Tapering

Even though this is my second half marathon, I have never properly trained for a race of this distance.

It's sometimes because of motivation, but mostly it's due to injury.

For example, this time around, I maintained my fitness during the winter. I ran on the treadmill occasionally, swam and went on the bike. When it got warmed outside, I even did a few suicide runs, where my boyfriend would drive me 8-10km out and I'd run back home.

And then my knee/s started hurting. And it kept getting worse, until I went to see a doctor about it. He identified that I had tendon pain, and I took some time off and did a bunch of electro-therapy. Then I got better!

At the same time the knee was getting better, I decided to buy Vibrams. I thought the natural running pattern of the lighter shoes would force my stride to become better and would make everything better.

But I didn't factor in the time it should take to transition, and my calf got injured. (Mostly normal muscle tightness from being pushed too hard after it hadn't been run on - ever.)

So my calf hurt, and I took about 15 'rest' days where I biked and walked instead :)

Yesterday I had an amazing bike/run workout. I biked for an hour (15mi) and then went on the treadmill, with my Mizuno's. I thought I would try run for a minute, walk for a minute and repeat until I wanted to stop. But I ran for 3 minutes... nothing. I ran for two more minutes... I told myself I'd run for ten minutes and I would stop if I felt the knee twinge. I made it to a mile (11:11min) and NOTHING HURT. And of course, I wanted to keep running because it felt amazing. But I didn't want to push it, to jinx it, because I had a race at the end of the week.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that whenever I feel great, and enjoy running, I jinx it by signing up for a race. And while 'training' for that race, I destroy my enjoyment of running. On top of staying healthy, there is the added pressure of having to run a race at the end of the training cycle. So after my second half marathon.... I'm not going to sign up for another for a while.

I want to run whenever I want, for however long I want to. I want to enjoy running, I want to stay injury-free, and I want to have lots and lots of races in my future. But I have to get back to running strongly and consistently, and that hasn't happened since before I started racing.

So no more signing up for races........... (unless I'm able to run injury-free through the summer).... or at least, not months in advance! ;)

ipod

I have an older Ipod nano that's silver. I'm telling you the colour because it's a very important detail, okay?

I'm not one for fancy gadgets. I have my Timex Ironman watch, my ipod, some funky running shoes and that's about it. Oh, and my laptop.

So I've had my ipod since my senior year in HS - about 4 years. It's perfect. I never update the songs, I have my running song playlists, and I occasionally update my podcasts. Because it's an older model, I can buy covers for it at clearance sales :)

But the BEST thing about my ipod, is that the battery is amazing. It lasts months at a time, since I keep the brightness down and the backlight off most of the time. I can listen to this baby for 3 ENTIRE days while I'm on a bus travelling across the country, and it won't die on me.

But the downside for it's amazing battery is that I forget it needs charging about twice a year ;)
So when the battery ran out two weeks ago, I kept grabbing my ipod, forgetting it wouldn't turn on. And I've misplaced the cord that will charge it.

Ha, I just wanted to tell you that. I'm thankful for my ipod :)

broken calf - Sweaty Saturday

Just kidding... but it does hurt a lot.
Just running barefoot through the house to test it before the gym hurt - it's tight and feels like a pulled muscle. BUT it shouldn't hurt, because it's been 1.5 weeks since I ran with the Vibrams.
I *might* have started out too fast.... MAYBE.

But I did workout today. 4 times. (kinda). I did an hour bike in the basement while watching Dexter :)
Then I went to the gym with Julia. We were going to have a bike show-off, but I was insanely bored after 2 miles so I switched to the treadmill.

I forgot to wipe the bike. Ew. Oops.

Treadmill: walking warm-up at 7.5 incline. NOT a good idea for the calf. I pushed it down by .5 each half minute, until I was at 1.0, at which I ran for ~3 mins to 1 mile.

Then I switched th --------------------------------------

OH CRAP I JUST SAW THE BIGGEST BUG IN THE WORLD CRAWL ACROSS THE LIVING ROOM FLOOR!!!!!!!!!!!
I MUST GO AND WINDEX IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :( :( :( :(

ughh it has a million legs and crawls really fast. :( I feel horrible so I wont finish this entry :(

Barefoot Walk #1

A new Mike moved into the house today, he's come down to spend some time with the London folks since he's done with exams and we're done with exams (we're all done with exams!!!... except Calvin).

So the boys wanted to go to Shoppers to buy pizza. I knew it would be cold out, so I put on my jacket. Because it was raining, my pink shoes got soaked on the way (5.5 blocks).

*Sounds of buying pizza*

Since I am excited about this barefoot running and minimalist shoe thing, I decided to walk home without my shoes on. Calvin warned me it would be cold, but I figured it couldn't be too much worse than the wetness + coldness seeping through my shoes anyway.

So I carried my shoes in my hand and took a few careful steps. THE GROUND WAS SO COLD!!!
By about a block we had fallen behind the other kids, because I was walking verrrryyy slowly. It felt like there was a lot of pressure on my feet and every step would hurt my numbing toes. Things were made worse by the fact that my toes were getting frozen and they hurt a bit with each step. (By now I've already made it halfway home, might as well keep going.)
The ground was surprisingly smooth. I didn't step on anything painful, and I didn't see any dog poo. The sensation of feeling the ground was awesome :D

So I finally get home and I decided to take a couple of pictures!! Since it was raining, my feet did not get super dirty :) And after I wiped them dry and put on some socks... they are good as new. I can pretend the whole thing didn't happen.

Not too dirty, just cold :(

My toes were red = thawing.

But I am super excited to try again when the weather is nicer!





600m barefoot :D

Add Your Blog Blog Topsites



Blogs Blog Tools Allie Marie

Feedback

I just handed in my final paper.... 2 hours ago.
I just checked my email and noticed that my first grade had already been posted (SUPER EARLY!). I'm always scared to check, and this is a class I wasn't too sure about. I did great on the quizzes, but I was nervous about the paper.

But I got an A- ! I'm happy with it, and it's set a lovely tone for receiving back my grades.

In running news........... nothing. Walking home from school, my left calf was still hurting so I wont be running today. It's also raining outside, so yuck.
Maybe tomorrow! :)

Seaweed

Well, it's officially Tuesday, my last day of exams.
I am working on my final paper and putting finishing touches on it, at 6 in the morning. I'm such a last minute person lately....

Since I have been staying up, I've been munching on chocolate eggs, carob chips and dried seaweed to keep me entertained while writing this paper. It may be a weird combination, but I like the variety in flavours.
Today is going to be busy - nap, write my exam, print & hand in my paper, try to hit the travel agent's before they close. And then relax................ I am super excited.

My left calf is almost back to normal. There is still some pain (DOMS) when stretching it, but I think it may be all right to run on by tonight. If the weather is decent I will try go for an outdoor run. But as it was snowing yesterday morning, the weather could go either way - I hear there's a call for rain.

I've been watching a lot of Youtube videos on barefoot running, and I may be developing an obsession with feet. They are so crazy awesome!!! The fact that we wear shoes has taken away our ability to receive information about the ground and how we walk/run, which is why we've all developed heel strikes (which is bad). Your bones can even fuse together if they have been forced into uncomfortable positions for too long. It's crazy that without shoes, we can spread out our toes and use more muscles to balance and stuff.


Perhaps if we didn't wear shoes, our feet would be less ticklish?

Add Your Blog Blog Topsites



Blogs Blog Tools Allie Marie

Sweaty Saturday :)

Woke up kind of late today at noon. Had some tea because my throat was raw. I blame the bike ride - the air was a bit cold and my throat hasn't been happy since then.

I read a chapter of Social Policy and then had lunch - broccoli and cheese rice :)
I messed around the rest of the day, but I did manage a trip to the gym!

29mins - 3 miles on the elliptical.
My calves still hurt from my run in Vibrams, so I wanted to take it easy today. I couldn't decide between a swim, bike or an elliptical, so I put those options into an online random generator and it picked for me :D

Half an hour later, I feel great but my legs still hurt a bit. I may do some ice soon, and I might use some muscle mist. I'm not sure if the mist helps, but the heat feels lovely.
I may go swimming tomorrow because I want to loosen up my shoulders. However, the pool timings are a bit weird on Sundays, so if I miss the timing, I'll take a rest day :)

Have a great Saturday night! Mine will be spent reading two more chapters before bed!

Add Your Blog Blog Topsites



Blogs Blog Tools Allie Marie