Winter running highlights - Garmin Forerunner 225 and avoiding mud

It's been 3 months between running highlights posts. In part, this reflects the challenges of running in winter. There have been some beautiful moments - like running in snow, and on clear crisp mornings with the sun coming up - but also lots of grey skies, drizzle, and mud. Mud is a new challenge for me as this is the first winter I've run in England outside of a city. London parks provided mud too, but the Kent countryside excels at it!

However, I have hit on a couple of scenic routes that are mostly mud-free. It has also been 3 (nearly 4) months since I received a Garmin Forerunner 225 as a birthday present. Today's post combines one winter route highlight with some reflections on the new watch.

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October running highlights - Tonbridge to Penshurst 13 mile loop

It's been a long time since I've shared fitness-focused posts, which is a shame, because running is still very much a part of my life and it feels odd not to feature it more on here. Historically, I've been mindful that there's only so much I can write on the topic before I bore my regular food-focused readers. Recently, I've been wondering if there's a way to share my love of active pursuits whilst still appealing to everyone. My idea? To share a particularly beautiful run once a month, with the details of the running route (if you care about such things) but also the scenes (which, I hope, will be beautiful even if you don't plan to run them).

Barden Lake, Haysen Country Park, Tonbridge

Today's run is a 13 mile (20.95km) out and back route from Tonbridge to Penshurst Place and Gardens in Kent. Mr Bite can take credit for introducing me to the route, and we first explored it by bike on a dual-use cycle path. We are yet to visit Penshurst Place but the route is a great way to take in some beautiful scenes.

It doesn't matter exactly where you start in Tonbridge, but you'll want to make your way to Haysden Country Park, which is the starting point for many a beautiful run or cycle. If the day is clear you'll have sparkling views but if you're running in the morning in October you may be met with fog such as that visible below!

Approaching Haysden Country Park from the Tonbridge playing fields 

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Cycling in London

Before we moved to London, we thought cycling would be a useful way to offset the adjustment to life without a car. Then we watched a few too many episodes of 24 Hours in A&E with severely injured cyclists, and, subsequently, moved over and realised that many 'cycle lanes' in London leave a bit to be desired. If you're lucky, you share a lane with buses. Quite often, cycle routes are just regular roads with no cycle path at all, but designated as part of a cycle network.

My bike came across in our shipment, so for our first few months in London I couldn't have cycled even if I'd wanted to. We did a lot of walking. Supermarket trips were limited to what we could carry in backpacks and with our hands, and if we wanted to visit somewhere more than 4 miles away, we had to figure out a public transport route to get there. Home delivery was incredibly useful for heavy objects.

A typical bike lane

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Fitness Fridays - Giving up a gym membership, and loving it

Back in May, and in good timing for our mid-June move, my Australian gym membership expired. At the time, I mentioned to a friend that I had been a member for over 5 years. When I later reflected on that statement, I realised that I had been a member for 13 years. Clearly I am losing track of time in my old age! 

My new 'gym'

With that length of membership, you may imagine that giving the gym up was unsettling. In fact, the transition has been surprisingly lovely. It has also been very freeing. With being a member for so long, I'd come to view the gym as something I 'needed' and an essential lifestyle feature that I would always indulge in. Before I discovered running, the gym provided my main (sole) source of exercise, and it was one of the few places where my thoughts could wander or work through problems in peace. But then I did discover running, and in particular, the joy of running outside. I gradually gave up some gym days so I could fit in outdoor runs, but there was an uneasy tug-of-war between my desire to run and my desire to get good use out of my gym membership. In May, I was running outside 3 days per week and using the gym 3 days per week; as previously, I was struggling to fit in pilates. I would have liked to run more, but didn't want to use the gym less.

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Out and about in Perth #7 - Hillarys Marina

We have been packing a few outings into our recent weekends. Most notably, we have actually been to the beach. I know this may not sound very eventful, especially during Australian summer, but there are all sorts of barriers that usually prevent our beach attendance.

Hillarys Marina, late afternoon

For starters, Mr Bite and I share an unhelpful ability to burn within 15 minutes of sun exposure. Sun cream is no guarantee of avoiding this outcome. Going to the beach during the middle of the day is pretty much never going to happen.

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Fitness Fridays - Cycling into the new year (plus blog house keeping and the winner of the Paul's warehouse voucher)

Last year, I started 2013 with a leisurely 25km bike ride. As I wrote about at the time, it was a lovely way to bring in a new year. So lovely, in fact, that I decided to repeat the experience to welcome in 2014.

I left home a little later this year than last (7.30am instead of 6.30am), which means I saw more people on my outing and didn't quite have cycle paths to myself. However, the sunshine was equally sparkling and the scenes I passed were equally beautiful.

Scarborough beach cycle path, ~8am

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Fitness Fridays - Perth Half Marathon 2013

Last Sunday, I ran my second half marathon.

In contrast to my first half (the Bunbury Half Marathon in April this year), this run didn't have 6 months of advance planning or carefully tailored training. Having run 21.1km once, it is, of course, much easier to run it a second time. I've been running steadily since April and it wasn't difficult to focus my training after we returned from our northern Australia holiday in mid-June (8 weeks before race day). I moved my long runs from 14-16km to be a little bit longer, peaking at 19km.

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Out and about in Perth (#3) - walk trails, bike trails, and beautiful skies

Last weekend, Mr Bite and I went for a leisurely, long bike ride along a stretch of Perth's Swan River. Doing so made me think that it was time for another 'out and about in Perth' post. And so! Here we are.

Hello my bike

For those of you not familiar with Perth, the city grew up around the Swan River, which extends from the Perth hills east of the city right down to Fremantle in the west, where it joins the Indian Ocean. The riverside areas provide opportunities for walking, running, cycling, dog walking, and picnicking. 

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Fitness Fridays - podiatry, gait analysis, orthotics, and new running shoes

I've been meaning to write this post for a while now. Unusually for me, I have struggled with how to start it. Do I tell you about my experiences with orthotics from age 12 to age 18, when my tendencies towards over-prontation were identified? Do I tell you about the running seminar I went to where I heard about gait analysis? How much detail do you really want on orthotics anyway?

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Fitness Fridays - Run for a Reason 12km race and thoughts on 'failure'

Pre-race

As you might have noted, last Sunday I ran a 12km fun run before setting into pikelet eating. I ran the same race, known as Run for a Reason, last year, but the course was changed in 2013 to reduce it from 14km to  12km. It's only the fourth year the event has been run, and last year was quite poorly organised. This year the start and finish locations were moved, and the organisation was much better.

It's a bit difficult for me to sum this race up. For a start, it is only the fourth organised running event I've participated in. I have inserted a table below that shows the events I've run over the years. The more important issue, though, is that this is the first race where I haven't reached the goal I set for myself. I wanted to finish in under 1 hour 5 minutes. My race time was 1 hour 5 minutes and 50 seconds.

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Fitness Fridays - New clothing purchases and discovering wiggle.com.au

Just to confirm, this is not a sponsored post and the clothes I am discussing are ones I bought myself.

When I was doing my PhD, I didn't have much income but I lived at home and also didn't do much besides study and work. On a Saturday, it was highly likely you'd find me in my PhD office for some of the day, but that I would then head out shopping afterwards. The shopping tended to be of the clothes variety, as distinct from the necessities and essentials variety. 

I find it ironic that now, with a greater income (but also greater expenses, it must be said) and theoretically more time, I very rarely go shopping. The flip side is that when I do go shopping, I seem to make the most of it.

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Fitness Fridays (on a Monday) - Bunbury Three Waters Half Marathon

In the very rough system that drives my Fitness Friday posts, I would have posted on a fitness-themed topic last Friday. However, as those of you who follow me on facebook may have seen, yesterday was the Bunbury Three Waters Half Marathon. I have been training for the event since the start of the year, and my superstitious self didn't have the confidence to post about it two days ahead of time. I also couldn't bring myself to do a fitness post on something else as, frankly, everything else seemed trivial last Friday.

And so, we have a post today instead.

Finish line from afar (courtesy of Mr Bite)

I first mentioned this half marathon when I did my post on 2013 goals. In 2012, I'd hedged my bets, setting a goal of doing a half marathon (21.1km) or a shorter distance. Coming out of injuries in early 2012, I went for the shorter distance, a 14km fun run. This year, there was no hedging! I signed up for this race way back in November last year, giving myself lots of time to prepare.

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Fitness Fridays - running club ventures and 5 weeks to half marathon time

After mentioning on a few occasions that I am training for a half marathon on the 14th April, I thought it might be appropriate (5 weeks and 2 days out!) to touch on what I have been doing in the lead up to that.

As we know, I have been running on and off for 4 to 5 years now. The 'off' periods have largely been due to injuries, ranging from mild to more problematic, as well as a certain lack of confidence that I could actually be a runner. Up until 5 years ago, I strongly believed that I would never be able to run more than a few kilometers at a stretch. This was in spite of being moderately fit in other regards, and able to do other forms of exercise for extended periods of time. I just didn't think running was for me.

It may go without saying that believing you can't do something is a fairly sure-fire way to ensure you can't do it.

I have now got over my running mis-beliefs, allowing me to fall head-over-heels in love with the activity. Despite this, I have approached my half marathon goal with a certain amount of trepidation and a lot of planning. I have been building up my mileage very, very slowly. I have read lots of running articles and blogs, a fair few books, and even invested in Matt Frazier's No Meat Athlete half marathon roadmap. Matt is a vegetarian runner and his half marathon guide (which is an e-booklet you purchase online) covers training plans, diet, and general points relating to running in general and the half marathon in particular.

I adapted Matt's training guide to give me 3 running sessions (vs. his 4) and 3 cross-training sessions (vs. his 1-2) each week. My runs incorporate a Saturday morning long run, which has gradually increased from 10km in January to 16km last weekend; a Tuesday morning 5km moderate pace run; and a Thursday morning session of intervals, either hills or speed or both.

The above spreadsheet is small for a reason. Please don't try and base your own activity on what I've been doing - I am not an expert on training plans! I am including it simply to show the degree of planning that has gone along with this goal. All being well, my longest run prior to the race will be 18km a week from now.

The reason this post is happening today is that I have recently been able to move my Thursday morning interval run to a "running club" group setting. The running club in question has operated through my gym for several years, but used to happen in the evenings and had an added cost (albeit very small). Happily, it has recently been re-branded as a "group fitness class", which means it is free, and one of the two sessions is now on a Thursday morning instead of in the evening. That Thursday morning session happens to be intervals (the other, Tuesday evening session, is a 5-7km temp run). Thus, it is almost perfectly designed for me.

This is what comes to mind when I think about running.

I went to my first session two weeks ago with a fair amount of anxiety. Would it be too hard? Would everyone else be really good? Would I feel foolish? Would I want to stop half way through? You can probably guess how I was answering those questions in my mind.

Yet again, my thoughts and doubts were my own worst enemy. I loved the session. It was hard, but in a good way. There seems to be a lot of variation in the ability and speed of the runners who attend the sessions, with some being absolute beginners and others super-fast athletes who are way ahead of the rest of us. I am probably in the top third with regard to speed, which surprised me, and there are two girls who run at about my pace, or a tad faster, which gives me something to set my speed on when running in a group.

In the first session, we did a 2.4km time trial and then alternated 400m laps of an oval with sets of lower body and upper body exercises (think squats, push ups, planks). In the second session, which was yesterday, we did 1km repeats, running 1km (2.5 laps of the 400m oval), walking or slow jogging 400m to recover, and then doing it again to give 5 repeats (5km) in total. Everyone runs at their own pace, so you can push yourself as hard (or not) as you like.

I usually run my long runs at 10-10.5 km/hr (6.2-6.5 miles/hr), which equates to 5.4 - 6 minutes per kilometer (9.1 - 9.4 minutes per mile). My shorter runs are a bit faster, but not dramatically so. With the 1km repeats yesterday, my fastest loop took 4 minutes and 45 seconds, a speed of 12.6 km/hr (7.8 miles/hr). I would have said that was impossible for me if I hadn't done it.

I am only two sessions in to my running club participation, and still 5 weeks off knowing whether my half marathon plans will come to fruition, but at this point in time - I already feel so rewarded from the last few months and every part of me is hoping and longing to keep it up and reach those 21.1km in April.

Do you run or train in a group? Or have any half marathon advice for me?

Or, do you have any experience where your own doubts have been your biggest challenge?

A note on comments: Following on from my last post, after turning the Disqus commenting system on, I had to turn it off again due to various problems associated with the latest 2012 Disqus release. Most pressing is that Disqus is not compatible with mobile views of my blog, and if people leave a comment through their mobile phone it goes into the Blogger comment system but not the Disqus comment system and thus doesn't appear online (!). Not allowing people to comment with their name and URL is another challenge.

I apologise sincerely for the back-and-forth shifting and promise I'll leave things be with Blogger for now. I also apologise if you encounter spam as a result of that.

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Fitness Fridays - A New Year's Day bike ride

I have mentioned before that I prefer sleep to partying on New Year's Eve (or any eve, for that matter). One consequence of this is that I can start the first day of the year relatively early, if I so choose, and happily refreshed, at least in theory.

I apologise for phone quality photos throughout

This year, we returned from Dunsborough on New Year's Eve, which meant that the 1st of January was the first day in a while that I'd had access to more than my feet for exercise. Fond as I am of my feet, and the running they allow me to do, I like variety in my activity too. Cycling was looking appealing.

At 6.30am on the 1st January, I headed out on my bike.

I cycled to the coastline, where the sunshine would suggest 10am instead of 7am.

I cycled along cycle paths, which I had mostly to myself.

I cycled through trees, welcoming their shade.

And as I cycled, I felt such joy.

Joy at the process of movement.

Joy at the early morning light that twinkled and sparkled even as it made me hot.

Joy at being able to cycle 25km and enjoy every minute of it.

And most of all, joy at the sense of possibility that comes from being on a bike, half way across your city, on the first morning of the first day of a new year.

That morning captured so much of what I love about exercise. It is a heady combination of freedom, movement, beauty, challenge, and possibility. And I love it.

What is exercise for you?
And more generally, what joyous things are happening in your life at the moment?

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Fitness Fridays - Why I broke up with Body Attack

Nearly 18 months ago, I did a post about Les Mills Body Attack classes. Body Attack was the first group fitness class that I tried and liked, and I stuck with it as a result. In January, I even set a goal of maintaining my weekly involvement in the classes across 2012.

I haven't been to a Body Attack class since March.

And I don't mind.

Here is why.

At the end of last year, my various injury-prone body parts all started playing up. My knees (traditionally my biggest problem area) were okay, but my hips, iliotibial band and back were very unhappy. I started getting weekly headaches again, something that affected me years ago but these days I generally manage to avoid.

In January and February, these difficulties persisted and I also developed plantar fasciiitis, which refers to inflammation along the underside (plantar fascia or arch tendon) of the foot. I used all of my 2012 physiotherapy benefits in the first 10 weeks of the year.

When trying to work out what had set all of this off, I thought back to what had changed in the second half of 2011. The answer, of course, was Body Attack. I raised this with my physiotherapist with the hope that he would say "oh no, I'm sure it's not that" - but he didn't. Instead, he asked me to explain what the class involved and then, very reluctantly, agreed that it could be the culprit.

My physiotherapist is a sports physiotherapist who hates telling people not to do activity. I have always found him to recommend doing (strength or stretching exercises) rather than stopping, which is one of the things I like about his approach. Given this, I took his reaction quite seriously. I stopped Body Attack as a result, initially viewing it a short-term trial stop, but later deciding it would be a long-term permanent stop.

Within 2 weeks of stopping the classes, I started to see improvement in terms of mobility and pain. It took much longer, many months, to really iron out the issues that were affecting me (particularly those relating to my ITB, which still niggles after running) - but I definitely noticed improvements after stopping that I wasn't getting earlier.

Now, I don't for an instant believe that everyone who does Body Attack will have problems. I suspect it is simply a poor match for my over-pronating feet and my back and neck difficulties. It is a class that involves lots of jumping (meaning it is high impact and jarring) and lots of sideways as well as forward movement (meaning it is difficult for my feet to keep themselves correctly aligned). I have learned to manage the postural challenges that come from running, but Body Attack seemed to take those challenges to a whole new level.

Running out here instead of Body Attack-ing inside isn't so bad anyway

I cut Body Attack out, went back to regular gym work (of the solo, non-group fitness variety) and kept running as the one high impact, jarring activity I care about.

Do I wish I could do Body Attack and not be injured? Yes, a little. Do I think it is possible? Yes, if I worked at getting my muscles strengthened and aligned. I'm sure it could be. Do I think it is worth the difficulties? No. No, I do not.

And so, Body Attack and I are no more. Running and I are a happy partnership again, and my feet, legs and hips are speaking to me nicely (most of the time at least!).

Have you ever tried a 'popular' exercise and found it just didn't work for you?

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Fitness Fridays return, and a Liebster Award

It has been a long time since I did a Fortnightly Fitness Friday post. I managed seven between starting them off in April and then getting distracted in August, and I think I am going to drop the 'fortnightly' part from now on. We will just see how often they appear.

Today, I am kicking off the return to these formal fitness posts with some news that is rather exciting to me. Some of you may remember that way back in January, I spoke about the possibility of running a half marathon this year. That didn't happen (I did a 14km race instead) but I have now set my sights on the Bunbury Three Waters Half Marathon next April. Bunbury is a few hours south of Perth and I have already convinced Mr Bite that we can turn the race into a weekend away.

I figure that six months is plenty of time to increase my mileage and get ready, and I am really quite excited about doing so. I also think that if Lisa can run a half marathon seven months after having a baby, there is no excuse for me not doing it without a baby in the mix!

In line with this goal, I finally replaced my running shoes last night, about a month after intended. I have been using the same shoe fitting shop for 5 years now (Sports Fever in Subiaco, for those of you in WA) and it makes the process a lot easier when you can put trust in someone who knows what they are talking about. When I'm running up and down the store and have someone to monitor my stride, it allows me to feel much more confident in what I end up purchasing - which is a good thing, given the price of running shoes in Australia.

I had fully intended to swap from Brooks back to Mizuno, but ended up purchasing the Brooks Adrenaline model. For the last year, I have been in Brooks Ariel, which are their high-control shoe. I liked them, but preferred the Mizuno Wave Renegade style I ran in from 2009 to 2011 just a little more. Sadly, Mizuno has discontinued the Renegade and the Wave Alchemy, their high-support replacement, just didn't feel right when I tried it.

The Brooks Adrenaline are actually a step down in support, which I never expected. However, the Ariel is a wide shoe and I do not have wide feet - so I actually get more arch support from the Adrenaline and they are still in the 'support' category. Indeed, they were the Runner's World Editor's Choice as a "classic stability shoe" in the December 2012 issue.

Brooks Adrelaine (left) and Ariel (right)

As the picture above shows, my new shoes are also a lot lighter and smaller than my previous ones, which feels pretty wonderful when I run. I am hoping they'll keep me injury free in the lead up to April and I'm looking forward to trying them out on their first 'proper' run tomorrow!

Today's other focus is the Liebster Award that Meg of Scrambled Megs nominated me for last week. The nomination came as a delightful surprise, made even lovelier by my relatively recent discovery of Meg's blog. She is a fellow Australian and has some great recipes on her site, particularly of the baking variety (or perhaps I'm just biased to the baking variety...).

The Liebster Award is one I've seen around the place on a few occasions, and it supposedly stems from the German word for Liebster, which is dearest. It has 5 parts:

1. Write 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 interview questions you’ve been given by the person who nominated you.
3. Create 11 new questions.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers and mention them in your post.
5. Go and tell the person who nominated you, along with the people you’ve nominated about your post.

To take them in turn...

11 random facts

1. I love being at work early.

The 7.30am-8.30am window is probably my favourite time of the day (it all goes downhill from there!). I like clearing phone messages and any urgent tasks first thing, and then making a coffee in the early morning light with a near empty building. If I get in to work at 8.15am I feel late. I only do a 7.30am start two days per week, but it makes a big difference to my window of 'usable' time.

2. I actually can't remember the last time I got my hair cut. 

It was this year, but a very long time ago. As a result, my hair is very long. It's now at the point where my usual 'up' hair styles are getting challenging, because I have too much hair to manage.

3. I’ve been monitoring my sleep the last two weeks, after finding it to be increasingly interrupted and often unsatisfying (even leaving aside the issue of not getting enough). 

The recommendation is that you leave a pile of small coins on your bedside table and move one every time you wake up, to get an accurate sense of how often you are waking. My results? Up until the last half hour before I’m due to get up, I wake two to four times (and mostly two). In that final half hour, I wake lots and lots. I’m still working out what to do about this.

4. I come from a family of worriers. 

When I have my own worry at bay, it amuses me how we all worry differently (you generally don't know when my Dad is worried, whereas my brother tends to get headaches, my sister is noisily worried and my Mum runs through ‘worst case’ scenarios). When I don’t have my own anxiety at bay, I am less amused. 

It is possible that points (3) and (4) are related.

5. As a child and adolescent, people told me I would regret giving up music (piano) and a second language (French).
I dropped them anyway, swept up in my focus on core academic subjects, and I do regret it. I particularly wish that I had continued with French, because it could have been included in my Year 12 subject list and would have been far more useful to me in the long-term than physics!

6. I was reading children’s novels by the time I was five, which did great things for my enjoyment of books and reading, but means that my ability to pronounce words correctly is sometimes questionable. 

After developing my own, internal pronunciation for words, and reading them that way for years, it was difficult to change when I discovered that my pronunciation was not generally accepted. Even now, I sometimes discover words that I say differently to other people.

Notable words I didn't re-learn until adulthood are ‘prevalence’ (I used to say prevaylence, instead of a short ‘a’) and ‘courtesy’ (I think it makes sense to say the first part like you’d say ‘court’, rather than the more common ‘curt’). 

7. I also have a tendency to make words up without realizing that I have done so. 

One of the ones I’m refusing to drop is ‘pronunciate’, which sums up my difficulties with pronouncing and enunciating words in one neat package. Although in saying that - I just Googled it and The Urban Dictionary seems to feel the same way! I'm definitely not giving up on it now.

8. I can not stand the feel of corduroy or velvet. 

It makes me shudder just thinking about it. It’s like nails on a blackboard, but much, much worse.

9. I don't have pierced ears.
I wanted to, in my late childhood, but my parents said I needed to wait until I was 13. At 13, it didn't seem so important. I did briefly want two sets of earrings in my mid-teen years, but never got around to that and these days I am glad that I never got them done. When you pause to think about it, sticking a needle through your ear to fit in with a definition of beauty seems like a questionable practice (although I grant they can look nice).

10. I did gymnastics for four years as a child and had the dream of doing a full back flip by my 13th birthday.
I stopped gym when I was 12 and never did master a back flip. I think it's safe to say that I'm unlikely to get there now, but part of me still hopes that one day I might magically be able to do one!

11. Up until five years ago, I didn't think I liked nuts.
I still don't like peanuts or cashews unless they're disguised in nut butter form.

Meg's questions

1. What are you most excited about lately?
Every day things. The fact that Christmas is coming. Some ideas for movies we want to see (we pretty much never go to the movies). A possible trip to Fremantle this weekend. Some baking ideas.

Also, my new running shoes and that half marathon I mentioned above :-)

2. What are you currently reading?
I just finished The Light Between The Oceans by M. L. Stedman. It is our next book club book and is based off the south-west coast of Western Australia. It was heartbreakingly sad, but beautifully written.

Before starting my next ‘new’ book, I am re-reading parts of Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, his tale of traversing the Appalachian Trail. I do that quite often - revisit old favourites in part or in full as a brief lull in my reading.

After I'm done with that, I have The Queen's Fool, one of Phillipa Gregory's Tudor Court books, waiting for me. I have fallen in love with historical fiction this year, and the Tudor years are particularly eventful.



3. Your favourite cookbook, and why?
I tend to make most of my recipes from online sources, or my imagination, but my most used ‘real’ cookbook is The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. I also love many of my mother’s cookbooks, as we saw when we house sat last year.

4. If someone was being overtly racist in a social situation, how would you handle it?
I have experienced this before and I am never very sure how to handle it. I try to distance myself from the person and the conversation as much as possible. If it’s someone I know well I might engage in the discussion and try to present a different view, but if it isn’t, I tend to avoid conflict rather than try and convince them to change their views. I'm not sure that's the right approach, but my personality doesn't lend itself to confrontation.

5. What was the last thing you ate?
At the time of writing this, tofu stir fry with cauliflower rice (Tuesday’s lunch; I have been writing this in stages!).

6. Name one thing you like about yourself, and why?
I’m rather enamoured with my new wedding ring, and the feeling of being a Mrs that goes with it.

7. Do you floss your teeth every day?
Yes. But sometimes not every single one of my teeth...

8. How do you deal with the daily stresses of life?
Exercise, tea, coffee, reading, structure / organisation.

9. If you knew you wouldn’t be judged, what would you be doing differently?
If I’d been asked this five years ago, I would have had a long list of answers. These days, I am less focused on others’ judgements so the list is a bit shorter. Possibly, I would wear glasses instead of contact lenses. Definitely, I would be more prepared to say no to social invitations when I don’t want to go, but I’m not sure that would be a good thing. Those of us with hermit-like tendencies need to focus on keeping them at bay! I  also think I'd like ball sports more, and team sports in general more.

10. What is your happiest childhood memory?
One that certainly ranks highly is an afternoon on the first weekend of the summer holidays, one December when I was about 10. It was not only the first weekend of the holidays but the first time we had used our swimming pool for the year. I had spent the whole afternoon in the pool and my Dad came out to tell me we were having Chinese takeaway for dinner. We got takeaway perhaps four times a year back then, so this was a huge treat.

The combination of holiday freedom, the time in the pool, and the upcoming dinner culminated in such happiness that it is a vivid memory even now.

11. If you could open your own business, what would you be doing? If you do have your own business, what do you do?
I would love to run a vegan-friendly book café. I hold it dear as a maybe one day dream.

My new questions

1. If you had to limit yourself to 10 foods for one week, what would they be?
2. If you came into a large amount of money, would you keep working? If not, what would you do?
3. What is one experience or event (big or small) that you would like to do in your lifetime?
4. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
5. If you had to move from your current town / city, where would be your first choice to move to?
6. What was your favourite year at school, and why?
7. If you could meet anyone alive today, who would you meet?
8. If you were given a full day to yourself, no work and no commitments, how would you spend it?
9. What is the best book you've read this year?
10. If you were given a plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would it be to?
11. (Given my running shoe focus) - What was the last pair of shoes you bought?

My nominations

I always find it difficult nominating people for these sorts of things. I have tried to nominate people that Meg didn't nominate, who I haven't nominated for something before, who I think might be pleased to receive this, and whose blogs I value and answers to the above questions I would like to hear. As always, if I have any of that wrong, please feel free to ignore the nomination...

Almost Skinny Vegan

Blithe Moments

Cityhippyfarmgirl

Fridge Scrapings

Healthy Diva

Last Chance Training

No Meat and Three Veg

Rebel Grrl Kitchen

Savor the Rainbow

The Tropical Vegan

Wayfaring Chocolate

Thank you again to Meg for my own nomination.

So, a big question: Pronunciate. A word or not?

Also, if you're into such things - what running shoes do you wear?

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Fortnightly Fitness Fridays - Exercise essentials, at home and away

With this post going out from Adelaide, and some longer stretches of travel on my horizon, I thought today would be a good time to reflect on my exercise 'essentials'. These are things that feature almost daily when I'm at home and which come with me when I'm away. There are no gym products or large pieces of equipment here - these are the basics and (I think) suit just about any activity you want to do.

When I'm travelling, my exercise is mostly in the form of running and walking. To keep things varied, I usually do a bit of both, alternate speeds and seek out hills. I always exercise in the morning, and unless I'm checking out of somewhere at 6am, I usually manage to find at least 30 minutes to do so.

Here are the things that feature during that morning time slot.

Running shoes

This is an obvious one, but I'm embarrased to admit that as recently as 5 years ago, I thought I could get the right shoes for my feet by picking them off the shelf with no help. My approach was to buy cross-trainers (not a good stance if I wanted to run in them...), by New Balance (because I'd heard they were a good brand for people who need support in their shoes...), in a nice colour.

It's not surprising I had knee difficulties whenever I tried to run.

4 years ago, I got running shoes fitted at a sports store and have never looked back. I spent 3 years in Mizuno Wave Renegade before switching to my current Brooks Ariel's, and both styles have worked well to balance my over-pronating (rolling in) feet. I replace them yearly and think I'll move back to Mizuno when I get my next pair in another month or so. The Brooks have been good but I found Mizuno to be a slightly better fit.

Cost per wear? Good running shoes are expensive, and prices in Australia are generally higher than in the US or Europe. Prices for supportive shoes also seem to be higher than those for people with well-behaved feet. Thus, my shoes usually cost me close to $250, although I normally manage to get some sort of discount on that. Given I wear them almost every day of the year, the cost works out at around 70c per wear.

Running shorts

I imagine that everyone has a style of shorts that works for them. I like these Everlast ones for three main reasons.

First, they are comfortable. The material is soft and wicks moisture away.

Second, there are two parts to the leg. The outer layer is relatively loose, whilst the inner layer is fitted like bike shorts. This is good if you want to sit down, cycle in them, or do any activity in which your shorts might ride up, but you don't feel comfortable walking around in tight bike shorts.

Third, they have a decent sized pocket on the front left side. It fits house keys, change, and even hotel swipe keys if you squeeze them in.

These days, I mostly wear these for gym work, cross-training, and shorter runs (see below for why). Up until this year I also wore them on long runs, and they remain my favourite choice for long runs when it's very hot.

Cost per wear? I have two pairs of these, one with white trim and one with pink trim. I've had them for 3 years now (!) and I think they cost me $40 each at the outset. Working on the conservative estimate of these being worn for exercise 200 days per year, the cost per wear is down to about 13c at this stage. I'm not sure if Everlast still makes them (I couldn't find them online), so I'll be trying to get a bit more wear of of them yet.

Skins compression tights

These are a recent addition to my list, and 6 months ago I would have called them a luxury and not an essential. However, I am now a convert.

I bought these three-quarter versions of the women's A200 Skins series after reading Liz's review of the tights on Last Chance Training. I'd been debating buying a pair for some time, and Liz's review prompted me to jump in and make the purchase.

These retail for around $110, so they aren't cheap. I had intended to buy just one pair, but about a month after my purchase Rebel Sport had them on sale at 30% off. It seemed too good a discount to pass up and so I added a second pair to my rotation. As it turned out, I ended up with the same colours as my shorts - one with white trim and one with pink trim.

I bought these because I have always experienced swelling in my legs after my long runs. The Skins company claims that their compression fabric improves circulation and thus facilitates muscle recovery and reduces swelling. It may be a placebo effect but I have noticed improvements in my muscles after running since wearing these. The tights are also comfortable, help with temperature control (the fabric wicks moisture effectively), and are one of the few styles of fitted leggings I'm happy to wear for running, cycling and to the gym. 

The only minor disadvantage of these is that the pocket is small and located at the back. It's difficult to get much into it, although I am grateful there's a pocket at all.

Cost per wear? I've only had these for a few months, and given their starting price, the cost per wear is currently at around $4. I expect these to last several years though.

Cap, phone carrier, and Map My Run app

These aren't strictly essential but they do make exercise easier and more enjoyable. 

The cap is an Adidas one I've had for years. It keeps the sun off my face when it's sunny, the rain off my face when it's rainy, and birds from swooping me if I happen to run near a protective mother bird during spring. Irrespective of season, wearing a hat helps to keep my hair contained.

I bought the phone carrier earlier this year after I moved to an Android mobile phone. I think it's designed for iPods as much as for phones, but whatever you put in it, it straps around your upper arm and has a clear plastic front with a fabric back.

I was really thrilled to discover that Map My Run, an online mapping program I've been using for years, has a free app for Android phones. It follows your route via GPS and will upload the details when you get into wifi range. For free! I now wear my phone on most of my runs and on our longer bike rides, and the mapping app is one of my favourite things about having a smart phone.

I am not sure if this app works outside of Australia (I am guessing it would, given it's not designed by an Australian company), but I enjoyed using it in Sydney earlier this year and in Adelaide this morning (thankfully during a break in Adelaide's rain!). It's nice to be able to see the map when I've finished and look at exactly where I went.

Cost per wear? The cap cost me $10 and I think I must be down to 1c per wear by this stage. The phone carrier was $30 and is probably tracking at around $1 per wear.

So there we have it - the things I use just about every day, at home and when away.

On a final, non-exercise note...I went back to Menchie's. Cookies and cream, cake batter, sugar-free peanut butter, and red velvet flavoured soft-serve frozen yoghurt was definitely better than the food on offer at this evening's conference social event. It was also just a tad too sweet, but that has had the benefit of fueling an evening of reading work documents.

What are your exercise essentials?

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Fortnightly Fitness Fridays - What I've enjoyed these 2012 Olympic Games

This year is the first in many that I have been able to watch the Olympic games guilt free.

Source - Nigel Chadwick (creative commons)

During the 2000 games, I was in my final year of highschool. In Australia, the academic year runs to the calendar year, with exams around November. Thus, exam study took precedence over Olympic game watching.

In 2004, I was in my Honours year at university. Thesis writing took precedence over Olympic game watching.

In 2008, I was 6 months off finishing my PhD. My evenings were spent looking at Word, SPSS or Endnote (or moving between them in a demented dance), rather than watching TV.

So 2012, you see, has been quite welcome. Our PVR has been recording Olympic events virtually non-stop, and I can watch as much as I like. Or at least, as much as I like around work, other obligations, washing, cooking, and cleaning. So you know, a bit. A lot of it has been watched on fast forward.

Source - Nigel Chadwick (creative commons)

One of the things I've found hard, though, is the Australia media coverage of the events. This was worst in week one. According to the media, we were going to win lots of medals in the swimming. As it turns out, we didn't win as many medals as usual in the swimming, and those we did win tended not to be gold.

As far as I'm concerned, anyone who makes it to the Olympics has worked incredibly hard and has already proved their worth. If you place a medal, any medal, that should be a bonus. But I appreciate not everyone thinks that way, athletes included.

Australia has moved up the medal tally quite a bit the last few days, but it's still unlikely that we will reach our placing in 2008 (which was sixth). I can't say I mind. Here are some of my highlights of the games, gold and non-gold, and Australian and non-Australian.

• The 10,000m women's race. The winner, Tirunesh Dibaba from Ethopia, finished in 30 minutes and 20.75 seconds. That's an average pace of 19.86 km / hr. Amazing.

• Sanya Richards-Ross, from the USA, winning the 400m women's race. She finished third in Beijing but was clearly deserving of gold in London.

• Belinda Snell making a shot from about halfway down the basketball court, on the final buzzer, to take Australia to draw France in the women's basketball qualifying round. The fact that Australia lost in the overtime game mattered not at all. That shot was amazing.

• Lauren Mitchell, a Western Australian gymnast, finishing fifth on the women's gymnastics floor finals. She was delightfully composed and happy with her fifth place finish (no resentment or bitter spirits from her). She seemed to recognise that she did her best and that was what mattered.

• Gabrielle Douglas, from America, winning the all around women's gymnastics finals. Her background is inspiring and her moves were amazing.

• Sally Pearson winning gold in the 100m women's hurdles. She is such an inspiring athlete. I also loved that the second place winner, American Dawn Harper, seemed genuinely happy for Sally and with her own placing.

• The men's qualifying round for the pole vaulting. Steve Hooker, the Australian vaulter, is fun to watch at any time - he seems so casual and laid back, but then speeds into action when he competes. For the qualifying round, a team of vaulters, from different countries, won over the officials to allow 14 athletes through instead of 12, many of them after just one jump. I loved that.

• The 'Team GB' crew. Britain has pulled out all the stops for these Olympics, and has performed admirably both in the sporting events and in coordinating the games. On a few occasions, I've been tempted to switch allegiance and pull out my UK passport!

Source - Daniel Ochoa De Olza

I know the games aren't finished yet, but it's been a great two weeks thus far.

On a final side note, have you seen this page from the BBC? You put in your height and weight and it tells you which athletes your proportions are most like. Seriously fun!

What have you enjoyed, if you're watching the Olympics?

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Fortnightly Fitness Fridays - Why do I find 15 minutes of basketball harder than 30 minutes of running?

We have established that I am not very good at ball sports.

The thing is, though, I love someone who would play them several times a week if he could. Mr Bite isn't one for gyms, or even organised ball games, but if you take him to a park with a football or basketball (or to a tennis court with tennis balls and racquets), he is happy.

As a result, sometimes I play ball sports despite not being good at them. Generally, this ends up being more enjoyable than I expect it to be, in large part due to Mr Bite having fun despite my lack of skill, which allows me to have fun despite my lack of skill. Also, we don't necessarily play by the rules. In the case of basketball, we don't even play a game in any formal sense of the word.

Nonetheless, I am often left in pain afterwards.

It is quite rare for me to experience sore muscles. Tight muscles, yes, but sore muscles, no. The exceptions are after basketball and tennis.

Last Sunday, we played basketball for perhaps 20 minutes. Please note - 20 minutes. It was fun, we followed it with a low-key walk, and it made for an enjoyable afternoon.

That night, I had sore muscles down the left side of my neck into my left shoulder. As I get tight back and  shoulder muscles quite frequently, and neck-related headaches semi-regularly, this in itself wasn't too unusual.

On Monday, though, my left wrist and forearm were sore to the extent that it hurt to type (!), my upper arms were sore, and lifting my arms above my head was impressively painful. That was unusual.

This prompted me to try and determine just what basketball was doing to leave me in such a state. For someone who does planned exercise most days, it is a little dispiriting to think that 20 minutes of casual ball shooting could leave me feeling so sore.

(Mr Bite, of course, was entirely fine.)

After reading a few articles, it would seem that there are four main upper body contributors to basketball shooting:

• Triceps (back of the upper arm; they work to push weight away from you, and are strengthened with exercises such as push ups)
• Biceps (front of the upper arm; they work to pull weight towards you, and are strengthened by exercises such as bicep curls with hand weights)
• Deltoids (shoulder muscles; they work to elevate the arms and guide their movement when lifted at the front of the body, and are strengthened by exercises such as lateral arm raises with weights)
• Wrist and forearm muscles

Source (Wikimedia Commons)

The rest of the body is also involved, with leg muscles used for moving around the court and for pushing off when shooting the ball, and the core (abdominal / back) muscles used to stabilise movement. For me, though, I think it's safe to say that the problem lies in my arms, not my legs or core.

Source (Wikimedia Commons)

On reading about the muscles involved in basketball shooting, it suddenly made perfect sense that my arms would be sore after 20 minutes of it. I am hopeless at push ups, can't do chin ups to save my life, and tend to avoid weights-based exercises that call on the triceps and deltoids because I find them so hard.

On reflection, that may not be the most sensible strategy for dealing with poor upper body strength.

The new plan? Push ups, barbell raises, lateral arm raises, and any machines I can find in the gym that say they target triceps, deltoids or the forearms. At least twice a week. Even if I have to start on the lowest weight possible and a tiny number of repetitions (and let's face it, I will).

I am keen to shoot for injury-free basketball within 3 months!

Do you have any muscle groups that aren't quite up to certain activities? 
Or do you have any more general basketball hints to share with me? I could use any advice going, believe me.

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