You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2008.
Exercise: 8.2km Run - Local Streets (7’s Yellow)
Come hell or high water I was going to go for a run this morning 
Luckily I missed the rain - phew!
I think my problem at the moment is that I don’t have any real structure to my training, other than knowing that I’ll be doing Trailwalker training on a Sunday 
Happily all that will change shortly as I’ve just had an email from Michelle to say that she’s done my program for me to prepare for the GC Marathon (now I’m scared!!).
I’ve agreed to do another Pump class tomorrow morning with my friend from work. I hope that by doing these regularly my butt muscles will get used to doing the squats and lunges and will stop hurting soon 
Went to have all my moles checked out yesterday at the Cancer Clinic in Mitcham. I admit to being a sun lover and if there is an opportunity to go and sit in the sun, then I will. So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I hopped up on the bed in the doctors surgery. Happy to report that I’ve got very healthy moles and I’m a very low risk person, so that makes me feel much better about being in the sun 
I also got bulk billed, which put an even bigger smile on my face 
Alana’s Quote: “Mum do your boobs get in the way when you run?”
Exercise: 6km Recovery Run - Treadmill (8’s)
Well the plan was to do a very slow recovery run yesterday but I was just way too sore to even consider it. My calves, hammies, quads - yep, every muscle in my legs were hurting
So tonight I had some child free time and I headed to the gym after work. I really had to talk myself into going, which I’m not too proud of as I really thought that I was in the “zone” with my exercise, as I am with my eating right now. Apparently not
Once I’d got changed and jumped on the treadmill I suddenly got that good buzzy feeling and thoroughly enjoyed the run. The pace ranged from 9kph through to 11kph, which I was more than happy with. Some leg exercises with the weight machines finished it off.
Why is it that some people just like to get in front of you, even though they can see that you’re headed for the same place? I was walking toward the water machine at the gym with my bottle open, ready to refill it, and this girl decided that she wanted to get there before me, so she pushed her way past and proceeded to fill up this huge water bottle How rude!!
Exercise: 25km Run/Walk - Checkpoint 2 - 4 Trailwalker (7’s Blue)
Oooh, where do I start
Firstly, I have to say that I was very disappointed by The Police concert last night. Really, the MCG was not the place for it. The atmosphere would have been 100 times better if they’d used The Vodafone Arena, and maybe played a couple of concerts instead. The MCG was just too big and the sound didn’t really carry well. I couldn’t make out at all what Sting was saying most of the time, and even though I knew the songs, it was actually really hard to hear the lyrics that he was singing.
However, I was really proud of myself when it came to the food intake. I made up a tuna salad and took that with me. We drove in and parked in the MCG carpark, and as we were a bit early (we were meeting my brother), I was able to sit in the car comfortably and eat my dinner I’d also taken a 1.5 litre bottle of water with me too, and guzzled on that during the evening. Didn’t she do well
Because we drove, rather than took the train, we were home much earlier than I thought, which meant that I got more time in bed before getting up for our Trailwalker training. (still not enough sleep, but more than I had envisaged).
How wonderful to actually have the full team together at last. Due to me being away, we haven’t done any training together before, so it was good to actually hang out as a team.
Photos first
We were lucky enough to get to the crossing just as Puffing Billy was going past
Walking down one of the few downhill sections of the trail
A beautiful section of the trail, between Belgrave and Grants Picnic Ground.
Here’s the elevation chart…..need I say any more about the hills
Okay so I will talk about the hills. They were real mothers. And the alternative route that the Trailwalker people have added because a small section of the trail is closed is probably one of the steepest hills I have ever walked up in my life Do you know that it was easier to walk up it backwards than forwards, which I did for most of the way up it.
My legs are really, really tired tonight. I’m about to go to bed and am going to chuck the Skins on, which will hopefully help them feel fresh tomorrow (yeah right!!).
Note to self: Hill training, hill training, hill training
Just as a useless bit of information, I weighed myself before I left this morning and then when I got home and even though I had drunk just on 3 litres of water and eaten plenty, I still lost 900 grams
Exercise: 9.6km Run - Jells Park (8’s)
Happy Australia Day everyone
So who’s brilliant idea was it to meet Michelle for a casual 10km run this morning? It didn’t go well
My bum was so sore from the pump class yesterday that actually trying to move at any speed at all hurt considerably 
And I have no reason at all why I didn’t stop at the water fountain on the way into Jells Park and get a drink. Of course I was so dry half way back that I had to walk for about 1/2 km to the next drink fountain (the word stupid comes to mind!!).
Hubby and I are off to The Police concert tonight Please don’t rain, please don’t rain!
My food intake is still on track even though I’ve had a couple of glasses of champers over the course of the week. I’m even planning on taking healthy snacks with me tonight so that I don’t end up at the burger bar
A long hike planned tomorrow with the rest of the Trailwalker girls, covering from Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 4
Exercise: Body Pump Class
Thought I’d give the body a bit of a wake up call and set the alarm for 5.40am
I met my friend Michelle, who I work with, and who is also a member of Fernwood, at 6am. It’s been a while since I got up this early to do any exercise and I have to admit that I was feeling pretty ordinary. Of course by the time I finished the class I was feeling 10 times better
I know my muscles are going to be sore tomorrow
When I was in the UK I found some new food that I really enjoyed, so I put a couple of things in the bag to bring home with me (and no it wasn’t the Mars Planets Choc Balls!!).
I love the taste of Marmalade but hate all the bits in it, so very rarely eat it. In the UK, however, they sell shredless marmalade and I went through nearly 2 jars of it on Bagels (something else I really enjoyed while I was there). A big jar came back with me in my luggage
The other thing that came back with me was a box of Go Ahead Yogurt Break Bars. They are very moorish and taste absolutely divine! Sadly I ate the last one today, so I’m going to have to convince one of my girlfriends in the UK to send me a few more boxes over. I’m sure there must be something similar over here but I’m yet to find it, although I rarely look in the biscuit aisle any more so there may well be something just waiting for me to indulge in
This is a picture of the entertainment system in the back of the seats on the plane. It was fantastic. So many movies to watch, music to listen to and games to play
Alana’s Quote: “Why did they invent alcohol?”
Exercise: 6.5km Run - Local Streets (8’s)
Running during the day seems so much harder than running first thing in the morning. There’s the hassle of having to get out of work clothes into running clothes, then having to shower afterwards and get back into work clothes. And when it’s stinking hot there’s also the constant sweating for at least 20 minutes after you’ve showered and dressed
Anyway I met Michelle at lunchtime for an easy run. And when I say easy, it wasn’t actually easy, it was really a lot of hard work Even the smallest hill seemed like a mountain
I’m not sure what’s happened, and when it happened, but I’ve had a real mind change with regards to my food intake. Since I got home on Sunday I have not eaten anything that I would consider junky food. This includes snacky food like veggie chips and yoghurt balls. I have, however, enjoyed a glass of white wine and soda in the evening, and I mean only 1 glass
The result of this is that I have lost 1.8kg since Sunday afternoon when I weighed myself and have used this weight as my starting weight for my new found frame of mind. Long may this frame of mind continue
Alana’s Quote: “Mummy when you have a baby does it hurt as much as when you have diarrhea!”
Exercise: 10km Run - MMCT (7’s Yellow)
Oh the joy of being back on familiar turf.
I met Michelle after work for a very casual 10km run at our favourite haunt. It was great to catch up with Michelle and we had so much to talk about. I’m sure we probably could have kept on running for at least another 10km with still tons to talk about
Surprisingly I haven’t really felt any jetlag. Okay I didn’t really get much sleep on Sunday night, but I got about 7 hours last night and I’m pretty tired tonight but I certainly haven’t felt like I need to sleep during the day at all.
Work is fairly busy, which is probably why I haven’t felt that tired - I just don’t have time to!! My boss goes on maternity leave on Friday so I’m trying to get as much info down as possible before she leaves - not that I’m going to be able to do her job or anything….well not unless they offer me another $50,000 or so anyway 
Alana had her 9th birthday while we were in the UK and she got very spoiled - hence the 20kg excess baggage
She wanted some Heelys but we were a bit concerned with this choice of present because they are very heavy so we came up with a great idea. She could wear them on the plane home so that they weren’t included in the weight of our baggage
She tried demonstrating how you skate in them
We went out for her birthday dinner to an Indian restaurant just around the corner from Hubby’s parents (what do you mean I orchastrated this so that we could walk there and back ). The food was absolutely fantastic, and I say this as a non lover of Indian food
And of course we had to celebrate, and what better way to celebrate than with Champagne
Okay, so how many of you wished you lived a bit closer to work and didn’t have to spend so much time either in traffic or on public transport?
Well this is where I used to live (2nd floor), and if you check out the building behind the house, that’s where I used to work. How close can you get Can you imagine if I’d ever walked in late
Now lastly, who can tell me what lollies I ate at the movies when I went to see I Am Legend? I had not seen any trailers or reviews to this movie so had no preconceived ideas about what I was going to see. I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy it and was constantly holding my hands in front of my eyes
Exercise: 7.5km Run - Treadmill (incorp. 8 x 60 sec @ 12.5kph) (8’s) (Tuesday)
As Dorothy said, it’s great to be home.
And really, you don’t have to thank me for bringing all the rain back too, it’s the least I could do.
The journey home was pretty uneventful. There were a couple of delays, but we arrived at Tullamarine only 15 minutes late, and I think that was due to the HUGE thunderstorm that we flew around. It was absolutely amazing to watch it from above the clouds. I’m not sure where in Australia it was, but I would say that wherever it was, they were copping a real pounding
There was a delay, however, when we got to customs. You see when I was in the UK it was wet and muddy so my trainers were also muddy (but dry mud by the time we left). And when we got the customs form on the plane, it said that I had to declare any soil, which included sports equipment and shoes, so of course I had to declare the trainers.
This wasn’t really a problem. The problem arose when we got to the customs area and they wanted to see the trainers. Me being me, I’d forgotten which suitcase they were in, and also which plastic bag I’d used (there were quite a few plastic bags in the suitcases due to my many shopping trips), so all of my personals were strewn over the floor for all and sundry to see whilst I tried to find the bloody trainers.
Finally found them at the bottom of one of the suitcases. They were then taken away for “analysis”. Ten minutes later they were returned to me and we were allowed through. It seems that there was no “mad cow” dirt on them so they were okay!!
We walked out of the terminal at about 3.15am (the flight had landed at 1.45am). My Dad, bless him, was waiting for us and drove us home, which was another 45 minutes drive at least. I think I finally fell into bed at about 4.45am and slept solidly until about 4.30pm
Of course this meant that when I should have been getting back into bed at about 11pm, ready for work this morning, I was wide awake. I tried reading for a while (Runners World and Ultra Fit have now been read from front to back cover) and then I tried to sleep.
At around 3.30am I had to get up as sleep just would not come and I was just tossing and turning. Hubby hadn’t even considered going to bed when I did as he wasn’t tired either. We both went back to bed, after putting Alana to bed (she was also still up) and we eventually fell asleep at about 5am.
The alarm went off at 7am….and boy was I tired then!
I’m not sure how I’ve managed to get through the day without sleeping at my desk, and even now, at 9.50pm I am not really feeling overly tired, so I’m hoping that when I get into bed shortly, sleep will come quickly
And did I tell you that the nice people at Emirates let us put 20kg of excess baggage on the plane at no extra cost
Some more photos for you:
This was me looking like the Michelin Man after a run
Alana at Earls Court Tube Station
Have you ever seen a Lolly shop like this one - it was heaven
London Town from a different perspective
Alana’s creative talent (she’s a huge Top Gear fan)
How true! We are very agressive when we want food!!
Exercise: 9.4km Run - Treadmill (8’s)
An early rise this morning as I met my girlfriend Helsy at the gym. There were tons of ladies there this morning, and I have to say that whichever lady parked next to me in the carpark needs a good slap around the head. 
I had to get into the car through the passenger side, and then jump into the drivers seat as the car next to me was that close I could not get the door open. I thought about opening the drivers door very hard so that there was a dent in the other car, just out of spite, but as the car we are driving is a rental, it would probably all back fire and I’d have to pay costs associated with whatever damage I did to the rental car
It has been absolutely teeming with rain since yesterday morning and I feel very damp and chilly. The only good thing is that there are tons of big puddles on the roads, which are great fun to drive through fast
More shopping yesterday, this time in Reading. I bought the Trinny and Susannah book on body shapes, and I have concluded that I am a Vase shape!! Unfortunately the book is quite heavy so it’ll either have to go into the seamail box or I’ll put it in my rucksack that I can take on the plane.
Only one more week to go and we’ll be boarding that plane to bring us all home
Exercise: 13.5km Run - Local Streets (7’s Blue)
I killed 2 birds with one stone this morning….not literally of course
I’d offered to make dinner tonight but needed specific ingredients for my Chicken Canneloni, so I chucked the backpack on and ran to the supermarket and back
I really enjoyed just wandering around the aisles, checking out all the stuff that we can’t get back in Oz. They had a huge range of cheeses, but sadly their yoghurt aisle wasn’t up to much, or maybe I’ve just got used to the ones in Oz
I’ve noticed that English people have no idea how to use roundabouts properly, and they seem very blarzay (sp?) when it comes to using indicators too. This is not good when approaching a roundabout
We had some sun today The wind was cold though
Exercise: 7km Run - Treadmill, including 5 x 60 sec @12.5kph (8’s)
Met my girlfriend Helsy at the gym at lunchtime, which gave me the incentive to actually get out of bed.
I seem to be lazing about more and more lately. This is not good and I really have to change it. I don’t have much longer here and I need to make the most of the time that I do have left to catch up with all my friends and also get some long runs in (thanks for reminding me of that EE )
As EE mentioned, Trailwalker is not far away, yet I have not really put the energy and effort in to my training that is required to complete the TW and not be left feeling like death. So I hope to get out for at least 2, maybe 3 long sessions before I leave here. As I speak, however, the heavens have opened and it is teeming with rain. Doesn’t help my motivation at all, although Hubby has reminded me that we may very well have this kind of weather when we are doing the TW, so I need to just get out there and do it anyway
I also need to seriously start looking at my training with regards to the GC Marathon. For those of you who are not aware, (probably most of you as I haven’t really made it public knowledge) I am going to enter the GC Marathon this year. I will need as much help and motivation as possible and will be leaning on Michelle for all her knowledge and experience. Any help and guidance from all you hard core Marathoners out there is also very welcome.
What I need is a training plan that fits in with my working life and home life. It needs to be simple and doable, and also understandable (some of the training plans that I’ve read are just too intricate to even consider). Once I’ve got something down on paper I shall endeavour to stick to it rigidly. I want to do this marathon well!!
Exercise: 8.6km Run - Guildford (7’s Blue)
After a very slack morning (I didn’t get out of bed until 1pm) Hubby cajouled me into putting my running gear on and doing a run while he took Alana to the park. I’m so glad he talked me into it.
It was a very slow run, but it was consistent and I only stopped at the 3.5km and 7km mark to stretch as my right calf was a bit tight.
I couldn’t believe how quickly I got cold once I’d finished running. It must have been literally within 5 minutes of stopping that I was already starting to shiver. Hubby being the gentleman that he is, very graciously gave me his coat, which was very warm, but was not the best look as it made me look like the michelin man
This was Alana and I at Melbourne Airport about to fly out.
And this was Alana at Dubai Airport trying to catch some sleep. She must have been so tired to be able to sleep in this position as the chairs were so uncomfortable.
CHAMPAGNE Rhubarb Yoghurt…….Yummo!
The christmas decorations over here looked really great in some of the shopping centres that we visited.
And check out the window display in a kids clothes shop….amazing!!
And then there was the fog. This photo was taken around 2.30pm and it had been foggy all day!!
Now, about the shoe shop that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. This was the one where I got the 3rd degree because I took a photo
Then there was the ice on the lake
It looks like we will be sending a big box of stuff back to Oz via Seamail
We went to Brighton yesterday.
For anyone who hasn’t been to Brighton, it’s on the coast so there is a beach - a PEBBLE beach
It also has a very big pier which has loads of amusements at the end.
And of course it’s freezing cold at this time of year
We also wandered up into the town, which has some fantastic shopping. There are tons of laneways that you can just wander around. No, I didn’t buy anything (phew). We did find this excellent lolly shop with a huge assortment of pick n mix lollies. Yes, we indulged But how can you go past Toffee Bon Bons, Dolly Mixture, Chewing Nuts and Bassetts Licorice Allsorts (okay there were also others that I can’t remember now).
And a bit of useless information - Everyone drives either a Mini or a BMW over here
These are all the running photos……..
This was me on my first morning, venturing out into the freezing cold for a run. Yes that is a very thick frost on the ground.
Christmas Day, and it was raining, so the wet weather gear came out Hubby reckons I look like a turtle with just my head popping out!!
The Boxing Day Run. This is me and my girlfriend Jules after the run, still holding on to our picolo bottles of Champers.
This was the hill that we had to run up right at the start of the race. Not a great photo as there were too many people and cars in the way, but it gets steeper as you go around the corner!
The shoes, after running through the mudbath!! And yes Stu, it did bring back memories of the Puffing Billy Race that Beki and I ran
Our New Years Day walk. Yes it was raining again!! This was taken next to the River Wey, which is a canal that runs for miles and miles. It has a towpath next to it so I may venture down that way for my long run soon as it goes for miles and miles!!
More photos to follow!
Well what can I say about Bournemouth??
It was absolutely freezing…nothing new there then
It was a really easy drive down there, although there was a huge tailback on the other side of the carriageway due to the police closing the motorway as they’d found a body on the side of the road
The hotel that we stayed at was old, although it had been renovated, and the room was very small as far as hotel rooms go. It was close to the beach though. We asked to change rooms after our first night due to it being right next to the old creaky lift and also below a room where the floors creaked and groaned and the people staying in said room were up and about at 6am and who moved constantly about their room for at least 2 hours
Shopping in Bournemouth is fantastic. We spent loads of time in Borders as they had this huge sale on. Also bought a new bag as mine has broken. I was lucky to get a gift voucher to Next for Xmas and was even luckier to find the perfect bag there too
Then we moved on to JJB Sports I now have a few more running tops, a new coolmax cap and some casual t-shirts and singlets to wear. Well what could I do when everything was 90% off
We headed down to the beach. OMG, the wind was absolutely bitter. In this photo I have 4 layers of clothing and my coat, hat, gloves and scarf. I still look cold don’t I!!
And check out these Surfers. I just couldn’t believe they were in the water. The word stupid comes to mind.
My new love……… These are the most amazing chocolates. There are 3 different types in the bag. The normal malteser, one that has a milky way type filling, and a third one that has a chewy toffee centre. I’ll be bringing loads of packets back with me
As you can tell I’ve now managed to get my photos onto a CD. Now that was an amazing act in itself. I managed to transfer them all onto a CD via Bluetooth at a camera outlet. It was just so technologically advanced. I was totally in awe of the process. And it only cost me £2 for the CD. Doesn’t take much to amuse me you know
Exercise: 9.6km Power Walk - Local Streets (7’s Blue)
Had a lovely New Years Eve at my girlfriend Helsy’s place. She is one of those fantastic hostesses who can cook up a storm and always has enough alcohol available to quench an army’s thirst
I did leave early though as I was almost falling asleep and another of Helsy’s friends was also leaving so I got a lift home with her. Note to self: Get Chili recipe from Helsy!!
Once home I proceeded to fall asleep within about 15 minutes which meant that I missed the new year totally. I also slept through the fireworks and noise. Hubby thought it would be funny though to record my snoring on my phone and then make it my new ringtone Hubby wants to put it on Youtube……yeah right!!
Today has been a very lazy one. We stayed in bed all day watching back to back episodes of MTV Cribs. Can you tell that I don’t have Sky at home
So once that had finished Hubby and I got ourselves dressed and out the door for a nice long walk. We wandered around loads of areas that we used to frequent when we lived here. Definitely a trip down memory lane!! Have taken a few photos, which as I keep saying, I will get sorted soon and upload!
Oh yeah, have just eaten some yoghurt, but not any old yoghurt. This one was Champagne Rubarb Yoghurt - love it
Happy new year everyone!
Exercise: 11km Run - Treadmill (8’s)
I was itching to do a run today so I got up fairly early and headed to the gym before it got too busy. My aim was actually to do 15km but after about 2 minutes on the treadmill I had to stop, go back into the changing room, put some tiger balm on my calves and then walk on the treadmill for 10 minutes before my calves actually felt as if they wern’t going to twang.
If I’d tried to keep going before putting the tiger balm on I’m sure that both my calves would have given me alot of grief, almost to the point where I may have done some real damage to them So a modified distance saw me chuck in the towel at 11km
More shopping today Alana had been given some christmas money and was dying to spend it so Hubby dropped us off in Guildford and we wandered around the (very crowded) shops. Guildford is one of those really old quaint towns that has a cobbled high street. I’ll take a photo next time I’m there (and I’m sure there will be more shopping done there before I leave the UK )
Hubby and I have booked a couple of nights down in Bournemouth after New Years. I’m just hoping that it’s not going to be too cold, although I’ve just heard that there’s another cold front arriving by the weekend. No snow though
I hope all you lot in Oz have had a fantastic New Years Eve and you managed to stay cool. I’m about to head out to my girlfriends place for a fun filled evening of drinking and eating (she’s a fantastic cook).
Looks like a long walk is on the cards tomorrow to work off all this indulgence
