New Personal Best!

Yesterday, I beat my personal best!! Yay!!

A 1m: 52s improvement from the last!! Small Steps! Everything can be done in small steps!

I owe a part of this improvement to Dr.Blake. I found his site while surfing around for advice on my foot condition (Accessory Navicular Syndrome, flat feet, collapsing arches etc.) and decided to write him in, and he replied with some advice which helped me tremendously during my workout yesterday. If you are having any foot or ankle problems, do go check out his sight because he addresses quite a number of conditions and gives recommendations. 

I did not feel the pain I usually feel when I run. 

So,the things he recommended and I attempted :

1.To heat up my insoles which are "Sole" brand for a more custom fit of my foot (though I knew these could be heated up, I didn't do this when I got them, cause it said you could either heat it up, or just wear them straight away and they would eventually form). 

These insoles provide me with the arch support I need, and I find these are the best insoles around so far, as I have tried many different types. I got them from Running Lab in Tropicana City Mall, the ones I got below costed RM169. These insoles have reduced the pain I feel in my foot by a huge margin. 

These are the pair which I got, they are called Softec Response Heat-Moldable Orthotic Arch Support Insoles which are for people who have plantar fasciitis ( a condition common for people with flat feet or low arches) or for people who need extra support.

2.As I was worried about the heel blisters I was getting which was getting to be quite painful ( a common thing to occur when you change your insole from the original one for support because it is thicker).He recommended to use BodyGlide on my heels, however I am not too sure where to find it here so I looked online for alternatives, and most of the results said to try Vaseline, which I tried and it work.

Of course in addition to this, I also bought anti-blistering socks. Which I picked up from Athlete's Circle in Jaya One. I believe they were call Wright Socks, as below. A pair of these are about RM50.

Double layered socks to prevent blistering.

3. He recommended taping my foot with either Kinesiotape or Rocktape, to provide arch support. I do not know where to find kinesiotape, but Rocktape can also be found at Athlete's Circle and costs about RM60 for a roll, which can last pretty long. There are a variety of patterns and colours, which I find quite cool as below :

But the shop didn't have the purple colour one, which I really wanted, so I decided to go with Black.If anyone sees purple RockTape out there, please do let me know where I can find it in Malaysia. 

Now, I am not too sure how this RockTape actually works, but it has something to do with the lifting of skin away from the soft tissue and it is supposed to accelerate blood flow, reduce swelling, strengthen muscles and other things. You can read more about it here. Once you apply this tape on your foot, you can leave it on for 5 days, if it doesn't come off before that. This kinesio type tape can be used for a number of purposes eg. Shin Splints, Knee pains, Thighs etc.

Anyway I followed Dr.Blake's method for taping for Arch Support as below :

There are many other ways to tape for arch support which I have watched on YouTube. I will slowly try these and see which one fits the best. 

But the taping really helped me a lot yesterday. My pain was almost to a point where it was non-existent during my run, and I didn't get the burning sharp pain I usually get after running. This I guess added together with the more comfortable fit of my insoles helped. 

So there, these three things helped me push myself yesterday, and it worked. Now, that I have sort of sorted out the issue of the pain in my foot, he has told me to try to find an every other day running distance that does not seem to push it too far and cause pain. And to stay at that distance for 10 runs and if all works out increase by 10% the next 10 runs, and so on. This I will definitely do. I find it so awesome that there are such helpful people out there, his advice helped me instantly boost my personal best time. 

Oh he also recommended to get either the Brooks Ariel, Brooks Addiction or Brooks Adrenaline shoes, which I checked out online are shoes that have really really good support, which is something I definitely need, however these do come at quite a high price and I am not even sure they have them here, the Ariel one seems like the one I need. Those shoes would be an investment. But anyway,  I shall make do with what I have now, and see how it goes. 

When you have a problem, find the source of it, and fix it. You won't regret going through the trouble or going that extra mile. 

The absence of the excruciating pain during my work out has really motivated me to keep going and keeping pushing myself. I admit the fasting month, did bring me down because I could not do the workouts as often. But now it is ending, and it is time to get back on track!

I feel motivated to give it my all again. Beating my personal best makes me want to beat it again, but slowly of course. Small steps! I will not give up on this, I will keep going. Today, I could fit into a skirt which I have been trying to fit into ever since I started working out. I have been trying it on constantly, and have never been able to close that buckle. 

Today, I could close that buckle and wear it to work.

Small steps.

Improvement on Personal Best!!

YAY!!

*click on the picture if you would like to see my Endomondo profile. 

Yesterday I went for my workout with my friend Weili at the Desa Park City track and I beat my Personal Best!! Yay!! It was good day!!

I pushed slightly harder than I normally do, because this week was not a good week. I missed a lot of my usual routines because my work was taking up most of my time, and to top that up I am not able to do my morning runs.

I hope I can make next week a better week. I do not like missing my workouts. 

Jog for Hope 2012

So on Sunday 15 July 2012, I did my very first Fun run of 3km- Jog for Hope.

It was a good first run. I couldn't actually really run much which upset me a bit due to my inflamed ankle which was giving me issues, but I am just glad I completed it, my very first fun run. small steps!  =)

7.30am before the start, drops of drizzle falling on our heads.

Me, Feez and Bren before the start. 

Approaching the u-turn for the 3km, when I was here I was walking, the pain in my ankle was a bit too much and I pushed myself too much running up the initial hill. 

 My motivator and sunshine doing his 10km coming in at 6th place! Congrats Wils!

Complete random storm trooper walking about after the run. lol.

Me and Wils. Hopefully one day I would be able to do a 10km with him (of course not at his speed tho, he is too fast)

Sunnies from my Sunshine!!

After the run, Wils gave me this, for the completion of my first run. Its something I have been needing for quite a while, a good pair of sunnies. It was very sweet of him to do so. =) 

It was a good day! And I cant wait to join more. The next one I have already signed up for is the Putrajaya Night Fun Run of 5km. I gotta step up on the training, and hopefully my accessory bone will not give me problems. Arches Arches! I must wear my Arches!

Speaking of which check out my new Birkenstocks! The Doc told me Birkenstocks are the best for Arch Support, and I should try and wear them as often as possible for my condition, so I decided to make an investment and get a pair.

Purple ones of course! These were the prettiest purple ones of them all, and the arch support is awesome.

I have never really been a fan of them, as they aren't the best looking kind of sandals. But I have discovered when I do wear them, my foot feels so much better. It's like a constant massage on the pain I feel at the area surrounding my accessory bone. 

Today I did my workout. I was supposed to rest a few more days but I was tired of sitting still and resting my feet.I love swimming, but when swimming you don't sweat and it doesn't feel like much of a workout for me.

The past week, I have been swimming and not doing my usual morning walks/runs. Slowly I felt myself slipping and giving up which I know I cannot let happen.Swimming just doesn't feel the same was walking/running. I feel I get a better workout when I do walking/running compared to swimming, though they like to say you burn more calories with swimming. I am not too sure, but I know my heart is not in it compared to running. I want to be able to run with my friends one day. I want to be able to do a run with sunshine, one day, hopefully, eventually. 

Anyway, so today when my usual morning alarm when off at 6am, I decided to get out of bed and just do it. I was tired of not being able to do my walks. I rested 3 days last week.Even though I promised myself and Wils I would rest today because of my foot, I decided to screw it and just do it, and I am glad I did!

I made sure I wore my arches in my kicks, and I did purely power walking with no running intervals up to the very last round. Only on the 5km lap round, I ran a lil to try and make it under an hour (my July goal) and I did! 5km in 59 minutes and 55 seconds! Yay!  Also, I achieved a personal best at 6km of 1 hour 12 minutes! Yay again! There was minimal pain today, which is also another Yay thing for today. 

July Goal

Today I am happy!  Why? Well because of the following pictures ( see the dates and the highlighted parts) :

Small steps!! It just takes time, today I reached July's goal of 5km in under an hour! Yay!

Yesterday, I clocked in at 59m 33s, and today 57m49s!! It makes me feel happy, yes I know it's a tiny improvement, but  yay!

Now I just have to try and maintain this for a while before I take a step closer to decreasing the timing even more. Wils says it's too fast too soon. I kinda do agree with him. I need to pace myself and take it slower, I have been doing more running intervals trying to get my feet used to the feeling. It's just so tempting to beat my previous time with this endomondo thing. But yes,I dont want to get any serious injuries either, so for July I will just work on maintaining these numbers. I need to pop back into doing 6kms as well, but I don't know which to focus on. Do I aim for running a faster 5km or completion of 6km. Wils said I should do both, which I haven't tried out yet, maybe I shall try so tomorrow. Wednesday is doctor appointment day!

Oh,I am taking part in the Jog for Hope on the 15th of July, but just the small one of 3km. It shall be my first fun run. I hope that I wont be slow in doing it. Completion hopefully shouldn't be a problem as it's 3km, but it's just that I just don't want to be super slow because I know I cant continuously jog the 3km, my feet don't allow that yet but I shall try my best!

On a different note, my friend Sam has provided me with exercises I should try and do aside from running as below (Thank you  so much Sam for the help!!!) :

Round 1
10 x pushups on knees
10 x crunches
10 x starjumps
10 x squats
60 seconds rest
Round 2
10 x pushups on knees
10 x crunches
10 x starjumps
10 x squats
120 seconds rest
Round 3
10 x pushups on knees
10 x crunches
10 x starjumps
10 x squats


I shall start doing these as well for the month of July. A must do completion!! Keep going!! Gotta keep going!! Small steps!!!

Tired.

Today my time was 14 seconds faster than it was yesterday at my 5km lap. I feel a lil unsatisfied that I couldn't break that 1 minute and do 5km in an hour,but I know, these things take time, I can't expect to be so much faster in a day. It took me a month to move from 4km to 5km. I must remember small steps!! Slowly and hopefully I will be able to do it.

Also, I feel so extra tired today after the run. I know it's the lack of sleep, got a bit dizzy today at one point in time. Sigh,getting home at 12.30am, sleeping by 1am and waking up at 6am to work out only gives me 5 hours of sleep. I lack sleep. Even more this week I did it 4 days in a row, which I normally don't do. I break on Wednesday and do a swim.  If I swim, I get to wake up at 8am, that is two whole extra hours. I gotta get to bed earlier, sleep is an essential.

Waking up in the morning with lack of sleep is extremely hard, and there are times that I just want to fall back into bed and continue sleeping. But then I remember this :

I didn't want to regret not working out, so I got my ass of the bed and went to the park. 

Congratulations to Hanna and Wils!!

Before I start my normal blogging, I would first like to say a big CONGRATULATIONS to two of my very close friends William and Hanna for doing really well in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2012. Hanna in the top 1% of her category and William in the top 2.5% of his category. I feel extremely proud  and extremely happy for the both of them because both of them have worked so hard for this. They are living proof you can do it if you just work hard and keep going. Inspiration!!

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!!!!

So yesterday I decided to pick up some new kicks because my old ones were falling apart and were kinda heavy. Before getting them, I did some  research on what type of shoe I should get considering the issues I always have with my left foot, weak ankles, plantar fasciitis etc, and yesterday I found the perfect pair, the added bonus : they were PURPLE!

Nike Air Pegasus +28 Women

The cushioning on these shoes is just what I needed for my issue-y feet. Even though today was not a workout day and was supposed to be a rest day, I wanted to try them out so I went to Kiara Park this morning, and guess what! Absolutely no ankle pain whatsoever! Even with my running intervals which I increased today, to at least run a few times for a few seconds in each round I do. They are so much lighter than my other pair and so much more amazingly comfortable, it's pretty wow at how much of a difference a shoe can do. These new kicks make me want to go more! and I will!! 

Anyways, today was a 5.6km day. Endomondo as below. I am slowly getting closer to my goal for July. My goal for the month of July is to be able to do 5km in under an hour. How many minutes specifically? I am not too sure, but I just want to be able to do it in less than an hour. I shall set another goal once I complete this small one. 

Today at 5km, I clocked in at 1hr 1 min. Almost there!!

I will be posting motivational quotes here whenever I do blog , for today I created one based on William's quote and a picture of him running during the marathon.

Inspiration from Sunshine!

Setting down the goals

So here I am , attempting once again to lose the weight I need to lose. I need to lose 40 kgs to be my ideal weight for my height.Will it be possible? I hope so, I shall do so in small steps.

Before anything, lemme explain why I named this blog "Small Steps". I dont know where this quote originates from but I believe it's an old Chinese proverb:

"It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward." 

I look at this quote in terms of losing weight and achieving my goals. If you try to hard, and push yourself way too much because you want to lose the weight faster or get to your goal faster, you will come to a point where you cant take it any more and give up, this is what ALWAYS happens to me in the past. I get too tired of everything and I give up. Which is why this time around, I have decided to take everything in small steps, slowly but eventually and hopefully I will get there.

Also,this time around, I have someone who I know will push me and help me get through this long long journey to becoming a normal healthy person. Hopefully he will stick with me throughout this journey and not give up.

I want to be able to do the activities I have never been able to do because of my weight, I want to shed the fat and get out there and do things! Hiking, Rock Climbing, Running etc. I want to be able to Ice Skate (something I have always loved) and not have my feet hurt because of the weight on two thin blades.

I have realised, I am turning 25 this year and I think it is about time to turn my life around. If I want to get out there and do things, the time is now and I have got to get it right this time around. 

I have tried many times in the past, but have fallen off the horse and never really bothered to get back on. Lack of motivation, and of course my love for food.

But it also could  be because I realise that is because I never set  a proper goal for myself, there was nothing really motivating me to shed the weight. 


However this time around,I have something proper now, a really good friend, Wils, has inspired me to pick up running. He seems to have a lot of passion for it, and he set a small step goal for himself to complete, and he has recently done it. His long term goal is to run a full marathon in two years and I believe he can do it. He inspires me and motivates me. 


In order for me to be able to pick up running, I need to shed the weight  and train hard. My goal for now, as of today in which I have exactly 1 year to complete, is to shed weight (maybe not all 40 kgs, because that would be impossible and unhealthy but a whole major part of it), AND to complete a 10km run. Never mind about the speed, for now I just want to be able to complete it.

I know it's going to be a huge struggle, and there will be times I would just want to give up and it has happened before, but I now I feel I have something else to keep me going. I have support from my friends.

Previously I felt weight is always a sensitive and embarrassing issue to talk about, I didn't like to talk about how big I was amongst my peers, I kept it all inside.But now, I have realised that I should just be open about it. I really want to lose weight more than anything in the world, I want to be healthy, I want to be able to do the things they do with them! And when I finally got the courage to talk to them about it,the response from my friends were great, they were supportive and encouraging.

All this while, I realised I should have just opened up to them earlier, what is there to be embarrassed about? If they are your friends they would support you and motivate you if you want a healthier lifestyle. And I am so thankful to them. I finally got over the first step most people face, admitting you have a problem.

Anyway, I hope that I can carry this on, and I hope people will stick with me while I am doing this. I am really thankful to Wils who got me started on all of this.  I hope you will help me along the way, especially when I want to give up. Thank you for being my sunshine= for keeping my day bright, and for being my rock, ever sturdy to lean on.

I have started this regime with him on the 29th of May 2012. I started with walking 3 times a week, a distance of 4km (sometimes 4.5km) within an hour. I now have dropped one pants size, and lost 3.5kg and have taken the small step of upping the distance to 5km, occasionally 6km. When I first started, the very first time, 2km in of walking I thought I was going to die. But he told me "when you think you're going to die, and can't go on any more, you can actually do twice the distance" and I did it! I always keep his words in my head when I am doing my walks.

My next small goal for now is to be able to do 5km in under an hour and to slowly start running intervals. I would have to fix my ankle along the way, but I have to do it.