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.

Performax Women's Compression Full Length Tight - Sports Compression Clothing

Performax Women's Compression Full Length Tight - Sports Compression Clothing

I have just purchased these off EziSports. Here they are. Totally divine.The material is fantastic. The seams are flatlocked so there wont be any rubbing anywhere whatsoever. I absolutely love the reflective pattern on the calves and the added detail of reflection around the zipper. I got myself a Size 10 even though I am borderline Size 12 due to my height. But I figured the added tightness would help compression wise. I can see I will enjoy these immensely.

Physiotherapy Day 2 - New Drama

I have just come back from the physiotherapist and am a bit battered and bruised yet again. I mentioned to her about this feeling I get every now and then in my left leg and which had happened again on Wednesday (I think that was the day) when I went for my 7km run with Susan. My foot and lower leg kind of go a bit numb and I almost feel as though I sort of lose control - like foot drop. But it doesn't happen all the time - so I was not that concerned. Anyway when I mentioned it to her she kind of looked at me quite seriously and started pressing around the outer lateral aspect of my knee and down the outer shin and I felt like my leg was on fire. With that came the words "I think you have a Peroneal Nerve Impingement". With those words I thought I was going to lose full use of my leg and my eyes started to well up with tears.

Thank goodness she quickly reassured me inbetween continuing to rub the area. So why were my eyes still filling up with tears, oh thats right - the rubbing hurt like CRAZY. The cold sweats broke out again and all I could do was breathe through the pain - much like I did when I was giving birth. I find the pain hard to describe - it's like burning, red raw, pulled muscle kind of feeling when she is rubbing the area. Not nice, but after it is all said and done I feel good.

Anyway, I have another stretch to add to the combo - "Peroneal Neural Stretch" which should help dislodge it and allow it to move freely. I will give my daughter the task to take some photos of the stretches as I am doing them to show you what I have to do. Mainly they are leg stretches but she has added two more core stability ones as well. Should make for some entertainment as they involve using the Swiss Ball.

Saying for today "What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger".

Yesterdays swim session

Forgot to post my session yesterday as I was in awe of Sharon's efforts. Here it is:

• 500m Freestyle warm up
• 5 x 200m Fr/s for 100m Bk/s for 100m
• 10 x 50m kick with flippers 15 sec break
• 5 x 100m Fr/s catchup with paddles - alternating every 25m
• 300m Br/s cool down

If anyone has some other ideas to spice up my swim sessions please let me know. Look forward to seeing some variety.

A smile I will never forget.

How awesome is it when you see someone reach their potential. How awesome is it to see someone smile because they feel so proud of themselves.What a blessing it is to share in a moment when that person goes into an activity with a certain expectation and comes out having totally annihalating it to oblivion. Well today was that day. This post is dedicated to my friend Sharon.

Sharon is one of those people you just know from the very first time you meet them that they are going to be in your life for a very long time. She has a heart of gold and genuine interest in you as a person - people like her are very rare.

I am so glad we went swimming together today. Last week I had written up a very brief training session for her. It was brief to the point of only being 300m. The last time we went swimming together was at the beginning of the year so I didn't want to make the session too long. So it consisted of sets of 25m Freestyle and kick with a 30 sec break. WELL, Sharon did the first 25m and said at the 15 sec rest point can I keep going - I said "Of course". And that was it - Sharon was on a roll. The 300m came and went without even a slight look of tiredness physically. She just kept knocking them out one after the other and before I knew it she had reached the 1km mark. The woman is a legend.

As I continued with my planned session of 2.8km Sharon just kept going. She chopped and changed from kicking, to Freestyle, to breastroke back to Freestyle. And as I finished my last lap Sharon was floating around and feeling as proud as punch. She had just done 1.5km. If I could have bottled the pride that was oozing out of her and tried to sell it - we would have made millions - actually it was priceless. That feeling is what makes training all the more worth it, it's what keeps you focused during the harder times. I remember that feeling of your very first major accomplishment - nothing, absolutely nothing can knock you off your perch. What a buzz.

So Sharon this is for you:

Cant wait to do it again next week. Remember no less than 1500m - you can do it.

Another day of firsts.

Yesterday I decided to go and do my usual bridge to bridge run with Susan with no huge expectation of what it would hold. Firstly neither Susan or myself set our watches to time this and it was probably a really good idea that we didn't as I totally piked out on this run. Not because I wanted to but because things ached. If it wasn't my butt cheek from a bruise the physio had left it was my knee, if not my knee it was my shin. So, it was back to the run/walk method yesterday for the 7km stretch. If there is one thing I am learning through this journey it is to listen to your body when it is speaking to you. If it's hurting it is pretty much telling you to either analyse whether it is a pain from pushing yourself beyond your limits, or is this a pain that if your push on you could be doing more damage. I figured the latter was possibly closer to the truth.

So upon returning home I did all my physio stretching and strengthening and proceeded to fill up the bath tub with cold water. Off I went to have a shower and then I quickly dried off, dressed the top half and plonked myself into my first ever modified version of an ice bath. This is what happened:
I could not catch my breath, all I did was whimper, squeal and hold the top half of my body so tense that I started to ache in the shoulders. Ok, it was time to relax and enjoy the process - it was afterall doing me good "I think". I only lasted 5 minutes - better than nothing at all. Today will be a different story I will try to last the expected 15 minutes. Depends how blue my lower extremities go. However, in saying that it was absolutely freezing I felt totally invigorated on getting out. Everything from my waist down felt alive and refreshed and I could no longer feel the aches - maybe they were just numb, whatever - it felt good.

The rest of my afternoon was quite normal, I cooked dinner and made Chicken Cacciattore for the family. I was not going to eat dinner at home tonight - my other bestest buddie Kimberley invited me out to Teppenyaki as a belated birthday present. I have never been to Teppenyaki before and I loved it. The whole experience was awesome and best of all I got to spend it with my best friend of 16yrs.

Everything I had heard about Teppenyaki was right, the food, the games the chefs play with you and how enjoyable it it was. I am a total pro at catching the food they flick at you except for the one the call the machine gun. I had omelette flicked at me at lightning speed and all I could do was close my eyes and hope that some went in my plate - guess what? None did, it went all in my lap. Kimberley wore a bowl full of fried rice - I couldn't stop laughing. We looked as though we had regressed to infancy as just under our chairs was a mess of fried rice and omelette. What a great night. Definately have to take my children there soon, they will get a total buzz out of it.

The following photos are just a few of the yummy food, I would have to say the highlight was the yummy chicken. ENJOY: