It's been a while since I did Three Things Thursday, but here it goes!
1. I'm back on track with my running schedule! I'm back to feeling good and running at about the same pace as I was before my hiatus during my trip to Inuvik, NWT. Lesson learned: 10 days off is about 9 days too many.
2. After 6 weeks of living out of a suitcase, I will return home this weekend to a new kink in the running plans: Forest Fires. The BF says there is actually ash floating in the air and the air quality has been dismal for over 3 weeks now. We even had smoky air in Alberta today, a whole province over! Just as I was starting to look forward to my 16 mile run on Sunday morning, it looks like I might be doing it on the treadmill at the rec centre. Geesh!
3. I am *not* getting sick. I AM NOT. I refuse. The scratch in my throat is simply from all of the talking I've been doing during this training. I will not get sick. I will not get sick. I WILL NOT get sick.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
A Vegetarian in Cowtown
Yesterday, I felt kinda dizzy coming out of the elevator at the office. Today, I felt light-headed during my run and had to take some extra walking breaks. Then it hit me - my diet this week has been far from balanced.
I've been "on the road" for over a month now, and I've been doing my best to make sure I get enough protein and iron in my diet which can be tricky without meat and without my own kitchen. It's even harder in Alberta. Conservative Alberta, home of big oil and big cattle farms, doesn't really have vegetarianism on it's radar. I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise then, when one of the catered lunches at work this week included giant beef lasagnas for the meat-eaters, and quite literally a box of lettuce for me. (I revolted and went out to buy my own lunch, but the best I could find in a limited time was a veggie sandwich with extra cheese at Subway). I'm heading out to buy some iron supplements this afternoon, and some extra nuts to snack on between meals at work. 7 more sleeps til I'm back in my own kitchen!
Despite the light-headedness, I got my long run in this morning, but it wasn't pretty.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but working for a non-profit also means doing things on the cheap! We've been staying in Olds and driving into Calgary (a little over an hour away), leaving at 7:40 am, eating dinner in Calgary after work and then driving back out to Olds, arriving after 9 pm. Those are long days. Oh, and did I mention there are 11 of us staying in a house in Olds? And I've been getting up to go running before the drive into the city. Needless to say, I was feeling exhausted before I even started, despite my "sleep in" to 8am.
The first few kilometers I could feel something in my shoe, so my first stop was to remove a little pebble that had wiggled its way in there. Then I ran out of water, so I made another detour and stop into a mini-mall to get to the water fountain. It was around the 14K mark that I started to feel a bit woozy, and started taking 30 second walk breaks every kilometer. I felt better after the first walk break, but didn't want to push it. At 19K, I just felt frustrated and decided to call it a day. I walked back to the hotel where I was staying for the night, feeling defeated.
By the time I got to my room, I was really beating myself up. I knew there was only one way to feel better - so I took a Gu, then headed down to the fitness room in the hotel to do another 5K on the treadmill, completing my 24K/15 mile run for the day.
Now I'm off to get me some sort of protein-ous lunch. Bring on the free-run eggs!
I've been "on the road" for over a month now, and I've been doing my best to make sure I get enough protein and iron in my diet which can be tricky without meat and without my own kitchen. It's even harder in Alberta. Conservative Alberta, home of big oil and big cattle farms, doesn't really have vegetarianism on it's radar. I suppose it shouldn't have been a surprise then, when one of the catered lunches at work this week included giant beef lasagnas for the meat-eaters, and quite literally a box of lettuce for me. (I revolted and went out to buy my own lunch, but the best I could find in a limited time was a veggie sandwich with extra cheese at Subway). I'm heading out to buy some iron supplements this afternoon, and some extra nuts to snack on between meals at work. 7 more sleeps til I'm back in my own kitchen!
Despite the light-headedness, I got my long run in this morning, but it wasn't pretty.
Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but working for a non-profit also means doing things on the cheap! We've been staying in Olds and driving into Calgary (a little over an hour away), leaving at 7:40 am, eating dinner in Calgary after work and then driving back out to Olds, arriving after 9 pm. Those are long days. Oh, and did I mention there are 11 of us staying in a house in Olds? And I've been getting up to go running before the drive into the city. Needless to say, I was feeling exhausted before I even started, despite my "sleep in" to 8am.
The first few kilometers I could feel something in my shoe, so my first stop was to remove a little pebble that had wiggled its way in there. Then I ran out of water, so I made another detour and stop into a mini-mall to get to the water fountain. It was around the 14K mark that I started to feel a bit woozy, and started taking 30 second walk breaks every kilometer. I felt better after the first walk break, but didn't want to push it. At 19K, I just felt frustrated and decided to call it a day. I walked back to the hotel where I was staying for the night, feeling defeated.
By the time I got to my room, I was really beating myself up. I knew there was only one way to feel better - so I took a Gu, then headed down to the fitness room in the hotel to do another 5K on the treadmill, completing my 24K/15 mile run for the day.
Now I'm off to get me some sort of protein-ous lunch. Bring on the free-run eggs!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Olds
I'm in Olds. Olds, Alberta. Olds is in the prairies. The flat, flat prairies. The flat, flat prairies with the long, straight roads with fields on either side for as far as the eye can see. I'd love to say that I'm enjoying the new scenery while running in the morning, but there's not much scenery to enjoy. The new smells? Well, manure is a step up from the forest fires I was inhaling during my last run at home. The new sounds? It's pretty quiet, other than the moo-ing.
Though they've been a little, er, flat, I was out running Monday and Tuesday morning at 6:30am. For a girl that normally works from home and sets her own schedule, I think I'm adjusting well to the 9-5 life during this work training session!
Monday's 10K was a little sluggish with my legs still feeling tired from my long run on the weekend, but I still finished in under an hour and was happy with getting the run in. Tuesday I had a bit more pep and got in some faster kilometer intervals over my 8K run. Today I "slept in."
Morning Runner, J tagged me to tell you 10 random things about myself. Here it goes:
1. I will never be able to do a triathalon because I can't swim in a straight line without sticking my head out of the water every few strokes to make sure I'm on track.
2. I love to play Scrabble.
3. I love pizza. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be pizza with different toppings, but my favourite is plain cheese. I once went to an All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet and tried to out-eat the rest of the restaurant. Mmmm, pizza.
4. I'm messy, but I have a threshold for mess, and when I hit it, I tidy up until everything is in its place.
5. A few years ago, I streamlined my wardrobe by removing brown. No brown clothing means no brown shoes, purses, coats, accessories to buy. I wear a lot of black with a bit of colour.
6. I hate birds. They scare me because they are unpredictable and have sharp pointy beaks. Ducks are ok.
7. I work for a youth program for 17-21 year olds. I'm 31, but often get mistaken for a participant!
8. I spent 3 months in India volunteering at a children's home run with Gandhian principles. It was a challenging experience.
9. I would rather meet with each of my friends individually than have a big party with everyone there. Yes, I'm an introvert.
10. I didn't eat McDonald's food for 10 years (age 9 - 19), because of an article I read in the paper. Then one day I had a huge craving for McNuggets. Ew.
I'll tag Aneta at Confessions of a Rambunctious Runner and Christine at My First Marathon!
Though they've been a little, er, flat, I was out running Monday and Tuesday morning at 6:30am. For a girl that normally works from home and sets her own schedule, I think I'm adjusting well to the 9-5 life during this work training session!
Monday's 10K was a little sluggish with my legs still feeling tired from my long run on the weekend, but I still finished in under an hour and was happy with getting the run in. Tuesday I had a bit more pep and got in some faster kilometer intervals over my 8K run. Today I "slept in."
Morning Runner, J tagged me to tell you 10 random things about myself. Here it goes:
1. I will never be able to do a triathalon because I can't swim in a straight line without sticking my head out of the water every few strokes to make sure I'm on track.
2. I love to play Scrabble.
3. I love pizza. If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be pizza with different toppings, but my favourite is plain cheese. I once went to an All You Can Eat Pizza Buffet and tried to out-eat the rest of the restaurant. Mmmm, pizza.
4. I'm messy, but I have a threshold for mess, and when I hit it, I tidy up until everything is in its place.
5. A few years ago, I streamlined my wardrobe by removing brown. No brown clothing means no brown shoes, purses, coats, accessories to buy. I wear a lot of black with a bit of colour.
6. I hate birds. They scare me because they are unpredictable and have sharp pointy beaks. Ducks are ok.
7. I work for a youth program for 17-21 year olds. I'm 31, but often get mistaken for a participant!
8. I spent 3 months in India volunteering at a children's home run with Gandhian principles. It was a challenging experience.
9. I would rather meet with each of my friends individually than have a big party with everyone there. Yes, I'm an introvert.
10. I didn't eat McDonald's food for 10 years (age 9 - 19), because of an article I read in the paper. Then one day I had a huge craving for McNuggets. Ew.
I'll tag Aneta at Confessions of a Rambunctious Runner and Christine at My First Marathon!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Longest Run Ever!
Up until yesterday, my longest run had been half marathon races, with my longest solo training run at 18 km. The schedule called for 10 miles, but because I've been lagging behind ever since my hiatus during the big trip North, I decided to skip the fall back week and get back on track with a 22km run.
After Thursday's 8K that turned into 12K, I didn't want to turn my 22K into a 35K by getting lost (again), so I carefully mapped out a route that would take me from the hotel down to Calgary's Bow River, and across near the zoo (major landmark), then back along the river on the other side to a bridge then a walk up hill back to the hotel. There was no chance of getting lost.
I had a hard time getting out of bed. It wasn't supposed to heat up until later in the day, so getting out at 7 seemed reasonable. I'm sharing a room on this work trip and we have very different body clocks so I haven't been getting to sleep as early as I would like. I was out by 7:30 with a plan to take mini walk breaks every 2 - 3K and to refuel with Gu every 5 miles/8K.
It was a beautiful morning, and there were lots of other runners, cyclists, roller bladers and walkers. On my long runs at home I can often go for several kilometers without seeing a vehicle, never mind a person out for a run. I found the extra people motivating like in a race as I caught up to and passed other runners. Also, Calgary is a very friendly running city - when in New York, or Toronto or Vancouver it's all eyes straight ahead and nobody acknowledges the other runner. In Calgary, every passing runner gave a little wave or a "Good morning" or at least a smile - I like that. Do you greet other runners in your area?
The run went very well other than a few minor hiccups:
After Thursday's 8K that turned into 12K, I didn't want to turn my 22K into a 35K by getting lost (again), so I carefully mapped out a route that would take me from the hotel down to Calgary's Bow River, and across near the zoo (major landmark), then back along the river on the other side to a bridge then a walk up hill back to the hotel. There was no chance of getting lost.
I had a hard time getting out of bed. It wasn't supposed to heat up until later in the day, so getting out at 7 seemed reasonable. I'm sharing a room on this work trip and we have very different body clocks so I haven't been getting to sleep as early as I would like. I was out by 7:30 with a plan to take mini walk breaks every 2 - 3K and to refuel with Gu every 5 miles/8K.
It was a beautiful morning, and there were lots of other runners, cyclists, roller bladers and walkers. On my long runs at home I can often go for several kilometers without seeing a vehicle, never mind a person out for a run. I found the extra people motivating like in a race as I caught up to and passed other runners. Also, Calgary is a very friendly running city - when in New York, or Toronto or Vancouver it's all eyes straight ahead and nobody acknowledges the other runner. In Calgary, every passing runner gave a little wave or a "Good morning" or at least a smile - I like that. Do you greet other runners in your area?
The run went very well other than a few minor hiccups:
- I forgot to reset my Garmin at the beginning and ran about 500 m before realizing it. Oops!
- At one cross walk I stopped my Garmin while waiting for cars to pass, then forgot to restart it for a few hundred metres, so though my Garmin said 22K at the end of my run, I ran closer to 23K (but don't know my exact distance or time).
- I ran through a swarm of tiny bugs that I inhaled, got stuck in my eyes, and coated my forehead and chest in bugs. Ew!
- Coyote In Area warning signs. Hrm. I figured there were enough other people around that I didn't have to worry about this and kept going. Of course, this was the one section of trail I ran through and DIDN'T see another runner for about 10 minutes. Eerie.
- No water! At about 12 K I started looking for a water fountain to refill my handheld. By 16K, I was completely out of water. Luckily, literally around the next bend was the one and only fountain I saw on my entire run.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
50% Bonus
So far so good on getting the runs in during this work trip.
En route to Calgary, I stopped for a night in Golden to break up the drive. I had a beautiful early morning 5K in the mountains before continuing on through Banff and into Calgary. I wish I had pictures, but I was in a rush to get back on the road!
This morning I woke up at 6:30 for a planned 8K (5 mile) run before work training. I headed down to the hotel desk, took a quick look at a map with no scale, and estimated my route. Off I went. Calgary is mostly a grid with Avenues running one direction and Streets running perpendicular. I just needed to do a big square.
Leave it to me to get lost. Somehow I ended up on a road going on an angle not in line with the Aves and Sts, and instead of coming out at 16th Ave, back at the hotel, I'd overshot to 32nd Ave. I asked a pedestrian for directions to avoid running on a highway, but 10 minutes later I was still not back on track. By this point I'd already run 10K, and was quickly running out of time to shower before meeting with my new boss! Needless to say, my last 2K were at my fastest pace in a long time. I was back at the hotel with 12.5K on my Garmin, just in time to rinse off in the shower and throw clean clothes on before heading to the office. Phew!
Does this happen to anyone else? How well do you plan your routes before you run? I'm not sure if I like getting lost or not. On the one hand, I got the bonus miles in, and was pushed to run faster, but on the other hand, it was kinda stressful thinking I was going to be late getting to work!
En route to Calgary, I stopped for a night in Golden to break up the drive. I had a beautiful early morning 5K in the mountains before continuing on through Banff and into Calgary. I wish I had pictures, but I was in a rush to get back on the road!
This morning I woke up at 6:30 for a planned 8K (5 mile) run before work training. I headed down to the hotel desk, took a quick look at a map with no scale, and estimated my route. Off I went. Calgary is mostly a grid with Avenues running one direction and Streets running perpendicular. I just needed to do a big square.
Leave it to me to get lost. Somehow I ended up on a road going on an angle not in line with the Aves and Sts, and instead of coming out at 16th Ave, back at the hotel, I'd overshot to 32nd Ave. I asked a pedestrian for directions to avoid running on a highway, but 10 minutes later I was still not back on track. By this point I'd already run 10K, and was quickly running out of time to shower before meeting with my new boss! Needless to say, my last 2K were at my fastest pace in a long time. I was back at the hotel with 12.5K on my Garmin, just in time to rinse off in the shower and throw clean clothes on before heading to the office. Phew!
Does this happen to anyone else? How well do you plan your routes before you run? I'm not sure if I like getting lost or not. On the one hand, I got the bonus miles in, and was pushed to run faster, but on the other hand, it was kinda stressful thinking I was going to be late getting to work!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Playing Catch-Up
In Grade One, my teacher, Mrs McLean, had a bin for unfinished work called the Ketchup Bin. This was where she sent you if you finished your work quickly and wanted to play while she wanted you to be quiet. I never wanted to have anything in the Ketchup Bin because I liked extra play time, and didn't like Ketchup after I found out there were tomatoes in it because tomatoes were about the grossest thing ever when I was six. Now I like ketchup, and I still like playing, except for when it comes to playing Catch-Up, which is what I'm doing with my marathon training these days.
You haven't heard from me in a while, and I know I have a lot of catching up to do around bloggy land too! After my trip to Whistler, I returned home for one night and then left with the BF on a(nother) epic road trip to the North. We've done Dawson City, and Yellowknife in the past. This year it was time to make the trek to Inuvik - the farthest north you can drive in Canada, well north of the Arctic Circle.
The trip went great. We had a fantastic time and it was a much-needed getaway for both of us. We saw loads of wildlife, spectacular scenery, and even splurged on a flight all the way to Tuktoyaktuk to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean.
My plan to run on the trip did not go so great. :(
You would think that with 24 hour daylight, I would have found the time to run somewhere along the way even with 14 hours of driving on some of the days, but I was foiled by mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and warning signs of grizzly bears. Aside from running from the mosquitoes to check into the campsite each night, and a run back to the vehicle to grab the binoculars to get a closer look two moose we could see on the other side of Two Moose Lake (seriously), and a couple of quick jogs with the dog around parking lots here and there, I really didn't run. Though it was meant to be a fall-back week, falling back to zero was definitely not in the plans!
On the bright side, I did get one amazing cross-training session in. After several short hikes along the way, on my birthday we finally came across a good, longer hike - UP A MOUNTAIN. This was hard work and just got harder for the entire 3 hour climb to the top where we were rewarded with the clouds breaking into sunny skies and fantastic views in every direction.
You haven't heard from me in a while, and I know I have a lot of catching up to do around bloggy land too! After my trip to Whistler, I returned home for one night and then left with the BF on a(nother) epic road trip to the North. We've done Dawson City, and Yellowknife in the past. This year it was time to make the trek to Inuvik - the farthest north you can drive in Canada, well north of the Arctic Circle.
The trip went great. We had a fantastic time and it was a much-needed getaway for both of us. We saw loads of wildlife, spectacular scenery, and even splurged on a flight all the way to Tuktoyaktuk to dip our toes in the Arctic Ocean.
My plan to run on the trip did not go so great. :(
You would think that with 24 hour daylight, I would have found the time to run somewhere along the way even with 14 hours of driving on some of the days, but I was foiled by mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds and warning signs of grizzly bears. Aside from running from the mosquitoes to check into the campsite each night, and a run back to the vehicle to grab the binoculars to get a closer look two moose we could see on the other side of Two Moose Lake (seriously), and a couple of quick jogs with the dog around parking lots here and there, I really didn't run. Though it was meant to be a fall-back week, falling back to zero was definitely not in the plans!
On the bright side, I did get one amazing cross-training session in. After several short hikes along the way, on my birthday we finally came across a good, longer hike - UP A MOUNTAIN. This was hard work and just got harder for the entire 3 hour climb to the top where we were rewarded with the clouds breaking into sunny skies and fantastic views in every direction.
Needless to say, despite the gruelling hike, my first run upon my return was rather painful. I made it 5.5K and needed walk breaks as my legs kept trying to push me to my former 5K pace and the rest of my body couldn't take it. This was my only run back in Quesnel, before leaving for Toronto to visit family, friends and my cottage.
The next day I pushed myself through a 5.5 MILE run around my aunt's neighbourhood in hot, humid, Toronto. It was hard, but it felt great to get it done! Up at the cottage, I had another great run in the rain, down my road to check out all the changes to the cottages - another 7K done! Cross training was a long canoe ride down the lake and up the river towards town, across and through the swamps and back. I was actually looking forward to my long run planned for Saturday. I knew I wouldn't make it the full distance of 18K on the schedule, but planned on running 14 as that seemed manageable. I'm pretty sure I could have done it too, if my good friend hadn't been there the day before practically pouring the wine down my throat!
Ah, that's what happens when best friends and former university roommates live on opposite sides of the country and only see each other once a year. Alas, I was bargaining with myself before I even made it to the end of the cottage road and onto the highway. I made it 11.45 kms, but it wasn't pretty. I was practically sweating wine. Luckily, we did a little cross training later by having a dance party in the living room.
I was back in Toronto for one day and one more 8K run before catching a flight to New York City for a friend's wedding. I'd never been before so I'd given myself a few extra days for site-seeing so there was also lots of time for running. I got in one 9K run on a very hot and humid morning, and then was blessed with cooler weather for the long run on Friday morning before the wedding. I fell just 3K short of the scheduled 21K. I know I could have pushed myself to the end, but was actually pleased with 18K, as this was my longest run since the half at the beginning of June. I also didn't want to be completely zonked for the wedding that night or too tired to keep up with the training the following week. A little nap in the afternoon and then I was dancing the night away with all of my friends from high school who had flown in for the wedding.
I flew back to Toronto for one night at my Grandma's and a quick 5K run around her neighbourhood before flying back to Quesnel yesterday. Though my long run wasn't as long as what was on the schedule, I managed to run the right weekly kms total.
Today I learned what it must be like to be a smoker and run. There are about 200 forest fires burning in the Cariboo Region and air quality is terrible. After my 10 day hiatus, I'm not letting myself have any excuses, so I went out to do 10K today and managed to get it done.
I leave tomorrow for Calgary for 2.5 weeks of training and the start of my new contract. I have to be honest and say I'm kinda tired of the travelling (especially now that I'm back to work-travel and not fun-travel), but at least it will get me away from the campfire smell and hazy air. Plus, running at a higher elevation is going to make running back home feel easier, right? This week is supposed to be another fall back week in training, but I'm going to aim for 22K for my long run this weekend which will be my longest run ever!
Because it's back to work travel, I'll be travelling with my laptop and will have lots of time for catching up on all of your blogs! Can't wait to hear what you've all been up to!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Checking in from Whistler!
Just a quick post today!
The craziness of summer has begun. I'm in beautiful Whistler at the moment, heading to Vancouver tomorrow, back home on Thursday morning, and then heading out for a roadtrip to Inuvik on Thursday afternoon. That's BEYOND the Arctic Circle, people! We'll return from Inuvik just in time for my flight to Toronto, which will hopefully be over it's hot spell, even though I grew up in the GTA and know better, and am then off to New York City for a few days of sight seeing and a friend's wedding and then back to work for 2 weeks in Calgary! If you don't hear much from me over the next little while, you'll know why!
I got my long run of last week in on Saturday before the madness began. 16K (10 miles) felt tough, and I was feeling like I am in worse shape now than at the half the weekend before the training began a month ago. It was the middle section that I struggled through, and took more walk breaks than usual, but I finished strong with some good splits in the last 5K, which is strange, because that's when the sun really came out and it started to warm up!
I'm in Whistler with my work team for a few days, and since I got to set the schedule, you better believe I scheduled free time for everyone which means RUNNING TIME for me! I headed out yesterday for a quick 5K in the morning and made up for walking so many of the hills on Saturday by taking a hilly Blue Square route with one section of Black Diamond instead of the flatter Green Circle trails around the Village. The run felt great!
Today I wanted to go out for 8K, but got a little lost and ended up back home in 7.5K, as I'd had to stop to look at maps a few times and I was short on time, but I made a speedy return and am happy with the run. I am now consistently running closer to 5:30/km on runs of this distance, and always try to push myself for at least 1000m under 5 minutes. Today I came close to 2K at that pace.
Tomorrow there will be no time for running, but I am hoping that I will get home early enough on Thursday that I can get my laundry done, pack, finish up some last minute work things before holiday time AND get in my long run for the week before leaving on the road trip with the BF! Wish me luck!
The craziness of summer has begun. I'm in beautiful Whistler at the moment, heading to Vancouver tomorrow, back home on Thursday morning, and then heading out for a roadtrip to Inuvik on Thursday afternoon. That's BEYOND the Arctic Circle, people! We'll return from Inuvik just in time for my flight to Toronto, which will hopefully be over it's hot spell, even though I grew up in the GTA and know better, and am then off to New York City for a few days of sight seeing and a friend's wedding and then back to work for 2 weeks in Calgary! If you don't hear much from me over the next little while, you'll know why!
I got my long run of last week in on Saturday before the madness began. 16K (10 miles) felt tough, and I was feeling like I am in worse shape now than at the half the weekend before the training began a month ago. It was the middle section that I struggled through, and took more walk breaks than usual, but I finished strong with some good splits in the last 5K, which is strange, because that's when the sun really came out and it started to warm up!
I'm in Whistler with my work team for a few days, and since I got to set the schedule, you better believe I scheduled free time for everyone which means RUNNING TIME for me! I headed out yesterday for a quick 5K in the morning and made up for walking so many of the hills on Saturday by taking a hilly Blue Square route with one section of Black Diamond instead of the flatter Green Circle trails around the Village. The run felt great!
Today I wanted to go out for 8K, but got a little lost and ended up back home in 7.5K, as I'd had to stop to look at maps a few times and I was short on time, but I made a speedy return and am happy with the run. I am now consistently running closer to 5:30/km on runs of this distance, and always try to push myself for at least 1000m under 5 minutes. Today I came close to 2K at that pace.
Tomorrow there will be no time for running, but I am hoping that I will get home early enough on Thursday that I can get my laundry done, pack, finish up some last minute work things before holiday time AND get in my long run for the week before leaving on the road trip with the BF! Wish me luck!
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