Hello!
How was everyone's weekend?
Mine was great, great, great. I had a few days away in a little beach town, doing yoga, meditation, eating and running. Can you say perfection?
My training run that I didn't do on Friday was done on saturday along with 5 other kms!
My runs for this week
Monday: 7kms
Tuesday: 5kms
Wednesday: 6kms
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 2kms
Saturday: 15km
Sunday: 2.5kms
Total: 37.5kms
Cross training: 6 hours of walking; 2.5 of swimming; 1 hour of yoga.
This week so far has consisted of 8 very slow, painful and hot kms yesterday at about 10am (after my morning job) and 5 very early and joyous easy kms with my puppy this morning, before my morning job. It's supposed to get to 31 degrees by 3pm so I knew it would be too hot to run him then before my night job.
I've decided, that I'm going to do some full marathons next year too, not just a half. If I'm doing half, I may as well do the full right?! I know it will be painful but I think it will be awesome too.
Here are some events I am hoping to do
- 8th Feb 2014: Bussleton Half Marathon
- 13th April Bunbury Full or Half Marathon
- 6th July Geraldton Marathon
- 26th October Rottnest Island Marathon
Also the Perth City to Surf Marathon whatever date that will be.
And there is a Perth trail running series that I would like to do a few races of, from January to March they are :)
So there are atleast 2 Marathons I will do: the geraldton one (my hometown) and city to surf - the anniversary of my first race ever!
Very excited for the future - but for now, focusing on training and studying for my exams coming up!
Monday 28 October 2013
Thursday 24 October 2013
Knowing when to rest.
Hi everyone,
Today, my running plan called for a '10k race'. However, there were no races around here on a friday morning... funny that.
I've been feeling a little sniffly and then I woke up with my heels aching. Then I slept through my alarm. Bah! Sometimes things just don't work out. I iced my heels until they felt better, did some stretches and then went for a big walk with my boy and the pup. Sure, it wasn't an hour of sweating my bum off. But it was good for my soul.
Luckily, I ran monday, tuesday and wednesday, covering 18kms all up. This afternoon I'm going to a yoga retreat, and will be running atleast 5kms a day. So I will still be getting my kms in even if not in one hit. Kms are kms :)
Exams are coming up in a few weeks. So the rest of my day will be studying before heading off for my retreat. Can't wait to be running along the beach :)
My eating has been pretty good - am getting in heaps of vegies, complex carbs. And watermelon. ALL of the watermelon. <3
Today, my running plan called for a '10k race'. However, there were no races around here on a friday morning... funny that.
I've been feeling a little sniffly and then I woke up with my heels aching. Then I slept through my alarm. Bah! Sometimes things just don't work out. I iced my heels until they felt better, did some stretches and then went for a big walk with my boy and the pup. Sure, it wasn't an hour of sweating my bum off. But it was good for my soul.
Luckily, I ran monday, tuesday and wednesday, covering 18kms all up. This afternoon I'm going to a yoga retreat, and will be running atleast 5kms a day. So I will still be getting my kms in even if not in one hit. Kms are kms :)
Exams are coming up in a few weeks. So the rest of my day will be studying before heading off for my retreat. Can't wait to be running along the beach :)
My eating has been pretty good - am getting in heaps of vegies, complex carbs. And watermelon. ALL of the watermelon. <3
Thursday 17 October 2013
Long Run Friday...
Hi to anyone reading,
This morning I was up at 4.30 for my long run - today was 15km - 3kms longer than I have ever run before!
I was really nervous/anxious/convinced I couldn't do it. But I did :)
Last night I went and bought a hydration belt. I was going to test it today but the zip on the pouch broke before I even got to put it on! Was pretty disappointed. So I had to just use to spi belt to stuff my chia bars into, held my puffer, phone & headphones in bum pocket for when the going got tough, and had to rely on water fountains along the way, at about 3.5kms, 5.5km, 7kms and then the same when I turn around at 7.5kms.
It wasn't amazing, but it was pretty good. I kept a pretty even pace, with negative splits in the second half. I managed to save my music for the 14km mark and it was an awesome pick me up for the end. My lovely man stayed up late last night putting the music on my phone :) I felt like I got into a bit of a meditative headspace for most of the run. My shins and knees started hurting towards the end so I tried to adjust my form, shorten my steps and increase my cadence a little. Had a cold bath to stick my legs into when I got home :)
Had a some gatorade and took to pup to the park for a play. Came home, had a homemade ice coffee and toast with pb and j, then showered and returned my stoopid belt and got a new one - lets hope this one lasts longer!
Then it was off to get froyo with one of my good friends, yum! Perfect bribe to get a long run done :)
Some views from this morning...
Lunch was a homemade coleslaw and a roast pumpkin, baby spinach and roasted brocolli hommus. Yummo
Dinner will be brown rice, vegetable and lentil dahl and steamed veg.
Will be going for a walk soon with pup
Have a good day everyone
This morning I was up at 4.30 for my long run - today was 15km - 3kms longer than I have ever run before!
I was really nervous/anxious/convinced I couldn't do it. But I did :)
Last night I went and bought a hydration belt. I was going to test it today but the zip on the pouch broke before I even got to put it on! Was pretty disappointed. So I had to just use to spi belt to stuff my chia bars into, held my puffer, phone & headphones in bum pocket for when the going got tough, and had to rely on water fountains along the way, at about 3.5kms, 5.5km, 7kms and then the same when I turn around at 7.5kms.
It wasn't amazing, but it was pretty good. I kept a pretty even pace, with negative splits in the second half. I managed to save my music for the 14km mark and it was an awesome pick me up for the end. My lovely man stayed up late last night putting the music on my phone :) I felt like I got into a bit of a meditative headspace for most of the run. My shins and knees started hurting towards the end so I tried to adjust my form, shorten my steps and increase my cadence a little. Had a cold bath to stick my legs into when I got home :)
Had a some gatorade and took to pup to the park for a play. Came home, had a homemade ice coffee and toast with pb and j, then showered and returned my stoopid belt and got a new one - lets hope this one lasts longer!
Then it was off to get froyo with one of my good friends, yum! Perfect bribe to get a long run done :)
Some views from this morning...
Lunch was a homemade coleslaw and a roast pumpkin, baby spinach and roasted brocolli hommus. Yummo
Dinner will be brown rice, vegetable and lentil dahl and steamed veg.
Will be going for a walk soon with pup
Have a good day everyone
Sunday 13 October 2013
Monday...
Monday, Bloody Monday.
After half an hour of mozeying around in bed after my 6am alarm, I just got up, did my feet stretches, and then got dressed for my 7km run. Came out to grab all my gadgets. Decided to run with my ipod for a change today.. Got my bum down to the foreshore by around 7am, a little too late for my liking considering today is going to be 24 degrees!
Km 1: Ooh, music, this is fun
Km 2: Need the bathroom. NOW.
Km 3: Stitch, ow
Km 4: Stitch, OWWW
Km 5: Stitch slowly leaving
Km 6: Nearly there. Feeling better. It's hot. Oh my god - I think I forgot something for my assignment. That I handed in last night. Stress stress stress
Km 7: Done THANK GOD
Garmin Stuff
- Time: 46:0 (cringe)
- 7.01km
- Average pace 6:41/km
- 441 cals
I have no idea why that was so hard. Lets blame it on Monday shall we?
Now it's time for breakfast (muesli, almond milk, coffee); shower, work on assignments, ice my heels, swim, and I will walk the pup later on this afternooon. Oh I'm also re-reading Born to Run.
For about the hundreth time.
I will update later tonight with todays food!
Happy running!
After half an hour of mozeying around in bed after my 6am alarm, I just got up, did my feet stretches, and then got dressed for my 7km run. Came out to grab all my gadgets. Decided to run with my ipod for a change today.. Got my bum down to the foreshore by around 7am, a little too late for my liking considering today is going to be 24 degrees!
Km 1: Ooh, music, this is fun
Km 2: Need the bathroom. NOW.
Km 3: Stitch, ow
Km 4: Stitch, OWWW
Km 5: Stitch slowly leaving
Km 6: Nearly there. Feeling better. It's hot. Oh my god - I think I forgot something for my assignment. That I handed in last night. Stress stress stress
Km 7: Done THANK GOD
Garmin Stuff
- Time: 46:0 (cringe)
- 7.01km
- Average pace 6:41/km
- 441 cals
I have no idea why that was so hard. Lets blame it on Monday shall we?
Now it's time for breakfast (muesli, almond milk, coffee); shower, work on assignments, ice my heels, swim, and I will walk the pup later on this afternooon. Oh I'm also re-reading Born to Run.
For about the hundreth time.
I will update later tonight with todays food!
Happy running!
Saturday 12 October 2013
The Famous 'Runner Bug' ~ I am not Immune.
Hi there!
Okay, so some history is always helpful to set the scene -
I'm 21 and live in Perth, WA.
I've never been particularly athletic, school would see me exercise, when I had to. The 1500m dash was torture, and cross country was hell.
Year 11 and 12 came and I stopped exercising full stop to focus on my studies. I wasn't sleeping, only eating (one massive meal) once a day, and using chocolate as a bribery device to get through textbook after textbook.
Gap year before university - this is where the weight came on. I went from 65-68 kilos (top end of healthy for my height) to 78 kilos in a year. Countless coffees and pastries where I worked 12 hour shifts. I was flat out busy and just didn't need to care about my health yet. I was shy but wasn't really specifically self-conscious about my weight, because no one had told me I was overweight yet!
Gap year finished, I moved to Perth from my little country town to live with my boyfriend of three years. Freedom! Not much money, but freedom. Our diet wasn't great, cheap noodles, sausages, mince, pasta, frozen veg. Shopping at Coles we could barely keep our weekly food bill down to less than $100.
Around August, my mum told me she was on WeightWatchers. I snootily said, "I don't believe it diets - only lifestyle changes".
Turns out, it was a lifestyle change. And, it changed my life.
For one whole year, nearly to the date, I counted points diligently. I slowly, painfully began exercising. Most of the time, I was mortified to even walk in public.
Around a year ago, I reaches my goal weight of 58 kilos! A loss of 20 kilos had seen me grow so much more confident and happy in my skin. I couldn't believe I hadn't known how amazing life can be when you're at your full potential.
I started running 5kms, walking for a couple of hundred metres after running the same. Slowly and slowly I managed to run a whole 5km without stopping! That feeling was unbeatable. I also learned during this time that running needed as much brain power as it did leg power! Those little voices in my head would constantly doubt me, telling me I was too slow, making me doubt the distance.
Eventually I gave up running as I felt like I was too slow, and putting too much pressure on myself. I kept up with gym classes and kept fairly fit.
In february this year I had to have my gallbladder removed. A month or two and I was back fighting fit, with a couple of kilos hanging around due to all the amazing food I was able to enjoy again.
4 weeks before the 2013 Perth City2Surf, my mum coherced me into joining. The 12km. Oh crap, I thought. I haven't run in ages! How am I going to do this?
I didn't follow a plan. There aren't any out there that show you how to go from 0 to 12kms in 4 weeks!
So, I did 2 shorter runs of 5-6kms per week, 1 4km speed session, and one 'long' run, a lap from the causeway bridge heading into the city, along riverside drive to kwinana freeway, and then back along the south perth foreshore to the causeway (thanks to my Garmin I know this was now only 9.3 km!). I did this for four weeks, going as slow as I needed to to complete the runs. I didn't have a watch, I had no idea how slow or fast I was going.
The main thing was I was going to do it, and I was going to finish it - while having fun!
And so we did!
Race day we headed into the city by train, along with nearly 50,000 other people.
I stuck with my mum and her friends, at a gentle pace, none of us needed to walk once.
Our finishing time was around 1:30:00 and I was so happy.
As I looked up at the clock, not even feeling tired, I thought to myself, I reckon I could have done the half!
Now, as I'm training for a half marathon distance (unfortunately there aren't many actual races on this time of the season) I secretly hoping that next year I will be finishing the full marathon!
So, in short, this is a blog about running. It wont be like some, with their watches showing a 50km run completed in 4 hours, blonde hair neat and make up on their face. That's great for them, but that just aint me.
I'm pretty slow - 10kms takes me just over an hour. Let's blame it on my short legs, shall we?
But, I'm determined. I keep going when it's tough and when it's not pretty or worthy of a blog post. I sweat, I swear, I grit my teeth, I want to scream when my garmin only shows 6 kms - and I'm not immune to the runners trots either.
This blog is about keeping it real, and keeping it awesome.
Please read along!
Okay, so some history is always helpful to set the scene -
I'm 21 and live in Perth, WA.
I've never been particularly athletic, school would see me exercise, when I had to. The 1500m dash was torture, and cross country was hell.
Year 11 and 12 came and I stopped exercising full stop to focus on my studies. I wasn't sleeping, only eating (one massive meal) once a day, and using chocolate as a bribery device to get through textbook after textbook.
Gap year before university - this is where the weight came on. I went from 65-68 kilos (top end of healthy for my height) to 78 kilos in a year. Countless coffees and pastries where I worked 12 hour shifts. I was flat out busy and just didn't need to care about my health yet. I was shy but wasn't really specifically self-conscious about my weight, because no one had told me I was overweight yet!
Gap year finished, I moved to Perth from my little country town to live with my boyfriend of three years. Freedom! Not much money, but freedom. Our diet wasn't great, cheap noodles, sausages, mince, pasta, frozen veg. Shopping at Coles we could barely keep our weekly food bill down to less than $100.
Around August, my mum told me she was on WeightWatchers. I snootily said, "I don't believe it diets - only lifestyle changes".
Turns out, it was a lifestyle change. And, it changed my life.
For one whole year, nearly to the date, I counted points diligently. I slowly, painfully began exercising. Most of the time, I was mortified to even walk in public.
Around a year ago, I reaches my goal weight of 58 kilos! A loss of 20 kilos had seen me grow so much more confident and happy in my skin. I couldn't believe I hadn't known how amazing life can be when you're at your full potential.
I started running 5kms, walking for a couple of hundred metres after running the same. Slowly and slowly I managed to run a whole 5km without stopping! That feeling was unbeatable. I also learned during this time that running needed as much brain power as it did leg power! Those little voices in my head would constantly doubt me, telling me I was too slow, making me doubt the distance.
Eventually I gave up running as I felt like I was too slow, and putting too much pressure on myself. I kept up with gym classes and kept fairly fit.
In february this year I had to have my gallbladder removed. A month or two and I was back fighting fit, with a couple of kilos hanging around due to all the amazing food I was able to enjoy again.
4 weeks before the 2013 Perth City2Surf, my mum coherced me into joining. The 12km. Oh crap, I thought. I haven't run in ages! How am I going to do this?
I didn't follow a plan. There aren't any out there that show you how to go from 0 to 12kms in 4 weeks!
So, I did 2 shorter runs of 5-6kms per week, 1 4km speed session, and one 'long' run, a lap from the causeway bridge heading into the city, along riverside drive to kwinana freeway, and then back along the south perth foreshore to the causeway (thanks to my Garmin I know this was now only 9.3 km!). I did this for four weeks, going as slow as I needed to to complete the runs. I didn't have a watch, I had no idea how slow or fast I was going.
The main thing was I was going to do it, and I was going to finish it - while having fun!
And so we did!
Race day we headed into the city by train, along with nearly 50,000 other people.
I stuck with my mum and her friends, at a gentle pace, none of us needed to walk once.
Our finishing time was around 1:30:00 and I was so happy.
As I looked up at the clock, not even feeling tired, I thought to myself, I reckon I could have done the half!
Now, as I'm training for a half marathon distance (unfortunately there aren't many actual races on this time of the season) I secretly hoping that next year I will be finishing the full marathon!
So, in short, this is a blog about running. It wont be like some, with their watches showing a 50km run completed in 4 hours, blonde hair neat and make up on their face. That's great for them, but that just aint me.
I'm pretty slow - 10kms takes me just over an hour. Let's blame it on my short legs, shall we?
But, I'm determined. I keep going when it's tough and when it's not pretty or worthy of a blog post. I sweat, I swear, I grit my teeth, I want to scream when my garmin only shows 6 kms - and I'm not immune to the runners trots either.
This blog is about keeping it real, and keeping it awesome.
Please read along!
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