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Started My Plan
Well this past Wednesday marked the beginning of my new running plan and I am a little surprised at how much my time off has impacted my running. By no means am I a fast runner compared to the average in my age group as I am just a bit slower than the average but I have slowed down considerably since my last training program. As I was “lazy” in my last training plan due to working so much I really only logged LSD runs that were 10 and 1’s and that is really reflecting on the treadmill. I was struggling with 5.7 MPH when I am normally comfortable at 6.5-6.9 and found my self having to slow down before my 3km’s were up.
I am doing my best to not get discouraged in any way as I am sure it will come back throughout the training but I find myself questioning if it is more mental. The reason I say that is I am just not getting comfortable with my breathing yet as soon as I am done I am fine and I have no muscle soreness at all. It may just be routine as I did a lot of LSD’s runs that were all around 5.3 – 5.4 MPH doing 10 and 1’s and as I look back it was replacing the majority of my runs due to my schedule. This time I am sticking to the plan and will be sure to not miss my tempo and speed runs. I really would like to get under a two hour half marathon. I also need to get out of my head in that I am especially hating the treadmill right now. I need to change things up to make the treadmill more interesting although part of me would just like to have the discipline to enjoy it as it is and focus more on my breathing.
Well enough complaining and such… I am excited that I have started my training plan and I am looking forward to the gains over the next 17 weeks as I get closer to my goal and hopefully a personal best.
Get out and run!
Not another New Years Resolution Post… ;)
So it is a new year and I am finally starting to feel inspired to not only write again but to run. I did do a number of races last year but I think I got beat up a lot more than I even said before running the Around The Bay race. I am still so thankful that I did it but with how tough the winter training was last year and my less than desirable results, I was left a bit turned off by running.
I know this was all mental as after a couple of weeks my body healed and I was in good form, it was just that even a short 5km run felt like a 30km run all over again. Not sure if anyone else has felt this way especially for as long as I have. My race season included a 5km race, 8km race, two 1okm races, and a half marathon all after the Around The Bay 30km race. Over the last couple of weeks I have been building my excitement level up to get ready to potentially run the Mississauga Half in May and have really tried to fall in love with running again. I know I love running, I just need to let myself love again and to learn to enjoy the run instead of dread the moment when love turns to pain.
Well about a month ago the seed was planted and leading into Christmas it started to grow. One of my older brothers is turning 40 this year and he has been talking for a couple of years about wanting to do a half marathon before his 40th and timing for us seemed to be aligned to run the Mississauga Half this May. So much so that for his Christmas present I signed him up for the race. Since then we have been talking plans and getting each other inspired to run and even more exciting is a bit of brotherly competition. Right now for myself I am looking to do a personal best sub 2 hour half marathon and my brother is looking to just finish. I will not be surprised though as training goes on if his goal changes to be sub 2:15:00 or even to beat me. We have always been competitive although as kids I would say it was unhealthy a lot of the time.
Over the last ten years in particular I have become quite close with my brother as our distance and even disdain as kids not only disappeared but served us both in not wanting to waste anymore time fighting over nothing. I think the other thing that has brought me closer to my brother is what a tremendous husband and father he is. I have other sisters and a brother that all have families and are great as well but with this brother it is different. I believe because of how far apart we were as kids and then to see just how no nonsense and loving he is with his wife and kids. It is refreshing to be around them and I look forward to everything from dinners to vacations with them and all things in between. Now with 3 half marathons and a 30km race under my belt I get to motivate and hold my brother accountable to achieve one of his goals. I in a small sense to get be a role model to him and return the favor of the positive role model he has been for me.
I have updated my running plans page to include my plan for the Mississauga run.
Also running this will be my best running partner rundmach who will be completing her first half marathon as well. Please check out her blog for some fun reading as she has a number of events going on starting today!
I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone and all the best in your runs this year.
Get out and run!
Falling in Love
Well like many North American`s, well Canadian`s for sure I really suffered in my training with this long winter. I started off the winter with high hopes and a number of races planned out but as the winter went on my motivation went to an all time low. I have all the gear to run outside up to about minus 25° Celsius but as the winter dragged on running outside seemed to chill me to the bone no matter how well I was dressed. Add to that the winter blues of darkness whenever I was running and it all just got to me. My training runs for the Around The Bay 30km fell off almost completely and then the worst happened… well maybe the second worse thing… I got sick.
I am proud to say that even with my training falling off and getting sick I managed to drag myself across the finish line. No where near my planned goal of 3 hours to 3:15:00 but again I did cross the line. This race absolutely broke me in every way possible. With being sick I was only comfortable for the first 10km and then it went down hill… actually it went up and down a lot of hills and up one monster of a hill. My official finishing time was a humbling 4:06:54 with a lot of walking. As you may remember my only two goals were to finish in and around 3 hours and to run the whole time. I did not manage to meet either of those goals but I did cross the line completely mentally and physically broken and I am still proud of it. For those of you looking for a challenge I highly recommend Around The Bay 30km. Also, congratulations to all the runners in my running clinic who made it to the start line injury free and to the finish line with a smile on their face.
While it may not have seemed like the smartes
t idea especially after being absolutely broken last week, I was signed up to run the Harry Rosen Spring Run 8km. I decided that I would once again pace rundmach in the race but this time to the 8km distance instead of the 5km distance. This week I managed to shake what was remaining of my cold and sore throat and while I did not run at all I was sure to fuel my body properly. This leads me to the title of this post. Yesterday I fell in love with running again! After such a tough winter this Spring run did its job of breathing new life into me and my running. We fell a little short of our goal time but we had a lot of fun and after the race was done we had a lot of laughs and really took in the experience of a tough but truly enjoyable run.
Next week I have my first of two Toronto Yonge Street 10km runs which will also be my third race in as many weeks. This one will be for me and will be as yesterday a run dedicated to breathing life back into me and igniting my passion for running and this upcoming season.
I hope you had a good winter running season and if 
it was tough or even too tough that you too are starting to fall in love again. If not please think about what first had you falling in love… a favorite person to run with, a favorite song, a favorite place, a new outfit, etc. It is time to fall in love with running and time to fall in love with yourself.
RunRChatts 