Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Damp and Dark: Welcome to Winter Solstice

Did I tell you that, in my world, the year doesn't run from 1 Jan to 31 December? And that seasons in my world consist of only two? Winter and Summer. I was born in October. October 7, 1965. So it seems to be, that October 7 is day 1 of my life and therefore, day 1 of my first year. So in Sammi's world and calendar I have lived 47.8years.

I married my man whose year started on April 7, 1965. He is exactly 6 months older than me. In Australia we see four seasons, the first day of Spring is September. But in Aus September is still bloody cold, dark and windy. Well, where I live anyway. No, Spring starts on my birthday, new life, new beginning, warmth and sunshine and me. April in Aus is cold. You need a jacket at night and the clocks have gone back an hour and the sun takes longer to clear the horizon and creep across the sea and it definitely goes to bed a whole heap earlier. Winter in Aus is 1st June. But in Sammi time, Winter starts on Gary's birthday, April 7 and that is when I go into hibernation.

Now, I always thought this was just me. But I have since learnt that my Dad thinks the same way about his birthday being his first day of the year. Perhaps once, as a little girl he might have told me this and I stored it away or maybe it just made good sense, or maybe it is just the way we both see the world. But either case, I am not alone in my thinking. I love Spring and coming alive. I hate Winter. I want to hunker down and hibernate, spin a cocoon about myself for warmth against the bitter winds and be a grub. In spring the cocoon is cast aside and like a butterfly I want to open my wings and soak up the sun. I could easily be a lizard on a rock, bathing in the sunshine for hours storing the heat. Segway - we should totally be able to do that by now. Why haven't we evolved to be able to store heat like a battery for use later during the dark, damp winter. pht. Damn evolution needs to catch up.

Anyway, right now I am sitting here in my cocoon, wrapped in a blanket, dressing gown, slippers and heater (and its not even snowing or anything. I really am a woos)

Winter Solstice according to the gurus was 2 days ago. But on my calendar, it may as well be 6 months of Winter Solstice, short, dark damp days and with that it seems, my mood has grown dark and glum. A bit woe's me, I am struggling to get up in the morning. JFDI I hear you say and yeah, I am. I just can't find some enthusiasm for it all.

I feel old today. But according to the Sammi calendar, I am halfway. Halfway through my life. My Grandmas funeral was yesterday. She was twice my age and as I was named after her and so much like her, I am told. I use her as my yard stick. Halfway. So not old. I have a lot of time to pack a heap in yet. Hmmm, dark and damp.

I need to find a way of surviving the Winter. There doesn't seem to be enough stored light in my battery to get me through. Some warm thoughts.......I got offered, and accepted the position where I have been working. Relief. Warm thought..........the house is really coming together now. I feel balanced and in order. Warm thought..........I have enjoyed painting, or rather prepping to paint, a picture to go above the lounge. It's been a long while since I have been motivated to paint something, other than walls that is.

Cold thought.........I still worry about my ITB and knee, I just don't know if it is going to sort it self out. Cold thought.............I am halfway! Cold thought................I seem to be isolating my self a little. Perhaps left over from no time to be social due to I.M training. Need to do something about that. Cold thought.................I have put the weight all back on again. Still in range but self sabotage once again takes its toll. Cold thought...............it's still 3+ months till next year and Spring time.

Warm thought................the challenge is to create my own fire that will get me through my winter. It's up to me.











Thursday, June 13, 2013

Goodbye to the girls.....

12.6.13 - SUCCESS! 59.9kgs. That's 900gms til I reach goal/race weight. Starting to notice signs of weight loss more now as we creep ever so slowly toward race weight. Number one of note....the girls have disappeared. Nuts! Always going to be a casualty of weight loss and I accept that but just an audible buh! In response to the shrinkage. Other areas worthy of note are my wrists. I can wrap my fingers round my wrist and touch my thumb and pinky together. News! And looking more ribby across the chest more than ever. I need to keep the chest strength work up so that I don't get old lady owl chest. Perhaps too late already, but swimming and running should hopefully keep some muscle tone on there. Still on the juice diet with adding extra food at night for dinner has seen the steady decrease in weight with out losing the energy so onward and upward...I mean downward. 59 even, here I come!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Update from the blackline.....

Well, the black line, the finish one that is, has moved itself wayyyyyyyyyyyy way away. With new goals to get faster, fitter and stronger in the game plan prior to next seasons races, compounded with yet another 'injury' though Coach doesn't think it is major and I agree, the black line and the goal of reaching said black line has a lot of sweat and hard work in front of it.

So, first order of the day is to rest post Ironman. And yep 4 weeks is plenty. I have been ticking along the program swimming, walking, and bike on both wind trainer and one outing for an easy 40kms with the girls. More about catching up, as I hadn't seen anyone since Ironman, than focusing on a particular aspect of the session.

I have also been doing a lot of strength, stretch, yoga/stretch therapy regularly to start working on that strength aspect. Last night I headed down to meet a girlfriend (no show) at a local TRX gym who was offering free night classes to members of the triathlon club I go to. I rolled in with a little apprehension. Not sure what I was in for as far as doing a class on TRX. I have a set at home and Coach has given me exercises to do on them that are run/swim specific, but that's about it. oh and I have done some you-tubing to watch video clips on it. I have to say it was great. The guy who ran the class was pretty amazing and has done loads of study and training on TRX. Sitting here now I can feel the shoulders and abs are tired from the load. It's all body weight so I enjoy that aspect of the training too. It felt very much like the old rock climbing days when we used a lot of balance, body weight etc in our training. I'd like to do more.

Interestingly the other day at stretch/yoga class I did a bridge, raised my butt and then could alternate taking one leg at a time off the ground. When raising my butt in the air with left leg straight, no dramas. but with right leg out straight using left leg to drive my butt up was a total workout and I had to focus hard on getting my a$$ off the ground. Last night with 1 leg in the TRX band and the other working as a ghost leg was a huge eye opener. Again left leg straight, right leg in TRX band driving up through the right leg to butt up bridge, ok. But it was impossible for me to drive off the ground on my left side. Effectively my left glute. glute medias has gone fast to sleep. What this means is that my right side of my body is doing all of the hard work. that will show in pretty much all aspects of my training. Riding up hills on the bike will mean my right side is working harder than my left. Running will mean pushing and driving more through my right side and ummmm guess which side has the ITB issue...yep, the one doing all of the work. What I took away from yesterday's short session at the TRX gym, was I have a lot of work to do team.

Coincidently Coach rings me and says we are on for tomorrow night at his joint for a strength and core session. He wants to extend on what I am already doing over winter to help with the very issues that I am discovering with a lot of clarity. Yep, we have work to do team!