The next steps

It's been well over six weeks since I've been able to run due to a stress fracture in my right foot.  I'm happy to say that the rest time was worth it, and I am now pain free and back to running.  And it's a good thing to, because in less than 5 weeks I will officially start training for my next half-marathon.  That's right, I'm diving right into my 4th half.  

This one is going to be extra special and extra fun!  I was struggling to find a local 1/2 in and around the June time frame that I could do.  Johnny Miles seemed like a good choice, but the date coincided with a family event, so that was out.  While talking it over with Hilary, she suggested I expand my hunt beyond the Maritimes.  A quick search found the Niagara Falls Women's Half Marathon in June.

Running in Niagara Falls has been on my bucket list for a while now.  My Grandparents lived in Niagara Falls and I spent a lot of time there growing up. The idea of running through the mist of the Falls and along the river sounded perfect. A plan started to form.

Of course the first thing that I thought was that I didn't want to go to this race alone.  My mom would be there to cheer me on, since she lives less than an hour away, but having someone to run it with me would be even better.  So I reached out to running friends and we all checked our calendars, plane ticket prices and the plan came together.  There are 4 of us going to Niagara Falls!

We had our kick off run this weekend followed by a planning brunch.  We are all at different levels of running - between us we have someone who has never run a half, someone who has run 1, one who has run 2 and myself who has done 3.  And we all run at different paces. We joked that between all of our various injuries we could make one fully working body. We also all have different work/family schedules, so our training plan is being hashed out one week at a time.  Our main goal is to all run together at least once a week, preferably for our long runs, and that other shorter runs will either be done on our own, or in various combinations within the group.

I am so happy to have a great group of friends to join me on this journey.  As a thank you to all of them, and to help us get through some of the tougher runs, I ordered custom made shoe charms with our mantra: 1) Have Fun 2) Don't Die 3) Finish.  

It is definitely a unique mantra, but one we have used for a while now at many races.  Reminding us that having fun is the reason we are there in the first place; knowing that even though we are pushing ourselves hard, we aren't going to actually die; and finishing are the motivation that we sometimes need.

So let the running begin!  Niagara Falls, here we come.

MEC Race 4

After the last MEC race, I have to admit that I was a little worried about how I would fare today.  But the weather was perfect and the trail was flat.  Today's race was a 15 km out and back along a beautiful trail in Musquodoboit Harbour.

As always with life, my training has fallen off a bit and I haven't done a long run in 3 weeks. Today is the last long run before the Valley Harvest Half Marathon, and the schedule called for 20 km. At one point this week we had entertained the idea of finishing the 15 km and heading back out to do another 5 to get in the full training run.  Once the reality of today set in however, there was no way that was going to happen.  At the 13 km mark I was ready to call it quits and sit on one of the nice benches that were along the route and have a good cry. I wasn't hurt, or even sore from running, I was simply convinced that I couldn't do it.   I worked hard to get out of my head and to keep just putting one foot in front of the other. The next 1.5 km were some of the hardest I have ever run.

The last .5 km was one of the best times I've had running, even though I couldn't breath and had to use my asthma inhaler.  2 friends - Jeannette and Teresa - who had already finished their races, walked back out onto the course to meet me.  I'm pretty sure if they hadn't I would have given up and walked the rest of the way.  The only problem was that I got all emotional seeing them and started to tear up, which triggered an asthma attack.  Teresa talked me through some calming, breathing exercises and I got things under control enough to run the rest of the way to the finish line, with friends on either side of me.

I finished the race with a time of 02:38:30, which is right on par for where my pace is these days, so I'm now feeling better about my ability to finish a half marathon in just 14 days!

Weeks 8-13 Training

Well, these updates fell off the radar pretty quickly!  Luckily it doesn't mean that my training did too, though I really haven't followed my training plan as well as I had hoped!  Life really does get in the way.

Week 8 started out well.  I ran the MacPass miles for the first time and pushed my 12k long run out to the Monday. I didn't miss any other training that week till Saturday when we were in a mostly minor car accident.  The car ended up being a write off, but nobody was seriously hurt and I was only stiff and sore for a few days.

Week 9 was car accident recovery and vacation. I did run 3.5 kms on my birthday, but that was it.

Week 10 was the rest of vacation, but I managed to get in 2 runs (6k and 8k) after I got home.

Week 11 only had 2 runs - a 16k long run and a 6k run mid week.  No really good reason for skipping the rest.

Week 12 started to look better with a 17k long run, a 5k run and a night of hill repeats.

Week 13 fell of the rails again.  I skipped my 18km long run and only made it out for one clinic night with a 6k run. Then we travelled to BC for the weekend.  With 20+ hours of travel over 4 days and a 4 hour time zone difference, I didn't even bother packing running gear.

You'll notice during all of these updates that there is no mention of going to the gym. I haven't been to boot camp since August 10th, but fully intend to get back at it this week.

I only have 3 weeks left until the Valley Harvest Half Marathon.  That gives me a total of 13 training runs, so I really can't skip/miss any of them!

MacPass Mile recap & Week 7 training

Running the MacPass Mile has been on my bucket for a few years now.  Unfortunately due to construction on the McDonald bridge, they haven't held the race for the past 2 years.  It's a free race that fills up quickly - it's capped to 200 participants per run -Women's, Men's, Boys and Girls, so I signed up as soon as I heard that it was opening up again.

The race starts on the Halifax side and cross the 1 mile bridge and finishes on the Dartmouth side.

We had a great time even thought it was pouring rain.

The incline of the bridge wasn't nearly as bad to run up as I had thought it would be.  Maybe my hill training really is paying off!

Overall training for the Valley Harvest Half-Marathon is going well.  I continue to be injury free and feel myself getting stronger (and a wee bit faster) with every run. Unfortunately I missed quite a few runs this week due to family obligations, but I'm not letting it get me down.

• Mon - Rest day
• Tues - 4k run
• Wed - 4x400 Hill training
• Thurs -rest day instead of 5k run
• Fri -  Rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k run
• Sun -1.6k run instead of 12k run

Total: 11.6k

60 day to go!

Week 6 - Half Marathon Training

As part of the running room half-marathon training this week, we started hill training.  The theory behind running up and down a hill is to build your strength and endurance, as well as to help mentally prepare you for the hills you'll encounter during your race.  Hill training was Wednesday night at 6:00 and it was 28C out.  Way too hot by my standards.  But we did it anyway.  The problem (in my mind) with the hill that the RR uses for training is that it's 1.5 km away - and all UPHILL to get there.  By the time I got to the hill, I was done! I ran up that hill all 3 times though, with only a few walk breaks along the way.  By the end of the program we will be running up the hill 9 times in a row.  I can't wait.........

I also changed my running plan from 4 and 1s to 5 and 1s this week with no major setbacks.  My pace is slightly slower as I work on the longer endurance, but I felt good after the runs, including the 10k on Sunday.  If I can handle 5 and 1s for the next week I'll work on bumping it up again, with the ultimate goal of getting to 10 and 1s before the race.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 4k run
• Wed - 3x400 Hill training
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 5k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k run
• Sun -10k run

Total: 19k

67 day to go!

Week 5 Half-Marathon training

This has been my best training week so far.  Not only do I feel myself getting stronger, I'm seeing an improvement in my pace. On Tuesday, I ran with the Running Room Clinic, and Ken, one of the instructors ran with me.  He has suggested that I go back to running 4 and 1s, as that seems to be where I find my best stride right now.  Over the next few weeks I'll work on increasing my running time.  Between the 4 and 1s and Ken's encouragement, I had my second fastest 5k time of the year, and it was a full 3 minutes faster than the last few 5k races that I've done.  I kept using the 4 and 1s for the rest of the week and continued to see gains in my time.

On Sunday my friend Teresa ran with me for my 10k long run. She normally runs at a faster pace than I do, but she stuck with me the whole time, which I really needed!  It started out cool and shady and flat, but around the 5k mark it became hot and sunny and hilly.  Having Teresa there helped me get through it all.  When I felt that I couldn't finish a 4 minute section, she would encourage me to just keep going.  When I couldn't make it up a part of the hill, she came beside me, held my hand and we got up it together.

While running can be a solitary sport, for me it is very much improved by the people I run with.

• Mon - rest day
• Tues - 5k run
• Wed - Work dinner out instead of 4k run
• Thurs - 5k run and Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - 3k run
• Sun -10k run

Total: 23k - my most weekly distance so far

76 day to go!

Week 4 - 1/2 Marathon Training

This week was pretty much a right off.  Instead of running/exercising 5-6 times, I only got in 3. I had planned on missing one run on Tuesday as we were celebrating Liam's birthday.  What I hadn't counted on was not sleeping Tuesday night and feeling like crap all day Wednesday, so I skipped that run too.  I made up one of the runs on Thursday by doubling up by running in the morning and going to the gym in the evening. But then I had self-induced intestinal issues Friday and Saturday night that kept me from running Sat/Sun.  One day I will remember/accept that I am lactose intolerant and eat accordingly. Though to be fair, this was the worst reaction I have ever had.  I'm not too worried about losing this week of training as it's still early on and I have time to catch up.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - Birthday Celebration instead of 3k run
• Wed - Not feeling well instead of 4k run
• Thurs - 3k run and Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - Not feeling well instead of  4k run
• Sun -Not feeling well instead of 9k run

Total: 3k - WAY down from last week

83 days to go.

Week 3 - Half Marathon Training

This is the first week that I made it out to all 3 clinic runs at the Running Room.  The instructors are great and very encouraging.  I had reservations of joining a running group for the half-marathon training as I knew that my pace would be slower then everyone else's.  I may be the slowest, but everyone is so encouraging!  The instructors often double back to run with me after spending time with the faster runners up ahead. I'm picking up tips on stride, form and breathing and as a result my running has improved already, after just 3 weeks.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 3k run
• Wed - 4k run
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - rest day instead of 4k
• Sun - 9k run

Total distance - 18k.

91 days to go

Week 2 - Half Training

It's only week 2 of training and I've already missed a run. But since I am adding a boot camp each week on a rest day, I figure it will all work out in the end.

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 4k run
• Wed - rest day instead of 3k run
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 4k run
• Fri -  rest day
• Sat - 10k race instead of 3k
• Sun - 5k race instead of 7k run

Total distance - 19km, slightly down from last week.

The added bonus of running so often, is that I get to do some of the virtual races that I've signed up for, like the "Global Running Day 5k" that Jody and I did together yesterday.

Week 1 Training - Valley Half

I have officially started training for my next half-marathon, the Valley Harvest Half held Thanksgiving weekend in Wolfville.

This will be my 3rd half marathon, and I decided to take a more structured training approach this time around.  So to help me with that I signed up for a half-marathon training clinic through The Running Room. It is a 15 week program that includes 3 runs a week with the group and 2 runs on your own.  I am trading in most of the runs on my own for cross training at the gym as I know that I need to focus as much on cross training as I do on running if I want to stay injury free.

The first week starts you off nice and easy:

• Mon - Boot Camp instead of rest day
• Tues - 3k run
• Wed - 4k run
• Thurs - Boot Camp instead of 3k run
• Fri - Rest day
• Sat - 3k run
• Sun - 10k race instead of 7k run

So in total I ran 20k in the first week, the most mileage I've done since April.

Other than the crappy 10k Race on Sunday, I'm feeling great!  My knee isn't bothering me and I'm starting to feel stronger overall from the boot camp exercises.

103 days to go!

Injured

This is not how week 3 of my half-marathon training was supposed to go. It was supposed to include beautiful runs in the cool October air, some hill training, speed work and the slow start of my mileage increase. Instead it includes ice packs, limping and more than a few tears.

The good news is that I set my half-marathon training plan at 24 weeks, 4 weeks longer than even the Couch-to-Half training plans that you can find online. With the Fool’s Run not being until April 2017, I knew I had the time, so why not use it? And with training over the winter, I figured I would likely lose weeks to bad, icy weather, or illness, so I liked having a buffer. I just didn’t expect to start losing weeks so early on.

My injury is not serious, and hopefully I can recover from it quickly. I have what is commonly known as runner’s knee. It started last Wednesday, the day after I did my speed work. It felt fine while I was running and that whole evening, but something happened and then the pain started. I had an instance of this once before, brought on by doing hill repeats this summer so I know that the best cure is resting it.

I didn’t run for a couple of days, iced it, elevated it and it felt better. So I went for a run on Friday. That was a bad idea.

I didn’t run for a couple more days, iced it, elevated it and it felt better. So I went for run on Monday. That was a worse idea.

I made it a whole km before admitting defeat and limping my way home in tears. The tears were 10% from pain and 90% from frustration. I let my mind go down the road of defeat – I was NEVER going to be able to run the half marathon that is FIVE MONTHS AWAY. I had my pity party, hung out in the shower for a while and with Hilary’s words of encouragement, I came to my senses.

Yes I am injured right now. No, I won’t always be injured, especially if I ACTUALLY rest my leg for more than 48 hours. There is still plenty of time to train for the Fool’s Run (a whole 20 weeks in fact…..). My world is not collapsing.

The plan now is to REST my knee. I won’t even consider running again for a minimum of one week, and only then if I am pain free while walking. I’m going to continue to ice and elevate as needed. More importantly though I’m going to work on cross training and hip strengthening exercises. Runner’s knee is commonly believed to be caused more by hip issues than actual problems with the knee itself. I have free weights in my office for working on my arms and shoulders (did I mention my shoulder is injured too? It doesn’t actually interfere with running except that I can’t put on my sports bra by myself…..) and a yoga mat at the ready to do clamshells, leg raises, bridges and more.

Maybe this is all a blessing in disguise and this injury will help me become stronger overall in the end.

No more timer

When I started running with my first learn to run program 3 years ago, I was introduced to the walk/run interval method. In running circles, it’s often referred to as the Jeff Galloway method. There are many reasons to use it, including conservation of resources, quicker recovery and improving overall time. For me, it was a great way to start; I couldn’t run more than a minute at a time in the beginning anyway, so it allowed me to build up a base.

I stuck with the walk/run method throughout the next 2 years, never going past 9 minutes of running before taking my one minute walk break. I found an app that I could set and it would beep a horn when it was time to run and a group of people would sigh when it was time to walk (and they even cheered for me at the very end of the run!)

When I started back to running this year, I went back to what I knew, dialing my running time back to 4 minute intervals, knowing that I had lost a lot of my endurance over the months of inactivity. I found that I was a slave to the timer, regardless of what my body was saying. I was hesitant to set the intervals past 4 minutes, because in my head I didn’t think I could do it. 4 minutes seemed hard, so how could I ever do 5 minutes?

This year’s learn to run program took a very different approach. We weren’t doing group runs or using an interval method. Instead we did drills, learned to listen to our body and understand how individual muscles worked and affected our running. Last week our trainer was unable to make the session, so a small group of us did a 5k run around the neighbourhood. There was some discussion of doing a set walk/run method, but ultimately we decided to simply listen to our bodies – run till we needed to walk, walk till we recovered and then run again. What I found was that I was running a lot longer than 4 minutes. At one point I made it well past the 12 minute mark before I needed to walk, and even then, my walking break wasn’t a full minute long.

That was when I realized that I had become too dependent on the timer and that I needed to make a change.

Last night I headed out for an easy 4.5 k run. I set a timer on my watch so that I could see my overall time, but I didn’t turn on the interval timer. I cranked the tunes and headed out, with the plan to run as much as I could. During the 40 minutes that I ran, I only walked twice – 30 seconds at the 15 minute mark and another 30 seconds at the 30 minute mark. In hindsight, I probably could have easily skipped those 2 walking breaks; they both coincided with finishing a full lap around the park where I was running. I let my head take over and talked myself into needing or deserving a break when I passed the starting point. I bet if I had been doing a straight line course that I would not have walked at all.

Surprisingly my overall pace was exactly the same for this route as when I did it last week with 4 and 1 intervals. The big difference was how I felt. I felt great! I wasn’t as tired or out of breath as I had been last week. My legs also felt better after the run. And just knowing that I could do it, really elevated my mood and how I felt about myself overall.

Going forward I’m going to run without an interval timer. I will listen to my body, knowing that I can push myself farther and harder than I thought I could. And maybe as my overall fitness level improves, so will my pace. But even if it doesn’t, I’m still happy with my running overall.

Learn to Run (again)

3rd time is a charm, right? Once again I have signed up for the learn to run program being offered through Liam's school in advance of their Ocean Breeze Trail Run.

I first signed up for this program in 2013 and that began my running journey. I went from huffing and puffing my way through 1 minute of running to being able to finish my first 5k 10 weeks later.

Last year I signed up again, with the intention of running my first 10k at the end (and I did!).

This year? I've signed up because I need the motivation. Knowing that I've paid money to run in my own neighbourhood when I could just do it for free, will hopefully help me get my butt out the door, at least once a week. Knowing that people are also expecting me to show up at a certain time adds to the motivation.

We start tomorrow night and have 8 weeks that lead up to the Ocean Breeze. This year the group is being run by a parent from the school who has experience working at private sports clinics as well as with elderly people in home care. Throughout most of her working career though, she has served as a coach for middle and long-distance runners of various levels, from beginners to elite runners heading for the Olympics. She also has several years of experiencing coaching kids in track and field. I’m feeling a wee bit intimidated!

I've managed to get out a few times for some short runs in the past couple of weeks. It is glorious to be able to run outside again! I even ran in a short sleeve t-shirt one night. Of course we are now entering the rainy season, but that’s okay. As long as it’s not ice, I don’t care. I have my first timed 5k race in 2 weeks, so this is the perfect time to get some official training under my belt.

Have you ever joined a Learn To run program, or do you simply train on your own?

1/2 Marathon Training Update

Planned training runs = 22 runs / 97.6 km
Actual training runs = 7 runs / 31.4 km

Weeks to go: 13

When I decided back in December to run the Blue Nose half marathon, we were having an unseasonably warm winter with no snow. It seemed like a really great idea at the time. And I had some great runs in the first few weeks, outside on clear trails and dry sidewalks. Then the reality of living on the East coast of Canada hit. We’ve had 22 inches of snow so far this month, freezing temperatures every day with one day of rain thrown in. That makes for a nasty base layer of ice under a lot of snow. The city has not been able to plow the roads or sidewalks down to the asphalt, so everything has a layer of slick snow or slush on it. We haven’t been able to open our back door in over a week. And the forecast is calling for another foot of snow this weekend.

Needless to say I won’t be running outside anytime soon.

Beyond the weather, there has been general life stuff that has kept me from some training runs. I had to travel for work for a full week, and while I took my running stuff with me and the weather in Denver was GORGEOUS, my work hours and being jet lagged didn’t allow me to get in a single run. One night was lost to picking up our new car (SO worth it!) and other nights to parent-teacher conferences, knee injuries from slipping on the ice or just needing a night home with my family.

Sounds like a whole lot of excuses to me.

Last Sunday I decided to stop with the excuses, weather included, and get my butt running. So I packed up Liam and his friend with their swim stuff, grabbed my running gear and headed over to our local sports complex. There was an hour and a half open swim that the boys could go to alone while I ran on the indoor track. Only I had neglected to check out the track schedule before we left and found out that it was closed once we got there. I was not going to let this be another excuse that had me sitting on my butt for the afternoon, so I bought a 10 pass stamp card for their gym facilities. I’ve never really run on a treadmill before, but once the guy on staff got me set up, I was all set!

I felt like I was starting over…. again. It’s amazing what a week of inactivity can do to you, and how hard it can be to get back any little bit of progress you had made before that. While the ½ Marathon training schedule called for a 9 km long run, I managed to do 3 km. My pace was slow, I was pretty huffy-puffy and had to take frequent walk breaks, but I did it!

I think this plan of Liam swimming while I run on the weekends is going to work out well. I still need to fit in some runs after work during the week. I’m sure life will still continue to get in the way, but I am recommitting to doing my best to get out there as often as I can.

Remembering

Yesterday as Donzella and I were coming into the home stretch of our 7k run, we passed the building where we used to work together and where we first met 9 years ago. She asked me to think about how far I had come since that time. Was I as active then as I am now? Do I weigh as much now as I did then? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding NO!

It is too easy to lose insight into how far I have come when I am focused on today's goals. I get down on myself about a scale number that isn’t moving, or feeling that my 9:30/km pace is too slow. I need to stop and remind myself that just a few short years ago, the number on the scale was much, much bigger and the idea of running for even one minute was laughable.

Now I’m training to run my first half-marathon! I’m no longer pre-diabetic, I’m healthier and happier then I have been in a long time. Sure there is still work to be done, I haven’t run that half-marathon yet! But each day is better than the one before it, and so much better than all those days 9 years ago.

20 weeks

20 weeks from today it will be Sunday May 17th.  Not usually a notable date in my life, but this year it will be.

After a lot of thought, soul searching and discussions with Hilary, I have decided to train for the Recharge With Milk Half Marathon that is part of the Blue Nose* weekend!

* For my non-Nova Scotia friends, "Blue Nose" is a nickname for Nova Scotians, dating back to the 18th century.

I have set up a 20 week training program that has me running 4 times a week, with long runs on Sundays.  Most of my weeknight runs will be under an hour, which is good, since I don't get home from work till after 5:00.

I've never run more than 10 kms before and have just gotten back into running, so training to run 21.1 kms is a bit daunting.  My first long run that surpasses 10 kms is only 5 weeks away!  There are a few obstacles to the training plan that I will have to work around - the biggest one being that we will be in the Domincan Republic for March break (otherwise known as week 11), and I may have some travel coming up for work. It's not to say that I can't run while I'm away, it will just present some unique challenges.

Halifax is also a very hilly city and so far I have manage to run on nice flat routes.  I'm going to have to start adding some hill work to my runs, especially since kms 15-21 for the 1/2 are a slow but steady climb.

So there we have it. Year one of running I did my first 5k.  Year two of running I did my first 10k.  So it only holds to reason that in my third year I aim for my first 1/2 marathon! I'm just going to giv'er!