Quick update

I've been AWOL for a while, but all is well. I've just been uber-busy at work. When you work in a small office and someone is on extended sick leave... well, life gets hard. But I love the work, so I'm not complaining TOO much. A little less volume would be nice, but on the whole life is good.

In the non-working world, all has been going pretty well too. My running is coming along, although I am struggling a bit. Every run seems tough at the moment, so I think I've lost my rhythm a bit. I just need to keep plugging away at it and find my happy place again. Stats since I last checked in:

Saturday - 50 mins, 7.6km, avg pace 9.1km/hour. A fairly hilly course and I was smashed by the end of it. Long run day increases to an hour this Saturday, so I'm hoping it feels better.

Monday - speed work. 30 seconds @ 15km/hour, 1 minute standing recovery, 10 repeats. Speed work gets me every time, 30 seconds sounds like nothing but by the time I'm half way through the repeats I'm wondering if I might need to spew. Not good in any situation, but especially not in the gym. I survived with no such incidents though, thankfully.

Thursday - 30 mins, 4.6km, avg pace 9.4km/hour. My legs were a bit tight and fatigued from some strength work earlier in the week, and the last km of this run was torturous. Having said that, the first km was the slowest - it is all uphill, but only gradual inclines. I probably needed more of a warm up this morning, given the sore legs and cool atmosphere.

Outside of the running, I've bitten the bullet and joined the good gym. I've messed around with some cheaper ones in the last year or so, but it just doesn't work for me. The class timetables suck and the equipment isn't well maintained - there's a reason they're cheap. So I've joined at Goodlife, goodbye $910, but I did get away with no joining fee, no admin fee and a bonus month free. Still not cheap, but on the whole I don't think I did too badly. The gym has just been renovated, all the equipment is new and the group fitness timetable is pretty extensive. I've been for my initial trainer session and got a strength program written for me. They update these for you free of charge every 3 months. I'll give it a go, but I can't see myself sticking to it - there's stuff in there that I just know I won't do. For example, I HATE wall sits. Like, really hate them. I told her that, but she put them in anyway. They might be good for you, but I'm certain there are other exercises she could have substituted, given my views on this. I'll just change it around myself.

Casie - yes I do have some pics of the kittens, but I haven't uploaded them yet. I'll try to get to it on the weekend, I normally update my blog at work :)

Today's Run

4.1km, 26:39, 9.2km/hour

This was the same route I did on Monday. The first km, which trends slightly downhill, was really really hard. I was at 6:35 pace for the first km - I've been known to do that stretch in 5:55 (although admittedly when I knew I was taking the downhill route at the end of the road, not the massive uphill in the opposite direction as I was today, so I was deliberately holding some in reserve). I was quite scared of how I was going to cope with the big hills given the poor start, but I found my rhythm and got through pretty well. 6:45 and 6:38 for the next 2 km, which had some nasty nasty hills in them. The 4th km I did in 6:07, but that's down some very nice hills. What goes up, must come down!

There's a long road ahead to get my running fitness back, but as they say, the longest journey starts with a single step. That's enough philosophy for today, I've got a busy work day ahead. Happy running one and all.

Been sick

Hi all, I've been absent again for a while... I've been sick :-( Not at-deaths-door sick, but nasty virus sick which put me off course for a week or 2. Last weekend I thought I might be dying. I'm slightly melodramatic when it comes to illness though. I'm very rarely sick, and I don't cope well when something gets me. Bossman told me last week that I should have been a bloke, the way I whinge about being sick lol.

Anyway, I am definitely through the worst of the sickness. I still have a lingering cough which is annoying and wakes me up a couple of times a night, but other than that, I'm pretty much over it. So it's back to normal programming - I went for my first run in a couple of weeks this morning. The Garmin battery died on the home stretch so I don't have the full stats (which is bloody annoying, but might encourage me to check my equipment the night before). The run wasn't easy by any means, but it wasn't as tough as I was expecting, so hopefully I haven't lost as much fitness as I thought I might have. I was running pretty slow, but it was also a very hilly route, so I was very happy just to make the distance and not have to slow to a walk on the massive hill in the middle. The nice downhill for the last km or so was lovely :)

Outside of the sickness and today's run, life has been pretty quiet. Lots going on at work, but mostly positive (which is nice after the year we've had!) The kittens are settling into the household very nicely, and we're building a pretty good routine for ourselves. I still need to be a bit more organised so that I can fit everything into life. I always make work my first priority, so that's not likely to suffer (bad priorities, I know). But I don't want my training to suffer, and nor do I want to leave the cats with not enough attention. Eternally seeking balance in life, that's me. I'm going to try to get to the gym tonight, although I don't think there's any good classes on. I might do a strength session and see how I pull up.

Until later...

New update

Wow it's been a while. First things first... FALSE ALARM, FALSE ALARM. All is well (and thank goodness for that!!)

So, back to regular programming. I am currently in the midst of a sloth week - completely unplanned, but it's happening anyway. I ran on Tuesday morning (and pretty fast too actually - 4.8km in 28:33... I really should have gone on another 200m and got my coveted sub-30 minute 5k, but such is life). Today I was supposed to ride to work, and didn't. Monday I was supposed to cross train, and didn't. Tomorrow I am going to run in the morning though. Friday is a scheduled rest day, but I'll try and do something light, because I am feeling a bit slack. Having said that, I am going to make a concerted effort to be kind to myself. I am going through a really, really crap time right now, and putting extra expectations on myself is not helping anyone. Work is a whole new level of stressful, the family is being demanding, and there just aren't enough hours in the day at the moment. Such is life - I'm just going to do the best I can with what I'm facing, and hope for easier and happier times ahead.

Anyway, back to the running. We are now less than 3 weeks out from the HM, and I'm varying between excitement and freaking out. I did really well with my long run of 16km 2 Saturday's ago, including a pretty hilly circuit. But last Saturday's 17.2km was a bit of a disaster, which has dented the confidence a little bit.

It was pretty dismal weather and started raining not long after I set out, which didn't help my mood any. The biggest problem though was the pain in my legs - my right shin in particular. I've had shin splints before in my long distant gymnastics past, and I really don't want to go there again. I've had some soreness in the shins from time to time, but it usually passes pretty quickly as I warm up into the run. This didn't happen on Saturday though, and it just got worse. I eventually stopped about the 6 or 7km mark, and discovered I had a big egg on the side of my shin. I did some self massage and found a spot a bit above the egg which absolutely killed to push on it... so I pushed on it and rubbed it (and swore a lot), and managed to release whatever was causing the problem. Then I resumed the run, and about 3km further along, I was pain free. Weird.

So, by the 10km mark or thereabouts, I found my rhythm and did pretty well for the last 7km. Seriously, a 10km lead-in to the comfortable section? That's ridiculous. Anyway, the final time was 1:50, at an average pace of 9.3km. I have one more long run (19km) this Saturday, then it's taper time and the big race the following weekend. And then 2 weeks after that, I'll be sailing the South Pacific :-)

Tired

I'm really struggling with the tired's again this week. This morning I felt like I literally could not drag myself out of bed. I'm super glad it's not a running day, because I seriously don't think I would have made it out there. I did eventually drag my sorry ass out of bed in time to cycle to work thankfully - but it was a long hard slog the whole way, which kinda sucks. Hopefully I'll snap out of this sometime soon. Oh, that just reminded me to take a multi vitamin - maybe I'm low on something. Can't do any harm, right?

Anyway, I think I left off on Saturday morning with my last post, after a great long run. I didn't achieve a whole lot else on Saturday really - I did manage to go and buy the curtain fabric with my mum, but that ended up taking hours. That's the problem with going home, I can never just pop in there, they won't let me leave the house. We spent about half an hour in Spotlight, then I spent 2 hours trying to escape the house after that.

Sunday was a busy one, but surprisingly productive for once. Up for the markets first thing (really really dark now. I got up early so I could make us some coffees to take with us, sit in the car and drink them while we waited for it to lighten up at least a little bit). I felt the need to bake, so I made a sultana cake for my Pa, and a batch of hot cross buns. They were good too - perhaps a little more spice, but otherwise a good recipe find. Someone at work has kindly volunteered to be the recipient of the next batch, so that will be a good offload of next weekend's baking :-)

After the baking expedition, I did a bit of gardening in the rain (as you do). One vegie patch has been fertilised and will be ready for planting in 6 weeks or so. I still haven't made any headway with doing the edging pavers on the other 3 patches though, damn it. I did clean the house from top to bottom and do piles of washing though, so that was a good effort. I also went to mum's early for dinner, and put the pug in the bath for her. He was one stinky pug, something to do with the fact that he decided to roll in cow poo fertiliser last week perhaps. He looks a completely different colour now, nice and cream instead of dirty brown. I also took the pug and the shep for a walk... and it started to rain 5 minutes after we set out. It was just my day to get wet I think. The pug has made great progress on his fitness too - he used to refuse to walk in the rain (he would just sit down and refuse to move, I had to carry him!) Now he loves a walk more than he hates the rain, so he just kept trotting on without seeming to notice the rain. Go pug!

Monday morning saw me out for a scheduled 4.8km "easy pace" run. My legs were really heavy from Saturday's run and it was a tough circuit. I haven't got my lap times on me (well the Garmin is 3 rooms away, which is clearly way too far), but I think the time was 30:34 for 4.8km. I felt every metre of that distance too. I nearly gave into the fatigued legs last night, but instead I sucked it up and went to Step at the gym for the first time in a few weeks. I got through that fine, which leads me to believe that the fatigue and soreness is probably more mental than physical. I just need to push through it and toughen up a bit I think.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...

Return of the sheep

The sheep is back. I've given it some thought, and I'm going to maintain my blog. I like it, and I like the friends I've made through the blog reading and writing process. It's important to me, so anyone who's reading it and doesn't like what it says... well quite frankly, they can p*** off! Having said that, I won't be saying anything more about my workplace on here (which in all probability will result in the interloper(s) disappearing anyway lol). Next time I need to offload a pile of work crap off my chest, Jess you should watch out, because there will be a MASSIVE rant email coming your way.

Right, enough of that. I've been a sloth this week. Just massively tired and disinterested since Wednesday's good morning run. I didn't run on Thursday, I didn't do any cross training or strength training. I sat on the couch and did nix. It was good though, and I think I probably needed it, because I feel a lot better today. In fact, I'm feeling pretty awesome right now. I'm not long back from my long run, which was 8 miles, or 12.8km this week. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it felt GOOD nearly all the way. How much does that freaking rock! There was a tough section where it is a long steady climb up gradual hills for 2 or 3km, but it wasn't so tough that I even considered slowing to a walk (although my pace did slow somewhat). And I fatigued about the 11km mark - the downhills from there were still comfortable, but the last bit of uphill in the last 800m or so was pretty challenging. The sense of satisfaction and achievement in finishing a run like that is amazing though. I'm really looking forward to the HM at this stage, and I am believing in my ability to be able to do it.

So, today's stats:

Distance 12.8km
Time 1.21.45
Average pace 9.4km/hour
Maximum pace 13.8km/hour (I don't normally record this one, but man that's fast! Wonder where I was running at that pace? Down a bloody steep hill no doubt).

1st km 6.07.36
2nd km 6.19.61
3rd km 6.15.63
4th km 6.14.81
5th km 6.20.92
6th km 6.31.99 (start of the uphill)
7th km 6.46.38 (ouchie)
8th km 6.44.58 (more ouchie)
9th km 6.26.77
10th km 6.18.98
11th km 6.04.64 (aah downhills how I love thee)
12th km 6.15.08
800m 5.18.62

Beautiful running weather today too. It would have been perfect if I had gotten up an hour or so earlier before the sun was in my face, but the temperature and gentle breeze are ideal.

Righty-o, that's running done for the weekend. My house is in need of some serious cleaning TLC, I need to go curtain shopping with my mother (bah... but she's going to sew them for me, so I need to suck it up), I need to make some progress on the garden paving (bah again, so over it). So that's me over and out for today... catch you next week peeps.

Fatigued

My legs are fatigued. They feel heavy and tight and like they don't want to run up any more hills. But these legs are going to have to suck it up, because there is another 6.5km run scheduled for tomorrow before rest day Friday. And then 12.8km scheduled for Saturday. Eep.

I'm not sure exactly why my legs are suffering so much, but I think it's a combination of factors. They pulled up fairly sore from last Saturday's long run, which granted was fairly hilly. I think the gardening work is what has really done them in though, because I'm rarely sore in the hamstrings (always in the quads), and it's the hamstrings that are feeling the worst of it right now.

On Monday I ran 4.8km in 29:45. It was a relatively flat course, but it was pretty warm and sunny, because I ran it after work (not having dragged my butt and sore legs out of bed in the morning). Yesterday I did the cycle commute, 15km to work and 18km home via a detour with a couple of extra hills - perhaps this wasn't the greatest plan given the leg situation. But those awesome downhills just make the uphills worth it, don't they?

This morning I managed to drag my weary self out of bed on time (despite the soreness and despite the lack of sleep because I went to bed late after watching crap TV AGAIN), and did 6.21km in 38:13. The program actually calls for 6.4km, but my loop ended there and I couldn't be stuffed running up and down my street to make up the distance. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with that pace, which averages out at 9.7km/hour. I'd like to get up to 10km/hour or 6 minute km pace, and it's moving steadily in that direction. Lap times were as follows:

5.55.65
5.55.82
6.03.47
6.10.15
6.23.38
6.28.91
1.15.74

Those first couple of km's were fast! They were also downhill... but they were still fast.

I am pondering throwing in a strength session at the gym tonight, but I also might just go home and collapse in a heap. I am seriously so buggered I can't think straight this morning. Lucky Bossman is still in NZ I suppose.

The morning after the long weekend

Howdy all. coming to you after a long weekend. Except that I worked 8 hours yesterday, on public holiday Monday. And spent half the day with a dumbass lawyer. But nevertheless, it will still feel like a "short week" because the rest of the office was missing. So I'll take it.

Anyway, what else has been going on? Well, there has been much running. I think I left off last time after an awesome Thursday run. Friday's run was much less awesome, as I was suffering some feet issues. I am quite mindful of my running technique, and trying to focus on heel striking less. I bought some Nike Frees which should theoretically help with this, but they gave me blisters like you wouldn't believe. So my poor toes are all taped up, and I've gone back to the Asics. I might try some walking in the Frees to see if I can get used to them, but I'm not that hopeful at this stage.

Saturday was long run day, and went quite well. I had plans for the day, which was helpful in getting me up and out of bed early-ish. I wish I would do this more often, it is a whole lot easier to run when it's 20 degrees and still pretty shady than when it's 28 and in full sun. So anyway, I covered 11.1km, in a time of 1:11 (doesn't that just have a lovely symmetry to it!) I felt pretty strong for the most part, which is encouraging. Kilometres 5 to 8 were fairly taxing, more so mentally than physically. I've come so far, but still got so far to go type of talk. But I pushed through, and finished off strong. The course I covered had an 82m ascent and decline in it as well, so it's not all smooth, flat work (which could also explain the pain in km 5 through 8... all gradual uphills). This is good training though, because the Greenbelt HM, while downhill overall, has quite a lot of undulations along the way I believe.

Outside of the Saturday run, my weekend was rather hectic. On Friday night I went out for dinner with the lovely Kylie and Ross, after Kylie's big head shave for the Leukaemia Foundation. What an awesome brave chick! They are actually an awesome couple all round - every time I catch up with them I always leave thinking that I should see them more often. You know those people who you just instantly click with and just feel completely comfortable with? They rock.

On Saturday, after the morning run, I picked up Mum and we went to the Gardening Australia expo. I love a good expo, although this one wasn't the best. A lot of very overpriced plant stalls, that's for sure. We did pick up a few bits and pieces though - I got a great tray table for outside, to go with my new barbeque (this is quite hilarious seeing as I never invite anyone to my house, but I'm setting it up just in case I ever decide to become sociable). On Saturday afternoon we hit the shops, and then on Saturday night I went out with some friends for dinner and a movie. Mixed results for the night out - breakfast pizza (bacon, egg, mushroom and bbq sauce) was a winner, it was devine. The movie, Catfish, was bloody weird.

Sunday morning started with the markets at 6am as usual, which is now very dark and being done by torch light. 3 weeks til the end of daylight saving, in case you're interested... Useless brother (who is being slightly less useless at the moment for some reason) came around with my niece later in the morning, and she was in quite good form, not a single tantrum. The new baby is due in a couple of days, so it will be interesting to see how the family dynamic goes once Lara isn't the baby of the family any more. On Sunday arvo I got into the garden, and finished off one of my vegie patches. Tragically there are 3 more to go, and the edging bricks are so freaking heavy and difficult to lay it's unbelievable. My hamstrings and arms were killing yesterday when I got up - I don't think my HM training program caters for "gardening exercise" and training breaks caused by gardening related muscle strain. Alas. On Sunday night I went out for dinner with the parents to Outback Jacks. I'd never been there before, but it's great. A bit pricey, but excellent food and service.

No wonder I'm tired after that weekend. Plus, I just can't seem to put myself to bed on time these days. I keep staying up watching bad TV and flicking around on the net. Tivo has a lot to answer for - it downloads programs it thinks I might like to watch, and I keep watching them, damn it! Last night I was kept up late by someone who was drunk-texting me from the overseas. That went on until about 11 and was actually quite hilarious, but I'm thinking he will be very tired and seedy today.

Anyway, time to get stuck into some work, huzzah.

Today's run

Last time I tried to add a post after I got back from my morning run, it got lost in cyberspace and I cracked a tantrum. If it happens again today, this might just be the last you ever hear from the Sheep...

So, today's run. It was awesome. I love love love running with the Garmin, getting my km by km summaries as I go along. Today was the first time in a long long time that I have run without a HRM. It's all in the mind I suppose, but I felt a lot more free to just "run" without the monitor on. That's actually a ridiculous thing to say, because I very often wouldn't look at my heart rate stats until I finished my run anyway. I don't know, can't explain it, but I liked running without the HRM. I'll have to think about whether I do away with it for all runs or just short runs, or use it intermittently for a while.

But back to how awesome today's run was. Here's the stats from my new friend the Garmin:

Distance 5.01km
Time 30:26
Average pace 9.9km/hr
Maximum pace 12.4km/hr

1st km 6:02
2nd km 5:55
3rd km 6:07
4th km 6:14
5th km 6:04

I am actually most impressed with that last km, which is uphill until the last 150m or so.

I've got another 5k scheduled for tomorrow, I just have to work out if I follow the same route or try something different. There are a LOT of 5k runs in my programme, so I've mapped out a few different routes to give me some variety.

Having this sort of accurate data though is pretty exciting. My goal over the next couple of weeks will be to do a 5k in under 30 minutes. Watch this space.

Two days in a row, I'm on a roll

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?

Another busy weekend

Here we are again at Monday morning, and I'm pretty sure I'm as tired now as I was at the beginning of last week. I have seriously got to start getting me some good sleep or I'm gonna lose it. Weekends no longer hold that power of rest and rejuvenation that they once did, they're just as busy as the rest of the week, so I need to just get organised and have good sleep every night. Project for the week - get to bed 8 hours before I need to get up again!

So, the weekend. Yeah, busy. Friday at work was mental again (more demands from damn lawyers), but I managed to get out of here at 6.30, and headed to mum's place for dinner. She had a couple of little projects lined up for me for when I arrived - fix the computer, how does the scanner work, yada yada. Not too bad, I was home by about 10.30 (and would have been fine if I had actually gone to bed then, duh).

Saturday morning I procrastinated for a while, and eventually dragged by butt out of bed and onto the road for a run. I decided to try my 7.5km circuit in reverse, which was an extremely bad idea. Whilst it trends downwards in the early part and eases you into the run, it has a massive hill at about the 4.5km mark. I must map it out and see what the incline is. OK, just looked it up - an ascent of 46.4m in the space of 1.1km. Nasty. Anyway, I almost made it to the top, but at the point when I felt like I was going to chuck, I slowed to a walk for a couple of hundred metres, then resumed the run after that. I made it back to base in exactly 50 minutes, which made it dead on 9km/hour. Not massively fast, but I'm pretty happy with that considering the hill and the walking portion.

After a cool off (which included an ice pack on my feet and head, I was REALLY overheated), I headed for mum's place and took dad out for a swim. Not much swimming really gets done with him because I have to keep an eye on him all the time, but I managed to get about 400m in, nice and slow, my legs were protesting most of the way. Dad seemed to really enjoy himself though, so I'll have to take him again soon.

On Saturday afternoon I did a quick grocery shop, and spent the rest of the day cleaning the house and generally getting stuff organised. Saturday night I was out with some friends for dinner and a movie. Dinner was good, the movie was crap (Little Fockers... in case you're thinking of seeing it, the reviews are right, it sucks). I got home about midnight and had a major raid of the pantry (damn it), then toddled off to bed.

Sunday started at 6 for the markets, lots of lovely fresh fruit and veg to top up the supplies. I bought the best pineapple, it is to die for. Where is the Fraser Coast? I wonder if it's in the flood zone? Might not be any more pineapples from there for a while. After the markets Mum and I had our usual scrambled eggs for breakfast, then mum went home while I prepared dinner for the evening (pork and apple in the slow cooker - quite nice). Useless-brother came around to pick up some tin I had left over from my new verandah, and then I got stuck into the gardening, putting in some new plants and altering the watering system. I have also finally decided what I want to do with my remaining garden bed, and it involves digging a narrow trench in rock hard dirt to sink some edging bricks into. I got started on that, but it's bloody hard work. I reckon I got through about 1/8th of the digging, so that could be a long project.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the basketball, and we actually saw a rare win which was nice. I hate Sunday afternoon games though, it cuts into the weekend rather annoyingly. Anyway, after that Mum and Dad came over for dinner, and I kicked them out about 9 so I could go to bed!

I woke up at 5.30 this morning and did my usual do-I-don't-I with going for a run, and eventually decided on a nice short recovery run, just under 4km. My legs are still pretty tight, but I'm sure they'll be all the better for it. Tonight I've got my bootcamp session, so I'm hoping we don't do anything too hard on the legs. Famous last words I expect, the session will probably be full of squats and lunges knowing my luck.

I guess I better get into this work all over my desk... large sigh!

Back on the wagon

OK, so it's taken a while (a GOOD while), but I'm finally back into it. I can feel those cobwebs blowing out as we speak. Technically, I thought I was going to throw up those cobwebs as I ran up a nasty hill on my first run in weeks this morning... got to get rid of them somehow right!



So, where did I leave off on my last post? Oh, that's right, I was planning on going for a run on Tuesday night. Yep, that didn't happen. I went home and ate the rest of the brownie slice instead, oops. The good news is that the brownie slice is all gone, and so is the rest of the binge-inducing food from my house. I was looking around for a late night graze last night, and I couldn't find anything I wanted to eat, so I went to bed instead. Score.



Yesterday I had my first return to the work cycle commute. It was tough going - 670 calories burnt on the way to work, max heart rate 171 and I felt like I was chewing on my lungs going up a couple of hills. The way home was slightly easier, until I got another #$!% flat tyre... 3rd flat in as many rides, I'm getting seriously pissed about this now. I'm taking it to get fixed today, and I'll ask them to check the rims and see if they're damaged or anything while they're at it - the bike didn't feel smooth right from the start yesterday, sort of clunky, like the back wheel isn't completely round. That can't be good.



Today, I laid in bed with angel and devil on opposing shoulders, arguing about whether to get up and run or lay back and sloth. Surprisingly the get up and run angel won. I'm super happy to have that run under my belt now, a couple of hours after completion... but at the time, I was in a world of pain. Interestingly my legs held up well, I didn't feel any soreness at all while running (although I'm sure that will present itself later in the day). The struggle was simply cardiovascular fitness, and seriously burning lungs. Hopefully the fitness will pick back up very soon, with a bit of consistency.



This leads me nicely to my next topic. In a moment of insanity, I have decided to try to train for a half marathon this year. On the 1st of May in fact. I'm thinking I might be a bit short of time to get myself fit enough for this, but I'm going to try anyway and see what happens. I've downloaded a training program, and slightly modified it to suit me. I'd love to share it with you, but I can't figure out how to copy and paste my beautiful table into my blog, and I've just spat it after trying to do it about 5 different ways. If any of you lovely technologically advanced bloggers would like to share the secret with me, I'd be much obliged. Feeling seriously inadequate right now :(

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)

Renovations and punctures

Here we are at Thursday morning, procrastinating about getting into the work on my desk. It's like groundhog day - I do this every day! I really just need to clear out this old crap that I hate working on, get it done, then I can move onto something a little more palatable.

It's all systems go on the home renovation front this week. The roller shutters went up on Tuesday, and they look great. I've got them all pretty much down at the moment, just cos I like to look at them, but they do make the place rather dark. So I think on the weekend I'll open them up and light up the house while I still can - before it gets stinking hot and I have them closed all the time to keep the cool air in. I'm really looking forward to seeing how much difference it makes to the upstairs temperature come summer time. Last summer I could get about 3/4 of the way upstairs and feel a heat wave hit me. As my bedroom is upstairs, this was a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. Here's hoping ($4500 later) that I have gone a good way to resolving that issue.

The paving man came around and gave me a quote on Tuesday too - also more than I wanted to spend, but I liked him and he seemed to know what he was talking about. He rung me yesterday and said they could start my job today if I had decided whether I wanted to proceed. So on a whim I signed up for another $4000 of expenditure on this damn house. It will be excellent to have the dead lawn area paved and useable for the warmer months though.

And lastly on the renovation front, my verandah man called to say that he had got the approval from my soon-to-be neighbours for the verandah I want to put up (it's going along the fence boundary at one side, so the council required signed approval from the neighbours... wouldn't have been such a headache if their house was actually finished and they were living in it. We had to track them down at their current address to get the approval. Fortunately they couldn't care less about the verandah and were happy to sign on the dotted line). So that has gone back to council, and we should have formal approval by next week, then construction can be done in December. With the exception of a side garden bed which I'm going to do myself, the whole yard (front and back) will be all done by the beginning of December. How exciting. OK, it will have taken me a whole 12 months since I moved in, but I am nevertheless still very excited by this outcome.

Onto all things diet and exercise related. I'm pretty tired, but the exercise has been going well this week. Since my last blog, I've done an 8km run (50 minutes and felt pretty good, apart from one mofo hill), Wednesday bootcamp (starting to enjoy these now, getting harder), and a cycle to work this morning. All good, except for the flat tyre I got this morning, grr. I'll have to borrow a car and take it to the bike shop at lunch and get it fixed, so I can ride it home. Getting to work took me about 1 hour and 5 this morning, instead of 40-45 minutes, seeing as I had to walk, pushing a bike, for a few km. Such is life. Anyway, with a cycle home tonight and bootcamp tomorrow morning, my calorie burn for the week should be over 3500. If I feel the need to do anything on the weekend I will, but if I feel like just resting up (and taking my dad out, and shopping, and basketball... all the weekendy type stuff), then I'll do that too with no guilt whatsoever.

My bootcamp people have given us all sorts of vouchers for referrals to allied health people that they have teamed up with. I've decided against the podiatrist (who used to be a client at my accounting firm... could be awkward). I'm giving some thought to the chiropractor (www.drbretthill.com) as I do need a new one - his website looks kind of interesting, he's into a lot more than just chiropractic. Maybe I could see him for a "wellness" consultation too. I just hate seeing new medical people, I find it so uncomfortable. Time to suck it up I suspect. The other voucher I have is for a fitness assessment, nutrition consult and 1/2 hour PT session for $30. I don't know whether to do this or not - I'm concerned that it will just be a big sales pitch, and there's no way that I would be signing up for regular PT sessions there (it's on the wrong side of town for me, and I just can't justify the cost at this stage). I don't know, I'm so indecisive.

Anyways, time to get into this revolting project on my desk. Hope everyone else's day is starting better than mine!

Boot camp and running

So I'm pretty sure my fitness has improved this week. But good grief I'm buggered. Boot camp Monday, Wednesday, Friday, cycling to and from work Tuesday, 8km run on Thursday. It's been a while (say, 6 or 8 months) since I've gone without a rest day during the week, and I'm feelin' it. I'm very much looking forward to being an utter sloth tonight.

I'm not sure it's the exercise itself, so much as the time and organisation. Getting out of the house at 5.20am for boot camp (or at 4am on stupid Monday with crazy work day), well that kinda takes its toll. Yesterday I slept in to 6.30, or at least I should say I attempted to sleep in. My body clock was obviously a bit confused, and kept waking up every 15 minutes or so from 4am, alerting me enough to wonder what time it was, realise I didn't have to get up, and then drifting off again. It's quite unrestful and quite annoying really. Maybe I'd be better off just getting up at stupid-o'clock every day, and doing my run on Thursday morning instead of night. The problem is I'm then limited to about half an hour if I don't want to be late for work and/or run in the dark - and I'm trying to increase my times and distances at the moment. Ah who knows, I'll work it out in time. I'll just get myself into a routine and then I'll be off on holidays, screw it all up and need to get myself sorted all over again.

The run down on bootcamp. Well, the jury is still out. The first session I mentioned before, was pretty easy. The second session was even more so, which kinda peeved me. If I'm getting up at 5am, I want to be getting some bang for my buck you know? Wednesday was mainly focussed on running technique, but there was a whole lot more watching than doing. Lucky I've decided to park my car at work and jog to and from the sessions (which is only half a km or so away, at a guess, maybe slightly further), otherwise I think the calorie burn would be negligible. It was 415 on Wednesday, including my jog to and from. Pathetic.

Today's session was a lot more hard core - just on the day I was feeling tired and sore from the previous night's run, and quite pleased about the concept of an easy one! Murphy's Law. Today we did some bare foot running, and some circuit work - lunges, mountain climbers, back extensions, pose running, gluteal lifts and 100m sprints. Rinse and repeat. Plus a few other little jogs and stuff thrown in for good measure. 560 calories for the session, and I think I earned every one of them, it certainly felt a whole lot more than 150 extra calories over Wednesday's efforts. If it keeps up like this though, I'll be happy - pushing me to do stuff that I don't do anywhere else, that's what I was after when I signed up.

Last night's run was a tough one. I mapped out an 8km circuit from work and got myself going. It was hot (not summer hot, but still 28 and a bit humid, which I'm not used to yet this year), I forgot to take chewing gum (so I got a dry mouth), my feet sweated like a warthog and I got blisters. But be damned I still finished it - I didn't walk, I didn't take any of the multitudinous shortcuts I could have to get back faster, and I really pushed it out the last half a km, getting my heart rate up into the 170's... a sure measure of when I feel like I'm going to die. 53 minutes and 730 calories later, I was glad I'd done it, but boy was it hard work. Being tired and a bit run down probably didn't help either. Meh.

Now, what's on for the weekend? As little as possible for me! The weather is looking pretty dismal actually, so I don't think much will be happening outdoors. I'm going to the basketball on Sunday afternoon, and by tradition this means that mum and dad come back for dinner at my place - so some cooking will be going on. Saturday is currently completely free, which is just awesome. The house is a mess, so I will need to operate on that a little. I'm still deciding whether I will go to the gym. I probably should, but I'll see how sore I pull up.

Have a great weekend!

Bit slack on the updates

Okey dokey, I've been a bit slack on the updates for a few days. I'll cram it all into the one blog - life hasn't been so exciting that it can't be summarised in a few decent paragraphs methinks.

So where were we up to last blog? Friday somewhere I assume. I didn't run on Friday morning, but I did do a 5.75km circuit from the office on Friday night, even though I really really didn't feel like it. It's the same route as I used a couple of weeks ago, and I knocked 90 seconds off the time, so that was a good sign. I struggled pretty much the whole run though, my heart rate was high, my shins hurt, and I just wanted to finish it. I think I burnt 620 odd calories in under 40 minutes, so the body was definitely protesting on some level.

After the Friday run, I came back to work and finished off some stuff that had been bugging me, and ended up getting home about 9.30. There were some bananas left over in the fruit box at work last week, so I took them home and baked with them. 3 dozen banana biscuits and a loaf of banana bread was baked on Friday night. I love baking with bananas - I hate them, so I'm never tempted to eat the goodies lol.

Saturday morning was an early start for "carpark caper", a gardening type expo thing at the ABC building. Seriously, could my life get any sadder, getting up at 7 on a Saturday to wander around plant stalls. It was good though. I didn't buy anything, but I did aide and abet my mother in choosing several plants and other accessories. It was damn heavy to carry it all back to the car mind you.

The plan after carpark capers was for mum to head for home, and me to head for the gym. I just wasn't in the mood, so I followed her straight back to her place. I had a cooking lesson from mum on how to make bread pudding, an old family recipe made by the women on my mum's side. Mum is the last remaining person who can make it properly, so I very considerately told her recently that I had to learn to make it before she died. She took this in good humour (bless her) and gave me a good lesson. It's a bit tricky because there isn't a recipe as such - it always uses roughly the same ingredients, but the quantities vary, and you just have to go by look and feel. I think I've got it though. The finished product was unfortunately too good, I couldn't stop eating it. More on this later.

After the cooking adventure, I took Dad out shopping. We looked at some paving places for some ideas for my backyard (far out they're expensive), then went to the shopping centre. Lunch, grocery shopping, a couple of other odds and ends, then home. Dad was exhausted, he's not looking that well at the moment.

I took the puppies for a nice walk, then got back to mum's and cooked dinner. I tried out the fake-KFC chicken recipe someone posted on CK last week, but using chicken breast rather than drumsticks. It was a resounding success, all 3 of us enjoyed it. We watched some of the Commonwealth Games, and I eventually called it a night. Sometimes I think I should still live in that house, I spend enough hours there.

Sunday morning - another early one, down to the markets at 6.15 for lovely fresh fruit and veg, and a leisurely wander of trash and treasure. I was lacking any real motivation to do anything after the markets, so I spent an hour or two lazing about, and eventually got moving. Lots of house cleaning, little bit of weeding and gardening, little bit of cooking - all the usual Sunday stuff.

Late in the afternoon the bloke who is going to build my verandah came around to go through all the finer details, so that he can draw up the sales contract. He's coming back on Wednesday evening for me to sign off and get it underway, which is very exciting in an I'm-spending-$9,000 kind of way.

I was really tired last night after a few late nights and early mornings, so I made sure I headed to bed nice and early. I read for a bit too long, but still managed a reasonable amount of sleep thankfully. Slightly off topic, but I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love - the movie has just come out. Well, it's boring. I'm giving it one more night's reading time to prove that something is actually going to happen, then I'm sacking it.

This morning I tried everything to talk myself out of going for a run (it's windy, I'm tired, my knee hurts, my ankle hurts, my shins might hurt), but eventually sucked it up and went out. I ran 5.5km, which again was not comfortable. Interestingly enough, I didn't feel like I had a rhythm until about 4km in when I was coming back up a hill. Not sure what's going on there, but anyway I'm definitely glad I didn't manage to talk myself out of going altogether.

We're just about up to date. Something I alluded to above, talking about the bread pudding, was eating a lot (too much). Saturday was not good, I ate way too much. It could have been worse, but still not good. I still have that mentality of "I've already blown it today, may as well keep on eating". This makes no freaking sense whatsoever, and I would think I was a nut case if I didn't see so many other people on weight loss and binge eating blogs dealing with the same thing. It looks like this will be a struggle for a time to come.

Another discovery with my eating on the weekend, is just how bad I get when I'm at mum's place. The cupboard is always full of tasty evils, and the minute I'm in the door I'm thinking about food. Something in my mind connects that house to eating with reckless abandon. I grew up in that house and truth be known I ate with reckless abandon through much of my youth and early adulthood, so on some levels it makes sense. The thing that doesn't make sense is that I also managed to lose 35kg and get fit and healthy in that house only a few years ago. Why did I have willpower then but not now? Is it just the effect of having none of that crap around me at my house, and then it's like a buffet going to mum's place? I'm sure other places I go have the same level of unhealthy temptations, the difference being I suppose that I can't go to the cupboard and help myself anywhere other than home. I think those cupboards need a padlock to protect me from myself.

Hmm, I shouldn't have blogged about food after lunch, I'm hungry again already!

10k, 10k, 10k!!!

Sit back, relax and prepare yourselves, this could be a long update :)

1st things 1st (which is completely out of order for the weekend round up, but it's foremost in my mind for now)... I mapped out a 10k route... 10.35km to be precise... and did it today! I walked one hill in the middle-end section, but in total that was only about 200m of walking in a 10.35km circuit. And it was hilly too - 107m ascent and descent according to buckeye outdoor. The pace was slow (1:14:30 to complete), but I'm freaking proud of myself for making it, and for taking on all but one of the big hills. I have come a seriously long way in the space of a few weeks, and I look forward to more improvements to come.

OK, now a retrospective of the long weekend gone by. Not really sure what I did on Friday night, not much I suspect. Oh, I made a chicken rose pasta sauce. It was pretty good, but not fabulous. More attempts required to perfect it. Philadelphia cooking cream is a marvelous invention though, it's making creamy sauces possible calorie-wise again.

As for Saturday - I slept in til 9 or so (well I was awake, but tooling around on the net in bed). Then I got up and had to hurry through a few things before heading to the gym at 10. Even in the space of a week I could see the improvement in fitness - last week I had intended to do step followed by pump, but died toward the end of step and just could not face staying for the second class. This week I certainly felt the work involved in step, but was quite comfortable staying for pump as well. The squats track is still killing me ATM, but I'll toughen up in time.

Actually, now I think of it, I wanted to record my current (embarrassingly puny) weights that I'm using for each track, so I can see the changes over time. Here they are:

• Warm up, bicep, tricep, shoulders, lunges - 10lb
• Chest, back - 15lb
• Squats - 20lb

On Saturday afternoon I went grocery shopping and spent some time cleaning, tidying and washing - exciting stuff. I also had a minor incident with a packet of sultanas, evil things. They're now packed in the bottom of a big tub in the pantry so I have to go hunting to find them next time I'm on the path to going crazy.

Sunday morning started at 6 for the markets, it was beautiful (i.e. not freezing) for the first time in recent memory. Then we came back to my place for scrambled eggs and good coffee for breakfast, then headed for mum's. I played with the puppies for half hour, then we ventured out on our shopping adventures. First stop Ikea, where I managed to spend $50 despite not planning on buying anything, duh. Next it was to Freedom for the awesome cannisters I wanted for my pantry - $150 later, but they rock, and the pantry is looking much more organised for them. Next a quick dash across town to the Plaza, for our massage appointments. I had a neck, shoulder and back massage, which bloody hurt, but was much needed. I didn't realise how impacted my lower back had gotten. Lunch (from a little Asian cafe that makes great sandwiches), more shopping, and another trip to another shopping centre, finally calling it a day as the shops were shutting. Man we can shop when we're on a mission.

Back at mum's place, I took the dogs out for a longish walk. Bazil the pug has been officially put on a diet by the vet - he weighed in at 15.7kg last week! He has a small growth on his tail which may need removing at some future time if it continues to grow, but he's currently too overweight to have an anaesthetic. So, his food has been reduced by a third, and exercise is on the agenda. He walked about 2km before giving up the ghost (which is actually a really good effort for him), so I bundled him into the dog pram, and Kali and I kept going for another 2km or so. They were both exhausted after that, definitely good for all of us. Last up was roast pork for dinner (delicious), then off home.

This brings me to holiday Monday. I had planned to do my run first thing in the morning, but I couldn't face it this morning. In fact I tried to talk myself out of it all day, but I'm SO happy I eventually did it. Other than that, I did some cooking, cleaned out the pantry, did some gardening and weeding, painted the bird bath and painted the graffiti off my shed. Busy day!

I'd really rather not be going back to work tomorrow, there was some extra stuff I wanted to get done around the house this weekend, but such is life. Time for some goals:

1. Finish the big project at work (spectacularly failed at that last week, ahem)
2. Eat at 1500
3. 2 runs and 2 gym sessions
4. Take my dad out on the weekend
5. Clean out the junk drawer and the t-shirt drawer

Have a great week everyone!

Lots happening

I haven't updated for a couple of days, but it's not through having nothing to report. Exciting news first - I'm booked to go on a cruise on 13 May 2011, hooray! I've been on a cruise before, back in 2008, and I loved it like nothing else I've ever done in life. I actually had a massive struggle to readjust to life on land after we came back - there was something about seeing lots of different places but coming back to the same room every night that made it feel like a lifestyle, and this was my new home. Alas all good things must come to an end.

However, we're going again! Last trip was longer, and went around SE Asia. This cruise is a 12 day South Pacific adventure, departing Sydney, 3 days pure cruising, 3 ports in New Caledonia, 3 ports in Vanuatu, 2 days cruising, and back into Sydney. I have always wanted to see crystal clear water, where you can see to the bottom and see fish swimming around in it and stuff. This is going to be just the place to do it.

Now what does all this have to do with a diet and exercise blog I hear you ask? Well everything as it turns out. Last time I was on a cruise, I weighed 71.8kg and felt fab. I don't really care if I weigh the same as that this time, but I want to be the same size and fit back into all those beautiful dresses I had for the dining room. I also want to be as fit as I was then. Now running on a treadmill on a rocky sea is not necessarily the easiest thing in the world, let me tell you, but it can be done. On one trip to the gym, I ran 4 miles on the treadmill while rocking away. It's an awesome workout because you've got so much extra to do to keep balanced, great for the core muscles. I want to be able to do that again!

So in giving this lots of thought, I was wondering if I have enough time to get into the same shape as I was last cruise. The only way to figure this out was to take a massive plunge and do 2 things I didn't want to do: get on the scales, and log back into my old Calorie King profile and see what the timeframe was like last time around. The scales part sucked, coming in at 95.3kg. Blah. The CK part wasn't as hard as I thought, in the past I've found it hard to look at all these check ins in the 70's and 60's and not feel depressed. But now I have a goal in mind, it was just a really informative trip down memory lane. And the good news is that it can be done!

On 27 September 2007, I weighed in at 99kg. On 14 May 2008, I weighed 71.8kg - 27.2kg down in 7 1/2 months. So here we are at 1 October 2010, needing to lose 20-25kg in 7 1/2 months (I say 20 - 25kg, because I want to retain muscle mass and appropriate hydration, last time round I started to do some pretty stupid stuff just to see a better number on a scale, I'm a little older and wiser these days).

How are we going to do it? Duh, diet and exercise :o) The diet is cruising along pretty well at the moment, so it's just a matter of keeping that up. The exercise could do with a jolt, so that will be the focus of the planning for now. I got up and went for a run this morning, even though I really really didn't feel like it, so that's a good start. It was 5.5km including a 750m walk at the beginning (up a big mofo hill, if I ran up that I'd be too dead to go any further). It was pretty tough going in sections, but overall I can definitely see improvements. I was running at about 9.5km/hour too, so the pace is also picking up.

On the back of some encouragement from Jess (thanks!) I'm going to enter some fun runs. The 10k Glenelg Classic is on 14 November, the 10k Christmas Frolic on 12 December, and the 7k Resolution Run on 9 January. I think I'll enter all of those. I can't do 10k right now, and I might not be able to by 14 November either, but there's only one way to find out. I haven't been able to find a schedule of fun runs for 2011 anywhere yet, I'll have to keep hunting and see what else I can book in.

There are going to be 2 mega obstacles in my training and weight loss plans between now and May 2011. First of all is a trip to Bali between 19-29 November - in the past this has been a diet disaster, but mainly because I used it as a binge fest. I'd be buying massive chocolate bars from all the convenience stores and wolfing them down at every opportunity. At least that won't be happening this time, seeing as I can't do chocolate any more. But we're staying at Febri's, which is just across the road from Discovery, which contains the best bakery in the world. The blueberry bread at Bread Talk is to die for. I'll just have to roll with that and try not to overdo it, but there's no way I'm going without altogether.

The second obstacle is, of course, Christmas. Again without the chocolates, things will be improved, but I'm bound to eat too much. Hey, we have pancakes for breakfast, it's tradition (and my sister in law is pregnant, so she's not going to care about calories this year, damn it). Oh well, if Christmas day itself is stupid, I'll just have to live with that. If I can avoid a damaging lead up and craziness with left overs, it should be ok. Fortunately I'm not a drinker (except when in Darwin, but then there's nothing else to do up there...), so calories are saved on that front.

I'm feeling so freaking happy right now it's insane. I've got my mojo back, and I've got heaps to look forward to. Awesome!

Things I have learnt today

1. Never bring home a barbecued chicken when you're famished. It smells and tastes way too good.
2. A step class from 2 days ago can have a real lasting impact on your calf muscles.
3. Deep heat is a friend to my calf muscles.
4. Shoes with heels are not a friend to my calf muscles.
5. The calf muscles ease up when they get warm, or when your attention is distracted by other pain. You know, like when you can't breathe running up a hill. Suck it up and work through it.

As you may have gathered, I've eaten too much tonight. However, I went for a run this morning (and increased the pace and distance - 4.5km at an average 9.2km/h, so that was great. I also went to a cardio box class tonight. It was the first time it was offered on the program, so there was a lot of technique and introductory stuff, but it was still a big workout. I wouldn't say that I loved it, the instructor is a bit of a bitch, but I'll give it another go before I write it off.

I had a really crap day at work, not that anything went wrong, just that I didn't really do anything. I have seriously got to find my work mojo, stuff is piling up around my ears. Here's to getting in to that damn big project tomorrow.

Weekend update

Well it's been a few days, but I'm still here and still mostly behaving myself. Perhaps the middle of the morning at work is not the IDEAL time to be updating my blog, but something I'm working on has just really irritated me, and I'm not focussed anyway. Might as well use the time semi-productively.

What to update, what to update... well I was quite slack with the exercise as last week progressed. I ran on Monday and Tuesday, but didn't seem capable (or willing) of dragging the butt out of bed on the subsequent 3 days. I did go for a longer run on Saturday afternoon though. I covered 5.75km, of which about 900m would have been walking. I walked up the big hill at the start (because if I ran up there, I would have been completely buggered before I even began). I then ran/jogged up the less steep section of the hill, and continued the circuit I had mapped out around the neighbourhood. I had to walk for about 150m up a steepish section towards the end, because both my lungs and legs were giving out. I managed to do the last hill on the return to my house though, which was really hard and I was happy I managed to push myself through it.

Running is a bit different now I'm living alone and dog-free. When I was taking the German Shepherd running with me we used to investigate all sorts of back streets, but I tend to stick to the main roads these days, it makes me feel safer when I'm alone. It probably means I'm inhaling all manner of toxic CO2 fumes from all the traffic, but I'm making the best of what I've got.

I had plans to go for another run on Sunday, but it didn't quite pan out. I spent a couple of hours out in the garden, fixing up my pebble path, and I later took mum's dogs for a 5.5km walk, so there was plenty of activity, just not high intensity. The dog walk was harder than it sounds too, because Bazil the Pug is completely incapable of walking 5.5km. This means I have to take the dog pram, and lift him in and out of it for walk sections and rest periods. Walking up some of those hills is a lot more challenging with a German Shepherd pulling one arm and a 15kg pug in the pram you're pushing, let me tell you. It was a beautiful day though, and nice to get out in the fresh air.

As for the rest of the weekend, well Friday night was rather slothful, although I did squeeze in an hour or so of work, and I also called into the supermarket, so a couple of small things done. Saturday morning I did some cleaning and had some tradies around for quotes on roller shutters and a verandah for the house. I haven't heard the damage from the verandah guy yet, but the roller shutters are going to be about $4,500. A bit more than I had anticipated, but living in a 2 storey place means scaffolding for anything upstairs. Such is life.

On Saturday afternoon I went for my run, puddled about at home, then headed for mum and dad's place. I took them out to dinner at Assaggio as a week-late father's day gift for dad. I had been there once before, and mum and dad were both suitably impressed. I had the penne madonna, which is a chicken pasta in rose sauce. Perhaps not the best calorie wise, but I did limit it to an entree serve (which was plenty, but if I'd had the main I'm sure I would have eaten it all anyway). Mum had a tropicale pizza which she very much enjoyed, and dad had a prawn risotto, also judged as very good. Mum and dad also shared a garlic and herb pizza for entree, which I did not partake in, go me! We had skim cappuccino's for dessert, a much better option that the yummy looking alternatives in the sweets fridge.

Sunday morning saw me at the markets at 6.30am. A bit fresh, but it's getting lighter and warmer. There was lots in the trash and treasure section this week which was nice for a browse. I bought a really cute musical Eeyore for either Graeme or Alan's new baby, some vitamins, some toys for Bazil, and a spade for my place (so I can return mum's to her). We didn't get back to my place until after 9, by the time we'd wandered the general stuff and then bought all our fruit and veg. We had just finished our scrambled eggs when Graeme and Lara arrived for a visit. It was nearly 11 before everyone had gone, so my planned daily run got squashed out. I made a couple of batches of food for the week ahead (Quorn mince pasta sauce, and a soy sauce marinated beef with lemon juice stir fry), and then spent some time in the garden, before heading off to mum's for the late afternoon. Long dog walk followed by tasty roast pork for dinner. I couldn't help myself with the bread pudding and had some - it's a childhood favourite, and it only put me about 50 over in my calories for the day, so I'm happy with that. I was pretty active anyway, so there should be no damage done.

Well this is what happens when I don't blog regularly, I go on and on too much. I could go on more, but not today!