25/28 Mixed Emotions...

Tomorrow morning is the last Pinpoint Fitness fitcamp session of my 4 week term as a Guinea Pig.  I am happy that I have burned more fat and lost more weight and inches, but I am sad that I won't be turning up "Bright & Breezy" on Monday to workout with my new "pioneer" friends :-)  We've worked hard together and we've had plenty laughs along the way, so hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with them - the wonders of social networking lol!

I will however endeavour to keep up the workouts and will also be back to the gym to start the weightlifting routines again as of next week.

I have entered a race in August and I have a goal to lose more weight and get stronger before then so I fully intend to stick to the healthy eating and fatburning principles that I've learned over the past few weeks.

Who knows, I might even convince my long-suffering husband to thole me getting up at 5am once in a while to head to Cumbernauld to join in a session with the next batch of fatburners :-)

When I was looking for pictures tonight I found one which I am going to include tonight in honour of fellow Guinea Pig Iain.  Iain makes no secret of his love (or not) of vegetables, although he claims he is now eating "Tonnes" of them and certainly looking at how successful he's been shifting the weight he has been :-)

So Iain this is for you...

 was a fast day today so just about to sit down to dinner of chicken with broccoli and cauliflower, have drunk peppermint tea, tulsa tea, and at least 3litres of water today :-)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning's session and will continue to blog until the 28 days so that I can tell you the final results, however as I'm racing tomorrow evening it might be late before I get back.

24/28 Meet Dave!

Last Friday I missed a session at fitcamp as I was resting before racing on Saturday, unfortunately this meant that I missed Dave's first visit...
He came back this morning - but really folks he's a pussy cat :-) a BIG wimp!!
Fantastic session this morning, a real endorphin rush and was pleased that I managed as well as I did, felt good for the rest of the day, so much so I was all set to go for a run after work til I remembered I had a physio appointment at 6!  Got the knots in my calves and hamstrings kneaded out so all good to go for next race which takes place Friday evening - run out onto beach, round rock and back uphill to finish line outside of pub before tide comes in... should be fun!! (or something!)
If any of you who take the time to read my random ramblings, are interested in trying it for themselves, then John and Pamela of Pinpoint Fitness are putting on a free taster week next week, just look them up online or on facebook and get in touch with them they'll be delighted to see you.

Came home this evening and the postie had delivered my race-pack for the Ignis Women's 10k in Glasgow a week Sunday, I love getting a race number in the post - it's exciting :-) the tshirt is pink again this year :-)

Was starving after this morning's workout so had blueberries, banana and yoghurt for breakfast,
Lunch: 2 slices roast beef and salad
Dinner: chicken curry with cabbage and kale

drunk loads and loads and loads of water and tea today and can honestly say my hydration has balanced itself back to normal after the weekend lol!

I wanted to post another photo tonight but I couldn't take one that showed properly what I wanted to show so you just have to believe me, I bought a fabby skirt last summer, real 1950's style full panelled almost circular, black with white polka dots.  Just loved it - put it on this morning and it is fully 4 inches too big on the waist!!  I wanted to take a photo showing this but I couldn't get it to show the full effect!  Maybe before the end of the week I might manage to get a photo to post, will keep trying :-)

23/28 A new direction...

Two things today that made me think of the title of this post. 

First of all we ran a new route tonight, it was a lovely evening to be out and I wanted to see how the legs felt after Saturday and then yesterday's workout.  I thought I'd probably go for a walk with a wee bit of jogging perhaps if I felt up to it, but my legs were surprisingly responsive so ran the whole way apart from road crossings and a minute when I had to tie my hair up as the wind was blowing so strong I couldn't see and was eating hair!

The second was that I passed a lady today whom I recognised from my brief trial at a slimming club last summer - said lady has lost about 5 stones in weight and all respect to her she's kept it off, she walks everywhere these days and looks healthy and well.  Seeing her today made me think about what I weighed last August and I realised that I now weigh 23lbs less than I did then.  This is no thanks to the slimming club, I did lose about 10lbs over the 6 weeks or so I went, but I put it all back on again between October and December.  This is why I was looking for a different approach to weightloss and fitness and how I came across a link to PinPoint Fitness via a friend from Strathclyde parkrun. 
So this was my second new direction :-)
I can honestly say my approach to food, to eating and to exercise has taken a new direction, I now do more exercise than just run, I have got stronger and more confident in my ability to keep going, having got lighter has also made it easier to get around a bit faster - there's less to shift!  Simple physics, the less mass you have to move the less effort you need to expend, or for the same effort I get a greater return - win win! :-)

I enjoyed my run this evening, it was only 5km but it was enough for the first run after a tough race, there's something gratifying about your legs responding when you ask them to :-)

Early start tomorrow as Dave is coming to visit us at fitcamp, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not, will let you know tomorrow!

We've eaten a lot of eggs today but hopefully they won't have any adverse effects!
Breakfast:  scrambled eggs and tomato
Lunch:  goats cheese, red pepper and tomato salad
Dinner:  salmon, asparagus and goats cheese omelette with a salad of spinach, chard and rocket
 

it's my Friday :-)

I hope John and Pamela from PinPoint-Fitness don't mind me using their logo tonight.  I like to put a picture on the page, it helps me to think about what I'm going to write and I've sat for about half an hour trying to think about what I might write tonight and what I could use as a picture...
if you're looking for PinPoint-Fitness online then you'll recognise the logo.

I've had another day out of the office, I was presenting at a conference on transformational learning, it was quite an interesting day with input from a number of people - I had to speak about a project we are doing which has given every p7 pupil in one of our schools an Intel classmate notebook which they can use whenever they like in the classroom and can also take home with them.  It's really interesting watching how the kids use the devices and how they have developed as learners.

However, the downside of this is that I don't think my nutrition has been as good as it should have been over the past 2 days, I'm usually reasonably well organised and can prepare food so that I have the correct things to eat and drink, I managed ok yesterday but today wasn't as well planned.  The conference was in a hotel and lunch was provided, the last time I was at a similar event with this company, it was a restaurant lunch so I was pretty sure I'd get something that would be suitable for lunch.  Unfortunately today it was a buffet lunch so I managed to get a couple of chicken and salmon skewers and some salad - there was couscous, pasta, potato salad, mini steak pie - which I wouldn't even have eaten in my past life.  I feel quite tired and a bit woosy this evening so I guess I probably should have eaten more but I have the day off tomorrow so will get sorted out and back on track in the morning.

Today I've eaten
Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs
Lunch: chicken and salmon skewers with salad
Dinner:  Quorn chilli (rice for John)  I should have cooked some greens with it but I was a bit disorganised and didn't have any...

I have drunk 3L of water today - plus side of conferences there's always water on the table
OH and I ignored the bacon rolls which were provided for breakfast at the start of the morning!

I have decided not to go to tomorrow's early morning session - I am racing on Saturday and I think that my legs will benefit more from the rest as they're still quite tired from yesterday's workout - I will also hopefully benefit from a wee while longer in bed :-)
I'll miss the rest of the gang though!

Tomorrow night we are staying overnight in Milngavie so that we're there for John's early start and I can register the team for the relay so there might not be an update from me tomorrow.
It might be Sunday til I'm back online...

15/28

This morning's workout was entitled "The Dirty Dozen" a repertoire of 12 exercises.  We started with the usual warm up routine, then straight into the exercises - the duration was increased as well as the number, we did 50secs exercise with 10 secs rest today - phew!!  What did we do today?  We had pressups, side planks, plank to press up, mountain climbers, split lunges, walking lunges, jumping jacks, drop downs, glute bridges - one legged this time, squat jumps, and another couple which have all blurred into one...  After going through all 12 we got a couple of minutes rest then we repeated them 40secs this time with 20secs rest :-)
It was definitely the toughest workout we've done yet - it was down to T shirts for Amanda and I!
A quick drive home, a quick shower, grab breakfast and then get the 0836 train to Glasgow for a meeting, a brisk 15minute walk from the station to Atlantic Quay, and a brisk walk back to the station after the meeting added to the day's calorie/fat burn.
Another walk when I got back to Alloa, to the office for the last hour of the day, then home.  Tomorrow is my first fast day so I have nothing to eat from tonight's dinner until mid morning tomorrow.  Haven't quite decided what I'm going to eat tomorrow for my "breakfast" although I have got lunch organised and cooked :-)

Today's menu
Breakfast:  Fried eggs with nutty bread
Lunch:  Home made broccoli and watercress soup
Dinner:  Chicken fillet baked with garlic and green chilli, with cauliflower and savoy cabbage

I've managed about 2 litres of water today - it's more difficult when you're on the move... but still drinking so might make 3 before the end of the day!

11/28

Why is it when you just get used to something they go and change it!!! Doesn't matter if it's whereabouts in the supermarket your favourite goodies are, or in this case, the user interface for the blog!! Arrggghhh!! So that's why I'm back with my wee mouse - it won't kill us and learning something new is always good... even if it means that your shopping takes longer!

OK that's todays moan over with :-)  Been an interesting day today, I had to go back to see the orthopaedic consultant and get the results of my MRI scan, when I'd seen him in March we'd had a wee bit of a spat as he told me I'd to stop running and I told him I wasn't going to, so I wasn't sure what to expect today...
He came out to call me in for my appointment and as we walked back down the corridor, he said "ah, my marathon runner"... Lying waiting on his desk for me was a model of a knee, I thought oh here we go, but in fairness to him he was much nicer than last time and went through the xrays and the MRI results in great detail.  The short version is that the cartilage I have left in my knee is in good nick, the bad news is that there's lots of other stuff going on, but as there was no acute trauma in need of immediate surgery he agreed to let me and my physio continue to manage the issue until such times as I can't carry on and then we'll reassess the options... He says I'll need a new knee but I'm too young but I hope to prove him wrong :-)

Had a reasonably good day food wise today, and have managed to drink most of my 3 litres of water and enjoyed a nice cup of tulsa tea this afternoon.

Breakfast was a deconstructed omelette - sounds interesting huh?  Bacon dry fried in a large pan, some rocket sprinkled on top then 4 eggs broken on top of that, we had half each and it was nice - easy way to get more greens into the meals :-)

Lunch:   tuna salad with some chickpeas, pepper, red onion and mixed salad leaves, spinach, watercress, lambs lettuce and a dark red one I can't remember name of.

Dinner:  Chicken fajita salad - I had lots of peppers to use up so peppers, onions, chicken, some paprika and chilli, served hot over the rest of the salad leaves above :-)

Snack:  a banana while waiting an extra half hour for my appointment...

no exercise today other than the walk through the hospital and the usual walking of a normal work day, it's an early start tomorrow for our Friday workout which promises to be "something special..."

Tomorrow's session means we're half way there!

I'll fill you in tomorrow evening!

8/28, week 2 day1

It's a cliche but it's true :-) After a long tiring and emotionally draining day yesterday, when I woke at 0450 I soooo wanted to go back to sleep, however I got out of bed got myself organised and set off to day1 week2 of PinPoint Fitness' new fitcamp regime.

It was a cold one this morning, however the plus side of that was that the ground wasn't as soggy as last week, still a bit of sliding involved, but not so wet knees, bum and elbows :-)

We had a great workout this morning, sorry I know I've said it before, but you'll hear me say it lots I'm sure in the coming 3 weeks... I love Tabata training!
It was another beautiful sunny morning with clear blue skies and next to no cloud but it was -1C although once we got going we were soon all warm enough.

I got home to discover John in remarkably good nick considering his exploits yesterday and after breakfast and a shower it was time for work.
It is slightly disconcerting driving to work and feeling the muscles deep in your bum twitching of their own accord!
Once the post workout buzz wore off I was sooooooo sleepy and tired. I think yesterday was catching up with me, it's too convoluted to explain but the combination of having had a good run myself, being overwhelmed that John had such an incredible time and got a Boston Qualifier, and then worrying about our friend who was doing his first marathon and wasn't as quick as he'd hoped to be, took it's toll... add that to the early starts and the 15hour day yesterday and you'll understand why I'm sleepy :-)
We have two friends and colleagues retiring tomorrow and I've been busy organising their farewell do as well, which involves it's own stresses. However the macaroons have actually turned out ok, the daisy cakes are done and the mars bar cake is cooling. My other friends and fellow ESOs are also busy baking and getting organised so hopefully we'll have a nice afternoon tea tomorrow.
today's menu:-
breakfast: raspberries, 1/2 banana and yoghurt
snack: blueberry muffin
lunch: salmon fillet with leftover stirfry veg
dinner: chicken breast fillet with broccoli, carrots, green beans

I've also managed to drink loads of water and some decaf green tea and a tulsi tea this afternoon.

One thing about being tired out yesterday - I slept all night - I don't usually manage that so hopefully I'll get another good sleep tonight and be back to my usual self tomorrow!

7/28 A Long Day :-)

I think this is the most appropriate image for today's update all of the Guinea Pigs have reported fabby losses in lbs and cms/inches after week 1, well done everyone :-) Thanks to John and Pamela of PinPoint Fitness for the workouts and the wee prezzies which keep us motivated :-) That's us 25% of the way already!

The picture was painted on the road between miles 25&26 of Lochaber Marathon at Fort William which is where I've spent today. John was running the marathon so we were up early and heading off up the almost deserted road to Fort William by 7 this morning. It was a beautiful morning and the scenery was breathtaking in places, there is still a fair bit of snow on the high peaks and the sun shining on it was fantastic.
While I was waiting for him to finish the race, I took myself of for a 16km run, up Neptune's staircase ( a series of 8 locks = 8 equally sized small hills the same distance apart) and along the canal for a few miles. It was a good run and I was pleased that I did it today 15minutes faster than I'd done the same run last year. However John had a phenomenal run, smashing his PB by 9mins to come home in 3h22m! Not bad for 26.miles 385yds or 42.2km!

I've not eaten brilliantly today but have tried to stick to my regime as best I could,
Breakfast: Gluten free porridge with banana and honey
Lunch: A roasted chicken breast grabbed from Morrisons (other supermarkets are available) and I'd barely finished it when superman ran home!
Dinner: And this is where I was really bad but if you've been to FW you'll know how limited choices are... McDonalds =:-0 but it was a chicken salad!
Drunk lots of water and when we got home had some
blueberries, raspberries and yoghurt so tried hard :-)

Back properly on the wagon tomorrow and here's hoping for another good week! I think I might be a bit stiff at our workout tomorrow but that's what I get for running fast today :-)

Day 5/28

Friday 13th, luckily I don't suffer from triskadekaphobia so this was just another day for me - except it was another 5am rise! I don't actually mind getting up early, I'm definitely a morning person, I don't do late nights very well, probably haven't since I was a teenager and even in those days I didn't lie abed until lunchtime, so 0450 and I was awake and up out of bed to get ready for session no. 3!

It was another nice morning and it's quite a noticeable difference as the week has gone on, just how much lighter it is every morning. It's about 15mins from Monday in terms of when it gets light, and ok Monday morning was heavy rain and cloud whereas Wednesday and this morning were much brighter and frostier! Both mornings when I have been driving home, there has been ice on the Forth at Stirling...
We'd a great session this morning it was called Ladders - you do 1 rep then 2 reps then 3 reps up to 9 reps so that you've reached the top of the ladder, unlike a pyramid, you don't come back down again you move onto another exercise :-) Really tough strength and conditioning exercises too. We worked in pairs and I was working with the lovely Lauren and we should get an extra gold star because we did 51 reps of each exercise, but the 'T pushups' we assumed you had to twist to both sides as 1 rep, but turned out that that should have counted as 2, so we did 102 of them! Bet we pay for that tomorrow :-(
Most of Scotland has experienced some pretty heavy and sudden hail and rain showers over the past few days and the park we use for our sessions is no exception, the mossy grass is therefore slightly squidgier than normal so trying to keep a grip with your feet while doing planks and pressups adds that extra dimension to the exercise experience lol! The worms seemed to quite like the company too and were popping out to join in. They should have been out on Wednesday morning when we were doing inchworms...
I felt good after the workout, strong and invigorated, I even ran back to the car! However the early start is taking it's toll this evening as I'm really sleepy now... but as John is preparing for his marathon on Sunday and we have a potentially early rise tomorrow I can go to bed soon ;-)

Today is the first day that I've felt hungry at all, I forgot to take a banana or muffin to work with me for my snack so I didn't have anything from my breakfast at home til lunchtime and from about 1130 until I had my soup at 1245ish I was ravenous! However I'm pleased that I resisted the temptation of the choccy biscuits and things that were available at coffee time - that's the time of day I didn't drink a coffee!

Today's menu:
pre workout I had 1/3 of a small banana and half cup of decaf green tea
post workout I ate the rest of the banana and drank rest of tea(cold)

Breakfast: berries, pumpkin seeds and yoghurt, half of a wheat free apple&cinnamon cookie very kindly produced by Pamela after our workout :-)
Lunch: vegetable soup
Snack when I got home: 2 slices nutty bread
Dinner: Roasted sweet pepper soup with rocket leaves & goats cheese

Now I know I should have had more but I don't feel hungry so I haven't had anything else - we had planned to have steak and veggies, but John who's fuelling for his race on Sunday had been eating extra so he wasn't hungry either so the steaks and veggies will be tomorrow night's dinner.

Hopefully I will get up in the morning Bright and Breezy and ready for parkrun, but if I sleep longer then it will be the long lie which wins. Sunday morning will be another very early start as we have to be up in Fort William for John's race start and I will go for my longish run on the Caledonian Canal - which isn't nearly as scenic at that point as the Forth & Clyde but it's still an ok place to run so I am looking forward to it - Neptune's staircase is an interesting challenge, I would hope that I can climb it even better than I managed it last year!
I will then meet up with Susan & Courtney whose husband/dad George is running his first marathon and we'll be there to cheer the runners home.
I'll need to plan carefully tomorrow to make sure I take food with me etc but I'm sure I will manage :-) However you might not get a Sunday night update as we will be fairly late home and very tired...
Have a good weekend folks, let's hope the weather is on the up and may the marathon gods smile on the boys and all our friends who're racing at Lochaber or in Edinburgh at the Rock'n'Roll Half!
As well as our friend Sylvie (from Toronto) who is running the Paris marathon.