White tails and sun rays

I fell asleep on the couch earlier, and woke to find a white tail spider centimetres from my head. Mother! Instead of screaming like a girl, I decided to flick it towards the front door. Possibly not such a great move, given that all my shoes are next to the front door, plus my bag, and my old lady shopping trolley. FAIL. 

We were meant to get to 41 degrees today but the hottest it got at home was 38.4. I was rather disappointed, but I did manage to get the washing dry in only 30 minutes. I still have two or three loads to do, but they will have to wait until Wednesday or Thursday. I'm out of bug deterrent spray, flea stuff for the cat, icy poles and probiotics - so I guess I'm hitting the supermarket, vet and chemist tomorrow morning, all before 9am. This house stuff never ends...I clearly need a housekeeper or house husband, because the cat certainly doesn't earn her keep.

I've received my first weekly training program from my coach. After a few phone calls of negotiations and re-negotiations, I think it's now do-able. There was a slight fail with a 90 min bike ride (haven't done a bike that long in a very, very long time) and a few 1.8km swim sessions (pretty sure I can't swim that far yet and if I could, I don't think I'd be needing coaching), but now that those and the hike to the coaching office for a WT session have been removed from the schedule, I am looking forward to starting tomorrow with a shorter swim of around 1km.

I'm planning on hitting the Fitzroy pool before work tomorrow. It's outdoors, 50m long and will make short work of the 1km session scheduled by the coach. Apparently they have live DJs there on weekends at the moment, but I think I can do without hot beats to go with my cool water. I sure as heck won't have that on race day, so why start now? Saturday will see me partaking in an open water session, christening my new wetsuit at 7am. Two trains and a bit of a walk later, I'll be there in time.

I have a nine-hour shift tomorrow, with four hours of training, four hours with clients and an hour of cleaning and hopefully a break in there somewhere. I've got seven back to back appointments booked, two with clients I trained yesterday and one with a new client that I met yesterday. If they all show up, time will fly like an F-16. If not, I can cover breaks and get some more e-learning knocked off. 

Tuesday will be another nine hours, all training again. Wednesday I'm back to five hours, Thursday I have a day off, Friday it's four hours from 6am, Saturday it's four hours in the afternoon and Sunday five hours from 9am. This, combined with no day off tri training at all, means it will be a bloody long week. By the time Thursday turns up, I will be looking forward to a day off, even if it's just from work.  

Friday appears to be basically a day off from tri training, with a 40 min brisk walk scheduled. I think I'll walk from work to the markets, which will take care of the walk and the need for meat, fish, fruit, veg and the like. Eating clean needs to be a priority, and I'm sure I can find some nice fresh snapper there which won't cost $8 for a tiny fillet.

I've got five months to come up with the rest of the money for my accommodation at Yeppoon and about the same period to scrape for a new triathlon bike. It can be done - I'm going to avoid the supermarket unless I desperately need something (e.g. cat food, because there's nothing else on earth like a feral Siamese at 4am with an empty bowl and a bad attitude). I'll still need to hit it for yogurt, milk, and the like, but other than that, I'm staying out. It's too easy to spend money there. I'll ebay some stuff and get some cards made to sell too.

I will also need a bike fit, race service and probably smaller everything, because I'm now down 6.1kg in seven weeks. In the past two weeks I've hit the 5kg and 5% targets, and I'm not far off the 10% target. I'm over 25% of the way to goal, which is awesome! I have 70kg in my head as my goal weight, and that's what I want to be. If I get to 75kg and I'm not skeletal, that could be okay too. 

Basically, 18-20% body fat is more of a goal for me than some stupid number on a stupid set of scales. I don't want to look like a twig, I want to be lean and healthy with no jiggly wiggly bits and a healthy body fat percentage - with plenty of muscle. If I eat well, do all my training and stick to my points, I could hit the 2.3kg required to hit that 10% in four or five weeks, maybe earlier.  I'm averaging about 700g per week - remember, that's an average - so it could be four weeks. We'll see what happens. I'm seriously not going to lose it if I don't do it in four weeks. It will happen when it happens. 

I am almost expecting a gain next week because this past week was hell on two legs. No training, no eating pattern, no time, no organisation and no preparation - I set myself up for a bit of an epic FAIL. This week, however, it's all different. My replacement microwave arrives tomorrow morning around 8.30am (thank god, it's been terrible without one). I have bircher muesli in the fridge which will be ready for breaky tomorrow morning, my swim bag is 80% packed and my work uniform washed and dried. I just need to figure out what to eat for lunch and dinner tomorrow.

Time for bed - I have a few things to do tomorrow before work and need some shut eye.

Night all :-)

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go...

I'm really excited about going to work today. Why? It's my first shift as a proper exercise professional. My last day at the day job was yesterday, and as of today, it's all about fitness! I've got new members booked in for inductions, and hopefully a few will become my PT clients soon. Speaking of which, I can now knuckle down and kick out my Cert IV, because I have more free time during normal people hours. Gold!

Last night I went out for dinner with a couple of friends. It was a lovely night - great food, great company and a great time. I got home about 11.30pm and after catching up on the Home & Away action for the evening, I crawled into bed tired, happy and very well fed. I can highly recommend the Steakout (sp?) at Crown for a nice casual Friday after work meal - I was even a bit naughty and had a very small frozen daiquiri (but it was green and called Kiwi Kiss, so as an "Aussie by choice", it was my duty to celebrate Australia Day a little belatedly).  

I had designs on hitting swim coaching today but when the cat woke me at 6.10am I couldn't go back to sleep and felt a little like I'd overdone the food last night - plus my bruises still hurt and the more I move my arms, the worse they get. Okay, I did probably overstuff myself at dinner last night, but I was starving and it was the first decent meal I'd had in nearly three weeks. The walk around afterwards to find a place for coffee was great, and the sheer amount of laughing definitely got the abs working.

At some point this weekend I need to do the washing, tidy the lounge, do some filing, pay some bills, re-organise my drawers and closets, and a few other yawn-inducing tasks. I have to get some study done and some light training in. I also need to chill and watch some movies, cook dinner, read magazines and catch up with a few people over the coming weeks. Just when you thought you'd have more free time because you're working fewer hours, the slots quickly fill up.  It's all good - I'm a very organised person by nature and now I just need to adjust to my new schedule.

Tomorrow it will be around 41 degrees celsius here for the first time in 2011. Hopefully I don't lock myself out of the house again like the last time it was over 40. Today's forecast is 30-something and there's no rain scheduled for a couple of days. Awesome! Over in Auckland it's been cyclone city for the past few days - not something we get in Melbourne and I'm quietly gloating.

I'm in the process of signing up with a new Tri Coaching organisation. There are several coaches associated with my club and after the last coaching FAIL I'm determined to go with someone a lot more experienced, who isn't wet behind the ears in terms of life experience, who has awesome resources and who does coaching for a full time crust. If I'm going to have to focus like hell to get my goals over the line, I need people on team NZIronmaiden who are just as focused and determined as me. It's an investment in my future that needs to be made.

Stay tuned - I'm off to work now, but I'll keep you posted.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie - ow, ow, ow.

It's Australia Day today, the day that Aussies everywhere celebrate all things Aussie. All through my little village there are flags, silly hats, huge inflatable thongs (Jandals), boardies, bikinis, towels and t-shirts with the Aussie flag. I jumped on the bandwagon last night and bought an Aussie flag bikini because it was too cute and there was one size 14 left! I'm not wearing it by itself in public just yet as I feel I'm still a bit flabby for that (and it would be indecent exposure of my semi-toned but very white stomach), but I've also acquired an "I love AUS" singlet which I'm wearing with pride. 

I celebrated with a 5.30am start, as I was a TO in transition at my club race this morning. 11 people were reminded and warned not to unclip their helmet chin straps before racking their bikes, one was reminded and warned not to un-rack his bike before he put his helmet on, one received a piece of friendly advice to not ride a bike through transition (first timer), and three wetties were zipped up. It was cold, raining and windy, but I had a great morning - even if I couldn't race.

I came home with a large skinny latte, and have whirlwinded my way through tidying and cleaning the kitchen and "office". I've still got the lounge, bedroom and bathroom to go, but there are plenty of hours left in the day and to be honest, I'd love a BBQ snag sanga with some dead horse (sausage sizzle, Kiwis). I ended up having fish and pasta for lunch. The snag can wait until dinner I think, and even then it may well be a free range chicken sausage or two cooked on the George Foreman with wholegrain bread and dead horse. LOL.

I also have to get some study done today. I was going to go and do the washing, but it's nearly 4pm and I think I need a nap. I'm not allowed to train until the weekend, and only then providing my discomfort and bruising has settled. Speaking of bruising, here are some photos of my bruises.  Thanks to the local Emergency Department for supplying said bruises:

The bruising on my left wrist (photo on the left) is so bad and painful that I can't swim, lift weights or position myself on my bike. I've had to take my ICE ID off, because it's so swollen. As for the bruising on my right forearm (photo on the right), well, it's just gross AND painful. I'm now telling people that I fell off my bike, because I'm sick of having to explain the incompetence of medical professionals, and of being told to leave the bastard who did this to me and who should be locked up (by three ladies in the supermarket over the past four days).

Bruising and aches and pains aside, I've had time to sort out the house and organise things and clean and tidy and plan my next 29 weeks of training before Yeppoon. Phew. It's been a busy couple of weeks with hospital and doctors visits, work experience, study, no training and living on Up & Go. I'm back eating solid food today, so hopefully I don't regret it tomorrow or later tonight. I haven't been able to eat much in the way of solid food for the past ten days, because when I do, it hurts me 20 minutes later. Now it's harden up time, and I'm just going to get on with it.

And did I mention the microwave blew up last Saturday while I was taking a nap? Oh yeah.  I woke up from the nap and went to get a drink from the fridge. The light was off in the fridge - annoying, but hardly life threatening. I looked at the clock on the microwave and it was lights out there too. I went to the fuse box and found the circuit breaker had tripped so I flicked it back. The fridge came back on but the microwave didn't. I plugged it into a couple of different power outlets but it was still dead. I have a replacement coming on Monday from the rental company, so only more days to go!

I'm at the new gym tomorrow night (Thursday), plus Saturday and Sunday for three more training shifts - my official start date is still Monday 31st January and I'm very, very excited. Being at the gym doesn't feel like work. I remember this feeling from when I was doing my Cert III work experience in NZ. Even cleaning treadmills is fun, so I guess I'll never work another day in my life because I truly love it. I'm a completely different person there too - not timid and indecisive; I'm outgoing, gregarious, assertive, confident and way more fun!

I also procured a new WW pedometer and was stoked to learn that I did 11,000-odd steps yesterday without really trying (and having sat on my butt for about seven hours of the working day). I lost another 500g last week, and will be interested to see what my scales say this coming Sunday. Mine are 200g out though, and I know this for a fact as I've weighed myself a couple of times at home then gone straight to the doctor's office and been 200g lighter in the same clothes. It will be interesting to see how many steps I do when I'm working at the gym, and also on days off when I'm not sitting on my butt all day long!

Time for that nap I think, my eyes are starting to close.

Getting to the guts of the problem

Last night I had my second visit to an Aussie hospital. My demon spawn gallstone has been giving me grief for the past week and by yesterday, after my second visit to the GP in a week, I was sent off the ED.  The fact that I haven't been able to eat solid food without pain for a week was a big factor in this - I have no appetite and for me this is unusual. I know I'm sick when I'm not hungry!

The first indignity was having two cannulae shoved in me - the doctor spent five minutes sticking one into the bones of my left wrist instead of my veins. I finally had enough and told him to use the other arm. He hit the giant vein in the right arm first go - but on leaving the hospital the cannula in the right arm was literally ripped out by a student nurse and I immediately bruised and my arm blew up like a balloon. On questioning this, I was told it happens all the time.  Yeah, right - maybe in their hospital, but I've NEVER had that happen before. Not even in little old NZ!

The second indignity was the doctor's attitude. I was lectured about how gallstones are [allegedly] a fat lazy person's disease - and then lectured about losing weight and lectured about exercising. I wanted to thump the living daylights out of him - WTF does he think I've been doing for the past two years?? What a muppet. I know a kid of 17 who is underweight and has four giant gallstones with a side of crappy diet and seriously high cholesterol - and is waiting for her gallbladder to be taken out. 

Well, I taught Mr Smarty Pants Doctor a lesson. I was so dehydrated that they barely got any blood from my vein. Good job. I'm sure my vein was out to teach him a lesson. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since 8am because I wasn't allowed anything before seeing my GP, then before going to hospital, then before I'd been tested and prodded. We all know I'm a grumpy cow with no food on board, and by this stage I was well and truly over it.

Next it was off for a chest x-ray to prove I don't know what, and of course I had the joy of the obligatory pregnancy test beforehand because I'm a girl with abdominal pain and apparently we all lie about what we get up to. I went a bit spare about that - I freaking hate doing pregnancy tests for no good reason and I was so NOT in the mood for one last night.  What were they expecting, another Christmas miracle? Of course it came back negative and I gave the doctor the evil eye for suggesting I was lying.

Several hours of being referred to as "number seven" (because I was in cubicle 7) and a bag of fluid later, I was sent home with a script for ridiculously overpowering painkillers that I don't need or want (and no, I won't be filling that script either) and a "come back if it gets worse". Why, so I can get more lectures and even less care than last night? Hell no.

I've been home pretty much all day, apart from a quick trip to Coles for supplies and to drop off my notes from last night at the doctors. No training, no gym, no nothing. I'm now on more pills than you can shake a pharmacy at, and I'm really tired. NO resolution, other than my pancreas and gallbladder are inflamed but not infected. No sign of infection, no raised white cell count, clear chest x-ray and normal bloods - but I had to break into the letter they gave me to give to my GP to find all that out. Cretins. We can't possibly tell the patient what is going on with her, now can we?

Hmmm. I'm a bit of a cranky pants at the moment, so I'll write again tomorrow.

Ciao.

Oops - nearly forgot

I got my 5kg gold star this week - I'm now down 5.6kg! Woohoo! Only 17.9kg to go until goal weight.

I think I'm going to go under 20% body fat.  Ye-ah!

Times they are a changin'

I've got big news. Huge, in fact. I'm closing the door on my IT career in favour of a far more fulfilling and satisfying career as a personal trainer!

My Certificate III in Fitness finally came through this week and today I was able to complete my application for registration as a gym instructor in Australia. In a week or so my registration should be through, and once I've completed my Certificate IV in Fitness in a few weeks, I can upgrade my registration to personal trainer. Awesome!

Job wise, I have been offered an awesome opportunity with a ladies gym just outside the CBD. I start on January 31, and I'm really excited about this new role - until my Cert IV comes through, I will be doing gym instructor, reception and sales shifts. However, this is fantastic because I get to learn all areas of the business, and I also get to shadow some fantastic PTs in the meantime. I'll have some great shifts which will enable me to knock off my Cert IV and do lots of training of my own.

Rush hour will soon be a thing of the past. My weekends will be Tuesday and Thursday, giving me some off peak downtime and enable me to hit the shops, laundromat and markets outside peak times. No more crawling over the Westgate at 7.30am - my earliest start is one day at 6am but I finish at 10am that day so it's all good. I can go hit the markets afterwards for fruit, veges, meat and fish. It will be nice not to have to try and find a fruit shop open at 6pm on a Sunday anymore. 

There will be a pay cut, but I don't care. I've done what I needed to do in the past few years to get me to a point where I can do this thing! I'm doing some (now it's paid) work experience shifts for the next two weeks which will help line the pockets. I've stocked up the cupboards and freezer and I have some money tucked away to cover the rent for the next couple of months. If I don't have to spend some of it that would be great, as it can go towards a new triathlon bike. 

I've started thinking up a new training schedule, and I have settled on some good long sessions - swim/bike/run, strength/bike/run and swim coaching. I need to work on getting to 1.5km in the pool and then work on my speed - I think. I need to talk to my swim coach about the best way to do this. As far as the bike and run are concerned, I just need to start doing 40-50km of hill and flat combinations. If I go back to my tempo/pace/enduro schedule of three bikes a week, with lots of hills included when I do my strength/bike/run sessions at the gym, I should be fine. 

With the run, I've got a 10km programme that I'm working through at present. I need to run the 10km off the bike in a few weeks, so it's time to knuckle down and get into it. I have some great equipment to use at my new workplace, and I hope one day to be able to get some spin bikes in there and run RPM classes. I'd also like to train up as an RPM instructor, I think I'd enjoy that. I may also do my Zumba qualification but we'll see. I think right now I just need to focus on my Cert IV and my own tri training. I can think about upskilling after Yeppoon.

My Avanti Sprint is lovely but I'm not sure if whacking aerobars on it and doing 90km at Ironman 70.3 Yeppoon is a real option. I need to talk to a proper bike mechanic to get this sorted and I have a great one in mind. Hopefully it can be done. The bike is fast now, so let's hope it can be fast and comfy for Yeppoon. Worst case scenario, there is always hire purchase, but if someone did want to sponsor me and hook me up with a new tri bike in a 52cm frame (preferably an Avanti, Specialized or a Trek) I sure won't say no!

I've been swimming for 25 mins nonstop in the past couple of weeks and feel great. I am looking forward to swim coaching this weekend, so that I can show off my fitness levels.  I also hope that I haven't picked up any dirty swimming habits since coaching stopped for the holiday season back in December. My hours in the new job for the next few weeks will enable me to keep attending swim coaching, which I am really pleased about. Ray is an awesome coach and when you find a good one, you need to stick with them! 

So, my mission for the next few days is to get through the next few days. More washing, swimming, biking, running, strength training, cooking, cleaning, organising, studying - but also some chill time with foxtel and magazines. I'm meant to race next Wednesday but I'll see how I feel. I had to hit the doc's office yesterday (yep, AGAIN!) and found out I have gastritis which is rarking up my demon spawn gallstone. I'm back on Omeprazole (Losec), which I was on a few years back. Hopefully it all settles down and I can race, but we'll see.  Worst case scenario, I can always volunteer again.

Right, bed time. More later!

Official, not officious

This weekend I completed the Level 1 Triathlon Technical Officials course and officiated at a very large local(ish) race. It was a great morning - I was only abused by one person, a spectator who just didn't get the fact that we are there to keep the competitors safe and was yelling at me to get out of the way in Transition.  I wasn't in the way, I was doing my job - keeping the athletes safe, ensuring they had a good race experience and that they stuck with the rules. I gave him the "talk to the hand" and went about my role. 

I was asked today why I want to officiate at races. It's quite simple, I love this sport and want to give something back. Being an official and a triathlete also gives you greater respect and admiration for the people who give up their time to make sure we stay safe and have an enjoyable race, while making sure we don't break the rules or endanger other triathletes. That way everyone has an enjoyable and safe race experience.

Training wise, it's been a bit light on this week. I've done my swims but little else apart from walking and a few treadmill runs and indoor bike sessions due to the humidity and crazy schedule. I've been to the podiatrist, a birthday dinner, off to a gym just out of the CBD to sort my work eperience and spent half a day on the TO course and another half day officiating. It was good to have a two day weekend this week though, but gees I am tired! 

I've got to swim first thing tomorrow (i.e. 6am) because I have work experience tomorrow night until 9pm. I also have to get some lunch and dinner stuff straight after swimming because I haven't cooked tonight. I'm having an up and go and some fruit for dinner because I'm too tired and it's too late to cook. 

It will be a long few weeks coming up with uni, work, work experience and training, but since I don't have a life anyway it's not like people will really get their noses out of joint because I can't hang with them. Sorry everyone, it's going to be a bit crazy in the NZIronmaiden house for a while so if I'm not on facebook or email or the end of the phone, it's because I'm a little pressed for time.

I haven't weighed myself this week yet so don't know how I've gone in the past week. My clothes are definitely getting baggy and starting to look ridiculous. I need to find the pants I bought when I first arrived in Melbourne, pronto. I think I may be able to get away with the pairs I'm wearing now for maybe another week or two, but that's it. I definitely need to update my measurements.

I need to go to bed but will try and update again this week. 

Have a great week everyone!

5% less of me

Today I hit the semi-magical 5%. I have now lost 5% of my starting weight on WW. Yay! I feel better for it - so much so that I'm finding many things, including swimming, a lot easier. I can walk faster, swim further and more of my clothes are baggy as. I'm closer to racing in that new 2XU tri suit.

This last week I have been really hungry. I haven't eaten terribly well because I didn't plan well. This will change this week. I've found a company that will deliver meat, fish, fruit, veg and fresh bread to my suburb on Saturday afternoons between 12 and 2pm, and they have snapper all scaled and boned and filleted! All I'll need then is dairy and pantry stuff. Awesome! Eating clean will now be a lot easier. 

I also need to get a better handle on keeping the house organised and under control. I think it's high time I got a cleaner in for a couple of hours every fortnight to do the boring but necessary stuff like washing the floors and cleaning the shower. I have better things to do with my time than boring cleaning stuff.

Due to an appointment tomorrow night and having to work all day yesterday, I had to swap some sessions around. The DOMS earlier last week necessitated moving Thursday's gym & run to Friday.  Saturday's swim & bike got moved to today. Monday's swim & bike and Tuesday's gym & run have been swapped, as have Wednesday's swim and Thursday's gym. Friday I will gym and run again, Saturday I'll swim and bike in the morning before going to the Level 1 Triathlon Technical Officials course in the afternoon, and Sunday I'll rest because I have to be up and away to Elwood for the practicum for the course at a tri from 6am. Then it will be back to normal from Monday 17th.

I swam for 30 mins nonstop today, which was just awesome. I threw in a few laps of breaststroke to give my arms a break, and finished with backstroke for the cool down. I've done half an hour on the wind trainer, and have done a fair bit of walking due to having to sort out the washing today. My plan for swimming is to do two endurance sessions and one technique session with my coach. Squads are just too hard to get to without a car and around here, so I'll be a Nigel no mates for a bit longer.

I need to go back to my endurance, tempo and pace bike sessions and with at least two hill sessions a week. I'll do the hills in the gym on the bike, because my WT sessions at home are more about saddle time (literally) than anything else. As far as my run goes, it's about covering the distance and then increasing the speed. It will come - but with 12 weeks left until Sydney it had better come faster!

One day weekends aren't great. When you don't have a car you have to spend ages getting anywhere, and I had a lot of stuff to do today - washing, swim training, groceries, fruit & veg, cleaning, tidying, pharmacy, get more swim bag toiletries, go to the newsagent to pickup magazines, eat lunch, eat dinner, cook dinner, make lunch for tomorrow, hang out washing, put away clean clothes, etc. No study done for a good few weeks now - need to get onto it this week. 

Not enough sleep either, so on that note it's time for some shut eye.

Killing Hungry Thirsty Dead

There's a great advert on TV here in Aussie for Oak chocolate milk. If it wasn't like 300 points a carton I'd drink it like it was going out of fashion. I get a bit like the guy in this ad when my blood sugar drops, and people at work know to tell me to go eat something. LOL. 

You all know how fond I am of choccie milk after a race (in fact, I love it in general, but more so after a race), so here's the ad for your viewing pleasure.

I got to the pool tonight and was indeed hungry thirsty. After a quick stop at Coles for a 2l bottle of water and a low fat choccie milk, it was into the pool for the obligatory 750m. My arms are a little sore in strange places after last night's epic gym session, so I took it easy and did my warm up plus 6x100m splits, finishing with 3x50m sprints. Hopefully the DOMS in my abs and strange arm places settles overnight. I think it would have been a lot worse without the protein, carbs, radox and compression gear.

After losing 4.1kg in four weeks on WW, I'm feeling good. My awesome speedo bathers now fit beautifully, which is good. My favourite work pants now resemble something MC Hammer would dance in. Hopefully the four pairs of pants I bought during my first weekend in Melbourne will fit now...or sometime soon. It's a bit sad when you have to hold up your pants when running across the road to catch your bus! WW now finally have an Aussie iPhone app which is making life a lot easier. I can lookup stuff whenever I want, which came in handy on Monday when I was at Subway, trying to figure out what I could eat for 9 points. Epic. 

I'm hoping for another few hundred grams off this week but we'll see. It's not so much the weight that I want to drop, but the cm. I'll have to take my measurements this weekend as I know my waist has shrunk. Fingers crossed my wettie will still fit for Sydney. It's nice that people are now noticing the drop, by rights I'm about 2kg off losing a dress size but heck knows what size I'll be now. 

I'm looking forward to my first race of the season, weather pending, on Australia Day (Wednesday 26 January). What a great day for my first triathlon in Aussie! I suspect it will take around 1hr 20. I'm allowing a bit less time in the drink because of the wettie, but more time in transition due to having to get the wettie off. The bike is about 13km and it will be my first race in cleats since ages ago (LOL), and the run is 3km which should be fine. I'd like to do it in 1hr 15, but we'll see. If I could just get one of Julia from Creme's awesome awesome skinny lattes before the race, that would be fully sick.

Must stop blogging and get back to concentrating on the wind trainer before I drop my MacBook. 

Night all.

Epic workout

I really didn't feel like training tonight. It was close to 6pm by the time I left work, and at 6.15 I was waiting for the second of the three buses I use to get home. I stood at the bus stop, tired, hungry and over it.  While standing there, doing nothing, I decided that the best idea was to go home, have a chocolate milk, get changed and hit the gym.

I'm glad I did. I had an epic weights session and then an equally epic run. I suspect I will be very sore tomorrow but I've had carbs, protein, electrolytes, a hot shower with Radox, and I'm wearing my compression gear to bed. I may try and choke down a banana as well.

I'll pop up a better post tomorrow - it's bedtime and I need some rest!

2010 - A Tri Oddessy

I was having a look back at my first couple of posts in 2010 and discovered that I missed something in my first post of 2011 - The good, the bad, and the downright ugly. So, here goes!

2010 - The Good:

• Moving to Melbourne
• Becoming a qualified exercise consultant / fitness instructor
• Finding a great house near the beach in Melbourne
• Travellling to Malaysia for a week
• Completing six triathlons in four months
• Buying a bike pod (travel box on wheels)
• Buying a MacBook Pro, iPhone and my first LCD TV
• Dad coming to visit 
• Watching Ironman NZ and my friend Sean race
• Running (most of) my first 10km
• My first day of 41.9 degrees.
• Finding out I've already had GF. At least I can't have that again.
• The gym opening up around the corner from my house
• My triathlon club
• The swim school around the corner from my house
• The doctor and vet around the corner from my house

2010 - The Bad:

• Race 1 of Season 2010/2011 being cancelled due to crap weather
• Not being able to do Race 2 due to stupid virus
• Bronchitis.  Gross.
• Paying a small fortune in rent for my great house near the beach in Melbourne
• Losing my keys on the last day of the year, breaking a window and then getting the keys back.
• My camera dying in Malaysia, on the first day
• AQIS and Customs opening some of my boxes of stuff sent over from NZ because they can't read (at $55 per box, for no bloody good reason)

2010 - The Downright Ugly

• The bike smash in Tri #7, which wrecked my chance of a PR.  Karma is a boomerang, competitor 510.  Watch out, it's coming for you.
• The truck taking me out in January.
• Triwoman #3 at Maraetai with that ridiculous "Swim".
• Earthquakes - Chile, Haiti, Christchurch
• Flooding in Victoria, NSW and more recently Queensland.
• Living in a hostel for five weeks, unable to cook and with no privacy!
• The amount of fat I accrued thanks to living in a hostel for five weeks, unable to cook
• Having to live on crap food for five weeks while living in the hostel
• The gallstone, and the discovery of the gallstone
• The virus in November/December, the resulting blood tests and being told I might have GF, then finding out I am/was pre-pre-diabetic

On the whole, 2010 was better than 2009. And, 2011 will be better still.  I have a lot to look forward to!

Mince, movies and medleys

I spent an hour this morning on my wind trainer, watching a DVD. My sit bones are now a bit grumpy because I was in the aero position.  The cat now hates my guts because she hasn't been able to get into her cat bedroom - the wind trainer is right next to it and she hates the noise! I now have my four-legged hot water bottle back, just in time for summer. So, we've been parked on the couch watching DVDs tonight. I thought Grown Ups might have been a lot more funny than it was, but it was more Happy Gilmore than Wedding Singer. Still worth a watch though.

I did the gym thing and the paddle at the beach thing, then decided to hit Ikea for lunch. Nothing like a kids size meatballs and mash with an apple for desert, although I think their meatballs need a trip through the microwave to strip the fat out. Oh, there's a good tip. If you whack your raw mince, meatballs or hamburger patties in the microwave for a couple of minutes on high, much of the gross saturated fat comes out of the meat. It really is gross, just try it sometime and see how much slime comes out of your five star mince! Of course, I George Foreman everything else, but this microwaving of mince is really fun!

When I'm doing spag bol, I nuke the mince first, then drain the slime off and shove it in a pot or pan with soy sauce, beef stock, passata and fresh basil. I can't eat garlic, onions or leeks, so I can't use nasty pasta sauce in a jar. That's okay though, it makes my spag bol pretty clean and pretty fast. The soy sauce and beef stock puts the flavour back into the mince that stripping the slime takes out.

14 more weeks until Dextro, and I'm feeling really motivated and very much looking forward to it. I'm recording everything on Foxtel that is exercise, triathlon or fat person related, for motivation. Speaking of which, I'm happy to advise that Kona 2010 will finally be on Foxtel this week. I've got it set to record in HD and normal formats, just in case there's a satellite issue and I miss it. I need Kona as motivation, and I love that there's so much triathlon on Foxtel, it's great that I can watch my sport on TV here. Sadly, I lost all the previous Ironman and ITU events I had recorded when my iQ box was swapped over. Boo, hiss.

I don't have much else to report, so it's off to bed with UltraFit magazine.

Catch you tomorrow.

Traditions of the non-traditionalist

I have one tradition that must be adhered to each New Year's day. The first song I listen to on January 1st is "New Year's Day" by U2. Why? Well, they are Irish and so am I. It's a great song, and contains one of my favourite lines "I, I will begin again". That is exactly what all of us hope to do each New Year. I may not be the most traditional person around (I prefer non-conformist), but that is the one thing that I stick to. It's a video with interesting Bono hair, reminiscent of A Flock of Seagulls.  Enjoy it here.

I've had my first paddle of 2011. I went down to the village to grab a latte and decided to wade up to my knees in the fresh waters of Altona Beach while drinking it (the latte that is, I don't think the sea water around here will taste that great). A better idea would be to take my bathers or my wettie and actually swim, but I only thought about this while standing with a large skinny latte in one hand and my handbag and shoes in the other. Tomorrow is another day and I might just go for a proper dip in the morning, once I've had my latte of course!

I made it to Big W and bought a shade tent this afternoon. It's one of those fake and somewhat sorry-arse looking dome-style tents with three sides and no front, which pops up in next to no time and gives you some protection from the hole in the ozone layer. I plan on trying it out tomorrow. I love the beach, but I hate lying around in the sun. I'd rather set up camp in the shade and get into the light when I need to, as opposed to looking like a California Raisin in ten years. The "tent" will come in handy at races, I'm sure. I'll chuck it in my race bag and park up after my races :-)

Tomorrow it's back to training, with next Saturday's gym session plus bike and run on the cards after breaky. With the pool only open from 10am to 1pm on Monday it means I have to get my swim session in early. Because I have to attend a full day work event next Saturday and with no swim coaching until 22nd Jan, I'll have to swap my swim session to Friday. I hate having to swap sessions, as it throws everything out of whack and to be honest, it's a little demotivating. 

However, I have the Dextro Olympic Distance race to think about and as that's only 99 days away, I have to crack on and be serious, which means that anything that is not triathlon, training or PT course-related is going to be dropped for the next 14 weeks. I cannot afford distractions or diversions or things getting in the way of that race. I will do what I have to do, but beyond that, forget it. 

The training plan for the next 14 weeks is:

Monday - swim, bike

Tuesday - strength, run

Wednesday - swim, bike

Thursday - strength, run

Friday - rest and pretend to be a normal person.

Saturday - swim, bike, washing!

Sunday - strength, run (race when scheduled)

I need to sit down and write my training schedule for the next 14 weeks. I really need to think about this,  and make it as S.M.A.R.T. as possible (f you don't know what S.M.A.R.T is, you're obviously not a PT, triathlete or a goal setter! Google it, it's a good concept to know). I also think a big SWOT analysis is in order, and I need to create another motivation canvas. In fact, that motivation canvas would be a good thing to do tonight. Actually, I'll go start it now, and upload a photo when it's done.

Ciao!