Clare

Clare
The first time i beat ten boats in the nationals!

Friday 24 May 2013

Final Friday Walk!

Today's walk was our final one before we start Altitude training in Mosman next week. It is our final month of training, before we embark on the trip of a life time. We are walking to raise money for Diabetes Australia, please support us by searching "team into you" at www.everydayhero.com.au and donating. One of our team members was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 in adulthood (very rare), so it is a cause close to our gym.

With rain threatening, we met at the gym and decided to brave it. We did a delightful little bush walk, that ironically we haven't done yet (even though its the closest!), then tacked on three ascents of Collaroy Plateau at the end. The girls are all carrying 15kg- uncomfortably, but still strong and maintaining their pace. They are certainly something to be proud of when we consider where we have come from.

Saturday-week we will be walking all day from the city to Manly, our last big distance walk. Blue Gum Forest is after that, which I think will be relatively easy.
Counting down now, 6 weeks to go!





Saturday 18 May 2013

"I Declare, This is a HILL"!

Well, dear IntoYouse, this is what you missed out on today!

We met at the gym at 930, after Lisa had finished her session (yes, she is THAT hard-core!), and embarked at a leisurely pace down toward the lake. Our intention was to walk in the general direction of Palm Beach, and if we made it, excellent, and if we didn't, it didn't matter. At 2km we stopped for coffee, and at North Narrabeen we took a detour from the most direct trail, in order to do a picturesque trail over Turrimetta and Warriewood beaches.

We repeated this exercise at every opportunity, making the first 10km of our trip exceedingly slow. There were photos to take, uneven trails, massive flights of stairs- both up and down - to contend with! We made a short pitt stop at Mona Vale, to wee and snack. Poor old Lisa's knee was troubling her, and Jade was hammering out the pace, so we swapped around the weights to load up Jade and unload Lisa.

We popped Lisa on a bus at Bungan, and continued our meandering, pleasure-seeking pace towards Palm Beach. We hit the junction of Old Barrenjoey, Barrenjoey, and Avalon Rd's, at 3hrs 50min. We had increased our pace somewhat already, when Jade declared she really wanted to make it to Palm Beach. So we did a quick GPS calculation, and worked out that if we walked 30min faster than the Google maps pace, we would make it in time for our pick up at 230.

Already sore and tired, we stepped up the pace again. If we went the shortest route, we had 7.3km to do in 60min with weighted packs. To everyone's credit, we all knuckled down and gave it a shot. Sandra and I may have complained a little (lots), and Jade was an annoyingly talented walking machine, which may have encouraged us to whine more.

The quote of the day, and title for this blog, came from Sandra after I said that it was "all downhill from here!". There was a slight incline, but we were so sore, and on our last couple of kilometres, that Sandra declared it a hill because it had such a severe impact on our momentum - well, not Jade's - she defies gravity apparently!

We descended into Palm Beach in 70min. We were stoked to have made it! My foot was like it had a knife through it, Jade is counting on blisters on the soles of her feet (she did it in new shoes, having never walked longer than an hour before, and with a knee injury), and Sandra will hopefully not succumb to the cold she is battling!

The point is, it was hard and it hurt all of us, but we did it anyway. And it was awesome :-)












Friday 17 May 2013

The search for a View- No Shortcuts!

We set off for today's session with the intention of seeing more of our local bushland, and enjoy something different. It was a great walk through Red Hill and the Cromer hinterland! Our packs varied in weight, with mine topping the charts (figured I might as well see what's possible!), and we still wandered, chatted, climbed some steep, and rocky hills around 12 minute kilometres.
Tomorrow's a big day, so its time to fuel up, chillax, and prepare for that!



Sunday 12 May 2013

Never take the Short Cut

Today I took my mum and a family friend for a walk around Narrabeen Lake. To do the circumference nowadays, you have to head up through Cromer and take some fire trails to the sport and rec centre.

I carried my GPS whilst on the fire trail, which was very windey. At one point there was a very clear trail that cut the corner of one of these , saving us a considerable distance. Unfortunately, with only a few metres until we rejoined the fire trail, the track petered out, and the three of us had to bush bash...

I spent the last 8km of the walk copping flack for this poor decision! However it was all in good humour.

The lake walk is flat and easy. Even so, the last couple of kilometres were tough, simply because it had taken 3hrs and I was carrying 15kg.

At least we are not still trying to find the way out of that short cut!!






Friday 10 May 2013

Hiking with Kids

Today's session had 3 kids tagging along, so we packed two of them onto scooters, and mine into her backpack, and hightailed it to the local oval and playground. We took turns in doing laps of the 400mtr oval with a 15kg pack, while the other person did plyometrics and supervised the kids going nuts on the play equipment!

Plyometric exercise is a time-efficient way of increasing leg power. We did 3x10 (each leg for single legs stuff) with a 2-3min break between sets.
1) Bounce step ups
2) Side step ups and hop
3) Squat jumps (in between each push of the swing)
4) Walking lunges

With the 400mtr walk-run in between, it was a quick and sweaty session, that got our heart rates up and our legs fatigued quickly. Furthermore, the kids had a blast and let us mum's do our thing :-)

Friday 3 May 2013

Easy Friday

Today was a simple 4km flat walk, and Debra and I took Edgecliff Blvd to the tune of spectacular views. It was just the two of us, because Sandra was out injured, and Lisa stuck at work.

Part of my job is problem solving. That is, someone has a problem, like weight, or lack of time to exercise, and I see my role as assisting them find solutions to overcome the problem. Sometimes this can be confronting for an individual, as they have to create new habits, or get out of their comfort zone. Embarrassment, uncertainty, or plain old discomfort will stop them even attempting something new.

With Sandra's injury, she has not been walking at all. 10min before we met for our walk today, I threw out the idea that maybe she could ride her bike beside us as we walked. Sandra was literally in her car, driving out the driveway to pick her kids up from school. A few quick phone calls had the kids pickup sorted, then she realised that the bike wouldn't fit in her car.... At this point, anyone else would have thrown their hands in the air. Sandra threw her leg over the bike, and rode to my place from Narraweena (up the hill and all). I was so excited to see that girl ride towards us, such a great example of putting one's mind to something. It is not the same without her! And from her posts on Facebook she is feeling pretty good too.

Our schedules for May have changed slightly, with shorter sessions, and harder, and a full day hike every second week. First 20km tomorrow!

Hopefully the shorter workload will allow everyone to spend a bit more time on their recovery.

Until next Friday!