Goal + Action = Reality

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Tileenah and @CODawn

Programmes:
Unbound Day 21
Code of Abs Day 8 - only did the knee-ins from the bar today. Phew! The rest were on the floor.

Challenges:
From Walking to Running Day 1 - As @HellYeah pointed out, I obviously have no idea exactly what I'm doing with this running lark, so I've started again at the very beginning. With the much shorter runs in this programme, perhaps I could get faster...?
Upperbody Light Day 3
Wall Push-ups Day 17
Walk and Run Day 3
Warrior Arms Day 1
Warrior Abs Day 29
Dead Hang Day 29
No Sugar Day 3

Bicep curls (light weights) 3 x 30 slow (3sec concentric and eccentric) - because I felt like it.

 

[HellYeah]

You want me to tell you all my dirty little secrets? I'm like so blushing!
Okay, my recent/current distance max was 3k in 25 minutes. (Don't tell anyone!)
The last time I did 5k was Nov 2021 and it took something like 45 minutes.
Pathetic really. My tendons are really loose which doesn't make things easy; there's no rebound so running takes a lot of energy.
I can breathe pretty okay, I just can't seem to speed up.
And, of course, this is all strictly entre nous.
At least the cycling's over for this month - but there's a lot of walking planned with various charity challenges...

Oh, I'll keep it a secret...
In my experience, and from what I read, distance comes before speed, so before you should think about speed, you need to build a comfortable base. What means, before you should even think about running a fast 5k (30min is fast), you should be able to run 5k without rest in a slow comfortable pace. Then you can do 5k runs regularly or even further like 7-8k, and then you work on going faster. I would say: stick with one program like "Zombie run" till the end, no matter how you think you are doing, cause most of the time we do not judge ourselves fairly.
Then you can repeat it with more running and less walking, or start another program.

And: IF you want to campare yourself to someone, chose your former self. Cause you are doing it for yourself and you are doing great, everytime you go for a run!

One last thing: running fast is a full body "explosive strength" workout, so every other task you have, like intense challenges or programs, especially legs, core and back, but even arms, cause an impact on your performance...

 

[Lady Celerity]

Congrats on your February achievements!

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Lady Celerity

Programmes:
Unbound Day 22
Code of Abs Day 9

Challenges:
From Walking to Running Day 2
Upperbody Light Day 4
Wall Push-ups Day 18
Walk and Run Day 4
Warrior Arms Day 2
Warrior Abs Day 30
Dead Hang Day 30
No Sugar Day 4

Hike. 1 hour, 28 minutes. 7.12km. Gosh but it was good to get out again! I haven't been on a hike in months! Well, apart from one in January. No, two... Whatever. Anyway, I had gone out originally to check out a nice easy route for my mum. She'll be coming this way at the end of the month and after we've done the two-day walks, I'll take her out for a couple of nice gentle hikes. They have to be gentle. She's got degenerative arthritis and finds walking painful but it's the only exercise she does and she enjoys it. She's supposed to be getting a cortisone injection and hopes that'll help for a while. So, not such hard hikes as I like to take. But after a little while of walking relatively flat, I simply had to turn up the Spine and for the next hour I went where I would not take my mum! It was SO good to be out again. Tell you, though, those mountain so call my name! They're the Brindabella Ranges, part of the Great Dividing Range. One day...


Not exactly gentle...


Taekwondo training. Phew, it was hot today. I read that sweat has anti-aging properties. If I keep this up, I'll soon be having to show my ID again! When the lower belts all split off to practice their patterns, leaving four adult black belts, the coach had us pair up to do the one-steps. I had already learnt 1 and 2 and kind of remembered them, and the coach then gave us 3 and 4. My partner was very good and got me through them very well. Then we did 5 and 6! My brain was so full! They're only short so I've just got to remember about four or five moves for each.

I've taken heed of what the running guru @HellYeah had to say (and thank you very much for that). I sat myself down and gave myself a good talking to. Some of it was actually about running! I have decided that I shall accept this failure - accept it, own it, and use it as something to improve from. Come next Monday, I shall resume the running programme. I accept that I shall not be able to run 5k in 30-35 minutes, but as I have previously run 5k, I aim to do that again and, as advised, disregard my speed and focus on my endurance/distance.
In order to become good at something, you need to focus on it.
In order to become really good at something, you need to focus solely on it.
I do a number of things. Perhaps picking up boxing this term was not the best idea, but to use Hillary's excuse, it was there - and it's a new challenge and great fun. I have a large number of charity kilometres to cover this month, either running or walking. And there there are the two weekly Taekwondo sessions. I cannot focus solely on running. I do not want to focus solely on running. Therefore it will take me longer to achieve the goal (if that's what I'm aiming for) of a 'fast' 5k. I'm in no hurry.
The upshot: finish the programme. Ignore the words "30-35 minutes run in one go" and focus on the words "run 5k" - I have to if I want to finish this programme. Restart ZR (for the third time - I just don't/won't let up!) and keep working on endurance. And drop the running challenge - I've enough on:

TopNotch Hy

I'm taking on Cancer Council's The March Charge, a month-long fitness challenge to raise funds for people impacted by cancer. Every day in Australia over 444 people hear the words

www.themarchcharge.com.au

So that's 90km for this one. And

Sponsor

soldieron.cmail19.com

Just wait until tomorrow.

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats on warrior abs and dead hang!
And good luck with the runs
I think you got very good advice, especially if your tendons are kind of loose. They need the training and that means running at a slower pace in order to actually enjoy it
Also, if you're relatively new at running and more used to walking, a common mistake is to do big steps (like when you walk fast) whereas when you run you should make small steps and try to "rebound" or go upwards, and be as light as possible on the ground.
I had some of those problems after my pregnancy (which loosens the tendons a lot, thankfully for the birthing part ). Maybe you can talk to a physio about that if you feel it's something that could help you?

 

[SlothEnergy]

Congrats for the two challenges! And also, it's great that you are persisting with the running. I'm sure you are improving!

 

[BetaCorvi]

Congrats!

And you're exactly right on the running front! I'm part of the C25K subreddit, and most people finish those final 5K runs in anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes, very rarely even 28-30 minutes. A program like C25K, or in this case the 8 weeks to 5K, focuses so much on just getting you used to those 30 minutes of running at your own comfortable pace, not at a race pace. If you do want to work on speed later/afterwards, something like Nike Run Club's 5K plan might be interesting, at least in how it's built. (sorry at throwing in another program as a suggestion!)
Good luck on the running!

 

[NancyTree]

Congrats on all the challenges!
Good luck with that knee, hopefully it'll be better soon

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Tileenah @TortoiseVibe @BetaCorvi (it'll probably take me forever, so other options are good. ) and @NancyTree

Programmes:
Unbound Day 23
Code of Abs Day 10

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 5
Wall Push-ups Day 19
Walk and Run Day 5
Warrior Arms Day 3
No Sugar Day 5

Hike. 1 hour, 38 minutes. 7.64km. A new route for me. A new suburb, actually, so when I tried to plug the starting address into my car's GPS, I got nothing. When I finally arrived, this is what the GPS showed:

Not a bad hike. It was supposed to be cloudy but someone had forgotten to bring enough clouds and up north there is generally less tree cover and I got quite hot. Nice view of the Murrumbidgee River. Quite a gentle sort of walk, one I'd take my mother on perhaps, but it might be a bit long. Not a very interesting walk, and I doubt I'd do it again.




There were some weird metal plant sculptures too. I think this is supposed to be a bird of paradise.


Today I had to wear my Wilderness Society t-shirt


because it was the first day of the 30km:

 

[Fremen]

Congrats

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your hiking pictures!

 

[Tileenah]

Congrats and thanks for the pics!

 

[NancyTree]

Ooh I love your hiking pictures!

 

[Lady Celerity]

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[TopNotch]

@Fremen @CODawn @Tileenah @NancyTree @Lady Celerity Thanks you and you're welcome.

Programmes:
Unbound Day 24
Code of Abs Day 11

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 6
Wall Push-ups Day 20
Walk and Run Day 6
Warrior Arms Day 4
No Sugar Day 6

This morning was cloudy and comfortably cool - just what yesterday should have been! But I was busy this morning so I couldn't go out - or rather, I was out, but not really having fun. Then I decided to give the legs a break (and yesterday's sunburn!) which was just as well because the sun came out mid-afternoon and I got other necessary stuff done.

Spoiler: Just having a little rant to/about myself

I was musing today on why I am not better at my Taekwondo. At my previous club, the poomsae coach was excellent. At one time recently, he'd been selected to coach the national team, and one of the blokes I trained with (and who had occasionally trained me) had been on the team, competed in the World's last year, and at one time had been ranked 5th in the world. Then I moved to a new club. This is a relatively new club, only a few years old. It is run by the sparring coach from the old club. It is a fairly small club, maybe 35 members all up, including the little childen. Yet one of our sparrers has been selected as part of the 16-person national team for the World sparring championship in Azerbaijan in May. So you certainly can't say that the coaching I've had access to has been anything less than high calibre. Therefore, I can't blame anyone other than myself - if I want to blame at all. So, TN, what have you got to say for yourself, you slacker? You don't have to be absolutely single-mindedly dedicated, but come on. You've got to put in the work!

 

[Tileenah]

you know what they say : "give me the strength to change what I can change and to accept what can't be changed" (or something like that...)
Those are equally hard.
When you compare yourself to what you did last year, are you sure you didn't make any progress? You train (hard) every day, I'm sure it pays off somewhere

 

[HellYeah]

A great mind once said:

In order to become good at something, you need to focus on it.

In order to become really good at something, you need to focus solely on it.

We have only limited time and energy our lives. We can't have everything . Decisions have to be made. Being "mediocre", but versitile, is as good as being very good in one discipline. At least thats my opinion. And tbh, everyone who trains for life (health&fitness) and not for championships, gets more out of a versitile training.

 

[Fremen]

I recently discovered that the Muay Thai course I'm attending resets every year, this thing left me perplexed at the beginning, no exams, no forced progression, no goals...
Now I find this extremely soothing, I just train, simple as I like it

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 25
Code of Abs Day 12

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 7
Wall Push-ups Day 21
Walk and Run Day 7
Warrior Arms Day 5
No Sugar Day 7

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 26
Code of Abs Day 13
8 Weeks to 5k Day 50

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 8
Wall Push-ups Day 22
Walk and Run Day 8
Warrior Arms Day 6
No Sugar Day 8

Boxing. 1hr.

Bought my hand wraps today. The lady at the counter said, "I think we have more colours, like pink..." I said, "Do I look like a pink person?" She said, "No." I said, "I'll just go with the blue."

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 27
Code of Abs Day 14
8 Weeks to 5k Day 51 - slowly and gently.

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 9
Wall Push-ups Day 23
Walk and Run Day 9
Warrior Arms Day 7
No Sugar Day 9

Hike. 3 different apps, 3 different distances! Take your pick: did I walk 9.18k, 9.21k or 9.23k? Let's just say I walked a bit more than 9k in about 1¾ hrs. Took a different route. Rather than going up to the summit, I thought I'd go around the base of the mountain. At the 4k mark, I turned around to come back, but, being the sort of person I amafter a little while I chose a different track. Which went UP. Easy to see where that was! Phew.

Then it levelled off and I trotted merrily back to my car. Only, I didn't. That wasn't my carpark ahead. Where the heck was my carpark? Oh wait, if I'm here, that means - bugger, I'm 1k off. So the walk was a little longer than expected, simply because the darned paths didn't meet up nicely, and there's like no signage!

Taekwondo. The black belts were to do some poomsae with another black belt. She was taking us through Koryo, but she had forgotten it! At least I hadn't! We did some board breaking today. I held, which was probably a bad idea because I didn't get to kick. We were just doing push kick. FInally, I got a kick but my holder wasn't ready and he moved during my kick. I was about to do it again when the coach blew the whistle and it was all over. Ah well, another time.

Feeling tired today. Had a very bad night. Fingers crossed for a better one tonight.

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 28
Code of Abs Day 15
8 Weeks to 5k Day 52

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 10
Wall Push-ups Day 24
Walk and Run Day 10
Warrior Arms Day 8
No Sugar Day 10

 

[Lady Celerity]

How's the No Sugar challenge going?

 

[TopNotch]

How's the No Sugar challenge going?

Not so good for me. I've dropped down below my acceptable minimum weight. Can't wait to get back to the biscuits! Or perhaps I ought just to take a closer look at my diet...

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 29
Code of Abs Day 16
8 Weeks to 5k Day 53

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 11
Wall Push-ups Day 25
Walk and Run Day 11
Warrior Arms Day 9
No Sugar Day 11

Hike. 1 hour, 13 minutes. 6.27km. Didn't want to go too hard today, so I took the fire trail. There were some steeper sections, but not so many. Pleasant day for walking.



Not a TARDIS this time!

Taekwondo. Partner warm-ups again, and supersets. Worked on spinning back kick. So far, I think that's my worst kick. It's wonderful that I can always seem to find a kick that I can do with far less success than any other! At the end, we went through the first two one-steps, then did a self-defence which involved grabbing the persons wrist, lifting their arm over your head as you ducked under and drew their arm up behind them. I screwed it up nicely, and the coach said that I had just done a dance step! I did get it right once or twice.

Took a look at my diet. Not much to see, really. I don't really get hungry, so I don't bother to eat. Today, for example, after my hike, whey protein shake in whole milk. Then, thinking I ought to eat something, two slices of wholemeal sourdough with peanut butter. For dinner (an early one by myself because it's a training night), I had a bowl of coleslaw (shredded red and white cabbage, grated carrot, grated cheese, crushed pineapple, lightly dressed with some egg mayonnaise thinned with pineapple juice), though generally I have some more protein than that with dinner. Feeling a bit peckish now, but I probably won't bother to do anything about it, just have some more tea. I ought to, I know, but I tend to forget when I get occupied doing other stuff.

 

[Tileenah]

Nice pics ! Thanks for sharing !

 

[CODawn]

Cool pictures

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 30
Code of Abs Day 17
8 Weeks to 5k Day 54 - okay, so this was interesting. Today, for the first time, I did my run outside. Probably just wanted to show off my new bright blue shorts! Inside, it doesn't matter what you wear. The cats'll snigger but you know they won't be telling, but outside is a whole other matter! Hence the new shorts. With beautifully deep pockets for my phone. Anyway, today was 2 x 15min run, with 2min walk between. Week 8, Workout 2 of the ZR 5k training started off with 5min walk, 10min run, 3min stretching, then 10min run and 5min walk (and something more). So I did a warm-up walk for a couple of minutes before starting the programme and began running when there was about four minutes left of the walking, and I finished the 15min run through the first minute of the stretching. The audio often told me how long I'd been doing something, but sometimes I had to work it out for myself. The last 15 minutes' total was easy because when she said it was time for my 5min walk, I knew I just had 5min running time left. So I headed off down the park, past the oval, and along a long, curving street towards the lad's school, then down another street until it was time to walk whereupon I turned around and came back. The whole distance was 4.8km and it took me about 40 minutes to complete. The interesting thing (ah, now we're finally getting somewhere!) is that I was careful not to go fast because I'd tank too quickly, careful to take small steps (as variously advised/cautioned, thank you) but I apparently ran it all at a faster pace than the treadmill had ever clocked me. Like, the first whole kilometre of running was done at a pace of 7'07", whereas the treadmill would have clocked me at a pace of 8'17". Even the last full 1k was at 7'46". Overall pace of 7'56" including about 10 minutes of walking. Could it be that perhaps I'm not quite as slow as I thought I was...? That the speed on the old treadmill is not quite correct? And perhaps I ought to look at the treadmill as something to use for time rather than distance. Or it could have been a fluke! Or possibly the shorts.

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 12
Wall Push-ups Day 26
Walk and Run Day 12
Warrior Arms Day 10
No Sugar Day 12

Writing.
Reading.

 

[HellYeah]

I vote for the shorts, definitely...

 

[Tileenah]

Running on a treadmill is definitely not the same as running outdoors
Yay for your new timing and congrats on unboud!
We now want a picture of said running-faster-blue-shorts

 

[TopNotch]

We now want a picture of said running-faster-blue-shorts

Cor, the things I do for some people!


Don't get jealous now. Of course, you also have to imagine a pair of impossible lovely legs coming out of them.

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations!

 

[Lady Celerity]

Oh your faster time was definitely due to the shorts! Soon the neighbors will be calling you The Blue Flash.

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Tileenah and @CODawn

Programmes:
Unbound Day 1 - Liked this.
Code of Abs Day 18
8 Weeks to 5k Day 55

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 13
Wall Push-ups Day 27
Walk and Run Day 13
Warrior Arms Day 11
No Sugar Day 13

Writing. None yet but the evening's not over, so who knows...
Reading.

Walk. 35mins, 2.86k. This was just a little gentle one, checking out the Cork Oak trail that I remembered as being something fine for my mum. Someone seemed to have the great idea of making it a little more interesting for people on wheels, so there are numerous swells added - not great big lumps, but enough to let you know you're going up a small mound and down the other side. So now it's not quite so easy. There are plenty of places for people to ride their bikes etc - why couldn't this have been left for walkers? I also went to the Himalayan Cedars but that brief walk left me unsatisfied today too. Perhaps it was because there were ... people!

Interesting what you can do with chain and a spot of solder...


So you know where you are... Even though it's still pretty green. It's been a fairly mild summer.

 

[CODawn]

Cool!

 

[Anek]

Wow!

 

[NancyTree]

Congrats on Unbound!
Nice shorts!

 

[Haleth]

Congratulations on Unbound!

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @NancyTree and @Haleth

Programmes:
Unbound Day 2
Code of Abs Day 19
8 Weeks to 5k Day 56 - But this isn't over because I've still got to do all those knee-centric days I'd missed. This morning, donning those amazing go-faster blue shorts, I headed out. Walked initially to warm up then I set the FitBit recording (because that was the thing that'd show the 5k sans warm-up but I did it to a ZR 5k run - see below) and began to run. Trot. Plod. Move at slightly faster than a walking pace. Which I kept up. All. The. Way. The last bit was difficult. Around here, choosing a totally flat route is impossible, and no matter which way I had gone, the way home would still have been uphill. So the last bit was a decided stagger (shows red on the picture!).

And I thank all those who encouraged and advised me. And, of course, most thanks goes to the blue shorts!

The FitBit recorded the total 5k as taking 39'20" (so just a bit more than the 30-35 minutes today's programme ws expecting, but not too bad) with a pace of 7'52"/k.

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 14
Wall Push-ups Day 28
Walk and Run Day 14
Warrior Arms Day 12
No Sugar Day 14

Writing.
Reading. Finished another book.

Had to go out today to return my library books. Decided to buy myself a treat after that running but I couldn't find yoghurt frogs anywhere - not that I could have had them until day after tomorrow because of the No Sugar challenge, but they were the only thing I fancied. So I bought a book instead. Which will last longer. And also contains no sugar.

 

[Tileenah]

So I bought a book instead. Which will last longer. And also contains no sugar.

Well... Depends if you count cellulose or not... You just can' t digest it
Congrats on your run! These shorts are making lots of progresses!

 

[HellYeah]

I assume these shorts are those secret new carbon shorts noone is allowed to talk about, they gave you the extra bounce.
Congratulations

 

[TopNotch]

Thanks, @Tileenah (I'm not sure how much 'sugar' would be left in bleached wood pulp... Mind you, this book isn't too hard to digest!) and @HellYeah (I really can't say )

Programmes:
Unbound Day 3
Code of Abs Day 20
8 Weeks to 5k Days 34 and 37

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 15
Wall Push-ups Day 29
Walk and Run Day 15
Warrior Arms Day 13
No Sugar Day 15

ZR 5k training. Week 1 Workout 1. Started with a 10min walk so, as I was still about 2k short of my 30k for the Nature Walk challenge, walked for that (but had also to include the walk at the end of the training to get enough distance!), and after drills, did a 10min run. I did the last part of it going down the fairly rough dirt track, which was fun. I wasn't at all focused on speed but just on running. Oh, and on my knees which were saying terrible things to me all day!
Boxing. None today - it's a public holiday.

Writing.
Reading.

 

[Tileenah]

I hope your knees get better soon!

 

[TopNotch]

Programmes:
Unbound Day 4
Code of Abs Day 21
8 Weeks to 5k Day 41 The text said side-to-side lunges, the graphic showed forward lunges, the knee said it'd do side-to-sides today but forget anything about forward, so I did side-to-side lunges, even though I think if there is a disparity, we're supposed to go by the graphic...

Challenges:
Upperbody Light Day 16
Wall Push-ups Day 30
Knee Push-ups Day 1
Walk and Run Day 16
Warrior Arms Day 14
Daily Hug Day 1

Taekwondo training. Seemed over very quickly today. We did punches and strikes to paddles which is always fun. We worked hook kick while lying on the floor with a partner holding a paddle, then hook and turning kick. Also fun but hard on the hips. Then we stood up and did it all again. And suddenly it was home time. Must have been a good session to go so fast!

Writing.
Reading.

 

[Fremen]

Congrats on wall push-ups

 

[Anek]

Congrats on the challenge!

 

[daejamurrachan]

Congo Rats for Wall Push-Ups!

 

[Haleth]

Congratulations on Wall Push-ups!

 

[Lady Celerity]

Congrats on the wall push ups!

 

[CODawn]

Congratulations!