mission

My 2011 (fitness) goal is to be able to do
1) Toe Push Up (proper form)
2) Chin up --- waaaa, this one will be tough!

I'm still contemplating whether I should join Sabah Adventure Challenge in november. Even though it's 25km, but it's uphill, downhill, running in the mud, gravel. Sounds tough, not sure if I will be able to finish (even though cut off time is 14 freakin hours!).

Let's see....

what a monday!

I have this routine every Sunday ---- do a mental reminder to get up earlier (than other weekdays) for work. I have no idea whyyyyyy Monday traffic is much much worse than any other days? Do people get up like really early on Monday morning?

So, after last night's (many!) self reminders - I woke up early. By early, I mean like super super early which was 4 am! And I couldn't even sleep after that. Can't blame me, I was already asleep by 11pm. After browsing internet trying to kill time - I got ready by the time I was 5 and out the house gate at 515am. Talk about being superrrr superrr productive. I couldn't even find restaurants that were open to get breakfast.

Super productive continued to work where I finished report for meeting by 7.30am --- tapi the thing about starting work early took forever to wait for 1pm lunch break. but the waking up early is only working out on weekdays, weekends are for sleeping in.

Today marks two months I have officially "working out" - so, here are what I've learned in these two months:-

1) no matter how much you want to lose weight, gotta eat, gotta eat- not eating is just gonna slow down metabolism and hence losing lean mass. During the first month, I lose almost 1kg of lean mass and less than that of body fat. So maybe, waaaay too much steady state cardio and skipped meals. The second month, I tried eating more frequently and gained back that lost lean mass and at the same time lose (more) bf than a month ago.
2) HIIT - high intensity interval training rocks! I can only do so much long steady state cardio, I think now, I just squeezed in 20-25 mins of HIIT after yoga class (i iz lazy to run for an hour)
3) Variety works - gotta fit variety of exercises into routine to avoid boredom.

And I have not had fast food for the last two months!

Going to some conference on Wednesday.. I am soooo lazy to pack, I have started listing down my to-pack-list , but yet to put anything in the luggage. heck, I haven't unpack my backpack from my (not so recent) kl trip... malass....

fitness

Productive weekend yesterday
- Finished my work @ starbucks before gym
- Went for 1.5 hr of gym workout
- Indoor rock climbing - it was awesome! i think my yoga class helps me to be more flexible

Despite how I complained about being sore and super-ass tired (not to mention intense nausea) after workout , i am loving the effects it.

- back pain, shoulder and neck stiffness are gone
(because i usually go to massage like monthly to get rid of this back pain)
- in better mood in general ( my colleagues can attest to this statement )
- more energy in general
- increased fitness level

Although I had to change few things -
- Be out of the door before 6am to get to the office by 7.30, because I want to get out of office by 430

next : maybe go to belay class so that I can belay people safely

cuti - cuti malaysia

I can't wait for cuti next week.. Oh yea, I'll be in KL next week for a little getaway.. I have no specific agenda - except gonna take the time to eat ikea meatball and makan2 time. So, who's free to meet next week????

On another note, I thought working out is gonna make me fit and healthy.. tapi.... i end up with sore bodies afterward most after training. If this week was sore arms+back next week would be sore quads, and now..... it's super sore calves. I can't even stand straight which leaves me walking tip-toe everywhere. So, no gym this week as I neeeeed to rest and heal. hehehehe.. excuses.. excuses..

PT4

- Elliptical 15 mins - 100 calories (very difficult to do when u have a sore quad)
- Push up to plank 20 (first set), 10x3 (afterwards)
- Vertical leg crunch 25x4
- Leg raise 25x4
- twist with weight plate 25x4
- treadmill 1.5km at 15% incline

dietery changes:-
-avoid minyak2/fried food
-lite dinner obviouslly

with level t4 going down and age is not on my side- have to be extra hard to be superfit...

must do planks everyday now to strengthen the core and back
(back pain go awaaaay please - time to buy a new mattress)

on food

Note the healthy resolution...

I have not had fa(s)t food for the last month, mcDonalds, KFC, pizza hut and other fast food. Despite the mood swings and craving for deep fried french fries, I managed not to give in to eating 600 calories french fries..
Not that I'm counting calories or anything..

Don't worry I still eat normal food. I can't imagine myself eating bland wholewheat bread (no mayo) + steamed (tasteless chicken breast) + salad.. To those who can, I salute you.. Being in a country surrounded by yummmmmy food everywhere, how can you resist???

Finally...

Here here to yummmmmy foood everwhere!!!!

PT3

Must document all trainings for future reference...

Today workout:-
1.Warm up - brisk walking 5.9km/hr for 20 mins at 15% incline
2. Barbell curl and shoulder press combo 25 x 4
4. Barbell squat 25 x 3 (omg! i hate squat - with weight? hate it even more! didn't finish the last set sbb lutut literally shaking)
5. Bend Leg Raise 25 x 4 ( getting better at this as last time had difficulty to finish)
6. Vertical Leg Crunch 25 x 4 (this one fail - sbb core mmg weak, so am getting assisted by trainer)
7. Lift both legs 45 degrees and hold for 1 minute x 4 sets (quite hard to do- i can only do 20 secs max)

Kalau tulis macam sikit, tapi penaaaatt wooo , mmg lembik lah.. hahahah..

Soreness - so far not yet. But let's see how I feel tomorrow..

update

Con and Chris's wedding pictures are up in her facebook. Wasn't she glowing and beautiful? I think they met in church group, so it's like a gift from God... Check out their faces, couple do resemblance each other, doesn't it?
----

I'm dying to go travel. Yet, my work schedule is basically packed with so many things to do. I might even have to cancel my Bali Trip in September due to work (yikes!).

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On growing up - I've taken in consideration of having my own place! But KK properties is insaaaaaanely expensive for single income (normal people). There's no way people can afford descent property without having to starve every month. 15 years ago, single income family could afford property,car,feed the whole family and save for the children. I doubt that could happen nowadays (unless your pay is super-duper high).
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I'm going for yoga class later this evening.

Check out this article, it explains all about body composition.

So after reading it, I knew my lean body mass is 40kg, so there is no way I could dip below 40kg without looking like a skeleton. So, make a realistic goal yea for those who want to lose weight or gain muscles.

WO 19052011

In attempt to increase fitness level, had another session with PT today. Still being sore from last tuesday's workout doesn't stop me from my goal. Apa yea the goal? To live a healthy lifestyle and also increase my fitness level. Losing weight or being skinny comes second. Of course, there's no point being skinny if I'm still lembik. OMG, I'm so lembik that I could barely do 15 sets of sit ups let alone do burpees made me gasping for air and struggling to finish. Also, I have lose my flexibility that I could barely stretch during yoga class.

Workout today:-
- 200 calories on treadmill (which was easy peasy)
- Kick boxing (errr, I have trouble with steps which needs hand-feet- coordination, I'm sooo very mechanical that I have to think through all the steps which explains my inability to dance.)
- Sit ups 15 x2
- Leg raise 15 x 2
- sit ups 6 x 2 ( i managed to get discount for this. heheheheh...)

Personally I would rather spent 1 hour on the treadmill than doing 10 mins of core exercises.

Currently reading:
1) Dr in the house : page 222/809 pages

Later!

WO 17052011

Today is public holiday ( yeaaaay!). So, instead of lazing around at the house, I spent my day being sort-of productive. Had family lunch outside and had a session with personal trainer @ the gym.

Today was weight training day. Basically doing few reps on weight machine. Reminded me the time at mueller center. I missed the time when i was able to run 5 miles on the treadmill without gasping for air and was able to do weight training without anybody's looking. The gym that I go now, basically the weight training area was fuuuull with guys after office hours. So, there's no way I'm going there except for weekends.

So, today I ended with sore body even though I'm doing kiddie weight (10lbs, whaaaattt??) .

I gotta catch up on my reading. But nowadays, I spent more time reading technical stuff at home. What a geek right? This is kinda the good thing and bad thing about working in technical world. The good thing is that u'll never be bored, cause the learning never stops and there's no way you can catch up on time (unless you're a genius), the bad thing is that the work doesn't stop at the office. It'll follow you everywhere...

off day

How is your Sunday? I spent my time chillexing at home, drinking coffee and lazing around... Considering tomorrow is working day, so it's not so bad giving your body a day off ,isn't it?

I had yoga class yesterday, my first yoga after few years not practicing. omg, it was freaking hard. One of the pose was trying to do a split, I for one can't do that but few aunties in the class can splits which would put me to shame... I gotta admit I'm not flexible nor athletic... So, after yesterday's gruelling yoga class + 20 mins on the treadmill (which i only burnt 100 calories, I envy breastfeeding moms who burn 500 calories per day!) , I woke up today with soreeee body. Hopefully this will go away soon.

Gotta go.. .

update

omg! super lazy to update blog....

Nothing much is going on except I've turned 28 years old. when i was 23, i thought when i turned 28 I'mustve been soo mature by then. but looking at me now ,I dont feel a day like 28..

But I must say, I don't really hate growing old-er. It's kinda awesome. I remembered being young, filled with emotional drama, and not to mention the crazy mood swing. The thing about being older, I don't feel that way (most of the time) anymore. Okaylah, when u were young, there's always that friends envy, who have the fanciest car, who have biggest paycheck, the hottest body and the list goes on forever. But now, I couldn't care less about other people. Asalkan sendiri happy, oklah tu.

BIM - Borneo International Marathon. I decided not to run this year, as I am very much lack in training. Nanti takut halfway during run pengsan, sendiri yang susah. So, I'm skipping this year. By skipping, I mean, I might run next year hopefully come prepared. I want a running buddy! Also, I've joined Gym since my birthday. the gym membership is my birthday present for myself. Rather than buying expensive gadget, I better give myself health and a rocking body (wahahaha, i wish!)

Because I hardly work out nowadays, by hardly meaning almost never. Now that I PAY for gym, I might as well go so that the money won't be a waste. Paying for gym is expensive, so I might have to cut down the montly massages. No more spa-ing like madam tai-tai yerr... The gym membership also includes few personal training (very few) which I'm also interested. I mean, all these while work out suka-suka hati, it's kinda nice to know the how and what of these work out. Well, we'll see...

Okay, gotta continue work.

Have an awesome weekend yea!

misc

Had blood test few weeks ago as I wanted to have Hep. B Vaccination. Do you know that the Hep B antibody is declining over the years? Basically,we need booster every 5 years to maintain sufficient antibody for Hep B.

SO based on report, everything is ok. Although my thyroid level is lower compared to few years ago. Meaning, I need to boost it by drinking coffee and eating tonsss of chocolate!

Caffeine rocks!

Gym or No Gym

So.. after running half marathon - I've found out that I am sooo not fit at all... So in attempt to be fit (and be healthier), I'm thinking maybe I could sign up for gym... (this also to lose the gazillion kilos I've gained since got out of college)

Criteria:-
1) Location : Near workplace
2) Free parking (there's no way I want to pay for gym AND parking!)
3) Got the basic facilities - shower etc

Being an analyst and all, no decisions are done without some research. So here are some finding so far:-

1) 1Fitness - 1Borneo
- Price: RM139 1 time fee, and RM119 monthly
- Parking -NOT FREE - Considering now the parking fee is RM2 per day , if I actually go average 4 times a week, I would be paying extra RM32 just for parking.
- Location: good, near workplace
- Facilities: quite good, they have cardio and weight as well as group exercise

2) Core Fitness - Citimall
- Price: from research - it's rm180 per month start anytime stop anytime. but 1 year commitment is RM1800 (rm150 per month)
- Parking - Free parking - although sometimes it's hard to find parking there sometimes
- Location: okay, not near workplace but it's on my way home
- Facilities - good: cardio, weight and plenty of classes

3) Promenade hotel Gym - Promenade Hotel
- Price: rm120 per month
- Parking - Free
- Location - not near workplace, but on my way home
- Facilities - limited: cardio and weight - but no classes

4) Michelle & Scott Gym - Damai
- Price: ??
- Parking- Free
- Location- on my way home
- Facilities -???

Gonna find out others soon...

second half marathon!

I just finished running my second half marathon! I haven't gotten my official time yet, but I'm assuming it's around 3:35-3:40. Oklah much worse than my last time which was 3:16 but still I get to finish the distance.

Honestly this time around, I didn't train that much. I wish would've, then I would be up and running instead of in bed recovering.. yikes! So all these while, I did few training itu pun around workplace, which was like what once a month. Work was kinda taking my time lately... Hmmmm, come to think about it, why should I invest so much time in work when I'll be getting the same compensation>> So I guess if I were to put the same work commitment and dedication to my training schedule, I'm sure I'll even do better if not great personal time as well as great bods (I'm saying MY personal time okay, errrr, maybe sub 2.30 is not great for others, but for me that's great) .

So here's how the journey begin.... I signed up for BIM half marathon sometime in march with the hope in two months time I actually trained. Days and months passed, yesterday came. Boy, time flies! Went to pick up my race kit and bought two power gels for the run. I also did a great stretching/warm up yesterday by bringing my nieces to 1B. The night before was quite nerve-wrecking, I was nervous about not finishing, about not training, about not being waken up by the alarm.... So I picked up the most boring book of all, and finally dapat juga tidur...

The morning...
I woke up at 3am - shower, get ready, make coffee and find breakfast in the kitchen... By 4am I was already at the door, driving to Likas Stadium while having breakfast in the car. Reached LS around 4.50 and started warming up and taking the pre-run snack.

By 5.30 am, the siren started, and people started running.... I tried not to rush the first few kms, remember the analysis I did in my previous post? heheheh... So one by one started passing by me . The first few kms was okay but my pace wasn't fast enough to pick up the 8 mins/km pace. I was running basically around 9 mins/km and this was during the first few kms.. We passed through pasar where the 10k runners turned around (5km marker).. At that time, I kinda wished I was running for the beginner 10k.

Next we passed wawasan plaza, and this was when the trouble began.... My legs started to hurt, so I started rubbing muscle rub on them... The thing about this muscle rub , it's kinda like minyak panas... It felt hot and kinda give that numb feeling to the muscles... By 730 am, the sun came out, and let me tell you, it was freakingly hot... Okay, I complaint 2 years ago that the sun was hot right? This year around, it was burning hot! Is it possible that our ozone has thinning over the course of two years?

Instead of going into Sutera Harbor, the route this year is a bit different. We go into Tg Aru, and turned around at Waikiki Apt. That was the 10.5 marker. Oh yea, I did post a facebook status update on-the-run :D

Going out from Tg Aru, I passed the great Ulai who ran her first FULL MARATHON... Okay, that's 42 KILOMETERS> That's far! Only someone who has her commitment and guts dare to take on that challenge. And the thing is, she looked pretty good at her 30km... when I was almost limping on my 13km...

I started to run-walk on my 15km... the weather was hot- my face and legs felt burning hot. So next time, have to wear cap. The weird thing was, my fingers were practically swollen! I got the fat fingers symptoms on the run.. This was new experience to me coz it didn't happen to me last time. I'm assuming it was because of the too warm weather???

So going back to Likas Stadium was kinda painful, I think I almost hit the wall! Worse point, Jesselton to LS. It was hot, my legs hurts, my big fat fingers numb - I think at one point I almost wanna quit and be picked up.. But I didn't ... So I kept running and (occasionally walk) until I reached the finishing line ! Yeay --- so the truth is maybe it's 50% mind and 50% stamina.... But having stamina defnitely gives you more confidence of finishing...

By the time I reached the stadium, the others were already there... We waited for the great Ulai to finish her 42 kms.. cheh, cayalah Ulai....

gonna continue this soon...

7.30 pm - headache, nausea, soreness... I've taken painkillers to ease off the pain, and hopefully tomorrow I can book a massage session. .

p/s Please DO NOT ATTEMPT to run without adequate training. You're just gonna subject to injury (like me)

workout of the week (WEEK I)

Monday : off (finish meeting late)
Tuesday : off
Wednesday : 3km (Likas Lake)
Thursday : 10 mins of jog + 30 mins strength training
Friday : off (gosh my body is sore!!!)
Saturday :
Sunday :

run fatgirl run....

My Running maybe START tomorrow...

I meanWILL start ... tomorrow...

I mean HAVE TO START tomorrow....

update

I've started to run again (or maybe walking is the correct word here)....

So.. I'm gonna log my fitness progress here, with the hope it'll actually stay this time around... Although, I'm not really sure that I'm quite capable of running 21 km this year. We'll see...

Tuesday: 4 rounds (walk) ~ 4km
Wednesday : 4 rounds (walk+run) ~4km

Jogging with girlfriends is soo much fun. We don't need to jog faster, we just have to gossip to raise up our heart rate ;)

I've decided I want to have long floooowy hair when I get hitched... And I just cut my hair pixie short, go figure... Maybe the short hair will stick for awhile. So far, I'm loving it!

i need a loooooong run...

And those who know me might know what this means...

sports etc

So, staff sports day thingy is coming up... I'm trying out for bowling and also track.. hahahah.. sangat lousssy in bowling okaaaaay...

About one and a half year ago, ex-company was having bowling competition among staff, and I thought back then I wasn't suck, in fact I thought our group rocked (kan neth?? kan ulai??).. Hahahahha, perasan sendirilah this... But back then, we somehow got the rhythm right, now my ball always goes "ketaaaak-takkkk" (like I was basically slamming/throwing the ball on the lane, instead of doing the slow release/pushing way)...

Picture taken- we were the girls in pink ;)

Dulu rajinlah play, watched youtube on bowling tips, read bowling articles, and also played bowling computer game (at work... opsss).

Now to think about it... There's like gazillion of stuff to think about before throwing the ball, like how you hold your ball, thumb is facing which way (is it 12 o'clock or 9 o'clock?), the 4/5 steps before release, your hand, the arrows, your feet on the dots... Yikes! I can go insane with the details... Overthinking is justttt baddd...

I have plenty of things in my to-do-list before end of the week
1) Wash my car and fill air in tyre (280!)
2) Use up my massage voucher (yg expired tomorrow!). btw, helen beauty reflex in Centre Point is having buy 1 free 1 promotion for massage etc...
3) Spring Clean Room No.1 and No.2
4) Burn TV Shows on DVDs
5) Finish workplace's to-do-lists (yg never-ending tu!!!)

Allright.. at least I get blog crossed off my list!