Street-O @ Bundoora Parade

Hot night. Powerwalked. Phil had set an interesting course with four clusters of controls. Logically, you would clean up a cluster and then move on to the next one. It worked perfectly for me - getting all controls in three of the clusters; but didn't work so well for the faster walkers as the last cluster was too far away for them to attempt. So there'll be a big bunch of us all with the same score, and it all depends on who got back first.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.8 km	9:09 /km	130 bpm (68%)

I ran this up for Debbie - my route as seen on Gmaps Pedometer:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=567031
It has me at 7km, which is interesting. I zoomed in to get it accurate, and I didn't include the 200m fumble which had me questioning my sanity and the map, in that order!

Thursday...

Sucky 8am conference call which made it impossible to get out for an hour beforehand. Okay, not "impossible". I could have got up earlier, I suppose. And not enough time after the call to walk, eat breakfast, and get into the office in time for my fortnightly massage.

* muesli
* Nandos Supremo Chicken Burger, chips, coke, badness....
* raisins
* 2 pieces toast

Street-O @ Blackburn North

Cool night - excellent for running. A "score" course tonight: Course C had to be back by 7:45. I much prefer running by time than having to count the number of controls to get. Running easily - felt good. Didn't look at my pace during the run, but noticed the HR up near 180 at one point when I felt like I needed a breather!

Got back with less than 30 seconds to spare - working hard over the last 500m to (a) get home in time, and (b) stay ahead of the guy just behind me! It hurt.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.3 km	5:52 /km	167 bpm (88%)

woot! under 6:00/km

Wednesday...

Up long after the birds. Nearly 8am before I headed out. Did a route I don't do very often (because it's marked steep in the Melway, and it is!). 5.4 km. Slight drizzle for the last 15 minutes or so.

* grapefruit, orange. I've been juicing Ruby Red grapefruit, and they're so yummy I just had it plain this morning - in a bowl with an orange, and a "sauce" of honey and a pinch of minced ginger. V. yummy.
* muesli
* KFC Toasted Twister
* strawberries
* apple
* protein shake

Bloglines

wildthing said...
Hey Louise, you just appeared in bloglines. How did you do it?

Welcome back everyone! I missed ya. :-)

Tuesday...

Up with the birds, and out the door before 7am. Foggy breath. 5.8 km.

* juice: grapefruit, orange, carrots, ginger
* muesli
* apple
* prawn fried rice
* dates
* double chocolate-chip cookie (sigh... better not slip into a bad habit. Besides, these things are $2.70 each!)
* raisins
* mango
* 2 pieces of toast

Monday... here we go again

Big problems getting out of bed this morning, not helped by about a thousand possums starting World War III in my trees and across the roof last night. Cold ~10 degrees. Didn't get out the door until nearly 8am for my usual Seville-Chandler Rd route - 5.7 km.

* juice: grapefruit, carrot, cucumber, ginger, garlic
* muesli
* sushi
* strawberries
* triple chocolate cookie (yum!)
* fried rice with prawns, egg, veges.
I've rediscovered the wok! My stove is really pathetic, so I'm using a camping gas cooker on the kitchen bench. hey - whatever works. :-)

I didn't go to Street-O - tonight's event fell into the "too far" category (Caulfield), so I went for a run from home instead. After a slow plod on the slight uphill to Wandin keeping the heart rate around 150 (79%), I decided to pick up the pace to 160 on the homeward run. I just kept going faster and faster until the HR was sitting around 170 and higher (90%), and it still felt comfortable. Being slightly downhill, the pace was pretty quick and it felt good to be going that fast.

Pace on the way out was around 7:30/km, on the way back around 5:10/km. I held it for just over 3km to the start of Station St where I slowed down to trot home.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.7 km	6:37 /km	156 bpm (82%)

Sunday...

Jumped on the scales this morning - 71.8 kg! Wahoo!! Not sure whether to read too much into it or not - 1.5 kg is a lot to lose in a week and I expect that much of it is fluid, and the result of being virtuous all week (except for a small lapse on Thursday night). I'm celebrating with takeaways tonight tho'. :-)

Shins and feet are a bit tight, I guess from yesterday's run.

Went for a long walk through Jells Park after lunch to set an orienteering course for the CR Xmas Bash next weekend - 7.9 km. Nice sunny afternoon.

* juice: orange, grapefruit, lemon, carrot, ginger
* muesli
* apple
* leftover pork fried rice
* strawberries
* cherries
* fish and chips

Weekly summary:

Weight	71.8 kgs
Walking	36.1 kms
Running	23.8 kms

Saturday...

Went for the Seville Shuffle that I didn't get up early enough for yesterday - out to Killara Stn along Victoria Rd and back along the trail. Walked the first and last bits (1 km total). Felt nice and easy...

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.4 km	7:37 /km	149 bpm (78%)

* juice: orange and ginger
* muesli (around lunchtime)
* grapes
* chocolate muesli bar (Mmmm :-)
* pork fried rice (homemade, of course)

I picked up a packet of liquorice allsorts in the supermarket... and put them back before I got to the checkout. My halo is glowing.

Friday...

Slept through to 5am with no disturbances. Didn't manage to get up with the alarm though, and I had to be at work early for a performance review (I passed) so I didn't get out for a walk.

* muesli
* apple
* leftover pasta
* small ice cream from Wendys (damn kid that I saw eating one...)
* strawberries
* Happy Hour: Coke, pizza, garlic bread, few lollies
* handfull raisins

Street-O @ Boulder Dash

A new map at Northcote - the "boulder" reference is a boulder walkway which we had to scramble up to get control #20. There was a track winding around the hill of course, but hey - we're orienteers. Why go around when you can go through!

I did the Power Walkers course, and came in a few minutes early.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.2 km	9:17 /km	125 bpm (66%)

Thursday...

Another restless night waking with a coughing fit and a very sore and scratchy throat. And several drinks to try and calm it down only resulted in several trips to the bathroom a few hours later. Ugh. Woke up late this morning and got up even later - nearly 8am by the time I staggered out the door for my walk. Still cool, thankfully.

5.4 km in 10:39/km

Sinuses are good this morning. Yay.

* juice: interesting mix in the pot today - grapefruit, carrot, cucumber, raddish, lettuce (seedlings), ginger, garlic
* muesli

he just emailed me: "I feel totally crap for letting you down. I find it hard to describe what I am looking for and even if it's possible." Good! I feel totally crap too, and I've been trying to convince myself over the last few days that I'm grieving for what might have been, rather than for the man himself. In all my "when I grow up" musings, I never imagined that I'd spend most of my thirties alone...

* tuna, egg & asparagus pasta from the IGA Deli
* raspberries
* apple
* Mmmm... McDonalds!
* strawberries

oh crap, my Yahoo horoscope for today:
"A proposed get-together with a love interest might have to be postponed until much later tonight, or perhaps even until another evening. This could make you a little blue. Your insecurities might even get the better of you. Does your friend not want to meet up with you? Don't fall into this kind of thinking. Accept that there's a reason for this, then go with the flow. You'll enjoy the date that much more for the delay."

*sigh*

Street-O @ Highbury Hill

So much nicer weather than Monday, only 19 degrees at 7pm. Nice run too - actually felt like I was running tonight. At one point I checked the Garmin and I was running sub-5 min/km - and it wasn't downhill!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.4 km	6:09 /km	165 bpm (87%)

Wednesday...

Woke up around 3am with a throbbing sinus headache. Put up with it until just before 5am when I got up to take a sudafed and paracetamol. Bloody sinuses... and now that sudafed (pseudoephedrine) is a banned substance, I have to ration my dwindling supplies carefully. The replacement (phenylephrine) does nothing for sinus pain.

WALK 5.6 km in 11:14/km

* juice: oranges, lemon, ginger, radish, parsley
* muesli

I called into the Lilydale Fitness Centre on the way to work to check it out. They have a 2-month special which I might take advantage of ($125/2 mths) and then see how it fits into my day. Working from home means I can go mid-morning when the main weights room is empty. There are also mid-morning yoga and pilates classes which suit me too.

* rice salad: mango, avocado, pinenuts
* apple
* protein shake after run in evening

Tuesday...

Bloody hell, it's 27 degrees already (at 8:30am). Hot walk around Seville - dragging tired legs up the hills. Glad to get back home and into the cool house. Must get up with the alarm instead of lounging around in bed for an hour...

5.2 km in 11:18/km

Food...
* juice: grapefruit, cucumber, carrot, garlic, ginger
* muesli
* apple
* smoked salmon and brie pasta from the local IGA deli
* strawberries
* fried rice, egg, veges
* more strawberries

Reading the latest R4YL in the evening, the article on weight-loss tips says fruit snacks between meals are fine. That's good! 'Cos I love my fruit.

Street-O @ Mossgiel Park

HOT! I'd been feeling a bit "off" all day, and while we were waiting for the run to start, I had to go and sit in the car in the shade. It didn't get a lot better once we were running - slow plod and lots of walking breaks. I also wasn't sweating, which was a worry, but I was getting pretty overheated.

Long run in the heat - I took over an hour to complete the course. 31 degrees at 7pm.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.9 km	7:32 /km	156 bpm (82%)

Beat up Monday

Would he like me better if I was skinnier? No, No, No... it's his problem, not mine. Why do women beat themselves up so much....

Regardless, I have some weight to lose. And six weeks until 2007 - that would be 1/2 kg per week - should be do-able, right?! I'm also going to try and keep working from home in the mornings. It removes the morning rush, and makes better use of the "dead" time that you get in an office situation.

It also means that I can plan my meals, eat lunch at home and (hopefully) not be tempted by junk.

So I've been for my walk this morning - 5.8 km - and had a glass of juice (2 oranges, 1 lemon, 1 carrot, 2 cloves garlic, 1 piece ginger (I have a sore throat)). I'll have my muesli later on.

later on...
I had my muesli about 10ish; but didn't feel like lunch at all. I was hungry, but didn't feel like eating. I eventually put a salad together and took it into work to have at 2:30. Then an apple later on; and after my run I had a protein shake.

Salad: rice (brown, cold), avocado, mango, raisins, pine nuts. Undressed.

Normal Service has been resumed...

Right, I've dug out the bathroom scales, repopulated the bathroom, and really need to get off my arse and onto my feet.

Too hot to move very far today.

Weight	73.4 kgs
Walking	6.0 kms
Running	6.1 kms

A question for the blokes: How do you know when a guy is spinning you a line? This guy that I've been seeing called it all off last night: "Wrong time in my life, can't deal with it right now, sorry, sorry, sorry..." etc. He's had a lot of crap go wrong in the last few months, but is this a cop-out way of wriggling out of a relationship? Should I leave him alone to retreat back into his cave? Will he come back to me? I thought that we had something going... dammit.

Rejection always hurts. I'll get over it/him, but I'm feeling kinda down right now.

Street-O @ Mount Cooper

WALK. Still pretty cold, where did summer go? Smooth enough walk, although I wasted some time near control #14 looking for the marked creek crossing, while some Course A runners on the other side of the creek did the same. They eventually waded across what would have been a dry boulder crossing last week. I wimped out and opted to keep my shoes dry. And missed out on 4 points.

6.1 km in 9:36/km average pace.

Street-O @ Mullum Mullum

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it tonight. I had a meeting in the city which I left just before 6, and then spent the next half hour crawling through the CBD in peak hour traffic. Ugh. Then I got hailed on along the freeway - really freaky watching the hailstones bounce/float off the road surface. Luckily everyone was well behaved and the traffic kept flowing smoothly. I got to Mullum Mullum with just enough time to get changed in the carpark and run behind a convenient bush.

Bit of a slog tonight - I was keeping pace with Georgia (collie-cross) who kept stopping dead and jerking her lead out of Bryan's hand, causing him to stop dead too. I suggested that she come with me and let Bryan get a decent run in!

6.0 km in 6:33/km. Hilly area. Not a lot of energy.

I'm Cured!

Visit to the Myo tonight, and he's pronounced my hip pain/injury fully cured. Thank Christ! It's been a long time coming...

Now to get my mileage up and my weight down. I haven't weighed myself since I emptied the bathroom and packed the scales away. And working from home actually means I'm not pecking at so much junk food.

I missed last night's run because I wanted to do two more layers of paint (with 2 hrs between coats). The bathroom is now painted and plumbed. I'll give the shower a test-drive tonight, even though I'm missing the shower screen.

Roll on summer!

Distractions... bathroom renovation

I know this is a running/exercise blog, but I have been somewhat distracted this week with a bathroom renovation - working from home in the mornings (to supervise!) and dealing with a port-a-loo, and showers at work in the evenings.

Original (4 photos)
What can I say - I didn't do it! I'm sure it was considered trendy and modern at some point in time.

Day 1 & 2 (5 photos)
Toilet wall dismantled, floor and ceiling ripped out to allow replacement beams.

Day 3 & 4 (10 photos)
New floor in place, walls and ceiling plastered over, shower hob created.

Day 5 & 6 (6 photos)
Waterproofing and tiles.

Day 7 & 8 (2 photos)
More tiles. Who'd have thought that tiling would be so labour-intensive. Emergency mission this morning to get a couple more boxes of the wall tiles, as he'd chewed through more than I'd calculated for.

Day 9 (3 photos)
Grouting and plumbing. Damn, it looks good. I'm blown away. And having a flushing toilet in the house is pretty cool too! Still waiting on a few tap parts and the shower screen, and it's up to me to finish off the painting.


Photo Album

Street-O @ Blackburn South

Cold! What happened to summer? Hard work too - the whole course seemed to be uphill, and I struggled the whole way around. Lots of walking breaks.

6.1 km in 6:37/km avg pace.

Melbourne Cup Day

I got sick of watching paint dry so went for a long walk during the afternoon, along a previous running route - out along the horse trail on Victoria Rd, and back along the Warby trail.

8.3 km in 10:40/km pace

Street-O @ Rowville Lakes

A cool, windy night. My kind of weather. Had a slow, steady run that came together quite nicely.

7.5 km in 6:22/km pace.

Have just added up my mileage for October, and it's way down again. Partly because of my hip - I haven't wanted to push it over the edge again; partly because of this bathroom renovation - I have to be ready for the builder, but that's a pretty crap excuse really: he knows his way around by now; and mostly because I really like sleeping in in the mornings!

Street-O @ Blind Creek

The start of Summer... still daylight at 8 o'clock. Nice.

The season actually started on Monday, but I also had a Myo session on Monday, and he likes me to let everything settle for 24 hours before I run. The session was pretty painful, but he seems happy with the hip - and it didn't trouble me tonight at all.

On a scale of trudge<->floating, it was definitely toward the trudge end tonight. Quite warm, although I don't really know what my excuse was. Felt like hard work.

6.4 km in 6:24/km