Woke up this morning...

Well, yesterday morning.

At 4:45 a.m. Thought, 'Dagnabbit, too early,' so I put my head back down for 30 minutes. Which became 75 minutes. At which point I woke up, cursed at the clock, and pondered running at lunch time.

Any sport will reasonably work some flexibility into its program (though I have heard of certain running coaches who are famous for NOT doing that, but then, I'm never going pro). I am famous (to myself) for allowing too much flexibility: I don't feel like running today, I can do it tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow...

This got me into trouble in my last half-marathon race. I didn't do enough of the work, and I ended 13 minutes later than I wanted to (though I still beat my personal best by 10 minutes!).

This time, I am buckling down. Just you watch me.

I had considered taking all my running stuff to work and going at lunchtime. Winter running gear can be cumbersome though, and it wouldn't all fit into my little gym bag! So I scrapped that plan, and decided to wait for the evening.

As previously mentioned, it's hard for me to get up and running when I get home from work. I leave after an eight-hour day (or longer), wait in the cold for the stupid bus that never seems to show on time (10-20 minutes late), trudge from bus stop to home and unwrap from winter clothes into the luxurious heat of my shared townhouse. Who would want to go back into the cold after that?

Last night, I had one thing that changed my mind: my favourite MST3K channel was showing a movie that makes even me groan and wait for the sweet, blissful end, Laserblast. Some movies, you can watch to see how bad they get, some you turn off in sheer disgust. This one chased me out of the house and into the cold to do my run. Well done, Laserblast, well done.

I took off without my Yaktrax on, believing most of my fellow suburbanites would be so kind as to shovel their sidewalks for young, industrial runners like myself. I was only half right, but as they say all too often, c'est la vie!

Also of note, I forgot to turn my Garmin on for the first kilometer. Admittedly, I already had my headphones going (not advised for evening running, though I feel safe in my neighbourhood) and didn't hear the starting beep as I pressed the button. Sometimes, my Garmin Forerunner 305 needs a bit of button-pushing emphasis to get it going.

My run ended pretty well, so I decided to go for all-you-can-eat sushi. That turned into another nightmare of waiting over an hour for our first order, but that's another story.

To the Grind

I started running with the Running Room again last night. I joined the 10K group about a week in, and did the 6k planned last night.

As I knew, and anyone with common sense would know, jumping back in from my previous gleeful status of 'running once in a while' to 6k is bound to leave some ouchie.

That was my thighs and knees today. They didn't hurt quite as much as I expected, but a chance conversation with a friend who's recovering from a knee injury reminded me to buy new ice packs.

Tomorrow's plan is for 3k. I'm going to (try to) get up early in the morning to do it then - a little solidarity with my sweetie who has to be up at 4 a.m. for work.

As I last wrote, I want to plan a bit more on the idea of an exit strategy to this 10k group, which will end March 12. It is thus: run with the half-marathoners. C'est easy, non?
I will slide in with the half-marathon group and continue my training that way.

When I hit that point, then, I'll have to decide what to do next. Probably just sign up for the group and the next race again.

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?