Hey everyone...
No I haven't forgotten you. :)
Things have been a little bit crazy for me recently as the big concert is tomorrow and the day after so every spare moment I have had has been at rehearsals. Anyways here I am with a bit of news for you. A few weeks ago I would have said that it's bad news...or the worst freaking news ever...but to quote Oogway, 'There is just news. There is no good or bad.'
If you remember, I was having some knee pain which I discovered was actually due to my IT band in my leg being aggravated from running so I took the week off and continued to cross train as was suggested. I figured by the following Monday I could ease back into my routine. The week off went very well and by the end of it I had no limp at all and I could race up and down stairs as usual. No pain during other workouts or anything like that was happening so I knew I was good to go!
Or so I thought.
Well Monday came around and I did some strength training and then bolted up the stairs at the gym towards the treadmill, anxious to start running again. I was going to do a 20 minute tempo run to get back into the swing of things. I started with my usual warm up mile happily, grinning from ear to ear to be running again...and all of a sudden I got this dull pang of pain in my band again...you know the kind of pain that is deep and feels like its hit you in the pit of your stomach? Well it was like it...it actually gave me a chill up my spine and I felt nauseated. But I'm stubborn so I kept on doing my warm up. I know its usual to be achey on a warm up run so I was hoping with all of me that it would ease up. It seemed okay for the rest of the warm up but once I started my tempo I could feel it more and more. My friend who was watching me said that he could see my 'gallop' getting worse and worse as I went on. I ended the tempo section a mile and a half in as I couldn't push it any further. I wasn't back to square one pain wise but I was faced with an unfortunate truth.
I can't run.
Its almost hilarious that I can do everything else with no pain but the moment I start to run my body screams. I sat in the car after my tempo run all teary eyed and feeling very sorry for myself...I had to accept that my band hadn't recovered but that's easier said than done. My friend suggested that I get one of these bands that go above the knee at the base of the thigh which stabilizes the muscle and I was considering it but after some real thinking I've come to the conclusion that its not in my best interest. The leg is begging not to be pushed and I have to listen. I could potentially make it worse. Even if the band alleviates the pain, it doesn't eliminate the real problem, the muscle is damaged and shouldn't be used for running.
When I tell people they get all wide-eyed and watch me like they expect me to cry or something. Haha. Everyone has been awfully sympathetic and I'm grateful for the amount of people that had faith in me to finish this race. How do I feel? Well I'm disappointed of course but I'm actually surprised at how little this injury has devastated me. I was very emotional when I had gotten off the treadmill on that dreary Monday...but when I sat in the car my inner coach decided to be my voice of reason again. It really isn't the end of the world. Its a race...and there will be more. I reminded myself that I'm not an Olympian who's life is geared towards nothing but race day but I definitely sympathized for anyone who trained like them and couldn't compete on the day. Yes, I trained hard...and I really wanted to do this...but at least I'll be able to run again once I heal up. I'm grateful that the injury hasn't limited my ability to walk and stay active. In fact I'm incredibly lucky.
Another thing that I am fortunate for is all of the friends that I have made because of this. There is actually a running coach that has seen me work and really wants me to train with his athletes! What a blessing! So I have something to look forward to! I'm very excited about the prospect of training with someone who actually does this for a living because then I can be pushed and pulled back accordingly by someone who knows the ropes and can spot things that I can't. Something that I have to consider is that even though an IT injury is typical of runners...its possible that I got it from doing too much too fast. As I mentioned when I started, I only ran now and again before I took up this program...and the program was intense. That could easily be why the muscle got so aggravated. So once I heal up and get a real coach, this may not be an issue anymore.
So...to conclude I'll leave you with my current state of mind. I'm not thrilled to be missing the race but I have to say that I've taken this pretty well. I know myself...and something like this would have shattered me before. I thought that I would have been completely devastated but to be honest I've kind of shrugged this off. Not too long ago if something like this happened I would have felt like a total failure...but I know in my heart that I'm not. I really tried. I can say with certainty that I gave it every scrap of me and my heart was in it 100%. My heart is still in it...I find myself still photographing my meals and thinking of things to post and hoping that my leg will miraculously heal up before the race. The difference is that I can handle it if it doesn't.
The day after I realized that I couldn't run I went straight to the gym and signed up. Over the past couple weeks I've gotten into heavier body building and discovered a different kind of strength that I had. Perseverance. I didn't let this knock me out of my game. I went straight back to training my body like the race didn't exist and I would be lying if I said that I'm not having a great time. My bodybuilding partner is insanely fun and has taken me under his wing, helping me out with weight adjustments, form and routines. He's been at this for a while so he's very knowledgeable and so it isn't hard to trust his judgment. We're a lot alike when it comes to drive and he knows how to push me. I'm enjoying the experience and I'm actually shocked by how much weight I am able to push already. All of my home training payed off! I'm already squatting more than my body weight and he's whipping me into shape upper body-wise. No more stick arms! Hahah! But I fully intend to get back into running again. Even with the pain...it felt amazing to run again on Monday. I'm missing this race...not missing my legs. You haven't heard the last from me yet!
On another note...I'd like to thank all of you who have followed this blog and supported me along the way. You don't know how much this means to me and I hope that you're not too disappointed. For any of you that still have questions on running, diet and training...actually questions on anything at all!...feel free to contact me because I'd be happy to help you out in any way that I can. I'm thinking of continuing to update the blog with my new training and diet so if that sounds good to you, let me know! I'll definitely start up again once I'm running again!
But thank you ALL so so so so much. You're all stars and I hope that you keep up your running while I resort to the bike! Haha! You're all in my thoughts. :)
More to come...eventually ;)
Friday, November 26, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
End of Week Six and and on to Seven
Week Six Day Seven
Yesterday morning I slowly got out of bed and tested my leg. I was able to walk fine with just a slight tweak in the outer thigh if I put weight on the leg at a strange angle so there was definite improvement. I still wasn't ready to run but I could definitely cross train. I was going to go to the gym again today for that crazy training session that I did last week. I loved it so much so I knew it was just the thing to lift my spirits. I also reminded myself that if I was doing my marathon training routine today would have been a cross train day anyways.
I started the day with plain yogurt with whey protein mixed in and my usual chopped apple.
I had to go back into town for more errands. This would be the true test as to whether I should train that day because if I could walk about for extended periods with no problem then I'd give myself the green light for the tough cross-fit session that I was in for.
And as I was out and this is only a $15 meal, I went to the vegetarian restaurant that I love so much...again...
Stewed lentils with okra and pumpkin and a carrot beet salad.
I cleaned the plate this time around.
Just a note here. I like this meal because it's got a variety of colour which means that you're getting a variety of different nutrients/phytochemicals as well. I remember reading an article that listed a set of colours and stated that you should eat that colour fruit or vegetable at least once a day. The USDA recommends giving particular attention to orange (2 cups per week) and dark green (3 cups per week) produce, both packed with vitamin A and other important nutrients. The other colours are red, yellow, light green, blue and purple/deep red. Most days I get all except blue...as blueberries cost as much as a quarter tank of gas here.
So I got to the gym about 20 minutes early so that I could give my body a thorough stretch. I focused into the IT band (which is the muscle down the side of my leg that's acting up) and once I was finished my leg felt perfect! Everyone else except the instructor was late so I hopped on the stationary bike and did about 18 minutes of a program called 'pikes peak' or something.
It's a good thing I stretched. Good grief. Today was a million times harder than last week! We started off doing laps of frog squats all around the gym and then straight into jump rope and then the intensity never dropped until about 20 minutes in. It was insane. Burpies, jump squats, exploding star jumps, high knees, mountain climbers, lunges, holding squats while lifting weighted bars out in front of us then above our heads then back again....all of that with NO rest. My heart was pounding so hard! Then finally we got to drop down on the mat and do things like bridge lifts, back exercises, different leg exercises...and then we had to do push up drills which I actually did very well in! I finished second and I was the only girl! *smug grin*
It was absolutely intense though and I had to push myself to keep going...which is just what I wanted after missing my run! Hahaha! I can't wait to go back again next week! I taught yoga in the evening so I got to really stretch out my limbs after the workout and I was hoping with allof me that I could run the next day.
Waiting for the boys to show up...can you spot me?
I'm wearing blue!
Week SEVEN Day One
Today makes a week since my last big run. I really hoped that I would be able to run today but after some thought I had to admit that it was probably a better idea to not run just yet. I had set my alarm early just in case...and I slumped back in bed a little defeated when I made my decision. At least I got to get some extra rest. I was lazing about a bit all morning but once I managed to reassemble my stink-o attitude I chose my cross training of choice.
Yesterday was an intense full body workout so I opted for a weight free day and stuck to the stationary bike. All that I was going to do was an hour of moderate to vigorous intervals with a ten minute light effort warm up.
Breakfast was yogurt and apple...again... <3
I've never done a full hour of intervals so this was a new challenge that I gave myself...and I definitely was feeling it about 35 minutes in. I got a good burn in my thighs (not to mention butt) and it was a simple yet fun way to challenge myself. I pedaled away to Avatar so my cool down intervals felt like a trail ride through the rain forest! I'm still a little down about not running but its forcing me to be creative with the workouts that I do. Tomorrow I am in for a burn as I am doing weight training with a bodybuilder friend of mine. I will update you on the fun tomorrow!
For now I have to get back to work!! Hahah!
P.S...my leg feels even better tonight!
Yesterday morning I slowly got out of bed and tested my leg. I was able to walk fine with just a slight tweak in the outer thigh if I put weight on the leg at a strange angle so there was definite improvement. I still wasn't ready to run but I could definitely cross train. I was going to go to the gym again today for that crazy training session that I did last week. I loved it so much so I knew it was just the thing to lift my spirits. I also reminded myself that if I was doing my marathon training routine today would have been a cross train day anyways.
I started the day with plain yogurt with whey protein mixed in and my usual chopped apple.
I had to go back into town for more errands. This would be the true test as to whether I should train that day because if I could walk about for extended periods with no problem then I'd give myself the green light for the tough cross-fit session that I was in for.
And as I was out and this is only a $15 meal, I went to the vegetarian restaurant that I love so much...again...
Stewed lentils with okra and pumpkin and a carrot beet salad.
I cleaned the plate this time around.
Just a note here. I like this meal because it's got a variety of colour which means that you're getting a variety of different nutrients/phytochemicals as well. I remember reading an article that listed a set of colours and stated that you should eat that colour fruit or vegetable at least once a day. The USDA recommends giving particular attention to orange (2 cups per week) and dark green (3 cups per week) produce, both packed with vitamin A and other important nutrients. The other colours are red, yellow, light green, blue and purple/deep red. Most days I get all except blue...as blueberries cost as much as a quarter tank of gas here.
So I got to the gym about 20 minutes early so that I could give my body a thorough stretch. I focused into the IT band (which is the muscle down the side of my leg that's acting up) and once I was finished my leg felt perfect! Everyone else except the instructor was late so I hopped on the stationary bike and did about 18 minutes of a program called 'pikes peak' or something.
It's a good thing I stretched. Good grief. Today was a million times harder than last week! We started off doing laps of frog squats all around the gym and then straight into jump rope and then the intensity never dropped until about 20 minutes in. It was insane. Burpies, jump squats, exploding star jumps, high knees, mountain climbers, lunges, holding squats while lifting weighted bars out in front of us then above our heads then back again....all of that with NO rest. My heart was pounding so hard! Then finally we got to drop down on the mat and do things like bridge lifts, back exercises, different leg exercises...and then we had to do push up drills which I actually did very well in! I finished second and I was the only girl! *smug grin*
It was absolutely intense though and I had to push myself to keep going...which is just what I wanted after missing my run! Hahaha! I can't wait to go back again next week! I taught yoga in the evening so I got to really stretch out my limbs after the workout and I was hoping with allof me that I could run the next day.
Waiting for the boys to show up...can you spot me?
I'm wearing blue!
Week SEVEN Day One
Today makes a week since my last big run. I really hoped that I would be able to run today but after some thought I had to admit that it was probably a better idea to not run just yet. I had set my alarm early just in case...and I slumped back in bed a little defeated when I made my decision. At least I got to get some extra rest. I was lazing about a bit all morning but once I managed to reassemble my stink-o attitude I chose my cross training of choice.
Yesterday was an intense full body workout so I opted for a weight free day and stuck to the stationary bike. All that I was going to do was an hour of moderate to vigorous intervals with a ten minute light effort warm up.
Breakfast was yogurt and apple...again... <3
I've never done a full hour of intervals so this was a new challenge that I gave myself...and I definitely was feeling it about 35 minutes in. I got a good burn in my thighs (not to mention butt) and it was a simple yet fun way to challenge myself. I pedaled away to Avatar so my cool down intervals felt like a trail ride through the rain forest! I'm still a little down about not running but its forcing me to be creative with the workouts that I do. Tomorrow I am in for a burn as I am doing weight training with a bodybuilder friend of mine. I will update you on the fun tomorrow!
For now I have to get back to work!! Hahah!
P.S...my leg feels even better tonight!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Week Six Days Five and Six
Day Five was my total rest day. I noticed that in the evening on Saturday my knee really started to act up. I was resting and when I got up I was horrified to see the severity of my limp. My leg didn't hurt terribly but I found a strange discomfort in the back of my left knee when walking. I figured it was just playing up after a long day. I was glad that the following day (Sunday, Day Five) was a rest day. I woke up on Sunday with a stiff leg but nothing terrible...but as I started to move around the discomfort got worse and worse to the point that I was so uncomfortable walking in my sandals. I realized at this point that I needed a knee brace. Unfortunately this meant walking about it the huge grocery store here. I was also aggravated because I had choreography practice for our big concert in the evening and I would have to be on my feet. The pain isn't in the knee itself but in the muscle traveling along the outer thing to the knee. The back of the knee feels like its going to snap when I put too much pressure on the leg. I took some Tylenol and managed to hobble through the dance routines. The Tylenol really helped but I was still very discouraged by how slowly I had to move about. This just came out of nowhere and all of a sudden I'm reduced to granny speed! Uuuugh.
Day Six:
Today the pain isn't as bad. The brace has been helping a lot.
I'm using the knee stabilizer by Ace.
It fits really well and the support feels great. I was worried that my little legs may not fill it out but I was happily surprised.
So...I was supposed to run today but that's out. Am I happy about this? No. Now isn't the time to be slowing down. I'm trying not to think about it whatsoever. I hope that I will be okay by Friday which is when I plan to do my big run. I don't want to slow my training now...I'm so close! I'm giving the knee the rest from running but I am still going to try and be active in other ways. The knee feels better today so hopefully tomorrow I can do some cross training.
The main focus for me right now is to refuse to feel sorry for myself and just work with my body. I'm feeling insanely restless but I know that the days off are necessary. I'm partially tempted to run through the ache but I have to remind myself how disastrous that could be. It just feels terribly wrong going from so much activity to being the slowest person to exit the studio. Pooh.
Anyways the injury really isn't that bad and I'm sure that all I need is a little rest.
I will keep you updated.
Love,
Hop-along
Day Six:
Today the pain isn't as bad. The brace has been helping a lot.
I'm using the knee stabilizer by Ace.
It fits really well and the support feels great. I was worried that my little legs may not fill it out but I was happily surprised.So...I was supposed to run today but that's out. Am I happy about this? No. Now isn't the time to be slowing down. I'm trying not to think about it whatsoever. I hope that I will be okay by Friday which is when I plan to do my big run. I don't want to slow my training now...I'm so close! I'm giving the knee the rest from running but I am still going to try and be active in other ways. The knee feels better today so hopefully tomorrow I can do some cross training.
The main focus for me right now is to refuse to feel sorry for myself and just work with my body. I'm feeling insanely restless but I know that the days off are necessary. I'm partially tempted to run through the ache but I have to remind myself how disastrous that could be. It just feels terribly wrong going from so much activity to being the slowest person to exit the studio. Pooh.
Anyways the injury really isn't that bad and I'm sure that all I need is a little rest.
I will keep you updated.
Love,
Hop-along
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Week Six: Days Two-Four!
Okay time to play catch up!
Week Six Day Two:
Hallelujah! Noooo hangover! I wouldn't go as far to say that I didn't need some extra Zzzs, but once I got that I was up and about as usual. More errands to start my day...tons actually. I was walking about town for three hours! If I walked anymore I would have had to skip training! Haha! I figured as I was out again I would eat at that vegetarian restaurant again. I hardly eat out so this was a treat! Twice in one week!!
Curried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with steamed spinach and a cucumber/tomato/red onion salad drizzled in a rice wine or something with sesame seeds. Mmm
Once again, too much beans but I almost finished it. Not quite though.
After trekking about all morning I figured I'd need a quick snooze before I decided to work out. Today was upper body and core training. Once I had napped I started with my stretch and warm up on the stationary bike and then did a 'fast-as-you-can' cross fit session that looks short when written down but murderous to do. It was appropriately named 'Suicidal Sweat Workout' by the trainer who wrote it up. It has draining reps of 2 jump squats straight into a jump knee tuck straight into three push ups and on the third, jumping back into the squat to do the sequence again...fifteen times...yeah. Brutal but rewarding. After that I did a different upper body strength workout this week. I used one of Gilad's training sessions that you use slightly lighter weights for but more reps with no rest. I forgot how hard it was!
Definitely a successful cross train day though. I felt the burn!
Week Six Day Three:
Tempo tempo tempo! (ugh! hahaha!)
Another tempo run...and it was to be even harder this week. If you remember, last week's run was a mile warm up and then run all out for 25 minutes. It was a struggle last week and I wondered how I would be able to manage this weeks increase to 30 minutes. It was also ridiculously hot and I was not too keen about running out in such conditions. I decided that today's tempo run would be done on the treadmill...which would actually make it harder because I couldn't slack in pace. I have been doing some reading about tempo runs and they were saying that most people either run their tempo sessions too fast or too slow and its important to know your pace. A 'comfortably hard' pace was the term used again. I decided to revisit my training calculations on runnersworld.com and from how I ran my last tempo, my pace should be about 7.2 mph. Perfect! All I had to do was lock that into the treadmill and try to hold out!
Breakfast was a new regular and favourite of mine. Very simple but sooo delicious and filling.
One medium apple chopped up and mixed into vanilla yogurt. That's it! But soooo good!
Apart from being new to treadmill tempo runs...I also had something else new on my plate.
My arches have been killing me since my long run and sometimes it hurts to walk without shoes. So I realized that my old running shoes had to go. I needed a slightly bigger size to protect my toes and ones with better arch support. That was one of the things that I had to do in town the day before and I am still swooning over my purchase.
OOoooh yeah! I got Shox! Hahaha
Nike Shox.
They are so much more comfortable on my arches and I got a slightly bigger size so it was perfect. AND they were on sale! WOOO!
*ahem*
Anyways, I laced up those bad boys and got to work on the treadmill. The movie of choice was The Lion King and Hans Zimmer's masterpiece of a soundtrack was ideal for running. Go Simba go!
The mile warm up seemed to take foreeeeever again. But I didn't mind as much because I knew what I had to do once it was over. 30 minutes at 7.2 mph. Before I started training for this marathon the fastest I ever went on the treadmill was 6mph and for 30 seconds!! Hahaha!
It was the perfect pace...not terribly difficult at first but as the time went on it became harder and harder. I swear I hit a wall after 10 minutes. Ten minutes into all of my sessions that require speed, I want to stop running about 10-15 minutes in. Its always in that time that I feel like I can't do it...that I can't finish...that I should shorten the workout...things like that. I have to remind myself that I have to push through. Its hard and I sometimes doubt that I can...but once I decide to try is when I make it through. 20 minutes in, I was tired but I wasn't letting myself off the hook. I knew I had it in me...I just had to think of something else and let myself do it. I zoned into the movie as best as I could and tried not to look at the time on the treadmill when I'd adjust the incline to simulate different hills throughout. I didn't make the incline particularly drastic at any point but I would run at inclines for over a minute at a time or gradually increase it by .5 every 30 seconds...then gradually decrease. I just played about with the numbers and tried to work with my energy levels but still present an increased challenge along with holding the pace. The last 5 minutes weren't as terrible as I would have expected. I was counting every second believe me...but I knew I could do it this time. It was hard but worth it!
Lunch was my usual veggie burger/sweet potato combo before rushing out to work.
Week Six Day Four!
That's today! Yay I caught up!
Today I did lower body strength work. I started with 30 minutes on the bike alternating between moderate and vigorous effort pedaling. After that a quick lower body strength routine of squats, one-legged deadlifts, one-legged, elevated jump lunges, backward lunges, step ups and such with some push ups, crunches, lateral rows and mountain climbers thrown in. Quick and dirty. Then off to work which is where I am posting from!
More to come as the weeks roll on! Less than a month away from the race!
Week Six Day Two:
Hallelujah! Noooo hangover! I wouldn't go as far to say that I didn't need some extra Zzzs, but once I got that I was up and about as usual. More errands to start my day...tons actually. I was walking about town for three hours! If I walked anymore I would have had to skip training! Haha! I figured as I was out again I would eat at that vegetarian restaurant again. I hardly eat out so this was a treat! Twice in one week!!
Curried chickpeas (garbanzo beans) with steamed spinach and a cucumber/tomato/red onion salad drizzled in a rice wine or something with sesame seeds. Mmm
Once again, too much beans but I almost finished it. Not quite though.
After trekking about all morning I figured I'd need a quick snooze before I decided to work out. Today was upper body and core training. Once I had napped I started with my stretch and warm up on the stationary bike and then did a 'fast-as-you-can' cross fit session that looks short when written down but murderous to do. It was appropriately named 'Suicidal Sweat Workout' by the trainer who wrote it up. It has draining reps of 2 jump squats straight into a jump knee tuck straight into three push ups and on the third, jumping back into the squat to do the sequence again...fifteen times...yeah. Brutal but rewarding. After that I did a different upper body strength workout this week. I used one of Gilad's training sessions that you use slightly lighter weights for but more reps with no rest. I forgot how hard it was!
Definitely a successful cross train day though. I felt the burn!
Week Six Day Three:
Tempo tempo tempo! (ugh! hahaha!)
Another tempo run...and it was to be even harder this week. If you remember, last week's run was a mile warm up and then run all out for 25 minutes. It was a struggle last week and I wondered how I would be able to manage this weeks increase to 30 minutes. It was also ridiculously hot and I was not too keen about running out in such conditions. I decided that today's tempo run would be done on the treadmill...which would actually make it harder because I couldn't slack in pace. I have been doing some reading about tempo runs and they were saying that most people either run their tempo sessions too fast or too slow and its important to know your pace. A 'comfortably hard' pace was the term used again. I decided to revisit my training calculations on runnersworld.com and from how I ran my last tempo, my pace should be about 7.2 mph. Perfect! All I had to do was lock that into the treadmill and try to hold out!
Breakfast was a new regular and favourite of mine. Very simple but sooo delicious and filling.
One medium apple chopped up and mixed into vanilla yogurt. That's it! But soooo good!
Apart from being new to treadmill tempo runs...I also had something else new on my plate.
My arches have been killing me since my long run and sometimes it hurts to walk without shoes. So I realized that my old running shoes had to go. I needed a slightly bigger size to protect my toes and ones with better arch support. That was one of the things that I had to do in town the day before and I am still swooning over my purchase.
OOoooh yeah! I got Shox! Hahaha
Nike Shox.
They are so much more comfortable on my arches and I got a slightly bigger size so it was perfect. AND they were on sale! WOOO!
*ahem*
Anyways, I laced up those bad boys and got to work on the treadmill. The movie of choice was The Lion King and Hans Zimmer's masterpiece of a soundtrack was ideal for running. Go Simba go!
The mile warm up seemed to take foreeeeever again. But I didn't mind as much because I knew what I had to do once it was over. 30 minutes at 7.2 mph. Before I started training for this marathon the fastest I ever went on the treadmill was 6mph and for 30 seconds!! Hahaha!
It was the perfect pace...not terribly difficult at first but as the time went on it became harder and harder. I swear I hit a wall after 10 minutes. Ten minutes into all of my sessions that require speed, I want to stop running about 10-15 minutes in. Its always in that time that I feel like I can't do it...that I can't finish...that I should shorten the workout...things like that. I have to remind myself that I have to push through. Its hard and I sometimes doubt that I can...but once I decide to try is when I make it through. 20 minutes in, I was tired but I wasn't letting myself off the hook. I knew I had it in me...I just had to think of something else and let myself do it. I zoned into the movie as best as I could and tried not to look at the time on the treadmill when I'd adjust the incline to simulate different hills throughout. I didn't make the incline particularly drastic at any point but I would run at inclines for over a minute at a time or gradually increase it by .5 every 30 seconds...then gradually decrease. I just played about with the numbers and tried to work with my energy levels but still present an increased challenge along with holding the pace. The last 5 minutes weren't as terrible as I would have expected. I was counting every second believe me...but I knew I could do it this time. It was hard but worth it!
Lunch was my usual veggie burger/sweet potato combo before rushing out to work.
Week Six Day Four!
That's today! Yay I caught up!
Today I did lower body strength work. I started with 30 minutes on the bike alternating between moderate and vigorous effort pedaling. After that a quick lower body strength routine of squats, one-legged deadlifts, one-legged, elevated jump lunges, backward lunges, step ups and such with some push ups, crunches, lateral rows and mountain climbers thrown in. Quick and dirty. Then off to work which is where I am posting from!
More to come as the weeks roll on! Less than a month away from the race!
Friday, November 12, 2010
Crazy Amazing Days Seven and Week SIX Day One!
Wow wow wow time is just zinging past and I'm struggling to keep up!!
So sorry for the delay in posting. I don't have much time tonight but I will update you on two days and do the other two tomorrow!!!
Week Five Day Seven:
This was the day I finally made it into the gym for the first time in YEARS. One of my students told me about an intense training session that happens in the gym every Tuesday and he wanted me to try it out. I skipped on it last week because of lack of rest...and this week I didn't sleep that much more but I definitely felt way more energetic and so I was ready for the challenge.
I had a bunch of errands in the morning before and I was running low on time so I decided to eat out whilst I was in town.
I went to my favourite vegetarian restaurant that never fails to deliver great taste at an affordable price!
Stewed lentils, steamed spinach and ocra with a beet and carrot salad.
The portion of lentils is far too much so I only ate half.
This meal had me bouncing with energy and I got to the gym all excited and ready to kick butt. I was the only girl training with these huge guys...it was pretty funny to see.
I can't remember all of the exercises exactly but we did a lot of hip flexor exercises, tons of core work, they gave us all weighted bars that we had to do a series of exercises with and then hold the bar above our heads, then straight out in front of us (ooooooooouch) while walking laps. We had push up drills, some crazy exercises for our backs where the trainer holds a ball out in front of you at different levels (you're laying on your stomach) and you have to reach up and tap the ball one time after the next after the next with no rest and with the ball getting higher up and ou have to do it extremely quickly. We did different squats, burpies, plank jumps, high knees...yeah it was tough but amaaazing. So fun to be training with other people as well. It really makes you push yourself that much harder. We ended with some running drills to improve your running start in sprinting. I went home buzzing with energy and hoping with all my might that I would have next Tuesday off...and I do! :D
This is where it all went down!
I had yoga in the evening and then rehearsals after...and I felt so alive and invigorated. I wasn't a bit tired! It really was a great day.
Week SIX Day One!
This was my 'big run' day again...and it was made even bigger because this time I was doing everything by myself. I didn't want to say anything before because I hoped that it wasn't the case...but after last week's 12 mile run, my running partner threw in the towel.
Its tough...I mean this training program is intense. It demands all of you, all of the time and you have to be willing to push yourself to your limits...and far out of your comfort zone. The difference between he and I is that I enjoy this...and he wasn't enjoying it anymore. Its fair enough...but I'll miss him.
So, I found out kind of last minute that this run would be done solo, but I know what to do by now so I am fully capable of planning my routes. This run was an 11 mile race simulation so I was expected to run a bit faster...just like I would in the race. I woke up at 5 and actually GOT up this time and sauntered into the kitchen for the breakfast that I wanted to have for the long run the week before.
Oatmeal pancakes drizzled in light maple syrup with half a cup of chopped watermelon.
While getting ready I realized that I didn't have any Vaseline and so I had to use my noodle to find a substitute. I remember that I had a bottle of lavender baby oil so I slicked down my 'problem areas' generously and then I got ready, packed my cooler and my duffel bag and drove down to my starting point of choice. The plan was to drive out 5.5 miles, plant the cooler and drive back to the starting point and be off! Driving the 5.5 miles out made me realize how far I was actually running...it was like I was driving and driving but the miles were creeping by...when I got to the 5.5 mark there was a metal spoke in the ground with a pink bit tied on it. Perfect! I put my drinks in the grass behind it and headed back.
I got to the parking lot...stuffed my car keys down my shorts and then wondered what to do with the banana. What banana you may ask.
WELL...smartypants here forgot to get gels so I had to resort to bananas again. I initially packed two bananas, one in the cooler and one to start with. I was really not happy about having to eat a banana while running but I didn't really have a choice. I just hoped to God it wouldn't have me running to the nearest bush. I decided that I was not running with a banana in my tights so I was going to hold it in one hand and my water in the other.
Stretch, timer started and off we go!
The first mile of my run included the hill that I did hillwork on. I was so pleased to see how much easier it was for me to run lightly all the way up it. It wasn't incredibly easy but there was a great difference. Off to a good start!
The route had a lot of ups and downs so that made it challenging. It wasn't so bad running on my own. I felt a little bit proud of myself for doing everything alone...like the kid who finally uses the potty aaaaall by herself...and I enjoyed the morning breeze rushing over my cheeks. Pun intended.
I was hoping that I'd get some aromatherapy action from my lavender oil but I guess my old sweaty self pretty much overpowered it and made my sportsbra soak most of it up. The bra was lavender coloured though so I guess it was entitled. :P When I was about three miles in I started to soften up the banana by squeezing it gently trying to make the pulp mushy. My hope was that by the time I was ready to eat it I could squeeze it out like a gel. (Keep all of your potty-brain banana jokes to yourself from this point on! Haha!) But yeah...I had to pretty much massage the banana for a couple miles and then I bit off the tip and squeezed on the top end...and voila! It worked! I still ate it much slower than I ingest the gels because I was worried that it would be too bulky. Over about .75 miles I slowly sucked out half of the banana in small amounts so that it would not choke me like the last time. I felt pretty chuffed at my bright idea...but I still would rather a gel. Hahah.
I reached the 5.5 mile at about 55 minutes so I knew I was in good time. I got my Gatorade and left the other banana because I only ate half of the first one. I ran along the coast back in the other direction, making my way back to base. It got pretty hot and there were tons of cars on the road with early morning traffic. I tried to eat the second half of my banana inconspicuously but that was rather difficult. The hotter it got, the harder it got to run...and when I had two more miles to go I started to feel the effects of how much faster I was running...and how much faster I was taking the hills. I knew I could hold the pace though...and I was happy to see that I actually ran UP the hills faster than I ran the flats. Reaching the parking lot again was sweet victory as I finished in an hour and forty five minutes...which made me a few minutes faster than my last run AND it meant that I kept a steady pace of nine minute miles throughout!! The first thing I did was rip off my shoes and dash into the sea!
The victory sprint into the ocean!
There is nothing like the rush of seawater over hot, sore limbs. I ran in the sea fully clothed again and I had to try to refrain from doing the deadman's float because it might have been a bit alarming if someone saw me. But man...so good. I dried off and then went home and passed out for a couple hours after having a protein shake. When I woke up I was shaking with hunger and discovered a nasty pain in my arches. It was so bad that I could not walk without shoes on...I had to get my Burks with plenty arch support and drag my feet into the kitchen to make lunch. I must have been a sight in my underwear, night robe and my clunky Burks.
When I got to the kitchen...all I knew was that I wanted salmon and I wanted it NOW. Hahah. I was monstrously hungry. I was hoping to have a seared fillet but I pulverized the crap out of the fillet trying to force it to hurry up and thaw...so upon looking at the salmon mush that I had produced I though...salmon tacos it is!
Salmon and red onion tacos drizzled with honey mustard. That's the last of the plantain, baked.
I ended up nicknaming this my Zoidberg-er because it reminded me of Professor Zoidberg once I put it out on the plate...
Then I REALLY had to ice my feet. I remember when I iced my foot when I first started to lose my nail that I felt a difference between the two feet for the rest of the day. My arches still hurt a lot so I got myself a bowl full of ice and popped my tootsies in!
Brrrr....
It made a world of a difference though!
Once I was up and about again...I had one more exciting thing on the agenda for the day. I had been asked to model as a cherubim and the shoot was that day! I was to have my back airbrushed and it was to be a 'tattoo' of three of the heads of a cherubim (an eagle, a lion and a bull). I was nervous and excited. My last modeling job was a disaster but it was a commercial shoot. This was editorial and much more up my alley.
Pretty cool eh? I had to stand like that for ages and try not to move while they painted it on. That was just as hard for me as my training...I am so fidgety.
But the shoot was fantastic and lots of fun! The photographer is a great guy and was very encouraging and gave clear direction. He was happy with my performance as well so it really was a great experience! Lots of laughs. Can't wait to see the finished result!
Yet another great day! How blessed am I???
I don't have time to post anymore so I will fill you in on the rest of the days asap!!!!
Big love to you all!
So sorry for the delay in posting. I don't have much time tonight but I will update you on two days and do the other two tomorrow!!!
Week Five Day Seven:
This was the day I finally made it into the gym for the first time in YEARS. One of my students told me about an intense training session that happens in the gym every Tuesday and he wanted me to try it out. I skipped on it last week because of lack of rest...and this week I didn't sleep that much more but I definitely felt way more energetic and so I was ready for the challenge.
I had a bunch of errands in the morning before and I was running low on time so I decided to eat out whilst I was in town.
I went to my favourite vegetarian restaurant that never fails to deliver great taste at an affordable price!
Stewed lentils, steamed spinach and ocra with a beet and carrot salad.The portion of lentils is far too much so I only ate half.
This meal had me bouncing with energy and I got to the gym all excited and ready to kick butt. I was the only girl training with these huge guys...it was pretty funny to see.
I can't remember all of the exercises exactly but we did a lot of hip flexor exercises, tons of core work, they gave us all weighted bars that we had to do a series of exercises with and then hold the bar above our heads, then straight out in front of us (ooooooooouch) while walking laps. We had push up drills, some crazy exercises for our backs where the trainer holds a ball out in front of you at different levels (you're laying on your stomach) and you have to reach up and tap the ball one time after the next after the next with no rest and with the ball getting higher up and ou have to do it extremely quickly. We did different squats, burpies, plank jumps, high knees...yeah it was tough but amaaazing. So fun to be training with other people as well. It really makes you push yourself that much harder. We ended with some running drills to improve your running start in sprinting. I went home buzzing with energy and hoping with all my might that I would have next Tuesday off...and I do! :D
This is where it all went down!
I had yoga in the evening and then rehearsals after...and I felt so alive and invigorated. I wasn't a bit tired! It really was a great day.
Week SIX Day One!
This was my 'big run' day again...and it was made even bigger because this time I was doing everything by myself. I didn't want to say anything before because I hoped that it wasn't the case...but after last week's 12 mile run, my running partner threw in the towel.
Its tough...I mean this training program is intense. It demands all of you, all of the time and you have to be willing to push yourself to your limits...and far out of your comfort zone. The difference between he and I is that I enjoy this...and he wasn't enjoying it anymore. Its fair enough...but I'll miss him.
So, I found out kind of last minute that this run would be done solo, but I know what to do by now so I am fully capable of planning my routes. This run was an 11 mile race simulation so I was expected to run a bit faster...just like I would in the race. I woke up at 5 and actually GOT up this time and sauntered into the kitchen for the breakfast that I wanted to have for the long run the week before.
Oatmeal pancakes drizzled in light maple syrup with half a cup of chopped watermelon.
While getting ready I realized that I didn't have any Vaseline and so I had to use my noodle to find a substitute. I remember that I had a bottle of lavender baby oil so I slicked down my 'problem areas' generously and then I got ready, packed my cooler and my duffel bag and drove down to my starting point of choice. The plan was to drive out 5.5 miles, plant the cooler and drive back to the starting point and be off! Driving the 5.5 miles out made me realize how far I was actually running...it was like I was driving and driving but the miles were creeping by...when I got to the 5.5 mark there was a metal spoke in the ground with a pink bit tied on it. Perfect! I put my drinks in the grass behind it and headed back.
I got to the parking lot...stuffed my car keys down my shorts and then wondered what to do with the banana. What banana you may ask.
WELL...smartypants here forgot to get gels so I had to resort to bananas again. I initially packed two bananas, one in the cooler and one to start with. I was really not happy about having to eat a banana while running but I didn't really have a choice. I just hoped to God it wouldn't have me running to the nearest bush. I decided that I was not running with a banana in my tights so I was going to hold it in one hand and my water in the other.
Stretch, timer started and off we go!
The first mile of my run included the hill that I did hillwork on. I was so pleased to see how much easier it was for me to run lightly all the way up it. It wasn't incredibly easy but there was a great difference. Off to a good start!
The route had a lot of ups and downs so that made it challenging. It wasn't so bad running on my own. I felt a little bit proud of myself for doing everything alone...like the kid who finally uses the potty aaaaall by herself...and I enjoyed the morning breeze rushing over my cheeks. Pun intended.
I was hoping that I'd get some aromatherapy action from my lavender oil but I guess my old sweaty self pretty much overpowered it and made my sportsbra soak most of it up. The bra was lavender coloured though so I guess it was entitled. :P When I was about three miles in I started to soften up the banana by squeezing it gently trying to make the pulp mushy. My hope was that by the time I was ready to eat it I could squeeze it out like a gel. (Keep all of your potty-brain banana jokes to yourself from this point on! Haha!) But yeah...I had to pretty much massage the banana for a couple miles and then I bit off the tip and squeezed on the top end...and voila! It worked! I still ate it much slower than I ingest the gels because I was worried that it would be too bulky. Over about .75 miles I slowly sucked out half of the banana in small amounts so that it would not choke me like the last time. I felt pretty chuffed at my bright idea...but I still would rather a gel. Hahah.
I reached the 5.5 mile at about 55 minutes so I knew I was in good time. I got my Gatorade and left the other banana because I only ate half of the first one. I ran along the coast back in the other direction, making my way back to base. It got pretty hot and there were tons of cars on the road with early morning traffic. I tried to eat the second half of my banana inconspicuously but that was rather difficult. The hotter it got, the harder it got to run...and when I had two more miles to go I started to feel the effects of how much faster I was running...and how much faster I was taking the hills. I knew I could hold the pace though...and I was happy to see that I actually ran UP the hills faster than I ran the flats. Reaching the parking lot again was sweet victory as I finished in an hour and forty five minutes...which made me a few minutes faster than my last run AND it meant that I kept a steady pace of nine minute miles throughout!! The first thing I did was rip off my shoes and dash into the sea!
The victory sprint into the ocean!
There is nothing like the rush of seawater over hot, sore limbs. I ran in the sea fully clothed again and I had to try to refrain from doing the deadman's float because it might have been a bit alarming if someone saw me. But man...so good. I dried off and then went home and passed out for a couple hours after having a protein shake. When I woke up I was shaking with hunger and discovered a nasty pain in my arches. It was so bad that I could not walk without shoes on...I had to get my Burks with plenty arch support and drag my feet into the kitchen to make lunch. I must have been a sight in my underwear, night robe and my clunky Burks.
When I got to the kitchen...all I knew was that I wanted salmon and I wanted it NOW. Hahah. I was monstrously hungry. I was hoping to have a seared fillet but I pulverized the crap out of the fillet trying to force it to hurry up and thaw...so upon looking at the salmon mush that I had produced I though...salmon tacos it is!
Salmon and red onion tacos drizzled with honey mustard. That's the last of the plantain, baked.
I ended up nicknaming this my Zoidberg-er because it reminded me of Professor Zoidberg once I put it out on the plate...
Then I REALLY had to ice my feet. I remember when I iced my foot when I first started to lose my nail that I felt a difference between the two feet for the rest of the day. My arches still hurt a lot so I got myself a bowl full of ice and popped my tootsies in!
Brrrr....
It made a world of a difference though!
Once I was up and about again...I had one more exciting thing on the agenda for the day. I had been asked to model as a cherubim and the shoot was that day! I was to have my back airbrushed and it was to be a 'tattoo' of three of the heads of a cherubim (an eagle, a lion and a bull). I was nervous and excited. My last modeling job was a disaster but it was a commercial shoot. This was editorial and much more up my alley.
Pretty cool eh? I had to stand like that for ages and try not to move while they painted it on. That was just as hard for me as my training...I am so fidgety.
But the shoot was fantastic and lots of fun! The photographer is a great guy and was very encouraging and gave clear direction. He was happy with my performance as well so it really was a great experience! Lots of laughs. Can't wait to see the finished result!
Yet another great day! How blessed am I???
I don't have time to post anymore so I will fill you in on the rest of the days asap!!!!
Big love to you all!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Week Five: Day Six
Lookie lookie at who is posting two days in a row!! ^.^
Day Six had a rocky start. I'm not sure if you remember a couple weeks ago I had a speedwork session that I couldn't get my head around and so I did hillwork instead. This same speedwork training session came up again on my schedule so I automatically decided to do hillwork again.
Well I set my alarm for 5:30Am and pulled another silly move by putting my head back down for a moment and then waking up at 6:30...which is when I wanted to be leaving. I was pretty aggravated at first and I was hoping that the day would have been overcast so I could still go...but no luck. I wondered if I should just suck it up and face the heat...or if I should just cross train...but I really didn't want to miss out on a running session. So I thought about it and I remember reading a hillwork training session that could be done on the treadmill and I considered doing that but then I decided to revisit the original speedwork session that threw me for a loop:
"2 miles at 10-K pace, 2 x 1 mile at 5-K pace, 2 x 800 meters at slightly faster than 5-K pace, with 5 minutes recovery after the 2-mile and 3 minutes recovery after the miles and 800."
I then realized, 'Ah-ha! I can do THIS on the treadmill!'. I had spoken to my running partner a couple weeks ago and we discussed how this session was to be run and he said the progression was warm up-2 miles-5 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-800m (half a mile)-3 mins recovery-800m-3 mins recovery-cool down.
After some calculating using my time and pace estimations from runnersworld.com (I pasted them to my last post) I worked out that my 10k pace would be 6.8 mph, my 5k pace would be 7.2mph and slighter faster would be just that. I'd try 7.5 which I thought was adventurous. Suddenly I was excited again and itching to start my run. I also think it was a blessing in disguise that I woke up too late for my hillwork because the treadmill is much lower impact and my hip is better but not perfect.
I uh...forgot to photograph my breakfast. Sorry. :P I had a soy cheese and egg white omlette with whole rye and a cup of chopped watermelon.
I have to tell you...I much prefer running outdoors. I can't run on a treadmill without a movie on...more specifically a Disney movie (shut up...) so I put on my usual choice of The Little Mermaid and plodded away happily to Alan Menken's genius of a soundtrack guiding my stride for my warm up mile. Everything seems to take that much longer on a treadmill...even with the movie playing. I was only really able to pay close attention to the movie during the warm up mile because once that was over it was time to pick up the intensity.
Longest...two...miles...ever...Even though you have the little monitor showing you every 0.01 of a mile that you've completed it still feels like you're getting nowhere. I guess because in reality you aren't getting anywhere...you're just running on the spot! It kind of felt like a moderate tempo run difficulty-wise though. Some runners say that running on the treadmill doesn't do much for you because the belt moving the world beneath you makes it easier...but then you also have the challenge of keeping the pace constantly or prepare to be thrown off (or in my case slammed into the wall just behind the treadmill. And yes it's happened before.) I was definitely counting the minutes but it was lessened by my occasional ability to zone into the movie. The two miles took me about 23 mins.
I had a 5 minute recovery after the two miles in which I decided to run and get my camera so I could see what my stride was looking like. I set the timer and jumped on the treadmill to do the second section of the workout.
I upped the speed to 7.2 mph and it didn't feel that much horribly harder. I started to feel it half way through but I wasn't ever at the point where I was dying to finish. After the mile I quickly checked the camera and none of the shots caught my full stride so I set it and then tried again.
Another mile...felt a little bit harder. Each mile took me about 8:30 mins.
Then it was time for the 800m.
I started at the 7.5 mph but it felt too easy. I knew I was only going to be running for half of the time of the last mile so I could run faster and I definitely had the energy. I upped the speed to 8mph and then 8.5 mph. That felt amazing. No I didn't have the world whizzing by me but it just felt so good to be moving at that speed. I finished the 800m huffing and puffing happily. One more to go!
I started at 8.5 mph again and then my enthusiasm took hold and I upped it right away to 9 mph. Now I really felt incredible. It was fatiguing to hold the pace but I wasn't dying. It was a wonderful feeling. I was glad that I set up the camera one more time for this session because I felt like I was flying. I finished the .5 mile at about 3:25 and then did my cool down mile at about 5 mph. The Little Mermaid was over by this point and I realized I hardly watched the movie at all. Oh well! The workout was so enjoyable and I didn't even have to leave my house to run those 8 miles! I wouldn't want to do my long run on the treadmill but it was fun for a change today...except having to mop up my sweat. :P
I made myself a protein shake right after and photographed it because I felt bad about breakfast. :P
Soymilk and whey protein
While enjoying my shake I poured over the photos and I was pleased to see that my stride was bigger than I expected along with my form being better as well!
This shot didn't catch my full stride but I liked it because both of my feet are off the belt. Hee hee
And I took this one just for you. :)
Looks like I am doing the running man. :P
I stiffened up pretty quickly after this run. I felt it particularly in my calves and hips this time around. I did some around the house chores and then made a quick lunch.
Fish tacos in a corn tortilla and baked plantain.
I'm loving the plantain these days. I haven't had any in the house in a while so I am taking full advantage.
And so the rest of my day went on as usual. Chores, cooking...quick nap and then off to work.
Before I end today's post I'm going to talk to you about my 'must haves' when it comes to hydrating. I make sure to have all of these in the house when I know I have a run coming up.
You can click to enlarge.
What's in the photo and why? Starting from the left:
Smart Water: This is electrolyte enhanced water. I mentioned before that I like to have this on the first leg of my runs now instead of Gatorade because I get tired of the sweetness of the Gatorade especially when the drink warms up. I also need to have this in the evening of the run and the day AFTER the run so that I can continue to rehydrate with electrolytes without having all of the sugar, carbs and unecessary calories of Gatorade. This is all that has been saving me from my runner's hangover. When I can't get this, the zero calorie vitamin water would be my next choice and I'd just have to put up with the sweetness. The added vitamins are most welcome though!
Gatorade in powder form: A bottle of Gatorade costs almost $5 here. I didn't realize at first how much it was adding up but once I did I was happy to discover that I had the option of buying the mix instead. This container yeilds 35 servings (a Gatorade bottle has 2.5) and only costs about $20. This also cuts back hugely on the amount of plastic bottles that I'm going through! I recycle but still! I also like being able to control the portions. When I do shorter runs that I don't necessarily need the 2.5 servings of carbs that I would get from the pre-mixed bottles, I can just add one serving to a full bottle of water which reduces calories and also the drink is like mildly flavoured water instead of that choke-me-tenderly koolaid taste.
Protein Powder: In this case BioPure. I sometimes have some whey protein before my runs but I always have protein in a shake form post-run without fail. Ingesting protein within the first 30 minutes after running increases muscle recovery by 20%. I also like to add it to milks, yogurts or oatmeals on days where I feel like I need to up my protein or haven't had enough. Great for repairing and building lean muscle.
EAS ready-made shakes: I'm not always home after a run so when I don't have the option of mixing my own shake, or when I am in a rush and don't have time its great to have these handy. EAS makes a great line of protein shakes that are low in fat, good calorie wise and most importantly, have high amounts of quality protein. Myoplex Lite shakes and AdvantEDGE Carb Control are my favourites.
Soymilk: This is Silk Lite Original Soymilk. Its got a great amount of protein, good fats (but not too much) and its only 60 calories. Its also delicious and has less sugar than the almond milk that I was buying. Almond milk is also a great choice but I've been going with the light soymilk because of the reduced sugar and the fact that it has more protein. I drink this a lot to help take the edge off of my hunger if I'm overly peckish at night and already ate a snack but I also drink it through the day with meals because its just sooo good. This is also my preferred milk of choice for when making protein shakes.
And that's all for now!
Thanks for reading! <3
Day Six had a rocky start. I'm not sure if you remember a couple weeks ago I had a speedwork session that I couldn't get my head around and so I did hillwork instead. This same speedwork training session came up again on my schedule so I automatically decided to do hillwork again.
Well I set my alarm for 5:30Am and pulled another silly move by putting my head back down for a moment and then waking up at 6:30...which is when I wanted to be leaving. I was pretty aggravated at first and I was hoping that the day would have been overcast so I could still go...but no luck. I wondered if I should just suck it up and face the heat...or if I should just cross train...but I really didn't want to miss out on a running session. So I thought about it and I remember reading a hillwork training session that could be done on the treadmill and I considered doing that but then I decided to revisit the original speedwork session that threw me for a loop:
"2 miles at 10-K pace, 2 x 1 mile at 5-K pace, 2 x 800 meters at slightly faster than 5-K pace, with 5 minutes recovery after the 2-mile and 3 minutes recovery after the miles and 800."
I then realized, 'Ah-ha! I can do THIS on the treadmill!'. I had spoken to my running partner a couple weeks ago and we discussed how this session was to be run and he said the progression was warm up-2 miles-5 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-1 mile-3 mins recovery-800m (half a mile)-3 mins recovery-800m-3 mins recovery-cool down.
After some calculating using my time and pace estimations from runnersworld.com (I pasted them to my last post) I worked out that my 10k pace would be 6.8 mph, my 5k pace would be 7.2mph and slighter faster would be just that. I'd try 7.5 which I thought was adventurous. Suddenly I was excited again and itching to start my run. I also think it was a blessing in disguise that I woke up too late for my hillwork because the treadmill is much lower impact and my hip is better but not perfect.
I uh...forgot to photograph my breakfast. Sorry. :P I had a soy cheese and egg white omlette with whole rye and a cup of chopped watermelon.
I have to tell you...I much prefer running outdoors. I can't run on a treadmill without a movie on...more specifically a Disney movie (shut up...) so I put on my usual choice of The Little Mermaid and plodded away happily to Alan Menken's genius of a soundtrack guiding my stride for my warm up mile. Everything seems to take that much longer on a treadmill...even with the movie playing. I was only really able to pay close attention to the movie during the warm up mile because once that was over it was time to pick up the intensity.
Longest...two...miles...ever...Even though you have the little monitor showing you every 0.01 of a mile that you've completed it still feels like you're getting nowhere. I guess because in reality you aren't getting anywhere...you're just running on the spot! It kind of felt like a moderate tempo run difficulty-wise though. Some runners say that running on the treadmill doesn't do much for you because the belt moving the world beneath you makes it easier...but then you also have the challenge of keeping the pace constantly or prepare to be thrown off (or in my case slammed into the wall just behind the treadmill. And yes it's happened before.) I was definitely counting the minutes but it was lessened by my occasional ability to zone into the movie. The two miles took me about 23 mins.
I had a 5 minute recovery after the two miles in which I decided to run and get my camera so I could see what my stride was looking like. I set the timer and jumped on the treadmill to do the second section of the workout.
I upped the speed to 7.2 mph and it didn't feel that much horribly harder. I started to feel it half way through but I wasn't ever at the point where I was dying to finish. After the mile I quickly checked the camera and none of the shots caught my full stride so I set it and then tried again.
Another mile...felt a little bit harder. Each mile took me about 8:30 mins.
Then it was time for the 800m.
I started at the 7.5 mph but it felt too easy. I knew I was only going to be running for half of the time of the last mile so I could run faster and I definitely had the energy. I upped the speed to 8mph and then 8.5 mph. That felt amazing. No I didn't have the world whizzing by me but it just felt so good to be moving at that speed. I finished the 800m huffing and puffing happily. One more to go!
I started at 8.5 mph again and then my enthusiasm took hold and I upped it right away to 9 mph. Now I really felt incredible. It was fatiguing to hold the pace but I wasn't dying. It was a wonderful feeling. I was glad that I set up the camera one more time for this session because I felt like I was flying. I finished the .5 mile at about 3:25 and then did my cool down mile at about 5 mph. The Little Mermaid was over by this point and I realized I hardly watched the movie at all. Oh well! The workout was so enjoyable and I didn't even have to leave my house to run those 8 miles! I wouldn't want to do my long run on the treadmill but it was fun for a change today...except having to mop up my sweat. :P
I made myself a protein shake right after and photographed it because I felt bad about breakfast. :P
Soymilk and whey protein
While enjoying my shake I poured over the photos and I was pleased to see that my stride was bigger than I expected along with my form being better as well!
This shot didn't catch my full stride but I liked it because both of my feet are off the belt. Hee hee
And I took this one just for you. :)
Looks like I am doing the running man. :P
I stiffened up pretty quickly after this run. I felt it particularly in my calves and hips this time around. I did some around the house chores and then made a quick lunch.
Fish tacos in a corn tortilla and baked plantain.
I'm loving the plantain these days. I haven't had any in the house in a while so I am taking full advantage.
And so the rest of my day went on as usual. Chores, cooking...quick nap and then off to work.
Before I end today's post I'm going to talk to you about my 'must haves' when it comes to hydrating. I make sure to have all of these in the house when I know I have a run coming up.
You can click to enlarge.
What's in the photo and why? Starting from the left:
Smart Water: This is electrolyte enhanced water. I mentioned before that I like to have this on the first leg of my runs now instead of Gatorade because I get tired of the sweetness of the Gatorade especially when the drink warms up. I also need to have this in the evening of the run and the day AFTER the run so that I can continue to rehydrate with electrolytes without having all of the sugar, carbs and unecessary calories of Gatorade. This is all that has been saving me from my runner's hangover. When I can't get this, the zero calorie vitamin water would be my next choice and I'd just have to put up with the sweetness. The added vitamins are most welcome though!
Gatorade in powder form: A bottle of Gatorade costs almost $5 here. I didn't realize at first how much it was adding up but once I did I was happy to discover that I had the option of buying the mix instead. This container yeilds 35 servings (a Gatorade bottle has 2.5) and only costs about $20. This also cuts back hugely on the amount of plastic bottles that I'm going through! I recycle but still! I also like being able to control the portions. When I do shorter runs that I don't necessarily need the 2.5 servings of carbs that I would get from the pre-mixed bottles, I can just add one serving to a full bottle of water which reduces calories and also the drink is like mildly flavoured water instead of that choke-me-tenderly koolaid taste.
Protein Powder: In this case BioPure. I sometimes have some whey protein before my runs but I always have protein in a shake form post-run without fail. Ingesting protein within the first 30 minutes after running increases muscle recovery by 20%. I also like to add it to milks, yogurts or oatmeals on days where I feel like I need to up my protein or haven't had enough. Great for repairing and building lean muscle.
EAS ready-made shakes: I'm not always home after a run so when I don't have the option of mixing my own shake, or when I am in a rush and don't have time its great to have these handy. EAS makes a great line of protein shakes that are low in fat, good calorie wise and most importantly, have high amounts of quality protein. Myoplex Lite shakes and AdvantEDGE Carb Control are my favourites.
Soymilk: This is Silk Lite Original Soymilk. Its got a great amount of protein, good fats (but not too much) and its only 60 calories. Its also delicious and has less sugar than the almond milk that I was buying. Almond milk is also a great choice but I've been going with the light soymilk because of the reduced sugar and the fact that it has more protein. I drink this a lot to help take the edge off of my hunger if I'm overly peckish at night and already ate a snack but I also drink it through the day with meals because its just sooo good. This is also my preferred milk of choice for when making protein shakes.
And that's all for now!
Thanks for reading! <3
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Week Five: Days 3-5 and a Little Heart to Heart
Hey guys,
Sorry that my posts are three days apart these days! Things have been a bit hectic so I'm updating you when I can!
Day Three: I was thoroughly inspired by the running angel the other day and on this day I had to do a similar session as she was doing. This day was to be another 'hard tempo' run (I hope that you're keeping up with the terminology! 'Hard tempo' means that I am running as fast as I can juuust below my maximum effort) but instead of 20 minutes like the first time, I was to up the length of the tempo section to 25 minutes. Sounds easy enough right?
Wrong.
This is the first time that I would be trying one of my harder runs after work. I usually like to do them in the morning but I didn't have that option today. Instead of racing to beat the heat, this time I was racing to make sure I wasn't caught outside after dark. The advantage is that its much cooler though.
I didn't get the chance to photograph my pre-run snack but I wasn't really hungry so all I had was a medium sized orange and a cup of light soy milk. This was just enough because I didn't feel bogged down and my energy was surprisingly high.
I hit the road at about 4:40 PM and ran my initial warm up mile. I was really enthusiastic to start my tempo run and I had to keep pulling myself back from running my warm up too quickly. My last tempo section was run on a pretty flat course so I tried this one on a much hillier route. The end of the warm up mile leaves me right at the base of a small hill and that was where I was to start running as hard as I could. I took a deep breath, set my timer and took off as fast as I could. I was pleased at the speed I was able to take on the hill but it definitely was a rough way to start. It took a bit out of me and I had to really focus on not losing speed once the incline leveled out. This tempo run was much harder than the first one. I was huffing and puffing quite early in. The hills really take their toll. The first two hills were in the first five minutes of the run and I found myself constantly looking at my watch. 'Only four minutes in?? *groan*'
I think I looked at my wrist at 30-40 second intervals and was always disappointed by how little time had passed. I was running with all my might and covering ground but it was like time just wasn't passing. By 10 minutes it wasn't getting easier and I thought about the last time I did this when I would have been half way through by this point. Adding 5 minutes doesn't sound like much until you have to run it. I was considering stopping at 20 minutes again. I didn't let myself look at my watch as much. 15 minutes in I was pretty certain that I was going to stop at 20. I was keeping my pace and much to my surprise I noticed that my pace was actually faster when going up the hills! I took a look at my stride and it actually was pretty good as well. I wasn't pounding into the pavement and my steps were pretty light. I made sure to push off from my toes and keep my back straight, core tight and shoulders back and it made a good difference in how my stride flowed. I was no running angel but I was seeing improvement.
18 minutes in...you can guess who started to pipe up in my head. I was tired, I wanted to stop but I knew my conscience would gnaw holes in my brain for the rest of the day if I didn't try to press on. It was hard to keep the pace at this point. I know I slowed down a bit but I was still pushing as hard as I could without killing myself. I tried to run the last 5 minutes without looking at my watch but...yeah that wasn't going to happen. I practically counted each second. Knowing I only had two minutes left still felt like an eternity and one minute left felt like some sick, mean trick that someone was playing on me for fun...but I can tell you that once those 25 minutes were up...I was so glad that I did it. First of all it felt AMAZING to slow down. I was so happy I wanted to jump up and down...but I didn't really have the energy so I think I weakly punched the air above my head in some ridiculous fashion instead. Wouldn't look like much to an outsider but that was serious effort at that point! haha!
Oh and of course I had to make things difficult for myself running up my hill again at the end. I took it faster this time too. I had to walk a couple laps around my house before I went inside to cool down before my mother had a thing or two to say about how heavily I was breathing. :P
It was a short but tough run. I took me about 45-50 minutes in total but it sure took its toll.
Not to mention the trouble I've been having with my leg since the fall. When I stretch vigorously the leg is perfect. I was able to run with absolutely no problem...but the minute I lay down or sit down for too long my leg seizes up and its like I just fell down all over again. It kind of feels like the joint is pinching the muscle when I get up from sitting down. My mom was laughing at how stiffly I was hobbling about after my nap. Not in a cruel way or anything...I mean I would have laughed. I looked pretty ridiculous.
My post run din-din was a yummy slap together with what was in the kitchen.
Spicy tuna melt with soy cheese and baked plantain sprinkled in cinnamon.
Wasn't that hungry after the protein shake so made it a light one.
I stayed in for the rest of the night to put up my leg though. I stretched before bed but I woke up in the middle of the night with nagging aches in the leg that moved from different sections of the muscle. It eased off but it was pretty annoying.
And then Day Four.
I woke up on Day Four dehydrated again. Dammit! I was doing so well!
However, dehydration wasn't the biggest of my hurdles at the moment. I've mentioned this before briefly and now I'll go into it a bit more as its an ongoing issue of mine. I suffer from depression. Thankfully as I'm getting older I've learned coping mechanisms so its no longer something that I struggle with day in and day out. On the face of things I try to pretend that its not a part of my life but sometimes it catches up with me and knocks me down for the count. Over the past couple weeks I've been constantly brushing off the blanket of gloom that's been resting on me when I let my guard down, sometimes through a little tough love and sometimes through prayer and quiet time...but on this morning I woke up and couldn't face getting up. Oh days like this, everything is a daunting process. I have trouble figuring out the simplest things like what to eat, what clothes to put on my back...what to do with myself...and of course what to do with these horrible feelings that have come out of nowhere. I knew I had to train...I wanted to train...I knew it would make me feel better...but I couldn't bring myself to do anything. All I could pay attention to was the overpowering feeling of sadness.
I wish there was a reset button for the mind. In the back of my mind I know I can beat these depressions but when you're in them its like you're temporarily another person. My inner voice stops encouraging and starts debasing, I can't quite remember why certain things made me happy in the first place, or if I do, I don't have the drive to go about trying to get to them. I go from being little miss 'go-go-go!' to little miss '...go away'. Its a bad scene, because I already feel rotten...and then I'm mad at myself for letting myself feel rotten...which just makes everything worse. Plus I know I'm no fun to be around on these days either. Every doctor I've seen says that I need to be constantly on medication but I'm not going there again. I've tried that through my teens and nothing worked. In fact they made things worse. I don't believe that I need pills to function. I just have to take these days as they come, and work my way out of them.
So...I was working at 4PM and as I was laying there in the now late morning asking myself all of the usual questions that I put forward in these times. 'Why could it be that are you feeling like this? Is there something that you could be doing that will help? Is there something bothering you that you haven't addressed? Even if there is, is it really worth letting yourself feel like this? Is it really worth wasting a whole day?' Things like that...The answer to the last two questions always ends up being 'No.' and when I finally convince myself of that is when I can start to push to snap out of it. I decided that I was going to eat something, have one more little nap and when I got up I would do some strength training.
When I woke up after the nap I wasn't very enthusiastic about my plan but I did it anyways. My leg was okay and I stretched it well before jumping on the stationary bike for 30 minutes. I didn't feel a single tweak in my leg on the bike. The time on the bike seemed to fly by with beautiful ease. I pedaled moderately for the first 20 minutes and then rotated between high intensity to moderate intensity for the last 10 minutes. When I jumped off the bike my heart was pounding, my legs, my entire body and my mind felt like I had made some wonderful break through. I felt like I was really breathing again...and I felt grateful and happy to be on my feet once more. Then, feeling much more encouraged, I did a series of lower body and core strength exercises that I haven't done in a while and then ended with my usual squat routine that I made just a little bit harder for myself...and once it was over, the day was mine again. This is why I refuse medication. Okay, the rest of the day wasn't sunshine and buttercups...but I was doing something about it. I know I have a choice. If I can train my body with discipline then the same goes for my mind. The more I learn to treat my mind like my muscles, the less I'm going to struggle with this. Just like with my body, I need to feed my mind the right things, I need to exercise healthy thoughts, be gentle with it when its hurting and give it the nurturing it needs to get back in order. I need to acknowledge its limits and work with them but always remember that sometimes its only a matter of pushing yourself just that little bit more that will make all the difference. Being healthy doesn't just stop and diet and fitness. Its also the way you view and experience your day to day life. At least I can say that I'm trying towards it...even if I don't always succeed.
Today is Day Five and it's my full rest day. I'm very busy so I wouldn't even have time to think about exercising which works out. Plus my legs are pretty sore from yesterday so they're getting a well deserved break to be ready for tomorrow. I feel okay today on the whole but I keep reminding myself of how much I have to be thankful for. Today's a gift after all...and so help me I'm going to tear the crap out of the wrappings and stick that freaking bow to my forehead. Oh yeah. ;)
Almost week Six...wow....
Sorry that my posts are three days apart these days! Things have been a bit hectic so I'm updating you when I can!
Day Three: I was thoroughly inspired by the running angel the other day and on this day I had to do a similar session as she was doing. This day was to be another 'hard tempo' run (I hope that you're keeping up with the terminology! 'Hard tempo' means that I am running as fast as I can juuust below my maximum effort) but instead of 20 minutes like the first time, I was to up the length of the tempo section to 25 minutes. Sounds easy enough right?
Wrong.
This is the first time that I would be trying one of my harder runs after work. I usually like to do them in the morning but I didn't have that option today. Instead of racing to beat the heat, this time I was racing to make sure I wasn't caught outside after dark. The advantage is that its much cooler though.
I didn't get the chance to photograph my pre-run snack but I wasn't really hungry so all I had was a medium sized orange and a cup of light soy milk. This was just enough because I didn't feel bogged down and my energy was surprisingly high.
I hit the road at about 4:40 PM and ran my initial warm up mile. I was really enthusiastic to start my tempo run and I had to keep pulling myself back from running my warm up too quickly. My last tempo section was run on a pretty flat course so I tried this one on a much hillier route. The end of the warm up mile leaves me right at the base of a small hill and that was where I was to start running as hard as I could. I took a deep breath, set my timer and took off as fast as I could. I was pleased at the speed I was able to take on the hill but it definitely was a rough way to start. It took a bit out of me and I had to really focus on not losing speed once the incline leveled out. This tempo run was much harder than the first one. I was huffing and puffing quite early in. The hills really take their toll. The first two hills were in the first five minutes of the run and I found myself constantly looking at my watch. 'Only four minutes in?? *groan*'
I think I looked at my wrist at 30-40 second intervals and was always disappointed by how little time had passed. I was running with all my might and covering ground but it was like time just wasn't passing. By 10 minutes it wasn't getting easier and I thought about the last time I did this when I would have been half way through by this point. Adding 5 minutes doesn't sound like much until you have to run it. I was considering stopping at 20 minutes again. I didn't let myself look at my watch as much. 15 minutes in I was pretty certain that I was going to stop at 20. I was keeping my pace and much to my surprise I noticed that my pace was actually faster when going up the hills! I took a look at my stride and it actually was pretty good as well. I wasn't pounding into the pavement and my steps were pretty light. I made sure to push off from my toes and keep my back straight, core tight and shoulders back and it made a good difference in how my stride flowed. I was no running angel but I was seeing improvement.
18 minutes in...you can guess who started to pipe up in my head. I was tired, I wanted to stop but I knew my conscience would gnaw holes in my brain for the rest of the day if I didn't try to press on. It was hard to keep the pace at this point. I know I slowed down a bit but I was still pushing as hard as I could without killing myself. I tried to run the last 5 minutes without looking at my watch but...yeah that wasn't going to happen. I practically counted each second. Knowing I only had two minutes left still felt like an eternity and one minute left felt like some sick, mean trick that someone was playing on me for fun...but I can tell you that once those 25 minutes were up...I was so glad that I did it. First of all it felt AMAZING to slow down. I was so happy I wanted to jump up and down...but I didn't really have the energy so I think I weakly punched the air above my head in some ridiculous fashion instead. Wouldn't look like much to an outsider but that was serious effort at that point! haha!
Oh and of course I had to make things difficult for myself running up my hill again at the end. I took it faster this time too. I had to walk a couple laps around my house before I went inside to cool down before my mother had a thing or two to say about how heavily I was breathing. :P
It was a short but tough run. I took me about 45-50 minutes in total but it sure took its toll.
Not to mention the trouble I've been having with my leg since the fall. When I stretch vigorously the leg is perfect. I was able to run with absolutely no problem...but the minute I lay down or sit down for too long my leg seizes up and its like I just fell down all over again. It kind of feels like the joint is pinching the muscle when I get up from sitting down. My mom was laughing at how stiffly I was hobbling about after my nap. Not in a cruel way or anything...I mean I would have laughed. I looked pretty ridiculous.
My post run din-din was a yummy slap together with what was in the kitchen.
Spicy tuna melt with soy cheese and baked plantain sprinkled in cinnamon.
Wasn't that hungry after the protein shake so made it a light one.
I stayed in for the rest of the night to put up my leg though. I stretched before bed but I woke up in the middle of the night with nagging aches in the leg that moved from different sections of the muscle. It eased off but it was pretty annoying.
And then Day Four.
I woke up on Day Four dehydrated again. Dammit! I was doing so well!
However, dehydration wasn't the biggest of my hurdles at the moment. I've mentioned this before briefly and now I'll go into it a bit more as its an ongoing issue of mine. I suffer from depression. Thankfully as I'm getting older I've learned coping mechanisms so its no longer something that I struggle with day in and day out. On the face of things I try to pretend that its not a part of my life but sometimes it catches up with me and knocks me down for the count. Over the past couple weeks I've been constantly brushing off the blanket of gloom that's been resting on me when I let my guard down, sometimes through a little tough love and sometimes through prayer and quiet time...but on this morning I woke up and couldn't face getting up. Oh days like this, everything is a daunting process. I have trouble figuring out the simplest things like what to eat, what clothes to put on my back...what to do with myself...and of course what to do with these horrible feelings that have come out of nowhere. I knew I had to train...I wanted to train...I knew it would make me feel better...but I couldn't bring myself to do anything. All I could pay attention to was the overpowering feeling of sadness.
I wish there was a reset button for the mind. In the back of my mind I know I can beat these depressions but when you're in them its like you're temporarily another person. My inner voice stops encouraging and starts debasing, I can't quite remember why certain things made me happy in the first place, or if I do, I don't have the drive to go about trying to get to them. I go from being little miss 'go-go-go!' to little miss '...go away'. Its a bad scene, because I already feel rotten...and then I'm mad at myself for letting myself feel rotten...which just makes everything worse. Plus I know I'm no fun to be around on these days either. Every doctor I've seen says that I need to be constantly on medication but I'm not going there again. I've tried that through my teens and nothing worked. In fact they made things worse. I don't believe that I need pills to function. I just have to take these days as they come, and work my way out of them.
So...I was working at 4PM and as I was laying there in the now late morning asking myself all of the usual questions that I put forward in these times. 'Why could it be that are you feeling like this? Is there something that you could be doing that will help? Is there something bothering you that you haven't addressed? Even if there is, is it really worth letting yourself feel like this? Is it really worth wasting a whole day?' Things like that...The answer to the last two questions always ends up being 'No.' and when I finally convince myself of that is when I can start to push to snap out of it. I decided that I was going to eat something, have one more little nap and when I got up I would do some strength training.
When I woke up after the nap I wasn't very enthusiastic about my plan but I did it anyways. My leg was okay and I stretched it well before jumping on the stationary bike for 30 minutes. I didn't feel a single tweak in my leg on the bike. The time on the bike seemed to fly by with beautiful ease. I pedaled moderately for the first 20 minutes and then rotated between high intensity to moderate intensity for the last 10 minutes. When I jumped off the bike my heart was pounding, my legs, my entire body and my mind felt like I had made some wonderful break through. I felt like I was really breathing again...and I felt grateful and happy to be on my feet once more. Then, feeling much more encouraged, I did a series of lower body and core strength exercises that I haven't done in a while and then ended with my usual squat routine that I made just a little bit harder for myself...and once it was over, the day was mine again. This is why I refuse medication. Okay, the rest of the day wasn't sunshine and buttercups...but I was doing something about it. I know I have a choice. If I can train my body with discipline then the same goes for my mind. The more I learn to treat my mind like my muscles, the less I'm going to struggle with this. Just like with my body, I need to feed my mind the right things, I need to exercise healthy thoughts, be gentle with it when its hurting and give it the nurturing it needs to get back in order. I need to acknowledge its limits and work with them but always remember that sometimes its only a matter of pushing yourself just that little bit more that will make all the difference. Being healthy doesn't just stop and diet and fitness. Its also the way you view and experience your day to day life. At least I can say that I'm trying towards it...even if I don't always succeed.
Today is Day Five and it's my full rest day. I'm very busy so I wouldn't even have time to think about exercising which works out. Plus my legs are pretty sore from yesterday so they're getting a well deserved break to be ready for tomorrow. I feel okay today on the whole but I keep reminding myself of how much I have to be thankful for. Today's a gift after all...and so help me I'm going to tear the crap out of the wrappings and stick that freaking bow to my forehead. Oh yeah. ;)
Almost week Six...wow....
Friday, November 5, 2010
End of Week Four and on to Week Five!!
Week 4, Day Seven: Much to my disgust I had another runner's hangover this day. It must be noted that I went to bed stupidly late but I'm usually fine after four hours sleep and I sure wasn't. I had to get up to go and get measured by the choir seamstress for our uniforms for our big concert this month (come out and support if you can...pleaaaase! Hahah) and I had to drive through our back-crack crazy town to pick someone up so that added to my headache. When I got back I managed to get a very light snooze on the couch. I was supposed to go to the gym today for the first time in years as my friend was doing a hardcore boot camp class but I have never done that workout and I didn't know what to expect and if I could handle it when I wasn't feeling 100%. Once I napped a bit I felt better but I still decided to take it easy with a short cross fit session. I didn't do as much today as I wasn't feeling up to it so I started off with some moderate to vigorous jump rope and then powered through a do-as-fast-as-your-can body-weight routine faster than I usually complete it...but I timed my pre-workout snack badly and I started to feel it trying to pay me a visit again. I did about eight minutes more of some quick weight exercises and then I called it a day. I hate not completing a workout but its unwise to push yourself when you know today is not a day you can handle that. I was glad I did something. Oh and I had to teach a class later so I couldn't use up all of my energy!
And then it was Week FIVE!!!
I have been dreading Day One of Week Five since last week because this was the day that we were upping the mileage to 12 miles. The night before I felt as prepared as I could be...I had marked out the trail myself this time, I had the Gatorade that I was going to plant six miles in chilling in the fridge, I decided beforehand what I was going to have for breakfast and I went to bed at a pretty good time.
Just as Murphy's Law would have it, I set my alarm for 4:50 AM which is when it went off...and then I foolishly put my head down for a second and when I checked the time again it was 6:00AM and I was running at 6:30!!! I flew up out of bed and raced into the kitchen. I needed to have a breakfast that I could move about with so I could get ready and eat at the same time. I was really upset because you're not supposed to eat solid food so soon before a run but I was not running 12 miles on a protein shake as a pre-run meal. I didn't have time to photograph it but I had a banana and two small slices of rye bread with soy cheese and a mini, 4 oz protein shake of skimmed milk and whey protein.
You should have seen me, I was stretching my legs while putting on my socks and eating my sandwich and then putting on my shoes while packing the drinks and finishing my shake. I somehow managed to get ready, make breakfast, stretch, pack the cooler and my duffel bag, drive out and plant the drinks and mark the six mile turnaround point and get to my friend's place in thirty minutes...but I admit I got there very harassed and anxious about how the run would be since I ate so late.
I tried to be upbeat with my running partner but in my mind I was rattling about thoughts like, 'Just great...I haven't digested...today is going to be the day I have a GI disaster...I can feel it...Am I going to get sick on the run? I forgot to pack my Tylenol. I don't know if I should do this...I don't know if i CAN do this...' and it just went on and on until I found myself already running out on the road.
A few minutes in, there was a little conflict about the trail as I had measured it and so did my running partner but we measured slightly different routes so we had to separate much earlier than we usually do. This bummed me out a little more as misery loves company and my running mate doesn't really take too well to the early starts either. However, this afforded me to run my first mile faster than I usually do as I didn't treat it like a warm up mile this time.
It was a long run and a new route with waaaay more hills. We were basically running from my friend's house to a mile before mine and back. This route is much more scenic but it's hard to focus on the view when you're charging uphill and avoiding cars. I was worried that I had started too fast but I realized that this time I was trying a couple other things differently as well.
Instead of starting with Gatorade I chose electrolyte enhanced Smart Water (it has no carbs) for the first leg then Gatorade back on the second leg to hydrate me and also since we upped our mileage we needed to take in two gels this time.
These are the same Powerbar gels as the first time. Still caffeine free!
The plan was to have my first gel about five or so miles in and then I would have the second one in the middle of the second leg back (each leg is six miles on this run). This made a huge difference in my overall energy. I never reached a point where I felt like I was running on reserve energy which is usually how I feel on the last couple miles. I was able to keep just about the same pace as the 10 mile run throughout and I'm very fortunate that I didn't feel sluggish (or worse) from my late breakfast.
3.5 miles into my run I had a fun experience though. I was chugging up a hill at a decent pace and from out of nowhere this woman bounds past me up the hill! I didn't even hear her coming. I was in complete awe of her. She had an incredible stride and the speed in which she took that hill was insane! She was definitely a seasoned runner. She tossed me a melodious 'Good morning!' sounding far too composed and I watched her skim past me noiselessly up the hill. Her core was tight (and defined), her legs sleek and the stride! I can't get over the stride! It was almost as long as I am tall! She looked like a angel to me...and then she turned the corner at the top of the hill and left me in the dust. I finished the hill keeping my pace though I was feeling sheepish about my what now seemed to be a hobbit-sized stride...but when I looked down the road she turned down she was gone!! Great Scott! She WAS and angel!!
Okay just kidding...but she was walking. I then realized that she was doing a tempo run incorporating pushing uphill. And man was she good. I hope that someday I'll develop form like that. She definitely gave me something to think about for the next couple miles or so of my run.
The rest of the run went really well considering the chaos that preceded it. My second leg didn't feel terribly harder than the first leg to the six mile mark and I managed very well on all of the extra hills including the final hill just before the finish that I managed to run harder on my way up. I finished the run at two hours and one minute which puts me at an average of 10 minute miles throughout! Woohoo!
These are the calculations done through runnersworld.com based on my times.
Based on a 12 miles race at 02:01, your projected finish times for the following distances should be:
I put in red the times that I really was looking for about this run.
Not too bad for running two hours straight!
And then it was Week FIVE!!!
I have been dreading Day One of Week Five since last week because this was the day that we were upping the mileage to 12 miles. The night before I felt as prepared as I could be...I had marked out the trail myself this time, I had the Gatorade that I was going to plant six miles in chilling in the fridge, I decided beforehand what I was going to have for breakfast and I went to bed at a pretty good time.
Just as Murphy's Law would have it, I set my alarm for 4:50 AM which is when it went off...and then I foolishly put my head down for a second and when I checked the time again it was 6:00AM and I was running at 6:30!!! I flew up out of bed and raced into the kitchen. I needed to have a breakfast that I could move about with so I could get ready and eat at the same time. I was really upset because you're not supposed to eat solid food so soon before a run but I was not running 12 miles on a protein shake as a pre-run meal. I didn't have time to photograph it but I had a banana and two small slices of rye bread with soy cheese and a mini, 4 oz protein shake of skimmed milk and whey protein.
You should have seen me, I was stretching my legs while putting on my socks and eating my sandwich and then putting on my shoes while packing the drinks and finishing my shake. I somehow managed to get ready, make breakfast, stretch, pack the cooler and my duffel bag, drive out and plant the drinks and mark the six mile turnaround point and get to my friend's place in thirty minutes...but I admit I got there very harassed and anxious about how the run would be since I ate so late.
I tried to be upbeat with my running partner but in my mind I was rattling about thoughts like, 'Just great...I haven't digested...today is going to be the day I have a GI disaster...I can feel it...Am I going to get sick on the run? I forgot to pack my Tylenol. I don't know if I should do this...I don't know if i CAN do this...' and it just went on and on until I found myself already running out on the road.
A few minutes in, there was a little conflict about the trail as I had measured it and so did my running partner but we measured slightly different routes so we had to separate much earlier than we usually do. This bummed me out a little more as misery loves company and my running mate doesn't really take too well to the early starts either. However, this afforded me to run my first mile faster than I usually do as I didn't treat it like a warm up mile this time.
It was a long run and a new route with waaaay more hills. We were basically running from my friend's house to a mile before mine and back. This route is much more scenic but it's hard to focus on the view when you're charging uphill and avoiding cars. I was worried that I had started too fast but I realized that this time I was trying a couple other things differently as well.
Instead of starting with Gatorade I chose electrolyte enhanced Smart Water (it has no carbs) for the first leg then Gatorade back on the second leg to hydrate me and also since we upped our mileage we needed to take in two gels this time.
These are the same Powerbar gels as the first time. Still caffeine free!
The plan was to have my first gel about five or so miles in and then I would have the second one in the middle of the second leg back (each leg is six miles on this run). This made a huge difference in my overall energy. I never reached a point where I felt like I was running on reserve energy which is usually how I feel on the last couple miles. I was able to keep just about the same pace as the 10 mile run throughout and I'm very fortunate that I didn't feel sluggish (or worse) from my late breakfast.
3.5 miles into my run I had a fun experience though. I was chugging up a hill at a decent pace and from out of nowhere this woman bounds past me up the hill! I didn't even hear her coming. I was in complete awe of her. She had an incredible stride and the speed in which she took that hill was insane! She was definitely a seasoned runner. She tossed me a melodious 'Good morning!' sounding far too composed and I watched her skim past me noiselessly up the hill. Her core was tight (and defined), her legs sleek and the stride! I can't get over the stride! It was almost as long as I am tall! She looked like a angel to me...and then she turned the corner at the top of the hill and left me in the dust. I finished the hill keeping my pace though I was feeling sheepish about my what now seemed to be a hobbit-sized stride...but when I looked down the road she turned down she was gone!! Great Scott! She WAS and angel!!
Okay just kidding...but she was walking. I then realized that she was doing a tempo run incorporating pushing uphill. And man was she good. I hope that someday I'll develop form like that. She definitely gave me something to think about for the next couple miles or so of my run.
The rest of the run went really well considering the chaos that preceded it. My second leg didn't feel terribly harder than the first leg to the six mile mark and I managed very well on all of the extra hills including the final hill just before the finish that I managed to run harder on my way up. I finished the run at two hours and one minute which puts me at an average of 10 minute miles throughout! Woohoo!
These are the calculations done through runnersworld.com based on my times.
Based on a 12 miles race at 02:01, your projected finish times for the following distances should be:
| 1500m | 8:06 |
| the mile | 8:44 |
| 3000m(3k) | 16:54 |
| 3200m(about 2 miles) | 18:06 |
| 5000m(5k) | 29:03 |
| 8000m(8k) | 47:48 |
| 5 miles | 48:06 |
| 10,000m(10k) | 1:00:34 |
| ten miles | 1:40:17 |
| a half marathon | 2:13:31 |
| a marathon | 4:38:23 |
I put in red the times that I really was looking for about this run.
| Based on a 12 miles race at 02:01 your pace is: | ||||||||||
|
Not too bad for running two hours straight!
Here's the joke though. The run went so well so in true Anna fashion...something had to happen.
It started to rain while I was refilling my Gatorade bottle with water right after my run and this was such a thrill to me because I imagined how wonderful the rain would feel on my hot skin. I bolted back outside not realizing how slippery the stairs were and being stiff-jointed from the run, my feet shot up out from under me and I went careening down the stairs. Thank God I didn't hit my head...but my backside was murdering from slamming down on it and skidding. I sat there in stunned silence...looked around to see if anyone saw and to my relief there was no one in sight...then I noticed I miraculously didn't spill my water...and then just stayed there sprawled on the stairs enjoying the rain.
Sitting at the base of the stairs getting rained on while my joints slowly seized up from the run and the fall.
A protein shake and some stretching later and I felt alright. My left hamstring didn't feel so great but it could have been a lot worse.
We went to Subway for lunch and took our meal in the car out by the sea!
Subway salad with all the veg - minus jalapenos. and their veggie patty for protein. I was so stuffed I didn't even touch the lettuce underneath.
I went home for a nap not long after and that's when my leg really started to act up. When I stop moving around it seizes up but once I give it an intense stretch it's as good as new.
Dinner was my own recipe for Chinese five spice salmon with pumpkin and spinach. I figured I'd want the extra Omega 3s for joint repair that day...
I also made a point to drink a bottle of water an hour. Then before bed I drank a vitamin water and then regular water until I felt sick. I really didn't want to wake up dehydrated again!!
Week Five, Day Two: What a relief! No hangover! Finally I'm getting the hang of this! I recovered extremely well this time around. My leg hurt when I first got up but I rubbed it and stretched it and it loosened up beautifully. I was able to do my strength training with no problem! I focused on abs and upper body strength today with intervals on the stationary bike to spike my heart rate. The bike didn't bother my leg at all so that was perfect. Then some light yoga later in the studio before a super quick business meeting then rehearsals. At last! A nausea free and productive Day Two!!
Today is Day Three and I'll be doing my workout after work today...so I will fill you in tomorrow as this post is long enough and I've already had to retype half of it again!
Sorry for the delay in posting and thank you for following!! <3
It started to rain while I was refilling my Gatorade bottle with water right after my run and this was such a thrill to me because I imagined how wonderful the rain would feel on my hot skin. I bolted back outside not realizing how slippery the stairs were and being stiff-jointed from the run, my feet shot up out from under me and I went careening down the stairs. Thank God I didn't hit my head...but my backside was murdering from slamming down on it and skidding. I sat there in stunned silence...looked around to see if anyone saw and to my relief there was no one in sight...then I noticed I miraculously didn't spill my water...and then just stayed there sprawled on the stairs enjoying the rain.
Sitting at the base of the stairs getting rained on while my joints slowly seized up from the run and the fall.
A protein shake and some stretching later and I felt alright. My left hamstring didn't feel so great but it could have been a lot worse.
We went to Subway for lunch and took our meal in the car out by the sea!
Subway salad with all the veg - minus jalapenos. and their veggie patty for protein. I was so stuffed I didn't even touch the lettuce underneath.I went home for a nap not long after and that's when my leg really started to act up. When I stop moving around it seizes up but once I give it an intense stretch it's as good as new.
Dinner was my own recipe for Chinese five spice salmon with pumpkin and spinach. I figured I'd want the extra Omega 3s for joint repair that day...
I also made a point to drink a bottle of water an hour. Then before bed I drank a vitamin water and then regular water until I felt sick. I really didn't want to wake up dehydrated again!!
Week Five, Day Two: What a relief! No hangover! Finally I'm getting the hang of this! I recovered extremely well this time around. My leg hurt when I first got up but I rubbed it and stretched it and it loosened up beautifully. I was able to do my strength training with no problem! I focused on abs and upper body strength today with intervals on the stationary bike to spike my heart rate. The bike didn't bother my leg at all so that was perfect. Then some light yoga later in the studio before a super quick business meeting then rehearsals. At last! A nausea free and productive Day Two!!
Today is Day Three and I'll be doing my workout after work today...so I will fill you in tomorrow as this post is long enough and I've already had to retype half of it again!
Sorry for the delay in posting and thank you for following!! <3
Monday, November 1, 2010
Week Four: Days Four to Six!
Day Four: I said to you that I was going to choose between cross training or an easy run of 30-45 mins for this day...but I decided to go with both. :P I almost foiled my own plans however. You see, I woke up bright an early to have breakfast and be out by 6:30-6:45 but after breakfast i felt sluggish and made the mistake to lay down for 'a moment'...which is what I told myself. I woke up almost two hours later! Once I saw the time I jumped out of bed and went straight into my upper body strength workout.
Banana and soy milk smoothie with whey protein.
Half way through my strength routine I felt my stomach grumbling so I had a few sips of milk and a few grapes and that was all I needed to top up the tank long enough to hold me out for the rest of my workout.
The day was overcast so I was fortunate that it didn't matter that I was setting out for my easy run later than usual. It was supposed to be at an easy pace but I ended up bolting out on the road at more of a tempo pace. I ran up that same hill that I did the speedwork on (though I sure felt it after and it slowed me down) but I kept a solid pace for 35 minutes and then I took it easy on the way home. I guess this ended up as more of a tempo run!
Day Five: We had planned to run a hike on this day. I woke up to terribly gray skies and the soil was extremely muddy so there was no way we could run up the dirt trail of the hike. I think this was a blessing in disguise as I felt a little run down (pun SO intended). My arms ached from the day before and my body felt weary. I also felt a little low altogether so I ended up taking the day as a full rest day. I realized that I haven't taken a day where I do nothing in a while and that is actually recommended. I spent most of my day catching up on the things I haven't really had the time to do these days: sketching, reading, watching movies, harassing my pets...things like that. I had a lovely restful day and was slowly mentally gearing myself towards getting back to work the next day.
Day Six: Up at 5:30 this morning. I reaaally was not feeling for such an early start today. I rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen and stared blankly at the kitchen counter before I registered that I had to eat something quickly.
Oatmeal and banana with cinnamon and nutmeg.
The kitchen was kind of bare. Went shopping this evening.
I'm going to suppress my vanity and show you my poor toes. I still have both nails but they've gone all funky coloured like some bad tie-dye. They are sensitive to pressure and feel really bruised when I press down on them.
This picture does them justice. I've gone and painted them cherry bomb red because I'm sick of looking at them.
So I was at the track at exactly 6:30. I'm going to be very frank. I did not want to be there at all today. I really had to rally to get out of bed and face that track full of strangers and run despite my wish to crawl into my pillow case. Over the past few days I haven't been feeling myself. I actually suffer from depression and sometimes the silliest things can knock me down. Once I'm down all I feel like doing is staying in bed with my sheets up to my nose until I stop feeling miserable. I spent a lot of Sunday in bed but I was not going to let today be another one of those days. I tried to play cheery music on the drive there but that didn't help. I still got there out of sorts.
I stretched and started my warm up jog while reminding myself of today's training schedule. I was to run 1000 meters (2.5 times around the track) six times with breaks in between and try to keep good time. Its the same thing as my first speedwork session except we were adding on an interval. My warm up jog seemed to take forever and then no time at all because i realized once it was almost over that I now had to haul arse around the track several times. I stretched quickly one more time after my warm up and stood up at the starting line.
'Here goes nothing.'
I ran as quickly as I could around the track trying not to look at my watch too much. After the first lap I glanced down and my time seemed okay. I was horrified by the end of my second lap to see that my time was a bit after three minutes because I remember that the last time I did this I was finishing at 3:20-3:30. I didn't push much harder but I ran my best to the end and stopped the timer. 4:08
I was feeling unhappy about this time until I remembered something...3:30 was my 800 meter time not my 1000 meter! *face palm*
When I checked back at my first set of 1000 meter intervals I was happy to see that there was improvement.
I ran the second, third...things were getting hard by the fourth. My times were relatively consistent but I could feel myself tiring. During the fifth I was ready to stop there. After the first lap of my fifth interval I started to feel like I was burning out. I was breathing too heavily and I laboured my way around the track. I decided while running that I was only going to do five intervals like the first week. I was making all kinds of excuses up in my head like, 'Oh I'm not used to all of this running...doing five like the first time is fine.' and 'I don't really neeeed to do this do it?' I was starting to feel queasy running from running so hard. I finished the interval at the same time as the one before...but my core was so tight that I ended up coughing up red Gatorade...lovely. By the time I finished my recovery time I asked myself, 'You're really going to stop here? Are you doing this training program or not? It says six...not five...come on...just one more. Don't wimp out. You're being a baby.'
I felt like I could do it...but after the first lap I started to feel sick again and I stopped. I decided to walk a recovery lap.
During my recovery lap I was kicking myself profusely. I was mad at myself for not finishing the last interval. I knew I didn't feel good but it didn't sit well with me that I gave up. I was even more aggravated when I finished the lap because I knew I would have been done the entire interval by that time if I had kept going.
So I was going to try again.
Some people may argue that I'm too hard on myself...but this is where you really see what you can do. This is where you have to decide the level of your dedication to your goals and to yourself. I stopped on the first lap because I felt sick...but I had regrouped on the recovery lap and gathered up all of my morale to try again. I knew I had it in me and I had to see just how much. It was just one more interval after all and I refused to not finish my assignment.
Well I ran that blasted interval faster than the one before and felt sheer bliss upon finishing. I wasn't a quitter and my inner coach wasn't barking at me anymore.
Here are my times for this week:
Interval one: 00:04:08
Interval two: 00:04:15
Interval three: 00:04:23
Interval four: 00:04:20
Interval five: 00:04:20
Interval six: 00:04:17
Compared to last week where my BEST time was 00:04:44...yeah I'm thrilled.
For the rest of the day I've felt great. I don't feel like I've pushed myself cruelly hard. I feel like my myself again...like I've whipped myself back in shape. I also feel proud of myself. Training your best pays off in so many ways...you improve physically and mentally and helps you gain a sense of discipline and grounding. Its good to be back. :)
Lunch was delish if I may say so myself!
Vegan tacos: soy with organic pinto beans with homemade tomato pear salsa with extra tomato and onion as garnish, with soy cheese on top.
Spicy sweet potato oven baked chips.
And now I am at work with a million emails to send so I will end here and get back to that. I apologize for any grammatical offenses that I may have committed whilst writing this in haste!!
Banana and soy milk smoothie with whey protein.
Half way through my strength routine I felt my stomach grumbling so I had a few sips of milk and a few grapes and that was all I needed to top up the tank long enough to hold me out for the rest of my workout.
The day was overcast so I was fortunate that it didn't matter that I was setting out for my easy run later than usual. It was supposed to be at an easy pace but I ended up bolting out on the road at more of a tempo pace. I ran up that same hill that I did the speedwork on (though I sure felt it after and it slowed me down) but I kept a solid pace for 35 minutes and then I took it easy on the way home. I guess this ended up as more of a tempo run!
Day Five: We had planned to run a hike on this day. I woke up to terribly gray skies and the soil was extremely muddy so there was no way we could run up the dirt trail of the hike. I think this was a blessing in disguise as I felt a little run down (pun SO intended). My arms ached from the day before and my body felt weary. I also felt a little low altogether so I ended up taking the day as a full rest day. I realized that I haven't taken a day where I do nothing in a while and that is actually recommended. I spent most of my day catching up on the things I haven't really had the time to do these days: sketching, reading, watching movies, harassing my pets...things like that. I had a lovely restful day and was slowly mentally gearing myself towards getting back to work the next day.
Day Six: Up at 5:30 this morning. I reaaally was not feeling for such an early start today. I rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen and stared blankly at the kitchen counter before I registered that I had to eat something quickly.
Oatmeal and banana with cinnamon and nutmeg.
The kitchen was kind of bare. Went shopping this evening.
I'm going to suppress my vanity and show you my poor toes. I still have both nails but they've gone all funky coloured like some bad tie-dye. They are sensitive to pressure and feel really bruised when I press down on them.
This picture does them justice. I've gone and painted them cherry bomb red because I'm sick of looking at them.
So I was at the track at exactly 6:30. I'm going to be very frank. I did not want to be there at all today. I really had to rally to get out of bed and face that track full of strangers and run despite my wish to crawl into my pillow case. Over the past few days I haven't been feeling myself. I actually suffer from depression and sometimes the silliest things can knock me down. Once I'm down all I feel like doing is staying in bed with my sheets up to my nose until I stop feeling miserable. I spent a lot of Sunday in bed but I was not going to let today be another one of those days. I tried to play cheery music on the drive there but that didn't help. I still got there out of sorts.
I stretched and started my warm up jog while reminding myself of today's training schedule. I was to run 1000 meters (2.5 times around the track) six times with breaks in between and try to keep good time. Its the same thing as my first speedwork session except we were adding on an interval. My warm up jog seemed to take forever and then no time at all because i realized once it was almost over that I now had to haul arse around the track several times. I stretched quickly one more time after my warm up and stood up at the starting line.
'Here goes nothing.'
I ran as quickly as I could around the track trying not to look at my watch too much. After the first lap I glanced down and my time seemed okay. I was horrified by the end of my second lap to see that my time was a bit after three minutes because I remember that the last time I did this I was finishing at 3:20-3:30. I didn't push much harder but I ran my best to the end and stopped the timer. 4:08
I was feeling unhappy about this time until I remembered something...3:30 was my 800 meter time not my 1000 meter! *face palm*
When I checked back at my first set of 1000 meter intervals I was happy to see that there was improvement.
I ran the second, third...things were getting hard by the fourth. My times were relatively consistent but I could feel myself tiring. During the fifth I was ready to stop there. After the first lap of my fifth interval I started to feel like I was burning out. I was breathing too heavily and I laboured my way around the track. I decided while running that I was only going to do five intervals like the first week. I was making all kinds of excuses up in my head like, 'Oh I'm not used to all of this running...doing five like the first time is fine.' and 'I don't really neeeed to do this do it?' I was starting to feel queasy running from running so hard. I finished the interval at the same time as the one before...but my core was so tight that I ended up coughing up red Gatorade...lovely. By the time I finished my recovery time I asked myself, 'You're really going to stop here? Are you doing this training program or not? It says six...not five...come on...just one more. Don't wimp out. You're being a baby.'
I felt like I could do it...but after the first lap I started to feel sick again and I stopped. I decided to walk a recovery lap.
During my recovery lap I was kicking myself profusely. I was mad at myself for not finishing the last interval. I knew I didn't feel good but it didn't sit well with me that I gave up. I was even more aggravated when I finished the lap because I knew I would have been done the entire interval by that time if I had kept going.
So I was going to try again.
Some people may argue that I'm too hard on myself...but this is where you really see what you can do. This is where you have to decide the level of your dedication to your goals and to yourself. I stopped on the first lap because I felt sick...but I had regrouped on the recovery lap and gathered up all of my morale to try again. I knew I had it in me and I had to see just how much. It was just one more interval after all and I refused to not finish my assignment.
Well I ran that blasted interval faster than the one before and felt sheer bliss upon finishing. I wasn't a quitter and my inner coach wasn't barking at me anymore.
Here are my times for this week:
Interval one: 00:04:08
Interval two: 00:04:15
Interval three: 00:04:23
Interval four: 00:04:20
Interval five: 00:04:20
Interval six: 00:04:17
Compared to last week where my BEST time was 00:04:44...yeah I'm thrilled.
For the rest of the day I've felt great. I don't feel like I've pushed myself cruelly hard. I feel like my myself again...like I've whipped myself back in shape. I also feel proud of myself. Training your best pays off in so many ways...you improve physically and mentally and helps you gain a sense of discipline and grounding. Its good to be back. :)
Lunch was delish if I may say so myself!
Vegan tacos: soy with organic pinto beans with homemade tomato pear salsa with extra tomato and onion as garnish, with soy cheese on top.
Spicy sweet potato oven baked chips.
And now I am at work with a million emails to send so I will end here and get back to that. I apologize for any grammatical offenses that I may have committed whilst writing this in haste!!
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