156 Days Until Trip - Day 3 of Training / Diet

Wednesday 31st December 2014

Today's plan of action is

Hmm.....not particularly looking forward to the plank jump-ins or shoulder taps but hey they have to be done.

Things going ok but around 21:00 to 22:00 nightly I'm struggling with the "Food Monster" so need to figure something out. Always told not to eat after 19:00 but at night is MY danger zone. I used to eat boiled eggs or a chicken breast at this time before (when I was trying healthy). Will put thinking cap on and I'll let you know.......might just go back to that again.

Have also being asked what I'm eating. 

Breakfast is porridge with banana, goji berries,, sesame seeds, honey, flaked almonds or omelette or spinach omelette or blended fruits with porridge oats added.

Lunch chicken or canned fish and fruit. 

At the moment dinner is the stew I made up of vegetables (carrots, red onion, turnip, sweetcorn, peppers - 3 colours, garlic, cabbage, Brussel sprouts) with diced beef and leftover turkey, made up with stock cubes and oxtail soup. 

I only drink green tea and water anyway so continued with that, As it stands its like that but meals obviously will change as I get more organised but I will cook enough for a few days at a time to make sure I can't slip.
__________________________________________________________

Feeling sore today and expect to feel like that for a week or two while my body adapts and wonders WTF I'm at :-) It is hard to see how I'm going to do this when I have so much weight to lose and so much fitness to gain, I'm actually a bit worried and scared about the prospect. 

Over next few days, people will be making New Years Resolutions and I am the same, except you know mine and if not they are in the bio to the right. However in order to make this achievable and comfortable within the mind game I have too deal with.....I'm making a lot of smaller resolutions.

And my first one is made up of three parts

1. Lose 7 lbs in weight
2. Stay active 5 days a week including (Cycle/turbo train for 3-4 times a week)
3. Eat clean

__________________________________________________________

As for exercise today, first off have to share a picture. a friend sent me privately. I think it's very funny so I'm sharing it publicly.

Brilliant...lol :-)

My 60 mins cardio was a wet walk but I did what was prescribed. Then and all's I'm going to say about the bodyweight stuff other than the lunges is I'll let you know how they feel when I'm fitter...did not like them but it just could be as I'm tired today. 

Now as it's that time of year 

Keep smiling...see you tomorrow :-)

157 Days Until Trip - Day 2 of Training / Diet

Tuesday 30th December 2014

Got through day 1 without any damage and day two so far is ok.

The 30 Days of Change plan for today is 
  

but before I even thought about this I had an extra club cycle to do. 

This morning was a lot milder than late and fine but we soon discovered it was quiet windy out.

19 members turned up and we headed from our meeting point in Supervalu up to Carrick-on-Suir via Mooncoin where we stopped for tea/coffee. Now here I learned where my friends were....some had "double" chocolate muffins......oh yeah...friends :-)

I opted for nothing but in hindsight I should have got a banana as I suffered on way home around the 50k mark. 

Some returned the way we left with others, myself included heading home via Portlaw and Kilmeaden. I finished with a 2:51:28 and a distance of 63.9 kilometres.....so not a bad 
morning.

That being said I was *%$£"^^£" which loosely translates to I was wrecked 
(tired for my US viewers) and could easily have gone to bed.
















After relaxing for the afternoon I started into today's planned 
exercise .....simple, how hard could it be, a few star jumps and high knees -
no bother to me. 

OMG I was only on the first set at the twenty part of the pyramid.....
1,2,3,4,5,6,7...8..9..10....11....14....15...16.......17.............18..........19.......
20 and then finished the first set. Up to two minutes rest between sets......
hey I needed twenty minutes. 

With two minutes taken....EXACTLY...
..the full allowed time, I completed the 3 sets, and I felt like

         
I still had the other exercises to do yet, planks and wall sits.
With my arms and legs shaking, they too got done but not a pretty
picture.

All in all and joking aside I had a great day and ate right again.

So for now..keep smiling :-)

158 Days Until Trip - Day 1 of Training / Diet

Day 1 - Monday 29th December 2014....time to start

It's here, pigging out done and dusted.......158 days to lose 4.27 stone - 59.8 lbs - 27.18 kilo and to get fit. This is the weight as I actually am today and obviously these are target weights so if I only achieve a 3 stone loss, that's still a massive difference and will help me on my trip....so as near to my goal is the aim :-)

If weather is too cold, wet or windy I HAVE to use the turbo, no excuses. If I had a cycle planned before and the weather wasn't great I'd skip it and plan on getting on turbo but that never happened. I can't afford that train of thought any longer....no excuses, no tomorrows, the time is now the time is today.

To start this week I plan on biking three times and bodyweight exercises every day. I'm using a website http://neilarey.com for these, as all routines are free to download. I'm starting with the 
"30 Days of Change" 
which I think is appropriate in my case.

I've started with level 1 and later on down the road I'll repeat these but at a different level....for now it's about getting started. 

Ok training done now and day one just over. Diet wise I was 100% and keeping track on portion sizes which is very easy by measuring and using myfitnesspal.com where I input my food.

Presently preparing a stew with leftover turkey and ham so that will make dinners easier. 

I have friends and family who are ready to kick my butt should I lapse....but once I get over first few weeks I'm hoping things will go ok. I'm dreading detoxing off bad foods and soreness from exercise but every one goes through it so all part of the journey. 

That's it for today.....keep smiling :-)

159 Days Until Trip

Last Pig Out Day

Tomorrow is the day when I have to finally start and get my act in gear....BUT that's tomorrow.....it's Pig Out day.......one has to go out in style.

To be honest I'm not going to go crazy....just Subway for Breakfast, Tbay for cake, Mc Donald's for lunch, Dominos for tea, yup, taking it easy alright....only joking probably go to Mc Donald's for breakfast too lol...I'm not, I'm joking. 

I wan't too bad today but my friends are lining up to kick my butt into gear if I don't do it and I've learned that from my interaction with Facebook.......annoying one or two of them is scarier that what I have to achieve.........can I change my mind now ?????

No need as I'm ready, just threw out sweets and next check to make sure that all other junk is gone too, then all focus is towards starting........wish me luck for tomorrow. 

Tomorrows goals are;

1. Weigh myself and get few measurements

2. Start exercising 

3. Start on diet

4. Stay focussed

So for now, keep smiling :-)

160 Days Until Trip

Christmas Spin To Hook Head Lighthouse

Today I cycled with the my club The Biscuit Cycling Club (found on Face Book) on our after Christmas spin to Hook Head lighthouse. It was great to see 50 of us turn up.

Was a lovely fresh day for a spin....cold but lovely. The excess of the last few days, ok weeks.......oh alright months  took their toll on me climbing up hill outside Arthurstown, but I did it anyway.  The thing is for the next few months’ there is going to be no easy way....I just have to do the miles. Like everything, the ground work has to be done first.

Now how do you know you’ve over done it with bad diet and underdone it with exercise......I tell you how.....when one of your cycling buddies returns after major heart surgery and passes you out on a mountain/hill/speed bump....ok slight drag. Yup there I am in my low gears, when he passes me by with his legs spinning like mad. But what they didn’t know is I was leaving him pass me just so he could feel better.......I wish :p

Diet wise I wasn’t too bad today but I do plan to go out in style tomorrow night before I start in to training proper tomorrow.

That's it for now, keep smiling :-)

161 Days Until Trip

St Stephens Day

Today is the day that most people regret about the indulgences of yesterday, but by lunch repeat them all over again and I'm not going to be the exception. Monday 29th is when I'm going to begin my plan of action, training & diet to be weaned in by end of January and that way I should be successful. On the first of each month until my trip I'm going to have a cheat day but only on the first as I really need to be fit and healthier before I go.

So for now I'll show you the plan of The Trip for next year

The reason why I picked this route was simply because it's an existing route so easy to follow but that being said, I plan on changing t along the way if needs be, going more a long the coast or whatever or if I'm really struggling I'll hop on a train to my next planned location but it's going to be a fluid, I'll see what happens when I'm there.  Here's my route as currently planned.

Some days easy and some hard but overall I should be well fit by then so that I can face all obstacles with the last two days being the hardest as will be in the Pyrenees. That's the plan, next the training :-)

For the last few years I've being planning on a trip but keep putting it off for various reasons, but ferry, flight, camping gear, hotels first and last day are all sorted and paid for so I cannot chicken out. The last time I toured unsupported I was 16 so hopefully I'll be able to update my picture.

Keep smiling :-)

Blog Begins - 162 Days Until Trip

Christmas 2014 - PIG OUT Time

Hi and welcome to my very first post of this blog which I've decided I'm going to do about my trip next year and also about my journey to get ready for my trip. Not the normal time to start especially when I plan to lose so much weight but pigging out is why I'm where I am and Christmas is the king of pig outs....well turkey outs :-)

No this is not my day one of training but rather my last few days of indulgence. For breakfast I had a fry which to be honest if I had twice a year it would be a lot but I felt like it an I had it and I cooked up all the sausages, rashers and puddings and dished up my helping and then cut up the rest to give to my two cats....that way I can't go completely mad. 

Later like most it'll be the turkey dinner followed by an afternoon and evening, eating sweets and drinking sodas...non drinker so no alcohol for me.

As for my trip, well I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to tell you about it......hey it's Christmas after all.

Enjoy your day wherever you are.......keep smiling :-)