By Virginia Winder
My daughter in Wellington and her friend in Auckland have been missing my blogs.
"Why don't you just write something short, Mum, like 'I went for a run and ate a carrot'. They don't all have to be masterpieces," Clementine said on the phone tonight.
"I suppose you're right," I said wondering, who would want to read about carrots, but it did get me thinking about briefs.
Not the type you wear, but snippets.
I could be the mistress of them - the Queen of Shorts.
"I'm under 90kg now," I said.
"Really?"
"Yes, I'm in the 80s, I've made it! I'm actually 88kg."
It happened so fast.
I can thank those egg-shaped green fruit - feijoas - cutting out alcohol and added sugar. I no longer have it in flat whites!
Alas, I haven't been balanced in the world of work, so aim to do better in regards to efficiency, focus and self-discipline.
Same goes for training.
It's high-endurance, no-excuses, this-is-it time. It's about long bike rides, pounding roads, length after length in the pool.
Races have been entered and paid for by Bryce Barnett and his wonderful team at KCL Properties - I am entered in the Tinman on December 2 this year and the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman on January 5, 2013.
Coach Clint sat me down and said I should stick to my original aim, so I am. But also plan to do the Wells half-ironman six weeks later in Taranaki.
Before that is the Taranaki Daily News half marathon on October 7 - just five months away! The Tinman is seven months away, the half-ironman eight months.
Training is everything.
Life? This is my life!
See why blogs need to be short?!
Thanks wise child.
Showing posts with label Coach Clint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coach Clint. Show all posts
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Time to be the tortoise
Restraint and endurance are my new key words.
These come from Coach Clint, who is doing his best to contain my over-zealous enthusiasm for aerobic training.
Both words are aimed at preventing me from injuring myself, plus endurance will help me build up stamina and muscle condition.
In other words I have to be the tortoise, not the hare, which is a major personality switch for me.
I did practise restraint today.
My left Achilles tendon is niggling a little, so I refrained from running this evening and instead did a power walk. Or should a say a power dance.
When I have those earphones in, pumping arms and legs like a maniac, I get lost in my own world. I imagine finish lines and passing people, and often, like tonight, I replay concerts.
Tonight I relived last year's Green Day gig in Auckland by walk-dancing to Holiday. Then I pounded the pavement to Resistance by Muse (BDO last year) and got a little bit of rhythm via Michael Franti and Spearhead (Power Station 2009).
Earlier, I swam 40 lengths with my niece, Rebekah.
I felt slow in the pool tonight, but I kept going, pulling through the water saying "endurance" to myself over and over.
Did some tough arm-weight exercises at the gym last night, but don't think I'm ready for those yet.
Coach Clint wants me to stop doing weights until July, when I move on to strength.
Because I've committed to the gym for a year, we've come to an agreement. I need to strengthen my core and do more stretching, so the gym's combined Pilates-yoga class will be ideal for this. I'm also sure I'll head to the gym on bike-training days when it's too windy to be safe outside.
Let me tell you why Clint is worth listening to.
He's been doing triathlons since 1993 and has represented and also captained New Zealand at a couple of World Triathlon Age Group Championships in Lausanne (Switzerland) and Hawaii. His first degree was in physiology and he has lectured PE students.
He's positive and practical, insightful and inspiring, and best of all he understands why trying to be a career woman and dedicated mother didn't leave much time for exercising. Add my ridiculous drive into the mix and you have a recipe for poor physical and mental health, leading to burnout. Hi, I'm Virginia and I'm a workaholic... you know the story.
Anyway, after chatting with Clint today, I feel confident that I will be able to conquer this half-ironwoman race in 13 months' time.
But I have to repeat my new mantra - endurance and restraint, endurance and restraint...
Today, I:
Swam 40 lengths of a 25m pool
Ran four lengths of the pool
Walked 3.6km in 38 minutes (I now have Map My Run ap)
Drank 2 cups of coffee
Had a good breakfast, didn't do so well at a morning tea shout, had a good lunch and healthy dinner.
Worked for 5 hours (see, I am getting balance!!!)
Drank some water, but not enough
Monday, November 21, 2011
Coach Clint calls the shots
By Virginia Winder
Coach Clint has me in his sights.
He's no cowboy gunslinger, but this former triathlete is laying down the law for my training on the wild west coast of New Zealand.
This 30-something man of business is the general manager of a generous company, which has decided to back me in Mission Half-Ironwoman (note the gender change).
However, it's Clint's boss, the owner of the business, who has decided I'm worth a wager.
Sorry, I still can't do the major revelation - you have no idea how hard it is not to tell all - but it's all about timing and rights to the story. Haha, just joking, but it sounds good, eh, Virginia on the front page of NZ Woman's Weekly, dressed in a suit of iron.
You're right, not a pretty picture and not happening. But the details are all about timing.
That brings us back to Coach Clint... I had a one-on-one session with him last week and he plotted my future on a whiteboard. I now have clearer SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) goals, a training schedule and even have homework.
I need to find a social running/walking group, a cycling group, learn about cycling etiquette (I'll be like Liza Doolittle for sure), find out my maxium heart rate, record how far and how long I'm walking, stretch after each exercise session and find out the swim, cycle and run times for my age group in this year's Port of Tauranga Half-Ironman (done!). Researching the latter, I found that Taranaki woman Sonia O'Connell was the fastest female swimmer in the race. She's a former surf lifesaving clubmate of mine, so she'll have some great training advice for sure.
Anyway, Clint quizzed me about a whole bunch of things, including my realistic weight goal - we reckon around 65kg would be good and I should be able to reach that by the end of May next year.
Clint has also armed me with a new training schedule, which began today. OK, so I had rest day. He's revised things, because from now on I'll be doing long training sessions at the weekends and Monday is my most intense time for deadlines, so will need a break.
Had a couple of quiet days before storming ahead with a big week of training.
Yesterday, Warren and I walked through the Ratapihipihi Reserve and I wore my new tramping boots. They saved me, about three times actually, from twisting my bendy ankles.
Walked up that seemingly, never-ending hill and had visions of my mother swearing and puffing her way up and up and up those steps. I wasn't there for that cuss-and-climb outing; my sister Felicity was, but it's part of our family folkore so it feels like my memory too.
Our darling mother was delightfully naughty and terribly feisty.
Clint wants me to cut down on going to the gym. I might, a little, but the rebel in me just could slip two shortened weight-training session in somewhere to help with my swimming.
I like the plan, which we've worked out together, but have tweaked it just a bit so I can go swimming with my niece, Rebekah.
We're meeting up tomorrow, but if the forecast storm hits, we could be heading indoors to the shorter pool for our workout.
See, there's more than training on the horizon...
Today, I:
Worked for 15 hours (yes, fail on that one - glum face)
Drank heaps of fluids (coffee, chai, water, green tea)
Slept for 6 hours
Trained for zero hours (Monday is new rest day)
Ate pretty well, but did find myself grazing in the pantry for nuts and a couple of crackers
Had family time because I worked at home all day
Coach Clint has me in his sights.
He's no cowboy gunslinger, but this former triathlete is laying down the law for my training on the wild west coast of New Zealand.
This 30-something man of business is the general manager of a generous company, which has decided to back me in Mission Half-Ironwoman (note the gender change).
However, it's Clint's boss, the owner of the business, who has decided I'm worth a wager.
Sorry, I still can't do the major revelation - you have no idea how hard it is not to tell all - but it's all about timing and rights to the story. Haha, just joking, but it sounds good, eh, Virginia on the front page of NZ Woman's Weekly, dressed in a suit of iron.
You're right, not a pretty picture and not happening. But the details are all about timing.
That brings us back to Coach Clint... I had a one-on-one session with him last week and he plotted my future on a whiteboard. I now have clearer SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timely) goals, a training schedule and even have homework.
I need to find a social running/walking group, a cycling group, learn about cycling etiquette (I'll be like Liza Doolittle for sure), find out my maxium heart rate, record how far and how long I'm walking, stretch after each exercise session and find out the swim, cycle and run times for my age group in this year's Port of Tauranga Half-Ironman (done!). Researching the latter, I found that Taranaki woman Sonia O'Connell was the fastest female swimmer in the race. She's a former surf lifesaving clubmate of mine, so she'll have some great training advice for sure.
Anyway, Clint quizzed me about a whole bunch of things, including my realistic weight goal - we reckon around 65kg would be good and I should be able to reach that by the end of May next year.
Clint has also armed me with a new training schedule, which began today. OK, so I had rest day. He's revised things, because from now on I'll be doing long training sessions at the weekends and Monday is my most intense time for deadlines, so will need a break.
Had a couple of quiet days before storming ahead with a big week of training.
Yesterday, Warren and I walked through the Ratapihipihi Reserve and I wore my new tramping boots. They saved me, about three times actually, from twisting my bendy ankles.
Walked up that seemingly, never-ending hill and had visions of my mother swearing and puffing her way up and up and up those steps. I wasn't there for that cuss-and-climb outing; my sister Felicity was, but it's part of our family folkore so it feels like my memory too.
Our darling mother was delightfully naughty and terribly feisty.
Clint wants me to cut down on going to the gym. I might, a little, but the rebel in me just could slip two shortened weight-training session in somewhere to help with my swimming.
I like the plan, which we've worked out together, but have tweaked it just a bit so I can go swimming with my niece, Rebekah.
We're meeting up tomorrow, but if the forecast storm hits, we could be heading indoors to the shorter pool for our workout.
See, there's more than training on the horizon...
Today, I:
Worked for 15 hours (yes, fail on that one - glum face)
Drank heaps of fluids (coffee, chai, water, green tea)
Slept for 6 hours
Trained for zero hours (Monday is new rest day)
Ate pretty well, but did find myself grazing in the pantry for nuts and a couple of crackers
Had family time because I worked at home all day
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