Category Archives: Life

Serve me a Slice of Humble Pie

Posted in Life by

I have a confession… I brought an iPad mini… this isn’t really that big a deal except for the fact that a couple of years ago… in fact some time in 2010… when the original iPad was released I made a ridiculous declaration about how unnecessary they are… and to make it worse I made it in church… but it didn’t stop there… I then told everyone who was there that night that under no certainty was I going to get one… In fact I’m pretty sure that I said it was a complete waste of money because all it was, was a glorified iPhone and because I had an iPhone there was absolutely no reason for an iPad. Yet here I am, sitting here writing this on my iPad… So why have I got one? Well would you believe me if I said that I needed one? No? Well ok… let me explain…

I still stand by my original sentiments, because they remain true, no one needs an iPad… But… I have been using one at work which I had to give back, and while it is also true that I could do everything I needed the iPad for on my iPhone… Apparently that doesn’t fly in the workplace… So surely I could just go back to the way it was before… well since then I have become the iPad guru at work, continuing with a project that uses our iPads in place of my old bulky dietetic folder… so it would be a little silly for the iPad project girl not to have an iPad… sure I could work around it, but the reality is I just decided I needed one… So I have succumbed and purchased one… but it doesn’t just stop there… the truth is… I love it… I still don’t need it, but I am glad I have it and now I have to eat my words… Because even though I said I wouldn’t… I did and I am not even really that sorry about it.

Surprise Attack

Posted in Family, Life, The List by

Yesterday I was surprise attacked by my running plan… Seriously, it happened and I was not happy… But let me give you some background.

Because I am a sucker for punishment, this year on my list I have included at spot no. 9 complete a half marathon… Now one of the reasons I have popped it on the list is because I have done it before and I want to do it better this time… Last time I was slow… And I walked a lot… And so now when I say to people oh yeah I’ve done a half marathon, I feel like a bit of a fraud, it’s true I entered, started and finished the event, but not they way people imagine when you tell them… So this time around even though it will still be slow I want to give it a better crack, I want to actually run the majority of the event, not just the first bit and then the odd minute here and there.

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So this time, because I am a list and rules kinda girl I have come up with a plan… And until last Thursday it was working really well… I decided that I should start with the basics… So I have started with a couch to 10km program on my trusty iPhone… Once I have done that, the same company has a 10km to half marathon for me to continue on with… so I have my plan of attack sorted… Anyway, I am now up to week 5… So far so good… Until Thursday… To date the program has had 3runs a week, and each week the intensity got harder… Bit by bit teaching me how to run… the runs within the week were all the same, so by the end you felt good and ready for the next challenge.

At the beginning of week 5 I wasn’t expecting any different, run 1 asked me to run for 5mins, walk for 3mins and repeat a couple of times… Now even though it doesn’t sound that hard… To be honest I was nervous about this week… For me, 5mins was a long time… Multiple lots of 5mins was a daunting task… After run 1 I was feeling pretty flat, but in my mind that was ok because I thought I had two more runs to master it before I had to step it up… Turns out I didn’t.

On Thursday I started my run, did my warm up and then braced myself for my first lot of 5mins… But when I got to it… This is what I saw…

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I was not happy… 5mins was about to be tough enough.. But 8… Up the hill, without any warning… Needless to say I whinged the whole way… But I did do it. I just didn’t appreciate the nasty surprise during the run… I will now be looking much closer at all the runs in the week just to get my head ready… My running plan will not get away with a second surprise attack!

What I learnt from my month at the gym…

Posted in Exercise, Life by

It feels like forever ago already, but less then two months ago I was on a trial at fernwood fitness. A friend of mine put the offer of a months free pass out into the world of Facebook… And even though I didn’t think I was probably one of the friends she had in mind when she put it up, I expressed my interest. The truth was I had always been a little curious about whether or not I would like the gym… Whether or not I would get much out of it… Or whether or not the reasons I had for not pursuing it earlier were true. Yet here I was with a Facebook message that said the 30day pass was mine… Enjoy. Now even though the trial finished in February and I haven’t continued at the gym, I did learn a thing or two from the experience…

1. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you can do, people will make assumptions and judgements based on what they see first…
This was probably the low light of my experience, but thankfully it was just a couple of people… just because I am bigger than you think I should be doesn’t mean I am lying about my exercise routine, my weight and what I do… I do exercise regularly, I know my weight and height… if you want it and I am a dietitian whether you like it or not…

2.  I could get used to the gym routine…
I have to admit I really started to get into the grove of squeezing it in around everything else, mostly first thing in the morning, but every now and again before or after something in the evening…

3. I am stronger than I thought…
On my weights intro session I had to use a piece of equipment called the ‘captain’s chair’… I am not really sure if that’s the real name for it… but that;s all I got… Anyway, it required me to lift my legs up while supporting the rest of my body weight with my arms and back… when I looked at it my initial thought was ‘no way… I haven’t been able to lift my own body weight with my arms since primary school and even then I was rubbish at it’. But feeling the need to prove myself I gave it a go and surprised my self… sure I wasn’t amazing but I could do it… more than once… and even if my trainer wasn’t… I was impressed.

4. ‘Free’ is a good motivator…
Because I had the 30day trial and I had already decided I probably wasn’t going to pay to continue I wanted to get as much out of the trial as I could… that meant cramming in session after session, all with the motivation ‘it’s free so you may as well make the most of it’. I have to admit the time limit also helped as I already knew it wouldn’t last forever… all I needed it to do was to kick me into gear again… get my exercise for 2013 rolling… and it worked… I think the fact that it was free made it feel like it a challenge and an opportunity… a gift that I could take and use or waste and I am glad I used it.

So there you go… my month at the gym… worth it, even with the good, the bad and the ugly.

fernwood

Too Busy not to Blog

Posted in Family, Food, Life by

Wow, it’s already been half a month and I am still behind in blogging.  This past month has been a busy one, they always are, but it seems busier than normal.  I am not sure if it is because the year has actually started and the pace I was enjoying in January is long gone, or because I have been distracted by other things and just not got around to getting on here.  It could be the fact that both Dave and I have gone back to uni and it’s just all a bit much… who knows?  But even though I should be:
a) cleaning my mess in the kitchen,
b) attempting to start some uni work or
c) starting to cook dinner
I have decided to stop and take a minute to reflect.

I feel like I say this constantly… but I am just really busy.  I know it’s my choice because I have to say yes to all the things that I do, but when I do take a minute to stop and weigh it all up, I am not even sure where to start taking things out.  In fact sometimes I am not even sure if I want to take anything out…  I think one of the things that makes me feel busy is that Dave and I have different schedules, this means that we are always doing different things at different times, so even if I am not that busy after work one day, because Dave isn’t there it doesn’t feel like I am relaxing.  Now I know I don’t need Dave to be around to relax, but I just find it easier to do so when he is.

I have tried to start some routines to try and feel a little more settled, and even though I have just had 3days off, I still feel a little out of control.  There is always something looming that is due, or needs to be done.  Always somewhere to be or something to follow up, it just never stops.  Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just refuse… just to say no to everything, but to be honest I think if I did that I would get bored.

Sometimes I feel a little messy if I am in a mess… which with me is often, Dave actually describes me as a mini tornado… ‘leaving a trail of destruction wherever I go’.  But maybe I need to, instead of stopping to reflect, or panic, or just give up and watch TV, maybe I need to clean up… give myself a nicer working space… a calm space… maybe that will help.

Maybe I just need to get better at balance, or learn to say no… maybe I need to make more lists so I can see it all coming… or maybe that just wastes the precious time I have…. Maybe I will just get better at dealing with it as life goes on… I really hope so.  I guess I better stop reflecting and either start one of the three things I was supposed to be doing or at the very least tidy something… here goes nothing.