Things slowed down a bit last week on account of my foot, but I’m trying to get back into it this week. Monday was a public holiday, so I took that at face value and did no exercise. Yesterday saw me back in the gym. I’m down to 2 sets of 13 reps (from 30 intially) and the weights have increased enough that today’s the first time I’ve still felt a bit stiff the day after a gym session.

Although I’m definitely fitter than any stage in almost the last 10 years, I’m still finding it hard to get rid of the gut, so I’m going on a diet. Before you bust your arse laughing at the thought of me eating just lettuce & drinking water, it’s not one of those women’s-mag fad diets, it’s the CSIRO‘s Total Wellbeing Diet. Given that they’ve just won an award for discovering how pure carbon nanotubes can be spun into cloth-like yarns you can’t argue with the quality of their research!

Anyway, the basic outline is pretty sensible: lots of fruit, veg, and protein from lean meat, slightly less carbs than normal and everything chosen to provide a balanced amount of vitamins & minerals. Nothing revolutionary. So, there’s 7 weeks until the NZ ski trip starts, so let’s see if that’s enough time to make a difference.

Wk11: W: 1 session

Well, on Friday morning I twinged something in my foot again, for the third time in three weeks. By lunch time the top of my foot had swollen up so I made an appointment with a physio who told me that nothing was fractured but that I’d probably irritated the tendons leading to my metatarsals and there wasn’t really anything I could do except rest it as much as possible. So, no running for at least a week, though I can still cycle.

On a more positive note, myself and Becs have entered an adventure race in two weeks time. Kayakying, MTBing, navigation and trail running – should be fun. I just hope my foot heals in time!

Got out of bed to celebrate my birthday with a run – 3.2km around the local park in 19:45 which is a bit slower than normal as I was feeling a bit sluggish. Weighed in at 88.3kg @ 17.5% fat which means I’ve put on a bit of muscle over the last few weeks. The gym is paying off ;-)

Hit the pool for a swim at lunch, so I can now relax with a few beers this evening.

400 FS
100 IM
2 * 100 Form
2 * {
    50 K/ 100 Pull/ 200 FS on 6:15
    100 Form on 2:00 }
3 * {
    200 FS on 3:20
    100 8FS/8BC on 1:50
    25Easy/25Med/25Easy/25Sprint on 1:40 }
Total: 2800m
(skipped the first 200m of last set)

Wk10: S: 2800m – R: 3.2km

Got my final weights session of the week in on Friday without issue. No more running this week as my calves got really sore after doing the two runs earlier in the week, presumably because there’s a couple of slight uphill bits, rather than the flats of my regular route.

Bought an Elite Fluid Trainer from Cheeky Monkey this afternoon so I can do indoor bike rides during the winter. Tried it out when I got home and it’s much quieter than I had expected, so there’s no chance of waking Jacqui up in the morning. I should be able to set it up in front of the TV and watch the morning news or something while I cycle away.

Wk9: S: 2700m – R: 7.2km – W: 3 sessions

Went to the gym yesterday morning and had no issues with my foot. However, after going for a run last night I noticed a bruise just above my heel. No idea what it’s from as I didn’t bang it off anything. Since it’s not sore to the touch I decided to ignore it and crawled out of bed at 6am for another run this morning. It was bloody cold, but my Icebreaker vest kept me nice and toasty.

I ran 3.2km last night and 4km this morning at a pretty comfortable pace. I measured an intermediate 2.6km at about 13:15, so that’s a 10km in approx 52mins. When I got home, however, there was a bit more bruising, so I’ll have to lay of the running for a while and let whatever the problem is heal. Pissed off.

Wk9: S: 2700m – R: 7.2km – W: 2 sessions

Weighed in at 87.8kg this morning, so I hope it’s because I’m bulking up due to weights and not due to eating, though after all the farewell meals for Ed last week in Canberra I wouldn’t be all that surprised if it was the latter.

Was wandering around the house this morning getting organised for work when something twinged in my foot. Not sure what caused it, but something (a tendon maybe) near the middle metatarsal suddenly hurt quite a bit and didn’t like me pointing my toes. There goes running for a day or two. Decided to go to my lunchtime swim after all, but just did pull for the whole session, not kicking at all. Wasn’t too bad, but I didn’t bother recording the details of the session – 2700m of pull, broken up in various ways.

Should hopefully be able to do weights in the morning.

wk9: S: 2700m

I was down in Canberra this week, so it was a bit of a rest week. Got two weights sessions in. Had hoped to get a third one in on Friday, but as Ed invited us around to his place to have a few beers and say bon voyage for his trip to Paris on Thursday night, and since I’d been up at 4.30am on Thursday morning to watch the excellent Liverpool victory in the Champions League, I wasn’t that keen on getting out of bed at 6.30am on Friday.

I went kayaking all day yesterday with Simon and Becs, so I was totally exhausted by last night. Went to bed early and got up for a bike ride this morning. Met up with a bunch of people from Transitions for quite a few laps of Centennial Park followed by a coffee and lots of triathlon discussion. I’m tired now, so it will probably be off to bed early tonight, ready for the gym in the morning.

Wk8: B: 61.4km – W: 2 sessions

A bit late this one, but last weekend I went for a 5km run on Saturday morning with Jacqui and a friend of hers, the myself and Jacqui went on a shorter 2.5km run on Sunday morning.

Wk7: R: 7.5km – W: 2 sessions

The weather has played havoc with training this week. Pissing rain on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday resulted in a sever lack of cycling and running. However, I did manage to get two gym sessions in: one on Monday and another yesterday.

Wk7: W: 2 sessions

I got back on the bike yesterday after a bit of a layoff. I had prepared on Wednesday by buying a dayglo yellow sleveless vest so I’d stand out like a sore thumb in trafffic. It’s certainly bright! I had intended cycling in to work and doing a few laps in Centennial Park on the way, but by the time I had rounded up all my bike gear it was too late, so I just cycled down to the ferry.

Did a few laps around CP on the way home instead, with the intention of keeping my HR below 140, but I was going relatively quick at an average HR of 120 which I was quite suprised about, so I just stuck at that. Once home I got organised and went out for a run, but only got half-way through it before my leg started seizing up a bit. I should probably have stretched after getting off the bike. I’d also done a run the previous evening which was probably a factor as well.

Crawled out of bed this morning and went ot the gym. Wasn’t particularly keen, but by the time the bus got into town I’d woken up a bit more. Hopefully I can get a run in tonight, and one more tomorrow morning and then the week is over.

Wk6: S: 2900m – B: 33.6km – R: 8km – W: 3 sessions

Got two good runs in, one last night and another this morning. Caught the sunrise which was great. The cliffs heading down towards Bondi looked beautiful; all pinky orange. The world looks good at that time of the morning. Anyway, two runs, each 3.3km in around 19mins. Nice and comfortable, with HR around 150. Even leaving work a bit early, it’s dark by the time I get to run in the evening, so it’s a bit nervous in a couple of dark places, not being able to see where I’m placing my feet and just having to trust that I don’t end up twisting my ankle. Might end up running on concrete soon to avoid that – though that carries its own issues.

Anyway, the plan is to get five runs every week from now on, so I hope to do another one tonight, take tomorrow off and then run on Friday evening and Saturday morning. If I can stick to 5 * 3.3km runs for the next few weeks and get used to it, I can gradually up the distances from there.

Wk6: S: 2900m – R: 6.6km – W: 1 session

I get back into the gym this morning. Didn’t feel like it at all, but once I got there and got the warm-up row out of the way it was alright. The acclimitisation period is over and it’s now down to gradual increases in weight and gradual reduction of reps. This four-week block looks like:

Low weights, just enough so there’s a bit of strain on the last rep of the second set.

Squats

Lat Pulldown

Knee Extension

Hamstring Curl

Bent-arm Pulldown

Bench Press

Core

Bicep Curl

Calf Raise

Seated Row

Dips (machine)

Tricep Extension

Wk1: 2 sets of 20 reps

Wk2: 1 set of 19, 1 set of 18

Wk3: 1 set of 17, 1 set of 16

Wk4: 2 sets of 15

Wk6: S: 2900m – W: 1 session

Weighed in at 87.5kg this morning – not doing enough exercise it would seem. It was pretty chilly this morning as I was leaving for work, so I’ll have to get some lightweight winter cycling gear.

Got back into the pool at lunch for a much needed swim. It was just me and one other guy, so plenty of room. Went fairly well, though I got a stitch half way through so had to sit our a few hundred metres.

200 FS, 30s rest
200 25L/25R, 30s rest
200 50K/50FS, 30s rest
200 50FS/50BC
4 * 400 on 6:25
    1st 4 strokes BF, last 25 K
    5:53, 5:57, 5:41, 5:48
200 FS easy
100 IM, 100 BC, 100 FS on 2:00
Total: 2900m

Wk6: S: 2900m

I did another run on Friday morning last week, and had intended going for a quick run on Saturday morning and writing a post to document both of them then, but instead I went on the beers with Nathan and took the piss out of him as we watched the Queensland Reds (Nathan) get beaten by the NSW Waratahs (me) for the first time ever in the Super 12.

I also racked up a quick weights session on Friday arvo before the pub.

Wk5: R: 10km – W: 1 session

Was a bit tired after the kayaking on Sunday, so I skipped Monday’s swim and Tuesday’s weights session. Went for a 3.3km run last night and another tonight though. It’s taking me about 19mins with a fairly relaxed HR of 150.

I’m weighing in at 87.6kg at the moment, up almost a kilo from two weeks ago, which is probably a combination of eating too much crap food while in Canberra last week and the big feed in Hurricanes last night for Tom’s birthday.

Wk5: R: 6.6km

Got a short 3km run in on the hotel treadmill last night. Legs are feeling a bit tired today, but I’ve a couple of days off now so that’s OK.

Wk4: R: 8km

I’m down in Canberra this week so it will be a rest week. Ran 5km at 11kmh on the treadmill in the hotel gym last night which went pretty well. Felt pretty comfortable, though it’s a bit harder than running outside as there’s no breeze to keep me cool.

On Thursday we’re off for a few drinks followed by a trip to the cinema for A Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galazy, so I’ll go for another 3km run this evening.

Wk4: R: 5km

Jacqui headed off to New York for two weeks yesterday so I have the place to myself for a while. I plan on taking it easy and getting some training it.

Wne to the gym yesterday after work for my final gym session of the week. It’s definitely progressing well and I can feel the benefits already. Had a quiet night in front of the TV, then got up relatively early this morning for a run.

It was pretty warm by the time I set off. The thermometer on my watch said 31C but I don’t think it was that high! I did 6 laps of the park which works out at 5km, in 27:10. I started off a bit too fast, so while I usually keep my HR around 150 on my runs, this time it finished up around 165, though I’m sure heat and dehydration played a role as well. It had dropped to 130 a minute after the end of the run, which is a decent drop and one measure of fitness. I’m just not sure where a 35bpm drop ranks on the fitness scale and whether it’s the total drop which is important, or the final HR dropped to.

So, that’s another week over. I might go for a short run tomorrow morning to make up for the one I missed yesterday, or possibly a short bike ride…

Wk3: S: 3100m – R: 10km – W: 3 sessions

I got myself a Polar 720i heart-rate monitor a few months ago which allows you to download exercise files to your computer via an Infra-red (IR) link. Unfortunately the Mac is not supported and while Polar suggest you can get around this by using Virtual PC, in practice it doesn’t bloody work.

The main problem is that Polar’s USB implementation is incorrect and doesn’t conform to the USB 1.1 standard, meaning that I can’t use their USB-IR adaptor. Instead I had to get their Serial-IR adaptor, then buy a separate USB-Serial adaptor so I could give my Mac an antiquated serial port. Plug everything in correctly, follow the software installation instructions and bingo! – nothing works! Bastards.

Luckily, there are two groups writing Mac-native versions of the Polar software and doing a reasonably good job. The first is iSMARTTrain, a $40 product written by a UK company, and the second is iTrain Pro, a free program written by a single Aussie.

At the moment iSMARTTrain is the more fully-functional product, but iTrain Pro looks very promising and I’ll be keeping an eye on it. They could do with choosing slightly more different names though!

Forgot to mention that weigh-in this week was 86.8kg @ 17.2% fat.