What is it they say, 3 weeks to form a habit? What do you think my chances are of blogging every day for 3 weeks to ingrain it as a habit? Hmm, me neither LOL. But I'll give it a go.
I went to Step last night, but the usual instructor is away. The fill-in lady seemed really unsure of herself, and I guess it would be hard to figure out how to structure the class when you don't know what the regulars are used to. I'm not sure if the same lady will be there for the next 2 weeks as well, but if so, hopefully she's learned some lessons from last night's class! This is the advanced step class, so we're used to a long and fairly complicated routine, and no scheduled drinks or recovery breaks. I think she was expecting us to take a lot longer to pick up the routine than we did, so we had put it all together and run through it about 8 times consecutively (which was getting a little repetitive), and there was still 15 minutes to go. She just added in some strength work, squats and lunges, to fill out the time which was ok (although it made me nervous... I didn't want legs that were too sore to keep up my running regime during the week!)
We shall see what next week brings, but I'm looking forward to the usual instructor being back. Her routines exercise my brain as much as my body most of the time. That's what I love about it actually - I'm not massively coordinated, so I have to concentrate damn hard to get the steps right. In doing that, I sort of forget that I'm exercising and don't pay any attention to the huffing and puffing and sore muscles. Tis awesome.
This morning I was back on the streets (in a good way of course). 5.2km run this morning, 33:30 to complete. I felt pretty good today, and had plenty left in the tank. Running up the last hill I felt strong rather than weary. I love those moments. I tell you what I hate though - extended daylight saving. It's not only dark when I leave at 6, it's still bloody dark when I get home at 6.30, and we still have more than a month til the clocks go back? WTF?
I have to go to a software seminar/sales pitch this afternoon from 2-4, and I have made the executive decision that I'm not coming back to work after it. The session is in town, so I'm going to take a walk down to Joggers World and see if I can spend an obscene amount of money on some running accessories. I'm a little bit excited about the idea of a fuel belt (thanks for the ideas girls!)
I've also convinced myself that I really do want to get the Garmin. I just need to decide between a 305 and a 310XT. From what I can gather, the selling points of the 310 are that it has double the battery life, and is 50m water resistant. The 305 has a 10 hour battery life, which in reality is more than sufficient for me, I'm no ultramarathoner. I also don't have any love for swimming (mainly because I suck at it of course). But somewhere in the back of my mind I'm thinking that I might want to try triathlon some time in the future. Do I make the extra investment now for something I might want to do in the future? Dilemmas, dilemmas. Any suggestions?
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Out of the habit
Wow, once you get out of the habit of blogging, it's a bit hard to get back into it. I've half started a blog about 5 times since I last posted, and given up before I got through with it. Time to turn over a new metaphorical leaf (in more areas than one...)
So, what's been going on? Work is all still up in the air, and it's driving me INSANE. Even if the outcome was bad, I could handle it if I actually knew what was going to happen. I could start making plans for the future. Unfortunately, it's all pretty much out of our hands at this stage, so we're just guessing at what will come next, when it will happen, and what we will do about it. We're expending loads of time and energy on making contingency plans for a variety of outcomes which may or may not come to fruition.
On to other news. HM training is going roughly according to plan, which is good. I've had to switch a few days around from time to time as life gets in the way, but that's fine. I've completed week 3 of the 12 week program, and it's starting to feel a little tough. I'm worried that I won't be able to do it, but I'm just going to keep pushing myself as far as I can and see what I can achieve. If worst comes to worst I'll do a 10k at the Greenbelt on May 1st, and try for a HM later in the year. But at this stage I'm still aiming for HM at Greenbelt.
The main reason I'm doubting myself at the moment is that my long run on Saturday was really hard. It was only 8km, and I struggled big time. Of course it would have helped if I had dragged my butt out of bed and got started early as planned, before it got too freaking hot. But I didn't, and I suffered the consequences accordingly. It was 27 degrees and humid when I took off (I hate humid. Adelaide never used to do humid, but it's happening a lot these days. Bah.) It was 31 degrees and still humid when I rocked home 52 minutes later.
I have 4 thoughts in mind for improving my long run issues at this stage:
So, what's been going on? Work is all still up in the air, and it's driving me INSANE. Even if the outcome was bad, I could handle it if I actually knew what was going to happen. I could start making plans for the future. Unfortunately, it's all pretty much out of our hands at this stage, so we're just guessing at what will come next, when it will happen, and what we will do about it. We're expending loads of time and energy on making contingency plans for a variety of outcomes which may or may not come to fruition.
On to other news. HM training is going roughly according to plan, which is good. I've had to switch a few days around from time to time as life gets in the way, but that's fine. I've completed week 3 of the 12 week program, and it's starting to feel a little tough. I'm worried that I won't be able to do it, but I'm just going to keep pushing myself as far as I can and see what I can achieve. If worst comes to worst I'll do a 10k at the Greenbelt on May 1st, and try for a HM later in the year. But at this stage I'm still aiming for HM at Greenbelt.
The main reason I'm doubting myself at the moment is that my long run on Saturday was really hard. It was only 8km, and I struggled big time. Of course it would have helped if I had dragged my butt out of bed and got started early as planned, before it got too freaking hot. But I didn't, and I suffered the consequences accordingly. It was 27 degrees and humid when I took off (I hate humid. Adelaide never used to do humid, but it's happening a lot these days. Bah.) It was 31 degrees and still humid when I rocked home 52 minutes later.
I have 4 thoughts in mind for improving my long run issues at this stage:
- I need to lose some weight. Seriously, I'm doing plenty of training, but I'm eating like a conveyer belt. STOP IT IDIOT.
- I need to get up early and get the best of the cool weather. As Jess pointed out to me once before, I can always go back to bed when I get home :)
- I need to find a way of getting some hydration somewhere along the way, especially if it's hot. I was gasping for water by half way on Saturday, and that's going to get worse as the distances increase. What do other people do, run along carrying a drink bottle? I hate doing that, but I might have to give it a go. Otherwise I might just die of dehydration, seeing as I sweat like a warthog at the best of times. (Alright, I might not die, but you get my drift).
- I need to find a way of pacing myself. I'm giving serious consideration to buying a Garmin (although it's hard to know if it's just because I *want one* or if I think I actually *need one*). But I do have trouble with pacing - my mid week short runs never feel any easier, but when I look at my Polar data, it's probably because I'm doing them progressively faster. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but one run per week is supposed to be at EZ pace, and I struggle with that. I'm also concerned that in a race situation, I'll pace with other people around me and go out too hard. 21km is a long way, I need to learn how to run that at my own, sustainable pace so I don't run out of stamina half way through. Hmm, still need to ponder that one.
Right, I have been procrastinating at work rather badly of late, and it's time to get some work done. With all the future planning crap going on, my day to day stuff has been suffering somewhat. I've finished Mahjong Trails on Facebook, so that should help the productivity somewhat :-) Here's to a productive day...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Still struggling along
Life is still struggling along, and I have continued to eat a lot of crap I shouldn't since my last confession. I was doing well for a whole day, until 7pm when I ate half the pantry. Not much worth eating in there now... so I went and bought crap to eat last night. Seriously, do I own a brain???
On to the positives though - I think I'm learning. I did buy (and eat) some stuff last night that was inadvisable at best, insane at worst. But I also stocked up on lots of other stuff that WILL be OK to eat, and hopefully I'll manage not to eat it all at once. I have this ongoing battle of being aware of my own eating frailties, while also being... well, a tight ass. If I don't have food (particularly snack food) pre packaged into individual serves, I am severely predisposed to eating the whole freaking lot. But pre packaged serves cost a lot more. Well, too bad budget - I'm buying the single serves. I can't be trusted to dish up my own serves at the moment.
So last night I bought small serve yoghurts (100g tubs). And muesli bars. And mini boxes of fruit/nut. And mini boxes of sultanas. I also bought some convenience food, which I have a major aversion to, but I'm looking for that moderation switch. I'm not going back to eating lean cuisines and whatever other crap frozen meals I used to inhale, that shit is toxic. But a box of pancake mix, some protein powder with artificial ingredients - this kind of stuff probably isn't going to kill me if used in moderation. It's all about trying something new, because clearly what I've been doing hasn't been the answer.
My second big realisation this week, which is something I have always known but just struggle to put into practice, is that I need a plan to work to. This will work with food too, and I should get myself sorted this weekend for that, but I'm actually referring to the exercise at this point. If I have a plan, or a schedule, or whatever, to work too, I'm pretty good at sticking to it. If I leave it to "whatever I feel like at the time", you can bet your ass I feel like sitting on the couch and eating crap. I had my evening bootcamps last month, and I went to them all (except when they were cancelled for excessive heat). That's over now, and I'm entering a phase of solo training, which could be a danger period. But I think I'm going to be OK, because I have my HM training schedule in place. I didn't feel like getting up and running this morning, but I did it because the schedule said I had to. I'll chalk that up as a win, and hope that it continues!
So far the HM training has been pretty mild (but we are only 3 days in of course!) Monday was 3.5km in the morning, and cross training (step class at the gym) at night. Tuesday was a cross training day - cycling to and from work, about 31km all up. Today is a 3.5km run, and then the night off. Tomorrow is supposed to be a 4km run in the morning (which I'll do), but the strength session at night won't be happening as I'm booked in for a massage - aah bliss. Friday is scheduled as a rest day, so I have to work out whether I add the strength session there, or just let it go for this week. I will report back in due course :-)
On to the positives though - I think I'm learning. I did buy (and eat) some stuff last night that was inadvisable at best, insane at worst. But I also stocked up on lots of other stuff that WILL be OK to eat, and hopefully I'll manage not to eat it all at once. I have this ongoing battle of being aware of my own eating frailties, while also being... well, a tight ass. If I don't have food (particularly snack food) pre packaged into individual serves, I am severely predisposed to eating the whole freaking lot. But pre packaged serves cost a lot more. Well, too bad budget - I'm buying the single serves. I can't be trusted to dish up my own serves at the moment.
So last night I bought small serve yoghurts (100g tubs). And muesli bars. And mini boxes of fruit/nut. And mini boxes of sultanas. I also bought some convenience food, which I have a major aversion to, but I'm looking for that moderation switch. I'm not going back to eating lean cuisines and whatever other crap frozen meals I used to inhale, that shit is toxic. But a box of pancake mix, some protein powder with artificial ingredients - this kind of stuff probably isn't going to kill me if used in moderation. It's all about trying something new, because clearly what I've been doing hasn't been the answer.
My second big realisation this week, which is something I have always known but just struggle to put into practice, is that I need a plan to work to. This will work with food too, and I should get myself sorted this weekend for that, but I'm actually referring to the exercise at this point. If I have a plan, or a schedule, or whatever, to work too, I'm pretty good at sticking to it. If I leave it to "whatever I feel like at the time", you can bet your ass I feel like sitting on the couch and eating crap. I had my evening bootcamps last month, and I went to them all (except when they were cancelled for excessive heat). That's over now, and I'm entering a phase of solo training, which could be a danger period. But I think I'm going to be OK, because I have my HM training schedule in place. I didn't feel like getting up and running this morning, but I did it because the schedule said I had to. I'll chalk that up as a win, and hope that it continues!
So far the HM training has been pretty mild (but we are only 3 days in of course!) Monday was 3.5km in the morning, and cross training (step class at the gym) at night. Tuesday was a cross training day - cycling to and from work, about 31km all up. Today is a 3.5km run, and then the night off. Tomorrow is supposed to be a 4km run in the morning (which I'll do), but the strength session at night won't be happening as I'm booked in for a massage - aah bliss. Friday is scheduled as a rest day, so I have to work out whether I add the strength session there, or just let it go for this week. I will report back in due course :-)
Sunday, February 6, 2011
I am still alive... just
Howdy peeps, long time no blog.
EDITED TO DELETE WORK INFO
Anyway, I've been wandering in the wilderness with all this crap going on, and eating my way through the metaphorical jungle. I have got to cut that out, and today seems as good a day as any to get back on track. Today is also the first official day of half marathon training - it starts out nice and easy the first couple of weeks, but ramps up pretty significantly from there. I think my biggest challenge is going to be "long run Saturday" - I've gotten pretty accustomed to sleeping late and being generally sloth-like on Saturday mornings, but given it's still summer and often quite hot, I'm going to have to suck it up, get up early, and get the run done. At least the first couple of weeks the "long runs" aren't really that long (4.8km this week, increasing by 1.6km per week until we get to 19.2km, eek), so it will give me a chance to get back into a good routine.
I do feel slightly better for getting all this crap off my chest in blog form, even if it hasn't actually helped to make any progress. I should come here more often :p
Just before signing off - I have still been reading other blogs, if not commenting on them to let you know I'm there. I'll try to get back to doing that too. Thanks to those who checked up on me in my absence too, kind words much appreciated xx
EDITED TO DELETE WORK INFO
Anyway, I've been wandering in the wilderness with all this crap going on, and eating my way through the metaphorical jungle. I have got to cut that out, and today seems as good a day as any to get back on track. Today is also the first official day of half marathon training - it starts out nice and easy the first couple of weeks, but ramps up pretty significantly from there. I think my biggest challenge is going to be "long run Saturday" - I've gotten pretty accustomed to sleeping late and being generally sloth-like on Saturday mornings, but given it's still summer and often quite hot, I'm going to have to suck it up, get up early, and get the run done. At least the first couple of weeks the "long runs" aren't really that long (4.8km this week, increasing by 1.6km per week until we get to 19.2km, eek), so it will give me a chance to get back into a good routine.
I do feel slightly better for getting all this crap off my chest in blog form, even if it hasn't actually helped to make any progress. I should come here more often :p
Just before signing off - I have still been reading other blogs, if not commenting on them to let you know I'm there. I'll try to get back to doing that too. Thanks to those who checked up on me in my absence too, kind words much appreciated xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)