Yoga

Went to yoga (first time since August last year)

Hated every minute of it ("I'm going this for my body" - repeat until done)

Hip complained during the two knee-to-chest poses
Ankle complained during the several kneeling poses
Body complained during most of the standing poses (felt dizzy)

Stopped for a late dinner at McDonalds (my "reward", and the salt and caffeine went down very easily)

Got home close to 11pm, and didn't get to bed until 12:30

Dizzy spells at home too - after bending over to brush my hair out (blood rush to head). Weird - felt like I was bouncing off the walls, and only felt "safe" when I was horizontal. I had to get up a few times during the night (drinking too much too late), and I felt a bit spaced-out then too. Like I was drunk, but without the happy feeling that goes with it.

Okay this morning

And the hip is ache-free. :-)

Street-O @ Camelot Rise

Finally took the hip out for a run. Did a short warmup to see how everything was travelling, then headed out on C Course. Like last time (but without the ankle roll), I ran for ~20 minutes, then ran/walked for a grand total of 33 minutes. I had the dubious honour of being first home (5 minutes early).

Distance	Avg pace
4.6 km	7:17 /km

The hip is now sore. :-(

It feels bruised right below the hip bone, on an area that feels like it should be solid bone. But I guess it's tendon because it hurts. I've rolled around on the rubber ball a bit, but will DEFINITELY go to yoga tomorrow to give it a good workout.

Couch Potato

I hate being injured. I eat too much crap and turn into a walrus. I have no idea what I weigh (I'm too scared to look). I've been drug-free for a week, and was planning on going to Street-O tonight - so this morning I wake up and the hip and ankle are both sore. Sheesh.

It hasn't been all bad - I worked my arse off over the weekend (until the storm hit) digging the last of the new garden and laying 4.5m3 of pine bark mulch. The blisters are healing and the tendonitis is subsiding.

Several times over the last 2 non-running weeks, I have packed either my swimming gear or my yoga gear, but then cried off when it came time to actually go to the pool or the studio. I realise that I MUST do these things for my health or suffer the consequences (hips and ankles).

So in the spirit of a Spring Resolution, here's my apres-work timetable:

Monday - run/walk
Tuesday - yoga
Wednesday - run/walk
Thursday - cycle
Friday - swim

Like the ad says, Just Do It

An Elvis massage

Elvis is our "15 minute" massage person that does the rounds at work. Even though I've been a couch potato for the last week, my hip still hurts on occasion. So I asked him to have a dig around. And boy, did he dig!

I can't believe that it's still sore.

I'm not really sure what to do about this. Another week of couch-potatoism? More massages? I bought a hard rubber cricketball from Kmart at lunchtime to roll around on - a tennis ball doesn't go deep enough (or perhaps my rolls of fat simply cushion the impact).

Grrr.

The ankle is not 100% either. Perhaps I could amputate.

Still Not Running

My ankle is still slightly swollen, and I don't want to risk it in its weakened state. It's also a good excuse to give the hip a decent rest, so I'll stay off my feet for another week. On the plus side, I got to wash both pairs of running shoes.

The diet has been pretty good - takeaways on Monday lunchtime (Fasta Pasta) and Thursday night (Noodles). Still haven't had any chocolate, lollies, potato chips, or icecream. Except for a dinner party last night, and that doesn't count. ;-)

Spent all weekend in the garden - finished hacking up the last of the clay and green stuff (which might have been grass once), forked most of it over, laid out a vege garden, and shovelled 1.5m3 of topsoil into it. I have the day off tomorrow (to supervise installation of a new hot water service), but I need to let my blisters heal before I pick up the fork again. Then just mulching and planting before I start on the next area!

I may not blog for a while - it is a Running Blog after all. I should be back within a week or so.

Street-O @ Cathies Corner

Be carefull what you wish for...

I was thinking this afternoon that what I really need is a decent break from running to let the hip properly heal.

So at Street-O, I signed up for C Course (40 minutes) with the plan of running for 30, then walking whatever was needed to get me back to the finish. It was all going to plan until minute 22. The HRM had been playing up and I was constantly checking it to see if it had come back "online". Anyway... I fell off the footpath, over the guttering and onto the road - and going over on my ankle in the process.

Oooouuuch!

I leaned against a gatepost for a few minutes considering my options (waiting for the pain to stop), before deciding to abandon my route and head straight for the finish. The last 1.6km slow walk home took longer than the 2.8km run out, and every uneven bit of road jarred it. Hopefully the swelling will go down overnight (yay drugs!) and I haven't done anything stupid. And just a few weeks short of the 12 month anniversary of shredding all the tendons in that ankle.

sigh... bloody hell.

Not quite what I was thinking of when I was thinking about a running break.

Distance	Avg pace
2.8 km	6:25 /km

Grounded again

Well, not grounded exactly, more like just got my wings clipped.

Went to see the Myo last night to check on my hip. Once he started digging elbows and fingers into it, it really started hurting again.

The result: I'm allowed to run, but not for more than 30 minutes. I guess that rules out Sunday's 2-hr event then. :-(

And a decent hit-out tonight. Hmmm, I think the shortest course in winter is C Course - 40 minutes. Guess that'll have to do - maybe with the last 10 minutes walking back.

He also told me to cross train - cycling and swimming. Guess I can do that too.

Street-Oholic

Dante - yes, anyone can just turn up to any weekend (or Wednesday) event. Schedule is at: http://street.orienteering.com.au/

The next Saturday run is 2 weeks away at Williamstown; and there is a 2-hr event this coming Sunday at Croydon Hills.

If you let me know you're coming, I'll keep an eye out for you. If you wear CR clothing, I'll come and talk to you. Otherwise just ask someone to point me out to you, and you can introduce yourself.

Street-O @ Kerrimuir

A regular-style score event which had us running around gazing at streetlights to record the last digit of the yellow id plate. The map said it was 1:10000 scale, but it seemed to take a long time to travel anywhere - the general concensus at the end was that the scale was wrong.

Feeling a bit of fatigue in the legs, I suspect as a result of all the gardening over the weekend. I went for a walk this morning, and they felt okay, although the hip was a bit achy during the day, and walking up the slope to the office it was noticable.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.8 km	6:31 /km	157 bpm (83%)

I spent a productive day at work (NOT) playing with Coreldraw and planning a cunning Monday course for next month. Watch this space.

A Gardening Day

Lots more digging (nearly done!), a bit of forking over, and a bit of shovelling leftover dirt from the gas connection. Nice working in the sun, and met my neighbour's cute youngest son (~late 20s).

weekly wrap:

Weight	72.9 kgs ▲
Walking	5.9 kms
Running	32.4 kms

Spring Diet Goal #1: no added sugar -- does ice cream count?? otherwise good.
Spring Diet Goal #2: no added fat -- fish'n'chips last night, otherwise good.

And to respond to Ewen's comment about added sugar in an iced roll - it only counts if the food's sole purpose is sugar. For example, chocolate, lollies, etc. An iced roll is primarily bread, so it doesn't count. :-))

Spring Diet Goal #3: limit of two takeaway meals per week
eg, one lunch, one dinner
Some weeks are better than others. When I actually cook something, I'm pretty good at taking leftovers to work for lunch. But when I can't be arsed getting into the kitchen, I'll have something from the foodcourt every day.

Cake-O @ Surrey Dive

I think I'm out of blah mode (yay!). I dug dirt for a couple of hours this morning, so wasn't expecting great things from this run. I ran consistently the whole way around, but struggled in some hilly sections and had 2 walking breaks to recover. I knew I was pushed for time with 15 minutes to go, and I was still on the far side of the map.

With 1 minute to go, I abandoned the chase for control #6 (only 300m away) and pushed hard to get back on time. I got back on the last beep of the last minute, and slid my control card under Andrew's nose as the clock ticked over to 3pm. Made it!

I was seriously bent over trying to get my breath back, and sat down next to Princess (Geoff's dalmation dog) who'd been tied to a tree in the sun. Geoff brought me over a piece of Judy's passionfruit sponge cake which was literally dripping with something sweet and yummy. Divine... I had a second piece when I managed to stand up and get my drink.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.8 km	6:08 /km	165 bpm (87%)

Haven't yet been able to crack 10km on a Saturday Street-O, but this is the closest I've been.

edit: I got docked 3 points for getting in late. Damn! That lost me 3 places. :-(

Yawn...

Bumbled up the trail for a slow trudge towards Wandin, turned around and trudged slowly back again. TGIF.

I need sugar!!!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.3 km	7:26 /km	142 bpm (75%)

After talking to Judy last week about how the Nimbus VIIIs have changed, I promptly ordered a pair of VIs from springersports. I was tempted to order another pair of VIIs too, but decided to wait and see if they supplied what I asked for first. They didn't. The shoebox arrived in the mail yesterday - a pair of the dreaded VIIIs.

Lovely colour... but I wish they'd just supply what I order, or cancel it.

Went for a quick walk around the house - they feel okay. Comparing soles against my current VIs and VIIs, the rubber tred is narrower at the toe end, but the toe box seems the same size. The heel is identical.

Whatever - they'll sit in the cupboard until I'm ready to rotate them in.

Street-O @ Waterford Valley

Very cold to start (10 degrees - today's high was only 11!), and took ages to warm up. I was nearly a non-starter for tonight, as I'm still feeling really tired and lacking energy, and the thought of curling up in front of the heater with a book was very tempting.

I started off in plod mode, thinking that nothing much was going to happen tonight. But about 10-15 minutes into it, I'd warmed up and was running smoothly. It helped that the area was almost dead flat, and the light breeze cooled the sweat.

Came in 5 minutes early - I'd finished the loop, and didn't really have anything else that I could go for.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.7 km	6:16 /km	155 bpm (86%)

6.66km @ 6:16/km on 6/9/6 in Nimbus 6's 666 6 6...

Mid-week report

Didn't get out for a walk either today or yesterday (too cold, too wet, too late to bed); last night I scoffed pizza until I couldn't fit any more, then chased it down with strawberries, lychees, and a real banana. Today I bought a blueberry custard Jesters Jaffle pie.

Am I off the wagon?

The only fat on the pizza was the cheese, and the only added sugar in the pie was, well, everything... :-(

And my hip is achy again - it only seems to ache on running nights. It was sore on Monday too, for no good reason (except too much garden perhaps). Not sure what its problem is today.

Street-O chez Bernie

Double-O: two sets of controls, one set in the top half of the map (where the start/finish was), and one set in the bottom half. And a considerable distance between the two. Forty controls, with normal scoring, but only the best 20 count towards your score.

So there was no point in getting "the lot" (although Bryan did, in 71 minutes, just for the hell of it and because he could!), but the ideal course would be to get the 10 top scoring controls in each half. I did a middling sort of route through the middle of both sets, picking up 21 controls.

Hilly course, and I needed a few walking breaks. And navigational breaks. And calculating breaks.

Geoff asked me how my running was coming along (after the hip thing). Ugh, not great. I'm stuck in plod mode.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.6 km	6:50 /km	155 bpm (86%)

Had 2 slices of pineapple fruit slice afterwards (very healthy - not at all like the bakery tray) before I remembered that I'm supposed to be on a diet. Body is sore and achy all over from the weekend activity.

Run-free Weekend

Another non-running weekend. On Saturday, I finally finished cleaning and stacking the last of the pavers - all 400 are now neatly stacked and I hope to never have to touch them again. I did a little bit more digging before deciding to prune the snowball tree instead. An hour later I had a HUGE pile of prunings that I wasn't sure what to do with. And a very truncated tree.

So I went shopping.

And came home with a garden shredder. As luck would have it, it was raining on Sunday morning so the neighbours were spared until later in the afternoon. It took a couple of hours to turn the mountain of twigs and branches into a metre-high pile of mulch. Awesome toy!! Don't know why I didn't get one before.

Snowball tree: October 2005


September 2006

Weight	72.5 kgs ▼
Walking	10.8 kms
Running	30.1 kms

Spring Diet Goal #1: no added sugar -- tick!
I made it! It was a struggle for the first few days, but seemed to get easier. I had tons of raisins instead, and the odd piece of iced roll.

Spring Diet Goal #2: no added fat
eg, croissants, garlic bread.
This one's a bit of a cop-out, because there will be no more croissants in the mornings, and I think this Friday's Happy Hour is cancelled so there won't be any garlic bread either. But I need another week to consolidate the sugar withdrawal.

Running on Empty

Or "Not Running" as was the case this morning. Unseasonably warm - 15°C at 7am. I headed off down Victoria Rd with the intention of looping around at Killara, but on the way up the hill to Chandler Rd I discovered the tank was empty. I had zero energy. My heartrate was still low - in the 140s - but I just couldn't keep going. I turned down Chandler Rd and cut the loop short, with several walking breaks on the way home.

No idea why it wasn't happening this morning. Perhaps the heat, perhaps the light meal last night (2 slices of fruit bread and a handfull of dried fruit - I had a big lunch though), who knows. One of those days...

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
5.9 km	8:16 /km	137 bpm (72%)

No bakery tray this morning - apparently it all ended on 31 August. They couldn't even make it last until the end of the week. Ah well, I reckon I did pretty well staying off the sugar for the last four days.