Chillicat's journal

[Grover]

Hows the weather in morroco?

Were you in the UK for a white Christmas?

relax enjoy yourself, train when you get back.

Happy New Year!

[Chillicat]

Hows the weather in morroco?

Were you in the UK for a white Christmas?

relax enjoy yourself, train when you get back.

Happy New Year!

Weather is lovely here in Morocco - it's around 20 degrees, so really pleasant for travelling about. It feels warmer than that though, so maybe Yahoo weather is letting me down. But then again, 20 degrees in Wellington always has a wind factor, and there's no wind here, so I guess it's going to feel warmer whatever the temperature! Even London in the snow felt warmer than a Wellington winter!

Yep, got a white Christmas - technically I think it's not meant to count unless snow actually falls on Xmas day, but it was fully snowy on the ground until 27th Dec, and considering the snow caused us to be diverted to Frankfurt for 2 nights from 18th-20th Dec, I think I'm going to call it a white Christmas, technically or not!

[teamfatboy]

Glad to hear you're enjoying Morocco, hope you're revelling in the food =P~

Are you getting up into the Atlas? For some reason, going there has always appealed (just not enough to actually do it :shifty: :grin: )

[Chillicat]

Glad to hear you're enjoying Morocco, hope you're revelling in the food =P~

Are you getting up into the Atlas? For some reason, going there has always appealed (just not enough to actually do it :shifty: :grin: )

If memory serves, I think we're passing through, but not spending a lot of time. We're doing a tour, and initially when we were planning on going it alone we toyed with the idea of a spot of snowboarding in the Atlas mountains for the novelty factor - but canned it!

[Chillicat]

Back from holidays. Arrived back on Tuesday, minus baggage which hadn't made it to London from Thursday's trip from Morocco to London. Baggage finally arrived on Friday night, minus the phone and iPod which I mistakenly left in my daypack when I zipped it back to the main pack.

So with all the catching up on work and spending lunchtimes trying to track things down it's now been 5 weeks since I set foot in the gym. Was far too grumpy pretty much, but dying to get back to things. Left my gym bag at work, but sure I can rustle up something gym-worthy to wear for a session tomorrow.

Suspect it will mostly be oly bar workouts with no weights, as I know from past breaks that it hurts like hell first day back, so might as well just go through the motions with 20kg and work back up to things and not kill myself.

Elbow still sore, not as bad as when it first hit in October, but not back to normal. Will sort out physio next week.

Nice to be back, but not sure about this crappy weather in Welly today - how is it that i'm wearing long sleeves, jeans, socks, jumper - AND we've turned on the heater. Last week I was wearing the same in London and hubby's family turned off the heater (and I had the window open to sleep!). Wrong.

[teamfatboy]

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaack

Oh, and when you get to City Fitness for the first time, don't forget they've swapped Mens' and Womens' changing rooms around - turn left, not right... or not :grin:

Sorry to hear 'bout the ipod, tho.. that ain't a good way to remember a trip.

As for gym-worth attire, tomorrow it could well be gumboots and three layers of hoodies and sweats, brrrrr ! That was your summer, brought to you by La Nina :pfft:

[Chillicat]

Yeah, I'm thinking maybe I brought the London weather back with me....apologies for that!

Bought myself a shiny new iPod today - it's teeny tiny, so I'm bound to lose it, which worries me. Ah well. Hopefully the insurance will come through in time to pay for it :pfft:

Roger on the changing rooms. :wink:

[VampireChick]

Welcome back! Hope you had an awesome time

[Chillicat]

Thanks VC - yep, had a good time. Morocco is an interesting country, and I'm glad we did the tour rather than going it alone like we normally do, because we got to go to places we probably wouldn't have bothered with on our own, and those bits were the best bits, away from the cities.

Just did my first workout in 5 weeks. Kept it simple and easy and started with an all over session - oly bar only and 3x12 for squats, bent over rows, SLDLS, lunges, bench press, close grip bench, then a 10kg bar for biceps. I was surprised how hard some of that was, in particular the bench. Followed this with cardio for 20 mins.

Reckon it'll be a cardio day tomorrow, then all going well upper on Wed and lower on Thur with marginally higher weights, which I'll continue to build up til I feel comfortable to start a 5x5 in a month or two.

Am off to Chch to visit the family on Fri-Mon, which means no gymming, but weather permitting some good hill walking with my sister, and possibly even some cycling if I don't freak out (having not cycled for about a decade, and being a bit nervy with all the cyclist deaths).

[morattigirl]

Good to have ya back CC and you're off to Chch this weekend, wow you're a busy travelling bee :grin: 8)

[becbec]

You could use Les Mills down here cause it's free for anyone until the end of January. Just give them a fake name and phone number :pfft:

[Chillicat]

You could use Les Mills down here cause it's free for anyone until the end of January. Just give them a fake name and phone number :pfft:

Oh really, that's worth knowing! Might drag my sister along for a workout, she'd probably be keen. I think there's one in Ferrymead, right? I think that's near my sister's new place (she's in Heathcote Valley).

[becbec]

You could use Les Mills down here cause it's free for anyone until the end of January. Just give them a fake name and phone number :pfft:

Oh really, that's worth knowing! Might drag my sister along for a workout, she'd probably be keen. I think there's one in Ferrymead, right? I think that's near my sister's new place (she's in Heathcote Valley).

Yup, it's in settlers crescent near countdown supermarket and mobil. Let me know when you go and we could train together

[Chillicat]

Oooh that'd be fun! I'll let you know if it looks like we'll go.

[Chillicat]

OMG my hammies are in sheer agony this morning - and that was just with 3x12 @ 20kg :oops: The longer the day goes on, the more they hurt - every time I get up and sit down again. Yowch.

No gym today, gentle cardio - walked to work 20 mins (break for bus down the gorge) then 40 mins, then walked home, about 2 hours in the lovely sun.

Think DOMS will be a killer tomorrow as well, so lucky I was planning an upper body session tomorrow (and hopefully also a walk to and from work as per today).

[bar-belle]

Doms are nasty huh but it won't last too long and you'll be back into the swing of things in no time. Good to see you back

[teamfatboy]

DOMS is just the Gym's way of saying "we missed you" :pfft:

Those long walks should help though :pray:

[Chillicat]

Thanks both!

Just had my first workout at Thorndon, and have to say the changes don't really upset me - though it will take me a couple of visits to work out where everything is.

Did some upper body work today, and I was glad I went before the main lunch break so it was pretty quiet - it's very embarrassing barely being able to bench 25kg for 12 after 2x12 @ 20kg :oops: That was followed by CG bench, also at 20kg, and only just managed to push out 3x12.

Shoulders were just as embarrassing - 8kg, and could only manage 3x8. Oh the shame.

Also did some bicep curls and skullcrushers with miniscule weights.

Hammies are still in pain today, but will work out legs regardless of any remaining soreness tomorrow, since I might not get the chance for a workout in Chch from Fri-Mon.

Another nice day today, so another walk home this afternoon.

Our work is joining up to this Wellington City Council walking thingy. Not sure of the full details, but you get teams of 6 from your workplace and log how often you walk each day for transport purposes - so you can't count going for a walk at lunchtime, but you can count walking from the Terrace to Churton Park to get home from work. So that will be a great motivation to keep up the walking throughout Feb (and of course save me a ton on bus/train fare!).

[Chillicat]

Hammies are still in pain today, but will work out legs regardless of any remaining soreness tomorrow, since I might not get the chance for a workout in Chch from Fri-Mon.

Well, I've had a change of heart on that one, and today is looking like a pretty lazy kind of a day. Still very sore, and with some hill walks planned for this weekend with my sister I've decided that it's probably best to just leave the leg workout today, and sore upper body after yesterday's pathetic effort, so probably just a walk this lunchtime.

Tried out the pedometer function on my new iPod yesterday. Said I walked around 14500 steps home, which is pretty good going. Took me 2 hours 10 mins, which is longer than at the end of last year, but which I figure is due to hurting like hell in the legs right now! Should get down to 2 hours or less soon though. It also alleges that I burned off around 560 calories, but I don't know how it works that out since it doesn't have any information on my height/weight etc. Guess it's just a guesstimate. Must remember to bring my Polar next time I walk home and see what that says.

[Chillicat]

Weekend has flown by in a blur, so busy catching up with people in Chch, so didn't get a chance to try out the local Les Mills. We did have a nice walk this morning though, up the Ripaki track (sp? not sure, but that's how it sounds when my sister pronounces it). Was a bit of a stroll, and much easier than the Bridle Path walk we did last time I was down. Took us just under an hour and a half to cruise up and down - my sister said she's done in about half an hour less time in the past, so I guess we could have made a bit more effort. But my heart rate average was around 135 going up (max 156), so that's ok, and total calories 541.

Hope to have time for gym tomorrow. Early afternoon flight home, so all going well I'll have time to stop by J'ville for some squattage.

[becbec]

Rapaki track

Yeah there are some really nice walks up round the port hills, the bridle path is boring as :pfft:

[Chillicat]

Aha, Rapaki, cheers!

Upper body workout today, and it was definitely not as painful as the last couple of efforts, so I guess the strength is starting to come back, but still very slowly. Just did bench, cg bench, bicep curls, skullcrushers and shoulder press. Weights still embarrassingly low, but improvements on all of last week's lifts, so getting there.

Streets Alive challenge starts today - 6 weeks of logging all works that have a transport purpose, so that means I can count all my 2 hour walks home and 1 hour walks to work - yeeha! Definitely need to do some form of cardio over this summer, as I'm not looking so great now after my month away. Sat out in the garden yesterday afternoon in my bikini, and really it was not a nice sight - won't be venturing further than my garden for the moment! So lots of long walks in the sun (or horrible HIIT sessions in the gym if the weather is crap).

[Chillicat]

Early session today, 11am. After several years of Sevens, the novelty hasn't exactly worn off, but I wanted to be certain I could get on a rack. Also, with my weights so low right now, I don't want to be seen by too many people, so early is good!

So today was squats, lunges, SLDLS and calves. Weights marginally higher than last week, but still had dead legs by the end - though did manage my 2 hour walk home up the gorge \:D/

[Chillicat]

Quickie today - very sore after yesterday, plus all the walking I've been doing. Walked home last night, and also to and from work today, so pretty tired. Knew the weather was going to turn so wanted to log as many walks as possible for the challenge before the weather turns nasty and has me running for the bus!

So today was deads (very light) 5x5, bent over rows 3x12, lat pulldowns 3x2 and a few half hearted attempts at planks (30 secs each, front and each side).

Then rushed off to look at the nice Sevens boys in the parade =P~

[teamfatboy]

I think you were going up the Ngauranga Gorge faster than I was, I'd forgotten what rush-hour traffic up SH1/2 is like... good on you for walking up!

I'm told the Sevens boys were nice, my wife came home with two necklaces and a football ! Wonder how that works :grin:

I'd be hoping for a place on the sheltered side of the Caketin, looks like it's gonna be wet for Day1.