Saturday, April 30, 2011

Day 53,54,55

Day 53 I had a rest day! It obviously paid off cos on Day 54 I did something that I never really thought I would be able to do! I ran 17kms! Yup - a long way huh! It was a great run and I felt good the whole time. I mentally broke it down into a lap-by-lap approach. Each lap of Safa Park is 3.4 ks. I ran 5 laps, making a grand total of 17ks. I love the lap concept as it easily allows me to picture my distance. I was (and am) still so proud of myself. I broke down into tears of elation when I finished! I am slowly but surely edging my way to my goal of being about to run 20ks. It is looking more and more likely that this goal is well within reach:) I celebrated my run yesterday by having a few beers, a couple of mojitos and watching the Royal Wedding at a fun beachside bar! It was a great day.

Day 55 I will go either to yoga or swimming :)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Day 51 & 52

Day 51 I got out of bed as promised and hit the treadmill. After 20 sweaty minutes, I thought I was going to puke. So in the interests of preserving my body, I settled on just 20 mins (instead of 30) on the treadmill then finished off with 10 mins on the bike.

Day 52 my buddy and I hit the pavements for our morning 5k run. It was really hot but it was a good run!

Hopefully, that is now all the sickness out of me and I can get on with my challenge!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Days 46 -50

Jeepers! I thought it was waaay longer than 5 days since I blogged. Phew.

Days 46-49 I was down and out for the count. A massive headache and a crazy fever took me by the shoulders and shook me up real bad! All I could manage was a yoga session on Day 49 once I finally got rid of my fever.

I'm still not sure what exactly I 'had'... I have two theories:

1. It was a detox reaction to my green smoothies. Although I am now into Week 3, so it was kinda a late reaction????
2. A REALLY bad bug was trying to take hold of my body, but cos I'm so healthy now cos of my green smoothies, my body fought it off and all I got was the fever / headache?

All I know is I'm happy I'm better!

The other good news is that I was so mega healthy over Easter. I easily maintained my healthiness. Easter Egg count = ZERO!!! First time I can say that's EVER happended! And I did it without even trying! These green smoothies make you crave healthy food...honestly! Hot Cross Bun count: Three. But I didn't even enjoy them much and we have had 8 leftover hot cross buns sitting in the fridge for days!

Today (Day 50 - woohoo! Half way!) it was back to school after the Easter break, so it was also an exercise free day. Just getting through a school day was a major acheivement given how yuk I've been feeling! Anyway, I survived, so rest assured I will be on the treadmill at 5am tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 44 and 45

Day 44 I took the liberty of having a day off exercise! I generally try and 'force' myself to take at least one day off a week. I say force as I really do love exercise and often do more than one session a day ... so I figure my body probably needs a break from time to time. Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Day 45 my running buddy and I headed out to a warm, foggy morning. It was quite lovely but we both sweated a crazy amount due to the high humidity. Yuk! Love my morning runs! 5ks done before 6am - happy with that!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day 42-43

Day 42 I went to Power Yoga. This is such an intense workout! Who ever knew that literally stadning still could make you sweat so profusely. I loved it...as always :)

Day 43 I went running at 4.50am with my buddy. It was a gorgeous, cool morning and we both loved it!

We're both still loving our smoothies. We hit the 2 week mark yesterday and are still going strong! I look forward to them every morning! I also usually have one when I get home from school - a lovely after school treat! Seriously. I have started putting just one lot of fruit in each smoothie as I find I am really craving the 'green' taste and one lot of fruit makes it sweet enough for me. Plus, that means that I have 2 servings of fruit a day which I think is enough for me as I don't like to have too much sugar.

So there you go! Something must be working cos today I'm wearing my new skinny denim skirt ... a few weeks ago it was too tight to comfortably wear it! Yay!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Days 37 - 41

Don't ask me where last week went! It was a blur of early mornings, late afternoons and general back-to-school craziness. Phew - I was pooped.

Day 37 & 38 I was lazy and didn't do any exercise :(

Day 39 I went for a 5 am run with my friend.

Day 40 I was lazy and didn't do anything.

Day 41 I kicked some major butt and ran 14ks! No joke :) It was a fabulous run and I loved every minute. It was just one of those days where I felt good and every step was not a battle.

I left home at 5.30am to beat the heat - now that is some major commitment if you ask me! The run was complete with the following 'incidents'. .. running 14ks takes a long time and therefore there is a big window of opportunity for 'things' to happen :)

1. I swallowed a bug. As if breathing isn't already hard enough!
2. I had a full on collision with an oncoming walker ... who clearly does not understand the principles involved in avoiding a collision i.e do not step DIRECTLY into my path as I am coming towards you. I was all set ready to pass her without incident and next thing I know, she took a step to her right meaning she stepped straight into my path. OMG. It's not rocket science lady. Thankfully no injuries were sustained.
3. A lovely man who was running the opposite way to me cheered me on saying I was doing great!!!
4. I got the BIGGEST smile from a little old granny who was trying to run! So cute.

So that's that. Overall I feel I probably should have done at least one more workout somewhere in the week. But hey, I guess 1 yoga session; 30 mins on the bike; a 5 k run and a 14k run ain't too bad.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Day 34, 35, 36

Things are going along just nicely in the excercise and health department. We had last week off school, so it was nice to chill and focus on being healthy. Matt is also getting into the groove which excites me no end!!

Day 34 I went for a swim. 40 fabulous laps.

Day 35 I went to yoga. What a perfect end to a stressful and ultra busy day at school.

Day 36 I got up to do a treadmill run, but our gym at home had no lights due to a storm last night. Fearing I may fall off the treadmill in the dark, I opted for a 30 minute bike ride instead! It was great to have a little break from running and mix it up a little.

L.O.V.I.N.G my green smoothies. This morning I had apple, pear, parsley and a giant amount of greens. It may well have been the best yet :)

Friday, April 8, 2011

Day 30, 31, 32, 33

Apparently I am getting a little lazy with my blogging! No new posts for 4 days ... oops! I kinda put it down to the fact that I am in take-it-easy-vacation-mode :)

Day 30 was a rest day.

Day 31 was a 5k run around the 'hood. This run was inspired by Matt. He took himself off to the gym for the first time in ages ... and this prompted me to get off my butt and go for my run!

Day 32 was hard core yoga session. Love the end of week stretch fest.

Day 33 was a 10.2k run.

I was a little disappointed my with run today as I had thought I would try and do 14ks. But alas, for some reason, the planets did not align and I settled for 3 laps of Safa Park - a solid 10.2ks. I would say that's still a pretty fair effort, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little peeved that I didn't meet my goal.

But in the interests of looking on the positive side ...
1. 10.2ks is still is damn long way.
2. I still loved every minute (easy to say now that it's over!)
3. I have a new i-pod shuffle with some great new tunes!
4. I had a good ole think about life ... I love how running gives you time to do that. I decided my key word at the moment is 'journeying' - literally and metaphorically.
5. Doing a shorter run meant I did not injure my knee / back meaning that I will be better and stronger for my next run.
5. Next week will be better cos I am determined to make it so!

In green smoothie news, things are going great! Some of my fave concoctions have been lemon / mint; pineapple / orange and orange / mint. I love also adding in a big handful of parsely and of course, lots of amazing greens! I have honestly never felt so energised as I do after drinking one of these babies.

I am loving them so much, that as I was running this morning, all I could think about was how much I was looking forward to my post-run green smoothie. Who would have thought, hey?!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Day 29

Powered by my green smoothie I did a great 5k interval treadmill workout. It felt like I was running really fast...

But, as it turns out, I was probably close to my normal interval pace as I still did the 5ks in the same amount of time as it normally takes me.

But I'm telling you, that green smoothie made me feel like I was flying, so that's the story I'm sticking to!

Green Smoothies!

It's official! My friend Rach has inspired me so much that today I had my first ever green smoothie!

I made it with 400mls water; 2 handfuls endive; 1 nectarine; 1 orange; some mint; 1 handful of parsley and a squeeze of lemon! I loved it!!!

My smoothie looked a lot like this.

Thanks to cari-fit.com for the image!

Matt was curious about what I was doing, so I explained the wonderful effects that green smoothies have had on my friend. After showing him Rach's blog and pictures, he was sold and he asked me to make one for him! My husband ... the man who does not 'do' healthy ... let alone ask me to make him a GREEN smoothie!! So for Matt is was 400ml water; 2 handfuls endive; 1 orange; 1 apple + a little bit of parsley that I sneaked in! He loved it and has told me that he will have green smoothies every morning for a month!

THANK YOU, Rach! I am so inspired by your journey and so thankful for sharing it with us! xo

Who ever knew something so damn healthy could taste soooo good :) Here is a great website I have found to answer some of my questions.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Day 27 and 28

Day 27 consisted of buffet breakfast, hours lazing by the pool with the greatest distance I covered in 8 hours being when I swam approx 50 metres to the swim up bar for a beer, happy hour on the balcony and a fabulous seafood pizza for dinner. Oh baby. These types of days are so rare ... I loved every second... but as always ... good to get back into being healthy...

Day 28 ... healthy food and yoga! Here we go again!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Day 25 and 26

Day 25 was a hard core Power Yoga session! So hard, but so good for my muscles! A little post-yoga / start of Spring Break celebration was had in the form of a couple of glasses of vino and 2 mini Cherry Ripes all the way from Australia!

The little celebration made my Day 26 run a little challenging!!! Still, I got up and did my 5k Mirdif loop so happy with that.

We are now heading away for 2 days, so I'm guessing a little exercise and healthy-eating hiatus is in order :)