Another Christmas bites the dust

Christmas has been and gone, and thank God for that. I hate Christmas. I hate the blatant over commercialism, the expectations, the expense, the nonsense and the BS that comes with it. Fotunately for me, I live 2400km away from the family drama in NZ and don't have to go anywhere or do anything for Christmas. Well, except enjoy Christmas lunch at the local RSL with the neighbours, come home, fall asleep on the sofa and get up and go to the gym to burn it off.

A lot has changed in the past few weeks so here's a major update:

• I'm shadow teaching Zumba classes to get experience.
• I've changed jobs. I'm now running a gym and have about 14 staff reporting to me. Not bad for someone who's apparently too stupid to be taught how to do a bit of admin which I'd already taught myself and have vast experience in doing! It's further from home but easier to get to.
• I've finally figured out that workcover owes me money for travelling to and from physio and the surgeon, so I've put in a claim.
• I'm now doing some corporate health check consulting work on Thursdays which pays well but I have to pay tax on the earnings, less expenses of course.
• I've reached sales leadership with Avon but it's really time consuming and I'm getting over it. It's too much work for so little reward.
• I'll be an Independent Intimo Consultant as of January. It's less time consuming, way more rewarding and much better commission.
• I'm going to do more Zumba instructor trainings in 2012.
• I'm going to FILEX as event crew - work half, get the other half free - and I get to go to Beto's master class!
• I'm going blonde.
• I've been to Ballarat and Geelong this month and will be back to both in Jan for the corporate health consulting work. Geelong continues to grow on me, Ballarat not so much.

The shoulder is still munted and I still can't swim properly. I think I'm about 10% impaired. The impingement is still impinged, the movement is still limited and it still gets grumpy. I'm still having physio twice a week - mobilisation, acupuncture and soft tissue therapy. I'm still very frustrated with the situation and considering legal action for damages as I've lost thousands of dollars in race entry fees and coaching and in having to pull out of races.

Aside from all this, not much else is happening. I'm trying to get into a bit of a routine so I can get my exercise back into a routine but it hasn't been going smoothly. Stupid Christmas, stupid New Year. That said, I'm heading to the gym shortly for a workout because I feel all fat and horrible. Now that I'm not on public transport, the incidental exercise is diminishing and I'm getting complacent.

I need to make time for myself to exercise and I will make time for myself to exercise because if I'm not running at 100% nothing else in my life will either.  I'm not eating too badly, it's just about getting organised, getting a routine going and sticking to it.

So without further ado, I'm off to smash myself.

Frozen Berry-Granola Squares

Frozen Berry-Granola Squares

Seared Chicken with Maple glaze

Seared Chicken with Maple glaze Yum!

heads, shoulders, knees and toes..

Yes, it has been a little while since my last post. I had my Dad over from NZ for ten days, was meant to go to NZ myself but got ash clouded, I've had a sinus infection for three weeks, my shoulder is still bung, I've been working crazy hours and I'm now doing some direct sales to make up for all the free time left from not doing any Ironman training!

Yep, been a bit busy.

Okay, shoulder update time.

Shoulder:

Still bung. Have been off for cortisone shot and ultrasound. Shoulder has not one but two tears - a 2.5cm partial in my supraspinatus at the anterior and mid articular fibres, and a 3mm wide full-thickness tear component of the mid fibres with a grumpy bursa and associated pain, suffering and bursitis.

Waiting for MRI report and surgeon visit.

Shizzle.

Hell in a handcart

A few things have happened since June, most of them were less than ideal. But it's not all bad news - some great stuff has happened too. So, let's get the bad stuff out of the way first.

I've had to pull out of both Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon and Ironman NZ. I've had an ultrasound on my shoulder at the end of June which found two tears in my supraspinatus, one MAJOR and one a little less significant. At the same time, a doctor injected some cortisone which flared for two days and since has settled the aching and most of the pain first thing in the morning.

Since that needle episode, I've seen a shoulder specialist and was told I need an MRI to help him assess the extent of the damage and then surgery to reattach my supraspinatus back to the head of my humerus with plastic anchors - and that with 4-6 weeks in a sling and then 4-6 months before I can swim properly, it is curtains for Ironman NZ next year.

I was gutted. I immediately declared three days of mourning, which turned into seven. I cried, I was angry, I tried bargaining and denial, then I just accepted the fact that I can't do my dream race in March, the one I've been training for, oh well, HOW LONG, yeah, only for THE LAST TWO BLOODY YEARS!!!!!

I've spent a huge amount of time, money, blood, sweat and tears on getting to IMNZ 2012 and sadly someone decided to close the road to glory. I'm still angry - that may not change for a while, but I'm being constructive and doing constructive things about it like smashing the few weights I can still do with my upper body like theraband curls and rows and pulldowns. I haven't been able to walk for the past two days, BTW :-)

So now for the good news.

I'm off to do Zumba Basic 1 Instructor training on 19 August. I finally had the opportunity to do it, and so I'm doing it. A friend bought me new dance sneakers for a birthday present, and I can now fit into all the pretty dance pants I bought in Sydney in 2009. Woohoo!  I have to get strapped up and not do anything overhead with the bad arm/shoulder but that's okay.

I'm moving house next Friday to the unit right next door to my current one. It's $50 a week cheaper and has brand new paint and if the carpet guy ever turns up today, it will have brand new carpet too. Score!

What else...?

I'm going to teach Zumba to make some extra money, which was going to pay for my dirty Triathlon habit but now it's to help pay the bills while I'm off after surgery and to replace the time I was spending doing my tri training. Clearly there's no need for four hour bike rides when your surgeon has banned you from your bike, so I needed a gap filler.

Between the few hours a week of training and work, I'm doing okay - it's starting to take my mind off the fact that the next 9 months are going to be really, really challenging. My attitude is better than a week ago and although I cried when I emailed the IMNZ race office to withdraw, I found out yesterday that there's going to be an Ironman in Melbourne from 2012! Yay! Maybe I can do 2013 or 2014...and I don't have to necessarily go to NZ to do my first race. I will still do NZ, it may still be my first one but we'll see.

So, if you want a personal trainer, want a Zumba class near you or want a new weights program, give me a yell!

17.7kg to go!

Seven is my favourite number, and this week I hit a big milestone on the scales. I've now dumped something like 15.8kg since December last year and over 25kg in total since moving to Aussie. Now that's exciting! I've only got 17.7kg to go to my original goal weight of 70kg, and to be honest, I'm thinking I could go a wee bit lower.  I dunno, I'll see how I look and feel in 7.7kg time and then make a decision.

What I'm trying to avoid is looking as skeletal as when WW set my goal weight at 62kg about ten years ago. On my frame, that means virtually no muscle - not ideal when you're a triathlete and personal trainer. I don't want to lose my muscle, I've spent the past two years acquiring it and I've worked bloody hard to get it! I can definitely be leaner - although size 16 stuff is starting to hang off me, and that's because of all the tri training (biking specifically) and general running around I do all day and half the night now. 

Because I work four nights a week, I'm running around or standing when I used to sit on my fat white butt on the sofa, in front of the TV. It's hard to stuff junk down your own throat when you have awesome clients to train, work in a gym and don't get dinner breaks on the shorter shifts. I'm eating the bulk of my fuel for the day before 1pm, which means that I have plenty of time to burn it off. 

And, I don't eat junk anymore. Sure, I'll have my fortnightly fix of Lindt Milk Balls (I buy the three pack on payday and that's IT for the next two weeks), and very occaisionally I'll have a Kebab (which I bring home, microwave the meat to get the fat out of it, never have fatty sauces on, and have them hold the cheese so I can add my own low-fat cheese when I get home). Heck, it's about substitution. Why eat one bought something with a billion calories and ten billion grams of fat, when you could make it yourself and have possibly a bigger serving with half the fat and calories?

And on the subject of calling this exercise "weight loss" - I don't like the connotation of saying I've "lost" x kg. I have no intention of ever finding it again, so I'm going with "dropped" or "dumped" or "dropkicked". I don't want to go back out looking for that flab! I don't want it to find me either. I'm hardly going to go and file a missing person's report for 25kg - it's never coming back!

In other news, my shoulder is still causing me major issues. My physio told me on Friday that she wants to send me off to a sports doc for cortisone injections, and that I'll be lucky to do Yeppoon. Far out. I've had a chat with my coach and the best option we can come up with is to go find a good sports doc and get a second opinion on what they think is wrong and what events they think I can do. Until then, I'm back on dry land. 

Boo hiss.

Bodythin percentage

I've had a huge incineration of bodyfat this week. I've dropped 1.5%! All this cycling and mag training has definitely made a huge dent in the vat of fat. Plenty more of the same should produce similar results - obviously it will all be at a higher intensity going forward, but I'm looking forward to more of the downward shift away from fatness!

The next couple of weeks will be very stressful. By the 10th of June I'll have worked 17 days straight without a day off as I've picked up a Tuesday long shift in membership sales with a view to dropping that nasty Friday morning! I just can't train when I'm that tired, it doesn't work!

My Dad is coming to stay for ten days from the 8th of June, sharing my poky little one bedroom unit. I haven't shared a house with anyone for that long in about ten years, and let's face it, it is going to be challenging. My kitchen is barely big enough to swing a cat's whisker in, let alone the whole cat. My bedroom is just big enough for a double bed and not much else. I'll be on a mattress in the lounge, sleeping next to my mag trainer. Hopefully my boss will still be able to lend me said mattress, or it's going to be airbed city.

On top of this, I'm training about 14-16 hours a week and I just found out today while on the mag trainer that the property manager wants to do an inspection next Monday. Yeah thanks, universe, just what I need on top of being a struggling person, amateur triathlete and busy personal trainer! As if I don't have enough to stress about. The housework had to be done anyway, but with Dad and the property manager coming it has to be extra super duper spotless but lived in.

I've just climbed out of the pool after another 200m of pain. I nearly did the last 100m non-stop, just to see what my shoulder would do (aside from bitching and moaning that is) but it wouldn't cooperate more than 50m and then only breaststroke. It seems to be getting slightly easier to swim and less painful which is good but it still hurts like hell. Hopefully after physio this week I'll be able to increase the distance maybe to 250m or even 300m. 

The shoulder continues to bitch and moan very loudly for a couple of hours after swimming, and it whines something chronic first thing in the morning. I think it's the cold, or the fact that I am sleeping on it a bit more. I have to - I'm a side sleeper, and sleeping on just one side isn't my idea of fun when there are two sides available. I'm trying to sleep kinda rolled back on that side so that I'm not crushing it but it doesn't really seem to make much difference. I refuse to sleep on my back and can't sleep on my front. So, I wait until I'm literally about to black out from tiredness and then go to bed.

I've done two training sessions already today - a hard hour on the mag trainer and then the 200 in the pool. Tomorrow it's a 2.5hr bike, Wednesday a run and maybe a tiny swim, Thursday a 1.5hr hard mag trainer session, Friday a 3hr bike, Sat a run, and Sun ride to and from work with a run off the bike. And then my training week starts all over again!

Right, off to work time so have a great day y'all.

Cold snaps and Km

The weather has been a bit daft for the past couple of weeks. On Sunday it was really warm, like "one jacket and no thermal top on under your shirt" warm. Last week was cold but slightly warmer than the week before. Today we've been hit by another cold snap, with bitey cold winds and big surf with showers and cold temps. I'm going to go for a run in the morning, so I can have a giggle at the surf and the waves crashing over the sea wall!

This is certainly not ideal riding weather - but I took a HTFU pill this morning and headed out anyway. I was wrapped up warm, my phone was inside two ziplock plastic bags, and I had money and my myki in case I needed anything! I figured if I got wet and blown around it would be just like riding in Auckland, and would be just like riding IMNZ this year! 

I took the train (well, trains) up to Hoppers and decided to ride the Federation trail back to Brooklyn, then ride on to physio, and then ride home. I figured it would be about two hours, but when I factored in the wind and the getting lost parts it was closer to three. I'm not sure where I went wrong - I followed the trail but apparently lost it somewhere. 

Next time I'll ride it in reverse, so I can get a clue as to where I went wrong! I was about 3km from Hoppers station before I think I lost the plot, but it could have been when I had to try and find another way across Old Geelong Road when I found the underpass was about two feet underwater!

I'd taken gels, an up and go energise, a small packed lunch and electrolytes with me, but it was so damn cold and windy that I forgot to do anything except drink. I had the up and go when I finally got to physio, slightly late. I stopped for five minutes on the way home to eat my chicken wrap and then came home for carbs - baked potato, a bowl of cereal with yogurt and milk, and a protein shake. 

It was after 4pm by the time I got home and I had to be at the club by 6pm for the weekly mag trainer session so I ate and went for a walk around the village. I came home, filled my bike bottles, got changed, watched a quick bit of TV and hit the club. The mag trainer session was harder than last week - 2mins solid race pace, 2mins tempo and then 1min flat out, followed by 2.5mins easy spin. We repeated this about four or five times, then hit the one legged cycling drills. I remembered to loll about on the floor and stretch but have just realised that I've forgotten my quads and calves!

Yesterday I tried to swim, being 0.25 of a 25m length. I forgot my cap but was in so much pain that I teared up my goggles. Epic Fail. Goodbye ironman.

Off to bed - well, off to stretch and then bed. More later - it's a big week and I'm tired and extremely sore after about 2hrs of riding today!

Where's your head at?

Since my tumble off the treadmill last month, I've honestly not felt like training most days. It hurts like hell no matter what I do, being injured is tiring in itself, and there was a small case of bung shoulder, major bruising and a festy knee. I've been banned from swimming for the past few weeks, I could barely walk for two weeks, I didn't have enough flexion in my left knee to bike for a week or so, and my shoulder still frigging hurts. 

I re-read some old blog posts and noticed a disturbing pattern. Whenever I get injured, I lose the plot. It takes a while to get the plot back - and for me to really want to train again. Identifying this is good, because I can talk it over with head coach and the whipper snapper, to find some solutions to my silly pattern around being injured and then the resultant slacking.

I really need to HTFU and get on with it. I really want to do NZ - it's been a dream for years. I currently only half want to do Yeppoon, which is worrying. It's a C race, which is probably accounting for half the state of mind around wanting to pull the pin on it. I'm not overly emotionally invested in this race, but  I have been telling all my PT clients and new gym members that I'm doing Yeppoon, I've bought airfares and entered the race, I've been training for months, I've jacked up a cheap cabin to share with another athlete in my squad, I've booked time off work, I'm refusing to sell my bike pod even though I need the money...get the picture?

The other half of this stupid state I think I can put down to fear - of failure, of success, of jellyfish, of rain, of crashing off the bike, of bonking and not finishing, of the pain after the race, of injury, of finishing, of not making the cut-off times, of not getting an official time, of my cleats and pedals, of aerobars, of my shoulder letting me down on race day, of my knees letting me down on race day, of my tailbone letting me down on race day, of me letting me down on race day, of my bike being left on a tarmac somewhere - the list goes on!

Many of these fears I can do something about - e.g. wearing my wetsuit to ward off jellies, training hard so that I can finish the race, doing time trials to make sure I can meet the cut off times, practising my clip in and de-cleat, doing my physio exercises, practising my nutrition, spending more time in the saddle, getting better knicks so my butt doesn't get so cranky, my shitty attitude right now, etc. 

Things I can't do anything about:

Rain, post-race pain, crashing on the bike course, the airline screwing with transporting my bike, jellyfish presence, race day conditions that are outside my control, etc.

I've been working like crazy for the past couple of weeks, picking up every extra hour / PT client / shift I can get my hands on. I've done mystery shopping, attended market research focus groups, cashed in airpoints for vouchers, and drunk instant coffee instead of espresso. I've not bought any magazines this month, I've not had a meal out and I've hardly left the house except for work and runs and bike rides. 

I'm also about to start a couple of direct selling opportunities, to try and get some eggs out of the fitness basket and into other baskets! I should also find a couple of dogs to walk for a nominal fee, or some pamphlets to deliver, or something to encourage me to do more foot km! I did walk/run from work to Southern Cross today, the long way, which was about 6km.

Why all this fiscal craziness? Because money is tight and my savings have finally run out. I've come to the realisation that my reality cheque has been cashed and it's time to knuckle down. I'm not earning megabucks anymore, and if I take a day off now I don't get paid for it. The cat refuses to get a job and I'll be damned if I'm getting a second job this side of Yeppoon. If I do, I'll have less time to train. It's bad enough that I have to go to NZ for three days and not get paid for the time off. That following fortnight is going to be VERY lean!

So my best hope is doing more PT off shift, and more evening work so that I still have at least half the day left to train during the week. I need to start building up reserves for the NZ trip, for Yeppoon and for Taupo. I've got a a few things to buy this side of Yeppoon (new cleats and pedals, aeros, etc).

Time to sleep - another day tomorrow and I'm meeting the whipper snapper for a ride at 9am.

Training, pain and freezing cold

Yesterday I did the whole three-hour shebang on the bike. I was meant to ride in the morning, but slept in and by the time I had breakfast, did the dishes, tidied the house, did the washing, ate lunch and got my bike off the mag trainer, it was 3pm. Day off? Pah!

I headed over towards Williamstown, on the shared bike/foot paths. It was great - a really nice ride with nice scenery. It wasn't too easy or too hard, with a serious headwind on the way back. I had to stop in Willy and get my tyres pumped up, because I rode all the way over with a low back tyre! No wonder it felt hard and was pretty slow. It was also kinda bouncy going over bumps!

Here's some scenery:

Sunset, looking back towards the city from just past Cresser Reserve 

The path around Willy Beach was concrete tiles, with constant bumps - I suspect between this, riding over bluestone pavers and being in the saddle for hours; it mimics the road surface around Yeppoon. I'm from NZ, so I'm used to nasty volcanic chip roads - but apparently Yeppoon gives even that a run for it's money. Should make for an interesting 90km or so I think. I need to map out yesterday's ride and see how far I went.

Aussie Pukekos - not sure what they're called over here.

I got my two hours done, with three laps of the old Williamstown racecourse included. I chased a guy on a mountain bike for a while, which helped me forget that my saddle was sore (LOL). I got home, had some crackers and a cup of soup, got changed and headed to the club for the mag trainer session my coach wanted me to do. 

After some technical issues with trainer skewers not locking and my bike (and me) falling off the mag trainer (not my fault!) I did half the session before my quads packed up with lactic acid burning a hole in my legs. Not fun! I tried to take on fluids and a gel and pedal at about 80 with no gear, but it was agonising. Next week, I'll do the morning ride early as, then go do the washing and cleaning, then do the mag trainer after a nap!  I think it was too much too close together yesterday.

I also tried my first Kakadu plum marinated skippy steak yesterday. I didn't think very much of it - not sure what I was expecting, but it just didn't rock my world. The cat ended up with the rest, which she threw around outside for a while before turning her nose up at it. Clearly it didn't rock her world either.

The shoulder has been good for the past few days, but was aching like mad yesterday on the bike. I did some triceps work, TRX incline rows, rotator cuff exercises and such like on Friday, and by Saturday my shoulder felt good. I think the TRX rows loosened up my pecs and traps a bit, which is always handy, but my delts hurt today along with my traps. I'll do some more upper body stuff today before work, to get it all moving again.  I'll try and get back in the pool next week, and will continue with the cuff exercises. Hopefully I can start swimming again properly, and soon!

It's really cold here at the moment. Apparently some nasty weather system has blown off Antarctica and hit us head on. It's definitely two-jacket weather, and I'm wearing two long sleeve tops, a hoodie, two beanies (one icebreaker double layer reversible merino skullcap and one lambswool), bed socks and slippers with my compression tights and trackies - and I could probably do with a blankie over my legs! We had the coldest overnight May temperature in three years this week, and guess what Kiwis, it's coming your way, so don't laugh at me just yet!

Time for a boiling hot shower and some lunch, then a nice three-train journey to work (thanks Metro Trains, I love wasting half a day getting to work on three trains because you can't run a piss up in a brewery).

Ciao.

Easter, gains and losses

I finally had a gain last week. 300g! I know where it came from too, so here's the whole sordid story:

After a week of not wanting to swim because my shoulder was incredibly sore and my knee all festy and gross from my treadmill tumble at work, I tried to swim last week. Epic FAIL. My shoulder was complaining the whole time, and after a plunge, spa and hot shower it was almost locked up. I rang my coach in tears - Yeppoon is less than four months away and I was totally freaking out.

Coach told me to hang up, ring the club-affiliated physio, get an appointment and we'd go from there. I went in the next day and saw Jacqui, who banned me from swimming for at least two weeks, and told me I'd probably need 4-6 weeks of physio - and that she suspected I had a SLAP tear (basically a cartillage tear in the shoulder joint, of the cartillage that cushions the ball and socket joint. If physio doesn't sort it, I have to go see a surgeon and get a scan!  Crikey!

I'm also banned from demonstrating press ups, lifting my arm overhead with weight, shrugs with weight, flyes, dips, pull ups, shoulder presses and anything else involving overhead movements or lifts from the shoulder with weight. Basically, if I have to demonstrate anything, it is to be one-armed or with no weight. Oh joy...!

My trigger points are all grumpy and my traps are really peeved. I've had headaches after treatment because of the referred pain and spasm messing with my traps insertion so my skull is also cranky. My neck is all cracky, and my traps won't budge. I've been icing my shoulder, heat packing my neck and traps, doing my theraband rotator cuff exercises and generally feeling sorry for myself and worrying about Yeppoon.

The weight gain came from eating like an athlete, but forgetting I wasn't training like one. I also had a dark Lindt bunny which sent me on a sugar high and then a severe sugar crash. Cleaning the house with one arm really wore me out and I ended up with a six-hour nap. Oops. I've been craving carbs for the past week, and now it seems I'm craving protein. I got on the scales on Sunday and BAM! There it was - a 300g gain!

I do have to say though, it's taken 5 months to experience a gain. I just ate too much and did too little exercise. It's not rocket science, I don't need to go back through my nutrition diary - mostly because I didn't fill it out after about Tuesday of last week - I just need to track all my nutrition, do more exercise and do less Easter eggs!

I get in this funk everytime I get injured. I start feeling sorry for myself, lose the plot slightly and eat a bit more. Of course, I'm not exercising as much so it sits still. Frankly I'm impressed it was only 300g, although in real terms it was probably more like 600g as I should have lost about 300g instead. Ah well...I know what to do to fix it and I just have to get out and do it!

With my not being able to swim, it's all about biking and running now. Last night my train was severely late on the way home and I was cold and tired so I decided to run home from the station, because I can. This morning I'm off to the laundromat so it's time for my laundry run - half my run on the way there, half my run on the way back, while pulling a market trolley weighing about 12kg with my good arm. I can be found most Tuesdays doing the laundry run when it's not persisting down with rain.

I've also worked the last seven days straight and today is my first day off. I'm going to run and mag train today, and do today's program on Thursday. I have to get the washing done and there's a few errands to take care of. Thursday I'm going to ride over to physio, and then ride home the long way. I've got a staff meeting at 4pm and a PT client at 6.30pm so in between I will get on the spin bike. I should be home by 8pm so will do some more mag trainer then. 

The schedule is a bit screwy right now as I'm trying to pick up extra shifts wherever possible. Two trainers are leaving at the end of this month and a third is going on holiday for 12 weeks, so I'll be busy from the end of this month with PT. That will be good - lots of experience and lots of clients plus a decent wage again...yay!

Anyway, gotta bail and go do the washing.

Whipper Snapper and Snapper Whipper

In the past week or so I've been off the boil with my training. My knee finally fought off the infection and dried up, so I've been able to get back on my bike for the past couple of days. My shoulder is still grumpy with me, despite a massage yesterday from Joy the seriously serious Chinese accupressure specialist with pointy elbows; my right hip bruise is still all bruisey, and my right knee still more crunchy than a bag of rice bubbles. Awesome. I was ordered to avoid the water until my knee dried up and dropped off - so hopefully I'll be back into it this week.

I'm working about seven days straight this coming week, as several of the other trainers has a boxing course to go to next Sunday which I can't go to for fiscal reasons. Yes, Sunday is normally a work day for me, but I'd been rostered off this one time due to working through Easter. To be honest, I need the dosh (incoming quarterly power bill, need to change my Yeppoon flights and have a pair of K-Swiss shoes on hold) so I'm happy to hit it seven days straight once in a while! 

The only early start is Friday morning (as per normal, opening the gym at 6am) so I'm probably going to get the share car on Thursday night after my shift, drive it home, and be back for my shift bright and squirly on Friday morning. I can probably get about 1hr of extra sleep that way and I need it! Plus, I can cart all the stuff I need to take for training in without lugging it for at least part of the journey. Thank god for small mercies.

I've now been car-less for almost a year and to be honest, most of the time I don't miss it. Living 800m from the tri club means I don't have to drive to races. I don't have huge insurance or rego bills, no petrol price worries, no breakdown worries and no blowing up on the side of the road on Xmas eve worries! I can get pretty much everywhere on a train, tram or bus (or combination of these), and if I'm really desperate there's the share car - or a taxi.

The whipper snapper has been on my case about training for the past few days and is starting to bug me about my weight loss. I've been set a challenge to lose 5kg by the end of May - I don't want to drop it too fast because it makes Hannibal the gallstone angry. If I can get to  that 5kg goal by the end of May I'll be stoked, but I'm not going to go crazy trying to do that. It would be nice - I'm pretty sure Dad won't recognise me in June with so many kilograms of fat gone already - but it will happen when it happens. 

It's a bit rich having some whipper snapper 20 year old who's never had any bodyfat or a past history of emotional eating or GF or knee recons or fallen off a treadmill at high speed or a bloody gallstone tell you all kinds of stuff you're not trying to hear. I know what I'm doing - I know what makes Hannibal angry and to be honest, if I get to Yeppoon and Hannibal decides he needs to see the outside world on or around race day because I lost too much weight too fast, I'm going to be REALLY PEEVED!

And, as the resident snapper whipper, I need to tell you that I cannot face fish at all since that episode of crazy spinning room and power spewing a few weeks back. Can't, shant, won't - I'm not interested. The idea of eating fish makes me want to spew, and looking at it in the snaplock bags in my freezer also makes me want to have a long conversation with the big white telephone. I might try a piece of NZ snapper in NZ when I'm back at the end of June - we'll see. By then hopefully I can face it again. It was weeks after the chicken episode last year before I went near anything that clucked, so stay tuned.

Gotta go, very tired and sore from mag trainer session and need a shake and some zzz's!

It's a sin

I've been in Sydney since 9.40pm last night. I have to say, some of the shine has worn off after living in Melbourne. Sydney is fragmented, disorganised, chaotic and crazy. Melbourne is so well laid out with it's grid system, trams and defragged CBD. I think I made the right decision in terms of my first Australian city to live in - Melbourne will probably be my last too! Taxis here are white, which confuses me. But my favourite Thai place still makes awesome Satay and that makes me happy.

My knee is still sore and banged up - not that I expected miracles in 48 hours, but my shoulder at least is a hundred times better than yesterday. The bruise on my thigh is epic - it has lines through it from my compression tights that I wore to bed on Friday night, to try and keep the swelling down (or because they are a bit of a security blankie, not really sure which).  My shoulder hurts like hell and it's keeping me awake. I can't lift anything and I'm worried.

I can walk better today, which is fortunate because I have a tonne of walking to do. It's fitness expo day and there's a tonne of new products, new machines, new protein powders and new training gear to check out. There will be showbags and giveaways and samples to try, new things to play on; and guys with giant muscly bodies and tiny little heads to laugh at. Sorted! However, my knee is hot and swollen and all yucky.

When I got to the expo this morning, I found a stack of people with "personal trainer" on their name badges, all wandering around eating hash browns from Maccas for breakfast. I was like, hang on a sec - WTF? I just can't fathom why half these people are walking around eating crap in public. Seriously, at least do it behind closed doors or when you're not wearing a name badge!

If I see one more person (trainer or exhibitor) at the fitness and health expo eating Maccas, I'm going to incite physical violence. FFS, you're supposed to be setting an example, you tools! It's criminal behaviour! We all eat clean at work, it's a condition of our contract that we have to demonstrate a healthy lifestyle and be examples of that to our clients. 

So, what did I have for breakfast today? A skinny latte with one sugar, a glass of unsweetened freshly squeezed orange juice, a slice of mixed grain toast with vegemite, one weetbix with milk and no sugar, a cup of fruit salad and three tablespoons of natural unsweetened low fat yogurt. I think this beats the pants off a deep fried shredded processed pre-frozen "potato" that is swimming in fat, washed down with a huge frappucino covered in whipped cream. 

For lunch I had two grilled chicken satay sticks with sauce on the side (which I hardly touched), and approx one cup of rice. I then went and had two bottles of water and a small bag of salad mix from the supermarket. For an afternoon snack I've had a pear and a banana, and a glass of low fat chocolate milk. 

Some people may like being a hypocrite, but I don't - I believe that people in fitness jobs should practise what they preach, and that those who don't have no right to come bailing me up about my semi-sweetened yogurt if they drank two bottles of red wine last night. You're doing way more damage to your body with all the alcohol and sugar than I am with a half teaspoon of stevia!

And while I'm up on my high horse, I've lost 2% bodyfat this week, and another swag of weight at another 800g down. I've now lost 12.6kg since resuming the battle with my weight in August, with just 10.9 to go until I'm at my goal weight. Yippee! I'm past halfway and it's all downhill and downscales from here on in. Never mind what a certain television personality personal trainer may say about losing the last 5kg - apparently it's really hard and it can't be done without her book. Well, I say balls to that. If you go in thinking that losing the last 5kg will be hard, guess what - it will, because your brain says so!

Breaking news - my knee wound appears to be infected and my shoulder is still killing me, so I guess I'm off to the quack tomorrow if the betadine and silver elastoplasts don't sort it in the meantime :-(

Off to pack my swag from the expo into my suitcase, with any luck I can get it in the bag and not have to sacrifice too much of it!

I'm a real PT now

I've been hazed at work - not on purpose, mind you. I'm now a real personal trainer, given the accident I had at work yesterday. I've often said that you don't really work in a gym until you've fallen off a moving treadmill. Well, yesterday I fell on and fell off.

My hazing took place as I was moving around gym members, cleaning the treadmills. I cleaned about four, then went to clean a fifth one. I walked around to get on, carefully avoiding the member who was running at 10km/h next to me. I stepped up onto the deck as per normal, and the next thing I know, I was airborne - followed by a sickening bang and a whole lotta pain.

I hadn't noticed that the treadmill was still running because someone did a funky sidestep off it and left it at 8.5km/h. Ugh! I stepped up onto the belt, and my left knee hit the deck first. I instinctively put my hands out to stop myself but ended up flying off towards the concrete wall behind the treadmills. At some point I bashed up my right thigh, and I've pulled some stuff in my right shoulder and upper arm region (mostly my pec and delts, with a side of tri and traps), I felt a snap and a pop/bang in my shoulder. It wasn't pretty. 

My left knee looks like someone doing a horror movie makeup course has taken to it with gusto. Basically, I have skinned and bruised the living daylights out of it. Nasty! It's really painful and swollen and gross. I've iodined it like there's no tomorrow, hence why it looks all yellow and brown and stuff. Ick.

Thanks to my hazing, I'm not able to train for a few days. I thought I could still swim yesterday, but with waking up to find my buggered shoulder making life difficult, that's off the menu too. I'll have to settle for spa pooling it in Sydney if the knee clears up, and the odd bit of walking as I can tolerate it. Hannibal the gallstone has been a whiney little troll but at the moment with all the pain in the knee, leg and shoulder he's pretty quiet. I guess my pain response has been overtaken by the injuries. Ha, take that Hannibal!

In other news, I'm off to Sydney tomorrow night and to be honest, a little less excited about it now that I'm all banged up. I had aspirations for running around the harbour and swimming in a nice pool but sadly it looks like staring at the harbour from CQ and taking a nice leisurely spa instead.

Ah well...I can always come back when I don't look like I've done six rounds of Muay Thai against a brick wall...

Foxy!

I was meant to meet the whipper snapper for a ride this morning at 9am. We'd jacked it up yesterday, so I dutifully set three alarms for a god-awful hour, got up, made my porridge, filled my bidons, packed my fuel into my bento box, put on my knicks and tights over the top, found my bike sunnies, put my phone in a plastic bag and put my merino skullcap on under my helmet.

I was sitting on the couch putting on my shoes when I got a text from the whipper snapper telling me he was going to be a bit later because he'd just finished his swim. I sat on the couch and watched the weather channel (yep, I'm a nerd) and then I set off to meet the whipper snapper just after 9am. At 9.06am I had a missed call from him, so I called him back. Shep entries had just opened, according to a mate, and he was going to try and get enter then would ride over to meet me.

I told him I'd do laps of the Esplanade until he arrived, and after three laps I was over it and decided to go exploring. There's a shared path through Apex park over to Laverton or Point Cook, so I figured I'd just ride the paths and see where I ended up. After getting to the creek over by the softball centre, Whipper Snapper rang to cancel. I could tell he felt really bad about it, but I told him that Shep was important and he needed to stay and get an entry.

We had a good chat about training - my head is in a much better place after my realisations yesterday that I'm my biggest problem! The Ironman mind games had well and truly set in this past week, and fortunately I've been able to recognise them for what they are - and drop kick them out of the park before they get control of me.

I'm my biggest fan, my most loyal supporter, and my own worst enemy all at once. Self-doubt was setting in, my motivation was waning and my attitude was shit. Apologies for the naughty word, but it's the truth! My attitude was absolute shit. There's some mental things to overcome relating to cleats (being smashed off my bike in race 7, 2010 for example) and relating to injuries. I lose the plot when I'm injured, and it takes ages for the plot to gingerly knock first on the reinforced steel bomb shelter door of my mind, and then stick it's head around the door and ask if it can enter.

I received a card in the mail from my friend Annie, who is a life coach. It has a quote from Bruce Barton on it, which truly resonated at the moment:

“Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstances”

Back to basics

Today's update comes to you from the gym, as I have just survived my first express mat Pilates class in Aussie. I've decided to go at least twice a week, to get some more action in the core department. 

Why the core focus? Well, I need my core for swimming, riding and running. Riding especially, as my core will have to hold me in the aero position for several hours while I'm off half-ironman-ing or Ironman-ing. While running it will keep me upright which will help with my breathing, and while swimming well, if you don't know the reason perhaps you're reading the wrong blog!

I haven't done a lot of training for the past week because I've been sick with crippling stomach cramps. Hannibal the gallstone has been a pain in the guts and was so annoying yesterday that I decided to take some panadeine, and train my core today. Stuff you Hannibal, I'll make sure everything else around you hurts so I can't feel it when you start attacking. I'm also back on a mostly liquid diet for a couple of days to try and settle him back down. He doesn't like solid food. I'll give him what he wants for a couple of days and then BAM! It will be back to solids. Ha! 

This week I'm repeating last week's recovery/light week, on account of still feeling like crap. I haven't heard from my coach for a week and to be honest I'm not very pleased. I'm fairly sure I'm not paying six weeks in advance for deafening silence. If I hadn't called him last Monday, I'm pretty sure he would have been totally silent. Another pain in the guts. I think it's time to call head coach.

I'm going to Sydney this coming weekend for the Aussie Fitness and Health Expo, and to meet my one year old niece for the first time - and see my now four year old niece again. Very excited - I'm wondering how I'll feel about Sydney now that I've been living in Melbourne for nearly a year. I'm flying up Sat night after work and back Monday afternoon. Miss Sydney is being checked up on, let in/out and fed/watered by a friend, so no cat hotel stay is required. 

I've got a few things to organise (shuttle, transfers, train trip out to Blue Mountains to see the family), but I'll get to that tomorrow. I can use the gym in Sydney thanks to my reciprocal rights so Sunday will see me running, and Monday swimming as normal but in the morning. Saturday means a ride which I can do at the gym on a spin bike, as I'm basically going straight from work to the airport in the afternoon. I may have to leave some stuff at work but it's all good. 

On that note, it's time to swim - catch you all later.

Ask and you shall receive

I've been a bit stressed lately with too much going on. This past week saw very little in the training department - to the point where I am starting again this week with the recovery week scheduled for last week. I had to knock out my PT prac exam, book flights to NZ to meet up with my brother and sister in law at the end of June, kiss going to Port Mac for Ironman goodbye, and had two very early starts at work. Phew!

Because my stress level has been sky high for the past two weeks, I believe Hannibal the gallstone has been influenced by this and has been particularly annoying in the past week - attacking me with gusto. This coming week will see me doing some yoga classes and more training to try and combat all this cortisol that's pumping around my body.

I don't like it, I don't need it and like Hannibal, it can just get lost!

Annaliese the NZ Ironmaiden, Personal Trainer

Yes, you read correctly. I am now officially a qualified Personal Trainer in Australia. Oh YEAH!!!

So, what are my plans now?  Here's a few things I'll be working on over the next few months:

On the "Career" side of the see-saw:

• Building my client base at work. I love the gym I work in, our members are awesome and I will stay there to gain as much experience and knowledge as I can.
• Triathlon Coaching Level 1 - need to do the next course, hoping it won't be on at the same time as my Yeppoon race!
• Building a client base outside of work. I'm sure there's plenty of people around who need a PT and don't want to pay through the nose. My preference is training women, but I'll work with anyone who is ready to put in the hard yards to achieve their goals..
• I can increase my work hours to pick up PT, which will help with experience and funding my triathlon habit (LOL).

On the "Annaliese" side of the see-saw:

• Obviously my Ironman training, which is fast becoming bigger than Ben Hur - my next big goal is the Yeppoon Half Ironman on August 14
• Shepparton Half or Taupo Half  - will have to be one or the other, I can't do both as they are only four weeks apart, so it will probably be Shep and not Taupo but we'll see how it goes.
• Ironman NZ 2012!
• Cranking out the training with a side of harden up princess. 
• Now that I don't have to study, I can train more.
• Going to Auckland in late June to catch up with my brother and sister in law - three days is more than enough in THAT place. Ugh..*shudders*

Anyway, have just done a short run so now it's time for a pool session. 

See you all later!

The long and short of it

Today was d-day. Well, it was meant to be d-day. I rocked up at Uni expecting to get my PT prac exam all finished today, but instead only half was finished today. I get to go through more torture tomorrow. Oh joy! 

Well, tomorrow isn't really torture. It's presenting the program I still have to write for my client, and demonstrating / PT-ing four exercises. I think this should be the least nerve wracking part! Anyway, at 10am tomorrow I'm finishing my Cert IV. The great news is that I've passed the final 28-page theory assessment so no repeating required there. Phew! Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have completed my Cert IV, done my big swim, had some lunch and have two hours of work underway.

Thursday I'm working from 6-2. Yes, Thursday is normally one of my two days off, however between Easter (lose two days of work) and my trip to Sydney (lose another two days of work), I need to make up some hours and bank some money. I've also got a staff meeting at 4pm, then I get to come home in rush hour and do a MT bike session - providing I can stay awake. Friday I get to start at 6am again, so I guess I'll be tired for a couple of days! I think a couple of naps will be in order - and I may thrown in a couple of spin bike sessions just in case.

Today I did my walk/run session - on the way to and from the laundrette, with 6kg of washing in tow. I stopped in at Coles on the way home for a 3L bottle of milk and a bag of spuds (2kg), so I guess by the time I got home the load was about 11kg. I can't believe that having lost 11.4kg, I used to lug around that washing, sack of spuds and bottle of milk everywhere I went, everyday. Unbelievable! No wonder I was tired and grumpy - okay, yes, I am still tired and grumpy - but it's no longer from a lack of energy and fatness and laziness. Now it's from up to 14 hours of Ironman training a week, which I feel is a far more worthwhile cause!

I'm off to write this program and the justification for it so that I don't lose the plot tomorrow, so have a nice evening everyone :-)

Questions from the floor

I just came across this post on another blog that I read. Of course, I had to answer it!

Hey, I'm a college senior that runs a pretty good 10k and knows how to cycle well, but doesn't really have any formal swimming training/knowledge. I plan on doing triathalons next year, and I need either some good advice to begin with, or better yet a link to the best sites that have the correct info on long distance swimming.

Thanks in advance!

Here's my response:

Hi, 

I’d suggest that rather than watching internet videos, go find a pool that does adult swim lessons. Tell the teacher/coach that you will be doing triathlons and get them to teach you proper technique – i.e. good stroke technique, swimming efficiently, bilateral breathing, etc. They can help you work on your stroke, your fitness and your endurance. I went from swimming 25m to swimming 300m nonstop after about 8 lessons. 

I’d then combine this with swimming a couple of times a week on your own. Get the swim teacher to give you some drills to work on when you swim by yourself, you can even use them as a warm up. 

The best advice I can give you is what my coach told me – swimming poorly wastes a lot of energy, which you’ll need for the bike and the run. Don’t smash yourself in the water through poor technique – learn how to swim properly and then work on the distance! If your technique is poor, you won’t swim efficiently, you’ll waste energy, and you may injure yourself. 

Once you’ve got the technique side down pat, then you can work on long distance swimming. 

Have a few lessons and then look at finding a triathlon or masters swim squad to swim with – again, the coaching feedback is invaluable and can help correct any naughty habits you pick up while swimming by yourself. I’m a hand slapper from way back, and if you know what you do that’s not quite right, you can keep an eye on it when you swim by yourself. 

All the best – have fun!

Out of the foodwork

So, my head coach was right. I've been bailed up a few times in recent days - this time about my diet - by people who aren't qualified nutritionists. I've lost over 11kg since Christmas, and I eat pretty clean so why do people feel that they have the right to ram their opinions down my throat? I don't do it to them, so why should they do it to me? Diet is a personal choice, if I want their help or advice I will ask.

Some people think I eat too many carbs. Well, I'd hate to think how I'd get 580g of carbs from veges alone (of course potatoes don't count) - fifty thousand buckets of spinach at 1.4g of carbs per cup anyone? Last time I checked I was training 14 hours a week for a half ironman which is in just over four months. So, to keep you happy, I'll just make sure I have fifty buckets of spinach on my bike while I'm riding 90km, ten buckets of salad while I'm swimming 1.9km and a whole swag of carrot sticks while I'm running a half marathon.

Shyeah, right.

Someone had a crack at me about a yogurt. It's already high protein, low fat, low sugar...but apparently the yogurt is full of sweeteners and that's bad for me because it's 500 times sweeter than sugar. Okay, maybe it is - but it's one yogurt in a pottle that I grabbed at the supermarket because I wasn't organised enough that morning to spoon the non-sweetened yogurt out into a container (which I've run out of) to take to work. Sorry about that. But it's ONE yogurt!

I could be eating ice cream on my porridge (don't laugh, I know someone who does this - and they are over 120kg and miserable), or spooning mountains of brown sugar on it, or covering it in golden syrup, or eating coco pops/fruit loops/whatever. But no, let's not consider the fact that I am eating porridge - let's focus on the yogurt. Because there's nothing like making someone feel like shite about choosing one "bad" yogurt (out of an entire lifetime of food).

Jees, I don't need lectures from people who have no qualifications in nutrition. My diet is my diet, and it is NOT open for discussion.

Just back off and leave me alone.

My new response will be that I'm already paying a qualified nutritionist and dietician $65 every month for visits to analyse every bite of food and everything mouthful of liquid that goes in my mouth, and I don't need any further "guidance" on my diet, so thanks but no thanks! I know what I can and can't eat - I already have enough dietary issues to deal with (life-threatening allergies, intolerances and a gallstone to boot) - and it's going to get to the point where I'm just not going to talk to anyone about anything, or eat in public.

My diet is my diet, and my business, NOT YOURS!

Stress cadet

I've just handed in my final theory assignment, but had to sacrifice some training today to get it done. I figured one swim going MIA isn't going to hurt, but not finishing my PT certification will sting like hell! I am about to go for a one hour run, and I'm making sure I run around as much as possible at work tomorrow to make up for it. 

That theory assignment has been stressing me all week. It was NASTY! I had four case study clients to write programs for and then justify in great detail - 28 pages later, it has now been submitted for marking. I suspect it won't be marked today, and I'll get it back sometime Monday, hopefully with a "competent" grade. I really need to avoid a "not yet competent"- because my prac exam is on Tuesday and I don't need any more stress on Monday - particularly as I need to get back in the pool and work starts at 4pm! It's bad enough that I've got to re-watch a tonne of prac videos to prepare for Tuesday, let alone spend the whole day worrying about the grade on assessment ten.

I'm keeping this short and sweet, so that I can get this run done. It's a lovely day and perfect weather for running by the beach - not too much wind, not too hot, not too cold - and it's a northerly wind right now so the wind won't be blowing right off the water. Awesome.

Gotta go - more later this weekend.

Shout, shout, let it all out...

Time for a musical opening to this blog post. Here's some live Tears for Fears.

I'm a wee bit shouty today. I'm stressed about my PT exam next Tuesday, angry about the food poisoning which has stopped me training for the past three days, and downright grumpy about changes to the local loop of the train system which mean I won't be able to get to work on time on Fridays to open the gym once the timetable kicks in on May 8. GRRRRRRRR!!!!

I still have really bad intermittent stomach cramps and I'm all bloated and paunchy and feel like crap. I've hardly eaten since Saturday - yesterday I graduated to a bowl of noodles but it's pretty much just been chicken or pumpkin soup and rolls/bread for the past couple of days. I'm off my food - so we all know that means something's not right. Hannibal has been a little more grumpy than usual too. 

Fingers crossed I can get back in the pool tomorrow because I'm over this. I don't like sitting still. I'm not good at it, and I can't handle it. I may try and get on the MT later and do some bike, or maybe out on the road for a ride, but it all hinges on my guts. They're on the rampage and out for revenge, so I'll see how I feel. At least I don't want to sleep all day - which is great because I have a squillion things to do. 

I've just handed in one of the two remaining theory assessments for my PT qualification. I hope to finish the second today, then I can focus on flying through the practical next Tuesday morning. I still don't have a crash test smarty, so it looks like I'll be practising on someone I've never met before. Talk about a disadvantage (no clue what I'm in for) and advantage (on the spot analysis and programming) all at once! I have a backup plan Z, but she may not be able to help so hence why she's a plan Z. 

I just have to get through the next seven days. I will pass that practicum and finish my course next Tuesday. I will feel better and I will be back to training tomorrow. Right now, it's back to that assessment!

Talking on the big white telephone

I've spent over half of this weekend as sick as dog. Saturday after work my boss and I went to the fish shop near her house and I bought some Aussie snapper. It wasn't from my usual fish shop and I was a bit suspicious but bought it anyway because I desperately wanted my weekly fish supper and didn't want to wait another six days to get my NZ snapper from my reliable guy at Queen Vic Market.  

BIG mistake - I kept waking up overnight Saturday with the room spinning violently and then filling a bucket next to my bed...'nuff said there. I was cold, tired, weak, spewy and wanted to die. I had to sleep sitting bolt upright in bed, because if I lay down the room started to spin violently again. I tried taking on some water but it came back. By the time the alarm went off yesterday, I had stomach cramps, dehydration, a headache and wanted to die - but I hadn't spewed for a while!

I managed to get some tablets down to fix everything by about 6.30am yesterday, then some electrolytes, then went back to bed. I got a ride to work which was great, and spent the day not moving a lot. I managed to keep down a plain yogurt and a piece of toast, then moved on to more water and finally a weak single shot latte with plenty of milk in it, then another plain yogurt.  I still felt like death when I got home around 4pm so I went back to bed with a bottle of gatorade. I woke up in time for The Biggest Loser, had a cup of chicken noodle soup and another plain piece of toast, and went to bed early.

I woke up this morning still feeling yuck. I'm pretty weak and still have stomach cramps, but feel better than yesterday. The sorry part is that I missed my big ride yesterday and will miss my swim session today. I just can't do it, I have no energy and having had a chat to my coach, we should treat these as rest days and do low intensity stuff tomorrow as tolerated - hopefully I can do my long bike then, which is two hours at a steady pace without intervals and suchlike!

Oh yeah, and to top off the misery, the plumbers are back, uninvited, to muck around with installing bits for new individual water meters. So the house has been ringing with the sounds of power tools and hammers for two hours, and I have no water. Awesome.

As you can see, I don't do being sick. I hate it. It hates me.

On the plus side, after weighing myself yesterday morning at work, I'm down another 300g. So, I've now lost 11.2kg, with just 12.3kg to go. In 550g I'll be halfway to goal, yay! I'm getting excited and smaller - in fact, it must be nearly time to pull out the bag of size 14 clothes and try some stuff on. SO exciting!

Okay - time to get back to handing in that second-to-last theory assignment. I've got some Excel templating to do, so have fun and I'll catch you all later.

The Life of Riley

I'm in love with my new life, which includes triathlon and exercise and training and a great job and living what the life of Riley near a really nice beach. It's all sunshine and lemon drops around here. Well, mostly.

Okay, so my income has dropped by 66% (meh) and I can't always just jump on a bus/train/tram and go to some random location for the hell of it whenever I want like I used to on weekends, but that's not what is important now. Actually, I could - I just have to take my bike with me (but only on trains) and ride home. I've obtained a library book with some good looking rides in it, so I'll have to start investigating them on Tuesdays.

I'm currently working about 24 hours a week, on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. This leaves Tuesday and Thursday as my weekend, although I have most of Monday, Wednesday and Friday to do things to - i.e. training sessions! Saturday is a bit of a write-off as I start work at 12, but for the next couple of weeks it's 8am while I fill in for our food coach. Sunday is a weird one because I work 9-2. I have to leave home at 7.30am and don't get back home until about 4pm, which kills off most of the day. It's the end of daylight savings this weekend and I won't be able to ride after work on a Sunday anymore.

I think I need to ask my coach to move my long ride to Tuesday or Thursday, leaving Sunday as a day for something else. Things will also have to be re-jigged when I start full-time PT, as clients may want mornings as well as nights. I'm hoping some will want Sundays, as a few members have asked about Sunday PT recently. I need to make sure I can train clients, earn more money so I can pay for all my Ironman gear and get all my training in. 

I can do split days at work, so PT early morning, nap, train, maybe nap again, PT in the evening and then go home. I think I'll still try and have two weekdays off, and I don't want too many early mornings but if that's the way it goes, then that's the way it goes. I can swim anytime, but prefer late morning or early afternoon because the pool is quieter then. I suspect late evening may be okay too, I just haven't had a chance to check that theory out! Being an afternoon/night person, mornings really don't work too well for me. I need to make sure I can get enough sleep and refuel adequately.

Other than this, I'm down to my last two theory assignments for my PT cert and have booked my prac. Monday morning is for Study. I will be spending Tuesday this week riding, washing, studying and running, then studying again. Wednesday morning will be more study then swimming then work. Thursday will be run, study, ride, study. Friday will be work and more swimming and running and napping and then some study. Saturday work and study and run, Sunday work and ride and study.

At least I have a plan. Let's see how the execution goes - I'm off to cook some Aussie snapper for tea.

The feline Iron-orphan

My focus for the next 12 months is on Ironman New Zealand 2012. It has to be - this will be by far the biggest and most challenging test of my life. It is going to take planning with military precision, dedication, inspiration, perspiration, information, motivation, a good helping of madness and the support of my coaches to pull this one off.

I'm luckier than most people who do Ironman, in that I won't have an Iron-widower (as non-competing husbands of female Ironmen are known) moping about the house. Nor are there any Iron-orphans to worry about (yep, kids of the Ironman) - unless you count my siamese cat.

Here's my Iron-orphan, Miss Sydney the cat:

 

She's half Lilac-Point Siamese and half Russian-Blue. But she's definitely more Siamese than anything else: highly strung, vocal, in-your-face, half-dog half-baby, loud and has a very distinct personality.

The Iron-orphan followed me on my run tonight. I did my shift at work, then had a nap, did a spin class, did my swim, and came home for another nap. I woke up later than I wanted and decided to go for my run. The cat is notorious for following me at least halfway down the street, and a few weeks ago we walked to the vet for her appointment, with her on her harness and leash. Being of the Siamese persuasion, she's very dog-like and although she could do with a trip through puppy obedience college, she's generally pretty good at listening to things like **** off, get out, get down, no, Fancy Feast, etc. 

So, tonight she surprised me by following me for nearly 1km. I turn around and she's still following me, albeit 200m behind at least.  I can hear her yowl and it's driving me nuts so we run back home. I lock her in the house and continue my run. I can faintly hear jingling bells as I'm running towards the beach but decide I'm going mad and keep running. I stop at Coles on the way home to grab a couple of things and head for home. I get to the end of my street and here's madam Iron-orphan, sitting on a fence post, waiting for me. 

I shake my head in mock horror and we walk home. I discover she's figured out how to open the bathroom window (which only opens about three inches anyway because there's pipes and a carport obstructing it) and climbed out. Now that's clever.

She growls when people come to the door, she has to sleep between me and the door at all times, she stalks people from the window and right now she's playing with my shoelace. She wakes me up at all hours wanting to go outside, then as soon as I get back to sleep she's banging on the screen door, wanting to come back in. Yes, it's annoying. She gets called every name under the sun for that and guess what? She's always waiting for me when I get home and is always glad to see me. 

My poor Iron-orphan will be spending a bit of time in the cat hotel this year and next year, but it will be worth it. So will all the nights when tired mummy, grumpy mummy, sick mummy, exhausted mummy, busy mummy or sore mummy pushes her away because she's treating me like a jungle gym (and she weighs 4.8kg, so she's not light!). I don't feel quite so guilty because she's a cat, not a child, and I can stick her in a cat hotel if I have to.

So, fur child, thanks for the support. It's nice to have someone waiting for me when I get home from my run/ride/swim/training session/work/etc - even if you do think you're a dog, never have dinner ready, don't help around the house, and I had to duct tape that window shut!

Warning: Mind Games: Ass-holes ahead

Earlier today I had a great candid chat with my head coach. It went something along the lines of: there will be all kinds of nay-sayers, doubters, haters, players, wayne kerrs, envious clowns and ass-holes around, getting all up in your face about your Ironman journey from here on in, banging on about how you'll never do it (or just giving you the "You? An Ironman? Get Real fatty!" looks), so be ready for it - and "we've got your back no matter what".

Hell, I've had all these people in my face giving me their two cents worth and dumb looks for the past two years. My response is usually something along the lines of:

1. "here's 50 cents, go call someone who gives a damn"
2. "Whatever"
3. "why don't YOU get off YOUR ass and complete a triathlon, then come back and talk to me?"
4. "I already have a head coach, main coach, NLP practitioner, massage therapist, acupuncturist, physio, bike mechanic, swim coach, running coach, triathlon stores, supplement supplier, protein supplier, podiatrist, doctor, pharmacist, personal trainer and nutritionist, but thanks for the ideas (then I refer them to numbers 1, 2 and 3 above if they've really gotten all up in my face)"
5. "If I wanted to play mind games, I'd go see Eddy McGuire / my ex-boyfriend / the bitches who bullied me in high school / etc"
6. "Yes, I eat carbs. Guess what? They are converted to glycogen and used as a primary source of fuel by my muscles and help power my enormous brain. NOW GET LOST!"
7. "Hello Doubting Thomas - have you made another Jesus-like comeback from the dead?"

Basically, my line of thinking is as follows: If you don't like me, that's your problem, not mine. If you don't want to support me, that's just dandy. If you don't think I can finish Ironman, that's awesome - I'll happily prove you wrong in 346 days. But please bugger off and go tell someone who gives a damn, because I've got 346 days of training to go and I don't have time to listen to your crap!

I've always been a "If you double-cross me, I'll never speak to you again" person. I have no problem telling people to get lost. I don't need an entourage - never have, never will. Basically, I'm going to ignore anyone and everyone who tries to question my ability to do IMNZ. If you're not supporting me, you're against me - and you'll be de-friended / ex-communicated / etc. I know who my true friends and supporters are, and I have no time for doubters or haters. At the end of the day, the most important opinion in this equation is my own (followed by my coaches). 

I know I CAN do it. And that's all that matters. 

Pain is temporary, glory is forever...

Today I'm tired, sore and snuffly. I had a bit of a sore throat yesterday but it's gone today. I feel like I slept inside a vice last night, and want a nap. Things hurt that I didn't even know existed, and Hannibal is being a right little so and so. I'm stressed about my Uni practical that I've booked for the 5th of April and worried that I'll fail it. I'm worried that I won't have enough time to get all the theory stuff done and marked competent beforehand, and that I'll screw up the prac and have to repeat it.

Okay, mini spazz attack over.

In 347 days I'll be doing my first Ironman. That is something to spazz about, not semi-unfounded fears of failure. It will be the longest, hardest and most challenging day of my life so far. It's going to hurt, it's going to be tough and it's going to be a bloody long day. But it will so be worth it. I know I WILL finish within the specified 17-hours available, and I will finish with time to spare. I may not be fast, but I will finish, no matter what.

Everything I do now is all about IMNZ - never mind having a life, that's out the window. I now have to focus on what is ahead, with unfaltering effort and unwavering dedication. It's now all about sleeping, eating, training, recovering, racing, Jedi mind training and minimising distractions. No more parties, frivolity or too much fun. Spare time will be spent recovering or training. Spare money will be gone on nutrition, training, gear or races.  The only person who'll see me in the buff for the next year will be my sports masseuse, and that's only because of ongoing attempts to work the constant knots out of my muscles. 

I speak with my coach more than anyone else now, including my own dad. Time off is when I go to work or I'm asleep. I'm becoming stupid faster and more often from carb depletion, and falling asleep on the couch is my latest party trick. A ragey night out for me now is having dinner at Nandos, and the walk of shame is when I have to stop running and start walking because I'm out of breath or my legs have decided to kill me. I now get drunk on milk, high on caffeine gels and bombed on hot chocolates. I get excited about naps and cups of tea!

All this is temporary pain, unless of course I decide to do another Ironman after NZ next year. And, I probably will. I'd love to do Australia, Busso, Malaysia and of course Hawaii. I'd also love to do the Singapore 70.3 race. At least after the first one I'll have that under my belt, and the experience and race background that goes with it will be priceless. The glory from that first race will indeed last forever - no one ever forgets their first race, let alone their first Ironman!

This is what I'm living by - Not one day that you are here on this earth has been promised to you. So make the most of everyday as if it was your last, and every breath as if it was the same ~ Blindspott.

Bring the power.

Post-race stupidity syndrome (PRSS) is alive and well

PRSS set in on Tuesday last week, the day after my race. It hung around for days, and last night I went to bed at 9pm because I was tired and bored and over it! Actually I think PRSS should have hungry, tired and sore added to it - last week is a bit of a blur, because I was tired, stupid, hungry and sore. 

Hungry - my goodness, all I wanted was carbs, carbs and more carbs. I was probably tired because I needed and wanted carbs, and stupid because I'd used all my carbs and wasn't quite replacing them fast enough for my brain to keep up! I actually went a bit over the weekly allowance on the food side, because I didn't do quite as much training as the week before (it was a recovery week). I was hungry - not bored - hungry, and craving carbs. So, I fed myself plenty of carbs. I can no longer do post-race pizza thanks to Hannibal the gallstone, so it was post-race beef in oyster sauce on rice. I need to find something else to have post-race, because that wasn't exciting, it was just nutrition!

The good news though is that I've finally busted the 10kg barrier - in fact, I've lost 10.9kg since I started this nutrition plan back in early December. I still don't quite fit that new tri suit I got for Christmas but it won't be long. It just appears I'll be doing the duathlon season in it instead!  I'm now using the scales at work, as they are more accurate than my home ones and I can weigh in at the same time each week. 

Tired - I couldn't get enough sleep last week. It was nuts. I slept in and missed OW swim squad on Saturday morning. I had fallen asleep on the couch on Friday night and woke up at 2am. I figured I should probably go to bed and woke up at 8am! Mental note to self - sort out alarms!

Stupid - forgetting people's names, mixing up clients, forgetting how to do basic tasks...seriously, I'm going to have to watch it after Yeppoon, Shep and NZ. At least with NZ I'll be on a package tour so I won't have to think much, and all the major decisions are before the race!

Sore - DOMS set in on Wednesday. I was still feeling like I'd gone three rounds with Mike Tyson right up until yesterday. I'm a bit snuffly and gunked up today, but hopefully it's just hayfever or something like it. I am not sick, it's just probably all that sea water coming out!

I've decided this morning that work is a break from training. It's a nice practical awesome distraction between seemingly endless hours of training.  This week I've got about 12 hours to bash out, and the weather forecast is looking uncooperative with rain on the horizon. Oh joy - I'll be back to running in Asics to keep my Nike trainers dry for work. Work plus uni right now equals a fulltime job, so once I've got uni out of the way I can work more, train more and keep learning more!

As far as Uni goes, I just need to finish two more major theory assessments then do my practical assessment on the 5th or 7th of April and I'm all done - I'll finally be an Australian qualified Personal Trainer! I have already killed off the 20 hours of work experience, so no dramas there. Lucky I work in a gym, although apparently I can do some outdoors stuff also. OMG - so close! I can start training people before I go up to Sydney! Woohoo!

Right, better go do some study, have some lunch, bash out that 1700m in the pool and go to work!

Pulling the pin for the big picture

Okay - big news. I've had to pull the pin on the ITU race in Sydney in April! Entries for IMNZ 2012 opened about a month before I expected them to, and I couldn't pay for NZ and the expenses for Sydney - so one had to go. Given that I've been dreaming about IMNZ for three years and have so many friends who have finished and raved about it, and that Sydney was a "nice to do but not essential" race, it was a no-brainer.

Basically, I had three weeks to come up with about $1100 to pay for the race-related expenses for Sydney (food, accommodation, transfers, transport, new pedals and cleats, major bike service, cat hotel for the fur child, etc etc etc). It just wasn't possible, unless I wanted to give up my NZ dream. I chose correctly - entries for IMNZ 2012 sold out in 36 hours, and I was one of the first people to snap one up when they opened early Tuesday morning.  95% sold at 4pm NZ time on the 16th - and all gone late last night!

I lost half the entry fee for Sydney when I withdrew, but even getting 50% back is fine. I had to pay a little extra to change my flights to the following weekend so I can attend the Health & Fitness Expo in Sydney but given that it's work-related education, I can claim that trip as a tax deduction. I'm going up to Sydney straight after work on the Saturday night, and fly back Monday evening. That way I can still work Saturday, go to the expo Sunday, hopefully catch up with some friends and family Sunday night, and do some training on the Monday. I'm staying in a hostel, so my accommodation is cheap and it's centrally located so I can walk everywhere.

I'm bashing through my assessments today in between training sessions because I need this Cert IV completed. I have to come up with funds for a new bike and my expenses for Yeppoon by early June, and for NZ travel and accommodation fairly soon too.  I'll be doing crazy PT hours for quite some time, but it's a means to an end - and besides, I can sell my current bike at some point which will help! Maybe I could rent out my bike box as well?

So, that's the news. It's now all about IMNZ 2012, with Yeppoon and Shep being my C and B races. I'll do a few club ones over the next season and loads of training between now and then. I may even drag my NLP books out and re-do the worksheets!

Ciao.