Well it had been commented on by possibly my one reader (thanks mum!) that it was been a a long while between posts. 10 days to be exact. This may be because during those ten days I've been exceptionally slack at sticking to the exercise and may have indulged in assorted junk (read: KFC, memphis meltdown, chocolate, booze and more chocolate) on more than one occasion.
Then I woke up this morning, realised it was 10 months exactly until I shall set foot on South American soil, bang on 3 months until I turn another year older, and just under 7 months til I tackle this godforsaken run in Wanaka. So plenty of wake up calls to start my day with.
And so today I spent a lot of time putting off the inevitable exercise by tackling all sorts of household chores that appear that much more exciting/important when I'm trying my best to procrastinate from huffing and puffing around the block.
But with under 90 minutes until I was supposed to be at work I finally set off. The 3 songs of walking were great. The sun was shining, no wind and I ambled up the hill and through the trees. Always when it's time to start running I find myself at the bottom of a steep ascent. I'm starting to think that I really didn't do something nice in a past life. Nethertheless, up the hill I ran, or slowly and very painfully moved forward at a pace possibly slower than a walk, all the while trying to find the air to curse myself for being out running when I could be at the pub watching my rugby team kick some Counties arse. I got nearly to the top before my legs gave out and so I began the ungainly exercise of jogging down the steep path without twisting an ankle or faceplanting into a pile of dog s**t.
Running is definately not a pleasant or attractive pastime. I'm not sure if everyone suffers this but every time I jog, I suffer a really runny nose. And of course I never remember to bring tissues. This leads to a subtle (in case someone sees) wiping of one's nose onto one's sleeve - not an easy feat to do while running, and while wearing a short-sleeved top.
I've decided I'm likely allergic to exercise too after suffering severe cramping, nausea and dizziness on the five minute walk home, rushing into the house to grab the nearest bucket, and having to call in sick to work. Though this possibly could have been caused from using slightly expired milk and mushrooms to create a pasta masterpiece for lunch. Either way, I'd better schedule the exercise slightly earlier and eat something less adventurous tomorrow, as I have a feeling I'll need to have all the sick days I can up my sleeve for post-wanaka-run recovery.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
I was certain I had a run (or session of torture and complete humiliation) scheduled for today. Apparently not. However, I only worked this out after actually doing the exercise. So right now I'm feeling rather smug and angelic, and a heck of a lot less guilty for ending my run with a peanut slab at the local dairy.
The treats that seem necessary in order to get me out jogging don't bode well for the second goal of this blog - saving money. I could just buy a packet of fun-size chocolate bars and have one after each run. I could...however that would mean I'd have an entire bag of chocolate sitting inside my pantry (doesn't scream motivation when I could just as easily eat them without moving from the sofa, whilst avoiding the pain of moving underutilised limbs), and I've never been one to just eat one mouthful and put the rest back. Oh no no. They would be crying out at me to finish them all, such is my level of self-control.
Maybe I could make a star chart like the ones you had as kids for potty training or learning your timestables. Perhaps for every 3 runs I do I could have a chocolate bar; for every 7, a bottle of wine; and every 2o a dinner out with friends. It has potential.
What I'm hoping is that once habit kicks in, I won't need a delicious morsel of mouth-watering chocolate dangling in front of me, just so I complete a run. I'm hoping these much talked about endorphins kick in and I'll run because I enjoy it (ah, fantasies).
Motivating factors aside, I did complete my 4 songs of walking and 2 of running. And added in a few hills. Since I live a whole of 100m or less away from the town belt I made use of that, starting on Ellice St and heading down to the catholic monastery before heading back. The bonus is that you get some amazing views to take your mind off your jelly muscles and laboured breathing, and there are less people around up there to see the side show.
The selection of music to run to is very important. The Killers and MGMT seem to work best for me. Deciding to go with what works, I picked the music that I will get up and dance to on a night out, despite how tired/drunk/over it/wanting to go home I feel. And not just get up. I will hop off my bar stool with a squeal and drag the nearest non-stranger on to the dancefloor with me, for these songs, while loudly exclaiming how much I love them. And so...that has to rub off onto the jogging, doesn't it?
The treats that seem necessary in order to get me out jogging don't bode well for the second goal of this blog - saving money. I could just buy a packet of fun-size chocolate bars and have one after each run. I could...however that would mean I'd have an entire bag of chocolate sitting inside my pantry (doesn't scream motivation when I could just as easily eat them without moving from the sofa, whilst avoiding the pain of moving underutilised limbs), and I've never been one to just eat one mouthful and put the rest back. Oh no no. They would be crying out at me to finish them all, such is my level of self-control.
Maybe I could make a star chart like the ones you had as kids for potty training or learning your timestables. Perhaps for every 3 runs I do I could have a chocolate bar; for every 7, a bottle of wine; and every 2o a dinner out with friends. It has potential.
What I'm hoping is that once habit kicks in, I won't need a delicious morsel of mouth-watering chocolate dangling in front of me, just so I complete a run. I'm hoping these much talked about endorphins kick in and I'll run because I enjoy it (ah, fantasies).
Motivating factors aside, I did complete my 4 songs of walking and 2 of running. And added in a few hills. Since I live a whole of 100m or less away from the town belt I made use of that, starting on Ellice St and heading down to the catholic monastery before heading back. The bonus is that you get some amazing views to take your mind off your jelly muscles and laboured breathing, and there are less people around up there to see the side show.
The selection of music to run to is very important. The Killers and MGMT seem to work best for me. Deciding to go with what works, I picked the music that I will get up and dance to on a night out, despite how tired/drunk/over it/wanting to go home I feel. And not just get up. I will hop off my bar stool with a squeal and drag the nearest non-stranger on to the dancefloor with me, for these songs, while loudly exclaiming how much I love them. And so...that has to rub off onto the jogging, doesn't it?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
on the difficulties to finding appropriate running attire
Some people say that the hardest thing about exercise is finding the motivation to get out the door - once you're out there it's easy enough to put one foot in front of the other and get the training done.
I agree with this. It is hard work getting out that door. But even harder is deciding what to wear while exercising.
Tonight I finally did the training I've been putting off all weekend. It took three costume changes before I got out there though.
A running outfit firstly has to be comfortable. It also has to hide all your worst features and wobbly bits, both to save your dignity, and to cause the least amount of distress and emotional scarring to any unfortunate spectators. To make things harder, it also has to keep you warm in the Wellington winter.
And most importantly it cannot involve any camel toe whatsoever. Even inadvertent camel toe is never acceptable. I'm one of these people who will sit in my car at traffic lights openly mocking any woman power walking down the road with camel toe on display for all the world to see. So to avoid hypocrisy, I put a lot of thought into my running attire.
Finally I settled on a merino t-shirt for warmth, leggings to hide my knees, and and old grey sweater for more warmth (this is Wellington). The sweater isn't quite long enough though, so to guarantee the non-appearance of camel toe so have to pull the tights down quite low, which has the unfortunate result of letting the belly fat hang out a bit; but you can't win every battle.
Looking okay (I would never go so far to say good) while running is fairly important for me. Wellington isn't a large city, and Mt Victoria is even smaller. It seems I can never leave the house without bumping into someone I know. Except when I'm made up, with hair straightened and dressed nicely - I never bump into anyone on those days. Murphy's law perhaps?
Today, red-faced and a little sweaty, I bumped into an old classmate. I haven't seen her in over 4 years and didn't even know she lived down here. So of course I had to see her while out (attempting) jogging.
I was supposed to walk for 20 minutes and run for 5. I don't own a watch. I ran for the length of two Mgmt songs. This equates to about 8 minutes. It also got me as far as the pizza parlour. To coax myself outdoors I had bribed myself with a seafood pizza and tucked a 10 dollar bill into my bra.
(Speaking of which, a future post must be dedicated to the difficulties in jogging in an ill-fitting bra - and the difficulties of keeping the money in there without it falling out - I'm forever envious of my friends that seem to be able to tuck all manner of objects down their cleavage without any trouble!).
Some reward. It appears it's impossible to get a pizza for under 10 bucks or a seafood pizza at all from my local pizza shop. Shows how often I patronize the place. Garlic bread seemed a good replacement. And then I walked the 8 minutes home.
I figured I'd make up the rest of the walk, walking to and from the cinema tonight.
The dark clouds rolling in looked a little too ominous and the garlic bread really couldn't wait.
I agree with this. It is hard work getting out that door. But even harder is deciding what to wear while exercising.
Tonight I finally did the training I've been putting off all weekend. It took three costume changes before I got out there though.
A running outfit firstly has to be comfortable. It also has to hide all your worst features and wobbly bits, both to save your dignity, and to cause the least amount of distress and emotional scarring to any unfortunate spectators. To make things harder, it also has to keep you warm in the Wellington winter.
And most importantly it cannot involve any camel toe whatsoever. Even inadvertent camel toe is never acceptable. I'm one of these people who will sit in my car at traffic lights openly mocking any woman power walking down the road with camel toe on display for all the world to see. So to avoid hypocrisy, I put a lot of thought into my running attire.
Finally I settled on a merino t-shirt for warmth, leggings to hide my knees, and and old grey sweater for more warmth (this is Wellington). The sweater isn't quite long enough though, so to guarantee the non-appearance of camel toe so have to pull the tights down quite low, which has the unfortunate result of letting the belly fat hang out a bit; but you can't win every battle.
Looking okay (I would never go so far to say good) while running is fairly important for me. Wellington isn't a large city, and Mt Victoria is even smaller. It seems I can never leave the house without bumping into someone I know. Except when I'm made up, with hair straightened and dressed nicely - I never bump into anyone on those days. Murphy's law perhaps?
Today, red-faced and a little sweaty, I bumped into an old classmate. I haven't seen her in over 4 years and didn't even know she lived down here. So of course I had to see her while out (attempting) jogging.
I was supposed to walk for 20 minutes and run for 5. I don't own a watch. I ran for the length of two Mgmt songs. This equates to about 8 minutes. It also got me as far as the pizza parlour. To coax myself outdoors I had bribed myself with a seafood pizza and tucked a 10 dollar bill into my bra.
(Speaking of which, a future post must be dedicated to the difficulties in jogging in an ill-fitting bra - and the difficulties of keeping the money in there without it falling out - I'm forever envious of my friends that seem to be able to tuck all manner of objects down their cleavage without any trouble!).
Some reward. It appears it's impossible to get a pizza for under 10 bucks or a seafood pizza at all from my local pizza shop. Shows how often I patronize the place. Garlic bread seemed a good replacement. And then I walked the 8 minutes home.
I figured I'd make up the rest of the walk, walking to and from the cinema tonight.
The dark clouds rolling in looked a little too ominous and the garlic bread really couldn't wait.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Mount Misti
Introducing El Misti - in under a year, all going well, I will post a picture of me at its summit.
She's a stunning 5,822 M (19,101 Ft). Just a walk in the park, really.
For perspective, Mt Cook, the heighest peak in NZ, stands at 3,754 metres (12,316 ft).
The day started with healthy intents...
Today, according to the bible (aforementioned training program), I was to walk for 20 minutes and run for 5. If a half hour dawdle around the supermarket counts, then I fulfilled that.
It doesn't count?! Damn. Well I'd better put on my sneakers and get out that door as soon as I finish work tomorrow morning. I think working night shift justifies stretching out a day to end when I finally hit the hay. So for me, technically Saturday doesn't end until lunchtime tomorrow and I can still be angelic and stick to the exercise schedule. It also is the perfect justification for having a glass of wine at 10am...
Today was grocery shopping day. I went to the supermarket with a list, and healthy intentions. This worked well (my trolley was loaded with salad ingredients, tuna, quinoa and raw nuts). That was until I hit that last aisle of the supermarket. You know, the one with all the sweets, bikkies, chocolate...and the dreaded in store specials. Those chocolate bars on sale for only 78c were sitting there just looking for a new home...so what else could I do? I made like Angelina Jolie and took one of every colour.
Ah well, better luck with the healthy thing next time.
It doesn't count?! Damn. Well I'd better put on my sneakers and get out that door as soon as I finish work tomorrow morning. I think working night shift justifies stretching out a day to end when I finally hit the hay. So for me, technically Saturday doesn't end until lunchtime tomorrow and I can still be angelic and stick to the exercise schedule. It also is the perfect justification for having a glass of wine at 10am...
Today was grocery shopping day. I went to the supermarket with a list, and healthy intentions. This worked well (my trolley was loaded with salad ingredients, tuna, quinoa and raw nuts). That was until I hit that last aisle of the supermarket. You know, the one with all the sweets, bikkies, chocolate...and the dreaded in store specials. Those chocolate bars on sale for only 78c were sitting there just looking for a new home...so what else could I do? I made like Angelina Jolie and took one of every colour.
Ah well, better luck with the healthy thing next time.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Training program
I wouldn't have the foggiest of ideas of how to train for a 10km run.
Enter Kerre Woodham's book and the beginners training guide at the back.
Looks simple enough - it starts off easy with walking and then adding 5 minutes of running in each time for the first month or so. I don't want to shock my body into running too quickly - tends to lead to loss of motivation and ending up back on the couch where I started.
So my training for the next 6 weeks (will highlight when accomplished, so I can track how angelic/lazy I've been).
Week 1: 10-15th August
Tuesday - Walk 20min
Thursday - Walk 20min
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5 (made up for this with an extra week 2 session)
Week 2: 17 - 23rd August
Monday - Walk 20
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5
Week 3: 24 - 30th August
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 15, run 10
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5
Week 4: 31st August - 6th September
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 20, run 5
Week 5: 7 - 13th September
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Wednesday - Walk 10, run 10
Friday - Walk 10, run 10
Saturday - Walk 15, run 10
Week 6: 14 - 20th September
Monday - run 10
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 10
Thursday - Walk 20, run 10
Saturday - Walk 20, run 10
Well that doesn't look too daunting, does it?
Enter Kerre Woodham's book and the beginners training guide at the back.
Looks simple enough - it starts off easy with walking and then adding 5 minutes of running in each time for the first month or so. I don't want to shock my body into running too quickly - tends to lead to loss of motivation and ending up back on the couch where I started.
So my training for the next 6 weeks (will highlight when accomplished, so I can track how angelic/lazy I've been).
Week 1: 10-15th August
Tuesday - Walk 20min
Thursday - Walk 20min
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5 (made up for this with an extra week 2 session)
Week 2: 17 - 23rd August
Monday - Walk 20
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5
Week 3: 24 - 30th August
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 15, run 10
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 15, run 5
Week 4: 31st August - 6th September
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Thursday - Walk 15, run 5
Saturday - Walk 20, run 5
Week 5: 7 - 13th September
Monday - Walk 5, run 5
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 5
Wednesday - Walk 10, run 10
Friday - Walk 10, run 10
Saturday - Walk 15, run 10
Week 6: 14 - 20th September
Monday - run 10
Tuesday - Walk 20, run 10
Thursday - Walk 20, run 10
Saturday - Walk 20, run 10
Well that doesn't look too daunting, does it?
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Link to Wanaka run
well that glass of wine was finished...the run never did eventuate. not all bad news on the training front. have been walking 10km per day this week - out of necessity, not because I enjoy a 5km trudge to work at midnight. If there's a glass half full part to my car breaking down, that is it.
Here's the link to the run I'm training for - the Southern Lakes Half Marathon and 10km - I'm doing the 10km obviously; and as always training will start properly tomorrow... and the countdown begins to d-day (27th march 2010).
http://www.highlandevents.co.nz/half-marathon-wanaka
Here's the link to the run I'm training for - the Southern Lakes Half Marathon and 10km - I'm doing the 10km obviously; and as always training will start properly tomorrow... and the countdown begins to d-day (27th march 2010).
http://www.highlandevents.co.nz/half-marathon-wanaka
Monday, August 10, 2009
The beginning
Weight: 68kg
Savings: less than $0
With vague ideas of getting fit before my South American gaunt, I picked up a copy of Kerre Woodham's book "From short fat chick to marathon runner". Make no mistake, I have absolutely no intentions of running a marathon. Being able to run around the block nonstop would be a more achievable undertaking. I probably should add here that I'm of the very unfit, larger than Bridget Jones, but without the incredible bosoms, variety of woman. However after reading this I felt inspired. I felt that if a woman in her 40s who's by no means an athlete, can run 42km, then I can surely run a measly 10km. And so with the help of google and more than a couple of wines, I let everyone I know, know that I'd be running a 10km race in Wanaka next March. Once I sobered up I thought better of this idea, but too late. Training will begin today. Just as soon as I finish my wine...
Savings: less than $0
With vague ideas of getting fit before my South American gaunt, I picked up a copy of Kerre Woodham's book "From short fat chick to marathon runner". Make no mistake, I have absolutely no intentions of running a marathon. Being able to run around the block nonstop would be a more achievable undertaking. I probably should add here that I'm of the very unfit, larger than Bridget Jones, but without the incredible bosoms, variety of woman. However after reading this I felt inspired. I felt that if a woman in her 40s who's by no means an athlete, can run 42km, then I can surely run a measly 10km. And so with the help of google and more than a couple of wines, I let everyone I know, know that I'd be running a 10km race in Wanaka next March. Once I sobered up I thought better of this idea, but too late. Training will begin today. Just as soon as I finish my wine...
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