A Failed Workout (...Really???)

Joy here...Since this is, in fact, a running blog, and since I am, in fact, signed up for a half marathon running race, I figure that in addition to posting about my newfound love of cross country skiing and my summer adventures with cycling, I should probably actually write something about running every now and then.

Well, of course, that would be dependent on me actually running every now and then.

The view of one of the little stands dotted along the frozen
Rideau Canal.

So today I laced up my trusty New Balance Minimus trail running shoes to head out into the snowy world for a 10km run.  At first I was feeling great.  The sun was shining up above in the late afternoon, and the world seemed quiet as the snow lay lightly on the frozen canal.  The arches of my feet hurt ever-so-slightly, but that's to be expected with these minimal shoes.  My arches hurt less when I was in Malaysia using my Vibram Five Fingered shoes, because most of the rest of the time I was either barefoot or in no-support flip flop type shoes.  But here, I'm wearing my heavy-duty boots most of the time, so my arches aren't getting the same workout on a regular basis, so I wasn't surprised when they ached a bit on this run.  (I mean my last run was over two weeks ago!)  And then when my left knee started to hurt a bit, I also wasn't too surprised or worried.  I mean, I've had some pain in my left knee before (as early as August 2010), and I know that when I build up my leg strength, the knee pain goes away.  So with a little ache in my arches and a bit of discomfort in my left knee, I was trundling along, all set for my 10km run.  I figured that I'd monitor those little pains, but otherwise, I felt good and light on my feet.

But then my route took me on a stretch of the canal path that was entirely flooded.

Totally.

I'm talking a lake here:

I have to run through THAT???

At first I thought I could just run along the snow banks at the side of the flooded pathway.  But after a few meters that proved rather treacherous and not worth it.  So I just figured that I'd run through the water.  I plunged right in, splashing myself up to my thighs and totally soaking my feet with frigid water.  I ran for over a kilometre sloshing through the icy waters, when the pain in my feet began to be too much to bear.  They were stinging and I could feel my face wincing against my will.

Yep, I ran through it.

So when there was a break in the path that lead to another street, I decided I'd have to just cut my run short and head for home before I caused some sort of permanent damage to myself, or made myself get sick from the cold and damp feet.

And as I ran along the side road home (my feet stinging with every step and sloshing along on the icy road), I was thinking about how I wouldn't make my 10kms and my run was failed for the day.

I've failed other workouts before, but last week when my Trainer was giving me a little tough-love pep talk, she laughed when I was telling a story about failing a workout.  At first I didn't understand, but then through her giggles she told me that the very fact of doing a workout - just getting out there and moving - by definition was a success.  It's a logical impossibility to fail a workout, because simply doing it is already success.

It was an intriguing thought.  Instead of thinking I failed my 10km run today, I ran the rest of the way thinking that I succeeded in my 6km run.  6kms is better than nothing, right?

So even though today's run wasn't long; it wasn't fast, and it wasn't what I had planned, I'm going to call it a success and go and soak my feet in some warm water until they thaw out.

Over and out,
Joy

Joy-the-skiing-Pioneer

Do I look like I know what I'm doing????
(Because I don't.)

Joy here...Now that I've signed up for half marathon #3 in my short running career, and now that I've found that my key to surviving an Ottawa winter lies in cross-country skiing, I've had to integrate cross-country skiing into my workout repertoire.  So that repertoire at the moment includes short (60-minute) runs, indoor bike rides (both at home and at spinning class), once-weekly strength training, and now skiing.  None of this is being done at this point with any real plan in place or any real strategy.  My strategy thus far is simply to move the body and hope that come the end of May I'll have enough fitness to have an enjoyable half marathon.

Yesterday we planned to head out to do a cross-country ski and practice some of the drills that our instructor gave us on our first ever lesson, but when we went to the park where there are groomed trails where we planned to just go back-and-forth on a stretch of a 5km cross-country ski loop, we discovered that there was some sort of race or event taking place.  The nice, quiet loop that we had hoped to use was being used by tonnes of other people, and we figured that we didn't want to get in their way.

We, therefore, had to find another place to go.

The snow-covered ground, without a
ski trail to be seen.

Now, my usual winter self would have thought, "well, I guess the workout gods are giving me a message to just turn the car around and go home, crawl back in bed, and eat chocolate."  But my newfound skiing self thought, "okay, let's just find another place with snow and make our own trails!"

With that pioneering spirit of adventure that my immigrant great-grandparents would have been proud of, we pulled into another park, this one deserted, and planned to just make our own trails.  Instead of counting on groomed tracks into which we would insert our skis and just move forwards practicing what our instructor taught us, I looked out on the blanket of fresh, white snow, uncharted and untouched, and I told The Man to get behind me and follow my lead.  And then I went out there...poles and skis moving bravely over uncharted territory.

There was ice and snow, and the terrain itself rolled in unpredictable ways beneath the camouflage of ice and snow, but I was able to get a good glide going with my skis.

Look at the sun valiantly trying to shine
over the winter landscape.

The sky was white; the snow was white; and we trundled onwards and outwards...figuring out how to make our skis go uphills and then downhills (down, definitely being more fun than up), and at the end of it all, we were able to look back at those ski tracks that I had made through the virgin snow and be proud of the progress we had made and proud of the mark we had left behind us.

And so as we finished our 60 minutes of skiing through open, snow-covered fields, with the sun trying desperately to break through the snow-white clouds above, we got in the car and felt a sense of accomplishment.

It's amazing what a little spirit of adventure can do!

Over and out,
Joy

Throwing my Hat Over the Fence...and the 60-minute workouts

Joy here...Back in November 2010 I introduced you all to the phrase "Throwing my Hat over the Fence," a phrase I hadn't heard before meeting my husband.  Simply put:  if you throw your hat over the fence, well, you have to go and get it.  So if you're delaying doing something, just take that first step (throwing your hat over the fence) and then you'll just have to do that second step (going and getting it).

So back then I threw my metaphorical hat over the fence and signed up for Hamilton's famous Around the Bay race, a 30km running race, the oldest running race in North America (yes, it's older than the Boston Marathon).  I pulled off that event (barely) back at the end of March on minimal training and leftover fitness from my fall half marathon.  But I did it.  The important thing (for me) is that I've now run 30kms; it wasn't super fast (around 3 hrs), and it hurt a fair bit, but I'm proud of myself nonetheless.

My next half marathon: May 27, 2012.

Now it's time for me to pick up that hat again and throw it over another fence.  I've now signed up for my 3rd half marathon.  This one is the last weekend in May, during Ottawa's "Race Weekend."  The end of May 2012 will mark exactly 2 years since I ran my first ever running race, and so I'm hoping to have a good half marathon, one that feels more like my first half marathon in October 2010 rather than my second half marathon in May 2011.

But lately, all I've been able to pull off are 60-minute workouts - 60 minute skis, 60 minute runs, 60 minutes on the trainer/spin bike, 60 minutes with the trainer - and I'm worried.  I wanted to be up to 90-minute runs by the end of January, but with all the snow and ice around here, I haven't been able to get out there and build up my times.  And I feel rather bad about that.

You know, it's rather like we think that once we've achieved a certain level, no matter what it is, we'll always be there as our baseline, and anything else must - somehow by definition - be a move forward.  Whether we finish a PhD or run 30kms, we always lure ourselves into the false sense that we'll always have the mental acuity that we had at our doctoral defence, and only get better and sharper with time; or that if we've run 30kms once, we'll always be able to do at least that, if not more.  But the truth of the matter is quite different.  Whether our journey is a mental or physical one (and most often the two are deeply connected), it has its ups and downs, its peaks and valleys.  And the important thing to remember is that your baseline might not be PhD-defense type intellectual sharpness nor 30km running distance, but with each accomplishment, your baseline does move forward ever-so-slightly.

I may not be as intellectually on the ball as I was when I finished my PhD, but I'm certainly more intellectually sharp than when I started it.  The shine may have dulled a bit, but the metal is still good quality.

I may not be as in shape as I was when I finished my first half marathon or managed to survive 30ksm, but I'm certainly able to run 10kms with ease.

Life's peaks and valleys.  Just try to get those valleys shallower and shallower, rather than hoping
to spend all your time up there on the peaks!

Just sticking' to those 60-minute workouts, until, suddenly,
they'll be longer!

And so...what do I do with that?  I realize that to get back up to a good half marathon training plan, I just have to start with those base-line 10kms, those 60-minute workouts.  If that's all I have time, patience, and fitness for these days, well, I can remember when 60-minute workouts were an impossibility.  The fact that my baseline is 10kms these days means that I'm so far ahead of what I was capable of only 5 short years ago when I went for my first run and lasted 9 minutes.  So I'm taking a moment to remind myself that my workouts this week (60 minutes on the trainer in my basement on Wednesday, 60 minutes of spinning on Thursday morning, and 60 minutes of strength training with the trainer on Thursday afternoon) represents such a step beyond what my baseline used to be that I should be proud of that instead of think of the peaks as somehow the gauge or the measure of my fitness.  What matters now is that the valleys get shallower and shallower, not that I stay up there at the peaks all the time.

And for that...I just need to hang on to these 60-minute workouts until they become 70-minute workouts, and then 80-minute workouts and so on...

Over and out,
Joy

Ottawa Survival Guide: Take Up Skiing!

Joy here...I've logged countless hours on this blog complaining about winter.  I've offered a definition of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and drawn attention to when that dark cloudy malaise descends upon me and makes me feel as though I'm living life while squashed under a weighty mattress of laziness as a motivation hoover sucks at me constantly.

But then...

...in the midst of all this "I hate winter" "get me outta here" stuff, I discovered cross country skiing.  Now, to be sure, our first attempt at this sport didn't go so well.  We were underdressed, underprepared, and we froze our butts off.  It was miserable, and did nothing to ameliorate the negative effects of winter, or what a student once referred to as the "ferocity of the weather."  But after last Friday's lesson with our instructor, we headed out on Sunday on our own to practice the drills she gave us.

I could hear her in my head the whole time (your weight must only ever be on one foot at a time...drive! with the back foot...left, right, left, right) as we went back and forth on a stretch of trails in Ottawa's Greenbelt area for just over an hour.

The not-so-green Greenbelt.

This is our fifth winter living in Ottawa, and lots of people told us that we should take up cross country skiing, but I'll admit that I never really "got it" if you know what I mean, and here are some reasons why:

1.)  Partly, the cheapness lag leftover from years of being an impoverished graduate student made it seem like a really big step to invest in a bunch of new equipment for an untried sport.  (Buying a house, though, somehow made spending money on sport seem like small potatoes.  It's funny how a mountain of mortgage debt makes everything else seem insignificant!)

2.)  Then there was the fact that I had tried cross country skiing as a kid growing up in Winnipeg, but never really remember any serious lessons about technique.  My previous, childhood cross country ski experience was of the "shuffle, shuffle, shuffle" variety, which was no different really than sliding on a polished floor with socks (except for the addition of skis).  That wasn't really an experience that I felt I needed to reclaim as an adult...but that skiing is NOTHING like real cross country skiing with proper technique.

Back and forth, back and forth...

3.)  As well, I'll admit that there's something bordering on the embarrassing about not having any skill or experience at all at something that it seems kids around here know from the cradle.  Ottawa has a very "small town" or "clique" feel about it at times as though you're just supposed to be "in the know" about certain things, and so there's no way for anyone to learn about those certain things if they happen to be an outsider.  In principle and in practice this drives me nuts about this town.  So generally I have avoided doing something particularly "Ottawa insider-ie" as a form of rebellion against this insider/outsider parochialism, and skiing (the equipment, the lessons, the places to do it, etc.) all fell into this category that I have been resistant to.

4.)  And then there's the ever-present winter blahs that just make starting something, anything new in the middle of winter an insurmountable hurdle that I just can't overcome, no matter what.

This year, however, we made the decision to give this sport a try. We bought our skis before we left for Malaysia for the holidays, knowing that if we didn't get all our proverbial ducks in a row beforehand, there's just no way that we'd do it mid-January.  If we weren't ready to go upon landing back in frigid Ottawa, then it would just be too easy to put it off for yet another year.

Sunset on a beautiful winter day of skiing.

And let me tell you...I think that every person who moves to Ottawa should get an "Ottawa Survival Guide" with page 2 indicating that they need to take up cross country skiing (page 1 can be all about the canal).  They should run (not walk) to their nearest cross country ski store and get all set up before winter.  Sign up for introductory lessons, and just get out there.  Feeling the skis glide beneath your feet and the sensation of fun, power, and speed in the middle of winter can give you a boost in your mood that is the only effective corrective to S.A.D. that I have experienced, and for the first time in my adult life, I may begin to look at snow differently, and I may just look forward to winter.

For now, I'm just looking forward to Wednesday, my next ski day!

Over and out,
Joy

Indoor Ride with Friends

Joy here...After my first real cross country skiing experience, which has given me a new lease on winter life and made me feel happy about the world in general, I was actually looking forward to Saturday's workout.  And while I wanted to get out the door for a run, by the time I had finished running errands and everything, it was going to get dark, so I figured an indoor trainer ride was in order for me.

Opie the Opus bike...all set up with the Power Tap for
indoor, winter rides.

Now usually, I'd rather crawl under the blankets and hide than ride in the basement, but with my new outlook based on some fun in the snow from Friday, I got myself all kitted up and even checked with the Trainer (she of the truth-talkin' pep talk of Thursday), and asked if she wanted to come on over and join us.  So The Man hopped on his trainer, The Trainer hopped on our spin bike, and I hopped on Opie on my own trainer.  The three of us were lined up in a tight little row, and we were able to watch the TV, chat, and generally enjoy our workout.

The Trainer rode with us for around 40 minutes before she had to take off to get ready for her Saturday night dinner plans, and I stayed on for another 20 minutes to get a full 60 minute ride in on the bike.  I kept my heart rate in the 130 beats/min range, but tried to make sure to keep my cadence high.

And how did I do that?

Well, in addition to my cadence sensor (which isn't really all that exact), we also had a cycling DVD on in front of us, and so I just rode along with Lance Armstrong.  There's not much more that's inspiring in this world than going for a little ride with Lance.  So I guess there were actually four of us down there in that basement:  The Man, The Trainer, me, and Lance!

Johann Bruyneel giving Lance some advice!

And now, waking up this morning with a slight burn in my thighs from the skiing and indoor ride, I'm all set to head out to practice those ski drills.  If only the sun would rise so that we can get out there.  I just can't wait...

Over and out,
Joy

Skiing Success: I Found My Mojo!

Joy here...Since returning from our holiday in the tropics, when we ate, ate, and ate some more, I've been having a really hard time getting into any sort of fitness regime.  I've committed to doing my barefoot runs in Canada with my New Balance Minimus shoes rather than my trusty Vibram five-fingered ones that just don't work in this climate, and I've set great goals for myself to run a good 1/2 marathon in May and my first-ever full marathon in October, but I've still struggled with the onslaught of winter and how it has kicked my motivation to the curb, and then stomped on it for good measure.

snow, snow, and more snow

But with the Trainer's encouragement and chastisement ringing truthfully and honestly in my mind, telling me to get off my butt and take control of my life, my mood, and my potential, The Man and I headed out for our first, true cross country ski lesson.

Last Sunday we had an aborted mission, but this Friday, things were set to be very different.

First things first:  We bought ourselves cross country ski pants and full balaclavas to protect our faces from the weather.  We also waxed our skis before leaving the house, rather than doing it in the frigid parking lot.  We wore under-layer gloves under our mitts, so if we needed to take off our mitts, our fingers wouldn't freeze instantly.  And then we headed out to the park where we spend our summers riding our bikes to meet our new instructor.

And she was great!

groomed cross country ski trails in the park

She was no-nonsense.  She had us clip in and move forward so that she could assess our level (really, really rudimentary).  Then she had us take off one ski and put our poles to the side.  Our first drill was to ski for about 400m on one ski alone so that we could really get the feel of the truism about cross country skiing that you are only ever to have your weight on one foot at a time.  So we propelled ourselves forward, skateboard style with one ski on, and it was fun.

Yes, I just said that about something to do with winter:  IT WAS FUN!

What a revelation!

We spent an hour with this instructor, and I didn't even feel the cold.  She had us doing all sorts of drills:  with poles, without poles, one foot and then the other, using our abs only, using our arms only, driving our feet forward...  I found myself surprised when the hour was over.  What?  It's been an hour already?  I found myself thinking.  How could that be possible?  I don't think I've ever spent an ENJOYABLE hour outside in -20C temperatures since I was a little kid making snow forts in my backyard with my brother and sister.  It's probably been 25 years since I actually liked winter.

more groomed trails

When I felt those skis glide beneath my feet, I got the sensation of FUN.  Can you believe it?  Fun and winter have never gone together for me.  While I've done lots of things to help me deal with winter (like spinning classes, strength training, signing up for races to force me to run in the winter, riding indoors in the trainer, or trying rock climbing), I've never actually done a sport that is dependent on winter.  And now I got the smallest of glimpses of something that just might help me to make friends with winter.

It's not about the sport itself.

It's about being outside in the beauty of winter's landscape and not feeling the cold.

It's about getting an endorphin rush and a dose of vitamin D which makes me think that the world is a happy place after all.

It's about feeling like I don't have to run and hide from this season.

Finally, for the first time in my memory, I feel like someone has opened a window and showed me a whole new world where I just might be able to enjoy winter.  It's like glimpsing the very edge of a secret world that has been locked and hidden from me my whole life.

I can't wait to go skiing again!!!

Over and out,
Joy (the skier-in-training!!!)

The Truth-Talkin' Trainer

just waiting' for the car to warm up so I can see fills me with winter rage

Joy here...This week has been a tough one for me, and my rage has built throughout the week thanks to our failed first attempt at skiing.  Well, okay, to be more honest, I suppose I can't blame my mood on an activity that just didn't work out for us.  I mean, that's just silly.

The entrance to my spinning gym.

But at this time of the year, when the weather is cold and there's not enough daylight, I will admit that I feel the effects rather acutely of this season.  Everything seems like a big deal.  Going grocery shopping is somehow too hard; getting out of bed is like some sort of torture; working is a near-impossibility; and I lack all motivation for anything.  I feel like if I could crawl under the blankets and not get out until April-ish, I would do that.  I want to run away to Malaysia.  I want to play Rip Van Winkle and sleep until the season's over.  I want to hide.  I want to flee.  But all of that would take more energy and mojo than I have at the moment.

You see my difficulty?  It's S.A.D. all over again.  It hit me last year, and it's got me in its steely grasp again.

The outer door of the gym.
(A little free advertising doesn't hurt!)

But my Thursday morning spinning class was happening, despite my mood.  And I knew it would do me some good.  So I warmed up the car, drove The Man to work, took the car to spinning class (even though it's only 1.6kms away and I can easily run the distance), and settled in for a good ride with my excellent instructor.  I rode for the 60 minute class with my heart rate averaging 142 beats/min, and I sweated out some of my feelings of hate.

Then in the afternoon as part of my Thursdays which involve a morning spin class and an afternoon strength training session with The Trainer, who has become a friend and an integral part of my summer's cycling sisterhood, The Man and I trundled back to the gym so that we could have an hour with the Trainer (who owns the gym, which you can now find on Facebook) helping us to build all-around-fitness and core strength to augment our running and cycling goals.

Our Trainer is awesome.  She's become a good friend in the year since we've started working with her, and I was whinging and whining and off-loading my negative feelings about winter, about myself, about life in general, and she was having none of it.

She first began by building me up.  Telling me about the things that I have going for me that I should concentrate on.  Then she basically told me that I have all these things going for me, and at 35 I shouldn't waste them.  I shouldn't squander my many gifts and be unmotivated or weakly blaming S.A.D. for my lost mojo.

Then she gave me a hug and sent us on our way.

Hmmmmmm....

...that's a lot to think about.

She IS right.  I do have lots going for me.  I shouldn't sit around feeling unmotivated and like I somehow want to escape from my own life.

The Trainer's philosophy and the philosophy of the gym.
I gotta remember that.

And, as luck would have it, after that training session, which built up more than my mere muscles, but also my self-esteem, we were able to arrange a cross country skiing lesson with a Master-class skier who is willing to take on lowly beginners like us.

So Friday's gonna see us out there on our skis again, and with the Trainer's truth-talkin' pep-talk still ringing in my mind, I'm going to tackle this new sport with everything in me!

Over and out,
Joy

How to survive the winter...

The snow pile in our back yard, and the frigid blue sky.

Joy here...Okay, so winter has taken ahold of Ottawa with a vengeance.  Not only are we getting constant snowfall, but we're also getting ice in the form of freezing rain.  Now usually when there's a lot of winter precipitation the silver lining in all that is that the temperature isn't too bad.  Usually when there's snow and freezing rain the temperatures are hovering around zero (which, trust me, for winter is pretty comfy).

But, alas, this winter Mother Nature is playing one heck of a sick joke on all of us, because she's whacking us with mountains of snow and ice while also plunging the mercury down into the depths.  We're routinely waking to temperatures in the -20 C range, and with the windchill factor the temperature feels more like -30 C.

Opie, my trusty steed, now relegated
to sitting on a trainer in our basement
after such a full summer of riding hills.

In my last post, I promised that I was going to just keep going and not let the winter blahs get me down this year.  Last winter I started spinning classes and strength training as part of my strategy to get through the winter, and this year I've kept up with those activities, as well as using our indoor trainers with our bikes and buying a spin bike to use as home in addition to running outside in those new balance runners of mine.  So that's a lot of strategies in place to get through the winter.

On Saturday, after my last run and my last post about not giving up, I dutifully got on my spin bike while The Man was on his trainer.  He was doing a 2 hour ride on the bike and I had a 1 hour one planned.  For the first 1/2 an hour, I was just going really hard ("give'r" in the parlance of my hometown),* until The Man told me that in this "base building phase" of my workouts leading up to my 1/2 marathon and marathon goals, I shouldn't be working myself quite so hard, but keeping things in the easy mode, so I pulled myself back a bit.  I rode for one hour exactly, and in the end my average heart rate was around 136 beats/min, which is my easy zone.  At that heart rate, for instance, I can run and run and run without getting tired.  So even though my legs were tired because of the drills that I put myself through during the first 1/2 an hour, I didn't feel like I overly taxed myself.

The three stationary bikes facing the basement TV:
Litie (the Lightspeed), the spin bike, and Opie (the Opus).

But, no matter what, our rides indoors are always second-best to riding outdoors.  A basement is always just a basement, and something is always lacking.  Nothing beats getting outside.

So this winter as part of our strategy to survive the season, we bought ourselves cross-country skis.  Cross country skiing is a big deal in this part of the country, and everyone we know has told us that the only way to make friends with winter is to take up this sport (Nordic skiing as opposed to Alpine, or downhill, skiing).

Okay, so fine.

We bought ourselves some cross country skis and started to try to find someone to give us lessons.  Now, this is harder than you might think.  The city offers lessons, but you have to try to sign up through some archaic City of Ottawa recreation website, which doesn't really work, and you need to first create an "ID" just to log in...then you need to try and find out when there are slots that are free...then you need to pay upfront...then you can find out whether or not you can join some lesson with some other people...

Sitting in the car, waiting for it to heat up enough to
defrost the windows so that we can see enough to drive.

All we were looking for was someone to teach us what to do.  So we metaphorically told the City of Ottawa's website where to go and how to get there (I'm not sure it heard us).  Then we began our google quest to find a ski instructor in the area.

We called all the people we came up with.

All of them aren't interested in teaching super beginners (like us), but are interested in coaching people who already know how to ski.  As soon as The Man would begin his schpiel:  "I'm from the tropics; I've never been on cross country skis or done winter sports; I want to learn how to ski..." they would already tell him they didn't teach "beginners."

Loading up the skis for our first foray into
the world of cross country skiing.

Okay, so, f_ck it, we'll just head out on our own.  That was our thought on Sunday.

It was -23 C (with the windchill it felt more like -33C).

So we loaded up the skis in the back of the car, dressed ourselves in what we'd wear for a cold run, got the proper ski wax, and headed out to a local park where there's a 5km cross country ski loop that we've been told about.

We parked the car, turned it off, and got out (mistakes, all three).

We had to take off our mitts to put on our ski boots; then we had to keep our mitts off to wax the skis (more mistakes).

We were freezing.

Then we tried to clip into our skis.  The wind was tearing through us, and we were already shivering, the tips of our fingers burning with cold.  Someone skied passed us and said:  "you should probably have some face covering; it's pretty cold out here."  No sh_t sherlock!  Finally we were clipped in to our skis, but we were frozen solid.  We couldn't speak because our teeth were chattering, and we hadn't even started yet!

Home again...unloading the skis with the car still running...
it's warmer that way!

So we pushed forward, and then The Man fell over.  You can't blame him.  He's never been on skis before.  He was covered in snow and couldn't get up.  So he took off his mitts (again) and clipped out of his ski so he could stand.  But then he couldn't get back in.  I skied over, took off my mitts (again), and helped get him back in.  By this point, there was so much standing around in the frigid weather that we were ready to die.  Seriously.

We went forward for about 30 more seconds before we admitted frosty defeat, turned around and got back in the car as fast as our frozen little feet could carry us.

It was a huge ski failure.  Huge.

We got back home and stood in the hot shower for about 30 minutes before we finally felt ourselves begin to melt.

And then I threw all my resolutions out the window and did no physical activity Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.  In fact, I just stewed in a big ball of winter-induced rage.

Over and out,
Joy

*give'r 
Etymology: Canadian, particular to rural areas...
1. Going all out and/or balls to the wall to take care of business as quickly and as awesomely as possible 
2. Acting in a way that is like you're rocking out really hard, but at the same time, trying to solve a problem that may or may not involve drop-kicking something without hesitation

"Just Keep Going," ...or The Training Resumes

Joy here...

...Okay, so the snow began falling on Thursday, and then it just kept on falling and falling and falling until sometime late Friday night.  And to make matters worse, at first the snow was freezing rain (the kind that pellets you like a million little frozen needles) and then on top of the layer of ice that the freezing rain left, more snow fell, making the world into a slippery death trap.  

Now I've written before about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and the crummy mood that winter often gives me.  And even though we've only been back from Malaysia for two weeks now, I can assure you that with this onslaught of snow that turned the world white from sky to ground and everywhere in between dipping the world in an unrelenting absence of pigmentation, as if the world and everything in it were dipped in a big vanilla milkshake, I felt so utterly full of hate.  I hated the world.  I hated everyone in it.  And I hated myself.

You see, I took up running at 30 years of age, and by 33 years old I ran my first ever running race; by 34 years of age, I had run 6 races in a 12 month period, with two of them being half marathons (my first one in Toronto and my second one in Singapore) and one of them being the epic 30km Around the Bay race in Hamilton.  And then this past summer, I spent my time building cycling fitness to a level that I'd not even known possible before, building friendships and increasing my goals throughout the summer until I found myself on a 100km bike ride!  

I thought that I'd run my first full marathon by age 35 and be in the best shape of my life ever.  But as that marathon loomed large, it looked like I was cycling more than running, and then it happened that the full marathon was the same weekend as my grandma's 90th birthday, and so I figured I could just put my marathon goals on the back-burner for a while.  What this has meant is that since turning 35, which coincided with the end of the cycling season (i.e. the Summer of the Sisterhood), when I only did the odd ride here and there on my new cross bike, my fitness and motivation began to slip away like dry grains of white rice through my fingers.

With the resumption of my weekly spinning and strength training sessions on Thursdays, I came up with a plan that I thought I'd stick to to get me through the fall months.  I didn't stick to it.  Not at all.  Not one iota.  Basically, throughout the fall of my 35th year, I ran a bit, did my weekly spinning and strength training, and did the odd ride.  I let my fitness fall away, and then we went to Malaysia where I drank and ate my way through Kuala Lumpur (see my food posts Part 1 and Part 2 to get a little sampling of some of the foods that we indulged in for our nearly three-week visit in December).

So the gist of all this background is that with the start of 2012, the year in which I will turn 36, I am now struggling to get myself back into some kind of shape, and this struggle is happening within the context of a cold and snowy winter when I've traditionally found it hard to do anything other than get out of bed, even in the best of all possible circumstances. 

The only thing to do, is to JUST KEEP GOING!  I've said that before, and I'll say it again:  just keep going, just keep going, just keep going...

So out into the snowstorm I went...running the 1.6kms to my spinning class, spinning for 60 minutes, and running the 1.6kms back home, before returning to the same gym that afternoon for 60 minutes of strength training, and then the next day with the ongoing snowfall, I laced up my new balance minimus shoes and headed out for a 7.5km run.  That's a start, and I'm going to just keep going...

I'm going to sign up for my next 1/2 marathon at the end of May, set my sights on doing a women's time trial series on the bike throughout the summer, maybe even do my first-ever triathlon in Malaysia in August, and finally, yes, FINALLY, do a full marathon in October.

This will mean that from May 2011 to May 2012 I will have completed a total of zero races, but then I'll be back in the game again for 2012.  I find that I'm much happier when I have a goal to plan for and something concrete on which to hinge my training agenda.  Otherwise, I'm just liable to look out the window at all the snow, roll over, and go right back to sleep!

Over and out,

Joy

"Barefoot" Video Blog!

Joy here...Now that I'm back in Canada, I'm getting back into my Thursday morning spinning classes and Thursday afternoon strength training sessions, and I'm also trying to jump-start my running so that I'll be ready for that 1/2 marathon at the end of May that I'm planning on doing in my "barefoot" vibram shoes.

Here's a little video blog about today's little run:

Over and out,
Joy

First "Barefoot" Run back in Canada

Joy here...So we landed in Canada on New Year's Eve; we dropped our bags in the house; we had a shower; and we grabbed a bottle of wine before heading over to our next door neighbours' house to ring in the new year with some friendly faces.  Midnight came and there were good wishes and happy cheers as The Man and I were just hitting our stride.  Midnight in Canada, afterall, is only about mid-day Kuala Lumpur time, so we were up and raring to go.  After having a few too many glasses of my neighbours' Estonian liquor (Vana Tallinn..."vana tallinn, two-a tallinn, three-a tallinn, floor..."), the jet lag began to descend with a vengeance, we crawled home through the Canadian ice and snow.

Waking up in the new year with a raging head ache, jet lag, and a dry mouth, we decided that the only way to deal with ourselves would be to head out the door for our first run of 2012.

Our front yard.
Welcome back to Canada!

Now, while we were in Malaysia, we were able to enjoy some barefoot runs in our vibram five fingered running shoes (our bikilas), but with the mercury dipping down to -18 C, running with no socks and nearly barefoot is just not an option.  In preparation for this harsh reality, we bought ourselves pairs of New Balance Minimus running shoes that have soles designed by vibram and that are supposed to offer a nearly-barefoot running experience.

So we put on some socks, dressed in running tights (that we haven't used in a LOOOONG time), and laced up our new minimus running shoes and headed out into the snow and ice for a 25 minute run to get our badly abused bodies moving.

My "barefoot" minimus shoesies.

My head was throbbing the whole time.  I'm not sure if I should blame the Vana Tallinn, the 40 hours of travelling, the 3 weeks of drinking and eating, or the jet lag, or if I should just chalk it up to a rather weak run.  Sometimes that just happens.

But my feet felt good in the new minimus shoes, running over the snow and ice.  Even though these shoes aren't as fun as the vibrams (which are fun to run in), and even though they don't feel entirely barefoot, I could feel the ground beneath my feet and feel more responsive in my running.

The key with both the vibram five fingers and these new balance minimuses is that my feet can receive more feedback from the terrain over which I run, which causes me to automatically adjust my stride, foot strike, and movement in response to that feedback.  Think of the difference between running "barefoot" and running in traditional cushioned shoes as the difference between reading braille with your bare hands or trying to read it through winter mittens.  I, for one, am enjoying the more "barefoot" experience, and I intend to keep on building slowly and surely so that in 5 months I can run 21 kms in my vibram five fingered shoes without injuring myself in any way.

So that's my goal for now...

...But first I need to get over the jet lag and make peace with the winter.

Wish me luck,
Joy