All I do is run

Lets get right to it, shall we?

Even though I’m mostly following Runner’s World’s FIRST training program for my marathon, I decided to switch out their speed workouts with alternating workouts of the following:

1. 1 Mile repeats – Basically I’m just going to run a series of mile repeats, increasing by 1 set every workout (every two weeks) at whatever pace I can maintain for the duration of the run, with 3 minutes of rest in between. I’ll go into more detail on this when I do it next week but I’ll be starting with 4 x 1 mile @ 8:15 or so.

2. Yasso’s 800s – The speed you do these are supposed to represent a fairly accurate finishing time for a marathon. For instance, I want a 4:00 marathon time (well, ideally), so by the end of training I have to be able to run 800m in 4 minutes ten times (10 x 800m @ 8:00 min/mile). Pretty simple, right?

Today I did the Yasso’s.

Warm up : 0.2 miles, 3:00 minutes

0.8 miles @ 6.2

800m @ 7.5

2 min @ 6.3

800m @ 7.6

2 min @ 6.3

800m @ 7.7

2 min @ 6.2

800m @ 7.7

2 min @ 6.2

800m @ 7.6

2 min @ 6.1

800m @ 7.8 – 8.0

Cool down : 0.3 miles, 4 minutes

Distance: 6 miles (9.8k)

Time: 54:00

Pace: 9:00 min/mile

I realized during my run today that my mantras are sometimes a bit questionable. Today the mantra I kept repeating in my head was “Pain is love, baby”. I’m not sure if this represents some sort of Freudian sadist/masochist dilemma between my ego and id, or if I’m just a lame, corny person. This is just one of the reason why, despite all appearances, I would make a terrible role model for young girls.

I don’t think it needs to be said but I wasn’t it any actual pain during the run. It was quite pleasant, actually.

Song of the Run: Kanye West – Stronger

Yeah, this song is just kick ass for working out. Not much more to say about that.

I’m off to a wine tasting tonight. Pretty much one of my favourite things on earth.

Tales from the Dreadmill

It took a feat of herculean will power to get me out of the house to do my long run today. The reason being mostly that I had to do it at the gym . . . on the treadmill. 25k (15.5 miles) on a treadmill while not quite being my idea of hell, is at least equal to purgatory. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

I haven’t really talked about it yet but I’ve been dealing with some pain from my right IT band and have been going to physio for it. I’ll talk about my treatment in more detail at another point but for right now I’m trying to run indoors, especially if there’s a lot of snow like there has been. I found that the snow and ice was so unstable to run on that I think it was really hurting my form and putting undue stress on my joints.

So that means I’m stuck on the treadmill for now.

If I were to compile a list of the pros of doing a long run on the treadmill it would look approximately like this:

Pros

- no snow

. . . and that’s about it.

I have nothing against treadmills for shorter runs and I love them for doing speed training but I never love a treadmill run and usually long runs are labours of love as much as anything else for me. I covet the outdoors and the challenges it brings as well as the beauty of the environment and the treadmill has none of that. Plus, I miss my runner’s high. I’ve never gotten a runner’s high on a treadmill and I doubt I ever will.

Anyway, enough whinging from me. The run actually wasn’t all that bad. I split it up into 4 different sessions so that I wasn’t using any one treadmill for too long and took about a 5min break in between each set to use the bathroom, fill my water, stretch and complain to my parents (who were also there working out) about how much long treadmill runs suck.

Stats:

Distance: 25km (15.5 miles)

Time: 2:27:00

Pace: 9:28 min/mile

I’m definitely happy with the pace. I was only supposed to maintain a 9:45 min/mile pace according to my training plan but I find the treadmill a bit easier than outside because of the lack of hills (I do always run on at least a 1.0 incline, though) so I tried to keep my pace a little higher. It helped with the boredom too.

Anyway, no real knee pain, other than the typical general soreness I get and my legs only got really sore on the last 5km or so.

Song of the Run: MGMT – Weekend Wars

This is a new band to me and I’ve really been enjoying their stuff. This song is pretty mellow which made it good for a long run and it just has a nice groovy beat that kept me from getting bored.

In other news (not really) – I officially have the ugliest feet on the planet. If two marathon runners feet got together and had babies my feet would be what those baby feet had nightmares about.

I’ve always had ugly callused feet, which never really bothers me because I like them that way. I live 80% of my life barefoot so I need a solid foundation But now they’re just nasty. I’m pretty sure I’m about to lose one of my toenails and more will likely follow and I have about 6 separate blisters on the arches of my feet. Good times.

Alright, I’m done icing my knees and I need to go make a quick dinner and get off to work. Have a good night all you night sleepers

A Spiky New Friend

Where to begin? I feel like I have so much to write about since it’s my first post and all. Lets just start with breakfast (which for me is about 4pm, because I work nights).

Fridays are my long run days so I usually have a fairly light breakfast. Today was Natalia Rose’s Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl (so incredibly delicious) topped with pomegranate and chia seeds. Perfect pre-run fuel.

Dan and I decided to take a jaunt to the pet store though and once he dropped me off I was about an hour behind when I should have started my run. I was pretty much hungry the whole run, although I brought three dates (including one huge medjool) and two Clif shot blox (I don’t really like these, but I didn’t have time to whip up any homemade gels). Nonetheless, it was quite a lovely run. I took it fairly easy and never really felt tired but my knees were hurting me more than usual so I kept the pace slow.

I just love running this time of year. I usually run right around dusk and it’s so incredibly beautiful to watch the sunset and breath in fresh fall air. I’m lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world and Autumn is my favourite time of year, even though it’s so very short. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring my camera sometime and get some pictures of the amazing views.

Run stats:

18.5 km (11.5 m)

1:57:00  (10:10 pace)

I’ve decided for the next few months, until I start my official marathon training in Jan, to split my long runs on a bimonthly basis. One week I’ll do a run of specified length and pace (last week it was 23km at 10:05 pace, which was hard because there was 3 inches of slush) and the second week (like today) I’ll just wing it with the distance and run at whatever pace feels comfortable.

It was getting really dark on the path by the time my run was finishing, I pretty much made it out just as the last bits of sun went down. Might seem scary to some people but I really love the quiet, solitude of night running. So beautiful.

Anyway, when I got back home I grabbed my post-run fuel, which I usually make beforehand so it’s ready to go when I get back. Today was a half cup of my first batch of oatgurt (a la Heather) mixed with almond milk, a tbsp of chia seeds, dark chocolate hemp protein powder, and half a sliced banana. Perfect mix of tangy and sweet. Sorry I don’t have a pic, it looked pretty lame and I was eager to dig in.

Last bit of news – Dan and I got a hedgehog today! He’s quite adorable but pretty terrified at the moment so we haven’t had a chance to spend time with him yet. We’re going to let him get used to his new home, and at the advice of his previous owner we’re going to put a piece of each of our clothing in the cage with him so he gets used to our scent. Then in a couple of days we can hopefully bring him out to play and I can grab a pic.

I love hedgehogs. I just have to make sure I don’t pass on my love of food to him, because they’re quite prone to obesity. I’m not joking, it would be ridiculously cute if it wasn’t so serious.

I’ll be back with more pictures next time, I swear. I’m still getting used to my camera (which is technically my dad’s). Tomorrow I’m going to bike to the farmer’s market and I’m going to dinner and to see Where the Wild Things Are with a friend. I’m quite excited, I remember the book so fondly from my childhood.