And Finally ...

Well the big day has finally come (and gone!) and all the training and worrying about punctures is over. After an incredibly hot and sunny day on Saturday and the worry of a niggly muscle strain picked up playing hockey (luckily despite the heat is was hardly a strenuous game as we romped home with a 9-1 win !!) Sunday dawned - wet, wet, wet! It was miserably misty fine rain when I left home at 7:30 am but had settled into a nice heavy steady rain by the time the start came at 9am ! I was in the 4th group to start and seemed to be surrounded by fast runners as we set off at quite a pace, I managed to stay with the front runners for a few Km and then dropped off a bit as I slowed to something a bit more comfortable. It was not the nicest of routes - round the agricultural centre (otherwise known as the abbatoir!) which meant running on muddy tracks and avoiding cow muck rather than on roads. When we got to the turn around point I was amazed to be told that we were half way as I thought there was at least another half a km to go, but then amazingly there was the 1km left sign up ahead - I think the distance must have included some of the transition as well as my time was well up on anything I've ever run in training and I don't think we were That fast! Anyway I found my bike without any problems, a short run over the grass to the mounting point and then off onto the road for the 10km bike ride. Despite having checked and double checked the position of the magnet for my cycle computer as soon as I started I realised I had no speedometer coming up so couldn't monitor my speed, luckily the rev. counter was still working so I just had to rely on that. It was good to have other cyclists around as it gave me the momentum to really push it and make sure I got past plenty of people :-) The beginning and end of the leg were the slowest as there were a couple of hundred metres at each end where you were drafted single file through cones etc so at the mercy of the person in front, but apart from that it was a good hard cycle, and again it was a fast time. Once I dismounted I had to push myself to keep running with my bike back through transition - very tempting to walk but kept going. The mighty P was there cheering me on so that helped. The final run was hard hard work. Not only was the first part uphill but it was on wet (and by now muddy) grass making it even harder. I'm sure it would have been quicker if I'd walked the first bit but I was determined to keep running, however slowly! There was no danger of doing a fast time on this leg that was for sure, but I managed to keep going and was very releived when the finish line finally appeared and I could do my last minute 'sprint' (ha ha I use the word very loosely) over the line.
What a relief to be finished - soaking wet, mud (and who know what else) splattered up the backs of my legs, but finally finished - and not a puncture in sight!!
My final, official time was 55mins and 27 seconds. As my aim had been to go under 55 minutes excluding transitions this meant that I had smoked it (as my transitions were over 2 minutes in total) - making me very happy! Having checked the website for official timings etc later, I finished 116th (out of a field of around 900) which is not bad at all for a first timer I reckon!
I was very glad to get home and have a shower and into some dry clothes that's for sure. It would have been even better if I had just been able to laze around on the sofa for the rest of the day reading the paper, but I had to play another game of hockey in the afternoon. (I know I know, how insane is that!) So after a bit of a rest, a nice cup of tea, and boiled egg on toast for my lunch it was back out into the rain for a game of hockey.
It wasn't too bad actually as I hadn't had time to stiffen up, it wasn' t until I got home after the game and lay in the bath for 15 minutes that I was ready to collapse.
So there you are. This is now officially the end of this blog. Though not of course of my mad exercise regime :-) Nothing but hockey for a while now - then I guess it will be round the bridges time again once that finishes. So I hang up my blog for a while, maybe I'll be back once I've had a bit of a break from it. So until then, this is evadne signing off.

Nearly There

Well I'm heading into the final countdown to 'D' day now. Lunchtime rev class today. It was a very hilly class rather than speed, but that's ok as it all goes to help with keeping those legs moving when I actually get onto the real bike. Not quite sure what to do tomorrow (my last official training day). I'm due to do some weights, but I should really do a road run as all my running has been treadmill stuff lately (or on a hockey pitch!) and I wouldn't mind getting out on the bike either .....
Guess I'll have to wait and see what the weather is doing in the morning, if it's decent I guess I can do a short road run and some weights - or maybe a cycle and some weights... ooooh I'm so unsure which I need to do more - maybe I'll jump on the bike when I get home this evening and then I will at least feel like I've had a final go before Sunday - mind you my legs are very tired after rev. so maybe it would be better to rest - hang on, will consult my online training guide from the duathlon people and see what they recommend for race week....
Ok so according to the guide I should be doing a 30 min gentleish cycle tomorrow and then a 25 min jog (guess that translates to an easy paced run) on Thurs then 2 days off, so I'll go with the experts! (Not that the rest of their training schedule bears much relation to anything I've been doing!!)

Lazy Blogging

Horrified to find when I went to update the blog this morning that I hadn't added anything since last Monday - ooops how slack! So here is a quick update of the past 7 days training.
Tues - rev class, still really enjoying these with the Tues lunchtime instructor, a good work out but doesn't kill me
Weds - weights session. Did a short run to start and then weights, including lots of abs. I must have got up earlier than planned as I still had time left so decided to do some work on one of the punchbags at the gym - warning to all, weights gloves are not protective like training boxing gloves - in almost no time at all I had bruised knuckles and on removing my gloves found I'd taken a fair bit of skin off them too - ouch! I was just working through some old kicking and punching routines dredged up from my old karate training memories (haven't done any for 10 years!). Will need proper gloves if I want to continue with punchbag stuff (it is good fun actually and a nice way to finish a work out).
Thurs - Got up planning to do a 10km cycle followed by 1.5km run (ie second half of duathlon), dithered about a bit and almost talked myself out of it, but then talked myself back into it again and off I went! The cycle went really well and felt really fast (more on the timing in a mo..). When I started the run I realised I'd run out of laps on my stopwatch (had reached maximum) so had to switch back to normal timer and time from there - I guess I could be out by 5 to 10 seconds but it was still a good time either way. Once I'd finished and had a shower to recover I went to check my cycle time, but forgetting that I'd filled up my lap-time I pressed the wrong button and reset the whole lot - dammit! So no idea how long it took, but I'll stand by my opinion that it felt fast so probably was :-)
Friday - Was thinking about doing some weights, but with a full weekend of hockey ahead decided a day off would be a better option.
Saturday - First day of the hockey season. My team played in the afternoon - it was a really hard game for the start of the season and I ran my legs off! We were missing our coach (who plays too) who is overseas for 3 weeks, and as she's a really gutsy hardworking player I was trying to motivate the team by taking on the role in her absence. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and played well but was completely stuffed afterwords! Luckily I had the sense to have a jog to warm down afterwards. On Sunday I played hockey again, filling in for one of our other teams as they have some players missing for a couple of weeks too. Luckily I was playing a different position, so much less running involved. Another good game though - bizarrely all this duathlon training seems to have caused a major improvement in my hockey!! I guess it's just about being fitter so able to react quicker, plus a really good tip from the MightyP about positioning which proved invaluable on Saturday.
So here we are back to Monday again. Despite being tired physically this morning I managed a decent 25 min treadmill run as warm up for my weights session. Just got my abs. still to do sometime later today.
Less than a week to go now - after the horrendous stormy weather yesterday and wet forecast until at least midweek I am just hoping it's got it all out of it's system by Sunday. Also hope that my hockey game is not scheduled for Saturday again this week as I was planning to do nothing from Weds on so that I could rest prior to the duathlon - a hard game on Sat. would not be a good idea - plus I'd be worried about getting injured ... ah well will have to wait until the draw comes out. Still stressing about getting a puncture, every time I go out on the bike I cross my fingers and hope I get a puncture as then I will have had one before the duathlon so won't feel like one is due ... how crazy is that!

Fitting it all in

Friday turned into an unexpected day off as both the MightyP and I slept through the alarm in the morning and had a bonus lie in, so no time for the gym, and Friday evening is never a good time to train as by then I'm totally into end of the week mode and ready for a beer :-)
I made up for it on Saturday with a 10km cycle ride, which I managed to do in a new record time. This was a great relief as my cycling has been getting worse and worse lately so it was good to see that a rest day was enough for me to actually see some improvement from the rev. classes and leg weights. It was a hard cycle but I didn't feel like I was going totally all out, so there is still some room for improvement on the big day which is also good to know. When I got back I did some weights while watching the commonwealth games on the tv - good for inspiration! Well, it was until synchronised swimming came on ... omg I mean really what is the world coming to when this is considered a sport! I'm sure it's very hard work and requires lots of training but they may as well have ballroom dancing included, imho it's just daft !
Anyway, back to more important things, like my training and the fact that there are now only 2 weeks to go before 'd' day (gulp). Sunday we had hockey training as the winter season begins next weekend (terrible timing, it's earlier this year, I was hoping it wouldn't be until the weekend after the duathlon). It looks like I'll have a couple of games this weekend (we're still sorting teams out so lots of doubling up and filling in while we get everyone properly graded) and then I have to decide whether or not to play on the Saturday before the duathlon - I was going to take at least 3 days off any training beforehand but not sure now.
This morning I did a 20 minute treadmill run before my Monday weights session which now seems to have morphed into the 'big' weights session for the week. That is not to say that I lift bigger weights, but I do about 45 mins and cover lots of different stations and then do an abs session later in the day as well.
I'm thinking about doing a short cycle when I get home this evening - just want to get some practice at keeping the speed up .... hmm, I guess it depends on what time I get home and whether I can still be bothered when I do :-)

More revs

Had a fairly good weights session at home last night, although as usual the dogs took this as their cue to incorporate me, the swiss ball and the weights into their circuit of madness!
Another rev class at lunch time today - omg I was expecting the guy who took Tues lunch's class (which was tough enough) - but it turned out to be Clare taking the class - I used to go to her rev. classes last year and they are positively evil! So there I was, no hat again, a cotton t-shirt (all my dri-tech stuff is in the wash) and the killer madwoman driving me into a heap of sweat. Euuuuch is all I can say! Consequently I barely made it back up the hill to my desk afterwards and am now in a heap in front of my computer, that will teach me for getting all enthusiastic and going to two rev. classes in a week (it was so much easier last week.... oh hang on a mo. didn't I moan about that though ...!).
But it's nearly the end of another week which means there must be a rest day coming up - yay, it also means that soon there will only be 2 weeks to go till D day - omg what will I do with myself once it's all over? At the moment it's a toss up between sitting on the sofa eating pies or lying on the sofa drinking wine .... hmmm decisions decisions.

Still Going Strong

Well you 'll be glad to hear that the neglect of my blog lately doesn't indicate a neglect of my training. I've been hard at it as usual, just haven't made time to update the blog. So, where was I...? Ok last you heard was on Friday when I was suffering from a bad case of half-arsed-itis re. my weights. Saturday morning I was up bright and early for a full run through which went ok - not fantastic, but not crap either. Both runs went well (keeping under 21 for the first) but the cycle was less than average, I seem to be getting slower and slower. This is not too surprising I guess as I hadn't had a day off training before it and the two rev classes had undoubtedly contributed to tired-leg syndrom. So I resolved not to worry about it, I'm sure it will be better on the day (though I have no idea what this possible misplaced confidence is based on!).
Sunday then finally was my day off from training, a real rest day which also saw the return of the mightyP from down South, so a good day all round.
Monday it was back to the weights, and also feeling like I've been neglecting the running lately I again did a fast 20 min. treadmill run as the warm up and then had a good hard weights session. The Monday after a rest day always goes well!
Yesterday it was back to the rev. class. It was the same guy who took the lunchtime class last week and if anything it was even tougher - boy was it a hard class, it was great! To make matters worse I'd forgotton my hat, so consequently had sweat running down my face throughout it -mmm nice mental image there for you! As I'd done lunges with weights on Monday my butt was already sore so you can imagine how sore it was after the class!!
Today I took advantage of mightyP being back and cycled into Uni for the first time in weeks. It was absolutely freezing - well ok 6 degrees, but that's way too cold for me! Despite my new long sleeved thermal training top (which came back from the South Island trip for me) which is warm and lovely, I was still cold all the way in and it wasn't the most enjoyable of trips. I think I'm just about ready to switch to cycling home instead now that really cold mornings have set in (and the clocks go back this weekend so it's only going to get worse).
Anyway all I did once I arrived was have a nice hot shower, so I'll save my weights until I get home this evening.

Dodgy Rev Class and Half-Arsed Weights

Went back to another rev. class last night - but it wasn't a patch on the lunch time one I'd done. That's the trouble with not doing the classes regularly you don't know who the instructors are and whether or not they are any good or not. I also had real trouble hearing what she was saying - I don't think it was my ears this time (which are a lot better but still not 100% even though I've now finished the antibiotics) but she was muttering away and her microphone was pretty crap, mind you most of the time she wasn't saying anything important anyway ... ;-)
So after all that I felt like I'd worked out, but not really worked out hard, sigh. This morning I did some weights at home, I went out for a walk with the dogs as my warm up but it was absolutely freezing out so didn't get very warm! Did get up a good pace though as it was too cold to dawdle - even the dogs weren't dragging their heels! Anyway the weights were ok, but I totally forgot one exercise and didn't realise until I'd put everything away - doh!
Well I guess I can always do some more when I get home if I feel like I've shortchanged my workout too much. Mind you I have a full run-though in the morning so saving some energy wouldn't be a bad thing. Hope it's a bit warmer than this morning - and let's all keep our fingers crossed for no wind!

Legs and Arms

Having missed my run yesterday (not that I was slacking off, a rev. class is definately not an easy option!) I decided to do a 20 min fast run on the treadmill as a warm up for my weights session this morning. This meant I had slightly less time for the weights, but having done a long session on Monday I guess it all balances out ok in the end! One day I'll actually get a proper training schedule worked out rather than just making it up as I go along!
I was surprisingly not too stiff after the rev class, and the run was fine, although it did mean I was a lot hotter and sweatier than usual when I did my weights which was not that pleasant (now there's a lovely image for you to carry round in your heads for the rest of the day!).
The poor doggies didn't get a walk yesterday morning - I know I know I'm just too slack sometimes! But I did make up for it with a long walk in the evening. I also managed to get the edger out and finally strim all the edges of the garden which had got ridiculously overgrown. The strimmer is on its last legs so just getting the damn thing started is a workout by itself, never mind carrying it around and using it for half an hour!
This morning I had to take the dogs to the groomer (yes, they did get a walk first!) so I'm planning on going to a rev. class this evening - I guess it will be a lot busier than at lunch time, but hopefully I will get in ok as long as I arrive early enough.

Spinning Wheels

Went to a rev. class today. This was supposed to be replacing swimming but in fact I didn't get to the gym this morning (waiting in for non-existent tradesperson) so it ended up being my cardio for the day - not that it's a poor substitute! It's Ages since I did one of these classes, but I did foolishly assume that because I've been doing lots of 'real' cycling (especially in that resistance building wind!) I wouldn't find it too hard. HA! It was as evil as I remembered and the sweat poured off me and I felt exhausted - fantastic, just what a rev. class should be. Actually I didn't have a face like a tomato afterwards, which is unusual, but I think this was just because it wasn't a particularly hot day outside rather than any indication of some super fitness on my part! Anyway it has to be good for my cycling so I will try and get along to another one this week maybe (although the only lunchtime one I could get to is tomorrow and I think that may be a little too soon! So will have to see if I'm motivated enough to get up for a 6am class on Friday (seems unlikely!) or could feed the dogs early on Thurs and go for the evening class).
As I did lots of butt exercises yesterday during my weights session (lunges with added weights) the class today will have just about finished them off - so I guess I'll be standing up a lot this evening and tomorrow!

Run Run Run

Yesterday I really felt like doing a long road run, something I haven't done for ages. It was a good day for it, dry but not too hot (not hot at all really!) so I decided to just go out for an hour and see how far I got. I took it very very slowly, and so ended up doing just about 9km which is less than I used to do in a hour, but I felt good, nothing hurt and I really enjoyed it - most unusual as when I was training for the 12km round the bridges run last year I absolutely hated the long weekly run most times! It just goes to show that a change to the routine is as good as a rest!
This morning I did a really good long weights session (making up for the fact that my weights session on Sat. was pretty half arsed!) with lots of abs at the end too. I got up earlier than normal (the mighty P is away so I had to get up in time to sort the dogs out etc.) so consequently had more time at the gym and didn't have to rush which was a nice change. I finally got round to buying some more headphones for the gym for my iPod as my last pair were now only playing through one ear. I opted for a different type which looked like they would be really good - the sound quality is definately better but I'm not sure I like the design - the volume adjuster on the cable is quite big and clunky and the cable has a curled section - which is good for avoiding long dangly cables but I think may turn out to be a pain - hmm, time will tell.

A Feeling of Deja Vu

So, remember last Thursday when I put off my cycle/run until the evening and then got lumbered with high winds ..... well it happened again! Yesterday morning I was all ready to get up and out but the MightyP informed me that it was very windy out there, so I stayed put and decided to put it off until the evening. When I left for work I though, hmm, it isn't that windy actually, but never mind, the weather pattern all week has been a bit iffy in the morning and then much better in the afternoon. Well when I got home it was blowing an absolute storm- probably the worst it's been, and there was that cycle/run looming..... I so nearly just didn't bother, but once again reminded myself that if there's crap weather on the day I'll still have to go ahead - so out I went. I decided pretty early on that I wasn't even going to bother with the time for the cycle, just treat it as some sort of extra resistance training, honestly it really was that bad! The run by comparison was a breeze (ha ha pardon the pun), but I was completely stuffed afterwards.
Of course the added complication of the wind was the effect on my dodgy ears, I was worried it would make them worse, but in fact they've been so bad this week the wind had no effect! Anyway I finally took myself off to the doctor this morning who had a look and told me my eardrums were retracted due to pressure build up in my eustacian tubes - basically it's an infection (like sinusitus) in the tubes which is what's making me feel like my ears are blocked and the retracted ear drums are what's making my hearing so crap! As I've been taking decongestants to no avail and it's been going for a week the doc. prescribed antibiotics (yeuch - can' t remember the last time I had to take them, I normally refuse! so better dose up on yoghurt) and said I should start noticing the difference in a couple of days when they begin to drain -- mmm that sounds nice!
Day off training today - no swimming for me until at least end of next week, so I think I will take a couple of rev classes (that's spinning for those outside of NZ) next week during lunchtimes instead as that should be good for my cycling stamina and general fitness on top of my other training.

MIssing the Water

Having had a busy time of it (deadlines on Monday and half a day off yesterday for the MySky man) I haven't been able to get to the pool this week. I really could do with a swim - so hopefully will get there tomorrow and Friday - as long as they don't close it for school stuff again!
This morning was back to the gym for weights. My back has improved a lot, although still not 100% (was rubbish yesterday evening until I took some anti-inflams.) and I could do all of the machines I wanted to apart from the hamstring curls which put too much pressure on my lower back (maybe I'd have been ok if I'd lowered the weight..?). For a warm up I did 10 mins on the cross trainer, but all the new ones were being used or broken (start of term - uch all those eager people signing up to the gym and crowding the place out, at least most of them will have given up again in about a month and it will get quieter again). Anyway I used one of the old cross-trainers which have a very different motion from the new ones - much more up and down - as a result I was getting motion sickness by the time I finished! I think this wasn't just the motion on the machine (as I have used them in the past with no problems) but the ongoing saga of my blocked ears. The ears are still not right, I will have to get Mil to take a look at them at the weekend with her special ear examiner - I thought it was just cataarh as I've been quite blocked up generally, but it doesn't seem to be going away!
The other really annoying thing at the gym this morning was that all of the clocks were telling different times, and as I didn't have my watch on I had no idea which was right! After I finished in the weights room I went into the changing room and it was 15 mins earlier... so I wasn't sure if I'd finished early or not. I had a hair appt. at 9 so thought I had time to go and get a coffee beforehand, but once I was changed and had my mobile back on in fact it was 10 to 9 ! Honestly it's such a pain, the other thing that's really annoying about the gym is that it takes them forever to fix anything (like 4 weeks for a hairdrier, over a month to replace a clock battery...etc) - their workout equipment ALWAYS takes forever too as they seem to require parts from overseas whatever the problem is - guess that must be why it's the cheapest gym in town ! :-)

Some Days are Better than Others

Today was just one of those days when I really wished I'd just stayed in bed and everything was just too darn hard! Firstly an update on the back situation, after a terrible day with it all day yesterday (it was particularly bad when I was walking around as I felt like I couldn't stand up straight) I went home and stretched it out over the swiss ball before doing some weights - I decided to see what I could do that didn't hurt. Most of the weights were ok although I had to abandon some of the leg exercises. Anyway afterwards by back actually felt a lot better than it had all day and I managed a good nights sleep without having to take any anti-inflams or painkillers. This morning it felt ok, not perfect but not too bad, so I decided to have a run on the treadmill at the gym. My favourite machine (the one by the window which has the best spring in it's base and runs a bit slower than most of the others) was occupied so I had to run on a different one. It started off ok and I ran at my usual pace for about 3km but then it was all downhill after that. My back started to really hurt, it felt too hard and my mind was just telling me to give up - one of those bad mornings when it's just a struggle to keep going. I managed 5 and a half km in the end which was less than I wanted to do so I was pretty grumpy when I stopped and by back was really hurting again - hmmph.
Now and hour and a half later, sitting at my desk and having had my breakfast I'm a little more philosophical about it all - if running 5 and a half km is having a bad day then that's not really a bad thing - as the mighty P pointed out if I'd done 6km I would have felt ok about it, and there's not a big difference between 5 and a half and 6km, it's not like I wanted to run a km and only did half! So I will stop beating myself up about it and feel proud of the fact that I got up and did something even though I didn't feel like it.
My back has eased off again too so was probably just complaining about the run! I am rubbish at resting injuries so hopefully this is just something minor that will go away quickly!

Cool Running

Another full run through on Saturday (yikes, can there really be only 2 more of these in my schedule before the real thing!) yielded positive results for the running at least. Another 10 seconds of my 3.5km time, not only was this a good thing generally, but I was running by myself so had to control the pace totally - something I always find really hard to do. I really need to run in the other direction next time I do this so that I can check my pace on an unfamiliar route (as I'll have to do that on the actual duathlon). My cycle was, oddly, really slow - in fact it was exactly the same time as the nightmare windy ride I'd done on Thursday. There are a couple of possibilities here - firstly the windy ride could have left me more tired than I felt and combined with the faster run maybe I was just slower. Another possibility is that I stuffed up with the timing somehow - it does seem odd that the time was Exactly the same down to a 10th of a second ....! Whatever, I'm not worried about this as I know I can cycle faster. The last run was ok, not a fab time but fast enough to keep my overall time below 54 minutes.
Yesterday I had hockey trials - this actually didn't involve me doing much as there was only a small group of non-premier players who turned up, so we just did a few drills and then played a 5 aside game for a bit.
Afterwards I realised my back was completely stuffed. It's my lower back again, the same place I was getting all the problems with earlier on in my training. I'm not sure if it's cycle related this time though, I was mowing the grass at the edge of the drive on Saturday and it was soooo long that it was a real mission, so I think it's highly likely that I've strained something doing that. Anyway after a really poor night's sleep as I just could not get comfortable with my back but couldn't be bothered getting up and taking some pills I was in no mood to get up and do weights this morning! I'll see how it is this afternoon (and hopefully a swim at lunch time may help) and then tailor a weights session at home this evening to whatever doesn't hurt!

Gaaah! That Darn Wind Again!!

I had put off my cycle/run until the evening yesterday for two reasons, firstly I had lots to do at Uni and wanted to get in early to get stuff done first thing, secondly (and more importantly) the weather forecast was for wind and rain first thing clearing later. Hmmph, in fact the morning was fine, there was an attempt at a shower at lunchtime, and by the evening it was hot and sunny with strong winds - my absolute pet hate when it comes to cycling. I so nearly didn't go out, but determination prevailed..... It was a fantastically hideous diagonal wind, so on the way out I was cycling into what felt like a head wind whilst at the same time struggling to stay on the road as I was getting blown off onto the gravel/grass at the side, coming back I certainly didn't feel like I was getting the benefit of having the wind behind me (mind you my poor little legs were suffering by then!) and I was getting blown onto the road - not great with all those milk tankers about. Of course this is all just a long-winded whingy way of saying that my time was rubbish! I wasn't expecting much better from the run afterwards but in fact that was ok - although when I first started I had a tight calf muscle which I was a bit worried about (do not need an injury now) but it loosened off and was probably just caused by the transition from cycling to running.
I didn't get to swim yesterday due to schools using the pool (!), and probably won't today as I'm planning on a full run through tomorrow rather than Sunday (when we have a hockey muster) so will just do some upperbody weights and abs this evening (much to the delight of the dogs I'm sure!)

Pumping Iron

Back in the gym this morning for a weights session. No sign of the leg woman (as she will henceforth be known!) so will have to save that for another day. Remembered to warm up beforehand this time (10 mins on crosstrainer) so felt a bit more ready for it once I got started. Pretty uneventful session all in all. No swimming today, but I have been for the past two days (1km on Monday and 700m yesterday). The schools are back now so they are using the pool too but it hasn't been too much of a problem yet as there is still the seperate swimmer's lane so I haven't found it disruptive at all. Seem to be getting the hang of the body rotation for my freestyle, I'm still over-exaggerating it at the moment to try and get used to it so it comes naturally, we'll see if that works. Still have the problem of not using my legs enough, too much multi-tasking I guess - can't think about arms, legs, rotation, breathing, head down etc etc all at the same time ! (Damn, imagine being too dumb to swim!).
Will need a long walk with the doggies this evening as I've been cooped over my desk all day and had a stressful afternoon trying to get simple technology to work. Mentioned to Dozza that I would have been better off in the stone-age as then I wouldn't have had fax machines and scanners to fight with, she pointed out that I also wouldn't have had contact lenses so in survival-of-the-fittest type world probably wouldn't have lasted long.
Look out for that mammoth!
On a completely unrelated note (I know this blog is supposed to be just a training record but I feel I can vent occasionally!), a strange thing has happened since Dozza moved in to the office. Whenever anyone comes in (and by anyone I mean men) they feel obliged to make some comment about the fact that there are two women sharing an office (so far the room has been dubbed the girl's room, women's room, women's space...etc etc, you get the idea). Now to my knowledge two men sharing a room doesn't seem to elicit the same effect (i.e. no one refers to such rooms as 'man space' or the little boy's room (my personal favourite)) - what an odd place this is sometimes.
Ho hum.

Cycling in the Fog

Today was the first time I've cycled in when there has been a morning fog. The fog is yet another sign of the impending end of summer, but it's also such a typical feature of the area we live in that I find it comfortably familiar and it reminds me of when I first arrived in NZ nearly 7 years ago.
Anyway the cycle in was, because of the fog, very wet! It kept dripping off my cycle helmet and my handlebars were wet and slippery, as were my pedals which caused my feet to slip off several times. My recently acquired shower proof jacket did an admirable job however and I stayed dry, also because of my luminous vest and backpack I didn't have the annoying flapping problem mentioned previously. Of course when I left home I forgot to turn on my rear light so had to stop at the end of the road at the crossroads to turn it on, then when I set off again the rev. counter on my cycle computer wasn't working as I must have somehow moved the sensor on the pedal, so I had to get off again to reposition that!
After all that it was a slow hard cycle this morning - I did my weights session at home last night (outside in the hot sun) and tried out that squat/lunge move with a weights bar across the shoulders that I'd seen the woman with the great leg muscle definition doing at the gym (see previous blog entries for more info on this!). Anyway I'm not convinced I was doing it right, but it definately was working my quads (but maybe not my butt?), I'll have to check it out again on Weds when I do a gym weights session if she's there again.
After I arrived at the gym this morning I changed into some dry changing gear and had a gentle run on the treadmill for 25 mins just to stretch everything out after the cycle and any residual stiff bits from the weekend's hockey excesses. Actually nothing feels too bad, the only sore bits I have at the moment are my left shoulder, which was something I did last night with weights (not sure what but it's just a minor sore bit nothing serious) and my tendonitis has flared up in my right wrist again which is real pain as I'm pretty busy this week with stuff that involves a lot of typing and it's damn uncomfortable with my wrist splint on.

Hockey, Hockey and more Hockey

This weekend was the Master's games hockey tournament. We had one game on Friday, 2 on Saturday and one on Sunday - it made a nice change to be doing something different excercise-wise, but boy was I sore on Sunday morning, a couple of bits in my back and shoulders obviously are not getting worked with any of the other training sessions I'm doing!
Friday's game was pretty hard with tough opposition, we had more of the play but couldn't capitalise and score, so finished 0-0. The two games on Saturday were easier, particularly the second one (which was lucky as we were all starting to flag a bit by then) and we won both reasonably easily. Sunday was the final and we had to face the Friday night team again. It was, as expected, a hard game, but we were able to score some goals this time at least. We went 1-0 before half time, and then scored another at the start of the second half. Then the other team got one back making it 2-1 with about 12 minutes left to play. It was pretty tense as they were all out trying to attack to get another goal, but thankfully with about 5 mins left we put in another and so won the game 3-1. A nice gold medal to add to the collection :-)
Had a well-deserved lie-in this morning, tired out from so much hockey and also dogs barking at a possum half the night! So I think a gentle swim at lunch time should get me moving again (time to christen the new swimming costume at last I think!!) and then a fairly easy weights session this evening. Back to more serious work-outs tomorrow.

Squeak

So this morning I developed a squeak - let me rephrase that a little, my bicycle developed a squeak (although it could just have easily been me!), it wasn't constant but enough to be distracting, guess I'll have to take a look sometime and see what it is. The bike is not due for a service until June but I'll take it in for a quick tune up if I need to before the duathlon.
The colder mornings meant I needed to put a jacket on for my cycle this morning, I've just bought a shower-proof training jacket which is breathable so I put that on, but then I found the flapping of the air panel at the back a little offputting too as it sounded like I had a puncture - obviously it was a morning for offputting sound effects! It wasn't the world's greatest cycle either timewise, but was ok, and I followed it up with a 1.5 km run and got a new fastest time for that so all was well in the end.
One of the problems of training first thing is that I have to train empty - otherwise I'd have to get up at least another hour earlier in order to eat and digest before training. This is a good thing for weightloss as training empty means you burn fat as there's nothing stored, but it's really lousy for getting good results - I think that's one of the reasons I had such a good runthrough on Sunday as I had a banana first thing (no digestion time required).
Another slightly interesting thing this morning was that I had sore butt muscles. Now usually when I do my weights on a Wednesday I do lunges or squats so I'd expect to feel in on Thursday, but yesterday because I was doing my weights in the front room instead of the garden (another effect of the autumnul mornings) I didn't. When I was in bed last night I suddenly remembered that I hadn't done any lunges/squats, and in fear of losing my ashlee simpson butt (ha ha ha , ok I haven't seen the Dukes of Hazzard but I have checked out as's butt) did 3 sets of buttock clenches while I was lying in bed watching the winter olympics (obsessed, me???) - but it was really kind of a half-hearted attempt (or should that be half-assed attempt, lol) and I didn't expect it to have any effect. So today's lesson is, even if you're stuck at your desk all day and don't have time to work out, a little buttock clenching is a good thing. :-)

Skipping

Before I do a weights session I usually do 10 mins of cardio just to get everything moving and a bit warmed up. As I was doing weights at home today I started with 10 mins of skipping. Now skipping is something I really find difficult - I can manage the two footed jump and get up a reasonable speed, but the whole one-legged (changing or hopping style) employed by boxers is a complete mystery to me - I've tried a sort of jogging style so I'm kind of running on the spot while I skip but it doesn't really work for more than a few rotations. So anyone who knows something about this please drop me a line with helpful suggestions!
On the subject of warming up before doing weights, I have of course realised why my weights session on Monday was so hard, because I just went straitht into it without any warm up - duh! So it pays not to try and save time by cutting corners!!
Today's weights were aided and abetted by the dogs who absolutely love it when I get out the swiss ball and the weights, they consider it to be some sort of puppy-obstacle course and immediately start chewing on each other and hooning about. Their absolute favourite is if I get on the floor to do something and then they can climb all over me too - talk about adding extra resistance, I guess it's little wonder that my previous swiss ball sprung a leak !
Hopeful of getting out for a swim at lunch time today although it will have to be a fairly rapid one as I have a conf. session starting just after lunch.

Ouch

Since yesterday lunchtime I have been feeling the effects of a slight muscle strain I must have picked up while doing weights yesterday morning. It's my periformis, so for those of you who know where that is you'll know how uncomfortable that can be! Luckily it's nothing major, just a twinge, and it didn't affect my running at all this morning. Once I'd warmed up I couldn't feel it at all and managed a comfortable 40 minutes on the treadmill. I aimed for a fast 3.5km followed by 20 minutes of slower more gentle running to help with my stamina.
Too busy to get out to the pool for a swim today which is a shame as I'm feeling the effects of being cooped up over my desk all day with a stiff neck and a general desire to get moving and get some fresh air. The downside of having too much to do I guess, I will definately try and make time for a swim tomorrow though.

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Well I don't know if it was doing less cardio, not doing a run through last weekend, more weights or just generally having more energy, but I had a great run through yesterday and beat my fastest time. This was mainly down to the 3.5 km run which I did nearly 30 seconds faster than my previous fastest time, so I have finally got it below 21 minutes which was my main aim. Not only that but I did good times on the cycle and final run too so I hadn't worn myself out with the first run. Needless to say I was very happy and so have decided to keep my training the same, as much as is possible, for the next 6 weeks. Next weekend I'll be playing hockey anyway (master's games) so won't have time (or energy) for a full run through, so I'll leave it until the week after and then just do one more before the actual event.
Weights this morning was hard work, I wasn't really in the mood which didn't help, but everything just seemed so much heavier today!
I've got a bit of a hectic week coming up this week so have no idea when/if I'll get time to go swimming, but if anything has to slip then I guess that's the least important thing so not too big a deal - I mainly do it for the enjoyment factor more than the exercise.
Back on the subject of the master's games, I went to watch some of the swimming on Saturday (well done Gabi for your bronze medal :-) ) and was heartened to see that although there were some really serious competitive swimmers there, there were also some people who were there just to give it a go - which is the whole point of the master's games - so good on them for that. They included a 74 year old woman - I can only hope that when I'm 74 (if I live that long) - I have enough ooomph to be out competing in a swimming event.

Seven Weeks to Go

Which seems like a long time, but if it goes as fast as the past couple of weeks have then it will fly by. Mind you I'm so busy at the moment no wonder the time is flying (or is it just that I'm getting old ....)
It was nice to have a guilt-free lie-in this morning - nothing to do but a weights session which I have planned for this evening. Then a day off tomorrow before a full run through again on Sunday morning, it will be interesting to see what my times are like having had a break from both full run though and cycle/run combo. In fact I've hardly done any road running for a couple of weeks apart from my brief soujourn round the lake on Weds. night. I can see it will take more than a little willpower to make myself get up on Sunday to do it.
Master's games start tomorrow so I have four games of hockey to look forward to at the end of next week which will make a nice change from just running and cycling, a bit more sociable at least!

How Far is it Really?

Went off to do a bit of hockey training last night in prep. for the master's games next week. After an afternoon of heavy rain it turned out to be a really nice evening so I got there early so I could have a run round the lake first. I've not done the run before but had heard it was a pleasant run - a mixture of paths and boardwalks right around the border of the lake. The only question was, how far is it? I had tried all sorts of means to find out - you would think the Hamilton city council website would tell you... but no. Anyway there was a Santa fun run around the lake before xmas which claimed it was 4.5km - but this seemed a little further than I thought and from what others who have done the run tell me, so really I had no clue. In the end I reckon it must have been less than 3.5km, as including the run from the hockey turf across to the lake, then round the lake, then back to the hockey turf, was only 23 minutes (at least 3 of those would have been from turf->lake and back) and I was really taking it easy on the run - so who knows?
However far it is the bonus result of running last night meant that I didn't have to run this morning, so just did a 10km training cycle which my tired little legs (weights yesterday followed by the run and half an hour of hockey) managed in a sad time of 24 mins 17.
I actually feel like doing nothing else today, but if I don't swim today then I won't get another chance until next week as the schools have a mass booking of the pool tomorrow and I don't fancy sharing with 150 13 year old school boys! Will see how I feel at lunch time I guess.
On the subject of swimming, the other day my office-mate, who for the sake of anonymity I will refer to only as Dozza, and I were discussing issues of bouyancy etc. when swimming and I commented that when I weighed more I had better bouyancy (fat obviously helps us float!) - which made us wonder why women weren't faster swimmers than men having generally more body fat - factoring in the muscle and strength issue Dozza concluded that the best swimmers therefore should be fat men .... hmmm I think there is a flaw in our logic somewhere - but keep an eye out on the commonwealth games for those porky swimmers, you never know! Seriously though anyone who has some real knowledge on this issue feel free to add a comment - or even if you have no idea but are really opionated feel free too.
Hwyl!

Big Weights

Yes you guessed it, today was a weights session. Having been doing lots of reps on fairly comfortable weights up until now I decided it was time to up the ante and actually do some harder work (not that I'm still smarting about the old lady with the leg weights the other day you understand ....). So today was 3 sets on each set of weights increasing the weight between each set. Blimey that was hard!! Started with lat pulldowns which was ok, but my technique went to pot on the last set so I think I was doing more work with my arms than my back. Next were quad lifts - ok now I have got over it as I managed to at least equal aforementioned old ladies weight :-) Shoulder press was way way hard, by the time I got to the second set I was struggling (and trying not to cheat and use my legs too), so my third set I only managed 7 reps and they were not pretty! Hamstring curls followed, again my technique kind of fell apart on the last set but they didn't feel too bad. I actually did three decent sets on the tricep extension, even though I struggled with the top weight it's an easy exercise to do properly even when it's hard. I was distracted before getting on to the leg press machine watching an exercise that one of the other women in the gym was doing, she had a weights bar across her shoulders with some fairly heft weight on it and was in a lunge position doing dips to the floor - 10 on each leg (if you can picture that - i.e. she wasn't doing lunges but had front leg bent and back leg straight and was lowering her back knee almost to the floor then lifting up again) - anyway she had amazing leg muscle definition so I'll have to look that one up and give it a try at home on Friday when I'm doing free weights. I'd just like to point out here that I was only watching her for the purposes of exercise and not just randomly perving at girlies in the gym ;-)
Anyway where was I, oh yes, leg press - no problems there. Then onto my nemesis, the chest press - no, hang on it's not a chest press - well it's some sort of chest machine, the one where you have your arms up at 90 degrees each side of your body and push forward on pads which close together in front of you. I always find this machine really damn hard, even on a low weight. Luckily someone had left a half-weight booster block next to it so I didn't have to go up a full weight each time which would have been a total disaster.
The calf raise machine had a dodgy adjuster so I couldn't change the height of it which was a bit annoying, I could still use it but it was a little high for me so I didn't get a full range of movement.
I finished off on the mat with a combination of stretching and ab. work (crunches and plank) - surprisingly I was fairly supple and stretchy today, I say surprisingly as I've been really slack with my stretching lately, apart from stretching out major muscles after running etc. I haven't been doing anything else.
Swimming again at lunch time today - yesterday was good although the pool was a little busy by the time I finished. Then tonight I have hockey training - lordy I haven't picked up a hockey stick since the end of last season (October) so that will be a bit of a shocker. The occasion is the forthcoming South Pacific Master's games (for non-NZers masters refers to age - ie. it's veterans rather than experts :-) ) which start in Hamilton next week. As we have lots of 'senior' players in my club we're putting in two teams, an over 35 and an over 45 team, and as quite a few of us haven't played since last season we thought we'd better have at least one get together before the tourney! So that, in combination with today's efforts should lead to some sore muscles tomorrow.

Slacking Off

Well as I predicted, the long weekend brought on a state of lethargy and aversion to running, so I never quite did get out on that half-brick (run-cycle) I had planned. I did do a weights session on Saturday so I wasn't a total lazy-ass! It was such a hot day we headed over to bro-in-laws to enjoy their pool, actually we went to return the trailer we'd borrowed to collect the hay but it was a good excuse! We spent about half an hour fooling around with a beach ball playing a bizarre version of volleyball which involved using various small children as implements to intercept the ball at various times - I'm not sure if this counts as exercise or not?
Sunday we headed over to the beach to enjoy some sun and relaxation - if you can call trying to control two over-excited west highland terriers on the beach relaxing :-) They, and we, had a very pleasant time though, a half hour stroll along the edge of the sea - which was surprisingly warm, and then some lazing around on the sand dunes with the occasional dip to cool off (that was us, not the dogs - they were on high alert lest they miss a single person who dared to walk past us and forgot to bark at them!).
The plan was that yesterday, holiday Monday, we would get up early so I could do my run and cycle. The alarm went off and I lay in bed listening to the rain, persuading myself that I couldn't possibly get up and go out while it was raining (did I think I would dissolve?). Needless to say it didn't happen. Of course I wasn't avoiding it, just postponing it until later in the day ...... but it never quite happened. Ah well it's not like I haven't been working hard lately at my training so I don't think one weekend off will kill me.

Cycled into uni today, legs tired again from the weights on Saturday so sloooow, but I did do a 3km run on the treadmill after I arrived so feel like I'm back on track again. A swim at lunchtime today and I will be ready to go for the rest of the week.

If you see someone struggling up a flight of stairs today, be nice to them, maybe they've been working out and have reached the end of their oooomph. ;-)

F-F-F-Friday

Cycled in to Uni today, seems like ages since I last did that (well, was last week I guess!), wasn't attempting anything fast (just as well as it took 37 mins!!) just trying to keep my cadence going. Did a weights session at the gym when I arrived, 30 mins of both arms and legs, although I'm not sure my legs really needed it after the cycle. There was a life-fit session on at the gym when I arrived (over 60s) and I had to wait for one frail-looking elderly woman to get off the quad machines before I could use it, I hopped on and to my embarassment had to lower the weight before I could use it :-D So watch out for those little old ladies, they're tougher than they look!
I was supposed to go swimming yesterday but had forgotton to bring my shower stuff in so couldn't. Actually that was about how my day was in general yesterday, obviously nearly being run over first thing was a sign that I should just have stayed in bed as it was just one of those days where everything went wrong. Hopefully today will be better, at least I do have everything I need for swimming here so that's a start.
Another long weekend coming up, may try and get a day over at the beach which will mean another day off training, but a long walk by the sea with the dogs I'm sure will do my spirits good so it can't be a bad thing.
There is STILL some painting to be done on the house before we get onto the final little bits and pieces - sigh, this is the job that never ends.
Bring on the weekend that's all I can say.

A Close Shave

One of the nice things about training on rural roads is that there is not a lot of traffic, no pollution and pretty scenery. The downside however is narrow roads with no edge markings. Since I started cycling I haven't had any problems though, even when I cycle into Uni when there is a bit more traffic about the vehicles have been pretty respectful and give me a reasonable bit of space even when there is also oncoming traffic. Anyway for those of you who think you know where this is headed - actually you're wrong - I set out for my cycle this morning and once again didn't encounter any problems - well, not with traffic anyway. I'm still tired from the 2 and a half hours spent picking up hay on Tuesday, but had a good cycle nontheless, 10Km in 23.23. As I was doing a half brick this morning I had to follow the cycle with a 1.5km run. The road I live on goes straight for about half a km and then there is a really sharp bend, because you can't see what's coming around the corner unless you pull out to the middle of the road, and that's exactly what most vehicles do, slowing down in case anything is coming the other way - I've been living here 6 and a half years and never seen an accident so this seems to work well. As a sensible rural runner I, of course, run on the 'wrong' side of the road, i.e. against the traffic, so I can always see what's coming. This morning as I approached the sharp bend I could hear a car coming so ran off the side of the road onto the very small grass strip at the side, but the eejit driving the car had decided that their best option was to drive really fast and also off the edge of the road - i.e. on the same grass strip as me ... hmmm, car vs. runner - don't think I'll take that on, so I had to dive into the bushes to avoid being mown down by the stupid b***h (oh yes sad to say it was a woman) in her toy 4 wheel drive (probably a dumbass rav 4) with crappy personalised plate. So ms '4 EVE A' beware, I know where you work. Yes of course she works just down the road at the goddy school, why am I surprised - they are all crap drivers! Actually that's a bit unfair, but they are obviously all townies, they took over our local rural school building when the school closed due to falling rolls. Within a week of moving in they were complaining about stock crossings on our road (urr, hello, this is farmland what do you expect!) and they all own big cars and drive way too fast down our road. It's particularly bad whenever they have some sort of function on at the local hall as the traffic volume is horrific and every single one of them uses our road as a short cut (which is about 100m shorter than staying on the main road!) and goes too fast. UGH. So what do you think readers? Should I:

a) Write a letter of complaint to the council about the traffic generated by their use of the school and their inconsiderate driving
b) Write to the school telling them what I think of their crap driving in general and Ms '4 EVE A' in particular
c) Chuck a cow pat (or a rock) at '4 EVE A' next time I go past?

I will leave it in your hands.....

Final comment is that despite my bush jumping I still managed an ok time on the run - I guess the extra adrenaline helped! Once I work out how to do the graph properly I will stick up a picture showing my various times and (hopefully) the improvements.

Stay safe out there, and if you're driving, SLOW DOWN.

Back on the Blog

Ok here I am, as promised, back onto it with a daily update!

As I mentioned yesterday I found out a few weeks ago that the duathlon had been postponed, and now have the new date which is the first weekend in April. Still I haven't let that put me off my training and have been managing some reasonable times - mainly because my cycling speed has improved, and have managed to knock a few seconds off the 3.5km run too - it's still much slower than I would like, but....... maybe it will get better!

I've made a couple of changes which are making a real difference with my training though. I contacted a nutritionist to ask about the fatigue and slow recovery time and got some really useful info. back. The main point for me was that as a non-meat eater, given the amount of training I do I should be taking iron supplements. This has proved to have a really positive effect as I am no longer as tired as I was and my recovery is much better too, so I'm glad I took the time to ask the question. I got in contact via a question forum on a webpage. so anyone else needing some advice, I strongly recommend visiting http://www.bodysculpt.co.nz and then click on the Nutrition link - don't be put off by the pictures if you're not into bodybuilding - I'm certainly not!

The other change to my training regime is to do less cardio (a very radical decision for me) and put in 3 weights sessions a week instead. Since I lost a lot of weight several years ago (30kgs if you're interested) by running 30-40 mins a day on a treadmill I've been really reluctant to give up the cardio. But it's really working out well for me, not only is the increased strength helping my cycling, but also the increase in muscle is helping my metabolism and I'm finally dropping the weight I put on over Xmas - so I'm very happy with the change. The only problem I've had is when I did a leg weights session on a Friday and then did a dummy run of the duathlon on the following Sunday - my muscles hadn't had time to recover and were too tired to perform properly. So I've learnt my lesson and now do leg weights at the start of the week.


Amazingly I do have a life outside of training, but as I started this blog as a way to record my progress that's pretty much all I talk about! Anyway yesterday I spent 2 and a half hours shifting hay bales - no not for the fun of it or as some new crazy form of training, I live on a lifestyle block and we finally got our hay paddock baled yesterday - with the threat of imminent rain it was all hands to the deck to get it into the hay barn - which we did successfully and I was very smug lying in bed last night listening to the rain (albeit a little sore).

Ok ok, I know I've been really slack and haven't updated this for ages - I promise to do better! Hot news is that the duathlon was postponed until April - dammit!! However this has not put me off my training at all, but I am now aiming for even better times!
This is just a quick update to let you know that more is coming - I will fill you in on all the great advice I got from a nutritionist to help with the tired legs problem and let you know how it's been going.
I will be back.

Hard Training Before Xmas Splurge

As my running on the road has been so awful lately (no problems on the treadmill)yesterday I decided to just do a 3.5km road run this morning to try and get my time down a little. My legs were a bit tired, but not too bad, but my time was still really slow!! I think the main problem is that when I've turned around and am on my way back I try and do intervals of running a bit faster, but the bits in between I really drop off my speed way below my usual average speed, so I might be better off trying to keep a fixed pace - hmmmm, dunno, need to try and get some advice on this. I think over the Xmas break I need to have a look on the net and see if I can get some tips on improving this. I was very fed up after the run and just about ready to pack it all in, it is so frustrating when you feel like you're busting a gut and then get back and find you've actually been running really slowly.
Had a good swim in the afternoon though which cheered me up, even though I did keep having to move kids out of the swimming lane. Honestly there's a whole huge pool and one tiny swimming lane and they still have to go and play in that. Bah humbug!
This morning was treadmill running with speed intervals again - blimey that came around quickly! Got through it ok, went bright red, as usual, and took about 2 hours to completely cool down, but always feel virtuous at having done it.
Tomorrow I'll have the day off (good job as I'm going out for a pre-xmas breakfast and then plan to finish my shopping) so that on Friday I can have another full runthrough. Didn't want to leave it until Saturday as there will be so much going on it's quite likely I wouldn't do it. If I am feeling ok and up to it on Saturday I'll do a cycle first thing and then it will be a couple of days off to eat, drink and watch dvd's instead of training.