RSL Auxillary Ladies efforts..

Another group that has really embraced the cause and are definitely making a big difference are the RSL Auxillary Ladies group. Some of their water saving habits are listed below. Once again, thanks to granny for compiling the list.

• Bucket in shower saves water for garden (Jean Evans)
• Collects the cold water before using hot water for many things including water for pot plants, hand washing clothes etc.. (Pat Logan)
• Large bowl in shower as saves cold water till hot comes through, also has a new 1000L rain water tank (Lil Crosby)
• Bowl in kitchen sink to catch water from the hot tap to rinse vegies etc. (Hilda Lange)
• Bowl in kitchen sink for watering the pot plants, new rain water tank and 3 minute showers (Doreen Sims)
• Showers standing in a tub and then put that water on the lawn (Cheryl Eaton)
• Empty dogs water on plants when she refills it (Lyn Sibenaler)
• Only washes up once a day (Loris)
• Has a hose on the washing machine (Margaret)
• Has 2 large tanks, uses laundry water for the toilet (Betty)
• Uses the dog's bath water to water the garden, uses the dog's drinking water for plants when changing, water from home brewing container put on garden (Anne)

Vines retirement village leading the way.. #2

The people at the Vines retirement village have really embraced the cause and are demonstrating just how easy it is to make water saving changes in our daily lives. Examples of the changes that are being made are listed below (thanks to Granny for compiling the list!)

• Grey water pumped from laundry to garden area (Les And Margaret Ainsworth)
• Fitted a 3 minute ‘Landcare timer” in shower (Molly and Ted Hughes)
• Extra bowl in sink to catch rinse water and putting waashing water onto their lawn (Trev and Maxine Graske)
• Washing water onto garden (Pat and Allan Lee)
• Boil water for dishwashing water (Margaret Tait)
• Grey water hose for washing machine and dish in sink for washing up water ( Carol Major)
• Grey water, bowl or bucket in the shower and rinsing the washing up (Celia Brown)
• Dish in sink for rinse water for lawn (dishes and hand washing), buckets in shower, using sanitiser on hands when washing no need for water, turn off water whilst brushing teeth (Norma Walsh)
• Use kettle for heating water, don’t run cold water (Betty Stapylton)
• Short showers and 2 buckets in showers used for lawns and plants (Dudley and Norma James)
• Reuses grey water (Joy Wilson)
• Share shower three times a week! (Anonymous)
• General cutting down on water eg shorter showers, teeth cleaning, not rinsing dishes (Olwyn and John Duncan)
• Washing hands eg putting a small container into hand bowl, fill with required water turn off tap, wash hands in bowl and discard water after putting on garden or pot plants (Marion Knight)
• Use rain water tanks for all drinking and cooking purposes, don’t leave water running while cleaning teeth, take shorter showers and mulch garden heavily (Jim and Beryl Martin)
• Large tub in shower (approx 5 buckets) and all washing water per load for lawn and garden. Heavy mulching of trees, shrubs and roses (Chris and Joan Richardson)
• Leaves water in sink (Dess Jackson)
• 2 litres sink water each dish wash (Joan Richardson)
• Never uses running water for rinsing of teeth (Fred Blake)
• Laundry grey water on lawn (Jim and Annette Davey)
• Purchased front loader washing machine (Warren-Coral Gowland)
• Reuse shower and sink water (Peg and Colin)
• Washing machine water bucketed onto garden (P&G Heath)
• Reuses sink water (Tim)
• Uses washing water for garden (Mick Elson)
• Save shower water for garden (Noel Raison)
• Bucket with shower (Helen James)
• Make sure taps are tightly turned off not left dripping (Garth Busbridge)
• Water lawns from washing machine and pre shower water (John and Joan Jackson)
• Installed extra drips to water garden, use small sink for washing up, extra mulch for the garden, bought native water wise plants for the garden (Bill and Jan Mitchell)
• Use front loader washing machine, cut down the showers, use the cold water before the hot comes through to water the plant (Martin)

I survived!

The title says it all - I survived the London marathon! In fact I would go as far as saying I enjoyed it - despite the weather. I never hit the much talked about 'wall' and finished in 3hrs 52 mins (and 59 seconds - but who is counting?). I felt amazingly OK last night - I even cycled home from the station. Today is a different story and I am aching from the neck down! I will post a more detailed race report in a few days, but for now I am just going to lie down in a dark room and not move...

Costume and weather

The preliminary weather forecasts for Sunday are out, and in my opinion they aren't at all favourable. Mild (11oC maximum), but with rain and strong winds, which will equate to a head wind for the last half of the course. I am not too concerned at this stage as the weather forecast in this country generally changes at least three times a day.
Now to more important news - the costume! Keeping with the black and white theme from last time, I am running as a zebra. A bit random, but I found a zebra print skirt, and hence the idea was born!

One week to go...

With just under one week until race day, the running training is all but over. The focus has shifted to carb-loading and resting the legs. Last week was scheduled to be 20 miles (32km). However, when the sun came out (which is quite a rare occurrence in this part of the world) I found it hard to resist putting on the trainers and heading out for a run. My week went something like this:
Monday - 5.3 miles to Coton (8.5km) to loosen the legs after orienteering
Tuesday - 6.25 miles to Granchester (10km)
Wednesday - took advantage of the warm weather to go sculling + jog to and from the boathouse 2.5 miles (4km)
Thursday - more sunshine so we hit the river for another sculling session.
Friday - 6.25 miles to Granchester again (10km)
Saturday - a pre-breakfast 8.8 mile (14km) run along the river.
In total 29 miles (46.5 km) - I will definitely have to work on my tapering next week!

The Vines retirement village - leading the way

My grandparents have recently moved into the Vines retirement village in Evanston. I was talking to my granny last week about the response of the village residents to the water restrictions and it seems that they are leading the way in water conservation. Some residents have rainwater tanks, while others are using water from washing machines to water gardens.
I would like to draw your attention to the comments on a previous post from Ted and Molly who have highlighted further methods for water savings. They use a bucket to collect the cold water that runs through tap before it heats up. They also use the rinse water from the washing machine to water the garden. Both are brilliant suggestions and have the potential to not only save signficant amounts of water, but also allow them to maintain their small garden.

Two weeks to go..

Sorry for the lack of recent posting, but I have spent the past week trying to navigate my way through frozen Swedish forests as part of the Cambridge Orienteering team. The week before I left was to be my last major training week, with 35 miles scheduled. Here is how my training progressed:
Monday - 6.25 miles to Granchester
Tuesday - two runs for a total of 10.6 miles
Wednesday - we discovered a new 8.4 mile route through the countryside
Thursday - day off
Friday - Extremely windy, but we managed 6.2 miles
Saturday - the weather deteriorated and we headed for the shelter of the gym for an erg and 3 mile interval session on the treadmill.
Sunday - SNOW!! I awoke to discover a white Easter. No training, only chocolate eating and snowman making :)
Monday - A solo 10 mile run.
In total 44 miles over 8 days - not a bad effort, especially given the weather.
Tuesday saw me fly to Stockholm for the orienteering and the rest of the week was spent running/falling through snow covered forests and semi-frozen marshes. No idea how far I went - most of the time I was lost!

Round Table Discussion with Dr Suzuki

Last week I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to participate in a discussion with David Suzuki (world-renowned scientist and climate change activist) and 11 other young citizens representing Australia, the UK, India, Singapore and Canada. One of the topics discussed was ' how can we drive the necessary changes to fight climate change'?
After much debate, I believe the key to the solution is a simple, bottom-up approach. Everyone making small changes CAN make a difference.
I don't deny that it is a complicated global problem requiring international cooperation, my point is simply this: While the politicians battle out the global, multi-national policy logistics (a process which will undoubtedly take many years) we can each do our part by making small changes NOW.
No change is too small to make a difference.

Four weeks to go!

Another 40 mile week scheduled, but as expected I didn't get a chance to do much training.
Monday - scheduled day off, which I went with!Tuesday - 5 miles scheduled and ran 7.
Wednesday - 6 miles scheduled, but went to London for the round table discussion with David Suzuki so no time to train.
Thursday - 6 miles scheduled, ran along the river to watch a fancy dress rowing regatta for a total of 9.25 miles
Friday - scheduled day off. Wasn't feeling well and was trying to save my legs for Saturday's orienteering competition so followed the schedule. Attended Girton Ball Friday night - black tie, dodgem cars, mini cars and chocolate fountains - possibly not the best for training!
Saturday - 20 miles scheduled. I headed up to Sheffield for the British University Orienteering championships. It was a disaster - 113 minutes of running up and down hills, searching for flags, and unfortunately getting lost. No idea how far I ran, but it was just under 2 hours of constant exercise. Totally exhausted by the end, I have never been so relieved to see the finish!
Sunday - I woke up this morning to discover muscles that I never knew existed. 3 miles was scheduled, and I combined a jog to collect my bike with a treadmill session for a total of 6 miles.

An action packed week, but unfortunately only 3 runs for a total of 22.25 miles (35.6km) plus a 2 hr orienteering event.

Measuring your carbon footprint

Water shortages are one of many consequence of climate change. However, it is an increase in the emissions of greenhouse gases (such as carbon dioxide) that is causing the problem.
How much carbon dioxide do you generate in your daily life?
The Victorian Environment Protection Agency has a brilliant online greenhouse calculator that allows you to generate estimates of your greenhouse gase emissions and help you identify areas for potential savings.
Have a look at it now:
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/GreenhouseCalculator/calculator/default.asp
What changes can you make to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions?

5 weeks to go...

An impending conference deadline saw me spending more time infront of my computer this week, yet at the same time my mileage also increased.
Monday was a scheduled day off, but did 3.2 miles of interval training on the treadmill.
Tuesday - 6 miles scheduled. In extremely windy conditions we tried a new route and ended up going 7.5 miles.
Wednesday - Another 6 miler scheduled. Inspired by a beautiful mild afternoon, we went on an extended Granchester run of 7 miles.
Thursday - 6 miles scheduled, but day off due to poor weather.
Friday - 4 miles scheduled. Ended up running twice today for a total of 8.5 miles (amazing the effect that work has on me!)
Saturday - scheduled day off, but a day of extreme PhD writing found me needing to escape. We braved the rain for a good 6.7 mile run.
Sunday - 13 mile race scheduled. No time to race, and the weather forecast was grim. However the sun appeared briefly and Fi and I decided to go for a short jog along the river. It was going well so we just kept running - just over 13 miles covered (and we ended up very cold and wet!).

All in all a brilliant week of training -45.9 miles which translates to 73.4 km. It is amazing what effect a deadline has on me :) It is such a relief to finally get some miles under my belt. The next few weeks will see a decrease in distance due to several orienteering competitions which will limit my running training. But for today, as storms lash England I am content to sit and rest my weary legs.

Don't forget to keep the pledges coming!

Save water, money and your garden!

If your shower is over a bath, leave the plug in while you shower. On completion, pump the water into a wheelie bucket and then use to keep your garden green! Small, rechargable pumps can be bought from Bunnings (approx price $60) as can the wheelie buckets.
My parents bought a pump and bucket combo last September. Since then, shower times have been drastically reduced (amazing at how quickly the bucket can be filled and very embarassing if you cause the bucket to overflow!) and the water has helped keep the front lawn green despite water restrictions. An added bonus is a reduced water bill!
If your shower isn't over a bath, there are now 'shower buckets' that you can buy to capture the water that is wasted while you are waiting for the shower to warm up.

Cheap and simple water saving tips

• If you don't have a dual flush toilet you can buy a relatively cheap 'cistern converter' that will reduce the average water usage from 12 L/flush to 3.5 L/flush.
• No water saving taps fitted in the home? A cheap alternative to buying new taps is to buy a flow regulator than can be easily attached to your existing taps.

Pledge your support!!

Water is a precious resource, particuarly in South Australia - the driest state on the driest inhabited continent.
It is now time to sponsor me for my marathon efforts. Instead of money - I want you to sponsor me in water! Pledge to cut back your daily water usage, by agreeing to undertake one or more of the actions listed in the adjacent poll. Let's see how much water we can save... If there are any other water saving actions that you would like on the poll, let me know and I will add them.
Pledge now!!

6 weeks to go...

This week was bumps - four days of crazy Cambridge rowing races where they line 18 boats up 1.5 boat lengths apart and then fire a cannon. You then race flat out until you hit the boat infront, are hit by the boat behind or row over. Each race can last from 30 seconds up to 10 minutes. My participation in this events limited my training chances, but the week started well.
Monday was scheduled to be a day off, but it was sunny and I decided a short, slow jog would be a good cure for the aching muscles. It turned into a 6 mile, relatively fast run. It was brilliant fun, but the muscles weren't happy at the end :) Oh - I almost forgot to mention our early morning rowing outing as well - wasn't as much fun!
Tuesday the schedule called for 6 miles, which was achieved with a run along the river to watch the rowing racing.
Wednesday and Thursday - 2 x 5 miles scheduled. Our crew started racing today, and hence all hopes of running were abandoned. Both races were quite short due to a) carnage on the river ahead and b) being bumped early, but it is still a 10km return row each day.
Friday - a scheduled day off. Our prospects for bumps weren't looking great so I decided a quick jog beforehand wouldn't hurt. I combined a 6.5 mile jog with another 10km row in cold and windy conditions.
Saturday - the final day of bumps (another 10km row) and 20 miles scheduled, but no time to run! We went straight from the river to post bumps celebrations.
Sunday - 3 miles scheduled. With no rowing and the sun shining, Fi and I ran 6.5 miles through the fields to Granchester.

In total 25 miles (40 km) of running and 50 km of rowing.. Mmm - it is signifantly less than the scheduled 40 miles (64 km) which isn't good. If I have any hope of beating the 'wall' in the marathon I need to increase my mileage significantly!