Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Scotiabank Vancouver Half - Week 13 Recap

Welp...guess all of a sudden I've got a lotta time on my hands now.  My boys lost this weekend to the LA Kings...and I'm pretty busted up about it.  But...there's always 2013, right?  I was hoping that they would be able to pull out a win this weekend as the best birthday gift ever...yep, it was my birthday, and I turned the big four three last Friday!  Hubs and I celebrated by hitting the big smoke and seeing one of our fave bands, Coldplay.  What a fantastic show...amazing, mindblowing...I don't know what it is about these guys, but they engage the audience like no other act I've ever seen.  From the opening song to the final encores, everyone (and I mean everyone) was on their feet, dancing and singing.  What a high!  And what a great weekend.

Well, mostly a great weekend.  The one thing that happened this weekend that has kind of bummed me out is that I'm nursing a foot injury and I'm likely going to have to skip the Times Colonist 10K run this weekend.  I've been having some pain on the ball of my right foot and I guess overdid it on Saturday with a long run, our last running clinic, walking all over Vancouver and then standing for hours...yup, foot is not pleased with me and it's tender.  The part that's kind of worrying me is that not only does the ball of my foot hurt, but so does the top which might mean a stress fracture.  Now my heart wants to run the race because I really want to kick off the running season, but my head is saying to skip the 10K race so I don't really injure myself and have to skip the three half marys I have planned for the rest of the year.  And Hubs is pretty adamant that I don't run it because we're heading to Hawaii in a few weeks, and he doesn't want me hobbling around on our vaycay.  So boo...I won't be racing this weekend but will be Hubs cheerleading squad and pack horse, which I know is the right thing to do as much as it sucks.  I'm staying off it this week (seeing physio this Thurs) and doing really hard stationery bike workouts to keep my fitness strong.

Anyways...enough of that.  Workouts last week...

Sunday - 12K run

Monday - 45 minute run (3K run outdoors, 20 minute treadmill run)

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - 30 minutes treadmill run

Thursday - rest

Friday - 30 mins stationery bike

Saturday - 12K run/clinic
Last clinic with Marilyn.  Wah!  Hubs and I have our names in to go on to the next level of the classes.  Like I've said in the past...it's hard work, it's tiring, and sometimes it's frustrating, but I can see glimpses of what we're supposed to be doing and feeling...so we're sticking with it.  It's amazing that in 12 sessions, we've learned so much and I've incorporated a lot of what we've learned into my running.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Scotiabank Vancouver Half - Week 12 Recap

This is it...Boston Marathon Eve!  It's like Christmas for runners...one of the biggest days of the year.  Hubs has a coworker who's running it this year, so we'll be tracking his time online to see how he does...if he ends up running it.  Temps are supposed to be around 32 degrees on Monday in Boston, so the BAA is actually offering participants the chance to defer until next year.  Coming from Victoria, we don't get temps like that terribly often so can't even imagine trying to run a marathon in that kind of heat.  We're definitely cool weather runners...whenever we go to Maui, it's all we can do to run 6K when the temps hit that range!  I think if it were me (only in my dreams!), I'd still run it but I'd for sure take it easy.  Anyways, good luck to everyone running Boston...will be cheering you all on tomorrow!

This week's workouts...le sigh...

Sunday - 30 mins stationery bike/weights

Monday - 45 minutes treadmill run

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - hills
Woohooo!  Had a killer workout...couldn't go to bootcamp as I had to get to work super early, but got off early and decided to run the monster hill.  I managed to run it five times, and was happy as the last two times I only had to stop once in the middle.  Success!

Thursday - rest

Friday - off
Gah.  Started to feel a bit off on Thursday, and decided to take an extra rest day so I could make sure I was feeling OK for Saturday's run as we had a busy day.  I pumped as much Cold FX and other stuff as I could, but as the day progressed, the worse I felt and I ended up just lying on the couch Friday night.  For anyone following the Canucks/LA series, you all know how things went that night so that didn't make me feel any better!  I actually turned the TV off through most of the second and third period to get some sleep after rocking myself in the fetal position over how badly my boys were playing.

Saturday - clinic/off
Double gah.  Still wasn't feeling any better, so we decided to postpone the run until Sunday morning.  We did have our run clinic though, so I forced myself to go and so glad I did!  I'll write a bigger post on the clinic later, but I really have to say how awesome Marilyn is at teaching and coaching.  She never makes you feel like you're an idiot for nothing getting something, and you can tell she genuinely is happy for you when you do something well.  So you know that thing that last week I was saying I just couldn't get?  I finally finally, after working on it and thinking about it all week, figured out what I was doing wrong and this week she liked what I was doing!  Yes!  Small victories.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Running...and Hockey?

So you guys all know I'm a crazed hockey fan.  Nuts kinda crazy.  Like I'm living for the Stanley Cup playoffs kinda crazy.  If it wasn't clear, I love me my hockey*Go Canucks Go*

Most of you guys also know that the Boston Marathon is coming up next week.  I love this time of year.  Why?  Because of the anticipation of this race, reading all the blogs of people who are training for this storied marathon, and getting excited with them and going along for the ride.

So imagine when I'm reading this article by local columnist Jack Knox that combines running and hockey...I was immediately smitten by this story.  Everyone in Victoria knows who Geoff Courtnall is (he's a good old home town boy), and I actually remember hearing that he was running the Goodlife Marathon last year when I ran my first marathon (he killed it in 2:58...me, not so much).  Years ago, one of his hockey trainers named Jock Semple (yes, that Jock Semple of I-tried-to-run-Kathrine-Switzer-out-of-the-Boston-Marathon-because-she-had-a-uterus fame) would disparage the hockey players and say that they weren't in shape until they could run a marathon, and put the little seed in Courtnall's head that he wanted to qualify for Boston before his 50th birthday. 

For most people who know Geoff's story, he's had his share of demons...a dad who committed suicide due to depression, and his own struggles with addiction.  The guy hasn't had the easiest life, and was forced to grow up fast and work hard.  He credits running with helping him battle these demons and helping him change his life, and uses his new path towards running to help raise money for charity. 

And yes, he's running Boston next week...at age 49.

Nice job, Geoff.  You're an inspiration.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Scotiabank Vancouver Half - Week 11 Recap

ZOMG.  Just had the best long weekend evar.  Beautiful, sunny weather.  Lots of chillaxin' with Hubs (including seeing the Hunger Games movie, woohoo!).  Lots of gardening, cooking and running...my perfect trifecta.  And...the best part of all...the Canucks won the President's Trophy for the second year in a row after a decisive win against Edmonton on Saturday night!  Our jerseys and playoff towels are ready for a wild and crazy ride for the next few weeks as my boys chip away at the 16 games needed to win the Stanley Cup.  Go Canucks Go!



Anyways, so I'm fully back on track.  So how did I do in my big audacious week?

Sunday - 60 minute treadmill run/weights
Check!

Monday - bootcamp
Check!

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - hill training
Check!

Thursday - 30 mins treadmill tempo run
Check!  OK...I was supposed to get up and do my run in the morning...but I was tired and decided to do it after work.  Oh le sigh...when will I ever learn that I should just get up and do it?  Of course, by the time the end of the day rolled around I wasn't in the mood, but because I'd put it out there to everyone I was going to do a tempo run, I got changed and blasted out a run on the treadmill.  And it wasn't half bad!  So a big thanks to you folks out there for keeping me accountable.

Friday - 20K run
Check!  Hubs and I decided to get over run over with on Friday so we could sleep in on Saturday and just have a day to ourselves.  It was a cool, crisp, absolutely gorgeous morning out when we got started...the perfect running day!  Things were going pretty good with the run and I was feeling good...until about halfway through the run, I could feel something tweak in my right knee.  Arghhhh.  Luckily after some stretching and walking it out for a bit, I was able to resume and finished off the run.  Thank goodness.  It's worrying me a bit but the good thing is that I don't feel any pain walking and I did a 45 minute treadmill run this morning without any pain. 

Saturday - clinic/rest day
Marilyn was off in the States for a few weeks so we had a bit of break, and Saturday was our first day back at it.  Yes, I was bad...I didn't practice my drills much, but we did try and incorporate the running method in our runs.  Class was great, but I'm having a bit of a mental block over one piece and I'm waiting for that a-ha moment when it clicks and I get my body moving how it's supposed to.  Marilyn worked with me a lot this session and I would almost get it, but not quite.  I know it's going to be one of those things where she says one thing that makes me go "oooooooooooohhhhhhhh!!!"  and the penny will drop.  In the meantime...back at the drills.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Holy Hill, Batman

OK, that was a little hard.

Hubs and I got up this morning, changed quickly and were out the door by 5:25am.  The hill takes about five minutes to walk down to the bottom from where our house is, and we wanted to start at 5:30am on the dot.  Here's a pic of the hill from where our street is, which is only about two thirds of the way up...the hill actually keeps going and winds itself into a cul de sac which curves and ends up just behind our house.  This monster is long and steep.  Have I set the scene for you yet?





Somehow, we did this thing three times to where the picture was taken.  Baby steps, folks.  Each time we were able to make it up farther without having to stop, but we had to break this mofo into three chunks to be able to finish.  And poor Hubs, he doesn't do hill work ever....he was panting so hard I kept asking him how he was doing to make sure he was OK.  He did pretty awesome though, but when I talked to him during the day, he did mention he was really tired.  Ooops.

So how am I feeling?  I'm not gonna lie...I'm a little bit stiff.  OK, a lot stiff.  But I kinda liked it...it was an intense but short workout and I like that.   One day when I'm super kick ass fit like Jillian Michaels, I want to run non-stop from the bottom all the way to the very top of the hill where the street ends.  Then my life will be complete.  Heh.

Tomorrow...30 minute tempo on the treadmill. 

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

My Big Audacious Week

Alrighty!  Now that I've put my big audacious goal out there (Char, I giggled when I saw your comment - I love it!), I'm all over it.  A tiny set back today...had some issues with my neck/rib again but I think it's going to be OK.  It's sore, so I'm going to skip bootcamp tomorrow to give my upper body a total rest.  Instead...I'm going to do some intense hill training.

*insert scary music*

So not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but we live on a side street just off a hill.  A big hill.  A big fat juicy hill so steep that our municipality makes it one of their first priorities to salt it if it snows or if it's cold and icy out.  So because we're crazy like that, me and Hubs are going to haul our asses out of bed tomorrow and run this thing a few times.  When I first mentioned to Hubs I wanted to do this, he kind of gave me a resigned sigh and said he'd do it with me because he needs to work on his cardio as he's starting ice hockey soon and didn't want me out there alone in the dark.  Instead of whining that I was fiiiiiine, I kept quiet and tipped my hat to Sherry Arnold in my head.

Because I'm all about the accountability now, here's this week's workouts in advance:

Sunday - 60 minute treadmill run/weights - check!
Monday - bootcamp - check!
Tuesday - rest day
Wednesday - hill training
Thursday - 30 minute treadmill tempo run
Friday - 20K run
Saturday - rest day (sleeping in with Hubs - woohooo!)

Monday, April 2, 2012

Back in the Saddle

So...you know how sometimes life just gets in the way of everything?  That's what it's been like here.  Lately things have been really busy - lots of social stuff, a bout of the barfing sickness that's been making its rounds in these here parts, and a persistent shoulder problem that's been making any kind of upper body work extremely painful.  I've barely blogged and have to catch up on almost two weeks of blog reading...but thankfully life is getting a bit more back to normal and I'm getting back into the swing of things, starting with my workouts.  I'm supposed to avoid lifting any weights above my head for two weeks until my shoulder feels better (rotator cuff issues which make any computer work difficult, hence the no blogging) which it is...so this week is the start of getting back into the saddle.  I've got a month to go until I run the Times Colonist 10K race so I've got some work to do as I really want to run a personal best this year in this distance...and admittedly I've been a bit meh in my training.

So with that...I'm gearing myself up and pulling myself of this slump.  And what better motivation than to set a goal, right?  My personal best in the 10K is 54:17, so my goal for this race is to hit 50 minutes.  Yes, I'm crazy.  Four minutes off your personal best, Wong?  To be honest, 50 minutes was my secret whisper goal but I was going to post that 52 minutes was my target time.  Why?  Because I didn't want to put it out there and fail.  Then I thought why not...what am I afraid of?  Better to put the goal out there and try to achieve it than to be safe, right?  So there it is...50 minutes, 10K, one month...here I come.