You sure have some gall, lady

I had my first ever visit to an Aussie hospital last Monday due to shocking pain and nausea.  I thought my appendix was about to go and pack itself, but apparently my symptoms and blood tests disagreed.  I was prodded, poked with needles, fed IV fluids (give more more of that, I felt ready to run a marathon after the litre of IV saline dripped through!), and then sent home. Tuesday morning I was back for an ultrasound, where they found a filthy great gallstone. Gross!

I was sent on my merry way from the local hospital and told no more fatty food.  No more chips, no more cake, no more biscuits, no more cream, no more of anything like that.  I'm off to Malaysia next week, and I was told no satay either. Crap!  I was also told by the young and relatively good looking doctor that my gall bladder has to come out. Oh joy. I didn't really get anything else out of Mr Hot Young Doctor, so I left feeling rather sorry for myself and rather shellshocked. What the hell?

Well, this left me rather freaked so I rang my GP to book in and get some reassurance from her.  Sadly, I couldn't see her until late October and the idea of being in Malaysia with this foreign object floating around in my gall bladder and not being allowed to eat Satay isn't terribly exciting. So, I saw another Doctor this morning, who works with my immunologist.  How convenient!

Turns out that the gallstone has been in there and growing for at least ten years. And, they can be triggered by rapid dieting as well as by having a crappy diet in the first place. So, what was I doing in 2000/2001?  Dieting!!! I lost about 22kg in about 10 months, so I guess I can thank Weight Watchers for helping with my gallstone growth. UGH! Basically, it is growing at the rate of 2.5mm per year.  In another 10 years, it will be 5cm long. In 20 years, it will be 10cm long! Well, as if that will be allowed to happen.  But still, yuck!

And, the GP has said I don't need my gall bladder out. Sweet as, I'm fine with that prospect. The last thing I need right now is surgery, I have under 18 months until Ironman and the gallstone can STFU until after Ironman as far as I am concerned. At least we know why my cholesterol level is so good - all the cholesterol has been combined with Calcium and some other crap, and baked into a nice gallstone. Mega yuck. I am so grossed out right now it's not even funny.

Basically, this "attack" was brought on by too much fat in my system that just couldn't be broken down.  Clearly a week of eating crap wasn't a good plan. I overloaded my system and I've spent the past week paying for it. Never again!  I do not want to experience that ever again, if it can be avoided then that's all good. Is a cup of hot chips worth hours of pain and suffering? HELL NO! I'm going to have to knuckle down and really get to a point of almost obsession about what I eat again.  

So, no training happened this past week. I've literally felt like spewing all week, and that combined with the pain and the lethargy has meant I've done diddly squat. But, this morning I got up and went to swim coaching.  I felt great afterwards, and have plenty of energy today. First breakfast stayed down, as did second breakfast. Lunch was three hours ago and that hasn't given me any grief so far. Have now not felt like spewing since Thursday and have had no pills since early Friday morning. Wicked.

I got a bit down about the no chips thing earlier this week. Then, I realised that since I'm not meant to be eating them anyway, it's actually a blessing in disguise. Now I HAVE to eat clean, and while I can still have some fat, I have to really watch it.  It's one thing to make drastic dietary changes because you want to, but quite another to make them because your body is forcing you to do it.  That's when the mental rebellion takes over.  

I found myself craving a good old kiwi hot dog (battered sausage on a stick) and a bar of chocolate last night. For the record, I haven't had a kiwi hot dog in about 18 months. They are fat, wrapped in fat, fried in fat.  Now that I can't have stuff, I am starting to want it. The old adage of wanting what you can't have rings loud and true. But, it's a mind game.  I just have to remember the pain and suffering that this crap would cause and the desire lessens. One good thing about this gallstone situation is that my appetite has halved and when I do eat, it's half what I used to eat. The bad thing is that I'm scared my body is going to start eating all my muscle.  Bad body!  

Anyway, aside from all this gallstone garbage, the week has gone by pretty quick. Today I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure. Tomorrow it's off for an eyebrow shape and lash tint. I hit the supermarket today and bought super dooper low fat everything (well, apart from cat food and laundry powder). I'm cooking something for dinner tonight, I have no idea what it is yet but that's okay.  

I had planned to race tomorrow in my club's final duathlon for the season, but I'm totally undercooked for the distance, so not this time. I'll still go along but won't be racing. Besides, I have a club hoodie to pick up!

Catch you later, it's time raid the fridge for risotto ingredients.

Back in the drink

Today was my first swim coaching session in Aussie.  The local pool is glorious, even at the ungodly hour I frequented it at today.  It is directly across the road from gym  number three, so I can see myself doing a few brick sessions there when the weather doesn't want to cooperate.  Sadly, uncooperative weather is fast becoming the norm here. I think Auckland's weather stowed away on my plane over from NZ.  Last weekend was the first one without rain that I can remember since arriving here nearly four months ago.

My new swim coach, Ray, had to nitpick with my freestyle to find stuff I can work on.  I don't need stroke correction, which is great, as it turns out the money I spent on swimming lessons back in NZ was well spent.  What I do need is to beef up my freestyle kick, which is a bit lazy and weak.  Time to break out the flippers, hamstring and glute exercises, and more pilates for the legs.

My coaching sessions will be very structured with Ray.  We're going to work on my kick and my swim fitness/swim endurance.  I will be doing a four lap kickboard warm up with flippers each week, then into blocks of 250 metres freestyle, working up to blocks of 500 and 750 metres freestyle, with a break into water polo stroke for half a length in the middle of each block.  Cool down will be breaststroke and survival backstroke.

I'm off to Malaysia in just under two weeks, and my plan while there is laps in the pool, time on the bike and some weights.  It is possible to maintain and even increase your fitness on a stationary bike while travelling, according to an article I read last night (not exactly rocket science, I know).  So, that's my plan. 

I think an hour of slog each morning will be fine, before it gets too hot and sticky during the day.  The last thing I need is to work my butt off now (literally and figuratively speaking) and slack off because I'm in a tropical paradise for six days.  I'll take runners, togs, goggles, swim cap, a couple of Ironman-related books and some common sense!

Slightly off topic, I splashed out on a new TV, with a built-in DVD player for my virtual rider windtrainer sessions at home, VGA input for my laptop, HD for watching foxtel and best of all, I can now watch the movies on my hard drive on a decent size screen.  I also have the option of sitting on the couch in comfort while surfing the net, updating my blog, and typing stuff.  Bliss!  I love my wireless multimedia keyboard, I can couch potato all I like now (after training of course)!

Now that I have the blender, printer, new runners and TV, my next purchases will be a coffee machine, windtrainer, club tri suit, and a waterproof MP3 player for the pool.  Eventually I'll need a wetsuit, but I'm leaving that until I am a little more physically aerodynamic - the same reason why I don't yet have aerobars.  You can have the fastest bike around with all the aerodynamic gear available, but if you're not physically aerodynamic there's no point.

My plan for tomorrow is pretty simple.  Sleep in, have a good breaky, hit the gym and then a quick trip to the supermarket for milk, bananas, strawberries, yogurt and frozen smoothie fruit.  Then, I have washing and housework to do.  Boring but necessary, so all good.

Catch you later. 

Sick mate, fully sick

I've been sick mate.  Not girl flu, but fully sick mate.  It's been bronchitis since Wednesday and I'm not happy.  I've managed to avoid it all year, and hello, here it is.  Can somebody please write an iPhone app to prevent colds and flu?

I'm frustrated with this latest bout of germs because I was meant to start swim coaching yesterday at the local swim school.  I'm less happy that I have had to postpone the swim coaching and postpone what was meant to be my first session with my new Tri Coach.  Ugh!  And, I had to postpone my haircut and colour, my manicure and my pedicure, my eyebrow shape and my massage.  Yeah, it's only a week of postponement, but seriously, the season starts on 28 November and I want to train NOW!!!   

I ventured out of the house today and bought a blender, so my morning protein shake and bowl of breaky will become one drinkable meal on the way to work. May as well get used to drinkable meals on the run now, I'll have 15+ hours of it at Ironman!

I've found my insulated lunch bag (yeah, I'm such a nerd) in the last box I had to unpack, and thanks to online grocery shoppoing I'm stocked up on proper food for meals and snacks.  Lunch for tomorrow is cooked and in the fridge (mmm, gnocchi with a chilli, basil, ricotta and white wine sauce).  The blender is ready for tomorrow morning.

On Tuesday I've got an assessment at gym number three.  Yeah, you heard correctly - gym number three.  Much as I love Virgin Active and all it's cool features and quirks, it's too much of a hassle to get to and I hate the city after living there for five weeks.  Once my PT contract is up in early October, I'm outta there.  I avoid the city like the plague now.  It's too big, too noisy, too busy and I'm much happier in my little seaside village...or in the ultimate oxymoron, Sunshine.  I just can't be stuffed with the city - everything I need is within half an hour's public transport ride, and the city is at least 40 minutes away.  'nuff said.

Gym number three is literally around the corner from my house (200 metres away, to be more accurate).  For less than half the price of Virgin, I can hit the gym around the corner from 6am to 10pm seven days a week.  It's so shiny and so new that the PT was putting together kitset furniture when I went in this afternoon.  LOL. 

I'm keeping my membership at gym number two because of the pool and the awesome PT.  The cardio equipment is basic and well past it, but the pool is very handy and I usually have it all to myself.  Plus there's a Saturday morning pump class, and the pool where my swim coaching takes place is only open for laps in the morning - and three sessions of that a week costs more than the weekly fee at gym number two. 

Two more days off training should be okay before I hit the gym and the pool again, so I'll be back swimming on Wednesday night. I survived a 5km walk today to the laundromat and back with 10kgs of washing on my back (12kg on the way home with the wet stuff to hang up) but there was a bit of spluttering going on.

I bought a new 2XU Project X transition bag last weekend, which I have been drooling over for months, and was all ready to pack it with my stuff and head off to my myriad of training sessions. Then, wham slam bammy, hello bronchitis. At least I can also use it for shopping and the weekly washing trip, the waterproof wetsuit pocket doubles as an insulated cool bag and as a wet washing pocket for those things you can't tumble dry.  The bag absolutely rocked on today with my trip to the laundromat. 

Must away, have some serious planning today regarding my trip to Ironman NZ in March.  I've found a tour which includes airfares from Melbourne, accommodation at the Hilton (in a King Bed room, woohoo!), transfers to and from Taupo ex Auckland Airport, an extra 30kg of baggage on top of the standard 30kg (so 60kg all up, woohoo), training sessions, Q&A session, transport, course orientation plus Huka Falls, the hot springs and a pile of other stuff.  It's a little pricey but I'm worth it.  Just have to figure out how to pay for it!

Ciao.

I'm baaaaaack!

It's been a very long time since my last blog post, so let's bring you all up to speed on what I've been up to.

I moved to Melbourne on Saturday 29th May.  I spent the next five weeks in a backpacker hostel while trying to find a place to lease.  I started my new job on Monday 31st May, got an iPhone, joined my tri club, joined Virgin Active, found a place to lease near the beach and my new tri club, registered for medicare, my stuff arrived from NZ (including my bike), I moved into the new house, the cat arrived from NZ, and I got a Victorian drivers licence. 

Of course, other stuff happened in between.  I spent a night in the new house without power (the power company I signed up with forgot to connect me, ugh), went to Queensland for four days for a work conference, sat my sport science exam at Melbourne Uni, had a birthday and said bye to my friend Tash who is now in Europe for six months.

Not a lot of training has happened since my 10km event back in May in NZ.  However, I now have two (!) gym memberships...one on the way to/from work and one in the city.  Why?  Because with no car and being totally reliant on public transport (with wishy washy timetables) and my trusty Asics trainers to get around, it's easier to get to the gym up the road on the way to work. 

On the way home, the city one is easier as two days a week I have late meetings and end up on the train home as the bus service thins out big time after 6pm.  My new PT Cam is based in the city and we train on Tuesday nights.  Once I get to October and daylight savings I'll drop back to one gym, but seriously, I'd have spent the extra weekly fee on stuff I don't need or crap food anyway so it's all good. 

So, my new plan is as follows:

Monday - Swim (AM)

Tuesday - Weights/Bike/Run (PM)

Wednesday - Swim (AM

Thursday - Weights/Bike/Run (PM)

Friday - Swim (AM)

Saturday - Weights/Bike/Run (AM)

Sunday - day off!

 

Three buses take me to work from home - or two buses if I get off at the freeway exit and walk.  Two buses plus a walk is a good option, so that's what I've been doing for the past week.  Bus number 1 stops outside the local gym, and bus number 2 picks me up outside the local gym so there's no excuses now. 

With no car and no laundry in my building, I walk the 2.5km each way to the laundrette pulling an old lady shopping trolley with my clothes in it.  Going to the supermarket involves walking each way with the old lady shopping trolley.  I'm getting a lot of walking in, which is awesome. 

I pulled my bike out of the shipping box last weekend and put it back together myself.  The local bike shop closed a week after I moved here which is a pain in the neck...so I did what any geek would do and watched a couple of instructional videos on the internet, then broke out the allen keys and whacked it back together. 

I've decided that in the interim, until I am used to the area, I'm going back to standard pedals.  Once I have my bearings, I'll put my Mavic clip-in pedals back on.  Once the bike punt starts operating in October, I'll ride to the gym in the morning, do my swim, ride on to work, then ride back home - giving me plenty of saddle time.

According to an iPhone app that I installed, it's 581 days until my first Ironman.  Crikey.  According to the instructor at the gym this morning, my bodyfat has crept back up.  Double Crikey.  And after giving my new doctor the gory family history of heart disease this morning...triple Crikey.  It's time to pull finger and focus.  I need to do what I need to do, to do Ironman NZ 2012. 

So, it's back to protein shakes three times a day, wholegrains, gels, bananas, early morning swim sessions, two loads of washing every week, smelling like chlorine, a decent Carb/Protein/Fat ratio, tracking everything I eat and do in training, cutting out the junk food, and kicking my own butt!

But for now, I'm going to make a hot chocolate and watch some Foxtel, before turning in and hitting the beach in the morning for a nice long walk.

Ciao.

Nine more sleeps

There are nine days to go until I move to Melbourne and I have to admit I am a little scared. 

I am scared, not just because of the prospect of snakes and spiders, but because it is all a little unknown.  Sure, I have spent the better part of six weeks in Melbourne in the past three years so I know it pretty well, but this whole new city / new country / new life thing is bigger than Ben Hur!

I am also very excited. It is like a permanent working holiday, so I am going to treat it as such for the first few months in a bid to avert any homesickness.  In case of homesickness, I’ll just find some pineapple lumps and read the list below:

What I hate about Auckland

• Traffic
• Auckland drivers.  What a bunch of deekheads!
• Distance from Aussie.  Four hours on a plane to get to Sydney or Melbourne? Pah!
• Weather (particularly the sheer amount of rain).  
• The humidity.  Weeks and weeks and weeks of 100% humidity is not fun.
• Pathetic public transport.  Seriously, it's a joke.
• Price of airfares - it's cheaper to leave NZ than to go to the south island.  That's crap.
• The upcoming rugby world cup.  Get me outta here!
• No tri club within cooee of where i live.  I don't want to have to travel 30km to train with others.
• Not feeling like home (home is where the heart is, and mine’s in Aussie)
• You cannot go anywhere you want to without a car, or without catching at least two buses, or a bus and a train, or walking for hours on end.
• The millions of two dollar shops.  Do we really need more mass produced crap?  NO!
• Lack of scrapbook shops (like three for the whole city and none near me)
• Most of my friends have left and now live in Aussie
• Cost of living – we are absolutely “done” over the price of public transport. 
• All the nice staff are gone from my gym
• Feeling unsafe at night walking down the main street.  
• Insular Peninsula feeling – can’t walk down the street without seeing at least one person I know
• Everyone knows everyone else.  Ugh.  See above.
• I have lived here my entire life and I need a change!
• Not fitting into clothes in the mainstream shops, seriously people, learn that not everyone is a size 6 and make and stock more clothes in size 12 and up!
• There are MANY people I will not miss.

Got my tattoo touched up tonight, and number two is booked for next Tuesday.  I'd tell you what it is but only my triathlon event support crew manager and tattoo artist Nigel know, so you'll just have to wait and see!

10 sleeps to go

I have ten sleeps to go until I leave for Melbourne.  At this point in time I am feeling pretty relaxed - being the organisational whizz that I am, my project plan is sitting at 91% complete and I have just seven key things to do. My car is sold, my TV vanishes on Saturday, my bed hasn't sold yet...but everything else pretty much has.  Cool.

I'm still trying to decide if I should take my bike on the plane, or send it with the rest of my stuff.  The main advantages of sending it with the rest of my stuff is that I don't have to lug it around Melbourne the night I arrive, I get an extra 15kg of baggage weight (it would be part of my 30kg allowance on the plane otherwise), and I don't have to worry about the security of my bike at my temporary accommodation.

The cons of not taking it on the plane are almost non-existent, particularly when one considers that my bike shoes, helmet and lock cable are all packed in a big box with my yoga mat, sombrero and camping gear!  Okay, so I won't be able to ride it for a couple of weeks - but it's winter, I'll be in a somewhat strange city, and I have to get it to Fitzroy to get it put back together anyway.

So, looks like the bike will be going with the rest of my stuff.  More room for clothes!  Pity my Samsonite suitcase is on the small side (that was purposely done, back when I was planning on taking my bike on the plane with me), but I'll make stuff fit in it and if it doesn't fit, it can go in a box in the hold of the plane too.

One of the first things I will do on my first morning in Melbourne is head to Virgin Active and join.  I have had the last couple of weeks off training and I'm over it!  I need to get back into it, as the 2010/2011 tri season is only six months away.  They have a PT there who is a multiple Ironman, and to do Ironman NZ 2012 properly, I need someone with a clue to train me.  Not that I am clueless, but who better to train you than a triathlete, who has a clue about Ironman?

I also can't wait to join my new tri club.  Actually living in the area will be helpful, so one of my next priorities is real estate.  I need to find a house with at least two bedrooms, close to everything I need, in the suburb I want, that will take a cat (yes, Miss Sydney is coming with me) and a triathlete, ha ha.

Fingers crossed.

Melbourne - pronto!

Good news – I am still moving to Melbourne and now I have a job to go to!  I will be working for a fashion clothing company, as their sole IT person.  I get to do BA work, project work and IT support, so this role is awesome.  I am so pleased to have a job to go to in Melbourne; it is a huge weight off my shoulders!

Now for the fun news?  I leave in just under three weeks.  Hooray, but GULP!  I had eight weeks to prepare, pack and move; now it is three.  It is okay though, and entirely do-able, as I am super organised and have a project plan.  I am confident I can pull this off in the revised timeframe available.

What is awesome is that now I get to join Virgin Active.  I checked it out when I was over last year and totally fell in love with the place.  I cannot wait to get in there and start training after work.  I will be staying in the city for the first three or four weeks, so it will be very handy as it is only three blocks from my accommodation.  I do not think I can get up early enough to go before work, so after work will be fine.  They have yoga, Pilates, technogym equipment, kettle bells, spin classes, indoor heated pool, sleep pods, internet, etc…bliss!

Bring it on!

chillaxin in vegas

I had a nice chilled day today, including a haircut by a student hairdresser and the trip back to Auckland on the bus was not bad.  I had the same bus driver from the Taupo-Auckland trip back in March and he was just as late today as he was then.  I missed my connecting bus and had to stand around for half an hour in the cold, which did not exactly thrill me.  Meh.

I have had a toothache since Thursday night and it has been steadily getting worse.  I have been taking painkillers for a couple of days but it is still there.  Extreme meh.   I haven’t been able to eat much all weekend and I haven’t slept properly in five days so I am exhausted. 

Gotta go, falling asleep writing this and I need to take the sleep when it comes.  

the day after the marathon - shaun of the dead zombie style

Walking around town today, you could tell the marathoners at fifty paces.  Not just from their finisher’s shirts, but also from the “Shaun of the Dead” zombie shuffle.  Ha ha, my calves are not thrilled with me today, but they are nothing compared with what some of those poor people are experiencing. 

I am supposed to be taking it easy today but the lure of geothermal activity proved too much.  After a nice time at the finisher’s breakfast today meeting marathoners (including the woman who was I think the oldest female competitor, and had just done her 15^th Rotorua Marathon), smacking my kneecap on the table leg, and then collecting a coffee from the Fat Dog Café, I headed for Kuirau Park.  It was cool, but I wanted more. 

I had some lunch, and then headed for Whakarewarewa, thinking I would see geysers close up as I had the last time I was there in about 1995.  Sadly, the answer was no, but I only found that out on arrival.  Some years ago, they split the park in two and the geysers are now at Te Puia, which costs a small fortune to enter.  

However, I had a nice time at Whakarewarewa learning about the history of the village and its residents and ancestors.  I took some great photos, including some of the Prince of Wales and Pohutu geysers, albeit from a distance, the Korotiotio Pool and the bubbling mud around the back of the village. 

I am a bit sad that I did not get to see those geysers from closer range, but if I go back to Rotorua next May to do the Marathon I will definitely go to Te Puia.  We did manage to have an earthquake, which was cool, and I did see the final of the Amazing Race, which was great. 

Tomorrow evening it is back to Auckland.  Boo, hiss – I like being on holiday and generally hate going back to reality but this time it is okay.  I miss my bed, the pillows here are wafer thin and it was a cold night without my mink blanket and Siamese hot water bottle. Tonight will apparently be colder still.  Brrr!

Off to bed, it’s freezing and I’m struggling to keep my eyes open.

sounds like a country song

I did it!  I finished my first 10km.  My time was nowhere near glorious however, as after running the first 2km my Tibialis Anterior packed up and refused to cooperate.  I ended up walking the next 3km at a snails pace of about 4kph before I could stretch it out, and then walked the last 5km at a 6.5kph pace.  Damn.  I should have stuck to my plan of walking the first 1km to warm up, but silly old me wanted to run and I should have listened to myself. 

I lost my head in the moment.  I decided to follow the lemmings in front of me (Stuart and Belinda are not lemmings by the way, and they were beside me over the start line, not in front), being those who ran from the sound of the cannon.  Double damn.  Epic race plan fail.  Rule number one – follow your race plan!

Once my tib packed up, I walked the remaining 3km of the first lap with a 74-year-old woman named Neera, who entered that morning – she got out of bed, got dressed, rocked up to the event centre, registered and walked it.  Awesome work Neera!  After we parted ways at the 5km mark, I was on my own.  Seriously – most of the 10km’ers had finished at that point and I hardly saw another soul.  I stopped at the 7km mark and made a marshall take my photo (LOL) before continuing.  Yes, I carried my camera, it was a fun run after all and I got to see parts of the lake shore that I would not have otherwise. 

The Green Apple PowerBar Gel I had at 4km kicked in at 7.5km and my torso felt like it was about three paces behind my legs for the last 2.5km, especially when the rain started to hammer down at 8km.  I had some jet planes in my race belt in case of emergency and promised myself one for every km after the 5km mark.  I did not remember them until the 8km mark when the rain started to drown me but was glad to find them.  The jet planes distracted me long enough to get through each 500m section from then on, while in some serious pain.  Stupid Tibialis, I really didn’t need you to play up today! 

Nonetheless, I finished in a respectable 1:54:29.  Moreover, I finished before the marathon winner and podium finishers came back so I did not feel too bad, and there were people in the 10km who finished after me.  For me, an event is never about winning.  As a FAST triathlete, (that is Fat and Slow Triathlete to you!), I am happy just to finish something.  Of course, my speed averages out at something like 5.25kph but that is still faster than the average bear when walking.  Average walking speed is 4kph, so my speed was good.

Happily, my personalised video is not too bad, even if I do look like a hot pink Michelin woman.  I think I might buy it and stick it on my iPod so that every time I feel like slacking off, I can be instantly reminded of what a FAST triathlete I am. 

After the event, I headed into the event centre for a banana, cup of soup, a cup of tea (best cuppa tea in the world that was, or so I reckon), a massage, my special needs bag contents (chocolate milk, another banana, a bottle of Gatorade and another chocolate milk) and a warm jacket.  Later on, I headed back to the hotel and then to the Polynesian Spa for a soak in seven different hot pools. BLISS!  The sad part though was dropping my beloved Dolce sunglasses on the concrete floor and breaking them beyond repair.  Very sad.

Anyway, I’m pretty tired and need a lie down so I’ll write more tomorrow.

Ciao.