Advent Challenge: Day 12- 24

It feels like forever! Oh wait, it has been forever.

After finishing up work I was lucky enough to get down to Tassie last week to check out Bruny Island and MONA. Both highly recommended. Then it was all Christmas parties and birthdays and plenty of recovery time. It felt incredibly indulgent to take the week off from exercise, not exactly planned, but I tell you I caught up on sleep and was able to start this week full of beans. And man, those beans quickly ran out, because last night I was exhausted. Lucky I've got another week off ;).

Happy festive season to all!

Day 12. Monday
Beep test: Level 5.6. Not ideal. But I figure when I run it for real with people, I'm going to do better, plus I will take ventolin.

Day 13 - 18
Rest: 6 days of it. Oops. But it feels so good to be well rested.
Day 19. Monday
Vibram run: 10m | 1.69km | 5.56/km. Ugh, asthma put paid to this run.
Strength: 20 min. Bumped up the time due to the short run.

Day 20. Tuesday
Vibram run: 20:28 | 3.65km | 5:37/km. Finished off what I started yesterday.

Day 21. Wednesday
Beep test: Level 8.1. First fitness assessment, happy enough with this. Finished with something left in the tank, so there should be improvement next time.

Day 22-23
Rest.

Day 24. Saturday.
Ride: 1:15:30 | 33.16km | 26.35km/hr. Easy ride. No wind!

Applicant 22

...you have passed the fitness test. Thumbs up and happy faces here. 6.10 on the beep test. Hell yes! So much easier running it in a group. I even think I could have kept going and I'm sure all my nervous energy would have contributed to a good result.

I'm off to have my first coffee for the day, the lack of caffeine has left me with a punching headache.

Ride to Work Day

I'm work's Ride to Work Day ambassador. I have been for years. I felt a little sham-like this year because it's been ages since I've spun the legs into work. But last night I packed my clothes, pumped up my tires and laid out my gear in anticipation for this morning, so all I had to do when I got up at ridiculous o'clock was get dressed and jump on the bike.

And you know what? It was bliss. Being so early meant fewer cars, trucks and cyclists to contend with. Plus I didn't have to sit idle for 10 mins as seems to be the norm on the train these days.

We had a great response at work with a total of 10 bikes racked. I organised a healthy breakfast, complete with bananas as a special treat for riders, which were well received.

I'm tempted to ride in again tomorrow!

Ride: 52m | 20.6km | 23.7km/hr. I had the path to myself this morning, but found this afternoon to be a little congested and as a result had to take it easy in parts.

Beep test: Level 7. Yesterday wasn't an anomaly.

Tues; beep test: Level 7. I freakin' made it, finally. It wasn't easy, but I got there. I know I am physically capable, I just have to believe it on the day.

Adjusting

We caught Gotye on Sunday night. A gig finally (that's another thing off the list) a thoroughly entertaining one at that. But it was late, and combined with daylight savings, mornings have been a little slow to start this week. It doesn't help that it's dark now when the alarm goes off. I am much better at getting up when it's light! I just love those weeks prior to daylight saving.

Run: 17:15 | 3.1km | 5:34/km. River run, pain free! Winning! Didn't really want to run two days in a row, but the weather looks like it's going to turn, so I made the most of it.

Tues; run: 17:54 | 3.24km | 5:31/km. River run. Slight aching in the knee, but all in all feeling better than Sunday.

Tues; beep test: Level 6.5.

Easy does it

I was recently given a huge jar of cherry jam. Not knowing exactly how I'd use that much jam, I did a little searching and found David Lebovitz's Easy Jam Tart. But there was tweaking. I wanted to see if I could make the tart Gluten free to expand my tiny repertoire. So I made a gluten free flour mix consisting of:
1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup potato starch
1/3-1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp xanthan gum

I just substituted the gluten free mix in for the 1 1/2 cups of plain flour the recipe called for.

The tart was good, albeit crumbly - at a guess this was due to being gluten free or my slight over cooking! Regardless, this recipe is a keeper and so very simple. I cooked it on Friday night and it was even better Saturday afternoon at the 'G. Shame about those Pies...

Run: 17:54 | 3km | 5:58/km. A run! Sadly not exactly pain free. A dull ache certainly noticeable in my knee. Still a run! I'm excited and it makes me more determined to keep up with the icing and stretching and strengthening.

Beep test: Level 6.4. Just going for gradual improvement here. Again could feel my knee, but

Tagged! I dig your blog

Kate was kind enough to tag me for the I Dig Your Blog Award.
The rules are that I am to give three random facts about myself, and then tag five other bloggers to receive the award.

1. I did work experience at a restaurant consistently voted as one of Melbourne's best. I still remember the chicken breast that the kitchen cooked me as one of the best I'd ever eaten at age sixteen. I'm yet to dine there as a paying adult, but it's on the list.

2. My favourite score at the football is 15.10.100. Apart from actually watching the game I also like checking out what other people bring for snacks.

3. Shopping used to be my sport, until I actually took up sport.

I'm not even sure five other bloggers know I exist... I won't retag Kate or Lisa but over to you, gals!
Megan; Shrinking Sheep
Jess; That's just how I roll
Cilla; Sassy Dr Cil

Beep test: Level 6.3. As long as I'm improving I'm happy.

Weekend snapshot

My weekend started Friday with a glorious swim, a much needed ITB massage and a cortisone injection in my knee, resulting in plenty of pain during the Hawthorn vs Collingwood preliminary final at the 'G.

However Saturday I woke up pain free and was able to enjoy our impromptu weekend away in Daylesford, complete with lunch at the Lake House.

And today I ran for the first time in 12 days. I've been continuing my hip and glute exercises, stretching, taking anti-inflamms. I felt like it was time. And so I ran, pain free. The cortisone? The rest? Who knows. But a beep test was done and while the results were less than impressive, I was able to run!! And return to kickboxing. Happy times.

Fri; swim: 43m | 2000m | 2:09/100m. Alternating pull buoy and freestyle. No knee issues at all.

Beep test: Level 5.5. Not overly impressive, definitely need ventolin prior.
Kickboxing: 30m. I sat out a lot of the running elements, not wanting to push my luck. No pain, but iced the knee afterward just in case.

Tour of Gippsland

Boys riding bikes under blue skies. It doesn't get much better!
Caught the first two stages of the Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland, showcasing young, up and coming riders. This is where 2011 Tour de France riders Richie Porte and Matthew Goss started out. Hopefully we were witness to some future champions!

Run: 40:40 | 6.7km | 6:04/km. Lap and a bit of the Tan.
Beep test: Attempt 1. Level 6.5. Attempt 2. Level 7. Score. All hope is not lost! So helps running with someone else. Thanks H.
Tues; run: 50:04 |8.2km |6:07/km. I'm thinking the GPS was off, I did not feel this good at all.

Unfinished business

I declared 2011 the year of the marathon. It continues after just putting in my entry for the Melbourne Marathon. I have a great base after training for the GCM and I feel as though I didn't get to run the 42km that I wanted to run. I'm hoping with a slightly longer campaign and some 32+km runs under my belt the random quad pain I felt on the Gold Coast won't come back to haunt me in October and I can get closer to my goal time of 4:30.

Nervous, but excited!

Beep test: Attempt 1. Level 5.8. Attempt 2. Level 6.3. A slight improvement. Got to keep at it.
Bike Trainer: 30mins easy spinning.

Beep beep

Handy tools for the beep test. An iPhone app (also works on an iPod), a piece of string measuring 20m, some markers (found on a Bunnings reduced to clear table, bonus!) and a flat piece of ground.

Why the fixation on the beep test? I put it out there at the start of the year that I was looking for a career change, shift is probably a better word. The direction I've chosen requires a certain level of fitness. Or should I say fast-for-me running. There will be fitness assessed on the beep test and I need all the practice I can get.

I'm seeing increasingly faster kilometres in my general run training, but I find the stop/start aspect of the beep test much harder to deal with, you have time to focus on how hard it is to breathe - there's no getting into a rhythm. And a lot of it is mental, when running it with a friend it seems to be so much easier to continue on.

Beep test: Attempt 1. Level 5.2. Attempt 2. Level 5.8. I'm getting increasingly worse as the week goes on! More incentive to train. The more I do it, the better I have to get, right??

Out and about

So yesterday was my first race volunteering experience and I loved it! I was situated at the start line helping to control the many wave starts that Run Melbourne has. They appear not to cap the event and as a result there are a heap of runners and walkers over three distances. I actually really enjoyed the interaction with the runners. I was on their side and I was there to help (hopefully I did) and it was incredibly gratifying to be of use and put people at ease pointing them in the right direction, usually to the toilet!

As much as I wanted to be out there yesterday, it wasn't to be. But I ran for the hills today. Boy does it make running on the flat seem easy.

Run: 50:09 | 8.19km | 6:07/km. Time to get back into marathon training!

Beep test: Attempt 1. Level 5.8. Attempt 2. Level 6.2. Fell well short today. Perhaps should be done prior to run? Or well after. My aim is to run the beep test for another three days this week.

Accountability

While I consider myself moderately motivated, I am a big procrastinator. There's a lot to be said for answering to someone else. This morning I met a friend at 7:00am for a beep test session. There was no alarm snoozing, no faffing about, I was up, dressed, breakfasted and importantly on time.

Beep test: Attempt 1: Level 6.3. Attempt 2: Level 6.8. Requirement Level 7. Expect to see more beep testing in the future. Ideally I'd like to get to Level 10.

Run: 30:58 |5km | 6:11/km. Took in a bit of the river then a lap of the Tan. A little pain manifested itself in my right hip/upper ITB. I see stretching and massage in my immediate future.

Ride: 42:22 | 17.5km | 24.8km/hr. Felt like a ride? Not so much. But I signed up for a cycling challenge to ride 430 mins during the Tour de France, this ride takes me to 150min. Good weather allowed this to be done outside, beats sitting on the trainer indoors!

Keep moving

Our last OS trip was to Vietnam. The Man and I took a cycling tour from Dalat (up high) to Mui Ne (beach side). About 80kms, through some hot countryside. Our poor tour guide was wilting at the end given he was used to the cooler climes of the high country. It was definitely a highlight of my trip. And with two months (from tomorrow) OS, I plan to move. Yes there'll be plenty of walking, but as much cycling and running as I can fit in!

It remains to be seen if or when I'll be able to blog, in the meantime may you stay free from injury and train consistently.

Sun; beep test: Level 4.7. That was my second attempt after a the first course was incorrectly measured. Still there's a bit of work to do on the whole 'running fast' side of things. I just wanted to see where I was at prior to leaving.