Since Tuesday I've had PT with Krissi (Wed) and played squash with Murali (Thu). I'll find time to write about them, but first I want to catch up with what you've all been doing. Have a great weekend.
Oh, Mum's doing really well. She's had four good days in a row, so it looks like she's on the mend. Thanks again for all the positive thoughts.
Friday, 1 February 2008
Squash, PT, and not much else
I've hardly been online lately. Lots has been going on in my non-blogging life. I tend to keep this blog focussed on exercise so I won't go into details here. I'm happy with the situation, even if it is interrupting my internet time. It's amazing how much I miss catching up with all my usual blogs though. Here I am, late at night, reading blogs and wishing I had time to make comments.
**Edit** In fact, I was so tired writing this that I didn't post it and now it's three days later. Just as well that I didn't post it as the last paragraph ended up being total rubbish. Blogging while falling asleep is not to be recommended. Thanks for your comment Andrew. I am fine - just busy with life in general. **End Edit**
On the exercise front, I played squash with Murali on Thursday. On the night I was planning my blog entry. I won the first two games and Murali won the next two. I was thinking that I was in danger of his winning three in a row, but I managed to keep my game together and take out the decider. It's amazing what a difference being fit makes. Murali has it all over me when it comes to strength, but I can usually hang in there long enough to wear him down. Murali is as competitive as me, so he's workign on his fitness. I just have to hope my game stays ahead of his for a little while longer. (Thanks for the offer of squash tips JoJo. I'll take you up on it.)
I had a lazy weekend. I was away from home, which was good, as my landlord is selling. At least I wasn't stuck in the "be away for this period of time" situation, and I did get a lovely arrangement of flowers out of it. I'm hoping the new owner wants a tenant, as I am too lazy to want to move. I thought about making an offer for the apartment myself, but it flooded on the weekend of the Elton John concert. It seems a little silly to be making an offer on an apartment that I know floods.
This evening I had PT with Julia. I had a great session, working hard and managing to break into a sweat. I'm always pleased when I feel that I work that hard.
Tonight I did three sets of 15 on the leg press (43 kg), followed by 2 sets of 15 pushups and 12 pullups. I'm finding the pullups really hard. Julia is delighted as she says it's hard to find something to challenge me. I smiled internally as Krissi is always managing to push me a little futher. I think Julia is going to make a Krissi-style PT in the next few years, so I don't want to put her off.
After the pushups/pullups we moved on to the seated row. I put the weight up to 18.3kg, which ended up being more of a stretch than I anticipated. I could feel my back muscles burning. After that we did some hamstring curls, 2 sets of 15, followed by a set of abs exercises and stretching.
I then dashed off to farewell drinks for my pool-running buddy Sally, who is moving to Darwin. I'm going to really miss Sally while she's away. After that, another mad dash back home to meet my visitors from Ireland, my second cousin Liz and her husband Phil. It was a hectic evening!
**Edit** In fact, I was so tired writing this that I didn't post it and now it's three days later. Just as well that I didn't post it as the last paragraph ended up being total rubbish. Blogging while falling asleep is not to be recommended. Thanks for your comment Andrew. I am fine - just busy with life in general. **End Edit**
On the exercise front, I played squash with Murali on Thursday. On the night I was planning my blog entry. I won the first two games and Murali won the next two. I was thinking that I was in danger of his winning three in a row, but I managed to keep my game together and take out the decider. It's amazing what a difference being fit makes. Murali has it all over me when it comes to strength, but I can usually hang in there long enough to wear him down. Murali is as competitive as me, so he's workign on his fitness. I just have to hope my game stays ahead of his for a little while longer. (Thanks for the offer of squash tips JoJo. I'll take you up on it.)
I had a lazy weekend. I was away from home, which was good, as my landlord is selling. At least I wasn't stuck in the "be away for this period of time" situation, and I did get a lovely arrangement of flowers out of it. I'm hoping the new owner wants a tenant, as I am too lazy to want to move. I thought about making an offer for the apartment myself, but it flooded on the weekend of the Elton John concert. It seems a little silly to be making an offer on an apartment that I know floods.
This evening I had PT with Julia. I had a great session, working hard and managing to break into a sweat. I'm always pleased when I feel that I work that hard.
Tonight I did three sets of 15 on the leg press (43 kg), followed by 2 sets of 15 pushups and 12 pullups. I'm finding the pullups really hard. Julia is delighted as she says it's hard to find something to challenge me. I smiled internally as Krissi is always managing to push me a little futher. I think Julia is going to make a Krissi-style PT in the next few years, so I don't want to put her off.
After the pushups/pullups we moved on to the seated row. I put the weight up to 18.3kg, which ended up being more of a stretch than I anticipated. I could feel my back muscles burning. After that we did some hamstring curls, 2 sets of 15, followed by a set of abs exercises and stretching.
I then dashed off to farewell drinks for my pool-running buddy Sally, who is moving to Darwin. I'm going to really miss Sally while she's away. After that, another mad dash back home to meet my visitors from Ireland, my second cousin Liz and her husband Phil. It was a hectic evening!
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Treadmill Run, PT and more PT
Before I get started, my Mum's home from hospital and recovering well. Thanks for all the positive thoughts and prayers. We're very happy and relieved to have her home.
On Monday night I went for a run at the gym. I really enjoyed myself. Some days it just seems easier than others. I ran 4 km before cooling down. It took me just over 35 minutes all up. I had my headphones and was watching Channel V. I don't really like running with headphones. I seem to get myself all tangled up and the earpieces don't always want to stay in my ears. The volume never seems to be right with the treadmill screen. It's all seems too hard but I persist. At least juggling the wires and adjusting the volume keeps me occupied.
I've been working on my cadence. I realised that I was running slower because I was taking few steps per minute. Only 10 actual steps less, but that's a fair bit of ground to be losing over a 40 minute run. I'm having trouble getting it back up. I have a theory that it's related to my breathing. It all makes perfect sense to me and it's something to think about while I'm running. My theory is this: I breathe in for two steps and out for for. As a result of Yoga I breathe more deeply, which means it takes me longer to breathe in and out. My feet have slowed down to compensate. My alternative theory is: I put on weight over the course of last year which has slowed me down. I prefer to ignore that one.
Anyway, it's given me something definite to work on. I'd gotten a bit slack with working on various aspects of my form. I'll have to make a conscious effort to read my Chi Running book again.
On Tuesday I had PT with Julia. I made myself do my cardio warmup on the bike. I really don't like the stationary bike but I figured it would be kinder to my knee. Also, I have a philosophy that I should do stuff I don't like occasionally as it makes me appreciate the stuff I do like even more. Oh no, that line of thinking is saying "Kathy, do a cycle class!" I think I need to develop selective deafness.
I was due for a program change so this week we started off on the leg press machine that you don't need to load the weights onto. I did the top third of the action. My knee was fine, although I could feel that it had been working. I don't know if I'm imagining that or if I'm really feeling it. I guess time will tell if it's paranoia. I did two (or three) sets of 15 reps at 50 kg. That's a problem with not blogging on the day - my mind leaks the details. At least Julia wrote it down. After that we did hamstring curls. I am starting to like these. I'd better not mention that to either trainer or they'll get scratched from my program. I did two sets of 15. I then did two sets of 15 reps at 16 kg on the seated row machine. I'll be able to increase the weight on that soon, but it's a while since I've done them so I wanted to get my form checked again.
We moved over to the Smith machine where I did pushups - two sets of 15. It's strange doing them on an angle. It was easier to actually bend my arms though. When I'm trying to do real pushups I hesitate to really bend my arms in case I can't get back up. We alternated the pushups with pullups. Julia had me doing them at an easier angle than I've done these before but I didn't want to encourage her to make it harder. It was still hard work when I got to 12 on the first set and I only made it to 10 on the second set.
We then did some abs work. I was pleased about this as abs work seems to have fallen out of the "Fernwood" program. We did a set of 15 crunches with the fitball. Julia asked me how I felt and I told her they were easy. Me and my big mouth. I was then doing reverse crunches. I only had to do one set of 10 and then it was time to stretch. I really enjoy the stretching.
I normally do Yoga on Tuesdays, but I reorganised my evening because my sister was coming to stay for a couple of nights. She's up here for work. It is great to see her. I see her every time I go to Melbourne, but it's fun for me to have her here. It's also an excuse to go to "Sammy's Kitchen", which is a fabulous Chinese restaurant a few minutes walk from my place.
This morning I had my PT with Krissi. I love this session, although I was feeling a little trepidation as I hadn't spoken to her about my decision to pull out of the tri. I really appreciated that she didn't immediately try to talk me back into it, and I told her so. Well, the flood gates opened. She'd exercised massive self-control to not say anything. It was good to talk to her about it. She gave me a new perspective on the whole thing. I'm not saying that I'll do the triathlon but I'm seriously thinking about getting my backside to the cycling training on Friday - without cleats.
At this morning's session we started off with a warmup on the bike. I may have mentioned (ok, I know I did) that I hate this. I lasted the ten minutes. Krissi cranked up the resistance for the last 90 seconds which was typical PT sadism. I mean that in the nicest way - it's good to have the challenge but I don't have to like it. Then came my favourite part of the session - the stretching. All the stretches are great but there one stretch in particular that I find wonderful, where Krissi leans on the bottom of my foot. I know that's a lousy description, but I'm not going to try to explain how it works. It's enough that my calves love the stretch.
Now this session was only today, but I'm probably going to forget the order / no of reps etc. We started off with hamstring curls. We did three sets of 15. I mentioned that I was really feeling them in my calves and Krissi explained to me where I was going wrong. I don't know why I waited until the end to mention it instead of saying something in the first set. After that we did calf raises, which really burned after the second set. We then did chest presses. I managed 15 reps at 7.5 kg for the first set but I kind of crumbled at 10 reps in the second set. My left arm stopped coping. I have an impressive bruise on my left wrist from falling off my bike last week but I don't know if it was that or if it would have happened anyway. Krissi assisted me through another 5 reps but they were pretty much spaghetti.
After that I did an exercise but I didn't think to find out its name. It was using the wide bar, sitting down, leaning back and pulling the bar down to my chest while keeping my shoulders down. It's probably got some blindingly obvious name. I'll have to ask Krissi next time. Anyway, I did two sets of 12 or 15 reps at some weight or the other. Yep, I was paying close attention. After each set Krissi had me doing the plank for 1 minute. It's good when Krissi is timing me - on my own I give up much sooner.
For abs exercises Krissi had me starting off with situps. My legs were bent and my feet were together. Krissi held my toes down while I started off with my hands on my quads. I was to slide them up my legs as I sat up. At first I was all back and shoulders, but Krissi gave me a tip. Instead of thinking about sitting up with my abs she got me to think about moving my hands smoothly along my legs. That worked really well. Once I managed that she got me to think about rolling back down one vertebrae at a time instead of flopping. I think we did 12 of these the first time and 10 the second time. I was definitely struggling towards the end of the set the second time.
After the situps I was doing crunches, with my legs closer to my backside and my arms straight up in the air holding a 3 kg medicine ball. To do the crunches I was raising the ball. It was a small movement that resulted in quite an effective crunch. I don't remember how many of these we did. After that I did reverse crunches. Krissi had me concentrating on lifting with my abs and not worrying about how far my feet moved. Again, a small movement but effective. I felt absolutely great when I was walking home.
On the bike confidence front, I've applied to join a course run by Pedal Power ACT. It's called "New Horizons for Women - 2008", aims to improve cycling skills, and is run over nine weeks, starting in mid-February. I hear that places go fast, so I'll have to wait to hear if they have room for me.
On the half marathon front, I've just discovered that the ACT Cross Country Club runs a training group aimed at novices. There's an info session on that in mid-February too.
On Monday night I went for a run at the gym. I really enjoyed myself. Some days it just seems easier than others. I ran 4 km before cooling down. It took me just over 35 minutes all up. I had my headphones and was watching Channel V. I don't really like running with headphones. I seem to get myself all tangled up and the earpieces don't always want to stay in my ears. The volume never seems to be right with the treadmill screen. It's all seems too hard but I persist. At least juggling the wires and adjusting the volume keeps me occupied.
I've been working on my cadence. I realised that I was running slower because I was taking few steps per minute. Only 10 actual steps less, but that's a fair bit of ground to be losing over a 40 minute run. I'm having trouble getting it back up. I have a theory that it's related to my breathing. It all makes perfect sense to me and it's something to think about while I'm running. My theory is this: I breathe in for two steps and out for for. As a result of Yoga I breathe more deeply, which means it takes me longer to breathe in and out. My feet have slowed down to compensate. My alternative theory is: I put on weight over the course of last year which has slowed me down. I prefer to ignore that one.
Anyway, it's given me something definite to work on. I'd gotten a bit slack with working on various aspects of my form. I'll have to make a conscious effort to read my Chi Running book again.
On Tuesday I had PT with Julia. I made myself do my cardio warmup on the bike. I really don't like the stationary bike but I figured it would be kinder to my knee. Also, I have a philosophy that I should do stuff I don't like occasionally as it makes me appreciate the stuff I do like even more. Oh no, that line of thinking is saying "Kathy, do a cycle class!" I think I need to develop selective deafness.
I was due for a program change so this week we started off on the leg press machine that you don't need to load the weights onto. I did the top third of the action. My knee was fine, although I could feel that it had been working. I don't know if I'm imagining that or if I'm really feeling it. I guess time will tell if it's paranoia. I did two (or three) sets of 15 reps at 50 kg. That's a problem with not blogging on the day - my mind leaks the details. At least Julia wrote it down. After that we did hamstring curls. I am starting to like these. I'd better not mention that to either trainer or they'll get scratched from my program. I did two sets of 15. I then did two sets of 15 reps at 16 kg on the seated row machine. I'll be able to increase the weight on that soon, but it's a while since I've done them so I wanted to get my form checked again.
We moved over to the Smith machine where I did pushups - two sets of 15. It's strange doing them on an angle. It was easier to actually bend my arms though. When I'm trying to do real pushups I hesitate to really bend my arms in case I can't get back up. We alternated the pushups with pullups. Julia had me doing them at an easier angle than I've done these before but I didn't want to encourage her to make it harder. It was still hard work when I got to 12 on the first set and I only made it to 10 on the second set.
We then did some abs work. I was pleased about this as abs work seems to have fallen out of the "Fernwood" program. We did a set of 15 crunches with the fitball. Julia asked me how I felt and I told her they were easy. Me and my big mouth. I was then doing reverse crunches. I only had to do one set of 10 and then it was time to stretch. I really enjoy the stretching.
I normally do Yoga on Tuesdays, but I reorganised my evening because my sister was coming to stay for a couple of nights. She's up here for work. It is great to see her. I see her every time I go to Melbourne, but it's fun for me to have her here. It's also an excuse to go to "Sammy's Kitchen", which is a fabulous Chinese restaurant a few minutes walk from my place.
This morning I had my PT with Krissi. I love this session, although I was feeling a little trepidation as I hadn't spoken to her about my decision to pull out of the tri. I really appreciated that she didn't immediately try to talk me back into it, and I told her so. Well, the flood gates opened. She'd exercised massive self-control to not say anything. It was good to talk to her about it. She gave me a new perspective on the whole thing. I'm not saying that I'll do the triathlon but I'm seriously thinking about getting my backside to the cycling training on Friday - without cleats.
At this morning's session we started off with a warmup on the bike. I may have mentioned (ok, I know I did) that I hate this. I lasted the ten minutes. Krissi cranked up the resistance for the last 90 seconds which was typical PT sadism. I mean that in the nicest way - it's good to have the challenge but I don't have to like it. Then came my favourite part of the session - the stretching. All the stretches are great but there one stretch in particular that I find wonderful, where Krissi leans on the bottom of my foot. I know that's a lousy description, but I'm not going to try to explain how it works. It's enough that my calves love the stretch.
Now this session was only today, but I'm probably going to forget the order / no of reps etc. We started off with hamstring curls. We did three sets of 15. I mentioned that I was really feeling them in my calves and Krissi explained to me where I was going wrong. I don't know why I waited until the end to mention it instead of saying something in the first set. After that we did calf raises, which really burned after the second set. We then did chest presses. I managed 15 reps at 7.5 kg for the first set but I kind of crumbled at 10 reps in the second set. My left arm stopped coping. I have an impressive bruise on my left wrist from falling off my bike last week but I don't know if it was that or if it would have happened anyway. Krissi assisted me through another 5 reps but they were pretty much spaghetti.
After that I did an exercise but I didn't think to find out its name. It was using the wide bar, sitting down, leaning back and pulling the bar down to my chest while keeping my shoulders down. It's probably got some blindingly obvious name. I'll have to ask Krissi next time. Anyway, I did two sets of 12 or 15 reps at some weight or the other. Yep, I was paying close attention. After each set Krissi had me doing the plank for 1 minute. It's good when Krissi is timing me - on my own I give up much sooner.
For abs exercises Krissi had me starting off with situps. My legs were bent and my feet were together. Krissi held my toes down while I started off with my hands on my quads. I was to slide them up my legs as I sat up. At first I was all back and shoulders, but Krissi gave me a tip. Instead of thinking about sitting up with my abs she got me to think about moving my hands smoothly along my legs. That worked really well. Once I managed that she got me to think about rolling back down one vertebrae at a time instead of flopping. I think we did 12 of these the first time and 10 the second time. I was definitely struggling towards the end of the set the second time.
After the situps I was doing crunches, with my legs closer to my backside and my arms straight up in the air holding a 3 kg medicine ball. To do the crunches I was raising the ball. It was a small movement that resulted in quite an effective crunch. I don't remember how many of these we did. After that I did reverse crunches. Krissi had me concentrating on lifting with my abs and not worrying about how far my feet moved. Again, a small movement but effective. I felt absolutely great when I was walking home.
On the bike confidence front, I've applied to join a course run by Pedal Power ACT. It's called "New Horizons for Women - 2008", aims to improve cycling skills, and is run over nine weeks, starting in mid-February. I hear that places go fast, so I'll have to wait to hear if they have room for me.
On the half marathon front, I've just discovered that the ACT Cross Country Club runs a training group aimed at novices. There's an info session on that in mid-February too.
Sunday, 20 January 2008
Squash and postponed triathlon
Last Thursday night I played squash with Murali. I was so organised. I had my racket out on the kitchen bench, ready to go. I got my gear together, packed my contact lenses, made sure I had my knee bandage and headed out the door - minus squash racket. When I got to the court I changed, hired a racket, and headed out to play - minus contacts and knee bandage. This week I'm just going to leave it all to chance and see what happens.
We had a much better game this week. The two of us managed to hit the ball more often. It was our typical epic contest, being decided in five. This time Murali won. He got quite excited early on as he won two games in a row. He claims it's the first time he's managed that. I'm taking his word for it as I haven't been paying that kind of attention to our results. I'm not looking forward to the day that he wipes me out in three. I'm going to have to hit my brother-in-law up for some coaching to make sure that I delay that day as long as possible.
On the triathlon front, I've decided to postpone my triathlon debut. I'm not going to enter the one I've been training for. I've managed to get myself into quite a state over riding my bicycle. I couldn't sleep on Thursday night because I was so worried about going to the cycling training on Friday morning. I was ok about the whole thing the day before, even after falling off, but then I had time to think about what happened. I fell off because I hadn't coped with the steep driveway. I realised that there were plenty of situations out there when I didn't cope very well (I'm a nervous bike rider) and so there were lots of times when I would be in danger of falling off. I figure I have to build up my general riding skills before I go riding in bunches on the road. At the moment I'm a danger to myself and to anyone unlucky enough to be riding anywhere near me.
It was really hard to tell people that I was going to pull the pin on this triathlon. I was grumpy as anything at work on Friday. Mind you, that might have been the broken night's sleep rather than the triathlon decision.
I ended up not exercising on Friday (I skipped cycling training) or Saturday (it rained). I went for a 4 km walk with Alex today and then to brunch with the running girls. I'll get back into it properly this week.
**Edit**
My mum's back in hospital. She's not been well. She kept saying she thought she'd be better than she was. We all reassured her by telling her that she was recovering from major surgery and that it would take time. Even her doctor, who is wonderful, told her that. Anyway, last week she saw her doctor again and was taken straight to hospital. She has fluid on her lungs. They are trying to determine the cause at the moment. She's in a queue for a test that will examine her new heart valve to see if it's leaking. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of days. If her heart valve is the problem then she will have to have the operation all over again. That's the worst case scenario. Needless to say, we're all hoping that's not the case.
I'm a great believer in the power of positive thinking. If you have good thoughts you can send her way, then I'm sure they will help her recovery. Those of you who pray - we'd really appreciate your prayers at this time.
We had a much better game this week. The two of us managed to hit the ball more often. It was our typical epic contest, being decided in five. This time Murali won. He got quite excited early on as he won two games in a row. He claims it's the first time he's managed that. I'm taking his word for it as I haven't been paying that kind of attention to our results. I'm not looking forward to the day that he wipes me out in three. I'm going to have to hit my brother-in-law up for some coaching to make sure that I delay that day as long as possible.
On the triathlon front, I've decided to postpone my triathlon debut. I'm not going to enter the one I've been training for. I've managed to get myself into quite a state over riding my bicycle. I couldn't sleep on Thursday night because I was so worried about going to the cycling training on Friday morning. I was ok about the whole thing the day before, even after falling off, but then I had time to think about what happened. I fell off because I hadn't coped with the steep driveway. I realised that there were plenty of situations out there when I didn't cope very well (I'm a nervous bike rider) and so there were lots of times when I would be in danger of falling off. I figure I have to build up my general riding skills before I go riding in bunches on the road. At the moment I'm a danger to myself and to anyone unlucky enough to be riding anywhere near me.
It was really hard to tell people that I was going to pull the pin on this triathlon. I was grumpy as anything at work on Friday. Mind you, that might have been the broken night's sleep rather than the triathlon decision.
I ended up not exercising on Friday (I skipped cycling training) or Saturday (it rained). I went for a 4 km walk with Alex today and then to brunch with the running girls. I'll get back into it properly this week.
**Edit**
My mum's back in hospital. She's not been well. She kept saying she thought she'd be better than she was. We all reassured her by telling her that she was recovering from major surgery and that it would take time. Even her doctor, who is wonderful, told her that. Anyway, last week she saw her doctor again and was taken straight to hospital. She has fluid on her lungs. They are trying to determine the cause at the moment. She's in a queue for a test that will examine her new heart valve to see if it's leaking. Hopefully that will happen in the next couple of days. If her heart valve is the problem then she will have to have the operation all over again. That's the worst case scenario. Needless to say, we're all hoping that's not the case.
I'm a great believer in the power of positive thinking. If you have good thoughts you can send her way, then I'm sure they will help her recovery. Those of you who pray - we'd really appreciate your prayers at this time.
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
It sounded like a great idea at the time
You may have noticed that I haven't been riding my bike much. That's going to be a problem when I'm doing the cycling leg of the triathlon. I've been agonising between trying to ride with cleats and giving up on the idea completely. In the meantime I haven't been out on the bike.
Krissi sent me an email, suggesting that we use this morning's PT session to check out how I get on and off the bike while I was wearing ordinary shoes and then make the transition to cleats. I thought it was a great idea, even though I was as nervous as anything. I was so tense when I got to her place that I was sure my heart must be beating at 100 miles a second. Great for calorie burning of course.
We headed over to the park on our bikes. Krissi explained that she wanted me to pretend I was wearing cleats. I was to do the click out action, brake, step off the bike, and then dismount. She observed me a few times and worked out what I need to do to survive cleats. Even without the cleats it took concentration. I've recently realised that I was very sloppy about getting off the bike. I had all sorts of bad habits. Anyway, I now have a "method". After we rode for about 20 minutes, which seemed much longer, I finally worked up the courage to try the cleats. I was still incredibly stressed but I figured I was getting a great opportunity to make the switch and that I should take advantage of it.
Well, I managed it. I think I was hyperventilating but I was trying to do it in a really "I'm cool with all this" sort of way that wasn't fooling anyone. Krissi mentioned the look of terror on my face a few times. Still, I clicked in, clicked out, braked, stepped down, and dismounted over and over again. We decided that I'm going to dismount onto the right side of the bike as a way of avoiding pancaking to the left. I couldn't see how this would work in traffic. Krissi looked at me with confusion and then started to laugh before asking "Why would you want to dismount in traffic?" It was a pretty good point.
After I'd conquered the park, Krissi took me on a ride around the block. We managed fine. I did some practising getting on and off the bike and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. We rode up the driveway to her building and that's when it happened. I hadn't dropped the gear for the hill and I got myself into an awful mess. I had time to say "I'm in trouble" and then I was falling down. I managed to hit myself in the face with the handlebars and I collected my wrist on the way. I scrambled to my feet and picked up my bike with Krissi's help. As we were doing this a car came out of the garage, swerved around us (we were in the middle of the driveway) and kept going. I was pretty unimpressed that the driver wasn't able to wait for me to get to my feet but she was busy talking on a mobile phone. She did hesitate for a moment, looked annoyed that we were in her way, and then kept going.
I was really shaken by the fall. I had that whole adrenaline rush going, then a few minutes later I was faint and felt like I needed to sit down. I got over it, but I wouldn't get back on the bike to ride with the cleats. I was too rattled. I'll get back another time. I did ride home using my normal shoes. I figured cleats and pedestrians were too much for me, but there weren't too many pedestrians as it happened. I was so glad to get home though.
Krissi was great. I'm sure she was disappointed that I crashed after such a positive session, but she kept being as encouraging as ever. If she hadn't made the offer to help me today I'm sure I would have changed the pedals back over. Now I've gotten some confidence back. I guess I'll fall over a few more times, but hey, apparently everybody does it. Well, almost everybody.
At the very least I won't be changing the pedals back before the triathlon. I know I can ride the bike in ordinary shoes with the new pedals. There goes my excuse for not being out there practising. I'd better get serious about working on my bike fitness.
Tomorrow I have squash, which is my favourite activity of all.
Krissi sent me an email, suggesting that we use this morning's PT session to check out how I get on and off the bike while I was wearing ordinary shoes and then make the transition to cleats. I thought it was a great idea, even though I was as nervous as anything. I was so tense when I got to her place that I was sure my heart must be beating at 100 miles a second. Great for calorie burning of course.
We headed over to the park on our bikes. Krissi explained that she wanted me to pretend I was wearing cleats. I was to do the click out action, brake, step off the bike, and then dismount. She observed me a few times and worked out what I need to do to survive cleats. Even without the cleats it took concentration. I've recently realised that I was very sloppy about getting off the bike. I had all sorts of bad habits. Anyway, I now have a "method". After we rode for about 20 minutes, which seemed much longer, I finally worked up the courage to try the cleats. I was still incredibly stressed but I figured I was getting a great opportunity to make the switch and that I should take advantage of it.
Well, I managed it. I think I was hyperventilating but I was trying to do it in a really "I'm cool with all this" sort of way that wasn't fooling anyone. Krissi mentioned the look of terror on my face a few times. Still, I clicked in, clicked out, braked, stepped down, and dismounted over and over again. We decided that I'm going to dismount onto the right side of the bike as a way of avoiding pancaking to the left. I couldn't see how this would work in traffic. Krissi looked at me with confusion and then started to laugh before asking "Why would you want to dismount in traffic?" It was a pretty good point.
After I'd conquered the park, Krissi took me on a ride around the block. We managed fine. I did some practising getting on and off the bike and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. We rode up the driveway to her building and that's when it happened. I hadn't dropped the gear for the hill and I got myself into an awful mess. I had time to say "I'm in trouble" and then I was falling down. I managed to hit myself in the face with the handlebars and I collected my wrist on the way. I scrambled to my feet and picked up my bike with Krissi's help. As we were doing this a car came out of the garage, swerved around us (we were in the middle of the driveway) and kept going. I was pretty unimpressed that the driver wasn't able to wait for me to get to my feet but she was busy talking on a mobile phone. She did hesitate for a moment, looked annoyed that we were in her way, and then kept going.
I was really shaken by the fall. I had that whole adrenaline rush going, then a few minutes later I was faint and felt like I needed to sit down. I got over it, but I wouldn't get back on the bike to ride with the cleats. I was too rattled. I'll get back another time. I did ride home using my normal shoes. I figured cleats and pedestrians were too much for me, but there weren't too many pedestrians as it happened. I was so glad to get home though.
Krissi was great. I'm sure she was disappointed that I crashed after such a positive session, but she kept being as encouraging as ever. If she hadn't made the offer to help me today I'm sure I would have changed the pedals back over. Now I've gotten some confidence back. I guess I'll fall over a few more times, but hey, apparently everybody does it. Well, almost everybody.
At the very least I won't be changing the pedals back before the triathlon. I know I can ride the bike in ordinary shoes with the new pedals. There goes my excuse for not being out there practising. I'd better get serious about working on my bike fitness.
Tomorrow I have squash, which is my favourite activity of all.
Lots to catch up on
On Monday I was at the swim training session for the triathlon. This was our last session in the pool. There seemed to be a lot of people in our lane. I think some of the women who were at the first session and then disappeared have made New Year's resolutions that involved showing up again.
I wore contact lenses in the pool today. I decided to try them out as I had visions of coming out of the water and not being able to find my bike. I hadn't realised that I'd walk out of the store with trial lenses. Well, it certainly added to the experience. There are all sorts of marks on the bottom of the pool. It makes it easier when you can see people. There's chicken wire on the roof.
We were swimming along when I got promoted to the second lane. I figured there really must be a lot of people in the lane for me to get promoted. Anyway, I wasn't too pleased as I've observed that the usual trainer for that lane is pretty ordinary. (Yep, she's a volunteer and I'm criticising, but hey, who wouldn't be disappointed going from a good trainer to a not as good trainer.) Luckily for me there was a second trainer and she really helped me improve my stroke. By the end of the session I was swimming much better than I had been.
After we'd warmed up those of us doing the short triathlon (200 m swim) were asked to swim 300 m without stopping. It's a 25 m pool, so that meant I had to swim 12 laps non-stop. I managed it and decided to try for 400 m. I managed that too. Yay me! It was good to know that I could do it. I'm going to have to try to do the same thing in a 50 m pool.
On Tuesday I was at the gym. I really should have gotten up in the morning to run, but I decided to squeeze a short run in between Personal Training and Yoga. I was at the gym for two and a half hours and had a great time. It was my first PT session back with Julia. She'd had a great holiday in Tasmania and has her parents on fitness programs now.
We did the same session we'd been doing before Christmas. I did the squats to 30 degrees and held each fifth one for ages. It seems really easy to do the squats but I started to feel it in my abs and back. I then did the chest press - 12 reps at 9 kgs and triceps push backs - 15 reps at 4 kg. Two sets of each. I struggled with the chest press but made it. I followed that up with the bent over row - two sets of 15 reps at 12.5 kg. I keep thinking I'm ready for the next weight, but by the 10th row my back is letting me know that I still have a way to go. We then did some abs exercises - that twist thing with the medicine ball - 2 sets of 20 reps with a 4 kg medicine ball with a set of leg extensions in the middle - one leg, then the other, then both. I managed 10 of them. Ouch. The second set of twists was hard work after that. Some stretching and we were done. Normally we wouldn't have done so much abs work but Julia gave me a 45 min session as she had a free half hour between clients. It was a nice bonus for me.
I had planned to do a longer run, but I only had half an hour before yoga. I started off at 7.5 km/h for 10 mins and then did three sets of 1 min intervals (9/6) followed by running until I made 3 km, and then a cool down. All up about 25 mins. I then changed my top for yoga. Fortunately it was on, which I was really pleased to discover.
It was a dynamic yoga session and we spent most of the time on our feet. I really enjoyed it. I felt like I handled the poses pretty well. I'm still having difficulty with some of the transitions, but I'm getting closer all the time. There was only one thing I had to skip because of my knee and I can't manage that one anyway. It's the duck waddle. I felt like I "got" the side bend today. That's the one from Warrior 2, for those of you that know something about yoga. It was a geat session and I felt so good after all the stretching.
This morning I had PT with Krissi. I'm going to blog about that separately as it was rather amusing.
I wore contact lenses in the pool today. I decided to try them out as I had visions of coming out of the water and not being able to find my bike. I hadn't realised that I'd walk out of the store with trial lenses. Well, it certainly added to the experience. There are all sorts of marks on the bottom of the pool. It makes it easier when you can see people. There's chicken wire on the roof.
We were swimming along when I got promoted to the second lane. I figured there really must be a lot of people in the lane for me to get promoted. Anyway, I wasn't too pleased as I've observed that the usual trainer for that lane is pretty ordinary. (Yep, she's a volunteer and I'm criticising, but hey, who wouldn't be disappointed going from a good trainer to a not as good trainer.) Luckily for me there was a second trainer and she really helped me improve my stroke. By the end of the session I was swimming much better than I had been.
After we'd warmed up those of us doing the short triathlon (200 m swim) were asked to swim 300 m without stopping. It's a 25 m pool, so that meant I had to swim 12 laps non-stop. I managed it and decided to try for 400 m. I managed that too. Yay me! It was good to know that I could do it. I'm going to have to try to do the same thing in a 50 m pool.
On Tuesday I was at the gym. I really should have gotten up in the morning to run, but I decided to squeeze a short run in between Personal Training and Yoga. I was at the gym for two and a half hours and had a great time. It was my first PT session back with Julia. She'd had a great holiday in Tasmania and has her parents on fitness programs now.
We did the same session we'd been doing before Christmas. I did the squats to 30 degrees and held each fifth one for ages. It seems really easy to do the squats but I started to feel it in my abs and back. I then did the chest press - 12 reps at 9 kgs and triceps push backs - 15 reps at 4 kg. Two sets of each. I struggled with the chest press but made it. I followed that up with the bent over row - two sets of 15 reps at 12.5 kg. I keep thinking I'm ready for the next weight, but by the 10th row my back is letting me know that I still have a way to go. We then did some abs exercises - that twist thing with the medicine ball - 2 sets of 20 reps with a 4 kg medicine ball with a set of leg extensions in the middle - one leg, then the other, then both. I managed 10 of them. Ouch. The second set of twists was hard work after that. Some stretching and we were done. Normally we wouldn't have done so much abs work but Julia gave me a 45 min session as she had a free half hour between clients. It was a nice bonus for me.
I had planned to do a longer run, but I only had half an hour before yoga. I started off at 7.5 km/h for 10 mins and then did three sets of 1 min intervals (9/6) followed by running until I made 3 km, and then a cool down. All up about 25 mins. I then changed my top for yoga. Fortunately it was on, which I was really pleased to discover.
It was a dynamic yoga session and we spent most of the time on our feet. I really enjoyed it. I felt like I handled the poses pretty well. I'm still having difficulty with some of the transitions, but I'm getting closer all the time. There was only one thing I had to skip because of my knee and I can't manage that one anyway. It's the duck waddle. I felt like I "got" the side bend today. That's the one from Warrior 2, for those of you that know something about yoga. It was a geat session and I felt so good after all the stretching.
This morning I had PT with Krissi. I'm going to blog about that separately as it was rather amusing.
Sunday, 13 January 2008
Walking, running and yoga
Yesterday my exercise didn't go to plan at all, yet I had a lovely day. I went for a walk with my mother and sister on Altona Beach. Well, let me clarify that. We went to Altona Beach. Janet and Mum went for a walk on the pier while I headed off along the path beside the beach. I didn't actually step onto the beach at any stage and I didn't walk with the other two.
Mum has to walk each day as part of her recovery from her heart operation, so Janet has been accompanying her on her slow progressions from seat to seat at various locations. They invited me along, but told me that I could go off at my pace while they watched the fishermen, the boats, the waves, etc. I felt like I'd be disappointing them if I didn't head off into the distance. I took my trusty ipod and my phone, so my walk was really a ramble. I ended up being out there for an hour all up. I have a little sunburn. This incidental exercise can be dangerous!
This morning I met up with Kathryn for a run at Princess Park followed by Yoga in the Park. I'm really enjoying these runs. Apart from the great company, there's the added incentive of keeping up! I run a little faster with Kathryn than I do on my own, which has got to be good for me. Not that this morning's run was anything to write home about. It's that time of month, and I get the feeling that it's going to be one of those "drain every ounce of energy out of you" experiences instead of an "I'm so strong I can do anything" one. I usually get the second type so I'm a pathetic wuss when it's the first kind. I kept dropping back to a walk. I burnt 510 calories covering 6.35 km in 53 minutes though, so it was a great run from a calorie counting point of view.
We followed the run up with a yoga session. It was lovely, doing yoga in the park. I have only ever done it inside before. I'm glad I had this experience. Being barefoot on the ground, hearing birds, seeing blue skies and trees, and feeling the rain (yes, it rained but only lightly a few times) all made for a wonderful class. I'll definitely do that again when I'm next in Melbourne. Apparently the class will be there until mid-March.
I'm in negative calories for the day at the moment on Calorie King. Kathryn and I were chatting about it as we ran, but I hadn't expected that today's effort would get me there. I like being this far ahead for the day as it means I can think about having pizza or something else that usually doesn't make it onto the daily menu. I probably won't, but it's nice to have the option.
Kathryn and I were also talking about how hard it is to get enough protein. She's done the sensible thing and bought herself some protein powder. I really should think about that too. I might just think about it for a while though.
Mum has to walk each day as part of her recovery from her heart operation, so Janet has been accompanying her on her slow progressions from seat to seat at various locations. They invited me along, but told me that I could go off at my pace while they watched the fishermen, the boats, the waves, etc. I felt like I'd be disappointing them if I didn't head off into the distance. I took my trusty ipod and my phone, so my walk was really a ramble. I ended up being out there for an hour all up. I have a little sunburn. This incidental exercise can be dangerous!
This morning I met up with Kathryn for a run at Princess Park followed by Yoga in the Park. I'm really enjoying these runs. Apart from the great company, there's the added incentive of keeping up! I run a little faster with Kathryn than I do on my own, which has got to be good for me. Not that this morning's run was anything to write home about. It's that time of month, and I get the feeling that it's going to be one of those "drain every ounce of energy out of you" experiences instead of an "I'm so strong I can do anything" one. I usually get the second type so I'm a pathetic wuss when it's the first kind. I kept dropping back to a walk. I burnt 510 calories covering 6.35 km in 53 minutes though, so it was a great run from a calorie counting point of view.
We followed the run up with a yoga session. It was lovely, doing yoga in the park. I have only ever done it inside before. I'm glad I had this experience. Being barefoot on the ground, hearing birds, seeing blue skies and trees, and feeling the rain (yes, it rained but only lightly a few times) all made for a wonderful class. I'll definitely do that again when I'm next in Melbourne. Apparently the class will be there until mid-March.
I'm in negative calories for the day at the moment on Calorie King. Kathryn and I were chatting about it as we ran, but I hadn't expected that today's effort would get me there. I like being this far ahead for the day as it means I can think about having pizza or something else that usually doesn't make it onto the daily menu. I probably won't, but it's nice to have the option.
Kathryn and I were also talking about how hard it is to get enough protein. She's done the sensible thing and bought herself some protein powder. I really should think about that too. I might just think about it for a while though.
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