Amazing Jules

Living my dream: Ironman New Zealand 2010

2010-02-02T20:19:00.007+10:00

Today on Craig Harper's readers were invited to talk about their breakthrough moments of the past or present. My response was as follows:

Jules February 2, 2010 at 4:17 am

Breakthrough moments. Here’s one of mine. As a chronic over-thinker, I decided in early-mid December to take the ‘next step’ and make something I’ve wanted to do for about 8 yrs now actually happen. That ’something’ is doing my first ironman triathlon. Let’s face it, there’s no ‘ideal time’ for anything, hey Craig? So, it’s up to us to make now as ideal as we can. I figured I had the time to train (25′ish hrs a week) as I’m not working. So I made a commitment to do Ironman NZ on 6 March, 2010. Ideally, I would have had another 4 weeks before ‘my big day’ (that makes it sound like my wedding!!), but what I did in the 3 months prior to commencing my NZ prep I feel will get me over the line (ie. PT twice wkly). While there are no guarantees in ironman, I’m going to be at the START line. If I crash or succumb to a medical illness I won’t compromise my own health and safety. Other than for those reasons nothing will stop me from completing the 3.8km swim, attacking the 180km bike course, 5km at a time, and the (42.2km) marathon, 1km at a time. It’s what you make it. Being out there for up to 17 hrs sounds like torture (to most people) but for me it’s a massive opportunity for personal growth.

* You can follow my progress on Sat 6 March via a live athlete tracker on ironman.com from 07:00 AM NZ time. The 17 hr cutoff is midnight (NZ time). Search for me by name “Julia Shaw.” I’d appreciate you cheering me on.

Jules February 2, 2010 at 4:23 am

Crazy ironman-to-be here (again). I just checked the competitor list on the Ironman NZ website and I now have a Race Number. # 443. I’m so much more excited now!!! (like I wasn’t before!!!) I think seeing my race number just made it 1,000 times more real. THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING. I MADE IT HAPPEN. I’ve created this for myself. Ironman NZ has been running now for 25 yrs. This year is its 26th year. Craig is right – it’s up to us to create our own ‘breakthrough moment.’

"And that's all I have to say about that." - Forrest Gump.

Go live YOUR dream. Stop thinking, talking and writing about it. LIVE IT NOW.

100 Small Steps Challenge: The Fifth Week

2010-01-04T21:18:00.002+10:00

Day 29: Monday 28 Dec

I decided today that for every session I complete as per my training schedule I will 'donate' (contribute) an amount (I'll be writing a post on that soon) towards my glamour photo shoot which I'll have when I achieve my goal body composition targets (at this stage I'm thinking of 18% body fat). I don't just want to have the photo sitting though - I want to put together a whole album of the new-and-improved version of the AMAZING me! I already know that's going to cost a mountain and a half!

The tin which I'll use for the above purpose was 'decorated with love' by Michelle and given to me at the Craig Harper Melbourne meet up at Marlo's Cafe in Bentleigh (not far from Harper's - Craig's amazingly huge PT studio in Brighton) on Saturday July 4, 2009. I actually requested the colours and design of the purple and yellow stars. I have a special place in my heart for the Starlight Children's Foundation and one day I have a dream (correction: a goal) to fundraise enough to fund a child's wish. That'd be $5,000. I aim on making a start on that early in the New Year so if anyone has any ideas and wants to climb aboard, just leave me a comment - I'd be delighted to hear from you.

I also made my family a (slightly late) steamed Chrissy pudding this morning. And, how's this for focus: I didn't eat a single sultana or lick the bowl/spoon. And I had no desire to. That is progress. [Nor will I have a single slice of pudding either] Although it has been the case for a good 10 weeks now, I'd say. I'm committed. I have got a mountain to climb. Mera Peak, 6476m above sea level, Sep 5-28, 2010

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Day 30: Tuesday Dec 29

I returned to see my new GP this morning to get my blood test results that I had last week, and to have (another) Boostrix ipv vaccine (it's the dTPA - diptheria, tetanus, putussis acerella and polio too). The injection wasn't all that bad and I didn't have a dead left arm after either like I had anticipated. My blood tests were all pretty much normal too.

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Day 31: Wednesday Dec 30

Today I went up to the shops for a couple of things. One of those things was this Lorna Jane tee with "WHAT-EVER IT TAKES" on it. It's cool, huh? It is to be my 72.5 kg reward. And it is to stay in its pink LJ bag till then. It's going to KILL me... it won't really! [LJ had a store-wide sale 20% off all full priced items too - so bonus! I saved $6.00.]

Hurry up Jules - lose your next 2.5 kg will ya!

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Day 32: Thursday Dec 31

Hired seven DVD's with intention of having a movie marathon for New Year's Eve with my (new) friend from work, Sierra. But she had to work tomorrow morning and she piked (understandably). Funny thing was I piked on my own movie marathon too! I was too tired to stay up to see in the new year. I crawled into bed at 11:30 PM (Bris time). However I saw some of the Sydney fireworks on Foxtel.

I made lasagne instead for my boys (Dad and brother). And Mum too. But the boys really don't know how to fend for themselves in the food department. Either that or they just choose not to for whatever reason. So, I thought I'd help out with a big tray of vegetarian lasagne. It really is beautiful. I love it. But it's so cheesy and full of carbs with the pasta sheets. So, again, it's business as usual for me, and I choose not to have any. It's for them. I can look after myself and I'm doing great.

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Day 33: Friday Jan 1, 2010 "HAPPY NEW YEAR"

Went grocery shopping at Coles. As I walked in the door I just happened to notice a sign saying there was 50% off iTunes gift cards between 31/12-6/1. The catch: you must spend $100 or more on groceries. So, my aim was 'to spend over $100.' And I succeeded. I didn't get crap. I got stuff that I could freeze (chicken, salmon, frozen berries) and stuff that would keep (deoderant). I also got some fruit/veg for my family as well as ingredients to make some things for them. Mum has been working so hard lately (after tomorrow's Sat shift she would have done nine (yes nine), shifts straight. Helping out with grocery shopping is the least I can do. I do whatever else I can to help out too - washing, dishes and cooking.

Music is good for you, right? I know it motivates and inspires me and lifts me up when I'm a bit down. I'll enjoy picking some tunes to add to my (currently limited) music library.

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Day 34: Saturday Jan 2

On my training schedule today was a 12 km easy run in the AM, and an 8 km hard run in the PM. About 5 km into my morning run/walk I decided, and committed to, doing a PT course - ie. Certificate III and IV in Fitness. It was all I could think about during the remainder of my training session. I am so excited! I was thinking about how it's sure to get me out of my comfort zone, build my confidence and, best of all, how I'll be able to be part of the transformation journey in other people. I just know that Gav has helped me regain my passion for the gym again, and helped me see what I can achieve when one commits 110% and are consistent. I've been training with Gav, twice a week (2x 45 min sessions) for 12 weeks now. There has only been two weeks where we haven't trained because he was away, and one week when we only trained once (that was the week he went to Sunshine Coast). We started Tues Sep 29, 2009.

I spent a good part of today researching various RTO's (registered training organisations) and also sms'ing Sarah - who I learned on Wednesday will be doing the PT course too, around April. That works well for me too as I first intend to finish what I started with Gav on my own transformation journey. I can't go and start a PT course 15kg overweight and not being able to do full man pushups, unassisted chinups and unable to run more than 10 mins! So, all in all, a lot of work still to be done. I'm a work in progress! By April I am sure to be gettin' close to my goal body fat composition (of ?18%). Body weight on the scales don't matter - it's the body fat and lean muscle mass that matter. * I won't be doing my training through the Australian Institute of Fitness though. They do a fast track path and I don't want to do that. I need time to develop personally and professionally. Plus I've heard it is exceptionally overpriced!

My newfound desire to be a PT has been half inspired by Tracey - my friend in Christchurch, whom I first met online on a message board/forum. I met Tracey when I was over in Christchurch in April 2009 for my grandmothers funeral (the saddest day of my life). Tracey has recently completed her PT certification and is due to start working at her PTs studio on the Jan 11. It's also been inspired by Sarah - who I'll refer to as my 'bootcamp-freak' friend! Sarah does 5 outdoor bootcamp sessions a week at 6am. Dedication +++. She's amazingly fit. It is a given that Gav has inspired me too. His knowledge, passion and desire to help his clients is something I very much admire. And when he knows his client is 110% focused and committed and 'really wants it', it's like he works doubly (a word) hard to help them achieve amazing results.

I have my business name already, am working on the design now, and have some top ideas floating around my (busy) head. Just another reason why I'm excited about 2010. It just seems to keep getting better!!!

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Day 35: Sunday Jan 3

Today is my long bike session aimed at building aerobic endurance. Here is a picture of one of my bike shoes with the cleat underneath that clips into the pedal. I had a great ride (mostly). I clearly need to work on my hydration and nutrition strategy as I didn't have enough electrolyte replacement fluid on board because I got a headache (and it was hot, too).

100 Small Steps Challenge: The Fourth Week

2009-12-28T04:44:00.002+10:00

Day 22: Monday 21 Dec

I guess the arrival of my induction pack in the mail today denotes I am now employed?! Whether I will continue to work with the obsessive compulsive disorder client remains unknown, however there are other clients on the books that I could work with through the agency.

I saw the doctor Tim referred me to this morning, too. We spoke about my dysfunctional sleeping issues, about my upcoming Nepal trek (with regards to the immunisations I'll need) and I requested to have some routine blood tests as it has been over a year since the last lot I had.

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Day 23: Tuesday 22 Dec

In the mail today I received an offer to study a Bachelor of Nursing at Charles Sturt University via distance education. I had applied at the end of October with half a thought to return to uni to finish my nursing degree. I'm still contemplating my decision, but at this stage I'm leaning towards accepting the offer. I really need something to fill my days up with. Whether that be a job and/or study it doesn't really matter. I was going to make 2010 The Year of the Mountains - with me focusing 100% on my preparation for my summit attempt of Mera Peak and have a study-free year. However, I'm now 30 and I'm still largely unconvinced that I am suited to being a paramedic (I could discuss a few of the reasons in another post). I'm thinking I could feel better within myself if I started progressing towards another career option 'just in case' I never return to my paramedic work. To have all your eggs in one basket isn't ideal for anyone. I need to weigh up the cost of studying by distance education in 2010 versus the cost of leaving my nursing studies until 2011 and studying on-campus at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). There are always going to be positives and negatives with all options.

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Day 24 : Wednesday 23 Dec

I did a shift this afternoon with the same obsessive compulsive client as last Wednesday. My shift overlapped with another carer (whom I worked along side last Wednesday) by an hour and a half and after that... I was on my own! HELP! I'm unsure at this stage if I'll be continuing to work with this particular client for reasons I won't discuss here for obvious privacy reasons. I learned a lot though. About the client and also about me. What I learned about me is more important for the purpose of this Challenge. I learned that I can be assertive without getting angry or upset. I know this challenge is about taking 'small steps' - but that was a huge realisation/achievement for me. In the past its been the case more often that not that when I do attempt to assert myself, it ends up in an argument or a tear fest. Neither which are ideal - specially in the workplace. Go me! I'm growing and it's exciting. However, I also learned that not everyone will like everyone. We're all individuals - we're all unique. But then, some people may just not like or connect or get along with anyone due to issues of their own creation - be it because they are stubborn, self-centred, stuck-in-their-ways and/or they don't make an effort (or any combination of the above). There's a bunch of reasons for this paradigm. Interpersonal relations and communication is a two way thing - for it to work, you both have to make it work. Neither party can do 100% of the work and expect optimal outcomes.

** Image sourced from The importance of being assertive **

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Day 25: Thursday 24 Dec

We had our family Chrissy lunch today with my grandparents and my Mum's aunty. It was nothing extravagant or over-the-top - just a nice, relaxing day. The 'small step' I took today was taking all my own food (three meals worth - though one of them was just a Reflex Nutrition protein shake). I was determined to not eat anything extra as I was doing so well with my eating, and have been training so hard that I figured I wasn't prepared to stop what I was doing for the sake of a single day on the calendar that typically spins out to over a week for a lot of people. I know how hard it was to build momentum after a mini (or major) blow out. The psychological impact is perhaps the greatest - the feelings of guilt and of failure for eating so much crap in such a small time frame. So, the best policy is to not go 'off-plan' in the first instance! Too easy. I succeeded, as I knew I would, and it was effortless. I didn't feel deprived or tempted all day. Sure, I love food - but I love feeling amazing better than any chocolate coated anything could ever taste like. And I love feeling fit, strong and lean. The only 'extra' I did consume was three sugar free Double D lollies which is like bugger all, I know!

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Day 26: Friday 25 Dec

Who remembers the two music CD albums I bought Monday week ago? Listening to them in any shape or form was conditional upon me getting down to 75 kg. I had anticipated that they the CDs would be available for my listening pleasure by Christmas. And, what do you know - they sure were! This morning I weighed in at 74.8 kg. WOOP WOOP! I was so happy! It symbolises the end of me playing 'catch-up' as I recall being about 75 kg in the first week of February when I scooted down to Melbourne for a week and had that big mentoring session with Craig Harper. I made him a deal that I wouldn't return to him for another session until I was I think 7 kg lighter - which would have made it 68 kg (which rings a bell). I'm not going to go into what 'could have been' - it's too self-destructive. [Like, sure, I could 'easily' be at my goal weight by now - under 60kg] I focus on the NOW and my next mini-goal: 72.5 kg.

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Day 27: Saturday 26 Dec

As part of my ongoing rehab for my neck/poor scapula control issues, Tim-the-physio has given me three exercises to do AT LEAST three times a day (more is better). They are aimed at improved posture and pectoral (shoulder) girdle position. One of the exercises has be rolling my shoulders in preparation to set my scapula (shoulder blades) and then raise my arms from my side to 90 degrees, horizontal to my shoulder with light resistance. When Tim first had me doing this, I was using 0.5 kg dumbbells (which I must admit I laughed at him when he gave me them in the pilates studio! But he assured me they were enough for me, for now). I graduated from those in my pilates session last Thursday (17/12) and am now using 1 kg dumbbells. I already had a set of 1kg dumbbells at home too! Otherwise, Tim said any weighted object is fine - like a can of baked beans!

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Day 28: Sunday 27 Dec

This morning I installed the Polar Personal Trainer 5 software that came with my RS400 heart rate monitor. I also installed the driver for the infrared USB adapter that I purchased separately and uploaded nine exercise files. When I finally figured it out I quickly discover how amazingly awesome this is. It's so cool - I love it.

100 Small Steps Challenge: The Third Week

2009-12-21T14:19:00.000+10:00

Day 15: Monday 14 Dec

I had a busy day today where I was flying in and out all day! I was at the gym at 7:00AM and did some cardio for 1 hr 10 mins (5 mins cross trainer; 2 ½ mins stepper; 3 mins run on tready @ 9 km/hr followed by an hour on the upright bike). I had a job interview at 10:00AM that went for over an hour and a half which I felt was necessary for this position. It would be a disability support worker working with a client with severely debilitating OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and osteoporosis. I’ll be doing a trial/training shift on Wednesday. If both myself and the client is happy with how things went, I’ll be jumping on board to being a regular carer for this client. I have a really great feeling about it. It will require a bucket load of patience and will be challenging, but she’s such a sweet lady. I think I’ll find it really rewarding. After arriving back home after that I ate lunch then headed off to my physio session which was to be the most unpleasant treatment I’ve had to date. “No pain, no gain” I think is the plan of attack now. Tim did some dry needling on me – ie. sticking acupuncture needles right into the muscle and twiddling (a word?) them around and making the overactive muscle twitch. F*#! it hurt. By the end of it I felt like I’d been punched big time in my neck and right scap(ula). Tim informed me that it’ll get worse over the following 24 hours – which is how it has its effect. So, clearly I wont be doing much tomorrow! Got to let it calm down. I went home after physio via the shops and proceeded to spend lots of money. So much for me not bothering about Christmas presents this year. I had so much fun though, and I enjoy thanking people for what they’ve done for me. I’m into adding a bit of a personal touch to my pressies now – what’s the point of having something just sitting there getting dusty? I also found myself lashing out and treating myself too – I bought two music CD’s. I’m really sick of my limited playlist on my original (first generation) iPod Nano. I’m so excited now though. One of the albums I got was Maximum Base Overdrive – a 3CD set of hip hop and dance music mixed by DJ Samrai, Tom Piper & DJ Suae, and the other was Lady GaGa’s The Fame Monster. Refer to my 'Teasers of a Different Kind' post to see why I haven't yet listened to either of them.

After doing some shopping, I swung by the park that Gav, my PT, runs the weekly outdoor training session to say hello. I wasn’t going to train – I was too sore (as I knew I would be after physio) and Gav is being quite firm with me to not train twice a day for a couple of weeks while we get on top of my sleeping issues. I also gave him the heads up that Tim doesn't want me doing any upper body stuff with weights in my PT session on Wed morning. I was thinking that maybe I would have to cancel it, but Tim said “cardio and lower body stuff is ok – so you can’t get out of that one [PT]. With any squats you to with weight make sure its with a weight plate and hold it across your chest.” Gav said that he’s already planned an awesome session for me for Wednesday and its got no upper body in it. “It’s for your hike.” YAY! Everyone is being so supportive of my commitment to summit Mera Peak in Sep 2010. Gav is going to have me fit and strong and Tim is working on climbing-specific stuff with me in the pilates studio too (in addition to a lot of stuff geared at improving my scapula control). I’m so excited!

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Day 16: Tuesday 15 Dec

I know my 30th birthday was Sunday week ago (on the 6th), but we hadn’t got around to having a cake and a party because my parents and I went down to Surfers for the afternoon. On the Sunday just gone, I made a Lite Mixed Berry Cheesecake to have as my birthday cake. I adapted an ‘Extreme Lime Cheesecake recipe’ I had made some weeks ago – so instead of ¼ lime juice and rind I put in 100g of frozen mixed berries, and instead of lite lemon/lime jelly I used lite raspberry. It looked really pink! As you can see here. I wasn’t going to have any at all, but I ended up having the tiniest slither. And it was really yummy – the chunky berries in it were really good. When I was up at Coles this morning, I got some party food too – for the others to have. I must say, I felt like a fish out of water in the confectionary aisle and the sweet biscuit section and the potato crisps section! I really do feel like a reformed eater now. I’m unsure if I’m more guilty about admitting I used to frequent the confectionary aisle every day or more proud that I no longer need to. Or want to. Just for ‘old times sake’ I found my hands pluck my favourite Bounty chocolate bar. It’s a tribute to me because I honestly used to buy one or two of them and eat them both instantly, one after the other. I know Mum likes coconut things too, and Dad has a sweet tooth and will eat anything with sugar in it or coated in chocolate so they can cut it up and share it amongst them. (I took a photo of the bounty too!) It was an amazing feeling being so unemotionally attached to something that I once used to be so dependant on. I really feel I have overcome the need/want for anything sweet. How did it happen? It all comes back to being committed to my goals: my Nepal trek/summit climb… and there’s one other than I’m on the verge of releasing into Blog World! Stay tuned.

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Day 17: Wednesday 16 Dec

This afternoon I did my first trial/training shift as a disability support worker, working with a client with severe obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), anorexia, osteoporosis and scoliosis. Obviously, to protect the clients privacy, I’m not going to say too much more about her ‘case’ but I had a challenging afternoon. It’s a real eye opener when you see real people in the real world (ie. in the community, still living at home) struggling to cope with, for this client, what must be a bunch of debilitating ‘conditions’/illnesses. At university, we may spend all of 20 minutes discussing obsessive compulsive disorder, 5 minutes on eating disorders. It really does not offer real insight into what it must be like living with such illnesses. So, it’s only when you take your nose away from the text books and see it in the real world that you have a relatively tiny idea of the impact such illnesses must have on one’s life. Fact was, I left the clients home with a smashing headache – clearly dehydrated, hot and bothered (mentally as well as physically). One of the many things the client has issues with is dust – so of course, no doors or windows are allowed to be opened. As someone who had only spent a few hours with this client, I could see she clearly looked dehydrated, hot and bothered too! I wasn’t surprised one lil’ bit given her environment. One pissy pedestal fan just doesn’t do much when there is no outside air flow coming in. At the very least, she needs at least three ceiling fans. But, I somehow doubt the Department of Housing would deem that as necessary. Although, from an OH&S perspective, they really ought to. Because, it sure ain’t easy to change someone’s beliefs when they have OCD, just like it wouldn’t be easy trying to get a teenage girl with an eating disorder to believe that she isn’t fat, and that eating a chicken salad and an apple wont cause her to gain 10kg instantly. It is really sad seeing these people live like this. Really, really sad. They are complex illnesses that are difficult to understand and difficult to treat.

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Day 18: Thursday 17 Dec

Here are my new Pilates ToeSox that I ordered from HF Industries. They arrived at 2:30PM via an Australia Post courier – he must have known I had a pilates class at 4:00 this arvo! I was so happy that I got them before my class. I got a black pair and a white pair. I wore the black pair tonight. Tim laughed at them “what are these? They’re funny” and proceeded to tickle my toes! And I said they have a special grip on them too and showed him “I always feel like I’m going to slip – now I wont.” They weren’t cheap ($22 a pair!) but gee I love them. They’re like mittens for your feet. They’re awesome. I say Tim should sell them at his physio/pilates clinic!

As you may be rapidly realising, I’ve been investing a reasonable amount of cashola into my health, fitness and personal growth. What I’m sowing now I will reap rewards for many, many years to come. So, I’m by no means (at this particular point in time at least) stressing about this initial outlay. After each of my physio sessions when I settle the account, I’m asked by the receptionist “are you in a private health fund?” and of course, I reply “no.” However, over the past week or so I’ve actually replied a little differently. “No, not yet but I’m thinking about it.” And it has been the lovely Nicole at Tim’s Birkdale clinic who has prompted me to research it half-seriously. She said on Monday that some of the funds are waiving the two month waiting period for particular services – of which, physiotherapy is one normally with a two month waiting period. “Which for you at the moment could be good.” Thanks cheeky Nicole! Although suffice to say you’re very observant as I’ve been in there 1-2 times a week for the past four weeks now with this ongoing neck/scapula issue and I’ve recently restarted my studio pilates with Tim as well! Anyway, I finally decided to join Australian Unity today on their Comprehensive Extras option. (I’ll think about adding hospital as I approach my 31st birthday, but I can’t see the point now).

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Day 19: Friday 18 Dec

Keeping a daily food diary has easily become a non-negotiable for me – just like brushing my teeth is. I’ve been diligently using a template that Gav, my PT gave me – an A4 page that I’ve been photocopying and writing everything I eat in by hand. I’ve changed and added a few things to suit me – like, I added a column for ‘QTY’ so I can clearly see how much of each thing I’m having and a column for ‘h:mm’ to indicate the duration of my training sessions. But, to be honest, I’ve been less diligent about calculating the number of calories I’ve been eating each day, and tallying up the macronutrients (fat, protein and carbs). What I’m currently doing is good, but having the other info would be better. So, this morning, at the absurdly early hour of 3:30AM (I woke at 2:50) I turn my computer on and open up www.CalorieKing.com.au with the intent of starting to input my food so I can have a concrete idea of how much I’m eating and what my fat, protein and carbs add up to at the end of the day. What catches my attention first up? The banner at the top of the page saying: ‘Check out our amazing Nutrition & Exercise Manager desktop software, now 50% off!’ I’ve thought about getting the desktop version before. But here is my golden opportunity to take advantage of a great offer. I don’t delay and whip out my wallet and place my order. Yipee! I was even more delighted to see that they have just put out a new edition of the software… and now you can group snacks between meals. In the online edition they group all snacks at the end of the day and I get really annoyed by that. I’m (more than) a little excited! It is now only $22.48 so if you’re interested, hop to it now! I love CalorieKing because it is Australian and uses the most updated food database. *I love this desktop software so much better than the online version. It’ll just take a bit of time to save my ‘favourite foods’ into it again. I’m going to trial eating 1600 calories a day and see how that goes. Don’t ask me what I have been averaging as I wont be able to tell you! Naughty me.

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Day 20: Saturday 19 Dec

Disaster struck this morning when I scrapped the tub clean of my protein powder. I usually have four scoops with my oats for breakfast and there was only just two scoops. So, it was off to see Paul again at Healthy Habits – Gav sent me to him a few months ago. I’ve been using REFLEX NUTRITION Instant Whey – I get the choc mint and choc orange flavours and really like it. They are easy to drink – quite thin. Paul was out of the choc orange, so I got a 2.27 kg tub of choc mint. I’m going to aim at having three scoops twice a day as I think I have a bit too much of it on some days. Gav has been on my case to go back and see him for something for my ongoing sleeping issues. Gav said he sent his brother to see Paul some time ago and what he gave him worked. It’s worth a try and if not, its only $60-$70 that I’ve ‘wasted.’ Paul suggested I try the ULTIMATE NUTRITION GABA – Gamma Amino Butyric Acid. I’d rather something natural than a prescription or over-the-counter medication. I’m not going back on tranquilisations or sedatives. Been there, done that. Not for me. I feel so seedy and groggy and yuk when I wake the following morning.

Having said the above, I did book an appointment to see a doctor about my sleeping and also to get a routine blood test to check a few things out (blood sugar, iron, Vit B12, thyroid function etc). I’d be happy with a referral to a sleep specialist. The doctor I’m seeing was one Tim, my physio, suggested was good – ‘she’s young and quite progressive.’ Sounds good to me, thanks Tim.

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Day 21: Sunday 20 Dec

I’ve been getting increasingly ‘frustrated’ by my lack of anat & phys knowledge when Tim identifies particular muscles of my neck and pectoral (shoulder) girdle that are weak and/or dodgy (knotty!) or being naughty (ie. bad posture). So, out comes the anatomy colouring book (don’t laugh – it’s really cool!) and the anatomy and physiology text in order to get educated! Besides, I’ve been chatting with Tim over the past month about returning to my paramedic work. I’d join QAS (Queensland Ambulance Service). So, there’s no time like the present to start reviewing stuff, right? It’s good when you’re the one in control of your learning, opposed to being surrounded by deadlines and assignments and exams. I’m working on my preparation for the QAS fitness testing. But, because of my Nepal trek/climb, I’m not sure when I’ll apply. The application process is lengthy, so maybe I’ll see how I’m travelling with my personal stuff (confidence, decision making, assertiveness etc) by mid-year. I’m sure there’ll be no issues with my physical fitness and strength by then! How is this contributing to my physical, mental or emotional health? I’m getting educated about my muscular weaknesses AND I am working towards re-entering the paramedic profession after my short stint with Ambulance Victoria this year.

This Year I Learned...

2009-12-20T14:54:00.006+10:00

It sounds like the segment on ROVE, hey!

** Love you ROVE - and missing you and your Team already!**

This post was inspired by Craig Harper's current post titled 'What I've Learned (and re-learned) in 2009'. As I finished writing my comment, I realised that it was both unfair and inappropriate for me to post it in its entirity. So I posted a concise version on Craig's blog and have posted the complete version here.

"I learned that you might say and believe you're ready for something, but you clearly aren't."

I thought I was 'ready' to be a paramedic, but clearly I wasn't. It was the ultimate wake up call that I still have a looooong way to go in terms of building my confidence, developing my decision making skills, being an effective communicator and being the one 'in control.'

"I learned that if you jump into something on full gas, you get injured and it creates issues and can end up being quite costly."

Doing too much training too soon, without the recommended progressive build up after... ummm.... 6 months of essentially doing bugger all exercise resulted in the onset of neck pain which has subsequently highlighted my poor scapula control (related to what must be years of poor posture). Seven physio sessions later I'm still 'messed up'! :( That isn't a reflection on Tim, my physio, at all. It is a reflection on the whole set of circumstances/contributing factors. I'm improving. The pain is just jumping around and changing. You live and learn, that's all I'll say. This was a big lesson!

"I learned that when you do what you need to do CONSISTENTLY, WITHOUT EMOTIONAL ATTACHEMENT, you create positive, lasting change, you look and feel amazing and you walk around and talk like you really are happy and content."

I've been training with Gav, my PT, for 2x 45 min sessions a week since Sep 29. I've been keeping an honest food diary - that is, of EVERYTHING, every day and not just every 3rd day or when I'm 'good' - since Oct 19. I've now desensitised myself from needing/wanting the bad shit - a.k.a high carb, high fat, high sodium, high sugar crapola commonly found in chocolate, icecream, fast food places and bakey foodstuffs. I feel so damn good, Craig. Sure I have a long way to go yet but I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and I WILL MAKE IT "THIS TIME." How? BECAUSE I'M NOT GOING TO STOP TILL I GET THERE! GO ME!

"I learned that when you stop moving (interstate/intrastate) you actually start to develop close friendships and start to create things in your life that you love partially because of the people you share it with, not just because you love/enjoy the activity or thing."

My new passion is DANCE - the Les Mills BODY JAM way. I love the class, but I love the people who teach it and I love the participants I jam with! It doubles as a funky cardio workout and a social thing.

"I learned what true commitment looks, smells, tastes, feels and sounds like."

On Oct 13 I committed, financially (via a $1,000 deposit) to joining a mountaineering expedition in Nepal - a 24 day trek and summit climb of Mera Peak at 6476m. It's not just about the money though. It's about committing to it with your heart and soul and living and breathing what it is you have committed to. It's the most amazing thing to be truly committed. Try it for yourself and you be the judge.

"I learned that there are people out there who care about me and who want to see me create lasting change and become a better person."

My parents are amongst them, of course. Craig - you are too. Chezzy, my future mountain guide and team mate, Gav, my PT. And Tim, my physio is yet another - who I may add is really keen to see me get back to my paramedic career sometime soon. You're all so awesome and I want to thank you for sharing my journey to creating my best life.

Teasers of a Different Kind: A System of Rewarding Discipline

2009-12-18T19:19:00.007+10:00

I used to get teased a lot when I was a kid. But this is not what this is about. It’s about discipline. And rewarding self for ones achievements.

I’ve decided I’m going to reward myself for every 2.5kg lost. Yes, I know it isn’t all about the (scale) weight – but it does serve as an indication of progress towards one of my key goals that I am committed to achieving in the first half of 2010.

The first target has been set to 75.0 kg. And my ‘teaser’ – the carrot I’ve dangled in front of my face (quite literally) is two CD music albums. I bought them on Monday afternoon but they will remain in their Sanity bag and out of my stereo, my computer (via iTunes) and iPod until such time that I reach 75 kg. I’m nearly there too – I was 75.5 kg this morning. So, it looks likely it’ll be available for my listening pleasure by Christmas.

How can I be so strong, you ask? Easy. Like I said before, it just comes back to discipline. Sure, I could easily whack the new CD’s into the CD player and put them onto my iTunes and iPod, but I’m not, because this is a commitment I’ve made to myself. And I don't want to hear about 'will power.' It's about discipline and focus and commitment. Will power might save you for 5 mins but beyond that its bullshit.

It was my 30th Birthday Sunday week ago (on the 6th) and the dinner I had on that day at Montezuma’s has been the only ‘cheat’ meal I’ve had since Monday 19 October when I recommenced keeping a daily food diary (that’s writing in it every day, not every third day or when I’ve been ‘good’). On the Tuesday just gone, I put together a little party for my family – nothing over the top, just some basic party food with the favourite thing for each of my family (Mum: licorice allsorts, vanilla and strawberry wafer biscuits, Dad: marshmallow snowballs, my brother: cheese flavoured corn chips and sundried tomato and French onion dips). And I even made my own cake on Sunday - a Lite Mixed Berry Cheesecake. The chocolate ‘happy birthday’ plaque is from the mini mud cake I bought my parents from Michel’s for their wedding anniversary. Honest – I really did make the cheesecake, it wasn’t a Michel’s one! Though it looks pretty damn good if I must say so myself! I had a teeny weeny slither with my family at the party on Tuesday and it was really nice. It was very pink! The chunky berries really made it.

I’m still giving thought to my 'schedule' of subsequent rewards. Here is my draft one:

75.0 kg – two CD music albums

72.5 kg – Lorna Jane top (one only, Jules!)

70.0 kg – DEXA scan at Body Composition Australia which involves a trip to Sydney. I’m going to go with Sarah who also wants one when she gets to 70kg.

67.5 kg – VO2 max bike test at UQ (University of Queensland) or QUT (Queensland University of Technology)

65.0 kg – Garmin GPS (for running)

62.5 kg – TBA

60.0 kg – TBA

57.5 kg – glamour photo shoot

* Body fat composition to be assessed at (around) 57.5 kg

A few other thoughts that spring to mind are:

Facial (I've never, ever had one)
½ head of foils and my hair cut and straightened
Nike shoes from Harbour Town (Gold Coast) – I want some funky flat boots for BodyJam
Flexibility Highways – a DVD by Chuck Wolf
LIVE STRONG cycling shorts and jersey

It's important to work hard, but it's also important to enjoy what you've created and achieved.

100 Small Steps Challenge: The Second Week

2009-12-14T21:38:00.003+10:00

Day 8: Monday 7 Dec

“I’m going to strap your shoulder blades together today” says Tim, the physio. “Is that to teach them to be good?” I asked. “Yes – they’re being naughty. It’s teaching them to be in a better position. It’s for postural correction." When I feel it pulling it means I’m rolling my shoulders inwards. So, here I am, my scapulae strapped. Nice work, Tim!

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Day 9: Tuesday 8 Dec

I love Tuesdays. Tuesday nights, in particular. At 7:30PM I hit the dance floor (err, the group exercise studio) and Jam for an hour! WOOP WOOP! Here we all are – the Tues night Wynnum Fitty First Jammers. Big shout out to Rach, Jazz and TK. How special did I feel when Jazz shouted out to me a “HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR SUNDAY, JULIA” during the warm up track? Luv you tons, Jazz! … and YAY – Rach, was so good to have you back teaching on stage, honey. I missed you. We all missed you. And thanks to you too for dedicating the track titled ‘My house’ to me. “This song is dedicated to Julia who woke up at 4:30AM and this song was in her head!” Luv you tons, Rach. You’re the Real McCoy of the Jammin’ World! Yes, yes, and I luv you too, TK! You rock! Jamming contributes to my mental health – it really does give me so much joy. I have so much fun. I was never into the going out clubbing thing, so this for me is like going out! It turns into a social thing too – I stay and chat with the Rach, Jazz and TK and a few other regulars, although tonight I didn’t stay for too long as I was really tired and needed to get to bed for some much needed rest.

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Day 10: Wednesday 9 Dec

I had PT with Gav yesterday morning at 9:30 and it didn’t take a brainiac to observe I wasn’t doing very well. I was stalling at every opportunity. I’d be talking to Gav and mucking around. I burned a grand total of 250 calories in our 45 min session. Like that is shithouse for me. I usually burn around 500-600. I was struggling for sure. Gav gave me the ‘overtraining’ pep talk not to punish me, but because he cared and was concerned that I’ll lose my passion for the gym and my training and/or get a nasty injury. I don’t want either, so thanks tons, Gav. You’ve been the best thing that’s happened to me for a long time. Anyway, the take home message from the pep talk yesterday was that it’s important I get to bed at 8:30PM each night. I’ve been going to bed at 9:30-10:00 and typically waking at 4:00AM. So, instead of fighting the early start, we need to work around it so that I get adequate rest and recovery time by going to bed earlier. And, here it is, a picture of the kitchen/dining room clock at 8:30PM. It actually didn’t happen last night as I was stubborn and went to my 7:30PM Jam class. It didn’t happen tonight either as I was grilling 3kg of chicken breast fillets in the George Foreman Grill. It really needed cooking. I also was gathering stuff together for my day at Sea World tomorrow. Time just got away, you know…

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Day 11: Thursday 10 Dec

Yes, so hear I am, back at Sea World. Last Thursday I had my Lifeguard interview which I was unsuccessful with. However, on Tuesday Sam, my bestie (best friend), calls me and says she has two (free) tickets that she was given by a random person at work who was going to be unable to use them on the specified day (Thurs 10 Dec). “Do you want to come?” AHHHHH – hell yes, I do! I rescheduled my Thurs 4:00PM studio pilates class to Fri at 4:00PM and couldn’t put a lid on my excitement in anticipation of spending the day with Sam on Thursday at Sea World! And, to be honest, because I hadn’t forked out nearly $70 for the ticket, I was more excited about spending the day with Sam than Sea World! We had a ball though. The highlight would have had to have been the Imagine Dolphin Show… and also seeing Huddy (Hudson) feeding. Everyone say “awwww – cute!” Sam had to leave the Theme Park at 3:30PM to get to her PT session at the gym at 4:30PM but I hung around and lined up on a couple of rides and browsed the Gift Shop and spent lots of money! Thanks tons, honey, for a magical day. Sam paid for my $5 entry into the Water Park and also for my lunch – a yummy chicken, salad and sun-dried tomato wrap, and also a bottle of water. You’re so sweet – love you so much.

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Day 12: Friday 11 Dec

Yesterday was my parents 37th Wedding Anniversary. Congratulations, Mum and Dad! This is the individual mud cake I got for them at Michel’s Patisserie on my way home from Sea World last night. It had a chocolate template with Happy Birthday written on it. But I whipped that off and placed four heart candles that I had found in a discount store, and two bee shaped icing decorations from a Pooh Bear collection I found in the cake decorating section in Coles Supermarket. I had got a blank card in the newsagent on Wednesday too, with ‘On Your Special Day’ on the front and some yellow flowers. Inside I wrote the following quote that I found from a website

Love is like water
We can fall in it
We can drown in it
But we can’t live without it

My parents loved the cake and the card. I love giving. And doing special things for the special people in my life. To me, this represents mental and emotional health as it gives me so much joy to brighten the lives of those close to me. You don’t have to spend $50+ to let someone know you love them. I spent less than $20 on the cake, cake decorations I added and the card. In fact, the card was $1 but because I had taken the time to find a beautiful quote and write it in my handwriting, I think it is more special than picking up a $6 card with something already printed. It shows I’ve given it more thought.

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Day 13: Saturday 12 Dec

Tim had said last Wednesday that if I’m having issues to give him a call on Monday as he may be able to see me before Wednesday. I called on Monday because my neck was still really stiff and yukky. Turned out Tim was fully booked anyway when I phoned just after 8:30AM. But it would have been 5 or so minutes later that I had a phone call from Nicole, the receptionist, saying she had had a cancellation for 2:30PM if I wanted it. “Yes please.” Although, I’m not sure why I was so excited – Tim gives my neck and muscles a thrashing. Ouch +++! I said to Nicole to keep the Wed 8:00AM appointment at this stage and see what Tim says. Clearly, I still have some underlying soft tissue ‘issues’ that we need to address as he said to me as we finished on Monday, “I think we better keep our Wednesday [physio] appointment.”

My ‘homework’ from Wednesday’s session, in addition to a bunch of stretches and exercises for my neck, was to try going for a swim before next [physio] session. “Just 10 laps, breathing both sides. That’s 500m.” Yes, Tim, I know 10x 50m = 500m! I went for this swim this afternoon at 1:45PM, at Manly pool which has only been open for a few weeks following major refurbishments. It was a 33m outdoor pool, not heated and it was shit! I had been there once or twice before. Now, it is a 25m heated salt water pool, still outdoors and it looks fantastic. I’ve really missed not being in the water. I love swimming. The last time I’d been in the water was on 15 November when I did my Pool Lifeguard Update course, and shit, did I pay for it the following day – my neck was really, really sore on the Monday morning. I saw Tim that afternoon, and I swear, had he gone near it that morning I would have punched him because it was already so sore. It had calmed down a bit though. Anyway, my swim this afternoon felt OK on the neck. I guess time will tell in the coming days if my neck continues to stay ‘happy’ (as happy as it can be!). By around 7:00PM tonight my neck and right scapula cracked it and was experiencing a weird pinching and pulling sensation again. (And it was shitty all day Sunday too, and was no better Monday morning either).

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Day 14: Sunday 13 Dec

In my second PT session for the week, it was Gav’s turn to do some talking – err, I mean, teaching/instructing. It continued on from Tuesdays discussions about overtraining (where he had me Google ‘overtraining in sport’). He wrote out a weekly training schedule for me to address this issue. He says I’m doing too much training given I’m not sleeping enough. Another ongoing concern is that I’m also not eating enough for the training I’m doing each day. So, he has instructed me to wear my Polar heart rate monitor for 24 hours today to get a baseline figure on the calories I burn on a rest day. Here is my Polar heart rate monitor transmitter belt. I commenced the 24-hour study at 7:00PM last night. Total calories burned were 2405. That was really interesting. I wonder what my HR got down to? I’m going to download (?upload) the whole 24 hour file to my computer and find out.

100 Small Steps Challenge: The First Week

2009-12-07T19:00:00.004+10:00

Last Monday (30/11/09) I joined in on Linda's "100 small steps challenge." The aims and rules of the Challenge are clearly set out here. There are quite a number of challengers now, and you can jump in at any time - so please leave a comment if you want to climb aboard too because we'd absolutely love to have you as part of our growing group.

Note to self: This Challenge is about taking small steps towards forever change - specifically, in the area of physical, mental and emotional fitness.

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Day 1: Monday Nov 30

For those who are unaware, Les Mills have a bunch of group fitness programs, with the most popular being the strength training based, BodyPump. Every three months a new choreographed routine is released and you generally work on the new release for 4 weeks before mixing it up and going back to previous releases so no one gets bored.

My BodyJam (Les Mills' dance based program) journey started on 20 October and I've never looked back. It's the new love of my life. It's the highlight of my week - I have such a great time. The first time I did it I sucked at it - had no idea what my feet and arms and hips were doing at all. But, as time goes on, I'm getting more and more of the chorey and loving it so much more.

The 7:30PM BodyJam class at Carindale Fitness First was the launch of #51 for the regular Carindale Jammers, however my home club is at Wynnum and I had already done the New Release on Friday morning (also taught by the awesome Adam). Typically, you'll see a lot more people in 'launch week' than usual, and tonight at Carindale was no exception. The room was packed like sardines. Not kidding. And the air con may as well have been off as it was so hot in the room. I was way up the back, in the middle, and one of the other participants said it was even hotter up the front. I had seriously never perspired so much in the period of one hour in my life. I also had never felt I needed so much hydration in the hour or so following the class. I bought this Aussie Bodies HPLC (high protein low carb) bar on my way out of the gym as I knew I'd burned a bunch of calories and needed some energy replacement. * And Gav, the PT is always on my case about not eating enough given all the training I do.

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Day 2: Tuesday Dec 1

My Jam journey started by attending the 7:30PM Tuesday class at my home club, Wynnum. Rach (the senior instructor) team teaches the class with Jazz (Jasmine) and TK (whose real name is Maori and I don't even know how you pronounce it!). Jazz and TK are trainee Jam instructors and are both mentored by Rach.

Over the past 6 weeks, I have been welcomed into the Jam family and am now friends with Rach, Jazz and TK. They light up my life, and rock my world. They truly are the coolest, crazziest, funnest and genuine people I've met in a long time. And they're all Kiwi's (New Zealanders) with obvious Maori blood lines. I'm Kiwi born, but Aussie bred but I still consider myself a Kiwi at heart. Dad's side of the family are from NZ, and Mum's side from Aus.

Here is a pic of the Jam teaching team at the Wynnum launch (well, it was for those who can't make it to any weekday morning classes). From left to right: Jazz, Rach and TK. Love you guys! Peace out to my favourite Jam teaching crew!

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Day 3: Wednesday Dec 2

I've been seeing my physio for the past few weeks for ongoing neck pain. Tim wanted a photo of my sleeping posture as he suspects it could be part of the issues I'm having. I'm not really asleep in this photo! The pic was taken on Tuesday night, but I showed them to Tim on Wed morning.

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Day 4: Thursday Dec 3

I'm currently looking for casual/part time work and today I had an interview at Sea World. The position was a Lifeguard at the (small) water park. I originally thought I was applying for a lifeguard position at Wet 'n' Wild but for some reason my application was forwarded to HR at Sea World. To be honest, I would have preferred Wet 'n' Wild but tried not to over-think the whole thing by telling myself there must have been a reason it was forwarded to Sea World. I received an email the following day and learned I had been unsuccessful. However, I was totally fine with that as it was 84 km one way - a fair hike, and I was told some of the shifts may have been only four hours. I cannot justify the travel for four hours work at the pay rate I would have received. So, all good. I'll keep my eyes open for a suitable employment opportunity.

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Day 5: Friday Dec 4

Whatever Tim (the physio) did on Wednesday really disturbed my neck. It seems my original presenting injury/complaint has morphed/mutated/changed into something different. It started off as being acute, constant neck pain that was aggravated by rotation. Now, the constant pain has gone but my neck musculature is clearly 'unhappy.' Since Wednesday's physio treatment I've experienced a pulling sensation in addition to it all feeling incredibly tight and 'icky.' Tim advised to put heat on it and I use the Lockeroom Pocket Physio to dig into my 'dodgy' bits in my neck as trigger point therapy (yellow is my favourite colour, so I had to buy a yellow one!).

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Day 6: Saturday Dec 5

I've been having ongoing sleeping issues. I have no trouble falling asleep, but I'm consistently waking after 4-5 hrs sleep. Typically at around 4:00AM, although it has been as early as 1:45, or 2:30. Nothing wakes me up at that time. Sometimes my cat, Mishka, wakes me at 4:30'ish but often I wake before her. I've been keeping a log of when I go to bed, when I wake and any sleeps I have during the day. I found this sleeping log online ages ago and I finally got around to finding the file on my USB memory drive and printing a few copies. I'll transfer what I've written in my lil' notebook onto this log so as to better see what's going on.

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Day 7: Sunday Dec 6

Today was my 30th Birthday! Goodbye to the 20's - I can't honestly say I'll miss them, as the majority of the past decade I'd rather just forget for reasons I won't get into here and now. I had a fun-filled day, although it didn't start off like that (again, I won't get started on that - Chelle, you know what I'm talking about, hey). I went down to Surfers Paradise with my parents to meet up with my Aunty and Uncle who were up from the Central Coast (NSW) for a few days (not specifically for my birthday either, by the way). We met them at the hotel they were staying at, then shortly after having a hot drink (not that I had cuppa - I'm not a big fan at all of hot drinks. Never have been. I do enjoy the odd mug of Hot Chocolate though) and brief discussion of what we were going to do for the afternoon, we headed into the town and checked out a few of the ideas my Aunty and Uncle had come up with. One was a place called 'Infinity' which sounded cool and fun. Another was ten pin bowling. Also good but I can do that anytime, anywhere. What appealed to me the most out of the suggested ideas was getting dressed up in a Victorian costume and having my photo taken. And that's exactly what I did. It was so much fun - I had an absolute ball. The photographer was a bit weird though - just a bit... how do I phrase it.. abrupt with her instructions? Anyway, I had fun and I was photographed in the one costume in four different settings/scenes holding the odd prop. The three photos I chose came out so well. I don't view myself as overly photogenic, but I really do like the ones I chose (with help from the others). They were printed in the brown/white contrast (I forget what its called - something beginning with 'C', is it?) and they were ready for my collection in 15 minutes. And, it'll be something I'll have forever as a reminder of my 30th birthday. After the photo shoot, we all went out to dinner to Montezuma's - a Mexican restaurant and I had a chicken burrito. It was so yummy. It was the first meal "off-the-plan" I had had since Oct 19. And to be honest, I didn't want food to be involved in my birthday as I was doing so well with my eating. I wanted to have a party when I got to my goal weight/body composition in four months (or whenever). There's no birthday cake (yet). And I had no dessert - was far too full anyway. The burrito was divine. My only regret was not to have shared my day with my brother - he didn't want to come...

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Stay tuned for Days 8-14. I'm loving this Challenge already - thanks so much Linda. It's going to be like a photo diary.

NB: Okay, so perhaps expect me to write more than two lines on each day in the future! I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for me, and I'm happy if you don't want to read it - no offense taken whatsoever (I don't get 'precious' very often these days). I love writing and reflecting (is that obvious?).

The significance of today in my life

2009-11-29T04:32:00.001+10:00

I'm unsure what today signifies in your world, but for me it's very special for at least two key reasons.

Firstly, I will say farewell to my 20's, and turn 30 next Sunday, December 6. Why be scared about it, honestly? I can't change my age. We're all ageing. Every day, every hour, every minute. So, my attitude is to embrace getting older because with it, we are learning, growing and becoming a new-and-improved-version-of-us. Or if we aren't, that is our choice. So, choose to become a better person every day in even a small way. Life is far too short to waste.

Secondly, in exactly 40 weeks today - the time it takes for a foetus to reach full term (which I thought was rather significant!) - I will, together with the rest of Team Mera, commence my epic trek and climb of Mera Peak in Nepal. How can I not get excited about that amazing fact? That's right kids, in 40 weeks today (5 September, 2010) I'll be in Kathmandu, in Nepal. I am sooooo, sooooo excited. I have tons of work (preparation) to put in between now and then, but I have every belief in myself that I can be physically, mentally and emotionally prepared for what is sure to be my most life-changing, challenging and rewarding experience to date. I have a Team of amazing people who are right alongside me, doing all they can to help me get ready for Mera Peak. I'm going to introduce you to those people very, very soon. I have long since acknowledged I cannot get from where I am now to where I need to be physically, mentally and emotionally on my own. It's SMART to ask for help, guidance and coaching. Why? Because I am so committed to summiting Mera and being in the best physical and mental condition of my life. Preparation is the key. Once I arrive, it's too late. The hard work needed to already be done. The more I prepare, the more I will gain from my climb and the more I'll enjoy it because I wont be struggling with every step. The altitude will alone be challenging enough. I'm so going to be a little ball of muscle in 40 weeks time... and an endurance athlete, ready to climb a mountain!

There is one other thing but I'm not quite ready to unleash it into the blogosphere yet. Soon though, I promise you'll hear/read about it right here. I'm well aware I could receive some feedback that may be borderline negative, hence why I am holding back at this time. But, at the end of the day, it isn't about anyone else. This is about me. I have my reasons (the why behind the what) and that is all that matters.

Enjoy today, kids. I invite you to sit down for a few minutes today and contemplate the significance of today in your life. Where are you at with your goals and commitments for 2009? What is in store for you in 2010? What worked for you, what didn't work? Are you a better person now than you were 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 months ago? I know I most certainly am in a much better head space than I was four months ago. And I am fitter and stronger too. And happier. And more focused and committed. And grateful for my family and my health. Sure, I'm always going to have my 'issues' and 'challenges' - but as long as we are committed to working on overcoming them it's all good in my book. I have a few I'm currently working on overcoming right now: my sleeping (or lack thereof), my eating (again, or lack thereof, given the quantity of training I'm doing) and my acute neck pain that has now persisted for almost 4 weeks. It's when we are stagnant that we lose the point of life. I'm the first to admit that about three months ago, I was in a very negative 'place' in my life. I don't want to go back there, ever. And I'm not about to paint a grim picture of what things were like for me then. Although you'll get glimpses of that period in my life, no doubt.

The Seven Summits

2009-11-07T07:40:00.004+10:00

In the world of mountaineering, the Seven Summits is considered to be an achievable goal - rather than say climbing the fourteen peaks over 8000m (Andrew Lock - I totally admire you). That is, climbing the highest peak on each of the earth's seven continents.

Asia - Mt Everest, 8850 metres

South America - Aconcagua, 6962 metres

North America - Mt McKinley, 6194 metres

Africa - Kilimanjaro, 5895 metres

Europe - Mt Elbrus, 5642 metres (not Mt Blanc)

Antarctica - Vinson Massif, 4897 metres

Australia - Mt Kosciusko, 2228 metres. (Note that for reasons that probably relate to the extremely low altitude and lack of any technical difficulty of Mt Kosciusko, some claim that the highest peak for this region should be Carstenz Pyramid, 4884 metres, in Irian Jaya for the 'continent' of 'Oceania'.)

(Ref: http://www.andrew-lock.com/seven-summits.shtml)

If mountaineering doesn't excite you and isn't your 'thing' - and that is perfectly okay - what are your Seven Summits? What are the seven top goals you would like to achieve in your lifetime? The time frame is irrelevant and the 'significance' of any or all of your selected seven is entirely personal. Likewise, the 'degree of difficulty' is also irrelevant and individual. Because, as my personal development coach/mentor, Craig Harper, says time and time again: "It's about YOU." Why chase someone elses goals? Why be a copy cat? You are unique for a reason - so you develop your own ideas, opinions, thoughts and plans.

The rationale for me writing about this follows my commitment to climb Mera Peak in September next year with Nick Farr (our leading guide), Cherie Horne (my special friend/trainer in Melbourne) and eleven cool team mates who I'll meet early next month at our first team meeting. But it also comes at a time where I've had to totally re-think where I'm going in my own life. And, to be honest, I don't have any answers regarding what path I'll follow next. I decided to voluntarily walk away from my paramedic career in mid August, not having even completed half of my 12 month Graduate Ambulance Paramedic Program in Melbourne. It was the toughest decision I made this year and I sure as hell resisted it for as long as I possibly could. It literally tore me to pieces. I realised that work just was not meant to be that hard; that I needed to honour my respect for myself and that I needed more time to develop my confidence, communication, decision making and a bunch of other life skills that are not only integral to a paramedic career but also for all areas of life.

It's important to have goals, and I'm not going to start on how to set goals and all that stuff. However, it's important to set achievable goals, measureable goals and also goals that challenge you. Avoid setting goals that involve other people. For example, getting married and having kids are both important to me, but I woldn't want to think I'm a 'failure' if they never happen. Remember, the Seven Summits challenge is about you. Once you come up with your Seven Summits, start making action plans to achieve each, one at a time. I must also emphasise how self-destructive it would be - not to mention outright stupid - to attempt the summit of Everest without first having done some smaller peaks. You need to give yourself time to gain all the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to become 'amazing' at your chosen 'thing.' By the way, just because the Seven Summits is just about climbing mountains, doesn't mean your Seven have to be all related too. They can be seven anything's. Also note that it isn't a crime by any means to edit your Seven at any time.

So, what are my Seven Summits? As of today, they are (in no particular order):

Body composition - 57 kg* / body fat 18-20% (* body fat % to take precidence over body weight)

Ironman New Zealand or Ironman Western Australia

Mera Peak

Become a qualified paramedic

Antarctic Ice Marathon

Rottnest Channel Swim 2011

Mt Everest

I would love to know your thoughts on my Seven Summits and would love to read about your Seven Summits too. So please share or just say hello.

The Three S's of a Good Training Session

2009-10-26T21:26:00.003+10:00

I had a PT session this morning with Gav. I mentioned that I sweat like a pig. He said that's a good thing. Then he told me about the three s's of a good workout.

1. sweat
2. smiles
3. swearing

I love it! However, maybe our session wasn't as good as I perceived? Two out of three. "Have you got a swear word out of me yet?" I asked. "No, but I will." Not today though.

The Climb

2009-10-16T11:57:00.004+10:00

My head started churning things over (yet again) when I heard an interview on The 7PM Project between Jesse Martin and Jessica Watson. The bit that stuck out for me was this:

Jesse: What makes you think you can do this [be the youngest to sail solo around the world]?
Jessica: I just wanted to do something. I didn't have anything going for me. You just go out there and you try and blunder along and you work out a way to do it. I wouldn't be doing it if I thought it was going to be easy.

and this too...

Jessica: Whatever your dream is go for it. If you really want something you can go out and achieve it. It's going to be hard but you'll find a way.

Thanks Jess. You helped me climb out of my cocoon and start to dream and believe again. I wish you all the best on your trip too. Take care young sailor.

Life is full of peaks and troughs. It has been said many times before that it is the troughs, the lows, that test and challenge you. The test is really 'well, how strong are you?' When I've been through my lows, I have struggled to pull myself up again, and to find the strength within myself to try again and to not give up on myself and what I may have been trying to achieve. But sometimes people come into your life at just the right time, or opportunities will present themselves at a critical moment. For me, it was Jess and this blog post from Cherie Horne: Climb in Nepal with me in 2010. That was all I needed to climb out of my cocoon. I waited patiently for the next post (Mera Peak 2010) and it was when I read about the expedition on Monday night that I had already committed to joining Cherie and Nick Farr on what will surely be the most amazing journey of self-discovery, strength and courage that I have ever had. Climbing any mountain isn't for the faint hearted and this climb is serious high altitude stuff (not as serious as Everest or the other 13 peaks over 8000m).

I want to go. Now! It's been a long, long time that I have been so excited about anything. THIS IS IT. My chance to shine. My chance to challenge myself. Challenge myself to believe in myself. To build my confidence. To grow as a person. To learn about something I currently know very little about.

Thanks Cherie. Love you lots ( )

A death in the family

2009-04-19T18:30:00.005+10:00

I awoke yesterday morning and before I got up I read a sms that was on my phone from Mum. It essentially said my Nanna had died overnight. Although it didn't say that as such, she assumed I already knew. I didn't. We have been expecting it for a while now - but more so over the past month or two. We're all okay. We really lost her 10 years ago when she had a big stroke. After that she just wasn't the same. The personality had been sucked from her and also her quality of life.

My Nanna has six children (my Dad is the second eldest) and I'm not sure how many grandkids there are - but there's a lot. We were all so close to Nanna so I'm thinking the funeral (to be held on Friday 24/4) is going to be a huge tear fest. Tears of sadness and tears of happiness - celebrating the life of someone who was so special to all of us.

I've never been to a funeral. Ever. So, yep, I'm rather scared. Not really sure why, I just am. Scared of saying a final goodbye? Maybe. Scared of the whole tearful procession? Yeah, that too.

Thinking about the death of a loved one also triggered a post of Craig's that I read earlier this year called 'Just another life.' He essentially was getting us to think about our own funeral. What would people say about us? What were our achievements, what were our values were, and the kind of person we were. I'm not sure there'd be too much to say about my life right now.

From what I've heard, my Nanna's funeral is turning into a big family reunion. It's hard to get everyone together when everyone is scattered all over the place: Melbourne, Central Coast NSW, Brisbane and NZ. It'll be sad saying goodbye, for sure, but I'm looking forward to spending time with my family too. Makes you appreciate the amazing opportunity we all have to live in the now and to share a part of ourselves with our family and friends.

I want to throw the floor open to anyone with thoughts on whether I should speak or not? If yes, what do I say? Or do I just stand there and cry for two minutes?

Consistent progress

2009-04-05T19:51:00.008+10:00

It's one thing to sit down and write out all your goals and make the action plans, but it's another kettle of fish to put those plans into practice and make quality progress, consistently. Making that consistent progress has been my issue lately so I just did a search for 'progress' on Craig Harper's site and found this article: The progress check. The article refers to the 154 days that, on Aug 7, remained of 2008 calendar year. I'll adapt my responses so I'm referring to the remaining weeks of this financial year (that will bring me/us up to June 30). Also keep in mind that I'm referring to the commitments I made in the Commitment Wall post (9/12/2008) on Craig's site (see below).

Jules said...
* setting non-negotiable behaviours
* no more over-thinking and under-doing, no more procrastinating, no more excuses, no more avoiding hard work
* building confidence
* moving to Melbourne to commence work with Ambulance Victoria as a Graduate Ambulance Paramedic
* building social network; creating new friendships and relationships
* PT [client] at Harpers
* triathlon coaching [client]
* sub 5:30 Melbourne Marathon 2009
* Ironman Western Australia 2009
* start weight: 77.2 kg… goal: 58 kg
* save for house deposit

1. What haven't you done in 2008 that you said you would?
I haven't made much progress with my body goals; I haven't learned my CPG's for work; I'm not doing all my scheduled triathlon training sessions; I'm not training at Harper's; not yet got my savings plan happening

2. Why haven't you done it?
I've been procrastinating, over-thinking, stressing, making excuses for why I shouldn't do what I need to (too tired, no time), put too much pressure on self --> paralyses me and I don't do anything. About the Harper’s stuff – I’ve been uber busy with my new job. Savings plan – I’ve just moved to Melb and got to get on top of a few financial things first (like paying the father back for helping me out with first months rent).

3. How have you sabotaged yourself this year?
See above. Also, I've been living in the future and have been consumed by fear; I don't trust myself.

4. How and when will you stop that?
Stop over-thinking, (stop writing/talking about what I'm going to do) stop waiting for the perfect time (it doesn't exist). Finding the good/positive in I just have to. When? NOW. Today. This minute.

5. Why will it be different next time?
I don't want to live my life like this for another moment. It's such a waste. I'm only hurting myself, and pushing away the people around me who are wanting to help me. No one believes me anymore.

6. Are you communicating effectively and productively with everyone in your world? If not, what do you need to change to produce better results?
Communication is still an issue for me. But I am building confidence in that area. I'm working on it. It's a big part of my new job role so I'll get proficient at it. In time. With practice and experience and some coaching from my Clinical Instructors. "Be confident in what you do."

7. What will you do different (to create different) for the next 154 [?80'ish] days?
Do my training
Eat no crap for an initial 28 day period. (Then for another 28 day period).
Read Eckhart Tolle and start living in the NOW
Stop talking, writing and thinking about all the stuff I’m going to do. Only talk, write about stuff I have done after I’ve achieved something

8. What specifically will you achieve, change, create by the end of this [financial] year (and of course, beyond)?
be 65kg
deposit 15% of my after-tax fortnightly income into my house deposit savings account
have good foundational knowledge of my CPGs and pharmacologies
have an amazing attitude
change my eating habits (no chocolate, no bingeing on yoghurt)
change my lifestyle habits
create a social life

9. In reference to your goals for the rest of this [financial] year, what is the absolute best investment of your time and emotional energy and what do you need to let go of for now?
The best investment of my time I can make is living in the now, and doing what I need to do regardless of how I feel (regardless of the ‘motivation’). I need to let go of my fears and my self-doubts. Get over it! They are only my perceptions. They aren’t real.

10. Are you actually prepared to do what it takes, or do you just like the 'idea' of success?
I'm genuinely prepared to do what it takes. I've had enough of thinking about my best life. I will really start creating it. Being amazing is within the realm of possibility for all of us. Of course we each have a different concept of what is 'amazing' but, it is first and foremost an attitude. Then, it just requires 'doing amazing' things - doing what others most. Being exceptional. Doing stuff when others make excuses. Being consistent with chipping away at our goals so we produce the outcomes we want in our world.

11. What's one thing that you can do right now (okay when you finish reading this) to create instant change on some level (big or small)?
Write up a daily checklist with all my non-negotiables until they all become no-brainers

12. How will you keep yourself accountable and proactive when the motivation 'wears off'? When this post is a distant memory what will keep you doing what you need to do?
Provide Craig Harper with (brief) weekly progress reports
Train with Cherie at Harper's at least once a week
Check in with my triathlon coach and let him know how I'm going – reporting what I have/haven’t done
Enter Ironman Western Australia and book my accommodation stuff = committing financially and therefore giving self a reason to do it (not doing it will no longer be an option)
My Amazing Jules Personal Growth Challenge - give myself weekly challenges/mini-goals

The Amazing Jules Personal Growth Challenge

2009-04-04T13:26:00.016+10:00

Background

They’re everywhere now. Body transformation challenges. Most are twelve weeks.

Body for Life Challenge

Body Blitz Body Transformation Challenge

Catch Fitness 20 Week Body & Lifestyle Challenge

Ideal Bodies Online

I actually was all set to enter the Catch Fitness one this year but being New Zealand based they decided at the eleventh hour I was not eligible to enter this year. It’s okay though, I don’t need an official challenge. I can create my own. And I will. I am. Now.

What’s different about my challenge then?

It has no end date. Personal growth is a life-long thing. Creating our best body is too. Once we achieve our desired body composition (body fat) goal, we can develop more strength, endurance, fitness, flexibility. The list is endless. Pick a sport and work on getting better at it.

It's not just about the body stuff. It’s about the head stuff as well and the lifestyle stuff. I have recognised ‘performance gaps’ that need serious work to reach the 'standard' (the standard I set for myself).

It’s about me creating my best life. Contrary to some peoples ideas, this isn’t solely about me being a Paramedic, or about me finishing my first (and any subsequent) Ironman triathlons or about me buying a house, finding a partner and having kids. Creating the outcomes we want in my world is a big part of creating our best life. But it has other components too. We’ll explore them as we go along.

It’s about me getting stuff done. Doing what I need to do. Having some public accountability. I am aware of several people (who will remain nameless) who ‘do not believe me anymore’ so I’ll keep quiet and let my results here tell the story of what’s going on in my world.

It’s about commitment. I have a bazillion goals, and even an action plan but do I actually do it? Am I really committed? Actions speak louder than words every time. In my case, it has been inaction that has spoken louder. Not something to brag about.

It’s about me. And no, the whole world is not about me – I’m referring to the process of change. It requires me to ‘do, think, be and create AMAZING’ - no one can do that for me. I am more than capable. I am intelligent. Not uber-intelligent but intelligent enough.

How is this going to work?

While my Challenge may appear to be something I’ve whipped up in five minutes, it isn't. I’ll give you the heads up now that I’ll be making up the rules as I go and giving myself various mini-challenges (assignments if you like) along the way. It – like me – will be a work in progress. So bear with me while I figure what I’ll be doing! The Chief Judge is going to be me. I’m sure I’ll have others around me who will jump up and comment on what I’m doing (or not). I welcome their input and feedback anytime.

Let's start. Now.

Week 1

Read Eckhart Tolle for ½ hr, at least 4 days
Record food
Minimum of 2.5 L water a day
Minimum of 1 hour a day studying, learning, immersing self in Ambulance Victoria Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs)
1x 45-60 minute PT session (resistance stuff) OR clinical pilates class
Complete 100% of my scheduled triathlon training sessions
Do something DIFFERENT – something NEW - something involving OTHER PEOPLE (cannot be a solitary activity)

That will do for now. Don’t want to overwhelm myself. I hope I haven't overwhelmed myself more than I need to! Although I do need to push the accelerator down to the floor as quickly as I can. I keep starting stuff and then activate the ABS as soon as I can. I can’t keep doing that. It’s too risky. (As you know, I’ve been immersed in low-risk driving stuff for the past week). Some of the above is real basic stuff. Non-negotiable stuff. Or what should be non-negotiable stuff by now but clearly isn't.

Some key dates on the horizon

23 Apr My first shift on-road as a Graduate Paramedic

6 May My university graduation. Bachelor of Clinical Practice (Paramedic), Pass with Credit. Anyway, you only graduate with a first Bachelors degree once. Just like you only get married for the first time once. You only have your first baby once.

29 May RYL Two Day Program. I really need to put in some serious work between now and then. Otherwise, let's be honest here and say here is little point me even going if I can't create some serious change in one or more areas of my life in 8 weeks. I'm not talking 'lose 10 kg in one week.' That's unrealistic. But give me 8 weeks and that is a reasonable chunk of time. I need to be able to do what I need to do on my own. Start creating my AMAZING body, career, finances, social life. Others cannot help you if ou cannot help yourself first. It's easier for others to help if you're already doing stuff, and being proactive. I want to meet Sue J and EG and others from Craig's site. But I also need to create change. For me. Social stuff is great, but I need to change.

Some lessons from low-risk driver training

2009-04-02T11:23:00.010+10:00

This week I have been hanging out at the CFA (Country Fire Authority - a volunteer organisation) Training Centre in Carrum Downs doing some driver training. I have learned a whole bunch of new things including the low-risk driving model, the nine points of scanning, and calculating and maintaining adequate crash avoidance spaces. It's been a challenging week for me. The normal vehicle that I drive is in the medium sedan category so throw me the keys to an Ambulance and yeah, I'll put my hand up (both hands actually) and say I'm more than a teeny weeny bit scared. Why? It's different. Giddyup - it's not just me, it's 80% of the class (a few of them have done non-emergency ambulance transport for a year or two which gives them a desireable advantage).

What does low-risk driving have to do with creating my best life?

A lot actually, when you join the dots. For example, consider the four components of the low-risk driving model.

1. see the hazard
What are the 'hazards' in your world? Are you eating chocolate and icecream on a (almost) daily basis? Are you over-thinking? Are you rationalising, making excuses? How good are you at 'scanning' all 'nine points' for all the hazards in your world? What are your 'blind spots' (things in an around you) and what about the blockouts (things outside you) that could pose as a barrier to a clear view of your world?

2. recognise how hazards could threaten safety
Have you recognised how the above 'hazards' are sabotaging you creating your best life?

3. make early adjustments in response to hazards
Can you implement early-intervention strategies to prevent a collision with 'another vehicle' or a 'pedestrian'? Take that big foot off the accelerator for starters, set up the break let the poor dude behind you know that you'll be breaking (give him a warning), cover the break so you're ready to break if you need to, 'steer to a safer position' - adjust your speed and position so you're out of harms way and can see more ('change lanes', 'drop back a bit', 'adjust your speed', and finally you might actually need to 'accelerate' to miss something). Don't confuse others. Don't confuse yourself. Make it early and be assertive. JUST DO IT. NOW. AS EARLY AS YOU CAN. BE RESPONSIVE, NOT REACTIVE. It takes thought and planning to be responsive. Being reactive equals panic. Don't live your life like that.

4. respond until it's reasonable to resume normal driving
Okay, so you need evidence before continuing normal 'driving' (living). Is it safe in your world now? Clear of 'hazards'? If yes, then continue on.

The big question about being your own coach

I've just been sitting here this morning (and last night) completing my open book, take home exam. I've got one more question to do. Question 13.

Question 13
When 'Being your own coach', how does criticism effect performance? (20 Marks)

Shit! A 20-marker? They clearly want a lot in this response.

The question triggered some self reflection relating to my inability to be my own coach when it comes to doing what I say I'll do, in doing what I need to do, and in doing what others point out to me that I'm not doing. While sure, it's potentially fabulous and beneficial to have coaches, mentors, instructors and teachers sit beside us what is going to happen in between 'training sessions', 'classes' and the like when they aren't there? It's up to us to take what they've said and put it into practice. But it's more than that. We also have to be our own coach/mentor/teacher too as well as the athlete/student/employee. What I've learned this week in my driver training is aimed at getting us to the point where we can self-critisie and identify what we are doing incorrectly, describing the correct way and then being able to fix it next time. Do you observe yourself criticising others driving performance? It's easy, isn't it. How much do you criticise your own driving? Not so easy. There's something to ponder this afternoon for you 'un-trained' drivers. It is also easy to tell your best friend or fellow work colleauges what they should be doing but when do you tell yourself what you should be doing (and actually do it). We can tell others what to do, but when it comes to us it's hard to be objective. So, what can we do? Remove the emotions out of it and be our own coach and be critical of what we could be doing better, what worked, what didn't.

Summary of lessons learned

How well do you receive feedback?
How well do you give yourself feedback?
How well can you implement the feedback into your day-to-day life?

The key is in point #3. Giving feedback to others is great. But 'they' have to process it and put it into practice. Same goes with giving ourselves feedback - we need to then do the same, otherwise what purpose is it serving? We all know 1 + 1 = 2. But what if we really believed the answer was 15. Wouldn't you like to know where you went wrong and how to avoid making the same mistakes next time? Clearly maths isn't a life/death situation like driving an emergency vehicle can be (or even a normal vehicle). Actually, maths can be a life/death situation. In my role as a Paramedic, I will be administering drugs. Drugs of addiction like morphine. I'm gonna need to get that right. Get the dose wrong (or get the drug wrong) and you can kill a patient and find yourself explaining 'what happened' to the Coroner.

Thanks Ambulance Victoria Driving Standards Team

I will continue to work on improving my own driving and how I live my life. These are both life-long things. Not something you can master in one week. The learning starts after this week, when we use it. "Don't use it. Lose it." Like muscles of our body. They waste away if we don't use it. So too do skills like driving and being our own coach.

It's time to go... Jules

2009-03-08T20:42:00.001+10:00

No, this isn't Big Brother

I haven't been evicted. I will shortly be heading south, to Melbourne. By choice. It was dependent on a little more than a decision in my head. For those who don't know, I will be commencing my Graduate Ambulance Paramedic position with Ambulance Victoria on Wednesday 25th March. I needed to be successful throughout the selection process that included psychometric testing, panel interview, medical and fitness assessments and referee checks. I had to also successfully complete my undergraduate paramedic degree. All those boxes have been ticked. My recent challenge has been finding accommodation. That has also just been sorted. I’m renting a 1 bedroom flat in Mentone (Bayside).

While I was walking along the Moreton Bay Cycleway last night (Saturday), it occurred to me that I don't have a lot of time left to do what I need to do before I head into the real world. The world where you are not protected and sheltered. The one where you have to be Miss (Ms or Mr) Independent; where you have to work full time and pay taxes; and deal with life's challenges without the parents helping you out (much).

What else occurred to me?

There's some stuff that I'm really going to miss about my intermittent residency at my parents place in Bayside Brisbane. By 'stuff', I mean people and things.

1. My family. Gee that was a no-brainer! And one that requires no further explanation.

2. My cat. I won’t initially be able to take my (almost) 5 year old burmilla (burmese/chinchilla) cat, Mishka with me to Melbourne. It's going to be painful saying goodbye to her. I love her tons. I hope to be able to buy a place in the not-too-distant future OR find a rental place that will allow me to have her indoors.

3. My work. For the past two months I've been a lifeguard at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre. It's been fabulous. I've built some confidence and improved my communication skills. I've also met a bunch of great people - my fellow lifeguards, and some members of the public. A by-product (or benefit) of my casual employment has been staff membership of the gym and aquatic centre. I haven't used the gym much (okay, I’ve gone once!) as I am a member else where, but I've used the pool a bit. I'll miss that for sure.

4. My physio/pilates instructor. Tim has to be Australia's best physiotherapist. Okay, so I could be just a tad biased. He is so committed and his knowledge base is amazing.

5. My gym and my PT, Gavin. How can I get so attached to someone I've only known for err 2 hours (1x 30 min introductory session & 2x 45 min sessions so far)? Easy – I just can. I just did. Gavin is really cool. He’s pushed me heaps and we’ve had fun. I vote that he phrase “I can’t” should be removed from the global vocabulary. If you physically can’t do something now, in time you will, if you want it bad enough… unless you’re talking about something that is physiologically beyond your ability. Anyone can run, anyone can do bench press, anyone can lift heavy things ;) Just how fast and how far you can run and how heavy the things you lift is the question.

6. My friend, Chris. I met Chris through doing pilates with Tim. Chris is about the only friend I have in Brisbane!

7. Moreton Bay Cycleway. I love doing my run/walk sessions along the Esplanade. I use MapMyRun to work out my turn around point so I know how far I’ve run.

Why do we get attached to 'stuff'?

We're emotional creatures, that's why. I don’t think I can do justice to this question so I’ve hand balled it on to my mentor. I’ll let you know if I get a response.

My question for you today is, if you had to move (by choice or need) what would you miss about where you live, and the people and things in your world?

Rules to live by

2009-03-04T19:30:00.010+10:00

Forging elite fitness

I came across CrossFit recently via an article from Zen Habit s. It made me think that Mikey might already know about it. Him, his whiteboard and his killer circuits! Anyway, the concept resonated well with me. "Forging Elite Fitness" is their catch phrase thingy. I like it.

Principles of living

A little while ago, Craig Harper did a series of about half a dozen posts titled Craig's Principles for Living. Most, if not all, resonated well with me too. One day, I must create my own Principles though, using some of his ones and others.

I found a link on the CrossFit Brisbane site, titled Rules to live by. I really love it.

Everyday eat, sleep, drink, rest and train according to what your body needs

Train for the shortest time possible whilst still achieving your training goal
Find people to play with

Try something new each year

Do things that harm you less, do things that help you more

Make a contribution

Be honest with yourself, your training goals and your performance

Do something everyday that makes you puff and sweat

Look after your family and include them in your training

Never do the same session twice in one week

Regularly do things that make you nervous

Find heavy things and lift them

Above all else, keep moving, and keep trying

It sounds a lot like what Harper teaches too. Stuff Craig says frequently that spring to mind like:

"Instead of doing five swims, five runs or five bike rides every week, do five sessions of something different"

"Do things that challenge you... face your fears... get uncomfortable"

"Be honest (with yourself)"

"Listen to your body... Do I need that or do I just want it?"

Another wake up call

What Craig was talking about today in his post, beyond self-helf; selfless help rang true with me. I need to stop thinking, talking, writing about what I'm going to do. I just got to get the show on the road and start 'performing.' Craig has been telling me this for umm, weeks now. I have read and heard enough to be able to commence working on Project Me. And not just have a half-hearted pissy attempt at creating my-best-life, but give it a real, honest effort. This is not rocket science, brain surgery or even prehospital care. This is just applying basic common sense stuff in order to help myself become a better person. All the talking, thinking and writing in the world ain't gonna turn me into AMAZING. I have to put in consistent effort. I need to look under the bed for those non-negotiables I wrote up 3 months ago (gasps in shock that it's been so long) and live, breathe them like they were oxygen or water - two essentail components to keep us alive.

When enough is enough

Okay, okay, OKAY... I'm hereby making a public commitment that I will have a 'suck it up princess' approach to doing what I need to do every day to 'be the change' in my own world. Craig - see you when I'm 68kg. There is no way I'm going to compromise that agreement that I made with you either. I'm not going to cheat. I've cheated enough. I've had enough extensions, enough chances, enough opportunities... It's time I stepped out onto the playing field and kick some goals in my world.

Soon you'll learn about who and what inspires me to create my-best-life.

Revisiting past success

2009-03-02T20:16:00.023+10:00

The Craig and Jane show

I was listenting to The Grandstanders (Craig Harper and Jane O'Brien) on Saturday morning on LightFM. It's amazing that someone like me, in Brisbane, can listen to a Melbourne radio show live online. Craig interviewed Bianca Chatfield - vice captain of the Melbourne Vixens netball team. One thing in particular jumped out at me and, this time, it has kicked me into first gear (again).

The Vixens have recently taken on Craig Harper as their conditioning coach and also to look after all the head stuff. The Vixens formed from two teams - the Melbourne Phoenix and another team that I cannot recall. Bianca said that Melbourne Phoenix had success with Craig in the past, and the team has decided to go back to what they know worked. It triggered me to think about what has worked for me in the past and to ask myself why I wasn't doing that stuff now.

What I thought I'd do is jot down some of my past success stories now for you. Okay, mainly for me. I'm mainly making reference to my body goals here, but also some other general life stuff.

1. Working with a trainer. I'm ashamed to reel out a list of half a dozen or so trainers I've worked with since the mid ninety's. Tash, Kathy (Melbourne) Dean, Mark (Sydney), Karen (Brisbane), Tony (Bathurst)... I had the most success with Kathy. We did 1-2 intense 30 min sessions a week, and I did heaps of cardio in between. It is important to note that having a trainer isn't 100% of the answer. They area resource and a part of your journey. But what you do outside the time you see your trainer is going to make the difference between creating lifelong change and living a life where you continue to sabotage yourself. (So, no swinging by the shops and inhaling a chocolate bar or two after you've worked hard at the gym... yep, I have done that in the past).

2. Keeping a diary. A food diary, but also a diary of my training and associated thoughts and feelings. Actually, just tonight I have been going through a diary of my PT sessions with Kathy and reading about the progress I was making with my strength and body shape has inspired me. I know what is possible for me. I need to get back to that, and then I can explore new, uncharted territory.

3. Training (exercising) early in the day. Call be weird, dysfunctional or just committed and determined... but I have been known to alarm self at the likes of 4 and 5 in the morning to head out the front door for a run, (bike) ride or to go to the pool. However, to make this work, it's imperative that you get an early night so you're getting enough hours sleep. Also, I have found that having something to get up for - be it a swim squad session, a scheduled training session on my program or just something I have made 'non-negotiable' sets me up to have a good day, food wise. Because, why would I want to undo all my hard work by eating crap?

4. Online communities. Being a part of a number of message boards has also helped me a lot in my journey. Interacting with others with similar goals, similar attitudes and people who don't just talk about it, but people who are creating their best body and their best life.

5. Having a mentor. This is a fairly new thing for me, but I'm enjoying the ride so far. It's been tough to hear someone else objectively point out my 'faults' (for the want of a better word), and what I need to work at changing. It's a privilege having someone who clearly does care about me, who wants to see me and do, think, be and create AMAZING in every area of my life. In other words, to create my-best-life. However, I need to apply what I learn to become the person I want to become and to be 'amazing.' Stop the over-thinking, toss out the self-doubts, and get busy Jules. Assignment 1 was due a long time ago. How many extensions do you want? You can't have any more. Choose to do, be, think and create amazing today and you will. Thanks Craig - you're an amazing bloke, teacher, mentor, coach and friend.

I'm interested in hearing what has worked for you in the past. Are you still doing it now? If not, why not? If something has worked for you before, why not get it going again?

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Four)

2009-02-24T19:30:00.017+10:00

The third place getters prize

As I was heading out yesterday after training with Cherie, I tried to tee up a session with Mikey for today. But he couldn’t squeeze me in. Must be a good sign he’s an AMAZING trainer if he has clients 5am-1pm with no break. Impressive! He probably could have done something in the afternoon but I couldn’t. My was flight departing at 3pm (yep, all good things come to an end). “I could write you up a cardio circuit on the white board.” “Yeah, okay. Is that my consolation prize? The wooden spoon prize?” (wooden spoon refers to the AFL team who finishes on the bottom of the ladder at the end of the season). “Let’s say it’s the third place getters prize.” After asking when is good time to come in, he said either 8am or after 10am. I decided I’d go in at 8am, as 10am may be getting a bit late to pack up and get myself to the airport.

Thursday 5 Feb

I rocked up at Harper's (for the fourth consecutive day) at about 8:15am and walked towards the bathroom to dump my gear. I walked out, saw Mikey near the boxing bags and said “you’ve done your homework I see.” There it was, in red, “Jules” and my cardio program for the morning. When Mikey had a minute he explained the ‘rules.’ I was to do 1000m on the rower, then four rounds of this cardio circuit on the whiteboard. I was to time myself each time and write my time up on the board (he even had space for me to write it). I had anticipated that I was going to be doing this alone. So, when Mikey said to Lochy (the new trainee at Harper’s, who 'qualifed on Friday' and had only just moved from country Victoria) “can you take Jules through it” I was like 'cool, I do have a trainer today.' Lochy had literally started at Harper’s the same day I did – on Monday. Mikey had, on Monday, introduced us to each other “this is Jules – our new client extraordinaire, and this is Lochy, our new trainer extraordinaire.” Thanks Mikey. That puts just a teeny weeny bit of pressure on us both to ‘perform’ to live up to that title. I’m up for the challenge. I’m sure Lochy is too. Go us!

Ninety percent

I did the 1000m on the rower in 5:03. Now it was time for Round 1 of the circuit. It was pretty straight forward – do this, that, some of these, then that. I heard him say ‘at 90%’ – referring to perceived level of exertion. So, he wanted Jules to go hard. “At what heart rate?” “Don’t worry about that – just go as hard as you can."

I completed the first round in 5:35. Mikey must have been keeping an eye out, “did you decide to do the back stairs again?” “No" I piped up "Lochy stuffed up.” I was meant to finish off each round with another five shuttle runs but Lochy sent me down the back stairs again! Mikey rubbed out the second set of shuttle runs and wrote in ‘back stairs’on the white board. He saw my time and said “your goal is to do a sub 5-minute round.” This was Tough Love Central Station. Easy Street Station was on another train line. There is no easy way to creating-your-best-body. It’s not going to be always fun, either, but you do what you need to do to create the outcomes you seek in your world.

My time for ‘Round 2’ was 5:06. I almost did a sub-5 minutes. I noted that I struggled more at the end, doing the back stairs. Geez, Harper, did you strategically have your gym on Level 1 so there were real stairs to kill clients? ;) I cracked the 5 minute barrier on Round 3, and did a second sub-5 min round to finish up with. I was happy that I had achieved the goal that Mikey had set for me.

Here is Jules - I 'almost' made her chuck on the carpet

I had a little chat with Mikey after.”I answered your question. I emailed it to Craig and Johnny to forward to you.” [The subject was titled ‘Lessons from the Team at Harper’s 2-5 Feb 2009’]. “Good – I haven’t seen it yet. Is it an essay?” “No, it’s in point form.” I bet he was relieved to hear that! On the bottom of the email I had said “Mikey – you better teach me something before I head home! I’ll add it to the list.” I plucked out something to ‘take away’ from chatting with Johnny, Rona, and Cherie and nearly two dozen things from Craig. And, even though Mikey didn’t exactly train me this morning, he did teach me something. It was something I needed to hear too. I needed to get uncomfortable with my training. Three times a week. The reason why today nearly killed me was that I hadn’t pushed myself at that intensity in a long time. I haven't mentioned yet that I ‘almost’ threw up after that last round? Yep, it's true. I nearly did. I hid in the bathroom for a few minutes ‘just in case.’ Too much info? Sorry! I felt really nauseous. The long slow stuff I’ve been doing [on the bike, in the pool and with my run/walk sessions[ is ‘easy’ and ‘comfortable’ for me. While, yes, it has specific aerobic endurance adaptation benefits, I also need to get uncomfortable. It’s how I will get fitter and stronger, mentally as well as physiologically.

It's about YOU

“Can I do that myself? I don’t need a trainer to push me, do I?” I posed to Mikey. “Of course you can. This is about YOU.” So, thanks Lochy for not running down the back stairs with me, for not doing the shuttle runs and the push ups with me. But I did appreciate the verbal encouragement. Thanks for that. I might not have been so lucky with Mikey who actually said he would have sat on the [white equipment] box at the back of the room while I nearly killed myself. Mikey, you truly are a mini-and-younger-version-of-Craig. Harper had told me on Tuesday that I need to be self-motivated, and not become dependent on any one person indefinitely.

Thanks Team Harper

Well guys, that is it. My time at the Harperdome was up. For now. I’ll return in about 6 weeks (mid March) to take up residence somewhere in the vicinity of Bayside Melbourne and to commence my Graduate Paramedic position with Ambulance Victoria. I fly home to Brisbane this afternoon to Get My Shit Together for my move to Melbourne.

To Craig, Mikey, Johnny, Rona, Cherie, Adam and Lochy: Thanks so much for having me and for the warm welcome. The Harperdome has (literally) been my second home for four days. See you all again soon. You’ve collectively taught me a lot. Thanks. If I choose not to apply any of it and continue living a ‘mediocre’ life then that is my issue. This is about me. My choices. My behaviours. My thinking. Likewise, if I choose to apply all of this stuff and live an AMAZING life, then while that still is about me and something I have created for myself, you guys have been a part of my journey and deserve recognition for that. Where is the ‘I’ in Team? There ain't one.

( ) to all of the Team.

When I got home in Brisbane I wrote another email to Craig and Johnny: ‘Highlights from my week @ Harper’s 2-5 Feb 2009’ in the subject thingy. Learning the hard lessons of life ain’t always going to be fun, but I’m all for having fun along the way. And, I’m also all for helping anyone else along the way too.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Three)

2009-02-23T21:30:00.008+10:00

Wednesday 4 Feb

A swim and a spin bike session were on my triathlon program for today. However, I was somewhat tired and decided I wouldn’t do the swim session. I had a 1 hour PT session booked with Cherie Horne for 5:30pm.

I arrived at Harper’s with about 10 minutes to get changed and to warm up. I had done about 5 mins on the tready before Cherie walked over to me. I must have looked a bit anxious and scared. “Are you nervous?” she asked. I said I wasn’t. But maybe I was? [Craig says to me “you’re always scared – you got to stop that]

CH: “Have you done any training today?” [I just realised Cherie and Craig have same initials – how quick am I to make that grand observation? Clearly a blonde in my past life. Clearly.]
Jules: “No.”
CH: “Good.”
Jules: “I was going to but I was tired this morning. I thought I’d save my energy for you.”
CH: “Is there anything in particular you want to do tonight?”
Jules: “No. Anything.”
CH: “Have you done any work with a pack before?” [I could see where this was going. Cherie knows that I want to climb Everest one day. Maybe in the year 2020]
Jules: “No, I haven’t.”
CH: “Have you done any work with a weight vest?”
Jules: “No. I’ve seen them, but never used one.”
CH: “We’re going to do some walking on the tready with the weight vest and give you a taste of the training I do. Sound good?”
Jules: “Yep.”

So, on goes the weight vest and I started doing some walking on tready with a minor incline. Then I did some sets of the front stairs. Walking down in single steps, and walking up in two’s. But we had some equipment malfunction issues. The zip had come undone. It wasn’t sitting right on me either. It was too big. And Cherie said it was old. [Harper – you lose another mark for old equipment. You’re down to 8/10 now. You lost one mark on Monday for your aging fleet of spin bikes!] I took the vest off and Cherie tried to fix the aging zip. Meanwhile, she sent me doing more front stairs sets. Running down, then walking up in two’s. She fixed the zip, I put it back on and we went back on the tready and Cherie had me walking at a slower pace but with an increased incline. I (stupidly) asked ‘what does it [the incline] go up to?’ ‘I don’t know’ was the reply. ‘Shall we try it?’ Cherie! You liar. You knew all along, cheeky Mountain Girl.

With a HR (heart rate) of about 160 bpm and a 7kg weight vest on, Mikey (Craig’s business partner and one of the many trainers), was on a treadmill doing some training of his own. He strategically decides to ask me: “So what have you learnt this week that you can take away?” I should have said “Not now, Mikey.” I forget what my response was. Probably just “Can I tell you later?” Cherie advocated for me saying “hey, her ticker [heart] is working hard over here.” I think by this point I was doing the highest incline of ‘12’ (?%) so I was working hard. I’ll return to this question of Mikey’s a little later.

After the weight vest stuff we did some stepper, arm grinder (1 minute of each and then repeating that). Cherie and I headed over to the mats near the boxing ring and Harper was hurting himself on various weight machines. He glanced over at me, a massive smirk all over his dial: “No comment today. What’s going on?” he said to me (referring to his web site/blog). “Having a day off” I replied. The topic of the post today was ‘trapped in the past.’ I recognised from this post, and from the mentoring session with Craig yesterday that I need to stop living in my past, that I need to wake up and live in the now – February, 2009. I don’t need to continue doing what I did yesterday, last week and a decade ago. I can create different in my world TODAY. All it takes is a decision. I need to think less, talk (and type) less and do more. I need to APPLY what Craig writes, not just read it and comment on it in my cheeky manner. I therefore made a conscious decision to take a step back and do stuff before I write too much more on Craig’s site. Hence, commenting on the RYL blog was off limits. I lasted about five consecutive posts ;) Although I cheated. While I wasn't commenting on the current posts, I had found some old ones and I was commenting on those (sure, girls are cool... but I so don't wanna be one, sitting at life's train station, just another life) and I revisited the over-thinker from a few months back.

We did some plyometric sit up thingy where we locked our feet together at the ankles and threw a medicine ball to each other. Shit, they’re hard, but I liked it. We did some military push ups (though the Jules-version does not count as a proper one as I don't drop my chest to the floor low enough), some (push ups) on my knees, then back to the plyometric-medicine ball-sit ups, push ups (think we did three sets of each). Then we both did some step ups on a platform step near the boxing ring. Some dumbbell bicep curls alternating with dumbbell hammer. We did a few sets of each of those. Time was running out by this time. Cherie had all this stuff she wanted to do, but there was no way we’d get through it all. I piped up and asked if we can we do some bench press. So we did some incline smith machine bench press using bar weight only and we alternated that with V pulldowns (like lat pulldown but with the 'v' attachment thingy). We finished with a team work game/exercise. Picture a boxing bag on the floor. In a push up position (but with legs out wide) and hands on the bag, both of us (attempted to) roll it. The bag wasn't symmetrical so it didn’t exactly rotate evenly. That was the challenge and why you required good abdominal control and why you needed to work together. I was physically fatigued, clearly, by this stage – notably my upper body and abs. It was funny though and embarrassing too (Cherie suspected it may be)! I kept ‘losing it’ and falling on my face. We didn’t quite get to the ‘line’ on the carpet that we were aiming for. My time was up after that. Awww! Why can’t there be 90 minutes in the hour instead of only 60! I did 5 minutes on the tready after that, then 25 mins on the spin bike, some stretching and then I called it a day.

At some point in my hour with Cherie, Craig was at the cable machine trying to look like he was exerting some effort and challenging his muscles in a round about kind of way and he said to me “look at this”, pointing to his biceps. “I get to see the real thing.” “Yep, they’re real.” (He had a singlet top on, so I really could see).

Today was about seeing what was possible, for me, physically, mentally. Here was Cherie, only a couple of centimetres taller than me, and she is one super-fit, super-strong chick doing AMAZING things – just check out her site to see what she’s done and what she will be doing over the next year or two.

Returning to that question of Mikey’s. What have I learned? Last night, after my session with Craig, I had jotted down some stuff. But when I got home tonight, I added to that list of stuff. I soon had a list of twenty five (25) things. About me. Though some of it wasn’t exclusive to me. It could be easily applied to anyone. But yes, here were 25 things about me. Shit. Does that make me weird? Dysfunctional? Did I just get crowned Miss Universe at the Inaugural Dysfunctional Pageant? I am where I am as a result of choices I’ve made, about my behaviours, about my habits and my thinking patterns. The good news? Here were 25 things that I have the control to change. It should excite me. It did.

Consider an elite athlete. Take the examples of a swimmer and a Tour de France cyclist. For swimmers, we’re talking hundredths of a second between doing a new personal best, between breaking a World Record and between first and second placing. For the gruelling three week Tour de France riders, we’re talking maybe a couple of minutes between finishing with the Yellow Jersey and being the runner up of the General Classification division. However, consider the massive improvement that a mediocre athlete, like myself, can make? I walked the majority of the 2007 Gold Coast Marathon (42.195 km) in 7:04. So, a 5:30 marathon, a 4:00 marathon is clearly within my realm of possibilities. I anticipate I will complete my debut Ironman Triathlon in 15:30. In two or three years I could be doing 12 or 13 hour Ironman’s just by doing the ‘right’ training, and by dropping the 15 kg that I need to lose to get to my optimal racing weight.

My four-part series on my week at Tough Love Central Station (a.k.a Harper’s Personal Training) will conclude with a cardio circuit that Mikey writes up for me on the white board and a lil chat afterwards with the mini-and-younger-version-of-Craig.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part Two)

2009-02-18T10:23:00.010+10:00

When I was planning my Melbourne trip I had asked Craig if it would be possible to meet for a face-to-face mentoring session. I suggested that, if we do, that I prepare a 5-10 minute talk for him as a way of me facing my fears of public speaking, of getting uncomfortable in a supportive setting (I didn't think Craig would be someone who bites) and overcoming my shyness. He pencilled me in for 4:30 at Harper's on Tuesday 3 Feb.

Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't commence working on my talk until errrr the night before we were meeting. "Jules!" My 'issues' are like a chain locked to a fence with me tangled up in it all. My over-thinking, procrastinating and wanting to be perfect are all linked. Very closely.

The topic I chose to talk about isn't important. Not for anyone else other than me.

Tuesday 3 Feb

I was excited for what today held for me. It didn't take me long to realise I was quite sore. (Thanks Rona!) At least that is indicative that my muscles had been sufficiently challenged? I did a bit more 'last minute' work on my talk then headed out the door for a run/walk around Caulfield Park. For two hours (nearly). 1:45 it was. With preparations for my talk still not finished, I felt like I was procrastinating (again) by spending so much time running. I finally finished my talk at about midday'ish. I needed to be at Harper's by 2pm.

A 'lil bit of food education

At 2:00 PM I had a consultation with Adam – Craig's resident food bloke. I wanted some help with my diet – specifically relating to my training: what should I be eating during my long bike rides, should I be inhaling sugar-drinks during my sessions. That kind of thing. We discussed my history, my current eating habits, my likes, dislikes. Adam later emailed me some guidelines and some info about nutrition and hydration in sport. Thanks Adam.

I had some time to 'kill.' Over 1 ½ hours of it. Not sure where all that time went but I jumped on a tready for 10 minutes and then did 30 minutes on the spin bike. Then, I jumped in the shower.

The time was now 4:30 PM

Rule #1. Don't keep the big bloke waiting.

I walked out of the bathroom, looked up at the clock, and smack bang on the dot of 4:30 it was. 'Where did that 20 mins go?' I filled up my 1.25L Super Pump water bottle and then walked towards Johnny's office. I could see [Craig] Harper standing in the doorway, with army shorts on. 'Was I late or was he early?' I thought ;) A big grin was all over his face when he saw me. [What was with all of that?] We head into the lecture room. "Pull up a chair or two or three." Why would I need three, the over-thinker contemplated. I only have one butt, don't I? ;)

CH: "So what are we doing? Do you have anything for me? Do you have questions?"
Jules: "Yep. I have something for you."
CH: "Does it involve food?"
Jules: "No. It involves my computer"
CH: "Aww" (sounding a teeny weeny bit disappointed)
Jules: [after hunting around the room, looking for a mains power supply in the wall] "Do you have power?"
CH: "No. This bit was built after [the main gym floor]."
Jules: "We can do it without my laptop, but it wont have same effect."
CH: "Let's do it without."

I kicked and I squirmed. I wanted to do my presentation with the audiovisual (not that there was any audio, and not even a single image in my nine slide powerpoint show!). "It might run off battery for 10 mins" I said. It didn't even power up. I clearly couldn't have closed it down properly before I ran out the door this arvo. Oops.

We head over to Craig's office. Locked. And he had no key. So Johnny had to run down somewhere to get the key. "Thanks John" Craig beamed. Must admit all of this grinning was contagious. I kept giggling in between trying to answer a few questions he fired at me. "How are you? How's everything going? What's going on?"

Time to face my fear(s)

Jules: "I'm ready to roll now."
CH: "About time."
Jules: "Hi Craig" was my grandeur introduction
CH: "Hi Jules" was the response from my 'rent-a-crowd'!

And then, I launch into it. My talk. My presentation.

It went down well. I got some grins and a few giggles out of him throughout and a "that was good" when I came to the end.

"How did you think you went?" [I like this. Ask-me-what-I-think before you tell-me-what-you-thought] I said that I really thought I was going to be more nervous and scared than I was. "Well yes, I'm kinda scary." "Noooo, I didn't mean that you made me nervous, anxious and scared. This was about me." I said that it didn't feel too good reading word-for-word from my notes. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I have made more eye contact and just talked, instead of read my notes. As for my pissy anxious-scaredy cat voice? That needs to change.

His feedback? I got some really good stuff that I could take away and learn from. I got a 6/10 "considering everything" (read into that as you will, but I think it referred to my under-preparedness secondary to my procrastination and my well, lack of public speaking skills). To be honest I was expecting a 1/10. One mark for 'trying.' For not crying. For not shaking. For not walking out of the room. I sure stumbled on my own words. A lot.

This was a mentoring session?

Then the 'mentoring' started. One after the other, Craig reeled out a whole heap of stuff. About me. I was amazed by how 'well' he knew me.

After 30 years of being a trainer/exercise scientist and a 'life renovator' I guess you have heard it all (almost?). Same issues, different person, different environment. Each time he pointed something out to me, all I could do was nod and agree. He was right. With everything. "You don't wanna hear the truth, but you need to" rang in my ears.

I now had one of two choices. I could take away all this stuff and apply-it-and-change… OR… I could continue doing what I did yesterday and the day before and a decade ago.

CH: "So what have you learnt today?"

I reeled off about five key things from what he had said.

CH: "Yep. Good." And he added one that I left off.

My head was spinning. When I got home I flaked on the couch. I was mentally fatigued. In a good way. Thanks, Craig. Thanks tons ( )

Join me for part three where I have the pleasure of training with Mountain Girl – the lovely Cherie Horne, and a question from Mikey triggers more reflection on today's session with Craig.

My week at Tough Love Central Station (Part One)

2009-02-09T18:03:00.043+10:00

Jules goes to Melbourne

The purpose of this five day visit to Melbourne was to try on the full uniform kit for my new job as a Graduate Ambulance Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria and to find a place that I could call home. Or that was the official purpose. The unofficial purpose? To do some (or lots of) training at Harper's. One may argue that it was really all about Harper's.

Here is a report on my time in Melbourne. Since I can't write a brief version of anything I've decided to be a Craig-copy-cat and break this post into four parts.

Sunday 1 Feb

I flew into Tullamarine (Melbourne) airport at 10:20 AM and slowly made my way to my friend's place in Caulfield North via the Airport Sky Bus, a train to Flinder's St Stn and then the No. 64 tram.

At 3:00 PM I met up with a bloke named Pat who I was possibly going to move in with if we mutually agreed we could live together after half an hour! We must have decided we could as it's all happening. I love the apartment - it's a year old and still so nice and new. Why settle for 'mediocre' when you can have something 'amazing' (without being over-the-top)?

Monday 2 Feb

At 9:45 AM I set my eyes on the one-and-only Harperdome on Nepean Highway, Brighton East. Having not slept very well, I was (silently) hoping for a miracle boost of energy when I arrived here this morning. I walked up the stairs and expected to see a reception desk. There wasn't one. I kept walking and found the Baldman in his office. Not feeling sure he would remember me from RYL Sydney (Oct 26, 2008), I said 'Johnny, it's Jules' (did you know it was me, Johnny?). We had a bit of a chat and he introduced me to Michael who I knew from Craig's site as 'Mikey.' 'You're still alive after the beer fueled marathon, I see?' He told me he was looking for a new challenge. He didn't seem all that fussed over my idea of him doing an Ironman Triathlon. "Too much training." Johnny pointed out Rona to me, who was close to drowning in her own sweat on the StairMaster. After she was done, we shared a welcome-to-Harper's hug, complete with sweat! Nice. Thanks, Rona. First lesson: Harper's is definitely not a place for the faint-hearted, the precious and certainly not for the sweatophobic (I made that up - someone with a fear of sweat). My debut PT session here at Harper's would be with Rona, in 45 mins at 10:30. Yes, I know, I was eary. Very early. I like being early. (I used to play the clarinet and one of my orchestra conductors said to us: "If you're on time, you're late." Think about that. So, if you're 'early' that means you must be on time; if you're 'late', you're mega late! Are you confused yet?) The Baldman printed some stuff for me. I signed my life away, basically. Rona took my BP (it was a little high - I was anxious? Excited? In a new environment. I hadn't slept too well), HR 58bpm. I finished off the paperwork and then changed into my workout gear. I was ready to rock and roll. I had found that boost of energy. Must have been the AMAZING atmosphere at the Harperdome. What else could it have been? Okay, so it may have come within me.

As all good PT clients do (I'm by no means new to personal training), I jumped on a treadmill (scheadmill) and did a 10 min run @ 8 km/hr to warm up. Okay, so it ws a slow jog.

Jules' debut Harperdome PT session - with Rona

My session with Rona was for 1 hour. It was primarily an assessment to get an idea of where I was at with stuff. I hadn't done much strength training stuff for a while - yeah okay, I had done zero. I was fully into my triathlon training. 100% cardio, in other words. She wanted to see how I did pushups (I did the chick version, on my knees, but my chest had to touch a wobbly disk each time). Specifically, how many could Jules do in a minute? I started pumping them out easily but then slowed considerably. But I didn't stop to pause. I was happy with that. We did some lunges on the cable machine thingy, and some where I had to balance on one leg. That was tough. I did dynamic lunges where I stepped forward with alternate legs across the room, and then the same thing but holding a medicine ball. We also did some dumbbell bicep curls, tricep pushdowns and dumbbell shoulder press. On the cardio side of things, she had me doing shuttle runs, and straddle runs (is that what it's called?), and 2km on the upright bike. We finished off with some core stability stuff. You meanie - after all my lil muscles are fatigued?

I was in for another treat. As if meeting the Baldman (again), Mikey and Rona wasn't quite enough, I met Mountain Girl (Cherie Horne). I was actually lying on the mats when Cherie came over to say hi to Rona. Rona she said 'Cherie, this is Jules.' Cherie said 'The Jules?' I had been in email contact with her and had mentioned I was keen on doing a session or two with her this week.

I jumped on a spin bike and rolled my legs over for 1/2 hour, then did a run-off-the-bike on the tready for 10 mins, then a cool-down walk for 10 mins.

The double dare

On Australia Day (Jan 25) Craig Harper did a four-hour segment on SEN ('Melbourne's home of sport' - a radio station). Craig invited any of us grasshoppers to phone the radio station for a live-to-air chat. Long story cut short, Craig dared Michelle to ring in, and stupidly (in the theme of an old kids quiz show called Double Dare) I double dared her and 'threatened' that Craig and I would collectively come up with a 'physical challenge' for her to do at RYL in May had she not called up. I offered two prizes: a king size cherry ripe (her favourite chocolate bar) OR a 30 min PT session at Harper's. It all worked out amazingly as I wanted to meet Michelle but there were logistical issues. I had limited time and she worked (although I knew she had Monday's off). Brain wave: get her to come to Harper's! Fabulous, Jules, fabulous.

Michelle has her first PT session (ever)

I booked in Chelle to train with Rona after me. Mine was at 10:30, and hers at 11:30. Chelle 'enjoyed' her session with Rona, and got a lot out of it. I was delighted. Rona gave Chelle some stuff she could do at home and told her to buy a swiss ball, which she actioned straight away (there's a fitness equipment shop downstairs from Harperdome). Well done Chelle - good work. No procrastinating for you. Impressive. When you out-grow those exercises Rona gave you, let me know. We'll organise a repeat dose of the above (maybe).

Cherie, Chelle and I had a great chat after we were all done. Thanks Cherie (again) for taking the time to chat with us. We set up a time to train at 5:30 PM Tues (which we later changed to 5:30 PM Wed).

Chelle and Jules sit down to eat a farm animal

Chelle and I had lunch afterwards. I, personally, was starving and felt I could easily inhale not just one farm animal, but two. We found a cafe on Centre Rd and sat outside to a yummy toasted roast chicken on turkish bread. [Shut up, Craig - I know that probably wasn't the best choice of bread but gee it was good] And how cool are those plates? Never seen anything like it. I want a set like that. I wonder where the owner got them from? Might have to go back and ask! The cafe staff were great. (We even mentioned the topics of your talk-back radio show that Chelle and I rang in about. We were talking about the sausage roll-in a bread roll thing, and one of them said 'and the twistie roll.' It was funny as you had some callers ring in with that too). Was lovely meeting you Chelle. Keep doing what you need to do. Special thanks goes to one of the cafe staff who took this pic of Chelle and I.

Jules' debut swim at MSAC

As if an hour with Rona at the Harperdome plus another 50 mins cardio wasn't quite enough, at about 6:00 PM I headed out the door of my friend's place and jumped on a tram. The wrong tram. Again. The journey to Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre that should have taken 45 mins or so took more like 2 hours. Call me blonde. Call me uneducated. Call me whatever you like. I did my scheduled 3.2 km swim and was among the last three patrons out the door when they closed at 10:00 PM. Yes, it's really true - the journey to MSAC took longer than my actual swim session toook.

So that was the entree - my first taste of things to come for me at Harper's. Come back tomorrow for part two where I talk about some big lessons that I learned from the 90 kilo bloke with short hair and big biceps.

Visualising the outcomes I want in my world

2008-12-29T21:22:00.004+10:00

I currently have two key focuses for the next 12 months: my graduate paramedic job (that I'll start at the end of March) and Ironman Western Australia 2009 on Dec 5 (the day before my 30th birthday bash!). To be successful at both of these, I need to visualise myself being the paramedic and the athlete I am striving to become.

A couple of months ago, Craig wrote a post about this, titled Just like you, only better. At the time I was under a huge amount of (partially) self-induced stress and pressure that originated from two months of insomnia, way too much procrastinating and nearly giving up on myself. It has only been recently that I've been able to give this some more thought - visualising the outcomes I am seeking in my world.

At the end of the day though, it isn't about me being a paramedic or about me being an athlete - but more about learning, growing and becoming a better version of me. Amongst my core values are health, fitness, family, friends, lifelong learning and personal growth. I do believe that by becoming a paramedic - the best paramedic I can be - and creating my 'best body' through endurance sport that I will be able to live a life aligned with my core values.

The picture is of me (yes, it really is me), completing the Gold Coast Sprintman triathlon on October 5. I look so happy that I just had to buy it. This will help me visualise myself finishing IM WA.

Key empowering questions:
What will I wear on race day?
What physiological condition will my body be in?
How will I feel in the water?
My swim time?
My transitions?
The speeds I'll average on the bike?
The thoughts that will whizz through my mind? The mental games I'll play
What and when I'll eat and drink to keep adequately hydrated and fuelled?
How will I deal with adversity (flat tyre, falling off the bike, having to walk the whole marathon)
My finish photo?

I have never got to that place in my head ever before - with anything. And of course, I've only just started creating my ironman race in my head. I don't know the answers to a lot of those questions (yet). Until I commented on Craig's Commitment Wall post on Tuesday December 9, my ironman triathlon goal may as well have just remained a dream - for another 6 years. While I had thought about it, on/off for 6 years, the truth is I had never got beyond the dream and committed to it and created the action plans. But here I am, I committed to achieving my Ironman goal in December 2009 publicly, but also to myself, psychologically and emotionally. To me right now, this is a non-negotiable. By the time December 5, 2009 arrives I will have raced Ironman WA 100's of times in my mind.

The Second Tuesday with Craig

2008-12-23T14:00:00.002+10:00

Had my second mentoring session with Craig this morning - 07:00 AM my [QLD] time, 08:00 his time. Not going to go into what we spoke about (its personal). I am learning more about me and what I need to do to overcome the stuff I've struggled with for years.

One of the lessons from today: recognising that thoughts are a part of living and they are just thoughts. Craig mentioned what Eckart Tolle talks about in his books The Power of Now and The New Earth. [Thanks Craig - I bought them both today].

Another lesson: stop living in the past/future, and live in the NOW. I think a lot of my issues with fear, confidence, self-esteem etc stem from being caught up in the past/future. I need to let go of all that and live in the moment.

Also: Jules, stop being a baby! The only reason you wont do it [my triathlon training] is if YOU decide not to. I fully realise that now, too. I've made completing every training session a non-negotiable unless I'm ill, injured or invariably run down and tired.

Learning from the best

2008-12-21T19:00:00.003+10:00

I received my first program from Jason Shortis this afternoon. It looks fantastic and I'm so excited to get started on my path to becoming an Ironman Triathlon finisher as part of my quest to becoming fitter, leaner, lighter, stronger, healthier. A better-version-of me. My program starts tomorrow.

I have already decided that I will commit to a full 12 months of triathlon coaching with Jason in order to give myself the best possible preparation to get me to the start line of Ironman Western Australia on Saturday, December 5, 2009 - and to complete it, injury free.

Jason is a professional ironman triathlete and I want to learn and be coached by the best. I met Jason after I finished the Sprintman triathlon on the Gold Coast in early October. A fantastic, down to earth bloke as well as an amazing athlete.

Tuesday's with Craig - The First Tuesday

2008-12-09T09:30:00.002+10:00

I started reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom on Saturday. I had never heard of the book until just recently when Michelle told me it was recommended reading by Craig. Just the other day, I was talking to Mum, sitting at the compter when I happen to glance over at the bookcase and found Tuesdays with Morrie right there - talk about amazing! Mum said Dad must have bought it. I swiftly grabbed it and took it to my room like a mouse with cheese (or like Craig with his baked cheesecake!). Am learning lessons from Mitch and Morrie already.

Today I had my first mentoring session with Craig. How funny that it is Tuesday too! Tuesday is the new Monday - the day you create change (supposedly). Today is the start of the next chapter of my life.

Physiological testing: establishing a starting point

2008-11-03T21:54:00.004+10:00

This afternoon I did a VO2 max bike test up at the human performance lab at my university. It was always going to be an amazing experience as I have never done one before. I've only done submax cardiovascular tests which can only ever estimate your HR max and VO2 max. Frank, the exercise physiologist that was going to do the test was busy and called upon an honours student to help him out and do my test. I didn't mind at all - he was great and really supportive and encouraging throughout the test. He explained everything so well too but I'm going to have to do some reading to consolidate what he told me about what all my numbers meant! It wasn't the most pleasant thing to go through- with the gas mask on, breathing through a tube in my mouth as my nose was blocked.

I'm excited to have the info that the test gave me, and can't wait to get into my long slow distance training and have another test done in a couple of months. The body weight has to come down - I wasn't all that surprised to learn I had gained nearly 5 kg in the past 6 weeks. I've intentionally had to shift my primary focus from training to my university study. Being leaner, lighter, stronger, fitter and healthier are all equal outcomes from my goal of losing 19 kg.

Craig Harper: Renovate Your Life Sydney Workshop

2008-10-26T14:00:00.000+10:00

Today, I attended Craig Harper's Renovate Your Life Sydney workshop. It is now up to me to utilise his knowledge, ideas, strategies and tools to create amazing in my own life.

Lesson 1: To be different you must do different.

So, the first thing I will do is create a detailed plan of how I will achieve my goals. I've done goal setting before, but not to the extent that Craig does. I need to first identify the goal, identify the outcomes from achieving that goals. But I think what I haven't ever really done is set progressive goals. I have simply written 'I want to lose 15 kg by my birthday/Christmas' or 'I want a university degree.' People who know me will know I have never had a proper study timetable, and they'll know how much of a procrastinator I am, and how I love chocolate. I can sometimes easily and happily spend 3 hours a day swimming, cycling, running (which is a slow jog at the moment!) but eating rubbish after or before that will be simply undoing my good work. Those behaviours will not allow me to effectively achieve my goal (setting non-negotiable behaviours will be discussed soon).

Craig gave us an A4 version of his Goal Setting Framework. Until physical space and money becomes available when I can invest in a large whiteboard, I will do the butcher paper method and stick it on my wall.