After a week of 35 degree temperatures, I decided to research how to run in the heat. So, naturally, what happens? It cools right down! (Today, it’s a balmy 21-ish degrees. I don’t even have the air conditioning on.) But I did my research and, since it is sure to get hot again, I’m figuring out how to run in the extreme heat.
Of course, hydration is of primary importance. I’m thinking of trading in my old water-holder and bottle for on of the hydration packs at the Running Room. It’s basically a bunch of small bottles distributed all around your waist. I find my water bottle is a bit heavy, and slows me down.
It’s also good to run in either the early morning or early evening, according to my online Running Room instructor. Avoiding the heat of the day is best, although that isn’t hard for me to avoid, as I’m never really free or available to run around lunchtime/naptime!
Finally, clothes are critical. These runners (at least those at the Running Room) have a saying that “cotton is rotten,” and advise to wear moisture-wicking technical fabrics to keep sweat away from the body. Of course, they could just be saying that so you buy more clothes at the Running Room! (It does make a difference, so I don’t think it’s all marketing ploy, although there is that element to it.)
So how did training go this week? My regular schedule was a little messed up thanks to some unavoidable work stuff. I had planned to go to the gym on Monday to do a special cardio/muscle class, because pre-school is finished and it’s the first time I’ve been able to make it to that class. It’s run by my favourite instructor, who is not only in incredible shape, but is also extremely knowledgeable about strength training and building long, lean muscle. She also teaches my Tuesday morning muscle class and has mentioned that the two classes are supposed to compliment each other.
But when I arrived on Monday, it turns out she wasn’t the instructor! And not that I didn’t like the alternate instructor, but I wasn’t sure the two workouts (Monday and Tuesday) would compliment each other. So I skipped the class in favour of a spinning class, and had a good workout there.
Tuesday it was muscle class, so I decided that I’d skip the gym on Wednesday and go for a run in the evening. That ended up not happening, thanks to very hot weather (I know, no excuse!), an impending thunderstorm and just plain tiredness. Yesterday was another spinning class, and today, I did a run on the treadmill at the gym because I don’t have time to go for a run tonight. Mike has to go out, so I’m stuck at home.
The treadmill isn’t quite good enough, but I varied my speed to try and push myself a little. I did this week’s 7-and-1s, and actually ran for a total of 35 minutes. I ran at speeds from 5.5 miles per hour to a max of 7.5 mph. I’d increase and decrease to try and push myself a little. It’s not as good as running outside, but for me, it’s a good compromise when I can’t get outside. (That happens a lot… if I don’t have a sitter, or Mike is out in the evening, it can be tough to run outdoor.) It’s also good if the weather is extremely hot, extremely cold, snowing, raining or just generally something you shouldn’t be out in.
Now that I’ve completed my research on running in the heat, it’s on to the nutrition aspect. And once again, I’ve fallen off the wagon! Yesterday was Mike’s birthday, and I made a special dinner of steak (with melted Roquefort cheese, like we had in Paris on our honeymoon), baked potato, Caesar salad, garlic bread (with cheese and sundried tomatoes) and his favourite yellow cake with chocolate icing. We also cracked open a nice bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz to celebrate. Talk about too much food!
I also know this weekend isn’t going to get much better… we’ll probably do takeout tonight when Mike gets home, and tomorrow we’re going to a barbecue which I know won’t be good. To top it off, I just ate two Timbits that Andrew’s little friend brought with him for a play date! (And I never eat Timbits.) Talk about negating my good day, which started with a protein-packed soy milk and berry smoothie and a great salad for lunch.
I guess that means it’s time to start the nutrition research. I’m sure a lot of that will happen along this journey. Right now, if I could stop falling off the wagon (or at least stop falling off as much!), that would be a big help.
Now I’m off to play outside with the boys! Tomorrow, I’ll go for another early-morning run, then take Sunday off. Mike is on holiday next week, so I’m sure my schedule will get a bit messed up! I’m aiming to run outside Monday, Thursday and Saturday again, and go to the gym on Tuesday (for muscle class) and Wednesday (for spinning.) I can’t guarantee I’ll go to spinning on Friday. I may just take a rest (it is supposed to be a vacation after all!) or see what kind of fun class might be happening on Friday at a time I can’t normally go to the gym.
Happy trails!
Friday, June 29, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Running to stand still
It turns out the hardest part about the whole running a marathon/writing a book thing isn’t going to be finding the time to run – it’s finding the time to write! Work and the kids’ activities have been especially hectic in the past few weeks, and I find I don’t have the time to write about my training and updating my blog.
Training-wise, things are going well. I’ve managed to fit in most of my scheduled workouts and runs for the past two weeks. I skipped a spinning class one week and my Saturday run this week, but otherwise I am progressing. I’ve had two weeks of running for 25 minutes, doing “5-and-1s” (running for 5 minutes, walking for one.) I’m averaging about 3.6 km per run.
This week, I have to up the length of my running periods. I am still to run for 25 minutes, but now doing “7-and-1s.” I don’t anticipate it will be too hard – if nothing else, spinning has increased my cardiovascular strength. The key, of course, is finding time to run outdoors. Having the kids here means I have to run in the evenings, and this week is a busy one, with Mike out a few evenings for hockey. It looks like I may have to do one of my three runs at the gym on the treadmill, so the kids can stay at the daycare there.
I ended up spinning this morning, so it looks like I will run Wednesday (in the evening), Friday (at the gym on the treadmill), and Saturday. I’ll spin again on Thursday, and do my usual Tuesday morning muscle/strength training class tomorrow. I do find I’m working out five to six times a week. It’s a lot (I never seem to have enough clean workout gear!), but manageable. If only the rest of life were manageable as well!
It’s amazing the amount of support you get from people when you talk about your fitness goals. I find that, particularly at my gym, the minute I mention my training, everyone is eager to talk about it, share their own stories and swap tips. This morning, a woman in my spinning class told me all about a trail run she did on the weekend and it sounded like a fantastic place to run. The instructors, too, are incredibly supportive. Of course, it’s a group of people who take their own health and fitness seriously, so it’s no wonder they are supportive!
I know there’s much more I want to research and write about these days. How do I run in the extreme heat? How do I stay on track with proper nutrition? (We eat very well, but not all the time, and when I fall off the nutrition wagon, I fall HARD.) How can I properly increase my strength training? (Because one muscle class a week is not going to cut it…) Do I need a trainer? Do I have money for a trainer? (Probably not!)
So what I’ve decided to do is spend some time researching each one of these questions at a time, and write about what I learn. I guess that means I should start with the first question: running in the heat. I do know hydration is critical, but are there any other tips? I’m off to find the answer.
Happy trails!
Training-wise, things are going well. I’ve managed to fit in most of my scheduled workouts and runs for the past two weeks. I skipped a spinning class one week and my Saturday run this week, but otherwise I am progressing. I’ve had two weeks of running for 25 minutes, doing “5-and-1s” (running for 5 minutes, walking for one.) I’m averaging about 3.6 km per run.
This week, I have to up the length of my running periods. I am still to run for 25 minutes, but now doing “7-and-1s.” I don’t anticipate it will be too hard – if nothing else, spinning has increased my cardiovascular strength. The key, of course, is finding time to run outdoors. Having the kids here means I have to run in the evenings, and this week is a busy one, with Mike out a few evenings for hockey. It looks like I may have to do one of my three runs at the gym on the treadmill, so the kids can stay at the daycare there.
I ended up spinning this morning, so it looks like I will run Wednesday (in the evening), Friday (at the gym on the treadmill), and Saturday. I’ll spin again on Thursday, and do my usual Tuesday morning muscle/strength training class tomorrow. I do find I’m working out five to six times a week. It’s a lot (I never seem to have enough clean workout gear!), but manageable. If only the rest of life were manageable as well!
It’s amazing the amount of support you get from people when you talk about your fitness goals. I find that, particularly at my gym, the minute I mention my training, everyone is eager to talk about it, share their own stories and swap tips. This morning, a woman in my spinning class told me all about a trail run she did on the weekend and it sounded like a fantastic place to run. The instructors, too, are incredibly supportive. Of course, it’s a group of people who take their own health and fitness seriously, so it’s no wonder they are supportive!
I know there’s much more I want to research and write about these days. How do I run in the extreme heat? How do I stay on track with proper nutrition? (We eat very well, but not all the time, and when I fall off the nutrition wagon, I fall HARD.) How can I properly increase my strength training? (Because one muscle class a week is not going to cut it…) Do I need a trainer? Do I have money for a trainer? (Probably not!)
So what I’ve decided to do is spend some time researching each one of these questions at a time, and write about what I learn. I guess that means I should start with the first question: running in the heat. I do know hydration is critical, but are there any other tips? I’m off to find the answer.
Happy trails!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Runners on your marks
Never one to sit around and contemplate things too much, I decided if I’m serious about training, I’d better get started. Unfortunately, the Running Room’s 5K clinic (the follow-up to the Learn to Run I took in the winter) is already several weeks into its curriculum, so I can’t join.
Instead, I decided to sign up for the Running Room’s online 5K clinic. I’ve selected a goal race for the end of August (which I’ll register for soon) and now I have to start working toward that. My online clinic gives me a training schedule to get through the next 11 weeks, and it’s really pretty easy. Technically, the schedule doesn’t start until next week, but I’m just going to do the first week twice.
I’ve already had to modify it a bit to fit my schedule. I’m supposed to run Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but those days don’t work that well for me. I’ve moved everything back a day to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I didn’t bother going to the gym this morning, as I really want to make it a point of running outside rather than on a treadmill. If you’ve ever done both, you know there’s a huge difference. Outside is much, much harder. There are variances in temperature, wind speed, hills, etc., that make it far more difficult. I’m going to do my run tonight, when Mike is home and the kids are in bed.
The good thing about this new schedule is that I don’t have to give up any of my classes at the gym. For now, I can still do spinning on Wednesday and Friday mornings, as well as my Tuesday morning muscle class. That will change this summer, when Andrew’s nursery school is over, but for the remaining two weeks, I can at least keep up with it.
For this week and next, I’m to run for 25 minutes, regardless of distance. The pattern, according to my Running Room schedule, is walk for 1 minute, run for 5, walk for 1, etc. That’s what’s known as “Five and ones” in runner-speak. For me, this is the easy part, as I’m already in half-decent shape. I think it’s later, when I get into longer runs, that I will start to really challenge myself.
Which makes today the true starting point of this little “adventure.” Luckily, I’m not really starting from scratch. The Running Room website has my stats from the last race I ran, in March, and according to those stats, I actually ranked 8th out of 63 women in my age category (30-34) who ran that race. Not too bad!
So where am I starting from? I guess I’d better figure that out. The Running Room website has a self-test to help me assess my level of fitness, and since I already do quite a bit of cardio, I seem to be ready to run at least 4-5K.
Of course, this week is already busy… I’m finishing off yet another last minute assignment for the U.S. publication I work for, and I’m having two parties here this week: the preschool executive barbecue on Thursday and the in-laws on Saturday. Plus, Mike has ball hockey on Tuesday and Wednesday night is the Father’s Day dinner at the pre-school AND the Junior Kindergarten meeting at Andrew’s new school. On Friday, a friend and her sons are coming over for a playdate, and Andrew’s soccer pictures are Friday evening. It’s going to be a challenge to fit it all in, but here’s the workout schedule so far:
Monday: Run 25 minutes in evening
Tuesday: 45-minute muscle class at the gym (thank heavens for a gym with a daycare!)
Wednesday: 50-minute spinning class
Thursday: Run 25 minutes in morning, after I drop the kids off at daycare (they currently go one day a week, until the end of June)
Friday: 50-minute spinning class
Saturday: Run 25 minutes in the morning, before Andrew’s soccer
Sunday: Rest. (And it’s Father’s Day!)
There’s also a big nutrition aspect of this, but I’ll probably save that for a later date. For now, it’s off to work I go while the kids are napping. This copy isn’t going to edit itself!
Happy trails…
Instead, I decided to sign up for the Running Room’s online 5K clinic. I’ve selected a goal race for the end of August (which I’ll register for soon) and now I have to start working toward that. My online clinic gives me a training schedule to get through the next 11 weeks, and it’s really pretty easy. Technically, the schedule doesn’t start until next week, but I’m just going to do the first week twice.
I’ve already had to modify it a bit to fit my schedule. I’m supposed to run Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but those days don’t work that well for me. I’ve moved everything back a day to Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I didn’t bother going to the gym this morning, as I really want to make it a point of running outside rather than on a treadmill. If you’ve ever done both, you know there’s a huge difference. Outside is much, much harder. There are variances in temperature, wind speed, hills, etc., that make it far more difficult. I’m going to do my run tonight, when Mike is home and the kids are in bed.
The good thing about this new schedule is that I don’t have to give up any of my classes at the gym. For now, I can still do spinning on Wednesday and Friday mornings, as well as my Tuesday morning muscle class. That will change this summer, when Andrew’s nursery school is over, but for the remaining two weeks, I can at least keep up with it.
For this week and next, I’m to run for 25 minutes, regardless of distance. The pattern, according to my Running Room schedule, is walk for 1 minute, run for 5, walk for 1, etc. That’s what’s known as “Five and ones” in runner-speak. For me, this is the easy part, as I’m already in half-decent shape. I think it’s later, when I get into longer runs, that I will start to really challenge myself.
Which makes today the true starting point of this little “adventure.” Luckily, I’m not really starting from scratch. The Running Room website has my stats from the last race I ran, in March, and according to those stats, I actually ranked 8th out of 63 women in my age category (30-34) who ran that race. Not too bad!
So where am I starting from? I guess I’d better figure that out. The Running Room website has a self-test to help me assess my level of fitness, and since I already do quite a bit of cardio, I seem to be ready to run at least 4-5K.
Of course, this week is already busy… I’m finishing off yet another last minute assignment for the U.S. publication I work for, and I’m having two parties here this week: the preschool executive barbecue on Thursday and the in-laws on Saturday. Plus, Mike has ball hockey on Tuesday and Wednesday night is the Father’s Day dinner at the pre-school AND the Junior Kindergarten meeting at Andrew’s new school. On Friday, a friend and her sons are coming over for a playdate, and Andrew’s soccer pictures are Friday evening. It’s going to be a challenge to fit it all in, but here’s the workout schedule so far:
Monday: Run 25 minutes in evening
Tuesday: 45-minute muscle class at the gym (thank heavens for a gym with a daycare!)
Wednesday: 50-minute spinning class
Thursday: Run 25 minutes in morning, after I drop the kids off at daycare (they currently go one day a week, until the end of June)
Friday: 50-minute spinning class
Saturday: Run 25 minutes in the morning, before Andrew’s soccer
Sunday: Rest. (And it’s Father’s Day!)
There’s also a big nutrition aspect of this, but I’ll probably save that for a later date. For now, it’s off to work I go while the kids are napping. This copy isn’t going to edit itself!
Happy trails…
Saturday, June 9, 2007
How I'm going to run a marathon
“Train to run a marathon? You don’t need to train! Here’s how you run a marathon. Step one: you start running. There is no step two.”
-Barney on How I Met Your Mother
I am not an athlete.
I’ve never really been an athlete. Growing up, I was awful at every sport I ever tried. I’m inherently lazy as well – my motto has always been to never walk when I can ride and never sit when I can recline. Family legend has it I didn’t walk until I was 16 months old simply because I was lazy.
That’s why the idea of running a marathon terrifies me. And why, in 2010, I’m going to do just that. I am going to run a marathon when I’m 35 years old. And this blog is going to chronicle my training as I take myself from “zero to hero” in just three years.
I know, that sounds crazy. Why would a person like me actually take on something this momentous?
Before I answer that, a little bit about me. At this moment, I’m a 32-year old mother of two boys, ages 4 and 20 months. I work from home as a freelance writer and editor so I can take care of my kids. I edit boring technical trade magazines, and in September, I’m taking on a huge one-year contract to edit the magazine I used to do full-time, before I had kids. (I’m covering for the current editor’s mat leave.) I’m also taking over as president of the board at my sons’ preschool. Between juggling all that and continuing to work for my other clients, I must be crazy, right?
Probably a little! About a year ago, I caught a bit of the fitness bug. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my kids. Sixty pounds during the first pregnancy, which I managed to lose by going to one of those 30-minute fitness places and by following a popular low-carb diet. But during pregnancy #2, all of my bad habits crept back – laziness, a taste for junk food – and I once again gained 60 pounds.
Fat, flairless and generally disgusted with myself, I joined a gym with a daycare to try and shed those pounds. There, I discovered spinning (a group fitness class on stationary bikes) and the treadmill. Through the fitness classes and Weight Watchers, I once again lost the baby weight and got back to my usual self.
Then I realized I still didn’t much like my “usual” self. I’ve never been particularly skinny and always had a tendency to put on weight. With this new fitness kick I was on, I started to see some potential – a way to become the person I’d always wanted to be.
So I joined a “Learn to Run” class, and ran a 5K race in the winter. But in the middle of all that, we decided to sell our house and buy a new one and I lost momentum.
Which brings me back to the marathon! I have always said I want to run a marathon on day. And after everyone (myself included) stopped laughing at the idea, I realized I really want to make this happen. I know I can’t do it overnight – I need to train. So I set the goal: a marathon by age 35. That’s when I realized I’m already 32. I’d better get moving. So I’m officially starting my training this summer. There will be small goals along the way, but the official endgame is in 2010, when I’m aiming to run the Mississauga Marathon. That’s 42.2 kilometers.
So why the blog? Well, that’s where a different kind of ambition comes in. The fact is, for the past seven years, I’ve been writing about things like manufacturing, emergency preparedness, human resources and cable. (Yes, cable. Like the kind you hook up to your TV.) And while it pays the bills, it’s not really what I want to do with my life. I want to write about health, nutrition and fitness. I want to write books. I want to write for women’s magazines. But I’m so busy writing about everything else, I run out of steam when it comes to writing the “good” stuff.
That’s why I’m going to chronicle my training efforts in a blog. Not only will it give me practice writing about something I love, the end goal will be to have it published in a book. Even if it never gets published, at least I will know I’ve accomplished something.
Of course, the problem with starting this blog now and not after the fact is that the outcome is not guaranteed. I might call this blog “How I Ran a Marathon,” but until I cross the finish line in 2010, nothing is certain. I might give up. I might be too busy to finish it. I could injure myself. I could find out that I’m nothing more than another person who starts something but never finishes it.
I’m going to update regularly with how my training is going. Since I can’t do this all at once, I’m going to start with small goals. This summer, I have two: I am going to train to run a 5K in 25 minutes (currently my best time is 29:57) and I am going to train to do a 31K fundraising walk in September. (More on that later.)
Let’s get it started…
-Barney on How I Met Your Mother
I am not an athlete.
I’ve never really been an athlete. Growing up, I was awful at every sport I ever tried. I’m inherently lazy as well – my motto has always been to never walk when I can ride and never sit when I can recline. Family legend has it I didn’t walk until I was 16 months old simply because I was lazy.
That’s why the idea of running a marathon terrifies me. And why, in 2010, I’m going to do just that. I am going to run a marathon when I’m 35 years old. And this blog is going to chronicle my training as I take myself from “zero to hero” in just three years.
I know, that sounds crazy. Why would a person like me actually take on something this momentous?
Before I answer that, a little bit about me. At this moment, I’m a 32-year old mother of two boys, ages 4 and 20 months. I work from home as a freelance writer and editor so I can take care of my kids. I edit boring technical trade magazines, and in September, I’m taking on a huge one-year contract to edit the magazine I used to do full-time, before I had kids. (I’m covering for the current editor’s mat leave.) I’m also taking over as president of the board at my sons’ preschool. Between juggling all that and continuing to work for my other clients, I must be crazy, right?
Probably a little! About a year ago, I caught a bit of the fitness bug. I gained a lot of weight when I was pregnant with my kids. Sixty pounds during the first pregnancy, which I managed to lose by going to one of those 30-minute fitness places and by following a popular low-carb diet. But during pregnancy #2, all of my bad habits crept back – laziness, a taste for junk food – and I once again gained 60 pounds.
Fat, flairless and generally disgusted with myself, I joined a gym with a daycare to try and shed those pounds. There, I discovered spinning (a group fitness class on stationary bikes) and the treadmill. Through the fitness classes and Weight Watchers, I once again lost the baby weight and got back to my usual self.
Then I realized I still didn’t much like my “usual” self. I’ve never been particularly skinny and always had a tendency to put on weight. With this new fitness kick I was on, I started to see some potential – a way to become the person I’d always wanted to be.
So I joined a “Learn to Run” class, and ran a 5K race in the winter. But in the middle of all that, we decided to sell our house and buy a new one and I lost momentum.
Which brings me back to the marathon! I have always said I want to run a marathon on day. And after everyone (myself included) stopped laughing at the idea, I realized I really want to make this happen. I know I can’t do it overnight – I need to train. So I set the goal: a marathon by age 35. That’s when I realized I’m already 32. I’d better get moving. So I’m officially starting my training this summer. There will be small goals along the way, but the official endgame is in 2010, when I’m aiming to run the Mississauga Marathon. That’s 42.2 kilometers.
So why the blog? Well, that’s where a different kind of ambition comes in. The fact is, for the past seven years, I’ve been writing about things like manufacturing, emergency preparedness, human resources and cable. (Yes, cable. Like the kind you hook up to your TV.) And while it pays the bills, it’s not really what I want to do with my life. I want to write about health, nutrition and fitness. I want to write books. I want to write for women’s magazines. But I’m so busy writing about everything else, I run out of steam when it comes to writing the “good” stuff.
That’s why I’m going to chronicle my training efforts in a blog. Not only will it give me practice writing about something I love, the end goal will be to have it published in a book. Even if it never gets published, at least I will know I’ve accomplished something.
Of course, the problem with starting this blog now and not after the fact is that the outcome is not guaranteed. I might call this blog “How I Ran a Marathon,” but until I cross the finish line in 2010, nothing is certain. I might give up. I might be too busy to finish it. I could injure myself. I could find out that I’m nothing more than another person who starts something but never finishes it.
I’m going to update regularly with how my training is going. Since I can’t do this all at once, I’m going to start with small goals. This summer, I have two: I am going to train to run a 5K in 25 minutes (currently my best time is 29:57) and I am going to train to do a 31K fundraising walk in September. (More on that later.)
Let’s get it started…
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