Feelin a bit meh

Meh.

I'm over uni and its getting me a bit down. As a result I have been tired and crabby. And eating bad food. And not running. I feel ick.

I'll get back to it soon! As soon as uni is over I will be my old self again.

I am going to go for a walk tomorrow after classes to clear my head. I have 2 more assignments and 1 more presentation left and then I am D.O.N.E for the year. Can't wait. Once I have finished uni for the year I will have more time and energy for running, which I am missing!

The Speights West Coaster

I'm thinking about entering the 10K run/walk with my friend Caz. Apart from the fact that it is held on the side of a cliff and it is probably too far for us, it is a crazy idea :) Just crazy enough to work! And what is the worst that will happen? They close the course on us and we get picked up on quad bikes or something and taken off the trail. Eh, we'll have fun!

Stay tuned, we will be making a decision within the week!

Be your own hero

I saw the movie Whip It a few weeks ago. Loved it, but that is besides the point. One quote really stood out for me. It was when the main character, Bliss, is at the rollar derby. She approaches a team and tells them that they are her new heros. The reply is "Put some skates on. Be your own hero".

WOW.

Ever since then, that line, be your own hero, has stuck with me.

I used to read healthy living blogs because I admired these women. I thought they were awesome and strong. They were my heros. But I realised that reading these blogs was fine, but having these heros wasn't. So I put on my own running shoes with a mission to be my own hero. And it has worked! I'm not saying that I don't admire these women. I do. I still read their blogs everyday. But now I read the blogs for inspiration and tips on how I could do things differently. I am now my own hero. I run. I eat (mainly) healthy. I have my own blog and maybe one day I will inspire someone like these women have inspired me.

For now I am content being my own hero.

My next 5K

Last night at 1am I found the next 5K I am going to do. While icing my knee coz it was a little hurty from yesterdays hilly walk. Addicted? I won't confirm or deny!

The next 5K is "The greatest little fun run in the world". It is to raise funds for a local primary school AND it includes a bush walk portion! I love bush walks :) AND I get a number and a tshirt*. Score! My friend Caz and her husband are going to walk with me again, as well as seeing if Mrs Ray wants to come too! (These are the people who walked with me yesterday)

It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait. It is in 3 weeks so hopefully if I am employed I have a nice boss who understands that I sign up for 5Ks at 1am.

I'm very excited :)

* I had to pay extra for the tshirt. Is this normal practice? The entry fee was only $20 and then I got the tshirt for another $25... The tshirt was optional...But I wanted it!

Mairangi Bay 5K

I did my second ever 5k walk today!

I even ran a bit once I realised that I was so busy gas bagging to my friend that we were pretty much last! My friend now hates me and my running spurts, but she will forgive and forget in time!

This walk was pretty exciting for me because I got a race number and eveything. I felt like such a pro!

The course was hilly, sandy and rocky! I admire the runners, I don't think I would have been able to run the whole thing! Maybe next year? And there was a rocky shelf as part of the course that was very uneven and quite narrow in places, which would have been a bit dangerous to run across!

Because I did the walk you can safely assume that my leg is better. It was feeling much better this morning, and my friend was nice enough to slow the pace when I needed, which was mainly up the hills. I may get an anitflam massage and a wheat bag tonight though, just to be sure that everything is feeling better.

Now I am tired out, but still have housework and assignments to do. 2 more weeks until the sweet freedom of summer holidays!

I hurt

I don't think I stretched well enough after Thursday nights run, and as a result I have a HUGE knot in my upper calf muscle. And it hurts. It is in such a place that walking is actually painful. I have been getting massages and doing stretches to try and make the hurting go away. I will try and find the wheat bag soon and see if that helps.

I went for a walk along Murawai beach today, and that was OK. I think the sand helped take some of the pressure off while I walked. I've included some pictures of this beautiful beach below.

The upshot of all this is that I am supposed to do a 5K walk and at this stage I won't be going. If my leg still feels like this in the morning then there is no way I am walking limping 5K on it. I really want to do the walk with my friend, so fingers crossed that this resolves itself soon!

For your viewing pleasure:

Sharing the love

Anyone reading this needs to go here to Jenna at Eat Live Runs blog. She posted a recipe for cinnamon walnut bread, and oh my god. It was soooo easy to make and more then delicious! I left out the walnuts because I didn't have any. I told my boyfriend if I had to choose between him and the bread he was outta luck!

If you cook it in a loaf pan and cut it into 8 pieces the calorie count is 167 per piece. Pretty reasonable! That calorie count is without walnuts and with trim milk. It is recommended to eat the bread with honey butter. I made mine with low calorie olivano, honey and a pinch of cinnamon. It made the bread. So very very good.

Enjoy!

Last nights run

I went for a run last night. 4 km, and I managed to walk 1k, run 1k, walk 1k, run 1k. Well the last k included a steep hill so I power walked up that and then kept running. It felt good :) I'm enjoying my own running plan. No expectations and they one person I have to answer to is me. On a slightly related note, I listened to the same song on repeat 7 times during my run. I'm addicted, it is so good. It is called Something in the Water by Brooke Fraser. Make your way to your nearest itunes store and download it. I find it the perfect running song. Upbeat, good rhythm. AND it is Kiwi music. Can't get much better then that!

Family drama

Had a few dramas of late, so I haven't be blogging or running. But hello, I am alive!

I went for an awesome run tonight though! I just did intervals, ran when I felt like it, walked when I needed. I felt happy and strong the whole time and I got home with a big smile on my face! I was happy the whole time, despite the gusty wind and the rain at the end. That is what I love about running, when I have a good run it puts me in an awesome!

I need to start taking my camera on my runs. Today I was followed by a dog. Once I noticed I stopped running and was wary at first. But once I told the dog to sit and it sat I felt safe. I put my hand out for him to sniff and he licked me. We were now best of friends. I ran up the street and he followed me. I ran back down the street and he followed me. I saw a couple of people walking down the street so I ran up the street again and asked if they knew the dog. Yep, it was their dog. Apparently he is an escape artist, so they were glad he wasn't too far from home. I didn't mind having a buddy, he ran right next to me and kept up with me. I wonder if they want a dog walker? Hmmmm

Dove Pink Star 5K Walk

First the photos

The Auckland Domain

Caz and I at her place

Me at Caz's

The start line

Me just before the start of the walk

I had an absolute blast. The 5K went super fast because I was busy talking to my friend and before we knew it we were back at the start to get our goodie bags! My main complaint is that is was sooooo cold! Freezing cold and while we had jumpers they weren't pink so we couldn't wear them :( As soon as we finished they went on! The course was well marked , well lit and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

We finished in about an hour, which we felt was very respectable!

We are already planning next years walk, complete with light up wings (some ladies had them) and long sleeved clothes!

G'night!

Awesome run

I had an awesome run tonight. I really didn't wanna go and I was dragging my feet but I got up and decided I would just go for a walk around the block. Once I got to the top of my driveway I picked up the pace and ended up running. I ran 1.15km in 7m30s, which is a distance and time record for me; the longest and furtherest I have run. It felt awesome, I even ran up the hill that I always walk up. Go me!

I ended up running a total of 12ish minutes. I honestly stopped timing after the first interval because on my new plan everything after the first interval is gravy. I ran because I was enjoying myself and because it was making me happy.

I ended my night with a trip to The Warehouse for some new sports clothes. I got a new sports bra, 2 new tops and a new pair of shorts. I like spending money on my new hobby. I like having a hobby!

My first 5K

walk!

Tomorrow I am doing a 5K walk to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. As I said to my boyfriend, it is a cause very close to my heart. I want a cure in my lifetime, and if I can donate $20 and walk 5K to help then I will!

I will post pics of me in all my pinkness tomorrow night when I get home. I am doing it with a friend and we are both wearing pink and wings. We will also be wearing pink glow in the dark braclets which everyone will light up at the same time, just before the start.

I can't wait, I am very excited!

Lazy day

I took today as a lazy day AKA a rest day. I meant to work out, I really did, but it just didn't happen.

I sparked for a while, caught up on the blogs, cleaned my bedroom and kitchen, did an assignment and now I'm about to get ready to go to work! So it has still been a busy day.

I'm about to go to work for my last. shift. ever. Yep, I quit my job and as of 9pm tonight I will be unemployed! I can't wait. Evenings free, more time, no dread for HOURS before I go to work! Excited? YES!

Breakfast today was a serving of Honey Almond Special K

Lunch was a burger made with a vegetarian patty, lettuce, tomato and aioli, the same as what I had for dinner last night. It was yummy and the boyfriend even had one. He said he was too lazy to make his own lunch so he would just have what I had. I think that secretly he wanted to try a veggie patty on his burger! He said it was nice, so maybe there will be more vegetarian meals in our future!

More time

I really wish I had more time to work out, eat right, blog, do my assignments, clean my house... The list goes on!

So I neglect this blog, unfortunatly. I am trying to get better!

Yesterday I went for my first run as part of my 'Run a 5K my way' plan. I ran 1km in 6m30s. I'm very happy with that! I'm going to work on building up this first interval, rather then lots of little intervals. I did a few other runs ranging for 1-3 minutes in length then came home, making it a 40 minute 4km walk. I felt good and happy when I finished, and I felt strong and happy during my run. A nice change from being stresses and disapointed!

In other news, I ate my first vegetarian meal tonight. No pictures, camera battery is dead. I started small and put a vegetarian patty in my burger along with aioli, lettuce and tomato. It was great! Very tasy and filling. I am looking forward to eating more vegetarian meals. I don't want to become a vegetarian, but I am interested in alternatives to meat, since I don't always want to eat meat. I'm thinking about having something like meatless Mondays where I eat vegetarian one day a week. We'll see how we go!

Why Water Jog?

I get a few strange looks when I tell friends that I will be going water jogging in the weekend, or the next day. That look that says "really?"

Yes, really!

Water jogging is awesome exercise, and it is not just for old ladies like everyone seems to think! Water jogging, if kept at a good pace, is very tiring and works all sorts of muscle groups. The day after water jogging my legs, especially my quads, are very sore. I can still walk and even run but they definatly have a few things to say about it. My arms and shoulders get sore too because when you move your arms underwater there is a lot of resistance that isn't present when you run on land. It is almost like a strength work out for your arms while you are getting a cardio workout.

The worst part about water jogging (for me) is wearing the floation belt.

http://www.letsbuyit.co.uk/product/30041199/kickboards-flippers-other-swimming-equipment/colour-water-jogging-belt

After a while it digs in a little and wearing it makes me feel a little weird. But I get over it pretty quickly and get on with my workout.

Water jogging is done in a section of a big pool and you go in a circle, in one direction. That can get boring, so there are a few things you can do to keep things interesting

-Take a friend so you can chat while walking.
-Make a friend, start chatting to someone who is a similar pace to you. I have found most water walkers to be very nice and only too happy to chat to you.
- Race yourself. If it took you 3 minutes to do the last lap then try and beat your time.
- Do intervals. Jog as fast as you can down the long side of the pool then recover down the short sides

I am going to aim to water jog twice a week on my non-running days. It is a great, no impact way to get cardio in and I'm really enjoying it.

Running, my way

I have come to a few realisations of late. One is that I am very, very busy which is leading to stress. I have started to solve that problem. I quit my job and am trying to be better organised with my time so that I can get my assignments done AND have time to work out AND have a social life / see my boyfriend. Hopefully some extra time to do essential life activities will allow me to become less stressed.

Another realisation is that running on a plan is simply not working for me. I am a perfectionist, and if I don't finish my intervals prefectly I start to beat myself up about it. I want to feel proud and happy when I finish my intervals, not like a running failure!

So from now on my plan will be to go out, have fun and do my best! Run when I want, walk when I want, try to push myself further so I improve, but with no specific time goal in mind. I think this plan will work much better for me. I can't fail at a plan if the plan is have fun, do my best and start enjoying running again! Wish me luck with this new plan!

Speaking of plans, on the agenda today I have water jogging, swimming and then a relax in the spa. Then I am going to go to my old placement school to see my kids. Hopefully they will be motivation to start some assignments! I am going to try to stay within my calories today, but since I have a lot of exercise planned (80 minutes in the pool, nearly 900 calories burned) I won't beat myself up if I need to add a snack.

Rain, rain, go away...

Good morning world, good morning blog world, good morning...rain!







I woke up this morning to pouring rain. Blah! I am supposed to run today, I hope it clears up soon! In addition to my run I WILL be doing the 30 Day Shred. I need to start strength training, and since tomorrow is a rest day I should have plenty of time to recover from the Shred before my next run. The shred kills. True story.

I also have a cat situation that needs to be delt with today. A black cat has been hanging around our house for about a month. Yesterday we managed to get the cat to come to us. He is sooooo friendly and smoochy. He just wants to be loved and we have love to give. But we can't really afford all the costs that come with a stray cat. He needs to go to the vet (he has been in fights and has a few wounds that need checking out) and he needs to be de-manned. That costs money. So we have 2 options, find the money to get him seen to and bring him home and love him or take him to the SPCA. Because he is a mature cat I know that he might be at the SPCA for a while, so I would really prefer to keep him. I am actually really surprised that there is no help avaliable for people like me. I am happy, thrilled even, to give this boy a new home, but no animal agency will help with the financial costs. I am saving them money by having and housing the cat from the word go. They won't need to pay for food and homing costs. Now, I'm not expecting a handout, but a discount for being a good person would be nice! Anyways, we can afford $100, so maybe I will be able to find a vet who can work within our budget to help us and the cat out. If not we'll take him the the SPCA. Either way he will be safe and happy and thats the main thing!

A Dam Nice Walk

Today the boyfriend and I decided to go for a walk on a trail up in the Waitakere Ranges, aka The Waitaks. We googled and found a trail that looked promising (1.5 hour, beginner) and off we went armed with bottles of water and muesli bars!

Then the fun began. The boyfriend, who was driving at lightening speed, drove past the trail entrance. OK, no big deal. He turn around and parked in a parking bay and we started walking towards the trail entrance. After 400 meteres we decided we were probably in the wrong parking bay, went back to the car and tried again. Success! Found the train entrance. Off we went...About 10 metres. No was was that muddy, steep mess a beginner trail. I know my limits and I knew that that trail was waaaay to hard. We turned back and got back into the car. Then I remembered the Waitakere Dam had a paved walking trail down to the dam that might be just what we needed for our first bush walk.

And so we walked to the dam

In fine print the sign says that it is uphill all the way back...yep...missed that one!

Down the path we went

We stopped to see the big Kauri tree

We found a bit of a hiking trail to take us the last little way to the dam

And I managed to get some pictures of our view. They can't even begin to show you how breathtaking it was in real life!

And then we saw the dam

We wandered down some stairs for a closer look

I spotted a trail that led to this bridge, but the boyfriend had to get to work so we didn't have time to explore it

We spent about 10-15 minutes taking in our surroundings (and I took pictures!)

Then we turned around and walked back to the top. Up hills like this

As I was stopped by the side of the road, puffing on my inhaler a friendly council worker who was checking on the water station drove by in his ute and offered us a lift to the top. We told him we would be fine (even though I wasn't so sure!)

It took us about 25 minutes to walk back up to the top. I have never been so glad to see a car before! The hills were very steep! I was happy that I did it though!

MIA

How dare I start a blog and then ignore it!

Right, when we last saw our fearless heroine (me) she had just completed her first week of running.

Week 2 I started to get really bad calf pain while running. Very bad, I had to stop every 30 seconds to stretch and scream (OK, I only screamed once). Bottom line, I was in pain. I did all three of my runs for the week and hoped it would all go away. No such luck.

Week 3, run 1 was just as painful as my week 2 runs. I couldn't take it anymore so I hit up the Sparkpeople message boards to see if this pain was normal. I was told it wasn't, so I started looking for causes. And I found out what was wrong! My form was all wrong. I wasn't leaning forward at all, and I was landing on the back of my foot. Wrong and wrong. You should lean forward slightly from your ankles and land midfoot. I did this for my second run and all was well. I didn't get my third run in due to a slight mental breakdown in the changing rooms at Farmers, followed by an afternoon of staying in bed and hiding from the world.

That brings us to now! I'm currently repeating week 3 of my training plan. I did my first run of the week on Monday and it went fine apart from the drinking fountain on my route being out of order. I will do another run tomorrow and one on Saturday and that will give me my 3 runs for the week!

Right, three cheers for the newly commited blogger. Hip hip...Never mind

Me so far

This blog is to be used to document my journey from a lazy, unfit woman and a active and fit runner.

I started eating better 6 weeks ago. At the same time I started walking a couple of times a week. Walking was hard to start with but after a couple of weeks I wasn't even breaking a sweat. This was my signal to step it up a little. Enter running.

I just finished my first week of running using a walk/run plan 3 days a week. The week went well and I can't wait to start week 2 next week.

I have decided that if I complete the next two weeks of my training I am going to sign up for a race, a 5K. The 5K is part of the Auckland Marathon which is held on the 31st of October.

I love blogging and writing, as well as reading and travel. Welcome to my blog and my journey!