FUN FUN FUN!

I have started playing lunch-time Touch Football on Tuesdays and it is REALLY FUN. Every Tuesday at 12.45 a group of people meet at the Cenotaph. Someone brings some witches hats and marks out a field. Two teams are formed randomly, and then they play for the next half hour at which point "Next goal wins!". I haven't played much Touch Football in my life but I have played lots of large ball sports and it is easy to pick up.

Every other player is male, but as they are mostly my age and older they include me and don't do that only-pass-to-other-men-because-she's-a-girl-and-probably-can't-catch thing that often happens in "mixed" sports. I'm used to that anyway, and even if I can't get in on offensive plays I can usually do enough defending to prove myself.

The people that play come from a few different workplaces around town. Apparently it started about 10 years ago with mostly Hobart City Council office workers, but since then other people have got involved.

Anyway, I had a great time this week, got a great workout, and broke my little finger in a great intercept. I break my little finger about once a year, so that's no big deal...yet. My right-hand little finger is pretty wimpy and weak and the end can't take much pressure. I did get a bit concerned after the 2nd or 3rd time I broke it in a year and got a bone density test, but turned out all was fine. Just a weakling finger.

For about 6 weeks, I upped the ante on my exercise, as I had been a bit lazy.

I went from this:

15-Aug		pump no lunges
16-Aug		swim 30
17-Aug		squash
18-Aug		basketball
19-Aug		weights - gym
20-Aug		swim 30
21-Aug
22-Aug		40 min walk Battery Point
23-Aug		walk to St Canice from work, pump no lunges
24-Aug		Boot Camp
25-Aug		B'Ball
26-Aug
27-Aug
28-Aug		Swim
29-Aug		Boot camp/Pump
30-Aug
31-Aug		Boot camp
1-Sep		B'ball
2-Sep
3-Sep		Alum Cliffs run/bball practise
4-Sep		Chest/Abs/tramp

to this:

5-Sep		Battery Pt BC
6-Sep		Swim 1500 and run Sth Hobart
7-Sep		6km bridge run and squash
8-Sep		B'ball
9-Sep		6km bridge run
10-Sep		Step/Pump
11-Sep		Swim 1500m
12-Sep		Boathouse 9.4km
13-Sep		Swim 1500m/Upper Body Pump
14-Sep		Jog with JB/45 min Pump minus Shoulders/Abs/Lunges
15-Sep		15min airwalker, Pump/CX30, 4.5km run
16-Sep		Sth Hobart run
17-Sep		1500m Swim, bball practise
18-Sep		5km walk, squash, Pump
19-Sep		Sth Hobart run
20-Sep		Battery Pt Hills, Upper Body and Abs
21-Sep		Bridge run 6.3km, squash
22-Sep		B'Ball
23-Sep		Run with Scats (5km easy)
24-Sep		Weights 4x heavy/Swim 1500
25-Sep		Trugs and Pump
26-Sep		South Hobart run
27-Sep		Swim 1500m
28-Sep		Battery Point Hills
29-Sep		B'ball, Pump not lunges
30-Sep		Bridge run
1-Oct		Swim 1500m
2-Oct		Weights and Pipeline 6km run with pram

but then for the first time in a year, to this:

3-Oct		Swim 1500m
4-Oct		unwell
5-Oct		unwell
6-Oct		Sandy Bay Run with JB 7km
7-Oct		Battery Point Hills, walk town-4 St Canice
8-Oct		Swim 1500m
9-Oct
10-Oct		unwell
11-Oct		unwell
12-Oct		unwell
13-Oct		Sandy Bay 6km, B'Ball
14-Oct		unwell
15-Oct		unwell
16-Oct		unwell

Now, I wouldn't like to speculate that the increase in intensity resulted in the consequent illness, but I'm sure that it DID contribute because I was feeling a bit tired and run-down. And all that exercise, while great for my fitness and muscles, made me feel too tired to participate in lots of other fun stuff, like blogging or reading or even watching tv without falling asleep. It kind of sucks because exercise is supposed to energise you, not unnaturally fatigue you (this happens whether I'm exercising every day or 3-4 times a week). I like to exercise, but I've found that a 5km run WIPES ME OUT for the rest of the day and I'm not sure why. 5km in anything over 20C also gives me a headache for the rest of the day, no matter how much water I drink.

Anyway, this month I'm striving for balance. More exercise than August. Less than September. Yeah.

And oh yeah, my weight didn't really change in either August or Sept. Because more exercise = increased food intake.

stuffo

i've been reading a lot of this blog: faithfitnessfun. i'm not really with the faith side much, but i like to read the fitness/fun posts. they're really good.
in my own fitness news not much to report - have fallen into a general pattern of swimming tuesday morning, playing squash wednesday evening, basketball thursday, and a weights session or two at some stage in the week. and a walk or a run. sometimes basketball training on saturday. it works. it's still a struggle to find the time, but i manage it.
ok so this isn't a very inspiring post and i really want to devote more time to my blogs so i will try really hard to get back here with something useful to say soon.

stuff

it seemed like a good idea at the time...

I'm always on the lookout for non-boring, healthy breakfast alternatives. I like raw muesli, but I'm not big on cereal or dairy (unless it's ICE-CREAM). My research over the years has turned up some good websites like simply breakfast and mr breakfast (try the baked cranberry oatmeal).

for breakfast i generally eat rolled oats and apple, microwaved with a bit or water and cinnamon (optional extras include almond flakes, sultanas, maple syrup or brown sugar). i also have a smoothie most days of the week. at it's healthiest, it contains soy milk, spinach (you REALLY can't taste it), frozen berries (usually raspberries) and chia seeds (they're really good for you). sometimes it has chocolate powder, sometimes it has low-fat low sugar plain yoghurt. i like my smoothies THICK and i don't really like bananas.

the other day, i saw a new breakfast idea - a hot chocolate that sounded great. milk (or in my case soy milk) heated up with chocolate powder, raspberries, and oats, then blended. sounded perfect.

eurghhhhhhh

i couldn't even finish it. i probably put too many oats in, and the result was kind of like chocolate flavoured clag (you know, the glue that we used as kids?) it was so thick i couldn't really suck it through my straw, so it also got cold. YERRK.

sometimes i can be dumb

so things were going well until i dumbly hopped on the scale when i shouldn't have and noticed i'd gained half a kg when i was expecting to lose half a kg. turns out it was probably just a minor fluctuation but of course i couldn't reconcile that with myself at the time so i went off the rails for about 8 days until i actually had gained that half a kg and at least another one on top of that. and it was a miserable, bingy week.

sometimes i am top of this whole eating thing but other times i am still not. at my age!!

finally now the sanity is back.
i am not:
1. dieting
2. binging
3. weighing myself.

and i am:
eating healthily and normally.

sigh. sometimes i can be so dumb.
sometimes i can be so dumb.

Quick update...

3 weeks, and 1.5 kg down. YAY! Still have a long way to go (weeks and weeks), but that's OK, because it's working! (my secret fear always is that what I'm doing isn't working). I'm back at full-time work tomorrow which will be a challenge (less daily activity, and less time to exercise, shop, plan and prepare food) that I will work to overcome.
I'm currently spending an inordinate amount of time buying, chopping, and cooking vegetables. But I have come up with my best salad ever. It has:

spinach/rocket
cucumber
cherry tomatoes
fetta (30gm)
chickpeas (half a cup dry roasted in oven with paprika or cumin)
dried tomatoes (nb not SUN dried)
red capsicum
roast pumpkin
and a natural yoghurt dressing (75gm with grated lemon peel and chives)

AND IT IS REALLY REALLY BIG.