Yep, the indoor track was open this week and the run club went. I was really looking forward to it for two reasons:
1. I'd never been there before.
2. Running--heck, even walking, well, really trudging--in snow is starting to wear me down. My legs are feeling pretty dull and my foot/toe was acting up again, after my foot slipped sideways for the umpteenth time. I swear, it was fine, then I slipped the wrong way, and, boom! I can't wait for this snow to leave.
Yesterday was supposed to be a recovery run but the snow made that difficult and I didn't do what I needed to do. It was still an ok run, in terms of fun and getting the dog out, but not a recovery run.
So, this morning, I decided to try to take things really easy and the dog and I jogged up and down the streets in my neighbourhood for about an hour, only a couple of lights, not much traffic, nice and relaxing...for me. He was on a different wavelength plus he has better traction than I--he wanted to go faster (we only covered about 5 miles, I think). After a while, though, he settled in. I had a few good moments of recovery running--there were a few flat areas that were not very snowy, and one with actually bare pavement, whoa! but for the most part, it wasn't totally what my legs needed. It doesn't help that the area isn't flat--it's mostly just in the 2-3% incline range but there are blocks with steeper inclines, including a couple over 15%. And we run up and down all that without much on the flat. It's usually not too bad but with the snow amplifying the inclines, it can get sort of rough. So I took things slowly and annoyed the dog.
And then I went to get an EKG. I have something benign but funky with my heart, probably mitral valve prolapse. My doctor is checking it out again because, uh, apparently, all those years ago, I was supposed to get more stuff done instead of just one EKG. I heard 'probably mitral valve prolapse' and 'it's not going to kill you' and skipped out. lol. So today I got another EKG and we'll go from there.
And then, after more studying, I jogged over to run club with my shorts and singlet under my clothes, and this time the track was open and we were good to go! This was my first time at this facility, the only indoor 400M within an umpteen mile radius, I guess....not really sure, but it's the only one in the city at least.
I don't know what I was expecting--something high-tech and professional, with rules and so forth? It was more relaxed than I'd thought, and less crowded too. There was plenty of room. The place smelled like an enclosed plasticky area containing perspiring bodies and a rubbery track, but it was fine, and it was far less stuffy than I'd been warned about.
We jogged about 8 times around as a warm up, and then it was 2(4 X 300M). I had to miss the 200M repeats last week, so I was a bit psyched out by the 300M, but they went pretty well. The first one was the fastest, at about 1:01, and then they settled into the 1:02-1:03 range, except for the 2nd last one which sagged and was 1:06, and then I tried to pick it up for the last and totally blow that minute barrier, lol, but still only got 1:03. I was getting pretty tired.
So, I'm happy--it was consistent, and an improvement over the last time I've done 300M repeats, about a 1/2 year ago, albeit on a path and not a flat flat track:
(1:07, 1:10, 1:09, 1:12, 1:11, 1:12, 1:11, 1:08, 1:12--this was 3X (3X 300M))
In total, I guess I ran/travelled
1 mile to run club,
2 miles warm up
8X 300, plus walking in between....heck, let's say that was another 2 miles total, because we did form drills and strides too.
1 mile cool down.
Total 6 miles, so about 11 for today. not bad! I don't think I'm going to make 50 miles this week, but I should get pretty close.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
...catching up....
Didn't want to pollute my race report...
I had to work on Sunday evening after the race....after 8 hrs, I was feeling pretty trashed. I also worked on Monday and Tues, and had a music rehearsal too, plus an exam today, and it's been too cold to sneak a morning run in until now....so my routine has been pretty shot.
Mon: 3.5 miles, pushups, resistance exercises
Tue: 3 miles, zilch
Wed: no morning run--too much studying and not the best conditions for the dog, anyway, but I did get out for evening speedwork.
We did 1550ish metre repeats--there was a blizzard going on and so we stuck to a loop that was relatively plowed, and it was slightly short a mile. With the snow, we were probably running more than a mile's worth timewise, anyway. When I saw relatively plowed, I mean just a few inches, not more. And it was still coming down. We seem to get the worst weather on run club days. lol
My times:
7:46
7:49
7:34
7:30
My legs started to feel sore near the end...not an injury, just not fully recovered. I haven't been getting enough sleep, especially last night, like 3 hrs. I think my exam went ok, though, and then I grabbed the dog and off we were:
5.83 in horrible greasy lumpy snow AGAIN. It's really getting on my nerves!!!!
On to yin yoga to pull my skeleton apart and take the trash out, and then hopefully I can get some of my next assignment done and then grab lots of zeds.
I had to work on Sunday evening after the race....after 8 hrs, I was feeling pretty trashed. I also worked on Monday and Tues, and had a music rehearsal too, plus an exam today, and it's been too cold to sneak a morning run in until now....so my routine has been pretty shot.
Mon: 3.5 miles, pushups, resistance exercises
Tue: 3 miles, zilch
Wed: no morning run--too much studying and not the best conditions for the dog, anyway, but I did get out for evening speedwork.
We did 1550ish metre repeats--there was a blizzard going on and so we stuck to a loop that was relatively plowed, and it was slightly short a mile. With the snow, we were probably running more than a mile's worth timewise, anyway. When I saw relatively plowed, I mean just a few inches, not more. And it was still coming down. We seem to get the worst weather on run club days. lol
My times:
7:46
7:49
7:34
7:30
My legs started to feel sore near the end...not an injury, just not fully recovered. I haven't been getting enough sleep, especially last night, like 3 hrs. I think my exam went ok, though, and then I grabbed the dog and off we were:
5.83 in horrible greasy lumpy snow AGAIN. It's really getting on my nerves!!!!
On to yin yoga to pull my skeleton apart and take the trash out, and then hopefully I can get some of my next assignment done and then grab lots of zeds.
my poor neglected log!
I got swamped by work and an exam.
Anyway, the Hypo half went well. I was quite pleased. I decided that I felt so crappy that watching my watch or Garmin was only going to make it worse, so I went without. There were only two of us from the club in that race, and we started off together but we were too far back, I think, and I found a hole and he didn't. For the first few minutes I was trying to stick with a legion of gray jackets (from a running club in Montreal, I think), but they were going ever so slightly too fast. My feet were quite frozen and maybe the rest of me too...I needed to warm up. I hadn't done so before the race.
Anyway, I spent most of the race alone....once that initial rush/scurry was over, I was in my place, and that was that. I decided to keep one woman in my sights, and then she dropped out after the first loop. well, after a while, I started catching up and passing people. I caught one or two and then suddenly it felt like a race: mustn't let them catch up again. Actually, to be completely accurate: man, I'm going to feel so foolish if they catch up. And so Pride kicked in and revved things up. Sometime during the 2nd loop, I started breaking down the course....mainly, each straight stretch was a day; there were roughly seven of them in a loop, so that was a week. Four weeks: a month, plus the little bit at the end which I figured would seem endless. It's about five weeks until my husband comes back for R&R, so I really got into this. As the race progressed, my brain shut down and I lost count...near the end, I realized that February was going to have 30 days according to my reckoning. It didn't matter. The point was to feel like each little bit was a big accomplishment and yet quite short and apparently finite. THe visual aspect helped a lot more than I'd realized--last time I'd done this, I'd used miles, not knowing where each of them would fall, but it had still worked well--this time, I could see the intersection and charge for it. it worked even better.
It felt ok at first, picking it up, but I was continuing to speed up, I think, and I remember thinking at one point during the 3rd loop (near the beginning of it, I think) that there was no way I could go for pretty much half the race like this, but then I didn't want to have gone out too fast and then faded, so I kept going. And I kept passing more people. First it was people I had trailed, then people who I thought I'd never catch up with, then people who I didn't even recognize. I don't think I passed a huge number who had been ahead of me, maybe 8 or so? 12? I wasn't keeping track. To add to the confusion were the multiple loops and the early start for walkers, so there were people spread out all over the course and I was lapping people too. And there were a few times that I was drawing close to someone, and then thinking, hey, I should be passing them more quickly if I'm lapping them...and then I realized that, no, they were moving faster than that and they had actually been ahead of me...HAD BEEN.
I'm doing my best to write this up without sounding like a pig, lol. I felt more apologetic than triumphant--I was definitely on my own gear. A couple of times, I considered taking it easy for a bit and drafting off of someone else, and so I hung back a little, but that felt too constrained. I just had to go. I felt a bit guilty, but in retrospect less so than last year at this race--I drafted off a couple of people for about nine miles and then passed them. That's pretty low and slimy, I think. LOL. But actually it was the same sort of deal...they started to slow down but I was stuck in gear.
Anyway, I was starting to get really tired and I was getting more and more afraid that I was slowing down, so I tried to keep pushing, keep my strides light and fast...that definitely helped, too.
Each time I passed someone, I felt more apprehensive about them passing me later on, so I tried to pass them strongly, and then that momentum kept me going.
At this point, I had frost on my shirt and my legs were pretty tired....breathing-wise, I was ok, and I didn't really notice the wind or cold anymore.
And then, it was the end. The bit at the end had a bend in it AGAIN--gosh, I was pissed. This was my least favourite part of the old course: that 1.1k bit had a bend in it which was visually deceiving. Here, again, the same deal, and I could see people way off down past the bend...fortunately, I got more mad than defeated, and I got to the bend and the volunteer told me to turn around that pylon right there. I asked him again to be sure. The thing was only a few metres away. Gosh, how nice!
The stretch back was, well....I counted down with the trees at first, and then I realized that the finish line was closer than expected, too, so that put a big lift in my gait and that was that.
It was an amazing race. I'm definitely leaving the toys home next time. They wouldn't have helped anyway....I would have probably pushed myself over the first 5K or so (5k: 25:36, which is slow), and then crashed. My 10k split was 50:53 so that meant that the last 6.9 miles went by in 53:35ish min (I think)and knowing that I was going that speed at the time might have freaked me out. Too fast! lol. So, honestly, I think having the numbers would have been a disadvantage. My body wanted to start out slow and pick it up, and there wasn't anything to stop it from doing so.
This makes the Winterman marathon an easy call: no Garmin either. That's going to get pretty trippy. It's 5K loops too, which is nice....but 8 of them and I'm already fretting about losing count!
Anyway, the Hypo half went well. I was quite pleased. I decided that I felt so crappy that watching my watch or Garmin was only going to make it worse, so I went without. There were only two of us from the club in that race, and we started off together but we were too far back, I think, and I found a hole and he didn't. For the first few minutes I was trying to stick with a legion of gray jackets (from a running club in Montreal, I think), but they were going ever so slightly too fast. My feet were quite frozen and maybe the rest of me too...I needed to warm up. I hadn't done so before the race.
Anyway, I spent most of the race alone....once that initial rush/scurry was over, I was in my place, and that was that. I decided to keep one woman in my sights, and then she dropped out after the first loop. well, after a while, I started catching up and passing people. I caught one or two and then suddenly it felt like a race: mustn't let them catch up again. Actually, to be completely accurate: man, I'm going to feel so foolish if they catch up. And so Pride kicked in and revved things up. Sometime during the 2nd loop, I started breaking down the course....mainly, each straight stretch was a day; there were roughly seven of them in a loop, so that was a week. Four weeks: a month, plus the little bit at the end which I figured would seem endless. It's about five weeks until my husband comes back for R&R, so I really got into this. As the race progressed, my brain shut down and I lost count...near the end, I realized that February was going to have 30 days according to my reckoning. It didn't matter. The point was to feel like each little bit was a big accomplishment and yet quite short and apparently finite. THe visual aspect helped a lot more than I'd realized--last time I'd done this, I'd used miles, not knowing where each of them would fall, but it had still worked well--this time, I could see the intersection and charge for it. it worked even better.
It felt ok at first, picking it up, but I was continuing to speed up, I think, and I remember thinking at one point during the 3rd loop (near the beginning of it, I think) that there was no way I could go for pretty much half the race like this, but then I didn't want to have gone out too fast and then faded, so I kept going. And I kept passing more people. First it was people I had trailed, then people who I thought I'd never catch up with, then people who I didn't even recognize. I don't think I passed a huge number who had been ahead of me, maybe 8 or so? 12? I wasn't keeping track. To add to the confusion were the multiple loops and the early start for walkers, so there were people spread out all over the course and I was lapping people too. And there were a few times that I was drawing close to someone, and then thinking, hey, I should be passing them more quickly if I'm lapping them...and then I realized that, no, they were moving faster than that and they had actually been ahead of me...HAD BEEN.
I'm doing my best to write this up without sounding like a pig, lol. I felt more apologetic than triumphant--I was definitely on my own gear. A couple of times, I considered taking it easy for a bit and drafting off of someone else, and so I hung back a little, but that felt too constrained. I just had to go. I felt a bit guilty, but in retrospect less so than last year at this race--I drafted off a couple of people for about nine miles and then passed them. That's pretty low and slimy, I think. LOL. But actually it was the same sort of deal...they started to slow down but I was stuck in gear.
Anyway, I was starting to get really tired and I was getting more and more afraid that I was slowing down, so I tried to keep pushing, keep my strides light and fast...that definitely helped, too.
Each time I passed someone, I felt more apprehensive about them passing me later on, so I tried to pass them strongly, and then that momentum kept me going.
At this point, I had frost on my shirt and my legs were pretty tired....breathing-wise, I was ok, and I didn't really notice the wind or cold anymore.
And then, it was the end. The bit at the end had a bend in it AGAIN--gosh, I was pissed. This was my least favourite part of the old course: that 1.1k bit had a bend in it which was visually deceiving. Here, again, the same deal, and I could see people way off down past the bend...fortunately, I got more mad than defeated, and I got to the bend and the volunteer told me to turn around that pylon right there. I asked him again to be sure. The thing was only a few metres away. Gosh, how nice!
The stretch back was, well....I counted down with the trees at first, and then I realized that the finish line was closer than expected, too, so that put a big lift in my gait and that was that.
It was an amazing race. I'm definitely leaving the toys home next time. They wouldn't have helped anyway....I would have probably pushed myself over the first 5K or so (5k: 25:36, which is slow), and then crashed. My 10k split was 50:53 so that meant that the last 6.9 miles went by in 53:35ish min (I think)and knowing that I was going that speed at the time might have freaked me out. Too fast! lol. So, honestly, I think having the numbers would have been a disadvantage. My body wanted to start out slow and pick it up, and there wasn't anything to stop it from doing so.
This makes the Winterman marathon an easy call: no Garmin either. That's going to get pretty trippy. It's 5K loops too, which is nice....but 8 of them and I'm already fretting about losing count!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
First, thanks to the race organizers and volunteers (including my mom) who put on a fun event. This was my third time running it, although the course was changed this year. My first time (2006): 2:14 (I had an injury). 2nd time (2008): 1:47. I hoped to PB on the course, though didn't expect (nor get) a PB overall.
I'm starting to gear up for the spring and trying to keep my mileage steady for the time being, so I didn't taper much--just cut back on speedwork and took the day off before the race....still ran 20 miles the Sunday before. LOL
Since this wasn't my A race or anything like that, I decided to try running by feel, no Garmin, no watch, nothing except for the timer on the course at the end of the 5K loops. I rarely track time or pace for easy runs (which are admittedly pretty slow, especially with the snow we've had on the ground here), but I've always hung on to a timer for races, and thought it helped me in the latter parts to try to beat the clock.
But I was curious to see how it would feel to go low-tech.
I seeded myself a bit far back so passed a bunch of people at the start. There was a big clot of runners from the same club--they had matching grey jackets--and I decided that they would be an excellent windbreak, but they were going just a little too fast. It didn't feel hard, but I didn't want my breathing to pick up quite that much so soon. So, after about a k or so, I was pretty much alone.
I don't honestly remember the first loop much. My split: 25:36 for 5K. This was slower than it felt, and I felt momentarily disappointed then figured, 'whatever, keep going'. LOL
The 2nd loop was similar at the beginning, though gradually I was coasting closer to people ahead--the grey squad had thinned out. I also thought out a way to count down the different parts of the loop as days/dates...I'm looking forward to something roughly 5 weeks from now, so each segment run was a day gone. I've used a similar mind game before with miles and it worked quite well. This time it worked even better because I had better visual cues and they weren't as far apart--whenever I started to flag, I could look up and see myself getting closer.
10K: 50:53, so a little faster than the first. Still seemed too slow, but I couldn't quite do the math so I didn't bother fussing about it.
And then it started. I'm not exactly sure when, maybe even before 10K.
I don't really like people passing me but have been rather broken down and thus more permissive about this in past races. This time, though, I was much more fixated on other runners. And I'm not sure if it was me speeding up or someone else slowing down, but at some point I passed someone and then though, gee, I can't let them catch up. So I sped up a little. This eventually brought me to the heels of another runner, and of course, I couldn't let them pass me either, so I picked it up a little more, and so on and so forth. A few times, I felt like I was maybe going a little too fast, and then I decided to stay behind the next people I came to, but after a minute or two I felt constricted and had to go at my own speed--thus, ahead. It was like I was stuck in gear. More than a few times, I felt like I was almost going too fast, and then I felt like I was getting tired and slowing down, so I kept reminding myself to keep things like and keep my legs moving at a certain cadence. I remember thinking that, darn, my strides had shortened, I was getting tired, so I had to keep pumping out the strides. I didn't want anyone catching up.
I don't think anyone passed me during the 2nd half of the race. Eventually, I caught up with several grey squad members too. I talked with a few people whom I passed--they said I looked good, and I said that they looked good and would probably pass me...I wasn't sure how much gas I had left.
But it was enough.
On the last stretch, I was counting down trees, but couldn't quite count down--I couldn't think properly. Fortunately, the finish line came sooner than expected and then I saw the clock: 1:44:2X....like, wow.
This isn't a PB, not by a few minutes, but it was definitely a PB for the course, and, gosh, I wasn't honestly expecting to break 8 min/mile today so that was sweet. It's great to see an improvement from last year.
And it really felt like a race...it wasn't me in my little Garmin bubble anymore. The best part was not fighting the urge to constantly check my watch, and succumbing to this and desparing at how slowly the numbers are moving. That's not very exciting or invigorating---fixating on the course ahead and other runners, on the other hand, was a lot more fun.
My next race is, I think, a full marathon in Feb. I'm crappy at marathon pacing, but I think I'm going to throw caution to the wind (and my Garmin more securely on a shelf at home) and run that one by feel too. It was such a richer experience not having the veil of numbers.
Thanks again to everyone who worked on this race!!!
_________________
I'm starting to gear up for the spring and trying to keep my mileage steady for the time being, so I didn't taper much--just cut back on speedwork and took the day off before the race....still ran 20 miles the Sunday before. LOL
Since this wasn't my A race or anything like that, I decided to try running by feel, no Garmin, no watch, nothing except for the timer on the course at the end of the 5K loops. I rarely track time or pace for easy runs (which are admittedly pretty slow, especially with the snow we've had on the ground here), but I've always hung on to a timer for races, and thought it helped me in the latter parts to try to beat the clock.
But I was curious to see how it would feel to go low-tech.
I seeded myself a bit far back so passed a bunch of people at the start. There was a big clot of runners from the same club--they had matching grey jackets--and I decided that they would be an excellent windbreak, but they were going just a little too fast. It didn't feel hard, but I didn't want my breathing to pick up quite that much so soon. So, after about a k or so, I was pretty much alone.
I don't honestly remember the first loop much. My split: 25:36 for 5K. This was slower than it felt, and I felt momentarily disappointed then figured, 'whatever, keep going'. LOL
The 2nd loop was similar at the beginning, though gradually I was coasting closer to people ahead--the grey squad had thinned out. I also thought out a way to count down the different parts of the loop as days/dates...I'm looking forward to something roughly 5 weeks from now, so each segment run was a day gone. I've used a similar mind game before with miles and it worked quite well. This time it worked even better because I had better visual cues and they weren't as far apart--whenever I started to flag, I could look up and see myself getting closer.
10K: 50:53, so a little faster than the first. Still seemed too slow, but I couldn't quite do the math so I didn't bother fussing about it.
And then it started. I'm not exactly sure when, maybe even before 10K.
I don't really like people passing me but have been rather broken down and thus more permissive about this in past races. This time, though, I was much more fixated on other runners. And I'm not sure if it was me speeding up or someone else slowing down, but at some point I passed someone and then though, gee, I can't let them catch up. So I sped up a little. This eventually brought me to the heels of another runner, and of course, I couldn't let them pass me either, so I picked it up a little more, and so on and so forth. A few times, I felt like I was maybe going a little too fast, and then I decided to stay behind the next people I came to, but after a minute or two I felt constricted and had to go at my own speed--thus, ahead. It was like I was stuck in gear. More than a few times, I felt like I was almost going too fast, and then I felt like I was getting tired and slowing down, so I kept reminding myself to keep things like and keep my legs moving at a certain cadence. I remember thinking that, darn, my strides had shortened, I was getting tired, so I had to keep pumping out the strides. I didn't want anyone catching up.
I don't think anyone passed me during the 2nd half of the race. Eventually, I caught up with several grey squad members too. I talked with a few people whom I passed--they said I looked good, and I said that they looked good and would probably pass me...I wasn't sure how much gas I had left.
But it was enough.
On the last stretch, I was counting down trees, but couldn't quite count down--I couldn't think properly. Fortunately, the finish line came sooner than expected and then I saw the clock: 1:44:2X....like, wow.
This isn't a PB, not by a few minutes, but it was definitely a PB for the course, and, gosh, I wasn't honestly expecting to break 8 min/mile today so that was sweet. It's great to see an improvement from last year.
And it really felt like a race...it wasn't me in my little Garmin bubble anymore. The best part was not fighting the urge to constantly check my watch, and succumbing to this and desparing at how slowly the numbers are moving. That's not very exciting or invigorating---fixating on the course ahead and other runners, on the other hand, was a lot more fun.
My next race is, I think, a full marathon in Feb. I'm crappy at marathon pacing, but I think I'm going to throw caution to the wind (and my Garmin more securely on a shelf at home) and run that one by feel too. It was such a richer experience not having the veil of numbers.
Thanks again to everyone who worked on this race!!!
_________________
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Rest day!
Yes, in honour of the hypo 1/2 tomorrow, I'm not running today. I jogged just a few miles yesterday--the dog hung in for two until the slush got to him. It's gotten colder again. This is good for my hands--it's so dry that the sweat just goes to the outside of my mitts and freezes there, without chilling my hands. It's not so good for the rest of me, though, and definitely not for the dog. This morning was about -37C windchill, so it was a really hard decision to maintain this as a rest day.
As for the race tomorrow...
I picked up my packet yesterday. The kit included a hat and gloves. The gloves look nice but gloves usually aren't that effective for me, but I'll try them. The hat, on the other hand, I'm thrilled about. I had a hat from the 2006 Hypo Half which I liked and wore often until it was stolen by a rent-a-cop on APG (long story), and I was disappointed last year to get a bag instead. Nice bag, but I wanted to replace my hat. Now I have and I can run the race with a light heart and warm head. lol
This will be my third time running the race, and they've made changes to the route. Before, it used to be a vaguely stretched-out Z-shaped out and back totaling 5k, and a little bit at the end to make up the last 1.1k. I had no problems with the out and back, running the stretch eight times....it helped me get into a rhythm, and I could see people I knew often on the course. The last bit at the end, though, sucked. It always seemed longer than I'd expected. So when I heard they were changing the course, I got my hopes up. No more appendix!
Nope, they've made part of the out and back into a loop instead. And the loop is in the middle, so the tight turns of the out and back are still there. Not that I really minded them, but I would think that they and the appendix would be the first to go if they were going to rejig the route. It seems they've thrown the baby out and kept the bathwater, but probably other folks disliked running the same stretch 8 times and maybe the new way will be better. At the very least, it'll help me ease into the first loop and keep the start easy because I'll be trying it out, getting to know it, etc. We'll see how it goes.
I would like to pb the course at least, but my hopes aren't high. I'm not worried about my foot but, heck, yeah, I am, or about feeling like a slug in general.
So, today, I won't do much, just schoolwork and so forth, maybe walk the dog, maybe go down Bank street and check out a store that supposedly has Obama tshirts (this being unfinished biz from my Philly trip)...Yes, We Can!
And I'll have to figure out some sort of mental game. And decide if I'm going to wear a Garmin. I like the idea of just running, but the numbers do help in the latter part of the race, and I'd like to know what my splits are, too. Maybe I'll tape over the screen and then pull the tape off if I feel desperate.
At any rate, it's going to be tres cold!
As for the race tomorrow...
I picked up my packet yesterday. The kit included a hat and gloves. The gloves look nice but gloves usually aren't that effective for me, but I'll try them. The hat, on the other hand, I'm thrilled about. I had a hat from the 2006 Hypo Half which I liked and wore often until it was stolen by a rent-a-cop on APG (long story), and I was disappointed last year to get a bag instead. Nice bag, but I wanted to replace my hat. Now I have and I can run the race with a light heart and warm head. lol
This will be my third time running the race, and they've made changes to the route. Before, it used to be a vaguely stretched-out Z-shaped out and back totaling 5k, and a little bit at the end to make up the last 1.1k. I had no problems with the out and back, running the stretch eight times....it helped me get into a rhythm, and I could see people I knew often on the course. The last bit at the end, though, sucked. It always seemed longer than I'd expected. So when I heard they were changing the course, I got my hopes up. No more appendix!
Nope, they've made part of the out and back into a loop instead. And the loop is in the middle, so the tight turns of the out and back are still there. Not that I really minded them, but I would think that they and the appendix would be the first to go if they were going to rejig the route. It seems they've thrown the baby out and kept the bathwater, but probably other folks disliked running the same stretch 8 times and maybe the new way will be better. At the very least, it'll help me ease into the first loop and keep the start easy because I'll be trying it out, getting to know it, etc. We'll see how it goes.
I would like to pb the course at least, but my hopes aren't high. I'm not worried about my foot but, heck, yeah, I am, or about feeling like a slug in general.
So, today, I won't do much, just schoolwork and so forth, maybe walk the dog, maybe go down Bank street and check out a store that supposedly has Obama tshirts (this being unfinished biz from my Philly trip)...Yes, We Can!
And I'll have to figure out some sort of mental game. And decide if I'm going to wear a Garmin. I like the idea of just running, but the numbers do help in the latter part of the race, and I'd like to know what my splits are, too. Maybe I'll tape over the screen and then pull the tape off if I feel desperate.
At any rate, it's going to be tres cold!
Thursday, January 22, 2009
thursday
One week to go till my first chem exam...
So today was mainly studying, but since it was only -2, the dog and I jogged around for a bit, 5.68 miles. No foot problems at all; I forgot about it, actually.
Then I went to yin yoga. It was a really good class.
So today was mainly studying, but since it was only -2, the dog and I jogged around for a bit, 5.68 miles. No foot problems at all; I forgot about it, actually.
Then I went to yin yoga. It was a really good class.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
a dirty secret
I recently got addicted to cube crash....it's a computer game. I totally busted the netfew yesterday with it.
Fortunately, though, wearing different shoes eased my foot situation a lot...I didn't feel sore until near the end of my shift, as opposed to a couple of hours into it. That's a big relief.
I went to hot yoga today and then ran 2 miles with the dog and then some speedwork. 1200M intervals today; I did just three and at an easier effort, roughly 1/2 marathon effort, because I'm running a 1/2 marathon this weekend.
5:45
5:39
5:30
There was almost no snow where we ran, which was amazing. I've been running in snow for so long (lol)...but, honestly, it's a shock to come to a clear surface. There isn't a lot of snow, but it's that squishy greasy heavy stuff; I've found that it seems to add about 2 min/mile to whatever I'm doing. So it was great to do intervals on a relatively clear surface, though I was starting to merge from 1/2 marathon effort to the effort I usually run those intervals at; I decided to quit then and just jog around. Then I jogged around a bit before going home. Total 11.09 miles. No foot pain, though it's vaguely stiff now...a definite improvement. I'll take it easy until the race.
And it was definitely nice to know that the shoes I wore were fine...they're trail shoes and stiffer and heavier than I like (though not really--but I really like not a lot of shoe, lol), but this race won't be a PB anyway.
Fortunately, though, wearing different shoes eased my foot situation a lot...I didn't feel sore until near the end of my shift, as opposed to a couple of hours into it. That's a big relief.
I went to hot yoga today and then ran 2 miles with the dog and then some speedwork. 1200M intervals today; I did just three and at an easier effort, roughly 1/2 marathon effort, because I'm running a 1/2 marathon this weekend.
5:45
5:39
5:30
There was almost no snow where we ran, which was amazing. I've been running in snow for so long (lol)...but, honestly, it's a shock to come to a clear surface. There isn't a lot of snow, but it's that squishy greasy heavy stuff; I've found that it seems to add about 2 min/mile to whatever I'm doing. So it was great to do intervals on a relatively clear surface, though I was starting to merge from 1/2 marathon effort to the effort I usually run those intervals at; I decided to quit then and just jog around. Then I jogged around a bit before going home. Total 11.09 miles. No foot pain, though it's vaguely stiff now...a definite improvement. I'll take it easy until the race.
And it was definitely nice to know that the shoes I wore were fine...they're trail shoes and stiffer and heavier than I like (though not really--but I really like not a lot of shoe, lol), but this race won't be a PB anyway.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
more fatigue
My foot hurts. Specifically, my big toe, specifically where it's attached to the rest of my foot.
The shoes I wore on Sunday aren't really 20-milers, if that makes sense...I love them and they usually feel great but they tend to get deep creases that create pressure points. A couple of hours is fine, and I hadn't planned on running 4 hrs, but that had worked well at the time, but I guess the extra duration and unsteady footing combined did me in...sort of.
I was fine jogging yesterday morning. My left foot didn't hurt much more than the rest of me, so I didn't notice it then, but being on my feet for most of 8-hour shift last night really brought the cows home. After a few hours, my foot was starting to get really sore. I finally took my shoes off and walked around in socks, once I figured that I was out of danger of getting my feet run over by wheelchairs/walkers. LOL
Today, it's better, but I haven't walked much yet, just on errands. I'm going to bring 2 different pairs of shoes and 1 pair of sandals to work, just in case. The shoes I was wearing yesterday are my usual pair, but I needed more room. There's a little bit of swelling.
At any rate, I was definitely not empathetic with the various old people who complained about walking from their bed to the bathroom, or wherever. One poor old lady (and I mean old, like 95) got her knickers bunched up because she'd rung and I hadn't come in time so she'd taken a few steps herself to get something unessential (I forget what, but there was way too much pulling last night for frivolities like dropped candies). I was polite, of course, but I couldn't help but remember that I'd rushed up three flights of stairs for something so stupid (might have been a comb that usually is in her bathroom but she claims is always in her drawer, so she occasionally gets worked up about this). Hey, my husband says it's not the years, but the miles! lol
A more serious side of my pique is that there are a few residents who honestly need help with larger matters, but who won't ring for that. Just the stupid stuff. It's frustrating.
I did get my pushups in, though! Hopefully my foot holds out tonight.
The shoes I wore on Sunday aren't really 20-milers, if that makes sense...I love them and they usually feel great but they tend to get deep creases that create pressure points. A couple of hours is fine, and I hadn't planned on running 4 hrs, but that had worked well at the time, but I guess the extra duration and unsteady footing combined did me in...sort of.
I was fine jogging yesterday morning. My left foot didn't hurt much more than the rest of me, so I didn't notice it then, but being on my feet for most of 8-hour shift last night really brought the cows home. After a few hours, my foot was starting to get really sore. I finally took my shoes off and walked around in socks, once I figured that I was out of danger of getting my feet run over by wheelchairs/walkers. LOL
Today, it's better, but I haven't walked much yet, just on errands. I'm going to bring 2 different pairs of shoes and 1 pair of sandals to work, just in case. The shoes I was wearing yesterday are my usual pair, but I needed more room. There's a little bit of swelling.
At any rate, I was definitely not empathetic with the various old people who complained about walking from their bed to the bathroom, or wherever. One poor old lady (and I mean old, like 95) got her knickers bunched up because she'd rung and I hadn't come in time so she'd taken a few steps herself to get something unessential (I forget what, but there was way too much pulling last night for frivolities like dropped candies). I was polite, of course, but I couldn't help but remember that I'd rushed up three flights of stairs for something so stupid (might have been a comb that usually is in her bathroom but she claims is always in her drawer, so she occasionally gets worked up about this). Hey, my husband says it's not the years, but the miles! lol
A more serious side of my pique is that there are a few residents who honestly need help with larger matters, but who won't ring for that. Just the stupid stuff. It's frustrating.
I did get my pushups in, though! Hopefully my foot holds out tonight.
Monday, January 19, 2009
fatigue
I made it to yin yoga yesterday, and went through endless agonizing minutes (years!) of dragon and gecko poses and I felt a lot better afterwards. In retrospect, though, I could have used some reclined Hero pose too...my quads might have done with even more stretching.
I slept for nearly 11 hours. I needed it.
This morning I did some yoga and then the dog and I got out for about 3.5 miles. It was very slow. I had very little energy, and there's still snow on the sidewalks. I managed to loosen up a bit, but the greasiness underfoot prevented me from reaping the full benefits of a recovery run. It just wasn't happening. If I hadn't had the dog, I might have done it on the FitWalk, but conditions turned out to be really good for him and he could have probably done an hour happily. Maybe tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'll nap and then go to my evening job. It's funny how short working just an 8-hour spread feels, after having the split shift.
I slept for nearly 11 hours. I needed it.
This morning I did some yoga and then the dog and I got out for about 3.5 miles. It was very slow. I had very little energy, and there's still snow on the sidewalks. I managed to loosen up a bit, but the greasiness underfoot prevented me from reaping the full benefits of a recovery run. It just wasn't happening. If I hadn't had the dog, I might have done it on the FitWalk, but conditions turned out to be really good for him and he could have probably done an hour happily. Maybe tomorrow.
Meanwhile, I'll nap and then go to my evening job. It's funny how short working just an 8-hour spread feels, after having the split shift.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
getting kind of lazy....
....with posting every day. Oh, well. Yesterday was 5.88 miles, just an easy jog to loosen up after the FitWalk adventure the day before, and then I jogged to work too. so 7.3ish/whatever altogether.
For some miraculous reason, I actually got to sleep around 1 am after my shift. I still felt like sludge getting up at 8 today for run club, though. It was -26 C with the windchill (warmer than it has been, but I was expecting even warmer weather) and running there took a while. There was fresh snow on the ground and more coming down. The footing was, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It could have been a lot worse. However, it was deceptively not easy--a few inches of snow, how hard could that be? Alas, that's still enough for a little party under each shoe: things just sort of mingle and have a few drinks and start shaking loose under there, and meanwhile, you're not getting where you want to go as quickly. The technical terms, like lack of traction, escape me.
I'm in a really pleasant mellow post-run frame of mind right now because it turned out to be a super run.
It took a while to get really going though...I met up with the run club and quickly decided that I was not going to hang with the gazelles this time. Not going to happen. So I ran for a bit, got a bit cross with the snow, etc, etc, and then a bunch of us were going up this hill and it just wasn't in me to push that much.
But I was not alone.
Gazelle #1 and I exchanged a quick confirmation of our lack of initiative, and then it was ON. or off....we lost the group, they pulled ahead, and then we just started running around, wherever, up this street, down that. We got to the river, and I thought we were headed south, lol (things look different in snow)....anyway, it was really pretty running amongst the trees, very refreshing. I would like to run there again before things melt. Yes, we were running through snow, but that was not much different from the sidewalks at this point. All too soon, we were back beside City Hall.
But this meant we were also fairly close to the Byward market, including washrooms with hand dryers (my mitts had gotten damp somehow so my hands were really cold), and food. One thing led to another, and suddenly we were having expresso shots and I had some baclava and turkish delight (my companion had much more self-restraint), and I was eyeing the pralines but she pulled me away. We walked through Chapters on our way to the Canal, but then trudging through more snow was beginning to erode the nice expresso bubble.
But, hey, the Canal itself is pretty smooth, and fairly well-cleared...
So we got on that. I've jogged alongside it, on the ice though on snow on the ice, but this was the first time I'd run on the nude ice. Admittedly, it still had a thin veneer of snow which provided good traction, and it was amazing how much easier it was to run on that than through the snow. I was still slightly nervous about slipping at first, but eventually forgot that we were on ice. We mixed in with the skaters and jogged to Dow's Lake while discussing getting a beavertail. We'd come that far, and the train was already off the rails with this run. With amazing fortitude, though, we postponed the beavertail until we were back at the other end of the Canal. We got a Killaloe (sp?) Sunrise, but they were a bit stingy with the lemon. Still, it was very good.
Then we jogged back to the rendezvous point and explained to the other run club members what the heck we were doing for so long out there.
And then, after some hot drinks, it came time to jog home. I accompanied my fellow gourmand for a mile or so, then peeled off to go home. I had a vague plan to get some more Middle Eastern desserts on the way home, but then decided against it. And then I realized that I was close to completing 20 miles, so I ran up and down our street to get there. Near the end, I ran on the street itself, where it was fairly clear, and I had the same sort of epiphany I had on the Canal: hey, running NOT in snow is quite easy. It was amazing how fresh my legs felt. Although, my left leg felt a little funny in the thigh near the end...I think all the slipping and sliding around was tiring something out there, but it wasn't anything major.
Total 20.08 miles in almost 4 hrs. I blame the snow. Not the snacking. The snacking helped me hang in there and enjoy it. It was great training for the ultra, too.
DEFINITELY, I'm going to Yin Yoga tonight. Turned in my chem assignment a short while ago, so my conscience is unburdened (temporarily--I have bio breathing down my neck now....)
For some miraculous reason, I actually got to sleep around 1 am after my shift. I still felt like sludge getting up at 8 today for run club, though. It was -26 C with the windchill (warmer than it has been, but I was expecting even warmer weather) and running there took a while. There was fresh snow on the ground and more coming down. The footing was, well, I'm not sure how to describe it. It could have been a lot worse. However, it was deceptively not easy--a few inches of snow, how hard could that be? Alas, that's still enough for a little party under each shoe: things just sort of mingle and have a few drinks and start shaking loose under there, and meanwhile, you're not getting where you want to go as quickly. The technical terms, like lack of traction, escape me.
I'm in a really pleasant mellow post-run frame of mind right now because it turned out to be a super run.
It took a while to get really going though...I met up with the run club and quickly decided that I was not going to hang with the gazelles this time. Not going to happen. So I ran for a bit, got a bit cross with the snow, etc, etc, and then a bunch of us were going up this hill and it just wasn't in me to push that much.
But I was not alone.
Gazelle #1 and I exchanged a quick confirmation of our lack of initiative, and then it was ON. or off....we lost the group, they pulled ahead, and then we just started running around, wherever, up this street, down that. We got to the river, and I thought we were headed south, lol (things look different in snow)....anyway, it was really pretty running amongst the trees, very refreshing. I would like to run there again before things melt. Yes, we were running through snow, but that was not much different from the sidewalks at this point. All too soon, we were back beside City Hall.
But this meant we were also fairly close to the Byward market, including washrooms with hand dryers (my mitts had gotten damp somehow so my hands were really cold), and food. One thing led to another, and suddenly we were having expresso shots and I had some baclava and turkish delight (my companion had much more self-restraint), and I was eyeing the pralines but she pulled me away. We walked through Chapters on our way to the Canal, but then trudging through more snow was beginning to erode the nice expresso bubble.
But, hey, the Canal itself is pretty smooth, and fairly well-cleared...
So we got on that. I've jogged alongside it, on the ice though on snow on the ice, but this was the first time I'd run on the nude ice. Admittedly, it still had a thin veneer of snow which provided good traction, and it was amazing how much easier it was to run on that than through the snow. I was still slightly nervous about slipping at first, but eventually forgot that we were on ice. We mixed in with the skaters and jogged to Dow's Lake while discussing getting a beavertail. We'd come that far, and the train was already off the rails with this run. With amazing fortitude, though, we postponed the beavertail until we were back at the other end of the Canal. We got a Killaloe (sp?) Sunrise, but they were a bit stingy with the lemon. Still, it was very good.
Then we jogged back to the rendezvous point and explained to the other run club members what the heck we were doing for so long out there.
And then, after some hot drinks, it came time to jog home. I accompanied my fellow gourmand for a mile or so, then peeled off to go home. I had a vague plan to get some more Middle Eastern desserts on the way home, but then decided against it. And then I realized that I was close to completing 20 miles, so I ran up and down our street to get there. Near the end, I ran on the street itself, where it was fairly clear, and I had the same sort of epiphany I had on the Canal: hey, running NOT in snow is quite easy. It was amazing how fresh my legs felt. Although, my left leg felt a little funny in the thigh near the end...I think all the slipping and sliding around was tiring something out there, but it wasn't anything major.
Total 20.08 miles in almost 4 hrs. I blame the snow. Not the snacking. The snacking helped me hang in there and enjoy it. It was great training for the ultra, too.
DEFINITELY, I'm going to Yin Yoga tonight. Turned in my chem assignment a short while ago, so my conscience is unburdened (temporarily--I have bio breathing down my neck now....)
Friday, January 16, 2009
salvaging sprints
I tackled Chemistry for eons, and then joyously jogged the mile down to run club in NON-running clothes. Well, actually, I was wearing running clothes, but summer running clothes under my usual winter attire.
We were going to do sprints in an indoor track!! This was to be my first time in the Dome, the region's only 400M indoor track.
Alas, on our way there, we found out that it was temporarily closed due to an emergency, a burst water main, I think. Major bummer.
So I trudged back home (the distance shortened by the kindness of my friend, who dropped me off closer to home) and moped.
Well, it was karma because I'd meant to finish the chem assignment before going, but got tripped up on a couple of problems.
There was still time to do something outside, but after walking home in the -30 windchill or whatever it was for a few measely blocks, I'd already had enough of that.
Plus I was still wearing my summer running clothes. To exchange those for winter running clothes would have been conceding defeat.
So I went downstairs and got on that poor, increasingly-abused FitWalk machine. I put shoes on this time because I wanted to do more than 25 minutes. At first, I figured I would just jog/walk, like I usually do, but that got really boring after about 20 min. So then I figured, hey, I could do something sort of like the sprint workout I missed. I remembered it being 2X (6-8X 200M/60s rest), 3 minutes between sets. It was actually just 6X and 4 min between sets...close enough. Since we missed the 100M sprints last week too and I was feeling quite lazy, I figured I'd do 30s hard/60s easy (my 200M repeats last time were 38-40s). I did 2X (8X 30s) with 3 min in between, and then about 5 minutes afterwards as a cooldown, bringing me to 50:XX (forgot to check. The faster intervals made the workout go by a LOT more quickly.
But how far did I run? The counter on the FitWalk said 3 miles. I'm not sure if it's due to the incline or what, but that's kind of way off. When I'm jogging on it, I guesstimate that I go about 2X what it says, because usually my easy jogging is about 9:30-10:00/mile outside, and it's about 19:00-20:00/mile on that machine. LOL.
So, going by effort again...with those 30s, I could probably cover about 150M. 16 of those: 2400M. Then there are 14 60s intervals between those, which at a 10:00/mile pace would be about, gee, 1/10th of a mile or 160M....150M makes the math easier :). so 2100M of those. 3 min in between, same pace, 450M. Then 3200M warm up and goodness knows about the cooldown, let's say 800M. Total 8.950 km, or about 5.56 miles. phew! That sounds reasonable.
That's a good mental warm up for the rest of my chemistry assignment, I guess...
so 6.5 miles today, pretty much. Not bad. Hopefully we'll get to go to the Dome next week so I can just run and know what I'm running instead of guesstimating. At least with the FitWalk, though, I am still running. It's a little bit artificial but it's amazing how much harder it is to work the machine when my core or armswing gets lazy....I think it really does help with form.
I also resistance/core exercises. No pushups...I've been slipping with those.
We were going to do sprints in an indoor track!! This was to be my first time in the Dome, the region's only 400M indoor track.
Alas, on our way there, we found out that it was temporarily closed due to an emergency, a burst water main, I think. Major bummer.
So I trudged back home (the distance shortened by the kindness of my friend, who dropped me off closer to home) and moped.
Well, it was karma because I'd meant to finish the chem assignment before going, but got tripped up on a couple of problems.
There was still time to do something outside, but after walking home in the -30 windchill or whatever it was for a few measely blocks, I'd already had enough of that.
Plus I was still wearing my summer running clothes. To exchange those for winter running clothes would have been conceding defeat.
So I went downstairs and got on that poor, increasingly-abused FitWalk machine. I put shoes on this time because I wanted to do more than 25 minutes. At first, I figured I would just jog/walk, like I usually do, but that got really boring after about 20 min. So then I figured, hey, I could do something sort of like the sprint workout I missed. I remembered it being 2X (6-8X 200M/60s rest), 3 minutes between sets. It was actually just 6X and 4 min between sets...close enough. Since we missed the 100M sprints last week too and I was feeling quite lazy, I figured I'd do 30s hard/60s easy (my 200M repeats last time were 38-40s). I did 2X (8X 30s) with 3 min in between, and then about 5 minutes afterwards as a cooldown, bringing me to 50:XX (forgot to check. The faster intervals made the workout go by a LOT more quickly.
But how far did I run? The counter on the FitWalk said 3 miles. I'm not sure if it's due to the incline or what, but that's kind of way off. When I'm jogging on it, I guesstimate that I go about 2X what it says, because usually my easy jogging is about 9:30-10:00/mile outside, and it's about 19:00-20:00/mile on that machine. LOL.
So, going by effort again...with those 30s, I could probably cover about 150M. 16 of those: 2400M. Then there are 14 60s intervals between those, which at a 10:00/mile pace would be about, gee, 1/10th of a mile or 160M....150M makes the math easier :). so 2100M of those. 3 min in between, same pace, 450M. Then 3200M warm up and goodness knows about the cooldown, let's say 800M. Total 8.950 km, or about 5.56 miles. phew! That sounds reasonable.
That's a good mental warm up for the rest of my chemistry assignment, I guess...
so 6.5 miles today, pretty much. Not bad. Hopefully we'll get to go to the Dome next week so I can just run and know what I'm running instead of guesstimating. At least with the FitWalk, though, I am still running. It's a little bit artificial but it's amazing how much harder it is to work the machine when my core or armswing gets lazy....I think it really does help with form.
I also resistance/core exercises. No pushups...I've been slipping with those.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
in installments
That's what my running was like today. It was too cold in the morning to take the dog, so I jogged 25 min (approx 2.5 miles equivalent) on the FitWalk machine, then in the evening, I jogged 2ish miles with the dog, then dropped him off at home and jogged another 2ish miles, then picked him up again and jogged another 2ish miles. I feel kind of stupid when jogging with him in this manner because all we do is go up and down the streets in our neighbourhood. I don't want to go too far from home in case he suddenly needs to get inside, plus downtown we have arterial streets which are more regularly salted, whereas the streets/blocks in between are less so; by jogging up and down these smaller streets, we avoid salt and traffic lights! woohoo!
It's amazing how we can get 2-3 miles in without traffic lights like that, and it makes the run a lot more relaxing. I hadn't realized that before it got too cold to take the dog far, and I'm really glad I did because the traffic/lights are ticking me off more and more. The bus strike has put about 20% more cars on the road, and so a lot of them wind up in my neighbourhood, even on the smaller streets, and with the snow, drivers have become a lot sloppier with stop signs and lights. During my run without the dog, I had to yell at a lady driving at me while I was crossing a street. It was a red light for her, but it wasn't like she had been stuck in the box and then trying to clear it--the slag honestly crossed on the stalest yellow in the universe. I try to let cars stuck in the intersection go by, but she had been on the other side of the intersection when I looked as the light changed, and then then she was suddenly a few feet away. I yelled and got out of the way. She didn't look up. I keep forgetting to run with a wad of snow on my hand. j/k, but I've heard of people doing this. It's too tempting. LOL
So, phew! (glad to get that off my chest), just jogging up and down the streets between larger ones, maybe a 3-4 block radius, as boring as it might be, is a lot less stressful than dealing with commuter traffic. This is like finding a missing piece of a puzzle: sometimes, I want to jog only a few miles, but going straight out to a bike path eats up at least .75 of a mile and umpteen traffic lights/stops so my 2-3 miles becomes 5 or 6. The fitwalk machine eliminates this problem, but unfortunately, my dog misses out on exercise. Now I can get my relaxing, non-stop 2-3miles, and with the dog too.
Total: 8.5ish miles. Dog: 4 miles. Not bad for a cold as heck day.
Oh, and I went to the nurse practitioner because stress is still eating me alive. it's been about a week and a half since the split shift ended (yay!) but I'm still having general stress issues, guts, hormones, sleep, heartbeat, etc. We talked for a bit, she did a general exam, and I have a follow-up in 2 weeks...she's going to dig up info, mainly about managing IBS, and we'll go from there. It took me a while to get up the nerve to go to the doctor because I feel like I'm still healthier than most people, and I have made improvements with diet and exercise these past few years, but I still need a bit of help to get me onto a better track, at least until this deployment is over. No getting around that until it ends. LOL
incidentally, my blood pressure is pretty low, 90/60. It usually is low, but that's the lowest it's been, I think. It's not too low, just on the edge of 'normal'. I thought that was kind of interesting.
Meanwhile, more yoga--will go to a yin class this evening. :)
It's amazing how we can get 2-3 miles in without traffic lights like that, and it makes the run a lot more relaxing. I hadn't realized that before it got too cold to take the dog far, and I'm really glad I did because the traffic/lights are ticking me off more and more. The bus strike has put about 20% more cars on the road, and so a lot of them wind up in my neighbourhood, even on the smaller streets, and with the snow, drivers have become a lot sloppier with stop signs and lights. During my run without the dog, I had to yell at a lady driving at me while I was crossing a street. It was a red light for her, but it wasn't like she had been stuck in the box and then trying to clear it--the slag honestly crossed on the stalest yellow in the universe. I try to let cars stuck in the intersection go by, but she had been on the other side of the intersection when I looked as the light changed, and then then she was suddenly a few feet away. I yelled and got out of the way. She didn't look up. I keep forgetting to run with a wad of snow on my hand. j/k, but I've heard of people doing this. It's too tempting. LOL
So, phew! (glad to get that off my chest), just jogging up and down the streets between larger ones, maybe a 3-4 block radius, as boring as it might be, is a lot less stressful than dealing with commuter traffic. This is like finding a missing piece of a puzzle: sometimes, I want to jog only a few miles, but going straight out to a bike path eats up at least .75 of a mile and umpteen traffic lights/stops so my 2-3 miles becomes 5 or 6. The fitwalk machine eliminates this problem, but unfortunately, my dog misses out on exercise. Now I can get my relaxing, non-stop 2-3miles, and with the dog too.
Total: 8.5ish miles. Dog: 4 miles. Not bad for a cold as heck day.
Oh, and I went to the nurse practitioner because stress is still eating me alive. it's been about a week and a half since the split shift ended (yay!) but I'm still having general stress issues, guts, hormones, sleep, heartbeat, etc. We talked for a bit, she did a general exam, and I have a follow-up in 2 weeks...she's going to dig up info, mainly about managing IBS, and we'll go from there. It took me a while to get up the nerve to go to the doctor because I feel like I'm still healthier than most people, and I have made improvements with diet and exercise these past few years, but I still need a bit of help to get me onto a better track, at least until this deployment is over. No getting around that until it ends. LOL
incidentally, my blood pressure is pretty low, 90/60. It usually is low, but that's the lowest it's been, I think. It's not too low, just on the edge of 'normal'. I thought that was kind of interesting.
Meanwhile, more yoga--will go to a yin class this evening. :)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
getting back on track
My schedule is all out of whack--I stayed up until 3. just couldn't get to sleep after work. I still don't know what it was about it that got me so riled up, unless it was trying and failing to tackle a certain chemistry problem that was the real culprit.
I did yoga this morning and will go to a class soon. No pushups yet. I'm going to try to do resistance exercises again today to get back on track with those.
Running..I'd wanted to take the dog out for a bit, but it's like -37 windchill right now, so that isn't happening. I have run club tonight, will update.
EDIT: ok, busting the netfew, but, MAN, what a cold night! I really needed some windproofing on my legs. Anyway, I ran around for a bit, then with the run club....we did km intervals. I managed four,
4:35
4:27
4:27
4:28
Total 7.69 miles--I ran around for a couple of miles before the workout, to decide if I was going to go through with it. It was cold enough that the rest intervals were way too long, so I cut them short. The footing was good, much better than what I've been running on for the past week, so I was able to get into a nice rhythm. The cold weather froze up the greasy slush...the slush is good practice for mud, I think, but after so many runs it gets old. It was nice to actually connect with the ground and push off without it squishing around or making my foot slide backwards.
I also went to a hot yoga class, which was a lot of fun. I'm going to try to go to yin yoga tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be warmer and less windy so that I can take the dog out for a couple of miles at least.
I did yoga this morning and will go to a class soon. No pushups yet. I'm going to try to do resistance exercises again today to get back on track with those.
Running..I'd wanted to take the dog out for a bit, but it's like -37 windchill right now, so that isn't happening. I have run club tonight, will update.
EDIT: ok, busting the netfew, but, MAN, what a cold night! I really needed some windproofing on my legs. Anyway, I ran around for a bit, then with the run club....we did km intervals. I managed four,
4:35
4:27
4:27
4:28
Total 7.69 miles--I ran around for a couple of miles before the workout, to decide if I was going to go through with it. It was cold enough that the rest intervals were way too long, so I cut them short. The footing was good, much better than what I've been running on for the past week, so I was able to get into a nice rhythm. The cold weather froze up the greasy slush...the slush is good practice for mud, I think, but after so many runs it gets old. It was nice to actually connect with the ground and push off without it squishing around or making my foot slide backwards.
I also went to a hot yoga class, which was a lot of fun. I'm going to try to go to yin yoga tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be warmer and less windy so that I can take the dog out for a couple of miles at least.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday/Tuesday
Monday--3 miles with the dog, 3 without. Yoga in the morning, yay, and pushups, but no core exercises.
I did those today (Tuesday) and I'll probably jog to work and maybe from work...that'll be it for running, 3 miles. I had hoped to go to a yoga class this morning, but ran out of time.
I did those today (Tuesday) and I'll probably jog to work and maybe from work...that'll be it for running, 3 miles. I had hoped to go to a yoga class this morning, but ran out of time.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The furthest I have run
...in 2009. 14 miles today, and it was tough.
I didn't get a lot of sleep, and I woke up with sniffles. I jogged to run club a bit late, just in time to link up with them as they were leaving, and I was so out of it that I ended up running with the fast group for a while. Occasionally this happens, usually when I'm tired and so a 10 minute mile or whatever doesn't feel that much better than an 8 minute one or whatever, so I might as well get it over with. Then it catches up with me. After about six miles of that, I started feeling tired. The pace wasn't especially fast, maybe 8:20/mile, but a lot of it was on snow and it was sort of cold, and, eh....so I hung in there until my Garmin said 10 miles (9 miles with them) and then I thanked them and headed back on rather tired legs. I ended up running on the Canal for a while, and it was funny how much cooler that felt. Makes sense because the thing is one big ice cube. We're in the fridge now!
In total, I ran 14 miles.
Maybe running the nine faster miles wasn't the best strategy, but it was a good wakeup call. I don't expect to PB at the Hypo 1/2, but it would be cool to PB on the course, at least, conditions permitting, in which case I'll have to move a bit faster than the 10-11 min/mile I seem to usually do these days. Albeit, on snow...hopefully there won't be much at the Hypo 1/2. Will see. Anyway, I'm glad I had a good somewhat hard run today. Now I feel like I'm training again.
It would be nice to run 16 miles next Sunday....will see. I need to get in one long-long run before the Winterman marathon, probably Feb 1 or 8. I'm going to try to stick to 50ish miles a week for January (won't taper much for the Hypo 1/2). February will bring longer long runs and more speedwork, so the mileage will creep up without me fussing much over it.
I didn't get a lot of sleep, and I woke up with sniffles. I jogged to run club a bit late, just in time to link up with them as they were leaving, and I was so out of it that I ended up running with the fast group for a while. Occasionally this happens, usually when I'm tired and so a 10 minute mile or whatever doesn't feel that much better than an 8 minute one or whatever, so I might as well get it over with. Then it catches up with me. After about six miles of that, I started feeling tired. The pace wasn't especially fast, maybe 8:20/mile, but a lot of it was on snow and it was sort of cold, and, eh....so I hung in there until my Garmin said 10 miles (9 miles with them) and then I thanked them and headed back on rather tired legs. I ended up running on the Canal for a while, and it was funny how much cooler that felt. Makes sense because the thing is one big ice cube. We're in the fridge now!
In total, I ran 14 miles.
Maybe running the nine faster miles wasn't the best strategy, but it was a good wakeup call. I don't expect to PB at the Hypo 1/2, but it would be cool to PB on the course, at least, conditions permitting, in which case I'll have to move a bit faster than the 10-11 min/mile I seem to usually do these days. Albeit, on snow...hopefully there won't be much at the Hypo 1/2. Will see. Anyway, I'm glad I had a good somewhat hard run today. Now I feel like I'm training again.
It would be nice to run 16 miles next Sunday....will see. I need to get in one long-long run before the Winterman marathon, probably Feb 1 or 8. I'm going to try to stick to 50ish miles a week for January (won't taper much for the Hypo 1/2). February will bring longer long runs and more speedwork, so the mileage will creep up without me fussing much over it.
Saturday (really)
It was -20 until 11:00 or so, and a few hours later, it was just -10.
Naturally, the dog and I went out when it was -20, lol. Two miles for him, then 3.5ish more for me, then I had a nap and then jogged to work...I think I ran 7.1 miles altogether. Oops, travelled...somewhere in there was .25 of a mile on the FitWalk...I'm getting faster on it. I can't remember if I counted that in my tally or not, and I'm too tired to recheck it.
Tomorrow, run club (hopefully) and maybe some yoga.
Naturally, the dog and I went out when it was -20, lol. Two miles for him, then 3.5ish more for me, then I had a nap and then jogged to work...I think I ran 7.1 miles altogether. Oops, travelled...somewhere in there was .25 of a mile on the FitWalk...I'm getting faster on it. I can't remember if I counted that in my tally or not, and I'm too tired to recheck it.
Tomorrow, run club (hopefully) and maybe some yoga.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thurs
Thurs: did the morning routine, went to a yoga class in the evening, plus ran with the dog for 5.94 miles. It was great weather for him, -10 and not too much wind, salt, or slush. I had hoped that Friday would be the same, so that he could get even more tired out.
Sadly, today was considerably colder...I don't like taking him out past -12 or -15 or so (that's including windchill). Sometimes he does ok in colder weather, but I just go around the block or whatever in case something happens. Today, though, he didn't even want to hang out in the backyard much, and has been sleeping most of the day. Admittedly, he's a little heavier than he used to be...I'm trying to cut back on his food a bit, but other members of the family are possibly sabotaging my efforts. LOL. I don't want to cut back too much, anyway, because a bit of flab will keep him warmer, but he should lose at least a little...I tried to pick him up to weigh him, and if that scale's right, he weighs 69 pounds. That's a lot. The vet had said that his optimal weight was 54 pounds, but that's when we first got him--he had just come from rescue/shelter (had apparently been there a month and weighed 48 pounds the week before we got him, so I can't imagine how emaciated he was when they first got him). At the same time, though, he didn't have much muscle, comparitively...he bulked up a bit honestly, so I suspect he could be a totally fit and ripped dog at 56-58 pounds or so. 69 is pushing it, though. He still has a bit of a waist but it seems hard to feel his ribs, and he's got this blob of flab on his chest and gut. Oh, well, I'm not going to worry about it until it gets warmer and we can do more about getting him his girlish figure back. And him carting around the extra jiggle seems to reduce the zoomies in the house, though I had him run up and down the stairs for a bit yesterday after the run to get that out of his system.
And I have a bit of extra flab on me, too, and I'm not going to worry about that for the time being, either. Maybe I should worry about it a bit more, because I grazed a lot today, but much of that was healthy. I'm eating pepitas right now, good source of iron, and I've stocked up on dried fruits and nuts in general. Also Emergen-C...well, as vices go, that one isn't too bad, but I'm wondering if I might as well just dissolve kiddy vitamins in water. It would be cheaper, at least. lol
Anyway, TODAY, I did yoga in the morning again, and then I polished off half of a school assignment (hence the grazing) and then I ran to run club. We were to do sprints, but there was too much snow on the ground for that, I guess, so our coach switched us to an easy run with 3 tempo segments. I guess they were all roughly a km. I'm not exactly sure of the pace, as I didn't bother hitting any of the buttons on the Garmin, but one mile was mostly tempo, I think, and that one was 8:20. Quite slow, but we were running on snow. Not through snow, or in snow, which would be even slower, but even packed snow is slower than a smoother surface. My jogging pace was around 11:00/mile. This is great practice for the ultra!
In total, I jogged/ran 10.24 miles outside--once I got going, it was great. Running on that still-mostly white snow was really neat, like a fresh page, plus it's fun running in the dark, plus my head was so well-insulated that I couldn't hear much of the noise I was making, so it was kind of like a movie and I could chill and watch it. Hey, maybe that's why I was slower than usual! I was glad to do that length of run with tempo segments in the middle--I think I've recently talked about that sort of workout, how it seems to really help more than just a regular warm-up, tempo, cool-down. 3K or whatever of tempo is an ok start, and maybe next week I can do 20 min of tempo, and see how it goes. That is if we don't do sprints. I could do with several weeks of sprints and then switch to tempo runs, but it was nice to get a taste.
After the run, I walked for another 1/2 mile on the FitWalk...I had the dog with me on that narrow belt, though, so it was even slower than last time. But the extra 69 pounds added a bit of resistance.
I will do resistance exercises now, soon....tonight, at least!
Sadly, today was considerably colder...I don't like taking him out past -12 or -15 or so (that's including windchill). Sometimes he does ok in colder weather, but I just go around the block or whatever in case something happens. Today, though, he didn't even want to hang out in the backyard much, and has been sleeping most of the day. Admittedly, he's a little heavier than he used to be...I'm trying to cut back on his food a bit, but other members of the family are possibly sabotaging my efforts. LOL. I don't want to cut back too much, anyway, because a bit of flab will keep him warmer, but he should lose at least a little...I tried to pick him up to weigh him, and if that scale's right, he weighs 69 pounds. That's a lot. The vet had said that his optimal weight was 54 pounds, but that's when we first got him--he had just come from rescue/shelter (had apparently been there a month and weighed 48 pounds the week before we got him, so I can't imagine how emaciated he was when they first got him). At the same time, though, he didn't have much muscle, comparitively...he bulked up a bit honestly, so I suspect he could be a totally fit and ripped dog at 56-58 pounds or so. 69 is pushing it, though. He still has a bit of a waist but it seems hard to feel his ribs, and he's got this blob of flab on his chest and gut. Oh, well, I'm not going to worry about it until it gets warmer and we can do more about getting him his girlish figure back. And him carting around the extra jiggle seems to reduce the zoomies in the house, though I had him run up and down the stairs for a bit yesterday after the run to get that out of his system.
And I have a bit of extra flab on me, too, and I'm not going to worry about that for the time being, either. Maybe I should worry about it a bit more, because I grazed a lot today, but much of that was healthy. I'm eating pepitas right now, good source of iron, and I've stocked up on dried fruits and nuts in general. Also Emergen-C...well, as vices go, that one isn't too bad, but I'm wondering if I might as well just dissolve kiddy vitamins in water. It would be cheaper, at least. lol
Anyway, TODAY, I did yoga in the morning again, and then I polished off half of a school assignment (hence the grazing) and then I ran to run club. We were to do sprints, but there was too much snow on the ground for that, I guess, so our coach switched us to an easy run with 3 tempo segments. I guess they were all roughly a km. I'm not exactly sure of the pace, as I didn't bother hitting any of the buttons on the Garmin, but one mile was mostly tempo, I think, and that one was 8:20. Quite slow, but we were running on snow. Not through snow, or in snow, which would be even slower, but even packed snow is slower than a smoother surface. My jogging pace was around 11:00/mile. This is great practice for the ultra!
In total, I jogged/ran 10.24 miles outside--once I got going, it was great. Running on that still-mostly white snow was really neat, like a fresh page, plus it's fun running in the dark, plus my head was so well-insulated that I couldn't hear much of the noise I was making, so it was kind of like a movie and I could chill and watch it. Hey, maybe that's why I was slower than usual! I was glad to do that length of run with tempo segments in the middle--I think I've recently talked about that sort of workout, how it seems to really help more than just a regular warm-up, tempo, cool-down. 3K or whatever of tempo is an ok start, and maybe next week I can do 20 min of tempo, and see how it goes. That is if we don't do sprints. I could do with several weeks of sprints and then switch to tempo runs, but it was nice to get a taste.
After the run, I walked for another 1/2 mile on the FitWalk...I had the dog with me on that narrow belt, though, so it was even slower than last time. But the extra 69 pounds added a bit of resistance.
I will do resistance exercises now, soon....tonight, at least!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Blizzard
It's been interesting running today.
Morning: 3.83 miles with the dog, mostly running but a fair bit of walking, too. It was pretty rough going. Ice pellets hurt my eyes.
Evening, 7.06 miles, to/from runclub and then speedwork. The blizzard was slowing down, but it was still a slog. 5X 800M and I actually made it through...was considering doing just three, but after a while I got into the swing of things (like, finding out the least-snowy places to run around on the Hill, lol)...pace:
7:41/mile
7:48/mile
8:00/mile
7:48/mile
7:42/mile
Slow, but not so bad for the first time out, in snow, no less! This will be good training for the Winterman marathon at least.
Morning routine, I can't remember if I did it!
Pushups, yes.
Resistance exercises, shortly.
Morning: 3.83 miles with the dog, mostly running but a fair bit of walking, too. It was pretty rough going. Ice pellets hurt my eyes.
Evening, 7.06 miles, to/from runclub and then speedwork. The blizzard was slowing down, but it was still a slog. 5X 800M and I actually made it through...was considering doing just three, but after a while I got into the swing of things (like, finding out the least-snowy places to run around on the Hill, lol)...pace:
7:41/mile
7:48/mile
8:00/mile
7:48/mile
7:42/mile
Slow, but not so bad for the first time out, in snow, no less! This will be good training for the Winterman marathon at least.
Morning routine, I can't remember if I did it!
Pushups, yes.
Resistance exercises, shortly.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
slug
So, I signed up for this rather long race, and now I feel like crud again. I had to go to the morning job...it's dwindling to nothing at this point, so I just have to be patient, but at the same time I want it to end already! lol
I didn't take any caffeine at the evening job, which made me kind of sleepy by the end of the shift, but I did try taking the stairs more, when carrying stuff...amazing how much of a difference that makes. I felt so weak. LOL
It was another toss-and-turn night. No morning routine, and no run except to the first job and probably the second, so just two miles. I'll try to get some pushups in later, at least.
EDIT: yeah, I was coming down with a cold. Still made it through the evening shift without caffeine, though I started to get tired and cranky around supper time. So I wasn't quite as strict about using the stairs as I'd hoped to be. Just two sets of pushups today, too.
I didn't take any caffeine at the evening job, which made me kind of sleepy by the end of the shift, but I did try taking the stairs more, when carrying stuff...amazing how much of a difference that makes. I felt so weak. LOL
It was another toss-and-turn night. No morning routine, and no run except to the first job and probably the second, so just two miles. I'll try to get some pushups in later, at least.
EDIT: yeah, I was coming down with a cold. Still made it through the evening shift without caffeine, though I started to get tired and cranky around supper time. So I wasn't quite as strict about using the stairs as I'd hoped to be. Just two sets of pushups today, too.
Monday, January 5, 2009
snow and sun
I think the same thing happened yesterday or Saturday: sun snow. Like sun showers but with snow. It was very pretty.
The dog and I timed our run well. I slept in until 8, lol, then did the morning yoga, ate something and got us pulled together. It was cloudy and snowing when we set out, and then the sun came out and the snow gradually diminished. The clouds came back, but it's been on-off since then. At least it was looking pretty lovely when we went out, plus the fresh snow was easier on his paws.
We jogged 5.7 miles, then I did another 1/4 on the fitWalk--I'm not sure if it's because of the incline, or the counter's off, but that took me nearly six minutes! I was walking, briskly (for me, lol), but at that incline it's pretty much the same pace as jogging. Still, I want to try jacking it up a little.
I'm going to have to get used to walking on an incline because the ultra I'm keen on will have a lot of uphills, and it's best that I walk up those. I have plans to throw in some stairs and steep uphills and downhills during runs here--there aren't many options, but there are a few once the paths by the river open, and there are always bridges at least. I think using the machine at least a few times a week will help too. I'll start with 1/4 of a mile and work my way up, week by week, to 2-3 miles. It's a bit different using it for its intended purpose so I didn't want to push it too much. 2-3 miles will set me up well for the uphills on the course. The best time for this would be on core exercise days (such as today--I also did three sets of everything). I'm kind of really soft with uphills and downhills, but have done a fair bit in the past, such as running up/down the Grand Canyon and a bunch of the 'mountains' in Korea...hopefully a bit of that is still in my bones.
And I'll take the stairs more at work. I spend most of the eight hours on my feet--more x-training right there!
I also talked about this ultra with my run club coach--he says that I wouldn't have to do too much differently training-wise, just more back-to-back long runs, and then hiking or snowshoeing before some long runs, to get more time on my feet in big chunks. He also said that there wasn't much point to my doing a 50K, lol...best jump in. This is what I'm feeling, too. The 50K would be tough but it's still kind of hard to get jazzed up about, and it's still short enough that I would have some pace expectations. The 50 mile might be too tough, but I've decided that even if I make the 39ish mile cutoff, I'll be happy. If I finish the whole thing, I'll be estatic. It's too gonzo to have any preconceptions of pace. This isn't going to be about numbers--success will be more absolute. Just finishing the thing! :) And, meanwhile, it's getting me excited about training again.
Actually, I haven't signed up yet--registration apparently opens in fifteen or so minutes so I still have time to wimp out. LOL
The dog and I timed our run well. I slept in until 8, lol, then did the morning yoga, ate something and got us pulled together. It was cloudy and snowing when we set out, and then the sun came out and the snow gradually diminished. The clouds came back, but it's been on-off since then. At least it was looking pretty lovely when we went out, plus the fresh snow was easier on his paws.
We jogged 5.7 miles, then I did another 1/4 on the fitWalk--I'm not sure if it's because of the incline, or the counter's off, but that took me nearly six minutes! I was walking, briskly (for me, lol), but at that incline it's pretty much the same pace as jogging. Still, I want to try jacking it up a little.
I'm going to have to get used to walking on an incline because the ultra I'm keen on will have a lot of uphills, and it's best that I walk up those. I have plans to throw in some stairs and steep uphills and downhills during runs here--there aren't many options, but there are a few once the paths by the river open, and there are always bridges at least. I think using the machine at least a few times a week will help too. I'll start with 1/4 of a mile and work my way up, week by week, to 2-3 miles. It's a bit different using it for its intended purpose so I didn't want to push it too much. 2-3 miles will set me up well for the uphills on the course. The best time for this would be on core exercise days (such as today--I also did three sets of everything). I'm kind of really soft with uphills and downhills, but have done a fair bit in the past, such as running up/down the Grand Canyon and a bunch of the 'mountains' in Korea...hopefully a bit of that is still in my bones.
And I'll take the stairs more at work. I spend most of the eight hours on my feet--more x-training right there!
I also talked about this ultra with my run club coach--he says that I wouldn't have to do too much differently training-wise, just more back-to-back long runs, and then hiking or snowshoeing before some long runs, to get more time on my feet in big chunks. He also said that there wasn't much point to my doing a 50K, lol...best jump in. This is what I'm feeling, too. The 50K would be tough but it's still kind of hard to get jazzed up about, and it's still short enough that I would have some pace expectations. The 50 mile might be too tough, but I've decided that even if I make the 39ish mile cutoff, I'll be happy. If I finish the whole thing, I'll be estatic. It's too gonzo to have any preconceptions of pace. This isn't going to be about numbers--success will be more absolute. Just finishing the thing! :) And, meanwhile, it's getting me excited about training again.
Actually, I haven't signed up yet--registration apparently opens in fifteen or so minutes so I still have time to wimp out. LOL
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Sunday, so-so
It was a nice easy day. I jogged to run club (late, so I headed directly over to the Canal), met up with some members there, then ran back, had some snacks, ran home and then took the dog for a short jaunt. total: 7.09 miles.
It was more than I was expecting. I hadn't slept well at all; I had no problems falling asleep but was constantly waking up...I forget how many times I woke up. Funnily enough, I felt pretty much normal this morning and even got the morning routine in, but I had a nap before supper and am ready to go to bed again soon. It's caught up with me.
Fortunately, I won't have the morning shift tomorrow, or perhaps any more...the circumstances are sort of sad--a shift from home care to residential for my clients. They'll be well-looked after, though, and they've landed into a nice situation. Meanwhile, I'll get more sleep. Less money but more sleep. I won't need to wake up to an alarm anymore, which will make me much happier, and possibly more successful with my exams. I'm hoping to do them in February.
Oh, and during the morning routine, I almost touched my toes! This is definitely progress. I'm almost back to normal now.
It was more than I was expecting. I hadn't slept well at all; I had no problems falling asleep but was constantly waking up...I forget how many times I woke up. Funnily enough, I felt pretty much normal this morning and even got the morning routine in, but I had a nap before supper and am ready to go to bed again soon. It's caught up with me.
Fortunately, I won't have the morning shift tomorrow, or perhaps any more...the circumstances are sort of sad--a shift from home care to residential for my clients. They'll be well-looked after, though, and they've landed into a nice situation. Meanwhile, I'll get more sleep. Less money but more sleep. I won't need to wake up to an alarm anymore, which will make me much happier, and possibly more successful with my exams. I'm hoping to do them in February.
Oh, and during the morning routine, I almost touched my toes! This is definitely progress. I'm almost back to normal now.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Saturday!
I slept in, did the morning yoga routine, ate a bit and drank some juice, and then the dog and I were off! and 1/2 of a mile later, it was the Trail of Tears (snow at improper consistency, apparently), so I brought him back to the house. 11.3 miles for me today. It was slow but the snow was kind of slippery and weird--going up hills especially seemed to involve backsliding. Oh, well, still a nice run, and it was good to get out for that chunk of time.
For future reference though: Green Hat does not go with Hoodie. I had to haul those things back in place every few minutes and it was really annoying.
Then I did resistance exercises, and I've been doing pushups, too. I've learned that the best way is to do a set whenever I think of them---such as, just now--I do only 4-5 at a time, so it takes but a few seconds. I get about 5-6 sets in every day, which is enough. I'm still doing the elbows-in pushups, which are harder.
And I've almost nailed down my goal race for this spring...my cousin and I have been discussing my flying out to Calgary and doing the marathon there in late May, which would be fun. We're keeping eyes out for cheap flights...nothing's for certain yet. I was interested in ATB, but my husband's R&R will likely be around then, too...that's an easy choice. And, of course, there is the Ottawa marathon, but I'm somehow not interested in running it, nor in attempting to BQ again. Maybe I'll do the 1/2. At any rate, the race that is appealing to me more and more is an ultra down in NY, close to my mother in law. This would be two weeks before Ottawa, and three before the Calgary marathon. The distances are 50K and 50 miles. I'm mulling this over. My mother in law said 'Please come', which is nice :)
I think it's time for me to do an ultra. Somehow, my system's all jacked up that I can jog 25K without any fuel or water, no problem, or jog for 35K (so far) with fuel and a good zone and then jog 20-30K the next day, no problem, or I can push things decently for a 10 miler or 1/2 marathon and enjoy it, but marathon pace sucks and seems to take as much out of me as 1/2 marathon pace. There it is: I don't enjoy marathon effort. I never got used to it in training...I kept wanting to slip to 1/2 marathon gear. Full marathon effort is boring, non-trippy, and doesn't seem to hold the wall back any so I slog through that (which I've gotten used to, somewhat!) and then cross the finish line feeling like I mailed it in. blech!
The only marathon which didn't seem like a crashing disappoinment/denouement was the Delaware marathon. It was my second marathon and I took a big chunk of time off my PB and was pleased with that, plus the wall was very smooth and very late for me, around 18 miles. Looking back on it, I think the main ingredient missing in subsequent training was the Daniels 10-14ish mile runs with tempo segments. I did mixed pace runs this time, but with MP segments, which wound up faster than MP, oops, but not fast enough for tempo benefits, I think. And, somehow, doing the tempo runs before and after 1 - 1.5 hr normal runs (there were a few combinations) worked a lot better than just tempo runs. My run club schedule had individual tempo runs or group sprints on Fridays, so maybe I'll start off with the sprints (in winter! that'll be a riot! lol) to toughen me up, and then start doing the tempo runs on my own. It'll fit in fine and would benefit me whether my goal race is a marathon or an ultra.
Two other elements I'll have to face in the ultra are footing (it's a trail race) and hills. Footing...well, running in all this snow and so forth in trail shoes will probably go a long way, lol, and in the past most of my running was trail running, so I'm not too worried about that adjustment. I can also do some runs in the Gats here, which would also help with consideration #2. That is a bit worrisome. I've run on the course a few times with my husband, and it's no picnic. They're the type of hills that take at least twice as long to go up as down. With my lingering trace of Colorado snobbery, I don't call them mountains, but the locals beg to differ.
So, hill work....but maybe not repeats on their own so much as running for a while, then running up something steep for several times, plus using my newly-found and neglected Nordic FitWalk, jacking the incline way up, and then jogging on that more and more. If I can get up to a 1/2 hour on the incline, that would go a long way. During the race, I'd probably walk at least some of the inclines, at any rate, and that's something I can practice too.
For future reference though: Green Hat does not go with Hoodie. I had to haul those things back in place every few minutes and it was really annoying.
Then I did resistance exercises, and I've been doing pushups, too. I've learned that the best way is to do a set whenever I think of them---such as, just now--I do only 4-5 at a time, so it takes but a few seconds. I get about 5-6 sets in every day, which is enough. I'm still doing the elbows-in pushups, which are harder.
And I've almost nailed down my goal race for this spring...my cousin and I have been discussing my flying out to Calgary and doing the marathon there in late May, which would be fun. We're keeping eyes out for cheap flights...nothing's for certain yet. I was interested in ATB, but my husband's R&R will likely be around then, too...that's an easy choice. And, of course, there is the Ottawa marathon, but I'm somehow not interested in running it, nor in attempting to BQ again. Maybe I'll do the 1/2. At any rate, the race that is appealing to me more and more is an ultra down in NY, close to my mother in law. This would be two weeks before Ottawa, and three before the Calgary marathon. The distances are 50K and 50 miles. I'm mulling this over. My mother in law said 'Please come', which is nice :)
I think it's time for me to do an ultra. Somehow, my system's all jacked up that I can jog 25K without any fuel or water, no problem, or jog for 35K (so far) with fuel and a good zone and then jog 20-30K the next day, no problem, or I can push things decently for a 10 miler or 1/2 marathon and enjoy it, but marathon pace sucks and seems to take as much out of me as 1/2 marathon pace. There it is: I don't enjoy marathon effort. I never got used to it in training...I kept wanting to slip to 1/2 marathon gear. Full marathon effort is boring, non-trippy, and doesn't seem to hold the wall back any so I slog through that (which I've gotten used to, somewhat!) and then cross the finish line feeling like I mailed it in. blech!
The only marathon which didn't seem like a crashing disappoinment/denouement was the Delaware marathon. It was my second marathon and I took a big chunk of time off my PB and was pleased with that, plus the wall was very smooth and very late for me, around 18 miles. Looking back on it, I think the main ingredient missing in subsequent training was the Daniels 10-14ish mile runs with tempo segments. I did mixed pace runs this time, but with MP segments, which wound up faster than MP, oops, but not fast enough for tempo benefits, I think. And, somehow, doing the tempo runs before and after 1 - 1.5 hr normal runs (there were a few combinations) worked a lot better than just tempo runs. My run club schedule had individual tempo runs or group sprints on Fridays, so maybe I'll start off with the sprints (in winter! that'll be a riot! lol) to toughen me up, and then start doing the tempo runs on my own. It'll fit in fine and would benefit me whether my goal race is a marathon or an ultra.
Two other elements I'll have to face in the ultra are footing (it's a trail race) and hills. Footing...well, running in all this snow and so forth in trail shoes will probably go a long way, lol, and in the past most of my running was trail running, so I'm not too worried about that adjustment. I can also do some runs in the Gats here, which would also help with consideration #2. That is a bit worrisome. I've run on the course a few times with my husband, and it's no picnic. They're the type of hills that take at least twice as long to go up as down. With my lingering trace of Colorado snobbery, I don't call them mountains, but the locals beg to differ.
So, hill work....but maybe not repeats on their own so much as running for a while, then running up something steep for several times, plus using my newly-found and neglected Nordic FitWalk, jacking the incline way up, and then jogging on that more and more. If I can get up to a 1/2 hour on the incline, that would go a long way. During the race, I'd probably walk at least some of the inclines, at any rate, and that's something I can practice too.
Friday, January 2, 2009
recovery Friday
But it feels like Tuesday for some reason! And I've worked through the week...I didn't have Wednesday off or anything, so I should be on track.
Anyway, the morning routine didn't happen again but the pushups did (I still have a couple more sets to do) and the dog and I got out for 3.88. Yes, it's been a while since he's been out for more than a half-mile of running. I'm hoping to take him bootie shopping soon (he doesn't like the ones he has now), but, meanwhile, it's walks and the occasional run when conditions permit. Like today. -10 seems ok. It's not so much about the cold as about the snow consistency. He doesn't like too dry or too wet.
It was a bit of a sluggish run but good for both of us to get out there.
And I have the WHOLE weekend off!!!!!
Anyway, the morning routine didn't happen again but the pushups did (I still have a couple more sets to do) and the dog and I got out for 3.88. Yes, it's been a while since he's been out for more than a half-mile of running. I'm hoping to take him bootie shopping soon (he doesn't like the ones he has now), but, meanwhile, it's walks and the occasional run when conditions permit. Like today. -10 seems ok. It's not so much about the cold as about the snow consistency. He doesn't like too dry or too wet.
It was a bit of a sluggish run but good for both of us to get out there.
And I have the WHOLE weekend off!!!!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
a good start to a good year
I think...I slept for about ten hours but it was still hard enough to get up to go to work, so the morning routine didn't happen, much less the treadmill running. However, I think I made up for that with real running. I ran to work, and then nine-ish miles around the Canal, and then another mile back home after lunch. Total 10.58 miles, and not all of it little bitty chunks, either. It was cold but sunny, and it was nice seeing skaters on the Canal. And, at the same time, it was nice not seeing them on Dow's Lake--seeing that still expanse of unbroken white helped put me into a good zone. It was a very meditative run, even with the wind that was almost always in my face.
The nine miles was probably the longest chunk I've run since the marathon, and I was surprised at how easy it felt...I would have thought that I would be in worse shape now, not having run much in December. It's very encouraging, especially since I'm supposed to run the Hypo Half in 3 weeks and a half. That's kind of creeping up.
I also did some pushups and core/resistance exercises today. I still have a bit of stiffness in my back line, but nothing that seems to impair running: the only time I notice it is when I try (still just try) to touch the ground or my toes. Other than that, I'm pretty much back to normal but with definitely more muscle tone in my arms. Not that that's saying much, compared to what was there before. LOL
2009 doesn't seem too bad so far. Yeah, the first half of it will be 'deployment' but we have two weeks of vacation in the spring to help break it up, and by then we'll have a nice posting to look forward to afterwards. Hopefully! knock wood!!! Meanwhile, I've got the Hypo Half and the Winterman full to distract myself with, plus exams.
The nine miles was probably the longest chunk I've run since the marathon, and I was surprised at how easy it felt...I would have thought that I would be in worse shape now, not having run much in December. It's very encouraging, especially since I'm supposed to run the Hypo Half in 3 weeks and a half. That's kind of creeping up.
I also did some pushups and core/resistance exercises today. I still have a bit of stiffness in my back line, but nothing that seems to impair running: the only time I notice it is when I try (still just try) to touch the ground or my toes. Other than that, I'm pretty much back to normal but with definitely more muscle tone in my arms. Not that that's saying much, compared to what was there before. LOL
2009 doesn't seem too bad so far. Yeah, the first half of it will be 'deployment' but we have two weeks of vacation in the spring to help break it up, and by then we'll have a nice posting to look forward to afterwards. Hopefully! knock wood!!! Meanwhile, I've got the Hypo Half and the Winterman full to distract myself with, plus exams.
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