Monday, December 28, 2009

Finally Back to Marathon Clinic


Hope you all had a good Xmas and that my fellow Kiwis enjoyed the unusually fantastic weather - what a scorcher eh?! For those who had been hanging out to find out what was in the garage it turned out to be a rather fabulous sun lounger - looks great on the new deck and is a great alternative to running :-)
Monday I finally managed to drag myself out of mincepie induced apathy for a 40 min run, which was fine but I had sore legs yesterday as a result, I think because I added a bit of speedwork, it was certainly not hill induced as it was a very flat run. Yesterday, being Tuesday I thought I'd better get myself down to marathon clinic before they sent out a search party. As it turned out there was hardly anyone there - all off at the beach most likely. There were about 10 walkers but only 2 other runners, so it was just me Maurie and USA Peter. I knew I wasn't up to anything major so we went off towards the lake in case the boys were feeling adventurous as they could head off into Frankton from there. As it happened USA Peter was struggling more than me so we all just did a lap of the lake and then headed back, so a not overly rapid 50 mins in all, one hill and a couple of gentle inclines, which suited me fine! Got home to find JB2 had finally responded to my text to let me know she wasn't going to running....! Today my quads are still complaining a little, so I think a few weights this afternoon will do me fine, although BIP is heading out for a run as she needs to start training for master's hockey tournament.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Quick Trot

My great plan to use my extra free time to do plenty of running has so far amounted to nothing - due to a combination of heaps of jobs to do and not really being bothered. Anyway despite having lots on today I reckoned I could fit in a quick run. I had to drop BIP's car into the garage first thing for a service, it was due to be done by 1 and I had a haircut in Ham East at 12.30 so took my bike in with me so that I could get around while the car was in the garage. I really dislike cycling in town - too many cars, people and glass all over the road - ugh, give me country roads and milk tankers any day, at least they usually give me a wide birth. Anyway BIP's car needed new breakpads which of course didn't arrive when they said they should, so when I went back to the garage at 2 it was going to be at least another couple of hours. Luckily they had a courtesy car I could take home so I left BIP's car (and my bike which wouldn't fit into the back of the Suzuki Swift they loaned me) at the garage and came home - will pick them up in the morning after physio. It was 3pm by now, and I have some baking to do before the choir drinks here tonight, but reckoned I had a couple of hours to play with so popped out for a 40 min trot. It was very humid out there, but managed to get round without any major grumbles. So if you're reading this Santa I have been very good and done at least one run this week so hopefully see you soon (and then I can find out what the mystery in the garage is ...!). Happy Xmas readers, I'll be back with more attempts at getting and staying fit once I've sobered up :-)

Friday, December 18, 2009

I Got Tagged

So a break from the norm, this blog is in response to my tag from Pretty Clever's Selina , so those of you who always wanted to know some random facts (in one word, supposedly... hmm one word, seriously when did I ever use one word when ten would do?) about me, here goes!

1. Where is your phone? Kitchen
2. Your hair? Short
3. Your Mom? Dead
4. Your Dad? Wales
5. Your favorite meal? Anything I didn't cook
6. Your last dream? Annoying
7. What do you like to drink? Tea
8. Your dream? Financial security
9. In what room are you? Lounge
10. Your hobby? Running
11. What are you afraid of? Too many things to even contemplate a single word answer
12. Last travel? Europe
13. Where were you last night? Party
14. Something you are not? Astronaut
15. Muffins? Oh go on then
16. Wishlist? Long
17. Where did you grow up? Wales
18. Last thing you did? Buy Xmas tree
19. What are you wearing? casual
20. Your television? On
21. Your pet(s)? Dogs(2) Cats(2)
22. Your friends? Varied
23. Your life? Full
24. Your temper? Infrequent
25. Do you miss someone? Yes
26. Your car? Impreza
27. Something you don’t bring with you? A handbag (don't even own one!)
28. Your favorite shop? Favourite shop?? You're kidding right -- people have favourite shops?!
29. Your favorite color? Blue
30. Last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Can't remember - wow!
32. Your best friend? Stephen H
33. A place where you can go again and again? Thailand
34. Facebook? Frequently
35. Favorite place to eat? Domaine, Hamilton

So there you have it, I think I'm supposed to pass this on via blog tag so will get around to that at some point. Enjoy and merry Xmas :-)

Running on a Sunny Afternoon

While I am a little jealous of the fact that it looks like parts of the UK will get snow for Xmas I'm also enjoying our sunny days. After our dept Xmas lunch yesterday I managed to get away from work at 3pm giving me time for a run of about 40 mins. The cold breeze that has been lurking for the past couple of days had kicked in again which stopped me overheating and I had a pleasant 40 min gentle trot and hardly whinged about my shoes at all :-) In the evening we had our choir xmas carol parties where we went along to a couple of people's houses and sang for their party guests in return for a bit of food and wine. We had all been a bit iffy about the second place but it turned out fine and was lots of fun.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A Road Run at Last - Hurray!

What with bad reactions to anti-flams, long summer cycles and late meetings at work (meaning I missed Tueday at mc) I seem to have been doing all of my running on the treadmill lately, so lunchtime today I took advantage of another lovely day and decided to hit the pavements instead. Yesterday was a death by treadmill day, although I have had to up the speed and hill incline as it was no longer living up to its name (in fact it should really be extreme hardship by treadmill at the moment as even with the new speed etc it's not as much of a killer as in ye olde days) but I was feeling fine today so just went out for a short (30 mins) run to see if I could still hack it on the road. Not too shabby actually, I even threw in some speed work on the way back (although slowed down too much on the recovery bits so it took me just as long to get back as it had to go out - doh!). It definitely felt like the first road run for a while - it really is quite different from the treadmill, but was fine (although I did managed to grumble about my shoes on more than once occasion...!). Even managed a few weights when I got back to the gym before my shower. Back to the physio tomorrow to report that since my first visit my shoulder has got noticably worse - not sure this was the intended result.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lots of Cycling & Even More Ham

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day (sandwiched by rainy mornings on Saturday and today), perfect for BIP's Xmas golf tournament at Te Awamutu. I was planning on going in for the prize-giving and bbq so rather than take two cars, BIP drove in and I set off a few hours later on my bike. It's a fairly challenging 42(ish) km trip, first half is fairly flat and on reasonably quite country roads but the second half out through Ohaupo is quite undulating and on a busier road. I decided to just take it slowly, and gave myself 2 and a half hours to pootle out there; There was a fair breeze around, but despite a couple of hard bits when it was a head wind I was greatful for it as it stopped it being too hot. I stopped after an hour for an apple break (and to reapply sunscreen) but still made it to the centre of TA in two hours. Earlier than planned, so I stopped in town for a coffee before heading to the golf club for a shower and change of clothes. It was a thoroughly pleasant cycle, no mad drivers threatening my life and apart from the final set of hills before TA not too tiring. I'm suprisingly unstiff today, which may mean that it will take until tomorrow for me to feel the effects, or maybe taking it reasonably slowly means I won't get sore at all.
BIP had good golf and came 2nd, winning a whole ham!! This is on top of the half ham she won last weekend at the Pirongia golf tourny. Hmmm, perhaps they need to consider a vegetarian alternative, there is only so much ham BIP can eat and I suspect we were already well over that quota last weekend! I think the half ham may end up as someone's Xmas present and the whole ham will be portioned out between MAL, the aunt and H. The dogs will, of course, be hoping for a share too!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Artificial Hills

Have been feeling fine since Weds (no more anti-inlams for me!) but didn't want to risk a road run today just in case so it was back to the treadmill for an interval hill run. I wonder how similar treadmill hills are to real hills? I guess it's similar to the general road/treadmill running relationship, i.e. they both work in different ways so whenever you switch from one to the other it always seems hard!! Acting on some insane impulse that I cannot begin to explain when I was doing some abs and weights after my run I put in a couple of sets of lunges. I can't remember the last time I did lunges, needless to say by the time I got back up the hill to my office I could barely make it up the stairs!! What was I thinking?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

KO'd by Anti-Inflammatories

Along with the lecture on not leaving things so long before getting treatment, the physio I saw last week also recommended taking anti-inflammatories for a few days to see if that would also help settle my shoulder down a bit. Now we have a houseful of anti-inflams, voltarin (aka diclofenac) has seen both BIP and I through a variety of broken bones, torn muscles, strains, sprains and migraines over the years and was once described by a friend of mine as the morning after pill for hockey players of a certain age. Anyway, suffice to say I have never had any problems taking it and it's always contributed admirably to the healing/pain relief process. Until now. On Friday I took a tablet with lunch (because of course I also have some in my work drawer) and then another later at home with dinner. Saturday morning I was sick as a dog. Without going into the sorts of details unwelcome in a cheery little sports blog let's just say that the 'possible side effects may include an upset stomach' was putting it a little mildly. It took most of the day to recover but by Sunday I was fine again, apart from some odd bruises that had appeared on the top of my feet apropos of nothing I could recall. By Monday I was beginning to wonder if it was indeed the voltarin (which seemed so unlikely) and maybe I'd just picked up a 24 hour bug from somewhere. Only one way to find out right? Pop another pill. Tuesday morning I woke up feeling a little odd, and within half an hour the verdict was conclusive - I have developed an inability to stomach (literally!) voltarin. Blast, damn and bugger!! Apart from feeling wretched all of Tuesday right through until I went to bed, it's just so annoying - sometimes anti-inflammatories are the only things that keep me functioning. I need advice, what do other people with sensitive stomachs take instead of voltarin? Needless to say I did not get out on Tuesday night for a run with mc, which I might add I'd been looking forward to this week. By yesterday (Weds) I was fine again, so hit the treadmill for some speed work and hope to get out for a proper road run after work today. Hmph.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Two Runs and a Physio Appointment

So I finally got around to seeing the physio about my shoulder. It seems I have an inflamed rotator cuff, the good news is there don't appear to be any tears, just inflammation, the bad news is that rotator cuffs are notoriously slow to heal. Oh, I also learned that even if something doesn't hurt very much it's not a good idea to wait 3 months before seeing a physio, apparently. Meanwhile back in the world of running I did a 30 min speed interval run on the road yesterday which wasn't as hideous as you might imagine, and then it was back to death by treadmill at the gym lunchtime today. DBT definitely felt easier today than last week which is a good sign and means that perhaps the interval training is paying off as planned, will see how tomorrow evening's mc run is I guess. I still hate my shoes, but they don't rub and there's nothing actually wrong with them so I guess I just have to put up with them and hope they wear out really quickly!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Lovely Lovely Running, Tra la la la

Another treadmill run today. Thirty minutes with the aim of keeping the speed above my comfort zone for most of the run, so the aim was to get used to running while being more out of breath than usual to help fitness, stamina and getting out of that mental panic mode of 'oh my god I can't breath I'm going to die' - there may be some cases where this is true but generally it's not the case. A few weights again afterwards, interestingly although I can't do shoulder press exercises with my dodgy shoulder I can do lat pull downs, which in terms of the movement is just the opposite - mind you I have no idea if that has any significance! I do now have the number of the physio who (mostly) fixed BIP's rotator cuff problem with her shoulder so will give her a call later and see if she can mend me too.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Return of Death By Treadmill

Hot on the heels of my last post (which was of course the last moan before Xmas) here is the new ultra-positive happy me full of joy and bounce! So my experience last night made it clear I have two options, give up running and embrace life as a couch potato (tempting......) or up my fitness levels, and quickly, so I don't have to undergo such horrid running conditions again next week. Of course the best way to up fitness levels quickly is doing interval training, so lunchtime today meant a trip to the gym and a return to my fave. interval treadmill routine (aka death by treadmill) which consists of:
5 min warm up
5 x intervals of 1 min fast, 1 min recovery, 1 min med. pace hill, 1 min recovery
5 min cool down
So a 30 minute power interval run guaranteed to leave me in a heap of red-faced sweatiness (there's an image you'll want to carry round with you for the rest of the day) and instantly boost my fitness by, oooh I don't know, lots of whatever you measure fitness in - ooomphitudes?
I finished up with a few weights and confirmed that my dodgy shoulder is well and truly poked and I should probably take it to a physio at some point soon. But I'm not complaining about, on no sireee.

Last Moan and Whinge Before Xmas

Since I got back from overseas I have spent most of my blogging moaning about how hard it is to get back into running. I realise this probably doesn't make for particularly interesting reading and so hereby decree to cut out the whinging and find something positive to write, at least until Christmas! I had to give myself one last moany blog so I could report on last night's total fail. Went out with the marathon clinic and our group consisted of me, JB2, Lynny and Maury. Unfortunately JB2 was no longer recovering from a run of epic proportions (see last week's mc blog) and so I was well and truly running (or should that be crawling) anchor. I can honestly admit that had I been on my own I'd have given up after about 15 minutes, as I wasn't I had to drag myself round the lake (one lap was torture, this is the lake I was doing four laps of for training only a few months ago!!) I tried to persuade the others to head off once we were halfway round as they were planning a longer run than I could manage, but bless them they stayed with me all the way back to the top of the hill (2 minutes from HQ) and then went their own way. I was less than grateful for this at the time but now send a bit THANK YOU to them as it meant I ran for 50 minutes, considerably longer than I would have had they left me to it. Ugh, it was horrible, miserable and all things bleargh. And I hate my new running shoes. So there.