The sweet life of CRG...

On Monday night, after work, my husband and I travelled 2 hours down to Auckland where Tim was to be doing some business training for the next two days. Thanks to having the sweet life of semi-employment I had no work over these last two days so decided to tag along with him, hang out in the hotel, go shopping and order room service all day long (not really, but I wish).

The hanging in the hotel is easy, I have been watching the Olympics - and LOVING IT! The shopping was more like window shopping thanks to the speeding ticket we managed to get on the way down - seriously though, the cop must have been bored because it was only 3kms over the limit... DOH! And the ordering room service is actually more like going to New World metro and getting a few snacks... But didn't it sound so much more luxurious before you knew all of this?

Bed + computer + Olympics = bliss!

So yesterday morning I was thinking that I would go and run along the waterfront, part of the course for the Auckland Marathon, but the weather was a little bit crappy and I thought I'd like to make the most of the hotel gym. Therefore I did my key run #1 on the treadmill. I ran my 1000m repeats at 12.5km/h rate with a 1% incline and this pretty much killed me. My rest interval was a mix of walking and lite jogging. I wanted to end with a round time too so ended up staying on the tready for an hour, made easy by being able to watch the Equestrian at the same time. I never knew I liked Equestrian until yesterday!

This morning I did my cross training session on the bike in the gym, did only 40 minutes and then honestly, I got a bit bored! Oops.

Now, because hotels tend to have this 'you have to check out, you can't stay in bed all day watching Olympics' rule, I have to pack up our room and get out by 11. Tim doesn't finish until 4.30ish today so I am going to catch up with one of my favourite friends and her two kidlets for the arvo, and maybe get in a visit to my brother. What treats!

Now just so you know, I am starting a full time job in a month's time, thus the reason I am making the most of this being able to travel around with Tim staying in hotels and being a lady of leisure (with the odd day or two of work in between too). Because when I start my job in a month, I imagine it is going to be all consuming of my life... JOY!

What sports have you surprised yourself by enjoying at the Olympics this year?

Definitely the Equestrian, weightlifting and the odd spot of fencing - so surprised about this one, never thought I would enjoy that! 

What are your not-so-guilty pleasures when you don't have much work on?

Do you prefer treadmill training or out on the road? 

Pretty much always the road, but the treadmill can be kinda good for repeats since you need to measure your distance - esp. if there is no track near by for you to use. However, I just don't think I push myself as hard as I can on a treadmill.   

Monday mileage and mothers day...

A day late, yes I know and I do apologise. My computer and I were taking a 'break' yesterday - well actually I was just so busy I never got to the computer. But alas, here it is...

I have decided to start a new thing for my blog and it's called monday mileage. It's all about the mileage I, and my fabulous readers, did (or for some reason didn't) do over the weekend.

To start it off I am going to tell you about the 12km race I competed in on Sunday, which also happened to be mothers day here in little ol' NZ.

I wasn't sure how I'd go only 2 weeks out from the marathon so I didn't put a time goal on it. I was happy to finish it in just under 1 hour and 5 minutes. Next time I'd like to be able to finish in under an hour. It was a great run but started with a very steep 250m hill. Literally we started at the bottom of the hill. Got a bit of a puff on going up but a good way to warm up. Thankfully it was a gorgeous day too (a bit hot at times) but we managed to get in a tail wind at some points too - bonus!! AND... For a mothers day treat my Mum-in-law (a.k.a runner Mum) did the run too... Just what every Mum wants to do on the one day of the whole year dedicated to them... HA!

Posing like a dork way after I'd actually finished

Super runner Mum crossing the finish line - Yahoo!

My lovely sister-in-law (brother's wife) and gorgeous friend also walked it so it was nice to have some company with the three of them at a race for once (instead of not knowing any other competitors). And the quote of the day (not naming any name's but was from my friend...haha) 'did you just get really sun burnt or are you usually that red after you finish a run?' Oh shame on my name - that's right you couldn't really tell where my t-shirt finished and my face began... Story of my life - HA!

Sarah and Saskia cruising across the finish line still looking as gorgeous as ever!

So it was a pretty great day all around and a nice time was spent with the girls.

My wonderful runner Mum-in-law and I

 Later on that day I took my Mum and her partner out for a devonshire cream tea which was a nice treat for us all. A lovely way to end the day.

So what miles did you clock up over the weekend and how did you treat your Mum for mothers day? Would your Mum enjoy running a race on mothers day?

A fun marathon... Is that an oxymoron???

In finding my last marathon a bit of a struggle (that's an understatement - it was a MAJOR struggle), I had decided that for this one I wanted to try to beat my time, but most importantly I wanted to enjoy it and even try to... wait for it... MAKE IT FUN!! Gasp!

Slugging it out in the Auckland marathon - not even at half way yet!

So here's what I came up with to make a marathon fun... And yes, IT IS ACTUALLY POSSIBLE!!
(warning, some photos beyond this point may offend)

10 musts for a fun marathon:

1. The first is the most obvious - train hard so you know you have put the effort in to actually get you to the finish

2. Smile every chance you get - if not for the WHOLE marathon

3. Encourage other runners - this always makes you feel so much better

4. Have a laugh at the funny signs people are holding up along the course. For example, these two guys were carrying a sign on the sidelong along several parts of the course that said: 'Hurry up, we want coffee!' Didn't really get it but thought it was worth a laugh. Or my all time favourite at the Auckland Marathon: 'Nek minnit... Finished!' Classic.

5. Make sure you look good before you start. Have a good looking kit to wear and make sure you feel GOOD in it!

6. Or if the running gear ain't doing it for ya' dress up if there's a theme or just because you feel like it - such as the tinman seen in this post, and like this guy:

or this guy:

7. Fist pump whenever you get the chance - such as when you see someone you know, someone cheers for you, or just because you CAN!

8. Encourage, cheer for and even offer lollies (if you have them) to the marshals and drink station peeps - trust me, they LOVE it! Especially if there are kids!

9. Have some funkadelic beats playing on your iPod, or run with a buddy so you can have company. If all that fails, do what I do and just make mates with someone along the course - that's fun and then you have someone to encourage and someone to encourage you!

10. Last but definitely NOT least, and probably the most important especially for your first marathon... CROSS THE FINISH LINE WITH YOUR ARMS IN THE AIR!! 'I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...' You know it, sing along :)

So... That's about all I can think of for how to make a marathon (or any other race) FUN! That's right folks, you heard it here first, running CAN BE FUN! How do you make running fun? Is there anything you can think of that I didn't? Would love to hear what sorts of fun things you do to get you through.

Happy Runner Girl

There it is, 'The Im-having-fun-running-this-marathon thumbs up and smile!' 

If i can do it you can do it too! 

Runner Girl

Rest and recovery...

So after my big run adventure on Saturday, followed by a 5 hour car drive yesterday I thought my body was in need of a little TLC. So here's what I came up with...

After the run I felt great - nothing hurt too much, needed to be amputated, operated on, popped, numbed, or anything else you can think of. However after the car drive home the next day, sitting all squashed in the back of a car, things were starting to stiffen and tighten a little. Eek! So I started today with a 1km easy swim at the pools, very relaxing and no pressure to perform as the only people around were all over 70 and they were doing their own funky aquarobics moves to help them with their own aches and pains.

Following the swim I went and got a great 1 hour massage courtesy of my wonderful friend Kate from Revive Massage Therapy (the best sports massager in town). This got rid of a whole lot of knots and tightness and nastiness that had built up in my legs from all the running. So now I am feeling all relaxed and bendy and flexi like those bendy rubber key ring people you get... You know the ones?

How do you like to recover after a hard training session or big run?? What is the best thing for a sore body?

I then also had a wee lunch date with my husband at work which was delightful.

Starting tomorrow I am joining in on a bootcamp with some peeps from my church for a 10 week bootcamp challenge in which I will help motivate and encourage my team mates (as well as have a good go myself!). That will be fun so we'll see how the body holds up after that. My other wonderful friend Halle from this awesome personal training studio is running the bootcamp so will probably cause me to not want to be her friend anymore... Which could never happen ONLY because I happen to like the feeling of pain from doing such a great exercise. Plus, if she wasn't so good at what she does there would be no pain. And I am a firm believer that...

No pain no gain!

So for the next couple of weeks I will take a wee break from running and focus on the gritty stuff I'll be doing at STOMP! bootcamp, as well as getting back into playing some good, solid hockey. My running will start up again in a little while, but for now watch out abs chick because soon my abs will be visible (and by visible I mean with x-ray glasses)and STILL faster than yours (I hope)!!

Ciao for now,

Runner girl