Sunday Morning Ski

The Man waxing his skis.

Joy here...After Thursday's double-double workout with my spinning class in the morning and strength training in the afternoon, I decided to give myself Friday off.  But then it was snowing like crazy, so I decided to give myself Saturday off too.  You can see where this is going right?  Friday off, Saturday off, Sunday off, Monday off...

But instead, on Sunday morning, The Man, the Sashinator (one of my cycling sisterhood friends), and I headed out to the local ski loop where The Man and I had our very first failed attempt at skiing earlier this year.  But this time we did the approximately 5km loop with no troubles, even adding a bit of distance.  We went up our first real hill (having to do the awkward sumo wrestler walk to get up) and down a steep incline.  We got our glide right, and we enjoyed being out in the sun.

I can even say that even though it was -10C I was able to get a pretty good sweat going.  In fact, I even had to undo one of my outer layers to try and "cool off."  Can you believe it?  I never thought that the concept of "cooling off" would be necessary in an Ottawa winter, that's for sure!

The frozen lake and beach.

I'm used to trying to "cool off" while Nomi and I run loops around the lake in Malaysia, but here I was, skiing beside a reservoir in a park not unlike the one Nomi and I run through, but in a totally different season, a season where the landscape is covered by fresh, white snow, and the beach is the sand of the snow blown along the crest of the shoreline.  And the shore itself is invisible beneath the blanket of snow that covers both the frozen sand and the frozen lake equally; where one starts and the other ends is invisible.

This park's landscape would seem so familiar to Nomi were she to come in the summer time.  She would feel the warmth of the sun on her skin and see the people relaxing on the beach and running along the pathway in their shorts, sweating as we do when we run in Malaysia.  But in the winter, it would seem something entirely different to her.  She's never run in snow; heck, she's never seen snow in real life, but here I was, skiing away through it and on it, feeling my quads burn the more I pushed and the faster I got, and it made me think:

Canada sure is a strange place, isn't it?  A place of contradictions, opposites, and diversity. 

And that's, well, that's kind of neat. 

Ha ha!

Over and out, 

Joy

2 1/2 Hours of Skiing = Priceless!

Joy here...You know those old MasterCard ads?  The ones where the price of a series of things would be listed, and then at the end, the final item would be "priceless"?  Well, I feel like we could run an ad like that for our holiday Monday 2 1/2 hour afternoon cross-country ski:

Cross-Country skis, poles, and boots = $1,661
Day Pass to ski in park = $28
An afternoon of skiing = Priceless!

You can see the groomed classic cross-country
ski trails on the left and right hand sides
of the parkway under a gorgeous sky.

A friend of ours used to be a competitive cross country skier, and he grew up in Ottawa and so knows the routes and skiing conditions around here like the back of his hand.  Monday was a statutory holiday (Family Day) in the province of Ontario, so the friend, The Man, and I got in our car before noon as the sun was rising and the temperature with it under a clear blue sky.  We headed to the park where we ride our bikes all summer, waxed up our skis, and headed out to the groomed tracks for a mini-lesson with the friend.

Well, our mini-lesson was actually 2 hours long!  He was good enough to run through a whole host of drills with us, to watch our form, to critique us, and to teach us how to use our poles, how to go up ascents on cross country skis, and finally how to come down hills.  And then he trundled off for an hour of skiing by himself at his own rate and pace, while we practiced the drills some more, and then went to the local cafe to buy him some snacks for spending hours and hours with newbies like us!

The beauty of the park in winter.

I've written before about the winter blahs and how taking up cross country skiing just might be the remedy to the annual onset of S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and I can assure you that on Monday morning I was a little ball of stress.  I was grouchy about how I haven't accomplished all the things I want to/need to.  I was stressed about what hangs over my head that needs doing.  I was freaking out about finances and financial planning.  And I was generally feeling like I'm somehow living a life that is out of control and not as productive as I'd like it to be.

Well, after heading out into a beautiful day, where we literally shed layers of our clothing as time passed, I feel like everything was right in the world.  I could feel the sun on my skin, and the sky was an indescribable shade of blue, something that seemed like Barbie's blue eyes or a Malibu swimming pool, but in making those comparisons, it cheapens the aqua purity of the infinite blueness of the sky arching high over our heads but yet somehow seeming so close, you could have, in the words of WWII poet John Gillespie Magee Jr, reached out and "touched the face of God."* It was one of those days where the exhilaration of movement and the endorphin rush of the workout and the natural beauty and the camaraderie all worked in beautiful concert together to create a sense of the sublime, the beyond.

The warm sun keeping us comfortable in the snow.

The hours passed by in a mere moment, and I couldn't believe that I had been out there for 2 1/2 hours by the time we called it quits.  I could have kept on going.  Gone were my worries of the morning.  Gone were my insecurities about my fitness.  Gone were my feelings of inadequacy about my work.  Gone were my frustrations about there not being enough time in the day.  Gone were my feelings of hate towards winter.  Suddenly, after spending hours out there moving my body, finally feeling the rhythm of the skis gliding and my body being able to "kick" and get power, I no longer felt like my world was closing in around me.  And as that weight lifted, I looked to the Man and we both agreed that getting out there to ski in the winter, just like getting out there to cycle in the summer, is an important part of our physical and mental health.  I felt like I had plugged in my waning batteries and had them fully recharged, and now I'm totally juiced up and ready to go.

And I've got a friend and a husband, and a beautiful park that lies there on our doorstep just waiting for me, to thank for it.

And so, I say to you, THANK YOU, and thank you, and thank you again.

Over and out,
Joy

*The quotation is taken from the poem "High Flight," which can be found online here, with a little bit of info about the author.

Sunday Afternoon Run: The Blessing of Experience

The melting snow along the sidewalk.

Joy here...Okay, with my plan in hand, I figured that after taking 10 days off working out (which includes NO RUNNING), I should at least get out there and do an easy run.  After all, my main goals coming up this spring/summer are running goals, and so I should focus at least some attention on moving one foot in front of the other, right?

So Sunday came, and the sun rose high and began to melt away some of the piles of snow, clearing the roads and luring me out for an easy run.

It didn't feel so easy, though.

I really felt that time off my feet.

I felt like I did as a beginner runner.  I had stitches, cramps, huffing and puffing...the only thing that differentiated the me of Sunday with the me of four or five years ago is that the me of Sunday has the experience to know that I can run.  I have the experience of hating the first 30 minutes of a run, and then suddenly settling into it and feeling like I could run all day.  I have the experience of knowing that I can huff and puff my way through a run, even if it feels bad.  I have the experience of knowing when I'm causing any real damage, and when I'm just being a suck.

And, trust me, that experience was worth its weight in gold on Sunday.  Because at around the 25minute mark, I suddenly began to feel into my run.  And even though I had planned just a small loop, by the time my 7.5km run was over, I was wishing that I had planned a full 10km run, I was feeling so invigorated.

Even though this is just the beginning, and 7.5kms is a long way away from 21kms or 42kms, which are my main goals, I also now have the experience of knowing that longer runs have to begin somewhere, so no matter what your starting point is, just get out there and start!

For me, even though I'd love to think that by now my starting point would be longer or faster or easier or better somehow, I have the experience to know that it's not where you begin, but how you end that matters (oh, and the journey that gets you to that end), so for now, I'm happy with my sunny Sunday running starting point.

My run stats!

Over and out,

Joy

The Plan: 1/2 marathon, marathon, and beyond!

Joy here...Okay, so last week and the week prior I was dealing with one heck of a cold.  I took a total of 10 days off working out, and now I feel like I'm starting from scratch.  But I wrote before that I shouldn't be discouraged when I feel like my fitness is fading and I'm regressing back to zero, because the truth of the matter is that the valleys in my fitness are never quite as low or deep as I think they are.  I just need to remember that when I was 30 years old and I started running, a nine minute run was all I could pull off, and now I'm 35 years old, and I can pull off a 10km run even after taking 10 days off working out.

So when I feel depressed that I'm not anywhere near where I'd like to be in terms of distance or speed for my upcoming 1/2 marathon at the end of May, I just need to remember that adage that every journey begins with the first step.

And I'm taking that first step now.

And that first step is a plan.

I sat down with The Man, the Daniels' Running Formula,* and a calendar and worked out a plan beginning next week (the first week in March) to get me comfortably to my next 1/2 marathon.

Then we went out to the local fitness shop and bought more supplies:  a weight vest, a bosu ball, and a scale.  We've added these little tools to our arsenal in the hopes that they can help us with our fitness goals, because beyond this next 1/2 marathon, I have my sights set on an October marathon.  I may have had to shelve those goals last year, but I'm not going to do that again.

So with the can-do attitude engendered by a plan and a positive attitude (and reduced coughing!!!), I got on the bike on Saturday after my double-double Thursday work out (a spin class and a strength training session), and rode indoors for 60 minutes.

I didn't hold a high speed (avg around 26km/hr), and it felt rather tough on that bike, but something is better than nothing, and as I've said before, I just have to remember a couple of key mantras:

Onwards!

and

Just keep going!

So with that in mind, I've got a plan, and now I just have to follow it!

Over and out,

Joy

*I've used the Daniels' Running Formula book before, when I was training for my first 1/2 marathon.  I've now created a plan for my next 1/2 marathon and the subsequent full marathon based on some of the principles in this book.  

Sickie Poo

Supplies for the Sickie Poo!

Joy here...My last workout was 10 days ago when I went for a -8C 7km run with a friend.  That was Sunday, February 5th, and it's now Thursday, February 16th, and I got back in the proverbial saddle again.

What's slowed me down?  Well, let me tell you...I have been SICK.  And I don't just mean a little bit of the sniffles, or some scratchiness in my throat.  I mean that I had the kind of wheezing and fluid in my lungs that I've never experienced before.  My head was full of cotton; my nose was full of snot; and my throat was full of phlegm.  Not pretty.

But yet I still had loads of work to do, and even had to travel out of town for a friend's wedding (where I tried not to spew germs all over her wedding guests, but no doubt they all have my symptoms now...sorry about that).  In between just trying to keep my head above water work wise, and meeting our social obligations, I wallowed in self-pity and tried to find time to curl up on the couch with my box of kleenex and a good book.

The gym set up to torture...ahem, train...us.

Today that has all come to an end.  I missed last week's spinning and strength session on Thursday, because I just couldn't bring myself to get up and out of the house, but today, I made it to both.  My spinning class was a strength ride, and in between coughs, I did my best to ride along as though I wasn't sick and coming off a 10 day workout hiatus.  And then in the afternoon we had our strength training session, where The Trainer worked us as hard as she usually does, but in the end, let us go a whopping 2 minutes early when I could barely get myself up off the bosu ball!

But today marks my return to workouts, and as this cold works its final way out of my system, I'll be back at it trying to get myself into some kind of shape for my upcoming 1/2 marathon (and then the full marathon and maybe some time trials and IronMans in my future...it doesn't hurt to have goals, does it?).

So this sickie poo is turning a corner...cough, cough, cough...

Over and out,
Joy

What to Wear in Winter?

All set and ready to go for a winter run!

Joy here...Friends of ours who live in Malaysia have a trip to Japan coming up.  They are going with family, and they're going to do some Alpine Skiing.  Now, if you live in the tropics, there's a damn good chance that you don't have any winter gear for a ski trip.  It's quite different than for those of us who live in countries that have significant winters, but which ALSO have summer.  For instance, because Canadian summers are just as hot as Malaysian ones, when I'm getting ready for a trip to Malaysia, I just throw some of my summer clothes in a suitcase, and presto! I'm good and ready to go.  Not so much for our Malaysian friends and their upcoming trip to the ski hills.  So I've been hitting the stores around here and picking up ski wear for them to mail to them in Malaysia so that they'll be snugly warm on those Japanese ski slopes.

It's also gotten me thinking about what to wear while running in the winter.  For instance, today I went out for an easy 7km run along the canal with a friend, and I wore running gear that kept me comfortable in the -8C temperature.  Here's what I wore:

Look at all the selection of winter wear on sale in Canada!!!!

-pair of Icebreaker Merino Wool socks
-winter weight running tights from Mountain Equipment Co-op
-Columbia sports bra
-Icebreaker Merino Wool base layer
-Sugoi arm warmers
-my "Around the Bay" long-sleeve shirt
-Mizuno shell vest
-Nike running gloves and hat
-Rapha neck warmer
-New Balance Minimus trail running shoes

It's taken me quite a while to figure out what's the right combination of layers and breathability for doing sport in the winter, and I'm still never 100% sure that I'v got it right or not; sometimes I'll be out there on a run and be just too cold to keep on going, and other times I'll find myself unzipping and shedding layers as I go along.

And now I happily can offer this hard-earned expertise to our friends who will be enjoying some fun and snow in Japan next month, dressed in layers and outer wear bought specially for them by a Canadian...a Canadian who has learned how to do winter well!

Over and out,
Joy - the Canadian Winter Personal Shopper

Someone New...5kms...and...WINTERLUDE!

The frozen canal, with the parliament buildings in the distance.

Joy here...Last year at this time, The Man and I decided that we needed some extra help to both survive the winter and to get (keep?) our fitness on track, and so we started weekly sessions with a strength trainer, which I wrote about on this blog under the heading "Something New."  Well, this week our regular trainer (The Trainer, who has featured on this blog in many different posts and who is now a good friend), was at the doctor's so my "Something New" training session was rather a "Someone New" training session.  The Man is sick, and so he stayed at home, curled up under the covers on the couch, while I got myself out the door on Thursday afternoon (after a Thursday morning 1 hour spin class where we did an endurance ride).  I went over to the gym to meet up with our "Someone New," substitute trainer (who also happens to be our neighbour; yes, despite having around 1million inhabitants, Ottawa is still very small-townish in many ways).  Having me all to herself meant that she was able to focus all her attention on me, and she gave me one heck of a workout!  We did max reps for all the activities - so instead of doing two sets of repeats, I just lifted weights and did body weight movements and lunges until I couldn't do them any more.  And between each of these max rep sets, I then had to jump rope for 1 minute.  Let me tell you, my shoulders and arms were literally shaking after all this.

Some of the Winterlude ice sculptures.

The next day was scheduled as a run day, so with my thighs killing me in the aftermath of my "Someone New" workout, I got all ready and headed out the door.

Now Friday is also the official start of Ottawa's annual winter festival, Winterlude.  One thing I can say about this city, is that while the winter drives me nuts and makes me want to run away for good, the city itself puts on a pretty good winter show.  People really get into winter here, and there's lots that is done to make winter fun.  One of the key things is the opening and maintenance of the canal as a skate way.  People actually commute to work on ice skates down the canal!  And for two weeks in February each year, the city buffs up its ice, piles up its snow, and hauls out its treats to put on a great show of winter spirt and fun - Winterlude.

I had plans to meet up with a friend of mine, the friend who is battling breast cancer right now and for whom I ran the Run for the Cure in honour of back in October, and so I figured that my run would be shorter than I had originally planned, because I didn't want to be late (and my aching muscles from Thursday's double workout were thanking me for that decision to cut things a little short anyway).

So I ran a shorter loop along the canal, huffing and puffing as I went, keeping my eye on my watch so that I wouldn't be late, and then I met up with my amazing friend (whose hair is growing back after 4 rounds of chemo), and we headed out into the winter evening to celebrate the start of Winterlude, and also just to enjoy being friends, enjoy where we live, enjoy winter, and celebrate being silly girls out there on a Friday night under the snowy skies and the bright stars.

And that, my friends, is worth shortening a run for any day!

The musical fireworks!

Friday's truncated run sats are:
Ran for 28:40:49 for a distance of 5kms with an average pace of 5:44min/km.

Over and out,
Joy

First 10kms in a Long Time!

The frozen canal, with a lone ice skater out there.

Joy here...Recently on this blog I was lamenting the fact that I have neither the time nor motivation for much more than 60 minute workouts these days, and I reflected on the fact that often when we reach a certain milestone - and I used the examples of finishing my Ph.D. and running 30kms - we often make the mistake of thinking that we have set ourselves a new baseline, or a new starting point, and everything will be uphill and better from that point on.  With that kind of thinking, I used to think that my baseline would be around 10kms in less than 60 minutes with no problem, the way it was just after my first-ever 10km running race (that I finished in around 54 minutes) in May 2010.  I just assumed that once I had tackled the 10km running distance in less than an hour, the way that Nomi and I wanted, that I would always be at that level, no matter how much or how little running I was able to pull off.  I figured that it was no longer a matter of training or keeping fit, but rather just about me somehow being a runner, no matter what I did.  And with such thinking I'll admit that I got a bit lazy.  And the lazier I got, the less in shape I became when it came to running.

Runnin' along the frozen canal!

Sure, I was improving in other sports:  I rode my first-ever 100kms on a bike; I tried rock climbing; and I took up cross-country skiing.  After my last half marathon at the end of May, I even decided to shake things up with my running and start trying minimalist running, first with my Vibram Five Finger shoes (the first pair I bought back in 2010 for walking around in, and then the second pair I started running in this past summer of 2011) and now in the winter with my New Balance Minimus Trail Runners.

But none of that has somehow magically made me faster or able to run longer.  The only thing that makes something like that happen is to get out there and run consistently and work a speed plan.

Lately I've been doing neither.

But after beating myself up enough and finally kicking the jet lag, I committed to getting this training back on track.  Since making that commitment, I haven't reached all my training goals (not by a long shot), but I've been averaging around 4 workouts per week for the last 3 weeks or so (and that's counting my 1 hour of spinning + 1 hour of strength training on Thursdays as one workout).  That should be 5 or 6 workouts per week, but let's just say I'm starting slow and building up.

And in keeping with this one step at a time notion (or the "just keep going" philosophy), I got out there today for a 10km run.  Now I don't actually remember the last time I did a 10km run.  Looking back through the archives on this blog, it looks like it was back in June 2011 sometime (over 6 months ago!!!).

So as you can guess, today's 10kms wasn't the fastest 10kms I've ever run, but it's the longest distance I've run in my minimus shoes, and 10kms is a first start to my 21km half-marathon, which is really just around the corner.  As they say, every race begins with the first step...and today's 10kms was my first step towards that upcoming half marathon.

My running path (finally cleared of the flood waters, unlike last time I ran).

And as humbling as it might be to put my run stats back up again, since this blog was originally designed for me and Nomi to be able to track our training and see how things go, there's no point in being dishonest about our progress, so here are today's run stats:

Ran for a total of 1:02:06 for a distance of 10kms with an average pace of 6:13min/km.

That's my new starting point, and I've got February, March, April, and May laid out before me so that I can build from there and have a good half marathon at the end of May...
...and just maybe a great full marathon in the fall!

Over and out,
Joy