Forgot to post...
Run one was 5.33 miles in freezing rain with the dog. It was +4 when we were out, but the ground was colder so the water was freezing on it. The dog didn't get cold, though, even though he got a shower. Good thing: he was starting to smell a little stale. He also slipped at one point---he almost never slips. It wasn't an easy run for me, because there was a fair bit of ice, but he was trotting along merrily for the most part. He's still a little out of shape, so I don't have to tell him to slow down as often, but we were still on different wavelengths. He wanted to go faster. We went around a certain corner, and I slipped again, and looked at him just in time to see him slip too. I feel bad for thinking that it was pretty funny. He looked so surprised. He didn't fall down, it was just a split second of uncertainty. lol
Run two was running errands, about 3.5 miles, in much colder weather. It chilled a lot today. I think it was about -20 windchill by the end of it.
That puts me at just over 200 miles for February, my mileage goal. I think March will be lighter...I'll enjoy my husband's visit :) :) :) (he should be arriving soon!) and finish recovering from the marathon these next few weeks, and then it'll be time to kick things into gear for the ultra. Running fifty miles a week has been surprisingly comfortable (compared to 60+ for a couple of months last fall), but I think I'll end up going back to about 60 miles a week, if only to get the workouts in that I want to get in, and generally enjoy the warmer spring weather (can't wait!)
My legs still feel a little sore sometimes when going uphill, but for the most part, they're fine. They generally feel a little hollow, as though not 100% of the usual fibres are being used--I guess things are still being repaired. This is the first time I've run so soon after doing a marathon--usually I take a couple of weeks off, but I didn't want to do that this time. It's gone better than I thought it would, but it still feels odd to be running and not do speedwork. Not sure I'm up for a long run tomorrow, either, but I'll see how things go.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
thursday
I decided not to run today...I had my exam and some errands to do, so walked a fair bit. I have two more days to run 8 miles and thus make my mileage goal for the month...that's doable. Famous last words? lol
My legs feel ok...I did end up jogging bits here and there, and they felt a little sore, but ok. It's that sort of little bit sore where as long as my form is good and I'm going straight on a smooth surface, it's fine, but I'm too tired to turn or run on something uneven.
I went to yin yoga, at least.
My legs feel ok...I did end up jogging bits here and there, and they felt a little sore, but ok. It's that sort of little bit sore where as long as my form is good and I'm going straight on a smooth surface, it's fine, but I'm too tired to turn or run on something uneven.
I went to yin yoga, at least.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
easy running
But, first, an added bit of my marathon report--I was at least a minute late in starting. Probably more like two. By the time I started, the road was empty...except for the Winterlude mascots. I can't emphasize enough how surreal that was. Picture a bare road and these great big furry things. I felt like I was in a teletubbies episode or something. Not only did I miss the start, but the planet completely. haha
Anyway, my legs feel a lot better today--still stiff, but better. I jogged with the dog for about four miles, and endured his dirty looks...he wasn't impressed by my vitesse. Hey, buddy, you try running a marathon!
Then, more studying and replanting tomato plants. Yeah, I'm a tomato hobbyist, and my plants were sulky in starting last year, so I decided to give them a couple of extra weeks to sulk--and instead they sprung up in a few days, most of them. There are a few kinds which are a little slower to start, but all of the cherry tomato varieties were chomping at the bit, apparently. Even the one that hasn't done so well these past two years, in terms of sprouting. The hybrid I'm most interested in (a cross between a black tomato and a yellow-red striped one, I think) sprouted quite readily, too. So we'll see how many survive transplant shock or whatever it's called.
And then I went to run club to jog around and socialize. No speedwork for me tonight :) just 5.26 easy miles, so nine and a quarter today. not bad.
I am slacking this week but getting 26 miles out of the way on Sunday does plump up mileage nicely...I might make my February mileage goal after all (200 miles).
Anyway, my legs feel a lot better today--still stiff, but better. I jogged with the dog for about four miles, and endured his dirty looks...he wasn't impressed by my vitesse. Hey, buddy, you try running a marathon!
Then, more studying and replanting tomato plants. Yeah, I'm a tomato hobbyist, and my plants were sulky in starting last year, so I decided to give them a couple of extra weeks to sulk--and instead they sprung up in a few days, most of them. There are a few kinds which are a little slower to start, but all of the cherry tomato varieties were chomping at the bit, apparently. Even the one that hasn't done so well these past two years, in terms of sprouting. The hybrid I'm most interested in (a cross between a black tomato and a yellow-red striped one, I think) sprouted quite readily, too. So we'll see how many survive transplant shock or whatever it's called.
And then I went to run club to jog around and socialize. No speedwork for me tonight :) just 5.26 easy miles, so nine and a quarter today. not bad.
I am slacking this week but getting 26 miles out of the way on Sunday does plump up mileage nicely...I might make my February mileage goal after all (200 miles).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
recovery
Unfortunately, it was too cold this morning to take the dog out. I ended up jogging 3.5 miles to/from something, and it was surprisingly nice. My quads still feel a bit sore, but it felt good to get more blood going through them...I kept things slow, like so slow, I forgot I was running. just gliding around. It felt great.
Tomorrow should be considerably warmer so maybe the dog and I will do a few miles. I walked him a bit this evening; things were already warming up then, I think.
Tomorrow should be considerably warmer so maybe the dog and I will do a few miles. I walked him a bit this evening; things were already warming up then, I think.
sore
Just 1.5 miles today, more walking than running, but I'm counting it!
Especially since it was to work. Now that was a trial tonight. I do a fair bit of lifting, and I mostly use my quads for that. Today, they were really tender, though. And of course some of the residents were ill, so needed a bit more lifting...there are at least two who are pretty much immobile and should not be there, but, eh.
Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight!
Especially since it was to work. Now that was a trial tonight. I do a fair bit of lifting, and I mostly use my quads for that. Today, they were really tender, though. And of course some of the residents were ill, so needed a bit more lifting...there are at least two who are pretty much immobile and should not be there, but, eh.
Hopefully I'll sleep well tonight!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
A successful experiment
I'm actually floating about this marathon. My hopes were pretty low because I've felt like crud the past week, am stressed out, had a bit of diarrhea this morning, as usual (though not as badly with past marathons), the weather was iffy at the start, plus at the last minute this morning, I realized that I hadn't been reading the race updates and maybe there was something useful to know in those, like the start happening at 8:30 and not at 9:00....thankfully, Mom drove me down en route to something else, and I hoped out of the car just as the gun went off. They fired a nice big cannon.
I stashed my bag of fuel by the sportstats tent and jogged on. Maybe I lost about a minute there, not sure. I wasn't wearing a watch. That was part of the experiment. Another part was taking a few of my anti-shit-my-pants IBS meds, 2 pills last night, and one this morning. I'd phased off this stuff a while ago, and things have been mostly ok since then...but I figured that, hey, why not give it a whirl? I've laboured with iffy bowels through enough marathons. This stuff could royally backfire, but it wasn't as if I had a lot invested in this marathon, anyway.
Sadly, I didn't have it together to put the final piece in place...late last night, I thought "Gee, wouldn't it be nice to wear a t-shirt with a picture of Obama and Harper holding hands? And a heart around it?" Just for good vibes? A little photoshopping, a trip to a printer, and, voila! Thought of it too late. Dang!
Anyway, I jogged up and then saw someone with red hair...Natalie! Strangely enough, out of the four or so people who read this thing, 2 of them are Natalies with red hair. It was nice seeing Hintonburg Natalie (actually, I think the other one also lives in Hintonburg....maybe....) because I didn't know anyone else running this race, though by the end I felt like it had. She was running the 10K. We chatted for a bit, then I figured that I had to get into gear...I really didn't feel like I had a full in me that day and I had to focus on my form and get things pulled together. I hadn't warmed up, hadn't walked more than maybe a hundred yards that day, but that was ok. My left quad felt a bit iffy, though, so I had to somehow get into better alignment. Strong girdle, strong girdle...kept thinking that. I can't explain the sensation, except that my hip flexors and other muscles deep down around my pelvis seem somewhat more engaged and taut.
Our bibs were colour coded so I could see who was running the full....not many. And I was dead last, so for a while I was envisioning myself just ahead of the truck picking up the pylons. Then I figured that, hey, that would be a new experience, and I would have the whole road to myself. A busy parkway, closed, JUST FOR ME. How often does that happen?
Anyway, the first loop went by in about 30 min. I'm not sure if that included my delayed start, or not, but it seemed ok. Although there was one big hill in it (an overpass?) that I wasn't quite expecting...the thought of running up it 7 more times was a bit daunting. It was covered in greasy slush, too. I hadn't had much time to drink anything in the morning (didn't eat anything, either), so I drank some water. Then went on.
The road was pretty nasty and slippery and there was snow flung into my eyes...that first lap was pretty horrible. My shoes were already soaking wet. But it seemed kind of like a big random joke that I was out doing this marathon, which somehow made things better. Plus, I promised myself that I would have one of the cans of coffee after 10K.
The snow on the road was just as bad--I think I had some gatorade at the drink stand at the 7.5K mark, which lifted my spirits a little--and then it came to that big hill again.
The course wasn't really flat, which was what I was expecting. There was that one hill in particular, though. Most people slowed down...I was still sort of passing people on my 2nd lap, and it was a choice between running on a clearer strip behind people slowing down, or veering around in a couple of inches of slush. I chose the slush the first few times because my body just didn't want to slow down, but I was slipping a bit backwards with each step. I tried to take it as easy as possible.
Saw Natalie a few more times, I think...maybe 2 more times?
At 10K, 58-59:??, I took a break, had the coffee and some jalebi. All this delicious pastry stuff that I've enjoyed during long runs was making my stomach turn just looking at it, but the jalebi seemed safe. I nibbled on it for about an hour. The coffee went down great. I decided to have the other can at 30K.
I think it stopped snowing around this point--I was so grateful. I hate getting little snow pellets flung into my eyes. It makes me cry. My corneas have been more sensitive since the laser eye surgery.
By this point, I was begining to recognize and talk with other runners, which was fun. And I could see that there were a few women ahead of me, surprisingly few. I didn't like them ahead of me....there was one woman in red way ahead, and I didn't think I could catch her, but I figured that maybe the others were fair game. But I had time. Most of the time, I was alone, or passing people...a few people doing the relays passed me.
I got through 20K, and then ran one more loop with the 1/2 marathoners. They were starting to thin out. My left quad issue was less of a concern, but I still had to remind myself to keep my form good.
I guess it was around this time that I was starting to get confused about what loops the other marathoners were on. I thought I was way back.
At some point I passed a few women...I don't remember when.
I grabbed a banana at 25K, and carried it around for an hour, washing it down with sips of gatorade...I had water at one point, but it was cold and weird, so I decided to stick with gatorade.
My legs were getting pretty tired by now, and then I thought, whoa, I should be hitting the wall pretty soon. 25K is roughly 15 miles, I think...I hit the wall early. But nothing happened, really, except on the way back, when I was going up the big hill AGAIN--things felt sort of dully seized up for a few minutes. I noticed too that my breathing had quickened. But then I realized that, wow, it wasn't getting worse. It didn't feel good, and I felt like I'd lost like 1/2 of my muscular control and my feet were slamming into the ground, but I was still moving. Strong pelvis, strong pelvis. Maybe the wheels would fall off down the line, but so far, so good.
There was one guy there who was in his 70s, and has run over a 100 marathons...at some point, I'd passed him--we'd chatted a bit, and then every time we saw each other, we were like 'go, speedy!'. And similar exchanges were happening with other marathoners, too. We were all in the same crazy boat. And some of the course marshalls joked with me a few times, too, because one of them offered to take the banana peel away, but I told him that it wasn't empty and I was still working on it. I ate most of it in an hour.
30K, coffee!! I drank it too quickly and nearly retched, but it stayed down. Had a bit of banana with it too. I was starting to feel a little queasy, but most of this was actually air. I'd knock some sort of fluids down, whenever I felt like it, feel sort of weird for a bit, then burp, which made it better. Sorry if this is too graphic.
I guess around 30-35K, I passed another woman....I could still see the woman in red ahead of me, but less so. STill about five minutes ahead, though. I also congratulated several other marathoners who were on their last lap....I thought. And others said I looked strong. wow, really? That seventh loop was weird. I kept expecting the wall, so I'd slow down a bit in fear, but then my body would spur me on...I couldn't slow down for long. And I was thinking that the 2nd last loop should be the worst, but it wasn't so bad. Although my stomach hurt, but I figured that since I was already wet from the slush, maybe nobody would notice if I crapped my pants. That was surprisingly reasurring. My feet were starting hurt, though. I was wearing my 'new' pair of NB 826s which don't fit as well as my old ones. It was just a fluke that I fit the old pair...NB doesn't usually fit me, but someone at a running store in the States told me to give them a whirl on the treadmill in the store, and it was love at first K.
I ditched my banana at 35K and then, the final loop! That one was a blur. I realized then that I had passed more marathoners than I'd thought, and so I was sort of dreading them passing me...especially the last woman I'd passed. She wasn't far behind me for a bit, but dropped back on that last loop. Still, she was about 20 yrs older than I and ran a Boston-qualifying time. That's more than I can do! I didn't know she was in her fifties until I looked at the results....my hat's off to her. I would love to be still running marathons in my fifties.
Anyway, I finished 40K, and then there remained just a 2.2k loop. This was tougher than the 5K loop previously. I kept waiting and waiting for the turnaround sign, which was uphill, and I was pretty tired. So much for an easy jog, lol. Once I got around that sign, though, it was downhill and quick. My folks had come out for the finish, and I told them just a few more minutes, and then I was over the mat at about 3:50:40?? which was a PB!
BUT....
I went to get my stash of food, and then I heard the announcer say, "Cassandra Chouinard has just finished lap.....nine?" Oh, great. I did the same thing with the Delaware Marathon. I like loops, but I forget to go over the OTHER mat at the end. And there's no point in holding up a sign or even telling me, really, because everything's shut down except for the fuzzy concept that I just have to get over A mat and then I can stop.
So I grabbed my stuff and jogged over. 3:51:11. Still, just 12 seconds behind my PB, on a harder course with worse weather. I was running through slush much of the way, though after a couple of hours or so, much of it had melted. My calves/ankles were white from the salt.
And it was much better race, too, pacing-wise.
5K splits.
30:31
28:17
28:05
27:06
26:45
26:18
26:48
25:37
11:47 (I think I lost about 20 seconds on this one...)
And there wasn't really a wall, either. That's the part that amazes me. There were just a few slightly crappier than normal minutes, and then things were sort of dull and achy but sustainable.
It turned out that I was the 2nd woman overall, out of six, lol...I got a blanket and pillow (which I feel like using soon), and a little SILVER sticker on my medal.
I'm still floating! It was a great race. They really did well with it. The volunteers were so nice and helpful.
edit: photos (already!)
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10650396/40/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10651173/14/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-111-10652610/104/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10650769/104/
they even immortalized the banana!
I might actually buy some...I've never bought photos before from a race, but I feel like I did this one justice.
I stashed my bag of fuel by the sportstats tent and jogged on. Maybe I lost about a minute there, not sure. I wasn't wearing a watch. That was part of the experiment. Another part was taking a few of my anti-shit-my-pants IBS meds, 2 pills last night, and one this morning. I'd phased off this stuff a while ago, and things have been mostly ok since then...but I figured that, hey, why not give it a whirl? I've laboured with iffy bowels through enough marathons. This stuff could royally backfire, but it wasn't as if I had a lot invested in this marathon, anyway.
Sadly, I didn't have it together to put the final piece in place...late last night, I thought "Gee, wouldn't it be nice to wear a t-shirt with a picture of Obama and Harper holding hands? And a heart around it?" Just for good vibes? A little photoshopping, a trip to a printer, and, voila! Thought of it too late. Dang!
Anyway, I jogged up and then saw someone with red hair...Natalie! Strangely enough, out of the four or so people who read this thing, 2 of them are Natalies with red hair. It was nice seeing Hintonburg Natalie (actually, I think the other one also lives in Hintonburg....maybe....) because I didn't know anyone else running this race, though by the end I felt like it had. She was running the 10K. We chatted for a bit, then I figured that I had to get into gear...I really didn't feel like I had a full in me that day and I had to focus on my form and get things pulled together. I hadn't warmed up, hadn't walked more than maybe a hundred yards that day, but that was ok. My left quad felt a bit iffy, though, so I had to somehow get into better alignment. Strong girdle, strong girdle...kept thinking that. I can't explain the sensation, except that my hip flexors and other muscles deep down around my pelvis seem somewhat more engaged and taut.
Our bibs were colour coded so I could see who was running the full....not many. And I was dead last, so for a while I was envisioning myself just ahead of the truck picking up the pylons. Then I figured that, hey, that would be a new experience, and I would have the whole road to myself. A busy parkway, closed, JUST FOR ME. How often does that happen?
Anyway, the first loop went by in about 30 min. I'm not sure if that included my delayed start, or not, but it seemed ok. Although there was one big hill in it (an overpass?) that I wasn't quite expecting...the thought of running up it 7 more times was a bit daunting. It was covered in greasy slush, too. I hadn't had much time to drink anything in the morning (didn't eat anything, either), so I drank some water. Then went on.
The road was pretty nasty and slippery and there was snow flung into my eyes...that first lap was pretty horrible. My shoes were already soaking wet. But it seemed kind of like a big random joke that I was out doing this marathon, which somehow made things better. Plus, I promised myself that I would have one of the cans of coffee after 10K.
The snow on the road was just as bad--I think I had some gatorade at the drink stand at the 7.5K mark, which lifted my spirits a little--and then it came to that big hill again.
The course wasn't really flat, which was what I was expecting. There was that one hill in particular, though. Most people slowed down...I was still sort of passing people on my 2nd lap, and it was a choice between running on a clearer strip behind people slowing down, or veering around in a couple of inches of slush. I chose the slush the first few times because my body just didn't want to slow down, but I was slipping a bit backwards with each step. I tried to take it as easy as possible.
Saw Natalie a few more times, I think...maybe 2 more times?
At 10K, 58-59:??, I took a break, had the coffee and some jalebi. All this delicious pastry stuff that I've enjoyed during long runs was making my stomach turn just looking at it, but the jalebi seemed safe. I nibbled on it for about an hour. The coffee went down great. I decided to have the other can at 30K.
I think it stopped snowing around this point--I was so grateful. I hate getting little snow pellets flung into my eyes. It makes me cry. My corneas have been more sensitive since the laser eye surgery.
By this point, I was begining to recognize and talk with other runners, which was fun. And I could see that there were a few women ahead of me, surprisingly few. I didn't like them ahead of me....there was one woman in red way ahead, and I didn't think I could catch her, but I figured that maybe the others were fair game. But I had time. Most of the time, I was alone, or passing people...a few people doing the relays passed me.
I got through 20K, and then ran one more loop with the 1/2 marathoners. They were starting to thin out. My left quad issue was less of a concern, but I still had to remind myself to keep my form good.
I guess it was around this time that I was starting to get confused about what loops the other marathoners were on. I thought I was way back.
At some point I passed a few women...I don't remember when.
I grabbed a banana at 25K, and carried it around for an hour, washing it down with sips of gatorade...I had water at one point, but it was cold and weird, so I decided to stick with gatorade.
My legs were getting pretty tired by now, and then I thought, whoa, I should be hitting the wall pretty soon. 25K is roughly 15 miles, I think...I hit the wall early. But nothing happened, really, except on the way back, when I was going up the big hill AGAIN--things felt sort of dully seized up for a few minutes. I noticed too that my breathing had quickened. But then I realized that, wow, it wasn't getting worse. It didn't feel good, and I felt like I'd lost like 1/2 of my muscular control and my feet were slamming into the ground, but I was still moving. Strong pelvis, strong pelvis. Maybe the wheels would fall off down the line, but so far, so good.
There was one guy there who was in his 70s, and has run over a 100 marathons...at some point, I'd passed him--we'd chatted a bit, and then every time we saw each other, we were like 'go, speedy!'. And similar exchanges were happening with other marathoners, too. We were all in the same crazy boat. And some of the course marshalls joked with me a few times, too, because one of them offered to take the banana peel away, but I told him that it wasn't empty and I was still working on it. I ate most of it in an hour.
30K, coffee!! I drank it too quickly and nearly retched, but it stayed down. Had a bit of banana with it too. I was starting to feel a little queasy, but most of this was actually air. I'd knock some sort of fluids down, whenever I felt like it, feel sort of weird for a bit, then burp, which made it better. Sorry if this is too graphic.
I guess around 30-35K, I passed another woman....I could still see the woman in red ahead of me, but less so. STill about five minutes ahead, though. I also congratulated several other marathoners who were on their last lap....I thought. And others said I looked strong. wow, really? That seventh loop was weird. I kept expecting the wall, so I'd slow down a bit in fear, but then my body would spur me on...I couldn't slow down for long. And I was thinking that the 2nd last loop should be the worst, but it wasn't so bad. Although my stomach hurt, but I figured that since I was already wet from the slush, maybe nobody would notice if I crapped my pants. That was surprisingly reasurring. My feet were starting hurt, though. I was wearing my 'new' pair of NB 826s which don't fit as well as my old ones. It was just a fluke that I fit the old pair...NB doesn't usually fit me, but someone at a running store in the States told me to give them a whirl on the treadmill in the store, and it was love at first K.
I ditched my banana at 35K and then, the final loop! That one was a blur. I realized then that I had passed more marathoners than I'd thought, and so I was sort of dreading them passing me...especially the last woman I'd passed. She wasn't far behind me for a bit, but dropped back on that last loop. Still, she was about 20 yrs older than I and ran a Boston-qualifying time. That's more than I can do! I didn't know she was in her fifties until I looked at the results....my hat's off to her. I would love to be still running marathons in my fifties.
Anyway, I finished 40K, and then there remained just a 2.2k loop. This was tougher than the 5K loop previously. I kept waiting and waiting for the turnaround sign, which was uphill, and I was pretty tired. So much for an easy jog, lol. Once I got around that sign, though, it was downhill and quick. My folks had come out for the finish, and I told them just a few more minutes, and then I was over the mat at about 3:50:40?? which was a PB!
BUT....
I went to get my stash of food, and then I heard the announcer say, "Cassandra Chouinard has just finished lap.....nine?" Oh, great. I did the same thing with the Delaware Marathon. I like loops, but I forget to go over the OTHER mat at the end. And there's no point in holding up a sign or even telling me, really, because everything's shut down except for the fuzzy concept that I just have to get over A mat and then I can stop.
So I grabbed my stuff and jogged over. 3:51:11. Still, just 12 seconds behind my PB, on a harder course with worse weather. I was running through slush much of the way, though after a couple of hours or so, much of it had melted. My calves/ankles were white from the salt.
And it was much better race, too, pacing-wise.
5K splits.
30:31
28:17
28:05
27:06
26:45
26:18
26:48
25:37
11:47 (I think I lost about 20 seconds on this one...)
And there wasn't really a wall, either. That's the part that amazes me. There were just a few slightly crappier than normal minutes, and then things were sort of dull and achy but sustainable.
It turned out that I was the 2nd woman overall, out of six, lol...I got a blanket and pillow (which I feel like using soon), and a little SILVER sticker on my medal.
I'm still floating! It was a great race. They really did well with it. The volunteers were so nice and helpful.
edit: photos (already!)
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10650396/40/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10651173/14/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-111-10652610/104/
http://www.zoomphoto.ca/viewphoto/10729-243-10650769/104/
they even immortalized the banana!
I might actually buy some...I've never bought photos before from a race, but I feel like I did this one justice.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
race fuel
Well, my attitude has taken a 180 degree turn...
I walked down to the museum to pick my bib up, and it was sunny and much warmer/nicer than yesterday. That was encouraging. Bib pick up was easy, and since it is such a small race, the race director was there and able to confirm that I could leave a stash of fuel--they'll have a table set aside for that. How neat! And there will be a clock at the 5K mark, so I can sort of keep track. I guess if I figure about a 1/2 hour for each 5K, I should be good.
And since this is a small race, and really small marathon field (it was a pretty thin handful of full marathon bibs), I am Number 5. No kidding! I told them that this was the closest I would get to being an elite runner.
The shirt's nice too, navy cotton long-sleeve. I have one similar to it and wear it all the time, so it's great to have two. I don't need another long-sleeved polyester 'tech' shirt.
The Search and Rescue guys tried to recruit me on the way out, lol...
And then I was off to get race fuel. I've had it with gels. They're convenient, and they're convenient, and they're....there's nothing else to be said for them. Having one or two during a half marathon suits me well, but they don't seem to do anything for a full. So I've been trying various things during my long runs, and it so happened that walking back from the museum was the perfect route.
1st stop, Nasa Grocery. Indian food. I got some jalebi and carrot burfi.
2nd stop, Thai grocery store (I didn't see what it's called)....I went in there sort of instinctivelly--it was an open door so I went in, although I hadn't realized that it was thai....anyway, no race fuel there but I got some things, including an avocado that I've already eaten, and some thai ice tea. Also got some aloe drink which I might bring after all...aloe seems to help my stomach.
3rd stop, Kowloon, Chinese grocery store. Aloe dessert for tonight.
4th stop, Morning Glory. A Korean stationary store--I miss using the stationary to write to my husband, and then I was walking by it again today and realized, wait, THAT Morning Glory? They print a lot of stuff. I got some stationary of a seascape and the touching words 'You....make the world goes around.' awwwww! (I have a soft spot for Konglish)
5th stop, Korean grocery store, for some canned Maxwell House coffee and a bottle of juice. I considered trying to get expresso in a thermos somehow, but figured I might as well just check if the Korean place had canned coffee, which they did, though not the variety I was hoping for, but good enough. Not sure why canned coffee mostly seems to be a Korean thing.
6th stop, Lebanese store #1, for the Lebanese equivalent of jalebi...not sure what it's called but it's very similar. Paler in colour, and an added subtle rose water flavour.
7th stop, Lebanese store #2, for some zatar and baklava. The zatar won't be for the race. That would be too messy.
Incidentally, if they ever close down Somerset St/Chinatown for a festival (which I remember them doing when I was young), I'm so going there and running up and down it for a long run. So many options to choose from when I get hungry.
I put the sweets in a tupperware container...I guess if I put it and my drinks in a plastic bag and label it, that will work.
I still can't believe I'm running a marathon tomorrow. I took some Bentyl to rein in my digestive system....figured, what they hey, see if it works. This is the stuff that I was prescribed for IBS, but I weaned myself off it after about a year because things were getting worse anyway and it was either take more Bentyl or try to be a little more strict with my diet.
So we'll see what happens!
I walked down to the museum to pick my bib up, and it was sunny and much warmer/nicer than yesterday. That was encouraging. Bib pick up was easy, and since it is such a small race, the race director was there and able to confirm that I could leave a stash of fuel--they'll have a table set aside for that. How neat! And there will be a clock at the 5K mark, so I can sort of keep track. I guess if I figure about a 1/2 hour for each 5K, I should be good.
And since this is a small race, and really small marathon field (it was a pretty thin handful of full marathon bibs), I am Number 5. No kidding! I told them that this was the closest I would get to being an elite runner.
The shirt's nice too, navy cotton long-sleeve. I have one similar to it and wear it all the time, so it's great to have two. I don't need another long-sleeved polyester 'tech' shirt.
The Search and Rescue guys tried to recruit me on the way out, lol...
And then I was off to get race fuel. I've had it with gels. They're convenient, and they're convenient, and they're....there's nothing else to be said for them. Having one or two during a half marathon suits me well, but they don't seem to do anything for a full. So I've been trying various things during my long runs, and it so happened that walking back from the museum was the perfect route.
1st stop, Nasa Grocery. Indian food. I got some jalebi and carrot burfi.
2nd stop, Thai grocery store (I didn't see what it's called)....I went in there sort of instinctivelly--it was an open door so I went in, although I hadn't realized that it was thai....anyway, no race fuel there but I got some things, including an avocado that I've already eaten, and some thai ice tea. Also got some aloe drink which I might bring after all...aloe seems to help my stomach.
3rd stop, Kowloon, Chinese grocery store. Aloe dessert for tonight.
4th stop, Morning Glory. A Korean stationary store--I miss using the stationary to write to my husband, and then I was walking by it again today and realized, wait, THAT Morning Glory? They print a lot of stuff. I got some stationary of a seascape and the touching words 'You....make the world goes around.' awwwww! (I have a soft spot for Konglish)
5th stop, Korean grocery store, for some canned Maxwell House coffee and a bottle of juice. I considered trying to get expresso in a thermos somehow, but figured I might as well just check if the Korean place had canned coffee, which they did, though not the variety I was hoping for, but good enough. Not sure why canned coffee mostly seems to be a Korean thing.
6th stop, Lebanese store #1, for the Lebanese equivalent of jalebi...not sure what it's called but it's very similar. Paler in colour, and an added subtle rose water flavour.
7th stop, Lebanese store #2, for some zatar and baklava. The zatar won't be for the race. That would be too messy.
Incidentally, if they ever close down Somerset St/Chinatown for a festival (which I remember them doing when I was young), I'm so going there and running up and down it for a long run. So many options to choose from when I get hungry.
I put the sweets in a tupperware container...I guess if I put it and my drinks in a plastic bag and label it, that will work.
I still can't believe I'm running a marathon tomorrow. I took some Bentyl to rein in my digestive system....figured, what they hey, see if it works. This is the stuff that I was prescribed for IBS, but I weaned myself off it after about a year because things were getting worse anyway and it was either take more Bentyl or try to be a little more strict with my diet.
So we'll see what happens!
Cold?
My throat feels a little sore. Nice.
I guess I'll still go down and pick up my bib this afternoon, and see how I feel tomorrow.
I guess I'll still go down and pick up my bib this afternoon, and see how I feel tomorrow.
Friday, February 20, 2009
crabby
So crabby I might as well just make a crab cake out of it...
Anyway, the dog and I jogged about 5 miles today, and it sucked. lots of wind, snow blown in my eyes...just like on Wednesday (I didn't run yesterday). I'm studying for an exam next week and am feeling drained and unmotivated about that and everything. Part of the problem is that we still don't know where the heck we'll be in June/July. We were supposed to know in early January. Here it is, almost March. I'm not really anal about planning ahead, but I would like to know what colleges I can transfer to before admission deadlines pass. Doesn't help that I'm really pessimistic about my husband's army transfers. And superstitious, too, so I can't even rant about that.
And I'm done with winter.
I just have to get through this Winterman thing I signed up for in a fit of lunacy and then maybe the snow will magically vanish or at least not sting my eyes any more.
Anyway, this run sucked. I had to exercise the dog, of course, and I didn't really feel like it. More and more, I want to run alone, but the dog needs exercise, and yet winter's not the best time for him. So I have to stick closer to home, no crazy out and backs into nowhere, and what with the river routes being blocked, we don't have a lot of options. There's the Canal paths, but I'm getting tired of the Winterlude crowds clogging those and swinging their skates around. LOL. I would have just run up and down our neighbourhood, but that gets boring after a few miles, and I wanted to do an hour's worth.
So we ran down to the river, into the wind, and managed to hit every freaking traffic light on the way over. My dog is scared of buses, thus we take a less arterial route, thus we get to wait for traffic lights. It's down the short ends of blocks, too, which makes it even more exciting. stop start stop start. First mile took about 13 minutes. And then we got to the river, and blowing snow, blah, blah...did a few loops by the War Museum, then went back up the hills home, through ankle deep snow for a few blocks...it just sucked. We did about five miles in an hour.
I'm going to assume the worst, that Winterman is going to be 5X that. Anger will be my tackling fuel.
Anyway, the dog and I jogged about 5 miles today, and it sucked. lots of wind, snow blown in my eyes...just like on Wednesday (I didn't run yesterday). I'm studying for an exam next week and am feeling drained and unmotivated about that and everything. Part of the problem is that we still don't know where the heck we'll be in June/July. We were supposed to know in early January. Here it is, almost March. I'm not really anal about planning ahead, but I would like to know what colleges I can transfer to before admission deadlines pass. Doesn't help that I'm really pessimistic about my husband's army transfers. And superstitious, too, so I can't even rant about that.
And I'm done with winter.
I just have to get through this Winterman thing I signed up for in a fit of lunacy and then maybe the snow will magically vanish or at least not sting my eyes any more.
Anyway, this run sucked. I had to exercise the dog, of course, and I didn't really feel like it. More and more, I want to run alone, but the dog needs exercise, and yet winter's not the best time for him. So I have to stick closer to home, no crazy out and backs into nowhere, and what with the river routes being blocked, we don't have a lot of options. There's the Canal paths, but I'm getting tired of the Winterlude crowds clogging those and swinging their skates around. LOL. I would have just run up and down our neighbourhood, but that gets boring after a few miles, and I wanted to do an hour's worth.
So we ran down to the river, into the wind, and managed to hit every freaking traffic light on the way over. My dog is scared of buses, thus we take a less arterial route, thus we get to wait for traffic lights. It's down the short ends of blocks, too, which makes it even more exciting. stop start stop start. First mile took about 13 minutes. And then we got to the river, and blowing snow, blah, blah...did a few loops by the War Museum, then went back up the hills home, through ankle deep snow for a few blocks...it just sucked. We did about five miles in an hour.
I'm going to assume the worst, that Winterman is going to be 5X that. Anger will be my tackling fuel.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday
Well, Tuesday was just a 1.5 mile jog to work.
Today, I jogged 4.78 miles with the dog, then 7.9 in the evening with the group. 3X 2k intervals, but I took them slow because of this race this weekend. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm running a marathon in a few days. Albeit, jogging. I have to sort out a snack cache because I'm not doing the gel thing. Doesn't work for me glycogen-wise beyond 16 miles, seems like, and I don't like the taste anyway.
Today, I jogged 4.78 miles with the dog, then 7.9 in the evening with the group. 3X 2k intervals, but I took them slow because of this race this weekend. It still hasn't sunk in that I'm running a marathon in a few days. Albeit, jogging. I have to sort out a snack cache because I'm not doing the gel thing. Doesn't work for me glycogen-wise beyond 16 miles, seems like, and I don't like the taste anyway.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday
Today I got up feeling worn out. So I decided that it would be a rest day. I had to work anyway.
I slept in, then worked on an assignment. Then jogged to work--and then found out that I wasn't actually scheduled. I'd written down the wrong date in my planner. oops.
But after the nice jog in the sunlight, I wasn't inclined to stay at work anyway. I jogged/walked back home, then changed, grabbed the dog, and off we went. I had a lot of energy during the run, surprisingly. A lot of bounce. So I went with that. Ideally, it should have been a recovery run, and it was, but lately I've been concentrating on my hip flexors and quads, and they had a lot of spring...I kept the effort aerobically easy but allowed myself to get good air, when I felt like it. At some points, I felt a bit tired, but then I thought about keeping form light and so forth, and it made a big difference.
So, a good run.
Especially since the dog caught a rodent of some sort. Well, that makes it good for him, not me or it. I guess these critters are coming out of hibernation, around the War Museum...he picked it up beside a snowbank as we were passing by. I didn't see it until just before he grabbed it. It was moving very slowly. I told him to drop it and he did--he's interested in the chase and since there was none, he lost interest until the thing started to amble away back under the snow, lol. It was fine, just sort of dopey. I think it had just woken up. There were probably others coming up from under the snow, too....can't remember what's under there, brush? field of some sort. So then snowbanks became highly intriguing for the dog and he lost a bit of focus for a bit, but he was still mostly good. I let him have one good dig.
But, man, I wish the path by the river was open...I'm dying for this to open up so that we can get away from crowds a bit more. As we were crossing Alexandria bridge, though, I noticed that the path behind the Museum of Civ looked open, so we might try that tomorrow, if I don't declare that a rest day (which will be a busy one anyway, errands and work).
At any rate, it was quite surprising to feel like crap and then suddenly have loads of energy. I have no idea of how fast we were going, but we covered 6.08 miles in about 60 minutes. Which isn't fast, but we had a fair number of long traffic lights to contend with, too (we easily lose a few minutes just the first 3/4 of a mile to the river). And my breathing remained dead easy and relaxed, nowhere near 2-2 and usually not even 4-2. In short, I wasn't really breathing much more than when I walk, but I wasn't doing my usual jogging shuffle (which I enjoy, by the way, but it was nice having more bounce for my buck today).
9.26 miles altogether today.
I guess the joy and surprise of not having to work on Family Day after all was a huge boost.
Will finish my assignment and then attempt some resistance exercises. I'm totally way off that wagon, and it's time to get back on. and pushups? morning routine? Yeah, I'm in the homestretch re: exams and in this weird endless day sort of routine...maybe it would be better to just try to get the resistance exercises in and be happy with that. My husband is due back for R&R in a few weeks and I will be gleefully jettisoning any routine then. WOOHOO! It'll be a little odd seeing him again after so long...it's already been almost 8 months. Which means that we're 2/3 of the way through. HOLY CRAP!
I slept in, then worked on an assignment. Then jogged to work--and then found out that I wasn't actually scheduled. I'd written down the wrong date in my planner. oops.
But after the nice jog in the sunlight, I wasn't inclined to stay at work anyway. I jogged/walked back home, then changed, grabbed the dog, and off we went. I had a lot of energy during the run, surprisingly. A lot of bounce. So I went with that. Ideally, it should have been a recovery run, and it was, but lately I've been concentrating on my hip flexors and quads, and they had a lot of spring...I kept the effort aerobically easy but allowed myself to get good air, when I felt like it. At some points, I felt a bit tired, but then I thought about keeping form light and so forth, and it made a big difference.
So, a good run.
Especially since the dog caught a rodent of some sort. Well, that makes it good for him, not me or it. I guess these critters are coming out of hibernation, around the War Museum...he picked it up beside a snowbank as we were passing by. I didn't see it until just before he grabbed it. It was moving very slowly. I told him to drop it and he did--he's interested in the chase and since there was none, he lost interest until the thing started to amble away back under the snow, lol. It was fine, just sort of dopey. I think it had just woken up. There were probably others coming up from under the snow, too....can't remember what's under there, brush? field of some sort. So then snowbanks became highly intriguing for the dog and he lost a bit of focus for a bit, but he was still mostly good. I let him have one good dig.
But, man, I wish the path by the river was open...I'm dying for this to open up so that we can get away from crowds a bit more. As we were crossing Alexandria bridge, though, I noticed that the path behind the Museum of Civ looked open, so we might try that tomorrow, if I don't declare that a rest day (which will be a busy one anyway, errands and work).
At any rate, it was quite surprising to feel like crap and then suddenly have loads of energy. I have no idea of how fast we were going, but we covered 6.08 miles in about 60 minutes. Which isn't fast, but we had a fair number of long traffic lights to contend with, too (we easily lose a few minutes just the first 3/4 of a mile to the river). And my breathing remained dead easy and relaxed, nowhere near 2-2 and usually not even 4-2. In short, I wasn't really breathing much more than when I walk, but I wasn't doing my usual jogging shuffle (which I enjoy, by the way, but it was nice having more bounce for my buck today).
9.26 miles altogether today.
I guess the joy and surprise of not having to work on Family Day after all was a huge boost.
Will finish my assignment and then attempt some resistance exercises. I'm totally way off that wagon, and it's time to get back on. and pushups? morning routine? Yeah, I'm in the homestretch re: exams and in this weird endless day sort of routine...maybe it would be better to just try to get the resistance exercises in and be happy with that. My husband is due back for R&R in a few weeks and I will be gleefully jettisoning any routine then. WOOHOO! It'll be a little odd seeing him again after so long...it's already been almost 8 months. Which means that we're 2/3 of the way through. HOLY CRAP!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
the weekend
I'm getting kind of sloppy with posting here.
I blame end of winter torpor...it's great that there's more daylight and less cold, but I'm feeling sort of run down in general, and putting on several layers is becoming less and less appealing.
Anyway, I jogged 1.5 miles yesterday with the dog just to make up my week's mileage goal, lol, and then we walked.
Today, I got up and felt horrible. Not the usual gut thing, but more nausea. It was touch and go and I missed run club. I felt bad about this because I promised Gaz #1 an expresso (Gaz #2 is in the Caribbean...). So I just decided to run around and try to link up. I didn't bring a Garmin or a watch, but I'm sure I was going pretty slowly.
After a while, things eased up and started to get good, and I did meet up with Gaz and had the expresso plus this berry/whey powder smoothie that was really good. I'm trying to think of options for the marathon next weekend...I think a couple of thermoses of juice or whatever (heated up) and something more solid, and I should be good. It's my hope to stash some stuff somewhere--it'll be one 5K loop umpteen times, so I'll have plenty of opportunities to refuel. And I'll be going without technology again. It felt really nice today, almost exciting. In fact, it was exciting, the uncertainty of meeting up with the group, trying to find the group...it was almost like running with hash house harriers again. I really miss that, all the questions and randomness. So it was good to have a run like that, especially since it hadn't started out well.
We also stopped in an Indian grocery store and I had something called carrot barfi, I think...wait, let me google...
Ok, phew, it's carrot bUrfi....not that I really minded, but it still makes it a little better. Oh, the perils of two languages crashing together!
Anyway, that also suited me really well, so it might be a good option for the marathon. A couple squares of that, some jalebi, and I should be set up well. Maybe something savory too. dunno.
Gazelle #1 and I parted ways, and I jogged back home and then grabbed the dog for a couple of miles. And, yet again, we met another moronic dog owner. We were running past a small non-dog park, my dog by my side, and I see this husky loping around. At first I thought it was loose, but thank goodness, no...it was on a choke collar and a flexi leash. Can we get a bulletin out--that combo doesn't work? Heck, flexi leashes suck enough on their own, but teaching a dog to pull (which is what flexi leashes do, really) while wearing a choke? And then the woman yells out 'Is your dog on a leash?'. I said 'yeah.' Meanwhile, her husky is making all sorts of noises, dancing around and trying to get closer to my dog. My dog is just running beside me...he looked, of course, but that was that. I was a bit steamed but more amused because what this woman was doing was having her very energetic dog lope around in circles...she'd jog a few meters, then stop (winded?) and encourage her dog to run around some more, and so forth. At least she took her dog out, but there are better places to exercise dogs a short walk away, like places with fences where you could let a dog loose, if it was behaved. Or she could have jogged with him/her. A husky is a working dog and needs much more exercise than a few ten meter sprints. Encouraging a dog to whirl around on a flexi leash is pretty darn lazy, but I kind of hope that she continues in that vein, going to that particular park, and not on bike paths where her dog will probably get excited by all the new smells and remember what it's been taught: whirl around on a flexi leash. I've seen a few dogs like that. C'mon, people!
So my new goal this week is to chill and not get rattled by stupidity. I think everyone's kind of cabin crazed at this point, so hopefully things will get better when spring gets here.
oh, yeah--yin yoga tonight! It was a tough class but worth it.
I blame end of winter torpor...it's great that there's more daylight and less cold, but I'm feeling sort of run down in general, and putting on several layers is becoming less and less appealing.
Anyway, I jogged 1.5 miles yesterday with the dog just to make up my week's mileage goal, lol, and then we walked.
Today, I got up and felt horrible. Not the usual gut thing, but more nausea. It was touch and go and I missed run club. I felt bad about this because I promised Gaz #1 an expresso (Gaz #2 is in the Caribbean...). So I just decided to run around and try to link up. I didn't bring a Garmin or a watch, but I'm sure I was going pretty slowly.
After a while, things eased up and started to get good, and I did meet up with Gaz and had the expresso plus this berry/whey powder smoothie that was really good. I'm trying to think of options for the marathon next weekend...I think a couple of thermoses of juice or whatever (heated up) and something more solid, and I should be good. It's my hope to stash some stuff somewhere--it'll be one 5K loop umpteen times, so I'll have plenty of opportunities to refuel. And I'll be going without technology again. It felt really nice today, almost exciting. In fact, it was exciting, the uncertainty of meeting up with the group, trying to find the group...it was almost like running with hash house harriers again. I really miss that, all the questions and randomness. So it was good to have a run like that, especially since it hadn't started out well.
We also stopped in an Indian grocery store and I had something called carrot barfi, I think...wait, let me google...
Ok, phew, it's carrot bUrfi....not that I really minded, but it still makes it a little better. Oh, the perils of two languages crashing together!
Anyway, that also suited me really well, so it might be a good option for the marathon. A couple squares of that, some jalebi, and I should be set up well. Maybe something savory too. dunno.
Gazelle #1 and I parted ways, and I jogged back home and then grabbed the dog for a couple of miles. And, yet again, we met another moronic dog owner. We were running past a small non-dog park, my dog by my side, and I see this husky loping around. At first I thought it was loose, but thank goodness, no...it was on a choke collar and a flexi leash. Can we get a bulletin out--that combo doesn't work? Heck, flexi leashes suck enough on their own, but teaching a dog to pull (which is what flexi leashes do, really) while wearing a choke? And then the woman yells out 'Is your dog on a leash?'. I said 'yeah.' Meanwhile, her husky is making all sorts of noises, dancing around and trying to get closer to my dog. My dog is just running beside me...he looked, of course, but that was that. I was a bit steamed but more amused because what this woman was doing was having her very energetic dog lope around in circles...she'd jog a few meters, then stop (winded?) and encourage her dog to run around some more, and so forth. At least she took her dog out, but there are better places to exercise dogs a short walk away, like places with fences where you could let a dog loose, if it was behaved. Or she could have jogged with him/her. A husky is a working dog and needs much more exercise than a few ten meter sprints. Encouraging a dog to whirl around on a flexi leash is pretty darn lazy, but I kind of hope that she continues in that vein, going to that particular park, and not on bike paths where her dog will probably get excited by all the new smells and remember what it's been taught: whirl around on a flexi leash. I've seen a few dogs like that. C'mon, people!
So my new goal this week is to chill and not get rattled by stupidity. I think everyone's kind of cabin crazed at this point, so hopefully things will get better when spring gets here.
oh, yeah--yin yoga tonight! It was a tough class but worth it.
Friday, February 13, 2009
not 100% into it
Well, today hasn't been the greatest. It could have been much better, especially since I didn't have work today. I woke up, did some studying, and then did errands. It was still kind of too cold for the dog.
One of my errands was getting a thyroid ultrasound. I'd never heard of such a thing until my doctor gave me the requisition form a few days ago, and I assumed that it was the sort of thing I could just roll into the lab for...LOL. I couldn't even make an appointment because a certain someone wasn't there, so I will have to phone on Tuesday.
Anyway, that had me a bit bummed. Apparently I might have nodules or something, and I'd like to make sure they're harmless (most are) asap...there's more than enough to worry about already, like my husband in Iraq. eh.
On the way home, I had two drivers cut me off--I was walking, and had the right of way. This sort of thing has gotten a lot worse since the bus strike, and the buses are back, and there's still more cars on the road...I'm getting more and more fed up with seeing drivers roll through stop signs in my neighbourhood, cut pedestrians off by making right turns on red, etc. I live downtown so fifty zillion extra cars pour in every day and fuck up my action, to quote Al Swearengen.
Well, after a bit more of studying, I grabbed the dog and headed out. About a half mile later, he was nearly hit by a car. Well, us, technically, but he was about a foot closer to the car, so I didn't think of myself. It was someone driving out of a parking garage. I saw them moving, about ten or so metres away, and figured, ok, we'll be out of the way by then and what moron doesn't stop or at least slow down before driving over a sidewalk into a street, just to make sure? Well, I looked over again and that car was awfully close and getting closer--it was a fraction of a second, but I saw this car less than a foot away from my dog and this woman looking off to the right, she might have just momentarily glanced there to make sure nobody was walking the other way, but she was looking there when she needed to be looking where her car was going. There was no way she could see my dog as he was practically under her bumper, so I yelled. Not a scream, more like a bellow. It was really loud, too. It echoed, I think. It all happened so quickly that I was like, wow, that came out of me? I hadn't even thought of yelling...it wasn't one of those cases, like so many others, where I have time to realize that I'm angry and need to yell something pithy. This just came out: "Watch my dog!" Thank goodness there was no profanity. And the driver finally looked our way and I saw that she was an old woman and part of me felt pity, but mostly anger. I was pissed. And embarrased. My yell bounced off of buildings and was followed by a weird moment where everything was stopped. Including the car, thank God, but also everyone else on the street. People had stopped, turned to look, were on alert. What has just happened? And I'm the crazy runner with the mean-looking dog screaming at a poor old lady....so I decided just to keep going. By the time the echoes had died down, the car had stopped and we were already out of the way anyway.
We ran on and I tried to grapple with the anger, and eventually things mellowed out a bit beside the Canal. I decided to run back through the Glebe...that was much more relaxing than my neighbourhood. Hardly any traffic.
Still, it wasn't a good run. I just kept replaying that incident in my mind. That was the closest call we've had yet. She hadn't been going very fast, but she could have still injured my dog, and definitely spooked him. I got him when he was a year and a half old--he was a pound dog and had evidently not been outside much, wasn't used to cars, etc...it's taken quite a bit of work to get him used to being outside, being downtown, around traffic and people and other dogs....he's done quite well. But he has a good memory. The first time he saw a big truck, it freaked him out--he slammed into me, I tripped over him, and yelled in pain--it hurt. I went down hard. Not his fault, but he took it badly. And, nearly two years later, the damage still isn't quite undone--he still fliches and sometimes backs away when large vehicles go by. If he'd been clipped by this car, I can't imagine how he'd react to cars after that. And, of course, I wouldn't want him to get hurt. If he had been, I was already so angry, I might have hit the driver. To have such a high level of rage flare up so quickly was sickening. I'm cranky, but I'm not used to that.
Anyway, we went home and I ate something then got ready for track practice. I didn't feel all there.
workout 2(2X400M/2min rest, 2X 200M/1min rest).
I really wanted more rest time after the 400M....it was hard to pace myself...I'm still not used to how these workouts are set up. I was used to running a bit harder but then taking my sweet time recovering.
1:20--too fast to sustain--it went by quickly and took a while to catch up on me. But, oh, it did.
1:29
:40
:40
1:29--felt reasonable
1:32--not happy about this; I pushed more than the first interval again, but was tired.
:41
:41
It was deceptively tough. One minute was enough for the 200M, I felt, but 2 min between 400M was tough. I could get my breathing down, no problem, but I felt like my legs weren't completely cleared of lactic acid. Which is possibly the whole point of setting it up like this. We're not training to be sprinters. We're training for longer races. Maybe this sort of workout raises the lactic acid point or whatever so that we can maintain a higher pace below it. Not really sure. At any rate, I wasn't happy about it. I wasn't as strong as I could have been mentally, and physically, I felt like my form was off. I tried to keep things light and high, but I felt off kilter.
It doesn't help that I don't have good shoes for track/speed work anymore. I had a great pair of NB 826s which I wore for speedwork and races for six months (yeah, a little past their prime, but that was ok), and I retired these after the Philly marathon and got a new pair online. Exact same model and all, but they fit differently. I don't like them as much. So, today, I decided to wear my Nike Frees again, but they are probably miles beyond what they should be (hard to tell with a shoe that doesn't have much cushioning to begin with, until it begins to fall apart in earnest). I've run up to 35K in them, no problem, but the wide heel flare and so forth don't feel right when going faster. I'm hoping to try new shoes on in the States. There's a great running store close to my FIL's house--Bryn Mawr Running. I might even try on racing flats! I'm always looking for lighter and lighter shoes...this would be the next step.
Admittedly, I'm not the most symmetrical person, either--I have slight scoliosis and, more and more, I feel like my neck is tight and this throws things off, plus my right hand/arm has gotten too used to holding a dog leash....but I feel like my shoes are getting in the way and making it worse. I was herding cats out there, everything going in different directions. I'm not happy with how my form felt at all. Room for improvement.
At any rate, even with taking yesterday off, I'm at 53.xx miles today, so not much more to do tomorrow. Will probably go over, as next week will probably be under...I had a vague idea of doing 55/week in February.
One of my errands was getting a thyroid ultrasound. I'd never heard of such a thing until my doctor gave me the requisition form a few days ago, and I assumed that it was the sort of thing I could just roll into the lab for...LOL. I couldn't even make an appointment because a certain someone wasn't there, so I will have to phone on Tuesday.
Anyway, that had me a bit bummed. Apparently I might have nodules or something, and I'd like to make sure they're harmless (most are) asap...there's more than enough to worry about already, like my husband in Iraq. eh.
On the way home, I had two drivers cut me off--I was walking, and had the right of way. This sort of thing has gotten a lot worse since the bus strike, and the buses are back, and there's still more cars on the road...I'm getting more and more fed up with seeing drivers roll through stop signs in my neighbourhood, cut pedestrians off by making right turns on red, etc. I live downtown so fifty zillion extra cars pour in every day and fuck up my action, to quote Al Swearengen.
Well, after a bit more of studying, I grabbed the dog and headed out. About a half mile later, he was nearly hit by a car. Well, us, technically, but he was about a foot closer to the car, so I didn't think of myself. It was someone driving out of a parking garage. I saw them moving, about ten or so metres away, and figured, ok, we'll be out of the way by then and what moron doesn't stop or at least slow down before driving over a sidewalk into a street, just to make sure? Well, I looked over again and that car was awfully close and getting closer--it was a fraction of a second, but I saw this car less than a foot away from my dog and this woman looking off to the right, she might have just momentarily glanced there to make sure nobody was walking the other way, but she was looking there when she needed to be looking where her car was going. There was no way she could see my dog as he was practically under her bumper, so I yelled. Not a scream, more like a bellow. It was really loud, too. It echoed, I think. It all happened so quickly that I was like, wow, that came out of me? I hadn't even thought of yelling...it wasn't one of those cases, like so many others, where I have time to realize that I'm angry and need to yell something pithy. This just came out: "Watch my dog!" Thank goodness there was no profanity. And the driver finally looked our way and I saw that she was an old woman and part of me felt pity, but mostly anger. I was pissed. And embarrased. My yell bounced off of buildings and was followed by a weird moment where everything was stopped. Including the car, thank God, but also everyone else on the street. People had stopped, turned to look, were on alert. What has just happened? And I'm the crazy runner with the mean-looking dog screaming at a poor old lady....so I decided just to keep going. By the time the echoes had died down, the car had stopped and we were already out of the way anyway.
We ran on and I tried to grapple with the anger, and eventually things mellowed out a bit beside the Canal. I decided to run back through the Glebe...that was much more relaxing than my neighbourhood. Hardly any traffic.
Still, it wasn't a good run. I just kept replaying that incident in my mind. That was the closest call we've had yet. She hadn't been going very fast, but she could have still injured my dog, and definitely spooked him. I got him when he was a year and a half old--he was a pound dog and had evidently not been outside much, wasn't used to cars, etc...it's taken quite a bit of work to get him used to being outside, being downtown, around traffic and people and other dogs....he's done quite well. But he has a good memory. The first time he saw a big truck, it freaked him out--he slammed into me, I tripped over him, and yelled in pain--it hurt. I went down hard. Not his fault, but he took it badly. And, nearly two years later, the damage still isn't quite undone--he still fliches and sometimes backs away when large vehicles go by. If he'd been clipped by this car, I can't imagine how he'd react to cars after that. And, of course, I wouldn't want him to get hurt. If he had been, I was already so angry, I might have hit the driver. To have such a high level of rage flare up so quickly was sickening. I'm cranky, but I'm not used to that.
Anyway, we went home and I ate something then got ready for track practice. I didn't feel all there.
workout 2(2X400M/2min rest, 2X 200M/1min rest).
I really wanted more rest time after the 400M....it was hard to pace myself...I'm still not used to how these workouts are set up. I was used to running a bit harder but then taking my sweet time recovering.
1:20--too fast to sustain--it went by quickly and took a while to catch up on me. But, oh, it did.
1:29
:40
:40
1:29--felt reasonable
1:32--not happy about this; I pushed more than the first interval again, but was tired.
:41
:41
It was deceptively tough. One minute was enough for the 200M, I felt, but 2 min between 400M was tough. I could get my breathing down, no problem, but I felt like my legs weren't completely cleared of lactic acid. Which is possibly the whole point of setting it up like this. We're not training to be sprinters. We're training for longer races. Maybe this sort of workout raises the lactic acid point or whatever so that we can maintain a higher pace below it. Not really sure. At any rate, I wasn't happy about it. I wasn't as strong as I could have been mentally, and physically, I felt like my form was off. I tried to keep things light and high, but I felt off kilter.
It doesn't help that I don't have good shoes for track/speed work anymore. I had a great pair of NB 826s which I wore for speedwork and races for six months (yeah, a little past their prime, but that was ok), and I retired these after the Philly marathon and got a new pair online. Exact same model and all, but they fit differently. I don't like them as much. So, today, I decided to wear my Nike Frees again, but they are probably miles beyond what they should be (hard to tell with a shoe that doesn't have much cushioning to begin with, until it begins to fall apart in earnest). I've run up to 35K in them, no problem, but the wide heel flare and so forth don't feel right when going faster. I'm hoping to try new shoes on in the States. There's a great running store close to my FIL's house--Bryn Mawr Running. I might even try on racing flats! I'm always looking for lighter and lighter shoes...this would be the next step.
Admittedly, I'm not the most symmetrical person, either--I have slight scoliosis and, more and more, I feel like my neck is tight and this throws things off, plus my right hand/arm has gotten too used to holding a dog leash....but I feel like my shoes are getting in the way and making it worse. I was herding cats out there, everything going in different directions. I'm not happy with how my form felt at all. Room for improvement.
At any rate, even with taking yesterday off, I'm at 53.xx miles today, so not much more to do tomorrow. Will probably go over, as next week will probably be under...I had a vague idea of doing 55/week in February.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday
well, I'm not sure how my exam went. Mostly good....was through most of it in an hour and 20 minutes, then spent another hour dithering over a few questions, and then left early because the stuff I'd knocked out earlier was starting to look wrong. Anyway, my last exam will be tougher--biology--tons and tons of memorization. And it just doesn't click with me. oh, well.
Just a few more weeks to get it all done, and then my husband gets here, hopefully! It's amazing how well this has worked out--I'm sweating over getting school out of the way, and meanwhile time is roaring by.
Anyway, I walked a fair bit today, but no running. It was raining and I woke up feeling like I had a cold, so decided to stay as dry as possible. I did yoga, though.
Hopefully it won't be too icy out there tomorrow.
Just a few more weeks to get it all done, and then my husband gets here, hopefully! It's amazing how well this has worked out--I'm sweating over getting school out of the way, and meanwhile time is roaring by.
Anyway, I walked a fair bit today, but no running. It was raining and I woke up feeling like I had a cold, so decided to stay as dry as possible. I did yoga, though.
Hopefully it won't be too icy out there tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
procrastination
sort of....I feel like I know the stuff, and then I don't...lol...will get down to a few more hours of practising equations soon...
Anyway, the high today was +9C, which was just amazing. Perfect running weather, I think. I wore a tshirt and long pants for both runs, and there were a few times where it felt a little chilly, but I was pretty comfortable. Actually, it was funny how chillier it felt when running over snow. Yes, snow is colder, etc, etc, but it still amused me how a little bit of white stuff could make it suddenly seem like a walk in freezer.
I can't study 24/7, so I did a few hours in the morning and then took the dog out for about one and a half hours of jogging, just under 8 miles. He's still sort of out of shape, but he isn't the only one with a bit of extra winter jiggle to work off, so I shouldn't say anything. Especially since his pace is more to my liking now. LOL. well, a few more weeks of regular running and he'll be treating me to his particular brand of patronizing resignation: 'ok, if you can't move faster, I guess it's ok.'
And it was warm enough to leave him outside for a few hours to work on a fresh soup bone, so I guess that makes it a red letter day in his books. Lucky boy.
Me, more studying, and then run club!
The workout was 800M-1000M-1200M-1000M-800M, with 2 min breaks...which really weren't long enough. That was the point.
My times:
3:02/6:06 per mile
4:03/6:30
4:58/6:40
4:06 (getting really tired)/6:36
2:57/5:56
I did a similar workout in August that was a bit more successful, I think:
3-4-5-4-3min, .49/6:07/mile, .63/6:21/mile, .77/6:29/mile, .63/6:21 mile, .46/6:31mile
However, I ran 21ish miles on Sunday.
However, back then, I had run almost 21 miles 3 days before, too.
However, this time, we had only 2 min rest.
However, last time, we had only 2 min rest.
Ok, all my blood is in my brain and not in my legs this time round because of this chem exam!! LOL
Honestly, I think the longer intervals were a bit easier this time around--well, yes, they were slower, but, eh....anyway, there was more of a difference in how the final repeat felt. Last time it was the trail of tears, and this time it felt good to end it strong.
Still, I could have lagged less on the longer repeats. I had no mental game whatsoever, was just kind of shut down and coasting through, which was ok, and then the last 1k interval got kind of bogged down near the end. I regretted this, and then suddenly sort of realized that the workout was nearly over and I'd been on another planet or somewhere.
total today: 15.25 miles
oh, yeah, I changed my username....felt like the right thing to do. Not sure why, but, hey~
Anyway, the high today was +9C, which was just amazing. Perfect running weather, I think. I wore a tshirt and long pants for both runs, and there were a few times where it felt a little chilly, but I was pretty comfortable. Actually, it was funny how chillier it felt when running over snow. Yes, snow is colder, etc, etc, but it still amused me how a little bit of white stuff could make it suddenly seem like a walk in freezer.
I can't study 24/7, so I did a few hours in the morning and then took the dog out for about one and a half hours of jogging, just under 8 miles. He's still sort of out of shape, but he isn't the only one with a bit of extra winter jiggle to work off, so I shouldn't say anything. Especially since his pace is more to my liking now. LOL. well, a few more weeks of regular running and he'll be treating me to his particular brand of patronizing resignation: 'ok, if you can't move faster, I guess it's ok.'
And it was warm enough to leave him outside for a few hours to work on a fresh soup bone, so I guess that makes it a red letter day in his books. Lucky boy.
Me, more studying, and then run club!
The workout was 800M-1000M-1200M-1000M-800M, with 2 min breaks...which really weren't long enough. That was the point.
My times:
3:02/6:06 per mile
4:03/6:30
4:58/6:40
4:06 (getting really tired)/6:36
2:57/5:56
I did a similar workout in August that was a bit more successful, I think:
3-4-5-4-3min, .49/6:07/mile, .63/6:21/mile, .77/6:29/mile, .63/6:21 mile, .46/6:31mile
However, I ran 21ish miles on Sunday.
However, back then, I had run almost 21 miles 3 days before, too.
However, this time, we had only 2 min rest.
However, last time, we had only 2 min rest.
Ok, all my blood is in my brain and not in my legs this time round because of this chem exam!! LOL
Honestly, I think the longer intervals were a bit easier this time around--well, yes, they were slower, but, eh....anyway, there was more of a difference in how the final repeat felt. Last time it was the trail of tears, and this time it felt good to end it strong.
Still, I could have lagged less on the longer repeats. I had no mental game whatsoever, was just kind of shut down and coasting through, which was ok, and then the last 1k interval got kind of bogged down near the end. I regretted this, and then suddenly sort of realized that the workout was nearly over and I'd been on another planet or somewhere.
total today: 15.25 miles
oh, yeah, I changed my username....felt like the right thing to do. Not sure why, but, hey~
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
the final countdown
again...
yesterday, 5.5 miles, 2.5 with dog
today, 3 miles....not much time for anything else except work and studying (which often happens at the same time, my job being so incredibly intellectually engaging).
Chem exam on thurs!
yesterday, 5.5 miles, 2.5 with dog
today, 3 miles....not much time for anything else except work and studying (which often happens at the same time, my job being so incredibly intellectually engaging).
Chem exam on thurs!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
the weekend
Saturday was an easy day, and the temps were still good, so the dog and I headed out for a recovery run. I was still stiff from Friday's workout, so we took it slow..him more than I. He still has to get used to running on pavement, but fortunately there are still enough snowy patches that he doesn't have to go for long on bare pavement. I think he'll be ok. I put ointment on his paws afterwards though they looked ok.
We jogged just over four miles, and later on I jogged 1.5 miles to work. And then at work, my throat started to feel sore, so I gargled with salt water and drank lots of orange juice.
Today, I woke up feeling quite tired, but without a cold. woohoo! I still debated sleeping in a little and rejoining the running club somewhere out there--our routes are still limited so it's not too hard to run into them, plus I knew that they were doing hill repeats partway through. However, I decided that it was now or never, and scraped myself out of bed and out the door.
And nearly bailed...my street doesn't get salted much if at all. Which is usually really good, but a whole lot of snow had melted yesterday and then frozen again overnight, nice and smooth....I ran on the street itself, which was better, then slipped my way to run club because I can't run on Lyon without making my will first. I swear, even on Sunday, drivers check their brains in on that street. Must. Get. To. Queensway. blech.
And Kent's worse! I should have gone up Bay, but funnily enough the hills are sharper there...anyway, I made it to run club in the nick of time, and then jogged around for about an hour with some of the others. Once I got out of my neighbourhood, the footing was a lot better, so we didn't have too many issues. I left them as we passed the Market, and promised to meet them up on the hill later on. I had to eat and/or drink something, though.
It's a part of my training!
Today, what appealed to me was beet/carrot/ginger/something juice (I can't remember the fourth ingredient). There was a juice bar there which I've glanced at a few times, but today it was really appealing, so I walked up to the counter and checked out all the options. And the beet/etc juice screamed at me. I'm not sure why. I don't like beets. I don't like carrot juice. I don't really like ginger, usually, though I find it helps combat nausea. But I had to have it. I asked for a small--it was only $3 plus tax. Gels here usually cost $2. And here I was getting beets and etc, freshly blended, instead of corn starch. And the drink itself was just what I needed. It's not something that would usually appeal to me, but it was very refreshing, settled smoothly, and turned out to be good fuel.
On the way out, I had an expresso in homage to Gazelle #1 who wasn't there, and I bought a praline but ended up carrying it around for another hour. I wanted it, but not quite then and there.
I made it to the hill and ran up and down it 2.5 times. I forget how many repeats we were supposed to do. 2.5 seemed ok. Then I left the group again--they were going back to the coffee shop but I knew that if I went too, with just 9 miles or so to my credit, that getting back out to do the 11 remaining would be too much of a slog. I had to get a few more down and work off the juice and expresso.
And what a killer combo. I had tons of energy. I was just going to go down Portage and up Alexandria, but I ended up going past Alexandria, up Macdonald-Cartier, and then back across Alexandria, and up Portage (and I was considering going down to Champlain instead). Just kept rolling along and near the end, I was definitely in the zone. I wanted to rejoin my friends, though, so went into the coffee shop with 14ish miles to my credit, then remembered that I'd actually run one before starting my Garmin, so just 4 and a bit to go. sort of.
I had hot chocolate and finally ate the praline. It was quite good.
After a short stay, I headed out again, to the Canal this time. The footing wasn't so shabby on the path beside it, until I got past Bank Street bridge, and then it was nasty, a few inches of water/slush...got through that (my feet were wet already) to Bronson bridge, and then headed back on Queen E...it took me that long to realize that traffic was largely blocked off it. LOL. And I should have done BAnk and Bronson bridges too, but six in one run plus a couple of hill repeats is maybe enough.
About this point, I started getting tired. Actually, I was feeling ok, except for my left quad was really tight, especially on the outside of the knee. My left foot--the one that had been giving me grief--was ok, but I guess this other thing was a compensation issue. I dug my fingers in it and loosened it up, and then kept going. It was still fine to jog at just under 9:00/mile.
I did 20 on my Garmin, 21 in actuality, and then decided to walk the rest of the way home, another .6 or so. I'm still counting that in my tally, though! I signed up for an ultra, I can count walking. Actually, I'm going to incorporate walking up steeper hills eventually and focus on this....today, though, I was just letting myself stretch out a bit before going inside. It really helps to walk the last ten min or so when the run's a tougher one. Anyway, I stopped my timer for my snack breaks, because I was curious to know how fast I was moving running-wise. 20 miles in just under 3:05, or 9:15/mile. not bad. Actually, really nice. That's pretty much what I used to do, pre-winter (I think)...it's on the fast end of my easy run pace, so especially nice to know that winter hasn't taken too large a chunk out of me.
I have a marathon in two weeks. That has really snuck up on me! I'm going to go for Gold and leave the timer at home...I'm hoping that they have a clock so that I can see 5K splits, but I won't be too fussed if there isn't one. I don't want numbers with me. I'm going to hand the reins over to my body. We've already had a little discussion about how it'll be just five more miles than what we did today, so no biggie.
Anyway, I guess I have a quick nap, then study, then perhaps yin yoga...I need it, but I'm already starting to feel sluggy...will see.
We jogged just over four miles, and later on I jogged 1.5 miles to work. And then at work, my throat started to feel sore, so I gargled with salt water and drank lots of orange juice.
Today, I woke up feeling quite tired, but without a cold. woohoo! I still debated sleeping in a little and rejoining the running club somewhere out there--our routes are still limited so it's not too hard to run into them, plus I knew that they were doing hill repeats partway through. However, I decided that it was now or never, and scraped myself out of bed and out the door.
And nearly bailed...my street doesn't get salted much if at all. Which is usually really good, but a whole lot of snow had melted yesterday and then frozen again overnight, nice and smooth....I ran on the street itself, which was better, then slipped my way to run club because I can't run on Lyon without making my will first. I swear, even on Sunday, drivers check their brains in on that street. Must. Get. To. Queensway. blech.
And Kent's worse! I should have gone up Bay, but funnily enough the hills are sharper there...anyway, I made it to run club in the nick of time, and then jogged around for about an hour with some of the others. Once I got out of my neighbourhood, the footing was a lot better, so we didn't have too many issues. I left them as we passed the Market, and promised to meet them up on the hill later on. I had to eat and/or drink something, though.
It's a part of my training!
Today, what appealed to me was beet/carrot/ginger/something juice (I can't remember the fourth ingredient). There was a juice bar there which I've glanced at a few times, but today it was really appealing, so I walked up to the counter and checked out all the options. And the beet/etc juice screamed at me. I'm not sure why. I don't like beets. I don't like carrot juice. I don't really like ginger, usually, though I find it helps combat nausea. But I had to have it. I asked for a small--it was only $3 plus tax. Gels here usually cost $2. And here I was getting beets and etc, freshly blended, instead of corn starch. And the drink itself was just what I needed. It's not something that would usually appeal to me, but it was very refreshing, settled smoothly, and turned out to be good fuel.
On the way out, I had an expresso in homage to Gazelle #1 who wasn't there, and I bought a praline but ended up carrying it around for another hour. I wanted it, but not quite then and there.
I made it to the hill and ran up and down it 2.5 times. I forget how many repeats we were supposed to do. 2.5 seemed ok. Then I left the group again--they were going back to the coffee shop but I knew that if I went too, with just 9 miles or so to my credit, that getting back out to do the 11 remaining would be too much of a slog. I had to get a few more down and work off the juice and expresso.
And what a killer combo. I had tons of energy. I was just going to go down Portage and up Alexandria, but I ended up going past Alexandria, up Macdonald-Cartier, and then back across Alexandria, and up Portage (and I was considering going down to Champlain instead). Just kept rolling along and near the end, I was definitely in the zone. I wanted to rejoin my friends, though, so went into the coffee shop with 14ish miles to my credit, then remembered that I'd actually run one before starting my Garmin, so just 4 and a bit to go. sort of.
I had hot chocolate and finally ate the praline. It was quite good.
After a short stay, I headed out again, to the Canal this time. The footing wasn't so shabby on the path beside it, until I got past Bank Street bridge, and then it was nasty, a few inches of water/slush...got through that (my feet were wet already) to Bronson bridge, and then headed back on Queen E...it took me that long to realize that traffic was largely blocked off it. LOL. And I should have done BAnk and Bronson bridges too, but six in one run plus a couple of hill repeats is maybe enough.
About this point, I started getting tired. Actually, I was feeling ok, except for my left quad was really tight, especially on the outside of the knee. My left foot--the one that had been giving me grief--was ok, but I guess this other thing was a compensation issue. I dug my fingers in it and loosened it up, and then kept going. It was still fine to jog at just under 9:00/mile.
I did 20 on my Garmin, 21 in actuality, and then decided to walk the rest of the way home, another .6 or so. I'm still counting that in my tally, though! I signed up for an ultra, I can count walking. Actually, I'm going to incorporate walking up steeper hills eventually and focus on this....today, though, I was just letting myself stretch out a bit before going inside. It really helps to walk the last ten min or so when the run's a tougher one. Anyway, I stopped my timer for my snack breaks, because I was curious to know how fast I was moving running-wise. 20 miles in just under 3:05, or 9:15/mile. not bad. Actually, really nice. That's pretty much what I used to do, pre-winter (I think)...it's on the fast end of my easy run pace, so especially nice to know that winter hasn't taken too large a chunk out of me.
I have a marathon in two weeks. That has really snuck up on me! I'm going to go for Gold and leave the timer at home...I'm hoping that they have a clock so that I can see 5K splits, but I won't be too fussed if there isn't one. I don't want numbers with me. I'm going to hand the reins over to my body. We've already had a little discussion about how it'll be just five more miles than what we did today, so no biggie.
Anyway, I guess I have a quick nap, then study, then perhaps yin yoga...I need it, but I'm already starting to feel sluggy...will see.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thanks for turning the heat back on
It was only -7 or so when the dog and I jogged, plus the sidewalks were mostly clear. Such a huge difference to what it has been these past umpteen weeks. I won't say that we're through the worst of winter, but it is really nice to get a bit of a breather. I don't want to talk about tomorrow too much for fear of jinxing it, but if it's even nicer, as promised, it'll be superb.
I've tried my best to get through the winter as best as possible, not worrying about pace, etc, etc, just trying to go by effort. And, honestly, the 11 and 12 minute miles didn't really bug me...the numbers, that is. So what? I jog umpteen miles a week, not all of them have to be 'fast'. The slipping and sliding and rolling over chunks of snow, however, I was getting really sick of. It was an amazing refreshing run today, to get a break from the snow-bound crap and just stretch out.
And since it was warm enough for the dog, he went with me too. We jogged for about an hour, 6.17 miles (not sure what our actual running time was, though--traffic lights eat a big chunk, lol.) And it was especially satisfying for a selfish and immature reason--he has much better traction on snow. I've been the weaker link when we've run together on snow. Today, though, I had a solid surface to run on. I was just jogging as usual, but he was hanging back. I didn't want to tire him out too badly, so I eased up. The tables have turned!
Actually, though, it was good that he was with me because I had speedwork tonight, at the indoor track again. I really like that place. It has a nice feel to it. They have the soccer games going on, too, and little kids running around...it's fun. Anyway, the workout today was 100M repeats, but with short rests: 100M hard, 100M easy. ten of those, then a 3 min break, then ten more repeats. It went by quickly but was surprisingly hard, considering that I wasn't slamming the fast bits--couldn't with the short breaks. I tried to keep things light and high and well-aligned instead of digging in.
19.55
21.38
19.15
21.45
18.06
21.88
19.88
20.75
18.82
21.23
18.55
21.58
19.00
20.68
18.60
21.17
18.45
21.03
18.70
19.43
Yes, there's a little bit of a pattern...we were using the wrong lines somewhere on one side of the track or the other. I think we were too long with the 2nd side, but the coach says that we were too short with the 1st side. Of course, he would say that. lol.
My garmin actually picked up something of a signal there, but it's pretty screwy at faster paces even when outside....it was saying everything from 250 feet to 400ish in the dome, lol. So I don't know what was short and what wasn't. The important thing is that we got did it without too much sagging, what's a second here or there?
I honestly wasn't expecting to see 20s. I'm not in sprinting shape, though, and with the short recoveries, I wasn't expecting much, maybe 18s, but it's funny to see 20s when the 300M repeats were 62-63 seconds last week. I guess I can assume that there was a long side, and not a short side. I honestly like the track atmos, though, so maybe in the future, I'll give that an honest try for a season or two. I have a few goals for that, which I'm not touching now...
So, anyway, with the two workouts, I ran 12.45 miles today.
I've tried my best to get through the winter as best as possible, not worrying about pace, etc, etc, just trying to go by effort. And, honestly, the 11 and 12 minute miles didn't really bug me...the numbers, that is. So what? I jog umpteen miles a week, not all of them have to be 'fast'. The slipping and sliding and rolling over chunks of snow, however, I was getting really sick of. It was an amazing refreshing run today, to get a break from the snow-bound crap and just stretch out.
And since it was warm enough for the dog, he went with me too. We jogged for about an hour, 6.17 miles (not sure what our actual running time was, though--traffic lights eat a big chunk, lol.) And it was especially satisfying for a selfish and immature reason--he has much better traction on snow. I've been the weaker link when we've run together on snow. Today, though, I had a solid surface to run on. I was just jogging as usual, but he was hanging back. I didn't want to tire him out too badly, so I eased up. The tables have turned!
Actually, though, it was good that he was with me because I had speedwork tonight, at the indoor track again. I really like that place. It has a nice feel to it. They have the soccer games going on, too, and little kids running around...it's fun. Anyway, the workout today was 100M repeats, but with short rests: 100M hard, 100M easy. ten of those, then a 3 min break, then ten more repeats. It went by quickly but was surprisingly hard, considering that I wasn't slamming the fast bits--couldn't with the short breaks. I tried to keep things light and high and well-aligned instead of digging in.
19.55
21.38
19.15
21.45
18.06
21.88
19.88
20.75
18.82
21.23
18.55
21.58
19.00
20.68
18.60
21.17
18.45
21.03
18.70
19.43
Yes, there's a little bit of a pattern...we were using the wrong lines somewhere on one side of the track or the other. I think we were too long with the 2nd side, but the coach says that we were too short with the 1st side. Of course, he would say that. lol.
My garmin actually picked up something of a signal there, but it's pretty screwy at faster paces even when outside....it was saying everything from 250 feet to 400ish in the dome, lol. So I don't know what was short and what wasn't. The important thing is that we got did it without too much sagging, what's a second here or there?
I honestly wasn't expecting to see 20s. I'm not in sprinting shape, though, and with the short recoveries, I wasn't expecting much, maybe 18s, but it's funny to see 20s when the 300M repeats were 62-63 seconds last week. I guess I can assume that there was a long side, and not a short side. I honestly like the track atmos, though, so maybe in the future, I'll give that an honest try for a season or two. I have a few goals for that, which I'm not touching now...
So, anyway, with the two workouts, I ran 12.45 miles today.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
rest day
No exercise whatsoever today. Except mentally.
Note to self: when an assigment should take a few weeks, don't try to do it in two days.
Although, after umpteen hours of Chemistry and crappy study food and depleted oxygen (didn't leave the house, even), I felt transported to a higher plane, where the mysteries of the universe, usually obscured by daily minutae, were scintillatingly clear and almost within grasp...where this body, this collection of little things pinging against each other in empty space, was just an encumbrance.
Well, My Little Atoms, you're going to have to really haul butt tomorrow on the track! We're going to revv up the Krebs cycle and pump out some serious ATP, get the core temps jacked up, and I expect to see those increased kinetic forces really playing out. OK?
Note to self: when an assigment should take a few weeks, don't try to do it in two days.
Although, after umpteen hours of Chemistry and crappy study food and depleted oxygen (didn't leave the house, even), I felt transported to a higher plane, where the mysteries of the universe, usually obscured by daily minutae, were scintillatingly clear and almost within grasp...where this body, this collection of little things pinging against each other in empty space, was just an encumbrance.
Well, My Little Atoms, you're going to have to really haul butt tomorrow on the track! We're going to revv up the Krebs cycle and pump out some serious ATP, get the core temps jacked up, and I expect to see those increased kinetic forces really playing out. OK?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
tues/wed
Tuesday, the only exercise I got, apart from at work, was jogging to work, 1.5ish miles. It was a busy day, though, and I tried to take the stairs at work as much as possible, plus I did my pushups. yay.
Today, I woke up and it was -300000C. I checked with the dog; he didn't want to be instantly frozen and shattered to a zillion bits. So we stayed in, and then I went to hot yoga which really did me some good. I wish they had a class where you could just go in and lounge around in there. I really miss the saunas in Korea, especially the not so hot/45ishC rooms with the carpets and so forth...I used to read and do marking in there for hours at a time, and I wasn't the only one who would live there, kind of. Some of these rooms even had TVs. With enough water and lack of movement, it was quite comfortable. The hot yoga room is at a similar temperature, but of course we have to move in there. Which is ok, but sometimes I think I'd be willing to pay just to hang out.
Anyway, I got that done and then Chemistry handed my ass to me--I have some serious grappling to do once I'm done posting here. My mood steadily got worse, and finally developed new depths close to run club time. Speedwork, in -20ish C windchill. It's getting kind of old.
So I jogged the dog for about 2.5 miles--his limit in this sort of cold, and then headed over, feeling like crud. Warm up with the group, same thing. How do all these people jog so fast? And how badly is it going to hurt when we actually get moving? And my face is half-ripped off by the wind already, my toes are cold, etc, etc.
However, there was one blessing: no snow! a bit of ice, but no snow. I couldn't believe it. There is still snow on my neighbourhood sidewalks, but I guess they keep the Hill plowed a bit more. I was wearing trail shoes which were rather clunky, but it was really nice to have something solid to connect to underfoot.
I was on my own, between the fast group and a slightly slower one. Not sure how this happened. I should suck it up and just go with the fast group, and I have done occasionally....but I felt like there was a black vortex of angst hovering over me and I didn't want anyone to get sucked in. And I didn't want to subject anyone to the harmony of my agonized breathing and clunky footfalls.
I did the first lap and couldn't believe the time. So I was like, ok, take it easy, but the next one was faster, and then I couldn't let the next one sag, nor the next one, nor the last---it was 5X 1000M:
4:15
4:06
4:03
4:01
3:58
not bad! especially compared to the first time we did this workout a few weeks ago, albeit in a blizzard: 4:35, 4:27, 4:27, 4:28...nobody did the 5th repeat, it was such a struggle.
Having clear pavement makes all the difference! And I guess I was feeling so crappy that a bit more effort didn't matter. Plus, I did a lot of counting down and so forth...mentally, I was surprisingly strong. I chopped up the loops and kept counting down...I've recently learned that it doesn't matter so much if I count down properly or accurately, or finish the countdown, lol...just counting down from 20 is a big comfort. 2 X 20 is much better than counting down from 40. Not sure why. I guess my brain is so blood/oxygen-deprived at this point that it doesn't realize that there's more than one count from 20. I start at 20 and somehow that's the end, and when it isn't, that's ok, because we're just at 20 and that's the end, and when that isn't, that's ok, because we're just at 20....lol
Total run, 10.61 miles. Low for Wednesday, but hopefully the weather will warm up soon so that I can ditch the Ninjaclava and the extra layers.
Today, I woke up and it was -300000C. I checked with the dog; he didn't want to be instantly frozen and shattered to a zillion bits. So we stayed in, and then I went to hot yoga which really did me some good. I wish they had a class where you could just go in and lounge around in there. I really miss the saunas in Korea, especially the not so hot/45ishC rooms with the carpets and so forth...I used to read and do marking in there for hours at a time, and I wasn't the only one who would live there, kind of. Some of these rooms even had TVs. With enough water and lack of movement, it was quite comfortable. The hot yoga room is at a similar temperature, but of course we have to move in there. Which is ok, but sometimes I think I'd be willing to pay just to hang out.
Anyway, I got that done and then Chemistry handed my ass to me--I have some serious grappling to do once I'm done posting here. My mood steadily got worse, and finally developed new depths close to run club time. Speedwork, in -20ish C windchill. It's getting kind of old.
So I jogged the dog for about 2.5 miles--his limit in this sort of cold, and then headed over, feeling like crud. Warm up with the group, same thing. How do all these people jog so fast? And how badly is it going to hurt when we actually get moving? And my face is half-ripped off by the wind already, my toes are cold, etc, etc.
However, there was one blessing: no snow! a bit of ice, but no snow. I couldn't believe it. There is still snow on my neighbourhood sidewalks, but I guess they keep the Hill plowed a bit more. I was wearing trail shoes which were rather clunky, but it was really nice to have something solid to connect to underfoot.
I was on my own, between the fast group and a slightly slower one. Not sure how this happened. I should suck it up and just go with the fast group, and I have done occasionally....but I felt like there was a black vortex of angst hovering over me and I didn't want anyone to get sucked in. And I didn't want to subject anyone to the harmony of my agonized breathing and clunky footfalls.
I did the first lap and couldn't believe the time. So I was like, ok, take it easy, but the next one was faster, and then I couldn't let the next one sag, nor the next one, nor the last---it was 5X 1000M:
4:15
4:06
4:03
4:01
3:58
not bad! especially compared to the first time we did this workout a few weeks ago, albeit in a blizzard: 4:35, 4:27, 4:27, 4:28...nobody did the 5th repeat, it was such a struggle.
Having clear pavement makes all the difference! And I guess I was feeling so crappy that a bit more effort didn't matter. Plus, I did a lot of counting down and so forth...mentally, I was surprisingly strong. I chopped up the loops and kept counting down...I've recently learned that it doesn't matter so much if I count down properly or accurately, or finish the countdown, lol...just counting down from 20 is a big comfort. 2 X 20 is much better than counting down from 40. Not sure why. I guess my brain is so blood/oxygen-deprived at this point that it doesn't realize that there's more than one count from 20. I start at 20 and somehow that's the end, and when it isn't, that's ok, because we're just at 20 and that's the end, and when that isn't, that's ok, because we're just at 20....lol
Total run, 10.61 miles. Low for Wednesday, but hopefully the weather will warm up soon so that I can ditch the Ninjaclava and the extra layers.
Monday, February 2, 2009
recovery Monday
The weather's actually decent!
So the dog and I got out at a decent hour, like pre-nine, and I did my utmost best to move as slowly as I needed to, and I think I succeeded. I had a good recovery run. Part of it was around a park. There were just a couple of other dogs out there, minding their own biz and owners too, so no problems whatsoever letting my dog run loose and sniff some things. The majority of dogs don't really interest him beyond the first minute or so, and while he's patient when dogs rush up and jump on him, it's quite clear with whom he wants to play, and with whom he doesn't, and the majority of dogs are the latter. It is a part of dog behaviour, and those dogs should have the chance to run around, too (probably they need it more than most) but it's much nicer not to have that going on. We worked on some voice commands and we did some easy sprints, too...I followed what my body was telling me, and at a few points, it felt good to lightly sprint. I guess I ran about 2.5 miles and my dog fifty. LOL
At any rate, I think I actually succeeded in having a good recovery run, even if it was more like a fartlek. A lazy fartlek. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
Oh, yeah, I also did the morning routine--what's that, eh? And pushups and some resistance exercises, to get the blood flowing. Now school work and then work. So another 1.5 miles jogging to that.
So the dog and I got out at a decent hour, like pre-nine, and I did my utmost best to move as slowly as I needed to, and I think I succeeded. I had a good recovery run. Part of it was around a park. There were just a couple of other dogs out there, minding their own biz and owners too, so no problems whatsoever letting my dog run loose and sniff some things. The majority of dogs don't really interest him beyond the first minute or so, and while he's patient when dogs rush up and jump on him, it's quite clear with whom he wants to play, and with whom he doesn't, and the majority of dogs are the latter. It is a part of dog behaviour, and those dogs should have the chance to run around, too (probably they need it more than most) but it's much nicer not to have that going on. We worked on some voice commands and we did some easy sprints, too...I followed what my body was telling me, and at a few points, it felt good to lightly sprint. I guess I ran about 2.5 miles and my dog fifty. LOL
At any rate, I think I actually succeeded in having a good recovery run, even if it was more like a fartlek. A lazy fartlek. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
Oh, yeah, I also did the morning routine--what's that, eh? And pushups and some resistance exercises, to get the blood flowing. Now school work and then work. So another 1.5 miles jogging to that.
sat/sun
I actually didn't have any shifts this weekend! nice!
Saturday, though, was cold and I was stiff, and whiny...I'm getting more and more cranky about the sidewalks. Anyway, I ran about a mile on errands, and that was it. It was a little too cold to take the dog out, but I had hopes of cranking out a few miles maybe on the FitWalk, but it didn't happen. At least I made it to yin yoga.
Sunday, I felt like crap. It was a really bad gut morning, so much so that I was late to run club. This was ok, though, as I was really in poor shape and likely not able to keep up anyway. I just jogged around, to and then on the Canal. My first few miles were just under 12 minutes. My eyes were seared by little hard pellets hurled at great force. I was close to tears at times emotionally, apart from actually tearing up from the irritation. And my hands were freezing--I kept having to squeeze my fists, thumb in and then thumb out, or whatever was coldest tucked in, for much of the run. It was a damp cold so the sweat wasn't travelling through my mitts but chilling the inside. Plus, I was still negotiating the gut thing, and trying very hard to remember that the outer sphincter is a voluntary muscle. Yep, that's right. no reason for crapping my pants. Still came close, though. Plus, my right knee felt a little off because my quad was so tight. Etc, etc, etc. The first four miles were wretched and I don't know what it was that kept me going because I felt so close to just plunking myself down on the ice and bawling. Perhaps it was a sense of shame that kept me going. My discomfort was further increased by the two women with the least dulcet voices in the whole world trailing me for MILES. We first linked up at the Laurier end of the Canal, and they were ahead of me, on skates, but soon after, I passed them. Not meaning to, and they were on the opposite side of the Canal,anyway...they might have stopped to look at something or whatever, I'm not sure. All I know is that I unwittingly wound up in front of them and thus in the line of fire.
From about mile two to five, roughly, I endured it, their awful braying nasal voices and stutifyingly bland subject matter. Not that I'm especially erudite when running, either, but I try not to be loud, at least. Finally, we got to the other end of the Canal, and I figured that I would turn off towards the locks instead of to the pavillion (which seemed the usual way) so that I could get away from them. A few minutes later, though, I heard them. I glanced--it was them. And they wouldn't pass. Frig.
So I headed towards teh paviliion, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw them go a different way. WooHoo.....well, no. They caught up with me again and once again, I slowed down, but I guess they'd locked into me and that was that.
I was going to rest a while in the pavillion, but when I saw them duck in, I beat my retreat.
Free! I felt so much better. And my stomach was finally settling down.
At about the ten mile mark, I had a beavertail, and scarfed it down, much to the disgust of a few people nearby, perhaps. I tried to be discrete...then I figured who were they to judge? a few women who were wearing tight jeans to go ice skating?
Then I went back towards Dows Lake, met up with a couple of guys from the run club, and ran back with them. Had some coffee, and then ran a couple more miles.
Total, 17 miles in almost three hours. That was maybe my worst three hour run ever, but it ended ok. My legs are really getting trashed by this snow.
I also went to a yin yoga class---really needed it.
Saturday, though, was cold and I was stiff, and whiny...I'm getting more and more cranky about the sidewalks. Anyway, I ran about a mile on errands, and that was it. It was a little too cold to take the dog out, but I had hopes of cranking out a few miles maybe on the FitWalk, but it didn't happen. At least I made it to yin yoga.
Sunday, I felt like crap. It was a really bad gut morning, so much so that I was late to run club. This was ok, though, as I was really in poor shape and likely not able to keep up anyway. I just jogged around, to and then on the Canal. My first few miles were just under 12 minutes. My eyes were seared by little hard pellets hurled at great force. I was close to tears at times emotionally, apart from actually tearing up from the irritation. And my hands were freezing--I kept having to squeeze my fists, thumb in and then thumb out, or whatever was coldest tucked in, for much of the run. It was a damp cold so the sweat wasn't travelling through my mitts but chilling the inside. Plus, I was still negotiating the gut thing, and trying very hard to remember that the outer sphincter is a voluntary muscle. Yep, that's right. no reason for crapping my pants. Still came close, though. Plus, my right knee felt a little off because my quad was so tight. Etc, etc, etc. The first four miles were wretched and I don't know what it was that kept me going because I felt so close to just plunking myself down on the ice and bawling. Perhaps it was a sense of shame that kept me going. My discomfort was further increased by the two women with the least dulcet voices in the whole world trailing me for MILES. We first linked up at the Laurier end of the Canal, and they were ahead of me, on skates, but soon after, I passed them. Not meaning to, and they were on the opposite side of the Canal,anyway...they might have stopped to look at something or whatever, I'm not sure. All I know is that I unwittingly wound up in front of them and thus in the line of fire.
From about mile two to five, roughly, I endured it, their awful braying nasal voices and stutifyingly bland subject matter. Not that I'm especially erudite when running, either, but I try not to be loud, at least. Finally, we got to the other end of the Canal, and I figured that I would turn off towards the locks instead of to the pavillion (which seemed the usual way) so that I could get away from them. A few minutes later, though, I heard them. I glanced--it was them. And they wouldn't pass. Frig.
So I headed towards teh paviliion, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw them go a different way. WooHoo.....well, no. They caught up with me again and once again, I slowed down, but I guess they'd locked into me and that was that.
I was going to rest a while in the pavillion, but when I saw them duck in, I beat my retreat.
Free! I felt so much better. And my stomach was finally settling down.
At about the ten mile mark, I had a beavertail, and scarfed it down, much to the disgust of a few people nearby, perhaps. I tried to be discrete...then I figured who were they to judge? a few women who were wearing tight jeans to go ice skating?
Then I went back towards Dows Lake, met up with a couple of guys from the run club, and ran back with them. Had some coffee, and then ran a couple more miles.
Total, 17 miles in almost three hours. That was maybe my worst three hour run ever, but it ended ok. My legs are really getting trashed by this snow.
I also went to a yin yoga class---really needed it.
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