When is a new job not a new job....

You know you've started a new job when:
* you have a new office
* in a new building
* with a new computer system
* with lots of new faces,
but when you are:
* working for the same partners
* on the same clients
* with some familiar clients around...
Strange. Anyhoo, my first day went well although their internet policy has me suffering withdrawal symptoms after not getting my daily dose of CR or the playgroup...

Monday 30 January - Satan turns up the heat...

My knee/hip pulled up well after Sunday's mini walk/run session. I had one or two slight 'noises' out of my knee during my session with Satan on Monday which I'm really pleased with given that I spent the day bending & moving boxes and then spent 10mins on the elliptical thingy and time with Satan. Cool :-) Don't worry, I'm not rushing ! I did however have some DOMS in my quads and adductors - who'd have thunk it that an easy 15mins run now leaves me with sore legs !

Benny, your comment about the type of tightness you were experiencing when recovering from your ITB problem was very interesting. The tightness that I experienced on Sunday certainly felt like it was in the band itself, much higher than the place on my knee where I had previously felt it. Looks like I am starting to manage it, rather than it manage me - yippee !

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 7pm
Duration: 30mins

I didn't actually want to go to the gym. I was pretty stuffed after a day of moving boxes and unpacking my new office. But I dragged my butt to the gym and was (eventually) glad that I did.
10mins on the elliptical thingy to start with followed by a circuit of:
* nasty glute exercise on the swiss ball
* nasty ab exercise with a swiss ball - which basically involves squishing a swiss ball together with your ankles while lowering the ball to the ground - with straight legs!
* adductor exercise
* full push-ups (on toes)
* prone hold on side (for obliques)
repeated twice followed by 15mins of stretching.

A really tough session - but no doubt my level of fatigue and lack of water throughout the day didn't help.

Have decided to shift today's (Tuesday) walk/run session to Wednesday morning to give my legs another day to recover.

OMG, I'm unfit...

I was tagged sometime ago by Hilda (amongst others) but I was in blog-blah land at the time so I didn't want to play....but now, here we go:

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Let’s see I was 20, in my 3rd year of university which was my first year of my (graduate) law degree. Walking 5+kms everyday and later in the year, I signed up for my first gym membership.

Five snacks I enjoy?
A question about food - easy...
* hummus
* cashews
* vegemite toast (preferably soy & linseed bread)
* brie
* protein bars

Five songs I know all the words to?
* Dancing Queen – ABBA
* Bradman – Paul Kelly
* Jack & Diane – John Mellencamp
* Bust a move – Young MC
* Angels – Robbie Williams

Five things I’d do as a millionaire
* buy my parents, brother and grandmother a new house or pay off their mortgages;
* donate money to cancer research and to Medecins Sans Frontier
* buy a unit overlooking a beach somewhere
* travel
* study something interesting like history, archaeology or literature

Five things I like doing:
* reading – I’m a bookworm
* travelling
* having dinner & catching up with my closest girlfriends
* watching sports
* did I mention reading? Oh, alright – shopping, specifically for gym/running gear :-)

Ok, onto the boring stuff ;-)

Saturday 29 January

Activity: swimming
Time: 9.15am
Duration: 35min-ish
MTD: 14.15kms

1,500m today. Much better than last Tuesday's session but still hard work for some reason.

Sunday 30 January

Activity: run/walk
Time: 9.30am
Duration: 46mins

Was getting very warm by the time I left the house this morning. One thing I've forgotten over the last 3 months is to get up early and to get my sessions done while it's reasonably cool. Oh, that and taping my headphones into ears so that they don't fall out.

The plan was to do an easy 15-20min run on the grass at my local oval with a 15mins walk to warm-up and cool down on either side of the session. In the end I ran for 16.38mins which included a walk for 1min at the 8min mark and a 30sec penalty to rescue a soccer ball for the blokes playing soccer on the oval at the time. I am really unfit - I've lost a lot of fitness over the last few months. At least I know that it will come back reasonably quickly...

Came home and iced my knee and hip straight away. My knee felt ok during the session although a little tight later in the day, most noticably when walking down stairs. The 'tightness' however is in a slightly different place on my leg than it was previously. Go figure. It's feeling pretty good now so I'll keep up the stretching and ice for the next 24 hours....

This week is going to be a big one. Start a new job tomorrow and 3 sessions with Satan this week!

Monday: Satan + 17mins on the elliptical thingy
Tuesday: run/walk (will decide on the type of session after consulting my 'adviser')
Wednesday: Satan + 15mins on the elliptical thingy
Thursday: run/walk
Friday: rest
Saturday: 7km walk with a girlfriend around the Bay (& having breakfast) in the morning followed by a session with Satan at lunch
Sunday: run/walk

and I might squeeze a swim in there somewhere depending on how my shoulders handle the triple dose of Satan...

I've just finished Sucking the Marrow out of Life by John Maclean. A really inspiring read - for those of you who don't know of him - he was hit by a truck in his early 20's and became a paraplegic and afterwards went on to finish the Hawaii Ironman event 3 times, to swim the English Channel, to sail in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race and to 'wheel' from Brisbane to Melbourne as a charity raiser which is approximately 2,000kms. It has reminded me that one lil ITB will not stop me from achieving my goals. Now, for something different I'm going to read Middlemarch by George Eliott!

I'm BACK !

I'm bbbbaaaaccckkk. Ok, so I didn't go anyway but I have been feeling rather blah, exhausted & unmotivated lately and couldn't be bothered updating my blog with what little exercise I have done and/or news that I have. However after a couple of days of re-energising myself at home - including reading John Maclean's amazing story - I think I've found my mojo again :-)

So a quick recap -

On Tuesday morning, I went for a swim. It was crap. I have quite simply never felt so bad in the water. Slow. Unfit. Weak. Un-co. Like I'd forgotten how to swim. Very strange. I struggled for one very long and slow km before giving up. I don't know what happened there. It was pathetic...

MTD: 12.65kms

On Wednesday, I had a date with Satan at lunch time which I had to cancel. My office closed that day so I spent 12 hours packing files and moving lots of heavy boxes. A sad day. One day closes, another opens on Monday I suppose. Wednesday night, a few friends and I went to a fab italian place in Sydney for pizza, red wine and dessert which was a wonderful way to end a terribly crappy day.

Thursday - Australia Day - became a rest day. I woke up feeling very shattered (due to the events of the last few days, not the wine on Wednesday night) but somehow managed to clean the entire house, sort through my desk at home (which still had uni stuff in it from 2003!) and watch 2 episodes of Lost all before midday! The afternoon was spent at what Mr Jen & I called a "Kenyan cook-up". Gotta love multi-cultural Australia. The cutest - and funniest - moment of the afternoon was when a 4 year old girl from Kenya was comparing the colour of the skin on the inside of her arm with mine. She is as dark as I am fair (and I'm really fair) which she thought was quite simply hiliarious !

Today - Friday - is of course a day off because I don't have a job to go to until Monday! LOL. I realised last night that today marks 12 weeks to the day since I abandoned my training for the Central Coast Half back in November. I can't believe it has been that long. So I decided to go for a little run - it was very little but a run nonetheless.

Following the advice of the very wise friend, I did a 15mins walk warm-up followed by 30sec run/30sec walk intervals repeated 5 times on a very lush and soft oval here home. The "run" part was more like a "jog" but it was better than nothing I suppose, then it was another 15mins walk/cool-down home. My knee felt really good thoughout the entire 35min session and feels good even now, hours later. With fingers crossed, I'll swim tomorrow (hopefully better than Tuesday's effort) and do another longer session on Sunday.

The times, they are a-changing...

A quick update -

Thursday, I had planned to go for a swim before work but woke up feeling exhausted so I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep.

Friday night - did my LSD swim for the week. 2kms in 49.47mins. Again proved I can't pace myself. The first km was faster than my 'recovery' swim on Tuesday morning. Strangely I was having troubles with my left hand towards the end of the swim. I couldn't "grip" the water; I had no strength left in my hand. Strange, very strange - though both my mother and maternal grandmother have osteo-arthritis in their left hands so I'm not v. surprised...

Saturday & Sunday I spent in Melbourne attending the Australian Open. Luckily we had seats in Rod Laver Arena so we weren't affected by the heat. Being centre court, we saw a lot of the top players including Martina Hingis, Tommy Haas (no.3), Roger Federer (awe inspiring) & Andy Roddick as well as Aussie's Peter Luczak and Sam Stosur. Apart from a bit of walking and lots of clapping, I did absolutely no exercise and ate lots of crap food the whole weekend. It was great ;-)

Monday (today) - feeling shattered today and that was even before I went to the gym. Spent an hour in the gym at lunch - 30mins with Satan, 15mins on the elliptical thingy and 15mins stretching. Our office closes this Wednesday & yet so v. little packing around the office has been done (which has not been helped by the fact that our removalist's boxes have only just arrived - 5pm Monday). Feeling quite blah at the moment - probably understandably so in the circumstances...

A sweat is born...

Activity: cardio
Time: 6.45am
Duration: 35mins

Headed to the gym this morning for 35mins of cardio (followed by 15mins of stretching) on a combination of the treadmill (walking), elliptical thingy and bike while watching Oprah. I actually broke a sweat today for the first time in 9+weeks but OMG, I'm so unfit! The elliptical machine doesn't seem to aggravate my ITB/knee (but the bike does) so it will become my new best friend.

Today is going to be rather unproductive (at least work-wise) - a meeting at 10am to discuss the office move, coffee with Lulu and Lorna at the Lindt Cafe at 11am, a date with Satan at 2pm (TBA) and a meet-and-greet at the new firm at 4pm...

Edit: strange day. The meeting regarding the office move at 10am was rather stressful and depressing - both because of the amount of work to be done before the move (our office actually closes next Wednesday) and because a number of girls became rather upset and emotional (understandably so). Fortunately after the meeting ended I headed to the Lindt Cafe to meet The Owl and Lulu for a chat (not to mention a slice of Lindt chocolate cake). Those gals always makes me smile...

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins

A bloody tough lower body & core circuit today (most of which either don't have names or I can't remember them...)
* nasty glute exercise with a swiss ball
* nasty ab exercise involving lowering a swiss ball held between your ankles to the floor
* push-ups (on my toes!)
* adductors stuff
* an oblique exercise
* crunches,
repeated twice. Really tough session on my abs. Was also pretty pleased to do 2 sets of 8 "full" push-ups; the first time since my shoulder problem in late 2004.

My knee is a bit sore tonight - I'm not exactly sure why though it was niggling a little when I was on the bike this morning (though I don't know whether it was the bike itself or the combination of equipment used....)

Short and sweet...

to make up for yesterday's verbose post.

Activity: swimming
Time: 6.15am
Duration: 30mins

1,200m in 30.24mins. Kicked today - no pullbuoy. Knee is a little tight but ok.

WTD: 1.2kms
MTD: 9.65kms

Edit: I must have worked hard this morning (for once) - I have been starving all day! Oh yes, and we finally have hot water at home. Yah!

Ho hum...

Thanks for the support and advice guys. I do appreciate it.

To answer a few questions first:

(1) no, there will be no photos (or even descriptions) of the dress before the big day. Sorry ;-)

(2) as for my ITB, I have tried the following since it first flared up in August last year (in no particular order):
* physio
* massage
* acupuncture
* chiro/osteo
* cortisone
* resting
* running through it
* adjusting my orthotics
* lots of stretching
* various strengthening exercises for my problematic glutes

As for exercises:
* I have found that cycling and pilates both aggrevate my knee
* I can walk without pain (most of the time) on flat courses
* Although I have done yoga in the past, I haven't tried it since my ITB flared up simply because my gym doesn't do it
* Haven't tried the elliptical machine because (a) I hate them and (b) I have assumed that they will aggrevate my knee in the same way cycling and pilates does...

Oh hum. I've had an email from my physio today telling me she is shocked that it is still playing up - she's not the only one. She has suggested a return visit to the sports doc. My next appointment with my chiro/osteo is this Friday. As for any other treatment regimes, in all honesty I'm pretty sick of seeing various practitioners and not getting results - not to mention the serious $$$ associated with doing so. Perhaps I just need to forget about running for a couple of months, build up the duration of time that I can walk without pain and then get back on the bike and return to running in, say, 3 or 6 months time...I really don't know right now...

On Sunday, I did nothing. My 'legitimate' excuse is that on Saturday afternoon I felt like I was coming down with a cold so it seemed sensible to stay out of a public pool. Yuk. The real excuse is that I couldn't be bothered. Ho hum.

This morning I decided to test my knee out. I don't know why I did - even as I was on the bus on the way into the city I was still undecided. In the end, I decided to give it a go. As it was, I had to go to the gym because our hot water system has died and we have had no hot water since Saturday evening. I should have just had a shower and not bothered with the treadmill. I decided to do 10mins walk/5min run/5min walk/5min run based on the 'return to running program'. My first 5min run instalment lasted 2min & 32sec before I pulled the pin. Grrrrrr.......

My mood today probably wasn't helped by big changes at work. Basically my firm's office is closing and the partners are moving to a new firm. This was in fact the reason that I took last week off - my entitlements are being paid out so I decided I needed break before I go back to having a big fat zero annual leave up my sleeve. I have mixed feelings about the change. While professionally it should provide me with greater opportunities, personally it is very distressing as there have been a number of redundancies including a few women that I have worked with for 7 years. All of this is due to happen before the end of the month so crazy times are ahead...

Headed back to the gym at lunch to see Satan:

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: not so great

Upper body circuit with a focus on core strength today:
* assisted chin ups on the smith machine
* prone hold on toes (2mins)
* dumbbell reverse flyes
* oblique move using a swiss ball
* dumbbell shoulder press standing on disks
* crunches,
repeated twice. A tough session - I felt pretty weak but strangely the weights and reps didn't reflect it.

Back to the godforesaken pool in the morning...

Back to the drawing board ?

First the good news - I bought my wedding dress today. Can you believe it? I must have set a world record time for buying one. It was the third one I tried on today. As soon as I put it on, I knew it was 'the one'. Happy days. Now I just need to finish organising the engagement party !

Now on the boring stuff - I probably haven't been entirely honest with myself. I don't think my ITB is ready to kick off my 'return to running' program but I am torn between feeling that I should:

(a) just start running again (following my bastardised R2R program) just to see how it goes, and if necessary back off again if it isn't happy; or

(b) stay off the road even longer for fear that any running I do is going to aggravate it even further. So much for my sports doctor's suggestion of 4-6 weeks off the road. I'm now up to 9 weeks and I'm pissed off...

I feel heavy and unfit. All the swimming that I have been doing is probably junk kms because I really haven't been working that hard cardio wise. I'd kill to do a spin class right now. Went for a 35mins walk this morning with my dad over slightly undulating terrain. My knee felt/feels tight and tonight whilst walking up the stairs to my apartment, it was sore. Really sore. Blah, blah, blah. I don't even want to read CR at the moment....

My Tour de Aqua* continues....

Dragged my butt out of bed early today to go for a swim at my old stomping ground before the latest wedding dress shopping expedition.

Activity: swimming
Time: 8.15am
Duration: 40mins
Mood/energy: alright.

With all the rain out here in the last 24 hours I decided to wimp out of using the outdoor (unheated) pool now full of cold rain water and took the wimps option of the heated indoor 25m pool. CJ was right - after 2 weeks of swimming in 50m pools, I felt like a ping-pong today back in a 25m pool..

Today was quite simply bloody hard work. The hardest pool session I've had in a long time. I've probably been spoilt - or got a bit lazy over the last few weeks - by swimming in salt water pools and using a pullbuoy**. I felt like I was sitting low - too low - in the water and my arms were just not producing enough/any propulsion. Another one of those "cartoon characters spinning their arms and legs and not moving" kind of days. But I didn't quit nor did I reduce the duration of my session - although I wanted to. Today was also the first time that I've kicked in weeks and again I'm very happy to say that there were no complaints from my knee/ITB. Happy days. Bumped into my uncle - the Ironman - as I was leaving the pool for a quick chat.

Summary: 38:18mins; 1,500m
WTD: 2.8kms
MTD: 8.45kms

* don't knock my french. I haven't used it in a long time and I don't have my french dictionary here!

** I've been using a pullbuoy to make sure that I didn't kick my legs and thereby aggravate my ITB. Pullbuoys also reduce the amount of drag - of course the Tim Tams that I've eaten over the last week may also have something to do with the increased drag ;-)

I'm on the road again.....

I went for a walk this morning. My first in 9 weeks. Gee, it was nice to work up a bit of a sweat again - unfortunately the sweat can be attributed to the heat & humidity rather than the pace. Still it was a 35mins walk on a relatively flat course with a few small inclines with no complaints from my knee. Came home and stretched for 20mins. Very happy to report that there have been no complaints from my knee, even hours later. Happy days! No swim though - couldn't be bothered...

To answer Gronk's question, yes I will be basing my 'return to running' on a Pfitzinger program designed specifically for returning from stress fractures but bastardising it to suit me - for example, I will probably repeat the first week twice and will only ever run 4 days per week.

Wedding update: I know there hasn't been one for a while. I had wedding-overload after a lunch with my parents and Mr Jen's parents on December 30 when they talked about nothing but the wedding! Anyhoo, I am now the proud owner of bridal magazines (my god, they are expensive!) and Mum and I have spent the morning on a wedding dress scouting expedition. OMG. I'm going to have nightmares tonight and falling in the surf and being unable to swim thanks to the tulle, chiffon, hoops, pearls, sparkles, tiaras, gloves, trains etc etc etc....

I've left Mr Jen_runs.....

for a few days and am heading out to my parents place at the 'Riff for a few more days of R & R - not to mention getting spoilt by my mum ;-)

I had planned an upper body weights sessions today but my dodgy right shoulder has been complaining a little overnight so I've decided to give it a rest. After reading Gronk's blog I realised that I've been neglecting my calves since I stopped running. Opps. The last thing I want is for my shin splints to re-emerge when I start running again. So this morning I did 2 sets of 3 calf exercises (20 reps each). My calves now feel like jelly. Hehehe :-)

Right hip is a bit tight this morning which is a little annoying. However I'm planning to go for a couple of walks with my mum over the next few days with a view to kicking off my 'return to running' program on Monday hopefully - please cross your fingers for me!

Yes, you guessed it - more swimming....

I have to say that my knee pulled up very well after the lower body session with Satan yesterday. Just a little residual tightness in my hip but an improvement on how it felt after last weeks session. I actually think that it has now turned a corner (*she says touching wood)...

Activity: swimming
Time: 8.30am
Duration: 30mins

A very scenic morning at the pool - oh yes, and then there is the view of the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park ;-) Another 1,300m to add to the tally without event. My shoulders and triceps burned the whole way after yesterday's session with Satan. I had originally thought to leave the pullbuoy at home and introduce my legs to kicking again (I haven't kicked in a few weeks in order to prevent aggravating my ITB) but given yesterday's lower body session with Satan, I decided not to push my luck.

Summary: 30.37mins; 1,300m
WTD: 1.3kms
MTD: 7.95kms

Once again after I finished I bought my breakfast and the paper and sat by the pool for an hour. Ah, this is the life...

Between seeing Satan and watching the slug-fest that is 20/20 cricket and the tennis yesterday, I managed to read 200+ pages of The White Earth which I will finish shortly. Great book; highly recommend. Next up is a book on this fella, you may recognise him:



Called "Lance Armstrong: Tour of Force" its about the 2004 season. Or I could read the latest Runner's World which I haven't opened yet. Decisions, decisions...

Day 21 - more time with Satan...

Gee, this is a hard life. I managed to drag myself off the couch & away from my book long enough to get to the gym for an hour with Satan:

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 1.30pm
Duration: 60mins
Mood/energy: a little flat
ITB: ok

A really tough session today - any time I spend an hour in her company (despite all the gossip & chit chat) is bound to be tough, physically and mentally. Today's torture session consisted of:
* squats with a swiss ball focusing on VMO;
* prone hold on toes;
* some nameless exercise using a swiss ball that tortured my obliques;
* side leg lifts;
* dumbbell shoulder press standing on disks,
repeated 3 times followed by:
* step ups
* assisted chin ups on the smith machine
* reverse flyes
* crunches,
repeated 3 times, followed by 20mins of stretching. My hip was a little tight last night & this morning; not sure why. Today was really tough. My swim tomorrow is not going to be pretty. Now I'm exhausted so it's back to the couch to watch the tennis and read my book...

Day 20 - more swimming....

Watched Murderball last night; a doco on wheelchair rugby. I'd highly recommend it - funny, insightful and v. inspiring. Reminded me that one silly ITB is nothing in the scheme of things...

Activity: (LSD) swim
Time: 10am
Duration: 50mins

Back to North Sydney Olympic Pool today for my LSD swim. After a sleep-in and a piece of toast (I was - as always - hungry), Mr Jen_runs dropped me at the pool. I once again proved that I can't pace myself, whether on land or in water. Did my first 4 laps way too fast and paid for it during the next 36 laps. For once, I was glad that my lane got rather busy - it forced me to slow down to a pace appropriate for an LSD swim.

Once I finished, I grabbed a coffee and chocolate friand (yum!) from the cafe, sat in the shade overlooking the pool and read my book (The White Earth by Andrew McGahan) until Mr Jen arrived to pick me up. Lovely way to start the day.

Summary: 50mins (approx); 2,000m
WTD: 4.4kms
MTD: 6.65kms

This week - had an extra rest day but c'est la vie - was still a good week of training. The way my knee pulled up after my lower body session with Satan on Thursday was particularly pleasing:

3 x Swims (total 4.4kms)

2 x weights sessions with Satan

The week ahead - aside from lots of sleeping, reading, eating and drinking the plan is as follows:
Monday: 1 hour session with Satan (!)
Tuesday: swim (30mins)
Wednesday: weights
Thursday: swim (40mins) + walk
Friday: swim (40mins)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: swim (50mins)

Day 19 - on HOLIDAY :-)

Including the weekends, I have 9 days off work starting today. Woohoo :-) This is my first holiday in about 3 years where I haven't travelled. I have no plans beyond lots of sleeping, reading, exercising, eating, drinking, laying on the couch, relaxing and generally being a lady of leisure. Happy days :-)

My knee pulled up reasonably well after my lower body session with Satan on Thursday. A little tightness around my knee and on my hip but it was nothing compared to the problems I've had in the past.

Yesterday (Friday) marked 8 weeks (and 3kg extra) since I last ran. Saw my stand-by chiro/osteo yesterday (Friday) for more punishment on my hip & *ahem* groin. It is slowly, but surely, improving :-) I was hoping to see my usual chiro/osteo dude this week - with the hope (fingers crossed) of getting the ok to go for a little jog - but unfortunately I can't get into see him until Monday week. Drats. Between you and me, I'm planning to go for a little walk late next week to see how it responds....

Activity: swim
Time: 8am
Duration: ?
Mood/energy: slightly hungover
ITB: ok

Today (Saturday) I had arranged to meet Lulu at the rather scenic ;-) ABC pool at 8am. Dragged my butt out of bed at 7.30am after a late night gossip session with a girlfriend and some red wine. One piece of vegemite toast (I was hungry) & a glass of Endura (I was rather dehydrated) later, I was ready to face the drive across the Bridge. Met Lulu, Mr Lulu and their friend Johnny at the pool just after 8am. Had a crap swim. I felt heavy in the water; like a cartoon character, spinning their arms and legs and not going anywhere. Luckily the scenery made up for it ;-) Anyhoo, did a 1km and decided that was enough given I've got a 2+kms swim on the program tomorrow. Finished with a yummy breakfast & a chat at a cafe in Potts Point - fantastic way to start a holiday :-)

Summary: 1kms; time unknown
WTD: 2.4kms
MTD: 4.65kms

30mins of stretching tonight followed by an LSD swim (and more stretching) tomorrow to finish off the week...

Day 17 - more Satan

God this is boring. Swim. Satan. Swim. Satan. Swim, swim, swim. Satan, Satan, Satan.

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: blahish but feeling stronger than yesterday
ITB: fine

A lower body & abs session today (with fingers crossed); my first in over 2 weeks as per my chiro/osteo's instructions. I'm really noticing/feeling the lack of lower body work lately. My 'quads of steel' developed thanks to all those spin classes now resemble jelly (*that's a mental image anyone eating right now didn't need, sorry...). Circuit of:
* squats with the swiss ball focusing on VMO;
* single leg supine extensions;
* side leg lifts;
* crunches; and
* bicep curls whilst kneeling on the swiss ball,
repeated 3 times. A tough session particularly for my abs. 15mins of stretching to finish.

My ITB has, in the past, flared up after a session such as this. But tonight, so far so good. 30mins of stretches tonight & I will ice it later.

Appointment with my chiro/osteo tomorrow; otherwise a rest day - and my last day at work before my week off. It's going to be crazy tomorrow - god, I'm looking forward to my week off next week !

Day 16 - return to Satan

Geez, I am soooo looking forward to having next week off work. Work has been really crazy the last few weeks. If only more of my client's had taken time off over Christmas !

Activity: weights with Satan
Time: 2pm
Duration: 30mins
Mood/energy: blahish
ITB: fine

Another one of those days. I left my shoes in my office today - which I only discovered when I arrived at the gym so I had to power walk back to the office to pick them up. Just scrapped into my session with Satan (sans warm-up) on time.

Satan was back from her holidays and ready to inflict more torture on me. I felt really flat and weak today - no doubt due to my diet being a little, um, lacking in some respects (like fruit, vegetables & water) and a little over-represented in others (like chocolate, brie & red wine....) - but the numbers from the session (weight & reps) didn't reflect that .

So today's fun consisted of an upper body circuit of:
* half chin-up thingys on the smith machine;
* dumbbell shoulder press while standing on disks;
* dumbbell reverse flyes;
* prone hold with shoelaces on a swiss ball,
repeated three times followed by some stretches. My arms are tired; I hope she doesn't have more upper body stuff planned for tomorrow.

I must admit that I'm feeling a bit nervous at the moment I think because I know that I'm close to kicking off my 'return to running' program. I guess that my ITB & I have been having this tug-of-war since August last year and after 8 weeks off running, I suppose I'm scared that it hasn't improved and/or of a relapse. Perhaps an irrational/stoopid fear but in a way, a good one to have because I know that I won't do too much too soon; if anything I'll probably be over-cautious but that is better than the alternative I suppose. Alright, enough rambling. Off to do 30mins of stretching..

Day 15 - a swim with a view....

Back to work today :-(

I hit the snooze button on the alarm about 4 times this morning. My 'normal' pool is closed for 2 weeks for urgent maintenance work (maybe it sprung a leak..) so for the next 2 weeks I have to head over to the North Sydney Olympic Pool. The idea of having to drive to the pool this morning (not to mention having to put fuel in it ) left me feeling particularly blase about going for a swim - luckily I ate lots of chocolate yesterday; the thought of it all sitting on my ever expanding butt was just the motivation I needed !

Activity: swim
Time: 6am
Duration: 35mins
Mood/energy: slightly blase
ITB: fine

In a world first ;-) Mr Jen joined me this morning - mind you, I think he swam 2 laps then read the paper and acted as my timekeeper because I left my watch at home and - being shortsighted - couldn't see the clock on the wall...I also left my pullbuoy in the car - it was one of those mornings.

Felt good in the water, kept my stroke long & definitely noticed the added buoyancy thanks to the salt water - but god, I hate the taste of it. Makes me want to heave. But what a beautiful place to swim - the view looking up at the Harbour Bridge when turning at the western end of the pool never ceases to surprise me (and then there is the view of Luna Park when you turn at the eastern end of the pool...)

It was nice to swim in a 50m again - my usual pool is only 25m and most of the time I feel like I only just get into my stroke and it's time to turn around again. Nice way to start the day.

Summary: 35mins (approx); 1,400m
WTD: 1.4 kms
MTD: 3.65 kms

Edit: 30mins of stretching tonight. While my ITB is still feeling tight, flexibility in my *ahem* hip/groin seems to be improving. Happy days.

Hello 2006 !

Saturday 31 December (continued) - New Years Eve

This Christmas/New Year period has been particularly important for my family as my brother's Canadian girlfriend, E, has been visiting Australia for the first time. My brother (my only sibling) will also be moving to Canada in 2006 to be with E so (while he will return for my wedding) I imagine it will be a few years before we are all together again which is sad because we are a v. close knit family. Anyhoo in an effort to show E our beautiful city we decided to watch the NYE fireworks from Lady Macquarie's Chair which is something that we have never done before. Lady Mac's chair - for those who don't know Sydney - sits just east of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.



Mr Jen & I arrived at about 3.30pm to discover my parents, my brother & E and my aunt and uncle all set up with their chairs, food, drink & blanket under one of the trees. A beautiful spot and a wonderful night. The fireworks were fantastic and the atmosphere amongst the crowd was amazing. A fantastic way to welcome in the new year and an amazing way to show E our beautiful harbour.

I must say that the award for 2005 quote of the year was awarded to a English tourist at about 11.30pm. There was a possum sitting in one of the trees surrounded by tourists taking a photo of it. An Englishman in the crowd said - and I quote - "is that a fair dinkum wombat?" LOL. Unfortunately it wasn't until about 5 mins later that it occurred to us that we should have told him it was a drop bear instead !

Sunday 1 January 2006 - bring it on :-)

I normally swim before breakfast but after crawling out of bed at 9am, I decided I need some food and water before even contemplating going for a swim. While I didn't drink much last night, the heat left me feeling dehydrated despite drinking litres of water.

Activity: LSD swim
Time: 11.30am
Duration: 50mins
Mood/energy: great
ITB: fine

Felt good today; strong and sitting high in the water. I also tried to focus on keeping my stroke long, particularly when I was getting tired.

Summary: 49.45mins; 2,250m
WTD: 6.6kms
MTD: 2.25kms

Today was the hottest day on record in Sydney in 60-something years. It reached 44C (111F) in the city - thankfully the humidity was lower than in recent days so it was somewhat bearable. So what does one do in a house that doesn't have air-con on such a hot day ? Absolutely nothing. Sat on the couch once I got home from my swim for 4 hours and watched Giant with Rock Hudson and James Dean before heading over to a friend's place at Rozelle (who has air-con) for dinner.

Last week - another week where I did all my planned sessions (though I changed an interval swim session to a lap session):

2 x weights sessions

4 x swims (total 6.6kms)

The week ahead - back to work and a return to Satan to work off some of my Christmas excesses...
Monday: rest
Tuesday: swim (30mins)
Wednesday: Satan
Thursday: Satan
Friday: swim (30mins) + appointment with chiro/osteo
Saturday: swim (40mins)
Sunday: swim (50mins)

My ITB has been niggle-free again this week (although I've done nothing which might aggrevate it). Maybe I'll go for a little walk next weekend...