Regular as clockwork

Biking: 13km a day minimum
Climbing: pretty consistent on the grade 14s
Swimming: 1600m each Sunday.

Next challenge is to get a gym session in with the biking to work. Hmm, getting up with the first alarm & going before work, or going after work & then having to bike home afterwards?

It's easy if you try

Sunday
Activity: swim
Distance: 1600m
Time: 35min

Monday
Activity: gym - cardio
Time: 30min

Yep, that's a 1600 up there. One mile. A case of putting my head down, chugging along & not daydreaming. I also suspect that decent nutrition is playing a part - the last two weeks I've actually eaten both breakfast & lunch on Sundays before going for a swim. It seems to be making a difference.

However I decided to sleep in this morning, so I chucked some clothes & a towel in the car, planning to go to the gym after work. I very nearly caved & went straight home, but was saved from that indignity by the fact that turning right out of the carpark at work is kinda tough, whereas if I go left & go to the gym, things are much easier. See, being lazy does work. Sometimes.

Plan is for another gym session tomorrow. We'll see whether it's a pre-work or post-work workout.

Surprising myself

Sunday
Activity: swim
Distance: 1500m

Don't know how long it took me, but 1500m after not getting in the pool for 2 weeks and having Christmas? That's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

I also managed to bike to work on Monday. Yet to see if I keep it up for the goal of 3 days this week :) Best intentions though.

Because it's hard to keep up

OK, trust me, there's been some exercising. Sunday swims (1400m last weekend!), back into the gym again (personal trainer session booked for next week, in an attempt to get a gym programme I'll actually stick to), plenty of successful climbs & a few bike rides.

I'm realising that exercise is easier for me in the mornings, so as much as I like bed & sleep, I'm trying to go to the gym before work. Early to bed, early to rise etc etc, though I find the best technique is surprise. If I get up without thinking too hard, I don't really notice it.

Without further ado, demolition photos at Mum & Dad's place:

Pulling the roof off so the door lintel breaks

Knocking in the walls

About to start pulling the roof down

Weekend activities

Saturday
Activity: climbing

Sunday
Activity: swim
Distance: 1200m
Time: 30min

Climbing felt great - some longer climbs, managed to complete them too. Swimming was a bit of a let-down. Just tough.

How far behind am I this time?

Thursday
Activity: climbing

Sunday
Activity: swimming
Distance: 1300m
Time: 35min

Monday
Activity: spin bike
Time: 35min

Lazy weekend, but a few activities in there. Even bought myself a chalk bag so that I'm not the only one of us who has to borrow one! Tried the gym at Centennial - very busy, jumped on the spin bike 'cos that was the only machine free. Would be a good place to do a weights circuit, I think, but there's no arc trainers and the treadmills & ellipticals are really popular. Even the Stairmasters were full. And parking's free after 5pm :)

Veteran?

Activity: triathlon

Swim: 300m/9:42

Cycle: 10km/26:57

Run: 3km/25:36

Overall: 1:02:15

Average time was 57 minutes, so only 5 minutes off the pace. As always, the switch from cycling to running was hard - this is where training helps, but I didn't get enough of that in. I walked most of the first half of the run, trying to stretch out my calves.

But I now have another shiny Finisher's medal, yet another t-shirt for running/cycling in, and a free microfibre towel! Pity the goody bag was a bit light this year, but that's probably to be expected. Great to see the field full of first-timers though!

Picture: 5 years' worth of Triwoman medals

In a zone

Activity: swim
Distance: 1100m
Time: 30min

I'm working on getting my non-stop distance up, so after a few warm up laps I zoned out & did 400m in one go. It's a pity I only get to QE2 once a week - the 50m pool is so nice to swim in, compared with with the cramped little 25m pool at Pioneer or Centennial. I like their new lane organisation too - 2 each of aqua jog, friendly, slow, medium & fast takes up all 10 of the lanes and prevents the confusion that was the unlabelled lanes.

Getting close to the official start of the 8 week training period - focus is on running this week, with cycling just keeping up the Bike Wise K's.

Double entry

Laziness strikes again, I've been biking & gymming & swimming, but with logging the cycling on Bike Wise & keeping up with the activity, logging it all here has fallen by the wayside. I've managed over 100km for the Challenge, plus 1km stints in the pool. The trainer at the gym put me through the paces to give me a new programme, and I was feeling unfamiliar muscles for 2 days afterwards.

I was hoping to put in a long ride today, but the southerly's picked up so I'll probably exchange it for something else.

Round & round & round

Activity: aqua-jog

Yeah, lost track of time & distance. It's so easy to do when you're chatting away.

I hate Norwesters

Sunday

Activity: swim

Distance: 1000m

Just the thing on a hot afternoon: a swim in the outdoor pool at Jellie Park. Found out they had the lanes up at 4pm, which will hopefully continue for a few more weeks (until the weekends get really hot & the pool is full of play-swimmers). All the best intentions in the world don't overcome my inertia on weekend mornings.

Friday

Activity: cycle

Distance: 17km

Time: 53min

What a day to bike - SE head wind in the morning, screaming NW in the afternoon. I actually think my workmate who finished 30min after me may have got home at the same time as me.

Mental note: must get bike cranks checked. Lots of disturbing clicking on the ride home today.

Come back mojo!

Activity: swim

Distance: 500m

Pain: about an 8

Wednesday

Activity: climbing

Pain: about a 5, more annoying than painful

Injuries - gotta love them. Nothing amazing, I slept on my shoulder funny on the weekend, and now I have the mother of all neck cricks. I've tried rest, I've tried exercise, I've tried massage. All solutions appear to be temporary.

The reason for the pain measures is that the shoulder pretty much stopped me from achieving what I wanted to this week. Nothing like getting halfway up a wall & realising that if you put your arm above your head, you have no grip strength. Or almost crying inside your goggles from the pain of pulling your arm through the water. I think I might need some professional help on this one. I just feel so stupid for injuring myself in my sleep :)

Fully mobile

Activity: aquajogging

Distance: 800m

As usual, we lost count of our laps as we gossiped our way around the pool, but 800m seems about right. The legs certainly were a bit jelly-like when we got out!

Mum, Dad and I spent a couple of hours looking around Turners for the cars I'd spotted on the website - and found a very tidy Rover that was in the same auction for Tuesday. Dad got sent off to chat to Malcolm at the pub, and long story short, I bought an identical car off him, with all the necessary repairs done, no need for an auction. Now, to work out how to use the stereo.

Crazy strikes again

Activity: cycle

Distance: 24km

Time: 1hr 10min

OK, so the idea of a Saturday morning bike ride isn't so crazy, but it's the fact that I'm also going swimming this afternoon with T, and then tomorrow is aqua jogging with Mum, plus I want to fit a run in somewhere. And buy new togs. And call the IRD. And look at cars. And plan the Guides programme for camp.

Hang on, weekends are meant to be relaxing, aren't they?

Gotta keep the ball rolling

Monday

Activity: cycle

Time: 50 min

Distance: 17km

Wednesday

Activity: swim

Distance: 1200m

So, although Jellie Park is the closest pool to the flat, the fact that the swim squad takes up all but 2 lanes of the two 25m pools means I won't be going back there for after-work swims. Though when the 50m lido pool opens in November, I may start forcing myself out of bed to go there before work!

Slack, slack, slack, slack, slack.

Sunday, June 21

Activity: swim

Distance: 1200m

Time: 30min

Thursday, June 25

Activity: run

Distance: 3.5km

Time: 30min

Yes, I have a bit to catch up on. Life's been getting in the way, not necessarily of exercising, but posting about it. I just haven't had the urge to follow it up. Hopefully I'll get over this cold soon & be able to get back to a routine.

Back on track

Activity: run

Distance: 2.5 km

Time: 19min

Yesterday

Activity: swim

Distance: 1300m

Swimming at Centennial is pretty nice. You don't rack up the distance as fast in a 25m pool (or perhaps that's just my perception), but it was quieter than QEII normally is on a Sunday afternoon. I even managed to do tumble turns at both ends without whacking my head or trying to breathe while upside down. 

I've definitely felt the lack of running this last week or so. I think I'm starting to catch the bug - motivation is getting easier to find.

Hit the wall & keep on going

Activity: swim

Distance: 1km

Time: 35 min

Yeah, I hit the wall. But, I kept going. After a late lunch due to being dragged out for a walk at lunchtime & then off for a "quick" 2 hr meeting, I was ready to flag the pool & go straight home after work. After a chat to Cath on my way out of the office & a ruch of blood to the head at the intersection, I found myself in the changing rooms & figured there was no backing out.

Things got tough around the 400m mark, mostly a loss of coordination. Ever try a tumble turn without enough fresh air? Don't.

All in all, it's a win, since I was only planning on doing 800m, but the round 1000 was too tempting.