Tag Archives: 5k

The Week that Was – Cranky Pants

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Monday – a public holiday here but I was supposed to attend my last week of Circus class, I really didn’t feel like it so I plonked on the lounge and didn’t go. I was disappointed with myself as I did enjoy the previous weeks.

Tuesday – after Miss 3’s swimming lesson, I headed off to my gym EnVie to do a cardio and/or weights session, when I got there it was packed because the mums and bubs outdoor class had been moved inside due to rain, I joined the group and the class was modified to a combine boxing and abs, due to odd numbers I had the blessing (or curse) of boxing with 1 of the owners Alex and where everyone else was getting a bit of a rest when they alternated between boxing and catching with the pads, I was getting a double dose of boxing. The 2nd part of the class was squat jumps on the Bosu ball, planking with a buddy whilst slapping opposite hands and then sit-ups whilst throwing a few punches. As the Class Trainer Alita wandered around whilst we were doing abs, she was poking around making sure each persons’ abs were doing their job. As she poked at mine and said “engage those abs” to which I replied “if they were any more engaged they would be married”.  Yes I made a funny. Everyone had a chuckle and it made it onto the EnVie Facebook Page.

Wed – Swimming was cancelled due to pollution in the harbour.

Thursday – I headed to EnVie to tackle 5k on the treadmill. I had never done more than 3k continuous running on any treadmill. My goal was to do it non-stop and in 40 mins. Well I managed a 40:36, not too shabby for a first attempt. I also did my good deed for the day. Whilst my darling Miss 3 was behaving herself in the unsupervised kids area, there was another little Miss 2 who was whinging non-stop, upon enquiring with her mother it was her first time, I said it should get better in 2-3 months and laughed. I hope for her sake that she settles in quicker. So after my run I went into the kids area to finish off with stretching and entertain the children so that the other mother could finish her workout in a tiny bit of peace. It was very cute as the 2 girls watched me and tried to copy my stretching moves.

Friday – was my 8 week review at EnVie, I was given a kick-ass and (a little bit confusing for my simple brain) weights program and some new cardio progams to tackle. Jem (trainer setting my program) asked if I knew the benefits of doing weights, I am sure then are many, but she said weights provide an ongoing calorie burn of up to 80 extra calories per hour for the following 36 hours. I think I will research this more, stay tuned.

Saturday – I took Miss 3 to EnVie to have a go at my new weights program, she was in the kids area and I packed her a stack of stuff, put on a DVD, gave her a Galaxy Tab with all her games loaded on it (I swore I wouldn’t give her a gadget, bad mummy), also packed food and colouring pencils. Well she just was not in the mood to entertain herself. My new program consisted of 3 different weights or exercises for 1 muscle group and then doing each 3 times. It involved a bit of set up with bar bells and dumb bells and benches and all sorts of new stuff that I was not used to. I was a bit lost. Then with Miss Whingy Pants not coping well in the play area, I quit, my earlier good deed in the week had come back to bite me in the butt, she wanted me to go into the play area and exercise in there. She just didn’t get it. I got through about 2/3’s of my program and was in a suitable amount of pain.

Miss-Cranky-Pants For some reason every little thing Miss 3 did for the rest of the day just pushed my buttons, I turned into cranky crying mummy. I would hear a song on the radio and cry. She would spill some food, I would yell, she would cry, we would cuddle and all was good for 5 mins and then something else would happen and we would go in a vicious circle, this went on for hours. Then we had to go to a kids’ party at a Play Centre, HELL, if you are in a bad headspace. I sat like a cranky pants just wishing it to be over, which was a shame because I really wanted to catch up with my friend whose daughters party it was.

Best not to rule this out as a possible cause.

Best not to rule this out as a possible cause.

By the time hubby got home at about 6.30pm I was more of a basket case if that was possible, Miss 3 was put to bed at 7.30 and I enjoyed some Champagne, chocolate and dip, I hope the other parents out there will understand when I say “it was just 1 of those days”, please tell me this happens to everyone. There were comments on Facebook that suggested it was PMT, well since I have never suffered from it before (in my honest opinion) I don’t know much about it, time for more research, must prevent near death of a 3 year old at the hands of her mother.

Sunday – after a nice Breakfast with the Outlaws, Miss 3 fell asleep on the way home and I took off for a bike ride and swim. 2 hours of me time, something I clearly desperately needed if yesterday was any indication. My cycling was difficult on the way out super strong headwind, but I guessed that conditions will not always be perfect on race day and I must train in all conditions. Then I stopped at 1 of the local Ocean Pools to do a few laps of training before a short ride home. I was happy to get a bit of Tri training under my belt.

So with less than 2 weeks until my next Tri and 16 days until my big 40th birthday, I am beginning to wonder if I am ready.

Running – Couch to 5k

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So recently I had a lovely catch up with Miss 3’s Mothers Group (yes she had a birthday). It was a bit chaotic in my back yard with 6x 3 year olds, a 2x 1 year olds and 2 under 3 months. So after some cake, coffee, dip and carrots the conversation got onto the topic of fitness, Triathlon, tough mudder and running and some of the girls were asking how I did it, so I thought it appropriate to write this post I have been thinking about for a while.

Now I know there are many websites and blogs out there that have a training program for “Couch to 5k” and being fairly time poor and time limited (after Facebook and Pinterest) to troll the internet for a proper program (that you don’t have to pay for), I just had a crack at it myself.

I never thought I could actually do it.

So around January 2012 my trainer started me running during our weekly session completely out of the blue, as his main focus up until now was Indoor Rowing.

Initially I could not run a full lap around his block which was about 300m (I found out later), I could make about 200-250m non-stop. So over the course of the hour I was with him, I would do some rowing and then head out for a lap around the block and then repeat this 3 or 4 times. It is hard to remember the exact amount of time but it was probably about 2-3 weeks of doing this before I could complete a full lap around the block. I was also trying to do a bit of run/walking myself pushing Miss 3 in the jogger pram maybe 1 other time a week.

At the time of doing my laps I never knew how far it was, to me I guessed it was about 1k, when one day I calculated it to be approx. 400m (actually 300m) I was devastated, I thought I was going further. This was getting too hard.

Alas, I pressed on, we began to deviate from running the block and ventured to the local bike track. To get from my trainers house to the track was 700m, this at the time, felt like enough for me because I always kept thinking the further away I get the further I have to get back. Negativity was constantly creeping in.

Then we began using the run “to the” bike track as a warm up, have a stretch and a run along the path, so each week I would try to run further than the week before, 1st time clump of trees, next the bridge, next time 2 telegraph poles past the bridge and so on. I was also doing this other times myself without my trainer.

One thing I figured out early on was I had to WANT to be a runner and despite what people may say they probably want to as well. I used to say “oh I have no desire to run”, because it always seemed too unachievable. I had to keep getting out and testing my mind more than my body. Some days I felt better than others and some days my mind made me stop before my body wanted to.

So to give you an idea of timeframe I started running around late Jan 2012 and by beginning of March (about 6 weeks after I started) I was running 2k non-stop, then about 2 weeks later I was running over 3k non-stop, and by mid April I had cracked 4k. By the beginning of May I had cracked the elusive 5k and did it a second time a few days later to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. So basically those first 2k seemed to take forever but the progress after that I seemed to be able to go further distances a lot quicker, do don’t despair in those early days when you may feel that you are getting nowhere, just try to go a bit further than the last time and then keep up run walk and each time try to reduce the distance of the walk and increase the run intervals. So achieving MY first 5k took just over 3 months.

After successfully conquering the 5k a couple of times, I would go out wanting to do it again and not be able to, there were days when it just didn’t happen. I tried not to let it get me down and would just think “well I didn’t make 5k this time but hey I did 4k and look how far I have come”. Also a lot of my initial running was on really flat ground and when I added hills I would get disappointed with my distance.

Over these months something that I hadn’t felt before had clicked in my head and I had found some determination. I went on a few holidays: a week with the girls to Bali, booze, food, laughs, shopping and just a general good time, but I still managed to go out and run a couple of times; a scrapbooking weekend, where normally I would sit on my rear end for 2 nights and 2 days and only get up to eat and sleep, I managed to take an hour out of my day to go for a run; a family trip to Dubbo Zoo I got up before the crack of dawn and in the bitter cold and managed a 3k run (it was sooo hard to warm up, my body wouldn’t go any further). Now it seems first thing I pack is my runners.

I very rarely run with anyone else, I run with my music, I have a great playlist on my Ipod and Smartphone and certain songs really get me going, I think that I will share an entire post about my Workout Music soon. I also love Runkeeper app and website to keep track of distance, time and speed, although I don’t know if it is completely accurate it is a good guide.

Another thing I need to say is I am not fast at all, actually there was a time (in the early days) when an elderly lady power walking overtook me wearing sandles, plenty of people walking their dogs have overtaken me especially up hills, but I just keep LMFAO in my head