Ho Ho Ho.

Like every other parent of young children out there we are living and breathing Santa and all things Christmas.  It is my most favourite time of year, the weather is warm and everyone starts cracking the champagne and taking advantage of the long afternoons, the sounds of kids enjoying themselves and making memories always brings a smile to my face.

Last week we kept up tradition of the Santa photo in the city, combined with the parade and lights at King George Square.  We have been doing this for a few years now and each year it gets better, Otto and Hugo spoke to Santa for the first time this year and put in their requests (a surprise for Hugo and a metal detector for Otto), while Miriam smiled at him and tried to pull his beard off, securing us the cutest Santa photo going around!

I always put a lot of effort into their Christmas outfits and this year was no exception but much harder than usual with a girl in the mix.  Sadly too late for this year but definitely bookmarked for next year I found a website that will coordinate both boys and girls Christmas outfits and will make custom orders for older children!  

While I understand how exciting it is for them to be getting a visit from Santa, I have been trying hard to also remind them that it is the season of giving and not just receiving, so today we did our usual bake for the neighbourhood and dropped the offering to our neighbours.  This was the first year that the boys really understood and happily went and knocked on neighbours doors, wishing them a Merry Christmas and enjoying the smiles and thank-you's from everyone.

The school holidays have also allowed me some variations on my training schedule.  Instead of hot and short runs to school we have been heading to our local park and running 5kms, followed by a play and croissants by the water, not easy to guess which version is our favourite!

All this extra training has really paid off, last week I managed a sub 28 min (27:46) 5km with the double pram, the first time I have achieved that since coming back to it after Miriam.  I was so happy and proud, fitting my training in has required a lot of planning and ingenuity at times but to have a result like that just keeps propelling me forward.  I can't wait to see where running takes me in 2017, but for right now I am celebrating the small wins, and enjoying the croissants and time spent making memories with my little people.

Getting back into it.

One big impact of having Miriam and training has been all about patience.  When I had Otto I wasn't doing any exercise, my activity level mostly consisted of walking our dog, I had tried to get into running but found that I just couldn't find the time, something I have a little giggle about now!  When I had Hugo it started off the same, I just couldn't seem to find the time, however after about six months I realised it was something that I HAD to find time for or else my sense of self was going to be wrapped up in these two amazing but demanding boys, and I needed something for me.

I bought my first running pram not long after so that it didn't matter if Han was home from work on time, or travelling, I could always get my run done.  It took me over 12 weeks to complete the couch to 5Km but it was one of the best decisions I have made.  It propelled me into a new passion, running was something that was relatively free, easy to do with the boys in tow and I could fit it in around our schedule.  Fast forward many months and I found Triathlon, now the boys are older and I was trying to fit in swimming, running and riding around our schedule while Han had taken a job that included more travel.

Then we decided to have another baby, it is one way to test your organisational ability by adding another human to look after, especially as Han travelled for work on the first day of term 2 when Miriam was 2 weeks old!  This time around I have had to learn patience, both with myself and my body, having a third baby, who was both big and late means that the effect on my body has taken longer to heal, and in some cases is still ongoing.  I would have loved nothing more in those early days to head out for a run and clear my head, or go to the pool and spend some time on myself, but after heading to the pool once at 7 weeks after giving birth I quickly learned that I needed to go slower.

So finally now that Miriam is 8 months old I am ready to get back into it, my expectations have been suitably lowered, I understand that it will take time to be able to do what I used to do, and while it can be frustrating, I am trying to remember to love my body for all it has given me.  Because while it might be a bit extra lumpy and bumpy right now, I wouldn't change these children for all the world.  

So what has been happening?

So, It has been almost a year since I have sat at my desk and contemplated this spot, and I have just spent a good evening reading back through my old posts.  What a wonderful trip down memory lane that was.

To catch this space up properly would take far too long, so here are the cliff notes!

• I did the Mooloolaba Triathlon in just over 3 hours.
• Hugo started Kindergarten and loves it.
• Otto started year 1 and isn't convinced by this whole school and work idea.
• I fell pregnant and moved house in the same month.
• I swam throughout my whole pregnancy but that was the only training I did.

• I had the most delightful and amazing baby girl, we called her Miriam.

• We are now complete as a family and I couldn't be prouder of our three beautiful children.

• I competed in the swim leg of the 2016 Noosa Triathlon after 3 weeks of training and a seriously bad head cold and got my arse handed to me!

• I have read so many books since falling pregnant and during breastfeeding and will do a post about my favourites soon.

So obviously life has been busy, fun and crazy, I am hoping to use this space to keep an online diary of my own training journey to Noosa Tri, to keep me honest and somewhere that I can come to reflect once it is all said and done!

Welcome Back!

Life and training.

It took a while, yet the whole family has finally recovered from the respiratory virus that graced us in the second week of school!

I have hit training as hard as I can, it is only 18 days until the Mooloolaba Triathlon and one of the biggest items on my life bucket list.  I am nervous, terrified and also trying hard to visualise crossing the finish line and how that will feel, trying at least to see myself running across and not crawling!

Now that Otto is at school, training has had to become flexible, and often more intense a few times a week rather than more evenly spread out.

On a Tuesday (we call it super Tuesday) and Friday (fun Friday) Hugo and I do a mini brick session which is fun for him and hard work for me.

Ride 7km to the pool,
Swim 2-3km in swim squad
Run 2-3km sprints around the pool
Ride 7km home.

I also go to the 2 hour brick sessions on a Saturday with my training club.

While these aren't huge numbers, I hope they are at least training my body to withstand the demands of racing in different sports put together usually in the heat.  I don't have the ability to get out there and attend much training, but I want to do the best I can.

I was trying to explain my love for this sport to a friend of ours the other day, it is hard to explain, every time I go to leave my bike in transition and head out to wait for my wave to start, without fail, I wonder why the fuck I thought this was a good idea.  However, at some point, your brain changes gear, you start to realise that the only reason this is a good idea is to prove that you as an individual can choose a goal and go for it, some races are good and you feel comfortable, others are terrible, your arms won't move in the swim, your legs just won't go in circles any faster on the bike and running feels like quicksand.  Those are the races that are the greatest accomplishment for me, while it might be a terrible time it is a feat of mental endurance to keep going when everything is telling you to stop.

I do this for myself, but I also do it for the boys.  In a world full of technology, attendance certificates and trophies it is an important lesson that you train and work hard for nothing more than personal satisfaction.  I am never going to win a race, my whole aim is to not finish last in my age group and when the boys ask if I won I proudly say "no, but I did finish".

Also, to be honest, I do it for the wine and chocolate!

From head-lice to Asthma.

So this school thing is certainly full of surprises, and sometimes not always the fun type.  We were only a few days into the first week of school when a head-lice alert via email came in, of course it was frustratingly vague, no idea which grade or if many grades were affected, was it just one child or a whole infestation of these tiny white itchy buggers, pretty instantly the rest of us were scratching our heads in dread and confusion.  While I remember having lice during school, I actually don't know what I am looking for, and Otto's love of the sandpit certainly didn't help the situation.  It was very interesting to Otto who proudly proclaimed to everyone that he was "mice free" the next day, thanks to Hugo's aversion to the letter L.

The second medical issue was by far the most scary and troublesome of the two.  Otto went to bed without issue and exhibiting no symptoms of being sick on Monday night but awoke only a few hours later struggling and gasping to breathe which started a night I don't wish to repeat any time soon.  Torn between waking up Hugo and heading to an emergency room or staying at home and waiting for the on call doctor I chose to stay and wait, thinking that a child with difficulty breathing would be considered a priority.  I was assured many times that the doctor was on his way only to finally have him arrive 4 hours after the first phone call, thankfully the doctor wasted no time administering the drugs that was needed and while his breathing didn't become normal it did become a little easier over the next hour.

The next day was filled with appointments to try and see if we can understand how a healthy child with no history of respiratory illness can, in the space of 4 hours go from peaceful sleep to respiratory distress.  It seems as though the only answer is that he is developing asthma, not the kind that gives you day to day symptoms, but the type that attacks out of nowhere and is serious straight away.  Great.  Going forward we have a small plan, but best of all I have a plan as his mother for when this next happens to me in the middle of the night and I am on my own struggling to decide what is best for us all, it was such a lonely and distressing position to be in and I am so thankful that it ended well.

Otto was more than happy to have a day resting at home, he loves going to school but each day mentions how much he misses us and playing with his toys.

Thankfully by the next day he was well enough to go to school, I did wonder if I should send him but Otto was more than keen to go, and he was pretty much back to normal.  Hugo and I hit up the pool and I swum to clear my head, so many 'what if's', 'could have been's' and 'thank God's' in my head with each tumble turn.

I can't tell you how grateful I was for the friends that understood I was on my own dealing with a scary situation, I got so many lovely emails, texts, emergency chocolate and flowers.  It made me so unbelievably touched to realise the lovely community we make as women and mothers, so many of these wonderful people had been in situations like this themselves, or simply understand how sometimes we just need someone to know we are there for them.

In a totally cheesy way it reminds me a bit of this ad that has been doing the rounds on facebook, typical of a big company these days to plug in on a persons emotions in the hope that they will also cash in, but the message is still a valid one.

Thankfully the rest of the week has gone more smoothly, Hugo and I have managed to catch whatever it was that set Otto off, and I am trying not to think that a week of training for the Mooloolaba Triathlon was most certainly NOT in the schedule, but next week is a new week.  Although, if that was week 1 &2 of school term, I am a little concerned about week 3!

On with 2015

So far this year has been going really well, we are all adjusting to our new lifestyle of school routines, continued flying in and out by Han for work and Hugo and I still hanging out at home.

Around October last year, mum's with older school children started warning me about the organisation required of having a child at school.  I am not sure if they saw the dazed and confused look on my face or if I had managed to screw up forgetting something at kindy one time too many, however by the fourth or fifth time it got mentioned to me I stood up and took notice.

October commenced with crazy de clutter and organisation around here, nothing and no one was safe, no cupboard too high or intimidating and no cupboard left unopened.  By Christmas I was working on little sleep but with a deep satisfaction that it was done, I googled, pintrest(ed?) and searched you tube for the best tips before commencing a cupboard, which made a huge difference to how I pulled it all together.  The wealth of information made me feel a little less crazy for basically becoming obsessed with organising!  I know fold sheets with Martha Stewart finesse and there is absolutely nothing in our cupboards that isn't used regularly or has a definite purpose, and I can't tell you how good that feels.

I have a mountain of belongings for a garage sale that speaks volumes underneath our house, exactly why did I purchase all these items?  Why did I keep them for so long?  Why did I think I needed them?  It is more than a little humbling especially as we have lived in countries with unspeakable poverty and always felt as though we were already good at filtering our wants and needs.

This year I am determined to take it further, I don't have anything really left to organise but I know I can do better with our budget and groceries.  For a while now I have been making our own washing detergent and yoghurt, dreaming about a big chicken coop and veggie patch, even making sure that our landscape architect understood that these would have to feature in any garden plans and obsessively sending him great designs incorporating play structures and chicken coops (although that might explain why I don't hear from him often!).

I have experimented a few times with making our own bread, only in the bread maker and yet it always turned out really stodgy, with massive holes in it and I was never happy with the results.  I continued to buy bread anyway as we don't really eat all that much of it, until now.  With Otto starting school the demands for bread has skyrocketed in this house and I was starting to notice a huge difference in our weekly shoppping, add to that the fact that I don't really understand all the additives in the bread we buy and I saw an opportunity to try my hand at bread making yet again.

Inspired by a few posts on this blog I figured I didn't really have much to loose, searched pinterest once again and Hugo and I got all the ingredients plus a few extras for some special biscuits this morning.  It was amazing, you would think bread isn't something to get too excited about but I loved watching it rise, knowing that the yeast was in there doing it's job, kneading it and working hard to get the best rise and most amount of air into the dough.  I followed the directions exactly and was rewarded with some of the best bread I have eaten in a while, I felt so accomplished.

This of course means I can now add this book to my birthday wishlist and hopefully learn a whole new skill.

Your mountain is waiting.....So get on your way.

Just like that, in a blink of an eye Otto has started school.  I could go on and on about time being a cruel mistress, but we all know that, I have lost track of the amount of times I have said the phrase "the days are long but the years are short", not always believing it to be true because some of those days felt as though time stood still!
However, nothing compared to seeing Otto run off happily to evolve and start the long journey of self discovery without me by his side.  It was both elating and incredibly devastating to know that the time has indeed gone, never again will that little two year old tell me all his secrets, stumbling over words that he hasn't learnt yet, holding my hand at every opportunity or bringing huge armfuls of books to reading time.  I will treasure those moments forever in my memory while at the same time I am really looking forward to what this new stage will mean for us all.

Otto is already soaking up school and all it offers, they started homework on the first full day and he hasn't looked back, each day he is more than excited to tell me what new letter they learnt that day and the rhyme that goes with it.  The first library borrowing experience was beyond exciting as is each playtime he gets with friends.  I on the other hand am so grateful for the community of other mums that we have managed to build in this area from kindy and other places, the facebook messages going between us all have provided me with not only support but wonderful laughs as we all navigate this new phases together.

Oh well, one down and one to go, thankfully Hugo has another year at home before starting Kindy or I wouldn't know what to do with myself!

Coastal dreaming.

On Monday we loaded up the car for a quick overnight trip up the coast to visit family and friends.

I love it when we do these trips, they are always last minute, grab what we think we need (always forgetting something important) and head north listening to some strange assortment of kids music, singing at the top of my lungs while the boys plead with me to stop.

We had a great time frolicking on the beach, swimming in the pool and spending time catching up with people who are important to us.  These are my people, the ones that have seen me through all sorts of challenges and triumphs, the type of friend that doesn't require constant checking in or phone calls, where a firm hug and warm smile upon seeing each other again brings us right back to where we left off.

I saw one girlfriend and her now teenage daughter, it constantly blows me away that I held her tight as a baby, my first experience at seeing love grow before my very eyes, not only the love of her mother but my love as an extension of the affection I felt for her mum.  It was probably the first time I saw a glimpse of the intensity motherhood would later bring me.  To see her now flourish and begin her own journey to adulthood make me so proud of both her and her mum.  It makes me think that every now and then you are given a moment which is such a gift, a moment in time which gives you pause to take stock of what a journey this all is.

I love these moments, and on days which don't go to plan and feel overwhelming it is wonderful to have these firm hugs and warm smiles to look forward to.

Superhero running in the rain.

Saturday was the first anniversary of my local park run, and because runners are generally crazy and like to have fun it was superhero themed.  Hugo found this so amazing as he has only just started to become interested in superheros and especially spider man, the torrential downpour that occurred just as we started running was an added bonus.

It was a hard slog, and probably the last run Otto will do in the pram, we figured out that with both kids weight and the pram weight I am probably pushing close to 40kg around an undulating 5km run. The current weight gain of both kids is being felt in my legs and also I have noticed a huge shift in my times.  About six weeks ago I was able to run at a 5:17 pace, currently I am around a 5:44 pace with both boys.

The rain made me a bit slower as I was worried about slipping with the pram, but this run was all about fun and trying to catch and overtake the other superheros!

I love how excited Hugo got while we were running, and how much he gains from this experience, I only hope that Otto will continue to somehow come with me, either a combination of running and pram sitting, or scootering beside me.

A fellow runner came and shot a great video of us setting off and towards the back of the people you see me come through with the pram, it was hugely busy this week so I stuck towards the back.

Later that afternoon we headed into the city to see 'Erths dinosaur Zoo' at QPAC.  I was a little bit concerned about how the boys would manage it, so it was quite a relief when they loved every minute of it, plenty of children ran away crying as the dinosaur puppets were often very life like and behaved erratically, although that only added to the atmosphere. 

We had such a wonderful Saturday together, and a great way to start the new year!

Farewell and good riddance 2014

I have spent a fair amount of time contemplating this little spot on the internet, as life got hard this year my blog was the first thing to go, followed quickly by my sanity! (you think I am joking but it got close there sometimes).

However, as many people do while contemplating a new year dawning, with all the hopes, dreams and possibilities it holds I am hoping there are some pretty awesome gems for my family, and I would love to document them, so fingers crossed I can start to write here regularly again.

This year Otto starts prep, I have three more triathlons to complete and a few other as yet undecided events that I would like to compete and secure some PB's.  It is my last year with Hugo home full time and I am determined to enjoy and embrace each experience, the years are flying and I am learning to take each day as it comes.

So with the final day of this bad year dawning I set my alarm to run before work along the river, a favourite place of mine.  The only drawback being the consistent and ever so familiar pain under my diaphragm.  I can't even begin to explain what it was like to wake up and have that pain, after all the injections, hot flushes, mood swings, vagueness, insomnia and worry throughout my treatment, it didn't work.  The old pain was back and I was pissed off, both at my body and at the timing, how dare this "thing" come and ruin the last day of the year, remind me of how scary and painful some of these months were and how much I paid personally for it, but I am nothing if not stubborn and "ran" (jogged) anyway.

The pain would increase whenever I tried to run faster so I kept it at a slow and steady pace, sometimes smiling, sometimes holding back the tears, but I was determined that a disease which has taken so much from me this year would not take my one saviour, my one driving force (other than my family) which got me through some hard and horrible weeks.  The ability to run, to fill my lungs with air and clear my head, to tell me that no matter how hard it felt, how much it hurt I would be ok. So I did it, laced up those shoes and ran anyway.

It was a hot and humid morning, even at 6am but running along here is always my happy place, usually a rare moment when I get to run without the boys, and feel a part of the community of fellow exercisers with wave, nod and smile as we pass each other, drawing our own strengths to face our individual challenges from the sweat running down our cheeks.

So farewell 2014, you have taught me so much about myself, what and who is important in my life and a strength I didn't know I had, but kindly leave now and let me move on.  There are bigger and better things waiting for me and I am going to grab them, with both hands and hold on tight for whatever comes my way, because I know I can do it.

Happy New Year from 3/4 of us, we wish all our friends and family the happiest and most loved 2015.

The week that was.

This week has been a bit of a quiet training week, after last week my legs needed some rest, I had a few back to back hard training sessions both in the pool and on land and by Sunday night I was taking myself to bed just after the kids went down!

Monday "brick" session is going well, after doing swim squad I hit the bike track circling the swimming complex while Hugo is in kids club and waves to me each time I pass, I need to start doing some more interval training on this day but for right now my aim is to run negative splits as close to race pace as I can, so far I am finding this pretty good.

I know that soon I need to start incorporating more strength workouts into my weekly routine, I find especially with swimming that my upper body and core strength are really letting me down so I am hoping that I will start to do that on either a Tuesday or Thursday night but as yet I haven't found the motivation to do anything except research them!

Tuesday Hugo and I usually head out to do something together after riding with Otto to kindy.  A group of friends usually meet at a library for rhyme time and coffee but I had yet to work out how to manage that on the bike without a pram for Hugo once we got there.  This week I had my light bulb moment and had a great time chatting and riding with Hugo the whole way there.  Our set up got a few comments but it worked for us and allowed Hugo a much nicer spot to nap on the way home.

The extra weight of the carriage on the back certainly added to my resistance and while it isn't a long ride, I certainly felt it on the way home!

Wednesday is usually a run day but my whole day got mucked around this week so nothing really happened.

Friday was back to swim squad and I was proud to be able to keep up with other women that were well out of my reach even a few months ago while sprinting off the blocks.  It is nice to see some improvement after swimming during the colder months when it would have been much nicer to stick at home and cuddle with the boys.

This morning was park run, and while it wasn't a PB, this run was the first time I really noticed my strength improving.  When I first started I guessed my pace to be sitting around the 5:30/km pace as that is what it felt like, imagine my surprise when I was actually sitting around the 5:06/km pace, for the first 3 km, slowing down as always for the hills and incline towards the finish line.

I hate that hill in the picture, it is within the final 2km's and from here on there is a slight incline almost the whole way to the end!

Tomorrow is Father's day, so no training tomorrow, just celebrating the wonderful man that supports and sustains us, and helps me to reach my goals in life.

An update.

So I have been missing in action for a while now, for no good reason in particular except that I haven't felt like writing here, life gets like that I suppose.  

Training has started in earnest for the triathlon season of 2014-15, I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous by the prospect, having spent a good amount of money on gear, coaching and racing I am keen to make it all worthwhile.

My first race is actually next month doing the Bribie Island series, it is a shorter course than the olympic distance and a great place to practice before the Kingscliff Triathlon in November.  In total I will be doing 4 short course triathlons and 2 olympic distance events between October and March!

It is certainly going to be an interesting summer.

I am hoping to come back here a bit more regularly in the future to keep a good log of my training and race performance throughout the season, and of course I have to update the half marathon and duathlon results, but for now, my training weary body is going to bed.

Half marathon eve.

Well tomorrow is the day, I am excited and nervous all at once to get this half marathon under way, unlike last time I know how much pain this will bring but I also know how amazing it will feel to finish.

This time my goals are a little different, my time at the twighlight half marathon in March was 2 hours 8 minutes, this time I am really hoping to better that time.

Achievable goal:  2hrs
Hopeful goal: 1hr 55min
Would love to goal: 1hour 50min

My "would love to goal"  is probably wishful thinking, but it would feel amazing if I could manage it, I am pretty sure that it is unattainable and I haven't done enough training to get there but you never know what could happen on race day!  My plan is to run with the pacer for 1hr 50min for as long as I can, but hopefully not dropping back any further than the 1hr 55min pacer to ensure that I can cross the line in that time.

I am off now to enjoy a quiet day with Han as the boys are having a sleep over and rest while enjoying as many carbs as I like.

Oh hi!

My poor neglected blog, while it hasn't been far from my thoughts for the last month I just haven't managed a time to keep it updated.  Hugo has taken his poor sleeping record and shown me just how bad it can get lately, with multiple wakings resulting in about 4 hours sleep on a bad night, or 6 hours sleep on a good night!  I have been so exhausted that keeping up with anything that isn't imperative to survival (or limited training) has been dropped in favour of sleep, or at least tuning out to the television, while I wait for the cries that tell me I need to re settle again and again and again.  The last few nights however have been a little better, we got a bit tougher with him over the weekend and it seems to be paying off, so my fingers are crossed that I might soon enjoy a good nights sleep again.

Throughout this time I have had to cut back on some training, it just hasn't been as easy to head out in the cold with two kids in the pram while I have been so exhausted.  I am still doing as much as possible, however it has left me feeling very under prepared for the half marathon in 10 days!

I did get some encouragement recently when I smashed a PB during a park run by a long shot, I still can't believe I managed it with both kids in the pram, this time last year I would never have dreamed it was possible.

10 days to go!  Can I bring it in under 2 hours?  Fingers are crossed.

5 Random things.

1.

I have added a few new favourite songs to my running playlist, but easily my favourite one at the moment is 'Super Love'.  I don't keep up with many artists these days, maybe it is an age thing, or the fact that I listen to a crazy amount of children's music but I am fairly unapologetic about what I love, even if it is cheesy and over produced, if it gets me moving then it works for me.

2.  

I am having enough hot flushes lately to heat our house, I am over it, sick to death of constantly peeling layers off to cool down and then piling them back on again when I am freezing and of course with skin like mine I also go a lovely shade of beetroot.  However Friday marks the halfway point and if I wasn't working I would consider champagne!

3. 

The boys have been hilarious lately, Hugo is demanding but endearing, his current obsession of trains and rubbish trucks is reaching fever point and he often sobs like his world is ending if either are out of his sight for very long.  Otto has discovered words like "hypothesis" and "experiment" and would like to conduct science experiments of increasing danger to test them out.

4.

I am counting down sleeps until this weekend when I get to go away for my first ever girls weekend with my book club since having children, the excitement is reaching fever pitch.

5.

GO AND MAKE THIS

And yes, I really am screaming that.

City2South.

Yesterday at 5am my alarm went off, usually on a race day I am out of bed like a shot ready to get dressed and in the car full of enthusiasm, but yesterday I just couldn't muster it, for some reason I snoozed the alarm and tried to forget about it, eventually I hauled myself out of bed and got ready to go.  I still can't explain why I was so apathetic about it but the feeling continued right up until the second km, I am pleased that I eventually got my head out of whatever funk it was in but it wasn't the most fun way to start a race.

The course is a stunning route showing off the best of the inner city area that we are blessed to have, lots of views of the river with a few killer hills right at the end that had me swearing in disbelief, I got up them well enough but coming back down was a bit terrifying, I still need to work on that.

I ran as part of a corporate team with my work so was looking out for any other similar shirts, sadly I didn't see any while running but it was great to have a meet up at the tent once the race was done with a yummy breakfast waiting for us.  

Overall this is a great run, a very well organised event in a great part of the city at a time when we usually enjoy wonderful weather so I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge next year.  I am happy because with a time of 1hr 13min I have secured myself a spot in the red zone next year, which is right at the front meaning that I will be pushed to go even faster surrounded by all those speedy people.

This was a great training run for the half marathon in a few weeks, and the fact that I could maintain a 5:13/km pace has me really hopeful that I will get my goal of coming in under 2 hours.  Now I just keep my training on schedule, and with an active recovery swim this morning I am right on schedule!

 What started as a hard race finished as a triumph, and you can't ask for much better than that.

21 km really does look a long way.

Today the course map for the half marathon was released, I have been looking forward to printing it out and getting to know the course really well, hopefully even running the whole thing at least once, or at least sections of it.

The crazy part about it all is that it seems insanely long!  I have run this distance before, but that run was 2 laps of the same course whereas this one only double backs a few times so we have a very good idea of just how long it will be!  

Better keep training!  I am running the city2south on Sunday so it will be very interesting to see how I go over the 14 km.  Tonight I am all set to enjoy the new season of Orange is the new black with a few glasses of wine and some good chocolate.

Enjoy the weekend.

Ticking off a new goal.

Today, after being woken by Hugo at 4:30am with a request to play trains (how about a loud resounding NO) and not long after by Otto demanding that I fix his blankets as he found them too "confusing" I wasn't feeling very enthused to head to work and then a run along the river.  Thank goodness there is always coffee.

After finishing for the day I got changed without thinking about it and set off along the river, it is one of my favourite places to run, especially on a day like today with the sun out and a slight breeze, a perfect 22 degrees.  I wasn't paying too much attention to my running app, I was mostly watching for cyclists and enjoying the view, thinking about how great it is to be able to live in such a gorgeous city and how thankful I am to be able to run there, when suddenly an update came through and I realised that I was running at my goal pace, a pace that I have been working towards for months!  I only had two km's to go and knew that I had it in me, suddenly my thoughts changed to keeping on pace and attacking the run, the whole time with a huge grin on my face, I could do it, I knew I could.

And I did, I danced a victory dance right there on Coronation Drive, I don't care who saw me, I had finally cracked it and it felt good.

Yep, 5 min/km, a year ago I would never have dreamed of being able to achieve that and I am proud of those numbers, they show a lot of hard work and determination.

And I am still beaming!

Can I put in an order for more weather like this!

Hasn't this morning been gorgeous!  I was woken bright and early as usual but managed to convince both boys to snuggle a bit longer under the covers as it was still dark and cold, I love this time the most, when they are both still warm from their own beds, chatting about what we are doing today.

I decided not to run, it was a bit close to my run from yesterday and both boys still have coughs so I don't want them out in the cold air, instead we chose to ride to Kindy this morning and that is always fun for all of us.  Otto is so proud of riding his bike, especially when all his friends see him ride up to the gate, and Hugo loves it too, this morning I had the bonus of riding with my very own dinosaur on the back.

I love Tuesday's, Hugo and I are free to do whatever we like, and this week we continued on to meet a new friend for coffee and a play in the park right by the river.  Honestly, some mornings everything just goes right and today was one of them.

I think even this sleepysaurus thinks so.

Later today I am meeting with the builder to start working towards our renovations, we have been waiting such a long time to get this started and I am beyond excited to get going with our first stage.  Having lived through renovations before I know it won't be easy but the end product will be absolutely worth it.

How to make your sports wardrobe go further!

Ok, so since starting to become more serious in my sporting ventures I have noticed that there is a ridiculous amount of apparel out there for each discipline.  Swimmers in all shapes, colours and sizes, running gear for all different seasons, shapes and sizes and cycling gear that seems to cover very little but cost an awful lot.

I started off running, and over the last 18 months have amassed a decent wardrobe inspired by lycra, a few cross season pieces but mostly summer stuff as this is only my second winter running and last year I borrowed Han's long sleeve travel top.  I shop only in sales and hate paying much more than $20 for any item (except shoes, I will pay good money to run pain free).  Stumbling into the world of cycling I was surprised and dismayed that much of my running wardrobe didn't transition well into that field and then I learnt the hard way that the padding in cycling pants is there for a very good reason.  Now add triathlon to that and the pants need a different style of padding, I guess running and cycling with a giant water soaked pad between your legs really isn't anyone's idea of fun.  Last night I spent a bit of time on ebay and other sites trying to find a reasonably priced triathlon pant when I discovered what is possibly the funniest, ugliest but best invention for people like me!

Source 

In the interest of full disclosure these are not the ones that I purchased, there were a few different ones to select from, but this picture gives the best idea.

With the cycling undies, my running wardrobe will go even further as I can wear these under all my running tights, go ahead, laugh, I sure did but I am pleased as anything to only spend $10 on a pair of undies instead of over $100 on a pair of cycling tights!

In other training news, I went for a long run this afternoon, and it felt good to get some distance on the legs again, especially without the stroller, it is a bit slower than race pace as I have a 14 km run coming up on Sunday.