Update update

I know what you are all thinking! You're thinking how did the hiit work out go, how did the limiting alcohol go??????
And you're thinking 'I wonder what Chubby Katies plan for next year is". Ok ok you wore me down, this post shall we dedicated to blog updates.

Well I done two hiit session, I didn't go to the park as I was suggesting as I needed a good timer on the computer and also I was cooking dinner at the same time. But the good thing about the workout is you can do it pretty much anywhere and do things like cook dinner as each round takes about 7 mins.
It went well, I did it twice round and was struggling a little by the end. I must say though I was expecting to feel some aching the next and I didn't so maybe I didn't go hard enough! And I did slack off the burpees on the second set.

The alcohol....well thats not going quite so well. I had a party two weekends ago and a wedding last weekend and had a few ciders left in the fridge! I had three week days not drinking and did drink a few glasses of lemonade at the party. I will continue trying to restrict my week day drinking.

And now the exciting bit....next years racing. I'd like to do a marathon, a swim and a half ironman.  I have my heart set on this one but money might be the deciding factor.

I maybe should do a longer post on it but a few of the costs would be:
Wetsuit - depending on water temperature
Bike - mines not really up to scratch
Flights - plus extra for bike transport
Hotel
Entry costs - which is likely to be around $300
Eppppp! Lets put that in the maybe pile for now.

For the swim i'd like to do my local Shark Island swim, the dates not set yet but it looks like being the end of April.

I have my heart set on doing the Fitzroy Falls Fire trail marathon as I missed it this year, its in October. It would be fun to do a road one too but I haven't looked into that yet.
I'd like to do the Letchworth Greenway half marathon too but I have a wedding the day before!!

So a little more research is needed but I will leave you with shot from the Cairns 70.3 - it looks beautiful :)

Hiit training

I have a park right opposite my house, I often look at it and think its such a waste that I don't take advantage of it. It got me thinking that I should try and fit in a bit of resistance training.
Have you heard of HIIT training? Otherwise known as high intensity interval training. The premise is that you do quick hard routines that get the heart pumping and surprises the muscles to improve fat burning and speeding up your metabolism, a routine only takes around 10 minutes but it is a very uncomfortable 10 minutes.

I found this work out which I'm going to give a go. Heres what I'll do:

30 seconds slow jogging to warm up
30 seconds of jumping jacks
30 sec wall sit (where you bend your knees and rest your back against the wall)
30 sec push up
30 abdominal crunch
30 sec step up
10 sec rest
30 sec squats
30 sec tricep dips
30 sec plank
30 high knee run
10 sec rest
30 sec lunges
30 sec rotational push up
10 sec rest
30 burpees

Apparently you are allowed a maximum of 10 seconds rest between each, i've just allocated 10 seconds on the ones that I think i'll need it for. It totals 7minutes in total, I might do it twice round giving myself around a 20 minute workout.

I have a wedding on Saturday so I'm thinking this might be good to tone up a little. Hopefully I'll update you tomorrow with how it went.
Ciao

The Big A

Drinking Alcohol has been a part of my life for the last 16 years, from underage drinking in the park with my friends, student parties, afterwork drink and more recently a glass of wine in the evenings after a long day. Its not that I drink heavily or can't say no but more recently the days that were i'll have one or two drinks have been out weighing the days that i've had none.
One year I did a dry January but apart from that i've drunk most weekends and quite often during the week.

So i've decided to cut down, i'm not going to cut out completely. I have a number of weddings and social occasions coming up and I enjoy a drink at them but I am going to reduce my drinking to a few days a week.
In order to help me i'm going here are some of the benefits I think I will get and the tips i'll employ:

Benefits
Healthier skin
Weight lose - theres 200 calories in a pint of beer
More energy - hopefully in the mornings, greater likelihood of me jumping out of bed for exercise
More money!!
Clearer mental focus/improved memory
Better general health
Less risk of future serious illness i.e cancer, liver disease
Less tired due to having a good nights sleep
Generally happier

Ways to reduce alcohol intake
Keep less alcohol in the house
Have set days that are alcohol free
Have an alternative to alcohol - this is a tricky one for me. A nice glass of red wine goes so well with my evening meal
Only allow alcohol when I've done some exercise that day
Have a soft drink between alcoholic drinks when out. If you're out this could just be drinking your table water or ordering a lemonade between each vodka and lemonade
Keep a tally of the amount of alcoholic drinks drunk per week - bit like a food diary, if you are honest it will help
Dilute your drink, white wine with sparkling water, beer with lemonade


Ok so i'm going to give this a go for a month, it'll be good to flex my willpower muscle!
CK

Bleugh!

Opps its been a whole month since my last post, thats so naughty!

In that month heres whats happened:

• The Kona triathon has been and gone, my predictions were pretty inaccurate. You can read about the mens race here and womans race here.
• I have done virtually no exercise. No swimming, no running, no cycling, no weights, no yoga. I'm not really sure why, i've just had no motivation.
• I've had a stinking cold for the last week! Weirdly my motivation to run has actually been strong but i've been so tired with my cold I decided it wasn't a good idea.

I'm going to take this down time as an opportunity to plan my next racing year. 

I also came across this list of 20 things to do to improve your life some are silly but some I'd like to implement. 

Ciao

Chubby Katie.x