Yeah, I know...the title of this post is such a well worn cliche but it's just so true. Lately I've been pondering life a lot and where things are leading and for some reason, things always happen that help me refocus on what is truly important in life. Sometimes we get so caught up in all the crap in life and trying to keep up with the Jones - the big house, the fancy car, the high powered career and all those material things that people seek out - that we forget what's really important in life.
Take my very good friend V...within a matter of hours, her life changed profoundly. Her dad passed recently very suddenly which in itself is a tragic thing...but her mom has advanced stage Alzheimer's and is unable to live on her own so she's now living with V and her husband. I hung out with the family last Friday and that's when I realized I'm so lucky...even though V is incredibly busy with how things are now, she still makes time for me in her life. And even though life is stressful and things have been rough for her to say the least, V is still smiling, laughing and throwing hugs out to everyone when she could be miserable and making everyone miserable around her. Her motto? Life is too short...sometimes life throws you a shitty hand, but everyone has a choice in how they choose to live their life, how they choose to treat others and how they choose to treat themselves. A very sad event in my BFFs life has just punctuated this and confirmed the two things that I hold most important in life....when I think hard about it, these are the only two things in life that really, truly matter for me.
Family/friends
Health
Amen to that.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 11 Recap
Oops! Training recap is a weeee bit late this week...but for good reason! Hubs and I were in the big smoke this weekend to see family and do some work, so yours truly had a chance to just hang out in Vancouver and do some much needed shopping (OK, maybe not a real need). Overall the weekend was fun and relaxing...well...except for the massive spider bite I ended up getting on my hand....
Here is my hand as it is normally (still a tiny bit swollen...yes, I have vein-y old lady hands, thanks):
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Here is my hand after I got bitten:
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I noticed it Saturday morning on our long run, and kept absentmindedly scratching my hand as I thought it was a small patch of dry skin or something. Bad mistake, as it soon turned into a welt. By Sunday morning, my hand was alternating between aching and tingly plus it was really hot, an angry red/purple colour and swelling at an alarming rate. Good old Hubs whipped me to the clinic where the doc prescribed antibiotics because she didn't like how the red was spreading and was worried that it was an infection. Thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in within a few days as my hand is back to a relatively normal size instead of meaty man ham hand. The scary thing? We were hanging out in my FILs spare room (where we were bunking out for the weekend) and Hubs saw this monster spider traipse across the floor so smashed it to hell...if that was what bit me, I don't even want to think about that ugly mofo sitting on my hand while I slept innocently. *shiver*
Anyways, workouts last week were:
Sunday - 18K run
Even though we were supposed to run on Saturday, we definitely were glad that we put it off until Sunday as we had way more energy. This was a decidedly "meh" kinda run...not bad, but not amazing either. Average.
Monday - rest
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - bootcamp a.m./clinic p.m.
Back at the double Jay days, hurray! Morning was the usual hillwork/ass whupping that Jason usually does, but the clinic run was something else. Did I mention that I realllly don't like speedwork? Like really don't like it? Jason took us to the university track and we did five 800 metre repeats with a two minute rest in between at 85% effort...the first few repeats weren't too bad, but by the time I got to the last repeat, I had to push hard to get through it as I was so tired and actually felt a little queasy afterwards. After I checked my Garmin, I knew why...4:40/km average pace! As hard as it was, I was super happy with my pace and how I felt from the prior week's speed session. Yeehaw.
Thursday - Mindful Strides clinic
Another great clinic with Marilyn. I'm kinda getting sad because I'm really enjoying doing the Wednesday and Thursday run clinics. Marilyn is training for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon which is week after my half which is on Thanksgiving weekend, so I'll be sure to be tracking her progress. She is sooo my idol...totally want to be her when I grow up.
Friday - rest
I know, I know! Three rest days in a week?! I couldn't make bootcamp as we were heading to Van right after work on Friday...sure missed it though.
Saturday - 20K run
Hubs and I ran an 8K loop in Kerrisdale three times, and then finished off at a track that just happened to be where we parked the car. Now if it had been up to me, I would have run along the famous Seawall because it's beautiful and scenic...and flat. Hubs, on the other hand, didn't want to have to dodge the massive hordes of runners and walkers that would be swarming the Seawall at 7am. Anyone sense any sarcasm? Ha! The loop was admittedly shady and probably much cooler, but it was really, really hilly. Everytime we had to go up a hill, I'd turn around to give Hubs the stink eye, and all I could see was his big cheshire grin which would make me laugh each time. Oh well...train hard, run easy, right?
Here is my hand as it is normally (still a tiny bit swollen...yes, I have vein-y old lady hands, thanks):
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Here is my hand after I got bitten:
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I noticed it Saturday morning on our long run, and kept absentmindedly scratching my hand as I thought it was a small patch of dry skin or something. Bad mistake, as it soon turned into a welt. By Sunday morning, my hand was alternating between aching and tingly plus it was really hot, an angry red/purple colour and swelling at an alarming rate. Good old Hubs whipped me to the clinic where the doc prescribed antibiotics because she didn't like how the red was spreading and was worried that it was an infection. Thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in within a few days as my hand is back to a relatively normal size instead of meaty man ham hand. The scary thing? We were hanging out in my FILs spare room (where we were bunking out for the weekend) and Hubs saw this monster spider traipse across the floor so smashed it to hell...if that was what bit me, I don't even want to think about that ugly mofo sitting on my hand while I slept innocently. *shiver*
Anyways, workouts last week were:
Sunday - 18K run
Even though we were supposed to run on Saturday, we definitely were glad that we put it off until Sunday as we had way more energy. This was a decidedly "meh" kinda run...not bad, but not amazing either. Average.
Monday - rest
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - bootcamp a.m./clinic p.m.
Back at the double Jay days, hurray! Morning was the usual hillwork/ass whupping that Jason usually does, but the clinic run was something else. Did I mention that I realllly don't like speedwork? Like really don't like it? Jason took us to the university track and we did five 800 metre repeats with a two minute rest in between at 85% effort...the first few repeats weren't too bad, but by the time I got to the last repeat, I had to push hard to get through it as I was so tired and actually felt a little queasy afterwards. After I checked my Garmin, I knew why...4:40/km average pace! As hard as it was, I was super happy with my pace and how I felt from the prior week's speed session. Yeehaw.
Thursday - Mindful Strides clinic
Another great clinic with Marilyn. I'm kinda getting sad because I'm really enjoying doing the Wednesday and Thursday run clinics. Marilyn is training for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon which is week after my half which is on Thanksgiving weekend, so I'll be sure to be tracking her progress. She is sooo my idol...totally want to be her when I grow up.
Friday - rest
I know, I know! Three rest days in a week?! I couldn't make bootcamp as we were heading to Van right after work on Friday...sure missed it though.
Saturday - 20K run
Hubs and I ran an 8K loop in Kerrisdale three times, and then finished off at a track that just happened to be where we parked the car. Now if it had been up to me, I would have run along the famous Seawall because it's beautiful and scenic...and flat. Hubs, on the other hand, didn't want to have to dodge the massive hordes of runners and walkers that would be swarming the Seawall at 7am. Anyone sense any sarcasm? Ha! The loop was admittedly shady and probably much cooler, but it was really, really hilly. Everytime we had to go up a hill, I'd turn around to give Hubs the stink eye, and all I could see was his big cheshire grin which would make me laugh each time. Oh well...train hard, run easy, right?
Monday, September 3, 2012
Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 10 Recap
Sigh...what a lovely, lovely long weekend! Weather here in Victoria was great and it was all Hubs and me, all the time, just hanging out. Got lots of stuff done this weekend and cleared off my to do list, including some backbreaking garden work today...a few years ago we had a retaining wall built in our backyard and I put in a fairly large flower bed. This year I looked at it with a really critical eye...some stuff either was not doing well or didn't look great where I'd planted it, so today I tilled the whole garden, mixed in multiple bags of sea soil, moved plants around and planted a bunch of new stuff that I thought would do better. Phew! I was going to work out after doing that, but after four hours of high intensity shoveling, I figured I'd done enough physical activity that I could skip a workout today. So there.
Oh...and good news! I've finally guilted Hubs into running the Goodlife Half marathon too. Hee hee! It's become kind of a tradition now...every year we run the race, and then we feel completely guilt free in indulging in turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Hubs was reticent to commit to running the race...but finally he relented so I'm signing him up for the half quick before he changes his mind.
Sunday: rest day
Huh. I guess I didn't work out. Ha! I can't think of why I didn't...I guess I must have been tired from my long run the day before. Or just lazy.
Monday: bootcamp
Tuesday: rest day
Wednesday: bootcamp in a.m./clinic in p.m.
Hurray! Back at my double Jay days.
Thursday: Mindful Strides clinic
Friday: bootcamp
Whoa, this was totally hill week at bootcamp I tell ya...we did hills all three classes. I can really feel the hill and speed sessions in my legs too, they're feeling tired and sore this week.
Saturday: Mindful Strides run
Sooooo....Hubs and I were gonna do our long run on Saturday, but we were both zonked and just couldn't get up...plus we wanted to go to the Mindful Strides run at Elk Lake and didn't want to be too tired to be able to do the drills and strides properly. We met up with the group and did a lot of drills...and afterwards I totally regretted not coming to these sooner! We did a lot more "running" (even though we only ran maybe 100 feet at most) and we did a few drills that I'd never done before that really helped with my pulls.
After the session, a few of the group were chatting with Marilyn and she mentioned that she was racing that night at the final race for the Q100.3 Track Series. We've never seen her race before, so we decided to head out to the UVic track to cheer her on and get a chance to watch her in action. Thank goodness we had a blanket in the car...it had been a warm day but the night was very cool and windy...I had a t-shirt, two sweatshirts and a blanket and I was still freezing my butt off! Anyways, it was cool to see Marilyn race...after a little bit of confusion on the laps she was on, she came in second overall and the first woman master with a 34:20 10K time and a new personal best. I know, 34:20...crazy fast! There weren't a lot of people in the stands watching, but she had a pretty good contingent of supporters and we heard lots of "go Marilyn!!!" in the last few laps. Seeing her race totally inspired me to really put my nose to the grindstone and train hard for the half. Five more weeks to go to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear...yikes!
Thursday, August 30, 2012
My First Speed Session
Train hard, run easy. Words to live and die by. Ha! Last night was our first speedwork session at the clinic, and my first speedwork session ever. So how did you I like it, you ask?
I hated it.
But...I know it's good for me and will ultimately make me a faster, stronger and better runner, so I'm putting my big girl panties on, sucking it up and just doing it, dammit! After a quick warm up, we did mile repeats at what Jason said was supposed to be 80% of what would be full effort...we were to do four repeats with a two minute rest in betweeen (just enough time to catch your breath), so I knew I had to conserve a little energy and not run full out. As we all lined up to take our places, I kept thinking what the hell is 80% of full effort? I lined up at the back so as to avoid being embarrassed as people whipped past me and actually felt a little nervous...I was even more anxious because we were actually being timed on our intervals.
Off we went for our first repeat...my legs felt heavy from bootcamp that morning (yay, first double Jay day in a month!) but I actually like doing double days because it forces me to push through when I'm feeling tired - recreates how I'll be feeling at the 18K point when I want to curl up and die. The first repeat didn't feel great - normally I need a bit of time to warm up, but I was pleasantly surprised when I finished and I had done a mile in 7:30! Woohoo. I took a two minute rest and then took off to do the next few repeats...the second and third ones were all around the same time and felt hard, but by the time I got to the fourth one I must have found my groove because the last one felt great...as I got to the halfway point, one of the clinic leaders yelled out "way to go, girl! you're looking strong and awesome!!" which made me push even harder and it didn't hurt that he was kinda cute...tee hee. I even tried to flash him a coy smile but I'm sure I looked more like the Joker, so I stuck with a big "thanks!" and a wave. Jason was awesome too as he kept cheering us all on and shouting words of encouragement...he is so incredibly fabulous, I can't say enough about him. He has this way of pushing you positively and making you want to try harder. After the session, he came up and told me nice work as he knew I'd had a hard workout that morning, which made me feel pretty awesome. Actually, the whole group is great...as the last few runners came in, everyone was clapping and cheering them on, which I thought was amazing. What an awesome group of people!
So, first speed session done. It was hard...harder than I thought, because I'm pushing myself out of my comfort zone and truthfully, it hurts. With hills, I'm running slower but using more of my muscles to power myself up which somehow doesn't seem as hard. At the end of the session, I checked out my Garmin and saw that my overall pace was 5:02/km, which I was thrilled with...target pace for the half is 5:15/km, so if I can continue to keep my speedwork at this level, hopefully race pace will seem easy on race day.
Train hard, race easy. Very wise words.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Goodlife Victoria Half Marathon - Week 9 Recap
So you know how last week I was feeling like such a bag of poo? Totally blah? Well, that continued on for the better part of this week. I pushed myself to work out, but had to miss my double workout day on Wednesday with Jason and gave myself permission to have a full rest day yesterday and I think it was just the trick that was needed to give some life back to my legs today. I went to bootcamp this morning, and given that I had done a fairly long run just a few days prior, my legs felt remarkably fresh. We ended up running a 1K hill that would have killed me last week, and it actually felt relatively easy today. I felt full of energy and running was effortless...so glad that I'm getting some life back after feeling like such crap the last while!
Sunday - 12K run
This was the pile of doodie run that I talked about in my last post. Blah.
Monday - bootcamp
Tuesday - 30 mins stationary bike
Wednesday - rest
Wah. I had to miss my double workout day due to work commitments, but it probably ended up working out for the best in the long run. Normally I would have tried to make up the hill work last week, but my BFF was in town and well...I wanted to hang out with her instead. Ha! Anyways, I'm feeling pretty good with the hills, which is good timing as we're starting speed work this week. And no, I still haven't done the 3 x 10 minute tempo sessions we're supposed to do. Sigh. Must get on that...six more weeks of clinics and then I face my maker at the Goodlife. Ack!
Thursday - clinic
Hurray! Back training with Marilyn. It's actually pretty cool doing these clinics with her because she inspires me. She's a cool, fun person...but to hear her talk about running and to know how darn fast she is, is pretty fabulous. I may have a bit of a girl crush on her. Just sayin'.
Friday - bootcamp
I need to stretch more...I'm so bad, I know I should do it but I just don't. My calves have been feeling tight, and I woke up in the middle of the night with an excruciating charley horse that I could still feel on my run Saturday morning.
Saturday - 18K run
We had totally planned to go to a Mindful Strides session at Elk Lake on Saturday but we got up too late and didn't finish our long run in time to meet up with the group. Basically the session is just putting what we learn in the clinics into use, rather than just doing drills...but we didn't finish until 45 minutes after the start. Next week for sure! This was our first run at Elk Lake this year, and I'd forgotten how much I liked it. It was overall an average run...not super awesome, but not bad either. Given the way I'd been feeling for the better part of two weeks, I'll take it!
Sunday - 12K run
This was the pile of doodie run that I talked about in my last post. Blah.
Monday - bootcamp
Tuesday - 30 mins stationary bike
Wednesday - rest
Wah. I had to miss my double workout day due to work commitments, but it probably ended up working out for the best in the long run. Normally I would have tried to make up the hill work last week, but my BFF was in town and well...I wanted to hang out with her instead. Ha! Anyways, I'm feeling pretty good with the hills, which is good timing as we're starting speed work this week. And no, I still haven't done the 3 x 10 minute tempo sessions we're supposed to do. Sigh. Must get on that...six more weeks of clinics and then I face my maker at the Goodlife. Ack!
Thursday - clinic
Hurray! Back training with Marilyn. It's actually pretty cool doing these clinics with her because she inspires me. She's a cool, fun person...but to hear her talk about running and to know how darn fast she is, is pretty fabulous. I may have a bit of a girl crush on her. Just sayin'.
Friday - bootcamp
I need to stretch more...I'm so bad, I know I should do it but I just don't. My calves have been feeling tight, and I woke up in the middle of the night with an excruciating charley horse that I could still feel on my run Saturday morning.
Saturday - 18K run
We had totally planned to go to a Mindful Strides session at Elk Lake on Saturday but we got up too late and didn't finish our long run in time to meet up with the group. Basically the session is just putting what we learn in the clinics into use, rather than just doing drills...but we didn't finish until 45 minutes after the start. Next week for sure! This was our first run at Elk Lake this year, and I'd forgotten how much I liked it. It was overall an average run...not super awesome, but not bad either. Given the way I'd been feeling for the better part of two weeks, I'll take it!
Sunday, August 19, 2012
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!
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!
Saturday, August 11, 2012
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!
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!
Thursday, August 9, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, August 6, 2012
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!
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!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
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!
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!
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
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!
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!
Sunday, July 22, 2012
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.
...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.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
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.
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.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Sunday, July 8, 2012
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!
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!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, July 2, 2012
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.
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.
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