Hill running and personal training

Today's Outdoor Group Fitness Challenge session took us to Parliament House again. We headed off on our warm up, not quite sure what was in store for us. Once we crossed over the road though, those of us who had done the challenge before knew exactly what we were in for.

Along the way we did a few exercises - squats, lunges and pushups. We came to the first hill. I really struggled up this the last time, but I was able to run it this time. I took it steadily. We were told to do the first part of the hill at 80% and the last part as fast as we could. I just made sure I could get up the hill. I tried to increase my pace for the second part, but it didn't feel any faster.

We then jogged around to the hill on top of Parliament House. From our vantage point we could see straight down Commonwealth Avenue to the city centre. It looked pretty impressive. At one stage I waved at Canberra, but I don't think anyone waved back.

We ran up the hill to the third path three and a half times. When I first did this I had to keep stopping to walk. I remember Krissi helping me run some of the way by pushing me up the hill. This time I could have kept going. Not far, but I definitely could have gone a little further. The last run, which was shorter, we were supposed to go hard for, and I was able to. It's a great feeling. I remember how proud I was of my achievements the first time I did this. I was so glad we were back here doing it again as it was a real measure of progress for me.

We jogged and walked back to Lennox Gardens and then I cruised back home on my bike. Today's ride was tough although it took me a while to work out why. My seat seems to be lower than usual. I don't know how it happened, but I'm going to have to adjust it before I head out again. I didn't have the allen key to move it today. I'll have to make sure I have one with me when I'm riding in future.

My left knee was quite tired today and a little sore. I don't know if it was the hill or the bike ride, but I had to make a real effort not to favour it. I've got an appointment with a sports doc next week to establish whether there is anything that I actually need to worry about or if this is just something that's a nuisance but isn't serious. Of course, I haven't iced it. I haven't managed to get myself organised enough to buy an ice pack or an elastic bandage to hold it in place.

As I'm writing this I'm thinking, I'm a dill - frozen vegies and a teatowel are the go. Okay, carrots are in place. I don't much like carrots so if they end up defrosted I won't be heartbroken.

This evening I had PT with Julia. I was there a bit earlier than I have been lately so I had a little more time for a warmup. I got on the treadmill, thinking about running but telling myself that I should walk if my leg hurt. It was a little tender when I started but that feeling quickly disappeared. I walked for 5 minutes, then decided that 10 minutes of slow running would be ok. After 10 minutes I dropped back to a walk. The running was really easy, apart from the fact that I had to keep dragging my bra strap up. Yes, I hadn't planned to run so I was in an ordinary sports bra instead of being strapped in as tightly as possible.

Julia came and collected me. We started off with squats. I told her about my tired knee, just in case, and promised to let her know if it was hurting. Just like last week, I was holding the fifth squat. I always count while I'm down there. Last week Julia was letting me back up at around the 15 mark. We were chatting away and I was down for about 25 and starting to wonder if I'd be able to stand up when Julia finally released me. Well, on the next two sets I only got to 8 before Julia let me stand up. My legs were shaking. On the last set I got as far as 3 before my trembling legs got me released. If only I could do it to order.

Next I was doing chest presses. I did the first set of 12 with the 8 kg weights, and then foolishly mentioned that I was handling that weight easily. I've got to make sure I don't think aloud when I'm near my personal trainer. The second set was with 9 kg weights and I only managed 9 with some help from Julia. We moved on to triceps pullbacks. (I am never sure of the name of the exercise, but at least I know exactly what I mean.) I was doing these with 4 kg and chatting to Julia and we passed the 12 mark. At around the 20 mark I asked if we were going to keep going until I stopped, and finally Julia told me to do 5 more or we'd be there all night. I swapped sides and didn't bother counting. When I'd had enough I stopped.

We moved on to dead lifts, although Julia called them something else so maybe I wasn't doing dead lifts last week. I did about 20 of these. After that Julia added in some shoulder presses using the 7kg weights because we were ahead of schedule. I ended up splitting the set by stopping after 8 and then trying to do 4 more. I only got through 3 before I couldn't lift them anymore. Now that Krissi has taught me what the point of failure feels like I'm not so scared to go there.

We did the killer butt exercises again, and then I got stretched. It's so nice having someone else do the work.

Tomorrow morning I have the cycling session for the triathlon training instead of PT with Krissi. That should be fun.