Retrospective post: 31/12/2010

Run: 56m 12s | 8.70 kms | 06m 28s/km. The awesome thing about being down the coast is that I'm in very close proximity to friends who are also pretty keen to get out and run. So I met M at 7:30am for our last run of the year. The track was packed, it seems a few people had the same idea. Ran with M for about 20 mins before she turned back, I continued onwards because I really wanted to run more than 50 mins. The pace without M was a touch slower, but I met her partner P with 1km to go and he encouraged me to pick up the pace a touch. All in all a satisfying run and not a bad way to see out the year!

Retrospective post: 30/12/2010

Coffee outdoors was our reward for a morning ride. C had a three hour ride on her program, given it's been a while since I'd been on my bike I opted to join her for the second half. I could certainly feel the lack of fitness, my higher than average heart rate certainly confirmed that she definitely pushed me, which is always a good thing.

The road to Portsea isn't on of my favourites, the quality of road is quite poor. But having someone to chat to certainly helps to take one's mind off all that.

Ride: 1h 26m | 37.5km | 26.16 km/hr

Retrospective post: 29/12/2010

Finally summer seems to have arrived. And summer for us equals time on the coast. The free days that stretch ahead means that there's plenty of time for exercise and best done in the morning before the heat of the day kicks in. I can't say I felt awesome today, so much so in the middle of the run I sat on the beach for about 3 mins and enjoyed the simplicity of boats bobbing on the water.

Run: 34m 56s | 5.5km | 06m 21s/km

Post Christmas

In my younger years I've been known to get out for a run or ride on Christmas morning. This year I could have made time but I didn't. Opting to drink coffee in bed with the man while swapping a few presents. We swore by a no present Christmas, but neither of us could resist a little something.

Christmas day was spent with my parents and bro in the city, then we headed down to the beach for Christmas night with the man's family. Good times. We retired relatively early which meant I was awake early and feeling refreshed. And the sun was out. There was no excuses it was running time and I was excited.

Felt so good not to have to be anywhere by a certain time, so I could just run. And while I didn't feel great (dehydrated towards the end), I was pretty happy to have a gorgeous morning to myself. And the people on the peninsula are so nice. Almost everyone I passed said 'good morning'!

Run: 1:09:15 | 10.5km | 06m 36s/km
Thursday commute: 40m | 7km | 14km/hr. Christmas eve errand running. Taking the bike was a godsend because you couldn't park at the supermarket!

Sunrise

I got up in the 4s to meet a couple of my work buddies for a jaunt around the lake. The light was gorgeous. Running with others pushes me to run slightly faster that I would usually do on my own, which is not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all.

Run two for the week done and dusted! It's a good feeling.

Run: 50m 22s | 8.4km | 6m/km

Note to self: get organised!

I cannot run on an empty stomach or if I'm hungry. I get that whole faint headed feeling which I don't love while running. Thankfully I found the Gu in my bag and a post work run was had. I am not on top of the food thing at the moment, I need to stock up on fruit and veggies pronto so I can fuel properly.

Generally if I start the week off with exercise I'm more likely to see the week out with training. Goal for this week is three runs. Should be do-able particularly as the weather is set to improve.

Run: 33m | 5km | 06m 25s/km. Lap of the Tan from work. HRM wasn't working, but I felt like I worked hard for this.

Race photo

This is a first, a photo where I actually look like I'm running. It was the only pic from Sunday that I appeared in. Let's face it, I'm not that upset. Oh and I don't have that much hair, nor did I mean to sport a beehive.

Run: 32:35 | 5.1km | 06m 20s/km. Head said no, heart said yes. Battled to get out there and like always don't regret it now. One lap of the tan, up Anderson St hill. Hope to run it a few more times prior to the Jan 2 race, which has a pretty epic hill I'm lead to believe.

Sri Chinmoy Williamstown 10km

I woke this morning with a start, I thought my alarm hadn't gone off and I missed my race, but that wasn't the case turns out it was just super sunny. Oh and windy, which isn't ideal for a run along the beach.

Breakfasted on an english muffin and honey and made my way to Williamstown. Having not actually checked the location of the start line it took me a little longer to get there than I'd anticipated. But in the end I had enough time to cloak my bag and get to the end of the running queue.

I was a little anxious about this race given my preparation hadn't been ideal. I had two low volume weeks followed by a week off due to asthma, travel & rainy weather. My goal was to endure, remain positive and just be happy to punch out a 10km.

I confirmed what I suspected what as been true for a long time, my polar is well out on km markings! It suggests I run slower than I actually do, which is preferable to indicating than I'm faster than I actually am.

The run was two loops of a 5km course. There were plenty of runners doing the 5km and starting at the back meant I was able to pick people off (which is seriously unusual for me, I'm usually the one being passed). The second lap saw significantly fewer runners. Just after 5km I caught up with the two runners you see in photo 2. At about 7km I made a break for it, I heard the guy say I'm going to try and stick with her. We were running into a headwind, I could hear him drafting off me, it made me more determined to hold him off. We made a turn with 1.5km to go and finally had the wind at our backs. I pushed on, he pipped me with 5m to go in the finishing straight. We had a laugh over the finish line, knowing he was there totally pushed me.

According to my watch I ran a sub 60 min. 59:15. 45 sec off my 10km PB. I couldn't be happier.

We were given chocolate at the finish line. Certainly my preference over a medal!
The queue for the pancakes was getting long by the time I'd got my bag, I didn't have time to wait, nor could I justify another breakfast in between the breakfast I was off to have with my girlfriends!

I really like the Sri Chinmoy races, they're inexpensive, friendly, smaller, well organised with plenty of volunteers, water stations and post race food. I'm hoping to run quite a few in the new year.

Williamstown run: 59:15 | 10km | 5m 56s/km
Thursday run: 42:42 | 6.6km | 6m 28s/km. Lunchtime training run. Sluggish to say the least.

Saunter

In this heat, all I can do is take it easy. So that I did. One easy lap of the Tan. The shade of the trees provided some welcome relief. But it was one of those days that as soon I stopped running I started dripping like a tap. It's a good look at work. Even better that I don't have to think about it for the rest of the day.

Run: 33:07 | 5.14km | 6m 26s/km

Variety Santa Fun Run

The man runs twice a year. Initially it's a jaunt around the lake to make sure he can still run, then it's the Variety Santa fun run. And the emphasis really is on fun. It's a non timed event. Initially I'd signed up for the 10km, but the physicality of running in a felt suit did nothing for my body heat or release of. I was so hot. So 5km was enough today otherwise I would have been in the running for heat exhaustion. I'll save the 10km for next weekend.

Run: 5km | 28 min | 05m 36s/km. I think the course was shorter, or I should run with the man more often! I don't usually run that fast.

Monthly totals: November 2010

Not quite a productive month as October.
The major positive was that I got in the pool again.

Bike: 11h 17m 42s | 196.8 km
Run: 7h 06m 21s | 65.64 km
Swim: 1h 05m | 2800 m
Bike Trainer: 1h 15m
Walking: 55m

Errands

I thought I'd ease back into the swing of things with some easy cycling. I'm feeling so much better in terms of my asthma, though I can't seem to get rid of my pesky cough. Anyway I had a few errands to run today (no work for me, I'm on leave for the next few days, woo hoo) and I thought I'd do them by bike. No rain, but plenty of wind made for some tough going all the way into the city and then along the beach. Coming home required little effort with the tailwind.

Library books returned. Check.
A dose of Vitamin D. Check.
Three pairs re-heeled boots picked up from the cobbler. Check.
Lamb shanks for the man's dinner. Check!

Commute: 2:00 | 916 KCal.

Laying low

Nothing to see here.
I visited the Doc yesterday because I had a pretty bad night with the asthma on Wednesday night. I was pretty close to making some sort of 000 call, probably a good thing I didn't because health services were over run with people just like me suffering from breathing difficulties due to the pollen & weather conditions. I can't recall having an attack quite like this and subsequently found this What do do in an Asthma Emergency page pretty helpful.

Anyway turns out I was also running a fever. So I've been prescribed some pretty hardcore medication to sort out my airways and was told to take it easy for a couple of days.

I'll be back on board Monday. Have a good weekend!

Eye happy

While I didn't get to the pool on the weekend, I did manage to splurge for new pair of goggles and bathers. I decided the gaping wasn't a great look. The goggles were an absolute pleasure, 1.6km down and they still didn't need emptying. Awesome. I went home with eyes free from chlorine sting.

Run: 39m | 6km | 06m 34s/km. Early morning run, there was a 6 involved in the time. That's pretty early for me. First run in a week was a river run. I struggled with the blisters that I'd got walking home last week and found new ones formed under and around those already there. Ugh.
Swim: 1600m | 35m | 02m 11s /100 meters. 3x 500m, 100m finger drag. The advantage of starting work early means that I can usually finish early. And thus I got to the pool before the after work rush. Still sharing a lane with 5 or so people, but no major hold ups. It's nice to know after a year of no swimming that I can still at the very least swim 500m non stop.

Morning tea

My regular morning tea snack is cranberries & nut clusters (270 cals), but I wanted to test out something a little less calorie dense. These are about 180 cal a bar, significantly less, but equally as satisfying.

I roughly used Kelsey's Muesli Granola Bar recipe, where I left out the coconut and substituted wheat germ for flaxseed and added some chia seeds. I found they benefited from an additional 5-10min in the oven after being cut, to crisp them up further.

The flavour is good, I wasn't madly in love with the texture (maybe I do need to get some flaxseed). They definitely hit the spot at 10:30am but my hunt for an even more awesome baked bar continues, especially since these ones have disappeared...

Commute: 55m | 20.6km | 22.47 km/hr. On cooler mornings I can definitely get away with a pre shower ride and a slow commute on the Gazelle. On the warmer mornings and afternoons when it's blowing a hot northerly headwind I just want to be off the bike. Hence the decision to ride Pearl again this morning. The bonus being that I got to ride to work with my man.

Bike house

Everyone's home! The man built our bike hub, it's pretty awesome. I long to paint it and put hooks on the side or back to hang our assorted bike things, but for the moment it's doing it's job. The best thing is it has a roll down plastic front that protects the bikes from the sawdust that's generated almost every weekend.

Commute: 52m 45s | 20.6km | 23.45km/hr. On "Pearl" the Specialized Dolce today (far right, above). Boy could I feel the my attitude shift. Racer mode! Though I notice when I'm on the Gazelle, drivers are more tolerant and give me a wide berth, but when I'm in lycra it's almost like I'm invisible. Somewhat scary.

Miso hungry

Yesterday was kind of tough.

I find all rest days difficult in terms of managing my food intake. There's not a lot of incidental exercise when you sit at a desk for the majority of the day, so my suggested calorie intake for the day lessens significantly. Except I still seem to eat the same. I know know know I need to be mindful, but yesterday, perhaps due to my exhaustion I just wasn't. And a calorie deficit didn't happen. And I tried not to beat myself up and that took a lot of energy. A waste of time really, because today marks an 0.5kg (1.1lb) loss from last week.

Last night the medley of baked vegetables was put on hold and instead I had a bowl of miso soup packed full of green veggies, some sweet corn and some rice noodles. It's my go-to meal when I've overindulged. I actually love this bowl of a meal and would pretty much eat it every night (oh wait I did for about 3 months back when I wasn't cooking for two, read: single) the added bonus being that it hydrates too!

Commute: 1:15 | 20.6km | 16.48 km/hr. I totally had planned to run, but I need to scamper out of work early to make an appointment so I worked through lunch- my usual running time.

It's times like these

...that I am thankful that I have a fridge full of fresh veggies. I got about 2 hours sleep last night, for some unknown reason the land of zzzz's was just not forthcoming. I did get a lot of my book read, but I'm paying for it today. I'm exhausted and I'm only halfway through the day!

It was too easy this morning to toast some pepitas/pumpkin seeds, grate a carrot, grab a couple of handfuls of lettuce leaves, the purple is baked beetroot & ricotta mix left over from the weekend and dress with a seed mustard vinaigrette. And ta-da a healthy & nutritious lunch is born. Dinner will be a medley of baked vegetables. Followed by a very early night. I can hardly wait.

Best laid plans

I timed my afternoon snacks perfectly. Or so I thought. I left work an hour and a half later than anticipated. I got 30 minutes into my run home before I started walking. I'd run out of energy. Literally.

Run: 33:15 | 5km | 06m 39s/km.
Walk: 55:00
Wed; commute: 1:15 | 20.6km | 16.48 km/hr. Had company. Man, the Gazelle garners its fair share of attention. Single ladies take note? An expensive way of attracting the menfolk perhaps...

That old chestnut

I ran on the other side of the river today. I almost never do. I don't know why, I just like the old out and back. Today I opted for a loop. Conditions were awesome about 17C and (clearly) overcast. My asthma on the other hand wasn't. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking, I can barely go four hours without some puffer relief in this hayfever weather and then I go out an run. I do not miss the tightness in my chest. Lesson learned.

Commute: 1:15 |20.6km | 16.48 km/hr
Run: 36m | 5.6km | 06m 32s/km. I felt so much better than anticipated considering I haven't run since Thursday. Had to hold back because, well being able to breathe is important right?

A wet weekend

The weekend looked a lot like that. Usually on the horizon we can see the city, no such luck with all the rain that fell. Time to take training indoors, or undercover at least.

Sat; bike trainer: 40m | 148 HR Avg. Caught up with the latest episode of Survivor. The merge makes thing interesting and Marty survives another week.
Sun; swimming: 1200m | 30 min | 02m 30s /100 meters. First swim since February - yeah that's how much I love swimming. Couldn't find my good goggles so had to suffer with my old leaky ones. As a result there was a bit of kicking today. 200 warm up, 500 kick, 5x 100m.

When something better comes up

Pretty happy to get my commute in, because an impromptu dinner with friends has put paid to my evening run. I'm not that upset, it's such a balmy evening, hopefully we'll find some space in the beer garden.

Commute: 1:15 | 20.6km | 16.48km/hr. Quite cool this morning, but hot and windy on the way home.

Recent eats

I've only very recently begun to cook meat - not for me, but for the man in the house. When he has chicken, I have fish. It's about once a week if he's lucky. I made this marinade for his chicken and my trout and served it with a lower fat satay sauce. On the side, raw capsicums and home grown snow peas! I definitely see this being repeated in the future - maybe with tofu?

Run: 1:06 | 9.8km | 06m 41s/km. I was incredibly close to talking myself out of this run to work. I've had a couple of late nights in a row, I'm tired, it was hot and windy. I could do my run later - you know, when the showers roll in. But I sucked it up and headed out after all I'd been super organised yesterday and taken in my lunch, snacks and clothing. There was nothing stopping me, except me. And to be expected it was a little slower than usual. I've come to the realisation that I need to run in something other than all black clothing because it was hot!

A kindred spirit

Shopping totally used to be my sport, uh, until I took up sport. I don't love it so much anymore, there are so many other things I could be doing. But I had some time to kill before meeting the man for dinner on Friday night and I was in desperate need of some new sports bras, because I'm pretty much wearing them everyday. Anyway I made my purchases (three!) 25% off thank you very much, and walked out of the store. The security barriers beeped instantly, so I went sheepishly to the nearest counter and asked the girl there to check my stuff.

She did, saw the above purchases and then we got talking about running. She'd just gotten into it, having just run her first half marathon, how it helps her clear her mind, how it's a huge challenge. I think I was there for 15 mins, talking about our races and training. It's so nice to meet like minded people. Randomly at that!

Commute: 1:15 | 20.6km | 16.48 km/hr. First commute of the week. Very cool this morning, but a very warm ride home.

Cow up a tree

The run home isn't particularly beautiful. It follows the bike path along a highway. But I do get to run through the Docklands and past the cow up a tree sculpture.

Run: 1:03 | 9.8km | 06m 28s/km. First run of the week - home from work. With two days since the last run I kinda felt this was a little tough. It was pretty warm and I could have been better hydrated. I played tag with another runner who would walk until I passed her, then she'd run much faster than me for a bit and start walking until I'd passed her again. It's awesome to see another runner heading home, but I find it puts me a little off my game!

Hold 'em good

When I ordered my new running shoes I also ordered a Spi belt. While my running capris have a pocket, they don't fit my phone and my keys/work pass. It's one or the other, which isn't ideal. I'd read good things about the spi belt over at cool running. I really dislike holding things while I'm running.

I ran to work this morning with half my wallet and a calico shopping bag stuffed inside and it was pretty comfy. There was a bit of bounce noticeable after a stop, but in the end it didn't drive me to distraction. I've run without it stuffed to the brim and it's not bothered me at all. It certainly makes running to and from work just that little bit easier in terms of the flexibility of what I can bring to work/take home.

Run: 1:03 | 9.9km | 06m 26s/km. Run to work. At the 5km mark I did 10x 30s efforts/30 sec rest. I felt a bit tired so I was surprised to see I was faster than my run home on Wednesday.

Tracking Part II

However I didn't need FitDay to tell me the time in which I would consume the majority of my excess calories. That would be on arrival at home after work. I'm usually ravenous. I could eat a (tofu) horse. And I'd usually have a fair crack at doing so. I had to change this habit and fast. Now my go-to snack after work on warm days is:

• frozen banana, frozen berries (less cals) or a mix
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 1 tsp to 1 tbs honey (depending on my sweet craving)

Whiz! Usually rendering a very thick smoothie that is sometimes best eaten with a spoon! ~230 Cals for something I find tasty and filling.

Otherwise it's a piece of raisin toast and not the entire cupboard contents. Far less time consuming when you're logging food and really, far better for me.

Tracking Part I

Let's talk FitDay. I started using it (again) at the end of September and have managed to track consistently since then. I've lost 2kgs (4.4lbs). Excitingly I've lost 4cms off my hips and 3cms off my chest. My clothes are certainly feeling and fitting better. I'm now 2kgs off my goal weight for the 10km I've signed up for on Dec 12.

There are two major things that have worked for me. It's the most obvious and sometimes the hardest; calorie deficit (almost) every day. I was certainly overeating prior to tracking - like, everyday. Hands down my biggest downfall is food intake on days I don't exercise. It's not many days, but a few certainly creep in over a month. Tracking has taught me I just have to be really mindful on those days.

Stay tuned for part II tomorrow...

Run: 1:04 | 9.8km | 06m 29s/km. Ran home from work. A light sprinkling of rain, but nothing too bad. I felt pretty good, or better than I was expecting.

Climbing walls

So with another dreary day on the cards yesterday and the first signs of cabin fever, we decided to head into the city to try our hands at some indoor rock climbing. I was excited, but also a little apprehensive. You know, in case I fell or truly realised my fear of heights.

After a little safety intro, we were climbing. I managed it to the top on some super easy climbs, but found myself stuck in the middle on many others. I need to climb with my legs more and resist the temptation to pull myself up by my non-existent biceps. I definitely need to not look down.

Undoubtedly keen to have another crack at this, but maybe on a weeknight. Rumor has it it's less busy then.

Bike trainer: 35m | HR Avg 139. With my weekend continuing I was keen to get out for a run. Turns out we may have tidied up too much over the weekend as I could not find my runners anywhere. WTF?? Instead I caught up with Survivor while sweating it out on the trainer.

Run: 59m | 9.5km | 6m 16s/km. I found my runners and in the afternoon treated myself to a run along the beach. When I say treated it means I took the car and drove myself to the foreshore rather than just heading out the door. So glad I did, had an awesome run from Port Melbourne to Middle Park and back. Felt well hydrated, fueled and strong. These days are what I love about running.

Monthly totals: October 2010

Cycling: 35h 32m | 746.4 km
Running: 7h 30m 21s | 69.81 km
Walking: 1h 35m
Tennis: 35m
Indoor rock climbing: 20m

Comments: On Sun 17th Oct I participated in Around the Bay in a day. 210km! The training for this, plus the event itself is definitely responsible for the increased cycling mileage. That and the fact that the weather's nicer for commuting. Last week I rode my bike everyday, usually I only manage three times a week in between Spring rain.

October also saw me running more consistently than I have in months. This should only improve.

Maiden voyage

I realised last weekend that my old runners had put in 119 hours and 1026 kms. They were starting to look and feel a little worn. It was time for an upgrade. Same shoes, updated release. I've been in the Asics GT series for years now and my feet with their wideness and odd toe lengths couldn't be happier.

Run: 1:07 | 10km | 6m:42s/km. Long run. It was surprisingly muggy this morning. I just headed out to run by the river. I saw many a race goer making their way to the racetrack by boat. Runners felt awesome. I came good half way through.

Better off

For forty minutes of my run I honestly thought I'd be better off sitting at Riverland under one of those big umbrellas drinking an icy cider. I felt sluggish. It was only when I stopped thinking about how much I wasn't enjoying myself and how lucky I was to be away from my desk and in the sunshine that I came good. I was so tempted to head back out!

Run: 51m | 7.7km | 06m 35s/km

RiderLog

This was the first app I downloaded. And I finally remembered to use it today. At this stage it's specifically for commuters in Victoria, Australia. It records the basic details of your trip and anonymously uploads them to the Bicycle Network.

The information is then used to improve the planning of bike infrastructure and to convince authorities to invest more in the locations where people ride. I'm all for that. There's a few parts of my busy commute that could be made safer for sure!

Risky business

The things we do for a photo, hey? I just got a new iPhone 4. I'm late to the technology I tells you. So on my way home I attempted my first Panda portrait. I was petrified of dropping my phone, I didn't, but I'm not sure how many more of these I'll attempt. Risk taker, me? Not so much.

Yep, I commute in work clothes. It goes alright.

Mixing it up

Another gorgeous day for riding. This snapped by the Yarra river on my way home. I was running late for a Skype date with my newly founded (inter)national book club. I was trying to rush, but on this bike it's impossible.

Run: 48:48 | 7.76km | 06m 17s/km. I'm starting to feel better running. I ran 24 min out and on the return did 10x 30sec efforts with 30sec rest between. I find it really difficult to run fast and keep my form.

Sunny Sunday

A glorious day in Melbourne town. After a much needed sleep in I was off on the bike for a quiet spin along the beach. Because I was quite late heading out there weren't many people about. Then it was off for a stroll around the lake.

Ride: 1:57 | 48km | 24.4km/hr. This was by myself and was trying to throw in some efforts, but obviously not enough, because the speed is a little slow and my average heart rate (HR) was pretty low too. Still, so good to be out there. Should have had more to drink, I only managed half a bottle of water, when really I should have had close to two.

Oats are not for me

I just can't come at porridge. I've tried, really I have, to like its texture and its stick to your stomach lining goodness, but I just can't handle the mouth feel. On a day where I know I'll be running I like to have a pretty substantial breakfast and a bowl of 'sweet' Quinoa does it for me. It was Heidi from 101 cookbooks that inspired me to try it for breakfast.

I usually cook up a batch and freeze it in 1/4 or 1/3 cup portions for use during the week. I either defrost it overnight or just pop it in the microwave when I'm ready to eat.

I've been known to prepare it with Almond milk, which adds to the Quinoa's nuttiness, but it works equally as well with regular and soy milk. This version includes stewed apples with vanilla, greek yoghurt and almond butter. So very satisfying.

Run: 32m | 4.8km | 06m 40s/km. I was pumped for this run, I had to wait until the afternoon for some clear weather and it was a serious disappointment. I felt awesome for the first three minutes and horrible the rest. I'm not talking OMG this is hard, I'm taking OMG if I don't stop I'm going to lose my stomach contents. Hopefully next week I'll come good.

Chili is an awesome addition to a salad roll

I sit in front of a computer for most of the day. When it's sunny I'm itching to get outside. So I did just that. I bought my lunch (an occasional Friday treat) and sat at Southbank watching the world go by. As much as I would have liked to be running, it wouldn't have been sensible on such a warm afternoon and I'm sure my ITB would have protested at running three days in a row.

Guilty pleasure

I picked up the latest edition of Women's Health last night. It's my guilty little secret, that's kinda public now. I like their featured healthy recipes and that they quite often use female athletes as their models for certain shoots. This is awesome. Here are real women, with fit bodies modeling swimsuits. Bring on more of that I say!

Run: 51 min : 7.7km : 6m40sec/km. Perceived effort: hard. How can you feel so good one day and so very average the next??

This is not the beginning

I'm going to ask you to be my witness. But really more so this is about keeping myself accountable. This is not the beginning of my "athletic career". I am in fact in the midst (I swear). Welcome to my small world of trying to live a healthy and balanced life. I know I'm not the only one, so come join me.

Today I ran. In the glorious sunshine. During lunch. No wind. It doesn't get much better.
Run: 38m : 6km : 6m19s/km - yeah I'm not the world speediest runner, but it's a challenge for me and that's what I like.

I also got a commute in which I kind of count as incidental exercise. That's my beast of a slow bike up there. How I love it.