Purple Tiger » Living Life WELL

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  • Welcome to the Purple Tiger!

    A place where we share our pursuit of a lifestyle of activity, healthy living and joy! Inspired by God and a passion to live life to the fullest (John 10:10)

    We want to wake up each morning, looking forward to the day ahead, energised and ready to go! Purple Tiger symbolises that pursuit and no doubt we'll be learning along the way.

    This is Craig and Di, and if you're crazy enough to want to join us on this journey, give us a shout out!

    Image compliments of our great friends from
    Vibrant Photography

It is now less than 2 weeks out to the annual Gold Coast Airport Marathon events where Craig and I will be running in the full marathon – YES you heard it right, we are both doing it this time – the full 42.2km!! My husband’s craziness 2 years ago has rubbed off on me and he has recruited another crazy to run the distance as well – What was I thinking???

Crazy x 2 =

One started with finishing a marathon and the other wears a smile after running on a sub 5 degree morning

What’s ironic is that 2 years ago, the thought of running such distances was like anticipating a trip to the moon – never going to happen! Even after having run 2 half marathons last year, I was too scared to face doubling the distance … I mean I was well stuffed after each race, how could I run that distance again right??? I have to say, I don’t think any of us realise how much our bodies are capable of. With the right training, it can do amazing things! As it was designed!!

Now I’m looking forward with excitement and nerves. Part of me wants it over with so I can relax but the other part wants to savour the moment and ‘enjoy’ the experience, not knowing what the last 8-10km would bring. Then the competitor in me says, ‘It would be so great to get my time goal of under 4 hours.. have I done enough training??’. Sooo many thoughts racing through my head, as my heartrate begins to rise in anticipation… but I know I need to keep calm and focussed and remember to breathe 🙂 . In any case, I think the last 10kms will really be a test of mental strength.

I’ve envisaged it for sometime now, Craig and I running together and crossing the finish line hand-in-hand, victorious in our quest and taking in the euphoria of having run such a distance – me for the first time, and Craig his second, but all the while, by my side and supporting me! Hopefully we’ll be able to walk afterwards 😀

The faces of crazy … We do everything together 😀

As I write this, Craig has got a physio appointment tomorrow to look into a really sore soleus muscle in behind his left calf and I am waiting for the pain in my right ankle to go away. So I guess we are going to be running on faith that God almighty will see us through! If anyone can, He can!

Here’s to the countdown – 13 days to go!!

And because we thought this was funny …

~Di

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by Diana

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  • VickiJune 25, 2013 - 9:09 AM

    You guys are so cool! Love this post, gives me goosebumps. Will see you up there! I’m excited!ReplyCancel

    • DianaJune 26, 2013 - 9:31 AM

      Thanks Vicki. You and Scott will do great you fitbodz 🙂 Looking forward to catching up with you up there!ReplyCancel

In search of a more natural alternative to the commercial energy gels available on the market for endurance athletes today, we came across some weird and wonderful recipes.

Even though I have never tried any of the commercial goos or gels, Craig has. The main concerns he had were:

  • It wasn’t very friendly on the gut and created queasiness – the last thing you want while running a marathon (many runners and cyclists have shared similar experiences)
  • One of the main ingredients being Maltodextrin (a corn syrup, which in most cases is genetically modified)
  • The use of artificial flavours and preservatives. 🙁

This was enough to put me off. So, in true Purple Tiger fashion, I set out to find a natural alternative that was better for us. After having searched for a while, I was SUPER excited to find Derek Nolek’s “homebrew power goop”  Yes we aren’t that clever to have made up our own, although we came close, given we knew what the main ingredients needed to be. We did alter his recipe by adding an extra ingredient.

The super simple recipe is:

  • 7 and 1/3 tablespoons of honey
  • 3/4 teaspoons of blackstrap molasses
  • 1/10 teaspoon of table salt (finely ground)
  • 1/4 – 1/2 lemon or lime juice *

Homemade energy gel

* This was our added extra to loosen the very thick paste as well as take the edge off the sweetness of the formula. Tasted great! If you want to experiement even further, like we are going to do, you could add cinnamon, or cacao powder or any other natural food sources that contain magnesium, potassium or other beneficial minerals and vitamins. But don’t go overboard. I like to keep things simple. The formula above works a treat.

Estimated cost per serving of gel is approximately $0.50. Compared to about $2.50 a hit from the commercial gels – Now that is ssswweeet!!

We took it out for a test run today on our 2hr 20 long run and it went down well with no issues at all. I was really surprised as I half expected some sort of upset tummy, given I have never trained my body to take any sort of carbs or begin digestion during a run. Amazingly all went well with no hitches and after having knocked out 25km, I still felt really fresh and legs felt great. I’m not completely attributing that to the gel alone, but I think it had a part to play. 🙂

I know this isn’t me running… but this is how I felt today 😀

Hanglider cruising with moon backdrop

Packaging wise, we are still experimenting. While our temporary solution was to store it in ziplock bags, we have ordered 2 Endura gel flasks (on recommendation from a friend) and we’ll see how that goes.

Let us know if you try the gel and how you went with it!! Love to hear your experience.

~ Diana

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  • Tina@GottaRunNowApril 7, 2013 - 6:27 AM

    It’s great that your homemade gel worked. I have eaten honey or a homemade honey/lemon/salt/water drink when I run. Experimenting is fun!ReplyCancel

  • DianaApril 7, 2013 - 6:52 AM

    Thanks Tina! We love to experiment! I see you are training for your 14th marathon!! Woah! You go girl! Hat’s off to you! I’m training for my first and Craig for his 2nd. So we’re newbies but I’m grateful that, if God willing, we’ll finally be able to run a race together!ReplyCancel

Here’s a fun post on a quick, healthy and affordable way of making a mint mouthwash!

Yes I said mouthwash! 😀

Conventional store bought mouthwashes can contain alcohol, which actually dries out the mucous membranes in your mouth and can cause bad breath as a result. Some contain flavouring and other ingredients that I find way too strong. Anyhow, I found an ingredient that is pleasant and minty and sooooo easy to make it only takes 1-2 mins.

Just clean out a glass bottle  (300ml). You can get a pack of 4 or 6 of Schweppes Soda or spring water and re-use.

  • 250 ml water (Use filtered if possible)
  • 1 teaspoon aloe vera juice
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
  • 6 drops peppermint essential oil

Shake it up and voila!

Making natural mint mouthwash

Peppermint essential oil helps fight odour-causing bacteria and the aloe vera juice soothes gums. Has a surprising little kick in it!

Try it for yourself and let me know how you go.

~ Diana

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Hello again,

Sorry we’ve been so quiet.  We have been busy winding up our photography business and various other side ventures.  Now we have a little more time we are setting more goals and toying with some new adventures.

Some interesting (or not) facts since we last posted:

  • Di has run 521km
  • I have run 263km
  • Christmas came and went … with 2012 not far behind
  • The Australian government is still mayhem
  • We feel holiday deprived
  • Di caught her biggest Bass
  • We have continued investigating healther eating (more to be revealed later)

In general, it’s been busy …. but good 🙂

So it feels like a new chapter, season or day for the Purple tiger crew.   ** Do you have any thoughts on what challenges or adventures we should look at next? **

Let us know your ideas in the comments – you might inspire us 🙂

 ~ Craig

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  • SamMarch 28, 2013 - 3:56 PM

    Please do share your findings on healthier eating 🙂ReplyCancel

Well it’s been a while and I must apologise that the purple tiger has been a bit more like, what Craig calls, a pink pussycat (a bit rare and silent 🙂 Unfortunately busyness has got the better of us.

Anyway, to make up for it, here’s a post on what to do when a runner cannot run .. it is a bit tragic when a runner can’t run (or not very far) due to injury. Those of you out there who have been running for some time or have been doing any regular exercise routine, know that if you are unable to do it to the extent you previously had, it is extremely frustrating!! 🙁

Since the middle of July I’ve been experiencing sharp knee pains when running anything beyond 2-4km. So my running routine came to almost a halt. Wait – STOP! Before all you exercise skeptics out there go on a rant about how running is bad for your knees etc. hear me out.

This knee pain has not left me decrepit in anyway but has actually highlighted a muscle weakness I am grateful to know about and even more grateful to know that it can be fixed and I can still run! 😀 Since attending some physio sessions with Rachael Paxton from PhysioPlus, I have been gradually building it back up to a point where I am currently running 13km with no pain and am weening off knee strapping. Yayyyy! Not only did she diagnose the problem that I had a weak VMO (Vastus Medialis Oblique – or for us laymen, the inner quad) but has given me some great exercises to strengthen and prevent further issues. I was thrilled to see my distance increase after each visit with her. I now often look down at that muscle and smile because the little bulk has grown into a ‘bigger’ little bulk 🙂

Knee taped due to injury

So what have I been doing while I’ve been rehabbing? Maybe the pictures below will tell the story better than me … 🙂

Cross fit upper body work out

So those of you with sporting injuries – don’t despair, find an alternate way to stay fit and healthy while you are rehabbing! It beats sitting on the couch and whinging I tell you.

Until next time … see  you out there! 🙂

– Di

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