Up bright an early this morning for another easy half hour down the gym.

R: 3 * (9min @ 10kmh, 1min @ 6kmh) HR:145 Dist: 4.77km

YTD: R: 32.1km, S: 5000m, B: 9km

Easy day at the gym last night. Decided to try and do many sessions, but not much in each session. Not very time effective, but once I get used to it, and have established a routine, it will be easy to up the volume by just doing an extra 5-10mins each session.

Cross-Trainer: Level 7 ‘Fat-Burner’. 30mins, 450 cals.

Had a bit of a twinge in my knee, so decided not to run on it.

Well, did a proper weigh-in yesterday. I have a set of scales which tell me my body fat , so I read up on how that’s calculated, and it turns out that being dehydrated results in an overestimation of body fat. Now, I usually weigh myself in the morning and I’m always somewhat dehydrated, so I decided to do a weigh-in after work, and to make sure I was fully hydrated. So, the verdict is in and I’m 90.1kg with 19.6 fat. That gives me a lean body mass (bone, muscle etc.) of 72.5kg which means that I have to lose 2kg in order to get into the non fat b*stard category. Two to three weeks of training should sort that out. After that, it’s another 4kg to get into the ‘Athlete’ category. I like the sound of that ;-)

Got up early this morning to watch the USA Grand Prix. Turned out to be a waste of time. Montoya endured every piece of bad luck that could possibly have happened, leaving him 6th at the finish, and out of the world championship. Schumacher looks like he’s going to take his 6th title, only needing one point from the last race in Japan.

It turns out that I need approximately 150g of protein per day, which is almost two 300g steaks. I’m not eating anything near that amount of meat, so today I went out and got some protein powder. It comes in a 1.5kg tin with loads of sciency stuff on the back. Even just having it in the house makes me feel like I’m on ‘roids or something! It’s quite funny.

No gym work today or yesterday. I can feel a cold coming on again! This really pisses me off. Just when I’m getting back into the gym, I start getting run down again. I figured that I must not be eating properly, so I took a look at The Triathlete’s Training Bible to see what it had to say about nutrition, and it is highly likely that I’m not getting enough protein. I’ll have to start eating more meat, and beans. I’m sure the lads will love that ;-)

Joe Friel’s Triathlete’s Training Bible covers everything a triathlete needs to know about training. Now, I’m no triathlete, but I did want to find out how to go about training, information on V02Max, heart rate training bands and the like. This book covers all of that and much more. It sets out to give the reader all the information he/she will need to design their own annual training program, including macro- and micro-cycles. There’s nutrition information, technique information on running, swimming and cycling and so much more. In short, if you’re thinking of training yourself, or would just like to understand more about why your coach has you do certain things in training, this book is for you.

R: 4 * (9min @ 10.1kmh, 1min @ 6kmh) = 6.42km

S: 300 easy, 6 * 50m on 1:00 (avg: 38), 200 easy

Run felt quite good. I’ve been working on technique and seem to have eliminated the shin splints problem I normally had. Hope to go 5*(9/1) at the weekend.

YTD: R: 27.33km, S: 5000m, B: 9km

Excellent article by John Pilger on the current state of play in Afghanistan, and how it fits into the U.S’s strategic ambitions.

Updated the New Zealand photos with a couple of my own, now that I remembered to bring the USB cable to work.

<img src=“/photos/general/small/goggle.tan.jpg” vspace=2 hspace=2 align=left> Well here it is. My professional snow-boarder look that I mentioned yesterday. Noice!

Apparently the weather forecast is looking good for this weekend, so there’s a slim possibility of doing a day trip to the snow on Saturday, for one final day boarding this season. It was 26C here yesterday, and 9C down the snow, so I can’t see how there’d be any left.

Failing that, we might head to the zoo. You can meet a cheetah of just go on a tour and feed some animals, including a tiger.

Swim: 100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100, 1min between each. Avg. Pace: 1:32

Up nice and early to get a swim in. Legs felt pretty good after last nights run, which was a relief. Swim went pretty well. Arms were pretty tired towards then end of the 300s and 400, but I had expected that. Managed a total of 1600m in approx. 30mins, so I could probabaly still swim 2km in 30mins if I didn’t stop for rests. I’ll consider myself fit when I can do it in around 25mins.

YTD: R: 20.91km, S: 4200m, B: 9km

Run: 4 * (9min @ 10.1kmh, 1min @ 6kmh) HR: 150

Swim: 800m easy various.

Longest run I’ve done so far. Had to step down to 9mins continuous in order to get around the 30min restriction on the treadmill. However, stepped the pace up to 10.1kmh and didn’t really notice it. I plan on adding 0.1kmh per week, so hopefully by Christmas I’ll be running an hour at 12kmh. Swim was just a warm-down to loosen up after the weekend boarding.

YTD Totals:

Run: 20.91km

Swim: 2600m

Bike: 9km

Had a great day snow-boarding on Saturday. Sunny day, decent cover all over and very few people, so there were no queues on most of the lifts. Had a spectacular wipeout early in the morning at the bottom of the Interceptor which stunned me a bit, but only briefly. Just as well I bought a helmet this season. It’s the third time I’ve banged my head since I got it. All the skiers are getting them now. Tom got his a few weeks ago, Neil showed up with a blue version of mine, and Gus, Kev and John are planning on buying ones next year.

Saturday night was spent in with a few beers and everyone cooking a big feed. Sunday morning was like a hospital, with everyone acting like walking wounded. I think there was so much boarding/skiing done on Saturday that everyone was sore. Got up to the slopes after 10, to find that all the crucial lifts were on wind hold, so turned around and went home. A bit of a disappointing end to the season, but Saturday was a great finish, even if we didn’t realise it at the time.

I also forgot to put on sun block, so I’ve a beautiful goggle mark on my face. I took a photo but forgot the cable to upload it, so I’ll do it tomorrow. At least I now look like a pro!

Uploaded photos from our trip to New Zealand and also from an earlier weekend down in Perisher.

“The broad mass of the nation… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” – Adolf Hitler

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” – Joseph Goebbels

“The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of al-Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding…” – George Bush

(courtesy of Warblogging)

Run: 2 * (2k @ 10kmh, 100m @ 6kmh) + 650m @ 10kmh

Got up this morning to make up for missing the session last night, and also because we’re off to the snow tonight, so I’ll miss the gym tonight as well. Was supposed to do 3*(2k/0.1k) but the treadmill cut me off at 30mins. Apparently that’s normal, so I’ll have to structure my run around the 30min break. Maybe run for 14 min, then walk 2min and repeat. That would mean I’d be finishing my second 14min as the machine slowed down, and would give me 2 mins to stop and restart it. I’m trying to build up to running for an hour or so, so the 30min limit is a pain in the arse.

YTD Totals:
Run: 14.64km
Swim: 1800m
Bike: 9km

Went for a few drinks with the guys from work instead. We only do it once every month or two, so it would be rude to miss it ;-)

Run: 2 * (1.75k @ 10kmh, 100m @ 6kmh) + 1.3k @ 10kmh

Swim: 14 * 50 on 1:00 Avg: 41 SPL: 33 → 35

The run was supposed to be 3 sets of 1.75/0.1, which I programmed into the treadmill, but the bloody thing stopped before the end of the last set. Bloody pain in the arse. It also decided that I really meant to run at 1kmh on the second and third 1.75k so I had to correct that as well. In future I’ll just have to do it by hand.

The swim was OK, though I’m still hopeless.

The snow is looking good. In the last week 1.3 metres has fallen, so the season is back on in a big way. Myself and Tom are thinking of heading down on Friday, and maybe staying until Monday. No point wasting the snow while it’s still here!