All had been proceeding normally exercise and food wise until Friday afternoon when Rob (and me too) had been scheduled to do the longer 13km “Netwalk” in the Pentland Hills from Swanston Golf Club. Whether it was just fate, a psychological blip, or just one of those little easy to make mistakes which we all make, but Rob got half way up the road to Swanston and realised he’d forgotten his walking boots. Suffice to say that by the time he’d gone back to get them, he managed to miss the start of the longer walk and had to wait around for a while for the start of the shorter 7km walk. Looking back, this was probably a blessing in disguise!

Big sky view

For whilst 7km may not sound terribly far for a walk, the clue to the potential difficulty lay in the location and terrain. Basically, there were some pretty steep sections of some fairly sizeable hills to climb up which is pretty challenging if you’re not used to that sort of thing. Determined to go round towards the front of the group, part way up the biggest slope and Rob realised that things were going to be a lot harder than he’d imagined. A bit further up and he (along with a few others) were really struggling. With a lot of teamwork, support and mental strength, they broke the climb down short (and getting progressively shorter) sections, counted out the steps, stopped regularly to recover and fantastically, eventually made it to the top!

Some very important lessons came out of this:

• Never underestimate the extra challenge of a steep hill
• Determination and applied effort will win out if you stick with it
• Teamwork and support are vital in cracking big challenges
• Breakdown seemingly insurmountable tasks into small chunks and tackle them one at time to get through them
• Rob’s fitness has actually improved HUGELY as his breathing & heart weren’t the problem, it was leg muscles which were unwilling. Just a few weeks ago, this certainly wouldn’t have been the case
• Keep your vision and goal in mind to help you get through when things get tough (the “why” you’re doing what you’re doing)

By the time the group on the longer walk caught up in the glorious sunshine at the top of the final big hill, everyone was smiling again. Unless Rob had told me about his earlier problems I certainly wouldn’t have guessed, as he was happily chatting away as we all made our way steeply downhill (the downhill in itself was a big challenge for some folks with knee and other joint problems) back to the golf club. Whilst pretty tired afterwards, there was a huge sense of achievement from overcoming such a big obstacle (there had always been the choice of giving up & going back down). Later on, emotions were running pretty high as realisation of this (and probably some relief) kicked in.

Well done Rob, I’m SO proud of you! Onwards to the next target…

Trainers laced, ready to run

That all said, definite progress has still been made. Rob is now down to 13stone 11lbs which is an additional 3lbs down in the past few weeks. He has kept his total running time to 30 minutes and is now able to run 16 minutes, walk for 90 seconds, then continue the run for a further 14 minutes. Huge progress from less than 8 weeks ago when completing 10 x 1 minute runs was a massive challenge!

Our last two personal training sessions have introduced Rob to the underlying principles and practise of Pilates. Although there were no huge nasties with his posture, Rob has found this quite a revelation in how he holds himself up in everyday life and during his runs. Teaching your body to put its bones into alignment and then strengthening your core muscles to keep them there whilst you move around has a number of benefits. The central ‘corset’ of strength protects the spine and back and allows your limbs to move more freely and efficiently. Reducing the likelihood of joint strain which can come about through repeated misaligned movements. Better core control also (very pertinently for Rob) assists with balance and this is something on which we will continue to work.

Lots of props were called into play – stability ball, bucket, bell, rope, paper plates, drinking straws, a corkscrew and helium balloons all had their part. When starting out with Pilates it is vitally important that you understand the basics of alignment for your own body before launching into ‘hard’ exercises, so this was time well spent. It is well worth investing the time and mental energy (lots is required, as when learning any new skill) to be happy with your own alignment and new, lengthened body – which, incidentally will appear to have magically lost weight without any additional effort on your part.

So, the task for the next week is repetition and consolidation. More practise at the running, more practise of the Pilates to make sure that we’ve laid strong foundations to confidently move forward from as we start our climb onwards up the hill (literally on Friday afternoon’s Netwalk from Swanston) to the next target of a continuous 30 minute run.

Blue sky aspirations - what are your limits?

So what has changed to allow this to happen? Two things – firstly consistency and secondly persistence, belief and determination (goals). The seeds of success were sown by Rob’s regularity of exercise and attention to his food over the previous four weeks. When starting any programme it can be disheartening how ‘hard’ it feels to start with. The secret is to stick with it and to trust that your regime will work with time. One or two sessions of anything won’t have any appreciable or long lasting effect on your fitness – it’s the doing of it (sometimes in more manageable time chunks) day after day and week after week that will get you results.

That second key tactic of persistence, belief and determination are all about your mindset and challenging yourself with goals. Perhaps it was Rob entering the Edinburgh Half Marathon the previous week which cemented in his mind the magnitude of the challenge ahead. By breaking this down into smaller targets this can remain both challenging and attainable. In the next month, Rob wants to be able to continuously run for a whole 30 minutes without stopping. And going forwards the next goal is a continuous 45 minutes. But returning to the last couple of weeks, we’d set the intermediate goal of clocking up first 20 and then 30 minutes of running (plus walk breaks) in a single session. Achieved, job done, superb feeling of accomplishment, brilliant. Big pat on the back (very important to recognise and celebrate achievements) and on to the next mountain.

Something else which Rob has been exploring is keeping track and control of his eating habits and patterns. To help him with this he’s discovered www.weightlossresources.co.uk which have a treasure trove of information and tools for recording and monitoring what you’re eating. The result? Down to 14 stone (9lbs down already) and looking and feeling great.

In our personal training sessions, as well as the obvious Cardio-vascular and strengthening work we’ve been focussing on balance, mostly so far using a Core Board. Balance is often taken for granted until or unless you no longer have it, when it can become a huge problem and have a big impact on living your life. Rob has often felt that balance and co-ordination (particularly on stairs) is an issue for him. I’ve been challenging his assumptions on what he is already able to do, forced him to concentrate and started the process of developing balance and core strength. Watch this space for more details over the coming weeks.

Rob successfully fitted two runs into a schedule packed with travelling, socialising (shared a small cake and had the smaller portion!) and being away from home. Our meeting this week was over the phone, so we concentrated on planning exercise opportunities and consolidating experience and learning.

Despite the difficulties of controlling food intake whilst staying with other people, Rob has lost a further pound in weight to take him down to 14stone 3lbs. He’s staying with a friend for a few days and is going to take fruit and vegetables with him to eat to keep a good balance within his diet. Vegetables in particular add bulk, fibre, vitamins and minerals to your meals. This fills you up more quickly, helps you to stay feeling fuller longer and gives your body the nutrients it needs to feel great and function properly.

Now I think I’ve found a great option for a sponsored walk for Rob to take part in at the end of September – http://www.netwalkingscotland.com/events.html . Nice and hilly (built in leg strengthening and interval training), sociable with the opportunity to develop business links (the networking aspect) and in a great, scenic part of Edinburgh. Go on… give him some encouragement. I’ve signed up already!

On the signing up front, there’s some great news. Rob is in! He entered for the 2012 Edinburgh Half Marathon as soon as entries opened (I’d not even seen the email myself at that point – ultra quick off the mark), so the focus and challenge is most definitely on. http://www.edinburgh-marathon.com/

Rob learns to keep going on the run

With some gentle but insistent encouragement Rob successfully completed 7 sets of 2min jog/1min walk. Although a bit out of breath, he was delighted! Often the most difficult aspect of improving your fitness is having the confidence and motivation to push at your boundaries. It’s very easy to stop when you feel out of breath. But out of breath (not gasping desperately for air) is exactly what you need to get in order to challenge your body and make improvements.

Full marks – I’ve challenged Rob to repeat this effort level three more times in the next week. We even took the time to plan in when he was going to fit this into a busy diary made more complicated by travel plans.

Loads of big positives this week:

• A further 2lbs has disappeared from the scales
• Feeling a lot less sleepy in the evenings
• Blood pressure continuing to reduce
• Quantity and variety of food eaten is gradually improving
• Feeling that a lot of elements of the fitness jigsaw are a few percent better than when we started – has added up to feeling more than a few percent better!

Challenges were presented by diary complications. Planning ahead can often identify solutions to these. It can also be difficult when you’re staying with other people who don’t share the same goals. If you’re with an elderly relative who only eats ‘traditional’ food, then the best compromise is to keep a close eye on your portion sizes. A great strategy which Rob devised himself is to have a well stocked fruit bowl (yes sugary, but much, much more nutritious than cakes/crisps/biscuits). If he feels hungry away from mealtimes then he’ll have a piece of fruit, then see if he’s still hungry 20 minutes later. He never has still been hungry and this is a good lesson in appetite management and portion control. Many people eat for reasons other than hunger and often unnecessarily large quantities. Slow down, listen to your body and you CAN reset the mind/body messages.

Quite a revelation to Rob was how he felt after his harder run. We did plenty of stretching and some balance work (balance is something he finds a definite issue), then lo and behold, 30 minutes later he felt like he could go out and do it all again. Powerful stuff and a brilliant motivator to remember that post exercise feeling of wellbeing whenever you’re struggling to summon up the enthusiasm to get yourself out the door/off the sofa!

Rob spent the majority of the weekend (including being inspired by the vibrant and life affirming Korean Drummers) walking all over central Edinburgh attending Fringe and Festival shows. As well as providing plenty of calorie (and calf muscle) burning exercise, this provided an excellent distraction from the temptations of weekend overeating. Rob commented that being active and socialising meant eating smaller portions which he was a little surprised to find perfectly satisfying.

On the planned exercise front, he was delighted to report that in addition to all the walking he had been out for two runs since our last personal training session and got on really well. Walking is good for calorie burning, less useful for cardiovascular fitness unless you’re doing it quickly enough to get a bit breathless and gently glowing! I’ve challenged him to fit in three sessions with longer ‘run’ segments before we next meet in the studio.

We’ve so far been less successful in finding a suitable charity walk to take part in during September/October. They either seem to be short (10k max) or major undertakings (climbing Ben Nevis in the dark!!!). We’d both welcome any suggestions for walks of around 10 miles in central Scotland or the Midlands of England.

This weeks personal training session will push Rob harder on the cardiovascular front and introduce a little more in the way of balance work. Come back next week to hear how we got on.

Rob, prior to embarking on EnergyWise fitness and nutrition regime

Rob is 56 years old and has never really been a regular exerciser. This is largely due to over protectiveness stemming from a diagnosis of Spina Bifida at birth, despite a lack of any actual physical restrictions. He has ambitious business goals and aspirations for the next 20 years. Rob came to see me at EnergyWise to improve his energy levels to enable him to approach these with true vigour and drive. He is also (at 14stone 9lbs and 5’6”) the heaviest he has every been and is most definitely not happy about it.

Having successfully achieved his wish of not being “fat and 50”, he thought ‘great, I’ve done it’ and proceeded to let things slide badly. What we are now doing is firstly setting some very exciting and stretching fitness targets. He has said that he wants to find out what he’s really capable of and to stagger and amaze himself. We’re also working together to ensure that Rob makes the long term changes to maintain and sustain his success.

The goals and targets are a mixture of short, medium and longer term, taking small steps towards the bigger targets whilst regularly experiencing success.

Long term – May 2012 to successfully complete the Edinburgh Half Marathon (and not be last). A great challenge for someone who has occasionally jogged, but never run further than 4½ miles!

Medium term – To complete a charity walk in late September/early October. Rob is to identify and enter a suitable event.

Short term 1 – starting right now to get outside and complete a 20 minute run/walk session three times per week. Jenny will provide a schedule to build up the amount of running and reduce the amount of walking until Rob is able to jog continuously for 20 minutes.

Short term 2 – Rob has already taken a step back towards healthier eating. He’s going to go back to writing down everything that he eats and drinks and stop having any of the ‘tempting’ stuff in the house. This is a great motivational tool to make you much more aware of your real intake and stop you short before putting something else in your mouth that you’re going to have to write down.

Here’s ‘the plan’ for the next four weeks in addition to weekly fitness and stretching sessions in the EnergyWise studio.

• Week 1 Run one min, walk one min. Repeat nine times
• Week 2 Run two mins, walk one min. Repeat seven times
• Week 3 Run three mins walk one mins. Repeat six times
• Week 4 Run five mins, walk two mins. Repeat four times

Seeking a cycle route south

About to head off Southwards for a two week cycle tour to Land’s End. Follow our progress on http://landsendahoy.blogspot.com/

If there are no photo’s, then it’s probably raining! Bookmark the blog, leave me some comments & be inspired to an adventure of your own.

Normal service will be resumed in a couple of weeks.

Trophy from post setback race

Before I start, thanks to everyone for their support and suggestions following a recent disappointing race result for me. These consolidated my own knowledge and experience, so you may spot some of them within this post!

Firstly, allow yourself to feel upset and disappointed. Yes, really. Acknowledgement is an important part of the process of acceptance and learning. Simply blocking these unpleasant feelings will only bury them deep in your subconscious where they will gnaw away at your self esteem and make you feel much, much worse in the longer term. Saying “I’m upset because…” or “that wasn’t the result I wanted/expected” out loud, especially to supportive friends or family is a brilliant start. Have a think about why you’re disappointed and what it was that didn’t meet up with your expectations.

Then, try to be objective about what went wrong. Did you self sabotage your diet plans? Skip workouts & still expect to meet targets? Fail to fully lay out your case before that important meeting, or write down what you actually wanted from it before you went in? Were you fibbing to yourself about how much you were really eating or exercising? Or expecting improvements on a clearly improbable timescale? If it was any of these or similar things, then be honest – what would you do/expect differently next time? Sometimes however, ‘stuff’ outside your control just happens. Accept that it wasn’t your fault, concentrate on planning for the things which are within your own direct control and move on confidently.

The personal touch is really important. Make use of your support network to get a hug, a kind word and a sense of outside perspective on things. Share and share alike – we all have limited patience for folks moaning without taking action, but a problem shared is almost always a problem halved!

A brilliant way to reset your enthusiasm is to think up and replay three previous successes in your mind. Go on… Bet there are tons of related things you’ve done which have gone well. All the times you resisted that pudding or extra biscuit, stuck to your plans, or dug extra deep to push your boundaries a little or a lot further. Smiling already? I am. Success breeds success and focussing on our achievements feeds into a positive feedback spiral to keep you focussed, positive and moving forwards.

Finally, start to take active steps to build up your confidence again. Draw a line under the disappointment and start again – all the most important achievements in your life will be difficult. Who doesn’t get the biggest sense of achievement from something which they had to work hard to achieve? I certainly gain very little satisfaction from anything which just falls into my lap with no effort on my part, no fun at all! Start by setting yourself a small, new challenge. Do it well, congratulate yourself and your confidence will start to rebuild itself.

Keep on keeping on, smile, maintain a sense of perspective, keep breathing in and out and little by little you’ll move closer to your goals. And that disappointing race I had? The photo below is a great demonstration of how to bounce back from lifes difficulties.

Ratatouille frozen and ready for a later meal

The mix of vegetables makes this a wonderfully colourful dish to look at. It also ensures a varied mix of vitamins and nutrients as a health booster. Chorizo is for taste (use fairly sparingly as it’s quite a fatty meat). The feta cheese is a tasty way to introduce protein. It has less than half the fat content of a typical cheddar. This keeps the calorie content well below that of a standard meat based dish as the serving size of the feta is likely to be considerably smaller.

Make, eat, enjoy and let me know what you think!

Ingredients (serves 4 as a main meal, more if used as side dish)

• One medium red onion
• Two cloves of crushed & chopped garlic
• Two sweet peppers (I normally use one red and one orange)
• Three medium courgettes (make sure they’re nice & firm)
• Two tins of chopped tomatoes
• 50g diced chorizo (optional – adds flavour if you’re not a vegetarian)
• One tablespoon olive oil (I like to use oil that sundried tomatoes come in, but normal is fine)
• Paprika to taste
• Dried oregano (I’m sure fresh would be even better if you have it)
• Feta cheese to taste

Method

I think this tastes even better if made, cooked and left to mature for at least a couple of hours before gently reheating and serving. But it can easily be made just in time for when you need it.

Prepare your vegetables. Onion medium sliced, peppers chopped into medium cubes, courgettes sliced (not too finely, you want them to hold together).

Heat oil gently in a large saucepan. Add garlic and onion and gently sweat until they soften and turn golden.

Stir in courgettes and peppers and fry gently for a couple of minutes.

Add tinned tomatoes, chorizo (if using), paprika and oregano (to taste). Stir in well, bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Switch off the heat and leave to ‘mature’ for a couple of hours (optional), then gently heat back through prior to serving.

Serve topped with cubed feta cheese. It’s fantastic on top of a well cooked jacket potato (normal or sweet – but make sure you eat the delicious skins). Alternatively, have it with your favourite main meal. Make sure you have a generous serving for maximum vitamin and nutrient intake and a great taste.