March 15, 2008

Saturday Morning Madness

I awoke this morning to find that time has passed me by and I had slept for more than 11 hours. 11 HOURS!!!!! Of course, it was 10am... but for some reason I was positively starving. I hadn't eaten in 12 hours, but that's hardly unusual. I hadn't eaten a lot yesterday though, so that made a tad more sense.

So myself and Andy headed over to the local cafe to grab a sausage and bacon sandwich with a lot of brown sauce on it so that we could fill our tummies, come back home and I could do that cycling thing that I mentioned yesterday.

Well, noon is fast approaching and in a few minutes I'll be getting on my bike, but due to the traffic outside and the cold weather and fast approaching rain... I'm going to wimp out and spend it on the trainer inside the house. With a good movie on the tele... just not sure which movie that'd be, considering that I've not really thought about it yet.

Last night we went to see 'The Other Boleyn Girl' at Cineworld in Notts - and despite various reviews that said it was complete rubbish, I loved it to bits. I thought that it got to me a little, but like I said, I loved it.

Which means the next movie will be the choice of my loving husband - he better not choose something with a lot of blood and guts in it, or he'll have a hard time for the weeks to come!

Right, bike time...

Posted by karinm at 11:58 AM

March 11, 2008

Another Pool Blog

Sometimes amused, other times a tad more sleepy... that's mostly how I arrive at the pool in the morning and this morning was definitely more sleepy than amused. I meant to be at the pool at 7, but waking up at five-to-seven made that near impossible unless I was racing there like a speed demon at 120mph. Yeah, not happening.

So I got to the pool at 7:30 and it was quiet. Graveyard quiet. Except maybe for the girl behind the counter who swiped my card without so much as a word. Maybe she's a zombie or something. Although, maybe everyone is a zombie at that time of the morning.

There was exactly 8 people in the pool - 3 in the narrow fast lane, 4 in the less narrow medium lane and... 1 in the lane that takes up half of the pool... yes, the slow lane. I hopped into the medium lane for good measure and this prompted the girl that was doing backstroke and the-man-that-wears-too-much-aftershave-to-the-pool to move to the slow lane. The girl that swims backstroke did a very good job of swimming diagonally, so it was probably a blessing in disguise.

It was in the pool that I realised my body is still a tad tired. And I don't mean in the I-got-too-little-sleep kind of way. I mean in the at-some-stage-I-tapped-all-the-energy-out-of-my-body kind of way. I felt SLUGGISH. But I swam until I could swim no more without being late for work and then rushed through the shower where the pregnant girl/woman was soaping herself up to the point that I thought the bubbles would start rushing out the door, into my little cubicle, realised I didn't bring socks (AGAIN!) but decided what-the-heck and put my boots on anyway.

Now there is 30 minutes left before I shall go for a run, but first I have to await my husband's return from work with the goodies that he got from the store that will make my clothes whiter than white and smelling fresher than fresh. All without hanging them outside because some storm has decided to hit the UK and batter us with winds and water.

Have a fun day everyone!

Posted by karinm at 6:01 PM

September 26, 2006

Struggling for Motivation

I have to say that the new schedule that my coach gave me is a lot ... how to put it ... not less training, but it feels like it is. There are two less days of running and two more days of cycling. And Andy's taken a sadistic turn and now does not fail to kick me out of bed at 6 in the morning.

This morning I got up and did my cycle session - it felt hard at the time, but right now I am pretty glad I did it. It means I don't have to tonight :) Of the three disciplines, cycling is the one that I don't like training for, even though I do enjoy cycling. It can get incredibly lonely without someone there to talk to, but this morning I had the television on and Lilo & Stitch helped me through my ride on the trainer.

Afterwards I was feeling tired, sweating like a pig and wishing that I didn't have to go to work. I took a shower and the world seemed like a better place. As I cycled, I was trying to keep myself motivated, because I knew that the bed was just a short trip up the stairs away. If at any stage I had gotten off that bike, I wouldn't have gotten back on.

It was so different than the swim last night. I had to do 3 X 500m (timed) and whereas the first two 500m's was completely open water, the third one was swum with 5 other people in the lane. It felt like a true openwater swim - I had to watch out or get another swollen lip. The RLAB man was there again - I found myself behind him on the third 100m and swam really wide to make sure that he didn't give me a kick. I really enjoyed the session though. I didn't need to keep myself motivated.

I guess there'll be a fair few ups and downs, but in the end I'll get there :)

Posted by karinm at 11:53 AM | Comments (1)

September 22, 2006

Ironman Entries open to the public on 25th of September

Because I have nothing else to say - my mind has gone numb with realisation of what I've just done :


From: '2007 IRONMAN UK '
To: 'Karin Bassitt'
Sent: Fri Sep 22 15:55
Subject: Fwd: 2007 IRONMAN UK : Online Entry Receipt


Dear Competitor,

Thank you for completing the IRONMAN 2007 entry application form. You will know if you have been accepted when your name appears on the competitor list. This could take up to 14 days.

For the most up to date information on the IRONMAN UK race course and race day please check the official web site regularly.

http://www.ironmanuk.com

Regards,
Race Office


Posted by karinm at 3:04 PM | Comments (2)

August 16, 2006

Being Selfish

A few months ago, on the way to a race, one of the guys from the club said to me that if I wanted to do a marathon or Ironman, I'd have to be selfish for a year. I'd have to train when Andy wanted to go to the movies and restaurants. I'd have to dictate when we could do anything together and I'd have to be the one to make sure that I was doing the training required, when required, where required, with no interference from anyone else. And he knows, since he took part in triathlons and marathons for years.

I didn't realise how true that is until recently. Well, yesterday.

Andy joined me for my 1 hour run and we were holding a conversation all the way. It was so relaxing having him there, running at a comfortable pace and being able to do it within the heartrate zone I had to be in. Afterwards I was sitting in the lounge, updating the logs and he asked me if I'd like to go see a movie tonight.

That's when I realised that I had to be selfish. Wednesdays are a great day to go to the movies, but it is also the day that I have to go swim and run and probably won't get home until after 9pm. So I had to say no and although he looked a little disappointed, he understood that it wasn't because I didn't want to go, but because I have to make sure that I'm disciplined about doing training. Normally I'd be able to schedule my training times so that I am able to go out at night, but on Wednesdays there is only one lane swimming session at the gym.

I feel awful about having to do it, but at the same time I know that if I make an exception now, soon it'll become the norm and in the end I'll have a really horrible experience if I start the Ironman race next year.

I'll just have to take him to see something on Friday or Saturday :)

Posted by karinm at 6:27 AM | Comments (2)

July 27, 2006

Ironman Appeal

It is a fairly hot day here in the Midlands, UK. This morning when I drove into work I saw some drops of rain fall on my windscreen and thought to myself that today was the day we were going to get another thunderstorm and the air will cool down a little. As it turns out, those few drops that fell just contributed to the humidity in the air and made things less pleasant than before.

But enough of that. I have something to tell you, something to ask you, and hopefully I can help someone make a dream come true, even if it is a drop in the bucket, many drops eventually does fill the bucket. I don't normally do this, but it breaks my heart to see someone as talented as this woman, seeing a dream slip away from her.

Yesterday I found out that a woman in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, won her age group during Ironman South Africa. In doing so, she qualified to go all the way to Kona and compete in the Ironman World Championships on the 21st of October. The problem is that in South Africa, the exchange rate is completely nonsense. The average salary a month is around R8000 – which roughly translates to about $1000 or £615 a month.

A return ticket from Port Elizabeth to Hawaii costs around R20 000. When she found out that she qualified (way back in March!), she paid the entry fee and decided that she would try to raise the money via various fundraisers and even her club jumped in to help, but from what I hear, she’s not had much success.

At this moment, three months later, she still hasn’t reached the halfway mark, and with every passing day, she trains her heart out, but when I spoke to her yesterday (I phoned her to find out how it was going), she fears that she’s not going to be able to make it to Kona.

I think it is heartbreaking that someone who has worked that hard won’t be able to get to take part in something that is probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Is there anyone else out there that feels this way and might want to help? I’m posting this on the odd chance that someone might want to contribute to helping her get there. I’ve already contributed to her fundraising myself, but a few more drops will definitely help her.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll keep you up to date on how things are progressing, but in the meantime, if there is any way that you feel you would like to contribute or help, please email me or leave a comment and I’ll get in contact with you.

Her name is Davera Magson – if you want to see a picture, go here– on the front page she’s the one on the left and on the news section of the page, there is a bit that she wrote as well as the appeal to her club members to help with fundraising.

Posted by karinm at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)

July 21, 2006

Painful, Inspiring

This looks completely painful :

I saw it first over here.

Very scary. Very painful. Very inspiring.

Posted by karinm at 8:21 PM | Comments (3)