Quote Originally Posted by wesrman View Post
Im curious what your diet is like Sharla. What you eat, especially pre and post workout can have a big effect on your bodies ability to recover.
Ouch busted! I plann cook ups etc and healthy main meals but I really don't plan enough for the times I'm stuck late at uni or travelling. I was reading a bit about amounts of recommended protein and calcium for women. I probably need a little more protein than I get and DEFINATELY need more calcium!

The last week has been good!

I have a whole week to think about here so I'll try to break it down into doc points:

  • Recovered from long run within 2 days which was good. - took Sunday and Monday off exercise and since it was raining and wet sheep are not shorn there was no work then either. Complete recovery - did me good I think.
  • Tuesday I worked as a rousabout. We were a little understaffed so it was a long day. Stayed out in a little town called Moulamein and had to travel about 60 km out to work each day.
This country has big properties and the guy were working for has no less than 120,000 ha! he's a private land owner too - it's completely a family business no big investors so obviously i don't want to embarass my bro by being incompetant working there!

Let's just say it's been a while since i did this kinda work and my intial reaction was to want to dry reach when i was faced with a particularly festy bit of wool i had to sort on that first day. Soooooo glad i took work gloves! Anyway my point it I didn't want to embarass my bro so i dealt with it and it gradually got easier. it was much easier with the radio on to dissociate, wearing gloves and thinking about how good it must be for the sheep to have that wool off. it also became easier as I learnt to work faster and feel like i knew what i was doing.

It made me think of the sports psychology equivalent - if i feel like I'm progressing and improving and getting somewhere i'll be able to put myself through so much more. Perhaps also explains how you can fall into the trap of taking a hard punch to land one sometimes - a little success is a huge pain killer!

The equivalent of the work gloves would be my mouthguard - something familiar that subconsciously tells you you're ready. Music - well i think i underestimate it's effect for training - don't usually care much what's on the radio in the gym but now i'm sure it has a big effect!

Anyway left at 6:15 am and didn't get back until after dark that day so no run but lots of physical work - i never stand still for moer than 15 seconds doing this work!

Wednesday - a full day again but not quite so long - my bro is shearing to make up numbers though and he's fast so i'm flat out trying to keep up with my work. At the end of the day I'm stuffed but they have to pack up the trailer (portable shearing set up) so my bro lets me set off running while they do that and they picked me up on the way back. I get in a 30 min tempo run.

Thursday - it rained - oh no - that means a day off and I'm sooooo dissappointed ! I got in a monaghetti fartleck that day when it eased off a bit and it felt good - really felt like i was blowing off the cob webs!

Friday - another really long day since we have to shear at 2 different locations and help round up sheep in between. only running is after sheep and it's pretty dark by the time we get back. Not to mention i'm stuffed!

Saturday - no work - got in my long run. 31.9 km in the following intervals:

10.5 km, 13 km, 5 km, 1.5 km, 500m, 500m, 400 m, 500m.

I did the 500 and 400 m intervals as fast as i could pump out since i read in a womans health magazine (great rainy day amusement ) that burst of intense cardio in between weights sets can reduce muscle soreness by boosting circulation etc.

I was really hurting by the end of the run but was really suprised to wake up Sunday with no soreness! Had Sunday off anyway since it's about 4 hours to get back to Melbourne and then an overnight bus trip back to Adelaide so spent all day travelling.

I'm very pleased with how much my rate of recovery has imporved though! Next weekend's long run with decide whether or not I register for the full or half marathon in September now - fingers crossed!