So this Saturday was supposed to be my triumphant return to the trail running scene. Until my MIL ruined it at Christmas by insisting that my family keep this weekend open for a birthday party no one planned until the last minute and now isn't even happening this weekend!! Gaaah! I am only consolidated by the fact it is now on the father's day weekend, thus destroying any semblance of a father's day for my husband. Touche, as they say. Still, it sucks. Knowing I have to wait another YEAR before I can get back to this race blows hard chunks. I did toy with the idea of driving my own butt up to the race and doing the shorter version, and I'm still debating that, but at the same time I haven't prepared for what would be an intense race, regardless of the distance. All I can say is my patience for my in-laws non-planning, disorganized BS has gone to zero.
So now I'm trying to be good and focus on my first race this season, the MEC Salt Marsh Trail half marathon. It's a week after Father's day, and of course my SIL and her brood will be staying with us, but I've made it clear, visitors or not I'm running the race. After that one I have a month until my first marathon in 3 years. I'm nervous/excited for it. My training is going pretty good. My total kilometers per week is back where it needs to be for a marathon, the only thing I need to get a grip on is my long run. I have to stop splitting it, and get'r done in one shot. That'll be my focus for this week-get the long run done as a long run!
Monday, June 5, 2017
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Magic Arthritis Therapy: And it's FREE!
My in-laws visited this past weekend. My FIL has arthritis in many areas of his body. He is constantly looking for a new pill or therapy to ease the pain that arthritis brings. He currently is exploring platelet therapy; a therapy I investigated over a year ago when it was much less available in this area. The science looked promising, but if one thing is true about new therapies is that while it may work wonders for one person, it may be ineffective for another. So that's what I told him. But I have since discovered a therapy that works for 90% of arthritis sufferers and is totally FREE. The big secret? Stop eating so much sugar. It drops a person's weight which relieves the overall stress on a person's joints, thus relieving the arthritis pain.
As a western society we have ramped up how many foods contain processed sugar by astronomical amounts in the last 30 years. Even in foods that are supposedly healthy, the fats have been replaced with shocking amounts of sugar. I looked last night at a bottle of teriyaki sauce I was going to use on a stir fry and found it contained 56 grams of sugar per 1/4 cup. That's almost 2 chocolate bars! No wonder people who think they are eating in a healthier way don't lose weight.
So, I've made it my personal mission to not only increase my protein intake but also to cut the amount of sugar from the standard 40+ tsp (200 grams) a day down to 6 tsp (30 grams) a day. It isn't as simple as simply cutting out candy. I have to look at any food product that is not sold in its original/natural form. In almost every case, you can pretty much guarantee sugar has somehow worked its way into the ingredients list.
Today (at least up until now which only includes breakfast and lunch), for example, I've had a protein shake (my standard breakfast) which contains 0.5 grams of sugar, chicken broth which contains 1.07 grams of sugar and a half serving of peanuts at 1.5 grams of sugar. This is me taking a proactive approach to reducing the amount of sugar I eat. Usually I eat a salad for lunch, which is tricky depending on the type of salad dressing I use, but it is certainly much less sugar than if I ate a sandwich or plate of French fries. If I were to tally up what many people eat for breakfast, such as a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice they would already have consumed over 80 grams of sugar. It's shocking.
When I think of my FIL and his nightly habit of a stack of white bread (4 -6 pieces) with molasses gobbed on top I know exactly why he has trouble losing weight and his arthritis flares up constantly. It's interesting that most people would rather take pills with a host of side effects rather than simply pay attention to the sugar content in our food.
As a western society we have ramped up how many foods contain processed sugar by astronomical amounts in the last 30 years. Even in foods that are supposedly healthy, the fats have been replaced with shocking amounts of sugar. I looked last night at a bottle of teriyaki sauce I was going to use on a stir fry and found it contained 56 grams of sugar per 1/4 cup. That's almost 2 chocolate bars! No wonder people who think they are eating in a healthier way don't lose weight.
So, I've made it my personal mission to not only increase my protein intake but also to cut the amount of sugar from the standard 40+ tsp (200 grams) a day down to 6 tsp (30 grams) a day. It isn't as simple as simply cutting out candy. I have to look at any food product that is not sold in its original/natural form. In almost every case, you can pretty much guarantee sugar has somehow worked its way into the ingredients list.
Today (at least up until now which only includes breakfast and lunch), for example, I've had a protein shake (my standard breakfast) which contains 0.5 grams of sugar, chicken broth which contains 1.07 grams of sugar and a half serving of peanuts at 1.5 grams of sugar. This is me taking a proactive approach to reducing the amount of sugar I eat. Usually I eat a salad for lunch, which is tricky depending on the type of salad dressing I use, but it is certainly much less sugar than if I ate a sandwich or plate of French fries. If I were to tally up what many people eat for breakfast, such as a bowl of cereal and a glass of juice they would already have consumed over 80 grams of sugar. It's shocking.
When I think of my FIL and his nightly habit of a stack of white bread (4 -6 pieces) with molasses gobbed on top I know exactly why he has trouble losing weight and his arthritis flares up constantly. It's interesting that most people would rather take pills with a host of side effects rather than simply pay attention to the sugar content in our food.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Let's get EPIC
After my last post I did re-evaluate my goals. I decided to give the Epic Canadian multi-day race a chance and reorganized my training plan to suit it. I still have every intention of running the 50k at the Valley Harvest Marathon in October but I believe my knee is demanding that I take my training more slowly. Fine. One thing I've learned from OA in the knee is to be flexible based on what your body is capable at the current moment of achieving. So mine is currently calling for a slower mileage build up, and I have the time to make it happen.
I'm honestly not all that upset about canceling my plans to run the NS Marathon. It was really a replacement for an ultra that I would normally do in June but a family commitment that had me change my plans back in January. I feel positive about running the Epic Canadian races, after all, the distances are what I would normally run on a weekend anyhow, I'll just add the goal of doing them in a reasonable amount of time, or at least not finishing last haha.
In the meantime I still have the Walk to Fight Arthritis coming up on the first weekend of June. After a month of dance competitions for my daughter I really just want to take it easy on that weekend, but I feel I have a duty to support the cause. Last year my husband and I got into an argument on the drive to the event (about my driving) so I'm hoping for a much happier day this year...or maybe I'll just leave him at home.
So my new goals are set and I'm ready to go after them. I'm also hoping to run some shorter events between now and the end of August, and maybe even run one of the Maritime Race Weekend races in mid September. Let's giv'r!!
I'm honestly not all that upset about canceling my plans to run the NS Marathon. It was really a replacement for an ultra that I would normally do in June but a family commitment that had me change my plans back in January. I feel positive about running the Epic Canadian races, after all, the distances are what I would normally run on a weekend anyhow, I'll just add the goal of doing them in a reasonable amount of time, or at least not finishing last haha.
In the meantime I still have the Walk to Fight Arthritis coming up on the first weekend of June. After a month of dance competitions for my daughter I really just want to take it easy on that weekend, but I feel I have a duty to support the cause. Last year my husband and I got into an argument on the drive to the event (about my driving) so I'm hoping for a much happier day this year...or maybe I'll just leave him at home.
So my new goals are set and I'm ready to go after them. I'm also hoping to run some shorter events between now and the end of August, and maybe even run one of the Maritime Race Weekend races in mid September. Let's giv'r!!
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Re-evaluating Summer Goals
So...my knee. It's been giving me a bit of grief on the past few runs. I can't say that its totally my knee either, since my quad has hurt more than my knee, and at times it even gives out/spasms mid stride, which always leads to a fun little recovery. I've tried lathering icy-gel on it with a little bit of relief. I can't point to any one event that caused this issue either. I even went through my Strava logs to see if I've somehow drastically increased my mileage over the space of a month or two. But no, for the past 4 months I've averaged just above 250 kms for each month. Grrr. To add to the issue my other knee, just below the patella, has decided to kick up a fuss if I don't lather it with icy gel too, but modifying my stride seems to also help that leg.
It's frustrating. Especially now that I've finally got my long run back into the 20's. I haven't been doing as much weight training lately so I've resolved to pick that back up in the hopes it will help.
My frustration has led me to re-evaluate my goals for the summer. Doing a marathon no longer seems like a totally fun idea. I've looked around at the other events going on in the area and found an interesting endurance challenge; the Epic Canadian. I would run 6.1km (what's up with the 0.1 I don't know) on Friday night, then 10km on Saturday and finish with 21.1 on Sunday. All of the races are very close by and from what I hear the race support is great. The issue with that idea is the cost. To do all three will cost $181.00. Ouch. When you're used to paying $30 for a race, this amount seems ridiculous.
So I'll weigh my options. I could also not race at all this summer and train even more slowly up to the 50km road race on the Thanksgiving weekend. One thing is for sure, currently running 30km long runs is not something my knee is willing to go along with.
It's frustrating. Especially now that I've finally got my long run back into the 20's. I haven't been doing as much weight training lately so I've resolved to pick that back up in the hopes it will help.
My frustration has led me to re-evaluate my goals for the summer. Doing a marathon no longer seems like a totally fun idea. I've looked around at the other events going on in the area and found an interesting endurance challenge; the Epic Canadian. I would run 6.1km (what's up with the 0.1 I don't know) on Friday night, then 10km on Saturday and finish with 21.1 on Sunday. All of the races are very close by and from what I hear the race support is great. The issue with that idea is the cost. To do all three will cost $181.00. Ouch. When you're used to paying $30 for a race, this amount seems ridiculous.
So I'll weigh my options. I could also not race at all this summer and train even more slowly up to the 50km road race on the Thanksgiving weekend. One thing is for sure, currently running 30km long runs is not something my knee is willing to go along with.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Setting a new PR then smacked with a cold
Last week, for the first time in over 2 years, I managed to complete a new PR in my weekly distance. I managed, despite working full time, running my daughter back and forth to a 5 day long dance competition that went to 10pm at night, dealing with a nagging front patella pain and hosting my in-laws, to complete 64km, including a long run. Yup, I rock. Then I got hit with a sinus/head cold. Then my head felt like a rock lol. I should have realized that increasing my distance would make me more likely to catch a cold (since your immune system gets depressed as you tax your body more) but I figured since I was increasing my distance slowly that I would adjust to it and catching a cold or the flu wouldn't be an issue. And it probably wouldn't have been if I hadn't sat at a dance competition with 100 other parents/kids for 5 days.
So for two days I've had pulsating ears, sore throat and dizzy spells. I decided to forego my usual carb restrictions so I could keep my energy levels up and hopefully send this cold packing. All I want to do is sleep. This week is thankfully a scale back week so my overall distance goal is 60km. Today I'm debating if I can run a 8km or 12km. I hate to cut back on my run, especially when I have the time to complete the 12km but I have a feeling I might be walking half of it so I may just stick with the 8 and save my longer runs for the weekend when I'm feeling better. Damn cold.
A lot of runners have a much more extended debate with themselves when running sick. The general rule of thumb is that if you feel like crap but it's all above the neck (such as my case), then giv'r. If your lungs are taking a beating or if you need to visit the washroom frequently then you should probably shelve the run. So, because I only feel like crap from the neck up, I shall run, albeit slooooowly. Onwards and upwards!
So for two days I've had pulsating ears, sore throat and dizzy spells. I decided to forego my usual carb restrictions so I could keep my energy levels up and hopefully send this cold packing. All I want to do is sleep. This week is thankfully a scale back week so my overall distance goal is 60km. Today I'm debating if I can run a 8km or 12km. I hate to cut back on my run, especially when I have the time to complete the 12km but I have a feeling I might be walking half of it so I may just stick with the 8 and save my longer runs for the weekend when I'm feeling better. Damn cold.
A lot of runners have a much more extended debate with themselves when running sick. The general rule of thumb is that if you feel like crap but it's all above the neck (such as my case), then giv'r. If your lungs are taking a beating or if you need to visit the washroom frequently then you should probably shelve the run. So, because I only feel like crap from the neck up, I shall run, albeit slooooowly. Onwards and upwards!
Thursday, April 20, 2017
Why I won't run Boston. Ever.
Boston. To many runners it is the ultimate race experience. For some of them it is actually a life goal. I used to be a huge fan of the race too, but ever since I discovered trail running my runner mentality has changed.
I no longer chase a certain PR, I don't let it define me as a runner. I have come to realize the reason I'm out there, day after day, is because I simply love the sport and time spent in nature is a precious, rare thing for most people these days. I'm positive if I did a poll at my own workplace (which admittedly has a lot of fit, active people!) I would find less than 10% have spent an hour in the woods in the last week.
That's sad. This disconnect we have between ourselves and nature is only growing and we should pay attention to how it affects our lives, both mentally and physically.
I love the sweet smell of the trees, watching the rivers flow and the crunch of a good trail under my feet. I love going out for hours and just being my running-self. It both recharges me mentally and breaks me down physically. Bliss. That's why I love ultras. With generous cut off times, aid station eating-fests and the most supportive fellow runners on the planet I can't think of a better way (aside from hanging out with my awesome husband and daughter) that I could spend a day.
Do I still follow a training plan? You bet I do! I learned long ago that following one keeps the suffering level to a minimum during any race so to me it's still common sense.
So why do I still bother to race? I race much less than I used to, it has certainly become less important to me, but part of me wants to push my own personal boundaries. Yes, you can do this without a starting line but can you do it on a specific day? That's the question each runner, regardless of distance or type of race, puts on themselves when they decide to run a race. Sure you can run a 50 minute 10k but can you do it on, say May 10th, when it's raining and the route is different than the pancake flat route you usually run? Running trails has made me a stronger runner and has given me confidence to answer that question with a yes, yes I can, or at least I'm going to try.
Boston is a historic, beautiful road race, and I'll continue to watch it each year to see the runners triumph over their own limits and set records, but afterwards I'll head out into the woods, to smell the trees and enjoy the mud.
I no longer chase a certain PR, I don't let it define me as a runner. I have come to realize the reason I'm out there, day after day, is because I simply love the sport and time spent in nature is a precious, rare thing for most people these days. I'm positive if I did a poll at my own workplace (which admittedly has a lot of fit, active people!) I would find less than 10% have spent an hour in the woods in the last week.
That's sad. This disconnect we have between ourselves and nature is only growing and we should pay attention to how it affects our lives, both mentally and physically.
I love the sweet smell of the trees, watching the rivers flow and the crunch of a good trail under my feet. I love going out for hours and just being my running-self. It both recharges me mentally and breaks me down physically. Bliss. That's why I love ultras. With generous cut off times, aid station eating-fests and the most supportive fellow runners on the planet I can't think of a better way (aside from hanging out with my awesome husband and daughter) that I could spend a day.
Do I still follow a training plan? You bet I do! I learned long ago that following one keeps the suffering level to a minimum during any race so to me it's still common sense.
So why do I still bother to race? I race much less than I used to, it has certainly become less important to me, but part of me wants to push my own personal boundaries. Yes, you can do this without a starting line but can you do it on a specific day? That's the question each runner, regardless of distance or type of race, puts on themselves when they decide to run a race. Sure you can run a 50 minute 10k but can you do it on, say May 10th, when it's raining and the route is different than the pancake flat route you usually run? Running trails has made me a stronger runner and has given me confidence to answer that question with a yes, yes I can, or at least I'm going to try.
Boston is a historic, beautiful road race, and I'll continue to watch it each year to see the runners triumph over their own limits and set records, but afterwards I'll head out into the woods, to smell the trees and enjoy the mud.
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
It begins...
The build-up phase is complete! Now the real work begins with the intense 16 week part of my marathon plan. This week is a solid 52kms consisting of two 8km runs, two 10km runs and a 16km LSD (long slow distance) run.
I typically have no issue completing the weekday runs, it's finding time to tackle the long runs is what stresses me out slightly. This week though that shouldn't be a huge issue, since I have Friday off and can tackle the 16kms before my daughter gets home from school (and before her dance competition in the evening!).
My knee has been pretty good. This past week when I conquered a total of 60kms (total) I started feeling twinges at the top of my kneecap. So, I shortened my stride and after a kilometer or so it eased up then disappeared. It happened a few times, and as I recall it starts to happen whenever I increase my distance, so just another thing to keep in mind I suppose.
My weight lifting has taken a bit of a backseat to my running these past two weeks, so that's something I'll have to try and balance a bit better. Between that and my daughter's dance competition season, things are about to get pretty interesting!
I typically have no issue completing the weekday runs, it's finding time to tackle the long runs is what stresses me out slightly. This week though that shouldn't be a huge issue, since I have Friday off and can tackle the 16kms before my daughter gets home from school (and before her dance competition in the evening!).
My knee has been pretty good. This past week when I conquered a total of 60kms (total) I started feeling twinges at the top of my kneecap. So, I shortened my stride and after a kilometer or so it eased up then disappeared. It happened a few times, and as I recall it starts to happen whenever I increase my distance, so just another thing to keep in mind I suppose.
My weight lifting has taken a bit of a backseat to my running these past two weeks, so that's something I'll have to try and balance a bit better. Between that and my daughter's dance competition season, things are about to get pretty interesting!
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