Bush trip encounters

It’s a different world out here…

Noosa Winter Festival

Tags

Bolder Boulder, half marathon, Noosa, Race, Racing, Running, Squad

This weekend was the Noosa Winter Festival, which includes running, swimming and cycling events.

This year was my first time at the event, and I ran the 10km. A lot of people stay at Noosa for the weekend – it’s a nice spot, and it’s about 2 hours away from Brisbane. I decided to drive up on the morning of the race, which I was regretting when I had to leave home at 5am!

By the time I got there, parking was a bit of an issue. I found a park in a side street, about 15 minutes from the start (by the time I arrived the half had already started)

Race number pick up was a piece of cake. They had multiple tables (alphabetical), and I was looked after as soon as I got there (which was about 90 minutes before race start)

My squad had a tent set up near the start/finish. The half was run on a 2 lap course, which is great for spectating! The only problem with the 2 laps is that the leaders caught up to the back of packers, which made their finish slightly less spectacular.

The course is fast, and flat. The only inclines are 2 tiny bridges that go over the waterway! We also had a great morning with the weather – sunny, cool, and no wind.

My own race:
I ate breakfast at home before the drive. I’ve been REALLY hungry lately, and sure enough I was absolutely starving just before my race! A girl from my squad (who wasn’t racing) gave me an apple, so after my warm up I scoffed down a couple bites before heading the the start. It seemed to work well – I found my mouth didn’t get dry during the race, and I wasn’t distracted by hunger pangs!

I haven’t raced a 10km since July last year, so I really didn’t know what to aim for. I started out at a steady pace, and went through the first km in 4:15. After about 2km a girl that I’ve raced against a couple times recently passed me and said hi. She beat me by about 10 sec at the track 5000m champs, so I know we’re closely paced. My second km was 4:30, then the third was back to 4:15. I really need to be more consistent! I passed her between again 3-4km, and didn’t see her until the end of the race (I think she was very close through the race though!)

There was another lady just ahead of me, so after one ‘kill’ I decided to hunt her down. I almost passed her a couple times, but each time she was speeding up dramatically as soon as she saw me! I persisted, and eventually passed her without too much effort.

I reached the turnaround in 21:50. At the time I thought I was holding a decent pace, but spoiler alert – I slowed down a fair bit in the second half…

I’m not sure what happened, because I didn’t go out too hard? I think I got distracted! How is it that I can do two and a half hour long runs, but I can’t maintain focus for less than 45 minutes?

My pace averaged 4:21 for the first 5km, and 4:34 for the final 5. That’s a pretty big fail in my books.

Quite a few people from my squad raced, and it was great being on an out and back course being able to cheer everyone on. A few people had cracker races (my friend won the half, another was 3rd male, we had a 4th placed male in the 5km, and there were plenty of PBs). Being in a squad means that going to a race isn’t just about your own time, so a bad race doesn’t turn into a bad experience overall!

Next race is the Bolder Boulder. I’m glad to get a longer race in beforehand, for race-specific fitness. Now to figure out how to survive the altitude!

Getting hot n sweaty

Tags

Bikram, Hot yoga, yoga

So, Bikram yoga.

It’s something I’ve wanted to try for ages, but with our hot and humid summers (like, over 90% humidity some days) I’ve been putting it off. It’s FINALLY starting to cool down (days are still shorts and tshirt weather but nights are colder), so I thought this was the perfect time to try.

Not so perfect? Racing a 10km the day after your first class.

The studio that I went to offers your first 7 days for $20, which is the price of a casual class as well. This is a good week for me to start, because I can go a few times and get my money’s worth! After this, I think I’ll aim to go once per week or per fortnight.

There were 3 new people in the class, and the instructor made sure to know our names before the class started. She was very encouraging throughout the class!

From what I had read online, I knew there were 26 poses and that they were repeated twice. I was expecting us to do the sequence once, then repeat from the start. Instead we repeated each move immediately. I really liked this – I used the first time to try and make sure I was doing it right, and the second time I could reach further and challenge myself more.

The instructor told me that the most important aspect of your first class is to adapt to the heat. She asked us to stay in the room for the whole 90 minutes, but that we could either stand still or kneel if we needed to. I got through the whole class without needing to break! I have to admit that at the start of the class I had a couple moments when my vision went blank – but that happens when I stand up to quickly so I wasn’t concerned.

The only other yoga that I’ve done before has been beginners yoga, and one thing I loved about those classes was they were all about technique. We’d spend some classes just working on one or 2 poses for the whole class, and I liked how strict they were about doing things properly.

I didn’t find that as much with Bikram – she’d occasionally mention about alignment, but not as specific. I was also amazed at how many people (even the really flexi ones) fell out of poses. I guess the heat would contribute a lot?

I look forward to learning the sequence, so that I don’t need to spend the whole class looking around the room!

I weighed myself before I left home, and then drank 1L of water (only a few small sips during class, then the rest of it on the walk home). I weighed the same when I got home, so I guess I sweated about a litre? That’s actually not that much more than when I run on a hot summers day, but it felt like a lot more at the time!

If I continue to practice I hope it makes my body more balanced (some things were much easier on one side), plus I want to increase my flexibility. Staying heat adapted through winter will hopefully make running next summer easier, too!

I survived Bikram!

Tags

Biker am, sweaty, yoga, yoga mat

Hello world, I have a blog

Tags

Facebook, Online Communities, Real life, Twitter, Wordpress

When I started this blog, I had no interest in telling people that I know in real life about it. I only know one other person who blogs (go read it, it’s about running and cupcakes and family and puppies!) so I thought people might not get why I’m doing it, or have any interest in it. I also tend to keep my online life separate to my real life. I’ll give a prize to anyone who has previously worked out my username on a certain running forum!

I still don’t know what I want this blog to be, I guess it’s just a record of my running, and the occasional random photo…

Anyway, I decided to start using my twitter account more frequently, and in doing so linked it to my Facebook. I completely forgot that my blog posts update automatically to Twitter!

I finished my last post and went out to do a couple things, and while I was out I realised that I had inadvertently put a link to my blog on FB. When I got back, I suddenly had more views in a day than I had before…

And now I know that my husband has known about the blog for ages – which totally doesn’t surprise me. J knows me better than anyone else, but I think the biggest clue was that WordPress is now one of our top sites in Safari! So that’s how he knew about me doing double runs…

So, this is me saying hello real world and welcome to my blog.

I’m a spendaholic

Tags

Clothing, consumer, consumerism, Pear-shaped, Running, Shopping

I’ve got a problem. I spend ridiculous amounts of money of running clothes/shoes/accessories. I’ve been fairly good with shoes lately (I’ve only bought these and these in the past few months), but I’ve still got more pairs than necessary.

Clothes are my big downfall. I’m not exactly shaped like a runner (I’m a bit pear shaped), so even though I’m happy with my size I struggle to find running clothes that are flattering.

I don’t need this many shirts, or shorts:

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Those photos were from February, so I’ve added to the collection since then. I’ve now done a cull. I now have 15 shirts and 15 shorts in my drawers, and I’m challenging myself to ONLY wear what I’ve got available. I’m not buying anything new until we go to the US (which is 3 weeks, so it’s very achievable) and then I’ll develop a new goal once we get back.

I don’t know if it’s going to make any difference, but now that I’ve got it written down and in the open it should make me more accountable, right? I may also start documenting what I wear each day, to try and work out if there’s a pattern to what clothes I actually wear consistently.

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions for me?