The Moiderer

Marathon week 2 training–Done

That’s it. I have completed my second week of marathon training and stuck to everything. In fact, I am finding the rest days that hardest part of it! Today I ran for all but 5 minutes of my 90 minute run. It was an easy effort run but still I was happy with that. I know now I can run the 26 miles even if I do it at an easy pace. Now it’s all about conditioning and improving.

I got today’s run a bit miscalculated and thought I needed to run a couple of minutes longer to hit 7 miles (the treadmill is in km). In the end I ran 7.43 miles. Nice.

I used my new iPod Nano with a Nike sensor to track it. My Garmin Forerunner 405cx is GPS based and only works outside.

Anyway, since I started tracking my running in August, here are my stats

Not too shabby eh?

1st ever play date

We’ve never done a play date before. We don’t really have any friends nearby with kids. So the little one very much lives the life of an only child. This is why we were so keen to get her to pre-school asap – so she could get the interaction with other kids.

She loves it and thrives on the social aspects of school. So far, since school has been off for Xmas she’s been asking to go to school to see her friends every day. Lots.

In the end I emailed the mother of her best friend and school and suggested they come over one day through the holidays for a play date. Soon we had managed to arrange that her friend, S, would come over and play on Friday.

The little one was VERY excited about this. Apparently so was S.

So at about 10am yesterday morning, S turned up on our doorstep with her mum and dad, and after a quick goodbye they left, telling me to phone them when I wanted S picking up.

Frankly it was a bit of a shock (for S too!) I had expected her mother to stay with her. At least for a while. But that is probably just me not knowing how things work. S has an older sister so her mother will have done this kind of thing often.

Anyway, I brought S into our lounge and took her coat and shoes off.

She then sat on the floor quietly. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t smile. Now this is not normal for S – she is a very vocal child!

So the little one danced around trying to bring her out of her shell

But nothing was working. So I sent them both upstairs together to play in the little one’s room. And using all my restraint to go against my instincts, I left them to it.

Within minutes I could hear S’s voice. 5 minutes later they both trotted downstairs hand in hand and that’s the way the rest of the day went

Having an older sister, S was used to manipulating and bossing to try and get her own way. Whilst the little one is not used to this, I was very proud of the way she held her own and they played wonderfully together until 3pm without a single tear.

We discovered that having 2 kids in the house is way easier than 1. They totally entertained each other. I was actually bored. I didn’t want to get into anything in case they needed me but I also had no role to play! In the end I put some fitness games on the Xbox Kinect and had a bit of fun punching blocks!

After a while I made Rice Crispie cakes with them both which we all had a fab time doing

I made them and us Flatbread GF pizza for lunch which is a brilliant lunch because it is so yummy that we can all eat the same thing. The little one and S scoffed all their pizza up and then had a rice crispie cake after.

Later on the little one got the iPad out and put some Peppa Pig episodes on. This had them both enthralled.

In the end, it was a great day and I’m glad she was dropped off at the house. We all learnt a lot from the play date but the little one learnt a huge amount about playing with someone else, sharing, compromise etc.

S did not want to go home and her mother had to take her kicking and screaming to the car, in the snow

The little one and S both want to repeat this as soon as possible. I am nervous of taking her up to S’s house and leaving her there. This is my problem to be honest. We agreed we’d do another play date soon and I might suggest they come here again. I know it’s my issue but I’m really not ready to leave her at someone else’s house yet.

Top viewed post by percentage 2011

All that deep and meaningful stuff and you just want to read my slow cooker recipes eh?

Thinking Slimmer–End of year edition

I started Thinking Slimmer in May 2011. Since then:

• I have lost 4 stone (56lbs, 25.5kg)
• I have lost 4 sizes (now UK size 14)

You know how you read in magazines “ I lost x stone on this amazing diet” or hear about those people who win weight loss awards? You read about these other people that did it. Or you watch the “half tonne man” programmes on TV, asking yourself how people let themselves get like that whilst stuffing another crisp in your mouth.

Because you know, that is not you. These are the mythical people on the telly. They are not real people like you.

I have never been as big as I was after giving birth to the little one 3 years ago. But I have been overweight for a long time. I have lost weight before. I have worked really hard and I know I can do it.

Each time, at some point when I stopped dieting, the weight went back on. And more and more.

I spent my life feeling guilty for what I ate. Oh no, that has carbs in it. Oh no that has sugar. Oh no that’s not low fat. I could never take a mouthful of food without the guilt. And yet I was still eating it all. And gaining weight.

That is no way to live your life!

When I found Thinking Slimmer, I lost the guilt . And I lost the weight.

I don’t need to think about everything I eat because I can trust my subconscious to stop me when I’ve had enough.

Over this Christmas I ate my roast turkey dinner.

I ate chocolates

I ate Christmas pudding

I ate my gingerbread house

And over 2 weeks I lost 5lbs. Because my subconscious stops me eating too much.

And because I’m not on a diet, I can’t ‘stop’ and pile the weight back on. It is a permanent change in me. I have taken 6 black bin bags of clothes to the charity shop. They are too big and I will never need them again.

I still have some way to go to reach my target size. But I am on the road now and there are no junctions to take so it will get me to where I’m going.

Eat what you like, you don’t need willpower. Thinking Slimmer really does what it says on the tin.

Reflections from 2011 into 2012

Last year I blogged about the year ahead. I was remarkably optimistic I thought! But I liked the way it worked out so will do the same for this year.

 

What can I say about the year that’s just passed?

For once I’m not thinking “good riddance, at last”

I’m actually planning for the year ahead

I’m not dreading the days, I’m excited instead

 

So what’s driven such a big change in my thinking

Have I taken drugs or done some heavy drinking?

The answer is ‘no’ the reason is more legal

I’ve had my life changed by some amazing people.

 

Let’s start with a lady called Sandra who’s become quite a mate

After she came into my life to help me lose some weight

With nothing more than listening for 10 mins a day

To a guy called Trevor who talks reassuringly away

 

So far I’ve lost four sizes and four stone

I’ve chucked six bags of clothes cos it won’t go back on

I’ve signed up to run the 2012 London Marathon

Because my Slimpod made me think “I’ll go for a run!”

 

Which leads me to the next person who totally changed me

An amazing man called Trevor who I first went to see

When Sandra suggested he could help me move on

And finally resolve issues I’d been running away from

 

I didn’t really believe that he could live up to what she said

How could anyone ever fix the mess in my head?

But with patience and genius this amazing man showed me

That despite everything that’s happened, I can be happy!

 

Work still sucks and I still have problems with my boss

But in my new frame of mind I see it’s the companies loss

Because now I am training for a brand new career

And I’ll be moving on from my job by the end of the year

 

My daughter is now just about 3 and a half

And a day doesn’t pass where she doesn’t make us laugh

She now goes to pre-school for 2.5 hours a day

She thrives around other kids where she can learn and play

 

We got on top of her gluten intolerance

Despite some incidents that happened more than once

But I bake her cookies and cake and fresh bread

We’ve got “check for wheat” ingrained in her head!

 

She’s so bright and funny she lights up our world

She’s such an amazing and beautiful girl

We still can’t believe how lucky we are

She’s the best thing I’ve done in my life by far

 

My hubby’s best friend died earlier this year

Close to Adam’s birthday, meaning we both shed many tears

We also decided that we wouldn’t move for now

With his friend passed on the desire was gone somehow

 

I managed to write over 60,000 words of my book

And send it out to a few publishers to have a look

It also meant I got my first rejection letter

But I’ve not lost heart, I’ll keep making it better

 

And one day I will get my novel printed

And maybe sell film rights and become totally minted!

By the end of the year I’ll be changing the lives all the time

Of many people, in the way Trevor changed mine.

 

So bring on 2012, the best year yet

Thanks to the amazing people I’ve met

And with my wonderful hubby and little one too,

I’ll be using this blog to share it all with you!

How do you see the world?

The little one is really no good at jigsaws.

It pains me to say it. I love jigsaws. In fact, she loves jigsaws. But she just doesn’t get the concept of side/edge pieces. I find it really frustrating doing jigsaws with her and she loves it so much she asks to do them all the time!

It got me thinking. What is it that means some of us can do jigsaws and others can’t?

There are a number of different ways the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) has suggested we like to interact with the world.

Visual

“This is how I see things”

In order to make sense of things we need to see them. Memories are triggered by images. For me, once something has formed a picture in my head, I understand it. I describe things visually. Everything turns into a picture in my head (you can imagine that whole “imagine people naked” technique for alleviating nerves in presentations just makes me blush!). As a visual person, when studying or doing exams I always found I did best when there were drawings and illustrations involved. To study effectively I had to write things down.

Auditory

“This is how it sounds to me”

This is where sounds are more significant. Memories are triggered by the music that was heard at the time etc. People who are auditory often like to talk a lot because hearing things allows them to make sense of them, even if you aren’t responding. To study, they find they can do best if they have the right music to listen to while studying. Recalling the song allows them to access their memory for the facts. My hubby is fairly auditory.

Kinaesthetic

“It feels like this…”

This is where the way things feel is the most significant. Memories are triggered by how someone felt or by the feeling of something. Kinaesthetics probably have a harder time of it than the other two because things need to be tangible for them to understand them. For studying, burning a scented candle and then having that scent on a hanky or something could work very well for helping them learn and remember.

Audio Digital (AD)

“I think it’s like this"…”

An AD has a constant internal dialogue going on in their head. They are never alone because they are always talking to themselves! Everything has to make sense for them to ‘get it’. I am very much an AD. Trevor suggests that AD is a learned rep system as a result of a childhood where you developed it as a technique to cope.

These are just the highlights. There is obviously a lot more to it. People may have one primary rep system and another coming in a close second. I am almost equally AD and Visual. Some may be well spread out. But most of us have a preferred one. It helps to understand what it is because it helps us communicate with each other more effectively and work within our strengths.

So back to the jigsaw.

As a Visual AD then it is fab for me. I have a puzzle and something I can see for the output.

For the hubby it just doesn’t fire him up. He would much prefer to work out the chords to a song on his guitar.

So what is the little one?

I doubt she’s visual. She shouldn’t have developed any AD-ness yet. She loves to cuddle but does that make her Kinaesthetic? Not sure. She chunters away to herself all the time, but does that make her auditory? Again, not sure.

Either way she really isn’t very good at jigsaws!

Marathon Training–Week 1 done

Well as you’ve probably noticed, I’m running the London Marathon in 2012.

Last week I got a training plan that is customised to me from FullPotential. I told them what exercise options I had available, what I’ve been doing and about my biggest challenge being stamina.

The plan that came back looks very achievable. Last week was my first week of training to the plan. Actually the biggest challenge for me right now is sticking to rest days and making sure I do an easy run when it says to do so!

The other challenge is not to go ‘all out’ on the running like I normally do.

This was particularly interesting on the 90 minute run on Saturday. The guidance was 10 minutes walking followed by 20 minutes easy effort running and repeat…

It was totally doable. So much so that as I did it I could visualise myself completing the marathon in this way. And given this was week 1 of my training I think I am totally going to be ready. I was actually smiling as I reached an hour.In fact, I decided to only walk for 5 minutes and ran for 25 at the end because I was fine to do that.

The suggestion on the plan is an Exercise DVD/Core body exercises a couple of days a week. I got YourShape for the Xbox Kinect.

This is brilliant. It is like having a personal trainer. The Kinect camera is used to watch your whole body which you see on the screen alongside the instructor. As you do the routine’s it tells you if your arms are too high or low, squats too high etc. It is nicely staged for exercise and rest and tracks your calories and progress. I really enjoyed it and it worked up a good sweat. It is a critical part of the training to build up the endurance so I am glad to have found something that works. Boy, did I ache all over for a couple of days after though!

I have had to resort to the treadmill because it’s been too icy to run outside. Today was a 35 minute recovery run on the schedule. It’s been milder for the last few days so I was able to run outside which I much prefer to do. The challenge is that it’s far harder to pace yourself outside, especially when you get to the end of your run and find you have 5 minutes still left to go. In the end I ran up and down the hill. Not really easy effort but I would rather do that than cut the run short.

For Xmas I got an iPod Nano so I can link up with the Nike+ sensor for tracking my run online when I’m running on the treadmill (I currently enter it manually in my Garmin software). I love it. I set it to 35 minute workout and it plays the music and calls out as each 5 minutes pass. Unfortunately the sensor fell out of my trainer early on and I can’t find it anywhere so I need to get another!

As time goes on this feels more and more achievable with my plan. I am very excited and I’m planning how I can keep up with my training during work trips and weekends away.

Incidentally, I was looking back at the training I’ve done over the last few months. I was very good in August!

 

I will keep you posted on how I get on!

Random moments

I realised today that I’ve been so busy building up to Xmas that I’d forgotten I have the week off. Anyway so here are some photo’s of my day.

First there was the new Welsh book from her nanna

Then there was painting with the set from her Gran

Cute little Santa

Then we went out. But first her new coat

Then a bike ride with Spud to help

Then a den and time to watch the Smurfs

It was the second rest day of my marathon training. These days if I go a couple of days without exercise I get a huge build up of energy and need to do something.

In the end I moved a large shelving unit from upstairs to downstairs. It made me feel better to do something.

Who knows what we will get up to tomorrow.

Best Xmas ever

This was without doubt the best Xmas ever. Why?

1. No-one was ill. Last year we all had swine flu. Xmas 2006 the hubby had his first heart attack. Xmas 2007 we’d just lost Adam.

2. I have never been happier in my life than I am right now (I’m waiting for the bad thing to happen but I’m sure I’ll get over that soon!)

3. The little one is old enough to be excited before Xmas for the first time in her life

The little one was so excited, she was pretty much up from 1:30am but who cares eh? So here is our Xmas in photo’s.

Stocking opening in bed first

Right let’s start with that yo-yo I asked for. Erm what’s this? oh that’s what a yo yo is

Can’t beat getting a shopping trolley for Xmas

I got an iPod Nano (I use a shuffle right now) so I can use the Nike thing to track my running on a treadmill

Sylvanian family hospital and ambulance were played with thoroughly all day and will be favourite toys I think

Along with Buzz. There was a buzz toy when she was in hospital with severe reaction to something. She’s wanted one since and wants one even more now she has got into watching Toy Story

It took 4 hours to finish opening all her presents. She even managed to open one of the hubby’s 3 presents!

she quite likes her floor keyboard

I did the turkey in the slow cooker. When I took it out it literally fell off the bone. No need for carving the turkey this year!

Xmas dinner was spot on . The little one didn’t touch any but then she’s been scoffing chocolate all day!

We ended the die watching the Gruffalo’s Child which was fab.

She went to bed saying she’d had the best day ever. I agree.

Saturday Snapshots–Xmas Eve

A special one today because it’s Xmas eve. So here we go.

I made a GF Xmas pudding and decided to cook it in the slow cooker. It’s totally yummy and worked well

I got ready for my long run as part of the London Marathon training plan. It was to be 90 minutes with 10 minutes walking and 20 minutes easy running in intervals. I found it very comfortable to do this (whilst still being knackering!) So much so that I actually ran the last 30 minutes instead.

Unfortunately the distance (in km) looped round once in double figures so that is actually 10.46km (6.5miles). Annoying and worse knowing the time will do the same. But not much I can do

The little one loves running around drinking from my Swiggie!

The little one watched her message from Santa via the Portable North Pole website. She loved it but was a bit shy still!

We made mince pies so there was one for Santa

She watched Polar Express and really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed eating the Gingerbread house

And then I made some playdoh and she had a good play

She then had Father Christmas for dinner and scoffed the lot

And finally, after leaving a mince pie, glass of milk and a carrot for Father Christmas and Rudolf, she went to bed. She was very excited. Eventually she went to sleep and then the presents went under the tree

Do you think she has enough presents? (they go all the way under the tree)

I am the happiest I’ve ever been at Christmas this year. I am just as excited about Xmas as the little one!