Morning, Redux

Morning. Morning again. Sun peeking through the... wait, no, it's not.

It's grey outside. Grey and windy, and threatening to rain. Sometimes the best condition to run in, if you're not waking up at 5:15 to do it. But I said I would, so I get up, sneak to the bathroom to dress, and head downstairs. Today, I grab half a muffin and some water. I think I learned my lesson from yesterday.

Today, I put on my wind jacket, because who knows what will happen. I do a reverse of yesterday, heading out to the path under the power lines. It seems to stretch on forever, like two mirrors facing each other. My pace is slower than yesterday, which is great, and I feel more energy, from either the half muffin or running slower. I've already decided to do a shorter course, because I might go to the gym tonight.

However, as I'm approaching the turn-around point, I do consider going longer than I thought. But no, stick to the plan, I think. I hit 71 St, and start the turn around. Then I get to 167 Ave., and smack dab into the wind.

I hate running against the wind. So much extra effort and none of it recorded on my Garmin watch. Well, whatever. It's harder going against the wind, and all I can think about is passing the goals that lead me to the big one: home. There's the lights for 77 St. There's the cafe sign that sits in front of the pharmacy. There's the street lights, the fire house, and then the lights of my turn back towards home.

At about 50 meters out, I start to push. Not the fastest I can do, but faster, and to keep going, on a slight uphill grade. I'm reciting, "Finish strong," in my head as a mantra, "Push hard, finish strong." Just to the corner. But what's the corner? I'm too precise. It's the 45 degree angle of the corner block. I finish hard, and find my watch telling me I have run 4.5km this morning. Time to go home, shower, and have a coffee.

And get ready for work. I can't wait to run at lunchtime again...

In other news, one of the things I pass on my runs is the beautiful wild rose of Alberta:

The Wild Rose of Alberta

Morning Again

Morning again. Morning alarm. Time to wake up, and run.

The sun is already up and would wake me but for the heavy blinds blocking most of it out. My body knows it's time to get up, but does the rest of me?

Boyfriend is deeply ensconced in blankets and sleep. But I am determined that I'm going to do this, I prepared for it, and I know it's the best chance I'll have to run today.

So I get up, and get dressed, and go downstairs. I am on automatic. Water? No, I'll have a need-a-bathroom-NOW moment. Coffee? Dehydrating. Food? ... Not this time.

All is ready. It's a bit chilly outside, I can't find my sunglasses, but my Garmin is started, and here we are, out the door.

And I'm off, at a quick pace. 5:30 min/km is a bit quick, first thing in the morning, but I figure it's how my body is feeling, so let's go with it. I can feel my muscles waking up, protesting this movement, the quick turnover of my legs and feet. Hey, they say, this is not what we do first thing in the morning.

After five minutes, the quick pace is affecting me, so I take a small walk break. I figure it's because I haven't eaten anything. No water with me, either. Try to slow down, maybe. There are so few cars on the road, I feel like I'm in my own little world. Sun, birds, gentle breeze - this is perfect.

Start running again, and slowing down is not what my body wants to do. The faster I go, the faster it's over, right? Down 167 Ave, and I have to squint because the sun is over the horizon and just to my left. Sunglasses are necessary. By 71 St, I can feel the wall I'm starting to approach. It's not even 2km in, and I'm feeling this. Should really slow down.

Turn down 66 St, heading for the power lines. I have learned my lesson from Sunday, and switch over to the other side of the road when the side-walk runs out. As I complete the 180 turn and start heading back, I'm still hitting my previous speeds, maybe just a touch slowed to 5:45 min/km. There are a few more people on the path under the power lines, but the usual wind-tunnel effect hasn't started yet. It's pretty pleasant, now that the sun is behind me, but my legs are starting to hurt more.

I'm running out of energy, and I'm still at least a kilometer away from home. Can't stop now, though. No one is awake to pick me up, and I didn't bring my cellphone. Keep running, keep running, and you'll get there sooner. I pass an old Asian man who runs a few steps, then stops to walk. I want to tell him, "Don't let anything stop you from running," but it would be weird and condescending, so I keep going. Besides, anyone who gets out there is winning, no matter what speed they're going.

Up past the school, so very close to home. On my final walk break, I see that I've breached 5km. That's good enough for today. Besides, that run was nearly 400 calories already, and on an empty tank. I walk back to my house, cooling off as I go, anticipating the shower. As I enter, the house is still quiet. I press the button to reheat yesterday's coffee, and head upstairs.

A good start to the day. Now, to the rest of it.

What I Want to Do After a Run or, How I Started Listening to my Body

Frankly, when I get in after a long run on a Sunday, I want to spend a quiet day at home. I know that after the initial rush fades, and I have my desperately needed shower, I am going to crash, hard. I don't even want to listen to music.

Like today: I got in, and did my stretching (hoping to alleviate future knee and hip problems). I made a protein shake. I put an ice pack on my knees and sat quietly, and then I went and showered. After I dried off, I went and lay down. That's just what my body needs.

I find that anything further than 10k will demand my lying down, at least for right now. Maybe once I'm up in the higher distances, like 18 or 21km, I will find the threshold to be 15km. But right now, I'm training, and my body wants peace and quiet to recover from this faintly familiar punishment I'm putting it through. If I say that I don't want to go anywhere or do anything, it's not because I am avoiding anyone or being anti-social. It's because my body wants to move around about as much as it would like to swallow glass. My whole system just wants to rest now.

Last week was an example of doing it wrong: I did my run, then rushed home to get ready for Fathers' Day brunch. Ragnar and I walked around the large Enjoy Centre complex, and then I went and did the grocery shopping. As a result, my legs felt like I'd run about twice the distance, I was short-tempered, and my enjoyment of Sunday afternoon was shot.

So let us just say that quiet Sunday afternoons, watching football (once the season starts up) will be just what Dr. Jelly has ordered for herself.

Photos and other Evidence

Today was much the same as the last week - get up, disbelieve my phone's weather report, get dressed, eat, go to Running Room.
What I hadn't done was read the RR e-mail as closely as I should have - the half-marathon group was to meet in St. Albert. By the time I figured this out, it was too late to drive to the St. Albert store and hope everyone was still there, so I went out and did the 14km on my own.

When I started out, the weather was nearly perfect. The temperature was 15C, the wind was cool but not cold, and I had my route planned out. Ragnar seemed a little surprised that I would do all 14km on my own, but as I found out through personal experience, you don't just show up to a half-marathon and expect to run - you gotta do the work first. Or, 'fail to prepare, prepare to fail', and other like clichés.

I planned out my route for maximum can't-stop-now-ness, and it worked. A leisurely tour of Klarvatten and Lago Lindo where I didn't get lost once led me back to the main road, and then I went to run around a loop in Castledowns. The houses in that area vary between new to 20 years old or so, but most of the time, the area is very picturesque, with some lovely trees providing crucial shade.

My knees, however, were not as delighted with the weather and scenery. Their main concern was the fact that the LSD was happening at a 6:30min/km pace, which used to be my fast pace. My hip was nagging me too, so I think a visit to a physiotherapist or some such medical person would be a benefit. Hopefully, it's just a need for a quick deep tissue massage to straighten things out. Did I really just say 'hopefully' about a deep tissue massage?

Right as I was continuing down 97 St., I hit the wind tunnel. Sadly, the wind was attacking me, so in natural human competitive response, I ran harder against it. Not conducive! But that's how my body reacted, and to slow it down would, sometimes, tire me out further.

Thankfully, that was nearing the end of my run, so I managed to make it to just over 14km. It was relatively flat, but not quite enough shade for my liking. Also, when there is a choice of sidewalk, take it! The initial thrill of running off the path will be soon dashed by the realizing that mud is collecting on your shoes, making you heavier!

And the only unusual thing I saw today was the gigantic Great Dane who seemed very eager to meet me.

In other news, someone mentioned that I should post some photos. I will try to do that a bit more.

Here are a couple:

This is what I get to see while running in the River Valley!

Classy as always, Edmonton. Well done.

Very Tired

Today was a very busy day.

First, I woke up and looked out the window. My iPhone had said there was an 80 per cent chance of raining every hour until noon. However, my look outside told me there was nary a cloud in the sky. I went with the sky.

Clad in my new shorts and a t-shirt, I walked to the Running Room to run the scheduled 12 kilometers. The weather was pleasant, with a light breeze. When I looked to the north, I saw the menacing clouds that the iPhone was probably warning me about. But no, I thought, we don't run that far!

Turns out that this morning, not only were we running that way, we were driving into it, and THEN running that way. We drove up to the nearby base, and stopped at the local elementary school to start our run.

You'd think that running around a base would be stifling and boring. However, CFB Edmonton has done it right. The running path is paved and has a little forest you can lose yourself in - or, there's plenty of open space to feel at one with the world. There was even a port-a-potty next to the community garden which is always useful for runners who need to, er, go. My only complaint is that it doesn't go past the tank course. THAT would be something to watch.

We did one large loop of 7.5k, and then started the same loop, but cut left earlier and rejoined the loop for 5k. The clouds disappeared during the run, hiding just long enough to make the run pleasantly warm and bright, but then gave us a beautiful shine to finish with.

The best part was that I kept a 6:30 pace during it all. I was talking with someone who works on the base as a civilian engineer, and we had lots to talk about! The flames on her headband must have inspired the both of us to keep a faster pace. In all, 12k took me 1h23, where as last week, 10k took me 1h20.

By the end of it, I was certainly feeling it, and tried to stay around a while to cheer the last runners in - but then I looked at my watch and realized I had 30 minutes to get home, shower, get presentable, and drive 15 minutes to Fathers' Day Brunch in St. Albert. Whoops! Fortunately for me, my new friend was kind enough to drive me nearly right home.

My legs are, for the time being, toast. If they were a child, they'd be two or three years old, screaming about how they don't wanna. Probably beating their little fists into the floor.

Tomorrow will be a rest day. I wonder where we'll run next Sunday for 14k.

Overdoing It, and Loving It

In the past two days, I have run three times.

The great weather was just irresistible. Despite dire warnings of rain, the weather was sunny (or only mildly cloudy) and perfectly warmed for me (15C).

Yesterday, I ran some hills at lunch. It was the first day my boss was back and I felt the urge to just get out for an hour and run. There's a pleasant little hill into the Edmonton River Valley that's nearly perfect for the Running Room half-marathon program. I only did three hills, while the program calls for four this week. The first hill had me feeling it. The second made me ache half-way up, and the third was the hardest and yet the easiest. But I was glad I did it.
The reason I did only three hill repeats was that I play Ultimate Frisbee on Thursday evenings, so I had to keep some strength.

The Ultimate game was fine, too. I had plenty of energy and didn't feel much to any ache in my legs. I did a lot of running after a few certain people, so the fact that my legs weren't causing problems was a great testament to how fit I have become, as compared to five years ago, when one game would have wrecked me.

Today was another beautiful day, and I just couldn't help myself! So I went for an easy 3.5k run. I don't know if this is the addiction to running or the sheer need to get away from work for an hour, but it was good. My legs were tired and I slowed my pace down so I was getting out to stretch my legs, but not really making them work.

The lesson for me is, take the sun when you can, and run when you get the chance. The rewards are the feeling of having a run done, enjoying the sun, and a great photo of the River Valley!

Signed Up Again

I have signed up for the Edmonton Canadian Derby half-marathon! Guess I have no excuse now.

Furthermore, I see my hometown of St. Albert has a half-marathon a month after, which sounds like a great reason to keep running 21km distances!