Well it turns out this got boring...

Things got a bit hectic when I got home from that trip. It seems most of the motivation for blogging was going on there everyday, and being home at Mum's I wasn't using much internet.

And that run down the road? I woke up a couple of days later to a very angry knee. I stopped running, because I didn't want to make it worse. And it was really hard to get back into again. Being my final semester at Massey I just kept putting it off and putting it off until after exams. I may have also somehow (if you know how please tell me) injured my ankle. I even caved and went to see the Physio for that one.

And so I've started up again. And boy does it hurt! Not too much, my form is actually not too bad. But I'm going to have to read the book again I think, and care less about what people think of me and do the exercises in it, in public. I mean I probably embarrass myself running enough as it is. In my head I feel like I look graceful while running. I probably look the complete opposite. Funnily enough its not my breathing that's holding me back, it seems to be my legs, so I'll have to keep working on it. Good old exams have also contributed nicely to my insulation layers - they definitely aren't required! It being summer and all. Plus I'm really wanting to lose this weight again, and get my fitness up to standard for the PAT. Training days are starting in February and I would like to be close to, if not hitting my goals by then.

Sewing has also been put on the back burner. I pulled out of going to Auckland Armegeddon, and so there was not motivation to sew for that. And I had lots of work on at Uni. Putting that off though was an excellent idea - I GRADUATED! Well the ceremony is in May, but I have a degree! So now I can sew and run to my hearts content, around work hours of course.

I'll have to post some pictures of my sewing machines (more than one!) and some of the excellent material I've been able to hoard in the meantime. Including a 6m roll of gold zebra stripey fabric I picked up today at a little out of the way curtain store for a measly $5! I of course have no idea what I shall do with it. Bag maybe? My nice handbag is on its last legs, and I'm going to have to look into getting another....

Oh well, enough for now. I'll make this more interesting. Promise

GORE!

I never thought I would be excited about Gore. And I mean looking at the streets its pretty typical small town NZ. It's got it's sport store, the PaperPlus, even the label store.

And its got the most amazing Sally's in terms of sewing stuff! I picked up some mean as bargains, I got three different lengths of wool, all larger than two metres for under $3! Granted they aren't the most fashionable colours I'm pretty excited about them. Why? Because I even picked up some patterns for adults. ADULTS! Usually its all knitting patterns (who the hell can read those?) or little kiddies cutsy stuff. But there was so much goodness there - for 20c each! They've all been cut, but all bigger than a size 12, apart from a jacket which is a 10. I'm sure that I can grade that one up, if its not already the right size. The wool will be perfect for that, a bolero pattern that I already have and even a skirt. If not for other patterns that I might find in the future. I also got the perfect sized zip for a skirt I'm already making and some snaps. You never know when you might need a snap....

I'm a bit miffed I forgot to bring my camera down (remembered the charger though...) or else I'd take photos and put them up. Including the earrings that I bought!

Ahh, earrings. I've got so many different pairs now. I went to my sisters Market that she helped organise with the Southland Work at Home Mothers group - it was amazing! - and bought a pair there with Sergeant Dan on them from The Penny Drops. And some hairclips from my own sister (Miss Milly Moo). Then at the Sally's some with shell in them that are totally 80's but will jazz up a pair of jeans and my pink cardie on a day when I can't really be bothered. This trip home has actually been pretty amazing in terms of my accessories collection...

Now to get it all home again. I think I'm going to have to post it to myself...

I went for a run yesterday too. Down the road at Mum's place. The road is meant to be gravel but apparently the grader removed it all when he was meant to make the road better and made it worse. It was pretty good to run on though. My form was much better then when I ran in Arrowtown, but eventually it went to pot with the hills. But I made it down and up them all to run 3.5km. It seems my distances are getting shorter, not that I want them too but while I'm trying to improve my form I'm not too worried about the distance just yet. In the next fortnight though I'm going to have to ramp things up if I'm wanting to do this 10k. We will see though. I don't want to hurt myself and am thinking that a massage might be a good idea for my calves....

I'll try and get some photos into my posts after this I think. I would hate for this to get boring.

SOUTHLAND!!

I blatantly stole this picture from this website. It looks a lot like the walkway along the river at Arrowtown - I ran here.

Well I'm currently in the Lakes District, in Arrowtown! My exercise for the day? Ice skating! And I went for a run.

I tried really hard to keep my calves and lower legs relaxed, but I think I started out a bit too fast, and struggled with form by the end of the run. I also got intimidated a bit by a very growly dog which I wasn't too impressed with.

What impressed me the least though? My sportband has decided not to work. I thought I would be all responsible and turn the sensor off to go on the plane - its a transmitting device obviously. But now it won't turn back on again. I don't think its the band that's broken, but the actual sensor thingy. This is very frustrating as I've only used at four times. It surely couldn't have been pinging away to the sportband the whole time I was travelling to Wellington and then down home? I'm not going to be able to do anything about it until I get back to Palmy anyway. Both my laptop and the receipt for it are back there. Its very frustrating though, especially after being naughty and forking out for it.

But it pales in comparison to the fact that I'm at home! Well Arrowtown isn't home, but its great to be back in the part of New Zealand I love the most (Don't tell Catherine!). So I'm really excited to catch up with my sister and her family this weekend, and go out with my parents for lunch.

Aaah its good to be here.this website

No Pain...No Gain

Is the stupidest saying ever!

Yup, so I've managed to hurt myself a little bit already. My gamy knee has decided that it doesn't really like the whole idea of this running thing. So for now, I've decided to let it have its way for a wee bit. That is until I can convince it that the way I want to run is good for it.

The way I want to run? Well I want to run like a kid again. Look at the way a kid runs next time you see one boosting its way past you at the supermarket (I don't suggest stopping outside a school = weird just a little bit. Or arrested). How you ask? Well I've been reading around a few blogs lately and some of them - usually the barefoot ones which I'm particularly interested in - have mentioned ChiRunning. Its a style of running developed by a fella who now runs ultramarathons on apparently hardly any training and hasn't injured himself in the last 10 years. Its not the unltramarathons I'm worried about - its the lack of injuries.

So I got the book. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

The whole thing makes so much sense though! It involves using gravity to pull you forward and your legs and feet to maintain you momentum. This is much more efficient and uses less muscles, therefore less energy. And because I big part of the form is to not let your legs come forward of your hips it completely cuts out the impact through your knee - and stops pulling on the muscles that give you shin splints if you over contract them. I'm excited about it!

My knee has always been a problem for me. Not a lot - it usually doesn't bother me actually. But when it does its a whiny little bitch (excuse the language mum!) and doesn't let up for a few days. I would particularly feel it when I was playing netball and sometimes when I'm at the gym. It might also have something do with my ankle which I have sprained so many times I can't actually sprain it anymore. It likes to play up when I'm doing lunges in Pump class. The instructors are always like "Do this and this beginner people" which is probably actually aimed at me.

I think a part of it might of actually been due to the fact that I had one day off last week....five days were 8 hours long and the 6th was 6 hours.

And then my bike got a puncture. This was probably on Friday night as I was biking home. It wasn't flat as I was biking home - not that I was aware of though. I only noticed it at the exact time I had to get on my bike to go to work. I tried pumping it up at the garage, but they were no help at all. Stupid Kenda tyres with their fancy valves. So I came home from work and thankfully my flatmate was conscious. He kindly gave me a ride, but only after I frantically changed into some running gear. I figured that since I wasn't biking, and probably wouldn't want to run when I got home, that I would run. And it actually started off great. It was only the last five or so minutes that got really difficult.

And then on Sunday my knee was like "SCREW YOU". So its getting a break today.

I thought I would go for a walk but didn't do that either, and as I am travelling tomorrow I don't think that I'll get a run in. Difficult to do on a plane.

It's ok though, because I'm going to stay with a friend. I'm sure she won't be at all embarrassed watching me run when I try to start getting my ChiRunning form sorted. She finds uncoordination amusing I'm sure.

Well I better go to bed. I still haven't finished packing. Also typical.

Ciao.

Okay, so I haven't figured out how to save drafts..

I went for my first official training run yesterday. You can see it on the side bar.

It went so well! Much better than the last one. With picking up extra shifts and an anime club marathon I didn't do any running over the weekend! Gasp!

Monday was a rest day, I'm thinking because the plan is for people who are already kind of running. I was of course meant to rest but then someone decided to steal something at work, and I ended up joining in on the chase. Anything to get out of work ya know! Well he was on a bike, and I was in my work skirt and silly flat shoes so I didn't really get very far after him. It was fun all the same.

And then yesterday! It started off rather lazy, and after a couple of episodes of Legend of the Seeker I got up and made a pumpkin loaf. With an hours baking time I thought "well I'll definitely fit a 25min run in there!" so I banged it in the oven and away I went.

I thought that the route I usually run would take me about 20 minutes, and then I would push my way home until I made up the time.

Turns out it only ten minutes....so I kept running towards home. That only took five minutes... so I ran a bit of the way up the street some more and then turned around and came home. I'm not entirely sure if I ran 20 minutes or 25, I tend to forget what time I started at....

But it was amazing! I ran all the way to the stairs at my house and skipped my way up them. It was great, I really didn't think that I could run that far at all. I was confident I could go for 20 minutes at least when I started, but didn't realise that the distance I usually run was actually so short. It was an awesome feeling to think, "nope need to go for another 10 min" and not feel all grumbly about it.

I think its an awesome start to my plan! Today I'm meant to go for a 25min fast walk, but I've just biked from work all the way through town, and then from the other side of town back to my house. I think that counts for today.

Why did I go across town. Well to indulge my Spotlight addiction for one, and to hit up Rebel Sports.

I treated myself to this...

Its a Nike+ Sportband! It measures distance, time, pace and calories with the little orange and white sensor. Your meant to put it in a Nike+ shoe, but as the pair I want run at about $200 I'm going to do what many other ingenious people have done. Jam it in a sandwich bag and tie it down under my laces on one of my very cheap pairs of shoes. Ha! There you go Nike! Googling "Nike+ sensor hack" brings up some really great ideas for that sort of thing! The watch records everything and when you plug it into the computer it uploads all of the info. I think I can sync it to my dailymile.com account too, so hopefully the side bar will keep updating as I go along. 

I haven't recorded a workout on it yet. Its meant to be over 90% accurate out of the box but because I'm going to use a hack, I think I'll calibrate it. That can be something for tomorrow morning. But I'll go for a run with it anyway. Can't wait!!

Blah

So, its a great day outside! Should really get some washing out of the way...

And I went for a run! You can see it on the side bar --->. Its amazingly impressive and will blow your mind. NOT!

Usually I run further then that, I cut out a whole side of a block, but by the time I got to the green box thingy (its one of my mental goals "just make it to the green box thingy") I was feeling really awful and turned the corner, made it to the bus stop and then decided to walk the rest of the way home.

I'm not disappointed, when I first started running it was absolute torture to make it that far. I think its just all of the crap food I've been eating lately coming back to haunt me. You can't really run effectively on a dinner of Korean and gelato. I wish you could run effectively on gelato, but alas 'tis not so. I'm also getting a bit of a killer headache, so that's a sign to consume more water right there!

Oh well, at least that stat's bar over there can only get better. Can't wait to see the numbers trailing up on it.

Might go for a walk tomorrow, another short run on Sunday after work (If I'm feeling like a real person!) and then have my rest day Monday. I find it amusing that the plan I found begins on a rest day. I guess it figures you might want to be procrastinating about it, and gives you a little bit of leeway.

Oh, and thank god exams are over! We will have to see how the marks come in now.

Ciao.

OMG OMG OMG OMG...

I have an exam in an hour.

And what am I doing here you may ask. Well I can't concentrate. I'm actually shaking in my boots (literally, am wearing boots - I love my boots....) <-- see what I mean! Thank god this is the last one. I have never been so nervous about exams in my life! I'm particularly worried that I might fail one of these papers! Don't say "oh, you'll be fine!" - I'm currently relying on the whole 'c's get degrees' at the moment. I don't want to have to do another semester!

I just want this year to be over so that I can go and be a 'real' person. Uni has not really turned out to be what I expected... my high school teachers would never believe that! I can't wait to find a job - think happy thoughts for me please, I'm currently job hunting.

Gah - I suppose I better go read my notes again, though I start blanking out half way through sentences... not a good thing.

Ciao