Long Run Saturday

• 7.5 miles in 1:13:33

Took an ice bath, am now lounging in bed incapable of doing anything remotely productive. I think the combination of upping the distance, running in the heat and the BLAZING sun in Central Park (note to self: do not run in Central Park if it's over 60F - you will die), well it's all just turned me into a limp noodle. Oooh, maybe in celebration of irony, I will make myself pasta for dinner.

This has been a post.

Track Party Thursday

You know what the worst thing is?

(Well, besides injury, death, so-close-yet-not-BQ times and PWs?)

Finding out the track you were running on is short. UGH.

So I dragged my ass out of bed (even though I didn't want to), and got to sprinting (even though I REALLY didn't want to). And it's hard. I officially hate 800s. Mostly, I think it's too early for them, so I think for the sake of my sanity, I'll stick to 400s until I build up some sort of track endurance. But anyways, there I am dragging my ass and huffing and puffing and I'm seeing 3:10's and 3:20's on my Garmin and I'm like,   ok, this might be worth it.

Except then I look after, and each lap is only 0.42. 0.42. Instead of 0.5. And that feeling? It's the WORST.

So I had to recalculate. Turns out I did a much less respectable 3:40, 3:53 and 4:00 (for each actual 800). <-- There's that 4hr marathon I've been promised. But gathering from how I felt running that 800 675 meters, I doubt that's happening any time soon.

Bah humbug.

Also, please send me your favorite track workouts (that do no include 800s, or at least not in great quantity)? So far, I've just been picking random distances with random reps, but I've yet to hit the sweet spot of hard work x satisfaction.

Spectacular Saturday

Saturday is my relax-from-life day. I sleep in (well, not so much today due to crazy people DRAGGING SHEETS OF METAL outside my window at 8am). I pretend to work. Instead, I slow peruse things online and do homey things.

Oh, and I run. Saturdays rock.

It was just the most glorious day for running ever. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the air was a little bit chilly (so you didn't get heatstroke in the sun) and life was wonderful.

I mean, doesn't all that greenery just make you SO happy? No, just me? Ah well ...

I did the big-ish loop of Central Park (although I skipped out on running the Harlem Hills and just ran around the reservoir on the way back). I definitely thing the track training will help with improving pace - in fact, I was already feeling it :) (That may be just in my head, but hey, if it helps, I'm thinking it.) I still have a problem getting all warmed up, so I typically don't get into the zone until around 3 miles, ie. the turnaround at Columbus Circle. I just can't keep my breathing even on the uphills, and the downhills are not that relaxing either. So that's something I'll be working on. Like for longer run days, maybe I'll do a couple of sprints in Riverside Park, which is fairly flat, before hitting Central Park. Thankfully, I'm not there yet.

• 6.76 miles in 1:03 - so 9:30 pace, feeling GREAT
• (except for the fact that every guy running passed me. With ease. GAH. Also, I think the ratio of men to women was 10:1 ... gals, where are you guys? Are you more early-morning people? Sunday people? Non-Central Park people? Where do I find you?)

I'll leave you with my ugly mug (I was pretty runner's-high-ing it at this point and I think I was grinning at every single person whom I ran past, but in retrospect, all they probably saw was a weird grimacing girl).

Also, another picture of the reservoir. I should just call my blog the Reservoir Appreciation Blog, because clearly, that's all I do. But it's just sooooo pretty!

Track Party Thursday

It's baaaaaack. It's been only, what, like a year? Yes, I've brought back Speedwork Thursdays. Mainly because I'm tired of being slow, and somehow in my head, it's easier to run in 400m segments than continuously.

Obviously, once I actually got to the track and had to start running, I dearly wished I could go at an easy 10 minute mile pace instead of this stupid sprinting business, but by then it was too late. Stubborn Anna to the rescue - she wouldn't let me quit ahead of time.

I ran up on the Great Hill and it was really nice and sunny and happy and wonderful up there. Also, it was full of dogs. I guess this is the token dog-walking-and-throwing-dog-balls-and-having-dog-chats spot. I just wish all this dog-socialization didn't happen right on the track ... I had some crazy tangents in my laps.

• 6x400m at 7:18ish pace (ended up being around 1:30 per lap) with 400m very VERY slow jogging in between

By the end, I had a metallicky taste in my mouth and my head hurt like it was hit with a hammer, so I didn't even get the runner's high. Boo. Also, maybe I should've waited to get over that cold. And why would you put a track on a hill? I guess I'm just not ready for all that altitude training.

(I'm just whining here ... of course Track Party Thursdays will be back. As long as my running-in-the-rain and track-party-in-the-cold-wind shenanigans don't land me with pneumonia.)

I'm rrrrunning in the rain ... and I am sort of happy again

I actually managed to wake up really easily today, and was all ready to get the run out of the way. So I didn't really check the weather this morning ... and it doesn't help that my windows face a wall.

Guess who was in for a surprise?

 That would be me.

Because by the time I got my slightly-sick-and-not-over-these-sniffles self up to Central Park, I realized that it was actually raining pretty significantly and that this was really stupid in terms of my health. But, as everyone knows, I'm like the most stubborn person alive. Or EVER. So obviously, there was no way I was turning home. Besides, I was already wet by that point, so the whole not-getting-sick bit was probably a lost cause by then.

I did however naturally speed up because ... well ... the raindrops wouldn't fall on me as much if I just ran faster than them! Brilliant! I'm clearly a genius in the morning ...

It did however translate to a stellar run, where I'm proud to report that I managed to log 8:XX miles for the first time since last fall! (Aka the last time I was training consistently; actually following your training plan WORKS, what a concept!).

• 3.41 miles in 29:39, an 8:42 pace

I LOOOOOOOVE running right now. We'll see if this runner's high can last though ... I think if I develop pneumonia, it might put a damper on things.

Rrrrrrunning

I'm a lazy butt who hates uploading pictures from her camera onto her laptop, which means that obviously no posts can be written, which means she's a bad bad blogger.

But lo, what post yonder appears? It is a post about running, and running is awesome.

No seriously. I'm finally getting back in the groove after not running the entire summer, and while it's often not pretty, it is getting a bit better. Usually, the getting-better happens after the 3rd mile, which is quite a problem on those short 2-3 mile runs that keep happening (mainly because I don't feel like fracturing my legs again).

Tuesday - as usual, I ran my 3.5 miles in Central Park and of course I ran by the Reservoir, because I'm apparently incapable of running anywhere else.

Old photo, but who wouldn't want to see the beautiful reservoir ONE MORE TIME?!?!

I was going to run again on Thursday, but then I acted like a clumsy fool and slammed my foot into my door frame, resulting in a very purple and swollen toe that refused to fit into a shoe. Any shoe. Walking to work was fuuuuuuun.

So that meant that Saturday, I really HAD to run. I finally got my shit together around 5pm (whoops, what happened to the whole day?) and headed out.

New York, why are you so pretty all the time?

Basically, I headed down the drive, which sucks up until 96th or something and then rocks all the way to 65th because it's all downhill. I love downhills, not gonna lie. I would take downhills over uphills anyday (who wouldn't?) but then again, I realized that the old adage is true.

What goes down, must come up.

Or something like that.

So the whole backside of the loop was all uphill. Which was just grrrrreeat.

• 6 miles at 9:45ish pace

But hey, I have this super sweet secret for dealing with the parts of running that aren't so awesome. Wanna hear wanna hear wanna hear?

I know you do. Well, here goes. You just visualize yourself ... winning a marathon. No seriously. Like running in front of the crowd, epic sprint to the finish, break the course record type of deal. Just on replay for the duration of the run.

Sorry for the defacing, Salina

Totally does the trick. Before you know it, your run's over and you've won the Boston, New York and Chicago Marathons. Twice.

What?! Anna, running?

Yep.
It happened.

I actually packed my food the night before. And laid out all my clothes. And woke up at 7am. And actually ran!

3 beautiful morning miles (albeit with some insole pain, yet again! Gah, will it never stop?). Note to self: UM, DON'T TAKE BREAKS FROM RUNNING, YOU FOOL.

Oh also, I was thinking about what Ali on the Run posted about her thoughts during running and I remembered my whole 'see-an-attractive-person-and-speed-up' plan.

EXCEPT ...

Everyone is attractive. And fast. So instead of intervals of sprinting when I see beautiful people and chilling out when I don't, I'm just constantly sprinting. So that's fun.

Also, at the end, when I was in my sprinting daze, I thought I saw Ryan Hall. It obviously wasn't him, but Ali got my mind onto running celebrities so I kept thinking I was seeing famous people.

Oh wait, that happens every time.

This is why I would never ask a celebrity for an autograph unless I actually saw an entourage with them - because chance are, it would actually be a regular person that I was stalking and they would think I was weird.

That is all.

This is Actually an Exercise Blog

To kick off the summer, and also to give myself something to do (besides the Internet/TV), I've decided to actually exercise. Aka, not bask in my marathon glory but continue to work on my running and on yoga.

So Monday, I dropped off my mother at work and I hit up the dyke for an easy 5k - basically a shakeout run to test my bones after the marathon hurt. Well ... it was creaky. My muscles were stiff-ish and my pace was not great, but it was sunny and beautiful and obviously I was happy I did it. Because duh, you never regret a workout.

Look at that beauty!

Now since I couldn't rope anyone into taking a photo of me, I had to play around with the self-timer. About ... umm ... 20 photos later, I got this gem.

I must've looked a little crazy running around a picnic table in circles, but this self-timer stuff is pretty tricky. It says the picture will be taken in 2 seconds, but that's a total lie, unless the camera is doing 1-supercalifrogaliciousexpialadocious-2-supercalifrogaliciousexpialadocious. Anyways, I wanted a picture and what Anna wants, Anna gets.

Now I WAS planning on running every day and being all super-runner like @SkinnyRunner but I was still feeling creaky so instead I hit up a Yoga for Core class at Steve Nash. I haven't done regular yoga in YEARS (because I always do hot yoga) and I have to say that I did miss the muscle-relaxation and stretching-power that a heated room gives but I still felt really good afterwards.

Really good, but not totally worked out, so I also hit the treadmill and some weights for a bit. I was no Arnold Schwarznegger, but I bossed those 8lb weights, haha. And then I proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. The end.

Of the Great While Whale, aka the Marathon

Guys guys guys I can’t believe it! I did it! The night before I spent wondering if I could even go the distance, because here’s what my training looked like.

That is evidence of … not a lot of training. My longest run was a 10k in March. Yup. March. So, let’s just say my confidence wasn’t the highest.

But I woke up in the morning and watched part 8/10 of Spirit of the Marathon on Youtube and got SUPER pumped up. I was still pumped when I was dropped off near the start. Although … there was a bit of a scary moment when I was using a porta potty before the race and it kept tilting …. and tilting … and I honestly thought I would fall in and not get to run. But whew, crisis averted.

The atmosphere at the start was electric and I have to say, I didn’t believe the people who said it before, but it’s true - I made so many new friends on the course and I think that’s what made it all the better.

I was also thinking about how to pace myself, but I know I made the right choice by sticking with a pace group. Having a constant group of people to chat with and laugh with made it so much more fun, and with the 10/1 run walk method the pacers used, I never had to think about having to push myself or holding back. A+ for the Running Room pacing bunnies!

Also … the course. Guys, the course.





And this is just the last part! Needless to say, if they still have the same route next year (and I’m not sure, because they did have to do a lot of road closures because the first 10k cut straight across all the major roads in the city), I’m THERE!

Water wise, I took a cup at every station up until the half way mark, and then I took 2 cups and usually dumped a third cup on my head, because it was getting hot. Also, if my gel-intake happened away from a water station and during the pace-group walk-break, I would drink from my fuel belt, but I had to refill those bottles at least twice. And towards the end, the water stations were quite sparse and running really low on water. So next year, I’ll have to either get a bigger fuel belt or have someone on the course hand me a water bottle for the last 15km.

Nutrition wise, I had a gel every 20ish minutes starting at the 40 minute mark (so at 40 mins, 1:05hr, 1:30 and 1:50) and then a random mini clif bar that they were handing out at 2:08, right before the half-way mark (crossed the mat at 2:10, which is only 8 minutes slower than my half marathon time last year, and yet I felt SO much better!). Then Honey Stinger Waffles at 2:30 which were amazeballs. sooooooo good. They are going to be my fuel of choice FOR SURE.

My mother was spectating a bit further on (and I have to say, this is where the course got just a tad boring - after the rush of running down from UBC and the gorgeous views of the bay, running in the sun and heat and flatness was not as fun …. but you still had a view of the beach so that’s good!). She managed to get me half an orange, some Gu chomps and my iPod. The hand-off was really awkward because I had to hoof it to her on the side and she was wearing heels but she ran alongside for a bit trying to stuff the orange slices in my face, so I ended up with a face-ful of sticky orange goo. We defs need to work on our relay skills, that's for sure.

I don’t think I had any trouble until around the 3:00 mark. By that point, we were about 12 km out? I dunno. I know that once we got to the 32km mark, I let the 4:30 pace group go and ended up going at a slower jog. But I dunno, I felt good. That is, my fueling was going well, and so yes, my legs were a bit leaden, but I felt positive and happy and I was definitely smiling. At that point, I kind of switched to run/walking whenever I felt like it and taking chomps when needed. Everything was going swell until the last 5km.

I hit 23 miles and my legs starting cramping. Like my quads would seize and so I would stop and try to walk it out and it would help for a bit. Sometimes I had to sit down. But it was just SO frustrating. Because here I was, full of energy and positive-ness and my body just kept giving out on me! I power-walked basically from mile 25 to 26, even through all the spectators at the finish, but I ran it in, and I have to say, it was a pretty heady feeling of running through a crowd that’s shouting your name.

So all in all, I was extremely happy with this race and it was an amazing experience. And obviously, I’m going to be doing more and more of these in the future :)




(Finish time: 4:44:52. Feeling: AMAZING.)

Of The Return of the Fitness

It was actually as epic as it sounds. After a day that went something like: lab-seminar-study-presentation-sprint up 5 flights of stairs to class-class-lab meeting, I actually managed dragged my ass to the gym. This whole going-once-a-week thing is totally working for me and my lazy side. It's probably not working so well for my marathon-training though ... But I don't have to pay for it until May (although I will most likely regret it come mile 15 ... and 20 ... and 21 through 26.2).

They have this dumb new system now where it's just first-come, first-serve on all the cardio machines. And please respect the 30 minute rule! Uhuh. Right. At least before, you could sign up and then kick someone off if they were past their time. But now, they could just be like, Oh, sorry, I JUST got on.

Now, I shouldn't be complaining, because I totally took advantage of the new system and did a 60 minute treadmill sweat-session. No shame.

• 10k in 56:30, at a comfy 9:06 pace

And yet, despite the fact that the pace felt easy, and my breathing rate and heart rate never went up, I still ended up being a sweaty monster, looking like I just ran a world-record 10k in +30C weather.

It was the perfect end to the week. Of course, once I was done, I realized that I didn't want to be all sweaty and gross in my normal clothes, so I just trekked home in what I was wearing at the gym.

I am one classy lady.

Oh, and then I collapsed in bed. At 9:30pm. Because I'm cool like that.

Of Getting One's Ass Out the Door, Period.

Given that I don't have the excuse of homework or anything else for that matter right now, I had to face the challenge and get my ass out the door.

Which I did, for a very nice evening run. It was warm(ish) and my spikes kept me going strong, so all in all it was a good run.

• 4.44 miles in 37:11 - 8:22 pace

I mean, while I was running, I wasn't at all happy; more like, I was thinking why the hell I had signed up for a marathon and how much I hated the act of running fast and how awful it would be not only to run but to train for months and months for the fricking event. Yea, I lost some endurance, could you tell? But I figure, if I can just convince myself to get out the door, it's not like I'm going to quit, so I will get the run in, and who cares if I hate it? It's like child birth - you get it done and then the endorphins take care of the rest (or so I've heard).

Crossing my fingers that this happens.

And to end on a high note:

Picture of a park I ran through during my run. I'm lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Of Forecast Lies and Traction Aids

This morning, I went for my first run back in Montreal.

• 2.5 miles, 23:57 - 9:34 pace

I definitely felt slower, but let's face it - it's supposedly -6C and slightly windy.

I say supposedly because it's all. Lies. Because I dressed for -6C (tech shirt, tech long sleeve on top and my windbreaker) and I was red in the face (as per usual) and sweating buckets like the middle of summer (not usual in January).

Then of course I noticed that they measure the temperature at the airport.

The airport? Really? Because that's over an hour away, and what do I care what the weather is like at the airport? If I'm going to the airport, I'm literally going from the taxi to the terminal. The weather there has no effect on me. Seriously, I should've done a RE:WTF?! style rant about this. I was that miffed.

The new things that I tried today, and that probably saved my run from being a 12:00 min/mile shuffle are my new Due North Traction Aids.

They are these tough plastic webs that stretch over your shoes. When off of your shoes, they are conveniently flat, so you can store them very easily. The traction comes from the carbide reinforced spikes (in blue) that are on the forefoot and the heel. Let me tell you, these babies saved me today. I felt like I was running on plain pavement when wading through layers of slush and ice and snow that were caked on the sidewalk. The grip was amazing. At first I was a little scared, because on the sections where the sidewalk was cleared, they made these scratching noises and I was afraid that I would break the spikes, but the manufacturer assures that these spikes are super strong and won't just break. In any case, there are 2 replacement spikes included with the traction aids.

The only (minor) concern I had was that at the end of my 2.5 mile run, the slush had gotten congealed on the bottom of my runners, which covered up the spikes a bit and made my going a bit slippery. I would say these are perfect for harder snow and ice, but with slush, you have to watch out and knock the excess slush off when it accumulates.

At least now I have something to do at those traffic lights besides look mean. And fabulous.

Of Wild Wind and Manic Photography

I have 2 more days left in mild-weather-land, so I figure, I've got to get in as many runs as possible before I go back to freezing my behind in Montreal. So I got all dressed and out the door without even checking the weather. Because how bad could it be?

Well, technically, it wasn't that bad. If you like running into gale-force winds that is. (Okay fine, they're not technically gale-force, but it sure FELT like it.) Now Richmond is as flat as a pancake (so no hills to hide behind) and I also took the *scenic* route (our version of scenic includes rundown shacks by the dyke, cabbage fields and almost being run off the road by giant trucks) - in any case, this all meant that I was almost running at a standstill for about half the run due to the wind. But then the last half, the wind was at my back and I jolly-ly sprinted home.

 

Okay, there were some pretty parts too.

 

I admit, I totally run faster and look more intense when there's people around. I see a car driving by and I'm all 'Nike-commercial-ready'. And then when it passes, I go back to plodding along. Whatever, haters gonna hate.

I am also crazy jealous of people with awesome running photos. And by that, I mean the quasi-professional photos of them running and looking all happy and fabulous. My race photos are horrendous because the race photographers somehow manage to catch me at the exact time I hit the wall/cough/collapse in a heap (not attractive poses, if you were wondering). And since I have yet to rope someone into being my personal running photographer (job's open if you are willing to be paid in bad jokes and sarcasm!), I have to make do on my own ... badly.

I'm obviously not going to take a clunky camera with me, but with my iPod, I'm never sure if I hit the button or not, so I end up manically punching the device with my fingers and making weird faces. Also, I can never capture more than my head anyway; now it's of course the best looking head ever, but I have WAY too many 'this-is-my-head-running' or 'this-is-my-head-after-a-run' photos. What I need are some epic, moving, 'this-is-me-hauling-my-ass-up-a-giant-hill' photos or 'this-is-me-looking-like-a-supermodel-running-photos' (although we might have to use Photoshop for the last one ...

... A lot.)

This is Actually a Fitness Blog

Back to your regular fitness coverage.

Inspired by the slew of pink workout tops I bought yesterday, I finally dragged my sorry ass to the gym. It was still pouring outside, and I'm a pansy, so to the treadmill I went.

It was ... fine. I wouldn't say that I've lost very much running fitness, but we all know the treadmill isn't the jolliest of places. The only one available (at 9pm, no less) was not facing a TV, so I could only stare at my reflection in the window for the time I was chugging along. And as gorgeous and fascinating as my reflection is, it's not quite as entertaining after the first 10 minutes. So I zoned out for a bit (hmm, I need new sports bra ... and my shirt is riding up ... and that guy behind me looks like Ben Stiller in the Zoolander, complete with the headband ... that was a very funny movie ... he wore a  red leather suits ... men in suits ... I should go clubbing with men in suits ... but I like to sleep ... I want to go to bed right now ... but no, I have to run ... hmm, I need a new sports bra ...). Imagine about 30 minutes worth of that.

• 4.5 miles, 37:58, 8:26 pace

Miles in the bank my friends, miles in the bank. Official training (with a fancy Excel schedule and clean meals in tupperware containers and piles of workout-related laundry) starts next week.

Of Lobster-Cows and Hangover Cures

I'm not one to turn down a fancy cocktail (or two or three). As such, I've developed a patented two-part no-hangover plan, which involves:

• downing two Advil the night before
• eating every half an hour the next day (and if anyone asks why you're eating pancakes again at 2pm, tell them you're exercising preventative medical action and that they can go wallow in their hungover misery elsewhere)

Since I had a lot a fair amount to drink yesterday, let's just say it's been a good start for those weight-loss New Year's Resolutions this morning ...

New Year's Eve is a bigger tradition for my family than Christmas. I argued that if we just celebrated at home (the exciting group of all three of us), we would probably fall asleep of boredom before midnight. My parents politely noted that they wouldn't be caught dead at a club. As a compromise, we decided to spend New Year's Eve at a fab restaurant with some family friends. Personally, I find it preferable to going to a raging club (but that's because I'm a cat lady at heart), mainly because when I passed a few clubs on the way to the restaurant, all the guys were doing what could only be described as 'hump-dancing'. That about decided it.

Source

Being that I'm a social person, I of course spent a lot of time interacting with others and enjoying the moment.

But seriously though. It was a blast, and I was happy to spend the holidays with the famjam (and take advantage of the free laundry and meals). It's nice to be out of the land of cold and snow and in the land of warm and rainy. Especially if you spend it all inside. On the internet. Or watching the TV. 

I did manage one run yesterday. 

• 8 miles in 1:13:45, flat run along the dyke, no water/nutrition

Nice to know that I haven't completely lost the ability to run. But I definitely overdressed, so I know my face swelled up and turned red, as always, and I in all likelihood looked like a lumbering lobster-cow hybrid. A shame, since I passed at least 3 groups of very attractive cyclists ... can't say no to a man in spandex!

 Source