Must. Stop. Eating!

There is a difference between appetite and hunger.

For example, this morning, during circuit class, my stomach rumbled and growled. It felt empty. I was HUNGRY. Hunger is the physical desire to eat.

I ate some nuts and felt really satisfied. I stopped eating!

At lunch time I ate a nice Caesar Salad. Just a little one, with some Banana Bread for dessert and I felt really good. I wasn't hungry or stuffed, I was nicely satisfied.

And then in walked Sandy's Catering. The leftovers from today's lunch showed up and they looked soooo very good!!  And I said "No, I'm NOT eating anything, I'm NOT hungry" and then proceeded to scoff down two kebabs, a piece of chicken, four brownies (oh those brownies!!), two mini savoury muffins, a piece of quiche and three pieces of bread.

WHAT!?

I wasn't even hungry! I ate until I felt sick! I could NOT control my appetite! Appetite is the psychological desire to eat. And I had no control over it what-so-ever! Stupid thing is, it's MY brain and I should be able to tell it when to stop. facking. eating. already!

Luckily I did teach Aqua Intense afterwards, but there's no way it even came close to knocking off the amount of calories I consumed in those 20 minutes.


I don't even know what else to say. I am just so frustrated and embarrassed!

Thoughts? Advice? Anyone? Bueller?

Workout #3 and Measurements

This morning I woke up with a little muscle tenderness in my lats! And I thought, "oh wow, maybe that was a better workout yesterday than I thought!"

You're supposed to have at least one day rest between workouts, but I did today's anyway, because I'd like to get back on and stick to the schedule. Today, I did my measurements and the 10 minute Advanced workout.

Workout 3:
5 reps of each exercise for 10 minutes without stopping:

• Explosive Push Up (make hands leave the floor on the 'up stroke')
• Reverse Lunge with 1-Arm Press (as before, using 4kg weights)
• Elevated Feet Inverted Row (bar in same position as before, feet on step with 2 risers)
• Goblet Squat (holding 8kg dumbbell)

The Conclusion: Oh my goodness!

I wanted an upper body workout and I sure got it! I could only do the explosive pushups from my knees. And if you want to see a flailing monkey, that's how I felt! Very uncoordinated at first, but I eventually got the hang of it.

The elevated feet on the row, in essence, would have been like lowering the bar another notch, and was very effective at pushing my limits. I was definitely struggling to complete the last few reps to full range in the last several circuits.

The added weight in the squat allowed me to feel my glutes engage far more than previously, and I will probably go up to 10kg for the next round.

It took several minutes for my heart and respiration rate to return to normal after today's workout. I was working quite hard today! I needed to stretch my chest and shoulders for quite a lot longer than I normally would.

For a short little effort, definintely a challenge!!

As for my measurements, there is minimal change, and according to the chart, both my Body Fat Percentage and my BMI has gone up (I've gotten fatter!?), probably just because my weight has gone up. But my waist, chest, & wrist measurements have gone down - although the changes are realtively insignificant, and variations in those measurements could be due to not measuring in the exact same spot each time, as much as in genuine change in body shape. But I do think my arms are slightly more defined. When I am doing the rows, they sure look muscley in the mirror!

Another thing not considered is my diet over the last week. I must say it has been TERRIBLE! I have had a few really good meals, but I have also had a significant number of convenience meals, chocolate bars, and bread bread bread! I've also eaten more than I've needed on numerous occasions (why do I eat when I'm no longer hungry?) and I can generally say this week has been nutritionally poor. Lots of excuses, but mainly just poor planning... sleeping in and not having a lunch prepared, that sort of thing.

I'm hoping this week will be more nutritionally sound and that I will see, and, more importanly, FEEL changes in my body. I am so done with being tired all the time!

Tim Tam Explosions and Other Great Ideas

Body Attack was cancelled tonight, and instead of doing a workout, or going for a run, I went to T&Es and had tea and Tim Tams. I only had one Tim Tam, which shows major restraint on my part, because I ADORE Tim Tam Explosions!

For the uninitiated, a Tim Tam Explosion (or also called a Tim Tam Slam) is where you nibble off alternate corners of your Tim Tam, set one nibbled corner into your cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or Milo, and then SUCK as if through a straw from the alternate corner of the biscuit. What you get is the chocolate (and in today's case, chewy caramel) melting and exploding into your mouth! Then you have a warm slightly soggy Tim Tam to finish off, generally in a single mouthful, or you'd just make a terrible mess of yourself. Here's a wickipedia link to the process. Wickipedia knows everything!

If you haven't tried this, you MUST. I do believe Tim Tams are avaialble now in Canada, and last I heard, they were known as Arnott's Originals.

Anyway, I came home and while waiting for dinner to cook - just basic fish rice and veggies - I was surfing along and saw this post from Men's Health: "World's Most Efficient Workout." And didn't think a whole lot about it at first... but then the fact that I have started to read  Body by Science (which means I have scanned the book and looked a the pictures) and the fact that I am looking for a new training regime, put the idea in my head that I should try these workouts and review them!

So I am putting a little plan in place, and if I get my proverbial together over the weekend and get my Aqua Intense choreography figured out I will start off doing a weigh-in and measure on Monday morning and start the World's Most Efficient Workout! What fun!

If, in the meantime, you see any workouts you'd like reviewed, send them to me! Not sure what to expect or how it'll go, but it'll be a fun experiment!

If I Had To Do It Again...

And I would... in a heart beat! But I promised Mat I wouldn't. It's his year!

But if I had to, here's some things I would change:

1. Equipment training. Get the equipment you are going to use on the day and practice in it. Change it if it isn't going to work and feel perfectly comfortable for the event!
2. Location training. Go to those hills and ride them, run them, cycle them. Paddle more, portage more.
3. Build in more recovery and cross training in training cycle. A macro-cycle of one week long slow distance, one week of speed and interval training, one week of maintenance and cross training, repeat cycle and then one week off, so you get a rest week every 6 weeks (adjusted depending on competition schedules). Actually, just thinking maybe that should be flipped around, with cross-training, then speed, then distance, so you rest after a distance week... only one way to find out which will be best! :)
4. Block training. Nail your transitions. Run then kayak. Swim then run then ride. Ride then cycle. Seems obvious, but practice with the gear you are going to use and get your transitions down to a fine art. Know where everything is, what order it needs to come out of the box. Stack it just so. Use it in that order. Be able to do it yourself, just in case you have to!
5. Nutrition. I was pretty happy with my nutrition planning. I had enough to eat and drink and never felt completely depleted. I was struggling a bit due to not being able to eat while on the horse, but I did drink and I wasn't completely destroyed. Practice with the food you use. Find what works for you and be consistent with it. Know that you don't have to use gels or gus or special drinks, that real food works fine too.
6. Preparation. I did good with this (except for missing my crop top, I had everything I needed when I needed it). Unless you have done it a few times and know exactly what you want and need and have packing down to a fine art, take the two days before. Plan everything, write a list, organise and recheck. Cook lots of food! Put everything in boxes for each transition and label the boxes. Let everyone who needs to handle the boxes know what's in them and what you need them to do with the boxes.
7. Recovery. Once again, I think I did well with this. Plan lots of food, plenty of time for sleep and rest, and massage and stretching. I probably didn't need to take two days for recovery, but am grateful for the second day, none-the-less, as it means cleaning up after the event is possible, and more naps and eating is possible, and there won't be any struggling through work.
8. Helpers. It takes an ARMY to support an Iron Person. There were 200ish teams, not quite 1000 competitors, and approximately 2000 support crew! That's a lot of people to help out! You need a team manager, you need to review the what's and where's, and the team members who are helping you need to know your expectations at each changeover, for example, "Meet with with a bottle of water, then I need the towel to dry off, then if you can put sunscreen on my back and shoulders while I change my shoes, I'll be ready to go." Clear expectations means that when you're adrenaline rushed you won't be puffing out instructions that might sound more like barking out orders. Also, trust that they have your back. Just do your thing and know that they are doing everything that needs to get done to make sure you can focus on your race. Trust! :)
9. Also, take good care of  your helpers! Organise food and drinks for them. They need to be strong and healthy to support you. Make sure they have chairs to sit on and hats and sunscreen and jackets too. Maybe some money for ice cream, if they are so lucky to be near an ice cream van. Yum!

Some discipline specific changes I would make are:

Run:

I was pretty happy with my running. But in training I did start to get bored with the long slow distances, and was struggling to get my distance over 12km. So the changes I would make are:

1. Use recovery macro-cycle: build long slow distances; build up speed in 5 and 10k runs with sprints and intervals; do hill climbs, stair runs, plyometrics, lunges, and other running drills to improve form, and keep it interesting.
2. Add off-road running.
3. Practice downhill running.
4. Make sure you are doing it in good shoes.
5. Stretch and do yoga to keep the muscles limber. I would love to have done about double the amount of yoga I did! It is good for a runner to be flexible!

Kayak:
Obviously, this easy point to make here is to actually practice in the equipment you are going to use!

1. Get good equipment. Try lots of things out, find something you like well before the event, and then practice in it lots. Even if you can't afford a flash kayak, get something you can afford (or borrow something you will be able to use regularly) and get on the water!
2. When you can't get on the water, do paddle at home in your living room. It really does help. Use a much heavier paddle than you will use on the day.
3. Go to the Blackwood River and train on it.
4. Practice getting in and out of the kayak quickly.
5. Practice carrying and dragging your kayak.
6. Cross train with lots of push ups, rows, tricep work (I have strong triceps and they were on fire after the paddle!). Chin ups and other lat work would also be a huge benefit. Wrist and forearm strengthening exercises will be of great benefit too.
7. Do pilates for core strength. Your back and core need to be in tip-top shape for maximum stroke effect. Get your obliques strong!
8. If your kayak has a rudder, pull up the rudder and practice paddling and controlling your craft without the rudder. You hear about this every year: rudder lost, kayaker can't control boat, barely or doesn't finish race.
9. Check your equipment before the race and have a back up plan! :)

Swim:
Fitness and some swimming ability alone will get you through the swim. But, there's always ways to improve!

1. In the case of the Blackwood River, don't wear brown-tinted goggles, as I did. It matches the water colour. And then you really can't see! Clear goggles are the way to go.
2. A wet suit adds buoyancy and warmth, but is not critical to the success of the swim, unless it's a really cold day.
3. Train in open water if possible, if for no other reason but to experience the distance for yourself before the race.
4. Train to swim about 2km in a pool, because without the rests and without pushing off at the end of each lap, you end up experiencing a much more challenging swim, even if you're going faster, because there is absolutely NO PAUSE button.
5. Practice running after your swim. Since you need to get up that bank, and you need to THINK after the swim, you need to develop your stamia beyond the 1km.

Horse:
Some of the things I mention here might be fairly specific to TK, but generally this is a harder and faster ride that is busier and has more people running out of control than is probably ideal. So you need trust and control with your horse.

1. Secure a strapper early. Lock them in. Work with them. Thank them profusely!
2. Expose the horse to lots of different environments. Go to endurance rides, social rides, ride in new places. Go to pony club, take him/her to different events. Let strangers handle your horse, take them to busy places, and away from them.
3. Work on control and TRUST. By trust I mean get the horse to trust that the rider does know what's best and will not steer you wrong, and get the rider to trust that the horse will listen, watch its own feet, and tell you when something is wrong. Do 'spooking' exercises, do group work, do alone work, get a good trainer you can relate to and work with your horse so that you know that when it comes to the day, he's not just fit, but will ride the ride you ask.
4. Build athletic and gymnastic ability as well as just stamina. Use the recovery macros-cycle mentioned earlier. Do long slow distances. Do some speed and heart rate training. Do lots of dressage style work, focusing on flexibility, strength. Do some jumping and in-hand work.
5. If possible, get a heart rate monitor for your horse so you actually know how hard he's working.
6. Always always always follow your cool down routine. Just starting the routine will teach the horse that the end is here and that he can rest and he'll be more likely to cool to requirements quickly. Practice this routine with your strapper.
7. Practice good equine management. Get the teeth done, worm, drench, and feed your horse appropriately. Get feet done regularly and make sure that you really trust your farrier, and that he understands the demands you are placing on your horse.
8. Separate your horse from a group, pull him up and make him do something different than his friends. Teach your horse that you are the herd, and he doesn't need the other horses. And, if you're lucky, you'll also teach him that he doesn't need to be first!
9. Practice riding in whatever you are going to be wearing out of the swim. Get it wet and ride in it. I got terrible saddle sores from my bike shorts under my pants. Wet rubber leg bands rubbing through onto the fender of the saddle made a BIG ouchie. I rode in my bike shorts in training, but not in them wet. What a difference!
10. Make sure your horse loads easily and that anyone can get him on a float. Practice loading with your strapper.

Bike:
I did alright in the bike, but there's heaps of room for improvement.

1. Get a decent bike with good gearing. I saw a few people doing this on mountain bikes, and they were working hard. Yes, they passed me, but that's not the point! :) Or is it? They had good gearing and knew their bikes. I also saw young Ryan on a very old bike that he wasn't very familiar with and didn't have good gearing and he struggled. He could have done the bike ride way faster if he had a better bike to practice on before the race.
2. Go to Bridgetown and ride those hills. Over and over again. In fact, ride it in reverse, too. I think it'd be even harder that way.
3. Use the recovery macro-cycle for training. Get some distance rides in, some hills, do some time trials, and a little weight training to develop leg strength.

So, now, in theory, you should be able to go out and do the Blackwood Marathon! Maybe see you there next year! :)

Recovery

Recovery has been interesting. I knew I'd be sore and I planned for that. I knew I'd be hungry and I planned for that. And I knew I'd be tired and planned for that too!

But my body thrown me a few surprises along the way.

I ate when I crossed the finish line, had an iced chocolate (milk, whipped cream, crushed ice and chocolate sauce - YUM) and an apple, a museli bar, some lollies, lots and lots of water. But could only eat two bites of a burger at that point. I was still feeling strong an hour after the whole thing was over, but I was feeling COLD! I knew I'd be cold as my body temperature started to settle back into resting mode, but I was really cold, and on a 23 degree sunshiney day I was in the warmest jumper Rob could find me! Heaven!

Got home and had a shower, and then had a few choc chip cookies and banana bread and a lot more water, and then laid down for awhile, thinking I'd probably sleep through dinner, but I didn't. I rested, I dozed, but couldn't sleep well. My war wounds were starting to ache, my body was starting to 'thrum' so I got up and Mat and I went for a very short walk to get my muscles moving.

I started peeing ALOT, but was still dehydrated, a bit headachey, so took some Tylenol, drank and drank and drank, and then at dinner ate my burger. It was PERFECT! Just what I needed! I even put pickled beetroot on it, and I liked it!! I stayed awake for longer than I thought, Rob went to bed with the kids at 8ish, and I was in bed by 9ish. No one stayed up late, not even Mat and Darin, who always stay up late talking! It had been a big day for everyone!

It took me a long time to settle into sleep. I was restless, I kept running over and over the movie of the day in my mind. This is what surprised me most. I thought I would crash and burn, and I didn't. I finally settled into a nice sleep, but was awake at 1am to go to the toilet. I couldn't fall back asleep, so got up and went to check the horses (Kat, Rob's horse, was making a terrible racket), laid back down, thinking "what is WRONG with me!?" and it finally dawned on me...

I was HUNGRY!

So at 2am I ate some biscuits, and a sausage (I know, how gross) and went back to bed. This time I slept wonderfully until 5am. And then I was HUNGRY again!

I have been hungry for small amounts of food every few hours for the last two days. Last night (Sunday) I slept through the night, but ate right till bedtime, and ate the moment I woke up. In fact, it was my stomach that woke me up! I thought I would be ravenous and want to eat large amounts of food in a sitting, but in fact I can't eat that much. I have been eating smaller portions than I usually eat, but much more frequently.

I also haven't been sleeping as much as I thought I would. Instead of long deep sleeps, I have been having these lie-downs, for anywhere between 20 and 60 minutes, I just rest, and sometimes sleep. I thought I would konk out and need to sleep for 10-15 hours, but even last night I only got about 7 hours. I am just happy to lie down whenever my body asks and let it rest.

Today I have a massage planned, and am so looking forward to that, and also Body Balance tonight. I took the night off, and wasn't going to do the class at all, but I realised that I would really benefit from the class and decided to come along, but have Kirsty do most of the teaching. I am so grateful that Kirsty is taking the 'hard' tracks. Standing Strength, Balance, Abs, Back, and a few others (she is doing most of the class, in fact) because I tried to so some Warrior 1s and 2s yesterday and let's just say they are not up to standard! I may need to rest frequently or 'cheat' in my form a little to get through those tracks. But I am really looking forward to the stretching and loosening up.

Time to feed the horses, dog, cat, do a few dishes, laundry, and plan my day. I also have a few other posts I want to work on and will be sharing much more soon! I am especially looking forward to writing the "If I had to do it again" post!

The day before

What a great day!

I woke up at 4:30am, and stayed in bed thinking and daydreaming until about 5:30am when I felt ready to get moving on some of the jobs I had to do today.

I made a list, I checked it twice... oh dear, I started singing a Christmas Carol! :)

And I turned my house a little upside down!



Gear Boxes

I have organised all my equipment for each transition. Food and drinks that don't need to be refigerated are in there. Changes of clothes and shoes, towels, face cloths, sun screen, gloves and helmets.

I marked my helmet with 418 in nice yellow electricians tape.  And did the same to the kayak.



I swear, it suddenly looks faster! :)

 
I also filled up 8 buckets of water for the horse. That's 160 litres. We hopefully won't need all 160, but I want to be sure we have enough. Steve & Jan are completely on rain water, and any way I can save them water the better. It has been a VERY dry year.

And kept baking and cooking and filling up my fridge.
It's just a little fridge, but wow, how am I supposed to fit all that into an Eskie? There is food on top of the fridge, on the freezer beside it, and in the oven on the other side! Sheesh!



Oh my goodness! That's stuffed!

 In the meantime, Mat went to pick up hay and do a few jobs to get the ute and float ready for travel. I made TKs feeds for the weekend, and then found time to do a load of laundry, wash the dishes and the floors and make a loaf of bread! I also packed all the weekend's food into the eskies. Yes, I did manage to make it fit. I suppose I wasn't taking everything in the fridge with us!

With that done, I took a few of the more perishable food items to T&Es for safe keeping in their fridge and dropped the dog off for babysitting over the weekend.

When I got back, Mat was home with the hay load.

All this, and so far only 11:30am, so we shouldn't be away too long after 12 afterall! Maybe a nap before we go!

I am feeling really good about this! Being organised takes so much of the sting out of the nerves. Now it's really only down to the physical act.

Time to test my limits!

Here I am at Thursday...

Thursday evening. Ready for bed. Quick post only.

I shopped, baked and cooked all day. And I have filled my little fridge to overflowing. Should be nearly enough food for us for the weekend. A little more to organise, but some can't be done too early, or the food will be soggy and yucky.

Picked up the kayak.

Em and her boyfriend came by to learn about taking care of the cat and horse that will be left behind for the weekend.

T&E came over for dinner and I think everyone is feeling pretty good about Saturday.

Still need to pack my transition crates with all the gear I need at each change over, and I have to put the horse's stuff together, which won't take too long. Last thing to do will be to pack the eskies and take some food to T&Es to put in their caravan fridge. I hope to be ready to go by 12 noon tomorrow, though Mat doesn't expect to be ready that soon. That's alright, I think I will remain most calm if I am ready when Mat is, and not have to run around finishing stuff up when he says he's ready to leave.

I set a target finish time for Saturday: I am aiming to be complete by 4:30pm. They end road closures at 5:00pm, so I assume they generally expect everyone to be in by 5ish, but it doesn't seem like there's any cut off time.

I won't have internet access until we get back Sunday night, but rest assured there will be an immediate update on my successes and failures of the weekend as soon as I have unloaded the ute, and possibly after a nap. :)

See you in three days!! :)

Only one week to go

Today's milestone, 7 days, that's just one week, to go, was barely noticed.

I was up at 5am, ready for work and at the Centre before 6am to open for the Show. Although it wasn't super busy in the morning, it was steady and work kept me occupied and I felt really on-task all morning.

Had a short break at 11:30am where 6 of us acted as participants in a mini-Pump class. We just did four tracks: warm up, backs butts and hamstrings, lunges and shoulders. We do it on the main stadium floor, the centre stage at the Show as a promo to get more people to come to classes. I hope it does talk a few people into joining us!

The lunge track was SO hard, especially after last night's practice. I had to cheat on the last few bottom halves! Ouchies, they sure work. Sadly, I am always working, and not able to participate in Pump, and I am not much of one to voluntarily do lunges, so I may never improve in my ability to perform that exercise with any amount of strength!

The last track, shoulders, had me so worried! I used little weights, and it was alright in training last night, but would it be too much for me two days in a row?

NO! :)

My shoulder felt really good! I was even able to do a few slightly wider than usual pushups!! I did come back to a tricep push up at the very end of the track, but probably did about 4 or 5 wide grips before I could feel the shoulder complain! So that shoulder is REALLY getting stronger! It's healing and I am sure it won't be too much longer before I can do a full push up and a side plank again! YAY!

The bad thing about the Show, as with all fairs, festivals and fetes, is the FOOD. There is nothing but food... and I ate way too much! I had several hot chips (just picking them out of the baine marie), a Quiche Lorraine, a Chili Sausage Roll, and a Sweet Chili Chicken Strip. And all this after such a healthy breakfast - a nice two egg omelete with raw spinach in a wrap. I think I ate about three days worth of calories in one morning shift! On the way home I ate an apple. In my mind, that apple was cutting through the grease of all that Show food. :)

On a break now, and packing for our trip to Bunbury, and organising the animals food for the next two days. Really looking forward to paddling and seeing my cousins! We are leaving straight after the Attack demo this afternoon at the Show. Hopefully those 20 minutes of bouncing around will burn off a bit of the morning's over-consumption! Just water for me this afternoon!

So, I better get at it! Attack gear, kayaking gear, running gear, pyjamas, 'real people clothes', and horse feeds.

See you on Monday!

Still no strapper...

Well, now I'm starting to get nervous.

A strapper is absolutely essential to ensure the wellbeing of my horse. Not that Mat can't do it, it's just that he's not likely to have time with all his other responsibilities! And I did a few more calculations, and I don't think I'll even be able to dress TK prior to the ride as I originally had hoped, because I'll probably be cutting it too fine for time if I want to eat something solid and still swim without puking.

I have a couple of people on my list I can still try, but, unfortunately they are people I am less confident about. Not that they can't do it, just that they have so much less experience that it will take a lot more work to have them ready and feeling confident about a horse they don't know and a sport they have barely heard of. And that's assuming either of them agrees. And it's only 9 days from the event!

I also have one person I will go back and ask again, because I've heard a faint whisper there may be a change in her original plans. Maybe she can squeeze me in afterall?

And another I can BEG and cry to, and if worse comes to worse she will cancel her Hallowe'en party to help me. But that seems a bit harsh.

Finally got ahold of my last few relatives last night to see if they were coming. They are coming, but the 'when' is a bit of a question due to work commitments. They will be there by the afternoon sometime for sure. That's cool! A few more people to cheer me past the finish line!

The Show is on this weekend, and things start to fire up at work, with zillions of people coming and going now. I have Pump and Attack training tonight with Kirsty and a few others, as we are doing a demo for the Show, one at 11ish and one at 4ish.

After that, Mat and I are heading to either Albany, Margaret River or Bunbury to paddle on Sunday and Monday. I'd like to pin this down very quickly, so we can make the necessary arrangements, but we can be very indecisive! I think. :P

Probably won't be able to squeeze in a run or bike tonight, must get groceries before training. There's only so much rice, beans and frozen veg you can eat before you think, "seriously, how hard is it to buy a bit of food?"

Off to feed the animals and get ready for work!

Easy Run with 10 days to go

Tomorrow will be single digits till the big day. Yikes!

This morning I couldn't sleep so got out of bed at 6:30 and did stuff. Like complete my entry form and pay my entry fee, as mentioned earlier. I had butterflies all morning.

By 9am I was finally ready to get out and do something. I decided to do my regular 5km run. Just a maintenance run, nothing long or complicated. I headed out with those butterflies. What's interesting is that the nerves I was feeling from submitting my entry were pretty much the same as the feeling I get before a race. Some strange combination of anticpation and dread, all forms of excitement bundled up into a nervous energy ball in the belly.

And it made me run faster than usual. I'm sure of it.

I was feeling pretty good and was cruising right along until BAM! 3km in, I have the stitch from hell! It finally forced me to walk, not once, but FOUR times! It sapped my strength and just ruined my wicked pace. At the 3k mark I was at 17 minutes, a full minute faster than my usual pace. That set me on track for what I was hoping would be a personal best 5k run, and was looking to pick up the pace, but the stitch was going to be a problem. I walked out the stitch and headed off again, but it wasn't long before it dragged me down, again and again. I shortcutted home, only saving a few hundred metres, but needing it. :( Still a good pace (10.4kph), even with all the walking, but not a great feeling end to that run, unfortunately.

Lesson learned: I didn't hydrate sufficiently prior to the run. I was not prepared for the heat and wind. Even at 9am it was quite hot (already 25 degrees), and I only drank about 250mL of water, which is far less than I typically drink before any session (usually work on 500-750mL to pre-hydrate). Of course, I figured it was going to be a short easy run, so wasn't paying enough attention to all the conditions around me. So let it be noted that hydration is imperative, no matter what the circumstances, but particularly in the heat!

My hydration belt was shipped this morning, so I hope to have it by Friday. That means I can do another run or two with the belt on and see how drinking on the run works for me. I think it'll be really important and will give me the boost up the hills on the Blackwood day!

I also did my first run in my new visor! It's awesome, because the sun is off my face, and it's absorbing lots of sweat, but my head gets to breathe. I simply feel too hot in a regular cap. This was excellent! Very pleased with this purchase.

Now I'm off to try my gloves and paddle in the lounge room for awhile.

Mat and I will be going to REAL water this weekend and really paddling. Was noting on the Blackwood event page that they have four portages this year, as the water is quite low, so that will be quite the challenge.

Also, hopefully have a strapper! Updates to follow when I get a yay or nay!

Thursday 14th Oct - 16 days left

Long live tapering!!

I didn't go cycling at 6am this morning. I responded to that request by rolling over and sleeping for an extra two hours! Ah yes! That was awesome!!

After work I went in the gym with the intention of doing a 5km run, but I just walked the first two kilometres. It felt so good to just move at an easy comfortable effortless pace and not push. I did run/jog the last three ks, and it still only took 44 minutes all up without putting in a hard effort. I didn't knock myself out at all, I just went with 'comfortable' and 'cruizy'.

Attack, on the other hand, was freaking INSANELY HARD and I was honestly tempted for the first time EVER to walk out at the end of the first peak. Seriously! And it seems like I wasn't alone. Somthing about the change of weather back to the more wintry trends just made everything a little stiffer, I think. Spring is funny, isn't it? Summer one day, winter the next!

I tried that new drink mix for recovery that was supposed to have a buffering system to prevent cramping. It's basically a powdered Powerade, and it didn't make me feel any better than a Powerade or Berocca does. It certainly didn't prevent cramping! It didn't taste too bad, it was meant to taste like apple, but I probably wouldn't have picked the flavour without seeing the lable. It just tasted like a sweet sports drink. For the price I paid for the 4 sachets that make only 1 litre of fluid, certainly NOT worth the money and will just use Powerade for the extra glucose and sodium recharge!

Now for another long, hot shower and early night! I have been sleeping so well these days. And am not even feeling stressed right now. I think I've just sort of accepted that I have done all I can at this point and am just going with the flow. What happens will happen and I can't change that.

Ride Stretch Ride Run Climb

I must learn to write catchier titles...

Feeling rather chatty today, so this is long and rambling. Sorry! :)

Anyway, just because I'm tried and worried doesn't mean I've stopped working out. The intensity has gone back down, but I'll build it back up as I start to feel better.

Monday was the Body Balance launch, full version of release 50, and this has taken much of my attention over the last few days. This release, though, has been surprisingly easy to learn, and really is put together well. I am quite enjoying it!

Kirsty was on stage with me for the launch, thank goodness, because I had no idea about hips, twists and forward folds. Really need to work hard on getting those ones nailed ... and I only have Wednesday morning left to fit in the training. Actually, hips and twists won't be too hard, but forward folds does something funky to my hips and I must be doing something wrong, because Balance has never hurt before! Ouch! So that one is proving to be more of a challenge.

We had 10 beautiful and brilliant people to the Balance class, and it was a riot! We had so much fun, and really taught a great class! And I got nearly three workouts in, because I practised Monday morning, then Monday afternoon with Kirsty and then we did the class that evening. Awesome day!

I do like co-teaching, it's fun to bounce of people and get the class involved, and to have someone showing the extra options when you really want the back row to see it and see it and DO IT! I do worry about some of my back row people who try too hard to work the high options. I also have those in class who will mimic me so precisely that hand signals get mirrored back to me, so you can imagine that when I change between a high and low option, so do they. So what option should they really be working at?! Anyway, I digress...

I also rode my horse Monday morning. It was a short, slow, quiet walk. Just a reminder to him that sometimes when we go out, we're not in a rush. We took almost an hour to do about 3 or 4 kilometres. It was nice. The weather was great, it's so spring now! Loving the change!

Just a little thing I was noticing about TK: he's like one of those kids that always has a bandaid on something. He constantly has nicks, cuts, scrapes, bruises... he's currently got a grass seed or splinter in his lip and ratty looking hooves, a good chunk of skin missing from a hip (courtesy of his mate Nero) and a new cut on his coronary band (that's where the hair of the leg meets the top of the hoof). None of these things are serious at this point, but I just had to shake my head at him today thinking "You are going to be a very high maintenance animal, aren't you?" I'll need to wrap him in cotton wool to protect him from himself! :)

Only had two people to gym circuit this Tuesday morning, so didn't get any workout in there. Did some more office type stuff instead.

After work today I went for a bike ride. I did my standard hills, 22ish kilometres, and was curious about my average out and back. So on the way out I did the distance in 31:30 and an average of 22.6, and then came back in 30:29 with the same average! Very interesting, because there is significantly more uphill climb on the way back. In those 7km before the highway, I have only three short downhills, and was working at a low average... around 16-18 with the many long slow climbs. But then the last few k's down the highway are ripper. It's mainly downhill back into town and I was working at about 30+ so was able to make it up. On the way out, I am running a more consistent 20ish speed, and never max'd out over 38, but was able to get up to 50 on the way back. I guess this proves that it all comes out in the wash: that's just how fast I am!

So, I have been browsing a few sites and came across a few interesting posts. This one from ACE Fitness looks like so much fun and I'm trying to figure out if there are any buildings in Katanning with stairs I could run. Most buildings are single storey, and if they have stairs, it's just a few up to the front door. I think the Town Hall is the only building I can think of that has a full second storey that I might be able to get access to, but it's only open for special events, so I don't know if they'd be too pleased with me wanting to go in a do a stair run. But if you have stairs, check out this awesome workout!

When did I become a person who would think that stair running is fun? :) hahaha

Well, I'll head off and make a little egg noodle and beef mix up something or other with the leftovers in my fridge for dinner.

Hope you've had a great start to your week!

Squeezing it all In

Wednesday was a pretty good day. I didn't do a lot of big distances or anything, but I still managed to ride my horse, ride my bike, paddle and do Body Odyssey! The only bad thing: I didn't get a nap squeezed in like I had hoped!

I called Helen and asked if she wanted to do a quick Police Pools ride with me in the morning, but she was already doing the Carmetticup Loop, which I am in no shape to do, especially not at her speeds, but I could meet her and Nic on Trimmer Road as they finish up. Even though they already had 45km behind them, much of it into the wind, they were still faster than me! So even though I did alright, and comparatively I did quite well compared to my solo runs, it was still frustrating to feel so very slow!

I fear that's my biggest failing with cycling. Frustration! As much as I might improve, I am always finding myself frustrated with my inability to get past certain things. I can't seem to get my cadence up, I can't get up those hills as well, I can't bring my overall average up to where I wish it were. Of course, the only way to actually accomplish that would be to ride more, but I don't because I seem to experience frustration in greater abundance than success, which isn't very motivating! :)

Anyway, prior to that I did a short bareback session with TK working on our brakes. I did much better with Chris helping to keep me doing it right, but it was good to get on him and have just a short play. If nothing else, that contact helps reinforce the bond between horse and rider and by being a short session, neither of us got frustrated. We practiced, we finished, everyone went home happy. It wasn't perfect, but it was progress.

I also paddled for the few minutes I had between the horse ride and bike ride. Glad I did it, I could really feel the muscles reminding me that I haven't used them in awhile and they needed the training. Hope to get on the water this Sunday. We'll see if things go a bit better than last weekend!

And then finally, at 6:00pm, Kirsty, Amanda and I taught Body Odyssey as our new release launch format! Oh my goodness it was SO MUCH FUN! We did 4 Body Pump tracks, 5 Body Attack tracks, and 4 Body Balance tracks, with a cooldown & stretch. We had 23 people in class, we had Lorna Jane clothing for sale down the back, and it looked like a party! It was so exciting! Since nothing can be perfect, I started the Ab track with the Hips music! hahaha OOPS!

All-in-all, it was a busy and productive day! I was really happy with the training I squeezed in, particularly with the other commitments I had during the day.

I went home and was in bed by 9:30!

Today was less interesting. Just work and Attack today. We were busy at work, lots of meetings, setting up, tearing down, changing over. And we had an afternoon tea. This means my Seniors Gym class has snacks after class. Snacks, when produced by marvellous cooks with decades of experience means I eat way more than I need to. Body Attack burns off about 400 calories in the hour. I would need to do about five classes to burn off what I ate today! Oh heavens! Shall we call it carbo-loading to justify? :) hehe

Prepping for the Weekend

Well, quickly before I go on about getting ready for the ride, I want to take a short moment to brag about my Thursday.

Thursday:
Thursday morning I taught Balance, which I put a bit of extra effort into, and then after work I ran on the treadmill for 80 minutes! I travelled for 12km including warmup, and then cooled down for about 5 minutes, which I didn't count in my distances or time, then had a quick bite to eat and a fruit juice to revive myself, threw a Berocca tablet into my water bottle and went to Body Attack!

Now, it wasn't a pretty Attack. No impressive high knees or butt kicks, but I did do the high options throughout, and although I felt like it might a few times, it didn't kill me! YAY! The very hardest thing last night was the ab track. My abs were trashed and this is the only track where I really had to back off. I simply didn't have enough control to do the "full" exercise properly. Low options abounded here! However, I made it through 140 minutes of near continuous exercise last night!

I actually recon that's going to be close to how I'll feel going from the run to the paddle, and that's a bit of a wake up call too! So much more work to do to keep the body going, especially if I want to be remotely competitive!

Did I mention that I'm competitive?

I got home and ate and showered and was in bed by 8:30pm. And then I slept through a bike ride with Helen this morning. I was meant to get up at 6, but didn't see light of day until very near to 7. I really needed the recovery time, and am feeling pretty alright today! I need to do a big bike ride on Sunday. I have tenative plans to ride with Kirsty, but will go even if she can't. Was hoping to do 80km this week, but looks like only 50ish for me this week.

Friday:
If I get everything listed below here done and feel up to it, I will paddle for up to 60 minutes tonight, but am not expecting to get to that, as I have plenty to do! I need to pack for the horse, pack for the humans and prepare our food.

Prepare the horse:

• saddle, bridle, blanket, saddle pad, halter, lead rope
• hoof pick, stethoscope, brushes, thermometer
• feeds (3 - one for the morning, and one for afterwards, and one for Nero), and feed bucket
• water and water bucket
• electric fence unit, electric tape roll, star pickets, post driver, insulators
• trim TKs front hoof which has a funny crack that needs attention
• TKs papers

Prepare for the humans:

• helmet, jodphurs, a few different shirt and jacket options depending on weather conditions
• chairs for the sitting around bits
• food and water
• money for entry, insurance, and hay or other eventualities if required

For meals I plan to prepare:

• Breakfast: boiled egg and boston baked beans wrap
• Snack: on the go fruit crumble and sustagen drink
• Lunch: Tuna and spinach wraps
• Snack: museli bars and fruit and/or polenta veggie muffins if I manage to make them

Because it's only 20km and therefore only about 2 hours ride, I won't worry about bringing a water bottle or hydration pack with me on the ride. However, I did have a water bottle holder for my saddle once upon a time, and they are very handy to have, and I want another one! Don't know how I lost the first one anyway. I'd like a carrier that spans the front of the saddle, and on one side has a water bottle holder with a bit of insulation to keep the water from boiling, and the other side to be just a velcro pocket for slipping in a few jelly beans or something similar, and space for a camera! I haven't seen one like this yet. I wonder if I can get one custom made? That'd be kinda cool!

We need to be at the ride at the latest 7:30am to vet in. It's going to be a near 2 hour drive, so we need to leave at 5:30am. That means I'll probably need to be up at 4:45am so I can feed the horses, feed ourselves, load TK, and get off in good time. It will be dark when we load, but should have light by just after 6am.

So I better get started!!
Wish us luck! I am hoping for a great day!

The Sunday After

It's the Sunday after three weeks full of work challenges, it's the Sunday after it all finally gets back to normal!

Last night I slept. And today I slept in! And rested! Oh, how I needed a rest! I am actually glad I didn't try to push the workouts this last week. The crazy shifts at work, a staff member moving on to other opportunities, staff being away sick, and just so many events back-to-back meant that I wasn't getting the recovery time I needed, mentally, at the very least. I wasn't sleeping well, and was up early every day, and coming home spent!

I did six workouts this past week, all fitness classes, and all were great for maintenance, but even there, I was feeling a bit of lethargy. In Attack Kirsty wondered if I had run prior to class. I hadn't, I was just that low on energy.

It also didn't help that I wasn't on top of my diet. Nutrition, as we have established, plays such a critical role in my general well being and energy levels. This week started well, but fell to pieces as the week got more hectic. I ended up eating many super-sugary pre-packaged high-fat low-value meals this week. When I eat like this I feel hungry all the time, as none of this food satisfies in the long-term, so I ate a lot more than I needed too. Normally I don't pay attention to my weight and it holds relatively steady, but this week there was a noticeable weight gain.

Again, I found circumstances ruling, somehow I wasn't in charge of my own food once again (up too early, home too late, missed the shops, no time to prepare anything). This is a real problem for me, especially as I am now working my way through what might be food intolerances, or what might just be a symptom of over training. Either way, not eating right means I'm pretty sure to be feeling a bit ick in the tummy, which sure doesn't help!

So, although today could have been spent doing a few workouts (which I surely needed) I instead spent it doing a few things that I think were more in line with improving my energy levels. Doing things like laundry, mopping the floors (not done in three weeks!), and preparing a few big meals ahead have made me feel back in control while not trying to push myself today, when I'm still low.

I also took the time to review the priorities I set at the beginning of the month. Holding these priorities in mind really kept me on top of my training schedule and I always felt like I was moving forward and accomplishing the important things first! So, I have added a new first priority - me eating well!

1. Nutrition - continue striving to eat nutritious, balanced meals that keep me feeling energised, healthy and ready for each challenge.
2. Horse - min 4 sessions per week - he is an athlete and needs to be trained like one.
3. Run - min 3 sessions per week - running a minimum of three times per week is the only way to maintain my knee strength. Run my race distance consistently!
4. Cycle - min 3 sessions per week - This will be my weakest link and needs to be strong.  I will have to do 20km of hills in varying terrain after having done a previous 4ish hours of exercise!
5. Paddling - can get squeezed in anywhere and I will only need 2 or 3 sessions a week.
6. Rowing - I will use the rowing machine once a week as a tool to work on swimming fitness. The pool will be opened to a few people doing specialised training at the beginning of October. I will have almost a month to get this discipline up to par.

So, with a few bulk meals getting finished up, and my priorities reviewed, I feel ready to face the week and expect to see many successes! I hope to push out a few personal bests this week!

Have a great day, and keep well!

My Brain is Mush

I woke up early this morning, stressing about work, and since I couldn't sleep and couldn't think about anything else, I went in early and got lots done. Glad I went in early, because people started showing up about an hour early! ACK! Luckily we were almost ready for them.

The day was busy, and everything went really well. There were 42 teams, lots and lots of people, and food food food! Oh my goodness, if I never see another hot chip again.... *sigh*

Anyway, days like this are tough. There's so much to do the whole day, and you just don't take care of yourself, there simply isn't time to do more that grab a bite of something, serve someone, put another bite in, run and fix something... I don't even plan on bringing anything in to work on a day like this. It's just pointless. I didn't drink enough water at all, and I ate a spinach and ricotta roll (which was shoved in my pocket and eaten in mouthfulls between this's and thats's) and stole a few chips (french fries) when I had the chance. I snatched a few lollies from time to time, and afterwards we enjoyed an afternoon tea with the organisers, and I had a few delightful sandwiches and these adorable super-mini chocolate muffins. YUM!

And then, due to the fact that there was so much cleaning to do, so much money to organise, and a sick staff member, Kirsty and I worked at least an extra hour after it was all said and done so the place would be sort of ready for rollerblading.

And then, when I stopped, I just went plop! Oh my! Suddenly I feel awful! My neck aches, my feet ache, and my tummy is overfull of nothing good. I have eaten so many kj/cal today with so little nutrition, that I feel I should eat in order to put something of worth into me, but at the same time feel that I shouldn't eat, because I've eaten about a weeks worth of sugar and saturated fat and definitely am not hungry.

Am going to relax for awhile, and then try to row or paddle or just a little something at a low intensity to work the kinks out, maybe do a few Balance tracks to ease everything back into place. Yes, that Balance idea sounds like the best plan of the lot!

Due to sick staff member, I will be going to work tomorrow, from 7:30am to 1:00pm. I will take TK for a ride after work, and then the farrier is coming. A run after the farrier will be great if the weather is nice.

Sunday is a social bike ride with all the Katanning riders with their new jumpers. We all have new Katanning Kruisers cycling shirts and we are going to be getting our photo in the paper. A long paddle is also on the cards for Sunday, and I think I should ride TK again, as we only have two more weeks to prepare for the endurance ride. I'm thinking of just doing conditioning laps around the track. 1 lap walk, 1 trot, 1 walk, 1 canter, repeat. If we need to do 20 km and the track is 1.8km long, that's ... (oh damn, math) ... 11ish laps. Probably should do 12. Boring, but I'll bet we'll get more out of it than our little forays down the rail line? I'll call it a conditioning ride, and the rail rides a training ride. :)

I love semantics.

Hope you out there have a marvellous weekend!

Attack, Runs, TV, and Rain

Wow! The rain... let me tell you! The rain has not let up for 18 hours! It just keeps coming down and down and down! It is so wet out there! An outside run was out of the question today. And I decided I would rather not plod on the treadmill for 12km. It just seemed too boring.

But an hour of Attack! That seemed like fun! And it'd still be awesome for my fitness. It's so much more fun to have a bunch of sweaty people bouncing around and a cheery instructor shouting encouragement. That keeps me going!

So I came home from work and made chocolate chip cookies!

Then I knew there was no way I was missing Attack! I am sure there's twice the calories in cookie dough... and I ate about 6 cookies worth! Ugh! What a mistake! hahaha  I love the taste so much, and yet I know it's going to make me feel ill. Weird how we do these things to ourselves!

Anyway, show up for Attack, and it was just the instructors at first - Kirsty (Attack instructor), Amanda (Pump) and myself (Balance). Then Kez (PT) showed, that's another instructor, and finally Robyn, an actual participant/fitness enthusiast! That makes a whole 4 participants. Not enough for a class. Pooh. Where are all the participants? Probably stuck in the mud out there somewhere!

So after some deliberation, we decided to go for a play in the gym. I set about my run, and did 6km in 41 minutes flat, including warm up. So nowhere near my intended 12km, and much slower than my usual average (but I took a nice long warm up), but still a workout, and it was fun, because we all just had a nice chat while working out. We tried working out a few ideas to increase the numbers to Attack, including moving the time and the room so it's less intimidating to people.

It's really unfortunate that people are scared of Attack, at least that's what we are guessing is keeping them away. People have heard that it's hard. And then they just don't come and don't just try. We just aren't sure how to make the class seem more accessible to people. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear about it! :)

So, looks like I'll be well rested for work on Friday, and will be doing a spin and paddle Friday after work if I'm not too mentally fried. Maybe I can paddle while Better Homes and Gardens is on. I really like that show! It's one of the few I watch regularly, and even know that it's on Friday nights. All the other shows are like a lottery or surprise to me. "Oh really, is that on tonight?" I never know! I think that's kind of a good thing. TV isn't all that important and there's not that much I can't miss!

Thursday's Run

Couldn't sleep last night - or early this morning, I suppose - and so I got up at 6am and, after blogging, I paddled for 20 minutes.

Then I did all those morning things one must do to get to work.

I taught Balance at work, which was lovely, and after work I went for a 12km run.

Once again, I tried to talk myself out of it, but couldn't, so off I went! :) I'm going to have to get over that habit, since it only seems to result in wasting time!

I walked much of the first two kilometres, because I was just so tight, and was really worried about my ability to finish. And yet, in I came, in two minutes less than the last 12km run I did (which was when?  AGES ago), and in the end, with less trouble, pain, and tightness. I came in like Hop-Along Cassidy last time due to serious knee pain. No knee pain here today! Woohoo!

In fact, although I didn't go to Attack afterwards, I think if I had prepared better food and recovery drinks following the run, I would have actually been able to do Attack. Not well or anything! But still, I think I could have done it!  As it was I devoured a chocolate bar when I got in because I was just so aching for sugar!  It had been a few hours since I had last eaten, so I think the delay was the culprit.

My hamstrings and glutes are really tight - and that's not in the bragging way (ooh, look at her tight butt) :P - they are really short and sore!  And a few more stretches and a nice warm bed will do the trick I am sure!

One thing I think I have learned is that I need a much longer warm up for my runs, and will start experimenting with different warm up routines, because as I am going out now, the first two kilometres are really painful, and then I loosen up and get moving well ... and I really don't want to spend that long aching on each run!

Any suggestions for good warm up routines to get the glutes and hamstrings loosened up?

Tomorrow we are having dinner at T&Es and at some point I am going to do a long paddle.  I will just see how long the body allows me to go for! Should be fun!!  I sure hope there's something good on TV!

Last Three Days of Workouts

So, I started a new workout schedule that has horse riding as my number one priority.

Monday morning I got up and rode TK. We did our lessons for about 45 minutes, and then went out for just a walk for another 45 minutes. It was so great to just do that first thing. If I had farted about and then did a run or a bike ride or paid the bills, I could have dragged any of those tasks out and felt too time poor to ride. But I took the time I wanted to do my ride, and then fit in bill paying, dishes, etc when I got done. And everything got done.

Monday's are meant to be a recovery run, but after Sunday's effort a run wasn't on the cards, my body just said no, so instead I walked for recovery. Much better!

Then at work, I taught Balance and enjoyed the long stretches!

Tuesday I taught Circuit, and I didn't do the complete circuit, instead I focused on doing some inner thigh strengthening exercises to see if this helps with my running strength, knee pain. I did some lunges and squats as well.  Not a full workout by any stretch of the imagination, just what I could squeeze in between teaching the new participant how to perform the exercises safely.

After work I really really struggled to do my bike ride. I tried to talk myself out of it in a dozen ways. As it turns out, all my excuses were rubbish and I went anyway.  I did one hour of hills, with a 21.7 average, on a bike that is driving me crazy because it needs a tune up and keeps changing gears at random!  Not nice when cruising up a hill and it shifts to a harder gear on you! I must get my bike serviced, and soon! 


The only thing I'll have to take into account on my Tuesday bike ride is that I am riding at 4ish (I didn't actually get going until 4:20) and the sun is getting low in the sky. Sunset is at 5:30, so I just need to be sure I don't leave it much later.  I am riding into the sun on the way out and the sun is at my back on the way home, which should mean that drivers can see me, so I should be fine, but it did make me a little nervous seeing the sun so low in the sky.

What was nice about the ride is that I took it at my pace, so sometimes quite slow on a few climbs, but I still managed to stay above 20km/hr. Perfect, if I can start to improve upon that, I will have no troubles!

Wednesday was another horsey ride. This one was a bit shorter, just over an hour, but a longer ride out, no lesson in the round yard.  We did walk/trot this time, but focusing on getting an energised walk.  I think the only thing I should have done is gotten started earlier in the morning. But that's alright, mission accomplished.

Following the horse ride, I was scheduled to do a 1 hour recovery bike ride, but I wanted to add in a 5km run, because Thursday is meant to be my race run (12km hills), and I thought that I really needed a build up run and to see how my legs were doing. So, I opted to spin for 30 minutes and run for 30 minutes so I could still get to work on time.

The spin was good, and the run was slow and easy. I tried to not look at my running time. I was stiff and sore, so I just ran for the feel, and loosened up.  I did end up looking at my watch in two places, where I have 'outs' or shortcuts, in case it was taking a long time, but I was actually doing fine. It was my slowest 5km run yet, but only by a few seconds. Fastest 5k = 29:04, Slowest = 30:47.  And I did feel much better and looser for doing it!

To stay in line with my goals, I actually turned down a bike ride with Helen. Although it would have been a great ride, I feel quite good that I stuck to my schedule, as I am sure I wouldn't have accomplished everything I wanted to.

Then Balance, which finished things off nicely. Sometimes, though I wish I could just hold a stretch for longer... but I think my class would be very confused by that! They know the choreography as well as I do  now!

After work I was meant to do a 20 minute paddle, but I was so tired I crashed at 9:30, and decided to do it this morning. This has worked out well, because I couldn't sleep and so finally got out of bed at 6am.  I'll get my paddling done, get rid of last nights dishes, and head off to work!

Tonight is my race run. Friday is a riding lesson and more paddling. Saturday and Sunday need some rearranging because I am working both days.

Interesting little side-bar: I have been caffeine free for about 5 days now, and I feel great for it!  I am drinking more water, feel more hydrated, and in the last few days have been much happier! I only drink tea, who would have thought I could notice this much difference!?

Interesting Site

I haven't had a chance to completely peruse this site yet, but it looks very interesting.

It's Michael Pollan's site, the guy who wrote In Defence of Food and seems to be full of great resources.

I think I'll be browsing here quite a lot, and can't wait to read his book!