A Bike Ride with a View...Part Deux!

Joy here...After the failed long run of Saturday, I was up for a bike ride on Sunday.  As with the other times I've ridden the "loop" of the National Park near my home (once with my friend towing her daughter and once on my own), I felt a bit of trepidation with Sunday's approaching ride.  However, I had convinced another friend to come along, and even though I woke up wishing that I could just stay in bed, I knew that I couldn't leave her standing all alone by the side of the road with her bike, stood up by me.  She's actually a friend through The Man since she did her Master's degree in the same department as  he did his doctorate, and then she ended up moving to the same city we did, and so I've gotten to know her a bit over the past few years.  But this was going to be our first bike ride together, and she is intimidatingly in shape, so I didn't want to flub up by not even showing up!  So I pulled myself and my courage out from underneath the covers, put on my cycling kit, headed out the door, and pedalled my little heart out to get to the meeting spot.  She and I then separated from The Man and his cycling buddies so that they could ride in the park at their own pace (read:  so that they could race each other up the hills and be as competitive as possible, not caring if the others die along the way).  Our pace was more reasonable.  We were able to chat for the whole time, aside from the steepest climbs when there was no talking, only heavy breathing; I was able to keep pace with her (mostly), so that's quite a feat for me.  I feel that not only was I out in a beautiful park early on a Sunday morning enjoying nature, and not only was I out on my bike having a good workout that didn't over-tax my pained knees, but I was also spending 2 solid hours getting to know a friend a little bit better, and as those cheezy MasterCard commercials point out, something like that is PRICELESS.

And, heck, the view's not half bad either!!!

A Long Run. Well, Sort of.

Joy here...Today being Saturday was supposed to be our long run.  We were going to run for about 19 or 20 kms, with 70 minutes of that at "M pace" (i.e. marathon pace).  With sore knees, hot and humid weather, and two nights of drinking under my belt (both Thursday AND Friday) I was a little worried about today's long run.  My last long run was not last Saturday, but the Saturday before, when I had a mini-bonk.  So with my trepidation in hand, my fuel belt filled with water, and my chocolate flavoured GUs all ready to go, out the door we went.  It became fairly clear to me fairly quickly that I wouldn't be able to do today's run at the desired fast pace.  In fact, it became fairly clear to me that I would have to wave The Man onwards to run at his own speedy pace, while I just grappled to keep it all together.  So, as I say...I was going to run for 2 hours, with 70 minutes of that at "M pace," but what really happened is that I made the executive decision that today's run was going to just have to be another easy run.  No matter what I did, I just couldn't speed up.  To see the bright side of things, the day was beautiful, one of those clear sunny days when the sky is a vibrant blue and the merest wisps of white clouds dance overhead like fine, combed expensive alpaca wool.  On any other day, I would have revelled in how lovely it was.  Today, however, all I could think about was how the sun was burning my skin off my body and encouraging my sweat to pour down my face into my eyes.  I couldn't see that bright side of things, because I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, too busy thinking that I can't run, too busy thinking that I've bitten off more than I can chew, and too busy berating myself for my many running failures.  In the end, I pulled the plug on the run in less than an hour and forty minutes.  I mean, how's that for failure?  I was supposed to last two full hours and fell shy of that goal by twenty full minutes.  Ugh.

I just tell myself that tomorrow is the start of a new week, and I will just put this week (and last week, and the week before that...) out of my mind and just focus on moving forwards.

In the meantime, here are today's oh-so-weak run stats:
Ran for a total time of 1:37:56 for a distance of 17.32km at an average pace of 5:39min/km

Even if it kills me, I'm going to force myself to pull off a 20km run next week.  Seriously.  And until then, I'm going to do my best to enjoy my runs.  Even if it kills me.  (How's that for irony?)

Over and out,
Joy

Just running for fun...

Joy here...I'm still trying to stick to my "run for fun" strategy to surmount the wall I hit in training and the nagging pain in my knees.  So even though yesterday was a Thursday, and Thursdays are usually scheduled as "quality" workouts (i.e. tempo, or hills, or speed repeats), I vowed that this Thursday would just be a fun run.  And luckily it worked out that way!  I just set my Garmin for 80 minutes and ran out the door, promising myself that I wouldn't stop until that 80 minute beeping went off, but also promising myself that I wouldn't agonize over pace or distance or anything.  Even though the weather channel said that the weather was in the mid-20s C it felt warmer in the sun.  However, there was a cool breeze.  So the first 30 minutes of the run actually felt rather odd.  Since it's still humid summer, I was sweating a fair bit and feeling over-heated, but then when the breeze would hit my sweaty self, I would feel a bit cold.  All of that temperature shifting made me feel a bit queasy or woozy for the first part of the run.  It's not  that I was nauseous or sick or anything, but I just felt weird.  And then, of course, the thoughts in my head were running overboard:  "...just quit now..." "...you can walk from here..." "...this isn't FUN..." "...maybe you should eat..." "...maybe you should pee..." "...you'll never make 80 minutes..." "...you're probably busting your knees..." "...go home and go to bed..." etc. etc.  I swear those little running demons were going a bit overboard!  So I just mentally gritted my teeth, ignored those little demons, and kept on going.  And by about the 40 minute mark, I guess those little guys knew that they had been defeated, and they just shut up. Then we did 6 strides, and I tell you that with each stride, my knees felt better and better, and all around I was having more and more fun.  By the 70 minute mark I was thinking to myself:  "Darn, only 10 more minutes of running."  And when the Garmin started beeping its final announcement that the run was up, I felt that I had achieved my goal of running for fun.

So I went home and made myself a banana, nutella, vanilla smoothie.  I deserved it, right?

Here are the fun run stats:
Ran for a total of 1:20:00 to cover 14.2kms with an average pace of 5:38min/km.

Over and out,
Joy

Busted knees and blah days....part 2....

Joy here...Okay, I've borrowed today's title from an entry of Nomi's from July.  When I'm not training for a 1/2 marathon, I'm an English professor, so that dorky part of me likes the self-referentiality of the intertextual allusion to an earlier post; it's a kind of postmodern meta-entry that gets my geek juices flowing.  Thanks for indulging! ;)  Now even though I want to reconnect with my inner child on my runs and just run for fun, I've been having some trouble with my knees.  My left knee gets a little bit sore and is swollen with fluids by the end of a long run, and my right knee is only a little bit better.  I've started seeing a therapist to help out, and it turns out that some of my muscles are unbalanced, which is causing my patella to be pulled off line when I run.  So for Tuesday's run, I tried using the kenesio tape that the therapist provided, with both my knees taped up for stability.  The Man and I then went out for 45 minutes of easy running to warm up and so that I could see how my knees felt.  The easy pace was around 5:50min/km and it all felt fine.  Then we had 20 minutes of tempo pace scheduled.  Last time we did tempo, we did two blocks of 10 minutes, with a rest break in between, and this time it was to be 20 minutes of solid tempo.  The aim was to run at around 4:50min/km or thereabouts, but for our 20 minutes of tempo, we kept it steady at 5:15min/km.  About 5 minutes into the tempo, I had to stop and rip the tape off my knees.  It was hurting to have my knees taped up more than it hurt to run without.  And it just felt so, well, so strange!  At the end of the tempo set, though, we did 10 minutes of cool down running, and my knees were no so happy.  I could literally see the fluid in them.  But after icing them and putting anti-inflammatory gel on them, they seem to be okay.

But I think I'll go for a bike ride today and give my knees a rest!

Just Run for Fun!

Joy here...So last week I hit a low point with my running and my motivation.  It felt like each run was a horrible slog, and nothing was fun.  My knees were starting to bother me, and I really felt like I was unable to progress.  In the midst of that I made the executive decision to take last week as an "easy" week, and try to rekindle some enjoyment of running.  You see Nomi and I started running and got along well as running partners because we shared the same notion:  let's just run for fun and see what happens!  But as I've started training for this 1/2 marathon, I lost that notion.  So after last Tuesday's meltdown where I felt like I would never make it to the 1/2 marathon and never be able to run another step again, I went for a bike ride on Wednesday, and did a whole lot of nothing on Thursday and Friday.  Then on Saturday I went for an easy 10 km run.  It was a coolish morning and the pace was around 5:40min/km and it felt just fine.  Then on Sunday I did a whole lot of nothing again, and went for another easy 10 km run on Monday.  It was a little hotter than Saturday's run, but the average pace was around 5:55min/km.  I admit that I was able to enjoy both runs.  I was able to let my mind wander; I was able to enjoy my surroundings; and I was able to run without discomfort.  In fact, during Monday's easy run, we did strides during the second half of the run, and for our last stride, I just picked up the pace.  I didn't do a full-out sprint, but I ran faster than my normal strides, and I was able to get that feeling I used to have as a kid when I would run.  As a kid running was purely for fun; I'd run in the school yard; I'd run playing tag; I'd run playing with my friends; heck, I'd just run to get from point A to point B.  That's what kids do.  Somewhere along the way, we lose that love of just running around, and running becomes a chore, or it becomes a necessary evil to stay in shape/lose weight/maintain weight/train etc.  But during those brief 100m when I upped my speed at the end of a nice and easy run, I felt like I was running on a cloud.  I felt my inner kid open up inside and yell "WHEEEEEE!" at the top of her lungs.  I think if I can keep that sense of fun foremost in my mind, I'll be able to get back on the training plan and survive through to this 1/2 marathon in October.  So adult Joy is going to take child Joy by the hand and the two of us together are going to make it!

I've hit the wall...and it hit back. Hard.

Joy here...I think I'm at the point where I'm admitting defeat.  My last few runs have been really HARD, and I feel like I've certainly plateaued, or reached a wall that I just can't climb in my running progress.  I can't seem to go fast enough, and I find it really hard to just keep the pace stable and/or comfortable.  For instance, after being shattered by my last run, I spent the day in bed.  Then on Monday I went for an easy 25 minutes just to move my legs, and even that felt hard.  Today (Tuesday) I went out for my planned "quality" workout, which was a tempo workout, and it felt hard.  Basically, it seems that every time I head out the door with my running shoes on, it feels hard.  I am very discouraged.  I fully admit it.

Today we warmed up for about 30 minutes of easy running, and then we were to run two 10 minute sets of tempo (4:40min/km) separated by a 1 minute recovery.  After that, we were to do another 30 minutes of easy running to cool down.  At least that was the plan.  Here's what really happened:
-30 minutes of easy running to warm up
-two 10 minute sets of tempo that didn't come near 4:40min/km (in fact, the first set averaged 4:57min/km and the second set averaged 5:03min/km)
-20 minutes of easy cool down (that didn't even include any strides, because I felt like I was dying

So I've deduced that I've officially hit a wall with my training.  During the run today, my knees hurt; my right collar bone hurt; my lungs hurt; my right shin hurt; I had a stitch; my breathing was laboured...the list could go on and on, but I'm depressing even myself as I recount all the things that just didn't seem to feel right.

Tomorrow I'm not going to go for a run.  I'm going to try a bike ride.  Maybe on Thursday I'll try running again and see if I can dismantle that wall.

But for now, I'll just accept the fact that the wall has scored a TKO and I'm down for the count.

PS - To make matters worse, my 1/2 marathon is in exactly two months to the day.  October 17.  Right now I don't think I'll make it.

**Note:  the graphic is from http://www.michellehenry.fr/brick.jpg

Long Run, Dehydration, Minor Bonk...

Joy here...my last entry was on Tuesday after the speedwork, and then I seem to have gotten busy and have fallen down a bit on keeping my entries up to date.  In summary, here's what I've been up to since Tuesday:
Wednesday - easy 5km run
Thursday - tempo run (30 minutes easy warm up, 10 minutes of tempo at 4:45ish min/km with one minute break and another 10 minutes of tempo at 4:45ish min/km, 30 minutes easy cool down)
Friday - rest day
Saturday - long run....and here's how it went:

Since our last "long run" was over 18kms and included "M pace" ("marathon pace"), this week's "long run" was scheduled as an easy one, with the aim being to run for 19kms.  I was actually pretty excited about this easy run coming up.  The last few workouts have started to feel really HARD, and so I was looking forward to just running and chatting and generally having a good time with running.  Since Nomi and I have been all about running for fun, I was looking forward to having that fun feeling on this run.  Ha!    No such luck!

Given all the speedwork (repeats and tempo) that we've been doing, we figured that our easy pace could be around 5:40min/km for 19kms.  That was the plan.

Part B of the plan was to ditch those gross tasting Powerbar Gels and use snickers bars as running fuel instead.

Part C of the plan was for me to use my more comfortable waist carrying water bottle, refilling it at the water fountains along the run.

Okay, so Plan A (pace at 5:40ish), Plan B (snickers), and Plan C (refilling water) all lined up in our heads, we braved the hot morning sunlight and humidity for two loops of our 9-ish km canal loop.

Plan A kicked my @$$.  Right from the start, I began to realize that there was nothing "easy" about keeping the pace in the 5:40min/km range.  I was breathing heavy basically from the first step out the front door.  Plan B worked out surprisingly well.  I had snickers bar #1 at the 40 minute mark and it tasted a whole heck of a lot better than any of the sport-specific fuels I've tried.  I had snickers bar #2 at the 80 minute mark, and it wasn't even melted by then.  The only downside with carrying these chocolate bars as fuel that I could tell is that they're hard to eat on the run.  It's tougher to chew and swallow while running versus just squirting some chocolate-flavoured GU in my mouth.  I had to swill a lot of water to make sure I could swallow all the sticky stuff.  Other than that, it was great!  There are about 271 calories per snickers bar, and on a 19km run, my Garmin tells me that I burned 1,200 calories. So even two snickers bars still keep me in a calorie deficit.  Plan C didn't work out so well.  It was REALLY HOT, and so I needed a lot of water, and part way through (after drinking one bottle and refilling once), I ended up with an empty bottle and had to run about 4kms dry before reaching the water fountain for a refuel.  During those 4 kms, the dehydration plus the not-so-easy easy pace, took their toll on me.  I experienced what other people have described as "the bonk."  Wikipedia (that oh-so-trustworthy e-bible of useless facts) tells me that "the bonk" can be defined as:
"hitting the wall or the bonk describes a condition caused by the depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles, which manifests itself by precipitous fatigue and loss of energy. Milder instances can be remedied by brief rest and the ingestion of food or drinks containing carbohydrates. The condition can usually be avoided by ensuring that glycogen levels are high when the exercise begins, maintaining glycogen levels during exercise by eating or drinking carbohydrate-rich substances, or by reducing exercise intensity."
That pretty much describes how I felt.  I struggled just to make it home.  While one of my triumphs of the run was lasting the full 19kms - my longest run of my entire life to date - it felt to me that the larger triumph was just being able to last through it all.  I mean, I was huffing and puffing for a heck of a long time even after the run!

So here are my run stats:
Ran for a total of 1:48:42 at an average pace of 5:43min/km for 19km.

All in all, I came home from that run feeling utterly shattered, like a vase that someone had held over the railing of a second balcony and dropped to shatter into a gillion pieces on a cold, marble floor; I have started to pick up the little pieces of myself and begin to glue myself back together.  I think I'll take today off, and try to take an easy run tomorrow.  And when I say easy, I mean e-a-s-y!!!

Over and out,
Joy

Speedwork

Joy here...I've just heard from Nomi via email who says that she's been sick and hasn't been doing any running at all. So that explains why the last few entries have been rather Joy-heavy. Sorry about that. Hopefully she'll be up and at 'em (as they say) to prevent this blog from being too one-sided.

For the moment, though, you're stuck with me. Today being Tuesday was scheduled as our first day of "speedwork." I think I've mentioned before that our rough weekly training plan is as follows:

Sunday-bike ride

Monday-rest day

Tuesday-quality workout (i.e. hills or tempo or speed repeats)

Wednesday-easy recovery run

Thursday-quality workout (i.e. hills or tempo or speed repeats)

Friday-rest day

Saturday-long run.

Of course, sometimes I adjust/change/skip workouts, but at least that's the rough schema. With each "long run" I try to add distance, and then during the rest of the week, I don't worry so much about distance, and most of the runs are anywhere between 6km and 12km. Today was the first day of speed repeats. That means, we were going to run for 4 sets of 4 minutes at a speedy pace (i.e. faster than tempo). So for me, if my easy pace is around 5:50ish min/km and my tempo pace is around 4:50ish min/km, then my speed repeat pace should be around 4:20ish min/km. Ugh.

So out the door I went, slathered with sunscreen and with my water bottle strapped to my waist pack, all ready for the speedy run. It was hot, humid, muggy, and quite uncomfortable. We ran for about 30 minutes to warm up and did 3 strides in that warm up. Then the speedy parts started. The Man said "go" and then he was off like a proverbial bat outta hell, while I just did my lamaze breathing and tried to keep my pace fast but steady. At the end of 4 minutes, he was ahead of me, and we had a really slow 3 minute jog break before the next 4 minutes; again, he was off like a dart, and I just kept up with my speedy pace some 10 steps behind him. My Garmin beeps at the 2min mark to tell me I'm 50% done the speedy section, and let me tell you, those are some LONG TWO MINUTES. It seems like I've been running for a gillion years by the time I hear the mid-way beep, and then it's another gillion years before I hear the final beep. Again, we get a slow 3 minute jog break before the next 4 minutes of speediness. I can only handle drinking during the 3 minute jog break, because it honestly takes all my mental and physical concentration to last those 4 minutes at such a speedy pace. Once I've swilled some water to try to make up for the buckets I was sweating, we started our 3rd set of 4 minutes of speedy. Again, The Man takes off, but at 2:63min. he pulls off to a walk, and as I pass him, I just barely hear him mutter through his gasps "just keep going if you can." And my pace is solid and steady (thanks to my heavy lamaze breathing that's not only keeping me from hyperventilating, but helping me count out a steady and hard pace) so I continue on until the end of the 4 minutes. Then during our 3 minute slow jog, he takes his time to catch up to me before we start our final 4 minutes. This time, he's not so speedy and we both just run a total of 3 minutes at our speedy pace before calling it quits and jogging a bit to catch our breath and swill some water, before we just decide to walk the rest of the way home. So all-in-all, even though it hurt like you wouldn't believe, I think that my first experience of speed repeats wasn't an utter failure.

Here are today's run stats:

Warm up: 30 minutes easy with 3 strides

Speed Repeats:

#1 - 4mins for an average pace of 4:19min/km

#2 - 4mins for an average pace of 4:28min/km

#3 - 4mins for an average pace of 4:30min/km

#4 - 3mins for an average pace of 4:38min/km

Cool down: 10 minutes easy and then walking the rest of the way home

Obviously, if the plan for the speed repeats is to have our pace around 4:20ish min/km then we have some work to do since the last two were a little slower than ideal, but for a first try with this kind of workout, it wasn't a total wash.

We'll try more speedwork next Tuesday, and don't be surprised if you hear shouts of "¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba!" coming from the Rideau Canal here in Ottawa.

Water Water Everywhere

Joy here...The other day I was chatting on skype with a colleague/friend of mine who is currently in Florida. (Side note: If you meet someone as a work colleague, but that person becomes a friend, do you list him as a colleague first or a friend first?). This colleague/friend is the one who I was able to run with throughout the winter once Nomi and I decided to sign up for the May 29, 2010 10km race in Singapore. He was instrumental in getting me to join the gym at a local hotel for the months of January and February when it was just too damn cold to run outside. I'd pick him up at his house, and we'd drive to the gym and then have a run and gossip session on the two treadmills on offer. It was great. Then when spring finally sprung, we were able to run outside, and since I was new to the town, he was able to show me some good running routes.

Now he's the one getting his running back on track, and in Florida he said that he's suffering in the heat and humidity and asked me how I managed in Malaysia. My answer was simple: WATER. Now I'm not used to being asked for advice about running, since I really don't know what I'm doing, but I do know that one really important thing with my own running has been to make sure that I stay hydrated. If I don't have enough water, I can seriously feel myself getting winded and tired; it's not that I feel thirsty per se, but rather that I slow down and the run taxes my whole system more than it should. What that means for me is that I have to drink at least one water bottle (21-24 oz.) of water per 10km; so the ideal is two bottles of water for the 21km 1/2 marathon distance. Now the glitch here is finding a way to carry all that water with me on a long run. I've tried a whole bunch of different hydration systems and will share some of my insights on the pros and cons of each.

1.) Handheld Water Bottle:

This little device has a simple strap that you slip your hand into so that you can hold onto the water bottle while you run; it also has a little pouch for you to keep a thing or two while out running.

PROS:

-it's easy and fits all different sizes of bottles

-it doesn't involve anything uncomfortable around your waist or hips

CONS:

-it's really odd to run with the extra weight in one hand; I actually find that it puts me enough off balance and gives me cramps in whatever side I'm holding the bottle in that I just can't use it; I like to have my hands free when running

2.) Camelbak:

The camelbak system allows you to carry water on your back and drink through a little tube system throughout the run.

PROS:

-you can get a water bladder of any size that you want, so depending on how long you'll be running, you won't run out of water

-you can rig them up so that they fit snugly against your back and are very comfortable while running

-there's usually a pocket where you can store a bank card or hand phone or snacks/fuel or iPod or whatever else you might need, thus freeing up your hands

-you can put the water bladder in the freezer, freezing your water, and then take it out before your run so that it just starts to melt and then have cold water throughout your run

CONS:

-the chafing of the straps against your running clothes can ruin the fabric; I have a number of running shirts that are all "pilled" where the camelback rubbed against it

-the chafing of the straps is even worse against bare skin!!! I like to run in tank tops or something without sleeves, because I HATE getting overheated in the summer, but when I've run with my camelback against my skin, I've ended up with huge scabs where the straps rubbed against my skin; I don't wear my camelback any more for just this reason

-it can be kind of heavy; if you're a serious runner wanting to be light and fast, then a camelback won't work, because it adds a little more weight than speedsters would want (if speed isn't your concern, then this is definitely an option)

3.) Fuel Belt:

The fuel belt system usually has between 4 and 6 little bottles of water evenly spaced around the belt that allows for enough water on a long run.

PROS:

-with my fuel belt, I carry 4 8 oz bottles, for a total of 32 oz of water (which is more than my 21 oz water bottle); so it's a fairly convenient way to carry enough water

-it sits comfortably around the waist and keeps your hands free

-it's what all the serious long-distance runners and triathletes use, and they must know a thing or two, right?

CONS:

-it's really inconvenient! I mean, I know that I'm uncoordinated and all, but having to use two hands to drink while on a run, is a real pain in the butt; first you have to pull out a little bottle, then you have to hold it with one hand and open the spout with the other, then you can drink, before closing it and trying to tuck it away, all while running and trying not to lose your rhythm or stride. Good luck with that.

-it gets off balance; unless you drink evenly from each bottle throughout the run, you start to feel a bit off balance when your left side is empty and your right side is still sloshing away, and this imbalance often makes the fuel belt shift around your waist while you run

-it attaches with velcro, so to tighten (or loosen) it on a run, you have to open the whole thing and readjust

4.) Waist Pack Water Bottle

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this waist water bottle holder holds the water bottle at an angle across your lower back/upper butt with the top of the bottle within easy reach of your right hand side.

PROS:

-it's the most comfortable system I've found, and there's enough room in the little zipper for a chocolate flavoured GU as well as my housekeys

-it attaches with an adjustable belt, so if you need to tighten (or loosen) it along the run you just have to pull one strap

CONS:

-it just doesn't hold enough water for runs longer than 10km; if you're only running up to 10kms, then I would totally recommend this, but for longer runs, unless there's a convenient place to refill, you'll run out of water

That's my two cents' worth of insight on the various hydration systems that I've used. The main thing, at least for me, is that I needed to learn how to drink while running. At first this meant that I had to stop in my run, stand aside, and take a swill of water before resuming running. Now I can drink and run at the same time, but I still haven't hit upon the perfect solution for carrying enough water comfortably.

PS - I just talked to the colleague/friend who said to NOT refer to him as "Topless Florida Guy," but, of course, that means I must refer to him as such, right?

Inspirational Women...

*

Joy here...Today being Sunday I had planned to head out with the boys and their wives for another epic bike ride through the national park. The friend who dragged her daughter up through the park two weeks ago with me wasn't able to come, because she's fighting off a cold, so the other friend (the kind one who gave me tissue to dab my crank wound when I fell over from STANDING STILL when she last rode with me), was game to ride in the park with me while our husbands rode ahead of us on their merry way. So she and I set out in the park, grovelling up the first steep climb. All the while I could hear the other friend (the one with the daughter) in my head. The last time she rode, she told me "when you're riding uphill just go at your own pace; don't slow down and lose your momentum to wait for someone and don't go too fast and blow up your legs." Over and over again in my head I could hear her voice as I struggled up that first climb. When I got to the top, the friend I was riding with decided that after two nights of not sleeping, she didn't want to tax herself by riding a whole loop of the park, but assured me that I could do it by myself. She said that she rode the loop all by herself in May, and was confident that I could do it alone. Her confidence in me helped to give me confidence in myself. And as an aside: this friend is turning 60 this year. She's a total inspiration to me, because not only is she a really nice and interesting person, but she's also super fit. I hope to be half that fit when I'm her age. So having her vote of confidence ringing in my ears and the advice from my other friend playing in my head, I figured I would trundle forward all alone and try to tackle the upcoming hills in that park.

All the way, I just kept on hearing them in my head. I listened to their advice and their support of me, and I hoped that I wouldn't fall over while descending at 70 km/hr!!!

The day threatened rain, but while I was out on the ride, the clouds began to blow away; the sky turned blue; and the sun came out. All the while, there was a nice breeze, and the weather never got too hot. So I was able to suffer up those climbs and wait at the top lookout point for the husbands to meet up with me. We had a bit of water and a snack, and they congratulated me on my lone triumph through the park. I felt really good, and it was nice to see all the guys re-evaluating this chick who doesn't know what the heck she's doing on a bike! ;) I even rode part of the way with them from that lookout point, but then they were doing one more climb, while I turned off to head down to the parking lot to wait for The Man so that we could ride home together.

While I was riding on my own, keeping to my own pace and just struggling as best as I could, I got to thinking about those cycling friends who have been nothing but supportive of me along the way, and from that I started to think about just how many inspirational women I know. I mean, Nomi and I started this blog, and one of the things that some of my friends have said they enjoy about it is that it's a "women only" blog. They like the fact that Nomi and I are real women who struggle with household demands, husbands, schedules, work, kids, weight, confidence issues etc. etc. And Nomi, for sure, is one of those inspirational women I know. I really can't tell you how awesome it was to get to run with her that month of May in Malaysia. Her friend, Lulu, is another inspirational woman; she's someone who started her own weight-loss and fitness journey and has enough enthusiasm, energy, and optimism to fuel a flight to the moon and back again. I have sisters and friends aplenty who are all really interesting, dynamic, ambitious, caring, giving, smart, powerful, and crazy people, and I think that it's worth it to take a moment to say that I was able to make it through today's ride because I was able to think about all the women friends I have or have been lucky enough to have had along the way who inspire me. I know that pop culture likes to pretend that women get into "catfights", pettily fighting over men or money or clothes, but in my experience, friendships among women can be really valuable and can offer a whole lot of support, especially when you find yourself on a road bike all alone on a road amidst trees and rocks climbing up into a brightening summer day.

Over and out,

Joy

*The pictures of my bike are a little out of date, because I now have Speedplay clipless pedals on it, but this picture was taken when I first bought the bike and figured I couldn't handle learning how to ride a new bike while being clipped into my pedals simultaneously.

Dear Powerbar Gel...Why Do You Make Me Want to Hurl?

Joy here...About a week ago The Man and I were in a sporting goods store because we wanted to buy compression stockings. Research suggests that compression socks and tights can help boost recovery, and all sorts of sporty, IronMan and Tour de France type people are using them. So we figured that as we train for this 1/2 marathon, maybe we should each get a pair so that we can sit around with these "magic" socks on that will help to reduce the muscle fatigue and pain in our legs. And, heck, I'm all for something that helps me to feel better if all it involves is sitting around! That sounds like just the product for me. While we were in the store trying on various compression socks to see which ones we preferred, we started chatting up the saleswoman. She was one of those people who could have been anywhere between 30 and 50 years old, but what was clear is that she was in damn good shape. I mean, she was the sort whose biceps I couldn't stop staring at -- heck, she even had biceps! Do you know how hard it is to get defined biceps? We also noticed a little IronMan tattoo on the back of one of her calves, so we knew that she was a serious triathlete, and we started asking her for training advice. She is also running the same 1/2 marathon in October that we're signed up for, and some of her advice made a heck of a lot of sense to me. One of the things that she said is that it's a good idea to look up what sorts of hydration and fuel your particular race will be using, and then to use that in your training. That way, if you have issues with whatever fluids the race uses, you'll know long in advance and won't spend your entire race in the port-a-potty. Bearing this little tid bit of genius in mind, today I went out to the local running store to stock up on Powerbar Gels, apparently the fuel that will be on offer at our 1/2 marathon event in October. Normally, I use chocolate flavoured GUs. These little GUs are awesome. I really can't find words to describe just how wonderful it can feel when you find yourself 45 minutes into a run and you get to treat yourself with something that looks and tastes JUST LIKE CHOCOLATE PUDDING! I mean, can you get much better than that? So in buying the new Powerbar Gels, I figured that one sport fuel would be much like any other, and bought the chocolate flavoured ones. Armed with my new chocolate Powerbar Gel, loaded down with water, and lathered with sunscreen, I was set and ready to head out the door for my long run of this week. Even though my last long run was only on Sunday, and today is only Friday, the weather is quite reasonable today (a breezy 20 C), and I figured that I'd much rather run today than in the usual 30++ C temperatures that we've been treated to lately.

Okay, so out the door with fuel in hand and ready to go...

...so far so good...

...then after a 30 minute warm up of "easy" running (approx. 5:50-6:00min/km) our plan was to pick up the pace to what is called "M pace" (with the "M" standing for "marathon pace," approx. 5:20-5:30min/km or quicker). About 15 minutes into this increased pace, I looked to my watch and realized "yahoo...it's chocolate pudding time!" So I opened the zipper on my fuel belt, pulled out my new, little Powerbar Gel, ripped off the top of the package, and proceeded to squeeze all the contents into my mouth...

...big mistake! ACK! This stuff doesn't taste like chocolate! Ugh! I'm going to hurl by the side of the canal! I can't even describe how gross it was to have some kind of sticky substance in my mouth that tasted like a mixture of mocha + black liquorice + sickly aspartame. I immediately started swilling water and spitting out watery brown stuff in the grass by the side of the running path. It wasn't ladylike; it wasn't lovely; and I bet it was pretty gross to watch. To be frank, I really don't care. That Powerbar Gel was the most vile thing that I've eaten in a long, long time. And, please, Nomi, comment here to point out that I'm not a squeamish eater. I mean, I'm not fussy usually, so if it's so bad that it makes me spit it out at the side of the road, then you KNOW it must be gross. Trust me, if you ever get into running. Buy yourself some chocolate flavoured GUs and stay the heck away from the Powerbar Gels. I'm gonna return the unopened ones to the running shop and tell them just how gross they were.

That disgusting experience really overshadowed anything and everything else that happened in today's run. The fact that it also gave me a post-Powerbar Gel cramp didn't help matters either. But the truth of the matter is that today's run did exactly what it was supposed to do. It started off with 30 minutes of "easy" running, and then was followed by 60 minutes of "M pace" running (average of 5:20ish min/km!), and then concluded with 20 minutes of "easy" running to cool down. All of those minutes added up to over 18kms! So even with the sickening faux-chocolate poop in my mouth, I was still able to clock my longest run to date!

Here are today's run stats:

Ran for a total of 1:42:45 for a total distance of 18.68km with an average pace of 5:30min/km.

If you're counting, that means that I've done two (yes TWO) runs of 18++ kms this week alone! Yahooooooo! Next week I'm going to do that again, but I'm going to be armed with my chocolate flavoured GU. And for the 1/2 marathon, you better believe that I'm going to just bring my own GUs and leave the race-provided Powerbar Gels for the rest of the suckas!

Now I'm going to put on my compression socks, put my feet up, and take it easy for the rest of the evening.

Over and out,

Joy

This isn't Venice, but we've got our own canal...

Joy here...Okay, these days I live in Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada. And I'm lucky enough to live just down the road from the Rideau Canal. This canal is not only a National Historic Site here in Canada, but it has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Rideau Canal Waterway links together rivers and lakes all the way from Ottawa to Kingston (approx. 200 km in length). In the winter time, the canal by our house becomes the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world's largest skating rink. Depending on the winter, the skateway is usually up and running by January, and stays open until sometime in March. But now it's the middle of a steamy hot summer, and the canal is water, and there's not a piece of ice to be seen anywhere. Alongside the canal there are walking/running/cycling paths that prove to be absolutely excellent for runners. Depending on which bridge I decide to cross over, I can run along the canal for a 5 km loop, a 9 km loop, a 10 km loop, a 12 km loop, or a 15 km loop. I'm even figuring out ways of extending my runs along the canal for even greater distances. So the benefits of having this running path literally right out of my doorstep are multiple: it's simply beautiful; it's inspiring to see other runners of all shapes and sizes out and about; it's convenient; it's safe etc. etc. Generally speaking that path along the canal is where most of my runs here in Ottawa take place. And yesterday (Tuesday) and today (Wednesday) are no different.

After Monday's "rest" day (and that's only if you consider getting in the car and driving for 4 hours on the highway "rest"), Tuesday's workout was scheduled as a tempo workout, with Wednesday's workout as an "easy" run. What really happened is that on Tuesday, I thought I was going to die. I ran easily for about 20 minutes to warm up, and then jumped right into the tempo sessions (which is just about 1km each at a near race pace with a 1 minute break between sets). The thing is that in between the 20 minute warm up and the first tempo session, I stopped at the side of the path to fiddle with my Garmin so that I could accurately measure the increased pace of the tempo part of the run. What this means is that by the time I got the Garmin all set to go, my legs weren't all that warmed up anymore, I started at a speedy tempo pace from a dead stop. Let me tell you, my left knee was not so happy that I made such a choice. So I soldiered on through the 4 tempo sets with my knee feeling like it had been struck by lightening. After finishing the tempo sets, I told The Man that I wouldn't be continuing on with our 20 minutes or 30 minutes of cool down running, because I intended merely to limp home and ice my knee (which I proceeded to do). The good news is that after some stretches, some ice, and some anti-inflammatory gel, my left knee is feeling much better.

So much better that I was game for today's run. Now today's run was just supposed to be an "easy" run. For me, "easy" means that I just jog along and think about whatever thoughts happen to enter my brain. I think about work; I think about whatever it is that I'm reading; I think about what I'm going to cook for dinner; I think about life in general; I think about my friends and family; in short, I just let my mind wander. I think that's why Nomi and I enjoy running together so much, because we both have the same idea about what an "easy" run is supposed to be: fun. She'll listen to her iPod and I'll zone out, and the minutes and kilometres will just click by. Well, having an "easy" run with The Man is something different. He's in full-on training mode, which means that when I run with him, I, too, am in full-on training mode, so an "easy" run with him, means 12.5 kms with 8 strides (100 metre almost-sprints) at a pretty solid pace. Needless to say, I wasn't zoning out at all on today's run. I was huffing, and I was puffing, but I completed the workout and didn't need to walk home in agony like yesterday.

So the stats for yesterday's and today's runs are as follows:

(1) Yesterday (Tuesday): Ran for a total distance of 10km, with a warm up and 4 sets of tempo; the tempo was a total of 4.18km and each 1km tempo block was run at an average pace of 4:45min/km.

(2) Today (Wednesday): Ran for a total distance of 12.5km in 1:12:00 with an average pace of 5:47min/km.

While this training is proving to be tougher than I would have imagined when I first envisioned signing on for this 1/2 marathon adventure (largely due to The Man's more structured approach), I'm happy to have the canal vistas by my side while I run in the hopes that with all this hard work, I'll once again be able to just zone out on my run and have a zen running experience. Until then...I'll be huffing and puffing by the canal!

Over and out,

Joy

Long Runs and Running Demons

Joy here...Okay, I before I can log in the details about my weekend's long run, I figure that I need to make it clear that I'm not a runner. I never grew up running; I never really knew anyone who ran; and I was convinced that marathons were something that insane people who liked to torture themselves did. When I was in high school I did some sprinting - 100m, 200m, and 400m - and I was sure that's about the only distance that I could ever run. Then in 2007 I started dating the man who became The Man (aka my husband). He had just finished running a 1/2 marathon, and was very much into running. And I thought, "heck, that's something that we could share, if I can get off my butt and do it." I was, however, convinced that if I ran for more than 15 minutes in a row, I would die. I even explained to him that my internal organs would explode, and I wouldn't just have a heart attack, I would have a heart explosion. It would be ugly. I was convinced. For my very first run, I lasted 9 minutes. I ran out from my house for 5 minutes, turned around and ran back, and I had to walk the final bit home. It was humiliating. I bought new shoes and tried running on a treadmill. I spent much of that spring trying to work up to 20 minutes on the treadmill. I still remember the first day that I worked up to 30 minutes on the treadmill. It was really a red letter day! I didn't die; my heart didn't explode, and I could still walk afterwards. I figured that 30 minutes on the treadmill a couple of times a week was more than any normal person would ever need to run. So I was happy. Then The Man tried to convince me to run outside with him I was a little wary. I mean, without the treadmill, I wouldn't have time or distance or pacing information right there on the digital display in front of me. I might also have to run up or over hills or watch out for pebbles or cars or something. In short, I was afraid of the uncontrolled environment of the out-of-doors running experience. But I figured, "okay, Joy, you've tried this whole running thing thinking it could be something you share with this guy, so get out there and share!" So off I went for my first non-treadmill run with The Man. It was tough. I won't lie. There was a hill. There was walking. And there was huffing and puffing. But I just kept at it. I ran outside again and again and again and again, and after about 5 months of running, I was able to run for a whole hour (with maybe only one or two walk breaks). After about 8 months of running, I was able to run for a whole hour by myself, without The Man there to encourage me (or for me to be embarrassed in front of). From there it was only a matter of months to work up to 75 minute runs and then eventually 90 minute runs. It was great. I felt strong.

That was two years ago.

Then I took a job in a different city from The Man. Depression, frustration, annoyance, and downright laziness came into play, and all that hard work went out the window. In a matter of months I was back down to 30 minute runs on a treadmill, maybe once a week. It was at that low point that I decided to make a change and start on this training journey with Nomi. I thank my lucky stars for her on a regular basis, because I don't know if I have either the willpower or the drive to do this without her on the other side of the world grappling with her own running demons. Now I feel like I'm starting to get back to a point where I can run. It's still a long struggle, and I don't have that famed "runner's high" where I feel all invigorated or anything yet. Each run is different, and before each run, I have to convince myself to get out the door and just do it. I never regret the runs, but I wish that I didn't have to have the battle with myself each day before I can get out the door to pull off the run.

So this weekend was no different. Our scheduled "long run" for this week had to be at least 16 kms (since that's what I was able to pull off even with my killer stitch last weekend), and, as usual, I had to just ignore all the little voices in my head telling me to keep sleeping, to eat some chocolate, and to postpone the run for another day. And in the end, I'm really proud of myself for heading out that door and sticking to it, because I was able to run for the longest distance of my entire life. If you had asked me in 2007 if I would be able to do this kind of run, I would have told you "no way, I'll die." More than that, in 2007 I wouldn't have even understood why on earth someone would want to run. I mean, in my mind only crazy athletes (definitely not me) or people trying to lose weight (luckily not me) would be into running long distances. For someone like me who was "good enough" all around (i.e. "good enough" in terms of having an okay figure; "good enough" in terms of being in decent enough shape to walk up a flight of stairs or play some recreational sports...etc.), I just didn't understand the lure of running. Now, I can say that I feel like I'm just on the edge of being able to accomplish something really great. I don't mean to blow the notion of a 1/2 marathon out of proportion, because I know that for athletes out there, a 1/2 marathon is like a walk in the park. But, trust me, there is nothing walk in the parkish about a 1/2 marathon for me. It's something that I didn't even imagine ever doing because it was so out of the realm of anything imaginable for me. And so the newness and strangeness of being able to run long distances is really exciting for me. It makes me wonder what else I can do that I never even dreamed of doing.

This weekend, I ran for 18.42kms!!! It took me a heck of a lot longer than that first run of 9 minutes, and so I feel encouraged.

My run stats are:
I ran a total of 1:52:01 for 18.42kms at an average pace of 6:05min/km. Interestingly, for the first 16kms, we ran for an average pace of 6:07min/km and for the final 2.42kms, we sped up to 5:53min/km!

Of course, I earned a rest day yesterday after that long run, so my little voices won out, and I was able to just roll over in bed and leave the running shoes by the door. And today, I'll battle with those voices all over again, because one thing that I've learned is that even a great run or a long run or a run that feels like air isn't enough to cancel out all those running demons telling me to just sit back and take it easy, but in the end, I really do hope that I'm able to silence them for good!

Over and out,
Joy

*Note: The little graphic at the start of this post belongs to Jeff Scarterfield http://www.how-to-draw-cartoons-online.com/cartoon-devil.html#