Wednesday, November 24, 2010

perspective


what really matters in life...

Friday, November 19, 2010

best smoothie ever

just had to post this smoothie recipe as i've decided that it is the best, tastiest and most refreshing smoothie i have ever made.


berry aloe smoothie
ingredients
1 cup frozen mixed berries
2 apples
1 punnet fresh strawberries
2 oranges
1-2 scoops pea protein
1 cup rice milk
1 cup iced water
2 large fresh aloe vera leaves


directions
- remove outer green part of aloe vera leaf to extract gel.
- throw everything into the blender except for water and aloe vera and blend until smooth. throw in aloe and enough water to reach desired consistency and blend for a maximum of 10 seconds (read something about maintaining the nutritional/medicinal quality of the aloe vera with minimal blending).
- drink


** no photo of this delicious smoothie as i was too busy drinking it...



Tuesday, November 16, 2010

weekly update: 15-21 november

training week summary (15-17/11/2010):


mon AM: 15k easy run

- typical lake loop. achilles felt good which proved the session on the grass yesterday was a good idea. 


PM: 21k mixed session (dr. van aaken style)
- have been re-reading van aaken's book and it made sense to me last night. so ran the following session 10k easy (sub 130HR), 2kMP (surprised to see HR figures 15-20 beats lower than marathon race effort for marathon pace PB), 3min jog, 10 x 350m with 50m walk, 2k tempo, 3k easy. felt great at end of session. heart rate never above 80%mhr.

tue AM: 16k easy (run/walk/jog/sprints)
- loop of the lake with some extensions to get around the learner drivers. threw in a couple of 30 second sprints on the return trip. felt tired but better after eating.

PM: 32k easy run (sub 140HR)
- used van aaken's guidelines to keep hr in the 130-150bpm range. backed off on the hills and cruised the rest. surprised to hit the 12.5k checkpoint 1 minute quicker than my usual long run effort. extended the turn around and ran back feeling great. finished the run wanting to go further. about an hour after stopping legs started aching and i had trouble sleeping.


wed AM: 13k easy
- unplanned loop through jamisontown to regentville and back via the river. started with a 5min walk to warmup the achilles which was feeling a little tight but ok after about 500m of running. didn't bother me for the rest of the run.

PM: 14k easy/steady


thu AM: i know i did something in the morning and at lunchtime but have forgotten. high volume training has eroded my memory even further. 

fri AM: 10k easy + strides


PM: 35-40mins w/ tempo intervals
- headed to the grass oval to be kind to the legs. bored after 1600m (not sure why i thought it would be any different this time). workout heading into the sleep train-style repeats on short rest with the plan for anything of up to two hours worth. short rests became slightly longer and then much longer at the sighting of sean and mel standing on the side of the track. was ok chalking today's effort up to a recovery day.

sat: nothing yet

sun: something bigger than saturday?

weekly totals:
run km






Wednesday, November 10, 2010

weekly update: 8-14 november

training week (8-14/11/2010):


mon: rest day - cross-training
- felt like i bruised my heel yesterday during my arvo run and together with my tight achilles decided to try something different. so hit the gym and jumped on the elliptical thingy for 45mins. didn't feel very manly so set it to a hill workout program and upped the intensity close to max. was overtaken by the fit old lady next to me up the incline and was forced to set the intensity back to a more modest level - hid the panel with my towel in shame. note to self - pay some respect for activities other running. heel and achilles felt good with reduced impact so tested it out on the treddy and ran 15mins with the incline at 10-15%. cruised the speed with heartrate less than 70%mhr feeling good.

tue: 11k w/ tempo intervals (55min) // 17k easy (1:17:36) // 15k (1:06) steady
- after yesterday's rest day decided to try and squeeze in a bit more running. first run felt good so put in 8-10x500m threshold efforts with 500m steady just to break it up. second run was a bit longer than planned around work as i decided to explore more territory. third run was a couple of laps in and around centennial park (sydney) while waiting for the teenagers to attend their hordern pavillion concert. ran too hard but was excited to see all the runners out there. included a couple of surprisingly good hills. made it back to the car and consumed the best post-run food. dinner one - fruit salad and dinner two - biggest salad (spinach, cos, mushroom, caps, cuke and mango with balsamic vinegar) i've ever seen thanks to my wife. i was stuffed but two hours later i was dreaming of food and hoping the concert would soon finish.
 wed: 14k easy run
started out running around the river again but bored with the idea i headed for the heights. found some quiet back streets but wilted in the heat. this humidity is draining me. have to start carrying a water bottle...

thu: 15k easy run (1:12)
- strapped on the heartrate monitor to forced myself not to exceed my aerobic threshold. felt hotter than it should due to himidity. made sure i stopped at each watering spot, drank and drenched the hat. surprised at the splits considering the effort recorded on the polar. tried running slower but lost form. all splits within 1-2sec of each other. hoping for cooler conditions at c2k but planning for heat. added water spray bottle to equipment list. perhaps my 3yo can man the water blaster and have some fun shooting me as i run along.


- scout night tonight but thinking about heading out for a few hours from 10pm on to rack up a long run and build some confidence that i can go the distance.


fri: 2 x 15+k runs


sat: 40min easy run

started out on the road but turned back with achilles pain. frustratingly drove down to the oval to see if running on the grass would be better. thankfully it was and i was able to run for an hour easy without pain or discomfort. at the hour mark boredom set in so ran the last hour as 400m steady (88-90sec)/45sec easy (~100m). 
weekly total: ~140km run

sun: 2hr easy run w/ intervals

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

weekly update: 1-7 november

can't believe it november already!


training week (1-7/11/2010):

mon: rest day
- decided to reward myself with a day off. actually foot was a little sore over the weekend so took today off to see if that helped.


tue: 12k easy (50min) // 13.7k (59min)
- ran the typical lunch route out to regentville and back. felt like i was crawling along but pace was quicker than i realised.
- planned on running three loops again but stopped after two due to foot bruising. felt ok but playing it safe this early in the week.


wed: 14k w/ workout // 2h30 trails easy
- got bored during the morning run and ended up running 9 x 400m moderate (90sec down to 80sec) finishing with 5 x 30sec on/off. felt good to break out a bit of pace.


- second run in the national park up to the helipad and back. legs felt like death!


thu: 15k steady run (1:06)
- solid run out for a loop of the lake.

fri: 16k easy run (1:12)
- around the streets of penrith on the way to pick up the car. felt easy and relaxed. resting up for a bigger one tomorrow. running only once a day feels like i'm tapering. better stop eating...

sat: 3hrs easy
- drove down to the m7 for some mindless bike path running. was planning on running for longer but path was cut north and south forcing me to turn around. running past the car for the second time i decided to call it a day. took it easy but still ran faster than i should have. splits were around 4:30-4:40 pace. felt like i was stumbling forcing myself to run slower. might play around with walk breaks to help slow down and go longer.


sun: 1h20 easy // 1hr easy
- got out for a solid run at lunch and then backed up with a couple of loops of the river on the way home. planned on going longer but helped a young couple break into their car. actually by the time i stopped the father had already broken his car window in an attempt to get in. 
total:  ~166km run

still haven't managed to put in an extra long run. need more weekend mileage!!!