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!

Done & Dusted

When my friend texted me this afternoon to ask me to go for a 12k run, I considered my options. I was tired and had been planning to stay inside out of the freezing wind. Maybe catch the hockey game.
So of course I quickly texted back with a suggested time we meet. What else does one do on a Saturday evening after all? Sure, Flames are in the playoffs. But hockey schmockey...this is running. With one of the coolest gals I know. How could I resist?

It was one of the easiest runs I've done in a long time, even though distance-wise I think this is the longest run I've done this year. But running with a good friend does that. There is so much to talk about and before you know it you've gone the 12k and 1hr 16min has passed and you really can't believe you were running so fast (that time includes our 3 x 1min walking breaks) and never felt fatigued.

My benchmark for fitness can be measured by 2 different things:
1. When I run consistent (aka 3+) 1k repeats under 4.50min
2. When 12k feels easy

I guess I've reached that latter benchmark this year! With time, I feel confident I'll reach the former again as well.

But for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of the evening on my runner's high. And look at that...I have time to watch that hockey game and be a proper Canadian.

Country Jaunt

Last weekend I had a run out in the country. It was a nice change-up.
I was a little nervous at the start, because I remember the last time I ran in a rural area, I got chased by a lot of territorial dogs that owners let roam free. I love dogs. I just don't love territorial, uncontrolled dogs who may or may not decide to bite me.
My other concern was for moose. I knew moose were in the area (I'd seen a calf the day before), and I really didn't have any desire to get up close and personal with any during my run.
And then there was the "don't get lost" factor of running in a new area.

So I kept it boring. Straight down one road for 4k and then straight back. It was icy cold, but manageable.
No dogs, which was great. I did startle a herd of deer crossing the road. Deer are fine. Deer are not moose!
I ran past horses and across a train track. Wouldn't it be funny, I thought, if a train came by and trap me on the wrong side? As it turns out, one did come along! But I had just squeaked onto the homeward side of the tracks so it was all good.

Total distance: 8k
Total time: irrelevant

Wardrobe Misjudgement

On Saturday morning I decided it was time for another run. I really miss my 1k repeats, so I thought they would be a good choice. As it was cold out, I put on a pair of long pants and a light jacket. Then, off I went. My aim was to get in 4 solid 1k repeats...maybe 5, if I was feeling strong.

It became clear to me within the first 50m that I had not chosen my pants wisely. They were comfy yoga pants that were by now a few years old, and the elastic had lost a bit of stretch. Good enough for a walk or everyday things, but when doing a fast 1k, I regretted the choice in wardrobe.

Lucky it was bright and early in the morning and no one else was awake! As it was, I spent most of the km ensuring that my pants stayed covering my butt. During my recovery, I wisely tucked my shirt in to try and bulk my waist up a bit so the elastic would hold better. I wished a bit for safety pins.
Total time: 5.02min (yes, this is significantly slower than my normal 1k repeats. I will get back there! I WILL get back there!)

Then I started my second km repeat. My pants were holding up (better), when my shoelaces came undone. Gaaa! Fortunately it was only in the last few metres, so I waited until the next recovery to re-tie my laces, re-tuck in my t-shirt, and re-pull up my pants.
Total time: 4.57min (on the right end of the 5-min marker, but still much room for improvement)

The third km repeat my shoelaces stayed tied, and my pants stayed on (with extra help needed).
Total time: 5.04min (siiiigh)

I was not only unfit, but the cars and people were starting to come out and I was rather sick of having to constantly pull up my pants in the middle of my run. So I called it a day.

Note to self: get better pants to run in!
Double note to self: do more 1k repeats to get back to previous fitness level!

Marathon of Hope

There is one runner who - in my opinion - stands in a class of their own. I'm talking of course, about Canadian icon Terry Fox.

Terry Fox is a man who left a legacy that inspires us all. So when I found out that today was the Marathon of Hope, I jumped on board and signed up. It's not an organized race, or even a marathon. It's just a bunch of people committing to run a certain distance in memory of this great man and what he stood for.

There were officially 1k, 5k, or 10k distances. But you could also commit to running any distance you wanted.

I opted for 10k. The day was sunny (but eesh, what a cold northern wind!) and the group smiling. I went out with the 10k group who were only running 8k, so I planned to add an extra couple of k's on at the end. Fortunately for me, one of the other gals was in the same mindset, so off we went. The last few km's went quickly. Tough, but quickly since I was trying to keep up with my running buddy.

Two days of running in a row...hooray! I'm starting to find my feet again. And the running shoes feel great.

And throughout the entire run today, tickling at the back of my mind were thoughts of Terry Fox. He may not have won any races, but he won over a nation.

I admire the speedy runners and envy them (gaa! How can I get faster???). But my favourite thing about my fellow runners? Their strength of character. Every one has a story. But few are quite so well known as that of Terry Fox.

Push Challenge Post-Testing

As I may have mentioned, one of my running friends and I took part in a 3-month fitness challenge at our local gym. It got us out training twice a week lifting weights. Weight training is good for runners, after all. Or so I keep hearing.
I was minimalistic (to say the least) about running this spring, but I did go to the gym faithfully to meet up with my friend and lift weights with the help of a fantastic personal trainer. I don't think I could have done this on my own, but having a friend there with me was fantastic.

What does this have to do with running? Well, as part of the "testing" we did a pre-challenge 3k time trial and a post-challenge 3k time trial. I was curious to see if my times would improve just by doing the weight training. Okay, I was planning to run as well, but that didn't seem to happen as much as it should have.

Having done weight training before Christmas with another friend and skiing throughout winter, I had thought myself in fairly good condition.

Pre-test 3k: 18.27min
Post-test 3k: 15.28min

I was a bit surprised. 3 minutes off my time is not too bad. Not great, but not terrible either. My pass was exactly 1min faster per km. With 5 laps around the track to a km, that's 10 seconds faster on each lap.

I did meet my goal time, in a way. Although I had been really hoping for a sub-5min pace, I knew that wasn't in the cards due to my lack of running fitness. But, I thought, if I can run a sub-15.45min pace, I would be okay with that. And so I set myself up from the start to do 1.02min per each lap (15 laps in a 3k). And while some laps I was a little slower and some laps I was a little faster, that's the pace I kept up the entire time. I was hoping I could speed up the last km of the run, and I was able to do so just a wee bit.

There's one thing to be said...I really miss the training I did in Australia. Every Tuesday we'd do repeats between 800m-3k. It made for a tough morning, but I loved every minute of it...in a love/hate sort of way.

PS - for interest sake, that wasn't the only part to the challenge. My before/after results for the other aspects are as follows:

Wall sit: 1:12 / 4:04
Plank hold: 1:06 / 3:11
Supine back row: 8 / 13
Triple jump distance: 13.8ft / 17.2 ft (why they felt the need to use the archaic Imperial system for this is beyond me)
8kg medicine ball throw:  142 inches / 151 inches (again, Imperial system?!)

Some of these felt a bit meaningless. The run was important for me. But how far can I jump 3 times in a row? How far I can throw an 8kg weight? In what world would that be important?