short break

in blogging and possibly training for some personal reasons but will be back in Sydney next week. not just slacking - i promise!

I will only complicate you, trust in me and fall as well

well that sounds like a depressing heading but actually it was just what I was listening to on the bus and is stuck in my head :)

Last night I planned out my training until the 18th of the March. There are a couple of points where I will do a Go/No Go analysis along the way :) One of those will be this Sunday where I have decided to do all the distances in the one day to mainly give myself some much needed confidence that I can do it. I don't intend to do any of it hard or fast or even right after each other. But I will swim 1.5k, cycle 40k and run 10k. And then I will see how I feel :)

I had a good session this morning. Up bright and early for 1hr on the trainer followed by 30 min run from home, around the park and back. One other thing that I did on the weekend just past was buy a bike computer and my friend at the bike shop kindly installed it for me (who knew it had to be installed?!). Talk about keeping me honest. I realised that on the trainer I have been B-L-U-D-G-I-N-G in a serious way!!! Now I aim for a cadence of 80-90 and will just sit on what ever gear I can do that comfortably in for now. Not that it was particularly comfortable - I was in struggle town. But that could have also been because my stomach wasn't that keen on the endura Opti that I tried a bit of. But I am going to persevere for a bit because it is dairy free which I like.

Oh - and I also bought one of the bottles that sits between your tri bars on your bike. So it should be good for drinking. Not so good for my street cred :) but who cares!

Catch up

Have had my mum over to visit for the weekend so training and blogger-updating time has been minimal. Shopping and eating time has been high though!

So, training wise the weekend looked like this:

SATURDAY: 2 hours on the home trainer. I really didn't feel like it. And the first hour was agony. But after I got through the hour it wasn't so bad. I suspect I was bludging a bit... but still it was time on my butt on the trainer. All good.

SUNDAY: Met Lorna and Caro at the bay and we did a lap of the Bay plus canal with just a little bit of walking in the middle. I was not feeling good at all. 55ish minutes and about 8.5k. Not much encouragement coming out of that one...

That was it. Nothing yesterday (plenty of 'time on my feet' at the shops though...).

Now is the time to ramp it up before the 18th. I need to work hard. No excuses now.

In particular, I spoke to the haematologist on Monday and she reckons that even though my iron (ferritin) is still low, it is improving and so i should keep going as I am. My haemoglobin is ok, the only thing that is weird is that my other indicators (transferrin, something else and something else...) are still elevated which they shouldn't be. So who knows.

I still feel pretty tired and blahhhhh. But maybe that is just over or under training or over or under sleeping or who knows. Its not the end of the world if I can't do this triathlon. But I would prefer to do it than not!!!

well look what we have here... one year down, hopefully lots more to go!

As I put that last post up I started to think that it was about this time last year that I entered the blog-o-sphere with some modest hopes that this running caper wouldn't be a flash in the pan burst of motivation followed by my usual motivational slump and lack of follow through.

Well by golly I think I did it. A whole year. I reckon I can now call myself a runner.

Looking back over that first post is interesting. I am still broke, but mostly because of my triathlon habit not my drinking habit :) I was doing a bootcamp which was a great 'in the deep end' intro to running for me. I was truly slow-but-enthusiastic and was spending lots of hours grinding around Centennial Park. Nothing has changed there!!

My goals were these:

- Run 10K
- Run 10K in 60 minutes
- Run in the Mothers day fun run
- Run the City to Surf
- Run the Blackmores half marathon (hmm maybe that can be a 2007 goal...)
I did every single one of those things and a few more.

But the biggest thing was the huge amounts of encouragement I got from everyone who reads this, and particularly from some people that I now call my good friends. And I can't believe that so many of you are still here putting up with my whingeing about iron levels, triathlon training, scary bikes, lycra, the ups and downs in my job, my love life (or lack thereof :), my homesickness and all the rest. But more than that, how much fun has this year been??? Road trips with the girls for races, breakfasts after long runs (can't beat that feeling of satisfaction!), piss ups with many and varied running buddies, heaps of races - running and cheering. The list goes on.

What a huge year. As much as I go on a bit about how hard things get sometimes (i'm not one to self censor...) I wouldn't change it for anything and I have absolutely zero intention of giving it up :)

Gee - now I feel great. Perspective is a beautiful thing :) doesn't help you remember your shoes though...

moron alert

yep that's me :)

planned a spin class at lunch cause I slept in this morning (I am really starting to enjoy the sleeping business - i feel quite refreshed!) but as soon as I got changed it became very clear that something was missing.

Shoes.

call me a princess but they are critical to the equation. shorts I could give or take (hehe just kidding)... but shoes are a deal breaker.

will see if there is a yoga or pilates class or something that i could do. Or else I will just go and get lunch :)

what a dag :)

my bleeding heart

well my arm anyway. went to the haematologist today but haven't come back with any real answers or plans going forward.

She isn't sure what the reason for the low iron is, and because it is improving at a slow rate she isn't sure that she wants to do an infusion. But the results she saw were a bit old so I had another set of tests (5 vials of blood!!) and I'll give her a call.

So at this stage it looks like we are going to head down the 'toughen up' route rather than the 'miracle cure' one. Bugger!! Doesn't she know I have a big race in a month??? I can't wait for my slow-motion iron levels to increase!

Happy Valentines Day!

decided this morning to sleep in after a night out at Little Britain Live. Ohmigod it was f*cking hilarious. I loved it. But I have fairly low brow humour so it doesn't take much to keep me amused. eh eh ehhhhh....

anyway so that meant no ride or run in the AM. So decided I would do something after worth in the time between work and a surprise birthday dinner for jen_runs (happy birthday lovely lady!) that the owl and don juan had organised at a tapas restaurant on Pitt St.

It was a last minute decision, but in the end I did a couple of spin classes (maybe 85% effort?) and then 10 mins on the treadmill in light of my current brick-obsession. i must say that the cycle-run thing is getting easier! that is cool!

So I'm pretty happy with that. 1 hr 40 mins (mostly) aerobic for the day. I had forgotten how boring treadmills are. I put a bit of an incline on to make it more lifelike but I am glad it was just 10 minutes!!!

happy valentines day everyone :) hope there is lots of love going around :)

And while I spend these hours, 5 senses reeling, I laugh about the weatherman's satellite eyes

I've run out of interesting titles so jumping on the lyric bandwagon. But just this once :) The darn song is in my head and won't come out.

Anyway - I have successfully regained a little perspective after yesterday. Lots of things were getting to me and I just needed to chill the f*ck out. And I got some very good advice from a very good friend about some of my training and some of my 'other' habits... :)

so the plan for the next month to get me across the line at Cronulla is to focus mostly on aerobic training, not too much speed work. I am also going to (try to) use the bike as my primary aerobic training activity with some running and of course some swimming. Surf swimming in particular.

So with that in mind this morning was a no-sweat day and I did a brick session. 60 mins on the indoor trainer while watching some Little Britain in advance of the show that I am going to tonight, and then 30 min run from home out around the inside loop of Centennial Park. Noice. I feel good! A little tired, but good!

let's hope the work gods pick up on the good mood and respond accordingly!

Kurnell Race 3

hmm don't know where to start with this one. lots of things going round my head. number one is a bit of a groundhog day moment that I am sick of getting sick and feeling a bit lethargic and tired all the time. I have a hot date with the haematologist on Thursday so I am hoping for a bit of iron-magic in my very near future.

anyway I was incredibly nervous about this race. There were a lot of firsts for me. First ocean swim (yeah none of those training sessions happened...), first swim in a wetsuit (no it didn't make me fast like I was hoping...), first ride out in the real world (even though there were hardly any cars, there were some, and there were also tight turns and speed humps!!). you get the drift.

So in some aspects I have gotten a lot of confidence from the race. It took me ages to settle into the swim, but I did eventually. I also didn't fall off my bike. I improved my run time even though my swim and bike were slower so that I was 3 mins slower overall. I could definitely have pushed harder on the swim and the ride. Especially the ride...

But I also feel a bit overwhelmed (could just be my already horrendous morning at work) and wonder why I am doing all this, whether I have wasted all this time and money and whether I have any chance in hell of finishing an OD race without completely embarassing myself. I also saw a photo of myself riding the bike and was completely horrified and may in fact have to ban myself from all forms of lycra for the rest of my life...

anyway - perhaps I just need to toughen up. ah well.

EDIT - thanks for the encouragement everyone - its much appreciated. Its funny - I do really enjoy this triathlon business for the main reason that it is such a challenge. its only when I start to dwell on my crap-ness and giving myself shit for not being good enough that I get down about it. So i'll try not to do that so much.

Here is a photo gnome took of me at the first triathlon - i was absolutely petrified at that stage!! I should remember that I will never be *quite* that nervous... well maybe on 18 March...

long slow ride...

actually it wasn't very slow at all.

because I was not sure whether I was going to get a ride in on the weekend (i know... i'm a very bad girl) I decided to come to work super early, take a very long lunch and do 3 spin classes in a row.

I know that sounds a little OTT but the theory was that it would keep me interested, provide a bit of variation, push me and give me 2hrs 15m of riding.

anyway it was great! my mate from work came for the first two and the last one I pushed a little harder because I could see the end in sight. It HURT though!!!

I feel pretty good now though luckily and even just ate some beef in a roll (all they had left) so that has to be good for the ole iron levels.

yay!

catching up

I've been in Melbourne this week since Monday so will update the very small amount of training I have been doing :)

Tuesday morning I was lucky enough to have tour guide Wobbly man to escort me for an early run from the city up around the Tan. It was great to have the company although I feel for him having to listen to me cough and splutter and whinge about a blister that developed... Thanks mate :) All up we did 65 mins and despite the garmin malfunction telling me that we had done 26kms I think it was more like 9 or 10!

No training Wednesday and this morning my plan was 30 mins indoor trainer followed by 30 mins run (a brick session of sorts). The plan was great until the run when the blister decided that cycling was one thing - but it wasn't happy with the running. So will give it some time so it is good for Sunday which is the Kurnell triathlon.

Plan is to ride tomorrow am. Swim Sat am and the tri (its a sprint) on Sunday. I am getting better cold wise but I'm def still not 100% so will ease back into it... i'm tapering :)

following the week's theme

I'm a non-starter for this morning's swim. All night I was tossing and turning and willing myself to sleep soundly and wake up refreshed and 100% healthy. Of course that never works and at around 6am when I had my first coughing fit I decided that the swim would be silly and that I didn't need to prove anything.

I did decide to try a run with Lorna and Lulu and I last for 3.5k and 25 mins before admitting defeat (again) and walking back to the car. Its very disheartening and I really am trying very hard not to give myself too much of a hard time for (a) not doing the swim, (b) not running very far or fast, (c) both of the above. I am also trying not to catastrophise into having lost all my fitness and there being no chance of doing an olympic distance triathlon. Trying. Mildly successful.

Combined with just feeling a bit anxious over all that and some family stuff that is really upsetting me I am feeling pretty edgy. Fortunately the lovely lulu and mr lulu have invited me to dinner which is always a sure fire cheer-er-upper-er :)

thanks everyone for your good luck wishes for the swim and lulu/lorna/wtr for their intention to come and watch. sorry it was such a non event, maybe next year...

1800-still-sick

well my voice has moved on past phone-sex-husky to adolescent-boy-unpredictable to inaudible at times. Made cheering this morning at the Striders 10k a very interesting affair!

I was still planning to run this morning right up until collecting my number and standing around for a while. I was actually really excited to run today but everyone I spoke to kind of did a double take and I was reminded that it was probably not the best idea. So instead I had the pleasure of talking travel to Rags who was on timekeeping duties (he even let me hold the stopwatch for a few minutes :) I also got to cheer everyone in and watch some awesome PB's being set! (katie and ray... i'm talking about you!!!).

Anyway I am a bit resigned to it all now. If i can't swim tomorrow its not the end of the world. But everyone cross their fingers that somehow i heal miraculously by tomorrow! don't care if I can't talk, so long as I can breathe through my nose and my mouth and not cough every third breath (could cause trouble in the water...).

I think the week off also means that I will be a bit more focused at training. I might drop a session or two and really just keep the critical ones because I want to get to the start line on March 18 more than anything. I am also resigned to having to stop and get off the bike to have a drink :)

no training since monday...

still feeling sick and home from work today. that makes 3 days no training... i know its best not to push it but I have that awful guilty feeling like I should be pushing through. ah well - if standing up for too long makes me dizzy I don't think getting on the bike would help too much.

fingers crossed for full recovery by tomorrow.