Day 63

I wasn't expecting much from today's run--I actually wasn't expecting to run. I took the bus 1/2 way to my practical and then walked the rest of the way (it was raining and I couldn't quite face a 2.5ish mile walk in drizzle at 6:30 am). Then I was on my feet all day and then I walked all the way back. I was wiped.

But the dog was raring to go, so we set out.

And, gosh, it seems that all that standing and walking just coiled the springs. I felt amazing. It felt wonderful to be running and I couldn't slow down. We went for a 1/2 hour. I had to check how much we'd run afterward: 3.5 miles. Gee, that's not too much slower than my tempo pace. lol

I figure tomorrow will be a slower day! I'm pretty tired now.

Day 62

I was tired this morning! I decided to practice getting up early for my practical (it starts tomorrow at 7:30 am) and practice the route I'll take. So the dog and I were out of the house by 6:30 am. I was REALLY glad to see that it wasn't pitch black by then!

We followed the correct route without any problems this time, and then we went a slightly different way back. My legs were heavy and sluggish. I hadn't slept much, this was earlier than usual, I'd been running a lot, time of the month, etc, etc. I kept my effort very easy and stopped running after about an hour.

So hopefully that run will help recovery. At the very least, it set my mind a bit at ease--I'm kind of nervous about the practical. lol

Meanwhile, I'm trying to avoid taking a nap so that I'll get to bed early--seems like I've been up for ages. I've gotten a lot done so far!

Day 61

I felt sort of crappy this morning, didn't sleep much. I'd hoped to get up earlier, oh, well! I won't be staying up past midnight tonight so should get on a better schedule.

Anyway, I ran for 95 minutes. It was going to be a shorter run but I met a friend and was feeling good, so it happened. Hey, I've done my long run for the week! I'm not sure what I'll run tomorrow, but considering I got back into speedwork with the club this week, 2 sessions, 1:35 is plenty for a long run. I'll probably still jog with the dog for 20-30 minutes sometime this afternoon--he wasn't with me this morning--but I'm already at 540 minutes for the week. I blame the doubles!

Actually, I prefer the doubles and running more. It makes things a lot easier. Muscularly, I'm a do or don't person--I know this from being a music student for umpteen years. I had to put in my time practicing, but once I got to a certain volume of practicing, things fell in place. Same thing with running, seems like. It feels smoother to do 50 miles/week than 30ish, and I've noticed this before. IT's kind of ridiculous doing doubles for just 50ish miles/week, but I'm trying to get used to running commuting, and it's really nice to just coast for 30 odd minutes in the morning, no pressure.

So, things are definitely improving, bit by bit!

I feel like a nap now. The dog is napping already and he didn't even run today.

Edit: had a nap, did some stuff, and then took the dog out for a 30 min jog. Again, a good run. I'm sort of mystified.

I've been tinkering with recovery drinks--I was washing down my iron supplements with a glass of milk, and then I recently found out that that inhibits iron absorption. oops. So I got some almond milk and tried it out yesterday...except I put some whey and molasses in it. Then I realized that whey comes from milk. oops...but apparently whey actually helps absorption. So I guess I'm on the right track after all and I'm having the same drink now. I didn't feel much of an effect from the speedwork yesterday, even though I haven't run that fast since August, and maybe the drink had something to do with it, or the other drink of note that I had yesterday: homemade ginger beer. :)

total for this week:570 minutes of jogging/running. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow.

Day 60

Thurs: 30 min jog with dog.
Fri: 30 min jog with dog in the morning. The temps plunged, it was -19C windchill!
45 min in the evening--speedwork,5X 600M. Actually, this ended up being 4X800M and then we realized that we'd skipped a marker (one was faint, and the path had a curve in it which was deceptively long). The last one was 600M at least.

I had hoped for sub 7 min/mile for this workout, but I didn't know how I would do because it's been months since I've done such a workout. My pace: 6:46/mile, 7:00/mile, 7:08/mile, 7:08/mile, and 7:01/mile. it was 400/300M out and back...the turn kind of sucked, but we were having problems finding the 600M marker too. Some of the marks have been resprayed, but not all. Anyway, I definitely did the first one too fast! It was a tough workout, the rest intervals were just 90 seconds. This felt almost like a VO2 max workout, but the recoveries for one of those would be longer. Still, I'm kind of disappointed that I couldn't hold on to sub 7:00/mile, especially for such a short distance, but I have to be patient. I did get into the groove after a while, feeling a stronger core which made things more effective--gotta remember that feeling!

Resistance exercises afterward. The situps were pretty hard for some reason.

It's great doing speedwork with others again! They definitely help me push myself.

Day 58

Once again, my run was marred by a dumb dog owner. Hence the label---this has inspired me to start labeling posts. I might even do it retroactively. I'm going to see how many I can collect!

Anyway, the dog and I were on the rec path again this morning, and after a while, I saw a black lab ahead of its owner coming towards us. That's the usual modus operandi for labs and their owners, btw: most owners think these dogs are harmless and will train themselves. Another glance tells me that the dog isn't on a leash. A third glance tells me that the dog is accelerating towards us in a probably harmless but totally not cool way. So I yell to the owner "your dog should be on a leash." I should have plainly said "put your dog on a leash" but I had hopes that she'd get the hint or that her dog would prove well behaved at the end, I guess, even though she was already calling for it and it was well ahead and ignoring her. Anyway, the dog ran up to us; I was closer because my dog was on my other side, close to me and slightly behind me.

And I growled.

LOL, I've never growled at someone else's dog before, just my own when he's being a butt. I've developed a pretty convincing growl, that's often the third warning after 'ah-ah' and a louder 'ah-ah' or 'no' LOL. Usually I tell other dogs no, but I had to think fast. I didn't want the thing darting to my dog. Yes, it looked harmless, but this was our run, my dog's time to focus. It's not fair for him to have other dogs running up to him when I'm making him "work". We weren't in a dog park, we were on a rec path that many other people use as well.

When I growled, the dog stopped in its tracks and stared at me--I had its full attention. I should have used it better! Maybe I could have made it sit! lol. Anyway, the owner was still umpteen yards away--I'd hoped that she'd be able to grab her dog then, oh, well. I started moving forward, in hopes that the dog would let us go, but it went around behind me to get at my dog. The owner was nearby at this point and maybe she was saying something--I vaguely remember an apology--but I was focused on the dogs. She still hadn't grabbed hers! My dog was standing there while hers sniffed his butt. Finally, I noticed her dog backing off--maybe she grabbed it, I dunno--and so I start running again.

This probably happened in the space of a few seconds, but it seemed to go by so slowly!

I regret that I hadn't explained gently that a loose (untrained, but don't want to get her on the defensive) dog could be dangerous on these paths because cyclists use it too, and the road and cars is pretty close to it. Plus, it's illegal to have a dog running loose in the city except in designated dog parks or on private property. The popo don't cruise much along the rec paths, but I've seen them now and then; you can't predict when it's going to be their time to shine.

But, as is always the case with me when my run is interrupted by someone's untrained dog, I didn't say anything, didn't look at the owner, just left as soon as I could. oh, well. Hopefully she'll rethink things before she unclips her dog next time.

We jogged for 30 minutes but it was all a blur because I was irked.

Evening: so I decided to rejoin run club tonight--I would have last week but for St. Patty's day. I felt a bit nervous about going back, would I be too slow, would I have to explain my unglamorous reasons for being away for a few months, etc...but it was fine. I was really glad to see my friends again, and gosh, it was good to be pushed. I'm much better than I was, but I still have a long way to go. We did 2000M repeats, I did two: 9:50 and 9:48. Supposedly 15K pace so I just picked my usual tempo pace--I thought I was lagging on the 2nd one because I was on my own, but it was ok. The heavy legs/light breathing syndrome was present, but I'm assuming that things will gradually get better. Perhaps my iron levels are still low--I was at 11 or 12 in January, and though I have been taking supplements and feel better, I just recently found out that dairy products impede Fe absorption. So what had I been washing my pills down with? Milk. LOL

Anyway, the last time I did 2 X 2000M, it was 9:36ish and easy/relaxing...this was a few days before I got my PB in the 1/2 marathon, 1:41, so I guess I was in pretty good shape then! Still, 9:50 isn't too far off, even if the effort was greater--I was on a hillier loop this time, too. Just gotta keep positive!

Then I did 6 hill sprints and my resistance exercises. Total ran this evening: 1:15. Last week I ran for almost 380 minutes, and this week I'm already at 340. whoa! but my body is really liking the doubles: coast in the morning, speedwork in the evening (instead of in the morning--that was a bit rough. yeah, most races are in the morning....oh, well)

Day 57

Today was fun--I've been trying to figure out a good way to get to my practical next week. I already know how to get there by bus and on foot/bike, but I decided that there had to be a slightly shorter way. After clicking for a bit on runningmap.com, I figured out a promising route which would cut off about a half mile. It was more complicated, but it seemed like an interesting challenge.

It's been drizzling all day so far, and I had second thoughts about going running, but it happened anyway and shortly after we took a wrong turn. We weren't completely lost and I regained the route without really noticing the detour. I was feeling good and was really surprised to see my timer say 29 minutes seemingly a few minutes later. What? where did the time go? I was nowhere near where I needed to be, so I thought. In fact, I wasn't too far off! I started going the way I should have gone, down a bike/footpath, but then reconsidered, wandered around a bit more, then decided to head home a way I knew, all the while wondering how in heck I'd lost so much time. Was I abducted by aliens? Did my watch jump ahead again? (This hasn't happened in a while, and I sort of doubt that it will happen again now that the excess electrical tissue/node in my heart has been cauterized, but who knows?) Anyway, it was sort of a bust but I ended up going back via part of the way I knew, which was boring. I briefly regretted not having my practical at another hospital, one which is about the same distance away but via a nicer route, I think, but then I remembered that the hospital I'll be working at has much nicer facilities, newer machines, windows in the department, plus I did my first practical there and they'd asked me if I was coming back which was nice--I would just have to go home and figure out where I went astray, and stick to the boring route if need be.

We ended up running for 1:10....not too far off from the hour I'd envisioned, but where the heck did we go? LOL. After some more clicking on runningmap.com, I figured out that we'd run about 7 miles at least...lost a bit of time waiting at some long lights, so not bad. I felt great. It was a nice change to not know where I was for a while. I miss that. I don't do much wandering in Ottawa because I'm lazy and know where most things are already, I have a bunch of running routes that are virtually stop-light free, plus I live downtown and it's mostly grid. But perhaps I need to get lost more. I used to wander all over the two posts we lived on before this--the residential areas were boring, but there were some neat non-restricted industrial-type places, stuff like old depots and what not, and forest. Each place had some forest with trails. Fun, fun! And before that, we were in Colorado Springs and I was all over that trying to find all the trails, and before that was Seoul, which was AMAZING. It's really hard to actually get lost in Seoul. It's so hilly, there's only so many places that roads could go. When in doubt, I went downhill and eventually found a sign indicating the nearest subway stop--many of these signs were in English, and I could read Hangul anyway (it's phonetic), so easy-peasy. And there were so many hills/mountains/parks close to subway stations, so I could get off at one stop, wander on some trails, and go down whatever way I fancied. Plus, I was a member of a good harrier group and we ended up running goodness knows where chasing the leader/trail--at one point, we ended up running OUT of a zoo. I have no idea how we got in. So I got to wander at least once a week, and maybe that's good for my mental health.

I still feel charged up from this morning's run! Not sure how the dog feels about it, so maybe I'll try to keep things simpler tomorrow for his sake. lol

Update--now I'm really stoked. While I was checking to see where I'd gone astray, I found an even more promising route, pretty much like the other but a bit shorter and less complicated. It wasn't clear, though, if it was possible--some of it was along one of the transitways, and I knew part of that part had sidewalks, but wasn't sure about the other portion. So I went out for another jog, for a 1/2 hour and, yep, there are sidewalks. Woohoo! Now all I have to do is try out the whole route because I'm still not sure about the other end. Maybe on Thurs or Fri...I'm a bit nervous about my practical already without worrying about getting there. I'll probably take a bus and/or walk the first day or so because I don't want to start off by needing a shower. haha

Day 56

This morning, we walked for a bit and then jogged for 35 minutes. We were going pretty slowly, I'm sure. My legs were feeling the effects of yesterday's workout. Plus we ran by the river for the first time this year, not counting the other time we ended up trudging through inches of snow. Yes, the paths are clear! This means more options, less going up and down the Canal all the time. This also means that instead of a fairly flat run, we now get some inclines and bridges and so forth, including the rather steep hill up along the locks. I was going to walk up it, but then I figured that the impact would be less than going down hill--it might be a good low-impact way of getting more blood flowing. Plus, if I walked it this morning, it would make it all the more harder to convince myself not to walk it later on. Anyway, it's a more interesting route than up and down the Canal, and if I feel that I can manage it for a recovery/easy runs, then I'll do them there. Save the Canal for faster stuff.

Day 55

Saturday: 20 min jog with my husband to loosen up. I was feeling kind of off because of a dietary mishap the day before--a mild one, but I wasn't still recovered from the larger mishap the week before. I started getting stiffness/soreness in my shoulders as well as the usual pain in my abdomen. Fortunately the former didn't stick at least! I'm going to be really careful with my diet this next week so that I can get rid of the gut pain too before I start my practical.

Today: 1:40 run with my husband and dog--mostly on dirt with some small hills, so we weren't going fast at all, but it was a nice run. Then I did resistance exercises. Those have been coming along well: besides the other exercises, I'm now up to 50 full sit ups and 20 (girl) pushups on hard days, and 40/15 on easy days. Having to do the girl pushups irks me, but I'm building it up slowly because the shoulder area still doesn't feel quite right. I guess it had been inflamed for too long and it sort of jams up...I'm not quite sure what's going on but I figure I'm still not strong enough to hold good form. I've been experimenting with different hand positions to figure out a way to manage it, but meanwhile, the girl pushups work.

Day 53

This morning: 30 minutes jogging with the dog. I tried to get into the recovery run zone...I think I need to be a bit more honest about recovery runs sometimes. That might help my tempo pace.

Update: ran for an hour/6.3 miles with my husband and the dog this afternoon. It was easy going out, and then gradually things picked up on the way back. That usually happens. At any rate, I think trying to relax in the morning made things better later on.

Day 52

Yesterday: 20 min jog in the morning. No evening speedwork--got distracted by St. Pat's day.

Today: 30 min jog in the morning, 1 hr run in the afternoon--warm up, tempo portions, cool down, 5 hill sprints, and resistance exercises afterwards. The tempo portions were 4-6-8 minutes. This was part of a ladder workout from my run club schedule. The pace was 8:02-8:12/mile, same as the two mile tempo runs I've been doing. It was hotter in the evening, though, or maybe I was tired.

The strange thing is, recently I've found myself coasting easily enough at 8:40-9:00/mile, but going 8:10 is a LOT harder. Definitely, I've been improving, though, if I'm coasting around 9:00/mile, so I can't complain! Hopefully as things unlock, my tempo pace will improve too.

I've been thinking of starting short repeats soon, 100-400M range, to get more muscle fibers working. The exercises and hill sprints have made me stronger and I think I can handle longer fast intervals. My run club, which I hope to rejoin next week, will be moving from indoor to outdoor short intervals in 2 weeks. That seems a logical time to start. I'll keep up with the tempo runs and work on those too. Eventually I'll get into VO2 max intervals as well.

Day 50

The dog and I ran 30 minutes today. Actually it was 29:30 because we came back a little more quickly. I'm going to try to jog a bit this afternoon too. In not-quite two weeks, I start a two-week practical--it's 5K away and there are showers, towels, and scrubs provided. Perfect! All I have to do is get used to jogging twice a day.

Meanwhile, I'm gradually increasing resistance exercises. I'm still a wuss with pushups, but the situps are coming along well. I've been doing the full ones and they seem much more effective than crunches. I'm doing 30 on easy days and 40 on the tough days this week. As for pushups...well, 10 girl ones on easy days, 15 (hopefully up to 20) on hard days, plus I throw in a few full ones a few times a day. Eventually it'll click!

Other resistance exercises...loads of clamshells and leg raises and hip lifts and squats, of course, and I found my ankle weights and dumbbells yesterday, finally (they were packed in a box with CDs), so I'll start adding weight. I've also recently added single-leg squats and calf raises and side planks. If all goes well, in another month I'll start adding plyometrics.

My legs are still a bit sluggish on runs, but the mishap on Friday didn't help! I've recently noticed at times, when they start to get heavier, that I'm not breathing much. This sounds nuts perhaps; I held onto my endurance/aerobic strength pretty well, but lost most of my stamina. So I can jog slowly very easily, but a more honest easy run effort is an odd step. I get distracted by my legs feeling like lead and forget that I could be breathing more often and more deeply. I guess I got unused to breathing as much. So I got into a good deep 4-2 rhythm and things picked up a bit. My muscles will get used to it. They're not sore, just unused, under-activated, my iron levels are probably still low, too, which hampers oxygen transport.

At any rate, I'm feeling fitter. I think I look fitter too. Less junk in the trunk hopefully. I'm not losing any weight, though--was at 129.5 this morning. Maybe I'll never get back down to the old 115-118 range. I have to remember that I was having absorption issues then so perhaps that wasn't a healthy weight for me. It seemed healthy enough compared to the 100-105 range, which happened a few times when I got especially ill (and I looked horrible) so 115ish seemed fine then. But maybe my healthy weight is around 125. Or even heavier: before the gut issue got bad, I was at my strongest at 139ish, although I was doing more biking than running at the time. Perhaps as I run more, my weight will go down, or maybe it'll go up as I build more muscle. I don't care about the weight (certainly not as much as the fat I see!) unless that's what is making my legs feel heavy, hefting around the rest of me. 15 extra pounds is a change. At any rate, I'll try to eat enough protein and fruit and vegetables and not too soon before bed, and cut down on the snacks.

Edit: short run in the late afternoon, 30 minutes.

Day 49

Daylight savings and a morning appointment at the vet turned our run this morning into a long walk. I was happy with that.

The day turned out to be beautiful, though, and all three of us ended up going for a short run in the afternoon. It was an important milestone:

I wore shorts for the first time this year.

I forget what the temperature was, but it was sunny and not too windy and somewhere above zero. I wore a long-sleeved shirt on top of a short-sleeved shirt, and ended up taking off the former because it was quite warm.

It felt so nice to be wearing lighter clothes, though it was a bit daunting at first. I haven't lost much (or pretty much any) of the 15 pounds I'd gained, although more is muscle and less is fat than before...but it's still mostly on my thighs and rear. My limbs have gotten paler, more dimply, etc, etc...the shorts have gotten tighter.

The thing is, I'm not sure if the shorts (or a few pairs of pants that I would really like to fit into again) will ever get much looser. I've been doing a fair number of squats and other resistance exercises, which has been enabling a certain genetic predisposition: pit pony thighs. Can't complain too much though because I really want to get stronger! Just have to get toned too.

day 48....

but not really.
I guess the count is of my gluten-free life in general, not of days exclusively without gluten.

I messed up again. Yesterday, we got up early, headed down to the market to get meat and other things, and we watched the St. Paddy's parade on the way back. We got home and gradually I started feeling sick, chills, sweats, and abdominal pain. A bit of tingling in my joints too. I slept on the couch for a couple of hours and fell asleep early in the evening...must have slept 14 hrs. But I was lucky! no puking and the pain is going away.

So it was time to play "what the heck did I eat?" again. At first I wondered if eating Korean food (Galbi mostly) on Friday had something to do with it, but it seemed pretty safe. Red pepper sauce doesn't bother me. I'd had a sip of barley tea by accident, but only one sip--I recognized it and stopped drinking it. There might have been some flour in the bulgogi sauce, but I doubt that.

And then I remembered the candy I'd eaten later that evening. We stopped by at the grocery store on the way home and I'd bought my favourite Easter candy, the big jelly beans with the white centres. The package didn't list wheat so I dug in. I fell asleep early that night too, but figured I was just tired in general.

Well, I looked at the package again: lower down, in smaller print, it says that it was processed in a facility that contains wheat. Ah. Perhaps, then, it was the culprit. I'm not going to eat it anymore. :(

I elected not to run yesterday. Today was supposed to be a reduced long run (this being a recovery week).

It was drizzling, not too warm, quite windy, and Daylight Savings Day. We took our time in getting out, and ran for 1:15. I felt great at first, happily coasting along--I felt like I had a stronger core--and then gradually the abdominal pain came back. But it wasn't too bad, and has already gone away again. Hopefully it'll go away for good soon.

And serves me right for snacking on candy! I'm not having too many issues with the wheat-free diet, except with snacks. Most of that stuff is so heavily processed that even without wheat listed on the label, it's probably contaminated. I've been trying to cut down on my potato-chip intake, made it one week without them!, but perhaps it would be better to eat and limit my intake of gluten-free chips rather than eat possibly gluten-containing candy. All the gluten-free ones I've found are jelly bean/jujube type things (which is fine, I like them), but I guess even those aren't safe.

I've been snacking more on fruit during the day...maybe I can snack on fruit in the evening too? It doesn't appeal to me then, though!

I'm going to try to be more strict with late night snacking in general.

day 46

about 50 minutes of running, including 2 miles tempo: 16:26. A little slower than last time; I was a bit tired, the dog was a bit more tired. He was dragging, or keeping me honest and evenly-paced, I guess! I guess we need to take next week a bit easier! I was thinking of doing 2X 10 min tempo or something like that with a break, but a bit more time at tempo. Maybe. I'll try!

We also did 4 hill sprints and then I did resistance exercises. Those have been going well and lately I've been experimenting with thinking more about sensation than number of reps for certain exercises. Yes, I'll try to do at least a certain number, but I'm trying to tap more into quality than quantity. Say, I'm supposed to do 15. I could pop off 15 quickly using larger muscles and momentum, or I can slow things down, hold the hard parts longer, and feel more of a burn with 10 or 12.

Day 45

Phew, I had a lot to get off my chest yesterday!

Today, we walked for about 30 minutes and then jogged for 30 minutes. A relaxing run.

I'm starting to feel a little tired, though! Little aches and general fatigue. This is to be expected: the last two weeks, I ran 6 out of 7 days, and this week is shaping up to be the same. I didn't expect to be running this much so soon; admittedly, some of the runs were only about 20 minutes long and it's been going well, but maybe I need a bit of a break now. I'll probably push through a harder run tomorrow, and then start an easy week with a not-as-long run on Sunday.

day 44

I was going to try a short recovery jog yesterday, but we walked for an hour instead.
Today we walked with my husband for about 20 min, then ran for 24 and then ran 2 miles tempo*, then a short cool down jog bringing the total run time to almost 50 minutes, and then we did 4 hill sprints**, and then I did resistance exercises.

*the pace was slower than last week: 8:15/mile. It was a surprisingly enjoyable run, possibly because it maybe wasn't quite tempo pace. How do I put this without sounding like a jerk?: my dog was lagging. of course, when we were running towards a dog that was happily cavorting at the end of its flexi-leash, my dog magically found a reserve of energy. anyway, we're both getting used to moving faster, so it's all good.

Speaking of flexi-leashes, yet another moron using one gave a dog too much rein shortly after. It's a 'recreational path', not a dog park! I had to speak (politely and cheerfully, of course) to a lady last week who was this close to letting her dog trip me, I should have spoken to this guy too but I was near the end of my run and didn't want to stop or explain. He let his dog, who of course was on the side next to me, get within inches of me. Not bad, except that this was well in front of him and there is a little matter of geometry that seems to be escaping these folks. If the oncoming dog draws a lot of leash out forward to meet me, as I get closer, it can, and usually does, use the slack to get directly in front of me and, if all goes well, to the far side of me to meet my dog, thereby stretching this sometimes-hard-to-see cable in front of me. Picture an arc, a compass--if a dog is eight feet to the front, it can swing to eight feet to the side, and the path's not that wide. Oh, my God, do they not see it? Yes, those leashes are supposed to retract, but most owners don't react in time.

So I picked up the pace and veered and blocked a bit with my leg closest to the dog, and we had enough room to get by before it got in front of us. Meanwhile, the owner made no effort to haul it in.

I think these people actually think that it's a good thing that their dog stops us to socialize. I am all for socialization, but IT CANNOT REPLACE ADEQUATE EXERCISE, either mental or physical. Sorry for the caps, I wish I had the chance to see how much these people actually take these dogs out, and to tell them how much more they need to. People get these medium and large dogs and think that if they let them pull and wander all over the place, that'll make up for walking only a few miles a week. People don't realize how much most dogs will trot. I've seen little lap dogs running alongside joggers quite effectively. I've seen my own dog tear around a beach for at least two hours and a half without stopping--we were jogging, and he was off leash and sprinting back and forth. It was February on a boat-only accessible island on the Outer Banks (North Carolina)--there was nobody there. It was an incredible opportunity. He covered perhaps thrice the distance we did. It makes someone who thinks sufficient exercise is letting their dog pull them around for twenty minutes seem quite pathetic. And here's the other thing--dogs need a mental challenge too. They want to get what they want like us all, but they like 'working', they like learning and knowing exactly what they have to do and that they're doing it well. My dog loves to chase things and smell things just as much as any other dog, but when I ask him to, he stays by my side and becomes very focused on the run.

Ah, I just have to get used to calling out more--"Hey, please keep your dog closer, thanks!" And keep the anger level down low. LOL The not-so-surprising thing about these people letting their dogs all over the path is that I don't see the same ones again. I can think of only one exception, actually: a golden retriever that was on the wrong side of the path and it started to bound towards us but I told it no and it stopped. It was fine. The owner complained but I told her that I've had dogs jump on me and mine before. Usually it's harmless, but we've experienced the exception, but not badly, thank goodness. Fortunately, this lady seems to take her dog out often, on the proper side of the path since, and it's getting better. It's not mere coincidence: I see more repeatedly those dogs who run and heel properly. We passed a few of those today, including a couple of shepherd-type mutts that I've seen before.

The other thing is, spring is in the air. It could still snow, but it's been mild and sunny for the last week, birds are singing, the snow has melted off the sidewalks, etc. This is when ignorance comes out of hibernation. This is when all those dogs who are usually cooped up come out, sometimes accompanied, sometimes not, by people who comment that my dog is scary and glare at us and so forth. We experienced this last spring and the spring before. The weather turned nice and all these people and dogs emerged and got into our biz and it got kind of annoying. But after a few weeks, things quieted down. I'm not making this up. The novelty wore off, and/or people got tired of exercising, or they settled into some other rhythm, I suppose. I guess it'll be the same this year because it's starting up again.

**sprints--were supposed to be three, but my dog is still getting used to them and kind of bungled one. He's doing better than he was--at first, he would get terribly excited and dance around in front of me, but he's gauging my pace better and staying by my side. Mostly. He doesn't have a lot of time to figure things out, I'm going for only 8-10 seconds. anyway, on the third and supposed-to-be last sprint, he veered to the side and that slowed things down, so I did a fourth. It helps that I've found a good place to do them, the same place, from a certain railing to a certain garbage can. He's getting used to the drill. He seems to enjoy it.

Day 42

We walked with my husband for about a half hour, and then we jogged for a half hour. I was a bit stiff and logey from yesterday, but it was a hillier route than the path we've been using all winter. Hopefully we'll get used to it! The lowest parts are still too snowy so we've been spared the steepest version for now.

Then pushups and situps and some stretching. Not my full resistance workout, just some light stuff I'm trying to get into the habit of doing every day again. Admittedly the pushups are girl pushups. I don't want to overdo things but I am anxious to do something. I'm prepared to accept that I'll be permanently 15ish pounds heavier than before, or at least until I get back to running 50ish miles/week, but I have got to get more toned!

Day 41

Ran for 1.5 hrs....the first hour was with my husband and he goes faster than my usual jogging pace, which is good for me...it was definitely tougher than my 1.5hr run last week. I still tried to speed up for the last bit, approx 5:10/km for the last ten minutes (reading off the km markers on the path, lol). Then I did 3 hill sprints. I'm getting into the swing of those. And then I did resistance exercises.

A good workout!

Day 40, I think....

I've been reading labels like mad but I think I've had several minor slip ups somehow--very minor, some pain, some grogginess, a couple of blisters here and there. Either I'm eating something which comes from a factory containing wheat, or I'm also sensitive to non-wheat flour (have been baking with that), or my kitchen is contaminated. I've heard of people replacing all their cookware and kitchen towels because gluten sticks so well to things. I'm not quite ready for that step!

Anyway, the dog and I jogged for 40 minutes today. Just an easy run. It's been gorgeous--we go early in the morning so the windchill is still above -9 or so, but sunny. The high was about nine today so we were out walking later on.

This is good--he has his vet appointment in just over a week. He didn't get as fat as last winter, thank goodness, but it would be nice if he could be be a little trimmer when he goes in.

Day 39

A good run today. I set out on the same 2-mile stretch I've been running on all winter and got to the end in 19 minutes. The effort was easy though my muscles were still a little bit sluggish--not sore, just lazy. I'd hoped to 'run back to the barn' like I did on Wednesday, but I wasn't expecting much.

I ran back in 16:07. Things were working well at that pace and I was surprised to see how much faster it was. Near the end, it was feeling more like a tempo run, though. 8:0X/mile for a tempo pace seems fine at this point. I can't go much faster because that seems to be the limit of my dog's trotting pace. He can go much faster than I at a sprint or gallop, but we haven't trained much together in that gear and he tends to get hyper and dance around directly in front of me. We're working on it, though, just short sprints so far. I honestly don't know how comfortable he'd be at 6-7 min/mile.
Perhaps he'll get faster at trotting as I get faster at tempo pace (hopefully).

I jogged until 47 minutes--I wanted to do hill sprints and that's how long it took to get to the hill. The snow and ice have retreated enough to bare a chunk of the road beside the locks. We did 2 8-ish second sprints, as full-out as possible, and it really felt effective today. I forget where I've read about this type of hillwork, perhaps Brad Hudson---I used to do longer slower hill repeats but then I read that a better muscular workout is very short and very hard. I quite agree! Later on, I can do the slower longer repeats to improve stamina, but I really need to get the message across to my neuromuscular system first and foremost. LOL Next week, I'll do three or four sprints.

Then resistance exercises. I'm quite happy with what I've done this week. Achilles is pretty much a non-issue now, knock wood! Must stretch everything tonight, though!

hmm....there's a tv program on right now called The Human Machine or something like that. Apparently, we get a whole new body every two years. I knew that cells get replaced regularly, but this is the first time I've heard it put quite so simply.

Day 38

Easy 30 minute run. I couldn't get into the true recovery run groove somehow, but kept the run easy at least. Stretching afterward. The knots in my calf are almost gone now.

Day 37/stretch

Yesterday, no running, just walking. My Achilles started hurting Monday evening.

This has happened before. If I do certain exercises and don't stretch enough afterward, certain muscles tighten up, get knots, etc, and this puts pressure on my Achilles. I feel it in on the right side presumably for the same skeletal/physiological reasons that most of my injuries are on the right side (doesn't help that the incision for my operation AND my cyst ruptures have been on that side too. LOL) I'm not symmetrical, I have slight scoliosis, my hips are slightly tilted.

It didn't help that I did resistance exercises on Monday, the day after my long run, when muscle recovery was presumably in full swing. Not a wise move. This was somewhat of an experiment: I always do resistance exercises right after tough runs, or at least not on 'easy' days so that they truly remain easy. Next time I'll just skip the resistance exercises instead of squeezing them into an easy day.

Anyway, I couldn't do much at first, but gradually I was able to stretch out this and that (most importantly, hamstrings and calves and top of feet), culminating in a full West stretch for 7-8 minutes last night. This got most of the kinks out.

I decided to run today. The soreness had gone down and I felt I really needed to get more blood circulating around the area. Ligaments and tendons have poor blood supply. An easy jog seemed reasonable.

But I learned something: my easy jog seems to be over-reliant on my Achilles. It made more sense to use a slightly higher quad lift, which made other changes including speed. I got faster and it felt good.

I wasn't going to run home to the barn, but it happened anyway. My legs kept going, I kept a good lift, and it felt good, apart from my sluggish muscles. They're still sort of cranky, but I've decided that they are going to be cranky as they gradually reawaken no matter what, and if I get used to the struggle now, I can do it later when I'm actually moving fast(er) and coping with lactic acid. My muscles aren't injured, just unused, I guess, so pushing them has got to happen. My breathing was fine. I had one heart flip on the way back, which was uncomfortable--I've never ever gotten one while I was running before (I'd swallowed at an inopportune time, I guess, and the pressure set it off) but it was just the trigger. no tachycardia anymore!

So, I ran out in 20 min (2 miles) and back in 17.5. Not too shabby! I jogged to 45 minutes. This particular workout is making sense to my body so I'll probably keep it the same next week and perhaps the week after. The run back wasn't quite tempo effort, but maybe it'll gradually become so, which will be good. Last week I ran close to 30 miles so I'll probably stay at that mileage for at least another couple of weeks.

Actually, I've been trying to convince myself not to fuss about mileage! I'm trying to keep to tracking minutes instead of miles.

Day 35/recovery

Just 15 minutes jogging and the resistance exercises I should have done yesterday. Maybe I should have just skipped them (and the jog too): I was pretty sluggish this morning. Oh, well, at least I know why! Yesterday was a great day. lol

Tomorrow will be an easy day.
I'll miss the Olympics...hopefully we'll get Paralympic coverage. I haven't checked yet.