I'm Scared!

There's not long to go now.

13.5 weeks.

94 days.

And so much to do.  The numbers are getting bigger, the times longer, the challenge greater...

And I'm scared!  I'm starting to become overwhelmed by it all.  In a paralysing kinda way. 

The sheer magnitude of what I am undertaking is now staring me right down the barrels.  I can see VERY clearly the end goal. I can genuinely feel how much work this is going to be. And doubt is not just creeping in, but really snaking in, and wrapping itself around my chest, and squeezing.

Right now, when I think of the end goal, I can't see past the work in the way of accomplishing it, and although I know in a logical way that if I stick to my plan, and work the numbers and focus on my diet as I have been, that I can and will succeed at crossing the finish line.  The problem is that the heart doesn't give a damn about logic! 

I am at an impasse. I'm not sure how to unravel the fear and keep pushing forward. I mean, I am sure I will figure it out, but wow, what a terrible thing to be caught in these invisible clutches and unsure how to get out.

I suppose little-by-little, day-by-day, is really the answer.  Just making myself get out there and do it. One little hurdle at a time should build my confidence in my ability to complete the biggest hurdle of them all.  And knowing that I really only have to do 'the day' one event at a time. 

What would I tell a client in this situation?

• Consistency is the key success.
• Work in small steps to reach big goals.
• Focus on the desired outcome (the exhilaration of completing!)
• Work your plan.
• Modify when you need to.
• Rest and Reward yourself for your hard work.
• And be nice to yourself: try to turn every negative thought into a positive thought!

So, here I go!  

What's that old adage?  Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's about feeling fear and doing it anyway.

Or, in the words of Nelson Mandela:

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

Wish me luck, and all kinds of other good things! :) 

The Rest of Sunday

I did end up napping Sunday afternoon.  I really needed a nap!  Only had a half-hour lay-down, but it sure helped!

I did lots of housework, at least 5 loads of laundry (where does it all come from!?), and scrubbed my much neglected bathroom.

And I did TKs lessons, and he was so good!  He really absorbed Chris' lessons and responded well, and didn't challenge me like he had done during our lesson.  Now to just keep it up!

I also spoke to Lauren, who was still in Perth and is going to pick up a crop for me.  She'll be back on Monday evening.  I did speak to her about riding TK, but it doesn't sound like she's going to have time to help with TK, so I might just start putting it out there to other riders and see if there's anyone looking for a horse to ride.  The unfortunate truth about horses, though, is that there are far more horses looking for riders than riders looking for horses.

We went to T&Es for dinner and it was really lovely, though both Mat and I were exhausted from our days' work, and probably really poor company. Mat worked all weekend - again - and came home and had a nap also before we headed out.  We had a nice meal, very basic, and sometimes that's the best! Beef, gravy and beans with mashed potato and pumpkin and some boiled peas.  Strawberries and ice cream for dessert.  By 8:30 I was starting to really fade and by 9:00 we were heading home.

Then I did the wrong thing: I plonked onto the couch and couldn't get up to go to bed until just after 10.  I was SO tired... you know when you're too tired to even reach for the remote?  You know you should go to bed, but you just can't get enough strength together to stand up?  yeah...

So this morning I didn't get up when my alarm went off.  In fact, I was barely awake at 8:00am! I am feeling so tired and lethargic.  I have been moving so slowly this morning, I am really paying for my big weekend.  It's like an exercise hangover!! :)

I did do 16 minutes of paddling this morning, and am building up to about 120 minutes (yep, two hours!) so I really hope to get myself to water a few times to really get a feel for it, and also so I'm not just sitting in the lounge room paddling the air going nowhere.

I teach Balance tonight, so that will take the sting out of my legs and will really enjoy having a rest day today, and have a big day planned for tomorrow.

Tuesday, I work 8:30-3:30, so will run at 3:30 for about 1 hour or approx 10-12km (and might do my loop outside if the weather is nice), then play with TK for about 30 minutes (5:00-5:30pm), then make some dinner and relax then 50 minutes on the rowing machine from about 7:00 onwards, as there is nothing on TV on Tuesday nights.

Weekend Warrior

I am a weekend warrior!  This weekend has been very full, and it's not even lunchtime on Sunday yet!  But I am taking a short break to share... It's as good of a time as any to stop and have a cuppa! :)

Friday 
After work, I had a riding lesson with Chris, who just got back from a 15 day horse back riding adventure across the outback.  It sounded marvellous!  I would like to do something like that one day!

So anyway, as you know, TK has been spelling for two weeks on doctor's orders (and a little longer than that on my laziness and poor scheduling), and has been feeling very frisky.  So I wanted to start at ground zero with him, and make sure he's really got his basics mastered.

My first endurance ride is in 30ish days and I have two basic objectives for training prior to the ride:

1. Complete control of the speed of travel
2. Management of behaviour when facing a challenging situation (I would not presuppose to ever have complete control of this!)

With these two ideas in mind, we started with some English basics.  First lunging him with contact to teach him to lower his head and soften into the bit, rather than fight it, and to gain impulsion through the hind end.  This helps build 'topline' or translated into human fitness, it means 'good alignment or posture'. 

For all his friskiness in the paddock, in the round yard TK is quite lazy!

At the end of the lunging session I got on and started to work on managing my hand position and encouraging a forward walk and trot - thereby controlling his speed - and discovered that it was way harder than it sounded.

My legs run out of kick long before TK runs out of lazy.

So, although I have not had to use one on any horse I've owned before, I have agreed that I will carry a crop with him.  Not for a beating or anything like that, but for a smack on the shoulder to remind him that he is to do what I ask, and thereby not exhausting myself.

He will get a few days of 30 minute sessions of lunging and short rides, and then we'll start heading out again to build long slow distances.

I am hoping that Lauren will be willing to ride him two days a week.  Or more to the point, I am hoping I can afford to pay her to ride him two days a week! She just got back from two weeks away, so will give her the weekend and bring it up with her on Monday.  I hope to ride him another two days a week: Friday lessons and a Saturday or Sunday distance ride.

Saturday
I had to work Saturday morning, and it was quite a nice day of work.  A bit quieter than I usually like, because then you're looking for things to do, but not too bad most of the time.

After work I stopped by Helen & Carl's for a cuppa and to pick up the tent I bought off them, and then headed back to work, where I went for a run on the treadmill.

I put on a heart rate monitor strap and I set the hill program for 95 minutes (the longest program it has) and for level 5 and started to go at it!  I was running a bit slower than I normally do, but then again, I was running at an average grade of 2.8%, and each timeblock was 5 minutes, so when it got up to 5% grade, I was there uphill for 5 minutes!  And the program won't let you adjust your incline, only your speed.  So, I was working between 8 and 9km/hr depending on my incline, and after about 45 minutes I decided to slow down to a walk, and you would not believe what happened!!

I bumped the emergency stop button!!

There's nothing you can do to recover your data, time, speed, distance, nothing, when you hit that button.  It's GONE. And so I stood there swearing at the machine while I tried to reset it, tried to remember how far I had gone and how long... the last time I looked at the display I had gone about 6.7km and had about 42 minutes to go... so frustrating!  Anyway, I fired it back up and went for only another 30 minutes and got to about 10km and hopped off.

The neat thing about having the heart rate strap on was noticing how long I could work on the top end of my cardio zone, I was quite comfortable there in the mid 160s (~85%) for long stretches, 15-20 minutes easily, before I started to creep into the lower levels of my max zone (~90% or 166-170bpm).  Even in my max zone, 5 minutes wasn't impossible before having to back down a little.  I was planning on bringing the heart rate strap and watch with me on the bike ride, but just plumb forgot!

After my run I stopped for a brief visit to T&E who were away for a month, are back for the weekend and away again on Monday for an unknown time.  Got home, showered, made dinner, baked banana bread, made three loaves of bread and still got to bed by 9:30 because I was tired and because I wanted to be well rested for the big ride on Sunday.

Sunday
It's always surprising to be up in the dark.  It's an odd feeling, like you're one of the few people alive, when you are awake at 5:30am. Anyway, I got myself decked out for the cold ride ahead, and headed off to meet everyone at TDG for 6:30am start.  I got there and decided right then that I had chosen the wrong gloves.  I had travelled 2km and my fingers were frozen.  I zipped home and got big happy thinsulate gloves and met everyone without delaying the ride too much.

It got really light by 7am, and it wasn't as cold as it has been. It was a bright clear morning, and really quite pleasant. It's a bit hard to know if you've dressed right sometimes, but I was mostly comfortable for the ride most of the time, and grateful for the extra layers, especially when we headed downhill into the low wet valleys - man it was COLD down there!  My hands did get sweaty a few times, but I was grateful for those gloves.  Especially when considering how cold my feet were, and they were in big fuzzy socks!  I'm glad just my feet were suffering!

There were lots of hard climbs, and I wasn't going very fast, but I had told Carl prior to the ride I was expecting to do a 20km/hr average.  He didn't believe me at first, and expected that I could work at around 25, but indeed, there I was, working to my maximum, at quite a slow pace. It took me 1 hour 55 minutes and change to do the 42km trek, and I had an average of 21.4, which I was quite happy with. I was only about 5-10 minutes behind the pack, I was really expecting to be much slower!  Yay me! Doing better than I hoped!

Mat came and picked me up, because all the rest were crazy enough to ride back home!  I was done. No, I wasn't done done, but I would have been MUCH slower to make it back home, especially with the wind picking up.  By the time I neared Katanning again, I would have been completely destroyed.

Upon returning home I showered, started to make breakfast, and was interrupted with a wood delivery, so started stacking wood, then remembered I had a pan on the stove, and came in to a house full of smoke!  Oh man! luckily, no real harm done, just a very charred bottom of my frying pan!  Lots of laundry, dishes, sweeping and mopping to do, and a fire to start.

But my next big priority will be to dress TK and take him for a spin in the round yard and practice our lessons.

Well, maybe a nap should come first?! :)

Quick Stats

Just looked at my totals in my training log and was quite pleased with the results.

From December 1st 09 to 30th May 10 I recorded my swim, bike, and runs.  My totals were:

• Swim: 7km
• Bike: 517.05km
• Run: 234.84km

I did record all my other sessions, but they weren't itemised in the same way as I have done for the second half of my training.
Total training sessions for this period: 186 
Added note: this was during a period of 182 days, so just a fraction over one session a day.

From 31st May 10 to 23 July 10, my distances were:

• Swim: 0 (no pool, afterall)
• Bike: 269.46km
• Run: 72.4km (hmm, I think I need to pick this back up. It's looking kinda slack!)
• Horse: 39km
• Row: 8.53km

Total training sessions in this period: 122
Added note: this is during a period of only 56 days, so my rate is up to 2.2 sessions per day

Only 99 days to go!

So a lot of work has been done, but there's plenty to do!  My training session rate is up, but I want to do a lot more running and horsing around.

The suggestion has been made that I should try to get someone to ride TK since I don't seem to have the time.  It's a good suggestion and I am going to bring it up with a friend.  Wish me luck with that!

The sunshine is increasing, and my energy is generally on the upswing, so I am looking forward to increasing my duration and intensity!!

Challenging Day

It's about 6:40ish pm as I start this, and I'm tired.  I think I've done well all day.  I suppose it wasn't all that bad... but still ...

I'm a bit doughy in the morning, but I got up on time, despite how cold it was, and started to work through my plan.

My plan was interrupted in two ways:

1. No hot water - frozen water pipes. :( No shower!
2. My cat peed bloody urine in one of the kitchen cupboards!  And not swearing 'bloody' but urine with blood in it!  That is bad and definitely requires attention.

This meant that I didn't have a shower, and also that I ended up not paddling for 10 minutes, because I was cleaning up cat pee and trying to defrost pipes with the water in the kettle.  No luck with the pipes, should have just paddled.

Change of plan:

1. Call vet to get an appointment as soon as possible.
2. Shower at work after I teach Balance (yes, this works just fine!)

I am done work at 3:30, and got the appointment for 4:15pm for cat and dog (who needs vaccinations), which I figure means I can still get about a 5km run in (3:30-4:00pm), get the animals to the vet, come home, eat a bite, feed T&E's cats and dogs and fish on the way to class, go to Attack.

My plan was interrupted in a few ways:

1. I got done work at 3:30, but really didn't take into consideration how long I needed to get changed, warmed up, cooled down and redressed in civilised clothing.  Run = 3.5km, not 5km, and certainly not the 7 as booked in my training schedule.
2. Appointment took a lot longer than I thought. I took the dog in for his vaccinations and it turns out he has a heart murmur.  The cat has a bladder infection (or a stone, but we're going to hope it's an infection first), and possibly hyper-thyroidism. Oh great!
3. Get home from appointment after 5pm, feed and dress the horses, and decide to do T&Es animals and then return home to change (bad idea).  Everyone got fed, came home, can't find the house key. Not in my pockets, not in my car, not under the seat, not on the ground, not anywhere. Return to T&Es and search for key. Nothing.  Return home and search for key again. Nothing. Buggery!  Find spare key, get inside. Search for something to eat... last two pieces of bread. Out of peanut butter. Blah.
4. Cat pees on the floor in the kitchen!! What the hell!!?!??! Clean up cat pee for the SECOND TIME today!! Grr!!
5. Growl in frustration, sit down, turn on the computer, forget completely about getting changed and heading to Attack, consider making a cup of tea... Look at the time... oh shit!! It's 6:30!  I've missed Attack by a million years! (It starts at 6). So I paddle instead, but that's only 10 minutes...

I should have just changed and gone over.  I should have realised I only had just enough time as it was, let alone if something went wrong. But you don't think of these things, do you?  And I was totally distressed by losing my key. I keep my house key on a separate ring so I can carry it when I leave for a bike ride or run and not need my car keys or work keys.  I suppose the good thing is that I haven't lost all my keys.  Of course, if it had been on the key ring with everything else, I wouldn't have lost it... but I digress...

Anyway, I did paddle for 10 minutes, so I've done that, but I feel just terrible for missing class! I was really looking forward to it all week!  But just a few minutes of disruption to the plan got me completely off course.  I should get myself a workout DVD to do at home in cases like this.  Or maybe I should cycle for awhile to make up for it?

Well, now that I've blah'ed all that out, I think I'll make some bread, maybe watch some TV, and hope Kirsty forgives me for missing class.

Two Hours Continuous?

Was I was biting off more than I can chew!?

Two hours of continuous exercise five days a week is a bit of an elusive goal, it seems.  Okay, I've only been working towards that for a few days, but so far, I've only managed that one day of cycling on the trainer.

Better to be positive!  I can and I will do this, I am capable, I just need to work harder to achieve it!

On the positive notes, I have done three days of very intensive gardening, for no less than 3 hours each day, and that sure felt like exercise to me.  This was no 'pottering amongst the petals' but weeding, digging, mulching!  Lots of wheelbarrow and shovel usage!  And I was quite sore after each bout of gardening, but highly satisfied with the results. So though I won't count it towards my training, I will call it low intensity long duration endurance activity! :)

Last night I obtained a paddle, so I paddled for 5 minutes, and really felt it in my shoulders.  That will take some development, so I am glad I have the paddle now and am not just going to jump in unprepared at the race.

I went for a bike ride today with Helen, Sue and Steve.  It was 3 degrees at 9am, and upon our return it was only 9 degrees.  It was cold, but a bright and sunshiney day with not too much wind.  We did the Police Pools Road, which is about 25km return, and I struggled to maintain a 27km/hr average with the group.  They frequently had to drop back, pick me up, and I'd keep up for awhile, then fall back.  I felt laboured in my breathing and just generally 'not strong'.  Every day is different, so I suppose that's what happens.

We are planning to ride to Kojonup - 45km with good hills and usually a strong head wind - on Sunday, leaving at 6am, and hopefully arriving at 8:30am, and enjoying breakfast at the Road House. Most of the group will also be riding back after breakfast, but, although I was saying to Steve at the start of the ride this morning, "that 60km ride really boosted my confidence", I am now doubting my ability to stick with the pack for the ride out, let alone the trip back.  I guess we'll see.  If worse comes to worse, I can call Mat and he can come pick me up, right? If less than worse comes, I'll just take longer and do it at my own speed.

I was going to follow my bike ride this morning with a run for up to 1 hour (aiming for that two hour goal), but I wasn't feeling that great so I just did the 1.8km loop at the race track and followed that with 7 minutes of paddling.

Positive thoughts for today:
- I went for the ride, I did what I promised myself I'd do!
- I listened to my body and worked with the energy I had!
- I am developing great shoulders and improved upper body strength by paddling!

There is so much good in the world!

Just a short note, a link and a few unfinished thoughts...

http://operationbeautiful.com/

Operation Beautiful.  What a good idea!  There's been a lot of discussion on negative self-talk in many of the blogs I follow.  It's a killer of self-esteem, power and the ability to succeed.

The general message: misery loves company, and misery gets stronger if left to roll along unchecked!

We are all bombarded by enough negativity, and most of it comes from within us!  We do this to ourselves!

Operation Beautiful, and many other great sites talk about the power of positive self-talk, about being your own champion, and singing your own praises!

It's time to talk to yourself they way you'd talk to your best friend, with praise and love and excitement and encouragment.

Body Clock - Another Neat Link

I don't know if you can download the show from the website, but this was a really interesting program about your body clock, and generally about the 24 hour cycle of body rhythms.  When we're best at things, and worst at things.

http://www.sbs.com.au/documentary/program/secretlifeofyourbodyclock/about/synopsis

Interestingly enough, one of the points made was about how important light is in encouraging us to be 'morning people' or 'night owls' and that wearing sunglasses in the morning can start to adjust your clock to a later time (if you happen to get out of bed way too early) and that wearing sunglasses in the afternoon can encourage you to go to bed earlier, and therefore rise earlier.

I was wondering then, what happens when your glasses are auto-tinting and always tint whenever exposed to sunlight, as mine do? Are my glasses in fact encouraging my body clock to always be on the lookout for a nap?  Have my morning wakeup problems actually be exacerbated by the fact that I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a pair of glasses that are meant to protect my eyes from harmful UV rays?

An interesting conundrum, yes?

Thoughts?

Friday's Cycle-athon!

Well, I'm no Tour de France cyclist, but I did pedal my butt off for TWO WHOLE HOURS on Friday night! I was on the mag trainer, so was able to sit up and stretch my neck regularly, which means I haven't gotten any neck pain this morning!

I was hoping to watch a movie while I rode, but Mat really wanted to watch the Footy game, so I tried my darndest to go for the whole thing, but ended up pulling up with 30 seconds to go in the third quarter. There wasn't anything left in me to finish those last 30 seconds, and there definitely was not another half an hour or more to make it to the end of the game!

A 100 minute football game (4x25minute quarters), when all is said and done, takes three hours including breaks, commercials, stop time, and all the pointless blathering that goes on before the game actually gets under way!

I did take two short breaks, which I did not count towards my time total.  I only counted the time my legs were actually spinning over. I took one 5 minute break after an hour, when I added some padding to my handlebars. Big relief! The second was a 5 minute stretch break after the next thirty minutes, my butt and hamstrings and 4th toe on my right foot were cramping up!  Even bigger relief! That was into the half-time show, and I hopped back on for the next quarter, and tried really hard to ride to the siren, but damned if I could do any more.

122 minutes of cycling, working at about 80rpm most of the time (so just a steady going pace on medium gearing), with a total of 10 minutes break.  I started just before 8:30, and finished just after 10:30pm. I get to count 50km for that effort!

There are two reasons why I did such a big ride.  One is because I didn't do any riding this week and wanted to get my distance up and the other is because I have a new goal:

My newly formed goal is to do two hours of continuous exercise five days a week.  

In about four weeks time I'd like to increase one day per week to 3 hours, and then in another four weeks time take that one day up to 4 hours.  It wouldn't have to be a single 'event', I could run for 1 hour, cycle for 1 hour, or row and swim, or whatever.  This is all in a bid to improve my stamina over the long haul, because I won't be able to stop for a nanna nap when it comes time to do the Blackwood!

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!

The Last Few Days

I didn't work out Tuesday night due to my neck complaint.

Wednesday morning no run or anything for the same reason, but did do Balance Wednesday night!  Had 7 people in the end, when I was all but convinced we'd have no one.  Only 2 people showed up for Pump, so what chance did Balance have?!  My neck only gave me a little yelp a couple of times... funny how many little niggles and complaints I am developing.

Today, Thursday, my neck feels much better.  I have almost complete range of motion without pain, just a bit tight on the left and when dropping my head completely forward, but it isn't restricting me at all, so I went to Attack!  And then there was no Attack! Blah! School holidays suck!  It's like the entire world stops functioning normally!

Anyway, since she had no students to teach Attack to, Kirsty and I did a few Pump tracks in the gym instead. Biceps and Triceps were really good.  I should probably put more weight on Backs, Butts & Hamstrings, but just worry about my back in the deadlifts (my form is terrible), though I have no problem in the clean and presses, and I could row 5's for ages and ages. Should have gone heavier in Squats, since we didn't do Lunges. But I got a workout in, which is good, because I've had a few days off, and it's always nice to feel physical again.  Reading a book and relaxing is great, and I've no regrets at all, but exercise makes me feel really alive!

I've been eating well all this week and last, too, and although I've stopped writing in my food diary (that lasted about 4 or 5 days and now is completely off the radar again), I am still making sure I get two fruit and that we have at least one meal completely chock full of veggies, but preferably two. I've baked home made bread two times this week (since I wasn't running anywhere), and we had really nice salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday. Today was probably my worst day nutrition-wise (I've eaten a lot of peanut butter sandwiches), though I did get 2 serves of fruit and 2 of dairy, but no veggies yet to speak of... so bring on the stir-fry for tonight's dinner! Mat and I did indulge in a family block of chocolate between us on Thursday night last week as we enjoyed a night in, but I haven't had any microwavable convenience food at all in two weeks! :) YAY ME!  I feel so much better!

I am hoping that by being conscious of my diet and exercise, and by recording it here, I am holding myself accountable to whomever is taking the time out of their day to read about my challenges.  So thanks for reading and keeping me honest!

Sore Neck, Books, and other musings

I hurt my neck.  :(

I think I strained it while riding my bike. By sticking my chin out in a hyper-extended position for the duration of a bike ride, I think the muscles become fatigued in some way, and then every time I move my head in the wrong way during daily activities, it hurts.

Now, it's hurt like this before.  I tipped my head back in the shower to rinse out the shampoo one day a few weeks back and thought I was wringing my own neck.  Then had to be careful of how hard I brushed my hair, even!  Any backwards motion of my head, or pressure that I had to strain against, made me think that my scull was trying to shear off the top of my spinal column and my head was going to fall off!

But generally, this discomfort didn't last.  It went away in a few hours and was all but forgotten, only to return many days later, generally when I hop in the shower and casually tip my head back.  This morning, however, I must have been a little more careless or a little more rough or something!  Because it's 6pm and it still hurts. And badly! Any quick movement, like flicking hair out of my eyes, or turning to look at something, causes a shot of pain. As long as I am aligned and looking forward, or moving my head slowly and carefully, it's alright, but it hasn't gotten better at all today.

Today's workout was meant to be 40 minutes on the rowing machine and 30-60 minutes on the bike and I am going to have to forgo each of these activities tonight, because neither feels comfortable.  I did manage to walk for a short while on the treadmill and do some stretching today, but that's all my body wanted to put up with.

I guess that means today is a rest day.  In preparation for this eventuality, I have prepared a collection of Better Homes and Gardens magazines, and a (hopefully) light and fluffy book called Gaits of Heaven by Susan Conant.  I have never heard of her, or the Dog Lover's Mystery series, but I judge all books by their covers and this one had a silly painted dog on the cover that made me think this book isn't about to take itself too seriously. 

I do have more serious books on order, but they haven't arrived at the library yet.  I am hoping to get ahold of In Defence of Food and Authentic Happiness for a little brain stimulation.  There are so many good books out there, it is hard to know where to begin or how to find the time to read them all!

Just while letting it all out there, I was also thinking about my horse today. And I realised I really miss my horse! And he's right in my back yard! So much of my day is taken up with so many other things, and once the Blackwood is over I want to fully commit to enjoying time with TK. I'd like to see if I can get a few other girls interested in doing Drill Team with their horses for some fun over summer. Equestrian sports tend to be done during the cooler months, so this would be a fun way to keep our horses tuned up and socialising during the summer without the pressure of competition.

Well, I think it's time for some TV and light reading!

Keeping Warm - 10km Run

Oh, the weather has been so disagreeable since Saturday! Well, since before Saturday, actually, but at least we had that one day of respite. At about 2 or 3am last night I woke up thinking the roof was going to get ripped off.  Luckily, it didn't, but it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain, and it didn't let up at all. And it's been COLD.  It's like the whole town has become a giant evaporative air conditioner, with the wind blowing over all that standing water.

The point?  I still exercised, when hibernating seemed like the wiser option.  And as always, I am so glad I did!

I decided to run on the treadmill for an hour.  5km and 30 minutes just felt like I was going too easy on myself too often. The Bunbury Fun Run isn't far away, and I'd like to do the 10km run in an hour.  And after the recovery I required following a two hour ride, I realised I was going to need to increase my stamina by a lot to complete the Blackwood and still be able to walk and talk through to the end of it.

So, I ran a total of 10km in 62:48, and that included a very long warm up (because it was coooolllddd! brr! and I needed the extra time to loosen up properly).  I ran a pretty good 5km/30minutes and then took a short walk break and then really stepped on the gas.  Even after 45 minutes, I ran at 12km/hr, and then up to 12.6km/hr for a whole minute, the fastest I have ever run (Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue did it for me!!) and ran at 11km/hr most of the time.

Woohoo!  Wicked awesome and excellent!

And it was so good that I got that workout in, because even though I taught Pump Circuit, I had three new people, so was teaching, not Pumping, and then we didn't get enough people to run a Balance class. Sad, but totally understandable.  It's hard to leave a warm house on a day, let alone a night, like this, and many people are sick.

The new best thing about exercise: It keeps you warm!

Sixty Kilometre Bike Ride

Wow, I'm tired!

As mentioned, I was talked into riding to Nyabing today.  I was a little intimidated.  Until now the furthest I've ridden is 45km.  And that's a fair haul on a bike, really.  As always, my biggest fear is that I am not going to make it or I am really going to slow everyone down.

We went out strong and I was delighted to have stuck with the pack - Helen, Carl, Amanda and Ian - at 35ish km/hr for the first 20km.  But then I ran out of puff and started to fall back.  Helen was great, and pulled the group up a little to keep me with them, and I did manage to stick with them at a decent pace through to the half-way mark.  We all stopped for a bite, a drink and a relief for 5 or so minutes and then carried on.

Carl stayed back with me (because he'd already done 120km earlier this morning!) and Amanda, Helen and Ian went out ahead.  I was sitting on a fairly steady 27-28km/hr, which was quite good and kept the other three in sight the whole time.  In fact, as we neared our destination, we actually gained on them and managed to keep up, so the five of us all rode into town together, which was really nice! We came in at just over 2 hours.  Including the ride from my house (about 2.6km) it was 2 hours 10 minutes.  Excluding that, it was 2 hours 3 minutes!  That's not bad, considering I was planning on needing 2-1/2 hours to complete the run!

Now, granted, we had a tail wind, and as I mentioned before, I love a tail wind, so I know that I wouldn't have done this well had we been working with a cross- or head wind, but I don't care, I'm still proud!

I completed the distance!  One more benchmark to tick off!

One thing that had me quite puzzled, though, is my speedo.  My bike told me I was travelling at 27km/hr, but Carl's said 30. However, our distances seemed to match: over 100 meters there was no difference.  So how could he be going faster than me when we are going the same speed?  It was strange.

As an experiment, I passed him and got up to 30.5km/hr and his speedo said he was going 30.7.  But I was passing him.  Figure that one out!  I worked out my average over the distance and the variation is minimal compared to my speedo: speedo says 27.7 and calculator says 27.87.

I am reminded of my rowing machine that always shows a heart rate while I'm rowing, even if I'm not wearing my chest strap, and I am always left to wonder if I can even consider trusting the heart rate that displays while I am wearing it. Should I bother to trust the equipment?  Maybe this is a sign that I should avoid getting new shiny toys, as they just can't be trusted?  Or maybe it's a sign that says I should get new toys because mine are old and breaking down, and new ones will be more accurate...

Well, now that I've showered, eaten and bragged, I need to go have a nap! :)

Far Out... Sixteen Weeks to Go!

This was a tough Friday in many ways.

I felt quite useless at work today.  I accomplished stuff, but really wasn't my top productive self.  I hate days like that. I like being at work and feeling useful and creative and energised! Not so much today!

I realised it's been a long time since Mat and I had a real break. Our last holiday was in January, and I think we're due. So, to be sure we're not completely burnt out by Christmas, he and I are planning a week off during the next school holidays in September.

Anyway, onto the exercise!

I went for a treadmill run with Helen and Amanda after work today.  5km in 29:40, much of it run at 10, 11, and 12km per hour. I can't maintain 12 for very long, but can run almost a whole kilometre at 11!  Thinking of going to the Bunbury Fun Run on 1st August.  The girls want to make a big weekend of it.  Sounds great, and a great chance to pump my training distances back up over 10km!

I checked TKs leg, and he seems quite sensitive about it (doesn't want me to touch it), but it's healing neatly, is clean and no discharge.  It's still quite swollen though.  But so far I haven't had reason for concern.  Will continue to watch it. Am aiming for an endurance ride in August now.

I am meant to be paddling starting this week, but I still haven't got my hands on a paddle.  I tried using a broom handle, but it was too short and too light, and just felt silly.  Really must organise a paddle ASAP!

I was also going to spin when I got home, but I have been talked into cycling to Nyabing Saturday morning with the girls.  That's about 55km.  The weather has been absolutely vicious the last few days, storms and winds and unpredictable messes, so I'm hoping it's not too bad tomorrow.  The high is meant to be 16 degrees, and the weather channel says only 20% chance of rain, which means most likely scenario is just gusting winds. And, if we've planned it right, those winds will be behind us!

I love tail winds!

As always, I'll keep you updated!

Wednesday & Thursday

Wednesday was a big day.

It was a lovely morning (12 degrees and sunny!), so I ran 5.6km outside. I was aiming for 6, but my knee played up again and I chose to call it quits early.  I think that's just because I was running on the road again, not on the soft, supportive running belt of a treadmill, so it was just responding to the extra impact.  It was painful enough to force me to walk on two occasions.

On one hand, I always feel like I've failed if I walk during a run, but on the other hand, I feel better and can carry on faster and more comfortably after a short walk, so it's well worth taking the 30-60 second break and allowing the knee to realign or whatever it is that's going on inside there.

I'm also looking back and thinking, I haven't been over 7km in quite a few weeks and really need to get back on the distance building program.

As already posted, I also took TK to the vet, so that took up a large portion of my morning, so I didn't get the shopping done or make lasagne, but still had plenty of goodies to eat.  Having a good stock of muesli (granola) bars and individual serves of yoghurt, fromage frais, and fruits on hand makes ensuring I eat enough of the right things first before I consider eating any of the tempting junk at work.  I have cut down my extras by a huge amount just by having snacks and a real lunch on hand this week.

I taught Balance Wednesday night, and although I intended to 'spin' when I got home, I was really tired.  Not just bored or lethargic, but falling-asleep-on-the-couch-tired.  So I didn't do anything extra after work.

Thursday I turned out to be just as tired! Time to take a serious overdose of Vitamin Bs and Ds!  My body is feeling strong, but my mind is as fuzzy as a wool sweater!  So I am declaring Thursday a rest day, and have rented a movie and will just enjoy a quiet night with Mat.

TKs Leg Update

Well, TK is going to be just fine.

He's a good clotter, and there's almost no discharge, and within 8-14 days he should be just fine.  So Dr Maxwell said I am only to clean it if there's discharge, and only call him if he rips a stitch out or opens the wound.  He needs a two week spell and then I should be able to go back to training as usual.  Here's a picture of the wound.  It's going to clean up nicely I think.

But if his behaviour today is going to be any indication of how he'll behave after a spell, I think I need to be doing a lot more ground and respect work with him.  

He was an absolute sh*t loading onto the float after getting his bandages off.  He walked straight on to go there, and then would NOT load to come home.  It took me an hour, but we got there.  Not really sure what was up with him, but he was grinding his teeth and bug eyed and really naughty.  Very unusual for him, so I must have been slipping with his basic manners the last few weeks and not noticed little transgressions.  TK tested me today, and I'm hoping I came out on top.  He did load, and he did do it my way and with little resistance in the end, but man I had to summon every ounce of patience I have!

Kudos to me for being patient and getting it done without resorting to aggression or ropes or brute force (because humans always lose out on a show of brute force against a horse), but used a reminder of his basic lessons, and of pressure and release.

But I give myself a thumbs down for only working with him when I want to ride him.

On Track on Tuesday

Well, I did most of what I planned today!  Which is good considering how listless I was feeling for most of the day.  I could barely make eye contact with people, it was too much like hard work!

But, I taught a circuit class to some teenagers, which was fun, though I didn't really get a workout, just took the chill of by demonstrating exercise form.  It is damn cold inside my workplace!

I also didn't run, which is unfortunate.  I got off work early, but had to feed the fish, cats, dogs and horses before dark, and by the time I got all that done I only had about 20 minutes of light left.  I considered going to the gym, but didn't want to hog a treadmill again.  And again, I was feeling pretty blah, and was looking for an excuse.

But later on in the evening, I got bored and restless and agitated and kinda grumpy and annoying, so decided to turn on some good music and exercise like I planned instead of wussing out and sitting like a lump on the couch. Imagine what poor Mat would have copped if I had just sat there complaining all night!

So I rowed for 40 minutes (as per plan) and then did 30 minutes on the trainer to make up for the missing run. And I sang along (in a manner of speaking) to all these great old tunes, and just had a little party in my head. Just a thing to note: it's really hard to dance while rowing ... hehe

And afterwards I felt AMAZING.  I felt so much more energised!  Why didn't I do this earlier!?

Today's lesson:

If you don't feel up to exercising, try a little exercise!

Monday Again

How did the week come and go so quickly?  It seems time is speeding up!

Due to the horse being operated on, I didn't get a run in or anything on Monday, but I did have two great workouts!  Monday night we generally run Body Pump, but because Amanda was away and Kirsty has hurt her knee, I designed a Pump Circuit to take its place for the evening.  I only had 5 ladies show up for the class, but they were a really fun bunch and we all got a good workout!

Body Balance was a much bigger challenge after 50 minutes of weights!  I really enjoy Pump, and wish I had the qualification so I could instruct it.  But that's another discussion point all together!

Anyway, two great workouts on Monday night!  And I ate good all day, and had a treat of 4 Anzac Biscuits and a glass of milk with Mat at the end of the night.

Milk and cookies is possibly one of life's greatest treats! 

TKs Leg

I took TK in this morning to get his leg operated on. I thought it would be a matter of dropping him off and picking him up later, but I was pleasantly surprised!  Dr Maxwell was ready to operate and I could watch.  I wish I had brought my camera!  That sounds kinda gross, but it was really interesting!

TK was given a sedative, which he responded to almost immediately, which was really funny.  He was trying to eat his breakfast but couldn't chew, so all the food just dribbled out of his loose lips. I suppose that's one of those things you'd have to see to appreciate. :)

Anyway, Dr Maxwell said first plan is try to to cut along the top and bottom of the stick and try to push it out.  Failing that, he'd have to slice the whole length of the stick and then pull it out that way.

As it turns out, we had to cut the whole thing out, there was too much fibrous tissue developed around the twig holding it firmly in place.  All that excess tissue had to come out as well.  About 6 stitches went in and then it was wrapped and he was put in a stall to recover for awhile.

He's come home and is looking quite bright.  Doctors' orders are to keep him confined for a few days, and to keep an eye on the leg.  If there's any swelling below the bandage I need to cut some of the bandage away to take off the pressure.  If that fails to reduce the swelling, the whole bandage has to come off.  He will go back in on Wednesday morning for a follow up, to have the bandages off and possibly some of the stitches out already!  Depends on how it's mending.

Anyway, looks like he'll be none the worse for wear, will just need a few more days off.

Here's what we took out of his leg:

And here's the boy, relaxing in the sun.

There's Never Enough Sunday

I love Sunday. By the time Sunday rolls around I'm feeling wound down and domestic. I'm ready to potter all day. I'm pretty sure if left to my devices, I could accomplish anything on a Sunday, given enough time.

So this Sunday I painted my front hall.  Oh it is marvellous now!  Only first coat on, and will probably require three coats to get all that blue covered up.  But the front hall glows with welcome now!  It's no longer a deep cavernous hole!

At 3:45 Helen called and asked if I was riding at 4pm, so I quickly piled into my bike clothes and headed out for another cruise down Police Pools Road.  This time we had Graeme and Rachel joining us.  We were taking it pretty easily, as Rachel is a new rider, but Helen needed to get a few more miles banked up for the Tour, so she and I shot ahead. We were concerned about losing daylight (sunset at 5:15), so needed to put the pedal to the metal! We were going a pretty steady 27 most of the way out, and I was working hard to stick to her wheel for the length of the ride.  I was pretty pleased when, on the the return trip, I was able to stick to a 25ish average still!  Day two back on the bike and it felt great!

I must say, I am so lucky to have Helen and Carl as friends.  They are so active, supportive, and just generally great people.  They keep me motivated and help to push me where I wouldn't push myself.

All About Saturday

Yesterday I cleaned TKs leg, which was still scabby from where he got poked with a stick back in March, and was very dismayed to see that the penetration wound was enlarged, rather than getting smaller. So I decided to go up to the vets and see what to do about it. We scheduled an appointment for 5pm and when she shaved the wound area and examined it, it was very clear that there was a foreign body in his leg!  So, he's had the area cleaned, a strong shot of antibiotics and surgery is scheduled for Monday morning at 9am.

In the meantime, I did lunge TK, rather than ride him, and he was a bit obstinate and it took a bit of effort to get him to just trot on command. He gave a good kick out at one point, and tossed his head lots. I guess he was fired up, or otherwise a bit disgusted with working after a two week spell.  In the end with did a bit of work on dropping his head.  That went well and he was all relaxed and loose lipped at the end.

At 3:30 I went for a bike ride!  Outside!  Yep outside!  It was only 11.5 degrees and I didn't freeze or anything!  I was cold, yes, but kept very warm with a vigorous ride. I rode 26km all up (just down Police Pools and back) and I was very surprised at how far it seemed! hehe How quickly we forget!  But I rode out well.  Nice and strong, probably a 25-27km average, but came back into a bit of a wind, which slowed me down considerably, but kept the work load high. I found it ironic that I could be both so sweaty and so cold at the same time. I will be doing the same ride tomorrow.  Bring on the Tour!

The rest of my day was filled with mundane tasks: bringing in wood, feeding the animals, laundry, floors, dishes, and groceries.

I also started keeping my food diary, and was making much better food choices. I got my two fruit today, but only one and a bit vegetables. One dairy. Not too much sugar, only two cups of tea. Lots of water. Ah so much better! The only worry I have now about the diary is that as I am not responsible to anyone but myself, if I don't complete it there will be no consequence.  An interesting problem!

I'm also trying to be a more positive thinker (I am a positive person, but want to be more so and more successful as a result), so here is a list of 5 successes for my day:
1) I didn't overreact to the leg wound.
2) I ate good food!
3) I went for a bike ride outside!
4) I went for a bike ride outside! (this counts for two! hehe)
5) I had a great training session with TK.
6) My house is nice and clean and has a nice warm fire going! (needed a 6th to be fair!)

Fabulous Friday

Fridays are always fabulous, assuming you don't have to work on Saturday, and I don't!  I love Friday!!

Today I did a good workout in Circuit, which is great cross training for all my other sports.  Two minutes on a cardio machine, 2 x 1 minute weight exercises, repeat, repeat, repeat!  I got a good workout in, but it wasn't one of those "I feel great!!" workouts.  It was more of a "Thank goodness, I really needed to do this today" kind of workout.  Everything felt heavy and hard and difficult.  And I think that had a lot to do with my diet.

Yesterday was Canada Day, and I ate Nanaimo Bar and lots of other little treats.  And I had a very naughty toasty for breakfast.  I haven't had enough vegetables - in fact, I don't think I've had a single serve of vegetables all day today, and probably had no more than 2 serves on any day over the last week.  I've had too many cups of tea, with a teaspoon of sugar each, and have been drinking it instead of water because I'm always so cold. I tried to eat a banana, but it was grossly under-ripe and I couldn't finish it, so I haven't had fruit for two days, and haven't been eating my two fruit consistently for weeks now!  I haven't had any good light dairy, except a splash of milk in a cup of tea, for a week.  I haven't eaten meat, red or otherwise, for over a week, maybe two (I honestly can't recall the last time I ate meat), and it's been at least a week as well since I had fish.  I have eaten several convenience meals.  I'm pretty sure there's nothing good to be had in anything that can be microwaved in under 2 minutes (never mind the fact that I have looked at the nutrition label of a Spinach and Ricotta Roll and the healthiest thing about them is the name!)  And oh so many other 'failings' too numerous to mention!

In other words, I have failed to fuel my body correctly.

And I am paying for it.  I'm tired. I'm sluggish.  My efforts are noticeably slower, lighter, less effective.  My energy is down and that kills my motivation.  I lack focus. I almost feel depressed!

And I wonder how I slipped off the good nutrition wagon!?

And I wonder how I am going to avoid falling off like this again.

Back on the wagon now, starting with a nice hearty stew and a side of wholegrain crackers, light philly cheese and chunky salsa on top for my evening meal.  I need to ensure I'm fuelled up and paying attention to what I eat.  I am considering keeping a food diary to see if that will raise awareness for me. I kind of object to this at a deep down level, because I find it odd to have to think about food so much, but I think it will be an enlightening exercise for me. Unfortunately, although I enjoy good food, my eating habit is to fill the hole rather than fuel the machine.

If I am hungry I will eat whatever is nearby, and sometimes that hunger is crazy voracious and insatiable!  I must eat NOW!  But, if I'm not hungry, I'm just not thinking about food, so I don't plan ahead and I forget to bring a good lunch, or enough snacks.  So although I've bought all the right stuff and have it at home, it doesn't make it to work with me.  And there aren't a lot of healthy treats available at our canteen.

Whenever I fall off the food wagon I go back to doing a meal plan and follow recipes and do really good. And then I get complacent, I get careless, then start to feel blah and wonder what's going on.  Time to beat that cycle.

My nutritional goals:
- 2 fruit daily
- 5 serves veg daily
- 1 serve fish weekly
- 1 serve other meat weekly
- other non-animal proteins daily (mostly through beans... I love beans!)
- 3 serves of dairy daily (can also count as my protein source for the day)
- no more than 2 cups of tea daily (not including tisanes and herbals (decaffeinated & unsweetened) which I will use as an alternative warm beverage)
- only one processed/pre-packaged "treat" per week (chocolate, pie, whatever)

I also think that I need to do an affirmation every day:

The better I eat, the better I feel.

Simple, but true! And as I've been learning more about positive thinking, I feel this might help me too.

So, I will start each day with that affirmation, and keep a food diary with planned and actual columns, as well as check boxes for each time I eat my fruit, vegetables, or dairy.

Fingers crossed!

Tour de Katanning

So for those into bikes, the biggest of the big, the hum-dinger of 'em all, the Tour de France starts this weekend.

I never really cared much for it. What's so interesting about watching guys pedal on TV?  I find it about as interesting as soccer or cricket.  I love the highlights, but don't really need all the boring commentary in the middle.

But we have many a cycling nut in Katanning and I have been sucked into the melee, and am now doing 300km in the next two weeks during the Tour de France as part of a team effort to travel the distance of a single competitor in the Tour.

It's actually pretty cool.  Katanning has organised two teams (mine's going to win!) and Wagin and Kojonup have both put in teams, too.

Starting Saturday, every kilometre I do won't just count towards my training, but towards my teams' goal of 3600ish kilometres.  Time on the trainer is granted as the equivalent of 25km/hr, so I should be able to do 50-75 trainer km per week easily, and then will do two outside rides each weekend, of 30-45km each.  I think that'll add up to my 300.

I can't believe I am going to ride outside!  It's freezing! Will the madness never stop!?

Wait.

I am reminded, now, that I am in Australia (how could I forget?!).  Yes, it is the middle of winter, and the temps are only getting close to 15 at their warmest each day (past 5 days: 14, 14, 13, 14, 12). It cools to 0 or so overnight, but probably averages 10 for most of the daylight hours.  It comes with cold winds and rain, yes.  But, hey, there isn't any snow, so what am I complaining about!?

If this was winter in Canada, first of all, if it ever hit 15 in the middle of winter we'd all bust out our shorts and T-Shirts!  Second of all, it's minus 15 all the damn time and there's snow and ice everywhere.  And although I was among the Canadian hibernators, many people were still very active in the winter.  In fact, even I ran along the river in Calgary through the winter.  And all I am experiencing here in Australia right now is Canadian spring weather.

The point of these wandering thoughts on the weather?

A reminder to myself:

Toughen up cupcake, it's only weather, and it could be worse!

Weak Wednesday

Wednesday was a big day for 'stuff' but not a great day for training.

I had to move the horses from the big paddock back to the house paddock.  Horses require lots of 'things', like rugs, feed, hay, grooming supplies, and so on. And I moved them, and all their things from one side of the road to the other.  As I was just about finished, Lauren stopped in to pick up a few of her things as well, and I ended up helping her move a few items, and she then helped me drag a cast iron tub across the road so I had an extra water trough!  So we got all that done at about 11am.  There was plenty of 'movement' and 'heavy lifting' but I don't consider any of that training.

I also had to get a key cut and buy some groceries, and by the time I got that done, showered, made and ate lunch it was time to head to work.

What training did I do?

I taught Balance, and then I did 30 minutes on the bike at home, the equivalent of only 12.5km!

Livewire Rogaine

So as I may have mentioned, Mat and I went to a Roagine on the weekend.

I have decided that no Rogaine can occur without a drama. 

Our drama was our water pipes bursting on Friday due to the cold, and us having no water for the day.  Add to that the pressure of a very big day for both Mat and I - he had some big machine that needed something done pronto, and I was part of a busy team that was serving hundreds of kids and their parents at the kiosk during a winter sports carnival.  It was rather non-stop!

Follow that with a going away event for a very lovely lady from work, whom I shall miss, so I wasn't going to miss the going away party... but had to get home at 6pm to hold the torch (flashlight) for Mat so we could repair the water pipes.  As it turns out, getting home at 6:30pm (oops) wasn't a bad thing because Mat didn't make it home until 7:30pm (oops)! 

So I was packing and preparing so we could leave by 6:30am Saturday morning, but I was so tired and rather challenged by the lack of water. I was considering pulling out.  I just didn't think we could be ready on time.  I didn't want to leave without the pipes fixed because the first thing you need when you get back from a Rogaine is a shower... and there are a million dishes and all the laundry to do as well! And we didn't get the pipes fixed until 8:30, but luckily Mat did a great job of repairing that and water was restored! (You just don't realise how much you depend on instant water until it's gone!)

When Mat got home from work he came up with the BEST idea ever!  We would take our own car!  What a novel idea! I was so wrapped up in the idea that we had to be ready for our ride that I couldn't see our own sitting there in the driveway.  I felt such a weight off!  The pressure was gone! *big sigh of relief*

So we got the pipes fixed that night, and the next morning we got packed and left at a bit of a leisurly pace.  The event started at 12:00 noon and we arrived after 1:30pm.  We registered, set up the tent, had lunch while we considered our route.

The original plan was to go out for 4 hours and be in by dark, then go out again in the morning for another four hours or so.  But that was if we left at noon.  It was nearing 2:30 and dark was going to hit us soon!  So we changed course, as you do, a bit mid-stride.  We changed because the terrain was much more challenging than we had even anticipated... those HILLS!  So we decided to use the roads in the dark.

We did alright, but couldn't find one 20 pointer, the bush was so thick and we probably just didn't go quite far enough (a common problem, particularly at night), but we just thought to not waste our time, get in to the Hash House and have something to eat and a rest.  We decided we'd come back for the 30 pointer we passed on the way in, and never mind the 20 points.

We were out for about 6 hours, and although Mat's feet hurt (he needs better shoes), I was feeling pretty good.  The hills were tough, so I really felt my butt working on the way up, and my knees working on the way down, and my feet were wet and soggy, but I was really still feeling strong and fresh. The pace was easy and we weren't lost!  There was lots of moonlight - and a Lunar Eclipse!  Neat!

We must have crashed out around 10:30 or 11:00pm because we heard Ella and Marianne come in, but didn't hear them come back from the Hash House.  We got up and headed out again around 9am, I guess, and went up for our first target, #45.  Well, we didn't do a very good job navigating to it, just using landforms and no compass.  So we decided we better put our compass to use for 101, a big one up the big hill!  I was the navigator leader and guess where we ended up?  Right back at 45!  What the heck!? I walked us in a circle!!  Using a compass!

Honestly I was so disgusted with myself and so upset about it that I wanted to bail right then and there.  My competitive nature, the part of me that wants to do it all well and not make mistakes and be 'better than' and all those things I strive for just smacked me in the face and threw me into the dumps.  I was so downtrodden!  This is supposed to be fun and I wasn't having fun anymore!!

So Mat accepted that the fun had just ended and we headed back to that 30 pointer we passed on the road on the way back to the Hash House.  But we went down the wrong track and couldn't find it either! We weren't alone, there were others searching for it too, but to find it involved one of those "pacing" exercises.  There were a lot of little bush tracks off the main road, and only three marked on the map.  We just picked the wrong one by, once again, just not going far enough.

We came in after about an hour or so on that trek, and sat around, eating, considering our map, and wondering what went wrong, when Marianne and Ella returned triumphant!

They ended up placing 3rd in the Women's category, with over 1500 points.  Mat and I were very near the bottom of the list with only 390 points.  We were aiming for about 800.  However, on the up-side, we did get 40 more points than our last Rogaine, and it was a BEAUTIFUL place to walk around!  We had a nice stroll and got to spend some time together!

Mat drove Ella's car home and I drove ours because the girls were in no condition to drive - they had only 4 hours rest (they didn't completely sleep) in the whole event.  They walked for about 19 hours pretty much non-stop!  Now that's impressive!

Lessons learned from this event:

You probably just haven't gone far enough!

Tuesday

I didn't do my Circuit workout today.  No good excuse, just didn't feel like it, even though I know the strength training is great cross training and helps to maintain my muscles and strength and alignment, thus helping to avoid pain and injury.  I am reminded of a post from Jody from truth2beingfit.com.

Do you do what you know?

The answer is an apparent NO. :)


But I did do a 6km run after work. I was feeling really good and was actually thinking that I'd go for 7km, but  by 5:30pm the gym was filling up and I was feeling pretty conscious of the fact that I was hogging the treadmill. We only have three treadmills, and of those, the new one, the awesome 'space ship', is broken.  So, I hopped off after reaching my goal.  I ran for a very large portion of my run between 10.5 and 11 km per hour.  That was pretty awesome.  I am trying to get faster and go further!

Got home (after feeding two horses, two fish, two cats, two dogs, then another cat and a dog...) and although I did watch a bit of news, I didn't cycle because I was already showered and in my jammies by 6:30pm!

Now time for an early night and a big Wednesday!

Marvellous Monday

Well, despite a two hour delay to getting the morning underway (don't ask), I still managed to get in a few good workouts!

First, in between loads of laundry and feeding animals, I squeezed in 40 minutes of 'spinning' on my lovely mag trainer.  I wore my shorts - so much better! I had my pumpin' spin music, and I had my notes on what to do to have the best stationary bike workout possible.

Wow!  I was working my butt off!  I was DRIPPING with sweat!  I can honestly say sweat was flinging off my body!  I could NOT do another four tracks, I was too tired!  The other day, I thought maybe I could say that 35 minutes of steady going should count for one whole session, but there is no way I can accept that now!  This morning's ride was a real workout, and will count as "one".  I probably won't ever get the intensity up to that level while watching tv, so duration will definintely have to increase to get the benefits.  What a huge difference!  I'm still astonished by that session!

Then I ran around a did a few quick things in town (all sweaty still from my ride! Iew, people must think I'm really gross), and headed to the gym for a 5km run on the treadmill.  I was going to do it outside, but the weather looked like it was going to turn very nasty, and why suffer when you don't have to?  I did some speed intervals, because the new treadmill with the hill program is broken (after only one week!) and worked up to 11.5km per hour.  It made me think I might have the potential to run faster than my current average of 10km per hour.  New targets and goals all the time!

Then this evening I did Body Balance! I put a lot of effort into my workout!  I love the stretching and stabilising, especially after the weekend of rogaining, plus today's great workouts.

My Week in Review - Week 10

Monday – Planned: 2: 5km run, teach balance

Actual: 1

• No run, we were driving home from Bunbury, had to pretty much shower and run to work.
• Taught Balance – laughed at myself because I couldn't do left and right all night :)

Tuesday – Planned: 2: Circuit, spin 1 hour

Actual: 0.5

• Circuit! Nope! New people, teaching teaching teaching.
• Spin 35 minutes and was done! Do not do this without bike shorts, the padding is critical! :) And my legs sure knew I had done it. Stopped at one point and took some tension off the trainer cuz I was going to have to stop after 10 minutes! Could I call this ONE instead of HALF?

Wednesday – Planned: 2: run 6km, teach balance

Actual: 2

• I wanted to ride my horse today, but I had to go clean the kitchen at work. We had our last Healthy Bodies session last night, which was a dinner we cooked ourselves, and we went overtime. Security nearly locked us in. Had a lot of dishes to do. Once again, my horse gets neglected.
• 6km run – yep, on the treadmill, hill program, level 6, 40 minutes. Highest grade was 4.9% and stuck to 9km/hr for whole time, so slower than usual, but was on the high end of my target heart rate the whole time, so felt I was working in the right zone. My butt was on fire! So it must have been working!
• Taught Balance.

Thursday – Planned: 2: Teach Balance, run 7km, T&E for dinner, so no other workout, unless time for a spin or row at the end of the night.

Actual: 1

• Taught Balance
• When did I think I'd have time for a run? Really, what was I thinking?

Friday – Planned: 2: Circuit, Row

Actual: 0

• Circuit - again no workout for me.  I could have actually gotten in a workout, but we were having a school winter sports carnival, and I needed to be accessible to the staff if things got out of hand.
• Row - now when did I think I'd be able to do this?  Lindy's going away party, packing and preparing food for the weekend, and NO WATER in the house.  Holding the torch (flashlight) for Mat so he could fix the burst water pipes in the dark.

Saturday – Planned: 1: Rogaine. Leave at 6:30am for Donnybrook area. Planning on doing 30-40km over the weekend, in approximately 4 hour/10km stints. 12-4pm (approx 15km), break for lunch, 6-10pm (approx 10km), sleep, eat breakfast, 7-11am (approx 15km), have second breakfast. Event ends at 12pm on Sunday.

Actual: 1

• Rogaine - did 1 6 hour stint.  HUGE hills and good walking pace most of the time. Feeling like I've worked, but not SORE, so my feet and legs are getting used to the increased impact. 

Sunday – Planned: 1: Carry forward of Rogaine. Won't want to do anything but sleep and shower and get rid of ticks.

Actual: 1

• Rogaine - only went out for an extra two hours on Sunday, and had a poor time of it.  Missed several hundred points we were aiming at.  Might do a post about this.

The best thing that happened this week:  The Rogaine was really good, as always. Had family over for dinner, and it was nice to have them over, as they usually feed us! We don't entertain enough.

Planned: 12

Actual: 6.5

Success Rate: 54%

Renewed Vigour

After looking at where I am in relation to my goal yesterday, I have found a renewed sense of purpose to my training, so have had two wonderful workouts in the last two days.

Last night I got to spin on my bike for the first time!  I was watching NCIS, and planned to stay on for the whole show, but just couldn't!  I got about 35 minutes through and my butt and legs were really aching.  Out of practice, but I thought it was a good start and I am committed to my plan and will continue to work towards four hours or more on the bike each week.  I will also remember to wear my bike shorts, because it's amazing what a difference the padding makes to one's comfort!

This morning, I had to go in to work to clean up after last night's last Healthy Bodies Seminar.  We cooked a meal ourselves, and shared it, which was wonderful!  We had a great time, and ran overtime.  Security nearly locked us in, so the dishes didn't get done.  We had an event on at 10am so I went in at 8 to do dishes, thinking it'd take me 30 minutes, then planned to do 30 minutes on the tready.

Dishes took a lot longer than that, and I also decided I needed a longer run to get the 6km in that I was aiming for taking the hills into account, so in the end didn't get home until after 10am.  Oops! And so much to do here too!

But the run was great!  6km, 40 minutes, hill intervals at level 6, which means a maximum grade of 4.9%.  I will probably need to work towards a 10% grade to get hill-ready enough, but there is also the outdoor training that will take that into account.   Anyway, I really felt the burn, but no pain in the knee or hip.  I am pretty sure I burned WAY more calories than the little machine said!! I think I will also wear the heart rate strap next time, rather than using the hand sensors, so I can get a more consistent read out, but I seemed to be working around 85-90% most of the times that I checked my heart rate.

The other thing I've resolved to do is actually GET UP when my alarm goes off. Today the alarm went off at 7:15am - the official time of sunrise. And each week I will bring the time forward a few minutes to coincide with the increasing daylight, and my increasing need for longer workouts!

My new plan is still a work in progress, as there are a few changes coming to the schedule in light of a few programs ending, the school term changing, school holidays on the way, and new programs starting in 3 or 4 weeks.  But I think it'll actually be better - there shouldn't be any split shifts to work around, and that will definitely make things easier to plan around.

I'm going to be ready!

Half-Way There! Am I Ready!?

I have 18 weeks to go!

It might sound like a lot of time left, but really, it isn't.  I've got 9 weeks recorded here already (haven't they flown by?!) and another 20 weeks under my belt before I started recording this.  It's taken a long time to get where I am already, and there's less than that amount of time left to get me where I want to go.

So at the approximately half-way point, am I half-way there?

• Run 12km - I want to be able to run 24km to have legs left over by the end of the 12km run. Yes, I am 50% there, I can run 12km.  But I need to get this distance up up up to have the extra strength and stamina to complete the next four legs of the race.
• Paddle/kayak 8.5km - I need to be able to paddle for about 2 hours, or 17km. No I am not there.  The longest I have rowed on the rowing machine is about 50 minutes, and this isn't utilising the same arm action as required for the double-handed arm-over-arm action that is used in a kayak.  I need to get ahold of a paddle, so I can just sit in the lounge room and paddle to get the arm strength up.  Then I need to get ahold of a kayak and get onto the water. Even if only once a month, I still need some practice out on the water!
• Swim 1km - I believe a freestyle (front crawl) swim of 1km in the pool will be an equivalent training distance to match my needs in the race.  The race is in open, flowing water, and you travel with the current, so a 1km pool swim will probably take me 40 minutes or so (huge guestimate there), but the average time in the moving water is only 15 minutes.  However, I am not half-way there, due to lack of water.  The pool will reopen hopefully in October. If not, I may have to don the wetsuit and have a swim in the river! (brrrr!!) However, I am still confident that if the pool opens in early October I will have enough fitness and just need to put in 2-3 short sessions per week leading up to the event to get the breathing and technique re-established.
• Ride Horse 16km - I feel that TK is capable of this ride now.  I want to do a lot more training with him, and tune up the fitness and our race pacing, and go over our vetting and cooling procedures so those are more established.  But I think we are over half-way there.  The 20km endurance ride at the end of July will really help us gauge if my confidence is well-founded or not.
• Cycle 20km - I was there, piece of cake, but now, not so much.  I have not ridden my bike for weeks and weeks, and I decondition from cycling rather quickly. It's the one discipline I really need to maintain to do effectively.  And I need to be able to do a hilly 20km cycle after I do all this other stuff!  So, bring on the mag trainer!  I plan to cycle at least four hours per week to keep the legs fit.  Then I need to get out and do one training ride to Woody and back at least once a month. Pray for good weather because I am going to have no choice, I need to do those hills, feel the wind resistance, work the gears!

So, that's a bit of a bummer.  Of the 5 disciplines, I am only half-way there with 2 of them.  Swimming aside, that's only 50% of 50%!  I'm not so good at math, but I think that means I am only 25% of the way there!

I am glad I did this re-evaluation.  It has reminded me that matters are now pressing, and that I can't be having the slack days I have!  If I miss a workout, it needs to be made up, because I am truly running out of time!

Time to put pen to paper and start re-scheduling my workouts!

My Bike!

Mat and I went to Bunbury for the weekend to visit family; we haven't caught up since January or February!  Far too long!  And we did a little shopping too - I had a $500 voucher I won at the Women's Only Triathlon in November last year, so it was time to spend it!

I bought:

• A mag trainer (there's a difference between a mag and a wind trainer, who knew?)
• Lights
• A helmet (that was really expensive, so thank goodness it wasn't "real" money I was spending!)
• Pedals
• Bearing packing grease

And it cost $515!  Sheesh, it doesn't go far!

We arrived home Monday morning, and had to head to work. Got home at just about 9:00pm and started setting up the trainer.  It took us until 10:30pm to get it done, so I haven't had a 'real' spin on it yet, but I sure will tonight!

It's set up right next to the lounge, so the plan is that any time I'm watching TV, I'll be turning the old legs over!  It sounds like a deceptively simple plan!  I think it will work!

YAY!

My Week in Review - Week 9

Monday – Planned: 3: Balance training, 5km run, teach balance

Actual: 1.5

• No run, had a work emergency which completely mucked my morning up
• Balance training, took it easy, only ½ a workout
• Taught Balance – launched the new routine and LOVED it, it was so much fun! I was so nervous! 15 people, heaps of new people! I felt completely zinged!

Tuesday – Planned: 1: Circuit

Actual: 0

• Circuit! Nope! New people, and woke up with the most PAINFUL leg in history. It's getting better, and I did a very short cycle and tiny little jog (honestly, only 5 minutes each) in Seniors Gym to get the leg moving in a reasonably comfortable way. Not sure what I did to hurt it, but man, it SUCKS!

Wednesday – Planned: 3: ride horse, run 5km, teach balance

Actual: 3

• Horse Ride - nope
• 5km run – yep, on the treadmill
• Bike – 35 minutes hard on the spin bike
• Taught Balance.

Thursday – Planned: 3: Teach Balance, run 7km, Attack if arm okay, or a horse ride

Actual: 0

• Didn't teach Balance. We only had 3 people show up! Had 13 last week, what's going on!?
• Run – nope, cuz I was going to go to Attack
• Attack – nope, stayed home with Mat and had a nice dinner together
• Horse – nope, raining!

Friday – Planned: 1: Circuit, Go to Bunbury for weekend

Actual: 1

• Circuit – yeah, and it was a GOOD workout! Sweating like a piggy! Loved this workout!

Saturday – Planned: 0: might squeeze in a run, but more likely to just enjoy the weekend off.

Actual: 0

• took the day off

Sunday – Planned: 0: Unknown, again, might just enjoy a weekend off

Actual: 1

• Went for an approximately 5km run (30 minutes) around Nell's neighbourhood. It was a great spot for a run, really enjoyed it! Nice trails, pretty parks, not too much traffic. She lives in a good spot.

The best thing that happened this week: Visiting with family, relaxing completely and enjoying great food and company!  Also, bought my wind trainer (it's actually a mag trainer, I have learned there is a difference) and now I can cycle inside at home! YAY!

Planned: 11

Actual: 6.5

Success Rate: 59%

Exercise Makes Me Human

Otherwise, I'm a terrible ogre!!

Oh my goodness, I was such a cow this morning. And after 9 hours of sleep no less. I just couldn't decide on anything, and couldn't listen to or agree with anything Mat had to say and finally, before heading to work he said "go back to bed! You're miserable!" and I realised that I really really needed to release some energy!

I've been doing so much Balance training that the other stuff has been left to the wayside. And now look at me!  Viscous!

So I decided do 30 minutes spin bike and 30 minutes treadmill.  I thought that way, if the leg started to scream, I could pull up, and not be off in the bush somewhere with a long way to walk/ride back.  So, despite it being a beautiful day, I went to the gym (where I work) to workout.

While there, I did a harsh 35 minutes on the spin bike, and then 5 minutes into my run, I got bailed up by a customer who had a pointless complaint - while I am running on the treadmill ... sweating like a pig ... NOT AT WORK!  So I wasn't as friendly as I probably should have been.

For the record, at 10am, the customer complained to me that the tables needed to be set up by 10am. 
- I asked, are they set up? 
- Yes they are. 
- Then what's the problem? 
- They need to be set up before 10am (some garbled bullshit I can't quite make out over the music, the treadmill, and my laboured breathing) ... blah blah, should have been done by 9:30am.  
So my reply?  
- A not so nice: well if you wanted it done by 9:30 you should have asked for 9:30. Since you asked for 10, you got 10.  
- Then he said "your boss will be hearing about this."  
- So I called both my bosses to tell them about it and both of them went "what's his f'ing problem?"

I ran a LOT faster after that interaction, I can tell you!  The ogre wasn't gone for another 30 minutes!

(Oh, and the leg held up okay.  Only a minor complaint, easy to run through. Didn't feel it at all on the bike.)