All posts up untill Mon 17th Sept
Monday 17th Sept 07: The running camp came and went and after a reasonably challenging few days I'm feeling really good. My recovery has surprised me; I am a little sore in the calves but nothing more than usual, other than that I feel great.
I got to the camp on Friday night and met everyone for the first time, had dinner and a bit of a chat and then headed for bed around 10.30. I can't remember the last time I slept in a sleeping bag or a bunk bed but let's just say it won't be happening again for a while!
I got about 4 hours sleep but still woke up feeling rested and ready to go. We headed into Warburton and started running around 9am.
My first 15k was really good and went very quickly before I started to feel the pinch a bit. My back was giving me a bit of trouble but I pushed on and completed the 20 which was the goal. I pulled up a bit sore but by the next morning I was good to go again.
Sunday morning we did an 8km run and I was really happy with my recovery; my legs felt really fresh and I managed a faster pace than usual for the first 3 or 4k.
We did a boxing circuit in the afternoon and I got to test my shoulder a bit, it has pulled up sore but I'm hoping it's just a bit of muscle soreness. I'll find out for sure in a few days.
I'm certainly not going to be setting any land speed records on the marathon. If I finish around 2.20 I'll be happy. I'm impatient with my lack of speed on the longer distances but I have to keep reminding myself that I have only been doing distance for 7 weeks and I just need to have some patience.
I'm already focused on a 4k a week after the half marathon; I have the urge to run fast again!
I think I'll do a couple of 5 and 10's over the summer period and then hook back into the distance so I have enough prep time for half marathon distance again around May. That's the plan anyway, it will either be that or I'll be hooked and planning my first marathon!
I'm dying to get out for my run tomorrow, I really missed it today but know I should now be easing off and tapering for the Melbourne Marathon on Oct 7th.
At the camp one of organisers of the marathon came and spoke to us; it is going to be really cool to finish on the G (even if they are packing up after me!!).
The marathoners and half marathoners all get to go down into the "bowels" of the MCG to get a massage and pick up our goodie bags so that's pretty special too.
I can't wait till the event now it's going to be a lot of fun; the kids and Chris will be sitting in the members stand of the G watching for me on the big screen as I come it (hope I haven't run myself too ugly!).
I'll keep you posted.
Friday 14th Sept 07: This has been another HUGE week, just the way I like them! I have lots to fit in because next week is the last week of before the school holidays hit. I won't make appointments for any meetings while the kids are at home so I can spend as much time with them as I can.
Unfortunately the shoot for my feature on the Living Life Now program on Foxtels Aurora chanel falls in the holidays but it is only 1 day.
I'm really looking forward to hanging out with the kids for a couple of weeks after such a busy 3 months.
I head off to my running camp this afternoon and tomorrow morning I will complete my first ever 20km run - I still can't believe I am doing this. I am not really made for distance as I have always done well with explosive type sports like taekwondo and short sprint distances. The distance stuff is a bit of a challenge for me but I'm doing it so I can't ask much more from myself than that!
My little girl is home from school sick with a sore throat and I'm a bit sad about leaving her for the 2 nights but I know hubby will take good care of her.
The Melbourne Marathon is only around 4 weeks away now and I'm getting quite excited about it now.
The Glow Women forum is now up and running and I'm rapt the women all get to connect now, they are an awesome bunch and I just know they will get a lot out of being able to chat to one another.
Thursday 6th Sept 07: Time gets away from you doesn't it? It has been over 2 weeks since I updated my blog. I've been nice and busy as usual. I'm continuing to train for the Melbourne Half Marathon. I'm nearly there as far as the k's go so for me that is good news; this was probably the thing I was worried about having never run this far before. It has been much easier than I expected actually. Some of the runs are tough but only the speed work, the distance isn't a problem. Today's run is usually a tough one because of taekwondo training last night and not much recovery time in between but last night I didn't get to do a whole lot because the teaching I was doing last night required a lot of supervision; lots of sparring drills with quite a few of the students having not done them before.
This week I'm busy putting my workshop together for this weekends Business Mums Conference in Melbourne; today I'm putting the finishing touches to my presentation; coaching a couple of clients, going for my run and if I get time I'll also work on the content for my foxtel spot coming up at the end of the month.
The weather is so gorgeous it won't even be a chore hanging out the washing today!
Our front verandah is almost finished now and makes the whole front of the house look completely different, I can't wait to get out there with a paint brush now!
Monday 20th August 07: What gorgeous weather we are having in Victoria right now. This morning my run was such a delight; the sun was shining, no wind, it was perfect. I did some hill repeats in the middle of my run today and whilst I was recovering I looked over my shoulder and saw a bunch of kangaroos sitting close by. Lying back scratching their bellies!
The other good news this week is the dreaded PMT has passed; thank goodness it was a shocker this month.
This weather brings everyone out of the woodwork. Two of the mums from school were on the wall today doing a program I have given one of them. I have decided to get a little running group together for the school mums who want be able to run. It will be an 8 week course that will take them from not having run to running 5km. I'm looking forward to getting started; no doubt there will be a few giggles to be had!
I have signed my step-daughter and I up for a weekend running camp in 4 weeks which will be good prep for my half marathon. This is the first time I have done anything like this related to running so I'm quite excited about it. It will start on Friday night and end on Sunday afternoon and includes some lectures on technique etc which I'm really looking forward to.
One thing I am really liking about all this running is how much I can eat !
One run I did last week burnt 5000kj's; that is a massive amount of kj's and means I need to eat more to meet the demands of the running and so I don't end up looking to puny, nudging 40 it is best to keep some weight on so I don't look like skeletor.
At the moment my diet looks like this...
Pre-run: Coffee
Breakfast: 2 slices of wholegrain toast with honey, peanut butter and banana.
Snack: Yoghurt with berries, cinnamon and banana.
Lunch: Steamed chicken fillet or grilled steak and steamed vegies and microwave potato.
Snack: Raisin toast and a cup of tea.
Dinner: Wholemeal pasta with tomato based sauce with diced chicken fillet.
Monday 13th August 07: I ran for an hour and a half yesterday which is the longest I have ever run so I am feeling pretty happy with myself. I ran on the wall at Cardinia as usual only this time there was NO WIND!! Thank goodness, it was quite lovely; the kangaroos where out as well as the kookaburra's and there was a mist over the water, very pretty. Paul Kelly, Even and The Church good a good work out on my ipod!
I'm feeling even happier with myself because all week I have had cramps and backache and have still completed all of my runs. 1 more week till new runners which was my reward.
Friday the weather was so bad that I gave in and ran on the treadmill at the gym, I was bored out of my brain by the time I finished. I did some hill runs on the treadmill as well and that broke it up a bit.
My run on Tuesday was also on the wall in a force nine gale!
My luncheon on Wed was fantastic as usual and I got to catch up with some great women. One lady called Andrea is an image consultant and she is always fun to catch up with. She has just set up her studio just off the corner of Toorak Rd and Chapel St so I'm going to go and have a look in a week or so, it sounds fantastic.
I also had some good news about a submission I made to a journalist. I am being inlcuded in a new book being published next month. It is from the same author who wrote Show Mummy The Money. That's a bit exciting!
This week I have some study to do, some press releases to write, plenty of coaching sessions to conduct, lot's of afterschool stuff with the kids, taekwondo, more runs and some shopping for new runners!
Sunday 5th August 07: Less than a month of winter left thank goodness; my run yesterday was a bit over an hour and the wind blowing across the Cardinia Reservior wall where I run was absolutely freezing. I didn't warm up the whole way. Thursdays run was a shocker too. I'm projecting forward to my evening runs in the sunshine!
Last night I got some great news; the author of Show Mummy the Money is about to release another book and they will be including some material I submitted about a month back. very exciting.
Another really cool thing happened on Wednesday night and I'm still in awe.
A friend of ours plays in the best band in the world called EVEN. Ash is the lead singer and guitarist and is very, very talented. At the moment he is about to tour as guitarist for Paul Kelly. They have been rehearsing really hard for weeks and on Wednesday night they had a pre-tour gig just for family and friends and we got to go because Ash invited us!! I was sitting on the floor just a couple of metres from Paul Kelly while they played the whole new album (you MUST buy it!) and some of his old stuff. I was sitting their grinning my head off thinking to myself "I love my life"!!
It truly was such a magical experience; I have been a Paul Kelly fan for at least 20 years. I even got to shake his hand and say "hello" and I didn't even embarass myself!
We are going to go to his Melbourne gig later this month too. I have uploaded all of this old and new stuff on my ipod and have been running to it and remembering everything about what a wonderful evening it was.
Today I am taking Cody and his mate to the indoor skate shed for a few hours and Chloe and I will no doubt hit the shops for a few hours (oh the sacrifice!).
Last week was busy with lots of new women signing up and lots of meetings as well as my running training on top of my usual stuff so yesterday I came back from my run and had a bath to thaw out then pretty much sat on the couch with a book for the rest of the day without moving much! It was great, I even had a nap! I feel so much better for it today.
My shoulder is pretty bruised from my physio treatment and my legs are sore today from my long run but other than that I re-invigorated and ready for the week ahead.
Monday 30th July 07: What a way to start the day (and the week); I dropped the kids off to school and headed staight out for my run. It was cold and wet but it wasn't windy today (hooray!!!). There was a mist across the dam and parklands and the kangaroos were out and about, very pleasant.
I have a few coaching sessions today along with some office work to take care of then after I pick the kids up we have a bit of running around to do but all in all a nice, slow day today.
The tour is over now and I'm not sure I can wait another year to see Cadel Evans in the yellow jersey! What an inspiration he is.
It was my plan to spend my 40th birthday in Paris; my birthday is in March 09 and I'm thinking I might hang back a bit and go for the tour. I have plenty of time to plan it anyway.
Food today: A shake when I got home from my run, fruit and nuts as a snack, tuna and wholemeal pasta for lunch. Dinner will be steamed chicken fillet, a small microwaved potato and vegies with another snack of yoghurt somewhere in between.
Tomorrow is a weights workout and taekwondo in the evening.
Saturday 28th July 07: I have not long come back from my run for today. The run felt good but the weather was terrible; it was freezing and windy and raining! BUT I did it which is the main thing.
The kids are spending the night away tonight so Chris and I are looking forward to spending a nice weekend together; these weekends are few and far between so we try to make the most of them.
I'm still glued to the cycling, I don't know what I will do once it is all over. I have my fingers and everything else crossed for Cadel Evans, my hunch tells me he will get the job done.
My shoulder is still a problem, complete rest this week - ah the frustration! I'm giving it another month of physio then if it is still not better he is going to send me to have an ultrasound guided jab of cortisone to bring down the inflamation, I'm putting that off because it sounds decidedly unpleasant! I have had a few spinal epidurals full of cortisone for my back but I can't see that happening so I can deal with that, I do understand I am weird.
A rest day tomorrow and then weights (legs & abs) and another run on Monday. I hope the weather is kinder than it was today.
Wednesday 25th July 07: Wow this week has flown! The advertising I have going at the moment is generating a lot of interest and keeping me very busy. A good thing!
Today I got my new heart rate monitor in the mail and made myself sit down with the manual until I got it to do what I wanted it to; I'm sure brain surgery is less complicated!
It is really cool because now I can use a special software to download all of my training information into a training journal. Up until now I have manually entered my average heart rate, km's run, time etc and now this does it all for me. It even keeps a running total of km's for the week as well as in total. It has a speed and distance feature too so now I don't have to guess how far i've run based on time. Can you tell I'm excited?!
I signed up with a running coach who specialises in distance running this week as I have decided I want to run a half marathon by October this year and wanted to treat myself to having someone else with experience design a proper running program for me and monitor it for me.
Today I did my first scheduled run, it was a bit of a bugger actually as I've got the end stages of a cold still lingering and I struggled a bit but felt good to be embarking on something new and exciting. My shoulder is still dodgy and heavy weights are going to be off the agenda for a bit so this will fill the void as well as achieve a goal that has been in the back of my mind for a while now.
Next run is Saturday; I hope the weather holds out.
Taekwondo tonight and I am looking forward to that as usual, my legs have recovered after my run so I'm raring to go.
Wednesday 18th July 07: I can't believe how cold it has been the last few days, it is absolutely freezing! In the gym this morning it was 12 degrees and didn't get any warmer. The taekwondo school will be about 10 below tonight I just know it.
This morning I worked legs and abs for an hour. I've added some Bosu stabilisation work to my workouts and I'm really enjoying that.
Tonight I have taekwondo; I'm excited to get back to training after a break over the holidays, I really miss it. I miss the training and the students and everyone else at the club, they are a good bunch.
My appetite hasn't been that great the last few days so I've kept it to shakes, fruit, nuts and snacking regularly to keep my calorie intake up.
Chris and Cody have basketball tonight and Chloe has dancing, we will all be glad to get back home and into the warm again after our exercise - bring on summer!
Monday 16th July 07: Today has been fantastic. I dropped the kids off to school, had a quick chat with the teachers and then headed home to "get productive" after 2 weeks of working around the kids.
The first few hours were spent writting some articles for my PR people to look over for me, after that I spent some time on my upcoming presentations, wrote a few programs, sent emails to some of my "girls" and cleaned my desk (almost) and made some phone calls. It felt wonderful to have an uninterupted day to get a good head start on stuff.
After that I got changed and headed out for a run on "my" wall. I have to say it was hard work today, the wind was horrible and it was freezing but I enjoyed being out there again without having to rush. I did 6.5km and felt pretty good afterwards.
After school I caught up with some of the mums which is always a pleasure and then we headed to the dentist.
Tonight I have some coaching calls with clients and then I'm going to call it a day as tomorrow is another busy one.
Food for today was 3 wheetbix, skim milk, flax oil and yohgurt, lunch was a protein shake, dinner is steamed chicken fillet and veggies, snacks were 1 coffee, 1 tea, nuts and fruit.
Sunday 15th July 07: One more sleep till the school holidays are over and I can have my life back! It has been wonderful to have plenty of time to do stuff with the kids and take a break from routine and now I'm really looking forward to getting back into my regular routine. Over the last couple of weeks my exercise has been a bit all over the place as it is over the school holidays; grabbing a run here and there whenever time permits. My focus on the short holidays is the kids and I usually cycle my training so I'm ready for a bit of a rest over the two weeks. It is nice to take a bit of a break from my regular fitness routine but it is going to be great to step it up a few notches again.
This coming week is a busy one.; I'm going to be presenting at the Business Mums Network Conference in Melbourne in September and this week I need to write a workbook for the delegates. This Friday I am presenting a keynote at a Results Coaching Systems conference and need to put that together as well. I also have a busy week with meetings and kids dentist and doctors appointments after school.
My head hurts just thinking about it!
I've been hooked on watching the Tour de France all this week and have been going to bed way too late, that is going to stop and I'll make do with the daily highlights at 6pm!
I'm about to put together my new resistance program for the next month; I have had a scan on my shoulder and there is a definite problem with one of the tendons but I'm going to work around it while we work out what the best course of action is.
I'm looking forward to receiving Darlene's next set of photo's either tonight or tomorrow. She is very committed to following her program by the letter so I know she will have had another outstanding result; as soon as I have it I'll put it up on the site so keep your eyes open.
Thursday 27th June 07: Busy, busy today. School ends tomorrow for 2 weeks so I'm trying to fit as much work in as I can this week so I can relax a bit with the kids over the holidays whilst I'm home. I've been writting loads of programs in the last week as I have had a large influx of new "Glow Women". It is always amusing to read the intake questionnaires. I have said it before; you girls are funny!
Last night I ran my Power class and my seniors taekwondo class and we had lot's of fun. We worked nice and hard and got a good sweat up. As we are at the end of the term and all of our grading syllabus in completed I got to play and do anything I wanted. I mentioned this to the class and it was met with good natured groans. I would kick for an hour if I could, I love it. We did a load of kicking and then we put the shields on and did some body work - lots of fun. 2 hours goes like 5 minutes!
Parent teacher interviews were yesterday and the kids are doing really well. Cody is 11 and spelling at the level of a 16 year old and Chloe is in grade 3 and doing grade 4 maths. Needless to say I am very proud of them.
Tonight we had open school night where the school is open and we get to go through the rooms and and look at the kids work. Tomorrow we have a big assembly which is always fun and tomorrow night "the mums" are heading out for a "girls night out", should be lots of laughs as there will be Karaoke involved. Stay tuned!
No exercise today but I will head out for 10km tomorrow.
Food wise breakfast was porridge as usual lately, lunch was a toasted chicken, avocado and low fat cheese sandwhich on rye, dinner was a turkey breast roast with roast vegies. Snacks were fruit and nuts and yoghurt.
Tuesday 26th June 07: It feels fantastic to be back into the swing of things even though my body is one big ache! Some of you may find some joy in this given that I have dished out my fair share of muscle pain in the form of the programs I have some of you on!
So far this morning has been about putting my new advert together for the next edition of Slimming & Health, putting together the next newsletter which will come out tomorrow and answering a bunch of enquiries arising from the various advertisging I have been doing.This afternoon will be about creating some programs for new clients and doing some research.
I will also head out for another shorter run this afternoon, my chest has pulled up a bit heavy after yesterday so I still need to take it a bit easy. Tonight I have 2 taekwondo classes; 1 I teach in and the other I train in. The kids are in the first class and Cody (my 11 year old son) is grading for his blue belt tonight, Chloe has decided to hold back for this grading so the two of them are at the same level which is nice. This will mean that all going to plan they will grade for the same level from here on in which will be fantastic when it comes time for black belt grading because they will be able to train together in preparation for it.
Food for today; breakfast was porridge with yoghurt, honey and flax oil, lunch will be steamed chicken fillet, broccoli, squash and peas. Dinner will be left over vegie lasagna from last night (very, very yummy) and snacks will be fruit and nuts and a protein shake mixed with water before and after class tonight.
Monday 25th June 07: Hooray! I'm finally feeling human again, still a bit of a cough but not enough to stop me getting back into things. This afternoon I'm going to head out for a light run of around 5k. Yesterday I did some light weights so I'm feeling much like myself again after what feels like a month of training when in actual fact it was only 11 days! I am soo SORE! After having a break from the weights I am experiencing the usual pain and suffering that accompanies a new program! I decided to test my shoulder a bit yesterday with some really light weights and have decided to keep that up. My shoulder scan doesn't happen for 3 weeks and I'm not visiting the physio till after then and I can't wait that long to get back into it. I'll just be really careful and avoid the things I know will put my shoulder at risk. I dread going back to the physio with a worse injury because he told me not to do weights so that will be playing in my head as a reminder to be careful.
The good news with not being active for almost 2 weeks is that my body is rested and another bonus was that my weight remained steady at 52kg. A miracle when you consider I didn't do ANYTHING for 11 days and as usual my appetite was good even though I was ill.
Lot's to do today. Some domestic chores first; clean the house after a weekend with 4 x 15 year old girls plus our other 3 plus an extra 8 year old - needless to say this couldn't be done with said children in the house! After that a quick run to the shops to stock back up after the teenage feeding frenzy on the weekend and then a few hours working on some PR stuff, commenting on the progress reports and making changes to programs that need them. Then it's time to go for my run, pick the kids up and spend some time with them.
Our new deck was completed yesterday - hooray! We now have 50 thousand pairs of shoes on the deck rather than in the entry! Shoes seem to multiply at our house. You would think that 6 people would equal 12 shoes but sadly this is not the case there always appear to be no less than 30 shoes in the entry - drives me nuts!
Tonight I am making the vegetarian lasagna recipe in this months WF&H. I made it last week and it was really nice, easy to make too which is a bonus.
Breafast today was porridge with yoghurt and flax oil. Lunch will be wholemeal pasta with a tin of tuna. I'll also have some fruit and nuts for snacks along with couple of cups of coffee. I'll start back on my protein shake before and after training as well now I'm doing my weights again.
Thursday 21st June 07: Wow the last week has flown! They say time flies when you are having fun but it also flies when you are sick! This past week has been a struggle. Wednesday night just before I headed out for classes my mum called to tell me my auntie was unlikely to make it through the night, she had been very ill with lung cancer. It is terribly sad and I will miss her dearly, she wasn't much older than me and when I was a little girl we were very close. Anyway I went to class and by the time I got home my throat was inflamed and I had a major headache and things pretty much went downhill from there. My auntie died early Thurs morning and I'm still struggling with a chest cold today so I'm really looking forward to next week.
It isn't all bad though. My body was due for a rest so why not get a weeks rest and illness out of the way at the same time? Kill two birds with one stone! I made sure I ate well, rested well and took care of myself knowing that I was giving my body a good chance to recover from the demands of exercise as well as illness.
Also my family is wonderful and even though we lost someone we love we rally together and really enjoy being together. Shirley insisted her funeral and wake be a celebration and not a sad occasion. She made us all stand up in the chapel and sing Van Morrison's "Moondance". It made us all laugh, cringe at our singing and remember her with joy. My family is HUGE. At the wake at mums there were easily 70 people there and they were pretty much ALL FAMILY, given the occasion it was a wonderful day.
It has been a week to remember fond memories and take some time out for me. The weather is looking good this weekend so by the time I shake the last of the cold I will be able to head out in the sunshine and go for a nice long run with a body with no aches and pains (for a nice change) because it is rested and ready to go. I also feel really peaceful and relaxed for the rest and having had time to bask in good memories and knowing my auntie is finally at peace - hopefully sharing a laugh with my nana and pa and looking down on us contentedly.
Wednesday 13th June 07: I can't believe how quickly this week has gone. Two extra days with the kids at home really eats away the week. We had a fun day yesterday; I took the kids to the pool for a few hours and then last night we all had Taekwondo. I was able to get some work done in the morning and then I gave it up to the kids for the day. Reminds me that school holidays are not that far away.
Yesterday I also received the latest edition of Women's Fitness & Health in which I feature in a one page spread. I'm always a little nervous reading things when they come out in print hoping I haven't said something completely stupid! I'm the fussiest person alive when it comes to this stuff and even I was happy with it which left my husband in shock! The guy's at the taekwondo school were all impressed and Jodi has posted a copy upstairs in the waiting area so even on day 1 it has received a lot of mileage!
In terms of exercise my rest day extended to Monday with the kids keeping me busy but last night I had taekwondo training. Tonight I have 2 classes to teach and train in, tomorrow I'm going to give Step another bash and try not to embarrass myself too much and later in the day I'll try for a run then Friday will be a run and yoga. Still no weights yet. I have my fingers crossed that the Physio will give me the all clear to do a modified program when I see him on Thursday. Send me good thoughts as I'm shrinking with every week I miss the weights.
Each Wed I send my ladies a mid-week email, I thought I would include it today for something different, here it is..
Hi there,
I can’t believe it is Wednesday again already! Where has the week gone?
This week I thought I would talk to you about the ridiculous pursuit of perfection we often find ourselves on and the unrealistic pressures we place upon ourselves.
But first a quick story... Last night whilst at Taekwondo and I was reminded of something that is quite significant in Taekwondo training but is just as relevant outside of it. One of the philosophies of Taekwondo is the pursuit of perfection whilst acknowledging perfection doesn’t exist. It is knowing that regardless of how hard you train and how committed you are you will never achieve perfection. And (here is the big bit) be ok with that AND pursue it anyway.. Letting go of the pressures of perfection and pursuing it anyway is very liberating and this philosophy has served me well. I am not a perfectionist; I find it doesn’t work for me. Perfectionism paralyses you, it inhibits you from reaching your fullest potential because hand in hand with perfectionism comes “all or nothing” and we know this doesn’t work either.
As these thoughts were going through my head last night I made a note to pass this on to you because I know you all place such huge expectations on yourselves and beat yourselves up when you don’t cut it and it often pains me to see how little credit you give yourselves when you are doing the best you can at the time.
Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with striving for a worthwhile goal and doing your best to achieve it. However rather than focus on perfect how about focusing on doing the best you can given your current circumstances and feeling good about what you did do, rather than what you didn’t do?By current circumstances I mean, for example, you have had a flat out week at work, one of the kids is sick and you had planned to do 3 cardio sessions and 2 weight sessions but only got to do your 3 cardio sessions. Given that you had other commitments 3 cardio sessions is still pretty darn good and it means you didn’t drop your bundle when things got hard.
Do the best you can, most of the time and cut yourself some slack for being human, take the pressure off yourself to do everything 100% right 100% of the time and you may just be surprised at what a difference it makes to your peace of mind and also to the results you get. In case you are interested the new Women’s Fitness & Health is about to come out and yours truly is featured in a one page spread.
Have a fabulous rest of your week and I’ll be in touch Friday morning with your progress reports and I’ll also get in and update my blog today.
Sunday 10th June 07: The start to the long weekend has been fantastic. Yesterday I had the luxury of time and went out on the reservoir wall for a nice long run. I did 10km with the sun shining and knowing I didn't need to rush to be anywhere, it was perfect. The hill sprints have really improved my running; 10k felt like 3, nice and easy. Last night we took all the kids (plus 1 spare) out to dinner, it was a lot of fun with lots of laughs. Today I'm taking little Chloe (as opposed to big Chloe) to the circus and when we get back we will head out together for a run, making the most of the sunshine. The rest of the kids are amusing themselves with the friends they have over so even though we have a house full it is reasonably peaceful! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend as much as I am enjoying mine.
Friday 8th June 07: Fridays are my favorite day. I try to keep my workload light so I can cruise through the day feeling relaxed before the weekend and running around after 4 kids plus the usual "spares" we tend to have as visitors. We really love having the kids and their friends around on the weekends, they are really good kids and rarely cause us any grief (touch wood) but it is full on.Yesterday's trip to the physio didn't yield much but some extra light re-hab exercises and a lot of pain from the treatment on my shoulder BUT it looks as though it may be starting to mend, I'll know more when the anti-inflamatories start to wear off. Looks like recovery is going to be a bit slower than I expected before I went yesterday, have to keep focused on the long term positives of a fully functioning shoulder.This morning I spent a few hours working and then did a half hour yoga session at home, a few more hours working and then a run on the track by the railway line. It is such a pretty spot and the track is nice and soft. I ran about 4km and then hit the hill for 10 sprints. Each sprint takes about 25 seconds and the hill is really steep. I love the hills; they really help my kicking speed and power and also keep my butt and legs nice and strong.The rest of the day will consist of another hour or so of work, some domestic chores (aren't I lucky!!) a bit of shopping and then off to pick the kids up from school.Some of you have expressed an interest in what I eat so here is a run down of today so far and what is to come.Breakfast: Cup of tea, skim milk and no sugar. Bowl of high fibre cereal with calcium enriched skim milk, pro-biotic yoghurt and flax seed oil.Lunch: Serve of cooked wholemeal pasta with 1 small can of chili flavoured tuna, small salad.Dinner: Casserole made with lean beef, carrots, peas, zucchini, potatoes, gravox, water, pepper and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Snacks: Banana, & cottage cheese, flat white, pear. 2 small glasses of red wine. The sun is shining and the weather is perfect; it is a lovely day to be living in the hills.
Thursday 7th June 07: If you want to see something hilarious, come and watch me attempt step aerobics! It boggles the mind that I can be so competent in most things physical but step choreography has me scratching my head. It was a good class though and we worked nice and hard and burnt around 1800kj - not bad for one class.I have to say though my legs were a bit tired the whole way through. Last night I did my two taekwondo classes and didn't get home from them till late so I didn't really have a lot of recovery time. Didn't matter though I got through it and had some fun doing it. It was nice to try something different and I think I'll keep going for a bit.I'm going to rest my body for the rest of today and recover so I can run tomorrow and fit in a Pilate’s class I'm off to the physio today and hopefully he will have some good news and let me begin the rehab program on my shoulder. I'm really missing the weights and can't wait to get back into it.
Wednesday 6th June 07: This Blog was prompted by my wonderful Glow Women. Today I emailed "the girls" with the following and got such a wonderful response with many recommendations I make this a regular thing so here it is.I won't promise to update every day or even every second day (I don't like to make promises I can't keep) but I shall do my best.Hi there, I thought I would also give you a run down on my week in terms of exercise and how I fit it all in. If you find it motivating I’m glad, if it bores you to tears please ignore! Saturday: Spent the weekend away with my husband at Albert Park (Melbourne). As soon as we got to our room I put my running gear on and headed for a run around the lake 4.5km then hit the gym and worked legs for 30 minutes. Then I enjoyed a lovely spa and sauna and felt really good about heading out to dinner and a couple of glasses of wine knowing I had worked nice and hard.Sunday: Another run around the lake after we checked out of our room. Hubby ran with me this time so when we finished our run we cooled down and then sat by the lake enjoying a coffee. I came home from our weekend feeling good about balancing some R&R along with some good quality exercise.Monday: After I picked my kids up from school I took Chloe (9) for a 4 km run and some hill sprints. Chloe keeps up for most of the way but when she has to walk I run ahead and then back to her so I end up doing a bit more. We have a lovely track alongside the Puffing Billy track (PB is a train) and it is a great place to run, no traffic etc and a nice soft track.No weights this week for upper body as I still have a torn tendon in my shoulder causing me grief! Ahh the frustration!!Tuesday: Quick run after I dropped the kids off to school in the morning and then after school the kids and I go and do 2 hours of taekwondo together. Last night we didn’t work all that hard so I was glad for my run in the morning.Wednesday: This morning I did a Fat Burner class at the gym, not something I would normally do as I’m not really an exercise to music kinda girl but without my weights I’m lost!! Tonight I drop Chloe to dance, Cody has basketball training with hubby and so I head off to teach my two classes. 1 senior taekwondo class which I LOVE, this is a class of senior students and I get to do whatever I want with them, so we usually do lots of kicking and sparring drills – it is my favorite thing in the world. The class before that is my Power class; this class is essentially martial arts to music class with a strong boxing component, I love this too but with my dodgy shoulder I can’t punch anything much to my disgust!Tomorrow I’m going to attempt a step class (haven’t done one for 100 years), I’ll let you know how I go!Friday, Sat and Sun will likely be more running and some yoga or Pilates.
I got to the camp on Friday night and met everyone for the first time, had dinner and a bit of a chat and then headed for bed around 10.30. I can't remember the last time I slept in a sleeping bag or a bunk bed but let's just say it won't be happening again for a while!
I got about 4 hours sleep but still woke up feeling rested and ready to go. We headed into Warburton and started running around 9am.
My first 15k was really good and went very quickly before I started to feel the pinch a bit. My back was giving me a bit of trouble but I pushed on and completed the 20 which was the goal. I pulled up a bit sore but by the next morning I was good to go again.
Sunday morning we did an 8km run and I was really happy with my recovery; my legs felt really fresh and I managed a faster pace than usual for the first 3 or 4k.
We did a boxing circuit in the afternoon and I got to test my shoulder a bit, it has pulled up sore but I'm hoping it's just a bit of muscle soreness. I'll find out for sure in a few days.
I'm certainly not going to be setting any land speed records on the marathon. If I finish around 2.20 I'll be happy. I'm impatient with my lack of speed on the longer distances but I have to keep reminding myself that I have only been doing distance for 7 weeks and I just need to have some patience.
I'm already focused on a 4k a week after the half marathon; I have the urge to run fast again!
I think I'll do a couple of 5 and 10's over the summer period and then hook back into the distance so I have enough prep time for half marathon distance again around May. That's the plan anyway, it will either be that or I'll be hooked and planning my first marathon!
I'm dying to get out for my run tomorrow, I really missed it today but know I should now be easing off and tapering for the Melbourne Marathon on Oct 7th.
At the camp one of organisers of the marathon came and spoke to us; it is going to be really cool to finish on the G (even if they are packing up after me!!).
The marathoners and half marathoners all get to go down into the "bowels" of the MCG to get a massage and pick up our goodie bags so that's pretty special too.
I can't wait till the event now it's going to be a lot of fun; the kids and Chris will be sitting in the members stand of the G watching for me on the big screen as I come it (hope I haven't run myself too ugly!).
I'll keep you posted.
Friday 14th Sept 07: This has been another HUGE week, just the way I like them! I have lots to fit in because next week is the last week of before the school holidays hit. I won't make appointments for any meetings while the kids are at home so I can spend as much time with them as I can.
Unfortunately the shoot for my feature on the Living Life Now program on Foxtels Aurora chanel falls in the holidays but it is only 1 day.
I'm really looking forward to hanging out with the kids for a couple of weeks after such a busy 3 months.
I head off to my running camp this afternoon and tomorrow morning I will complete my first ever 20km run - I still can't believe I am doing this. I am not really made for distance as I have always done well with explosive type sports like taekwondo and short sprint distances. The distance stuff is a bit of a challenge for me but I'm doing it so I can't ask much more from myself than that!
My little girl is home from school sick with a sore throat and I'm a bit sad about leaving her for the 2 nights but I know hubby will take good care of her.
The Melbourne Marathon is only around 4 weeks away now and I'm getting quite excited about it now.
The Glow Women forum is now up and running and I'm rapt the women all get to connect now, they are an awesome bunch and I just know they will get a lot out of being able to chat to one another.
Thursday 6th Sept 07: Time gets away from you doesn't it? It has been over 2 weeks since I updated my blog. I've been nice and busy as usual. I'm continuing to train for the Melbourne Half Marathon. I'm nearly there as far as the k's go so for me that is good news; this was probably the thing I was worried about having never run this far before. It has been much easier than I expected actually. Some of the runs are tough but only the speed work, the distance isn't a problem. Today's run is usually a tough one because of taekwondo training last night and not much recovery time in between but last night I didn't get to do a whole lot because the teaching I was doing last night required a lot of supervision; lots of sparring drills with quite a few of the students having not done them before.
This week I'm busy putting my workshop together for this weekends Business Mums Conference in Melbourne; today I'm putting the finishing touches to my presentation; coaching a couple of clients, going for my run and if I get time I'll also work on the content for my foxtel spot coming up at the end of the month.
The weather is so gorgeous it won't even be a chore hanging out the washing today!
Our front verandah is almost finished now and makes the whole front of the house look completely different, I can't wait to get out there with a paint brush now!
Monday 20th August 07: What gorgeous weather we are having in Victoria right now. This morning my run was such a delight; the sun was shining, no wind, it was perfect. I did some hill repeats in the middle of my run today and whilst I was recovering I looked over my shoulder and saw a bunch of kangaroos sitting close by. Lying back scratching their bellies!
The other good news this week is the dreaded PMT has passed; thank goodness it was a shocker this month.
This weather brings everyone out of the woodwork. Two of the mums from school were on the wall today doing a program I have given one of them. I have decided to get a little running group together for the school mums who want be able to run. It will be an 8 week course that will take them from not having run to running 5km. I'm looking forward to getting started; no doubt there will be a few giggles to be had!
I have signed my step-daughter and I up for a weekend running camp in 4 weeks which will be good prep for my half marathon. This is the first time I have done anything like this related to running so I'm quite excited about it. It will start on Friday night and end on Sunday afternoon and includes some lectures on technique etc which I'm really looking forward to.
One thing I am really liking about all this running is how much I can eat !
One run I did last week burnt 5000kj's; that is a massive amount of kj's and means I need to eat more to meet the demands of the running and so I don't end up looking to puny, nudging 40 it is best to keep some weight on so I don't look like skeletor.
At the moment my diet looks like this...
Pre-run: Coffee
Breakfast: 2 slices of wholegrain toast with honey, peanut butter and banana.
Snack: Yoghurt with berries, cinnamon and banana.
Lunch: Steamed chicken fillet or grilled steak and steamed vegies and microwave potato.
Snack: Raisin toast and a cup of tea.
Dinner: Wholemeal pasta with tomato based sauce with diced chicken fillet.
Monday 13th August 07: I ran for an hour and a half yesterday which is the longest I have ever run so I am feeling pretty happy with myself. I ran on the wall at Cardinia as usual only this time there was NO WIND!! Thank goodness, it was quite lovely; the kangaroos where out as well as the kookaburra's and there was a mist over the water, very pretty. Paul Kelly, Even and The Church good a good work out on my ipod!
I'm feeling even happier with myself because all week I have had cramps and backache and have still completed all of my runs. 1 more week till new runners which was my reward.
Friday the weather was so bad that I gave in and ran on the treadmill at the gym, I was bored out of my brain by the time I finished. I did some hill runs on the treadmill as well and that broke it up a bit.
My run on Tuesday was also on the wall in a force nine gale!
My luncheon on Wed was fantastic as usual and I got to catch up with some great women. One lady called Andrea is an image consultant and she is always fun to catch up with. She has just set up her studio just off the corner of Toorak Rd and Chapel St so I'm going to go and have a look in a week or so, it sounds fantastic.
I also had some good news about a submission I made to a journalist. I am being inlcuded in a new book being published next month. It is from the same author who wrote Show Mummy The Money. That's a bit exciting!
This week I have some study to do, some press releases to write, plenty of coaching sessions to conduct, lot's of afterschool stuff with the kids, taekwondo, more runs and some shopping for new runners!
Sunday 5th August 07: Less than a month of winter left thank goodness; my run yesterday was a bit over an hour and the wind blowing across the Cardinia Reservior wall where I run was absolutely freezing. I didn't warm up the whole way. Thursdays run was a shocker too. I'm projecting forward to my evening runs in the sunshine!
Last night I got some great news; the author of Show Mummy the Money is about to release another book and they will be including some material I submitted about a month back. very exciting.
Another really cool thing happened on Wednesday night and I'm still in awe.
A friend of ours plays in the best band in the world called EVEN. Ash is the lead singer and guitarist and is very, very talented. At the moment he is about to tour as guitarist for Paul Kelly. They have been rehearsing really hard for weeks and on Wednesday night they had a pre-tour gig just for family and friends and we got to go because Ash invited us!! I was sitting on the floor just a couple of metres from Paul Kelly while they played the whole new album (you MUST buy it!) and some of his old stuff. I was sitting their grinning my head off thinking to myself "I love my life"!!
It truly was such a magical experience; I have been a Paul Kelly fan for at least 20 years. I even got to shake his hand and say "hello" and I didn't even embarass myself!
We are going to go to his Melbourne gig later this month too. I have uploaded all of this old and new stuff on my ipod and have been running to it and remembering everything about what a wonderful evening it was.
Today I am taking Cody and his mate to the indoor skate shed for a few hours and Chloe and I will no doubt hit the shops for a few hours (oh the sacrifice!).
Last week was busy with lots of new women signing up and lots of meetings as well as my running training on top of my usual stuff so yesterday I came back from my run and had a bath to thaw out then pretty much sat on the couch with a book for the rest of the day without moving much! It was great, I even had a nap! I feel so much better for it today.
My shoulder is pretty bruised from my physio treatment and my legs are sore today from my long run but other than that I re-invigorated and ready for the week ahead.
Monday 30th July 07: What a way to start the day (and the week); I dropped the kids off to school and headed staight out for my run. It was cold and wet but it wasn't windy today (hooray!!!). There was a mist across the dam and parklands and the kangaroos were out and about, very pleasant.
I have a few coaching sessions today along with some office work to take care of then after I pick the kids up we have a bit of running around to do but all in all a nice, slow day today.
The tour is over now and I'm not sure I can wait another year to see Cadel Evans in the yellow jersey! What an inspiration he is.
It was my plan to spend my 40th birthday in Paris; my birthday is in March 09 and I'm thinking I might hang back a bit and go for the tour. I have plenty of time to plan it anyway.
Food today: A shake when I got home from my run, fruit and nuts as a snack, tuna and wholemeal pasta for lunch. Dinner will be steamed chicken fillet, a small microwaved potato and vegies with another snack of yoghurt somewhere in between.
Tomorrow is a weights workout and taekwondo in the evening.
Saturday 28th July 07: I have not long come back from my run for today. The run felt good but the weather was terrible; it was freezing and windy and raining! BUT I did it which is the main thing.
The kids are spending the night away tonight so Chris and I are looking forward to spending a nice weekend together; these weekends are few and far between so we try to make the most of them.
I'm still glued to the cycling, I don't know what I will do once it is all over. I have my fingers and everything else crossed for Cadel Evans, my hunch tells me he will get the job done.
My shoulder is still a problem, complete rest this week - ah the frustration! I'm giving it another month of physio then if it is still not better he is going to send me to have an ultrasound guided jab of cortisone to bring down the inflamation, I'm putting that off because it sounds decidedly unpleasant! I have had a few spinal epidurals full of cortisone for my back but I can't see that happening so I can deal with that, I do understand I am weird.
A rest day tomorrow and then weights (legs & abs) and another run on Monday. I hope the weather is kinder than it was today.
Wednesday 25th July 07: Wow this week has flown! The advertising I have going at the moment is generating a lot of interest and keeping me very busy. A good thing!
Today I got my new heart rate monitor in the mail and made myself sit down with the manual until I got it to do what I wanted it to; I'm sure brain surgery is less complicated!
It is really cool because now I can use a special software to download all of my training information into a training journal. Up until now I have manually entered my average heart rate, km's run, time etc and now this does it all for me. It even keeps a running total of km's for the week as well as in total. It has a speed and distance feature too so now I don't have to guess how far i've run based on time. Can you tell I'm excited?!
I signed up with a running coach who specialises in distance running this week as I have decided I want to run a half marathon by October this year and wanted to treat myself to having someone else with experience design a proper running program for me and monitor it for me.
Today I did my first scheduled run, it was a bit of a bugger actually as I've got the end stages of a cold still lingering and I struggled a bit but felt good to be embarking on something new and exciting. My shoulder is still dodgy and heavy weights are going to be off the agenda for a bit so this will fill the void as well as achieve a goal that has been in the back of my mind for a while now.
Next run is Saturday; I hope the weather holds out.
Taekwondo tonight and I am looking forward to that as usual, my legs have recovered after my run so I'm raring to go.
Wednesday 18th July 07: I can't believe how cold it has been the last few days, it is absolutely freezing! In the gym this morning it was 12 degrees and didn't get any warmer. The taekwondo school will be about 10 below tonight I just know it.
This morning I worked legs and abs for an hour. I've added some Bosu stabilisation work to my workouts and I'm really enjoying that.
Tonight I have taekwondo; I'm excited to get back to training after a break over the holidays, I really miss it. I miss the training and the students and everyone else at the club, they are a good bunch.
My appetite hasn't been that great the last few days so I've kept it to shakes, fruit, nuts and snacking regularly to keep my calorie intake up.
Chris and Cody have basketball tonight and Chloe has dancing, we will all be glad to get back home and into the warm again after our exercise - bring on summer!
Monday 16th July 07: Today has been fantastic. I dropped the kids off to school, had a quick chat with the teachers and then headed home to "get productive" after 2 weeks of working around the kids.
The first few hours were spent writting some articles for my PR people to look over for me, after that I spent some time on my upcoming presentations, wrote a few programs, sent emails to some of my "girls" and cleaned my desk (almost) and made some phone calls. It felt wonderful to have an uninterupted day to get a good head start on stuff.
After that I got changed and headed out for a run on "my" wall. I have to say it was hard work today, the wind was horrible and it was freezing but I enjoyed being out there again without having to rush. I did 6.5km and felt pretty good afterwards.
After school I caught up with some of the mums which is always a pleasure and then we headed to the dentist.
Tonight I have some coaching calls with clients and then I'm going to call it a day as tomorrow is another busy one.
Food for today was 3 wheetbix, skim milk, flax oil and yohgurt, lunch was a protein shake, dinner is steamed chicken fillet and veggies, snacks were 1 coffee, 1 tea, nuts and fruit.
Sunday 15th July 07: One more sleep till the school holidays are over and I can have my life back! It has been wonderful to have plenty of time to do stuff with the kids and take a break from routine and now I'm really looking forward to getting back into my regular routine. Over the last couple of weeks my exercise has been a bit all over the place as it is over the school holidays; grabbing a run here and there whenever time permits. My focus on the short holidays is the kids and I usually cycle my training so I'm ready for a bit of a rest over the two weeks. It is nice to take a bit of a break from my regular fitness routine but it is going to be great to step it up a few notches again.
This coming week is a busy one.; I'm going to be presenting at the Business Mums Network Conference in Melbourne in September and this week I need to write a workbook for the delegates. This Friday I am presenting a keynote at a Results Coaching Systems conference and need to put that together as well. I also have a busy week with meetings and kids dentist and doctors appointments after school.
My head hurts just thinking about it!
I've been hooked on watching the Tour de France all this week and have been going to bed way too late, that is going to stop and I'll make do with the daily highlights at 6pm!
I'm about to put together my new resistance program for the next month; I have had a scan on my shoulder and there is a definite problem with one of the tendons but I'm going to work around it while we work out what the best course of action is.
I'm looking forward to receiving Darlene's next set of photo's either tonight or tomorrow. She is very committed to following her program by the letter so I know she will have had another outstanding result; as soon as I have it I'll put it up on the site so keep your eyes open.
Thursday 27th June 07: Busy, busy today. School ends tomorrow for 2 weeks so I'm trying to fit as much work in as I can this week so I can relax a bit with the kids over the holidays whilst I'm home. I've been writting loads of programs in the last week as I have had a large influx of new "Glow Women". It is always amusing to read the intake questionnaires. I have said it before; you girls are funny!
Last night I ran my Power class and my seniors taekwondo class and we had lot's of fun. We worked nice and hard and got a good sweat up. As we are at the end of the term and all of our grading syllabus in completed I got to play and do anything I wanted. I mentioned this to the class and it was met with good natured groans. I would kick for an hour if I could, I love it. We did a load of kicking and then we put the shields on and did some body work - lots of fun. 2 hours goes like 5 minutes!
Parent teacher interviews were yesterday and the kids are doing really well. Cody is 11 and spelling at the level of a 16 year old and Chloe is in grade 3 and doing grade 4 maths. Needless to say I am very proud of them.
Tonight we had open school night where the school is open and we get to go through the rooms and and look at the kids work. Tomorrow we have a big assembly which is always fun and tomorrow night "the mums" are heading out for a "girls night out", should be lots of laughs as there will be Karaoke involved. Stay tuned!
No exercise today but I will head out for 10km tomorrow.
Food wise breakfast was porridge as usual lately, lunch was a toasted chicken, avocado and low fat cheese sandwhich on rye, dinner was a turkey breast roast with roast vegies. Snacks were fruit and nuts and yoghurt.
Tuesday 26th June 07: It feels fantastic to be back into the swing of things even though my body is one big ache! Some of you may find some joy in this given that I have dished out my fair share of muscle pain in the form of the programs I have some of you on!
So far this morning has been about putting my new advert together for the next edition of Slimming & Health, putting together the next newsletter which will come out tomorrow and answering a bunch of enquiries arising from the various advertisging I have been doing.This afternoon will be about creating some programs for new clients and doing some research.
I will also head out for another shorter run this afternoon, my chest has pulled up a bit heavy after yesterday so I still need to take it a bit easy. Tonight I have 2 taekwondo classes; 1 I teach in and the other I train in. The kids are in the first class and Cody (my 11 year old son) is grading for his blue belt tonight, Chloe has decided to hold back for this grading so the two of them are at the same level which is nice. This will mean that all going to plan they will grade for the same level from here on in which will be fantastic when it comes time for black belt grading because they will be able to train together in preparation for it.
Food for today; breakfast was porridge with yoghurt, honey and flax oil, lunch will be steamed chicken fillet, broccoli, squash and peas. Dinner will be left over vegie lasagna from last night (very, very yummy) and snacks will be fruit and nuts and a protein shake mixed with water before and after class tonight.
Monday 25th June 07: Hooray! I'm finally feeling human again, still a bit of a cough but not enough to stop me getting back into things. This afternoon I'm going to head out for a light run of around 5k. Yesterday I did some light weights so I'm feeling much like myself again after what feels like a month of training when in actual fact it was only 11 days! I am soo SORE! After having a break from the weights I am experiencing the usual pain and suffering that accompanies a new program! I decided to test my shoulder a bit yesterday with some really light weights and have decided to keep that up. My shoulder scan doesn't happen for 3 weeks and I'm not visiting the physio till after then and I can't wait that long to get back into it. I'll just be really careful and avoid the things I know will put my shoulder at risk. I dread going back to the physio with a worse injury because he told me not to do weights so that will be playing in my head as a reminder to be careful.
The good news with not being active for almost 2 weeks is that my body is rested and another bonus was that my weight remained steady at 52kg. A miracle when you consider I didn't do ANYTHING for 11 days and as usual my appetite was good even though I was ill.
Lot's to do today. Some domestic chores first; clean the house after a weekend with 4 x 15 year old girls plus our other 3 plus an extra 8 year old - needless to say this couldn't be done with said children in the house! After that a quick run to the shops to stock back up after the teenage feeding frenzy on the weekend and then a few hours working on some PR stuff, commenting on the progress reports and making changes to programs that need them. Then it's time to go for my run, pick the kids up and spend some time with them.
Our new deck was completed yesterday - hooray! We now have 50 thousand pairs of shoes on the deck rather than in the entry! Shoes seem to multiply at our house. You would think that 6 people would equal 12 shoes but sadly this is not the case there always appear to be no less than 30 shoes in the entry - drives me nuts!
Tonight I am making the vegetarian lasagna recipe in this months WF&H. I made it last week and it was really nice, easy to make too which is a bonus.
Breafast today was porridge with yoghurt and flax oil. Lunch will be wholemeal pasta with a tin of tuna. I'll also have some fruit and nuts for snacks along with couple of cups of coffee. I'll start back on my protein shake before and after training as well now I'm doing my weights again.
Thursday 21st June 07: Wow the last week has flown! They say time flies when you are having fun but it also flies when you are sick! This past week has been a struggle. Wednesday night just before I headed out for classes my mum called to tell me my auntie was unlikely to make it through the night, she had been very ill with lung cancer. It is terribly sad and I will miss her dearly, she wasn't much older than me and when I was a little girl we were very close. Anyway I went to class and by the time I got home my throat was inflamed and I had a major headache and things pretty much went downhill from there. My auntie died early Thurs morning and I'm still struggling with a chest cold today so I'm really looking forward to next week.
It isn't all bad though. My body was due for a rest so why not get a weeks rest and illness out of the way at the same time? Kill two birds with one stone! I made sure I ate well, rested well and took care of myself knowing that I was giving my body a good chance to recover from the demands of exercise as well as illness.
Also my family is wonderful and even though we lost someone we love we rally together and really enjoy being together. Shirley insisted her funeral and wake be a celebration and not a sad occasion. She made us all stand up in the chapel and sing Van Morrison's "Moondance". It made us all laugh, cringe at our singing and remember her with joy. My family is HUGE. At the wake at mums there were easily 70 people there and they were pretty much ALL FAMILY, given the occasion it was a wonderful day.
It has been a week to remember fond memories and take some time out for me. The weather is looking good this weekend so by the time I shake the last of the cold I will be able to head out in the sunshine and go for a nice long run with a body with no aches and pains (for a nice change) because it is rested and ready to go. I also feel really peaceful and relaxed for the rest and having had time to bask in good memories and knowing my auntie is finally at peace - hopefully sharing a laugh with my nana and pa and looking down on us contentedly.
Wednesday 13th June 07: I can't believe how quickly this week has gone. Two extra days with the kids at home really eats away the week. We had a fun day yesterday; I took the kids to the pool for a few hours and then last night we all had Taekwondo. I was able to get some work done in the morning and then I gave it up to the kids for the day. Reminds me that school holidays are not that far away.
Yesterday I also received the latest edition of Women's Fitness & Health in which I feature in a one page spread. I'm always a little nervous reading things when they come out in print hoping I haven't said something completely stupid! I'm the fussiest person alive when it comes to this stuff and even I was happy with it which left my husband in shock! The guy's at the taekwondo school were all impressed and Jodi has posted a copy upstairs in the waiting area so even on day 1 it has received a lot of mileage!
In terms of exercise my rest day extended to Monday with the kids keeping me busy but last night I had taekwondo training. Tonight I have 2 classes to teach and train in, tomorrow I'm going to give Step another bash and try not to embarrass myself too much and later in the day I'll try for a run then Friday will be a run and yoga. Still no weights yet. I have my fingers crossed that the Physio will give me the all clear to do a modified program when I see him on Thursday. Send me good thoughts as I'm shrinking with every week I miss the weights.
Each Wed I send my ladies a mid-week email, I thought I would include it today for something different, here it is..
Hi there,
I can’t believe it is Wednesday again already! Where has the week gone?
This week I thought I would talk to you about the ridiculous pursuit of perfection we often find ourselves on and the unrealistic pressures we place upon ourselves.
But first a quick story... Last night whilst at Taekwondo and I was reminded of something that is quite significant in Taekwondo training but is just as relevant outside of it. One of the philosophies of Taekwondo is the pursuit of perfection whilst acknowledging perfection doesn’t exist. It is knowing that regardless of how hard you train and how committed you are you will never achieve perfection. And (here is the big bit) be ok with that AND pursue it anyway.. Letting go of the pressures of perfection and pursuing it anyway is very liberating and this philosophy has served me well. I am not a perfectionist; I find it doesn’t work for me. Perfectionism paralyses you, it inhibits you from reaching your fullest potential because hand in hand with perfectionism comes “all or nothing” and we know this doesn’t work either.
As these thoughts were going through my head last night I made a note to pass this on to you because I know you all place such huge expectations on yourselves and beat yourselves up when you don’t cut it and it often pains me to see how little credit you give yourselves when you are doing the best you can at the time.
Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with striving for a worthwhile goal and doing your best to achieve it. However rather than focus on perfect how about focusing on doing the best you can given your current circumstances and feeling good about what you did do, rather than what you didn’t do?By current circumstances I mean, for example, you have had a flat out week at work, one of the kids is sick and you had planned to do 3 cardio sessions and 2 weight sessions but only got to do your 3 cardio sessions. Given that you had other commitments 3 cardio sessions is still pretty darn good and it means you didn’t drop your bundle when things got hard.
Do the best you can, most of the time and cut yourself some slack for being human, take the pressure off yourself to do everything 100% right 100% of the time and you may just be surprised at what a difference it makes to your peace of mind and also to the results you get. In case you are interested the new Women’s Fitness & Health is about to come out and yours truly is featured in a one page spread.
Have a fabulous rest of your week and I’ll be in touch Friday morning with your progress reports and I’ll also get in and update my blog today.
Sunday 10th June 07: The start to the long weekend has been fantastic. Yesterday I had the luxury of time and went out on the reservoir wall for a nice long run. I did 10km with the sun shining and knowing I didn't need to rush to be anywhere, it was perfect. The hill sprints have really improved my running; 10k felt like 3, nice and easy. Last night we took all the kids (plus 1 spare) out to dinner, it was a lot of fun with lots of laughs. Today I'm taking little Chloe (as opposed to big Chloe) to the circus and when we get back we will head out together for a run, making the most of the sunshine. The rest of the kids are amusing themselves with the friends they have over so even though we have a house full it is reasonably peaceful! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend as much as I am enjoying mine.
Friday 8th June 07: Fridays are my favorite day. I try to keep my workload light so I can cruise through the day feeling relaxed before the weekend and running around after 4 kids plus the usual "spares" we tend to have as visitors. We really love having the kids and their friends around on the weekends, they are really good kids and rarely cause us any grief (touch wood) but it is full on.Yesterday's trip to the physio didn't yield much but some extra light re-hab exercises and a lot of pain from the treatment on my shoulder BUT it looks as though it may be starting to mend, I'll know more when the anti-inflamatories start to wear off. Looks like recovery is going to be a bit slower than I expected before I went yesterday, have to keep focused on the long term positives of a fully functioning shoulder.This morning I spent a few hours working and then did a half hour yoga session at home, a few more hours working and then a run on the track by the railway line. It is such a pretty spot and the track is nice and soft. I ran about 4km and then hit the hill for 10 sprints. Each sprint takes about 25 seconds and the hill is really steep. I love the hills; they really help my kicking speed and power and also keep my butt and legs nice and strong.The rest of the day will consist of another hour or so of work, some domestic chores (aren't I lucky!!) a bit of shopping and then off to pick the kids up from school.Some of you have expressed an interest in what I eat so here is a run down of today so far and what is to come.Breakfast: Cup of tea, skim milk and no sugar. Bowl of high fibre cereal with calcium enriched skim milk, pro-biotic yoghurt and flax seed oil.Lunch: Serve of cooked wholemeal pasta with 1 small can of chili flavoured tuna, small salad.Dinner: Casserole made with lean beef, carrots, peas, zucchini, potatoes, gravox, water, pepper and 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Snacks: Banana, & cottage cheese, flat white, pear. 2 small glasses of red wine. The sun is shining and the weather is perfect; it is a lovely day to be living in the hills.
Thursday 7th June 07: If you want to see something hilarious, come and watch me attempt step aerobics! It boggles the mind that I can be so competent in most things physical but step choreography has me scratching my head. It was a good class though and we worked nice and hard and burnt around 1800kj - not bad for one class.I have to say though my legs were a bit tired the whole way through. Last night I did my two taekwondo classes and didn't get home from them till late so I didn't really have a lot of recovery time. Didn't matter though I got through it and had some fun doing it. It was nice to try something different and I think I'll keep going for a bit.I'm going to rest my body for the rest of today and recover so I can run tomorrow and fit in a Pilate’s class I'm off to the physio today and hopefully he will have some good news and let me begin the rehab program on my shoulder. I'm really missing the weights and can't wait to get back into it.
Wednesday 6th June 07: This Blog was prompted by my wonderful Glow Women. Today I emailed "the girls" with the following and got such a wonderful response with many recommendations I make this a regular thing so here it is.I won't promise to update every day or even every second day (I don't like to make promises I can't keep) but I shall do my best.Hi there, I thought I would also give you a run down on my week in terms of exercise and how I fit it all in. If you find it motivating I’m glad, if it bores you to tears please ignore! Saturday: Spent the weekend away with my husband at Albert Park (Melbourne). As soon as we got to our room I put my running gear on and headed for a run around the lake 4.5km then hit the gym and worked legs for 30 minutes. Then I enjoyed a lovely spa and sauna and felt really good about heading out to dinner and a couple of glasses of wine knowing I had worked nice and hard.Sunday: Another run around the lake after we checked out of our room. Hubby ran with me this time so when we finished our run we cooled down and then sat by the lake enjoying a coffee. I came home from our weekend feeling good about balancing some R&R along with some good quality exercise.Monday: After I picked my kids up from school I took Chloe (9) for a 4 km run and some hill sprints. Chloe keeps up for most of the way but when she has to walk I run ahead and then back to her so I end up doing a bit more. We have a lovely track alongside the Puffing Billy track (PB is a train) and it is a great place to run, no traffic etc and a nice soft track.No weights this week for upper body as I still have a torn tendon in my shoulder causing me grief! Ahh the frustration!!Tuesday: Quick run after I dropped the kids off to school in the morning and then after school the kids and I go and do 2 hours of taekwondo together. Last night we didn’t work all that hard so I was glad for my run in the morning.Wednesday: This morning I did a Fat Burner class at the gym, not something I would normally do as I’m not really an exercise to music kinda girl but without my weights I’m lost!! Tonight I drop Chloe to dance, Cody has basketball training with hubby and so I head off to teach my two classes. 1 senior taekwondo class which I LOVE, this is a class of senior students and I get to do whatever I want with them, so we usually do lots of kicking and sparring drills – it is my favorite thing in the world. The class before that is my Power class; this class is essentially martial arts to music class with a strong boxing component, I love this too but with my dodgy shoulder I can’t punch anything much to my disgust!Tomorrow I’m going to attempt a step class (haven’t done one for 100 years), I’ll let you know how I go!Friday, Sat and Sun will likely be more running and some yoga or Pilates.
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