Day 124

So this morning I oozed out of bed into my running clothes and out the door (not without noticing a new acrid odour), and two minutes later, I was back. The air was smoky from forest fires. It didn't seem prudent nor fun to run.

I biked 1:20 to/from errands, and then ran for 45 min in the evening. The air quality had improved a lot. I felt a bit tired but breathing was fine and I seemed to be moving at a fair clip with a 4-2 pattern of breathing. I didn't have a garmin but I looked at my watch at the 2 mile mark and it was 18:15ish. My legs felt a bit heavy, not sore, just guarded or something, which could be from Saturday's 5K.

Then sit ups--just 10 of them, but with the medicine ball. I've found what seems to be a good alignment but, oh, the burn.

I've also resumed pushups, just 2 at a time umpteen times a day.

And my husband rescued a good bench for me (it was outside an apartment building but good quality and in good shape) so I will be able to do a greater variety of exercises with that.

Day 123

60 minute jog with the dog, situps, pushups, and a lot of spectating about 300M from the finish line.

My husband ran the 1/2 marathon in 1:53--I'm very proud of him.
I saw some friends on the course too--unfortunately, I missed a few people. Within the 1:45/3:45- 2:15/4:15 range, it was packed. That was the definite bulge of the race.

I watched much of the race; I was there for the first elites finishing in 2:10 or so and while jogging with my dog I ended up seeing the last finisher, a woman walking in about 7:30ish (not really sure)....the crews were packing stuff up and then there was this woman with knee braces or compression socks or something of that nature (I can't quite remember) and a police car with flashing lights behind her. The last finisher.

I also saw Rick Ball, the amputee runner who has a few world records--he busted another one! Sub-3 hr marathon!

I also saw a few marathoners who were royally cramping up, could barely stand--they were so close to the finish but such a struggle.

So it was a pretty inspirational day.

Day 122

Slowest 5K ever! but not by much, and it was hot, and I didn't feel like pushing myself too much. It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, but still pretty packed. I got boxed in a few times, probably because I conveniently allowed myself to get boxed in so that I could slowly drift behind someone else for a bit. LOL. But pace wasn't consistent, there were people (ok, lots of high school boys) stopping to walk and then bolting, and then I was catching some people, and other people were passing me--the whole race was like the first 2K of the other 5Ks I've done in terms of everybody trying to settle into a pace. It was pretty cool in a way. I couldn't focus on anyone, so I just soaked up the atmos and crowd and looked around and so forth. It was quite a difference from honing in on a few runners and only them. I was in a bit of discomfort--it was hot--but I wasn't going as hard as I usually do, and the crowd was amazing, so I was smiling a lot and on some level I enjoyed it. The best part was the end, of course, but I was still kind of fresh and had a decent kick. I started to really pick it up around 300 m to go or so, and then again after 100m, and then I thought, wow, I still have another gear, just springiness, so that was great to really bound the last bit although it felt horrible once I stopped. LOL.

I was glad I'd dressed for the occasion, at any rate! The cheetah/leopard(?) print running skirt came out again, and after seeing that the temp was 25C and sunny, I decided to pin my bib to my sports bra and go without a shirt. I felt a little stupid because I seemed to be the only one, but after sweating in the starting corral for 10 min before the race (my warmup, lol), I decided that I had been wise. The 100 rep situps came in handy, I guess--thank goodness I've lost the pudge/muffin top action I had earlier in the year! I don't think I scarred anyone. This was the first time I've run without a shirt and I really liked it. And thus a monster was born....

Anyway, 23:35, but 9/514 in my age group. LOL. So now I'm thinking, hey, I could do this next year and really honestly train and try to place in my AG. I have done in 2/3 of my 5Ks this year (the third didn't record times so I don't know), but I guess I'd assumed that I'd have no chance in heck of doing it today. But since it was actually so close it's a nice goal for next year.

Meanwhile, I've been pondering a crazy idea for the fall--there will be a set of evening races on Sept 4th. I was going to do the 1/2 but my husband has talked about doing the full and I have sometimes often complained in the past that all marathon races are in the morning, so freaking early, plus it gets hotter and hotter as it goes on, why do they have marathons in the morning, it makes no sense! So now that someone's rigged up an evening marathon here (don't even have to travel!) I should try it out. We probably won't be here Sept 2011; this might be my only chance.

Training would be pretty much the same as for a 1/2 for the first bit, so I don't have to decide right away. For the past 10 weeks, I've averaged just under 400 minutes/week, which is probably just above 40 miles/week...not the best mileage, but not the worst. I could get up to 60 miles/week again. Hmm, will see. Meanwhile, I have 5 weeks of real speed reps, fast and with full recoveries--my favourite workout! It'll be interesting to see how I do at Emilie's Run after that--might sharpen me up. But I don't really care! My ultimate main goal will be Winterman 2011 full--a 1/2 or full early this fall is an excuse to bump up mileage over the summer, and then I'll have a good base for 6 months of prep for Winterman.

Day 121

The 5K is tomorrow. It might be a bit chaotic, even with the bib colour-coding/corrals. I heard that strollers are allowed. There was nothing posted prohibiting dogs so of course there will be a few dogs too, and maybe livestock. It might end up looking like a typical third-world city street. Throw in some fruit, some plastic tarps, a few motorcycle 'cabs' garnished with Christmas lights, cigarettes...

I've had good luck with races for which I had low expectations.

I don't feel pumped, I've been strangely sluggish these past few days. I'd like to believe that I've been safeguarding my energy stores for tomorrow's event.

Day 119

Oh, man, don't remember what I did on Sunday and Monday, and too lazy to look it up, but Tuesday and today were definitely rest days--what perfect timing, two days of mid-30sC, and an excuse not to run because I'm 'tapering'. yes, that's right! For whatever reason, I've been feeling pretty tired, so tapering's right up my alley.

I suppose I should run tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'm sipping a jackfruit/ground cherry/pineapple/papaya/rum concoction. We've been experimenting with fruit and the blender tonight.

Day 115

Fri: 25 minute jog. sort of stiff, sort of sore
Sat: 52 minute jog--the same route as earlier in the week (the bridges) plus a bit more. I was still kind of tired and my legs are still feeling heavy. Perhaps diving into "the bridges" route 3 days in a row wasn't the smartest move, as there are a few steep uphills and downhills, but it was a badly-needed change of pace. And I still have a week to recover.

I'm pleased about another aspect though: fat reduction. I got soft last year, couldn't do much muscularly near the end of the gluten challenge, so my weight gain from 115-118ish to 130-133ish lbs was mostly fat/water retention. It took a while for things to start budging, especially since my appetite, rendered voracious due to malabsorption, took a while to settle down, but things are much more reasonable now. My husband is trying to tone up too so we've been trying to eat healthier, walk after supper, etc. Anyway, I got down to 127-130ish and hovered there for maybe two months while I increased my workouts. A couple or so weeks ago, I decided that I would reduce portions a bit (not eat until I was stuffed anymore, basically), and see if I could keep activities up and maybe lose a bit more flab and maybe a bit of weight in the process. I didn't want to focus on the weight, but it has made a difference being heavier. I have a much stronger core now but running still feels sort of logey. Well, a couple of weeks of evening walks and so forth seems to be the key: I'm now in the 122-125 range. My pants still don't all fit--most still don't--but I've been targeting hip flexors and quads/glutes too so maybe some pants will never fit again. And maybe I will never get back down to 115, but if I stay at 125 or whatever, it had better be because I'm strong!
So maybe I'm a bit tired because I've been losing weight, but I'm assuming that it's mostly flab that had to go.

Day 113

I took a break from the international food fair today.

55 minutes in the morning with the dog--we did the usual loop and then a bit extra.

The forecast thunderstorms did not happen, so my evening run was kind of hot and sunny (26C). However, I did speedwork!

6X 2 min hard, 2 min easy. Lazy, I know, but, oh, I have excuses!

The intervals were a bit sluggish: @ 7:09, 7:12, 6:53, 7:00, 7:04, 7:08/mile. Slow but that happens. I'm feeling pretty tired and a bit run down (could be the reduced iron supplement dosage, too--it's been a few weeks and perhaps I should go back to what I was doing before because I felt better and my iron stores were still low so no danger of overdosing. lol). I think I'll do one last light bit of speedwork early next week and that will be that.

I've gotten much more consistent with pushups, 4-5ish times a day--I can still do only a couple or so proper ones at a time, though! baby steps...

Sit ups, I've cut from 100 to 15...with a 8lb medicine ball. I was getting tired of all that counting. I'm still trying to find the best way to hold the ball--right now I'm holding it a bit above my head with elbows bent. That seems to target the areas I want to target but it still feels like I have to get used to it. After the 15, which are pretty hard, I do 20 without the ball just because.