Race Day .....



Nearly there!



I can see the finish line ....

Finished YEAH!!!

Well I ran the race...... And I loved it!! I was quite surprised by this as I'm not a very competative person, but thinking about it I wasn't really competing against anyone else, I just wanted to better my own time. I came 37th out of 350 odd, so pretty pleased. My 5k time was 29min18 secs, I managed to achieve all the goals that I had talked about in my previous post, stoked!!!

The kids had run a cross country race the day before, and I had told them to try their hardest. When we were watching them race past, their faces all flushed and their arms pumping, you could see that they really were trying their hardest!!! I decided to take my own advice and really push myself during the run and guess what it paid off! The kids and Andy were there watching and cheering me on, it felt great. The kids told me they were really proud of me doing the run, and that next time I would come first lol yeah right!

The rest of the day was pretty low key. Had lunch with the in laws, then headed home to relax and hang out all cosy like in front of the fire, was bliss! Andy surprised me with a special extra mother's day gift (had already got magazine, lollies and cd form the kids), he got me a heart rate monitor. Now this may not sound very exciting to most, but I've wanted one for a while but couldn't really justify the cost. So THANKS HEAPS hun! The best thing was I went for a run this morning and did my workout dvd straight after, and the HRM showed id burned double the amount of calories that id thought id been burning Bonus!!! I hope its right!

Hope you all had a lovely mother's day xxx

Expectations ......

Yesterday I registered for this race. Its a 5k fun run, held on mother's day. I was meant to do a race last weekend, but I chickened out. Now I regret it. The thing is I have NEVER done a race before, and as I have previously mentioned have never seen myself as a race kind of person! I still wouldn't class myself as 'sporty' and have always had this image of people doing fun runs/ races etc as being these great athletes. Anyhow as I have been told numerous times this week, I am a sporty person. I run 4 times a week, and do some sort of workout 6 times a week. I am perfectly able to run a 5k race!!! Funny though how it takes so much longer mentally to catch up with the physical changes.
My other issue is my high expectations, this is a constant problem in many areas of my life but that's a complete different post. I don't want to be last. I want to have a good finish time. I have been doing most of my running training for distance and haven't really focused on pace so much. I can run 14k, but my 5k time isn't great.
Well yesterday I decided to get over it and just give it a try. I read in a running forum somewhere that it was good to set yourself a few goals for the race, in the hope that you will accomplish at least a couple ( depending on all the factors that could affect the run, weather, how you feel etc).
These are mine:
 I want to push myself and run as fast as I can
 I want to finish with a time between 29-31 mins.                                                                                      I want to enjoy the run, instead of being stressed the whole time.
I'm sure that once I get over the not knowing what its like fear, I will love it. I really enjoy running and see races as good motivation and incentive to do better and push myself. Hopefully it all goes well and I can relax and enjoy the rest of Mother's day with my family xxx

Here's Charlie. Nothing to do with the post, but he looks cute, and I need to see cute pics of him atm because he is driving me crazy! Hope this phase is a quick one!

Intervals .....

When I first started running a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go and do some sprint training with her (intervals). We ran up to the track, stopped at the bottom of  the hill, this is where she told me we would be sprinting up the hill to the tree stump 8 times!  The idea is your sprint up the hill (maximum effort), then you walk back to where you started (recovery). We were sprinting about 50 metres. The first time I did it was hell on earth! This type of exercise uses completely different muscles, and I couldn't walk for a couple of days. I now incorporate a sprint training run in to my weekly training programme.





The hill we sprint up!



           

 

My training programme looks a bit like this:

- 5k quick run (try and run at a faster pace)

- 7-8 k hilly run

- 10- 12k long run

- sprint  training run.

I'm not actually training for anything particular at the moment, but I like to have a bit of structure, and diversity when I'm running. I run every second day, so on average about for times a week. On the days I don't run, I do 40 mins circuit training. I have one rest day a week.

 

 

    Yes there are even donkeys that watch!!


Anyhow back to  the matter at hand, interval training is a really valuable part of your training programme. Now I'm no health or sport professional, but what Ive learnt is that interval training is great to build up your speed and endurance. It boosts your metabolism, and aids weight loss. It also gives your muscles a bit of a break from the repetitive nature of running. Sounds pretty good right? I can vouch that it has done wonders for me. I always have the best runs after a sprint session, and I am slowly getting stronger and faster. I do have a tendency to try and avoid these sprint sessions (funny that), but really notice it after a couple of weeks and get back in to it.
The great thing about intervals is that you can do them anywhere, and at what ever level you are at. No matter what you do as long as you are doing short bursts of high intensity, and then a bit of recovery, you will be making a difference.

The last couple of weeks I've had some fairly heavy eating days, with birthdays, dinners out, glasses of wine, you know all the fun stuff! So to compensate I've eaten really clean this week and stuck to a strict calorie count. I find if I do this every so often it balances things out. I have to try extra hard this week as I have a Indian dinner to go to this weekend, and another birthday!!! Basically if you like food as much as I do, but want to be thin, exercise is your friend! Happy running xx

13.7 km's ..............

Yesterday Andy and I ran from our place to his mum's place in Richmond. It took us 1hour and 40 mins, 1.7 km's. It was the longest run I've ever done, and just quietly I was pretty proud of myself! You see, I have only been running for just under 6 months, I started because I could burn twice the amount of calories in half the time. This appealed immensely to my lazy nature, and my want of needing to get exercise done as quick as possible! Little did I know that I would end up really liking it, and even dare I say it, get addicted to it!! Well it has happened and I'm embracing it!

The start....

The end YAY!!!

Well earned coffee.

So ive set myself running goals:

- Run up the centre of NZ
- Run to Richmond
- Run a 5k race
- Run a 10k race
- Run a half marathon (in nov)
- Run a 22 k trail race (april next year)

I'm happy to say that I have crossed off the first two, and the 5k race is booked for May. I still can not believe that I can go out and run without stopping, for hours sometimes! I have never been a runner, even when I was playing loads of sport in my younger days, I didn't run. I guess I just want to put it out there, that anyone can run, if you want to!!

The rest of the day was pretty chill. My brother came over and we went for a stroll around some beautiful historic homes in our neighbourhood.

I baked a Spiced Apple Cake for book club. This is a delicious cake, I found the recipe on Melissa's blog, a while back and have made it many times.

Just enjoyed these last few warm days. Hope you all had a lovely weekend xx