Braving the pouring rain and freezing cold in running shoes, shorts, my anorak and Ipod!

Today I just proved the ultimate test of dedication... I hadn't been for a run in 2 days and I was dying to get out an go, but it was absolutely FREEZING outside and pouring bucketloads of rain. I decided to suck it up and get out and go anyway. I was definitely motivated by Caitlin's blogposts on running in less-than-desirable conditions on her blog HealthyTippingPoint.com (which is an awesome blog by the way, I strongly recommend you check it out).

So I borrowed my mothers new red Anorak (second hand), put on my tiny running shorts, laced up my running shoes and off I went! 

WELL, let me tell you..

I. Got. WET. That anorak was most definitely NOT water proof, I felt like I was running through a constant full-force shower! I was able to wring-out my running shorts at the end haha and my shoes had a pond in each. When I was running, I originally tried to avoid puddles because I wanted to reduce wet-feet as much as possible, and I was going pretty well till I got about 1.5k's in and I stepped in what I thought was a very shallow and safe puddle, and actually ended up being a good 2 inches deep. Good stuff lol.

So for the rest of the 5k I gave up caring, despite the fact that the amount of water was so great that it felt like I was running with weights attached to my ankles.

Nevertheless, I ran the fastest 5k I have ever run before! I clocked it in 33 minutes!! That's a new PR! I was so so happy. I'm not entirely sure what caused my huge boost of energy so I was able to knock so much time off, It could've been a number of things:

1. Super-food sushi for lunch

2. Day days rest from any intense exercise

3. A good 11 hours of sleep last night

4. Freezing my butt off and dripping from head to toe with water and just wanting to get home.

Hmmm, probably a combination of all four I'd say?

Either way, I was very VERY pleased, and that just made it more worthwhile having run in such icky conditions.

I find that if I rest for longer than 2 days, I tend to lose motivation, so I try not to go more than two days without running because I forget what the endorphins feel like and I get just a little too comfortable with being lazy, which isn't good.

I think that by setting long-term fitness goals though, that will help me stay motivated to keep running.

Once I got back from running, I removed all my wet clothing, stretched in front of the nice warm fire, showered, then did some weights to help strengthen my arms. I just used a 1kg today.

Oh! Something I've forgotten to mention thus far, I found out some wonderful news yesterday which completely lightened my mood considering that I had a really terrible day and I was generally miserable the entire time.

I made it into Year 12 P.E Elite!!!

I can't believe I did it! Considering I didn't take P.E this year, I am so lucky to have been academically successful enough to prove that I am capable.

Ms Dobben, the Head Of Department for P.E said that she felt I was well capable and that the motivation was there and she expects me to do well. I was so proud that she has that level of faith in me as an athlete, that that alone is enough to keep me going.

I couldn't thank her enough.

P.E Elite will offer so many opportunities in sport which will be so beneficial to me and will also look fantastic on my application to Wintec in November of next year.

An example of and awesome opportunity we're offered is a two day Ski Trip! I love skiing and I haven't been in four years! Next year will make that five, so I'm so excited at the prospect of being able to attend that.

Anyway, I just sent an email to the local newspaper, the Whakatane Beacon, asking them to consider the possibility of letting me write an entertainment article for them. I feel I'm capable and I outlined the reasons why I thought I would be good for the job.

I was inspired to do this after reading one of the blog posts from HealthyTippingPoint about being afraid to ask for things.

I found it really thought-provoking, and instantly decided that I was going to do something I've been meaning to do for months, request permission to write an article for the local newspaper.

I would love the experience and the exposure it would give me, also the pride I would get from knowing I am good enough to have my work published locally.

That's a step in the right direction towards my ultimate goal of being a healthy eating/fitness blogger and journalist.

Lastly, eats for today included:

Homemade raw Granola and Milk for breakfast with a coffee (of course!),

Walnuts and Almonds plus and Apple for Interval

Marmite on Wholegrain bread, an Apple and four pieces of AWESOME sushi for lunch

and Lean beef with brown rice and peanut sauce for dinner.

nom nom nom!

:)

Goodnight everybody. x

Productive Sunday.

I'm really pleased with myself, because today I had a productive day! And this is awesome because it's Sunday and I'm NEVER productive on Sundays. Usually I lie around all day feeling miserable, contemplating that the following day is monday, and no one likes Mondays.
EXCEPT! I'm looking forward to tomorrow because it's my dear friend Dallas's 17th birthday and I can't wait to give him his present :)
But anyway, today I woke up naturally at ten to 8 in the morning, delighted to find that it was a beautiful sunny day. I checked my blog, read the latest "healthy tipping point" entry as I do every day, I showered, then I cooked a SWEET breakfast for Mitchell and I. My fav, french toast with Wholemeal bread with real Maple Syrup and frozen Blueberries on top :)
YUMMA!
We waited about 45 minutes for our food to settle, I slathered on the sunblock, listened to Red Hot Chili Peppers, then we headed off for our intense bush walk up the Bird Walk (which is a short distance, but heavily made up of almost vertical flights of stairs and never-ending hills). It was HARD OUT! I had forgotten just how much of a workout those flights of stairs are. I was huffing and puffing and totally exhausted, but I kept myself motivated by thinking about how great it is for me and how amazing those stairs will help my butt to look haha. It works! Seriously :D


It was also extremely hot, but I was grateful for the change up in work out, it was a good break from my regular 5k running route. Also, I was able to eat 4 squares of yummy Cadbury Crunchie bar chocolate and not feel guilty :) I've decided to stop feeling so bad whenever I allow myself to have a little treat. I'm so harsh on myself and it's really unfair to my self-esteem and self-confidence. 


After the Bird Walk we exited out Whitehorse drive, carried on up the gorge hill, walked down Hillcrest, down the Rock Pitt steps, down Commerce street, through the Gypsy fair and back home. The whole excursion took about 2 hours and at the end Mitchell stated that that's the best workout he's had in weeks haha. Mitchell is not overly athletic, so kudos to him for giving it his best efforts and keeping up with me!


When we got home we chillaxed with a good movie, "The Boat That Rocked" I LOVED it!! It was so so so funny, and I was so proud to see Rhys Darby repping NZ. It was so good, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Rock N' Roll and is interested in a light-hearted comedy with lots of naked girls ;]


After that we had our eats, in the middle of the movie I had strawberry Greek Yoghurt with Walnuts, Almonds and Oats and after I had half a can of tinned peaches and some "hot pork", it was so good! And kept me full for ages which is good.


I'm booking my learners license tomorrow! Exciting stuff!!! I'm going to go for  my Motorbike license at the same time. I can't wait to be able to drive, I'll feel so independent, I'm really truly excited at the idea for the first time in my life.


Peace!
xoxo

Spring is in the air!

Spring is finally here and I need a job!!! Unfortunately enough for me though, this is unlikely to happen anytime soon due to the recession :( I have no money at all which is proving to be a problem since I'm starting to get serious about maintaing a healthy lifestyle. 
For me, a healthy lifestyle consists of mainly 3 aspects:
1. Eating well
2. Exercising regularly/getting enough sleep etc.
and
3. Understanding and connecting with the spiritual side of things.


For the last 6 months or so, I've been running on-off. I'll get into it and go hard everyday for about a week and a half and then gradually slow to a grinding halt and do NO exercise at all for up to 3 weeks. Not a pathway dressed for success :S So starting now, I am beginning to identify ways to keep the exercise consistent rather than "yo-yo" as it were.
Some of my new ideas regarding this which i intend to put into action immediately are the following:
-Allowing my body adequate time to heal by resting every second day,
-Changing my jogging playlist each time to give variety so i don't lose interest.
-Reading motivating messages and blogs such as http://www.healthytippingpoint.com and http://www.operationbeautiful.com to give me a nudge in the right direction.
-Having an ultimate goal to aim for, and
-Not pushing myself too hard, if i only feel like running for 30 minutes one day rather than an hour, listen to my body.


I ran for an hour the other day and i felt fantastic for it, (aside from the fact that my knees felt like they were on FIRE and i had to ice them for 20 minutes afterwards) had it not been for my knees, i could have gone for at least another half hour. I rested the following day so as not to overdo it and today, i plan to run my little heart out again for hopefully an hour :) I will leave in roughly ten minutes, i fueled up with toasted pita bread with sanitarium peanut butter on top.


There are some things I feel I MUST do, 1. Buy a new sports bra, 2. Go see the physiotherapist about my knees, 3. Go to the gym and do weight-lifting, 4. Take up kick boxing and 5. Buy knee support thingy's from rebel sport.


As a 15 year old girl, mid-teens, I believe that now, during these adolescent years it is absolutely vital that we learn and practice to make healthy food decisions, prepare food and understand the importance of regular exercise. In your teens, this is where most of your major growth and development will occur as you go through the process of becoming an adult. Therefore supporting my opinion that having a healthy lifestyle is absolutely paramount as it can help prevent illnesses such as osteoporosis, heart disease and reduce the risk of cancer.
It took me a very long time before i realized how important it is to properly take care of myself, because if i don't, who else will?
I've started eating far healthier, making sure i have reasonable proportions of protein and calcium at breakfast to help keep me full for longer throughout the day. I make sure all the food i eat is good for me, with the occasional treat ^-^
I'm currently experimenting to see which foods work best for me to keep me full and give me good energy, and I'm staying well away from bread, sugar, trans fat and salt.
I drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day and usually 2 glasses or so of milk. I eat about 6-7 small meals each day usually between 250-600 KJ.
I plan to buy a camera so i can start taking photos of my running successes and my food choices, i feel like that alone will be a good motivation for me to keep up the healthy eating and exercise!


The school cross country is coming up on the 17th of September and for the first time in my entire life, i plan to actually run and COMPETE. Usually on cross country day i've either wagged school or just walked the course.
This year I'm going to try for REAL.
I probably won't do all that well, but i hope i do, and it will give me something to look forward to and aim for.


Ok, so I basically just covered the first two aspects of my idea of a healthy lifestyle so that just leaves the spiritual side.
I've always had the most trouble with this aspect believe it or not. It's always been a huge problem for me and i've never been good at it. Lately however, there have been a bunch of different things that have been helping to make it easier and more understandable.
I'm teaching myself how to be in a good mood the majority of the time.
I started by slowly leaving the people who I used to be surrounded by that were just downright unnecessarily negative, they always brought me down, and began being around happy people who are always positive and in a good mood ^-^ I was AMAZED at the difference it made to my mood!
Also I discovered http://operationbeautiful.com and that made such a huge difference to my personality. I was so touched by the movement, i felt motivated to take part myself and in doing so, made MYSELF feel 1000000000 times better about myself, whilst hopefully making others feel the same. It's worth it just to know that it could put a smile on the face of ONE individual.
I visit the site daily to read the new post-its and they always make me feel so happy and confident and beautiful and i think Operation Beautiful are a huge reason why i feel so happy and positive now.
I'm also learning to really relax and take time out to be in total peace and quiet at least for a few minutes everyday, just to do nothing. It's brilliant.
And finally, I've decided to do everything with PURPOSE and be more honest about my feelings and try to consider my own feelings more often, because as an amazing and beautiful friend of mine pointed out, she recognised a pattern occurring in all my friendships, and that was that I constantly put everyone's feelings before mine just to keep the peace and i ended up becoming extremely stressed and pushed to the limit, so i need to be more aware of my own emotions and to make sure my friendships are a give/take thing rather than just give.


That was the longest post I think I've ever done haha.
Well, i'm glad to get that all down :)
Have a brilliant night everybody.