Knieval IS Evil

You know you're gonna be in biiig trouble when on the training menu is:

Evil Knieval Workout

I had to plan my day to get to the gym when I knew it would be quiet. I needed the tready, then some floor space, then back on the tready, and to repeat that a few times. The gym I sometimes visit has limited cardio equipment - two good treadys, 2 of those old wind up thingys. On Saturday mornings, you gotta line up 15mins before opening and run to the cardio equipment like boxing day sales, or you miss out. There's this evil gang of grannies who gang up on the youngies and put their towel on to save it for their friend. If you ask kindly if you can get on "no, that's for Evelyn" quite huffedly! 20 mins later... well I could've done my workout.... Anyway going off track there, in peak hour if I jumped off my machine, I'd never get it back, so I went at 2pm.

Only one more-mature lady was on a good tready (and she was a nice one! lol) so I snatched the other. Did my thang on it then got my floor space, and said to the nice lady, and another older gent who had grabbed a different machine behind me, "You'll have to excuse me if I start to make noises, I'm trying some new exercises".

I think I frightened them. ;) The man left not long after I was back on the tready and kept sneaking looks at me - I'm sure it was to make sure I hadn't passed out :P

A few others came and went throughout the period of time I was running and jumping and stumbling around. I kept 'feeling' attempted-discreet looks... whether it was what on earth is she doing or gee she's making a lot of noise or why would you push yourself that hard or IS SHE INSANE, while they continued with the same-pace-for-four-hours-coz-we're-too-posh-to-break-a-sweat type workout.

To cut a long story short coz I've gotta go to bed ;), The Evil Knieval Workout IS evil, and I can't wait to do it again!!!

I'll let you know tomorrow if my legs work :)

Body De-Clutter

Keeping in theme with the previous post...

I almost piked my 10km run this arvo. But there was no excuse. Is there ever? I always know how good I'll feel after, once the urge to throw up is gone. This wasn't an important run or anything, but I just don't know how to go easy when there's others racing too, it just drives me to push harder and hit the vomit zone.

We had an 'incentive'. The race was sponsored so the first 10 across the line (handicapped start) won $25 each. Well didn't that bring out the competitive streaks in some! A few PBs were broken today. It was quite funny! :P

I came in 7th (yay, I got $25!!) in a time I was pleased with - 48.53. Only a minute off my best ever, actually I think today's time is my second best then?! Gotta be happy with that :)

Felt good to blow out some steam, get some sugar out of the body... didn't make some wise choices today, moving on though... (if I put it in small writing, maybe no one will be able to read that part) de-clutter the system...

Mission accomplished.

My goal this week is to eat exactly as specified, none of 'just a bit of this or that' and fit in every training session as specified. Even if I'm be Queen Bitch by the end of the week. Maybe Rob will end up in tears this time ;P

Cleaning Up My Life

I've been heaps stressed lately, business is soooo crazy busy, which is GREAT, but I wasn't prepared mentally for the onslaught I've had the past month. It all just builds up and up and up... until last night it burst. I burst. Into tears, over absolutely nothing. Then I couldn't even explain to Rob why I was crying - he thought he'd done something wrong, again ;)

I've been feeling like everything is just out of control...... One thing that has been better is my eating; by no means perfect, but I'm going nutz with it when I'm stressed like I have been known to do... I make time to train; time will never find me. I try my best to fit it all in, and I have been doing well, if I say so myself. ;)

I don't know what went so wrong yesterday - I had a sleep in till 6.30am; went to RPM and ripped it up in the 1hour extreme class; went to work; got groceries... ya know, the normal stuff. Started to get a bit tired, which I didn't expect after sleeping in... Contemplated having a nana nap, but turned that thought off - had to prepare meals...

Looked at my bedroom, it was a shambles. Out of control. Just crap everywhere; not grotty stuff, just paperwork, clothes to put away in drawers that are too full; articles, research books, you name it, it's in there... I started to get grumpy.

Was going out last night, so tried on a kazillion items. Too tight, too cold, too daggy, too out-of-date... The voice starts... why the hell did you eat that cake, these damn jeans feel tight... Got pissed off. The cupboard was out of control - full of stuff I've horded for years. I don't throw stuff out. "One day that will come back in fashion; one day I will look good in that again; but that was my 21st birthday top; I can't get rid of that!!" etc etc etc...

I finally got something on that looked semi-decent, and got in my car. It was out of control... (noticing a theme here) - marketing fliers, equipment, gym towels, gloves, shoes etc... I looked at it and burst into tears. And I had make-up on.

Today was Clean Up My Life Day. Starting with the car. It's spotless now.

Then the drawers... "Workout Gear" drawer is the fullest and most used one. All the old stuff is gone now! It was hard to part with some LJ stuff, but if it hadn't been worn in 6 months, it got the sack.

Same with pyjamas; underwear; casual clothes; good clothes... etc etc etc. Some stuff hadn't been worn in at least 5 years, but I kept it just in case. In case of what, I still don't know...
4 full bags later, I can breathe again.

I vow to never be a horder again.

I'm a control freak, my 'stuff' got out of control, so I felt out of control. Funny how by physically de-cluttering I feel mentally de-cluttered as well. Can't wait to attack my shoes next.... ;)

(I have old runners that 'just cost so much' that even though they've done 1000+kms, I can't get rid of them. They'll be my gardening shoes... what garden. Or I'll mow in them... I mowed once when I was 18 - for a bottle of vodka.)

PSYCHO?

After the blah-ness of yesterday I'm feeling really good today :) Sometimes I do wonder if I have a split personality disorder :P

Trained upper body today, after it finally recovered from last Friday's smashing. I don't know what I did different but I was so sore I couldn't do anything without severe pain! I did train at the gym though - as opposed to by myself in the studio - so I subconsciously must have went harder with other people around... I was feeling like the cat that caught the pigeon when 2 different men asked me "what's that exercise, and what's that working". I should have had Liz's business card there... ;) Or just subtly handed them mine :P Next time I go, betchya the whole gym is doing that exercise... HA!!!j/k ;)

I missed RPM today - how devastating :( The only day a week I can usually make it. My chiro appt went late; if I broke all the road rules I would have got there in time, but with the rain and roadworks (of course, all at the same time) traffic was crawling. It took 15mins to get 1km. I should have just ran :P

On that note, good quote...

"You have to forget your last Marathon before you try another.

Your mind can't know what's coming."

Frank Shorter

BLAH

That's today. I feel BLAH, and have the mojo levels and care-factor of a dead fly. I'm blaming the weather - it's raining. I'm really tired too, but that's not the rain's fault. And by typing away here I'm procrastinating... there is much weight training to be done, not alot of mojo to do it with.

For the first weekend in a while I got one to myself. Didn't have to work on Sunday as I have been and I wasn't out of town. I could do nothing if I pleased. I sacrificed going to the 'big' social event of the year (well, you'd think. Remember, small town - not a lot to do!). The annual Wine and Food Fest. Every Bob, Sally and Joe went - except my sis and I - we did the visiting thing. I knew if I did go I'd eat too much and end up pissed. Not the ideal prep for a 16km Club Championship Race at 6.30am the next moring...

I was up at 4.45am on Sunday, do the ritual and head to the other side of town for the run. I did OK :) 1.24.11. I had no reason to feel sluggish; I'd rested up well. Felt OK in the beginning of the run but it got tougher after that. I lost sight of the people I train with at about 5kms, not sure what they had for breakfast! My 10km split was 51.34... to give you an idea, the 10km mark in the Gold Coast half was 50.40. So I was struggling a bit. I got caught and overtaken by a few people at 10kms, I was frustrated with me at first, but then not concerned. I decided I wanted to finish the race and not be ratsh!t for the rest of the day... by pushing it I wasn't going to gain any ground, or change my position - overall or in my age group.

Last time I did the exact same course in 2006, my time was 1.29.55. Beat it :P Was still slower than the 16km mark in the GC half, but hey, I'm still recovering from that ;P.

I'm definitely feeling like I'm on the down-side of my huge peak I had earlier in the year. Everyone else in the club is getting faster in comparison to earlier in the year; whereas I'm slowing down. But that's cool, there's only a few months left and I've achieved all I've wanted to - more than I really believed I could, so I can't ask for more than that.

All that's left for 'important' races is a 3km and 1.6km bolt. I would like to shake my 3km PB around. CAN I?? Continual And Never-ending Improvement is all I can ask for ;)

SUCKER!

I got caught out (again) with strategically placed marketing. A handful of groceries to go through the express lane at the supermarket; a larger than normal line-up; all the bright colourful magazines to stare at. Good Health & Medicine had a free gift - a pair of Everlast socks and sweatband - valued at $13!! - so of course in that split second before I had my turn at the check-out, it ended up in my basket.

Last time it happened was with Women's Health mag earlier in the year. Another free pair of socks. Which I've worn a total of once. As bedsocks.

Definition of Driving Me Insane...

Check email early morning at work.
See new email has arrived with program attached.
Client walks in door, no time to open the attachment. ARGH!!
It had to sit there, unread, for FOUR hours as clients were back to back.
I could hardly contain myself.
For an impatient girl and one that gets excited at any non-junk email, let alone a NEW program, that was pure torture!!

Been crazy busy this week, to the point that something happened that I thought was impossible. I forgot to eat. Miss Piggy here who eats everything, forgot to eat. Then when I did remember, I was too busy to make the effort to put it in the microwave. It was a belated lunch, but better late than never :P

The poor bod is screaming this week. Different leg session on Monday then a home spin session; Tuesday was new upper body program - OUCH - and an run training session with faster efforts - not good on legs that won't work.

Today was an 'easy' day - only RPM. They did an old release, and it was FUUUUN!! Being only a return-RPMer for the past 4ish months, I like hearing all the older songs, as I know the lastest ones off by heart. Nerd I am.

That's my week in a big nutshell. Tomorrow I'm getting smashed with work, then racing off for IPL session number 4. I lurve getting my hair zapped, it's nearly all gone!!! :)

A huge congrats to all the competitors from the All Females on the weekend! I've had a stick-beak at some pics, no chance to congratulate you all though :)

I Could be the New Nike Model

For the 'Run Yourself Ugly' Campaign...

Check out these pics of me in my glory finally sighting and stumbling over the finish line last weekend.

Pics courtesy of marathon-photos.com.

The starting field... I'm the black dot in there!

I must be flying, look at the hair bouncing around. HA!

The serious face. Hey look at all those men I'm beating!!! ;)

One word - UGLY ;P LOL
Now I'd love a souvenir, but do I really want to purchase pics looking like that!?!? hehe

GOOD LUCK!!!

To all the girls competing today!! Have a great time and enjoy yourselves up on stage :) Looking forward to seeing lots of pics of everyone's hard work!!

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I had a sleep-in today. First one in weeks. Gosh it was good. OH was up at 5.30am to go to work (sucker!), that's when I thought, 'OH NO, I've missed my run!' as that's when we usually start on Saturday morning. Then I realised, it's a rest weekend. Aaaaaaaahhhhhh. And drifted back to sleep with a smile on my face I'm sure.

As good as I feel from the extra sleep time, I've also got the guilty little voice saying 'well, when now are you going to do your training today huh?'.

I think sacrificing sleep to not feel like a lazy sloth may have been a better option.... MAYBE ;)

So What's Next??

With my Finisher's Medal - and see, it's Gold!! If I only turned it round a bit better...

For a long time now I've been focused on this up-coming run, or that up-coming run, that I was looking forward to the day that I didn't have to worry so much about "what's next". I still have 3 months left in my local competitive run season, and only 3 Club Championship Races - which are the important ones people - the runs I can win points towards a coveted trophy!! (Not that I'm hungry for a trophy or anything) ;)

Now that the big one - the Gold Coast half - is all over, I was expecting to sigh in relief, but quite the opposite - I want another "what's next?"!! I guess I've become so used to having a big goal, that the smaller ones coming up don't seem as important.

So, this is my plan...

I'll continue on with my running coach till my training with him is due for renewal, which is end of the season. Since November last year in my off-season, I was doing what the other club runners have called my 'secret training' - because with the runs and times I was pumping out, no one - except for me of course - knew where they come from!! Those days and weeks of training till I almost passed out around the back streets and cane paddocks really did pay off. After a few years of no real gains, he finally helped me to some break-through performances. I've re-written most of my PBs and I know I can continue to get better!!! From September to December I'll recycle and re-jig the training plans he gave me last year, and see how I do 'going it alone'. January will start the serious training again - getting ready for the BIG one - my first marathon!!

On the flip side - now that all my long runs are out of the way, I'm excited to focus again on gaining some more muscle! For the past month I've had expert advice in assisting me with that, and keeping my food on track, without hindering my running performances. Yes, unfortunately I do want it all - run speed, endurance, muscle, to look hot! - even though it may not be complimentary! If anyone can help me in that direction it's Liz :) We're going to be focusing more on doing the short, sharp stuff and gaining more speed - just in time for the 3km and 1.6km races! Watch me as I try to defy science and gain muscle, burn fat as well as run lots! LoL. Of course nothing is simple with me... I do do my best to be a pain in the butt!

I must admit I'm very excited to try some of the sessions that are in store. Bet you I'll be taking that line back very quickly!!

So there, that's what's on my agenda. I have a plan, I have a goal, I have my "What's Next!!".

Back to Earth

With a thud :)

My body (and brain) weren't very impressed with a 4.30am wake-up call. No chance to catch up on or to have any extra rest before straight back into work! I hobbled all day due to the whopping blisters... (isn't it pwetty!!!)

Needless to say I had another rest day which ended with a massage. That was just what the doctor ordered :)

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The nite after the half on the Goldy, we went out for drinks to celebrate my PB. Or that was the excuse anyway. We ended up at the Minus 5 Ice Lounge. That was an experience!!! Everything made of ice, including the glass we drank from.

All dressed up and ready to go...

My friend all rugged up - this pic gives a good look at everything made of ice.
Me looking... angelic?!?!

It was cool in there! No pun intended :P

Part #2

I made it!!!!
Friday

- Arrived in Brisvegas and got in our little hired Hyundai Getz, so cute those cars are! We were Victorian for the weekend according to the number plates.
- It took 2 and a half flipping hours to get from Brisbane airport to Helensvale. All we needed was a shopping centre before they closed, and got to Helensvale Westfield at 5.00pm.
- Surprise visited my aunty and uncle who I used to live with down there at the same time :)
- Weather was crap. Rainy and windy. We had an apartment right in Surfers on the beach. The wind was howling all night though, it was hard to sleep.

Saturday

- Weather was a nightmare - we went straight to buy umbrellas and rain poncho thingys.
- Collected my race gear from the precint which was part of the Asics Sport & Leisure Expo. Oh I love expos!!
- I met Pat Carroll :) Legend he is ;)

- Spent some dosh - bought some 2xu compression tights - my OHs opinion was that they made my legs look leaner than the skins, so there was no way I wasn't going to buy them!! ;) I was due for more anyway, one pair to run in, one for recovery.

- Caught up with Kristy briefly at the Expo.

- Did lots more shopping that day at Harbourtown :) Shoes... need I say more! I found them in size 5!!! YAY!

- Nice big carb-up meal on Saturday night, and into bed as early as possible, but had a very interrupted sleep with the howling wind.

Sunday - THE BIG RUN :)

4.30am wake-up, shower, breakfast and off to the bus. Crammed in at the start-line as close as possible to the sub 1:50 pace runner - which was a fair way from him.

For 3kms I overtook people - obviously the majority of runners didn't read the etiquette part of the entry form - to align yourself with the pace runners equivalent to the time you expect to run. And yes people there is a huge difference between sub 1:50 and sub 2:00 hours!!! I finally caught the red balloons I had to follow at about the 3km mark. I felt awesome, the legs were turning nicely, I promised to have pasta more often the night before :)

About 6-7kms the pacer got a bit slow. I didn't want to change rhythm, so continued with my same pace, and went past him, and ended up catching the other red balloons - on track to do a lower 1:49ish run. As soon as I felt I was going maybe a touch too fast, I slowed it, I wasn't planning on going nuts or letting ego get in my way! I couldn't believe how great I felt, I was ON TRACK!! It was surreal - bod was feeling good, my lungs were hardly being challenged :) I only just started getting pins & needles and numb feet - mainly in my right foot which I'd strapped.

Went through the 10km mark in 50:40. Whoa! I was shocked, and still felt good :) Felt a mammoth blister, but sucked it up. By now both feet were numb. Probably a good thing!

Had my gel at 11km mark. Made the mistake of not having enough water with it. About 14kms my mouth was dry, I couldn't swallow properly and I started losing form. And my legs were starting to feel it. Hence the pace slowed a bit.

I damn well missed the next drink station, so had dry mouth syndrome for another 2kms when I had a short little walk as I was drinking. It's a fine line between quenching the thirst and dry mouth and drinking too much and getting one of my infamous crippling stitches...

It was while I was re-hydrating that the first set of red balloons went past. No worries I thought, just keep the legs turning. But after having a walk, they didn't want to move. The couldn't. That's when the swearing started...

Then the 2nd lot of red balloons went past! OMG!! Then I felt the self-inflicted pressure... "C'MON". Everything went kaput after that. My legs just couldn't move how I wanted them too. I couldn't work out how I went from feeling awesome to crumpling so quick... that's never happened before. It's either a bad run from the start, or a good run from the start with usual exertion pain at the end. ;)

I didn't bother to look at my watch or pacing chart after that, I didn't want to create any extra pressure, I just had to make it to the end in one piece.

At 18kms I felt a 'lift'. There was one girl walking, and another ran past her at the same time as I did and yelled encouragement "c'mon, just keep your legs going for another 15mins", so I took on the advice too. The encouragement from everyone was fantastic.

The last 3kms were absolute pain. I felt like I was crawling, but I snuck a look at the watch and maybe just maybe I could do a low 1:50ish time. Didn't dare pressure me though as passing out was a more likely outcome.

It was so exciting to see people lining the streets and cheering! I saw the finish line so put the big sprinter legs in. The clock was at 1:52:40 (gun time) something so I knew I must have been fairly close, but knew I didn't do it. I had to sit as soon as I finished, but was quickly made to stand and ushered through to the 'recovery area'. Good thing too, considering thousands more were to come through and if we all sat down... Remembered to stop clock as I was collapsing and it read 1:50:16. Damn I thought and took off 6 seconds for my delay in stopping it.

Found a tree in recovery area and sat beside it, almost comatose. So of course the Gold Coast Bulletin thought that would be a good picture to take.......... so I'm a star in yesterday's paper. Pic and a mini interview. Which they totally concocted. I so did not say half that stuff! And apparently I'd run the marathon too!

Mosey-ed around trying to find OH which didn't take toooo long. Hung around a bit then home for shower and relax :)

This was the view from our motel.

Saw the official results on-line yesterday and was almost devastated to see I only missed the magic mark I'de set, by five seconds! See if I didn't walk that drink-stop.... ;)

Here's me yesterday on the balony yesterday morning with the sun-rise, before we drove back to the airport. In my Finisher's T-Shirt, which I've hardly taken off ;) lol

What I gained:

- 2 mammoth blisters on each foot. Size of a distorted 50c piece.

- a blood blister on one toe, just to add some more colour

- a bruise 5cms below my belly button. I think it's from the compression tights - they have a skinny drawstring which must have been compressed into me!

- I've got chafing in a lovely place. Again bloody compression tights. Compressed my butt very well - keeping it all in place and together, so guess where the chafing is!! Didn't find that one till I hit the shower and got the stinging feeling!

- Sore abs!!! And ribs!

- Dead legs - only quads though.

What I learnt

- To not strap my foot (with a different type of strapping being used for the first time) in a big event!! The pain of the blisters was way worse than the maybe-pain from the right foot which still isn't 100%.

- To stick with the pace runners, even if they are going a little too slow. They still got over the line before me, which is the whole point :)

- That pasta is GOOOOOD the nite before. I'm not a pasta eater usually, but I felt full of beans, for the most part, anyway :)

I'm so stoked that I smashed by last PB from a month ago by 3 and a bit minutes!! And I know I could have gone under 1:50 if I really knew I was that close. Always next one!!

Over and out...

Blisters, Bruises, Pins and Needles and Dead Legs - My Gold Coast Experience!

The Short of it...

I did it, and I did it well :) AND a new PB in the bag thank-you very much!! Cause I 'crashed' quite badly in my local half only a month ago, I didn't re-set the sub 1hr 50m goal, I just wanted to enjoy the big run and have fun :)

Net time: 1:50:05. SO CLOSE, yet so far!!!!!!! Surely I could have found five seconds somewhere!!

Gun time: 1:52:44, so it did take quite a while to get to the actual start line after the gun went off!

Now, this is the fun part - if you get excited over numbers and stuff like I do ;)

There were 6848 starters.

6278 finished.

I finished 2,178th overall - I estimated maybe in the top half, so pretty happy with that!

567th female - now that's sounding nice - of 2956 that finished.

128th in category of F25-29 years old. (558 in total).

I've run 3 half marathons in total now, and each time I've chopped 3 and a bit minutes off the previous race, so I can't complain about that. (So if I apply that, next one I should do a 1:47 run... lol!) ;)

Will I go back next year - hell yes :) But I wanna do the BIG one ;)

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And the Long of it!!

to be continued....

;)

I Made it!!

11 straight days of work, the shortest being on the weekend - 2 eight and a half hour days :) I'm OVER IT it is an understatement ;) Very tired, mentally and bodily :) Training has sucked a bit lately, but I'll just say I'm doing a maaajor taper before the half on Sunday :)

So Lyndsay and I caught up last Thursday on her way thru town to Cairns. I'll steal the pic from her blog that we took in my studio- she's looking G-R-E-A-T, and I'm in my uniform, looking... short.

Friday I did my last long run of one and a half hours. I felt like death warmed up after it. One of my trainers ended up in hospital really really sick last Thursday so I prayed I didn't have what he's got. So we were one man down staff-wise which threw a spanner in, but at least he's OK now.

Monday - my new spin bike arrived!! Sooo excited, but haven't yet had a ride on it :( Got to put it together first :)

I did RPM on Wednesday and it just didn't feel good. I had to stop coz I thought I was going to fall off the bike... ;) Got a bit dizzy and hot and cold flushes, but I'm putting it down to no cardio since the afore mentioned death run last Friday! What won't kill me will only make me stronger right ;)

Today well, was today. I was the only human in QLD to not watch the footy last nite. Hey this grandma needs sleep! However the obsanities and cheers from the neighbours told me what was going on... *sigh*. My first 2 clients starting from 5.30am this morning crawled in and said "You're so lucky I'm here", being my cheery self at that time of the morning, I grumbled back "No buddy, you're lucky you're here" LoL. He knows how much trouble he's in next session to stand me up at that time of the morning!

And today my other staff member has the vomitting, so we're man down again. So along with end of financial year reports and getting the group certificates out etc etc etc it's been a crazy two weeks, but I'm alive.

Went for a run this afternoon, first one since the again mentioned death run from last Friday, to blow the cobwebs out and I felt really good. Hope my legs feel like that on Sunday! One more slooow jog in the morning then that's it. I'm setting no goals this time, just to enjoy the day and the atmosphere! I'm catching up with Kristy on Saturday so that will be nice!

YAY! I get to go on an airplane tomorrow!!!!!! I'll be back next week with results!

And while the camera's out, here's a pic from 2 weeks ago when OH and I did our road trip up to Airlie Beach for the day on our Show Holiday. How nice does that look!!! (the water, not the boy) ;)