Please sponsor us - We're dreaming big for Make-a-Wish New Zealand

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

It's Official, Mother Nature Doesn't Want Me To Race!

Ok so the Tsunami surge during my fist triathlon might have just been a coincidence, but now with Tongariro threatening to blow it's top at the team half marathon location, I think mother nature is trying to send me a message!

Still, joking aside, I am just getting back into my stride with my training after a fairly extended break with whooping cough.

It's great to be getting back into it.  I didn't realise how much I would miss it until I stopped.  It's nice to feel the muscles tightening up again after being so lazy for a while.

I have also changed my training program as it seemed a bit daunting to try and jump back in after and extended break.  This is my latest plan. What do you think?



Half Marathon Training Guide
WEEK MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN
1 Stretch & Strength 5k Run 3.5k or Cross 5k & Strength Rest 6.5k Run Tri Training
2 Stretch & Strength 5k Run 3.5k or Cross 5k & Strength Rest 6.5k Run Tri Training
3 Stretch & Strength 6k Run 3.5k or Cross 6k & Strength Rest 8k Run Tri Training
4 Stretch & Strength 6k Run 3.5k or Cross 6k & Strength Rest 8k Run Tri Training
5 Stretch & Strength 6.5k Run 3.5k or Cross 6.5k Run Rest 9.5k Run Tri Training
6 Stretch & Strength 6.5k Run 3.5k or Cross 6.5k Run Rest 5k Race Tri Training
7 Stretch & Strength 7.5k Run 5k run or Cross 7.5k Run Rest 11k Run Tri Training
8 Stretch & Strength 7.5k Run 5k run or Cross 7.5k Run Rest 12.5k Run Tri Training
9 Stretch & Strength 8k Run 5k run or Cross 8k Run Rest 10k Race Tri Training
10 Stretch & Strength 8k Run 5k run or Cross 8k Run Rest 14.5k Run Tri Training
11 Stretch & Strength 8k Run 5k run or Cross 8k Run Rest 16k Run Tri Training
12 Stretch & Strength 6.4 5k run or Cross Rest Rest Half Marathon Tri Training

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Scream if you wanna go faster

It is true. I have finally lost it.  I am absolutely utterly crazy.  But that's okay at least crazy people can make others laugh and that must be a good thing. I was a bit surprised though when I told my friend Paul as I fully expected him to fall off his chair laughing, but he was really supportive.

So today I will share with you first of all what it is, then why.  Because I'm sure some of you will instantly ask "why???".  So if I may ask that we keep all questions for the end please...




Team "Scream if you wanna go faster" is Denise, Rose and Me.  Or is it Denise, Rose and I?  I can't quite remember.

From left to right - Rose, Lea, Denise
The three of us have decided that later this year we'll be entering a half ironman event.

...

Done laughing?

We'll be entering this as a team and so one of us will be doing a 2km swim, one of us will be doing a 90km bike ride and the other a 21km run.  At this point in time I have been assigned the 90km bike ride.  Yes, typically I don't put 90km and bike ride in the same sentence and I have a lot of work ahead of me to make the distance, but more importantly to do it in a half decent time.  I don't expect to win or anything, but I don't want to take forever doing it and I most certainly don't want to be the first person in ironman history pushing my bike during the race (with my luck that will be the precise moment the whole of New Zealand's tv and newspaper reporters will right there).  So I have a lot of hard work to do in the next 211 days.  Or rather 209 days as day 211 is the actual event.  It might seem like a lot, but I'm sure it will go much faster than I would like.


Why are we doing it?  

Well I suppose because we only live once and we may as well do something crazy while we're at it.  Doing it as a team is certainly more manageable than doing the whole event all by ourselves.

It wasn't really something that we planned to be honest.  After getting rather hooked doing the Kapiti Womens and Palmerston North triathlons Rose and I suddenly found ourselves looking out for other events to do.  As a joke I'd sometimes send her links to ironman events - because how crazy is that?  Then the next moment she replied "why don't we do it?"  and I was like "what???!!  Like in seriously???" and she was saying that if we did a half distance one as a team it could be done.  Maybe I had lack of sleep or something that night, I don't know, but the next moment I agreed.  So our next step was to get our third team member and so Rose emailed Denise with a "this might sound like a crazy idea, but we were wondering..." and Denise then replied with a "I guess I'm crazy too so I will say yes".  And so here we are, 211 days away from our half distance ironman event...

There is another reason we are doing this too...

We will use this opportunity to raise money for the Make-a-Wish foundation.  It is another charity close to my heart.

If you had one wish today.  Just one wish - what would it be? 

Having had a child who fought a life-threatening illness I know that for these children and their parents the one wish is that they would get better.  All other dreams and goals and wishes have to be put aside for a long long time, maybe even forever, because right at that moment nothing else is more important than helping your child get better.  I'll tell you one thing - it is probably the most exhausting thing I've ever done.  There were many nights I left the hospital to go home with Caitlyn, tears streaming down my face as I desperately prayed and begged that Bianca would not be taken away from us.

For Bianca her life revolved around hospital stays, unpleasant procedures, horrible chemo that not only affected how she felt, but it "stole" her hair and changed the way she felt about food.  And it is all about the numbers - 830 days of treatment.  117 days "living" at the hospital in a tiny little hospital room often in an isolation setting where she wasn't able to leave the room, 650 days of chemo, 47 blood product transfusions and so many more things. 

But Bianca is one of the lucky ones.  She is off treatment and doing well even if she is not yet considered cured.  Even if we are at times still picking up the pieces.  But she's doing well.

Many other children are not as lucky.

The Make-a-Wish Foundation helps grant special wishes.  When your child is that sick, you do not always have the luxury of time or other resources to help make their dreams come true.  For many children - they will never again have a chance to do something other than getting treatment for a horrible disease.  So for one moment The Make-a-Wish Foundation helps a dream come true, helps brighten a child's life.  Helps them forget about the illness they are fighting, the medicines they have to take, the side effects.  It helps lift their spirits and helps them believe in magic again when they have lost the innocence all children are supposed to have.  It gives a special moment in time when you cannot be sure you will have many more moments in time.

When we were right in the thick of things Bianca's special wish was to meet Suzie Cato and I will never forget that day.  Bianca's face lit up and you should have seen the excitement and the wonder in her eyes.  (To share in this day, click here).

So Rose, Denise and I will be doing our half ironman event to help raise money for the Make-a-Wish foundation.  We are "dreaming big" for kids who might not have any dreams left anymore in the hope that we might make a special wish for a special child come true.

Please will you sponsor us and help us reach our goal.  We've created a secure fundraise page (click here)  You can use a credit card.  It is a secure site.  The same site I've used to raise money for the Child Cancer Foundation and every single cent raised will go directly to Make-a-Wish.  Alternatively let me know and I can let you have bank details and reference details.

Please sponsor us and help us reach this important goal.  Every little bit will make a big difference!  And in exchange we will do the biggest thing we've ever done and keep you updated on how we go along.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Enthusiastic or Obsessive?

One thing that I am finding with my training program is that it certainly doesn't get boring.

I always seem to be at one extreme or the other.  Either raring to go or sore, achy and wanting to go back to bed!

This week however, the enthusiasm is bordering on obsessiveness.  Despite being aware of the dangers of over training, I am struggling to take a rest day.

I had a rest day scheduled for last Monday, but the kids got new scooters and I ran to the school and back with them twice = 5k .  Each day, I promise myself I will take a rest, but I am loving the buzz that the exercise brings and because my body is more used to this level of exercise now, I find it easier to ignore the niggley aches and pains.

Also, I think I am worried that if I take a break, I will never get to the stage where I can run a half marathon.

So today I am promising myself that I will take that rest day and just run a bit faster/further tomorrow.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Sunday, April 29, 2012

My Muscles Hate Me!

My muscles hate me!

They were slightly disgruntled after the Tri-Swim training on Friday

They were definitely p****d off after the 10k run/walk to the beach and back Saturday (some walking because of achilles injury).

But today the 33k bike ride with some hill training and time trials (thanks to our lovely triathlon coach Lynley) just about finished them off and now they are completely uncooperative!  It's a struggle to even get up off the sofa.

Mind you, it didn't help that I was having a bad bike day.  My saddle was loose, so it sank down to the bottom setting and I had to cycle the first 13km with my knees up to my chest.  Then my gears failed, so on the hills I had to stand up and peddle to get up the hills, so my times were useless.

It was lovely to spend time with Lea and Denise during training though.  The training much more bearable when you are having a laugh with friends.  I'm so lucky :-)

I will have a rethink about my training program as it currently doesn't allow any rest days.  Not sure I can keep that up for 12 weeks.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Feeling rather productive

Between yesterday and today I've been really productive.  Yesterday I wanted to try out my new watch which I got that acts as a bike computer (considering I lost my last bike computer) and this one also comes with a heart rate monitor.  Wasn't really the reason I got it, but rather interesting to see my heart rate and that yes, I am indeed working my butt off on some of these hills (oh no wait...the butt is still very much there...).

So yesterday morning I went for a 10km bike ride and averaged 24km/h.  I'd really like to be faster, but I suppose it was a hilly ride so it is okay.  Next week I need to look at doing flatter and longer rides so I can work towards longer distances.

Last night we also had our swim lesson.  It was hard work, but easier than it was when we first started (if that makes sense).  Val, our instructor, always works us hard, but she is very good.  Usually it is just Rose and I, but last night Denise and Paul (one of my friends) joined us for the session.  It felt good doing our lesson again.

This morning I joined Rose for a run and we decided to run for 5km.  She wanted to do a 10km distance or do something for 90minutes.  So I cycled to her house, we ran our 5km, then walked with some running in between.  So all in all we did a 10k distance and of that we probably ran a total of 6.5km or 7km.  On top of that I did a total of about 6km cycle (to Rose's house and back) so I was really productive today. 

Next week my aim is (weather permitting) to do significantly more cycling and work on going longer distances and then once a week look at doing my shorter hilly ride. 

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Scream If You Wanna Go Faster!



A real roller coaster couple of days so far this week:


  • Amazing Tri training with Lynley on Saturday                                 - Yay!
  • Hurt my ankle so couldn't train for a few days                                - Boo!
  • Finalised my half marathon training program                                   -Yay!
  • Had to miss the first day of my training program as ankle still hurts - Boo!
  • Hill Training with Lea, easier than I had expected                           -Yay!
  • Bad training session today.  Hot, slow and painful                          -Boo!
  • Sat here watching biggest loser, feeling inspired                             -Yay!
  • Wish I hadn't eaten chocolate before biggest loser (feeling guilty)   -Boo!
  • Met with Lea and Denise today and feel inspired and motivated    -Yay!
It's tough sometimes when you are having a bit of an up and down week.  When I look back to other times when I have tough weeks, it feels like I am never going to get past it, and a short time can feel like an eternity.

There have been some really good times this week as well as some pretty bad times.  I know that I just need to keep at it and it will get easier.

Finally!

Up to now I have not managed to run a distance without some walking in between.  First of all I've been struggling with a leg injury for a while now.  As in for months making it really uncomfortable to run.  But lately it seems that maybe, just maybe the injury might finally be all gone.  I sure hope so. 

This morning I went for a 5km run.  I changed my strategy a little bit because usually I would go for 2.5km in one direction and 2.5km back home, but then I start thinking just how far I am still from home and so I start walking.  But today I decided that I would run 5km in one direction before I would start walking.  And that's exactly what I did.  I ran 5km without any walking.  And I did it in 47 seconds faster than I did my recent 5k run at the Great Forest events.  I am so proud of myself.  I then walked 5km back home and so all in all I did about 10km. 

Denise, Rose and I also met today and discussed some goals and we are all very excited, but definitely crazy.  We'll share more information really soon.  Watch this space!