Hmmm, just noticed my calendar on this blog was out by a day?! Not sure how or why, or if I f*&ked it up now, but have changed it back to being today, 11th December 2013... AND, on with the post now:



This morning's run was an easy recovery-ish pace run, about 8km ish. Not sure how long it took as I stopped in a shop to look at some comedy Chinglish emblazoned stationery for a good ten (or more?) minutes when I got back to just near school. They have some excellent stationery and gifts with phrases and sayings that must have got lost in translation along the way, and make no sense, but look very cute and all. I have a friend in London who loves this shizzle, so am always on the look out to add to her collection.

Cold and slightly less-smoggy again today. Could even see the mountains behind the river again! Beautiful.

I read somewhere the other day re: the importance of ab work or core work, whatever you want to call it, and how strengthening these muscles can actually improve your race times. I have always shied away from this hey. Have reluctantly done it as part of longer workouts, or if in a class or if its part of a workout challenge (i.e. as part of Hasfit's 90 day workout challenge there were various core workouts, entitled '6 minutes to a 6-pack', or '8 minute abs' etc), but it is my LEAST favourite thing to do workout-wise. How to change this? How to grow to love doing core work so that I can become a better racer/runner, and so I can develop abs that look like a little like this:

Not that my bare midriff is likely to see the light of day, and particularly not here in China in Winter. However, come summer time it would be a plus, not to mention it will apparently help my running form and times too. Win-win.

So, I will be making a conscious effort to incorporate some ab workouts into my daily exercise. Any workouts you know in this area would be welcome. I know I should be planking or doing things like this to see results:

So, I guess, I've just got to fucken DO IT!

Have an ABS-olutely CORE-ackin day everyone!

The smog seems much better today, and is even clearing enough for us to see some blue patches of sky. However, I still had another wet-face-masked-assassin run early this morning, just in case. At one point, so cheered was I that I could now see across the river again that I took my mask off for a few breaths. I don't know if it was just in my head, but to me the air had a funny taste (?) so the mask was re-donned tout de suite.

It was great to get out there this morning and tune out and run on auto-pilot. Did one of my usual routes which takes me through a big park nearby and down to the river where I run alongside for a bit then cross it and loop back in the direction that I came. It is about 12km and takes me between 55 mins to an hour. This morning's run was an hour. Cold and dark (for half of it) but it was just what I needed. I'd gone to bed grumpy/frustrated so knew if I didn't get out of bed and run it off this morning then the bad mood may have continued today too. Interestingly enough, whenever my thoughts would stray to some of the less good/troubling thoughts that are on my mind, my running pace would slow quite significantly. Then, when thinking of happier things, or tuning out altogether, my pace picked up again and I found my 'zone'. So, it is really true hey: what we think about creates and shapes our reality: negative thoughts = negative result, so, positive thoughts = positive result! Run with happy thoughts people. :)




It is so fricken cold this morning. Sat here in no less than four layers, procrastinating and putting off the inevitable undressing for a dribble of a shower (water pressure sucks in our apartment). Would much rather be HERE right now (yep, that is another I-miss-being-on-holiday-in-Bali shot. this was taken just near Tanah Lot at a large hotel/golf course with the beautiful, amazing Annie):

I have never gotten a text from the race organisers before an event before, but yesterday I received this beauty of a precautionary text message, it reads:

"Shanghai International Marathon Organizing Committee: Dear runners, it's five days away from the race. Please make a self-assessment on this rest day. Do u feel well recently? Do u catch a cold or have a fever? Do u keep training regularly? Pls make a final check according to the Eligibility that specifies people unfit to run the race. Caring life is everyone's responsibility."

I am happy to report: yes, no, and YES!  in answer to their caring (worried?) questions.

This is also the only event I've ever entered where you have to have had a proven recent health examination complete with doctor's signatures etc before you can even finalise registering. Has anyone else ever had to get a health certificate before they could participate in a race?

Today is a non-running day. So far I have slept in and lounged around a fair bit, having mentally relegated my cross-training session to after work now, but am hoping it will still happen. Might do a Hasfit workout followed by some yoga and stretching.

Cloudy and cold here today, not a very inspiring Wednesday, hey-ho... As the kind and caring race organisers pointed out yesterday, now only 4 days to go! Bit nervous now...

Yup, THIRTEEN days til the race! Feels pretty close / exciting / scary now. :) Can't wait for 1st December!

Another very cold, early morning training session today. The moon was still very much out, and so half of my run was lit by the powerful, magical bright yellow shine of the (full) moon. Was a bit mesmerising and distracting though as I kept staring at the moon as I completed my loops on the track, and had to remind myself to look where I was running (i.e. not trip and fall in the dark).

Today's training was as follows: 2km warm up, 1600m tempo (half marathon race pace), 400m jog in between, 1600m tempo again, then 2km cool down. Followed by: getting under every blanket/doona/duvet that we own in an attempt to warm back up, breakfast, shower, and a back-into-bed-power-nap. Monday mornings are GREAT, don't you think? :) 

Yesterday was, you guessed it, my REST day, and it was great. Although, turned out to be an actively resting day where we cycled around to do some errands (and drink coffee) for a lot of it, plus the usual dog walking and house work. But no running anyhow.

Did spend a lot of time researching jobs and places we'd like to live in next year - going to be such a hard decision: so many amazing and beautiful places we could go to! Got to choose between: beaches and the coast (really miss the ocean and fresh air), mountains and amazing scenery, and beautiful vast grasslands and completely new cultures. Ahh, decisions decisions, at least we've got a full 7 months or so to make our minds up!

In other exciting news: my mother is coming all the way to China (from UK) for a visit! She's going to be here for Christmas and New Year's - we're very excited! We have to work on Christmas day as it's not a holiday here, but that's ok.

Ok, better go and get ready for teaching and another beautiful day in China. Have a great Monday everyone!

Feeling the cold here now. Wore THREE tops to run in on my long run this morning, plus the usual gloves and long running pants. Still cold now (having not moved much since I returned - trying to psych myself up to get into our cold, uninspiring bathroom). The weather report for the low temperature today says this:

But it feels more like ZERO methinks.

Still, it was nice: crisp and fresh on my run, not wet, which was a blessing, and there was the beautiful, big, orange orb of sun rising up as I ran past the eery, completely still river with its ghostly fog hovering just above the surface. However, it was not my best run. Had a lot of (womanly) pain for most of it (whoever said that exercise made it better??) but those excellent endorphins kicked in at about kilometre 15. An elderly gentleman speeding past me in the opposite direction gave me a hearty thumbs up as he went, to which I eagerly responded with my own thumb of course (the equivalent of a Chinese runners' high-five perhaps?), so this gave me a well needed boost. As did seeing a former student of mine near the end of the run and hearing an enthusiastic 'Hello Louise!'.

So, another week's training done and dusted = feeling awesome. :) Time for zao fan (breakfast) and probably more exploring/cycling, shopping and lots of COFFEE this weekend (once I get back up that is).

Have a great weekend everyone! And all the best to those running in a race tomorrow (i.e. Maggie! All the best for the marathon! What a great birthday present to yourself hey!).

Yes, I was a pussy and did NOT go for my belated run yesterday evening. I really really tried though! I had my coffee, had left three ish hours from my last meal, was half-dressed and almost ready to go, when Husband mentioned dinner and what we were going to do for it, and I realised that yes, it was still pissing down rain, was dark and cold, we still had a lot of moving of furniture to do (we changed the apartment around - they say a change is as good as a holiday yes?) and I was hungry (at the mere mention of food). So, excuses excuses I know. Oh well. Made up for it this morning and did the run from yesterday plus the one I had scheduled for today (an easy recovery pace jog, so made for a good longer cool down).

It was still raining this morning, but not as hard (more of a constant drizzle). I have recently discovered the saving grace of putting OIL on my ponytail before heading out for a run in the rain/drizzle. Why did I not know this years ago?? My hair (being a bit bleached/highlighted/messed with) tends to form one giant dreadlock / rat's tail / ball-of-doom if I run in the rain, however I've found putting oil (just olive oil straight from the kitchen) on it, saves the day. Can't believe its taken me this long to find this out.

Maybe it was a good thing I didn't go yesterday? Maybe I would have tripped in the dark and wet and twisted something? Maybe that's why I wasn't meant to go, and instead was meant to lift heavy furniture instead (hey, weight training / cross training right?) and then make us a beautiful healthy dinner, finished off with the ubiquitous porridge dessert/extra meal before bed of course. Whatever the reason, my legs felt GREAT on this morning's run so maybe the impromptu rest day was secretly needed. What didn't feel so great however, and apologies if this is tmi, were my boobs hey. They seem to be double their usual small size (and for those of you who know me in person, you will know this is still not at all huge), felt something like this:

and even wearing two sports bras didn't help - felt uncomfortable and heavy the whole run. (I salute you larger-boobed ladies - it must be a lot harder to run with boobs!) Hmmm, so maybe my perma-wish of having bigger breasts is out the window now, and actually, I would take running over wanting larger breasts any day.

This striking realisation brought back a memory of a similar train of thought. A very wise, very beautiful woman once asked me the following very hard question, so, to brighten up an otherwise dull and dreary Wednesday, answer me this:

If you had to pick either running or sex for a whole year (i.e. you get to choose one at the expense of the other, but can't have both!) what would you choose??

Hmmm, quite the conundrum isn't it?! C'mon - I'' tell you mine if you tell me yours! (Once I make my mind up that is...). Answers on a postcard please (Ok, or just below...) :)

Boo... Rainy and cold here today. This means: 1) I did NOT go for my training run as planned this morning, but chose staying put in my warm, comfy(ish, well ok, rock-hard Chinese) bed with Hot Husband (you know I would chose you over a run anytime Lovely, if you're reading this!); and 2) now I will get the joy of a track workout run this arvo/evening in what looks to be an all-day raining session.

However, one big perk of this rainy, average Tuesday, is that now we can stay inside in the warm and dry thanks to a mid-term exam that all the students are having today. I arrived at my lesson this morning to be told this news. Love these surprise holiday/resting days! So, fingers crossed that by this evening it has cleared up enough for me to not pussy out of heading to the track.

What's on schedule for today is: a 2km warm-up, 8km tempo at half marathon pace, and then 2 km cool down. Hmm, now if I had been a bit less lazy this morning, then I could have run the 8km portion outside on one of my riverside routes, as it would have been early enough to avoid the crazy traffic (both vehicles and people traffic), however now I am resigned to the track, especially as it will more than likely be dark for some of my run (and I've well and truly learnt my lesson about running in the dark, after a sprained ankle earlier this year, owing to my stupidity when I thought going for a run in the early morning, in the dark, along a boardwalk on a beach, in a new city, was a good idea. It was a bad idea and I fell off the boardwalk, d'oh).

So, this is pretty much the view here today (yes, not my own picture, but you get the idea):

This change in the weather (i.e. it is now the COLD you would expect from November) has meant that I have rediscovered my porridge (or Oatmeal to those American readers) addiction. Seriously, it's turned into a staple food this past week. Does anyone else go through food phases and have mini-addictions? Am I the only one?? It usually turns me off the food for a while after I've had a few weeks of it though, so maybe my body knows and wants to let me know, 'ok Lou, move along now, nothing to see here, you've had quite enough porridge/toastie sandwiches/cereal/insert addictive foodstuff of the moment here'.

So, back to lesson planning / internet research for me. I know it seems I am very happy to get my lessons cancelled, but actually this is not the case (well, maybe half the case). The same thing happened with the same students last week, so by the time we see them again, they will be two weeks behind all the other students with our lessons. Hey-ho, will they remember our names?!

Have truly terrific Tuesdays everyone! :)