Totally freeeeezing!!!

Omigod, the wind this morning was from the South West...and boy did it cut you like a knife. I jogged the beach in my fleece....which is pretty unusual for me..honest.
I am so loving the really low tide this week....
Back to kickboxing tonight!
Well, I critiqued myself in the mirror this morning - and there are definite body composition changes happening before my very eyes.... finally! And trousers that I bought a couple of weeks ago that were snug are getting pretty loose already. I think it's the combination of
the cold
the Precision Nutrition plan and
the kickboxing

oh... FINALLY today..our hot water is back on the roof....I will not miss boiling water for 1/2 hour in the morning for my bath.

I can't wait to get home from kickboxing to get in the shower ...bliss! hehe.

Weekend...

What a weekend! Ha, well, hot water... let's say that baths are becoming boring.. but still, better than nothing! Tomorrow is the day we have our solar power heater back on the roof.

Oh..our roof... it's finished. Just like our ads say, we made the right choice. The houses on either side of us are tiles, like we had. But our new sleek steel roof, just looks stunning. Can't wait until the rest of it's finished now.

Friday night. Hairdresser to Caroline, 'what colour were you thinking of?' (me, plan ahead?), me to hairdresser, 'whatever you think, i trust you'. Mwaaahaaahahahaaaa
well, it's gone from blonde to dark browny/auburn. Whoa. what a shock. Oh well, it'll fade off.

Saturday was an early start - I wanted to throw some rose petals into the water off of Sandon Point where I scattered Mum's ashes last year. It's been 2 years since Mum passed away.

Then went to kickboxing...then rode the horse - it was howling a freezing gale up there, but the pony just acted cool, calm & collected. Then my girlfriend brought her 3 year old off the track filly over for a roundyard session & ride around the property with 'uncle Kado'. Uncle Kado reckoned this young filly was might perty and kinda hot stuff for a young chick. This young thoroughbred was as cool and calm as her old 'uncle' in the howling gale. Sensible pony.

Took Suki up for her weekly treat up to see Kado yesterday. It really is 'Suki's' time up there when she's there. Poor Kado kind of resigns himself to the fact that I will get to him once I've dried Suki off from her several swims in the dam.
All up there were 6 dogs up there by the time we had finished - Grace the foxie cross, Boris the Mastiff/Ridgeback (who I just LOVE - he's one special boy), Jack the schnauzer (with a little too much attitude, but he fell in love with this new older woman that was around, one Ms Suki), Mindy the pomeranian cross, Bundi the springer spaniel cross and Ms Suki, the kelpie cross. It was probably the most dogs that Suki has ever been 'loose' around and they were all fabulous together, so she had a great day.

Paul was off down at Wakefield Park doing supersprints with the Snotmobile yesterday and while he was sitting on the grid, someone came up and said hi to him, it was Matt from the Body for Life forum! Very cool.

Last night I finished typing the assessments for my special populations module (the penultimate)...it is now safely emailed to Fitnation with my exams being sent to my JP as we speak...

Well, this morning I headed down to the beach - the tide is out for miles at the moment. Bliss! So I jogged 1.5km then did a 200m fast run / 200 m soft sand jog x 4 then headed home to heat water/draw bath....

Yay..it's Friday!!!

Well, Friday has rocked around quicker than expected....it's raining too. Silly me decided I would do a dumbbell session in my garage yesterday instead of hitting the beach..but then I had to do another garage session this morning because it was pelting down. So..I grabbed out my old step, did some boxing technique moves & alternated with my version of a step class.
THEN I had to haul butt back upstairs to get the water that was boiling on the stove into my bath! LOL it seriously is like being back in the dark ages. Novel. Very novel. But if that damn solar heater isn't back on my roof today then the novelty will wear very thin very soon..like..now..!
Of course, who knows if it will be possible to stick the thing back on when it's raining.
Getting my haircut & coloured tonight. One day I will get around to sticking some photos of me on here - but...no need to scare people so soon.
Now, I really hate getting my hair coloured at the hairdresser. So much time wasted!!!! But I finally decided to relent and let them do it...trouble is, having short hair requires cutting every 4-5 weeks, which means... recolouring. So I always figured it was not only a waste of time but a waste of money too. Oh well, you only live once.

Oh...my horse..well, I started to lunge him (pre-riding as he has 'isseeeuws'). He must have just had a bit too much pent up energy, because the first excuse he could find (the sensor light coming on outside the shed) he started bucking and careering an snorting around me, then the head went up, neck arched, tail went up like an arab (he was clearly pretending to be a black arab stallion apparently), and he bounced his way around me again. Finally I managed to get him to stop, he let out the biggest snort. And..all was quiet and mosy again!
Funny bugger!

Aaah, well, off to kickboxing tomorrow morning, then up to ride the pony - weather permitting.

No Hot Water!!!!

Now, amidst all the joy of having a new roof, new gutters, new back room, there has to be a little pain right?! Well, that pain is possibly going to be in the shape of COLD showers for a few days (at least I hope it's only for a few days...well, I hope it's only 1 day...)..We have had one of our two roofers off sick yesterday with the vomiting bug...then the other left after a few hours feeling queasy also...then the crane turned up as promised this morning to remove our solar hot water system from the roof. Now that thing has been there for 20 years at least, and we thought for sure it would crack or be damaged in the removal process...(actually I better not speak too soon..it still has to be picked back up by the crane and returned..) anyhow, the hot water plumber said it still looked in great nick! Well, we see what happens when it gets put back on.

This week has been so busy at work. So many projects going on at the moment - we have budget left that we need to spend!! Crazy time. New TV commercial in the pipeline, two brand 'stingers' being shot for the Lifestyle Channel, New online brand centres, new online colour centre, and new photo shoots for new brochures!!!!!
But... I have beached on Monday morning (LOL, sounds like I did a whale impersonation), kickboxed on Monday night, hit the beach with my friend on Tuesday morning, - and the sand has been hell, no hard stuff for those two days, Rode the wild beast last night who was just pretending that EVERYTHING was so scary as he leapt around like a young loony, it helps just to laugh at them when they do that - that way you don't portray any nerves (because if you're scared, then there must be something really scary around), and it really calms them down...eventually. Luckily this morning, the tide was a little lower so I had some firm sand to jog on, then I hit the soft stuff for some sprints, tonight is kickboxing again.

Something is working at the moment. The fat is starting to drip off me, which is great... this is generally where I start to get into strife. I get scared to change things, but I KNOW that changing things is the best thing to do to keep it up.
I need to add more weights back into my routine but at the moment I'm enjoying beaching in the mornings and kickboxing/riding at nights. That will have to change! I think I might have to swap one of my beach mornings just with some dumbbell workouts - or swap my Wed kickbox workout for a good weights session!

Winter was here this morning....

12 degrees when I dragged myself out of bed this morning. Of course, locked in the sanctuary of one's warm house doesn't allow one the luxury of knowing this until they are heading down the driveway...shivering....
Took a while to warm the old bones up on my run this morning...so I opted for soft sand sprints after my 1.5km jog.
Can't wait unti June when the whales start migrating back up North.... imagine jogging along the beach as a humpback whale is playing around in the water nearby....I will have to take my camera each morning just in case.
We've seen a few heading through each season - pods of pilot whales and the odd humpback or two. Spectacular stuff.

bizarre

I can log in from work to this blog, but not from home... must check security settings!

I think I have officially mastered the most withering look today.... my day has been filled with dealing with idiots. If only people could use their brains.

But I digress... just came across a couple of recent photos of my dear little girl, Suki - who has many more names, and answers to them all (spooky, spookalini, spooky bear, banana bear, pooky nana bear...you name it...). She developed a heart murmur this year, and is currently on heart pills and now more recently diuretics to help keep the fluid from the lungs. I don't know how much longer we'll have the pleasure of her divine company, but I am grateful for every day that I do.

More Rain....

I really hate dreary days... probably the reason why I never missed leaving the UK as a child...winters in the Gong are bad enough, but...nothing could compare with a bleak UK winter.. grey stone cottages, grey trees, grey footpaths, grey sky .. that is, when it's not dark (which is about 18 hours of the day). Quaint.
There... I feel better now after wallowing in greyness memories.
Still, did a good kickboxing workout last night, but it was skipping rope hell. I have this hate/hate relationship with the skipping rope. I watch these others, doing these flash moves not an 'oops' to be heard. Then there's me, oh, and to be honest, a few others all managing a few childish skips before oops..giggle..sh!t.. Oh, and the instructor thought it was great to do an extended skipping warmup last night - complete with making us (or trying to make us) do one leg, then the other...then knees up, faster..yeah right. There was much oopsing from me last night. I have a real problem with focus and momentum when I just can't do something. My boredom levels overtake me.
Don't get me wrong, I love the kickboxing class, the way it gets you sweaty and the way you can get stuck into the bag kicking and punching the bejesus out of it. BUT I do have issues with the lack of fitness qualification of the instructors, and consequently the contraindicated exercises that they try and make people do. The lack of knowledge in correct form for certain exercises such as squats. I CAN'T HELP MYSELF when I see people doing things wrong that could possibly cause them injury. I HAVE TO HELP THEM CORRECT IT. Those people then think...why is SHE telling me this? she's just a newbie freak that can't skip.
Gosh. what a whingey whiney blog so far. Riveting stuff caroline.
This is what happens when you start the day with the sound of wet stuff falling on the tarp above our heads. Yes, where most people have a roof, except those people that live in a tent, or in our case, us idiots who are having renovations which we were told would be about 2 weeks in duration...and now look like 2 months would have been a better calculation.
*sigh* I can see why people just DON'T BOTHER. LOL.
Especially when you remember ALL the things you TALKED about that you wanted. Then all of a sudden, all the things you TALKED about BEFORE they quoted, are 'extras' ... KERCHING, KERCHING, KERCHING... goes the sound of the cash machine...
Perhaps I should have stayed in bed this morning.
Clearly I got out the WRONG side. But, if I did, my husband didn't make a sound as I trampled him into the mattress in my hasty exit.
Well, no beach this morning. Just walked the streets - I live in a very hilly zone on the side of our escarpment, so it makes for a great workout walking our streets. Then I finished off at home with just body weight squats, lunges & my peterson step ups. Jeez my right knee makes some interesting squelching sounds doing these....

low tide...

It's been excellent down the beach this week with low tide - so much firm sand to just jog, run & sprint on! YAY!!!
So far this week has entailed (apart from lots of work...! *yawn*):
Monday morning - ummm...the alarm failed to wake me....did have a shocker of a night's sleep though. Sometimes it's okay to go with the flow....
Monday afternoon - thankfully kickboxing! Did 1 hr study ...
Tuesday morning - Beach - mixed 1.5km jog with firm sand sprints - 80m
Tuesday evening - Ride the wild pony. Poor thing, had the dentist check his teeth on Thursday and it appears that in his last accident he must have fractured a tooth - and stopped using one side of his mouth...all fixed now though... teeth all even again, so hopefully he'll start using that side again! Got home to find Precision Nutrition v.2 waiting for me, so can't wait to have more than 5 minutes to get stuck into that!
Wed morning - Loads of firm sand still - jogged 1.3km then did 200m fast run on firm sand, walked up to soft sand, then jogged 200m in soft sand - did 5 circuits of that, then went down to the firm sand and did a mix of 60, 70 & 80m sprints, then decided to stretch & head to the shower..
This evening is kickboxing again, more beach tomorrow morning, ride pony again on Thurs night, and beach friday morning, then sat am will be my weights session - legs, chest & triceps. - I'm only doing one weights session a week at the moment purely because I am enjoying the kickboxing - and that's quite an upper body workout too - and then I can just concentrate more on getting a good leg workout in. Did notice a vein in my shoulders starting to pop out in my shoulder workout last week... much to my husband's horror at my excitement LOL.

have we moved to the northern hemisphere?

It's positively balmy outside...about 27 degrees to be precise! Just like a mid-summer's day in the UK! what the??? Although someone at work said they'd just heard on the radio there are 'snow showers' on the way tomorrow for the blue mountains...huh?? LOL, you can guarantee...if we've still got no roof on the back room, we're bound to be in for snow in the Gong (be a first, but hey!).
Kickboxing was another good hard workout last night - we did lots of kick routines against the bag - low, power and head kicks...that gets the heart rate up!!

This morning's sunrise - complete with full moon setting over the escarpment, was quite spectacular once again....
and...there was some firm sand...so I avoided the soft stuff like the plague and did some good 60m firm sand sprints - until the tide started to claim my spot!
Off to ride the pony again tonight.
Splashed out and ordered Precision Nutrition v2 yesterday - thank god the special is $50US off because that's about how much the international postage was! Ouch. Still...the Metabolism Advantage book has been excellent, so I now eagerly await the new investment.

Tomorrow is up in Sydney, well, St Leonards at our advertising agency, then Surry Hills to our PR agency...so will have to pack well for my food!!! Our advertising agency ALWAYS brings out this reallyYUMMY stuff though...LOL...it's a real exercise in self control to avoid it.

sunrise

This morning the sunrise was just stunning.... and I have to say, every morning when I get down the beach I think the same thing..I should bring a camera down. But do I? nope.
Well, there was a fabulous fluorescent orange/pink strip along the horizon..couple that with the beautiful silver ocean with tinges of pink....magic.

There was a bit of sort of firmish sand so I jogged that, then did some 60m soft sand sprints with a walk in between. That was HARD. I think the last few I ran out of puff at about 40m! LOL.
The funny thing was there was some young boy jogging along the soft sand past me, and I'd just finished a sprint and was having a drink, as he passed me he picked up his speed and ran for about 20m, then slowed down again. What the? I just wonder what this 15yo boy was trying to prove to this old 41 yo woman?
Hmm, son, when you're 41, come back down and we'll see what speed you're doing through the soft sand. LOL.

Renovations & inhabitants

Many many years ago, we had what sounded like a herd of elephants living in our roof. Okay, they were rats, but it seemed that, the more ratsak we provided, the more they came and partied. It really sounded like a ratty rave party. Then..one day...no more. Silence. My husband had to go into the roof to do something, and found what looked to be the Taj Mahal of all rats nests. Inside this 'taj mahal' was a large skin...recently shed by one obviously very well fed snake.
We would occasionally see the odd skin shed over summer, here and there, but never got to see the shedder. Until one Melbourne Cup night about 3 years ago - I had been at a party, drinking far too much champagne, and was back at home outside in the barbeque area whilst husband was cooking dinner..it was dusky...I looked at the lattice beside our gate and saw this thing that looked like an exotic sea slug...it was just a mere portion of our diamond python, now about 6 foot long, winding her way back into her lair. She has since been affectionately known as 'diamante'.
The only time I have ever been upset with her was when I did have two cute little tree frogs that lived in the wisteria (unfortunately, on Diamante's nightly route) - one day, I found a skin winding through the wisteria, but no frogs. Clearly they had just been too much for her skin to take! LOL.
Anyhow, what does this have with renovations? Well, we're getting a new roof. We had warned the builder about Diamante, but hadn't seen her of late, and she wasn't in her usual lair, so we had assumed the worst - she must be getting on in years now.
Well, the builder was up in the roof, inspecting the trusses this morning, and discovered one Diamante, fast asleep, curled up high in the roof. Wires have said to just let her be, she'll apparently just remove herself from the fracas and return once the builders have finished! Cute.

Oh...just for Sue...got down the beach this morning! Yay :-) NOT an inch of hard sand though, all soft sucky stuff. Legs very tired now!!! Will attempt to ride the black beast tonight too.

what a blur of a weekend

hmmm, I feel as though I blinked and missed the weekend...not quite sure where it went....let's see...
Sat am - kickboxing, friends popped over, went to horse, then friends over for dinner - mammoth cooking effort including dessert - Pistachio madeleines with chocolate sauce.
Sunday am - had to drive to Bowral, pick up mother in law, drive to Blue Mountains, sister in law's birthday...finally got home at 7pm.
Flash & it's Gone. Oh well...here's to next weekend of no plans - except, maybe, a weights session & ride the pony and do some STUDY!!!

This week's plan:
Mon am: was going to get to the beach, but it started to pour just as I stuck my head out the door....and since I'm still doing the 'black lung' thing...decided to just do a makeup no weights leg circuit this morning - soooo hard with my weights shoved away in the garage where i can't access them...
Mon pm: kickboxing
Tues - Fri am: beach workouts, weather permitting
Tues & Thurs pm: ride pony, weather permitting
Wed pm: Kickboxing or weights session - probably KB.
Fri pm: rest...
Sat am: weights ; ride pony
Sun: rest...& ride pony

I'm really struggling with motivation for my job at the moment.... MUST find some motivation other than the obvious (bills...which will be increasing with the renovations!)

coughing up lungs....

Aaaah, what a great picture...
one woman, jogging through the soft sand, stopping every so often to cough up the odd lung or two....then soft sand sprints.... again, interspersed with the odd cough.
What is wrong with this picture?
I HATE being sick.
But then again, who doesn't?

Managed to get to the gym last night and did a good legs & back session. After working out at home for so long, it's kind of good having to go to a gym and gee, just having to use their plethora of stuff... the smith machine, hack squat, leg press, lat pulldown, seated row instead of just having to make up my own things with a barbell and trusty dumbbells and more than adequate bench!
People did look a little strangely at me as I was doing my Peterson Step Up though.... but, it is a kickboxing gym..and not many people are using the weights...which is great for moi!

Am planning on kickboxing tomorrow morning, then hopefully, weather permitting, ride my wild pony...then Sunday will be a well earned day of rest. We have friends over for dinner (bringing the mini infector aka Eva with them ;-) ) So I have found a lovely lamb loin with lentil and rosemary aioli recipe in my cookbook to try... which apparently goes beautifully with a nice shiraz... as if I need an excuse to have a nice Shiraz! LOL.

Sunday is off to a sister in law's birthday barbeque in the Blue Mountains. So no time to ride the black wonder horse.. he won't be impressed.
It took him a couple of days to talk to me after being away all weekend.
He usually greets me with a massive big deep whinny when he sees me walking in the distance. When I got back on Monday he turned his back on me. Funny boy :-)

Back to the beach....

With lurgy gradually getting back under control, but a bit tight in the chest, I got down to the beach to meet Donna, my workout partner. It's been a whole week away from the beach!!! I really didn't know how my breathing would go, given my chest feels constricted, but I managed to jog the length of the beach okay, then because we didn't have any really good hard sand sprint areas, we had to opt for soft sand sprint sessions.
So, I marked out a 20 metre line, then a 40 metre line, and we rotated between doing the 20mx2 shuttle run, then some squat jumps or lunges, with doing the 40metre sprint with walk back and tricep dips. We did that for about 40 minutes! Good workout. Legs struggled a bit at times.
Off to the kickboxing gym's weight area tonight for a leg workout.... with all these renos going on and my weights stored away under the house I am DYING to do some weights...!

Oh.... and can you believe that we had the most rain we have had in FIVE YEARS on Monday night? How typical is that when you have had your roof taken off?! LOL.

Will go for a run on the beach tomorrow morning, then kickboxing on saturday morning.

Project VMO

For the next 8 weeks I will be working on Project VMO. Yes... I intend to have visible Vastus Medialis within 8 weeks...
courtesy of the Peterson step up...http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=36606&tid=105

Filex!

Well, what a weekend. I signed up as Event Crew for this year - a/ because my horse's injuries had put paid to any spare cash that I may have ever had for it, and b/ until I am earning from the fitness industry its not a tax deduction, so... roll on next year I say!

All event crew had the briefing on Thursday from 12-2.30, then I wasn't schedule to work until Friday afternoon - first afternoon on the desk and the second and third afternoons (12.30-7) I was scheduled as 'door bitch' on the Parkside Auditorium, which meant I could listen to such luminaries as Paul Chek and Len Kravitz, as well as Seamus Dalton.

The first morning I jogged on over to the Pyrmont Park to check out Suellen Dennehy's outdoor session, before hoofing it back to quickly chuck my tuna & salad down before clocking on. Luckily my first afternoon we had some quiet time, so a couple of us snuck into the lecture by Tony Boutagy on Lower Limb assessment and programming. FABULOUS stuff!!! I am so glad I got in there. He demonstrated the Klatt test to determine where people's weak/tight areas in their legs which helps you to focus your programming on those areas. Talk about valuable information!!!

Len Kravitz was interesting - very scientific though - but for those that have read Metabolism Advantage, kind of reiterated what John says - the optimum time for your body to utilise carbohydrates (and for you to eat them) is within 3 hours of your workout.

Popped in to listen to Gavin Aquilina for his 'wicked workouts' session - but ...nothing groundbreaking or astounding there...just common sense really.... still, not bad on the eyes!

Had a go in the session for balance devices for PTs - that was excellent.

So, for my first foray back into the fitness world, I was totally impressed - at least I have a much better understanding of the things I would attend if I was paying - because I know now that I would have been trying desperately to swap a few things at the last minute - but working as event crew and trying to attend as many sessions as possible leaves you NO time whatsoever - so my best intentions of at least catching a five minute hello with Kek was not to be - but maybe next year.

I now have a dreaded lurgy to contend with, courtesy of my friend's 6 month old who had just had her needles on the Thursday I arrived, and I guess because I ran myself into the ground a little I was a bit susceptible! At least it waited until Sunday afternoon before it started to say..ahem...Caroline...how would you like a little scratchy throat...before it turned into swollen glands which I could feel swelling with every kilometre I got closer to home on Sunday night!

Still, it didn't stop me from kickboxing last night...I thought a good sweat may do me good, but ...I felt a little worse for wear again this morning so ..maybe that wasn't so wise.

We have also broken the drought.... our renovations started on the house yesterday and the builders decided in the morning, yes, we will take the back room roof off....
I can honestly say we haven't had rain this heavy in quite some time!! There is now no roof between our dining room (which is closed off) and our laundry...my husband casually reminded me not to lick any of the power points in the laundry this morning...
and you know, that was exactly what I was going to do too! LOL.

Beautiful morning for the beach....

Slept like a log last night, which was great, compared with the tossing and turning I did the night before....was probably too exhausted the night before!!
Anyhow, up before dawn, down the beach, jogged 1.2km, and there was some firm sand, bliss. So I managed to get 10x60m sprints in on the gradually decreasing area of firm sand (some of the sprints were through water towards the end!) Tide was determined to come in despite me.
Then I shifted up to the soft sand and did 5x40m soft sand sprints. Figured that would do me considering I will be going to kickboxing tonight - yes another hour of sweat & torture.
I'm still feeling the stiffness in my lats, rhomboids & hamstrings, but figured this time I may just really concentrate on technique over and above trying to kill myself too much.

This will be my last blog until next week, when I've returned from filex!

Kickboxing convert

Well, I have to say, that is one of the best /hardest workouts I've encountered for a while. I did give it my all though - no pussyfooting around punching & kicking those bags - thought I might vomit at one stage....so had a quick recovery then got into it again.
Excellent stuff. Will definitely be going back on wednesday night!
Felt pretty fatigued on the beach this morning - my arms hurt at first when I was jogging, but... I soon forgot about it. We did beach sprints (2x20m) then one set we did 10 pushups, then the next set we did 10 sit ups, then we did 10 tricep dips, then 10 pop squats. then water, and start again! Then I marked the sprint session out to 40 metres, and we just did 10 x 40 metre sprints with a walk recovery in between.
So, off to ride the pony tonight, hopefully my legs will still be working!

Sssssnakes

Diet has been so good today...but must be lacking carbs....the fundraising snakes are calling to me!!! But I shall ignore them...400 calories I DON'T need!!!!

And I don't need them to fuel my kickboxing workout...

kickboxing again

okay, if you can't tell, I'm excited about kickboxing.... this is where I'm going:
http://www.reflexcentre.com.au
I'm also going to check it out for its weights area - my weights have been put away indefinitely until our back room (my previous gym area) is renovated..... which involves laying of new slab, new roof which goes over our entire house, etc.... we've got the builders in doing the roof & slab, but it will be up to us to finish it off - which knowing our lack of spare time could take ages!!

So I need to find a weights area. Was toying with checking out fernwood which is just literally a hop skip and a jump away down the road, but.... the whole girly atmosphere doesn't appeal, nor does the meat market of fitness first appeal....so... I'm kind of looking forward to checking out the feeling of a kickboxing studio.....
more reports tomorrow (and hopefully I won't be too sore to do my beach workout in morning!)