Adelaide Parklands 5km loop

Such a little distance yet so much to say. . . But first let me share this with you

Yep not only did I achieve my goal of sub 25 minutes. . . I smashed it! With 32 females in the field I came in 2nd with a time of 22 minutes and 56 seconds.

I woke up this morning feeling PUMPED, which was suprising since I didn't get to bed until midnight and was up at 2.30am and 5.30am with Little A! After enjoying lots of cuddles and playtime with the little guy I headed off to the race. . .

I arrived with enough time to do a 10 minute warm up jog before lining up at the start line. The course was a 5km loop and already out there were the 10km and 25km runners. It sure makes you feel fast entering a field of runners who have already been going for an hour and are doing double or five times the distance you are!!!!!

I really wasn't sure how to pace myself for the distance and ended up deciding to run it on "feel". Heading out I felt great and for the first time in all my race history my first km wasn't my slowest and my last km wasn't my fastest.

My splits were:

4.27
4.38
4.34
4.37
4.40


Even though this isn't my typical style I raced well and finished knowing that I gave it my all. I am loving this shorter distance racing. . . I have enjoyed the post race high all day without the tired sore legs that come from longer distances. I am looking forward to a nice easy run tomorrow and working towards my next goal. . . Sub 50minute 10km!

4 months

This month I discovered just how lucky we had been with Little A's night time sleep routine when it went out the window. Apparently around 4 months (but could be anywhere between 3 - 5 months) babies may have a "sleep regression". In the blink of an eye I went from getting up once a night to up to 5 times per night! It was a rude shock! Luckily the worst of it only lasted a couple of weeks and this mummy is back to getting some decent blocks of sleep again!

This month we have a very special mummy staying with us. . . MY MUMMY! Little A is loving his granny time and I am loving the extra pair of hands. I am achieving twice as much these days while Little A hangs out with his new playmate.

Chilling with granny


Speaking of new friends . . .

Monkey meet monkey!


With solid food just around the corner we decided it was a good time to introduce Little A to his high chair. Did he like it?

I think so!

"hmmm. . . something doesn't seem right about this"

"Isn't this thing meant to come with food?"

"Nope, definitely nothing here!"

" MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!!!!! Get me out of here!"


Next time I decided to try and keep Little A entertained with toys. . .

"You can't fool me. . . I'm here to eat!"

This month also saw us move from the bassinet to the forward facing pram and as I suspected he loved it. . .

Its been a ridiculously cold month in Adelaide and we have been keeping Little A rugged up in soft blankies and cute hats. But apparently we went too far when we tried to dress him like an eskimo. . .

"Can I have my bib back now?"

"This is more my style. . . gangsta"

Little A who has always been "expressive" (basically he tells you if he's not happy) has grown his vocabularly this month. He is experimenting with lots of new sounds and will happily babble to himself in his cot. I have to say its very cute and I just adore his little voice. However at 3am child ???? There is nothing that important that you can't tell me in the morning!

We also had the 4 month immunisations this month. All I can say is we survived it. Apparently it doesn't get any easier but at least this time I knew what to expect!

Finally, here is my favourite photo from this month. . .

Sleeping Angel!

One week to go. . .

Anthother training week down and only 1 week till my next race. . .

Did I mention my running was all over the place last week? Here's the training week wrap:

Monday I woke up with tired & angry legs. I was tossing up between taking a rest day or a "recovery" jog. In the end I headed out for a reovery jog (a smidge slower than my easy runs). As it turned out this run got cut short at 19 minutes. Given the state of my legs I wasn't too fussed about not getting the full run out. I was just glad to have gotten out and turned the legs over. The rest of the recovery could happen in my sleep!

Recovered my legs did. The next day I enjoyed an awesome Tempo Run which included 20 minutes at 13.5kmp/h. Each week I look forward to my Tempo Run and each week I seem to lift the bar more and more.

After the awesome Tempo Run I had two rest days. I always like to save one of my rest days for the weekend (the day before my long run if possible) but with a super busy week I had to make use of them during the week.


After a good rest I was itching to get back into it and did so with my Long run on Friday. It was an awesome session on the treadmill outside listening to the rain pelt down. It was so cool (literally!) to be out in the wild weather but protected from the harshness of the wind and the rain. Talk about having your cake and eating it too!

Saturday I did my Intervals. 5 x 800s @ 16kmp/h and enjoyed a nice recovery jog at the end.

Finally I ended the week with a 5km time trial for next week's race. Most of my running lately has been on the treadmill and I was keen to head out on the pavement and have a crack at pacing myself for the 5km. I came in at 23 minutes 58. So assuming I can "bring it" on the day I am all set for my first sub 25min 5km race.

Race Wrap Up coming soon. . .Wish me luck!!!

All over the place

My running these days is all over the place. I can get my sessions done but just not in an "ideal" order. Even though I am following a program I do have to shuffle my sessions around a LOT to fit in with life. This week there was plenty of shuffling and the result was something that would make any running coach cringe. A speed session after a long run. A 5km time trial after my intervals. My two rest days were back to back and not spread out before or after my hard sessions.

There was a time in my life (ohh a distant memory now) when my life could be scheduled around my running. When I could spend time and money on recovery and nutrition. These days its just a bonus if I get to stretch and foam roll after a session! There are no special diets, no weekly massages or walks in the ocean to recover the legs. At most I'll slip my compression pants on but even those take 20 minutes (that I don't have) to put on so that rarely happens.

I know if I could find an extra 20 minutes a day to invest in my running and recovery or re-arrange life to get the right runs out on the right day I could optimise my training.

It occured to me the other day that even though I am not doing high mileage I am shooting for PBs on every front and am striving to get the fastest times out of my legs to date, yet I am spending the least amount of time and effort in my training and recovery. Ordinarily this is the point where I would re-adjust and make more room for all of that. But not this time. . . I love my new casual approach to my running and I love not being completely and utterly consumed by it.

On Friday I woke up with a massive craving for runny eggs. . . not the greatest "just before a run" meal but I wanted it. Did it repeat on me? YES. Could I have performed better on say a piece of toast and a banana? PROBABLY.

I LOVE running. I dream about it. I spend lots of my "spare" time reading about it and I look forward to my sessions (99% of the time!). But running does not define me, it is just an enjoyable and important part of my life.

For that reason I am happy to miss out on all the benefits that could come from an "ideal" schedule and all the bells and whistles that go with training. For this mummy just running and giving 100% when I do run is enough for me. I'll try my best to provide the right training, nutrtition and recovery for my running but not at the expense of something that does define me like being a mummy and wife (and food lover!)

I am PASSIONATE about Health and Fitness
I LOVE Running but
I AM a wife and a mother

Down to Business

In my last training week wrap I was left pondering how to fill my race schedule. After much deliberation I finally have a plan for the next 3 months...

So here it is:

5km - 2 weeks away
Goal = Sub 25 minutes

5km - 4 weeks away
Goal = PB by at least 1 second!
I am not expecting to do any major improvements in two weeks but as it is a "virtual race" and I can pick my course and conditions I will aim to improve my previous 5km time if even by only a second.

10km - 8 weeks away
Sub 50 minutes

Half Marathon - 14 weeks away
Sub 1 hour 50 minutes

First up is the 5km and I have to admit I am completely lost as how to run a 5km race. The only 5km race I have ever done was with a client (who still hasn't forgiven me to this day for it... I may have promised we would "run/walk" but on the day she was ROCKIN it so we ran it all). So how do you pace for 5km?!!?! This is what I am thinking:

1-2km warm up (pre-race)

1st km = Just below race pace
2nd -4th km = race pace
5th km = Flog it home. . .give everything and anything that is left in the tank!

Any advice? I don't want to get to the end of the race and feel like I could have given more earlier on but I also don't want to go out too hard and not be able to maintain race pace as a result.

Even though I am loving the speed work and shorter distance training at the moment I am completely duanted by this distance for racing. I am either going to love it or hate it and I am expecting it may take me a couple of races to feel confident at pacing it like I do in a 10km - 21km distances.

So its down to business now. I have 4 races planned and I am hoping to PB in all of them. . . Game on!

ME time

My Mummy Kilometre counter has just cracked the 300km. Considering I have been running for over 9 weeks this is by no means "high mileage" in the world of running


In the world of being a mummy however, this is a LOT of "me time". In fact I have spent 31.63 hours covering these 322 kilometers. Thats an average of more than 3 hours per week I have spent away from my family and my responsibilities persuing my own interests. But I don't feel even the slightest bit guilty and here's why:

My running helps me cope
No matter how busy, stressful or chaotic life gets everything always seems manageable after a run. Running gives me time to put my life in to perspective and organise it in my own brain. Of course everything will be easier to deal with when you are pumped full of endorphins! If you want me at my best. . . catch me after a run.

Running gets me going
Its terrible to admit but running forces me to have a shower and get going with my day. The problem with being a stay at home mummy is on the days that we don't have anything on it is SO tempting to laze in the PJs all day long. My runs add a bit of structure and pressure to my day i.e. I have something to achieve in Little A's sleep time other than washing and cleaning!

"If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it"

I am setting an example
I spend my days trying to teach and guide our little guy and considering actions speak louder than words then the best way to encourage my son to live healthily and embrace physical activity is to do it myself.


Running makes me a good wife
(if not shooting your husband is a measure of being a good wife)

"Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands"
Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)

The secret to a successful marriage. . . who would have thought!?!?

Back in the groove

Well another training week is done and I'm happy to say it was much more inspiring than last week!

Yesterdays tempo run included 20mins at 13kmp/h which felt great. This week also saw some 1km intervals at 4min pace!!!!

I can definitely say now I am hitting my pre-baby speeds if not better.

There was also a good mix of treadmill and pavement runs this week. As we get closer to pram runs I am looking forward to a lot more pavement runs. However I have come to really enjoy the treadmill runs and will probably still do my tempos and intervals on the treadie.

Soon we will be turning this. . .





Into this







I can't tell you how excited I am about having the little guy facing the world. As much as I love being able to gaze into him now in the bassinet set up, he is so inquisitve HE will just love the forward facing configuration. I'm also pretty sure the poor child is probably sick of staring up at my face... No wonder he goes to sleep when I put him in the pram!!!!

The wonderful world of pram running is awaiting us. How exciting it will be to share my love of running with my son.

Here are some great tips from Moms Little Running Buddy on running with a pram. . . Click here

3 months

At what point do you wake up and realise that you are a parent? Little A is 3 months old and being parents still doesn't feel real. Somebody said to me that it was the first time they were called "Mummy" by their child that it all seemed real. I certainly can't wait to hear Little A say that! In the meantime it feels so surreal and I just pray that I don't wake up from this dream.

The last month has seen Little A change in leaps and bounds. He has gone from a baby to a smiley, interactive little boy who always wants to engage with you and who could resist these beautiful big blue eyes. . .




Little A is fully aware that his hands belong to him now and more importantly that they can do cool stuff. He is slowly mastering grasping things but mostly he just likes to put those little hands in his mouth. His favourite way to greet a new toy or person is to put it or them (their hand) in his mouth. So offer your finger at your own risk! This is his latest victim:



"Mmm Sparky you smell good"


"I wonder what you taste like"


"Come on. . . just a little nibble"


"What?!?! I was just playing"


"See. . . We are playing nicely"!

When at home we have been passing the days reading, playing and singing. As long as Little A has my undivided attention he is a very happy little boy. We are going to have to work on playing happily on his own before the next one (baby) comes along. But for now I am more than happy to make the most of this one on one time!


"Now if I could just get over there I could turn the page. . ."

Big A loves his soccer and is super excited about the Euro Cup that starts in 2 more sleeps! So for the next 3 weeks there will be soccer, soccer and more soccer in this house. Honestly I wouldn't be suprised if Little A's first word ends up being "goal" with how soccer mad our house is about to go. I am even going to try my hand at baking a soccer ball cake on Friday to celebrate the first match (not the 3D kind just a flat one). I am not renowned for my skills in the kitchen so this should be interesting.


"What do you mean I have to wait for a goal to wave it?"



"But Mum, Dad gets to stay up all night and watch the soccer why can't I?"

Now that Little A has almost doubled his size he no longer fits in to half of his wardrobe. So the other week I got to packing up all the 00000 and 0000 and some of the 000 clothes. Can you believe how much he has grown out of in 3 wee months?




Apart from that we have just been keeping warm. The cooler weather has really set in now. Which is great for running and cuddling on the couch.




Finally, here is my favourite photo from this month. . .


so unimpressed with you mummy

A whole lot of good that REST did me!

I was expecting some great runs this week after an "easier" week last week but what I got was just the opposite. Even though I hit all my target speeds I really didn't feel strong in any of my runs this week. I think I must have caught a mild version of Big A's cold as I had the sniffles and was just NOT feeling inspired.

Suprisingly I still managed to do all my 5 planned sessions but today, after a week of feeling less than peak I decided to listen to my body and traded my 90 minute Long Run for a 30 minute Easy Run. I am so pleased I did because as the day has gone on I have started to feel much more myself. Hopefully I have kicked the "lurgy" to the kerb and wont be needing 10+ hours sleep every night anymore.

On top of all the extra sleep I have also needed extra food. Between breast feeding and running I was already an energy burning machine but add in the sudden cool weather and my poor body fighting a bug and I have had to eat like a monster for the last couple of weeks to keep up with what it is demanding. To keep my energy up I have introduced a new meal to the day and it fits in nicely between breakfast and morning tea! Its kind of "breakfast round #2". I've got to stop writing about eating, I am working up an appetite just thinking about it.

After Little A was born I set my sights on a half marathon. I chose the half because getting out the long runs required for a marathon was just not going to fit into my schedule with a newborn. I also decided that as I had such limited training time I would focus on speed and not distance and just have one token long run each week to build up to the half marathon distance. This week aside, I am LOVING the speed work. A 5 minute warm up, 20-30 minutes of flogging myself and a 5 minute cool down fits in perfectly with Little A's routine and these high intensity runs are just firing me up.

And now that I am reaping the benefits of all this speed work I am wondering if all my efforts are a little bit wasted on a half marathon when I am only doing one token long run per week. Should I be focusing on shorter distances in which I will be able to maximise my speed work training and focus on the longer distances when I am focusing my training more on distance?

Do I shoot for the longer distance or do I focus on achieving 5km and 10km PBs? There are pros and cons of both for me at the moment. For example the shorter speed sessions are easier to fit in but the longer slower sessions will be easier to do when I start running with the pram soon. Realistically I could achieve both this year but even then which should I do first? Should I peak my fitness and then build up distance or build up distance and then work on speed? Decisions, decisions!

Well at least I have something to think about on my training runs this week. Hopefully I can make a decision by the end of the week and adjust my program accordingly.

All in all it wasn't my best week of running but its not always going to be sunshine and roses. On that note here's my favourite quote for the week:

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain"

I Survived

Here's another training week wrap and let me start by saying. . . I survived! And it wasn't the running this week that challenged me. Actually the running kept me sane. Hence why I was on the treadmill on Saturday night (sad, I know but we have a little baby not a wild social life).

It was scheduled to be an easy running week and to ensure that I did just that the powers that be threw a few obstacles my way:

On Tuesday Big A came home early from work. Before Little A and I could jump on him and bombard him with stories of our day he announced he was feeling crap and going straight to bed. Now in case you aren't familiar with the man flu its important to know that it is WAY worse than the normal flu! So I braced myself for a "hellish" week. But looking after a baby and a sick husband wasn't what duanted me the most. I was absolutely petrified of getting sick or worse Little A getting sick. I am the first to admit that I don't cope well being sick. I am a big SOOK. . . Maybe I get the man flu too???? We took Big A to the doctor where I was told to keep my distance from him as I was breast feeding it was more likely that I would get sick (yay!) and ironically because Little A was being breast fed it was less likely he would get it. Talk about putting ourselves on the line!!! Honestly though I was relieved to hear that most likely Little A would avoid this. I couldn't cope watching him suffer getting his immunisations how would I watch him suffer being SICK for days?!??!

Anyway the doctor obviously has no idea how small our house is and the only way to avoid Big A and his germs were if he was to sleep on the verandah! Which given the freezing temperatures was probably not going to help his recovery. All I could do was up my food, skip all High Intensity Training, get heaps of rest and pray that I was spared. I certainly didn't mind eating more and after 6 weeks of training I really enjoyed the lower intensity. But by saturday night I was ready to open my lungs up again and did a Tempo run with 25 minutes at 5 minute pace. (I was pretty happy with that!!)

Yesterday I returned to normal training with an interval session and I am looking forward to some more good speed sessions this week.

As for the home front Big A is feeling much better and Little A is being an absolute delight. With a bit of assistance from me he has also started to have longer (and less) naps during the day. I don't want to get too excited but at nearly 3 months we almost have a predictable routine. . .

Tempo run tonight. . . can't wait to see what these legs have got in them. I know my speed gains will slow and eventually plateau but one good thing about having a break from running is seeing those rapid gains when you return. Honestly I have completely blown my own expectations and my sights are set higher than ever (in regards to times not distances!) . . . Do you run faster after a baby????