River run.

Today was supposed to be a long bike ride, however the meteorologist last night stated that the rain which had been bestowed upon was not going to relent over the weekend. So, I sent my brother in law a text message cancelling our bike ride for the second Sunday in a row. However, when I woke up this morning I woke up to blue skies and not a single cloud anywhere. What are the weather forecasters trying to do to me? It was too late to try and re-organise the bike ride as we like to set off early, so I was left with only one thing to do. RUN.

The river run was looking set to be the destination of choice and I was excited to try out my knee. I have been diligent with my stretching and strengthening and was hoping that it would be working wonders on an open road run. On the treadmill it felt fine but that is a nice flat surface, uneven surfaces would highlight any issues. And it did.

I noticed that when the road or surface inclined to the left and my left side was on it I started to get a bit of knee pain, nothing major but I felt it. I noticed that I would roll my foot during striking the pavement more to the outer part of my foot causing my leg to bow at the knee. Even when I focused on foot strike and leg positioning my knee still felt a bit odd, however as soon as the road even up I felt fine - no knee pain.

At the 4km mark my lower leg started to go a bit numb again. I was inclined to stop and stretch my calf but it doesn't seem to help so I just slowed down and continued on my merry way. The remainder of the run was uneventful - the numbness didn't go away but it didn't get worse either, that's a bonus. I tried to finish strong as I always do and tried to up the momentum at every telegraph pole till I got to my car. When I finally reached my car I think I was running at a 4:30kpm pace. Boy, was I glad to see my baby Jeep Patriot.

Now that's it night and reviewing how my body feels, I can safely say that my legs hurt - muscular wise that is. I have lost that conditioning in my lower limbs of running every second day due to my knee. I need to ask the physio if I can get back into running on a regular basis without fear of doing further damage.

So I ran my 7km in 39min and felt happy with that. It's 3 minutes slower than my usual pace but I need to look after that knee. There is plenty of time to get back to my 36 minutes and better. I am not at all concerned.

"Free yourself" has touched down in Aus.

When my husband walked in after work with a brown parcel under his arm I must admit I became extremely excited. Was this the parcel I had been waiting for from fellow blogger Patrick Mahoney? It sure was - I have never recieved a parcel from the States before, let alone a shirt which I recieved for free. How cool is that!!!!! I especially love what the logo on the shirt stands for. I guess you can interpret it in many different ways, whichever way suits you.

For me it symbolises allowing yourself to just be you. Letting go of old habits, renewing and resurfacing old dreams and allowing them to flourish. I could not let the opportunity go by without wearing the shirt and knowing that whom ever read those words would somehow get from it whatever it was that they needed. And I must admit Patrick, as I walked around I was getting alot of eyes staring at those two words. VERY COOL.

As a bit of a Welcome to Australia gesture I wore it everywhere I went today. Mum, Taillah and I decided to go to the shops for some retail therapy:

And a bit of morning tea with a well deserved coffee:

When we got home Mum and I decided to cook it a beautiful meal:
Not sure who enjoyed it more:
My mum has got to be the most incredible cook and we always enjoy
eating the feasts that mum lays before us, what do you think?

So all in all "Free Yourself" had an eventful day. It was spoilt rotten with food, enjoyed a spot of shopping and got to spend time with it's new family. I am very excited to have my shirt and look forward to wearing it on alot of occasions. Thankyou so much Patrick. I really appreciate it.

Another gold medal performance.

Today was designated as a swim day with Sharon, Susan, myself and Tracy. What another great swim was to be had by all - these woman are on FIRE. That is the only way I can describe their performances in the pool. Susan swam a whopping 1.5k with a sore neck and all, Sharon replicated her stellar performance from last week and swam 1.5k with a new and improved session, and Tracy swam a magnificent 1.3k. All of this from someone who just prior to jumping in the water looked at my session for her and was like "Hey, you added 100m more". My session was 500m for her and she pumped out an extra 800m. My friends are made of steel - they so totally rock.

I think it's amazing how we question our ability before taking on a new venture. I know I do everytime I increase a session or set a new goal. It's like an inbuilt protective mechanism to maybe not allow you to get to carried away for fear of failure. Maybe that little bit of self doubt makes you push and strive harder for that which you once thought was impossible. Maybe that little bit of self doubt makes you get a bit narky and annoyed with yourself so you go all out to prove yourself wrong. Whatever it is, it seems to work. Once you do it once - there is no need to doubt yourself on that goal ever again - YOU HAVE DONE IT. No-one, absolutely no-one can take that from you, all that is left is to keep doing it until you feel ready to go bigger. To have total faith in your abilities leaves the world wide open for anything your heart desires. Today was a perfect example of woman seeking to obtain just that - and they kicked butt.

Today Tracy my gold medal performance is for you:
You rocked it. Your motivation to keep chipping away in the pool was inspiring.

On a side note I thought I would add my session to the post for those who like to see:

• 500m Fr/s Warm up.
• 10 x 100m Medley
• 10 x 50m kick with flippers Fr/s up, Bk/s down
• 5 x 200m F/s, first 25m sighting end of pool.
• 100m Br/s cool down.

I felt very strong in the pool. Nothing hurt apart from my butt from the squats I did in the gym yesterday. What a great day.

Lovely weather - for ducks.

Rain, rain and more rain is all I can see from every point of the horizon. Thick, dark clouds filled with loads of water and the promise of more to come, and no getting out for a run or ride in the open air. Nevermind, first things first - PHYSIO Day 3 and then to think about what I should do. What can I say, physio still hurts but on a good note, Lisa can feel some movement (Good movement) on the outer part of my knee. This means the knot I have is weakening and the muscles are finally giving way. Thats not to say it has come easily, God only knows I have the bruises to show as my badge of bravery, but there is light at the end of the tunnel now, albeit its the size of a grain of rice, but it's light.

Lisa my physio is really cool. She is always asking me if I am okay while she is massaging my leg - I wonder if all my sweating, grimacing and weird giggles of pain are a sign of my distress....mmmm I wonder. Maybe it's the beads of sweat on my upper lip and my cold clammy hands - either way Lisa keeps rubbing and when it gets too much to bear she stops. After all the rubbing I get a heat pack to place on the area she has worked on the most, today it was my lower leg. Ahhhhh bliss.

So while I was sitting there contemplating about what I should do today, I decided to reactivate my gym membership. With all this rain about I need to still get a run in. It's not that I mind riding my indoor trainer but I could see myself getting a bit bored and wanting something else. And after reading one of my fellow bloggers posts about weight training "To gym or not to gym" and saying that I stay clear due to having had some bad experiences, I decided today was as good a day as any to just get back in there and take the bull by the horns. Thankyou Patrick.

So I went home and got dressed : What do you think? Do I look the part?

Anyway, when I got to the gym I must admit I was very nervous. I made a B line straight for the treadmill that was set up in the darkest corner of the gym and I hopped on. I caught the eye of a trainer and asked if they could assist me in getting the thing up and running. She gladly obliged and we got to talking about things. Anyway, she took an interest in my goals and said that when I finished on the treadmill (3km later), to go get her and she would show me some exercises to strengthen my legs using the Bosu Ball. Oh my lord, that semi-circular rubber thing is hard going.

Talk about looking unco-ordinated, a newborn giraffe has more co-ordination. She had me doing squats, and squat jumps and this exercise which I have no idea what its called but you are swapping feet from side to side keeping your centre of gravity low. She then moved me to a bench and I had to jump onto the bench with both feet leaving the floor at the same time. Sounds easy but its amazing how easily you lose co-ordination and faith in yourself. Took me about 4 jumps before I mastered it and then she had me doing 360 degree lunges with a 7kg dumb bell in each hand. What a day I have had today - I am stuffed. I LOVE IT.

I will definately be back next week, the next two days are booked with swimming and training a friend. Bring on winter strength training - I am ready.

Bit the bullet - surprisingly, I felt good.

After feeling dodgy yesterday and waking up to a "stiff as a board" neck this morning,rainy skies and children with head colds I decided I had two choices. The first was to sit around and mope and feel sorry for myself or get on my trainer like I said I would, and just DO IT. So I just did it - got the kids all sorted out, did my regular stretching and strengthening, tidied up the house as I wanted no distractions and set myself the task of riding the trainer for an hour. The stretching I did previously made my legs feel wonderfully ready to start spinning. Usually they feel a bit tight and fatigued after only 10 minutes of pedalling, but this morning they felt great.

This inturn had a wonderful "Pay it forward" effect on the rest of my body. The more I pedalled the more invigorated I felt. The hour flew by without really realising it, even the kids were like "What the? Have you finished already?". Maybe the monotonous hum of the trainer as I plodded along made them fall asleep. I can't blame them really for getting bored. I, on the other hand, got alot out of today.

Realisation: I got it together today when it was so much easier to give in. This has made me feel extremely empowered and I trust me even more than I did before. I know my thoughts will never let me down, so when push comes to shove in the days ahead that will be harder than I can even imagine - I know I will be STRONG and push through anything.

I remember when I was younger and a competitive swimmer I thrived on the coach pushing me and making me try harder than most of the other kids my age in the squad. I moved up from the junior squad to senior squad in less than a year and I think it was because I had a bit of grunt in me. You would never have thought so, I was the smallest and skinniest but I was all for making my coach happy and I loved the feeling of being good and accomplishing something others thought I couldn't. Looks can be deceiving.

Now I know that I can achieve anything I set my mind too, even when I don't feel all that great. Now I know I am strong and everyday I am getting stronger - especially when I am faced with days like today. I should bite the bullet more often - it's amazing what you will learn

Where is the love.

All day today I have been totally flat. Not quite sure what is happening in my brain but it is giving me the proverbial "You know whats". I am tired and just feel beat physically and emotionally. I don't have my usual zing and I would like it back - NOW. I have a funny feeling the weather has something to do with it. The cold and I have never seen eye to eye and it always seems to be a battle of the wills during the colder months. For the first time in ages I have wanted to just crawl into a nice little ball dressed in the daggiest tracksuit and socks and close my eyes and sleep. It is quite unlike me and it has me wondering how I will cope when winter really sets in. How will I stay motivated to train when the mornings are FREEZIN, the days are cold and drizzly and the nights come to soon?

Maybe I should be signing up for regular Fun Runs! Signing up for monthly ones are possibly the way to go. So far I have signed up for the MS 8km Fun Run on the 6th June, and my first ever Sprint Triathlon on October 31st. But that leaves an awful lot of months inbetween to fit stuff in. There is another run in September called the Blackmores Sydney Running Festival and there are different races - 9km, Half Marathon & Marathon. Not sure which one out of the 9km and Half Marathon. Do I aim high or managaeable?

Hopefully today is just one of those days. Both my boys have head colds and maybe I am coming down with it too. All day today I had trouble staying warm and my hands have been stinging - much like when your hands are cold and you put them under hot water. My lower back has also been aching too. Time to up the vitamins throughout the household I think.

On a happier note. My daughter ran a 4km cross country run today, and although she placed 24th, in my eyes she is NUMERO 1. Taillah qualified for this run on a whim. She doesn't like running but when you see her run you just know that if she trained for it she would be a force to be reckoned with. I am very proud of you Taillah - your my GEM.

Try not to laugh

I think I said I would post some photos of the types of stretches and core strengthening activities I have to do, however after reviewing the photos I think I look quite funny. My intentions are good and if you want to see some professional photos I will add a link to them at the end of the post - for comparisons.

The aim with this one is to get yourself into more of an A frame - I would but my fear of falling onto my head or rolling off onto the side is high, so until I feel stronger this is about as high as I get.

I really like this one but it takes alot of concentration. I try to just barely rest my hands on the floor and raise my hips without having my feet wobble from side to side. It's quite hard but i am getting better at it. The aim is to raise my arms up above my head as I raise my hips - I can only do this once or twice.

I find this one hard, shows my weakness in my legs. The leg that is raised stays at 90 degrees and is the one that rolls up and down on the ball. The leg that is on the floor I have to bend up and down with, maintaining correct alignment with the knee over the foot. My hands have to stay on my hips and are a guide to make sure I don't raise one hip more than the other. Doing it in front of a mirror helps.

I think the plank is something you either love or hate - I personally don't mind it. However she wants me now to raise alternate limbs and hold for as long as I can. Very, very hard. I wobble all over the place to do it but as my core strengthens I am sure I will be able to do and maintain it.
Gluteal stretch feels good and hurts all at the same time. Not sure if you can notice in the picture that the outstretched leg is raised slightly off the floor - the aim is to keep in all on the floor, this aides in the stretch.

My hamstrings are so tight, this one hurts. Have to hold this for 30 seconds, toes are pointed directly over the top of my head. I then have to point my toes outwards for 30 seconds and then point them inwards for 30 seconds. This works different parts of the hamstring. Try it it really works.

I tried to take a photo of the Peroneal Neural stretch that my physio has me doing and you couldn't really see what I was doing so I found one off the internet. The aim is to lower and raise your foot so the Peroneal Nerve moves through the muscle sheath. When I do it lying down using a towel to support my foot I can feel it just on the outer lateral aspect of my knee.

All of my stretches and strengthening exercises I have to do 4 times daily. and although I am not great at it I can feel some flexibility in my legs and my stomach hurts, so I guess the core exercises are doing their job. Hope you enjoy. Oh, by the way, here is the link for the Physio Exercises.