'Cleansing'

Oh lordy.
The 108 day program requires three days of 'cleansing' for the end of each 36 day cycle.

It starts off as a vegan no-crap type thing for the first one (I can do vegan rather well, it's the no crap part) and by the last cycle, it's 3 days of juice fasting.(Gah!)

Anyway, I'm not there yet, but as my calorie-burning powers are scuppered at the moment with the ankle, I am going to do a mini cleanse thing now. I have decided to base it on brown rice, fruit and veg.
Especially brown rice banana and cinnamon porridge, as it's damn lovely, and like eating a brick.
A lot of the no-crap things seem to leave me hungry for stodge.
This is healthy stodge.
If the rice is cooked the night before, and just needs to be warmed through with the mashed banana and cinnamon (and some raisins are nice too) in some almond milk, it's quick stodge, as well.

Tonight I will be trying the 'Vitality' yoga disc in the set.
Sounds sweaty.

Elephant Ankle

I put my foot down a hole on Saturday, and went over on my ankle.
It's now a fat ankle, with weird red bruising streaks climbing up my leg, that are becoming a bit more purple today. It seemed a bit better this morning, but walking around on it all day has made it hurt again.

Seems so ridiculous to be injured when just crossing a road and not doing anything sporty.
I wasn't even wearing girly shoes, it was just a really deceptive hole.

Anyway, so I'm modifying my yoga a bit. Last night I did the 'Hardcore' disc. The idea being, it gives you, a 'hard core.' I couldn't finish it. It was so damn difficult. Most of it was on the floor, so I thought it would be a wise choice for the ankle. About a third of the way in I was a red shaking mess on the floor.
I then did some seated stuff from the strength disc, and today I did some other modified stretching and things. I've discovered my left side is very, very weak, but more flexible than the right.

In general this program is making me feel very weak and pathetic, and I damn well need not be. And I need to stop falling over, as well, both in the street and on the mat.

Ha! Nope.

Well, I won't be out-growing this yoga program any time soon.
 I tried the strength DVD last night, and nope. Not a chance. But that's good, as I know by the time I reach 108 days, I will be able to do it. I was reading another woman's experience on the blog, and she was saying how she laughed at the TV to start with as it was just too impossible, but of course, by the end, could do it. Consistency is the key.
I managed the first few sequences, then I was shaking, and falling over. And unable to breathe.
Arm balances are something I've never been able to really do, but I want to. And this will do it.

So today is day 8, then just 100 more to go!

Foundations

Life is so much harder with car problems.
Buses and crap. Listening to frightening noises. It's draining me.
And I've been feeling ill. And fighting it. And I could really use some time off work.
And a good moan, obviously.

Yoga is still awesome. I did the 'Yin' disc today, which is all about holding poses for a very, very long time, on average 3 to 5 minutes. It amazing how much lower and deeper I could get into the pose after a couple of minutes, and able to pop my forehead on my shins and such.
And I swear he's hypnotising me. He lets me get into a deeply relaxed state and talks about getting rid of things I don't need, tells me how great I am, how I am making my body so much better. I bought some Hula Hoops at lunchtime today, ate a few, and then thought 'I don't need these' and binned them.
I swear he made me buy a pineapple the other day as well.

Anyway, I need to stop thinking about competing.
I'm shattered. My speedy swimming efforts have resulted in a hurty shoulder. I thought I needed to enter things to keep on track, but I think I can do that by myself. I hope I get into London. I will do some winter duathlons, and I have signed up for Edinburgh marathon next spring already, so that will happen.
In the mean time, I need to get a decent plan. A long term set of goals to get done over the winter.

So far I have -

*Run everyday for the month of August. A minimum of 5k.
* Ten miles. Before next year's marathon training starts, I want to get my ten mile time down to 1:40.
*Do an hour of yoga everyday. Just everyday, man, no matter what. I am hurty. And I need not to me. And I need to be thinner. I'm expecting a lot from a very crap to average body.

I think I need to start again.
Build a better body. Start a year long program. Base training for next year's half iron distance starts now.  

Day 4 Of Yoga

The fire alarm went off when I was in the pool.
I had found a good time to go, and hour after opening, so the early birds are gone, but still a little early for the kids. I did 30 lengths, then the noise started. There was about 8 of us in, and they made us stand by some open fire doors. It was about 15 mins before we could get back in, and then loads of kids started to file in. I then concentrated on swimming super fast, in 100m bursts, and then 100m burst of breathing every 5 strokes. Then I got out of there, and went and bought loads and loads and loads of fruit. Cutting up a pineapple is hard work!

I then made the kid go for a run with me (she did more walking) and I did another couple of miles while she came back to lay on her bed and moan about how evil I am, and tonight I will do Day 4 of the Ultimate Yogi.
It's apparently a day where I have to do the hardcore and the strength disc too, but after swimming and running, I'm going to do the gentle one, and do more kick-ass yoga tomorrow.
I also plan to get in the sea again, which isn't too trying, so should be fine.

This is Travis. He wanders about in his baggy shorts, saying 'Downward daaa-aaa-aawg'.

Oh Crap

But it's just a cold, that's all. And just the beginnings of one, plus some dehydration and also being run down, as I have been working a lot.
I'll be fine, and it's made me look at what really needs to be done.
I have done these triathlon distances all separately before, and then some, there is nothing new and scary. I will have the energy on the day to do all three together, and the adrenaline.
However, I am slow, and I am bad a swimming. When I went yesterday I felt shattered after 10 lengths, and caught a few breaths and then felt fine and could have swam more than the 32 I did it's just a warming up thing, but my cardio is crap right now.

So, I have 2 weeks.
Last night I started the yoga program, it was pretty intense. It's power yoga, and it was nice to see some of the people wobbling and they were all sweating by the end. I am looking forward to the flexibility and strength days. I have a feeling he will make me ache.
I will do this hour of yoga a day.

I will also concentrate on speed.
I will run fast, and cycle fast, and it will be all about increasing my lung capacity, and swimming, lots. Things like intervals that I don't really understand.

I was going to run this morning but I woke up feeling cruddy, and after a day of work where I was a bit useless and forgot stuff, I came home intending to run then, but nope. I was getting into my running gear and thought I'd just lay on the bed for a few minutes and woke up an hour later.

I'll try again tomorrow before work.

No! I CAN'T Be ILL!

Today was going to be my AWESOME DAY OF SPORTING!

I went to bed at a reasonable time, and woke up at 7am feeling ill.
Bollocks.
Sore throat and sneezing.
I have been very busy, and the most I've managed to fit in this week is a little running.

Swimming is the most important thing at the moment, so I went to pool and fought my way through a hideous amount of kids and managed half a mile before feeling really rather ill, and so sick of being hit by kids and their parents.

The plan was to then come home and cycle 20 miles and run 4.5.
But as it was I came home, felt woozy, and watched DVDs.
I intend to make myself better today. I have eaten very well, and am going to start a new yoga program Taff sent me. It's an 108 day DVD program. I am going to do it start to finish in 108 days. This is highly do-able as I do yoga every day anyway, and it's OK to do it after running and such

So tomorrow I hope to wake up feeling a whole lot better, and want to run 5 miles before work.
Yeah.