School has officially consumed my life.

Yes, as the title states, my life has been taken over by school and studying. After seeing how badly I did on my math and science exams, I am HAULING ASS to do whatever I can to improve those marks. Also in english, I almost got excellence and I know exactly what I need to work on to be able to get there.

I’ve set myself specific targets to study and aim for. I know I can get there, and that’s why I’m putting in the hard yards.

I’ve started getting up half an hour earlier at 6.20 am so I have time to study in the morning, and I’ve given up my lunchtimes for lunchtime math tutorials and soon to be science tutorials if I can fit them in. I’m going to start staying behind for an hour or so after school for Maths as well, plus an hour of study once I get home.

I have never ever been so committed and motivated to achieving well in any kind of exam. I’m proud of myself because I know that if I keep this up, I WILL achieve and I WILL pass those exams with merit or hopefully higher. It’s all about how much you’re willing to put in. As the saying goes: You get out what you put in.

I’ve almost passed level one anyway. I was a little offended today in deans assembly at school when they growled us for only 12 out of the 250 odd students having already gained level one. You need 80 credits to get level one and I have 56, BUT, I have only been offered 60 so even if I had passed everything, I wouldn’t have level one yet!

I was a bit irked for being told off for something I have no control over.

Anyway, my life outside of school?

Running has taken a bit of a break for now… I’m taking a rest day in between runs because my hip isn’t 100% better yet. I think it’s really helping. I’m also doing lots of stretches as the doctor suggested and I’m only doing very slow 5k runs.

I pushed the boundaries today though and decided to do a very intense 35 minute interval training workout.

I had 10 songs on my ipod playlist, the first and last are about 5 minutes long and the first one is for a warm up, the last for a warm down. My warm ups and warm downs are just a slow jog for the duration for the song.

For the rest of the 8 songs, I did something different for each one. Switching between sprints, strength training (lunges and squats whilst holding weights), skipping with a skipping rope, knee-to-chest skipping and jogging.

I love this kind of workout because it’s fun and interesting and makes time go by SO much quicker which is good. Also it targets multiple muscle groups and has a variety of demands which is really good if you want to see quick results and an increase in fitness.

I feel good now, my hips not too bad. I stretched it really well after. My calf muscles are a bit stiff from the skipping rope, but it was a sweet workout and I’ll probably do it again on Monday.

I have a race on Sunday! As mentioned in previous posts. And that’s if you can count a fun run/walk a race lol. Oh well, i’m going just to have fun and get a good workout. Also so I’ll be running with OTHER PEOPLE for once! I always run by myself and it gets lonely after a while.

I’d love to meet people with common interest.

Interval training was a particularly good choice today because lately I have found that with long runs, my legs have been getting extremely sore and tired about 3k’s in, which is NOT good. I’m not sure why but it’s freaking me out. A little interval training is good to strengthen my legs and increase fitness which will hopefully help stop that problem.

If you have any suggestions on that, please leave a comment

I did something today that I have forgotten to do before all my last few runs…. I put on sunblock!!!! Yes that’s right, I slathered my arms, face and chest with SPF 45 sunblock.

I was urged to after seeing how quickly I’m tanning up. I never usually tan this early into the season, but baby I am BROWN! I realized that given how often and how long I’m exposed to the sun, I really need to start being more careful with skin care. So from now on, sunblock it is!

I was really grateful too because the sun was beating down on me so hard for the full 35 minutes and for once, I didn’t have to worry and kick myself for not wearing sunblock I felt safe and protected.

Anyway, that’s pretty much what’s up in my life as of right now. I have more to say but I’ll post it all in separate posts so they’re not so long.

Have a fabulous and beautiful, sunny spring evening!

Four down, One to go!

Today I had my english and Music exams… English was easy peasy (mind you, I study for a good FIVE HOURS last night), but music sucked. I flunked that one HARD.

Yesterday I had Maths, and that was dreadful too. I felt like stabbing myself with my compass to put myself out of my uttermost MISERY!! There was so much stuff in there that we hadn’t covered in class. Later when I had finished, I went to see my math teacher and she said that stuff shouldn’t have even been in the test because she’d tried to get it taken out since we hadn’t learnt it yet. So yup, FAIL on the maths front.

I have one exam left which is Health. I’m sitting that one on Monday and it should take me about an hour.

On the positive side, I’ve been rewarding my hard efforts with exams by going for nice long runs Well, today wasn’t very long, but hey, quality, not quantity right?

Yesterday I went for about a 50 minute run. LOTS of hills and steps involved + torrential bloody rain which made it impossible to see where I was going properly. At one point, I had so much rain in my eyes, I was running with my eyes closed for about a Kilometer, I thought I was going to lose my footing and fall down the VERY VERY steep drop (We’re talking a good 50 meter vertical drop) to land on hard concrete at the bottom. Not so good.

But I was ok The rain eased off a little and I could see again! The whole route was about 7k’s and I would’ve been faster but it was up hills + steps and it was raining really hard. So I credit myself for my efforts

I felt good afterwards too.

More than I can say for myself today anyway…

Today was just an easy 5k, but MAN was I exhausted. I think it was a combination of over-working my body (running is really hard on your body, throw trail runs into the mix and your poor little bod may not be able to handle the jandle), lack of sleep, stress and dehydration. But I’m always glad when I get back from having gone for a run. It’s really really satisfying to know you’ve done something good for yourself.

Still, tomorrow I shall take a rest day

I have the day off on Tuesday! Yay! Happy days. I’ll go for a big run in the morning, then I’m treating myself to a hair appointment at 12.30pm. I haven’t had a trim in months and months, which is ages for me, and my hair is really starting to need it because when left unbrushed for over an hour, my hair gets so knotty, a family of Starlings could nest in it!

I never usually brush my hair, so the fact that I NEED to now, is a warning sign that things are getting out of hand! lol

I’m sticking to the bet I made though, I’m a girl of my word. I’m only getting a trim and getting it thinned out, and I have every intention of keeping it dark brown.
There’s no way I’m losing and going ranga!!

God, I’m going to have an absolutely HELLISH time running in the summer… even today, when we’re just into spring, it was SO HOT! Sweat was pouring off me and after a pathetic 20 minutes, I was dying for a drink. Obviously I didn’t have one on hand, so that complicated matters a little bit. I can deal with heat, but there are two things I’ll have to make sure I have for future sunny day runs, they are:

1. Sunblock- gotta protect your skin! Especially if you’re a road runner and are exposed to the sun on a very regular basis for long periods of time. The tan is hot till you hit 30… then it’s all a downhill slide from there. Also, think about the risks of skin cancer.

2. WATER!!! This is a must. It’s so important to stay hydrated on hot days when running. Without water you can’t function properly. Keep your body happy and healthy! I’ll be investing in a Camelbak over the holidays to make those long runs a little better

Anyways, that’s all for today folks. Any tips on running in the Summer?

Productive Sunday.

I’m really pleased with myself, because today I had a productive day! And this is awesome because it’s Sunday and I’m NEVER productive on Sundays. Usually I lie around all day feeling miserable, contemplating that the following day is monday, and no one likes Mondays.
EXCEPT! I’m looking forward to tomorrow because it’s my dear friend Dallas’s 17th birthday and I can’t wait to give him his present
But anyway, today I woke up naturally at ten to 8 in the morning, delighted to find that it was a beautiful sunny day. I checked my blog, read the latest “healthy tipping point” entry as I do every day, I showered, then I cooked a SWEET breakfast for Mitchell and I. My fav, french toast with Wholemeal bread with real Maple Syrup and frozen Blueberries on top
YUMMA!
We waited about 45 minutes for our food to settle, I slathered on the sunblock, listened to Red Hot Chili Peppers, then we headed off for our intense bush walk up the Bird Walk (which is a short distance, but heavily made up of almost vertical flights of stairs and never-ending hills). It was HARD OUT! I had forgotten just how much of a workout those flights of stairs are. I was huffing and puffing and totally exhausted, but I kept myself motivated by thinking about how great it is for me and how amazing those stairs will help my butt to look haha. It works! Seriously


It was also extremely hot, but I was grateful for the change up in work out, it was a good break from my regular 5k running route. Also, I was able to eat 4 squares of yummy Cadbury Crunchie bar chocolate and not feel guilty I’ve decided to stop feeling so bad whenever I allow myself to have a little treat. I’m so harsh on myself and it’s really unfair to my self-esteem and self-confidence. 


After the Bird Walk we exited out Whitehorse drive, carried on up the gorge hill, walked down Hillcrest, down the Rock Pitt steps, down Commerce street, through the Gypsy fair and back home. The whole excursion took about 2 hours and at the end Mitchell stated that that’s the best workout he’s had in weeks haha. Mitchell is not overly athletic, so kudos to him for giving it his best efforts and keeping up with me!


When we got home we chillaxed with a good movie, “The Boat That Rocked” I LOVED it!! It was so so so funny, and I was so proud to see Rhys Darby repping NZ. It was so good, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Rock N’ Roll and is interested in a light-hearted comedy with lots of naked girls ;]


After that we had our eats, in the middle of the movie I had strawberry Greek Yoghurt with Walnuts, Almonds and Oats and after I had half a can of tinned peaches and some “hot pork”, it was so good! And kept me full for ages which is good.


I’m booking my learners license tomorrow! Exciting stuff!!! I’m going to go for  my Motorbike license at the same time. I can’t wait to be able to drive, I’ll feel so independent, I’m really truly excited at the idea for the first time in my life.


Peace!
xoxo