Rogaining and personal training

At this morning's outdoor fitness challenge we had an introduction to rogaining. We were put into teams, given a list of checkpoints, and set off to gain as many points as we could. It was great fun, and it brought home to me how much I've changed over the past couple of years. For example, we had to find countries at Commonwealth Place starting with V, U and H. Well, you'd be able to guess these, but I was prepared to run all the way up to the H's to check that Hungary's flag was displayed. There was no need to do it, but it was fun. I think it's definitely official - aliens abducted me, extracted my essence and replaced the couch potato version of me with someone fit and active.

We only have one more session to go. I am getting more and more confident with the bike ride. Being out so early helps, even though it's dark, as there are fewer cars and pedestrians. I was a bit later coming back today, and the increased activity around town wasn't half as scary as it would have been a couple of week's ago. I even found myself trying out the gears again on the way home. One of the other women who has been doing the challenge is also a beginning cyclist, and we are going to go cycling together on weekends. It's great to be meeting new people who also like exercise.

This afternoon I was a guinea pig for a group of people who were doing their final assessment for Certificate IV in personal training. I did two sessions, which involved the initial consultation and a half hour program. I really enjoyed myself. Over the past two years I've worked with five different personal trainers, four at the gym and the fifth at the outdoor group fitness sessions, so I'm beginning to be an expert on what works well for me. I also have developed expectations, such as being shown the right way to do things and being reminded to breathe and to tighten my abs. The two people who worked with me today were confident beginners, but I know I'd want them to have been working in the field for a while before I worked with them regularly. Mind you, they would have been nervous because they were being assessed.

I think it came at a great time for me. I've really been struggling with my motivation as far as food is concerned. Both trainers went through a questionnaire with me about what I eat, when I eat, etc etc, and my normal eating program is terrific. The questions really reminded me of the basics and of how far I've progressed over the past few years. It ended up being a really positive experience as I could see how my answers to the questions had changed since I first walked into Fernwood. I have definite goals, such as getting to my goal weight by the end of the year and running the City to Surf in August, and I have the tools to get there. I was able to state, with confidence, that I can achieve my goals with what I'm doing currently.

Sarah left a comment asking where I've been as I haven't been posting much lately. I really appreciated her concern. As I said, my motivation has been poor, and I haven't wanted to blog when I've had "disaster" days. A disaster day now is so much better than it used to be, but I still feel awful when they happen. I've been doing fairly well on the exercise front, however, the days when all I do is walk don't seem to be worth writing about. I guess that's silly of me. For instance, I walked 8 km home from the footy on Sunday (the Doggies lost to the Swans) instead of catching a bus or asking someone for a lift. Not only that, but I knew exactly how long it would take me, and I really enjoyed the walk.

One thing that's going to help. I've signed up for a running course. The people who have been running the outdoor challenge have organised a set of 8 weekly training sessions prior to City to Surf and the Canberra Times fun run. Sessions will include long slow distance runs, intervals sessions, hill sessions and fartlek training. I think I'm ready to take my running up a level, so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm trying to decide which run I'll do in two weeks - the Run to the G or the Terry Fox Fun Run here in Canberra. They are both 10 km runs. If I do the Run to the G I'll be running on my own, whereas the Team Black Women are running here in Canberra. Once the run starts I end up running on my own, but I like meeting up with the group before and after the run. I'll have to decide soon, as I'll need to organise my flights to Melbourne. I'm leaning towards Run to the G at the moment but I'm sure I'll enjoy whichever run I do.