Khobi

Hi everyone! I was in the last challenge, but I didn't feel like I was really as successful as I had hoped last time, so I'm going to give it another try in the beginner's challenge. I've had some problems with a sore knee but I'm doing my first half marathon in november, so I have to keep running but not overdo it and stuff up my troublesome knee. It made me take a few days off in the last challenge but hasn't really worsened, so hopefully I'm lucky and it settles down. My motivation is to stay healthy, and to get better at running because I love it My main goals are: 1. to go to the gym (and use thetreadmill, stairclimber, other misclellaneous and embrassing gym equipment) or (preferably) for run, for 45-60 mins at least 5 days a week 2. be able to run at 9.5-10km/hr for 60 minutes up a 7% incline by the end of september 3.don't snack between meals and eat only what i intend to at meals, to avoid overeating (not a particular problem for me but it's an unhealthy habit and something which I sometimes do) Life goals: to stick to my timetable so I can get my thesis written without total cessation of sleep

Woops, I meant 9.5km/h, not 10: "...but the last time I went I managed 6.5 at 10 for 1 hour. this was a little while ago..." Also, my apologies for my unrestrained use of smiley faces, I'll try and curb my enthusiasm for emoticons!

Summary of goals and progress: Here are my goals: 1. Run or go to the gym for >60 minutes every day (missing at most 1 day/week) 2. be able to run for 60 minutes at an incline of 6% at 10km/hour by the end of august, and be able to run at an incline of 7% at 10-11km/hour by the end of september 3. Stop overeating! So: 1. I didn't do to well on this, I would probably give myself a D. I ran/went to the gym most days for sure, but not every day. However, I wouldn't have taken more than 2 days off in a row at any point, so that's not too bad. 2. I can nearly do this - I haven't been to the gym for a while because I've been running outside, but the last time I went I managed 6.5 at 9.5 for 1 hour. this was a little while ago, so I might have improved enough to have reached this goal by now. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with this progress, so I'd rank myself a B for this one. 3. Haven't been to bad with this. My weakness is peanut butter, and I've been eating a lot of this on toast recently because I am pretty time poor at the moment! So my diet has been pretty reasonable, so maybe I'd give myself a B-C for this Not too good, but not too bad either. I'm looking forward to the next challenge, so I can put more effort in and do better! Thanks everyone and well done for finishing :)

I can't believe the challenge is over, those 6 weeks went so quickly! Here are my goals: 1. Run or go to the gym for >60 minutes every day (missing at most 1 day/week) 2. be able to run for 60 minutes at an incline of 6% at 10km/hour by the end of august, and be able to run at an incline of 7% at 10-11km/hour by the end of september 3. Stop overeating - sometimes I am lazy with my self control and I overeat. I don't have a weight problem and I don't go on massive binges or anything, but it makes me feel ill and lethargic, and it's a bad habit I want to break as it's not particularly healthy. So: 1. I didn't do to well on this, I would probably give myself a D. I ran/went to the gym most days for sure, but not every day. However, I wouldn't have taken more than 2 days off in a row at any point, so that's not too bad. 2. I can nearly do this - I haven't been to the gym for a while because I've been running outside, but the last time I went I managed 6.5 at 10 for 1 hour. this was a little while ago, so I might have improved enough to have reached this goal by now. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with this progress, so I'd rank myself a B for this one. 3. Haven't been to bad with this. My weakness is peanut butter, and I've been eating a lot of this on toast recently because I am pretty time poor at the moment! So my diet has been pretty reasonable, so maybe I'd give myself a B-C for this I don't feel like I've really met my goals, but I feel pretty pleased with my progress over this time, so overall I'd give myself a C I think. Not too bad, but plenty of room for improvement in the next challenge! I think these challenges are a great motivational tool; next time, I'll put more effort into my challenge. Especially when I have slightly more time, I think I'll do better Thanks everyone and well done for finishing :)

Thank you ApfelStrudi! I was always really unfit as a kid, and it's only relatively recently that I've become more fit. It's a big change because I used to hate exercise, and quite literally couldn't run at all for any length of time to begin with. But running is awesome because when you start out you get good really quickly which is really motivating. And it goes from being impossible and painful to really enjoyable. You can totally become a runner, I know people say this all the time but if I can then anyone can! Good luck

Haven't updated this for a while so here we go: I've gone reasonably well with my main goal of going to the gym every day/running every day. When i was starting out I did a couple of 45 min runs instead of 60 mins due to time constraints, and I had to take 3 rest days at the start of last week cos I did something dodgy to my ankle during a game of ultimate frisbee - really it was fine but i thought better safe than sorry, so as it was twinging a bit I gave it a rest. Duing the last couple of weeks I've been doing hill runs, sadly on a treadmill, at about 5-7% at about 9-10km/hr. This hasn't been too hard, surprisingly, but when it cam to doing long runs on the weekened after these runs, I was pathetically tired and slow. but i guess long runs are meant to be slow, so this wasn't too bad. Hopefully by the end of august i'll be a bit quicker on the hills - it seem like i can do 6% at 9.5km/hr so i'm pleased with that, but i'm not sure how easy it will be to ge 0.5km/h faster in under a month. I'll just have to see

Thanks! Yeah the gym is good but running outside is definitely preferable

So the whole timing my productive hours at work thing didn't go fabulously today, as I kept forgetting to do it But I did manage to run 60 minutes at 5-5.5% at around 9.5km/h yesterday. It was pretty difficult but I was surprised that I could manage it, so I'm happy about that.

You will definitely succeed if you keep up what you've been doing so far! Good on you for finishing what you started

Wow you play Ultimate Frisbee!! I've just started playing it, I'm pretty terrible at sports but even so its amazingly fun. I know how tricky it can be to try and balance a demanding uni degree and everything else in your life. Your goals seem really specific which is awesome, I'm sure you'll achieve them

Motivation: To become a better runner, because I really enjoy running and want to stay fit. I'm lucky because where I live there are heaps of bushwalking tracks. Running along these is amazing because the landscape is pretty inspiring and it lifts my mood like nothing else. Being active keeps me awake during the day and helps me sleep at night so I can be more productive with the rest of my day. Main Quest: To run a half marathon by mid-November Sub-goals: 1. Run or go to the gym for >60 minutes every day (missing at most 1 day/week) 2. be able to run for 60 minutes at an incline of 6% at 10km/hour by the end of august, and be able to run at an incline of 7% at 10-11km/hour by the end of september 3. Stop overeating - sometimes I am lazy with my self control and I overeat. I don't have a weight problem and I don't go on massive binges or anything, but it makes me feel ill and lethargic, and it's a bad habit I want to break as it's not particularly healthy. Life-goal: Stop wasting time at work! When I catch myself wasting time, stop and get back to being productive! I'm going to get a stopwatch and time myeslf at work to see how many hours I actually spend working by stopping the watch if i go and check emails or open facebook. I'll be able to tell how much of my day I actually use productively and try to improve on this over time