From Quiet Night to All Night

Getting bus home early yesterday was an average way to end an average week. Feeling extremely unproductive and tired I ended up leaving work early. As I was walking to the station I got to directly across the road only to see my bus drive past. Damn. The next one wasn't for another half hour so I jumped on a bus that I thought would take me close to home. Anyway as usual a negative mood fuels continuing negativity and the bus ended up about twice as far away as I thought it would be. Top this on top of the crappy week, the missing the bus and listening to Nirvana's Nevermind (a great album but made me quite angry) I was ready to call it quits.

The walk home wasn't too bad. Had a great dinner of fried rice and curry. Then my brother came over to be taken care of until Dad could pick him up. Anyway we spent the night watching TV and mucking around on the computer, it was really good to finally chill. However all the screens must've fried my body clock and I ended up awake till 4:00am in the morning, waking up at 8am. Feeling ok, gonna just chill this morning then get stuck into some organisation and study followed by a place-kicking session and gym. Things have gotta be on the Up soon, Alpha and Out!

Stone Cold Stopped

A very full-on week continues to unravel and I again find myself in my "Cocoon". Everyone has their own particular safe place where they retreat to when shit goes rough. Mine is my Grandma and Grandads. Great food, comfort, always supportive and caring without asking for anything in return.

Despite the doom and gloom at the moment, the day is darkest before the dawn, and the dawn is very close. Throughout this time I just gotta believe that there is big positive up ahead because karma always comes around. Right now I am deep inside the Cocoon but slowly starting tonight I will pull myself out do my study and go to the gym. I must position myself to come out of this shadow stronger and motivated. Gotta hit the ground running, Alpha and Out!

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/edinburghandeastscotland/content/image_galleries/sunrise_gallery.shtml?11)

Stop! Stop! You've left the Station too Early

After the pistons began to pump and the wheels began to roll everything came crashing to a halt. The "Stop" factor was again my mental state. While the day began quite well, internet and computer issues soon began to frustrate. Ok, not too much of an issue, I had other work to do. However by mid-arvo this was compounded by my first Genetics lecture which left me completely baffled and pretty confused to be honest. By the end of the day it was compounded further by the usual frustrations that have been plagueing me recently.

This day left me drained, tired and unmotivated. I ended up coming home having a decent dinner, fairly large but still not over the top. After the meal I ended up jumping into bed at that stage still planning to study and go to the gym, I just needed the down time. However as the night grew on the usual concessions were made,...... I can miss the gym tonight, one session won't matter.....I can reschedule my study session, its only the first week. Even then I still couldn't get to sleep till 10ish. A frustrating, draining day but lets see how I can look to mend today.

Back on Track

The gears began to click over this morning. The smoke began to puff. The fires were stoked to life. The Alpha train is pulling away from the overnight station stop off. Today a month or so of frustration was unloaded off the Alpha and things began to settle back to normal. Had a stress-free day of work, had my first Uni lecture back, was able to stick to the study session I had planned and most of all I returned to the gym.

My goal for the gym session was to test the hammy, do arms and chest and if the hammy felt fine on the bike, crank out a light 40 minute bike sesh. Went to the gym closer to home tonight for the first time. It was alright but a bit more crowded being in the "burbs". After a light warm-up on the bike and a stretch the hammy felt fine so I jumped on again and cranked out a decent 40 minute session. To avoid the boredom that sets in during a long tedious set I broke the 40 mins into 5 min sets. This I found very effective to ensure I did the whole time. Unfortunately when I completed my set the weights section was quite busy for late at night and I decided to skip the arms and chest and go home. But a win is still a win and I am finally on the road to recovery for my leg.

It felt weird to be back at Uni today. Even though it has only been 6-8 months off I feel completely removed from the system. This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish, to have time away and heal over the negative feelings I had connected to Uni. My organisational skills has picked up a level and I am hoping to really get stuck into this blog and its sidebar which has come adrift of late. Back in Black baby, Alpha and Out!

A2A Quote of the Week

" Yea but you gotta be proud of yourself, Huckleberry,"

Line from Martin Sheen's Wall Street character

A2A Tip of the Week

What ever your goal big or small, it will become much more achievable when broken down into sub-goals.

(image from http://www.ironrange.org/_site_components/images/user/enlarged/attractionsmuseumstower-train0.jpg)

Box It!

After another big day where things don't seem to be going right. Slept in, didn't get much work done, didn't eat anything until all day, had a massive dinner, didn't go to the gym etc. An average day floats familiar thoughts across my mind. The most prominent being "What is wrong with me?" This I am sure is familiar to everyone at some point in their lives often en stilled at some point in their lives where when anything went wrong, you perceived it as something you did wrong. However when you think back and really put some thoughts into it, it is often due to something out of your control. When such an issue faces you, you need to put it mentally at the end of a stick, figure out what went wrong, making sure you think it through a non-critical eye. Then you need to box it up and chuck it at the back warehouse never to be searched for again.

Hoping tomorrow I will start to get things back on track after a couple of days of average diet and no gym. Need to really focus and try to keep fuelling the fire. Alpha and Out!

Feeding the Fire

Isn't the car trip home from work just great. Despite the congestion, pollution and road rage created by such drives it really is a good to time to just sit back and think. Probably better keep some of your mind on the road too, that might be beneficial! This afternoon I was thinking about moving out to a house and how I was going to achieve this next year. I have been living in a unit until recently and am now craving more space and less impact from people living underneath or above you. Anyway I was thinking it through. A thought was hooked out of my sub conscious and was slowly developed in my mind-

I have the desire to begin a personal training business in the future. I was thinking about how such a business could provide opportunity to get a house and fund the subsequent mortgage. This developed into obtaining a house for the business, creating a gym within the house therefore making it a business expense. It then went even further in that I could develop the house into a whole positive and life changing business incorporating a room for mapping goals providing massage etc.

This really ignited the fire for me that had been dimming down recently. Still a pipe dream, perhaps but with some more thinking and work it could be a viable option in the future if not now. This thinking fired up my desire to achieve my predominant goal this year to achieve the "Alpha" body and mind. Because if I kick that goal then I will have in turn increased my drive to achieve other goals and create some massive positive momentum. I need to attempt to capture this drive and these thoughts and produce them on command when I am feeling down or feeling lazy or sleepy. Pumped, Pumped, Pumped! Alpha and Out!

(image from http://www-nlpir.nist.gov/projects/tv2003/active/topics/example.images/fire.jpg)

Breaking the Pattern

A great weekend comes to termination and for the second time in three weeks I managed to break the sleeping all day habit I had developed. On Saturday I was up nice and early to head off fishing up on Somerset Dam. A very chilly start despite sunny weather. Unfortunately the fish avoided us like the plague but still a great peaceful and relaxing day. Ended the trip with one redclaw and three prawns. Considering we paid about 60 dollars in permits it was a bloody expensive keep. Topped the day off babysitting my cousins but spent most of the time there asleep buggered by a long day fishing.

Sunday I reverted back to sleeping but the fact is after the week I had last week I was still operating on a deficit and needed to catch-up sleep. After a poor diet both Saturday and especially today I need to retighten the reins and also begin some gym work again. All and all though a great weekend.

(picture from http://www.seqwater.com.au/public/sites/default/files/userfiles/image/dams/somerset_dam_reflection.jpg)

Tired Times in the River City

HAve been working non-stop 10 hour shifts the past couple of days to get on top of work. Was feeling quite tired and irritable yesterday night due to the lack of sleep. I had some errands to run through and then when I got home and after icing my hammy I couldn't get to sleep because I was still wide awake and couldn't get comfortable. However last night had a decent 6ish hour sleep and am feeling quite refreshed.

The hamstring has settled down but is still quite tight particularly in the mornings. I also need to be icing it more but have been restricted by the amount of time I have spent away from home. ON the upside of my injury my diet yesterday was nearly perfect. I really need to focus on that to continue to lose weight even when injured. Subbing in the lunch tuna salad for chicken salad brang very tasty change. Comparatively slighty more expensive but worth it for the change. Tonight I need to go through a lot of work promised for my session with my life coach but I need to put some thought into exercise routines I can fit in around my injury. Life is on the up in Brissy, Alpha and Out!

Three...Two...One...TWANNGGG!

That was the feeling as my hamstring torn itself again in my comeback to Oztag. After almost a month and with a decent cardio session this morning behind it I turned up at Oztag raring for a go. After warming up extensively, stretching and running and just getting everything set. I ran on to the field, about 2 mins in started to feel tight so I retreated to the fringes then came up to take a tag and bang....it was gone.

Despite the very frustrating nature I still feel in a decent place. After the last tear psychologically crippled me I was almost immediately refocused on what I could do to still work towrads my weight goals. Yes there were moments of negativity as the opposition ran around my team down a player but overall my attitude was positive and productive. I think this time I will have at least one session of physio on it just to get there opinion and recovery techniques. The inability to run for a while and even cycle for a couple of days has galvanised my determination to finally get my diet up and running smoothly. I can no longer use this as an excuse, this week is about finally standing up and tackling my issues head on. Will see how it turns up in the morning, Alpha and Out!

The Sweet Silence of Origin

Another Maroon victory, another vicious game, more poor biased commentary. Usually I can stomach the commentary Channel Nine serve up for Origin but tonight I just got to a breaking point and muted the telly. Now the main reason I listen to the league is because it is really good to soak up a games atmosphere, however tonight the commentary completely ruined this experience. They were saying the usual NSW is really coming back now, the game is all NSW. It all came to a head when who else but the wanker Phil Gould calling Sam Thaiday's actions cowardly for jumping in to help his mates and break up a fight. But anyway the Mighty Maroons fought with negative tactics from the Blues, refs who were biasedly blind to the point were you could seriously consider whether they were the highest paid individuals on the field and a decent Sydney crowd and still managed to claim a excellent victory.

Another average day today failed to hit one diet target today and this was compounded by missing the gym. The continuing problem is that I forget my salad and start off on the wrong dietary foot by sleeping in. To attempt to rectify the sleep issue I am going to drink a fair bit of water before I fall asleep hoping this will wake me naturally. Will see how it goes. Go the Maroons, Alpha and Out!

The Mighty Meal

After a great Monday diet wise, todays diet was just about non-existant. After sleeping in and not having my omelette, I forgot my lettuce for lunch. Because of this and a hectic day I was reduced to snacking. After getting home late after taking my brother to soccer I arrived home buggered and hungry. This combined with my grandma's legendary mince curry led me to have a massive amount of rice, mince curry and fried veges. I topped this off with a massive serving of ice cream and strawberries. An absolutely delicious meal but had way too much.

On a positive note I finally got down and put my head together and put some time into mind mapping one of my goals and then converting this into a action list too be actioned. Hopefully continuing to do this will turn on the fires in my belly and stop the occasional pigging out. Back to Best tomorrow, Alpha and Out

Right But Tight

That was my verdict after my first half decent cardio session since tearing my hamstring two weeks ago. Jumped on the bike and pumped out a good 20 mins of hard intervals before I felt the hamstring tighten up and I eased back for the remaining 10 minutes. I will begin to jog tomorrow and see how it pulls up. Luckily my Oztag team had a bye tonight as I was probably a week or two away from the sprints and direction changes of oztag.

The benefits of going to the gym mid morning really bore fruits today, as a work meeting tied me up from about 3:30 to 6:30 this afternoon. But I wasn't worried because I had completed my work out before hand. The recovery of my routines and goals has made some real progress over the last couple of days buoyed by a change in weekend pattern and a recovering hamstring. I plan to up the anti even further by riding in to work for the rest of the week. A lofty goal but lets see how I go. Diet was quite good today. On to the Next One, Alpha and Out!

Sunday: The Revival

This week although much more positive was still somewhat stagnant in terms of striving towards goals. The positives to gain from the week were:

• Enjoyed attending the gym during work hours
• Maintained excellent diet standards during work hours
• Realised that I was heading towards making a habit of missing goals and began to address this issue
• Basically turned a corner and could see a light at the end of the tunnel about what was wrong with last week

These were that major positives of the week, an excellent foundation to build and improve on next week. I am feeling quite empowered this Sunday and am in the middle of a good session in terms of planning my week. I am planning my week using the awesome Mac calender iCal. Lately I have been guilty of not using my excellent Mackbook to its full potential. I am now trying to incorporate it in my life to streamline and refine everything particularly around organising my week. I made the important step of breaking my routine of watching TV all Saturday by seeing a movie with my little brother and then catching up with another person later in the day. As Saturday/ Friday night has generally been my stumbling block for many weeks I need to change my behaviour and patterns. This positive move has affected my Sunday allowing me time and energy to revive and plan for the next week. Back to the planning, more positivity on the way, Alpha and Out!