Running, swimming, PT and more running

I've been a little busy with my social life, which has got to be a good thing, especially as it's fitting in around my exercise. It is interfering with my blogging time but that's not exactly something I think I should complain about. Mind you, I did have a quiet chuckle when I showed up for drinks, complete with home made ice pack yesterday. Yes, I've got class.

I didn't make it out of bed in the morning on Tuesday, but I did get to the gym for my run and Yoga. I didn't quite have an hour for the run, so I figured I'd warm up for 15 mins instead of 3 kms. Mind you, I realised that 15 mins IS 3 mins for many runners. I then did five lots of 400 m pace intervals before running out of time. I ended up running a total of 50 mins and covering 6 km. I did the warm up and cooldown at 8 km/h and followed a 9 / 6 split on the pace intervals. I decided that as I was going to increase the number of intervals I'd slow down on the recovery jog. I was still coping well on the fifth interval so I think it was a good idea.

I was still a bit hyped when I got to Yoga. Our usual teacher was still away on holiday and the music the replacement teacher was using seemed a bit odd. She eventually announced we were doing a Balance class. I don't know why they didn't put up a notice at reception (well, I do, as we would all have gone home, or, in my case, kept running). We have lots of new instructors at the gym since the new owners started. This one didn't ask about injuries, which always bugs me, even when I don't have one. I thought, oh well, I'll just be careful, but the start of the class involved way too many knee bends so I ended up packing up my stuff and leaving.

One good thing about it, I was able to bring drinks forward an hour, along with applying the home made ice pack. Icing my knee definitely made a difference. It didn't feel sore until late today and it was a lot less sore than usual. Oh, I called into the chemist this evening and bought a couple of hot/cold packs and a knee support bandage. I figured that bringing frozen carrots along the next time I go out for drinks may mean I don't get asked again. (Before you ask, I have received a repeat invitation so the carrots weren't a deal breaker this time.)

This morning I did manage to drag myself out of bed and get to the pool. It was quite busy so I had to join a lane with five other swimmers. I don't mind sharing the lane but I'm convinced that I'm the slowest thing ever and that the others will mind sharing with me. In the end it wasn't at all traumatic. I didn't crash into anyone and I didn't have people hustling me along. I had a brief chat with one of the swimmers after I finished and she told me that we'd had a good bunch today. I hope I'm always so lucky.

I had my PT session with Krissi this morning (Yay!) so I had to hustle at the pool. I only did 8 laps. I aimed to have shorter rests between laps. I cut them down to about 15 seconds today, and managed fine, although I did notice that I slowed down quite a bit on the last two laps as tiredness caught up with me.

It was great to see Krissi. I enjoyed hearing all about her holiday over in WA and the photos were amazing. I was able to see them because Krissi was measuring me today. I'd asked her to do this as I'm going to do the Runner's World challenge. She repeated the measurements that she did at the start of our PT sessions. The results weren't too bad, which was a relief after the holiday season. This afternoon I got myself weighed by another friend who is a weight loss consultant, but I didn't get the photos done. I'll have to organise some tomorrow or I guess the weight measurement will be invalid. If I can't get my act into gear, I'll get it done on the weekend in Melbourne, which is the other place I weigh myself. I deliberately don't have a scales at home or I'd be on them every ten minutes.

After we did the measurements, I warmed up on the bike. That was such hard work! I am going to have to build up my cycling fitness as well as my swimming fitness. I've been a little slack about that. Krissi stretched me, which was heaven on earth. While she was doing that she mentioned my new shoes and elastic laces. Yes, she'd caught up on my blog. I told her that I'm going to have to write a section especially for her to read, where I write up the exercise session I imagine I'm going to have. Everything will be done perfectly, at the right level of intensity. Then I'll write the real blog with a "Krissi, don't read this bit" instruction. I'm sure she'll pay attention!

This evening I had to run between 3 and 8 kilometres. I decided to run at the gym and work on my cadence. I also decided that shorter was better than longer, given that I did have a little pain. I put the knee bandage on, and it seemed to help. I iced my knee again this evening. It's taking a bit of self-discipline but I'm sure it will benefit me in the long run. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Today I played with the speeds on the treadmill. I started at 6 and went up by 0.5 km/h every minute until I reached 9 then I went backwards to 7.5, forwards to 9, etc, ending up on 6 before a 5 minute machine managed cooldown. By the end of the half hour I'd covered 3.6 km.

Tomorrow I have squash with Murali, which I'm really looking forward to. I have my squash racquet out, ready to go. I'm not sure whether I'll run or swim tomorrow. I'll see how I feel in the morning.