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