The Dodgy Back Strikes Again

I've hurt my back, and its not looking good.  Can't stand, can't sit, can't sleep.

As background, I had a really bad back injury in a car accident over 10 years ago.  When it happened my doctor said there was nothing more to fix it, and I should get used to the fact it would never be right.  I used to wake up in tears in the middle of the night,  I'd work kneeling on the floor because sitting was too painful.  After while it calmed down, but it didn't take much to aggrevate the injury.  

Some time later I was working in cubicleland Sydney.  I rocked up to work one day with a obvious crick in my neck, ouch!  The girl I was working with recommended I go see her mother's physio because he was really good.  Not something I would normally do (read never done before).  Before I knew it, she rang her mum, her mum rang the physio, and I had an appointment - how could I not go?  Of course, by the time I get in to see him my neck is pretty much OK! The physio asks if there are any other problems he can help with.  I say something along the lines of well there is my back, but I've been told it can't be fixed.

Well his eyes light up and he literally rubbed his hands together ! "Oh, a challenge! Let me see it!"  Over a couple of weeks he tried massage, heat, cupping, my back was proving very resistant to help.  Then he snuck up with accupuncture needles.  Literally!  They were in me before I had time to think about it.  My back was so tight the physio couldn't get the needles into some spots at all!  

I walked outta there, well, bouncing.  I walked the 30 minutes back to the office because it felt sooooo good! I couldn't believe it!

Years later the injury is still there but not often painful.  Every now and then I do something and set it off.  Of course this happens Week 2, 12WBT!?  Cannot walk, stand, sit, or lie down without agony.Argh!!!

This time, whispers from a few people at work - there is an awesome accupuncturist - Anh.  I make an appointment - the first available is in a week - that's a good sign, right?  I can't train, I can hardly move.  Its depressing.  I feel like this could be the end of my 12WBT.  Finished before I had a chance to really get into it.

All my hopes hang on the appointment working ...

Waterfall Gully to Mount Lofty Walk

This morning six brave 12WBTers fronted up for the Waterfall Gully to Mt Lofty walk.  There were nervous looks as people tried to pick out potential 12WBTers amongst the groups gathering at the start of the track.

I was feeling pretty nervous.  My boss - a running fit freak - had nearly chocked on his morning brew the day before when I said I was doing the walk.  Other comments had not been encouraging either.  The nerves were growing as we waited for stragglers, but I was quite adamant i was going to JFDI.


Its 3.9 kilomters from the carpark to the summit ... and its pretty much climbing all the way.  After you set off there was a pretty steep section which got the heart rate up and then the walk settled into a constant uphill slog.  I was puffing, my heart rate kept going off the dial.  My fellow walkers seemed concerned I was going to give up, but I wasn't.  I was getting to the top if it took me all day and I had to crawl!

The climb is tough, there was lots of people overtaking and plenty doing it at a run O.o  Kinda mad when I am trying to put one foot in front of the other!!  The guy carrying a todler on his back gets the gold star. 

As it gets harder and hotter, there is less banter, but no less encouragement from the team - or from the happy smiling descenders, many random strangers with encouraging words.

It took a while to get in the grove, I found that I was best walking at a good pace with frequent short stops to let the HR down.  A couple of times, especially towards the top when my legs were wearing out I fell into the trap of keeping up.  When I would catch the waiting group they would set off again, and I would not get the chance to recover.  At the road crossing I stopped long enought to feel like my HR was not red-lining and felt so much better.  Frequent short stops the rest of the way and the "killer" last climb to the summit actually felt OK to me. 

The top is kind of an anti climax - its taken us just under two hours of slogging it and there is a road that goes right there! and lots of not-sweaty folks are admiring the view too!!!

The descent was slower than expected, the gravel is slippery, and cooling muscles tightening up.  Though that doesn't stop the runners carreeening past - out of control it seems.  Its much better lower down where the track is sealed and I can pick up the pace.  just when its feeling good, and the finish is literally in sight, appear there are stairs.   Who would have thought going down would be harder than going up?

I am so happy we all made it to the top and back again !!!  7.8kms in 2hrs 53 minutes (including the “We Did It” photo session at the top).  It was really impressive how everyone worked together as a team, even though we had all just met that morning!  Way To Go Team SA !!!!


My average heart rate was 145 ... and that was including the rest at the top and the descent !?!  I burnt 1253 cals on my HRM !  What an event to mark the kickoff of my 12WBT !!!

| 2:53:39 | Av HR 145 | Max HR 185 |

Warm fuzzy tweets

OK, I admit it. This little tweet from Ms Mish had me smiling today ...

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When one doesn't seem enough

A kilo.  When you have a lot to lose, its easy to think of a kilo loss as BFD.  I was that this morning, head in a bad space.

Its really weighing on my mind (no pun intended) how far I have to go.  And that even my big hairy 12 week goal of loosing 23kgs will only see me halfway to a healthy BMI.

Today I walked up to the shops, and carried back a 1kg pack of napisan.  You know what ... it was a pain, heavy enough to make the bag handles dig in.  Yep.  Guess what? Even a kilo less to lug around is a good thing :)

Task 4: Gear Up!

Geek heaven.  Have in hand my new Polar FT 60 heart rate monitor !  Woot!

Thought I'd support a local bussiness, so I bought it from a up the road at the LSS (Local Sports Store), Fitness Warehouse.  I called them up after I had worked out what model I wanted and the manager was very helpful, and gave me his best price of $299.  Its not quite as cheap as I could have got it online but he also offered to get in the purple model I liked AND have it in my hand the next morning =)  Sold!

What happened when I went to pick it up was not so good.  The buffed up sales guy was sooooo rude.  Basically told me I'd wasted my money and it didn't matter what I bought I would never use it.  When I said "I picked the FT60 so I could add a GPS later  ... " , he muttered oh yeah thats wishful thinking,  "... so I could track my mountain bike rides" which is where he rolled his eyes.

Now I was so taken back I just wanted to walk out, but then I knew I wanted the HRM.  And I wanted to start using it !  Not getting it would have only set me back, so I bit my tongue, took my toy and walked out.  I didn't buy the hand weights I also needed at my LSS.

Tristian - you are the Friday F-Wit !!

Feeling nervous

So the day  is here, I'm off to see the exercise phys.  I need to do this for a few reasons, foremost being how to train through the next 14 weeks with my leg still not fully healed.  I'm optimistic the phys should be able to help it get better, by building back the strength and get me feeling balanced again !!

So after my evaluation session, I will be set to go with some group training sessions and access to a gym (Gearing up!).  I am also going to ask about PT sessions.  It sounds really silly to say as a 36 year old, but I don't think I ever learnt how to exercise !  I read fitness programs and its like a foreign language - I need an interpreter !!

Move more !

So today I wasn't feeling well.  It could have easily been an excuse not to start the next part of my pre-season.  Instead I decided to go for a walk, and get some much needed vitamin D.

I pulled on my very un-loved joggers and set off for the local library.  It was a gorgeous day and it was great to explore the new neighbourhood.  Before I knew it I was home again, and had clocked up 3.2 kilometers.  No distance or land speed record - BUT I didn't just hop in the car, which would have been so easy to do :)

My plan is to do something to get moving every day from now until kick off.  No excuses.

A step in the right direction

I was pretty happy today to find out the scales are now reading one kilo less than a week ago!  That's the same size as the hefty box of rolled oats I opened at breakfast - the realisation inspired the post photo!

It was kinda unexpected as it is been depite not doing any serious exercise.  That is on hold until after my visit with the phys on Thurday.  I'm looking forward to being able to get stuck into something,  hopefully my leg will just add to what I have to work on, not stop me from going at the 12WBT program 100%

It just goes to show getting on the scales can be a good thing !

Task 3: Goal Setting

1 Month Goals

1. Lose at least 5kg.
2. Regain the strength in my leg
3. Improve on my first fitness test results.
4. Get back into the gym habit

How I Will Get There

1. Follow the eating and exercise plan
2. Get help from the exercise phys so there are no showstoppers from previous injury
3. Commit to going to a Pump class (the class that gets me hooked) at least once a week

Keeping score

I have some good food habits, (oi! I can hear you laughing!) I do! I eat good food - lots of veg and plenty of pulses and good dairy calcium, I just eat too much of it ! My other downfall is cheese … I really I love cheese! Its my big weakness *sigh*

So back to the eating too much, I thought as part of my pre-season I'd start to keep tabs on what I eat. Late one evenening I was doing a bit of blog surfing that had started with fellow 12WBTers blogs and ended up somewhere out in the nether reaches of the ether. I ended up at www.myfitnesspal.com ... and in my pixel fatigue I signed on up. It’s a bit off-putting that the site insists on your specs and wants to your exercise goals before you get to do anything … so a few guestimates later (this is in the time before scales) and I was underway. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the food database included the brands that I tend to eat (in fact the Trident Thai soup I had just had for dinner was the first thing I tested !) … so there must be other Aussies using the site regularly. So for a week now I have been punching the numbers … and the results are quite surprising. Even though I haven't made any drastic changes. But must confess that having to record how much all the ingredients weigh so that I can record calories made me very aware of how much I have been eating! This has considerable effect when it comes to thinking about how much to prepare - my portions have been measured out for a single meal - not even a chance of an extra spoonful on the plate or a second helping because its so yummy !!