Woo-hoo! I'm half way there... (livin' on a prayer)...

22.2km down, baby... Feeling like I could do a little Bon Jovi dance, if I wasn't so sweaty already from my 6km walk...

Today is a delightfully rainy day in Hobart. I say "delightfully" because it's the first proper rain we've seen in about 6 months. Hopefully the harbinger of a reasonably wet winter, as the gardens, farmers and reservoirs need it desperately.

Lake Gordon, currently a long way from its picturesque best... (image from The Mercury)

Anyway, the upshot of that was that, rather than plonk in front of the TV and watch "And Then There Were None", which I taped last weekend, I decided to go back to the gym to do my walk. As a sign of just how long it has been, the whole reception area has disappeared behind mdf sheeting (they're doing a big renovation) and the entire cardio section of the gym has changed orientation. They've also installed personal screens on all the treadmills, so it's a bit like being on a long-haul flight, only slightly better air quality. The new view is over the swimming pool downstairs, which was actually quite nice, as I forgot to bring my ipod and headphones, so watching the passing parade doing their laps was quite mesmeric...

Something like this... obviously, I wouldn't take photos inside the gym.

Machine said my 6.0km burned about 400 calories, which is nice. While I prefer to be walking out in the fresh air, it's quite good to get the quantitative report occasionally.

Marathon - Challenge accepted!

Don't panic - not all in one hit! I think if I ran (or walked) 42.2km in one go, I would probably emulate Pheidippides' effort and fall down dead at the finish line! (Mind you, he apparently actually ran a total of 280km over two days, in comparison to which the modern marathon sort of pales into insignificance.)

My plan is easier still, as I'm aiming to reach the total distance (42.195km) in increments over approximately 3 weeks. Thanks to Lesley of Live to Slim, who inspired me to try this, in her blog post "A Noble Sacrifice" earlier in the month. I thought it sounded like a great and achievable goal, so I'm in!
Did you know that the standardised distance of the modern marathon was only set in 1921, based upon the length of the race at the 1908 London Olympics. This distance was determined primarily to enable the royal family to watch the start and finish of the race, which started outside Windsor Castle and finished below the Royal Box at the White City Stadium! There you go...

Cheerful looking lot, aren't they?

A little more history, something that I found quite surprising - the women's marathon has only been an Olympic event since the 1984 Los Angeles games! Particularly relevant since today (19th April) is the 50th Anniversary of Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb's completion (albeit unofficial) of the Boston Marathon, becoming the first woman to do so. It was the following year that Kathrine Switzer was virtually gang-tackled by race organisers for daring to run wearing an official race number.

Hard to believe that all of this happened well within living memory, isn't it?
Anyway, my progress so far is a walk early this morning, a beautiful clear Autumn day, accompanied by my new "Energise!" playlist on the ipod, around suburban New Town. 3.3 kilometres down, 38.895 to go...

You'll notice my new ticker on the right sidebar - follow my progress!

A fortnight out of the public eye...

Well, life has been quiet for the Duchess since my last post, and not by my own choice...

Autumn's a beautiful time in Hobart. The days are still warm, while the evenings are chilly. Nothing like snuggling into bed with a hottie (water bottle, that is!). While the forestry burn-off season has made us all a bit sniffly, the effect on the sunsets is nothing short of spectacular...

A friend shared this image last week on Facebook.

Unfortunately, I've barely been able to leave the house to enjoy it. Firstly, my daughter went down with a fever during the last week of term, so I needed to take time off work to keep her home. Then, predictably enough, I succumbed as well, and not being six and fabulous, haven't really bounced back with the finesse that she did. Now the BBQ King's also sick, which is sad, because he's just gone on two week's leave from work to coincide with the school holidays and his birthday next Monday.

Unsurprisingly, my nutrition has suffered, although I'm happy to say that this has been more a case of weird mealtimes and a drop-off in my newly-established water regimen, rather than a return to over-eating and relying on takeaways (although we did resort to pizza one night last week). I've basically been in bed 18 hours a day all of the last week, so predictably my weight loss has plateaued, but hey, that's better than a gain, isn't it?

My plans to join fellow blogger Live to Slim in completing a marathon in installments (in my case over 3 weeks) have also had to go on hold for the moment, but I have every intention of achieving this when I'm back on deck - perhaps starting next week. The great news is that, in the course of my "Say it out loud" pre-season challenge from 12WBT, my friend (the one whose success initially inspired me to have another shot at it) now wants to join back in with me! She only lives around the corner and I see her most days, so that will be a real bonus - I've never had a fitness buddy before! She has a completely different set of challenges to me, but that's fine, we'll give each other perspective!

Watch this space for a progress report on the marathon...

Water, water everywhere, and ev'ry drop to drink...

(apologies to S.T. Coleridge)
Welcome to 12WBT water challenge week! It's fairly self-explanatory, our aim for the week is to drink only water (including its variants) as a beverage. No soft drinks (obviously!), juices, milk, alcoholic beverages, tea or coffee (green tea and herbal teas are acceptable).
Quite honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time for the Duchess...

The glassware is my touch of irony for the day...

I feel like I've already achieved really well on cutting out soft drinks. Since this round of 12WBT started on 14th March, the only soft drink I've had was a lemon, lime and bitters when we went out for a meal last week. No coke, flavoured mineral waters or takeaway post-mix, which previously had featured a little too prominently in my nutritional intake. I'm not much of a drinker at the best of times, so the alcohol isn't a big deal for me, as it is for some others.
My big challenge is my one coffee a day, first thing in the morning. I've decided that I'm going to keep it, and compensate with extra water over the course of the day. The problem is that, on days I don't have my coffee for whatever reason, my mood always seems lower and this inevitably leads to a loss of discipline when it comes to treat foods.
How much water we should actually all be drinking is up for discussion. 12WBT says 2 litres each day, not including the water you're consuming while you're exercising. This table from Pinterest says that, for my weight, I should be consuming 3.4 litres a day! (Apologies for the imperial units)

However, I've done some research on Australian websites (some even actual medical ones!), and the consensus seems to be that we should all be drinking between 2 and 3 litres a day, but that there is so much variation due to individual factors that body weight alone can't be used to determine optimum water intake. Our food generally accounts for about 20% of fluid intake, so that also needs to be taken account of. And the good news (for me) is that the research now shows that caffeinated drinks are not nearly as dehydrating as previously thought, so I won't need to feel too bad about keeping up my one coffee a day.
My top ten reasons for drinking plenty of water:

1. (as Michelle Bridges says in her challenge video) After breast milk, its the only fluid humans are actually evolved to consume. 
2. Unlike virtually all the alternatives, it's sugar, calorie, carb and fat-free. Your body actually burns about 100 calories of energy for each 2 litres of water you drink - the colder the better.
3. It's great for your skin! I can feel the difference in terms of smoothness and clarity within days of upping my water consumption.
4. Having plenty of water available to your system allows effective removal of toxins and waste, which can otherwise accumulate in your body and leave you feeling blerghhh (that's a technical term!). This quality, together with the necessity of water for proper metabolic processes, is why water consumption is so important to effective weight loss.
5. Water aids effective digestion. Most obviously, life feels better when your bowel is working at it's best. But water is also important to the upper GE tract - as a periodic sufferer of reflux, I can attest to this!
6. Being properly hydrated enhances the benefits of exercise. Oxygen and nutrients are delivered to cells more effectively, aiding metabolism, meaning you feel more energetic and your muscles can work and repair at their full potential.
7. Drinking plenty of water is a headache cure, in that many headaches are the result of dehydration.
8. It's proven to reduce the risk of many cancers. Not sure whether this is due to additional water for healthy cell-reproduction, or whether it's because you're not polluting your body with the alternatives... probably both!
9. Apparently drinking plenty of water lowers your risk of heart attack considerably. The figure quoted in an article I read was 41%, but this obviously relates to a particular set of parameters around existing risk factors, amount consumed etc.
10. Your kidneys function far more happily if you drink plenty of water. The higher your blood glucose, the more water you need to drink for your kidneys to process it. Water consumption is thus critically important in managing diabetes or pre-diabetes symptoms.

So, the writing's very much on the wall - to feel your best, you need to drink between 2 and 3 litres of water a day. Lets do this!!!