Holidays

As of 5pm tonight, I am on 2 weeks holidays.

YIPPPPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obviously they will not be the holidays I planned as we are not doing Heyson (which has been tentatively rescheduled for the first week in May next year). So my new plan is to unwind and recharge.

I have a few plans for some odd days, but I am really just going to try and get my wind back.  I have been feeling very lacklustre of late, and I need to just recharge.  I have no idea if I am going to blog or not.  I guess I will see where each day leads me.

I am looking forward to it.  Lots of books.  Lots of sewing.  Lots of sleep ins.

:o)

xox

Still Crook

I am still sick.  Last night I fell asleep sitting up on the couch at 6.30.  I hadn't even had dinner (in fact all I had eaten all day was a sandwich around lunch time).  Ross woke me up and put me to bed, where I stayed until 6.30 this morning.  The sad part is, I think I could have stayed in bed for a few more hours without a problem.  I NEVER sleep that long.

The upshot of all this is, Ross & I talked yesterday and have decided to postpone Heyson.  We will look at going in May next year.  I am devastated.  I have been looking forward to this for so long.  So has Ross.  We will probably go camping or something that week since we both have the time off work, but I am still heartbroken about not being able to go.

On Saturday I had the first meeting of my new writers group.  It was really good.  We just spent time getting to know each other and talking about different aspects of writing.  There was no real design or agenda to it, just casual conversation.  The next meeting will probably be more structured, but for the first one this was really nice.  It was great hearing abut how other people go about the writing process and what they write.  I am looking forward to next time.

Other than that I have not been doing much, just trying to get over this cold.  Sorry i haven't been reading and commenting on everyones blog, just really no energy right now.  I will try and catch up though.

xox

Still Struggling

I have officially entered panic mode.  Between my Achilles injury and now this blasted cold that is making breathing difficult, I am so concerned that I will not be able to do our Heyson hike which is in only 3 weeks.  In fact, I am almost positive it will be too hard.  :o(

I am so disappointed.  Ross and I are going to cram training in, but at the moment it is just too hard to breathe.  We are preparing for the fact that we may not be doing this until next season (the trail re-opens in May).  I am hoping and praying all will be well, but it is too risky to do it when under-prepared as we will have no phone contact while we are out there.  Everyone please cross your fingers that I wake up tomorrow completely healed and can do this hike.

Nothing else really going on here.  I have a meeting tomorrow of a new Writers group that I am looking forward to, although I have not done any writing for the last month or so.  Life, as usual, gets in the way...

I probably won't get online much over the weekend, so have a great weekend and i will catch you all next week.

xox

A Couple of Days Rest

So I saw my chiropractor last night.  He is not 100% convinced the pain in my ankle is related to my back being out of whack.  I have had ankle and knee issues related directly to my back in the past - as a matter of fact, that is how my scoliosis was originally diagnosed - I kept twisting and spraining my right ankle, even without tripping or falling.

When they couldn't find a cause for the ankle problems Mum talked to her Chiropractor (a very 'out there' concept over 25 years ago) who suggested I come in for testing.  Turned out the reason my ankle was always swollen and sore was that my right hip was significantly lower than my left hip putting too much pressure on my ankle.  Turns out when I was hit by the car when I was 5, although no bones were broken, my hips were thrown so badly out of whack that scoliosis ended up forming.

Anyway, Mark adjusted and manipulated and as I always I felt 100 times better right away.  But he said there is some localised swelling around the Achilles that may not be a result of pressure from the back being out.  He has recommended a couple of days of anti-inflamatories and rest.  If it is still swollen and sore I may need to visit a Physio.

So days 2 & 3 of Heyson training have been abandoned.  And with no bike I can't even ride (although Ross is taking her back to the bike shop today to get looked at again).  Hopefully the ankle pain settles down enough in the next day or so that I can fully jump into Training.

Speaking of Training, Trace pointed out that I have not allowed for any rest days in this Training Plan.  So I will be revising it a bit and will post the new plan shortly.

xox

Heyson Training Starts Tomorrow

Hexagons Hexagons, everywhere Hexagons

I spent most of yesterday cutting out fabric hexagons.  I am not exactly sure how many I have cut out, it would be somewhere in the vicinity of a 200 though.  At least.  :o)  I am going to make a Grandmas Flower Garden Quilt, which is basically lots and lots of hexagons sewn together and arranged to look like a flower garden.  This is a small example of what it will be like (not my work or photo).

Mine is going to have a pale green background though, and will be much much much bigger.  :o)  I am doing it by hand so I expect it to take several years to complete.

The lovely Em came over yesterday afternoon and between chatting and making home made pizza (the leftover of which I will be consuming tonight) we watched Food Inc.  It seriously had as much impact the second time around.  After Em left I picked up 'Fast Food Nation' and started reading.

It also occurred to me this weekend that we leave for Heyson in 5 weeks and I am no where near ready for it.  So I am looking around for a nearby gym that I can get a 1 month membership at so I can cram my training in - much like I used to do when studying for exams!  Luckily we have pretty much everything we need to go with.  I just need to get that fitness level right back up.  I'll keep you posted on the training.

xox

I Wanna Run...

OMG - I actually want to run!  This just came up over me.  My foot is not ready yet though.  I caught the tram to work today so I have walked 2 kms this morning and I will walk that again tonight.  The foot is okay, as in it is not hurting but I can 'feel' it if that makes sense.  My legs are greatly improved from yesterdays garden soreness, and this mornings walk was great.  I haven't done that in weeks and gee I can feel the difference.

But I want to run again.  I need to let this heal though.  Our hike is in 2 months (a bit less actually) and this injury has seriously gotten in the way of training.  I need to walk as much as possible in the next couple of weeks so I can hit some hill training in the lead up.  Otherwise we won't be going until next year.  :o(

So the goal for the next 7 days is to walk every day.  Even if it is just 2 kms in the morning and 2 at night.  I have to walk.  Butt kicking is required if i don't do it.  :o)

xox

No Hike

Well, the rain didn't really let up yesterday, so the planned hike did not happen.  But we decided to turn it into "Date Day" and went out.  The first stop was to Ross's work so I could get some new hiking shoes.  I can;t wear my sneakers when we do Heyson, and my hiking boots are a bad fit and hurt.  So I wanted Hiking Shoes. 

Ross works at Kathmandu who happen to be on sale at the moment.  So I went in and picked this really comfy pair of shoes.  50% off plus Ross's staff discount gave me an AWESOME deal!

But it didn't stop there....  I also got:

Some socks...

A new microfleece jumper...

A headlamp (since we are going to be doing some of our training in the evening)...

Ear muffs for those chilly mornings on the bike...

And a gel seat cover that Saturdays ride convinced me I needed...

I was horrified by how much I picked out, but the sale and the discount meant that the whole lot only cost $184.  Considering the shoes retail for $169 and the jumper for $139, I kinda think I got some bargains!

After spending all of our money we had some lunch then went to the movies.  We saw the new Karate Kid movie.  Being children of the 80's we are both big fans of the original and seriously didn't think they would be able to do it justice.  But we wanted to see if anyway.  And I am so glad we did because it was AWESOME!  Better than the original.  Good story, great acting, amazing fight scenes.  And it was filmed around China so the scenery was amazing.  I highly recommend it.

Tonight the plan is to make up for yesterdays missed hike and go up to Shepherds Hill Recreation Park for an evening hike.  Ross is going to pick me up then we'll head straight up there.  I will get to test out the new shoes, socks, jumper and headlamp.  :o)

I'll leave you with some picks from this mornings ride into work.  There is a thick fog over Adelaide.  The air is so thick that when I took the photos to show you the flash picked up the moisture in the air which has left speckles over the photos.  These were taken from the top of the tram bridge over South Road.

xox

She-Wee

Last night I finally got my She-Wee.  What is a She-Wee I hear you ask?  Well, a She-Wee is a "portable urinating device for women". 

I got it for long rides in the country and for when we hike the Heyson Trail in October.  The idea is you can pee standing up like boys.  One of the guys in my office called it a Girlie Doodle.  It is a very bizarre little contraption, and I believe I will need to practice with it before I go...  I will keep you updated!

I have been think a lot about my fitness and how far I have come in the last 3 months.  Once the MDC is over I don't want that to stop.  I am enjoying my new found fitness and energy levels and want to continue to improve on that.  So I have worked out an exercise plan for the next month.

Cycling - 80kms per week

Running - 60 mins per week

2 other exercise sessions a week

I am riding about 60kms just commuting to and from work, so need to add longer rides home or an extra ride.  The plan for running is to get myself up to a 5km run (nearly there) and do that on the weekends.  Thursday night I will have my Start Running Group.  And Tuesday night I am going to walk home from work and do a few sprints within the walk.  No other running, just a few 30 second sprints.  There is also one bridge I want to run up to start getting used to running up hills.  As for the other exercise sessions, they can be anything - swimming, yoga, football with the kids, boxing, hiking, whatever comes my way.

I have started reading the Intuitive Eating book and so far it has some good messages.  So as far as eating, I am going to start trying to listen to what my body needs, rather than what my head wants.  There is a difference, I just need to be able to identify it. 

Daily Goals

1)  Drink 1.5 L of water

2)  Add an extra few kms to my ride home

3)  Listen to my body with regards to food

4)  Relax tonight, and sit down and knit in front of the TV

5)  Try not to go insane at work considering I am the only one in the office today

Have a great day!

xox

Races Picked

Since the MDC is only a week and a half away, I decided to look forward and see what other runs I can work towards this year.  I came up with 4 runs in total, 2 of which I had already planned on doing.  They are:

Sunday May 9
Mothers Day Classic - 4.5kms

Sunday July 18
Hills to Henley - 6kms


Sunday September 19
City-Bay - 12 kms

Sunday November 14
Glenelg Classic - 10 kms

In the middle of this, in October, we are doing a 5 day hike along the Heyson Trail. 

The reason for planning these is that I know I need something to work towards or else I just kinda lose focus.  Also, this means that by the end of this year I will have done 2 x 10km+ distances which is 1/4 of a marathon length.  Next year I will do a half marathon, although I haven't picked which one yet.

My basic plan is that once the MDC is over I keep working on my distances until I can run a whole 5kms.  After that I will work on speed for a while and I am going to start incorporating some sprint work into my runs for this.  Add in some longer bike rides and some hill hiking and I think my legs should get stronger fast enough that I can handle these distances.  For the City-Bay (12km) I don't mind if I run/walk, but for the Glenelg Classic (10km) I would like to run the whole way.

I can't believe how much I am getting in to the whole running thing.  I picked up some running magazines and I have devoured them.  Which is kinda weird coz as much as I love cycling, I hate cycling magazines.  I find them boring and tedious.
 
Tonight I am changing my weeknight run.  I normally run from work then ride home.  Today I am riding home then running.  Ross is coming with me and we are going to do a 5km circuit we have mapped out from home.  Since I will already by warm from the ride I will start running from home rather than walking first.  I am not aiming for a PB today, I will be happy with 2 x 15 minute runs and I will go harder on the weekend run.
 
Till later!
 
xox

Quick Update (Actually, not so quick, but an update all the same)

Well, yesterdays retail therapy continued into the evening.  :o)  Ross & I went into the city and bought a new tent.  Now, considering we actually already have 3, this would probably seem a little over the top...  However this is one for hiking.  The 2 man tent weighs only 2kg.  It cost us $109 from Aussie Disposals.  There was on for $49, however the cheaper one weighed 3kg.  On the surface this probably doesn't seem like a lot, but when you have 15-20 kgs on your back the extra kilo makes a huge difference!

I am starting to get really excited about our hike, and can't wait until I can start training for it.  We now have nearly everything we need, so it is just a matter of getting the body ready.  We have decided to use Ross's old army packs and webbing belts to carry everything, which has saved us a lot of money.  The only thing is, they are all army green.  Blech...  So I have decided to "girl-ify" the one I am using.  I am going to get some cool patches and bright buttons, and make it as girlie as possible!  I can't wait.

The other thing I found was a few more funky plates from the Harris Scarfe sale.

On to a bit more serious news, I am off to hospital on Monday.  Just a quick overview of what has been happening.  On Monday I discovered I was pregnant.  We were stunned to say the least.  I actually thought I had started early menopause based on all the symptoms.  So when we found out about the pregnancy I knew instantly that there was something not right.  It is hard to say how I knew, I just knew.

So after 4 days of being a pin cushion, and having scans and seeing doctors, we now know for sure that I was right.  The pregnancy became 'non-viable' about 5 or 6 weeks ago when the embryo died.  Because I haven't miscarried on my own (which I should have done weeks ago as soon as things went wrong) I need to go into hospital to have a curette.  It is strange that I feel oddly okay about things.  I have been through so many emotions this week, but because I knew straight away that there was something wrong, I have just been focussed on finding out what and moving forward.

We were not supposed to be able to conceive.  That is really the thing that has been hardest to come to terms with.  This really should not have happened.  But it has also made us realise that we truly are happy with the decision we made a couple of years ago when we decided to stop trying.  We are happy with the plans we have made with for our lives.  And with the decisions we have made.  So for the first time in many years we need to start being careful. 

And it has also made us realise that we need to take more control of our lives and start fully living it and seeing the plans we have made come to fruition.  That is why we have really started focussing on our hike, and why I am really keen to get back into my training.  We can't take anything for granted in life, and our plans will only come in to being if we put ourselves into them.  No more sitting back and watching life pass us by.  It is time to take this life we have been given by the horns and shake the shit out of it!

xox

Retail Therapy

Oh how I love retail therapy. I went to the shops today and bought a couple of books. I can’t do too much in the way of exercise right now – and I am quite surprised by the fact that I actually miss it – so I decided to get myself inspired so when I can get back to it I am ready and raring to go!

The book I bought is Running Hot by Lisa Tamati.

She is a New Zealand runner who has been competing in the big Ultra marathons on the States and all over the world. Her story is more interesting though, as she was advised to stop running at 19 when she nearly broke her back. Yet through determination she came back and is now up there with the best of them! I can not wait to read it!

The other book I bought was the Guide Book for the Southern end of the Heyson Trail.

Originally when we started talking about walking Heyson we decided to start at the top and make our way south bit by bit. It will take us years to do the whole thing if we do it 5 days at a time, but that’s okay. Eventually we know we will be able to say we have done the whole thing. However because access to the northern end it quite difficult to get to and we are on a serious budget this year, we have decided to start from the southern end. Easy access to the start and where we will finish by bus. It’s an area we are familiar with from camping. And it means that all things going well there is no reason we won’t be able to afford to do it this year!

I am really excited about this. I can’t wait until I can get back into training for it.

xox