Beautiful Summer is Here

This week the weather has finally turned into summer weather and I have finally been allowed to start running!  I don’t believe this is a coincidence. I think the weather has been waiting for me to get the green light before turning nice and giving us a lovely amount of blue sky and bright sun and glorious temperatures that has us reaching for a Pimms & lemonade.

It has been a week to celebrate.

After being given the go-ahead for my adventures on my feet, I also managed to get back on the ice where I broke my leg in February and get a bit of skating done.  Not an awful lot – just 30 minutes before I had to get off and stretch and rest my leg.  But I’m back on the horse.

It can only get better from here.

Have a great weekend everybody!

The Challenge – Week 2

Week	Weight loss	Total Weight loss	Fat % change	Total fat % change
1	1.8	1.8	0.3%	0.3
2	0	1.8	0%	0.3

Juneathon 2012

Is it that time already?  Juneathon time?  Really?

Ok. I’m in. Let’s have a go at this again.

The rules are simple.  To enter is easier.  And there’s a Facebook page!

So what are you waiting for?

The Challenge – Week 1

Last week I decided to kick off my training again (after the operation to remove metal work) and with that also set some goals for myself that I’d like to achieve over the course of the next 11 weeks. It was 12, but as I delayed the posting, I’ll have to stick with 11 now.

The goal involves losing at least 10 pounds, but aiming more towards 24 pounds and getting my fat % down. Being a woman, I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to lose the weight, but I wouldn’t mind at all if the fat % went down a few notches and my weight didn’t change a whole lot.

So, after one week, I am happy to see that I have achieved a 1.8lbs drop in weight and a 0.3% change in fat %.

This week will see an upward trend in exercise as I attempt to get ready to tackle Juneathon on June 1st. This will hopefully be the first year that I manage to take part and complete it without incident and circumstance taking a swipe at me. The past few years I’ve either had to undertake flights that took 24 hours to complete, attend customer sites and end up getting back to the hotel well after dark or became ill or injured. This year, touch wood, I hope to be staying at home, healthy-ish and go for a run every single day of June.

Right, as it is a beautiful day outside, it is time for me to don my cycling clothes and get biking to work!

Week	Weight loss	Total Weight loss	Fat % change	Total fat % change
1	1.8	1.8	0.3%	0.3

Turbo turbo session

Yesterday morning I woke up and I was in a good mood.

After cycling to work and getting drenched coming back home, I realised that I had a turbo session planned. Day 1 of true exercise after the pins got removed.

I got in the bike shortly after 7 and started the session as described in my diary. It felt a bit easy, but I carried on, sent out a tweet or two and an hour later, the session was over and I was carrying around a feeling of exhilaration. Like I had conquered the first step. All of the steps.

Then I went to sleep and this morning I woke up and my first thought was to send out a search party to find the train that drove over me. I thought about turning from one side to the other and realised that today I was going to pay for the session that I enjoyed so much yesterday.

It has been a while since I’ve had muscle aches such as this and I can’t really say I’m enjoying it. I had forgotten how many muscles there are that gets used during the course of training for triathlon and this morning is a welcome, even if unenjoyable experience.

At least I have a day of stretching ahead before hitting the next turbo session tomorrow.

Life is good.

No more Doctors

Exactly 2 days left until my stitches come out – then I won’t have to see another doctor for at least another 4 weeks!

This is a happy day as it means that on Friday I might be able to go along to open water swimming with the club. It has been approximately a year since I last went to swim with them, but considering that I’m enjoying swimming at the moment and it is one of the few outdoor sessions I can do, I’ll be there if it is going ahead.

This morning I biked to work for the first time in a few weeks.  It was a nice and sunny morning when I woke up and seemed like a good idea at the time.  As I didn’t know how much time I would need to go the longer back way, I went for the straight forward and busy way with a lot of traffic.

I don’t know why, but even now, years after starting to cycle, it scares me to cycle at peak hour.  The thought of potentially grumpy people on their way to work, in charge of a vehicle that could cause me a great amount of harm scares me witless.

But as it stands, I made it to work unharmed and after locking my bike up and getting dressed suitably for work, I realised that it was turning dark outside.  Very dark.  In fact, the weather was informing me that it was turning into a rain festival and that I was getting soaked this afternoon.

Currently, I am hoping that it won’t, because if you think cycling at peak hour scares me, you should see me at peak hour in rain.

So, recovery is going well and I’m looking forward, planning a few changes in lifestyle and attempting to get back to fitness so I can get training again for IM no. 2!

A Little Colour for a Dull Day

The last few weeks I have managed to plant a few plants in my garden, but I think this is my favourite.

We went shopping for more plants this morning and after walking around for a good hour, walked out with quite a few.

The husband decided to get something bright, whereas I settled for some small alpines and a few other bits and bobs.

True to the last few sessions, we had just managed to get the plants in the ground and it started raining.

Now it is time to sit back and relax and just enjoy the colours.

I Dreamed That I was Free

I dreamed last night.

The dream itself didn’t have much of a story, but it did involve being able to run without issue. Being able to walk effortlessly from point to point B. Being able to get on a bike and cycle for hours on end.

For 4 hours I skipped from sport to sport without getting tired or sore and explored the world using only my two feet. I even remember my surroundings. I took pictures. I stopped and had a cup of tea while watching robins land on a bird table in the garden.

When I woke up this morning I felt refreshed and ready for the weekend, but I wanted to stay asleep.

This recovery process needs a speed-up button.

No Pain

There is no pain this morning.

What a statement. I didn’t expect to say that for at least another week. This morning I woke up and there was absolutely no pain. No stitching, no dull pain, no pain at all. After yesterday morning, I wasn’t looking forward to waking up this morning, but it seems that after the first 2 days, things are now finally getting there.

So, this morning I am heading to the office to join the rat race once again. And I’m looking forward to it, because let’s face it. I like working around people. I like the chatter going on around me, even when it drives me mad at times. Mostly I don’t crave the persistent silence that is present at home.

Because there is no pain.

Revealing

This morning after I woke up and realised that my system had nice again drained itself of all medicinal pain aids, I could also feel that my ankle felt more stiff and … uncomfortable than it had the night before. It was time to take the bandages off, so I carefully unrolled the bandage and then the cotton wool that had carefully been wrapped around my leg by the surgeon.

At first it didn’t look too bad. Then I turned my foot sideways and had a slight scare at the big scab I saw. Half the dressing had been soaked in blood which seemed to have clotted and it felt just nasty, never mind how it looked.

I called the doctor and he said to go see one of the nurses to make sure everything looked okay.

The nurse took a few minutes to remove the dressing which had now attached itself to me with more than glue, but thankfully everything looked just fine. There was a little bleeding, but as she explained to me, it was to be expected.

After putting on a nice new dressing she sent me on my way.

Alas, it didn’t stay nice … After an hour home, you can already tell that there is a war wound underneath it.