Last Chance Training

The night before the big weekend and we had our last private session to get us in the mind frame. It was all about technique, strategy and final last minute practices with the weights we were going to need to get up come Sunday.

After practicing the shoulder to overhead component and having a quick practice of split jerks, all three of us are ready to go for the first round, order being Chloe-Miranda-Bec. Second round is just pure tag team. Looks like me again first for the running aspect and that way I can drop in for every second run if the not so cardio lovers start struggling.

Jumped forwards quickly to the final round: 40kg power cleans. Although we had been practicing these over the past couple of days and I had finally gotten my first few out at comp weight, Coach Coote dropped the bombshell that we also need to front squat each and every clean. AHHHHHHH!!! was not ready for that! The pocket rocket has no problems getting the weight up and straight into her squat, us other two however have to complete them as two separate moves - clean and then squat. Dammit! So the plan? Bec x4 - Miranda x3 - Chloe x2-3.

Finally getting our heads around these cleans, we went back to the third round....30kg snatches. We just got a couple of reps out at a progressing weight, and somewhat confident with our technique and getting the bar down and back up quickly we decided that I would probably be doing more of the pushups in this WOD to save the other two for the snatches which I am not so great at.

Plans are in place, feeling good. Nervous, but ready. Last chance training complete!

Puppies

Animals are sure growing on me at the moment. I would normally definitely not call myself a dog person, but again over the past month or so that may be changing. It may be due to the fact that I am actively trying to get rid of my allergies to dogs and cats by exposing myself to them more, or just the general idea that they are growing on me.

But yes, today I am thankful for puppies....didn't think I would be saying that one anytime soon.

I had a friend pop over for a visit this morning just to check up on me and have a chat, and she was puppy sitting. So she walked over to my place with this little fluff ball in tow. I wouldn't say that my house is puppy friendly but I have a pretty massive back yard with a lot of plants, bushes, shrubs....apparently the perfect puppy playground.

Watching this little nugget run around, chase leaves, bark at my bird and get rose buds stuck on the backs of his legs brought a big smile to my face and was well and truly a highlight of my day.

Last Minute PB's

Five Days! All our WOD's have now been released and we are beyond excited to say that there are no pull ups and no toes to bar. Hands and shoulders are saved!!

And with the revealing of what we are up against, comes the last minute team training sessions, working on our weaknesses. As I said a couple of posts ago, we are smashing out the double unders, some days performing better then others and the calves are definitely paying for it now.

For me, it was obvious that all the Olympic Lifting was going to be my downfall, partly because I was only really introduced to it four weeks ago and partly because muscle strength is not my best asset. So when I found out that I had to get 35kg overhead fifteen times, snatch 30kg and clean 40kg, I'm not going to lie...I was nervous. So this week has seen a lot of technique practice just trying to get out a couple of reps with the weight I need.

35kg Shoulder to Overhead
Before this week the most I have gotten overhead has been 30kg. So Monday night I had my first attempt at 35kg and got out three. Happy with that and dint want to push my body which is kind of holding on by a thread. At Crossfit training Tuesday morning, I had two minutes to get out as many clean and press as possible with the same weight and managed ten...getting better. Finally last night, at the end out our session, with a cardio element thrown in first, I got out another ten reps. Shoulder to over head will be done!

30kg Snatch
With snatching, my lack of experience is probably going to be my problem - more often then not my technique changes each rep only because I am still learning. I have gotten out a few 30kg snatches last week and am lucky I have two little power houses on my team with good strength

40kg Clean
This was our last WOD to be released. AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of 40kg Power Cleans in 8 minutes. So pretty much for eight minutes we will be tag teaming and just getting them out. Minor heart attack when I saw this one. Just last weekend we had tried 40kg cleans during our private session and I couldn't get one. For the sake of the workout I went down and did them on 30kg. So when I got to the gym last night, this was what I needed to work on. Unsure what has clicked in the past four days but I got out four. Very happy!

So over the course of the week we have gone from cleaning 30 to 40kgs, 2 to 20 double unders, 3 to 10 35kg presses plus the added bear crawling, broad jumping, running, snatching, rolling and squatting. Things seem to be falling into place just in time and again I am unbelievable thankful to be in a team with such hard working and committed strong chicks. Love them to pieces.

This Photo

Does that not just make you want to melt?!?! I was sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write about today, and I had a couple of things that were like 'yeah I could maybe write about that, but it just doesn't seem like the right thing today'. When I am picking my topic, I like it to really jump out at me, reminding me that I truly am thankful at that moment and in that day to have whatever it is I am writing about in my life.

So back to today. I had ideas, but was not really inspired or drawn to anything in particular. And I don't do things half hearted. For some reason my mind kept jumping back to this photo I saw yesterday. Every time I see it or even think about it, I can't help but smile! So unbelievably cute!!!!

I am soon to be moving out of home to live on my own and am thinking I will probably need a pet.  
I have to admit despite being allergic to cats, I am very close to getting one. This has been playing on my mind, so when I saw this image...nawwwwwwww!!!

My love for Katy Perry is also some what well known and I have been putting together our playlist for our 45 minute drive to our comp this weekend, naturally Roar went straight onto the playlist. So really, this image is just screaming to me at the moment....buy a cat and listen to Katy Perry. Alright then!

Double Unders

The work outs for this weekends Three Vs Three Showdown Crossfit competition have started being released, one each day for four days. The first one to come out, which will start off our day of competition is:

3 Rounds for Time - one round per team member

75 Double Unders

15 Shoulder to Overhead 35kg

60m Sprint

 

10 minute time cap for all three rounds.

 

 

So adding to the squat hold diaries this week, are the double under diaries. We are skipping anywhere and everywhere. I even pulled out the rope inside at the practice yesterday will i had a 5 minute break between clients...notes vs eating vs double unders - double unders hands down!!

 

I am lucky in that I have pretty good timing and can get the rope around fast, so can get out a few double unders in short periods of time. Yesterday I managed all 75 in 1 min and 2 seconds. This morning at training double unders has been again thrown in the WOD, tabata style. So 8 rounds of 20 seconds of double unders, counting your reps. Excited to say I killed it with 198. So I would consider these little demons to be a strength of mine.

 

My team mates are constanly on the rope too, and both are also improving in leaps and bounds, or skips. #zerotocrossfitin3weeks

Jumpers

I love a good jumper. Nothing makes you feel better then putting on a jumper that is still relatively new and the inside it still fluffy..mmmm fluffy jumpers!

It is now officially jumper weather here in Perth. Cool enough to be wearing something warm with long sleeves all day and all night...yep I sleep in my jumpers too! But not too cold that your throwing on every jumper you can find, turning yourself into a giant marshmallow that can't move it's limbs properly.

This week just gone, the weather has been pretty miserable. Grey skies, cloud cover and intermittent rain/drizzle...frizzy hair come at me! So not only is the temperature ideal, but the weather also screams STAY INSIDE AND PUT ON A JUMPER.

I've always side I'm a winter person, and this is exactly why. Sure it's raining and my hair is turning into even more of an afro then it normally is, but it means I get to curl into a ball with lots of warm think clothes that are unbelievably comfortable.

HBF Run

Today was the annul HBF Run For A Reason with a 12km and 4km event. Growing bigger every year, tens of thousands of people made their way into the heart of Perth City this morning to be a part of this great event.

Given the event next week that I am training for, I was coming into this run a little underprepared as I have been focusing on the strength and technique training and let the running slide back a little over the past three weeks. That, and coming off the back of a big team training session yesterday, rested was one thing I was definitely not. But hey you can't be 100% prepared for everything you throw yourself into.

I got dropped somewhat close to the City and walked in further to the start line. Got into my divisions starting shoot and started trying to weave my way closer to the front of the A wave. Getting almost as close as I would like to be, I heard my name being called. Turned around to see a fellow Peaking Duck standing nervously in the corner.

Starting out in the world of running this was her first ever fun run and using her words, she was 'shitting bricks'. Bless her! So I took her under my wing, walked her up to the start with me and imparted some of my worldly advice. 'Set your own pace, let others go around you, one foot in front of the other and you will make it'.

Despite my less then perfect prep leading into the day, I still managed to run a decent time of 52mins 02 secs for the 12km, although the legs were heavy from all the air bike, ergo and Olympic lifting the were punished with yesterday. But I was just happy to be there and part of such a great event with an even better cause. Oh and my little duckie killed it with a wicked time of 56 mins...so proud!

Team Training

ONE WEEK TO GO!!! We had our weekly private session this morning with our coach and learnt a lot about stratergy, or more precisely, playing to each others strengths. Before that though, we had 5 minutes to find our 1RM power snatch. I dropped out first at 30kg, the pocket rocket next at 32.5 and the beast last at 35kg.

Then it was into the work out. The whole WOD was made up of three rounds, each lasting 6 minutes, with one minute rest in between to decide between us how to tackle the next round.

Round 1: Air Bike and 30kg Thrusters. One person would ride, while the other two would tag in and out of the thrusters to get out as many reps as possible. Due to my love of cardio, I was thrown on the bike for 2 mins to start off with while the other two smashed out the thrusters. On change I tagged into the thrusters while the other two took it in turns to get out 1 minute on the bike each before I went back on for the last two minutes.

Round 2: Ergo and 40kg Power Cleans. Similar set up to the first round, one person on the rower while the other two getting out power cleans. Of course I'm on the rower, but with more even intervals this time for each member on and off the ergo.

Round 3: Skifit, hand release push ups and isometric hang. One person is hanging while another is doing push ups and can only do push ups while the other is hanging...while the cardio member is slogging it out. All of these exercises, each of us were equally strong at, so we were just pushing out the reps at a maintained pace until fatigue and then calling a change.

I am excited to say that when we worked our total and had a look at what the other teams had done earlier that day, we were competitive!! We have a diverse team which I think plays in our favour. So what did I learn today? How to play to each others strengths and that decisions are going to need to be made fast and under pressure.

Today I am more then thankful for my amazing team and (hold on to your chairs) I am starting to get excited about this competition.

Rest Day

I never thought I would actually say this! Normally I am so against rest days and yes I know that they are good for me, help me recover and allow me to push harder next time. But keeping me still is like a mission organised to military precision.

Today however was a different story. I was exhausted. I went to teach my boxing class this morning and was feeling the struggle already. I had a day off programmed in today anyway but had planned to practice a couple of chin ups after I finished boxing. But considering the effort required to keep my body upright....yeah maybe not today.

I had a friend come over and I was taping her up to help with her recovery and she asked me what I was going to do before going into work. When I realised I didn't have much that needed to be done in the next couple of hours, there was a wave of relief.

So I crashed. Unable to even really think about what I needed to do, I took up residence on the couch with my computer and started on some of the little jobs I have been putting off for a while, like my fitness registration, dealing with a few emails and sorting out weekend plans....yeah it may be rest day but I still get stuff done, just the easy stuff.

I was thankful to be able to come home with not much to do in the couple of hours I had before going in to work for a manageable day with a decent case load of patients I like working with.

Believing

I'm not going to lie, I tend to be a massive self doubter. And I mentioned yesterday that we are almost a week out of this Crossfit competition. Something that's I very new and very scary to me and my two team mates. Over the past few weeks doubt has been crossing my mind....what have I signed myself up for?

In the private sessions we have been having, we have been taught and practicing some of the more advanced and difficult skills and as I guess would be expected, they have been hard to get my head around and pull my body through. I would leave the session physically and mentally exhausted and that lovely self doubting voice would pop into my head questioning my abilities.

A couple of people I have trained with in the past have tried to re-assure me, 'You'll be fine' they'd say, 'your so fit!'. But I still wasn't convinced. The doubt was building and the stress was starting to show when one team member gave us a talking to.

Just want to say I BELIEVE IN YOU BOTH !!! I know my words probably don't mean much but I wouldnt be doing this with any other girls.

 

this is new to all of us and we are in it together, worst case senario is we all fall down together... LAUGHING! :) its a FUN experience and its something new for us all to try...

in all honesty there will be intermediates in beginner..... beginners in intermediate... RX chics in intermediate...

 

So all we do is go out there and have fun and try our hardest. we will at least have 30-60 minutes to find out what the wod is and strategies how we are going to do it. if we get a wod that is all the crossfit moves that we have just learnt, then hey worst case again, is we all try 2 reps at a time and keep swapping... that is what being a team is about.

 

We are all there for each other. so we are in this together....

keep focused in the mind, keep the determination you both have strong... my god you two are the most strongest and hard working girls i know so your determination will get you though but we need to support and encourage each other. not doubting ourselves!!

It was exactly what I needed. I trust this girl 100%, so if she has faith in me and in our team, then I should to. The training we have been doing has been ridiculously hard, but why shouldn't it be? If it were easy, everyone could do it and it would be the challenge we signed up for.

I am now looking for the positives anywhere I can find them. Last night for example, I front squatted 40kg. 4 weeks ago I couldn't even front squat an 8kg bar. So I'm still not an amazing front squatter...what I do consider myself to be pretty ok at is Burpees! We all have our strengths and we all have our weaknesses, and due to each of our athletic backgrounds, we have a pretty good cover of almost everything that might be thrown at us!

One week out, and I am changing my mind set. I am going to go into this thing giving my best, just like I do with any other competition or event I'm in, and more importantly to have fun with two girls who I love to pieces!

Squat Hold

We are around two weeks out for our first Crossfit Competition, the Three Vs Three Showdown - were as a team of three chicks we compete against other teams in WOD's (workouts of the day) revealed to us when we arrive.

We have changed up our training I a bit over the past month to be every event focused, and pretty much everything we are doing - training wise and just throughout our days is targeted around this event. We have been getting some private coaching over the past few weeks and one of the things we have been encouraged to do is build up some time in a squat hold position.

We are trying to open our hips, lower back and ankles, and getting more length in our gluts, quads and calves. As I have mentioned before, I am lucky to have pretty good flexibility after being involved in dancing gymnastics and diving throughout my life and can hold the position comfortably for around 5 minutes at a time...but one particular team member is not so blessed. Getting to 1 minute is a pretty big deal. So as a team, we are committing to the target of 30 minutes a day.

We are dropping into a squat anywhere and everywhere. While skyping with friends, watching tv, writing patient notes, playing with the dog at the park, while teaching boxing classes, working on the laptop, or even just while taping the hands before a session. We call it The Squat Hold Diaries. If you follow us on Instagram ( clo_itzstein mirandamc imperiumbabes) stay tuned, the diaries will be up soon!!

But I am pleased to say that the hips are slowly opening, muscles are getting longer and more flexible and tolerable time in the squat hold is increasing. Give it a go yourselves!!

Getting Qualified

I am now a fully qualified Personal Trainer. I finished all my course components over the Easter weekend, sent them off a couple of days later and got a call from the Personal Training Academy, though who I complete the course late last week to say my final assessment material had arrive and had been assessed.

I talked through the assessment with my examiner and was given Advanced Competency. Woooo! The last of my certificates arrived in the mail yesterday and there you have it, Qualification complete! It's strange to think that only 5 months ago, I was tossing up hugely on the decision to complete this qualification, or continue with my long winded application to become a registered Physiotherapist in the state of British Columbia, Canada.

Looking at where I am now, and where it looks like my career may be headed, I am convinced I made the right decision. I spoke to a friend I went to uni with who started the Canadian Registration process at the same time as me, and only now is he ready to go and sit the written exam over in BC - so he has to book flights and accommodation to go do the exam...which is part 2 of 3. It's been a year.

But the new up coming job opportunities that are jumping in my path, I am thankful that I made the decision to complete these certificates, I am thankful to the people who stopped me from running away and backed me in this decision, and to those who helped me complete the course!! Things only go up from here.

Advice

I have had a new career opportunity thrown my way. One that is exciting and has a whole heap of potential, but is also extremely scary...I'm shaking in my boots.

It all started when a guy sent me a very simple message, that read 'check out Health Fixation in South Perth. give them a call'. I didn't really know what to take away from the message, but took his advice, jumped on Google and plugged it in. Up popped a brand new business (and when I say brand new, I mean opened yesterday!!) that promoted rehab, group training, personal training and massage (take note, no mention of Physio). So I flicked them an email giving a quick background about me and if they had any business opportunities to please let me know. The owner emailed me back 45 minutes later saying he would like to speak to me regarding this. Called me within the hour and we had a meeting set up for tomorrow...is everything always full steam ahead??

Upon meeting him, I could see the potential, but I was nervous. It's soooooo new and that is what scares me the most by far! He was keen to get me there as soon as possible. But is it smart for me to jump from a job where I had a strong client base and where I am comfortable working although have limitations financially; to a completely new practice where I would almost be starting over again but has a good potential if the business were to take off....keep in mind I am also a new home owner.

I have spoken to a few people about it and heard perspectives from sides of the coin I didn't even know existed. I've had people tell me go for it, people tell me leave it another couple of months, of a couple of years, saying start part time and just do a couple hours until the business grows and one even telling me to try and get in as a part owner because of the credentials I am bringing to the business. The best advice I have received though, was a friend who just said, Go with your gut.

So although my mind is still spinning out of control and I am writing pro's and con's lists like you wouldn't believe, I am so thankful to everyone that wants to help me make a career changing decision. I just need the world to slow down and more time!

Twinkling Water

I was up unexpectedly early today. I wasn't really suppose to be starting my day until around 6.30, the time my alarm was set for. But by 5.15 I was wide awake and sick of waiting around anymore, so by 5.30am I was out and running. Again probably the only one in Perth who was up and it was still super dark outside. 

Not really sure where I wanted to run, because I wasn't sure how I was going to pull up from the massive session the night before, I took off along the river with the plan to turn around about 1km in and head the other direction around the river.

I was coming back and approaching a small jetty and noticed the water was sparkling at me. No I'm not delirious, it's early I know, but I am 100% of sound mind. The river water was actually sparkling. 

The twinkling water was so pretty and adds another great reason to being up early in the morning to my list. I love a good sunrise, I like the calm and quiet before the business of the day begins, I like being up and moving while while the rest of the world is still asleep, and now I like the twinkling river water! I still maintain, I'm not crazy! 

Following Through

For Christmas this year, I gave my brother a waterproof, Bluetooth speaker which I had ordered online with plenty of time to arrive in time for Christmas Day. But it didn't.

So I had to think on my feet as to what I could present to him on Christmas morning. I ended up making a voucher, showing him what was on its way when it were to finally arrive, and to sweeten the deal (literally) I made another voucher which entitled him to a batch of any cupcakes that he wanted.

I haven't made cupcakes in a very long time and he had been asking me, when was I going to make some? Not really sure why there had been such a big gap between batches. I don't eat the cupcakes, I make them and give them to others. For example when I was in my final year of uni and on placements, it was an unwritten rule that the students would bake at some point in the last week of each prac. So every 5 weeks I was having to whip up a batch of cupcakes in all the spare time I had! Some nights I would be up til early hours of the morning getting them done!

But since uni, my cupcake creating had been virtually non-existent. Apparently my brother noticed! So when he got his cupcake voucher, he already knew which ones he wanted. Oreo Cupcakes. I had made these a couple of times before, and he had smashed his way through the left overs before I even got them to the placement.

He walked into the office where I was working a couple of days ago and said I would like to exchange in my voucher this weekend. I want my Oreo Cupcakes. Ahhhh, ok so I had to set aside a good two hours at some point this weekend to get these cupcakes out.

Luckily for my ridiculous body clock, I was awake at 5.15am this Saturday morning. I wanted to get in a run, and I had someone coming for massage at 9.30. So instead of chilling out like I had planned for my Saturday morning, I threw on my running gear and was out the door by 5.30am (it seemed like I was the only one in Perth up at this hour on a Saturday...it was dead!). Managed a solid 9km run which felt surprisingly good and came home to make a start on these cupcakes.

An hour and a half later, they were done. PB I swear! And an hour and thirty one minutes later, he started eating them....bets on how long they will last? I'm going to start the bidding at end of the weekend!

Just Do It

I don't normally publically announce this kind of thing, but I'm teaching myself to be honest and to speak my mind. I was wasting time, trolling through Pinterest this morning and someone had pinned this image. I smiled because I got one of these the other day.

I guy I went to primary school with found and added me on Facebook. Made the usual hi, how you been, what you been up to conversation and I thought that was that. Throughout my school life I was the back corner kid who hid out of sight a little bit, wasn't overly smart, artistic or gifted at anything in particular. Didn't stand out from the crowd for any reason and didn't want to...just your average kid. So it was nice to be remembered.

Couple of days later I received another message from him reading "Hmmm your way hotter then I remember". Totally out of the blue, had no idea what to say in reply. But at the same time...little fist pump on the inside.

Honestly, I don't train to 'make myself hot' as some people say. I train for my health and for how I feel during and after each session. But the 'You Got Hot' definitely makes you feel like you are achieving something for putting yourself through the pain. So no matter what you are training for, JUST DO IT! It is worth it!

Getting Into The Shoulders

Well the splint is off! I am down to rock tape 24/7 and a support over the top when I am working and training. So this means....back to upper body training, properly!!!! Did you know it's been 8 weeks since I have done a push up? Didn't even know if I would still have the strength to support my own body weight? Only one way to find out.

It's known that when I do something I tend to give 100%, so launching back in to training properly? Hmmm, we would see. First day out though, and we had our private Crossfit coaching that night for the up coming show down, after a full day of work. I had missed the first session because I was down south racing so wasn't really sure what I was in store for, or how my wrist/upper body strength would hold out. And we were doing Chin Ups. Nervous.

Still stiff from being in a splint for the past 6 weeks and immobilised for two weeks prior to that, it wasn't feeling very strong or stable and I had to drop the weight down and add a band for the chin ups. But made it through, stuffed! Next morning just did a run...first run back since the Ironman, and Sunday was a one and a half hour circuit style workout....with a lot of shoulders. By the end of Sunday shoulders were aching and had nothing in them, and still nothing when I tried to swim the next morning.

So what to do? Crank them back open with a hell of a lot of mobility. The one above we were shown last week and was more then uncomfortable, in a really strange indescribable way. But with a lot more work on them, over the following few days, I repeated this same stretch and got further into it before the weird restrictions came on.

So I am thankful to have this splint off my arm, to be able to get back to upper body training, and to be able to open the shoulders back up again once they have been smashed!

My Rain Drop

Working from home again this morning. I had a very funny chick who likes to tell me very loudly when it's 'not ok!'. I was releasing her QL - right side first which is normally the better of the two, but that was flipped on its head today. Her right side was definitely not ok and she did not hold back on telling me!

So before starting on the left, I gave her my rain drop, and laughed as she regressed back to childhood ways and started making little voices for the rain drop. Suddenly all the pain had melted away and she was completely distracted and captivated by the strangely calming smiley face of the squishy rain drop man.

She made if through the left side relatively ok, with minimal squeals and 'not ok's'. Rain Drop served his purpose. He can be a bit hit and miss though. Some people are totally humours by him and his strange looking face, while others tend to squeeze the guts out of him or throw him. Was very entertained by the response to the Rain Drop this morning though, and had a good giggle!

Imperfections

Perfection was something I was chasing for a very long time, in all aspects of my life. I would not accept anything less then perfect from myself and everything I was putting my time and effort into. Needless to say this created a whole heap of stress.

Exams and tests are pushed on us in all different forms. At school your would sit tests and exams and be graded accordingly. A less then perfect score could affect you finial graduation mark, your uni application and ultimately, your career. Throughout my Physiotherapy degree, it was perfection in our treatment techniques that we were after. Hand placement, direction or force and degree of application, home exercise programs and instruction had to be done with precision to get that final piece of paper in our hot little hands.

I grew up in the dance world, where again your faced with exams focused heavily on technique, flexibility and skill. People would kick themselves for getting Honours instead of Honours Plus. But why? Would difference would the 'Plus' really make? 

What is perfect and who makes that decision? Is it what I believed society deems as perfection that I was trying to live up to, or my own unrealistic expectations of myself? To be honest, probably both. I am a self confessed I high achiever and perfectionist. But I can also easily tell you that striving for perfection is exhausting and has broken me on more then one occasion. So I am learning that it ok to not be perfect. I don't need to beat myself up if there are flaws. It is the flaws that will help me learn and help me grow. It is how I manage these imperfections, Learn what needs to be done differently and how I go about this that is more important. 

 

#23. Start accepting things when they are less than perfect.

Remember, ‘perfect’ is the enemy of ‘good.’ One of the biggest challenges for people who want to improve themselves and improve the world is learning to accept things as they are. Sometimes it’s better to accept and appreciate the world as it is, and people as they are, rather than to trying to make everything and everyone conform to an impossible ideal. No, you shouldn’t accept a life of mediocrity, but learn to love and value things when they are less than perfect.

Team Shirts

Because posting photos was not enough, we decided to get team shirts. Well there was more to it then that. One particular member of the team would rather do ANYTHING but cardio. She came a cross a shirt with the quote "Yeah don't put me down for cardio" printed on the front and sent it to us as a laugh.

Laugh went on. Little did she know that we had ordered the shirt for her. But the website we found it on had thousands, so it seemed only right to go through an pick out one that suited each of us. But then we had to take it one step further, by screen printing our hashtag and nick names onto the backs.

Shirts were a big hit, and I don't think Creep has taken his off yet! Too proud to be rep'ing the #shirtsoffsaturday crew at any opportunity he can get!

Mothers Day

The day world wide Mothers are celebrated for their unconditional love and support given to their families. Some people go to town on gifts, kids spend hours making a special card and painted pasta necklace for their mums at preschool, take their mums out for breakfast, lunch, tea or cook them dinner, or just take their mums to the footy.

The way the day is celebrated is completely different from one person to the next and in the current overload of social media, everyone's celebrations are shown to the world. But what stood out to me a bit more were the stories behind them. I saw a lot of you standard posts by a child about their mother, but what I also saw a bit of were peoples posts about women, who were not necessarily their mother, but more their mother figure, or even just played a significant role in this persons life, developing them into the person they have become today.

So today I am thankful to all mothers in the world, whether they be mother by blood, certificate or otherwise. Every mother is the biggest role model to those around them. It is by far the hardest job in the world and I take my hat off to all those who give it a go.

Running Ducks

Have you ever seen a duck try to run? When there wings are out and it looks like they are going to take off to fly, but decide to stay on the ground instead? Head is poked forwards and they push their beak with every step to look kind of like an emu? And the spastic looking steps that make them look half human half baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time.

I have to say I haven't seen it too many times before, but I did this morning. I was starting out on an early morning run after a big session last night and the body was not feeling fresh to say the least. But it was also the first proper run back since the half one week ago now.

About 5 minutes in gets me down to the river, and at this time of morning the ducks seem to still be getting themselves going for the day, as with the rest of the world I suppose. So they were everywhere, all across the paths, on the grass, in the water. So when I go running along the path, it seems like they are not really sure what to do, they just need to get out of the way and fast!! Hence the running

As I said a above, it looks somewhat like a bird trying to be a human but ends up more like a baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time. Very entertaining. And kept me entertained for another 10 minutes while the body loosened up a little.

My Fish Sitter

People who own dogs or cats get someone to come house sit when they go away, or their put their furry friend in a kennel. When we had bunnies, my aunty would have to come daily to feed them. Birds, you just give them a hell of a lot of seed and leave them, they'll be ok! But what do you do with a fish?

I'll tell you what you do, you cover the bowl and glad wrap and punch a hell of a lot of holes in the top so he can still breathe. You put the bowl in a bucket and wrap towels around the sides so the bowl doesn't move. You then put the bucket in the car and put on his seat belt....yep every precaution is taken! You then drive at 20km/h, even slower around corners so your awesome fish sitters house and carefully carry the bucket onto their house.

I was laughed at when I did up franklins seat belt. Who puts a seatbelt around their fish?? my friend asked me. Well when you have a fish that actively tries to die by going on hunger strikes or jumping out of his bowl, you do what ever you can to protect him. So yep, I put a seatbelt around my fish!

But I am thankful for my awesome fish sitter, who kept Franklin safe from the cat, fed him, and looked after him like he was her own...what can I say, I'm a little attached to my fish!

Finally Jumping The Hurdle

There are always hurdles that we come across. Some we jump over day in day out without even realising, some seem more like a stick and then you come across the mountains. The ones that you stand next to and don't even know where to put your foot first or how you are going to get over it. 

Yeah I have been staring at that mountain for months now. I have been a few steps up it for a little while but just couldn't work out where to go next to get me further up. That was until this weekend. 

This weekend I started trying to dig the footholds that would at some point hopefully get me over this obstacle. And by the end of it, the mountain appeared a little smaller to me, there was an almost visible path. 

After a really big push from some friends, I jumped my hurdle. It wasn't the most graceful leap I must say, but what had been an impossible mountain for me for such a long time constantly holding me up has now been jumped. 

A little cryptic today I know, but it is less about the outcome of the saturation that's I am proud of and most that I finally built up the courage to do what needed to be done (with a hell of a lot of help) to get me to the other side.

Busselton Jetty

Sorry, another post that's Ocean/South West related. And from someone that is really not a beach goer too, wow! But really how could you not be thankful about a scene like this?

My final day down south and the clouds lift, the sun comes out and it is warm. After packing up my car, which I have been practically living out of for the past few days, I drove down into central Busselton to have one last walk along the beach and sat on the grass for an hour before it was time to journey back home.

The Busselton Jetty is a 1.8km Jetty that's stretches out into the Indian Ocean. It is a big ass jetty and is heritage listed as the longest timber piled jetty in the southern hemisphere. Construction was begin in 1865 and kept getting extended until it reached 1.8km 90 years later. Over the years it has undergone restorations and now has it's own train and Underwater Observatory at the end of the jetty.

This landmark is known world over as a ridiculously long Jetty and I am proud to say we have it in our own back yard. It is days like this, blue skies and sparkling blue water that I am so thankful to live where I do.

Ocean

Still Down South. This was what has filled most of my day. I started my morning by going for a run. Well attempting a run. Turns out the legs weren't quite ready for it, and I only got out 6km at a slower then my usual pace.

I ran along Geograph Bay Road which runs next to the beach. The time was around seven am and there were a few people also out walking, riding and running for a good start to the day. One of the things I love about being down south are the people. Every single person that I ran past or who crossed me in the opposite direction spoke to me. Lots of good mornings, lovely days etc. But everyone down there goes out of their way to greet complete strangers. Just nice people.

I drove to Bunkers Bay, which is around a thirty minute drive from central Busselton, and is a beautiful beach, surrounded and hidden in bush. I was there for around three hours. People have told me in the past that when you need to think, go and sit by the ocean, it's calming. So that was my plan. And I got a hell of a lot of thinking done.

I worked through some things that are holding me back, some terrible news, my future, where I was headed and what I wanted out of life. I got a lot of thinking done. A lot of crying too, but a lot of thinking. And that's what I wanted to get out of today. I knew the tears would come, and I think I was ready for that finally. To be down here, away from everyone else, all the pressure and stress of work and life back in the city, was relieving and I and thankful, glad and proud of myself for doing it.

So go sit by the ocean, it's calming.

The South West Region

We are ridiculously lucky here in Western Australia to have the Busselton/Dunsborough/Margaret River region, practically on our back door step. With the upgrade to our main roads over the past few years you can get from the CBD to this pretty amazing part of three country in under two and half hours.

It's a place know world wide for it's produce, particularly wine, and is constantly changing in terms of businesses, produce, environment and attractions, and always for the better. And there is something for everyone here. Whether it's beach, surfining, snorkelling, adventure tours or sport, horse riding, caving, wine tours, shopping...then place has got you covered. 

Following this weekends race I had some time off to stay down here, on my own and get away from everything that's going on back in the city. And a very rare occasion to do not much. I drove and sat and walked and thought, and not much more. But it was a great place to do it in and I am thankful to have such a beautiful piece if the world within driving distance from home. 

Peaking Ducks

Peaking Ducks. My awesome team for this years Busselton Half Ironman. Today was race day and needless to say I was a nervous wreck! I was up at 5 buzzing around while the rest if my family was getting ready to head off for my bro and dad's early start. It was a long nervous wait not only for for my team to start at 10.30 but then for my run to start at around 1.30, depending on how the race unfolded for my team. 

And it unfolded pretty well. Our swimmer, though in June final wave to set off and with a lot of traffic ahead if her, came out as the second female, behind another girl we race often, and could pretty much just hand first place to before we even hit the water. So happy with that start. Cyclist went out, and came through on here first lap right on schedule. I watched her speed by and then I had 1 hour 20mins so sort myself out. 

With about 25mins before we expected her in, I did my warm up, changed my shoes and headed into transition with 15minutes to wait. Longest 15 minutes of my life. We had to stand back out of the changeover area until we saw our cyclist enter transition, which was a good 300m down the other end of the big racks, so you can imagine the chaos with hundreds of runners straining to look for the cyclists, a whole lot of nervous energy going on. And we couldn't help but laugh when one runner was yet to make it into transition and his poor cyclists was standing there waiting for at least 5 minutes. 

Cyclist came in and ran down to meet me where I changed over the timing chip and launched off into this half marathon. My course was made up of three 7km laps. First lap - good! Still happy and smiling. Second - starting to hurt. Third - well the first half was not fun, but when I made it to the turn around point and knew I only had 3.5km to go...second wind. Picked it up with 1.5km to go and gave what I had left in the last 500m down the finish shoot where my team joined me. 

Extremely proud with the effort we'd put in, and we came 4th. Couldn't be happier. Also happy to say I finished the run in 1 hour 39 mins 18 secs, which was 11 minutes faster then what I was aiming for. 

So the Peaking Ducks had a great day out, and I am thankful to have been a part of such a committed and hardworking team. 

Beating The Sun

I've said it before, a number of times, but I love being up early in the morning. I love starting the day in the dark knowing that you still have the whole day ahead of you and that you are not wasting day light. Because the sun is coming up much later (like 6.30am), it means that half my boxing class is completed in the dark these days.

Normally in winter time we do retreat inside to the upstairs studio, but the air circulation at the gym I work at is not ideal and even on those sub ten degree mornings, five minutes of the class and everyone is in a pool of sweat. So this year, we are staying outside for longer. Given it is very fresh at the start of the class and takes them a little while to warm up, but being out in the fresh air and watching the sun rise while you are training is a much nicer way to start the day then in a stuffy and dusty hall.

Back when I was swimming, I wasn't so keen about these early mornings. I think the thing was I was getting up at 4.45am, getting to the pool still partly asleep, then had to take all my clothes off and dive into a pool of water. I would think about my friends who would still tucked up in their warm beds still yet to get up and get ready for school. I use to think that if the sun was up, I would feel better about being up myself. How things have changed!

Getting Our Roll On

Two Days.

And I was feeling a little beaten down. My harder training sessions for the week were over, deep tissue was done the day before and I finished my last short run earlier this morning. I was sore and I was tired. So I started rolling. My main concern was my left hip, which has been pinching for the last few days. So while also doing some of my online work, I spent a good hour getting my roller and ball into my hip flexors, couch stretching the crap out of my hips and quads and then rolling my quads. Ouch.

My brother, who is also racing on the weekend came home when I was around half way through and walked in to see me in strange positions on the living room floor. So he went and grabbed the other roller and a ball of his own, came back and said 'tell me what to do'.

So there we were on floor of the living room with balls, rollers and legs going everywhere when Mum decided it was the perfect moment to pull out the camera...HIDE YOUR PAIN FACE!!!

My ball and roller have literally been coming with me everywhere - gym, work, home, it's almost as important as my phone and keys!! Hopefully I will wake up feeling looser and less sore tomorrow!