The next logical step is to download the 10 to 20 km app and start doing half marathons ... but I'm not going to. I still don't really think I'm a runner - I certainly have never enjoyed it, or experienced any dopamine surges or endorphins or whatever you're supposed to get. And after this morning's effort I have some odd pains in hips and ankles that make me think long distances aren't really a long term prospect. I will keep running for exercise though, now I've got the fitness up I would hate to lose it, but the continuous improvement part may be over.
The second goal I had was to get a new job, and it took six months but I started one on Thursday, which is why I'm back full time. It's a sideways move and still in government, but with a different organisation doing completely different things. I loved my old job and worked with wonderful people, but after ten years I could feel myself getting a bit stale and fed up .... so time to move on. I didn't talk much about it on this blog but if you're interested it was doing this. And I wrote myself a farewell in our regular newsletter too (if there's one thing I learned in ten years, it's that if you wait for other people to write the newsletter it'll never get written!). Leaving was sad, but I think the new job will be good, and different, and I really did need a change.
My third goal was to lose weight, so back in February I started on the 5:2 diet where you eat normally for five days and have a very restricted intake for the other two. I chose it because I thought it would fit best for a family - only two days of separate meals rather than all the time - and that part of it was fine, but the rest sucked. I did it for three months, and got used to being ridiculously hungry, and cranky, and having a poached egg for dinner while everyone else had roast chicken ... but I lost about one kilo, which is nothing! For the amount of pain I just could not see the point, so stopped doing it. My BMI is about 28, so I certainly have the weight to lose, but clearly this is not the diet for me.
Gosh, your old job sounds very important so I can't imagine what your new one is.
ReplyDeleteWe've been doing the 5.2 for 2 years and the chap has lost a stone and a bit (I don't do kilos but maybe 10?) while l lost about half that, mainly at the beginning. It does allow one to eat happily for the 5 days, so we don't find it too bad, but on the other hand I'm no longer really losing any weight so... um.
Nice run. I'm impressed with the newsletter.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the run! I ran for a long while in my late 20s, early 30s. I never got the runner's high either! Eventually I moved on to other forms of cardio that worked just as well but not as hard on this aging body :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right - two out of three is great! Congrats on the new job - sometimes it is the best for our psyche to move jobs. I enjoyed reading about your previous position - I get the feeling with your skills, you will be awesome and your new 'people' will be lucky to have you as a part of their team! :)
absolutely 2 out of 3 is excellent and it is only August 2nd. There is a programme on SBS on Demand at the moment called which diet is right for you (or something like that) I found it quite interesting, but have a bad feeling that there is a lot of self control needed whichever one you go for. i have a similar BMI and I am very motivated until it comes to the actual eating part, then I lose the plot!!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on meeting two of your goals! Good luck with the new job.
ReplyDeleteGood work on the running! I never liked running - would rather just climb a bush track, which is what I was doing until I buggered my back. Now that's the incentive to continue my physical therapy. Maybe I should have a pinterest board on "bush tracks I'd like to get lost on when I get better". I'm sure it's a thing.
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