The 5K

27:35!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, I felt that deserved some exclamation points. This morning, I ran the 5K race I’ve been training for – and lamenting over – all summer. My friend Val told me not to worry about my time. She said the adrenaline of the race and running with all those people would make me run faster. Was she ever right! As I approached the finish line, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes – I was still in the 27 minute range!

I crossed the finish line at 27:35, beating my previous best time by almost two minutes!! I know I was only competing with myself, but boy, did I ever whoop my own ass!

The race was down on the waterfront trail in Burlington, which is a beautiful run. The weather was hot and humid, with a steady rain for most of the run. Actually, I think the rain really helped, because it kept me pretty cool.

Mike and the boys ventured down with me to cheer me on. He took them to the playground at Spencer Smith Park while I ran. They waved to me as I trotted by, and when I was running back, about to cross the finish line, they cheered me on. It was enough of a push to keep going – I didn’t want them to see me slow down!

I was, however, struggling, particularly toward the end of the run. I couldn’t figure out why it was so hard, since I’d been running 5K for a few weeks now. Once I saw my time, though, I figured it out! I was averaging about 32:30-ish on my 5Ks this summer – which means today, I was running faster than I’ve ever run in my life. Maybe I’m not as sluggish as I think. And maybe I can do this marathon thing after all.

I know there’s still a long road ahead of me. On Monday, it’s time for me to reevaluate my training and start moving toward the next goal. I still need to conquer nutrition, I need to settle on a new training schedule and I need to figure out what I’m going to do about the gym/YMCA conundrum.

But for today, I’m just going to bask in the glory of my “victory.” I had a goal (to run my best-ever 5K), and I achieved it. I’m going to have a nice supper, a glass of wine, and take this time to relax. There’s plenty of time to get back to training on Monday.

Happy trails…

Panic on the streets of Burlington…

As race day approaches, I find myself panicking more and more. Try as I might, I can’t seem to improve my time on the 5K. I can’t even break 32 minutes, although I came in just over the 32 minute mark last night.

Part of the problem is I just feel like I can’t run that fast. When I push myself really hard, I run out of breath and am forced to slow down. Then I slow down too much, which affects my time. I know I need to do some more research on this, but with being away in Montreal last week, it’s been difficult. My best bet would be to go to one of the group runs at the Running Room, but since Mike has hockey tonight (when there’s a run), it’s not an option. And the next group run isn’t until Sunday – a day too late. The race is on Saturday morning.

So what do I do? First, I am going to give myself a bit of a break. I’m only competing with myself, after all, so who cares if I can’t beat me? I know that’s not really a “winning” attitude, but I only care about my time because I want to beat my own personal best time. It’s not like I even care if I come in last! (If I ran that 5K in 28 minutes, I’d be so happy, I wouldn’t care if I was 10 minutes behind everyone else!) I already know there are millions (billions?) of people in this world who can run faster than I can. (There are also billions who are smarter, better looking, make more money and have better behaved kids! If I cared about all those things, I’d never leave the house in the morning.)

I guess what I’m figuring out is that if I don’t beat my best time, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I know I’ll have sucky times on the 10K, the half marathon and the marathon too. The point is that I’m going to finish this race and continue working my way up to running a marathon.

Well, there’s probably a lot more for me to talk about today, but I’m overloaded with work and shouldn’t procrastinate any more. (I know… wasn’t I supposed to cut back on work this summer? Just wait until September!) I only wanted to fit in one more update before the race on Saturday.

Happy trails…

One day at a time

How do you improve your time for running a 5K? Well, you just…

Actually, I apparently have no idea how you improve your time! I’m incredibly frustrated with my running these days. I’ve practically abandoned both my training schedule of 10-and 1s (not to mention practically giving up spinning) in favour of running 5Ks straight through.

My best time on a 5K was 29:39, and that was my first (and so far, last) race in March. These days, I’m lucky if I run the 5K in 32:39. Most of the time, I’m falling somewhere in the late 32, or 33 minute mark. No matter how hard I seem to run, I can’t seem to break that time. (I’m hardly even hearing from my good buddy Lance Armstrong on my iPod anymore!)

I don’t know if it’s the heat these days, or if my energy levels are a bit lower, but I seem to be struggling a bit with these runs. I’m still huffing and puffing, particularly at the beginning of the run. I’d say I’m running at least three times a week (5K each time), and according to my Running Room training log, I’ve already run more than 32 K in the past two weeks. I’m still keeping up with the muscle workouts and doing the odd spin class – I really should be in better shape, right?

The ends of my runs tend to be much easier than the beginnings. When I hit the 3 or 4K mark, I could probably keep going for longer than 5K (albeit at my now-normal snail’s pace.) But the first few! I must look a fright running around my neighbourhood. I wonder if it means my endurance is better than my power/strength.

My 5K race is now a week and a half away. I’ve started to resign myself to the fact that I won’t be beating my best time for this race. I’m still running it, so that alone is a small accomplishment. And I’m going to sign up soon for the 10K clinic, which starts at the beginning of October.

This week I will have to work very hard to keep up with my training. We’re on our way to Montreal to visit family, and I know it will be tough, but I’m planning to run both Thursday and Friday morning. I won’t want to… I’ll want to sit around drinking coffee and chatting. But what’s a half an hour out of my day? With the race so close, it’s not the time to start slacking off, is it?

Once the trip is over next week, there are only a few weeks left in the summer and then things start to get really busy. I think when I get back, I’ll focus on training for both my upcoming race and the 31K Walk for Grace at the beginning of September. Once those two are done, I can re-evaluate my training and focus on the next goal. It’s just like running – one step at a time!

Happy trails…

F@%k you, Lance Armstrong

For my birthday last year, my very thoughtful husband gave me a very cool gift: a Nike+ iPod adaptor and a gift certificate for Nike+ running shoes. It’s basically a special adaptor that fits into your iPod Nano and your running shoe, and it tracks your training. It allows you to set different run lengths (you can choose distance, time or number of calories you want to burn) and it saves the data from every run for you to upload online.

It’s a fantastic little tool that has helped me immensely. When I go for a run, I set it to either the time or distance I want. A woman’s voice comes on from time to time to tell you how you’re doing so you don’t have to constantly keep your eyes on your iPod. For instance, when I’m doing a 29 minute run, this chick comes on and says things like “You’ve completed five minutes,” or “two minutes remaining.” At the end of the run, she comes on and says, “Congratulations. You’ve completed your goal of…”

So what’s Lance Armstrong got to do with it? Well, to backtrack a little, last Wednesday, I decided to do a “practice” 5K run. I would set the iPod to the 5K distance and run the whole thing without stopping to see if I’ve improved my time at all on the 5K. (My record is 29:39).

Off I went on the run. At the end of the 5K, the usual gal came on and said, “Congratulations. You’ve made it to your goal of running five kilometers. To end the workout…” I quickly checked my time, and it was wretched! It was 32:40!!!! I was incredibly disappointed with myself.

But I barely had time to register my disappointment when another voice came on. “This is Lance Armstrong,” the voice said. “Congratulations. You’ve just run a personal best mile at [and now I can’t remember the time, but it was somewhere in the 10 minute range].” (I didn’t use my iPod for my best run, which is why the time isn’t in there.)

Yeah, f@%k you, Lance Armstrong. I thought. Sure, you can run a marathon in 2 hours, but do you have to completely mock me?! I seem to recall hearing something a few years ago about Lance Armstrong working with Nike while he was training for the New York City marathon, but it sure took me by surprise!

But there’s a lesson to be learned in Lance’s words. I think it’s that I’m just not trying hard enough. I seem to assume that just getting out for a run – no matter how slowly I run – will magically improve my time. It won’t.

So now I’m kicking up my training a notch. I have less than a month until my race, so I plan to do at least one 5K “practice” run a week. This week, I’ll do that run on Thursday. I’m also going to push myself a bit harder while running. One thing I’m doing is playing with my speed. At certain intervals (probably between lampposts), I’m going to run as fast as I can. I did that at last night’s run, and it already improved my time. I ran about 4 ½ kilometers in 29 minutes, and that’s including doing 10-and-1s. If nothing else, I need to be more aware of how quickly (or, rather, how slowly) I’m running.

Training this week is again a bit strange with our busy schedule, but I ran last night, and I’ll be running outside both Wednesday and Thursday this week. Today was the usual Tuesday muscle class, and I’ll go to spinning on Friday.

Yesterday, I got my first copy of the Running Room magazine, and I have to say, I found it inspiring. I read tales of marathon runners who started running in their late 60s! If they can do it, I can certainly manage to run a marathon before I’m 35.

Happy trails…

A perfect week

Of course, before I get into the training update, I should clarify the title of this entry. By perfect week, I mean my training! (If it were a truly perfect week, the boys would have slept in, the massive concrete hole in our yard would magically be a pool and I would have received all six of the outstanding cheques I’m waiting for clients to send me!)

No, when I say I had a perfect week, it means I actually did every workout on my list for the week. Monday, I went to the gym for the “sweat and sculpt” class, a combination of aerobics and weights. Tuesday morning, I went to the muscle/weight training class, and Tuesday night, I actually went for a run outside. On Wednesday, I went to spinning, and on Thursday, I ran on the treadmill at the gym. (To make up for not running outside, I varied both the speed and the incline on the treadmill to make it harder. I also ran for 35 minutes, instead of 26.) Friday was spinning again, and Saturday was a final 26 minute run outside. It was an ambitious training schedule and by Saturday night, I was pooped!

This week is equally busy. Andrew has swimming lessons every morning again this week, so we’ve been heading to the gym and then going right to swimming. This morning was the “sweat and sculpt” class again, and tomorrow is muscle. On Wednesday, I’m going to do a practice 5K run outside, to see how long it takes me. I’m trying to beat my previous record (29:39), and it’s only a month until the big race. I’m going to see if I’ve managed to improve my time at all. Thursday is spinning, and Friday and Saturday will be 28 minute runs.

Speaking of racing… that’s one of two big goals I’ve been working for this summer. On August 25th, I’m competing in a 5K charity run in downtown Burlington. I find I need these goals to keep going. This race is to benefit the children of the Merendon Mountains. Now, I had never heard of this charity before, but it’s a project in Guatemala geared towards building self-sustaining communities through the construction of houses, a community centre/health clinic, community store, as well as the delivery of life skills, health and education. (Okay, I admit, I copied that from the website!) Part of the race entry fee goes to the charity.

I’m not raising any extra money for the race, however, because I plan on doing a lot of these races throughout the year and I don’t think it’s fair to hit up all my family and friends for money every time they turn around. But running is essentially a very selfish pastime and charity runs are a great way to give a little something back. I’ve decided that once a year, I’ll be sure to do one race where I can fundraise and contribute money to charity.

This year, that event is taking place on September 9th, and it’s the second event for which I’m training. In this case, I’m taking part in the 31 km Walk for Grace to benefit the Hospital for Sick Children. The walk is in honour of Grace Stanley, a little girl who went to Andrew’s preschool. Grace battled a very rare form of brain cancer, and, sadly, this walk is marking the first anniversary of Grace’s passing. Grace’s parents have devoted themselves tirelessly to raising money to benefit pediatric brain tumour research at Sick Kids, and this walk is one of the ways they are making it happen.

Through Grace and her courageous family, I’ve learned is that brain cancer is the number one leading cause of solid cancer death in children under 20. They are absolutely unpredictable (Grace had no family history of cancer), strike without warning and are devastating for the children and their families. The survival rate is shockingly low. (But really, isn’t anything other than a 100% survival rate too low?)

So I’m going to be pushing myself to my limit to do the 31K walk – one kilometer for every month of Grace’s life. I’ll be devoting my fundraising efforts to try and raise money for this walk. I’m sure I’ll be hitting up most friends and family members soon. For anyone else who wants to learn more about the walk, visit www.gracestanley.org.

And now, it’s back to the grind for another week. Work is fairly quiet (it will hopefully remain that way until September), so the boys and I will get some good “play” time in this week. Mike and I are also painting our concrete hole during the evenings this week (this is the final stage in the pool repairs that have been ongoing since we took possession of the house in May), and the goal is to have the pool up and running by the August long weekend. Can’t wait!

Happy trails…

Time is (not) on my side

As I sat down to write this entry, I started wondering if I am only doing it because it’s been more than two weeks since I last wrote anything. I guess that may be true, but how can I expect to write about my training if I don’t write about my training? I guess sometimes it’s hard to find things to talk about.

Basically, training has been progressing but perhaps not as much as I would like. I know my training schedule is a bit ambitious. I’m trying to run three times a week, spin twice a week and do strength training twice a week. That’s seven days right there, and who actually has time to train seven days a week? (Okay, I’m sure some people out there can, but they are few and far between.) The kids are home all summer – no preschool, no daycare, no summer camps – and keeping them amused is a full time job! I am still working, although I have cut back on taking a lot of assignments this summer to spend time with the kids.

What’s basically happened is that I’m really only getting out to run twice a week, instead of three times. I am doing more strength training than before, so hopefully that will make a difference. This week, I’m moving my runs up to 26 minutes. It’s a 10-and-1 schedule: walk for one minute, run for 10, walk for one, run for 10 and walk for one. But this week, going up to 26 minutes, I add another two minutes of running and one minute of walking to the end of the run. I don’t anticipate it will make much of a difference, since my cardio is fairly strong after a year of spinning classes.

One thing that does concern me, though, is the difference between working out indoors and outside. I find running outside so much harder than working out indoors (whether spinning, in an aerobics class or on the treadmill). In fact, I often feel immediately out of breath on my runs and it makes me feel like I’m totally out of shape. It gets better as I keep running and by the end of my short runs, I feel like I could keep going. But the beginning! I always feel like I’ve never done any physical activity before in my life.

It could be that I’m starting off too strong and it takes me a while to find my pace. I’m really not sure, so at some point it would be good to run with a partner to test that. I think I can go to one of the Running Room’s weekly runs on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed. What I should really do is just call and find out if my online clinic allows me to join these runs. (Let’s add another thing to the list!)

The other thing that’s really stressing me out is time. Where will I find the time to do all this? I know that, starting in September, I just won’t have time to do this ambitious plan of three runs, two spinning classes and two muscle classes a week. In fact, I’m not even sure if I can stay at my gym, because I won’t be able to go to most of the classes. The kids are going to be in school on different days and their schedules mean I won’t be able to make it all the way across town to the gym in time for the classes. I want to start 10K training in the fall, so I know my runs are going to be a lot longer, taking up more time. Plus, my big work contract starts in September, adding another element.

I know it may be a bit early to start worrying about this, but I’m such a planner it’s hard not to start thinking about it. Do I join a different gym? We’ve been thinking about joining the Y as a family, but it’s awfully pricey and would the Y’s schedule be any different? Plus, I love some of the instructors at my gym and the kids love the daycare there. Chris has been going to that daycare since he was four months old. We’re just so comfortable there!

I think a big part of the problem is that I have to scale back my expectations. I can’t do it all, no matter what I think. It may be that as my runs get longer, I have to cut back in other areas. Go to only one spinning class a week. Buy some free weights and learn some exercises I can do at home for strength training. I can even look in to hiring a trainer (which I probably can’t afford!) to keep up with strength training. (I’d love to hire Sue, the instructor at my gym, but she’s so good I know I can’t afford her rates!)

I guess there are always options no matter which way I decide to go. I need to be open to all the different options and not so tied to my current ‘routine’ that I can’t make some changes. I’m not a person who does well with change, but I’m sure I can be more adaptable.

And there’s lots of time to think about it all. I purposely cut back on work this summer in the hope I could get my life, my schedule, our house and the kids organized before our lives change so drastically in September. Andrew starts kindergarten, Chris starts pre-school and I take on my biggest job yet. Yes, September is full of changes, so what’s one more?

But for now, it’s only July, and I can keep on my usual track. For the next two weeks, Andrew has swimming lessons at 11 a.m., so we’ve been going to the gym at 9 a.m., then heading out to swimming right after that. I also want to get the kids’ clothes organized this week, do a big cleaning of the house, fit in a playdate, do some work for the preschool, make a couple of trips to the park and get started on an article I’m writing for a corporate client. It sounds like a lot when I write it all out, but for me, it’s actually a quiet week!

As for workouts, the plan this week was the “sweat and sculpt” class this morning (for strength and cardio), the muscle class tomorrow morning, run 26 minutes tomorrow night, spinning on Wednesday, running on the treadmill on Thursday (no sitter, and Mike has hockey at 7, so I don’t have time to run outside), spinning Friday and running outside on Saturday.

Now I’m off to continue with this week’s chores. We were hoping to go for a long bike ride/walk when Chris gets up from his nap, but the rain doesn’t seem to be letting up. (Okay, it’s not just a walk… I have to get flyers printed for the preschool, so we’re going over to the UPS store to get that done. But if we walk, Andrew can ride his bike and will think it is great fun – although if it’s still raining, we’re out of luck!)

Happy trails…

Hot or not?

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!