We can rebuild (her). We have the technology. We can make (her) better than (she) was. Better...stronger...faster.

Most of you aren’t old enough to remember the Six Million Dollar Man/Woman.  I am and do…I used to watch it after school and am pretty sure I had a lunchbox with Jaime Sommers on it.  In a twist of fate, the hubs had a Steve Austin one…and still has it as it houses his old hockey cards. (packrat much..)
During this brief run career of mine I have never spent a lot of time thinking about HOW I actually run.  More time is spent on thinking WHY I am doing this.  I did some gait analysis with our coach but it has been more the race videos from 3 races that show that I just don’t look like a runner.  (heavy, heel striking plodding movements don’t conjure up the fleet footed cheetah I want to be)
Now…I know looks aren’t everything but if I really want to speed up, stay (relatively) uninjured and be more efficient, I gots to work on form.  Enter in our run talk from last night with our clinic.  Our handsome knowledgeable guest speaker is an amazing athlete who is also a coach.  He initially started talking about angles and form.  You lose me when you start to through math in the equation and just talking to me.  Me no learn unless me do.  So out we went to do drills…..and you know what the drills were?  A’s, B’s and C’s. 
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267-268-266-0,00.html
or here
http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/drills-to-improve-running-form
If you are a runner, you should know these but I have usually done them in some evil combination around a track at breakneck speed hoping to not fall down or look too stupid. 
But if you do them properly – which I was not doing at all at first- you can see how much they can help.  In just doing them the right way, I could get that glimmer of not heel striking and not plodding but maybe gliding and being the efficient engine I want to be. So before every run, I am going to incorporate these to get the feel I want before I start my usual plod run.
So I have the tools, I have have access to the knowledge and technology…let’s rebuild me.
And maybe the hubs and I can get some wicked velour suits to run in as well….

source

Long Run DNS and Happy Bday Hubs!

The weekend started off right with a 50 min Z5 repeat run @ 5:30am.  It was a great morning to run and overall I felt really good.  I then hit up the golf course for a crap-tacular round.  At the 13th green, I somehow stepped funny and it literally felt like my hip flexor or psoas snapped.  I actually stood there for a minute wondering if I could walk.  The pain subsided but then continued through the night.  I figured it would be gone in the morning so I did my usual 5am wake up for Sunday’s long run.

That didn’t happen…as soon as I stood up my leg locked up.  Now, I push myself in training – I run easy, I run hard, I cross train, I ran with this stupid heel taped into oblivion but I knew that running with this kind of pain was a bad idea. 

So I went back to bed.  :)  Overall it feels a lot better today (as I thought it would) so now I just have to look through my week to try to figure out where to fit in a 15km run along with the usual training.   Hmmm..

Today is the Hubs Bday aka Capt Hard to Buy for.  He keeps saying that the bike he bought is his bday gift but I did get a few things for him….and made a seriously amazing cake from Mama Pea’s cookbook. (which ROCKS)

Vegan German Chocolate Cake…not.kidding…

 

Happy Bday B…love you lots.

Is your significant other hard to buy for?  How do you deal with it?

Four for Friday

1.  Mother Nature went haywire this week.  Tuesday was a tremor stemming from an earthquake in Virginia and Wednesday was a slew of tornado warnings. (because of my job, I have to keep on top of things like this in case we have to invoke any emergency procedures)  Wed night, we were actually in our basement as my city was under a tornado warning and there was quite a bit of damage not far from us.  Luckily, it doesn’t appear that Hurricane Irene will directly affect us but for those in the path – stay safe!

2.  Last weekend, our coaches were at CanFit Pro learning new ways to torture us new fitness techniques.  Key points I learned from them after cross training on Monday and Wednesday:

- 2 lb Pilates balls are evil – my triceps still hurt

- I have been doing push ups wrong for years…I tend to ‘lead’ by lowering my butt and not my arms.  I can barely do 5 ‘perfect’ push ups.  They are now my homework.  And my triceps still hurt.

- my core is getting hella strong but my upper body strength is way wimpy.  Hence the homework.

-their spin classes are going to kill me I swear.

3.    Last night was our final hill/stair repeat session….YEAH!!  While they are effective they hurt like no one’s business.  I did 5 last night for a total of 2890 stairs and ~11.5km of running.  See ya next year and I won’t miss you stairs.

4.  Because of last night’s fun, I didn’t hold out a lot of hope on this morning’s run but it ended up being a great 9.5km easy run.  And I’m not going to lie…I did it this morning EARLY to get it over with.     Chill - axing on a Friday night sounds good to me.

Did you get hit my Momma Nature this week?  Is she messing up your plans?

Check out this awesome new forum:  http://www.active.com/running/first-race 

I am spending way too much time there….

A Midsummer Night’s Run – 15km Race Report

Sat night was the Midsummer Night’s Run in Toronto.  This was my first time running this race…overall I really enjoyed it.  You can either do the 15km or 30km.  Since I am Capt Short Distances this session, the 15km fit in perfect with my training.  The race is a 6:45pm start and thankfully, it was overcast as it was Hot and Humid….as summer should be.  :)

I have never done an official 15km race – my closest comparison was December’s Boxing Day 10 Miler.  I was hoping to be faster than that (ave km/hr) and ended up being exactly the same.  For whatever reason I just could not get ‘comfortable’ during the race.  And my Garmin was all over the place…I kept thinking I was running relatively ‘fast’ and would look down and the Garmin said: “No Way Dude..you are slow”.  Don’t know what it was but it took a whole lot to not just give up and say that this was a training run.  I booked it the last km and ended up 1:45:50…50 seconds off what I wanted.  Lessons learned:  Eat more for evening races…I know I didn’t eat enough.

Overall, this was a great race with a great medal and shirt:

The 15km route is challenging in that you are running different surfaces and ….there was a seriously lack of race etiquette.  The path is not that wide and slower runners were not keeping to the right, people would just stop in their tracks so I was trying to pass people and getting hit in the face by the weeds on the side of the path.  Nature close up I guess.  The last water station ran out of water…all the more reason to carry your own in a race!!

The costumes people had on were awesome.  My friend ran with this on the whole race and raced fast:

Other race pics:

Ready to race ….and sweat… a lot.

Me with my coaches who I pay to torture me.

Hands up.

Finished…up close and sweaty.

How was your weekend?  Sweatastic?

Four for Friday

1.  Yesterday was hill/stair workout #3.  It hurt… a lot.  We were actually supposed to do 5 repeats but because we are racing on Saturday, we just did 4.  It was brutal – split wise they were consistent but my quads/lungs/calves/hams were screaming.

2.  One thing I found with this hill/stair workout (other than it making me completely exhausted) is the RUN-GRY I get from it. Do you get RUN-GRY?  That stomach growling feed me now feeling that goes on all day.  I spent yesterday feeding myself while trying to stay awake.  That’s always fun.

3.  Today is my first true rest day in ages.  NO: running, spin, core, cleaning, golfing, gardening, yoga….nothing.  The most exhausting thing I will do today is get my hair cut.  I don’t think that’s aerobic.

4.  Saturday is race #2 of the summer season:

I am doing the 15km run…and am hoping to actually meet up with some of the awesome bloggers who are also running. (to prove I exist Marlene) Problem is ….. I won’t be there until after the 30km’ers have started and most of you will probably will finish before me.  If you pass me at the finish…say hi!  I’m sure I’ll be easy to spot from the back. 

Happy weekend and Happy racing to anyone busting a move. 

Wicked Run and Using your Garmin

Yesterday’s run was just ….awesome even though I almost missed it.  For some reason (i.e. don’t read your weekly group email properly) I thought our run yesterday started at 7:30.  I did my usual easy 4km run down to the clinic to meet up with the group.  As I came around the corner, I saw everyone leaving…Run started at 7am.  Whoops…I made a quick pit stop and then did race pace to catch up to everyone else.  We then threw in some race pace and I ended up with a GREAT 17km run…It was tough but made did it feel good.

Post run pic with my run buds:

After the run we had a friend come in to do a talk on Garmins – how to use them, set them up, common issues, tricks etc.  It all just made me realize….I don’t use any of the features on my Garmin…I mean, yes I use it for keeping laps for speedwork/interval training and obviously distance/pace per km.  But I don’t set up workouts, set up alarms, use the virtual racer etc.  That would probably involve reading the manual.

And this chick and instructions don’t always jive….

Did you have a wicked run/workout/sweatfest recently?  Do you use your Garmin to its fullest potential?

Four for Friday

1.  A couple of friends joined me in an early morning workout - hills/stair repeats…at 5:30am on Thursday.  It was a tough, tough workout but running over 2300 stairs and almost 10km before 8am is pretty sweet ….and kind of bad ass.  The second and third repeats were both faster but the fourth repeats was a hang and survive kind of deal….

2.  Be jealous of my mad photo skills that early in the morning:

(My friends G and M and me being blinded by the light.)

3.  The more blogs I read, the more I get reminded of how Yum FroYo is….BUT it is still sugar and fat…so I have been eating banana soft serve with blueberries like it is going out of style.  (1 banana, 1/2 tsp cocoa powder and fresh blueberries)  I need someone to come and clean out my food processor however…

4.  We have been treated this week with cooler temps and lower humidity.  Can I get an A-Men?  Sunday’s run is supposed to be rainy but….puddle jumping is partially cross training right?

Have a great weekend..make it count.

Shutting up the “VOICE”

(not the TV show…I’ve never seen it but I am down with CeeLo so I won’t diss it)

The VOICE tells me:

• It’s too hot out. You know how to run safe in this weather but still….
• Aren’t you tired?  It’s not a rest day but let’s rest anyway.
• Let’s run tomorrow instead…doubling up workouts is fine. You did nothing but commute/sit at your desk all day but sitting watching TV would be FUN!
• You were busy at work…don’t you deserve a break?….even if you did nothing but commute/sit at your desk all day.
• Your eating wasn’t great today so what’s the point of working out/running?  Let is slide….again…
• You have to do 4 Zone5 interval repeats…it’s going to be hard and it’s going to hurt and you probably won’t make your time goals anyway so let’s just chill out.
• It’s going to be hard and it’s going to hurt
• It’d going to be hard and it’s going to hurt

So instead of listening to the VOICE – who talked nonstop like a Chatty Cathy my whole ride home and when I got in the door….

I put a gag on the VOICE and didn’t listen…

source

… and knocked out a GREAT 10km run in the sunshine and (relatively) nice weather. I actually had 2/4 repeats in the sub 5min/km mark…this is nothing short of a miracle for me.  I think the other 2 were actually faster than Mr Garmin recorded so I blame the telephone wires on Upper Middle Rd for running interference.

So suck it VOICE…I know I am stronger and louder than you.

Cleaning Cross Training and a Slimy Run

As I mentioned, last week was a good/tough week of training.  I actually took Friday off as a vacation day in order to get some semblance of order back to our casa.  There was dusting, laundry, gardening, dish washing, vacuuming, mopping and general cleaning up leaving a happy house and tired homeowner.  Does house cleaning count as cross training?

(a clean kitchen.makes.me.happy)

I still had my 4th run of the week to do and knew that it would not happen Saturday so I took my tired self out and did a 9km run. Not bad, not great but happy it was done. 

Sunday we woke up to rain..at times heavy rain.  I like running in the rain so I didn’t care but what we didn’t count on was the humidity….it was like running in soup – we dubbed it the Slimy Run. 

Nice.

On the way back the hubs passed me on his bike as he headed out to do workout #2 of the day for him….Photo Op:

It wasn’t as fast as I wanted but a solid (sweaty) 15km is fine by me.

This week is another doozy training week including FOUR hill/stairs repeats.  Get ready legs…

Do you have to take days off to get caught up on ‘life’?  How do you keep your house in order? 

Four for Friday – the workout and nutrition edition

1.  This was a good training week..and I have the DOMS to prove it.   Overall I am really happy with my running right now. I am faster and it isn’t quite as hard as it used to be.  Tuesday was a Zone5 interval run – tough but solid run and Wednesday was a 45min spin + 45 min of Satan’s core training – pushups, side planks, back extensions, abs, abs, abs, lunges, squats, etc etc.  Last night was:

2.  The return of the hill/stair workout.  2km hill repeat at our local golf course and then a 289 steep stair climb, a .5km sprint at the top and then a 289 stair climb descent equals 1 repeat.  We did 3 last night with each one getting faster.  It was tough and my hams are screaming.  There is still another run in the plan that I am hoping to do this afternoon…cause right now my legs don’t like me.

3.  This afternoon I am going to pick up:

I have followed Mama Pea for ages and just love her humour and reciPeas.  (if you haven’t tried her toffee bars you are missing out.) I have been trying to be more diligent with my food of late and eating whole REAL foods for me are key. 

4.  My nutrition boost was enhanced by these RokitFuel samples I won from the awesome Kovas. 

Good?…You.bet and the ingredients rock.

How is your nutrition going?  Do you consciously work on eating real foods?

Happy weekend!

Run, golf, run, golf, golf

….sums up my long weekend.  We started the weekend off right with a trip to the new local DIY Yogurtplace…it delivered and I want more…

Since Sunday was going to be an early start, my long run was Sat morning – 13km starting at around 6am and it was awesome.  I mapped out a new route from our place and found another great little running route..apparently this was the week of new places to run.  Then it was off to golf Day 1 of our tournament.  By the time I teed off it was about a bajillon degrees..long run+golf+sun = bed at 9pm.

Sunday I really didn’t want to miss my 4th run of the week so it meant getting out at 5:15 for an 8km run that was again in a bajillion degrees.  Luckily for my golf playing partners, I did grab a quick shower before we headed out for Day 2 of the tournament.

Monday was a ‘rest’ and let me tell you sleeping in until 6:30 was awesome..and yes I remember the days when sleeping in meant 10am + ….oh how things have changed.  I headed into our tournament being 2 shots out of 3rd in my division..and ended up winning 3rd by 3 shots.  Wee!  The hubs was out so got some ‘action’ shots of me:

Notice my attire?  Yes that is a RunningSkirt…they work awesome on hot days on the golf course as well….

Needless to say I am exhausted today.  The thought of speed work today is not appealing but it will get done…

Are you exhausted from your weekend?  Energized?  Comatose? Lively?