Random Things

Bit of a cliche post... but it's Friday and I feel like throwing some random things out there. What I've been doing, eating, whatever!

1. Kicking butt at Words with Friends with a 71 point word... yep, triple word, triple letter, using all my letters.... ok so I'm a nerd.. who cares ;)

2. Making amazing overnight oats... this was oats, vanilla soy milk, and half the banana cooked in the microwave for three minutes, heaps of cinnamon added... then extra banana added on top after. Pretty simple, but I think the vanilla soy milk really took it over the edge because it was AMAZING....

3. Taking gross pictures of my broken toe... this is after one month of injury... looking kinda angry, and still super fat :( I won't show you the pics I took closer to the injury... eww!

4. Getting up at 5 am to volunteer to take photos at the running club's weekend race - going again this weekend. I figure while I'm out of action, might as well help out! First actual "volunteer" work I've done. Felt good! I think a lot of people didn't like me taking multiple photos of them though... there was like 100 people in the race and I took 1000 photos (it was an out and back multiple times race) :S

This pic is just the view I had before the first runners got to me... that's my tiny little city across the other side of the river :)

One of the better shots I got... blurred the dude out coz I don't know him!

5. Uni starts back on the 27th of Feb! After sitting around on my butt for four months (well, not totally - I did work for a month of it) I'm wondering how I'm going to take being extremely busy again. I do love being busy, and routine, but I have (slowly!) gotten used to not having much to do.

6. Totally random, but I'm in a job which requires me to travel (sort of by choice, though), and have been debating whether to go away for six months at the end of this year. It means delaying the half-marathon I was going to run, as well as deferring uni in second semester, missing some of uni this semester, moving my exams around, quitting the gym & kickboxing, putting my stuff in storage, sorting out finances and bills, living in a foreign country, and STRESS STRESS STRESS... I'm so gonna do it though! Face the fear and do it anyway...

7. One other thing... I've installed intensedebate and I so don't get it. None of the comments that have been sent to me by email are showing up on the blog. I've checked on the moderation and all that and "accepted" all the comments, but none of them show up except my "testing" comment??! Anyone got any idea, or should I just can the stupid thing and return to blogger comments? Grrr arrrgh...

Not counting calories.

So I went and saw a dietician a couple of weeks ago, to try and get some answers on how much I should really be eating with the activity I do. At the time obviously I was running, whereas now I am mainly swimming and cycling thanks to zee toe... She gave me a few pointers on some of the areas my nutrition was lacking (mainly calcium, need more vegetables at lunch, and cut down on my PB intake *gasp*) She also gave me a great plan to follow which should both help fuel my workouts / help recover as well as help me to lose some weight.

To be honest, I've been struggling to follow it! I follow it almost completely, except I have generally been eating one extra snack each day than she has put in the plan, and as a result my weight has been staying stable instead of me losing... which isn't too bad, I guess. I think also the reason I haven't lost anything is because I have been going out for dinner more often than usual, and indulging in a few of these:

Affogato - espresso shot poured over icecream. They are so freaking amazing. When I get obsessed with something food related, having it once does not cure the craving. I usually have to have it, like, once or twice a week probably five times before the craving goes! So I've been kinda going with it and indulging the craving. Just looking at that picture makes my mouth water...

One other thing which has been fantastic and the biggest relief ever, was following the dietician's plan means I am not counting calories. I feel so free! I have wanted to stop counting since forever, but having a plan in front of me means I feel like I finally have permission and can finally do it without feeling like I'm under or over-eating accidentally. It's so great!!!

On the workout front.... I am so bored of swimming. I guess it's because I don't know what to do. I kinda just jump in the pool and swim laps for 30 mins or an hour. Intervals doesn't make it more fun, and neither does changing style every 10 or so laps. I used to love swimming, but that was when I did it once a week. Doing it four times a week now, it's getting pretty old. I'm enjoying the weights I am doing though, and at least on the exercise bike I can pull out a magazine if it gets dull.

Oh well, one week of recovery down... five to seven to go??!

New exercise plan

Ha! Stupid no-running depression, I am totally kicking you to the curb with my new little exercise plan...

Instead of my usual:
4 x runs per week
2 x kickboxing (which I haven't been doing due to work + injury + christmas hols since NOVEMBER ugh)
1 x easy cross-train (swim/elliptical)
3 x weights (usually only manage one per week anyway)

I now have planned:
4 x swims per week (1 long, 1 fast, 2 easy)
2 x indoor bike (1 HIIT, 1 hills)
1 x easy cross-train (probably some game on Wii or modified yoga to only use upper body)
3 x weights sessions (mostly arms, though I think squats would be OK?)

It will be different, and hell yes I will still miss running, but this is a way to keep myself sane....

Oh, and I finally got the results for the cross-country I ran on the weekend... yes with my broken toe (I was clearly in some serious denial). I came 56 out of 86, lol... 20th out of the females and 6th in my age group. The girl who came first in my age group ran at a 5:13 pace. Totally doable, if I had actually run at race pace.... gets me motivated for next time!!

Here's some pics from the locations where the race was:

Yep that's my tiny little city in the background :) 

So purdy!

Broken toe :(

I know this will sound weird, but I was really glad to find out I had "broken" (hairline fracture) my toe. I have been limping for 10 days and the toe was still swollen, and I felt like I was being a sook thinking it still hurts.

Glad in that way... super upset in another. It was not even that long ago that I was really happy to be running at a 6 minute/km pace consistently. Well, today (yeah, after I got the X-ray, because I'm an idiot) I ran a 5 minute pace. (8 minute mile). I promise I will stop running if the doctor tells me to do so tomorrow when I show her the X-ray - as much as it pains me to say so. My toe hurt like hell after I did that run... I don't know what I was thinking :(

Anyway. So like always seems to happen with runners, just when you feel like you're getting somewhere good, along comes a fun injury. And mine wasn't even running induced, which annoys me even more. If you missed the story - I dropped a 73kg item on my shoe while at work.

I tried the elliptical and it hurt, the bike hurt too (the foot strap mainly kept touching my toe), and the rowing machine (which was sort of OK...?). I also tried doing a lunge and almost squealed.... so I'm left with probably upper arm strength work and swimming? BORING...

I'm guessing the doc is going to say 4-6 weeks to heal, since that's what Google has told me. Basically the whole of the rest of my uni holidays :( I was already bored enough without my running being taken away from me!!! Ugh...

 Here's the break - it looks like it's on both sides. The left bit actually protrudes on my toe and you can feel it... not like out of the skin or anything, but it's a distinct bump. In actuality it is a pretty mild fracture, but I've never broken a bone before so it's kinda fascinating to me.

Also - it is very difficult to take a photo of an X-ray.

In completely random other news, trying to boost my mood I had my first taste of fro-yo :D This was banana & chocolate, with blueberries, choc chips, m&ms, jelly beans, froot loops & gummy bears (Basically most of the toppings - I was going to go with just blueberries & choc chips but then I thought why not....!)

It was pretty good except some of the lollies were kind of stale :(

Also - I apologise for being super lazy commenting on blogs / replying to comments lately. I have no excuse since I'm still on uni break... I read blogs and then just don't comment... not sure why!

WIAW - Raw food cafe

Thanks Jenn for hosting this again :)

So anyway the last week or so where I live has been extremely hot. The last two days were 38'C and 40'C and this is the forecast for the next week:

Like.... WTF?! Seriously?! To put it in perspective for you Americans out there... 38'C is 100'F and 42'C is 107'F. The minimum temperature is hardly a minimum either!!!

My house doesn't have air conditioning... so I'm spending my days sticking to the leather couch and not moving a great deal. I have managed to drag myself to the gym for a run yesterday (where I splashed the crap out of the treadmill with sweat... isn't that a beautiful image??!) and a swim on Monday. Tonight might be another swim, I don't think I can face the weights room...

To anyone who says they are jealous, you have obviously never suffered a week of this heat... and to be fair, neither have I. Usually it is two to three days and then the relief of a cooler day - and that's bad enough!

Anyway enough talking about the weather, since this is in fact a WIAW... today mum & I went off to a Raw Food cafe. I've been wanting to go ever since I found out it opened up. It was FREAKING AMAZING....

Here's what we ate...

First out was our smoothies... mine was the green one (spinach & banana and I forget what else) and mum had the mango... it was like a lassi but with almond milk and walnuts and stuff. I tasted both, and both were delicious.

My main meal (nachos) This was soooo delicious. The crackers were I think flaxseed and buckwheat dehydrated, then a tomato salsa, guacamole and cashew "cream cheese". I ate every single crumb.

Mum's soup. She couldn't remember what was in it. Flax crackers on the side. It was yum though!

My dessert... a florentine. I can never say no to these, and why not a raw version too... (You can see how hot it is by the fact half the chocolate has already melted before I've touched it...)

Raw chocolate cheesecake. I tasted this too... it was SO GOOD! The base tasted like a walnutty mix, and I don't really know what was in the middle but it tasted pretty unhealthy even though it wasn't ;)

I would definitely go back there! The meal was about $65 for both drinks, both mains and desserts so pretty average pricing. And I felt full but not disgustingly bloaty gross full like you usually feel when you eat out. So it was great! 

This weekend I'm supposed to be running in my first club race which is a XC, but I'm pretty sure it will be cancelled. They said they will cancel it if the fire danger is in "extreme", and at the moment in the seven day forecast that's what it's saying... :( Hope it changes!!!

On other news... the foot that I dropped the generator on is not really healing and I swear there's a bone sticking up where it shouldn't be sticking up. I can't walk without pain, but I can run without pain. Work that one out.... :S It's also still swollen. But since I can still run without pain, I plan on it!!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Wednesdays :D

Everything will be OK.

I can't believe what a different person I become when I'm surrounded by people I love. I'm happy, bubbly, outgoing and apparently really funny. I just spent two weeks in Melbourne with 20 of my workmates. We see each other twice a year for two weeks, and we have become really close. I had such an amazing time and have a renewed vigour for life, I hope that it lasts!
I think a lot of the problems I was feeling before I left was just too much time on my hands to think. When I was surrounded by friends 24/7, I did not worry or think about food all the time. I was more relaxed. I didn't feel depressed, except 1 day when I just felt off anyway.
I ate really well and did heaps of exercise the first week:

Saturday: rest
Sunday: Interval run session with friends:
4 x 400m
2 x 200m
8 x 100m
(Pushups & squats inbetween each rep)
& a 1.25 km swim.
Monday: arm workout with friends: heaves, pushups, leg lifts & shoulder presses.
Tuesday: 4 km run
Wednesday: 5 km run
Thursday: random gym workout - kickboxing for 30 mins, legs for 30 minutes + 0.5km in the pool.
Friday: 5 km run + 1.65 km swim
Saturday: rest

All of the workouts were awesome fun.

The next week wasn't as great as I got busier with work and injured myself on the Wednesday:
Sunday: 9km run (split into 5 & 4)
Monday: 10 minute swim
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 7.5 km hilly run

and then nothing for four days...

My injury was sustained during work, basically I was lifting a generator which weighs 73kg out of a vehicle trailer with a friend, and must have lost my grip, it landed on my foot. Luckily the shoes are pretty good (not steel cap, but tough enough!) So all I sustained was dark bruising, swelling and a black toenail. It really hurts to bend the big toe though, so I've been limping around and not running. I'm hoping it will be fine soon?? I'm very lucky to have been wearing those shoes....

I plan on spending this week mainly doing swimming and strength work so to let it heal properly, but if I'm desperate I might give a go at running tomorrow and see how I feel.

I must mention also that I'm pretty proud of how disgustingly I ate in the second week... I know that sounds crazy haha :P But I literally had like 3000+ calories in the last three days (each day) - mostly in booze and hangover food! Had some AMAZING nights, and they were seriously really fun, so it was worth everything. I even had a Hungry Jacks (Burger King) meal and enjoyed it... mind you at the time I was really, really drunk and probably seriously needed it. The best part??? I didn't feel overly guilty, because I knew it was just a couple of days of fun and then I could resume eating normally and everything would be OK. I also did not count calories for the whole two weeks.

Increasing mileage.

My fridge looks something like this again :(

And I really miss these muffins. They were super amazing. But I'm not in the mood for baking today - mainly because I don't feel like doing the dishes! I'm also not in the mood for shopping. Time for PB & J sandwiches, because we always have PB, J & bread!

Oops, off topic already :P

Anyway. So I would call myself a "beginner" runner, as although I've been running for about a year, I've not really been doing much mileage due to the injuries I've had from going out too fast too quick. I've been reading a lot of Runner's World, R4YL, Women's Running, Women's Health and running books, running websites etcetera as these injuries still plague me - mentally. 

I'm so so worried about getting injured and not being able to run again that I'm really careful about my schedule. I try to follow the 10% rule but there will always be something that will happen, like having to go away for work for a week or getting sick, and then I don't know how to pick up the schedule again.

 That or I run a race and I don't know how many days till I should run again, and then what kind of mileage. It seems like reading all these books and magazines should give me the answer, but it doesn't. Like there's sooo many schedules out there for "how to run a half-marathon" but what about once you've done the half-marathon?

Anyway so I've got the Runner's World Smartcoach app on my phone, where you plug in the statistics for your last race, current mileage and stuff like that and it comes up with a plan to run a race of your choice. I've been following it for five weeks so far no problems, but I'm still paranoid about injury. Like, it tells me to run at a 7:50 (km) pace, but I find this ridiculously, painfully slow and usually go at 6:50 instead... which is still slow, but I feel like because I'm not following it exactly that I'm going to get injured. I'm quite tired after each run and... I don't know!!! I'm basically using the app to attempt to increase my mileage, probably up to the point of running 30 km (18 miles) a week, but I may go for more, depending on how I feel.

I'm also finding it really difficult to not throw in a sprint or two, or just some faster running in what's supposed to be an easy run.. I just really love the feeling of running much faster!! Even if it's only for 10 or 20 seconds... Yeah, that's why I get injured ;P

How do you get over your fear of injury?? Despite getting as much knowledge as possible, and doing all the right recovery stuff...

This week I ran 21 km (13 miles) split into 3km, 8km & 10km. Maybe it would be easier if I split it to 5, 6, 10? or 6, 6, 9?

Next week one of my friends is going to do some interval training with a coach, I think maybe I should go with and just ask them these questions. Otherwise, I'm off to educate myself some more with my new Runner's World magazine... (November edition :D)

Sorry for this completely rambled and confusing post!

EDIT: I should probably add I'm also doing 2-3 kickboxing sessions a week, which sometimes incorporate sprints, and can also be quite demanding! Just went tonight and got absolutely smashed, with pyramid kicks, sprints, pushups, situps and all that kind of stuff...? I don't know, that might affect my running recovery also! OH... and anyone using blogspot... how do you reply to comments?!

Blisters and Natural beauty?

I'm baaaack...
I had a fantastic time bushwalking through the south west of Australia, it is such an amazingly beautiful part of the world and such untouched beauty!
The four of us got along really well and we had a great time.
In the end, we managed this:
Day 1: 31.2 km (~ 7 hrs)
Day 2: 26.1 km (~ 7 hrs)
Day 3: 22.7 km (9 + hrs)
Day 4: 10 km  (5-6 hrs)
Total: 90 km.
The reasons for the progressively slower timings?? Bad planning... Me and the other girl on the trip had horrendous blisters by the end of day 1, which just slowly got worse. One of the other guys stuffed up his knees. So the three of us pretty much limped about 60 km of that entire walk. It is the furtherest I have ever pushed my body beyond pain. We were seriously walking less than 2 km an hour by the last day, and it was really, really slow going. I am really pleased with the fact that even with painful blisters and really tight calves, we still pushed our bodies, still kept going and it was really amazing how much your body will put up with!
I also saw my first snake in the wild and didn't totally lose it, although I did scream one night on a trip to the long-drop toilet when I heard a noise as I opened the door.
The terrain was constantly changing - beginning with tall trees and fallen leaves underfoot, changing to beach flora and fauna and constant undulating terrain - enough to drive you batty. Seriously, the day of 22.7 km (day 3) was so painful. There was about 3+ hours of non-stop up-down-up-down-up-down the sand dunes, and one GIGANTIC mountain of a sand dune which was like, 1 km long and took us about an hour!! It is seriously hard work climbing those dunes!
I was planning to upload some pictures but I'm short for time. So this will do for now.
Oh, and despite over 30 hours of exercise in one week, I lost only 1 kilogram. I'd like to hope that means that I ate well enough to support all the exercise, but I know that I actually didn't eat enough... so what is going on there, I don't know, but I feel better about myself anyway and lots of cardiovascular fitness likely gained from the endless hills!

Ahh, and for this week?
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Yoga & 3 km easy run (not sure how this will go due to one blister on my big toe being infected and extremely large...?)
Wednesday: BodyPump
Thursday: Hill run 3km
Friday: cross/trainer & BodyPump
Saturday: swimming 30 mins
Sunday: 5km race

Trying some new foods...

So today I was a little more adventurous with my food intake, taking note of a few blogging favourites out there and giving them a go!!! I love blogging because of that, I've discovered so many new things to eat and ways to make things :)

Breakfast was pumpkin oats, with a spoonful of ABC spread on top. I wasn't hugely fond... it was nice, and healthy, but it really wasn't something I would rave about and eat over and over... especially with the fact I had to actually cut up, cook and blend a pumpkin to make it! (Although this was made with leftovers from yesterday's muffin mix)

For a snack I tried this one, which I think I found from .running with spoons.'s blog - crumbling up a muffin and mixing with yoghurt. This is one of my pumpkin muffins from yesterday's post, with a bit of strawberry jam, some greek yoghurt and cinnamon. Pretty good combination, will definitely have it again! Especially if I have dry or overcooked muffins, as the yoghurt makes it nice and mooshy.

Then I tried this kombucha stuff. This was "original recipe". I have to admit... I'm not a fan. The first mouthful tasted like vinegar, the second sort of reminded me of beer, or cider that was kind of off. I'm not overly convinced of the health benefits either as there is conflicting information out there about it. I gave it a good go though, drinking about half of the bottle. I tried diluting it with water, but I was not won over!! Yeeuck! Maybe it's better if it's flavoured or something? I dunno, but it was gross.

Workout today: went for a short 3.7km run, took it slow as for some reason my knees are now playing up. Sigh. I tried to get the motivation to go to a BodyPump class but it just wasn't happening, my body seriously wanted to just get out there for a run, so I listened to it.