from somewhere in my imagination

Unconventional?

Tomorrow I will be running my second half marathon for the year.  It will be the second time I have run the 21.1km distance and it will be built on from here over the next 9 weeks until the big 42.2km on October 14 in Melbourne.  I am really looking forward to running through that finish line inside the G.  Nice.

Back in May I ran my first half marathon and a few months down the track I thought it was about time I shared some of the elements of what ended up being a rather unconventional training program.

Most running programs have you building your distance from one week to the next reaching around 80-85% of the full distance a few weeks beforehand.  I ran 19kms the week before as my longest run after having a few weeks of running only once a week.  True story.  It was a foot injury that made me sit a few weeks out but that was absolutely the best thing to do at the time.

Initially I set out aiming to run a minimum of 3 times a week.  My plan was to do my   long run on the weekend, building on the distance from one week to the next, and at least 2 short runs during the week. 

In reality my weekend run wasn't too much of a problem and I regularly did a short, fast run on Tuesday morning while J had her theatre bugs lesson but the third run was tricky to squeeze in between the kids' activities and Steven often not being home every night of the week. Some weeks I got it in others I didn't.  I regularly broke one of my own golden rules, not to run on consecutive days, and did a short and long run on the weekend.  Although my short run was usually hill or interval running.

RPM became my main alternative to that third run and I absolutely recommend it to help you build up fitness and endurance.  Personally I prefer doing intervals on a bike than running them, however it is also important not to overtrain your legs or to end up with tight muscles from some other form of training that will impede your running.  My hip flexors let me know they were there once or twice!

At this point in my marathon training I have made a decision to break up with RPM.  Much like a bad breakup I suspect we will have the odd illicit meeting between now and October and I'm sure we will get back together again once I have conquered this marathon.

I also used hills for interval style training.  I didn't pick just any hill either.  Mt Lofty in Adelaide is my hill of choice, it's about a 340m ascent over nearly 4km so it's not a gentle beast but it does wonders for your fitness.  I added this in to the mix on 4 consecutive weeks in the middle of my 12 week half marathon training program.

A bit after the halfway mark in my training I suffered a foot injury from an incorrectly fitted pair of shoes.  I cannot stress enough how important it is that you have the right pair of shoes for the job.  I had to cut back on my long runs for a few weeks and I increased my number of RPM sessions to compensate.

During the 12 weeks I was fortunate enough to have two training personal sessions a week for much of that time.  I can't even begin to tell you how much my PT sessions have had a positive impact on my running, that would be a whole other blog post of its own.

If you can't do PT sessions, group fitness classes similar to pump would be my next best alternative.  If you do them 2-3 times a week you will definitely see positive changes.  However, it is so important that your form is correct when you are doing weights based exercises otherwise you will potentially do yourself more harm than good.

The last regular feature on my half marathon training schedule was boxing classes twice a week. I have no idea if it's helpful for my running but it is definitely lots of fun!

I complimented the training with plenty of healthy, balanced eating and I came out the other end with a time of 1hr 51min for my first half marathon.  I'm aiming to cut at least 5 minutes off that time tomorrow, I am just hoping that the weather is kind and the course isn't crowded.

Is there anything about my running and/or training you are keen to know more about?  I'm always happy to share what I have learned :)

Hope that you are having a lovely weekend!  I'll be updating my facebook page with my time on Sunday!

Tatum xx

There is No Such Thing as a Magic Pill

Several months ago, after my body had started to show some changes I suppose, I was chatting with another mum of four who was bemoaning the fact she had two personal training sessions a week but wasn't really getting any results.

'Oh', I replied.

She went on to say that perhaps she needed to spend a bit more time in the gym or do something else on other days but she didn't have time to do more.

'Mmm' I replied while my head said something else entirely.  I don't think I rolled my eyes but I might have.  I think what I think and for that I make no apologies.

You know those ads on TV for the fast-fat-blasting-detoxing-super-sexy-abs-in seven-days-or-your-money-back-guaranteed magic potions, they don't work.  How is it that people fall for that?  Usually they claim to raise your metabolism, that usually means raising your heart rate.  That sounds like a recipe for potential disaster to me.

There is no such thing as a magic pill for anything in life.

Paying a gym membership won't change your fitness level if you don't go.

Going to the gym won't have the impact you are hoping for unless you clean up your diet to match.

And, a session or two a week with a personal trainer without much else movement on your behalf isn't like waving a magic wand.  As good as some may be they went to Personal Trainer School not Hogwarts.

What ever it is you want to achieve you have to have the right mindset.  If you want something badly enough then you do the work to make it happen.  Fitness and health is no different to anything else in your life.

Once upon a time you would have gone to school or uni or something to train your brain to learn so you could get a job and earn money.  You may have worked hard to achieve something and ended up with a kickass job, well respected in your field because you worked freaking hard to get there.  Or not. 

I want to run a marathon, I want to have a healthy heart, I want to have a long life with my family, I want a good marriage, I want to be successful.  I want to be fit and healthy.  I work hard for the things that I want to achieve in life.

Health and fitness is no different.  If you want results you put in the hard work.  For life.  It's not a fad or an obsession it's something you commit to and it becomes part of who you are, just like your job, your family or whatever else it is in your life that is important to you.  It is part of who you are and you work hard at it to make it the best that it can be.  No excuses.

If you want it badly enough you work hard for it.  The end.

Weight is Not My KPI

Do you know how much magazine covers like this annoy the crap out of me.  Who cares that Jessica Simpson lost 15kgs in 27 days after giving birth, I'm fairly certain I did something equally astonishing when I gave birth to my first child.  Let the woman enjoy being a mother without putting any weighty expectations on her FFS!

As for the Who cover, all those lovely ladies on the cover have had the bejeezers airbrushed out of them.  I didn't even need to look closely to see that.

I am sick of seeing who weighs what plastered all over the covers of women's magazines week in week out because frankly I could care less...and why do they put them next to the chocolates?  Is it to make you look at a cover and see that movie star X has put on weight so why not buy a chocolate bar and celebrate the fact you haven't?

It is no secret that I have dedicated a lot of effort to my body this year.  Running, weight training, boxing, RPM and a healthy, mindful attitude towards food have seen some amazing changes in my body.  I can tell you I am actually fascinated by it, who knew that a 34 year old mother of four could actually develop visible abs for the first time in her life.  It's been serious hard work and I am proud of what I have acheived in the last six months and looking forward to more changes in the next six.

When I got my arse in to gear and started putting the hard yards in to acheive the goals I had set for myself I had no idea how much I weighed.  I sincerely had not stepped on the scales for at least 9 months.  Weight is not my key performance indicator (KPI) it hasn't been for a very long time and I don't expect it ever will be again.  I'll never know how much I weighed in January but my guess is that I have lost around 8-9kg since then. 

My primary goal is to run a marathon in October and pretty much everything I have done up until now has been in pursuit of that.  Except maybe all the upper body work, that's a bit of indulgence, do you know what a buzz it is to have people tell you how good, hot even, your upper body looks (and not be referring to your boobs)?

At the moment I am following the Michelle Bridges 12WBT Lean and Strong program which requires us to weigh ourselves weekly. Wednesday mornings is the scheduled weigh in time and I have found I start to panic a bit about it on Tuesday night.  Ideally I am looking to maintain my current weight.  It is such a mindfuck weighing myself every week.  I am so glad that the number on the scales has not ruled my life since I was a teenager, when sadly the number on the scales was smaller than it is now but I looked in the mirror and saw a girl who was 'fat'.  I do not want my daughters to ever experience the self loathing that can come of that.

Admittedly I have never been knowingly overweight, although probably much closer to the upper limit of a healthy BMI, so the necessity of knowing that number from week to week has never really been there for me.  I have generally gauged myself on how my clothes fit and how I see myself in the mirror and in photos so the desire hasn't been there either.

Why do women collectively put so much value on that number they see on the scales?  The media and society have so much to answer for on that account.

Fit, strong and healthy.  They are the words by which I measure myself.

I am healthy, my BMI sits within the healthy range.

I am very fit, I ran a half marathon a month ago and I am planning for the full 42.2km in October

I am getting stronger everyday.  I'm not really sure about why I need to lift heavy things but I am amused and a touch excited by the fact that I can.  I am amazed at the human body and the way the muscles work and develop.

I have dropped several clothing sizes.  The number on the tag matters less to me than how they look and feel on but I am excited at the prospect of heading to the US with so many shopping options available to me.

I can run around with my children for as long as they want me to, I often have more energy than they do.

I serve up healthy, yummy food and am instilling good food values in them. 

I am being a positive role model for them there is no conversation about our weight or the weight of others around our table....there might be the odd 'gun show' though :)

These are the things that matter to me when the topic of weight is on the table, not the number on the scales.

What matters to you?  Do you live and die by the number on the scales, analysing each small rise and fall, or are you happy to be within a healthy range?  Do the magazine covers irritate you as much as they do me? I am interested to hear what you think.

Tatum xx