I have run five times.
3 thirty-ish min runs, including one especially bad one. I'd hoped to run further but I was pretty inflamed that day anyway and the run wasn't working out.
The other two runs were average, out 15ish min, back in slightly less.
1 55 min run in which I picked it up more going back. I was sore and slow as usual, but I was happy with that one.
And then, today, I ran for 1:30ish. I took a 3 min walk break every 30 min and then jogged a bit after the run. I needed the breaks because I decided to go at my old easy run pace, excepting snowy/slushy/icy sections, of course, but I still tried to push through those.
I know that I should be going by effort and not by pace, but my easy pace now hovers around 10:30/mile, slower if snowy, and though I do a fair job of keeping up cadence, it doesn't feel mechanically suitable. Nor it is fun. It's necessary, but I've gotten pretty sick of moving like that.
Plus I was feeling the effects of x-training, I think, which helped to go faster.
X-training has suffered. I don't do my resistance or harder yoga routines any more because I don't recover well from them. Inflammation level rises, and I get night sweats and insomnia. Taking a couple of aspirin before going to bed helps, but I'm not sure how good it is to do that in the long run. LOL.
So I decided to reduce the intensity and increase the frequency. I learnt about it in a push up workshop a while ago. There is a name for this Russian system of strength building but my mind is drawing a blank. Anyway, with push ups, I do 3-5 every time I use the toilet (public toilets excluded for sanitary reasons, lol). The idea is to push hard, but not too hard, but often. I also have been doing at least one 1 plank every day, and then some more core exercises sometimes, and also deep squats, more to loosen my hips than to build up quad muscles--I would like to do that too but they're already pretty achy. With Asian toilet squats (I don't know what else to call them!), there is less muscular resistance. My goal to get a tight core and more flexibility in the hips so that the torque will happen more there, open my stride a bit more perhaps, and less in my upper body. Maybe.
I've also been doing some mental stuff, mainly muscle activation. I have worked with stroke patients and often a significant part of recovery is imagining moving something which doesn't actually move (yet): a good tool is the mirror box, which is placed over the weak hand/arm so that the patient can see the reflection of the good hand/arm moving. This tricks the body into thinking that the weak one is moving, and so the muscle fibers and nerves are still engaged even if the part isn't actually moving. In the absence of a mirror box it's still useful to concentrate deeply and feel as if the part is moving. It's hard to explain and I'd hate to use the word 'pretend' because it's more intense than that...at any rate, I've been toying with this while lying down. I 'feel' like I'm running. I've worked up to ten minutes so far. That's longer than I concentrate while actually running, I think!!
I've also been working on relaxing my jaw, letting my tongue drop from the roof of my mouth, etc. This comes up in yoga quite a bit, but I never thought about it while running until a week or so ago, when I read an article about mouth plates/guards that are engineered to allow athletes to relax their jaws more. This increases oxygen intake. Reading that made me realize that my jaw is sometimes sore after long runs, so I figured I might as well tinker with letting it go a bit.
So, anyway, with these three things I've been working on, I think my form has improved a bit. I hit the pavement today and, man, my core was tight. Everything was tight, but my core was tight in a good way. My stride was more effective. My first two miles were at about 9:20/mile, which is very good. I was breathing a bit more, but still 4-2. I was sore, but that's the chronic thing going on--running faster makes it worse, but my level of discomfort today felt like 10:00/mile; I was happy with 40 seconds less.
And then I hit snow! lol. I pushed through as best as I could.
The branches were covered in ice, and there were quite a few fallen ones. Going through the snapping orchestra of the Arboretum was kind of exciting. It was a good run despite having to punch through a few inches of snow at times.
My goal is to jog 3 hrs before the end of the year. I will have to go at an easier effort but I'll make a bit of an event about it, stop for expresso, etc. It was good to run a bit faster today, though!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
sooo
I haven't run much since Wednesday. LOL
We went south this past weekend. The nice thing about snow is that it's relatively aloof in some ways, compared to rain. Snow gets on you, maybe melts a bit, and then is easily brushed off. Rain soaks through to your bones, especially that dank obstinate rain hovering around the freezing mark.
There was a fair bit of cold rain this weekend.
Admittedly, I didn't run because I spent too many pretzel hours in the car, but the rain was an added deterrent.
Once again, I find myself pondering the possibility of this winter marathon in Feb. I've done several 2-3hr runs already; all I need is some 3+ hr runs and I could probably complete it. But I feel like I really need to be running more than 2X a week, but it feels uncomfortable and useless. And my dog is not keen on running in this weather. He ran with me a lot during winter last year, but this year he fades more quickly. I still walk with him, and that what my runs have turned into. Maybe after my killer exam in a few days, I'll feel more agreeable to running.
Meanwhile, I'm still doing core work. It actually isn't so bad recovery-wise. I'm trying to continue yoga, too, but just yin and gentle. Stuff that works muscle without too much damage. Too much damage: pain keeps me awake and I get night sweats. One night, I actually had night sweats while I was awake (I couldn't sleep because of soreness). It was the weirdest feeling; it felt like there was a good jolt of adrenaline.
We went south this past weekend. The nice thing about snow is that it's relatively aloof in some ways, compared to rain. Snow gets on you, maybe melts a bit, and then is easily brushed off. Rain soaks through to your bones, especially that dank obstinate rain hovering around the freezing mark.
There was a fair bit of cold rain this weekend.
Admittedly, I didn't run because I spent too many pretzel hours in the car, but the rain was an added deterrent.
Once again, I find myself pondering the possibility of this winter marathon in Feb. I've done several 2-3hr runs already; all I need is some 3+ hr runs and I could probably complete it. But I feel like I really need to be running more than 2X a week, but it feels uncomfortable and useless. And my dog is not keen on running in this weather. He ran with me a lot during winter last year, but this year he fades more quickly. I still walk with him, and that what my runs have turned into. Maybe after my killer exam in a few days, I'll feel more agreeable to running.
Meanwhile, I'm still doing core work. It actually isn't so bad recovery-wise. I'm trying to continue yoga, too, but just yin and gentle. Stuff that works muscle without too much damage. Too much damage: pain keeps me awake and I get night sweats. One night, I actually had night sweats while I was awake (I couldn't sleep because of soreness). It was the weirdest feeling; it felt like there was a good jolt of adrenaline.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
speedwork! (relatively)
After a couple of days of walking, I figured I was fit enough for speedwork. I had planned to go to run club, but then I took the leftover capon, made broth and then made soup, and then figured that I could have soup after my run two hours earlier AND run in daylight if I went at 4 instead of 6. So I was on my own.
I think I would have been on my own anyway. It was a blizzard out there. I don't think I would have heard the coach's whistle. I barely heard my Garmin beep: I programmed the workout: 3-5 X 4 min fast, 2 min recovery.
I did 4 repeats at about 9:40-10:00/mile. Yes, that was fast. A few inches of snow and strong winds more of it into my eyes bogged me down. But I kept pushing and kept my breathing up and it was strangely satisfying to push against something else other than myself. It seems that my muscles are usually too inflamed to maintain an elevated aerobic effort for long, but with the added resistance of the snow, I somehow got a good workout. It felt comfortable to run in the snow, too. After a while, of course, I got tired of sliding sideways, but I was expecting it to be a lot harder.
Looking at my log, I see that in January, I was doing 800M at about 2 min/mile faster in blizzard like conditions (mysteriously, blizzards happened quite a few time on run club day), but that was on the Hill with some/most of it plowed. The club usually does speedwork there because it's one of the first--if not the first--to get plowed, and they keep the plows going there. Today, I was totally 100% on unplowed stuff.
I'm definitely feeling more optimistic about training. It'll be a very good sign if I don't feel too beat up tomorrow.
I'm still not at the point of running every day, and that might not happen for a while. I've resumed core work and yoga after last week's illness/break.
I think I would have been on my own anyway. It was a blizzard out there. I don't think I would have heard the coach's whistle. I barely heard my Garmin beep: I programmed the workout: 3-5 X 4 min fast, 2 min recovery.
I did 4 repeats at about 9:40-10:00/mile. Yes, that was fast. A few inches of snow and strong winds more of it into my eyes bogged me down. But I kept pushing and kept my breathing up and it was strangely satisfying to push against something else other than myself. It seems that my muscles are usually too inflamed to maintain an elevated aerobic effort for long, but with the added resistance of the snow, I somehow got a good workout. It felt comfortable to run in the snow, too. After a while, of course, I got tired of sliding sideways, but I was expecting it to be a lot harder.
Looking at my log, I see that in January, I was doing 800M at about 2 min/mile faster in blizzard like conditions (mysteriously, blizzards happened quite a few time on run club day), but that was on the Hill with some/most of it plowed. The club usually does speedwork there because it's one of the first--if not the first--to get plowed, and they keep the plows going there. Today, I was totally 100% on unplowed stuff.
I'm definitely feeling more optimistic about training. It'll be a very good sign if I don't feel too beat up tomorrow.
I'm still not at the point of running every day, and that might not happen for a while. I've resumed core work and yoga after last week's illness/break.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
a good start to a rough week
Well, turns out that I had indeed pushed myself too far. I went to the clinic on Tuesday and was prescribed antibiotics. So, I got more inflamed, more sleepless at night, etc, etc...I tried running on Friday but after ten minutes, it seemed pointless to continue to be miserable.
Saturday afternoon/eating was mostly dedicated to eating: cheeses and crackers and duck rillettes, fig and goat cheese appetizers, capon, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, bread pudding, chocolate cake, ice cream, plus candy at the movie theatre and a bag of chips in the evening. I'd lost some weight plus my appetite, but fortunately both returned. Actually, I'm still heavier than normal these days, but there are right ways and wrong ways to lose (and gain) weight, and my critical eye drifts towards cellulite rather than numbers when it comes down to aesthetics. I've been heavier and more toned before--I'd prefer that!
At any rate, after downing 30000000 calories, I felt like less of a wimp this morning. Jogged for 2 hrs stiffly but comfortably enough. Just 11.2ish miles, but that's about normal these days and part of it was on trail.
So, once again, I'm feeling optimistic.
Saturday afternoon/eating was mostly dedicated to eating: cheeses and crackers and duck rillettes, fig and goat cheese appetizers, capon, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, bread pudding, chocolate cake, ice cream, plus candy at the movie theatre and a bag of chips in the evening. I'd lost some weight plus my appetite, but fortunately both returned. Actually, I'm still heavier than normal these days, but there are right ways and wrong ways to lose (and gain) weight, and my critical eye drifts towards cellulite rather than numbers when it comes down to aesthetics. I've been heavier and more toned before--I'd prefer that!
At any rate, after downing 30000000 calories, I felt like less of a wimp this morning. Jogged for 2 hrs stiffly but comfortably enough. Just 11.2ish miles, but that's about normal these days and part of it was on trail.
So, once again, I'm feeling optimistic.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Long run
I didn't run Thurs-Saturday because it was American Thanksgiving and we were either eating, sleeping, or in the car (over 24 hrs total for that--yikes). The break was good, though.
Yesterday, Sunday, Gaz and I decided to do the run together. Fortunately she was accepting of my slower pace and we had a good run. Near the end, we stopped for expresso and I also went to the juice bar. My drink of choice was 'Pumping Iron': beets, carrots, ginger, and something else. It sounds a bit vile but goes down surprisingly smoothly mid-run, although I think I'll have to stress the 'not too much ginger' next time.
After about 1:48 for me, not including the 1/2 mile or so it took me to remember to restart my Garmin (Gaz had already racked up a couple of miles or so before joining me) we walked the rest of the way back to the start and parted. I jogged home, got there at 1:59:xx, had a quick glass of milk, and then set out. My goal was to do at least 2:30, and hopefully 2:45.
I went out until about 2:22 and turned back. There was construction on the path so I couldn't do 2:23 or whatever to be on the safe side.
Around 2:30 I was revisited by gut problems and I couldn't tell the extent of the damage, if any, because I was pretty sweaty. Fortunately, this resulted in a good shot of adrenaline and so my last mile was the fastest despite the internal turmoil. I made it home in 2:43. (Later on, I remembered the half mile unrecorded by Garmin so figured that I probably ran 2:49...that was a nice realization).
I got home and found nothing amiss, thank goodness, until the effects of the beet juice hit the porcelain. I'd momentarily forgot about drinking that, and wouldn't have guessed that it would take less than 1.5 hrs for the stuff to make it through my system anyway, so there was a few seconds of unease. LOL.
I'm glad I got that run in, but it did take a lot out of me and perhaps I should have stuck to 2:30. I didn't feel so good the rest of the day. In general, increasing these long runs feels like I'm starting from scratch, except that I feel pretty much the same throughout the runs. I get a bit more tired, but it's not as dramatic as the first time I started increasing long runs a few years ago. Since my muscles are constantly inflamed and/or depleted of glycogen, there isn't the same accumulation of fatigue during the run. I pay more afterward, but things are pretty level during.
Anyway, in 2:43, I covered 15.5 miles--so I guess I did 16 total. I would like to get to 18 by the end of Dec, which seems really possible.
Yesterday, Sunday, Gaz and I decided to do the run together. Fortunately she was accepting of my slower pace and we had a good run. Near the end, we stopped for expresso and I also went to the juice bar. My drink of choice was 'Pumping Iron': beets, carrots, ginger, and something else. It sounds a bit vile but goes down surprisingly smoothly mid-run, although I think I'll have to stress the 'not too much ginger' next time.
After about 1:48 for me, not including the 1/2 mile or so it took me to remember to restart my Garmin (Gaz had already racked up a couple of miles or so before joining me) we walked the rest of the way back to the start and parted. I jogged home, got there at 1:59:xx, had a quick glass of milk, and then set out. My goal was to do at least 2:30, and hopefully 2:45.
I went out until about 2:22 and turned back. There was construction on the path so I couldn't do 2:23 or whatever to be on the safe side.
Around 2:30 I was revisited by gut problems and I couldn't tell the extent of the damage, if any, because I was pretty sweaty. Fortunately, this resulted in a good shot of adrenaline and so my last mile was the fastest despite the internal turmoil. I made it home in 2:43. (Later on, I remembered the half mile unrecorded by Garmin so figured that I probably ran 2:49...that was a nice realization).
I got home and found nothing amiss, thank goodness, until the effects of the beet juice hit the porcelain. I'd momentarily forgot about drinking that, and wouldn't have guessed that it would take less than 1.5 hrs for the stuff to make it through my system anyway, so there was a few seconds of unease. LOL.
I'm glad I got that run in, but it did take a lot out of me and perhaps I should have stuck to 2:30. I didn't feel so good the rest of the day. In general, increasing these long runs feels like I'm starting from scratch, except that I feel pretty much the same throughout the runs. I get a bit more tired, but it's not as dramatic as the first time I started increasing long runs a few years ago. Since my muscles are constantly inflamed and/or depleted of glycogen, there isn't the same accumulation of fatigue during the run. I pay more afterward, but things are pretty level during.
Anyway, in 2:43, I covered 15.5 miles--so I guess I did 16 total. I would like to get to 18 by the end of Dec, which seems really possible.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
no long run
It was a stiff/sore/iffy gut morning so I didn't feel up to the challenge.
But I stiff felt like trying a run, so I decided to more accurately measure the new loop I'd tried recently. No detours! I tried, at least.
At first I was moving ok, just under 10:00/mile, and then things sort of seized up as they usually do and I started to get even slower....but this time, with the Garmin, I put my foot down. No. It used to be that 9:00/mile was easy, and I've gotten used to 10:00/mile, but enough with 10:30ish--11:00/mile! Yeah, that's where my easy pace is now, and I can usually accept that, but it doesn't really work for me biomechanically somehow and I have been getting bored of it.
So I pushed myself. It was disconcerting to feel how much effort 10:00ish/mile took, and it sort of hurt, like pushing through the wall does (which is pretty much where all my running is these days), but I kept it up and then after about 4.5 miles, I had a three mile stretch of bike path back home so I decided to do a tempo run. Just 15 min of tempo effort, see where I am.
Well! My tempo pace was pretty poor, 8:30-8:40/mile, and I decided to go for ten minutes instead because I was diverted off the bike path by construction--I got back on it, but crossing the street twice and the added hill (the path by the Canal is flat, but across the street is a hill, go figure) sort of blew my concentration. But ten min is still better than five. Maybe next week I can try for 15, or 2X 10 min, or whatever. Or the week after that.
I'm plenty sore now, but during my cool down jog, I realized that I also felt really good. I have been missing the endorphins and the smoothness of running faster.
No stairs today, I'd had enough. I'd considered sprints but then realized that I'd actually done them yesterday all in one go. I'd meant to do this as a separate post, but here goes:
I had to take a two-bus trip to a hospital for a field trip, part of the training program I'm in. The first bus was one of the nice ones that come every 5 minutes or so, the second was not. I don't know the Ottawa bus master plan by heart, but usually a bus comes every 5 minutes, or 30 or more...there aren't too many of an intermediate frequency (in my limited experience). Of course, this meant that when I got to the transit station, the other bus was arriving just as mine was, but on the opposite side of the road, which has a fence in the middle. If I waited for the next one, I would be late and then I'd have to hunt down my class meandering through the bowels of some hospital I'd never been to before.
So I ran, and I saw the second bus pulling towards its stop, and adrenaline kicked in and I got a good lift, and I was sprinting.
I love sprinting. I'm more of a fast-twitch person anyway. Why I signed up for yet another marathon is pure obstinacy. Unfortunately, my muscle recovery is so poor that I have cut out sprinting and replaced them with stairs, but yesterday I had no choice. But it was so simple, so elemental. I had no timer. It didn't matter. All I had to do was catch that bus. Because it wasn't a class day, I had no books to carry--I was unencumbered. I could keep my back straight and balanced, smash down with each step and bounce off, floating---when I move like this, it seems like I'm a foot taller, so little time gets spent on the ground. I got to the end of the barrier and saw the bus at the stop--no, I couldn't catch it, but there were other people still boarding it, so I lifted off again, and I got there. It was freakish. Everybody was moving so slowly. I was barely breathing hard when I got to the bus. I think I went about 200-250 metres. I have no idea how long it took. Probably a good thing but it is in the back of my head that, wow, what if I'd busted 30 seconds for 200M? This is a longtime always out of reach goal. I never did sprinting events per se, but whenever I had 200 repeats on my own, I'd try to smash the very last repeat and try to get under 30 seconds. Never happened! always 31 or 32. Someday, someday....
I probably was a lot slower yesterday, anyway. But maybe not. The other remarkable thing was that I didn't hurt. It was hard, sure, but it was such a serious hit of neurotransmitters that I was without discomfort for once, for the first time since my last good run in August, so I could totally throw down. man, I sure enjoyed whacking so much weight into the ground and tearing up a good chunk of muscle fibers. I miss that! I really do! As sore as my body is nowadays, it's a wimpy sort of soreness. It's degenerative, not progressive. I miss working harder.
OF course, this is maybe why the long run today didn't happen, but it was worth it.
But I stiff felt like trying a run, so I decided to more accurately measure the new loop I'd tried recently. No detours! I tried, at least.
At first I was moving ok, just under 10:00/mile, and then things sort of seized up as they usually do and I started to get even slower....but this time, with the Garmin, I put my foot down. No. It used to be that 9:00/mile was easy, and I've gotten used to 10:00/mile, but enough with 10:30ish--11:00/mile! Yeah, that's where my easy pace is now, and I can usually accept that, but it doesn't really work for me biomechanically somehow and I have been getting bored of it.
So I pushed myself. It was disconcerting to feel how much effort 10:00ish/mile took, and it sort of hurt, like pushing through the wall does (which is pretty much where all my running is these days), but I kept it up and then after about 4.5 miles, I had a three mile stretch of bike path back home so I decided to do a tempo run. Just 15 min of tempo effort, see where I am.
Well! My tempo pace was pretty poor, 8:30-8:40/mile, and I decided to go for ten minutes instead because I was diverted off the bike path by construction--I got back on it, but crossing the street twice and the added hill (the path by the Canal is flat, but across the street is a hill, go figure) sort of blew my concentration. But ten min is still better than five. Maybe next week I can try for 15, or 2X 10 min, or whatever. Or the week after that.
I'm plenty sore now, but during my cool down jog, I realized that I also felt really good. I have been missing the endorphins and the smoothness of running faster.
No stairs today, I'd had enough. I'd considered sprints but then realized that I'd actually done them yesterday all in one go. I'd meant to do this as a separate post, but here goes:
I had to take a two-bus trip to a hospital for a field trip, part of the training program I'm in. The first bus was one of the nice ones that come every 5 minutes or so, the second was not. I don't know the Ottawa bus master plan by heart, but usually a bus comes every 5 minutes, or 30 or more...there aren't too many of an intermediate frequency (in my limited experience). Of course, this meant that when I got to the transit station, the other bus was arriving just as mine was, but on the opposite side of the road, which has a fence in the middle. If I waited for the next one, I would be late and then I'd have to hunt down my class meandering through the bowels of some hospital I'd never been to before.
So I ran, and I saw the second bus pulling towards its stop, and adrenaline kicked in and I got a good lift, and I was sprinting.
I love sprinting. I'm more of a fast-twitch person anyway. Why I signed up for yet another marathon is pure obstinacy. Unfortunately, my muscle recovery is so poor that I have cut out sprinting and replaced them with stairs, but yesterday I had no choice. But it was so simple, so elemental. I had no timer. It didn't matter. All I had to do was catch that bus. Because it wasn't a class day, I had no books to carry--I was unencumbered. I could keep my back straight and balanced, smash down with each step and bounce off, floating---when I move like this, it seems like I'm a foot taller, so little time gets spent on the ground. I got to the end of the barrier and saw the bus at the stop--no, I couldn't catch it, but there were other people still boarding it, so I lifted off again, and I got there. It was freakish. Everybody was moving so slowly. I was barely breathing hard when I got to the bus. I think I went about 200-250 metres. I have no idea how long it took. Probably a good thing but it is in the back of my head that, wow, what if I'd busted 30 seconds for 200M? This is a longtime always out of reach goal. I never did sprinting events per se, but whenever I had 200 repeats on my own, I'd try to smash the very last repeat and try to get under 30 seconds. Never happened! always 31 or 32. Someday, someday....
I probably was a lot slower yesterday, anyway. But maybe not. The other remarkable thing was that I didn't hurt. It was hard, sure, but it was such a serious hit of neurotransmitters that I was without discomfort for once, for the first time since my last good run in August, so I could totally throw down. man, I sure enjoyed whacking so much weight into the ground and tearing up a good chunk of muscle fibers. I miss that! I really do! As sore as my body is nowadays, it's a wimpy sort of soreness. It's degenerative, not progressive. I miss working harder.
OF course, this is maybe why the long run today didn't happen, but it was worth it.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
stairs
Sat: walking
Sunday: 1.5hrs jogging (with some walking up grassy knolls, lol)
Monday: walking (5ish miles) and stairs)
Tues: walking (5ish miles)
And yoga almost every day, admittedly only 20-30 min, but that's a start.
I'm still being strict about not eating 2-3 hrs before bed, and I am sleeping better and am a bit less stiff and sore. When I started my run on Sunday, it almost felt like I hadn't already been running for eons. lol. That near-fresh feeling lasted only about a mile, but it was promising. It was almost like old times.
It was a fun run too, a new route which turned out better than I'd thought it would. Because I was trying to see how long it was, of course I had to take a detour and muck up the mileage count.
I did 4 stair repeats yesterday. I may or may not do them tomorrow--I'm hoping to do a longer run. Will see how I feel and what I can get done. I will be alone, sans dog (he's getting dropped off at the kennel tonight, and we'll leave for the US tomorrow noon-ish), and so I can duck into stores and buy what piques my appetite. It's been a while since I've had a true grazing run and I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to incorporate two stops.
Sunday: 1.5hrs jogging (with some walking up grassy knolls, lol)
Monday: walking (5ish miles) and stairs)
Tues: walking (5ish miles)
And yoga almost every day, admittedly only 20-30 min, but that's a start.
I'm still being strict about not eating 2-3 hrs before bed, and I am sleeping better and am a bit less stiff and sore. When I started my run on Sunday, it almost felt like I hadn't already been running for eons. lol. That near-fresh feeling lasted only about a mile, but it was promising. It was almost like old times.
It was a fun run too, a new route which turned out better than I'd thought it would. Because I was trying to see how long it was, of course I had to take a detour and muck up the mileage count.
I did 4 stair repeats yesterday. I may or may not do them tomorrow--I'm hoping to do a longer run. Will see how I feel and what I can get done. I will be alone, sans dog (he's getting dropped off at the kennel tonight, and we'll leave for the US tomorrow noon-ish), and so I can duck into stores and buy what piques my appetite. It's been a while since I've had a true grazing run and I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to incorporate two stops.
Friday, November 20, 2009
an ok run
Things hurt this morning, but no more than usual. Seems like quitting the trough at least two hours before bed is helpful.
I decided to run today and the aesthetics weren't what I was hoping for. I was expecting to run into the pink of dawn, something like that, but it was drizzly instead. However, I was pleasantly surprised: I was hoping for 30 min at least but it ended up being 60 min. I threw in some faster intervals: I picked up the pace for about a min, and then coasted back, and then picked it up again when my breathing calmed down. I think I did five such intervals. My muscles were sore, but it was good to move a bit faster. Faster being relative: total distance covered was about 5.85 miles. LOL.
Still, I'm feeling more optimistic--more resigned to not running every day, yes, but also more optimistic that the overall quality of my runs will go up.
I decided to run today and the aesthetics weren't what I was hoping for. I was expecting to run into the pink of dawn, something like that, but it was drizzly instead. However, I was pleasantly surprised: I was hoping for 30 min at least but it ended up being 60 min. I threw in some faster intervals: I picked up the pace for about a min, and then coasted back, and then picked it up again when my breathing calmed down. I think I did five such intervals. My muscles were sore, but it was good to move a bit faster. Faster being relative: total distance covered was about 5.85 miles. LOL.
Still, I'm feeling more optimistic--more resigned to not running every day, yes, but also more optimistic that the overall quality of my runs will go up.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
so...
More walking today--I'm still inflamed, my shoulder joints and back and lower leg bones and quads still ache. It sucks. My last good run was sometime in August.
So, once again, I'm revamping things slightly to help cope. Running, I'm not going to assume will be every day or even 5X a week anymore, and speedwork isn't going to be 1X a week either. The most important run will be the long run, assuming I can do it, and I would like to do at least one semi-long run too. So, if that means that I'm only running 3X a week total, so be it. I'm still keeping active with brisk walking every day, which is uncomfortable too, but less so than running. As well, today, I started stair repeats. The dog and I were walking along the river, and I was passing a staircase going up the hill and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe that would be a good alternative to doing sprints. So we went up it, and down, and then we came to a much longer staircase and I went about 3/4 up it twice. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but if I can do that 2X a week or so, gradually increasing reps, that might help me keep my strength. My main concern about this issue is losing muscle mass once again. I did a good round of resistance work/sprinting early this summer to build up again, and I don't want to lose everything I gained!!
I'm also trying to get back into doing yoga every morning. It's gotten to the point where even going to the gentle classes 2 times a week or so is hard to recover from, so maybe if I do a little bit every day, it'll be less of a shock to my system.
I'm also trying to get back into doing ab exercises every day. Those muscles apparently recover more quickly than others, and hopefully I can strike a nice balance between maintaining a good core and not inflaming things further (which has happened in the past). I think plank poses will be more beneficial than doing crunches.
Plus, I'm changing my diet somewhat. The main thing is to stop eating 2hrs or so before bed. Maybe my muscles aren't recovering well because too much blood is getting diverted to my digestive system during the night. I definitely slept better last night after a couple hours of just water, at least, so I'll try to continue this. That's what I used to do, but I've been getting hungrier and hungrier after mid-afternoon and so have been chowing down, but I'll try to get all my eating done earlier. I also got some miso soup paste and seaweed and dried fish...the sort of thing that seemed to help me while I was in Asia. Strangely enough, the brand new big Asian supermarket (T&T) here is very close to the GI clinic. Coincidence? LOL. Unfortunately, I'm to continue eating wheat until early Jan, at which point, I'll get the blood tests and then go back to the GI doc. I've been trying to eat it every day since after the operation, but I guess that's not long enough to be sure. Kind of sucks to have to hang in for longer, but, ah, it's still better than waiting until April.
At any rate, I felt sort of groggy/foggy during the appointment (it was in the afternoon and usually I fall asleep for a bit around then) and probably I didn't make much sense. It was frustrating...it sounds dumb but some days I feel I can't talk properly, can't find the right words, can't explain myself. Unfortunately, I also forgot to ask the doc about a new symptom which has cropped up recently. I went in there and totally forgot. ahhh, stupid!
Anyway, I really hope that this is something that will be resolved by avoiding wheat. The doctor also mentioned that it's possible to have gluten intolerance instead of celiac. Yes, it will be a pain reading labels all the time and eating out, but it didn't seem too bad during my two wheat-free weeks although I was surprised to discover that wheat was in some brands of chips. And I didn't miss wheat much. The worst was when my dragonboat team went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I wasn't craving pasta per se, but I was starving and the only thing I could have was salad.
I really really hope that all this is over and done with by the time my training program ends and I start my new job, in April. The timing has been really good in many ways, but I'm ready to start afresh. And I'm a bit worried about the job in terms of being on my feet for eight hours again. I can manage three or four (I still volunteer at the hospital), but eight is a bit much. I was at the college for 8-9 hrs on Monday, and I needed to go to the library for a nap halfway through. LOL
So, once again, I'm revamping things slightly to help cope. Running, I'm not going to assume will be every day or even 5X a week anymore, and speedwork isn't going to be 1X a week either. The most important run will be the long run, assuming I can do it, and I would like to do at least one semi-long run too. So, if that means that I'm only running 3X a week total, so be it. I'm still keeping active with brisk walking every day, which is uncomfortable too, but less so than running. As well, today, I started stair repeats. The dog and I were walking along the river, and I was passing a staircase going up the hill and it suddenly occurred to me that maybe that would be a good alternative to doing sprints. So we went up it, and down, and then we came to a much longer staircase and I went about 3/4 up it twice. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, but if I can do that 2X a week or so, gradually increasing reps, that might help me keep my strength. My main concern about this issue is losing muscle mass once again. I did a good round of resistance work/sprinting early this summer to build up again, and I don't want to lose everything I gained!!
I'm also trying to get back into doing yoga every morning. It's gotten to the point where even going to the gentle classes 2 times a week or so is hard to recover from, so maybe if I do a little bit every day, it'll be less of a shock to my system.
I'm also trying to get back into doing ab exercises every day. Those muscles apparently recover more quickly than others, and hopefully I can strike a nice balance between maintaining a good core and not inflaming things further (which has happened in the past). I think plank poses will be more beneficial than doing crunches.
Plus, I'm changing my diet somewhat. The main thing is to stop eating 2hrs or so before bed. Maybe my muscles aren't recovering well because too much blood is getting diverted to my digestive system during the night. I definitely slept better last night after a couple hours of just water, at least, so I'll try to continue this. That's what I used to do, but I've been getting hungrier and hungrier after mid-afternoon and so have been chowing down, but I'll try to get all my eating done earlier. I also got some miso soup paste and seaweed and dried fish...the sort of thing that seemed to help me while I was in Asia. Strangely enough, the brand new big Asian supermarket (T&T) here is very close to the GI clinic. Coincidence? LOL. Unfortunately, I'm to continue eating wheat until early Jan, at which point, I'll get the blood tests and then go back to the GI doc. I've been trying to eat it every day since after the operation, but I guess that's not long enough to be sure. Kind of sucks to have to hang in for longer, but, ah, it's still better than waiting until April.
At any rate, I felt sort of groggy/foggy during the appointment (it was in the afternoon and usually I fall asleep for a bit around then) and probably I didn't make much sense. It was frustrating...it sounds dumb but some days I feel I can't talk properly, can't find the right words, can't explain myself. Unfortunately, I also forgot to ask the doc about a new symptom which has cropped up recently. I went in there and totally forgot. ahhh, stupid!
Anyway, I really hope that this is something that will be resolved by avoiding wheat. The doctor also mentioned that it's possible to have gluten intolerance instead of celiac. Yes, it will be a pain reading labels all the time and eating out, but it didn't seem too bad during my two wheat-free weeks although I was surprised to discover that wheat was in some brands of chips. And I didn't miss wheat much. The worst was when my dragonboat team went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I wasn't craving pasta per se, but I was starving and the only thing I could have was salad.
I really really hope that all this is over and done with by the time my training program ends and I start my new job, in April. The timing has been really good in many ways, but I'm ready to start afresh. And I'm a bit worried about the job in terms of being on my feet for eight hours again. I can manage three or four (I still volunteer at the hospital), but eight is a bit much. I was at the college for 8-9 hrs on Monday, and I needed to go to the library for a nap halfway through. LOL
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
quick recap
Saturday--went for a 30 min jog that extended to 2:10. felt sore at first, but then things got numb. Helped that we were running in fun places, a good part on dirt or grass.
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday--walk, walk, walk. 2 exams on Monday.
Wednesday, ran for 5 minutes, was too sore, so more walking.
I'm one big flaming knot right now but in approx 10 minutes I'm leaving for the GI specialist appointment which will hopefully be the beginning of the end of this.
Sunday-Monday-Tuesday--walk, walk, walk. 2 exams on Monday.
Wednesday, ran for 5 minutes, was too sore, so more walking.
I'm one big flaming knot right now but in approx 10 minutes I'm leaving for the GI specialist appointment which will hopefully be the beginning of the end of this.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
recovery day
I decided not to run today: I walked with the dog for an hour this morning, went to yoga at noon, and will walk to class later on--that's about 3 miles which should take me another hour. I'm not moving terribly fast today but it feels good to walk.
Monday, November 9, 2009
well, once I think I have things finally sorted out and am in a frame of acceptance....
...I get a call: my appointment's been bumped up: from April to next week. !!! yeah! What a big relief!
eating even more is the key?
I jogged for 30 min today. It felt sore, but slightly less than usual, and definitely less than the day after the last long run. I was slow, of course, and I hurt, but it was better.
I've eaten a lot during this past weekend; last night was no exception which probably helped recovery a lot even though I was too sore to sleep well. I usually eat what seems like quite a bit, but I guess I have to eat to the point of discomfort. LOL I think the whey-molasses shakes and the iron supplements have helped as well.
I've eaten a lot during this past weekend; last night was no exception which probably helped recovery a lot even though I was too sore to sleep well. I usually eat what seems like quite a bit, but I guess I have to eat to the point of discomfort. LOL I think the whey-molasses shakes and the iron supplements have helped as well.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
lost track due to epic battle
Yep, I got slammed by the Antivirus system pro Trojan thingy which hid deep in a random serious of folders, well out of sight of McAfee and Norton and AVG....even when I got the .exe name from another program, a search on my computer couldn't dig up the path. Eventually, I downloaded a free trial of Kaspersky, got the path, got to the file but couldn't delete it. I'd already downloaded Malwarebytes--it was great for cleaning up the registry key issues, but it couldn't get to the heart of the virus BUT it had an additional 'assassin tool' which did the trick. I ran a few more scans, got rid of the detritus, updated everything, switched my browser from IE to Firefox finally, lol, disabled system restore once everything was going well to get a new, better reference point, and things are running a LOT better. This took a few days, though. I'm no pro. lol
Anyway, this is why I've lost track of what I ran.
Tues: definitely jogged for 22 stiff minutes.
Wed-Thurs-Fri: a day off, a 30 min stiff run, and a 40 min fartlek run which actually went well. I was happy with it and I think that approach will work when I'm not in good enough shape to tackle a tempo run.
Saturday, no run, but plenty of walking, plus standing and eating at the Food and Wine show. I gorged.
Sunday, today, I woke up and saw that I weighed about two pounds more than yesterday morning--I now weigh myself every morning to keep track of what's going on--my weight has been creeping up, but I figure that that's because I've gained a bit of muscle from resistance exercises earlier in the summer, I'm perhaps retaining a bit more water, and I've gained some fat because of winter, and then the two pounds at the Wine and Food show, lol, so I'm not going to worry much about it. Last year was my first Canadian winter after a hiatus, and it was a bit of a shock. This year, I guess I've reverted to my old pattern of gaining in the fall. The scale is more to see if my weight starts to plummet or rise steeply at any point so that I can tell the specialist. over the last umpteen years, I've gotten better at keeping my weight from crashing too much, but who knows what may happen?
Anyway, I saw the two pound gain, sipped some water, and got dressed for a run. Took the dog. It was an average gut day but I figured that this was going to be just a warm up for a (hopefully) long run tomorrow. We jogged around and after a 1/2 hour, we met up with my running club. I decided to run with the folks at the back a bit, but they were going on a route that was unfamiliar to me, so I figured that I might as well hang in there and check it out. My friend gave me a sip of water around 40 min--my mouth was dry--after that, I was fine.
Including a few potty breaks for the dog, a long wait at my least favourite set of lights in the region, and a bit of a walk when we were figuring out that we were going the wrong way, I went 2:30. I figure about 2:20 running time, maybe a few minutes more, and I caved in and checked it on mapmyrun: almost 14 miles. PHEW!
I'm really happy with it.
I took some iron pills, had my whey and molasses shake and some meat pie when I got home, and I'm going to be stuffing myself royally tonight too. I guess that the two extra pounds this morning went to good use. I'm eating a lot, but not enough is sinking in properly as I'd feared, I guess, but I'm not at the point of losing weight so it's a bit hard to figure out exactly what's going on. It feels like my muscles are holding onto water because of the inflammation/arrested repair, which might explain things. Will see.
But at least it seems pretty clear that I have to really gorge the day before long runs. But not on wheat. I didn't eat much yesterday. ok! maybe I'll manage this Winterman thing after all--I was seriously doubting it this week before this run, and now I'm a lot more optimistic about it. I felt more like my old self.
Anyway, this is why I've lost track of what I ran.
Tues: definitely jogged for 22 stiff minutes.
Wed-Thurs-Fri: a day off, a 30 min stiff run, and a 40 min fartlek run which actually went well. I was happy with it and I think that approach will work when I'm not in good enough shape to tackle a tempo run.
Saturday, no run, but plenty of walking, plus standing and eating at the Food and Wine show. I gorged.
Sunday, today, I woke up and saw that I weighed about two pounds more than yesterday morning--I now weigh myself every morning to keep track of what's going on--my weight has been creeping up, but I figure that that's because I've gained a bit of muscle from resistance exercises earlier in the summer, I'm perhaps retaining a bit more water, and I've gained some fat because of winter, and then the two pounds at the Wine and Food show, lol, so I'm not going to worry much about it. Last year was my first Canadian winter after a hiatus, and it was a bit of a shock. This year, I guess I've reverted to my old pattern of gaining in the fall. The scale is more to see if my weight starts to plummet or rise steeply at any point so that I can tell the specialist. over the last umpteen years, I've gotten better at keeping my weight from crashing too much, but who knows what may happen?
Anyway, I saw the two pound gain, sipped some water, and got dressed for a run. Took the dog. It was an average gut day but I figured that this was going to be just a warm up for a (hopefully) long run tomorrow. We jogged around and after a 1/2 hour, we met up with my running club. I decided to run with the folks at the back a bit, but they were going on a route that was unfamiliar to me, so I figured that I might as well hang in there and check it out. My friend gave me a sip of water around 40 min--my mouth was dry--after that, I was fine.
Including a few potty breaks for the dog, a long wait at my least favourite set of lights in the region, and a bit of a walk when we were figuring out that we were going the wrong way, I went 2:30. I figure about 2:20 running time, maybe a few minutes more, and I caved in and checked it on mapmyrun: almost 14 miles. PHEW!
I'm really happy with it.
I took some iron pills, had my whey and molasses shake and some meat pie when I got home, and I'm going to be stuffing myself royally tonight too. I guess that the two extra pounds this morning went to good use. I'm eating a lot, but not enough is sinking in properly as I'd feared, I guess, but I'm not at the point of losing weight so it's a bit hard to figure out exactly what's going on. It feels like my muscles are holding onto water because of the inflammation/arrested repair, which might explain things. Will see.
But at least it seems pretty clear that I have to really gorge the day before long runs. But not on wheat. I didn't eat much yesterday. ok! maybe I'll manage this Winterman thing after all--I was seriously doubting it this week before this run, and now I'm a lot more optimistic about it. I felt more like my old self.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
recovery
It was gorgeous yesterday--1 C and sunny. I decided that it was time to go on a long run incorporating the Rideau River nature trail, which is a good chunk of dirt. Too bad it's not longer.
Unfortunately, it was a bad gut morning, but that's not unusual, and I wasn't out to break any speed records. Although I still did--my slowest 10 miles ever. I'm blaming the dirt! LOL
I was drained, but I took it as easy as I needed to take it, and I took a couple of walk breaks when I had to. It was very relaxing on the trail. And then I got more tired, and then I started to get depressed and angry that what would have been an easy run was taking so much out of me--actually, I got angry when I crossed the canal at the Experimental farm and found the bathroom locked for the winter, lol--I'd been counting on that thing. It took a mile or two to calm down. By the time I was about a mile from home, I was on autopilot. Everything hurt so I was distancing myself. It was disconcertingly like the last mile of a 20-miler or longer. I hit the ten mile mark around 1:57:xx. total 10.1X miles in 2 hrs. At that point, I didn't care about the distance.
It had been my original plan to run 12 miles--this would have been a very relaxing 2hr run, but it was not meant to be. Then I decided on 11 miles, and then I figured that maybe two hrs was enough. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of going by time on the long runs. I'm maintaining my cadence. I can pretend that, yeah, the same number of footstrikes would have gotten me 12 or 13 miles.
I slept poorly due to inflammation/soreness.
Today, I jogged for 22 minutes. I couldn't loosen up no matter how slowly I went, but I figured that getting the blood flowing would be enough. And then I got to a certain point where I started feeling more tired. That's when I stopped. I felt some coolness in my muscles afterwards, the same feeling I get after getting out of a long yin yoga pose--it means that something beneficial is happening. It's like a little chill trickling through.
I'm going to another yin class soon. I think it's important to do that.
Unfortunately, it was a bad gut morning, but that's not unusual, and I wasn't out to break any speed records. Although I still did--my slowest 10 miles ever. I'm blaming the dirt! LOL
I was drained, but I took it as easy as I needed to take it, and I took a couple of walk breaks when I had to. It was very relaxing on the trail. And then I got more tired, and then I started to get depressed and angry that what would have been an easy run was taking so much out of me--actually, I got angry when I crossed the canal at the Experimental farm and found the bathroom locked for the winter, lol--I'd been counting on that thing. It took a mile or two to calm down. By the time I was about a mile from home, I was on autopilot. Everything hurt so I was distancing myself. It was disconcertingly like the last mile of a 20-miler or longer. I hit the ten mile mark around 1:57:xx. total 10.1X miles in 2 hrs. At that point, I didn't care about the distance.
It had been my original plan to run 12 miles--this would have been a very relaxing 2hr run, but it was not meant to be. Then I decided on 11 miles, and then I figured that maybe two hrs was enough. The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of going by time on the long runs. I'm maintaining my cadence. I can pretend that, yeah, the same number of footstrikes would have gotten me 12 or 13 miles.
I slept poorly due to inflammation/soreness.
Today, I jogged for 22 minutes. I couldn't loosen up no matter how slowly I went, but I figured that getting the blood flowing would be enough. And then I got to a certain point where I started feeling more tired. That's when I stopped. I felt some coolness in my muscles afterwards, the same feeling I get after getting out of a long yin yoga pose--it means that something beneficial is happening. It's like a little chill trickling through.
I'm going to another yin class soon. I think it's important to do that.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
a break
I walked Friday and Saturday--too much inflammation to run on Friday, and Saturday, I guess I was just lazy. LOL
I also got my H1N1 shot on Saturday; I wasn't sure what I'd be able to manage today.
After sleeping about 11 hrs, I got up and jogged about six miles with the dog. It was very slow, took me about 64-65 min to do six miles, but I think it was very productive. I started off nice and easy and concentrated on loosening up various things. The worst was something in my right shin....it started to get sore on Friday sometime after supper. By Sunday, things had seized up. It took about three miles to loosen up, and then, of course, other bits clamoured for my attention; I tried to keep things fluid and gradually I got even slower, I think, but I felt much better at the end of it.
This is the best 'recovery' run I've had in a while...I think I've been going too fast, or not slow enough. My jogging speed is now my old recovery run speed and I don't think I was tapping into the true recovery jog level of effort anymore. I've been pondering my recent 30ish min jogs, my so-called 'easy' runs, and more and more I don't think I've accomplished much with those. What's the point in going out and doing a thirty minute too-fast-for--recovery run? I'm going to get tired out, but it's not a 30 min tempo run so I'm not going to improve, and instead I'm going to withdraw energy from my harder run, and I don't really enjoy 30 min runs much, anyway. Maybe a slower hour-long run, like the one I did today, will serve much better. I feel so. Maybe the day after a tough workout, I'd be better off just doing 20 min or whatever, or walking, but it's great to know that I can enjoy a longer run and be better off with it too.
I went to a yin yoga class later on, which helped as well. I'm hoping to do a longer run tomorrow. I was hoping to do it today, but I had too many things to loosen up.
I also got my H1N1 shot on Saturday; I wasn't sure what I'd be able to manage today.
After sleeping about 11 hrs, I got up and jogged about six miles with the dog. It was very slow, took me about 64-65 min to do six miles, but I think it was very productive. I started off nice and easy and concentrated on loosening up various things. The worst was something in my right shin....it started to get sore on Friday sometime after supper. By Sunday, things had seized up. It took about three miles to loosen up, and then, of course, other bits clamoured for my attention; I tried to keep things fluid and gradually I got even slower, I think, but I felt much better at the end of it.
This is the best 'recovery' run I've had in a while...I think I've been going too fast, or not slow enough. My jogging speed is now my old recovery run speed and I don't think I was tapping into the true recovery jog level of effort anymore. I've been pondering my recent 30ish min jogs, my so-called 'easy' runs, and more and more I don't think I've accomplished much with those. What's the point in going out and doing a thirty minute too-fast-for--recovery run? I'm going to get tired out, but it's not a 30 min tempo run so I'm not going to improve, and instead I'm going to withdraw energy from my harder run, and I don't really enjoy 30 min runs much, anyway. Maybe a slower hour-long run, like the one I did today, will serve much better. I feel so. Maybe the day after a tough workout, I'd be better off just doing 20 min or whatever, or walking, but it's great to know that I can enjoy a longer run and be better off with it too.
I went to a yin yoga class later on, which helped as well. I'm hoping to do a longer run tomorrow. I was hoping to do it today, but I had too many things to loosen up.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
recovery run
Just 20 minutes jogging today, and some walking later on--I'm pretty stiff, surprise, surprise. But at least it's because I actually had a decent workout yesterday.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tues/Wed
Tues: easy 35 min run. Stiff and sluggish, but ok. I've noticed that sometimes it's as if a switch is flipped after about 20 minutes: the stiffness stays but it becomes more comfortable somehow. I coasted a bit after that, but tried to keep it short.
Wed: I rejoined run club! 6X 3min tempo, 1.5 min recovery. I jogged all the recovery periods, average speed 11:30-12:00/mile, lol, but that's ok. I still get the triggers for the arrythmia sometimes when starting or stopping quickly; these are impossible to remove and not such a big deal but still kind of annoying. It's better for me to continue to jog than walk or stop. The tempo portions were consistent until the last one: 7:44-7:50 mile. The last one was 8:03/mile--I was definitely getting tired. Not counting that one, I'm pleased with the consistency. The pace was slow but I was expecting that. These days, I'm slower than I used to be. At least the effort was honest and I didn't wilt too badly. Total: 6.91 miles.
This workout is a big boost to my confidence: I can do speedwork, and I can manage being with the group. Helped that we were doing timed intervals around a loop, lol...I was running alone, but that was fine. I didn't feel too out of shape.
Perhaps the real test will be how I feel tomorrow!
Ironically, run club is going into an easy month--this is good. I can work on tempo run endurance on my own.
Wed: I rejoined run club! 6X 3min tempo, 1.5 min recovery. I jogged all the recovery periods, average speed 11:30-12:00/mile, lol, but that's ok. I still get the triggers for the arrythmia sometimes when starting or stopping quickly; these are impossible to remove and not such a big deal but still kind of annoying. It's better for me to continue to jog than walk or stop. The tempo portions were consistent until the last one: 7:44-7:50 mile. The last one was 8:03/mile--I was definitely getting tired. Not counting that one, I'm pleased with the consistency. The pace was slow but I was expecting that. These days, I'm slower than I used to be. At least the effort was honest and I didn't wilt too badly. Total: 6.91 miles.
This workout is a big boost to my confidence: I can do speedwork, and I can manage being with the group. Helped that we were doing timed intervals around a loop, lol...I was running alone, but that was fine. I didn't feel too out of shape.
Perhaps the real test will be how I feel tomorrow!
Ironically, run club is going into an easy month--this is good. I can work on tempo run endurance on my own.
Monday, October 26, 2009
uh-oh
I was mistaken, only 17 more weeks to go.
My run today turned out ok. I got up early and set out with my husband, left him after a mile and a half or so (he was going to work) and continued with the dog. Dawn was breaking then and though it wasn't the most spectacular showing, it was definitely above average. There were very few people out; we had the scene to ourselves. After another mile or so, I decided that, yeah, maybe I could go a little faster, so I did a 15 min 'tempo' effort. I hesitate to claim the pace as tempo but, unless my dog has gotten considerably faster, the fact that he was able to keep up without breaking into another gait shows that I've gotten slower. I'd stopped taking him on tempo runs because it wasn't a comfortable pace for him, but now it is! Ah, well. I'm amazed that I could hold it for fifteen minutes. The last time I tried a tempo run, it was about three weeks ago: I went for ten minutes and my heart felt a little raw afterwards. This time it was fine. My legs were a bit sore, but the novelty and excitement of running fast(er) was compensation enough.
I'd thought I ran for about 75 minutes. But I think it might have been closer to 65...I checked when we left the house, but we walked for a bit and I forgot to check at the beginning of the run. Actually, I think I checked when we were about to leave, and then we had to put on shoes, get the dog ready, etc, etc, etc....LOL
We also ran a bit on those semi-derelict roads near the War Museum. I don't know why I like running through places that look abandoned! the thrill? Am I tapping into some exploration urge? It's weird, I get so worked up when I see someone inching onto the wrong side of the path, but neglect a road for a few decades, leave a bunch of rusting fencing/barbed wire/vehicles/who knows what strewn all over the place, and I'll blithely pick my way around that. Maybe I have some sort of post-apocalyptic gene waiting to be activated. The area around LeBreton flats isn't as junked up as other areas I've run through, but it's still deserted and strangely attractive. I also like seeing the fields (lawns?) gone to seed. Anything abandoned. And, yeah, I've got a somewhat mean-looking dog with me, but I went through stuff like that alone, before I got him. I don't know why running in this sort of terrain feeds my soul, but it does.
Resolution #546: post-recovery drink. I took an iron pill too, but the drink is something that I concocted and consumed for the first time this weekend: milk, whey powder, and molasses. It tastes surprisingly good. And it's pretty cheap; I got the whey powder from a bulk bin at a health food store. It's just whey powder, not a fancy mix with added flavours and sugar or whatever, so I was trying to dress it up with vanilla, almond extract, etc...molasses works far better. And it has some iron in it too.
Resolution #547: whole wheat. Yeah, man...I also realized today that maybe I'm feeling a bit better because somehow I'm not hitting the mini-wheats anymore. Once again, I've drifted off them. I think it happened before the weekend. How hard is it to pour a bowl and eat it? Well, a few times, it's been tough: I pour a bowl, lose my appetite, and then come the next morning, I see that there's plenty of fruit around and I eat that instead because I totally forget about the mini-wheats. A few days later, I feel better, and then remember. It's temporary, very selective amnesia. This is a good time to confess that this applies to my new food log too. Another confession: if I dump a bunch of fruit on top of the mini-wheats, that makes it a whole lot better. I have to hide them. It's not a taste thing, it's a visual thing. I think looking at them stresses me out. It's at times like this that I remember that I was a very picky eater as a child. LOL
Back to the food log--I see that I inadvertantly quit the mini-wheats on Thurs. I've been eating wheat in other things, so that's not so bad.
Maybe I don't need to eat whole wheat every day. The tests are still a long way off; I was told to eat wheat, but I don't think my NP is expecting me to royally trash myself over it. I'll eat a bowl today and have an easier run tomorrow, and then lay off the stuff tomorrow in prep for a harder run on Wednesday. I'll see if that works. At the very least, I have to stick to the hard-easy principle. My last three runs have been 5-6-6.5ish miles. 25 min is just not fun! I can't get anywhere interesting with that.
Well, I've proscrastinated enough. Back to chemistry.
My run today turned out ok. I got up early and set out with my husband, left him after a mile and a half or so (he was going to work) and continued with the dog. Dawn was breaking then and though it wasn't the most spectacular showing, it was definitely above average. There were very few people out; we had the scene to ourselves. After another mile or so, I decided that, yeah, maybe I could go a little faster, so I did a 15 min 'tempo' effort. I hesitate to claim the pace as tempo but, unless my dog has gotten considerably faster, the fact that he was able to keep up without breaking into another gait shows that I've gotten slower. I'd stopped taking him on tempo runs because it wasn't a comfortable pace for him, but now it is! Ah, well. I'm amazed that I could hold it for fifteen minutes. The last time I tried a tempo run, it was about three weeks ago: I went for ten minutes and my heart felt a little raw afterwards. This time it was fine. My legs were a bit sore, but the novelty and excitement of running fast(er) was compensation enough.
I'd thought I ran for about 75 minutes. But I think it might have been closer to 65...I checked when we left the house, but we walked for a bit and I forgot to check at the beginning of the run. Actually, I think I checked when we were about to leave, and then we had to put on shoes, get the dog ready, etc, etc, etc....LOL
We also ran a bit on those semi-derelict roads near the War Museum. I don't know why I like running through places that look abandoned! the thrill? Am I tapping into some exploration urge? It's weird, I get so worked up when I see someone inching onto the wrong side of the path, but neglect a road for a few decades, leave a bunch of rusting fencing/barbed wire/vehicles/who knows what strewn all over the place, and I'll blithely pick my way around that. Maybe I have some sort of post-apocalyptic gene waiting to be activated. The area around LeBreton flats isn't as junked up as other areas I've run through, but it's still deserted and strangely attractive. I also like seeing the fields (lawns?) gone to seed. Anything abandoned. And, yeah, I've got a somewhat mean-looking dog with me, but I went through stuff like that alone, before I got him. I don't know why running in this sort of terrain feeds my soul, but it does.
Resolution #546: post-recovery drink. I took an iron pill too, but the drink is something that I concocted and consumed for the first time this weekend: milk, whey powder, and molasses. It tastes surprisingly good. And it's pretty cheap; I got the whey powder from a bulk bin at a health food store. It's just whey powder, not a fancy mix with added flavours and sugar or whatever, so I was trying to dress it up with vanilla, almond extract, etc...molasses works far better. And it has some iron in it too.
Resolution #547: whole wheat. Yeah, man...I also realized today that maybe I'm feeling a bit better because somehow I'm not hitting the mini-wheats anymore. Once again, I've drifted off them. I think it happened before the weekend. How hard is it to pour a bowl and eat it? Well, a few times, it's been tough: I pour a bowl, lose my appetite, and then come the next morning, I see that there's plenty of fruit around and I eat that instead because I totally forget about the mini-wheats. A few days later, I feel better, and then remember. It's temporary, very selective amnesia. This is a good time to confess that this applies to my new food log too.
Back to the food log--I see that I inadvertantly quit the mini-wheats on Thurs. I've been eating wheat in other things, so that's not so bad.
Maybe I don't need to eat whole wheat every day. The tests are still a long way off; I was told to eat wheat, but I don't think my NP is expecting me to royally trash myself over it. I'll eat a bowl today and have an easier run tomorrow, and then lay off the stuff tomorrow in prep for a harder run on Wednesday. I'll see if that works. At the very least, I have to stick to the hard-easy principle. My last three runs have been 5-6-6.5ish miles. 25 min is just not fun! I can't get anywhere interesting with that.
Well, I've proscrastinated enough. Back to chemistry.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Another blah run
I jogged around for an hour. It was sunny and the temperature was nice and crisp with just the right amount of breeze. Wonderful running conditions, but I couldn't make good use of it because my legs were leaden and sore as usual. I got pretty down about this because I wanted to go further, I miss going further, and especially I miss coasting further. I miss those runs where I soak in the atmos and environment that it feels like I'm fully integrated, or hollow, or a collection of atoms moving through another collection of atoms, and then an hour or so later I come out of the daze and realize that I've been running for an hour, just existing. I can't coast like that anymore, I pay for each step.
So, man, I got into the dumps about this a bit and then mulled over the Winterman. Yeah, that's still under my skin. I decided on two new resolutions: I will resume taking iron supplements, and I will allow myself a wheat-free week before the Winterman. Heck, maybe even two weeks. And then I'll gorge myself on whole wheat and wreak renewed havoc (assuming that wheat is the culprit--at this point, after umpteen years of tests and trials, it seems to be, but I'm still bracing for some totally random variable to claim the damages). The prospect of a wheat free week is very encouraging. Remember that time when, oh, starting run actually felt like it was the start of the run, and not the end? Remember what that was like? LOL
So I registered for the full. Nineteen-ish weeks to go.
So, man, I got into the dumps about this a bit and then mulled over the Winterman. Yeah, that's still under my skin. I decided on two new resolutions: I will resume taking iron supplements, and I will allow myself a wheat-free week before the Winterman. Heck, maybe even two weeks. And then I'll gorge myself on whole wheat and wreak renewed havoc (assuming that wheat is the culprit--at this point, after umpteen years of tests and trials, it seems to be, but I'm still bracing for some totally random variable to claim the damages). The prospect of a wheat free week is very encouraging. Remember that time when, oh, starting run actually felt like it was the start of the run, and not the end? Remember what that was like? LOL
So I registered for the full. Nineteen-ish weeks to go.
a goal
Yesterday, I jogged for 25 min. Maybe I failed, though--not at jogging for 25 min, which was what I'd expected to do, but by doing the proper workout. I felt ok throughout, just the usual general stiffness/inflammation, but around 18-19 minutes, I felt a different twinge. For the past month or so, ever since I got off the restriction diet, I've had little twinges crop up around my knees, rarely the same one two days in a row, but mostly around my right knee. I think it's fatigue affecting alignment. Same thing like that old ITBS (old=gone=knock wood!) So I felt this twinge and decided to shake it out a bit, and I did, but then I kept going. Maybe that was a sign: that was the last thing that needed doing and then I should have stopped. My reason for cutting back my easy runs is to go by what my body wants, not by numbers, but I still seem to be stuck on numbers. Part of the problem is wanting to get back quickly, or at least not spending an extra ten minutes walking home. Maybe I need to run around the block so that I can stop exactly when I need to. LOL
There's one woman who used to run on a particular short stretch by the Canal over and over again. Now maybe I understand that better.
Anyway, yesterday, I decided to see how long a particular loop is--I'd run it many times, but not from my new house. I went down the Canal to the river, over one bridge and then back over another--well, there are more than two bridges to choose from, but the ones I chose were the ones closest to downtown: "The Bridges". A popular lunchtime running route for office workers. Usually it's about 5K. I'm a bit further off, plus going to the Canal and then the bike path by the river and then back to the Canal is a bit of a detour, so it was nearly 5 miles for me. I think I would like to run this route often because it's got considerable inclines and, though I won't be able to hit the river bike trails during winter, I can go on the sidewalks above, and all of it is plowed regularly. It would be a great route to run everyday; until I'm there, I think I can manage two times a week. And, when that becomes easy, I can extend to a farther bridge, or do the loop twic, or make it an out and back....there are possibilities.
I still haven't ditched the possibility of doing the Winterman full, sad to say, and running the bridges a lot last winter was excellent preparation for it. sometimes I ended up doing six bridges, just popping over, going down to the next one, popping back over, etc, etc....admittedly this was usually when I was late to run club and was going about hoping to catch them. LOL
Today, I'm not sure what I'll do. It'll depend on how I feel. An hour would be nice.
There's one woman who used to run on a particular short stretch by the Canal over and over again. Now maybe I understand that better.
Anyway, yesterday, I decided to see how long a particular loop is--I'd run it many times, but not from my new house. I went down the Canal to the river, over one bridge and then back over another--well, there are more than two bridges to choose from, but the ones I chose were the ones closest to downtown: "The Bridges". A popular lunchtime running route for office workers. Usually it's about 5K. I'm a bit further off, plus going to the Canal and then the bike path by the river and then back to the Canal is a bit of a detour, so it was nearly 5 miles for me. I think I would like to run this route often because it's got considerable inclines and, though I won't be able to hit the river bike trails during winter, I can go on the sidewalks above, and all of it is plowed regularly. It would be a great route to run everyday; until I'm there, I think I can manage two times a week. And, when that becomes easy, I can extend to a farther bridge, or do the loop twic, or make it an out and back....there are possibilities.
I still haven't ditched the possibility of doing the Winterman full, sad to say, and running the bridges a lot last winter was excellent preparation for it. sometimes I ended up doing six bridges, just popping over, going down to the next one, popping back over, etc, etc....admittedly this was usually when I was late to run club and was going about hoping to catch them. LOL
Today, I'm not sure what I'll do. It'll depend on how I feel. An hour would be nice.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A new tack
I've figured out what my problem is, or at least part of it: endorphins.
I didn't run Monday or Tuesday--I was so sore, walking was enough. I did yoga and felt less sore enough to run yesterday. However, I decided to keep it short. I think, I hope it helped loosened me up, but it was still a pretty blah run. Today's run felt marginally better so I went for 25 minutes. And just past 20 min or so, I felt the discomfort melt away, as it sometimes does, though not usually that clearly. I felt like, hey, I could go for longer, see more things--that's a big reason why I run, to see stuff. But I was good and cut it short.
I guess that's been a big part of the problem--I've been trashing myself more than I realize. Most of my runs these past couple of weeks, once I got back into running, have been about 60 minutes. Usually it's no big deal to run that everyday, what with the absence of speedwork. And it's very tempting to stretch a run out when it suddenly gets better after twenty minutes of discomfort. What's the point of doing just the warm up and not the run afterwards which feels better? Unfortunately, I don't have a full tank of gas, and I sailed unaware into debt.
How to get out?
Don't run the same somewhat hilly hr+ route every day! duh!
Go back to the easy-hard principle, even though 'hard' is 'easy'.
Scrap any hopes of training for anything for the time being.
I'd thought about going back on a restriction diet--this wish was renewed when I noticed yesterday that the raw pain was gone and then I realized that the whole wheat mini-wheats I'm trying to eat for breakfast had slipped off the menu sometime before the weekend. I've been eating a bunch of fruits and vegetables, meat and gravy instead. No biggie, except that I'm supposedly going to get tested for gluten intolerance and/or celiac disease, which means I have to consume the stuff so that they can see the damage. I'm raring to get those tests underway because the wheat thing actually makes sense--how is that I can go to Asia and eat raw things and seaweed and hot pepper paste and feel great, and go to Texas and eat beans and hot chilis and so forth and feel great, and then I go to somewhere else where it's bland and bread all the time, and I fall apart? My husband and I pieced it together, and then I talked with my NP and went on that restriction diet and I actually felt normal and it felt so good.
But my consultation isn't until April! Wouldn't I have time to go on and off another restriction diet? Wouldn't that help diagnosis? But perhaps not as much as royally trashing my digestive system--get a good brew of antibodies cooking for several months. I'm crossing my fingers that my appointment will get bumped up, though. Meanwhile, I'm trying to look at the positive side: I'm in a technician certificate course which will end with a 2-week clinical in April, after which I will get a new better job--with new better intestines too, hopefully. That coinciding improvement and the anticipation will make my rebirth all the more satisfying and complete. It'll be a whole new chapter in my life. Perhaps.
I didn't run Monday or Tuesday--I was so sore, walking was enough. I did yoga and felt less sore enough to run yesterday. However, I decided to keep it short. I think, I hope it helped loosened me up, but it was still a pretty blah run. Today's run felt marginally better so I went for 25 minutes. And just past 20 min or so, I felt the discomfort melt away, as it sometimes does, though not usually that clearly. I felt like, hey, I could go for longer, see more things--that's a big reason why I run, to see stuff. But I was good and cut it short.
I guess that's been a big part of the problem--I've been trashing myself more than I realize. Most of my runs these past couple of weeks, once I got back into running, have been about 60 minutes. Usually it's no big deal to run that everyday, what with the absence of speedwork. And it's very tempting to stretch a run out when it suddenly gets better after twenty minutes of discomfort. What's the point of doing just the warm up and not the run afterwards which feels better? Unfortunately, I don't have a full tank of gas, and I sailed unaware into debt.
How to get out?
Don't run the same somewhat hilly hr+ route every day! duh!
Go back to the easy-hard principle, even though 'hard' is 'easy'.
Scrap any hopes of training for anything for the time being.
I'd thought about going back on a restriction diet--this wish was renewed when I noticed yesterday that the raw pain was gone and then I realized that the whole wheat mini-wheats I'm trying to eat for breakfast had slipped off the menu sometime before the weekend. I've been eating a bunch of fruits and vegetables, meat and gravy instead. No biggie, except that I'm supposedly going to get tested for gluten intolerance and/or celiac disease, which means I have to consume the stuff so that they can see the damage. I'm raring to get those tests underway because the wheat thing actually makes sense--how is that I can go to Asia and eat raw things and seaweed and hot pepper paste and feel great, and go to Texas and eat beans and hot chilis and so forth and feel great, and then I go to somewhere else where it's bland and bread all the time, and I fall apart? My husband and I pieced it together, and then I talked with my NP and went on that restriction diet and I actually felt normal and it felt so good.
But my consultation isn't until April! Wouldn't I have time to go on and off another restriction diet? Wouldn't that help diagnosis? But perhaps not as much as royally trashing my digestive system--get a good brew of antibodies cooking for several months. I'm crossing my fingers that my appointment will get bumped up, though. Meanwhile, I'm trying to look at the positive side: I'm in a technician certificate course which will end with a 2-week clinical in April, after which I will get a new better job--with new better intestines too, hopefully. That coinciding improvement and the anticipation will make my rebirth all the more satisfying and complete. It'll be a whole new chapter in my life. Perhaps.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Update
reason #38 why I adore the internet:
Seems that whenever I post a pressing concern online, be it on a blog or message board or whatever, it gets resolved quickly. Kind of reminds me of that self-help suggestion of writing down your goals or whatever it is. I used to think that writing things down helped spur subconscious commitment somehow, but maybe it's really just cosmic. The words have to exist in some sort of visual form for the stars to be favourably aligned.
Anyway, shortly after typing my previous entry, I got a letter about my consultation with a GI specialist. I have an appointment. Unfortunately, it's not until April, so I have to decide if I'll take the opportunity to go on another elimination diet/food journal escapade to give myself a bit of a break, or what, but, FORTUNATELY, judging by what Google dug up, this doctor believes in managing conditions through diet and exercise--to what extent, I don't know, but it seems promising. That's the approach I'm hoping for. Not just pills. I've sought medical help for my gut issue in the two other countries I've lived in: my Korean doctor ran some enzyme tests and put me on a better diet which has helped a LOT (I'm no longer dropping 20 or so pounds when things get bad, or falling asleep while standing); my American doctor tried to dismiss me but after some begging and rather graphic descriptions on my part, she gave me pills. To be honest, they were quite effective in removing a rather disgusting symptom but they were no cure.
So maybe the third time's the charm.
Seems that whenever I post a pressing concern online, be it on a blog or message board or whatever, it gets resolved quickly. Kind of reminds me of that self-help suggestion of writing down your goals or whatever it is. I used to think that writing things down helped spur subconscious commitment somehow, but maybe it's really just cosmic. The words have to exist in some sort of visual form for the stars to be favourably aligned.
Anyway, shortly after typing my previous entry, I got a letter about my consultation with a GI specialist. I have an appointment. Unfortunately, it's not until April, so I have to decide if I'll take the opportunity to go on another elimination diet/food journal escapade to give myself a bit of a break, or what, but, FORTUNATELY, judging by what Google dug up, this doctor believes in managing conditions through diet and exercise--to what extent, I don't know, but it seems promising. That's the approach I'm hoping for. Not just pills. I've sought medical help for my gut issue in the two other countries I've lived in: my Korean doctor ran some enzyme tests and put me on a better diet which has helped a LOT (I'm no longer dropping 20 or so pounds when things get bad, or falling asleep while standing); my American doctor tried to dismiss me but after some begging and rather graphic descriptions on my part, she gave me pills. To be honest, they were quite effective in removing a rather disgusting symptom but they were no cure.
So maybe the third time's the charm.
No running today
I'm stiff and sore. I kept waking up from it during the night. It's been gradually getting worse. Oh, well. I walked with the dog this morning and will do some yoga.
Fingers crossed that they'll call me up to do that test soon!
Fingers crossed that they'll call me up to do that test soon!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Long run
Saturday, I ran about 10K with friends and then had breakfast. The run was easy for them, not so easy for me. After a while, my legs got stiffer. But I kept up. Apparently the run was around 5:30/K.
Sunday, I jogged about 10 miles with the dog. Funnily enough, my Garmin resurfaced (while we were looking for something else which we still haven't found so we're still missing something and thus still not ahead). It seemed like an obvious sign to check in. Turns out that, yes, my jogging speed is around 10 min/mile these days. A little slow for the great weather we've been having, but I regret more that I'm lacking the higher gears, but I have to accept this.
I still haven't had any news about when I can take the antibody test or whatever--I'm rather anxious about getting this over with so that I can change my diet to something kinder. In my presently dull state, I can manage jogging 40-60 min a day, but the group runs and long runs I want to do require a bit more than I can manage. My muscles aren't recovering like they used to. Maybe in a few weeks, I'll get used to it. My heart is fine. It still feels momentarily sore after each new increase in effort, but there's been definite improvement. At first, five minutes was a stretch, then ten, then twenty, then an hour, then 80 min...I think 50 min of jogging is actually my level of comfort now. Definitely forty, some days sixty. I start to feel more sore after seventy and that's mostly my legs.
Still, I was surprised by how much the ten-miler sapped me. AS much as I don't want to have a plan, I cannot ditch hopes of aiming for the Winterman in February, and it would be nice to manage two hour runs comfortably by November. Maybe the next ten-miler will go better. I figure I'll register anyway, while the price is low, and then if I have to drop to a shorter race, I wouldn't have paid much more than registering for that shorter race later on. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I'm taking a day off running and making broth with the duck leftovers from Thanksgiving. I've been eating plenty of protein and fat at least!
Sunday, I jogged about 10 miles with the dog. Funnily enough, my Garmin resurfaced (while we were looking for something else which we still haven't found so we're still missing something and thus still not ahead). It seemed like an obvious sign to check in. Turns out that, yes, my jogging speed is around 10 min/mile these days. A little slow for the great weather we've been having, but I regret more that I'm lacking the higher gears, but I have to accept this.
I still haven't had any news about when I can take the antibody test or whatever--I'm rather anxious about getting this over with so that I can change my diet to something kinder. In my presently dull state, I can manage jogging 40-60 min a day, but the group runs and long runs I want to do require a bit more than I can manage. My muscles aren't recovering like they used to. Maybe in a few weeks, I'll get used to it. My heart is fine. It still feels momentarily sore after each new increase in effort, but there's been definite improvement. At first, five minutes was a stretch, then ten, then twenty, then an hour, then 80 min...I think 50 min of jogging is actually my level of comfort now. Definitely forty, some days sixty. I start to feel more sore after seventy and that's mostly my legs.
Still, I was surprised by how much the ten-miler sapped me. AS much as I don't want to have a plan, I cannot ditch hopes of aiming for the Winterman in February, and it would be nice to manage two hour runs comfortably by November. Maybe the next ten-miler will go better. I figure I'll register anyway, while the price is low, and then if I have to drop to a shorter race, I wouldn't have paid much more than registering for that shorter race later on. We'll see.
Meanwhile, I'm taking a day off running and making broth with the duck leftovers from Thanksgiving. I've been eating plenty of protein and fat at least!
Friday, October 16, 2009
sluggy
Today I ran for 52 minutes. I met a friend on the way so I ran back with him and it was good to get into a faster pace. Faster, as in actually under 10:00/mile. LOL. I'm not sure of my usual pace, but I think it's a bit over 10:00/mile. Anyway, after about 2.5 miles of a faster pace (I have no idea how fast it was), my muscles were a bit sore, but aerobically, I was fine. I could still talk. That's where my running is at this point: my heart is groovy but my muscles don't have the juice to do much besides jog. But I still think it's best to jog. It preserves my appetite and weight somewhat--these things have been a lot more stable since I started running umpteen years ago. And it makes me feel better.
I guess it all works out as I've said before: this way, my heart gets eased into the more strenuous stuff pretty gradually. I was really lucky with how quickly the heart stuff was resolved and I can't expect the GI stuff to be resolved as quickly. However, I would really really like to do the antibody tests soon! It's funny, part of me is itching to type out more details, and the other part of me is like, no, that's just too gross. Maybe I need to find a friend with iffy guts so that we can talk about, well, iffy gut stuff.
Anyway, I'm going to try to focus more on writing about running. Today, for instance, we started running around 6:40. It was dark. I was looking forward to running into the light or something mythical like that, but after all that anticipation, dawn still managed to creep up without being savoured. I don't even remember it getting light. No pretty colours. All of a sudden, I noticed that it was light and things were back to normal.
I guess it all works out as I've said before: this way, my heart gets eased into the more strenuous stuff pretty gradually. I was really lucky with how quickly the heart stuff was resolved and I can't expect the GI stuff to be resolved as quickly. However, I would really really like to do the antibody tests soon! It's funny, part of me is itching to type out more details, and the other part of me is like, no, that's just too gross. Maybe I need to find a friend with iffy guts so that we can talk about, well, iffy gut stuff.
Anyway, I'm going to try to focus more on writing about running. Today, for instance, we started running around 6:40. It was dark. I was looking forward to running into the light or something mythical like that, but after all that anticipation, dawn still managed to creep up without being savoured. I don't even remember it getting light. No pretty colours. All of a sudden, I noticed that it was light and things were back to normal.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
home internet!
We are wired!
I'm still recovering...and still waiting to get antibody tests or whatever so that I can stop eating things that disagree with me. I'm not feeling 100% but at least my heart is, I think! Now and then, it feels sore, but less and less often, and I don't think it's limiting me in any way anymore.
My Garmin still hasn't resurfaced post-move, but I think that's a good thing. It's better that I have no idea or hopes or dreams about pace. I've been going by time, and if I want to stop or walk, I do.
Today, the dog and I jogged for 80 min. I'm pleased about that. I was still sluggy and I think bugs were crawling past us, and the dog kept turning to look at me in confusion ("I think you're running....backwards....") but it felt good to get blood flowing for that long. After about an hour, I got a big flood of endorphins or something of that nature. It hit me all at once. That was kind of neat.
I'm still recovering...and still waiting to get antibody tests or whatever so that I can stop eating things that disagree with me. I'm not feeling 100% but at least my heart is, I think! Now and then, it feels sore, but less and less often, and I don't think it's limiting me in any way anymore.
My Garmin still hasn't resurfaced post-move, but I think that's a good thing. It's better that I have no idea or hopes or dreams about pace. I've been going by time, and if I want to stop or walk, I do.
Today, the dog and I jogged for 80 min. I'm pleased about that. I was still sluggy and I think bugs were crawling past us, and the dog kept turning to look at me in confusion ("I think you're running....backwards....") but it felt good to get blood flowing for that long. After about an hour, I got a big flood of endorphins or something of that nature. It hit me all at once. That was kind of neat.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Quick-quick update
We still don't have internet in the new place, but strangely I don't miss it too much. =
Anyway, running is getting better and better as the digestive issue gets worse and worse, so it pretty much evens out and I'm content. I've been running 50-70 minutes the past three days, and I made it to--and through--a hot yoga class yesterday.
We'll be going up north for Thanksgiving, and since we're staying at a place with no running water, I'm not sure how much running, if any, I'll do this weekend. The focus will be on eating.
Anyway, running is getting better and better as the digestive issue gets worse and worse, so it pretty much evens out and I'm content. I've been running 50-70 minutes the past three days, and I made it to--and through--a hot yoga class yesterday.
We'll be going up north for Thanksgiving, and since we're staying at a place with no running water, I'm not sure how much running, if any, I'll do this weekend. The focus will be on eating.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
back in the saddle
I ran about five miles without stopping today. My first run was on Wednesday, 3X 1km jogging, and it was kind of rough. On Friday, I was able to do about 25 minutes in two installments, which really surprised me. Yesterday, I did a 10km walk/run--not sure of the time or intervals or whatever, but it was at least 10km. I was going to go on a shorter run today, but I got into tempo effort and then, after 2km, it was time to slow down, but jogging still felt good. After a while, my heart felt a little sore, but that cleared up after a few minutes. Same thing happened on my first run on Wednesday; actually, it also happened the first time I walked at a normal pace. Everything's fine, just in disuse, and it seems reasonable to gradually ask a bit more. I've also been doing yoga every day. Apart from schoolwork and unpacking, I have plenty of time--I doubt I'll resume work this year, unless part-time. We'll see.
I'm really happy with my progress--after Wednesday's dismal endeavor, I actually assumed that it would take me at least a couple of weeks to run 20 min continuously. More importantly, though, I feel confident that I won't get tachycardia again. Friday evening, while I was shopping, I bent over to pick up some dropped change. My heart did its usual flip and, for a split second, clenched or something. It actually hurt. It was trying to get into its old arrythmia; I recognized the feeling but it was more intense. Maybe it was trying harder. Alas, it couldn't kick the works into that special high gear. I have felt other triggers post-op, but this one felt like it would have been an especially big bout of tachycardia. The cardiologist and surgeon both told me that they couldn't take away the triggers, but that I shouldn't ever feel tachycardia again. After Friday evening's event, I believe them. They sure busted that connection!
Meanwhile, I'm embarking on another round of tests, this time for the GI problem. I've been referred to a GI specialist and hopefully I'll see him/her soon; meanwhile, I've been plowing through potential trigger foods in prep for antibody tests. Hence I'm getting progressively more drained. This has affected running among other things, but perhaps it's good timing. With chronically dead legs and low energy, I have been gentle with my heart.
It is so good to run again! I think I'm pretty slow, but that doesn't matter. My perspective has changed somewhat.
I'm really happy with my progress--after Wednesday's dismal endeavor, I actually assumed that it would take me at least a couple of weeks to run 20 min continuously. More importantly, though, I feel confident that I won't get tachycardia again. Friday evening, while I was shopping, I bent over to pick up some dropped change. My heart did its usual flip and, for a split second, clenched or something. It actually hurt. It was trying to get into its old arrythmia; I recognized the feeling but it was more intense. Maybe it was trying harder. Alas, it couldn't kick the works into that special high gear. I have felt other triggers post-op, but this one felt like it would have been an especially big bout of tachycardia. The cardiologist and surgeon both told me that they couldn't take away the triggers, but that I shouldn't ever feel tachycardia again. After Friday evening's event, I believe them. They sure busted that connection!
Meanwhile, I'm embarking on another round of tests, this time for the GI problem. I've been referred to a GI specialist and hopefully I'll see him/her soon; meanwhile, I've been plowing through potential trigger foods in prep for antibody tests. Hence I'm getting progressively more drained. This has affected running among other things, but perhaps it's good timing. With chronically dead legs and low energy, I have been gentle with my heart.
It is so good to run again! I think I'm pretty slow, but that doesn't matter. My perspective has changed somewhat.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
quick post-op update
I can almost walk at a normal pace. LOL
The operation went really well and I'm recovering nicely. I was conscious--albeit, groovy--during the operation. The highlight was being injected with adrenaline. They injected other stimulants, too, but once that adrenaline hit, I really felt like I should be moving or doing something instead of just lying there (strapped to the bed, actually, lol). My limbs wanted to move. Maybe I just wanted to get out of there. The adrenaline did the trick, the tachycardia cropped up and they somehow located the source and burned it with one of the four (?) devices pushed up my femoral vein. The surgeon showed me the x-ray of my heart with the caths in it. He also showed me the end of the caths themselves after withdrawing them. He seemed to hesitate slightly before doing so, perhaps because of the blood. Perhaps most people don't get a peek. I'd like to thank my impressive fortitude for the privilege, but I really owe everything to the rather numbing IV cocktail.
My heart still feels sort of 'gritty' and the incision is still healing, but in another week or so, things should be pretty much fine. I can walk around ok, stairs are fine, bending down is getting better, picking up/carrying heavy things is still iffy....and yesterday, I caught myself bolting up the stairs like normal. not bad!
I'm not sure when I'll resume running, but I'm in no rush.
The operation went really well and I'm recovering nicely. I was conscious--albeit, groovy--during the operation. The highlight was being injected with adrenaline. They injected other stimulants, too, but once that adrenaline hit, I really felt like I should be moving or doing something instead of just lying there (strapped to the bed, actually, lol). My limbs wanted to move. Maybe I just wanted to get out of there. The adrenaline did the trick, the tachycardia cropped up and they somehow located the source and burned it with one of the four (?) devices pushed up my femoral vein. The surgeon showed me the x-ray of my heart with the caths in it. He also showed me the end of the caths themselves after withdrawing them. He seemed to hesitate slightly before doing so, perhaps because of the blood. Perhaps most people don't get a peek. I'd like to thank my impressive fortitude for the privilege, but I really owe everything to the rather numbing IV cocktail.
My heart still feels sort of 'gritty' and the incision is still healing, but in another week or so, things should be pretty much fine. I can walk around ok, stairs are fine, bending down is getting better, picking up/carrying heavy things is still iffy....and yesterday, I caught myself bolting up the stairs like normal. not bad!
I'm not sure when I'll resume running, but I'm in no rush.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
quick update
I moved and internet hasn't been set up yet.
I've been running, but it's been so-so, but no worries.
My operation is tomorrow! It'll be good to get it behind me.
I've been running, but it's been so-so, but no worries.
My operation is tomorrow! It'll be good to get it behind me.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Minnesota and skipping workouts
Well, I went with my husband to Minnesota for a friend's wedding. It was a fun trip. But, man, gut problems. I pushed things a little too hard last week anyway, and it feels like I haven't been absorbing enough to recover. I skipped running on Friday and Saturday; Sunday was supposed to be a long run or something, but after 2.5ish miles, my right knee was acting up. Nothing major, but it seemed the sort of thing that could become major. With my muscles this tired, it feels like everything is going in every direction, which strains the ligaments around my joints so odd little things are cropping up. It just happened to be my right knee this time--it did feel a little odd last week, but not where it hurt on Sunday. Later on, while I was walking around, my left knee was feeling weird. LOL
I didn't run on Monday or Tuesday or this morning. I've been quite tired and sleeping a couple of extra hours a night/day. I was going to attempt speedwork this evening, but I just found out that I will be having my cath ablation next Thursday. The Army Run is the Sunday after that, so I'm not sure how much of a possibility it will be, if any. But, hey, I'm thrilled that I can get the proceedure done so quickly: I was told that I wouldn't get to see the doctor for the first appointment until November at the earliest but things have been bumped up nicely for me. :). So, I'll just run for fun until next Thurs, then recover and see what could be possible.
And we move tomorrow! Our stuff comes out of storage after 1.5 years...it'll be like Christmas.
I didn't run on Monday or Tuesday or this morning. I've been quite tired and sleeping a couple of extra hours a night/day. I was going to attempt speedwork this evening, but I just found out that I will be having my cath ablation next Thursday. The Army Run is the Sunday after that, so I'm not sure how much of a possibility it will be, if any. But, hey, I'm thrilled that I can get the proceedure done so quickly: I was told that I wouldn't get to see the doctor for the first appointment until November at the earliest but things have been bumped up nicely for me. :). So, I'll just run for fun until next Thurs, then recover and see what could be possible.
And we move tomorrow! Our stuff comes out of storage after 1.5 years...it'll be like Christmas.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
speedwork
Oh, and today's mileage: 0. Neither the dog nor I was up for running this morning. A short walk seemed to suffice.
Yesterday evening, I headed out with my husband and the dog. It was a bit warm and after about three miles, the dog had had enough. The phantom poop made its appearance, or lack of, a few times in short succession, which is the dog's way of telling us that he's starting to get a little bored of running. When he's had enough, he gets distracted by smelling things, but since I don't let him stop to smell things while running, he's learnt to pretend that he's about to poop.
Anyway, after some discussion, I left the boys in the Arboretum and jogged back downtown to join the running club. But something happened. I started to pick up speed, started to pass people, which necessitated more speed so that they wouldn't return the favour, and it ended up being a 3 mile tempo-ish run. It felt surprisingly good. At first, I debated slowing down, but it was my hard day and I'd already planned to show up for speedwork somewhat tired. I jogged another mile more slowly and ate a gel, and that brought me up to 7 miles by the time run club started. My legs were definitely tired during the warm-up so I didn't know quite what to expect.
We had to do mile repeats. I'd hoped to do four.
These days, I'm in my own zone pace-wise. There's the fast clump of guys, another smaller clump or two behind them, and then me. Lately I've been not-quite fast enough to keep up with a new female member, which is fine.
However, my legs, heavy as they felt, tapped into the inexplicable juice again...I trailed for the 800M out, and then, somehow, almost caught up to her and a man running with her, and we'd caught up to a 2nd woman who had blazed by and then faded. The out-and-back helped--turning around and knowing that it's half over is highly encouraging.
My first mile was in 7:03. Not as fast as I have been, but definitely faster than what I'd hoped for.
I tried to keep up, and almost did, for two more repeats. I also tried to go as efficiently as possible, concentrating on form, etc. My next two miles were in 7:06 and 7:12. Fading, but I was happy. I did 1/2 of another repeat, but at a more reasonable pace (hopefully 1/2 marathon pace, around 8:00/mile) and jogged back, then home. 12.38 miles in total for the evening.
About a year ago, I did 5X 1600 M: 6:57, 7:04, 6:59, 6:48, 6:55. I was also running a lot more, including some weeks over 100K. I don't have the same stamina now. I'm slower and I'm doing fewer repeats. However, I feel that I am sharpening up somewhat again. Last year, I think I peaked too early for my A race, the Philly marathon--I was tight for the Army Run and then started getting tired. This year, I'm not sure what I'll be doing after the Army Run exceptpossibly the February marathon here, so it would be ok to peak in a couple of weeks and then concentrate on building mileage or something.
However, if I'm going to peak, I also have to loosen up...I've been sorely neglecting yoga this summer, partially due to environmental causes. Lack of space. However, we're moving next week and this will no longer be an issue. My right leg is starting to feel off.
At any rate, I've already run 40 miles this week...it would be nice to get another run in, but not necessary. That long run on Sunday sure plumps up mileage nicely.
Yesterday evening, I headed out with my husband and the dog. It was a bit warm and after about three miles, the dog had had enough. The phantom poop made its appearance, or lack of, a few times in short succession, which is the dog's way of telling us that he's starting to get a little bored of running. When he's had enough, he gets distracted by smelling things, but since I don't let him stop to smell things while running, he's learnt to pretend that he's about to poop.
Anyway, after some discussion, I left the boys in the Arboretum and jogged back downtown to join the running club. But something happened. I started to pick up speed, started to pass people, which necessitated more speed so that they wouldn't return the favour, and it ended up being a 3 mile tempo-ish run. It felt surprisingly good. At first, I debated slowing down, but it was my hard day and I'd already planned to show up for speedwork somewhat tired. I jogged another mile more slowly and ate a gel, and that brought me up to 7 miles by the time run club started. My legs were definitely tired during the warm-up so I didn't know quite what to expect.
We had to do mile repeats. I'd hoped to do four.
These days, I'm in my own zone pace-wise. There's the fast clump of guys, another smaller clump or two behind them, and then me. Lately I've been not-quite fast enough to keep up with a new female member, which is fine.
However, my legs, heavy as they felt, tapped into the inexplicable juice again...I trailed for the 800M out, and then, somehow, almost caught up to her and a man running with her, and we'd caught up to a 2nd woman who had blazed by and then faded. The out-and-back helped--turning around and knowing that it's half over is highly encouraging.
My first mile was in 7:03. Not as fast as I have been, but definitely faster than what I'd hoped for.
I tried to keep up, and almost did, for two more repeats. I also tried to go as efficiently as possible, concentrating on form, etc. My next two miles were in 7:06 and 7:12. Fading, but I was happy. I did 1/2 of another repeat, but at a more reasonable pace (hopefully 1/2 marathon pace, around 8:00/mile) and jogged back, then home. 12.38 miles in total for the evening.
About a year ago, I did 5X 1600 M: 6:57, 7:04, 6:59, 6:48, 6:55. I was also running a lot more, including some weeks over 100K. I don't have the same stamina now. I'm slower and I'm doing fewer repeats. However, I feel that I am sharpening up somewhat again. Last year, I think I peaked too early for my A race, the Philly marathon--I was tight for the Army Run and then started getting tired. This year, I'm not sure what I'll be doing after the Army Run exceptpossibly the February marathon here, so it would be ok to peak in a couple of weeks and then concentrate on building mileage or something.
However, if I'm going to peak, I also have to loosen up...I've been sorely neglecting yoga this summer, partially due to environmental causes. Lack of space. However, we're moving next week and this will no longer be an issue. My right leg is starting to feel off.
At any rate, I've already run 40 miles this week...it would be nice to get another run in, but not necessary. That long run on Sunday sure plumps up mileage nicely.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Wednesday
To be updated--speedwork tonight!
Monday, I just walked. I didn't feel especially sore, but since my mileage seems to be just under 40miles/week these days, I felt it best to spare some for the rest of the week. ;)
Tues, I jogged six miles with the dog. This was a somewhat odd run. I've been off the elimination diet since Wednesday, and the symptoms are slowly returning, including heavy limbs and fatigue. This was the first run that reminded me of my other runs this summer, before the elimination diet. I was going pretty slowly and feeling an abnormally raised effort for it. It didn't feel like I was tired from Sunday's run, more of a general dullness. After two miles, I considered cutting it short, but I kept on and gradually found a new gear, accelerated, and ended the run at a pretty good clip. It was encouraging how it turned out, but it also made me wonder if I'd overdrawn.
This morning, three miles with the dog. A very slow run despite the relative coolness. He's tired, I'm tired...we'll both probably run this evening too.
With any luck, it'll work out like last Wednesday's workout (minus the trips to the loo)--I'll jog around for a while with my husband and dog, and then crank out a few faster mile repeats through the fatigue. Hopefully. I'll be happy with anything below 8:00/mile.
And then, Thursday, we're off to Minnesota for a friend's wedding. I have no idea how much running I'm going to get in. Maybe I can do an interval workout on a hotel TM on Friday, at least. I would also like to do one more 14+ mile run, hopefully with a faster finish, but this can get postponed until after my return. I am still considering going back on the elimination diet after the wedding hoopla to give me a bit more energy for the Army 1/2. My follow-up is on the 14th so I can show them that, hey, going without eating X and Y for a week felt good BOTH times. LOL
As for goals for the Army 1/2...I would like to PB, but I haven't been doing the miles or the long runs or the speedwork that I was doing last year at this time before my PB at last year's Army Run. My mileage was much more consistent this winter and early spring, and I was doing regular tempo and sprints/speedwork plus resistance exercises earlier this summer, unlike mostly slacking early last summer, and then things fell apart. I haven't been doing speedwork on Fridays, and I've recently done only one run over 16 miles as opposed to six between July 27 and Sept 8in 2008. My 1500M interval pace is definitely slower this August than last August by about 20 sec/mile. Although last Wednesday wasn't really my day. I've had worse, but with the help of bacteria.
So: A goal: under 8:00/mile.
B goal: under 1:50.
C goal: under 2hrs.
If it's hot, I'll be happy with under 2hrs.
Monday, I just walked. I didn't feel especially sore, but since my mileage seems to be just under 40miles/week these days, I felt it best to spare some for the rest of the week. ;)
Tues, I jogged six miles with the dog. This was a somewhat odd run. I've been off the elimination diet since Wednesday, and the symptoms are slowly returning, including heavy limbs and fatigue. This was the first run that reminded me of my other runs this summer, before the elimination diet. I was going pretty slowly and feeling an abnormally raised effort for it. It didn't feel like I was tired from Sunday's run, more of a general dullness. After two miles, I considered cutting it short, but I kept on and gradually found a new gear, accelerated, and ended the run at a pretty good clip. It was encouraging how it turned out, but it also made me wonder if I'd overdrawn.
This morning, three miles with the dog. A very slow run despite the relative coolness. He's tired, I'm tired...we'll both probably run this evening too.
With any luck, it'll work out like last Wednesday's workout (minus the trips to the loo)--I'll jog around for a while with my husband and dog, and then crank out a few faster mile repeats through the fatigue. Hopefully. I'll be happy with anything below 8:00/mile.
And then, Thursday, we're off to Minnesota for a friend's wedding. I have no idea how much running I'm going to get in. Maybe I can do an interval workout on a hotel TM on Friday, at least. I would also like to do one more 14+ mile run, hopefully with a faster finish, but this can get postponed until after my return. I am still considering going back on the elimination diet after the wedding hoopla to give me a bit more energy for the Army 1/2. My follow-up is on the 14th so I can show them that, hey, going without eating X and Y for a week felt good BOTH times. LOL
As for goals for the Army 1/2...I would like to PB, but I haven't been doing the miles or the long runs or the speedwork that I was doing last year at this time before my PB at last year's Army Run. My mileage was much more consistent this winter and early spring, and I was doing regular tempo and sprints/speedwork plus resistance exercises earlier this summer, unlike mostly slacking early last summer, and then things fell apart. I haven't been doing speedwork on Fridays, and I've recently done only one run over 16 miles as opposed to six between July 27 and Sept 8in 2008. My 1500M interval pace is definitely slower this August than last August by about 20 sec/mile. Although last Wednesday wasn't really my day. I've had worse, but with the help of bacteria.
So: A goal: under 8:00/mile.
B goal: under 1:50.
C goal: under 2hrs.
If it's hot, I'll be happy with under 2hrs.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
slacking, or not
I guess maintaining the food log and this one is too much!
Anyway, Tuesday, no run, just dragonboating. And then I ended up getting really hungry around 9 pm and there was KFC in the house.
It might not have chicken, but it has other things such as spices, flour, and goodness knows what else. I stayed up most of the night feeling hot and crampy. I had an exam the next morning and barely made it on time...I wasn't nervous about the exam at all, until I started to worry about being late.
I wasn't sure how speedwork would go on Wednesday, after a morning like that, without much of a breakfast or lunch. My husband decided to run with the dog around 4:30 so I tagged along. I needed a pitstop, but surprisingly I felt ok after jogging really slowly for a bit. We ran about 7.3 miles total, and then I ran to run club to attempt the intervals. They were 1500s. The first one I had to cut short--I had to go to the bathroom again and there was one across the street around 1200ish metres. I didn't feel so great, but it was a simple matter to jog to the other end of the 1500M stretch and try again. And again, and again. I was on my own within the group, but that was fine. I was very happy with my pace, especially considering that I'd already run ten miles by the time I got to the intervals: .81 @ 7:26/mile), then @ 7:34, 7:17, 7:29. The out and back is slightly faster going out, due to a downhill, so I was a bit more consistent than my paces indicate.
The weird thing was, once I'd gotten all that KFC or whatever out of my system, I started to feel euphoric. I found more energy. The intervals were tough, but jogging around felt great.
I think I will run around for a while until tackling intervals next week too. My 1/2 marathon is 3 weeks away and while I could use some VO2 max workouts and it doesn't seem to take much to sharpen up (I think it has made me peak early in the past, lol), the intervals next week, 1 mile, are too long for VO2 max workouts anyway, and I think I need to get used to the feeling of moving faster while tired. I did faster stuff earlier this summer, but maybe Friday evenings I can do some more 1K repeats or whereabouts to get tightened up.
At any rate, my combo run on Wednesday was over 15 miles and I paid for it: another ear infection on Thursday, though this time I could swallow liquids. I jogged 2 very stiff miles with the dog, and 4 on Friday--I'd hoped to do some speedwork that evening, but I was too stiff.
I also started eating wheat again on Friday for diagnostic purposes. So far, more bloat and poop again, and I got and lost my period within a day which is weird, but I'm still feeling alright. Still, I'd rather not eat wheat for much longer--it would be great to have this added energy for the last two weeks prior to the Army Run. I don't have any other planned races this fall so anything will be cool after that. At any rate, I'll go see my nurse practitioner soon, food log in hand, and then we can discuss the next step.
Saturday was absolutely miserable...it was a dragonboat festival, which should have been fun, but it was 11C, pouring rain and windy the whole 6.5-7 hours we were out. I got soaked. I was so cold. I don't do well waiting around in wet clothes--I tend to lose heat pretty efficiently, which is great when it's 30C but not so much in colder conditions. It was sweat for a few minutes, wait for an hour, X4. I had extra clothes, and I changed a couple of times, but I should have bought more clothes for the races because, as nice as it felt to change into dry clothes between races, it really sucked to change back into cold wet clothes for the races, so after the first time, I didn't bother. I was racing in a tank top to minimize soaking and maximize flexibility, but by the time the last race rolled by, I kept my two layers and raincoat on.
Fortunately, someone brought wool blankets so I didn't shiver much. My arrythmia started to play up near the end, which was a bit uncomfortable, but once I got home and warmed up, the main symptom was appetite. I was starving. We had some goose fat pate and that stuff was perfect. I ate most of the jar, among other things. Then I slept for a few hours, then we went out for supper, then I slept again. I got a lot of sleep.
Sunday, I wasn't sure what was going to happen except that I wanted to catch up with Gaz #1. We arranged to meet up at 8:00 am and, thank goodness, our paces matched. I wasn't sure if I'd be crawling along at 11+/mile, but fortunately I had enough energy to keep up. After nine-ish miles of going by the canal and around the farm, we parted ways and I decided to go home and see if my husband was up for a run. Going home brought it to ten miles. He felt pretty rough (he had been dragonboating/soaking in miserable Hurricane Bill remnants too), maybe good for a few miles. I was hoping to make this my longest run, 16ish miles, so I figured that I might have to run a few on my own afterwards.
Well, the man loosened up and we ran back along the Canal, back to the farm, back along the farm---this is really trippy because I've never run in the farm apart from winter, and today I spent umpteen miles in there, running by cows, corn, running on grass, etc. THe only time I've run through there was during the Hypothermic 1/2s in the dead of winter--it was so bizarre to see all that green and growth in there.
Finally, I pulled the plug at 19.34 miles, or a nice round mile for my husband and dog. I thought about stretching to twenty, but 19ish seemed long enough. I'm very happy with it, and quite tired. I'm not really sure what my long run will be next week--I might try a shorter one with some faster miles at the end. Will see.
Anyway, Tuesday, no run, just dragonboating. And then I ended up getting really hungry around 9 pm and there was KFC in the house.
It might not have chicken, but it has other things such as spices, flour, and goodness knows what else. I stayed up most of the night feeling hot and crampy. I had an exam the next morning and barely made it on time...I wasn't nervous about the exam at all, until I started to worry about being late.
I wasn't sure how speedwork would go on Wednesday, after a morning like that, without much of a breakfast or lunch. My husband decided to run with the dog around 4:30 so I tagged along. I needed a pitstop, but surprisingly I felt ok after jogging really slowly for a bit. We ran about 7.3 miles total, and then I ran to run club to attempt the intervals. They were 1500s. The first one I had to cut short--I had to go to the bathroom again and there was one across the street around 1200ish metres. I didn't feel so great, but it was a simple matter to jog to the other end of the 1500M stretch and try again. And again, and again. I was on my own within the group, but that was fine. I was very happy with my pace, especially considering that I'd already run ten miles by the time I got to the intervals: .81 @ 7:26/mile), then @ 7:34, 7:17, 7:29. The out and back is slightly faster going out, due to a downhill, so I was a bit more consistent than my paces indicate.
The weird thing was, once I'd gotten all that KFC or whatever out of my system, I started to feel euphoric. I found more energy. The intervals were tough, but jogging around felt great.
I think I will run around for a while until tackling intervals next week too. My 1/2 marathon is 3 weeks away and while I could use some VO2 max workouts and it doesn't seem to take much to sharpen up (I think it has made me peak early in the past, lol), the intervals next week, 1 mile, are too long for VO2 max workouts anyway, and I think I need to get used to the feeling of moving faster while tired. I did faster stuff earlier this summer, but maybe Friday evenings I can do some more 1K repeats or whereabouts to get tightened up.
At any rate, my combo run on Wednesday was over 15 miles and I paid for it: another ear infection on Thursday, though this time I could swallow liquids. I jogged 2 very stiff miles with the dog, and 4 on Friday--I'd hoped to do some speedwork that evening, but I was too stiff.
I also started eating wheat again on Friday for diagnostic purposes. So far, more bloat and poop again, and I got and lost my period within a day which is weird, but I'm still feeling alright. Still, I'd rather not eat wheat for much longer--it would be great to have this added energy for the last two weeks prior to the Army Run. I don't have any other planned races this fall so anything will be cool after that. At any rate, I'll go see my nurse practitioner soon, food log in hand, and then we can discuss the next step.
Saturday was absolutely miserable...it was a dragonboat festival, which should have been fun, but it was 11C, pouring rain and windy the whole 6.5-7 hours we were out. I got soaked. I was so cold. I don't do well waiting around in wet clothes--I tend to lose heat pretty efficiently, which is great when it's 30C but not so much in colder conditions. It was sweat for a few minutes, wait for an hour, X4. I had extra clothes, and I changed a couple of times, but I should have bought more clothes for the races because, as nice as it felt to change into dry clothes between races, it really sucked to change back into cold wet clothes for the races, so after the first time, I didn't bother. I was racing in a tank top to minimize soaking and maximize flexibility, but by the time the last race rolled by, I kept my two layers and raincoat on.
Fortunately, someone brought wool blankets so I didn't shiver much. My arrythmia started to play up near the end, which was a bit uncomfortable, but once I got home and warmed up, the main symptom was appetite. I was starving. We had some goose fat pate and that stuff was perfect. I ate most of the jar, among other things. Then I slept for a few hours, then we went out for supper, then I slept again. I got a lot of sleep.
Sunday, I wasn't sure what was going to happen except that I wanted to catch up with Gaz #1. We arranged to meet up at 8:00 am and, thank goodness, our paces matched. I wasn't sure if I'd be crawling along at 11+/mile, but fortunately I had enough energy to keep up. After nine-ish miles of going by the canal and around the farm, we parted ways and I decided to go home and see if my husband was up for a run. Going home brought it to ten miles. He felt pretty rough (he had been dragonboating/soaking in miserable Hurricane Bill remnants too), maybe good for a few miles. I was hoping to make this my longest run, 16ish miles, so I figured that I might have to run a few on my own afterwards.
Well, the man loosened up and we ran back along the Canal, back to the farm, back along the farm---this is really trippy because I've never run in the farm apart from winter, and today I spent umpteen miles in there, running by cows, corn, running on grass, etc. THe only time I've run through there was during the Hypothermic 1/2s in the dead of winter--it was so bizarre to see all that green and growth in there.
Finally, I pulled the plug at 19.34 miles, or a nice round mile for my husband and dog. I thought about stretching to twenty, but 19ish seemed long enough. I'm very happy with it, and quite tired. I'm not really sure what my long run will be next week--I might try a shorter one with some faster miles at the end. Will see.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sunday-Monday
Six days on the no-flour diet so far and it's already a big difference! I'm kind of dreading eating wheat again (for diagnostic purposes), but I guess I will use the opportunity to gorge on zatar pita and baklava and those Thai sesame doughnut or whatever things (not that I'm sure there's wheat in those, lol)...this is the sort of stuff I'm missing. It hasn't been that hard to pass up rolls, pies, battered fish, etc, but walking by my favourite ethnic snacks kind of sucks.
However, for the last two days, my guts have been behaving almost normally. It's less painful, less fatiguing, and easier to get out the house in a timely fashion.
I gave things a little whirl yesterday, Sunday evening. I had walked a fair bit earlier in the day sightseeing with guests and was a little cranky due to the heat and a pack of morons who left their dog in a locked car in full sun for "only fifteen minutes." So after giving the humane society investigations office their licence plate number, I had a bit of a rest and then set out on my run.
It was still hot when I started, around 6, humidex 30ishC, but plenty of shade. Drank a little too much Vega before setting out and sort of puke-burped a couple of times, but then everything settled down and I was able to get into a rhythm. I felt a little hot and there was a bit of arrythmia, but for the most part, I was in a zone. I ran 14 miles in 2:16. Considering that my usual cruising pace for just a few miles has been about a minute slower per mile, I'm pretty happy with that. It's my longest run since the Ottawa Marathon--not to mention that I probably ran longer without walking breaks yesterday. LOL
This morning, the dog and I jogged 3 miles. My legs were sore, but in the normal day-after-tough-workout way. They weren't freakishly heavy like they have been, plus I was still moving a touch faster than what has been usual. I wasn't trying to push myself, I just had more energy.
It's very encouraging--I'm happy about running, but I'm especially happy about having more energy in general and the possibility of resuming normal hours--hopefully!--without worrying about where the nearest toilet is. Emotionally, too, I feel less cranky already. I have been uncharacteristically angry since leaving Asia four years ago, and it's been a while that I've been puzzling over it. Yeah, I've been through a bit, umpteen moves, a couple of dumpy places, the greencard stuff, my husband's deployments, but it's like I've been a different, more negative person. My husband and I have been discussing it, putting the pieces together--ie, why was I happily eating spicy tex-mex in 37C heat for a week, and then I get to NY and it's game over? Why did I have so much energy back in Asia? Ground pepper is definitely not kind, but the more I've discussed and thought about it, the more wheat seems to be a culprit too. It's weird; I've long missed being in Asia, but I've had no idea that part of what I was missing was healthy intestinal function.
It's still too early to tell for certain, but it's encouraging. Maybe I can even stop taking iron pills. who knows?
However, for the last two days, my guts have been behaving almost normally. It's less painful, less fatiguing, and easier to get out the house in a timely fashion.
I gave things a little whirl yesterday, Sunday evening. I had walked a fair bit earlier in the day sightseeing with guests and was a little cranky due to the heat and a pack of morons who left their dog in a locked car in full sun for "only fifteen minutes." So after giving the humane society investigations office their licence plate number, I had a bit of a rest and then set out on my run.
It was still hot when I started, around 6, humidex 30ishC, but plenty of shade. Drank a little too much Vega before setting out and sort of puke-burped a couple of times, but then everything settled down and I was able to get into a rhythm. I felt a little hot and there was a bit of arrythmia, but for the most part, I was in a zone. I ran 14 miles in 2:16. Considering that my usual cruising pace for just a few miles has been about a minute slower per mile, I'm pretty happy with that. It's my longest run since the Ottawa Marathon--not to mention that I probably ran longer without walking breaks yesterday. LOL
This morning, the dog and I jogged 3 miles. My legs were sore, but in the normal day-after-tough-workout way. They weren't freakishly heavy like they have been, plus I was still moving a touch faster than what has been usual. I wasn't trying to push myself, I just had more energy.
It's very encouraging--I'm happy about running, but I'm especially happy about having more energy in general and the possibility of resuming normal hours--hopefully!--without worrying about where the nearest toilet is. Emotionally, too, I feel less cranky already. I have been uncharacteristically angry since leaving Asia four years ago, and it's been a while that I've been puzzling over it. Yeah, I've been through a bit, umpteen moves, a couple of dumpy places, the greencard stuff, my husband's deployments, but it's like I've been a different, more negative person. My husband and I have been discussing it, putting the pieces together--ie, why was I happily eating spicy tex-mex in 37C heat for a week, and then I get to NY and it's game over? Why did I have so much energy back in Asia? Ground pepper is definitely not kind, but the more I've discussed and thought about it, the more wheat seems to be a culprit too. It's weird; I've long missed being in Asia, but I've had no idea that part of what I was missing was healthy intestinal function.
It's still too early to tell for certain, but it's encouraging. Maybe I can even stop taking iron pills. who knows?
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday
I didn't run yesterday after all. Too busy.
Today, I managed to get out, albeit at the hottest part of the day. I'd hoped to do 2X 2 miles tempo, but I was tired and hot, so I just did 2 miles, 7:49, 7:52. Considering how crappy yesterday was, I'm happy with that. Five miles total. I'd hoped to have more miles under my belt this week, but between this gut thing and having guests, it just didn't happen.
I have now been on a gluten-free diet for 4 days...it's amazing how hard it is to avoid flour. I haven't felt much of a difference yet, but a full recovery apparently takes time. The biggest difference is that I seem to be sleeping better and my dreams are more vivid. The real test will be how I feel when I add wheat back to my diet. At any rate, it's been surprisingly easy not to be tempted by pastries and so forth--they're tasty, but I hate the symptoms and if all it takes to avoid feeling them is to avoid eating certain things, I can't complain.
Today, I managed to get out, albeit at the hottest part of the day. I'd hoped to do 2X 2 miles tempo, but I was tired and hot, so I just did 2 miles, 7:49, 7:52. Considering how crappy yesterday was, I'm happy with that. Five miles total. I'd hoped to have more miles under my belt this week, but between this gut thing and having guests, it just didn't happen.
I have now been on a gluten-free diet for 4 days...it's amazing how hard it is to avoid flour. I haven't felt much of a difference yet, but a full recovery apparently takes time. The biggest difference is that I seem to be sleeping better and my dreams are more vivid. The real test will be how I feel when I add wheat back to my diet. At any rate, it's been surprisingly easy not to be tempted by pastries and so forth--they're tasty, but I hate the symptoms and if all it takes to avoid feeling them is to avoid eating certain things, I can't complain.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thurs-Fri
Thursday, no run. Dragonboating instead. It was fun. Then we went out to eat at an Italian place. I was faithful to my gluten-free experiment and though garlic bread and pasta were ever so beguiling, I didn't find it too hard to abstain. Unfortunately, despite my inquiries about the house salad dressing, I might not have managed to completely avoid ground pepper. I didn't taste any, and didn't see any, but there still might have been a stray flake or two among the oregano and so forth, or maybe the oregano and so forth isn't kind either. I'm not really sure.
Except that this morning has been a somewhat violent gut day. I woke up, felt fine, then bam. Finally, things were secure enough to head out--I felt a bit nauseated, but the fresh air helped. Then it came time to run. My legs felt worse than they have all week, sore yet not quite connected with me. I jogged a half block, my breathing was heavy though I was just mildly shuffling along, and my innards started to protest. So I canned the run. We had an easy walk instead. The dog didn't seem to mind.
Hopefully I can get out this afternoon or evening, will see. We have company over for the weekend, but maybe I can duck out.
Except that this morning has been a somewhat violent gut day. I woke up, felt fine, then bam. Finally, things were secure enough to head out--I felt a bit nauseated, but the fresh air helped. Then it came time to run. My legs felt worse than they have all week, sore yet not quite connected with me. I jogged a half block, my breathing was heavy though I was just mildly shuffling along, and my innards started to protest. So I canned the run. We had an easy walk instead. The dog didn't seem to mind.
Hopefully I can get out this afternoon or evening, will see. We have company over for the weekend, but maybe I can duck out.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wednesday
Day 1 of gluten/ground pepper-free experiment. lol
Fortunately, I like eating rice for breakfast (and lunch and dinner)...we cooked up a bunch of megadarra and put chickpeas in it too for added protein. Cheapest meal ever. Probably cost about $5 total to make and I think we've gotten about eight servings out of it already.
I ran with my husband last night, 4.75 miles. My legs still felt dull but, despite the heat, I felt a little fresher. My husband picked up the pace to sub 9/mile, which used to be in my easy cruising range. It felt good mechanically, but was tiring in other ways. Oh, well! The humidex was above 30.
This morning, the dog and I jogged three miles. It was slightly cooler and drier than it has been, and my limbs weren't worse than usual, but we still took a break in the middle for water and his business. I can't wait for conditions to improve, temp and healthwise, and location-wise, too. We are moving closer to one of the paths, just a short walk away. No lights separating us from it, either, just a crosswalk and stop signs for the cars. They will have to stop for us. We won't have to wait, they will. They will have to wait for us. The tables have turned. This will go to my head!
Edit/evening update: approx 8.8 miles. 3.4ish with Matt and the dog then to run club, 4X 1000K and then home. My legs are still weird so I was debating going, but then figured that I might as well see where I am.
4:19
4:16
4:17
4:27
I felt mechanically good for the first three, albeit with uncomfortable guts, surprise! lol. It was kind of an odd sensation, having heavy legs but managing to align everything in an efficient manner.
Unfortunately, I couldn't tap into the same sensation for the fourth repeat. Things just weren't together. Maybe I was getting too hot--definitely, I was getting tired. Still, I'm really happy with the workout--I was hoping for 4:30/K, and was prepared to accept up to 5:00. Maybe I'm on the mend!
Fortunately, I like eating rice for breakfast (and lunch and dinner)...we cooked up a bunch of megadarra and put chickpeas in it too for added protein. Cheapest meal ever. Probably cost about $5 total to make and I think we've gotten about eight servings out of it already.
I ran with my husband last night, 4.75 miles. My legs still felt dull but, despite the heat, I felt a little fresher. My husband picked up the pace to sub 9/mile, which used to be in my easy cruising range. It felt good mechanically, but was tiring in other ways. Oh, well! The humidex was above 30.
This morning, the dog and I jogged three miles. It was slightly cooler and drier than it has been, and my limbs weren't worse than usual, but we still took a break in the middle for water and his business. I can't wait for conditions to improve, temp and healthwise, and location-wise, too. We are moving closer to one of the paths, just a short walk away. No lights separating us from it, either, just a crosswalk and stop signs for the cars. They will have to stop for us. We won't have to wait, they will. They will have to wait for us. The tables have turned. This will go to my head!
Edit/evening update: approx 8.8 miles. 3.4ish with Matt and the dog then to run club, 4X 1000K and then home. My legs are still weird so I was debating going, but then figured that I might as well see where I am.
4:19
4:16
4:17
4:27
I felt mechanically good for the first three, albeit with uncomfortable guts, surprise! lol. It was kind of an odd sensation, having heavy legs but managing to align everything in an efficient manner.
Unfortunately, I couldn't tap into the same sensation for the fourth repeat. Things just weren't together. Maybe I was getting too hot--definitely, I was getting tired. Still, I'm really happy with the workout--I was hoping for 4:30/K, and was prepared to accept up to 5:00. Maybe I'm on the mend!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
In the Slough of Despond
Not quite, but I'm still in a sort of physical slough of some sort, filled with a viscous substance.
How to sum up...I'm still jogging every day, usually early in the morning with the dog. And I'm still slow and stiff. Yes, it's hot, but I feel worse than I did while jogging in Florida, where it was hotter.
Thursday: 0, dragonboating
Friday, 3, saw a skunk. !!!
Saturday, 6.32, actually the best run I had in a while, despite the heat. I was jogging approx 9:30/mile and my legs actually felt fine. Then we went to the St.Albert Curd festival where I ate all sorts of stuff and paid for it.
Sunday, 3, hot, heavy.
Monday 8. Still stiff. It was supposed to be my long run (guess it was), and I was going to return the dog midway and continue on my own. However, we were caught in a rainshower, and were cooled off sufficiently to extend the run. It was an especially bad gut day, necessitating a stop at the arboretum loo, but things were consistently stiff and didn't get stiffer, so I sort of got used to it. And then the sun came out and it was hot and miserable and I'd already been running for 1:30ish by that point (yes, slower than normal) on tired legs so I figured that was good enough.
Tues 4. Hot, heavy...
My nurse practitioner asked me keep track of what I eat, to figure out if there's an allergy. I don't seem to handle ground pepper well, or wheat sometimes, but this way we'll have a clearer picture of what's going on. It's weird eating things while knowing that I'll have to immortalize them in black and white.
How to sum up...I'm still jogging every day, usually early in the morning with the dog. And I'm still slow and stiff. Yes, it's hot, but I feel worse than I did while jogging in Florida, where it was hotter.
Thursday: 0, dragonboating
Friday, 3, saw a skunk. !!!
Saturday, 6.32, actually the best run I had in a while, despite the heat. I was jogging approx 9:30/mile and my legs actually felt fine. Then we went to the St.Albert Curd festival where I ate all sorts of stuff and paid for it.
Sunday, 3, hot, heavy.
Monday 8. Still stiff. It was supposed to be my long run (guess it was), and I was going to return the dog midway and continue on my own. However, we were caught in a rainshower, and were cooled off sufficiently to extend the run. It was an especially bad gut day, necessitating a stop at the arboretum loo, but things were consistently stiff and didn't get stiffer, so I sort of got used to it. And then the sun came out and it was hot and miserable and I'd already been running for 1:30ish by that point (yes, slower than normal) on tired legs so I figured that was good enough.
Tues 4. Hot, heavy...
My nurse practitioner asked me keep track of what I eat, to figure out if there's an allergy. I don't seem to handle ground pepper well, or wheat sometimes, but this way we'll have a clearer picture of what's going on. It's weird eating things while knowing that I'll have to immortalize them in black and white.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Less of a sauna, less of a slog
I think I might be recovering. The dog and I jogged 6 miles this morning and it was still a slog but less so than yesterday. That was encouraging, and I enjoyed the run (until traffic picked up--we'd started late, just before 7, so it was starting to get busy by the end), BUT I'm really tired of feeling like a ton of bricks. I'm supposed to see my nurse practitioner next week for a couple of follow-ups, and I'll be discussing this with her, but I have to look at the possible causes:
1. IBS--it's still not quite under control, so I still might not be getting enough nutrients. I'm trying to eat sensibly; also, I've decided that if I run more than an hour and/or do strength exercises in the morning, I'm going to eat eggs for breakfast. Maybe that will help. I had tons of energy in Florida and I was eating eggs for breakfast after tougher workouts. I don't particularly like eggs (or usually any solid food after running, lol) but maybe that's what I need.
2. Low iron. I've been taking supplements but maybe they're not enough, or I need to eat more seaweed or vegetable sources of iron. I'm not a vegetarian but recently I've found that meat has been unappetizing, along with other things. That's another symptom of IBS: I lose my appetite.
3. Low sleep. I haven't been sleeping well but this will get better. We're going to move in a few weeks.
4. Temperature/humidity. I'd almost rather it was 30C and super dry than 20C and humid. It's been very clammy here...it's like on the verge of raining but it never breaks. This I find tiring.
5. Hormonal. Possibly. I've been on a better BC med these past few months, but this sort of thing seems to be draining no matter what.
6. Heart. Maybe. I never get episodes while running, but afterwards I feel tired. My heart is ok, I think; it's more of a case of my body resisting a heightened effort, refusing to recruit as much muscle fibre. I just have to accept this for the time being. AFter a couple of months or so, I will have the cath ablation and things will be better.
7. Stress. yes, maybe, but this will improve as things get settled. Just takes a bit of time!
Oh, it all sounds so terribly depressing! But it could be worse. I have to be patient. It's kind of sucky feeling like a sack of shit all the time, but at least I'm still getting out there. I hope I'm being sensible about it.
1. IBS--it's still not quite under control, so I still might not be getting enough nutrients. I'm trying to eat sensibly; also, I've decided that if I run more than an hour and/or do strength exercises in the morning, I'm going to eat eggs for breakfast. Maybe that will help. I had tons of energy in Florida and I was eating eggs for breakfast after tougher workouts. I don't particularly like eggs (or usually any solid food after running, lol) but maybe that's what I need.
2. Low iron. I've been taking supplements but maybe they're not enough, or I need to eat more seaweed or vegetable sources of iron. I'm not a vegetarian but recently I've found that meat has been unappetizing, along with other things. That's another symptom of IBS: I lose my appetite.
3. Low sleep. I haven't been sleeping well but this will get better. We're going to move in a few weeks.
4. Temperature/humidity. I'd almost rather it was 30C and super dry than 20C and humid. It's been very clammy here...it's like on the verge of raining but it never breaks. This I find tiring.
5. Hormonal. Possibly. I've been on a better BC med these past few months, but this sort of thing seems to be draining no matter what.
6. Heart. Maybe. I never get episodes while running, but afterwards I feel tired. My heart is ok, I think; it's more of a case of my body resisting a heightened effort, refusing to recruit as much muscle fibre. I just have to accept this for the time being. AFter a couple of months or so, I will have the cath ablation and things will be better.
7. Stress. yes, maybe, but this will improve as things get settled. Just takes a bit of time!
Oh, it all sounds so terribly depressing! But it could be worse. I have to be patient. It's kind of sucky feeling like a sack of shit all the time, but at least I'm still getting out there. I hope I'm being sensible about it.
Monday, August 10, 2009
In the sauna
Or the steam room.
It was under 20C when I ran this morning but 99.9999% humidity. I didn't notice it at first, and then I looked at my Garmin and saw 11:XX/mile. Fine. I'd run 12.61 miles yesterday and today was a recovery day. It didn't matter how slow I went.
And then I started really sweating. I was hardly moving, hardly breathing hard, but, man, I was dripping.
At first, my forehead started getting itchy--the sweat was getting trapped under my hat. Then I could feel the sweat rolling off my face. And then I noticed that my clothes were really damp.
I'm fortunate, I didn't chafe!
Yesterday's run was much better. I ran aroudn for two hours exactly...I didn't feel good at the start, so went pretty slowly, and then gradually picked it up. It was good to get that run in. I would like to go up to 2:30 before the Army 1/2, along with concentrating on tempo runs. That will probably set me up best for it, I think, with a bit of faster speedwork too, but primarily long runs and tempo runs/intervals. Hence I ran a fair bit yesterday and today is no longer a speed/strength day. I guess I'll do speedwork and squats/etc on Wed and Fri. I have to get used to the longer runs again--even just two hours tired me out too much to do strength exercises afterwards.
It was under 20C when I ran this morning but 99.9999% humidity. I didn't notice it at first, and then I looked at my Garmin and saw 11:XX/mile. Fine. I'd run 12.61 miles yesterday and today was a recovery day. It didn't matter how slow I went.
And then I started really sweating. I was hardly moving, hardly breathing hard, but, man, I was dripping.
At first, my forehead started getting itchy--the sweat was getting trapped under my hat. Then I could feel the sweat rolling off my face. And then I noticed that my clothes were really damp.
I'm fortunate, I didn't chafe!
Yesterday's run was much better. I ran aroudn for two hours exactly...I didn't feel good at the start, so went pretty slowly, and then gradually picked it up. It was good to get that run in. I would like to go up to 2:30 before the Army 1/2, along with concentrating on tempo runs. That will probably set me up best for it, I think, with a bit of faster speedwork too, but primarily long runs and tempo runs/intervals. Hence I ran a fair bit yesterday and today is no longer a speed/strength day. I guess I'll do speedwork and squats/etc on Wed and Fri. I have to get used to the longer runs again--even just two hours tired me out too much to do strength exercises afterwards.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Thurs-Fri-Sat
Thurs--I did run to dragonboating, 3.3ish miles, I think...I was pretty stiff. Fortunately, my ear thing started to subside in the afternoon, so I was able to eat starting around 5pm--most importantly, before dragonboating.
Fri--my husband and I had a very sluggish 3.5ish mile run. Strangely enough, we're in the same sort of condition: poor. LOL
Sat--my husband and I had a slightly better run, which we stretched out to 6.5 miles. Unfortunately, he didn't loosen up as much as I did: after about three miles, it started to feel 'normal'. My legs stopped feeling like I'd run 3 hours already. I guess that's the best way to sum up how my runs have recently been: all 100% after the wall.
I chalk it up to better sleep and a really good meal on Friday. We went to l'Atelier, which is a contemporary/molecular cuisine sort of place which offers a 12-course tasting menu of various unique dishes including stuff with beer froth and dehydrated olives and truffle chocolates with bacon on top. It was expensive but worth it--I've been looking forward to going there for nearly a year, and it lived up to my expectations, especially since they were so accomodating about my ground pepper issues. I savoured that meal knowing that I would actually digest it, unlike most of the meals I've eaten out this past month: "Oh, so there IS pepper in the salad dressing/fries seasoning/seafood salad/sauce/etc/etc...oops". My husband was blown away at well. Basically, we sat and nibbled for three and a half hours and waddled home and crashed. It was the best thing for me, I think!
So maybe the worst is over!
Fri--my husband and I had a very sluggish 3.5ish mile run. Strangely enough, we're in the same sort of condition: poor. LOL
Sat--my husband and I had a slightly better run, which we stretched out to 6.5 miles. Unfortunately, he didn't loosen up as much as I did: after about three miles, it started to feel 'normal'. My legs stopped feeling like I'd run 3 hours already. I guess that's the best way to sum up how my runs have recently been: all 100% after the wall.
I chalk it up to better sleep and a really good meal on Friday. We went to l'Atelier, which is a contemporary/molecular cuisine sort of place which offers a 12-course tasting menu of various unique dishes including stuff with beer froth and dehydrated olives and truffle chocolates with bacon on top. It was expensive but worth it--I've been looking forward to going there for nearly a year, and it lived up to my expectations, especially since they were so accomodating about my ground pepper issues. I savoured that meal knowing that I would actually digest it, unlike most of the meals I've eaten out this past month: "Oh, so there IS pepper in the salad dressing/fries seasoning/seafood salad/sauce/etc/etc...oops". My husband was blown away at well. Basically, we sat and nibbled for three and a half hours and waddled home and crashed. It was the best thing for me, I think!
So maybe the worst is over!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I'm hungry but can't eat because of an ear infection (!!!)
I'm starving! I hope my ear gets better soon.
Anyway, I jogged 2.5 miles with the dog on Tues, and then 6.5 miles with him on Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening was my return to the run club and speedwork with other people. I wasn't feeling 100% and the results showed. It was a ladder workout and I ended up cutting it short.
Strangely enough, the last time I did 800-1200-1600-1200-800, or tried to, the same thing happened! That was in January. I think my problem is starting the first 800M way too fast. It doesn't seem to be a problem with 800-1000-1200-1000-800 though. I started to do resistance exercises but things were already too sore so I quit. Total 14.28 or whatever miles. I didn't expect it to be that much; it's a bit of a jump compared to my paltry mileage of July.
At any rate, I feel pretty worn out. Guts still aren't under control, and I am not sleeping as well or as much as I would like. Plus, I'm presently getting used to a new schedule which will fortunately not shift much for a while--once I'm used to it, it'll be a lot better, but right now I'm tired! lol
And I have this ear infection...I think swallowing is getting a little bit easier, but I've been working on the same glass of cranberry juice and the same banana for 2+ hours and have only managed halfway so far, tiny little bits at a time.
I'm not sure I'll run today--I elected to sleep in a bit because I was feeling sniffly too, but that's gone away. I have dragonboating this evening and might jog to or from there or both, or neither. Will see.
Anyway, I jogged 2.5 miles with the dog on Tues, and then 6.5 miles with him on Wednesday morning. Wednesday evening was my return to the run club and speedwork with other people. I wasn't feeling 100% and the results showed. It was a ladder workout and I ended up cutting it short.
Strangely enough, the last time I did 800-1200-1600-1200-800, or tried to, the same thing happened! That was in January. I think my problem is starting the first 800M way too fast. It doesn't seem to be a problem with 800-1000-1200-1000-800 though. I started to do resistance exercises but things were already too sore so I quit. Total 14.28 or whatever miles. I didn't expect it to be that much; it's a bit of a jump compared to my paltry mileage of July.
At any rate, I feel pretty worn out. Guts still aren't under control, and I am not sleeping as well or as much as I would like. Plus, I'm presently getting used to a new schedule which will fortunately not shift much for a while--once I'm used to it, it'll be a lot better, but right now I'm tired! lol
And I have this ear infection...I think swallowing is getting a little bit easier, but I've been working on the same glass of cranberry juice and the same banana for 2+ hours and have only managed halfway so far, tiny little bits at a time.
I'm not sure I'll run today--I elected to sleep in a bit because I was feeling sniffly too, but that's gone away. I have dragonboating this evening and might jog to or from there or both, or neither. Will see.
Monday, August 3, 2009
I'm really back!
The wedding was fun, and it would take way too much space to fully describe it. Thank goodness my cousin had rented a bus to take us around.
I still got a run in up north, though, about 4.5 miles. We were staying near Moonbeam, where there is a fun network of trails, some paved, some nearly indistinguishable from the equally as impressive skidoo trail network. Those trails are really close to my heart. I was there when they were still working on the trails, umpteen years ago--I can't remember if I was into running then, if it was before that, or after that and I was too injured to run. At any rate, I biked all over the trails as they were being carved out, sometimes in soft rutted dirt with stacks of conifers laying to the side. It was pretty neat. I usually met the foreman somewhere or other each day, and he'd make recommendations and ask for input.
Unfortunately, I'd also met a bear on one of these trails once and I've been sort of jumpy ever since.
I've never met the alien mascot on the trails, though....
I was looking forward to running with my husband on the trails this weekend, but his shorts got mislaid. I was on my own.
I could have run for longer but after about a 1/2 hour alone in the forest, singing on the exhale to give those bears a heads up, I was tired of concentrating (and fretting). It was tempting to go further but I turned onto a road and stuck closer to civilization. A pity in a way, because that forest smells far better than any other I know of, a combo of pine and sumac and flowers, I guess. The smell alone is worth staying out for a while, plus the views are quite lovely. Some bits are kind of boring, but others are really pretty.
At any rate, we came back on Sunday and I ran 6ish miles. Just a jog. It was late in the evening, nice and cool and perfect for smashing bugs against my face.
Early this morning, I ran 7ish miles, an aborted tempo run. My legs were too stiff from short sleep a few nights in a row. I don't remember the last time I got more than six hours, what with all this travelling! I hope to sleep lots tonight. Still,I got through resistance exercises, and then this evening, I jogged 3.4 miles with my husband and the dog. That was fun and relaxing, and I think it did me good.
I have tons of real life things to sort out, like finding a new place for us, moving, unpacking, getting caught up with school and getting through exams, getting a new job (I might be postponing that until after the operation, but I might go the temp route, but I have to get through a chunk of school first because I'm so far behind....) I'm dreading all of it, to be honest, but it's sure nice to get back into a routine.
I still got a run in up north, though, about 4.5 miles. We were staying near Moonbeam, where there is a fun network of trails, some paved, some nearly indistinguishable from the equally as impressive skidoo trail network. Those trails are really close to my heart. I was there when they were still working on the trails, umpteen years ago--I can't remember if I was into running then, if it was before that, or after that and I was too injured to run. At any rate, I biked all over the trails as they were being carved out, sometimes in soft rutted dirt with stacks of conifers laying to the side. It was pretty neat. I usually met the foreman somewhere or other each day, and he'd make recommendations and ask for input.
Unfortunately, I'd also met a bear on one of these trails once and I've been sort of jumpy ever since.
I've never met the alien mascot on the trails, though....
I was looking forward to running with my husband on the trails this weekend, but his shorts got mislaid. I was on my own.
I could have run for longer but after about a 1/2 hour alone in the forest, singing on the exhale to give those bears a heads up, I was tired of concentrating (and fretting). It was tempting to go further but I turned onto a road and stuck closer to civilization. A pity in a way, because that forest smells far better than any other I know of, a combo of pine and sumac and flowers, I guess. The smell alone is worth staying out for a while, plus the views are quite lovely. Some bits are kind of boring, but others are really pretty.
At any rate, we came back on Sunday and I ran 6ish miles. Just a jog. It was late in the evening, nice and cool and perfect for smashing bugs against my face.
Early this morning, I ran 7ish miles, an aborted tempo run. My legs were too stiff from short sleep a few nights in a row. I don't remember the last time I got more than six hours, what with all this travelling! I hope to sleep lots tonight. Still,I got through resistance exercises, and then this evening, I jogged 3.4 miles with my husband and the dog. That was fun and relaxing, and I think it did me good.
I have tons of real life things to sort out, like finding a new place for us, moving, unpacking, getting caught up with school and getting through exams, getting a new job (I might be postponing that until after the operation, but I might go the temp route, but I have to get through a chunk of school first because I'm so far behind....) I'm dreading all of it, to be honest, but it's sure nice to get back into a routine.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I'm back!
For a day and a half, and then I'm heading up north for a family wedding. It'll be fun, but I'm tired, but it'll be fun...
I didn't do any more speedwork sessions in NY, just a couple more runs if memory serves me right. Then we went down to PA and I got a couple of solid runs on the Haverford College loop---love it--approx 5 miles and approx 10 miles, the latter being my long run these days. No resistance training.
The travel and accumulating number of random pepper-seasoned meals have been catching up with me. We left PA for the beach, finally, NJ, and I was so looking forward to a long run or two just loping along the beach for an hour or two, and it didn't happen. I was--still am--drained. My guts were haywire and I didn't seem to be absorbing enough. My heart was starting to do its thing again, no big episodes, but plenty of little flips here and there which are tiring enough. My legs were already getting to the heavy point in PA, and I guess the ten miler totally plowed me. I got to NJ and the first two days, I walked. No running. It felt hard walking for about an hour on the sand--it was tiring trying to stand up straight. not good! Finally, I felt strong enough to run, about 3-4 miles. The following morning, my husband and I did 5 miles, and it winded me. It was so discouraging.
As much as I was looking forward to this vacation with my newly returned husband :), I was also dreading the logistics, the havoc of visiting six states, with ample car trips in between (I get carsick), the havoc of strange beds for four weeks, the havoc of trying to do workouts in unsuitable places, the havoc of trigger foods galore. Especially pepper. For someone who has happily and blithely scarfed down street food and raw food and strange food in various countries, I am disgusting sensitive to peppercorns, which are pretty much thrown into everything in the upper two countries of NAFTA, including salad dressings, cold-fish/shellfish salads, any mashed vegetable, pasta sauce, soup, meat seasoning, etc, etc, etc. And I'm too darn polite. I abhor asking my hosts if there is pepper in this or that, or holding up the waiters asking about it. It shouldn't be a big deal but it is a resounding failure for me. I'm still used to having a food allergy or sensitivity or whatever the heck it is. I guess I have to call it an allergy. No, I'm not going to spectacularly sprout pustules or require an emergency trach, but it does get pretty gross and dismal. I've lost about 5 pounds in the last week or so. I could have easily afforded to lose 5 pounds, but definitely not like that.
Enough bitching! I have a busy weekend to get through, and then hopefully I can get into a routine, or get back into the routine I had in Florida. That had gone really well and I'm proud of how much I and my husband were able to accomplish there. And the rest of the trip was fun, just not good workout or health-wise. There is some consolation to having an overactive digestive system: it was extremely well-timed: I didn't give a second thought about eating anything buttery or sugary or generally boardwalk-fatty in New Jersey. As long as it didn't have pepper in it, it could have been deep-fried lard for all I cared. The horse had left the barn. Onwards and upwards!
I didn't do any more speedwork sessions in NY, just a couple more runs if memory serves me right. Then we went down to PA and I got a couple of solid runs on the Haverford College loop---love it--approx 5 miles and approx 10 miles, the latter being my long run these days. No resistance training.
The travel and accumulating number of random pepper-seasoned meals have been catching up with me. We left PA for the beach, finally, NJ, and I was so looking forward to a long run or two just loping along the beach for an hour or two, and it didn't happen. I was--still am--drained. My guts were haywire and I didn't seem to be absorbing enough. My heart was starting to do its thing again, no big episodes, but plenty of little flips here and there which are tiring enough. My legs were already getting to the heavy point in PA, and I guess the ten miler totally plowed me. I got to NJ and the first two days, I walked. No running. It felt hard walking for about an hour on the sand--it was tiring trying to stand up straight. not good! Finally, I felt strong enough to run, about 3-4 miles. The following morning, my husband and I did 5 miles, and it winded me. It was so discouraging.
As much as I was looking forward to this vacation with my newly returned husband :), I was also dreading the logistics, the havoc of visiting six states, with ample car trips in between (I get carsick), the havoc of strange beds for four weeks, the havoc of trying to do workouts in unsuitable places, the havoc of trigger foods galore. Especially pepper. For someone who has happily and blithely scarfed down street food and raw food and strange food in various countries, I am disgusting sensitive to peppercorns, which are pretty much thrown into everything in the upper two countries of NAFTA, including salad dressings, cold-fish/shellfish salads, any mashed vegetable, pasta sauce, soup, meat seasoning, etc, etc, etc. And I'm too darn polite. I abhor asking my hosts if there is pepper in this or that, or holding up the waiters asking about it. It shouldn't be a big deal but it is a resounding failure for me. I'm still used to having a food allergy or sensitivity or whatever the heck it is. I guess I have to call it an allergy. No, I'm not going to spectacularly sprout pustules or require an emergency trach, but it does get pretty gross and dismal. I've lost about 5 pounds in the last week or so. I could have easily afforded to lose 5 pounds, but definitely not like that.
Enough bitching! I have a busy weekend to get through, and then hopefully I can get into a routine, or get back into the routine I had in Florida. That had gone really well and I'm proud of how much I and my husband were able to accomplish there. And the rest of the trip was fun, just not good workout or health-wise. There is some consolation to having an overactive digestive system: it was extremely well-timed: I didn't give a second thought about eating anything buttery or sugary or generally boardwalk-fatty in New Jersey. As long as it didn't have pepper in it, it could have been deep-fried lard for all I cared. The horse had left the barn. Onwards and upwards!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
update
Sort of...my log is on my laptop, and I don't fancy firing that thing up right now. no wireless here. I'll dump the bare numbers here later.
Meanwhile, it's been interesting getting runs in. I've had to be a bit flexible. We were down in Florida for ten days and I don't think the humidex ever went below 30C, even early in the morning. Fortunately, there was a local gym/shack nearby, and we figured out that if we jogged there, turned the AC on, then returned after a couple of miles, it wasn't too bad. I got in 4 speedwork/resistance sessions while I was there, which I was really happy about. The treadmill was flimsy but it held up well enough. On other days, we did easy runs. I think there was only one day we didn't run. Not bad for the tropics!
1. 5X 1km, 8.0-8.4 mph. This is significantly slower than in the past, but I was sweating my butt off because we'd just arrived and we hadn't found the electrical box to turn the AC on yet. I felt like I wasn't breathing hard enough, yet my level of effort was quite hard.
2. 2 miles tempo, sprints. This was supposed to be 2 X 2miles, but I cut it short. It was at 7:42/mile, which is slow, and I wasn't breathing as hard as usual for a tempo, but my heartrate and sweat glands were working harder than they should have been. It was a disconcerting feeling and I didn't have it mentally together so I canned it after 2 miles and went outside and did a bunch of 10 second sprints instead. Then weights.
3. 2X 2 miles tempo, 7:36/mile. I knew I had to focus, so I was a lot stronger. I found out that if I counted to 100 breaths, it went by a lot easier. It didn't matter so much that I had to do this at least 8 times...the 100 breaths went by pretty quickly and I had enough to think about that I could trick myself that 100 was going to be it. It's great to have another mental tool like this.
4. 5X 1km, 8.1-8.6 mph. I counted 100s again and these went by quickly. The last two, at 8.4-8.6 (I'd bump it up halfway through) felt more honest, so hopefully I can hit them harder next time.
Next time! I'm not sure what I'll be on then, ground or TM.
I'm in NY now and it's the usual not-fun place to run--we're in the hills, and the roads usually have a steep camber, so I don't enjoy it much. I got in a good tempo run, though: downhill (mostly) the first mile, and even with holding back a fair bit, it was about 8 minutes. So I decided that, as punishment, I had to hold that for the next two miles, which were mostly uphill, ending near the top of a steep incline. I managed around 8:10-15/mile, which was tough enough. Then it was another downhill jog home.
The next day, my husband and I ran/jogged/suffered to the top of one of the 'mountains', lol, but it was hard enough. 2 miles up and 2 miles down. I'm thrilled that our average speed up was around 11:00/mile--last time, it was closer to 13:00.
Then we went to visit family in Mass and it was kind of tricky getting a run in there, it being one of those places where the roads somehow aren't swell to run along. Plus it was pretty soggy so we ended up running back and forth under a powerline. No bears, thank goodness.
We're back in NY and I'm hoping we can get on post to use the TM. Not sure. In a few days, we'll be in PA and NJ where the running is PRIME (nice trail loop, BEACH), and I'm really looking forward to that.
I haven't been doing any long runs--longest runs have been about 8 miles--and my mileage the last two weeks has been around, oh, 25-30 miles a week, but I've gotten in speedwork and resistance exercises regularly and I think I'm starting to feel stronger.
At any rate, it's been wonderful jogging with my husband :)
Meanwhile, it's been interesting getting runs in. I've had to be a bit flexible. We were down in Florida for ten days and I don't think the humidex ever went below 30C, even early in the morning. Fortunately, there was a local gym/shack nearby, and we figured out that if we jogged there, turned the AC on, then returned after a couple of miles, it wasn't too bad. I got in 4 speedwork/resistance sessions while I was there, which I was really happy about. The treadmill was flimsy but it held up well enough. On other days, we did easy runs. I think there was only one day we didn't run. Not bad for the tropics!
1. 5X 1km, 8.0-8.4 mph. This is significantly slower than in the past, but I was sweating my butt off because we'd just arrived and we hadn't found the electrical box to turn the AC on yet. I felt like I wasn't breathing hard enough, yet my level of effort was quite hard.
2. 2 miles tempo, sprints. This was supposed to be 2 X 2miles, but I cut it short. It was at 7:42/mile, which is slow, and I wasn't breathing as hard as usual for a tempo, but my heartrate and sweat glands were working harder than they should have been. It was a disconcerting feeling and I didn't have it mentally together so I canned it after 2 miles and went outside and did a bunch of 10 second sprints instead. Then weights.
3. 2X 2 miles tempo, 7:36/mile. I knew I had to focus, so I was a lot stronger. I found out that if I counted to 100 breaths, it went by a lot easier. It didn't matter so much that I had to do this at least 8 times...the 100 breaths went by pretty quickly and I had enough to think about that I could trick myself that 100 was going to be it. It's great to have another mental tool like this.
4. 5X 1km, 8.1-8.6 mph. I counted 100s again and these went by quickly. The last two, at 8.4-8.6 (I'd bump it up halfway through) felt more honest, so hopefully I can hit them harder next time.
Next time! I'm not sure what I'll be on then, ground or TM.
I'm in NY now and it's the usual not-fun place to run--we're in the hills, and the roads usually have a steep camber, so I don't enjoy it much. I got in a good tempo run, though: downhill (mostly) the first mile, and even with holding back a fair bit, it was about 8 minutes. So I decided that, as punishment, I had to hold that for the next two miles, which were mostly uphill, ending near the top of a steep incline. I managed around 8:10-15/mile, which was tough enough. Then it was another downhill jog home.
The next day, my husband and I ran/jogged/suffered to the top of one of the 'mountains', lol, but it was hard enough. 2 miles up and 2 miles down. I'm thrilled that our average speed up was around 11:00/mile--last time, it was closer to 13:00.
Then we went to visit family in Mass and it was kind of tricky getting a run in there, it being one of those places where the roads somehow aren't swell to run along. Plus it was pretty soggy so we ended up running back and forth under a powerline. No bears, thank goodness.
We're back in NY and I'm hoping we can get on post to use the TM. Not sure. In a few days, we'll be in PA and NJ where the running is PRIME (nice trail loop, BEACH), and I'm really looking forward to that.
I haven't been doing any long runs--longest runs have been about 8 miles--and my mileage the last two weeks has been around, oh, 25-30 miles a week, but I've gotten in speedwork and resistance exercises regularly and I think I'm starting to feel stronger.
At any rate, it's been wonderful jogging with my husband :)
Monday, July 6, 2009
Trying to get back in the saddle
I am trying to make the best of my vacation time, and summer, by getting back into a good routine.
Today, I got out about an hour later than I'd hoped for, just before 7, but it was still fairly cool. I'd hoped to sort of combine the two speedwork workouts I missed last week: 2X 15min tempo and 100M repeats, and since it was only about 13C, my dog might have been game. Unfortunately, he'd had an allergic reaction at the lake yesterday. His muzzle had swelled dramatically. We're not sure what he'd gotten into, or what had bit him, but he was out of sorts until the swelling went down. He looks back to normal today but he was dragging even on the short walk out, and we ran about 200M before I decided to call it a day. He picked up speed dramatically on the way back and returned to bed. Poor guy. He'll get a walk later with the other dog.
Anyway, I headed back out and after a warm up jog, I hit the Canal and did the tempo stuff with about 5 min recovery in between (a bit long, but I wanted to hit a not-quite nearby fountain for water). The first segment was 1.92 miles, the 2nd 1.98 miles, according to Garmin (which sometimes falls a touch short, but we won't think about that). A bit slow, but ok. Then I jogged a bit and did 8X approx 100M in a park on dirt. It was flat but a bit chewed up, but that's ok. I would have done 2 more repeats but the park is an unofficial dog park and more and more dogs were off leash. That's ok, I was expecting that, and having a dirt strip in shade was a good trade off. This workout, which was supposed to be on a separate day, was 2X 10 X 100M with 30 seconds rest, but at a slower pace. I've done this sort of workout before and it really doesn't seem to do anything for me. I feel like a bit of a prig for thinking that; certainly if all I was doing was the 100M repeats today, I would have done 20 of them, but a bit faster with much more recovery in between. I usually stroll back and take about 1:30 doing so. LOL That's what I'm more suited for. It's much much much more fun to push more and feel the burn and then get more of a break. When it comes to 400Ms, yeah, I'll do them slower with shorter recoveries, but 100Ms seem to be mainly anaerobic anyway so might as well work that more fully.
I also did a very modest set of plyometrics: 2X 50M skipping. I hope to bump these up gradually and get into the jumps/hops soon. I was doing this in the States regularly, but it's not something my run club does, except in a lighter/easier form as a warm up, and I miss it.
After that, I jogged/walked home and did resistance exercises and ate breakfast. Is there another good source of potassium besides bananas? I despise bananas. Other than that, it was a great fun hard workout day.
I see that next week's tempo segments are 20 min long, and then we get into longer continuous tempo runs...I think, since I'm going to be away from run club for about a month, and apart from June we don't do tempo runs together anyway, I'd rather gradually bump up my 2 segments to 20 min, and whittle down the break in between, than do a longer tempo run. In june, we did 30-35-40 min over a few weeks, and I found that it was hard to concentrate and push for the entire thing...the first half was soft and I kept catching myself coasting, so it ended up being the fast end of easy on the way out and then 15-20 min of what I'd call true tempo going back. And without the run club companions, I probably wouldn't have done the workouts at all, judging by past months. With 15 min segments, however, it's much more interesting and honest and I can get into a better rhythm and go faster. Ultimately, the best thing might be to keep the 15 min segments, maybe morph slowly into 20 min, and lengthen the jogging portion afterwards, and gradually add a 2nd batch of tempo segments after the jogging portion. This was like the DAniels workouts I used to do--they were hard but seemed very beneficial.
I think I'm going off the rails partly because I don't really have plans or goal races this fall: the pressure's off, no long-long runs, no marathon training, so it's a good time to experiment with workouts. I would like to do the Winterman again next Feb, but that's a ways away.
At any rate, I'm really happy with what I did today!
Tomorrow, we're flying down to Florida. It will be hot and humid but there's a gym; if I make it early, it won't be too bad to do speedwork and resistance exercises. And on easy days, it will be fine jogging outside. After a week and a half, we'll go up to NY for almost a week, and since that's in the 'mountains', it's not really the best thing running-wise (it's not much fun), so maybe I'll do my tempo segments jogging up those long, long hills. LOL. Then it'll be almost a week in PA and NJ, which is prime running--there's a great 2.5 dirt loop where we'll be in PA and tracks, and a fair load of fast local runners, so it's very inspiring to run there. And NJ is flat and beach, so no shoes on easy days, and maybe not even on speedwork days if I feel up to it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the new shoes--I got two pairs of Nike Track Star shoes for $40 apiece in Texas. Discount at the PX, oh, yeah. I was impressed because usually the PX has a crappy selection of women's running shoes, but this one actually had at least a couple different models of racing flats, plus Nike Frees. They didn't have my size but they had two pairs a 1/2 size larger and that seemed fine. They're really light and flexible--I think I like them even better than my Saucony shoes. So it looks like I'm back to wearing Nike. For the time being. lol
Internet access will be spotty while I'm gone, so maybe I'll have the mother of all updates in Aug.
Today, I got out about an hour later than I'd hoped for, just before 7, but it was still fairly cool. I'd hoped to sort of combine the two speedwork workouts I missed last week: 2X 15min tempo and 100M repeats, and since it was only about 13C, my dog might have been game. Unfortunately, he'd had an allergic reaction at the lake yesterday. His muzzle had swelled dramatically. We're not sure what he'd gotten into, or what had bit him, but he was out of sorts until the swelling went down. He looks back to normal today but he was dragging even on the short walk out, and we ran about 200M before I decided to call it a day. He picked up speed dramatically on the way back and returned to bed. Poor guy. He'll get a walk later with the other dog.
Anyway, I headed back out and after a warm up jog, I hit the Canal and did the tempo stuff with about 5 min recovery in between (a bit long, but I wanted to hit a not-quite nearby fountain for water). The first segment was 1.92 miles, the 2nd 1.98 miles, according to Garmin (which sometimes falls a touch short, but we won't think about that). A bit slow, but ok. Then I jogged a bit and did 8X approx 100M in a park on dirt. It was flat but a bit chewed up, but that's ok. I would have done 2 more repeats but the park is an unofficial dog park and more and more dogs were off leash. That's ok, I was expecting that, and having a dirt strip in shade was a good trade off. This workout, which was supposed to be on a separate day, was 2X 10 X 100M with 30 seconds rest, but at a slower pace. I've done this sort of workout before and it really doesn't seem to do anything for me. I feel like a bit of a prig for thinking that; certainly if all I was doing was the 100M repeats today, I would have done 20 of them, but a bit faster with much more recovery in between. I usually stroll back and take about 1:30 doing so. LOL That's what I'm more suited for. It's much much much more fun to push more and feel the burn and then get more of a break. When it comes to 400Ms, yeah, I'll do them slower with shorter recoveries, but 100Ms seem to be mainly anaerobic anyway so might as well work that more fully.
I also did a very modest set of plyometrics: 2X 50M skipping. I hope to bump these up gradually and get into the jumps/hops soon. I was doing this in the States regularly, but it's not something my run club does, except in a lighter/easier form as a warm up, and I miss it.
After that, I jogged/walked home and did resistance exercises and ate breakfast. Is there another good source of potassium besides bananas? I despise bananas. Other than that, it was a great fun hard workout day.
I see that next week's tempo segments are 20 min long, and then we get into longer continuous tempo runs...I think, since I'm going to be away from run club for about a month, and apart from June we don't do tempo runs together anyway, I'd rather gradually bump up my 2 segments to 20 min, and whittle down the break in between, than do a longer tempo run. In june, we did 30-35-40 min over a few weeks, and I found that it was hard to concentrate and push for the entire thing...the first half was soft and I kept catching myself coasting, so it ended up being the fast end of easy on the way out and then 15-20 min of what I'd call true tempo going back. And without the run club companions, I probably wouldn't have done the workouts at all, judging by past months. With 15 min segments, however, it's much more interesting and honest and I can get into a better rhythm and go faster. Ultimately, the best thing might be to keep the 15 min segments, maybe morph slowly into 20 min, and lengthen the jogging portion afterwards, and gradually add a 2nd batch of tempo segments after the jogging portion. This was like the DAniels workouts I used to do--they were hard but seemed very beneficial.
I think I'm going off the rails partly because I don't really have plans or goal races this fall: the pressure's off, no long-long runs, no marathon training, so it's a good time to experiment with workouts. I would like to do the Winterman again next Feb, but that's a ways away.
At any rate, I'm really happy with what I did today!
Tomorrow, we're flying down to Florida. It will be hot and humid but there's a gym; if I make it early, it won't be too bad to do speedwork and resistance exercises. And on easy days, it will be fine jogging outside. After a week and a half, we'll go up to NY for almost a week, and since that's in the 'mountains', it's not really the best thing running-wise (it's not much fun), so maybe I'll do my tempo segments jogging up those long, long hills. LOL. Then it'll be almost a week in PA and NJ, which is prime running--there's a great 2.5 dirt loop where we'll be in PA and tracks, and a fair load of fast local runners, so it's very inspiring to run there. And NJ is flat and beach, so no shoes on easy days, and maybe not even on speedwork days if I feel up to it.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the new shoes--I got two pairs of Nike Track Star shoes for $40 apiece in Texas. Discount at the PX, oh, yeah. I was impressed because usually the PX has a crappy selection of women's running shoes, but this one actually had at least a couple different models of racing flats, plus Nike Frees. They didn't have my size but they had two pairs a 1/2 size larger and that seemed fine. They're really light and flexible--I think I like them even better than my Saucony shoes. So it looks like I'm back to wearing Nike. For the time being. lol
Internet access will be spotty while I'm gone, so maybe I'll have the mother of all updates in Aug.
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