Playtime

Kids have a natural abundance of energy and its sad that a lot of kids don't get outside and run and play. I can say that I'm also guilty of sitting my 3 (yes including the baby) in front of the TV in attempt to have some peace and quiet or to get some work done.

A few weeks ago my eldest child was proudly demonstrating to me how she does cartwheels. They weren't perfect and looked more like rolling over on the grass. I then was helping her do handstands and forward rolls. It was after this that she started the "Mummy I bet you can't do a handstand" jibes. Obviously she hasn't been paying attention to my Crossfit discussions. Needless to say it didn't take me long until I was busting out a few moves on the lawn for her.

Next she was egging me on to do a few cartwheels as apparently Mummy's can't do them. Well much to her delight this Mummy can still do cartwheels (and probably a poorly executed round off too). What I forgot was that cartwheels shouldn't be done when you have tight muscles and haven't warmed up. One word - ouch!

So where am I headed with this you may ask? It all stems from a conversation with Miss E on the way to school today. She was talking about running and mud running (that's what she calls the obstacle courses like Warrior Dash) and saying that most mums don't do things like that. She also went onto say that the only other mum that can do handstands and cartwheels is Emma (my Crossfit coach).

I did attempt to let her know that lots of other mums do run, jump, do cartwheels and handstands but she just hasn't seen them doing it. Her response was "we'll more Mummy's should be outside having playtime".

So my question to you is when did you last get outside and play line a kid? Go on, have a go. Trust me it's fun and you might even surprise yourself and enjoy it too.

Event 4...

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? Last night that's one of two things that was going through my head after my crossfit coach let me know that we would be doing Saturday's Regional WOD today in training.  My first reaction after reading what is scheduled for the competition on the Saturday was please let it be Event 5 and not 4.

Source

So it really wasn't a surprise when I walk through the door to discover that I would be doing Event 4.  Apparently Event 5 will be next Tuesday as we have to experience every bit of pain that Emma will be.

For me a WOD with 100 reps of anyone of the movements just looks nasty.  The people that put these things together must be sadists but it only helps to make us stronger by getting though them.

I managed to get through the wallballs while only doing 5 no reps and I'm pretty sure the girls beside me knew exactly when they occurred.  20 reps into the chest to bar pull-ups (while using the band to help me), Adelaide decided that she wanted out of her make shift playpen. This then turned into a 3 minute break to change a nappy before getting back up to the bar.  I've got to say that I'm not a fan of wallballs but I think I'll take them any day over those chest to bars!

By the time I got onto the pistols my arms were feeling like cactus and it didn't take long for my legs to feel the same.  This is where I discovered or invented a new form of scaled pistol.  Usually I hold onto the frame of the rig with one hand and a band with the other.  For some reason I ended up squatting directly under just the band today.  I need to play around with it a little more as I found I was leaning back a little too far (as shown when I bounced off my bum) but I think it could help me develop a little more stability as I have to work a little harder.

Off the pistols and I go to move my dumbbell.  At first I didn't think I would be able to pick it up (and I was only using about 50% of the weight).  In the end I did the first 90 unbroken (apart from moving up the counting markers).  Needless to say Em chastised me a little about my weight selection at the end.

The session left me with sweat running everywhere, shaky hands and jelly legs.  Getting up off the floor was a challenge in itself.  Surprisingly enough sitting here 9 hours later I'm not sore.  I shouldn't talk too soon as I'll probably wake up feeling like a tin-man in the morning.

 

Cracked it!

For many of us when we start running there is a magically goal we want to achieve.  To start with its just to run 5km without stopping.  Then the time to do this 5km comes into play.  For me that time has been to join the sub 30 minute for 5km club.  We'll as of today I'm a member of that club :)

This morning was an almost perfect morning for a run. It was slightly brisk but not that cold that your fingers are cold.  That being said I did have numb toes for the first kilometer or so and I still don't know why.

The start of parkrun has been moved to accommodate works being undertaken by the council and as such the start is very congested and has a couple of tight turns early on. Due to the width restrictions it takes about 30 seconds for me to even get to the start line.

A hundred or so meters in and I can start to do some dodging and by around the 500m mark the pack starts to thin out until the garden bed.  The poor pram runner in front of me got stuck in the garden bed and I couldn't pull up fast enough and I clipped his ankle as well.  Soon after this runkeeper lets me know that my average pace is 6:30 for the first 5 minutes and I think no PB today.

The field thins out a little more and I realise that things are feeling a little too easy and I up the pace.  I pick out my first target to chase down, and then another and another.  Before I know it I'm up to 15 minutes and I've run 2.44km.  Maybe, just maybe I can break that pram PB.  20 minutes is gone and that voice says something about 3.25km and it clicks that I've got this PB.

I pick a couple of more targets and go about passing them.  By now I'm actually concentrating on my breathing, which is something I haven't done for ages.  That little voice pipes up and says 25 minutes and 4.1km.  The first thing that comes to mind is I'm so close to a sub 30 but I'm going to miss it.  Then I decide to try and gun the last kilometer.  Literally 50m before the end that little voice pipes up again, 30 minutes and 4.99km.  Grrrrr 4.99km WTF. So friggin' close.

So now you ask how I cracked the 30 minute barrier.... that's the beauty of it, this course is 5.05km.  Sneaky me goes home and checks out the GPS download and low and behold if I remove the first 40 - 50m of the run during the slow, congested section I manage to get a 5km run out on 29:57 and I'M CLAIMING IT.

 Looking into my splits it shows that I had negative splits the entire way - got to be happy with that.


Prior to this run my fastest NON pram run was 31:04 and with a pram was 31:30.  Looks like I have to go for a run without the pram soon.