You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2007.
Exercise: 7km Run - Dorset Golf Course (7’s Yellow)
I had the best run tonight. I felt great for the whole 7kms. Looked at my watch after the run and I did an average of 5.35 pace…..OMG! Looks like the hills and the long runs are finally starting to pay off!…..5.35 pace!! Okay the track around the perimeter of the golf course is pretty flat with just a couple of very small inclines so it’s a good place to run a fast pace. I stopped after the first lap and my watch said 19.44 for 3.5km. I was totally gobsmacked when I saw that.
The second lap my legs were starting to tell me that I was running faster than normal. I thought that I might practice something that Michelle had spoken to me about earlier this week. I ran fast for 8 seconds and slowed down enough to recover for 12 seconds, then upped the speed again for 8 seconds, and slowed again for 12. I did this for about 4 or 5 minutes and even though I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it for very long, it actually wasn’t too bad and I felt that I could have kept doing it for longer if I’d wanted to…I didn’t of course, which is why I stopped! I might try to continue doing this. It can only help my running I’m sure!
Oh yeah, back to the time - I did a negative split. The second lap I ran 19.30. Woo hoo!!
Alana’s Grandparents in the UK sent her a christmas present back at the beginning of November. They sent it via Parcel Force using their International Economy option. They quote delivery is between 42 - 61 days. It took 86 days to get here!! How bad is that! Oh well, Alana certainly enjoyed getting another present, even if it did take nearly 20 minutes to get the doll out of the box, getting all the twists and ties undone that the manufacturers had used to keep it in place.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum my pants don’t feel very comfortable”
Me: “That’s ‘cos you’ve got them on backwards!”
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (6’s)
One minute it’s light at 6am and in the blink of an eye it’s dark at 6am! Just amazing how quickly the light changes without really noticing. I’ll have to try and find my little light that fits on my cap soon. There was even fog and mist this morning. Autumn is just around the corner, that’s for sure.
Michelle and I decided that we were going to do a fast bit in the middle of our run (interval, yasso??? - no idea what it’s called). There is a section of the trail between two roads and this was a perfect distance to up the speed. Felt really good too. Our times are gradually getting faster along this trail which is really encouraging.
I went to the supermarket yesterday and I could tell that all the mothers in that supermarket are very much looking forward to their kids going back to school!! Many of them sounded at their wits end. Most of them were buying stationery and food for lunch boxes!! Alana doesn’t go back to school until Thursday so my Mum will have her tomorrow. I’m hoping she’ll take Alana up the 1000 steps to wear Alana out so that she’ll have a good night’s sleep so that she’s in a good mood for her first day back at school!
I’ve sold my mobile phone - Frankie I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Exercise: 16km Run - Warby Trail (7’s Yellow)
A late night last night meant that when the alarm went off at 6.30am I did not jump out of bed full of beans!! As I’d got my stuff organised last night it was a case of getting dressed whilst trying to wake up fully. I would have loved a cup of coffee but as I never drink much before a run, this didn’t seem like such a good idea.
I was meeting Emma and Michelle at Seville, picking them up and driving up to Woori Yallock. Em had a better idea so we ran out from Seville instead. The only downside to this was that I had to wait until we got to Woori Yallock to go to the loos. If we’d driven there I could have stopped off before we started running, so running for 8km with a number 2 waiting was fun (NOT!). All I can say was that instead of the normal leisurely pace that I like to run, I upped it slightly just so that I could get to those toilets quicker!!
As Emma was doing 20km and me and Michelle had opted to do 15km, we parted ways with Emma continuing along the trail for a bit further whilst me and Michelle turned and headed back towards the cars. Em had mentioned that she would try and catch us up when she turned around to head back, but for some reason the competitive steak in me reared its ugly head (this is a very rare occurence). So we upped the pace slightly on the way back. It was nothing like Emmas pace (check out her post today), but we were doing under 6min k’s and this was up an incline for most of the way back. We got back to the cars about 5-7 mins before Emma. She had an amazing run back. Well done girl!
I’ve been really lethargic this afternoon and even dozed off in front of the tv for a while. Had to go and have a bit of a nap but unfortunately I just couldn’t get the sound of the tv or the computer out of my head enough to actually sleep, so when I got back up I had a bit of a dull head. I’ve tried to get some more fluid in to me and have also just had a pint of Berocca. I can see myself staring at the ceiling at midnight tonight!!
Some photos of today’s run.
Emma and Michelle on the run (literally)!
Heading out towards Woori Yallock
Heading back towards Seville
The girls after the run. I tried out the self timer on the camera phone!
Exercise: 6.2km Power Walk - Local Streets
I looked out of the window this morning when I got out of bed to find that it had been raining overnight, and looking as if it was going to rain again at any minute. But instead of my usual negativity towards the rain, I jumped out of bed and got ready to go. My reason for the positive attitude this morning??? Well I bought myself a lovely waterproof rain jacket last winter and hardly used it, and what’s the use of buying it if I don’t use it!! And it was invaluable this morning.
I would have posted a couple of pictures from my phone camera, which I’d taken with me, but as I’m still a bit vague with some of it’s uses, I hadn’t checked what mode the camera was in, and it was only when I’ve gone to download them that I’ve realised that it was in video mode, not camera mode, hence no photos.
The photos (that I thought I’d taken) showed both sides of the road I was walking along. One side had brilliant blue skies and sunshine, the other side (which I had to walk back up to get home) had these massive black clouds looming. Luckily it only started raining about 10 minutes before I got home, but the jacket kept me warm and dry! Yay for waterproof jackets!
I also went roller skating with Alana this morning. She has her lesson and then gets to have some free skating in the session after the lessons finish. I took the plunge and ordered myself a new pair of quads today. Nice purple ones too! They will not be in stock until next week so I had to use the hire ones today, which I hate as they are just so crappy! Can’t wait to get the new ones on my feet, then I can whizz around the rink and look like I know what I’m doing (which I don’t!!) I can’t even skate backwards, which I should learn to do. And I dread it when they make us skate clockwise as I can’t go round the corners that way either.
I’m going to put my Panasonic VS3 Mobile Phone on Ebay if anyone is interested. Here’s a photo of it with all the other stuff that came with it. It’s 12 months old but is still in really good condition. There’s a tiny bit of wear and tear on it but nothing that’s really noticeable. I’m looking for between $100 and $150 for it.
Just had to get up and answer the door. There’s an Indian woman there, who I could hardly understand, so have no idea what she’s saying. What I do know is that she’s trying to sell me electricity. I wanted to just stand there and let her do her speil then say no thankyou, but Hubby came up behind me and asked her outright what she was trying to sell us. Think she was a bit taken aback as she started to make some excuse. I then pipped in with the “if you’re selling electricity then we’re very happy with who we’re using thankyou”. With that she stormed off! Don’t you just love that they call around at 6.30pm on a Saturday evening (shakes head!).
Now my dilema is, do I go out at 8pm and water the garden, knowing that it’s been raining on and off during the day and may even rain some more this evening???
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (6’s)
Another evening run with Duckgirl. It’s so nice running in the warmer weather. I’m dreading winter already and it’s still 4 months away. I’m not sure if my run yesterday had any bearing on tonight’s run but we ran alot faster tonight than we have done recently. I’m hoping that all these hills I’m adding into my running is making the difference.
Speaking of winter I’m already checking out some of the new stuff that’s available in the US. I’ve found a lovely new hat that I want to buy. And there’s also this wonderful top too. If I have to run in the cold of winter then I want stuff that’s going to keep me snug and warm. This might just help!
I haven’t got anything arranged for tomorrow as yet. For anyone not living in Australia, it’s Australia Day and we get a national holiday - YAY! There’s talk of us getting a picnic together and going up to town for the afternoon, sitting by the Yarra just watching the world go by. Of course if I’m anywhere near The Tan I’m going to have to do a couple of circuits aren’t I!! I very rarely run in town and it’s so nice to be able to run on a new trail. Anderson Street doesn’t really thrill me though!
I went to the local Shopping Centre earlier in the week and parked in the undercover car park. When I came back to my car another car had parked so close to mine that I had to get in on the passenger side as there was just not enough room for me to squeeze in the drivers side!! Why would somebody park this close to my car? Could they not see how close they were parked? It wasn’t as if it was a tight squeeze for him (or her) to get into the parking space. There was plenty of room on the other side….what is it with these people…..where do they get their licenses from - a Cornflakes packet??
Exercise: 7.4km Run - Parents House to Home (7’s Yellow)
My Mum was looking after Alana today so I asked if she’d mind hanging on to her for a little while longer so that I could go out for a quick run after work. She suggested that I should run home from her place and her and my Dad would drive Alana back over to my place. Works for me!!
I felt really strong on this run (apart from the never ending incline in the first km of the run!!). There was quite a bit of flat and downhill running too. The hardest part is always the last bit as I have to run up a steepish hill to get back to my place. But it felt good. Tiimewise I did most of my 1km splits in under 6min K’s so I was really happy about this too.
It’s good to see that the price of bananas has finally come down to an acceptable level. I got some for $1.97per kg. And I got my petrol yesterday for $104.9 (less my 4c voucher). Happy about this too!!
We’re not sure how but somehow or another Alana was either bitten by something or touched something which gave her an allergic reaction and the right hand side of her face puffed up, including her lips. It only happened between the time that I left my Mums house and the time they arrived at my house. I gave her some Demazin as soon as I walked in the door and saw how puffy her face was, and the swelling did go down a bit. Alana couldn’t tell us what had happened either as she didn’t think that anything had bitten her and couldn’t remember touching anything unusual!
I made some really scrummy Chicken Burgers tonight. They were very quick and easy to make too.
Recipe if anyone is interested:
Makes 8 decent sized Burgers
1kg Chicken Mince
1 Egg
Stuffing (or dried breadcrumbs)
Diced Onion
Salt & Pepper
Flour to coat burgers
Throw into a frying pan and cook, then eat. Delish!
You can also add any type of marinade if you want a different flavour. I sometimes throw in some soy sauce.
My Trigger Point Therapy Workbook still hasn’t arrived and I have to take the one from the library back tomorrow, so I’ve photocopied all of the relevant pages that I thought I might need to refer to. If anyone wants a PDF copy of Shoulders, Back, Buttocks and Legs just let me know and I’ll email them to you.
Exercise: 6.3km Power Walk - Local Streets
I’ve decided that I’m not really an early morning person any more. I used to enjoy getting up early and getting the exercise out of the way, knowing that it was done and dusted. However lately I haven’t wanted to get up early (apart from meeting Michelle for our early run). I am enjoying the evening exercise much more, probably due to the fact that it is warm and sunny still.
I started work early this morning so that I could finish early, therefore have more time this evening to get out for a power walk. I probably could have run tonight but I just wanted to walk. I even considered jumping on the treadmill when I got back from my walk, but quickly erased that idea!!
I’ve had a bit of a clearout of my running tops. I used to run in mostly cotton tops, many of them the ones that were given out after entering a fun run, but slowly I have been building up my collection with proper running tops and singlets that breathe (dri-fit etc). I have put the old t-shirts and singlets in a separate pile and have kept all the good ones in the drawer. Counting them, I now have 19 tops to choose from!! 
Okay a couple of them are long sleeve ones that won’t come out until it starts getting cold, but the majority are either singlets or short sleeve tops. It’s amazing how quickly the pile builds!! Kmart and Target are now starting to stock more dri-fit equivalent stuff, which is great as they are half the price of the Nike, Asics etc brands.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I’m going to miss you when you die!” (does she know something I don’t!!!)
For those of you that asked this is my new phone.
I used to have one of these but I found that the camera didn’t really take very good photos and as I’m a bit of a shutter bug I wanted something with a better camera in it. This one also didn’t have anywhere to store all my music, although it looked really cool and had some fun gadgets on it.
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (6’s)
I had every intention of getting up early this morning to go for a power walk. However…..yep here comes the excuse…..however I had a pretty fitful night’s sleep. My calves were not so much painful as restless. I kept waking up and had to move my legs as they were just a bit achy. So of course when the alarm went off, my hand just naturally hit the off button.
I am so glad that I put my skins on after my shower yesterday. I wore them to bed too. The legs felt good today - no pain, no aches, nothing!! How fantastic is that!
Met up with Michelle this evening for a recovery run along MMCT. There was a slight distraction at the start of the run when all the footy lads went running by 
It was a lovely evening for a run, not too hot, not too cold, hardly any flies - what more could you ask for!!
I have a new mobile phone. I am so taken with it. I can download all my music onto it and go running with it. I can plug it into my car stereo and listen to my music in the car. While I’m listening to the music in the car Alana can play games with it at the same time. It has a really cool radio on it too. Can you tell I like it alot?
Alana’s Quote: “Mum what do the gates in Heaven look like?!”
Exercise: 13km Run - Sherbrooke Forest (7’s Yellow)
Woke up this morning expecting to hear the rain, but to my delight it had stopped. Now I know that we are in a desparate situation with the water situation and I am so happy that we have had some rain, but today I was running, and for anyone who knows me, I hate running in the rain. You can imagine my joy when I checked out the weather radar, which showed absolutely no rain coming our way at all - YEEHA!!
I met Michelle and Emma in the bottom car park of the FTG National Park. They both jumped into my car and we headed up to Sherbrooke Forest. We didn’t really have a route mapped out, we were just going to run and see where we ended up.
The first loop was fairly tame, with only one incline. We ended up back at the car park after about 6km. We then headed back out again, this time via a different trail. This one led right down to The Falls. We actually missed The Falls and ran right past the track that would have taken us down there. Instead we ended up on a trail that Michelle and I had done the last time that we visited Sherbrooke Forest and vowed never to do that trail again…..OMG, here we go again!
As you can see from the elevation chart above, the second hill we had to get up was a monster. None of us were able to run up it, we had to power walk the whole way up, that’s how steep (and slippery) it was. I was a little concerned that there may be Leeches lurking as it was still very damp and muggy. Luckily nothing attached itself to me otherwise everyone visiting Sherbrooke Forest this morning would have heard my screams!!
We finally got to the top of the hill and ran back down to the car park. My calves were telling me that they’d had enough so I called it quits then. Michelle and Emma on the other hand decided to do another loop as per the first one we did, and then they ran back down the mountain to where their cars were parked, which was about 7km. Their legs will be very tired and I’m sure they’re going to feel it in their quads tomorrow. I know Em will be sitting in her ice bath with her cup of tea at least and Michelle will just continue on as per normal, just taking it all in her stride!!
I hope it didn’t rain on them as this was what the sky looked like where they were still running.
My gym membership has now finished (I had to give 30 days notice when I quit) so I have no options but to use the equipment that is in the garage. We have decided to bring the bench and hand weights inside as it was just way too easy to avoid going out there. Now with it at arms reach, it should be alot easier to get off my butt and just do it!
In answer to your question AJH about the numbers and colours in brackets, that’s to remind me what trainers I was wearing so that I can log it on my spreadsheet. I have a pair of Saucony Hurricane 6’s, and two pairs of 7’s, one pair yellow and the other pair blue!
And Jo, don’t tease me about the Next catalouge. How I miss shopping at Next. For anyone who has never visited or lived in the UK, Next is one of those clothing shops that you can walk into knowing full well that there is going to be something hanging on the rack that you’ll just love. Check out the online catalouge.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I’m not stupid you know!”
Exercise: 3.8km Power Walk - Local Streets. 4km Run - Treadmill (7’s Blue)
I wanted to do a nice long power walk this morning, but unfortunately nature called during the walk so I had to nip home. Once there I thought that it would be easier to just jump on the treadmill rather than go back out the door. And of course once I was on the treadmill, the natural tendency was to run rather than walk.
God it was hot in the garage. I was sweating so badly that the towel I’d taken in with me was saturated within a couple of minutes. The problem was that there was no wind, it was deathly still. I must go and buy a fan so at least there is a bit of movement in the garage.
I walked into the supermarket yesterday and what did I see……EASTER EGGS!!!! How can they justify putting them on the shelves already, we haven’t even got past New Year yet, let alone Valentines Day. It just gets earlier and earlier every year, and now I have to walk past them every time I go to the supermarket. I really must seriously consider doing my shopping online - at least that way I don’t have to look at them.
And the rain has finally arrived - YAY!!
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I want to have driving lessons!”
Exercise: 10km Run - Local Streets (6’s)
The hills are alive with the sound of……me and Michelle puffing and panting, cursing the hills. We have decided that it’s time to get back into running some hills and as I live a stones throw from some pretty decent ones, we thought this would be a good start to the new regime!! OMG - I’d forgotten just how hilly it was to run those damn hills, even though it is the same route I use when I go power walking. It just seems so much easier to walk them than to run them!
My right calf is just a smidgen sore right now so I’m going to get my Trigger Point book out and see what it says about sore calves. The one I ordered from Amazon still hasn’t arrived so I’m hanging on to the one from the Library for now. I may have to photocopy some of the pages in case I have to take the book back to the library before my book arrives from the US.
*Edit* - Just checked out my order on Amazon and the book was sent on 7th January but delivery estimate is between Feb 8th and March 9th - Patience dear girl, patience!!
I’ve just seen on Amazon that they’re selling Saucony Hurricane Grid 8’s for US$89 - which makes them about AU$115. I can’t seem to figure out how much delivery is for them though. They could be a bargain as long as delivery cost isn’t something stupid.
*Edit* Okay so they don’t ship the Hurricanes to Australia - Bummer 
And where’s that damn rain the weather bureau keep promising us?????
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT (7’s Yellow)
Why is it that I can never seem to get up on Monday mornings? I had all my stuff organised and ready for doing a spin class too. Unfortunately the power went out at about 2.30am and Alana came into our bedroom all upset (she can’t sleep in the dark) and she ended up in our bed. Hubby swapped places and jumped into her bed. Now if you’ve ever slept with a child in the bed you’ll know that they are never still or quiet when they sleep - hence I got very little sleep after 2.30am, which meant that I was in no condition to get up at 5.45am to do a spin class.
Then when I got home last night I was tired and cranky. I didn’t want to go back out once I’d got home so the gym was a no go, and as it was fairly warm in the garage I didn’t want to run on the treadmill as I had minimum energy as it was. So yesterday was taken as a rest day.
Was up bright and early this morning, meeting Michelle for our normal run along the MMCT. My quads are sore, just because they haven’t had to do much distance running lately. We must have looked really funny as we were both running like old ladies.
Alana’s front tooth came out on Sunday night and she is now completely toothless on the top. Hopefully the new ones will begin to grow down soon!
And which silly person raced out to water plants last night at 8.30pm, only realising, after a few minutes of not hearing the next door neighbour watering their plants, that it is in fact Tuesday nights that we water, not Monday…..Doh!!
Exercise: 15km Run - Warby Trail (6’s)
I was a little bit anxious about the run today. I wasn’t sure if my knees would be okay and also whether I could actually run 15km comfortably as I haven’t run this distance since October last year.
We set out from Woori Yallock at a nice leisurely pace. There were alot of people on the trail today, mostly it looked like, people training for the Oxfam Trailwalker event in March. There were also alot of people riding their bikes, most of them being the considerate cyclists that are out there, including Emma on her bike who we passed about 1/4 of the way into our run, but of course there were that small group of absolute rude, unthoughtful morons who wanted the whole trail to themselves….aaagghhhh!
We got to the turnaround point in really good time and I felt great. I had to keep slowing down as I felt myself getting faster, which I think is a good sign?? And even on the way back to the car I still felt like I had alot in the tank, no knee pain at all and there was a huge smile on my face.
Once we got back to the car I waved goodbye to Michelle who was doing an extra 11km. I jumped into the car and drove up to Wandin and waited for Michelle there. She finally showed up, having run 28km, which is her longest run since MM. I’m hoping to gradually increase my runs so that in the not too distant future I can run the same distances as her, although I’m still not going to commit to running a marathon just yet.
The weather was perfect for running (well for me anyway), lots of sunshine and a nice breeze to keep you cool - what more could I ask for!!
Alana’s Quote: “I know why the tooth fairy takes the teeth away - so that they can use them for old people when they don’t have any teeth!”
Exercise: 6.1km Power Walk - Local Streets (7’s Blue)
I needed to get out and do some more exercise this morning as the rest of the day is full. I’m hoping to do some roller skating after Alana’s lesson, so a bit of extra exercise is always good.
I forgot to water the plants this morning. Was merrily walking along and saw other people doing it. I didn’t get back home in time so it’ll have to wait until tonight when I’ll give the plants a really good soaking.
There were lots of cars in and out of the street very early this morning. The sound of them actually woke me up, but I didn’t really take too much notice, just thought it was the lads next door getting home from a night out. Anyway it was only when I walked out the door for my walk and it all became very clear. The house across the road is having a garage sale. Couldn’t believe how many people were already parked out the front looking through all the junk. These garage sales are a big thing aren’t they? Just wish they wouldn’t make them so early….
Exercise: 5km Run - Treadmill (6’s), 15 Mins Cross Trainer, Legs, Situps
Alana decided that she was going to let me and Hubby know that there was thunder and lightning outside - at 4.30am!! Needless to say when the alarm went off I was not in the mood for gym, or getting out of bed, so the alarm was turned off and sleep was resumed!
Hubby got home in good time, which gave me the opportunity to get down to the gym before it closed (8pm on Fridays). I had a great run on the treadmill, which I was very surprised about. I felt good for the whole run, and had it up to about 11.5 on occasions. Mostly it was at 10.5kph, which I was also very happy with.
I’ve only got another week left of my gym membership so I really should try and make the most of my last week there.
I’ve decided to do a long run with Michelle on Sunday. Now before you all get worried, I’m not going to do the 25km that Michelle intends to run. I’ll be doing 15km (out and back course), leaving Michelle to do the last 10km and picking her up at the end. This should work for both of us.
I heard on the radio today (and read later on the BBC Website) that David Beckham is moving over to the US to play Soccer there. They are going to pay him a million dollars per week. Can you imagine that??? I think it’s really just so that Posh can make it in the US. They haven’t taken to her at all over there, so this is probably all her doing! David Beckham is one of my favourite men to ogle as long as he doesn’t speak.
Saw a couple of cool number plates today: YEHAR and BLINKI
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT
How ridiculous is this weather…Tuesday morning it’s 3.8 degrees at 6am, this morning it’s nearly 27 degrees (shakes head in disbelief!). I opened the front door to walk out to the car and the heat just hit me in the face.
Another good run this morning. My only concern is that my calves feel quite weak at the moment. The rest of me is fine. I suppose it could just be because I haven’t run any huge distances lately and need to keep upping it. I might also start looking at doing some weights with the legs and see if it improves any. No niggles from the knee though!
You know you’ve put on a little extra weight around the hips when your fuel belt, which used to slip up to your waist constantly, now sits very comfortably on your hips and doesn’t move!
I made these Banana Muffins tonight….
I made them in two different Muffin trays, one was the old tin tray and the other was in the new bendy ones, You can see how different they look.
I have some very exciting news - well exciting for me anyway. We have decided to have Christmas in the UK next year. It will be over 4 years since I came back to Australia, and nearly 4 years since Hubby moved over here.
I’ve already signed up to do this run (Click here for more info)
At least it’s at a reasonable time of the day, even if it will be freezing cold and most probably raining! The only reason I’m doing this race is because my best friend’s hubby is the organiser and I promised my best friend that I’d run it with her. Just means that I’ll have to wait until after the run before I start celebrating Christmas!
Of course with it being Winter over there, I’m going to have a suitcase full of heavy winter woolies, jackets, jeans, not to mention all my winter running gear. I may have to seriously consider sending it over by seamail a couple of months before we leave just to lighten the suitcase (which will also give me more room to bring all the new stuff I plan on buying in the sales while I’m there!).
This is what’s taken up most of my time over Christmas. My Mum bought it for my birthday last year and I’ve only just got around to doing it….
I finished it yesterday. Came home for lunch and spent the entire lunch hour desparately trying to put the last few pieces in place. Finished it now, so it goes back in the box for a rainy day (yeah like that’s ever going to happen!).
Okay, thought I’d better answer some of your queries….
BlkBox - Haven’t had the courage to do any more Yorkshire Puddings yet. Might try this weekend. A roast is always a lovely meal to cook and eat! And I happen to have found a Girello (sp?) roast lurking at the back of the freezer!
Sparky - We’ve just had a new kitchen put in but haven’t got around to tiling yet. This should happen at the beginning of February. Tiles have been chosen and are just waiting to be put up.
Eat Em - Did you not see my first effort at making scones!!
Exercise: 9.6km Run - MMCT
The alarm at 5.30am was a rude awakening - okay so I need to get back into the routine of getting up early to run or go to the gym, but it was still too early, especially after 2 weeks of holiday where the alarm was in off mode and didn’t make an appearance at all!
And goddam it was cold too.
As you can see, at 6am it was 3.9 degrees! Just as well I’d put on a couple of layers otherwise I’d have been shivering my bits off!
Okay, back to the run - what can I say, it was the best run I’ve had for ages. My knee felt good, I had quite a bit of energy, even at the end of the run. The pace wasn’t speedy gonzales fast, but it was still very comfortable. It may have also had something to do with the fact that I haven’t seen Michelle since Xmas Eve so we had loads to catch up on and we talked the whole time we were running. I find that if my mind is otherwise occupied, the time just flys by.
I have bought a book on Amazon. It was recommended by Beakus and I managed to find it at the library. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone with injuries, strains or pains. It is called “Trigger Point Therapy Workbook”. It is well worth the money.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum I want to dye my hair Orange!”
Exercise: 30 Mins Cross Trainer, Back
A crappy nights sleep means not getting out of bed early to get to the gym. I really did have every intention of doing a spin class this morning, but I had one of those sleeps where you wake up every hour. By the time I got up I felt like I hadn’t slept at all, so the spin class didn’t happen.
I took my gym stuff with me anyway as I had the opportunity to go to the gym straight after work. Hubby is at home looking after Alana so it meant I had some time after work. In all fairness I probably didn’t make the most of the time at the gym because…. (are you ready for the good excuse!!)….I had on a pair of training pants that had worn through at the top of the thighs and I felt like my bum was hanging out the back of the pants, and I felt very uncomfortable. I was originally going to do pushups and situps after I’d done the weights, but all I could think was that everyone was going to be looking at the gaping holes in my pants, and this totally put me off.
Okay so there was no reason that I couldn’t have done them when I got home, but of course I found a reason!
Note to self: Do not wear these pants to the gym again! I also forgot to take my MP3 player with me and felt very naked without it. And I see that the price of Bananas has come down to a reasonable one now - $2.99 kg - finally!
Alana’s Quote: “Mum why do you want to look like a kid?”
Me: What do you mean?
Alana: “You know, why do you try to look younger?”
Yep, I decided it was time to try out my bread making skills. Didn’t turn out too badly, but I will not be doing it in the food processor again…..lets just say that it was very messy!
Exercise: 9.8km Run - Home to Bayswater (7’s Yellow)
Alana started her Roller Skating lessons again this morning, so I thought what better than to run to the rink from home. Hubby would drive down and I could meet them there.
It was hot, windy, and the flies were a pain in the a**e! My calves protested alot! I had to stop every couple of km’s for a stretch and a drink, but I got there in the end. It’s the first time that I’ve run on concrete and bitumen for ages so I can understand why the calves were complaining.
It was wonderful walking into the rink once I’d got there as it is air conditioned and cooled me down quite quickly, probably due to the amount I was sweating!
And do you know the good thing…..no knee pain at all - YAY!! I was thinking that maybe the pain was because of my trainers, and I’d started looking around for some different ones, but I can happily report that I was wearing the Hurricane 7’s (which I thought were the problem) and there was no pain at all. PHEW - Credit card abuse aborted!!
I weighed in this morning (check out the weight page), and although the scales only showed a 400g loss, I feel as if I’ve lost inches. My stomach is definitely a little bit flatter than it was last week, that’s for sure!!
I’m back at work on Monday and am hoping to make the most of my last week of gym membership. Will be trying to get there during lunch most days for some weight workouts.
Exercise: 5.1km Run - Streets (6’s)
Well what should have been a comfortable 10km run turned out to be an excrutiatingly painful 5km run/walk/give up!!
Circumstances this morning meant that I drove to work with Hubby, dropped him off, and then me and Alana carried on down to the beach. I came up with a better plan. Hubby drops me off about 10km away from his work and I can run from there. There is a track that detours off the main road and takes me almost to his work. Good idea so far!! Knowing that it was a warm day I doused myself in insect repellant, sunscreen and some bodyglide.
Unfortunately I found out that I hadn’t put the bodyglide in all the areas necessary to avoid chafing. I’ve bought a new pair of Nike shorts and instead of briefs inside them they’ve got little shorts, so it’s like I’m wearing bike shorts under my shorts (does that make sense??). My problem was that I didn’t put the bodyglide where the end of the bike shorts came to and of course they rubbed. I tried to carry on for as long as I could, but had to give up in the end and call Hubby to come and get me.
I was not impressed as I was actually feeling really good today and was getting into the run, even with the heat. And you should have seen the mother of a hill that I had to get up….and it was at the beginning of my run, so my legs were like Jelly after about 2km!
The beach was great. Wasn’t sure which beach to go to as I don’t often go along Beach Road, other than to run races, so just drove down to the end of Warrigul Road and turned left, and voila, there was a lovely beach right in front of us! I’m a little bit burnt and have a bit of a sun head (headache) but it was lovely to sit on the beach for a change!
*Edit*
Thankyou Deege for pointing out my typo….not sure what I was thinking - maybe hoping Christmas was on the horizon again 
Exercise: 7.7km Power Walk - Local Streets (7’s Blue)
I waited until about 7.30pm tonight to leave the house as it’s been a relatively warm day. It was perfect walking weather - not so much heat in the sun, a lovely breeze and plenty of shady trees over the footpath. And it was nice to see loads of peple out walking tonight too. The other times that I’ve walked this route there has hardly been anyone out and about. It also makes me feel a little bit safer when I see more people; not that it’s a bad area that I walk, it just feels safer.
I gave the credit card a good workout today. Went to Box Hill Central to do some banking (that’s where my closest bank is!) and of course had to have a wander around the shops. Because it is a chinese influenced area, there are plenty of shops selling cheap clothes, although the majority of them I bought from Target. I like shopping at the Target store there as it’s never crowded and there’s always plenty of stock (don’t think that Chinese people buy from Target very often!!).
On the way home I popped into Rebel. For some reason the credit card always seems to get very nervous when I walk in to this shop!! But I’m happy to report that I only bought a pair of running shorts and a cap for Alana. She wants to start running on the treadmill so of course she needs proper running stuff for that - okay so she probably didn’t need the cap, but it was pink and cute! I did see some Asics GT2110’s for $160….very tempting!
Alana’s Quote: “Nice one Dad!” - Response after Hubby farted.
Exercise: 5km Run - Treadmill (7’s Yellow)
I almost talked myself out of doing anything tonight - shaking my head in disbelief as it’s only the 2nd day of the year and already I’m finding the motivation thing hard!
My calves are a bit sore but if I want to get back to where I was at my fittest last year then I have to get some hard work back into the legs. Running on a treadmill is such hard work too!
I had an appointment at the Dr’s this morning. I was the first patient of the day for the doctor I was seeing. I got there 5 minutes early (I hate being late for anything!). The doctor rolls in about 25 minutes later - no excuse, no nothing, as if it’s the norm! I was not impressed. No wonder they’re always running late, they just don’t get to work on time. I cannot imagine the wrath I would get if I rocked into work 25 minutes late every day! And she had the cheek to comment on how light the traffic is at the moment with everyone on school holidays!
Alana’s Quote: “What number does 1000 go up to?”
Exercise: 7.4km Run - Lilydale Lake (6’s)
So after sitting around for the last couple of days doing nothing - apart from going Roller Skating again with Alana on Friday and working in the garden on Sunday, it was time to get out there and do some running.
It was great that Hubby and Alana came down as well, Alana to ride her bike that she got for Christmas last year but has hardly used, and Hubby to stretch his legs too. In all honesty, if they hadn’t come with me I may not have gone.
I have to tell you that the 7.4km felt like I’d run a 1/2 Marathon!! It was hard work. I did manage to run up and around the top of the hill near the hospital but was just so exhausted when I’d finished.
New Years Eve was a quiet one this year. Just the one bottle of champagne consumed with a piece of Banana & Walnut Loaf and some cream on top! I loved watching the fireworks on the TV and so wanted to be in Sydney. Not sure why, but fireworks are one of those things that I could watch forever. They totally fascinate me. I get the same feeling when I go to the airport and watch planes landing and taking off.
Hoping to get out for another run tomorrow if time and weather allow.
Alana’s Quote: “Mum you just concentrate on the road!”
At least I can still make a good Banana & Walnut Loaf
