I set a goal at the start of the month to walk, run and hike 150 kms the month of September, and I met that goal… More than met it AND 7 miles (11.26 km) aren’t on here from my mountain hikes in NC last week. So here are the results…
160 kms + 11 = 171 kms!!
I’m very pleased with meeting this goal. Goal for October 165 km with a minimum of 60 kms of running 🙂
Ciao!
Consolidation Phase Day 128 of 500!
Weekly Weight: 146-149
Goal Weight: 155
So Consolidation DOES work 🙂 I can’t believe it’s been 128 days since I met my goal weight! This summer has flown by! I am very consistent with my weight, still weighing every morning and still VERY happy with the results!
This past week has been busy! I am moving back to the States on Thursday after living abroad for 4 years. I have been packed for over a month 🙂 I know, a bit OCD, but what to say. I’ve got 2 large suitcases and a large box as checked luggage (things I didn’t want to risk never seeing again if my shipped boxes disappear into the stratosphere or something.) It’ll be worth paying extra for the peace of mind.
Exercise this past week included running 4-5K 3 times. Walking 4-5K the other 4 nights. I also did 30-45 minutes of yoga 4 times the past week. I hiked the mountain 1 time this past week and hope to do it Tuesday morning as one last hurrah 🙂
I met Hanna and Diana and Jacob (next photo) on the street a couple of weeks ago. They are from Sweden and here to attend the University just down the block from my flat. Jacob had on a Miami Dolphins hat, so of course I stopped them 🙂 They’ve been to dinner a few times and I wish I had met them sooner!
Jacob
The weather in Hangzhou has been PERFECT this past 4 days. Sunny and a cool breeze. I’ve had the flat windows opened and the whole place is fresh. The summer heat was oppressive! So it’s a nice break.
Let’s see… what did I eat this week. Lots of tea eggs, as per usual. Lunches consisted of leftover roasts (both pork and beef), salad, cheddar cheese and almonds. Dinners were steak stir fry, pork roast, beef roast, shrimp stir fry and my new favorite way to cook veggies; veggies (broccoli, asparagus, carrots and garlic stems) steamed in coconut milk… OH MY you have no idea how good THAT is… a must try! I also had a dinner out with friends at a local sushi restaurant and a hot pot dinner… guests for dinner almost nightly, trying to cook up all the food in the freezer AND say good bye to friends, new and not so new.
Pork roast… Mmm!
Out for sushi with Baby Milva!
Out for dinner with Joe, Chiara and baby Nunu!
You throw in the meat and veggies and it cooks in the hot pot… the liquid on the left is spicy, spicy!!! Mmmmmm!
And I did my last water birth lecture in front of a hundred people or so in a nearby town. I hope my message got across to some folks and they have gentler births!
Me and Liang… on our way to my last water birth lecture. She’s the lead midwife supporting water birth at Hangzhou AIMA.
So, that’s my wrap up! How did your week go? Is it cooling down where you live?
Ciao!
😀 I’m going to start with that silly grin because right after typing that title, I had a good chuckle. The thought that I’m actually writing a POST on a BLOG about Yoga AND Endurance Training, has me giggling… even as I typed this sentence 🙂
So most nights when I’ve come in from either a doing a 5K run, interval training or walk I do about 30 – 40 minutes of yoga, pilates, stretches and tension band work. Nothing formal, just my favorite stuff from each of those disciplines.
The yoga and the pilates help center me and strengthen my core and the stretching during those help my muscles after a good workout. It feels great and I usually do it jamming to Lady Gaga and Bon Jovi. Funny combination!
I found this post in my inbox this morning and I am even more dedicated to doing yoga in a more formal way after reading it, as I’m planning on doing a triathlon next August with 3 bloggy friends… Anna, Sandra and Cindy. It’s going to be a blast! I can’t wait to get home and start my formal training!
Here’s the link and I hope everyone is having a fabulous week!
The first two paragrahs
By Kellye Mills
Yoga is most often associated with benefits such as flexibility, stability and strength, all of which are very important. However, it’s not as often associated with endurance, which is yet another wonderful advantage to be gained from yoga classes. Endurance athletes spend countless hours training their neuromuscular and metabolic systems in an effort to increase their endurance so that they may race efficiently for extended periods of time. However, the hours spent using their bodies to swim, bike, and run can often lead to injury and burnout.
These exercises require a great amount of strength endurance in order for your muscles to repeatedly produce and sustain maximal power output over the course of the activity. Certain types of yoga classes are designed with strength endurance in mind providing opportunities for your body to repeat exercises requiring a great amount of strength with little to no rest. This creates a similar effect to that of the training we usually endure without the added stress on our bodies from too many miles of swimming, biking and running….
Ciao!
I am really enjoying my walks and runs. That said, I was in Guangzhou for 17 days in August and pretty much unable to run due to the fact that there was nowhere safe to run 😦 The streets are full of people from 6 a.m. to midnight, so in order to safely run you have to get up and be out the door by 5 a.m.!
Needless to say I didn’t pound the pavement as much as I’d have liked this past month, although I got plenty of walking in. Here’s my August stats:
And here’s my stats since March:
I’ve nearly walked, run and hiked 700 kilometers/435 miles in 5 months! This is the breakdown:
Walking: 468.2 kms/290 miles
Running: 195.4 kms/122 miles
Hiking: 26 kms/16 miles
Staying active is key to losing weight and keeping it off. Just moving 30 minutes a day, even if it’s just walking, will benefit you in amazing ways!
What was your active movement on Monday?
Ciao!
Thursday is alway a Pure Protein Day. This Thursday was Consolidation Day 112 🙂 Dr. Dukan recommends that followers of the program in Consolidation pick Thursday as the one day a week you have a pure protein day and for the most part, I have.
Today’s weight: 147
Goal weight: 155
Before I could eat, I had my annual physical at work. It included blood work, EKG, chest X-ray, breast thermography (instead of mammogram, no radiation), ultrasound of my liver (no longer fatty… Yay!!!), pancreas, kidneys and spleen and a look over by the TCM doc. Waiting on the blood results, but everything else was perfect! It took less than 40 minutes for everything and cost $0! How awesome is that?
Breakfast: 2 Tea Eggs from the shop downstairs…
Lunch: A small plate of roast beef
Afternoon Snack: A tea egg
Dinner: 1 Chicken breast, roasted in that toaster oven, with a roasted 1/2 red onion. I marinated the chicken in 1 Tbs coconut oil, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cumin and a dash of salt for 30 minutes in the fridge. Shook the container up and put it on the pizza pan to cook, pouring the marinade over it and the onion. Cooked in oven for 40 mins at 350 degrees F.
I then went for a 4K run and finished with about 20 minutes of stretches and yoga.
Bedtime Snack: Fat free Greek yogurt with 1 Tbs flaxseed meal and Splenda
What did you eat on Thursday?
Ciao!
Monday was Consolidation Day 108 🙂
Today’s Weight: 146
Goal Weight: 155
Still lovin’ that 🙂
Back to work in Hangzhou. Kind of a frustrating day. Went to the bank to make a deposit and they wouldn’t let me because I didn’t have my passport… to make a deposit… sigh. Then I went to the post office to ship off the last 4 boxes to the States and the guy went through all my stuff to make sure it was packed well enough to not break anything and DROPS the package with my Chinese china!!!! Breathe IN, Breathe OUT… I flew off the handle… I couldn’t help it… I am not perfect, I threw a tantrum. They quickly finished me up, I apologized a million times to my driver, Jerry, who is the most patient person in the world (besides Kitty)… he smoothed things over and got me the hell out of there before, well before I got into trouble!
My granddaughter Sadie represents the 3rd generation of epic tantrum throwers 🙂
My daughter Jenni, however, was the Queen of them!
Then back to work where I managed to upset the apple cart by providing a not so glowing audit about hand washing that had the doctors doing better than the nurses. I was on a roll!
Went home and had me some dinner and felt better 🙂 I also am tutoring a Chinese midwife in Medical English and passing the NCLEX-RN exam. So we worked on that last night.
Sunday I got in a 5K run in under 40 minutes after not running for 9 days due to my bout of food poisoning, but I pushed myself and did it… which makes me feel so good 🙂 I then went up to my flat and did 30 minutes of stretching, yoga and exercise bands. I have SO much energy when I’m done running… it’s amazing!
I also got a few pictures from Rose, my personal assistant in Guangzhou from my multiple stays there this past 5 months. Here’s a couple I want to share:
Water birth training in April 2012. Guangzhou.
Grand Opening of the Water Delivery Center in Guangzhou Elizabeth Women’s Hospital – April 2012
I’ve been saying that I haven’t felt like I accomplished much in the past year. Maybe I set my expectations too high for myself… I’m a perfectionist. But when I look at these pictures I do realize that I’ve accomplished quite a bit. The hospitals keep referring to me as their International Water Birth Expert… and I’ve come to realize, I really am! I mean who better to be called that than someone who has delivered hundreds of babies in the water (all over the world, including on 4 continents!) and has taught water birth all over the world? The 5 hospitals here in China that I’ve done the water birth trainings in have collectively performed over 100 water births in the past year! I am proud of their accomplishments and that the midwives and doctors at these 5 hospitals have accepted water birth as a “normal” way for women to deliver their babies. And delighted for the women and babies who have experienced this amazing way of birthing!
Breakfast: 2 slices of bacon and 2 tea eggs
Snack: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and flaxseed meal
Lunch: 3 ham slices with 3 slices of Pepper Jack cheddar… Mmmm!!
Dinner: Stir-fry pork with onions and asparagus (cooked in coconut oil).
Snack: Beef jerky… eeek that out a couple little pieces at a time to make it stretch (thanks, Suzanne for bringing me the 3 bags!!) ** Kira… Titters LOVES jerky!
I hope everyone is having a great week! I have 23 days until I fly home… for good… or for now… LOL
What type of exercise or movement did you do on Monday??
Ciao!
Quick update… Felt 100% today, first time since I got food poisoning exactly a week ago! My weight today was 145 and I did a 5K run tonight in 40 minutes.
The fun news is that exactly one year from today I will run my first triathlon with three fellow bloggers, Anna, Sandra and Cindy. I met them all through our blogs and we’ll be running, swimming and biking our way through the Danskin Women’s triathlon next August! SO, SO excited!
Off to bed… Work in the morning!
Ciao!m
I can’t believe how long I’ve already been in Consolidation! Day 93 of 500. Nearly a fifth of the way to Stabilization!
Today’s weight: 148 lb/67.1 kg
Goal weight: 155 lb/70.5 kg
I’m working in Guangzhou for 2 weeks and have the pleasure of having my friend Aisha who lives in Saudi Arabia here as a student midwife. It is so exciting! Yesterday we worked on blood drawing and placing IVs (I volunteered to let her practice on me, as did her husband) and today physical exams and other fun stuff. She’s also working with one of our doctors here.
I ran 5k the night before I came to Guangzhou and I’ve been speed walking 5k an evening here. Hoping to run in the morning. I’ve been having some insomnia this week, for some reason 😦
I’ve also been doing a 10 minute morning yoga routine with YOGAmazing on my iPad every morning and a 25-45 minute routine of my own nearly every evening.
And lastly… I just want to say that I think it’s awesome that food like this is on my diet. No magic pills, no artificial hormones and starvation, just damn good food 🙂
Breakfast: Bacon, red onions, garlic, shaved, organic Parmesan, green apple slices
Breakfast: Pork belly chunks, red onion, cilantro, curry, fried egg with mozzarella
Dinner: Beef steak chunks, red onions, red cabbage salad with cucumbers
Yum, yum, yum!
Ciao 😀
“A runner must run with dreams in his heart.”
– Emil Zatopek
I run with dreams in my heart. My first goal in running was to run more than 45 SECONDS without falling and/or crying. It took me a week of calling the “Voice of C25K” every name in the book, to be able to do that… that was back in January. 8 months ago. I had been walking, in fact FAST walking, but I hadn’t run. And I truly couldn’t run 45 seconds without gasping for air. Some of the things I said to myself then:
And then I got on with it. Because I’m not a quitter. And I set my next dream, which was to finish Couch to 5K (C25K). And then I signed up for my first 5K in March… scheduled for June 9th in Ocala, while I was home.
I completed Week 8 Day 3 of C25K on April 22nd, just one day after meeting my True Weight goal! Triumphant! Crying HAPPY, HAPPY tears. There were 24 different runs in C25K leading up to the completion. I ran 22 of them in the rain and most of them in the rain and under 50 degrees Fahrenheit! Oh, in the hot summer, do I long for those days now… 😀 This was me after completing a run in the rain:
Lots of emotion finishing a run!
Then on May 9th I had my liposuction surgery done and couldn’t run for 2 weeks. I didn’t feel like running, either! I did walk… every single day, because that’s what you do to keep the weight off!
On May 24 I ran for the first time in 2 weeks and couldn’t take in enough air. Just didn’t seem like I could get a full breath in! Ack! I was running a 5K in a couple of weeks!! But run I did… and I kept running, even though I wasn’t able to run more than 10 minutes w/o slowing my pace to a walk.
June 9, I ran and walked my way through my first 5K! I didn’t do as well as I wanted. I just couldn’t catch my breath and took off from the start too fast. I HAD A BLAST! I met a lady in her 50’s doing her first 5K and we chatted while we ran a few minutes/walked a few minutes. We then ended up walking and picking up trash… LOL. My time was 48 minutes. I had been averaging 44 minutes before my surgery.
Well, last night I did this…
Yes…. a 5K in 37 flippin’ minutes!!! WOOT, WOOT!!!
Here it is in miles… LOL
A record for me 🙂 And the RunKeeper reevaluated and gave me more calories burned!
I actually walked for about 5 minutes to cool down after reaching 5K, but I stopped my RunKeeper on purpose to preserve this moment 🙂
This is what I wrote to Anna this morning:
I bawled my eyes out when I realized I hit 37 minutes 🙂 My Chinese neighbors must think I’m nuts… LOL. Although the security guards have watched me transform over the past year and always say encouraging things while doing a thumbs up (I presume they are encouraging me… lol). Running is super emotional for me, for some reason. When the C25K lady says “walk now” at the end of the long runs I get very teary… last night was a bit different… I KNEW I was WAY ahead of my norm… and I wasn’t winded. I knew it because I take the same boring route every night and was getting way past the usual 5 minute updates from RunKeeper. I actually did 5.3 kms, but purposefully stopped it right as it rolled onto 5K to see how I did… I then let out a series of woots and then cried, with a huge smile plastered on my face. 😀
I find running very emotional. Not sure why. But it’s an awesome emotional, not a bad one! These are things I say to myself now, when I’m running:
You get the picture. I say these out loud. They are affirming. They are gifts to myself. They push me to the next level. They, apparently, are working 😀
My new goal/dream… running a triathlon with Anna, Sandra and Cindy in August 2013. What a great way to celebrate the year I turn 50! I am so looking forward to seeing this dream come to fruition!
Ciao!
Sunday was an awesome day… food wise, Dukan wise and exercise wise!
Daily weight: 148 lbs/67.2 kgs
Goal weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs
I started my morning early with a half hour of yoga and some housework. Then at 0900 out for a walk/run. It was HOT! Here’s how hot…
Feels like 101F… bring it on!
So I did this route… which the GPS is off a bit… I walked along the little river, across the bridge and back… so just move my route (in your head) down a bit… LOL
And these are the scenes along my walk…
The path leaving my complex going towards the river.
The construction site has taken over 1/2 the Buddhist Temple and torn it down… they moved the Big incense burners across the walking path to the river side.
The construction site hasn’t taken the temple half… yet… I sure hope they don’t!
A real working lock!
Guarding the lock.
I could smell a funky smell, like manure, and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from!
This lovely lady was fertilizing the lush greenery along the river walk… Thank you! You make my walk much more beautiful!!!
Continuing on…
I then crossed over the river to come back on the other side.
Incoming barge… an old way of transport with all new construction in the background!
Close up of the wake from the barge.
As I crossed over the bridge once more, I got wolf whistled at… LOL. That made me feel good and gave me the energy in the melting heat to finish…
Out of the 1:20 I only ran 35 minutes. It was just too darn hot… but it gave me the chance to slow down and enjoy the scenery!
Food:
Brekkies: 2 tea eggs… good protein fuel to get started!
Snack when back from walk/run: 2 ounces of an amazingly good aged cheddar that crumbles when you bite it… Mmmmmm and some Jerky… thanks, Suzanne for bringing that!
Dinner at 430 p.m. at Surbhi and Andy’s… OH MY GOD!!! My very favorite Indian dish, Palak Paneer, made just for me! Yummy, authentic Indian food. I am SO grateful for the people I have met on my 4 years of living abroad! I also had a little bit of rice, dal and aloo! Of course this was a celebration meal 😀
When I got home from my 1 hour 20 minute bus ride… standing (now that must have burned some calories) and dancing to my own tune (Rocking out to Rock of Ages soundtrack in the bus… smiling and dancing, sure makes the locals give me a little space) I opened my email to this picture…
Yummy, juicy, delectable Helena… who is almost 5 months! I am SO lucky that I get to be there when these little cutie patooties are born! Can’t wait to make a trip to Boston to cuddle you!
And before bed a pot of 2% Greek Yogurt with Splenda and flax seed meal. Yum!
Awesome day all around… How did your weekend go?
Ciao!
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