#GiveIt100

At the start of the year, I signed up for #GiveIt100 with the aim of focussing on healthy eating and making sensible food choices for 100 days. Unfortunately, I got thrown off track by some personal events and have struggled to get back on track again.

I know a treat every now and again is part of a balanced life, but indulging at Sprinkles with waffles like this is not healthy:

Tomorrow, I’m working in London and I know it’s going to be a hectic day, but I’m going to commit myself to my goal again. It’s going to be tough, but losing weight is the only way that I will meet my goal of getting a PB at Southampton Half Marathon.

I’ve been preparing healthy food at home. I intend to have frittata with spinach for lunch this week, and have a lovely selection of grains and pulses that I’m going to experiment with this week.

If you’ve any great vegetarian recipes that include amaranth, please share them 🙂

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I’ve read a number of interesting articles relating to nutrition recently:

• How to attain your target body fat percentage
• What 200 calories look like in different foods

Round up of my first week of a crazy year

I’ve set so many goals for myself that 2015 is going to be a crazy hectic year.

I’ve already got back to some training, but I can’t train outside on my bike at the moment and I’m also not back to swimming yet, so I’ve been doing a lot of running. I’ve also been trying to inspire new runners and have been focusing on healthy eating, which is really hard when people keep bringing in to the office boxes of chocolates and biscuits that they didn’t eat at Christmas. I swear that I’m based in an office full of feeders, but I’m resisting them all! I tracking my progress with healthy eating using Giveit100. Follow me at: https://giveit100.com/@tamsynsmith/hdhzbl My terrible videos are also appearing on Instagram, as that seems to be the easiest way to upload them to Giveit100

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

• Monday: 10k tempo run with LRR
• Tuesday: 1 hour spin with SUTRI (and my first ride on a real bike since before my op! I’m now allowed to commute to work on my bike again, thank goodness!)
• Wednesday: Coaching LRR – which involved doing some squats and some light jogging with some new/returning from injury runners
• Thursday: This was #run2workday. I didn’t feel I could fit in any more running, so I led my first workplace beginners’ running group session. Two of my colleagues came – one of whom is a relatively experienced runner who has had a couple of years off and the other who is a complete novice. The day started with torrential rain, but by the time we went out, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous. We had a fun jog/walk session and I appreciated the opportunity to leave the office and get some fresh air – I must do it more often, as I’m spending too much time at a screen these days.
  In the evening, I did a 5000m track session with STC. I started out way too fast, but settled down for the second 400m. I was a little way back from one of the guys who swims in my lane, and finally managed to catch up with him at about 2.2km. It was very windy at the track, so I decided to tuck in behind the other runner for 200m to try to conserve energy. It was my slowest km, but I think it helped me in the end as I was feeling tired before I started. At about 4.8km, Donna caught up with me, but I think he shoelace came undone, so in the end, I didn’t have anyone to sprint against. Hopefully next time there will be a few more runners who are my pace or slightly faster so that I get dragged along. I’m hopeful that I can get another sub 25 minute 5k time again soon.
  When I got home, I received an email from RunKeeper:
  I’m not really sure that I deserve it, but I’ll take it! 🙂
• Friday: This was rest day… and I was so glad that it was.
• Saturday: I started the day with a parkrun. I love going, but I know that I’m going to have to swap some runs for swims this year. I might alternate until I’ve done my half marathon in April, before switching to swimming almost every week. I was feeling quite tired after Thursday night’s track session, so I didn’t push too hard and was pleased to finish in 26:37.
  
  In the evening, I made some ‘addictive sweet potato burritos‘… only, I didn’t really make burritos, they were more like tacos as my tortillas were a bit small, so I didn’t fold them up. I liked the recipe and may try them again.
• Sunday: Today was the first of the Marafun training runs as part of the build up to Southampton Half Marathon. We did an 8.64km run at a 5:33/km pace (but Stuart threw in some killer intervals). I was tired, so it felt hard, but I know I can do this. Chris was out in town filming the runners – I’m wearing the turquoise calf guards in this video:  https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1574997442718965

I think next week will be equally busy, especially as it will include my first race of the year: Stubbington 10k.

I’ve run Stubbington 3 times before:

• 2012: 53:03
• 2013: 55:14
• 2014: 55:17

My 10k PB is 51:06 set at Eastleigh in March 2012. At that time, 25:33 was my PB for 5k, and I know I’m faster than that now, so there’s hope that I might be able to squeak a PB at Stubbington (or at least stop my downward trend!)

What have I been reading this week?

• Freeplay – a free online endurance sports magazine for women.
• Why open water swimming is the trend of 2015

This infographic on cycling equipment:

Overall, this week it’s been a relief to have a gentle introduction back into my exercise routine.

Giveit100 – what am I focusing on?

I’ve started my Giveit100 challenge today:

I’m going to focus on healthy eating and making sensible food choices for 100 days.

This morning I weighed myself. The scales read 67.2kg, which is 148lbs or 10st 8lbs. It’s not horrendous, but my goal weight is 10kg (22lbs) lighter, as I want to weigh 126lbs or 9st. I got down to that weight when I did Weight Watchers and I think it’s possible for me to get back there. I know that if I lose weight, I will find it easier to run and it should also help with my asthma.

I’m not following a set diet. My intention is to do my best to make healthy choices and to track what I eat. I’m not going to use an app like MyFitnessPal as I end up getting frustrated with how long it takes to find everything online. I’m not going to count calories and I’m not going to think about WW points. Instead, I intend to just write down everything I eat, so that I’m more conscious of what I’m putting into my body.

I’m not going to share my entire food diary here, but when I do, please feel free to comment. I don’t always eat enough protein and I need to make sure that I get enough iron.

Today started with 30g porridge (made with water, as usual) and some dried mango. I know dried fruit is quite calorific, but it tastes nice and is better than eating oatsosimple or some other ready-made breakfast. I drank a pint of water, but since then I’ve only had a large mug of Earl Grey tea, so I should drink some more. I also had a couple of chocolates in the office (a malteaser and a Bounty from a box of Celebrations – oops!) I\m not going to beat myself up about this – I’ve managed to ignore the entire box of chocolate biscuits all morning.

For lunch I had a lovely salad. I decided not to have my usual salad with smoked cheese and instead opted for half an avocado with six cherry tomatoes and some rocket (arugula) and watercress. I’ve also got a couple of raw carrots and a small Granny Smith apple as snacks. I have a banana, but I might not eat it.

For tea, I intend to eat some of the chilli that I made yesterday with some rice. I may eat a yoghurt later if I am hungry.