Kale Smoothie

My legs felt quite good this morning, and I slept well. I think from now on I will have one rest day a week, and one 'easy' day which will just be an hour of swimming. Swimming really doesn't wear me out that much, and doesn't make me ache, so it's almost like having two rest days.

It also highlights to me how much all of this is changing my perceptions about exercise.
To class an hour of swimming as an 'easy' day is not something I'd have done until now.

So, Kale.
Never really had much kale, but been reading about green smoothies, and it's advised to start with spinach (a gateway leaf), as it blends well, and has a mild taste.
I have been doing that, and now I'm stepping up to kale (the hard stuff), which has more flavour and fibre and can be harder to mask the taste. I made this smoothie with 2/3 kale ad 1/3 spinach.
It was slightly chewy.
However, I'm beginning to get a kick out of seeing just how many green leaves I can consume.
This was nearly a whole blender full in one shot.

And looks radioactive.

I had it when I got home from work, whilst making dinner, in a bid to stop me eating junk whilst cooking.

Lucy has been telling me you can eat Sticky Willies (Galium saxatile) raw, and go well in a smoothie. I will soon have loads in my garden so will be doing that not just for health benefits, but also comedy.

Hat And Fire Panic.

I got very little sleep last night, I woke up in the night as I could smell smoke, but it was just that the wind had changed direction and the smoke from the biofuel burner was coming in the house. In the haze (after the initial panic that the house wasn't on fire) I closed the only open window and lay there fretting about this could be my life from now on, when the wind blows this way. 
Bugger. 

My day started with a swim (30 seconds faster over 750m, I need to cut that off every week, at least) and the fat and the saggy elderly swimmers annoyed me. Although, I did drop my hat in the changing room at one point, and was very upset when I couldn't find it, but luckily old people are a) generally honest and b) don't know a funky hat when they see one, so it was handed into reception. 

I have paid the money for the Turriff triathlon in April. It's only just over 6 weeks away. In that time I need work on my swimming. And my running. And my biking. Hell, all of it. And lose a stone.

Tomorrow I will rest, except for some rollering and core work.

My glutes ache. I feel like someone has run up behind me and punched me sharply on each butt cheek.

This arrived today from Wiggle. Just over £3 with free delivery. I need to get on top of this nutrition thing. I'm fuzzy at the best of times. I could see me wandering off during the middle of a marathon and forgetting my own name if I allow myself to become too depleted.

Legs Ache Like A Bastard.

Today is kind of my Sunday (as in a stream of shifts starts tomorrow).

And I ache.

And there are plumbers coming in and out of my house.

And I woke up at 5am just because I was so hungry (but too tired to get up and eat)

After (first) breakfast I got my bike out and put it in front of the kitchen window. That meant to be lazy and not do anything would have meant putting the bike away again, and it was enough to just make me go (after second breakfast).

So, a kind of recovery ride, slow (but hilly) of 23 miles. I only averaged just below 14 mph, but the one little victory is there is one horrible hill that I'm always in my lowest, most pathetic gear, and today I was in the second most pathetic gear.

I then managed to have a quick and chilly bath in an empty house as it was lunchtime and the plumbers had  buggered off. But everytime there was an engine outside I panicked a bit and wished my bathroom door locked. And the rest of day will be spent watching DVDs and eating.

So last night I was looking at accommodation for Aberfeldy. I had emailed a few of B&Bs, and they were full, so I looked on some big booking websites and was horrified to find that a holiday village with about 35 places to stay had so few (affordable) rooms left.
I bet it's weddings.
Anyway, got a room in a hotel that the reviews describe as 'shabby decor', 'value range food'  and 'Fawlty Towers'. It's not like I'll be there long. It's near the briefing venue and only a few miles from the start of the race, and racking of bikes begins at 7am, so it could be the crappest breakfast on earth but I'll just be eating a banana while faffing with my bike, anyway.

Heavy, Heavy Legs.

I got a new hat today. I ordered it off ebay. It was cheap but surprisingly well made. It's a more military style of peaked cap, as opposed to the more trucker types ones I have. I do zero trucking or soldiering, but it's nice to know if either come up, I have the hat for the occasion.

Soooo. My legs were a bot sore and stiff when I got up, so I went out and ran (jogged) 15 miles on them. It's the only day I have free for a long run, so no choice in the matter.
I knew it wouldn't be fast, so made a deal with myself that it anything less than 12 min miles would be forgivable. I picked this number as I realised this time last year I did a 10k race at that speed (although the year before pre-injury I did one at 9.30 min miles), and although it's only been a few months that I've been properly improving (since the arrival of the Garmin), if I could run two and a half times that distance at that speed, it would be good. However, I was faster than that, at 11:18 min miles. It was also the first time I used a gel when running. I found it easier than Shot Bloks, although I like them for the bike, and when I have a little bag on my top tube, I'll put some in foil so I can get them out easier. But gel does seem to be the way forward on the run, it was quicker to consume, and I timed it to co-incide with a wheelie bin that I know is always out.

I then went swimming, as I wanted to time my 750 metres, and it also reduces the achey-ness after a long run. I hobble in there and come out walking almost normally. I had a smoothie before leaving, although I forgot to take a drink, and thought I'd just get one from the vending machine at the pool, but it was out of order, so I went in hungry and thirsty.
The slowest time found for the Turriff triathlon swim was 25 mins, so I thought if I could beat that in my shattered, sore, and dehydrated condition, there could be some hope. And I did. 24:30. On a better day I'm sure I could knock at least a few minutes off that.

I then did some drills, mainly breathing every 5 and 7 strokes, but also following a tip about swimming faster that I got off Youtube from Dave Scott. It sounds very simple, but he said to say the word 'quick' to yourself as you are pulling the water. I did this, and it's surprisingly exhausting. It really did make my stroke turnover faster, and after 100m of breathing every 5 and saying 'quick-quick-quick-quick' I was shattered (even more so).

And finally, I had a mini-argument with the Turtle. He's been quite persistent recently, I think he's taken my lack of interest to mean playing hard to get. He made a comment about my Facebook profile picture, asking what it was (it's Loki).
'What's Loki?' he said.
'Thor's adopted brother.' I told him, and he started up about rubbish all superhero comics and films are.
He MUST have known that would annoy me. I ignored him. He then tried texting me. His number's not in my phone, but I know it was him, so I ignored that too.
Honestly, 'What's Loki?'...

Not Last!

Maybe third or even fourth from last! Hurrah!

So, turned up at Guinness Boy's house at 8.30 and got the bikes on the car.

The we went of too Aboyne, where I've never been before, but my! It's pretty place.
I wish I'd been in a better position to take lots of pretty pics, but had to get this one off Google, but that was what it was like. A clear day, with snow on the tops of the hills.

 

To say I was terrified is putting it mildly.
So many thin and fit people. So many lovely bikes. People doing serious warm ups.

 Things are easier now with Guinness Boy as he is seeing someone, so the 'just friends' thing has been safely established. Which is just as well, as I'm 50/50 about a lot of blokes I'm friends with, but not him. He's a nice bloke but he drinks far more than I could ever be comfortable with, and I pretty sure by the things I've said he knows this. He very kindly drove there and was waiting for me on the last bend when I came in from my last run (he finished way before I did) to cheer me on.

Here's my bike and my box. Next time I'll keep my shoes in it, and not next to it. On the second transition I found one under someone's bike wheel and the other was kicked a few feet in the another direction. 

Kevin (also known as Action Nerd for those of you who have been around a while) was there!

I decided to start off wearing my (very light) bike jacket to save time, but this was STUPID as it meant I was boiling on the first run. I tied it around my waist, but it kept falling off.
And as it was, I didn't wear it on the bike, anyway. I was too hot. I also forgot to put on gloves and glasses.

I was the last out of transition with the bike, but only by a few seconds, and then overtook a few people. I hadn't thought that would happen at all. When they said the rules about overtaking at the beginning, I was only half listening, I couldn't remember how fast it had to be done but 30 seconds ran a bell, so I just did it as quick as I could. One bloke and I kept overtaking each other, he'd get past me then slow down, so I'd go past him again, and so on. But I saw him later sat on on the kerb with cramp during the run, so not sure if he even finished at all.
 On the second transition I took a big gulp of drink that went down the wrong way and ended up choking for most of the second run, as well as having hideous, exhausted legs.

I'm quite happy with my bit of paper.

It was proper hard work, but a good test. And highlighted just how much work I have to do.
So, so, bloody much!

I Want To Be Immunity-Girl!

I want superhero strength immunity.
I've been thinking about infections.
Especially ones that cause myocarditis.
It's all well being fit and healthy and having low cholesterol, etc, only for some little virus creep in and mess everything up. I want my heart, and everything else, to be free of bugs.

I generally don't get much in the way of colds, and cannot remember the last time I had the flu or a virus, but I've had a sinus infection forever. It's tiny, and flares up and goes away, and I think fungal, and due to the dampness of my bedroom, and so I have bleached it and dried it out as much as possible (the room, not my sinus)

So, I am starting a program of immunity boosting.
I think it's already pretty tough as I spend my days surrounded by germs, and for work I have been vaccinated against loads of stuff like hepatitis in case I feel the urge to stick a needle in myself. I spend a lot of time in the fresh air, but don't eat as well as I could, and making certain herbs a more permanent fixture in my life can't hurt.
Garlic is going to become not just something I take when I remember, but I will use it for steaming for my sinuses, and take capsules daily. And incorporate more ginger, echinacea and zinc in my life.

The other thing is I'm feeling a boost of something I wrote about a few weeks ago.
I'm sick of scraping by. I can't see myself ever winning anything, but this fear I get when I have to race is crap. I want to be comfortably in the middle of the field. This stuff would be far more fun that way.
I have 7 weeks before the Turriff triathlon, and although there is a half marathon and few other things between now and then, that is the one I am determined to not totally suck at.

Now I'm going to pack my box for the race tomorrow, and will definitely take my camera :) 

I Feel Like I live With A Psychopath

I nipped out for a few minutes earlier and came back to this scene of carnage on the kitchen floor.
Just one in a long line of death and misery, and things I have to pick up by tails or wings, at the paws of my cat.

There was also much wailing in the night, as she was fighting with a feral cat. So at 1am I was running about on gravel with bare feet, swearing.

I was then awoken again at 3am by a strange pain in my calf.
I think my recent activity is catching up with me a little, so today I just did a 5 mile steady run, aiming for 10 min miles, but did 9.53. I am going to roller them to pieces tonight, and take things easy tomorrow.

Looking back at my spreadsheet, things are motoring along nicely, and I've generally taken more than 30 seconds a mile off  my shorter distances, and nearly a minute a mile off the longer ones, in two months.