So, I finally made it back to Glenrock for a run on Saturday. It had been FAR. TOO. LONG. Maybe even two months since I was last there? Wowzers. I don't want to leave it quite so long again. That place is just so peaceful, so beautiful, and so damn healing. I swear it has magical powers. Saturday was a gorgeous morning for it too: the sun was shining but it wasn't hot, nor was it too cold: it was just right. The bell birds were making their wonderful, welcoming sounds. Glenrock was uncharacteristically quiet and devoid of other trail runners (I would say as Newy had left en masse to go to UTA in the Blue Mountains, ahh such an amazing event: I hope to go back to this next year) so I had it all to myself, save for a few ever present mountain bikers.

​I ran about 13-14km in total (I think, this is mainly guestimation work) and for me lately that is a 'long' run. Well, wow, I had even missed my long, solo runs: a chance to ponder on all things and clear my head (if it needed to be cleared). Truly meditation on the move. On the way back, amidst said pondering, I got to thinking about how sometimes the little things can seem important or urgent and can seemingly overwhelm us, when really, they're not that drastic after all. When I stepped back (figuratively, not literally, I wouldn't want to step backwards in Glenrock, who knows what I might stumble on: a loose rock, a gravelly patch, a snake sunning itself) and thought about those little things that have been bothering me (logistical things really re: needing to buy certain items and when to get them, and re: decluttering my house, yup first-world problems I think is the phrase) I realised that they are not actual problems after all. Waves of gratitude and a feeling of being oh-so-blessed washed over me.

I ran back home thinking about why I feel so blessed and of the amazing people and things in my life. So, sure, there are the not-truly-important (really) but nice-to-have, material things, like owning a car, owning a property, having a small amount of savings etc (for which I do feel blessed, of course), but then first and foremost there are my beautiful family and loving partner and loved ones/friends both here in Newy and around the globe: I am so grateful for you all. Then there's my current health/fitness, and being lucky enough to have my training/education centred around good health, nutrition, and avoiding/preventing chronic disease. My mind then thought of all the opportunities and jobs/career paths I've had over the years, and I've been so lucky to see first hand into various different industries. I feel blessed that I have gotten the chance to teach some incredible individuals over the years too. That got me thinking about my own education, one that will never stop (never stop learning hey), but that which I am so grateful for: I am so lucky to have two degrees (a Bachelor and a Master) so far. I am SO blessed to have discovered the joys of running, some 12++ years ago and to have run lots of once-in-a-lifetime races in exotic, far-flung locations: ultras, marathons, half marathons etc. I am also lucky enough to have won some of these and in others placed second or third. I am so blessed to be a published author (despite definitely not being a best-seller, but that's not the point). I am SO grateful for the places I have travelled to around the world and the places I have lived in. I am so lucky for my current freedom too, of 'being my own boss' and working mainly from home, and of having beautiful places like Glenrock (my favourite place in the world) practically on my doorstep. But mostly: it's the people and experiences that really make my heart sing. The 'stressful' little things will get sorted, one step at a time. Don't sweat the small stuff eh?

​​So, I can't believe the speed of this year. Oh my gosh, it is almost June!! Crazy... I apologise for my quietude on here of late: things have been very busy, as am sure they have been for all of you. Re the running part: my running has slowed WAY down, and my kilometres per week have reduced too. That's way ok. Still cycling lots and doing weight classes when I can. Happy days.

​But, yes, things have been a bit hectic. So it's time to get back on track!! No better way to do it than with a group challenge and motivating, fun times AKA Jump Into June! A 30 day challenge, that yes, you guessed it, runs for the month of June. Some of you may recall this from a couple of years ago: I first launched this program having recently moved to Vietnam, back in 2016, and I feel it's definitely time to run it again.

​So, what's involved? Take a look:

Discover simple strategies that you can EASILY add to your lifestyle to get in shape, feel great and get back on track.   You’ll be plugged into an amazing COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT every step of the way.   BONUS: You’ll get delicious recipes for nutrition-packed meals, plus “knock-your-socks off” juice and smoothie recipes.      
If you’ve been struggling to melt those stubborn extra kilos and get back in shape, and you’re tired of trying crazy diets that don’t work, you’ll want to keep reading. 
  


Let’s face it…
  
It can be confusing, frustrating and a bit overwhelming to know what to do for long-term success. There’s so much conflicting information everywhere we turn, and sometimes we just feel defeated and give up.   
  
 One thing we DO know for sure is that restrictive diets don’t work long-term, and rapid weight loss often leads to rapid weight GAIN.  
  
It’s not your fault that you’ve been fooled into thinking that restrictive dieting is the only way to reach your goals. 
  
It’s time to STOP the madness! 
  
Let’s help you get back on track the RIGHT way, so you can make sustainable changes you can live with FOREVER and be happy about. 
  
Get ready to learn simple step-by-step strategies that you can EASILY implement to help you:
•Lose Weight and Get Back in Shape
•Feel More Energized (and avoid the afternoon slump)
•Slip Into Your Favorite Jeans Again
•Fuel Your Body Without Ever Feeling Deprived
  

There are no crazy tricks, pills, potions or gimmicks! No fads! No bullsh&*t!
  
You’ll ALSO get the most delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes PLUS a community of support that’s with you every step of the way.  
  
Introducing the Jump Into June 30 Day Challenge!

  
During the Jump Into June 30 Day Challenge we’ll focus on one key strategy each week: 
  
•Week 1 – How to plan for LONG-TERM success – Simple, effective tips to save you TIME, CALORIES and MONEY, without feeing deprived. 
  
•Week 2 – Finding the right exercise for YOU – Hint: you don’t have to spend hours at the gym to get in great shape. (You don't even have to run! It's all about personal choice and knowing what works for YOU!)
  
•Week 3 – Why choosing the quality of your calories is critical for weight loss (not just the number of calories).
  
•Week 4 – Eating to fuel your body – what ONE thing you may be doing unknowingly to sabotage your efforts, and how to easily fix it. 
  
Since the challenge is online, you can participate no matter where you live!    
 

Here’s how it works:    
This is an online program so you can join us from ANYWHERE in the world (please invite your friends – extra support is awesome!). 
Once you sign up, you’ll receive: 

• One simple, transformational strategy each week to get you on the right track
• Templates and worksheets to make tracking and planning easy
• INSTANT access to the Exclusive Membership Group for support during the 30 days
• SUPPORT, MOTIVATION and INSPIRATION for 30 days
• PRIZES!!!!  

  
PLUS…You’ll get THESE Amazing BONUSES for FREE
 (A $65 Value)

1. Delicious, Nutritious Recipe eGuide for breakfast, lunch, dinner and side dishes (A $27 value)
2. A Grocery Shopping Guide to help you easily navigate healthy food choices at the store (A $19 value)
3. Sensational Smoothies and Juices’ recipe guide (A $19 Value) 

Grab a friend or 2 and come join us!
30 Days from the start of June, you’ll be glad you did!
  
Fun – Motivation – Inspiration – Support – PRIZES!
  
This program is valued at over $297,
but you can join NOW for only
  
$27

​If this floats your boat, please sign up here:

​http://lousweight.com.au/main/page_jump_into_june_challenge.php​


​To all my amazing friends taking part in Ultra Trail Australia this weekend: all the best and have an awesome time! I know you will smash your goals and have so much fun. I loved that event last year, and hope to be back next year to give the 50km another crack. xxxx

OK brace yourself. This may shock you.....


​











​.........I am not really a fan of Parkrun. It is usually a struggle for me to attend, honestly. I know, this is sort of illegal to admit to, as both a runner and a Wooter (and a sometimes Five30 runner) but Parkruns/ the 5km distance = not my favourite thing. Don't get me wrong: I love seeing friends and all the other runners there, doing their thing, and the wonderful supportive atmosphere (and hats off to all the amazing volunteers too!), and yes I quite like the Parkrun email I get afterwards. Oh, and I love getting to feature in Darrel's famous weekly Parkrun Wrap. I do also like this part:

Oh, and of course, I definitely like THIS part, the apres-parkrun breakfasting ('Will Run For Food'):

​But I struggle with two main things: 1) the crowd/congestion: it reminds me of the first few kms of a marathon, where you're just jostling for space and trying not to trip over feet: definitely my least favourite part of the race; and 2) the 5km distance: it's simply over too soon.

​However, Saturday's parkrun was different. I feel I may have cracked it, lol.... Why do one parkrun, when you can simply turn around and do two? A two for one deal. This is what we did at Mailtand parkrun, and it was awesome! It was such a beautiful course anyway (perfect course actually: a mixture of gravel/dirt/trail, a lake in the centre, lots of winding, fun parts, and lots of shady tree cover too), so I was stoked to go back and do it again, albeit with WAY less congestion and people the second time around. Starting your weekend with a lovely cruisey 10km in the sunshine is definitely the way to go. (It also helps that for once I wasn't working til 11:30pm the night before: another major obstacle for me to want to get up and get dressed for a 5km at 8am).

​So, yes, I may not truly be a fan of parkruns, but if I can stretch them out to a 10km, and then finish with the prospect of a delicious café breakfast, then I am one happy runner:

So, the much lower km schedule continues. Not much running in the past couple of weeks, save for a couple of Parkruns, a long run/ long run+walk (the heat just got to me), a Glenrock morning run with some wonderful women, and I FINALLY made it back to an evening Owls&Possums session (also in Glenrock), which was SO much fun. I have been trying to keep up the Bodypump classes and cycling as transport, but most of the time have just been feeling too zapped, so have been getting lots of rest and downtime. This can only be a good thing, yes?

​I even sold my UTA50 ticket, as I can't see myself starting the training needed to prepare for it. When I trained last year for this awesome event (and my training was more of the less-is-more approach) I was coming off the back of a few marathons, and had successively kept my km base quite high whereby a 35km training run seemed normal and easy. This time round this year however? A completely different story. I am listening to my body and taking it very easy lately. Which is WAY ok. There's always next year to do the UTA again, and I intend to get back to training and longer distances in 2019. For now, I will just run for fun, and when my body feels like it. Which is not today, if this incessant rain keeps up! (Newcastle = sometimes the rainiest city on the planet.)

​In other, non-running related news: my mum is coming over for a holiday from UK soon! Very excited. Immediately following on from that, my partner and I head to Bali for some international R&R (and maybe the odd volcano trek and adventure and barefoot run along the beaches there). Excitedly excited!!

​Have a wonderful week ahead all! Much love, Lou xx

This is woefully late. Such is the effect of working 3-4 different jobs and not much sleep, hmmm.... Hey-ho. The Cadbury Half Marathon, held on Sunday 14th January, was brilliant! I highly recommend it! A beautiful, scenic course that was perfect temperature (once we started and warmed up and I stopped complaining about the cold, lol...). Only a mere smattering of gentle hills, and the scenery more than distracted me on those lovely hills anyway. That and the excellent company and Wooter support too. Plus the goal of those hard-earned 'free' bars of Cadbury chocolate awaiting us in our goody bags with the all-important bling at the end of the race.

​Wil and I ran the race in a comfortable 1:36, and that was with having to stop briefly for a blown shoe-lace, eek... It was a fun and beautiful time. Followed by copious delicious Tassie meals and drinks. Oh Tasmania. You are amazing. This is a super short one due to exhaustion and being time poor, but here are some pics of the before, during and after the race:

Well, jetlag is a beast hey. I arrived back in Oz on Thursday, after a two day journey back from Scotland, via Amsterdam and Abu Dhabi, and with no accompanying sleep. Suffice to say I was (and still am) a wee bit wrecked. Add in to the mix the extreme temperatures here back in Oz (seriously, 43 degrees yesterday, waaaaaay too hot) and having foolishly arranged to go straight back to teaching work. Hmmm, hey-ho. It's only temporary I'm sure. Doing my best to get those important early morning runs in, to reset my body clock and assure it that all is right in the world. One of those morning runs happened to be in my soul's favourite place in the world (Glenrock) so I'm sure that helped no end. Plus, being reunited with my sexy man has helped immensely too. So now it's just a waiting game for this jetlag to piss off.
​
​But wow, what a beautiful country Scotland is! Majestic. Stunning. Fairly cold, but that's to be expected: it was Christmas time and New Year's (Hogmanay) after all. Again, when dealing with jetlag that occurred on the outward journey over there, I aimed to get a few runs in to overcome it. I think this was successful. It was so nice running in cold weather again, and having snowy, mountainous backdrops and herds of beautiful, nervous deer running away from me on various paths as I ran through the windy, narrow roads there (Struy/Glen Affric area) was so special. I also got to get a couple of runs in with one of my uncles, who I don't get to see that often, so that was lovely to catch up with him. One of our runs was in Aviemore (which I think is a big ski resort there?) for a parkrun on one of the Saturdays: beautiful snowy, trail course with amazing scenery.

It was truly a magical time. Spent with family and friends in an amazing destination. You can imagine how quickly the two weeks flew by....

​Other remedies for jetlag that I favour are: regular 'power' naps (nanna naps) and good, healing food (of course). Hydration is a biggy too, and all the more pertinent given the crazy hot weather here in Australia. Of course others out there have different remedies for jetlag: one such remedy involves eating NOTHING on the flights (yep, so basically a two day fast: crazy in my opinion, as that's one of the best parts of flying: the tiny, regular snacks brought to your lap), and one involves drinking your own urine. Hmm, I am going to stick with eating good food, sleeping when I can, and regular running. But to each their own yes? :)

​In other hugely exciting news (well, for me anyway) I got a ticket to UTA again!!! Woohoo! I'm going back to do the 50km again, in May. So, will no doubt start to up my training and trail runs soon (probably from February onwards). I loved this event last year: so beautiful (it's held in the Blue Mountains) and such a good, fun (hard) time. Watch this space for training updates along the way.

​Have a super week one and all. Much love xx

Christmas is nearly upon us folks! Well into the 'silly season', and I hope you're all enjoying it and having a ball with family and friends so far. I am off travelling tomorrow, back to UK for said having a ball with family and friends (a well overdue reunion to be held in a castle in Scotland! Suffice to say I am massively excited for this).

Check it out, I made this festive video in honour of the upcoming holidays via Promo: https://vimeo.com/247710135
​This was lots of fun to make, and super easy. You can check out how to make videos with them here if you're interested: https://slide.ly/promo/myshare/e2a6157e5d66ef2abc639455101c43f4

​So, running (if you're tuning into this for running purposes!) is going well. The usual week of about 50km ish, and yes, managed to get onto those beautiful trails of Glenrock for some of these kms. Ahhh Glenrock: I will miss it a lot while overseas for the next couple of weeks. I will aim to keep my kms ticking over while away, and of course, have the requisite 'Christmas Run' on 25th (from chilly Inverness!) then it's not far off the Cadbury Half Marathon on 14th January in Tasmania when I'm back, so am looking forward to and casually training towards that one.

​Thank you to all my challenge participants from the recently ended 5 Day Challenge to Ditch Processed Sugar! This was lots of fun and the kick up the a*se that I needed to get back to cooking and meal prepping a LOT more, despite being busy and time-poor as a standard setting (which apparently is not going to change). There are lots of  recipes from my challenge that I absolutely love and will use again and again, and I am so glad I reminded myself of these old favourites! (Namely: the chia and coconut pudding/porridge and the lentil stuffed mushies.) Don't worry, if you feel you've missed out on this freebie challenge, you can always sign up for one of my online programs and do it at your own pace and start whenever you like: http://lousweight.com.au/main/page_programs_programs.php More will be coming soon in 2018!!

Now, I better go and get on with the many, many, many things that I've foolishly booked in for my penultimate day in Newy! Wishing you all the love, and an early very Merry Christmas one and all! Yours, Lou xxx :)

 Vietnam Mountain Marathon. 70km. September 2018. Just putting it out there.

​This was a race I was aching to do last year, but fate and my health had other plans (an impromptu hospital stay in Hanoi instead, hmmmm, wasn't meant to be.....). This year I was busy working away back here in Oz. But next year?! Oh yeah baby, I sincerely hope it's on. It will be one of the most epic, beautiful and challenging runs I reckon, held in stunning Sapa in Northern Vietnam (with an option of a 10km, 21km, 42km, 70km or 100km distance) but will be so very worth it. What life's all about after all. Watch  this space. While you're watching this space: check out the details and come and join me!! https://vietnammountainmarathon.com/en/join-vmm-2018/

I. Bloody. LOVE. Trail. Running.

​My happy place for sure.

​This past week I was lucky enough to have two trail forays: one at my usual beautiful, local Glenrock with some legends, and the other out towards Mount Sugarloaf yesterday, with some other legends, and perfect conditions. Sunday Funday indeed, ahhhh..... (Photo credit to Wil  xx)

​Today marks DAY ONE of my 5 Day Challenge to Ditch Processed Sugar, and so far so good! To all those doing this challenge with me: you are all legends!! I am particularly excited by the bonus workouts and plans that will be delivered by the wonderful and very experienced Josh Day, each day in the private Facebook group. I am planning on doing the Day One workout later this arvo either before or after my usual run. Thanks again to Josh!

​Have a wonderful, Woottastic week one and all! :) xxx

As the days draws nearer to the end of the year, and I realised that in two weeks today I will be hurriedly packing pre-venturing to Sydney to depart for UK for a well overdue family reunion for Christmas and New Year's, it's got me thinking about just how seemingly fast 2017 has gone. As well as just how amazing it's been too. Wow, what a ride indeed. It featured all  this and more: life in three different countries, as the start of this year saw my return from Vietnam to Oz via Thailand; 3x marathons, one ultra-marathon, 2x halfs, and countless other awesome trail runs and road runs with friends; a return to study and a brand new qualification in the form of my newly acquired Masters degree; new jobs and new skills (including telephone banking and pedicabbing, of all things, so an eclectic mix, as ever); amazing and inspiring nutrition clients; teaching English to kids; a return to beautiful Newy; falling in love; and wonderful times with family and friends. Who knew?!?..... Ahhh, 2017, you've been a blast thus far and very special: full of living, learning, loving, and amazing people. Thank you.

​Now that 2018 is just around the corner, new running goals (amongst other things) are on my mind, and which particular events I will take part in. Oh the possibilities hey! The only locked-in/definite race that I have so far, is the Cadbury's Half Marathon in Hobart in January. After that, the events I'm thinking about include UTA50 again (providing I can track down a ticket that someone may be selling nearer the time) in May, and throughout the year I want to take advantage of all the local close-to-Newy races that I missed this year due to weekend work commitments, such as the Lake Mac half, Hill to Harbour, and the Wineries run (half or full). Oh, and Blackmores in Sydney in September. I would also love to do another marathon (making it my 10th official 'full') but not sure where or which one. Although the Outback Marathon at Uluru sounds amazing. As does the Goldfields Pipeline Marathon near Kalgoorlie. Then of course, there's the Gold Coast Marathon again, one which is very dear to my heart. Hmm, decisions decisions hey. There's something in me that is erring towards running more halves than 'fulls' this year, and possibly even getting back to my previous times of around 1:34/1:35/1:36 and maybe, finally, at last, cracking under 1:34 in an actual race and getting a pb. But then, who knows. It's just for fun, so will see how it pans out.

​What's on for YOUR 2018 goals? Races, travel, study, sea change??? So many exciting possibilities and I just can't wait to see what will happen next. Starting with so much love over Christmas/New Year's with some very special people.