Laugh/cry. Which is it?

Today was one of those days which had me not knowing whether I was Arthur or Martha. I started the day off going for my 7km run with Susan. It was absolutely freezing even though the sun was shining, the air was so crisp it hurt to breathe in. With every breath I felt tightness in my chest so I thought it necessary to take a couple of puffs of my inhaler - this eased the pulmonary situation quite readily. The usual aches started as I took off running as well - knee pain in both. But much the same as what happens with my lungs, my knee pain dissipated as they heated up.

Susan is great to run with, she keeps perfect pace and rhythm so its easy not having to think. We got over the bridge which is the 4km mark in 22 minutes. Not bad considering I had to ask Susan to slow down the pace for a couple of minutes till I regained my form at about the 2km mark. I was happy with the time so far. I then felt like I had finally warmed up so I increased the pace and it felt right. Susan said I was running about a 5min 30sec per/km and it felt good. With about 300m to go I decided to ramp it up and start running at about a 4min 30 pace and that just nearly killed me. I have no clue how Susan holds that pace for a full run. I was taking strides that just felt so unnaturally long. Nevermind, the point was I held it for about 300m. YAY FOR ME and I finished with a total time of 38min 35 secs for 7km.

So after that Susan wanted me to do stride outs. 3x100m stride outs. Which I did, but I think I may have turned them into 3x100m sprints. I felt so strong and nothing hurt apart from some twinges in my left knee. I think I may have impressed Susan. She said I actually run like a sprinter - very upright and strong. And, get this, she said I even looked really good. That means so much coming from a runner. So anyways we finished off our sessions the way we always do - having a yummy coffee - only this time we had some drama with a young lass throwing her guts up over the retaining wall just near us. Susan and I both looked at eachother and went "I wonder if she's pregnant?". No sooner did she throw up she hocked straight into her breakfast again.

After my coffee I had the dreaded ultrasound of my Left knee as yesterday was my right knee. Today I was not so happy leaving as I was yesterday. No comment was made on my right knee and the cyst I thought I had there could not be found. GREAT. Today however the preliminary result on my left knee is a bulging meniscus as well as calcification to some of the tendons. The knee I was not so worried about turns out to be the one I should be worried about. I get the conclusive results tomorrow after 10am. Not sure if I want them now, but I know I need them to get the rehab/recovery ball rolling. Not sure what this means and I will just have to wait to see the GP tomorrow afternoon with the results. Kurtis will also get his backslab off his arm as well. Kill two birds with the one stone.

So I think I made the mention yesterday that I would try to find a sports physiotherapist - well I did find one and I have an appointment on Monday at 9:20am. I look forward to whatever it is they have to say. I need to know what I am doing as stopping exercise is not an option.

Motivation. I'm feeling it.

I am yet to encounter a day, and it's been this way for a while now, where I haven't wanted to do some form of activity. Before one day end's I have plans for the next day. Can't help it, it's the way I roll. I do believe that this will stand me in good sted for what lays ahead. I try to make all my training sessions varied as I find that if I start to repeat myself I get bored. That's also how I roll. Variety is the spice of life. It keeps me interested and wanting to keep going back for more. Repetition is a killer for me.

So today I hit the pools again. Below is my session:

• 500m Freestyle warm up
• 10x50m kick with flippers F/s up, Bk/s down
• Ladder 50, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 50
• 12x25m medley
• 300m cool down

I changed it up a bit, I love the kick so that stays for me. I really get a good burn. Lactic acid builds very quickly so when I hit the end of the pool I just let my legs hang. No standing on them, just total non-weight bear hang- feels great. Today's session totalled 2400m, not bad. I am feeling strong. The thought of the 70.3 is never far from my mind when I train and it is my sole driving force. I want to be ready, strong, mentally alert and focused.

After the hour spent in the pool I toddled off to have my first Ultrasound of my right knee and then tomorrow I have one of my left knee. Fingers crossed there is nothing, and if there is let it be minor. I will wait for the results and then book in to see a sports physiotherapist. I need to start asking around for a good one in the area.

GU Gel giveaway

Do you like Gels, Chomps or Brews? Personally after my my experience I think I am heading down the path of a Chomp. If you haven't tried any then here is your chance to win a fine selection of GU Energy Gels, Electrolyte Brew, Recovery Brew and Chomps. All you have to do is visit "Midwest Triathlon Life" and follow the instructions. Follow Kovas journey and get in the running to win.

2/3 of a movie - Does it count? Hell yeah.

After 37km, I would say I had an eventful day today. I started off with going for a 7km walk/run with my best friend Susan, her sister Melanie and father David. I was initially going to make this a full 7km run when I got out of bed, but I really enjoy their company and decided to go along with them. And after a yummy coffee (cause we sooooo deserved it) I ventured home with the aim to get a full movie's worth on the bike trainer.

I moved my bike into prime position in front of the TV and loaded up the coffee table with the essentials - remote controls for the TV and DVD player, a large glass of water, my mobile and house phone should someone ring and an electrolyte drink. Extremely important items - oh and a cushion to rest forward on as I don't have Tri bars. I was set, this 90 minutes or so looked like it was easy.....WRONG.

My legs and backside fizzled at the 60 minute mark. I was going hard for a solid hour and I have no idea what my cadence was but I was spinning at a constant rhythm. So I was happy. I would have preferred to have sat through the whole movie but 2/3 was better than nothing at all.

Distance: 30.24km
Time: 1:01:37
Max speed: 42.7kph
Avg speed: 29.3kph

I would say that even though I didn't quite make it to my goal I got 2/3's of the way there. Better than nothing I say .

Mothers Day is the best.

My Mothers Day started early, one day early to be exact. Yesterday Stephen and the kids came home from shopping with the best ever Mothers Day present. I was given a bike trainer. I got so emotional, my prayers had been listened to, or was it that I said my prayers OUTLOUD. Actually I do believe I spoke about this trainer heaps. My family listened - yay, I am truly the luckiest person ever.

Then to make things better, I got two massive bunches of the most beautiful flowers.
I absolutely love flowers and the bunches I got were to die for. They had Gerberas, Birds of Paradise, Chrysanthemums and loads of green foliage. I guess my family loves me :). After such a wonderful Saturday I didn't think it could get any better, but I was wrong.

I woke up this morning knowing full well I was going to my first ever Mothers Day 4km Fun Run with my daughter whom did exceptionally well. I was so proud of her - this was her first ever 4km run and apart from some occasional little pits stops due to fatigued legs - she rocked it. We both crossed the line in 24min 24 secs. What more could I have asked for. I shared real special moments during the run, we held hands running. I haven't had that kind of opportunity for a while - kids are growing up and things like that don't happen much and for me it was the total highlight. If my day had of ended right there I would have been the happiest mother on the face of the earth. But when we came home from our run we were greeted with yummy pancakes which my husband had made for myself and my mother who had come to stay overnight. We all scoffed them right up.

About two hours later I decided to make use of the bike trainer. It looked lonely and I hate seeing things upset, so I got on my bike and rode for an hour.

Distance: 28.17km
Avg speed: 27.3kph
Max speed: 41.5kph

I also decided to try my first Gel - I am not quite sure I like it. It was a mixture of salty and sweet and it was a bit slimy. Not sure if they are all like this, may have to try the blocks. I guess everyone's taste buds are different and what some find yummy others find BLAH. Not sure if this is something i could get used to. On the pack it said consume with 400mls of water which I did however it still left that funny taste in my mouth. Will have to try something else.

I had the best Mother's Day. Love you Stephen for making every meal for myself and the family today. Love you Kurtis, Taillah and Kyle for making me the proudest mother on the earth.

I love chlorinated H2O

Woke up this morning feeling absolutely freezing and thinking to myself it's still too dark to see what the weather is going to be like - I hope it's warm. However as the sun came up over the horizon I realised that today was going to be another miraculous day. A new day with new opportunities to grasp with both hands and make of it as I wanted.

Firstly the usual routine - wake up the family, make lunches for school and work, help Kurt get dressed as he is a "one armed bandit" for a while and have breakfast. Stephen then took the twins to school (Kurt felt well enough to go) and I took Kyle to a dentist's appointment much to his disgust. Nothing majorly traumatic went down at the dentist and then took Kyle to school late - once again "Not happy Jan". Never mind - I had a date with the pool today.

I really truly could not have been blessed with a better day to get in the pool. Perfect blue skies, slight cool breeze in the air and just right water temperature. If all days could be this wonderful. Whenever I get to the pool I don't have a set session, I kind of make it up as I go. There are many variables to have a set session - mood, weather, family, time. So I just see how I go.

I had all intentions to do a 500m Freestyle warm up, but as I got to the 500m mark I felt too good to stop. So I did another 500m Freestyle. After 1km though my arms did need a break so I let them rest for a couple of minutes, put my flippers on and off I set for 10x50m Freestyle kick with flippers. I set myself a bit of a target though to do them in 40 secs, give myself a 20sec break and take off on the minute. This totally canes my legs, you can hearing me grunting as I get to the end of the pool. It's not a loud grunt like a wild beast, more like "oh dear god - somebody bring the end of the pool to me PLEASE".

After finishing those kicks and realising I had only done 15oom and being a bit of a glutton for punishment I added 5x100m Freestyle at about 75% effort. That was hard. Very hard. I only gave myself 20 secs rest between sets. By the last one I could feel acid rising up my throat. But that had taken me to 2km. My last swim session saw me complete 2.3km - and not being one to go backwards I cooled down with a 300m Breastroke up Backstroke down. Ahhhhh bliss. I would say my date with the pool went swimmingly.

UPDATE: my left knee feels heaps better today. No pain, my nutritionals cream from Neways has been a godsend. I have been applying it religiously before and after activity and before bed as well as icing the affected area and it does not hurt at all. I love this stuff.

Oh Oh!!! What a day.

What a day. Started with waking up and realising that my left knee was and is sore. It was sore from the moment I put pressure on the ground. It's not an intense pain that makes me see stars, but on movement I can feel a soreness on the outer lateral aspect of my patella. It is not sore to the touch, only on movement which I find disturbing. I am not sure if I documented after my 17km bushwalk the same thing happening and after a couple of days rest and some Ibuprofen it settled. So I am hoping that the same will happen this time. I have it bandaged and have iced it as well as taking Nurofen twice today.

So anyway after waking up and realising it was sore I still had things to do today. I have been exercising with a friend to help her get on track. I like walking with her and teaching her things that I have learnt along the way. Today she started on the walk/run program. It was 4 mins walk/1 min run x6. All in all I think she did great - she was a little breathless and she did say she felt like to be sick once but she recovered really well and we finished off doing a 3km walk. No sooner had we finished and just gotten back to the car I get a phone call from the sick bay nurse at my children's school saying my eldest son Kurtis had a mishap. He had collided heads with another pupil and in the process of trying to save himself he jarred his left wrist. So off we went to the GP and then for an Xray.

Good news is the Xray does not show a fracture, however that is not to say there is not an occult fracture of one of the carpal bones. So his arm was placed in a backslab for the next 7-10 days and if the pain does not subside he is to have a CT scan. Fingers crossed it settles. What poor Kurt is not happy about is that fact that the GP has said no physical activities till the backslab is off. This has crushed him as he wanted to do the Mothers Day Fun Run with me this Sunday. I told him if all is okay in a weeks time we can run the 4km around the neighbourhood and I will "Rent a crowd" to cheer us on the way home.....only kidding about the Rent a crowd I will get family to cheer him on. That just made him laugh.

Whilst I was at the GP I thought it wise to have my knee looked and I am having an Ultrasound on both knees next week. Hopefully nothing shows as well. But I have a feeling it might in my Right knee as I think I may have a cyst. What makes me think this? I feel like I have a marble sitting behind my patella when I bend it. It doesn't hurt, its just a nuisance. I have had this for a while and thought I better get it looked at considering I don't want it affecting my training.

My day has only just come to an end and it is now 8:30pm. I have just finished training another friend. She did absolutely fantastic but I fear she may have trouble raising her arms over her head for the next couple of days. Sorry Marisa. What a long day I have had. I am totally knackered, beat. Time to have a shower and head to bed. I wonder what adventures I shall face tomorrow. Hopefully much nicer ones.