A CHOICE OR A COMPROMISE

Taking the time for yourself, to exercise, burn off a little stress is important right? But what about family time, or meeting a friend for coffee, spending time with your spouse-more important? I've heard this before, well in some version anyway I just don't have time to exercise. We work and rush to meet deadlines, pick up groceries, clean the house and somewhere in all that we need to make time for ourselves and for those we love. Maybe it doesn't have to be one or the other?

I've worked pretty hard over the last couple years at balancing all these parts of my life, I don't have down, but I have managed to weave together my fitness routine and time with friends and family and its created a pretty little pattern that makes me so happy and content, so here's a few suggestions on how to make it happen.

1. WORK TOGETHER, the photo above is me with some of my family at a fitness event, this worked because we chose to do this together. We choose at every opportunity to get fit together. This mostly started last year when we started triathlon training, we all had to train so we turned it into something we did together. We would all drive out somewhere to cycle and then have lunch together afterwards. We motivated each other and we grew closer.

2. FRIENDS WHO RUN TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER. I've mentioned my friend Jess many times, and maybe Chris? But there are many more, I'm talking about my friends who take the time to come for a run with me. Yes it takes a little more scheduling but running with a friend is so much better than just the average cup of coffee, you fight physical battles together and on the days you're feeling a little low they cheer you on. Organize a little better, maybe you start with walking but let this be your quality time with a friend!

 3. COMUNICATE, This is going to seem like a fairly obvious tip but communicating about your schedules makes  for way more fun training times. We have a wattsapp group for spinning so everyday we can see who is up for a class, or Sundays when we feeling like a little fun we call each other up and do some boxing training. No week has to be the same, your schedules change so let your loved ones and friends know, make an effort to make it work.

4. BE A SUPPORTER. I make an effort after a work out to pop by husbands gym when I can, he'll come to a night run (when I make the effort to do one). I try show interest in his sport, sometimes train at his gym. This means the pressure for him to choose time with either me or his sport is gone, I want to be a part of what he loves and want him to do the same. Its simple, be there, and if you can, take part too.

5. MAKE IT AN EVENT. I love the current running culture, with colour runs and glow runs and night runs, fitness has become an event. Grab your family and go to a mountain bike park together, pack a picnice. Or go to a run event, make a day of it. Meet friends at a night run and stay for drinks afterwards, these memories stand out, they make life fuller somehow because they feed body and soul.
Karen did this with her girls, looked pretty awesome.

I work pretty hard to create a healthy lifestyle for myself but to be there for everyone in my life. Yes combining the two takes a little more work, but the bonds that are formed will be worth it.

xxx Caz
P.S. If you want to read on exercising with your kids Grace does it best:)
Also, if you're picking up errors on the post- blogger won't let me edit for some reason, anyone know how to fix this?

THE MENTAL GAME

"Mind over matter"- you've heard this saying before, but the feet to road hard truth of this line is the most powerful thing I've discovered in my running and all areas regarding my body and fitness. From the moment you take your first couple of jogging steps on your run whether it be a 3km or a 10km your ability to quiet the call from your muscles to stop is what determines your ability to overcome any distance.

The most common way people do this is with music, we put our head phones in and we choose to listen to the words and the beat and we hope it drowns out the cries from our legs and lungs saying please can I stop now. I ran with music for a long time and could never understand people who ran without it, how did they manage an hour on the road with nothing to distract them, with no hard beats to drive them up the hills or flowing indie rock to take them through the long stretchs of flat road. Somewhere in the midst of training for my first triathlon last year I realised that what I needed wasn't a distraction, I needed to realise that my mind and body are working together, to find a peaceful state of mind where I could work through each physical wall that my body hit and simultaneously work through mental ones. Once I could do that distance and time seemed less of an issue.

THE PHYSICAL WALL- My friend Jess had started running with myself and some other friends, but every 1km or so she would stop and walk. One day just the two of us I told her we were going to run side by side the whole way. I spoke to her from the start and told her what her body would be saying, when we hit a hill mid-way I would say your legs are tired now, you need to run through this wall so your body can release endorphins so you can keep going, I cheered her on, I put words to what she was experiencing physically and somehow this allowed her to overcome physical boundaries. I learnt to acknowledge how my body felt, know when I was almost at a limit and realise my body would give me what I needed to continue if I could just push through that physical wall.

THE MENTAL MARATHON- running is a release for me, after a very stressful day a run somehow restores me to a happy mental state (thank you endorphins). Innitially running with music I found calmer music actually helped me keep my heart rate down so I could run for longer, and it calmed my thoughts. Then learning to run without music I realised that I could treat a route as a sort of mental sorting system- the first little hill is mostly physical,  my body wakes up and I'm aware of each muscle, my heart beat, the air in my lungs. Then as we start to hit a long stretch I relax, instead of trying to escape I work through things, I use the quiet to put things in perspective, to realise what is important and what isnt, the up hills pushing my muscles I work through the hard stuff and somehow the down hills lift my soul and remind me I'm strong and capable. Not only does this process help me clean out the mental clutter but it allows my body to get into rhythem and the pain seems to dissapear and the emotion drives me. With a clear quiet mind I can see the sunset and notice the trees, I'm no longer bound by mind or body.

I may seem like I've over thought this but seen such a difference in my running when I got mind and body to work together, I need to feel in control of both to push myself harder, further.

How do you overcome the physical and mental boundaries and walls you face?

XX CAz

DREAM



Right at the start of something new, its so much easier to give up all together.

Every step into the unknown is a shaky one as you look behind you and there is yet to be any progress to reflect on, you look back and you just see the starting line, you look forward and you just see the endless road ahead of you, the sun glares down, your throat feels dry and suddenly you realise that going back is so much quicker than going forward. I know there are great things to be done if only I can walk further but this is a stretching period of time and sometimes I’m not sure where to next.

The great thing about a blog space with No theme whatsoeeeever is that I can write what I want, but that can make it all the more daunting. You see your “visitors” but the connections are not there yet and your theme hasn’t been set and so you just post. But the post is a written step forward to the more physical goals in a life so foreign from the countries that read about it, but maybe my steps and your steps line up,  and maybe there is some common ground we can walk, taking a little bold step forward...

My passion is fitness. Health, making people happy. When I run with my friend Jess and see her boot a Kg that she’s been fighting for a few weeks and see how that fuels her it gives me the most incredible joy. Helping my husband in his fight camp (the period of time leading up to a fight) and cooking all the special meals or go to the gym to watch him train it reminds me that I want to be that person on the other side prepping people, helping them.

I’ve been studying over the last year on and off and working as a Pilates instructor, I would love to eventually be a personal trainer and that’s the goal I’m on the road to. I do a variety of sports, or training rather and I will be posting on my experiences and what I’ve learnt and would love to hear about your journeys and experiences.

Thank you for all the visits, whoever you may be.

Xxx Carey

THIS YEAR

You tipped it all out this year, my whole life in its little box. You emptied it out, onto the floor, you shook, and shook and shook till all the tiny pieces lay on the floor. Then you picked up the box and you folded it up and threw it away.

My life, all squashed in that box lay on the floor at your feet. You picked up the little pieces, the broken pieces and you put them back together. You pulled the thorns and the broken glass from where they had been poking.

You found pieces I’d never seen before, big pieces brightly coloured and new, you watered them and made them grow, they were a gift you had hidden for just the right time.

You unravelled the folded fabric, that lay untouched, shook out the dust and put it in the sun, the colours filled the room and my heart swelled.

You picked up the dead and dying, the rotting and old, you carved away until only good remained, you changed its shape and gave it new purpose.

You poured, poured your love over my little pile, till it soaked through, through my eyes that never cried, till it rained through ever conversation and over every cup of tea.

You took away my box and let in the light, you took away the box so I could stretch out my aching muscles, you took away the box to open my eyes.

I’m terrified and standing on the edge, clinging with every part to only you, to your promise to never let me go, to your promise of colours, of more.