Newcastle Swisse Color Run

Life has been crazy for a while, with work and assignments, family commitments and illness, and, of course, running! I have got nowhere near Blogger to read or post! But yesterday, I ran my first 5k race!! With Candice, Luke, Tracy, Garry, Daniel and Jazmin. Michael was there too, watching and looking after Teagan. It was such an amazing day, from beginning to end. Candice and I stuck together and ran most of the way, walking when we needed to. It felt very comfortable, except for kilometre 2 which was tough. But you know what, I did it! And I'm quite proud of my efforts, and very motivated to run all the way next time! As to tracking my kilometres, I have done 208.4km so far this year and am well on my way to Glen Innes, NSW. It feels amazing that it's already May and I'm still going. I'm not perfect, by any means. I have missed training sessions, walked instead of run and even missed whole weeks, BUT, I'm still going!! And feeling so good about it!

C25K Reflection

I went looking through my old journals to see when I started this C25K challenge. It has taken me a LOT longer than 8 weeks! The first time I ran Week 1 was on 24 July 2011. Then I stopped and started again in August 2011. I think I only ever made it to Week 3 until this year. Of course, I've changed things up and done it my own way, so I'm not technically following the program anymore, but still heading to the same place - being able to run 5k! Up until now, I have been able to run for 20 minutes non-stop and I have also done lots of 10 minute intervals. It seems that belief in myself is the key. I seem to reach a point where I don't think I can ever go further. Not while I'm running, but in the planning stages. But time is running out.... I have registered for the Color Run in Newcastle on the 5th May 2013. That's 5 weeks left, eeek!!So I sat down yesterday and planned how I will get there with 3 to 4 runs a week. I KNOW I CAN DO IT!! This week's plan: Monday: 5k route - 3x 10 minute runs - DONE in 52.45 minutes! Wednesday: 5k route - 3x 10 minute runs Friday: 5k route - 3x 10 minute runs Sunday: 5k route - 2x 20 minute runs On the map, I am now well and truly through Delungra and on the Gwydir Highway heading to Inverell! It feels amazing! I think it is about a third of the way to the eastern coast of Australia!

Personal journey of growth

This is such a personal journey for me. It's only me who can get me out the door! And that's where I usually struggle. If I have made a commitment to anyone else, I will make sure I get it done, but anything I have to motivate myself, I just don't. What I have learnt from Ruth Field, in Run, Fat Bitch, Run! is that if I wait for motivation, it will never happen, I just have to do it anyway! I love her book more every time I read it :) Since I have really been struggling to get anything done on workdays, I committed to a plan that included something everyday this week, except today, my rest day. I had also been struggling to run for 20 minutes without stopping, after doing it the first time, It was as if I couldn't believe I could actually do it. But something changed last weekend. After Saturday's run (2x intervals of 9 minutes each) and Sunday's walk (6.5km), a friend on Facebook posted a picture of herself and her team that completed the Raw Challenge. Then and hour later, on of my school friends (who I would least have expected) posted a photo of herself and her team that had completed a triathlon! Both of these women are my age and something just clicked in my head! I sat down right away and worked out a plan for the coming week, entering it into my calendar with an alarm added.This was it: Monday: 20 minute run 3km - Done!! Tuesday: Upper body and core workout - Done!! Wednesday: 20 minute run 3km - Done!! Thursday: Body weight workout - Done!! Friday: Rest Day! Saturday: 25 minute run 3km Sunday: 5km Walk So far so good! The 20 minute runs were great. Even on Wednesday, where I struggled, I still did it! So tomorrow, before leaving for our holiday at Port Macquarie, I will run for 25 minutes then on Sunday, it will be time for a walk on the beach :) I am also planning some runs on the beach this week, which will be different as I only ever run on the sand tracks at home. It is all just so exciting. More so because it is all me, planning, doing and pushing myself out the door!

Through Bingara today.

My 3.1km walk/run today took me through Bingara!So far this year I have walked and run 127.3km from the Kamilaroi Highway close to my home, through Narrabri and (today) to Bingara. This is a huge achievement, especially since it's March, and I'm still going. No broken New Year Resolutions this year!! This week, my plan is to increase the times I get out there. I'm hoping to do at least 4 walks or runs during the week and a few other workouts. But considering that I work full time and am now studying part time by distance education, it is getting a little challenging to do anything other than read and work on assignments whenever I have a spare moment. But 30 or so minutes a day is not impossible for anyone, and most days, just getting out the door is a battle won.

I feel like a runner today!

Yes I do!
I ran continuously for 20 minutes today! For the first time, instead of running intervals, I just ran! And I've smiled every time I've thought of it at work today :)
The amazing thing was, that apart from some tiredness around my knees, I felt no different to when I ran for 9 minute intervals on the weekend.
So now the challenge is to run 5km before the Colour Run in May. Today was 2km, so I will build on from there.
Still smiling :))

March running goals

This month, I have set myself 2 goals: 1. Run non-stop for 20 minutes 2. Cover 14km every week These seem quite modest but I really want to achieve both, so have made them achievable. The most challenging will be covering 14km every week. I am really struggling to find a balance between family, work, study and my fitness. Yesterday, 2/3/2013, I set out to do 2x 8 minute intervals and cover 5km. I have found that using the stopwatch to time my intervals instead of the timer, makes a huge difference. The timer seems to limit me to what I have previously decided on, while the stopwatch allows me to continue further. I managed 3 intervals of 9 minutes 15 seconds each!! Woohoo, GO ME!!! Still heading towards Bingara! Total distance covered in 2013 = 118km!!!!!!

February: Running Goal Achieved!

This week has been such a personal learning curve for me! After my triumph in being able to run for 8.5 minutes, I was feeling confident on Tuesday when I set out to do 2 running intervals of 8 minutes. But...... Withing 2 minutes of the first interval, I had to stop. I was feeling completely overheated and my heart was pounding as if it was going to pump right out of my chest. This is the first time this has happened and it gave me a huge fright. I have had trouble in the past with an irregular heart beat, caused by anemia, and I have not been taking my iron supplements as well as I should have, but this was quite dramatic and very scary. I continued to walk to finish my 3k route, but it took all day to recover. I think it might have been some dehydration and the humidity, but, you just don't know. So on Thursday, I decided to just go for a walk. Then at the 500m mark, I decided to just run for 1 minute and stop immediately if I felt anything strange. Well, I ended up running 2 6 minute intervals and feeling great throughout! So GOAL ACHIEVED for February - to run for 6 minutes at a time. And I've learnt that I can listen to my body and react appropriately. Still not sure what happened on Tuesday, but I have been religiously taking my iron supplements and drinking plenty of water and will go back to my doctor if it happens again. So still heading towards Bingara, slowly but surely.

SMASHED my goal!

Today I SMASHED my February running goal. The goal was to be able to run continuously for 6 minutes by the end of February.
Well, today, I ran continuously for 1km!! In 8 1/2 minutes!! I can hardly believe I can actually do it!! And thats an improvement on my 500 m run in 5 minutes last weekend! Onward and upward! I WILL be ready for my first 5k on 5/5/2013!
And, of course, another 5 km towards the east coast of Australia, heading towards Bingara now! Hopefully photos of the Rocky Creek Glacial Area to follow next week!

View My Virtual Walk/Run of Australia in a larger map

Reached 500m! What a long way I've come!

Well, this post was going to be about what a bad week I had last week, however....

This morning I amazed myself by running 500m non-stop!Woohoo!

"500m, really!!", you may say sarcastically! But lets go back to the beginning - where I struggled to run for 30 seconds at a time! And now I can run for 5 minutes, without dying! I think that is an amazing achievement, and I will have a smile on my face today!

On another note, I have reached the Rocky Creek Glacial Area on my Virtual Map this weekend. Time for a bit of research and a drive out there for some photos. May be a couple of weeks though before we can fit that.

Total distance covered last week = 8.9km
Goal for this week = At least 3km every day!

Yes I can, no I can't, yes I can!

It has been such an up and down week for me. I've struggled so much just to get out the door. It's been a real mind over matter thing and my mind has not worked very hard at all!
Even my eating this week has been disastrous. I am going to blame TTOTM and leave it at that.
But... On a positive note, I did 3 interval sessions this week (that's all I did, shhh) which included 5x 3 minute runs in each! So next week I get to move on to 4 minute intervals, woohoo!
I will start using the Freeway to 10k podrunner podcast this week. Still aiming for 5k but hoping to cover a bit more ground with my intervals.
At the moment I'm only covering about 3.2k per session.

So my total distance covered this week has been 9.6k. Not getting to Rocky Creek Glacial Area just yet, but well on the way :)

That was yesterday

Came home from a tough day at work feeling Blah! Since my last job was horribly stressful and draining, I always feel guilty when I say I've had a tough day, because it just doesn't compare. But I just couldn't get a handle on things.
On the way home, my thoughts ran along the lines of "Why do I even bother? Why does that walker even bother? Why is she even out there? What's the point of trying so hard?" All exercise related, by the way.
I got home and collapsed in a heap. So, to cut a long story short, I did not even get outside for a walk yesterday evening.

But I started thinking about why I actually keep on trying, and started with the basic benefits of exercise:

• boosts energy
• better sleep
• a healthier heart
• better aerobic capacity
• weight control
• controls chronic pain
• lifts depression
• reduces stress
• increases flexibility and joint mobility
• increases muscle and bone strength
• decreases cholesterol and blood pressure.

That's all well and good, but why have I been trying so hard to keep going all these years??

I love the way exercise makes me feel:

• Strong and capable
• Motivated and in control!!!

So, Yes, I had a bad day and stayed in, but I will be back out there tomorrow!!

Besides....how will I ever get all the way around Australia if I stop now?!



My favourite quote this year:

"The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do"

Sawn Rocks Reward

It has been a busy week. After feeling so weird  on my last posted walk, I removed the inner soles from my runners and continued on with no further issues at all.
Achievements this week:

• Completed C25K Week 3!
• Reached Sawn Rocks on my Virtual Map, 56 km from my house!
• Achieved January's goals of losing at least 1kg, keeping on walking and staying off chocolate for the month!

Woohoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!

My chosen reward was a drive out to Sawn Rocks for some photos and a picnic with my DH Michael. We only left in the afternoon, and enjoyed the peaceful 2km round trip walk to get to the rocks. They are an amazing sight and are volcanic rocks which somehow formed perfect hexagonal columns. This cliff face just sprouts out of the ground above a river bed that has some water in at the moment due to the rain.

 

 

Taking the self portrait was quite a giggle! I had to set the camera, the run up the rock, across the water and up the rock we were sitting on. It took a couple of tries to make it, and in one photo, I'm actually falling off :)

 

So another 30-something kms to go to my next checkpoint which is the Rocky Creek Glacial area. And I'm well on the way already.

I'm changing up my walk/run plan a little as I'm not covering much ground on the C25K plan and I want a few more running intervals. So this week, I will be doing my own bridging week of Run 3 min, Walk 1.5 min x5, then next week, I will start the Podrunner Freeway to 10k plan, still covering my 5k route though. I think it will work out, but I'll keep you posted.

The planned Color Run in Newcastle in May is shaping up to be lots of fun. We have a few more additions to our team, and Michael has agreed to come along as a spectator. I' m quite excited!!
My February Goals:

• Keep away from pies, Maccers and KFC
• Keep on running (Able to run 6 minutes by the end of February)
• Lose another kg!

I really struggled today

I could have lied, but then what would be the point of the blog.
All I set out to do was a 5km walk. Nothing I haven't done before, nothing too fast, just to cover the  distance today and hopefully stay below 12 min/km.
But I ended up turning back after 3.7km! I have no idea what it was.  My hips were hurting and my legs started to get shaky.
Before leaving, I had changed the innersoles of my runners to a new pair of orthotic ones I bought. Could that be it?
I've used custom made orthotics before, and suffered some achy joints as I got used to them, but nothing like this.
Or could it be the running from yesterday, maybe my body is still recovering, even though it was only 3 minutes running at a time and I've done it before.
The only other thing I thought of is the iron tablet. I'm supposed to take one every day, but rarely remember. Otherwise, maybe my body is just trying to con me into stopping - or my mind for that matter!
I just don't know. But I'm leaning towards the innersoles.
So we will see how it goes tomorrow. I am supposed to to do C25K W3D2 tomorrow, but I will try hard to listen to my body, without just making excuses. There is always Friday if tomorrow doesn't work out.

On a more exciting note, only 3.5km to go till I get to Sawn Rocks on my Virtual walk/run of Australia. As the goal was to get there by the end of January, not a moment too soon :) I'm sure I will at least be able to walk 3.5km tomorrow, then on to my chosen reward - a drive out to Sawn Rocks for some photos this weekend!!
Total Walked/Run since 1 January 2013 = 51.7km.

Back on track...again

Made time for a 3km this evening, after quickly putting dinner on so it would be ready when I got back.

So started with C25K again, but on Week 3 Day 1 this time. I thought it would be a piece of cake! Whew, but I have  a long way to go! But I did it with some breath to spare :) Onwards and upwards! 7.3km left to Sawn Rocks!!

And dinner was great - just Savoury Mince with Rice, but it practically cooked itself! My kind of meal.

Goal for tomorrow: Leave house at 7pm for a 5km walk before it gets dark.

No more excuses

Well, the plan for today was to start back with the C25K program. I was planning to start with W3D1 as I think I would be reasonably comfortable with the run section. When I stopped last year, I had got to W4D1.
But...it has been pouring non-stop since last night and is still raining. We have had 132mm so far (Very unusual to get that amount at once in Narrabri, NSW) and our farm road is flooded in 2 sections and mud and puddles the rest of the way. I was concerned about wrecking my runners and also about slipping in the mud, like I did once last year. But by late this afternoon, I was getting edgy because it wouldn't stop raining and I wanted to get outside.
At 5pm, I put on a raincoat and my crocs and just went for a walk instead. Even though I got dripping wet and had to wade through knee deep muddy water - it was glorious!! The bee eaters were flying around in the rain and Jack (Our dog) chased a few wet kangaroos.
So I ended up walking 5 km in 1hour, 2 minutes. This takes me within 10.3km of Sawn Rocks which is my next checkpoint on my Virtual Walk/Run of Australia.
I am still trying to figure out how to link my virtual google map to this blog. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'm pleased that I got out for the walk today, because at the beginning of the year, I decided that all those excuses I usually have ready and waiting would just not work for me this time! So just getting out has been a great step in the right direction (Lol, pun intended...once I realised).
Reading Pat Farmer's book, Pole to Pole Run, last year was an eye opener. Being "too tired" at the end of a day at work just seemed hypocritical after reading about what he went through. I was blown away by all of his experiences and the fact that every day, he just got up and did it all over again! He is an amazing man.

5 km Colour Run??

I scared myself yesterday! My mind was wandering, as it often does. I was thinking about the 5km route I walk on our property and thinking that if I went twice around, it would be a 10km route. I was also toying with the idea of starting back with the C25K program and how I could work up to running the whole 5km ( I have previously only got to week 4 but only covering 3km). From there it was a short skip and a jump in my head to running 10km. Then came the scary part...where I thought "But a half marathon is only 21km!" Please note I cannot run 5km (Yet!) and definitely not 10km and yet I can say to myself "ONLY 21KM!" Scary that it still sounds doable :)

So this afternoon I googled "Running Calendar" thinking I would look for a 5km for Dec 2013 or early Jan 2014. My attention was caught by a "Color Run" at the Gold Coast. It sounds AMAZING! The only problem is it is on the 14th April 2013! Can I do it? Well I think so ;) And C and L both say they will do it with me! So lets see how we go.

Progress so far...

So...every New Year, I spend at least a day thinking about how I'm going to improve myself - fitness, weightloss, clean house, better relationships with my family, blah, blah, blah.
This year, I decided to do something I had thought of last year, but not got around to. I am going to track my walks/runs on a virtual route from my house to see how far around Australia I can get! Brilliant!!
So perfectionist me has spent pretty much the whole of January changing how I track the kilometres. This is typical of anything I do, there's always a better way...NOT!
But at least, I have also been walking :) So I use an app to track the distance of the various routes on our property and have figured out a 3km, 5km, 7km, 8km and 10km track. So far in January, I have only walked the 3km and 5km tracks, but Hey..I'm still walking!!
Total from 2 January to 27 January 2013 is 43km! That has taken me through Narrabri from my property south of town, and onto the Killarney Gap road with 15.4km to go to my next checkpoint of Sawn Rocks. I am hoping to reach it by the end of the month. My fastest walk to date was yesterday's 3km walk @ 10.32 minutes/km.
I am amazed at my motivation this time around. It has made such a difference not just to be going for another walk, but instead to be heading for a specific place. Just today, I have already done a 5km walk, but I'm tempted to do a quick 3km this evening, just to get closer to Sawn Rocks.
So I have settled on tracking it on Google Maps and hopefully at some stage, I will figure out how to link my created map to this blog - Babysteps ;)
Next weekend as a reward for reaching Sawn Rocks, I hope to take a drive out to Sawn Rocks to take some photographs.
My goals for January were to lose 1kg and to keep walking. Only 4 days left, but I have already lost 1.5kg  and I am definitely still walking!
My goals for February are to lose 1kg and to start running again. By the end of February I want to be able to run for 6 minutes at a time. So far I have been able to run for 5 minutes at a time, so it is quite manageable.
Hope to be back soon!