Sat: walked for a while
Sun: ran for a 1/2 hour, walked for a couple (to-from town). It was a clammy day and I had breathing issues during the run and had to cut it short. And then I had a bit of SVT after it. Not a good day.
Mon: walked for ~1 hour
Tues: nothing except for some yoga at home. ! It was raining
Wed: ran for almost an hour. This was a much better run, and I would have gone for longer except that I ran out of road. And then I did zwow #12 and my modified but still killer pistol squats--now I'm able to focus on proper breathing, and hopefully proper form will follow. And, more importantly, I wasn't kept up during the night with muscular cramping. I'm not sure how much I've mentioned this, and it's gradually snuck up on me during the last year or so: the tougher the workout, the more likely I am not going to sleep much or well that night due to aches and pains. Last time it happened, sometime last week, I think, I gave up sleeping and googled from about 3 to 6 am and found out that this is not an uncommon problem. There are a few solutions, including ZMA supplements (zinc, magnesium, and B-6).
I take a few supplements already, what's one more? LOL. Seriously, I've tried to get everything from diet alone, and I hope to in the future, but malabsoption is a wrench in the works and I'm stuck with iron pills at the very least for the present.
Anyway, I figured that if I made maple butter instead of honey butter (we tend to eat fresh-baked cheesy puffs for dessert a few times a week), that would add some magnesium and zinc to the mix, and I could see how it went.
Turns out that my husband has ZMA pills and I took one last night and slept for a solid 7 hours without even waking up at 3 or so as usual, which is excellent.
Today: walked for ~1 hour.
Yesterday's events also included clipping the dog's nails for the first time in over 5 years. Usually the pavement grinds them down, but we're almost always on trails now--even when we run on the roads, we're often on the soft shoulder (no sidewalks here). I'm slowly figuring out which of the roads are safe and more interesting--not that kind of interesting!--to run on, but I had to clip the dog's nails down a bit so that he wouldn't be too uncomfortable with a road run.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
!!!!!!!!!!!!PISTOL SQUAT BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, I can't toss them off as quickly and deeply as Z, BUT I have just discovered, after umpteen months of wavering dedication and mixed results, the missing key to that treasure chest of lactic-acid burning and actin/myosin-tearing delight:
I hold onto something on the way down so that my crappy sense of balance does not tip me out of my descent prematurely, and then, once I'm set into a solid single leg squat, I relinquish my armature and power up cleanly, though painfully, though thrillingly.
My problem has been that I'm too wobbly on the way down and, though I still get a workout, I'm perhaps not targeting the right muscles and definitely not getting as much as I could out of it except a possible injury. I just don't have enough strength to stabilize as I'm lowering into the squat and I end up doing shallower squats that aren't as satisfying. There is something about powering way up out of a deep squat that releases so much tension and negativity but I just couldn't get into that range on a single leg.
So, shortly after embarking on this pistol squat journey sometime last year, I figured that---
argggh--we are now living in not-quite-absolute-nowhere and I'm trying to remain positive (denial's not negative, is it?), but if this crappy internet craps out once more on the best ah.fm episode I've heard in a while (Kiholm/Globetrotter, props!), I might toss something--
--anyway, I figured that if I held onto something while performing the squats, this would be a good intermediary stage, like doing pushups from knees. NOPE! It ended up being a shoulder exercise, no matter what I tried to support myself with. I couldn't find anything the right height, nothing to help me exchange wobble for a raw true squat. There seemed to be no way to break this exercise down.
So, for many months, I wobbled in and out of shallow unsatisfying pistol squats and eventually got to the point where I could perform one or two near-perfect ones (late at night at work usually--standing on a contaminated floor increases focus dramatically), but we then moved around for a month and I got out of my routine, got glutened, sick, etc, and now I'm rebuilding muscle once again.
Today, I was giving zwow #12 another whirl in the bedroom and I looked at the bed footrail and thought about resting against it only on the way down
:) :) :) :) :) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
Before that, we jogged for about 62 minutes, same route as last time, although I walked up a few hills this time (not the thrilling triplet--those hills are considerably higher than I remembered, but I couldn't miss out on the fun), and my energy level was low and I couldn't get my breathing to settle on the flats and downhills. We saved time because the dog didn't take a dump, and maybe we were moving faster than I realized, I guess. So-so run, but the pistol squats totally pumped me up after that slog (hence the parentheses and general grammatical spewing, so sorry!)
I hold onto something on the way down so that my crappy sense of balance does not tip me out of my descent prematurely, and then, once I'm set into a solid single leg squat, I relinquish my armature and power up cleanly, though painfully, though thrillingly.
My problem has been that I'm too wobbly on the way down and, though I still get a workout, I'm perhaps not targeting the right muscles and definitely not getting as much as I could out of it except a possible injury. I just don't have enough strength to stabilize as I'm lowering into the squat and I end up doing shallower squats that aren't as satisfying. There is something about powering way up out of a deep squat that releases so much tension and negativity but I just couldn't get into that range on a single leg.
So, shortly after embarking on this pistol squat journey sometime last year, I figured that---
argggh--we are now living in not-quite-absolute-nowhere and I'm trying to remain positive (denial's not negative, is it?), but if this crappy internet craps out once more on the best ah.fm episode I've heard in a while (Kiholm/Globetrotter, props!), I might toss something--
--anyway, I figured that if I held onto something while performing the squats, this would be a good intermediary stage, like doing pushups from knees. NOPE! It ended up being a shoulder exercise, no matter what I tried to support myself with. I couldn't find anything the right height, nothing to help me exchange wobble for a raw true squat. There seemed to be no way to break this exercise down.
So, for many months, I wobbled in and out of shallow unsatisfying pistol squats and eventually got to the point where I could perform one or two near-perfect ones (late at night at work usually--standing on a contaminated floor increases focus dramatically), but we then moved around for a month and I got out of my routine, got glutened, sick, etc, and now I'm rebuilding muscle once again.
Today, I was giving zwow #12 another whirl in the bedroom and I looked at the bed footrail and thought about resting against it only on the way down
:) :) :) :) :) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
Before that, we jogged for about 62 minutes, same route as last time, although I walked up a few hills this time (not the thrilling triplet--those hills are considerably higher than I remembered, but I couldn't miss out on the fun), and my energy level was low and I couldn't get my breathing to settle on the flats and downhills. We saved time because the dog didn't take a dump, and maybe we were moving faster than I realized, I guess. So-so run, but the pistol squats totally pumped me up after that slog (hence the parentheses and general grammatical spewing, so sorry!)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Forest
Mon: walk in the forest. My husband was home so we walked in the afternoon, and, yes, the pack was there again--we recognized the car. Maybe they go every afternoon. Good to know. So we took the side trail off the entrance and then went down trail 1 and found our way back to the first trail (trail 0?)...a bit of bushwhacking and that part of the forest has more undergrowth but it was fine. That loop would make for a more interesting walk. Much of it would be very difficult to run on. Trail 0 is fine, Trail 1 is too eroded and deep in debris, and the bit in between isn't a trail at all.
Tues: the dog and I jogged for about 62 minutes, using our newest connection between 5 and 2/3. We went over a few stretches twice, the longest being the loop by the graveyard, the flattest and easiest part of the area--no complaints there! I didn't walk up any of the inclines, even the rumples back up 2b. There is a gorgeous sine wave there, three peaks and three troughs, three short little steep hills that are nevertheless taller than me and very close together. This was the first time I'd run through this part entirely and it is strangely fun, but a bit demanding aerobically. That was near the end of the run and I wasn't recovering on the flats and downhills as much anymore, but for a while, I managed to get my breathing quickly back to super easy after hills.
I'm taking that as a sign that I'm getting back into shape and that I'm putting the breathing difficulties behind me. Occasionally, I feel tightness, but it's become so infrequent that I don't feel it on every run anymore, and I probably haven't felt it once this week so far. This is vital for longer runs: I have to be able to let everything drop back into a comfortable level of effort in order to keep going for hours, if I want to do that.
After the run, I did zwow 26. I can't do all the exercises--I find side planks uncomfortable enough without jumping into them--but it was a fun workout that went by quickly.
Today, just a 70ish minute walk with the dog. I have been staying up rather late these days working on a project. My most productive hours are 10 pm to 3 or 4 am. When things are going well, I just have to roll with it, but it's starting to hurt getting up at 8....30? LOL
Tues: the dog and I jogged for about 62 minutes, using our newest connection between 5 and 2/3. We went over a few stretches twice, the longest being the loop by the graveyard, the flattest and easiest part of the area--no complaints there! I didn't walk up any of the inclines, even the rumples back up 2b. There is a gorgeous sine wave there, three peaks and three troughs, three short little steep hills that are nevertheless taller than me and very close together. This was the first time I'd run through this part entirely and it is strangely fun, but a bit demanding aerobically. That was near the end of the run and I wasn't recovering on the flats and downhills as much anymore, but for a while, I managed to get my breathing quickly back to super easy after hills.
I'm taking that as a sign that I'm getting back into shape and that I'm putting the breathing difficulties behind me. Occasionally, I feel tightness, but it's become so infrequent that I don't feel it on every run anymore, and I probably haven't felt it once this week so far. This is vital for longer runs: I have to be able to let everything drop back into a comfortable level of effort in order to keep going for hours, if I want to do that.
After the run, I did zwow 26. I can't do all the exercises--I find side planks uncomfortable enough without jumping into them--but it was a fun workout that went by quickly.
Today, just a 70ish minute walk with the dog. I have been staying up rather late these days working on a project. My most productive hours are 10 pm to 3 or 4 am. When things are going well, I just have to roll with it, but it's starting to hurt getting up at 8....30? LOL
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Another link
Fri: jog/walk
Sat: walked with my husband and the dog when two pitbull type mixes ran up to us. No owners in sight, and the male wanted to play. Now, if the owner was around, we could have discussed it (especially, I would have warned the other owner that when my dog plays with other male dogs of his build, it sounds HORRIBLE but is harmless--yes, play growling exists; it is clearly non-aggressive, higher in pitch, accompanied by play bows, etc) and we could have posted a lookout and let them bounce around for a bit, maybe, terrain permitting...as it was, my dog stayed on his leash and lost his enthusiasm for the encounter as the other dog got peskier...and then two more dogs ran up, both mutts. They had collars and looked sleek and fat, so I wasn't too concerned, but by this point, the large male dog was putting his paws on my dog's back whenever possible, and the owners finally appeared over the crest of a hill, still relatively fair away, two women moving rather slowly. Kudos for them for walking that far, they weren't in good shape, BUT--
AHHH!
We were friendly with them at first--I keep reminding myself that I should be happy that someone is out walking, especially in an area such as this where it is not an activity that happens naturally in the course of a day. The shortest distance to a store here is at least 2.5 miles :( And then when my husband explained that my dog was reaching his tolerance limit, one of the women says something about my dog needing a pack.
Yes, a pack at home, which he has. Not a strange pack at large jumping on his arse! I don't know what my husband was telling her, probably not statistics from his recent masters thesis that showed correlation between fatal dog attacks and packs of dogs running at large without human supervision. Other factors contribute, lack of human contact, etc, and these dogs did not look capable of violence, but what would happen if they ran up to a dog-aggressive dog? Or a coyote or feral dog? What possible justification could there be for letting four dogs run out of sight? I have no idea what the women were saying after the pack comment except that they weren't calling off their dogs. When I meet morons like these, I automatically tune them out and focus on the dogs. It's really bad because sometimes I'm half-hearing an apology but I don't acknowledge it because I'm trying to get my dog out of there. I shooed away the dogs, said "let's go" (my husband was holding the leash, but my dog knows "let's go" and was eager for it) and we walked away. I think I said "have a good day" echoing my husband's superior politeness, but maybe not.
The funny thing is, we'd met a man holding his golden retriever by the collar (no leash either) near the entrance, and he looked pissed at first, but softened in demeanor as we approached, and he warned us that it was "crowded back there". It's got to be pretty bad when someone else with an unleashed dog is made unhappy.
This was Friday afternoon on a nice sunny day, so we know when to not go back!
Sun: 30 min jog with my husband and the dog, plus another 30+ minutes walking. We found a trail that links the junction leading to trail 4 with trail 2/3, but further down than the other junction...I should be labeling these side trails, but I'm still losing track of them, and my nomenclature is based on exits and entrances. What do I call the trail that goes between 5a1b (it gets messy in the furthest reaches) and 2b2?
And then I did zwow 53 by mistake. I watched the preview for 54, clicked back to the menu page, and then got distracted. Halfway the first set, I realized my mistake, but kept going....and then the last exercise was pistol squats. Oh, DISMAL. My glutes still haven't recovered from the last time.
Sat: walked with my husband and the dog when two pitbull type mixes ran up to us. No owners in sight, and the male wanted to play. Now, if the owner was around, we could have discussed it (especially, I would have warned the other owner that when my dog plays with other male dogs of his build, it sounds HORRIBLE but is harmless--yes, play growling exists; it is clearly non-aggressive, higher in pitch, accompanied by play bows, etc) and we could have posted a lookout and let them bounce around for a bit, maybe, terrain permitting...as it was, my dog stayed on his leash and lost his enthusiasm for the encounter as the other dog got peskier...and then two more dogs ran up, both mutts. They had collars and looked sleek and fat, so I wasn't too concerned, but by this point, the large male dog was putting his paws on my dog's back whenever possible, and the owners finally appeared over the crest of a hill, still relatively fair away, two women moving rather slowly. Kudos for them for walking that far, they weren't in good shape, BUT--
AHHH!
We were friendly with them at first--I keep reminding myself that I should be happy that someone is out walking, especially in an area such as this where it is not an activity that happens naturally in the course of a day. The shortest distance to a store here is at least 2.5 miles :( And then when my husband explained that my dog was reaching his tolerance limit, one of the women says something about my dog needing a pack.
Yes, a pack at home, which he has. Not a strange pack at large jumping on his arse! I don't know what my husband was telling her, probably not statistics from his recent masters thesis that showed correlation between fatal dog attacks and packs of dogs running at large without human supervision. Other factors contribute, lack of human contact, etc, and these dogs did not look capable of violence, but what would happen if they ran up to a dog-aggressive dog? Or a coyote or feral dog? What possible justification could there be for letting four dogs run out of sight? I have no idea what the women were saying after the pack comment except that they weren't calling off their dogs. When I meet morons like these, I automatically tune them out and focus on the dogs. It's really bad because sometimes I'm half-hearing an apology but I don't acknowledge it because I'm trying to get my dog out of there. I shooed away the dogs, said "let's go" (my husband was holding the leash, but my dog knows "let's go" and was eager for it) and we walked away. I think I said "have a good day" echoing my husband's superior politeness, but maybe not.
The funny thing is, we'd met a man holding his golden retriever by the collar (no leash either) near the entrance, and he looked pissed at first, but softened in demeanor as we approached, and he warned us that it was "crowded back there". It's got to be pretty bad when someone else with an unleashed dog is made unhappy.
This was Friday afternoon on a nice sunny day, so we know when to not go back!
Sun: 30 min jog with my husband and the dog, plus another 30+ minutes walking. We found a trail that links the junction leading to trail 4 with trail 2/3, but further down than the other junction...I should be labeling these side trails, but I'm still losing track of them, and my nomenclature is based on exits and entrances. What do I call the trail that goes between 5a1b (it gets messy in the furthest reaches) and 2b2?
And then I did zwow 53 by mistake. I watched the preview for 54, clicked back to the menu page, and then got distracted. Halfway the first set, I realized my mistake, but kept going....and then the last exercise was pistol squats. Oh, DISMAL. My glutes still haven't recovered from the last time.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
NRC-184
We are not alone!
I woke up weirdly drained and seemingly low on electrolytes, but this doesn't necessarily preclude a good run. Sometimes fatigue is the surest entrance to a soft, endorphin-tripped zone, and I was not disappointed. I started shuffling along, walked uphill when I wanted, and ended up with a comfortable 70 minute foray, including about 40 minutes of jogging.
I found a link between trails 2-3 and trail 4--I'd noticed it before, but thought it a deer trail at first. It is rather narrow in a couple of sections because it goes over steep terrain. In fact, the first section I went down was too steep to walk properly, and I had to revert to the old squat-tiny-steps downhill gait that I learned in Korea. One day, I was exploring, and sliding around on some steep hills there, trashing both myself and the trail and getting kind of frustrated because there were all these old people scampering about with no issues, then I heard what sounded like army cadences sung in Korean: a group of old men caught up to me, took pity and amusement on me and, by gestures, showed me that I needed to lower and push back my centre of gravity, and take small steps. Bingo!
I'm pretty much on my own here, although we actually met some people at one point. I was in the bubble and whatever focus I maintained was trained on the roots ahead of me, and then I looked further and saw an old couple and a golden retriever who wasn't on a leash, but at least the man was holding it by the collar. They were taking up most of the trail. Because the 2013 me is trying so hard to be nice, I smiled and said good morning, but they weren't in a good mood, the man was trying to drag his dog off the path and the dog was stiffening up and not budging an inch off the trail (not the best sign), and nobody was smiling back. We got some glares, not an uncommon reception for a pit bull with a DIY fighting crop (for the last time, it wasn't us that cut his ears off with scissors!) Fortunately, there was a bit of space on the right side and we went by quickly and quietly. Next time, if we should see them again, they should be more at ease. We got to delicately handle these folks with their "safe" but ill-managed dogs and biases. Had it been my dog standing his ground in the middle of the trail, shit would have been thrown.
We were also in the company of cameras. About a quarter hour into the run, my dreamy foggy perception was suddenly sharpened by an angular plastic gleam, a camera attached to a tree. Yes, a research project is underway, according to the tag on the first camera. We passed by at least four or five of them, I didn't count. Most of them are off the main trails. What they're looking for, I'm not really sure. There is a vulnerable bird species in this region, the red-cockaded woodpecker, but the cameras were all barely two feet off the ground. Maybe the lens is angled upward.
Anyway, the link between trails 2/3 and 4 is very exciting because my present large loop requires going over a section of 4 twice, and now I can avoid one trip by going down 2/3 instead. It might also add a few minutes to the loop. What would really rock is a link to trail 1; this will be harder to find because trail 1 is so out of use that it itself is almost invisible in places. There has to be a secondary (technically, tertiary) trail, though!
I woke up weirdly drained and seemingly low on electrolytes, but this doesn't necessarily preclude a good run. Sometimes fatigue is the surest entrance to a soft, endorphin-tripped zone, and I was not disappointed. I started shuffling along, walked uphill when I wanted, and ended up with a comfortable 70 minute foray, including about 40 minutes of jogging.
I found a link between trails 2-3 and trail 4--I'd noticed it before, but thought it a deer trail at first. It is rather narrow in a couple of sections because it goes over steep terrain. In fact, the first section I went down was too steep to walk properly, and I had to revert to the old squat-tiny-steps downhill gait that I learned in Korea. One day, I was exploring, and sliding around on some steep hills there, trashing both myself and the trail and getting kind of frustrated because there were all these old people scampering about with no issues, then I heard what sounded like army cadences sung in Korean: a group of old men caught up to me, took pity and amusement on me and, by gestures, showed me that I needed to lower and push back my centre of gravity, and take small steps. Bingo!
I'm pretty much on my own here, although we actually met some people at one point. I was in the bubble and whatever focus I maintained was trained on the roots ahead of me, and then I looked further and saw an old couple and a golden retriever who wasn't on a leash, but at least the man was holding it by the collar. They were taking up most of the trail. Because the 2013 me is trying so hard to be nice, I smiled and said good morning, but they weren't in a good mood, the man was trying to drag his dog off the path and the dog was stiffening up and not budging an inch off the trail (not the best sign), and nobody was smiling back. We got some glares, not an uncommon reception for a pit bull with a DIY fighting crop (for the last time, it wasn't us that cut his ears off with scissors!) Fortunately, there was a bit of space on the right side and we went by quickly and quietly. Next time, if we should see them again, they should be more at ease. We got to delicately handle these folks with their "safe" but ill-managed dogs and biases. Had it been my dog standing his ground in the middle of the trail, shit would have been thrown.
We were also in the company of cameras. About a quarter hour into the run, my dreamy foggy perception was suddenly sharpened by an angular plastic gleam, a camera attached to a tree. Yes, a research project is underway, according to the tag on the first camera. We passed by at least four or five of them, I didn't count. Most of them are off the main trails. What they're looking for, I'm not really sure. There is a vulnerable bird species in this region, the red-cockaded woodpecker, but the cameras were all barely two feet off the ground. Maybe the lens is angled upward.
Anyway, the link between trails 2/3 and 4 is very exciting because my present large loop requires going over a section of 4 twice, and now I can avoid one trip by going down 2/3 instead. It might also add a few minutes to the loop. What would really rock is a link to trail 1; this will be harder to find because trail 1 is so out of use that it itself is almost invisible in places. There has to be a secondary (technically, tertiary) trail, though!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
a lot of walking. Let's call it hiking!
Saturday: walked with my husband and the dog.
Sunday: hiked with my husband and the dog for 2+ hours. We checked out a national forest about an hour away. It's not really worth going over for shorter hikes like that, but the cool thing is that camping is allowed pretty much everywhere in the forest, and it's large enough to get lost in for awhile. The plan is to do a multi-day thing sometime later this year.
Monday: walked with the dog. We found and checked out another path which I'd hoped would go to the main road which I've been trying to find a path to, but instead it became what looked like a stunt bike track with ramps and obstacles, and ended in yet another backyard, but there was another trail going off it...I'll check it out.
Today: ran/walked (probably 50:50) for 50-odd minutes, then did zwow #12. The dreaded pistol squats! I am so out of form with those; this is a workout which I really should do once a week.
I'd intended to mostly run, but I've gotten into an odd habit. Usually I finish eating around 8 pm because we start to go to bed shortly after nine, and then I wake up around six or so (my husband has to get up earlier, hence the earlier hours) and study or read, and then go for the run about an hour later...without breakfast. I drink enough water but don't feel like eating anything much before noon these days (lunch has become my largest meal of the day). Today, we started our run kind of late, around 8 am, and I hadn't eaten for 12 hours at that point. I didn't feel hungry when we started, but it caught up to me and I started to feel nauseated. Walking uphill and running downhill was the ticket! So what if I end up doing that? As long as I'm out for a while, and walking briskly when I walk, I'm getting a workout.
When I got home, I drank some non-alcoholic ginger beer to help my stomach settle, and then I did zwow #12.
I will find something unoffensive to eat before running. I don't want anything sweet, like fruit, and I don't want anything heavy, and I don't want carbs like crackers or cereal or whatever. The only thing I want seems to be something that doesn't exist. I have some meal replacement shakes but I don't like having them before exercising because they're too sweet. Maybe I should try some bland protein powder. I also have supplements, which I've been taking, but they don't sit so well on an empty stomach.
This kind of thing has happened after gluten issues in the past; the last time was several months ago. I think it's because my guts want to ease off digestion a bit while they're healing. This time is pretty pleasant because I don't feel sick to my stomach (except during that run today) and I don't feel like I'm starving, either. We've been eating very healthily apart from what has become our usual evening desert: fresh baked Brazilian cheese puffs.
The easiest recipe in the world:
Mix (I put everything in a blender)
1/2 cup milk (almond milk is fine)
1/4 canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup tapioca flour (arrowroot starch is also fine)
Very very briefly mix in 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.
Bake in greased muffin tin for 20 min @ 400 F. Yeah, I have the recipe memorized by now.
Honey butter goes really well with these. No wonder I'm not hungry in the mornings! lol
Sunday: hiked with my husband and the dog for 2+ hours. We checked out a national forest about an hour away. It's not really worth going over for shorter hikes like that, but the cool thing is that camping is allowed pretty much everywhere in the forest, and it's large enough to get lost in for awhile. The plan is to do a multi-day thing sometime later this year.
Monday: walked with the dog. We found and checked out another path which I'd hoped would go to the main road which I've been trying to find a path to, but instead it became what looked like a stunt bike track with ramps and obstacles, and ended in yet another backyard, but there was another trail going off it...I'll check it out.
Today: ran/walked (probably 50:50) for 50-odd minutes, then did zwow #12. The dreaded pistol squats! I am so out of form with those; this is a workout which I really should do once a week.
I'd intended to mostly run, but I've gotten into an odd habit. Usually I finish eating around 8 pm because we start to go to bed shortly after nine, and then I wake up around six or so (my husband has to get up earlier, hence the earlier hours) and study or read, and then go for the run about an hour later...without breakfast. I drink enough water but don't feel like eating anything much before noon these days (lunch has become my largest meal of the day). Today, we started our run kind of late, around 8 am, and I hadn't eaten for 12 hours at that point. I didn't feel hungry when we started, but it caught up to me and I started to feel nauseated. Walking uphill and running downhill was the ticket! So what if I end up doing that? As long as I'm out for a while, and walking briskly when I walk, I'm getting a workout.
When I got home, I drank some non-alcoholic ginger beer to help my stomach settle, and then I did zwow #12.
I will find something unoffensive to eat before running. I don't want anything sweet, like fruit, and I don't want anything heavy, and I don't want carbs like crackers or cereal or whatever. The only thing I want seems to be something that doesn't exist. I have some meal replacement shakes but I don't like having them before exercising because they're too sweet. Maybe I should try some bland protein powder. I also have supplements, which I've been taking, but they don't sit so well on an empty stomach.
This kind of thing has happened after gluten issues in the past; the last time was several months ago. I think it's because my guts want to ease off digestion a bit while they're healing. This time is pretty pleasant because I don't feel sick to my stomach (except during that run today) and I don't feel like I'm starving, either. We've been eating very healthily apart from what has become our usual evening desert: fresh baked Brazilian cheese puffs.
The easiest recipe in the world:
Mix (I put everything in a blender)
1/2 cup milk (almond milk is fine)
1/4 canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup tapioca flour (arrowroot starch is also fine)
Very very briefly mix in 1/2 cup of shredded cheese.
Bake in greased muffin tin for 20 min @ 400 F. Yeah, I have the recipe memorized by now.
Honey butter goes really well with these. No wonder I'm not hungry in the mornings! lol
Friday, February 8, 2013
~
Yesterday: walked with the dog.
Today: jogged the long annex route in almost 35 minutes, including a few pitstops for the dog. I jogged the secondary loop in reverse, changing the steep downhill to a steep uphill, which I suppose turned other parts into downhills...it was altogether easier. It probably also helps that I started retaking iron and protein pills a few days ago.
The secondary loop goes by the Proctors. I don't know how many exactly, but there are two headstones with names, as well as a wooden cross and a few other markers, including a concrete cat, surrounded by a black painted chain and posts. A family plot. I suppose that they once owned the land, or it's still in the family--there are no "Private signs" along the way to indicate that I'm straying off state land, but that might be the case. The paths appear basically abandoned upon second look, even though they remain very clear: regrowth is stunted by the sandy soils. So I'm keeping my eyes and ears out, and will mind hunting season, and get some sort of bright orange collar for the dog (and maybe a belt for myself that will be more comfortable than the one I don't wear). Some of the land might be a part of the farm behind my house. It is a hobby/hunting establishment as far as I can tell. The soundscape is complicated by the army training areas behind the base. When it's just a few pops, I can't tell if it's hunting or not. Fortunately, they've recently been tossing off much more voluminous volleys, as well as 50-cal and possibly heavier items (the booms in the house remind me of living on the proving ground)...still, hearing a bunch of bangs while jogging in the forest is a bit startling.
After today's jog, we walked a bit to bring the time close to an hour. I figure that maybe I should stay out for at least an hour every day, walk or jog or both. It makes things easier in a way.
When we were walking down the street back to our house, I heard clicking noises. Another dog was following us. I had seen this one before: it appeared to belong to a woman pushing a stroller who was about 50 metres behind it. She made no effort to call back her dog. Today, she was nowhere in sight. The dog maybe wasn't hers after all.
He was male, and I wasn't quite sure how it would go off, even though he seemed polite last time, just loose. He followed us, my dog peed on a small bush on the edge of our front yard, and then my dog whined to be allowed to check out the other dog. Sure. They smelled each other and my dog play-bowed, which the other one wasn't quite receptive to, and so I said that we were going. Fortunately, the other dog did not follow us into the house, but he sniffed where my dog had peed, largely respecting the boundary of our yard, and then he trotted down the road.
I would like to know what the deal is!
Today: jogged the long annex route in almost 35 minutes, including a few pitstops for the dog. I jogged the secondary loop in reverse, changing the steep downhill to a steep uphill, which I suppose turned other parts into downhills...it was altogether easier. It probably also helps that I started retaking iron and protein pills a few days ago.
The secondary loop goes by the Proctors. I don't know how many exactly, but there are two headstones with names, as well as a wooden cross and a few other markers, including a concrete cat, surrounded by a black painted chain and posts. A family plot. I suppose that they once owned the land, or it's still in the family--there are no "Private signs" along the way to indicate that I'm straying off state land, but that might be the case. The paths appear basically abandoned upon second look, even though they remain very clear: regrowth is stunted by the sandy soils. So I'm keeping my eyes and ears out, and will mind hunting season, and get some sort of bright orange collar for the dog (and maybe a belt for myself that will be more comfortable than the one I don't wear). Some of the land might be a part of the farm behind my house. It is a hobby/hunting establishment as far as I can tell. The soundscape is complicated by the army training areas behind the base. When it's just a few pops, I can't tell if it's hunting or not. Fortunately, they've recently been tossing off much more voluminous volleys, as well as 50-cal and possibly heavier items (the booms in the house remind me of living on the proving ground)...still, hearing a bunch of bangs while jogging in the forest is a bit startling.
After today's jog, we walked a bit to bring the time close to an hour. I figure that maybe I should stay out for at least an hour every day, walk or jog or both. It makes things easier in a way.
When we were walking down the street back to our house, I heard clicking noises. Another dog was following us. I had seen this one before: it appeared to belong to a woman pushing a stroller who was about 50 metres behind it. She made no effort to call back her dog. Today, she was nowhere in sight. The dog maybe wasn't hers after all.
He was male, and I wasn't quite sure how it would go off, even though he seemed polite last time, just loose. He followed us, my dog peed on a small bush on the edge of our front yard, and then my dog whined to be allowed to check out the other dog. Sure. They smelled each other and my dog play-bowed, which the other one wasn't quite receptive to, and so I said that we were going. Fortunately, the other dog did not follow us into the house, but he sniffed where my dog had peed, largely respecting the boundary of our yard, and then he trotted down the road.
I would like to know what the deal is!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Longer jog tomorrow/yesterday
Yesterday, I was tired and merely walked with the dog. Today, we jogged/walked for almost 38 minutes in the annex. This was the loop I wrote about earlier. I walked up a couple of the hills, and the dog took a couple of stops, and we took a small detour, and generally we were slow, but I think that there is still enough trail to almost fill a half-hour at an honest clip, and there are still a few paths that we have to explore. I'm grateful to have this within a few minutes' walk of the house, especially since there is not much else within a couple of miles. The main forest isn't much larger as it turns out: the longest way around the forest without backtracking is about 45 minutes.
While we ran, the climate changed from cool clammy to warm clammy, the high humidity squishing me. I was sleeved in a thin barrier of moisture, the once remote atmosphere pushing against every inch of me with insistent dampness. Oh, I guess this will be a humid summer, if not hot as well, and it will start relatively soon. This got me worrying (again). But then I remembered the last summer I ran in Ottawa, which turned out to be enjoyable once I embraced the tropical feeling. I do like saunas and steam rooms, why not the same general effect while running? I will be covered in sweat and I will feel warm for at least half of the year. There's no reason to push myself unduly, or to go without adequate water (loops = drop point)...I will turn into a sodden mess, but I will be at relative ease. Even if I sign up for a race this year, I can treat it more like an experience. However, I have no plans yet apart from not re-experiencing heat exhaustion.
Although, I would like to run again during the 7:00-8:00 am time frame. All my runs until this morning have been later, I think, but this one was during what passes for rush hour here, and today it involved at least one train. It was quite noisy with whistles and whirring and I really liked it. Jogging through the deserted forest and hearing the distant clamour of traffic made me feel as though there was a large city just beyond. Once I'm done with Nature and Exercise, I can roll down the hill and grab a snack on my way to a quick shower, and then knock out a few other errands or go to work depending on the day and schedule, maybe a nap on the bus or subway on the way back, then a stop in a cafe or bar or whatever with a friend or two, then check out a new store or restaurant or block, maybe some grocery shopping, just a few things because I walk by umpteen stores every single day, and a short walk home, fling the perishables in the fridge and myself into a bed. Sometimes it's very tiring, sometimes I end up very sleep deprived, or jostled, or accosted in some rude fashion, but it's altogether energizing.
But maybe I'm a stress junkie? Maybe not having the large city beyond the forest will prove to be a valuable detox? But it's such a relief to pretend it's there.
Next time, I'm going to run the annex loop in the other direction to avoid a particularly steep downhill--it hurts less to slip going uphill. I didn't fall this time, but the debris underfoot was not trustworthy! These paths are semi-abandoned and mostly covered in pine needles and leaves. Fortunately, there is hardly any undergrowth. The worst path is #1--one section of the path has a bunch of little trees growing in it. Spindly things, but some of them are as tall as me. The odd thing about this path is that it seems to end up besides someone's backyard (have I written about this before?) but there is a No Horses/No Bikes park sign at the trailhead. At one point, this was intended to be a proper path, they cleared it and they even put up the substantial wooden sign, but now there are trees growing in it and a backyard spilling into the start, leaving clutter like a hockey net and a pile of bricks in front of the trailhead. But maybe there is egress to the road. I'll check it out more closely later.
I will write about the Proctors later.
While we ran, the climate changed from cool clammy to warm clammy, the high humidity squishing me. I was sleeved in a thin barrier of moisture, the once remote atmosphere pushing against every inch of me with insistent dampness. Oh, I guess this will be a humid summer, if not hot as well, and it will start relatively soon. This got me worrying (again). But then I remembered the last summer I ran in Ottawa, which turned out to be enjoyable once I embraced the tropical feeling. I do like saunas and steam rooms, why not the same general effect while running? I will be covered in sweat and I will feel warm for at least half of the year. There's no reason to push myself unduly, or to go without adequate water (loops = drop point)...I will turn into a sodden mess, but I will be at relative ease. Even if I sign up for a race this year, I can treat it more like an experience. However, I have no plans yet apart from not re-experiencing heat exhaustion.
Although, I would like to run again during the 7:00-8:00 am time frame. All my runs until this morning have been later, I think, but this one was during what passes for rush hour here, and today it involved at least one train. It was quite noisy with whistles and whirring and I really liked it. Jogging through the deserted forest and hearing the distant clamour of traffic made me feel as though there was a large city just beyond. Once I'm done with Nature and Exercise, I can roll down the hill and grab a snack on my way to a quick shower, and then knock out a few other errands or go to work depending on the day and schedule, maybe a nap on the bus or subway on the way back, then a stop in a cafe or bar or whatever with a friend or two, then check out a new store or restaurant or block, maybe some grocery shopping, just a few things because I walk by umpteen stores every single day, and a short walk home, fling the perishables in the fridge and myself into a bed. Sometimes it's very tiring, sometimes I end up very sleep deprived, or jostled, or accosted in some rude fashion, but it's altogether energizing.
But maybe I'm a stress junkie? Maybe not having the large city beyond the forest will prove to be a valuable detox? But it's such a relief to pretend it's there.
Next time, I'm going to run the annex loop in the other direction to avoid a particularly steep downhill--it hurts less to slip going uphill. I didn't fall this time, but the debris underfoot was not trustworthy! These paths are semi-abandoned and mostly covered in pine needles and leaves. Fortunately, there is hardly any undergrowth. The worst path is #1--one section of the path has a bunch of little trees growing in it. Spindly things, but some of them are as tall as me. The odd thing about this path is that it seems to end up besides someone's backyard (have I written about this before?) but there is a No Horses/No Bikes park sign at the trailhead. At one point, this was intended to be a proper path, they cleared it and they even put up the substantial wooden sign, but now there are trees growing in it and a backyard spilling into the start, leaving clutter like a hockey net and a pile of bricks in front of the trailhead. But maybe there is egress to the road. I'll check it out more closely later.
I will write about the Proctors later.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Still in the forest
At least 95% of my running here will be on trails. I'd ordered some new trail shoes in preparation (Puma) and they have been working well in minimizing bruises from tree roots (my other shoes are very light and thin-soled and those tree roots adamantly stick out of sometimes very soft sand) but the stiffness of the trail shoes also has a drawback: sideways torque is amplified. A bit of my foot rolls in or out, and pretty much everything up to the ankle follows, if not beyond. Fortunately, my ankles are pretty resilient, but it was shocking at first how certain little missteps were blown out of proportion. It's been at least a year or so since I've run in trail shoes. I suppose the best recourse is to alternate shoes and thus bruises with pulls. I am getting better at dodging tree roots, at least, and maybe I'll also get used to their hardness.
Fri: 30 min jog in the forest
Sat: 30 min jog in the forest
Sun: 60 min jog in the forest with my husband accompanying us. He and I have slight differences in easy pace now, although nothing is entirely easy yet. I tend to run slightly more slowly except up inclines, and then I guess I speed up. I don't care about the hills, but I don't want to run too slowly with my husband elsewhere because he finds it uncomfortable below a certain pace. I can run more slowly on all my other runs, and eventually I will rebuild endurance enough to match his comfortable pace; meanwhile, my "long" (not really) runs on the weekend will be a little tougher than I'd like. Too bad. Fortunately, the hills here are much kinder, even with the softer footing taken into account, and I've already experienced a few substantial stretches of truly easy running here.
Today: walk in the forest. Maybe another one this afternoon. My calves are tender.
My goals this week are longer jogs tomorrow and Thursday, followed by resistance exercises, and 20-30 minute runs the other days. We found some more trail in the annex on Saturday, forming an additional loop between 4a (yes, there is a split to 4, which I hadn't noticed before) and 5-something-or-other. Basically, 4a goes to a road which leads to a trail which leads to 5a? (there are a few splits further down, and I've lost track!) which leads to a trail leading to 4b; the only repetition would be the short stretch of 4 between the main trail and the split. Maybe tomorrow I will time it. It would be so cool to have a 30 minute loop! Maybe that's too optimistic, but I'm pretty sure that it would be over 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, I have to put approx 45-50 gallons of water into the not-quite-as-temporary koi tank in/on our screened-in patio, and there's no hose nearby. Yes, the girls and boys are finally moving out. For the past month and a half or so, I have been changing (and thus carrying twice) 15 litres of water every two days. Thirty or so pounds of water wouldn't be much except that it sloshes about; it has been enough to noticeably develop some muscles in my upper abs. I will see what 11-12 or so trips today will feel like (one down so far). The near future will involve more lifting and some digging: koi pond construction. I hope they won't miss listening to the TV too much! They've had TV for about two months now.
Fri: 30 min jog in the forest
Sat: 30 min jog in the forest
Sun: 60 min jog in the forest with my husband accompanying us. He and I have slight differences in easy pace now, although nothing is entirely easy yet. I tend to run slightly more slowly except up inclines, and then I guess I speed up. I don't care about the hills, but I don't want to run too slowly with my husband elsewhere because he finds it uncomfortable below a certain pace. I can run more slowly on all my other runs, and eventually I will rebuild endurance enough to match his comfortable pace; meanwhile, my "long" (not really) runs on the weekend will be a little tougher than I'd like. Too bad. Fortunately, the hills here are much kinder, even with the softer footing taken into account, and I've already experienced a few substantial stretches of truly easy running here.
Today: walk in the forest. Maybe another one this afternoon. My calves are tender.
My goals this week are longer jogs tomorrow and Thursday, followed by resistance exercises, and 20-30 minute runs the other days. We found some more trail in the annex on Saturday, forming an additional loop between 4a (yes, there is a split to 4, which I hadn't noticed before) and 5-something-or-other. Basically, 4a goes to a road which leads to a trail which leads to 5a? (there are a few splits further down, and I've lost track!) which leads to a trail leading to 4b; the only repetition would be the short stretch of 4 between the main trail and the split. Maybe tomorrow I will time it. It would be so cool to have a 30 minute loop! Maybe that's too optimistic, but I'm pretty sure that it would be over 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, I have to put approx 45-50 gallons of water into the not-quite-as-temporary koi tank in/on our screened-in patio, and there's no hose nearby. Yes, the girls and boys are finally moving out. For the past month and a half or so, I have been changing (and thus carrying twice) 15 litres of water every two days. Thirty or so pounds of water wouldn't be much except that it sloshes about; it has been enough to noticeably develop some muscles in my upper abs. I will see what 11-12 or so trips today will feel like (one down so far). The near future will involve more lifting and some digging: koi pond construction. I hope they won't miss listening to the TV too much! They've had TV for about two months now.
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