Day no 4 ~ Going Well

Yesterday I did a baby photo shoot...took me sometime to get the room ready and then the shoot took 3 hours.... didn't have much time to think about food...which I like of course...so the answer is to stay busy!!! :)

I also taught a mixed class last night....Warm up, boxing, Low Impact, squats, toning and stretch...was a good workout for me as sure the other ladies thought so as well as most only train once a week so not very fit.

Today I went for a Trail run...I left home not worrying about my time verses kilometers....and was really surprised to see it was my fastest Trail run ( on that route ) that I've run ~ so it was a nice surprised for me at the end of the run.

It was very misty this morning and around midday it opened up to this beautiful day,so rushed out!!!

Eating wise ~ Day No 4 and still on track, not tempted to eat anything wrong after all the eating I did in Italy! :)

Tomorrow is Kettlebell day...no running ~ trying to split my cardio and toning up equally.

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

Modern Hotel Gym In Italy

Took these photo's at our first stop in Italy...

I loved the gym and wanted to train the moment I saw it, but was too late and Hubby kept telling me to relax, give my body a break!!

I gained 500g's ( half a pound ) while on holiday and thankfully have already lost it as I got right back to my eating plan on Sunday, I was not going to wait for Monday...

I ran in Italy on Friday morning for 55 mins, then on Sunday Hubby and I ran for 10 km, yesterday I ran for 11km...Today I'm teaching my Power Ladies....so making sure I'm staying active with being back on the 17 DD plan.

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

Am back from beautiful HOT Italy

I'm back from beautiful, HOT, friendly Italy

I ate without thinking for one week...

I ate Pasta, Pizza, Ice Cream and drank lots of wine

I ate all things white...( and suffered ) :)

I did get to run once for 55 mins while hubby went for a meeting

I did walk KM's every day and climbed so many stairs it was scary

Today ( Sunday ) our first day home, Hubby and I went for a 10km run in the beautiful sunshine...Is such a beautiful day, we lay in the sun tanning as well....so happy as I would be so depressed having been in Italy where the temps were over 30 degrees every day...

I climbed on the scale this morning and with all my eating I only gained 500grams

Am back on track today...

Doing the 17 DD plan for two weeks as I need to detox from all the sugar.

8 weeks to my South African * Summer * holiday...

I cant wait.

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

Not In For Awhile

I won't be blogging for the next week as off to Italy tomorrow...

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

Bell ~ 5.4km run

The ~Bell Equipment~ team that entered the 5.4km run on 10th September in Alsfeld.

This is the South African company my husband works for and this was also his first organised run.

First man to come from the company was the 5th young man from your left

Second in was the 2nd man from your left ( doesn't work for the company, was a replacement )

Then my hubby came in 3rd....I came in 4th and the first lady to come in from the company.

I set up my camera on the tripod with self timer to take this photo of the team.

This photo of Hubby running up to the finish and the start where taken by my friend Heidi, she was training to run with her hubby Heinz, when she broke a bone in her foot...so she was our photographer that day.

I love seeing this photo of hubby as I was behind him so didn't get to share the joy on his face as he came up to the finishing line....at such a good time...He did 5.4km in 28 mins
At the start of the run, Hubby and I were together, our pace was fast...I could not see how fast as my Garmin's battery died before the start ( no idea how that happened as I had charged it after my neighbor used it last Wednesday for her run ) anyway...at one point he went past me and encouraged me to run faster...I told him that for me, my Heart Rate was very high and I was going as fast as I could...so to run ahead of me......to run his best time. So he and the Bell replacement who came in 2nd ~ went off together at one fast pace.

I was boiling, it was so hot out, I have never run in a t-shirt, so after the first 10 mins in I took it off and ran in my sports bra, feeling the air on my skin was such an awesome feeling. I actually didn't care what anyone thought of me, I was struggling and had to do this for myself...without the T-shirt!!!
My HR was high from the start to the finish of the run.....I was running so fast.....my right leg was so sore, my mind was playing tricks on me, telling me to walk....*come on, you can walk*...but knowing myself...I don't allow myself to walk....not in a 5.4km run!!!! So I kept pushing myself to run faster.
There was such a wonderful atmosphere along the way ( besides the forest area ) people cheering and clapping to keep the runners pushing. As I got closer to the end, fireman were standing spraying cold water across the street...you had to run through it ~ it was wonderful, it helped to cool one down, I knew the end was insight so told myself to keep going as in the distance I could see Hubby running ~ I wanted to try catch up to him ( he tells me he had to walk 2x but still I never managed to catch him )

As I approached the end, I started chasing a man in front of me, he sensed this so turned around to me and said in German * Come lets sprint to the end * ~ so off we went...he went ahead of me as was faster, but I was sprinting as fast as I could up that hill to the finish line, I could hear the people cheering and clapping for us...was such a good feeling as we were really giving it our all and they noticed that.

My time for 5.4km was 29 mins and 31 sec

We hung around the venue for three more hours, drinking and chatting to everyone, I saw a few of my dancing ladies there....we cheered at the awards celebration...the winning man ran the run in 18 mins, the winning lady in 25!

Later that evening we went up to friends apartment to shower and then went to the Greek restaurant for dinner.

I had a mug of Radler, alcohol free as I was the driver home.

Grilled chicken breast, chips, ( only ate a few ) with cabbage salad

Dessert I had....Greek yogurt with honey and few nuts

It was such a beautiful day and evening, we ate outdoors..

This afternoon a thunder storm arrived....right now its chilly, with thunder and lightening....

Cannot believe how lucky we were with the weather yesterday.

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

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.