If I do say so myself, yesterday's run was awesome! Tony and I had plans to go out for drinks/dinner with Jay, and I was working from home, so I decided in the afternoon to go and run by myself. I was worried that we wouldn't get around to running yesterday, and I really want to keep with the schedule of every other day. Yes, I could have pushed it off until today, but I know that delaying by even one day could be catastrophic. Once you let one day slide, it's easy for them all to go. If I want to establish a schedule, then I have to be adamant about sticking to it. So, I got all of my gear, and headed to the gym by myself.
I wasn't sure going in exactly how long to shoot for. My previous run had been hard, so I thought that if I was going to be ambitious I should shoot for one more minute of running, and that would probably suffice. I need to straddle the delicate line of providing myself with training sessions that challenge me each time, but that don't break me (mentally or physically). I've heard that it's good to switch up hard and easy runs, but I guess I just always want to feel like I've improved in some way and that I've pushed myself a bit further. I need to learn how to temper this with what my body can reasonably handle so that I don't injure myself.
During yesterday's run, I feel like I learned about two different ways a run can be difficult: 1) physically; 2) mentally. My previous run was the former - I felt tired early on in the run, not necessarily on a cardio front, but it was hard to keep my legs going. There wasn't any pain, it was just physically demanding. Yesterday's run was the latter - the time I was attempting to run felt daunting, and the period between 5 minutes to 20 minutes of running seemed to stretch on forever. My body felt good the entire time - my breathing stayed even, I didn't really overheat, my legs were strong - so the battle this time was all in my head. Thankfully I'm stubborn enough that I can just push myself onward to my goal, and that's what I did... because yesterday, I ran for 25 minutes straight! I kept my speed constant for the most part @ 4 mph (max incline of 3), although in the last minute, I jacked it up to 4.5 mph just to push myself to the very end and get all my energy out. I wanted to see what 4.5 mph felt like, because eventually I'm going to have to run a that speed for a much longer period of time. It definitely felt faster, but doable. I felt like I could have kept going after the 25 minute mark, but I decided that I had run enough that day, and I didn't want to risk burning out or an injury of any kind. In the end, I covered 1.95 miles!
In the last 5 minutes of my run, I essentially lied to myself, saying "just 2 minutes more... you can do 2 more minutes! That's nothing!". Every time a minute passed, the 2 minute countdown began again. I don't know how it is that we can lie so effectively to ourselves in times like that, but it works!
After my run, I was tired and sweaty, but I felt great. After my 22 minute run, I was worried that 30 minutes would be too much for me to handle, but now I feel confident that I will reach that goal within a week's time. I think my next goal will be to try to run for 27 minutes total. Tony is going to do his run today, and I will go to the gym with him, but I will save that goal for tomorrow's run. Today I have promised that my workout will be easy so that I give my body time to recover.
Oh, and to top it off, when Tony and I went out last night, instead of driving, we took our bikes! The weather was beautiful, and the ride did both of us good. I can't wait to move to the new condo, where it will be so much easier to walk and bike to things!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Tony warned me that today's run would be more difficult than our last one, and he was definitely right! I wasn't expecting it be to quite as grueling as I ultimately found it, but about half way through my alloted run time, I began to doubt myself.
I originally set out to just replicate what I last did (namely 20 minutes of running at 4 mph), but I wound up changing my mind right before my run. I decided to up the ante a little and pushed my total running time up to 22 minutes (@ 4 mph). It was hella hard, but in the end I did it! I ran for 22 mph @ 4 mph (the last minute I actually went all out and boosted the speed to 4.2 mph), covering a grand total of 1.89 miles of tread. During running, my maximum incline was 3.
To keep myself motivated during running, I've been listening to audiobooks on my ipod. I won't lie: the current novel I'm listening to is "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer, the third book in a vampire series aimed at young adults. It is not good writing, and pretty cheesy and bad, yet I cannot overcome my curiosity to know what happens. I'm limiting myself to only visiting the story when I run, so that I keep up with running and don't back out of it. Despite the poor prose, I find the story sufficiently engaging that it acts as an appropriate motivator. I'm not sure what I'll move on to once I finish the book/series (there is one more book, which will be released in August), but I'm sure I'll find something else that is fluffy enough for these runs!
Not too sure what my goal is for Thursday's run. I'm thinking of just trying to boost my run time by 1 minute, but we'll see how things go!
I originally set out to just replicate what I last did (namely 20 minutes of running at 4 mph), but I wound up changing my mind right before my run. I decided to up the ante a little and pushed my total running time up to 22 minutes (@ 4 mph). It was hella hard, but in the end I did it! I ran for 22 mph @ 4 mph (the last minute I actually went all out and boosted the speed to 4.2 mph), covering a grand total of 1.89 miles of tread. During running, my maximum incline was 3.
To keep myself motivated during running, I've been listening to audiobooks on my ipod. I won't lie: the current novel I'm listening to is "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer, the third book in a vampire series aimed at young adults. It is not good writing, and pretty cheesy and bad, yet I cannot overcome my curiosity to know what happens. I'm limiting myself to only visiting the story when I run, so that I keep up with running and don't back out of it. Despite the poor prose, I find the story sufficiently engaging that it acts as an appropriate motivator. I'm not sure what I'll move on to once I finish the book/series (there is one more book, which will be released in August), but I'm sure I'll find something else that is fluffy enough for these runs!
Not too sure what my goal is for Thursday's run. I'm thinking of just trying to boost my run time by 1 minute, but we'll see how things go!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Back on Track
After a several-week self-imposed running hiatus, I finally got back on track yesterday. Or to be more specific, I got back on the treadmill. As much as I was hoping this time around to become an outdoor runner, I am just too wary of a potentially recurring injury to hit the street any time soon. It's important to me to keep active so that I can get fit, and if I have to keep benching myself because of injuries and pain, obviously I need to find a better way to achieve my goal.
I was actually impressed with how much "savings" my body had done in terms of preserving my fitness and all that from when I last ran. Yesterday I did 5 minutes walking (warm up), 20 minutes running (at 4 mph), and then 5 minutes walking cool down. I wasn't sure that I could run for a whole 20 minutes (given that I barely managed to do 3 minutes running outside, and back in my more distant treadmill days, I generally topped out around 25 minutes as it was), but I told myself I would run until the countdown timer said I had 10 minutes left, and could then take a break if I needed. Instead, I pushed myself for the last five minutes, so that I did make it for the whole 20 minutes.
I felt really good about myself afterwards, and not just because I ran for 20 minutes non-stop. When I was at my best on the treadmill, I could maybe run at 4.5 mph tops (and not for the entire time), so starting at 4.0 mph and not having it be colossally painful (or impossible) felt pretty good in my book. Also, I did a program on the treadmill called "forest walk", which introduces incline shifts throughout your 30 min run, which enhances the difficulty. Tony said he was impressed to see I got up to an incline of 3; to be honest, I noted that the treadmill claimed the incline was changing, but I never noticed a difference! I guess the one good side to running on all those hills outside (or just outside in general, where nothing is completely flat), is that the treadmill really does feel so much easier! I never played with the incline before, so that's another way in which I've improved as a runner.
Clearly my goals for running on the treadmill will have to be different than those I held for myself outside (clearly the time spent running is not going to be something I shoot for). Ultimately I would like to be able to run for 30 minutes straight, which I think I'm pretty close to achieving - 20 minutes felt good yesterday, but I expect to be running for 30 minutes in 2 weeks time, if not sooner. Once I hit that, I will then focus on upping my running speed (and therefore distance). Right now I will keep things steady at 4 mph, but my goal is to eventually advance to running a 10 minute mile, meaning I will need to hit a running speed of 6 mph.
So, I guess my new running goals are:
1) Increase overall running time to 30 minutes (4 mph)
2) Run 1 10-minute mile (hit running speed of 6 mph)
3) Run 2 10-minute miles
4) Run 3 10-minute miles (run at 6 mph for full 30 minute)
I think these follow a logical enough progression that I will be able to tailor my routine to meet them each in turn. I will likely need to have mini-goals in between, but for now, I'll focus on hitting Goal 1, and then take it from there.
Oh, and best of all - even though running on the treadmill isn't for everyone, at no point during my run did I feel any pain in my left shin! That's enough to convince me that treadmill running is the way I need to go for the next while.
I was actually impressed with how much "savings" my body had done in terms of preserving my fitness and all that from when I last ran. Yesterday I did 5 minutes walking (warm up), 20 minutes running (at 4 mph), and then 5 minutes walking cool down. I wasn't sure that I could run for a whole 20 minutes (given that I barely managed to do 3 minutes running outside, and back in my more distant treadmill days, I generally topped out around 25 minutes as it was), but I told myself I would run until the countdown timer said I had 10 minutes left, and could then take a break if I needed. Instead, I pushed myself for the last five minutes, so that I did make it for the whole 20 minutes.
I felt really good about myself afterwards, and not just because I ran for 20 minutes non-stop. When I was at my best on the treadmill, I could maybe run at 4.5 mph tops (and not for the entire time), so starting at 4.0 mph and not having it be colossally painful (or impossible) felt pretty good in my book. Also, I did a program on the treadmill called "forest walk", which introduces incline shifts throughout your 30 min run, which enhances the difficulty. Tony said he was impressed to see I got up to an incline of 3; to be honest, I noted that the treadmill claimed the incline was changing, but I never noticed a difference! I guess the one good side to running on all those hills outside (or just outside in general, where nothing is completely flat), is that the treadmill really does feel so much easier! I never played with the incline before, so that's another way in which I've improved as a runner.
Clearly my goals for running on the treadmill will have to be different than those I held for myself outside (clearly the time spent running is not going to be something I shoot for). Ultimately I would like to be able to run for 30 minutes straight, which I think I'm pretty close to achieving - 20 minutes felt good yesterday, but I expect to be running for 30 minutes in 2 weeks time, if not sooner. Once I hit that, I will then focus on upping my running speed (and therefore distance). Right now I will keep things steady at 4 mph, but my goal is to eventually advance to running a 10 minute mile, meaning I will need to hit a running speed of 6 mph.
So, I guess my new running goals are:
1) Increase overall running time to 30 minutes (4 mph)
2) Run 1 10-minute mile (hit running speed of 6 mph)
3) Run 2 10-minute miles
4) Run 3 10-minute miles (run at 6 mph for full 30 minute)
I think these follow a logical enough progression that I will be able to tailor my routine to meet them each in turn. I will likely need to have mini-goals in between, but for now, I'll focus on hitting Goal 1, and then take it from there.
Oh, and best of all - even though running on the treadmill isn't for everyone, at no point during my run did I feel any pain in my left shin! That's enough to convince me that treadmill running is the way I need to go for the next while.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I didn't want to do last night's run, but I did. Maybe it's because my last run ended on such a low note that I was less than psyched to put on those running shoes and hit the road, but Tony reminded me we had been slacking and that it was time to get back out there.
This time there were no claims of hating the process or anyone, and although by the time the last 3-min segment of running was upon us I felt like it had been a challenging run, I actually managed to boost my speed for the last 45 seconds and get it done. We stuck to running on Fairfax, which still has more hills than I would like, but at least they're fairly gradual and don't have that spirit-breaking element about them. Although three minutes of running can feel long, this time Tony and I did a better job of chatting during them, which really helped make the time pass.
After our run, we hopped in the car and headed to the grocery store, as I had seen they had a sale on fresh ahi tuna. I rolled them in sesame seeds and then grilled them lightly on both sides, while preparing an off the cuff asian style glaze. I love ordering seared ahi tuna when I'm out at restaurants, but have never had the occasion to make it at home, so this was definitely new. It was really satisfying but also fairly light, and I think I'd like to try to prepare fish a bit more often for our dinners. Shocking, I know! Strangely, lately I have been on a fish kick (I ordered a grouper dish on Saturday when we were out with Julia and it was so tasty), despite universally loathing it for most of my 25 years (and only straying to have fish and chips, and of course sushi). My preference for things like tuna is for them to be essentially raw, but I'm gradually dipping my toe into the fish-eater pond. Just don't try to serve me salmon, because the smell and colour are enough to make me want to heave! Anyway, Tony was on board for us attempting to do one fish dish a week, which I think will be a nice way to change things up anyhow, given that the only meats in our freezer are chicken, lamb, and sausage... We'll buy some more pork tenderloin this weekend, but I'm not sure when, if ever, we'll have beef in our freezer again. It's probably healthier all around if we swap out beef to the nights when we eat out (sometimes I just have such a strong craving for red meat), and bring fish into the mix more. Don't want to do all this running only to counteract it with unhealthy meals!
Unfortunately, my leg is hurting again. It started not long into the run yesterday, and is still aching today. Tony thinks I may have a knot in my calf, but if this is the case, I don't really know what I can do about that. It's not incapacitating, but it is sore. I walked across campus to our (fingers crossed!) new condo to hand in our application and a deposit, and while the walk was only 15-min (eeee! It was ALMOST like being at UofT again, as my whole walk was on Vandy property!), my leg burned the whole way. I think I'm going to have to institute a mandatory post-run bath on the days we run!
Next Run: 5 min walking, 5 min running with 2 min walking for 21 min, 4 minutes walking. If I can do this, then I'll have hit my first mini goal of running for 5 minutes straight! Still, I'm scared!
This time there were no claims of hating the process or anyone, and although by the time the last 3-min segment of running was upon us I felt like it had been a challenging run, I actually managed to boost my speed for the last 45 seconds and get it done. We stuck to running on Fairfax, which still has more hills than I would like, but at least they're fairly gradual and don't have that spirit-breaking element about them. Although three minutes of running can feel long, this time Tony and I did a better job of chatting during them, which really helped make the time pass.
After our run, we hopped in the car and headed to the grocery store, as I had seen they had a sale on fresh ahi tuna. I rolled them in sesame seeds and then grilled them lightly on both sides, while preparing an off the cuff asian style glaze. I love ordering seared ahi tuna when I'm out at restaurants, but have never had the occasion to make it at home, so this was definitely new. It was really satisfying but also fairly light, and I think I'd like to try to prepare fish a bit more often for our dinners. Shocking, I know! Strangely, lately I have been on a fish kick (I ordered a grouper dish on Saturday when we were out with Julia and it was so tasty), despite universally loathing it for most of my 25 years (and only straying to have fish and chips, and of course sushi). My preference for things like tuna is for them to be essentially raw, but I'm gradually dipping my toe into the fish-eater pond. Just don't try to serve me salmon, because the smell and colour are enough to make me want to heave! Anyway, Tony was on board for us attempting to do one fish dish a week, which I think will be a nice way to change things up anyhow, given that the only meats in our freezer are chicken, lamb, and sausage... We'll buy some more pork tenderloin this weekend, but I'm not sure when, if ever, we'll have beef in our freezer again. It's probably healthier all around if we swap out beef to the nights when we eat out (sometimes I just have such a strong craving for red meat), and bring fish into the mix more. Don't want to do all this running only to counteract it with unhealthy meals!
Unfortunately, my leg is hurting again. It started not long into the run yesterday, and is still aching today. Tony thinks I may have a knot in my calf, but if this is the case, I don't really know what I can do about that. It's not incapacitating, but it is sore. I walked across campus to our (fingers crossed!) new condo to hand in our application and a deposit, and while the walk was only 15-min (eeee! It was ALMOST like being at UofT again, as my whole walk was on Vandy property!), my leg burned the whole way. I think I'm going to have to institute a mandatory post-run bath on the days we run!
Next Run: 5 min walking, 5 min running with 2 min walking for 21 min, 4 minutes walking. If I can do this, then I'll have hit my first mini goal of running for 5 minutes straight! Still, I'm scared!
Friday, April 25, 2008
Last night's run: walk 5 minutes, run 3 walk 1 for 20 minutes, walk 5 minutes.
It was the first time running completely pooch-free, and the first 5 walking minutes seemed to be over well before they began. Despite how good I had felt on my last run, this one was almost immediately tougher. How is that one minute of walking is done in a snap and an extra minute or running is the most tortuous thing in the world? Maybe it's because there had been a little reception at school (it was "Psychology Day", where the department celebrates the end of the term and hands out a few awards, etc.,), and I had a few nibblies before the run... My mouth was dry for nearly the entire time outside, and I guess I've gotta start carrying a water bottle with me.
Essentially, while we did all 5 running sets, I ended up pussing out of the last 30 seconds in the final set. We had just run over a deceptively hilly school park, and were ending on an uphill battle. My legs were burning, as were my lungs, and I was cursing Tony for agreeing to this stupid endeavour in the first place. I felt defeated when I quit 30-s from the end, but quickly vowed that when we run on Saturday, we'll do this training schedule again, and I'll do the whole thing. I definitely have to be comfortable with this before we bump up to 5-min of running consecutively (which, hey! there's a mini goal reached!).
I felt unfocused during my run yesterday. There were a few very brief moments where I felt like I was zoning out and my body was light and propelled by its own momentum, but they were not as long-lasting as I need them to be. As the summer draws closer, these runs will only get more difficult, and I will probably have to buckle and buy some shorts to run in as the leggings (I know! But they're strictly for work out purposes) just won't cut it. Too restrictive and sweaty. At the assembly at work today, they handed out a new award for excellence in graduate student research... and Jenn and Mike co-won it. I was shocked and angered, for a multitude of reasons, but I guess part of my anger (and then oddly my consolation) came from the realization that they won the award because of how much they have achieved together and how well they work as a team (they work on all projects together). It was clear to me that Jenn only won the award because of Mike; he really does all of the difficult elements of their projects (like the modeling and coding of simulations, and just programming in general). I don't deny Jenn contributes, but I do believe that while Mike could readily do the work she does, she could never accomplish what he has. My ire was stoked once more when I realized that they also received the most nominations simply because they both have (the same) two advisors, and many of the achievements that Isabel listed for them were things that she herself had complete jurisdiction over. For instance, one of the awards they mentioned was something specific to a close-conference that is attended by only 5 labs, and is for an organization Isabel founded. It's no giving a talk at VSS (an international, peer-reviewed, open submission conference) is all I'm saying. The research award they won was accompanied by a $250 cheque, but this time rather than being even angrier, I reminded myself that hey, it's $250, not say 21k/year like my NSERC!
Anyway, I didn't want to be bitter and angry, but I was hoping I could channel my frustration into a good run, which I ultimately kind of didn't. Ranting about my anger towards Jenn is probably the topic for my other blog, but it was annoying that I can't manage to get anything good out of it!
We came home completely exhausted (and me feeling a little bit defeated). I just really did not enjoy the run at all, finding it painful and arduous. If nothing else, however, it does help control my appetite, as we didn't wind up eating until about 8:30, and then it was a light meal of parmesan encrusted chicken with a potato salad featuring a hint of mint. Delicious and not too heavy, with some great leftovers for today's lunch!
Next run: REPEAT. 5 min walk, run 3 min walk 1 min for 20 min, walk 5 min.
It was the first time running completely pooch-free, and the first 5 walking minutes seemed to be over well before they began. Despite how good I had felt on my last run, this one was almost immediately tougher. How is that one minute of walking is done in a snap and an extra minute or running is the most tortuous thing in the world? Maybe it's because there had been a little reception at school (it was "Psychology Day", where the department celebrates the end of the term and hands out a few awards, etc.,), and I had a few nibblies before the run... My mouth was dry for nearly the entire time outside, and I guess I've gotta start carrying a water bottle with me.
Essentially, while we did all 5 running sets, I ended up pussing out of the last 30 seconds in the final set. We had just run over a deceptively hilly school park, and were ending on an uphill battle. My legs were burning, as were my lungs, and I was cursing Tony for agreeing to this stupid endeavour in the first place. I felt defeated when I quit 30-s from the end, but quickly vowed that when we run on Saturday, we'll do this training schedule again, and I'll do the whole thing. I definitely have to be comfortable with this before we bump up to 5-min of running consecutively (which, hey! there's a mini goal reached!).
I felt unfocused during my run yesterday. There were a few very brief moments where I felt like I was zoning out and my body was light and propelled by its own momentum, but they were not as long-lasting as I need them to be. As the summer draws closer, these runs will only get more difficult, and I will probably have to buckle and buy some shorts to run in as the leggings (I know! But they're strictly for work out purposes) just won't cut it. Too restrictive and sweaty. At the assembly at work today, they handed out a new award for excellence in graduate student research... and Jenn and Mike co-won it. I was shocked and angered, for a multitude of reasons, but I guess part of my anger (and then oddly my consolation) came from the realization that they won the award because of how much they have achieved together and how well they work as a team (they work on all projects together). It was clear to me that Jenn only won the award because of Mike; he really does all of the difficult elements of their projects (like the modeling and coding of simulations, and just programming in general). I don't deny Jenn contributes, but I do believe that while Mike could readily do the work she does, she could never accomplish what he has. My ire was stoked once more when I realized that they also received the most nominations simply because they both have (the same) two advisors, and many of the achievements that Isabel listed for them were things that she herself had complete jurisdiction over. For instance, one of the awards they mentioned was something specific to a close-conference that is attended by only 5 labs, and is for an organization Isabel founded. It's no giving a talk at VSS (an international, peer-reviewed, open submission conference) is all I'm saying. The research award they won was accompanied by a $250 cheque, but this time rather than being even angrier, I reminded myself that hey, it's $250, not say 21k/year like my NSERC!
Anyway, I didn't want to be bitter and angry, but I was hoping I could channel my frustration into a good run, which I ultimately kind of didn't. Ranting about my anger towards Jenn is probably the topic for my other blog, but it was annoying that I can't manage to get anything good out of it!
We came home completely exhausted (and me feeling a little bit defeated). I just really did not enjoy the run at all, finding it painful and arduous. If nothing else, however, it does help control my appetite, as we didn't wind up eating until about 8:30, and then it was a light meal of parmesan encrusted chicken with a potato salad featuring a hint of mint. Delicious and not too heavy, with some great leftovers for today's lunch!
Next run: REPEAT. 5 min walk, run 3 min walk 1 min for 20 min, walk 5 min.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Last night's run was technically supposed to be the end of week 1's training regime, even though we've been doing this for 1.5 weeks. Part of the reason for our tardy progress is because we redid one of our run sessions early on because it had been so challenging the first day we tackled it, and we wanted to be sure we were in a good place before moving on. The other reason is that Tony's parents were here for 4 days last week, which while fun and a positive experience, effectively killed our running program for those days. Still, I want to point out that after they left, we promptly got back into our routine, so good for us!
The run program for yesterday was: walk 5 minutes, run 2 & walk 1 for 21 minutes, walk 4 minutes. (The runs always add up to 30 minutes). A few modifications were made to our overall, which I think we're gonna keep for the future. First, Rory was being a holy terror when we got home, and actually wound up peeing on Tony while sitting in his lap while Tony was putting on his shoes for our run as well as our feather duvet (it was old and we have been planning to replace it, but still!). He's always had bathroom issues, such that for the past two weeks I've been limiting his water intake to 1/2 cup at night, and a little bit (no more than that) after coming in from our walks/runs. The night previous, Tony had given him more water with his dinner, and while I don't know for certain that that's to blame for the huge accident Rory then had, we're definitely going to be limiting his water intake from now on (and getting peed on has put Tony fully on board with this as well!). I've monitored him since I've cut down his water, and he hasn't shown any warning signs of dehydration, so from now on Rory will be getting no more than 3/4 cup of water per day!
Anywho, because he had been so terrible, we locked him in his crate as punishment and didn't let him come on the big run with us (all the while ensuring he knew that Emmy, who had not misbehaved was coming). Now, I had originally been the one to suggest we incorporate our dog walks with our runs, but last night's run was so much easier without Rory that Tony and I have agreed that we'll stick to taking the dogs on our long walks, but we'll do the run days canine-free. At least for now, I have to focus so much on just keeping myself moving and breathing that I really can't have the added issue of focusing on keeping Rory going and out of the path of cars.
The other thing we changed was to just run primarily along Fairfax Ave, which is fairly flat. We ran all the way down to Hillsboro Village, and then turned around and made our way back to the apartment, retracing our steps. [Click here to see the route we ran!] We clearly overshot our 30 minutes exercise time (instead it was almost 50 min), but in time that route will probably fit 30 minutes nicely when we're running for longer intervals. Into our third running interval, my calves really started to burn, which has been the main problem I've been experiencing since starting to run outside. I'm fairly certain it's not due to my stride lengths being too long, as I actually tend to take fairly small steps while running. I suspect it's simply due to my calf muscles being ridiculously weak and really being affected by the running. I actually had a moment earlier in the day when walking to the scanner when just walking up a hill caused my calves to burn and tighten up. I think we'll have to keep to our boring, mostly flat route until we reach our goal of running 30 minutes straight. Then we can increase a new degree of difficulty into the runs by changing up the route so that more extreme hills get added.
As far as the run went, I felt really good! The first two reps were not bad at all, then I started get some calf tightening/fatigue, which may have gone away by the last 2 reps, or it's possible that the calf issues were merely eclipsed by the cardiovascular strain. I think I actually began to pick up my pace at the end and really pushed myself, which is why I definitely needed the walk periods to catch my breath. If I had kept a constant pace the whole time, I think I would have been fine. I also consciously incorporated Taryn's technique of tricking myself during the running bursts near the end, by which I picked a landmark and focussed on running to it, assuring myself the whole time that when I reached it our running time would be done. Of course, this was rarely the case, so I'd just pick a new landmark and run for that until our two minutes really were up. Surprisingly, it really helped and gave me the little boost I needed to keep going when the running got tough. I also tried to pump my arms more and focus on those movements when going up the last few hills, and that also seemed to help too! So: thanks Taryn!
The ending to our walk was a bit of a low note as we ran into my advisor out for a walk with his daughter. I hate seeing when I'm at school, so running into him on my free time was unpleasant (though he himself was in a good enough mood. I will give him credit for that!). Ironically, he could remember that we have two dogs (despite us only having one of them with us), but cannot remember Tony's name... Anyway, the whole experience emphasized to Tony and me that we really need to move, because right now we live for to close to my advisor for comfort. When we got home we did some pretty thorough apartment hunting online. Of course one of the properties we found was actually directly across the street from my advisor, so we immediately struck that from the roster!
Finally, neither of us were extremely hungry when we got home, so I popped some spinach&cheese ravioli on to boil along with two chicken&apple sausages, and then let them cool in the sink. I later mixed them with some baby spinach leaves, tomato, feta, and red onion, and tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette, mimicking a salad L'Ell and I ate in Edinburgh at the Elephant Cafe. We paired it with a slice of garlic bread, and it proved to be a light but filling meal. Having the pasta tossed in there helped sate our starch craving, but we ultimately ate far less of the 'heavy stuff' then we otherwise would have had I just made an outright pasta meal. I definitely think that'll be a meal that will feature heavily on our dinner rotation in the future.
Ultimately, I'm feeling good about tomorrow's run, which is as follows: walk 5 minutes, run 3 & walk 1 for 20 minutes, walk 5. This increased running time doesn't seem that daunting (and technically it's only one full minute longer of running than what we did yesterday), and once we hit that, we'll be so much closer to my mini-goal of being able to run for 5-minutes non-stop! Yes, I'm very much like the tortoise, but isn't that who ultimately won the race?
The run program for yesterday was: walk 5 minutes, run 2 & walk 1 for 21 minutes, walk 4 minutes. (The runs always add up to 30 minutes). A few modifications were made to our overall, which I think we're gonna keep for the future. First, Rory was being a holy terror when we got home, and actually wound up peeing on Tony while sitting in his lap while Tony was putting on his shoes for our run as well as our feather duvet (it was old and we have been planning to replace it, but still!). He's always had bathroom issues, such that for the past two weeks I've been limiting his water intake to 1/2 cup at night, and a little bit (no more than that) after coming in from our walks/runs. The night previous, Tony had given him more water with his dinner, and while I don't know for certain that that's to blame for the huge accident Rory then had, we're definitely going to be limiting his water intake from now on (and getting peed on has put Tony fully on board with this as well!). I've monitored him since I've cut down his water, and he hasn't shown any warning signs of dehydration, so from now on Rory will be getting no more than 3/4 cup of water per day!
Anywho, because he had been so terrible, we locked him in his crate as punishment and didn't let him come on the big run with us (all the while ensuring he knew that Emmy, who had not misbehaved was coming). Now, I had originally been the one to suggest we incorporate our dog walks with our runs, but last night's run was so much easier without Rory that Tony and I have agreed that we'll stick to taking the dogs on our long walks, but we'll do the run days canine-free. At least for now, I have to focus so much on just keeping myself moving and breathing that I really can't have the added issue of focusing on keeping Rory going and out of the path of cars.
The other thing we changed was to just run primarily along Fairfax Ave, which is fairly flat. We ran all the way down to Hillsboro Village, and then turned around and made our way back to the apartment, retracing our steps. [Click here to see the route we ran!] We clearly overshot our 30 minutes exercise time (instead it was almost 50 min), but in time that route will probably fit 30 minutes nicely when we're running for longer intervals. Into our third running interval, my calves really started to burn, which has been the main problem I've been experiencing since starting to run outside. I'm fairly certain it's not due to my stride lengths being too long, as I actually tend to take fairly small steps while running. I suspect it's simply due to my calf muscles being ridiculously weak and really being affected by the running. I actually had a moment earlier in the day when walking to the scanner when just walking up a hill caused my calves to burn and tighten up. I think we'll have to keep to our boring, mostly flat route until we reach our goal of running 30 minutes straight. Then we can increase a new degree of difficulty into the runs by changing up the route so that more extreme hills get added.
As far as the run went, I felt really good! The first two reps were not bad at all, then I started get some calf tightening/fatigue, which may have gone away by the last 2 reps, or it's possible that the calf issues were merely eclipsed by the cardiovascular strain. I think I actually began to pick up my pace at the end and really pushed myself, which is why I definitely needed the walk periods to catch my breath. If I had kept a constant pace the whole time, I think I would have been fine. I also consciously incorporated Taryn's technique of tricking myself during the running bursts near the end, by which I picked a landmark and focussed on running to it, assuring myself the whole time that when I reached it our running time would be done. Of course, this was rarely the case, so I'd just pick a new landmark and run for that until our two minutes really were up. Surprisingly, it really helped and gave me the little boost I needed to keep going when the running got tough. I also tried to pump my arms more and focus on those movements when going up the last few hills, and that also seemed to help too! So: thanks Taryn!
The ending to our walk was a bit of a low note as we ran into my advisor out for a walk with his daughter. I hate seeing when I'm at school, so running into him on my free time was unpleasant (though he himself was in a good enough mood. I will give him credit for that!). Ironically, he could remember that we have two dogs (despite us only having one of them with us), but cannot remember Tony's name... Anyway, the whole experience emphasized to Tony and me that we really need to move, because right now we live for to close to my advisor for comfort. When we got home we did some pretty thorough apartment hunting online. Of course one of the properties we found was actually directly across the street from my advisor, so we immediately struck that from the roster!
Finally, neither of us were extremely hungry when we got home, so I popped some spinach&cheese ravioli on to boil along with two chicken&apple sausages, and then let them cool in the sink. I later mixed them with some baby spinach leaves, tomato, feta, and red onion, and tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette, mimicking a salad L'Ell and I ate in Edinburgh at the Elephant Cafe. We paired it with a slice of garlic bread, and it proved to be a light but filling meal. Having the pasta tossed in there helped sate our starch craving, but we ultimately ate far less of the 'heavy stuff' then we otherwise would have had I just made an outright pasta meal. I definitely think that'll be a meal that will feature heavily on our dinner rotation in the future.
Ultimately, I'm feeling good about tomorrow's run, which is as follows: walk 5 minutes, run 3 & walk 1 for 20 minutes, walk 5. This increased running time doesn't seem that daunting (and technically it's only one full minute longer of running than what we did yesterday), and once we hit that, we'll be so much closer to my mini-goal of being able to run for 5-minutes non-stop! Yes, I'm very much like the tortoise, but isn't that who ultimately won the race?
modus operandi
Anyone who knows me is probably laughing that I have added another blog to my roster, and also that it’s a blog about running. I am not a runner, by any means, but I’m hoping I can at the very least become one in body if not in spirit. Essentially, my goal is to lose some of the weight that I’ve managed to put on in the past 6 months or so, so that I can get back to feeling happy and confident about myself once again. I don’t ever dream of ever being truly skinny (it would take a lot more than exercise, or maybe just a lot more exercise!, to get rid of the bulk of my curves), but I can remember a time (in the not so distant past!) where I felt content with my body, and I’d like to get myself back there. I maintained that size for several years, which makes me believe that it was a reasonable place for me to be. I don’t weigh myself, because I don’t really care how much I actually weigh, but am focused more on how I feel and how my clothes (from skinnier days gone by) fit. I’ll know I’ve hit my goal when some of the jeans that are currently too tight finally fit comfortably once more!
Just a bit of backstory, some of you know that right before Christmas 2007, Tony and I started taking advantage of the workout facilities at our complex. I started running on the treadmill, which I didn’t exactly enjoy, but it was only for 20 – 25 minutes each day, which was a time commitment I felt I could honour without feeling I was giving up too much of my free time (seriously, I hate to exercise, because there are at least 4 or 5 other things at any given time that I would much rather be doing). I popped on my headphones and set my ipod to my upbeat “work OUT!” playlist and went to town… It was hard at first, but I was impressed with how quickly I progressed. By the end I was running 1.5 miles (about 2.5 km) in 20 minutes, and not even stopping to take a break! I hated the running, but the feeling of accomplishment each time I made some type of advancement (I started off not even being able to run 10 minutes straight) was really rewarding. Plus, I definitely felt like physically my body was improving from these workouts, even if that rate of progress was slower. Of course, then Christmas came and I went a few weeks without a treadmill. The routine fell to pieces, and when we came back from break, getting back into the swing of things was even harder than before. Partially this was because we returned right after New Year’s, when everyone has vowed to get in shape, meaning the workout room was always bustling, and frequently neither of the two treadmills were free. It was really demoralizing to psych ourselves up to go run, only to get there and find we couldn’t use the equipment. We briefly swapped to the elliptical machines, but the satisfaction wasn’t there for me, and after two weeks or so, we just stopped going to the gym altogether. We were quitters.
Fastforward several months and here we are. Tony and I have both finally reached a place where we realize that as much as we dislike running and prefer being lazy, it’s time for us to get ourselves healthy and lose some weight. It sucks to feel as though your back is up against a wall, but for us we really felt like if we didn’t do something now, things would only get worse, and we needed to catapult ourselves in the opposite direction. We’d tried limiting portion sizes and all that jazz, but to get us feeling good again, we new we needed a more forceful catalyst. I was worried Tony would laugh or be unenthusiastic, but instead he embraced the idea, even if out of necessity. I tentatively broached the subject of running outside (something we always mocked others for in the past) two weeks ago, because I realized I needed to make our workouts as easy as possible. That meant removing all possibilities of failure and excuses to NOT run, and certainly one of those was relying on equipment that wouldn’t always be available to us as the treadmills were. The street is always there, and so whenever we’re ready to run, it’s there waiting. No excuse there. Furthermore, we always take the dogs out right when we get home from work, so by incorporating that into our fitness regime, we lessen the likelihood of us putting the run off until later in the evening (which can easily become “never”), and we also don’t have it looming over our night. We get it done within 30 minutes of getting home, and still have 5 hours of the evening to enjoy. Finally, now when we run, we run together, without ipods, meaning that rather than viewing our workout time as unfortunate time spent apart/alone, we can use it as time to bond and strengthen our relationship.
Anyway, I read a few of the online books on running provided through the school’s library system, and found us a beginner’s guide to running which we could follow for the first 6 weeks. Tony used to run before we met until he injured his knee, so I knew it would be important for us to pace ourselves appropriately in order to literally keep him on his feet. To that end, we also went out and purchased new running shoes, and for once I forewent the pair of shoes that was the prettiest and instead bought the pair that felt the best on my feet (also, I found out I have a neutral foot)! Per our beginner’s guide, we’ve been running every other day, and just going for 30-min walks on our rest days. We started off slow (walk 15 min, run 1 min then walk 1 min for 5 min, walk 10 min), but we’re definitely progressing. There’s been some tweaking along the way, as sometimes we do a regime several days over until we feel comfortable with it, and our route has changed. We used to try to do a big loop so that there was no backtracking, but our community is incredibly hilly, which was making our runs unbearably difficult and painful, so we’ve now found a better path, which keeps us mostly on flat roads.
Ok, so the aim of this blog then is to keep track of my/our progress, and to keep me motivated to continue. I’ve found that running outside rather than on the treadmill is WAY harder, and I want to give myself every opportunity to succeed! I’ll try to log how long I ran, how far that was, and anything else of note that occurred during our daily jaunts…
On that note, I think I’ll end this intro post and write a brief entry about last night’s run!
Just a bit of backstory, some of you know that right before Christmas 2007, Tony and I started taking advantage of the workout facilities at our complex. I started running on the treadmill, which I didn’t exactly enjoy, but it was only for 20 – 25 minutes each day, which was a time commitment I felt I could honour without feeling I was giving up too much of my free time (seriously, I hate to exercise, because there are at least 4 or 5 other things at any given time that I would much rather be doing). I popped on my headphones and set my ipod to my upbeat “work OUT!” playlist and went to town… It was hard at first, but I was impressed with how quickly I progressed. By the end I was running 1.5 miles (about 2.5 km) in 20 minutes, and not even stopping to take a break! I hated the running, but the feeling of accomplishment each time I made some type of advancement (I started off not even being able to run 10 minutes straight) was really rewarding. Plus, I definitely felt like physically my body was improving from these workouts, even if that rate of progress was slower. Of course, then Christmas came and I went a few weeks without a treadmill. The routine fell to pieces, and when we came back from break, getting back into the swing of things was even harder than before. Partially this was because we returned right after New Year’s, when everyone has vowed to get in shape, meaning the workout room was always bustling, and frequently neither of the two treadmills were free. It was really demoralizing to psych ourselves up to go run, only to get there and find we couldn’t use the equipment. We briefly swapped to the elliptical machines, but the satisfaction wasn’t there for me, and after two weeks or so, we just stopped going to the gym altogether. We were quitters.
Fastforward several months and here we are. Tony and I have both finally reached a place where we realize that as much as we dislike running and prefer being lazy, it’s time for us to get ourselves healthy and lose some weight. It sucks to feel as though your back is up against a wall, but for us we really felt like if we didn’t do something now, things would only get worse, and we needed to catapult ourselves in the opposite direction. We’d tried limiting portion sizes and all that jazz, but to get us feeling good again, we new we needed a more forceful catalyst. I was worried Tony would laugh or be unenthusiastic, but instead he embraced the idea, even if out of necessity. I tentatively broached the subject of running outside (something we always mocked others for in the past) two weeks ago, because I realized I needed to make our workouts as easy as possible. That meant removing all possibilities of failure and excuses to NOT run, and certainly one of those was relying on equipment that wouldn’t always be available to us as the treadmills were. The street is always there, and so whenever we’re ready to run, it’s there waiting. No excuse there. Furthermore, we always take the dogs out right when we get home from work, so by incorporating that into our fitness regime, we lessen the likelihood of us putting the run off until later in the evening (which can easily become “never”), and we also don’t have it looming over our night. We get it done within 30 minutes of getting home, and still have 5 hours of the evening to enjoy. Finally, now when we run, we run together, without ipods, meaning that rather than viewing our workout time as unfortunate time spent apart/alone, we can use it as time to bond and strengthen our relationship.
Anyway, I read a few of the online books on running provided through the school’s library system, and found us a beginner’s guide to running which we could follow for the first 6 weeks. Tony used to run before we met until he injured his knee, so I knew it would be important for us to pace ourselves appropriately in order to literally keep him on his feet. To that end, we also went out and purchased new running shoes, and for once I forewent the pair of shoes that was the prettiest and instead bought the pair that felt the best on my feet (also, I found out I have a neutral foot)! Per our beginner’s guide, we’ve been running every other day, and just going for 30-min walks on our rest days. We started off slow (walk 15 min, run 1 min then walk 1 min for 5 min, walk 10 min), but we’re definitely progressing. There’s been some tweaking along the way, as sometimes we do a regime several days over until we feel comfortable with it, and our route has changed. We used to try to do a big loop so that there was no backtracking, but our community is incredibly hilly, which was making our runs unbearably difficult and painful, so we’ve now found a better path, which keeps us mostly on flat roads.
Ok, so the aim of this blog then is to keep track of my/our progress, and to keep me motivated to continue. I’ve found that running outside rather than on the treadmill is WAY harder, and I want to give myself every opportunity to succeed! I’ll try to log how long I ran, how far that was, and anything else of note that occurred during our daily jaunts…
On that note, I think I’ll end this intro post and write a brief entry about last night’s run!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)