Airlie Beach, Day Two of Two. Run the Great Whitsunday walk.

I am writing and publishing this a few days after the run as I have just not had the spare time to get it done.

We started the day hungry, of course, so we found a little coffee shop for a couple of slices of raisin toast with jams, and cappuccinos. This proved to be enough carbohydrate to get us to the finish without bloating us up and weighing us down too much).

The run was not a complete success for me personally, but was not a failure by any means.

Somewhere around just after the halfway point a pain started to flare up behind my left knee (odd considering it is usually my right knee that plays up). I kept running on it, being very careful not to land on it too awkwardly on the rough terrain. It was no use however, and the knee continued to get worse until I could no longer run on it, and was forced to walk as fast as I could to the finish line. With this in mind, I still did not come last. We'd even stopped for twenty minutes to help out a guy that had cramped up so badly he could not move. Next year will be better.

The scenery was amazing. You would have to do this run a few times just to take everything in I think. In some areas it becomes hard to take in the beauty because you are constantly watching your feet to make sure you don't get tripped up on a vine or rocks. I have posted a collection on Flickr so that you can all see what I mean.

Click to go to the Flickr Collection

I thought about the injury. It's not like I had hit a rock or twisted something at any particular point that caused the damage, so the only thing left is that I simply put the knee under too much pressure without enough training. No matter, next year will be better! :)

Overall, the whole weekend was a lot of fun. I will be going back next year if the event is held again, and my knee will NOT be playing up next time. I'll keep on training hard!

 

Out for now,

-Brad

Airlie Beach, Day One of Two.

We left Townsville just after 8am today, headed towards destination Airlie Beach for the Mackay Road Runners event, "Run the Great Whitsunday Walk" (as mentioned in previous blog posts). One of Dad's running friends - Geoff - was our driver, so the cruise here in a nice big Nissan Patrol Diesel was great! It was also nice to get away without having to be the driver for once.

We stopped in Ayr only very briefly for a toilet break - in the fully automated toilet. The idea of this toilet is cool, but when the soap, water and hand drier were all broken with no manual override... Well, it sort of makes you feel a little bit dirty!

We stopped in Bowen on top of a hill that has a nice cafe on top of it. The view from the Cafe was 360 degree, we could see all around Bowen. It was very pretty. The coffee was not terrible, and Dad and Orlanda had made some wonderful sandwiches for lunch. Homemade bread, avocado, red peppers. Can't go wrong with that mix!

From here, it was not far to Airlie. We got in a couple of hours before we had to register for the race, so we spent a bit of time driving around the area, and walking through the city. We also stopped at a food joint called "Wisdom Health Lab" who dealt mostly with healthy meals and snacks (although there were a few items in the place to cater for the less health conscious folk out there). I ended up having a vegetarian wrap with added jalapeno for some extra kick. It was quite tasty, and probably a little better price wise than Townsville pricing.

After all of this, it was time to check in for tomorrow's run. This is only my second running event as part of a running group, but it was much more simple than the Copperlode Dam event in Cairns. Checking in here was as simple as saying "I'm here!". At this point, the organisers handed over a canvas bag with your runner number on it, containing your race singlet with names of all of the registered runners on it, a couple of other trinkets, race number for front of singlet, a bottle of water and a bottle of Powerade. I would not normally drink Powerade, but I am pretty sure it is going to be necessary somewhere over the course of 28Km.

So, we had picked up all of our gear and checked in. We headed back to Club Croc where I jumped online via my mobile to say hi to a couple of people, and to write this post. Plenty of photos have been taken and I will post them up on the blog soon.

I'm not sure why but I was totally smashed after the day so far. It could be something to do with only getting about 5 hours sleep (although that isn't exactly uncommon for me!). I crashed out for a few hours with the excited holiday world still buzzing around me. This was a somewhat relaxing experience, drifting off with the sound of stress free fun having people all around (as opposed to normal city hustle).

We ended up having dinner at the Club Croc restaurant. I'm not too sure what to say about this place. Overall experience was probably a 3 out of 10 to be honest. The place was clean, but the chairs were not comfortable, the table was wobbly, and the staff had no intention of even trying to modify orders to be more suitable for the patrons. We tried asking a couple of requests to the food, and were met with the standard pre-composed response every time.

"As I said before sir, only what is on the menu."
Yes, I would like 'item x', just without the 'item y'.
"Only what is on the menu sir."

You gotta be fucking kidding. This food was not exactly cheap, you would think that they could make a little effort to accommodate well paying guests.

I ordered a Vegetarian Enchilada. It was well sized and tasted good (although $18.00 was still probably too much for it). Dad and Geoff ordered vegetarian pizza, and this is where it gets a bit sad. Ultra thin base (like mountain bread), a smear of tomato paste, a single layer of sliced tomatoes placed on the top of the pizza, and maybe a little cheese. This "pizza" was sixteen fucking dollars. If you spend $16.00 at La Porchetta, you would probably get pizza to last for the next few dinners. Unfortunately, the Bruschetta we had as an entree resembled a pizza more than the pizza did. Overall food rating, 2/10. The enchilada was pretty good, but seeing what they did with the pizza left everyone at the table pretty annoyed and unimpressed. If you want to stay at Club Croc, I would suggest finding dinner somewhere else.

Hopefully I will be able to report back better news about breakfast.

Well everyone, it's time for me to settle down into relaxation mode. Tomorrow is the big 28Km run, and I need to be up at 5.30!

Out for now,

-Brad

Embrace your broken snack food machine - it's doing more for you than ever before!

Walking into work this morning, I overhear some of the staff in a group complaining about the snack machine being broken, how it has been out of order for an extended period of time, and how unacceptable the whole scenario is.

 

I could not find a single part of myself that felt sorry for them. Essentially, they are saving money and not loading up their bodies with unnecessary shit that they don't need. Hell, if this machine stayed broken for another couple of weeks you could guarantee that people around here would start noticing a difference in how they feel (for the better of course), providing they are not making up for their sugar dependencies when work is over.

Honestly, economy and society is really getting under my skin recently. People have become so dependant on stuff that they do not need, and are happy to blow money on it regularly.

Take for instance the people not just in my workplace, but worldwide, that are hitting up these vending machines for their lunches to get them through the day. I have watched many people's habits and routines when it comes to the vending machines, and it is not uncommon for any one individual to buy two cans of Coke, a bag of chips and a chocolate bar each and every work day. I work this out to be approx $8.00 daily. That is almost $250.00 every month, or a little less than $3000.00 per year. Holy shit!

Ok, so it's a given that we need to eat, and many people cannot find the time at home to prepare food before work (probably the cheapest and best way to eat at work, but that is another blog post for another day). I believe that if a person is going to spend their $8.00 per day on food, the food might as well be wholesome nutritious food. For $8.00 you can get all sorts of wonderful things. Subway foot long rolls, or a couple of Subway Wraps if you are carb conscious. $8.00 worth of sushi. These items are going to make you feel more full than a damn chocolate bar, it's not going to be wasteful empty carbohydrate, and you're not going to get the sugar crash that the coke and chocolate is setting you up for.

I am guilty of most of the things I have written about in this post. A few years ago I was hitting the snacky foods hard while I was working at a servo. Being surrounded by meat pies, sausage rolls, hero rolls and slush puppie machines, combined with lack of knowledge and information on the lack of nourishment all of these provide, I was unhealthy and wasting money. During my year of doing night shift I probably spent MORE than the $8.00 per night on crap food that I did not need. I do not even want to do the math on it, it would be too depressing looking at how much money I put towards making me fat and unhealthy.

Guys, girls, embrace your broken vending machine. In its broken state, it is doing more for you and your body than it ever has before.

 

-Brad

 

(p.s. My calculations on daily spending on food at work did not take into account weekends, holidays and rostered days off. I am however not going to change this, as I am pretty willing to bet that most people will be eating about the same amount of crap - if not more - on their off time.)

Run the Great Whitsunday Walk - 5 days to go!

Scary! The 28km run from the Brandy Creek carpark to Airlie Beach is coming up for me and 102 others on Sunday. Not only have I not run 28km before (close, but not quite), I am told that the course will be quite hilly and somewhat rugged. This should prove to be an interesting adventure. I am also feeling somewhat out of shape at the moment, ever since moving house a few weeks ago. Due to the hectic schedule of moving, I sort of fell out of the loop with my running, and whilst I have gone for a few one hour long runs and some shorter 30 - 35 minute runs over the past couple of weeks, I know that I am not performing as well as I was prior to moving house. I also know that I cannot rectify this issue within the five days I have before the race, so that is making me a little nervous.

(click for enlarged version)

As far as finishing the race goes, it really should not be a problem to make the finish line. There is a six hour cut off, and the event organisers reckon that you can make it over the whole course if you at least have a fast-paced walk happening over the entire course. I think my goal time will be somewhere in the vicinity of four hours.

I have purchased a new ruggedised case for my compact digital camera for the run, so I will try and get some photos on the course if I find anything interesting and can bring myself to break my stride during mid-run.

On the topic of finding time for training, I really think I need to get my ass into gear and start getting up an hour earlier in the morning. The main problem I am facing is fitting in my training after work. Under my old system, I would eat out a lot during the week, giving me time to go for a run after work, not having to worry about cooking food when I got home. I have recently changed a few things in my own life, a few of which affect my fitness and training plan. For one, I am trying to be more frugal in all areas, so eating out frequently is no longer an option. This brings me to another change, which is the food preparation at home. Not only am I putting together meals after work, but I am trying to make them inexpensive meals that pack a whole lot of healthy nutrients at the same time. The change of diet so far is making me feel really good, but it all takes extra time to plan, and cook. Fitting running into this schedule has become difficult to say the least. If I could just get up an hour earlier, I would be able to get the run in, and not have it impose on my life after work.

All in all, if I place terribly at the Whitsunday run, then I will just have to reflect on the experience and use it as fuel to train harder for the event in 2008. I am going to go into the event with an open mind and do my best to make myself proud.

I will keep you all informed.

 

-Brad

Why must a morning start like this?

It's been somewhat of a doozy of a day so far, and it is only 8.35am.

Since purchasing a mountain bike, I have started to ride it to work ever more frequently, to the point where it now feels as though it is an important part of my daily exercise/mental health regime. There is something relaxing about riding the bike and exerting energy, kick starting the metabolism and getting the mind in check in the morning through the power of exercise. I did try a brief stint of running in the morning before work, but could not get myself up out of bed and feeling awake enough, so riding to work was an excellent replacement for this. There is also a small feeling of satisfaction knowing that I am not burning 100 kilometres worth of petrol on the way to work per week, instead choosing to burn around 400 kilocalories of my own fuel. Better for the environment, better for me, better for my wallet.

So I readied myself this morning for the ride to work, with my change of clothes, packed lunch and laptop hanging off of my back, only to find that I had picked up a nice flat tyre over the weekend. Bugger, I was really looking forward to the ride this morning, and I had a breakfast that was bug enough to compensate for the ride as well as tide me over until 11am. I'm going to feel bloaty now!

I got to work to find that there was a guy outside bailing up the sales staff who were standing around having their morning cigarette(s). Not that I advocate smoking in any way whatsoever, but these guys are just as welcome to a relaxing moment or two before the busy day gets underway as anybody else is. If they choose cancer as their relaxation method, so be it. It probably hit me more since I had only just read this article last night over at Lifehack.org. It was this part that instantly came to mind:

When you arrive [at work], have a simple ritual to ease you gently into the work environment. Get a cup of tea or coffee. Greet some friends. Organize your desk. Nothing stressful--just some simple activities to switch your mind easily back into work-day mode.

I thought to myself that this is good advice, and that I would actively start doing this as of today. Ok, so I am off to a bad start.

Ok, well I had better cut this short, because the dude who was harassing the salespeople outside is now at my counter harassing my offsider technician. I better go make sure it's all ok.

Have a good day everyone.

-Brad

p.s. How do you start your day? Do you have any routines that make things start out in a more positive light? Feel free to leave your responses in the comments.

Turning vegetarian (for one month).

As mentioned in previous blog entries, I am a pretty easygoing person who enjoys simple things. One of the things that makes its way into my daily agenda is catching up on several blogs dedicated to health, fitness and personal development in general.

Many of these blogs over the past few months have been discussing the benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I love meat. Sunday is my main meat day, eating somewhere around a kilo of the stuff for a lunchtime feast.

Recently however, I have started cooking many more meals at home. I could even rephrase that so it is more accurate. Recently I have started cooking in general. I have never really tried my hands at stuff in the kitchen before. The thing is, Mum is a vegetarian and when I cook up meals I like for everyone to be able to give the food a try, so I have been doing quite a lot of vegetarian dishes. The interesting thing about this is that I have found a correlation between what the bloggers have been writing and the way that I feel in general after having much less meat in my diet.

Because of this noticeable difference in how I feel, I have decided to give vegetarianism a go. Bronwyn is joining me in this little adventure. We started the trial one week ago, with the barbeque last Sunday being the last meat feast we would have for 1 month. The verdict after a week? Well, not a lot has changed in physical strength, output and speed. However, during the day I have been feeling more alert, and have noticed that I do not seem to get that mid-afternoon drowsiness. Also, my metabolism has been going crazy, food is being digested well and I am not feeling bloated for long periods after eating. This is making my running in the afternoons much more enjoyable as I am not feeling weighed down constantly by whatever is left in my stomach. When eating meats, it did not matter what portion size I would go for, it was always the same feeling afterwards.

I did have some concerns about lack of protein and iron in my diet, but after reading over some well known health related sites, it would seem that you really do not need meats to get enough of these essential items. You just need to eat smart (something I would like to say I do well!). :)

Basically the only difficulty of the diet is eating out with friends. So many restaurants offer only one or two non-meat dishes. Some of these dishes are small and leave you wanting so much more. Some of them are also pretty bland and boring I find, however that might just be because I have just started cooking at home around the same time as starting this vegetarian trial. I am fast becoming a big fan of home-prepared foods.

That is all for now, I will update again soon (I know, I know, I always say that I will update soon - seriously I am trying!)

Out for now,

-Brad

Moving house: Almost complete!

It has been busy couple of weeks, trying to manage work and moving house at the same time.

I'm glad to report that the task is almost complete. In about 30 minutes Mum and I will head back to the old place to get the fish, and then we are done! (The fish appear to be fine, they are just all alone for most of the day but we drive over and feed them every day!).

I probably should have taken more photos of the process but .. Well I have no excuses. I have not taken many photos at all over the past two weeks - weird for me as I normally have Flickr up to date with new pics all the time!

Anyway, hopefully after tonight I will be able to have more time to get back to doing the simple things that I enjoy in life.

Also, another new post coming shortly.

Out for now,

-Brad