Uh oh

Oh dear, guess what I have done......I have entered the Hunter Valley Marathon. Eep! Its scary but mostly exciting. Its not till 17th July so I have plenty of time to train and I think it will be the challenge I need to make sure I get up in the mornings.

It cost $87 which I think is a little pricey but I am happy to pay it as I think I will be well looked after and get a t-shirt at the end! I was tempted to get a hoodie but it was $49 and I don't really need it.

The website says that the 1/2 marathon is 60% flat, 25% rolling hills and 15% hilly, that doesn't sound too bad does it? I have heard stories about it being a bit hilly but also of others setting pbs on it so I am not scared. I will try and do a little hill training though.

The Hunter Valley is about 2 1/2 hour drive from our house so it is technically possible to drive up in the morning but I would have to leave the house at about 4am. Ideally I would love to stay there and make a weekend of it but that will bump up the price. I know a cute little cottage about 15mins from the start which would be great but it sleeps 4 people so I would like to get two others in on the trip. Well its a long way off yet and if I don't get on with my training the logistics won't matter anyway.

With that said I was out on a run this morning. I came up with the idea in the pub on Saturday night to put all of our names in the house on a white board. The night before we tick if we are going to get up for a run or swim and then the other house members are allowed to do anything they can to get you up. Does that make sense? I think it is the fear of someone barging into your room at 6am that scares you into getting up anyway.
At the moment we don't have the white board so had to make do with a piece of paper, still it worked and Michael-Clease, Neil and I went out for a 5km run.

Training schedule #1

So I found this training schedule on a website, many of them are for 10/12 weeks and I wanted a longer one so I could start training straight away. As you can see this one is for 20 weeks which is perfect. It was in miles and so I have converted it and rounded the numbers as it seemed silly to run 17.7km. It seems pretty do able and the fact there is cross training days means I can fit in cycling and swimming. I'm sure I will not stick to it religiously especially as I have already done 5km today instead of 3.2km. I also need to work in some speed and hill sessions. What do you think? Maybe ever Wednesday can alternate between speed and hill work? Can I handle 5km of hill work? I guess we shall see.
Chubby Katie.x

Oh lovely readers

Oh lovely readers please forgive me! I have been away for so long! But now i'm back, from outerspace (sorry no, it just reminded me of I will survive).

The reason I have been away is that I really haven't been up to much of interest. After my 1km swim I haven't been doing any swim training. I have been on the odd non-eventful run and my bike may have disintegrated from lack of use. However after talking to my parents this morning my dad complained that this old blog was sounding a little negitive and things like me doing yoga on the wii fit were not very inspirational (maybe he should try yoga on the wii fit before complaining). So a positive attitude is needed.

Tomorrow the Hunter Valley marathon entries open and I am thinking of just going for it! The race isn't until July and I have run 16km in the past fine. I reckon I need the fear of being entered into something to get me up in the mornings.

The Shark Island swim is also coming up in Cronulla at the end of March, I think a few people are thinking of doing the 1km but I somewhat think what is the point. I have already swam that far I really should be aiming for the 2.3km. Is that crazy? and if it is is it in a good way or an I might die kind of way?

Sunday the Kurnell triathlon is on, I am not considering entering it but I might like to go down and watch it if I can get out of bed after a saturday night out.

Well I think that is all I have to say, I am back and will try not to stay away for as long again!
Chubby Katie.x

Beat the Brain

At the moment my Ironwoman dream is looking very far in the distance! I have had a very lazy week after my big swim at the weekend and I think my belly is looking a little flabbier. As is always the way I will promise myself that next week will be different, the beginning of my new regime.

Does anyone have a Wii fit? I do but sadly don't use it very often. I got on it the other day and it said it had been something like 300 days since my last work out! On the plus side it said I had lost 3kg which is fantastic. I was thinking that I should looking into getting a cheap set of scales to weigh myself but turns out the wii does that so I don't need to get any.
Anyway I was on it the other day and did about 40mins yoga as well as a few planks and the like. It was really good and it was on a really hot day when I didn't really fancy going outside for a run so this was perfect.

Michael-clease has invented a new technique for getting out of bed and exercising, he is calling it beating the brain. His method is as soon as your alarm goes off, before you have time to think of reasons not to get up, you tell your body "quick get up, beat that brain!" It sounds simple enough although I tried it on Friday with not much success. On Monday morning I vow to add it to my other techniques and see if I can't get this body moving!

I have just signed up to join in the CK Virtual Fun Run Series run by Thats how I roll's Jessica  and her friend Paula. They set dates and distances and you train so you are ready and then everyone runs on the same day regardless of were they are. Its a great idea for those of us who can't afford a race every weekend but also good for those people who live in rural locations. They are starting off with very short distances and building up. If I am going to be doing the Hunter Valley Marathon in July my training will no doubt over take the races but it still sounds like a fun thing to be involved with. The first run is 2nd April and 2.5km and then on 16th April there is a 5km run. It will also help with my run for the bling of it challenge. I gotta say I don't know how people just run without doing races and challenges, I really need the motivation.

Right I am off to enjoy my Saturday.
Chubby Katie.x

A post with no name

Gosh I am feeling a bit crappy recently, a bit run down and sorry for myself. Not sure why. I have a tendency to always put feeling different down to what I am eating. For example if I am feeling tired then I put it down to not enough good quality carbs or relying on coffee to much. If I am sluggish on my run I will blame the glass of wine the night before. I'm sure this is correct to some extent but people get ill no matter how healthily they eat or how much exercise they do.

Maybe I have withdrawal after my Cole Classic swim? I've heard about people completing Ironmen and then getting depressed as all that billed up is over. So maybe I need to book myself into something else.

Maybe I need to book a holiday! I have a few trips in the pipelines but nothing definite, having a holiday to look forward to always puts you in a better mood.

Of course I should just get out there and do some exercise, that always puts you in a better mood but instead I think I will eat leftovers and watch biggest loser on tv.

Does anyone buy the photos from events? I love the idea of it but in reality I am not willing to pay the $25 for an image where I am not looking that amazing. Here is the best one of me from the Cole Classic

Look at that terrible expression!

Race Report no.2 - Cole Classic

Today I completed the Cole Classic 2011 in Manly. It was a stinking hot night last night and so we were all worried that we wouldn't sleep, I went to bed early, about 9:30pm, and next thing I knew my alarm was going off at 5:40am. After a breakfast of muesli and bananas we left for the trip over to the north of Sydney. We decided to park in the next suburb over and get a 10minute bus trip. It was a good plan as we got a parking place, didn't have to pay and the bus arrived quickly.

We met up with four friends that were swimming as well and dropped our bags into the drop off point. Put on some of the free sun screen and the timing chips on our ankles.

We made our way over to the starting beach while watching the elite goes start. Michael-clease was in the wave early so we waited on the beach while he went.

As the gun went off I was quite near the front, I regretted it straight away. I expected to be kicked and pushed a bit but it seemed to be never ending. There were two buoys to go round and I got in the rhythm I was hoping for  despite still being kicked. Part of the problem was I was quite slow and so I was nearer the people who kept switching to a bit of breast stroke. Breast stroke isn't a very sociable stroke, not stream-like like front crawl, lots of legs being flung out at the side!
The final buoy to the beach seemed a little more spread out so I wasn't getting hit quite so much. I felt good and tried to speed up. The waves got big and although they were pushing you in towards the shore I felt like I was being pulled back out a little after everyone. I finally made it to the edge of the water, stood up and ran along the beach to the finish line. Bearing in mind it was soft sand I felt pretty good running along it and as I passed the finish line I felt really good, much better than I usually do after a run.

I picked up my medal, a pear and a cup of water and met everyone else. The official times are not out yet but I think I did it in about 24minutes which I am pretty pleased with.

We went out for some eggs and a big coffee before the long drive home. Gotta say I really enjoyed the swim and am totally converted and already thinking about the next.

Michael-clease and I proudly with our medals

Fruit loops and bananas

One of these is plentiful in our house and one is not, can you guess?

In case you haven't heard, on Wednesday evening there was a big cyclone in North Queensland. Luckily it was down grounded from a category 5 to a category 3 and no body so far is believed to be dead or seriously injured. So no we can consider the other deaths in this natural disaster, the (temporary) death of the Australian banana!
I try to always eat one a day and they are great for energy for us athletes. Apparently they also help your body produce serotonin which helps regulate your moods and keeps you happier and positive, the lose of bananas makes for a sad day in many ways! If the national papers are to be believed the price of bananas could increase at least 5 fold!

In other Chubby Katie news a packet of Fruit Loops breakfast cereal has made its way in our house! I know they are a very tasty product but I am sure they are the healthy eaters enemy. For a start my usual muesli has 8.1g of sugar per serving compared to Fruit Loops that have 17g, the muesli has 10mg of sodium compared to 190mg in Fruit loops. And then there is the long list of ingredients in it and all the colourings in them. So I will be trying my best to stay well away from them and trying to keep a hyper Michael-clease under control.

This morning I did a great run and ocean swim. I am working on my chin ups and managed a whopping 2 1/2 today at the run half way point. I reliably informed that the buoy that we swam to is 150meters out and so we did 300m round trip, I was feeling calm and relaxed and so it really helped my confidence for Sundays big swim.

The other day I lost most of my little toe nail! It really freaks me out but I think its quite a normal part of running and I am told that it should be back to normal in a few months. I would say I will keep you updated but you would probably would rather I didn't!

Chubby Katie.x