Walking, Healthy Habits, Caffeine, and My Day

Today I went for the longest walk, and did the most walking, I have done in months. And I mean months. This morning I walked to the tram stop, approx 1.2kms. Then navigated my way through various shops and errands to get where i was going in town. Unsure of the actual distance but at a guess a little over 1 km. Then I walked hom from a different tram stop which was 1.5 kms. The 1.5 is my longest single walk, and the amount of walking I did in total is the most in a day. Since forever ago.

I feel great. My legs are tired though. They are not used to it. This morning the Achilles was tight and sore. But considering it was 0.7 degrees in Adelaide this morning, I am guessing the cold had a lot to do with that. Once it warmed up it felt good. Now I am sitting with my leg up and it is a bit tired and achey, but not sore. This is a good thing. I won't walk again tomorrow, but I will jump on the trainer. Should be a bit less pressure on it.

My week of healthy habits has gone better than last week, but not brilliant. I had breakfast on the go a couple of times. And had some chips. My water and exercise were good. I have one more day left of the week, and even though I did not nail it, I am going to add to it this week. Just need to decide what I will add.

I am still off the caffeine. I just wanted to report in on my little experiment I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. A few weeks back I had some Diet Coke at a party. 48 hours later I was hit with a wave of anxiety that lasted several hours. I was unsure if it was the caffeine, or the chemicals. To test it I decided to have a coffee one day and see how I felt 48 hours later. I have now done this. The result? It is the chemicals. I had absolutely no reaction to the caffeine in the coffee and no anxiety within the next week. So for me this means I can have the occasional coffee and be confident that I will feel fine. I can not have Diet Coke. I am okay with that.

Today I went to a Psychic Development class at the WEA. I have been looking forward to this for a while. Basically it was an introduction to various types of intuitive and psychic abilities by trying them out. I had a great time, and had more success than I expected. There were a few things I had no success at, but that is cool. I was very excited to get to practice some Psychometry, which I recently discovered I had a knack for. I was spot on each time I tried it today and was able to put the feelings into words better than I have in the past, so that was pretty exciting. I am hoping to catch up with one of the ladies again in order to give it another shot.

Tomorrow I have to write an assignment and clean my house, oh what fun... :)

xox

Cancer Council

Yesterday I received some amazing news. I have been accepted as an Ambassador for the SA Cancer Council. I put in the application last week, and they called and checked my references the same day, then I heard nothing. Yesterday the confirmation came through, although I am still waiting for the details in the mail. Next Tuesday I have my Orientation session at the Cancer Council offices where they will go through all the finer details with me.


I am so excited to be given this opportunity. I am really looking forward to getting out there and being a voice for the Cancer Council and raising as much awareness for the tireless work they do as possible.

As an Ambassador and advocate I need to live my life in a way that is fitting. Which means I need to get my weight under control. This is my choice, not something they are forcing or pushing. But if I am going to be out there spreading the prevention message then I need to show I can practice what I preach.

I am also planning a big fundraiser of my own, but until that is nailed down I will not be announcing what that is. Let’s just say it will be exciting.

xox

Gear Up Girl ride 2011

Well, despite the fact I am not yet back on the bike I have just registered for the 2011 Gear Up Girl 15km River Ride in November. I figure I have 4.5 months to get myself ready for a 15km ride and that is easily doable. I need a goal, and since I missed this ride last year due to my Achilles I figured it would be the perfect way to come back from that same horrible injury.


So which if you South Australian readers are going to do the ride with me? There is a 15km ride, a 35km ride and a 50km ride, followed by a party in the park afterwards. Would love to catch up with some of you after the event. :)

xox

A New Week

So it is a new week and a new chance to implement and solidify my new healthy habits. I got up at 5.55am ready to go for a walk. It was cold and I weas tired. But I kinda had no choice because I had made a deal with the Shrinking Sheep that is she got up to run I would get up to walk.
At 6am she messaged me to make sure I was doing it. I did it. It was cold. But I did it.

I came home and had my breaksfast at home. So that is 2 out of 4 for the day. Now I just have to stay away from the chips and drink my water and I am done. :)

While you are here, I would love it if you would check out my new blog over at Riding With A Reason. Not much there yet but it will be exciting...

xox

New Hair Style

Healthy Habits

So, this week my healthy habits have not been going so well. Even my water consumption has been down. Not quite sure why though because normally I am good at that.

I have decided not to add anymore habits this week, I need another week to consolidate what I have already started.

So for another week I am:
Drinking 2L a day
Exercising 4 times a week
Not eating breakfast on the run
Not eating chips

I started this morning with a scrumptious breakfast of yogurt, toasted oats, nuts & seeds, mandarin and apple. It was fantastic.

This afternoon I am off to do my first 2 exams. I am completely underprepared. Not assisted by the fact that I spent yesterday afternoon at the hairdressers getting a funky new haircut (pics to come) instead of studying. I am pretty sure I know enough to get through, as long as I have studied the right material. Overall I am relatively confident though.

xox

Wedding Anniversary

Last night we splurged a little and stayed the night at the Stamford Grand for our 4th Wedding Anniversary. We went to the Goodlife Organic Pizza House for dinner, had hot choccies and Bracegirdles, and splurged on a ridiculously expensive but absolutely fantastic Breakfast that was brought up to the room.

Our room.

Pizza

Hot chocolate

Night view from the room

Morning view from the room

The breakfast selection

Remnants of breakfast

xox

Veggie Box

Just got a beautiful box of organic fruit and veg delivered to my door by Unley Organic Foods.

Can't wait to get stuck into it all.

xox

Happy Anniversary Ross

On this day 4 years ago I gained a new husband. One that I love with all my heart. I am so happy and blessed that we found each other through the maze that is our lives.

Although we have never done the anniversary gift thing, this year I decided to surprise and spoil him with this beautiful Swiss Army watch.

I love you Ross.

xox

Study Overload

I have my first 2 exams on Sunday afternoon for my course. It has been several years since I have done exams. My brain is slightly older, slightly more used, slightly more worn around the edges since then... This week has been study overload. I just hope I am ready. Although, if I fail I get a second shot which is great news. :)

Tonight I am having a facial and massage. I am so excited. I got a voucher from one of those Deal-A-Day thingys that are everywhere. It is a 30 minute facial and foot soak, then a 30 minute head and neck massage. I have never done anything like this before in my life so I am really excited. :)

xox

Hail

We got our first heavy hail of the year today. He all got excited and went out taking photos. :)

xox

Walking

Yesterday I decided to take my Achilles out for a test drive. After about 7 hours of study I desperately needed some fresh air. I strapped up my foot, put my dusty old sneakers on, and took myself out for a 20 minute slow walk.

Can I just say, it felt AMAZING to be out there again! I am lucky that I live in a fairly flat area so don’t have to content with any hills just yet. My Achilles held up well. Towards the end my whole ankle started to ache, but not my Achilles specifically. I would say that was just because it really hasn’t been used in so long.

While it felt good, the real test was going to be how it felt this morning.

It felt fine, so I took myself out for another slow 20 minute walk. Wow it feels good to be out there doing some light exercise again. I will definitely be taking it easy while I get my strength back, but I am feeling really confident that I am now in the end stages of the recovery process.

xox

This & That

Not much has been going on this week. Work, study. The usual.

Yesterday I went to Day 2 of the "Heal Your Life" workshop. I attended Day 1 a couple of months ago. It was a really good workshop. Some of it was quite similar to things I worked on at the Retreat a few weeks ago, but in different ways which was really good. All the same people from the Day 1 course were there, which was great too. A really amazing group of people.

So my Healthy Habits for the week have been going pretty well. I am doing well with the water. I have done well with the chips apart from one day. Friday night we have drinks and nibblies at work to celebrate moving into our new office. There were chip there. I had a few. I am okay with that. A few is not an entire 200g bag in one sitting.

So for this week I need to add one more good habit and remove or replace one more bad habit.

Good Habits
 + 2L of water every day
 + 20-30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week

Bad Habits
 - Potato chips
 - Eating breakfast on the run

The exercise thing is really important. Since finding out my Achilles was torn back in February I have really done nothing. And boy, can I feel it. My overall energy levels are so low. My fitness is all but gone. I have done up an exercising plan that is really gentle on the Achilles (still having a few issues there). Plus I can do gentle walking, and using the bike hooked up tot he trainer. I will start slow, but it is definitely time to start.

As for breakfast on the run - this is killing me. I eat in the car, in the office as I am firing up the computer, or when I walk to get the mail in the morning. No more. From now on breakfast is eaten at home at the table. At this point I am not being specific about what I eat, just as long as it is not on the run. I started today.

This is yummy Paris Creek Honey & Vanilla Yogurt,

with toasted oats (I toasted them myself), a small banana, and seeds (sunflower, pine nuts and pepitas). It was absolutely delicious, and I am counting on it to get me through till lunch time as I have a day of study planned.

xox