelled down my throat into my chest, and so now I get this wonderful burning in my chest every time I cough.

My appetite has dried up, and so has my energy, and motivation.

I have been to the chemist twice this week, the first one told me the only thing I could take was an Expectorant cough syrup, which I bought. The second chemist also suggested something to dry up my nose. The only problem being that I work at a manufacturing site which is subject to random drug tests... and apparently some cold and flu medication can test positive as an opiate. I bought some pseudoephedrine-free stuff - and I'll cross my fingers that the drug testers dont arrive this week!!!

I trained hard last week, but I still feel like my muscles are mush. And I've been eating so many Fishermans Friends that I've got a couple of mouth ulcers too - woe is me!! Shoot me now!

Only two days of work this week, then 3 days off!!!! I think I need it.

Busy!

I dont seem to have much time to blog lately, but I'm happy to say that I've been back into training hard and eating clean, and feeling so much better. On Monday I did my first leg session for a couple of weeks, and I was expecting to be crippled for the rest of the week - didn't happen. I changed exercises, lifted as heavy as I did before - and nothing!!!! The only casualty from leg day is my calf muscles - now they ARE screaming.

I have just about got the snot-monster (my nose) under control and dried up, so that's good. It seems to take a long time to get over a little cold these days!

On the work front, I have just been appointed the "interim" branch manager of our Murwillumbah branch, so from mid-August I will doing the big 1.5 hour drive to work and back every day - hmmmm - 3 hours in the car every day, I think I'd better buy some new CDs!!! This morning I'm off to our Sunshine Coast branch for the day, tough life huh!! Its such a nice drive up there too, and good to get out of my office.

And the most exciting thing in my life right now is that next week we are having a few days off work and going to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland for a mid-week getaway! While we are there we'll hopefully look at a few wedding venues too, need to get a wedding planned eventually and we just love Montville/Maleny. Anyway it will be lovely to have a few days away to relax and unwind.

So its all happening!

Have a great week, and be good everyone!