Work It Out Wednesday

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4 days till BMO and here's where I'm at:

I hate the taper... I'm at the point where 4 or 5 kilometers just doesn't feel like enough and I KNOW that's ridiculous. I know the short runs are what I need right now but I think because I've done so many races back to back I crave those long runs. It's been only one month since my last race and I  think I'm having racing withdrawals.

RUN
I ran 7km last night and 6km tonight, both runs were beautiful - I love where we live.

Look I even got to wear shorts!

TRAINING APPOINTMENT
Tonight I had my last workout at Equilibria, I will defintiely miss it there. It's hard to believe I only started cross-training 3 months ago, I've come a long way over that time both with strength as well as weight loss.

 
I'm starting CrossFit tomorrow morning with my best buddy, Nikki and though I'm looking forward to it I'm also a little bit nervous. I've been working out a lot but this is still going to be quite different than what I've been doing or at least I think it will be. Don't know what CrossFit is, have you heard of WOD? Stay tuned for tomorrow's post.

Later in the week I'll be having a review/giveaway to coincide with the BMO Vancouver International Half Marathon. 

 

Work It Out Wednesday Recap

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Obviously it's not Wednesday but I was exhausted last night and opted to go to bed instead of blog...

I am about 10 days out from my next half marathon which means it's time to taper. And you'd think after 49km in 4 days I'd be ready for that but it's harder than you think. You get used to running long, far, and often. I'm still learning about tapering but here are a few things that I've learned:

-Start cutting mileage two weeks prior, I haven't always done this especially this year with so many back-to-back races however I have seen the benefits of tapering, and it can make for a really big PR. I mostly cut mileage for the LSD's (Long Slow Distance runs) which are my weekend runs. My weekday distances don't change very much, I imagine that will change slightly for full marathon training.

-Don't try anything new, now is not the time to start messing with all the work you've already put in.

-If you were going to get new shoes, wait till after the race, unless you're like me and you get the exact same shoes every time but even then I'd still run in them a few times before a race.

-On rest days, don't cross-train just REST, this has been probably the most difficult concept for me.

-No hill training or extreme speed training during this time. I still do some short tempo runs but avoid pushing myself past exhaustion.

There are lots of different theories regarding tapering, obviously these are just my own personal opinions of how to handle the last two weeks of training before a race.

So now that I'm tapering, I woke up early yesterday for a beautiful 7km:

Later in the evening I headed over for my second to last session at Equilibria. I'm very sad to be leaving, I do love it there and I've seen major progress however our schedules just don't mesh anymore and I really need something where childcare is an option.

I'm excited to start cross-fit next week but also very nervous, expect a post about that in a couple of days.

My Mom Monday Giveaway is running till Sunday night, if you haven't entered yet be sure to check it out!

What did you do for Work It Out Wednesday? Do you have any different advice regarding taper time?

Work It Out Wednesday

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It's back, after two weeks #workitoutwednesday has returned! What a night! I started off with hill training with a goal of 7 hill repeats on Marathon Hill. I went early because if I went with the Running Room group there's no way I'd be done in time to get over to Equilibria for my workout. I always am hesitant to go early because usually that means I'm running hill repeats by myself which feels impossible. Thankfully there were a few other runners doing the same thing and I was able to keep it together. I brought some sparkle to Marathon Hill tonight with my Sparkly Soul headband:

It was great to see the hill in daylight, I don't think I've seen it like that since September, Spring is finally here!

But the view was definitely better from the top of the hill!









By the time I reached the end of my 5th hill the rest of the Running Room crew showed up, the next two hills were great, it's always easier and more fun to run with the pack. So 7 hill repeats tonight, that means I have 8 more next week and 9 the week after, I've never made it all the way to 9, will I do it this time? I guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out. Here's my garmin data from tonight, as you can see I'm much slower on the hills:

Following hill training I headed over to Equilibria for my first training session in over two weeks. It was great, we did a circuit of sorts and I feel like we worked on everything. Best of all my balance has improved and I was able to do a 2:00 plank balancing my elbows on the Bosu, that's a record for me. Things are improving slowly but surely. I'm hoping all this will lead to a PR in the future, perhaps the April Fools Run?!

Work It Out Wednesday: I think I'm going to puke...

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So today I started out with my very first trip to the chiropractor. I was nervous as I've never been to a chiropractor before but this particular doctor had been to the Running Room and just about every runner I know has visited his clinic in the past. I wanted to go because I've experienced a lot of lower back pain recently, well even since being pregnant and constantly lifting Griffin up. I also want to prevent my knee from becoming further injured since I have so many races coming up. It turned out really well actually. He says that my back isn't too bad and that in about 5 treatments I should be feeling a lot better. This particular chiropractor uses the Active Release Technique so there is no "cracking" of the joints, sometimes you're not even sure they're doing anything. I was very comfortable and I don't feel very sore. He did some investigating with my left knee, where I have Runner's Knee, he thinks I may have also torn my Meniscus at some point. Of course I came straight home and looked up what that meant, nothing too serious but it was interesting to get a more definitive of answer of what might have happened to my knee.

I came home and did some spinning and then this evening I headed to hill training. I felt/feel disgusting, I was so ready to puke after the first 30 seconds up the hill but I did it. I'm not sure if it's the lingering flu or just the hill training itself but I still don't feel 100%. After hill training I headed over to Equilibria for my workout, it was a great workout despite how I was feeling post-hills. We did lots of legwork so I think I might be a little sore tomorrow. I feel my strength and endurance improving and I'm still losing weight. Of course I finished off my evening with some chocolate milk and now I'm more than ready to turn in for the night and get a good sleep!

GOOD NIGHT.

Work It Out Wednesday

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Wow that was quite the double workout! I started off by meeting Nikki to go do some hill training, we went for a short warmup before and also were hoping to run into the rest of the crew from the running room. From there we headed over to the hill, which I'm going to be honest, I have completely been hiding from since September. When we got there all the memories of that hill flooded back. We call this particular hill "marathon hill", typically the first week of hill training is 3 hills and the last week is 9... 3 was okay, 3 was good, it was hard though especially after Sunday. The total run was about 6.5km.
Next up -- I headed over to Equilibria for my session with Felipe. I have to say I felt a little down after last week, when we did the agility ladder it required so much coordination that I was much slower than I'd like to be (it all worked out though because I really didn't want to be sore for Sunday's race). Tonight, I feel awesome, I know I worked hard and I feel strong. Check out some really unattractive photos of me flipping the tire:

I still felt like there were lots of things I could improve on, specifically with the core and back exercises. We did a suspended plank with the TRX and holy moly was that hard. Perhaps I need to take up the plank-a-day challenge like my fellow blogger, Runner Leana. I also read about the Nike Training Club app on her blog, I just downloaded it yesterday and I already LOVE it, also it's FREE. With most of the exercises you need little to no equipment.

So that is all for this Wednesday because unfortunately I've fallen very far behind on my book club book, "Infidel" and now have 3/4 of the book left to read for Friday night. I'm also planning on baking something for book club, I was thinking almond croissants or coffee cake, any suggestions?

Where the Magic Happens...

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So I know it's already Friday however I never really recapped Work it Out Wednesday...

I started off with run club at the running room and we ran roughly 5km with a nice little hill mixed in. I've really been trying to push myself when I go on the group runs, using the people at the front of the pack as motivation and I think I've been doing well but I'm not sure how much more I've got in me.

Following the run, I headed over to Equilibria for my training session. We did a lot of work on the agility ladder, something I've never done before. It was definitely one of those exercises that looks a lot easier than it is. Throughout the session we did several different drills which required my feet to have a lot more coordination than I do at this point. Felipe (the trainer) promises that it will get better with time, I'm not so sure. Between each drill we did some resistance exercises. Throughout the session we talked about what my plan is for getting faster while running -- long story short, I need to get uncomfortable. Basically with all the running I've been doing I think I've found a pace where I can be comfortable for longer periods of time, well as comfortable as you can be running a half marathon. For so long I wasn't sure how far I could push myself, my goal had always been just to reach the finish line still upright. Now, 9 half marathons later, I need something more, I need to be faster. The only way to achieve that goal is to get out of my comfort zone and start pushing myself every time I run to be faster. As Felipe put it - that's where the magic happens... He was referring to this drawing:

The thing is after last Sunday I felt done, I felt like I had given it my all, some days are better than others but I look at people who are running sub 2:00 half times and I really don't know how they do it. I've been researching some speed training techniques but I'll save those for a later post. I finally got a chance to take a picture of my goals up on the wall at Equilibria:

I really love this idea, it's really motivating to see everyone's goals as you walk in the gym. For a wider shot, check out this post from my first visit to Equilibria.

I was pretty wiped after the run and the training session so I headed home to power up with some chocolate milk that I got in my Powered by Chocolate Milk prize package:

 

I think it was a successful day, I'm just starting to feel overwhelmed with everything ahead of me. On a brighter note my sister and I are headed to NYC in less than a month now, that will definitely be the trip and the race of a lifetime! I really can't wait.

I went for a run today in preparation for the Fort Langley Historic Half on Sunday. Now that it's closer I'm starting to get nervous about the hills, the route is basically outside my front door and though I've run those hills many times and whined about them many times more, I'm just not excited about this race. My CWX 3/4 compression tights arrived today and I'm thinking about wearing them to the race, all the online reviews refer to them as magic pants... maybe some of that magic will help me recover from those hills? The weather was great for my 8k run today and I finally got to run during the day when the sun was out!

It also looks nice for Sunday too, hopefully this weather sticks around.

 

Runner's Knee

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It's been an off week for me, I can't believe it's already Friday and my first run of the year in Vancouver is the day after tomorrow. Hmm that sounds ominous. So yesterday I was at the doctors and I finally decided to have my knee looked at. Way back in October of 2010 when I ran my very first half marathon I injured it, I was never really sure what I did, I just knew it hurt like hell and I wasn't able to run with the strength I had in my training. Ever since then when I've been running, particularly during the months when my mileage has increased like last November, it starts to get pretty sore and sometimes I'm unable to run at all. Anyways, the doctor has diagnosed it as Patella Femoral Syndrome also known as "Runner's Knee". It will most likely always be like this and the only thing I can do is run less and change the surface on which I run. Well running less is just not an option, so I'm left with the second option and that is to change the surface I run on, well I can't do much about the races, those are all on the roads. She suggested running on a trail or the treadmill for my training... During the summer months, running on the trail is no problem, it's right outside my front door and the days are longer so I won't have to worry about being in the dark. As for right now, it's winter, it's pitch black by 6:00pm, and Griffin doesn't go to bed till 8:00pm which is when I run. At that point in the evening it just isn't safe to go venturing out on the trails. So the last option, get a treadmill or "dreadmill" as my fellow fitness bloggers call it. I'd actually really like a treadmill but now is just not the time for that, I've just spent a large amount of money signing up for all these races so there really can't be anymore running related purchases in the near future. So, I guess the aches and pains will just be something I will have to live with for now. It's not that big of a deal, I've survived the last 7 months of running pretty unscathed. However, I sort of wasn't expecting those recommendations, I figured she would suggest a brace and everything would be all better, I guess not. On the bright side, I don't have to wear a brace, one less thing to forget on race day!

I had some time earlier in the day before my doctor's appointment and I happened to be baby-free so I decided to take a walk as I have been really sore from training at Equilibria on Wednesday night. I happened to be in our old neighborhood and took a stroll by our apartment, it wasn't until I was standing in front of it that I realized I hadn't been there since the day we moved 3 years ago.

Sometimes I miss living there, looking out at the boats every morning. At times it was so quiet and serene and at others it was noisy and bustling, I guess that's what you get living in the middle of a city. I miss it but I don't at the same time. I look at how far I've come since that time, since my first training run on the seawall, my life has completely changed; I'm married, I have a son, things in many ways that I never thought would happen, not this soon anyway. 

So as I embark on a race weekend with the diagnosis of so-called "Runner's Knee" looming overhead I'd like to remember this:

WORK IT OUT Wednesday

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So today I'm initiating "WORK IT OUT Wednesday". From now on Wednesday's I'll be doing the usual run club at the Running Room and I'm also doing training at Equilibria. I decided I needed to add some cross training to lose some weight and maybe work on improving my running speed. Tonight was just my first session so we did goal setting and a fit test. At Equilibria they have this great wall where they post all the clients goals so when you walk in the gym it's the first thing you see, I love it and I should have taken a picture, I stole this one from the Equilibria FB page, I'll get a picture of my own paper next week.

The following are my goals:

1. Lose 20-30 lbs by June 1, 2013
By far the most daunting of all the goals but doable, definitely doable. I figure with all the running I might as well just throw that in there too... I know it's going to get more challenging as the weeks go on but I've already lost 5lbs with the DietBet!

2. Run 3-4 times per week
I can do that, I do that already but it feels good to have it written down somewhere. It's not an option anymore, well it can't be, not with 16 half marathons in 2013... Yes you read that right, 16, I'm not sure what happened to 13in2013 but I'm addicted to races, anyone ever heard of "Runner's Anonymous"? (I'll save that for tomorrow's post).

3. Eat 5 small meals at least 4 times per week (They said to start slow instead of saying that I will do that every day start with 4 days per week)
Eat... that sounds easy right, I love to eat. However, with Griffin I think I tend to put off eating for too long and then I'm starving so I eat too much and not often enough. So I'm going to work on eating smaller healthier meals more often.

There you have it. My goals, now everyone knows and there's nothing to hide.

The fit test went OK... Things have changed a lot since I last entered a gym. I had a baby, it's an excuse I know it is but it was hard on my body, the pregnancy, the c-section and everything that followed. Running has been a great way to build strength but this reminded me how much more work I have to do to be where I want to be.

122 days till June 1st.