Morning run and evening swim

This morning I had a PT session with Krissi. We had the 121 Personal Training Christmas function yesterday, which was a roaring success, and plenty of champagne was consumed. I wasn't all that sure how training would go. When I got there, Krissi suggested that we go for a run. I'd been saying yesterday that I hadn't been running well lately, so she thought running would be a good idea. I was happy enough to go along with that idea, so off we headed.

I hadn't bothered to wear my Garmin or my HRM as I'd been expecting to do strength work. It was quite different heading off without a watch. I like collecting all the stats, but it was pleasant to do a run without measuring it for a change. Instead of running along a path, we headed off across the park towards the bike path. It was a good way to warm up. It amazes me how constrained we all are by paths. I've noticed lately that I'm more inclined to walk 'cross-country' than I used to be. That's a direct result of the outdoor fitness sessions and all the running on grass that we do.

Once we got to the bike path we headed towards Dickson. Krissi had me setting the pace. My backside was hurting, which we ended up putting down to the cleats - all that clicking in and out. Every time I do something new I seem to discover a new set of muscles. My knee was fine though, which was a relief, as I have quite a nasty bruise from one of the falls on Saturday.

We chatted as we jogged along. It's great to be able to talk and run. Mind you, if Krissi hadn't been there I might have stopped to walk. We reached the turn around point and headed back. When we got close to Krissi's I went to turn off but Krissi kept me going around the block first. My legs were definitely in the "we can't run anymore" frame of mind, having decided that we were nearly home, but my mind was able to keep them moving. I'm going to have to remember that, and occasionally run past home instead of stopping as soon as I get there.

We ran for 40 minutes. At my usual pace that's somewhere between 5.5 and 6 km. I've no idea how far we went today, but the pace was comfortable without being too easy. When we got back, we headed into the studio and Krissi had me lie down on a mat. I was thinking "Great, stretches" but next thing I was doing abs exercises. I did two sets of 8 x 2 reps of lifting the fitball with my legs, and then 1 minute of the plank before we got to the stretching part. I love the stretching part.

I walked home, feeling really good about the run. I had plenty of time to shower and have breakfast before catching my bus so of course I missed my bus this morning. It's always the way!

There was only one problem with the run this morning and that was that I wasn't wearing my Enell. I ended up with chafing! I didn't notice it at the time thank goodness, but I was very aware of it after the run. Thank goodness I'd worn a racer back bra this morning. I have a plan when dealing with Krissi - you never know what she's going to throw at you - I make sure I have a good bra on. I'm starting to think that's not enough. I'm going to have to wear the Enell every time I go near her.

I had fun showing people my scratched and bruised knees at work today. They are looking quite spectacular and I'm finding a few more bruises. Of course, some of the people I work with think I'm crazy while others are really encouraging. The encouraging ones tend to be cyclists, who assure me that it will get easier with practice.

This evening we had the third triathlon swimming training session. Today we went over everything we learned, then concentrated on breathing every third stroke and gliding between strokes. When I was concentrating on gliding I forgot to roll from side to side and vice versa. Fiona, the coach, suggested I glide on my side and that solved the problem. My max HR was 133 and I burned 262 calories in 55 mins. I'm feeling quite tired now, so it's going to be an early to bed night for me today.