Challenge Update - week 5

So it’s been 5 weeks since I started my personal take on my own challenge and up until week 4 I was going great guns.  Then the dreaded stomach flu bug that has been doing the rounds hit. I spent three days curled up on the sofa in serious pain eating porridge and toast as staples to try and keep my energy levels up.

I can honestly say I have never felt stomach pain quite like that before.  It was quite horrendous.  What was upsetting was it was the run up to my best friends’ wedding day and the last thing I wanted was to be an ill bridesmaid.  Thankfully, the pains etc had eased by the big day and Clare and Giles’ day was simply perfect. I have to admit I couldn’t look at Clare while Glyn and I performed the song for her and Giles' first dance, as I could feel myself getting teary.  It was a pleasure, honour and joy to perform that for them and I’m so proud of them both. Enough gushing, haha!

The downside to the three days on not eating properly and no exercise was that I had to drop out of the Spartan Super race that I have been so looking forward to, and kiss goodbye to my Trifecta hopes for this year. But that means I have more time to work harder, be faster and compete properly next year. Something I have learned over the years, is that there is no end to goals, even when they are initially achieved; the posts just move. While I might not have gained the Trifecta this year, I am still going to be running the Beast in November and I have the Nottingham Half Marathon to look forward to this weekend.

On the challenge side, I haven’t measured or checked my Body Fat and will do that on Monday next week, the start of week 6.  What has happened though is that I have re-discovered my productivity streak.  I am suddenly waking up at 6:30/7am and hitting the ground running, the background stuff for the challenge is in place and I have a number of people on board already. I’m very excited to get this challenge up and running but also nervous at the same time.

I have discovered that I actually quite like the ‘fear’ feeling that comes with starting new projects.  Facing fear is one of the most important things we can do. Fear, after all, is a natural emotion when we do something new but it is also momentary; regret lasts forever.  Sometimes just the decision to try something new is enough to instil fear, and then attacking that new project shows us what we are capable of. If we can apply that to the small things, then the bigger things start to not look so big at all.

So this weekend is my Half Marathon challenge….I’m so under prepared for it but heck, the aim is just to finish it in whatever time it takes. And then Monday the challenge kicks off, as do my new classes at a local community centre.  So it’s all go. I’m looking forward to the next 12 weeks helping to motivate others online, and to help them achieve their goal to start and implement a new healthy lifestyle.   

Until then be kind to yourself, always.

Krissie

x

All progress, no matter how small, is progress

So I thought I would post an update on how I'm doing with the challenge while I continue to write the information/routines/etc for the challenge proper as it has become known in my workings.

In my last post I said this was was going to be an interesting time for me personally, due to how manic it's going to get while I get the challenge up underway as well as go through it myself, and September has proven to be a bitch of a month already.

While I have yet to film any of the workouts, I have done the bare bones of the routines, and am fine tuning them ready to film them - plus I have the arduous task (not really but I like that word) of listening to reams of rock and metal to use as the background music to get the people who will be

undertaking the challenge pumped.  I really hope the music I'm picking will work for them as much as it works for me.

The end of the first week of my personal challenge saw me attend my hobby weekend of live action roleplay and usually I partake in far too much alcohol, but this year I was very well behaved on that front.  Also due to not being a staff member this year, I no longer have access to a kitchen so was forced to improvise as best as possible while still having to venture to the burger van in the evenings for dinner. Not ideal but when that is the only food vendor on site you have no other choice really.
The plus side of the hobby, is the amount of running around that is undertaken when in game. It can be none stop walking from game start at 10am to finish at 2am. I was thrilled to do a number of hill sprints and not have any niggles from the old IT Band.  It feels wonderful to be back to full strength after a year and half.

Last weekend also saw the start of my Spartan season, with the Cambridge Sprint.  I did full review of the race for those wonderful folk over at Mudstacle.  Their site is well worth checking out if you fancy doing obstacle course racing/mud runs. OCRs genuinely put the fear of the gods into me.  I have no idea what's coming up in the way of obstacles, I just know I'll be tested.  I also know that the terrain can be damned tricky to run on and I'm always wary of turning over on my ankle. The race was good fun, it always is, even when I arrive with a knot in the pit of my stomach and all rationale telling me to get in the car and just go home. But if I listened to that voice, I wouldn't be doing the job I do now... so!

The one thing I do need to invest in somehow is a rope to climb, but my ceilings are low so it wouldn't work in the house gym.  No I need a rope climb somewhere where it's going to challenge, so I may have to chat to the boys at the gym I attend.  This weekend the band has a gig in County Durham, and the morning after we are racing in Yorkshire. So another busy weekend ahead. And while I am off on the road I thought I would do an update with where I am at the 'almost' 3 week mark.

So the 'almost' 3 week stats:

• Waist 34 1/4 inches (loss of 1 inch)
• Hips 40 inches (loss of 1 3/4 inches)
  
  • Ratio: 0.85 (down from 0.87)
• Weight 159.4lbs (loss of almost 3lbs)

I'm not going to test my body fat until week 8 as I require the help of one of my fellow PTs to do the caliper measurements for me. But all in all for just under 3 weeks that's not a bad at all.  I'm very chuffed with that. As I stated before, for me this challenge isn't about weight loss it's about fat loss and building my strength.  So it's all going in the right direction, which gives me great hope for how my challengers are going to do if they work at it.  And that, I suppose is the crux, even though I've had a weekend where my options weren't the best they could have been I've still maintained the programme I set myself for the most part, and the poof is in the results.

I will probably do a week six update, although I may just post my stats a week Monday when I return from Scotland to see how I'm continuing.

Until then, if you want more information about the challenge then please see the KrissieKirby.com blog and sign up to be the first to know when registration opens.


As always be kind to yourself,
Krissie
xx

First of 4 mudpits, after a lovely barbed wire crawl!

Screw you, fire! \m/

Bring it, boys! Was in fact what I said here, for real!

 A small selection of pictures from the race on the weekend, with thanks to Epic Action Imagery.