Karen and Kate's journey to Ironman and beyond

LSD run. Long Slow Distance.  Long Sadistic Drag.  Leg Shuffling Disorder. Lacking Some Discipline.  Oh, and some other descriptions too. Strange though it sounds, I've gotten used to a few of these seemingly unreasonable distances at the business end of marathon training, to head off for 24km, 28km, 30+km doesn't fill me with anxiety bordering on terror like it did. I couldn't have imagined ever feeling that before, it's weird what you can get used to. Being on a 7 week programme since the Rotorua Marathon means I had at least 4 of these bigger distances to deal with, but already I have done two and now there are just two more to do before the Wellington Marathon on the 23rd.  But...I have learned to treat each LSD run like an event itself. I do this by taking it a bit easier with any running earlier in the week, taking Friday-Saturday off training prior to a Sunday run, eating more of the easy to digest good-for-me stuff the day immediately before followed by an ...

The link to a group called ' moonjoggers ' turned up on my facebook page.  It turned out to be a group of running people taking a unique approach to encouraging increased physical activity.  Their aim was to count running or walking miles to cover the 380-odd-thousand km distance required to get to the moon, a virtual moon trip. In fact, I see that today they have achieved their aim with the help of 100's of people from 40 different countries, it seems that they might be on their way back to Earth again after a bit of exploring. I couldn't resist, I had to join, and I have clicked on the 1000 mile (1600km) option to be achieved by the end of the year.  Now that is going to require an average of around 52km/week from now on, 10km more than I currently do.  Actually if I can't get the running up high enough I can count my walking, which at about 15km/week more than covers the extra distance but the intent is to run more. Shame I wont be able to count the cycling o...

 My physio says I over do the running and a bit compulsive, not sure I agree. We were at Napier on a conference and there was a fun run. It was only 5k and on the flat, so why not? I think that's my new saying when people ask me why I do the things I do its why not? If I can not think of a good excuse not to do something its now why not? It was a bit like why did we all dress up for the evening event, well why not!

I've just apologised to the whanau.  I made an error of judgement, should have known better, but as sometimes happens it took getting out and actually making the mistake to come to the conclusion that I was wrong. I got home after work knowing I had a run to do today, a meeting tomorrow meant that I couldn't just shift the run...or that was what I told myself.  It was raining heavily, and there was lightning in the distance back over town.  I decided that I wasn't worried about the rain, I could wear my headlamp to combat the early dark, and I'd be running in the deep forest trails so I wouldn't need to worry should the lightning get any closer.  When I left home there was at least a minute between lightning and thunder which by my calculations made it about 20km away.  I was asked when I walked out the door whether I thought it was really a good idea, I brushed the concern away, pointed out my smart clothing choices, the shortened route, and that I was stayin...

I got an e-mail from Torpedo 7 this morning saying has anyone seen Kate! Well I'm still here but have been loaded down with work and life. I have a new Smart phone so can now access Internet at home but still I forget to blog!  sore knee large bandage Anyway, I did the Rotorua Marathon at the beginning of May. I had a lovely 17k run and then the knee started to hurt. Badly! Ended up in ambulance and a large bandage was applied. Well I was out for the day and I do not give up so off I went for a long walk home. A couple of panadol helped, but best of all was a nice man to talk to. He had done Ironman too so we talked and talked about Ironman. 6 hrs it took to do but at least I finished. Off to the physio today and lots of exercises to do. He also stuck a needle in my knee, it brought tears to my eyes. I must do these exercises and then back to running. 

Wellington marathon in less than 5 weeks.  The only reason I am actually getting to this event, the only suitable event in the whole of New Zealand in that deadly middle of the year slump, is because I am pretending it is a family holiday.  The girls haven't been on a plane, well the older one was when she was just over a year old but she understandably doesn't remember that.  They just watch me leave with my bag packed to drive or fly off to what for them are exotic locations, it doesn't matter if I'm going for work, and they feel that they are missing out. So, laden with guilt after abandoning the whanau firstly for the recent Rotorua marathon, then the Napier conference, I said "lets fly to Wellington for a fun filled weekend in the middle of the school term... oh how convenient...there is a marathon there for mum and a kids mile run".  Actually, I also had the excuse that it is almost my birthday so I could say it was a special treat for me, how often do...

We have been at conference in Napier, what a cool town that is.  I got to walk many miles as part of  my recovery from the marathon a few days before, felt a bit twitchy and out of sorts, but the body seemed to be in good shape and ready to do more. At the conference itself we had excellent talks from our colleagues working in diabetes, most speakers were from New Zealand but there were a few brave souls from overseas. A high point was a run along the path beside the beautiful ocean early on Thursday morning.   We watched the sunrise from our 6th floor apartment (shared by 5 of us), and headed for the run start as that fiery ball rose out of the sea.  It was pretty cold so there was a bit of shivering until we started running. I surprised myself with my fastest 5km in recent memory, and a bonus was beating a couple of people I haven't managed to catch for all the years I have been attending these conferences, I'm pretending to forget that most of them were injured th...

Rotorua marathon, another one down.  I had a good run, 4 hours 42, just a minute slower than I did Rotorua in last year. Pretty happy with that considering the minimal amount of training, grumpy knees, and Ironman 8 weeks ago, I will use the 'Higdon' senior programme again methinks.  Got to run with the Ironman transfer on my leg just like I dreamed of doing the year before last, and stopped at the Fat Dog on the way back to Auckland for a breakfast of waffles, banana (carbs), bacon (protein), blueberries (anti-oxidants) and cream (dairy).  MMMMMM, there has to be some reward for all that hard work. Weather was good, but warmer than expected, we were very lucky because only a few hours after the finish there was some serious thunder and lightning.  I wouldn't have wanted to have been out on the road in that.  As usual I got to run with some excellent people, feeling suitably quashed when they talked about having done marathons numbering over 20.  I felt l...

When you say 'tomorrow', it can be a word of hope (you still have time to put something off), or anticipation (looking forward to it), or trepidation (drat, it happens tomorrow).  All of those faces of tomorrow are relevant to exercise, and at the moment, they are all present and accounted for in my head as I'm on the steep downward slope to Rotorua Marathon, just a day away. It may be a slippery slope too...see the weather forecast But after the immediate set of tomorrows, after I find out if my somewhat gentle marathon training actually gets me over the finish line in something more related to running than crawling, then there is a whole string of much more worrying days to be called tomorrow.  I have to get back on my road-bike which got put in the shed on the 3rd of March without even having the various tool bags and bits and pieces removed.  It still has Taupo dirt and during-Ironman sweat on it, and when I next actually mount that saddle I will be thinking "...

Haven't written much lately, but really haven't felt like I've been achieving much.  Except for things which don't bear close scrutiny, such as eating the entire contents of a very large box of chocolates all by myself over the space of a week. I blame the fact that the whanau has been away for the school holidays, this has deactivated the 'set a good example' form of dietary control which I tend to rely on quite heavily.  Closely related is the "who ate all my chocolates" phenomenon, also quite useful for minimising dietary excess and also absent in recent times. The forestry behind Maraetai being open again after the long dry summer has meant that when I have run I have been able to get out on the bush trails I love. I realise though as I slow to a walk to go up hills I used to at least attempt to run, that I am still a bit short on fitness, not sure if that is physical or mental though.   Think probably the latter, I just don't feel like putti...