About Bo

Dog lover. Runner. Although very slowly. Keeping up with the stresses of running and life...

Are we really sharing? Like sharing sharing?

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Bo

In a world where sharing and even oversharing has become the norm, are we really sure that what we’re sharing is the real deal?

I sat in a workshop where the ideal scenario for our new corporate Intranet was being painted. Employees would collaborate with one another. They’d log in to various platforms and ask complex questions. Their colleagues from across the continent would reach out and solve these problems in unison. We’d become this super-savvy, agile organization and the answers would be available at our fingertips as long as we’d remember to tag and label stuff.

Although it sounds easy, it isn’t. It’s actually damn hard. And with the increase in the most amazing technology available to us, and the speed at which development and upgrades take place, you’d wonder why people in the workplace are still stuck on using email, still including a fax number on their business cards and still talking about disruption technologies which are now old news, to be honest. Stop showing us that Uber slide!

The suggested theory is that the more you share and engage online, the more intelligent these social platforms become in knowing who you are and are therefore able to offer up better and more relevant content to you. I find this quite funny that Facebook “knows” me.

Yeah, I follow all the running groups, a couple of dog shelters here and there. But if Facebook thinks it truly knows me, it would have realized that writing has been on my mind for ages now. Writing a book, writing blogs, writing anything! And the fact that my organization is paying for me to do a business writing course next week is the best thing to happen to me in a long time! That the fire inside me has been lit and the thought of where this could take me is all consuming.

Did I share this feeling at work? Did I jump out of my seat with joy when my boss approved the course. Meh. I carried on reading emails. Because as much as we think we share our lives with people… we really don’t. We share even less of ourselves at work. We put on that mask and smile and get on with what needs to be done. Like I said, sharing and collaboration is hard. Even for an oversharing blogger like me.

Here’s what I’m starting to realize about quality over distance

Posted on January 17, 2017 by Bo

I ran a total of 17 races in 2015 and in between that, over 200 runs, either track sessions or runs from home. This is according to my Strava activity log. It was the year I ran 2:44 (my PB’s) for Pick ‘n Pay, Sarens as well as Kaapsehoop half marathons. By the end of the year I was exhausted. I was tired of running and when I started 2016, I couldn’t find that running mojo again. Hey, it happens and I did consciously decide that I would rest a bit and focus more on improving my form, as I’ve shared in my blog post about sessions with my bio, Mari.

One of the insights that came out of a session with Mari is that I should focus on shorter distances for now, while I strengthen my legs and core. As she put it, “There’s no point running half marathons every weekend, hating the run and not being able to walk for days afterwards.” She suggested that I rather run shorter, manageable distances, but use the run to focus on key elements of improvement. She was right.

I’ve realized that, for me, it’s not about the distances, but the quality of the run. While I don’t have any big distance running goals like KK to run Comrades, my running is currently for enjoyment and improvement. It’s taken a few weeks but when I was analyzing my Strava results, this slowly started to sink in. Here’s what I started to notice:

I am able to get home from work and run 3kms easily and still get back sweating and bursting with those amazing feel-good hormones
Running the shorter races requires less intensive road training
I am starting to see real improvements in the races I’ve run

Seeing these results has made me feel excited and motivated and has also helped set proper goals for 2017, knowing what I need to do this year.

Sometimes, we are too focused on the wrong things and before we look, we’re disappointed that we didn’t see the results we wanted to obtain.

It only takes a bit of slowing down and self-assessment to get back on track. I’m also running more km’s under 8mins/km. Did you see that? *grinning*

Giving hot yoga a bash

Posted on January 15, 2017 by Bo

I was quite excited to see that Planet Fitness in my ‘hood was offering hot yoga on Saturday mornings and decided I’d give it a try. I did yoga many years ago but wasn’t quite sure how different hot yoga was to the traditional one I did. I heard recommendations from friends ‘in the know’ to take an extra towel with me and a bottle of water. Having overdone it a tad last week in the power box class, I was worried that I was over my head trying something new a second week in a row.

The SMS alert said “Arrive early” which I thought meant 9:20 but when I walked into the class, it was already full! I managed to squeeze in a mat before the door was closed to the disappointment of quite a few people outside. Wow, popular class or New Year’s resolutionites? I wasn’t sure.

With a raise of hands, most people were new to yoga, including hot yoga, which was perfect. It meant the instructor spent more time explaining the moves and no one was made to feel too insecure not being able to do the moves perfectly. And so we started.

Boy did it get hot quickly! They weren’t kidding about “hot” yoga! The heaters above us kept the temperature quite warm and soon I was dripping with sweat. It’s apparently the best work-out for a hangover because of the detoxification. I was just hoping my muscles wouldn’t be too stiff for the 5km race I was running the next day so took each pose very slowly. hot flow yoga

An hour flew by so quickly. In between standing poses, sitting poses and the most incredible stretching of the back, we were done. Luckily I did not wake up with the DOMS and could easily run my race. But what I loved most about the class is that it was slow. Every move was according to my pace, my strength and my body. I was also made aware of my breathing and tightness in my shoulders. If anything, the workout is a fantastic stress reliever!

I have taken my running down a notch to focus more on core strength exercises, leg strengthening as well as correcting my running form. I’m definitely adding hot yoga to my list!

*Image credit: Lindy Geraghty @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1696726923880804/)

Goals. I found a recipe for success!

Posted on January 11, 2017 by Bo

I had a rough idea in my head of my 2017 goals. Some random things like make time to read and more time to blog, walk the dogs, spend more weekends over at my Mom, visit my Dad more regularly, stress less at work, lose weight (yeah, who doesn’t list this!). But it was only when seeing KK’s running calendar and knowing the finishing times for the races he plans to run this year that I realized that as much as I’d like to think I’ve set goals, unless I follow up with a proper action plan, I’ll never succeed.

Firstly, he has a 2017 calendar with all the race dates written in which is lying in our study. Most of the races have already been entered and paid for too. After discussing race goals, his Coach sent him an entire training program via Google calendar up until Comrades. It lists his daily running schedule and distances. And boy does KK take it seriously! Every time I look, he’s analyzing Strava and comparing his runs. (LOL, like most of us runners! Obsession much!)

In the last few weeks, we’ve had quite a bit of rain which didn’t stop him from running. Pffft! Unlike me. I’ll confess that sometimes I secretly appreciate that I can sleep late on a weekend listening to the rain fall.

Drenched! But smiling!

KK is dedicated to his running goals. He is consistent, motivated and disciplined. But more importantly, he has a vision. He knows the races and times he wants to run this year and knows exactly what he needs to do to achieve this. He has a plan and he works at it. That’s the perfect recipe for successful goals right there.

The races I’ve entered so far are as follows. Let me know if I’ll see you there?

Dischem 5km
Johnson Crane 10km
Vaal 10km
Pick ‘n Pay half marathon
Two Oceans half marathon
Drakensburg Run-The-Berg

Deer in the headlights moment!

Now all I need to do is put my plan in place as to how I manage to make time to read and more time to blog, walk the dogs, spend more weekends over at my Mom, visit my Dad more regularly, stress less at work, lose weight, all in between training for these races.

Easy peazy, right? YIKES!