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.