Thursday 28 April 2011

La Jillian's 6 Week 6 Pack tonight. I can't help thinking it's a very ambitious claim. 

The hardest thing was that I let Buzz use my yoga mat so I was trying to get grip on a beach towel on a rug on a wooden floor. Slipipippery. I didn't feel my abs at all - but I hope I will tomorrow because I caught sight of my gut in the mirror a few times and it needs some suction (or 'incineration' as Jillian lovingly described it). But it was only Level 1 so there must be some burn to come.

Pecs and hammies are v sore after yesterday's Shred. Good.

Wednesday 27 April 2011

I thought a short, sharp run might be in order this morning. Instead I got a short, sharp pain the back of my calf. Relax, relax, it’s not career-threatening.

 

Having been focussing heavily on time on my feet and endurance lately, I think that I’ve extended my distance and time significantly more than my speed. By way of comparison, whereas last time I was running 40/45 minutes was an outside time, it’s now the norm. Also, I now think 5km is a short-ish run instead the pinnacle of my achievements. However, whereas I used to run at a base pace of 7.5km/hr, moving up to 8km/hr, I now consider 8.5km/hr my base speed. Not such an improvement.

 

So I trotted off at 9km/hr for five minutes, and then increased to 9.5km/hr, intending to just do a 20 minute speed run. I felt great! Flying, pounding it out, and tiring in a positive, of-course-I-can-make-it way. At about 17.5 minutes I felt a weird feeling in my upper left calf, which I tried to run through but couldn’t. I paused, stretched, and continued, only to grimace in a very unattractive way and have to stop. It felt like a twist or a wrench rather than a tear, perhaps like some tendon wriggling into the wrong position. I felt good in the leg otherwise and did about 22ish minutes on the cross-trainer and then elliptical (15 plus 6ish) without any problems. It feels pretty good now (3:30pm) so I’ll give it a rest tomorrow, get stuck into weights tonight and tomorrow, and assume that all will be dandy on Friday.

Later
30 Day Shred. Level 1, Day 1. Use 3kg weights. So hardcore (me I mean). 
It was tough-ish but I could def do it more full throttle. I was just holding back my biceps and shouldery muscles of steel.  

Shiny shiny

Now don't laugh, but as I ran 7.6km outside today (o'er hill, o'er dale), I am proud enough to return to this blog to let my many legions of adoring fans know about it. 

What has driven the return to running? A hint, dear readers-plural ... it's shiny and sparkly and it lives on the fourth finger of my left hand. And the end result will be me walking down the aisle in front of 150 people in less than four months. 

We got engaged in September last year but serious fitness efforts didn't ensue until January (except for an abortive late-night walk disgustedly inspired by a picture from our engagement party in which I quite genuinely looked like I had shoved a beach ball up my dress). Since then the running has taken off - my regular tready run is 6km at 8.5km/hr, three times a week. My indoor record for 6km is 41:54, and my best over 45 minutes is 6.4km. I have done 3.03km in 20 minutes; 4.14kmin 30 minutes (I reckon I could beat that now); 5km in 35:16; and 8km in 56:29. Outside, I am even speedier. I knooooow!!! I have done our outside run of 5km in 32:30; 3.2km in 22:10 (could easily smash that now); 3.5km in 24:20; 5.6km in 39:40; 6km in 41:14; and today 7.6km in 52:09. I am so awesome I can't believe the Olympic selectors haven't rung yet. 

So the upshot is that I can now run faster, stronger, harder, ooh, ahh, than I ever have before. I've signed up for the 8km Mother's Day Classic on 8 May (Mothers' Day!) to run with Buzz's cousin.  

And it's time for some weights. I have got Jillian Michaels' DVDs 30 Day Shred (which is a cult classic even though it's from 1997 when The Rachel was hot) and 6 Week 6 Pack which is particularly pointed given the beachball incident. I also ... dah dah dah daaah ... semi-signed up for a 12 week weights challenge in which I publicly (through anonymously) committed to doing 5-6 weights sessions a week, sticking to 1300 cals net per day, upping myprotein from 60g to 100g per day, and maintaining 5-6 runs a day. Haven't quite worked out how to do this yet. Details, details. It will be done. 

Efforts so far have been good. One dress size, 9 cms off my waist in 11 weeks and around 9 off my hips, and a whole lotta clothes reinvigorated after banishment for shrinking (hah!). I have some goals for the next 16 weeks and goddammit, is it too much to ask to be the hottest woman in the room on my wedding day? Even if I have to hack off my guests' hair? No, I don't think so. 

12 weeks. Suck it up.

Tuesday 18 May

Hmmmm ... I think I cross-trained. I know I went to the gym. I'm sure I must have run a little bit.

Thursday 20 May

Tired, still sick and cranky. I gave myself 20 minutes to run. And look what I made!

Minutes        Speed km/hr

0-8.5              8.5 

8.5 - 18.5      9.5

18.5 - 20       8.5

2.97km. Av speed 9.

Yes that's right. 10 minutes at 9.5 km/hr. And it was gooood. Fast, but totally doable and I could have easily done to the end. I'm excited because I accidentalyl hit 9.5 instead of 9, and I even thought that was pushing it. I'm faster than I think.

Then there was 15 hard elliptical minutes, and a five minute run:

Minutes        Speed km/hr

0-1                 12

1-2                  8

3-5                  10

12 was impossible. So, so hard. I felt like a doofus.

Monday 17 May

Minutes   Speed (km/hr)

0-5             8

5-10           8.5

10-15         8

15-25         8.5

25              30

Av sp: ?? Forgot to check. 4.10 km (hmmmm). HR still on blink, but high-ish.

Felt slow at 8km/hr, but the end of the 10 minutes at 8.5km/hr tiiiired me. Tired at the end, but felt I could do 5 minute sections considtently over 5km.

Now where was I up to? I'll try to reconstruct.

We last left our hero on Tuesday 4 May.

Wednesday was a welcome rest day to rest the old glut med.

Thursday 6 May
A cross-training day, including two (?) 15 minute runs at about 8km/hr. Anyway, it was a 500 cal burn. There was some reason that it was hard to make myself go but I can't remember.

Friday 7 May
A run at a new gym. Very proud of myself for making it after a mammoth shopping effort. (I was home sick. But I got better and then bored).

Minutes     Speed       Incline
0-10          8km/hr      0
10-20        8.5            0
20-25        8               0
25-30        8.5            0

Good strong run, despite sore legs at the beginning.

  


And then: a long rest. Slack weekend. Nothing Monday. On Tuesday I was suffering a post-over-solarium painful burn.

But the four days off were great. My glute med really improved, and when I hopped back on the tready on Wednesday my legs felt fresher than they had in a long time. No ankle tendon strain, no calf tightness, and overall a really, really enjoyable run, both physically and mentally.

Wednesday 12 May
Minutes     Speed       Incline
0-10          8km/hr      0
10-20        8.5            0
20-25        8               0
25-30        8.5            0

Followed it with 10 minutes of hard work on the elliptical.


Friday 14 May
Yesterday was a rest - and I don't begrudge it because my gltue med is holding up well.
Today I did a cross-training session, thinking that I will run outside on the weekend. I included 15 minutes of runnign at 8.5km/hr in the middle of a 45 minute session, which felt good and strong. I'll be including more 8.5km/hr blcoks in my 30 minute or 5km runs.  

Having only managed two runs last week, which I only just realised (so that's the point of a training log!) I am less surprised at my deconditioning which was painfully evident this morning. I had kinda forgotten just how bad last week was. 

Again, my stupid lack of exercise on Friday set me up for a no-sweat weekend. I already knew Saturday was out, my schedule being chockers, and Sun proved similar. 

Monday 3 May 2010

On Monday night I returned to the gym. 15 minutes into my run the following things had happened:

• I removed my HRM. It was at 00 again and I have finally noticed the empty battery it's showing me. 
• Obviously the HRM chest strap had been providing some support to the girls, because once it was gone the extra bounciness was apparent. I knew my bra straps had slipped, but the lack of chest elastic was a bit too much. It didn't hurt, but seeing myself bouncing along at an alarming level of bounce in the glass in front of the tready was too disconcerting.

So I hopped off, peed, wrenched up the bra straps and hopped on the elliptical. I did 15 hard minutes, and then 15 hard minutes on the ski-type machine. Feeling I could really pound it home, and also feeling the weight of guilt that an alcohol-sodden weekend can inspire, I ran another 15 minutes. Total calori burn was probably about 1000 based on previous similar workouts, so even though my 30 minute run was not continuous, it was at least interspliced with another 30 minutes of heart-thumping work, and this was in fact my longest work out in a while (meaning that often when I'm at the gym for 60 minutes that's 40 minutes of working out and 20 minutes of misc/assorted). 

This morning: back to it. But softly. I didn't want to push myself, knowing I'd been a bit slack (but not really realising just how slack). 

In other, crappy news my tendinopathy of the glute med is back on the LHS. I can feel it and it hurts. I did my exercises again this morning for the first time in ages and will be faithfully performing them daily.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

30 minutes at 8km/hr, 0% (after 5 minute warm up). Then, because I had time, 1km at 8.5% (probably a 30 second break in between the two sessions. Kinda like stopping at the lights outside - it totally counts as one run, ok?).

Yes slack. It was harder than it should have been given where I was at two weeks ago, but still not too awful. And I did enjoy it so tick for that. No HR or accurate cals because of battery-lifeless HRM, but presumably around 480 cals for the first 30 minutes and about 100 for the last k (7 minutes).