Month: March 2011

  • Longest run ever

    Today was a scheduled 17-miler on the marathon training plan. That’s 27.3km. That’s 5km farther than my last long run, which was itself my longest run ever. Yikes. But you know what? I DID IT.

    Run Report:

    Running in the middle of the day was SO STUPID. I know this. But I wanted to run with my friend Fiona, and she couldn’t go til after 10. So I slept in, but then she called at the last minute to say her car broke down so she couldn’t go… but by that point, I was locked in. Luckily my friends Josh and Jamie were willing (and crazy enough) to run the Bay Run with me in 80-degree heat. I set RunKeeper for 1:1 intervals and I was off. I started by running up through Glebe, around Blackwattle Bay, and up Victoria Road to the start of the Bay Run.

    I had tried to approach my nutrition in a scientific way. I had 4 packets of gel, a bag of jelly babies, and a couple bottles of premixed Endura Rehydration drink (along with some plain water). It took me about 45 minutes to get to Iron Cove, and that’s the point at which I started to eat. My goal was to get about 70g of carbs per hour, and I think I actually did pretty good with that.

    I met the boys at the start of the Bay Run and we headed off. Neither of them had ever been there before, so it was a fun, chatty time. However, it was also extremely hot (not a cloud in the sky) and I was drenched with sweat. I’d slathered on sunscreen, but I knew it wouldn’t last long out there. We refilled our bottles at each water fountain. When we finished the loop, I was at the 12km mark and I was really feeling it. The boys headed home while I sat in the shade for a few minutes to recuperate. I had planned to do a second loop on my own, but it was just after noon and I just couldn’t face it. The Bay Run doesn’t have a lot of shade. I was so hot. Instead I SMSed the Snook that I was going to head back towards home and do the rest in our neighbourhood.

    The next 2km going back up Victoria Road was the worst stretch of the whole run for me. I was feeling almost queasy from the heat, so I walked quite a bit of the uphill. Eventually I got to the ANZAC Bridge, which should’ve killed me with its massive incline. Instead I actually started to pick up energy with each step up it. I could feel the breeze up there, and it started to make me feel refreshed and strong. I could do this! When I came off the bridge near the fish markets, I sent the Snook a message telling him I felt better and I was going to do a few more km’s in Glebe. I followed Pyrmont Bridge Road up into Glebe before turning down Glebe Point Road towards home. I even did a little loop of Victoria Park! Just was I was closing in on the 18km mark, my shins started cramping. That sucked. Luckily I was close to home so I was able to hang on.

    At the house I changed my shirt, dropped my water belt, slapped on some more sunscreen, and sucked down another gel. I still needed to do about 8km to make the distance. The Snook joined me and we headed down my normal (shady) Newtown route. The shins started threatening again. It would alternate between legs; it was very low, the muscle just at the base of your shin that lifts your foot. By the time we got to Newtown, the top of my left shin/calf was starting to tighten too. We stopped for a few minutes so I could try to stretch it out. I felt like the walking portions actually hurt worse than the running at that point. We finished with a climb through Sydney Uni and then a couple laps around Vic Park. It took me almost four hours exactly.

    The cramping was new; I didn’t have any cramps at all on my previous 22km run. I think it must have had to do with the extreme heat and the rate at which I was sweating. My legs may also have been tired from unusual stress of wearing my new orthotics for the past week. (I didn’t wear them on the run; I did tape instead.) So I’m not too freaked out by the experience. I’m hoping that my next run – which will hopefully be cooler – will feel very different. In terms of nutrition and hydration, I actually did great. Other than that bit of queasiness at the 12km mark, I felt fine throughout the run and never hit any walls.

    After the run I had a quick shower to wash of the sweat, sunscreen, and dirt; then sat in a cold bath for 20 minutes while enjoying some lovely chocolate protein drink. Bliss…

    Three weeks to recover before the next one. It’ll be a biggie: 32K. Yikes.

    HUGE, HUGE thanks to Josh, Jamie, and the Snook for running with me. I could not have done it without you guys!

  • Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals #8: Pregnant Jools’s Pasta

    This is our 8th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals. We decided this week to move our “Jamie meal” to Saturday nights which gives me a lot more time to put the post up on Sunday. The goal for this particular meal was to CARB-LOAD in preparation for today’s long run. With that in mind, we picked out “Pregnant Jools’s Pasta, Crunchy Chicory & Watercress Salad, and Little Frangipane Tarts.” We saw the corresponding TV episode a couple months ago, so we had a good idea of the preparations.

    Pregnant Jools's Pasta

    Substitutions: We couldn’t find red chicory in any of the shops – it must not be in season – but we did find a bag of mixed salad at the farmers’ market that had red chicory in it. We only made a half-recipe of the dessert. It was supposed to use “golden” caster sugar, but we couldn’t be arsed buying it specially so we just used plain. The Snook ground his own almonds (just because he objected to the price of pre-ground at the grocery store) and we used cherry preserves instead of raspberry jam. Everything else was as-written.

    Quick verdict: Yum! This is the quickest and easiest recipe in the whole book, I bet. The frangipane tarts are really impressive considering how quick they are to make. The sausage pasta is just good, filling comfort food that would please any picky-eater. The Snook found the simple salad a little too bitter for his taste, but I thought it was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the pasta. We both rated it 9/10. Our elapsed time was 35:23, but the last 5 minutes were just standing around waiting for the tarts to finish baking. If we’d have been quicker getting them in the oven, we’d have easily made the 30 minute mark. This is a great recipe for any beginners who aren’t super confident in their cooking ability!

    (more…)

  • Knitted Royal Wedding

    I am going to go on the record as LOVING the knitted royal wedding. I think it’s adorable, and billion times more clever than Jean Greenhowe clowns. Of course, I am the type of person that makes crazy ballerina sock monkeys for fun.

  • Shared today on Twitter

    Ahhh, Future Music Festival is on. This explains the dickhead young people stumbling from Central. Since when are ratty Daisy Dukes a trend?


    Seriously, Foveaux St is like a parade of the Worst of 80’s Skank Fashion right now.


    I have the ukulele tab for @amandapalmer’s in my mind, and I’m practicing! KNITTING CAMP IS GONNA ROCK. (cc @drkknits)


    @drkknits One hour of practice has left me with numb fingertips! This is going to be a long process…


    Carbo-loading in preparation for tomorrow’s Epic Long Run. I can do it. I can do it! (cc @mrs_sockvictim, who is going to run bit with me!)


    @lemon_lime Checking with @mrs_sockvictim now. Early part of the day, I think, definitely before noon.


    @MarthaStewart Congratulations!


    Wow, best Jamie’s meal yet in terms of cooking time! We did this one in 35 but 30 seems easily achievable. It’s “Pregnant Jools’s Pasta.”


    @sedroknits Book and TV show. We’re blogging one of his 30 Minute Meals per week. This one will go up on blog tomorrow. web-goddess.org


    It’s two days til my 34th birthday… and I’m about to head out on my longest run ever: 17 miles / 27km. I can do it.


  • Shared today on Twitter

    Look at this effing hipster with her new ukelele! http://twitpic.com/48a3aa Now I just need to learn how to play it…


    @witty_knitter Yes, I am quite the lady of leisure. 😛


    @blakkat I’m a thin young man. That’s depressing.


    @blakkat We are large, we contain multitudes. 🙂


    What was that Windows game called with the bouncing balls where you tried to block off a percentage of the board??!


    IT WAS JEZZBALL. Thank you @lemon_lime and your l33t google skillz! 🙂


    RT @Opheli8: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost will be showing ‘Paul’ at Popcorn Taxi in Syd. http://bit.ly/hJ5dZK // @kunaal84 – should we go?!


    @kunaal84 Okay, okay, we’re booked in. 🙂 @Opheli8 @imdominating


    I can confirm that on my iPhone 4, Personal Hotspot doesn’t work upon update to iOS 4.3. Says I have to contact @optus to set up. WHY?


    @squozen I found mention online that they’d dropped the fee. If that’s the case, why make me call?


  • Look at this effing hipster.

    I was listening to Amanda Palmer last week when I was seized with the impulse to learn to play the ukelele. (It happens.) So I headed over to Amazon with a gift certificate burning a hole in my pocket. And here I am a week later with my very own ukelele!

    Me and my Uke

    I’ve decided to name her “Betty.” And now it’s time to go to Uke School!

  • Fun Surprise

    The Snook pointed me to this “fun toy” today and hinted that “the colours aren’t random.” It took me a minute to figure it out, and then my jaw dropped in delight! Thanks, Snookums. 🙂

    Edited 11/03/25: The particular URL he put in for me no longer works, but the site is still up and it’s pretty fun.

  • Shared today on Google Reader

  • RunningBlog: Week 10

    A week of really crappy runs! It happens, I guess. Sunday I had a scheduled 5-miler with a “Magic Mile” time trial. Unfortunately I had pigged out on confit duck and garlic bread like two hours before, so the run ended up being VERY UNPLEASANT. I figured my time trial would be a wash, but to my surprise it was great – 10:19! I wonder what I could’ve done if I hadn’t had Giant Bloaty Duck Belly… Anyhoo, Tuesday I went for my first run in my orthotics. I kept it short and went pretty slow. They were agony at first, and I just couldn’t figure out how to adjust my foot strike to feel natural. After ten minutes I was thinking of giving up when suddenly it improved! I think maybe my legs and feet stopped fighting the insert. I did another run in them this morning, slow and steady. I don’t think I’ll use them on my super-long run on Sunday; I’ll tape instead. But it’s good to know that I’ll eventually be able to run distance in them!

    Mar. 6: 8.09km
    Mar. 8: 4.51km
    Mar. 11: 6.18km
    Total this week: 18.78km (11.7mi)
    Total in 2011: 226.42km (141.5mi)

    To meet my goal of running 1100km in 2011, I should be at 211.5km. So I’ve still got a 15km buffer!

  • Photo Post

    Snook’s fancy new shoes!

    Snook's fancy new shoes!