News update

Friday update ~ after my 10km run on Thursday my groin was really very sore, struggled to climb the stairs in my home, struggled to move my legs without it causing pain in the groin area.

So on Friday when I saw the weather was 10 degrees, the sky blue and the sun shining I decided to take my camera and my body for a long walk up hill all the way to the top where a really old Tower is situated....This way I was getting out to enjoy the beautiful winters day and also burning a few calories....

I noticed during my walk that my groin felt perfect, NO pain what so ever....

On the way down I decided that I needed to run...so with my camera in hand I ran all the way home....

Was out for one hour and 15 mins and burned 680 calories...and lots of divine photo's on my camera...

Saturday ~ The postman dropped my lonnnnnnnnng awaits Oxygen magazine in my letter box....I placed my subscription end of December and thought that I would never see my first edition arrive....but here it is ~ I was so excited, I did the * thrilled * dance when I saw it in my letter box....with a few screeching noises of * its arrived, its arrived * !!!

Today is my first off day since last Sunday.....did lots of walking today with hubby, but also lots of sitting in the car as we drove around...

Looking forwards to either a treadmill run at gym tomorrow if the weather is bad, if not my neighbor and I are going to do a walk/run outdoors.....either way...this gal is going to train.

P.S I got a new Polar Heart Rate monitor today....I've had two over the last 6 years and had such bad luck with them...so hoping this new one is going to be a lot better...

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Trail run.....

I LONG FOR MY WORLD TO BE ALL GREEN AGAIN....

These pictures were taken last year July...summer is such a beautiful time in Germany.

Pity the winter is so long and cold.

Saying that, I do feel very proud of myself * the girl from Africa * as this is the first year since I moved here 6 years ago that I have run outside during the winter months. My first run this year outdoors was in January when we had temps of 8 degrees, then in Feb I did a few runs with temps as low as -3 degrees but with a beautiful blue sky and sunshine which really helped. I'm hoping in March that the weather gets warmer and that I can run outdoors more often as at the moment I have this * thing * about going to the gym to train....last year I loved the gym and was there every single day...but this year I am hating it and not going except on a Sunday morning with my hubby.

Today I looked outdoors and saw snow falling so thought i might as well take today as my rest day, that would mean I would have three days of no training which was not what I wanted this week...but hey, its snowing and I'm not liking the gym, what else is there for a girl to do...anyway the snow stopped and around lunch time I put my head out and thought its not tooooo cold, checked the temp, saw 2 degrees and told myself that this was perfect running weather, to get dressed and get out...which is exactly what I did.

The first 2,78km are all uphill, so I told myself to take it easy and to try run as much of the hill as I could....I kept going, then told myself that I should try run at least 5km and could walk a little after that...got to 5km and still felt strong...then hit a hill again and told myself to run as much as I could and then to walk...I kept going...6km mark I knew the pathway downhill would get me to 8km so wanted to run till 8km.....got to 8km and went straight up a hill again, slowed my pace down as I got a terrible pain in my groin...then downhill I went and straight with one more uphill home to get me to 10km...without walking _ I did the hills, all of them....the last 3 km my groin was really sore I struggled to move my leg....now am stiff....feel like an old woman, I can hardly move after that run....but I feel good cause its the first run this year where I've done a 10km all run.....can only get better from here.

Love my teaching days

Yesterday I had such a good class.....was so bored all day, that when I arrived at the hall to teach, I found myself yawning and yawning....think it was the first time I got some fresh air after being indoors in the heated house all day. Anyway, once I got going I found I was filled with energy to give everyone a good workout out. Can read from the faces of the women and know if they like what I'm doing or not, if they bored, or if they think I'm pushing them too hard. Faces from where I stand tell are unspoken words.

After class I got * chatting * to a few of them

( As much chatting I can do in broken German and them in broken English )

They are all loving the classes and are so pleased I am back for another 10 sessions once we have finished this one...

I love Tuesday's and Wednesday's as I go through the whole day without having to talk to myself to get out and train, its the two days I know I'm going to be getting a workout no matter what!!!

I did do 300 sit ups both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings while watching on Tuesday ~ UK's Biggest Loser and on Wednesday ~ USA's The biggest Loser on TV.

I struggled to find a WHEY protein without sugar, Aspartame, Fructose etc.....I eventually found this one on Amazon.de and ordered it. I was so excited to give it a try, but once I did I hated it...the taste was terrible without the sugar, sweetener, etc. At that time I was still FULL into sugar ~ could not drink my coffee without 2 tsp of Agave syrup or honey ( 8 tsp's a day ) to all the sugar filled foods that are hidden so never thought of it as sugar. I tried this Whey for a few times and then packed it way. Yesterday I thought I must give it another try with my GREEN shake I am having for a snack in the mornings.....I could taste the Whey Protein, but this time not as disgusting as it was before....so today added another scoop into my Green shake.

Before I say good bye I want to leave you with this....

Diet Soda Isn’t Any Better
For those of you with a diet soda in your hands, the news isn’t any better, in fact it’s worse! Carol Simontacchi from her book The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children states, “One liter of an aspartame-sweetened beverage can produce about fifty-six milligrams of methanol. When several of these beverages are consumed in a short period of time (one day, perhaps), as much as two hundred fifty milligrams of methanol are dumped into the bloodstream, or thirty-two times the EPA limit.” So, you’re poisoning your body, too.

And when it comes to saccharin, which is a noncaloric petroleum derivative estimated to be three hundred to five hundred times sweeter than sugar: “More than a dozen animal tests over the last thirty years have demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of saccharin in the bladder and other sites, particularly female reproductive organs, and in some instances at doses as low as the equivalent of one to two bottles of diet pop daily.”

With diet soda, you’ve gone from high calories to poisonous levels of methanal and an increased chance of developing cancer. Not a very good trade.

Good Start To The New Week

My new week started off well....

It was minus 8 degrees Celsius today

The sun was shining and the sky was blue...

At 4pm it was minus 3 ( freezing ) but somehow with the blue sky and sun I felt it was okay to get out for a run....

I did a 6km run in 45.54 mins, I walked the two steep hill and ran the rest of the way...

Did a combination of Trailer and Road run.

I've never run in temps this cold before...First time for everything!

Food wise I am still tracking and counting calories.....Cant wait to start my new food journal I got from Sarah in March....have something to look forward to now.

I am watching my sugar intake...and thats SUGAR in all forms...( See the list below )...

I am having a GREEN drink daily of Spinach, orange and 100ml plain yogurt. Today I added a kiwi and celery to the shake. The celery added a fresh taste.

I also eat one apple a day....as I'm on iron tablets for anemia I find I need lots more fiber and there is no better way to get your fiber than from fruit...not banana's as too high in sugar...Apples are a great source of fiber as is Flaxseeds...of which I have one Tsp a day, both work very nicely for me.

I am having fruit 3x a day now...Black Berries with my muesli, orange with my shake, Apple for late afternoon snack......with cutting out the bad sugars I have managed to get control of the Candida and also my weight is coming down due to a low sugar eat plan.

Sugar (in one form or another) is added to more food products than you can imagine. There are also a large number of "variants" of sugar - depending on the kind of processing that has occurred.

Here is a list to get you started in identifying sugars. I'm sure you can come up with many more names for sugar.

1. Brown sugar
2. Corn syrup
3. Demerara Sugar
4. Dextrose
5. Free Flowing Brown Sugars
6. Fructose
7. Galactose
8. Glucose
9. High Fructose Corn Syrup
10. Honey
11. Invert Sugar
12. Lactose
13. Malt
14. Maltodextrin
15. Maltose
16. Maple syrup
17. Molasses
18. Muscovado or Barbados Sugar
19. Panocha
20. Powdered or confectioner's sugar
21. Rice Syrup
22. Sucrose
23. Sugar (granulated)
24. Treacle
25. Turbinado sugar

25 more names if you are interested in educating yourself.

I read this today....

Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.

Click here if you want to read more THE 76 DANGERS OF SUGAR

If you have time listen to the 2nd video, its long, but honestly an education....

Taking Control

I didn't have a good week when it comes to my training...

Motivation as I have said before was VERY low.

Thank goodness I had to teach two lessons cause its not possible for me to get out of those workouts unless I'm sick and lying flat on my back.

Let me recap my weeks training.

Monday ~ My official day off

Tuesday ~ Taught a Workout class

Wednesday ~ Taught a Bootcamp class

Thursday ~ No training

Friday ~ Indoor cycle for 15km and toning for 15 mins

Saturday ~ No training

Sunday ~ Treadmill run for 7km, 51 mins, no walking

Burned 2166 calories

4 days out of 7 I trained.

Last Wednesday we had the most beautiful day here in Germany...the sky was blue and the sun shone.....my mood was lifted, I was full of energy, I wanted to be active, I wanted to get out....

That didn't last for long cause the next day and since then the sky has been grey and dark and the its very cold...my mood changed ~ I felt miserable again....

I've given myself a talking to....

I can do nothing about the weather, weather is weather!!

Why am I allowing something I have no control over to affect my life in this way

So blogger friends

I'm going to make changes in my life

I'm going to get to gym no matter how cold it is

I'm going to go for an outdoor run whatever the temp at least once a week

Weather is not going to have control over me anymore!!!