Tarawera Training - Week 2

With my first week done I was looking forward to getting into another week of training. 

My first run for the week was on Saturday morning, and although we set our alarms for 5.30am we still didn't start running until after 7.30am by the time we finished pottering around and getting organised. 

Nobody was free to join me this time for my long run so Scotty very kindly took me out to the Camel Farm and showed me where to run from there along the Bibb. He was doing a 3 hour easy run so he ran with me for a bit and then did a few out and backs which was fun because I always knew he wouldn't be too far away. We ran out to the Mundaring Weir and back and Scotty added on an extra 30 minutes once we were back at the Camel Farm. My run was only 2.5 hours so I drove and picked him up from Kalamunda. 

It was a great run with a bit of walking here and there and stopping to take photos at the weir. I felt good at the finish and felt as though I could've kept going which is what I wanted. 

Sunday was a rest day but we decided to go for a ride along the river, stopping for something to eat at Matilda Bay on the way. We covered 30km and got a good workout in - a great cross training session. 

Monday was another 10km easy session. But once again there was nothing easy about it. Kate and I met at Lake Monger and we did 3 laps of the lake. Let's just say we were happy to see the end of that third lap, and even happier to get to The 'Pear'fect Pantry for a juice and something to eat afterwards. 

Tuesday was another rest day and I had thought I might go to a bootcamp session at my gym, but I got a better offer. Scotty suggested going down to Serpentine Falls, I could walk while he did his run and then have a swim at the falls after. It was a great way to get an easy cardio session in - although not necessarily that easy hiking up the hills in the heat! 

Wednesday had me heading up to Kings Park to do a warm up and then down to Jacobs Ladder for what can only be described as a death march up and down the stairs. After 30 minutes of up and down, up and down I struggled back to the car. Sessions like that are tough but it helps knowing that it won't be as hot as that in NZ for the race! 

Friday was my interval session so I decided to head to the river and do the bridges run. It was warming up and there was no breeze in parts which made for a hot run. I had a great session and covered more distance than I expected which was nice. The only trouble with doing a loop like that and running further than you think you will is having to run past the car for a certain amount of time and then turning around and running back. When you're struggling in the heat that's not fun at all - it's very tempting to just stop at the car! 

Another great week of training done and I'm feeling ever so slightly more confident that I might actually be able to finish the 60kms. 

Valentines Day - Romantic or cynic...?

Valentines Day is one of those days that creates such a stir amongst everyone. And it's not even single vs taken - because I know a lot of people that are in relationships that don't like Valentines Day. 

People that know me know I'm a romantic. I love everything about relationships, romance and love. And luckily for me I'm married to someone that knows how much of a romantic I am and always does sweet things to make me smile. Really he's quite the romantic himself, but he'll never admit it! 

So with that said, it's not surprising that Valentines Day is one of my favourite days. 

Our first Valentines Day wasn't celebrated in the traditional way. Of course we did the usual romantic lunch together, but that night we went to a rugby game with some of Scotty's aunties and uncles and his parents. It was heaps of fun and we had a great night out. 

The following year we decided that since we'd been with his aunty Avis and uncle Ag the previous year it'd be fun to celebrate with them again because we always have such fun together. We all went up to their house in Waikari, just north of Christchurch for the weekend. On Valentines Day the boys made us breakfast and we prepared the food for our picnic lunch. We had the picnic at the Maori drawings which are up over the hill in a paddock behind their house. It was a great weekend and even though Avis and Ag aren't necessarily the romantic type, we were starting to rub off on them and they were getting into the spirit of things. 

The following year was our third Valentines Day together. I love traditions and this was a tradition that we were all really enjoying. 

As it turned out Valentines Day was on a Monday that year so it meant the four of us had to get the day off work. Unfortunately my work didn't want me to have the day off - I chucked a sickie anyway (sorry Mark!).

We all went to Hanmer Springs for the day and had a great time at the hot pools and went to a nice pub for lunch. It was such a fun day. 

Unfortunately that was our last Valentines Day together because we moved to Perth the following month. 

The following year Scotty and I planned a surprise for Avis and Ag. The two of us had a picnic in the park at the beginning of February and took a photo of ourselves. We cut the side of the photo so that Avis and Ag could add their own photo to ours to make one. We sent them the photo and an itinerary for their day including breakfast and a picnic lunch. It was a fun way to continue the tradition even though we weren't together. 

Since then it's just been Scotty and I and Scotty always plans a surprise for me. One year involved a picnic dinner down by the river out near Guildford. He'd planned everything, done the shopping and packed everything we needed. What he didn't plan on was the giant water rat that wanted to join us. It made for a rather eventful evening resulting in a lot of laughter and a dead water rat, followed by a lovely dinner for two. 

I'm looking forward to Friday to see what Scotty has planned for us!  

Valentines Day is the perfect opportunity to spoil the one you love or plan something special for them. Even if you're not the romantic type - why not try something new this year! 

If you're single and ready to mingle, why not get together with your other single friends and have a night out together - everyone loves eating at fancy restaurants! Or a Gold Class movie might be more your thing! 

Whatever your relationship status, embrace the commercialism and spend the day with people you love and spoil each other! 

Everyone deserves a bit of love in their lives! 

'100 Happy Days' Challenge: Days 29 - 35

Finding something good in every day... Difficult or easy?

Of course it's easier if you're in a good place in your life and pretty much everything makes you smile. 

But if things aren't going according to plan or there are things in your life that are getting you down, take a minute to stop and think. Think of a happier time or a fun memory that brings you happiness. 

Even when times are tough, always try and find something to make you smile. 

Luckily for me I'm at a time in my life where happiness comes easily and I'm very grateful for that, but I know that unfortunately that's not the case for everybody.

Here's my entries from the last 7 days. I hope that by sharing what makes me happy, it can bring others happiness too. 

Day 29 - 'We had a laugh at the shops today at the new range of relish they were selling.'
They also had 'Yvonne's relish' so we took a photo of it and emailed it to my nana to give her a laugh. 

Day 30 - 'I had the job today of sorting through all the donations we received from students at another school for our new students and making welcome packs for them all. The generosity from other students is amazing and such a kind gesture.'
I got to do the same thing at the beginning of last year. I love taking the packs around to all the new students.

Day 31 - 'I got to take this little princess to school today. Of course my niece doesn't have a pretty pink bag, nope, she's got a dinosaur bag! Geez I love her. We got to have puzzle time before I had to leave which was lots of fun.'
I'm so glad my job allows me the flexibility to be able to do things like this. I will always have these beautiful memories of the special time spent with Amitty.

Day 32 - 'It was very cool to see my blog featuring on Need Another Holiday's January round-up in the #Take12Trips Challenge. Looking forward to reaching a wider audience and inspiring them to make the most of every day.'
It's great to see that my blog is being read by people all over the world. My goal was to inspire people, and that's what I'm doing!

Day 33 - 'Waking up this morning to a text from someone very special to me saying that her gorgeous girl was born late last night (4 weeks early) and that they are both doing well. I couldn't be more proud of you Chelsea - she's just perfect!'
I can't wait to meet this little pink bundle (hopefully in a few weeks). 

Day 34 - 'Going for a ride with my husband to get lunch at a lovely cafe on the river - combining two of my favourite things... food and exercise!'
We always say we should ride our bikes more, but never actually do it. We're going to try and go for a ride once a week because we always have such fun when we do.

Day 35 - 'Tonight was our first night of study for the year. I'm with the Year 8's this year. They are super cute and worked really well.'
It's always nice when the boys work quietly, it doesn't happen all the time so fingers crossed this is the start of something new!

  

Tarawera Training - Week 1

After arriving home from Japan at about 2am on Friday morning - 31 January 2014, the last thing I felt like thinking about was running. 

Of course I couldn't get to sleep, and then when I did it was only for a few hours. 

My coach had said he'd email me on Friday with my training programme for the week, and sure enough, at 8.30am the email came through. 

I thought the fact that I'd told him I hadn't run in over 2 months would mean that he'd set me a nice easy programme to get me started... I was sadly mistaken!

My first run was that weekend - either Saturday or Sunday, and it needed to be 2 hours! Luckily I could run/walk because it also needed to be hilly. 

I've only been out on the Bibb from Kalamunda once with Scotty so although I knew it would be a good place to go, I had no idea where I was going and wasn't too keen on going by myself. 

I turned to Facebook and put the call out for anyone planning on doing a long run that weekend. Unfortunately the people that replied weren't going anywhere hilly enough for what I needed. I'd spoken to a girl Renee last year that was also signed up for Tarawera, so I found her on Facebook and asked her what her plans were. She hadn't been running lately so wasn't feeling fast at all - that suited me perfectly! 

We made a plan and she came to pick me up at 7am the next morning. After finding where to park and heading off down the trail and then the road, we realised we'd missed the right hand turn back onto the trail. Geez, this might end up being a long day! 

We found a trail, although I'm not sure it was the Bibb, and we were off. We eventually ended up on the Bibb for the rest of the run and on the way back we realised where we'd gone wrong.

We had a great run, walking all the uphills and running the flat. I'd say we were running the downhills but being typical girls it was more of a slow shuffle on the way down so that we didn't end up flat on our bums! 

Just over 2 hours later (the trail we'd been on at the start was a lot flatter than the section we ran on to get back to the car, so it took us a bit longer as we struggled up the never ending hills!) we were back at the car. We were tired but both still smiling which is the main thing. 

It was good knowing I had the rest of the weekend off - all the travelling had caught up on me and I needed to catch up on some sleep. 

Monday rolled around quickly and it was time for an easy 10km run along the coast with my good friend Kate. Me being the amateur runner that I am, and the fact that we've just come from the freezing cold of Japan, forgot to take water with me. The lack of water combined with our non-stop talking meant it was a real struggle! My nonexistent fitness was very clear and I was setting a very slow pace. 

Albeit not the best run in terms of pace, we had a great catch up and continued our chatting at Yelo afterwards while enjoying a much needed juice. 

One of the benefits of signing up with a coach is that I've cut down the number of days I run each week which is exactly what I wanted. Because I'm getting more quality out of my runs I don't need as much quantity (for now anyway!).

My next run was Wedneaday and I had to do hill repeats. The 35 degree heat made things rather interesting. I decided to go up to Bold Park. I should've really gone out to the trails somewhere but Bold Park was easier because I knew where I was going and knew that Rebold Hill would be long enough for what I needed. 

An hour later I was pretty tired but glad to have finished another quality run and knew that I was one step closer to my goal. 

My plans for Friday's run changed when other plans for the weekend changed so instead of getting up early in the morning to go I decided to wait until the afternoon once it started to cool down a bit. I had to do intervals so I didn't want to do it in the heat. 

Six o'clock came around and I was really lacking motivation. Scotty had just left to go for a run so I knew that I couldn't slack off since he was out running even though he hadn't really felt like it either. 

I decided to run around the river because then I can leave from home and don't have to drive anywhere. It was a really good session and although the pace wasn't what I would've liked it to have been (2 months off will do that to you) I still felt like I got a lot out of it, and I know how important it is to incorporate speed work into your training. 

Well, that was my first week completed and although my fitness was lacking a lot I was really pleased to have a good week of training done and was already looking forward to the next week. 

#Take12Trips - December/January Edition

Over the next few weeks I'll be making a start on my posts for each of the countries we visited in December and January, but for now I'll just do a very brief introduction into each place and add some photos for my #Take12Trips challenge. 

How's everyone else going with their trips/activities? 

A lot of you would've had trips away at Christmas and New Years with family and friends which I hope were filled with lots of love and laughter while creating everlasting memories.  

Now that you're back into work and your time each day is filled up with chores and everyday life it's really important to plan trips or activities so that you've got something to look forward to. 

There's no rest for us any time soon - this weekend we're going down south for my friend's baby shower and then next weekend we're back down south again (to a different place) for another friend's wedding. 

I love living a busy life - it makes every day exciting! And it makes the time spent at home cuddled up on the couch that much more enjoyable instead of it being something that's done every weekend. 

Here goes:

30 December 2013 - Singapore

We flew out to Singapore on 30 December 2013 and stayed for 3 nights. This is where we spent New Years Eve and had a fantastic time celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next at the Marina Bay Sands Casino and along the waterfront at Marina Bay taking in the fireworks with thousands of other onlookers. We had a fantastic time exploring the city and parks, and window shopping along Orchard Road. A trip to Sentosa on the cable car made for a lovely place to have dinner one night and we were treated to a fantastic merlion lightshow. 

2 January 2014 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Our first border crossing by land

We took a train from Singapore to KL (interesting, I'll write more about this in another post) and spent 3 nights there. Once again we had a blast exploring the city and parks and really enjoyed heading further afield to the Batu Caves and the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia where we did a hike and a canopy walk. There were amazing shopping malls everywhere in KL (window shopping only of course, we were already maxing out our luggage allowance). One day was spent at a local cinema (something we never normally do, but thought it would be a nice way to relax) and treating ourselves to a lovely massage. 

6 January 2014 - Beijing, China 

After a 5 hour wait on the tarmac at the KL airport we finally made our way to Beijing. And it was freezing! But it was so worth it. Exploring the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Jingshan Park (just to name a few) was so much fun. The architecture was amazing, with such incredible detail. We had a great time at a Kung Fu Show one night and a trip up to the Summer Palace made for another great outing. We even got to go 'ice skating' on the frozen lake - now that's something we'd never get to experience in Perth! A day trip out to the Great Wall of China was even more amazing than we could've imagined.

10 January 2014 - Hong Kong

It was nice arriving in Hong Kong and knowing we were going to be there for 10 days. We explored different parts of the city, took two trips out to Lantau Island, spent a day at Ocean Park and of course Scotty competed in the Vibram HK100. There was a wide variety of food to enjoy and we met so many lovely people. Scotty even celebrated his birthday in Hong Kong (more on that another time).

14 January 2014 - Macau - Our first border crossing by sea

Since we were so close (and someone we met out at Lantau Island recommended it) we thought we'd take a day trip to Macau. It was such a fun experience with a great contrast between 'Vegas' casinos and old fashioned Portugal. 

20 January 2014 - Tokyo and Nozawaonsen, Japan

We had 2 nights in Tokyo which were filled with exploring the city, going to a sumo wrestling tournament and being taken out for dinner by some lovely Japanese locals. We then caught the bullet train and a bus to get to Nozawa. It was like a winter wonderland when we arrived. The village was right at the base of the ski field and only a 5 minute walk from our resort to the main gondola. We spent the next five days skiing/snowboarding, eating (a lot!) and playing in the snow. Not to mention experiencing some of the more traditional Japanese experiences in the onsens. 

After one night back in Tokyo at an airport hotel on 29 January we were on our way home the following day via KL and arrived in Perth on 31 January at about 2am. 

It was a whirlwind adventure! 6 countries in 5 weeks... An incredible way to see some of Asia.  

As I said above, this is just a small introduction into each country we visited and a couple of photos to keep you intrigued until I upload some more. I'll go into more detail in my posts over the next few weeks about each country with tips on what to do, where to stay, and some things to look out for. 

In the meantime, I hope you are all planning your next trip. It doesn't matter how big or small, something to look forward to each month will bring a bit of extra excitement and joy to your life. 

'100 Happy Days' Challenge: Days 22 - 28

The weeks just seem to be flying by. It's already February, it's Grati-Tuesday again and last week saw us passing a quarter of the way through this fun challenge. 

I've been feeling pretty tired the last few days so this has been a great way of getting me to focus on what makes me happy and take my mind off how sleepy I'm feeling. 

Here's a few of the things that made me happy last week:

Day 22 - 'There is only one ATM in Nozawa and it's inside the post office which closed at 6pm. This meant scraping together every last cent we had to buy ice cream at our favourite bakery for our last night here! We now have exactly 11 cents to our name.' The husband and wife that owned this bakery were so lovely and always having a laugh with us. And by always, I mean at least once, if not twice a day when we went there to eat delicious pastries, donuts and ice cream!

Day 23 - 'We travelled from Nozawa back to Tokyo today and checked into a hotel near the airport. The hotel is filled with great cliche quotes about travelling.' I love all kinds of quotes about life, love, travelling and everything in between. 

Day 24 - 'With so many proposals and weddings at the moment it makes me think of our wedding almost two and a half years ago and I can't wipe the smile off my face.' I love looking at our wedding photos, they bring back such incredible memories and always make me smile. I love seeing other people getting engaged and married because I know they are getting to experience the amazing feeling of everything that comes with weddings - the proposal, engagement party, all the planning, hens party and of course, the big day! It's such a magical time in people's lives.

Day 25 - 'Loving the new app that I can use to track the countries I've visited. I've only seen 4% of the world and 8% of USA. Looking forward to getting those percentages up over the next couple of years. Our trip to North America at the end of the year and Europe next year should help with that.' You all know travelling is a big passion of mine and this is going to be a great app for me to use as motivation and inspiration. #bucketlist #30by30

Day 26 - 'Chocorn and a movie with my bestie - perfect Saturday night in.' After being on holidays for 6 weeks it was so nice to relax on the couch and watch a movie. The chocorn was just an added bonus thanks to my darling Mumma who gave it to us for christmas. 

Day 27 - 'Sunday afternoon smoothie by the river.' After being away for so long it was nice to do something we love doing when we're at home and go to our local cafe to get a smoothie. 

Day 28 - 'I had such a great catch up with one of my good friends today - we went for a run and then had a juice after. She's one of those friends that you could spend all day talking with and still never run out of things to say.' Kate and I love our weekly run/catchup. After 6 weeks apart we certainly had a lot to catch up on.

Train insane or remain the same!

As most of you will know by now last year was my first proper year of running and I really enjoyed it. I completed 2 marathons, 4 half marathons and a bunch of shorter races. I usually ran about 6 times a week and it took up most of my spare time.

You'll also know that I decided to take some time out from running at the end of the year to focus on other aspects of my life and create a better balance in my daily routine. I feel as though I've had a chance to reassess and have learnt how to better prioritise my time. 

This year I'm going to step things up a bit. Last year I decided to enter in the Tarawera 60km race in Rotorua, NZ this March. This will be a huge step up from anything I've ever done before. 18km further than I've ever run and a very hilly trail race instead of the flat road races I'm used to. I don't have any expectation of running a good time, I just want to finish, and have fun! 

I've also managed to get an entry in the Kep 75km race from Northam to Mundaring in June. It's a relatively flat/undulating trail race on fire trail. 

This will require a huge commitment and a lot of training. The two races are very different in the sense that for Kep I'll need to run as much as possible because the course is all 'runnable' as opposed to Tarawera where I will be walking/power hiking a lot of the hills and running on the flat and downhill sections. Both races will require a lot of specific training.

If everything goes well with those two races I'd like to enter in a 100km race towards the end of the year. Although, at the moment I can't even comprehend what it will be like to train for and complete a 100km race, so let's just get through the first two races and then see where I'm at. 

So, in order to achieve these goals I've decided to seek the help of a professional. And no, I don't mean a shrink. Although the fact that I'm even contemplating these races might be an indication that I need to see one! But in this case I'm referring to a running coach. I don't think the random programs I've previously tried following online are going to cut it this time. 

I've got precisely 6 weeks to train for Tarawera. I'm sure when I approached my coach and said that I've had 2 months off and want to run 60km in 6 weeks time, and that I'd like to only run 5 days a week so that I can still do gym work and bootcamp, he would've thought I was mad! But you know me, I love a challenge. 

I'll receive my first week's program this Friday, 31 Jan to start my training on 1 Feb!

So, wish me luck, I'm going to need it! I'll keep you posted with how my training is going over the next 6 weeks - I hope my coach isn't too hard on me!