Tomorrow it starts.

Tomorrow I am running in the resolution run.  I first signed up as a way to motivate me to continue training/running after a series of medical issues and an operation at the end of last year which led to me sitting out a few weeks while I recovered.

I am excited to get 2014 started, my pin board of race numbers is all clear for the start of a fresh year, and I smiled as I packed away all of last years numbers and medals.  It was a good year, but this year will be better, faster and fitter.

Off to bed for now, early start tomorrow.

Just keep kicking.

Swim day today and it is sprints day, bloody sprints day.  I love and hate it.  I am sitting here, my shoulders and legs are aching and I am going to need an injection of caffeine to get through work tonight, but that memory of gliding through the water trying to catch the bubbles of the person in front, and then mentally patting yourself on the back when you pass them and they are the ones catching the bubbles is just too good.

I have to admit, I chickened out of going without flippers for much of today, I am not sure how I would go doing all the sprints without some help.  When we dove and did 25m sprints I did go without them and felt I held my own enough to consider doing more next week.  The idea of swimming in open water still leaves me with jelly legs, a fear I am going to have to overcome soon!

As always, today was a great day, the boys and I had so much fun poolside, jumping from one pool to the other.  Hugo is the fish of his swim class and is so daring in the water, as is Otto who went from screaming in terror at the idea of swimming to the deep end in September to now jumping in and doing tricks.  The best part of a Friday is the ham and cheese sandwiches and red frog before heading home with two very tired boys for a relaxing afternoon.

The bottom photo was meant to be a group shot!  Seems as though Otto is hell bent lately on having no photographic evidence that he was four.  He decided the goggles were a better representation of him.  At least Hugo will still look cute for me!

Lace up those shoes!

I was all ready to skip today's run, I just didn't feel like it, the kids were whingy, it looked like rain, we were cold and I was tired.  All valid excuses, except this place kept me honest, how would I explain myself later in the day when I came to write here.  So I did it, I laced up the shoes, put my headphones in and ran.

It felt good.  It always does once you get going.

My pace was similar (5:58/km) to the other day, except I forgot to switch the run keeper on for five minutes after waiting for a train to pass, so who really knows.  The important factor for me was that I did it, I ran the whole way on a day that I didn't really want to.

I learnt one more lesson.  I have a lot of free shirts and visors from the races that I ran last year, I am always grateful to receive one as a lot of apparel is expensive, and it is always a good motivator to pull on a shirt that brings back good memories of a great run.  I was won over to the running visor after forgetting my cap for the Brisbane Marathon and grabbed a free one at the race, I wore it for a long time until replacing it with another free one for the Noosa Triathlon.  

Yesterday I had decided to check out a Nike one from my local sports shop.  It seemed like a lot of money to pay for not much material and a piece of cardboard, but I went ahead anyway after hearing how amazing they were, today I ran with it for the first time.  Sadly no wings sprang from the sides to help me run faster but I was amazed at how much more comfortable it was to wear.  So sometimes, it is worth it to spend that bit more (or anything at all) and get quality gear.  Now all I need to do is convince Han of the same thing.

In all my post run sweaty glory!  When will I learn to take photos BEFORE I run?!  Tomorrow is a swim day and I am looking forward to hitting the pool, Friday is sprints which is always crazy and fun and exhausting.  The best part is picking the kids up, having their swim lessons and then a fun time at the pool before we head home for naps.  I can't think of a better way to get ready for the weekend.

Beach day.

A few years ago, as my Grandparents health started to decline and they are unable to travel independently we have celebrated Christmas early on the Sunshine Coast.  It is always a lovely day, to spend a big amount of time together as a family without the rush of people needing to leave to different engagements on Christmas day.  It also helps that they live directly opposite the beach.

This is our Christmas, and just like the actual day we enjoy presents, eating ourselves silly and then afternoons spent on the beach.  For as long as I can remember my Grandparents have lived in this house, and there are lots of fun memories here waiting for me whenever I walk through those doors.  It is a joy to now see my boys also experience the love within those walls.

Oh, and also the beach, no matter what the weather we visit to the beach, just as I did as a little girl.

There is always energy to run off before the drive home and nothing brings a smile faster to my face than to see my children running along the same beach that I once did.  A day spent here fills me up again, ready for anything.

Run darling, Run.

So after all my talking last night, I was ready for a slower run with some hill walking to get me through.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  It was one of my best runs with the kids for a long time.

My average pace was 5:56/km, I remember this time last year I was trying to get my pace to 6:30/km so it is good to see that even though the boys are getting bigger, my numbers are going down.  I am usually happy with anything under 6:10/km while running with the boys, and kept waiting for the numbers to creep up during my 5 minutely updates (I use runkeeper on my iPhone).  I did have the luck of catching two trains at the level crossing today which I am sure helped me recover for some of the hills on the way home.

It is a rest day tomorrow and I am looking forward to a sleep in, relaxing bath and breakfast in bed!  Who am I kidding, the boys will be up bright and early as usual and the grocery shopping beckons.

My first dip back in the water.

I haven't yet worked out how I will be keeping my fitness journal on here.  It is not feasible for me to write every night but I am hoping that I will be able to write regularly enough to make it worthwhile.  I suppose I will just see how it goes.

Today was the first swim squad of the year, considering the high temps and humidity I was overly anxious to get myself there and in the water.  Otto and Hugo headed happily to kids club covered in suncream and I always pick them up with huge smiles covered in dirt and sand!

The pool was so warm it felt like a bath which had us working at a slower pace than normal to avoid heat exhaustion.  I have never heard of heat exhaustion in a pool but took heed of the warning anyway.  It felt so good to use and stretch those muscles that had been lying in wait during the last two weeks of holidays, I am always surprised at just how much strength is required to propel yourself through the water.  There is real enjoyment for me in noticing how much faster I can swim, and a huge decrease in the amount of pool water I drink!

Last year I swam with flippers constantly (I started in October) considering I hadn't swum since school and needed to keep up with all the other lanes.  This year I am hoping to use them less, if I am ever going to feel confident swimming in open water I am going to need to loose the security I feel having them on. Today was the first day I tried and to my surprise I kept up and enjoyed the knowledge that I was improving so much.  Overall it was a great first day back and I can't wait until Friday to attack the pool again.

It is a running day tomorrow, and while I have run during the past two weeks, it has been without pushing the kids.  I am dreading it a bit to be honest.  The bigger they are getting the harder I am finding it to push them, between them they weigh 28kg and then factor in the weight of the pram and I am running and pushing over 30kg for 5-10km!  I have renewed my expectations for this year out of necessity,  I will not be talking myself into running up each hill with the kids, but accept that sometimes depending on the day it is ok not to make it to the top.  It is better to have a break every now and then and not manage some hills then stop running with them all together and miss out on training time and Km's.  I need to run with the kids when Han is away as it is an activity that they can accompany me on, I need all the cycling km's I can get when he is home and able to watch the kids for an hour or so after they wake up while i finish my ride.

This is all starting to sound obsessive, which I suppose is my nature, but I like to be organised and in a routine, I find it makes my life easier if both the kids and I know what to expect each day.  Otto often reminds me of the activity for the next day and I am always looking for ways to find their time spent in the running pram more fun.  I am lucky to live near a train line so the rail crossing always features in my route, along with my fervent requests that there be a train passing so I have no choice but to stop for a drink!  Let's see what tomorrow brings!

Image source

A new year.

As the new year starts in Brisbane we are suffocating in a heat wave with wind that is bringing smoke from a nearby island across to the mainland.  You would be forgiven for thinking that it is far from idyllic circumstances to enjoy the final days of being together as a family, hot, grumpy and tired, I certainly wasn't looking forward to it.  It has been a wonderful surprise then that these final days have been some of our best during the whole break.  Christmas and the crazy that accompanies it has been packed away, the leftovers eaten and all the relatives back in their own homes.  It was a wonderful festive season, but as with every year, by the time Christmas day arrives we are Done!

So now as a family we look toward another year, if 2013 taught me anything, it was to expect the unexpected!  Han will commence a new FIFO (fly in/fly out) roster, in a new job and we are all getting used to the idea that this lifestyle is permanent for a while.  Otto starts a new kindy and Hugo gets on with the job of turning two and growing up.

As a rule I am not one who has new years resolutions or goals, I have never really seen the point of them, life will always change, what you start with in January is rarely what you will end with in December.  This year is a bit different for me, since becoming a mother life is a bit more predictable (until you are sent to Jakarta with 5 weeks notice!), and while I am happy with that I think it is time to push my way out.  This year I am hoping to achieve some goals that I have had rumbling around in the background for years.

In 2008 I sat on a balcony of a friends apartment looking out over the esplanade in Mooloolaba and watched as many strong, fit, determined and amazing individuals put their bodies and minds on the line during the Mooloolaba Triathlon.  I turned to my friends in a hungover haze and told them that one year I would be down there doing that.  A few weeks later we were told we were moving to South Africa and shortly after I became pregnant with Otto.  Late 2012 I started running again as a way to loose some of the baby weight and carve out time to myself after having Hugo, my goal was to run the 5km dash as part of the Mooloolaba triathlon series 2013 and leave it at that.  But I got bitten by the running bug hard, I wanted to run faster, for longer and more often, I wanted to see exactly how much I could improve over the course of the year, and I did it.  I ran faster, more often and for longer distances, each race has been faster, I went from 5km to 10 km in varying degrees of fitness and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  The final race was my best and most wonderful experience, competing in the run leg as part of a team for the Noosa Triathlon.  It was a hard, hot race and I still got a PB.

This year I am putting myself out there more, I have an 11km run next weekend, and a half marathon in March.  I am hoping to run as part of a team for the Mooloolaba Triathlon also in March.  The best part, the part that is both scary and thrilling, is that I have signed up for a mini triathlon.  This year I am hoping to get more serious about setting myself goals and achieving them, putting myself out there and giving it my all, no excuses.

So this has all been a really long winded way of saying, that this blog might change a bit.  I am hoping to use it as a training journal and goal setter, to celebrate my victories and understand the losses.  I will always write about my children and our life, and hopefully some home improvements and renovations will start soon too.

I have a big year ahead, and our family has exciting times coming.  2014 is going to be great!