I did it! I ran a half-marathon!

Well, on Sunday, November 7, 2010, in Hamilton, ON, I ran a half-marathon! Actually, according to my GPS watch, I actually ran 13.43 miles, which is almost 1/3 of a mile longer than an exact half-marathon (a 1/3 of a mile that make a whole lot of difference when you're in the last mile trying to figure out where the heck the finish line is because your legs hurt so much you're not sure they will keep moving).

I finished in 2:34:01, which makes my per mile time 11:28! This is not fast for most distance runners (my friends who run half marathons run them in between about 2hr and 2hrs 15 min), but it is fast for me! My fastest long run in training was my 10 mile (or 16km) run (which was my second to longest training run). I ran that 10 miles in 2hrs flat, making my per mile time 12 minutes. I figured that if I ran really well in the race, I might be able to stretch that 12 min/mile pace over the extra three miles given the adenaline and all that. But I actually ran over 30 seconds per mile faster even over the longer distance (which was almost 2 miles farther than my longest training run of 11.5 miles).

It was cold at the 8:30 am start of the race (not super cold--above freezing but not by much) but I'd learned in training that I warm up fast, so I decided to go with just my long spandex pants (which you can see from the photo I pulled up to the knee not too long into the race), a moisture-wicking undershirt, and my Dare t-shirt. I also had lightweight gloves for the first mile or two.

About 20 minutes into the run, I realized I was running pretty consistently with a group of three women who were also doing the run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute thing that I now swear by. So I joined up with them. It was fantastic because I've never run with people before. Running with them helped me keep my pace up, even as it got really tough. (It wasn't unusual for me to be running 11:30 miles early on, but I've never come close to keeping it up!).

I owe a million thanks to my amazing friend Jules who came out to support me in the cold. She took the photos, encouraged me, welcomed me to the finish, and made sure I put the shiny tinfoil thing on to stay warm!

I tweeted during several of my walk minutes. The tweets tell a bit of story, so I'll retype them here:

7:44 am
Run day! At the school where the race starts. Have my bib and timing chip. 40 min til half-marathon starts. #dare2010

8:29am
About to start the half marathon. Excited! Nervous!

8:53am
3k. Feeloing ok. Have warmed up. #dare2010 go dare half marathon

9:15am
6k in. Found a group to run with. Doing run ten and waljk one

9:37am
9.5 km. Running quicker than usual

9:59am
This pace is toguh but good. 7.65 miles

10:21am

9.5 miles. This is hard! Go #dare2010.

10:32am
Woohoo 2 hours!!

10:32am
Still have 2.6miles
[turned out to be closer to 3!]

11:11am
Finished my half!! 2hr34min16sec. An 11:29 avg mile and I wanted to beat a 12 min mile!! #dare2010
[I later learned that it was actually 2:34:01; i stopped my watch a little late]

And, finally, here are my mile times:
1: 11:29
2: 11:14
3: 11:26
4: 11:21
5: 11:25
6: 11:21
7: 11:39
8: 11:37
9. 11:51 (probably had two walk minutes within this mile or maybe this was the mile with the hill . . .)
10. 11:46
11. 11:40
12. 11:28
13. 11:05 (yes, my fastest mile was my last one when I thought I was going to stop moving at any second!)
14 (the pace for the last .43) 11:11

Yay!

Winnipeg Running

I can now add Winnipeg to the list of cities I've run in. I've obviously run in Toronto and I've also run in Chicago and Montreal during my half-marathon training. This morning I ran 5k in Winnipeg.

I'm here with the AfriGrand Caravan and we're having a great time hanging out and relaxing before a busy week of events hits next week.

I just ran on the streets around the house where I'm staying. Once again I used the run 10/ walk 1 system. Because I was almost finished by the end of my second run 10, I kept running for another minute to finish it out. (in other words I only did two walk periods).

My 5k time was 33 minutes! That's 1.5 minutes fast than last week's 5k. That's a 10:38 average mile! I can hardly believe it. :)

4 weeks til my half marathon!

10 miles! 1 month left! 12 min/mile

This morning I got up at 5am to go for my 10 mile run. The lake was beautiful--first I got to watch the stars and then the sunrise! I'm super tired now, but it was worth it to see the city like that. And to get 10 miles in.

I love this run 10, walk 1 thing. Today I picked up the pace even more than last week. I averaged 12 minutes per mile, which is 3/4 minute per mile faster than last week and over a minute per mile faster than two weeks ago.

I ran 10 miles in just under 2 hours (despite my exhaustion, I picked up the pace for the last 50 meters so that I could just barely make it in under 2 hours).

I ran without my ipod on for the first 8.5 miles. When I started it was way too dark out to listen to the scary suspense novel I've been listening to on my long runs. And then when it got light enough, I was really enjoying the weather, the run, and the surroundings, so I went without it. I put it on for the last 1.5 miles because I was getting really tired and needed the distraction of it.

Tomorrow I'm off to Winnipeg with the AfriGrand Caravan!

Digging the Run 10 Walk 1 (or My First Run in Tights)

I did a 5k run today using my new run 10 walk 1 thing. It was my fastest 5k time yet! I think that's pretty cool, especially since at 5k pace, my walking compared to running speed is a lot more significant than at my distance pace. So I had to run that much faster during the run times to make up for it.

I ran 34:35, which is an 11:09/mile average. I ran the first mile in 10:37 (I decided to run the last bit of the mile and start my 1 minute walk after that so that I could see what my mile time would be). Because I was running harder, I got a side stitch for a big portion of the second mile, but it was manageable in part because of knowing that I would get to walk for a minute when I made it through 10 minutes.

I know that running is a lot mental and I know that I have a lot of mental blocks to overcome with running, but I'm still impressed by how much of a difference the run10/walk1 makes for me psychologically!

Oh, I should mention that it's decided to get cold in Toronto. And this morning it was cold when I went for my run. But this weekend, I bought running tights at Mountain Equipment Co-op, so I felt pretty good. And there's nothing that says runner like running tights! :)

9 miles!!

This morning I got up at 6 am and drove down to the lakefront and jogged 9 miles. It was a beautiful morning for a run and the scenery was awesome.

My lets are hurting now, though! Especially after basketball on Monday night (which was definitely my speed workout for the week).

I've heard from several people now that swear by "run 10, walk 1". You run for 10 minutes and then walk quickly for 1 minute. The idea is that you can run enough faster during those 10 minutes to more than make up for the 1 minute of walking. Also, for the long runs it really breaks up the monotony of it because you're thinking in 10 minute chunks instead of 9 miles chunks. Each time you start jogging, you only have to be able to make it for 10 min.

So, I was resistant to this run/walk combo when I first heard about it because it felt like cheating to me. I figured that if you're going to run a half-marathon, you should actually run the whole thing (or at least do everything you can to). But then my co-worker told me that she took the Running Room's half-marathon class and they were taught the 10/1 run/walk combo, did it on their training runs, and were encouraged to use it in their half-marathons!

I decided to give it a try today. It was great! Knowing that at any given time I only had to run slowly enough to make it for 10 minutes (instead of another 8, 7, 6, etc. miles) made huge difference both mentally and physically. When I was in Chicago and ran 8 miles, I averaged about 13:09 per mile. Today, when I ran 9 miles, I averaged 12:46 per mile (and that's including the walking times). So I improved my average speed by 23 seconds (that's actually really significant) even while adding a mile!

So, I'm a convert! This is actually a real running strategy (at least in my book) rather than just a way to make the running easier. I'm psyched!

Running on the road

So, as you'll see in my last post about the AfriGrand Caravan, I've been on the road a bunch recently. I did my 8 miles in Chicago on Saturday, then flew back to Toronto on Sunday, and took an early morning train to Kingston on Monday.
Now I'm in Montreal.

On Monday, I ran on the treadmill in the fitness center at the hotel that our local hosts had arranged to get for free for us. It was a low ceilinged room and so when I was on the relatively tall treadmill, my head would graze the ceiling if I bounced in the my stride at all. (I was thankful that it was one of those ceilings with the square panels that you can push up, so there was good give any time I grazed it.

Today I'm in Montreal and was going to go for a pre-breakfast run at the fitness center in this hotel, but neither of the treadmills was working. So, I decided I would just run outside but I didn't bring outdoor workout clothes. I ended up in my running shorts, a t-shirt, and the sweater I wore last night since it was way too cold to go out in just a t-shirt, but i didn't have a windbreaker or long sleeved t-shirt with me . . . I also didn't bring my gps watch (I was assuming I'd use the treadmill) and with the failed attempt at the fitness center and having to find outdoors clothes, I was now running short on time to get a run and shower before the free breakfast at the hotel ended. So I just decided I'd got out and run for about 30 minutes and that would be better than nothing--less than three miles but probably at least 2.5 miles. I ended up running for 33 minutes at what I think was a pretty good pace (for me), so I'm guessing I got up close to 3 miles in.

I've gotta find a time to do my long run (9 miles!!) but my first basketball game is Monday night, so I can't do the run on Monday. If I don't kill myself Monday, I'll do my long run on Tuesday.

Some Reflections from the AfriGrand Caravan

I got to spend a few days with the AfriGrand Caravan as it traveled through central/southern Ontario. I wrote this reflection a few days ago and thought I'd include it here for anyone who wants more context for why I'm doing my Dare.


I spent last weekend in Chicago and then I flew back to Toronto Sunday night so that I could get up early Monday morning and take the train to Kingston, ON, where I joined up with the AfriGrand Caravan. The AfriGrand Caravan is a cross-country speaking tour that the Stephen Lewis Foundation is organizing. The keynote speakers on the tour are an African grandmother who cares for her orphaned grandchildren (or grandnieces/nephews) and a young woman who has been orphaned by AIDS. Because the tour goes to 40 cities over the course of two months, there are three different pairs of women speaking on the tour.

The first leg of the tour, which we're on now, features two women from Pretoria, South Africa. Regina is a nurse, is a grandmother of four who cares for her HIV-positive niece and her niece's children, and is the executive director of Tateni Home Care Nursing Services in Mamelodi, South Africa. Nkulie is a 17-year-old young woman who lost her mother this year to AIDS and takes part in Tateni's after-school and drop-in programs for teenagers. I got to hear Nkulie and Regina speak at stops in three cities in Ontario. I spent significant time with them outside of the formal tour events, since we were all staying in the same homes, traveling in the van together, etc.

In the formal speeches, I heard their stories about the work that Tateni does in its community to provide home-based care to people living with HIV, TB, and other diseases and the work it does to take a comprehensive approach to health that involves providing adequate nutrition and psychosocial services as well as providing nursing and medication. Tateni, for instance, organizes quarterly birthday parties for the children in the community (both the orphans and other children made vulnerable by life circumstances, parental health) so that all of the children can experience this taken-for-granted part of growing up that, otherwise, they would miss out on. This is just one example of what it means for Tateni to take a comprehensive approach to dealing with AIDS and with the children orphaned by the pandemic. Another is the role that home care workers play in making sure that all of Tateni's clients have their basic needs met in addition to their medications and their sponge baths. Tateni, for instance, will provide food to families in need and then the home care workers will make sure that there is actually the fuel in the home that is needed to prepare the food and that the roofs aren't in too desperate need of repair (thus leaving the clients even more vulnerable to illness). Perhaps these seem like relatively simple things, but they're the types of things that, so often, an organization like Tateni would be unable to fund if it only received funding from more traditional sources and might be interested in funding only food aid or only school uniforms or only TB treatment without providing the funding for the organization to respond to the actual needs of the community. (Also, very few organizations/foundations/etc. will provide funding for salaries because they want to be able to claim that they provided treatment or food for a certain number of people and salaries don't formally help with those numbers, although they're clearly essential to it. The Stephen Lewis Foundation, however, does provide Tateni funding to use to pay its home-based care workers. The stipend they get is barely a salary, but since these workers all have families to support, it is absolutely necessary both to Tateni's effective work in the community and to increasing the overall employment in the community.)

Outside of the formal speeches, I learned that Regina is busily preparing for her organization's Annual General Meeting (and this is no small feat, since Tateni is a pretty large organizations that employs 72 people!). So, when she's not busy speaking at the tour stops or charming the pants off the event organizers and our hosts in each city, she is sending emails and writing reports. Nkulie is missing her uncle's wedding and also having to study for her grade 12 exams while in Canada, but she decided to come on the tour, despite these inconveniences, because of her gratitude for the role Tateni has played in her life and because of her desire to build further solidarity between North Americans and Africans and to see more projects in sub-Saharan Africa receive the funding they need to provide the type of services that Tateni provides .

Nkulie plans to go to law school when she finishes high school and then wants to go into politics; she was reading A Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela's autobiography, on the van rides between cities. Tateni has helped her to stay in school throughout her mother's illness and since her mother's death and has helped her deal with her anger and grief at her mother's passing.

In some of our downtime on Tuesday, Nkulie and I went swimming in the very cold outdoor pool at the house where we were staying. Afterwards, Regina explained to me that kids in her community have no real experiences of swimming since they are hours from the ocean and near no large bodies of water. She told me that one of her goals is to organize a trip for 15-20 of the older children to take an overnight train trip to the sea, spend the day at the sea, and then take an overnight train trip back. These types of excursions, she explained, may seem like a luxury in the face of so many unmet basic needs. But they are exactly the type of things that help the kids keep on in the face of everything. Being able to escape for a day to a completely different environment gives the kids something to hold on to and dream about.

I could go on and on about Regina and Nkulie, but I will end here.

I'm currently back in Toronto (well, this weekend I'm in Montreal) and the Caravan has moved on with another staff person in my place. But I will be joining up with the Caravan again in Winnipeg in two weeks (although this time, the speakers will both be from Malawi and will have new stories to tell).

I've always believed in the work that the Stephen Lewis Foundation funds, but getting to meet and hear from Regina and Nkulie has helped me to understand even more clearly just how much this work is needed and just how much is possible when grassroots organizations like Tateni receive the funding that they need to save lives and restore hope in their communities.

8 Miles (Again)

So after taking almost three weeks off of running, I thought I'd better repeat 8 miles for my long run, rather than trying to push it for 9 miles (well, and 8 miles is really pushing it as it is!).

On Wednesday, I did a hill workout. I ran a mile over to Cedervale Park and then ran up this steep hill 10 times. The first 4 I sprinted and then walked down and then sprinted back up. After that I had to switch to jogging up and taking a little bit longer in between times up. My heart was pumping hard and I thought I might throw up a few times, but I didn't.

Today, I had to do my long run. I'm in Chicago visiting my family for the weekend. My running gear (windbreaker, running shoes, running pouch/fanny-pack thing, etc.) took up almost half of my carry-on suitcase (I'm not paying $25 for the inconvenience of checking a bag!), but I did bring it with me.

I ran down by Chicago's lakefront and was very thankful that the thunderstorms that plagued the morning here moved out by afternoon.

At about 3.5 miles, I was pretty sure that I couldn't get 8 miles in. I kept going to 4.5 miles, which was the distance I'd set as my turnaround point. (I like going more than half way before turning around; I find it helps me mentally to know I have less to go than I've already gone, rather than knowing that I have to go the same distance I've already gone.) And I managed to keep going after turning around and made it all 8 miles.

I actually picked up the pace a bit for a couple of miles in the middle and that felt good, but I don't think I'm nearly ready to sustain that for longer than that. I finished the 8 miles in 1:48, which works out to an average of 13.5 minutes per mile.

So, after getting a long run in, I feel that I'm actually back on track with my running. I just have to keep it up, which won't be super easy given upcoming travel for work and then to see my friend Val who will be in Montreal . . .

Lots of Updates

Ok, so it has been almost a month since I blogged about running. I can't believe it's been that long actually.

Here are a few updates from the meantime:
1) I ran 8 miles a few weeks ago!

2) I played 15 baseball games in three weeks (no kidding) and couldn't run a lot of that time because of soreness, exhaustion, etc.

3) I moved into an apartment of my own and that took time away from my running.

4) I have to change my half-marathon. I'm now doing the Hamilton, ON Half-Marathon called the Road2Hope on November 7. (Yes, I once did a five week cross-country speaking tour called the Road to Hope Tour . . . no relation).
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5) The reasons I have to change my half-marathon is because I'm going to be traveling on Oct 17 (and a week before that as well as several days after) to Kenora, Winnipeg, Portage La Prairie, Brandon, and Regina with the AfriGrand Caravan being organized by the SLF (http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/caravan.htm)

6) I started running again today after way too long off. I should not let myself take time off again. It is not a good idea. I ran a really, really slow 5k today. But at least I did it.

7) Wednesday I'm going to shoot for 4 or 5 miles. This weekend, when I'm in Chicago, I'm going to head out and try to get 8 or more in.

8) I decide this weekend, when hiking in the woods, that I think I want to try trail running. I need to get my running base up, get myself able to do hills better, and strengthen the muscles that stabilize my knees. But THEN, I want to try trail running!

Ok, I'll try to be better about the blogging again!

7 miles!

Yesterday morning I did something I wasn't sure I could do-- I jogged 7 miles!

It's amazing how nervous about it I was on Sunday night and even for the first couple of miles on Monday during the run.

7 miles is over half of the 13.1 mile distance of the half-marathon and is significantly farther than I've ever run before (last week's about 5.5miles being the previous longest).

I decided to get up early and drive down to the lake shore and run along the path there because it's really hard to find room to run 7 miles near my house, especially since I don't want to do hills on my long run days.

It was a beautiful place to run, but even with the beauty, 7 miles is a long ways to run. And miles 2 and 3 were definitely the hardest mentally. Even at my slow pace, I felt ready to stop after 3 miles and I wasn't even halfway done yet! It didn't help that my podcasts hadn't downloaded onto my ipod for some reason, so I only had 40 minutes left in "This American Life" from the week before and was saving it for the last 40 minutes of the run.

But I did it. I eventually got to 3.5 miles, then ran a bit farther (so I'd be more than halfway done when I turned around) and turned around and jogged back.

It took me 1 hr and 36 minutes to do it, but I did it! 12:23, 13:05, 13:45, 14:13, 14:37, 14:34, 13:16. Average: 13:42.

Why do I feel sick?

is what I was wondering a little over a mile into my run. I'd had a side stitch for blocks and was starting to feel like the workout was unusually hard.

Since it was hot out and I was running mid-afternoon mostly in the sun, I knew I'd have to pace myself for today's 5k run. It had been almost 2 hours since I finished lunch, so I figured I'd be ok on that front. Yet, at 1.2 miles I was not feeling great, so I stopped to rest for a couple of minutes in the shade.

After my rest, which seemed to help only somewhat, I gave myself permission to stop running at two miles if I felt I needed to. My first mile was 11:21, but I'd gone out too fast for the first 2/3 miles and had slowed down a lot for the half mile before my 1.2 mile break.

I slowed down more for my second mile. I wasn't feeling great, but I'd found a shadier route and was now ready for the slightly downhill portion of my run (the first mile being slightly uphill), so as my watched beeped that I'd hit 2 miles, I told myself I could finish off the 3.1 that I had to do.

Then I looked at my watch. Even though I'd slowed down a lot for my second mile, I clocked in at 11:29.

Something was wrong, I thought. How could I be running an 11:30 mile when I was feeling this crappy? (11:30 isn't fast for most runners, but it's one of my better splits on a day when I'm running a 5k, especially for the second mile, which is often my slowest.) Then it clicked. I was feeling that crappy because I hadn't really slowed down. This "workout mix" I have on my ipod now where every song is at least 120 bpms gets me running faster than I would normally run, so "slowing down" brings me down only to one of my brisker paces. SO, with the sun and heat and my going out too fast, I'd started to feel like crap, and then I'd never actually recovered from that because I never ran the 12 min or 13 min pace that might have allowed me to recover (even though I thought I was slowing myself down).

Having figured that out, I decided that I didn't have an excuse not to finish the 5k strong because it wasn't that I was actually sick (a worry I'd had early in the second mile) or that I was dehydrated or something. It was just that it was hot and I was running faster than I might otherwise on a hot day. So, with the last mile being mainly downhill and me no longer babying myself, I kicked out a 10:56 third mile.

All in all, my 5k (3.1 miles) clocked in at 34:52 (my fastest, I think), which is a not too shabby 11:14 average. (now, I did have that rest along the way during the second mile . . . but given that I thought I might quite before finishing two miles, I'm pretty happy with the way it all turned out.)

the negligent blogger/runner

So, this week was not a good week for me either with sticking to my running schedule or blogging about the running that I did do. But tonight I'm getting things back on track.

I didn't do my first run of the week, which was supposed to be a 5k on Tuesday. (Well, I guess my first run was supposed to be intervals on Monday, but I'm not doing those yet because my legs are still trying to get used to this much weekly mileage and I've had 1-2 baseball games every week, which does include sprinting.)

I did do my Thursday 5k but I did it Friday instead of Thursday, which I think is ok, because I had a baseball game on Wednesday and couldn't go Thursday night, so I would have had to run Thursday morning right after playing. Also, I seem to be doing Sunday long games instead of Saturday long days, so a Friday run makes more sense than a Thursday run.

Anyway, I ran my 5k on Friday using my new ipod and using a workout mix where every song is at least 125bpm, which is supposed to help you work out harder. I think it worked because I pumped up my speed (and heart rate) and finished my 5k (3.1 miles) in about 35:12, with miles that were something like 11:17, 11:40, 11:12. I remember them being in that general range (about +/- 10 seconds on each of those splits) but I can't tell you exactly what they were because I have misplaced my fancy GPS watch!

This caused a real problem for today's "6 mile run". Not only did I have a day that was such that I didn't get to start my run until 10pm, but I also couldn't find my GPS watch anywhere. So I decided that I would just go out and run for a longer period of time than my longest 5 mile run (which was about 1hr 8 min). I decided I would run for 1 hr 20 min and even if I ran really slowly, it would definitely be more than 5 miles (b/c even at my slowest, I'm faster than a 16 minute mile). So, I ran for 1 hr and 20 minutes with a 20 minute break in the middle because I ran past my friend Liza's house and she was sitting on her front porch so I stopped to chat.

But there was actually 1hr and 20 minutes of running time. I'm guessing (and by guessing, I mean using google maps and doing some calculations of my own) that I ran about 5.5 miles. It's not 6, but it's a hell of a lot more than 0, which is what I came very close to doing. My legs felt like they were going to fall off by the end of the the run and then as soon as I started walking, they felt like they were going to cramp up along the entire backs of them!

10 weeks til half marathon!!

Back to 5 miles

I haven't run 5 miles since June 22nd. After that week, I decided to start a training plan that started me out at a lower mileage. Then, three weeks ago on my 5 mile day, I hurt my knee and stopped at 4. But today I did 5 miles again!!

It's 11 weeks until my half-marathon. All I have to do is run 1 mile farther each week on my long run days to build up to the 13 miles of the half-marathon and then have a couple weeks to taper so I'm "fresh" for race day.

(Oh, I didn't blog about Friday's run because I got busy doing things. On Friday, I just did two miles. The second mile included a pretty long hill. My first mile was 11:14 and my second was 11:15).

Because today was my long run day (and a weekend), I decided it was worth going to find a pretty place to run. So I hopped in my car and drove up to Cedarvale Park, which is just a few blocks north of the apartment I've applied for and am hoping to get (this is apartment application #3). It's a beautiful park and it links up with the ravine trails.

So, I got to run in an area that didn't feel like the city at all, and at least half of the run was on trail instead of concrete (better for my joints!). The only problem is that 5 miles is actually a really long distance. And as big and long as the park and ravine are, they are not 2.5 miles long, so I threw in some neighborhood running and looping back along the trail to make my "there and back" 5 miles.

Ok, so the length isn't actually the only problem with the park and the trails and that are in general. The other problem is that they're really hilly! So, i did a lot of hill work today, which is really good for getting my heart rate up but is also exhausting for my legs!

I think I'll use that park and those ravines for some of my 5k days and find a flatter course for my long run days.

Here are my very slow (but who cares?) times and my heartrates for today's run:
Mile 1: 13:32 137bpm
Mile 2: 13:10 144bpm
Mile 3: 14:26 149bpm
Mile 4: 14:07 151bpm
Mile 5: 13:00 159bpm (this was my fastest mile because I picked up my pace significantly for the last 1/3 mile--nothing like knowing the end is in sight to help you speed up!)

Overall average: 13:39 147bpm

Summer Runnin' Had Me a Blast

I so did not want to run tonight. I got home at 8:30pm and knew that I had a 5k in front of me but all I wanted to was lounge around.

But thanks to some encouragement from Sarah (and, the fact that I now have a training schedule to stick to), I got out the door and did my 3.1 miles.

I loved it. Sure, the first half mile my calves were a little tight and I wondered if I'd hit a groove, but by the time I'd finished the first mile and was starting to hit the uphill portion of the run, I was feeling good.

Running uphill for the second mile (not the whole second mile, of course, but a few portions of it) felt surprisingly good. My pace slowed a bit but I felt strong and happy.

The third mile was downhill and my pace quickened accordingly. I got my pumping and my stride lengthened and with my head high I ran a strong third mile (and extra tenth) to finish off my 5k in much higher spirits than I'd started it.

One of the things that I've discovered is that I like destination runs a lot more than loops. It gives the running a purpose; it becomes a mode of transportation in addition to being exhausting exercise. :) Since I've been looking for apartments, my destinations have all been apartments I'm looking at. Running to them (and back) gives me the opportunity to check out the neighborhood (and stalk the apartment).

Today I ran to a place that was 2 miles away that I'll be viewing at 11 tomorrow morning.

I'll have to pick a place for my Thursday run. Of course, if I like the apartment tomorrow, there's a good chance I'll run their on Thursday again to check out the neighborhood more in daylight. :)

Here was my pace and heart rate:
Mile 1: 11:56 139bpm
Mile 2: 12:20 155bpm
Mile 3: 10:50 161
Mile 3.1: 10:02 pace 174 bpm

Average: 11:39 152bpm
Total: 36:09

12 weeks til the half-marathon!

I ran today! 5k (3.1 miles).

I wanted to get back into things with a decent distance but I didn't want to push myself too much on the first day back to running.

I took it really slow for the first mile, then ran up hill for part of the second mile (slowing me down even more!) and then picked up the pace on the third mile. It felt good to get my heart rate up.
Mile 1: 13:12 143bpm
Mile 2: 14:16 153bpm
Mile 3: 11:30 168bpm
Final 10th of a mile: 1:06 (10:48 pace) 173bpm

Average: 12:55/mile and 154 bpm.

I realized after I'd run that today is 12 weeks exactly until my half-marathon. My friend Viv dropped off a copy of a training program that she swears by for the half marathon. It's 16 weeks long, so I'm going to have to cut a few weeks out of it along the way.

Saturday is supposed to be the long run day on this sched and sunday is supposed to be a rest day and monday an interval or pace day. Since I'm trying to take it easy as I get back into things and ran today instead of Sat, I think I will skip tomorrow's interval/pace workout and then get on the schedule on Tuesday.
The schedule looks like this: Monday pace/interval, Tues 5km (3.1 miles), Weds rest, Thurs 5k or 8k (5miles), Friday rest, Saturday long run, Sunday rest. (There are specific pace or interval workouts for each Monday and specific distances for Saturday's long run.)

Testing out the knee

I've been sidelined since Saturday the 10th when I hurt my knee. I'm still not sure what is wrong with it, but I've been trying to take it easy.

That being said, I'm eager to start training again.

Monday night I gave it a trial "run" by playing in my baseball game. Things felt ok there. Yesterday I went out and did one mile. It hurt some, but mainly in the knee cap area (which I'm used to) instead of the ligament area (which I was concerned about).

Tonight I play baseball again and then I think I'll try to go for 2-3 miles on Friday and see how it goes . . .

Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon.

R.I.C.E

and not in the healthy carbohydrate sense of things. But in the Rest. Ice. Compress. Elevate. sense of things.

Yup, that's right. I'm a real runner now; I have my first running injury. (Well, first injury more serious than blisters and sore hip flexors, that is.) I have self-diagnosed (with lots of help from Val) that it's a sprained ligament. We think it's a minor sprain (no actual tear of the ligament) because I don't feel unstable on it.

But, it does mean I need to take at least a couple days (and maybe longer) off of running. Right now it's compressed and elevated. It's been iced and will be again.

Today was supposed to be my 5 mile day. I made it about 4.1 miles, which is kinda impressive (and maybe pretty dumb) given that I started really feeling the pain shortly into the second mile. I thought, though, that I was just irritating it by having a different stride because of running more slowly for the long run day, so I picked up the pace on mile 3. Then when I was done with mile 3, I figured I was most of the way there. But mile 4 was a lot of hills (I ran over to the High Park area to look at some addresses that are advertising apartments) and shortly after the mile 4 point, on a steep downhill, I realized that the pain was real and that the type of pain it was meant that I should stop running not push through. So, I did.

I don't regret not stopping at 2 miles, though. I'll probably never know whether it actually made this minor injury any worse and I do know that I pushed through for another 2 miles when I had a good excuse to stop. And if I'm ever going to make it to 13.2 miles, there is going to need to be a lot of pushing through.

Since today was supposed to be a long run day, it was also supposed to be a slow, conversational pace day, so I didn't worry about my pace at all at any point (which is actually really nice and makes running more enjoyable). But my watch recorded everything for me, so I might as well share:
Mile 1: 12:37 minute mile, 136 bpm heartrate

Mile 2: 13:35 minute mile, 143 bpm (my legs were kinda hurting this mile so I slowed things down to give them a chance to loosen up; on hindsight, i might have hurt my knee at the beginning of this mile when i did a quick direction change when a car i was going to pass behind stopped suddenly.)

Mile 3: 12:23 minute mile, 145 bpm (this is when I increased the pace for a bit to see if it helped my knee)

Mile 4: 13:38 min mile, 151 bpm (hills drove the heartrate up some and also slowed down my pace)

Return to the treadmill

My roommate Sarah's suggestion that we go to the gym this morning was a flash of genius! What better way to deal with the biggest heat wave that has hit Toronto since I've lived here than run indoors in an air conditioned gym?

Double luxury--treadmill keeps the pace for you and air conditioning keeps you from passing out at that pace!

Today was a 3 mile day. One of those Tuesday/Thursday runs where I'm supposed to go a bit faster than my long distance pace.

I started out at 5.5 miles per hour (10:54 mile) and did one mile at that. Then I moved to 5.3 (11:20 mile), then to 5.2 (11:31), and then picked up the pace for the last 1/3 mile or so. I did 3 miles in 33:30, which is an average mph of 11:10. Not too shabby.

(By the way, I no longer believe that I was running 11 minutes miles before I had my gps watch. Maybe I was and I've just got a mental block now; it's possible. But I think that i just under calculated the distance just enough to make what was probably really 11:30 or 11:20 miles seem like 11:00 miles).

Tomorrow is a day off and Saturday is 5 miles! It's supposed to be a bit cooler, but still pretty warm, so I'll probably need to get up early to do it.

Point taken, July.

I know that when we're learning the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, we learn that July is one of the months of summer. But I think July has decided it isn't convinced we actually would believe it was summer otherwise, so it has delivered a whammy of a heatwave just to prove a point.

Point taken, July. Point taken.

Today it is supposed to be 93 with a heat index of 110. Yesterday it was a couple degrees less than that, but still more than warm enough.

Clearly, it is not wise to run in the heat. That being said, I do not think my half-marathon training would go particularly smoothly if I were to take July and August off. So, it looks like I'm gonna be a morning runner. This morning I went out at 8:15 for my 2.5 miler. It was "only" 76 with a heat index of about 85. Practically refreshing! (The original plan was to get up for 7am, but I had a baseball game last night--that was a sweaty one!--and didn't get home until late and didn't go to sleep until late. Excuses, excuses. Speaking of baseball, I hit a homerun last night!)

Mile 1: 11:38 139 bpm
Mile 2: 12:06 150 bpm
Half mile: 5:20 (10:40 pace per mile) 158 bpm

Tomorrow is a day off. We'll actually it's a cross-training day. But since I have baseball tomorrow night, I think I'll count that as my cross-training.

Thursday is 3 miles.

Toasty

It is a warm one out there. Lots of sun and heat in town for Toronto's Queer Pride this weekend.

Yesterday, I took the day off from running (as I decided on Thursday that my legs needed) and moved the 4 mile run scheduled for that day to this morning.

I did a bit of de facto cross training the last two days, riding my bike to and from the trans march on friday and then Take Back the Dyke on Saturday (plus the marching in both). I think that biking will be a good cross training thing for me to try to build in more regularly to my workout routine. Good quad workout!

Today's four mile run was toasty! Even though I went out before noon, it was already quite warm and very sunny. I survived it, though. My pace was practically a crawl from mile 2.5 to 3.5. With about half a mile left, I told myself that the faster I ran the sooner I'd finish and picked up the pace some. Picking up the pace for that last half mile also got my heart rate up into the 160s for the first time in the run.

Pace/BPM
1. 12:01, 136
2. 13:10, 143
3. 13:52, 146
4. 13:18, 149

I have baseball practice this afternoon, a baseball game tomorrow evening, and then 2.5 miles on Tuesday.

it's all uphill

It started out great. It was Canada Day, so at 7:30am no one was on the roads, but it was sunny and still a bit cool. And I was trying out a new route that would take me through one of my favorite parks.

The problem with trying a new route in my neighborhood, though, is that if I head South instead of North, then the last mile of my run is a slow ascent instead of a slow descent. That is, it's all uphill.

It's a lot harder to finish a run uphill than it is downhill. Especially when your legs feel like they haven't had a day off in weeks, even though they have had every second day off for the last few weeks.

I was dragging today at the end. It was all I could do mentally to keep myself technically jogging rather than walking.


My internal monologue for the last mile:
"One step at a time. Go as slow as you need to. Just keep going. You only have to do three miles; don't quit at two. What will you say on the blog if you do two instead of three? Just do it. Nope, that's too close to a walk, get the gait back. C'mon, it's just fatique, nothing serious. Why was 5 miles so easy last week and 3 so hard this week? Is it because I helped Cody move yesterday? Is it the 60 sec wall sit I'm doing while I brush my teeth now that Val suggested? Ok, enough with the excuses; just keep running. Doesn't matter how slowly I do it, as long as I do it. Oh, shit, is that a hill up there? I thought I was done with the hills. How could I forget the one last hill before my house? Maybe I should turnaround and head back down hill and then when I'm done with 3 miles, walk the hill back . . . . No, I can't even imagine running away from my destination at this point."

I did finish. Didn't walk. Wasn't fast.
Mile 1: 11:33, 135 bpm
Mile 2: 11:58, 147 bpm
Mile 3: 13:33 145 bpm (13:33!!!)

Anyway, I'm supposed to have tomorrow off and then run four miles on Saturday. But given how tired my legs were today, I'm thinking about taking Friday and Saturday off and just doing my 4 miles on Sunday. In other words, taking one extra day off this week.

short and sweet

This is one of my last two 2-mile runs until I taper at the very end the week before the half-marathon.

I'm going to miss 2 miles. It's such a nice short distance.

I was able to do my 2 miles quicker today, which is good, because I'm supposed to be able to.

First mile: 10:46 with a 141 average bpm.
Second mile: 10:31 with a 164 average bpm.
Average: 10:39, 152 bpm.

Tomorrow's a day off. Thursday is 3 miles. Whoop whoop!

in the nick of time

It is currently pouring outside. Like full-on storming. Sheets of rain, thunder, lightning. Good thing I only had a 2 miler today to do, because it all started as I was on the last block of the run.

Yesterday, I was supposed to run. But my legs still hurt from Thursday (I pitched in my baseball game after the morning 2.5 miles) and then I ended up walking 7.5 miles getting to, marching in, and then getting back from the G20 protests yesterday. So, I took yesterday off of running.

And that was a good thing, I think. Because today's "EZ" (easy, but they spell it EZ on my training program) run of 2.5 miles was easy on the lungs (check out the pace below) but not on those tired legs. I guess that's why it's an EZ run . . .

Tomorrow is a day off, but if it doesn't rain, I have a baseball game. However, I won't pitch, so it won't be too hard on my legs.

Mile 1: 12:40 min mile 129bpm.
Mile 2: 13:01 min mile 140bpm.

Tuesday will be 2 miles again, but not EZ this time. I like having a training program to guide me now, rather than just making up what I think I ought to do!

running in the rain

So, on this morning's run, I realized that it may have only been coincidence that each of the last three times that I went running on a rainy day it cleared up completely for me run. Because today, it decided to start pouring about halfway in to my 2.5 miles.

Let me tell you, though, if running at 7:15 am isn't enough to make you feel hardcore, running at 7:15am in the pouring rain certainly is!

I decided to start a half-marathon training schedule for beginners. The problem is that most of them are 12 weeks long. I have 18.5 weeks left til my half. (Thank goodness it isn't the other way around!) So, I've decided I'm going to do a few weeks on one training schedule and then switch over to a slightly more intense one that includes some speed work and hill work and then just do an extra week or two of the middle weeks of that. I need to finish the schedule on schedule so that I can correctly taper for the half-marathon.

This is the training schedule I'm going to start with: http://running.about.com/od/racetraining/a/basichalf.htm

Today was a 2.5 mile day (first thursday of the schedule). I did my long run this week on Tuesday, but I'm going to switch over to the Saturday long run schedule that this program has. (Most have them on Sat or Sun because they figure most people have time those days to run for longer.) I'm a bit ahead of this schedule in terms of how long my long run was this week, but not in terms of overall weekly mileage. So I'm going to go with this schedule more or less (maybe add .5 miles to the first two Saturdays; we'll see) for a few weeks.

These were today's mile breakdowns--pace and heart rate:
11:40 136bpm
11:37 151bpm
11:06 (per mile pace for the last half mile) 162 bpm.

Obviously I started slower than I finished today. This was in part because my legs needed to loosen up from Tuesday's 5 miles!

slow and long

So the running magazines (yes, picking up a copy of Runner's World at the grocery store makes me feel like a runner) and the half-marathon training plans for beginners all say to do one long run a week and make it slow--a conversational pace.

I always figured that it was impossible for me to run at a conversational pace until I became a much better runner. (That is, I always just assumed that even super slow for me would be too difficult to be an easy, conversational pace.)

But today, I found out that if I really do just slow down and run whatever pace my body feels like running, no matter how slowly my watch says I'm going, I can actually run at a comfortable pace.

It took me a while to get into it. I didn't start feeling relaxed until after the first mile and it wasn't really even until the third mile that I really knew I'd finish all four. I think that was probably a combination of getting into the running zone and partly that when I'm first starting, even my slow jog is too fast for long run pace, so I have to start to fatigue into mile two and three to actually slow down to long run pace.

When I was at about 3.5 miles and exploring a new neighborhood, I thought that maybe I could go more than 4 today. As I approached 4 miles and was already at 51 minutes (like I said--slow!), I decided to shoot for an hour. Then as I was nearing an hour, I figured I might as well do the last little more than a third of a mile and be able to finish off at 5 miles.

And I did! I ran 5 miles!

Here are my pace per miles and average heart rates: 11:47 146 bpm; 12:26 156 bpm; 12:56 159 bpm; 13:30 160 bpm; 13:24 162 bpm. Overall average: 12:49 min mile and 156 bpm

So, I think I'm going to start an official beginners half-marathon training plan now. I will modify it as necessary, but I'm going to try to stick to one long, slow run a week, the speed work they recommend, the faster shorter runs, and the recovery runs. My friend Vivian sent me a link to one she swears by, but now it's not working any more. :(

hot day!! but at least i ran

Apparently if it's a Saturday afternoon and it's been raining in the morning and it's supposed to rain all day, all I have to do to get it to completely clear up is decide to go for a mid-afternoon run during one of the non-raining spells. This is even more likely to succeed if I completely forget about sunscreen.

That's what happened today and two weeks ago.

I really need to run more often. No more of this huge chunks of time off from running for comps or baseball tournaments. It totally undermines my training and makes the few runs after I start again not very much fun.

Between letting my running lapse and the heat/humidity/sun today, I ran into high heart rate issues that caused me to have to slow down significantly.

I did 5k today in 36:18. (Since I have my GPS watch now, I know it was actually 5k, whereas before, I only knew that it was approximately a given distance.) That's an 11:42 min/mile average. But look at these times: 11:07 first mile, 11:43 second mile, 12:25 third mile (and there would have been more of a discrepancy if the first mile hadn't been a slow ascent while the third was a slow descent).

My average heart rate for the first mile was 148 bpm. For the second 169. And for the third 174 bpm. (Overall average 164.) Ideally, I think (based on various online calculations), I want to train at below 156-168 bpm. No wonder I was struggling with mile three!

My fancy gps watch (birthday present from my parents!) helped me figure out all that stuff about pace per mile and heartbeats per minute. But I don't need fancy technology to help me conclude these two things about how to help get my heart rate down on runs:
1) don't take 10 days off from running
2) don't run at 2pm on hot days

I may not have worked out the physical part of this running thing yet, but I'm getting the gear and the strategy totally figured out!

On Tuesday, I will go for a 4 mile run. I have a baseball game on Monday and so I can't do it then and a 4 mile run wouldn't work for me tomorrow after the 3.1 miles today.

Pop quiz: How long since I last ran?

Were you able to answer that without looking back to my last post? My guess is no since it has been ages (or 10 days) since I last ran.

(And if you didn't know when I last ran simply because you never look at my blog--you're off the hook on this pop quiz because even avid readers wouldn't have gotten this right.)

This last ten days has been all comps all the time (plus two baseball games). But today, despite the continuing need to do comps work, I went to the gym with Sarah. I ran two miles on the treadmill. I did not die. I even did a couple of speed intervals during the run. Then I stretched and did some core strengthening stuff. My core is definitely the weakest part of my body!

The new A Dare to Remember website has finally launched!! I'm going to put up my page soon (when I take a break from comps, maybe this weekend).

summer + running = bad match

So, it was overcast this morning when I decided that I would go for my run today at 12:30, before meeting up with friends at 2.

However, at 12:30 it was sunny and quite warm. I had thought I might do four today. I barely made it through two miles. I ran a 10:53 first mile, but my second was 11:55 and I was struggling. Ugh.

Well, tomorrow is another day; I'll get my running back on track. And maybe I'll learn a thing or two about what time of day to run . . .

The good news is that my fancy water belt is AWESOME!

GPS Running

For my birthday, my parents got me a cool "GPS-enabled trainer with heart rate". It's one of those big watches that tracks your pace, distance, time, heart rate, approximate calories burned etc. while you run. Pretty cool!!

I got it in the mail on Tuesday. I was supposed to have a baseball game last night (but it got rained out), so I didn't take it out for a trial run until today.

It's awesome! I only did two miles today because it's been more than a week and a half since my last run (what with baseball games and then the baseball tournament in Baltimore this last weekend) and I wanted to easy myself back into things.

Turns out I ran my first and second miles at the same average pace-- 10:51 minute/mile. However, this does not actually mean I'm a consistent runner. In fact, I know from glancing at my watch while I ran (and from looking at the digital upload on my computer) that my pace actually varied quite a bit while I ran. I also noticed that when I focused on my breathing and my running form, I naturally picked up my pace without feeling like I was exerting more effort.

Ah. Technology. :)

It was also nice to just be able to run around the park and make up a route, rather than having to carefully plan it ahead of time so I'd know how far I was going!

Yay for my fun birthday present!

11 minute mile!

Today I ran 4 miles in 44 minutes (I pushed through at the very end, even though I was exhausted, to finish in 44 min, so I could be at an 11 min mile).

I did my 3.2 miles (where I pass my house) in 35 minutes, which is down 1 minutes from last week's 36 min.

Did I mention I ran 4 miles? :)

And it felt good. It didn't really feel like I could go much/any faster and I'm not sure how much farther I could have gone, but I enjoyed it. It was a gorgeous day (a bit warm when running in the sun) and lots of people were out on their porches. I waved and said hi to them all (if they were looking in my direction). People don't do that much in Toronto, at least not younger people and I think I probably surprised most of the people I said hi to. But if made the run more enjoyable--you know, a frolic through the neighborhood.

This week I have a baseball game on Wednesday and I leave early Friday morning to drive to Baltimore for a baseball tournament, so I'm not going to run Friday-Monday. Maybe I'll do something short on Tuesday and something a bit longer on Thursday, although I don't think I'm going to go for anything longer than 4 this week, since I'm going to have so much baseball over the weekend. I'm thinking more like 2 on Tuesday and 3 on Thursday.

PPM

When I was on the cross-country team in high school (they let anyone join; you didn't have to be good), we would sometimes do workouts called Pace Per Mile (or PPM). Our coach would give us a particular pace to hit for a mile, then we'd get some break, and then we'd do another one at that same pace, and so on. It was a way to get our body used to running faster than we could run for an entire 3 or 5 miles.

Tonight I went to the gym with Sarah and did my own PPM on the treadmill (although since I have a baseball game tomorrow night, I didn't want to over do it, so I only did 2 miles). The first mile I did at 6 mph (10 min mile). Then I walked for 5 min. Then I did my second mile. I started at 6mph but couldn't keep it up for more than a few min, so I did a few min at 5.5mph (11 min mile) and then finished it off with last few at 5.7mph.

Tomorrow night's baseball! We won Monday's game and I was 3 for 3 (a double and two singles) with 4 RBI. :)

Farther and faster

Obviously that's the goal (farther and faster) in a running training program, but it's nice when it actually happens.

Today was my long run day, which just means it's me adding distance to whatever the farthest I'd run before was. My previous farthest was 3.2 miles. Today I went 3.53 miles (and I didn't die or have to walk).

I ran the same route as my previous 3.2 run (the one I complained and complained about last week because running was so hard) and then added three blocks on the end. So I got to check my watch as I flew (ok, maybe not quite flew) by the end of that 3.2 run (my house). Last time I ran it in about 39 minutes. Today I ran it in 36! I shaved 3 minutes off my previous time (and since it wasn't the end of my run I hadn't even done my last block or two 'kick'). I finished the 3.53 miles in 39.5 minutes. Bringing my average speed to 11.2 minutes per mile!

The thing is that I actually much prefer running a bit faster (in the 11 min mile range) rather than a bit slower (in the 12-12.5 minute mile range) because running too slowly actually feels like more work; it's as if I have to make myself pick up my feet each stride. Maybe it's just that it's so much closer to a fast walk that it's easier for my body to almost just fall into the walk? I'm not sure. What I did today, though, was tell myself that I would just run at that slightly faster pace until I needed to slow down and then I would, but then I just kept running at it. About halfway through my lungs had a little issue but they overcame it.

Anyway, this next week is going to be a weird one because baseball season starts. I have practice tomorrow, a game Monday night, and a game Thursday night. Maybe I'll do light run Tuesday (loosen up from the game), day off Weds (well stretching, of course!), game Thursday, and then, depending on how I feel, either a longer run on Friday or Saturday. Or maybe a shorter run on Friday and a longer run on Sunday.

I'm going to have to get to the point where I can run 4 days a week, even with baseball, but for right now, I'm going to try to give my body a chance to adjust to all this new activity.

Have you missed me?

It seems like so long since I last blogged. I'm sure that there are thousands of readers who have been anxiously sitting on the edges of their seats, hardly able to sleep lest they miss a middle of the night post from me. Well, my apologies.

Monday night was baseball practice. I pitched a lot, sprinted some, and squatted to play catcher for someone else and now I'm sore in all new places. Yesterday I did twenty minutes on the elliptical that I have in my room that's a piece of crap, but I thought I could at least do something to get blood flowing and what not since I'm trying to give myself more days in between running.

This evening I went out for a light jog. I could definitely feel the baseball soreness and some leg fatigue. I did about 20 minutes jogging and then 20 minutes walking. I just have to remind myself that taking it easy now will pay off in the next couple of months as my body gets used to being a runner.

Our first baseball game is Monday night. Now that I have baseball games starting up, I have to figure out how to work my running days around my baseball schedule so I'm not wearing myself out for baseball games. It'll probably be a week-by-week thing because our away game nights change each week.

My plan now is to do a long run (as in something over the 3.1 I've done so far--maybe 3.5?) on Saturday and then not run Sunday (we'll have baseball practice, so that'll be something). I guess I'll do a short, easy run on Friday (maybe 2 miles).

I'm getting faster!

This evening I did a 5K (3.1 mile) route again. I decided to do some walk-jog-run intervals to make it more interesting, get my heart rate up, and help my body get used to running faster.

I jogged for about 6-7 minutes to warm up, then I did 1 minute walk then 1 minute jog then 1 minute run (which means jog faster) intervals 3 times. After the third time, I got a really bad side stitch so I walked for two minutes and then jogged the rest of the time. Most of the second half of my run was a bit faster than my usual jog pace, I think. And the running times made up for the walking times. So I ended up finishing the whole thing in about 37 minutes, which is just under 12-minute mile pace.

I think giving my body more time off has served me well. I need to keep stretching, keep taking days off of running, and keep doing things to bring up my speed. (Oh I suppose I have to start adding distance so I can eventually get up to 10 miles farther than I'm currently going!)

Tomorrow night is baseball practice.

So, Tuesday I'll plan to run again.

Officially registered for the half-marathon!

Whoop! Whoop!

Dear Healy,

Thank you for registering for the GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon on Sunday October 17, 2010.
Please print and save this email as it contains your registration confirmation.

Your Registration Details are as follows:

Event:

Half-Marathon

Early morning run with Adinne

This morning I met up with my friend Adinne at the park at 6:20 am for a run. Yup, we're that hardcore. (It was chilly but the sun was already well up. It felt crisp and oddly like an appropriate time to be up and about--although that was definitively not how I felt when my alarm went off.)

Adinne is doing a training program for a 5k that currently involves doing 90 second runs mixed in with 2 minute walks. I wanted to join Adinne because 1) running with someone else is more enjoyable and 2) because it's a run-walk combo, the running part is faster than I ever go when I'm just running for 2 or 3 miles. So, I thought it would be good to train my lungs and legs on that faster pace.

It was a nice change of pace (literally and figuratively) to do this interval program and I think I will try to meet up with Adinne once a week if she'll have me.

Yesterday I was going to run, but when I got up to my alarm, my back was not feeling it and I decided to give my body more of a break. The day before I did some yoga and a bit of biking.

I've also been better about stretching. I'm sure I could still be better about it, but I am doing a lot more of it.

Hmm, now I kind of feel like going back to sleep . . .

Have I mentioned that running is hard?

I know. I'm being a big, complaining baby about this. But running is hard. And I'm not running fast, either. I'm running slower than a 12 minute mile and three miles seems like an impossibly long distance.

Last night, I found myself, through a series of website to website meanderings, looking through old write-ups of our track and field meets at Williams. I realized two things (or rather, was struck by re-realizing two things). 1) I used to spend about 3 hours a day training as a thrower. Hard core lifting, plyometric, core strengthening, and technique workouts. 2) The 10k runners on our track and field team ran their 10ks in less time than I run a 5k.

In my midnight stupor, did that re-realization make me think--what the hell am I doing training for a half-marathon, clearly I'm a shotputter not a runner? No. It made me think, if I could do what I did in shotput and weight throw, then I can draw on the athlete in me to do what it takes to run this thing. Ah, the things we think in the middle of the night . . .

Today, post 'run', I'm more in the 'what the hell am I doing?' camp. It was slow, it was hard, it was painful in parts. (Fartleking didn't work out so well for me. I think I'm going to have to do some run-walk speed conditioning for a while and then return to fartleking in the future.) The only good things about the run were 1) I finished, 2) it turns out I ran 3.2 miles not 3.1 miles today--making my 39 minutes actually closer to 12 min per mile than 13 min per mile, and 3) I made myself a delicious fruit, soymilk, and protein powder smoothie afterwards.

Also, just to make this complaining blog post complete, my body (especially my knee and my back) seem to be having some issues with the new high-impact adventure I'm taking them on. So, I'm going to take cross-training more seriously (especially things like yoga, core strengthening, and weight training) and am going to make sure I give my body adequate rest days (hence me running today rather than yesterday). After all, I don't want to just get through this thing because I Dared myself to or because I'm raising money for incredible grassroots organizations. I also want to get through it in a way that makes me healthier and happier. And part of that for me has to be 1) not killing my knee, 2) making my back better not worse by doing core strengthening, and 3) increasing my flexibility and the versatility of my muscles.

Ok, now for a shower and then comps reading!

Fartleks

So, I did my two miles tonight, as promised, despite having marched today for May Day and having done some reading (for comps!) when I got home and so not actually heading out until almost nine when the sun was quickly vanishing. The only reason I actually did it is because I said I would.

That being sad, it was a beautiful night and it was nice to run despite the fatigue in my lower legs for most of the second mile.

I ran slowly (25 min for 2 miles), thought Dupont street was never going to come (when I had to run to it midway through the second mile), and then kicked it up a couple of notches for the last few blocks to finish stronger and with my heart rate actually elevated.

As I was finishing at that faster pace, I thought about how good it felt not to be lumbering along. Running slowly can be really boring. And repetitive. But running faster feels good. It also wears me out, so I can't keep it up. But I was thinking, what if I ran faster for certain portions of my run and then ran extra slowly if I needed to to recover from it? It would be kind of like intervals, but less structured--I'd just do it when I wanted to for as long as I wanted to. Good idea, I thought to myself. Maybe this will make things more interesting and also help me pick up my pace per mile.

After my run, I swung by the Loblaws to pick up a few groceries and I decided also to buy a copy of Runner's World magazine. Then I came home and started reading it. I learned a lot. And one of the things I learned was about fartleks. Turns out fartleks was exactly what I was thinking I could do (the psuedo-randomly picking up the pace thing) and they recommend doing it once or twice a week!

So, tomorrow is a no-run day because I have baseball practice (and because I'm supposed to take days off). Monday I'll do three miles and try fartleking! (And if fartleking makes it too hard to complete 3 miles, then I'll let myself walk some of it, but then I'll start running again.)

5k. Woot! Woot!

So if I'd been in a 5k race today, I probably would have been the last to cross the finish line, but I would have crossed!

5k 38.5min (maybe 39 hard to tell, but I like 38.5 cause it keeps me further from a 13 minute mile). Either way, today was a bit slower, but I'm fine with that. I got up, left the house, jogged for 3.1 miles without stopping.

Then I stretched some and now I'm icing my lower back right side (which I've decided is a good thing to do after runs to help keep the inflamation at bay).

Tomorrow will be a short day--2 miles. (Two weeks ago I would not have called 2 miles a short day!)

Downward Facing Dog

So, my appointment with the chiropodist yesterday was really interesting and I won't repeat the details because the two people who currently follow this blog have already heard all about it.

But basically, I really need to stretch. And doing so will help all sorts of things including (but not limited to) my running. (A couple posts ago I mentioned that I don't actually run heels to toes. Well apparently that is largely due to the fact the back of my legs are so tight that I can't comfortably flex my foot enough to run heels to toes. Also, apparently this has something to do with why I trip up stairs--my toes aren't flexed so they catch on the stair . . .)

Anyway! I am going to go to yoga once a week with my roommate Sarah and then also do my calf and hamstring stretches at least twice a day.

Today was the first yoga day. So tomorrow is now my 5k day, which could be interesting given that I'll probably be sore from yoga today . . .

Also, my buddy reese told me today about this thing called google pedometer that I'm excited to try out for planning my runs.

2.9 miles

I did it! It wasn't fast, but I went for 2.9 miles. 35 minutes. Yay!

Tomorrow I go to the chiropodist and should get fitted for orthodics and I also go to the chiropractor.

Thursday I'm going to go for 3.1 miles. A 5k. I think I can do it. Of course, that's a lot easier to say after a run. Running seems like so much better of an idea after it's over than it does in the middle of a run . . .

working out the kinks

This morning's jog actually felt pretty good. It still takes me the first half of the run to really loosen up, but once I did loosen today, it felt good.

I took it slow and steady and so there were no side stitches and my legs didn't feel like they were going to burn up or quit in protest. By the end, with the sweat starting to drip down my neck and my windbreaker tied around my waist, I almost felt like a runner!

I did 2.4 miles again today. Again in about 29 minutes (I need a digital watch. I could be off my about a minute in either direction, since I don't pay enough attention to the second hand placement on my watch.)

I think I can go farther. The hardest part of my run is the first 1-1.5miles. Now, I'm sure when I do go farther, it will be the last bit that's the hardest, but I might as well make that happen.

Tomorrow: 2.9 miles. (That way I add .5 which is a nice even amount to add and then my next increment can be 3.1 miles, which is a 5k.)

Brooks, Bleach, and Books

The good news: I bought new running shoes today that I love (at least so far). They're Brooks, which is not an endorsement of Brooks so much as it is an excuse for putting another 'b' word in this post's title.

The bad news: Cleaning mold off your bathroom's paint with a bleach-based product does not mix well with going for a run 10 minutes later. Or, at least that's part of my excuse for today's less-than-fantastic outing.

Our bathroom doesn't have an exhaust fan and it is too cold to have the window open all the time and apparently the paint in the bathroom is not the mold-resistant variety, so every couple of months I have to clean the mold off the walls and ceiling with this bleach-based bathroom cleaner. (I have to do it because I'm the only one who can reach the ceiling when standing on a chair). Even with the window and door open, the fumes still are a bit noxious and it takes me a while to feel bleach free.

I should have known better than to try to go for my run after the bathroom cleaning, but I had put off the run all day, so I had to get it in before it got dark . . .

Well, I let the bleachy feeling I had act as an excuse for only running one mile (and walking the mile back) instead of running the two. I probably could have done the two miles and just pushed through, but I didn't. And now I'm fessing up (while making excuses). This blog is, afterall, in part my public accountability forum so that I will actually run often and far enough to get up to a half marathon.

My first mile was 11 min. My second (walking) was about 17.5. I do like my new running shoes, though!

More bad news: I am way behind on reading for my comprehensive exams. I have to 50 books (on two lists of 25 books each) and then write exams on those two lists. It's part of the PhD process. Well, between planning for the conference, TAing, working at SLF, and doing other things that are not reading, I am way behind (as in I've only just started reading the first book!).

In order to finish by mid-June, which is when I would need to finish reading in order do my oral comps defense in early August (there all sorts of things that have to happen between finishing the reading and doing the oral defense), I would have to read 1 book a day, every day (weekend, holiday, work day, etc.) I need to talk to my supervisor about all of this. It kinda seems impossible. I'm meeting with my supervisor Tuesday, so I'm assuming we'll work something out . . .

This running thing is not easy

I think my legs figured out today, at about mile 1.5, what I had in store for them over the next 5.5 months and they decided to protest by pretending that they were too tired to keep going. I made them do it anyway, but I did let them slow down.

2.4 miles (same route as Weds). 28.5 minutes (however, I didn't have to stop at a light and jog in place today, so it may not actually have been any faster than Weds).

Yesterday I did some stretching and a pilates video. I suppose I should come up with a structured cross-training plan, but until then at least I'm doing something.

Tomorrow I'm walking with a couple of people from work in a 5k walk for which Stephen Lewis Foundation is one of the beneficiaries. I think I'll do a two mile jog (and see if I can pick up the pace at all) either before or after that. (And by 'I think I'll do' I mean that I will do it. I can't give myself that way out or I won't do it!)

Side stitch

I went out too fast today on my evening run. It felt good until I was about 1/2 mile in and I got a side stitch that stayed with me for the next 1.5 miles (even as I slowed to what was barely faster than a walk). Luckily either the side stitch eased or I finally got used to it (or probably a little of both). I was able to do that last .4 miles a bit faster and bring my overall average back to a 12 minute mile (I was going really slow in the middle there).

2.4 miles. 29 minutes.

My legs felt pretty lactic acid-y at the end so I did that whole lying on my back on the floor with my legs up against a wall thing we used to do in high school cross country.

Tomorrow is a non-running day. I'll do some core strengthening and stretching stuff. Maybe I'll even do the yoga video that is still in its package . . .

(P.S. while clever, this blog really is a misnomer. I most certainly do not run heels to toes but rather run sort of on the outside balls of my feet. . . . I suppose that's something to work on and to talk to the chiropodist about; I have an appointment for next Weds.)

credit where credit is due

It was pointed out to me by my clever and honest friend Sarah that I should give credit to my clever and creative friend Val for coming up with the name for this blog.

Thanks, Val, for coming up with "Heals to Toes" and, Sarah, for keeping me honest. :)

First run

As promised (and really only because I'd promised), I went out for a run (that's generous--a jog is much more accurate) this morning.

2 miles. I mapped it out ahead of time so I'd know and not be guessing.

Since it had been a couple weeks since I'd gone for a jog, I decided to not try to push the speed too much and rather make sure I'd be able to finish with out stopping/walking. I did the first mile in about 12 minutes and then picked up the pace on the second one (especially the last half mile) and did that one in about 10.5.

I'm a long way from a half-marathon. But I'll do it.

Tomorrow I run again. I think I'll go for 2.5 miles.

The decision to run a half-marathon

I have been thinking for months about what I might do as my Dare for this year's A Dare to Remember campaign. Since I'm working part-time for the Stephen Lewis Foundation on mobilizing for A Dare to Remember, I have been thinking about this even more over the last few weeks.

Well, last Tuesday (my birthday), I decided that my Dare would be to run a half-marathon.

I'm a baseball player, a basketball center, a former shot putter, etc. However, I'm barely a runner.

Since I started going to the gym in January, I have been doing some jogging (anywhere from 1.5-2.5 miles) and way back when in high school I was on the non-varsity cross country team (i.e. they let me run, but since my time was usually almost double that of the winners, I wasn't exactly the team's key member . . .). I would guess that the longest distance I've ever run was 5 miles and that would have been 11 or 12 years ago.

Well, that's all about to change because on October 17, 2010 (during Dare Launch week), I'm going to run the Goodlife Fitness Half-Marathon in Toronto.

I suppose that means, I'd better get training. I gave myself a week to get started because the conference I've been working on planning (Activism and the Academy: Struggles Against Hegemony) was this weekend and my friend Val is in town visiting. But Tuesday I'm starting my pre-training (going for a jog). Then I have to buy good running shoes that are made for the type of feet I have and the way I run, go to the chiropodist to get orthodics since my right leg is almost an inch longer than my left (I would need to do this even if I weren't doing the half-marathon), and buy a training book or find a good one online.

I'm not going to start actually advertising my blog or my plan to run the marathon until the ADTR website for 2010 is up and running (which should be in the next two week) so that I can set up my fundraising page. But since I had a few minutes on my computer today, I decided I'd get my blog set-up.