Day 10

Today there was fresh snow, and umpteen impending loads of laundry, what's a little more? Might as well run! The dog and I ran three miles. And then I body rocked.

And then I ran up and down 1-2-3 flights of stairs a zillion times while carrying many things. Did some modest weightlifting too when I had to move my clay tomato pots. I think we're set now. Time to pack up this computer.

Tomorrow will test my dedication much more: will Day 11 be postponed?

Day 9

No running today. I stayed up until 2 am finishing a painting for a guest, and then I got up at 7:30 to put the trash (so much trash this week!) out...for the last time. Yes, it's the final push, the movers come in two days, and I am already short on sleep. I can't remember the last time I got more than six hours of sleep, more than a week ago at least. It's been fun but I am now wiped and I'm cancelling the planned pheasant fry up this evening. The only thing I'm going to cook is the rest of the florentines (still have some mix left in the fridge), and then the kitchen is CLOSED.

I didn't run this morning and probably won't for the next couple of days because we also have to pack ~1 month's worth of clothes to keep with us; I will put running clothes in there but I don't want to get them dirty right away.

But I did body rock! I even did the abs bonus plus the bonus bonus thing which was so uncomfortable that I should be doing it a lot more often: stand on a bench on one leg, lift the other leg out to the side and then lift the same knee up, and repeat 49 more times. It's pretty much a brutally embellished clamshell. Yay!

Day 8

2/3 of the way through, or not: the 4-7 min workouts require much less recovery than I'd thought, and so they might become my new daily minimum (with clamshells).

The dog and I ran 4 miles, and then I ran 2 more (literally running an errand).
And then I body rocked.

Most of our morning runs have been later than usual, and so I haven't been seeing the people and dogs I'm used to seeing, but am starting to recognize new faces. However, late last night, on Christmas Day, I walked the dog and saw someone whom I hadn't seen for a while but who seems to be the type of runner I wish to become. There was no one else out except for a couple of snow plow drivers and a few other people walking their dogs. It was quiet, white fluffy midnight snow quiet.

I have seen this runner quite a few times; we have never spoken but I once saw him entering the building next door, which makes us neighbours. Actually, I thought at first he was one of the men from the Mission or wherever who go through recycle boxes for bottles with deposits: his look was 80's unkempt, I guess: fluffy untamed hair and moustache and worn and dirt-stained though regularly laundered clothes, faded neon or primary colours that were once bold. A few times, I saw him on a bike, an 18-speed drop handlebar relic. He's middle-aged but wiry, and probably has looked or could look the same for decades.

And then I saw him out running. I wish I could remember what shoes he wore: I'm curious to know if he wears busted up shoes or if he channels his spare cash toward new trainers. The rest of his outfit seemed to be generic 80s workout clothes, cotton tshirt, and shorts, windbreaker, etc. He might have even worn a headband (in my mind, he did, at least).

Here was a guy who had not stopped running in his own world for years.

I don't know for sure, but that's what I've chosen to believe. I see him only infrequently, I'm not sure if he has a routine, if he acknowledges anyone at all, if he's training for anything or how much he runs, or if he simply heads out the door whenever and runs for however long. His gait looks like it has been smoothed by much repetition and tweaked by a few chronic injuries. He doesn't seem to look at anyone; he is not a social runner. He doesn't seem to wear a watch. He just runs.

Now, I enjoy the social aspect of running, but I admire this man's minimalistic and pragmatic focus. It's probably best that I don't know much about him. I can pretend that he's some sort of running monk. If he can simply roll out of the door every day, as essentially as breathing, why can't I?

Day 7

I guess this means that I'm 5 days behind the scheduled workouts.

The dog and I ran three miles in fresh snow flurries at dawn. The windchill was -20 but it was a gentle wind and for the most part we were enveloped in a white peace; it was a really nice way to start Christmas morning.
And then I bodyrocked. Did the bare minimum.

Day 6

Today's workout was improvised. I picked my favourite exercises and did them for the same length of time as the other holiday workouts: 4X 1 min, then 3 min of abs stuff. The dog and I also ran 2 miles. The temps plummeted last night and we underwent the rude but necessary adjustment this morning. It was an almost early-spring-like thaw two days ago, and this morning was -18C. I actually felt fine but the poor dog, even with his coat on, was not a happy camper. Actually, it was warm enough to stop and smell many things, though!

I was hoping to do at least three miles, and it was a beautiful day that asked for more, but I generally don't take him out much past 2 miles when it's below -15 or so.

Day 5

It was wonderful running weather this morning but also a pretty late night before, so the dog and I ran just three miles, as usual.
And then, after more cleaning (fun party last night!), I did the day 5 body rock workout. The shorter holiday workouts are super!

The run was surprisingly fresh, especially compared to yesterday's leaden effort. At one point today, I felt so efficient, and I was able to maintain that feel for a while. I was trying to figure out how to describe it: the most appropriate word is "flicking" although nothing was actually flicking, but there is a certain lightness to the word and motion. Often my quads feel kind of heavy on runs, but today they were flicking somehow, along with my hip flexors. A gentle quick flick, and then relaxation and reload.

Day 4

Day 3 was supposed to be repeated but I did the day 2 workout instead because I like it more.
The dog and I also ran three miles.

I've also done a ton of straining cleaning the house today. rush rush rush

Day 3 of Bodyrocking

I guessed at some of the exercises: I tried to play the video this morning but there was a glitch, and I tried to play it just now but there was still a glitch. Not much Wednesday left so it was now or never, and it HAD to be NOW. Not never! The Christmas rush is underway and it is very important to maintain some sort of routine, and falling off the wagon on Day Three greatly dims my chances of success.

As for running; we got out before the icy rain, but the snow/slush/salt combo then present was not to the dog's liking. 1 mile. LOL

2nd day of body rocking

was tailor-made. I almost backed out: between a final exam, shopping, more shopping, painting, and party prep/baking, I didn't hit the mats until 10 pm. Fortunately the workout was short and sweet (brutal): 7 min total. My abs are still sore!

12 days of Bodyrocking

So I'm a bit late in starting this challenge, but it's a convenient and strong way to close 2011.

I ate gluten again and this time it was a misunderstanding. Was there any wheat flour in anything? ("flour" being too confusing in the past) No, there wasn't, but there was all-purpose flour. Apparently that comes from a different grain. What can I do? I hate hate hate hate presenting a list of inquiries to whoever cooked whatever, but there don't seem to be any shortcuts. I have to ask about soy sauce, beer, cheap caramel/sweetener (actually, I don't know quite how to ask about that so generally I skip dessert and mass-produced salad dressings and sauces), flour, wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cake flour, pancake flour, sausages and other deli meats, barley, rye, malt vinegar, malt, graham crackers...and there's more.

Fortunately, the cooking was really good and it was still a fun evening. Yesterday was sort of painful but today is much better. We have three more dinners out this week but fortunately they're all family meals. And thank goodness I have more vitamins and enzyme pills now. The idea of taking that stuff isn't quite comfortable but they seem to help me recover much more quickly, and they have dampened the raging appetite that usually comes with gluten damage. I'm not snacking on butter this time! LOL

We'll see how I'll navigate the holidays but meanwhile I have to stay fit! Yesterday, my joints said "No running!", so I walked and did a very modest x-training routine. Today, I thought about running five miles, but once I started the run and got into a surprisingly easy groove, it was a sign. Or rather a delicate gift that would evaporate if held for too long. I promised myself that I wouldn't squish it until 2012. I've done everything I've wanted to do this year, and more: a few easy miles a day is enough for the time being.

And then I did Day 1 of the 12 day Bodyrock challenge. The jumps were rather feeble and then omitted--I didn't feel like doing much of that kind of thing. Otherwise, it worked out better than I thought it would.

Sleepy Sleepy

Yeah, that run really took a bite out of me! The other things going on don't help either.
I've become more and more tired. Yesterday ended up being a study/sleep day. I got up to cook us lamb shanks (with mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and a pie), but most of the day was wake up-memorise something-drink some water-nap. This is actually very effective for memorization. Today was almost as lethargic : sort through stuff-memorize something-drink some water-sort through more stuff. We're going through things, drawers, etc, in preparation for the move. I rolled almost $100 in coins today because we're not taking Cdn change to the US.

I've been drinking more water for the past couple of days or so because I felt kind of dehydrated and was wondering if I needed more water to flush out toxins or something. Too early to tell, though. My appetite was kind of wrecked yesterday; I had chia and freshly-squeezed citrus for breakfast (along with an iron pill, LOL), and then just water until suppertime. This was a bit of a relief because up until then I had been ravenous.

I ran on Mon-Wed-Fri, and will not run today and likely not tomorrow.

I actually think that I'm in a very suitable mood for the season. The darkest days of winter are supposed to be for reflection and recovery. (Getting back into x-training with the Bodyrocking 12 days of Christmas is very tempting, though...maybe I can do beginner versions of the workouts).

But what to reflect upon? For the time being, memorization will have to do.

taking a break

Not from running, from experimentation. I am borrowing and using a physics kit for one of my courses and it has made me feel somewhat inadequate because it assumes that one lives in a place with level floors.

Anyway, the dog and I ran three miles today and it was fine. I was expecting to feel little random aches and a general stiffness, but there wasn't really any of that. I'm mainly feeling a duller and more profound listlessness.

That is probably a sign of progress, of more comprehensive adaptation, or of simply millions of squished red blood cells.

The long run

A lot of it is a blur. Most of the run exceeded my expectations, a few sections were disappointing, but the day as a whole was very enjoyable. The effort was not hard but endorphins eventually masked much of what was going on, and I felt the next day that perhaps I'd imagined it all.

The original plan had been to run with the dog a bit at daybreak, then run a larger loop with Gaz...unfortunately, I forgot to read a certain label and got a bit sick a few days before. Fortunately, I recovered quickly, but I decided to restrict myself to the large loop. Unfortunately, I missed a brilliant red dawn. I saw a bit of it through the window, but it would have been amazingly transfixing to run through.

The weather was even more generous: no rain!

Gaz and I set out and ran down the hill to the river. It was overcast, the clouds were in a weird corrugated-looking pattern. We took our first break after about a 1/2 mile to adjust clothing (I had to ditch my jacket), and then a few miles later, we stopped to admire a legal graffiti wall. A few photo op stops later, and one for gels, we were at a gas station getting judged for buying Doritos. This has led me to ponder a couple of things:

1. Dill pickle Doritos are the perfect flavour and wonderfully suited to long run consumption, but is there something that is even better?
2. I wonder how turning the tables would go: telling a rather inactive-looking person reasons why he or she shouldn't buy junk food.

The stretch of road before and after the gas station was more picturesque than I'd imagined it would be. On the satellite map, it looked featureless and exposed, but it was more comfortable than that. At one point, there was a hill and a nice vantage. At another point, we were able to go down a dirt path removed from the main road a bit.

Shortly after, we wound up at T&T, the Asian supermarket. At this point, 9 or so miles in, I was starting to think a little stupidly, but we managed to navigate the aisles and pick up a few promising long run snacks, including peach vinegar, rice mocha, canned coffee, and lobster crunches. We then went to a coffee shop where decisions were more bewildering. The corrugated clouds had shifted aside for a brilliant sun.

The next section involved a bit of walking beside the road (no shoulder or sidewalk), but most of it was more suitable than I'd expected. This part of town is deep into car culture: sidewalks are optional and motorists generally don't expect to encounter or wait for pedestrians. However, there is also a surprising number of bike/rec paths in this part of town; I was so surprised to find them when researching the route, and we certainly didn't make use of all the options. We turned onto a path that started by a power station and followed a line of hydro towers. Eventually, it wound up back to a road, but here the openness was rather majestic (having sunshine and a slight rise above the road certainly helped).

At about 15 miles or so, we decided to stop for a snack. Gaz had a granola bar, I finished my Doritos and had some chia, and then we dug into the T&T finds:

1. Peach vinegar is a wonderful long run refreshment
2. Lobster crunchies or whatever they are, aren't.

At Greenbank road, we had a decision to make: head straight for Ikea, or take a detour around a lake by (in?) a large off leash dog park? At the time, my desire to see the lake burned brightly, and I convinced Gaz to try it out. Our trail wound up on a residential street leading to a No Exit sign, but there was a path leading from that.

It was covered in such a comfortable fine gravel, or dirt balls...I'm not sure what it was exactly, but it felt wonderful. This path wound through a field, and then through a wooded area; it was much lovelier than I'd expected. We ran on light snow and pine needles. After a mile or two, we found the dog park and a map (in the dog park enclosure for some reason), and decided that seeing the lake wasn't a priority anymore. I was content and looking forward to seeing the new Ikea. Largest one in Canada!

We ran through a subdivision and down a busy road, round a corner and, BAM, blue and yellow!

It was a disappointment. It was too crowded, the lines in the caf were too long to get anything...we ended up sitting in some pretty comfy chairs and eating the rice mocha, but an unattended child stared at us the whole time. I was more unnerved by the strangeness of being outside and moving for so long, and then suddenly being surrounded by a mass of people who were so much cleaner, but slower-moving and more expansive, than us. After our snack, we went through the showrooms, and there were a few that invited a bit of a rest, just a sit down for a few minutes, but then we had to leave Ikea.

Usually I like Ikea and don't mind the convoluted and prolonged exit, but it was almost upsetting this time. We weren't the only ones feeling some sort of malaise: some creative individual plunked a sheepskin in a sink and somehow this was hilarious. Stuff was strewn all over and the Ikea employees looked so tired. Gaz got clipped on the back of her heels by a wheelchair. It was time to get out, but how? After a navigational struggle akin to my attempts to solve castle.exe, we got out.

By this point, we'd gone I'm not sure how long, at least 21 miles, probably around 22 at least. Gaz decided to get on a bus and once it whisked her off to creature comforts, I headed down a street toward another path I'd looked up. It was still light out, but not for much longer.

The path was ok, surrounded by grass and buildings further out, some clumps of trees. I think I was done with paths of that type by that point, and the setting sun made it seem boring. I was moving pretty well still, around 9:30-10:00/mile, some stretches below 9:00/mile, and there was no reason to stick around. Eventually I got to the Experiment Farm, where the sunset painted the expansive fields, and so forth, and it was really quite pretty. I got to the top of the arboretum looking over the lake and Canal and reflections of city night lights, and it was lovely. But I was starting to feel tired. I ate my 2nd gel, drank some more chia, and headed home.

After about 28.5 miles, the old and usually absent hip flexor/ITB twinge started to return. I was expecting this to happen sooner, but the clamshells have been helping (as they always do--why do I keep forgetting to do them?!), and I was close to home. Eventually I settled into a run/stretch/walk/run rhythm that kept discomfort from erupting into pain, and then, almost a mile from home, I settled into a brisk walk. It wasn't a race, I was happy with what I'd done, and there was no reason to do more damage. The total distance, including the final walk, was over 31 miles as best as I can tell. I was wearing a Garmin, but I shouldn't have kept turning it off. Turning it back on became more difficult. Next time, I'll just let it run.

I was rather hungry and tired when I got home. My husband had made chill! I've since had it a few more times, including breakfast yesterday and today.

The day after the run, I jogged two miles: I was stiff but there were no ITB problems...I could feel like they were lurking, waiting to strike the moment I got sloppy. The muscles around my ankles felt the most sore perhaps, and I've never really thought about them before.

Today, I haven't run mainly due to schedule and rain, but I feel much recovered, enough so that the run itself feels almost like a dream. I think I got out of it what I'd hoped to get out of it: some exercise, some snacks, some company, and the impression of having gone somewhere else.

Preparations

This is my first post on my new laptop. After at least a month of deliberations, I decided to go with a Macbook Pro, the small one. It's a birthday/Christmas (they're close together for me) gift from my husband and parents; it seemed pricey and a rather breathless upgrade from its refurbished PC predecessor, but I was told that Macs are for artists and designers and thus I should have one, even if I do artistic stuff only part time.

What I actually have is the medium sized one with extra high def: the day I was to go to the store to get my machine, I received an unexpected scholarship. Its purpose was very clear.

Not that I can do much on this machine yet. I'm not sure it even has a word processing program, and I'll have to download ChemSketch and some sort of digital editing program, and stuff like that...

Anyway, Sunday's the big run! The extremely expansive Farewell to Ottawa escapade. I'm sort of starting to feel the excitement in a more concrete way, but I have been preparing:

No bodyrocking this week! I have to recover.
Lots of clamshells.
Lots of water.
Supplements, particularly iron.
chickpeas, lentils, that kind of thing
beet, carrot and ginger coleslaw. I think it could be considered a coleslaw, at any rate. It's shredded and rather satisfying.
Turkey soup. We had a 20 lb bird for Thanksgiving, and we boiled the leftovers for stock as usual. We don't buy a lot of meat, but we try to get it from good farms that feed and care for their animals properly (i.e., pasture-fed), and then we stretch the heck out of it. Then I picked the meat off the bones--a LOT of meat. I have to finish the soup tomorrow. This sort of thing takes a few days to make.
Basically, I'm trying to eat really well this week. Chia has helped--I have that instead of some nasty snack when I'm feeling hungry.
And, finally, sleep. Last night was adequate, but I'm hoping to be able to sleep more the rest of the week.

I have been running, of course:
15.5 miles on Saturday (a oddly tiring run, but usually the last long run is especially tiring despite the shorter distance).
6 miles on Sunday
3 miles on Monday
5.5 miles today, and it was a fast finish. I ran so fast at the end that my head hurt. The beginning of the run was as blah as most/all of my runs have been recently, but near the end, I started picking up speed, and once I got going, the mechanics improved incredibly, and though my lungs and mitochondria weren't quite up to the task, I clicked into something that felt perfect. I wasn't going in all directions, just forward, my core was solid, my feet were mostly off the ground, I had good lift, etc, etc, it was that proper form that I seek. It's so tantalizing: I'm able to maintain it for only a short time. I'm not sure how fast it is (the dog left his trot to go into a gallop), but I'm not trying to make the numbers the goal. Nor even race performance. What I want to do is recapture and prolong that elusive feeling of doing it right.

This won't happen on Sunday, but I hope to feel some sort of enlightenment, or at least change!

This post is a novel partly because the higher screen resolution gives me much more real estate, as other pixel pushers have put it!

Bodyrocking

I did two routines today (and ran 3 miles). I cannot resist the intensity and relative brevity of a bodyrocking workout. 12 minutes of hard effort and a 8ish mile fast finish run deliver similar endorphin release, but the latter requires an additional hour, and Patience isn't my middle name. And 12 minutes is so easy to fit in when required. When my trip to the fish store results in buying a side of shrimp, which then beckon for batter and deep frying, which then inspires other possibilities because the hot oil is ready and waiting (feta balls, onion rings, and deep fried pickles cropped up in this case), all of which are then consumed, the quick and dirty kcal burning workout becomes VERY attractive.

There are bodyrock routines which are longer than 12 minutes, but I like 12 minutes because I've been using a particular CD and I have 12:22 or so of Raised by Snakes and Time Operator before the annoying Yoko Ono song starts. Although, tonight's workout to a repeated rendition of The song of the Volga boatmen sung by the Red Army Chorus worked surprisingly well. My least favourite rep coincided with a stirring crescendo each time.

As for my long run preparations: still sticking with the daily iron pill and clamshells. I have put on some weight which facilitates some activities (I pick things up and put them down!!) but I feel the difference while running: my core is more steeled against my limp noodle tendencies but a few things like IT bands feel a touch more vulnerable too.