One month gone already …

Well isn’t is scary that one month of 2007 has gone already – I am sure the time is going faster as I get older.

For the month I ran 22 times, for a total of 176 kms, average distance per run of 8km, average pace of 5:21 min/km. This puts me approximately 6km, or one day, ahead of my “2007km in 2007″ goal. I biked 6 times for a total of 143km, and swam 4 times.

As far as the weight goal (75kg) and body fat % goal (15%) goes, it has been a good month with the four weigh-ins showing 72.6 (13.7%), 70.8 (13.1%), 71.7 (12.1%) & 73.4 (13.7%).

No races completed for the month, but I have registered for three (Zoo Run, Beat the Boat and R4K).

Tonights run was a 6km run, but not my normal 6km loop because I had planned a longer run, but my left knee started to niggle a bit, so I stopped at 6km and walked about 3km home. I’ve iced the knee and it seems okay, but I didn’t want to take any chances especially with the Zoo Run next week.

By popular demand here is the Cookies and Cream Ice Cream recipe.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

• 600ml thickened cream
• 395g can Nestle Sweetened Condensed Milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1 packet Choc Ripple biscuits, crumbled

Beat cream, condensed milk and vanila in bowl of electric mixer until thick and creamy. Fold in biscuit pieces. Pour mixture into empty 2 litre ice cream container and freeze until solid (overnight).

Don’t crush the biscuits down to dust, just into small pieces is good, the pieces soften when in the mixture.

We use the Skim/99% fat free version of the Nestle Sweetened Condensed Milk, but use full fat cream as the light stuff doesn’t whip very well.

For Sharon, the website that refers to the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts is http://www.rickygervais.com/podcasts2.php, The first season (12 episodes) and the most recent 3 podcasts were free, but season 2 & 3 were ones you had to pay a very small fee for (either through iTunes or Audible.com). I think the free ones are still available through iTunes. I’d be happy to send you the free ones if you want to PM me a snail mail address. The Season 1 files are about 13Mb each episode, so burning a CD with all 12 and mailing it would be the best option. They really are very funny (I guess that is always going to be a matter of opinion, but I have really not had as many laughs from anything else recently).

Cookies and Cream …

Had a great team meeting at work today, one of the best I’ve had for a while. I decided to run a small “team building” exercise at the start of the meeting and was a bit worried about how it would go, but everybody enjoyed it, and we actually all learnt a few things about each other, so have to chalk that one up as a success. I also made some “Cookies and Cream” ice cream and took that and some cones, so everyone liked that too! They wouldn’t believe I actually made it, but I did – actually it is the easiest recipe of anything I’ve ever made – and so yummy.

Straight after work we had the first game this year in the inter-departmental sand volleyball competition. Our IT team won pretty easily (15-2, 15-8, 15-2) despite only having four players, but our opponents were pretty inexperienced, so shouldn’t get too excited.

Did the usual 6km loop tonight in just over 31 minutes (5:17 pace).

27 years …

Today was my 27th anniversary of joining my current employer. To be honest, I’m not sure if that is a good thing, or a bit sad. I joined them straight out of Uni as a graduate trainee and have been there ever since. Oh well, I think I’m officially part of the furniture now for sure …

Chris started his apprenticeship today, and managed the trip to Croydon okay. The good news is they reckon they have an employer for him in Tullamarine, which is very close, so 3 weeks out of 4 (after the first 8 weeks) he won’t have far to travel.

Decided to really try and push myself on my run tonight, and I did – so much so that I ended up with my first side-stitch for a very long time. It was the fastest run I’ve ever done, but did really feel tough. However it was nearly a minute per km faster than last night over the same distance. Tonights run was 8km in 37:38 (4:42 pace).

Got approval today to attend a weeks seminar in Sydney, June 4th-8th, so Blkbox & Beki, hope you’re in town that week and we might be able to organise a run?

I registered for the “Beat the Boat” 10km run today on Sunday March 11th, figured I got no chance of beating that train, so why not try the boat?

A reluctant run

Started off the Sunday with a swim as usual, but my normal breakfast companion couldn’t make it this morning, so I was on my own. Swam a bit longer as a result, did 60 laps, then hit the sauna, then did 10 more laps, then hit the spa, then another 10 laps and finished off with 10 minutes in the steam room. The spa was empty this morning which is always good because then you can lie down and give the leg muscles a good massage in the strong jets – feels great!

Just before lunch Adrienne and I took Jackie for a walk down in Queens Park in Essendon. Funny how Jackie goes mental at every bird she sees in our back yard, but when we’re out like we were today and there are ducks, sea gulls and various other birds in their hundreds, she just ignores them. Stopped at the cafe for a coffee and shared a date scone and piece of date & walnut cake, both yummy.

Had a few odd jobs to do today, including putting a new cord on a couple of curtain tracks, so hit the local Bunnings. Majorly annoyed when I put one of the curtain tracks back up and realised I’d threaded the cord wrongly and when you pulled the cord one side opened and the other closed – I guess in hindsight it was pretty funny.

Had a Sunday roast for tea, leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic cooked in the barbie – major yummy – and Adrienne made some chips out of sweet potato which were good too.

Well it got to after 7pm and I “forced myself” into my running gear and “dragged myself” out the front door. Did an 8km circuit at 5:39 pace – certainly not an inspiring run – then walked a further 2km home. Earlier in the day I had decided to put some of my favourite comedy on the iPod for a change, so went out loaded up with some Ricky Gervais Show podcasts. I’m sure I must have looked strange on my run/walk because at various stages I was PMSL. At home, did 15 minutes core swiss ball and free weights.

So, at least there was a run, couldn’t go four days without one, but I have to say today I enjoyed the swim more than the run.

Lee – if you are a Quo fan, check out the “Just Doin’ It – Live” DVD – it is very good.

No run …. again

No run again today. Just can’t be bothered – not sure what is going on. A few things on my mind, and not feeling all that energized to be honest, maybe tomorrow.

To further solidify everyones opinion on my musical taste, I bought a Status Quo DVD today. It’s called “Just Doin’ It – Live”, filmed in the UK in May 2006. I saw them in April 2006 in a double-header show with Deep Purple, so this DVD, filmed only a few weeks later is a very similar concert to the one I saw in Melbourne, only longer, because the Melbourne set was short as it was a double-header. Looking through my music DVDs today it struck me that a lot of them are 50-60 year olds playing rock n’ roll – maybe it’s a mid-life crisis thing? Still these guys have been making records and playing sell-out concerts all round the world for 40 years so they must be doing something right?

I’ll try and get in some time on the exercise bike tonight and some weights, swiss ball etc. – whilst watching some Status Quo !

Pet peeve of mine that occurred multiple times today – why do people feel the need to travel at 60km an hour on the freeway – if you ask me it’s more dangerous than those who exceed the speed limit slightly.

Goal progress still okay, weigh in this morning saw weight gain (73.4kg) and BF% increase (13.7%) from last week but still well within the goals. Amazingly, despite not running for three days, I am still marginally ahead on the 2007km in 2007 goal (but I will be behind if I don’t run tomorrow).

Happy Australia Day everyone …

Here’s hoping you all had a wonderful Australia Day.

We spent the day visiting family down in Geelong. The traffic was terrible on the way down, 20km/hr from Avalon to Geelong – took us nearly an hour longer than usual. We had lunch with Adrienne’s mum, and then went and had afternoon tea with my mum and dad.

When we got home I didn’t really feel like a run (it was depressing to feel that – even more to write it). I’d also planned a run first thing this morning, but chose to stay in bed. That’s two days in a row with no run, most unusual for me – hope the running mojo is not deserting me. I decided to go for a spin on the bike instead, and chose a different course than usual with a few more hills, so the quads feel like they’ve had a workout – it was 22km in just under an hour. At home I then did a quick 15 minute core and upper body workout.

Blkbox, no can’t say I’ve ever got into Rocky Horror character when running, but have to admit that my running form does seem to get interrupted occassionally by some air guitar or drumming action! What was worse than that though was the day I returned home from a run and Adrienne said she heard me coming up the driveway singing (and if you’d ever heard me singing you’d know that is not a good thing).

Vicky, please bag the poms as much as you like, after today’s performance I think we can definitely say they are the worst team touring Australia this summer, your Kiwis are looking good compared to today. Also, happy to see I’m not the only one with some retro stuff on the old iPod. To expose myself fully, I’ve added a page to the blog showing my current playlist – see if there’s anything else in common.

Musical highlights …

Tonight did the bike ride thing again with my friend Ian from work. Did the same 24km track that we’ve done the last couple of times to see if we could do it faster on a bit cooler day. The wind was the complete opposite direction to the other two times, so we had it in our faces on the way back. There is a particularly large hill right near the end of the ride, so the headwind this time made it a bit tougher. But with the cooler weather, we did manage it a bit faster than last time, only by about 5 minutes though.

I rang Adrienne just before finishing work, and she told me I hadn’t taken my crash helmet with me, so had to race home from work, grab it, then go back to work to start the ride. I tell you, senility is starting to kick in – one of those times I was glad I’m only a 10 minute drive from work to home.

I’ve been reading Em and Stu’s blogs recently about their musical choices, and have been impressed with how hip they are (I’m assuming they’re hip because I’ve not heard of a lot of the music they are talking about!). Like Em, I have an iPod Shuffle – I got it just before Christmas – it is one of the new 1Gb ones that are only about an inch square. I love it – it just clips on my shorts. I’ve got about 170 songs on there at the moment, and with it on shuffle it’s great wondering what song is going to come on next.

Just to prove how un-hip (is that a word) I am, here are some of the songs that I’ve loved listening to the last few runs;

• Love is in the Air – John Paul Young
• On the Prowl – Ol’55
• Jump In My Car – Ted Mulry Gang
• Rock and Roll All Nite – Kiss
• Take A Long Line – The Angels
• The Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show

Am I dating myself or what ?

Bye Bye Nirvanas …

Isn’t it a sad day when you retire a pair of well-loved and well-worn runners. I think tonight will be the last run in my Mizuno Wave Nirvanas. These were purchased last March and have clocked up 876km, and are starting to feel a bit worn, not quite getting the cushioning any more. I wore them in 5 of my 7 races last year, including my first HM, so they have some good memories. Oh well, look on the bright side, soon it will be time to think about buying another pair. For a while I’ll just rotate my Kayanos (455km) and my Grid Omnis (127km).

Tonights run was an 8km loop around the local streets / bike tracks in just over 40 minutes (5:01 pace), followed by a 1.5km walk to cool down.

A nice juicy steak …

We went out for tea tonight to celebrate Chris getting the apprenticeship. We went down to Docklands to the Bluefire Steakhouse. I had a beautiful Porterhouse and glass of Cab Merlot, then cheesecake for desert, and then a gelati as we walked along the dock afterwards.

Got home and took the dog for a walk with Adrienne for half an hour, then went for a 6km out-and-back run (not the normal loop, sticking to better lit streets). Fairly slow though, about 5:50 pace, mainly due to the darkness and being careful of overhanging branches and treading in nasty stuff (are the dog owners in your area as irresponsible as those that live here?).

Somehow I don’t think the slow 6km run worked off all that food

Another terrible day at work today – geez I need a holiday.

Missed out on Boot Camp :-(

Today at work was just another day, spent most of it unboxing, asset tagging and inventorying about a quarter of a million dollars worth of network gear. We are converting to a new asset management system which is managed by our shared services people based in India. Communications across regions and cultures can sometimes be quite time consuming and frustrating.

Decided to go out for my exercise after tea tonight for a change, which was good – it was a beautiful evening to be out, and quite a lot of other walkers, runners and cyclists out and about.

Tonights exercise was a three part saga. First was a 6km run round my standard local loop, ran quite well finishing in 28:14 (4:49 pace), then hopped straight onto the mountain bike for a cool-down ride around the local streets / bike paths, this was 13.6 km in 38:17 (21.3 km/hr). After returning home did about 25 minutes worth of free-weights, swiss ball and pilates core work.

Also pleased to report that Chris joined me for the first part of my run, but chose to take a slightly shorter path home – great to see him out there in his new runners!

Bad news for today was that I tried to register for a boot camp at the gym but found it was full with 10 people already on a waiting list. I was going to do it to try and get back into the habit of getting up and exercising in the morning a bit. My discipline in this area has been very poor so far this year.

Thanks for the comments on the blog Vicky, but are you trying to make me feel old with those comments on the 70’s – it’s okay, I know I am old