A 1.2kg gain at weekly weigh-in this morning, coming in at 73.3kg, but still under the 75kg target. This gain wasn’t unexpected, as the post-Christmas eating has not been too well controlled and there has been very little running due to the calf problems. I think my efforts to be better hydrated could also be contributing to the gain – the scales did show a slight increase in hydration level.

The trip into the Victoria Market was pretty quiet with not too many people around and many of the stalls closed for the break. We did get everything we wanted though, so that’s all that matters.

This afternoon was, again, spent up a ladder, painting.

I am suffering a little nervous anxiety about the ride tomorrow. My right calf is still niggling a little and I have a bit of a pain in my left thigh from a cramp last night. I was reading my blog post from last years Amy’s Ride and this is what I said “The quads and calves are also starting to scream at me at this point”, so how am I going to go if I’m going into the ride already suffering?

Resting tonight, so no exercise today.

A pretty miserable (weather wise) and uneventful New Years Day today to begin 2010.

The only useful job that got completed was re-mulching the garden beds in the back garden.

A trip to Dirt Cheap Books got a few bargains, including a Dilbert desk calendar for under $5, but as usual it was mostly rubbish.

I’ve decided not to run or ride today or tomorrow to avoid any strain on the calf before Amy’s Ride on Sunday, so today’s exercise was a 1-hour home workout tonight.

Firstly, Happy New Year to everyone out there. I hope that 2010 proves to be a year of good health, safety, successful athletic adventures and meeting or exceeding your other personal goals.

For me, 2009 has been a bit of a mixed year. It has been a very difficult year work-wise, as it has for just about everyone else, I should be happy I have a good job, for a company that is starting to see good signs of recovery. I just wished I was enjoying it more. I think one thing I need to do for 2010 is change my work outlook a little, adjust my attitude to it, search for the good things and not let myself be affected by the bad. As they say, “Choose your attitude”.

It has also been a little difficult family wise with a few health issues affecting some close to me. The feeling here is usually one of helplessness, but as Jo said in her comment yesterday, all you can do is be there for them. The recent medical highlight has been how well Kate appears to be going with her knee reconstruction, I hope a brilliant rehabilitation program is a highlight of 2010.

On the fitness front there has been a lot of time spent with the brilliant medical staff at Olympic Park Sports Medicine, but I am happy that I am making very positive progress on the knee front, but some recent calf problems have also restricted me. Due to these injuries my running kilometres were slightly down for the year, although I spent slightly more time running than in the previous year. This was obviously due to the slower pace, primarily during my knee rehab run/walk program. Only three running events for the year, the 14km R4TK and the 5km events at Run Melbourne and Melbourne Marathon. Only one PB, beating my fairly soft 5km PB at Run Melbourne (would have beaten it again at Melbourne Marathon if the organisers were able to measure course distance accurately – sorry couldn’t resist one last dig). The highlight running wise though has been my morning runs twice a week with Deb. Running with a partner is so much more fun, when it is someone as delightful as Deb it is just an extra bonus.

On the cycling front I did a few hundred kilometres more than the previous year, but at a slightly slower pace. The slow down in pace has been primarily due to the increase in more social rides, primarily with my best mate Herb. These have been a boon to me this year, I’ve enjoyed them tremendously. Also the rides with the mob from work down Beach Road whilst significantly more challenging, were also great fun. I did my first two large group events (Amy’s Ride and the Great Ocean Otway Classic) and enjoyed the challenge and camaraderie of these – will continue to do these and add more I think.

Other than a few months in the middle of the year, I really let the swimming drop off to nothing. I’m hoping that taking Kate to the pool for her rehab program might also get me back into it!

Strength wise, giving up my gym membership meant no gym visits for the year, but I have been really happy with the consistency I’ve been able to maintain in the home workout program for the second half of this year. I’m feeling stronger in the core and upper body, and am sure that the added emphasis on stretching, self-massage and specific exercises related to my injuries have been a major factor in my recovery.

Monthly Summary
Running: 58 kms at 5:19 min/km (2009 total 825 kms at 5:34 min/km)
Cycling: 514 kms at 24.8 kms/hr (2009 total 4355 kms at 24.6 kms/hr)
Other: 12 home workouts (2009 total 103)

Phew … it’s been warm today, 38 degrees celcius to be precise. It was too hot to paint, but I did get a bit more preparation work done.

I have made a physio appointment for next week – hoping to get this calf thing sorted, or at least diagnosed.

I picked my bike up from being serviced, with new cones and the wheel hubs rebuilt.

I also got my phone back (it died about a week before Christmas) and it got replaced with a new one, which is good except for the fact that I lost all the data on it, so have just spent the last hour or so putting all my contacts back in. This time I’ve saved them to the SIM card too – duh!

It was still 37 degrees when I headed out for a ride at about 6:30pm. It was obviously too hot for most others as the bike paths were pretty deserted. The ride ended up being 32km, averaging 23.1 km/hr.

… from being able to run strongly again, that is.

I dropped my bike off at the local bike shop today for a service and it’s not going to be ready until tomorrow, so no ride today so I decided I’d test out the calf and go for a run. The first run for a while. I decided to take it easy and run/walk (run 900m, walk 100m) then stretch and repeat. Went okay for the first few kilometres, but in the fourth kilometre I started to feel the calf getting sore and by the end of the fifth kilometre I decided to stop and just walk the last half a kilometre or so home. I’ve iced and put some Voltaren on and it’s just a little bit sore, so hopefully not too much damage, but definitely a long way off being able to run properly still. Tonight’s “effort” was 5km at an average pace of 5:33 min/km (including the walk breaks).

Adrienne and I went down to Geelong today to see our respective parent’s. Dad is still not too good, still in hospital, and mum is struggling a little bit too. We’re feeling pretty helpless about it all, there is so little you can do.

I spent all day today up a bloody ladder again. At least I have finally finished painting the eaves, doing the first and second coats on the last stretch today. Unfortunately that just means it’s time to change paint colour and move on to the gutters. I started this today, preparing the surfaces down the longest side of the house.

A leisurely 25km ride after tea to round out the day.

It was nice to have a little bit of a sleep in again this morning, but then it was back outside to get a bit of work done. Today I finished the preparation, gap filling and masking-up of the last bit of eaves, ready for painting tomorrow. I also cleaned out all of the gutters around the house, there was nearly a whole bucketful of dirt in them! During this job I came very close to falling of the ladder – I was on the second highest step of the step ladder and one of the legs sunk into the ground and the ladder toppled. I managed to grab the gutter and luckily there was a window ledge nearby and I got a foot onto that, righted the ladder and climbed down. I reckon if I’d been wearing my Garmin my heart rate would have gone through the roof! It’s good having a plumber in the family, after I cleaned them out, Chris helped me by fixing a couple of gutters too.

Another trip to Bunnings to buy some supplies for the next part of the outside painting project (facsia boards and gutters), including cleaning supplies and another 4 litre tin of paint.

The exercise today, just before tea, was a highlight, a really great bike ride, just around the local streets, but it was a real hard effort, sweaty sort of ride, and I managed to get my fourth 30@30 ride for the year, which was my 2009 goal. It was 31.58 km in 1:02:50, that’s 30.2 km/hr.

Barbequed hamburgers for tea tonight as we couldn’t face leftover ham and turkey again!

This is the 1,000th post on this blog! When I started In January 2007, I really wasn’t sure how long it would last, not really knowing if blogging was something I’d find useful, or would enjoy. Obviously though, it has proven to be useful to me in helping me stick to my fitness goals, and is something I have enjoyed! Thanks to all of you who bother to read and comment – obviously, without the two-way communication with you it would not be the same!

Being Saturday, today was weigh-in day, and, as I predicted, the Christmas indulgences put an end to the eight week losing streak. However, the gain was fairly small, 600g to be exact, weighing in at 72.1kg, so I was quite happy with that. This was also the last weigh-in for 2009, so my weight / body fat goal for 2009 was successfully completed!

I had planned to get up for an early bike ride this morning but when I woke up the desire just to doze in bed was too great and I stayed put.

The rest of the day was reasonably busy and productive though;

• we braved the local shopping centre Boxing Day crowds
• I did a little bit more painting preparation work on my final stretch of eaves
• I mowed and edged the front and back lawns
• we took Jackie for a nice walk down the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail in Strathmore
• I had a nice 44km ride on the bike just before tea

I hope you all had a wonderful Boxing Day too!

I’d like to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas. I hope yours was full of family and friends, fine food and drink, and some lovely gifts as well.

We had a lovely lunch – as usual Adrienne prepared some delicious things, amongst them a turkish delight, marshmallow and chocolate ice cream, of which I’m glad there is more left!

We were also fortunate to be able to have Dad out of hospital for the day. My brother went down to Geelong this morning to get Mum & Dad, and I took them home this evening. Dad was very glad to get out for the day, very glad to see us all and especially his little dog, Daisy, who he has been missing terribly. He was also glad to call in on their house on the way home and spend an hour or so there. Whilst there he did some therapuetic gardening in his vegie patch and we scored some potatoes, rhubarb and the biggest zucchini I’ve ever seen!

I was lucky enough to be given a couple of DVDs I wanted (“Inglourious Basterds” and “CSI NY Season 4″) and a couple of books I wanted too (“Blood’s A Rover” by James Ellroy and “Close To Flying” on Cadel Evans).

Enjoy your break everyone!

I took Kate to her first post-operative physio appointment today and she got a good report. Laura thought she was doing pretty well for being “two weeks after”. So Kate has a new exercise program and another appointment in two weeks.

So a shortened day at work, and a pretty easy one with very few people in the office.

We’ve just cooked the turkey for tomorrow in the barbeque (we’re going to have it cold) and it looks pretty good.

Out tonight to some friends for drinks and desserts.

No time for exercise today, so let’s call it a day of rest!