Made it to the gym on Monday and Wednesday yay. Monday was on the rower for 15mins then treadmill for 15mins, I didn’t want to run for too long as I hadn’t ran two days in a row for ages. I think I tweaked a muscle in my shoulder using the rower, the lev scap attachment at the shoulder blade was a bit tender after and I had a bit of referral pain going into my upper arm, but it was nothing bad and I soldiered on. Wednesday I did a 40min run on the treadmill and it felt pretty darn good. I did wear the SI belt for Wednesday’s run as I felt my pelvis wasn’t 100% stable, it was pretty comfortable to run in and I pulled up well after with no hip/back/quad pain so it did the trick. I’m finding the belt is a fantastic tool to use when I am symptomatic as it seems to help realign everything a little and definitely prevents pain. I don’t want to use it all the time though, or start getting too dependent on it, but I’ll give it 8 weeks of good usage to allow everything to settle (and hopefully for ligaments around right SI to shorten to normal length).

The planned run for Tuesday didn’t eventuate as time got away from me but I had already walked the dogs up some hills in the morning so all wasn’t lost. Today I started clinical pilates again after a two week hiatus (they shut over christmas), she didn’t kill me but she sure made me work hard. I discovered that supermans on a reformer using first arm then leg to move the body are damn hard, but the hardest bit is actually keeping the opposite arm and leg up and steady! I think it re-tweaked my lev scap in the shoulder too as its a bit achey right now

So things are going well. I’m getting excited about choosing my next new meal to cook, will keep you posted. Ciao!

So for me 2011 is the year for CONSISTENT exercise (always has been a struggle for me, can do it for a while but then the novelty wears off and routine goes out the window), and being a bit more adventurous in the cooking department (i.e., cooking more than the 5 or so dishes I keep rotating throughout each week) which is starting with a mushroom and chorizo risotto tonight. I have cooked risotto before, albeit many years ago and it did work, it actually tasted quite good but I just remember it as so much hard work that I haven’t gone back to it since. Yeah… cooking is not my thing obviously…

I started the exercise this year with a gorgeous run today around Lilydale Lake and surroundings. Today was a beautiful day for a run, sunny but not too hot, not much wind but a little to cool you down. Mr G says it was 6.5km, but it felt like less as it was actually the first run that I’ve done for a while where nothing hurt. No hip pain, no niggly pains, nothing, zip, nada. One of those runs where you just float. Bliss

Observant readers will notice that I am kicking off new habits today and quite frankly today is already two days into the new year. So what happened yesterday? Well a wise girl said on NYE that new years day is not the day for starting any resolutions, exercise regimes, diet plans etc, its the day to get over the hangover from new years eve. She may have been slightly tipsy already when she said it but that doesn’t invalidate it. Also I was feeling a bit lazy yesterday, lack of sleep and all that. Oh and a pet peeve, I said “habits” and not “resolutions” because I hate that word, to me it implies short lived intentions as most people don’t keep their new year resolutions. Which, again being frank, I may not keep these habits as habits, or rather they may not become habits in the first place, but the intention is there. Not sure if that made sense but it did in my head and thats all that matters.

So what have I done so far you ask with bated breath? Sunday I went to the gym, 5 mins on the rower and then a 25min run the tready. Yesterday was just a dog walk, and today was back to the gym for again 5mins on the rower and 25min run. I went through a few weeks there where I was on the rower all the time and built it up to 25mins, but now apparently I am a bit bored with it and 5 mins is enough. Also having the SI belt is motivating me to run more to see if it actually does work – if I remember to take it with me that is. I wore it today and it did feel ok, and afterwards hip feel very stable sans belt – placebo effect maybe but I’ll still take it! Long term effect still to be determined…

Thought I’d just pop in and say hi. Hi everyone!

So whats been happening in my incredibly long absence you ask? Lots! But the relevant stuff – well earlier this year I got injured. Stoopid hill reps – I will NEVER do them again! Ok, so it probably wasn’t really the hill reps that were to blame, it really was the fault of my dysfunctional and imbalanced muscular structure – but its so gen Y to blame something other than me so I will. Even though I’m gen X. But anyway it was Ruperts fault making me go up the darn hill! So the reps themselves didn’t actually feel too bad, and we thoroughly warmed up and cooled down. I know I did push myself that last rep to get the same distance or further than the previous reps (which I succeeded at), and form may have suffered as a result, but you never think the consequences of that will last months! Woke up the next morning with my left TFL (front hip) muscle all spasmed up, did some remedial work on myself and then it moved to the right hip. Where it has since stayed. Running has been extremely sporadic since then. Oh I kept trying – for 2 weeks after I was denial that something was wrong and so I continued training as usual. Feeling extremely lopsided at the start of the Mothers Day Classic in Ballarat made me realise that perhaps it was a little more serious…

And now? Well now I still have some issues, my right SI joint is weak and that hip keeps rotating, causing aches in the hip and quad and sometimes the lower back. Its not fixed yet, as its a weakness and only strengthening and time will fix it. Strengtheing I have been doing, I am doing clinical pilates which I absolutely love. Time – well it is passing by fast, after all it is christmas next week! But now there is new hope. I have just purchased what I hope will be my saviour, a Serola SI Belt which is supposed to stabilise the SI joint and prevent the excess movement from the loose ligaments, which should prevent the rotation of the pelvis. Keep it stable long enough and the ligaments should shorten back to normal length and viola! I have a stronger, stabler pelvis. Fingers crossed it does anyway, I want to run without pain again!

Buster in his mud socks

And this one just because we meet so many friendly and gorgeous doggies on our daily walk, and this particular time it was an Afghan Hound who Buster took a liking to…

Buster and The Afghan

Running

I love Mr G! The main thing I love about my cool garmin is the pace and distance info fed to you while you’re running, but there are so many other features that I haven’t used yet. Well, yesterday I programmed an interval workout, which even for a techno-dud like me was surprisingly easy (the programming that is, the running of it was the hard part!). I ended up running 1.9km warm up, 6 x 500m reps with 1:30 standing/walking recovery, and 1.9km warm down. I was a bit nervous about how consistent I would be with my pacing… this was made worse by the fact that the time taken to do the rep wasn’t displayed on my screen while I was running it – argghhhh! But when I checked my splits afterwards I was very happy with the results – 2:04, 2:06, 2:01, 2:04, 2:00, 2:02. The legs were tired towards the end and it was a mental effort to psyche myself up for the last rep but I got through it. Total 6.8km.

And the rest:

Tuesday 17th – 6.5km run around the streets at home.
Monday 16th – Rest day.
Sunday 15th – 14.5km jog on an out and back route with the first 2.5km being mostly downhill, then a lot of small but steep undulations, and of course the last 2.5km mostly uphill. The legs didn’t like that last bit!
Saturday 14th – 6km jog around the trails at home.

Thursday 5th Feb – a leisurely 6km jog with my sister around the Lake that is no longer a Lake in my hometown.

Friday 6th – rest day

Saturday 7th – TOO HOT!! Hottest freakin day Melbourne has seen! I got time in the morning to take the lucky dog Buster to dog paradise, Ruffeys Park – he thought he’d died and gone to doggy heaven bless him. An hours swim plus walk there, plus a half hour dip in the river at Warrandyte a little bit later led to a very tuckered out Buster, and he slept the rest of the day while I was bored out my skull because it was too hot to do anything! Anywhere!

Sunday 8th – rest day just for the hell of it… and because I can be lazy at times hehehe

Monday 9th – 14.5km run around the trail and streets at work – my new work – yays! The legs felt very fresh, courtesy of three days off.

Tuesday 10th – 7km jog around the trails at home, trying to keep it at an easy pace while the legs just wanted to go faster. Reason prevailed and it was a leisurely jog.

Wednesday 11th – 6km with the first 4km progressively getting faster with each kilometre – ended up averaging approx 4:15/km for the last km. 2km warm down to finish off.

Thursday 12th – rest day

Today – 9.7km hilly run around the local streets. It was a great run, I felt strong going up the hills and finished off with the last 5 mins picking the pace up to 4:30/km. Overall average pace was 4:56/km.

I feel fitter, and my training times are coming down even though I’m not conciously going any faster (except for speed stuff when I’m meant to!). I’m able to mostly stick to the “3 days on, 1 day rest” rule which seems to give my body adequate time to recover and adapt. I’m varying my training, including speed and hills, and am slowly increasing the long run. It’s all going really well Now I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it to all fall apart…

On the way there were a couple of stops – I bumped into Em’s partner who was out for his run and stopped to say hello; and I just had to stop to meet the gorgeous long-haired Weimaraner Chad that was on his daily 10km walk. Chad was beautiful, very placid for a Weimaraner – I’ve only met short haired Weimars before and they were all extremely boisterous and energetic, especially my old friend Hunter the Wonder Dog who was indefatigable, a 30+km run didn’t wear him out! I miss Hunter…

Tuesday I got out for a 7km run in the morning while it was still a bit cool – and what is it with these hot days but cool mornings anyway??? It’s not autumn yet! Monday was a rest day after 3 days straight, and Sunday I went for a very enjoyable 13km jog along the Warby Trail. The plan is to build up the long runs to eventually around 1:45-2hrs, but slowly, slowly so as to not to flare up my old nemesis, my temperamental left ITB.

A late session tonight along the trail near home. The almost cool temperatures were perfect running conditions and inspiration for an impromptu touch of speed. 1km warmup then 3 x 1000m reps with 500m jog recovery, 7km total with cool down. I was pretty darn happy with the reps too, they were very consistent – 4m12s, 4m13s, 4m15s. And I’m getting a little bit of speed back YAY.

Another door has closed on my past today. This last week I have been feeling frustrated and angry, over things I can’t change but found hard to accept… but today there is just relief.

And to finish off – a huge happy birthday to Jay, have an awesome day

Yesterday was a rest day, partly because it was so freakin hot but mostly because I’d already had 3 days running in a row, the last of which was a speed session on the treadmill on the wednesday. 6x500m reps with 300m recovery, total 6km. The cooldown was a bit short as I had a client due, and I wanted to make sure I stretched my glutes properly.

It’s the animals I feel sorry for, having to endure this heat. Buster The Wonder Dog only stops panting to sleep, and his walks are getting much earlier to avoid the glare of the sun. The dogs are being kept inside in the relative cool as much as possible. Cinnamon, one of the pet rabbits, unfortunately didn’t make it through the extreme temperatures and passed away yesterday. It’s so sad, she had plenty of water and cover, but it was just too hot even in the shade.

Australia Day has come and gone – in fact January has pretty much come and gone, only a few days left. In keeping with my new found resolve to make the most of every public holiday, I took the day off. Mandatory Oz Day bbq was enjoyed, as was a hilly 9.6km run. Although not as hilly as Em & Michelle who decided to literally climb a mountain on the weekend, crazy girls . My run compared to theirs was mildly undulating.

An easy 6km yesterday in the morning heat that was saved from being brutal by a cool breeze, it was a very pleasant run. I found it much much hotter after I stopped running, and the amount of sweat that came pouring out then, well I could fill dams! Is it just me or does everyone sweat so copiously after a run, much more than during? Or is just more noticeable because there’s no breeze to dry it out?

Buster is struggling a little with the heat, morning walks are getting earlier and earlier but then so is the heat. He still has fun, finding lots of smells and things to sniff, people to say hello to and get pats from, dogs bums to sniff, the sweaty legs of the odd runner cooling down to lick (lucky this guy was a dog lover!). This morning he found a nice patch of dirt, mud and leaves to roll in. Well I’m hoping it was just dirt, mud and leaves, but it does have a bit of a suspicious odour emanating from it…