Run Ballarat

I found out about Run Ballarat about June. To be honest, I’m not too sure when exactly this year, but I remember finding out about it before registrations where open.

On the 27th of July (2012), I paid my $43 for my registration, not long after that I got my shirt (but via Run Geelong, yes I thought this was very weird, but I was also not aware that Run Geelong were in partners with Run Ballarat, anyway back to the story).  Yay a free shirt, and I decent dryfit t-shirt too.  I love getting free shirts.  I love having race t-shirts, and I haven’t bought them for all the races I’ve done because they can get quite expensive.

I’ve done a few other races since July until now.  Run Melbourne, and Run for Russ.  Now the time came for Run Ballarat.  I was actually really looking forward to the race.  My running time has improved 10 fold since I started running a year ago. So competing in races, not only helps me set pb’s but I love the atmosphere and the environment.  They are also truly family friendly too.  I can not wait to do a family fun run or walk, ok walk cause at the moment, the distances are a bit too much for the kids to run them.

So this is me before the run, yes I was cold, but as soon as I started running, I got hot.  I love leggings, but now that the weather is warming up it’s going to have to be shorts, and just a sports top (not a tank like I have on here).

Now loads of people where wearing their Run Ballarat Shirt, which I think is fantastic, but in my opinion you can’t wear the shirt unless you’ve earned it.  And well I hadn’t earned it yet, so I’m not wearing it. I usually like to wear my last race t-shirt, however that was Run Melbourne, and that’s a long sleeve black shirt.  I would have been roasting if I wore just that.

So I made my way over to the warm up area.  Now what is it with people not wanting to go up to the front.  Are they scared?  I don’t care.  I’d rather be up the front, and just get it over and done with.  The warm up was only 2 songs, and I was kind of disappointed with it. The first song was the nut bush.  So yes it was the nut bush dance.  I couldn’t remember all the moves, so I did get some of them wrong, but I was laughing and didn’t care.
The 2nd song, well I have actually never heard of it (as in the radio, I knew of it) until this moment. And that was the Gangum song.  I didn’t even know the dance.  I felt like  complete goof, and was laughing during the majority of it, but I was having a good time that all that mattered.

After the warm up I made my way over the the start line.  I had plan on being in the 2nd wave, so expected finish time of 55mins, as to be honest, There was no way I was going to get a time less than that.

I set my music (a genius playlist based on Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You”), and was pumped.

I liked the course (you can see it here http://runkeeper.com/user/matildai/activity/126245618). I enjoyed running through the city, and I thought it was very well organised.  I totally loved the water stations.  Instead of cups (which let me tell you are pain, as they just go everywhere but your mouth), they had these tubes of water, where all you had to do was tear off a corner.  Seriously brilliant, and I wish all run events have these.  They are so much easier than those cups! I tore off a small hole, and was able to get the right amount of water I wanted into my mouth. They were also surprisingly easy to run with.
Running around the lake was fantastic.  However my heart rate monitor went a little bizzare at about the 5km mark.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but there is no way my heart rate went from 170 to 237 bpm and then stayed up in the 200’s.  It was around this time I was hit with a bit of head wind, so I have a feeling this is what caused for the heart rate monitor to go a bit out of wack.

By about 9km I was starting to feel tired, but I kept the pace up (I was keeping approx a 5min pace, which for me is fast). When I got to the 10km marker I knew the end was in sight.  So gave it my all.  I crossed the line in 53:58 (official time).  I ranked at 311. So I’m very happy with that.  Considering there were over 870 competitors running the 11km race.
So yes that does mean I ranked in the top 35% overall.  Age group no clue, as they haven’t put those filters in.

So overall had a great time.  And look forward do running it again next year. The event was highly organised and run (no pun intended there) efficiently.  I did see that someone on the Run Ballarat facebook page complained about the road closures, but coming from out of town, and not being a local there were plenty of signs to warn people, and there were fliers and posters all over town, and in the paper, and on the radio.  So the fact that this person complained I found annoying.  But what can you do, there is always going to be one person who ain’t happy. Maybe they need to get out an run.  Because that runners high afterwards is so worth it.

Wastage

Aside

I grew up with my mum instilling in me not to waste stuff.

I’m teaching my kids to do the same.

We really are a wasteful society.  Everything is throw away.  No one seems to care about the environment or how the next generation will live. Which is sad really.

Tonight for me is bin night, for both normal waste, and recyclables.  Although the recyclable bin is only 3/4 full it only gets collected once a fortnight.  This is the only bin I put out.  The other ‘normal’ bin only had 3 small bags of rubbish in it.
Yep, only 3 small bags, hardly worth me putting it out to get collected.  So that’s how much waste the 3 of us produced in this house that could not be composted or recycled.

I totally love my compost now.  I have a bigger bucket, as previously I was using an icecream container and it wasn’t big enough.  Usually once a day sometimes every second day I will dump all the organic material onto the compost.  The worms must be loving it.
But the best part, the soil that is coming out of the compost, just amazing.  Worms are wonderful things!

I know that there are others out there like me who don’t produce a lot of waste for landfill, which is a great thing.  It’s just a shame that others don’t do the same. I hate see rubbish littered on the roads, on the streets, and in our parks. People just don’t care, they put it in the too hard basket.

So I may only be one person, but I’m one person making a difference, and I hope you do the same too.

P90X

So today marked the last day of my p90x/turbofire hybrid (including running in there too).

I had p90x in my workout collection for a while, and I had done bits and pieces of it, just not the full 12 week program, as there were some workouts that I didn’t care for.  Like Kenpo – it’s just not my style.  So that’s why I opted for a hybrid with Turbofire (my soulmate workout).

I will come back and revisit p90x next year as I really enjoyed it. Even though Tony is a bit of a dag/dork.

So what comes in the box?  Well it depends on what you select. As I already had bands (and some free weights), I just went with the actual workout. Then I purchased a pull up bar.  I couldn’t get the pull up bar I wanted because if you knew my house you’d know how some of the door ways are in awkward spots and positions, but it still did the job.

If you don’t have a pull up bar, or weights or bands, then you will need to invest in these before starting the workout, as you just will not be able to benefit from the workout.

So the workouts are as follows:

1. Chest & Back
2. Plyometrics
3. Shoulders & Arms
4. Yoga X
5. Legs & Back
6. Kenpo
7. X Stretch
8. Core Synergistics
9. Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
10. Back & Biceps
11. Cardio X
12. Ab Ripper X

You also get your workout schedule, fitness guide and workout sheets.
It’s really important to use the workout sheets, so you can see how you are progressing.

So here are my thoughts.  I loved the strength training.  However I HATED using the bands. I had this same problem when I tried Chalean Extreme (aka CLX) at the start of the year.  However I found it less annoying with the bands with P90X than with CLX. So I strongly recommend free weights or adjustable weights if you chose to do this workout.

On a side note, I only just purchased adjustable weights (yes right at the very end of my p90x program), as I was not financially able to afford them previously.  They are a fantastic investment.  Mine go from 2.5kg to 24kg.  I don’t exactly see myself using the 24kg however if I ever need it it’s there.  And for the price I got them for, I’m not complaining. 

I also loved Yoga X, however I found that at 90 mins it was  just way too long.  Don’t get me wrong I can do a workout for 90 mins, but for some reason doing 90 mins of Yoga X just didn’t do it for me. However I found that if I broke it up into two 45 mins portions, so 1 part in the morning,  then the 2nd 45 mins in the afternoon/evening, a lot better and easier.
The other thing I found is that Yoga X is a lot more  flowy compared to stretch X.  Even though Stretch X is shorter, you will find Yoga X more beneficial for you holistically. Well that’s what I found at least. So even if you find that Yoga X is a bit too long like me, just do it, even if you have to split it up into 2 parts.

The other workout that surprised me (in a good way) was Core Synergistics.  When I first saw the description I did think to myself “hmm, I don’t think I will like this”.  Yet I was dead wrong.  Even Tony states in the workout that you may find it may become your favourite workout to do, and he was right, it is one of my favourite workouts.
To be honest, I would rather do 1 hour of a core workout than 10-20 mintues of an abdominal workout.  I know that this is something that I do need to improve one.

Another side note.  Yes I still do an abs workout, I just don’t do it as often as I should, as I do more core workout instead, which I prefer. Yes my core is a lot stronger than it was a year ago.  There are things I can do now with ease that a year ago I found difficult. 

Ab Ripper X is intense (well that’s what I found at least).  If you find it too hard, then do P90 ab 100 or P90M ab 200.  I’m not going to lie, I did, I also did Turbofire ab10 or Nike Training Club abs or core instead.
Alternatively  just don’t do as many reps, and then work up to the full 15-20 reps.

So if you are looking for a STRENGTH workout to do at home, then I would recommend P90X (there is also p90x2 but I haven’t tired that so I can’t comment on that yet).
And the reason I have strength in capitals, is because it is predominately a strength workout with cardio on the side.  If you are looking for a cardio workout with strength on the side, then P90X is not for you.

Life – Happens

So  have been absent, in the sense that I haven’t posted anything for a while.

Well there has been nothing really new to share or post about.

So I thought I would post some general things that have been happening in my life.

I now own a bikini and I must say I do love it.  I went to Swimwear Galore (in Geelong) and got this little number.

Ok so the bottoms are slightly different but that’s what I got, and I like it, and I can’t wait until the weather warms up and I can wear it on the beach.  I don’t look as good as her, I’m not a model, I have had 2 children, but you know what that doesn’t matter, because I’m happy with my body and I like my new suit.

I’ve also been training for Run Ballarat which just happens to be this Sunday.  It’s no longer going to be a 12km course 😦 . It is now a 11km course.  Why the sad face.  Cause well I was looking forward to running 12km’s.  Should be an interesting track, and I’m hoping that I get a sub 56min time.  Actually anything under and hour would be great.

The last 2 weeks my body has definitely been feeling the changes. And no I don’t mean menopause.  I just mean changes of routine.

First their were school holidays.
So I got a bit slack with logging my food and with eating.  However I did not put on any weight. So looks like my body is at it’s natural set point weight.

Then second – Daylight savings.  The time difference sent me into a zombie state.  It also did not help that on the 1st Monday of Daylight savings change (8th October), I went on my scheduled 16km long run. I only just feel now like my body is recovering from it. It took a lot out of me for whatever reason.  However I did keep a good pace, and if I keep at that pace, I should get my sub 2 hour time when I do my half marathon in Portland on 4th November.

But now that we have been in daylight savings for a week, I feel that I’ve adjusted to the time difference.

I’m really enjoying the days getting warmer, however it makes me realise that running is really a winter sport.  I went for a run yesterday afternoon, and I was feeling it.  And it wasn’t all that hot either. So I’m going to have to some early morning runs, or do shorter runs, but at a higher intensity, I will work something out because I always do.

So life happens.  But one thing for certain I am definitely enjoying my life more now than I did a year ago. Why?
Well getting fit and healthy has been a part of that, but I feel like I have gotten to know me again, and have a better family relationship with my kids.  Also finding something that loves me for me has helped that part of the equation too.

So enjoy life, enjoy moments, and live.  For you, and no one else.