It's all over (or just beginning)

The final stage in my 20 week challenge was an ascent of Rapaki Track.

Last done almost 20 weeks ago, with dog in tow, we managed the somewhat unbelievable time of 30minutes exact. On that occasion the sun was shining, the skies were blue, and the dog pulled me up half the hill and I dragged him up the other half. We were overtaken by joggers, runners, cyclists and my heart rate was scarily high for the entire thing. It's just a hill right?

I've never been great at hills. Be it on foot or on a bike, lugging my weight up a hill has always been a tough mission. This was one of my challenges, to increase my cardio to make this sort of thing easier, and maybe even enjoyable.

Saturday dawned with grey skies, chilly temperatures and a sense of excitement. There were three of us heading up that hill - myself, Tracey and Amanda who was only just recovering from a strain and had just days before stepped on a nail, so was in perfect condition for a hill walk. We wandered up to the start point of the track, the top of Rodgers Track, and looked up into the gloom that was our destination. I'm not sure if it's easier to do a challenge where you can't see the finish line or not. Most of my MTB races have been long and on unknown territory, this is short and well known to me, the the low clouds, damp air and chill add another dimension to the endeavour.

With watches synchronised, we head off. My plan was a simple one - jog and walk. I know I couldn't do the entire hill at a jog, but I could probably do half of it. It's about 3km long and I know my shins blow out at under 4km of soft, flat ground. I'm a realist, I know I can beat my power-walk of last time if I jog any of it, but I don't want to have my shins explode before I get to the top, especially when I have to walk down again as well. I set off at a jog, not a sprint or a run, just a jog. There's a cyclist ahead of me spinning up the hill much like I do. I'm plodding away, watching my heart rate go up, trying to control my breathing, and all the while reminiscing about when I first started riding up this hill - walkers would overtake me! Then I realise that I'm catching the cyclist. Yes, a target!

I maintain a steady jog for a few minutes, catching the back wheel of the cyclist, then stop and walk for a bit. There's a plan here you see... I don't want to overtake the cyclist as I don't want them to know I'm there and using them. If I overtake them, they'll go faster, or stop, and that's no use to me. So I walk, catch my breath, lower my heart rate and think about my legs for a bit. On Friday I did my fitness test in the morning, then a PT session in the park at lunchtime which was a punishment session - txt challenges had been sent and not obeyed and the entire crew were to suffer, and suffer we did. The 20 minutes session on Friday seemed to take an hour and my legs and butt were aching. This bloody hill wasn't helping either!

I considered my legs. My calves were aching but my shins were fine. Physically I seemed to be doing OK. Admittedly I was less than a quarter of the way up the hill, but spirits were high. A slurp of water then back into a jog to catch that bike again.

After a few minutes I had their back wheel and slowed to a walk again. I was quietly smug about this. I had caught them twice now. But, as we were nearly at the top of the first hill before the flat section, I was pretty sure I'd be left well behind. Even an extremely slow cyclist can ride faster than I can jog when we're both on the flat! So I wandered until the flat started, then jogged to the gate in the middle of the track. A mental halfway point - you can see the finish line clearly from here, you can see the huge hill too. I check my watch and it's just slipped over 10 minutes. I dare to hope I can do this in 20 minutes. With that unrealistic goal set, I plod onwards.

On the flat section I break between walking and jogging. Rather than clock watch, I count my breaths. I jog for 60 breaths, walk for 30. I know I'm failing, my calves are getting tighter and tighter, but no real pain as such. My heart rate hasn't soared, maintaining 160-170. My challenge is mostly mental and controlling my breathing. As I start up the final hill section I feel defeat descend on me. This is my body trying to convince my brain to take a rest. It's not sore, but is all out of energy. With no ability to produce insulin, I can't get the sugars from my blood to my muscles, and they are running on empty right now. Push on, push on. It's a mental game, but trying to convince your legs to jog when you just want to sit down is a tough one, and I'm only just over half way! I check my watch, there's no way I'm going to make it in 20 minutes, so I plan to make it under 25 minutes, a more realistic goal.

As I ascend the final hill, the clouds lower, the visibility drops even further, and lethargy stops any jogging for a majority of the hill. I manage two short bursts, but instead focus on maintaining a fast walking pace. And then I'm at the last 'corner' which I know is about 400m from the top gate. I burst into a jog for about 15 seconds, then back to a walk, then when the gate comes into view, start jogging again, focussed on the gate and nothing else. I touch that metal bastard and check the time - 24:18.

The next few minutes are spend cooling down, which is not hard when it's this cold and damp and the southerly is blowing over the hill behind you. I monitor my heart rate which drops towards normal again and await Tracey and Amanda. Due to the gloom, I can barely see 100m down the track, so sit and wait and wish I had a hot coffee. The do emerge from the mist moments later, another victim of the hill touches the gate and swears blindly.

We chill on the hill, and before we freeze on the summit, we descend and chat and say hi to the hundreds of people who are restricted to using this one track in the bad weather. The rest of the weekend is spent indoors, hiding from the wet and cold, watching bad telly programs and moaning about my sore legs and butt.

What's next? Well, Tracey has done an awesome job of getting me fit and active, but there is still some work to be done. I will continue doing the 20 minutes group PT sessions in the park as they are just awesome, and I'll get back on my bike and have some wet and muddy fun too. In just over a week (7th July) is the awards night. Typically, I'm unsure if I'll win either of my categories, but there is hope. I'll be going along and supporting those who do win tho, it's pretty bloody inspirational listening to the winners on the podium - ordinary people, extraordinary results. Highly recommended. I'll report back, maybe with a trophy in hand?

A testing time

I'm all about numbers, so this morning I did the first stage of my testing, the main tests really. Strength and girths. I think I have done OK, I was surprised in some areas, and not actually disappointed in any, which is a bit of a shock.

	Time	Start	Today
Push Ups	1 min	7	33
Squats	1 min	31	53
Plank (prone hold)	to failure	34 sec	1 min 6 sec
Crunchies	1 min	22	49
Chin Ups	1 min or failure	0.75	15
Side-to-side	1 min	67	143
Wall Sit	to failure	33 sec	53 sec

Probably the biggest improvement was the chin ups. Going from almost being able to do one to being able to do 15 is pretty dramatic. Push ups rising from 7 in a minute to 33 was above the goal I set myself a few weeks ago (of 30) but I want to get that to 40 before I'm happy. My plank (prone hold) is still embarrassing, but I have doubled the time I can hold it so want to push for 2 minutes next. Gulp. In fact, looking over the results, the majority of my improvements have been about double what I had 20 weeks ago. Not too shabby.

My body fat has dropped 2.9% and my weight has dropped by 7.9KG. I have managed to lose a bit of my guts too - 6.5cm off my waist, 14.5cm off my abdomen and 5cm off my hips. My muscle measurements have seen my thighs drop a bit (they were over developed) and arms remain the same, but my chest has increased by 2.5cm. So my plan of balancing out my body seems to have worked. My arms are stronger, my thighs have reduced so my calf muscles can develop and I have better symmetry and balance.

On top of this, I'm even more flexible too! In a sitting hamstring test, I was 10cm away from my toes, now I can touch them! I have always had good shoulder flexibility, but this has improved even more! With one arm up and over, and the other down and under, I can grab my hands behind my back. I have always been able to do this, not just touch fingers, but actually perform a hearty handshake. I have improved this even further, I'm able to grab wrists!

Tomorrow morning I head up Rapaki to try and demolish my time of 30 mins. I'm thinking I'll go too hard and bomb before the top, but it's the last challenge I'll be doing for a wee while, so might as well leave it all on the park (or side of the hill) right?

Healed, fixed, ready?

Thankfully I am almost back to 100% fitness after a few days of disability. My final fitness tests will be tomorrow and Saturday, with Friday being the big one, the one I have been cramming and working hard towards. Saturday will be a re-run of the Rapaki hill to see if my cardio has improved enough to get me up there in under half an hour.

We're at the 99% mark now, and I know I could have done more, eaten smarter, tried harder, pushed further and so on. But this 20 weeks has been about more than just getting a result. Yes, I'm lighter, smaller and more muscular, but I wanted to improve myself in a sustainable way. The goal was to get some results, and be able to maintain those results with little or no adjustments to my life. Kinda like living the 20 week challenge full-time. That was my goal, and I have succeeded there I think.

Case in point - last weekend was a write-off for food, exercise and health in general. I weighed 101.5KG on Monday morning, and yet with a few days of managing my diet and staying active, I'm back down to 98.9 this morning. While I have been 105-110KG forever, I now intend to be in the 98-99 bracket and celebrate my double digits. I do not want to drop below 95KG, and with the muscles I'm putting on, I don't see that happening. The more my tummy goes away, the more my muscles pop out. I like that trade-off and weight has no relevance in that way.

This week my activity has been low, but not nil. I'm trying to convince myself that it's resting my body before the final push. Tuesday and Wednesday saw me doing the sessions in the park as per usual with the time passing extraordinary fast. Tomorrow will see me do a fitness test either at lunchtime instead of the PT session, or in the morning in the snug warmth of home. I will also have my 'after' photos and measurements taken. Tomorrow. Wow. 20 weeks sure did fly by!

All pain, no gain

What a weekend. We had visitors descend from the north and they stayed for several days and we ate food, drank wine (and limoncello) and did very little. OK, not quite true.

On Friday I still did the session in the park at lunchtime, dragging one of the visitors along for the ride. They enjoyed it, despite it being more than they had done for a long time. We followed that up with lunch out, which was only slightly naughty and dinner that night was roast chickens and cauli-rice, so nice and low carb. Dessert was a low-carb version of a fantastic French chocolate cake. Yummo. So food-wise it was not too bad at all, but the beer, wine and limoncello sure added a few carbs and other unnecessary calories. I did over-indulge but not to excess as I didn't want to be a wreck in the morning.

Saturday rolls around, and I'm up fairly early, even after a late night. Some of us decide to go for a walk in the hills, so a quick & easy breakfast is prepared - fruit salad and yoghurt. Sigh, not a low carb breakfast, but at least it's full of fibre and other goodies. We head off to the hills and spend about a hour admiring the views and chatting. On arrival home I whip up a quick frittata packed full of protein and yummie goodness. With a salad on the side it fills a gap and is a nice hunger buster until dinner. More wine and limoncello follows, I do a nice Asian chicken noodle soup for dinner which is chased down with a chocolate cake from the depths of hell! Another day of over indulging. Isn't it easy to fall off the wagon and just keep bouncing along? To be fair, I am trying my best with the food, but when everyone else wants to participate and provide, results become mixed and varied. Another late night, feeling seedy from the food and this is the first day of my pain that could be a horrific end to my 20 week challenge.

Sunday morning. Nothing planned today as people are heading home at various times and it's raining. My blood sugars are way high and get dealt with pretty quickly. I haven't had a high morning like that for weeks and weeks, so it felt like a hangover but was resolved with a glass of water and a decent dose of insulin. The real issue is a recurring 'injury' I have which has flared up during Saturday is is fully painful on Sunday. I won't describe it to you as it's not pleasant and if it's bad enough to stop me talking about it here, you really don't want the details. Suffice to say that any activity is exceedingly painful. Sunday is quiet, we slowly empty the house of people and dispose of the evidence of a weekend of excess. I begin to panic a bit.

This is the last week of the challenge and if I can't do my final fitness test at 100% then has it been a waste of my time? Obviously not, as once I'm better I'll still be stronger and fitter and so forth, but that's like knowing all the answers to the final exam the day after you take it! I have less than a week, 5 days total, including today, to get prepared. I'm going to take it real easy today, put my toe in the water tomorrow and see what happens, then re-evaluate from there. Hopefully things will be much better and I can look forward to the end of the week and the final exam. I know that even at 80% I'm still going to blow my previous results away, but it won't be the real results, and that'll piss me off.

Sigh.

Cramming hurts

Week 19 of 20 and I fully intend to almost do myself harm this week.

• Sunday - hell session, weights @ home
• Monday - even heller session, more weights @ home
• Tuesday - DropAndGiveMe20 session in the park, focus on upper body (ouchies)
• Wednesday - Bike to work (and back) + another session in the park, focussing on legs (more ouchies)

And in-between I have been sneaking in some dumbell raises before bed and when I get up, plus some chin-ups. I'll go for a run tomorrow, plus another home session, and another park session on Friday, then I have a weekend of laziness due to visitors descending on us from northern isles. Sigh, a weekend of sitting, talking and drinking limoncelo. Thankfully I'll be doing all the cooking so can limit the food-based damage so as not to have too large a hurdle for the last week.

Am I happy yet? Yes, not perfectly happy, still not as fit and trim as I'd like to be, but I'll need a lot more discipline to achieve that. Once the 20 weeks is up I can slow down, steady my pace and see what happens. If I can maintain and improve as the year goes on, I'll be a happy boy come summertime. 

Cramming has begun

On Saturday we started the last 2 weeks of the diet plan, meaning I could eat some dairy again, and have a glass of wine with dinner. I don't miss my potatoes, pasta, rice or bread, but it's often damn hard to snack without the carbs. Stupid convenience. We did some measurements and I'm still losing my tummy, which is good news, and my weight has remained under 100KG, which is also good news. My head cold is pretty much gone, and fitness levels are way up.

Sunday was supposed to be a hill walk/jog up Rapaki to compare to our times 18 weeks ago, but just as we were about to head out we got a phone call saying it was hailing and minutes later we received a downpour as well. So, we postponed. Instead, I asked Tracey to give me an upper/middle body workout. Her eyes lit up, she rubbed her hands together and made a weird cackling noise and slunk away to the exercise equipment. Moments later I was give a short circuit to do. Just 3 laps, 60 seconds on, 15 seconds off. I only have a hazy memory of the order of the activities, I was pretty busy sweating and swearing at the time. 15 seconds to collapse, recover and relocate is nowhere near enough time!

I started with mountain climbers, an exercise that is easy for 30 seconds, and not so easy from that moment on. Being that it's a prone hold with actions, I suck at it, but managed it for the full 60. From there we moved on to some kind of squatting, dumbbell swinging thing which wasn't too bad and allowed a bit of recovery time. Then a new one, push-up T's where you have a dumbbell in each hand, using them to do a push-up, and once up you lift one arm up into the air as far as you can, then back down again, alternating arms each time. This was tough. Then we have barbell raises/rows using a bar with a ton of weight on it. Again, 30 seconds is fairly easy, 60 is unbearable. Back down and doing more push ups, but this time raising the dumbbells to your chest after each one, left then right. My core was screaming at this point. Almost impossible... Explosive squats with dumbbells, ahhh, only mildly painful, almost peaceful. Then it was pull-downs, an exercise I find relaxing, until 45 seconds have rolled by, then I find it painful. Then the last exercise of the circuit, inclined push ups. With feet on the bench, hands on the ground, do push ups. Stupidest exercise ever. Despite it being actually impossible, I managed to do several, about 15, before I expired. 

Then I had to do it all again.

And again.

3 laps was deadly. My arms and guts knew I'd been working them hard, very hard, and were advising me they wanted to rest now. During the session I hated it, but afterwards I couldn't help thinking that it had been over pretty quickly (under 30 minutes)

Would I do it again? Yup. Tonight in fact. When I get home I'll be back on the floor sweating and swearing. I think a week of hard-out sessions like this, then a week of more gentle sessions should have me well prepared for the final weigh & measure. Hopefully I'll retain the use of my arms, time will tell!

It hurts so good

Wow, two weeks left. Much like when I was gaining my 'higher education' I think I may have left it too late to get a 100% pass mark. For the next two weeks I'm going to be cramming for my final exam!

The two categories I entered were Best Change in Abdominals and Best Increase in Strength. While I know I have improved (dramatically) in both these areas, I'm not sure I have done enough to warrant 'best change' or 'best increase' yet.

Strength: I have gone from zero chin-ups to 13, that's cool, and from 7 push-ups to 23, also cool. I know I have improved in other exercises too, but unsure of the numbers as I'm usually crying by the end of a session anyway. Unsure if my legs are stronger, but I can do more crunchies and sit-ups than I used to, so defiantly an increase. But best increase?? I'm not too sure... I'll have to really add some extra session in over the next 2 weeks.

Abdominals: Now here there has been a change. My gut has dropped drastically. I look back at my day zero photo and I know I see a different belly in the mirror now. The measuring tape will see me right there, but there's more to lose in that department still. Likewise, I need to really focus on crunchies and sit-ups, get my core strength up more. Maybe some more of those awful prone holds I hate so much. 

It's just two weeks, suck it up! Once I'm weighed and measured I can chill out for a bit, have a glass of wine and a custard square. Until then, pain and sweat and tears are in my future... Thank gawd I'm not on a low calorie or low fat diet! In fact, my average calorie intake this week has been 1,599 calories a day. With an average of 40g of carbs each day, this is good fat and protein power!

	5th June	6th June	7th June	8th June	9th June	10th June	Average
Calories:	1,614	2,207	1,192	1,571	1,560	1,448	1,599
Fat:	115	174	72	98	104	92	109
Carbohydrates:	25	35	29	60	46	45	40
Protein:	117	122	106	113	110	130	116
Fiber, total dietary:	3	6	7	10	8	8	7
Effective Carbs	21	29	22	51	39	37	33

Next week I go onto a less meat-focussed diet plan, hopefully meaning I can have poached eggs on a slice of grainy toast (yum) or yoghurt or a flat white. The last 4 weeks has changed the way I look at carbs, that's for sure. There are essential fats, essential proteins, but no essential carbohydrates. And, as a diabetic, carbs does not equal energy. But damn they taste so good!

Can you have too much of a good thing?

Nope.

Depending on what that good this is of course.

I only have two and a half weeks left of my 20 week challenge, and also my 6 week gut-buster diet plan. It seems like I've been doing this for ages... Well, that's not quite right. It feels like this is a habit that I have always had. It's not like I have been dragged kicking and screaming out of bed each day to climb on my bike and ride to work, or brave the cold/wet/wind/hail/sleet for my PT sessions in the park, or climb a hill on a frosty weekend morning. These things are just in my daily schedule and occur. My current diet has restrictions but it's not making me crave poor food choices, or go hungry, so is easily achieved if a small amount of planning is performed. It also occurred to me today that I haven't had a single beer or wine for over 3.5 weeks now, which is saying something as I was a regular 'bottle of wine in an evening' consumer.

When the 20 weeks is up, do I go back to custard squares, pinot noir, mashed potatoes and sloth? Probably not. I'll maintain my current activities as I enjoy them (yes, even in the hail! At least it hasn't snowed yet) and my diet will remain forever altered. You see, having discovered what I can achieve in 20 weeks, I'm wondering what I can achieve by my birthday. This year will be my last 30th birthday and after that it's all middle-age! When I turn 40 in 15ish months time, I want to be fitter and healthier than I am now. That's going to take some consistent effort.

When summer kicks in, I'm going to spend a month doing studies on food, exercise and blood sugars. That may sound boring as hell to you, but a month of rigorous testing and monitoring may mean many, many years of benefit to follow. I'll be testing various combinations of pre-exercise food, pre-exercise insulin, exercise intensity and post-exercise food. Like some kind of lab rat, I hope to find what is the best conditions for me to be able to have short intensive activities, and long, endurance ones. Sometimes being a diabetic means just not being able to do stuff, or in my case, trying stuff and failing my own expectations. I'm hoping this month-long test will help me decide what activities I am better suited for, and how best to prepare for them, and what to do during and afterwards. I'll write it up for anyone who's interested, but it sure ain't gonna be published in any medical journal. Sadly there is almost no information on type I diabetics and exercise out there, and what info there is tends to contradict other information. I shall ignore it all and just see what works by trial and error. If others find it useful, that's cool, but it's really all about me.

The sun is shining, I pong a wee bit after my lunchtime session and I am feeling full after my sausages and eggs for lunch. I may just have a cup of coffee and watch the last 20% of my download happen. Sigh, such is life.

Delicious, nutritious and it damn well works!

The week has been filled with many goings on, most of them have been good too!

Meat week #1 has passed pretty much without incident. We have consumed a truck-load of eggs, knocking off over 70 in a few days between the 3 of us. Lots of sausages, lamb chops, chicken every-which-way, bacon, mince, seafood and more. I likes me meats, so for me it has been a tasty and fun week. Thankfully the markets sell free range eggs by the tray for economical prices. I even stuck close to it when I spent a day in a training session and lunch was delivered. Typically it was sammies, mini-bagels, sausage rolls, pies, koftas, cakes and slices. My lunch that day consisted of koftas and the inside of a sausage roll. Would rather have eaten more, but I didn't need to in the end. Eating nothing but meat & eggs & veg not only keeps me full, but is satisfying too. As my carb input is below 50 grams per day, my insulin use has dropped dramatically too.

The better news is that I can drink coffee again! Not the same amount I was drinking a few weeks ago, just 2 (or sometimes 3) a day. As we're avoiding dairy during the 'meat weeks' it's regular plunger coffee, not flat whites, still wonderful though. I have missed my daytime coffees so it is very pleasing to have them back again.

My energy has been way up this week as well. It was instantly noticeable on Monday when riding to work has has been high all week, despite having a head cold. My normal solution for this sort of thing is regular doses of Nurofen cold & flu. However, I have to abstain from drugs, so couldn't do that. Some research pointed to using large doses of vitamin D instead. We grabbed a couple of bottles and I consumed 100,000 IU over 48 hours and the effects were dramatic. Yes, it was somewhat over the recommended dose but well short of a lethal one. And it worked! It's going to be my winter cure of choice now! I was sick as hell on Thursday, and by Friday lunchtime I was well enough to endure a DropAndGiveMe20 session in the park. On reflection I shouldn't have done it as it was a massive session and my thighs and butt still hurt today.

Yes, Friday's session in the park was a gruelling one. We arrived to see Tracey with her whiteboard looking contemplative. We had been set a challenge (and a half!) and as a team (of 4) for the next 20ish minutes, we did 50 bear crawl up/crab crawl down the hill, 100 burpees, 150 push ups, 200 squats, 150 step ups, over 100 lunges and 50 tricep dips. My heart was still pounding 10 minutes later and it took over an hour to cool down, despite the climate! I'm glad every session isn't like that!

And to further spit in the eye of every dietician I have spoken to, I have been using a bean-counter to monitor my carb, fat and protein inputs and seeing that 60-80% of my calorie intake each day (between 1,600 and 2,400) has come from fats. Here's yesterdays breakdown:

Orange: Fats 64.5% Green: Carbohydrates 6.2% Purple: Proteins 29.3%

Which brings me to my last point. I finally broke the 100KG barrier some days ago. I was dehydrated at the time so took it with a grain of salt. However, I have been under 100 for several days in a row now, and weighed in at 98.1KG this morning! Reduced fat? Nope, I have increased it actually. Low GI grains and cereals? Well, none except those from my veggies. Massive increase in protein? Well, an increase for sure, but not massive. And did I mention I'm feeling stronger and fitter than I have for years, even though I have the dregs of a head cold? This diet works for me. I have another meat week coming up, then I get my dairy back again. My weight has been of little consequence, but I can tell it's body fat I'm losing and it's not making me crazy with food cravings, weak with hunger, or creating funky blood sugars either. My BMI is 25 which is still overweight, however an even larger grain of salt is taken here as I'm not a fatty. Lets look at someone like Richie McCaw for example. He's 1.87m tall and 106KG so his BMI is 30.3 which makes him obese! Hence, BMI is bullshit for healthy/fit people because it's math, not mass. To be fair, I would only need to lose another 400g to drop from overweight to 'normal' weight, but if Tony Woodcock can get away with bordering on morbid obesity, then I can suffer on the fringes of overweightedness.

Roll on the next few weeks! Muscle tone is increasing, fitness increasing, tummy reducing, weight dropping, and all of it is bacon flavoured :)