Karen writes: The Serious and the Trivial

-
Oh Kate.   What can I say apart from thank goodness you got onto that when you did!   The spectre of Melanoma is one to  think about when you spend hours and hours out on the road in the Kiwi sun, and belonging to the generation roasted from an early age in the name of a ‘healthy tan’ (usually with lashings of vegetable oil applied), we aren't the only ones for whom it is a serious consideration.  

Overall I shall remember March 2012 as having had more than it’s fair share of disappointments, starting with our Ironman experience, then a succession of things on the personal front, all with the backdrop of the very unsettled Health Promotion work environment right now, and then Kate’s near miss to top it all off. 

To introduce a bit of trivia, in spite of (or perhaps because of?) all the other serious stuff, possibly the most annoying thing right now is a song which has been stuck in my head since hearing in on Radio NZ National last week, it was someone’s choice for ‘best song ever written’, and the last time I remember listening to it was on vinyl…that says how long ago that was. 

So on the bike the other day racing through the beautiful East Auckland countryside when my brain should have been in full idle “...it was long ago and it was far away (oops, mind that stone)...”,  or out running ticking up the mile after mile to the accompaniment of  “...and it was so much better than it is today...".  Of course it is complicated by the involvement of two voices, a male and female, I’m starting to feel like singing strangers have taken up residence in my head.  I'm not going to be mean enough to specify exactly what the song is in case  I pass the infection on, suffice to say, "help", I need a Meatloaf exorcism.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Still...swim, cycle, run...walk

-
Image
We've got some new staff at the organisation, which is now called " Diabetes Foundation Aotearoa ".  Sitting at the lunch table answering questions on the topic of endurance training and eventing, it reminds me of how long we've been doing the longer exercise efforts now, and that we take for granted how much we've learned over the years.   bike training isn't training without icecream Someone asked about nutrition in a long event and  I spouted off a bunch of words about the exact makeup of the breakfast that I've spent so many years messing around with, said something about a gel here and a banana there and a bumper bar somewhere else and a salt tablet when whatever and the importance of recovery nutrition...and then realised it sounded very much like I actually had it sorted.  I have to admit I don't really.  I'm not sure if anyone can ever say they have everything 100% nutrition or hydration wise for all conditions and circumstances,
Read more

Karen writes: Swimming pool blues

-
Image
I loathe the swimming pool.  With my severely cut down swim training I've been putting my effort into a few slow wetsuit swims in the sea, gently putting my dodgy shoulder under pressure to see how it copes with greater time in the water, not worrying about harder work just aiming to achieve the distance with a minimum of stress.  This week I just couldn't see how I could swim in the sea, the tide is way out in the mornings and evenings all week and it wont be possible to swim on the weekend. So I had to go to the Otara pool before work today.  Older daughter is off to school camp, tenting, so it was a bit muddly getting last minute items packed for her, is there enough sunscreen because its shaping up to be hot outside and what's the plan for the expected torrential rain?  Yep, good old Auckland smorgasbord weather, just pack everything.  Anyway, finally she was ready to go and I was too.  I had my togs under my clothes, wearing jandals, bag with undies/ towel/ toiletrie
Read more

Karen writes: Obstacles

-
Image
I went for a ride, of course that was not what the training plan said I should be doing, but it fitted.  Older daughter looked at my trademark pink legwarmers before I left, "are they new?" she says. "Nope".  "They're clean" she observed. I looked, they did look clean.  Why?  They were inside out. These poor things had been getting very grubby, more chain oil than clear space, but aha, here was a way to now double their reasonable lifespan. Anyway, with the old-new inside out pink legwarmers on, I took the easy route, headed off towards Clevedon and wandered round a bit there feeling uninspired. The most significant thing about this ride was something you only see when your training is mostly on country roads.  I came scooting around a corner on Monument Road and there was a significant obstacle.  Cows all over the road.  Ok I thought, they are just crossing I will wait for a car to push through and follow it. Well it turned out that from my low vant
Read more