Keado’s Weblog

Back on the treadmill…the weather was blowing and looked just like too much effort to go out on the road. Taking a few days to get the energy levels back to normal so had a quiet 30min run but still worked a little. Some strength training in the evening at 40% less effort than the previous session, so certainly going to take a few days to recover.

It’s so important to listen to the body – I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before but if you take time to recover properly, the body will get stronger and the time between 21st century illnesses will be longer. Take too little time and the body would not be fully recovered and succesptable to more of the little foreign bugs in the air. 

Every once in a while the body pulls the reigns and that was Friday. Thursday nights work load that went into 3am Friday morning took it’s toll and by Friday night the body needed a break. Resting heart rate up 50% to 68bpm so little choice in the matter. Best way of describing the feeling is a massive hangover without the alcohol. So Saturday was no club run and flat out on the couch / bed 24 hours. By Sat night resting heart-rate down to mid 50’s so knew it had been broken.  Sunday no exercise just some weeding and fishing and by this morning, back to 48bpm – healthy.

Not to get too excited, went for a 5km very easy run to the beaches with a walk up the hill and felt good. Will take it easy tom as well and do the 8km on Wed to see the recovery – no rush.

Fishing on Sunday was good & frustrating off the rocks – used the $10 K-Mart rod and worked well except for getting snagged 1,000 times! Obviously the wrong spot along the rocks but caught some mullets which eventually threw back – their lucky day. Sea quite rough so looking forward to a flat sea this week.

Rest day today & need it. Yesterday did a easy 5km’s to Army Bay and Okoromai – had to – the most beautiful morning and I couldn’t not go out. Except club run at 6pm and I promised myself that I would do the 8km. Mike decided to run with me which put all plans of a quiet easy run in the toilet – this is a guy who doesn’t train and runs under 4m/km. He’s a volunteer fireman and the local Manly station and a machine.

The morning run was really easy – wish I had the camera for green pastures, flat sea & rising sun. The afternoon run was hard – pushed hard and was really happy with finishing in 39min. In 2000, it took a few months to break 40min and just feeling really strong at the moment. Suppose Gary Player was right – the more you practice, the luckier you get.

I say today is a rest day but was at the golf course at 6am for a quick 9 holes. We finished even before the club house opened so will have to go back later today and pay the fees. Classic golf morning – crisp air with with morning mist, rising sun & blue sky.

LOVING LIFE IN PARADISE! [oh, lunch today with associate as well & found a new fishing spot which I may have to try out after Sat morning club run, basketball [new]. 

I think I’m starting to show my age ~ “the kids today”. Bet every generation of parent has said the same thing “in my day” and I have found myself doing the same at this young age. I’m talking about respect. The kids today seem to have a total lack of respect for adults, from the young age of 3 all the way up. The new age forms of allowing kids the freedom to express themselves, the removal of all forms of corporal punishment including raising your voice, standing outside the classroom etc – have created a youth with little discipline and respect. It’s so easy now to say “no, I don’t want to” or just follow through on decisions when it gets “too hard”.

“In my day” you greeted your friends parents by “hello Mrs Rees or Mr Rees” – In my day you moved to the side of the pavement to let an adult walk by and greeted them, in my day if a teacher told you to do something, you [maybe begrudgingly] did it – if you spoke back to a teacher, you were disciplined or in some cases, got the cane [or cricket bat on the buttocks]. 

On my morning run I see kids in their school uniform with long untidy hair [boys], shaved heads in all styles, shirts out, serious lack of respect for their schools – I have to almost always head into the street or grass area off the running/walking paths while school kids wait for buses or are just sitting around wasting time – I see kids at 9:15 – 9:30 arriving to school without a care in the world that school started at 9am. The school is not allowed to discipline them all but to say, “please John, try be on time” and hope John doesn’t give you the middle finger.

Well, not in my house, not in my day – “when I was younger ….” [bet my folks said the same about us!] 

Sunday morning got off to a lazy start [again] but we got off to the Red Beach Gala by 10:30. Candyfloss, sausage sizzle, cars, games, toys, rides, spinning cups, hundreds of kids ~ all good. Kids didn’t know where to start..

2,5 hours of fun and they didn’t complain when it was time to head home – time to go fishing. Tide was in, little to no wind, sun shining – perfect fishing. Got the rods, too some bait from the freezer [compliments of some previous hard work], grabbed a water & chips, shoved kids in the car and off. Popped into the local fishing shop that was trying to close but streams of people still coming in – bought some sprat lines and off.

Two families at the spot so not too busy – unpacked the goods, hooked up a new line. Kids went straight to the beach to play in the water etc. Got my spot – cut some bait [nicked my finger with the fillet knife and it's sharp - just caught the baby finger and sliced a little 5mm line] – cast the line and……and…..and…..re-cast……….and………new bait ………. recast and  …… and …….  new bait ……. and ……went home! Nothing, one tiny sprat got caught on the line swimming past of about 7cm’s so threw him back. Still, worth the 2 hours in the sun and kids thought we did great. No supper though! Next time…

We were robbed – well not really but at the golf day of Friday, we landed up in last place! Our golf wasn’t that bad, we just didn’t really bother to score as per the rules. Never heard of the “ambrose” rules and none of the other guys had either – so we scored as we know. The chap we handed our card to took one look and think just threw in the bin – too much work for him to count the points etc. Didn’t really matter as all the teams got prizes and we walked away with a great golf umbrella. Excellent course and just too bloody far from home – anything the other side of the bridge is “too far”.

Only got in from golf at 8:30pm [midday start & over hour to get home] so had a quiet night before Sat morning club run. No treadmill on Friday so I thought why not go flat out of Sat 5km & see what happens. Did that – not many people and no new runners so I could do my own thing. Went out pretty hard for the first km then started pushing – was going great at 2,5km [had to stop & kick the ball for 2 large dogs on the beach - rather bite the ball than me] then at 3,5 there’s a short but steep climb up from the beach – WALK for 20m. Ran the hill pretty slowish and caught my breathe then hit the last km [not hard but faster than normal] Came in 23m:15s which is 4.39m/km which I was happy with. I know with some more training, can break 4m/km – Dec target 5km in 20min.

Went off to the Orewa Santa parade ~ kids loved it. They collected another kg or 2 of lollies – they haven’t realise yet that the packet never made it home. No rain like last year so full sun and good fun. Today Red Beach gala so here we go again…

If you haven’t seen the movie you may not know what I mean – started Bill Murray. Every time you think “what day is it tomorrow?” – it always seems to be Friday ie Groundhog day!! And, yup, tomorrow is Friday.

Ending the week early as I have a charity golf game tomorrow in Papatoetoe [pronounced papa-toe-wee-toe-wee or as we say papa-2-toes]. Was getting in the car this morning off to a meeting in Orewa when a txt came through cancelling, so popped off to the Gulf Harbour Country club for a bucket of balls at the range. So I didn’t know you had to be a member to step on hallow ground!! But they were keen to impress a possible new member so allowed me to hit a bucket. $5 gets you a tiny bucket..also swamped by a golf day. Didn’t last very long and back home but can still hit the little white ball. Discounted life membership on TradeMe going for $5,000, not bad – will buy one for Kim as well.

Training going great – doing some quality treadmill work and back&bicep training tonight was awesome. Last time I did back&bicep I was not interested so tonight was pre quality and strength. Just because yesterday was a bad day, doesn’t mean today has to follow!

Also got a deal approved by a finance house for a client this afternoon – in SA the bank would have laughed even at the thought.

Busy weekend ahead!!

What a day yesterday. The wrapping up of Sunday’s World Run Day took up most of the day. Updating websites, emails, press releases etc etc. I received some emails of thanks for the day which was really appreciated as sometimes you go go go and not sure if things are going in the right direction. Suppose as long as we get one person to the club every week, that’s a success.

Going to enter the Rotorua Marathon for 3 May 2008 so need to get some hill training in. Apparently it has hills around the lake ~ so this morning cut the training time from 45min to 30min and did some HiiT training [High Intensity Interval Training]. One minute fast on max gradient - one minute walk and nil gradient. Pushes the heart rate way up then brings it way down. Excellent form of training for fitness and weight management.

Today should be restored to some level of normality. Playing tennis with K after school at their tennis courts – otherwise time to work!

Another fast paced weekend in paradise. Saturday’s club run had 7 new faces, partly I think to the brilliant sunshine, summer is 95% here! I needed to get some distance in the legs so Filona and I said goodbye to the 5km pack and went on our way to do the 8km. It’s a challenging 8,5km route but scenery you just can’t match. Finished in good shape in 47min, not too fast but felt good.

After the club run, quick breakfast, gripped the kids and off fishing again – yup, again. Becoming quite the expert and caught 2 nice size fish. I say “fish” as I have no clue what they were. I was asked by someone over the weekend and I have to just give a blank stare – “it was a fish?” Kids had great fun and so did I! This weekend going for a bigger “fish” with new hooks and lures.

Got back from fishing sometime around lunch and spent at least an hour drinking a cold one basking in the sun. Couldn’t just sit there so found the kids again and dragged them off to the beach for a swim & play time. Wind had come up a bit so went to Tindall’s Bay which is a little more sheltered and still a good swim at low tide.

Tired yet? Not finished yet ~ Netball World Cup started in Auckland Saturday night and our little street is represented by Leana DeBruin, so a braai at our place was one to watch the opening ceremony and the opening game of New Zealand Vs Malawi [who knew they had a side?] All finished up by [I think] 11:30ish. Finally some rest – BIG day Sunday!!

Got a wake up call at 2:30am by Bill McDermott [founder of World Run Day

Bill called on my mobile at 3:05pm [New York time 9:05pm Sat 10th] to speak to the crowd and start the race. Had my phone on speaker and put the megaphone close – what a different way to start a race! People had such a good time and we handed out some great prizes. Gulf Harbour Striders got some fantastic exposure and we managed to raise $200 for the charities. The kids all ran except JD, he was still playing in the sand and had already done the 2km’s putting the route markers out with me, so not too interested in going out again. K ran so well and had a few sprints now and then – very proud.

Between the club run Wed night and then some urgent work until around 1am, there was little chance of getting on the treadmill in the morning. Looking back on the day, I should have. The morning runs sets the tone for the day and because there was no run – there was no “tone”. Was never in control of the day from the start and got pushed and pulled in every direction, but the one I wanted. Suppose like swimming down stream which you know I don’t do well. On the positive, the client got sorted. 

Just as we sat down to get some work done around 1:25, we get a call from K’s teacher that she’s in the finals of the relay track team, STARTING IN 5 MINUTES. So, drop everything and off to the school to watch. She took part in the 50 sprint as well but so so proud of us being there, was too interested in watching “how we were watching” that she slowed down..did well. They came second in the relay which they were chuffed about. We had a chuckle thinking JD will be there next year and oh boy, it he doesn’t win – the first incident of “track rage”…