One more post to completely bore you with my gardening pursuits, then I'll get back to normal programming.
The irrigation system went in yesterday. I am so freaking excited I can't begin to tell you. I quite like gardening, pottering around, doing the weeding, planting stuff, trimming stuff. But I hate watering, with a passion. Nothing bores me more than standing still with a stupid hose. Those days are now gone, the whole garden can now be watered by setting the sprinklers. Rock on. I will have to setup one final area of irrigation system once I get the last garden bed up and running, but the rest of it is all done. I got so excited that I even went and bought some Alyssum at Bunnings right before they closed last night, and planted it this morning before work. Granted, I need a life (and granted, I should have been going for a run rather than planting seedlings), but it's made my day.
Back to work today (well, actually I was here 3 days last week too, but it feels more like work now because a few more staff members have also returned. We're still just under half staffed though, nice and quiet). I've brought lots of nice healthy food, and I'm planning on going for a run from work tonight, seeing as I didn't go this morning. Tomorrow I'm planning on riding. I know if I can just get my groove back, I can get my exercise, diet and weight loss plans well underway.
On the diet and new year resolution front - I had planned to just give up chocolate this year, but I think that ban is going to need to be widened. Anything remotely chocolate/cocoa flavoured seems to set me off on a binge, so I think it all needs to go. I made brownie slice late yesterday at mums (because my food processor isn't good enough to do it). It's a "healthy version" brownie slice, made only of dates, macadamia nuts and cocoa. It tastes awesome, and comes in at 130 calories a piece, which is pretty good if you can actually eat only one slice. Let me just say that I will not be making it again in a hurry, because I am very very full of brownie slice right now...
Monday, January 3, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Gardening day 1
Today has been spent predominantly in the garden, and tomorrow will be much the same. The place is really starting to take shape, which is really exciting. I spent half of today sweeping up 40 million gum leaves from the massive gum trees in the easement next to my place, which was not so exciting. Similarly, the massive horde of eight legged interlopers which I uncovered and squished, also not exciting. But that said, the back yard is looking good (apart from the square patch of dirt which still needs to be turned into a garden bed... but the paved areas are nice and clean, and the completed garden bed is all tidy. One step at a time).
Tomorrow I have recruited my mother to help me put in my sprinkler system. I'm happy to do the purchasing and the labour, but I have absolutely NFI how to design the system that I need, nor what to buy, nor how to put it together. So I'll be under instruction for most of tomorrow. It should be good though, mum and I always have a laugh when we get working together, and I'm very much looking forward to being able to just connect a tap and walking away to water my garden - hand held hose watering sucks.
I'm sure the above information has really set everyone's world on fire. Hey, I never said my life was massively exciting.
On the diet and exercise front - diet is all good, 2 days back on the wagon and coping well. I'm battling some headaches, but I think that's just a come down from the sugar high I've been riding the last few weeks. I should start to feel better in the next few days. Planned exercise hasn't made it back into the routine yet, but I was plenty active with the stupid broom today. I need to get back into running pronto though, I've got the resolution fun run next Sunday, which I had completely forgotten about. Somehow I sense 7km of pure pain ahead of me. Oh well, at least it will get me back out there!
Tomorrow I have recruited my mother to help me put in my sprinkler system. I'm happy to do the purchasing and the labour, but I have absolutely NFI how to design the system that I need, nor what to buy, nor how to put it together. So I'll be under instruction for most of tomorrow. It should be good though, mum and I always have a laugh when we get working together, and I'm very much looking forward to being able to just connect a tap and walking away to water my garden - hand held hose watering sucks.
I'm sure the above information has really set everyone's world on fire. Hey, I never said my life was massively exciting.
On the diet and exercise front - diet is all good, 2 days back on the wagon and coping well. I'm battling some headaches, but I think that's just a come down from the sugar high I've been riding the last few weeks. I should start to feel better in the next few days. Planned exercise hasn't made it back into the routine yet, but I was plenty active with the stupid broom today. I need to get back into running pronto though, I've got the resolution fun run next Sunday, which I had completely forgotten about. Somehow I sense 7km of pure pain ahead of me. Oh well, at least it will get me back out there!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy new year!
Greetings! As you may have noticed, I have been somewhat AWOL again for a little while. Always a reasonable sign that I've been misbehaving myself on the food and exercise front. Christmas was a disaster all round, and 2010 on the whole was an absolute bitch. However, it does not do to dwell on the negative. We have a new year and a new start ahead of us.
I have been reading some other blogs today, trying to steal some inspiration for my list of new year's resolutions. I think I'm gonna steal from Kylie and do a list of "11 for 2011". I haven't thought through this particularly well yet, so I hope I can come up with that many...
1. Lose 20kg
2. Train for and complete a half marathon
3. Participate in at least 5 fun runs
4. Blog regularly
5. Finish my garden
6. Finish the renos on my house
7. Give up chocolate
8. Consciously focus on adopting a positive, 'glass half full' attitude
9. Find a hobby that is not computer or TV related
10.Keep in regular contact with good friends
11.Do a bike maintenance course and learn to change my own damn tyres!
Grief, that was hard to get through. I'll update my progress on these monthly :-)
I have been reading some other blogs today, trying to steal some inspiration for my list of new year's resolutions. I think I'm gonna steal from Kylie and do a list of "11 for 2011". I haven't thought through this particularly well yet, so I hope I can come up with that many...
1. Lose 20kg
2. Train for and complete a half marathon
3. Participate in at least 5 fun runs
4. Blog regularly
5. Finish my garden
6. Finish the renos on my house
7. Give up chocolate
8. Consciously focus on adopting a positive, 'glass half full' attitude
9. Find a hobby that is not computer or TV related
10.Keep in regular contact with good friends
11.Do a bike maintenance course and learn to change my own damn tyres!
Grief, that was hard to get through. I'll update my progress on these monthly :-)
Monday, December 13, 2010
After a very long absence...
I'm back, at very long last. It's been a while... a very long while. As anyone who has followed my blogging attempts in the past may know, when I go blog-AWOL, it's not a good sign - it usually means I've fallen fair and square off the wagon, started eating like a demon and being slothful on the exercise front. This time is no different really, except that it hasn't gone on as long as previous bouts, thankfully.
But I'm back into it now. I hadn't done any exercise since getting back from holidays until yesterday, but I went to step last night, and I rode my bike to work today. I just stood up to grab something from the other side of the room, and discovered that my legs have siezed up. Crap, looks like the ride home will be interesting. But that aside, I felt SO much better once I'd done step last night. I tried really really hard to talk myself out of going, but once I was in there I enjoyed every minute of it (it was a different instructor, and she was awesome, hope she sticks around). This is the problem with exercise, it's the getting started that's the problem, not the doing. And the longer I leave it, the more sloth-inclined I become. No more I say!
On the D&M side of things, I really need to work through what put me in my food and slothfulness funk this time around. On the whole, I think it was just me trying to eat my stress and emotions - nothing new there. Why I keep falling back to that counter-productive activity is beyond me, but I do it time and time again. Life has gotten on top of me, and I've bitten back by trying to eat it. WTF?
Now, the sources of the stresses, where do I start? In Bali I guess. There were some definite good points to the holiday - some good shopping, lots of good massages, and some much needed time away from the office. There were also some bad points - my Dad is incredibly hard work these days. Alzheimers is a bastard of an illness, and I don't think anyone can really appreciate just how difficult it is to deal with someone with that disease unless they've actually lived through it. If the person you were dealing with was a child (and a lot of the time they do behave exactly like naughty children), you could punish them to bring them into line. What the hell do you do with a 6'2" 110kg "child"? Get incredibly frustrated and wound up, that's what.
So that part of the trip was tough. The other thing from the Bali trip which has given me cause for stress since my return is actually a guy - who would have thought! Ketut is someone who I met in Bali a couple of trips back, and we've kept in contact through Facebook and text messages off and on over the last couple of years. He is completely not the sort of person I would have chosen for myself... and yet I really feel something for him. I expected to go there this time and see him, and have it feel like just a friend, the same as quite a few others I have gotten to know in my many trips. But it feels like something more. I didn't get to see a lot of him this trip, with my dad being demanding as he is and mum not coping well, but what I did see of him was great. I've been kinda depressed about it since getting back, trying to figure out what to do, whether to trust it or not etc etc etc. The problem with people from Bali (in a broad sweeping generalisation) is that they know how to flatter those from the western world to get what they want. I'm usually pretty good at seeing through that kind of thing, but everyone has their weaknesses, you know? So I don't know how Ketut sees me... as a partner, as a friend who flirts, or a ticket to a visa and a better life. How the hell do you really know? I guess I haven't really finished working through the options, but I'm leaning towards doing nothing with it at this stage. My life is already too complicated without adding a MASSIVE complication like this. But it is a shame.
What else is going on? Well, Christmas is going on. On the whole, I love Christmas, but it is becoming a major headache these days. It's always hectic, but my mother has had a mini meltdown this year (and last year, when I come to think of it), and that leaves me to pick up the pieces. I don't blame her at all, her life with my dad is monumentally sucky these days. I do, however, blame my selfish, useless, good-for-nothing brother, who does jack sh*t to help anyone other than himself. While I spent 17 hours on Saturday (yes, 17 hours... left home at 8am and got home at 1am) running around to make mum's life easier - doing Christmas shopping, putting up their Christmas decorations, wrapping a pile of presents for her - he can't even get his sorry ass around to help with a single thing. My mum is really self sufficient for her age, but I seriously don't think she should be getting on the roof to clean the gutters while the place is flooding. But she does it, because useless-brother "doesn't have time" to help. Then he sends me a text to ask if I've bought mum and dad's presents for him to give them. No I f*ing haven't, and no I'm not going to, you lazy prick. OK, sorry about that, really needed to get that off my chest.
In other news I've been sick. Not super duper sick, but I've got a cold which refuses to die. Probably because I've been eating crap and not exercising, and generally a bit run down. I've used it as a great excuse to eat more crap and do nothing of course. Well, no more. I got through step without really noticing the head cold. The only sign of it on my ride this morning was when I had snot running down my face because the lights refused to turn red to give me a chance to blow my nose. Oh, and I had to spit a couple of times. Gross, right? I hate doing that, but the alternative wasn't good. Sorry about the TMI, I'm just putting it all out there today, I CBF editing the thoughts going through my head for what is appropriate to put in writing.
I could go on and on today - that's what happens when I leave a month between blogs I guess. I have still been reading other blogs, but I haven't been posting on them much. I'll try to be more diligent with that, although the next couple of weeks do promise to be annoyingly busy. I'll see what I can do, and I'll try to keep up to date with my own blog too :)
But I'm back into it now. I hadn't done any exercise since getting back from holidays until yesterday, but I went to step last night, and I rode my bike to work today. I just stood up to grab something from the other side of the room, and discovered that my legs have siezed up. Crap, looks like the ride home will be interesting. But that aside, I felt SO much better once I'd done step last night. I tried really really hard to talk myself out of going, but once I was in there I enjoyed every minute of it (it was a different instructor, and she was awesome, hope she sticks around). This is the problem with exercise, it's the getting started that's the problem, not the doing. And the longer I leave it, the more sloth-inclined I become. No more I say!
On the D&M side of things, I really need to work through what put me in my food and slothfulness funk this time around. On the whole, I think it was just me trying to eat my stress and emotions - nothing new there. Why I keep falling back to that counter-productive activity is beyond me, but I do it time and time again. Life has gotten on top of me, and I've bitten back by trying to eat it. WTF?
Now, the sources of the stresses, where do I start? In Bali I guess. There were some definite good points to the holiday - some good shopping, lots of good massages, and some much needed time away from the office. There were also some bad points - my Dad is incredibly hard work these days. Alzheimers is a bastard of an illness, and I don't think anyone can really appreciate just how difficult it is to deal with someone with that disease unless they've actually lived through it. If the person you were dealing with was a child (and a lot of the time they do behave exactly like naughty children), you could punish them to bring them into line. What the hell do you do with a 6'2" 110kg "child"? Get incredibly frustrated and wound up, that's what.
So that part of the trip was tough. The other thing from the Bali trip which has given me cause for stress since my return is actually a guy - who would have thought! Ketut is someone who I met in Bali a couple of trips back, and we've kept in contact through Facebook and text messages off and on over the last couple of years. He is completely not the sort of person I would have chosen for myself... and yet I really feel something for him. I expected to go there this time and see him, and have it feel like just a friend, the same as quite a few others I have gotten to know in my many trips. But it feels like something more. I didn't get to see a lot of him this trip, with my dad being demanding as he is and mum not coping well, but what I did see of him was great. I've been kinda depressed about it since getting back, trying to figure out what to do, whether to trust it or not etc etc etc. The problem with people from Bali (in a broad sweeping generalisation) is that they know how to flatter those from the western world to get what they want. I'm usually pretty good at seeing through that kind of thing, but everyone has their weaknesses, you know? So I don't know how Ketut sees me... as a partner, as a friend who flirts, or a ticket to a visa and a better life. How the hell do you really know? I guess I haven't really finished working through the options, but I'm leaning towards doing nothing with it at this stage. My life is already too complicated without adding a MASSIVE complication like this. But it is a shame.
What else is going on? Well, Christmas is going on. On the whole, I love Christmas, but it is becoming a major headache these days. It's always hectic, but my mother has had a mini meltdown this year (and last year, when I come to think of it), and that leaves me to pick up the pieces. I don't blame her at all, her life with my dad is monumentally sucky these days. I do, however, blame my selfish, useless, good-for-nothing brother, who does jack sh*t to help anyone other than himself. While I spent 17 hours on Saturday (yes, 17 hours... left home at 8am and got home at 1am) running around to make mum's life easier - doing Christmas shopping, putting up their Christmas decorations, wrapping a pile of presents for her - he can't even get his sorry ass around to help with a single thing. My mum is really self sufficient for her age, but I seriously don't think she should be getting on the roof to clean the gutters while the place is flooding. But she does it, because useless-brother "doesn't have time" to help. Then he sends me a text to ask if I've bought mum and dad's presents for him to give them. No I f*ing haven't, and no I'm not going to, you lazy prick. OK, sorry about that, really needed to get that off my chest.
In other news I've been sick. Not super duper sick, but I've got a cold which refuses to die. Probably because I've been eating crap and not exercising, and generally a bit run down. I've used it as a great excuse to eat more crap and do nothing of course. Well, no more. I got through step without really noticing the head cold. The only sign of it on my ride this morning was when I had snot running down my face because the lights refused to turn red to give me a chance to blow my nose. Oh, and I had to spit a couple of times. Gross, right? I hate doing that, but the alternative wasn't good. Sorry about the TMI, I'm just putting it all out there today, I CBF editing the thoughts going through my head for what is appropriate to put in writing.
I could go on and on today - that's what happens when I leave a month between blogs I guess. I have still been reading other blogs, but I haven't been posting on them much. I'll try to be more diligent with that, although the next couple of weeks do promise to be annoyingly busy. I'll see what I can do, and I'll try to keep up to date with my own blog too :)
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Pre holiday update
That's right ladies and gents, it's 2 days before I am flying away into the sunrise for 10 days in Bali. I don't actually know how good the holiday will be (my dad is a bit of a handful these days and it will probably make for some trying times), but I couldn't care less at this point. As long as I'm not in this office and not in my daily routine, I'm happy. When I think about it, it's been about 6 months since I had a day off work, so no wonder I'm over it. I really need to schedule in a couple of R&R/mental health days in from time to time, to stop me getting to this CBF stage.
Anyways, I'm not sure there's really a lot to report sadly. Official times are still not up from the Glenelg Classic which is giving me the irrits. I think it's because they buggered up the course (even worse than I first knew), and so people have run different distances, which makes sorting out the placings a bit hard. Apparently some of the frontrunners ended up doing like 13km or something, because some marshalls didn't turn up and the lead cyclist went the wrong way. Awesome planning guys.
I pulled up slightly sore in the legs after Sunday, but nothing too excrutiating. I had boot camp on Monday, which was a pretty good session - lots of circuit work and introducing power bands and kettle bells, made things a little more interesting. I piked on my boxing class on Monday night though. In all truth I really could have gone, I wasn't that sore. I just didn't want to. I needed some down time, so I spent the night downloading music and fiddling with the play lists on my ipod for the holiday. Very therapeutic.
Tuesday I did the cycle-commute, just the standard 15km each way with no add ons this week. I felt a bit fatigued, particularly on the way home, but the calorie count was actually pretty low. I think I'm just fatigued in general so everything is a bit of a struggle.
This morning was my last boot camp session. Can anyone say running? The lead instructor started off by saying it would be an easier session today, but perhaps he should have said that to the new recruits instructor. My HRM showed 700 calories for the session (including the jog to and from, but still) - this is the biggest session I had all camp. Running/stop for squats or pushups or whatever/running. More running. More shuttle runs. More running. Lucky all the girly girls who cried over being told to run have already quit, there would have been hyperventilation everywhere.
So bootcamp is done and dusted. An interesting experiment and I did enjoy having the structure of it in my workout routine. Chances of me getting up at 5am to do my own exercise... pretty low. But I had very little trouble doing it for a planned session. I've also taken away some technique tips on running, which I'm trying to incorporate gradually into my running style. Having said that, I can't see myself doing another camp - it's just too expensive for me. I'll have to figure out a new routine for myself after holidays. Of course, if I decide to go ahead with training for a HM in May, it will just be a lot of running and 2 cross training sessions a week. Still not sure if I've got the balls to go for that yet though lol.
The agenda for today is to try and actually pump out some work, but I don't like my chances much. I'm just over it, over it, over it. Having a boss who is never in the office and is completely unaware of what I do with my day has its costs and benefits at times - when I'm remotely motivated, it's awesome not to have someone breathing down your neck and making revolting demands. But when I'm at the seriously CBF stage, there's nothing to push me along in the right direction. Sigh, some people are never happy.
Something I haven't posted about much recently is eating/diet. I've been a bit hit and miss with it. Sometimes really really good, but I've had a couple of bad sessions in there too. I'm really a bit lost with figuring out how much to eat at the moment. With the current exercise schedule I'm feeling too tired and braindead on 1500 calories, but I'm not really a believer in "eating back" exercise calories. It doesn't help that my head is broken. Years of yo-yo dieting and calorie obsession have left me somewhat scarred, and the thought of regularly eating at 1800 kinda freaks me out. Maybe I'll try for 1650 for a while (after holidays, when I won't be counting because it's impossible to figure out what they put in food when you're eating "out" every day, just gonna be as sensible as possible), maybe boost up to 1700 or 1750 when I'm a bit more settled with that. FFS, weight control is so much more about the mind than it is about hunger.
OK, I'm signing off. Chances are I won't update again until after the holiday, so have a lovely couple of weeks everyone :)
Anyways, I'm not sure there's really a lot to report sadly. Official times are still not up from the Glenelg Classic which is giving me the irrits. I think it's because they buggered up the course (even worse than I first knew), and so people have run different distances, which makes sorting out the placings a bit hard. Apparently some of the frontrunners ended up doing like 13km or something, because some marshalls didn't turn up and the lead cyclist went the wrong way. Awesome planning guys.
I pulled up slightly sore in the legs after Sunday, but nothing too excrutiating. I had boot camp on Monday, which was a pretty good session - lots of circuit work and introducing power bands and kettle bells, made things a little more interesting. I piked on my boxing class on Monday night though. In all truth I really could have gone, I wasn't that sore. I just didn't want to. I needed some down time, so I spent the night downloading music and fiddling with the play lists on my ipod for the holiday. Very therapeutic.
Tuesday I did the cycle-commute, just the standard 15km each way with no add ons this week. I felt a bit fatigued, particularly on the way home, but the calorie count was actually pretty low. I think I'm just fatigued in general so everything is a bit of a struggle.
This morning was my last boot camp session. Can anyone say running? The lead instructor started off by saying it would be an easier session today, but perhaps he should have said that to the new recruits instructor. My HRM showed 700 calories for the session (including the jog to and from, but still) - this is the biggest session I had all camp. Running/stop for squats or pushups or whatever/running. More running. More shuttle runs. More running. Lucky all the girly girls who cried over being told to run have already quit, there would have been hyperventilation everywhere.
So bootcamp is done and dusted. An interesting experiment and I did enjoy having the structure of it in my workout routine. Chances of me getting up at 5am to do my own exercise... pretty low. But I had very little trouble doing it for a planned session. I've also taken away some technique tips on running, which I'm trying to incorporate gradually into my running style. Having said that, I can't see myself doing another camp - it's just too expensive for me. I'll have to figure out a new routine for myself after holidays. Of course, if I decide to go ahead with training for a HM in May, it will just be a lot of running and 2 cross training sessions a week. Still not sure if I've got the balls to go for that yet though lol.
The agenda for today is to try and actually pump out some work, but I don't like my chances much. I'm just over it, over it, over it. Having a boss who is never in the office and is completely unaware of what I do with my day has its costs and benefits at times - when I'm remotely motivated, it's awesome not to have someone breathing down your neck and making revolting demands. But when I'm at the seriously CBF stage, there's nothing to push me along in the right direction. Sigh, some people are never happy.
Something I haven't posted about much recently is eating/diet. I've been a bit hit and miss with it. Sometimes really really good, but I've had a couple of bad sessions in there too. I'm really a bit lost with figuring out how much to eat at the moment. With the current exercise schedule I'm feeling too tired and braindead on 1500 calories, but I'm not really a believer in "eating back" exercise calories. It doesn't help that my head is broken. Years of yo-yo dieting and calorie obsession have left me somewhat scarred, and the thought of regularly eating at 1800 kinda freaks me out. Maybe I'll try for 1650 for a while (after holidays, when I won't be counting because it's impossible to figure out what they put in food when you're eating "out" every day, just gonna be as sensible as possible), maybe boost up to 1700 or 1750 when I'm a bit more settled with that. FFS, weight control is so much more about the mind than it is about hunger.
OK, I'm signing off. Chances are I won't update again until after the holiday, so have a lovely couple of weeks everyone :)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Race report!
I am here, proud to report that I have survived the Glenelg Classic fun run 2010!
The lead up was a bit iffy - I ate badly yesterday (well, very badly actually. WTF was I thinking doing a pile of baking when hormonal and hungry? Seriously.) I went to bed too late and didn't sleep well. I was kinda disorganised too, I didn't know exactly where I had to go for the start of the race until this morning. Oh, and the pants I wanted to wear (because they have good zip pockets for my ipod and car key) didn't get dry in time, so I had a change of wardrobe decision at the last minute.
Despite the dodgy lead up, the race went surprisingly well. I left home about 6.30 and got to the meeting point in plenty of time, about 50 minutes before race time. I had a wander around, did a few stretches, got intimidated by all the super-runners around. After a while I settled down and looked for people who perhaps looked not quite so fit, and convinced myself that I could beat at least one of them. I really really didn't want to come last.
10 minutes before start time, someone on a microphone started talking, but I couldn't understand a word - it was a really crappy sound system they had happening. People started walking up the street, so I did the sheep thing and followed them, assuming we were headed for the start line. We stood around for a while longer, the microphone woman started up again, and all of a sudden people started running - I guess it's start time then!
I did really well with staying to my plan at the start of the race. People everywhere were taking off very fast, but I made sure I kept the pace moderate and kept looking at my watch to make sure my heart rate was staying in the 140's. I think we had only gone about 1km when a few people started to walk, puffing like crazy, so I'm thinking maybe they should have moderated their start a little too.
I found a rhythm pretty quickly today, and for a lot of the race I felt pretty good. It was slightly demoralising to see some of the elite runners coming back the other way (it was an out and back loop course) when I was only at about 3.5km or something, but I kept plugging away at it. My heart rate hit the 150's about the 4 or 5k mark and stayed there, but I was still feeling good, so I'll know for future events that I can sustain that level without tiring too quickly. I paced myself with several other runners who were ahead of me, and managed to catch and pass the majority of them, which is always a nice feeling.
Over the course of the race, I distracted myself by thinking about what goals I wanted to achieve (OK this might have been a rather late time to be thinking about race goals, but better late than never). Before I started, my goals were to run the whole way, and not come last. It became apparent fairly early on that I wouldn't come last, so then I decided I'd like to not be last in my age group. I don't know whether I achieved this or not, I'll check when the times are posted on the website, but I'm pretty sure I will have succeeded with that. I also thought I'd like to finish within 65 minutes for the 10km.
Now I didn't achieve the time goal - I think my time will be around 1:08:30. However, in the aftermath of the race, it was revealed that they stuffed up the course and sent us along too far along one road before doubling back, so the course was actually 10.95km. Hearing that, I was absolutely stoked. I would have smashed my 65 minute goal... and not only can I run 10km, I can run 11!
So all in all, a successful day out. I'm a bit tired, but I'm also really excited about training for more events next year. My next planned outing is the resolution run on 9th January, which is 7km around the Torrens. It could be pretty hot for that one, but otherwise it shouldn't be too tough. There's a 10km Dolphin Run in February. I can't remember what happens after that, but I'll post my 2011 race plans some time soon.
Just a quick shout out to Jess - thinking of you in your race today, and look forward to hearing the full report soon.
The lead up was a bit iffy - I ate badly yesterday (well, very badly actually. WTF was I thinking doing a pile of baking when hormonal and hungry? Seriously.) I went to bed too late and didn't sleep well. I was kinda disorganised too, I didn't know exactly where I had to go for the start of the race until this morning. Oh, and the pants I wanted to wear (because they have good zip pockets for my ipod and car key) didn't get dry in time, so I had a change of wardrobe decision at the last minute.
Despite the dodgy lead up, the race went surprisingly well. I left home about 6.30 and got to the meeting point in plenty of time, about 50 minutes before race time. I had a wander around, did a few stretches, got intimidated by all the super-runners around. After a while I settled down and looked for people who perhaps looked not quite so fit, and convinced myself that I could beat at least one of them. I really really didn't want to come last.
10 minutes before start time, someone on a microphone started talking, but I couldn't understand a word - it was a really crappy sound system they had happening. People started walking up the street, so I did the sheep thing and followed them, assuming we were headed for the start line. We stood around for a while longer, the microphone woman started up again, and all of a sudden people started running - I guess it's start time then!
I did really well with staying to my plan at the start of the race. People everywhere were taking off very fast, but I made sure I kept the pace moderate and kept looking at my watch to make sure my heart rate was staying in the 140's. I think we had only gone about 1km when a few people started to walk, puffing like crazy, so I'm thinking maybe they should have moderated their start a little too.
I found a rhythm pretty quickly today, and for a lot of the race I felt pretty good. It was slightly demoralising to see some of the elite runners coming back the other way (it was an out and back loop course) when I was only at about 3.5km or something, but I kept plugging away at it. My heart rate hit the 150's about the 4 or 5k mark and stayed there, but I was still feeling good, so I'll know for future events that I can sustain that level without tiring too quickly. I paced myself with several other runners who were ahead of me, and managed to catch and pass the majority of them, which is always a nice feeling.
Over the course of the race, I distracted myself by thinking about what goals I wanted to achieve (OK this might have been a rather late time to be thinking about race goals, but better late than never). Before I started, my goals were to run the whole way, and not come last. It became apparent fairly early on that I wouldn't come last, so then I decided I'd like to not be last in my age group. I don't know whether I achieved this or not, I'll check when the times are posted on the website, but I'm pretty sure I will have succeeded with that. I also thought I'd like to finish within 65 minutes for the 10km.
Now I didn't achieve the time goal - I think my time will be around 1:08:30. However, in the aftermath of the race, it was revealed that they stuffed up the course and sent us along too far along one road before doubling back, so the course was actually 10.95km. Hearing that, I was absolutely stoked. I would have smashed my 65 minute goal... and not only can I run 10km, I can run 11!
So all in all, a successful day out. I'm a bit tired, but I'm also really excited about training for more events next year. My next planned outing is the resolution run on 9th January, which is 7km around the Torrens. It could be pretty hot for that one, but otherwise it shouldn't be too tough. There's a 10km Dolphin Run in February. I can't remember what happens after that, but I'll post my 2011 race plans some time soon.
Just a quick shout out to Jess - thinking of you in your race today, and look forward to hearing the full report soon.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Doing the Friday Dance
It's Friday, huzzah! My last Friday at work before holidays - I always love doing that countdown of the last Friday, Monday, Tuesday... before going away. I haven't organised a single thing for going away, nor is my work up to the stage it needs to be before I go, but I couldn't give two hoots right now. I'm going and I just don't care!
So it's been a kind of emotionally draining week at the grindstone, but things are looking up. We seem to have come to an uncomfortable truce in the work war zone, and I'll settle for that, given where things were at early in the week. Bastard isn't usually in on Fridays or Mondays, so all being well I'll only have to see him three more days before I go away, and then for a week or two when I get back. This seems a bit more manageable than it did from the chaos at the start of the week. Now if I can actually get some work done, all will be relatively well on the work front.
On the exercise front, it's been a big week. I'm feeling slightly dazed and dopey now, so I think this is the maximum effort for the time being. Or maybe I should try getting into bed earlier and stop fiddling with my iPhone once I'm there - that might help. Anyway, the Polar is showing a calorie burn of 3739 for the week so far. This is from 3 bootcamps, 1 boxing class, a cycle commute (including an extra loop on the way home), and a 6km run.
My run last night was hard, hard, hard. I shouldn't be surprised though - I was tired, my legs were a bit sore, and it was hot. Not middle-of-summer-in-Adelaide hot, but 29 and humid, which we haven't had much of yet. I'm extremely grateful that the weather forecast is for cool conditions on Sunday for my 10k. If it was hot and humid I really don't think I'd last the distance (I'm concerned about it even in the cool), I was completely spent at the end of 6k last night.
It was still 27 degrees when I got up at 5 for bootcamp this morning, but it looks like the cool change will be coming through shortly. There were so many damn flies this morning, it was disgusting. The stupid things kept trying to get in my ears and mouth while I was doing all manner of torturous activities in the bootcamp circuits (squats, lunges, push ups, sit ups, sprints, burpees, bear crawls, mountain climbers... few others I've managed to block from my memory).
I've only got 2 more bootcamps left now. I'll have to give some thought while I'm on holiday to what my training plan will look like when I get back into it in December. Back to more gym classes I guess. I downloaded a HM training program the other day, and I am giving serious consideration to attempting one next year. The Greenbelt HM is on 1st May, so I could start a 12 week HM training program in February and see if I can do it. There are other HMs in August and October as well, so if I find the training too hard going in the heat, I can always defer and try one of the later ones. I can't believe I'm talking about a HM in the same post as saying I don't think I can make my 10k on the weekend. What a contradiction. It's nice to have goals though :)
As far as weekend plans go, tomorrow is most definitely an exercise free day. I've got lots of "stuff" I need to do - bake a birthday cake for my Pa, cleaning washing and packing ready for holidays, and... crap, I had a long list of stuff I wanted to do and I've already forgotten it. I really need to write this stuff down. Saturday night we're going out for Pa's birthday (I'll be carb loading on pasta! Any excuse.) Sunday morning is the big run, then more housey stuff, then dinner at the parents. I probably won't see the puppies again before we go away, so I'll have to give them extra love and cuddles and walkies on Sunday.
Have a fabulous weekend everyone :0)
So it's been a kind of emotionally draining week at the grindstone, but things are looking up. We seem to have come to an uncomfortable truce in the work war zone, and I'll settle for that, given where things were at early in the week. Bastard isn't usually in on Fridays or Mondays, so all being well I'll only have to see him three more days before I go away, and then for a week or two when I get back. This seems a bit more manageable than it did from the chaos at the start of the week. Now if I can actually get some work done, all will be relatively well on the work front.
On the exercise front, it's been a big week. I'm feeling slightly dazed and dopey now, so I think this is the maximum effort for the time being. Or maybe I should try getting into bed earlier and stop fiddling with my iPhone once I'm there - that might help. Anyway, the Polar is showing a calorie burn of 3739 for the week so far. This is from 3 bootcamps, 1 boxing class, a cycle commute (including an extra loop on the way home), and a 6km run.
My run last night was hard, hard, hard. I shouldn't be surprised though - I was tired, my legs were a bit sore, and it was hot. Not middle-of-summer-in-Adelaide hot, but 29 and humid, which we haven't had much of yet. I'm extremely grateful that the weather forecast is for cool conditions on Sunday for my 10k. If it was hot and humid I really don't think I'd last the distance (I'm concerned about it even in the cool), I was completely spent at the end of 6k last night.
It was still 27 degrees when I got up at 5 for bootcamp this morning, but it looks like the cool change will be coming through shortly. There were so many damn flies this morning, it was disgusting. The stupid things kept trying to get in my ears and mouth while I was doing all manner of torturous activities in the bootcamp circuits (squats, lunges, push ups, sit ups, sprints, burpees, bear crawls, mountain climbers... few others I've managed to block from my memory).
I've only got 2 more bootcamps left now. I'll have to give some thought while I'm on holiday to what my training plan will look like when I get back into it in December. Back to more gym classes I guess. I downloaded a HM training program the other day, and I am giving serious consideration to attempting one next year. The Greenbelt HM is on 1st May, so I could start a 12 week HM training program in February and see if I can do it. There are other HMs in August and October as well, so if I find the training too hard going in the heat, I can always defer and try one of the later ones. I can't believe I'm talking about a HM in the same post as saying I don't think I can make my 10k on the weekend. What a contradiction. It's nice to have goals though :)
As far as weekend plans go, tomorrow is most definitely an exercise free day. I've got lots of "stuff" I need to do - bake a birthday cake for my Pa, cleaning washing and packing ready for holidays, and... crap, I had a long list of stuff I wanted to do and I've already forgotten it. I really need to write this stuff down. Saturday night we're going out for Pa's birthday (I'll be carb loading on pasta! Any excuse.) Sunday morning is the big run, then more housey stuff, then dinner at the parents. I probably won't see the puppies again before we go away, so I'll have to give them extra love and cuddles and walkies on Sunday.
Have a fabulous weekend everyone :0)
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