road trippin’ and personal bests

Friday PM – went for date night with Hubby, went to Directors Suite. 35 bucks for a reclining seat and the ability to buy and consume overpriced alcohol and cakes. You be the judge. Went to see Eagle eye which is essentially a film about two ridiculously good looking people looking bewildered and running away from stuff being blown up. A tried and true Hollywood formula. 

Saturday am- running group along yarra. Coach Julie was there, so had a buddy for some of the run. I did about 9.5 km, with the limiting factor being Julie’s time (she had a family member in hospital so she had to go). Felt good after, but was a bit pooped and needed a nap, didn’t get the requisite sleep hours before.

Saturday arvo – went up to country victoria to see my frail elderly nanna. I drove my mum. She managed not to drive me too crazy but there was a little backseat driving going on. 

Unfortunately nanna is quite demented now and barely knows who I am. This was the nanna who was good to us kids, fattening us up with cakes and treats and violently coloured soft drinks. She knitted us socks and thought that vinegar was really good for sunburn. She made sure our faces were clean with vigourous application of the facewasher. The nanna who was proud as punch when I got into medical school and told everyone she came across. The nanna who got into the shandies and every other scrap of alcohol at our wedding. 

She is quite sweet, in her own way now. She is deaf as a post. She does not remember that I got married and kept asking if I had a boyfriend, how old I was and whether I smoked  (no, 29 and no). I kept trying to explain that I was married but she couldn’t hear me, so in the end I just said, yes, I had five boyfriends. She said “good, hold on to the good one, the one with lots of money”. I asked her if my mum and I looked alike. She said “no, you’re good looking”. She is unfortunately getting a bit inappropriate and occasionally assaultive, not that she could actually harm anyone. A strong gust of wind would blow her over. 

I miss lucid nanna. I made sure I got a photo of myself and her, it could be the last.

Sunday – a lovely roast at my cousin’s place with my other cousin and their kids, and my auntie and uncle. Good to see them all.

Am a bit worried about my mum, I think that a long history of heavy smoking and BMI of 40 are starting to catch up with her. She is breathless on minimal exertion. I can hear her wheeze. But will she be told to look after herself – No. Hard to know what to do. Worrying will not help.

I feel a bit ratty tonight. I would like to quote Em with the Auntie Flo euphemisms. I have explained this to hubby so that he is forgiving. You blokes are lucky.

Better go, Dexter starting. Good show, but makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.

On love and work.

I have heard a whole lot of people saying that they love their job. I have been doing interviews of very junior doctors.

Yes, there was a time when I loved my job. It would not have even crossed my mind not to come in.

I really like my job, don’t get me wrong. It shits me sometimes. Sometimes I hate the people I work with, don’t we all? They might even hate me sometimes, too.

I love my husband. I love my mum. I love dogs (esp. staffordshire terriers), chocolate, the smell of jasmine and sunrises. I love trashy women’s magazines. I have made friends with running and am growing to love that, too. I love to do my oil painting classes. But do I love my job? No, probably not. Not at the moment anyway. I love that I get paid a decent wage for it. I can go on holidays, which I love.

I would be really upset if I weren’t able to do my job anymore. It is a big part of my identity. I have just learned that it is not the most important thing in life.

What do people think? What do they love? Is their job on that list?

Haircuts, skinny pants and fartleks.

Very disparate topics!

A whoopee moment this morning. My usual black pants were all crinkly and caked with some washing powder. So I looked into my closet with some trepidation and saw my old black pants, the ones I could get into when I lost some weight previously (mainly through stress). I tried em on, and they fitted…well, they were a tiny bit tight around the waist, but still eminently wearable. Last time I attempted to put them on, they had the unfortunate wedgie and camel-toe effect. Not good. So I strutted about in my skinnier black pants proudly.

went to get the chop today, I had quite long hair before now I have a sleek bob a bit like katie homes. Tres chic.

Straight from the hairdresser I went to run training, Paul gave me fartleks to do. My mistakes

1. I forgot my watch.

2. I started out waaaaaaaay tooo fast and gave myself sore shins.

3. I messed up the new ‘do.

I think what I need to do is just get used to the fact that there is more than one speed of running. I will try some intervals on the tready, the slow one a bit slower than my normal speed, and the fast one a bit faster than normal speed. 

little but definite improvements…… 

9 days to gwinganna……

Body strong, credit card weak.

Back to the land of the living. Interviewing interns for junior resident posts. They all say how much they love their jobs. The cynical side of me wants to say “A few more years of work will sort that out”. They all want to do high-stress, high power, sexy specialties such as gastroenterology, cardiology and infectious diseases. Now cardiology, I get. Plenty of people with heart disease. Big moolah. But ID?? Go to Africa!. I picked a low stress, unsexy specialty (geriatrics), and I am glad I did. Plenty of work there. They will learn that work is not everything, it only pays for the holidays and other nice stuff.

Speaking of which, I am off to Gwinganna in 10 days. Have just paid for it on the plastic. If my credit card could talk, it would probably say “ouch”.

Just did some low impact cross training (as recommended by head coach Brian), 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. I just kept crankin’ the level up to get some sweat happening, but my heart rate only got up to about 140, where previously it would have gotten up to 160 or so. My face was not even the fluoro red it goes after exercise. Definitely getting fitter 🙂 Off to do 70 min pilates class.

Anyone get the concept of tidying for the cleaner? He is coming tomorrow so I need to do some tidying. He can’t get to the floor to mop it if there is crap all over the place. I try explaining that to hubby but he doesn’t get it. Must be a bloke thing.

Off I go……

P.S. I love tuesday night telly. It kicks arse over monday night telly. Particularly after last night with the Brownlow Shenanigans. I watched all the scrubbers WAGS flaunting their goodies. Luv a red carpet.

P.P.S. I have had two small cartons of milk today…one chocolate, one strawberry. Yes I know that is excessive but after drinking soy for a while I am craving cow juice. I gotta say, strawberry is overrated. Choccy milk rocks…..like chocolate, but less fat and more nutritious. And yes, I have reduced fat. And no, the milk craving does not mean I am preggers.

uuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrhhhhhhh

Just did my first (and last) night shift in a while. ‘Twas Shite. Horrendously busy.

I feel the need to debrief, but slagging off my workplace in a public forum is potentially a sackable offence….however, they are so short staffed that they will probably beg for me to come back.:)

I am very tired and have been put through my paces by an exacting boss. Just what you need when you have been awake for 24 hours.

The wind is out of my sails. Need snooze. Running tonight. Yay.

Addit 1615hrs: Have had a few hrs sleep, feel a bit better, but my eyes have a horrible gritty night duty feeling. Am patting myself on the back, was an extremely busy night but I kept things under control and there were no major (or, in fact, minor) disasters. More importantly, I stayed very calm and in good humour. One cannot be perfect, just do the best they can. It is pissing with rain and windy, and I think I might head to the gym instead of training at Princes park. Need to “run it out” as they say.

Might go watch dexter first…….

A major milestone

I did 1 hour of running today, or 8.5 km. It was on the tready but hey….I did it! It was not too bad on the legs, either.

I am very happy, but I have under-boob chafing like Dante’s 7 circles of hell. I screamed when the shower water hit it. Not happy. Won’t be buying another berlei sports bra.

Went out with my buddy, Rach. We went to silly yaks for a wheat free breaky, then shared a caramel slice. Yumm.

I think I need to hibernate now…..can’t even be bothered going shopping at the moment (Who am I????)…..maybe after a snooze. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The things I have learned from running.

Went for a run on the tready today to try and improve my speed a little. I did 30 minutes, with the first 25 being at 9 km/hr and the final 5 at 9.5km/hr.

I am definitely getting fitter.

So I have decided to write up what I have learned from running so that I can go back to it if I ever think about quitting. These are things that I have tried to generalise to the other areas of my life.

1. Patience: Patience is a virtue but not one of my virtues. I wanted to be a do fast times over long distances yesterday. I have learned that that is not the way it works and that the gains are slow but sure. This is the way it must be to avoid injuries. Hopefully this patience can extend to other areas of my life.

2. The power of positive self-talk: When I was down earlier this year, I used to go out to exercise to try to feel better. The problem was that I would say to myself “move your fat arse”. Not good. I would not be friends with a person who said that to me; why say it to myself? Now, I say – “you’re doing good”, “you’re a bloody legend”, “it was slower than I hoped but, hey, I was out there” etc etc. This is much better. I have learned to extend this to other areas of my life. Praise is not always forthcoming, so I need to learn to pat myself on the back.

3. Listening to your body: Stopping when it is getting too much. Not keeping going through pain. We can only do so much. Learning what ache is good and what ache is not so good.

4. Breathing: this cannot be over-emphasised.

5. Eating properly: to run better and generally perform better, I have realised that I must eat better. I have had to make some dietary changes anyway but the good thing is that these are mainly very healthy changes.

6. I can do whatever I put my mind to! Nothing more to say!

It would be good to find out what other people have gained.

Prof being a shit as per usual.

An addendum – Mal appetit.

I went on my first foray out as a(n annoying) food intolerant with my hubby and a friend. Felt like a bit of a tool ordering wheat free at an Italian Restaurant. I was quite fascinated by the concept of gnocchi with a gluten free alternative. I am quite partial to the gnocchi and am sick of rice. So I ordered. I ended up with gluten free spaghetti and a bland ragu. To my surprise and horror, the spaghetti was frickin crunchy. Crunchy, I tell you! One would think that one of the better Italian restaurants in Melbourne (which shall remain nameless but go under the alias of Enoteca Sileno) could master pasta, even if it is wheat free.

Humph. 

Good thing I’d had the antipasto plate.

So it’s back to Japanese and eating at home. For the moment, anyway.

My kingdom for a chocolate biscuit.

Fairly uneventful day today.

Went to education session. They had chocolate biscuits there. I really wanted one but

1. The 10 kilo thing.

2. The wheat/fructan thing.

So I looked at them mournfully for a little while and moved on, had a chat to some people. Previously I would have eaten one without a second thought. I have a strong oculo-chocolate reflex.

The weekend is a’comin. Long run on saturday. Am doing a night shift on sunday. Don’t mind nights apart from the fact that they are at night. No bullshit. Just getting on and doing work. Will also get paid for my projected roster so it is a good bit of cash.

The picture I had posted yesterday has disappeared. Hmmmm. It was a good one.

Think I might get up early and go for some exercise tomorrow morning.

here is the pic that I tried to post yesterday

This is what everybody needs on their desk, all you desk jockeys out there 🙂

Don’t fool yourself, speed hurts.

Well I was graciously allowed to do some speedwork today – 1km repeats the fastest I could do them. My usual pace is about 7 min/km. I did the first 2 repeats in 6:15 and it bloody hurt. I was thinking “man, why am I doing this to myself” and then trying to push the thought away. It’s all about mind games. And I don’t particularly like running in the dark, I like to be able to see and my eyesight without glasses for distance isn’t flash.

Now 6:15 may be practically walking for some but for me it was hard. Coach told me to slow down and aim for about 6:30. My 3rd repeat was in 6:40 and I felt much more comfy. I wonder when it will be easy, when I will naturally be able to run a bit faster? I am told that, with training, the body adapts, but this is hard to believe. Mind you, if somebody said to me this time 6 months ago that I would be doing 8km fun runs, I would have died laughing. It’s all additive.

The best thing about a run, I think, is the drink of water afterwards. It may as well be champagne.

My adjusted time for the SiS was 58:48. Better than 59:40. Hopefully this will improve.

I went to a mentoring seminar today. Funny. I was learning to do what I have been doing all year. It was good to know that I was on the right track. I have a little “I am a mentor” badge that I can put on my lanyard. 

Hubby on call tonight. Bacon, Eggs and baked beans for me. Yummmm..

So you think you can dance final on tonight. Woo hoo! 

Have finally mastered the art of pictures! Clever sassy.