Flat tyre

Well, the loungeroom art made it out of the lounge room today, but I didn't get far because I had a flat tyre. I tried pumping it up with the cute pump I bought with the bike but it didn't seem to get me anywhere. I ended up buying an old fashioned bike pump and I've got the tyre pumped up properly now. I hope it stays up overnight as I want to try the trip out tomorrow.

I made it to Step class. There are usually a lot of people in Step, but there were only three of us today, which was great, as it meant I could have the front row. If I'm doing something new I like to stand where I can see what's going on. I know most people go and hide in a back corner, but I just don't see the sense of that.

One thing that surprised me was that the instructor wasn't trim, taut and terrific. She was an ordinary sized woman, complete with belly on display. The Body Jam instructor was chubby too. What's happened to the world? I thought instructors were supposed to look perfect! Not a hair out of place after a strenuous class, not an ounce of fat, no sweat, perfectly coordinated gym clothes. And what's with the belly showing? I thought it was only supposed to be on display if there were clearly defined muscles involved.

Sigh, I'm clearly still a victim of my generation - we were the ones who did the Jane Fonda workout in our loungerooms and covered ourselves up in oversized t-shirts in public. (Ok, I admit it. I wore legwarmers.) I just didn't expect the instructor to be so normal.

Step has changed a lot since I last did it, way back when. It seemed a lot easier this time. I don't know how much of that is the format and how much is due to my increased fitness. I had a few coordination problems and nearly fell off the step a few times, but I really enjoyed myself. I'll definitely go to this class again. There's a class I can get to on Friday mornings as well as the one on Saturday.

I walked on the treadmill to pick up the points for another workout, and then wandered off home for a rest before my aborted bike ride. I then went window shopping and ended up at work to do some testing for a server relocation.

This time last year, my typical Saturday in Canberra would have involved hardly any activity. I'd have spent the day watching DVD's or playing computer games. My typical step count for a weekend day was a shameful two to three thousand. Today it's up over 16000, and I'm not even doing the walking challenge yet. During the challenge last year I averaged 21000+ steps a day over a period of five months, but it took a lot of work to get there and my weekends really dragged me down at the start. This year, I have a really good fitness base going in. On top of that, I'm now a runner, so I will get my steps faster than I did last year. I think it's realistic for me to aim at an average of 25k steps a day. I managed to do that for the last 25 days of last year's challenge, so I know it's achievable.

My team is back in this year's challenge, with a slightly different lineup. We did amazingly well last year, finishing just outside the top 20. There were approx 2000 teams entered last year, so we were very pleased with our result. Our three manic walkers (ok, I'm one of them) are all back and we'd like to finish top 20 this year. We know what we have to do this time. We've managed to inspire a few more teams from our company to enter, and my brother, his wife and my brother-in-law have all signed up on a friend of mine's team. Having people I know involved makes it more interesting.

I provided data for the independent medical study last year. They found the average female participant lost 6 kg and the average male lost 5 kg on the challenge. I lost a lot more than that, but then I was actively working to lose weight as well as walk. It will be interesting to see how I go this year. Of course, there's not as much weight to lose, but I want to achieve my goal weight before Christmas. I should be able to do that with an average loss of 0.5 kg a week. I'm well on track at the moment.

I keep getting comments that reading about all the exercise I'm doing is exhausting people. I find that quite amusing, as I'm hearing it from people who are all out there exercising strenuously themselves. I find you all inspirational and draw great strength from knowing you're out there. Thank you.

For your information, I'm not exhausted. I feel fitter and stronger than ever and I'm enjoying myself immensely. I will admit to being really tired after running 10 km, but I think that was to be expected. :-)