2010 ROUNDUP............
Heya all! I'm writing this now as I think I may not have much more time this year!
Christmas Day was great! BF and I spent it down at his parents place down at the beach! His family, Nana and a couple of others were there. It was a great day. The temperature hit 39.9 degrees and we spent lots of time in the water mucking about. Xmas lunch was yum. We had cheese, salami, crackers to start, then rumballs. The main was Xmas hot ham, cold chicken, roast potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, peas and a tomato/onion bake. Then after another swim it was dessert time.........plum pudding. We pay $5 to eat it and the person to find the coin with the hole drilled in wins $50! We all got some awesome pressies, - it was a fun day!
Yesterday BF was confined to the house as he was on standby for his work so he put his technic lego together till he got called out to a fire! I went out to another great gathering!
Today I got stuck into a bit of housework. It's always good to get done!
I decided to brave the metal monsters/scales today after keeping off them for the last 3 weeks. I wasn't expecting an exactly good reading as I'd been flat out, (but very active I reckon) at work so not eating the best options and not being consistent with training, (no excuses) and I feel I look flabby but that isn't new at the moment. 3 odd weeks ago I was 75.1kg. I was tentatively expecting about 78, (hopefully not 80 or above) and had spent lots of time lately wearing elastic waistbands from being so busy and not wanting to check out what I expected the reality to be! Then on Xmas day and yesterday I wore a size 14 Levis mini denim skirt. I used to wear that at about 80kg with it sitting firm just on the navel line. I noticed it was definitely looser Xmas day and yesterday with it sitting right down on lower hips with about 2 inches of extra room in it which was good. So...at weigh in this morning........I was stoked to weigh in at 74.5kg today! I'm still not the most toned around the torso and wanna smash off a good bit more fat but now I can stay true to lowering my cut off point to 75kg for 2011. I've successfully stayed under 80 all of 2010, (I won't weigh self again this year). First time I'd achieved that since 1999! Last year cut off was 85, before it was 90! I didn't touch any chocolates today and lost total desire to after I found out I was 3 odd less kg than expected! Being flat out may count for something sometimes! I still intend to improve my habits, all round fitness, reduce fat and kilo wise wanna get under 68kg.
In brief some things which happened this year:
* Did my longest triathlon
* Moved in with BF
* Got a car, can drive somewhat in quieter areas
* Had a decent 30th party
* Did 14km Run for a Reason race
* Started a triathlon course till I hurt my back.
* Gave up alcohol completely for 6 consecutive weeks
* Poor Granny passed, I spoke at her funeral
Will be back soon to for a New Years talk!!!
Pip :-)
Pip
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!..........
Hello! Just thought I'd do a check in! Hope everyone has a good festive and holiday season. I reckon it sucks to work too much at this time of year but some of us have to haha!
Now, I've been thinking about holidays and travel quite a bit of late. Infact I think about it lots but unfortunately don't action it quite so much.
I am really excited to be going to Adelaide early March next year for 4 days, - I look really forward to it! I've never been and it will be great to catch up with Kristy and hopefully Magda.
As we have 5 days off in a row at Easter this year, (usually it's 4) I'm thinking of taking a road trip. Am thinking of heading off to Kalgoorlie on Good Friday after getting up early. Will stay there a night or two. Then head down to Esperance for a night or two. Then Albany for a night and back to Perth. I've been to Albany briefly once but not Esperance or Kalgoorlie. Will camp or stay in cheap accommodation. Hopefully BF can come too.
As for overseas travel to new destinations its just so hard to decide.......and I always feel limited on funds and time. I'd love to explore Europe. The other places I'm really keen on at the moment are Hawaii, America, Canada. Other places that interest me are Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam for cycling and kayaking and believe it or not but Alaska! Ideally I'd love to do a mixed cycling/hiking holiday with some canoeing or kayaking thrown in. I also really want to go on a cruise for part of it. Also I'd like to cover lots of area.
Best value for money for what you can see appears to be Contiki. However I don't know if hanging out with the majority of the group in it's early 20's, late nights, hungover days and coach touring is totally my ideal way to spend a holiday in a new destination.
It's all so costly............but new and exciting.
I did develop an idea for July 2012 where I flew to Gold Coast, did the half marathon, went to Airlie beach to see cousins there, down to Sydney to catch up with a cousin for a night, then off to America for 2.5 weeks, Hawaii for 1.5 weeks, NZ on the way back to see family, then Perth but it appears far too undoable when researching it further. Then I decided to try and cull either Hawaii or America and both are too hard and it STILL appears costly after my research. Then I looked at the idea of leaving that holiday plan till 2015 or so and instead looked at flights and trips around Europe mid 2012 culling NZ and the Gold Coast half. I'd really struggle to make a 4-5 week trip to my style under $10-$11000.
To save that type of money I have to be very choosy about proceedings and continue to save $100 a week consistently.
I just had a look on line and pretended I was going to do the Gold Coast half marathon next year. Flights are cheap at the moment for early July next year. I found that I could fly from Perth to Brisbane, stay there or Gold Coast 4 nights while doing Gold Coast half marathon, then head up to Airlie Beach for 2-3 nights to see my relatives, then head off to Sydney for a night or two to see my cousin, then back to Perth all for about $600 at the moment which is rather good. I can even add a flight to Christchurch from Sydney return on appropriate dates for just over $300. In Airlie Beach I'd like to do a full day kayak trip and found one. Maybe on another day do a full day sailing trip or cruise. If I added NZ in this way I get it all.........racing, ocean, kayaking, sailing/cruising/good weather/snow/skiing if I hit NZ and catching up with family all in one trip for maybe $2000. Or could cull the NZ idea and just make a holiday of skiing in 2012 which would cheapen next year further. From another point of view it's harder to justify spending $10000 a pop but then it's always exciting exploring new destinations!
Will let ya all know the outcome soon..............and put up my planned events for 2011 soon!
Pip :-)
Hello! Just thought I'd do a check in! Hope everyone has a good festive and holiday season. I reckon it sucks to work too much at this time of year but some of us have to haha!
Now, I've been thinking about holidays and travel quite a bit of late. Infact I think about it lots but unfortunately don't action it quite so much.
I am really excited to be going to Adelaide early March next year for 4 days, - I look really forward to it! I've never been and it will be great to catch up with Kristy and hopefully Magda.
As we have 5 days off in a row at Easter this year, (usually it's 4) I'm thinking of taking a road trip. Am thinking of heading off to Kalgoorlie on Good Friday after getting up early. Will stay there a night or two. Then head down to Esperance for a night or two. Then Albany for a night and back to Perth. I've been to Albany briefly once but not Esperance or Kalgoorlie. Will camp or stay in cheap accommodation. Hopefully BF can come too.
As for overseas travel to new destinations its just so hard to decide.......and I always feel limited on funds and time. I'd love to explore Europe. The other places I'm really keen on at the moment are Hawaii, America, Canada. Other places that interest me are Mexico, Thailand, Vietnam for cycling and kayaking and believe it or not but Alaska! Ideally I'd love to do a mixed cycling/hiking holiday with some canoeing or kayaking thrown in. I also really want to go on a cruise for part of it. Also I'd like to cover lots of area.
Best value for money for what you can see appears to be Contiki. However I don't know if hanging out with the majority of the group in it's early 20's, late nights, hungover days and coach touring is totally my ideal way to spend a holiday in a new destination.
It's all so costly............but new and exciting.
I did develop an idea for July 2012 where I flew to Gold Coast, did the half marathon, went to Airlie beach to see cousins there, down to Sydney to catch up with a cousin for a night, then off to America for 2.5 weeks, Hawaii for 1.5 weeks, NZ on the way back to see family, then Perth but it appears far too undoable when researching it further. Then I decided to try and cull either Hawaii or America and both are too hard and it STILL appears costly after my research. Then I looked at the idea of leaving that holiday plan till 2015 or so and instead looked at flights and trips around Europe mid 2012 culling NZ and the Gold Coast half. I'd really struggle to make a 4-5 week trip to my style under $10-$11000.
To save that type of money I have to be very choosy about proceedings and continue to save $100 a week consistently.
I just had a look on line and pretended I was going to do the Gold Coast half marathon next year. Flights are cheap at the moment for early July next year. I found that I could fly from Perth to Brisbane, stay there or Gold Coast 4 nights while doing Gold Coast half marathon, then head up to Airlie Beach for 2-3 nights to see my relatives, then head off to Sydney for a night or two to see my cousin, then back to Perth all for about $600 at the moment which is rather good. I can even add a flight to Christchurch from Sydney return on appropriate dates for just over $300. In Airlie Beach I'd like to do a full day kayak trip and found one. Maybe on another day do a full day sailing trip or cruise. If I added NZ in this way I get it all.........racing, ocean, kayaking, sailing/cruising/good weather/snow/skiing if I hit NZ and catching up with family all in one trip for maybe $2000. Or could cull the NZ idea and just make a holiday of skiing in 2012 which would cheapen next year further. From another point of view it's harder to justify spending $10000 a pop but then it's always exciting exploring new destinations!
Will let ya all know the outcome soon..............and put up my planned events for 2011 soon!
Pip :-)
Friday, December 10, 2010
CURRENT DOINGS.......TRAVEL IDEAS.............
Howdy! Hope everyone is having a great week!
After my triathlon last Saturday I prepared to take the drive down to Busselton to watch the Ironman!
That meant I was up early and on the road by 5.30am on Sunday morning. I arrived in Busso about 8.30am. The race started at 5.45am so I missed the swim but saw the competitors going hard lapping it up on the bike!
To anyone who doesn't know:
* a full ironman is a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km push bike ride finished off with a marathon 42.2km run so a distance of 226km is covered all up! A great ultra endurance event! Therefore thats lots different than my 400m swim, 16km ride and 4km run I did last Saturday!
The atmosphere down there was unreal. The dedication of the athletes was mindblowing. People come all over the world to race in Busselton and some entrants were over 70 years of age! There was section for the pros then all the age group categories. The winning guy completed this feat in 8 hours and 14 mins and I think the first female was about an hour behind that. The winning female went in as a bit of an underdog but worked so hard and built up a lead of a few minutes in the run. She crashed in the last few hundred metres of the run and infact had to crawl over the line but still kept her lead and won the girls race!
One of BF's mates has been very dedicated with training for this event for many months or longer. Such training for him involved at least 2-3 hours on weeknights and weekend trainings involved such things as a 200km ride followed by a 20km run on say Saturday and some mammoth swim/run on Sunday. Therefore it was great to see him cross the line in just over 11 hours. All competitors have their name on them and it's amazing seeing them keep coming past. Lots of them look to be going well but totally crash in say the second half or even last 10km of the run. Getting so close to the end but totally crashing would be really frustrating I think......................but these types of athletes don't seem to let disappointments affect them for long!
I didn't stay until the end of the race, (11pm as there is a 17 hour cut off time which means if there are competitors still out on the course after 17 hours they aren't allowed to finish). I left it too late to try and find accommodation unless I fancied paying over $500 a night so I drove back. I didn't want to leave the drive back home too late either as these are unfamiliar roads still.
Now to put these distances into perspective for me...............the longest bike ride I've done in one day is 108.4km almost 2 years ago. Now that was a huge effort and included a few stops. I was buggered at the end of that. More recently, (about a month ago) I did a 90km bike ride one day covering quite a few hills but when I got home from that, - I was had! No way could I do double that, then run a marathon not to mention the swim!
I would like to do an ironman, - maybe someday! But for now I'm working toward a couple of Sprint Distance triathlons which will become my longest efforts and I would love to do these in good form (for me). There is one at end of Feb 2011 and one early April 2011 I'm thinking about. They include a 750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run. Will keep you posted! Probably these are more suited for me for now as my ideal training time is about 5 hours a week.
I have been getting quite excited about the prospects of holidays of late! My proposed plan of a 'round the world trip' in mid 2015 for about 8 weeks is still sounding so far away. I've been contributing funds weekly and consistently and have actually just reached the $2000 mark in my holiday fund. It's in a high interest account and I've been aiming to have a minimum of $25000 but ideally $30000 for this trip. I'm quite excited to have made the $2000 mark as I normally spend money in this fund on other stuff before it reaches $1000. However I'm far too excited when this is still in the much distant future as you can see!
Therefore I'm thinking of making this into two trips. The first one brought forward to mid 2012 and the next but biggie in 2015 and am doing research.
I'm aiming to have total of $10000 minimum by late June 2012. Am now thinking of firstly heading over East to kick the trip off with the Gold Coast half marathon which is always first Sunday in July, then heading up to Airlie Beach for two nights to see relatives in their new home there and do a days kayaking, then down to Sydney for a night, then off to LA where I'd like to bus it up to San Francisco, then do a round trip one week tour covering Vegas, some of the amazing Canyons, hiking and much else. Then want to curtail it over to Hawaii, (somewhere I've always wanted to go). I'd love to do a 2 week tour covering at least 4 of the islands but would need to work out further details. Of course kayaking, swimming, cycling, hiking (and relaxing) would be on the wish list in Hawaii, (and seeing some the the amazing attractions there).
Next I'd head to NZ, catch up with family and want to give the ski slopes a quick whirl again for at least a couple of days. There is lots more I want to do but think that's about how far I can stretch my money and time!
Maybe the 2015 round the world trip I'd have more time to get to more of America and Canada and some European countries. If I knuckle down for a trip in 18 months time I reckon that's doable and not to far away!
Am about to head to work staff party tonight! Have a good one all! :-)
Pip :-)
Howdy! Hope everyone is having a great week!
After my triathlon last Saturday I prepared to take the drive down to Busselton to watch the Ironman!
That meant I was up early and on the road by 5.30am on Sunday morning. I arrived in Busso about 8.30am. The race started at 5.45am so I missed the swim but saw the competitors going hard lapping it up on the bike!
To anyone who doesn't know:
* a full ironman is a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km push bike ride finished off with a marathon 42.2km run so a distance of 226km is covered all up! A great ultra endurance event! Therefore thats lots different than my 400m swim, 16km ride and 4km run I did last Saturday!
The atmosphere down there was unreal. The dedication of the athletes was mindblowing. People come all over the world to race in Busselton and some entrants were over 70 years of age! There was section for the pros then all the age group categories. The winning guy completed this feat in 8 hours and 14 mins and I think the first female was about an hour behind that. The winning female went in as a bit of an underdog but worked so hard and built up a lead of a few minutes in the run. She crashed in the last few hundred metres of the run and infact had to crawl over the line but still kept her lead and won the girls race!
One of BF's mates has been very dedicated with training for this event for many months or longer. Such training for him involved at least 2-3 hours on weeknights and weekend trainings involved such things as a 200km ride followed by a 20km run on say Saturday and some mammoth swim/run on Sunday. Therefore it was great to see him cross the line in just over 11 hours. All competitors have their name on them and it's amazing seeing them keep coming past. Lots of them look to be going well but totally crash in say the second half or even last 10km of the run. Getting so close to the end but totally crashing would be really frustrating I think......................but these types of athletes don't seem to let disappointments affect them for long!
I didn't stay until the end of the race, (11pm as there is a 17 hour cut off time which means if there are competitors still out on the course after 17 hours they aren't allowed to finish). I left it too late to try and find accommodation unless I fancied paying over $500 a night so I drove back. I didn't want to leave the drive back home too late either as these are unfamiliar roads still.
Now to put these distances into perspective for me...............the longest bike ride I've done in one day is 108.4km almost 2 years ago. Now that was a huge effort and included a few stops. I was buggered at the end of that. More recently, (about a month ago) I did a 90km bike ride one day covering quite a few hills but when I got home from that, - I was had! No way could I do double that, then run a marathon not to mention the swim!
I would like to do an ironman, - maybe someday! But for now I'm working toward a couple of Sprint Distance triathlons which will become my longest efforts and I would love to do these in good form (for me). There is one at end of Feb 2011 and one early April 2011 I'm thinking about. They include a 750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run. Will keep you posted! Probably these are more suited for me for now as my ideal training time is about 5 hours a week.
I have been getting quite excited about the prospects of holidays of late! My proposed plan of a 'round the world trip' in mid 2015 for about 8 weeks is still sounding so far away. I've been contributing funds weekly and consistently and have actually just reached the $2000 mark in my holiday fund. It's in a high interest account and I've been aiming to have a minimum of $25000 but ideally $30000 for this trip. I'm quite excited to have made the $2000 mark as I normally spend money in this fund on other stuff before it reaches $1000. However I'm far too excited when this is still in the much distant future as you can see!
Therefore I'm thinking of making this into two trips. The first one brought forward to mid 2012 and the next but biggie in 2015 and am doing research.
I'm aiming to have total of $10000 minimum by late June 2012. Am now thinking of firstly heading over East to kick the trip off with the Gold Coast half marathon which is always first Sunday in July, then heading up to Airlie Beach for two nights to see relatives in their new home there and do a days kayaking, then down to Sydney for a night, then off to LA where I'd like to bus it up to San Francisco, then do a round trip one week tour covering Vegas, some of the amazing Canyons, hiking and much else. Then want to curtail it over to Hawaii, (somewhere I've always wanted to go). I'd love to do a 2 week tour covering at least 4 of the islands but would need to work out further details. Of course kayaking, swimming, cycling, hiking (and relaxing) would be on the wish list in Hawaii, (and seeing some the the amazing attractions there).
Next I'd head to NZ, catch up with family and want to give the ski slopes a quick whirl again for at least a couple of days. There is lots more I want to do but think that's about how far I can stretch my money and time!
Maybe the 2015 round the world trip I'd have more time to get to more of America and Canada and some European countries. If I knuckle down for a trip in 18 months time I reckon that's doable and not to far away!
Am about to head to work staff party tonight! Have a good one all! :-)
Pip :-)
Saturday, December 04, 2010
HELLO, yep, I did it! My longest triathlon to date! I arrived at the venue at Champion Lakes at 6am when registration opened to set up for the race starting at 8am.
There were two events, - a 'short' and 'long' course. I did the longer one. We had various wave starts all 3 mins apart from each other. I was in 30-39 for 'long' of course.
The water for the swim was a nice temp, not too cold. But it was a bit murky and I found out I needed new goggles. At one point I got about 80 metres off course after putting my head down, swimming hard etc! Shit! In the end I pulled my goggles up so I didn't lose any more direction. But I still did the 400m swim in 8 mins something which isn't too bad.
I had also got over using sucker water bottles because no matter what, they leaked and generally leaked onto things like mobile phones, passports, documents or whatever. But screw tops have always been safe.
So I had a 1L bottle Mt Franklin water with a screw top on my bike cage on the bike. About 5km into the bike ride I slowed down slightly to open it for a gulp or two. After a couple I decided to attempt to put cap on and put bottle back into the cage on my bike. I slowed down a bit, tried to put the bottle in, (with intention of then screwing top on). BUT alas, bottle slipped out of my hand onto ground and I lost all my water! Therefore I had to hang out till 800m into the run till I could get some but it wasn't too bad, just annoying! Not sure of my overall time but about 1 hour 17 or 18 mins. Wasn't last either, (not that holding up the rear end is a bad thing). I think some finishers were finishing about 15-20 mins after me.
Pics at top are from today just after I arrived to rack up bike and set up, (before most people came!)
Talk soon
Pip :-)
Friday, December 03, 2010
TRIATHLON EVE............and SAME OLD STORY...............
Just thought I'd do a quick update for now!
Firstly yes, I intend to do that triathlon tomorrow at Champion Lakes. It's a 400m swim in the lake followed by a 16km bike ride then a 4km run. My bike is packed into the back of my car...........and to my delight it fits in without even having to remove a wheel! I just fold my back seat forward then lay my bike down and it doesn't obstruct my driving vision or anything. I'm rather dyslexic with manual tasks unfortunately which sure isn't due to lack of trying. To correctly take my wheels on and off my bike (with all the knobs turned and facing the same way) has taken much time and frustration which is embarrassing to admit.
Training, (or lack of) and nutrition has been rather shite this week. Why? Early in the week I unfortunately blew off a turbo training cycle session and instead opted to finish off a half bottle of wine when then lead to bingeing on leftovers in fridge..........then 2 beers but no training! Then out of whack and overfull the next day, then a busy work week ladeda! Last week I trained awesomely and last Saturday weighed in @ 75.0. I also have been feeling disappointed in myself as like often, I have put in some hard work, start to go places just to totally undo it. To grasp new fitness and drop fat I need to be consistent for longer these days to see results as I'm now in my 30's. I'd love to think I'd put in a good few weeks or months of consistent training and satisfactory nutrition and to see where I'd be.
Anyways can't dwell. Lets see what I bring to the table tomorrow. I'd be happy to finish and as a bonus, - not come last! There is a Womens triathlon again next March. I'd like to go for the sprint distance, (750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run). I'd ideally like to put a consistent effort I'm happy with in regard to sticking to my training ideals. If I don't perform as I hope on raceday I'd be OK with that and may learn stuff. What would make me happy is being happy with my training and nutrition efforts in the weeks/months leading up. This time I'm not!
I'm a bit nervous about the swim infact! Tomorrow the high is only forecast to reach 22 degrees celcius for a max. It may be rather windy down there and the race starts at 8am so may be cool. I intend to cycle in my wet clothes, (then run). I don't have a wetsuit as I've never dreamed I'd require one at my level!
Am thinking of wearing sports bra, then one piece bathers, then lycra knee length black shorts and a rashee top, (black with fluoro pink writing) as my attire. Hmmm!
Tomorrow I'm planning on being out the door by 5.15am. Sunday I'm planning a road trip down to Busselton to watch the Ironman! Jules is in it as is one of BF's mates. He can't come cause of his work but that will be a big drive for me!
Talk soon,
Pip :-)
Just thought I'd do a quick update for now!
Firstly yes, I intend to do that triathlon tomorrow at Champion Lakes. It's a 400m swim in the lake followed by a 16km bike ride then a 4km run. My bike is packed into the back of my car...........and to my delight it fits in without even having to remove a wheel! I just fold my back seat forward then lay my bike down and it doesn't obstruct my driving vision or anything. I'm rather dyslexic with manual tasks unfortunately which sure isn't due to lack of trying. To correctly take my wheels on and off my bike (with all the knobs turned and facing the same way) has taken much time and frustration which is embarrassing to admit.
Training, (or lack of) and nutrition has been rather shite this week. Why? Early in the week I unfortunately blew off a turbo training cycle session and instead opted to finish off a half bottle of wine when then lead to bingeing on leftovers in fridge..........then 2 beers but no training! Then out of whack and overfull the next day, then a busy work week ladeda! Last week I trained awesomely and last Saturday weighed in @ 75.0. I also have been feeling disappointed in myself as like often, I have put in some hard work, start to go places just to totally undo it. To grasp new fitness and drop fat I need to be consistent for longer these days to see results as I'm now in my 30's. I'd love to think I'd put in a good few weeks or months of consistent training and satisfactory nutrition and to see where I'd be.
Anyways can't dwell. Lets see what I bring to the table tomorrow. I'd be happy to finish and as a bonus, - not come last! There is a Womens triathlon again next March. I'd like to go for the sprint distance, (750m swim, 20km ride and 5km run). I'd ideally like to put a consistent effort I'm happy with in regard to sticking to my training ideals. If I don't perform as I hope on raceday I'd be OK with that and may learn stuff. What would make me happy is being happy with my training and nutrition efforts in the weeks/months leading up. This time I'm not!
I'm a bit nervous about the swim infact! Tomorrow the high is only forecast to reach 22 degrees celcius for a max. It may be rather windy down there and the race starts at 8am so may be cool. I intend to cycle in my wet clothes, (then run). I don't have a wetsuit as I've never dreamed I'd require one at my level!
Am thinking of wearing sports bra, then one piece bathers, then lycra knee length black shorts and a rashee top, (black with fluoro pink writing) as my attire. Hmmm!
Tomorrow I'm planning on being out the door by 5.15am. Sunday I'm planning a road trip down to Busselton to watch the Ironman! Jules is in it as is one of BF's mates. He can't come cause of his work but that will be a big drive for me!
Talk soon,
Pip :-)
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