Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 8 Recap

Blah.  That's all I've got to say about today's long run.  Actually blah is how I've been feeling for the latter part of this week...really tired, and it totally showed today.  As soon as I started running I thought uh oh...this isn't good...the first few kilometres are usually tough ones until I warm up and get into a groove, but it felt extra extra hard today and I never found my mojo.  I'd get a burst of energy every so often and then I'd completely peter out.  Hubs on the other hand, felt great and was running like a rock star!  Happy at least one of us had a good run and some days, it's just not there.

Sunday - 30 mins stationery bike

Monday - bootcamp
Woohoo!  D is back so I went to my first bootcamp in two weeks.  Good thing, as I didn't realize how fast my overall fitness had gone down in two weeks even though I was still working out.  Just means how important strength training is!

Tuesday - rest

Wednesday - run clinic
Couldn't do my usual double workout day as I had to get up at the ungodly hour at 4:30am to get to work extra early.  It's funny, as I was driving in to work I was thinking huh...usually at this time I'm running and doing burpees...and I thought maybe I am a little crazy to get up that early to exercise.  Ha!   Anyways, the evening clinic more than made up for missing bootcamp...in fact, if I had worked out in the morning I probably would have really sucked wind...or at least sucked more wind than I did.  It was a hot, hot day...temps hit 30 degrees here in little old Victoria and I was really not looking forward to the run due to the heat and the early morning (even though I had some assistance from some extremely potent high-test coffee).  The hill portion of the workout was in a shaded trail close to the University of Victoria, but it was an extremely hot 2K run to get there so I was already feeling a bit draggy before we even started.  We did two fast loops of the trail...after the first loop I was finding it hard to catch my breath, and after the second time it wasn't any better.  Not my finest  hour!  I was so relieved to be done but not looking forward to the run back...when I got back to the car I realized that we'd been out there running for almost 90 minutes!  My legs were cramping up again...not sure if it was from exertion or dehydration, but note to self to take a salt pill before the next clinic workout.

Thursday - rest
Rest day...but not for long!  Hubs and I have signed up for another session of the advanced Mindful Strides clinic, just so we can really fine tune what we've learned and then we're going to take our training wheels off and just go with it.  We're both feeling really good with how we're doing and marvel at how much fewer aches and pains we've been having, knock on wood.  Gah, just realized I still haven't done any tempo work.  Must get on that!

Friday - bootcamp
Blah.  Just wasn't in it, but thank goodness for D.  I went and felt so much better after we were done!  Reminds me of this poster:

Saturday - 30 mins run
Ummm...so we were supposed to do our long run on Saturday, but we jammed out.  When Hubs and I woke up, we were both so tired (him from playing hockey Friday night, me from a long night of cooking) and it was already hot out so we settled for a short workout in our nice cool basement and decided to run on Sunday when the weather forecast was for cooler temps.  Well, it was definitely cooler today even though I still sucked.  Ha!

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 7 Recap

I give!  I give!  Uncle!  My heart can't take it anymore.  OK, seriously...Canada has not had it's share of luck these Olympics.  I know...it's about who is the best on any given day and shi!t happens, but wow.  This isn't to discount any of the medals that we have won...men and women's silvers in rowing eights, Rosie's gold, Ryan's silver, bronze for the women's soccer...it's all fantastic.  But it was so sad to see Paula Findlay apologizing to Canada coming in last, Simon Whitfield wiping out in transition and looking crestfallen, and now the men's 4x100m were disqualified after initially getting a bronze...that visual of one of the men crying into the Canadian flag and seeing Jared Connaughton apologizing and accepting responsibility for the DQ absolutely just broke my heart.  Anyways, tomorrow is another day and here's hoping that the Canadian men kick some serious ass in the marathon tomorrow!

Moving away from the kleenex box now...

Sunday:  20 mins Spartacus, 20 mins HIIT stationery bike

Monday: rest
Hubs and I had decided that this was going to be a total rest day...sleeping in, no working out...and that's exactly what we did.

Tuesday: 30 mins stationery bike
Well...truth be told I felt a little guilty about not working out on Monday, so I snuck in a workout on Tuesday.  We seem to be having lots of thunder and lightning storms lately, and that night there were some huge cracks of thunder that actually made me scream...for once we were happy to head down to the basement to workout.  Ha!

Wednesday: 20 mins Spartacus, 20 mins HIIT stationery bike in a.m./run clinic in p.m.
Super loving the Spartacus, so another session Wednesday morning.  Evening clinic was, of course, more hills.  We went out to a local trail that was made up of five steep hills...we had to run from the bottom to the top and then come back down and do repeats of the first hill and then back down, up to the second hill and back down, etc., etc.  After the first time up, I seriously considered turning around and heading home...the uphill was hard, but the downhill was way, way worse.  The trail was dry and some parts were gravelly, and it was so steep that at points I couldn't control myself coming down and had to stop myself on trees.  I was not loving it, but I told myself to suck it up, not wimp out and somehow I manage to finish unscathed.  Another guy in our clinic wasn't so lucky though...just as I was coming back up on one section, I saw a huge commotion ahead of me...one of the guys went ass over teakettle on the way down, smashed his face on the rocks and was bleeding.  I'm kinda hoping that we stop the trail  runs and just stay on asphalt!

Thursday: rest

Friday: rest
Yeah, yeah...I was supposed to work out but I didn't and blew it off.  D is back from vaycay next week so I'll be back at bootcamp for sure.

Saturday: 16K run
Hubs had something he had to do Saturday morning downtown, so we got up bright and early and did our run downtown.  We were running by 6:30a.m., and it was nice and cool which was great...it turned out to be a pretty warm day so glad that we got it done early.  Overall I had a great run...I felt like I had lots of energy, even though my legs have been feeling a bit stiff and tired recently.  I think taking  a few days of rest off after that tough hill session helped to give me some extra juice.  I was able to maintain a 5:30/km pace for the first 10K, and then slowed it down so Hubs and I could run the rest of the route together as we were playing it by ear until we reached the full 16K.  Poor Hubs, he was so tired after but he had to meet up with some people so I hung around downtown and engaged in some retail therapy a la lululemon.  Ha!

The other thing that I've noticed is that at our last Mindful Strides clinic, Marilyn really talked a lot about the position of our necks...keeping it tall and long is the goal, and by doing that it's hard to have the wrong body positioning.  When I get tired, my shoulders tend to come up and my head falls back, and because I'm carrying so much tension in my neck I've been getting awful headaches after I run.  The last few weeks I've been working on my neck position and voila...no more headaches!  Did I say that I love this woman?!

PS.  Sinclair for flagbearer!

Three Things Thursday

1.  How About Them Women?
As much as I love the Olympics, I'm almost glad that it's over...pretty much every night I'm blubbering my face off and I can't take the rollercoaster of emotion!  The latest reason for my latest bawlfest...the women's soccer team bringing home the bronze medal after that crushing defeat by the US.  As much as I love sports, it's seeing how people fight against adversity and give it everything they've got on any given day that really makes me verklempt.  I guess ever since I did the marathon, seeing these athletes do what they do means even more...not because I'm some fantastic athlete (because I'm so not), but their dedication amazes me.  Training for a marathon required a lot of time and discipline...hours out on the road, early mornings when I didn't feel like it, always feeling achy...not that much fun some days.  Well, this is nothing...it was a short five months out of my life...these people have been training for years for their sport and it is their life.  So amazing...and definitely inspiring.

2.  Lean Mean Running Machine
As I was looking at my calendar today, I realized that I'd started Operation Lean and Mean seven weeks ago and things are going awesome.  Back when I posted that entry, I was ending my long run of debauchery and getting back to eating properly and exercising.  I've been logging my food faithfully to keep me on track and to make sure I'm eating enough (working out hard really kills my appetite!) and I've been working out a ton with all the bootcamping, running and clinic work.  I'm feeling really strong and can really tell the difference in how I'm running - lighter on my feet and running feels easier. 

3.  Spartacus
OK...I admit that I've been bad and jammed out of bootcamp for the last two weeks, but the good thing is that I've found out how much I really like the Spartacus training program!  It's been really awesome for getting my heart rate up and getting in a really good workout in a short period of time - basically if you did a 20 minute bike ride or treadmill run with four sets of the circuit would only take an hour.  Doing this program has really inspired me to look for something else in the same genre...circuits of intense work with short rest periods.  I'm still looking for a strength training program for the period after the Fall race, so maybe something similar to the Spartacus program is it.

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 6 Recap

Ahhh....nothing better than a long weekend to rejuvenate the bones.  I took off an additional day on Friday so had an extra long weekend, and even though I had all intentions to relax, it turned out to be busy but really awesome.  Friday was my Get 'Er Done Day...I had a list of to do's a mile long, and with the exception of a few things, I finished everything on my list including staining the deck and running a billion errands...I was like the Energizer Bunny!  Saturday was the day that Hubs and I set aside to just hang together (saw the Dark Knight Rises - two big thumbs up...hellooooo, Christian Bale!) and Sunday I hung out with my friend B in the morning and then over to a really close friend's for dinner.  Today...well, today was bliss as we finally got a chance to sleep in and recharge my batteries a bit as my body has been feeling pretty tired.  So workouts this week...

Sunday: 30 min stationery bike ride

Monday: 40 min treadmill run
Um...so D (my bootcamp buddy) is on vaycay this week, so I pretty much blew off all my bootcamp workouts.  I know, I suck...it really is a push to have a workout buddy and I'm so grateful for D!

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: circuit & HIIT in a.m./hills at home in p.m.
Sigh.  Wednesday was not a great day...I woke up feeling a bit off but got up and did an interval workout that one of my coworkers gave to me called the Spartacus workout...basically it's 40 seconds of an exercise and 20 seconds rest, with 10 exercises in each set (I've linked it for you, juuuust in case you guys are interested!).  Two sets of Spartacus with a 20 minute HIIT session left me absolutely dripping in sweat!  I felt OK at that point, but as I made my way into work I started to get the worst headache and my stomach was doing flip flops and I felt nauseated all day.  I started to feel a bit better later on in the afternoon, but we were going to be doing stairs and track work with the clinic, so I decided to skip as I really didn't want to risk barfing in front of anyone and it was a hot day to boot.  I ended up running a 3K loop and then did the monster hill by my house five times...it was hard and I had no energy in my legs and had to walk a bunch of times, but I did it.  Just barely, but I'm proud of myself that I pushed myself and got it done.

Thursday: rest day

Friday:  25 minute treadmill run
Tired and no mojo.  I had fully intended to do some tempo work...as part of the clinic, I'm supposed to do an hour long run with 3 x 10 minute intervals at goal pace, which for me is 5:15 minutes/km.  I'm actually kinda wondering how I'm going to fit this in with bootcamp as I'm already doing double days and want to make sure I still get at least one rest day in per week.  Anyways...I seriously had full intentions of getting up and doing it as I had Friday off, but I just had no energy when I woke up.  I forced myself to go on the treadmill and made a deal with myself that if I really felt like crap that I could stop, and I made it to 25 minutes and then pulled the plug.

Saturday: 16K run
See, it's so weird.  I wasn't feeling super energetic the past week and had crappy workouts Wednesday and Friday...but Saturday I had a great run!  Go figure.  It was smoking hot out at 7:30 a.m. when we started, but I was able to keep up a pretty good pace for most of it and felt good at the end.  Ahhh....thankfully, it's a new week!

What Do You Love More?

Q&A time!  It's been awhile since I've done one of these...but when I saw it on Janetha's blog, it had to be done, folks.

So.  What do I love more?

1.  Strength training or cardio?
Cardio for sure.  I know strength training is important though, so am really trying to be mindful to not just be a cardio bunny and make sure that I get in some strength work.  When I was training for the marathon last year, I did very little upper body work/strength training and I could feel my arms jiggling when I was running.  It was not a good feeling.

2.  Breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Being a foodie, this was hard for me to choose just one.  It's like asking who's your favourite child, for cryin' out loud!  While I love all three, I would give the advantage to dinner.  Just so many food options, and I love lingering over a good meal with friends. 

3.  Dress up or workout clothes?
Workout clothes hands down!  If I could live in workout clothes (hello, Lululemon and Underarmour!), I so would.  I hate being uncomfortable, and hate anything tight or constricting especially around my waist...and yoga pants are just so comfy.  I do like dressing up and looking nice, but I admit I don't love doing it.  However, I do like shopping for dress clothes.  I know, I have issues.

4.  Wine or beer?
Um...how about neither?  I don't mind a nice ice cold beer on a cold day or the occasional glass of wine (not really a wine fan, but I'm learning to like it more), but I'm more of a hard liquor drinker.  Fave drinks?  Whiskey, gin and tonic and a nice salty dirty martini with olives.  Mmmmm!

5.  Peanut butter or almond butter?
Peanut butter, hands down!  Love peanut butter in all forms, and if it's a peanut butter and chocolate dessert?  My achilles heel.

6.  Heels or flats?
I love the look of heels, but I cannot...cannot...walk in them, so for me it's flats...flip flops, runners, sandals, flats...I'm all about comfort, and high heels are just so painful.  I'm also a very fast walker, so I haven't quite learned the technique of how to handle heels.  I do have some low heels (2 inches or so) but recently discovered the joy of a good pair of wedges.  I bought a pair of fabulous 3 inch wedge sandals in Chicago and I can actually walk in them and not feel like a dork. 

7.  The actual cake or the frosting?
Frosting.  There, I said it!  I like the frosting!  Sugary, ooey gooey, sickly sweet frosting!!  Hubs usually scrapes the frosting off his cake and I'll go and eat his after I've eaten mine.  I know, gross.

8.  Spring, summer, fall or winter?
This is a real toss-up between summer and winter.  I used to hate summer, but now I loooove it...love the longer days, the sun, the warm weather and summer clothes, namely flip flops and shorts.  On the flip side, I also looooove winter...I love it when it's dark and stormy out, and I'm all cosy inside the house with a nice fire and a good book and a snifter of whiskey in each hand. 

9.  Real animal or stuffed animal?
Real.  One day I'll have my own furbaby!

10.  Bright or light?
This one is referring to colour, and I have to say bright.  I hate pastels, and like bright true colours.

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 5 Recap

Oh yayz!  The Olympics are finally here and I've already done my first ugly cry.  I don't know what it is, but I just love watching all the athletes who've worked so hard for their moment to shine...I find it so amazing to see what these people can do with their bodies and pushing themselves to their limits for their sport.  A bit of sad news, I heard that Paula Radcliffe, the fastest woman marathoner in history, won't be racing at these games because of a foot injury. She hasn't had her share of luck at the Olympics, but I hoped that she might take this one since she'll be in front of her home crowd.  Well, it doesn't take away from her previous accomplishments, and she'll still go down in history as one of running's true greats.

Workouts for this week...just how things fell, it was a busy one:

Sunday:  12K run
The weather turned out to be cool and drizzly, which was perfect!  The route was beautiful...we ran down by the University and ended up running by the water where we could ogle some gorgeous homes and dream what we could have if we won the lottery.  Ha!  I wasn't in much of a talkative mood, so ran with a few small groups but mostly trailed just slightly behind so I could just enjoy the run.

Monday:  bootcamp

Tuesday: rest
Whew.

Wednesday: bootcamp in a.m./run clinic in p.m.
Another double duty day with Jason.  The man knows how to push, that's for sure!  I think I've finally acclimatized to the double Jay days as I like to call them, as I'm not feeling as tired as I was the first few weeks. 

Thursday: Mindful Strides clinic
Wah, my last clinic with Marilyn.  Sob.  We had a great last clinic...we did some hillwork with the elastics, and she was saying that we all looked great.  Hurray, success!  Things have finally clicked for Hubs too...he was struggling a lot with his body positioning, but the last class really hammered it home for him.  Marilyn is away for most of August as she'll be in the throes of marathon training (I think she's training for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon) and is going to scale back some of her clinics for the Fall.  Can't really blame her when she's going to be doing many double duty days and accumulating mileages of 160km or so a week.  A week!  Hubs and I are going to take one more advanced session with her to really cement what we've learned, and then I think we're going to take the training wheels off and let 'er rip.  I have to say I felt a little bit sad as we wrapped up this session because we really liked the other clinic members...it was a really good group and we all seemed to click really well.

Friday: bootcamp

Saturday:  14K run
Hubs and I went for a run down one of our local trails, and it was great because Hubs had a great run!  He's finally clicked with the new running technique so I'd run with him for bits and watch his form and then zip ahead and loop back to check in.  I think the hill training is really paying off as I'm learning to push through running hard while tired from the morning bootcamp (useful for the last few kilometres when I usually implode) and I'm running at faster speeds and it's feeling easier.  Just need to keep this up for a few more months and Goodlife Victoria, here I come!

I'm Alive

Well, that was intense.  Ha!  I did the Observatory and I lived to tell the tale.  Not gonna lie...it was absolutely the toughest hill so far, so hard it actually deserves it's own blog post!

When I first arrived, the group was all standing around...we were all buzzing with a bit of excitement and a lot of trepidation about what was about to befall us.  Jason arrived right on time, and after a brief description of today's workout, we were off.  First part was a steep trail that led up to the Observatory...because we had to go single file, for the most part it was a quick walk up the trail and a good warm up.  We ran back down to where our cars were and got primed for the meaty part of the workout.  We had to run up the road to the Observatory, which is a steep 2.5 km hill but we were doing intervals so had to run up for three minutes and then walk back down for one minute and keep repeating this until we made it to the top.  My legs were already feeling burnt out from bootcamp this morning, but somehow I managed to find some gas and made pretty good time getting to the top.  One girl actually said to me that she noticed I was booking it up the hill and ran behind me while imitating my cadence and said that it was way easier than what she normally does!  I credited Marilyn of course...she taught us proper technique on how to run hills.  Instead of overstriding and pulling yourself up with your quads, you lean and kinda fall up the hill while taking small steps.  I know, it sounds weird...but seeing as Marilyn can run a 1:15 half marathon, she probably knows what she's talking about!

What goes up, must come down...and the run back down was really nice.  Shady and cool, I relaxed, turned off my brain and practiced my downhill running. 

Observatory Road...conquered.  Gonna sleep well tonight!

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 4 Recap

Whew...took things a bit easier this week because I was feeling like a big bag of crap, and it definitely was the right thing to do.  I'm feeling way, way better...back isn't aching as much and overall I'm feeling much more energetic!  That's a good thing, because this week's Wednesday night clinic is being held at...wait for it...

...the Observatory. 

*small shriek*  For those folks not in Victoria, apparently running the hills around the Observatory is legendary with the Pen Run crew.  I haven't been up there in a zillion years, but I do know it's one big huge mofo of a hill...see the little white thing on top of that hill?  That's the Observatory and yes, we're apparently running right to the top.  If I don't make it back, please tell my mom I love her.

Sunday - 30 mins treadmill run
After a full day of chores, chores and more chores, I got in a quick treadmill run.  I totally felt like blowing it off, but forced myself to do it and glad I did.  I almost stopped a few times because I so wasn't into it, but luckily there was something mindless on TV so it made it much less painful.

Monday - bootcamp

Tuesday - rest day

Wednesday - bootcamp
Sigh.  I was feeling pretty crappy at this point so decided to give 'er at bootcamp in the morning, and not go to the running clinic at night.  Very good choice, as I felt really tired Wednesday night and would have been dragging my sorry slug-like ass around on those hills. 

Thursday - Mindful Strides clinic
I already wrote about the great session that we had, so won't go on about it again.  Next week is our last class (sob), and Marilyn is going to videotape us.  Note to self:  wear cute running outfit next week.

Friday - bootcamp

Saturday - rest day
Whee!  Road trip...Hubs' and I headed up to Lake Cowichan to visit a friend of ours whose family has a cabin up there.  Knowing that I had a 14K run today with the clinic, we just went up for the day but it was sooooo nice to just be surrounded by nature and nothing else.  No TV, no internet...we basically sat around, ate and talked the whole day away.  SO lovely and it was amazing how just being removed from all that technology was so incredibly relaxing. 

By George I Think I've Got It

Great Mindful Strides session...seriously, so awesome!  I think...I think...I've got it!  It's a lot about body awareness, and when we were working on our strides today, Marilyn was happy overall with how we were all keeping our legs under our bodies, and was doing little tweaks here and there but really, just lightly guiding us.  It was even more interesting because just before our session was the beginner's class, and it was so interesting to see what they were doing because really, it wasn't that long ago that we were them.

It's also so amazing that in such a relatively short period of time, we've completely changed our running style...since January, we've done 18 hours (6 sessions for each of the 3 levels) of actual instruction time, and of course lots of time practicing on our runs.  Granted somedays it wasn't all that easy and admittedly there were times when I felt frustrated that I wasn't "getting" it, but I'm so, so glad we stuck with it.  It's actually hard to run like how we used to, and though I'm sure our form isn't perfect, half the battle is just awareness.

I'm a total convert to the Pose Method of running.  Here's a short 3 minute video that describes a bit about the technique:



Love.

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 3

Blah.  I think I'm fighting a bug.  The last few days I've been headachy with vague chills, and the headachy feeling is making my back hurt too....basically I feel like ass.  I'm contemplating not going to the run clinic tomorrow night as I'm feeling extra tired too, so want to give my body a break and hopefully give it a chance to fight these germies off.

Whoa...Week 3! 

Sunday - 12K run
Awesome run!  I posted about this last week...great run, met some more awesome people, and love getting pushed to run faster. 

Monday - 30 min stationery bike
D was having issues with her back so wasn't going to bootcamp, so I decided to jam too and worked out at home instead.  Sunday was a hard run, so decided to give my legs a bit of a break from running.

Tuesday - rest day

Wednesday - bootcamp in a.m./running clinic in p.m.
Another crazy hill day.  Morning hills were on this incline by our local Rona, and Jason made us run up and down the hill backwards, forwards, sprinting, doing burpees or jump squats up the hill.  I tried to pace myself, but honestly it was hard because Jason is so awesome at pushing you just that little bit extra.  You want to work harder for him!  The hills at the clinic were, to put it bluntly, brutal.  It was a hot, hot night, and the hill was short but pretty darn steep...thankfully we'd been warned to bring lots of water, and everyone heeded the advice.  It was absolutely grueling...500 metres from end to end, and after I finished I had that weird "closing in" feeling, I think due to the heat and exertion.  I walked it off, but as we ran back to the clinic I could feel my calves totally cramping up, similar to what I feel after a hard race.  Unsure if it was due to just pushing so hard or loss of salts/dehydration, I stretched my legs a bit and kind of blew it off.  Not smart, because as I was driving home, my legs started to cramp up in traffic.  Both legs.  Did I mention I drive a standard?  Thankfully, I managed to keep my calves/foot from going into full out cramps as luckily I made it to a light, put my e-brake on and stretched, stretched, stretched.  Crisis averted!

Thursday - Mindful Strides clinic
Ahhh.  This session was focussed on the Alexander technique, so we ended up doing a lot of laying around while Marilyn worked with each of us.  It was awesome!  The night was gorgeous and warm, and I was a little bit tired from the night before so welcomed a more relaxing class.

Friday - rest day
So you know how we folks in Victoria rarely ever get snow?  Well, we rarely ever get thunder and lightning either, but early Friday morning we were woken up by crazy loud claps of thunder and intense lighning!  It went on and on, so D and I checked in with each other because it probably wasn't a great idea to be running around out there in the middle of a lightning storm...as the saying goes, "if it roars, stay indoors!"  I was going to get up and work out, but the bed just called to me far too loudly. 

Saturday - 10K run
Hubs' back was finally feeling better, so we headed out for a jaunt around the hood.  It was a gorgeous morning and I missed running with Hubs so we ran together the whole time...normally we run at our own paces, but it was nice to run at an easy pace and just enjoy the day.  I guess I could have pushed myself, but sometimes it's nice to run just because I love it.

Thick Dumpling Skin

Sometimes it's just weird how things happen.  I was entering my daily eats into My Fitness Pal when I saw something off the side of the screen that caught my eye.  My Fitness Pal is awesome in that there are message boards that users can post to, and the one thread that grabbed my attention was "Asians wanting to lose weight?"  Curious, I clicked on the thread and couldn't stop reading.  It wasn't so much about how to lose weight, but the struggles that Asian men and women have with the societal and cultural pressures to be thin and to look a certain way.  I felt myself nodding and totally identifying with how the posters felt, and truthfully, getting a bit pissed off about ridiculous the whole thing was.  One person posted a link to a blog that was solely dedicated to struggles with food and body image due to this crazy pressure on Asians to be thin.  I ended up curling into a ball and reading this awesome blog called Thick Dumpling Skin for hours, reading post after post after post about people who feel exactly like me or who've gone through the same things - being told that they're fat, that they'll never get a boyfriend/girlfriend, relatives openly criticizing their weight and commenting on how unattractive they are...all the while pushing food at them saying "Eat more, eat more!"  Relatives and older people were particularly cruel, which always makes me scratch my head as Asians are so unfailingly polite in all other respects!  In the Asian culture, your appearance and weight are fair game and it's a no holds barred war against fat.

I'm sure most people are probably scratching their heads, wondering why this is any harder for Asians than it is for anyone else. Yes, the North American culture emphasizes thinness, but the pressure for Asians is exponentially higher. It's not just societal and cultural pressures, but familial as well.  I know I absolutely felt a lot of pressure growing up because I was a heavy kid, and I'm sure this has shaped a lot of the way I felt about myself.  I felt horrified reading the stories of childen who were put on diets by their parents, or felt sad when I heard of the humiliation some people went through.  Having been to China a few times, I always marvelled at how few overweight people there are there, and now I realize that it's because it's the intense societal pressure to be thin. 

By North American standards, I'm petite.  Standing at 5'2'' and weighing a buck twenty, I'm not big...here.  Now transport me to anywhere in Asia?  I'm a giant and I would definitely be considered heavy.  When we were in Hong Kong last year, I was taller than most and wore the largest sizes available.  Women there are all sylph-like reeds...thin, delicate limbs on teeny, tiny torsos.  Sometimes I couldn't believe  how thin some of the girls were...like did they have any internal organs in there?!  Here's an excerpt from an article by Mume Yoshiwara that was in Marie Claire about the narrow ideals of Asian beauty:

"If you were to create the ideal Asian beauty, what would she look like.  She would be thin, of course, and her skin would be pale, unlined and babyish in it's softness and porelessness.  Her hair would be thick, shiny, black or dark brown, preferably straight and certainly long....it would be an image easy to make because here's what you needn't bother rendering:  hips, or girth of any kind (the idea of replacing the word fat with the more salumious euphemism of curvy never quite caught on with asians); skin that shows the marks that all other races have grown to, if not celebrate, then at least accept (freckles, moles, sunspots, even the occasional wrinkle); short hair."

Um.  Yeah, I have girth...I have muscular legs and a butt because of all the running I do.  I have broad shoulders for someone my height, thanks to all the pushups I do at bootcamp.  I'm curvy and I have have boobelage (yes, I'm an Asian anomaly).  And you know what?  I wouldn't have it any other way.  You know why?  I'd way rather look fit, muscular and athletic than reed-like any day.  I may not look like the epitome of Asian beauty (and no, I don't have long, silky black tresses either!) but I'm OK with it.

Huh.  Maybe what's happening is that as I get older, I'm getting thick dumpling skin...but what I do know is that I'm glad I'm not alone.

No Truer Words

Saw this and had to post it...no truer words ever written.

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 2

Gah!  I don't know what is up with my Google Reader lately, but a bunch of the blogs I follow aren't showing up...sometimes they do, sometimes they don't.  I tried to go back to the blogs and re-follow them but that doesn't work either.  Urgh.  Anyways, I'll have to try and figure it out as I'm getting back into the running groove and back into the blogging world.

Anyways, I had the best run today.  The best.  Hubs' back is still bugging him, so I decided to do my long run with the Pen Run clinic group.  We had 12K scheduled and it's a hot day out (yay, finally...we've got some good weather!), so to be truthful I was *this* close to jamming out but thankfully I pushed myself out the door and I'm so glad I did.  I ended up running loosely with a small group and loved the company, but what I'm really enjoying is running different routes....today's route was fairly hilly, so it forces me to become a stronger runner.  Sure, I love my little easy 3K loop...but running with the clinic really pushes me beyond what I normally would do on my own.  I would never, ever push myself on the hills as hard as I do on Wednesday nights, and I'm already seeing and feeling the payoff. There was a long, gradual hill on today's run and I surprised myself that I managed to run the whole thing, and felt like I still had some juice left in my legs.  I felt amazing after the run...total runner's high today.

So this week's workouts:

Sunday: 10K run
I did the 3K loop around the house...kept myself at a 5:42 pace, so bang on with what I'm supposed to be training at.

Monday: rest day
I know...normally this would be a workout day, but Monday was just gonna be a day for me and Hubs.  It was awesome...we slept in, lazed around, had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and puttered around the house.  The perfect day!

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: bootcamp in a.m./running clinic in p.m.
My second Double Jay Day!  Jason taught in the morning at bootcamp and this time I was smarter and paced myself.  Clinic was hills again, and they were tough...I had to walk through parts of them, but afterwards, I felt much better than I did last week...I think I'm going to keep doing my Double Jay Days and just pace myself better.

Thursday: Mindful Strides Clinic
Hubs' back was still bothering him, so he watched while the rest of  us worked with the elastics.  I can feel myself getting stronger with them, and actually feel like I've come a long way since the first clinic. 

Friday: bootcamp
Again, thank goodness I have D to push me.  I totally would have jammed, but I went.  I was slow, but at least I was there.

Saturday: rest day
I had originally planned on doing a 30 minute stationery bike workout, but I was soooooo tired that I decided to give myself an extra rest day.  I think I'm still adapting to the harder workouts, and was up early and to bed late on Friday...I could barely keep my eyes open all day, and fell asleep on the couch at 7pm, went up to bed around 11pm and slept until 7am.  Guess I really needed some extra sleep!

Three Things Thursday

1.  That Guy
Sigh.  You know how sometimes there's "that guy" in one of your classes that's just a bit of a know it all and you just wanna pinch his little head?  Don't get me wrong, so far I'm loving my Pen Run clinics...I haven't been doing the long runs with the group, but have gone the last two Wednesday night sessions and it's awesome.  Jason kicks some serious ass, and the clinic itself is huge...60 or 70 people in total.  The people are great, everyone is friendly...after a brutal hill workout, people were all high fiving each other...but there's this one irritating dude who insists on acting like the biggest douche of all time.  Loud and obnoxious, he happened to be working out next to me when Jason took us to a park and we were doing some core exercises.  Dude also goes to the same bootcamp we go to but at a later time (note, this is NOT the really nice guy I raced with on my first clinic...he was cool) and was going on about how he was pushing people out of the way at that morning's bootcamp because they were too slow.  Now what I wanted to do was to give him a piece of my mind, but I just looked at him, snorted quietly and ignored him.  Nothing bugs me more than when people act like this...actually what I hate more is when people complain about something incessantly but refuse to do anything to change it, but that's a whole other post.  Ha!  At bootcamp, everyone works at their own pace and what matters is that they're out there trying, and everyone has to start from somewhere, even the most fit person on earth.  Even freaking Jillian Michaels had to start from somewhere, right?  I swear if this idiot ever chooses to go to the early morning session and pushes me or anyone else out of the way, I will roundhouse kick his ass into next week. 

2.  Scary Thing
I was reading Bri's blog and she was posting about doing one thing a day that scares you.  If the saying sounds familiar, it's part of the Lululemon's manifesto...and you know I love me some Lulu.   Now we all get in a rut and sometimes just let life pass us by, and I started thinking about this saying more.  I'm as guilty as anyone of wanting comfort, stability and safety...but now that I've got some of my zing back, I'm trying to think of some "scary" things that will just push me outside of my comfort zone.  The wheels are turning...stay tuned, folks for future posts...and suggestions are welcome...

3.  Gettin' There
Almost completed three weeks of Operation Back At 'Er!  After all the debauchery of the past few months (OK, who are we kidding...the past six months!), I'm back to clean eating and am fully on the exercise train to get ready for what I hope to be a fast Fall half.  Clothes that felt really tight in Chicago are almost comfortable now, so I know things are going in the right direction.  Out of curiosity, I weighed myself for the first time in months...while I definitely had gained weight since the new year, the scale doesn't show much of a change even though I can see and feel a difference.  Whatevs.  Having been a scale junkie before, I never thought I'd ever get to this point, but I honestly don't care what the scale says.  Previously if I didn't like what I saw on the scale I would have been devastated...but this time I actually just thought meh...some clean eating and exercise will get me back on track.  As long as my clothes fi, and I look and feel healthy, athletic and strong, it's all good.  So while I'm happy that I'm getting a little less fluffy and a lot stronger, what I'm even happier about is the shift in how I feel about the scale...it might not sound like a big deal, but for me it is.

 So what's my goal if the scale is irrelevant?  I have a cute pair of Club Monaco skinny black pants I bought just before going to Chicago that I could barely squeeze myself into when I started Operation Back At 'Er, and while there is still some muffin top spillage going on, I can actually get them up now without it feeling like I have a tourniquet around my waist.  These have now become my target outfit, so once I can get these suckers done up without cutting off my circulation, I'll be happy.  Gettin' there, slowly but surely.

MacMillan and Me

A few weeks ago I unfortunately missed the run clinic where pacing was discussed, so I was looking around online to see what paces I should be training at to attain a 1:50 half.  I've heard about the MacMillan Running Calculator, so decided to punch my deets in and see what came up.

Dangit.

Endurance Workouts:
Recovery jogs:  6:26 to 6:45/km
Long runs:  5:49 to 6:26/km
Easy runs:  5:49 to 6:08/km

Stamina Workouts:
Steady state runs:  5:14 to 5:23/km
Tempo runs:  5:01 to 5:14/km
Tempo intervals:  4:57 to 5:07/km
Cruise intervals - 1000m:  4:54 to 5:00/km

After taking my thumb out of my mouth and uncurling myself from the fetal position, I took a hard look at the numbers.  The long run pace sounds fairly reasonable, and this week's long run (10K) was done at a 5:42/km pace...so I could probably actually slow it down a bit.  It's the stamina workouts that I'm a little worried about!  Yikes...I know the whole point of these is to build stamina in my legs...but wow, tempo runs at 5:01 to 5:14/km sounds really, really fast.  A 1:50 half means a 5:13/km pace so it's not far off, but I'm just having a hard time imagining I can keep that kind of pace for 21.1 kms when I fought and struggled to keep up a 5:29/km pace last week at the Scotiabank.   

Methinks I have a lot of work ahead of me. 

Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 1 Recap

ZOMG, I am so, so tired right now!  It's been a busy week and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the long weekend.  I think my body is trying to get used to the amped up training schedule so I feel way more tired than usual.  The human body is a pretty amazing thing and it always surprises me how it adapts and changes so quickly, so I think that this tiredness I'm feeling right now will get better after awhile as my fitness level gets better.
Anyways, here was week 1 of training towards a 1:50 half at the Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon (did you all notice the law of attraction thingie I just did there?):

Sunday:  Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon!!!
I've already blathered on long enough about the race, so I won't make you guys suffer any more.

Monday: rest day
Oy vey, my legs were so insanely sore the next day...specifically my quads...ow!  Even one of my bosses was teasing me about how I was walking.  I was glad that everything else like my calves, hamstrings, etc., actually felt pretty good but I think the downhills really trashed my quads.

Tuesday:  yoga
To give the legs a good stretch, I decided to go to yoga with a coworker and man, did it feel great.  Seriously, why do I not go to yoga more often?!  It feels so awesome! Anyways, afterwards my legs felt so much looser, and I definitely plan on yoga-ing more.  Promise.

Wednesday:  bootcamp in a.m./run clinic in p.m.
Ooooh...first double training day and I started questioning my sanity for thinking this was a good idea.  Ha!  Both sessions were with Jason, and we did hill repeats in both classes....bootcamp was hard enough, but at the run clinic we had to do 30 minutes of hill repeat after hill repeat after hill repeat...it was pretty warm out too, and I gotta admit...it was really hard to keep going and I was sucking wind.  Thankfully it went by quickly, and I know hills are good for me so I'm sucking it up...it's all the means to an end, right?

Thursday:  Mindful Strides clinic
Woohoo!  Had another a-ha moment...Marilyn did a new drill with us that really, really helped with understanding what we were supposed to be doing.  Normally I have a real difficulty with slamming my foot down (hence my foot problem earlier!) and this new drill really made me understand the feeling of bringing my foot up.  I love it when light bulbs go off in my head!  This week I felt so much lighter on my feet and on one of the strides that we did, I felt that perfect balance of running on my midfoot with little effort.   Now just to get that feeling while running a half marathon!

Friday:  bootcamp
Thank goodness for my good friend D!  We always check in with each other the night before bootcamp, and it really pushes me to go...what they say about doing stuff with a friend really IS true!  If I'd been left to my own devices, I totally woulda jammed today and regretted it later, so glad that D pushes me to go. 

Saturday:  very slow treadmill run
Hubs was going to do a 10K run on Saturday, but his foot has been bothering him since the run on Sunday so he decided to do a bike workout instead.  I was feeling really tired and wanted to give my legs a chance to recover from this crazy week, so I did a slow, slow, slow jog on the treadmill. 

Plans for this weekend?  Chores are 95% done, so the rest of the weekend will be some puttering at home and relaxing.  Can't wait until Monday, glorious Monday...we're sleeping in, taking a full rest day, making a pancake breakfast and chilling at home all day.  Ahhhh...SO can't wait.

2012 Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon - Race Report

Second half marathon of the year, done!  Typing up this post now, I realized that I didn't post any time goals for myself.  Earlier this year when I was planning out my races, I wanted to at least be close to my personal best from last year's Oak Bay Half Marathon at 1:56:09 or if the planets aligned perfectly, beat that time.  I didn't have a particularly fast time at the Goddess Run (even though I was happy with it, given my lack of running mojo) at 2:04:44, so knew I was going to have to really work hard to get my time below two hours, and really gut it out to hit my personal best half marathon time.

The Scotiabank Half is a smaller race with about 4000 half marathoners running, and I was looking forward to the route which starts at UBC and winds its way through to Stanley Park.  Even more exciting is that Canada's Olympic marathon hopefuls Reid Coolsaet and Eric Gillis would also be running this race!  When Hubs and I went to pick up our race packages on Saturday, we saw the two of them at the race expo...they were cornered by some dude, and me being a shy Asian wallflower...I couldn't muster enough nerve to go over and wish them luck in London.  I know, I know!  I suck.  But I was excited to see them and they gave me the inspiration to run a really hard race.

The race started at 7:30am, so Hubs and I were up and at 'em at 5:45am, and headed off to UBC by 6:15am.  Being so early on a Sunday, we got there quickly and stood around in the chilly morning air waiting for the race to start.  Hubs has been having some issues with his right foot, so we weren't sure how he was going to do with the race...he saw his physio who attributed it to his body getting used to revising his footstrike to a midfoot rather than a heel strike, as all the bones and ligaments are getting used to things.  As the race started, we gave each other a good luck hug and kiss and off we went.

0 - 7K

Within the first few steps I had my first mishap...I had packed three Gus with me, and was going to take one before the start of the race.  Not seeing any garbage cans to throw the packet away, I decided against it and just figured I would take one at the 7K point and another at 14K.  Um...good thing I didn't take that gel, because as I crossed over the start line, one of my Gu packets fell out of my fuel belt, richocheted off someone's foot and shot forward like a missile!  Everyone in front of me was looking around wondering what happened, and of course with the sea of bodies behind me, I couldn't exactly reach down to pick it up....so buh-bye, Mr. Gu...at least it wasn't the peanut butter one!  Thank goodness I had packed that extra gel.  Anyways, the start of the race was mostly downhill which was good, but bad because I was running way too quickly to start and not doing a great job of pacing myself.  At around the 5K mark I was feeling a little tired and hoped that I had left enough juice in my legs to hit my goals.

1K  5:31
2K  5:23
3K  5:12
4K  5:12
5K  5:13
6K  5:21
7K  5:37

8 - 13K

To be honest, I don't remember a lot about this part of the race.  I was really concentrating and working hard, and even though I'm sure the route was beautiful, I was focussed.  I started choosing people to chase down, and I ended up picking this girl to target because I liked her outfit.  Ha!  It was Lululemon, of course.  What I do remember about this part of the race was that I had a really bad stitch in my side...foolishly, I'd drank some water on a downhill section and nothing makes me cramp faster than that.  Argh.  After awhile it went away, but it took a few kilometres of massaging it while I ran and trying to not concentrate on it.  Miraculously, I somehow managed to pull the fastest splits I've ever had to date in any race, and even managed to pull a 52:38 10K split, which is the fastest 10K I've ever run!  Yeehaw.  I was wearing a pace bracelet as well, and knew at the 10K point that I had built about a four minute buffer for a two hour half marathon.

8K  5:10
9K  5:09
10K  4:50 ------>  holy crap

10K split:  52:38 (target for 2:00 hour half, 56:50)

11K  4:59
12K  5:24
13K  5:25

14 - 21.1K

Again...this is where things got hard.  This is the part of the race where I always suffer, and I'm really hoping that the speedwork, tempo and hills that I'll be doing at my running clinics will help with my endurance.  I usually start floundering around now, and this race was no different.  One of my goals for this year is to achieve a 1:50 half, meaning a 5:15 split...I gotta lot of work to do to get myself to that point, given how hard it is for me to hit the splits that I did...which for the most part were nowhere near 5:15.  To be honest, I think a lot of it is mental...I walked a lot around the 17 - 19K point and just didn't have any fight left during these splits.

Luckily, the last few kilometres went better...I could feel myself getting excited that I was getting so close to the finish line, and willed my legs to keep moving.  I knew I would hit my goal of a sub 2 hour time, but I wanted to hit a personal best and beat 1:56:09.  As I came around the bend and could see the finish line, I looked at my watch and saw that I was cutting it close...really close.  Mustering every last tiny bit of energy I could, I sprinted the final few hundred feet and ran across the finish line at 1:55:40...personal best, achieved!

14K  5:43
15K  5:41
16K  5:32
17K  5:46
18K  5:40
19K  6:19 --->  WTF happened here, Wong?
20K  5:26
21K  5:26
0.1K 1:47

After I ran across the mats, I started to feel a bit dizzy and could feel my legs cramp up.  I actually started to feel things tunnelling in around me, so walked slowly around until I could catch my breath and get a hold of myself.  Luckily, the feeling passed quickly and I waited around for Hubs to finish.  He had a good race, and his foot held out which was awesome.  Yay, Hubs!

Final:  1:55:40
Overall:  1357/3838
Age Group: 62/285
Gender Group: 491/2182
Pace: 5:29

So happy!  I feel my running mojo coming back, and hereby commit to work hard, eat right and stick to my training schedule.  1:50 half, I have you in my sights!

Three (Plus One) Things Thursday

1.  Chicago

Wow...all I can say is that I love Chicago.  LOVE.  What an amazingly beautiful city...full of life and so vibrant!  I don't know why I have this vision of all cities in the US looking the same, but I honestly can't wait to go back and next time take Hubs with me.  There was so much to look at and do, and luckily we were staying pretty much in the heart of downtown so things were very accessible.  We did a few architectural tours...one walking, one on the river, which was so interesting as I never really knew just how much work and thought went into creating a beautiful building.  Seriously cool.

And the food...sigh, the food. We tried Chicago style deep dish pizza (yum!), delish fresh seafood, and on the way out of town at the airport I hunted myself down a Chicago style hot dog and had it for breakfast. Yep, you read that right, breakfast...it had to be done, folks. 

I also managed to fit in a few runs as well...thanks to Meg's suggestions, I ventured out to the lake for my long run which was incredible.  Now the not so incredible thing was that it was freaking 85 degrees out at 7am (which means it felt like 95 degrees since I was running), and foolish little old me didn't think to pack a water belt with me so had to rely on water fountains.  As I would come across one, I'd drink like I'd never drunk before and splash water all over myself which would inevitably dissipate within seconds.  So hot.  I did manage to squeeze in an 11K run though so happy with that and glad to say that I ran along Lake Michigan!

After the run, I ran through Millenium Park and took a photo of myself at the bean:

2.  Clinics
First running clinic done this past Sunday and it was awesome.  Everyone was so incredibly friendly!  One of the girls in my office has signed up as well but couldn't make it, so I was a little apprehensive about going on my own...but that fear was for naught.  Within seconds of walking in, I was chatting with a couple who were also new, and got a few friendly smiles as I stood waiting for the clinic to start.  The run was fairly short...7K for the half group (me!) and 13K for the full group.  As we started out, I chatted with a few really nice people...there was one portion where there were a couple of girls running ahead of me and one of them turned around, smiled and asked how I was doing.  Again, this is the joy of the running community...so inclusive and friendly...I can't say often enough how runners are not elitist.  Anyways, I ended up running next to a really nice guy who I discovered goes to my bootcamp...and we chatted about his wife who used to be a 2 hour-ish runner and is now in the 1:40 range due to these very clinics.  Totally gave me hope for myself that one day I could reach those speeds!  Close to the end of the run, he looked at me with a sideways glance and a sly smile and said "wanna go for it?"  Never one to turn down a challenge, I laughed and said "you're on!" and off we went as we raced each other back to the Peninsula Runners store!  We high fived as we finished and thanked each other for the push.  I think I'm gonna like this clinic business!

And tonight...our first class of the advance session of the Mindful Strides clinics.  I'm looking forward to being under Marilyn's tutelage once again, and I'm hoping this session there'll be even more "a-ha!" moments that we seem to have at each level.  Hubs is considering really cutting back his mileage so he can concentrate on his form/technique, which might fit OK if I end up running with my clinics...we'll see!  Thankfully Marilyn was pretty happy with how we did tonight...it's been about two months since our last session but we did pretty well which leads us to believe that we might really be getting it and our muscles are actually remembering proper body positioning. Marilyn has group Mindful Strides runs every Saturday, so Hubs and I have decided that we're going to fit in a few so we can get a chance to run rather than just working on drills.


3.  Scotiabank Vancouver Half
Eeeek!  Second half mary of the year this weekend.  I'm feeling ready, and hoping for a sub 2 hour finish.  Wish me luck guys...I'll be out running between UBC and Stanley Park on Sunday between 7:30 - 9:30am...looking forward to seeing the course!

4.  Back on the Wagon
Yup, back on the wagon this week - eating really well and exercising a ton!  June 17th was my first clinic day so I thought what better day than to put all the debauchery behind me now that Maui and Chicago are done and get down to business.  Absolutely not feeling very lean or light, so I'm committing to getting myself back into being a lean, mean, running machine.  So far in my mind I'm envisioning this schedule:

Sunday:        Pen Run clinic long run/off depending on Saturday run
Monday:       Bootcamp
Tuesday:       Rest
Wednesday: Double day - bootcamp in morning,
                     Pen Run hills/speedwork/temp in evening
Thursday:     Rest/Mindful Strides clinic (only six weeks)
Friday:          Bootcamp
Saturday:      Long run with Hubs/Mindful Strides run/off depending on Sunday run

Whew, gonna be busy!  But I'm feeling ready to get back into things and gear up for the Fall race. 

Faith in Humanity

With all the bad shit that goes on in the world (I'm thinking Sherry Arnold and Sarah Hart...rest in peace), sometimes it makes me lose my faith in humanity and wonder what the heck is up with the world.

Prepare to at least have some of that faith replaced...go here for some heartwarming (and tear inducing...#2, 6, 19 and 20 had me extremely verklempt) photos of some of the good in the world.

PS.  Just in case I don't get a chance to post another entry before Sunday (been meaning to post since I got back from Chicago...so much to talk about!)...Scotiabank Vancouver Half is on deck!  Sub 2:00 or bust!!

Sign Me Up!

That Goddess Run totally has my running juices flowing again!  I was pretty happy with my time all things considered, and started thinking that if I really worked at it...really trained hard, was disciplined with my food (and dropped a little extra weight) and made a concentrated effort to work on my exercises and form...that a 1:50 half could possibly be within my reach.

I've mentioned before that I have a great trainer named Jason at my bootcamp...well, he's also a very well known clinic instructor in town, and I really like his style.  Upbeat, encouraging but tough...I decided to check out the clinics where he works, Peninsula Runners.  The summer clinics start June 13th...perfect!  I'm away in Chicago next week so I'll miss the first class and have a few scheduling conflicts, but for the most part it fits perfectly.  These clinics were designed to fill a gap that other clinics neglect, which is to get faster...and that's exactly what I'm looking to do...sign me up!  I don't seem to be able to get out to do any speedwork or hill training and truth be told, I'm not sure what to do or how to go about things, so I decided that signing up for a clinic was probably the smartest thing to do.  Coincidentally, I saw this post from Beth over at Shut Up and Run and thought it was a sign for me to just go out and do it...perfect timing.

The clinics are on Wednesday nights and Sundays for the long run.  I don't seem to have an issue with the long runs and don't want to make Hubs run on his own, so I plan on continuing with Saturday long runs with him but attending the Wednesday night sessions.  It'll be cool to meet some new folks too!  I know it'd be easier to get to know people if I did the long runs too, but I really enjoy my running time with Hubs.  I can have my cake and eat it too, right? 

So tomorrow I'm getting my butt over to the store and registering.  It's going to be clinic city as I start my sessions with Marilyn at Mindful Strides pretty soon too.  So excited!

Oh...and Happy National Running Day! 

2012 Victoria Goddess Half Marathon - Race Report

Woohoooo...first race of the season done!  June 3rd was the inaugural event for the Victoria Goddess Run and I have to say, for the first year it was a great event.  Patterned after runs like the Nike Womens' Half Marathon in San Francisco, the run had chocolate on the route, bling handed out by hunky firemen, delish food after the race and the camraderie of hundreds of excited women...so cool!

So initially I had no intention of racing this run due to my lack of running mojo/preparation...but that quickly went out the window when I got a wee bit caught up in all the excitement and ended up going for it.  Hee hee!  The race was a hop, skip and a jump away from my house which was wonderful, and the half marathon started at 9am so I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn.  I knew the venue well as it's one of the locations that we do our morning bootcamps at...the main event was on the soccer pitch, and the race courses (5K, 10K and half mary) wound all through the Langford area in Victoria.  I got there fairly early, checked in my stuff (Hubs couldn't come to this one, and since I was going to use it as a training run I gave him a free pass) and headed down to the starting line amidst a sea of estrogen packed energy!  I have to say, it was pretty cool...a lot of fun to see all the wild and crazy costumes...sparkle skirts, tiaras, and lots and LOTS of pink.  A great energy!

Promptly at 9am, we started...and oh my, what a start!

0 - 7K

Um....OK I don't know who came up with the race course, but immediately after the start there was a pretty darn big hill!  I admit...I didn't pace myself terribly well this race and started out of the gate fairly fast considering I really haven't been doing any speedwork or training all that seriously.  It started to get sunny soon, and it was pretty hot even at only 9am and I was glad I'd decided to go with shorts and a singlet. 

1K   6:02 (not bad for crazy opening hill!)
2K   5:23
3K   5:38
4K   5:36
5K   5:31
6K   5:34
7K   5:30

So far, so good!

8 - 13K

Second hill came around at the 8K point...I managed to run the whole thing but it wasn't easy!  I have to thank Jason (one of my bootcamp instructors) for all the hillwork that he makes us do because if I didn't have that, this race wouldn't have been that great.  After the second hill I still managed to keep a pretty good pace, and was on target at the 10K split for a sub 2 hour finish.  I have to say...the volunteers at this race were awesome...there were only a few at each aid station, but man they made you feel good!  Cheering and keeping you going...it was fantastic.  The other thing I really liked is that the aid stations were spaced really well.  I took my own water just in case, but they were at regular intervals and well situated.  Two thumbs up! 

8K    6:23
9K    5:32
10K  5:40
11K  5:29
12K  5:31
13K  5:44

10K split 56:50 (target 56:52...a whole two second buffer!)

14 - 21.1K

Soooo...this is where things got ugly.  Another big long hill that had three uphill portions ...and it fooled me because you'd finish the first undulation and it would flatten out and you'd think, great it's over!  Then the next one would come and then you'd think, thank goodness that's done!  After the third and final uphill portion, I was losing my will to live and was seriously considering running into the bushes, curling up in the fetal position and calling it a day.  By the end, my legs were pretty much trashed and I could barely keep them going even on flat portions. 

Luckily the rest of the course was a slight downhill, so after awhile my legs recovered a bit and I got a bit of energy thinking how close I was to the finish.  As I rounded down the final 0.3K straightaway to the finish line, it honestly felt like I was never going to get there.  The best thing was the people cheering me on and clapping...it was pretty awesome and I was able to find a final push in my legs and had a fairly good last split.

14K  6:39
15K  6:16
16K 6:28
17K  6:13
18K 6:23
19K 6:03
20K 5:59
21K 5:39
0.1K 1:10

Final 2:04:24
Overall 81/240
Age group:  33/92
Average pace:  5:55

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my time considering my lack of training and all the hills!  This run has me all juiced up for the Scotiabank at the end of the month, where I hear it's a net downhill...woohooo!  I'm targetting a sub 2 hour finish there and think I might have a fighting chance to make it. 

Oh...and the bling? 

Pretty cool, eh?  I love it.  And the firemen weren't bad either.  Ha!  I was a little embarrassed because I ran in on my own, and there were six firemen all looking at me and I immediately thought oh my god, how do I look?!  Do I stink?  I avoided all eye contact, went to the closest fireman, grabbed my necklace and pretty much sprinted away.  Yup, it was awesome.

Overall, a great race and very well organized.  This is definitely a must do for me again next year, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone else wanting to come visit our neck of the woods.  The venue was great, there was ample parking, lots of porta-potties (important!!) and the volunteers were great.  I'm sure there were hiccups as there are with any event, but the large majority of the people had a great time and pretty much all the feedback I heard was positive.  And now I can tell people I'm a goddess!

Oh.  And peanut butter Gu?  Best.thing.ever.

An Amazing Boy

So...I was going to post my race report for the Victoria Goddess Run that I did today, but I saw this video and had to post about it.  As the video unfolded, I started doing an extreme ugly cry replete with sobbing and actually had to get up and get myself a kleenex to stem the flow of tears as they rolled down my face.  So of course I have to share with you all so I'm not the only one sitting at my computer, bawling my face off.  Ha! 

The video is about a boy with spastic cerebral palsy who is doing a short run for his school's field day.  Now I'm not going to spoil what happens, but if you don't cry or aren't at least a tiny bit touched by this video, you have no soul.  It truly makes me believe in mind over matter and not giving up...this is how the world is supposed to be.

Three Things Thursday

1.  Clinic
Whoop, whoop!  I've signed Hubs and I up for the advanced level of the Mindful Strides clinics...yay!  We wanted to get back into it before too much time passes and we forget everything.  I gotta admit, I've been really bad at keeping up with my exercises or practicing the moves and I can feel myself getting lax on my form during my runs....I don't want to lose it all as I know if I keep at it, the benefits will come.  Anyways, I'm a little scared because Marilyn videotapes us so we can see exactly what we're doing well and not well...gah!  I know it'll be good for us, so biting the bullet.   It's kinda like medicine, right?

2.  Too Much Pineapple
Oy vey.  So in a few weeks I'm going to be going to Chicago for a conference, so I bought some new clothes as it's going to be hot down there, but I still wanted something that was suitable for work.  Um...I must have eaten too much pineapple (or likely had one too many lava flows!) in Maui as stuff was not fitting well and the clothes I have now are a wee bit tight.  Sigh.  That's the danger with always wearing stuff with an elastic waist band or stretch, eh?  Ha!  Anyways...not letting it freak me out and strangely, I don't actually mind having a bit more junk in the trunk (Asian girls are somewhat reknowned for having non-existent butts!) but I thought I'd better get this under control sooner rather than later as I really don't want to do another Ten Pound Challenge because that really almost killed me the last time I did it!  Anyways, getting back on eating right, drinking my water and exercising, and hopefully it should take care of my chicken cutlets aka armpit fat.

3.  So Much to Do, So Little Time
There's so many things I want to try but so little time!  I want to take swimming lessons this year.  I want to work at improving my running, in particular my form and speed.  I want to build more muscle.  I want to take some personal training sessions.  I want to do P90X.  I want to do Insanity.  I need to work on my core more.  I want to do more yoga.  Choices, choices, choices!  So much coming at me all the time and I want to do it all.  Every year after my last Fall race I like to take a bit of a break from running and concentrate a bit more on strength rather than cardio so I'd like do do some kind of 60 - 90 day challenge between October and December but not sure what to do!  Anyone have any suggestions on programs that they've tried before?  Would love to hear it!  I've been eyeballing Shaun T's Insanity mostly because it takes no equipment other than my body weight (which is substantial, har har!) but it looks crazy.  Ideas?

All Things "R"

1.  Relaxed
Don't know what it was, but for some reason this year's trip to Maui was really awesome.  Feeling so relaxed!  It was the perfect trip...we did some exploring on Kauai for something new, but then returned back to Maui.   This was our seventh trip back to valley isle, so needless to say we know the island really, really well...it really is like going to our second home.

2.  Ryder
Booyah!  Can we give a little cheer for my hometown boy Ryder Hesjedal, who won the Giro d'Italia today?!  We've been keeping an eye out on his progress and when I was out on my long run today, Hubs texted to say Ryder had won the whole thing.  I'm really hoping that they have some kind of hometown parade or at the very least a celebration for him as this is kind of like the Stanley Cup of the cycling world.  I always find it amazing how hard the human body can be pushed...like these guys are riding for weeks at a time, all out.  So amazing.

3.  Racing
Eeek!  First race of the season coming up next week...the Victoria Goddess Run is on deck!  I won't really be "racing" this run but more using it as a training run for the Scotiabank Vancouver Half at the end of June, so I have no expectations as far as time...there is no way I'm posting a PB on this race so I'm going out to have some fun, eat some chocolate and get my medal/jewellery from some hot firemen.  I haven't been pushing my speed as I've been trying to make sure I keep proper form we learned at the Mindful Strides clinics, so have been running slower than usual...and as you all know, you need to run fast to run fast!  I'm really hoping we can continue on with the advanced level of the Mindful Strides clinics (we couldn't take the advanced level as we'd miss too many with our vacation).  A little investment in time and training now could have huge benefits later on in reduced injuries and better times, so I'm thinking about potentially doing a few one on one's with Marilyn (with Hubs, of course!) to get more feedback and help on our form/training along with the advanced class.  So many things, so little time!

4.  Return to Running
I'm feeling the excitement of running again!  My hope for the Scotiabank is to run it in under 2 hours, and then use it as a starting point for training for the Goodlife Half...my goal for this year was to run a 1:50 half, so I've gots a lot of work to do to get there.  Having a few halfs under my belt as a base will go a long way...just need to add some hills, speedwork and more yoga to get things all stretched out and I think I'll be good to go.  I'm not doing too bad for injury so far (knock on wood)...the foot is feeling a little tender but not bad, my twinge-y knee has been pretty good and my shoulder has been a bit sore but under control.  Darn aging body.

5.  Recommendations 
Any peeps from the Chicago area?  I'm heading there in a few weeks for a conference and will be staying at the Fairmont Millenium Park...so was looking for some recommendations on where to run!  I'm doing a run organized by the conference that takes us along the river, but if there were any other cool places to run (that are safe, as I'll be running on my own!), recommendations are appreciated!

6.  Recipes
Just wanted to talk a bit about a great cookbook I picked up the other day:

I had heard about this book through a local cooking store, and had to pick it up.  Basically it's recipes that taste good while being good for you.  The authors' premise is that flavour and nutritional value aren't mutually exclusive, and the recipes are split between those that you can eat anytime (25% carbohydrates or lower) or those that you can have if you've worked out as they have a higher carbohydrate count.  All the recipes contain lean, complete protein, are in low in sugar and processed carbohydrates, focus on healthy fats and include fresh, natural, additive free ingredients where possible.  Sold!  I've been looking for a cookbook like this forever, so look forward to testing out recipes from this cookbook.  For those of you interested, you can order this cookbook here.

Recharging

Aloha! 

I'm sure you can guess where I am right now.  Yep, back on the beautiful beaches of Maui and having an awesome, relaxing time!  We started off in Kauai for a few days as we'd never been to that island before... overall it was nice, but it was a bit too quiet for us and the weather wasn't as nice as Maui.  So far Maui has been fabulous...great weather, and lots of just sitting around reading on the beach and just chilling out.  Yes.

So...I checked when the last time I posted and it was May 1st...almost two weeks ago.  I'm going to be totally honest and admit that lately I've been in a bit of a funk which is resulting in a lack of blogging.  OK, I lie...I'm in a lot of funk.  While I still love to run, my heart hasn't been into the training for some reason and it's been hard for me to put my finger on why I'm feeling this way.  Part of it is that I seem to be fighting niggling injuries all the time that frustrate and thwart me...it's a lot of stopping and starting which, to put it plainly, really pisses me off.  The foot is feeling a lot better, but it's still there.  I was doing awesome on lifting weights, until my shoulder pain kiboshed that.  I've been having some weird knee pain lately and rib issues.  And just when the body starts to feel OK, I've been fighting bouts of sickness lately.  Arghhhh.  All these things make me take time off training, and when I get into the habit of not running or not exercising as much as I like to...well, things go to hell in a handbasket.  I start getting lazy, I let the food slip, I don't stretch, I start blowing runs off and I start making excuses.  I know, I know...maybe my body needs a break and I've been giving it rest...but I'm being truthful in how I feel.  To put it simply, I'm an all or nothing kind of girl and I've been in this weird running purgatory...this weird feeling of just not really caring or being motivated.

Admittedly, I've been somewhat avoiding blogs and all bloggieland over the last while (apologies to everyone in bloggieland, I've been really bad at reading and commenting lately!) because it was all just a reminder of my lack of mojo.  I can feel the spark coming back though...we didn't run for the first bit of our vacation as there was no good place to run where we were staying in Kauai, and by the fifth day I was dying to run.  Dying.  I couldn't believe how much I missed it.  On our first full day here, Hubs and I headed out bright and early and I could just run for the love of running...no Garmin, no pacing, no nothing...and it felt awesome to just move my body without a particular goal or time in mind.  And maybe that's exactly what I need...time away to get rested up, recharge and start fresh with a fresh new outlook.  So far, we've run every day we've been in Maui and I've been loving it.  This vacation might just be the best medicine to let me think about what I want, how I'm going to get there and what I need to do to get rid of all these niggly injuries...and what better place than to do it than paradise on earth, right? 

Year of Speed, it's not over yet.

What Running Has Taught Me

So this past week, I've been a bit bummed because I've had to take a short break from running because I overdid things and ended up with a foot injury (hence no training recap this week either, since there was no running going on!).  Good news...it's not a stress fracture, which I feared.  Yay!  Bad news...I had to miss the Times Colonist 10K race this past weekend.  I have to admit, I was dying to race and was pretty upset I had to miss it, but my foot only started to feel better on Saturday and the race was Sunday.  Oh le sigh.  Hubs still ran the race, so we headed down to a sea of over 12,000 people who were running or walking the race.  Admittedly I was bummed...OK, fine...I was mad at the world, but I decided that instead of being grumpy, I was going to take this opportunity to watch the race as a spectator. 

Well geez.  It was hard to be grumpy as I got caught up in all the excitement...it always, always amazes me how running brings people together.  As I watched everyone heading down to the start line, I could see how excited people were.  There were the elites, who I watched do their warm up routines and drills.  There were the first timers, with their nervous energy and excited faces.  People from all walks of life came down to do this race and everyone had their own reasons for doing it.  Even more interesting was watching everyone at the finish line...now I can attest that the last few hundred feet are the most painful and you feel like you're never going to get there, but it was pretty cool watching the faces of these people cross the finish line maybe for the first time or maybe the zillionth time.  It was awesome to be in the crowd and cheering on everyone who was crossing the finish line, and I thought you know...running really has taught me a lot of valuable lessons about life...

1.  Support Others
It really was an incredible thing to hoot and holler for all the people finishing the race.  The look on these people's faces was pretty cool to see, and with all the cheering I hope some of them felt like superstars.  I figure you get back what you give, so if you throw out a little support to the world, it'll come back to you manifold.

2.  Roll With the Punches
Yep, missing the run sucked.  But I had to just go with it rather than risk bigger injury, and in the end it was pretty cool to have spectated the race.  Sometimes things don't work out how you want, but it's not always a bad thing.

3.  A Little Adversity Isn't a Bad Thing
Sometimes life throws shit at you to test you.  Running has made me realize that I'm a lot tougher than I thought I ever was.  Seriously, your mind starts going crazy at the fortieth kilometre and your quads are screaming at you to stop, and it takes everything in your power to just keep going.  Sometimes a little adversity is just the impetus that pushes you to achieve what you never thought you could, and what goes in your head transcends all. 

4.  Nothing is Impossible
I've said it before...I was an athletic misfit as a child and teen.  Actually using the word athletic anywhere in a sentence to do with me is an insult to athletes...ha!  I was always the last one to come in on runs.  I was terrible in sports and always the last to get picked on teams.  Remember back in the day when they had the Canada Fitness Test?  And you got either an Award of Excellence or a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal?  Well, my results didn't even rate on the Canada Fitness scale and I got a participation pin.  A participation pin, people!  I sucked!   So fast forward thirty years and sometimes I can't believe I ran a marathon and I love to run now.  I exercise because I enjoy it and can't live without it!  All it means is that nothing in life is impossible.

5.  Be Grateful
It's times like this when I'm injured or sick and I can't run, that I'm thankful for the times when I can.  It's hard, but sometimes on the days when I don't feel like running, I remember those times when I would have given anything to run and I drag my lazy old ass out there.  This spills over into the rest of my life too, because I have so much more gratitude for my health, my family, and my friends...all the great, wonderful things in my life.  Sure, things could always be better and it doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to excel...but sometimes it's dangerous to be constantly looking for morebetterbigger and not appreciating what you have right in front of you.

6.  Discipline
Good things don't necessarily come easily, and sometimes it takes work...hard, hard work.  Running has taught me a lot about discipline because that's what marathon training is all about.  If you don't do the runs or the workouts, you're not going to finish the race.

7.   Don't Listen to Naysayers
As Racing with Babes says, be like the honey badger, cuz the honey badger don't care (here is the full honey badger series, seriously...this is brilliant and a must read!).  I've had my share of naysayers...people who tell me I'm crazy for running, that I'll blow out my knees, that I'll die of a heart attack (this one in particular pisses me off), that running is dumb and stupid.  Well, alls I got to say is haters are gonna hate, and this honey badger don't care.

8.  Try
Yup, I've thrown out some pretty audacious goals out there.  A 1:50 half marathon for this year's goals?  Crazzzzy.  A 50 minute 10K?  Insane-o.  But you know what?  I'd rather put it out there, try and fail than not try at all.  

9.  Health is a Gift
Running is the singular thing that's made me realize how important health is.

10.  Just Do It
Quit with the excuses.  As the billion pinterest motivational posters say, somewhere out there who is busier than you is running.  It's soooo easy to make excuses (and believe me, I make a million of 'em!)...too tired, too busy, too this, too that.  Just get your ass out there and do it, and I can almost guarantee that you won't be sorry that you did.