kb land

Week 11/52 - mostest proudest.

2012-03-02T10:27:00.001+11:00

This week I rode the post Husky roller coaster of emotions. The high of my huge PB at Husky was rapidly followed but a gut wrenching low and I spent the first few days of this week just trying to keep my head above water.

But I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. That's all I can do.

I'll be working on my Husky race report over the weekend. And I apologize to Cheezels that there are no Food Photos in this update. I promise to try harder next time.

Monday
AM DBH run session. Intervals one day after Husky hurt but it was good to be right back into it. And the hurt was a good distraction.

PM 2km swim. My right shoulder has been niggling a little. It was fine at Husky but it complained a bit during this swim. So I made an appointment to see my uber physio, Dr Pain.

My crossfit box at Leichhardt.

Tuesday
It was raining when I woke up so I didn't get up for my ride. I stayed in bed, slept in and woke up feeling blue. Damn you Kevin!!!

Knowing that I always feel better once I get up and going I got up and got going. I went to a 1030am Crossfit class at Leichhardt. I can't remember what the workout was but I remember it hurting. These sessions are tough tough tough but I love them so much. There's nothing like ending a session with 60 ab mat sit ups to wake your belly up :-)

Wednesday
AM DBH Hills session. I ran most of this with Chris from Vision PT. Her longest run to date was 5.5km. You can imagine how over the moon she was when I told her that she had run 7.5km of hills. Nice work Watto.

PM Big swim session. 3.8km set at AKAC. My shoulder really started to grumble.

Little Boy

Thursday
AM ride. I can't remember the distance or what I did but it would have been intervals and the distance was probably around 25km. I took some time out to sit by the river - it's very peaceful. Here's a photo of Little Boy, my trusty steed.

PM Track. I had 10 x 400m on my program and it was a hot night. Matt said to do half, have a few minutes rest and then do the other half. Previously my 400m time was around 2:20-2:24. My time had been gradually betting better so I was pretty chuffed to finish the session with my slowest 400m at 2:10.

Friday
This was supposed to be another swim but I was a bit concerned about my shoulder so I called it a rest day.

Saturday
Big Ride Day.
It was supposed to be 150km. It was an unusually warm day. Dad and I decided to ride the Big 5 Hills - Galston Gorge, Berowra Waters, Mt White (out to Calga interchange), Pie in the Sky and Bobbin Head. I'm really not sure why?

We got back to the cars and I had 135km on my Garmin. So I turned around and went back out and rode another 5km to make it 140km. I know there's not much difference between 135km and 140km but mentally for me there's a huge difference. Out of the whole day I was mostest proudest of those last 5km. And also proud that Dad told me he was proud of me. Thanks Dad!

Here's a few photographic highlights.

I fed this maggie while waiting for Dad to arrive.

It was very misty at Berowra Waters.

There were lots of riders out. This is them gathering on the Berowra ferry.


Dad enjoying a mocha at Pie in the Sky. I had apple juice, sports drink and 2 slices of raisin toast. I needed the fuel.

Sunday
For some crazy reason we decided that it would be fun to get up at 4am, pick up AK and Ice, and drive to the Blue Mountains for a bush run. We were all entered in the 19km option. Easy right? It was so wet. Mud and water everywhere. Very sloppy and then it started to rain. Also the course was HILLY. I bailed at the 13km short course turn around and headed back. It still took me 2:30ish to cover 13km so it was pretty tough going. I scored 2 leeches for my trouble but really enjoyed a good sausage sanga after.


One of the hills. Vertical climb anyone?

Rob & I at Woodford Dam - the 13km short course turn around. Rob had caught me on the way back from the 19km option.


My running shoes after our bush run.

Sunday afternoon we went to the cricket to watch Australia play India in a one day match. We got to hang out in a corporate box. Very nice and really the only way to enjoy the cricket.

The cricket - as seen from a corporate box.

That's all. Love kb.

Week 10/52 - better late than never.

2012-02-25T16:40:00.000+11:00

I'm making a few changes to this post and then publishing it - pronto. I've been faffing all week. The problem is that I didn't record my sessions very well this week which means I can't figure out my cumulative totals for the week and Ironman training to date. So I'm not posting totals anymore.

Monday
AM The usual Monday morning run interval session. I love this routine. I was pretty happy with this session given that I did my longest run in ages yesterday (18km). I wasn't too sore, my legs warmed up nicely and I felt pretty good. Probably about 7km.

PM Swim at AKAC. This is now my regular Monday afternoon swim session. 2km straight which I do using a pool buoy to give my legs a little rest after the weekend's activities (51:39 today). I'm feeling good in the water. There was only one other swimmer in my lane who I lapped a number of times. I am so fast!!

Tuesday
AM brick session. Tuesdays have become early start day so I'm up at 420am and out at Homebush by 5am so I can start riding at 515am. Yawn. Today I rode Rusty for the first time since Forster Ultimate Triathlon last October. He has his race wheels on and is all ready for my races at Huskisson this weekend. He is so nice to ride. 30km bike + 3km run.

Rusty & I at Gold Coast Half Ironman 2010

This is Rusty at Port Macquarie May 2011

Wednesday
AM DBH Hills session probably another 7km or so. I did swim today I think and I'm pretty sure it would have been another delightful 3km + swim set.

Thursday
AM This ended up being a cruisy ride around Sydney Olympic Park with a few efforts thrown in. Probably around 25km.

PM Balance 5km Bolt instead of track. Again I predicted 29:59 and finished somewhere near 30:30?? It was really windy. I'm blaming the wind for another hit and miss at sub 30 mins for 5km.

Friday
AM swim. This was supposed to be a mega swim session but I just didn't have the oomph. So in the end I swam 1.2km nice and easy.

PM travel to Huskisson for a big, exciting race weekend.

Saturday
Husky Enticer (300/8/2) with Mum. See my Husky race report to follow soon.

Sunday
Husky Long Course Triathlon (2/83/20). See my Husky race report to follow soon.

Week 9/52 - building toughness.

2012-02-13T09:39:00.001+11:00

A huge solid week of training.

Monday
AM Run intervals (again) 6.5km today. My leggies were tired and didn't want to work but they warmed up eventually and I got the session done.

PM Swim 2km straight (52:52). My legs were tired so I treated them to a swim with my pull buoy. LPAC was almost empty and the water was beautiful and clear. Bliss. Thanks for the company Nicole!

Tuesday
AM brick session at Sydney Olympic Park. This session was slightly interrupted when one of the girls from our club came off her bike. My special first aid skills were required to make sure she was ok which thankfully she was. Helmets are very important - she would have had a nasty head injury without one.

28.2km on the bike and 1km run.

At around 10am I met Nicole and Louise for a wet suit swim at Clovelly. The tide was high and the seas rough so Clovelly was a bit like a washing machine. But you can never count on a perfectly flat sea on race day so in we went. A cuppa after was the perfect way to warm up.

And in the middle of my day I made choc chip muffins.

Wednesday
AM DBH hill session. I really surprised myself in this session when I clocked a 7 min/km AND it was on HILLS. At first I thought my Garmin was making a mistake but then I ran another, and another, and another. There really IS some speed in these little leggies. I ran with Phil the Truckie, thanks Phil.

7.5km run total for the session.

PM MEGA SWIM. I met my sister at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre for this swim. I got there early because I had 3.8km swim set to get through which included 15 x 200m as the main set.

Afterwards I had a hunger that just couldn't be satisfied. I ate a Hammer Bar, a cheese sandwich, a chocolate muffin (home made), a sushi roll and a hot chocolate - all within an hour of finishing my swim. Thanks Sis for the company today.

3.9km total swim (because I managed to swim 100m too far).

My new Garmin arrived today - oh joy!!!

Thursday
AM more bike intervals at SOP. I just didn't have much energy today. I got through the session but really struggled to get my heart rate over 130bpm. I've had a chat with the coach and next week I'm going to do this session on the home trainer so I can get my HR in the right zone.

26.1km ride total

Thursday Crossfit session

1030 am Crossfit class. I love these sessions. Today started off with some bench presses before we got to the main workout. I did 5 x 5 reps building up the weight each time. My maximum was 37.5kg. This is a little off my best but I was pretty happy. The main workout is in the photo right. 70 burpees!!!!!!!

PM Track 10 x 300m with 100m walk recovery.

4km run total and Thai for dinner with Rob after the session.

A foodphoto - our favourite Thai entree.

Friday
The lesson for today is to get my session done early. I slept in and put off my swim until later in the day. Then I had every excuse not to do it. Lets call today a rest day shall we.

Saturday
120.3km ride Yeah baby!!!!!

No Dad for company today because there was track work between the Central Coast and Sydney - this meant Dad got to the train station and found there were no trains so he went home. I rode solo.

It was misty and rainy early on my ride.

And I saw chickens - Brooklyn Bridge chickens.

Sunday
Run baby run. Kurnell race 3 was on today so I decided to run to the race from Dolls Point which would give me around 18km. I teamed up with AK for company and we started running in the dark at 5:15am to get to Kurnell in time to watch the race and cheer. My plan was to run at about 8-8:30 mins/km. How wrong was I?? - it must have been the great company.

Here are my 1km splits: 7:25, 7:21, 7:30, 7:18, 7:26, 7:12, 7:38, 7:30, 7:20, 7:28, 7:21, 7:11, 7:05, 7:09, 7:16, 7:12, 7:16 & 7:10.

Total of 18.6 glorious kms in 2:16. Average pace of 7:19. Thank you so much AK for the company and the amazing run. A KB PB in Husky is looking likely.

One of my favourite pieces of literature. Love Dr Seuss.

*Totals for the week (IM cumulative total):
Swim - 5.9km (17.6 km)
Bike -174.6km (635.8km)
Run - 37.6km (130.3km)
Strength: Crossfit Women

*17.5 hours of training (63).

Week 8/52 - is this a rest week?

2012-02-06T17:08:00.000+11:00

Monday
AM Run intervals 7km
PM 30 minute recovery swim 1.2km

Tuesday
AM Indoor trainer session because I slept in. 60 mins of lung busting intervals in the shed while watching The Circle. Mindless tv to keep me distracted during a tough session. I'm calling it 30km

Wednesday
AM DBH hills session. Another 7km.

Thursday
AM Ride at SOP. 28.4km including 4 x 6 min efforts on 6 mins recovery
Crossfit Women 3 pullups/5 dips x5
110 skips, 50kb swings, 85 skips, 50 lunges, 110 skips, 40 weighted ab mat crunches

PM Track 10 x 400m. It was raining, I was sore and grumpy. The radar looked like crap and I tried really hard not to have to go. But I did go and it wasn't so bad. Each 400m interval hurt like crazy - so there!

This is why I didn't want to go to track.

But I went anyway and splashed through puddles

Mushrooms on Toast at The Armoury Wharf Cafe.

Friday
6.5km walk with my sister at SOP. It was raining and we walked anyway. A really enjoyable walk followed by Mt Everest of mushies on toast for lunch.

Saturday
114km ride. Solo this time as dad was busy doing an Audax ride from the Central Coast. 5 hours and 22 mins at an average speed of 21.1km for me. I'm testing my nutrition and alternating hammer bars with perpetuem and it seems to be working well. I may just need to eat a little more though as I was starting to get a bit hungry towards then end of the ride.

Little Boy hanging out in Ku Ring Gai Chase National Park.

Sunday
AM 2.9km swim set. This is the swim set I missed on Wednesday due to an appointment time mix up.

PM 9.6km long run. This was a bit pathetic. I had 90 mins on my program, it was the afternoon, it was hot and I really was not terribly motivated.

I'm a bike mechanic apprentice.

Did I say how much I love my whiteboard?

*Totals for the week (IM cumulative total):
Swim - 4.1km (11.7 km)
Bike -174km (461.2km)
Run - 27.6km (92.7km)
Strength: Crossfit Women

*16 hours of training (45.5).

7/52 - happy wedding anniversary!

2012-01-30T09:48:00.000+11:00

Monday
AM Death by Helmet intervals 7km run total

PM 30 min swim with my sis at SOPAC 1.2km

Tuesday
AM Brick session at Sydney Olympic Park. I love these sessions and I seem to be running really well at the moment. Ride distance 15.3km. Run distance 2.5km approx

Wednesday
AM Death by Helmet hills session. Another 7km run in the IM bank.

1030AM Crossfit Women at Leichhardt. Somehow I managed to find some energy for an excellent strength session that included a 500m run, 45 pullups, 45 box jumps, 45 pushups, 60 ab mat sit ups and lots of much needed stretching.

Thursday
Happy 21st Wedding Anniversary & Happy Australia Day.
AM There was only Rob, myself and one other that turned up to cycling this morning. I did my session of the usual lung busting intervals. 29.5km total.

As we were heading over the the Q Station at North Head to celebrate our wedding anniversary I squeezed in Wednesday's swim session that I missed. 2.7km total swim set.

Friday
Rest day yahoo. Just a little walk today and lots of R & R at the Q Station which included a buffet breakfast. Burp.

Saturday
AM 100km ride. Dad, Cathy and I rode 2 loops from Hornsby Heights out to Pie in the Sky and return - with a couple of little side trips into the national park and out towards Crosslands. It was a good ride, perfect weather conditions and great company. I got a flat and managed to change it in record time. Dad says I was so speedy that I should get a job on the F1 Ferrari pit crew. I'm slowly building my ride distance. I'll probably ride 110-115km next weekend. Dad and I are planning on riding 180km on 24th march as part of an Audax ride called the Petit Opperman.

Tyre changing action

Sunday
AM 2 hour run - 13.5km. This was supposed to be a 5:1 run/walk session but arriving at the run without my Garmin meant I had to cope without my favorite training toy. Initially I was lost but I figured I'd just start running and see what happened. Two hours later I had run all over Sydney Olympic Park, had a great time, taken no walk breaks and covered about 13.5km (per map my run). Very pleasing. Rob ran to SOP from home where we met up to cheer on the kiddies at the Weetbix Try a Tri. The kids are so great to watch and we had a blast.

PM ocean wetsuit swim

Tarn & I at the Weetbix Try a Tri.

*Totals for the week (IM cumulative total):
Swim - 3.9km (7.6 km)
Bike -144.8km (287.2km)
Run - 30km (65.1km)
Strength: Crossfit Women

*14.6 hours of training (29.6).

Week 6.1/52 - Everyone, meet Kevin.

2012-01-24T09:43:00.002+11:00

I have a monster that lives in my head. I call him Kevin.

Most of the time Kevin is not around. But Kevin loves misery so when things get a little tough for me Kevin likes to show up and wreck havoc.

Kevin makes my life almost unbearable. He stops me from sleeping and he takes away my appetite. He fills me with the most awful sense of despair. He takes the joy out of life and makes it almost impossible for me to find things to make me smile. He makes me cry.

Having Kevin around fills me with chest crushing anxiety. He tells me not to train, not to leave the house, not to smile or enjoy life, and not to see my friends. He also stops me from going to work.

Every day is a battle with what Kevin wants me to believe is true - that I will never feel happy again, that I will never be able to go back to work, that I will never get better, that I will never feel motivated to train, that I will never love life and that Kevin is here to stay for good this time.

At the moment most days I give in to Kevin and he wins. But I just can't give up because somewhere, deep down, I know that things WILL get better.

While I know that Kevin loves misery I also know he hates joy and happiness. So, as convincing as Kevin can be, I make myself get up in the morning. I put on my training clothes and step out the door. I meet up with my friends who smile and laugh and make Kevin cringe and hide. I might not always be good company but I know how to make Kevin go away, even if it's only for a short time - I train and surround myself with my friends.

Don't judge me because of Kevin. I'm not weird or strange. Don't be afraid to talk to me or ask me how I'm going - I'd actually appreciate it. I also appreciate hugs. Kevin hates them. I like sunshine. Kevin hates it. I like cups of tea with friends. Kevin hates them. My aim is to make Kevin as uncomfortable as possible so he sets me free.

Week 6/52 - 100%

2012-01-22T18:13:00.002+11:00

This week is my first perfect training week ever (I'm pretty sure). All sessions done and some definite quality and quantity. Thanks Mum for keeping an eye on me every day and for ticking off each session. Your support has been awesome.

It went a bit like this:

Monday
AM up extra early for Death by Helmet. I drove my car to the cafe to run from there to the start of the session. This added an extra 3km. Total 11.5km

PM 30 min easy recovery swim. 1.2km

Tuesday
AM up extra extra early again (430am) to get to the club ride early (530am) to squeeze in a few extra kms. 31km total including 8 x 4min lung busting efforts. A 2km run off the bike rounded out my session nicely.

Wednesday
AM Death by Helmet hill session. 7.5kms of running up and down hills. My legs felt really tired today. I think that the cumulative effect of my training is starting to show.

Thursday
AM 25km ride around Sydney Olympic Park which included 3 x 8 min lung busters.

PM Balance Bolt 5km.
I haven't run under 30 mins for 5km for as long as I can remember. My last Balance Bolt time was 31:33 so this time I so very boldly put down 29:59 as my target time. For those of you not familiar with The Bolt it's a 5km time trial where the winner is the person who runs closest to their predicted time - no watches are allowed so you run totally on feel.

I had already done a tough AM cycle session (see above) and then I did an hour of weights at the gym. Tired legs and worked arms meant I wasn't 100% confident that I would even go close to 30 mins. But fortune favours the brave and I was definitely brave.

I did a quick warm up, felt good, and lined up with the 25-30min group. Looking around me I was a little scared. I NEVER run with these people!!!

So I just did my best and ran as fast as I could. At the turn around I doubted I could keep up the pace but I saw Rob and he said to keep running strong. So I did. I was absolutely thrilled with a finish time of 30:17. So close. Next time.

Friday
AM 2.5km swim set with the gang at Leichhardt Park Aquatic Centre.
AM a nice walk for recovery 30-45 mins.

Saturday
AM Long SLOW run - and it was so slow. In 90 mins I covered a massive 10.11kms. I ran/walked 5:1. It was enjoyable and it felt cruisy. It rained a bit which was nice. I finished up at Centennial Park to coincide with the finish of the beginners brick session. This meant I got to have a cuppa and a chat with the gals + Jeff.

Sunday
AM 4 hours and 40 mins of quality pushie time with my Dad. We rode from North Turramurra to Hornsby and then out to Mt White. We returned through Bobbin Head. It was a great day for a ride. Not too hot and we managed to avoid most of the showers that seems to be around, but not on, us. 86.4km total.

This is me at Road Warriors Cafe at Mt White. I was desperately in need of a coke but it was closed for renovations. Bummer!

Refueling.

*Totals for the week:
Swim - 3.7km
Bike -142.4
Run - 35.1km
Strength: 1 x weights session - my last at Vision PT. I'm back to Crossfit Women from next Monday for my strength sessions.

*Just over 15 hours of training.

I just thought I'd add this photo as a reminder of how far I've come over the past 3 years. It makes me feel pretty proud of myself.

This photo is from a wedding I went to 3 years ago. It scares me.

Week 5/52 - the family challenge

2012-01-17T09:56:00.005+11:00

Another week has passed by and I'm happy to report that this one was a little better than the one before, which was a little better than the one before that. I wont bore you with the details but it went a bit like this:

Monday
AM Run
PM swim

Tuesday
AM ride

Wednesday
AM run
PM stairs/run/walk with my sister at Balmoral followed by a nice open water swim.

Thursday
I was supposed to ride and go to the gym but my day got a bit messy and I didn't do either. I did go to my coach's New Year celebration at Balmoral in the evening. This is usually some sort of team race followed by pizza.

Traditionally team events fill me with fear - it's something about all those nasty school team sports experiences that make my skin crawl. But Matt always invents something that everyone can have a go and and not feel like a gumby.

I had fun playing team tag, swimming and running on the beach, and accruing points. Our team won contrary to what the other team says.

Friday
An early appointment meant that I didn't swim in the morning with the gang at Leichhardt but I did get my 2.4km swim set done in the afternoon.

Saturday
I was supposed to do an easy 90 mins on my bike but I didn't. The weather really wasn't an adequate excuse. Just lazy.

Sunday
TriShave Sprint Triathlon (750/20/5) at Kurnell and round 2 of the family challenge. Mum & Rob are one team (Mum & Son in Law) and Dad and I are the other team (Dad & Daughter). Rob and I do the swim and run. Mum and Dad do the bike legs.

Last year Rob and Mum beat Dad and I by around 9 minutes. This year Dad and I thought we had them pegged but it wasn't to be. Mum was too foxy on the bike and had Dad fooled that she wasn't riding fast. But secretly she had been holding back on their training rides knowing that she could ride faster on the day.

So Rob caught me around halfway on the run. He stayed with me until about 10m from the finish when he said "gloves are off" and took off to finish with an official 2 second win. Unofficially, after crunching a few numbers, we figure Mum and Rob beat us by about 6 mins. So we did narrow the gap a little.

Highlights of the event:

the smile on Mum's face
having healthy, fit, active and happy parents who are approaching 70 and put most who are half their age to shame
swimming
swimming into an incoming tide (not)
running like the wind
running with Rob
having my sis and BIL along to cheer and take silly photos
Rob and I grabbing Mum and Dad at the finish so we could cross the line together
precious memories!!
Kylie's bunny ears in the official finish photo.

Dad gives Mum a hug when she finished her bike leg.

Rob and I running side by side. I'm not sure why I am smiling. I was well and truely in the hurt box.

Mum and Rob finishing

Dad and I finishing

The 2 teams ready for the 2013 rematch.

Week 3-4/52 - you are stronger than you think.

2012-01-09T11:02:00.004+11:00

I'm not going to update my training for the last few weeks because honestly it's been a bit average. Life has thrown me a few curve balls and really just getting out of bed each day has been a massive achievement. On the days when I have trained it has been difficult and way less than a 100% effort.

The good news is that things are looking up. Each day is getting a little easier and I am starting to get back into the swing of things albeit slowly. I am enormously grateful for the support of my family and friends.

I managed to lose 2kg over Xmas but it was due to having no appetite and consequently not healthy weight loss. Needless to say I have gained it all back over the last week or so thanks to my appetite returning with a vengence. So I have signed up to Michelle Bridge's 12 week body transformation over the weekend. It doesn't officially kick off until early February (and conveniently ends the weekend of Ironman) but I'm following it's principles from today.

The basics are that you are allowed 300cals per meal and 300 cals for snacks each day (1200 cals a day for the mathematically challenged). On days when I train for hours I will adjust this to give me enough fuel to train on. As always with me it's a juggling act between eating enough to train and eating too much. I'm sure I'm one of the few who train for Ironman and gain weight. Grrrr.

So today I weighed in at 68kg. Officially weigh in day is Wednesday so from now on that's when I'll be recording my weight. I have 17 weeks until Ironman and my goal is to get as close to 60kg as I can - I'm even going to try and go alcohol free until Ironman. I'm not sure how that will go!

Now for some good things. On Saturday I did the Resolution Run 11km option. I was happy to both run a negative split and run sub 80 mins (79:21) which I worked out to be my goals. My sis ran the 5.5km and a few of her kids from work ran the 11km too.

Here well all are!

On Sunday I had 2.5 hours of cycling on my program. So a bunch of us from the club met up at North Turramurra to ride some hills. I rode with Cathy and Stella (below) and we had a blast. Lots off giggling from Cathy. While I couldn't keep up with speedy Cathy on the hills I'm happy that I'm stronger and faster on the hills. It's nice to see improvement. We ended up riding for over 3 hours.

Cathy, Stella & me.

Week 2/52 (19 December) - a tough week.

2011-12-27T18:42:00.000+11:00

I'm sorry for the delay in updating this week but I kinda got caught up in the whole Christmas thing. It's been a rough week. I started the week still sick with a cold and then things became pretty rough at work with the loss of a colleague in a rescue operation south of Sydney. Needless to say I am feeling pretty fragile. So my week went a bit like this:

Monday - still sick I stayed on the lounge feeling sorry for myself and missed my programmed 3 hour ride. However I did watch lots of really bad tv.

Tuesday - I joined the tri club for their Tuesday morning ride but, on the advice of my coach, didn't push it too hard. In the afternoon I hit the pool and swam 2.5km. Ouch.

Wednesday - this mornings tri club run session was a Christmas adventure race which was heaps of fun. Still coughing and spluttering I wasn't exactly the best team mate and I think we came almost last.

Thursday - day shift so no training

Friday - another day shift so no training

Saturday - my program said 2 hours of hills but I didn't want to miss the club's Xmas ride so a compromise was reached. Rob and I went out early and did some tough strength work on the big (big chain ring/biggest gear). A real ouch fest for an hour before we met up with the others for the social part of the ride.

Sunday - Xmas ho ho ho - and a rest day!!!

Hopefully I'll be back to 100% training next week.

This photo really inspires me. It's Leanda Cave being passed by Chrissie Wellington at this year's Ironman World Championships. Leanda Cave said she was running as hard as she could when Chrissie ran pass. She said she just wanted to show her respect.

Week 1/52 (12 December 2011) - not a great start

2011-12-18T19:27:00.002+11:00

This week I returned to work after 6 weeks of annual leave. I also commenced my training for IM #1 (Ironman Australia) and got another cold. So my training did not get off to a flying start.

Monday - 8 x 1km efforts on the treadmill at the gym because it was raining (again). Each one was 15 seconds faster than the previous effort. Effort 1 was at 7:30 mins/km and effort 8 was at 5:45 mins/km. I covered 10km in total. This session hurt.

Tuesday - back to work

Wednesday - work again. This was the day I started to feel poorly.

Thursday - I was supposed to do a 2 hour ride today but my throat felt like I'd swallowed a bunch of razor blades so I stayed in bed.

Friday - I was supposed to swim but, after a terrible night shift, I couldn't face the pool and decided to head home for a sleep instead. This meant I changed my session to an afternoon run because I don't need to turn up to work with goggle eyes (my logic really does work). My program said 90 mins over an undulating course at an easy pace. I'm working at Drummoyne station at the moment which is right on the Bay Run. So I parked at work and went off for my run. It was super easy and I felt good despite my fluey head. 90 mins at 5/1 run/walk and I covered almost 11km. Perfect Ironman race pace.

Saturday - because I ran on Friday my intention was to swim today but my cold had really kicked in and I just rested. I figured I still have 20 weeks to go I'm better cutting my losses now and recovering rather than pushing when I am unwell.

Sunday - still sick so no long ride. This sucks.

This is a photo of my family from last weeks Lynne King Charity ride. We all rode 116km in sunshine and then in thunder, lightening and rain. I love my family!

Rob paces Tall Geoff at GNW100 (miles that is)

2011-11-15T16:15:00.001+11:00

Legend status for Tall Geoff.

Tall Geoff and his trusty pacer.

This bell is rung every time a finisher is spotted coming down the hill at the far end of the beach.

A tired pacer.

Here are a few photos from last weekend. Tall Geoff raced Great North Walk 100 (miles) - which is actually 176km, with the goal of finishing in under 30 hours. This would be roughly a 6 hour pb. At the 100km mark (1050pm on Saturday night) he picked up Pacer Rob at Yarramalong.

They ran through the night together and into the next day finishing at Patonga Beach at 1153am in a time of 29 hours and 53 mins. Awesome work Tall Geoff and Rob!!!!!!

Playing with my Mac

2011-11-12T12:03:00.002+11:00

I'm still getting used to the mac. Today I'm playing with uploading photos. This one is from the Sydney Running Festival half marathon that my sister and I ran in September. Mum is in the middle.

The paleosphere

2011-07-02T19:03:00.004+10:00

I've been agonising about this all of June. Do I or don't I attempt the Paleo Challenge that my Crossfit Gym is starting on 4th July.

I've been reading and reading and reading all about it. There's lots of material out there. On one level I really dislike eating plans that rule out certain foods. In my world nothing should be off limits. But then again I know that my body responds well to a high protein diet and I'm half way there already - I've had no pasta, bread or rice for quite a while now. I eat heaps of veges and avoid anything refined. I don't drink soft drinks. My biggest challenge would be swapping my breakfast oats and dairy.

So I think I'm going to give it a go. Maybe. I'm still not sure. Hmmmm.

Tolstoy's 10 rules of life

2011-06-17T12:31:00.001+10:00

1. Get up early (five o’clock)
2. Go to bed early (nine to ten o’clock)
3. Eat little and avoid sweets
4. Try to do everything by yourself
5. Have a goal for your whole life, a goal for one section of your life, a goal for a shorter period and a goal for the year; a goal for every month, a goal for every week, a goal for every day, a goal for every hour and for evry minute, and sacrifice the lesser goal to the greater
6. Keep away from women
7. Kill desire by work
8. Be good, but try to let no one know it
9. Always live less expensively than you might
10. Change nothing in your style of living even if you become ten times richer

Square v1.1

2011-06-15T09:49:00.003+10:00

I'm really annoyed with myself today. I had a good system going and I was finaly losing some weight. Now I've gone and made some more changes, perhaps too quickly, and I've messed everything up.

I like simple systems. I hate disruptions. I like to know what to expect and when I don't I flounder around lost and end up making poor decisions. So I'm going back to my simple system that was starting to work for me - I am wondering right now, if it was starting to work,then why did I change??

I'm sorry Susie

And one compliments of the Sri Chinmoy people

2011-06-14T16:21:00.003+10:00

Come on sis. This is how you do it!!! One arm forward and one arm back.

Ahhhh OK. I see.

Sri Chinmoy Mirambeena

2011-06-14T07:33:00.002+10:00

This is Kylie and I at Sri Chinmoy Mirambeena on the weekend. We are running in for Kylie to finish the 8km and for me to head out onto my second lap of the 16km. Note Sam planking in the background.

Licorice allsorts

2011-06-13T17:42:00.002+10:00

That was my day yesterday - a mixed up multicoloured lolly kind of day.

In the morning I ran Sri Chinmoy 16km with Rob while my sister ran the 8km and my nephew ran the 2 mile. I'll post a few photos soon.

Highlights of my run:

Finishing the 8km with my sister before turning around and heading out for the second half of my run.

Running in the rain

Meeting a new friend - Cool Runner Ayla (Karen)

Seeing Slowmo again after more than a year we think - and getting a big warm hug.

Being able to run hard in the second half of the race and finishing with a negative split (1:03/1:00)

Hurting like mad over the last 3km and still running the final km faster than any of the others

Pancakes

Nephew Sam winning second in his age group

Sam not taking off his medal or race number for the rest of the day

Seeing Rob run - he's such a natural.

Then we went to Cell bikes where my sister's partner bought a road bike - I hear the word triathlon being tossed around. Then indoor rock climbing for the kids before a BBQ lunch for my Mum's birthday.

It was a busy day and I was stressed. I ended up with a headache but Mum saved me with panadol. I ate way too many lollies and birthday cake and drank too much red wine. I really don't do moderation very well.

Today my plan was to swap white tea for black tea but, after 2 cups of black tea, I decided I don't like it very much. I only have a tiny splash of milk in my tea and if that's the worst thing I do in a day then so be it. I'm sure cavemen would have loved a little bit of milk for their tea.

Swap it. Don't stop it.

2011-06-11T18:01:00.002+10:00

This is the title of a health campaign launched recently by the Australian Government. I think it's very clever. For example, instead of stopping something that you like (chocolate) you just swap it with something else (fruit). This doesn't have to be everytime you want to eat chocolate but just sometimes. The idea is that little changes, over time, will add up to be big changes. Little changes + little changes + little changes = big changes = better health = yippee!

Now there is a purpose to my train of thought.

Since the beginning of the year I have been making little changes to my diet by giving up things - artificial sweetener, coke zero, bread etc etc etc. The concept of giving up things has never sat well with me until today when Rob and I were discussing the paleo challenge starting next month at Cross Fit Inner West. I want to give the paleo challenge a go I said - it's only for 30 days and I am slowly heading in that direction anyway. To do it 100% is pretty hard core so I will be aiming for 80% paleo.

The challenge doesn't start until 4th July so I told him I wanted to continue making a few small modifications to my diet over the next few weeks that will make my transition to 80% paleo a little easier. So, I said to Rob this morning: I'm giving up milk in my tea from Monday. I also added, after a moments thought, that I don't like saying I'm "giving up" something as it suggests deprivation. He replied by saying: don't give up milk in your tea. Just swap white tea for black tea. Like, you know, in that ad on the tv.

And the light bulb went on. THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING! Swapping not stopping. I can still have milk in my tea if I want it. I'll just chose to swap it most of the time. I can still have bread if I want it. I just chose to swap it most of the time. Oh, the simplicity. No more feeling deprived by "stopping" foods. I'm just swapping. Simple.

Enlightenment will have to wait

2011-06-10T16:56:00.002+10:00

The weather forecast for tomorrow is for rain so we have decided not to do the 200km Audax ride. There's nothing worse than being cold AND wet for 200km.

So now I have plenty of time to get things ready for Mum's birthday party on Sunday. I should also be able to squeeze in a quick brick session in the morning if that weather behaves itself for just a short time.

And maybe I'll do an easy run in the afternoon in preparation for Sunday's Mirambeena 16km.

Motoring along nicely thanks

2011-06-07T21:31:00.004+10:00

When I entered Sydney Marathon I got free access to an online progam devised by Aussie marathon runner Lee Troop. The program is called marathon guru. You put in your details and your goal time for the marathon. Then, after each session, you put in your distance and times and it adjusts your next session as well as your predicted marathon time. How cool it this?

To start I put my marathon time is at 5:30 which is the cut off. After 10 days my Marathon Guru predicted time is now down to 4:58. I figure, with my time dropping each session, come September I will probably win the race and set a new marathon world record!!!!

So this weekend is going to be a biggie. Rob, Dad and I are doing the Hawkesbury Howler 200km Audax ride on Saturday. Then I'm backing up on Sunday withSri Chinmoy Mirambeena 16km race. Not that I think I'll be racing very hard after riding 200km the day before. But, who knows, I might surprise myself.

I'm feeling mighty fit at the moment. My weight is slowly dropping. I'm really happy with where I am at.

2011-06-05T17:17:00.002+10:00

I am a CrossFit Woman.
I do not wear makeup to the gym. I wear chalk.
I do not get manicures. I scrub the calluses off my hands.
I do not glisten or smile while I'm working out. I swear, grunt, and curse.
I am a CrossFit Woman.
I am as proud of my muscles as I am of my scars. They are the evidence of my hard work and dedication.
I am a CrossFit Woman. Student. Trainer. Coach.
Increased work capacity is my mission. Elite fitness is my goal.
I am a CrossFit Woman.
I may scale a WOD, but I will never quit or give up.
I do what others won't and I excel where others can't.
I am a CrossFit Woman.
I am invincible.
And you can be too.

Winter racing edited

2011-05-28T18:56:00.003+10:00

Here is a list of my racing committments for the winter:

11th June 200km Audax ride with Dad

12th June Sri Chinmoy Mirambeena 16km road race

26th June Woodford to Glenbrook 25km trail run

31st July M7 Marathon relay 21km road run

14th August City to Surf 14km road run

28th August Mt Wilson to Bilpin (Willy to Billy) 35km trail run

18th September Blackmore's Sydney Marathon

16th October Foster Ultimate Triathlon (2/120/20)

It's a pretty hefty schedule but should be heaps of fun as I'm building towards a big audacious goal.

Bread

2011-05-26T21:19:00.002+10:00

I just need to have a little rant.

Several days ago I posted on fb that I was giving up bread. While some friends applauded my decision there were others who waggled their disapproving fingers.

All I need to say is I am not completely giving up carbohydrates. I am just choosing not to eat bread. There are plenty of other forms of carbohydrates other than bread people. Today I did not eat bread yet my diet for the day consisted of 35% carbohydrate. I ate fruit and veges, pumpkin and sweet potato - yummo and very sensible and healthy.

I am not a crazy lunatic. I probably know more about healthy eating than most. I don't much like bread anyway. I could eat rice all day long.

My body hangs onto everything I eat and doesn't like to give up weight easily. So I'm trying to make my diet as clean as possible. There's nothing wrong with that.

Run run run

2011-05-21T08:56:00.002+10:00

Today I entered Woodford to Glenbrook trail run in June and Willy to Billy bush run in August.

Tonight I'm running home from work.

Blackmores Sydney Marathon

2011-05-20T07:49:00.003+10:00

I've just entered this race which is run in September. It will be my first lone marathon - a non ironman marathon. I've entered it as part of a bigger goal that I am considering. The bigger goal is not set in stone. It's just a thought that I am testing. I have a few months before I have to make a decision about the bigger goal.

Training hasn't been great this week as I ended up with gastro and couldn't move or leave the house for 3 of my 5 days off. But I'm fully recovered now.

My diet is going well. I saw Susie 4 days ago. She has decreased my calories to 1300 which pretty much means that I cut out my night time carb (potato/corn etc). I don't mind this as I usually just have protein and vege for dinner anyway. I've hidden the scales but I think I may have lost 1kg - the gastro certainly helped.

This Sunday I'm running Blacktown 4km fun run with my sister and nephew. Rob and Jospeh (my sister's partner) are going to be support crew. I'm very excited!!!!

Changes

2011-05-14T05:38:00.005+10:00

Years ago we used to go marlin fishing on the NSW South Coast. I loved it and we always had a great time. Sometimes we would go out to sea and there would be nothing, not even a nibble, dull seas, dull sky, listlessness.

Then overnight everything would change and the sea would be alive with action, sparkly, vibrant and jumpimg with life. Sometimes it was because a change blew in overnight and had moved on by day break. Sometimes there seemed to be no reason at all. But no matter what had happened overnight we would always say that "the sea had turned over".

This is how I feel right now. Ironman was disappointing but I'm ok with that. I know I trained really hard and mentally I was ready. But I'm not a strong cyclist (or swimmer or runner for that matter) and the wind was my arch nemesis on race day. But since then something has changed. My outlook has "turned over". I'm not sure what it is but I feel different.

I'v made a lot of small changes since the beginning of the year. I gave up diet coke and coke zero early in February when I also gave up alcohol. I'm still pretty much off both except for the occasional coke zero after a long ride. And I did indulge in a few beverages after Ironman.

I would still indulge in diet soft drinks but since Ironman I have given them up too. Now I drink only water and it's good. I'm also avoiding anything with artificial sweeteners - diet yogurts have been my downfall here. As for sugar I've pretty much said goodbye to that too.

I've stoped having a lot of things but I'm not fanatical. You won't get me casting any disapproving looks at my soft drink swilling friends. Faced with a wine I'll have one now and again. I still love a good piece of chocolate or the occasional lollie but I'm selective.

I'm now training for fun. Swimming and biking and running just for the hell of it - Rob and I draft a little program for me each week and it still get to write it up on my whiteboard - I like knowing where I am heading. I'm keeping up my fitness and looking after me for the next 6 months. No formal training. I'll be doing a few fun runs over the winter JUST FOR FUN. And I'll be doing a few Audax rides with Dad JUST FOR FUN.

My main goal is to get me weight down to something more suitable for Ironman racing. At the moment I'm just a tick over 70kg and I need to be around 54-56. Please remember I am only 150cm - 5 ft tall. I've finally found a decent dietician who seems really invested in getting to the bottom of my difficulty losing weight. I'm trialling 1400 cals/day and waiting to see what happens.

So I've entered Ironman Australia 2012 just for fun and will be finishing in 2012 because I've "turned over".

Fitness

2011-04-26T21:07:00.001+10:00

If you asked me if I am fit I would say no. But I suppose I must be seeing that I am lining up for my second ironman on Sunday.

I know this sounds strange but my head is a very strange place to hang out.

A few weeks ago I came to the realisation that the reason I don't think I'm fit is because I link fitness with body shape. I'm not skinny therefore I can't be fit.

I'm working on my thinking and my body shape and not making much progress on either. But at least I am working on it.

Fat

2011-04-22T18:37:00.001+10:00

I don't want to be fat anymore. There must be some god out there who would like to cut me some slack. I try really hard. I eat well and I do lots of exercise. I don't ask for much. Im not a bad person Just a little loss each week would be nice.

Breaking up is hard to do

2011-04-07T22:47:00.002+10:00

So Iturned up at the gym today all ready to break up and move on. No hard feelings. No particular gripes. It's just time for me to move on. So as I'm saying hi to my trainer the boss man comes over and introduces me to a girl in gym gear. Hi Cheri this is Helen. She is doing her PT course. Do you mind if she watches you train with Luke today? Of course I don't mind. Now how can I break up when there is a stranger watching me? Not a good advert for the gym if I do. Crap. Yes I am a wimp. I feel bad. Maybe I'll wait until after Ironman.

Whatsup pussycat?

2011-04-05T07:38:00.010+10:00

I'm seeing a(nother) dietician to try and solve the mystery of my frustrating lack of weight loss. I'm seeing Susie Burrell and she is fantastic. I am on 1600 calories a day for the next 10 days as an experiment. I see Susie again next Monday. If nothing has shifted I will probably have to go back to the endocrinologist about my insulin resistence. This may mean medication.

At the moment 1600 cals is going ok. Fingers crossed.

26 days until Ironman. I smashed out 2.5km in the pool last night in record time - I think it was about 70 mins which for me is incredible. I was doing some calculations as I swam and I think I might be in with a good chance of finishing Ironman at Port Macquarie. This may sound strange but on a good day I am filled with self doubt and fear. At the moment I am working hard to overcome this - sometimes it's a struggle and sometimes I am winning. Today I am winning.

Dad attempted his first Audax 300km ride on the weekend. I was going out to meet him at 9pm to ride the last 70km with him. But he had to pull out at 190km due to severe cramps. I am very proud of him but I think he is very disappointed with himself. I tell him that this is the nature of endurance sports. You are always up against it and sometimes you don't come out in front. You just have to pick yourself up and brush off the dust and get back on with it. I'm going to ring him today to see how he's going.

I am so excited about life after Ironman. I have nothing on my radar for the rest of the year and it fills me with joy. I plan to ride and swim and cycle JUST FOR FUN. I do have a little sneaky goal taking shape in my head but more of that later.

I've decided to leave Vision PT after 2 years. I have achieved as much as I can with them and feel the need to move on. I am going to join Cross Fit Inner West which is half the price of Vision. I love crossfit!!!!! I just need to work up the courage to break up with Vision. This week I promise.

8 more shifts until I get 3 weeks leave. yahoooooo!

Tea

2011-03-07T21:30:00.002+11:00

A nice cup of tea in bed. Will I be able to finish it before I fall asleep?

Ruby

2011-03-06T19:08:00.002+11:00

This is an old photo but many thanks to Rubes for getting me through 209km yesterday. Love you babe.

Long ride.

2011-03-05T21:55:00.002+11:00

Thanks Rob and Dad for 209km.

Fish and chips

2011-03-04T19:10:00.002+11:00

I'm grateful for the man in the fish and chip shop who put one or two olives in my Greek salad.

My studio

2011-03-03T14:19:00.002+11:00

Today I set some new goals. Thanks Luke.

My 9 week photographic gratitude journal

2011-03-02T16:05:00.002+11:00

My sister has been capturing a daily photographic journal since the beginning of the year. Everyday I look forward to her photograph. It makes me happy and grateful too.

So I'm going to do one too. I'm going for 9 weeks as a start which will bring me up to ironman. From there I will see how it goes.

So today I am grateful for my sister.

Officially I am grateful for some time out to enjoy a chai latte and to make some promises to myself in my journal.

Oh crap I've gained 5kg

2011-02-03T21:06:00.003+11:00

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been a while. I'm sure you avid readers of my blog, all 3 of you, have been missing my ramblings.

I haven't done an Ironman race report and maybe I will start one soon. All I can say about it right now is that it was the bestest day ever!!!!!

So, the party is officially over after I realised this week that I have gained 5kg since Ironman. Ouchy. Now it's only a smidge over 12 weeks until my next Ironman and I need to undo all of the damage I have done.

So I'm back at weight watchers and enjoying their new pro points plan. Fruit is free and that makes me really happy.

So the big question is: can I lose 10kg in 12 weeks when I have a history of losing weight really slowly?

Stay tuned.

Ironman WA

2010-12-09T13:32:00.001+11:00

Race report coming soon.

Thanks Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T06:24:00.002+11:00

Inspired my my beautiful American friends, and feeling really good about Busso, I want to write down some things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful for triathlon. It has given me a reason to get up in the morning on some of my darkest days. To show triathlon how thankful I am I have volunteered for the first Kurnell race this weekend.

I am thankful that I am fit, healthy and happy. I love that I can do what I do despite my lack of athletic ability. I will probably always be slow and finish at the back of the pack but I am sooo happy to be there.

I am thankful for my family. I love that my parents have taken up cycling in their 60s and are following their hearts and finding freedom in new places.

I am thankful that I have a husband who loves me no matter what. I love it that we share the same passions but are also very different people.

I am thankful for my friends, American and Australian. You guys make me smile all the time and have been an endless source of support, encouragement, cajolling and pestering. I will get to the finish line next Sunday with you all in my heart.

I am thankful that today I am going to swim in an ocean pool, on a beautiful sunny day in a city where I feel safe.

I am thankful that I have a good job that pays ok. Where I can get a coffee or two during the day, enjoy a laugh with colleagues and sometimes make a difference to people's lives.

I am thankful to the person who invented books. Reading is the best. Libraries are awesome. They let you take home books for free.

I am thankful for breakfast. Breakfast is my favourite meal. I love having breakfast at my favourite cafe (Natty's) where I am known by name and where my coffee and breakfast magically appear.

I am thankful for Joy who works at Natty's. She is a crazy Thai girl with a crazy grip on the English language. She eats whole packets of tim tams and stays tiny. I am her friend and also VIP customer.

Right now I am thankful that night shift is almost over and I can go for my ocean swim. I am thankful that by going for a swim I will earn breakfast at Natty's. I am also thankful that I have slept for half of this night shift and that I have one more shift to work before I am on holidays.

Yahoo.

Project kb

2010-09-29T11:21:00.003+10:00

I have a new title for my blog. The last one was too long and too specific and it wasn't my favourite.

A few dot points

2010-09-26T16:44:00.002+10:00

OK so it's been a little while. Today's update will be just a few dot points.

Gold Coast Half Ironman is 7 days away. I am planning on doing a pb - the only question is by how much. Sub 7:30 is probably on the cards. Hopefully. Maybe.
I am tapering for Gold Coast and feeling lethargic and sleepy. When is the energy surge going to kick in?
Ironman WA is 70 days away. I am not going to dnf at Ironman again.
Last weekend I ran Blackmore's Sydney half Marathon 9 minutes faster than I ran it in 2009. 2:27 this year and 2:36 in 2009. This made me very happy!
On the 19th October I will be riding 180km in preparation for IMWA. My coach has me doing this on a Tuesday (damn shift work). I will probably be doing it on my own :-(
Last week I went to the premier of BaseClimb 3. If you want to know what this is about then read the book by Heather Swan called No Ceiling. At the premier I had to have 2 glasses of wine before I could go up to Heather and say hello. Starstruck!
Two weeks ago I lost 0.9kg. Last week I gained 1.2kg. This made me so upset I ate and drank everything in the house for 3 days. Today I am over my binge. I have thrown away my scales and will not be weighing myself anymore.
The dietician says that I am too results orientated like that's a bad thing??
I love my new bike and rode it to work this morning. I am wondering how many times I have to ride the 5km to work to justify the money I spent on my new bike?
On Friday night I went to a Trigger Point training session at CFX and bought some new toys.
I'm at work and sleepy!!!!

Zzzzzz......kb

Blackmore's Sydney Half Marathon - Sunday 19th September 2010

2010-09-21T20:47:00.002+10:00

All I need to say right now is that I had a great race. I hoped for 2:20 something and got 2:27:10. A pb of 9 mins over last year. So much has been happening lately. I promise to do a proper update over the next few days.

kb

Crunching some numbers

2010-09-01T13:47:00.002+10:00

The saga of my weight loss continues to roll on. After being on a plateau for 5 weeks I lost 1.3kg last week. It is an understatement to say that I was thrilled to be back on the downward slide again.

This week at weigh-in I gain 300g!!! What the????

So I figured it was time again to look at how far I have come so I decided to crunch some numbers.

In 18 months I have lost 13kg.
My BMI has gone from 34- "obese" to 28 - plain old "overweight".
I have a weight loss percentage of 17%. Nice!!!!!
I feel fit and healthy and I look pretty hot too!

It's all good!

kb

The adventures of kb

2010-08-26T15:20:00.002+10:00

At Yarramalong General Store - 120km and the end of my 200km ride.

Dad and I on Wiseman's Ferry.

Mmmm cake.

Before the City to Surf.

Sue and I after the City to Surf. An 11 min pb for Sue. Well done Chook!

How to squeeze 200km into 120km

2010-08-25T10:16:00.002+10:00

The problem with updating my blog at work is that I can't attach any photos. Being a very visual person I find this quite distressing :-)

So over the next few days I promise to add a few photos of my recent training adventures from my home pc.

The photos of my 200km ride last Saturday will show sunshine, pretty views, a ferry crossing and some smiling faces. What they will not show is the blasted gusty head wind, the terrible traffic on Old Northern Road, the dead road surface, the potholes and my very tired legs.

Needless to say I did not finish 200km but pulled the pin at 120km and hitched a ride home with my wonderful husband who again came to my rescue. Dad continued on to the 150km checkpoint where we were waiting for him with my Mum. With another ride scheduled for Sunday morning Dad too decided to call it a day and head for home.

Am I disappointed? Not really. It would have been nice to do the 200km but it was not really on my program. It had been a hard training week for me and I was happy to manage 120km under pretty tough conditions. I'd also had a touch of gastro through the week and was probably not 100% on my game.

An email arrived on Monday morning from the ride organiser who thanked those that "attempted" Saturday's ride. He said the course was much harder than he anticipated and he hoped that most had finished. This made me feel so much better! So it was hard!!

This week is my last hard training week before my recovery week. I have been feeling pretty tired but am really happy with my training progress. I am excited with my fitness and continue to suprise myself with what I manage to do in training day after day.

My weight has stayed the same for the last 4 weeks which has been pretty frustrating. But I have stuck to my guns and I think my plateau might finally be over this week. Stay tuned - weigh in day is tomorrow.

Rob keeps telling me I look great (he is of course biased) but I feel great and my clothes are getting looser. I would just like the number on the scales to reflect all my hard work - just a little bit please!

I'm crewing for the Balance Tri Club Trailwalker Team this weekend which should be heaps of fun. They start at 7am on Friday morning and the team (Gooey, Aunty Karin, Ice and Helmet) hope to finish the 100km by 2am on Saturday morning. This will be my first ultra crewing experience and I am pretty excited about looking after the team.

For anyone who wants to follow their progress I will be updating my facebook page as well as the Trailwalker website. The guys are team 170.

Cheerio for now.

Cheri/kb

200km ride this weekend

2010-08-17T22:02:00.002+10:00

Most of my waking hours these days I spend high on exercise endorphins. My fitness is probably the best it has ever been and I am feeling amazing. I am even waking up before the alarm goes off in the morning which is nothing short of a miracle for me!!!!

This weekend marks a big milestone for me and my Dad - we are going to ride our first 200km Audax ride together. I am not scared about the distance as once I would have been - I am excited and really keen to spend the whole day, and probably some of the night, out with my Dad on our pushies.

Rob will probably join us for some (or maybe even all) of the ride. He has even got me some fancy new, super dooper lights to put on Ruby so we can find our way home once the sun goes down. Mum will be there somewhere cheering us on as we fly past. It's going to be a blast.

Cheri/kb

I

17 weeks

2010-08-08T23:18:00.002+10:00

Today I ran the City to Surf with my friend Sue and 80 000 other crazy people. It was a picture perfect Sydney Winter's day ideal for a 14km fun run. Sue was after a pb and I was happy to help her out for the day.

She ran 2:37 last year and this year finished with an unofficial 2:26 by my watch - so an 11 minute pb! Nice work Sue!

Time is just flying by. I thought there were 18 weeks until IMWA but a look at my new, hot off the press, program revealed that I only have 17 weeks to go. Yikes. I am making the most of every session and ticking them off one at a time. There is still lots of work to be done but I am feeling super fit and right on track for an Ironman finish in Busso.

Last Thursday night at track I had 3 x 1km reps on my program on 4 mins rest. I was not too sure how fast to run these as it's been a while since I've run 1km on the track. Coach Matt was away at school camp so I just kind of ran by the seat of my pants (so to speak).

So I ran the first 1km in 6:01, the second 1km in 5:47 (OMG!!!) and the last one in 5:39 (far out, get outta here, OMG!!!!!). Never before have my name and 5:39 for 1km been seen in the same sentence. I did a happy dance all the way home and am still happy dancing right now.

Looking at my training program for the week I have one obvious, stand out highlight - Bobbin Head x 4. And not just down to the bottom and then back up x 4. I have to ride down to the bottom and then back up the other side to the ranger's station x 4. It's going to hurt but I'm excited - is this normal?

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheri

Sugar free

2010-07-31T06:12:00.005+10:00

Next week is my recovery week and I am really looking forward to it!!!!

After a few dodgy food and exercise days last week I got back on track and managed to shift 350g this week. I was very excited to see a loss as I really didn't deserve one after my 4 day mini binge. I just went crazy and wanted to eat everything in the house - and not lettuce and fruit either - chocolate, anzac cookies, dried fruit etc etc etc

The turning point was last Sunday afternoon when I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and go out for my long run. Three hours and 22km later my attitude had shifted and I was back on track.

I recently read an interesting book called Sweet Poison about the evils of sugar. Did you know there is more sugar in BBQ sauce than there is in chocolate topping? Well, there is! In BBQ sauce the sweetness is balanced out with salt. Scary huh!

So I am making an effort to minimise the sugar in my life - this includes anything atrificially sweeetened. I cleaned out the fridge and tossed away a heap of nasties. Low fat salad dressing, which I thought was ok because it was low fat, contains sugar as the second ingredient. Sneaky manufacturers!!!!

Most peanut butters also contain sugar however I did manage to find one which is 100% peanuts. Sanitarium brand I think. Also do you know how hard it is to find a good pasta sauce that is sugar free??? Its been a very interesting exercise and very eye opening also.

Anway, I'm doing the Bay Fun Run tomorrow and the City to Surf next weekend. Coming soon too is a 200km ride with my Dad - probably our last one together before him and Mum head off for a trip in their big bus. There are a few half marathons that I am looking at doing in the next month or so too. Then my big "B" race - Gold Coast Half Ironman on 3rd October.

I'm very excited about Gold Coast and can't wait to have my 3rd smash at this event. This year I am looking at a sub 7:30 day. I should be faster on the bike this year but it is the run leg where I hope to make up some serious time over last year.

Happy training.

Cheri

So I am trying to be

The countdown begins - 20 weeks to go!

2010-07-19T12:54:00.001+10:00

I've sat down and tried to write this post several times this week - mostly at work on a "slow as a wet week" computer - and subsequently given up each time. Hence the title of this post really should be 19 weeks and 4 days to go!

So here I am at work on a night shift having another go. It must be because everyone is at home tucked up in bed that the computer speed is somewhat improved.

Last week was birthday week and it was pretty good. There were a couple of standout highlights: a helicopter flying lesson, a brand new gorgeous necklace, an elephant bead for my pandora bracelet (more about that later) and our tri club's presentation night on my actual birthday.

Getting home from the presentation night quite late, and then waking up at 5am to do a 150km ride with my Dad, wasn't a highlight - well, the lack of sleep wasn't a highlight but the ride certainly was!!!!!

My dramas at Ironman Australia in March pretty much involved my lack of distance and therefore confidence on the bike. The plan this time around is to do more longer rides including one of the full 180km Ironman distance.

So last Sunday Dad and I lined up to do our longest Audax ride together. It was supposed to be 150km starting at Hornsby and riding out to the lower Blue Mountains via Windsor and Richmond, before returning to Hornsby. But the printed directions we were given included a couple of major errors that resulted in us getting lost twice and adding almost 30km to the distance. Even cutting the ride short and arranging for Rob to come and collect us at Pennant Hills meant we finished with 160km.

I was smashed. 160km is 30km more than I have ever riden - and the ride was tough with lots of undulations. But every kilometer was worth its weight in gold and has left me with a new sense of confidence on the bike. I can do this :-)

Despite getting a bit cranky at the end I love spending time out riding with my Dad.

The other exciting news is that, as of today, I am officially the lightest I have been in about 5 years. I got to just under 65kg before Ironman but then gained a few kilos and have been struggling to get my weight back down since. But I have been working pretty hard over the last few weeks and today weighed in at 65.75. Never have I been so happy to lose only 250g!!!

My motivation is at an all time high and I feel great. I'm very excited about Busso and am looking forward to crossing that finish line.

Cheri

Woodford to Glenbrook 27th June 2010

2010-06-27T17:58:00.002+10:00

Well here is my 2010 Woodford to Glenbrook photo. I finished in 3:37:50 - a massive 23 min pb on my 2008 finish time. I didn't know my time until after I finished and thought I had not made my goal of 3:30ish. This is how I felt about my time!

It's bin a while

2010-06-26T17:32:00.004+10:00

Woodford to Glenbrook Eve - 26th June 2010

While I'm not very proud of this photo I thought it was appropriate to post it on the eve of Woodford to Glenbrook 2010 - a 25km bush run through the Blue Mountains for those unfamiliar with this race.

This photo was taken when I last did this race in June 2008. I am not sure what I weighed but I am guestimating that it was probably about 10kg more than I weigh now. In 2008 I finished in 4:00:52.

This year, a whole lot lighter and a whole lot fitter, I am hoping for 3:30ish. Fingers and toes crossed this is about 8 1/2 mins/km which I should be able to manage.....hopefully.

I also want another finishing photo so I can see how much better I look in 2010.

I am athlete

2010-04-25T18:33:00.004+10:00

It was so good to get back into training this week. I have digested my ironman race, learnt a few hard lessons and was ready to move on with a few new goals to get me excited.

Up first is the Sydney Morning Herald Half Marathon on 16th May. I have done this race plenty of times and I love it. Looking back at my race certificates I found that my best time was in 1996 when I ran a 2:10. I won't do this this year but I wouldn't mind a sub 2:30 and it might just be reasonable on a good day.

I can't believe my fitness base. Three weeks after IM, and having done bugger all during that time, I came back and ran 14km easily on Friday afternoon. I must be an athlete! There was a time when running 14km was something I trained hard for and took me a week to recover from - now it is a walk in the park.

So, my week was like this:

Swim: 3.4km
Bike: 27.9km
Indoor trainer: 2 hours (thanks to 2 day shifts these were 4am starts)
Run: 21km
Gym/weights: 2 hours

Yesterday and today I did a Level 1 triathon coaching course. My tri club paid for me to do this so now I can officially coach sessions. I am so excited about doing this and have my first coaching session tomorrow morning. I am taking a special Anzac Day session of Rob's Monday morning run group. I am a bit nervous but it should be heaps of fun. I have planned a Crossfit/run session which should be heaps of fun for the group and give them a really good workout.

Wish me luck.

Cheri

Back to the drawing board

2010-04-18T16:42:00.004+10:00

As an extremely goal oriented person I hate not having something to work towards. So a few a week after IM I ha had a sit dowm chat with my coach. We decided that my next goal for the year will be to revisit (for the 3rd time) Gold Coast HIM in October.

The first year I failed to finish and last year I took 40 mins off my bike leg to finish in 7:47.

This year I want to see how close I can get to 7 hours!

So, after 3 weeks off, I am officially back in training tomorrow. Thank goodness for that - I am itching to get back into it!!!

But it hasn't been all beer and skittles. Here are a few recent pictures:

Saturday morning at Bobbin Head - smiling just before a 4km climb.

Today. 9km trail run from North Turramurra to Bobbin Head and return.

Ironman Australia 2010 - race report

2010-04-15T07:53:00.002+10:00

Ironman has always been a dream of mine since the early 1990's when Rob and I would sit on the lounge and watch coverage of the Ironman World Championships on 9's Wide World of Sports. Watching ordinary people cross the finish line inspired us to one day want to do the same. We would hug a box of tissues as we followed every step of the swim, bike and run to that magic finish line and those magic words.

Almost 15 years later I achieved my dream. There I was up to my waist in the Hastings River at Port Macquarie. The helicopters buzzed overhead as the sun was just starting to rise. In awe I looked back at the 1000s of people gathered on the bank to watch the start of Ironman Australia 2010. I was so excited. Full of joy and fear and anticipation. I clung onto Aunty Karin's arm as we sung the National Anthem loud and proud with tears streaming down my face. I was really really about to do this!!!!!!!!!!!

My preparation had been pretty consistent and I had arrived at race day knowing that I had done all I could. For me it was going to be a long day - but we had planned and trained for a race that would probably take me up near cut off. I had been struggling a bit on the bike as it got closer to race day. My belief that I could make the bike cut off was a bit shakey - I had had several rides where I was totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the bike leg and had even rung home a few times in tears. But I kept telling myself that all I had to do was to ride 3 x 2 hour 40 min laps and I would make the 180km in 8 hours.

My swim was perfect. A trial pool swim of 3.8km took me 1:51. The 2km swim at Husky long course took me 50 mins so I realistically estimated a swim time of around 1:45. Never have I ever felt so relaxed in the water. I just hummed along to myself, kept my arms rolling over and watched the sun come up. I had no problem at the start and only got smashed a little as the pros just caught me at the end of my first lap.I can't even begin to describe my delight when I stood up on the blue carpet at the swim exit and the clock read 1:34:47 - a whole 10 minutes faster than my prediction. I preceeded to hug all my family and friends that were gathered at the swim finish waiting for my (unexpected) arrival. It was going to be a long day - a few minutes to hug everyone wasn't going to make a huge difference!

Towards the end of the swim leg I had already started to think about the bike and the negative thoughts were starting to build. Momentarily pushed away by my awesome swim they started to creep back once I was on my bike and heading out of town. Rather than buoy me the cheering of the spectators made me feel uncomfortable - a little like a fish in a glass bowl.

At my request Rob had taken my speed sensor off my bike which just left me wth time and cadence. I figured that knowing my average speed was just going to make me stressed and wouldn't change my race anyway. I set my watch to beep every 15 minutes to remind me to eat. I got out to the turn around at the end of Ghost Road ok after a quick toilet stop at Lake Cathie. I was eating and drinking on schedule - something I struggled with in training.

At Flynn's Beach I decided to check my elapsed time to see how I was going. In the aero position my bike computer is obscured by my jet stream so I have to sit up (and back a bit) to actually see it clearly. I was pretty pleased with myself as it read 2:11. My goal was 2:40 per lap so I was ahead of schedule. Yay. Buoyed with confidence I continued into towm. At the official end of the first lap (near the bike transition) I decided to check my computer again to get an official 1 lap time. I expected to see about 2:20. I was gutted to see that it still read 2:11. I then remembered that it had auto paused probably somewhere out before Matthew Flinders Drive and hadn't restarted again. My heart sank as I realised I wasn't ahead of schedule at all. The really silly thing was that I was probably right on track but the damage had been done and I started to sink into a black hole.

Heading out on my second lap I began to believe that I couldn't finish the bike leg within the cut off. I was too slow, I didn't have the strength, I hadn't done enough training and I didn't have the right to be here - all totally untrue with the benefit of my 20/20 hindsight. But at the time I believed this all to be the truth.

First I stopped and spoke to Owl, then I stopped and spoke to my coach, then I stopped and spoke to my parents and then I stopped again and sat by the side of the road and cried. Then I got back on my bike and rode to Lighthouse Beach where I stopped at the aid station and spoke to some lovely volunteers. All I wanted was for someone to say something to me that would snap me out of my black headspace and get me going again - I didn't know what this was and now I know that no one could do this for me - I had to do it myself - but I didn't know how.

Eventually Rob caught up with me and got me back on my bike and riding again. But sadly I didn't get very far. The damage was done and I just couldn't get going - he sat by the side of the road with me for about 20 mins and we discussed my options. By that time I had wasted too much time and, even if I did continue riding, I wouldn't make the bike cut off. He told me how proud he was of me and I sent him on his way.

I returned to Matthew Flinders Drive where I formally withdrew from the race. I met up with Jocie and Tall Geoff who were with my parents and I stayed on Matthew Flinders Drive until our last tri club member was up and over that nasty hill for the last time.

I spent a week being angry, disappointed, miserable, regretting my decision and wishing that things had turned out differently (thanks Paigebaby for giving me that week).

I believed I could do the swim and I believed I could do the run but I didn't believe I could do the bike - and whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right.

I have a lot to work on. I loved my Ironman experience even though it didn't end the way I wanted.

Sharing it with our tri club was awesome and spending race week under the safe wings of Rob, Ice and AK was nothing short of perfect.

I was down but I am most certainly not out. Ironman and I have unfinished business.

kb

Project KB

2010-02-01T08:54:00.002+11:00

There are now 8 weeks until Ironman Australia and I am liking the symetry.

February has 28 days - 4 weeks.

IM is on 28th March - 4 weeks.

Order in the world makes me happy.

I am off work now until the end of February so I have decided to make this month "Project KB".

This means I am making myself my project. The aim is to continue the consistency with my training, eat well, rest well and avoid alcohol as much as possible. I will see some movies, read a few books and just generally look after me.

Sounds like a great plan!

Keeping my feet on the ground

2010-01-25T11:49:00.003+11:00

While some parts of my life aren't so great at the moment at least I have my training that keeps me out and moving.

I have been putting in some pretty lengthy sessions and am pleased with my progress so far. All I can do is complete every session on my program and I know that I will arrive at Ironman in the best possible shape.

Every long ride now is a milestone "longest ride ever". Tomorrow I will ride my first 130km. This week I will do another 4km swim set and run for 2 hours and 45 minutes. The thing that I love the most is discovering that I am more capable than I could ever have imagined. It's a wonderful feeling.

Here are some more training pics:

Ruby parked at Peats Ridge

Sunday's run in light rain - bliss after the 40 degree heat of the day before

Ironman training madness

2010-01-19T13:36:00.002+11:00

Last week marked the first of my mega weeks of training. Some 25 hours consisting of 3 rides, 4 runs, 4 swims and 2 weights sessions. My pools laps alone totalled over 10km!

The week ended on Sunday with my long ride. 110km in 6 hours covering some decent hills climbs around Mt White, Pie in the Sky and Bobbin Head. I did the majority of this ride on my own and found it not to be as lonely as I might have thought. Doing long rides has been the most difficult party of my training - not physically difficult be very mentally challenging as I have to spend so long out there on my bike. So I was over the moon to finish this ride and shouted myself a giant skim milk vanilla malted milkshake to celebrate. Delish!!!!!

Here are some training photos:

On the ferry at Berowra Waters

This marks my furthest point on my ride north. Yes I did make it to Peats Ridge!

This weekend I have a 7 hour ride on my program which should see me cover around 130km - my biggest ride yet.

Who'd have thought I would be capable of these distances?

Transmission will resume shortly

2010-01-15T11:50:00.002+11:00

Before

After

I was chatting to AK today and she commented on an old photo of mine that she had seen. It made me think about how far I have come in the past 12 months.

So here is photographic proof.

Ironman training - week 2/23

2009-11-02T01:52:00.002+11:00

Training 2/10 - nasty resurgence of cold 10/10.

So I got sick after Gold Coast HIM - the sickest I have been in years. Then I got mostly better and resumed training. Then I got sick all over again.

The moral of the story: get completely better before commencing IM training!

OK, so I'm a slow learner. I've got it now so can I please have my health back?

Probably the only highlight of being sick (if there can be a highlight) was that I ran my fastest 5km in probably about 5 years - while sick. This was 33:30 at one of our tri club 5km Bolts. Just imagine what I could be capable of with a set of proper functioning lungs!

Anyway I am back at work, still coughing, but largely (officially I hope) on the mend.

I am training but without the "intensity" (coach's imstructions) and hopefully I will be right, fully back into it over the next few weeks.

Cheerio splutterers!

Believe & Breathe

2009-10-27T16:03:00.004+11:00

These are the words that I wrote on my arm the morning of Gold Coast HIM - 4 October 2009.

Most of you will know that I was withdrawn from last year's race with about 8km to go on the run as I had far exceeded the cut off time.

Refusing to be beaten I returned in 2009 10kg lighter and a whole lot fitter!

The day before the race - Rob, myself and fellow triathlete Sue

The morning of the race - me and Rob ready to race

My training in the lead up to the race had been pretty consistent. I remember looking at some of the race pace sessions Matt (coach) had on my program thinking I would never be able to do them!

But I did and surprised myself every time I smashed a session - my confidence growing as each session was crossed off my white board.

Rob, Matt (coach) and I had worked out a race plan and, on the day, it worked brilliantly.

Simply, it was this:

Swim the whole way. I didn't do this last year and I knew this year that if I just kept rolling my arms over I would improve on last year's swim time. Matt suggested that I count my strokes to distract myself from thinking about the swim too much.

I practiced this and worked out a system of counting to 30, sighting the buoys and then starting from 1 again. It was brilliant. My swim time was 54:12 - 8 minutes faster than last year.

Cycle smart. The goal was to keep my cadence around 90 rpm whilst maintaining good resistence on the pedals. No slacking. Work the downhills and flat sections to make up as much time as I could and work smart on the hills. Again a brilliant plan. My ride time was 3:47:12 - a massive 40 mins faster than last year.

Run cadence. My plan was to just keep running - one fot in front of the other while keeping my cadence around 90. But coming off the bike was tough. I honestly doubted whether I could run the whole distance and walking was looking like a real possibility. It was hot and very windy.

I got to 3 kilometers and started making deals with myself. I will run to 5kms and see how I feel. I got to 5kms and then thought: if I run to 7kms then I am 1/3 done. When I got to 7km I decided to run to 10km which would roughly be half way.

Before I knew it the kilometers were ticking away. I ran the whole way, albeit slowly, only stopping to walk through the aid stations and take on fluids and nutrition.

My run time was 3:06:32.

How did I feel to finish this race?

This is how!

I still get tears just thinking about finishing. Members of our triathlon club who had travelled to the Gold Coast to race and support lined the finishers shute to welcome me home. Thank you so much guys - you made my finish even more memorable.

Mum and Dad were also there having made the journey north again to watch me race. It was very emotional and a massive personal victory.

My finish time was 7:47:57.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-09T12:40:00.006+10:00

April 2009

(me on the far right)

September 2009

Let the countdown begin

2009-08-30T16:41:00.003+10:00

Well my recovery week is sadly drawing to a close. It's been nice but I am ready to get stuck into the next training block which, not surprisingly, is all speed based.

I am still hopelessly slow. Hopefully the next block will find some mongrel in these short little legs.

My plan for race day is simple. Sub 60 min swim, sub 4 hour bike and sub 2 1/2 hour run. All those subs will leave me some transition room and have me cross the line in under 7 1/2 hours.

I am not convinced that it will happen but I live in hope that I will somehow pull out a minor miracle on the big day. I intend to train my arse off over the 5 weeks I have left and give race day everything I can muster.

At the end of the day I am a much better athlete than I was last year. Fitter, leaner and happier. This year one thing is for certain - I will cross that finish line.

Exercise withdrawal

2009-08-21T17:01:00.002+10:00

This is from yesterday's Daily Telegraph (journalism at it's very best)

Exercise "junkies" have the same withdrawal symptoms as heroin adicts when they try to stop a study revealed.

Being weaned from physical activity produced the trembling, teeth chattering and drooping eyelids exhibited by drug adicts who go cold turkey, researchers said.

Obsessive exercising to shed weight could lead to the potentially fatal condition anorexia athletica, the report by Boston's Tufts University neuroscientists found. They added that mild exercise could lead to triathlons and 100km bike rides.

Yes this is for real.

Training, training & more training

2009-08-21T10:13:00.004+10:00

It's been another huge week during which I have cranked out 20 hours of training.

The low light was running out of water on my Monday long ride. I took 2 bottles but the unusually hot weather meant that I was pretty thirsty and drank the lot with probably an hour left to ride. I was out at West Head where there are taps but also big signs saying that the water is not fit for drinking!

The good luck for me was that there were workmen about who were resurfacing the road. One kind man filled up one of my bottles with green cordial - yum!

The highlight day for me is a toss up between Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was a brick session at Homebush Bay in the morning (50km/3km) and then a 30 minute run in the afternoon before a session with Steve. I did my 30 min run along trails beside a creek at Kogarah. It was so nice running on trails for a change.

During my session with Steve I squatted my body weight for the first time and set a strict press pb of 35kg. I also dead lifted 80kg.

Thursday was my long run. I ran around the Bay with extra bits up through the hospital grounds and Balmain Shores. I had 2 hours on my program and covered 15km. I felt pretty good for most of it - tired but strong.

I have to repeat this run tomorrow which should be fun. My quads and hammies are pretty tired today.

6 weeks to go!

Long run Sunday

2009-08-16T12:46:00.002+10:00

Today I went for my long run before work. It was a gorgeous morning and I saw lots of familiar faces around the bay - Ellie, Aunty Karin, Run Club Tim, Kar Soon and, of course, the gorgeous Miss Nemo.

Rob kept me company for a bit and showed my a nice hilly loop in the Rozelle Hospital grounds to extend my run. He left me when we bumped into AK - I think he found it hard to run as slow as me!

All up 13km. I felt pretty tired and couldn't help but thinking that 21.1km is going to be a very long way - particularly after a swim and a bike!

Tomorrow is my huge day - 4 1/2 hour bike in the morning, 50 minute run at lunch time and swim squad in the evening.

One more week of hard stuff until I get a recovery week.

Bugger bum crap

2009-08-15T16:41:00.002+10:00

This is how I felt last night when the work phone rang at 650pm and I had to out and stand by at a job.

There goes my run.

I finished up signing off at almost 8pm - too late to go for my run.

Instead I went straight home and got a much needed early night.

This morning I did a brick session in Centennial Park before work. A 60 minute ride including some efforts at race pace followed by a 6km run. Running off the bike didn't feel as hard as I remembered.

I now know why I don't wear my hrm strap when I run - I have the worst chaffing. Ouchy stingy shower.

After my brick session I went to the gym for a weights session and my weekly weigh in. This week I lost a massive 1.3kg.

Yay me!

Night run

2009-08-14T18:31:00.002+10:00

I finish work in 30 mins and then I am going for a run.

I normally run in the morning before work so tonight will be a little break from tradition.

I love running at night.

I feel great

2009-08-13T14:02:00.002+10:00

I am now training up to 17 hours a week. It's been a gradual build but finally I am starting to have some magic moments.

I am no longer exhausted after my long sessions but find that I bounce back really easily and am ready to go again in the afternoon.

I checked my pulse at breakfast the other morning and it was 52. I feel fit, strong and healthy. I don't drag myself out to train anymore but leap out of bed in the morning ready to go.

I am not injured (touch wood).

It is still a big ask to get under 7 hours 30 mins at Gold Coast HIM but, who knows, I might just pull it off.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-08-12T13:20:00.001+10:00

Today's training

2009-08-11T16:24:00.003+10:00

Today I did a 3 hour trek training session with the Wild Women in the rain. Stair repeats to start and then a sloshy hike. I got pretty wet and cold but enjoyed a nice hot bath and my book when I got home.

Smashos

2009-08-10T14:00:00.004+10:00

I ran the City to Surf yesterday starting from the back of the pack group. What a nightmare.

I think they should ban the following:

people holding hands whilst walking
people stopping suddenly to take photos
people suddenly chagning direction by anything above 20 degrees
people walking any more than 2 abreast
people talking animatedly with their hands - particularly when they fling their arms around and hit me in the face
power walkers with sharp elbows
walkers with long trekking poles

It was an exercise in frustration which I failed towards the back end of the race.

It was only a training run for me so I gave up trying to get under 100 mins after about 5km. I finished in about 114 mins (including a loo stop). I think I probably ran 16km with all my ducking and weaving.

This morning I backed up with a 4 hour ride. Following the coach's instructions I did this ride in the West Head/Akuna Bay area - read hilly.

I finished with 65km and very sore quads.

Swim squad tonight should be nice.

Nap time now.

Each day's a gift and not a given right

2009-08-08T13:27:00.003+10:00

I really like the band Nickelback. Gutsy music and lyrics. Truely a diverse band with hits such as the love song (insert sarcasm) "Figured you out":

I like your pants around your feet
I like the dirt that's on your knees
And I like the way you still say please
While you're looking up at me
You're like my favoutite damn disease.

And the profound and meaningful "If Today was Your last Day":

If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last
Leave old pictures in the past?
Donate every dime you had, if today was your last day?
What if, what if, if today was your last day?

I find this very funny. I love both songs for very different reasons!

Tody's title is from the second song in case you were wondering about my train of thought.

Anyway, now to today.

It was another early start for me as I had to start work at 11am and also get in a quick 40km cycle before work.

This time I drove up to the Duffy's Forrest area as the 12.5 km loop out to the end of the road is very undulating and therefore very similar to parts of the Gold Coast HIM course (says the coach).

It was a pleasant ride and nice to be out seeing other bunches of cyclists doing their Saturday morning thang. I saw 2 fat bunnies and a suspicious plover guarding a nest that I kept a weary eye on. Plovers have a nasty habit of swooping in the same manner as magpies.

Thankfully the plover kepts it's feet on the ground as I rode past.

Two hours later my ride was done and dusted and I packed up and headed home for another thawing shower and a quick dash in to work.

Only 1 sleep to go until the City to Surf. Stay tuned for my race report.

It's a beautiful day aha aha

2009-08-07T11:10:00.002+10:00

Afternoon shift today means an 11am start so plenty of time to fit some training in before work.

I headed over to Centennial Park for a quick 40km ride with some T3 efforts thrown in for good measure.

Then a quick dash home to thaw out my frozen feet before a 30 min weights session at the gym.

Then another quick dash home to shower and change for a quick dash in to work.

I am looking forward to Kazz and Paigebaby arriving on Saturday arvo for a girly sleepover before the City to Surf on Sunday.

The results are in

2009-08-06T12:39:00.003+10:00

I have been training with Vision PT (and following their nutrition program) for the last 8 weeks. Last night was my week 8 assessment.

So, over the past 8 weeks I have lost 4kg.

My chest measurement has dropped by 5cm.

My waist measurement has dropped by a massive 10 cm.

My hip measurement has dropped by 5 cm.

No wonder my work pants are starting to fall down.

In total I have lost 8kg since the beginning of the year.

I went from level 5 to level 6 on the beep test and my push ups improved from 50 to 70 (maximum reps).

The next 8 weeks will take me up to Gold Coast HIM. I have set a new goal of losing another 6kg in this time. This is a pretty challenging goal but one that I might just achieve if I knuckle down.

Anything is possible!

An update a day......

2009-08-05T14:55:00.004+10:00

I had a 60 minute run on my program for today.

To get this done before work starts at 0700 I set my alarm for 0420. I had my gear all ready, my lunch packed and my uniform ironed.

But when I woke up at 0420 all I could think about was how dark it was outside and how there could be a strange man lurking in the bushes waiting to grab me as I ran by (see recent news reports of an attacker preying on women in Sydney's inner west).

So I guiltily reset my alarm and went back to sleep.

I eased my guilt once at work by looking up gyms that open at 5am. The gym at SOPAC opens at 5am and I will be heading there for a treadmill run next week when I have an early run before work.

It's only 8 1/2 weeks to Gold Coast HIM and I don't have time for missing any sessions.

Tonight I have my 8 week review at Vision PT. I had done pretty well losing almost 5kg before my Larapinta trip but I fear that I have overcompensated since returning home. Naughty!

Mmmmm nice

2009-07-16T11:30:00.003+10:00

How 'bout and update girl...

2009-07-06T14:17:00.002+10:00

Ok ok I know I have been slack so here I am doing an update.

I came across this quote last week in the Wild Women's weekly newsletter and I liked it a lot.

Each of us should have his or her own Everest - a testing place in any endeavour where the goal is almost but not quite beyond reach. When you take on great challenge and persevere, you discover that your abilities are more than you ever imagined, enabling you at times to accomplish the impossible. A life lived in this way is infinitely fulfilling. Dr Kenneth Kamler

I have written it inside my training diary and read it every day. It keeps me going. Nothing is impossible!

Training has been a bit hit and miss over the last few weeks and I am trying hard to get back on track this week. My work roster changed unexpectedly and fatigue levels have been high! My trainer at the gym was concerned that I might be overtaining but I told him that training is not the cause of my fatigue but having to go to work is wrecking me - he, he!

Not such a good start today though as I slept through my alarm and missed my morning run - damn Tour. I did make it to the gym however and did a quick strength set before work.

My goal this week is to get my long sessions in and try hard to fit in the rest.

The weight loss continues to motor along - I have lost 7kgs so far. People are starting to notice and comment which is nice.

My tri coach runs a weekly track session at Homebush and, despite training with him for more than 12 months, I had never been to one until a few weeks ago. The result - I love track! My 400m time started at around 2:26. Last week I averaged about 2:22 and finished with a 2:12 which just about made me vomit but was very satisfying (the running not the almost vomiting).

So all is going pretty well.

Cheri

Mega training

2009-06-08T08:46:00.002+10:00

It's been a great week of training for me - I am tired but right on track for Gold Coast HIM.

Monday
2.4km swim before work

Tuesday
Recovery day

Wednesday
AM 75 min indoor cycle session with Coach Troy
AM 60 mins pt with Steve
PM 30 mins cardio (treadmill, rower, stepper) in the afternoon before work.

Thursday
PM 45 min run

Friday
PM Massage

Saturday
AM 2 1/2 hour cycle
PM 2.3km swim

Sunday
AM 60 min run
PM 45 min run

There were a few stand out highlights:

I have now lost 5.2kg
I ran twice on Sunday which didn't hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. Actually the pace of my PM run was faster than my AM run. Go figure!
I have a whiteboard

Sore butt

2009-05-30T10:27:00.002+10:00

This is what I do when I go out trek training with the Wild Women - for those of you who were wondering!

Yesterday's sessions started with nasty stairs at Chinaman's Beach. It then moved onto nasty stairs and finished with (you guessed it) nasty stairs. I was carrying 14kg in my pack and seriously doubted the wisdom of my decision to "go heavy".

Anyway, I managed and have the sore butt from hell today to remind me how hard I worked.

We finished yesterday's session with a high tide rock hop from the northern end of Balmoral Beach back to Chinaman's Beach. High tide made it a bit tricky as you can see.

After the disappointment of Mt Barney and my subsequent binge on all that is bad for me I am now firmly back on track. I have followed the magnificent Tarn's lead and signed up with Vision PT. In my first week I lost 1.6kg which brings my total to 4.7kg gone. Yay.

Onwards and upwards!

Almost wordless Wednesday

2009-05-27T09:30:00.004+10:00

Is it really Wednesday again? I think I will have to try and update a bit more so you get more than a few words each week with my picture.

Below is an elevation thingy of my training walk with the Wild Women last Saturday. We started from Seaforth Oval and covered 12km in 5 hours. I was carrying 11kg in my pack which then was my heaviest - I have since done a hike with a 12kg pack!

The picture is a bit squished so it makes the elevations look impressive. Also somehow it only goes up to 3 1/2 hours - I will have to have a chat with Mr Garmin about that one.

Almost wordless Wednesday

2009-05-20T10:04:00.000+10:00

Another of my favourite photos. This one was taken a few years ago on a trip to New Zealand. We went on a helicopter ride high up onto the Franz Joseph glacier where we got to play for a few hours.

What have I done?

2009-05-17T23:27:00.000+10:00

The last 4 days have been rubbish. Not being allowed to go on the trip to Mt Barney has really taken the wind out of my sails. I have done no exercise for 4 days and I have been eating poorly.

I need a stern talking to!

Aborted cycle

2009-05-15T07:59:00.000+10:00

Wednesday was a crazy day! I got Ruby loaded into my car ready to head out to the M7 cyclepath for a 2 hour ride. I drove all the way out there only to realise that I had left my cycle shoes at home!

So I turned around and drove home again. On the way home I stopped off for a take away coffee which I managed to spill on myself. By ths stage I was seriously considering going home and going back to bed to try and start the day again. But of course I didn't.

Having lost the urge to cycle I headed up to the gym instead and did an interval session on the treadmill that I had missed the day before.

Evening swim squad saw the return of the dreaded 1km TT which we haven't done for a while. I managed a 28:44 - pretty much my usual pace!

Onwards.

Almost wordless Wednesday

2009-05-13T07:53:00.000+10:00

This is a photo of me finishing the Sri Chinmoy 8km run at Iron Cove last Sunday.

The other news is that I am not allowed to go on the Mt Barney hiking trip because I am too slow!

Camp Eden tree

2009-05-12T15:44:00.000+10:00

My new blog header image is one of my favourite photos. It is one of the best trees at Camp Eden and was taken there on my trip last October - just after my sad performance at Gold Coast Half Ironman. It reminds me of what a great time I had at Camp Eden.

And so to today's training.

Trek training with the Wild Women today turned into a 4 hour shoot for a new Channel 9 tv show that looks at small business - the show is called Money for Jam. So there wasn't much training just lots of "action" and "retakes" and walking backwards and forwards along the same path pretending like we weren't getting bored and hungry.

I am finally home, showered and warm again. It was pretty chilly out there this morning.

Stairs and squad

2009-05-11T21:31:00.000+10:00

I trained with Roz from Wild Women on Top today. We started at Acron Oval and walked through some back streets of St Ives to The Stairs - 84 of them!

The view was nice but the stairs were pretty ugly. Concrete and steep. I did 5 sets - some single and fast, some 2 at a time and some stepping wide on each step. My quads were on fire.

We returned to Acron Oval where we did some core work and had a nice stretch.

I went straight from Acron Oval to Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre for swim squad. I love squad! We are working on building strength at the moment so it was pull buoy time and longer distances - 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m etc etc.

Sri Chinmoy 8km Iron Cove - Sunday 10th May 2009

2009-05-11T08:27:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I ran the Sri Chinmoy 8km race at Iron Cove with the best bunch of girls ever to don lycra.

I started running with Tarn as both of a are a bit slow and we both wanted to run sub 60 mins. At the moment my pace is around 7:30 - 7:45 per km so I was surprised to see the first km go by in 7:03 and then the second in 6:56.

I was either going to blow up spectacularly or smash 60 mins!

We continued on to the 4km turn around point with another 7:01 min/km and 7:04 min/km. It was here that I lost Tarn a little as she said she had a stitch. I quickly grabbed a drink and the put my head down and kept going.

My next 4 km went a bit like this:

7:19 (this is where I grabbed a drink)
7:06
7:10
7:05

I finished a very happy girl in 57:17. Superstar Tarn was not far behind me finishing in 58:43 smashing 60 mins!

A special mention must go to Toni who finished 2nd in her age group.

Why?

2009-05-10T20:16:00.000+10:00

Because it gives me goosebumps!