About Bo

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

Squats, stability balls and stretches

Posted on January 9, 2017 by Bo

The other day, a running friend of mine asked me how it’s going with my biokinetist? She knows all about bio’s because she often comes to track moaning about how sore she is and that her bio is a secret assassin. I blogged about my initial visit to Mari a while back. Mari is helping me to strengthen muscles and work on areas of my body which are not as strong as they could be, hoping this ultimately will help my running form.

Mari gave me some homework to do, which I have tried to do regularly. One is them involves rolling a ball under my foot to help with my collapsed arch. The other is to make sure I lift my head and not look down when I’m running. This may sound like an easy thing to do, but trust me, it takes concentration since I’m not used to running that way.

On one of my last visits to Mari, she realized that I am incredibly weak and even before I think of lifting my legs and knees when I run, that I need to work on strengthening them. She has given me a bunch of hamstring, glute, back and hip exercises to focus on.

I’ve been amazed at how difficult but also easy home gym is! Firstly it takes effort and discipline to do them. But they make me sweat like mad and I’m often stiff the following day so they definitely work.

To help me remember the exercise, Mari takes photographs of me at my appointment. Trust me, there’s no better image than seeing 1. Just how much weight I’ve put on, and 2. How tough simple exercises are such a strain for my body. I am seriously weak and have lots of work to do!

I giggle like crazy when I see the pics! I look like I’m in such pain and feel so awkard! LOL.

But yes, the bio is one of the best decisions I made. I am feeling stronger. I feel more confident and for the first time, I’m more in tune with my body and know and understand what I need to do to improve my running. I’ll keep you posted!

Eager beaver gym bunny

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Bo

I woke up to a rainy day on Saturday but decided, well, it’s the New Year so no more excuses, if I couldn’t run out on the road, I’d head to gym instead.

I checked out the Planet Fitness schedule and spotted a Power Box class at 7:30am. Perfect timing! I’m out the house in good time, braced the flooded roads and arrived at the class 10 minutes ahead of time. I was feeling good! I was “pumped” and ready to go! *gym talk*

The class started with a bang and we were “round housing” and doing level 3 punches within the first 15 minutes of the class. Yikes! None of the warm up I was anticipating. With every leg kick I thought, this feels hectic, but I’m okay. I convinced myself that this was brilliant for leg strengthening which I need! My bum burned! My arms ached. I loved it!

After 60 minutes, I left the gym with a beautiful red face, my clothes drenched in sweat, heart racing and feeling fantastic…

But 24 hours later, I woke up this morning in pain! I could hardly move! My arms were limp, my legs were stiff and ached as I walked down the stairs to make coffee. Damnit! I could hardly move.

I was stiff! But really stiff! Eina stiff! WTH? I do track and some running in the week. Was I really this unfit? A hot, arnica oil bath was absolute bliss to soothe my aching muscles.

As I lay in the silky water, I was smiling. Maybe I had been too keen. I suppose I had overdone it, acted a tad too eager? Everybody knows to take it easy when you head back to gym after a long break. On the opposite end, what a fantastic workout to strengthen my legs and core? Most definitely beneficial to my running.

I was more impressed that I had actually gone to gym, on a Saturday morning, in the pouring rain! Ironically there’s something about that stiffness and muscle ache that is addictive. It makes your body feel alive! Makes you feel like you’ve pushed yourself over a cliff (in a happy way). I also know that the more I do it, the less pain I’ll be in, the stronger I’ll be.

Silly me! We’ve all been there, right? By the way, I’m gonna try out the hot yoga next week! Watch this space.

My cheese for 2017 is this: …

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Bo

Two of my favourite bloggers shared their “word” for 2017 here and here. Even if you’re not into making a list of New Year’s resolutions, it’s important to have goals or an idea of where you’re headed for the year. So seeing their two bold words got me thinking…

If 2016 showed the world anything, it was to expect the unexpected. Be ready for change because, as the cheesy saying goes, the only constant is change.

charles-darwin-change-quote

Technology, environmental trends and even politics are all changing the way we do things and how we live our lives. We have become a society constantly dependent on the ‘next big thing’ and we have limited patience waiting for what that is. I suspect it’s only going to get worse and unless you know how to deal the changes coming at you, it’ll be another stressful year like 2016 was.

The ability to be able to adapt to these changes is what I see as survival. Be it at home, at work and within myself. It requires learning new skills in lightning fast time. It means not stagnating at work. Being relevant is key and allows for constant re-inventing of who I am.

That’s pretty exciting. You can be anything you want and do almost anything you set your sights on in 2017! Expect the unexpected! Be prepared to change! And if you do, the world is your oyster (gosh, stop with the cheese Bron!).

It’s got me thinking… maybe I should study this year. Nothing too serious, but I’ve been itching to do a writing course. Yup, that’s it. I’ve decided and now super excited!

How about you? What’s the first thing that springs to mind? Or if it’s not a thought or quote, what’s your word for 2017?

Parkrun taught me this about going into 2017

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Bo

I knew how much I hated running cross country so the thought of waking up on a Saturday morning to run parkrun did not appeal to me at all. When all my running friends were clocking up parkrun milestones, I kept a low profile.

But it was the incessant nagging from another Running Junkie, Francis, which I simply could not ignore any longer and decided I’d run my first parkrun, but also to celebrate her 50th one.

And did I enjoy myself? Will I be back? In thinking of answers to these questions some things stood out for me from my parkrun experience.

Some positives and negatives which I’m calling “parkrun lessons to take into 2017“…

1. Don’t knock it ’till you try it: It wasn’t fair of me to have made up my mind about parkrun without ever having run one. Often what stops us from doing something is a preconceived idea which prevents us from giving things a chance. I’m going to take more chances in 2017 and be braver.

2. There’s always admin: If I must be honest, the whole barcode story of parkrun irritates me. With everything online nowadays, I wish parkrun had an app that would sync automatically with the likes of Strava, Garmin, Nike+ etc. to record your runs. But I guess in life, not everything is that easy. There are and will always be bloody admin; the stuff we all hate to do. Just do it!

3. Allow people to carry you when the going gets tough: A man ran to the finish line carrying his dog on his shoulders. Classic move! In chatting to him afterwards, he said the little guy got to 1km and was tired and couldn’t go on anymore. I don’t ask for help as often as I should. I carry around my stress and anxiety and don’t allow myself to acknowledge that some days, I need help. I know that I am surrounded by the most amazing family & friends who will gladly, and without hesitation, lift me up on their shoulders and carry me. Figuratively, of course! Don’t panic loved ones!

4. Push through the uphill struggles because the downhills come. Eventually: Delta Park parkrun starts with a crazy uphill but as you reach 3kms, it’s all downhill to the end. I kept hearing Coach Dave tell me this as we ran. I didn’t believe him, but when that downhill arrived, man it was glorious and I picked up my pace. When the going gets tough, be patient, the downhills will come Bron.

5. Make time to celebrate: To celebrate her 50th parkrun, Francis arrived with bottles of bubbly and cake. Dressed in her well-deserved red 50th parkrun t-shirt, it reminded me that we don’t take time to celebrate our successes anymore in life. We don’t stop to acknowledge what we’ve accomplished and we don’t reward ourselves for the hard work we put in. We need to do more of that! And we need to celebrate with our family & friends more often!

Here’s to an amazing 2017 year ahead, and yes, more parkruns!