Tag Archives: NSV

Zandvoort II

Posted on by Renée
3

(I realize now I haven’t even done a race re-cap for Groet aan Schoorl, the race I did in February…)

This past Sunday I participated in the 4th annual Zandvoort Circuit Run, a race near and dear to my heart as it’s the first race I’ve ever participated in last year. That’s right, my very first race wasn’t a 5K or a 10K, no I had to go straight for the 12K. I remember being extremely nervous about it, not knowing what to expect, except for being freaked out about the 3KM I would have to run on the beach. I remember also at that point, I had only been running for about a year AND I’d had an operation on my foot just four months prior to the event. I was (and still am) on my company’s running team and we were ALL doing the 12K and raising money for charity.

This year, my anniversary race, was a different experience. First of all, I have I think 8 or 9 races under my belt, so I don’t feel super nervous anymore. Secondly, this year my team was split up, some of us doing the 5k and some doing the 12K. I remember last year I had too much stuff with me and I felt uncomfortable leaving things behind (even though we had a special place to put everything). This year I could bring whatever I wanted because Hubs decided he was well enough (untrained) to do the 5K and I was signed up for the 12. These races started at different times so we didn’t have to leave our stuff anywhere. Last year I didn’t even think about bringing dry clothes with me, or extra food, this year I was fully prepared, plus I was able to bring my camera!

Team Photo

Hubs at Left, M with sunglasses

A tiny part of the circuit

Getting ready in our corral

This time was also different because the weather was AMAZING! Last year was grey and cold and windy, but Sunday was blue skies and sun! It was still a bit cool out, but while running it was pretty darn hot! We started on the racing circuit (the 5K our guys ran the hour before, but we only did 4K of it) which I still found rather challenging. I notice that people generally start off at the speed of light and last year I felt kind of intimidated by it all… now that I know myself and I know what my pace is, I just went at a pace I could handle up and around the curves of the track. I was already incredibly hot just after even 10 minutes and dying of thirst (which rarely happens!!) so I knew I had to pace myself to make it through to the first water station without losing it!

The Masses before the start

Last year the beach was impossible, really; people were falling all over the place, even one of my team mates was pushed down (and she got up, chased after the guy and punched him in the face…). I had to walk a lot of the beach part just because it was so difficult and I’d never run on the beach before. This time the beach was perfect for the most part! Packed sand and pretty easy to maneuver. It was so gorgeous and I felt really privileged to be taking part of this event at that very moment.

Beach Running

I ran the whole beach part (approx 3 KM) until the dune at the end that we had to go up and that I had to walk (I may never know what it’s like to RUN up a sand dune!). I caught my breath at the top and carried on, passing the 8 KM mark noticing the time was pretty favourable at that point. Then we ran through the town – this is my favourite part of the course; people everywhere, cheering, marching bands playing, such a great vibe. A few times I “ran into” one of my team mates, checked in with each other (thumbs up, question mark look on face, thumbs up in return, nods) but around 10K he was walking a bit and I decided to just go for it. 2K to go it had to be a piece of cake from there… 11K home stretch, and then crossing the line at 12K at 1:25:23 exactly 3 minutes earlier than last year. YES!

Afterwards we caught up with several team members and had a look at the charity we had raised money for this year, Shelter Box, in which our team personally obtained 10 boxes (and 800 are going to Japan this week) AND I ran into a couple of girls who also had skirts on from www.runningskirts.com, but found out they actually sell those skirts here in the Netherlands at Hiphardlopen. No more having to order from the States! Whoo Hoo!

We headed off to the boulevard to enjoy post-race beers and a chat (me, Hubs, my running inspiration M, his boyfriend and another colleague from work) and too soon we had to leave the West again to return home.

Next race is the Half-Marathon in Utrecht, which I’m totally unprepared for, but am going to do anyway. There is something I am also coming to terms with; I really can not go much faster than I did one year ago (I can run for longer periods, but not really faster), and I’m sure it’s my weight that keeps me from that. In accepting this, the importance becomes more about doing it rather than having amazing time. If I finish the Half within 2:30 I will be happy with that. The point is to keep going. I can be angry and hate my body for giving up on me (in not losing any more weight) or I can embrace and be amazed that my body can run, bike, walk. I’m active, I’m enjoying it and I’m committed and that’s what counts, right?

Other races: Zuidas in Amsterdam (8K), end of May, Westervoort (10K) in July, Dam tot Damloop in September (16K), Seven Hills (15K) in Nijmegen in November. I’m actually considering other races but haven’t signed up and/or committed in my head yet to them. I think it would actually be nice at this point to do a race a month. Stay tuned.

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The 30 Day No Scale Challenge

Posted on by Renée
4

As I mentioned, I’m taking part in Alan’s 30 Day No Scale Challenge.

I weighed in on Sunday, 25th of July, as the challenge indicated at 79.7KG or 175 lbs for you non-metric people. This is, in fact, the same weight as last week, not even one ounce off or on. Earlier in the week I was down almost a pound, but then of course I had my chocolate fest and drank a butt-load of wine this weekend so that didn’t really help me stay on the downward trend.

Let me first say, I’m cool with 79.7KG for several reasons, but the most important reasons are 1) It’s under 80, even if by only 300 grams, it’s under 80, which is a good milestone for me (last time I went to New Mexico, for example, four years ago, I weighed 101KG) and 2) There’s actually nothing wrong with 79.7KG. I feel good, I feel healthy, I feel like I’m getting stronger every day. So. That’s fine.

Alan suggested that we hide our scale or give it to a friend. I’m not going to do that. I want to be able to stop myself from getting on the scale and the only way I can do that is to keep it around. It’s high up so I have to make an effort to take it down and I am sure I’ll be able to stop myself, should the desire be there within the next month.

Alan also suggested that we make a few notes about what worries us most and be mindful and make notes afterwards on how the experience is. He is so right when he said:

Keep in mind this challenge is not about the “number” at the end of the 30 days. Its about learning to live without letting the scale dictate how we feel about ourselves. Its about looking in the mirror and feeling good because you fit into those jeans that were once small on you, or noticing some new muscle definition, or just thinking to yourself WOW I look great today.

I totally believe in this statement! The past several months, I have been working on myself with the idea that the number is NOT the most important thing in all of this. There are so many other important factors. I’m all about my clothes fitting nicely, reaching my fitness goals, setting new goals and pushing the limits.

But I do worry sometimes. Of course I do. I worry that if I don’t keep an eye on it, I can easily let it get out of control. It only took 2 days back at work to send me to the candy jar. What if I don’t weigh myself? What else can I do to make sure that I at the very least maintain this weight that I’ve worked pretty hard to get to in the last year and a half?

I can keep working on my fitness.
I can track my daily intake.
I can be mindful of my stress moments.
I can do everything in my power to make my time work for me (and not give my time away unnecessarily).

I don’t really need the scale to tell me that I am doing some pretty amazing stuff here! So 30-Day Challenge, Bring it On!!!

Project 42:2

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
5

The Update (written Sunday 25th April, before my 6K race in Amsterdam)

 It’s actually been a great week all things considering.

 Since I decided how I am going to go about my Plan, I really have focused on it, on my health, my choices and my commitment to myself, without the pressure of having to be perfect or *having* to face the scale.

It has not been perfect.  Not far from it but not close either.  In tracking my intake on my WW program I found out two things:

My daily points are 29.  I seem to always go over 29 (that’s ok, I have 49 “free points” a week or even 7 extra a day if you split it up that way).  Striving for 29 and then failing each time was causing me stress, therefore, it’s a given I will go over and will use from my free points and completely ok (no guilt).  The second thing – I exercise enough, nearly daily,  to justify those 2 – 3 extra points a day.  In theory I should be able to have my 49 points left for the weekend to use, if I have a week without any extracurricular activities.

I wanted to hit 50 in exercise points.  That also did not happen.  I did stay active up until Friday, though Monday was officially my rest day.  Tuesday was running, pushups and sit-ups, Wednesday was cycling and Thursday I did my pushups and sit-ups.  I wanted to go to the gym two times last week and I didn’t make it.

This leads me to questioning whether I should still go to the gym.  At 48 per month it seems a bit of a waste if I only make it 4 times in that month.  This is so annoying to me and I don’t know how to make it work.  I’m actually really enjoying the gym and the Zumba classes when I go now, so I don’t want to quit, but I wish I could really make it work even though I work so far away from home and my commute is 4 hours a day.  I’m going to have to think about this.  I have an elliptical at home, it’s about 10 years old now and I’m not really using it much anymore (though it came in handy this winter when it was freezing out) and I’m thinking about getting rid of it.  There are other things going on that need to be dealt with in my apartment, namely a certain 12-year old who will be needing her own room soon, and I really won’t have room for the elliptical anymore if we have to make space for that.

I had a LOT of victories last week.  There was quite a lot of stress at work again and I didn’t give in to any of the stress through emotional eating.  Another victory was leaving food on my plate when I had enough.  Being that I am from the generation of the Clean Plate Club, this is big for me.  I tracked every single day from Monday to yesterday (though I did not fill everything in for yesterday because I was afraid the whole program would blow up – too many points over).  So even though I went over from Thursday onwards, I tracked.  This is major.  Another major victory – I actually looked at myself in the mirror and didn’t make disgusting faces at what I saw.  I felt good.  I even felt like I looked pretty hot one day.  It’s a great feeling to like yourself!

Tracking helps a lot.  It actually gives me an idea of what works and what doesn’t.  I think knowing this I can kind of stick to the same items during the week (when it’s a normal work week) and feel good that I am on track without hardly even thinking about it.  I went off plan a bit Thursday because I was invited to a special posh lunch with media from all over Europe, which was three course and included wine and coffee tastings.  I didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation; it’s not every day this happens.

So I tracked, I moved, I didn’t give in to emotional / stress eating.  No matter what the numbers, this was a successful week.

Improvement areas are:  gym, and my 100 pushups and 200 sit-ups programs.  I did not get to Day 3 of Week 1/ Week 3 yet and I’m not sure when I will.  So I think I will restart that this week.  Better to restart than give up.

Plans for the new week:

This week will be tricky for several reasons.

 1)      Concert tonight in Amsterdam, means eating out for dinner

2)      Queens’ Night/ Queens’ Day Thursday and Friday – this is a major national holiday for us.  There will be booze and food involved.  One good thing though – we have the kids this weekend which means I won’t be totally wankered on Friday, since I kind of need to be sober to be a decent parent, right? But Thursday night we will most definitely go out

3)      That certain 12-year old I mentioned earlier?  I promised to make cupcakes with her this weekend. 

What I’m going to do

1)      Running – Tuesday

2)      Gym – Wednesday

3)      Running – Friday midday or Saturday morning

4)      Gym – Sunday

 And of course get my pushups and sit-ups in this week.

Tomorrow I’ll post about my 6K run in Amsterdam!

Without Even Trying

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
7

Today is the 9th day in a row that I’ve done some sort of activity.

Now that isn’t much really if you think about it.  I mean, if you want to talk about someone making a an effort to move every single day then you would definitely need to look at Kat, who is an amazing inspiration for daily activity!

It started with my bike ride on Easter Monday.  I only went out for fun, to enjoy the day, get some fresh air and get some movement in.  It ended up being nearly 30KM as you all know.

Then on the Tuesday I went back to Zumba.  I did a Zumba technique class so I would feel like such an uncoordinated dork with all the different moves, but I hadn’t actually been back to a regular class.

On Wednesday I went running.  Since I’m signed up for the Zuidas 6KM in Amsterdam, I’ve been working on reaching that 6KM within a certain period of time (my initial thought was 40 – 45 min, but I can do it under 40!).  Hubs went with me (because the way he supports me is to also go along with the running and the different events.  That’s just how he rolls.), we had a good run, a great dinner afterwards and went to bed exhausted.

But he woke up in the middle of the night sick.  Like deathly ill.  I’ve never seen or heard him that ill before.  With him up in the middle of the night, that meant that I was up in the middle of the night.  I think we must have fallen back asleep around 3.45 or so.  With him being ill that meant no ride to the train station for my morning trip to work.  So I biked to the train station, and back home afterwards on Thursday.

On Friday he was still ill.  So I cycled again.  Then I went running after work.

On Saturday I got up fairly early to spend the day with my girlfriend shopping in Germany (just over the border really, to Oberhausen).  We spent the whole day shopping, talking, eating, drinking coffee.  We arrived back at Arnhem at around 5.30pm – she went home and then later Hubs and I rode our bikes to the train station to meet her again and her husband for dinner.  So more cycling to and from the station.

On Sunday we met with friends in Utrecht.  Again, cycling to and from the station.

Yesterday hubs needed another day at home, so I hopped on my bike again.  And I ran in the evening.

And here we are at Tuesday.  Hubs is going to the doctor this morning, so I’m on the bike again.

And you know what?  It feels good.  I am fully functional.  I can feel the strength in my legs, the power (and a little pain, but that’s ok) when I’m pushing up the hills (which seems to be the only hills in this country, right here in the town I live in).  I really like it.  This is what I missed the most when I was very fit and at my ideal weight several years ago.  I don’t have to miss it anymore.  This is what I do.

(I’m off to Zumba tonight too.  I was planning on a day off tomorrow, but I’m kind of liking this movement thing I’ve got going on!)

Not Funny, Clever, Famous or Glamourous

Posted on by Pinky @lowfatpie
8

But just me.

And today I kicked ass.  Finally.

How did I kick ass?

Well.  Perhaps it’s not an ass-kicking like climbing 96 flights of stairs in record time, running 10 miles at lunch or doing TurboJam before work.  In fact, I didn’t even exercise today.

So, how on earth did I kick ass?

I got up.  I put my prepared breakfast and lunch together.  I left for work.  I ate my fruit and vegetables.  I stuck to my plan.  I ate everything on my list.  I did not deviate.  I had no chocolate.  No extra latte.  I drank my water. I dealt with time-crunch and stress.   I didn’t even leave the office until almost 7pm and when I did, I listened to podcasts that inspired me on the way home.  THAT’s how I kicked ass.

I just needed one day and I did it.  And tomorrow I’m going to do it again.  Because I have loads of people out there inspiring me, giving me the message that I can do this.  So I’m on it and I’m going to make them proud. Most of all, I’m going to make me proud.

In fact, I already am!  Monday, you’ve just met your maker!