Dad's Dating Advice

Not many girls I know would turn to their dad for dating advice but my dad is more like a surrogate mum and I seem to turn to him for advice on lots of things whether it be career related, triathlon related or even dating related! Sometimes I really don't know how he puts up with me but I guess he has to, afterall he is stuck with me as his daughter!
So last week I went on a date with a really nice guy :-) A really nice guy that also happens to have a tattoo that takes up the better part of one whole arm (though must say, very, very good arms so big tick there!). So as I am chatting to dad last night about life in general I tell him about my date and the tattoo and his response "So? Is there anything in the 10 Key Criteria about Tattoo's?" to which I say "No!" so Dad says to me "Then what's the problem!"
So whilst most dad's would probably hate the thought of their daughter dating a guy with tattoo's my dad's response is who cares, if it's not in the 10 key criteria it's obviously not that important! So no there will be no further amendments to the criteria, they remain as is, and there is nothing in there about tattoo's!

Inspired by Scrawny the Whinging Pom!

I'm a fast cyclist and I know it...

When I ride on by, I'm checking out all the other guys,
I cycle so fast riding down beach road in my shiny black lycra this is how I roll.
Cadence so high as I speed on by I'm the scrawny ass guy with the smoothe as legs.
Ahh girls look at my body
Ahh girls look at my body
Ahh girls look at my body
I'm so scrawny

When I cycle up the hills, this is what I see
I'm passing all the guys and they are staring at me
I've got lots and lot's of gears and I ain't afraid to use them, use them, use them

I'm scrawny and I know it

When I'm at the top, I'm looking at the other riders thinking damn I'm hot
When I'm at the gym I'm checking out my body in all the mirrors
Yeah this is how I roll, come on cyclists its time to go
I'm headed to bike shop but don't be nervous
Scrawny little legs and I still get service

Ahh girl look at my body
Ahh girl look at my body
Ahh girl look at my body
I'm so scrawny

When I'm at the bar, this is what I see, a price for beer more expensive than Sydney
I complain a lot, but that's okay cos I'm hot

I'm scrawny and I like to whinge
Check it out!

Whinging, whinging, whinging, yeah
Whinging, whinging, whinging, yeah
Whinging, whinging, whinging, yeah
Whinging, whinging, whinging, yeah
Do the whinge yeah
I do the whinge yeah

I'm scrawny and I know it!

A weekend of biking (minus boys and baking)

So given that I'm now kick starting my health kick there will not be much blogging about baking! Have decided to put boys on hold for awhile as well so looks like this blog will have to be about biking!
And what a great weekend for biking it was. An awesome ride on my own yesterday morning and a cruisy ride along the beach this morning with a girlfriend (thanks shoney!). In fact an awesome weekend all round, single life is great, really can do whatever I want whenever I want. Dinner at the pub last night where I stuck to my no drinking policy! An afternoon at the beach today and them dinner with a good friend, where okay I did cheat just a little and have 1 glass of wine! But hey it was great weather and who can resist a cheeky wine on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Dork Sarah strikes again!

So just in case my elaborate detailed personal expenditure file in excel that reconciles to my bank accounts was not quite dorky enough I have now embarked on a new excel project.
Over the last few weeks I have been reading a lot of books on nutrition and how it relates to endurance athletes in order to maximise performance and get to an optimum race weight. Last year for Busso I trained the house down but I probably wasn't the greatest at getting my nutrition right, I pretty much lived by the philosphy that because I was training so much I could get away with eating pretty much whatever I wanted, and whilst I did eat heatlthy most of the time I wasn't necessarily eating the right foods and at the right time.
So whilst I am still easing myself back into training I have decided that now is the time to focus on my diet and look at what I am eating, working out how many grams of fat, carbs and protein I should be consuming each day and what my calorie intake should be. I have decided to take this to the next level by creating an excel workbook that lists all of my favourite foods and recipes, the nutirional breakdown of each food and then will use this to build a weekly meal plan that tracks against my exercise plan and ensures the correct calories are consumed. The file will then also build me a shopping list based on my chosen meal plan for the week.
Yes super dorky I know, in fact I think that I have taken dorkiness to a whole new level as not only am I actually undertaking this project but I am actually excited by it which my work colleagues find slightly disturbing especially when I mentioned I may go into the office on the weekend to work on it. Since ironman I have been a little lost, this is my new focus, my new challenge, and not to mention a great distraction from boys.
Am starting to think that maybe I am in the wrong career, perhaps should have become a nutritionist instead of an accountant!

Further Amendments to 10 Key Criteria...

1. Must be taller than me...
and must also not be skinnier than me. Something not very attractive about stick figures. Plus stick figures can't really have very good arms so kind of doesn't meet criteria 3 either (must have good arms!)

4. Must be fit and active...
but not obsessive, yes I know this sounds contradictory given my own obsession, however there is obsession and then super over obsessive which makes for no fun.

9. Must not drive a girly car...
However a girly car beats having no car at all.

Also decision was made today that when I turn 30 the first item to come off the list is the girly car. After all it is pretty superficial to judge a guy by the car they drive. Will instead judge by the bike they ride!

Anger and frustration is the best training partner!

The last week has been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster, I consumed far too much alcohol on the weekend and turned into a crazy person making a complete and utter fool of myself and hence the reason for starting a 6 week ban from alcohol! The goal was to get back into serious training this week but for various reasons it hasn't quite gone to plan. My day at the office was looking like it was going to be a long one today until I had coffee with a friend at lunch and he said "there is only so much you can do and no point in pushing yourself working late every night, life's too short" damn right it is. So I think much to the surprise of my work colleagues I walked out the door tonight at 5pm on the dot!
Got home pulled on the runners, cranked up the iPod and went running in the sun. What an awesome run, another 10km under the belt and this time 30sec faster per km than Saturday (still slow but a significant improvement). As I pounded the pavement I could feel my anger and frustration slowly releasing with each step, the further I went the faster I ran. I got home feeling great! Relaxed and with a clear head. My swim coach Colin does always say I swim faster when I'm angry so perhaps this will be my new secret training weapon!
Still haven't been back in the pool yet, Friday! I promise...

Feb Fast is starting early

So I had a few good training sessions last week, only to then ruin my hard work by getting extremely drunk on the weekend. I really do not know the person that I have become post ironman. Certainly not the same person who tracks every cent of expenditure in a spreadsheet, avoids sometimes foods, gets up for training at 5am and barely drinks. So in a bid to get completely back on track I have decided to start feb fast early and am not going to drink a drop of alcohol for the next 6 weeks. In fact not only am I going to refrain from alcohol I am also going to steer clear of all bad food as well. I want my ironman body back! So for all my poor friends and colleagues I may be a bit grumpy for the next few weeks as I suffer from alcohol and junk food withdrawal but I will be a much happier person when I'm feeling fit and fab again. So for the next few weeks I think there will be a lot more blogging about biking and a lot less about boys and baking :(

Training Tip #2 Do not run after eating Chocolate Cake

Actually do not each Chocolate Cake full stop. Especially when no training has been done for the past 5 weeks. I blame the fact that Melbourne has decided to revert back to winter for my sudden need to be eating comfort food rather than nice healthy fresh fruit and salad, so when the girls at work mentioned cake at lunchtime today it took little convincing for me to join them. Halfway through indulging in my decadent tim tam chocolate cake I started to feel extremely ill and this was just the wake up call that I needed. It is officially time to get off my ass and go back to training. So tonight I left work on time, raced home and pulled on my running gear and decided to run 10km, apart from nearly puking up the chocolate cake at the 5km mark I felt great, the sun was finally back out and shining, I ran along the beach realised how much I love running and love Melbourne. Or maybe the wake up call was not the sickness I felt after eating the chocolate cake, nor the fact that I now look like I am about 3 months pregnant after eating, drinking and eating some more ever since Busselton, perhaps the wakeup call is the fact that I have a cycling date on Sunday! Yes a cycling date! So not technically picking up on beach road but will be going on a date whilst cycling along beach road. The thought of a guy seeing me in my lycra in the state that I am currently in was well and truly enough of a wakeup call to dust off the runners and get back out there.
My mojo is back! Watch out Busso here I come....

The advantages of single life

A very dear friend of mine in a bid to cheer me up the other day sent me the following message. So for any single girls who are thinking that they would rather not be single, have a read of this and maybe you will change your mind...

Once upon a time...
A guy asked a girl "will you marry me?"
The girl said "NO"
And the girl lived happily ever after and went shopping, dancing, camping, drank martini's, always had a clean house, never had to cook, had sex with whomever she pleased... did whatever the hell she wanted, never argued, travelled more, had many boyfriends, saved more money, had all the hot water to herself, watched chick flicks, never wore fricken lacy lingerie that went up her ass, had high self esteem, never cried or yelled, felt and looked fabulous in sweat pants, and burped, swore, and farted all the time.
THE END

So whilst we may all long to meet the man of our dreams and live happlily ever after, the grass is not always greener on the otherside and actually single life is pretty damn good. If I want to eat a bowl of cereal for dinner I can! I can wear daggy clothes around the house, don't have to shave my legs, I always get to watch what I want to watch on TV and I can go out and buy expensive bikes with no one telling me I am spending too much money. I can go out drinking with my girlfriends every night (though this is kind of detrimental to my training and also doesn't support my 2012 plan to save more money!) but best of all I get the whole bed to myself every single night and it is great!

Post Ironman Blues

So after finishing my first Ironman alittle over a month ago I was on a massive high, excited to have achieved a goal that I have had for so long but also determined to come back and perform even better next time. My determination and motivation was at an all time high, I ordered a tonne of books on Amazon that were all going to help me have my best race at Ironman this year. But slowly I have been coming down from that high and now feel that I have hit the bottom, I have done little to no training for 5 weeks and there is a part of me tha is starting to wonder do I really want to go back to serious training, I am enjoying sleeping in, not falling asleep in meetings at work, spending time with my friends, consuming too much alcohol and paying the price the next day. Pretty much I am enjoying everything that a single 29 year old girl should be enjoying. Yet there is another part of me that is starting to feel a little sluggish and the jeans do feel a little snug (hence have been living in skirts and dresses for the past 2 weeks) and I do want to get back out there and train, but train on my own schedule, yesterday I went for a ride by myself and it was great, I didn't set an alarm I just woke up got on the bike and turned the legs over, I wasn't caring about my speed or my heart rate I was just enjoying the scenery and clearing my head.
This week I am going to attempt to make a come back at training, but I'm going to take my time and ease back into it whilst still allowing myself to have fun and enjoy life :-)