Simply Short

I've come to appreciate that I like to dedicate 1 hour to a run + 30minutes for post-run necessities (shower, food, etc.). This doesn't mean I actually run for an hour. This means I like at least an hour for warm-up, cool down, walking breaks, etc.
I realized that this morning when I got up. I had been planning to go for a run, and then I looked at how much time I had before Russell and I had to leave for another engagement...1 hour and 15 minutes. So if I needed the full 30minutes for post-run necessities, that left 45 minutes for the actual run.
Hmm, I told myself. That's not a lot of time. And then I told myself, don't be silly! Just go out and do something short.
So I got myself and the dog up and ready and off we went. I admit, it was a bit disappointing. I allotted myself 20 minutes of running time. Then there's warm-up, cool-down, dog-poop-pick-up, and dog-being-bratty time added onto the list. We made the 20 minutes. It wasn't fast, it wasn't a tough work-out. I didn't have any real sense of I DID IT. But some days, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Mmmh...cookies! Time for some cookie dough.

To Mom, Love Brizzy

A letter from Brizzy (translated from Bark and possibly slightly anthropomorphized):

Dear Mom,

You’re weird. What is it with this ‘Jog’ command? You go too fast for me to sniff all the p-mail in the neighbourhood and too slow to really stretch the legs. You don’t chase balls. You don’t even chase birds. And then you start telling me numbers. “3 more minutes, then you can have a sniff break.” I’m a dog mom! Numbers don’t exist. Unless I’m counting how many treats you give me. You may not believe me, but it’s true. I count treats every time you give them to me and they number Not Enough.

But back to this Jog business. I don’t think you really know what you’re doing. You make it so complicated. Let me simplify it for you:

Chase the bird! Chase the ball! Chase the ----oooooh! Why hello to you too, 3 year old Bailey. Thank you for the p-mail. Allow me to respond in kind.

Don’t feel too bad, Mom. Just follow me and I’ll show you how it’s done. Try to keep up, please. And throw more balls. They’re motivating!

Love,

Brizzy

Healthy-ish

Another sprint interval day. The ground was wet, but the heart (and dog) were both willing. I structured it more this time: 10x 1min sprints with a 1min break between I sort of wish I lived near a hilly park! I do love my hills. I didn’t time myself, I didn’t try to ensure my last sprint was as fast as my first sprint. It was about giving me and my pup some fitness challenges in the morning. Note to self: my back is getting worse in terms of tightness, but my pants haven’t shrunk any more. I should probably lay off the cookie dough, though. It couldn’t hurt to add some healthy-ish eating to my running regime, right?

Stop Stopping

Run #2 had a simple goal: 30 minutes without stopping for a walk break. I brought a stopwatch, but not my Garmin. Which meant I could track my time but not my pace. I set off to explore the community. I wandered here, wandered there, ran around a park, ran around it again. Ran around the community and somehow found myself at the same park again, so ran it a third time. It wasn’t a riveting run. It wasn’t a strenuous run. It was just a run. I can’t remember the last time I’ve run 30 minutes non-stop! I know my pace slowed as my lack of fitness took over. I’m sure if I had tracked my distance I would shake my head in self-disdain at my slowness. But that’s all negative self- talk. On the positive side; I ran for 30 minutes. Even when I got tired, even when I got bored, even when I wanted to stop. I ran. For that I would like to thank all my amazingly fit Facebook friends. After seeing so many goals achieved and races run, I was starting to feel that I was missing out on life and just reading it through other people’s lives. I kept seeing pics of people going for a bike ride and thought, “I’d like to do that.” And others showing off their hard-earned finishers medals and thought “I’d like to do that, too.” And then I thought, “well, why aren’t I doing that? What’s stopping me?” The answer was simple: me. I was stopping myself. So now it’s time to stop stopping myself. Easier said than done.

The First "Mrs" Run

In the past couple of months I’ve quit my amazing job, gotten married, moved to a new city, and started a new job. Now, I’m not saying the word ‘excuses’ but I might think it loudly to myself! But despite the lack of running in my routine, I happened to be a very lucky bride! Between a decreased appetite from stress, weight-lifting twice a week with one of my awesome bridesmaids, and walking an energetic dog, I was a bride that somehow lost weight before the wedding without really going to any effort. Every time I put on my work pants I found I had magically shrunk a little bit more. I say this easily from behind my computer screen where no one can claw my eyes out from jealousy.

But then the honeymoon came, and the loneliness of moving to a city where I knew nobody, and my new husband was working crazy hours, and I didn’t have any workout buddies and…well, let’s just say I may never again be at the size I was on my wedding day. And I’m okay with that! But that doesn’t mean I want to lose all the valuable gains I’ve made the past few months. So, a tightening of pants combined with a rather stiff and painful back made me decide it was time to reinitiate my running.

How I miss running with buddies! But running groups in Fort Mac seem hard to come by, so I decided to start with the easiest running buddy I had available: Brizzy.

We started in one of those ‘unofficial’ off-leash parks near the house. I went out there with no watch, no set plan. Actually, I wasn’t planning to run at all when I stepped outside. But I found myself in my running clothes and just thought, why not? I decided on sprint intervals. I picked a bush in the distance and rant to it, then walked to recover. After a minute or so I picked another bush and ran to that one. My goal was not to achieve a disciplined training session. My goal was just to run. Run for the cost-effectiveness of not buying new pants, and run for the health benefits of mobilizing my back. Brizzy, of course, ran right with me joyfully. Okay, he trotted beside me wondering why his poor human was lurching around so slowly, but he seemed proud that I was joining him in one of his favourite activities, even if I wasn’t chasing a ball.

Teach a Dog to Run

Day 3. (Yes, I'm aware I missed blogging about Day 2!)
We're slowly progressing. Today we ran 3x 10 minutes. The first 3 minutes in were a disaster. Brizzy was so over-joyed at being out running he was leaping and biting and tugging at his leash in his exuberance. Running is not for the exuberant! At least, it's not for exuberant dogs.
But after the first three minutes he really settled in. I was glad there weren't too many other runners out in the morning, as I was constantly saying, "Good jog, Brizzy! Good jog." Sometimes followed by "No!" and "Drop it!".
I think he's starting to get the concept, and we had a nice run after those first few minutes of frustration on both sides.

I still take 3 minute breaks in between my running sets to let him sniff and do doggy things. We're progressing fairly well, and my next step may be to move to 2x 15 minutes. I admit I'm also enjoying it more and more. The only thing that is still hard on me is how cold it is. I learned to run in the heat of Brisbane, and I really miss it on these cold Calgary days. This morning my thermometer read -2C. Brrr! I know some runners who thrive on cold weather running (and wouldn't even call this 'cold'). But I prefer my balmy 15C+. Bring on summer!

"Jog!"

This is it. Day 1 of officially teaching the pup how to run with me. As in really run with me. Right now he thinks running = bite on the leash and wrestle it in exuberance. Or chasing things. Like a ball or a rabbit. Or running away because he knows I saw he has a sock in his mouth and darned if he’s going to give such a delectable delight up so easily!

This morning I brought with me a pocket full of treats. We started with a nice easy walk, then I gave the command “Jog!” and set off. Having never heard that command from me before, I wasn’t expecting much.

I broke down the run into 3x 5 minutes, allowing walk breaks in between for him to be a dog and sniff out the p-mail. While Brizzy has boundless energy, normally he associates running with chasing things, or play, and has not had much opportunity in trotting beside me on a short leash. The first 5 minutes were a disaster, with me constantly saying, “No!” and making various loud angry noises to interrupt his violent mauling of the leash. Then we’d stop, I’d make him sit, say “Jog!”, and off we’d go. At least for another 2 seconds before the whole thing started again.

 "Yes, Mom! I'd LOVE to come for a run! I'm vibrating with energy at the thought!"

The second 5 minutes were much better! We got through the entire thing without a hitch, and it gave me hope. He was bright and attentive. It might have helped that I had shown him the treats in my hand and was occasionally reaching down to give him a little treat as we ran.

False hope. The third set of 5 minutes proved too much, between rabbits and other dogs and the tempting leash dangling before his mouth, I can’t say I got any quality running in. But here’s hoping I’ll make a running dog out of him yet! With all the energy he has, I’m seeing some 5k’s coming down the pipes. But not tomorrow, and not next week. I didn’t learn to run 5k in one go, so I can’t exactly have the same expectations for him.

Still, I have the warm fuzzy feeling that this is going to be the start of a beautiful new running friendship. Kind of like the feeling I get when I buy a new pair of running shoes.