Read an interesting article today about how to lose body fat without losing muscle. In summary i says its better to do more weight training and interval training for cardio. Also in terms of food sometime more is better than less.

Lose fat again muscle

Cardio

Weights

It’s the winter now and if you’re not training for anything specific you are in the off-season.  That means it’s time to be base-building.  Many of my clients don’t like (and don’t trust) this time of year. But trust me, it’s for the best. There are some great books on the subject, starting with Joe Friel’s Training Bible series.  However, eventually you should progress beyond those books to more advanced concepts- email me if you would like some recommended reading.

Endurance coaches will often refer to your fitness ceiling- the highest level of fitness that you can currently achieve.  We all have them, and the best  coaches will help you hit that ceiling during your peak of the race year.  And while the goal of the athlete is to progress beyond that ceiling and improve, most don’t always go about it the right way.  Some believe they must keep pushing themselves to get faster.  Others will take the off-season to regroup, slow down, and work on skills and limiters.

Let’s use cycling as an example. Go on a group ride in November and you’ll see two different scenarios. The ride may start slow, but someone will eventually take off and push the pace.  Watch what happens next- some will follow in what turns into a quick paceline where everyone is beathing heavy and working hard.  Others will sit back and continue the slower pace, maybe even having a conversation amongst themselves as they ride.  You’ll find me in the later group. And here’s why…

Your fitness peak can only be improved year after year if you have a strong base.  Using the house building analogy, your ceiling can only be as high as the foundation of your home can support.  Base building isn’t just about riding (or running) slow.  It includes building strength, endurance, and efficiency.   This period of training should last AT LEAST 8 weeks, but usually extends 16 to 24- depending on your level of fitness.

If you ride hard all year long you are erroding your base foundation which will ultimately DECREASE your fitness ceiling- the exact opposite of what you want to occur.  The purpose of base building is to take the level of effort that is currently challenging and ultimately make it an easy effort.  Smart base training will allow you to ride faster or with more power while maintaining a lower heart rate or RPE.

As with a house, you have to build from the ground up.  When you begin a base building program, the majority of your rides should be Heart Rate Zones 1 and 2, then increasing the amount of time spent in 2, then venturing into 3, then increasing the amount of time spent in 3, and so on. If you don’t know your heart rate zones, then THAT is the perfect place to start.  You can obtain these zones through the VO2 Max test, a test we do at FitMed Partners. If you have any questions about the test or what it entails, email me at info@annefinch.com.

Even as you increase the amount of time you stay in higher zones, you should still have several rides per week that are very low and sustained. And, as I mentioned previously, this is also the time to be working on skills and strength. This should include drill work to improve pedaling efficiency and weight training.

Please note, it’s easy to start getting ahead of yourself.  Stay focused and you will see great gains.  If you have any other questions or want help with building your base, email me or visit www.annefinch.com.

This weekend, Company 59 held another Task Force One training program, the third of the year. This weekends topic was Firefighter Survival, which included various topics: Rapid Intervention Teams, “Calling the Mayday”, Complex Rescues in a Structure, along with self rescue. The class used the Harrisburg International Airport “Old Terminal Building” as the training grounds for all the classes along with this weekends training.

Company 59 would like to say thank you to all the instuctors from all of the Task Force One classes that we held this year. We very much hope to hold more of the classes in the next coming year.

This Years Training Class Topics:
Engine Company Operations
Large Area Search in Complex Structures
Firefighter Survival

Command: Task Force One

Units:
Engine 59, 55-1
Rescue 59
Utility 59
Command 59

Companies Involved:
Lower Swatara (59)
Highspire (55)
Swatara (49)
Carlisle (41)

Pictures will be posted soon.

A few weeks ago, I presented an overview of my plan to get fit enough to run a ‘good’ marathon again in 3 years time. Each 3-4 month period will have a specific goal in addition to the continuing basic objective of improving my aerobic capacity. The specific goal for the first 4 month period is recovering some of my lost muscle strength, largely by resistance exercises and drills, together with a small amount of sprinting and uphill running.

Although I have now completed the first three weeks of the program, I have not fully settled the question of what leg strength exercises and drills are likely to be most beneficial. At present the exercises that I am doing are mainly body-weight exercises performed standing on one leg (such as one leg squats , hip swings, calf raises etc) since the major muscle actions of running are executed while standing on one leg. I am also doing a very small amount of plyometric exercise to increase my capacity to deal with eccentric contractions but in view of the risk of long term damage, I am being quite sparing with these exercises. I plan to test for gains in leg muscle strength (assessed by a hopping test, and by measuring my sprinting speed) after 6 weeks and if there has not evidence of substantial gain, I will modify the types of exercises and drills in my program.

In preparation for this, I have been once again reviewing the question of running technique in order to identify what exercises and drills are likely to be most beneficial. Two apparently coincidental happenings in the past two weeks have also served to re-focus my attention on running style.

 Gravitational torque

One has been a series of comments by Simbil on a post entitled ‘if gravitational torque is a red herring, how to do we run fast?, which I had posted in February. Simbil is a runner and thinker based in Sheffield, who contributes thought-provoking comments to the Efficient Running thread on the Fetch website. He is an advocate for Pose technique, though he is prepared to re-examine the tenets of Pose in a thoughtful manner. Gravitational torque plays a crucial role in the theory of Pose. Simbil has been challenging my assertion that the gravitational torque that generates head-forwards and downwards angular momentum in the second half of the stance phase is balanced by an oppositely directed torque acting in the first half of stance. We have been lobbing arguments back and forth for some time. We have not yet reached any definitive conclusion, though we are in agreement that the gravitational torque must be counteracted by an oppositely directed torque acting a some point in the gait cycle, and furthermore, that whatever the mechanism, the forces involved in generating gravitational torque and compensating for it are far less important that the forces required to get airborne. I will return to this issue a little later.

Pose Tech

The other coincidental happening came to my attention when I noted a little upwards blip in the number of hits on this site a little over a week ago. At present this site gets about 2000 hits per month (far below the league of the Huffington Post or Belle de Jour, or, I suspect, Younger Legs for Older Runners, but nonetheless, satisfying). Most of the hits come from Google searches seeking information about various aspects of running technique and training, though the flurry of increased activity in the few days after each posting indicates that there are also some faithful followers. It always gives me a little thrill to see these flurries of activity and I hope that those of you who read the posts find them interesting. In addition there are occasional flurries of increased activity at other times indicating that some other website has drawn attention to something on my site. One such flurry occurred last week, and inspection of the stats provided by WordPress revealed that the hits were referred from one of the forums on the Pose Tech website. Those forums are protected by password, but as runner interested in Pose, I have been registered with the site for several years. So I was tempted to have a look.

When I logged on I was intrigued to find that there was a quite active thread discussing my blog. Those of you familiar with the Pose Tech site will probably be aware that many of the people who post on the forums are strong believers in Pose. Therefore, I was more amused than surprised to see comments such as ‘burn the heretic’. However a gratifyingly number of the postings were in agreement with my views, especially my view that landing on the ball of the foot, in combination with a short time on stance places large forces on the foot, and is associated with risk of injury to metatarsals and connective tissues of the foot and ankle.

I was a little saddened by a passionate posting from Lana, the wife of Nicholas Romanov [correction: Lana is his daughter, see comments below], lamenting the fact that I and others did not give due credit to the amount of work and expertise that her husband has devoted to the Pose technique. However, while I am happy to acknowledge the work and expertise of Dr Romanov, I think there is a serious issue arising from the fact that the 2002 edition of Pose Method of Running reproduces the diagrams and photos from the first edition showing the heel held high off the ground at mid stance. In the early years, it was quite common for Pose novices to report Achilles or calf muscle problems, which I think are largely due to holding the heel off the ground. The importance of these problems was reinforced by the findings of the Capetown study (Arendse et al, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Vol 36 pp 272-277, 2004) demonstrating that Pose is associated with increased stress around the ankle, together with the reports by Ross Tucker (who assisted Dr Romanov in coaching the Pose technique in that study) that the runners in the Pose group suffered a high rate of injuries to connective tissue around the ankle (http://www.sportsscientists.com/2007/09/running-technique-part-ii-scientific.html).

When I expressed disappointment that these figures had been reproduced without anything in either text or illustrations (as far as I have been able to ascertain) describing how the risk of these injuries might be minimized by relaxing the ankle to allow the heel to touch the ground, Lana suggested that ‘you need to “zoom out” a bit – because you are not doing yourself any favours by using a magnifying glass all the time’. In an email, a good friend has suggested that it is unlikely that I will be on Lana’s Christmas card list this year.

Despite this little storm in a tea-cup on Pose Tech, I have a fairly positive view of how Pose works in practice, based not only on looking at the evidence through a magnifying glass; but also by talking to runners who have applied it; and by experimenting with it myself. I am less impressed with the theory underlying Pose, but the evidence that the technique can be beneficial makes me want to understand more clearly why it works

A subjective overview of Pose

Many of the principles of Pose such as high cadence, short time of stance; avoiding reaching out with the leading foot, and keeping the pelvis forward, make mechanical sense. I discuss these features in my own account of technique (‘Running: a dance with the devil’ – listed on the side panel). Many elite athletes exhibit these features despite never having been trained in Pose, though I think Nicholas Romanov deserves credit for publicizing these principles among amateur runners.

Other features such as landing on the ball of the foot (BOF) also make sense, but are attended by risk. As I had mentioned in my comments on Pose Tech that provoked the anguished response from Lana, BOF landing places substantial stress on the bones and connective tissue of the foot and lower leg, and creates a risk of repetitive strain injury to metatarsal, planate fascia, Achilles tendon and peroneal tendons. At least when running long distances, I consider it is best to relax the ankle so that the heel brushes the ground in mid-stance

I also consider that Dr Romanov’s claim that gravitational torque provides the motive force for running is misleading. According to the law of conservation of energy, it is impossible for gravity to provide net energy when running on a level surface. I accept that the unbalancing due to gravitational torque during the second half of stance does help promote the muscular actions necessary to swing the leg forwards in time to support the body at subsequent footfall. However I am not convinced that this is plays a major role, and I therefore consider that gravitational torque is probably a red herring. Nonetheless, I am quite happy to continue debating this issue with Simbil.

However in my opinion the most interesting issue for debate is the concept of pulling from stance rather than pushing. The Pose mantra is ‘Pose, Fall, Pull’ implying that the crucial actions are:

1) adopting the classic pose with the point of support (BOF), hips, and shoulders aligned, in mid-stance;

2) falling under the influence of gravitational torque as the centre of mass moves in front of the point of support;

3) pulling the leg from stance by means of a contraction of the hamstrings.

In practice, I think that getting airborne is impossible without a push. Pulling from stance would amount to lifting oneself by one’s own boot straps. Of course pulling the leg forwards by hip flexor contraction once airborne is essential, but is largely automatic. While I think that pulling from stance is largely an illusion, I think it might be a useful illusion to cultivate because it encourages a short time of stance, high cadence and relatively short strides – possibly not the best style for record breaking performances, but nonetheless fairly safe. For most of us, avoiding injury is more important than maximizing mechanical efficiency.

So, while I think that the Pose concept of pull is not mechanically correct, I think that it is a useful mental image to cultivate, in the same way that some of the principles of Alexander technique are based on creating helpful illusions. Therefore, Pose drills such as Change of Stance that encourage the illusion of pulling are probably useful. But if one want to increase one’s speed of running, are Pose drills more important that developing the muscles responsible for the push?

Weyand: it it’s the push that counts

Perhaps the most important evidence about the muscular action required for running fast comes from a study by Peter Weyand and colleagues from Harvard (J Appl Physiol Vol 89: pp 1991–1999, 2000). In a study of runners with various different maximum running speeds, using a force plate to assess ground reaction forces during treadmill running, they demonstrated that ‘human runners reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground.’ The force plate data showed clearly that a larger vertical ground reaction force achieved by the foot pushing against the ground was the main factor distinguishing fast runners from slower runners.

The extensor paradox

However, Weyand’s findings present a problem: the extensor paradox. Studies employing electromyography to measure the electrical activity in muscles demonstrate the major muscle groups that would be expected to execute a push off the ground, namely especially the quadriceps which are responsible for knee extension, are almost silent in late stance (Elliot et al. Medicine & Science in Sports vol 11, pp 322-327, 1979). So where does the push come from? Much of it almost certainly comes from elastic recoil of quadriceps, acting in conjunction with the hamstrings, and soleus, all of which have been stretched on impact at foot fall. Thus the crucial strength that is required for running fast is the ability to sustain a strong eccentric contraction of the quads, hams and calf muscles.

Conclusions

In a program to rebuild the strength necessary to run fast, it is crucial to recover the capacity for strong eccentric contraction of quads, hams and calf muscles. Of course other muscles also play a role – especially the gluteals which help hold the pelvis in a horizontal position during swing, and the hip flexors, which drive the swinging leg forwards – but Weyand’s study indicates that it is the ability to push strongly that distinguishes fast runners from slow runners. Clearly any strengthening program should involve a reasonable balance between all relevant muscle groups as muscles do not work in isolation, but nonetheless, much of the focus should be on eccentric strengthening of quads, hams and calf muscles.

However there is a problem: as I have discussed several times previously on this blog, eccentric contraction damages muscle, possibly permanently, especially in older runners. So a program of plyometrics designed to increase the ability to withstand eccentric contraction must be undertaken cautiously. I am inclined to think that the first priority is to recover strength of the major muscle groups, especially quads and hams with a program of resistance training with free weights, including a gradual build up of eccentric loading, before moving on to a modest amount of plyometrics. Meanwhile, I will also continue with regular uphill running, as this invokes the required muscular actions in a way that is ‘natural’ for a runner.

As for drills, any drill that promotes a short time on stance is likely to be beneficial. I am still exploring the options, but despite my opinion that the pull is less important than the push in getting airborne, I think that the Pose ‘Change of Stance’ drill is beneficial, even if it is largely cultivating a beneficial illusion of pulling from stance.

Workout notes 10 mile McNaughton loop in 3:13; note that I missed the Golf Hill turn and doubled back and cost myself about 5 minutes. The trail was slightly dryer.

Note: after the fact, my right leg (lower hamstring/calf area) is a bit achy. Two 10 milers in a weekend was pushing it a bit.

Posts You’ve heard about the change on the recommendations on mammograms. Of course, there are some complaints. But here is a nice explanation as to what is going on:

On Monday evening, the United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) released new recommendations for screening mammography, which it published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, that have, let me tell you, shaken my specialty to the core. I must admit I was surprised at the recommendations. No, I wasn’t surprised that recommendations to scale back mammographic screening were released. I saw it coming, based on a series of studies, some of which I’ve discussed right here on this very blog. What surprised me is how much of a departure from current mammography guidelines the USPSTF recommendations were and, even more so, that they were released this year. I hadn’t expected recommendations like this this soon. But I have to deal with them, and so I might as well try to help my readers understand them too.

The first thing that women need to understand is that these recommendations are for asymptomatic women at average risk for breast cancer undergoing routine screening for breast cancer. They are not for women judged to be at high risk due to genetic mutations, strong family history, or other factors producing a high risk for breast cancer. Neither are they for women who are not completely asymptomatic. If you’re a woman, particularly if you’re over 40, and have felt a lump, it needs to be worked up. Period. Screening by definition is administering a test to an asymptomatic population. These recommendations should not be used as a reason to delay or forego the evaluation of masses or other breast abnormalities. I mention this because I sometimes see confusion between screening and diagnostic mammography.

[...]

The summary for patients states:

The USPSTF found fair evidence that women who have screening mammography die of breast cancer less frequently than women who do not have it, but the benefits minus harms are small for women aged 40 to 49 years. Benefits increase as women age and their risk for breast cancer increases. However, there are relatively few studies of mammography for women aged 75 years or older. The potential harms of mammography include anxiety, procedures, and costs due to false-positive results and receiving a diagnosis and treatment of cancer that never would have surfaced on its own within a woman’s natural life time. They found that the benefit of mammography every 2 years is nearly the same as that of doing it every year, but the harms are likely to be half as common. They found no evidence that self- or clinical examination reduces breast cancer death rates. [...]

n the meatime, screening asymptomatic people for disease always comes down to a balance of risks and benefits, as well as values. In the case of breast cancer, starting at 40 appears only to modestly increase the number of lives saved but at a high cost, while screening yearly only increases the detection of breast cancer marginally compared to screening every other year, also at a high cost in terms of more biopsies and more overdiagnosis. Whether the cost is worth it or not comes down to two levels. First and foremost, what matters is the woman being screened, what she values, and what her tolerance is for paying the price of screening at an earlier age, such as a high risk for overdiagnosis, excessive biopsies, and overtreatment in order to detect cancer earlier and a relatively low probability of avoiding death from breast cancer because of screening. Then there’s the policy level, where we as a society have to decide what tradeoffs we’re willing to make to save a life that otherwise would have been lost to breast cancer. Although screening programs and recommendations should be based on the best science we currently have, deciding upon the actual cutoffs of who is and is not screened and how often unavoidably involves value judgments. Such decisions always will.

Surf to the article to see some numbers.

Some lessons I’ve learned…

1)       Get in touch with your dark side. You are as likely to be playing Satan as Jesus.  Have foundations strong enough to cope.  Yes, YOU may be saved, but very few dramatic characters are!  Draw from all sources to learn about humanity.

2)      Stop repressing emotion.  Start listening to it.  Learn to be aware of the first impulses that arise, before you start to cover up.  Don’t always ACT on them (!), but be aware of what they are.  You’ll be needing them!

3)      Read widely and broadly. Even stuff you know is against what you believe.  Form opinions.

4)      Seems silly to say, but I get asked occasionally - get used to using bad language! Swearing language has a beauty  all of it’s own, and has a place and a time for use.  Appreciate it!

5)      Human beings are halfway between angel and animal.  Learn to be aware of both sides within you.

6)      In your prayer time with the Lord, be challenged to be constantly honest with him, in where you are at.  NEVER, under any circumstances, fall into automatic pilot.  Sensitivity to what is REALLY going on in your heart will aid your sensitivity as an actor and help your sense of being ‘naked’ onstage.

7)      Don’t be prudish about sex.  If handled in the right way, scenes containing sexuality tell us huge amounts about character and ourselves.  An actor’s job is to be ‘naked’ (sometimes literally) and go through things the audience will never have to, so they can appreciate and learn about their own humanity.  Your whole life and body become their blank canvas – it’s all part of the actor/audience deal.

8)      You have a secret weapon.  You are able to approach your character from a spiritual point of view – their sinful habits, earthly mindsets, gifts, curses or blessings down the family line and their modern day effects.

9)      Become very aware of the detail of the presence of God.  By doing so, become aware of different atmospheres a room/scene may be filled with.

10)   Explore in your spirituality.  Stretch yourself.  Dream.  Be limitless.  Lose yourself in nature.  Use your imagination in prayer.  Learn to develop spiritual discernment, not only what is right or wrong, but that prophetic 6^th sense that the Holy Spirit provides.  This will help reveal much more depth and detail in your  walk with the Lord.

It’s a career path that has it’s challenges, yes.  I once asked a close friend: ‘how do you find peace being an actor and a Christian?’  He replied: ‘You don’t find peace in it, but you learn to put up with it’.  But, my goodness, the rewards and the satisfaction of a job well done are so enlightening, revealing and deeply personal, you will swear it is the only job in the world.

Being a Christian actor demands spiritual maturity.  And more often than not, an approach that forsakes typical ‘religious’ paths.  Church on Sunday?  Sorry, only morning off after long night performing.  Church at all?  Sorry, I’m touring around the UK.  Bible reading?  I’m intensely digging into my script, I can’t fit Bible stuff in my head.

What I’ve found is it’s more a case of:  snatched Bible readings, close Christian friends at the end of a phone at all times, snatched intense moments of time with the Father, and a degree of prior soul transformation so much that, like a sponge, when you are squeezed against the wall, what oozes out is Jesus!  Reliance, reliance, reliance.

He, after all, is the great Creator.  He created all human beings that all characters have been based on, in creating the great spectrum of humanity, he is in a way more human than any of us (and yet something altogether different.)  He is the great storyteller.  And he is the source of all the gifts that allow actors to do what they do.  We have a rich heritage to draw from!

And don’t forget, when you’re bowing in the applause, to inwardly bow yourself to the One who made it all possible.

I am home. I packed up my clothes bag, my shoe bag, and my dog’s bag, and we made the journey home yesterday. It is good to see family and friends, and know that I don’t have to run back to school immediately. I have all this glorious upcoming week off for break YAY!!!!!!!! So I arrive in town last night, and I was looking forward to spending the evening with my little brother. We usually have a great time together. We decided to bring the other two family dogs with us so my puppy could have dog friends to play with as well. One of the dogs is old, love her, and the other one is still a puppy, like 6 months old.

I forgot that with puppies you can’t leave anything laying around unless you want it to get chewed. I have been pretty lucky with my dog, the only pair of shoes (and the last!) that he chewed on were an old pair of flip-flops that I didn’t have any attachment to. But he learned never to do that again, he had a stern talking to. And aside from the occasional pair of underwear, WTF?! Dogs are so nasty!!!!!! And the odd writing utensil a few times a year, we had a disaster where he ate a pack of highlighters (he was pink, blue, purple, orange, yellow, and green as was the carpet) he doesn’t chew up what he is not supposed to.

It is obvious that my brother’s little (adorable) white, puff ball demon chewer tried to gnaw on one my favorite new pair of shoes! I am a shoe-fiend. I love them. If I wasn’t so attached to my dog, I would probably name them and they would be my surrogate children. When I am in a bad mood, I like to look into my closet where they are displayed, and I feel a great calming, soothing wave wash over me. So the little chewing fiend got severely reprimanded, and put in the kennel. That was last night.

This morning, I had left my glasses on the end table by the couch. Again forgetting that the abominable chew monster was on the loose. I hear him chewing on something, and of course, that something was my glasses! ARRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I about killed him! Thank goodness that he had only gotten a hold of the part that goes behind the ear, and only gotten in about two good chews. But I mean really?! So I have been thinking of getting a pet dog for my dog, so that he has someone to keep him company while I am not there. But I am really not too sure I am ready to deal with a puppy again. All that chewing, peeing and pooing, that is no longer an issue with my dog.

****For all you fanatics out there, please note: No animals were injured at any point that I was retailing. They would get yelled at, lightly swatted with a newspaper,0 and put in the kennel****

We just had our rest day during the second-hottest November day on record in Sydney.

All I can say is thank goodness we’re doing container unpacking today and not yesterday! Our teammates Sean and Joel should be thankful they are arriving today and not yesterday as well – Joel especially, given his propensity towards sweating!

We’re moving out of Brett’s place and into a rental house in Bondi Junction today. And Siobhan has an exam. So we’ll only be back on the water tomorrow.

The forecast looks good. Probably none of this:

We like light wind, but we’re here for the strong stuff!

That’s the N12 main up – we’ve been testing it to see how we like it. Much flatter than the N10; we’ve yet to see if it’ll perform in the up range breeze though. But thus far, I quite like it.

1.  Signs Of Love

2.  Good Intentions

3.  Warning Signs

Son 1 aged 5y 2m and Son 2 aged 2y 2m were so wiped out at bedtime yesterday that I was SURE we were heading for a lie-in this morning. Nope. 7am. Son 1, was as usual, in the Big Bed. The Man had gone Downstairs to try to get Son 2 back to sleep.   Son 2 wanted his breakfast. We were all getting up.  Son 1 was knackered. There was a lot of lying on the bed/on the floor/on the comfy chair watching telly. Son 2 was raring.  As the morning ticked on, The Man took Son 2 outside to play in the garden while he pulled down our rotten trellis.  Son 1watched more telly.  I rang Eldest Brother. Aged Aunt’s funeral is on Thursday. The Man says he’ll come.  Eldest Brother has found a box in which Aged Aunt kept every letter I ever sent her.  I am strangely, completely undone.   Eldest Brother is missing her.  “She didn’t have a bad life,” he said.  “She spent her life surrounded, or being cared for, by people who loved her,” I said. “That puts her in the top 1% of old ladies in the World.” I put my running things on, waved at The Man through the window and off I went. 

It’s the morning of the 5 mile run I did last year. five miles Tra la la. Last year I thought it was the beginning of Big Things. This year, well, I’ve been out 8 times in the last 2 weeks. I’ve realised that the point of the 10- weeks-to-get-you-to-running-12-miles-a-week training programme which I keep starting, isn’t to get you running distances… it’s to get you running 4 times a week. So. Walking 2 minutes, running 4 minutes, when every other runner in Town was doing 5 miles. Chicago, Chicago, it’s My Kind Of Town. I mentioned my Chicago Marathon Daydream to a Mum I know who rows a couple of weeks back. She went running that day, and has been seen out running since.  I have 11 months. I can still Do It.

Son 1 wanted Eggy Pie for tea, much to The Man’s disgust.  Son 2 stood on a chair and washed the potatoes. Son 1 aged 2y 2m used to wash potatoes. Yes, there was water and mud everywhere, but that was all. Son 2 threw the vegetable brush at the cactus, stretched up to press the microwave buttons, stretched for knives and scooped water from the sink with a spoon and drank it.  These are, of course, organic potatoes, with the mud and manure still attached.  Neat e coli.  Yum.  Son 1 came down to break the eggs for me. He cracks them and put the shells in the box. We need 5 eggs. We had 5 eggs. He went back upstairs for Even More Telly. I poured the mix into the pan. “I usually have more than that,” I thought. I fished in the bin. There was a whole egg in the thrown out egg box.  I cracked it into the pan and stirred it up a bit.  They all stuffed their faces, even The Man, who also had Ready Meal chicken pieces and dip I found in the freezer.  At bathtime, Son 2 reached for a Nemo toy Son 1 had left on the bathside. Son 2 didn’t realise that he needs the bathmat which covers the floor of the bath, and stepped up the bath wall.  He slipped instantly, did a half turn, slid straight down, clunked the back of his head and zoomed on his back straight under the water. I was just walking back into the bathroom as he did it, saw it, fished him out, cuddled him and let him go back in when he wanted to.  Of course I have never left him on his own in the bath before.

Tags: accident, Aged Aunt, bathtime, Chicago Marathon, e coli, Eggy Pie, Eldest Brother, five mile run, funeral, Nemo, running, training

Stick with what works…the basics.  We have progressed slowly and consistantly from the couch to getting up 3 times per week and doing something about our fitness.  Get on board!  As easy as it seems now, you will look back and see great improvement in your fitness level.  If you ever need any advice on stretching, jogging, core strength, or anything else about getting fit, just post it here and I will do my best to provide an answer to assist in your progress to total body fitness.  This is level 1 fitness here, nice and easy. 

Week 5:  90 on/30 off.  5 minute warm-up walk.  Light stretching.  Jog for 1:30, walk for :30.  Repeat for a total session time of 5 minutes.  Walk to cool down.   Do this on Tues, Thurs, Sat (or Sun).  Do 10 bicycle crunches after each workout session.

Short term goal is to jog for 5 minutes without stopping, and 20 crunches.  Slow, injury free workouts for long term fitness.  Don’t skip workouts, be consistant.  See you next time!  http://astore.amazon.com/fitnesscentral.com-20

Went for my first run today, also been a while since I’ve been running.   I’m not in the greatest shape in running so I’m starting with intervals, so that I can build time.  I’m currently using the podrunner intervals series.  I like its ease of use, and the techno music isn’t half bad..

30 minutes – 2.5 miles

Lauftagebuch 22.11.2009:
Sonniger Sonntag, d.h. ein neuer Versuch, meinen etwas missglückten Genusslauf von Freitag nachzuholen. Die Halsschmerzen waren zum Glück am Samstag schon wieder weg, und bis jetzt hat mich die Grippe anscheinend noch nicht heimgesucht. (Wahrscheinlich bin ich der Medien-Panikmache auf den Leim gegangen und habe mich selbst verrückt gemacht…)

Also bin ich heute von daheim aus losgelaufen und habe fünf Kilometer geschafft. Allerdings war ich schon nach zweien total kaputt und hätte auch da wieder abbrechen können. Habe ich aber nicht *stolzbin*.
Keine Ahnung, woran es liegt, aber es fiel mir wieder sehr schwer und ich war auch nur sehr langsam unterwegs. Trotzdem war ich nicht so unzufrieden wie Freitag, vielleicht darf ich auch nicht so streng mit mir selbst sein…
Aber Silvester sollen es doch zehn Kilometer (und die nicht als letzte) sein, da müsste ich doch schon fitter sein! Mal schauen, diese Woche geht’s dann auch mal aufs Laufband. Was auf der AIDA geht, kann hier ja auch nicht schaden…

Das neue Aquarium:
Ihr wolltet Fotos sehen? Dann langweile ich Euch schon mal mit Bildern unseres unbewohnten 60-Liter-Würfels. In diesem Zusammenhang kann ich mich noch einmal für die aufwändige und tatkräftige Unterstützung meiner Freundin Denise bedanken, die am letzten Samstag die Bauleitung bei der Pflanzeneinrichtung übernommen hat! Meine zwar kreative, aber ziemlich schwierig umzusetzende Idee mit der roten Straße konnte sie auch nicht aus der Ruhe bringen und hat mit einer Engelsgeduld die Hauptarbeit geleistet!
Danke! (Die ersten Garnelenspieße vom Grill bekommst Du! )

So sieht er aus, der Sera-Bio-Würfel:
Jetzt dauert es noch mindestens zwei Wochen, bis das Wasser soweit garnelenfreundlich ist, dass sie gefahrlos einziehen können. Der Filter muss erst die entsprechenden Bakterien bilden und vermehren, damit die schädlichen Stoffe herausgefiltert bzw. abgebaut werden.

Das ist wirklich eine Wissenschaft für sich, und ich bin da nun wirklich noch kein Experte. Und so ein relativ kleines Becken ist entsprechend anfälliger für Störungen, d.h. für den Anfang eigentlich schwieriger zu managen als ein größeres, das sich recht leicht im Gleichgewicht halten lässt, wenn es einmal eingefahren ist… Mal schauen, ob ich das so hinbekomme!

Wenn es dann soweit “fertig” ist, sollen wahrscheinlich Red Chrystal – Garnelen einziehen und vielleicht eine weitere Art, die sich nicht mit den Chrystals kreuzt. Vielleicht Amano-Garnelen, da habe ich meine Informationsbeschaffung noch nicht abgeschlossen. Und zu guter letzt werden noch ein paar Endler-Guppys dazu kommen, allerdings wohl nur Männchen, damit mir unser Aquarium nicht nach ein paar Wochen aus allen Nähten platzt. Aber auch das steht noch nicht fest…

Hier jetzt erst einmal die unbewohnten Bilder, damit die Vorfreude auf die wuseligen und geschäftigen zukünftigen Bewohner steigt:

Freitag Vormittag gings wieder ins Burgenland! Peda wurde in Pinggau abgeliefert und schon beim Runterfahren haben wir eine Wanderung für den nächsten Tag geplant. Da es aber auch am Nachmittag noch super sonnig war, haben wir kurzentschlossen die Wandertour auf Freitag vorverlegt und haben den Aufstieg auf den Hochwechsel, diesmal von der anderen Seite gestartet.

Abstieg vom Hochwechsel-Abendstimmung


Zumal wir ziemlich spät losgegangen sind, mussten wir Tempo machen, damit wir den Abstieg nicht im Finsteren antreten mussten.

Die rasende Wildsau Joey hat sich auf den wenigen weiten Wiesen ordentlich auspowern können

Peda konnte es natürlich nicht sein lassen und hat sein Muschelhorn wieder ausgepackt, was Joey immer antreibt jede Menge Sprungeinlagen zu liefern

gerade rechtzeitig vor Sonnenuntergang haben wir den Abstieg geschafft und die Aussicht auf die malerische Landschaft genossen

Abendstimmung  in Oberwart

Mehr Fotos vom Ausflug wie immer H I E R

If you are starting out down the gym it can be a pretty daunting place.  Here are 5 top tips to help you on your way… 

1. Start off by working out in advance which days you want to go to the gym for the next month and make sure that you stick to them.  Arrange nights out, work and your general social life around it and vice versa.  Good planning means you shouldn’t miss a session.  Aim for 3 days a week for the first month as you don’t want to put yourself off too early on.  Build up to 4 days a week when you feel ready to do so.
2. For the first month or two do full body workouts each session.  Don’t try and split it into muscle groups or anything more complicated.  Get the building blocks in place and work from there.
3. Try and do as many body weight exercises as possible.  That means LOTS of push-ups, dips, pull ups, sit ups and the plank.  Why?  Because you need to work up the basic muscle groups to ensure that when you start using free-weights you can manage it without injuring yourself.  Also most body weight exercises will actually help work out several muscle groups at the same time.
4. Build up some of the basic movements on weight machines and the cables.  Cables are really good for all level of gym goers.  Machines, however, are the bane of the gym.  I hate them – but for beginners it’s a good way to build up some basic strength so that you can start on the free weights.
5. Move on to free-weights as soon as possible!  Anything that you can do with a machine you can do with free weights.  Machines will only focus on a very limited range of motion and a very limited section of your muscles therefore you will never get a proper work out using just machines.

If I can give you one piece of advice – other than to wear sunscreen – it would be to get off machines whenever possible and get onto free weights.  It’s the only real way to work out!  It’s an oldie, but a goodie…

Today is a lazy day – for the dogs and for me. We might hit the dogpark later, even though I detest the park especially on Sundays. But my little girl expressed a hint of social deficit in the last couple of months and I’ve started to take her to the park, knowing I can absolutely trust her. She is a Malinois and has been known to be quite full of herself, but is extremely stable. However, for a certain reason, I need her to be so calm about other dogs that she can sit next to me, leashed, and let another dog walk straight towards her and circling us. Right now, she’s too much a queen and alpha dog to do that. While she won’t hurt the other dog, she does snap or bark at it. Bringing her to the dogpark seems to help her see that even though other dogs tumble all around us, they don’t mean much by it.

So, I ignore my concerns regarding the dogpark. I closely watch her and the other dogs and get her out before a bad situation can happen. Her recall and obedience in the park is amazing. She responds quickly and I can have her in a down stay with dogs running around her without her moving a muscle. When she plays, she plays hard and she runs faster than the wind, but she’s mostly interested in me throwing her tennis ball, which she retrieves and brings back relentlessly. I stay mostly by myself, but cannot hide a smile, when she catches the ball mid-air and I hear the other people gasping. Yes, I’m proud of her, she’s every bit the best dog in the world as your dog is the best dog in the world for you.

The things I see though are outlandish. Like the pitbull, who entered the park wearing a heavy iron chain wrapped around his neck twice. He could barely hold his head up. I raced to the owner asking, if there was any reason for this nonsense. He told me that they got the dog yesterday from the shelter and that he’d heard that this would strengthen his neck muscles. The dog was 8 months old. I was able to convince him that the chain could hurt his dog and any other dog he would play with in the park. I could not get it into his head, that his dog is way too young for this and that it may not be such a great idea to take new dog to the park when he doesn’t even know if there is any dog aggression. People! What are you thinking? It is beyond me, why the shelter would give out a dog, especially a pitbull with all its bad reputation, to a person like that. Granted, they may have been presented with the nice family man and for them, a dog was saved from certain death – but still.

Haven’t seen the guy around lately though. Maybe that’s good, maybe it’s not. But there are plenty of other dogpark stories to go around. Maybe I get a new one this afternoon.

I haven’t written all weekend. Very unlike me. There are a combination of reasons for this: a) I’ve been quite busy all weekend b) I’ve had a spell of “computer screen fatigue”, and c) the uncharacteristic cold and rain here in Pretoria had gotten me down…really down. Part of it this was also caused by the slowdown at work late last week. Despite that this is Africa, it’s still Thanksgiving and people are gearing up to gear down for the holidays. My boss is actually out all week next week, so it will be very slow. For many this seems like a good thing, but not for me. The last thing I like to be is bored at work. I have a few small and random assignments, but knowing me it will take as long to complete those as it would to complete ten complex and challenging assignments…

This weekend I had the unique chance to get to know my future sister-in-law. We literally spent almost the entire weekend together. Of course we’ve met before, including the 2 weeks that Michael and I spent with  her and Patrick in Cote d’Ivoire a few Christmases ago. But this was the first chance we’ve had to hang out just the two of us. This and the (finally!) improvement in the weather conditions really perked me up. Friday was slow and cold, just a going-away party for a colleague after work, and literally in the bed by 7 p.m. just trying to stay warm (that’s how depressing life was as recently as Friday).

But Saturday was a lot better, got up early to go on the Cullinan Diamond Tour organized by the Embassy, along with Marie-Luise and my coworker and neighbor Beth, as well as 20 fellow USG workers. The tour was pretty interesting, I didn’t realize that the mine we visited produced the largest diamond ever found, part of which now resides in England’s Crown Jewels. The tour culminated in a visit to the mine’s jewelry shop…and wow did they have some nice, and completely unattainable, jewelry there! We’re talking 0.3 karats for $5,000, etc. You get the picture.

After the tour we headed to South Africa’s favorite hot spot – the mall. For coffee, smoothies, and a dull romantic non-comedy starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. Did I mention that I essentially couldn’t walk at all due to the torture that my friend Kathy the personal trainer put me through in the gym on Friday morning. As I bent for every torturous deadlift I chanted “wedding dress, wedding dress,” and that’s what got me through. So needless to say, Saturday was a rest day in terms of exercise.

Sunday however, I realized the huge benefits of heavy, steady strength training. I’ve literally run not more than a 5K on the treadmill since I arrived. Yet this morning ran for an hour straight outside with barely a struggle. It was amazing and I’m completely jazzed for tomorrow’s 5 a.m. alarm and another bout of early-morning strength training. After the workout Kathy took me to the Super Spar, which was essentially Mecca to me after the meager pickins at the local Pick N Pay. They even had mangos!!!! Then Marie-Luise came over and we did the town – uh, you guessed it, the mall. And a little sunning by the pool – yes, in late November. And finally, headed over to Kathy and Charlie’s for some home-cooked food and good (as always wine).

So as you can see, nothing too exciting in the great scheme of things but quite active for me these days. I’m afraid this was kind of a boring post but I’ll try to be more exciting this coming week. The most exciting thing for me is that the true countdown to Michael’s arrival begins this week! T-2.5 weeks!

Dr. Wayne Roberts spoke on food policy and a new vision for cities at Toledo Library in the US. As always his witty humour is always a hit. The photos he uses in the presentation are also quite insightful. Dr. Roberts also proposes hopeful solutions and answers to fixing cities and the food system. If you want the quick written summary you can read it below.

Watch the full video and get the quick written summary at FoodCycles.org.

A fantastic day for a trial flight at Blackbushe aviation with very clear skies and little wind.

• Took off and flew to Reading/Newbury training area.
• Flew straight and level, some turns left and right, effects of power, trim and flaps and tried stalling the aircraft.
• Flew well, and then did the turns on the circuit.

And the real training starts… Well in a week.

Single mum to a wonderfully supportive 15yr old son, I took up running about 18 months ago to get fit, clear my mind, lose weight. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad

Every time I’ve run a Half Marathon (5 to date) I complete it with the thought of ‘no further.. please.. it’s not possible’. So here I am blogging as I will be Going All The Way for the first time! A Marathon virgin.

Training schedule starts end December, but lots of preparation before that. Ran two half marathons in two weeks for this year’s charity event raising £540 for Leukeamia Research. Knees took a bashing, and was out of running for two weeks. Concentrating on strengthening more at the moment, but worried about losing my distance…. a few 5milers in the last couple of weeks, but trying for 10m tomorrow, in the lashing rain and howling winds

So Going All The Way 18 April 2010 in Brighton’s first Marathon.

Running for CLIC Sargent (for children with Cancer), a few days before my 43rd Birthday. Bring it on!