Dry Run

I like cake. And cookies. And lots of other goodies! Why yes, I will have my cake and eat it too, thank you.

It's a bit the same with exercise.

So when I was tossing up between a run and a hike, I thought, why not both?
I thought about joining the group, but the later start time (8.30am) plus the knowledge that they were doing a long slow run energized me to go earlier on my own. Plus, I really haven't done much training for my 10k and I thought a "dry run" (heh heh heh) wouldn't be a bad idea. I didn't run the course...I just wanted to run a 10k steady run and see what pace I could keep. Nothing kicks me out the door faster than the knowledge of an impending race I haven't trained for!

Instead of a 10k, I ended up doing a 60min run, which amounted to just over 10.5k. Super happy I can still do 10k in sub-60! (I think I did it in around 56.45min).

On to the hike! It was a gorgeous day and I was looking forward to getting out to the mountains...

Happy May Long Weekend, Canada! The day that every Canadian breathes a sigh of relief that winter is over *ahem*.

Whoops! Clearly not the hiking conditions I was hoping for. Well, you can't win them all!

Who Wants to Play?

"Do a fartlek," they said. "It'll be fun," they said.
Okay, so no one told me to do a fartlek, but I'm pretty sure I've been told that "fartlek" translates into "play". And who doesn't like to play? But then I realized, I'm a person who prefers to play with others. Playing by myself just isn't the same.
So while it was a short run today, I thought some play was in order. I did a 20min fartlek, with added warm-up/cool down time.
The first 5min I had a great rhythm: run-jog-run-jog-run-jog
The next 5min felt tougher, so I changed up my rhythm: run-jog-run-walk-run-jog-run-walk...
The last 10min I was done. My sprints were not quite so speedy, so I increased my recovery time: run-walk-run-walk-run-walk

Was it a great workout? No.
     Was it a fun workout? Not particularly.
          Was it a wasted workout? Never!

...when you only are running 1-2x/week, there is no such thing as a wasted workout! But maybe next time I do a fartlek, I'll find someone else to play with!

That Secret Feeling

There's something special about working out first thing in the morning. Sure, you bemoan your choice as soon as your alarm clock rings, but then you go out and "get 'er done". If I wait exercise until the afternoon, I am quite creative in spending the whole day developing the perfect excuse as to why I can't go. (Usually all that creativity is summed up into the 4 words: "I don't want to.")

But first thing my fuzzy brain doesn't have time to make excuses. So up I get and out I go.

I didn't have a plan when I got up. I just knew I had to run something. So I got out and after my 1k warm-up I decided to do a 5k tempo run - the one I'd meant to do last week but was sitting heavy on cookies.

I wasn't sure how I'd go, since it's been so long since my last tempo run. I was hoping for split times under 5.40, and I was hoping for consistency across all 5k.

Goals achieved! My split times were between 5.29-5.34 with the exception of my last km, which was 5.21. But that's okay! I meant it to be faster. Not "sprint" faster just "push" faster.

I tricked myself by promising 4k. Then as I neared 4k, I told myself I didn't have to go to 5k...I could do a time goal (e.g.: 25min). But when all was said and done, I made it to my 5k.

And the rest of the day I got to carry that secret feeling around. That secret feeling you get when you've worked out hard and your body is thanking you. Not to be mistaken for working out so hard that the sight of a stair ahead makes you want to cry, but the good-hard feeling when you spend the rest of your day surfing on the endorphins. Why yes, today is going to be a great day.

There's Something Green in that Sea of Red*

I had a Chicken vs Egg question at the start of my run Tuesday night: Do I eat cake because I run, or do I run because I eat cake? (And yes, I may have been eating this while running with a big piece of undigested cake sitting in my stomach. It's called grocery shopping when you're hungry!).

Or maybe it's like they teach in high school science: correlation does not equal causation.
[I have deleted all snarly comments I initially made here as this is a blog about running slowly...not about politics!]

Regardless the philosophical answer, I ate cake and I went for a run in the same day. I could tell you from past - and likely future - experience that this is not a good idea!

My initial plan was 1k warm-up, 5k tempo, 1k cool down. I couldn't shake the stitch in my side for the entire warm-up, so I knew things wouldn't go well. 500m into my "tempo", I realized I was being stupid as I struggled to fight the pain of the stitch in order to keep my theoretical tempo pace.
So I slowed down and went by effort, not numbers.

At the 2k mark, things got super interesting super fast. I discovered a newly opened pathway near my house! It's a gorgeous river pathway that was closed all last summer. I don't know when it opened, but I got to explore it today.

I did the full loop, curious to see what the distance would be (good for future reference, after all!). The way back took me past the Saddledome. At 7pm. With the Flames having a home game tonight in the playoffs. Yes, I did think it through before I looped around through the grounds. In all honesty, I was curious not just to measure the distance of the loop, but also to see the tailgate parties going on.

In my bright green racing cap - yes, I'm sure you all know the one by now! - I ran past all the people walking to the game. I ran past the vendors, and the music, and the food carts. And then I passed through that centre point and things started to get a bit more complicated, as I was moving decidedly against the foot traffic.

I felt like a small green fish swimming against a sea of slow-moving salmon. But eventually I swam away from the crowd altogether and back to my little fish-nest.

Total distance: 7.2km


*For my non-Calgary friends who don't get this reference, the "Sea of Red" or "Red Mile" is the nickname when the Calgary Flames (hockey team) are playing in the playoffs and everyone dresses up in hockey jerseys (or Where's Waldo costumes) in support on game nights.

Overzealous

I took a friend on his first run the other day. I love taking newbies out and sharing my passion for the sport! I got a little overzealous, though. I promised 20 minutes of 1:2 ratio for minutes of running versus walking. (For the non-mathematicians, this would equate to about 7min of running total)
9 minutes into our 1:2 ratio I decided he was breathing great so cut down the ratio 1:1 (I did check to see if it was okay!).
At the 10 minute mark I should have turned us around. I really, really should have. But the day was so lovely and I was having such a great time, I couldn't help but keep going.
At 25 min I broke the news that we had passed 20 minutes already.
"Why not just go to 30 minutes?" I reasoned. "30 minutes is a nice, round number to reach!"
I did manage to stop us at 30 minutes. I promise, I really did!
So our first run plan of 20 minutes with a 1:2 ratio became 10 minutes of a 1:2 ratio + 20 minutes of a 1:1 ratio (total running time: 13min, which was almost double my original suggestion). Whoops! Next time I will need to reign in my excitement a bit more!