Race Recap & a Revelation

I'm just sitting here resting on a wonderful sunny Sunday afternoon and figured I should write the race recap while I'm still basking in the joy of a new personal best.  First of all though, I wanted to tell you about a moment I had while running solo yesterday.  I think I've only run alone twice since this half marathon training clinic started at the end of February.  Not because I'm scared or hate running alone but because I'm self-conscious.  There's safety in numbers.  Nobody is looking at one person when there is a group running by.  I was always worried about being slow or looking silly or looking fat.  Stupid I know, so stupid.  Then Saturday morning came.  I knew I wanted to get in about 5 km.  I also had to go to my running store to pick up a spibelt (love it).  I mapped how far it was from my condo to the store and back and it is exactly 4 miles.  I decided to run there and back so I had an actual destination and then once I was there, I really had no choice but to run back.  I ended up taking another way home but kind of goofed and ended up going almost 7 km but managed to stop in at a mom & pop little store for a bottle of water.  Anyhow, that first two miles was fast for me and I was having a great time.  By the time I got to the running store, all my self-consciousness was gone.  I remember when I would see people running, short, tall, fat, skinny, young, old, slow, fast, I always thought "I wish I was doing that".  I never thought mean things or laughed at them.  So I figured, if someone is laughing at me for any reason, then f*ck them, and they're probably not a very nice person in real life.  And if they are looking at me wishing they were doing it or thinking "good for her", then awesome.  Either way, I'm good.  So I'm relieved that I will no longer be missing any of my homework runs because I don't want to go alone.  YES!!!!

Okay, the race recap.  It was the 9th annual police service half marathon and they also have a two person relay.  My partner was my super friend from work Nicole.  We are both redheads so our team name was Gingers Kick Back.  She likes to say I talked her into doing it but the conversation went like this "hey Nicole, you wouldn't want to do this relay with me would you?".  Less than one second passed before I got a Sure!  I was running the first leg. Nicole is super speedy so it made more sense for me to run and then wait for her at the finish line for 45 minutes than it was for her to run and then wait for me for an hour and twenty.  I was really paranoid that I was going to sleep in so the night before, my coffee table looked like this:

I went to bed at 9:30 pm so I could be nice and rested.  I slept solidly till 4:30am, woke up for a bit, fell back to sleep and woke up again at 5:30am.  At that point, I got up.  I knew if I fell back to sleep, I would likely sleep in and didn't want that!!  I chugged some water, made some breakfast, and put all my stuff on and out the door.  It went down to -4 last night I think so I had to scrape my windshield.  Not impressed!  When I got there, I checked my bag and then wandered about looking for people I knew.  I found a few and then my brother, who I didn't even know was going to be there was at the start right before I took off!  Got a last second high-five and I was off.  The first few miles were great.  Then it started to warm up a bit.  I took my jacket off and tied it around my waist.  Kept on trucking.  Mile 5 was tough although the water station cheered me up by naming themselves Cinq-o de Mile-O.  (I found out later that day, they had shots of beer!  Damn!) I looked down at my watch a little later and realized that if I was running an even 10 km, I would be about to set a new personal best.  My last 10 km was in October  and I finished with 1:24:15.  I was looking down at my watch just waiting for it to roll over to 6.2 miles and when it did, I was at 1:17:14!!!  That made my day.  Although, I still had another 1/2 mile to go so celebration was short-lived.  I ran around the corner onto the main drag where the relay exchange was and I was worried I wouldn't find Nicole because there was so many people!  I was scanning and then up ahead she and another guy were partly into the roadway jumping up and down!  It was so funny, they almost looked co-ordinated. I think he must have been the relay partner for someone near me.  I slapped Nicole's hand and she was off!  At 10.7 km, I was at 1:22:47.  I'll take it!

I made my way back into the park to wait for Nicole.  This race is really cool because you wait for your partner and then when you see them coming, you jump out onto the course and run the last stretch together and cross the finish line together.  Then you get a medal with two straps and the medal comes apart like a bff necklace, hehe.  I calculated what time I thought she'd be coming around and I started stretching out and limbering up.  I stiffened almost instantly and was thinking that I might jump out to run with her and then just fall down.  Baha!  So something I would do.  When I saw her come around the corner, I jumped out onto the course and started jumping up and down like she did, I have to admit, it was a lot of fun and then sprinted hard to finish line and crossed!!!  Team time 2:10:49.  Our individual times are a little wonky online because we ran in reverse order than what we registered so it shows me as 1:15, I WISH!  So subtract my garmin time from our total and Nicole ran her half in a blistering 48:02 if my math is right.  Wowsers.  Best relay partner ever!

Just noticed that both years, I got the same side of the medal, hehe.

I need to get better at medal pictures.  What is happening with my arms?!

WE'LL BE BACK!

The other really cool thing about the day is that I started thinking about what the pictures would look like and would I look huge and honestly, I loved all the pictures we took.  I didn't think "ew, I look too big in that one" even once.  Happy fricking day!!!

So Much!! (Part 2)

Since I missed blogging pretty much the whole month of April, you can read Part 1 here.  And in case you missed it, ONEderland happened!

To catch up on what's been happening with my running.  It's just starting to be hat season rather than toque season.  Yay!  We still have overnight lows of below zero but it's coming I can tell!  I'm still in the half marathon clinic and I think it's going pretty well.  In a perfect world, I'd be running 5 times a week.  But our leader said it's really most important that we get in our tempo run, steady run, and long run.  I sort of do that.  I do get in the 3 -4 runs but the difference between my tempo speed and my steady run is non-existent, hehe.  I call it tempslo.  However, when I do run with this one girl who is slightly faster, I run a little faster.  Most of the time, I'm running with a different friend of mine who is in the clinic and he is a bit slower than me so I tend to be a little slower on those nights.  So I guess I do have a bit of a tempo and a steady.  I'm not too concerned about not running 5 times because I do three classes a week of cross-training and usually a video at home once or twice a week.  

The other day I had a big realization while I was running.  I kept thinking that I wasn't getting any better.  Running was just as hard as it ever was and I was just really feeling like I sucked.  I was struggling and pretty much gasping for air.  I was running with the woman who was faster and another girl that is much faster but coming back slowly after an injury.  I dropped out of the conversation so I could keep up chugging along, feeling discouraged with my lame lungs.  It wasn't until I stopped my Garmin that I realized that my "short" mid-week run that night was 6.38 km.  That was pretty much the distance of the week one long run.  My long run last Sunday was 13.8 km.  So while my feeling of difficulty each week has stayed the same, what I'm capable of within that difficulty feeling is increasing.  I have to remember that and cling to that.  I also read a great article in Runner's World about Kara Goucher and Shalane Flanagan and Kara talked about how she struggles with self-doubt.  Whoa, wait, Kara Goucher doubts herself??  If one of the female elite runners struggles with doubt, I'm definitely not immune.  

So, fun stuff, I kept thinking that I keep registering for all these races in the future and I've yet to run one this year so last weekend I registered for a little fundraising run at a park close by.  Because the run was to raise money for two sick kids in the province, there wasn't a set distance and you just chose the number of laps to run around the park.  My homework run that Saturday was 5 km so I ran three laps of the park for a total of 5.66 km.  It was a great way to spend a morning.  Lots of people from my run club came and my friend Malinda registered too and we ran together.  Her brother took a picture of us but I cropped her out because I'm not sure if she wants her picture on my blog, hehe.

The WW online is going really well.  I've been great at tracking and finding things I really like to eat and enjoy that are point friendly.  Among those things, roasted broccoli.  How had I never heard of this or tried it until Hungry Runner Girl.  It is so delicious and I'm currently making my way through a costco bag of broccoli florets.  I spread florets on a cookie sheet, give it a spray with olive oil, sprinkle with garlic powder and salt & pepper.  Bake at 400 for 17 minutes.  In my toaster/convection oven, 17 minutes was perfect.  In my regular oven, it's 14.  So when you first try it, start watching it at 13 minutes.  

My other new favourite thing is chickpea "tuna" salad.  It's really unbelievable how much it looks and tasted like tuna salad.  I even took some to work and got a couple people to try it and they are sold too.  Then I took it a step further and made . . . a tuna melt.  OMG my youth.  I can't get enough of these tuna melts now.  I came home after hill training one night and made myself "tuna" melts and veggies and an icy cold coke zero with my feet up in compression socks and frozen corn across my shins and it may have been the best part of my week.  For the chickpea tuna salad, you can pretty much google it and there are a ton of recipes around.  I didn't have strange things like kelp powder so I just tossed in what I would normally toss into tuna except a bit more seasoning.  Drain and rinse chickpeas and mash with a fork, not hummus mashed just broken up.  Then add everything you want.  I added a couple tbsp of dill pickle relish, a couple tbsp of mayo, 1 tbsp soy sauce, sprinkle of nutritional yeast, chopped celery, onion flakes and salt & pepper.  Enjoy!  It makes 4 1/2 cup servings and 1/2 cup is perfect for two slices of bread or sandwich thins.  I used sandwich thins, topped with "tuna", sliced dill pickle, sliced tomato, and a light cheese slice and then into the oven.  So so good.  

And coming up . . . on Sunday, I've got a race!!  It's the police service half-marathon relay and I'm doing it with my friend Nicole from work.  It's going to be fun and there's a pancake breakfast after and a super cool break-apart medal.  I did the race in 2010 as well and it was great.  I'm not going to worry about my time but at the same time, it would be nice if I could beat my time from 2010.  Race report next week!  Wish me luck!

Booyah!!!! Picture Post!

I knew it would be today!! I just knew it!! And I posted from my phone for the first time so hopefully this looks okay.

So Much!!! (Part 1)

It has been a busy month!  April did not leave me with too many free moments to update or even gather my thoughts so I'll do my best.  It's funny because I keep logging in to write my own post and end up just reading a bunch of blogs and then running out of time.  So . . . since my last post where I said I had signed up for WW online, I have lost 11.6 pounds.  11.6 pounds!!!!

Here's how that went down, I started on April 3rd at 212.2, next weigh-in April 9th, 206.4 (yay!).  Here's where it went a little askew:  I left on April 10th to fly to my sister's place so I could look after my adorable spunky 17-month-old niece for 8 days and 8 nights while my sister and brother in law went to Mexico.  Yes, I am the best sister ever.  It had been a few months since I'd seen her in real life but I send her videos on a regular basis so that she doesn't forget me.  I was worried she'd make strange in real life but she walked towards me at the airport with such a big smile, I started crying.  We were totally perfect for 8 days after that.

We went for lots of walks.

My favourite picture of all time.

She had a bath (more than one)!

Pink Camo jammies from her Papa.

I don't like 5 am either sweet pea.

Okay - enough about the teeniest person I know, yet the person I love the most in the whole world.  It's okay, everyone knows it and they're okay with it.  I was at my sister's till April 20th and couldn't weigh in on April 16th like I was supposed to because...wait for it...MY SISTER DOES NOT OWN A SCALE.  Seriously, I don't even know how we're related.  And while she is most definitely not overweight, she is carrying about 15 pounds post baby that she is not liking so I was super shocked she didn't own one.  It freaked me out to not weigh regularly.  I wasn't actually tracking but I was mentally tracking and other than our walks, I didn't get any other workouts in and no runs.  Sad face.  After I was home, I weighed on my next normal Tuesday, April 23rd and I was 205.8, down 0.6.  I'm okay with that!!  Starting that Tuesday, all my workouts were back on in full force.  Lunch classes Tues, Wed, Thurs, run Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun and then I weighed in this morning at 200.6.  Down 5.2 pounds!!!  So SUPER HAPPY to have lost 11.6 pounds in the month of April.  It would be so amazing if May looked the same!!  I count my success to all the activity I've been putting in and because other than the 10 days away, I have tracked EVERY SINGLE THING that I've eaten.  My goal this week obviously will be to get under 200 and then get as far away from it as possible!

I have more to say about food I'm loving lately, running, and a race, and an upcoming race but I'll have to put that in another post so it's not too long and boring!  

So questions . . . If you are on WW or if you are calorie counting to lose weight or whatever, what is your favourite snack or sweet that just totally saves you from you losing it?   Mine is pudding.  Hehe - but I'm open to new ideas, always.

update: I also just noticed that my BMI went from the obese category to the overweight category.  :)

The Digits on my Widget

Check out the digits on my widget!!  The dailymile widget that is.  Over 100 km so far this year!  I have a previously unconfessed goal to run 1000 km in 2013.  I know I'm not really on track to do that however, the weekly runs in my half marathon clinic are steadily increasing so I do actually think I can do it.

Don't Break the Chain 

I'm no slouch on the activity lately.  And most weekdays, it's a twice a day workout between the lunch classes and the evening runs.  But with the scale not budging, I absolutely knew without a doubt that it's what I'm putting in my mouth.  ARGH!  So back to what's worked for me before, WW.  This time I've registered for the online program.  I have only one evening free during the week (Mondays) and I don't want to fill that with a WW meeting and online is cheaper.  I know the first few weeks of getting all the favourites in there is a pain in the ass but it pays off to really be diligent about it because it's so much easier in the weeks that follow.  The iPhone app for it doesn't hurt either.  Love it. I'm also finding that I'm going back to my old favourite foods.  Why did I stop this???  Haha - I'll probably remember in a few weeks. :)

It's been a while since I posted!  I didn't even realize so I turn to my iPhone photos and my dailymile log to remember what the heck I did for the last two weeks.  

March 21 - Zumba at lunch.

March 24 - Group Long Run - 9.46 km (5.88M)

March 27 - Group Run - 4.04 km (2.51M)

March 28 - Clinic Run - 5 km (3.1M)

March 29 - My homework was supposed to be 3 km but  my friend Malinda is training for her first 10 km (yay!) and she had to do 8 sets of 6 & 1's so we finished with 6.43 km (4.00 M)

After the run on Friday, my shins were pretty tender so that's what this looked like.  ProCompression socks and a super special old freezer burned bag of corn!!  I'm keeping this bag of corn specifically for this.  Don't mind my coffee table crumbling under the weight of all the remotes.

Over the Easter weekend, Saturday was a rest day and then I was sick Sunday and Monday, I felt terrible, headachy and sweaty.  Good thing I ran extra on Friday because I missed the long run.  I heard tonight though that most people did because it was Easter Sunday.  Instead, I alternated between napping and barreling through the Sons of Anarchy seasons.  The scene where Tara and Gemma shoot up the porn star's car cracked me right up.

Today at work, I did the Pilates class at lunch.  New instructor and she was awesome.  I'm so happy!  And she said she was going to be around for a while so this won't be a hit or miss class for me anymore.  Tonight was the group run, I was the only one in my (slow) pace group that showed up so I tagged along with a few runners running in another clinic that were supposed to be going the same distance.  That's the beauty of run club.  Always someone to run with. Tonight was 4 km.  Then I mowed down a Gardenburger and mixed veg with a bit of ranch dressing.  Followed by fat free chocolate fudge pudding with strawberries and bananas.  I dove into the dessert before taking a picture.  Whhhaaaat!

I will leave you with this . . . a picture of the best damn French Toast I've ever had in my whole entire life.  It was unbelievable.  So glad I had it before I started WW!!!  I show you Banana-Blueberry French Toast made with Cinnamon Brioche and topped with Maple Caramel Sauce.  I'm thinking that this is what I'm eating after my 10 km race on May 5th.  

Oh and p.s., I switched my background template here on blogger.  That orange and pink one was starting to feel way too busy to me and when I switched to this simple one, I breathed a sigh of relief.  Weird!

How's everyone doing out there?  Getting into running?  Kicking ass and taking names?  Tried a new workout lately that you love?

I Almost Cried Over Subway

This past Sunday's post, I left off with the 9.5 km uber cold run.  While I was super hungry when I got home and needed something real to eat, I also didn't want to go overboard because I knew I was going for some delicious sushi for supper that night with a friend.  My post-run meal was this fried egg sandwich on a whole wheat sandwich thin and a big bowl of strawberries and pineapple.  I felt like it was the best thing I'd ever eaten, hahaha!  Ah, the post-run hunger is crazy.

Of course, I felt like it was going to be the best thing I ate that day . . . but then I went for sushi and it was nothing short of amazing.  I love sushi.  Don't worry, I shared this.

After the sushi, I was comfortably full and satisfied.  Craving taken care of without overdoing it.  Then it was home to settle in with a glass of wine and The Amazing Race, The Walking Dead, and The Good Wife.  Great day!

Monday, March 18th -- did the 25 minute workout video followed by the 15 minute stretch video.  Good little workout to do on a "rest or cross-train" day.  I'm really working hard to not break the chain! So I don't want to rest unless I must.  I'd prefer to do some light weight-training or other cardio instead.

hehe - I did work out before Feb 26 but that's the day I started this calendar. :) 

Tuesday, March 19th -- 45 minute Sculpt class at work.  My run clinic homework was 4 km and we had just gotten another dumping of snow.  It was very cold and no paths or sidewalks had been cleared so I headed to the Y to knock it out.  My shins tend to bother me on the treadmill so I can't wait till it's over. 

 Wednesday, March 20th -- 45 minute Cardio Kickbox at work.  No joke.  I was bright pink for about an hour after.  Tonight was group run night so it was 4 km tempo.  I call it tempslow for obvious reasons.  Tonight was tough.  So hard.  With all the snow (they can only clear so much when we have this much), it was one step forward with a kind of slide back.  My calf muscles feel like bricks and I felt like I was just slugging along.  My breathing was worse than usual.  I have a hard time breathing when I run and I feel like it never actually gets any better.  Today, I was wheezing towards the end.  I do have an inhaler and I use it 15 minutes before I get going and today I actually used it in the middle again and it doesn't make a difference.  I don't know what else to do to improve that.  

Between my calves hating me and my wheezing and the really annoying conditions (-20 C with the wind and I think I've mentioned the snow), I was feeling pretty terrible about the running on my way home.  When I'm feeling terrible, I want food.  What I wanted was Subway.  Footlong veggie on Italian herb and cheese.  I drove past Subway knowing I could make something healthier at home and I want to lose 6 pounds over the next few weeks and a loaf of bread is not going to help me do that.  That's when I almost cried.  Shitty run followed by stomping on a food craving.  ARGH!!  I ended up making a stir fry of veggies, shrimp, and some thai peanut sauce.  It was pretty good but that sub would have tasted better, haha!

Keep on keeping on!  Maybe if the scale reflects all my work over the next week, I'll get a six inch sub next week after group run Wednesday or run clinic Thursday.  Who knows, maybe I won't want it next week the way I wanted it tonight because just maybe I won't be feeling bad after the run.  :)

I'm also going to investigate the wheezing and asthma thing.  It's a problem and if it doesn't get better, I can't see myself going much further or faster.  

Have a good rest of the week!

This is NOT Spring

First up, I weighed myself yesterday...205.8!  So happy to have that last "I-took-February-off-from-everything-but-stuffing-my-face" weight gain gone!  I so want to be in the hundred's.  It's taunting me! I go to Calgary April 10th to stay with my niece for a week while they go to Mexico so I'd love to be in the hundreds by then.  6 lbs.  Let's go, well pounds, you go, I'll stay here!

March 11 -- Solo Run - 4 km, my fastest yet!  Hehe - still slow but MY fastest.  Had a huge knot in my left hamstring and managed to get into the massage therapist for 30 minutes the next day and she killed me but the knot is gone!

March 12 -- Sculpt class at work (no photo evidence, but there was witnesses)

March 13 -- Cardio Kickbox at work. I was a puddle.

March 14 -- Clinic Run, was supposed to be 4 km but the map they gave us came up just shy.  It was even faster yet so I really wish we'd been at exactly 4 km like my Monday run to compare, because this would have been faster!

March 15 -- supposed to be a rest or cross-train day so since I want to do activity every day, I did cross-train.  I just did an at home workout video for 30 minutes followed by a 15 minute stretch video.  Really need to be a better stretcher!

Crunch Crunch Crunch!

March 16 -- homework for the clinic was a 4 km run but it was so cold out so I opted for the treadmill at the Y, knowing I'd be paying my dues in the cold Sunday morning for the long run.  It wasn't great.  I was slow.  Took too many walk breaks.  My shins tend to bother me on the treadmill and I don't do well pushing through it.  After the run, I went home and did my 30 minute workout vid followed by the stretch vid again.

March 17 -- Group long run.  9.5 km.  -30 C (-22F) with the wind chill.  This morning's run was brought to you by "WTF was I thinking?", "THIS IS BULLSH*T!!", and "Eff you winter, you've overstayed your welcome!"  This time last year in this very clinic, they were wearing shorts on St Patrick's Day.  Not happy!!!  It's all done though so I'm happy about that.  The wind was brutal.  I had a few km's in the middle where all was fine but then the wind hit us again.  I waited a few times for the person behind me (no one left behind!!!) so out of the time below, my garmin recorded 3:30 of actual stopped time so that's where I waited.  Not bad considering that would be on par with where I finished the 10 km in October.  The other tough part were the roads and sidewalks.  Can't wait till this ice and snow is gone!  We are supposed to get more tonight too.  At one point, we were running in silence and my water bottle nozzle froze and my mouth cover was frozen solid and I just yelled "THIS IS BULLSHIT!!" and we busted out laughing.  Comic relief.  

I wanted to do that 30 minute video and stretch video every day but now that I'm showered and FINALLY starting to warm up, I kind of don't want to.  Seriously, I've been inside for three hours now and my thighs & butt still feel cold!  Fat floats but it also freezes first!