A brief update

Well, things have been rolling along here in attitude land. I haven't been for a run for 2 weeks now - the awful tickling cough has prevailed, and now I've got funky eyes happening. I have a full day of meetings in Sydney tomorrow so I will be leaving home at 6am. Yes. That's leaving home at 6am. I don't feel I'll be up at 4am for a workout somehow, so I'll have to try and fit one in when I get home about 7pm. Geez. Just the thought of it, if only for one day, makes me shudder with dread. Oh well, such is life.

So, Wednesday shall mark the return of the cardio session, with Thursday being another 'buddy' workout.

Dear husband's ankle is finally returning to normal - still a bit sore though - and I am damn sure it was not gout. I reckon he's just strained the darn thing, but at least it's making him want me to put together a workout program for him, and make him drink more water.
Small steps. At least now he can get into a workout, we can do the much awaited video session.... then I can finally complete my Cert III/IV.

We went to an all day family barbeque on Saturday in the Blue Mountains, and left puppy safely ensconced in the backyard... or so we thought. When we returned home, and I put the key to the lock... I heard the old familiar sound of.. a dog inside..home..alone.... I opened the door with dread..and saw a sea of foam.

Sitting in the middle of this sea of foam was a stuffed dog - that we named "Dirk" - our friends gave him to us as the house was so empty and bereft of canine companions for a while. Either Dirk was a very naughty boy while we were out, or ..he was framed by one Miss Jemima.
I'll let you be the judge of who you think chewed the cushion. Oh, and it was only a cushion, not the lounge as we had feared!!!

But every door in our home was open so she had been able to go everywhere, and she'd gotten Dirk off of a chair in our bedroom, so she could really have had a field day. Instead she just grabbed everything together, sat Dirk in the middle of it all, grabbed her bone inside and chewed on the bone once she'd finished with the cushion.
Thank heaven for small mercies!!!!!!

Fitness Expo & other waffle

Well, workouts this week have been fairly low key given my flu - I have been walking the puppy each morning (except on Monday when I stayed in bed and wallowed) because dear husband apparently but not conclusively has gout...GOUT?!! this boy is lean, yup drinks a beer each night, but we eat pretty darn well, he tends to eat a little less well and his exercise has been a little lax of late, but he woke up with a sore foot, then two days later the ankle just swelled. Dr said he thought it was gout, and gave him heavy artillery arthritis meds - after doing xrays which showed his joints look wonderful.

So, a week later (of eating bland, low purine and no alcohol at all) and ankle still swollen to buggery, no relief. He goes back to doc and doc very surprised that ankle still so swollen, orders him off the meds immediately...and takes blood. Now he has to go back on Sunday.

So I have had to be superwoman, working, cooking, cleaning, shopping, putting groceries away, walking puppy, being sick, trying to do some workouts...

Thank god I have tomorrow off...which brings me to the Fitness Expo at Darling Harbour, which is where i am going to check out all the great things tomorrow on trade day! Yeehaa. I shall hit the Reebok stand for new shoes - yes, I am so old school with my Reeboks, but...they are the only ones that fit my feet properly, and don't cause any imbalance issues further up the legs. My Asics that everyone RAVED about caused my Rectus Femoris muscles such great issues that I had to throw them away! The minute I swapped them back for the Reeboks it was like instant heaven on my feet. But, I guess, horses for courses! I shall also check out the Lorna Jane stand.

Oh, I'm sick of the rain. AGAIN.

uggg

swollen glands - check
sore throat that feels like I've been gargling razor blades - check
fever & chills - check

I think I have the lurgy.
Nothing like a nice flu dose to stop you in your tracks.

What a smart puppy...

how cute is this? we had a little cute mat that we used to have in Jemima's bed, but it's a little small now, so my husband's been using it to make her sit on in the dining room, to keep her out of the kitchen while we cook etc.
Anyhow, last night, it was in the back room, and we sat at the table to eat dinner. Jemima goes racing out to the back room, and drags her mat beside the table, then sits on it.
Awwwwwww
she's so cute
she's so smart

a beautiful morning, and down to the beach

well, it was gorgeous down the beach this morning. Low tide too - always makes me smile!
We managed to get a warmup walk then jog in, some sprints & stairs and boxing.
Nice start to the day.
Now, it's back to work. Down to earth with a THUD!

Not the sort of thing I usually write about, but....

it's newsy so... what the heck.
Given all the protests that are going on around the olympic torch relay, and now they are saying it's damaging the whole spirit of the olympics..
Um. Okay, let's look at a few facts here:
a/ Tibet doesn't have oil. Therefore, this is the only way they can viably get the world's attention to what is going on re China / Tibet.
b/ The spirit of the olympics. Is that the 4 year thing that hosts a whole range of drug cheats?
I loved watching the olympics in Sydney - it was a great atmosphere and the whole thing was a great thing to watch close up - although I just went to the eventing cross country and the pure dressage (yawn).
But...the whole thing does get a little marred by all the drug cheats such as Marion Jones et al - although you know at the time of watching them they MUST be on drugs. Think back to Flo Jo..god, she came out of nowhere, then was dead just after 40. Hmmm. I loved getting whiplash watching Ben Johnson in his 100m final... I think he was just a good scapegoat too at that olympics, the same one that Flo Jo was at....
BUT, I do ask the question, what the hell were the IOC thinking in awarding Beijing the olympics??

I do feel sorry for the athletes who are involved in this particular torch relay, and I don't necessarily agree that it should be here that the protests are made, but.. given the circumstances, where is the right place? This is where the world's eyes are watching, and rightly or wrongly, it's the best place for this issue to gain the greatest level of exposure. The IOC should have known better than to award Beijing this olympics, or any, until they stop killing innocent people in the name of communism. Only the IOC are to blame for this olympic torch relay debacle.

So, where to next, IOC... Afghanistan, Iraq or perhaps North Korea?

Yay! I finally got out for my run...

I managed to get out for a half hour walk/jog (90sec jog / 2 min walk) session this morning. Just what I needed to loosen myself up from netball!! Who'd have thought I'd be a bit stiff - the stiffness is really around my lower back - just from twisting/throwing etc I presume, and a bit of glute stiffness too.
All good :-)

I didn't get to ride my horse last night though - it was just miserable and drizzly up there and I didn't have the heart or the impetus to get him unrugged and cool/wet and then stick the darn lights on.

I have Friday off, so will ride then.

When I got back from my run this morning did about 20 minutes of lovely stretching... well, apart from having to contend with Jemima's paws in my stomach/chest etc.

FitcomXpo update

I have to say, the FitcomXpo has been a great investment. I've been watching all sorts of stuff from a variety of business presenters, new workouts, just loads of great info. Given that I just couldn't do Filex this year, the $US199 was a much better investment for me.

If you don't know what it is, FitcomXpo is a virtual fitness expo, featuring over 90 fitness speakers from all aspects of fitness. From running bootcamps, to the latest strategies in nutrition, there's over 100 presentations that I can access in my own time over the next 3 months! Certainly beats not getting in to the things you want to, and idly waiting at the doors for 10 minutes after start just to see if there are no shows to your preferred presentation!

Now it's intermittent HEAVY HEAVY rain

Yup..woke up this morning to the sound of torrential rain...followed by 10 minutes silence..then down it comes again.
So, again, I opted for the safety of - a quick walk with Jemima followed by chest & shoulders.
Hmmmm. tomorrow couch to 5k? I won't hold my breath.
My knees were a tad stiff this morning from launching after the ball. I do forget that a/ I'm 42 and b/ you're not supposed to dive for the ball in netball.
Still, playing WD was a damn good interval sprint workout!

foiled by a thunderstorm

well, my best intentions of my beginning of week 2 / couch to 5km was foiled due to a dastardly thunderstorm - so I did a TT workout.
Tomorrow... I shall resume couch to 5km...just means this weeks' workouts are a little skewiff ..
tonight I debut on the netball court.
God help them all!

Week 2 of couch to 5km

Well, next week hails week 2 of the couch to 5km program, so my week will look like this:

Mon: am - 1/2 hour (5 mins warm up/ 5 mins cool down) 20 mins: 90sec jog / 2 min walk - walk puppy after
Mon: eve: Indoor netball.. What the hell was I thinking when I said yes to this? It's been 30 damn years....omigod... say bye bye knees
Tues: TT workout am / pm: ride horse
Wed: Couch to 5km walk puppy after
Thurs: TT workout / eve: PNAU at UniBar! maybe I should grow up
Fri: day off work : oh yay oh yippee.... couch to 5km / then maybe ride pony...go have facial... aaah. bliss
Sat: TT workout / ride pony
Sun: off / ride pony / walk puppy

When only the best will do...

for your hound ;-)
Currently, Miss Jemima gets around wearing this:


However, she is of the 'hound' variety that means her head is a little smaller than her neck - and she can easily slip out of a collar...so, I found these:



which she shall have in purple & gold.

This is what happens when you don't have 'real' kids to dress ;-)

..and the wind doth howleth...

Boy... was it howling a gale down the beach this morning. AND I met my friend to re-resume our weekly beach workout sessions. Well, we trudged in the dark thinking we would go mid way and do stairs/hills & boxing / soft sand - however, as we were walking..and it was dark... we noticed that the tide had created a channel separating us from the other half of the beach..the one with the stairs... and I thought, doing wooden stairs in the dark is probably not the greatest ideas anyhow..
Geez, I'm going to make a GREAT personal trainer! LOL.

So, we dug a hole in the sanddunes for the boxing gloves & focus mitts so they wouldn't blow away - and then attempted to do some jogging /running/sprinting circuits.
We decided, in the interests of our eyes, that it might be best to head back to the kiddy playground on the grass and resume our workout there - where we did stepups, sprints, tricep dips & boxing circuits.

I am looking forward to working out in daylight next week....
but not looking forward to riding in the dark - even though we have 'lights' shining on to the arena, it still creates the worst shadows in which MONSTERS and DEMONS lurk - according to my horse anyhow.. and apparently they have big TEEEEETH!

New TT for abs home workout

Here's another one for you Kristy:

============================
New Youtube Ab Workout Video
============================


It's an ab circuit that you can do at home, and is one of the ab
workouts from Craig Ballantyne's latest program, TT for Amazing Lower Abs - which you can get if you buy TT prior to end April!.

Here's the video:
=> http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=V7CpT-PIKMw

Is this a good deal or what?

This little baby for $295:

Wk 1/Day 2 - Couch to 5km / Turbulence Training B

Well, today was Day 2 of the Couch to 5km program, just the same as the other day, and will be the same again on Friday. Thank god it's only 3 days a week. This morning just the thought of trudging around the same area in the dark just failed to excite me.. still, I did it. Pushed myself a bit harder, and thought I was almost likely to puke at the top of one of the hills :-p Yeah!



Yesterday I did Workout B - which again is followed by 20 minutes of intervals.



Kristy - With Turbulence Training there are a HEAP of workouts that you can use - there are some with equipment, and loads of just bodyweight workouts. Definitely worth a look, but I can't say I'm any type of expert on it, so here are some links & info for you:

Fat Burning Bodyweight Circuit Exercises By line:
By Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MSURL: Turbulence Training for fat loss

Turbulence Training for Fat Loss
When you travel, you worry about missing your workouts and eating poorly...So you must plan ahead for both (apples and almonds for planes, trains, & automobiles)...and bodyweight circuits for "no-equipment fat burning".
And while I have bodyweight exercises that are just as hard as the bench press and barbell squat in one of my bodyweight workouts, today we'll focus on replacing intervals with bodyweight circuits.
To do a bodyweight circuit...
a) Pick 3 lower body exercises
b) Pick 3 upper body exercises
c) Alternate between a lower and upper body exercise without rest, till you are done all 6 exercises
d) Rest a minute.
e) Repeat 2-3 more times until you are done 20 minutes

For example, this is a great circuit that doesn't need any equipment
1) Prisoner Squat (12 repetitions)
2) Elevated Pushups (8 reps per side)
3) Single-Leg Deadlift (10 reps per side)
4) Close-grip Pushups (As many reps as possible)
5) Jumping Jacks (30-60 reps)
6) Cross-Body Mountain Climber (12 reps per side)

Whew. That's pretty advanced...for a beginner, we'd slow it down like this and take some breaks between exercises...
1) Wall Squat (8 reps)
2) Kneeling Elevated Pushup (5 reps per side)
3) Lying 1-leg Hip Extension (8 reps per side)
4) Plank (30 second hold)
5) Jumping Jacks (5-10 reps)
6) Side Plank (15 second hold per side)

Safe travels, and of course, always check with your doctor before beginning a fat burning bodyweight circuit exercise program.

About the Author
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss