2nd Christmas & Birthday In Perth

I haven't been doing much since last week. I had 21st & 22nd off since there wasn't a list. I went jogging round the neighbourhood on the 22nd, with every intention to do a 5 km. But for some reason, the going got severely tough from the 2 km mark & I only managed to complete 3 km. So I went home & did 1 hour of yoga. I had a full day's work on the 23rd, after which, I went to the gym. While I was at work, I felt light headed every now & then but my BP was in the normal range, though bordering on the lower limits (101/66 mmHg). Since it would probably be my last gym session of the year (unless I drive all the way to my work place to use the gym), I decided to do my Ironman training. It was so, so bad. After the rowing, I could barely cycle & had to stop at the 2 km mark though I had intended to push for 15 km. Sweat was pouring off me like never before. In fact, I dripped a small puddle on the floor where the stationary bike is. While I'll most definitely sweat, I never sweated this much, not even when I'm into the jogging section of the Ironman training. Something definitely wasn't right. It felt extremely tedious but having dropped out of cycling, I pushed to complete 3 km on the treadmill.

It could have something to do with me having my period but I've been to the gym & trained while I was having my period before. I couldn't find an explanation to my sudden decrease in stamina. I tried jogging again on Friday round my neighbourhood but it was the same thing. 3 km was hard. I started having backaches on Monday when my period started. That was pretty normal. But it probably was the precursor to my old injury flaring up. Becoz I haven't been able to bend over for several days. It was so hard to even put my underwear on. That's how bad it is. 

About 6 years ago, I sprained or pulled some muscles in my lower back while at work. I suffered terribly for it. I couldn't sit down & once in the sitting position, I couldn't stand back up. After 1 month of that, hubs finally dragged my ass to a 跌打 but it took another month before my back fully recovered. Ever since then, my back has never been the same. It'll ache badly when I'm having menses or if I've been in the same position for too long (standing too long or sitting in the cinema for too long & occasionally waking up from the pain becoz I've been sleeping in the same position for too long).

It isn't as bad as it was back then but probably halfway there. Hubs rubbed my back twice but it didn't really help. So that was how I spent my 2nd Christmas & birthday in Perth; with debilitating backache. I had my usual yoga session on Sat & that was the last time I did any form of exercise. After the yoga, having stretched it out (after informing my instructor about my back who then modified the session to include more back stretching poses), my mobility increased. But it was back to square 1 the next morning. My back is now aching too badly for me to do anything. I had no choice but to book a remedial massage which is going to set me back $90. :( But it is something I have to do to speed up the healing if I want to go back to training.

We didn't do much over the holiday period. D&J had house warming with house blessing on the 26th. It's beautiful to watch them be surrounded by their family, some of them flew over from Sydney, some from Sg. I saw some photos posted by J where she & her daughter huddled around the kitchen island, learning to make sugee cookies & pineapple tarts from her mother. This is something I've always wished I had. My grandma passed away when I was in Primary 3 & I don't even know if she can cook. My mom can't really cook & she can't bake. I'm the 1st in the family (even in my extended family) to really cook. So there's nobody to pass on some heirloom recipes to me. Watching the priests bless the house touched me to my core. I can feel the love of the family & energy gathering there. It really is beautiful & I'm thankful to have been included.

I ate so much over this period, coupled with the lack of training, I know there'll be hell to pay when I finally get back to gym-ing, hopefully when I start work next Tuesday, pending condition of my back. But I've gone back on track diet-wise since yesterday. I'm somewhat bored at home & I can't wait to get back to work so I can train. Despite my backache, I sorted out the guest bedroom, put the bed frame together again & tipped the mattress back on all by myself. I also managed to stuff as much stuff as I could into the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. I tidied the house somewhat & when I get home from the remedial massage, I'll get onto cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming & mopping the floor. I've harvested my chives & my plan is to bake parmesan & chives bread sticks. Yums!

Christmas eve dinner: Poached giant prawns!

Christmas Day: Roasted duck which turned out very tender to my surprise. My 1st time cooking duck. Had half for lunch & half for dinner. 

Rocky Road I made to bring to D&J's housewarming.

Dim Sum brunch on my birthday.

For those interested to try but doesn't want to head to Northbridge or SOR. Very long queue, reservations recommended. But if it's only for 2 pax, you can just walk in & usually a table is available immediately.

Difference Between Weight Losses

I've lost 6 kg to date. Like I've mentioned, the entire loss came from fats alone. This is a vast difference from my multiple attempts at weight loss in the past. I used to achieve weight loss by dieting alone aka calories restriction. The weight loss that followed was a combination of fats & muscles loss. I didn't realise how much difference it made until Sharon pointed out that I looked like I lost a lot of weight. My response was, "It's only 6 kg." So I went & dug out this old photo of me from over 6 years ago. I can't remember how much I weigh then, probably about 59 kg. I know I dropped to 57 kg when I met hubs just few weeks later.

Left: 59 kg, 6 years ago.
Right: 61 kg now.

Goodness me! Putting the 2 pictures side by side, the differences are obvious. I definitely look slimmer now, especially on my face. I haven't worn that orange dress in 6 years. Seeing this photo prompted me to go try it out. I can wear it again! But best if I wait till I lose a bit more coz when I sit down, the gaps between the buttons are pretty pronounced. Other than weight loss, exercise also gave me lots of other benefits. This is definitely the way to go.

I haven't pushed to do a full 5 km jog on my Ironman training this week becoz I wanted to go home earlier. But I'll definitely give it a shot next week. During my routine training yesterday, I had completed my resistance training & had just started jogging when I felt, in Singlish terms, "How come like no kick?" The beauty of jogging on a treadmill is having an even gradient & constant speed. When I 1st started, I was jogging at a pace of 7 km/hr. At 4 weeks, I've increased that to 7.5 km/hr. So I thought, "Alright, I'll put it up to 8 km/hr to see how it'll go." I completed my usual 3 km at that pace. It's actually quite enjoyable. Doable yet enough "kick". 

I do feel lazy most days where I feel like just heading home to rest. But once I get started, I just want to keep going. Knowing that, I still go to the gym even when I don't feel like it. But once I hit my 3 times a week, I allow myself to rest the other 2 days coz I do have yoga on Sat to make up for it. But yeah, it's great. I hated exercising. Seriously. But if I can come to enjoy it, I think everyone can. Give it a try. 

Almost Christmas

It's end of the year again. Like last year, we're shutting down for 2 weeks for Christmas period. I have 1 more day to work on Wed & that's it for 2015. & like last year, we started receiving presents from the surgeons. For all the bad I've done in my life, I must have done something good to have such good fortune. I am very thankful for all that I have today & all that I've received, not just monetary or material but the inner wisdom growth as well. May we all continue to strive to be a better person & gratitude fill our hearts always. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Top left: Champagne, chocolate & $100 Myer gift card from Dr AG. (Only 3 of us received the additional $100 Myer card.)
Top right: Champagne from Dr AA.
Bottom from left to right: Champagne from Dr MTK, Champagne from Dr AG (anesthetist), Red & sparkling white from Dr IM.

Top left: $50 Coles group gift card from Dr JL.
Bottom left: Birthday card from my colleagues with $130 cash.
Top & bottom right: $35 Coles group gift card from Dr ADG, $50 gift card from company, special gift (lip gloss) from a colleague wanting to thank me for all my help.

A box of produce from Barossa Valley from Dr GC.

A box of Koko Black chocolate from Dr FC to share. A colleague went online & found out that the chocolate was selling for $2.30 per piece. There're 64 pieces here. This must be the most expensive chocolate I've ever eaten.

Our New Addition To The Family

After the failed attempts at adopting another dog, I came across this rescue group, Wish Animal Rescue, on FB. While going through their website, I saw this profile of a dog who tugged at my heart strings. Named Rocky, he was rescued from Kalgoorlie pound by this group after his owner's marriage breakdown. I made arrangements with his fosterer to view him. She suggested Lake Gwelup as I wanted to bring Ton Ton along for a compatibility test. Like I did with Bronson, I made connection with Rocky via distant Reiki. I wasn't expecting much but to my surprise, I got this feeling that Rocky wants to come home with me. We met up for the 1st time on the 6th.

The fosterer told me that his rescue was pretty dramatic. After the marriage breakdown, the wife (perhaps out of spite) dumped him in the pound. 2 weeks later, the husband went to the pound wanting to retrieve him but wasn't willing to pay the 100 odd dollars for his release. He went back later that night with a mate, broke in, trashed the place, beat up a worker in attempts to get Rocky back. Of course, he was charged for it. That was when Wish stepped in to rescue him. His name was actually Junior but somehow he was accidentally renamed Rocky. The fosterer has been calling him Basil in the 2.5 weeks she had had him. It seemed that he had been kept outside most of his life for his elbows & underbelly were rough & hairless, most likely due to lying on hot concrete for extended periods of time. He was also very filthy when he was 1st rescued. 

Perhaps it was the park & not a shelter (where the energy may not be so good), Ton Ton was quite inquisitive with Basil. While they didn't play, they did calmly sniffed each other. Basil went straight to hubs for scratches & cuddles. After that, he came to me for hugs & licked my face. We knew then that he's the right 1. 

But before I could bring him home, the volunteers with Wish needed to do a yard check. So I made arrangements for that to happen the next week. The lady took some pictures of my yard (to make sure that it's secure) & sent them to the fosterer & the founder of the group. They okayed it & I was told I could bring Basil home anytime. I had a day off last Friday so I decided that it would be perfect since we would have the entire weekend to see how he goes at home. Becoz he's had so many names, we decided to keep him as Basil since he's already responding to it.

The adoption process was pretty straight forward. I was handed Basil along with his vaccination card. In the card, it was stated that his year of birth is 2001 which makes him 14 years old. (On their website they had him down as 13.) It's great coz at this age, he should be living out his days in a home where he is loved. He's good in the car except that he kept climbing back & forth from the front to the back of the car. He didn't disturb me while I was driving apart from that which is a good thing. He was a bit unsure but settled in nicely when we got home. 

1 week later, he's pretty well adjusted to his new life with us. He's very savvy. I only had to show him once where he's supposed to sleep & he got it. When I let him out into the yard on the 1st day, he wanted to mark but now, he knew to just empty his bladder in 1 spot while half squatting. He still marks when we go on walks but I must say I'm really amazed.

Lake Gwelup on the day I brought him home.

He took to the lounge chair while indoors almost immediately.

He's such a sweetheart.

My 2 gorgeous boys.

Onward To The Next 5 Kg

As of this week, I've completed 8 weeks in the gym. I've always felt I'm terrible with exercise & that no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't work for me. It's amazing how a change in mindset can have such tremendous effects. I started wanting to lose weight without it being the sole focus. I told myself that fitness is what I should be aiming for & not to be disheartened if my weight remains the same. I've just lost my 1st 5 kg from gym-ing, with a 1.8% muscle gain & 3.9% fat loss. Based on the stats, I guess it's safe to say that the entire 5 kg loss came from fats alone. When I 1st started, jogging 2 km was a struggle. Now, 3 km is my norm & something I aim for every gym session.

Since this is a milestone for me, I decided to go celebrating by trying out for my 1st 5 km jog in 1.5 years. It was before I got my job. Right smack in winter, it was 8 am & 4°c outside. It was very hard & my muscles were already aching even before I completed the 5 km. Of course, that was also the 1 & only time I went jogging until the recent weeks. So all along, I knew I can do a 5 km jog becoz if I could do it back then without training, I can do it again now. I just didn't want to do it too soon but rather slowly learn to enjoy jogging. I made it in 40 mins, shaved 9 mins off from the timing 1.5 years ago. It wasn't super hard but it did require a fair bit of mental pap talk. I started counting down right from the beginning. One fifth down, four fifths to go (at 1 km mark), two fifths down (2 km mark), 50% there (2.5 km mark), you've just completed your usual distance (3 km mark), just 1 more km to go (4 km mark) & then it was counting down by the 100 meters. 我既然没有要死的感觉。So that's really good.

I don't know if I'm going to ache tomorrow since I've pushed myself beyond my routine. I did some resistance training for my arms before I left the gym. I wonder if I can do 5 km jog for my Ironman training next week. That will be awesome. That will also mean I'm left with additional 10 km of cycling to pick up. I'll see how I feel when I get there. My knee is still purple from the fall last Wed. It doesn't hurt as much anymore but I'm not too sure if I can get on my knees for yoga this Sat though. 

My manager shared with me her experiences with marathons. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she told me she could finish a 42 km run in 4 hours. From FB, all my friends are clocking 3+ hours for the 21 km run which could only mean that my manager is really really fast. She also did ultra marathons where she had to run 56 km & she could do it in 5+ hours. She also took part in the 1000 km challenge which she had to complete within a year. During the year, she had to run 3 marathons a month so she could complete it. I had to pick my jaw from the ground. She told me that 5 mins per km is a good pace. But she wasn't fast compared to the others. The Africans (she came from South Africa) can do 3 mins per km. That's literally sprinting from start to end, isn't it? That's more than half of my 8 mins per km.

My motto these days is "Some day I'll get there". So yeah, some day I'll get there. Maybe not 42 km. That's way too far out. My aim is currently for 10 km. But 1st, let me get to the stage where 5 km is a comfortable distance. 

Thursday Night Home Alone

Not really home alone. Only that hubs will be home much later. He's gone to Crown for a buffet dinner sponsored by his company. In fact, he just called me, informing me that he could only eat 3 plates of food compared to his colleagues who were already on their 6th. He suggested going with me some day. Erm... better don't waste the money. It's $80 per pax & I'm absolutely positive I won't be able to eat much. His boss told him that the hotel is nice for a staycation & hubs wanted to do it with me some day. That, I'll be interested in. We used to do lots of staycation in Sg for anniversaries & birthdays. But WA is big & we're still in the early stages of discovering its beauty. His boss suggested walking around, exploring the hotel & casino after the dinner. So basically, he rang to tell me that he'll be home late. That's alright. It's nice to have a little me time.

Jazz went straight into the garage upon returning home with me on Sat & wasn't driven till Monday. We headed to the shelter on Sun but either the dog didn't like Ton or Ton didn't like the other dog. There was 1 dog I was really interested in. Using distant reiki, I "spoke" to him prior to the viewing. However, I got the message that he's happy where he is & isn't really interested in going home with me. On the day itself, the volunteer informed me that he was returned after being adopted, reason being that he reacted to other dogs in the park. I went to his kennel to see him but I couldn't get a response from him. He just wasn't interested. Another dog the volunteers were suggesting was in foster & wouldn't be back till Monday. So we left without having successfully adopted 1. It's alright. We need to make sure we get a perfect match. The right 1 will come.

Hubs drove Eba to work on Monday. It was also when I realised that I forgot to transfer my e-tag which will allow me into my workplace car park. I ended up getting a visitor's ticket to gain entry & swapping it for a staff ticket at the end of the day. The plan was for me to transfer it when hubs drove home with Eba. But he got home late as the mechanic had problems getting the distributor but finally got it fixed after 6 pm. He was told to drive his car home to "work the distributor" so that it doesn't die again. Eba was left at the warehouse overnight. Hubs then suggested that I follow him to work on Tuesday morning before driving Eba to work. So that was what transpired & Jazz sat in the garage for another day.

I get crazy ideas from TV shows all the time. When we were chasing Masterchef, I used their mystery box ingredients to create dishes of my own. Chasing TBL, I got the idea of doing a mini Ironman. The contestants ran 1 km, cycled 5 km, kayak unknown distance, then ran the final distance to the end point. I went online to find out more about Ironman races. Naturally, I won't be able to do a full Ironman which involves 4 km swim, 180 km cycle & 42 km run. But I can aim to do the sprint version of the Ironman which involves 750 m swim, 20 km cycle & 5 km run. I can swim but I'm not very good at it. If I have to swim in the open sea, I'll probably drown. So there's no way I can take part in the race. But I can certainly make use of the distances as a challenge to myself in the gym. Copying TBL, I swapped the swim for rowing.

So on Wed, I did a 1.5 km row (doubled it as rowing is easier than swimming), 10 km cycle & 2.5 km jog. 500 m into the cycling, my thighs were burning. But I just kept going, forcing myself to complete at least half of 20 km. I finally did after 25 mins which I later found out was terrible timing. A cyclist friend can cycle 18 km in 30 mins but of course, he's been doing it for a few years. It's definitely something to aim for. By the time I got to the treadmill, I was pretty worn. Even without the other exercises, I haven't jogged 5 km yet. I had just completed 2.5 km in 20 mins & promptly took a tumble on the treadmill. Yeah, I know, I'm so clumsy. I actually missed a step, had my right foot on the side unmoving panel & my left foot still on the moving treadmill. Yep, ended up with a big bruise on my right knee & shin but otherwise unharmed. I got back up & went to carry some weights before heading home. When I told hubs what had happened, he had the cheek to laugh at me some more. Bleah!

Here we are, Thursday night. I resumed my normal gym routine before heading home since hubs is having good food at Crown. I reckon I'll do the Ironman training once a week with remaining gym days doing my routine. Hopefully in a few month's time, I'll be able to report that I successfully completed my 1st Sprint Ironman in the gym.