It's official, I am a geek!

Really truly I am, hopefully in a good way tho!

Check out this pic of my pantry door..... yes that really is a to-do list for a race that is 250 days away. Still I have a nice sense of satisfaction that I have got some plans laid out where I can see them daily and there are some quite tangible things in there that will be easy enough to get sorted, hey there's already a couple of ticks on my list and I have been onto all the wetsuit websites to work out what size I need so I can start keeping an eye on TradeMe and hopefully snaffle myself a bargain.

Sunday Funday!!

Phew definitely did the right thing not cycling today, sure it wasn't peeing down like it was yesterday but the roads were so wet it may as well have been raining. So off to Bottle Lake Forest with the dog for a 90min run after a bit of faffing about to find him a dog tag with my address and phone number on it in case he disappeared off into the distance never to be seen again. Poor wee bugger, just about everything he has is second hand, from his toys through to collars, leads and now his wee ID tags. I was a little nervous about this whole running with the dog thing as I normally run him on the lead but I wasn't really looking forward to having my arm pulled out of its socket for 90mins!! There was a surprising number of cars in the car park when I got there so I figured I would play it safe and start off with him on the lead while he burnt off some of his energy, I wasn't very keen on the thought of him knocking over any wee kids in his excitement! That was all good, we jogged off nicely and were doing pretty well, my arm wasn't feeling overly stretched and we only managed to wrap ourselves around a few trees when we headed in slightly different directions! I very skillfully managed to fall over about 20mins into the run which was a bit spethial, now before you all start on about working on my propriception I am normally a'ok on rough terrain but was busy focusing on the dog and stumbled on a tree root, am quite pleased I still had my gloves on at that stage as I landed on both my hands, I will have some quite pretty bruising I think! Anyway, managed to drop the dog lead when I fell and was very impressed that Zac didn't take off, he turned round and came to check that I was ok. We sat on the nice wet ground for a few minutes feeling sorry for me then headed off. After that I took him off the lead and let him run free, he shot off like a rocket! He got about 30-40m away and slammed his brakes on and came running back which was cool! He kept doing wee loops and running back and forwards the whole time which was cool, he would get to the top of a hill and stop and wait so he didn't get out of my line of sight which was nice. I'm really impressed at how good he was, sometime he can be really annoying when he is all clingy but it makes it easier when you are out and about so that was cool. I did have some treats for him in my pocket and gave him some from time to time. He was good about seeing other dogs too, he just gave them a bit of a sniff and then ran up to me when I called him, no barking, growling or other silly business. Silly me though cos I thought I was running the trail that takes you on about a 10km loop around the plantation but nooo I managed to run what is my normal out and back, then lost the track and miraculously found the blue track which turned out to be the one I should have been on the whole time, bonus is I now know where the blue track starts so will run that one next time! Am pleased tho that I feel quite confident running in there, knowing how the avenues work so you can get back to the carpark is good. I saw when I was running that I went from Victor Rd to November Rd so knew I was going in the right direction so just relaxed and had fun with my boy!

Gosh I manage to piss around before heading off to do a run or something tho, I was up around 9-9.30 as Sunday is about the only day I get a bit of a sleep in and it would have been after 11.30 by the time I left home, I would periodically step outside and then pop in thinking, brrr its cold out there. I was kinda waiting for a Wimbledon replay to come on SKY but that was delayed and when it finally came on it wasn't the match I was hoping it would be anyway so I basically frittered away a couple of hours when I could have been out and about doing rather than just procrastinating! Never mind, I managed to find time to meander down to the mall and spend some money this afternoon. Nothing exciting tho, just more Immunoshield so I can keep avoiding colds and flu, some more work pants and bras courtesy of Farmers super cheap deals at their red dot sale!

Quote for the Day:

There is proof that God exists...who pops up the next Kleenex?

- Unknown

Hmmm.... busy week!

This week has been hectic so its been kinda lucky that its been a lightish training week otherwise I don't know how I would have got anything done at all! I don't normally talk about work on my blog cos this isn't about work so this is just a quick snippet cos it's work that made it hectic and will do next week as well. My Team Manager has been away this week and I was asked to step up and act for her so it's been quite full-on as I have had my own team to look after as well, they have been awesome about the fact that they have barely seen me all week even though I was sitting at my own desk. I think I have attended more meetings and conference calls in the last week than I thought humanly possible but I have learnt heaps so that's pretty cool. The next part is I am off to Wellington on Thursday for 2 days to shadow the Team Managers in the Wellington Call Centre so that will be quite cool, it's been awhile since I have run along the Welly waterfront so am kinda looking forward to that.

Right back to the real stuff, I did manage to get all my training done this week, even rode to work a couple of days as well. Was a tad worried on Tuesday as it was sposed to snow and I was planning to run home from work, so had a back-up plan of running at lunchtime if it was still nice and then just busing home. Well by lunchtime it was pretty blimmin' nasty out there, wind, sleet and freezing cold! Oh well, if it was still like that at home time I was just going to pass on that run! It was pretty damn cold but not raining so I headed off with my gloves, beanie, 2 thermals and my running jacket, I even wore long tights for a change. Managed to strap my puffa jacket to my camelback so I wouldn't have to go without it! hehee

Ran with Nadia today which was cool, we ran up Harry Ells and then along the Summit Rd for a bit. I had been thinking of jumping onto the Crater Rim but it was gonna be pretty crazy on there with all the rain recently so we played safe and stuck to the road. It was pretty blimmin' windy up there today, nothing quite like having to hold your cap onto your hand while running. Am quite stoked that I actually managed to run to the top of Harry Ells today, normally I am a wimp and will find some reason or other to stop and walk a bit, it makes a difference having someone on your heels, I didn't even stop when my shoelace came undone.

Have decided that tomorrow is not going to be a good cycling day so suggested to Richard that another run would be in order rather than a mind numbing wind trainer ride, bless him for agreeing with me :) So I think I will head off to the plantation where there is a reasonable amount of shelter and I haven't been there for ages so that will be fun.

Finally, finally my new sports bra arrived in at Shoe Clinic and it is awesome, it is an Underarmour one and is super comfy and supportive and actually looks nice on, who knew that a sports bra had the ability to look nice! It's nice to wear a sports bra that fits properly as well, slowly but surely I'm replacing all that too big stuff. May have to order in another one now tho since I like it so much. Aah, money is only ever temporary in my bank account!

Quote of the Day:

Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.

- Lou Holtz

Smart or lucky??

I swapped my programme around this weekend as the thought of a 4 hour ride in the rain on Sunday wasn't very appealing. The weather man is a little fickle I would have to say as other than about 5mins of spitting I don't think it actually rained, having said that, it was a far nicer cycling day yesterday than today so I think I was smart to change my days.

My goal for todays training session was to run a new track, well I successfully managed that, in fact I ran 3 new tracks! Started off on my standard Capt Thomas walkway, I still like that one for some reason. Normally when I get to the top I either head along the bluffs towards Taylors Mistake or onto the Crater Rim out Godley Head way. So today I decided to turn right at the top of Evans Pass and head along Crater Rim towards Mt Pleasant. I thought it would be a nice easy run! hahahaha it so isn't! You see I thought the track that you can see running parallel to the road was the Crater Rim walkway, alas that is the MTB track. The Crater Rim goes straight up from the road! Blimey, it gave my legs memories of climbing some of the hills at last weeks Rogaine and they weren't nice memories. It does level off and become normal undulating type terrain which was certainly much nicer although the rocks were a little slippery underfoot today. It was real foggy up there, I couldn't see the sea on either side of the view today and it was real real cold up there, I had taken my running jacket off at Evans Pass as I was real warm, it went back on pretty smartly! After I had slipped on a couple of rocks and decided that it was just too damn cold and probably unsafe, I hadn't seen anyone else up there, I decided to head back down and figured that a shortened run was better than a run where I fell down the side of a cliff or something daft. I was heading down and realised that I was going to be back super quick which wasn't good to look too good on my training programme so decided to take a couple of detours and turned off the Capt Thomas and headed out along the path that takes you up to the Scarborough Bluffs (another track I have never done) once I got to the road I turned back and headed down to the valley which takes you out near a riding school, I could see a walkway marker across the paddock and had seen a zigzag path heading down that way so headed up through there and managed to circle back onto the Capt Thomas so I was quite pleased with my meanderings around the valley and it was much much warmer down in the valley, it was quite pleasant actually. So now I have a bit of a plan of places to run if its just not smart to run along the hill tops. It started spitting as I was driving home so a bit of good timing there I think! Stopped in at WAC Cafe to get my morning coffee fix (at 1.30!) and by the time I was home the rain had stopped again.

Have just popped out to buy some new work shoes as a rather lovely dogger managed to chew one of my favourite work shoes the other day. It was funny at the shoe shop as I am wearing my compression tights under my jeans so when I pulled my jeans up to check out the shoes you could see my tights, it looked rather hilarious and I think I got more than one amused look! Oh well, I now have two new pair of shoes so thats all good. Just need to keep the dog away from them now.

Quote for the Day:

"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."

- Gandalf the Grey {"Lord of the Rings"}

It was a 2 thermal day today!

Blimies it was cold out this morning! I had to work from 9-1 so I was up earlyish (late compared to normal but early for a Saturday!) and walked the dogger, brrr very chilly out and even the footpaths were covered in frost. Hmmm, my cunning plan was to ride to work then head out on my ride from there, so not looking forward to that initial ride! I thought about driving my bike to work or just driving to work then home then out on my ride but its the shortest day and no lights on the Wilier so I was a little challenged on my timeline as sunset was set for 5.01pm and I needed to do a 4 hour ride, you do the math on that one, I had a 1min leeway! Silly me looked at the weather forecast and it was some ridiculously low temp, you have to laugh at Metservice weather, they indicate how many layers of clothing you need to wear to feel comfortable in the current temperature, so umm 4 layers were apparently needed to bike to work this morning! I managed 3 on top but just shorts and leggings on the bottom half, you need to know that lycra cycle shorts do a very poor imitation of 4 layers of clothing, then again I had 2 pair of gloves on and one pair was fleece and I was still blowing on my fingers trying to warm them up when I was stopped at the lights!! Lucky work is nice and warm and by the time I headed out again at 1pm it was actually almost quite nice out there in places! I was still wearing my 2 layers of thermals tho along with a very toasty cycle jacket, I had a pair of long tights in my pocket just in case shorts and leggings weren't enough! Had some company for my ride today which was nice for a change, I was chatting to Mike from work yesterday as we were leaving and I said I was doing a decent ride today. Came in to work and had an email saying he would be riding at the same time if I wanted some company so that was cool and he met me at work around 1. He may not offer again after I dragged him all the way around the hills! We went up Dyers Pass Rd, along the Summit to Gebbies, down into Teddington, along the bays, up Evans, down into Sumner and home. I was planning to head back along the Summit from Evans but it was going to be borderline for getting home in daylight plus the thought of descending from the Kiwi in all that grit on the road at the moment didn't appeal to me at all! Had to do a 15min run when I got home, all the way home I kept thinking 'oh I just won't do it, I can't be bothered' then I get thinking, hmm what will I write in my training diary if I don't?? Well, thats easy I just write nothing, thats simple enough to do. But then I start thinking what do I say when Richard asks why I didn't do it? I tried to think of any excuse that would sound even vaguely better than 'I just didn't wanna' and I couldn't, so yep, I came home, stripped off a couple of layers, on with the running shoes and enjoyed that 15min run! So did the dog, I dragged him out since it was just a short wee run! Woohoo,looking forward to tomorrow and a nice 2 hour run on the hills, am thinking I might go off in the other direction at the top of Capt Thomas for a change of scene!

Quote for the Day:

Show me a guy who's afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat.

- Lou Brock

Practical Jokes and other random things

Now maybe just maybe I have played the odd practical joke on people in my team from time to time, you know, fun stuff like packing up their desk and hiding their stuff while they are on a weeks leave - it helps if you drop in some hints such as 'I might make some seating changes while you are away'. Other fun things included ransoming off my managers coffee cup as he kept leaving it in random places, we managed to score 2 weeks of mufti from that effort! So it was payback time this week....

Bless them! I keep getting given a hard time about how many pairs of shoes I have at work on any given day. Basically I keep 1-2 pair at work all the time in case I can't fit shoes in my bag with all my swim/bike/run kit or in case I forgot to take shoes to work (yes, that has happened!). If I am running home I have to have my running shoes, if I am cycling or going to spin I need my cycle shoes and my swim fins apparently count as shoes and these have been living at work lately as I have been swimming at Centennial. I think the most pair I have had at work on any one day is 6! Not bad eh! So my team ganged up on me, they even asked me not to come to my own team meeting so they could plot! They all brought in 1-2 pairs of shoes each and laid them around my desk before I came in in the morning and put up a sign suggesting that they may well all be mine....... I obviously have feet that change size during the day! Without giving me any clues I had to match the shoes back up with their rightful owners, that was a bit challenging at times as they had managed to coerce other people to also loan their shoes for the occasion. I bribed with lollies which helped!! Finally managed to get them all sorted! The little darlings even told the boys at Coffeesmiths so when I went down for my morning coffee they were laughing at me as well! Revenge will be sweet, I'll keep you posted :)

Random things

Hmmm, little dogger has been very good for quite sometime after going through quite a destructive wee chewing phase, I'm talking chewing the plug off the iron, gnawing the edges of wooden chest, eating a pair of cycle shoes, you know the type of thing. Anyway he reversed all his goodness today although he was left with some prime opportunities! The kitchen drawer where the gladwrap etc lives was left open and its at perfect dogger height so someone took out the gladwrap, tinfoil and anything else he could find and managed to chew and shred it all over the floor. He also managed to steal the bananas off the bench and eat about half of these. The laundry door was left open by accident so he went down there and managed to find a couple of paint rollers to shred. Gotta love 'em eh!

I've become one of those people! You know the ones, the ones that wear their HRM watch all the time! I only ever used to wear mine when training but now I have a prettier Polar one I wear it all the time, I even sleep in it so it is easier to take my resting HR in the morning. I have a beautiful gold dress watch and I very rarely wear it now. The fun thing about the Polar is that when I get bored in meetings etc I can play with it and check out the exercise details etc stored in it.......

Quote for the Day:

If you don't make mistakes, you aren't really trying.

- Coleman Hawking

Run, run, run...

Aah to run is such fun!

Running is one of those random things that either seems to go really really well or it just sucks! I never used to know this cos I never ever used to run! Ahh the good old days....not!

Today was one of those days where I run home from work, now I can get home from work in under 40mins but had to do an hour run today so knew I would have to lengthen out my normal trek home. Was on track to leave work at a reasonable hour so that I could start running while there was still a little daylight. Well that plan went to the shizz and I think it must have been nearly 5.30 by the time I got away, so nice and dark and very very cold out! Not feeling so motivated now! Luckily running home is one of the few times I wear my ipod for running, mainly cos I wear it on the bus in the morning so that I can just zone out on the bus and smile to myself like this morning when this weird lady kept giving me the evils for some reason, I just smiled at her, I think that may have annoyed her! hehehee

Anyway, had a wicked run home! Goal for today's session was no walking. Now for some of you that is a pretty easy goal, for me not so much. I am your classic run/walker, not really sure why but I find it hard to keep going! Except tonight! Ok, I did stop at the red lights, there was surprisingly few of them today tho. Sorry but there is no way I am jogging on the spot at the lights, thats just stoopid and you look like a right plonker! I just felt good today and really enjoyed myself even though it was dark and a bit creepy out, luckily there's not many peoples out and about so you still feel nice and safe which is good. Once I was on the course for the ChCh marathon I starting recording the km splits on my HRM, that was good to look at after and see how consistent my pace was, it wasn't speedy but then you wouldn't expect that half-way through a low intensity run, the times were real consistent though which I'm happy with so thats cool.

Quote for the Day:

We're women. We don't say what we want, but we reserve the right to be pissed off if we don't get it.

- from Sliding Doors

Rogaining was wicked fun!!

And no for all you weirdos out there the day isn't about replacing your missing hair follicles!! To satisfy your wondering here is the official definition of Rogaine from my friends at Wikipedia:

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. It is closely related to orienteering and many people enjoy both sports. For all participants, compared to an orienteering meet, a rogaine:
is a much longer event, usually 6, 8, 12 or 24 hours
is a team sport (important for safety, given the long duration)
has checkpoints (controls) assigned point values reflecting the distance from other checkpoints and the technical difficulty (terrain, navigation) of visiting them
requires each team to plan the order in which to visit checkpoints, so route choice is a very important element
For event organizers, a rogaine differs from an orienteering meet in that:
it requires a far larger map area, but not necessarily a highly customized orienteering map
a 24-hour rogaine benefits from being scheduled during a full moon, and needs an organized food service and space in which participants can sleep
ROGAINE is also a backronym for "Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance". The word however predates this definition; it was originally coined as the first few letters of the founders' names (Rod, Gail and Neil).

Right, thats the technical stuff out of the way! Nadia and I headed up to Cheviot this morning to take part in the 6 hour Heights of Winter Rogaine event. Race start was 11am, with registration from 9.30 and race briefing at 10.45. We got there in plenty of time, even managed a wee detour so Nadia could check out the terrain at Greta Valley. I must say Rogaine type people are very nice and friendly, we told them we were new so they made sure we understood how everything worked cos they have these nifty wee Navlights that you have to tag your wrist tag with at each checkpoint and this calculates all your points and works out how long it took you to get from one point to another which is pretty flash! We spent about half an hour planning where to go and having a bit of a guess at how long it would take and coming up with alternate routes in case it all turned to custard! I think we must both be a bit competitive cos we both saw the 100 pointer and decided we had to go after it, it was the only one on the course and was way out on a spur near the ocean! We had to hand in a 'flight plan' which is an outline of where we are intending to go, that way if we don't come back they know where to start looking for us, very safety conscious which is nice. We had to carry heaps of safety stuff just in case, I am now the proud owner of things such as survival blankets and whistles! We also had to carry extra thermals, gloves, hats etc in case the weather turned bad, we were very lucky and it was a lovely warm day, almost springlike! Peeled off a few layers at one stage so had more stuff to carry but hey, better safe than sorry out there.

The start was funny, everyone sprinted off which is kinda hilarious since we have 6 hours, its not as the first back over the line wins! Things were a bit congested for the first couple of checkpoints as everyone aimed for the ones near the start, we had a few challenges finding our 3rd checkpoint, since when is a 'tree' (supposedly distinctive and on its own) one of 2 skinny wee trees hiding in the corner of a valley? Oh well, by this stage we had seen the next checkpoint we needed so it was quick going to get to that one. Then the mission to get across or around the forest. We had a bit of a chat about the best way to go, I wanted to go around, Nadia suggested we just go through as it would be quicker...... Next time we are going around. It was blimmin' interesting going through and definitely not quicker, I think I still have prickles in my clothes after going through the forest. This forest wasn't smart like the plantation, no 23rd Avenue and Whiskey Rd here. All good though, we didn't fight about it, just kinda looked at each other and went 'yep, let's go round next time'. Jeepers but there were some hills in the day! Lots and lots of up and down dale, some of those hills were just damn nasty. I looked at one to try and figure an easy way up and figured straight up was the only way to go, I figured it was the quickest and therefore less painful way to go! Poor Nadia, I don't think she appreciated some of the lines of navigation that I took, she muttered something about the path of least resistance, I just see a landmark or direction and try and go straight so that I don't veer off course and go round in circles, apparently this is easier to do if you have long legs like me as I could just take long strides to get over annoying obstacles. Lots of fence climbing today as well which was interesting, especially getting a bit of a zap off one fence on the top of a hill, had a tingly leg for a bit there. We did really well finding most of our checkpoints, Nadia is a dab hand with the old compass which helps. We had a contingency plan and decided we needed to be at certain points by a set time or we would need to change plans. After it took a ridiculous 45mins to travel what should have been about 1km we decided we better rethink our plan. This worked out ok and we ended up following sheep tracks along the stream to find the next couple of points. We worked out that we could get a couple more on our way back, we were looking for one and find another couple looking for it as well, they tried to tell us they hadn't seen it down in the valley which we thought was a little odd as the clue specifically said it was in a valley yet they were looking on top of the hill?? Never mind, we found it. Then did a bit of a mad scramble to try and score another 50 pointer before heading for home, luckily we bumped into someone who pointed us in the right direction, it still took us awhile to find it tho. Then with 15mins left we had to find our way to the finish, being late causes you to lose points so it was critical to get back on time. We could see a road in the distance so scrambled down the hill and through a farmyard and jogged the rest of the way home. I'm quite impressed that after 5 and a half hours of run/walking over some crazy terrain we were able to run to the finish! Signed back in with about 6-7mins to spare so that was pretty cool. Got a printout of our results and we scored 700 points which apparently is pretty good! A few folk were impressed that we got the 100 pointer, tell you what it was easier then the 40 point one we went for after that! So an awesome awesome day out! I'm definitely keen to do another one or two or ten! My legs are feeling pretty sore at the moment tho, put my compression tights on when we were done so hopefully they do their job!

Quote for the Day:

Choose a job that you like and you will never have to work a day in your life

- Confucius

My normal has changed

Stuff that in the past I would have thought weird or just plain odd is now becoming normal and in a strange way I think I kinda like most of it. So what kind of things you ask? Try these out for starters....

• I think swimming a 3.8km TT is fun!
• Its normal to get up and put my togs on and wear these under my trackies while I walk the dog in the morning
• It's normal to get up at 6am every day and walk the dog
• I smell like chlorine often and I actually quite like it
• It's normal to shower practically everywhere except home, ie the pool, work
• I seem to live out of a backpack on a regular basis
• It's normal to eat my breakfast out of a plastic container while sitting at my desk
• I like cycling up to the Sign of the Kiwi, only so I can see if I did it quicker than last time!
• I like going running on the hills, 5 years ago I used to refuse to run at all!
• It's normal to spend up to an hour each night getting everything ready for work and training the next day
• It's normal for my bank statement to show that I spend my money at the bike shop rather than at the mall....
• My swim gear now permanently lives at work so I don't have to cycle with it to work
• It seems strangely normal to shake hands with someone whilst wearing togs
• It's normal to not have good hair days, a little challenging when swimming/biking/running everywhere
• It's normal to run home from work, geez I never even used to walk home!
• It's normal to fall asleep on the couch cos I am tired from training
• It's normal to have a bike that costs 3-4 times what my car cost
• Most of my favourite websites are about triathlons
• I think orienteering is fun (it really is in a geeky kinda way!)
• It's normal for me to make my lunch nearly every day
• It's normal for me to wander down the street every day and get an awesome coffee!
• I actually enjoy spin classes for the first time ever!
• It's normal to always go for a run after going for a bike ride

I'm sure the list could go on and on and on forever!

Phew nearly Friday...

Blimies, another week nearly done and dusted!Yet another whirlwind of a week as they all seem to be at the moment, not sure how I am going to cope when the training levels start to pick up! Oh well, cross that bridge when I get to it I spose. I started reading a book on time management today, someone kindly left it on my desk a few months ago so I figured it was about time I looked at it, let's face it I could do with the help managing my time at work and home! So far I have read about half the first chapter and promptly remembered about something I could do (didn't need to do but could cos it was more fun!) and put the book down! Hmmm, so far not so good. I have bought it home so you never know, after I procrastinate a bit longer I may actually start reading it again, who knows I may even learn something!

Had to do a 5km TT run in training this week, I decided not to do this at Hagley Park this time cos quite frankly that park and I are not mutually compatible! Luckily I now have all these nifty km markers on the road right outside home, thanks SBS marathon :) So I meandered down the drive and did a bit of a warm up down to the nearest marker. It was a tad tricky trying to see the markers in the dark, I was carrying my bike headlight as a torch so that helped some. I managed to see enough to hit the lap timer on my watch at each marker which was cool and when I downloaded it my times are very consistent so that is kinda cool, makes me think that at least I didn't go out too hard then blow up! So ran out 3km, back 2km and warmed down on the way home. Not a stellar time but still heaps quicker than anything I used to churn out so can't really complain eh!

Had some interesting times in the pool this week. Apparently there has been 'lane rage' at Centennial Pool lately. I now understand why, some people just do dumb stuff in the pool! An older guy was being particularly annoying the other morning, he kept swimming on the right (I think to try and avoid the 2 of us when we were passing him) but it was more frustrating than anything. I decided to say nothing and just keep my eyes peeled for what he was up to so I didn't crash into him. Luckily a lifeguard saw what he was doing and had firm words with him and got him to change lanes which was nice. Then today I was swimming with nice people and we were all courteous to each other and it was all fun, one guy who I had talked to a few times even introduced himself and shook hands this morning while we were standing at the end of the pool.

Went off this afternoon and bought myself odd things such as a whistle and survival blanket for our trek around Cheviot to do the Rogaine event on Saturday. I think last time I was ever in a camping store I would have been a wee kid and mum and dad would have been buying stuff for the caravan or something, aah the memories!

Quote for the Day:

We're women. We don't say what we want, but we reserve the right to be pissed off if we don't get it.

- from Sliding Doors

Orienteering

Orienteering is just fun!! It really is, if you haven't given it a go then get out there and do it, I'll be very surprised if you don't have fun. We did decide that it was all a little bit British in a Famous Five adventures way :)

Today's event was up on Godley Head which was beautiful today being surrounded by all the snow capped hills in the nearby vicinity. It started off a little crisp and cool but a bit of climbing up and sliding down some hills soon warmed us up!

We were feeling a little more confident today after our previous experience, we did do a bit of a gulp tho when we realised that the orange course was longer this time! Last time it was 3km and took us nearly 2 hours, today's course was 4km so we initially thought we could be out there for anything up to 3 hours!! Luckily we were wrong about that and the course took us about 90mins. It certainly seemed easier this time, the terrain was definitely easier for navigating on, less trees and bushes getting in the way of things, just lots of climbing up and down steepish slopes this time. I managed to do a few slides on my bum when I slipped over going downhill! I think we were more aware of what we needed to look for as well as looking at the distance between clues so we had a good idea of how far we needed to travel between each checkpoint. We took turn about navigating this time and this worked quite well as we only got lost on one checkpoint and in our defence the fence was in the wrong place, well according to the map we had anyway! So not a lot of running down in today's event, a lot of the day was scrambling on the hillside but we did run when we were on the paths and roadway. Definitely looking forward to the 6hr Rogaine next week!! Nadia, Rebecca and I are all entered and the info pack arrived in the post yesterday, it all looks very serious but I'm sure we'll find ways to have plenty of fun while we are out there :)

Quote for the Day:

Brother, as you travel towards your goal, keep your eye upon the donut and not upon the hole

- Maxwell House Coffee Billboard, 1946

Some firsts

Tried a couple of new things this week, hmmmm running at lunchtime was a novel experience that I don't know that I am keen to repeat on a regular basis. It proved to be quite a mission and given my work location not a great deal of fascinating places to run. I headed off down Madras St, along Armagh St, around North Hagley Park and back to work. By the time I got changed twice, showered and ate lunch it only made my lunch break about an hour and a half which I figured wasn't too bad. Hagley park just messes with my head eh, I really just don't enjoy it! The worst part tho was running past the groups of people standing smoking on the street...ick!! Give me car fumes in 5pm traffic any day! Having swum in the morning already, managing to miss the pool rage that was in the paper I did manage to get myself told off for wearing my shoes poolside, apparently there was some sign but in my sleepiness I managed to not see it at all. So showered at the pool after swimming, then showered at work after running, it's like I never shower at home anymore! I seem to be a mobile sports gear, shower gear carrying person these days.....she goes by bike, she goes by bus and very very rarely goes by car! I have taken to leaving my swim gear at work since I am only swimming on week days at the moment. So hopefully not many more lunchtime runs, I normally run home on a Thursday but had managed to forget that I was entered in a team for a quiz night at work and running home after that seemed very unappealing!

Another first, took Zac for his first run yesterday! I had to do a 15min run off the bike so figured that was a good distance to try him out on. He did really well for his first run, he started out a bit fast so I had to remind him that I couldn't run as fast as him, he did calm down after a wee while so that was good. He managed to nearly trip me up a couple of times which was interesting and not very smart on his behalf but we both had a good time so that's cool!

Ohh, managed a bike ride in that lovely warm weather that we had pre-snow yesterday! Gosh it was gorgeous out, I was riding in just shorts and a long sleeved cycle top, unheard of for this time of year! I headed up to the Sign of the Kiwi, first time I had been on the hills since before Graperide/Around Brunner! Was all good though and headed up Dyers Pass Rd as per my no more Hackthorne policy! Managed to get a flat tyre at the end of the first really steep bit, I hate stopping on the hills eh so I was pretty unamused! Managed a reasonably snappy tyre change on the side of the road, multiple folk asked if I was ok which was nice and they smiled as I grimaced about the joys of getting a flat, in general the guys seemed pretty impressed that I had everything under control, no damsel in distress syndrome here! All good tho, continued on my way up the hill then toddled along the base of the hills, thru Heathcote/Ferrymead then home. Beautiful day for being out and about and I'm stoked to be back on them thar hills on my bike!!

Quote of the Day:

If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat.

- Hershel Walker

The things we do...

...in order to get ready for training or to get our training done.

Some mornings seem like such a mission whereas others seem quite lazy. Take this morning for example, I get up just after 6, go walk the dog, pack up all my gear for work and swimming, oh and did I mention that I was biking to work as well? Bike into work, lock my bike up, drop my helmet and lunch at my desk, stop and laugh at Mark in my team who is all confused cos we packed his desk up on Friday and put a welcome note on it for someone else, cos he was away on a course last week. I may have also hinted that I was thinking of making some seating changes, hehehee was funny to see him looking all worried momentarily! Walked to Centennial pool, oops had to take a detour downstairs to see Shirley at work and borrow $5 cos I managed to remember my wallet but had no eftpos card! Did my swim, bless the bimbo who decided to do breast stroke in the fast lane while 2 of us were doing kick with fins on! Had a shower and walked back to work. Realised that I needed to get up earlier and muck around less on days like this as it was now 9.20am and I was only just starting work and still hadn't had breakfast! Then off out again for my physio appt at 11am. Finally managed to go get my morning coffee after that, phew!!

Tomorrow is more of the same, I have spin after work tomorrow and since I have to drive across town to get there I take all my stuff to work yet again. So, get up walk the dog, drive my bike to town, walk my bike from my car to work to lock her up safely for the day, have to be there by 8am so I can leave on time to get to spin. Tomorrow I need to try and zap the car back thru the testing station as they failed her warrant on silly stuff the other day but hopefully Geoff has fixed her for me. Luckily they open at 7.30am and are only a couple of blocks from work. Then after work, back to the car with my bike, drive across to Pioneer stadium, get changed either there or at work, do spin, load the bike back into the car and then drive home again. So have spent what feels like half of this evening making sure I have breakfast and lunch ready to go, drink bottles on my bike, clothes ironed for work and gear organised for spin.

I never ever thought I was capable of being organised to this level, it's craziness! Imagine the chaos if I wasn't tho?? The poor dog would never get walked! As it is he only ever seems to get walked in the dark as that seems to be the only time I am ever home. Crazy as all this running round can seem at times I wouldn't change it for the world. When people ask me why I do it, I simply smile and say, 'because I can' :)

Quote for the Day:

"There are no stupid questions, but there are a LOT of inquisitive idiots."

- Unknown

Tour de Macklin

I love public holidays, they are like bonus training days! I always always make sure I ask for a mission weekend! It's great to challenge yourself and do a bit more than normal. This weekend wasn't as huge a mish as normal due to racing on Sunday.

Today I headed out for a ride with Kalina, all the boys piked out. It was too wet/cold/they were full of excuses eh! Geoff scoffed at every suggestion I made for a ride and told me I would get soaked if I went where I wanted to go. So with a promise not to call home if we got caught in the rain etc, Kalina and I headed off to meet young Tim Macklin at Coffee Culture Cashmere.

I was quite relieved to discover that I needed to do a flat ride as I had been thinking of doing short bays. So with not much of a plan other than to stay dry we headed along to the Halswell Downs then kicked off towards Lincoln/Prebbleton way. We were cruising along nicely when Tim asked if we wanted to see a really flash house, we figured why not and there started what became the Tour de Macklin, not quite as many stages as the Tour de France and a lot less lycra clad bodies but fun nonetheless! The flash house was Tim's brother-in-law (I think), then somewhere along the road were Tim's in-laws, Tim's brother, someone's previous house. The list was endless! Kalina and I were having a great laugh being held captive by all of this. (Held captive - cos basically we had no idea where we were so no choice but to keep following Tim or who knows where we would end up!!) We ended up in Lincoln, by this time I was really cold so we decided to head back to Cashmere for a coffee to warm up. On the way we managed to detour plus some more Macklin residences, both past and present! Craziness!!

Mmmmm coffee was good! We had missed a lot of the rain but were still damp, thankfully we managed to miss a huge downpour while we were inside in the warmies! Once the showers cleared we decided to head off, wouldn't you know it, my tyre had gone flat while we were inside. Luckily tho my bike is smart cos while we were fixing my flat it pissed down again!! We managed to shelter out of the rain and avoid that shower as well, if I hadn't had a flat we would have gotten drenched! I managed to impress a guy with my tyre changing ability, esp as he suggested he would be calling for a ride home on a day like today, I kindly explained to him about my earlier dramas and said there was no way in hell I was calling for a ride home today. It could have snowed, hailed and had ten flats I would still have found my own home, stubborn wee girl that I am at times! hehehee, oh well, it was all fun until I went to clean my bike before! Ick, she was filthy!! Just as well the boys at the shop didn't see her in that state, they may well have told me that I don't deserve her anymore! Never mind, she is sparkling now! Chain is all freshly lubed, I even rotated the tyres!

I managed to spend the rest of the day multi-tasking, if it was an Olympic sport I reckon I would have no trouble qualifying! I must have done about 7 loads of washing, made pumpkin soup, made a roast vege salad for my lunches, vacuumed, written my blog, updated my coaching log and emailed that away and after tea took the dogger for a nice wee walk. Phew, time to relax now but it starts all over again getting stuff ready for tomorrow, best I remember to pack those goggles this time!

Quote for the Day:

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the fire department generally uses water.

- Unknown

Race Report for 10km at the ChCh Marathon

Well first up yay I had a PB!! Wicked eh! First time ever under an hour so am pretty stoked with that. I looked back over some previous results earlier and the last 10km race result I can find was in 2006 and a did an hour and 9 mins so 58.15 is looking pretty damn sharp from where I'm sitting!

I had a funny old day yesterday, I was pretty excited to be racing again, there's something about race day that just gets me all fired up. I love it! I felt a bit nostalgic and envious heading out to the race. I live on course for the half and full marathon so when I saw all the cones out and the signs up down our street I really wished that I was doing the half marathon again this year like I have done for the past two years. Oh well, by doing the 10km I was able to see everyone else finish this time round which was nice.

Great weather for running, nice and cool and overcast! Yay for me cos I'm not really a fan of hot weather running. Managed to find Tanya and Nadia on the start line, not bad considering there were 4500+ of us there! That was cool and I was able to wish them luck for their races.

Geez it was a pretty congested start! Why do people feel the need to start up the front when they just can't run that fast? I spent a fair bit of time elbowing my way between people jogging along 2 abreast at a fairly staid pace. I managed to remember to hit the lap timer on my HRM at every km mark so that makes for pretty interesting reading now that I have downloaded it! I think the 9km marker must have been at the wrong place otherwise I did an uber-fast km followed by a terribly slow km.....

Was good to see a few friendly and familiar faces out on course spectating, Ginni, Zarnia and anyone else who was out there.

As I say it was a funny day, my goal was to go under an hour cos I have never done that before, I was quietly confident before the start of the race, I seemed to just know that I would do it which was scary and comforting all at the same time. I think I went out a bit hard at the start tho.... Had a really sore, tight stomach for the first few kms, kinda like stitch but not stitch, so had a bit of a walk just before the 5km drink station (I figured I would just say I was walking the drink station, that works right?), ummed and aahed about whether to take my GU that I had on me. Figured I may as well use it, I decided it wouldn't make me feel worse and may well make me feel better. So got that in and drank a cup of water from the drink station and jogged off again. Geoff and his family were at the 5km turn around (that way they got to see all of us, Geoff's brother Pete and g/friend Jill were doing the half marathon) that was nice to have a friendly wave and smile at halfway! Geoff was cute the night before, he came up to say good night after I had gone to bed and was telling me that I would have an awesome race and called me his champion runner. He told me my running was looking really good at the moment, I thought this was quite amusing as I couldn't remember when he had last seen me run so I asked him about that and he reckons he sees me all the time when he is heading off somewhere or driving home in his car. That was cute and nice that he mentioned it, it's always good to get some positive reinforcement before race day.So from the 5km mark I needed to have wee walks every km, they were just wee, just a hundred metres or so, unlike in the past when I have had to literally walk half a km at a time. From 5km I knew unless something really drastic happened I would breeze in under an hour so that was cool. Just before the final corner this girl behind me burst into tears and saying to the person she was running with that she couldn't do it and wasn't go to make it. I turned around and ran with her a bit and encouraged her along, she picked up and had a huge sprint finish which was cool, seeing her got me all choked up tho and when I turned to go up the finish straight I couldn't get a decent breath which wasn't good. Managed to sort myself out tho and cruised on up and over that line!

So an interesting day, not a perfect race but still a PB which is always great :)

Quote of the Day:

One of the best ways to measure people is to watch the way they behave when something free is offered.

- Ann Landers