106 posts tagged “running”

Maybe I'm a little late to the party but I just became aware of Dean Karnazes goal of traversing five inhospitable deserts in a year.  He's in the Gobi Desert right now and it's pretty interesting so if you'd like, check out the blog for an in-depth look.

Today's Runner's Lounge Take it and Run Thursday challenged us to finish the following thought: As you start your marathon (or half marathon) training, don't forget....to enjoy the experience. 

Too many times we get caught up in the details (numbers, speed work, attire, hills, hydration, nutrition, cross training, etc.)  While these things are important they can sometimes make us lose focus of the main goal or bog us down.  We train because the distance deserves it and because we love to run.  Remember how far you have come and realize that you can always improve but ENJOY that you are able to run and be PROUD that you are doing something that most people don't understand.

(I apologize, I did write this on Thursday but had saved it instead of publishing.)

You know those days when some doubt creeps up on you?  Usually you can brush it off or tell your brain it's being ridiculous but every once in a while you let that nagging voice (the voice of un-reason?) get the better of you.  Yeaahhh, well, it's been that kind of WEEK for me.  Not fun.  Totally needed a kick in the butt. Which I not so kindly handed to myself on a silver platter yesterday.  It seems to be helping.  There's still a little bit of doubt lurking but I'm telling myself to suck it up and stop being a wimp.

More interestingly, I should be a blonde.  Because the 10k road race I was contemplating signing up for (but didn't because I was wavering on the price) has sold out.  However, it's only THEN that I realized it cost $25.00 NOT $60.00 as I previously thought....yeah....I was looking at the price for the half plus pasta party.  Oops.  I feel really dumb.  In addition to that is yet another example:  I had read on a few blogs this week about "Google Reader" and had no idea what this was.  Now I have mine all set up and I'm sort of in the 21st Century.

BACK TO RUNNING NEWS, I did sign up for a half marathon!  The San Francisco Nike Women's on October 19th.  This will work out well in one of two ways.  It will either serve as a training run for whichever fall marathon I sign up for or it'll be used as a post marathon race so I don't lose momentum.  Woot!

P.S. My Runner's World July issue arrived yesterday, it isn't 3 months late for once!!!  :P

Lately, I have been ridiculously excited about starting marathon training.  I don't know what triggered this but I feel like a kid counting down the days to their birthday or even worse!

I've been craving those long runs that you "hate" because you're pushing yourself so hard you don't know if you'll be able to make it: the "zone" has faded and in its place your legs have numbed, your lungs burn, you're also hydrating and downing gu like it's going out of style.  Trudging up a hill you glare at a well meaning passerby that says "you're almost done" because in your head you think you have 10k to go but you aren't entirely sure because the runner's brain has taken effect and the only thing you know for certain is: math + runner's brain = empty set.

Then something clicks...the legs keep going, the lungs' labouring decreases and you find your rhythm again.  You're almost done and even though you are tired and sweaty with some salt crystallized on your forehead a smile forms on your face and you are able to shift gears to a faster pace.  Then you start laughing because you find everything funny in that moment...the running, the weather, the people you pass, the hill you just conquered, etc.  (Does anyone else get that way or is it just me?) 

Once you finish, a wave of relief (for being done) distracts you from the fact you are sore and tired.  In all reality, you end up loving that run because you completed it in (more or less) one piece.  It's one of those runs where even the ice bath doesn't seem so terrible and once you've cleaned up and had your postworkout nutrition you drift off to sleep for a few hours.  

Those adaptive runs are what I miss right now.  It's sooo tempting to jump the gun on marathon training but peaking beforehand would be horrid so I think that's the only thought keeping me at bay.  :: sigh ::  I haaaate being patient sometimes (ok, more often than not.)

...I had hit the frickin' wall and was in the miserable mind-game phase of my long run when I reached down and discovered my bottle was empty.  I grasped at the other two and found them to be empty as well.  "How can this be?"  I thought in utter disbelief since I was doing everything like I had previously.  Yet, I forgot to account for the fact that today it was a good 5-7 degrees C hotter.  I distinctly remember unscrewing the caps and trying to get any last drop.  The next place I could get water at was three miles away.  There was no shade and I could feel the panic start to spread.  I asked a few people around me if they had any water they could spare.  No dice.  My brain said "now you HAVE to pick up the pace so you can get water."  Probably counter-intuitive but that's what happened. 

I visualized swimming in the ocean that I was running around.  I thought how nice it would be to take a shower once the run was over.  How good some watermelon would taste.  I was definitely feeling the heat and not completely with it.  Once I realized how ridiculous I was being I told myself to suck it up and stop griping and that millions of people would love to have fresh water daily at their disposal.  I could run into a Starbucks and get free water if I couldn't make it to the water fountain unlike those that face the very real possibility of contracting dysentery from their local water supply.  Still, it was not a fun three miles and once I saw the outdoor pool come into view I knew that I was almost there.  Municipal water never tasted so good.

Fortunately, the lesson was learned as I have never had this problem again.  I now usually plant more water for long run routes, and make sure I'll have more water than I think I will need.  I put out some Gatorade just in case the water isn't doing it's trick.  If I'm traveling I take into account the difference in weather and humidity.  When it comes to hydration being over prepared is significantly better than risking dehydration or heat stroke.

I don't normally stretch before running (I'm too impatient for that!)  I was thinking though that perhaps I should start trying to and see if it made any difference one way or the other since my calves like to be tight a lot.  I do stretch afterwards and usually before bed as well.  Anyway,the RW website had a blurb about a study for USATF trying to figure out how stretching effects runners.  We've all seen the countless articles that say it might injure you more easily or that stretching really does help and even the ones that say it's non-conclusive.

Why do I never stretch beforehand?  Well, it has to do with horses.  Yes, you read that right.  Back in the day (because I'm sooo old ;) haha) I attended a therapy clinic for rehabing horse injuries, helping them cool down after workouts, etc.  (If you're curious they can do assisted stretches.)   Anyway, the instructor said not to have your horse stretch cold due to the microfiber tears that it can cause and a bunch of other details I won't bore you with.  Go ahead and laugh but most of my pre and post workout routine I implemented from how I was taught to ride/observing the horses.  I just had no idea when I was younger that when I picked up running it would translate into my actual workout routine. 

Is your cackling over there done yet?  No, I'll wait....OK, good...while I was filling out the form and reminiscing about this I was secretly hoping to be put into the stretch group so I could see for myself if there was any difference.  Alas, I am in the no stretching group.  Ah well, at least I won't forget to do them.

So now that you all think I'm perhaps more weird than most runners we will switch gears....my fun weekend got indefinitely postponed, blah.  My long run didn't happen Sunday because I slept in.  Ooops.  I did it Monday though and everything went well.  I'm excited to start marathon training again soon!

Now, stop smirking. :P

...Ok, not quite.  I did hill repeats "backwards" today.  I'm sure there is probably a proper term for this but right now that escapes me.  So in case your brain doesn't work quite as well as mine ::cough cough:: what I did today was walk up a hill, run down it with the best form I could, jog back up, run down faster, etc.  Quads were a-blazin' but it was a "good" burn.  I think I should implement this more because running downhill usually bothers me more than running uphill.

Then I just ran.  It was one of those days when my feet and lungs just didn't want to stop.  I haven't had that for a while so it was certainly welcome.  I didn't bring my iPod so I have no idea how far I went (and right now I don't feel like using Google Earth) but I was out for about 1:30 so probably around 16k (10 miles.)

On an entirely different note - I have something exhilarating and fun planned for this weekend.  I'll keep you in suspense though, mwuahaha!

Yes, I like to make up words.  Now that we have that out of the way here's the plan.  You know, the one I've been moping about for months.  The one where I'm trying to figure out what marathon to run when, where, and what training plan to use.  It's not too exciting but this is what I've come up with for now.

I'll begin training for a Fall 2008 marathon (still undecided) as much as I've been wanting to do the Marathon Des Deux Rives it just conflicts with my schedule for the summer.  I will be using the FIRST programme (bought the book) but have decided that since I've had some issues with the lower legs lately that if I need to change to a half and then do a winter marathon that's ok, too.  Hopefully, they'll be fine and it won't even be a problem.  I just want to play it safe.

In other news, I finally went to an athletic park nearby for the first time, hoping to find a track.  No dice.  There was a skateboard thing, basketball courts, tennis courts, a soccer field, baseball diamond...but no track.  Sigh.  My plan was foiled to do level one mile repeats!  (I didn't feel like going to a local school at the time) so now I know at least.

I'm ridiculously competitive.  I always have been and always will be.  Unfortunately, I now think my calves and shins are in competition against each other.  They have some jealousy issues they need to workout.  ::shakes fists at them::  Let me explain...you see, I woke up at 3-ish in the morning because my shins were screaming at me.  Or so I thought.  Once I became a tad less groggy I realized it was my freakin' calves.  I've been doing a lot of physio exercises because I seem to attract shin splints; luckily, they are currently not giving me any problems, YAY!  I also do calf exercises (just not as often.)  PLUS, I make sure to take my time stretching after running.  APPARENTLY that isn't enough.  Six months of babying them and they're still at war.  I think I need to knock some sense into them!  Yes, ice helped and I only did cross-training today.  I just needed to tell you of my woes, hehe.

In other news, I was walking around the other day and spied pool noodles in a big cardboard box for a mere loonie (that's a dollar, Doug :P)  Somehow I didn't think "POOOOOL" (for once!) and instead thought "foam."  So I bought one.  Yes, it may be a much smaller circumference...but right now I cannot afford spending $20.00+ on a real foam roller.  You know what?  It works pretty well.  They also have ones that are a bit bigger than a traditional pool noddle and much shorter but have a hard core because they are to be used to squirt water from (how awesome is THAT?!) Even better.  So, that is what I'll be sticking with for now.

Speaking of liking to save my shiny pennies, I came across a post by Vanilla on winning a road bike.  It's shiny, yellow, and rockin' out the Lipton tea logo.  Thanks to Aaron's running blog on CRN I found out there are several other bike give-aways to enter!  Because really, what have you got to lose?  NADA!  So, while sipping on some of those delicious antioxidant filled white teas (I'm serious, I love tea) by Lipton you can enter the contest:

JohnIsFit.com
Scale Junkie
Finding Flabuless (also found at downsize.tv)
No More Fat Dad
Keep Up With Me

What would I do with a bike?  Well..obviously I'd ride it.  I've never owned a road bike before so that notion excites me!  I could commute to work, use it to cross train (perhaps helping out the aforementioned lower legs tiff.)  MAYBE even try out a tri.  (ok, I'm officially done with the corniness of this post.)  Have a happy Friday everyone!

On Monday I did hill repeats and since I haven't been doing them as often as I should I was a bit apprehensive.  I warmed up with ten minutes easy and then started the day's task.  "Keep it steady, stand tall, abs in" was the mantra that kept me into a rhythm (odd I know, but whatever works, eh?) Quick recovery jog down, and up we go again a bit faster, "keep it steady, stand tall, abs in," jog down, up again with a little more "oomph!" this time with just "maintain" being the broken record in my head. 

When I reached the crest of the hill this time, a little boy who had been drawing on his driveway in chalk piped up, "how many times are you going to run up that hill?!" I laughed and said, "until I get tired."  He replied quite seriously with, "Oh.  Well....couldn't you do something more fun instead?"  To which I responded, "I could but sometimes you need to work hard to enjoy the fun things more."  He paused, started drawing with the chalk again and with a tilt of his head looked and me and said with no restraint, "then keeeep gooooiiinnggg!!!"  It was so hilariously cute but fortunately I didn't laugh. 

Each successive hill repeat he'd say "go go go!" and when I said in a pant at the top that I would do one more he said, "FASTER! YOU CAN DO IT!  FASTER! FASTER!"  until I finished.  I slowed and walked over to him and thanked him for helping me.  To which he responded, "yup, can you go have fun now?" With a breathless laugh I said, "yeah, I'm going to go have some fun now."  My own little cheering section certainly helped me focus on those repeats!  I cooled down with another ten minute easy run and some stretching.

P.S. The April, May, AND June issues of RW all came in the mail on Monday as well.  Ridiculous.  :P