I'm not a fan of afternoon shifts. Apart from finding them the most tiring, I feel like I'm spending my morning waiting for work to happen. Admittedly, I can achieve a great deal more, especially the 1300 start but it does still seem as if I'm filling in time.

They are also less than ideal because when I do get home it is usually after 11pm and by that time all I want to do is go to bed. Consequently, it is not an ideal time to be packing lunches for the next nor trying to do any activity that is not immediately necessary.

Oh well...

I'm finding timing of food is also more difficult and particularly today. I have a new student who may not have been to the station before and will have had limited practise with checking out a vehicle. I feel it is probably necessary for me to be there as early as possible in order that I can be able to show them around the station, organise lockers etc and run them through requirements. I am hoping it will all go well.

This morning I woke up earlier than I had expected for a late night. I've noticed that the quality of my sleep has improved dramatically in the last week or so and seems to be another positive effect of my current diet plan. I'd been planning on doing an RPM class this morning however, I was awake earlier than expected, needed to eat and was feeling less than keen to venture out to the gym. I was also reluctant to murder my legs the day prior to a training when they were already quite sore from the previous day's session. So, after much debate, I stayed home and did 40 minutes of a lower intensity interval training.

My most comfortable jogging pace is roughly 11 - 12 km/hr however, my cardio is not quite strong enough yet for me to be able to sustain it for any length of time. It actually hurts my legs more to grandpa waddle slowly for the sake of my heart not exploding! This will improve in time no doubt.

Hooked up my old walkman to the treadmill this time too. It made a big difference in terms of passing the time and generating motivation. When I get some spare time I'll look into getting a cheap MP3 player to put a compilation of more motivational music on. Until that time, the radio will do!

Anyhow, almost time to actually get on with my day. Need to remember to fill out my network access form at work or I'll be booted off in 7 days... or so the automatically generated email tells me.

Feeling a tad snowed under today.

So much to do in such a small amount of time:

• Start with brand new student tomorrow
• Need to hike up to my parents place to get my tax mail - goodness knows why it ended up there. Also need to pay that off...
• Expecting to hear from the surveyor and be hit by another $400 bill to check our boundaries are in the correct place.
• Settlement is in three weeks.
• Need investigate pest control for this place and our new home. More $$$
• Need to work out when we are moving and when we are cleaning.
• Need to look at getting boxes and actually start packing and throwing the house out.
• Have another dental appointment coming up. $300 for tooth repair.
• Second dress fitting next week and still I haven't organised appropriate underwear to be measured with as advised.

Do I even mention the rest of the wedding stuff that I need to look at??

Also starting to wonder if we have what it takes to actually properly maintain a house for the long term. There is a certain degree of relaxation that comes with renting. Our own home is our responsibility along with all damages that occur.

Think I'll be a bit happier when we finally get all this out of the way.

Anyway, got stuck into lower body weights this morning. I cut short the abs and calf work in order that I'd have enough time to get the house cleaned for the land lady. (Kind of a tad scary watching them walk around everywhere including the garden shed, mentally comparing everything to the way it used to be...)

The session was great. Made some significant gains.

Dumbbell squats - Increase from 10 reps on 10 kg to full sets on 13.5kg.
Single arm snatch - Increase from 11.5kg to 13.5kg
Dumbbell lunges - Increase from 20 reps on 10kg to full sets on 11.5kg
Straight legged dead lifts - Increase 10 reps on 11.5kg to full sets on 16kg
Angled calf raises - Increase from 10kg to 13.5kg

The final exercise for obliques involved a great deal of shoulder involvement. Increased reps from 12 to 16 however, thinking I might alter the exercise for something more focused.

The greatest problem that I am having is that my grip is still weak. My arms are giving it up well before my legs tell me they've had enough. Not really sure how to conquer this other than to keep doing what I'm doing...


Food thoughts of the Day

At some point I agreed to the presence of Cadbury Old Jamaica Rum & Raisin in the household. Problem is that those family sized blocks (of which there are now almost two) are there every time I open the fridge and I cannot justify budgeting them into my calorie count for the day. So... I will have to learn the art of self restraint as previously applied to bread.

Today, I got into soy and bought myself a can of soy beans and some tofu in an effort to broaden my sources of protein and enjoy the benefits of a food which is known for being a complete protein. However, I suspect that the soy bean, unlike the chickpea, is not going to be terribly tasty. My last experience of tofu reminded me of swallowing jellyfish. This may be a decision that I regret but I shall see what I can do. At worst, I'll stick to my soy milk and leave it at that.

Also bought myself some quick oats today to make oatmeal! Uncle Toby's BranPlus has a kick ass amount of fibre in it but oats are also very good and I miss being able to have oatmeal. Will see what I can do tomorrow with my oatmeal and a bit of unprocessed bran for the sake of fibre. :-)

61.2kg this morning! Ding, ding, ding! I had a good feeling and it was right! My body has well and truly adapted to the new diet.

Unfortunately, had a not so good day. The course provided food which was a selection of sandwiches. Argh. I love bread. I love carbohydrate. I only had the equivalent of a 1.5 whole sandwiches but I have no idea about the damage. White bread, don't know what kind of meat was on or what type of cheese and spreads used. Probably didn't need to supplement w/ additional protein bars. (Yes I've become a tad paranoid about muscle loss). So my guts aren't feeling the happiest despite the watermelon and pineapple. Yummy! Still got dinner to go.. Ughh.

This will mean a few days of returning to normal digestive function and then a really average weigh in next week. But, I'll deal with that. Three weeks since my last stray so I can't be too upset with myself. Will try and do weights and cardio (probably increasing intervals rather than the usual intensity) tomorrow, fit an RPM class on Monday before work to break up the routine.

This morning went well in terms of my HIIT. Did my runs at 15km/hr but decided to alternate between 100:150 and 100:100. It worked really well and was pushing it right at the end of the 20 minutes. Having the heart rate monitor has been a useful tool. I know that if I'm feeling tight in the chest and getting short of breath my HR is sitting around 180bpm. I tend to cope quite well with anything below that although I am aware of the strain in the 170s. Now I've just got to work out what the next step is... ie. whether I increase the distant and do an alternation or put two segments of 100:100 between. Cross that bridge when I get there.

The course was pretty good. Did end up getting a bit boring towards the end but there was a lot which I did enjoy and found very educational. It is interesting to see the difference between male and female approach as well as the individual couples there. Managed to get a bit more out of my shell today. Last night had a serious attack of the introversion and basically said nothing. Today, found my voice and ended up being nominated spokesperson for the group. I tend to speak quite well and in an entertaining manner but it frightens the daylights out of me. You'd think after all those years teaching my sport and my work and debating from high school that I would be over it....

Anyway, off to trivia tonight to experience ultra fullness.

Hectic day ahead tomorrow preparing for a visitation by the land lady. It won't be the first time but we still need to make a good impression before departing.

I've had a few really good nights of sleep and I've generally been feeling better all round. I'm wondering if my body is starting to adapt to this new diet plan.

My breakdown at present is 140g carbs, 140g protein and 70g fat. Starchy and simple carbs at the start of the day and fibrous carbs at the end of the day. Combinations of carbs and protein or fats and protein. Overall, despite the large quantities of fruit that I had been eating, I've increased my total caloric intake, eating more of each than anything before. My weekly weigh in doesn't produce the same results anymore. After being used to 0.5 to 1kg drop, I seem to be pulling ~200g. That's fine though because I'm building and maintain muscle. I know this because I am getting stronger much faster now. I know that I am burning the fat because despite what the scales say, my clothes are not fitting the same. It's just going to take me the next six months to reach the magic 57kg!

I finally graduated off complete baby weights and have progressed enough now to go on programs where I do one of two formats over a week or two.

I think also having my home weights sorted out is going to be a good help.

This morning was a great session. There was quite an obvious difference in my performance compared to the last time I'd run through the format. Ironically, I'm struggling more with my grip strength rather than the exercises themselves. Came away feeling pretty darn good.

* 30kg bench press - six reps
* 10kg standing rows - eight reps
* ??kg (>10kg) lunges - eight reps
* mountain climbers - 20 reps
* squats & incline push ups to warm up

Tomorrow morning will be an early start to slip in some intervals prior to the prep course. I've strayed a tad while I've been feeling off so I'm intending to switch it back to 15km/hr w/ 100:150 run:rest. Once I can get my 20 minutes there, I'll increase the distance again. Also going to look at slotting an RPM class back into the mix for a bit of variety.

I felt it was once again time to re-enter the blog realms and combine all my lives into one...

Today I have had the privilege of being awake. Night shift brought a rarity, unheard of in these times. We completed a grand total of two jobs and participated in approximately five hours of sleep time. Consequently, my day was functional rather than wasted.

I started the health insurance game, comparing prices and features, I went to the gym (only to be forgotten) and ran myself into a treadmill with some HIIT, cooked dinner, made lunch for tomorrow and finally, went to the dentist.

My first trip there occurred a few weeks ago upon developing a rather nasty gum infection around a wisdom tooth that has refused to full erupt. At some point I found myself agreeing to further investigation and hence, today's appointment. After somewhere between eight and ten years of choosing ignorance, my greatest fear was realised. Tooth decay. :-(

I now have my first filling. Technology has far improved. The process would have taken place over 20 minutes and didn't hurt one bet. Best of all, it is the colour of normal tooth enamel and is undetectable to the lay person. $158 dollars later... The problem is that I feel imperfect now. I can pretend it was never there cause I can't see it, but the texture on my tongue will remind me. It was my own fault. Yes, the gaps between my teeth are not really gaps at all and flossing is a problem however, the result is a direct consequence of my actions or perhaps inaction. I have no one to blame but myself.

So, in another month I will be back to spend another monumental amount getting another two of these things stuck in... They are only small, but it needs to be done. I see the dental hygiene person tomorrow who is going to blast the plaque away so I can actually floss.

Yes. It can happen to me. Man I am going to floss everyday now...