Mothers Day Classic

I am back again this year competing in the Mothers Day Classic, and helping out with the organising committee in Adelaide. I have again chosen to run the long course, this year I am guaranteed to beat my time for last year as the course has been shorted by 800 metres! (and if I don’t I will look pretty silly). My goal for this years event to obviously run a good time and to raise some money, as I have elected in my on-line application to be sponsored! And you can sponsor me on-line.

I can not believe it only 5 weeks to event, so far I have not done much training as I have been busy sailing my 505 at the Australian Titles in Hamilton Island. Now that I am back in Adelaide and the boat is stuck in a shipping container some where on the east coast I will be able to do some much needed running. Most of my fitness focus this year has been cycling and weight training for sailing (and to maintain weight).

This Sunday will be my first run in a few months, I will let you know how I go in my next instalment.

Have a great weekend, and let me know how you go with your running on the weekend.

Sarah Withall

Our family have been involved in the Mothers Day Classic for the past decade. Initially my dad was a course marshall around 1998 or 99 … then my mum (Mai) became a race participant back around 1999 or 2000 after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. I think I started running in 2002. My wife (Kylie) joined us last year.

Mother’s Day would have to be my favourite day of the year … yes better than birthday or xmas … as I love seeing my mum’s face as she crosses the finish line knowing that it is another year that she “beat” breast cancer. After the race we love sitting around at the park and listening to the entertainment. Then we tuck into a great lunch somewhere and to see mum’s face glowing about her achievement in the morning is something else. She loves getting her finisher’s medal and wears it with pride for a few days after.

Each year I am inspired by so many participating. Great to see the number of male participants increasing each year as they are supporting their wives, mothers, sisters, etc.

This year will be our first year at Parramatta Park - we usually race at The Domain - so we are quite excited.

Adrian Raftery

I am getting really excited for the Mother’s Day Classic already. I did fun run last weekend and now realise just how caught up in the crowd and excitement you get. Fun runs certainly seem to act as a great incentive to keep up the training and speed up the pace or increase the distance. And with my mum being a breast cancer survivor and knowing the terrible statistics(1 in 8 Australian women will be diagnosed before the age of 85!) I am especially happy to train with a purpose of supporting breast cancer research.

Last weekend at the fun run, I am sure I ran faster than normal and I was actually able to speak while running which is a new thing for me - generally by at least half way through any normal run I am unable to speak coherantly hence I have never found running to be a very social activity. I always wonder about “running groups” and the like - people would think I was very shy as I generally have to keep all my energy stored for getting myself through the distance and not use it to chat and make friends. But after last weekend I can now see that at some stage in the future I may actually be able to start some social banter while pounding the pavement. And hey, hooray daylight savings is over - it was getting very dark in the mornings which was making it increasingly difficult to get out of bed let alone see where I was going while running.

My big tip for everyone wanting to start running is to get a training partner – you don’t necessarily need to go with them each run but you do need to check in with them to confirm your progress each session. My friend and I made a commitment to each other that we would get fit enough to do the 8km Mother’s Day Classic and set ourselves some goals along the way. With kids, work, kinder and everything else that happens during the week we only get to go running together once or twice a week so on the other days we phone each other with our progress and support each other with our successes or make excuses for each others’ disappointments (eg. “well it was just too hot and at least you are out there having a go!”). I also have a personal trainer called Barney (my Golden Retriever) who runs too fast all the way towards the beach and then on the way home, when he has realized that we aren’t going to the beach, he drags his feet with disappointment and in turn makes my run (mostly uphill on the way home) all the more difficult. Still, Barney is very happy for all the runs and I am sure the vet will be happy to see he has lost a few kilos. The only down side – picking up his pooh and then having to run with it until I find a bin! That at least acts as a short goal for me along the way – “just keep running until you can get rid of this hideous mess”!! (By the way, no dogs allowed at MDC… sorry Barney!)

Until next time, keep running (or get running) and may your dog only pooh right next to a bin.

Hi everyone,

Well it’s now five weeks away from the big day so I thought I might encourage you with your training and preparation for the MDC with a bit of a program.  Thanks Andrea for posting your request for training tips – we’ve received several requests for information about preparing for the 4K run event so here you go.

If you aren’t a regular runner, it’s important firstly to stay realistic about the goal of running all the way in the 4K.  It’s a great goal to have and now you have to put in place a strategy for training to make the goal a reality in 5 weeks time.  If you have never run 4K before you have to gradually build-up your stamina over the 5 weeks to ensure you make the distance on race day. 

I believe in controlling your training through your heart rate.  What does this mean?  Simply check your heart rate through a monitor and keep your HR between 125 at 155 beats per minute during exercise.  So if you start out walking four days a week for 4K each time, around 45 minutes of work, keeping your HR between 125 to 155, by the end of the second week you will be able to start light jogging.  When you start to lightly jog, again keep HR between 125-155, and see how far you jog before your HR gets too high and you return to walking again.  Keep repeating this jog/walk according to your HR for the 4k session.  The aim is to let your fitness build naturally by staying in the right HR zone.  By week four you will be jogging more than walking and staying in a healthy HR zone.

The danger in starting any walking/jogging/running program is too much too soon, which makes us sore and sorry.  5 weeks is plenty of time to enjoy increasing your workload without too much stress on the body.  Good luck.

ps – that’s great to hear from Cate who posted that AIS swimmers will be supporting Mothers Day Classic in Canberra. Well done guys!

Hi everyone, I hope you’re tuning in to the Aussie swimming trials happening in Sydney at the moment as our stars try to place themselves on the team for the Beijing Olympics. I’m poolside with Foxsports seeing all the swimmers up close and all their efforts are inspiring me and my running routine as I look towards the 8k event of the Mothers Day Classic.

Take time to let yourself be inspired by the efforts of our top athletes. No matter what your sporting passion whether it’s Rugby, Netball, Soccer, Swimming, Softball or Hockey take advantage of the inspiration provided by the feats of our heroes to enhance your own training for the MDC. Then get out there and train!! If you are not up to an 8k run, there’s always the 4k event and if you aren’t a runner, no excuses, it’s a very pleasant Sunday morning walk by the beautiful Brisbane River doing the 4k walk!

Good Luck

Hey thanks for all the feedback last week and glad to hear there are more of you getting out there and pounding the pavement in the name of a good cause - you can achieve heaps in 7 weeks in time for Mother’s Day Classic. My plan is to replace a few kilos from under my belt with a few km!

What is with the heat over the last couple of weeks!?? I don’t know about everyone else but it certainly effected me and my training – in fact the weekend that it was at it’s hottest, I couldn’t even run two thirds of my normal course and the walk home was a very long and hot one! And I just couldn’t seem to get re-hydrated enough before my next run – I am sure there is a means of doing this besides just drinking water but as an amateur I don’t know it and so just kept finding myself with a dry mouth and feeling terrible on each run (it felt like I was running with a hangover). On the hottest of the hot days when it was still 38degrees after work, my friend and I decided it was definitely too hot to run and so we walked 3km to the beach and had an evening swim and then walked home again – was so nice for a change and allowed us to still do some exercise.

At the best of times, running for me is a constant mind-game. I spend the entire time making sure that my iPod is loud enough that I can’t hear my feet pounding the pavement, or my breath straining as I go up the slightest hill. I am continuously trying to tell myself that the feeling that my legs are made of cement, that my shoe is rubbing or my calf is hurting, will all pass. I am constantly looking for excuses to stop and walk so I have to set myself short goals to keep myself going – “just run to the next street corner”, “just keep going another 5mins”, “you can definitely make to at least x as you did last time” – and when I succeed with these goals I set myself more short goals until I make it home. The mental game is often more exhausting than the physical one! But I have to say that in the hot weather I just could not win the mind-games. The heat certainly took sides with my mind, and my body gave up the fight and was happy to walk… Disappointing but I didn’t want to be like one of those marathon runners who has a muscle meltdown mid race (I know, I know – I am far from getting myself to that point especially on a 10km plod! But hey, try telling my mind that mid hot run!). Now that it has cooled down again I am back on track and some mornings I actually really feeling like going for a run (this is amazing for me!). In fact I am finding less and less excuses not to go for a run – so the pre-run mind-games are getting easier and now I just have to master the mid-run mind-games.

Until next time, may the weather stay cool and the mind-games winnable!

Hello and welcome dear readers to the Mothers Day Classic Ambassador Blog for 2008.

I’ve now been involved in the MDC for the past three years and they’ve been very exciting years for the event in terms of growth in numbers, publicity and most importantly fundraising for research into breast cancer.

The MDC every year marks an opportunity for my family and I to join with so many cancer survivors and their families, families of cancer victims and supporters around Australia. My family is based in sunny Queensland, so for us it is a run/walk around the beautiful Brisbane River. It’s a humbling morning though, with many participants wearing t-shirts with images of loved ones who have been claimed, making you feel lucky and determined to help wherever possible. I have a daughter named Ava who will participate for the first time this year at 20 months, and my wife Becky and I look forward to Ava realising this is an Armstrong Family Tradition on Mother’s Day every year!

If you’re thinking about making your way down to any of the MDC events all around Australia this Mothers Day, then don’t hesitate for a moment, JUMP IN! You won’t regret it.

The MDC is a spectacular event with so much to take part in and enjoy, and then there’s the running or walking part. The 50,000 participants enjoy a carnival type atmosphere. There’s a sea of pink and many people turn out in the weirdest fashions ever seen in run/walk events!

People make the Mothers Day Classic pilgrimage because they want to do their part in joining the fight against breast cancer. In the coming weeks I’ll inform you about the latest research, breast cancer statistics, stories of hope and survival, how to enjoy the MDC and what training you can undertake to be fit and ready for your best effort in either the run or walk.

Thank you for registering if you already have and again if you’re reading this and want to make a difference then sign up and get ready for a life changing day on Mothers Day at the Mother’s Day Classic.

Bye for now!
Duncan

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself as very much a non-runner. I have always liked the “idea” of running and have often woken up from a dream where I have been running (usually away from something, but non-the-less running…) but just have never had the inclination nor drive to become a runner …. until now. Two months ago in a desperate attempt to lose some Christmas kilos and tone up, I decided I was going to start running and set myself a gradually increasing plan for making myself a runner. In the second week of January when I started my plan, I could only run 2 km and that was very hard going. But from there I have gradually increased my distances and the amount that I was running vs walking.

I decided 4 times a week was more than enough to be exercising - didn’t want my body to pass out with shock! I save my big run each week until the weekend and again like a true athlete I aspire to getting it over and done with on Saturday morning so that I can relish in my Sunday rest day and also so that I have 2 full days to recover so I can walk at work on Monday! And because of the hot weather and evening motherly duties I had to commit to doing my run/walk in the morning before work and before it got to hot (I am a bit of a fair-weather exerciser). I also liked the idea of it being over and done with for the day (mmm, not the words of an aspiring athlete, I know). So gradually I have built up - 4km one week, 6km, 10km and then on Saturday last weekend after 9 weeks of training I ran 15km!! I am still in shock myself. Again I say, I am NOT a runner. 15km took me a long, long time - 1hr and 45mins to be exact… That is a long time to be exercising but it also equates to a very slow mins per km rate. But that is ok - speed will come (maybe, maybe not…) Despite the hours I spend congratulating myself on being able to cover this distance, I know that I have a long way to go to become a “runner”… but perhaps in the meantime I have achieved “plodder” status.

So my training for Mother’s Day Classic has well and truely begun - I have only ever walked the course in the past but this year I aim to be able to do the 8km run or perhaps the 8km plod… With 9 weeks to go until the event you too can be running - if I, the non-runner can do it then anyone can! So my goal now - certainly not to run any further but rather to be able to go a little faster - make it all be over a bit quicker! See you all out there pounding the pavement! Happy plodding!

- Danni