Where did February go?
I know that there are two days fewer, but that just doesn't seem to be enough to explain the whistle-stop speed.
The list of accomplishments for February are suitably short in deference to the shortest month of the year. Here they are in all of their tiny glory.
Parenting Goals:
Get more sleep.
This one has been a bit of an up and down ride. During the day we are normally happy to sleep for two hours straight, but we are still refusing to sleep through the night. At least as of the last couple of weeks we have stopped waking up three times a night (midnight, 2:30-ish and 5:30-ish) and are back to two times (3:30-ish and 6:30-ish). But we have developed another little habit of going to bed after the evening bath and only sleeping an hour before deciding we would rather be awake thanks. Fortunately that has generally coincided with Mum's falling in to bed time, so at least I haven't gone to sleep yet.
Creativity Goals:
Blog consistently from now on.
Lets just agree to laugh at this one, okay?
Follow through with twelve months of photography challenges.
Sadly this one has been a fizzer in February. I will be posting some Black and White photographs shortly, but most if not all will be old images. Will try to do better in March. [Hangs head and shuffles feet.]
Personal Pleasures, Treasures and Measures Goals:
Read 24 books or more.
I keep starting them, but not finishing them. Maybe I should have set a goal to do with finishing more than one tenth of the books that I start !
Lose “X” kilograms.
This one has been marginally successful. I am almost a kilo lighter for my efforts, and as the previous post tells you - I have started running again, so this should finally be on track for 2008.
Spend some time on family history research and break through one brick wall.
I have done a bit of this, and some for my father-in-law too. No major brick walls kicked down, but some interesting information has been found. All up, a good month for this goal.
Work Goals:
Create the new website.
A good month for this too. I have at last started to focus on what I want the outcome to be, even though I have flip-flopped about how to achieve it. There is now a real possibility that I will use Wordpress to generate a static site. This is still in investigation mode, but is looking very promising. More on this as it develops.
Update the content of the website.
This is underway with the start of a Mindmap, so we are on track here too.
If you happen to have an interest in marine or aviation safety, ie you are a yachtie, boatie, commercial shipping person or a helicopter pilot, then please wander through the existing site and see what we may have missed that you would like to know. Even if you have no marine or aviation interests but have a question or a suggestion then I'd still love to hear from you. You can send me an email with whatever query or suggestion you have.
Until next month...
Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fitness. Show all posts
Friday, March 07, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
The Double Edged Sword
Today marks the first day of returning to running.
If I were to be strictly accurate I would tell you that today was a run/walk event. It is based on the Couch to 5k training schedule found at Coolrunning.com. So more than half of my time today was taken up with walking.
Since I was taking this giant leap, or many short steps, back into the world of running I thought I would review my running goals as per my old page here on the blog. I had a good giggle at them.
I'm a long way from any of these little puppies.
I think the renewed goals for 2008 should read something like:
Once these four simple (hah!) tasks are completed I should then be in a place to take on my old "go for glory" goals.
As for the double edged sword - it's the idea that running and exercise in general is good for you, yet your body complains and aches and you find yourself asleep on the sofa at 3 p.m. in the afternoon exhausted from a twenty minute trot around the block.
If I go missing in action here for the next little while don't send out a search party, I have simply slumped onto the sofa and all areas of my body will have mutinied and refused to sit at a computer screen let alone stretch themselves to actually typing. Perish the thought.
For those who may be asking themselves - why are you inflicting this on yourself? The answer is simple. It's my attempt to pre-empt the dreaded XBox 2017 or PlayStation 29. After all it's unlikely she will take kindly to the hypocrisy of "go outside and get some exercise" if her Mum is sitting on the sofa munching her way through a double packet of Chocolate Chip Cookies (yum). And I may be getting old, but I'm not so far gone as to remember how much that sort of hypocrisy really ripped my britches. Although I am now old enough to wish that "do as I say, not as I do" really did work. ;)
I'll see you all once the aching has subsided. 8O
If I were to be strictly accurate I would tell you that today was a run/walk event. It is based on the Couch to 5k training schedule found at Coolrunning.com. So more than half of my time today was taken up with walking.
Since I was taking this giant leap, or many short steps, back into the world of running I thought I would review my running goals as per my old page here on the blog. I had a good giggle at them.
- Run 5km in under 30 minutes. (Told you I was no Olympic runner!)
- Run the Taupo Half-Marathon. (Definitely no time goals here.)
- Run a minimum 30km each week.
- Run Round The Bays in 50 minutes.
I'm a long way from any of these little puppies.
I think the renewed goals for 2008 should read something like:
- Run more than once a week.
- Learn to run with the stroller in such a manner that neither I nor Miss OWW lands in a heap on the pavement.
- Overcome rebellious gluteus maximus muscles that insist running is too hard!
- Eventually replace the grimace of determination with a smile of relaxation.
Once these four simple (hah!) tasks are completed I should then be in a place to take on my old "go for glory" goals.
As for the double edged sword - it's the idea that running and exercise in general is good for you, yet your body complains and aches and you find yourself asleep on the sofa at 3 p.m. in the afternoon exhausted from a twenty minute trot around the block.
If I go missing in action here for the next little while don't send out a search party, I have simply slumped onto the sofa and all areas of my body will have mutinied and refused to sit at a computer screen let alone stretch themselves to actually typing. Perish the thought.
For those who may be asking themselves - why are you inflicting this on yourself? The answer is simple. It's my attempt to pre-empt the dreaded XBox 2017 or PlayStation 29. After all it's unlikely she will take kindly to the hypocrisy of "go outside and get some exercise" if her Mum is sitting on the sofa munching her way through a double packet of Chocolate Chip Cookies (yum). And I may be getting old, but I'm not so far gone as to remember how much that sort of hypocrisy really ripped my britches. Although I am now old enough to wish that "do as I say, not as I do" really did work. ;)
I'll see you all once the aching has subsided. 8O
Monday, October 02, 2006
Back To The Gym
That was the story from this morning.
John said that he was going to go and I struggled with my conscience before finally getting out my trackpants and running shoes. Struggle? Conscience?
What actually happened was I had an internal argument with that part of my mind I like to call "The Cellulite Queen".
The CQ is that part of me that likes to sit on the sofa watching old movies eating caramel popcorn, or if pushed to effort then sitting in front of the computer with a cup of coffee and the maximum exertion involved in mouse-clicking.
She is my evil twin, convinced that sweating is something other people should do, but not us. Provoked by suggestions from my conscience that perhaps it is time to start the process of getting back on the fitness bandwagon, I had to put up with excuses and delaying tactics from the CQ.
But I am pleased to report that the CQ did not win this battle, and off to the gym I went. But I won't lie, I was nervous about what six weeks off was going to do to my fitness level. And what the pain level was likely to be.
I reprised my first "speed inducing" workout from Cris's schedule. Not much speed to be had, I have to admit. My hatred of the exercycle continues; burning thighs, lowering the level and just sheer stubborness got me through the warm-up. I was gutted, but not surprised, that I had to lower and then raise the intensity level just to get through five minutes. Aargh. Not a good confidence boost then.
I got off the evil exercycle and felt like I'd been sticking needles into my thighs. Good grief. Six weeks. That's all I've been away for, and I'm a wreck.
Once my legs stopped burning I waddled over to the treadmill to start Phase II of the warm-up, walking on a 10% incline. I was more than a little dubious about this on the back of the exercycle incident but managed pretty well and unlike the evil cycle there was no nasty burning.
And finally I arrived at the running bit of the session. Thankfully this is on a zero incline and was only to last a whole twelve minutes. I was a chicken though. I did the first half a couple of speed levels down from the target. Just before the halfway mark I finally convinced my Internal Doubter that the worst thing that could happen if I tried to run at target speed was that I would have to slow down again. And with that I ran the remainder of the time at full speed.
Not only did I not keel over at the end, I even managed to do most of the obligatory stretching. And I surprised myself by still being able to reach my feet during the hamstring stretches.
However, I will try not to feel too smug about surviving the start back session until I have survived the next three days of what is euphemistically called "delayed onset muscle soreness". Normally this is visited upon us mere mortals as walking like we've been on a horse for a week, and not being able to tackle steps in any form - up or down.
I'll let you know how it goes.
John said that he was going to go and I struggled with my conscience before finally getting out my trackpants and running shoes. Struggle? Conscience?
What actually happened was I had an internal argument with that part of my mind I like to call "The Cellulite Queen".
The CQ is that part of me that likes to sit on the sofa watching old movies eating caramel popcorn, or if pushed to effort then sitting in front of the computer with a cup of coffee and the maximum exertion involved in mouse-clicking.
She is my evil twin, convinced that sweating is something other people should do, but not us. Provoked by suggestions from my conscience that perhaps it is time to start the process of getting back on the fitness bandwagon, I had to put up with excuses and delaying tactics from the CQ.
- Oh, I don't feel up to it.
- It's really early, maybe later today.
- I'm tired.
- I wanted to do...[insert any activity imaginable]
But I am pleased to report that the CQ did not win this battle, and off to the gym I went. But I won't lie, I was nervous about what six weeks off was going to do to my fitness level. And what the pain level was likely to be.
I reprised my first "speed inducing" workout from Cris's schedule. Not much speed to be had, I have to admit. My hatred of the exercycle continues; burning thighs, lowering the level and just sheer stubborness got me through the warm-up. I was gutted, but not surprised, that I had to lower and then raise the intensity level just to get through five minutes. Aargh. Not a good confidence boost then.
I got off the evil exercycle and felt like I'd been sticking needles into my thighs. Good grief. Six weeks. That's all I've been away for, and I'm a wreck.
Once my legs stopped burning I waddled over to the treadmill to start Phase II of the warm-up, walking on a 10% incline. I was more than a little dubious about this on the back of the exercycle incident but managed pretty well and unlike the evil cycle there was no nasty burning.
And finally I arrived at the running bit of the session. Thankfully this is on a zero incline and was only to last a whole twelve minutes. I was a chicken though. I did the first half a couple of speed levels down from the target. Just before the halfway mark I finally convinced my Internal Doubter that the worst thing that could happen if I tried to run at target speed was that I would have to slow down again. And with that I ran the remainder of the time at full speed.
Not only did I not keel over at the end, I even managed to do most of the obligatory stretching. And I surprised myself by still being able to reach my feet during the hamstring stretches.
However, I will try not to feel too smug about surviving the start back session until I have survived the next three days of what is euphemistically called "delayed onset muscle soreness". Normally this is visited upon us mere mortals as walking like we've been on a horse for a week, and not being able to tackle steps in any form - up or down.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Running Mutiny
Today was test day.
The 2km test.
Run and/or walk as fast as possible for this distance. On the basis of my Coopers Test I was expecting to see a 12 minute plus time. Little did I know that Cris would take initial control of the speed buttons.
After an appropriate warm-up of cycling, flat running and stretching it was back on to the treadmill for the test.
So what does my beloved :evil: trainer do?
He sets the speed setting to 13+.
I mean to say !
I'm lucky if I can run short intervals at that speed, let alone a whole 2km.
After politely suggesting that he was joking, (between gasping breaths), I toughed it out as long as I could before an argument erupted between my legs, stomach and lungs as to which of them was actually suffering the most from this ridiculous speed.
In all fairness to my screaming body parts, they did pretty well. I was a reasonable way through the 2kms before they stopped complaining and started to indicate a full-scale mutiny. At this point I took control of the speed buttons. I think this was much to the disgust of the :evil: one.
But other than a slight sigh and a comment along the lines of "see how you feel in a bit and see if you can go faster", I was left in charge of the buttons.
Woo hoo - Victory!
So, I reduced speed to stop the threatened mutiny. But I'm so easy to intimidate, that with the :evil: one looking at the onscreen display I only had the courage to drop into the 12 range. Oh, that's right...
that's what I pay him for... intimidation, 'push past your limits', no surrender.
The problem with this was, the mutiny was only put on hold. In fairly short time all screaming body parts realised that I was just offering up a small concession - perhaps an extra ration of rum, or a bit of extra shore leave after the hard work was done. They knew better. After the test would come the pretzel session (stretching), and that would almost be as bad as the test.
In the end the lungs won the hotly contested title of "King of the Mutineers".
It looks suspiciously like I might be slightly asthmatic, and the feeling of not getting a full hit of oxygen with each breath is just a little off-putting while running at full tilt. This resulted in three more speed adjustments until at the end of 2km I was running at 10+ speed.
Apparently my lungs feel that they missed their true vocation - that of a traffic policeman. At certain speeds they kick in and insist that I am going over the legal limit, thank you very much.
This could prove to be a bit of a problem on my way to running sub-30 minute 5 kilometres. But we will persevere, mutineers, lung police and all.
And for the record, my 2km test time was 10m 52s.
Not too shabby, despite all the complaining, whining and general mutineering.
For those who like to know these things, that means my :evil: one ensured that this sorry excuse for a runner pushed her mutinous body through 2 kilometres at 5:26 per kilometre pace. A full 1 and a bit minutes less than her usual pedestrian speed!
And for the record, being turned into a human pretzel still hurts. Only today I was able to touch my left toe with my right hand (over the top of my head - side on, not straight on) , instead of my right toe with my left hand. (Remember, this is sitting on the floor with legs splayed apart!)
And I really need a snappy remark to throw out to the audience that is half-unbelieving, half-impressed by the fact that the only sounds out of my mouth while doing this feat go along the lines of:- "ow...ow...ouch...aaargh....aaaaargh".
Am willing to take any suggestions.
The 2km test.
Run and/or walk as fast as possible for this distance. On the basis of my Coopers Test I was expecting to see a 12 minute plus time. Little did I know that Cris would take initial control of the speed buttons.
After an appropriate warm-up of cycling, flat running and stretching it was back on to the treadmill for the test.
So what does my beloved :evil: trainer do?
He sets the speed setting to 13+.
I mean to say !
I'm lucky if I can run short intervals at that speed, let alone a whole 2km.
After politely suggesting that he was joking, (between gasping breaths), I toughed it out as long as I could before an argument erupted between my legs, stomach and lungs as to which of them was actually suffering the most from this ridiculous speed.
In all fairness to my screaming body parts, they did pretty well. I was a reasonable way through the 2kms before they stopped complaining and started to indicate a full-scale mutiny. At this point I took control of the speed buttons. I think this was much to the disgust of the :evil: one.
But other than a slight sigh and a comment along the lines of "see how you feel in a bit and see if you can go faster", I was left in charge of the buttons.
Woo hoo - Victory!
So, I reduced speed to stop the threatened mutiny. But I'm so easy to intimidate, that with the :evil: one looking at the onscreen display I only had the courage to drop into the 12 range. Oh, that's right...
that's what I pay him for... intimidation, 'push past your limits', no surrender.
The problem with this was, the mutiny was only put on hold. In fairly short time all screaming body parts realised that I was just offering up a small concession - perhaps an extra ration of rum, or a bit of extra shore leave after the hard work was done. They knew better. After the test would come the pretzel session (stretching), and that would almost be as bad as the test.
In the end the lungs won the hotly contested title of "King of the Mutineers".
It looks suspiciously like I might be slightly asthmatic, and the feeling of not getting a full hit of oxygen with each breath is just a little off-putting while running at full tilt. This resulted in three more speed adjustments until at the end of 2km I was running at 10+ speed.
Apparently my lungs feel that they missed their true vocation - that of a traffic policeman. At certain speeds they kick in and insist that I am going over the legal limit, thank you very much.
This could prove to be a bit of a problem on my way to running sub-30 minute 5 kilometres. But we will persevere, mutineers, lung police and all.
And for the record, my 2km test time was 10m 52s.
Not too shabby, despite all the complaining, whining and general mutineering.
For those who like to know these things, that means my :evil: one ensured that this sorry excuse for a runner pushed her mutinous body through 2 kilometres at 5:26 per kilometre pace. A full 1 and a bit minutes less than her usual pedestrian speed!
And for the record, being turned into a human pretzel still hurts. Only today I was able to touch my left toe with my right hand (over the top of my head - side on, not straight on) , instead of my right toe with my left hand. (Remember, this is sitting on the floor with legs splayed apart!)
And I really need a snappy remark to throw out to the audience that is half-unbelieving, half-impressed by the fact that the only sounds out of my mouth while doing this feat go along the lines of:- "ow...ow...ouch...aaargh....aaaaargh".
Am willing to take any suggestions.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Running Programme Begins
If you have taken time to visit my Running page you will see that I have listed a few goals, one of which is to run 5k under 30 minutes. Well this goal is now under pursuit. This past week Cris (my trainer) put together a cardio schedule for me to work on. Hopefully, all being well I will be running 5k under 30 minutes within two months, or probably be a physical wreck trying. ;)
This involves committing to 4 days of running a week at the gym, with another one or two days doing resistance with Cris.
Yes! Finally I am getting the hang of being a fitness fanatic.
Maybe.
Today we did a Cooper's Test, which involved running and/or walking on the flat for 12 minutes. At the end of which we took a look at how far I was able to go in the time. For the record I managed 2,040m. And that, apparently, for my age group is a good result.
For those with a mathematical brain, you would have worked out that this was 5:52 per km pace. Which means if I could have kept it up for a whole 3 more kilometres I would be at my goal already.
But here's the snag...
I was knackered when I finished. I even had fleeting moments of "turn the damn speed down, I'm going to die", but as anyone with a slightly competitive bone in their body knows - there was no way I was going to let a treadmill beat me.
And just to prove how anal retentive (or is it compulsive/obsessive?) I really am, I can tell you that the last time I ran that fast was 20 September 2001. It was also the only time I have logged a sub-30 minute 5k run, and only one other time (5 April 2001) have I run a 30 minute 5k.
So you can see that this is a promising speed over 2k, but not really a great boost considering I would have flopped down onto the floor straight afterwards had I not been given the 3 minute cool-down instructions from Cris. ie I had to keep running, albeit a lot slower, and then eventually walking, and finally stopping. Sometimes I hate my trainer. ;)
And to add insult to injury, during our stretching session after this, he suggested that I consider making the ability to do the splits a goal too.
I can barely walk properly after the stretching sessions as it is!
Whatever you do, don't agree to assisted stretching with a six foot, ex-national-class decathlete! Especially when he thinks that you really should be able to touch your toes, and not with the hand on the same side of your body as your foot!!
And if you really want to know where your hamstrings connect at the top end I can show you a stretch that will leave you in no doubt, and walking like you just got off a horse.
Ah, the young and the fit ! They don't know what's coming to them in middle age.
Maybe there's something to the idea of being a couch potato after all.
This involves committing to 4 days of running a week at the gym, with another one or two days doing resistance with Cris.
Yes! Finally I am getting the hang of being a fitness fanatic.
Maybe.
Today we did a Cooper's Test, which involved running and/or walking on the flat for 12 minutes. At the end of which we took a look at how far I was able to go in the time. For the record I managed 2,040m. And that, apparently, for my age group is a good result.
For those with a mathematical brain, you would have worked out that this was 5:52 per km pace. Which means if I could have kept it up for a whole 3 more kilometres I would be at my goal already.
But here's the snag...
I was knackered when I finished. I even had fleeting moments of "turn the damn speed down, I'm going to die", but as anyone with a slightly competitive bone in their body knows - there was no way I was going to let a treadmill beat me.
And just to prove how anal retentive (or is it compulsive/obsessive?) I really am, I can tell you that the last time I ran that fast was 20 September 2001. It was also the only time I have logged a sub-30 minute 5k run, and only one other time (5 April 2001) have I run a 30 minute 5k.
So you can see that this is a promising speed over 2k, but not really a great boost considering I would have flopped down onto the floor straight afterwards had I not been given the 3 minute cool-down instructions from Cris. ie I had to keep running, albeit a lot slower, and then eventually walking, and finally stopping. Sometimes I hate my trainer. ;)
And to add insult to injury, during our stretching session after this, he suggested that I consider making the ability to do the splits a goal too.
I can barely walk properly after the stretching sessions as it is!
Whatever you do, don't agree to assisted stretching with a six foot, ex-national-class decathlete! Especially when he thinks that you really should be able to touch your toes, and not with the hand on the same side of your body as your foot!!
And if you really want to know where your hamstrings connect at the top end I can show you a stretch that will leave you in no doubt, and walking like you just got off a horse.
Ah, the young and the fit ! They don't know what's coming to them in middle age.
Maybe there's something to the idea of being a couch potato after all.
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