Thursday, November 29, 2007

False Creek run

Hadn't run until today this week. Took Monday as a rest day but then started feeling a cold coming on. 3 days and about 25g of vitamin C later and I'm feeling ok. Bit of a runny nose but otherwise fine. Phew! Met up with Nicole and ran from my place across Burrard then down to the seawall and around False Creek. 70 minutes, so about 7 miles. Felt good, knees were a bit stiff. Need to work some more on those IT bands. Ouch.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Market Crash


YOU could be the new owner of this fabulous 4 million dollar home for the bargain basement price of $50!! Crumpler 4 million dollar home camera bag in black with light blue interior. Retails for $70+. In great condition, empty since August and ready for quick possession. Motivated seller!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Nov. 25 long run

11 miles today, 1hr 45min. Going slightly faster than our regular 10 min/mile pace. Beautiful day, chilly by the water. From downtown over Burrard bridge, up Cypress to 16th, 16th to Trafalgar, Trafalgar to 25th, 25th to Macdonald, Macdonald to Cornwall, along seawall to Cambie, over Cambie bridge and back to the Y at Dunsmuir and Hornby.

Felt good once we got going. Started to get tired around 8-9 miles, felt pretty good till the end though. Could have gone further (but not much). We've been so fortunate with the weather... beautiful days and more importantly - we've been dry! I hope it lasts!

Just got back from a walk and I'm not sure if that will make my legs more or less sore... everything feels pretty good so far. Tired, but good. Not sure if there's time for a nap today. These naps are one of the reasons I decided to do this marathon thing again. Seriously. They are the most wonderful naps I have ever had. Next week's nap will be just that much better.

Nutrition and cancer

An aside from the running updates... I was just reading an article rating cancer risk factors. 30-35% of cancers can be attributed to diet. One third - that's a lot! It's obvious with rising cancer and obesity rates that something needs to be done about our diets. There is so much to be said for prevention... changing your diet for the better not only reduces your risk of cancer but also of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a whole variety of other chronic illnesses associated with obesity. The article recommended eating more fruits and vegetables but emphasized even more to reduce the consumption of red meat. "The report recommends that people who eat red meat consume less than 500 grams a week and that little or none of it should be processed meat like ham, bacon, pastrami or salami." Alcohol also seems to be a big culprit, but it's benefits in substantially reducing heart disease risk makes the situation more complicated. I think basically a good guideline is to stay away from processed foods in general as much as possible. The preservatives, "natural flavours" and dyes are trouble; steer clear!

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Get off the couch, put on your shoes...

Got home last night after babysitting and was hoping to convince Luke to come out with me for a run. I needed some motivation. He didn't want to go. I procrastinated until it started getting dusky and then finally got changed and headed out the door. These runs feel so great - when you're nearly going to skip it but do it anyways.

I ran about 4 miles, took about 40 minutes. From my house went across the Burrard bridge and down Beach Ave to Denman, then back again. Felt good.

Today ran just over 3 miles to make it 30 minutes. Up Cypress to 16th, 16th to Macdonald, 12th to Arbutus and home from there. This is one of my favourite routes. Lots of big trees. I left the house at about 8:15. It was cold and a bit slippery. Beautiful day though. Came home and did my yoga - took about 80 minutes.

Can't decide if I prefer yoga then run or run then yoga... I suppose I could split it up and do one in the morning and one in the evening but I'd rather only shower once per day... Running first is nice, but I find I'm more distracted during yoga. Yoga first is more intense and uplifting, but then do I just undo all the work I've done by running and tightening everything up? Not sure. Will have to experiment more.

I have to remember to drink more water. Particularly on Fridays and Saturdays... I find that really helps the long runs. I'm happy with 2 runs in a week. 3 would be ideal. I wonder if walking counts as cross-training... somehow I doubt it.

Monday, November 19, 2007

26.2 long miles

After watching Beth run her marathon last year, Nicole and I decided to train for the Vancouver Marathon. We've joined the YMCA marathon clinic and we meet every Sunday at 8:30am at the YWCA (while the other Y is being rebuilt) on Hornby and Dunsmuir.

I ran a marathon in 2004 and was a bit disappointed with my time - 5hrs 23min. I've run 4 half marathons with times ranging from 2:03 to 2:12. Running the marathon kind of killed my running spirit and since then I've only run bi-annually in spring and fall 10k races. I've been happy that despite my lack of training I've kept up pretty consistent 60-70 minute 10k times. Nicole has run a few 10k races and each week of our training is breaking new distance records - it's pretty exciting and I'm glad to be running with her. :)

The clinic started the Thanksgiving weekend but instead of the 6 mile run scheduled, I ran the Turkey Trot 10k race. The following weekend was a 7 mile run and then I was away for 2 weeks in Mexico. I really did plan on running, but the altitude combined with a general sense of uneasiness at the thought of running alone kept my running shoes in the closet of our hotel room. I did make it out once to run in the Oaxacan version of the "Run for the Cure", but it ended up being only a 3km loop in the city. Oh well. The day after I got home I set out and put in 9 miles going around the seawall until where it was closed then up on the trail through the devastated forest. I hadn't been through there since the storms last year and it was amazing to see the destruction. It was a beautiful blue sky day and I was so thankful to be home and to be living in such a wonderful city. A perfect day for running.

The Y was closed for the Remembrance Day weekend so we met at the False Creek Community Centre and ran practically the exact same route I had done earlier in the week. This past weekend we were back at the Y and following a short talk on how to choose the correct running shoe we were off. Just like everyone else that day, we headed for the seawall - it's finally open all the way around again! Just in time for more storms? We'll see. It was a very nice morning and by 11:30 we had run 10 miles and I was back home having a hot shower.

A few things to point out:
- the clinic schedule counts our distances in miles. It takes a little getting used to, but it kind of ends up being a mental thing for me... I'd rather run 10 miles than 16km, or 26.2 miles (marathon distance) than 42.2km.

- I'm really happy to be doing the training this time around with a friend. I think it will make such a difference and so far that has been true! A partner will get you out running when you don't want to go and will keep you distracted on the long runs with good conversation.

- the weekday runs killed me last time. I was finishing my degree at UBC and not really enjoying being there and coming home and running in the evening was the last thing on my mind. I didn't run enough and it hurt me in the long run - it literally hurt me... I got stress fractures in both shins. This time around things have been good so far. I've been running 5km at least twice a week and trying to do some sort of cross-training once a week. A couple weeks ago Nicole and I rode bikes from her house on Capitol Hill to Deep Cove. It was great! (Except for the sore bum parts) Luke has been trying to get more exercise and so we are trying to get out together - I run and he rides his big unicycle. It's really nice and works really well.

- I'm doing way more yoga now than I was when I was training before and I think this will really help me. Running so many miles is hard on the body and yoga can be very restorative. I'm trying to keep up my 4-6 days per week of Ashtanga and looking to incorporate some Yin yoga as well which is supposed to be great for deep tissue opening and relaxation.

Anyway, I didn't mean for this to be such a long post, but I'd like to keep this blog as something of a training log for the marathon and I should have started a month ago so I had a bit of catching up to do. The marathon is May 4th, 2008 - 24 weeks away! :)

I didn't run today. The Mondays after the long runs are rest days. I did go for a long walk with the little guy I babysit in the stroller and was pleased that my legs felt pretty good. No stiffness, just a bit tired.