About Bo

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

Sundays are my Fundays!

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Bo

During our December break last year, we managed to spend quite a few arb weekends lazing around the pool the entire day doing nothing; and I mean absolutely nothing! It was glorious! I recall telling KK that I would really miss it when we went back to work and normality kicked into gear from January. But he challenged me saying, well, why must things change? We can still make time for lazy weekends next to the pool during the year can’t we?

So it’s not exactly a New Year’s Resolution, but a promise I made to myself that I would try as often as I could to ensure that we still spend those lazy Sundays at the pool, lying in the sun, braai’ing, listening to music and truly enjoying the weekend. I’m proud to say we’ve stuck to it. As Autumn creeps into our lives, I know that the weekends are limited in terms of sunning ourselves for hours outside. But I’m glad we did. I’m even prouder to admit that I swam. Often!

Oh look, it’s Friday again. Hello weekend! Hello pool! Hello sun! Hello fun!

Happy weekend everyone!

ps: okay Autumn, we’re ready for you.

Losing focus in order to refocus

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Bo

On the eve of the Sarens half marathon, I lay wide awake in bed knowing something was gnawing at me inside with regards to my running but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I was unsure if I was over-training, if I was mentally or physically drained but something wasn’t right. After an hour of ~~over –~~ analysis, it suddenly dawned on me what was wrong. Here’s what I realised:

I keep comparing myself to other runners I follow on social media instead of focussing on my own running journey. In my mind, everyone seems to be running faster times and improving a hell of a lot quicker than me. (Really?)
I’ve constantly been improving my PB, yet after 7 months with Coach Dave, I am still slower than some of the familiar faces I see at the races. I can’t keep up with runners that I used to. Why not? This bugs me.
I am trying to keep up with my Running Junkie Two friends and frustrated that I can’t.
Once again, I am caught up in that mad whirlwind they call “Two Oceans” and desperately wanting to run a good time down in Cape Town in a race I really hate.

You see, it isn’t just one thing. It is a few things that added up to one major issue: I have lost sight of my goals. I have started to look around at everything else except at my own running journey and the progress I have made since August last year.

But it’s even more than that. Lying in bed at 00h35, I knew that I wanted to run Sarens faster than 2:46 but I had no race plan. No strategy. I didn’t even know what my average pace should be. How crazy that after so many months of running, I had not worked this out in my head!

Surely no runner should go into any race so unprepared. Surely it’s the same with life? With no plan, no vision, do we really know how to reach our goals and how to measure success? set goals

I need to go back to the drawing board. I need to reset some of my goals because the goal posts have shifted. And they should shift as I improve, right?

Sarens was a great race, by the way. I ran it in 2:44.

Running through my weekend

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Bo

1. Friday night treat of pizza’s from Andiccio’s. 2. Movies with my niece. (I remember all the words to the songs from Annie.) 3. Shopping with my niece. 4. Frozen yoghurt – vanilla, coconut & a splash of mint. 5. Early morning back massage & love for Annie. 6. Shavathon hair dye 7. Caught in the rain on a Saturday night. 8. Photos for my Japan visa. 9. A PB at the Vaal 21.1km race!

Go to bed!

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Bo

It has taken a trendy little wearable device to point out the fact that I’m not getting nearly enough sleep. I’ve been wearing a Jawbone UP since December. It tracks the number of steps I take each day, it helps me keep a food as well as a water diary, logs my weight and keeps a note of my general mood during the day. But the handiest part is that it tracks my sleep patterns.

I’ve seen the research that says we should all be getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night so I set that as my goal. I was fine over the December holidays but since getting back to work in January, I somehow cannot get to bed early enough. My Jawbone keeps warning me that I’m only averaging 6 hours of shut eye every night, way below the average and not enough to be operating at my best during the day.

I’ve started to take notice of my energy levels at work. Lately I’m grumpy. I’m stressed. I’m snappy. Most days when I get home, I have to fight the urge to snooze on the bed than put my trainers on and head out the door to run. To make matters worse, I’m getting even less sleep on weekends because we run track on Saturday mornings and a race or club run on Sundays so we never sleep in. Not only is sleep important for my work and my health, but my running too. Everything suffers!

So I need to do something about it. I need to be more disciplined and make it a habit to get to bed early. I have to wake up by 5:30 so my only option is to get to bed by 21:30 at the latest in order to get my 8 hours in. I’m taking it quite seriously too because I know I can only go on for so long before I burn out or get sick.

It starts tonight!