2014 Highlights, Relections and Goals

Obviously Bubbaboo has been a massive highlight this year! I still cannot believe its only a couple of weeks to his first birthday, and how far he has come. All the milestones, both big and small, make my heart sing and I really cant remember or imagine life without him.

Other highlights include heading back to the Motherland to catch up with friends and family and do some tourist stuff, Run/Walking the 12km of the City to Surf with our little lion man who was content to sit in the pram just about all the way and got his first medal for his efforts, and our first proper family holiday, road tripping in a dodgy old camper van down the Great Ocean Road. Lots of happy memories.

Since Bubbaboo was born I've also been sucked down the rabbithole of babywearing. We both love the closeness, and he'll contently sit on my back and watch me cook while TheBoy is at work instead of causing chaos or screaming because he doesn't want to be in his play pen. Lifesaver. Sanity saver anyway! Plus I get to indulge in even more fabric!

So, thats what I've been up to. Aims for the next year include:

More selfish sewing. I have I have some grey check wool with subtle pink sparkle threads that I picked up for a song that I'm planning will become some winter trousers. I also have the Colette iris shorts pattern that will hopefully soon become my first pair of shorts. I just need to print the damn thing, and it looks like a huge waste of paper :( I also have these pretties waiting to be sewn up into... some thing...

My sister-in-law got me 3 balls of gorgeous cotton/wool blend yarn each with a silver thread and mini sequins. Its screaming "make me into a stripy scarf" so I'm thinking I might finally attempt to knit one. I hated knitting when my grandma tried to teach me at primary school, so we'll see if my patience has improved.

More quality, less quantity. As Bubbaboo gets bigger and wears his clothes for longer I'm trying to aim for less but more. Sure, there will be rapid fire play clothes, but I think the joy of boys clothes is in the details. I have an ideas board on Pintrest, so the plan is to put them into action.

My present from Bubbaboo (via Daddy, of course) was a subscription to Ottobre magazine. I'm thinking a Lower Your Presserfoot style challenge is in order. I'm not sure if my subscription includes the womans magazines, but my aim is to make at least one pattern a month from the most recent edition. Decembers is done, so I'll try and get that up soon, and I know what Januarys will be.

Lets see how the year progresses!

City To Surf 2010

OK, so my blogging dropped off with my lack of marathon...

My knee issues meant I didn't put in enough training to do the full marathon, so a few weeks before the big day I dropped down to the half, and was slightly concerned about even doing that!

The day dawned warm and sunny, not ideal conditions really, especially since the half only started at 9.

For once, I was glad that I wasn't one of the good runners, because the first major mess up of the day was the lead cyclist taking the wrong route, meaning that the lead runners ran up to 3km extra. Not good! It took them days to declare the results of the female race because noone quite knew who had run what and how the finishing order related to anything. Not good when you're trying to up the profile of the race and offering big prize money!

I told my knee that it had to behave, then listened to it. After about 11km it started twinging, so I stopped and stretched and gave it a bit of a rest for a while. I didn't race, there was no zooming in on people and keeping up/overtaking. All I wanted to do was finish without rooting my knee.

So I was pleasantly surprised to finish faster than last time, despite training really hard and specifically last time. I had a piece of paper with a the Hal Higden training plan and actually stuck to it. This year I just realised I was already running far, hurt my knee and hadn't run more than 8km for 2 months. Goes to show what overall conditioning does!

The organisers attempt to separate the longer distance runners from the rabble running/jogging/walking/3-legged-racing the 12km route, so where the route is the same they partition the road with a fence. There still managed to be lots of people managing to cross over and getting in the way. It wouldn't be so bad if they were going at a decent pace. The best bit is where it splits off. I told 3 people they were in the marathon lane. The look on their face when they realised they were being split off and potentially "running a marathon" was priceless.

The other major problem was the lack of fluids. There were meant to be drink stations every 2km, with water and poweraid, and Gu packets at a few of the stops on the marathon lane. A lot of the stops just couldn't keep up, especially on the joint sections. 40,000 people is a lot for a Perth event, and a lot of the volunteers looked like they were forced to be there (think community service components of school/TAFE courses) and hence weren't really even trying to keep up.

Being at the back of the pack I saw only empty Gu packets, and not even many of those. Only 3 of the stations had Poweraide, and at one point I got so frustrated queuing up for water that I just ran on, even though I could feel the need for a drink. 

Because of the heat and lack of water, there were lots of ambulances and people in a bad way at the side of the roads. Not a nice sight, and even worse for the people themselves. As far as I know they were all OK in the end.

Overall, I had a great day. I finished pretty well, had a really good massage (the Boy's work had a tent in the finish area, with 2 masseurs for 40 people, so we got decent massages rather than the usual 2 minute corporate rub-down I'm used to) and had nice easy run chatting with people and enjoying the view!

25 down, 17 to go.

So, this morning I set out to run at least 10km, preferably 15, but not to push my dodgy knee too far too soon after 2 months of minimal running.

I didn't take any of the energy gels I bought in an effort to sort out a running nutrition plan, because I wasn't running far enough to need it.

Then at about 12km (I use the MapMyRun iPhone app on runs like these where its all free form and unplanned) I decided I was feeling pretty good, just a little fatigued but not muscle soar. So I decided to carry on and try and get to 21k. After a stop at the shop to get one of those breakfast replacement things to power me up a bit. I only drank half though, from fear of stitches and because it didn't taste too hot!

After 19km I decided to carry on even further.
After 23km I got a call from the Boy to make sure I was still alive :)
After 25km I got home.

Then post run brunch of chicken omelet with wholegrain toast, coffee and electrolyte drink.

So fingers crossed I will survive this!

I just love the feeling of getting to an intersection and knowing that I could turn left and head home, but choosing to go right. Over and over and over again. :)

New shoes, New Challenge

Ok, I've hinted at it before, but I just signed up for the 

Chevron City-to-Surf Marathon.

Yes, all 42km of it, complete with hills from the half way mark.

I was doing well with training before I went off on my jollies, and I've had these chest issues in the last 2 weeks, but its nearly time to get serious. There are 2 month to go (well, actually probably more like 6 weeks), but I think I'll be OK. 

The plan is to do hill and distance training, and running at least 30km in one go (preferably 32) before the big day. Hopefully I'll be in and around camp, not way out bush, so I'll be able to get some treadmill work in. If not, I'll just have to find a way.

And I have no running time aim. The cut off is 6:30, and I put 5:30 as my estimate...

And the new shoes?

After accidentally leaving my good trainers in the back of a taxi in Cairns, I started running in my older but still OK pair again, but just couldn't go back after the luxuary of really good trainers. So today I replaced them with some gel Kayano 16s. So pretty, and oh so comfy. And $100 off in the sales!

So busy!

So busy!


Do you ever feel like the world is spinning really fast under your feet, but youre never quite touching the floor?!


I was out bush all last week on a Heritage survey. It went surprisingly well actually, apart from them not turning up on the day they were supposed to.


Off to Cairns tonight to catch up with one of my best friends from home, so spent today and last night getting some of the stuff I should be doing sorted. It should be a good few days though.


Ran 17km this morning.
Still 4 months til the City to Surf.
Maybe I'll do the marathon...

Bridges 10km - Race Report.

After a late night (boxing start was delayed, so didn't get home til 11:30! but more on that here) it was an early start.
Blue skies and sunshine, and less humidity than we've had over the last week. They said it was 15 degrees on the radio as I drove to the start (no public transport that early in Perth on sundays) but felt warmer in full sun!
  
The start was well organised. Many racers had had there numbers sent out to them, so all they had to do was show up, people like me who were late applicants collected their numbers with ease. There was a 5km race starting from the other side of the river, planned so the first across the line would arrive with lots of support from the 10km people, so I hung around the finish line and cheered the first 3 guys and a girl across the line. My guess is they were done in less than 20 minutes. 

Then it was time to line up to get going.
I'd put myself into group D, 55 minutes and over. I was hoping for 55, so turns out this was a big mistake! You'd think I'd have learnt by now that since everyone else puts themselves in too high a group, maybe I should too!
I spent the first 3 kms dodging and weaving. That was all the way across the first bridge until it opened up on the South Perth foreshore and there was more room for people to find their own space. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE! If you're walking at 2km, there is no way you can run 10km in less than 55 minutes so why did you start in with the group C and make me dodge around you?
I was doing well. I was definitely not going to let myself take more than an hour, so I was watching my splits for 6 minute kms and doing pretty good. Would have been better with a clean start, but could have been much worse.

By 7km i was getting hot and my shoulders started to ache which was very annoying. Must have slept a bit funny? So took out 30 seconds to stretch them out properly and relieve the tension building up across them.
8km and we were up onto the Narrows bridge and heading for home.
At this point I saw that I might just about make 55minutes, but it would be close. I put in everything I still had and over took a gazillion people on the home km, but it wasn't quite enough and my watch time was 0:56:15. Grrr! We'll see if the mat time is any better. I wasnt quite sure where the "start"was... so maybe I started my watch too early?! But probably not 15 seconds early... and definitely not 1 minute 15 seconds...
I felt good though. Sweat was pouring off me, but my legs felt Ok. Not "lets do this all over again now" OK, but Ok. My HR averaged at 180, so I was giving it all I had. I'm happy about that. No slacking off like in last years C2S! I'm definitely going to aim for the C2S HM again this year. With a build up in distance over the next 6 months and more speedwork, I hope I can smash the 2:15 barrier of my previous two HMs.


So, things to remember next time:

1. Don't go to a boxing match the night before and get home late.
2. Start in the group you want to be in, not the one you used to be in. 
3. Start further forwards!
4. Figure out the splits for the time you want to finish in, not the one you don't want to be over.  
5. Stretch shoulders more!

Hopefully should be some decent photos to put up soon. I remember seeing a few photographers right in front of me as I powered past, especially on the last km. Fingers crossed. 

So sleepy!

I am sooo tired!

I had a really fun break, but it involved lots of late nights (well, 4 in a row). And now I'm back up on site I'm struggling to turn off early enough to get enough sleep in. My alarm goes off at 4 every morning and I slowly wake up, get dressed and stumble out at 4:30, grab breakfast and lunch from the dining room/dry mess and carry on up to work for 5.

Which is normally OK, but I havn't been getting to sleep til after 10 so I just end up really tired all day.

Productivity is low.

Interest is low.

Care factor is low.

Mojo is gone!

I have a program on my phone that moniters my sleep pattern, and while I don't believe it 100%, its pretty interesting reading. My average sleep for the last few days has been less than 6 hours, and I spent most of that tossing and turning.

Last night I managed 1km on the treadie before giving up due to a stich. Which is pretty feeble. ANd I know that I'm only just finding my stride after 1km, and after than all problems work themselves out. But I just had no interest and no strength to carry on.

Plan tonight is to go for a swim after work, have tea that doesnt involve chips (its fush and chups friday!) and get to bed by 7:30. Even if I'm just lying in bed reading, I'm more likely to fall asleep than if I'm sat at the computer or watching TV.

I need to be doing more training if I'm going to get the HM done in August, and I want to be fresh for Melbourne, and I'm generally fed up of feeling weak and weary. So I will focus on my sleep for a few days and hope things improve!

Run for a Reason

So, my running has taken a back seat so far this year, what with all the cycling and focus on building strength not just cardio.
I also had unrealistic aims- running a marathon this year?! Who am I trying to kid? Once I'm back out bush all training will go out the window, and train I must to actually finish a marathon without dying.

So. New plan:

Early May: 7km Mothers Day Classic (if this isn't when I'm in Cairns)

End of May: 14km Run for a Reason. I don't know if this is a new event in Perth, but I've never noticed it before. Its the last break before we go home for the wedding, so should help keep me in check until then.

End August: C2S HM. I figure, if I have a good base worked up I'll be able to add another few km to it for the HM. It will be a challenge but it should be achievable. SMART ;)

October (?): Rottnest 10k. I've wanted to do one of the races on Rotto for years. So if no marathon then the 10k it will be.

These are all on my breaks, and I will enter them all soon, so I can't back out.

I would love to do another Tri, especially after reading Mels race report. Ive seen a few around that I could probably phyically aim for, but theyre all open water, and while I'm getting much better with my fear of the unknown I don't think I'm over it enough. My first Tri was in open water, but it was short and sheltered. I think my actual biggest fear is having another panic attack and having to be dragged out of the water, more than any real fear of being eaten alive. I'm doing good at being in the water at my own pace and on my own terms, not on the blow of a whistle... Maybe it can be on the list of things to have done by the time I hit 30...

On a totally unrelated note, I just got back from
Bran Nue Dae.
I really liked it, as I'm assuming did all the rest of the people in the cinema! Its been a long time since I heard so much laugh-out-loud-laughter at a film. 

Part of me wonders if its to cover their embarrassment...

Or am I just cynical?!