In Today's Newspaper

Today there was an article in the newspaper on the people from our town ( region ) who ran the Half Marathon last Saturday....

Under the picture of my partner and I it says that the Editor and Sports Photographer from the Newspaper ran the marathon.

Here are the times of the few runners from our town.

I was put into the 40/45 year age group...BUT AM 49!!!!

My partner came in ONE minute behind me and not 3 like she thought.

I see some woman in the age group of 50/55years came in under 2 hours....so that's my next goal!! 21km in 2hours....LOL....

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

First half marathon...

Saturday I ran my first ever Half marathon with my neighbor who has already run 3 half marathons and one full marathon....

She decided to do this Half to support me with my first one.

This is a photo of us before of the run...I was feeling calm, but took many trips to the toilet as we went to a party the night before, and although I went to bed early I think the foods had lots of salt on it so when I woke up I noticed in my face I was swollen from water retention and knew I would need the loo a lot more than normal.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of the race as I am doing that on my other private blog and online group.

The race started at 10.10am

It was hot and very humid

Did 5km in 27 mins

10km in 55 mins

Full half marathon in 2 hours and 5 mins.

I was glad with it was all over!!!!!!!!!!!

When I stopped running I noticed my one toe was sore, never felt it while I ran.

My right thigh was really sore, felt it start giving me trouble around 8km into the run, but tried not to give it much focus.

I had put Vaseline under my arm area, but having worn a jacket to the venue all the Vaseline was off and I never put the jar in my bag, so had two very very sore and chaffed under arms...

Will I run this distance again...

YES AND LOOKING FOR MY NEXT RUN.

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Who is this Monster??

By now you all know by now, I have a husband who really spoils and looks after me ~ I could not ask for more or better.....

Well on Sunday after my run with the other ladies, I was in the shower when I saw him come into the bathroom with both my running shoes, bent over the bath and started cleaning them. He does the cleaning of my running shoes from time to time, but this day he decided my shoes needed a clean cause I was running my first Half marathon and he wanted me to run in clean shoes!!!!!

I'll be running in the Adidas pink and white shoes as they my road running shoes and the grey

Salomon are my Trail running shoes.

The route is on both Road and Trail.

I'm a little worried about myself....let me share and then you can tell me if you have had the same experience, if this is normal and my question is...WILL THE NORMAL ME RETURN??

I feel as if I've released a *Monster* within myself!!

This monster is so competitive....and its driving me nuts to be honest.

I'm competing against myself ONLY, against my GARMIN.

The day I decided I was going to run the Half Marathon and had a month to train, something happened, I went all out to complete this challenge I had set out for myself.

As I started training and working towards beating my PR for 5/6 and now 10km times ~ I feel as if every run I do has a competition within it. ( for me only )

I have to beat something...my pace, my time, my distance...grrrrr

I want to just run and not have a care in the world again, but right now it feels like this is how every run is going to be for me in the future....beating something!!!

Please tell me that after the Half Marathon I won't be doing this anymore and will find my running the way it used to be again....That what I'm experiencing right now is NORMAL.

My partner who is running with me says she has never felt the way I do when she has prepared for a race! She thinks I'm crazy and should start running without my Garmin.

Today my running partner and I set out for our last run before the Half marathon on Sunday.

We decided on a 10km distance.

I wanted to make sure I did the first 15 mins at a pace of 9.5km as my warm up and there after wanted to run the rest of the distance at 10 ~ 10.5km...( I went faster at times and had to slow down )

It was fast and I don't think I could do that pace for two full hours...so will have to make sure I run my first hour of the marathon under 10km per hour and then go faster the last 10km...

see here I am planning again, my partner says...JUST RUN...

I ran 10km in 59,42 mins...a new PR for my in 10km

Average pace 10.3

Max Speed 14.6

Burned 788 calories

HR 138 ~ 181

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

New Kettlebell ~ 10kg's ( 22 lbs )

My new Kettlebell arrived this morning, so after my indoor cycle I did an hours Kettlebell workout with my new 10kg ~ I love Kettlebell workouts and the heavier the more I can feel it working on my body....building the muscles..:)

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Sundays Run and Weekly recap

The first photo is of my Sunday running group....one runner was not able to make it today, so there would normally be 5 of us.

The lady with the blond hair next to me is the one doing the Half marathon with me next Sunday. She is an experienced Marathon and Half marathon runner so will be doing this race to support me with my first Half. I think its very sweet of her, but know I could do this on my own as well, I do find I'm faster and better runner when on my own. I've set out a time I want to run this Half and she said I can go ahead if she cant keep up, I don't have to worry about her as she is not feeling that strong lately ~ but she has fire in her belly and I know will stay with me from the start to the finish...

The next photo is of my friend, Christine...she and I did our first official run together the beginning of this year. Since then Christine's been on holiday, and has been ill so has not had enough time to run, so with all that against her, she has not kept up with my pace in the running department, but she is very strong when I teach her Kettlebell...We only run together on our social Sunday run now.

Today's run was frustrating for me....I have not run with the girls that much the last few months so have forgotten how slow they are. I headed out thinking I would take it easy at around 9km per hour but once out I noticed their pace was around 7.2 - 8, so up the hills to stay with them, I walked. A few times i headed out on my own at a pace of 9km, only to wait for them a little later to catch up. When I saw our 5km time was 38.50 mins, I decided I had to get going otherwise was going to end with a very slow 10km pace.....at the 7.22km mark I could start running on my own as the others had taken another route home...I wanted to do 10, they wanted to run 6km....once we split I had to run....as fast as I could to try make up the time lost....I ran at a pace of 11/12 on flats and up the hills at a pace of 9.5km. I had to push as I could see my 12 km race time I was going to finish this 10km run in.....(1 hour and 12mins ) Thankfully I made up a little time lost...

Once my Half marathon is run I can relax with my running again and not focus as much on distance and time like I am at the moment.....I want to see improvement each time I run....and should have just seen today's run as a social fun run...but am mentally so focused I just couldn't.

I plan to run my Half Marathon between 9.5 and 11km per hour. I will vary my pace according to the road I'm running on the day, but I do not want to drop below 9km per hour. The Half marathon is on road and trail.....My goal is to finish my half within 2 hour and 15 mins....I run this distance the first time in 2 hours and 12 mins...but one just never knows what you feel like on the day so have lowered my time if it need be.
Weeks recap

Ran ~ Monday 7.75km, Wednesday 8.2km, Saturday 6.2km and Sunday 10km

Total a little over 31km for the week.

I taught one aerobic class on Tuesday

I toned with Kettlebell 5x this last week...Two full workouts and the rest Upper body and abs.

Trained a total of 10 hours

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Newer PR today :)

I broke my PR for my time running a 6km ( 3.7 miles ) today......5km ( 3.10 miles ) was my best time today, I did it in 27 mins.

Let me tell you, I had to run at a pace of 11.5km - 12.8km ( 7.1 - 7.9 miles ) to reach this time.

I was pushing like you cant believe. Hubby kept on asking for our pace and telling me to slow down, I would shout back at him that the first 3km ( 1.86 miles ) was on a slight decline and the last 3km ( 1.86 miles ) was all incline, so we had to make up time on the down as we would be slower going up!

I got to the 3km ( 1.86 mile ) mark in 15 mins and wondered if I had the energy to go another 3km ( 1.86 miles )....but slowly I picked up my rhythm again and would not allow myself to fall under a pace of 10km ( 6.21 miles per hour ) as I knew to get a good time I had to keep my pace up.

The final hill ( and only hill ) I dropped my pace to 8.5km ( 5.28 miles per hour ) as I did not want to do what I did last week....I went flat out and just before i reached the top I had to stop to walk and then run once at the top....I wanted to have a run without any walking today...and that's what I did...Hubby walked up the last section of the hill as he went up too fast in the beginning.

What I love about training with the Garmin which is a GPS is that you get the correct distance you have run without estimating or trying to work out on Google map the distance. Then you get the pace your average pace you run at, the Average speed and the max speed.

Today I did the fastest AVERAGE SPEED since owning my Garmin..I usually run between 8.5 when with our running group...on my own my pace is 9,8 average, so today with the average being 10.8.....

VICTORY WAS MINE...

I'm so excited and happy...

When I see where I started and in two years where I am now....

I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Breaking away with Ice Cream

This is what we all ate yesterday!!!!!!!!!!

I know...I know...........I KNOW!!!

I met up with the ladies yesterday afternoon, my Power Ladies as I call them.

As it was such a hot and humid day THEY decided on ice cream, when I suggested a coffee shop for a cup of coffee....

I decided to take yesterday as my one off day instead of Saturday like I usually do.

This I did on the spur of the moment as I could see one treat was going to throw my calories all over the place...

I wanted to be part of this group....I didn't want to sit there with them and say

* Sorry I cant eat ice cream *...and drink water!!

If i was still trying to lose the weight, I would have said NO...but not at this stage of my journey where I'm maintaining my weight and healthy lifestyle.

I don't want to put others off from attempting this journey but giving them the idea that never again will they be able to have ice cream...

I have to remember these ladies never saw me overweight, only as a fit and healthy woman....and I need to let them see that's its okay to have little treats as well.

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Keeping Active

Today was such a beautiful morning in Germany, I got out of bed early to start my day....I find when its cold and grey sky, I lie in bed and feel miserable...but not today!!!

I started my morning with my breakfast of Greek Yogurt, muesli, blueberries and Green Tea

Then set out to tidy up a little while my food settled and then started my morning workout.

I did 25 mins of ABS only....using the fitness ball, Pilates, Plank variations and normal sit ups.

45 mins later my client arrived for a Kettlebell session...it was such a great morning we did the class out on the lawn in the shade as the sun only comes over later in the morning.

Tonight I teach my * Power Ladies * an aerobic and toning class.

Eating wise, I've been * okay * today.....I find when I don't follow a eating program I'm inclined to eat a little all over the place...

I do plan to repeat one Phase One of the 17 Day plan after the Half Marathon and before my sisters wedding on 20th September in Italy,

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

Weekly Recap

This was my run today....

I did a Trail run today...After doing a 45 mins kettlebell, so legs were sore, first 4.75km was all uphill and really heavy going.....

Last week I only trained on the road and felt the difference today.

I know Trail runs with hills are what makes me stronger so will do them this week and not road runs...

Weekly recap

Trained for 9 hours in total

Monday

Walked 6.73km ~ 1hr 3 mins

Kettlebell ~ 1 hour

Tuesday

Toned 30 mins

Taught KB ~ 1 hour

Taught Aerobic class

Wednesday

Ran 21.12km

Thursday

Walked 2.25km ~ 36 mins

Friday

Ran ~ 5km

Abs ~ 25 mins

Saturday

Ran ~ 6km

Sunday

Day off

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.

New PR's

Saturday I broke two more personal records while running...

I bettered my 5km time by one minute ( 28.32 )

I ran my fastest 6km time EVER ( my old 5km time )

So all in all I finished my run with hubby yesterday morning, feeling feelings of accomplishments.

The way I see it, isn't necessarily the way you see it.