Week 6
Another week come and gone. My dad and I did our 16k on Monday because it was Family Day so it worked better for my dad's schedule. However, because of this the rest of my running schedule got shifted around a bit. I only actually ran my 6k tempo and the 8k steady with my dad (which was only 5k because of time constraints). An unexpected blizzard cancelled my 10k tempo so I swam instead. The off week allowed me to rest up a bit and since this coincided with my reading week I caught up on a bunch of sleep :)
This morning dad and I did 19k, and it was a gorgeous day for a run, as was last week- but I think we both felt better this week. While it was great run, I didn't sleep well last night and the distance has jumped up enough that I could feel the effects on my body after the run- sore legs, tiredness, hunger, some bruises and blisters appearing on my feet- stuff that hasn't appeared so far this season. But I expect I will get very familiar with being sore now. The distances are jumping up quickly. We do 23k next week, then 26, drop down for a week (and do 19k), then we're in the meat of it- 29k, 32k, 29k, and then everything starts to drop down again for the taper.
Good news though- we (and by we I mean my father) found 2 bibs on craig's list for Around the Bay at the end of March, which we had originally planned on doing as a training run as it lands on the weekend we are supposed to do a 29k run, but we didn't register in time, so we gave up hope.
If this works out, it will be exciting to run Around the Bay, even if we just use it as a training run, so we'll probably be the last ones in, but that's okay :)
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Week 5
Week 5
Another week come and gone. My dad and I did 16k today and given it was such a beautiful day it was a spectacular run.
This week started off fantastically, I had another awesome 6k tempo (on the treadmill this time) and a great 10k tempo (57.10!!- so exciting!!!!) but that wiped me out for the rest of the week- between not sleeping well and business/stress with school I've been feeling pretty crappy.
I need to go to the running room this week to stock up on gels so that I can fuel my runs better as the distances increase. I think I need to start putting something in my system before my tempo runs instead of running on an empty stomach- hopefully then they won't take so much out of me and drain me for the rest of the week. I'm thinking either have some dates- they're the only fruit that doesn't seem to bother my stomach, or have a gel before hand, especially on the 10k tempo and hills (which start next week- yay).
The distances are going to start jumping up pretty quickly now which is exciting, but also tiring to think about. I found that once hills started the training really begins to fly by. Its become a routine again too- its seems natural to get up and run most mornings instead of forcing myself out the door. Once the marathon is over, I'm sure I'll feel completely useless only being able to sit around- I know I did last time.
I'm hoping that my tempo runs this week will go as well as the last couple have. I'm hoping that with better fueling I won't be quite as wiped out- this week felt incredibly long.
Well this is a short reflection- until next time.
Another week come and gone. My dad and I did 16k today and given it was such a beautiful day it was a spectacular run.
This week started off fantastically, I had another awesome 6k tempo (on the treadmill this time) and a great 10k tempo (57.10!!- so exciting!!!!) but that wiped me out for the rest of the week- between not sleeping well and business/stress with school I've been feeling pretty crappy.
I need to go to the running room this week to stock up on gels so that I can fuel my runs better as the distances increase. I think I need to start putting something in my system before my tempo runs instead of running on an empty stomach- hopefully then they won't take so much out of me and drain me for the rest of the week. I'm thinking either have some dates- they're the only fruit that doesn't seem to bother my stomach, or have a gel before hand, especially on the 10k tempo and hills (which start next week- yay).
The distances are going to start jumping up pretty quickly now which is exciting, but also tiring to think about. I found that once hills started the training really begins to fly by. Its become a routine again too- its seems natural to get up and run most mornings instead of forcing myself out the door. Once the marathon is over, I'm sure I'll feel completely useless only being able to sit around- I know I did last time.
I'm hoping that my tempo runs this week will go as well as the last couple have. I'm hoping that with better fueling I won't be quite as wiped out- this week felt incredibly long.
Well this is a short reflection- until next time.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Week 4
Week 4
Hey everyone, so this is a little late- I have been super busy and stressed. PLUS nick came home this week so I was a little preoccupied with getting things ready for his homecoming :)
ANYWAYS, I started the week off with an awesome start. My 6k tempo came in at 34:58. I felt amazing This promptly earned a spot on my PB list.
But after that it went downhill. I was so tired and worn out the rest of the week that the remainders of my runs sucked. Especially my 10k tempo, which I did on Friday because some things got juggled around. I finished in 1:04, which is okay, but it sucked. I felt completely crappy and tired and Mother Nature was a bitch. The wind changed direction with every corner I turned so it felt like I was always running into the wind.
But its a fresh week, I had an awesome tempo run today (on the treadmill- but the 6.0 speed on the treadmill normally feels fast for me, and today it felt slow) so that gives me confidence that I am getting stronger and faster. I'm hoping to have a solid tempo run tomorrow- but you'll hear about that next week :)
This one is short and sweet. I'll talk to you all next weekend :)
Hey everyone, so this is a little late- I have been super busy and stressed. PLUS nick came home this week so I was a little preoccupied with getting things ready for his homecoming :)
ANYWAYS, I started the week off with an awesome start. My 6k tempo came in at 34:58. I felt amazing This promptly earned a spot on my PB list.
But after that it went downhill. I was so tired and worn out the rest of the week that the remainders of my runs sucked. Especially my 10k tempo, which I did on Friday because some things got juggled around. I finished in 1:04, which is okay, but it sucked. I felt completely crappy and tired and Mother Nature was a bitch. The wind changed direction with every corner I turned so it felt like I was always running into the wind.
But its a fresh week, I had an awesome tempo run today (on the treadmill- but the 6.0 speed on the treadmill normally feels fast for me, and today it felt slow) so that gives me confidence that I am getting stronger and faster. I'm hoping to have a solid tempo run tomorrow- but you'll hear about that next week :)
This one is short and sweet. I'll talk to you all next weekend :)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Week 3
Week 3
This week was pretty awesome for my tempo runs.
6k: 36.35
10k: 1:03.45
neither of which I know are super fast times, I know many people who can easily run faster, but to me they were fast. And I'm still getting back into the swing of things, especially in terms of speed work, so my times will only improve. Especially after I do hills (which start in a few weeks- ugh. not looking forward to that).
One of the issues I was having this week was diet. I was so hungry that I ate a lot of food, and not all of it was extremely healthy (case in point: last night I had oreos... which, surprisingly, are vegan, but definitely not healthy). When I was training in the summer I started eating, not horribly, I was still a vegetarian, so that limited the greasy-ness of the food I ate, but I also ate a lot of cheese, white breads and grains, chips, etc. My goal this time around, is to experiment with the wide variety of vegan foods/recipes and eat fruits, whole grains, nuts, vegetables, etc. and load up on awesome stuff like that. I actually think it will be very exciting to see what kinds of new foods I discover.
Now the reason for this goal is not because I'm paranoid about my calories or worried about getting "fat" (trust me- when you are training for a marathon, counting calories- not that I do that during the off-seasons- is the last thing on your mind. You need carbs and you need them now!) The amount of calories you burn is insane, plus with constant exercise like that, your body continues to burn calories after the work out at a heightened rate (my estimate is that I eat between 2500-3000 calories a day). For instance, today, I ran 13.6k and taking the speed at which I was running, I burned 990 calories during a run that lasted an hour and a half (this is according to my Garmin!) and I'm only 3 weeks into training. When it gets to the point where I'm doing 32km on the weekends, I'm burning like 2500 calories in one run.
Anyways back to the point of this rant- I want to consume a larger quantity of healthier foods, instead of just anything I can get my hands on, because (one of the things I've learned since being vegan) is that the food you eat directly enhances your recovery time and your performance. That's why many pro athletes (take Brendan Braizier for example) turn to veganism- not because of the ethical issues, but because eating fruits, nuts, and vegetables improves your recovery time like nothing else. When you recover faster and better, you can train harder and more efficiently.
I'm already noticing my faster recovery time and better performance and more energy. For instance, this morning I was feeling a little sluggish. I had my usual pre-long run oatmeal, then remembered that eating dates acts like consuming gatorade- its a natural energy booster. So I ate about 4-5 dates along with my oatmeal. And I don't know what happened, but I was flying during my long run, and this continued throughout the whole run, it wasn't a small burst of energy that ended after 20 mins. Once my body warmed up (about 25 mins in), I was slowing myself down big time, forcing myself to run at 7min kms to keep myself within the appropriate pace for a LSR- and that felt agonizingly slow. Then I just gave up. I let myself go for the last half of the run and I flew- running 6min kms (and below!!) for the last 8kms- up a couple of giant hills too- which didn't even phase me. Now that's the pace I normally run for my tempos and those wear me out so much that I'm exhausted for the rest of the day.
So i'm not really sure if it was the dates that gave me that energy- but that was the one thing that's changed in my routine, so there must be something there. I'm going to experiment this week and try having some dates before my runs and see what happens.
Now traditionally, I don't eat fruit before a run because I found it gave me stomach problems. But I've also learned that fruit moves through your body much faster than grains and especially animals products. So I'm wondering, if I leave a bigger gap between eating the fruit and leaving for my run, it will have already passed through my system before I go out the door. That way I still have the energy but none of the stomach issues.
I'll let you know next week how my runs went with eating the dates before hand... I'm very curious to find out!
Only 8 more days until Nick comes home! so excited!
This week was pretty awesome for my tempo runs.
6k: 36.35
10k: 1:03.45
neither of which I know are super fast times, I know many people who can easily run faster, but to me they were fast. And I'm still getting back into the swing of things, especially in terms of speed work, so my times will only improve. Especially after I do hills (which start in a few weeks- ugh. not looking forward to that).
One of the issues I was having this week was diet. I was so hungry that I ate a lot of food, and not all of it was extremely healthy (case in point: last night I had oreos... which, surprisingly, are vegan, but definitely not healthy). When I was training in the summer I started eating, not horribly, I was still a vegetarian, so that limited the greasy-ness of the food I ate, but I also ate a lot of cheese, white breads and grains, chips, etc. My goal this time around, is to experiment with the wide variety of vegan foods/recipes and eat fruits, whole grains, nuts, vegetables, etc. and load up on awesome stuff like that. I actually think it will be very exciting to see what kinds of new foods I discover.
Now the reason for this goal is not because I'm paranoid about my calories or worried about getting "fat" (trust me- when you are training for a marathon, counting calories- not that I do that during the off-seasons- is the last thing on your mind. You need carbs and you need them now!) The amount of calories you burn is insane, plus with constant exercise like that, your body continues to burn calories after the work out at a heightened rate (my estimate is that I eat between 2500-3000 calories a day). For instance, today, I ran 13.6k and taking the speed at which I was running, I burned 990 calories during a run that lasted an hour and a half (this is according to my Garmin!) and I'm only 3 weeks into training. When it gets to the point where I'm doing 32km on the weekends, I'm burning like 2500 calories in one run.
Anyways back to the point of this rant- I want to consume a larger quantity of healthier foods, instead of just anything I can get my hands on, because (one of the things I've learned since being vegan) is that the food you eat directly enhances your recovery time and your performance. That's why many pro athletes (take Brendan Braizier for example) turn to veganism- not because of the ethical issues, but because eating fruits, nuts, and vegetables improves your recovery time like nothing else. When you recover faster and better, you can train harder and more efficiently.
I'm already noticing my faster recovery time and better performance and more energy. For instance, this morning I was feeling a little sluggish. I had my usual pre-long run oatmeal, then remembered that eating dates acts like consuming gatorade- its a natural energy booster. So I ate about 4-5 dates along with my oatmeal. And I don't know what happened, but I was flying during my long run, and this continued throughout the whole run, it wasn't a small burst of energy that ended after 20 mins. Once my body warmed up (about 25 mins in), I was slowing myself down big time, forcing myself to run at 7min kms to keep myself within the appropriate pace for a LSR- and that felt agonizingly slow. Then I just gave up. I let myself go for the last half of the run and I flew- running 6min kms (and below!!) for the last 8kms- up a couple of giant hills too- which didn't even phase me. Now that's the pace I normally run for my tempos and those wear me out so much that I'm exhausted for the rest of the day.
So i'm not really sure if it was the dates that gave me that energy- but that was the one thing that's changed in my routine, so there must be something there. I'm going to experiment this week and try having some dates before my runs and see what happens.
Now traditionally, I don't eat fruit before a run because I found it gave me stomach problems. But I've also learned that fruit moves through your body much faster than grains and especially animals products. So I'm wondering, if I leave a bigger gap between eating the fruit and leaving for my run, it will have already passed through my system before I go out the door. That way I still have the energy but none of the stomach issues.
I'll let you know next week how my runs went with eating the dates before hand... I'm very curious to find out!
Only 8 more days until Nick comes home! so excited!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Strong is the New Skinny
Here is the link to it on FB:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150631811447463&set=a.135700847462.131849.108605392462&type=1&theater
I think this woman looks beautiful and strong, and inspiring.
But some of the comments posted in reply to this picture (from both men and women) said that she doesn't look like a woman anymore. She isn't feminine. That she shouldn't be that muscular. That women weren't "supposed to look like this"
What a load of crap!!
Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to be super athletic. I'm not even that muscular (which I wish I was). To be honest its a personal decision how you want your body to be, but to NOT be in shape because to be that way isn't "feminine" is bullshit.
I feel like women are expected to be weak and to not hold their own. To only go to gyms to do the occasional one hour work out because they just don't want to be fat- not because they have fitness goals.
One of the reasons I love races is because there are so many people- men and women alike- who are competing for the same thing. The larger the distance gets the more this becomes true.
Its just mindsets like this (its not feminine to be athletic and strong) outrage me. Its so anti-feminist.
People never expect me to be a marathon runner (Side note: I actually don't feel like I can call myself that yet- lots of people do ONE marathon- but not that many continue to do them. Come May 27th I can call myself that!). When I say I went for a run- people assume I jogged around the block. (Another Side note: I do not jog. I am not a jogger. Please don't ever refer to me as one- I am a runner). Because no one expects the women to be dedicated athletes.
Bottom Line: Do what you want with your body- but if you aren't athletic or are out of shape DO NOT say it is because you are a woman and women "aren't supposed to be that way". Yes women have curves- but those curves are supposed to be your breasts and your hips. not rolls of fat.
Who defined what it meant to "look feminine".
One commenter said that she doesn't look like a "lady". What does that even mean? What does a "lady" look like? Small, Dainty, Weak?
Bullshit.
I hate the term "ladylike". I despise anyone who tells me I'm not acting like a lady. What do ladies act like? Are they quiet, submissive? Clean and proper?
I am not submissive, I am strong, I am athletic and I am intelligent. Do these things make me any less of a woman?
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