New things and other things....

Ahhhh...the case of the missing blog post!  We may never know where it went, what it saw or who it talked to...

Anyway, I have some new things:
- new training paddles for swimming.  These go on my hands and supposedly make me strong and more responsive to the water.  Or something.  So far they mostly just make me clatter into the end of the pool when I forget to stop (which still happends quite regularly).
- aerobars - these are borrowed from Eyk, who no doubt has less trouble using them than me.  They are twitchy little suckers...slightest tremor in my elbow and I am wobbling all over the road.  And it turns out I have surprisingly tremorly elbows.
- new pedals- these give me a wider base and more stability through my feet, and, more importantly, they look the part...see above in terms of wobbling all over the road when trying to get back in the sodding things....
- new shoes - they are light and clean and wonderful.  They make me feel so fast I was very surprised to find I was in fact, not, any faster....

So I am starting to at least look like I am taking this campaign seriously.  Practise will help and hopefully in time I will swim into the end of the pool less (turn girl turn!), and wobble on the bike less too! I have another half marathon on the horizon so I guess I'd better start thinking about running!

Until next week, everyone just be happy being who you are!

love
Ironmaiden 

Half marathons - not always a walk in the park...

Hello everyone!

So these half marathon larks aren't as easy as they sound, I was a bit tired on Sunday.  I was also very very cold! The first 10 or so ks were OK, but then the rain came in sideways and the wind was in front of me not matter what direction I was facing...it reduced my wheezy shuffle down to a rickitty plod.  But I got there in the end. I just had to go home and sit with my fire lit, heat pump running, down jacket on, drinking hot drinks and partaking in tabby heat transfer for a couple of hours until I got back to normal.

 My ankle stood up more or less, a little bit of swelling, but not too much pain.  My little old lungs were OK too, it was really just the rain blowing into my earhole (the left one, if you were wondering), and a lack of weetbix that held me up (oh, and also, see previous posting associated with chafing....nb   not chaffing).  So all good lessons for next time I guess.

Here is a photo of me running while I still had the energy to raise my arms!

Now.  The important bit - my time wsa 2:50 - not very good, and for the observant amongst you, even slower than my time in the Buller half a few years ago.  My excuse is that I was just 7 weeks from the Wellington faceplant incident, but the reality might just be that I am a bit pants at running!

I am at least now enjoying a relaxing recovery week, so little training I barely know what to do with my spare time.

So until next week,

love

Ironmaiden

Race week

Well, it is half marathon week and to be honest it is a bit of a worry.  I suspect I haven't done enough wheezy shuffling building up for it.   Still, the weather has been fabulous and I guess at least my ankle is better and I can wheezy shuffle again, even if it isn't very fast.  I also got drug tested at work today so I can confirm that I am legitimately not using any illegal substances that might affect my performance - for better or worse!  I did however find out that my wee has a low specific gravity, almost 1.  Fascinating, just what I always needed to know.

I'll let you know how Sunday goes,

till next time
love
Ironmaiden

Things that I have learned:

1.  Heart rate monitors chafe.

2. If you deconstruct your swimming too much it makes it hard to put it all back together again.

3.  Arms chafe.

4.  Huntly has a swimming pool.

5.  Legs chafe.

6.  Just because Huntly says it's swimming pool will be open until 7pm, you shouldn't assume it won't be closed at 5.24pm.

7. Running shoes chafe.

8.  I have pristine teeth.

9.  Sports bras chafe.

10.  Chafe is spelt C...H..A..F..E.  Chaff is something quite different but equally uncomfortable.

Until next time, don't spare the chamois cream!
love

Ironmaiden

Something old,something new, something borrowed, and sparkly blue toenails!

Hi Everyone

I have some bling to tell you about.  Firstly, Kristina shouted me a pedicure which I had done last Friday - now I have sparkly blue toenails which mostly look black unless the sun is shining, and then they look blue and sparkly, but sunshine has been a fairly rare occurrence lately so they look mostly black.

Eykolina has lent me her aerobars, so I am looking forward at getting them on my bike and trying to get used to the tri position.   I am hoping using Eyk's gear will help me channel some of her cycling talent.

I have new cycling shoes and new pedals to go with them!  For now these will be going on the old, which is my same old Giant OCR II bike that I have had and loved since I lived in Otago.  May be I will upgrade, may be I won't, we'll see. Mind you, the old faithful needs to up its game and start going a bit faster,  sometimes I feel like I am doing all the work!




New stuff!

 Not long now until the Taupo Halfmarathon - 21.1 ks of wheezy shuffling along the lakefront for me.  Running or walking for others.  I am looking forward to having a lash and relieved to be running (wheezing) along in semi-normal style now that my ankle is behaving itself again.  I went for my first proper run (wheezy shuffle) in the dark tonight since THAT night in Wellington.  I didn't faceplant, stumble, trip or tumble so I really have to chalk that one up as a win.

Ok, well until next time, don't stare at swimmers who sound like they are gasping their last breath, they might just be wheezers....

love
Ironmaiden

Yup, it's still fun...

Hi Everyone
I reckon I've had a pretty hardcore week!  Well, I am feeling staunch anyway.  Katie and I took on the pouring rain and howling winds on Saturday for a lash on our bikes, which we survived and enjoyed.  Katie had to keep turning round to come back and find me - I was still there...just a tad off the pace!  She is Australian so she is probably genetically engineered anyway.

I followed with a swim which I really enjoyed, my Saturday swims have become a real happy place for me.

On Sunday I joined Aunty Mary to do the Offroad 10km walk - sounds easy?  Not with Aunty - she is very competitive and doesn't let up - my poor little heart was charging!  We made it up the hills though and placed 12 and 13th overall - not bad!  I also found the energy to get out on my bike again, conditions were definitely a bit more friendly on Sunday.

I am not great at proof reading but I am sure this bloggy thing keeps deleting random words when I publish, it is quite interesting to revisit my posts from time to time and see what I really wrote as opposed to what I think I write...no wonder I get strange comments....

Until next time, watch out for cyclists
love
Ironmaiden

It's fun again!

Good news everybody!  Everyone is having new babies all over the place, which is exciting, I can play with them and give them back which is cool.  My good news does not involve babies, but the assurance from my most excellent physio that I do indeed still have a lateral ligament on my left ankle.  It is a little longer than the one on my right foot, but it is there, so if it is there it can heal.  Hard to heal a ligament that goneburgers.

I just did a pretty solid week's training, I am not doing much running, but did plenty of swimming and cycling, and some (yawn) aquajogging which was actually ver uhmmm ah ....   oh, sorry, I actually fell asleep while I was trying to think of something exciting about aquajogging....

I also went for my first group ride yesterday.  It was not as scary as I thought, they were nice to me and didn't growl if I got confused.  At one stage I heard two of the men behind me commenting about how good it was drafting behind me - now this is clearly a direct reference to the size of my posterior asset, but for some reason they were so charmingly honest and unapologetic about it that I actually wasn't offended, but rather found it nice being appreciated for something!  What on earth is the world coming to?

Anyway,  until next time, be safe and be seen and please don't run me over if I fall down in front of you.

love
Ironmaiden