Tag: running

Categories
Health

Imaginary run to PEI

I mentioned this last week. Basically to help keep me motivated I’m going to track my progress from City Hall in downtown Toronto to City Hall in Charlottetown PEI – where my brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew live.

So the start is Nathan Phillips Square.IMG_2858

Farmers’ market on Wednesdays in the summer (although I’m a little worried. I just checked the City website and it’s not listed for this year!) and skating all the time in winter. It’s a nifty place to work beside. Our City Hall was built in the early 1950s. It was designed by a Finn: Viljo Revell. Never mind 1950, it still looks freakishly modern and its been used in lots of movies and shows.

Running since May 1:
May 1: 4.2km – ran Q to day care
May 3: 8 km – just a random run for 66 minutes. Ran after Q went to bed so an hour is about my limit then I think although I’d like to bring it up to 88 minutes (I do 10:1s remember?)
May 5:  12.2 km – this was my first “long run” since eating keto. My legs are a little tired but overall I’m still okay. I’m drinking some salty water now (trying to be carb friendly so avoiding gatorade) ’cause it was really hot out!
Total = 24.4 km

Not great but not too bad for the week after a half-marathon.

And that puts me about a kilometre or so past Colonel Danforth Park. Still in Toronto, which is freaky if you think about it. I mean, I started almost mid-point in the city and I’ve run almost 25km and I’m still in the city!

Categories
Diversions

Things I can’t live without….

THE RUNNING EDITION

These are my current shoes:

Pink Shoes

They’re saucony powergrid hurricane 14s. I love them except that they are so *&^!@ng pink. I hate pink.

They cost me $192.09 (I checked the receipt) at the Running Room. When I went to the Go! St. Louis Marathon expo I bought a pair for $90. Seriously? They only had one pair left in my size so I only bought one pair. Another friend bought me a pair that were on sale at a US outlet. Even with shipping them from the US they still cost less than $100. I have no idea why they’re so much more up here.

I also wonder how much my feet will change as I lose weight. They definitely changed when I had Q. I used to be an 8 – 8.5. Now I’m a 9. And my running shoes are a 9.5.

This is my RoadID.

RoadID

It has my name, blood type, the fact that I don’t have any drug allergies and Toby’s cell number and my parents’ phone number. If anything should happen to me when I’m out running, this will be able to let the paramedics or whoever at least know a little bit about me and be able to contact someone who knows it all.

This is my garmin

IMG_4069

Well. It started out as Toby’s but mine died so he gave me his 🙂 I am slightly addicted to it but man do I love it. I run 10:1s. So I run for 10 minutes then walk for a minute. Not sure why, it just seems to work for me. I always run with water and I drink, even just a sip, during the walk minutes. I download all the runs to the garmin command centre or something BUT I also download them to Running Ahead. My uncle told me about Running Ahead back when I first started to run in 2009. It has easy-to-use features for logging runs, setting out training plans, tracking equipment etc. The forums are really amazing too. You’ll always find someone who is able to help. Often that person also happens to be a sub-3:00 marathoner, or a medical doctor,  or an ultra-runner, or….well you get the idea. There are also sub-groups so if you’re training for a half-marathon or want to find runners in your area you can find a sub-group. I joined a sub-group back in 2009 made up of an amazing bunch of women, without whom, I would have given up this running thing long ago. They put up with me in 2010 and 2011 and heck most of 2012 when I was pregnant and couldn’t run (2010), when I had a baby and was too tired to run (2011), and when, well I thought I was too fat to run and it turns out I was just too lazy (2012). They were amongst the first people I told I was pregnant. They encourage, they goad, they kick my butt. You’ll hear more about them when I get around to writing a race report for my half in St. Louis.

Oh and in case it wasn’t clear Running Ahead is definitely a running thing I can’t live without.

This is my hat. It’s brand new. Actually it’s an internet picture of my hat ’cause I don’t know where my actual hat is.

asics was a big sponsor for the half-marathon I ran at the end of April in Montreal. The race pick up was at a running shop. One of the things in the race bag was a coupon for $25 off if you spent $75 on asics gear. Seemed like a good deal to me and I needed socks and a hat so there you go. My old hat is old. And really smelly. I’ve run in this one twice now. I love it. It fits well and keeps the sweat away from me.

Categories
Health

Turning over a new leaf – all over again

Yep again. Hope you’ve got the patience to tag along with me.

IMG_3981

I took the photo above before my run after work on April 16. I will weigh myself first thing in the morning on Wednesday May 1. I’ll do measurements then too. I’m not gonna share the absolute numbers till it’s all over okay – but:

-I’ll post how my weight changed weekly every Friday (starting May 10)

-I’ll update the photo every four weeks on Fridays

-I’m going to redo my imaginary run to PEI too. This was something I’ve tried to do before and this time I’m going to hang a physical map of Canada up in our basement so I can see the progress as well as track it online. So, starting with my first run after the half in Montreal (so hopefully the short commute run on Wednesday May 1) I’ll restart my imaginary run to PEI 🙂

What’s the motivation this time? Lots – I’m 40 now. Q is 2. I’d like to be around for him as long as possible. I want to set a good example. I love Toby. I need him to stick around too so I figure if I do this then he will too ‘cause he’s very competitive. I have awesome running friends – 2 of whom ran with me for 2:55:– while I struggled through a half-marathon that should have taken me far less time (and will, once I lose the weight) – that I want to make proud of me. One of my medium-term goals is to run a half-marathon with lots of them again in September 2013.

So why wait until May to weigh in and stuff? I ran another half-marathon at the end of April in Montreal. The only goal there was to make the two ladies who ran with me in St. Louis (and the rest of the bunch) proud of me for doing it. I think I accomplished that – I ran 21.1k about 8 minutes faster in Montreal. I’ll do up race reports for those two runs as well as the two I have coming up at the end of May – ’cause, well, I’m crazy that way.

Then, of course, ‘cause it’s Montreal, Toby made dinner reservations for Sunday and Monday night. Our last hurrah. When we come back we’re going to try a new way of eating, called keto for short: basically low carbohydrate (so far fewer processed foods that I eat now that’s for sure) and high protein. I’ll be writing more about that later I’m sure.

So short term goals (say 3-4 months?):

-finish half-marathon in Montreal no slower than 2:55:00 – DONE! 2:47:28.1

-make better choices – no drinking at all on days I don’t run or do other exercise; eat reasonable portions; drink 2L of water a day (including at home – I manage drinking at work okay)

-be consistent

-lose 1-1.5 pounds per week

-go swimming! and learn to ride my bike

Medium term goals (say 5 – 12 months):

-plan/figure out a half-marathon training plan for the September 28 half marathon (not putting a time yet ‘cause I want to see how running and keto and losing weight are all going to hang together)

-work up to consistently run 4 days a week; yoga/stretching 1-2 times a week; 1 long and 1 short strength training session a week

-run enough to run 1500km in 2013

-lose 1-1.5 pounds per week until I hit my goal weight then maintain

Long term goals:

-Run Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (I’ll be doing the half) in the fall of 2014 with an awesome group of women

-maintain my goal weight

-run 1500-2000km in 2014