Juneathon Day 22 - Phew. What a Day!

Miss H has been training with and swimming for Didcot Barramundi Swimming Club for about a year now. It is all run by volunteers - which are of course us parents.

I have recently been CRB checked so that I am able to be a Team Manager at Galas. This means ensuring that the kids are sent off at the right time to swim their races, log times and results, and keep up morale and lead the cheering.

The opportunity also came up to start training to become a Level 1 Gala Judge, and I went to my first briefing today. We went through all the tasks that the role involves - mainly either timing swims or checking there are no rule violations during turns. Now I need to get some experience of actually doing the job at a gala!

 
After that had melted my brain, the second meeting of the day was the club AGM! For a pretty small club we do produce some good swimmers with this year two of our boys have qualified for the National Age Group Championships - one of which is only 12!

As it is Sunday, I spent some time making sure that bags and shirts and uniform etc. was all ready to start the week, so it wasn't until after dinner that I got the chance for today's exercise. I completed Run 1 of Week 8 which is 28 minutes continuous running. Phew!

Juneathon Running Total = 66.6k

Juneathon Day 21 - Miss H completes a Triathlon

A few months ago, I entered Miss H into a Triathlon. She had to complete a 50m swim, 2k cycle ride and finished with a 1k run. This was going to be our first experience of a triathlon, so we got to the venue early so we could suss out the course, transition etc.

We settled down under a tree to keep out of the sun and were joined by some friends from swimming. In all there were about a dozen kids from the club entered and it was great to be able to cheer them all on.

So the time came and after racking her bike and laying out her gear we headed into the pool. I waited until I saw her start on her 2 lengths before I raced outside to meet her. After a quick towelling down and attaching her race number over her t-shirt she set off on her bike. I got round to the course in plenty of time to cheer her on before she set off on lap 2.

She was gasping for a drink as she set off for the run, and gulped down a whole cupful which caused her to get a stitch. She kept plugging away and finished in a time of 24.56 minutes. She was really happy to add another medal to her collection!

I briefly considered entering for the Super Sprint event myself (200m swim / 12.5k bike / 2.5k run), but although I can now run the distance, I was never going to be fit enough to do it after cycling!  I am determined to enter it next year though.

With my new resolution in mind, I again headed out on the bike and completed 4.6k before dinner!

Juneathon Running Total = 62.7k

 

Juneathon Day 20

I can't believe we are two thirds of the way through the month already. In fact, this whole year has been flying by!

Friday's can be a bit frantic, as Miss H sometimes goes to early morning swim training along with going again in the afternoon. As she has a gala in a fortnight, and will be swimming 200m breaststroke, she is concentrating on her stamina.

For today's exercise I decided to borrow Mr D's bike and ride around the science park next door. Everything was whizzing along until I turned a corner and hit a headwind! There was a frantic changing of gears - but it was easier once I had turned round to come home.

Juneathon Running Total = 58.1k

Juneathon Day 19

I spent the morning pottering about the house doing minimal housework - but which mostly consisted of defrosting the freezer. I love how these "no frost" freezer don't necessarily mean that - but then maybe there is something I should be doing that I'm not. Wonder where the instruction manual is??

Mr D was working from home today and as he had arranged to go out to lunch with Mr C from next door, I dropped them at the pub on the way to the supermarket.

Does anybody else get fed up of the weekly grind of trying to meal plan?  Due to evening activities, there are only 3 nights in the week that we can all eat together. Another day Miss H eats before Brownies whilst we eat while she is out, and then Wednesdays are just crazy as Miss H has swimming and Mr D plays cricket!

Last week I tried out a couple of new recipes both of which were gobbled down in double speed so they will definitely be cooked again.

Mr D took charge tonight but as he didn't let me know his timeframe in advance I had to wait until 8pm to go out for my run! It was still quite warm but as the whole of the country seemed to be watching some very overpaid blokes kick a football about at least it was quiet!

Today was the final run of Week 7 (25 mins) and I managed to run a little bit further slightly quicker than I did on the previous 2 attempts. Yeah!

Juneathon Running Total = 53.6k

Juneathon Day 18 - Sports Day

Today I was going to vary my exercise routine up a bit and go for a bike ride instead of the normal walk round the village, but at the last second I turned right out of the school gates instead of left to come home. I think I knew in my heart of hearts, that if I came home I might not get back out for a cycle! I didn't have my ipod to listen too on the walk but I managed to keep up the pace anyway and get round in my usual time.

After lunch is was back to school as it was Sports Day. The children are divided in 5 houses named after the Continents. They compete in a variety of "field events" (javelin (a foam one!), shot put, long jump, bean bag throws and speed bounce), then more onto "track events" dependent upon their Year (egg & spoon, skipping or obstacle course) and the finale are "flat races" of varying lengths.

Miss H attacked everything with gusto and won her Skipping Race Heat which she was mega pleased about. The smile on her face got even bigger when at the end of the afternoon her house team were named the overall WINNERS!  The very warm afternoon was finished off with loud cheers and cold ice lollies!

Juneathon Running Total = 50k

Juneathon Day 17 - Plants, plants, everywhere!

I started off the morning with another trip around the village. I have been so lucky with the weather the last couple of weeks that it's been lovely to grab some fresh air before I spend the rest of the day in the house!

A while ago, Miss H had planted some sunflower seeds that came with a DVD of the film "The Lorax" and as they are getting to around 2 foot tall, it was time that they were planted on. I bought a couple of climbing plants with the aim of them eventually covering the fence panels at the bottom of the garden, so I spent most of the day digging holes for them all to go into!

The tallest sunflower was kept back as Miss H wants to enter it into the "Planted From Seed" competition category at the school summer fete in a couple of weeks.

Juneathon Running Total = 47.5k

Juneathon Day 16

Today I spent the day at my sewing machine finishing the last blocks for the Siblings Together 2 Bee that I am part of on Flickr.

Siblings Together is an organisation which "promotes positive contact between brothers and sisters separated by foster care, kinship care, residential care or adoption".  They hold summer camps where siblings can spent time together and experience some exciting new activities. The children who attend are given a quilt to keep and take home to remember their time by. 

The quilt I am making just needs a couple more blocks before I can get it quilted, bound and sent off.

Miss H was invited out to dinner with the twin girls from next door (they are in her class at school), so I took the opportunity to go out for the W7R2 run. My iPod's battery ran out whilst I was only a couple of minutes into the warm-up, so it was very odd running to no music or instructions! Luckily as it was the same run duration (25mins) as Thursday, I just ran to the same spot before turning home and running back and covered 3.6k altogether.

Juneathon Running Total = 45k.