Week 1 Fitness Report : BMI 25, Body Fat 30%

I've identified a third goal to this challenge as "Get in shape - Fit, Strong, Flexible & Lean". I'm not going to quantify this with any particular metrics, but I am going to do a fitness test and measurements at my gym every four weeks during my training.

I'm not so sure about how the cardio fitness is measured and I think I'll start taking my heart rate monitors estimate every four weeks as well.

From my first assessment on 25-5-2009 here are the metrics. It is hard to get myself to look past the weight - I really want that to be lower - but I also know intellectually that what is most important for me during this big challenge is getting the body fat lower - 30% is way too high (Or as my friend Al puts it - I'm 30% donut!)

My hamstring flexibilty result of reaching 16cm past my toes was very pleasing - if I can retain or improve on that while increasing the running miles, I will be stoked. It's also good to note that my blood pressure is healthy. It always has been, but it's nice that it hasn't changed!

Resting Pulse : 68
Systolic Blood Pressure : 115
Diastolic Blood Pressure : 80
Weight : 85.6kg
BMI : 25
Waist to Hip Ratio : 0.69
Arm Girth : 33cm
Chest Girth : 98.5cm
Waist Girth : 79.6cm
Hip Girth : 115.5cm
Mid Thigh : 67.5cm
Body Fat : 30%
Hamstring Flexibility : 16cm past toes
CV Fitness Est Maximal Oxygen Uptake : 27.9MI

If you'd told me before this challenge that I'd be posting my photo & weight online once a month I would definitely have said you were crazy! But nothing motivates like being held accountable, or so they say.. and as they also say.. start where you are!

Week 1, Session 2

The first Saturday session left me feeling exhausted but also upbeat and optimistic.

We started, like Wednesday, with a warm up jog. This time I listened to my body and kept it nice and slow rather than staying with the group. It meant I was feeling much more comfortable when we got to our running drills and agility exercises. In the past I've always done long, slow runs without any kind of warm up - so one minute I'll be doing nothing , heart at resting, and the next I'll be running and not stop for an hour or more - I must say I'm starting to see the point of warming up! It's an introduction to the training session for the mind as much as the body.

We talked about the intention of the training for the session and Coach Brian advised us that we'd always be training with a specific goal in mind - that got my attention straight away! I've really struggled with physical activity in the past and I feel a lot more comfortable with any situation that I can quantify, analyze, measure, hypothesize about - so setting an intention is a great tool for me.

The intention this time was to run for 25 minutes around Albert Park Lake, turnaround, and run back - but to travel a further distance on the way back than we did on the way there. This is called a negative split.

I started the session with a lot on my mind. I'd been listening very closely to my body after Wednesday's session - though I hadn't pulled up with too much muscle soreness, I was feeling brittle in my feet, ankles and calves. Those areas of my body have been problematic in the past but have been handling me increasing my running distance all through 2009 with lower heart rate training, and I was accutely aware that any niggles know would only magnify as the miles built. I was concluding that 'd pushed myself too far on Wednesday and I needed to be more mindful to find the balance between challenging myself to improve, and pushing so hard I'd invite injury.

I thought about Wednesday, and I thought about our goal for the session, and I headed out on my first 25 minutes. I don't want to depend too heavily on my heart rate monitor but I do find it very useful to get the objective feedback on how hard my body was working, and I decided I'd like to try to stay under 170bpm when heading out and under 180bpm on the way back.

I wasn't thrilled about running without my Ipod but I was willing to give it a go. I told myself that if it was terrible I'd make sure I wore my Ipod the following week and to try to get by without it (Can Too prefer for safety reasons that participants don't wear them.. but given on the long runs I'll be running alone I think I can swing it).

Without my Ipod I did a lot more thinking while running than usual! I thought about the rhythm of my breath.I thought about some ideas about how to get my fundraising started, and how I might be able to use this blog to raise awareness of both my journey and the work that CanToo and Cure Cancer Australia are doing. I thought about the big three variables on a run - time, distance, and level of effort - and other factors that affect the oucome like my nutrition, levels of hydration, how much sleep I've had, my attitude & self talk.

I thought about how I can always control the level of effort I put into training - I'll always be trying to control level of effort and distance (with time the variable) or level of effort and time (such as in this case.. with distance being the unknown). And I put these thoughts into practice. I chose a pace heading out that felt like I could sustain it for an hour if I absolutely had to, and picked it up slightly when I turned around at 25 minutes. With 15 minutes left to go I had a bit of an internal discussion on how much of my energy I was willing to give to the rest of the run, and I concluded I wanted to give it as much as I could yet still maintain a constant pace - I didn't want to have to slow down or feel like I was dying at the end. I wanted to feel accomplished and tired, but not shattered.

I was able to negative split on the second 25 mins by about 300m. Heart Rate wise I averaged abotu 170 on the way out and 180 on the way back so that fit in with the upper range of what I was targeting. I felt great in the finish and was emotionally in high spirits. We did some short run throughs as a group and then some stretching, and finished up for the day.

I was able so do some stretching and walking for about half an hour before going to meet a friend for a big, well deserved breakie. After that I felt good, but exhausted! I had more racing around to do including visiting active feet in prahran and investing in two new pairs of running shoes which I'll be able to alternate (so they'll be broken in but still in great condition for marathon day). By the time I got in the shower at about 6pm that night, I realised I should take advantage of not having a partner or kids to worry about Saturday afternoons and REST!

One of the most satisfying feelings during the second 25 minutes was seeing guys and girls from the 10k and half marathon running groups in their Can Too singlets. There session starts at a different time to ours so it was a suprise to run in to them and even though it's all just begun I felt such a sense of community and team spirit and was really buoyed to see them.

All in all, a session I can feel really good about!

CanToo Training Program - Birds Eye View

I've had some time to review the training program. I'll be training with CanToo at Albert Park Saturdays and Wednesdays, and guidelines are given for the training I should do individually on the other days.

Saturday Sessions

Saturday is the long run day. Before I started training I thought this was going to be akin to the long slow distance running I had been doing on my own - keeping my heart rate within the aerobic zone - but if the first week is any indication we'll have a specific guideline each week to indicate how hard to work.

The rough theme of our Saturday sessions is building up the distance three weeks in a row and then cutting back on the fourth week. I think my mind will need the four weekly reprieve just as much as my body frankly!

Over June and early July we build from 8km up to 18k. The session on the 27th has 14k planned, I'll be doing the Run Melbourne half marathon the following day so I probably won't attend.

Things start getting tricky late July, with 20k on the 25th. Then we do 22km the first week of August and the second week (when I'll actually be in Sydney for the 14k city to surf fun run) we are supposed to do 24km.

I'll probably need to make some adjustments to the rest of the schedule for missing the 24k because the following weekend, August 16, we do the Sandy Point Half Marathon. I'll have the City To Surf and Sandy Point back to back!

After that, it gets deliciously restful for a week - 10k on August 22nd.

Just when I'm lulled into a false sense of security - WHAM - a 30k run for the last Saturday of August and 32km the week after that.

I miss the 12 September session due to being in Perth for a week - I couldn't have planned this better as it's a 16k run I'll be missing - it would have been much harder to do the 32k session alone.

Only one more big run before race day - 35km on September 19. The final two weekends before the race we taper with a 16k and then a 10k.. and we all know what comes after that!

It's pretty comforting to know when it gets to race day I'll already have done a 32 and a 35k session. I mean, I am not looking forward to actually DOING them.. but to know I have done them should really help dispell the anxiety about the big day itself. I'm reminded again, the process of training for the marathon is as much the challenge as the marathon itself. Ask me again in a few weeks, I'll probably say the same for the fundraising!

Wednesday Sessions

We do a 5k time trial next week (June 3), and again July 8, August 5, August 26, and September 23. I'll miss the last one because of my Perth trip. I don't know the specifics yet but I think we'll be using the 5k to monitor our progress and target out marathon race pace.

The other wednesdays we do various interval workouts. The week after this one is 8 x 400m runs with a slow jog recovery between each one. That is going to be as close to sprinting as I get I would say, INTENSE. At least I have a week and a half to wrap my head around it and set some personal intentions / limits.

Many posts make light work

It's a big day for posting today. I'd like to upload my photo and fitness stats, fill you all in on how training went yesterday, and give you a high level overview of the training program.

I've also made some cheeky gear purchases in the last few days to report on, and If I can figure out the technology of it, I'd like to give the site a bit of a makeover and get some features going like a progress bar for my fundraising goal.

Week 1, Session 1 : Training Report

It has begun!

I made it to the training grounds at albert park right on 6:30 feeling quite anxious and nervous, but also very curious to see what was to come. I was excited about seeing the training program and meeting the other participants. Annie Crawford who started Can Too foundation had flown down from Sydney to meet everyone and train with the marathon group. There were about 12 of us, and two other groups were there at the beginning (training for 10k and half marathon).

We were given showbags with fund raising info, the training program, and a Can Too singlet and shoelaces. The shoelaces are bright orange - I can't wait to put them in!

We took a couple of minutes to fill out health and emergency contact forms, and then got straight into it.

We started with a 2k warm up jog. This was already faster than my usual slow shuffle and I was a bit worried at this time that they'd want the whole group to train at the same pace as each other.

After that did some running drills (high knees, kicking our own asses and the like) and some agility training. - sidestepping, skipping, and some moves that required additional coordination but felt good for stretching out the hips a bit, getting outside the usual running range of motion.

After all the long slow running I have been doing it was a big shock to the system to get some more anaerobic stuff happening. My heart rate got super high during this - 196 beats per minute - and I was really feeling it! I also started to feel the self doubt, big time. I felt glad I'd let people know what I was doing and was financially committed, so wussing out was not an option. I reminded myself that though it was hard, that was the point.. that was my objective in doing this in the first place, and training for a marathon is not just about the difficulty of the marathon - it's the difficulty of the journey!

After this we did some intervals, we were supposed to do three 1k hard runs with a 400m of slow jog in between. My heart rate was super high again and I was struggling.. I knew it was the last training we had to do that night.. I decided to stick with it and push myself as hard as possible - not my initial intention but this way I'd know my limits and could assess how I felt afterwards, ease up next time if necessary. I tried to do a negative split each time - go out a little leasier and push myself the second 500m. I see the import of getting a sports watch to record laps and I will sort that out before the next session. I did two hard 1ks with the slow jog in between and chose to opt out of the third, doing some slow jogging and stretching instead.

I thought we were finished, but not quite. We went on to do some more agility work, long bounding strides, and then chatted a little about the session (Coach Brian advised we should be pretty exhausted, which I was happy to agree with).

We discussed the importance of going away and reviewing the program to see what we should be doing outside of our training sessions, and confirmed our meeting time for Saturday morning.

I was a bit disappointed we didn't do any stretches or core work together. I did a little stretching on my own but I know it wasn't enough. I was really keen to get home and everyone else had already headed off. I would like to make a commitment to myselfto spend a third of the running time in yoga and stretching afterwards - even if it's cold, raining, and everyone else has already left!

After the session was over I felt exhilarated and positive. I realised I may not have been in control of my intentions 100% during the session but that's part of the learning experience. The important thing was I walked away totally aware of how my body was feeling and what I needed. I feel even more inspired to focus on my yoga, nutrition & positive self talk to support being able to push myself to achieve the best possible outcome from my training.

The session was like 90 minutes of personal training - it was REALLY hard work - and the positive to that is I think i'll be able to achieve bigger improvements to my health & fitness from this pursuit than I had dreamed of. And certainly to my mental toughness.

I knew I needed a big long sleep, unfortunately I was still too exhilarated to listen to my body and get an early night! Something I can work on in the future..

Tonight I plan to review the materials we were given and post some information on our training plan. I have also completed my first fitness assesment at the gym so I'll aim to get those statistics and a Week 1 photo up with the Saturday training update.

Ciao for now peeps :)

Start Where You Are

My Goals

1. Run the Melbourne Marathon (all 42km of it) to the MCG on October 11, 2009
2. Raise at least $5000 for Cure Cancer Australia Foundation
3. Get in shape - fit, strong, flexible & lean

The Marathon

The longest I have run to date is 14km, in April this year, and that was a huge accomplishment and took four months of training.

It is hard to imagine myself running three times that amount, but I know it can be done, and I know I will do it.

The Fundraising

I have always believed in supporting causes I believe in but never actively raised funds myself.

I know I'll have to get out of my comfort zone to raise the $5000 and I am really looking forward to achieving this and making a meaningful contribution to a great organization.

Getting In Shape

There are two things on my mind - being fit enough to run the marathon and not getting injured along the way!

To achieve this I'll need to make significant improvements to my strength, flexibility, and aerobic fitness as well as reducing my weight and body fat %. I hope to distribute my efforts across running, yoga, strength training and nutrition.

This Blog & How You Can Help

I intend to use this blog to report on all areas of my progress.

I will post a training report after Can Too training sessions every Wednesday and Saturday morning.

Before training begins I will post a photo & fitness assesment statistics (Yes, even the dreaded kgs and body fat % stats..) I will updates these every four weeks.

You can help by following this blog, telling others about my intention, and most of all, by sponsoring me!