By Virginia Winder
Poor Heather.
She's my friend with a road bike who agreed to go out for a ride with me today. It was an uphill climb and she was way ahead of me all the way.
At times she had to wait for me and she greeted me with kind words.
"You're doing great," she said when I caught up to her.
Despite my slow speed, I loved it. The burning thighs, the pounding heart, the sweat, the countryside...
Downhill was even better.
We cranked up our gears and sprinted. "Thanks for letting me bike in your slipstream," she yelled, directing me when to change gears.
Once, we got up to 40km/h, but now I want to go faster. Much faster.
Definitely, I want to go faster uphill, but reckon I need to do a bit of practice working those gears. And yes, I'm going to have to get those biking shoes back on.
This evening I swam 30 lengths in the outdoor pool and my shoulder felt OK.
Swimming is all about cruising for me at the moment until I feel good again. Need to go back to my wonderful physio Jacinta Harrison who has made me a gym programme. She, by the way, won a trip to a Tahiti at the Wells Taranaki Ironman last weekend. Fantastic stuff!
Met with Coach Clint this week and am now going to focus on long, slow bike rides and long, slow walk/runs. Still going through the transition phase, but definitely picking up the running.
If you've been wondering why I've been so useless at my blog writing, it's because:
A: Family has come first lately - and I wouldn't have it any other way. We've had my sister and brother-inlaw here for just 10 days, had my father-in-law's 80th birthday and our daughter Clementine's 18th birthday and party (including a visit from noise control at 10.22pm!).
B: I had too much work, but have now cut back to a normal workload and have a wonderful position doing marketing and communications at Puke Ariki. I love it! Yes, I'm still doing my freelancing feature stories, but finally I'm getting some balance.
C: I have been focusing on illness not wellness. After getting sick with that sore throat, which lingered and lingered, I decided I was not well enough to train. It's probably true to be honest, but my energy has returned now and I'm back in to it.
Life is good, the weather is fine, training is great and I have a patient friend called Heather.
Today, I:
Biked about 20km
Swam 1.5km
Ate 3 fantastically nutritious meals
Drank lots of water
Drank 2 coffees
Drank 1 protein shake with a banana
Worked for 2.5 hours
Slept for 9 hours (deep wonderful sleep!)
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
On to the next goals... Pt Chev here we come
By Virginia Winder
It's a new week and a fresh focus.
Oh and the things I have learnt on the way...
No 1: It's not a great idea to train or compete if you aren't feeling well. It took me four days in bed to recover from that nasty sore throat and it's still lingering. When you are pushing your body to the limit you have to be kind to yourself. Listen to those symptoms - don't be so focused on the end result that you have a hideous journey. That "no pain, no gain" saying doesn't work when the body needs time to recover.
No 2: Be kind to others - always. This has nothing to do with exercising, but everything to do with life balance and not judging others. Here's an example. You might get a check-out operator in a supermarket who's not so friendly to you, but there may be a reason - they have just been dumped by a boyfriend, found out their mother has cancer, or lost a loved one. Or a grumpy customer might be stressed about something in their life and preoccupied by their own thoughts. Think about that for a moment and then let it go. Treat those under stress with great kindness and warmth - there's always a reason they are like that.
No 3: Say thanks with grace - then change the subject. When you lose weight people constantly tell you how amazing you look. Thanks so much for the kind words! However, I'm beginning to think I must have looked hideous before. But I didn't feel ugly and that's the truth. I love the compliments, honestly I do, but I'm still just me.
No 4: Always have a goal. Once, when I interviewed Sir Edmund Hillary I asked him what he was thinking when he stood on the summit of Mt Everest. His reply was something like: "I looked around and thought what mountain am I going to climb next." OK, so my tri wasn't Mt Everest, but Sir Ed was right about always having something to aim for.
No 5: Always remember how far you have come. Pollyanna, one of my childhood role models, used to play The Glad Game by counting all the things she was glad about. Do that in your life, especially if you are on a path to health and fitness.
No 6: Have a fan club. They are your close friends who text you (thanks Spike, Callie and Susan), others who turn up and cheer for you (Cheryl and Irena) and, of course, your family members, who back you all the way and boy, do I have a heap of them - they stretch from here to Wellington and across to Perth in Australia. And then there are all my mates on FB, like Kim in Sydney, my namesake in Kansas and the dozens of people who tick the "like" box and make comments. Those uplifting comments are as good as endorphins.
So, on to the next four fitness goals.
No 1: Go to Auckland to compete in the Contact TriWoman race at Pt Chevalier in Auckland on April 22. (My daughter and niece are in the draw for a car, so we have to go!)
No 2: To be able to run properly for that race.
No 3: To be down to 80kg for that Auckland race.
No 3: To start a serious cycling regime.
No 4: Get back into full pool training.
No 5: Do gym work to strengthen me for pool work. This is recommended by my BounceBack Physiotherapist and swimmer Jacinta Harrison.
Today, I:
Went for a 25-minute walk/run in Pukekura Park
Went to the movies
Worked for 5 hours
Slept well for 6 hours
Ate two great meals (breakfast and dinner), but had some popcorn and jaffas and had spaghetti on toast for lunch with grated cheese on top (need to take care not to fall into old ways)
Drank 2 coffees (now for those people thinking I am cutting down - a big coffee day for me has always been 3, so trust me, I'm not trying to cut down my coffee)
Drank a moderate amount of water
Yesterday, I:
Ate two great meals (but missed lunch, so not good)
Worked for 6.5 hours
Went for a long brisk walk
Slept badly, for hardly any hours
Drank 2 cups of coffee
Drank some water
It's a new week and a fresh focus.
Oh and the things I have learnt on the way...
No 1: It's not a great idea to train or compete if you aren't feeling well. It took me four days in bed to recover from that nasty sore throat and it's still lingering. When you are pushing your body to the limit you have to be kind to yourself. Listen to those symptoms - don't be so focused on the end result that you have a hideous journey. That "no pain, no gain" saying doesn't work when the body needs time to recover.
No 2: Be kind to others - always. This has nothing to do with exercising, but everything to do with life balance and not judging others. Here's an example. You might get a check-out operator in a supermarket who's not so friendly to you, but there may be a reason - they have just been dumped by a boyfriend, found out their mother has cancer, or lost a loved one. Or a grumpy customer might be stressed about something in their life and preoccupied by their own thoughts. Think about that for a moment and then let it go. Treat those under stress with great kindness and warmth - there's always a reason they are like that.
No 3: Say thanks with grace - then change the subject. When you lose weight people constantly tell you how amazing you look. Thanks so much for the kind words! However, I'm beginning to think I must have looked hideous before. But I didn't feel ugly and that's the truth. I love the compliments, honestly I do, but I'm still just me.
No 4: Always have a goal. Once, when I interviewed Sir Edmund Hillary I asked him what he was thinking when he stood on the summit of Mt Everest. His reply was something like: "I looked around and thought what mountain am I going to climb next." OK, so my tri wasn't Mt Everest, but Sir Ed was right about always having something to aim for.
No 5: Always remember how far you have come. Pollyanna, one of my childhood role models, used to play The Glad Game by counting all the things she was glad about. Do that in your life, especially if you are on a path to health and fitness.
No 6: Have a fan club. They are your close friends who text you (thanks Spike, Callie and Susan), others who turn up and cheer for you (Cheryl and Irena) and, of course, your family members, who back you all the way and boy, do I have a heap of them - they stretch from here to Wellington and across to Perth in Australia. And then there are all my mates on FB, like Kim in Sydney, my namesake in Kansas and the dozens of people who tick the "like" box and make comments. Those uplifting comments are as good as endorphins.
So, on to the next four fitness goals.
No 1: Go to Auckland to compete in the Contact TriWoman race at Pt Chevalier in Auckland on April 22. (My daughter and niece are in the draw for a car, so we have to go!)
No 2: To be able to run properly for that race.
No 3: To be down to 80kg for that Auckland race.
No 3: To start a serious cycling regime.
No 4: Get back into full pool training.
No 5: Do gym work to strengthen me for pool work. This is recommended by my BounceBack Physiotherapist and swimmer Jacinta Harrison.
Today, I:
Went for a 25-minute walk/run in Pukekura Park
Went to the movies
Worked for 5 hours
Slept well for 6 hours
Ate two great meals (breakfast and dinner), but had some popcorn and jaffas and had spaghetti on toast for lunch with grated cheese on top (need to take care not to fall into old ways)
Drank 2 coffees (now for those people thinking I am cutting down - a big coffee day for me has always been 3, so trust me, I'm not trying to cut down my coffee)
Drank a moderate amount of water
Yesterday, I:
Ate two great meals (but missed lunch, so not good)
Worked for 6.5 hours
Went for a long brisk walk
Slept badly, for hardly any hours
Drank 2 cups of coffee
Drank some water
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