Hmmm, I've come to realize something about myself and I'm not sure if its a Sagitarian trait or a Carol trait. I seem to 'latch onto' things and for a while they become all consuming in my life, then suddenly they take a backseat to the next 'latched onto' thing.... The things in the backseat always remain in my life, but aren't foremost anymore.
At the moment its running. If someone had told me six months ago that I'd be running now, I'd have laughed them all the way out of Cape Town, but here I am, fretting because I'm on rest days and can't go out and run :( Running at the moment is my all consuming passion, and it seems to be all I can think about. I 'troll' the running sites, read running & health mags, scan adverts for running gear and am getting quite knowlegeable about running injuries and their solutions. Conversations and facebook statuses always seem to be about running. Geez, I must be quite boring at the moment to any non-runners LOL
To tell you the truth, I find it quite fascinating how obsessed I have got and I'm still shocked at the fact that i'm still running approx 4 months after I started. I used to read those articles about people who said that they couldn't get through the day without their run and I'd laugh and think "how pathetic, surely they have to be kidding", but no, they weren't and now I'm one of the pathetic ones hehehehe
Initially I was very firm on my intentions, I wanted to get fit, get healthy and lose weight, but wasn't really interested in running races. Oh how I was kidding myself :-) I was very genuine about that at the time and to be honest, that is still my main aim, but having set myself a goal of running a race and having done it and survived, something changed.
Yes, for me the training is still the most important thing, but there's something about running a race, that gives you motivation and a boost of confidence. Coming to the end of a race and having people cheer you on, even if you are right near the back of the pack. Mostly those people are strangers who don't even know you and yet still root for you. Its a great feeling :-)
Running has done a lot for me. Its making me more healthy, its getting me fit, its helping me lose weight, but the MOST IMPORTANT thing it has done for me is change my attitude and mood. Finishing a training session exactly as specified makes me so proud of myself and what I have achieved, its SUCH an ego boost to know that I CAN DO THIS!!! I get such a 'high' from running and it carries me though the day, through the week, through the month etc.
Having now done two 10km races and had my first 'runners' injury, I can now confidently say that I'm a runner. I'm proud to be a runner, in all my obsessed, boring to non-runner, glory *HUGE GRIN* (wanna check out my medals hehehehee)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
ProSano 10km Road Race - hosted by Telkom Athletics Club
Sooo, yesterday the BIG DAY finally arrived, the day of our club race. Now, as helpers on the day, we had to get up at 4am to get ready and be there at 5am to do final setting up before people started arriving at 5.30am for registration. There were two problems with this, firstly, I woke up at 12am and couldn't get back to sleep so REALLY didn't want to get up at 4am and secondly, some peeps arrived just after 5am to register, before we were even ready - such eager beavers at that time of day LOL.
Our awesome sponsors ProSano, gave us GREAT long sleeved T's to wear, which made me very happy and a cap as well, great style, great quality. They also provided some great spot prizes for after the race. Their sponsorship helps to make this a great race, thanks ProSano :-)
I was helping out at the registration of Grand Masters - these are peeps of 60+ years who are doing the 10km run. What an inspiration they were, still running at their ages and in lots of cases getting awesome times too. One of my fav local runners, Vladimir Kotov also entered and won the race in his catagory. This guy is amazing, he just keeps going and almost seems to get better the older he gets LOL. I got my shoes from his shop in Century City and was very happy with his assesment and assistance in chosing shoes - and his prices are great too :-)
By this time I was starting to get nervous, as I was running the race too. Each person that registered at my table, was a reminder that I was going to be undertaking my second 10km race Eeeeeeekk. At 6.40am I had to leave my table to get ready for the race - it was now really a reality. So I took off my track pants and my nice ProSano T, got my USN sport drink and went to line up. My sisters-in-law, Tracy and Glenda were also doing the race, so I was chatting to them while waiting for the start.
And then the gun fired, I started my stopwatch and we were off. I let Tracy and Glenda go off in front of me, cause I'm nowhere near their level yet, they've been at this longer than I have. I had decided that I was gonna try do it in 1h20, but was a bit wishy washy in the beginning with regard to how I was gonna organize that. By about the 2km mark though, I had a plan. To get my 1h20, I knew at what time I needed to get to each km marker, so I decided that I would jog to each km marker and when I got there, I would walk for approx 2mins to recover, then jog to the next km marker.
LOL, my watch and those km markers became my friends and to get myself through it, I'd start taking to the km markers before I got to them (in my head of course, don't want those other runners to know I'm insane hehehe). So as I knew the 5km marker (for eg) was coming up, I'd start this conversation in my head "Where are you 5km marker, I know you're here somewhere. I'm getting to you, don't you be worried, I'll be there soon" etc etc. When I actually SPOTTED the marker the conversation would get more interesting hehehe "Oh there you are my angel, I see you, don't worry, I'll be with you soon, here I come..." All this said with a silly grin on my face cause I was so pleased to see the marker LOL. It may sound totally mental, but it woked like a bomb :-)
However, I have to confess, that at about the 5km mark, I was starting to think that I was seriously insane to be doing this and was really wondering if I could finish it. However, as I had a plan to get to the end, I just kept plodding on.
There was one drawback on the course though and that was running past a solid waste treatment plant (I can't remember at what point in the course it was, probably about the 3 or 4km mark I'd say). Eeeewwwww, the smell was disgusting, but on the plus side, it did motivate me to keep on running, maybe even a little faster LOL
Getting back to CPUT campus was great, because I knew that at that point I had about 2.5km more to go. All the way along, I was on track for my 1h20. In the beginning I was reaching most of the km markers BEFORE the time I needed to be there for my time, and that was great because it gave me more leeway when walking, I could relax and recover a bit more. In the last 3km's though, I was reaching the km mark exactly when I needed to so I had to make sure that I didn't walk for more than 2mins and I had to walk pretty fast when I did walk. It was back in the campus that Trevor, my hubby (who was doing marshelling inside the campus) got these shots of me running.
Our awesome sponsors ProSano, gave us GREAT long sleeved T's to wear, which made me very happy and a cap as well, great style, great quality. They also provided some great spot prizes for after the race. Their sponsorship helps to make this a great race, thanks ProSano :-)
I was helping out at the registration of Grand Masters - these are peeps of 60+ years who are doing the 10km run. What an inspiration they were, still running at their ages and in lots of cases getting awesome times too. One of my fav local runners, Vladimir Kotov also entered and won the race in his catagory. This guy is amazing, he just keeps going and almost seems to get better the older he gets LOL. I got my shoes from his shop in Century City and was very happy with his assesment and assistance in chosing shoes - and his prices are great too :-)
By this time I was starting to get nervous, as I was running the race too. Each person that registered at my table, was a reminder that I was going to be undertaking my second 10km race Eeeeeeekk. At 6.40am I had to leave my table to get ready for the race - it was now really a reality. So I took off my track pants and my nice ProSano T, got my USN sport drink and went to line up. My sisters-in-law, Tracy and Glenda were also doing the race, so I was chatting to them while waiting for the start.
And then the gun fired, I started my stopwatch and we were off. I let Tracy and Glenda go off in front of me, cause I'm nowhere near their level yet, they've been at this longer than I have. I had decided that I was gonna try do it in 1h20, but was a bit wishy washy in the beginning with regard to how I was gonna organize that. By about the 2km mark though, I had a plan. To get my 1h20, I knew at what time I needed to get to each km marker, so I decided that I would jog to each km marker and when I got there, I would walk for approx 2mins to recover, then jog to the next km marker.
LOL, my watch and those km markers became my friends and to get myself through it, I'd start taking to the km markers before I got to them (in my head of course, don't want those other runners to know I'm insane hehehe). So as I knew the 5km marker (for eg) was coming up, I'd start this conversation in my head "Where are you 5km marker, I know you're here somewhere. I'm getting to you, don't you be worried, I'll be there soon" etc etc. When I actually SPOTTED the marker the conversation would get more interesting hehehe "Oh there you are my angel, I see you, don't worry, I'll be with you soon, here I come..." All this said with a silly grin on my face cause I was so pleased to see the marker LOL. It may sound totally mental, but it woked like a bomb :-)
However, I have to confess, that at about the 5km mark, I was starting to think that I was seriously insane to be doing this and was really wondering if I could finish it. However, as I had a plan to get to the end, I just kept plodding on.
There was one drawback on the course though and that was running past a solid waste treatment plant (I can't remember at what point in the course it was, probably about the 3 or 4km mark I'd say). Eeeewwwww, the smell was disgusting, but on the plus side, it did motivate me to keep on running, maybe even a little faster LOL
Getting back to CPUT campus was great, because I knew that at that point I had about 2.5km more to go. All the way along, I was on track for my 1h20. In the beginning I was reaching most of the km markers BEFORE the time I needed to be there for my time, and that was great because it gave me more leeway when walking, I could relax and recover a bit more. In the last 3km's though, I was reaching the km mark exactly when I needed to so I had to make sure that I didn't walk for more than 2mins and I had to walk pretty fast when I did walk. It was back in the campus that Trevor, my hubby (who was doing marshelling inside the campus) got these shots of me running.
Thats me in the navy blue, light blue cap and black compression socks
At this point I was still on track for my 1h20, although I was VERY tired, so needed to work hard to keep it up. I was REALLY happy to see the finish line in sight and eventually finished in 1h19m which made me very happy. Having my two sil's there shouting for me at the finish was awesome too :-) All finishers of the 10km race got a medal and a pair of socks which was great.
I was a VERY tired, but VERY happy runner at the end. The race in my opinion was very successful and it seems that ProSano and Telkom Athletics Club make an awesome team. A lot of work goes into hosting a race like this and if I remember correctly there were about 120 or so helpers on the day to make sure that everything went smoothly and it did. Well done ProSano and Telkom Athletics Club, really a job well done!!!!
Oh and well done to me too hehehehe
I'm very happ
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Shin splints day 3
Well, yet another day and the shinsplints are still a problem. In all the research I've been doing and all the friends I've been asking, one product keeps coming up and thats 'a blue gel in a big tub which is for horses' that one can buy at a vet shop LOL. Well I never, runners really will do anything hehehe
I eventually found out that the stuff is called Arnica Ice and my awesome little local chemist (Bothasig Pharmacy) actually had it so I've bought a tub to give it a try. Its ingredents are: Arnica oil 1%, menthol 1% (and boy can you smell it LOL), camphor 0.6% and witch hazel 0.6% so it sounds a lot more natural that some of the other stuff. At R56.95 for a 500g tub, its not bad value either. I also checked with my pharmacist about the anti-inflamatories and I'm glad I did. She told me that I could take Inza (which I generally use for headaches etc anyway) and that I should take 1 or 2, 200mg tabs three times a day, BUT, she said that if I was running on Saturday, which I intend to, that I should only take the Inza today and tomorrow, then stop, because apparently it has an impact on the kidneys and so does running, so to combine the two would not be a good thing to do.
So, I'm now doing the anti-inflamatories x 3 daily for two days, I'm using the compression socks in the morning and will use the arnica ice afternoon and evening. Hopefullly all of that and the days rest until Saturday (I'm still not running) will make me okay to run the race.
Last night I also went to our final club meeting before the race on Saturday, I still can't get over the amount of work that goes into hosting a race and by the way LOL, I've been roped into helping too, even though I will be running on the day. Sooooo, that means that I will probably have to get up at 4am on Saturday morning to get ready and be at the race venue at 5am, ready to set up and help out. Then at 7am, I'll be running my legs off for 10km.....
Hold thumbs for me that all goes well and I'll be A-Okay to run on Saturday....
I eventually found out that the stuff is called Arnica Ice and my awesome little local chemist (Bothasig Pharmacy) actually had it so I've bought a tub to give it a try. Its ingredents are: Arnica oil 1%, menthol 1% (and boy can you smell it LOL), camphor 0.6% and witch hazel 0.6% so it sounds a lot more natural that some of the other stuff. At R56.95 for a 500g tub, its not bad value either. I also checked with my pharmacist about the anti-inflamatories and I'm glad I did. She told me that I could take Inza (which I generally use for headaches etc anyway) and that I should take 1 or 2, 200mg tabs three times a day, BUT, she said that if I was running on Saturday, which I intend to, that I should only take the Inza today and tomorrow, then stop, because apparently it has an impact on the kidneys and so does running, so to combine the two would not be a good thing to do.
So, I'm now doing the anti-inflamatories x 3 daily for two days, I'm using the compression socks in the morning and will use the arnica ice afternoon and evening. Hopefullly all of that and the days rest until Saturday (I'm still not running) will make me okay to run the race.
Last night I also went to our final club meeting before the race on Saturday, I still can't get over the amount of work that goes into hosting a race and by the way LOL, I've been roped into helping too, even though I will be running on the day. Sooooo, that means that I will probably have to get up at 4am on Saturday morning to get ready and be at the race venue at 5am, ready to set up and help out. Then at 7am, I'll be running my legs off for 10km.....
Hold thumbs for me that all goes well and I'll be A-Okay to run on Saturday....
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
25mins :(
Well, after the Spar 10km, I was very happy with myself but also very tired and very worried about waking up the next morning with stiff legs. When I did wake up the next day (yesterday), I was still happy, cause no stiffness, BUT, a little later in the morning I realized that I might have shin splints in my left leg. I was having some pain on either side of the shinbone when walking and sometimes even when just sitting. I did some reading on the web and that confirmed it. The symptoms of shin splints were exactly what I was experiencing. It was quite a blow....
Of course the main 'cure' is rest, but thats REALLY not what I want to be doing right now, especially with my next 10km on Saturday. I really want to do this 10km for two reasons: Firstly because its my club's run and secondly to get a more accurate assesment of how well I CAN actually do a 10km. I couldn't really tell that with the Spar race, cause there were just so many people that you couldn't run the way you want to.
In looking up and asking around about what one can do for shin splints, other than rest, I found a few ideas. Anti-inflamatories can help, a horse gel called Arnica Ice (I think) is apparently also recommended (runners LOL they'll do anything to get back on the road) and then there's taping ( http://www.runnersworld.co.za/injury-prevention/treatment-room/tape-yourself-shin-splints/) . I decided that using all three might be my best bet, so decided to go out and get some tape.
I went to Sportsmans Warehouse in Canal Walk, cause I knew that I had seen some of the tape there and its the closest and biggest sport shop to me. I was helped by a very nice dude called Calvin (if I'm remembering correctly). The tape is about R119 a roll and obviously when used, its used and gone. According to the video above about taping, it will last about 5 days on your leg. If this is likely to be a recurring or ongoing problem, that will end up costing me quite a bit. Calvin then introducted me to compression socks. At R299 a pair, these are much more expensive, but have the advantage of you being able to use them over and over again, so in the long run it seemed like the better deal. I tried them in the shop and walked a bit and the effect was great. The pain was almost non existant (in hindsight, I spoke a bit too soon here, but that comes later).
I got the compression socks (Thanks Calvin) and put them on when I got home. In walking around with them a bit, I discovered that while wearing flat shoes, I can still feel the pain, but its not nearly so bad but when wearing my stability running shoes, it was MUCH better. I was so pleased by all this, that I decided that I might do a short training run today (this all happened yesterday).
I woke up this morning, still all pumped up about the compression socks, only to find that the shin splints seemed a bit worse this morning. Hmmmm, "okay (I thought), I won't know untill I try"
With that thought in mind, with compression socks on, I went for a training session. I decided to try the next Shape Challenge session, which started off with a 5min walk, then a 20min jog. I thought that i would see how that went and decide from there what to do. Well.......the 5min walk went okay, although I could feel the pain of the shin splints with every step. The 20min jog however, ended up being an 8 min jog, I just couldn't do anymore than that. I walked a bit, jogged a bit, walked a bit, jogged a bit more and then I really just couldn't anymore. My session ended up being about 25mins, with most of that being walking.....
So, with reality having kicked me firmly in the shin *SIGH*, I have decided to make the rest of the week a rest week and then try my Pro Sano 10km on Saturday. I am unhappy and perturbed about it, but what can I do. Any further training is just likely to make the situation worse and as much as I hate being 'grounded' I SUPPOSE its the best thing to do right now *HUGER SIGH*
A very unhappy Carol sighing (deliberate misspelling) out.....
Of course the main 'cure' is rest, but thats REALLY not what I want to be doing right now, especially with my next 10km on Saturday. I really want to do this 10km for two reasons: Firstly because its my club's run and secondly to get a more accurate assesment of how well I CAN actually do a 10km. I couldn't really tell that with the Spar race, cause there were just so many people that you couldn't run the way you want to.
In looking up and asking around about what one can do for shin splints, other than rest, I found a few ideas. Anti-inflamatories can help, a horse gel called Arnica Ice (I think) is apparently also recommended (runners LOL they'll do anything to get back on the road) and then there's taping ( http://www.runnersworld.co.za/injury-prevention/treatment-room/tape-yourself-shin-splints/) . I decided that using all three might be my best bet, so decided to go out and get some tape.
I went to Sportsmans Warehouse in Canal Walk, cause I knew that I had seen some of the tape there and its the closest and biggest sport shop to me. I was helped by a very nice dude called Calvin (if I'm remembering correctly). The tape is about R119 a roll and obviously when used, its used and gone. According to the video above about taping, it will last about 5 days on your leg. If this is likely to be a recurring or ongoing problem, that will end up costing me quite a bit. Calvin then introducted me to compression socks. At R299 a pair, these are much more expensive, but have the advantage of you being able to use them over and over again, so in the long run it seemed like the better deal. I tried them in the shop and walked a bit and the effect was great. The pain was almost non existant (in hindsight, I spoke a bit too soon here, but that comes later).
I got the compression socks (Thanks Calvin) and put them on when I got home. In walking around with them a bit, I discovered that while wearing flat shoes, I can still feel the pain, but its not nearly so bad but when wearing my stability running shoes, it was MUCH better. I was so pleased by all this, that I decided that I might do a short training run today (this all happened yesterday).
I woke up this morning, still all pumped up about the compression socks, only to find that the shin splints seemed a bit worse this morning. Hmmmm, "okay (I thought), I won't know untill I try"
With that thought in mind, with compression socks on, I went for a training session. I decided to try the next Shape Challenge session, which started off with a 5min walk, then a 20min jog. I thought that i would see how that went and decide from there what to do. Well.......the 5min walk went okay, although I could feel the pain of the shin splints with every step. The 20min jog however, ended up being an 8 min jog, I just couldn't do anymore than that. I walked a bit, jogged a bit, walked a bit, jogged a bit more and then I really just couldn't anymore. My session ended up being about 25mins, with most of that being walking.....
So, with reality having kicked me firmly in the shin *SIGH*, I have decided to make the rest of the week a rest week and then try my Pro Sano 10km on Saturday. I am unhappy and perturbed about it, but what can I do. Any further training is just likely to make the situation worse and as much as I hate being 'grounded' I SUPPOSE its the best thing to do right now *HUGER SIGH*
A very unhappy Carol sighing (deliberate misspelling) out.....
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Spar Womens 10km Race
Soooo, today was the Spar Women's 10km Race and my first race. My last few training sessions, which I didn't blog about, SORRY, went very well, so I was aiming to try do this race in 1h30.
(sorry, I know the first few pics a fuzzy, the light was bad and I didn't have my camera there )
The crowd there was humungous, with just over 19 500 people entered. They had a special pen for elite runners and one for club runners, which means that you get a better start before the crowd, but as I don't yet have my club gear, I was stuck in the middle of the massive crowd. My hubby, although he was wearing his club colours (and pink tights, pink tutu and an orange wig) stayed with me as it was my first race.
When the race started, it was impossible to actually get running or even walk at a decent pace, there were just TOO MANY people walking slowly. As soon as possible I got more to the side where it was at least possible to jog. The start of the race, was also 2.5km up a hill and I had been pretty worried about it. HOWEVER, I actually ran up MOST of the hill, which surprised even me :-) The rest of the race consisted of me jogging interspersed with some walking to recover and I think I did pretty well.
I did however have a slight mental wobbly right near the end, when I mistook the entrance into the stadium. I was looking ahead at some robots, thinking they were the entrance into the stadium, and was mentally preparing myself for the end of the race, only to realize that it wasn't THOSE robots, but the next ones LOL. It was a bit of a mental letdown, but I persevered and was determined to acutally run the last bit of the race into the stadium. With all those people watching you, its a real bummer if you have to walk it LOL.
I was REALLY glad when the race was over, but VERY PROUD of myself for having done it and done it in 1h26 which was faster than the time I had hoped for.
(sorry, I know the first few pics a fuzzy, the light was bad and I didn't have my camera there )
My hubby in his 'outfit'
The crowd there was humungous, with just over 19 500 people entered. They had a special pen for elite runners and one for club runners, which means that you get a better start before the crowd, but as I don't yet have my club gear, I was stuck in the middle of the massive crowd. My hubby, although he was wearing his club colours (and pink tights, pink tutu and an orange wig) stayed with me as it was my first race.
Hubby & I before the race started
From left to right: Caitlin, Jane, Tracy, Trevor, Carol (me) & Glenda - before the race
When the race started, it was impossible to actually get running or even walk at a decent pace, there were just TOO MANY people walking slowly. As soon as possible I got more to the side where it was at least possible to jog. The start of the race, was also 2.5km up a hill and I had been pretty worried about it. HOWEVER, I actually ran up MOST of the hill, which surprised even me :-) The rest of the race consisted of me jogging interspersed with some walking to recover and I think I did pretty well.
I did however have a slight mental wobbly right near the end, when I mistook the entrance into the stadium. I was looking ahead at some robots, thinking they were the entrance into the stadium, and was mentally preparing myself for the end of the race, only to realize that it wasn't THOSE robots, but the next ones LOL. It was a bit of a mental letdown, but I persevered and was determined to acutally run the last bit of the race into the stadium. With all those people watching you, its a real bummer if you have to walk it LOL.
I was REALLY glad when the race was over, but VERY PROUD of myself for having done it and done it in 1h26 which was faster than the time I had hoped for.
Me after the race with my medal :-)
It was a really great race, and I'm very glad that I did it :-) Next week is the Telkom/Pro Sano run (my club run) and I'm really looking forward to that one, to see how I do without such a crowd keeping me slower. However, I do have to hope that my legs will have recovered sufficiently by then LOL.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Soooo, its Monday AGAIN!!!
So, its Monday again and its school holidays and its also week 8, day 2 of the Shape 10km challenge.
Yesterday I managed to find a decent pair of ankle running socks which I was very pleased about, not the ones I wanted but okay ones. The annoying this is, even though this shop had an array of running socks, they were all ONE brand and MOST of them were also secret socks. Because I didn't want weird colour socks, I only had a choice of two pairs, its really annoying.
Todays Shape Challenge session was: Walk 5mins briskly. Jog 20mins. Walk 5mins. Jog 10mins. Walk 10mins briskly to finish. And I did it, the whole session exactly has specified. The 20min jog was probably the longest 20mins in my life LOL but I did it. I wasn't too sure if I could make the 10min jog thereafter, BUT I DID!!! I'm very proud of myself for that 20min jog :-)
LOL, I've noticed that every time I need to type the word 'jog', my fingers type job instead and I always have to change it. I think my body is trying to tell me that jogging is like a job hehehehehe
Anyway, I'm now one day closer to finishing the Shape Challenge and also one day closer to doing the Spar Womens race EEEEEK
On another front, as you (well, those in SA anyway) will have seen on the news, we are in for some steep electicity price hikes, so I decided that hubby needs to put up the washing line again so I can stop using the tumble dryer. I know that a tumble dryer uses a lot of electricity and therefore isn't eco friendly, but let me tell you, its so much more convenient and once you get used to it, its very hard to give it up. Unfortunately (hump, cleaverly for Eskom :( , the put the price up at the beginning of winter, when they know full well that people will be using more hot water, heaters, tumble dryers etc, not because they want to, but because its necessary. I'm using the washing line now, but I do realize that when the weather gets worse, I'll need to resort to the tumble dryer again. Hopefully though I can keep it down a bit.
In addition to that, I had stopped using fabric softener on my washing a while ago when I started using the tumble dryer, because the TD makes the washing soft, now though, the washing dried on the line, is very hard, so I had to go out and get some fabric softener again :(
Oh well, till next time..............
Yesterday I managed to find a decent pair of ankle running socks which I was very pleased about, not the ones I wanted but okay ones. The annoying this is, even though this shop had an array of running socks, they were all ONE brand and MOST of them were also secret socks. Because I didn't want weird colour socks, I only had a choice of two pairs, its really annoying.
Todays Shape Challenge session was: Walk 5mins briskly. Jog 20mins. Walk 5mins. Jog 10mins. Walk 10mins briskly to finish. And I did it, the whole session exactly has specified. The 20min jog was probably the longest 20mins in my life LOL but I did it. I wasn't too sure if I could make the 10min jog thereafter, BUT I DID!!! I'm very proud of myself for that 20min jog :-)
LOL, I've noticed that every time I need to type the word 'jog', my fingers type job instead and I always have to change it. I think my body is trying to tell me that jogging is like a job hehehehehe
Anyway, I'm now one day closer to finishing the Shape Challenge and also one day closer to doing the Spar Womens race EEEEEK
On another front, as you (well, those in SA anyway) will have seen on the news, we are in for some steep electicity price hikes, so I decided that hubby needs to put up the washing line again so I can stop using the tumble dryer. I know that a tumble dryer uses a lot of electricity and therefore isn't eco friendly, but let me tell you, its so much more convenient and once you get used to it, its very hard to give it up. Unfortunately (hump, cleaverly for Eskom :( , the put the price up at the beginning of winter, when they know full well that people will be using more hot water, heaters, tumble dryers etc, not because they want to, but because its necessary. I'm using the washing line now, but I do realize that when the weather gets worse, I'll need to resort to the tumble dryer again. Hopefully though I can keep it down a bit.
In addition to that, I had stopped using fabric softener on my washing a while ago when I started using the tumble dryer, because the TD makes the washing soft, now though, the washing dried on the line, is very hard, so I had to go out and get some fabric softener again :(
Oh well, till next time..............
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Lots to talk about
Lots of things have been happening since my last blog. Last night we went to my hubby's Long Service Awards Dinner Dance. I don't normally like those kinds of functions, but we had great people at our table and the food was REALLY great (It was at the CTICC). We didn't stay for the dancing afterwards, cause hubby's hip was sore and my feet were killing me (from the killer high heels I was wearing) and also because I needed to run today.
Also yesterday, a new friend arrived to come and live with me, all the way from the USA. Her namie is Faith
Also yesterday, a new friend arrived to come and live with me, all the way from the USA. Her namie is Faith
and she's a PixieCat. I'll post a pic of her soon, when I get my camera out.
Today, I slept late because of being out late last night at the Dinner, so I didn't do my run early in the morning as I usually do. First we went to run some errands. I got myself a togbag, to take all my stuff to the races etc in. My hubby also wanted to shop for his 'outfit' that he's wearing for the Spar Womens 10km race. All men that want to enter, need to dress up as women. He ended up getting pink tights and an orange wig and he's going to borrow a little pink tutu type skirt from my eldest daugher. On the day I'll take a pic and post it, I LOLed so hard when I saw him dressed up. Taking about the race, I suddenly realized that its this weekend coming up, so I started feeling a bit nervous about it *bites fingernails*...
I did my run on the treadmill later in the day, week 8, day 1, all done & dusted. It went really well.
I also wanted to get another pair of the nice Asics socks that I have, because they fit so well, so I went to the sport shop where I bought them to get another pair and they didn't have any. I was so disappointed. To make matters worse, when I thought I'd just buy some other pair, I discovered that the shop only had those silly 'secret socks' for the ladies. I'm sure some people like them, but I DON'T, I much prefer the ankle socks. I went to another 2 sport shops and they didn't have any ankle socks either so now I'll have to go on the big search to get some somewhere else :(
Thursday, March 31, 2011
I conquered my nemesis
Soooooo, week 7 day 3 is now DONE!!! I amost died doing it, but its done, finished, kaput, klaar....
This session was REALLY hard. During the last minute of the 3rd and 4th 4min runs, I found it increasingly difficult to physically draw breath into my lungs, but luckily my beathing quickly recovered during the 4min walk between the runs. After the session, my legs really felt like jelly and in fact still feel a little jellyish even now, many hours later, my feet were also really sore/burning and still feel a bit sore. In fact this session was so difficult, I'm really beginning to wonder how I'm going to manage from now on as the sessions just get more and more difficult. There's a possiblity that I might end up repeating certain weeks, untill I can manage a bit more easily, but I'll see how it goes.
As this gets more difficult, I'm really beginning to be nervous about my upcoming races. I know I CAN definately finish them, because if worse comes to worse, I can walk most of the way, but I really want to do the best I can and that means running as much of the race as I physically can.
However, giving up is NOT an option so I will keep on going even if I adjust the schedule a bit.
This session was REALLY hard. During the last minute of the 3rd and 4th 4min runs, I found it increasingly difficult to physically draw breath into my lungs, but luckily my beathing quickly recovered during the 4min walk between the runs. After the session, my legs really felt like jelly and in fact still feel a little jellyish even now, many hours later, my feet were also really sore/burning and still feel a bit sore. In fact this session was so difficult, I'm really beginning to wonder how I'm going to manage from now on as the sessions just get more and more difficult. There's a possiblity that I might end up repeating certain weeks, untill I can manage a bit more easily, but I'll see how it goes.
As this gets more difficult, I'm really beginning to be nervous about my upcoming races. I know I CAN definately finish them, because if worse comes to worse, I can walk most of the way, but I really want to do the best I can and that means running as much of the race as I physically can.
However, giving up is NOT an option so I will keep on going even if I adjust the schedule a bit.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
I'm so disappointed, I want to cry :(
Today is Day 3 of week 7 of the Shape 10km Challenge. The session for today is: Walk 5 min, jog 5 min (4 x 4 min run at faster than usual speed, with 4 min walk inbetween). 10 min walk to finish....
I started off well with the 5min walk and then went on to the 5min jog. With the jog, I struggled right from the word go, but as usual, pushed my way through it. I walked for 4 min, then started the first 4 min run at faster than usual speed. I got about 2 min into it and just could not do it anymore. My legs were aching and wobbling like jelly and my chest was burning and I was puffing like a steam train. I stopped and walked for about a 1 min and tried again. I ran at faster speed for about another 1 min with the same result as before, but maybe a bit worse. I decided that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to do this, but rather than a total loss, I decided to walk for 4 min, then jog (at my normal speed) for 5 min, then walk home. I walked for the 4 min, but only got about 3 min into the jog and I just couldn't go on. At that point I totally gave up and decided to just walk home and call it a day.
I felt like crying I was so disappointed. This is the first time since I started this challenge that I haven't completed a session. Although I'm not making any excuses, I flaked and thats all there is to it, I decided that I needed to try figure out why I couldn't manage this session, when I have managed all the others. This is what I came up with as possible reasons:
1) On our camping trips, I never sleep very well. Sometimes because of noisy campers and also because I don't sleep that well out of my bed (and I don't sleep well at the best of times anyway *sigh*). So I was probably pretty tired.
2) The session I did when I was camping, I ended up (as explained in my last blog) running up and down quite a few hills. Admittedly they weren't very long or very steep hills, but for me they might as well have been.
3) We did quite a bit of walking on the beach in the sand and that is definately killing on the muscles. We also did some rock hopping which I'm sure also added to the 'damage'.
Add those three things together and I'm pretty sure thats what happened today. HOWEVER, I'm not giving up totally. I'm going to give myself a day or two of rest, catch up on some sleep and then try Day 3, Week 7 again and see how it goes.
So from a very disappointed 'Carol on the go' until next time......Cheerio
I started off well with the 5min walk and then went on to the 5min jog. With the jog, I struggled right from the word go, but as usual, pushed my way through it. I walked for 4 min, then started the first 4 min run at faster than usual speed. I got about 2 min into it and just could not do it anymore. My legs were aching and wobbling like jelly and my chest was burning and I was puffing like a steam train. I stopped and walked for about a 1 min and tried again. I ran at faster speed for about another 1 min with the same result as before, but maybe a bit worse. I decided that there was NO WAY I was going to be able to do this, but rather than a total loss, I decided to walk for 4 min, then jog (at my normal speed) for 5 min, then walk home. I walked for the 4 min, but only got about 3 min into the jog and I just couldn't go on. At that point I totally gave up and decided to just walk home and call it a day.
I felt like crying I was so disappointed. This is the first time since I started this challenge that I haven't completed a session. Although I'm not making any excuses, I flaked and thats all there is to it, I decided that I needed to try figure out why I couldn't manage this session, when I have managed all the others. This is what I came up with as possible reasons:
1) On our camping trips, I never sleep very well. Sometimes because of noisy campers and also because I don't sleep that well out of my bed (and I don't sleep well at the best of times anyway *sigh*). So I was probably pretty tired.
2) The session I did when I was camping, I ended up (as explained in my last blog) running up and down quite a few hills. Admittedly they weren't very long or very steep hills, but for me they might as well have been.
3) We did quite a bit of walking on the beach in the sand and that is definately killing on the muscles. We also did some rock hopping which I'm sure also added to the 'damage'.
Add those three things together and I'm pretty sure thats what happened today. HOWEVER, I'm not giving up totally. I'm going to give myself a day or two of rest, catch up on some sleep and then try Day 3, Week 7 again and see how it goes.
So from a very disappointed 'Carol on the go' until next time......Cheerio
Camping at Palmiet & week 7 - day 2
We went camping at Palmiet this weekend. Palmiet is our fav camping spot for various reasons. We haven't been for a while so were really looking forward to it. Luckily, because we got there early on Friday, we got our fav camping spot too. We had recently bought a 2nd hand camping fridge and were using it for the first time. At first, we couldn't figure out how it worked on gas (there was no manual with it), but phoned my daughter to find out. We got it working but there was a strong smell of gas all the time, which really worried me, so before we went to bed on the friday night, we switched it off. Hubby discovered that part of the regulator was chipped and thats why gas was leaking out. When the shops opened on Saturday morning we had to go and get a new regulator - luckily we did find on and with that on, the fridge worked great.
One of the first things we noticed when we went down to the beach on Saturday, is that the channel from the river to the sea wasn't there anymore!!!! The beach just continued to the other side leaving the lagoon/river mouth totally cut off. The nice thing about that, is that the water in the lagoon was lovely, so nice that I even swam a lot and normally I don't swim much at Palmiet cause the sea coming into the lagoon usually makes it very cold.
(note our new camping cupboard next to our tent - it made things around camp much easier. We also used for the first time our new - but secondhand - camping fridge (behind the cupboard, so you can't see it). It works on gas as well as elec & car battery which is great, cause we don't camp on the sites with elec. You can also see, between the trailer and the camping cupboard, our washing station which my hubby very kindly made for us)
Talking about Friday night *SIGH*, there were some VERY LOUD, & VERY NOISY people on the top level of the campsite. The TALKED LOUD, they LAUGHED LOUD and the SWORE LOUD. I couldn't sleep and the last time I looked at my watch it was about 2.30am and they were STILL at it GRRRRRRRRRR
One of the first things we noticed when we went down to the beach on Saturday, is that the channel from the river to the sea wasn't there anymore!!!! The beach just continued to the other side leaving the lagoon/river mouth totally cut off. The nice thing about that, is that the water in the lagoon was lovely, so nice that I even swam a lot and normally I don't swim much at Palmiet cause the sea coming into the lagoon usually makes it very cold.
(My hubby in the lagoon, you can see in the background how badly burnt the mountain is from a recent fire there)
While I was swimming there was a very pretty, very tiny crab swimming in the water and I caught him for a while just to admire him :-) Lots of lovely little fishies too. We saw a lot of birdlife and also the mongoose that we usually see at least once during our weekend camps. The bats at night are awesome too, although my son's girlfriend didn't think so cause she's scared of flying things.
(Luckily my son's girlfriend wasn't here when I took this. These gulls are BIG ones LOL)
It was a wonderful and relaxing weekend, well most of it anyway, here comes the not so relaxing part. One of my Shape Challenge running sessions was on the weekend. Walk 15mins briskly. 2 x (13min jog, 2 min walk). Walk 10mins briskly to finish. There is a nice boardwalk near the campsite, so I decided it might be nice to do my session on the boardwalk. I started off about 7.30am and went to the boardwalk. I soon discovered that for two reasons, the boardwalk wasn't suitable for my run. 1) It was rickety in places, and broken in places 2) The boardwalk was sporadic with places inbetween with sandy, rocky path. I was worried I could twist my ankle. So, as soon as I saw a part going back up to the road I took it, thinking it would be much better running on the road. All good and well, EXCEPT for the fact that it seems that EVERY road in Kleinmond has hills on them *SIGH*. I ran up hill and I ran down hills and no matter where I ran there were hills *PHEW*. However, I did get my session done, so I'm now one more day closer to completing the challenge.
Packing up again of course wasn't fun, but at least we had a nice bacon, egg, mushroom & fried tomato breakfast to fortify us for the task. On the ride home I actually fell asleep in the car I was so tired and then of course came the unpacking of the car and now over the next day or two, I have to wash and repack all the camping stuff again and wash all the dirty camp clothes - BUT ITS ALL WORTH IT!!!!!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Cirque du Soleil and day 1 of week 7
Last night my hubby and I went to see Cirque du Soleil, courtesy of our children who gave us the tickets for Christmas. What an AWESOME show. I had never had the inclination to go and see the show, but boy am I glad I did.
There is so much going on in every minute. There is the 'main' act doing various different types of 'tricks' but at the same time there are always a few other performers doing all sorts of funny thing around the edges, you almost don't know who you want to watch - scared you might miss something LOL
The acrobatics were fantastic and the performers must have absolutely amazing upper body strength and just strength and fitness in general. I can't imagine how tiring it must be to go through that performance every day. There were so many fantastic acts, but I have to say, two things in the show really stick out for me. One was when there were 4 poles and various performers were doing all sorts of acrobatics on them, then a guy came in, went to a pole, held it with his arms straight and body totally away from the pole and climbed up this long pole using ONLY HIS HANDS/ARMS!!!!! It was spectacular, I couldn't believe he actually did it.
At various times in the show, they got the audience to participate in various ways, which brings me to the second 'stick out' performance. The 'funny' character in the show, after checking out various audience members, chose an older, rather big (not fat, just tall and big built) guy and got him up on stage. He made this poor guy copy him in quite a few ridiculous moves and it was totally hilarious. The guy was very game I must say and got into the swing of it and gave a really good performance himself. *Take a bow, whoever you were - good job*
My mind was totally changed about Cirque du Soleil and I'm VERY glad we got to see the show.
Now, on to day 1 week 7: PHEW, what a workout....
I was pretty worried about this session cause it seemed really hectic - walk 5 mins. 4 x (9min jog, 2 min walk). Walk 5 mins to finish.
Boy, it was hectic AND MORE!!! I'm sure I lost my legs somewhere along the route, cause when I got home I couldn't feel them anymore. My stamina was fine, energywise I could have sailed through the session, but my legs really didn't want to take part. On my FIRST 9 min jog, I was already thinking that I would have to give up, that I wouldn't be able to do this session, but as usual, SOMEHOW, I forced my way through it. Only one slight alteration, after the 3rd 9 min jog, I walked for 3 mins instead of 2, but that was so minor I still consider myself as having DONE the session fully and completely. It REALLY was difficult though and I am seriously worried about how I'm going to get through the remaining sessions, which only get more and more difficult. I SHALL perseve though and hopefully somehow, someway, I'll force my way through it all.
I must say though, that within an hour of completing my session, I'm feeling just fine again, although my legs are feeling a bit uncomfortable. I just hope they won't feel too stiff tomorrow :-(
Wish my luck as I carry on....
There is so much going on in every minute. There is the 'main' act doing various different types of 'tricks' but at the same time there are always a few other performers doing all sorts of funny thing around the edges, you almost don't know who you want to watch - scared you might miss something LOL
The acrobatics were fantastic and the performers must have absolutely amazing upper body strength and just strength and fitness in general. I can't imagine how tiring it must be to go through that performance every day. There were so many fantastic acts, but I have to say, two things in the show really stick out for me. One was when there were 4 poles and various performers were doing all sorts of acrobatics on them, then a guy came in, went to a pole, held it with his arms straight and body totally away from the pole and climbed up this long pole using ONLY HIS HANDS/ARMS!!!!! It was spectacular, I couldn't believe he actually did it.
At various times in the show, they got the audience to participate in various ways, which brings me to the second 'stick out' performance. The 'funny' character in the show, after checking out various audience members, chose an older, rather big (not fat, just tall and big built) guy and got him up on stage. He made this poor guy copy him in quite a few ridiculous moves and it was totally hilarious. The guy was very game I must say and got into the swing of it and gave a really good performance himself. *Take a bow, whoever you were - good job*
My mind was totally changed about Cirque du Soleil and I'm VERY glad we got to see the show.
Now, on to day 1 week 7: PHEW, what a workout....
I was pretty worried about this session cause it seemed really hectic - walk 5 mins. 4 x (9min jog, 2 min walk). Walk 5 mins to finish.
Boy, it was hectic AND MORE!!! I'm sure I lost my legs somewhere along the route, cause when I got home I couldn't feel them anymore. My stamina was fine, energywise I could have sailed through the session, but my legs really didn't want to take part. On my FIRST 9 min jog, I was already thinking that I would have to give up, that I wouldn't be able to do this session, but as usual, SOMEHOW, I forced my way through it. Only one slight alteration, after the 3rd 9 min jog, I walked for 3 mins instead of 2, but that was so minor I still consider myself as having DONE the session fully and completely. It REALLY was difficult though and I am seriously worried about how I'm going to get through the remaining sessions, which only get more and more difficult. I SHALL perseve though and hopefully somehow, someway, I'll force my way through it all.
I must say though, that within an hour of completing my session, I'm feeling just fine again, although my legs are feeling a bit uncomfortable. I just hope they won't feel too stiff tomorrow :-(
Wish my luck as I carry on....
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
My scare for the day - yesterday
I had quite a big scare yesterday. In our home, if we don't know who is at the door or it looks like a bergie or someone looking for work (we can't afford to hire) etc, then we often just don't answer the door, or we use the phone interkom to ask what they want.
Yesterday, I was busy on the computer from where I can see the front door and through the front window right next to the door. I saw a guy (coloured or black, I'm not sure, in a bright blue T-shirt with NOKIA in white on the front of it - at least I think it was Nokia LOL and he was wearing a light coloured camo cap) come up onto our stoep and scratch in our bin. I ignored it, but kept a look out. Next thing, he rings our doorbell - I ignore it. He waits a while, then goes back to the bin (which by the way, is on our front stoep, quite close to the door). I then hear the bin move and wonder what he's doing. I go closer to the front door but can't see the bin or him, so I look out our side window, which looks into the lane at the side of the house. I see through the gate that the bin is now in front of the gate, so I keep watching. Next thing, I see a hand on top of the gate and can see that he's going to use the bin to climb up and jump over the gate into our backyard.
I rushed to the front door opened it (we do have a safety gate which was locked) and yelled "Hey, what the hell are you doing". He jumped down and ran toward the door, I shouted, "I'm phoning the police" and slammed the door in his face.
According to my daughter who looked out the upstairs window, he walked off down our road. I immediately went to the phone and phoned the police to tell them. When I got off the phone with the police, I heard my son come back home on his bike, so I told him what happened quickly and he went on his bike to see if he could see the guy. My daughter also phoned her friend who turned up in his bakkie and went looking. Two police vans turned up and one drove down the road and the other came to me and I told them quickly what happened and where the guy went, then they drove off too.
I assume the guy probably went down our street, into the school grounds and then to the highway and gone.....
The even more scary thing about all of this, is that the guy who did this was the same guy I mentioned in my "Glutton for punishment" blog yesterday who spoke to me when I was on my run..... I'm sure he will have recognized me at the door and now knows that I sometimes go out jogging in the morning and when I do, there's probably no one at home.
Of course later I got moaned at by hubby and son for doing something dangerous like going to the door and I was given a list of all the things I SHOULD have done. Problem is, when something like that happens, you just react, you don't think about the list of things you SHOULD be doing *SIGH*
Anyway, the gist of it is that now my hubby - at my request - has cut down the bushes and trees which looked so nice near our front door. I'm sorry they are gone, but at least now anyone who walks down our road can see exactly what is going on at our side gate. I am also going to get a whopping big taser and heaven help any other pleb who tries to hassle me.....
Yesterday, I was busy on the computer from where I can see the front door and through the front window right next to the door. I saw a guy (coloured or black, I'm not sure, in a bright blue T-shirt with NOKIA in white on the front of it - at least I think it was Nokia LOL and he was wearing a light coloured camo cap) come up onto our stoep and scratch in our bin. I ignored it, but kept a look out. Next thing, he rings our doorbell - I ignore it. He waits a while, then goes back to the bin (which by the way, is on our front stoep, quite close to the door). I then hear the bin move and wonder what he's doing. I go closer to the front door but can't see the bin or him, so I look out our side window, which looks into the lane at the side of the house. I see through the gate that the bin is now in front of the gate, so I keep watching. Next thing, I see a hand on top of the gate and can see that he's going to use the bin to climb up and jump over the gate into our backyard.
I rushed to the front door opened it (we do have a safety gate which was locked) and yelled "Hey, what the hell are you doing". He jumped down and ran toward the door, I shouted, "I'm phoning the police" and slammed the door in his face.
According to my daughter who looked out the upstairs window, he walked off down our road. I immediately went to the phone and phoned the police to tell them. When I got off the phone with the police, I heard my son come back home on his bike, so I told him what happened quickly and he went on his bike to see if he could see the guy. My daughter also phoned her friend who turned up in his bakkie and went looking. Two police vans turned up and one drove down the road and the other came to me and I told them quickly what happened and where the guy went, then they drove off too.
I assume the guy probably went down our street, into the school grounds and then to the highway and gone.....
The even more scary thing about all of this, is that the guy who did this was the same guy I mentioned in my "Glutton for punishment" blog yesterday who spoke to me when I was on my run..... I'm sure he will have recognized me at the door and now knows that I sometimes go out jogging in the morning and when I do, there's probably no one at home.
Of course later I got moaned at by hubby and son for doing something dangerous like going to the door and I was given a list of all the things I SHOULD have done. Problem is, when something like that happens, you just react, you don't think about the list of things you SHOULD be doing *SIGH*
Anyway, the gist of it is that now my hubby - at my request - has cut down the bushes and trees which looked so nice near our front door. I'm sorry they are gone, but at least now anyone who walks down our road can see exactly what is going on at our side gate. I am also going to get a whopping big taser and heaven help any other pleb who tries to hassle me.....
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Glutton for punishment or dedicated runner - You tell me LOL
Okay, these are things I know -
I know the forecast today is for rain and it has already been raining so if I run outside, I'm likely to get caught in the rain....
BUT
My sport watch is waterproof and rain is better than blazing heat isn't it.
If I want to avoid the rain, I can run inside on the treadmill...
BUT
To run on the road outside is MUCH more of a workout than a session on the treadmill.
I know that the reverse of my route has much more uphill on it....
BUT
I know that the uphill will give me more of a workout and therefore up the ante on my training.
Knowing all of this, guess what I did......
I RAN OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN ON THE REVERSE OF MY ROUTE. :-)
LOL I can almost see my friend Sandy shaking her head and saying "Crazy chick" hehehehe
The cherry on top - on my last stretch I ran past a random guy who said "Mooi maam, hou did so" *HUGE GRIN*
Ain't running just GRAND!!!!!!
I know the forecast today is for rain and it has already been raining so if I run outside, I'm likely to get caught in the rain....
BUT
My sport watch is waterproof and rain is better than blazing heat isn't it.
If I want to avoid the rain, I can run inside on the treadmill...
BUT
To run on the road outside is MUCH more of a workout than a session on the treadmill.
I know that the reverse of my route has much more uphill on it....
BUT
I know that the uphill will give me more of a workout and therefore up the ante on my training.
Knowing all of this, guess what I did......
I RAN OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN ON THE REVERSE OF MY ROUTE. :-)
LOL I can almost see my friend Sandy shaking her head and saying "Crazy chick" hehehehe
The cherry on top - on my last stretch I ran past a random guy who said "Mooi maam, hou did so" *HUGE GRIN*
Ain't running just GRAND!!!!!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Snoring, mosquitoes and other annoying things *SIGH*
This is going to be a big rant, because I'm feeling really ratty and irritable because of severe lack of sleep....
I don't think I have slept well since my hubby and I started sharing a bed, because he snores and I'm a light sleeper. Because he snores (and makes other annoying sleeping noises), I struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep the whole night. Not only does he snore and make funny blowing noises, but he hogs not only the duvet, but the whole bed as well, leaving me with a tiny sliver on my side which makes me fall out of the bed when I turn over. Add to that, the fact that my cat sleeps on the little bit of my side of the bed that I have left. We have endless arguments about these things, but it makes no difference *sigh*
Last night was exceptionally bad, because not only was hubby a snoring, bed hogging monster, but there was a mosquito flying around and dive bombing me every few seconds AND, annoying little showers of rain making a noise on our roof, PLUS the odd thunder and lightning. I LOVE storms, but when they are as annoying as the one last night and when they come when I'm very sleep deprived, then they aren't much fun.
Arrrrggg, if I could get hold of that mosquito, I would become of torturer or note, because thats what she (I believe the ones that buzz and bite are she's) did to me last night. Reminds me of a poem I learnt at school:
Misketejag
Jou vabond, wag, ek sal you kry en jy sal net a bloedkol bly hier op my kamer mure. Deur jou vervlukste gonsery, deur jou gebyt en plaery kon ek nie slaap vir uure. Wag, laat ek my voorstel voor ons skei, voor jy die doodslag van my kry, My naam is van der Merwe.
I'm not sure if there's any more of it and please excuse my afrikaans spelling etc, but this was going back to junior school (and my afrikaans isn't that good) hehehehe
Anyway, at the moment I'm like a dry powderkeg, ready to totally explode at the slightest spark. I could rip people's heads off today if they get on my wrong side and to make matters worse, its an exercise day today, Day 3 of week 6 - I have no idea how I'm going to get through it - and the rest of the day for that matter *SIGH* Yaaaaawwwwwwwwwn
I don't think I have slept well since my hubby and I started sharing a bed, because he snores and I'm a light sleeper. Because he snores (and makes other annoying sleeping noises), I struggle to fall asleep and stay asleep the whole night. Not only does he snore and make funny blowing noises, but he hogs not only the duvet, but the whole bed as well, leaving me with a tiny sliver on my side which makes me fall out of the bed when I turn over. Add to that, the fact that my cat sleeps on the little bit of my side of the bed that I have left. We have endless arguments about these things, but it makes no difference *sigh*
Last night was exceptionally bad, because not only was hubby a snoring, bed hogging monster, but there was a mosquito flying around and dive bombing me every few seconds AND, annoying little showers of rain making a noise on our roof, PLUS the odd thunder and lightning. I LOVE storms, but when they are as annoying as the one last night and when they come when I'm very sleep deprived, then they aren't much fun.
Arrrrggg, if I could get hold of that mosquito, I would become of torturer or note, because thats what she (I believe the ones that buzz and bite are she's) did to me last night. Reminds me of a poem I learnt at school:
Misketejag
Jou vabond, wag, ek sal you kry en jy sal net a bloedkol bly hier op my kamer mure. Deur jou vervlukste gonsery, deur jou gebyt en plaery kon ek nie slaap vir uure. Wag, laat ek my voorstel voor ons skei, voor jy die doodslag van my kry, My naam is van der Merwe.
I'm not sure if there's any more of it and please excuse my afrikaans spelling etc, but this was going back to junior school (and my afrikaans isn't that good) hehehehe
Anyway, at the moment I'm like a dry powderkeg, ready to totally explode at the slightest spark. I could rip people's heads off today if they get on my wrong side and to make matters worse, its an exercise day today, Day 3 of week 6 - I have no idea how I'm going to get through it - and the rest of the day for that matter *SIGH* Yaaaaawwwwwwwwwn
Friday, March 18, 2011
Dead runner blogging *SIGH*
For FLIPS SAKE!!!!! (censored for public consumption - those weren't that actual words I used) Todays session almost killed me, I have no idea how I motivated myself through it exactly as specified but somehow I did. I just thank the Goddess that yesterday I bought myself a USN sport drink to drink after todays session (I actually bought it because I wanted a bottle like that, not because I thought I would need it). I need every calorie, carbs, magnesium, sodium, potassium and any other elements that are in there to recover.
Specs for today (week 6 - day 1) were as follows: Walk 5 mins, 4 x (8min jog/3min walk). Walk 5 mins to finish. Doesn't sound too bad does it but BOY WAS IT!!!
This is where I think I went wrong: First mistake - yesterday I walked up and down our stairs twice (those of you who have seen our stairs, know they are pretty scarey). The walking down, had me carrying heavy ackward things from my daughters room. Also, our stairs are cluttered with said daughters 'stuff' so its very ackward to walk up and own them at the best of times. After I had done that, I could feel a quite intense pulling in the front of my thighs. It worried me a lot cause I thought it might affect todays session, but during the day it wore off (mostly). This morning my legs seemed okay.
Second mistake - I decided to do my route the other way around, because its said that the camber of the road can affect you if you do the route the same way every time. However, what I didn't realize, is that when done the other way around, part of the route is a quite long, but very gentle incline. Doesn't sound too bad you say, maybe not, but when you're not that fit and jogging, boy it seemed like everest.
Third mistake - on my second walking session, I saw 5c in the road. Now, I have this philosophy that if you see money lying in the road or elsewhere, you should pick it up, because by picking it up, you are telling the universe that you want money to come into your life. Flip, I swear that 5c pieced weighed a TON by the time I had finished my session. On my second round of the route, I saw another 5c and later a 10c and I thought WTF!!! There's no way I'm adding more weight and anyway I don't think I was capable of bending down to pick them up and I think if I had stopped to do that, I probably wouldn't have been able to get myself to start moving again.
Fourth mistake - okay, this one isn't really a mistake, just the luck of nature. There was a bit of a wind today and part of my route I had to run into the wind and it just so happens that that part of the route also happened to be the same part of the route with that flipping gentle incline *SIGH*
I just thank the Goddess yet again, that Sundays session is simply a brisk 30 min walk and I shall cherish every walking 30mins of it.
BUT, I am still living (if only just LOL) and my legs do appear to still be moving (for the time being - lets see if they're gonna stiffen up). I don't think I am yet capable of standing up in the shower LOL so I'll give myself another few stinky minutes before I attempt that one.
Specs for today (week 6 - day 1) were as follows: Walk 5 mins, 4 x (8min jog/3min walk). Walk 5 mins to finish. Doesn't sound too bad does it but BOY WAS IT!!!
This is where I think I went wrong: First mistake - yesterday I walked up and down our stairs twice (those of you who have seen our stairs, know they are pretty scarey). The walking down, had me carrying heavy ackward things from my daughters room. Also, our stairs are cluttered with said daughters 'stuff' so its very ackward to walk up and own them at the best of times. After I had done that, I could feel a quite intense pulling in the front of my thighs. It worried me a lot cause I thought it might affect todays session, but during the day it wore off (mostly). This morning my legs seemed okay.
Second mistake - I decided to do my route the other way around, because its said that the camber of the road can affect you if you do the route the same way every time. However, what I didn't realize, is that when done the other way around, part of the route is a quite long, but very gentle incline. Doesn't sound too bad you say, maybe not, but when you're not that fit and jogging, boy it seemed like everest.
Third mistake - on my second walking session, I saw 5c in the road. Now, I have this philosophy that if you see money lying in the road or elsewhere, you should pick it up, because by picking it up, you are telling the universe that you want money to come into your life. Flip, I swear that 5c pieced weighed a TON by the time I had finished my session. On my second round of the route, I saw another 5c and later a 10c and I thought WTF!!! There's no way I'm adding more weight and anyway I don't think I was capable of bending down to pick them up and I think if I had stopped to do that, I probably wouldn't have been able to get myself to start moving again.
Fourth mistake - okay, this one isn't really a mistake, just the luck of nature. There was a bit of a wind today and part of my route I had to run into the wind and it just so happens that that part of the route also happened to be the same part of the route with that flipping gentle incline *SIGH*
I just thank the Goddess yet again, that Sundays session is simply a brisk 30 min walk and I shall cherish every walking 30mins of it.
BUT, I am still living (if only just LOL) and my legs do appear to still be moving (for the time being - lets see if they're gonna stiffen up). I don't think I am yet capable of standing up in the shower LOL so I'll give myself another few stinky minutes before I attempt that one.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Week 5 completed
Today I completed week 5 of the Shape 10km Challenge. I decided to do it on the treadmill for two reasons. Firstly, it was quite windy this morning still and secondly, it involved doing 4 x 4min run at faster than usual speed. On the road its difficult to judge speed and be sure you're keeping your speed constant, but on the treadmill, its easy to keep track. I normally jog on the treadmil at 5.4kph and for my faster speed, I did 6kph. I'm very happy and pleased with how my training is going. Thanks Shape Magazine for an awesome training program.
On another note, I went to my second meeting at my club last night. They are putting on a race on 16 April, the Pro Sano 10km Challenge. I had NO IDEA how much WORK actually goes into putting on a race and the amount of club members and helpers it takes. When you go to a race, you just do your thing, but you don't think about what had to go on behind the scenes to make it all happen. Believe me, a LOT goes on behind the scenes for months in advance to make a sucessful race happen. It takes a lot of time and dedication on the part of the club who's hosting it. My hat off to all those who make it happen.
On another note, I went to my second meeting at my club last night. They are putting on a race on 16 April, the Pro Sano 10km Challenge. I had NO IDEA how much WORK actually goes into putting on a race and the amount of club members and helpers it takes. When you go to a race, you just do your thing, but you don't think about what had to go on behind the scenes to make it all happen. Believe me, a LOT goes on behind the scenes for months in advance to make a sucessful race happen. It takes a lot of time and dedication on the part of the club who's hosting it. My hat off to all those who make it happen.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Today's challenge session and a new peanut butter biscuit recipe
Todays session: 20mins brisk walking - 15min jogging - 10min brisk walking. All done and dusted. I must say though, that the last 5mins of the 15mins jogging was pretty hard and my last 10min brisk walk wasn't all that brisk LOL but I DID IT!!!
Now, as promised to some of my friends, the new peanut butter biscuit recipe that I tried yesterday and declared VERY YUMMY!!! A word of warning though, its makes quite a lot of biscuits so if you only want a few, you might want to halve or quarter the recipe. What I like about this recipe, is that its quite healthy, because it has oats, coconut and cornflakes in it. When I try making it again, I might use all bran flakes instead of the cornflakes or even museli instead of the cornflakes. It might be nice with crunchy or honyey crunch peanut butter instead of smooth peanut butter too.
Now, as promised to some of my friends, the new peanut butter biscuit recipe that I tried yesterday and declared VERY YUMMY!!! A word of warning though, its makes quite a lot of biscuits so if you only want a few, you might want to halve or quarter the recipe. What I like about this recipe, is that its quite healthy, because it has oats, coconut and cornflakes in it. When I try making it again, I might use all bran flakes instead of the cornflakes or even museli instead of the cornflakes. It might be nice with crunchy or honyey crunch peanut butter instead of smooth peanut butter too.
Peanut Butter Biscuits
250g butter/marge
500ml sugar
2 eggs, whisked
125ml smooth peanut butter
10ml bicarbonate of soda
25ml milk
5ml vanilla essence
500ml flour
500ml Jungle Oats instant
500ml coconut
500ml cornflakes
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add whisked egg
3. Add peanut butter and mix well
4. Dissolve the bicarb in the milk. Add essence. Add to the butter mixture and blend well.
5. Mix the rest of the ingredients. Add to the peanut butter mixture. Mix
6. Form walnut-sized balls. Place on a greased baking tray and flatten slightly with a fork
7. Bake or 10 – 15 mins until golden brown and done
8. Turn out onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool and store in an airtight container.
MAKES APPROX 8 DOZEN BISCUITS
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Another day of running and weekend boredom
Hmmm, didn't get around to doing yesterdays blog *sigh*. Yesterday,Week 5 day 1 now completed with no problems. Done on treadmill again because of wind.
Today is one of those days when I don't really feel like doing anything, but I'm so bored that I want to do something - I just don't know what. Sitting at home on weekends is very demotivating, especially if all you're gonna do is veg out in front of the mindless stuff thats on our tv (we don't have DSTV).
I actually feel like going out and taking photos, but I've been everywhere nearby that we can go to and I'm struggling to find new places without driving for hours (and using lots of expensive petrol *sigh*). I also need to 'get back to work' making stuff to sell from my business - luckily, I had an awesome idea of something to make as a gift for someone and so thats got me back into the swing of things :-)
While on the subject of my business, I am over and over again, blessed by all the wonderful people that my 'work' brings me in contact with. How lucky am I to be doing something I love that helps me support my family AND lets me meet great people all the time. http://www.serenehealing.co.za/
Oh well, hopefully something will come to mind that we can do to keep ourselves occupied today, otherwise its us and whatever boring stuff is on tv I guess.....
Today is one of those days when I don't really feel like doing anything, but I'm so bored that I want to do something - I just don't know what. Sitting at home on weekends is very demotivating, especially if all you're gonna do is veg out in front of the mindless stuff thats on our tv (we don't have DSTV).
I actually feel like going out and taking photos, but I've been everywhere nearby that we can go to and I'm struggling to find new places without driving for hours (and using lots of expensive petrol *sigh*). I also need to 'get back to work' making stuff to sell from my business - luckily, I had an awesome idea of something to make as a gift for someone and so thats got me back into the swing of things :-)
While on the subject of my business, I am over and over again, blessed by all the wonderful people that my 'work' brings me in contact with. How lucky am I to be doing something I love that helps me support my family AND lets me meet great people all the time. http://www.serenehealing.co.za/
Oh well, hopefully something will come to mind that we can do to keep ourselves occupied today, otherwise its us and whatever boring stuff is on tv I guess.....
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Facebook,the internet and the fickleness of human nature
Okay, I admit it, this is a bit of a rant as well as some musings on stuff.
The internet is great, but has big drawbacks. We can 'see' what people are saying but cannot 'see' them, so nuances in tone and voice and facial movements are lost. Someone can 'say' LOL but in actual fact be scowling as they 'say' it. It so easy to say things to other people all over the world and stories can spead as quick as wildfire, its a dangerous business.
Facebook (or any forums out there) are the same, they're wonderful, because we get to meet people from all over the world and communicate with them easily and instantly, but the same problems apply as mentioned above. Do you REALLY know who you are comminicating with??? The 16yr old boy that your 16yr old daughter is 'talking' to, could be a 65yr old paedophile - it can be really worrying.
Why is it, that people are so quick to just believe what they are being told about someone, if its something bad, especially if it is someone they're pretty sure they know. They won't go to that person and ask them about it.....NO, they'll just blindly believe it. They know the person isn't really like that, but what the hell.......
Also, people are quick to blame someone for doing something, but the next thing you know, they turn round and do exactly what they accused that someone else of doing - IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE - DOES IT!!!!
I like facebook, its a great way to meet some AWESOME people, but its also a way to see subtle indications that someone is speaking against you. eg: You suddenly notice that a certain person is no longer a friend of yours.....WHY? Then you start putting two and two together and figure someone has told them something that they just blindly believed. When the people doing the telling, are people that you care about (not blood family), then its very hurtful. You check here and you check there and some other things come to light........Ahhhhhh, the penny drops even more.....suddenly you are persona non gratia to some people and you can do nothing about it, because nobody will tell you to your face what is going on and they are not at all interested in the truth, because the fiction is so much jucier.
Truth or fiction - YOU decide................
The internet is great, but has big drawbacks. We can 'see' what people are saying but cannot 'see' them, so nuances in tone and voice and facial movements are lost. Someone can 'say' LOL but in actual fact be scowling as they 'say' it. It so easy to say things to other people all over the world and stories can spead as quick as wildfire, its a dangerous business.
Facebook (or any forums out there) are the same, they're wonderful, because we get to meet people from all over the world and communicate with them easily and instantly, but the same problems apply as mentioned above. Do you REALLY know who you are comminicating with??? The 16yr old boy that your 16yr old daughter is 'talking' to, could be a 65yr old paedophile - it can be really worrying.
Why is it, that people are so quick to just believe what they are being told about someone, if its something bad, especially if it is someone they're pretty sure they know. They won't go to that person and ask them about it.....NO, they'll just blindly believe it. They know the person isn't really like that, but what the hell.......
Also, people are quick to blame someone for doing something, but the next thing you know, they turn round and do exactly what they accused that someone else of doing - IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE - DOES IT!!!!
I like facebook, its a great way to meet some AWESOME people, but its also a way to see subtle indications that someone is speaking against you. eg: You suddenly notice that a certain person is no longer a friend of yours.....WHY? Then you start putting two and two together and figure someone has told them something that they just blindly believed. When the people doing the telling, are people that you care about (not blood family), then its very hurtful. You check here and you check there and some other things come to light........Ahhhhhh, the penny drops even more.....suddenly you are persona non gratia to some people and you can do nothing about it, because nobody will tell you to your face what is going on and they are not at all interested in the truth, because the fiction is so much jucier.
Truth or fiction - YOU decide................
Week 4 completed
Wow, the wind is howling today and I knew as soon as I woke up this morning that running outside wouldn't be an option *SIGH*. So it was me and my trusty treadmill for my day 3 of week 4.
In my opinion, there are pro's and con's in connection with the treadmill. On the plus side, I like the idea that I can 'see' the speed and distance that I do but on the negative side, I don't like the 'sealegs' feeling I get when I step off the treadmill after working on it. Also, working on the treadmill is really hot work, whereas outside you sometimes get a bit of a breeze to cool you down.
The funny thing about my treadmill is, that I actually bought it years ago with the intention of using it to get fit, but I never did, it just sat around gathering dust (as I'm sure a lot of exercise equiment does in a lot of other houses). Eventually I tried selling it and I'm now really glad that it didn't get sold.
BUT, I did do my final day of week 4 and it went off really well. In fact on each of the 'legs' of this session, I actually upped the speed, so my last stretch was done at a faster speed than the first stretch.
I'm thrilled with the progress that I'm making and to think that when I first started, I could barely run at all LOL Whats also great is that even though the sessions are getting more strenuous, I'm dealing with them easier. When I started off with this exercise junket in Jan, I was walking around the block - about 12 minutes exercise, now I can easily work for 40minutes. At this point, I could probably do more, but would rather stick to the schedule than risk getting injured and have to put everything on hold.
So 4 weeks down, 8 weeks to go :-)
In my opinion, there are pro's and con's in connection with the treadmill. On the plus side, I like the idea that I can 'see' the speed and distance that I do but on the negative side, I don't like the 'sealegs' feeling I get when I step off the treadmill after working on it. Also, working on the treadmill is really hot work, whereas outside you sometimes get a bit of a breeze to cool you down.
The funny thing about my treadmill is, that I actually bought it years ago with the intention of using it to get fit, but I never did, it just sat around gathering dust (as I'm sure a lot of exercise equiment does in a lot of other houses). Eventually I tried selling it and I'm now really glad that it didn't get sold.
BUT, I did do my final day of week 4 and it went off really well. In fact on each of the 'legs' of this session, I actually upped the speed, so my last stretch was done at a faster speed than the first stretch.
I'm thrilled with the progress that I'm making and to think that when I first started, I could barely run at all LOL Whats also great is that even though the sessions are getting more strenuous, I'm dealing with them easier. When I started off with this exercise junket in Jan, I was walking around the block - about 12 minutes exercise, now I can easily work for 40minutes. At this point, I could probably do more, but would rather stick to the schedule than risk getting injured and have to put everything on hold.
So 4 weeks down, 8 weeks to go :-)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Week 4 - Day 2
Today was - brisk walk 20mins - jog 10mins - brisk walk 10mins. All completed. I have to say though, that my sessions are getting more tough now and the sweat production is picking up, especially as I now can only get out at about 8am to do my sessions.
I'm still really enjoying the running, but I have to say being so HOT and SWEATY and STINKY after my session is not so much fun LOL Oh wait, sorry, I was always told by my mom that LADIES don't sweat, they glisten LOL well if thats the case then all I can say is that I must be glistening more than Edward (and if you don't know who I'm talking about - where have you been living?????) on a sunny day hehehe Oh, by the way, GO TEAM JACOB!!!!! Geez, talking about that, I wouldn't mind seeing Jacob all hot and sweaty *Carol dreams whistfully* Okay, okay, enough with the perving now :-)
I'm really starting to get excited about my race in April, but also a bit nervous about it. I'm not nervous about finishing or anything, I know I'll do that, even if I walk some of the way, I'm more nervous about going the wrong way or something stupid like that LOL Oh and of course there is the dreaded "What if I need the loo on the way" problem - but we won't go there...That reminds me of a funny story I heard this weekend involving my two sil's (sister-in-law's) and a race hehehehe (Don't worry Glenda, your secret is safe with me :-)
Oh well, I guess now that my training is over I need to get on with the rest of my day. Have a good one peeps
I'm still really enjoying the running, but I have to say being so HOT and SWEATY and STINKY after my session is not so much fun LOL Oh wait, sorry, I was always told by my mom that LADIES don't sweat, they glisten LOL well if thats the case then all I can say is that I must be glistening more than Edward (and if you don't know who I'm talking about - where have you been living?????) on a sunny day hehehe Oh, by the way, GO TEAM JACOB!!!!! Geez, talking about that, I wouldn't mind seeing Jacob all hot and sweaty *Carol dreams whistfully* Okay, okay, enough with the perving now :-)
I'm really starting to get excited about my race in April, but also a bit nervous about it. I'm not nervous about finishing or anything, I know I'll do that, even if I walk some of the way, I'm more nervous about going the wrong way or something stupid like that LOL Oh and of course there is the dreaded "What if I need the loo on the way" problem - but we won't go there...That reminds me of a funny story I heard this weekend involving my two sil's (sister-in-law's) and a race hehehehe (Don't worry Glenda, your secret is safe with me :-)
Oh well, I guess now that my training is over I need to get on with the rest of my day. Have a good one peeps
Sunday, March 6, 2011
New schedule
It was so hot on Friday night, that I couldn't sleep so I was thinking about the Spar Women's 10km and the fact that I wouldn't be able to finish my 10km training before I run it. I then had a bright idea - up till now, I have been doing training sessions on Mon/Wed/Fri and giving myself the weekends off, BUT, if I just do training every alternate day, then I can actually fit in an extra weeks training before the race :-) I decided that I was going to do that from today. So today is actually Day 1 of week 4.
Today was walk 5min, jog 8min - repeat X 3. I have to say, that the last 8min jogging stretch required a lot of willpower to get me through it, as I was jogging, I was chanting in my head "I can do this, I can do this". By hook or by crook, I was determined to not fall down on the job by not completing the session correctly. I'm very pleased to announce that the session was completed as designated by a very happy me. It was definately the most difficult session yet for me though.
Then, as I had only had a sandwich for supper last night and because I felt proud of the 'work' that I did, I treated myself to a lovely breakfast at the Fruit & Veg City where we did our veg shopping (hubby had breakfast too of course LOL).
I'm looking forward to Tuesday now so I can do the next leg of 'torture' LOL
Today was walk 5min, jog 8min - repeat X 3. I have to say, that the last 8min jogging stretch required a lot of willpower to get me through it, as I was jogging, I was chanting in my head "I can do this, I can do this". By hook or by crook, I was determined to not fall down on the job by not completing the session correctly. I'm very pleased to announce that the session was completed as designated by a very happy me. It was definately the most difficult session yet for me though.
Then, as I had only had a sandwich for supper last night and because I felt proud of the 'work' that I did, I treated myself to a lovely breakfast at the Fruit & Veg City where we did our veg shopping (hubby had breakfast too of course LOL).
I'm looking forward to Tuesday now so I can do the next leg of 'torture' LOL
Friday, March 4, 2011
Week 3 is now klaar, kuput, totally finished LOL
I was both looking forward to and just a lil bit dreading todays session, because it included a 10min stretch of running ( more correctly jogging I should say) and that is twice as much as I have done before so far in one stretch. I started out very excitedly, eagar to see if I could overcome the 10mins. I'm VERY, VERY proud to say, that I did overcome it and the last 5min stretch too, so day 3 of week 3 is now completed.
With my interest in running, came a lot of reading about running and all thing associate with it. I've come to the conclusion that us runners (and I include myself in that) are a rather weird bunch. We do some very weird things, like running 42kms (that won't be me at any time though), running in the most ungodly weather that ducks stay home in and some even run in the heat of the day (personally, I can't understand how that can put up with the heat) and a whole other assortement of things....
For instance, on my weekend away, I did a run - on a gravel road in the farmlands. I was more concerned about my (relatively) new asics getting dirty, than I was in looking at the beautiful scenery LOL
Another thing - those pavement oysters - Ewwwwww, GROSS. If you don't know what pavement oysters are, I don't think I even want to try and explain it, but suffice to say, a popular runners mag (Runners World) actually had an article in it explaining HOW to do such said offence. Apparently its quite common among runners, BUT, I'm not sure if I will ever be one of those types of runners, I think its totally gross and would much rather carry tissues with me *grimace*
Another article in said magazine, discussed when one becomes 'a runner' and one of the theories is that you only become a runner, when you have peed in your pants, on the run..........again EWWWWWWW, Thats another kind of runner that I DEFINATELY won't be becomming.
I can understand though that top road running athletes probably do both - in the interests of getting good times, but thank goodness I'm not a top athlete.
I've also learned that vaseline & sunblock can rapidly become my best friends, going with me to every race. Also a banana is good before a race and chocolate milk is good for recovery afterwards.
For the time being though, I'm VERY happy with the kind of runner I am and I'm feeling VERY proud of myself and what I've done so far and I'm really looking forward to continue on being a RUNNER!!!
With my interest in running, came a lot of reading about running and all thing associate with it. I've come to the conclusion that us runners (and I include myself in that) are a rather weird bunch. We do some very weird things, like running 42kms (that won't be me at any time though), running in the most ungodly weather that ducks stay home in and some even run in the heat of the day (personally, I can't understand how that can put up with the heat) and a whole other assortement of things....
For instance, on my weekend away, I did a run - on a gravel road in the farmlands. I was more concerned about my (relatively) new asics getting dirty, than I was in looking at the beautiful scenery LOL
Another thing - those pavement oysters - Ewwwwww, GROSS. If you don't know what pavement oysters are, I don't think I even want to try and explain it, but suffice to say, a popular runners mag (Runners World) actually had an article in it explaining HOW to do such said offence. Apparently its quite common among runners, BUT, I'm not sure if I will ever be one of those types of runners, I think its totally gross and would much rather carry tissues with me *grimace*
Another article in said magazine, discussed when one becomes 'a runner' and one of the theories is that you only become a runner, when you have peed in your pants, on the run..........again EWWWWWWW, Thats another kind of runner that I DEFINATELY won't be becomming.
I can understand though that top road running athletes probably do both - in the interests of getting good times, but thank goodness I'm not a top athlete.
I've also learned that vaseline & sunblock can rapidly become my best friends, going with me to every race. Also a banana is good before a race and chocolate milk is good for recovery afterwards.
For the time being though, I'm VERY happy with the kind of runner I am and I'm feeling VERY proud of myself and what I've done so far and I'm really looking forward to continue on being a RUNNER!!!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Migraine, cancellations & dentist
I didn't have a great day today. I was supposed to do a distant Master Reiki attunement for someone at 9am and about 8.45am I started developing a migraine. I used to get them quite often YEARS ago, but haven't had one for ages. I waited a while in case I was mistaken, but I wasn't :( so I had to phone my student and postpone her attunement which didn't make me very happy.
Things developed quickly after that with blank spots in my vision and squiggly lines in the rest of it, then the nausea, garbled speech and wonky mind started with the headache shortly after that. I took two neurofen (I had no migraine medication cause I haven't had one in forever) asked my friends on FB and another forum to please send healing and thankfully many of them did, cause my youngest daughter had a dentist appointment at 11am and I had to go with her.
I went to sleep for a while, cause thats about all I can do when I get a migraine. By the time I had to take my daughter to the dentist, luckily some of the vision & mind/speech problems were over and just the nausea and headache was left - so I got to the dentist with her and back again okay.
I'm feeling pretty much okay now, just a bit out of sorts still though. I just hope it isn't going to affect my training session tomorrow.
Things developed quickly after that with blank spots in my vision and squiggly lines in the rest of it, then the nausea, garbled speech and wonky mind started with the headache shortly after that. I took two neurofen (I had no migraine medication cause I haven't had one in forever) asked my friends on FB and another forum to please send healing and thankfully many of them did, cause my youngest daughter had a dentist appointment at 11am and I had to go with her.
I went to sleep for a while, cause thats about all I can do when I get a migraine. By the time I had to take my daughter to the dentist, luckily some of the vision & mind/speech problems were over and just the nausea and headache was left - so I got to the dentist with her and back again okay.
I'm feeling pretty much okay now, just a bit out of sorts still though. I just hope it isn't going to affect my training session tomorrow.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Week 3 - Day 2, immunizations & parcel
40mins brisk walking - That was on the agenda for today and its been completed. Another day ticked off the list. Luckily it was a bit foggy/misty this morning, so at least part of my walk was done in the cool, but more than half of it was done in the heat yet again.
Before I did my walk, I went with my eldest daughter to take her 9 month old son to have his immunization. He had to have TWO injections, shame the poor lil guy, but he was very brave. The first injection obviously wasn't too bad, cause he cried for about 20 seconds, however, the second one must have been worse cause he cried quite a lot. I'm not sure who was crying more, him or my daughter. Shortly though, the crying was over and he was just like normal again.
Today was an awesome day for another reason....I collected a parcel from the Post Office which was some goodies that I ordered from a friend of mine http://www.facebook.com/reiki.by.bronwyn or http://www.reikibybronwyn.co.za/ (by the way, my details are http://www.serenehealing.co.za/ or http://www.facebook.com/reiki.by.bronwyn#!/pages/Carol-Ward-Spiritual-Advisor-Reiki-MasterTeacher/252858623666 )
In my parcel was a beautiful Goddess statue in earth colours with a Tigers Eye crystal in her belly, a wonderful Cosmic Guide Pendant and a beautiful pendulum all made with polymer clay.
Anyway, hopefully the weather will get a bit cooler in the day soon, cause I feel like I'm melting on a daily basis :-(
Before I did my walk, I went with my eldest daughter to take her 9 month old son to have his immunization. He had to have TWO injections, shame the poor lil guy, but he was very brave. The first injection obviously wasn't too bad, cause he cried for about 20 seconds, however, the second one must have been worse cause he cried quite a lot. I'm not sure who was crying more, him or my daughter. Shortly though, the crying was over and he was just like normal again.
Today was an awesome day for another reason....I collected a parcel from the Post Office which was some goodies that I ordered from a friend of mine http://www.facebook.com/reiki.by.bronwyn or http://www.reikibybronwyn.co.za/ (by the way, my details are http://www.serenehealing.co.za/ or http://www.facebook.com/reiki.by.bronwyn#!/pages/Carol-Ward-Spiritual-Advisor-Reiki-MasterTeacher/252858623666 )
In my parcel was a beautiful Goddess statue in earth colours with a Tigers Eye crystal in her belly, a wonderful Cosmic Guide Pendant and a beautiful pendulum all made with polymer clay.
Anyway, hopefully the weather will get a bit cooler in the day soon, cause I feel like I'm melting on a daily basis :-(
Monday, February 28, 2011
Boskloofswemgat weekend
This past weekend, we went away to stay at a cottage at Boskloofswemgat http://www.boskloofswemgat.co.za/index.htm. I can't recommend this place enough, its such a lovely, tranquil place, although unfortunately its really HOT in the area. Not a big issue though, when you can spend hours in the beautiful river :-)
We stayed in Langhuis, a lovely little cottage right near a beautiful rockpool.
The main 'swemgat' is large and very idyllic with shallow parts that will be lovely for those with young children. There is also plenty of beautiful lawn where the kids can play. There are (I think) three cottages on the one side of the swemgat (with the beautiful lawns) and two on the other side.
The prices are also very reasonable, I was pleasantly surprised and Francois was a pleasure to deal with :-) Clanwilliam is pretty close with a very impressive Spar Supermarket, so if you forget anything, don't worry. We did all the shopping for the weekend at the Spar. If you feel so inclined you can also drive up the pass a while (I think its Pakhuis Pass) and see Louis Leipoldt's gravesite.
Funnily enough, while we were in Clanwilliam on Saturday, we saw two guys leading some camels along the road, I'm not sure where they were going, but they caused quite a traffic jam LOL
We saw a variety of wildlife at the farm, including, francloins, weavers, southern Boubous, doves, sparrows, sunbirds, and a mongoose. There were also a few very friendly fishies in the rockpool.
Anyway, again, I say, if you want a lovely relaxing weekend away, this is definately the place to go.
We stayed in Langhuis, a lovely little cottage right near a beautiful rockpool.
The farm has quite a few cottages, mostly on the main part of the river and some of them are next to paddocks where you can see the lovely horses and two darling little donkeys. Apparently the one mare does bite so you have been warned, be careful when petting the horses or letting your children pet them. However, having said that, we did in fact pet quite a few of the horses with no incidents.
We saw a variety of wildlife at the farm, including, francloins, weavers, southern Boubous, doves, sparrows, sunbirds, and a mongoose. There were also a few very friendly fishies in the rockpool.
Anyway, again, I say, if you want a lovely relaxing weekend away, this is definately the place to go.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Week 3 - Day 1
So, I have now completed day 1 of week 3 and I have realized something which I'm going to admit......I don't know better than the experts and I'm gonna have to rethink my race goals and go back to my original race plan.
Let me explain - I've been enjoying the running so much, that I thought I would be clever and add in an extra training session, so on Saturday, while I was away, I repeated Fridays session. It seemed fine, but this morning when doing my session, I realized it was a mistake. Even the first 5min jogging session this morning was difficult with the 2nd and 3rd being even worse, BUT, I did do the whole session.
So, admitting I'm wrong, I'm NOT going to do the two 5km fun runs and the 10km UCT race that I had planned for March. I'm going back to my original (realistic) plan of my first race being the Spar Womans Race on 10 April.
Having said all that, this has definately NOT put me off running, I still love it and will definately continue, but I am going to listen to the experts and not do my usual 'want everything quickly' thing LOL
I'm looking forward to Wednesday's and Friday's sessions :-)
Let me explain - I've been enjoying the running so much, that I thought I would be clever and add in an extra training session, so on Saturday, while I was away, I repeated Fridays session. It seemed fine, but this morning when doing my session, I realized it was a mistake. Even the first 5min jogging session this morning was difficult with the 2nd and 3rd being even worse, BUT, I did do the whole session.
So, admitting I'm wrong, I'm NOT going to do the two 5km fun runs and the 10km UCT race that I had planned for March. I'm going back to my original (realistic) plan of my first race being the Spar Womans Race on 10 April.
Having said all that, this has definately NOT put me off running, I still love it and will definately continue, but I am going to listen to the experts and not do my usual 'want everything quickly' thing LOL
I'm looking forward to Wednesday's and Friday's sessions :-)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Week 2 completed
Today is day 3 of week 2 and its now completed. It was really windy this morning so I decided to do my session on the treadmill. I know that working on the treadmill is more or less the same as working outside but somehow it seems fake and I don't really get the same feeling of accomplishment as I do when working outside, even though I've worked just as hard. What is nice though, is that I can see the exact distance I'm doing - not that that makes much difference at this point in the training as I'm working according to time (walk 5 min, jog 4 min etc).
I'm looking forward to starting week 3 on Monday, but in the meantime, I'm off for the weekend to Boskloofswemgat for a well deserved weekend break.
See you on the flipside
I'm looking forward to starting week 3 on Monday, but in the meantime, I'm off for the weekend to Boskloofswemgat for a well deserved weekend break.
See you on the flipside
Things I've discovered.........
Things I’ve discovered since starting running and trying to lose weight:
1) Herbal teas may be good for you, but not all of them taste nice
2) Oatsoeasy creamy natural flavour sounds lovely, but I hate it
3) When the season starts turning, the mornings get dark really quickly
4) It’s much nicer to run at 5.45am than 8am (I get really hot & sweaty at 8am)
5) Water doesn’t taste any nicer if you’re drinking it for health reasons, I still hate it
6) Drinking more water during the day makes you spend a lot of time in the loo *sigh* (what goes in must come out)
7) Cottage cheese really doesn’t taste great on its own, but add in some onion/tomato/cucumber salsa and some herbs and you have a yummy topping
8) Wholewheat pasta is much nicer than I thought it would be
9) The bread I like to buy comes in those short, big slice loaves when I much prefer a longer, smaller slice loaf *sigh*
10) Eating less meat is so much healthier for our bodies and our bank balances
11) My treadmill is going to come in very handy in the winter months
12) I actually like running – well, to be more accurate, I like the benefits of running, but not so much the actual running LOL
13) Having a scale that isn’t digital is very annoying when you’re trying to ascertain how much weight you’ve actually lost
14) A running bra is a must for lady runners
15) The right shoes to run in really makes a difference
16) One can actually get excited at the thought of running a race
17) Even losing just half a kg can make one really happy J
18) A sport watch can make it much easier to keep track of training
19) Starting to run isn’t as hard as I thought it would be
20) Most importantly, I’ve discovered how much running & sticking to the program makes me proud of myself and lightens my mood on a daily basis.
And now, how about another delicious recipe - this one I got from a friend and I can definately recommend it:Vegetable lasagne
Ingredients -
1 medium aubergine
3 medium courgettes
1 onion
1 tin tomatoes
1 clove garlic (crushed) or 1 tsp garlic puree
2 tbsps olive oil
mushrooms
lasagne pasta
2 oz butter/margarine
2 oz plain flour
1 pint milk
3-4 oz cheddar – grated
2tsps pesto sauce or 1
tsp dried basil
1tsp dried oregano
1tbsp tomato puree
1 Preheat oven to 180
2 Dice the aubergine, place in a colander & sprinkle well with salt. Leave to drain for 20-30 minutes and blot on kitchen paper before adding to rest of ingredients. (this stops the aubergine tasting bitter as it sometimes can)
3 Heat the oil in a large pan. Chop the onion and fry in the oil with the garlic until soft.
4 Slice courgette and add to the onions along with the drained aubergine. Fry until the courgette & aubergine is golden.
5 Slice the mushrooms add to the pan and continue to fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
6 Add the tinned tomatoes, pesto/basil, oregano & tomato puree. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer whilst you make the cheese sauce.
7 Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until the mixture binds together. Continue stirring and cook for 2-3 minutes.
8 Remove from the heat and add the milk a little at a time mixing well to ensure no lumps are formed. When all the milk has been added return to a low heat and bring to the boil gradually, stirring continuously, until the sauce has thickened.
9 Remove the pan from the heat and add the cheese mixing well.
10 Layer the vegetables, pasta and cheese sauce in a large ovenproof dish and place in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
11 Serve with salad and/or garlic bread and enjoy!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Coming up - one idyllic weekend
My hubby and I are going away this weekend for a belated anniversary getaway. The place we are going to has the unusual name of Boskloofswemgat - it might be a weird name LOL but the place looks fantastic.
http://www.boskloofswemgat.co.za/index.htm The cottage we are going to be staying in is called Langhuis, but all of the other cottages look equally lovely AND their prices are very reasonable too.
I'll definately be updating you all after we have been there and let you know how it was. We are normally a camping family so staying in a cottage is going to be a nice relaxing change. Not so much packing and not so much setting up - just pack your clothes, some lovely food and go......
http://www.boskloofswemgat.co.za/index.htm The cottage we are going to be staying in is called Langhuis, but all of the other cottages look equally lovely AND their prices are very reasonable too.
I'll definately be updating you all after we have been there and let you know how it was. We are normally a camping family so staying in a cottage is going to be a nice relaxing change. Not so much packing and not so much setting up - just pack your clothes, some lovely food and go......
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Week 2 - Day 2
So its now week 2 - day 2 and I'm still going strong :-) Today was 'walk 35min briskly' and I decided that I was going to walk with a 1kg dumbell in each hand. I've done that before, in Jan when I started exercising and was doing my own thing. However, my own thing wasn't as much as my Shape 10km Challenge puts me up to and walking briskly for 35mins with weights in each hand was a little too much. I didn't suffer badly, but in the last quarter of my walk my arms were aching and the enjoyment had kinda gone out of it. It was a good idea, but I think in future I'll leave the weights behind.
Because I was only walking this morning, I decided to start early as I used to and left the house about 5.45am. It was still pretty dark, but the street lights helped. One of the reasons I decided to carry the weights, was because I worry a bit about being out on my own in the semi darkness when there aren't that many people or cars around. Soon it will be too dark for me to attempt it, but hopefully by that time it will have cooled down a bit during the day, so then I can do my training at any time.
Of course, as winter comes in, my treadmill & inside will just have to do. Running in the howling wind or pouring rain just doesn't do it for me. LOL
I'm getting a bit worried about the 5km Fun run I'm planning to do on 5 March, cause I know that there's no way that I'll be able to run anywhere near 5km's, but I suppose doing a combination of running and walking will be okay. I just hope that I don't injure myself and therefore mess up my training program.
I'm looking forward to Fridays training....
Because I was only walking this morning, I decided to start early as I used to and left the house about 5.45am. It was still pretty dark, but the street lights helped. One of the reasons I decided to carry the weights, was because I worry a bit about being out on my own in the semi darkness when there aren't that many people or cars around. Soon it will be too dark for me to attempt it, but hopefully by that time it will have cooled down a bit during the day, so then I can do my training at any time.
Of course, as winter comes in, my treadmill & inside will just have to do. Running in the howling wind or pouring rain just doesn't do it for me. LOL
I'm getting a bit worried about the 5km Fun run I'm planning to do on 5 March, cause I know that there's no way that I'll be able to run anywhere near 5km's, but I suppose doing a combination of running and walking will be okay. I just hope that I don't injure myself and therefore mess up my training program.
I'm looking forward to Fridays training....
Monday, February 21, 2011
Week 2 - Day 1
Its now week 2 - Day 1 = 5 min walk, 4 min jog - repeat 3 times. The first 4min jog was okay, the second was more difficult and when I started the 3rd, I was really wondering if I could finish the 4mins. I just carried on plodding though and as it got more difficult, started chanting my mantra "I can do this" and lo and behold, I DID DO IT!!!!
I can't tell you how participating in this challenge and actually keeping up with an exercise program has changed my life. I constantly feel proud of myself and I eagerly look forward to the days when I do the challenge work. I never thought i'd live to see the day when I say I look forward to exercising LOL
I can see that its going to get more and more difficult as I go along, but I'm sure that I am up for the challenge and I'm looking foward to doing my first race :-) If I'm inspiring anyone else along the way, then I'm really happy about that too.
Oh, and on another plus note, I've lost about another half kg (I say about, cause my scale isn't digital). I know its not much, but I'd rather loose the weight slowly the right way instead of fast the wrong way. I have a feeling that as the challenge progresses and gets more strenuous, that the weight will come off even quicker.
Hey Ho Monday....away......:-)
I can't tell you how participating in this challenge and actually keeping up with an exercise program has changed my life. I constantly feel proud of myself and I eagerly look forward to the days when I do the challenge work. I never thought i'd live to see the day when I say I look forward to exercising LOL
I can see that its going to get more and more difficult as I go along, but I'm sure that I am up for the challenge and I'm looking foward to doing my first race :-) If I'm inspiring anyone else along the way, then I'm really happy about that too.
Oh, and on another plus note, I've lost about another half kg (I say about, cause my scale isn't digital). I know its not much, but I'd rather loose the weight slowly the right way instead of fast the wrong way. I have a feeling that as the challenge progresses and gets more strenuous, that the weight will come off even quicker.
Hey Ho Monday....away......:-)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Week 1 of my Shape 10km Challenge completed
Today was day 3 of the first week and its now complete and on to week 2 next week. This morning at 5.30am it was still soooo dark outside and rather windy, so I thought that I would rather do the days session on the treadmill. As I was getting everyone off to work and school, I decided that I really would prefer to do my session outside. I waited till the last one was off to school, then got ready and prepared to do my session outside. It was about 8.05 when I got started and it was heating up but not too bad. All went well, although the 3rd 3min jog was kinda tiring. I'm now going to enjoy a weekend of rest and start afresh with week 2 on Monday :-)
On Tuesday evening, I went with my hubby to his althletics club meeting and joined the club. I got my race numbers but will have to wait for my 'kit' as they are getting new clothing made.
I've decided to give myself some goals to work towards and to that end, I've decided I'm gonna do (or maybe do) the following races:
Saturday 5 March - the Century City 5km Fun Run
Saturday 12 March - the Constantia Village 5km Fun Run
Sunday 20 March - The Capestorm UCT Memorial 10km Race.
I'm definately aiming to do the first Fun Run and see how that goes. If it goes well, I'll do the 2nd Fun Run and if that goes well, I'll attempt the 10km. I'm realistic enough to know that its highly unlikely that I'll be able to run the whole distances, but at least I'll be getting out there. I'll run as much as I can and walk some of the way.
So, thats my plan for March 2011
On Tuesday evening, I went with my hubby to his althletics club meeting and joined the club. I got my race numbers but will have to wait for my 'kit' as they are getting new clothing made.
I've decided to give myself some goals to work towards and to that end, I've decided I'm gonna do (or maybe do) the following races:
Saturday 5 March - the Century City 5km Fun Run
Saturday 12 March - the Constantia Village 5km Fun Run
Sunday 20 March - The Capestorm UCT Memorial 10km Race.
I'm definately aiming to do the first Fun Run and see how that goes. If it goes well, I'll do the 2nd Fun Run and if that goes well, I'll attempt the 10km. I'm realistic enough to know that its highly unlikely that I'll be able to run the whole distances, but at least I'll be getting out there. I'll run as much as I can and walk some of the way.
So, thats my plan for March 2011
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