Morning Running and Exit Strategies

I have been hearing the accolades of morning running for a while: doing it in the morning gets it done, you feel more awake, you make better food choices during the day, etc. Frankly, I think the first reason is the one that gets my attention the most.
The idea of doing the run I want to and having it done and out of the way by the time I get home from work is incredibly enticing. I've tried doing it after work, and even before my bus ride became a one-hour exercise in frustration, I was too lethargic to get off the couch (go ahead, call me lazy; you're not wrong).
I tried the morning run today, which I have tried before. However, in contrast to the above post, today the weather was -13C and it was still dark out. I only did 20 minutes of running, as I had gotten up a bit late and was slightly under-dressed.
The real prize, though, was coming in from the cold and having the coffee ready, a hot shower waiting, and breakfast tasting the best it had in a while. Even if it was only Cheerios.
That may just be the best reward for the morning run.

In other news, I want to talk about exit strategies, or as more people call it, maintenance plans.
These are my downfall. I perform best when I have a goal to go for - 10k, a half-marathon, the next half-marathon, etc. But when that race is finished, I give myself a week of rest, which becomes two weeks of rest, which turns into eye surgery, which becomes it's too hot out here...
But I never gave a lot of thought to the 'after-race'. I always thought, yeah, I'd maintain, I'd go do some running. This, to date, has not worked, despite the last three races.
So what's a runner-wannabe to do?
I could keep signing up for Running Room courses. Or I could move in with my running boyfriend, wherever he goes. I'll put more thought into this.

Suburban Running

My excuse for not having run or written for the past two weeks is because I was moving. Most of my time was (supposed to be) taken up by packing and cleaning.

I took my first run in my new area today, a suburban part of Ottawa. It was quite a nice run, an slow and easy 3k around the block. I started up one road, and saw a cross street and thought, "Hey, doesn't that loop around?"

Jumping on to that street, I saw a number of other walkers, some lovely houses (I admit, I'm window-house hunting, where you see a house you like and admire, but don't go in to purchase), and after the turn back, I came across... a barn! There's a red barn and a little farmhouse right in the middle of suburbia!

I want to go knock on the owners' door one day and say, "Good on you, keeping this land and your barn!" I'm sure they were under a lot of pressure to sell. The barn looks like it's in reasonably good shape, but I didn't smell any animals. We don't want to offend the delicate sensibilities of suburbanites, now, do we?

In other news, the shoes were still working great, and my knees, though stiff, were responding well by the end of the trek.

First Steps (take two? three?)

A short update: I did my run, and the shoes went fine. Even though I was running on a treadmill, it was nice to be doing it. I could definitely feel the time off, though - my right knee felt pretty stiff compared to the left one.

I did 1.2miles (which is close to 2km) at a slow pace, and didn't really need to stop once. It wasn't until I finished the run that I realized I hadn't changed the incline at all, so my work out was a lot easier than outdoor running.

Even so, I'm feeling pretty tired.

Sadly, that's all the update for today.

Breaking Back into the Game

In a conversation with my cousin tonight, I called myself fat.

I looked at my statement, the bold black-on-white comment in the chat window, and I felt like I'd slapped myself.

I'm not 'fat'. Sure, I may carry 10 pounds more than I want to, the Body Mass Index may say I'm unhealthily overweight, and I may not fit into my jeans as well, but I'm not fat.

And here, I'm going to contradict myself, even as I try to clarify. I think that 'fat', as I used it, is an unfortunate, insulting term that hurts feelings and should be spurned. And I know this and embrace it, so I wondered why I would say something like that.

So I thought about that, even as my cousin said, "Uh, what the hell are you talking about?" and I decided that how I'm really feeling is angry with myself.

I'm angry with myself because I have been lazy and gluttonous the past six months. I have done nothing that I wanted to do, six months ago: to keep running, to keep eating healthy, to join a gym and work on my cardio and musculature. I'm not living up to the promises I made myself. And that makes me angry with me.

Six months later, I am at the end of my tether. I woke up depressed, and thought this is not the way to keep going.

So, as Paolo Nutini sang, I got a pair of new shoes. And tomorrow, I'm going to run 2km. Baby steps, but more than none. I'm going to go back to six months ago, and keep that promise, and get working on it again.

I'm tired of being angry with myself. I want to love myself again.

Excuses, Excuses

I have decided, five months after my victorious half marathon, that I am great at excuses.

I am good at the big excuses: I shouldn't run because I just had eye surgery, or I just finished a race (okay, the first is a reason, but I still didn't run, so it qualifies).

I am good at the little excuses: I'm tired, my apartment is warm and it's cold out there, I didn't eat right, I have to eat first, I'm busy and can't fit it in.

All sorts of little excuses that pile up into big lay-overs between races and getting fit for races. Now I should direct my attention and willpower (as little of it as there is sometimes) to overcoming these excuses.

It's hard to make excuses when I take my running gear to work. That helps because it's going to be the same length of time as the bus, I enjoy the scenery more, and I'm getting fit at the same time. Go me!
Now that I'm moving further away from work, I'm going to have to find new ways to avoid the usual excuses and 'reasons'.

What excuses have you come up with, or how have you overcome them?

Victory is 2:28. So Far

I done it.

I done it ten minutes faster than last time.

To drop the (wherever) accent, I did the race weekend half-marathon in two hours and twenty eight minutes. Let me tell you, nothing is sweeter than thinking you'll never make it to the end line, finding the one thing in your head that will keep you going, and beating your realistic deadline.

As usual, here is what I learned from this race:
1. Run your own race. Don't run it with anyone. I started running the race with three wonderful running buddies from the running room. However, during the first half of the race, I had to depart their company and do my own thing. Why? Because I was achin'. They had done all the work deserving of a 2:15 finish, while I had already admitted that I did not. After 10k, I stopped playing catch-up, and was able to win on my own terms.

2. Find one thought that will keep you going. At around 7km, I struggled and panted and wasn't sure I'd even finish in 2:30, or at all, from how my knee was starting to ache. I reached deep, and thought of one thing past this race to strive for: Army. I had my army bracelet to touch and fondle, and that really kept me thinking that, if I didn't finish this, I couldn't reach far enough in me to even try the army. That, and my boyfriend: What would he think if I fell out half-way through? (realistically, I'm sure he'd know I stopped for good reasons, but my knee was the only thing hurting at that point, and I had tylenol on me)

3. Tylenol, despite what anyone else may say, is your friend while you're running a race like that. Take it with you.

4. No matter how dead you are, how dragging-the-feet you feel, you have enough for the end. Ever since about 8k to the end, I had been picking up my pace - swinging my arms faster, thinking of the sweet beer reward, making smaller goals of getting past the 2:30 bunny, all these tactics played a part in my getting ahead of my previous time. Even when I was dragging my butt at 3km out, I would still pick up my knees and keep moving. I made a conscious decision to save myself between 300m and 100m out, but when I saw that end line, and the time counting down, I decided I would not be ending anywhere after the strike of 2:30, and picked up my aching knees and thighs again to make it in. I may have felt like collapsing after I crossed the line, but damn if it didn't add to the euphoria of finishing before my deadline.

5. Again: have people at the endline. It doesn't even matter who, anymore. Even if your friends are waiting for you outside the running area, look for a familiar face. It's well worth hearing their own endtimes and tribulations and sharing your own.

6. Do the work: For all that I'm patting myself on the back, and knowing I was busy, I know my time would have been better if I'd done more of the work.

That's all for now... If I can think of more, I will add them in.

Gearing Up for the Second Half-Marathon

The heat is oppressive in Ottawa this week, with humidexes (humidexi?) of around 40C and not much relief in sight. This has a lot of runners on pins and needles because this coming weekend is the event we've been training for, the Ottawa Race Weekend. Running in the heat is little fun, but running the race in the heat is worse - we have to take extra precautions to not let ourselves get heat stroke, and we don't want to just call it off and go home like we could with another run.

I am excited to pick up my race kit tonight. I have a list of the other things I need: tylenol, for when my knees want to give out, GU gels for replenishing energy, energy beans cuz they're yummy, and water and gatorade. Maybe I'll redo my music playlist as well.

I'm trying to go through my last race experiences and remember what worked and what didn't: bring water, run the whole race course two weeks before (doing this really calmed my nerves about the hilly Gatineau portion), and hydrate before the run. Have fun, be proud of yourself, and reward yourself afterwards!

Despite recent upheavals at work, I will be taking the following Monday off, and I do plan to spend it in a cold bath.

In other news, the morning thing hasn't worked out as well as I'd hoped - I still like sleeping in. However, I have discovered that running home has psychological interest as well - I'm 'running away from work' as well as getting my work-out done so I can rest easily.
Take that, brain!

Morning Running

I hesitate to write about this, because whenever I start writing about running, I tend to stop both running and writing.

I have had trouble recently having the energy and willpower to get out and running. When I get home from work, I have only enough energy to stumble to my couch, lie down, and stare at MST3K for at least an hour. This leads to being hungry, hungry leads to eating, eating leads to not wanting to go out and run... It's a vicious, lazy cycle.

However, I am having trouble sleeping in past 5am, because the sun is coming up and my curtains let in a lot of light. Usually, this leads to me rolling over, burying my head under blankets, and thinking, "Please oh please, just another hour."

Today, I capitalized on the situation, and rousted myself at 5am to go run. I had thought I would be starving or my muscles would be tight, or I would lose interest and head home.

Getting out was a bit cool at 4C, but once I started running, it was just fine. I was dressed almost too warmly, but in the end, a long-sleeve shirt, my running coat, and winter running pants were perfect.

Man, I can't tell you how lovely it was to be out there in the relative quiet, running beside the Ottawa river, listening to the sound of the birds greeting the morning, and watching the sun lighten the sky gently. There weren't many other runners out and I didn't have my music, but the scenery kept my attention well enough for 5km.

On the downside, my left calf started to cramp partway and my right Achilles tendon was stiff, so perhaps more stretching is needed, or it might just be how it goes when you get up and go straight to running.

I think I'd like to do more of this.

In other news, I think I recognize a paralympian on TV as someone who lives in my building. Squee!

Teh Sick Sucks

I took a week's break from running after I got home, finally lacing up on Sunday for the first of two 9k run. I felt pretty good until the last kilometer, when my knees started to wobble a bit.

Then I went out last night. Maybe I didn't dress up warmly enough (the weather is getting better, so I'm having to rethink my clothing strategy), but I came home from a knee-bruising tempo run (which reminds me, I'll have to make an appointment with my AT), made dinner and sat down to eat it... and I could feel the sick settling into my head. Really, it descended like a heavy fog.

So now I am home sick, and looking for any running magazine that mentions anything on running when you're sick.

Running in the Hometown

I'm back in Alberta this week. As always, running in the drier climate, with more packed snow is frustrating.

I went for a brief run with my sister yesterday; my first since I'd landed on Monday. While I had no fear that she was faster than me, I was worried by a few things.
First, the air is drier in Alberta than in Ontario, and thinner because of elevation. That means less oxygen getting to my muscles, and a constant thirst.
Also, the snow packed on the sidewalks made running more of an effort, because I would start to slip a little as I pulled my foot from the pave... er, snow. That means more effort expended in balance as well.
Lastly, my shoes were reaching their replace-by date, as I have had them since before my race in September. I had kept them going this long because Alberta has 0% provincial sales tax (PST), so the only tax was the 5% goods and sales tax, as opposed to Ontario, where the PST is 7%. In any case, I was definitely feeling my legs and knees ache for the past few runs, and decided it was time for a new pair.
Remember: Even if you aren't using your running shoes, the foam in them will degrade over time, so storing them for years in a closet will not keep them fresh and new!

So I stopped by the local Running Room this morning and got a new pair. I found a pair of Glycerin 6! The Glycerin 6 was my first pair of running shoes, and when I bumped up to a Glycerin 7, I learned a harsh and expensive lesson about using new shoes on a treadmill first.

Today, my sister and I will be going to the new fitness centre in our hometown to try out these new shoes, and hopefully not make the mistake I made the first time 'round.

I am lucky that I came home during a week of relatively nice weather; the forecast hovers around a high of 0C. Apparently the day after I leave, the mercury drops dramatically. Lucky me!

In other news, I am signed up for the St. Patrick's Day 5k run on March 13. It sounds like a fun run to do, as there are prizes for best costume, dry-fit shirts, and I know someone else who is running that race. It's about two kilometers longer than I'm supposed to run that day, but it's all in good fun.

Yay for the Running Room!

I would like to thank the people of the Bank St. Running Room store for caring for my Garmin watch while it was missing. They hid it from prying eyes, asked who it might belong to, and cosseted it while it was alone.

Long story short, I thought I'd put my Garmin watch in my bag three weeks ago, when I apparently hadn't. The Running Room staff found it, and put out the word that a precious (and runners consider their running watches very precious) Garmin watch was missing its owner, and they couldn't understand why the owner hadn't claimed it in three weeks! However, most of my running had been indoors, and I figured it was somewhere around the house (as I usually do). Fortunately, my Garmin and I are gladly reunited, and I won't have to spend $200 in Alberta for a new one!

The run today was a long, slow 7k of wondering if I was going to finish the route. My legs were tight, and it was -14C, with a windchill to -20C, so I bundled up in four layers: a skin-tight layer, my long-sleeve half-marathon wicking shirt (for inspiration), my 'warm' layer, and the wind-breaking coat. It did the job of keeping me temperate, but I was concerned when the wind would pick up and I'd feel the chill through my entire body.
On bottom, I wore my usual outdoor running pants, but I have found that all of my regular running socks don't cover my ankles, leaving a gap where cold wind can blow and freeze my skin.
So in light of the deficiencies in my garb, I have gone and spent another sheaf of money at the Running Room, investing in a warmer winter mid-layer which can double as an early spring/late fall layer, a pair of socks that cover my ankles, and a cute pair of evaporating running gloves. All ready to hit the roads in Alberta when I go home next week!

I have discovered a slight issue with SparkPeople's nutrition and fitness plan: if I were to try and follow it while training for a half-marathon, I would fall over in exhaustion. The problem is that runners need to consume a lot more calories than SparkPeople is advising. I am thinking that I will consider the SP advice on days that I am not running, and use good sense on the days that I am.

However, tonight's meal regime is a bust: it's Superbowl night.

This Past Week of Running

As mentioned in my last post, the half-marathon running clinic started this week. I also started a diet and fitness regime, with the help of SparkPeople.

The first night of the clinic was... interesting. I had planned to leave a full 30 minutes before, so I could drive downtown (alas, I can't attend the Bank St. clinic, due to conflicting schedules), find a place to park, get into the store and rest easy.

But as many plans go, this one went wrong from the moment I sat down in my car, because the car wouldn't start. I had left the ceiling light on, and drained the battery to nadir. :P Fortunately, my friend in the building was home, and was able to boost me. So useful to know someone in my apartment building!

I got downtown about 15 minutes later than I had wanted, and finding parking was a lot easier than I'd feared it to be. When I got in, the room was packed! Yes, there's going to be a lot of people in this half-marathon group. The problem will be hearing the group leader at all.

The first run was 3k, and it was strange running the other direction. Turns out, 3k from either Running Room store winds up at the Pretoria Bridge. It was an interesting run... It was cold out there, but there were still a lot of people walking, or coming back from skating, or even running like us. I felt a bit wobbly this run, and my knees felt a bit weak, as if my body was saying, "What? We're running this speed why?" Perhaps I've been too genteel to it recently.

The next day, my right knee ached, so I decided not to use the university treadmills. I could have used a cycling machine, but decided to rest the knee completely and apply ice when I got home, which is what I should have done right after the clinic. Lesson hopefully learned.

In the topic of other exercise, I have joined, as I mentioned above, SparkPeople, a fitness and nutrition tracking website. There are a lot of these websites around, like FitDay, but I found SparkPeople to be shinier and prettier colours. Also, when I used FitDay, they just tracked what I ate. SP also suggests meal plans, organizes the foods into shopping lists, and compiles the day's tracked foods into daily reports and tells you what you're doing right, what you need more of, and what you need less of.
On the fitness side, it advises work-outs according to your goals, provides demo videos of exercises, tracks your cardio and how many calories you've burned, and tracks your weight and measurements.
There's also a lot of community groups on SP. I just joined one for '20-somethings looking to lose 25-49lbs' and a group for half-marathoners.
Having followed SP for a week, I have lost 3lbs, which is encouraging, but there's so much more to go!

My inspiration for this sudden goal (which has been nesting at the back of my mind) is my sister: in a year and a half, she trimmed down from 200+ to 144lbs, and though I really don't think I'll follow her methods (some of the things boxers do to cut weight is a bit too extreme for me), the results are amazing. I decided that with time and dedication, I can do that too.

Also, the exercises are kinda fun.

Clinic starts tomorrow!

I'll admit that I haven't been running as steadily as I'd hoped before the start of the clinic. In fact, 'intermittent' is probably a better word than 'steadily'.

The clinic is starting, regardless of my fitness level. Fortunately, we start slow and steady; three runs of 3k this week, and 7k on Sunday. I've been doing 3-4k, so that's not a big concern.

My goal race is the Ottawa Race Weekend half-marathon, for a time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. I don't mind if it's less, I just want it to be better than my last race, which was 2 hours and 38 minutes.

I ran with my sister for a while on Saturday. We were in Ste-Hyacinthe for her boxing National Championships, and there was one huge difference between me and anyone else who ran: I was in a shirt and a pair of shorts, and the boxers were in long sweats and covered to the nines. Most of them were trying to sweat their way to making weight, which is a huge part of boxing.
Normally, I'd think this is absolutely crazy! And then I saw my sister and her friends in the hot tub and was amazed. They looked fit and amazing. I thought, if they can do that, why can't I?

So I'm going to take it up another level, and find an online personal trainer to use three days a week. The question is, which one?!?

First Run Back with the Running Room

I marshaled my forces this morning, and made myself go to the Running Room for the first time in months. Since it was my first run in so long for so early in the morning, I had to carefully choose what to wear: my long winter running pants, an undershirt, my long sleeve half-marathon shirt, and my running jacket. For -1C, I felt a touch chilly, because the wind was pretty cold.

Getting there with a few minutes to spare gave me enough time to kick myself for having missed out on great social opportunities, to reacquaint myself with old friends, and to figure out which group was where. With a new manager, the style of sending groups out has changed, but I still got the same warm feeling of being among friends.

Since the half-marathon group was scheduled to do 6km today, I joined them. They were going a bit longer than I had wanted to, but I knew the run path very well. I dropped back a bit, as the pace leader was faster than I wanted to go, and started talking with the half-marathon clinic leader. I'm delighted that we talked, because she's leading the marathon clinic at the Slater St. store, where I'll be taking my half-marathon clinic in February.

My run, while thoroughly enjoyable with conversation, was cut to about 5.5km, because both my knees and my right Achilles tendon were aching. I know I'll have to start my knee-strengthening exercises, and sooner or later, I should consult with my athletic therapist.

Another race I am thinking of partaking in is the St. Patrick's Day 5k/10k on March 15th. I don't honestly know what distance I'll do; if it was on a Sunday, I would do the 10k as a long-run, but since it's a Saturday, I may just do the 5k for fun.

Now, I am warming up at home, as I never do well with cold winds and exercise. Stay warm out there!

One Year

Holy cannoli, this blog is almost one year old. That is twelve months of running or thinking I should be running, twelve months of running magazines, and almost 365 days of asking myself why I'm doing this.

But that's not why I'm posting. I did four kilometers today, down a path that I'm pretty familiar with. I didn't have music with me, but I found myself thinking nonsense thoughts anyhow - from singing along to weird tunes to pondering if I was passing a friend's house or not to... well, whatever happened to cross my mind. While I like being accompanied by music on my runs, it's not necessary.

The clothing was easy: skin layer, warm layer, insulating layer on top, my warm running pants on bottom. However, if it had been any colder than -5C, I would have needed an extra layer. That's what I get for missing the descent-into-winter runs.

The first ten minutes of the run, my calves were tight and a bit painful, but after the first walk, they loosened up. I made it past my apartment and found I was at 2.75km, and still wanted to try for four, so I soldiered on. My knees started to ache a bit around the 3.75km mark, and with 100 meters to go, my Garmin told me to walk, so the last 100 were spent cooling down.

When I got in, I knew I would need some stretching, and boy, did I! It's so easy to lose elasticity in the muscles, but oh, stretching out my hamstrings felt good. Women's Running magazine had an article on quick post-run yoga, and going through the poses, while not a cake-walk, were not too challenging. I like that there had been thought put into the flow of moves, and how one position could transition into the other. For a post-race yoga work-out, I think I'll keep this one up.

I'm glad I did my run outside tonight. It re-established for me the fun of running out-doors. And to think, this time last year, I didn't know if I would even enjoy myself, and now, I'm jumping back into running 10-and-1s, though slower and fewer than when I stopped running in October, but I think I'll be good to start running in my up-coming clinic, and eventually, the Ottawa Race Weekend half-marathon.

A New Year, a New Run

A new year has come, and after being lazy for three months, I have decided to take up the torch again. I did my first run yesterday, 3km.

I picked a great time to do it, of course: it's snowed almost successively for about 10 days, to the point where going out even in Yaktrax would be risking an ankle. I used the treadmill in my building's workout room, and tried to think of nothing for about 30 minutes.

Some of the things I noticed while taking my 'break' was that I started looking at myself like I used to, before I started running. I'm sure I put back on the previous weight stores: my cheeks filled out, and I got cellulite on my thighs again. I also saw that I was measuring myself more critically, almost as if I knew I didn't have to put this back on, I could be out running but oh no... Of course, this style of beating myself up actually didn't help get me back out there, until yesterday.

Something new that I am trying, if not in the new year, at least for a while, is a more pescetarian diet. Pescetarian means fish and vegetables, but no beef or chicken. While I don't plan to totally cut out land-based meat, I'm trying to reduce it from my diet. It sounds like a grand idea, but it means a lot more planning: eggplant and tofu cook and taste very differently from their meaty counterparts, and I need to find ways to replace the protein. Finding new recipes for this self-imposed diet is a bit of a hunt.

I have signed up for the Ottawa Race Weekend half-marathon, and the training clinic at the Running Room again, and in light of that, I figure I had better be able to go more than a few steps! Therefore, this blog is active again, and I'll be posting more often.

In other news, I would like to put forth the blog of an enterprising young man, Travis Weeks, who has gone and lost 124lbs in less than a year. I found a news story about him on CNN and followed the link to his own blog, 344 Pounds, a reference to the top weight he hit.
I find his blog to be upfront and honest: he makes no bones about where his weight was, and how he felt about it. He talks about a variety of topics in his search; I liked his entry about loose skin, personally, because I always wondered what would happen in a case like that, and he explores the different options available to him on how to get rid of that skin (though the term 'get rid of' seems to imply fast results like surgery, Mr. Weeks doesn't seem to consider plastic surgery to be a very safe way of going about it).
Mr Weeks also considers diet, personal incentives, timings of work-outs, and so on.
All in all, I'm interested in following Mr. Weeks' efforts through his blog, and I will definitely be cheering for him from afar on his first 10K run.