Out on the road

My plans of a rest day were squashed when the sun came out and was shone with all it's glory. I just couldn't resist getting out and about.

I've been wanting to go for a bike ride around the Auckland waterfront for awhile. We used to do it often when I was young but I haven't done it for a long, long time. So Mimi (my awesome hot pink bike) was disasembled and put in the boot of my car and off we went.

You just wont believe how beautiful the Auckland waterfront can look on a day like this. It amazes me really. Just the fact that this beautiful scenery is only 2 minutes away from the middle of the city is incredible. I was lucky enough to get the same view from my old high school's library window. I sometimes got lost in the scenery and would forget to do my study.

My trusty camera came along with me for this trip so I could amaze you with all the beautiful pictures.

This is a photo from where I parked my car. The first mountain you see is North Head. Its an awesome piece of history and was the main defence post of Auckland in World War 1 and 2. It is riddled with tunnels that I have spent many happy hours in and there is a ledgend of a lost plane cemented in a room somewhere in there. Behind North Head you can see the glorious Rangitoto Island. Rangitoto is the youngest volcano in Auckland (its now extinct) and is amazing because it looks exactly the same shape no matter where you stand, due to the round shape of the island.


The bike path takes you right around that headland and a lot further. The entire bike ride goes for 50km but I only went 5km in one direction and then 5km back.


This is a photo from Mission Bay, where I made the turn around. I sneakly took a photo of those two people since I thought they just made the shot. Thats Rangitoto again. I ate some almonds on my stop to give me energy on the way back :)

It was a fantastic ride and there were no hills so it was a lot of fun and not much work at all which the lazy side of me loved.

Getting through a tough run

My last run got a bit tough part way through. Its pathetic really, I've only just started running and am barely running 2km but my lazy lazy self tries to take control.

Runners' Lounge compiled a list of tips from members to get through a tough run which you can view here.

Here are some of my favourite tips:

- Think about winning the lottery and all the things I would do with the money. All the people we would be able to help. I could hire a personal trainer that would run along beside me and yell like a drill sergeant to keep me going when I want to quit. Another thing I do when the road gets tough or hills get too steep, is keep telling myself that I am the one moving, not the road. I am capturing the road! Step by painful step, the road will not claim me because I am in charge and it just lays there!

- There is a trick a friend told me about that he called the Magnet Trick. You just look at an object in the distance and imagine that it is pulling you towards it. Just focus on it and try to imagine the pull. If you reach it or turn just choose a new magnet to focus on.

-I have many phrases I repeat over and over in my head (The faster you run the sooner you're done, strong and smooth, I can do this, etc.) (I like "The faster you run the sooner you're done")

Make sure you check out the rest of the tips :)

Change of plans

After some thought (actually there wasn't too much really), I have decided to use the Couch to 5km program rather then the Complete Running program. I have always enjoyed doing this program and did about 3 1/2 weeks of it before I gave up last time, but I have downloded Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5km podcasts. These podcasts are fantastic because Robert tells you when to walk and when to run and there is some decent music that goes along with it. I'll start week 2 of the program tomorrow which is:

Brisk 5 minute warm up walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging for two minutes of running.

In other news, I learnt how to snowboard today! And I LOVE it! I have been wanting to learn for a long time and I took my 13 year old cousin along with me today. We had a two hour group lesson and then spent an hour just boarding by ourselves. I learnt how to do an Ollie and even jumped a tiny ramp. After I sell my horse I would love to get into snowboarding as a sport. Anyway, I need to head to bed. I am exhausted after a late night and then all the snowboarding.

Someone needs to lock me up!

I can’t believe it! I HAD A V AGAIN! I went out this morning to get meat for this weeks dinners and I managed to convince myself that I didn’t need one but then when I went out again to get some supplies for our family birthday, I bought one! Grrr. So now I have given my mum my eftpos cards until I head back down to Palmerston North, so I don’t have the means to buy it. Hopefully by the time I head back, I won’t need V anymore.

Checking In.

My running program has proved elusive so far but I planned to start it tomorrow and finally get my butt on the road. At least I haven’t been sitting around resembling a couch potato... for the past week I have been working on my best friend’s farm, breaking in ponies. I was riding all day and trudging up and down massive hills often so it was a good pre-program jaunt. Some of the ponies were pretty feisty but thankfully I was only bucked off once and didn’t get hurt which would have been a bit of a downer. It was FREEZING down there. I was honestly scared of my toes and fingers getting frost bite (even with thick gloves and two pairs of socks). But thankfully it’s much warmer up here so I should be ok for my run. I also got dozens of flea bites while I was there. I have 30 on one leg alone and the itching kept me awake for ages last night, it drove me crazy.

I’ve yet to give up V but I plan to do that tomorrow as well. I really am going to miss that drink but sometimes you just can’t have what you want and I know I’ll be better off without it.

I’ve yet to post my proposed training plan so here it is. I got it from Complete Running.

I need a change. A BIG one!

I have tried to become a runner dozen of times. I’ve started numerous blogs to document my journey and managed to keep a couple of them going for a few weeks. But then something always seems to interrupt my running aspirations and it’s always hard to get back on the wagon, and then my poor blog dies a slow, lonely death before I shame-facedly decided to kill it off permanently. Failure, once again.

I am hoping beyond all hopes that this blog doesn’t end up like those previous blogs... in the mysterious blog grave yard where all the forgotten and discarded blogs lay their heads. I hope that I don’t give up and that I do achieve my running and fitness goals.

Who am I? My name is Katie. I am 19 years old and live in Palmerston North in my beautiful country of New Zealand. I am studying at Massey University, completing a foundations course before I study Vet Nursing.

At school, I was never one of the really sporty ones but I wasn’t a completely sportless (I think I just invented a new word) person. I played Netball for years and dabbled in Soccer and Tennis. When I was 14, I saved up and bought a horse and started competing him in Eventing, Show Jumping and Dressage. My body lost its baby fat and my muscles toned up but my cardio fitness was always below par. I would huff and puff my way through netball games and struggled to keep up on team runs. I hated it.

When I realised my lack of cardio fitness was having a negative impact on the Cross Country phase of my Eventing, I decided to start running. I started the couch to 5k running program and managed to get about 3 ½ weeks into it before I stopped (I can’t remember why I did). That was the longest I lasted and the fittest I have ever been. I remember the day I ran 10 minutes straight for the first time. I was so proud. Now, I wonder how I will ever get that far again.

I’m starting this new blog because I need a change. Since deciding to sell my horse, I have become lazy and since starting University, I have been eating truck loads of crap. So I want to throw myself back into life and start turning my life around. I want to finally become a runner.