Race Report – Fin Island Trail Race

I have to confess, I was a little dubious about this race.  It was, after all, free.  And with some of the responses I’d had to some emails I’d sent to the race coordinators, I was beginning to wonder just how organized the race was going to be.  Turns out it was a fabulous race and very well organized.

So Genine and I hemmed and hawed a lot about whether or not we really wanted to wake up at 5am to make it on time to the 8am race start.  Since the race was just over an hour’s drive away, she came to stay at our place for night so that we could get away nice and early.

Based on the research I had done, we would not be able to park at the river flats (where the race was held) unless we went to package pickup on Friday night and picked up a parking voucher for $5.  Since we were not going to package pickup, our other option was to catch one of many shuttles going from different places in the city out to the island on the river.

And, in order to get to the race early enough to get our race packages, we would have to catch the 7am shuttle.  *groan*

We managed to get there just in time for that first shuttle, and we happily hopped into the waiting van which was being driven by a nice an older gentleman.  Genine says to him “it sure is nice of you to volunteer to drive the shuttle” to which he said something involving a curse word and indicated that he was (a) up way too early, and (b) had been volunteered by someone else, so was (c) doing this against his will.

Awesome.

So now we’re being driven by the Super Crabby Old Guy Who Swears And Smells Like Cigarettes.  And who is listening to “Kokomo” on his CD player.  At 7am.

Again, awesome.

We got to the island ok, used the outhouse, and went to the race start where we picked up our race numbers and found some sun to stand in because it was 7 degrees Celcius out and we could see our breath.  And I was wearing shorts.

Genine and I had both been toying with the idea of running the 21k route, but I hadn’t run anything longer than 4miles in the last 3 months or so, so I talked myself down to the 10k.

Turns out 10k is plenty far enough in a trail race.  Running trails is a little more challenging than running on the road, which I *knew*, but hadn’t yet experienced.  By 2k I had learned that it’s best to not look at my Garmin while running trails, as inattention = tripping.  By 3k I had learned that no way would I have ever been able to run 21k, and what had I been thinking??  By 4k I had finally settled down, slowed my pace a little, and relaxed into the experience.

And it was truly a great experience.  The day was cool but sunny, the trees were pretty thick and blocked any wind that we might have felt, and the trail was great – lots of variation from double track to single track, grass to sand to roots to dirt, and every once in a while a breathtaking view of the river glistening in the sunlight.  Short but steep hills, nice flats, all in all a great course.

And the coordinators did a really great job on the race – it was really well organized.  The race is the kickoff to Bridgefest, the community’s annual fair, and if they keep offering it then Genine and I will keep running it.

We followed up the race with breakfast at a restaurant, and topped that off with Blizzards for the drive home.  Pretty much perfect.

Nada

So, there’s this 21km race that I’m supposed to be running at the end of the month.  And I laid out all of my long runs on my calendar like I always do.  And I have done exactly none of them.  In fact, the longest run I’ve managed in the last three weeks was 3miles.  That is not going to help me cruise along to the finish line.

I just can’t seem to get going, for several reasons, but the main one is still my hips.  They just still aren’t working properly.  It seems like the longest that I can run and still feel good is about 2 miles.  Farther than that and stuff starts to tighten up and begins to feel really really bad.

This is a problem for me because (a) I am a mileage junkie and (b) I really love ice cream.  Really.  A lot.  My normal *base* run distance for just a regular easy run was 4miles.  Anything less than that and it didn’t feel like it was even worth it.  And now I’m running half that, if I actually get out there and run.

Now this isn’t to say that I haven’t had some terrific runs lately – I’ve done almost all of them with friends and I’ve truly enjoyed the time I’ve been able to spend with these fabulous ladies.  But it hurts my pride to stop before I’ve even hit the 3mile mark.  It hurts me bad.

I’m also having a tough time fitting running in to my summer, which is weird.  Summer is supposed to be the easiest time to run, but I’m finding it’s the toughest.  I feel like I should run outside and not on the ‘mill, but that means I have to find a time when it’s not too hot out, daylight, not thunderstorming, Berry Guy is around, and there’s not something up that we have to go to.  This limits me to (a) early early morning (totally not happening) or (b) late evening if we didn’t have to go out.

We’re particularly busy since all of Berry Guy’s family is around this summer, and they have been here during berry season which made things even busier.  I’m almost looking forward to Fall so that we can settle back, breathe, and return to routine.  (please don’t slap me)

So that’s my complaining for the day.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

You may have noticed (but probably not, because no one checks my running blog anyway) that I took down the running blog.  Too much work, and no one was really reading it.  So, I decided that you would all have to suffer through my running over here.  Because one way or another, you WILL be interested in my running.

Mwa-hahahaha.

Just kidding.  It’s just easier for me, because I’m lazy.

Anyway, I imported all the posts to this blog for your reading enjoyment.

*smile*

Tonight, I found that I could indeed run 8min pace at the end of a run.  Depending on the song that is playing on my iPod.  That was fun.

We’re in the middle of Berry Season, which means that I am supervising the sorting staff in the shop and getting a backache bending over the berry trays while I pick stems out.  Good times.

Also, my hands are purple.

So I would warn you that posting may be a little sparse for the time-being, but really that would not be different from any other time, so hey!  Business as usual!

ouch.

Last night was the final(ish)* Boot Camp session in town.  It was humid and the workout was, how shall I say…exceptional, in that our trainer *really* pulled out all the stops.

Allow me to summarize for you our circuits.  And yes, I do mean more than one circuit.  She was a master of cruelty last night.

Circuit #1 went like this:  15 scorpion pushups (a normal pushup, but when you press back up you bring one leg up behind you and kind of twist it toward the opposite shoulder, if that makes any sense), 15 drop-downs (you stand on a bench and lower one foot behind you almost to the ground, and then come up again, and repeat with the other foot), 15 jump squats, 50 mountain climbers (basically running in place but getting your knees up really high) and 50 abs.  Repeat 3 times.

Then, as though my legs were not already quivering globs of jell-o, we moved straight into the second circuit:  20 reverse squats (you start in a deep squat, raise halfway up, and lower back into the deep squat), 20 lunges with a kick, 20 kick-type-things where you imagine you’re kicking your leg over a high chair, 20 knee-high jumps, where you jump and bring both knees as high as you can towards your chest, and then 20 abs.  Repeat 3 times.

No word of a lie, my legs actually failed me on my last set of knee high jumps.  As in, I actually fell to the ground because my legs gave out.

As if this were not all sufficiently horrific, at the very end she made us do windsprints (I think I called them suicides in a previous post) – run to the farthest lamp post and back, then to a slightly closer lamp post and back, and then to the nearest lamp post and back – all at about 90% of your maximum effort.  I literally felt like I was moving in slow motion.  It was horrible.  And yet awesome at the same time.

Needless to say, stairs have not been my friend today, particularly the two flights I had to go up and down at work today.  Seriously, I could cry.  It’s the kind of soreness that makes me mutter things like “oh sweet lord” when I stand up from sitting, or “please have mercy” when I try to walk down the stairs, or “aahhhhhh” when I try to walk back up them.

Here’s the thing though – I loved every muscle-failing moment of Boot Camp.  I loved how I would think that I couldn’t go any harder, and then our trainer would tell me to squat deeper or run faster, and I would.  I could.  It hurt more, but I could.

Here’s the other thing.  My legs have been way stronger on my normal runs.  And, in 4 weeks I somehow lost 2 inches off my waist and 2 1/4 off my hips.

I can’t wait for Boot Camp in Fall.

*we have one session to make up due to adverse weather (ie. sever thunder storms)

Ack.

Apparently, I only run seriously when it’s (a) winter or (b) there’s a race breathing down my neck.  And I just realised that there’s a race breathing down my neck.

My friend Genine and I are planning to do this 21k trail race on August 28th.  Which, I just realised, is only 9 weeks away.  Which, I also just realised, means that if I put in the bare minimum of weeks for training (10) I am still already one week behind.

Crap.

Time to get on it.  Except, I don’t really feel like it.  I’m loving Boot Camp, and I’m loving what it’s doing for my running.  I went to the city with some friends last weekend and we ran the river paths for 8km – it was fabulous.  The change of scenery, for one, but also my legs felt AMAZING.  Like, super strong.  After 5k I couldn’t hold them back any longer and I kind of left the two friends I was running with and just gave ‘er.  It was fantastic.

However, even with this improvement, running has kind of taken a serious backseat in my day.  Boot Camp leaves me sore and tired, and if that wasn’t enough of an excuse, then it’s hot, or stormy, or too humid, or we’re outside late doing stuff and don’t get the boys to bed on time, or there’s ice cream, or I’m sleeping in instead of running…

So I need a little motivation.  I wrote out my *training plan*, which gives me a gradual build up in long run mileage (again, because I haven’t maintained my long run like I said I would – argh), and I will have two other runs during the week that I have to do.  Usually, these would be speedwork and Tempo runs, but since I don’t have a time goal here (it’s just a super awesome experience) I will probably just focus on getting out the door, and I would like to take at least one run to the trails every other week or so.  Should be interesting.  I think I’ll call them Trail Run Tuesdays.  And hopefully I’ll get them done on Tuesdays.

What we think it was…

ok, so I think the mystery has been solved.  And let me just say how much I love that I can type in “child screaming animal sound” in Google and get serious results.  Google, I heart you.

Last year, I’m more than certain that this was the noise I heard:

The other night, this was the sound we heard:

I’m much less scared of a fox than I am of a cougar.

phew.

Noises

I set myself a goal on my Garmin Connect page, because it has a “Goals” section and I have to use every available tool on that site simply because it’s there.  Because I’m nerdy like that.

So anyway, I set myself a nice little modest mileage goal of 20miles/week.  Which should be more than do-able, but with Boot Camp on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I was hoping to hit the week running with a nice solid run on Monday.  Today.

Hasn’t happened.

Isn’t going to happen, since it’s now 9:30pm.

I did, believe it or not, contemplate running this morning before work.  It was simply gorgeous outside – that lovely cool morning air, no wind, no rain, no clouds.  Perfectly pleasant.

Except for the weird animal noise that we heard at 5:00am.

The weird creepy sounded-like-a-child-screaming-noise that we heard at 5:00am.  The one that sent Berry Guy shooting out of bed to make sure that one of the boys hadn’t somehow wandered out of the house and become trapped somewhere out in the field near the dugout.

It wasn’t the same, but it reminded me of the *noise* that I heard last summer, while sitting on my peaceful deck, which turned out to be a cougar.  I didn’t run outside for a while after I heard that noise last summer, and if I did run outside it was always in town, with friends.  And I certainly wasn’t going to run outside this morning after hearing that different-but-stil-really-creepy-noise.

So instead I went to the city and had Parfait* for lunch.

The end.

*You know what else everybody likes? Parfaits. Have you ever met a person, you say, "Let's get some parfait," they say, "Hell no, I don't like no parfait"? Parfaits are delicious. (name that movie)

Boot Camp!

So tonight was the official first session of Boot Camp.  And I’m not exaggerating when I tell you IT WAS AWESOME!!!!  Like, vomit-inducing awesome.  I loved every minute of it.

I’m also not exaggerating when I tell you that there were hordes of mosquitoes trying to carry us away.  Seriously.  I have not seen that many mosquitoes swarming me ever.  I was reapplying the bug spray a couple of times, and they were biting me through my capris people!  Through. My. Capris.  Insane. 

The workout, however, was fantastic.  She made us do a circuit that started with an obscene amount of Burpees, followed by tricep dips, jump rope, sit ups, jump squats, and what some people call suicide sprint drills.  Probably because you kind of want to kill yourself after (or during) just to make the pain stop.  We did the circuit three times, and every time I hit those Burpees I got about halfway through and started to wish I could just pass out.  Mostly because I apparently have the upper arms of a T-Rex.  Good times, people.  Good times.

Seriously, it was the most fun I’ve had working out in a long time.  Mostly because I just don’t really work out.  Besides the running, I mean.

We did a little course at the end in teams, where we had to run, do pushups, run to the next pylon and do twisty abs, then run to the last pylon and do jumping jacks, and then run back to our team and tag the next person.  We only had to do this one twice.  Thank goodness, because by the second set my arms were so jello-like that I was completely resorting to girlie style pushups.

Good stuff.

I’m totally going to feel this in the morning.  Or, you know, when I get up from this chair…

BOOT CAMP!!

This is the summer that I want to do some new things – I want to run trails, often; I want to run lots with my friends instead of alone; I want to try new races and distances; I want to have fun.

Now, with the trouble in my hip, this hasn’t gotten off to a tremendous start.  I was hoping to run the 30km race here in June but that’s not going to happen.  However, trail running will definitely be happening if it ever dries up enough to get out there, and friends are almost always available.  I’m pumped.

Yesterday I happened to find out that there is going to be a Boot Camp starting next week!  I’ve been wanting to do this since last summer but no one around here offers stuff like that.  But now there’s a girl in town who’s a personal trainer, and she’s going to put one on.  I’m so excited, and you can bet that I’m already signed up.

So starting on Tuesday next week, I’ll be measured and weighed and I’ll be having someone to kick my a** all over the place.  Can’t wait to feel the burn!  I’m just so excited to be doing something different and to challenge myself in a new way.  It’s gonna be FUN.

I’ve also been finding out about lots of cool races that are happening in the city but that I never knew existed.  And while they’re not going to work out this year, you can bet that they’ll be on the calendar for next year:

• The Bridge City Duathlon in April – run 3k/bike 20k/run 3k.  I found out about this way too late do be able to do it, but I’m for sure going to do it next year.  I love biking, and I obviously love running, but I hate swimming, so this is the perfect event for me!
• The Mogathon 30k in June – new distance for me, but it won’t be happening this year due to my untraining.  But next year, I will be able to use the half marathon that I just ran as a great buildup to this race.  I’m already excited.
• The Saskatoon Urban Adventure Race in June – I would be doing this one this year, but unfortunately it falls on the same day as our town’s Street Fair, and I am heading up the 5k fun that we hold in town.  Really too bad, because I think this would be a lot of fun.  Definitely next year, and I’m pretty sure I can pressure my friend Genine into doing it with me.

Still on my mind for this year is the Emperor’s Challenge – this will require me heading out to visit my parents in BC, but might be worth the trip.  And I would get to run it with my 19 (20?) yr old nephew, who I love.  And by run it *with* him, I mean we would be running the same race, only he would be running it much, much faster than me.  The kid is much faster than he was 6 years ago when I would patiently jog along and he would try not to throw up.  Might be the long legs.  And the fact that he’s a boy.  Who’s 19(ish).  But still, it would be a lot of fun, and a totally new challenge for me.

So here’s to an exciting summer!

More Race Photo Oops…I mean Ops…

Lisa’s husband had met us a couple of times along the course to take pictures, take our jackets from us when we were too hot, and generally cheer us on (and by “us”, I mostly mean Lisa).

He took this fabulous picture of us…

I laugh every time I look at it.  I’m not sure I’ve ever looked quite this…goofy?  Hilarious.  I have no idea what Lisa is pointing at.  (Interestingly though, that is the ridiculous smile that I had plastered on my face for the majority of the race.)

He also took these:

I love that second one – we had just cleared the sick hill at the end and were about 100m from the finish line.  I love the look on Lisa’s face – she’s so tired, but she’s so thrilled!

I, on the other hand, am doing a retarded two-handed wave.  Because that’s what I do, apparently.  Look like a dork.

It’s Saturday today, and I have not run a step since this race.  I’m kind of missing it, and kind of not.  I’m doing a lot of other fun things though, like sitting on a tennis ball to loosen up all those spasmy muscles in my butt.  Today I attacked the garden since it wasn’t raining for about ten minutes, and I’m pretty sure my lower back is saying “thank you so much for that” (actually, I think it’s swearing, but I can’t type those kinds of words on my blog…)

I’m still committed to this time off, and I’m doing my physio stuff like a good girl.  But I’m totally looking forward to some lovely evening runs with some good friends throughout the summer.  Providing, of course, that it can stop raining long enough for us to enjoy the summer.

Race Report, or How To Take a Really Great Marathon Photo

Well, what can I say.  The half marathon was on Sunday, and I ran it.  And it was fabulous!  And I’m totally aware that after all the whining and complaining that I did I now sound like *that* person – the one who moans about how terrible they are going to be when in fact they know they are going to be great.

I’m really not that person.  I really thought that this was going to be a terrible, terrible race.  One that I would struggle just to finish.  I don’t think I had more than a handful of decent training runs in the build up to the race, and after every single long run my lower back would seize up and start to spasm.  In fact, by the time I hit the taper week I couldn’t even run 3 miles without having to take back-pain medication after.  So it really wasn’t looking promising for race day.

And then there was the weather.  It was cold, and it was raining – all weekend.  And as I pointed out, the forecast was for a high of 5 degrees Celcius, with rain and maybe snow.  I was seriously contemplating going for coffee instead of racing.

However, after a fitful sleep I woke up before 5am on race day morning, made my coffee, ate my peanut butter toast, drank more coffee, and got ready.  And as I drove to the city it was definitely grey and cool, but it was not raining.  So that was promising.

Starbucks was indeed still closed at 6:30am (sigh) but I met up with my friend Genine and we walked over to the starting area.  Genine ditched me for a starting position closer to the front since she’s super fast, and I hunted around for my friend Lisa who would be running the half for the first time.  By sheer luck we happened to find each other right before the gun went off – I was so relieved.  I had wanted to at least start out with her, and then either stick with her or just run my own race.  But right away I knew that I wanted to just run with her and help pace her out to the finish, and I’m so glad I did!

Seriously, this was the most fun I have ever had running the half!  The pace was nice and easy – our running pace averaged about 10min/mile, and we walked through the water stops. I had tons of energy and felt simply awesome.  I have no idea why.  I high-fived volunteers and thanked them for coming out to help – something I never really have energy to do when I’m pushing myself.  I think I had a huge smile plastered on my face pretty much the whole time.

Aside from a little cramping in my left hip and two blisters on my right foot, everything went great.  The course this year was really beautiful and the weather held – there was no rain, the wind was a little gusty at a couple of points, but the sun actually managed to find a crack in the grey for a little while.  I was layered just right so I wasn’t too cold or too hot (until the end when we were finished running – then it became clear why the volunteers were out with parkas on), and I just felt great.

Lisa was just fantastic the entire race.  I don’t know if she felt fantastic, but I would never have been able to tell if she was struggling.  She just ran really strong the entire way, and when we hit the final mile she ran the hill and totally killed it.  I kid you not, the last 3/4 mile of this race was straight uphill.  I don’t know who’s brilliant idea it was to make a few thousand tired people finish a race on a steep uphill, but that’s what they did.  And Lisa totally owned it.  I was so proud.

After the race I found Genine again and we grabbed our bags, ducked over to Starbucks to change into dry clothes and had our hot macchiatos.  I picked up my Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and ate it while driving home, which was awkward, so I finished it while I soaked in a hot bath.  And I know, a hot bath is not the ideal thing for all those inflamed muscles and joints, but it felt so good on my back which by that time was definitely complaining, so I don’t regret it.

But about those photos…

I was checking out my race photos from Marathon Photos, and wouldn’t you know it, my finishing photo is this:

me, with my head down, stopping my Garmin.  Classic.

Luckily, there are others:

me, waving at my friend Cristelle who had come out to cheer…

 

(I know – could it be more dorky?   Seriously.)

This one’s not so bad…

and then this one my friend Cristelle took:

 

you may or may not notice that Lisa and I are wearing the same shirt (except hers is pink and mine is purple).  We agreed that we were just too cute…

even with my dorky hat.

Seriously?

That?  That is the current forecast for Sunday.  Race day. Cloudy with 60 percent chance of rain showers or flurries. Low zero. High plus 5.

You know it’s not going to be plus 5 at 7am.

Now, I say *current* forecast because  yesterday they were saying Sunny with a high of something in the ‘teens.  But really, flurries??

I was trying to make some outfit decisions, like do I wear the new Lululemon long-sleeved shirt that I just bought, or my standard Nike long-sleeved shirt that I wear for pretty much every race that requires sleeves?…Nike capris or shorts?…layer a tank under the long-sleeved shirt, or a second short-sleeved shirt?…

Now, I’m trying to decide between toque or no toque, parka or wind shell…long underwear?…

Sick.

Race Day

Well, Sunday is the big day.  Half Marathon day.  Otherwise known as The Day of Berry Girl’s Major Suck Fest.  I know, this blog hasn’t been all sunshine and lollipops – I promise it will get more positive when I quit running after this half and start my new career as a chocolate inhaling couch potato.

That being said, I figured that I better come up with some kind of race strategy for the big day.  So here it is.

I will get up at some totally indecent hour (like 5am)

I will drink coffee

I will eat peanut butter toast and drink milk

I will drink more coffee

I will get dressed (outfit to be determined)

I will prepare some GuBrew, or some Nuun, to drink on the way to the city.

I will probably leave for the city by 6am, since the race starts at 7am.  This should give me half an hour to park, cry that the Starbucks located directly across from the race venue is not open yet, hit a portapotty, and line up for the race.

I will drag my sorry butt through 13.1 miles, or 21km, whichever one works for you.  During the race, it will be 13.1 miles, because it sounds shorter.  After the race it will be 21km, because it sounds more impressive.

I will try to run the entire course, with the exception of the water stations, which I will walk through because I am incapable of running and swallowing at the same time.

I will probably use my iPod, so that I can retreat deep into myself when it becomes too uncomfortable.  Which will probably be at mile 2.

I will try not to cry.

I will also try to not kiss the person who puts the finisher medal around my neck because I will be so relieved to be done.

Post-race, I plan to skip the *treat* tent and forgo the bananas and oranges and yogurts and will instead hop over to the mall across the street where I will purchase a pint of Ben & Jerry’s from Safeway and an Quad Grande Americano Misto from Starbucks.  I will then get in my car and drive home eating the Ben & Jerry’s and drinking the Americano and will probably throw back a Robax Platinum or two.

I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Ugh.

This is the continuing saga of my hip sob story.  The good new is that since I started physio and doing the “core” strengthening exercises that have been prescribed to me, I have not peed my pants while running in quite a while.  This is nice.

Also, whereas before I was experiencing pain in the Left hip while the actual problem was in the Right hip, I am now happy to say that all the pain seems to be properly located where the problem is.  Which means that my Right hip now hurts. A lot.

And that is the problem.  It’s a new pain, and I’m not sure what to do about it.  When I ran the 10k route for the Marathon the other week, I had a fabulous run and didn’t feel any discomfort during the 10k.  I ran a decent pace that allowed me to run the whole thing and not feel like puking.  Later that night, however, I almost OD’d on Advil and Tylenol because my lower back on the Right side hurt so bad.  So bad that I thought I might throw up, and I certainly didn’t sleep, and my stomach hurt the next day because of all the pills I’d swallowed the night before in an effort to find SOME relief where there was apparently none.

The same thing happened after my 10mile long run, and again after my 12mile long run.  I actually went out and purchased some Robax Platinum because I could not sit at my desk the following morning at work without wanting to cry.  The Robax helped, but I want to know what is going on???

I’ve been using my foam roller and I’ve been sitting on a tennis ball and rolling it around the (many) spasmy spots in my glute.  And while these give some relief, it never seems to last long.

Needless to say, I’m frustrated.  Very, very frustrated.

Berry Guy told me to get my hip fixed already, since it’s starting to affect other stuff (mainly my mood).  And, sure, that’s a great idea, but it costs me $40-$50 an appointment for physio or massage. That’s a lot of cash to shell out at this point in our lives.

So I’m going to throw this out there and hope that some of you runners (and even non-runners) might have some insight that I can bring to my next physio appointment.

I’m pretty sure, based on this picture…

that my problem lies in the Gluteus minimus and the Piriformis.  When I sit on the tennis ball, if I roll it right along the side of my hip, I get pain radiating all the way down the side of my leg (which may be my IT band?)  If I press the ball into the piriformis, the pain shoots up my back and down my leg.  If I sit just normally in a chair (no tennis ball) then there is pain down the side of my hip and into my inner thigh.  And also up my back.

I just don’t know what to do.  Any ideas?  Thoughts?  Give up running?  Become a couch potato?  Eat more chocolate?  Drink more wine?…

Long Runs

I had a long run fail on the weekend, meaning that I didn’t actually do a long run.  Bad bad Berry Girl.  My friend Lisa did her long run, and she’s running the same half marathon as I am on the 30th.  I felt the guilt.  Believe me.

So I sucked it up and did my 10 miles on Monday, since I was too busy all weekend doing things like eating Chocolate Torte heaped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  And since it was Monday, and grey and rainy outside, I did all 10 miles on my treadmill.  In my basement.

I don’t think I’ve ever run that far on the treadmill.  But it worked out perfectly – Berry Baby was napping, I had eaten enough at work during the morning to fuel me up, I had two Survivor episodes to watch while I ran, and it was way easier to eat my Gu Chomps and drink my sports drink while I was running on the ‘mill.  After I got to the 5 mile mark, I thought hey, it’s just another 5 miles from here, and I do that all the time.  And two episodes of Survivor are just about perfect for 10 miles.  So that was a win.  Now that I’ve done that distance on the treadmill, I’m hoping that it will feel less intimidating when I have to do it in the winter.

But about that Half Marathon…

I have one more long run of 12 miles to do this Sunday, and I’m planning to do them in the city with my friend Lisa, so that will be nice.  Then the next weekend is a *taper* and then it’s the half.  I’m not sure how this is going to go, considering that I have been putting in the bare minimum of miles and workouts, and “Tempo Run” and “Intervals” have not shown up really at all in my training log.  So I’ve kind of ditched the whole “PR” thing and have decided to just run the thing with no real goal and just run so that it feels good.

A group of us ran the 10k route for this marathon a week ago.  The 10k course is the beginning and end of the half marathon course, and it was a good thing that I ran it ahead of time because the second half of that loop was not AT ALL where I thought I would be. I mean, I saw it on the map, but in my head I was in a completely different area.  So I’m totally relieved that I will know exactly where I am at the end, and how far I have to go.  They have put out a completely different course this year from last year, and I always get psyched out at the end when I’m tired and I’m not totally sure how much farther it is to the finish line.

And speaking of the new course…I’m not sure who thought of it but they start us out on a lovely downhill to the river, but then make us run back uphill at the very end…sick.

Suck-Fest

That pretty much sums up my run today.  A major suck-fest.  It was super windy, and cold, and (would you believe) SNOWING?  As I drove into town to run with my fast friend Machon I saw the snowflakes get bigger and thicker and I couldn’t quite believe that we were actually going to run 6 miles.  In that.  But we did.

I ran it – it wasn’t pretty, but I ran it.  With a recovering infection and a new head cold, I ran it.  In the wind.  And the cold.  And the snow.  The cold, blowing, snow.  Seriously.  It’s April, isn’t it?

Anyway, I kind of fell off the half-marathon training program (and I mean “training program” in the loosest sense of the term) and should have really kicked out a 10miler today, but as things stood I was surprised I ran at all.  So I’ll take 6 miles, thankyouverymuch.

The good part was that I got to test drive my new Garmin 405!  EEEK!!  So excited to have this!  And it was every bit as fabulous as I had hoped.  Except that it didn’t make me faster.  I really thought it would make me faster.  Not really, but one can always hope, right?  It was so cool to have real time info on my pace and distance, which is what I have always loved about running on the treadmill.  I was surprised at parts when I was running sub-9min/mile pace, and not surprised at the parts where I was running more than a 10min/mile pace.

Then, I got to upload my workout to the Garmin site, and that was super cool too!

LOOK!!!  It shows the route that we ran, all my info (time, distance, etc), the elevation gains:

and then all my mile splits, along with a pace chart and an elevation chart:

AND THEN!  I can watch my run happen – it moves a button through the route map while a bar moves across my pace chart, so I can see exactly where I had trouble and where I sped up, etc etc.

I realise this is probably only fascinating to me, but it’s just so cool!  Feeling very blessed by my fabulous husband.

Pants

There’s nothing quite like trying to slip into last summer’s capris to motivate a girl to run.  I blame Christmas.  And Easter.  And Nutella.  It could, of course, be my complete inability to exercise any kind of self control regarding food, but then it would be my fault, and that’s less fun for me.

So I got the boys into bed last night and I hit the treadmill for an interval run while I caught up on Survivor.  And yes, it was a crying shame to be running on the treadmill when the day had been so incredibly beautiful, but in my defence the grader had been by just that afternoon and when the road is freshly graded it is something like running on marbles.  Which, if you’re wondering, is not fun, and feels a lot like hard work.

So I ran on the treadmill and tried to redeem the crapshoot of a long run that I’d had on Saturday, which was 9 miles of stopping to stretch my hip and generally feeling like crap.  And after, there was a lovely purple toenail to greet me.  Same one that fell off last year after the half marathon.  Great.

Seems to me that 8 miles is my breaking point.  Up to 8 miles and I’m pretty much fine.  Over 8 miles and I start to fall apart.  The toenail gets bruised, I find chafing in weird spots, and I start to really need the ice bath.

My hip is still bothering me, which was mostly why the long run sucked so much.  My PT did some work on my IT band last week and we discussed the benefits of maybe using a foam roller.  She doubted that I would be able to tolerate the roller, since I would be resting my body weight on it.  She was doing the same thing to me, not even close to the pressure that I would feel with the roller, and I was nearly hitting the ceiling.

But a friend of mine picked one up for me in the city and brought it out, and I used it for the first time on Sunday.  I started at my hip and started rolling it toward my knee thinking “hey, this isn’t that bad…” and then I hit The Spot just above my knee and thought I might cry.  So yes, it is as painful as people say it is.

However, I used it again last night before my run and my hip did not bother me until the last half mile!  Very psyched about that.  If I can combine the roller with the exercises the PT has given me, I may be on my way to some kind of success.

So this week I am hoping to get my mileage in with little to no hip issues, and I’m sincerely hoping that my friend Lisa has her weekend plans fall through so that she will be around and we can run a 10miler together.  Yeah, I’m a good person like that – I hope things don’t work out for others so that they do work out for me.

*grin*

Epic

I had some great momentum in the week before the week before Easter.  I think I logged 22miles that week, and I felt great.  I had every intention of running the same mileage or more last week (Easter) and it of course dissolved into a cloud of travel and chocolate.

That week started out very promising, with an easy 3miler on Tuesday and a surprise 7.5miler on Wednesday – I had only intended to run 6miles that day but I was feeling so good that I extended it to 7.5.  It was a nice, if rare, gift.  But then we travelled 1,100Km (or so) on Friday, and the running that I planned to do while we were away kind of evaporated into a chocolate haze.  I managed to finally run an easy 4miler on Monday, and then we travelled back home Tuesday (yesterday).

However, I did have a nice visit with family and my nephew is trying to coerce me into coming back to do this race.  He’s run it twice, and from what he described and the pictures that he showed me, it would be a totally epic race.  Pretty much run up the mountain and then run down the mountain, and try not to keel over while doing it.  It fits in with my whole “Become a Trail Runner” thing, plus it would be so fun to run with him.  Although by “with” him I mean we would be running the same race, only he would be running it much, much faster than me.  Which kind of sucks because there was a time when I would patiently jog  and he would try to keep up.  Of course, he was 12 at the time and shorter.  Now the guy is 18 and tall.  Kids.  Who lets them keep growing up anyway?

Anyway, it might be worth going back for later this summer.  The price is right, and it may be the last chance I will have to run it with my nephew since he’s heading off for higher learning this Fall.  I’m pretty sure the race will be hard enough to make me actually puke while running - if I don’t completely pass out first, but I’m also pretty sure I would cross that finish line with a huge, delirious smile on my face.  Right before I collapse.  I can hardly wait.

Trail Blazing

Ok people.  This is the year.  This is the year that I stop being afraid of running into Wild Things That Move On Four Legs And Might Bite Or Charge At Me, and take up trail running.

I really wanted to do this last summer – there is a river only 4 or 5 miles from my house that offers fantastic trail opportunities.  In fact, there is a retreat center located on the river and they have tons of trails that are just begging me to run them.  The thing is, there is Wildlife.  More specifically, there is the Cougar That I Heard Shrieking Last Summer while I was sitting on my deck.  ON MY DECK.  AT MY HOME.  I ran in town a lot that month.  I’m a little concerned about things like cougars stalking me on the trail while I run.

I have run the trails at the retreat center before – several years ago.  I ran them twice with my dog, and on the second run we scared up a deer on the trail that nearly gave me a heart attack.  Now I have a new dog and she’s not a great running buddy, mostly because I haven’t taught her to be, and that’s because any time I take her off the yard she assumes that she is always allowed to go off the yard, with or without me, and that’s not really something we want in a farm dog.  But I digress.  The trails were FUN.  Really really fun, and I want to start running them more regularly, preferably with a human friend who is slightly slower than me so that I can outrun them if we encounter any Dangerous Wildlife.

Kidding.  Kind of.

I’m particularly all fired up about this because I just finished reading through my new Canadian Running magazine, and most of the issue is devoted to trail running.  I’m even thinking of shaking up my racing *schedule* and travelling to Canmore to take in the Canmore Challenge Trail Race in July – except that it’s right at the beginning of Berry Season, so that may not be my best option.  But my point is, how fun would that be??  A trail race!  I’m thinking there are tons of options that won’t require me to travel too far, and I just think it will put the fun back into my running.

I’m totally psyched and I want to get out there NOW.  Or, as soon as I pick up some bear spray.

Mileage

I’d like to know how it is possible for me to have run 22miles last week and still feel like a bloated beached whale this week.  Seriously?  What does a girl have to do.

I suppose the scrapbooking retreat that I went to over the weekend was not helpful considering that they feed us All. The. Time.  Think Chocolate Fondue at 9pm, large brunch the following morning, large supper, large nightsnack…and that doesn’t include the Reese Peanut Butter Eggs, Nibs, and other chocolate-type items that I personally had as a stash.

Ok, so maybe it’s not so improbable to feel like crap.  But it was totally worth it for the fun that I had.

That being said, I’m trying for similar (if not a mile or two higher) mileage this week, which will be a challenge considering that it will be Easter and we will be spending time with family.  The mileage felt really good last week.  I managed to put in two days of double runs (a 3miler in the morning and then a 3 or 4miler in the evening) and I just love how that feels.  Nothing beats getting the endorphin rush twice in one day.

I’m thinking, if I can keep the mileage consistent for at least 3 weeks in a row, then I can maybe treat myself.  I was going to use my go-to Ben & Jerry’s (“If I Had a Million Flavours”) but considering the amount of chocolate I consume daily, that reward is losing it’s *specialness*, so maybe I’ll save up the pesos and treat myself to a new running shirt or a new pair of shorts.  I’m loving this shirt from Lululemon in maybe the grey or the purple, and I always love running in their shorts…so we’ll see.