30 June and what a fair month it was

I am delighted to begin training again for a half-marathon. It's a distance I love.  End of October, 15 weeks away.  So, I plan to be 7 -10 kg lighter by then too.

30-minute mid-week run. Ran up the hill and the tower stairs, twice.

Lots of fun yesterday getting fresh plants for the garden.

28 - 29 juneathon. going going gone

28 saturday - I felt sick from food I ate on Friday. Walks were okay.

29 sunday - 5 k beach run.

I looked at the calendar and crunched numbers. I would like to run the Amsterdam half marathon in October. Next week would be 15 weeks of training.
A worthy goal to help me choose wisely when eating.

I can do it.

runaway juneathon 24-25-26-27

24 - lift heavy. really heavy. really fun
25 - SCUBA diving. very fun
26 - have trouble lifting arms from DOMS.  not so fun.
27 - cycling


weight-loss results have been GREAT!  I am making great progress on my goal and feel wonderful.

19 - 22 June hang head in shame for falling behind on blogging

19 thursday - weight lifting; dog walk
20 friday - run
21 saturday - walk
22 sunday - run 5 k - intervals (with audiofuel)

today's run was the first time I felt like a real runner after returning from my hiatus.

hiatus sounds like it should be a pretty place somewhere. it wasn't.

I'm glad to feel like a runner again.

18 June

45 min run on the beach. 

17 June

Lifted heavy. Skipped rope. Walked dog.

Cleaned up my eating, and seeing good results on the scale.

16 June

One hour beach walk, soft sand

Five loads of laundry, three flights of stairs.

15 June

happy father's day!
short dog walks.
lots of BBQ and sunshine

14 June

biking in the dunes
dog walk
"running" errands.

13 June

hup hup Holland. Watching the world cup counts as a juneathon activity, right?

Good thing I also took the trail bike out into the dunes and onto the beach. one hour. fit!

12 June

Walking. thought about lifting again, but need a little more recovery time.

11 June

ran this morning with the dog. heavenly.  lifted heavy stuff this afternoon. practicing my double-unders. Getting more and more of them!

I feel really good.

10 June

a lot of sitting and getting stuff done. And enjoying the fine work of the gardener who did a major yard clean up. Dog walkies. Visualisation. Calling it done.

09 June

cannot spend my whole day helping my husband get ready for exercise rehab, without taking some time to care for myself. That is the challenge of the care-giver. I get his medication every morning and forget to get a vitamin for myself.

Today - dog walks x2 in very hot weather. Hot for us anyway. 26 is hot enough (mid-80's).  10 minutes with the kettlebell. And then 4 with the speed rope. I am too sweaty to continue.

08 June

20 min mediation
60 min power yoga
dog walks!

07 June

stunningly beautiful day, which I spent mostly working at a computer. dog walks x2 & bike ride to the garage to pick up my car.  

I had the inclination for some yoga briefly but I napped instead.

Still wishing the arthritis in my hand would move out.

06 June

Easy, simple. Five km. 40 min jog on the beach with the pup. He's limping. I'm not.

05 June

increasing activity levels!

I jogged with the dog this morning. Will no doubt take him out again this evening.

Fast bike commute 30 min x 2 (rain going; wind coming);

20 min cycling aerobic fitness test at the University Gym (passed, pronounced over-fat).

Fun with medicine ball and bounce-back "rebounder".

Then some 20kg deadlifts, strict presses and then clean and presses. I finished it with Tabata timing plank and side plank.

That was enough.

04 June

today - chigong and tension release exercises.

really delicious.

plus the inevitable dog walks!

03 June

skipping rope in the sunshine. dog walks x2

02 June

30 minutes jogging with the dog. further than yesterday. I threw in a run up & down the stairs at the tower today.  the beach looks gorgeous. the temperature is perfect.

bonus today - 4 minutes skipping rope and countless up-n-down the stairs to do the laundry. putting the washer on the 2nd floor seemed like a good idea at the time.

01 - June

time just keeps on going by faster & faster.

juneathon day 1 - 2014. done. 30 minutes running in the dunes with the dog.  I have plans to move some more today, but you know the saying about best-laid plans.

fabulous 50-fit February

I'm beginning to feel the return of my mojo.  I imagine the same forces that work on the bulbs in winter work on me too.

Run-walk-run for 30 minutes. beach. Wind, rain, cold. bracing.  Enough said.

12-minute Kettlebell
Warm-up


Four exercises: one minute intervals with 10 second rest in between sets.  Three rounds

20 lb. kettlebell. 

Started with 10 reps alternating then switched to 5 reps on each side for the second and third rounds.

1. clean & press ( alternating right and left, 5 reps on each side) 
2. 2h swings (American, Russian and Power)
3. Kettlebell bicep curls 
4. KB Snatches  alternating 5 reps. on each side.

15 16 17 18 19 20

Going into business for myself has been busier than I had anticipated. Which is wonderful for my life, but has resulted in less regular janathon blogging and more counting to catch up.  

I've walked a lot. Rowed and swung kettlebells.  These activities make me very happy.  I even started running a little bit again on Sunday. And my foot was okay with that. Mostly. 

12 13 14 wherein I catch up

Impromptu trip to Paris.  Doesn't that sound wonderful?  It was.  The  Louvre and Versailles.  Lots of walking. And eating.

10. 11. Heavy lifting. And you guessed it, more walking.

Friday and Saturday featured many small parts, cardboard boxes, and 50 pages of assembly instruction. Reminiscent of building Legos with my son. 

Thank goodness for the dog needing to take a long walk.  

Carrying the furniture boxes upstairs gave me several deep squats and stair climbs carrying an extra 25 kilos. 

Onwards.  

9. Wherein janathon involves more brisk walking in the dark

I'm renovating most of my whole life. It's quite exciting and unsettling all at once. 

I'm surrounded again by boxes of stuff from my old office that leave me scratching my head. I had a wonderful dog walk after teaching my evening class. That is my contribution to janathon.  I also baked two loaves of excellent bread. That involved kneading dough, which made my arms really strong and shapely. 

I like having time to breathe.

It was reassuring to see life proceeding as normal. As in, gravity works; entropy wins every time.  A heavy wind storm blew over the basketball hoop last month.  The car was spared, but the hoop sustained hidden damage that proved fatal.  Given a second chance, the hoop softened its landing by taking out the rear taillight.  I was reassured that I would never run out of things to do.  And now painting the hoop can be stricken from the list.  

8. Free to be me

I planned to snub the working world by sleeping late this morning.  I was wide awake at 4:30 and on the couch with a book and a cuppa by 5 am. So much for that brilliant idea.

By 7:30 I had that no-sleep headache.  I napped with the cat after taking my son to school.

I managed another 5k on the beach this afternoon.  I accept that I'm exhausted and need some downtime.

What would you do if you had time to do anything you wanted?  Exciting question, isn't it! 

7. Moved

Lifted and moved a dozen large boxes and other heavy things.  breaking down the life I have to build the next one.

More than 15k steps.

6. Long sunny walk

I'm leaving my job. Today was spent packing and lifting.  I walked a lot too, meeting my goal of 10k steps.

5. Another sunny 5k

And post holiday clean up. Today I saw a seal in the North Sea while Odie and I were out walking.  Having a big, friendly dog while on the beach is really fun. A family with kids wanted to play with Odie and delighted in throwing his ball into the surf.

What a beautiful walk.  Too bad the phone battery was dead. No photos for you.   

4. Bow-tiful shooting

After a delightful long walk on the beach, enjoying the Sun, we went to our archery club where I shot with my new bow for the first time.  I love it!  I got plenty of slow, fat arrows for practice.  This machine is fantastic. It has a place on any sci-fi set.  The draw is set at the lowest possible, at 40lbs.  It was a strength work out for sure.  The temptation is to pull with your arm rather than back muscles.  The back lasts longer.

I am excited to shoot again soon!

bonus workout:

2k on the rower for 9:30 to warm up

2 4 min Tabata (20:10) rounds with 25 lb kettle bell, athlete's choice.

(double american swing, one-armed swing (r/l), double swing, snatch (r/l), clean (r/l), russian swing x 2, h2h, bottoms up), then plank and goblet squat. 

3. Lifting

Moving boxes.  That's my workout today. And walking the dog.  Always the dog.

I'm leaving my current job after nearly 8 years.  Shed some tears walking out of the building tonight.  My last day is Tuesday.  

Wednesday I am flying solo as a strength and resilience coach.  My goal, help you turn stress into strength.  I am making my dreams come true.  I am suddenly free to be my whole creative badasss self.  

2. Thursday afternoon bike ride

Santa brought a beautiful pinarello to our house at Christmas.  Unfortunately, it wasn't for me. This gift has only increased my suffering and shame.  I rode with recipient of the gift this afternoon. I felt every inch of the slow fat athlete that I am.

However the sun was shining. It was only 9c, which was almost warm. And the wind was at least consistent. So riding into the wind on the way out meant we got a push on the way home.  I need to clean the sand out of my cleats.  The bike path was occasionally inundated with sand from recent storms.  

My riding buddy reminded me we have a hilly 150 km ride planned for April.  I will be riding for redemption.  Thoughtful training plan coming soon. 

90 min. 27 km.

*bonus workout: 20 minutes mobility + planks + kettlebell swings

Coming attraction:

1. January starts with a dunk in the North Sea

Our New Years tradition is to join thousands of people at the Scheveningen pier and take a quick dip in the North Sea.  Today the water temperature was a chilly 7.5 celecius.  I waded. My H body surfed.  Freak. 

While dinner was cooking, I cranked out a short row. 2k, one minute easy, one minute hard. 

So, janathon day 1 done. 

I'm going to measure calories, carbs  and minutes of exercise each week and see how these numbers relate to each other,   Oh, and my number one stress solution is to get enough sleep. Every night.