The thing is, for the very first time in my life I am enjoying exercising, and am not only doing it very regularly (at least 5 times a week) but am seeing progress in a way I never have before. I'm not really losing weight when I get on the scales, but I can feel my body changing and I can see the changes - I have muscles in places I've never had them before, and my fitness particularly when I run is totally different. I spent years slogging out the miles running and running and running and running (shameless opportunity to link to this!), throwing in the occasional gym session, thinking I was doing ok for myself. Now I realise that was just not the right approach for me. I have been doing Body Attack, Body Balance, Pilates, seeing a personal trainer, running (including shorter interval training) and the occasional racketball session and I have never felt better.
Another bonus is that my blood pressure appears to have normalised without medication, which I have been taking for the past five years or so as hypertension appears to be a hereditary trait in my family. When I saw my GP and she told me that my BP was 120 over 85 I nearly fell off the chair! She wants to do another 24 hour monitoring, and if that is OK then no more drugs for me.
On the running front, I have done a couple of out and back runs where I attempted to blast one mile as fast as I could, then turn around and jog back at an easy pace. On both attempts I ran the fast mile in under 10 minutes, which is not something I think I have ever achieved before! Also, the return mile on both runs was faster than my previous average, so definitely progress. Then the past couple of weeks I have been working on gradual distance increases ready for the 10k in May. Last week I headed out for a run around GPK and managed a 5k PB without even feeling like I was pushing it! Today I headed out with the aim of running 4 miles. I felt great for the first mile, however I've not been feeling great in the tummy department today so found the next couple of miles a bit tough, including getting a stitch, so decided to slow down the pace a little. I ran 4.4 miles in total, and imagine my surprise when it was another 5k PB (by a second, but every second counts ok!) and my overall average was identical to the 3.5m run last week. I have slogged out the miles for years with no discernible increase in pace, so it feels great to finally see that change a little!
The last improvement I have seen is totally vain - I randomly decided to try on a pair of jeans that were once my favourites. They have been languishing in a drawer for a few years now because they didn't fit me, and to my surprise they now fit me again! So much so that I took a photo - and I really wish I had taken before and after shots, or taken measurements or something, because my weight has pretty much only changed by a few pounds lighter, however the fact that I can comfortably fit in these trousers means I have without a doubt changed shape in a good way :-)
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