Bring on the Rub A535!

Today: Total Distance Covered (incl. warm-up, walk break, cool down) -- 10km
Total Distance Ran (approximately) 8.5 km


WOW! I feel fantastic -- but can now explain why, about 4 blocks from my house -- my arthritic ankle started making its presence known ----- My goal was to do 8km today --- in all reality I did 10!

Wow. I'm amazed myself. And I sense I'm going to FEEL IT TONIGHT.

It took me about 2-3 km to both warm up and get into my own pace --- which is good to know so that I don't freak out this time next week when things feel crappy to start with. Around 5k I started to hit my stride and did the next 2 intervals without even breathing all that heavily. Around the 8k mark (although I had NO idea at the time) -- I was starting to wear a little so I took an extra 5 minute walk break in the middle -- as it happened I was at the High Park zoo -- so I looked at the animals at the same time :)

After the zoo I did another 3 intervals out of the park and up High Park avenue -- at which point I elected to walk the rest of the way home to cool down more effectively.

Spent about 10 minutes stretching -- with my focus on my calves and hamstrings... and am now downing a bottle of water before I hop in the shower and then have breakfast!

I forgot to eat before this run, and didn't bring water -- both of which sucked. I was also slightly overdressed in my long sleeved running shirt and lycra pants. I think I'll wear the pants next weekend -- but I'm definately going to make a point of picking up a short-sleeved t-shirt. Or perhaps I'll wear my free one for the race :)

Okay -- going to hydrate, clean myself and eat! Then I'm going to slather my legs with RUB*A535 and probably take a nap!

New Watch! And a Short-Term Goal....

So.... inspired by last night's run --- and the promise of a SUPER fun event --- I went ahead and signed up for the Sporting Life 10k which happens next Sunday! Yikes! That's close! I can't believe I did this. Again to clarify --- my goal is to finish, not to win. I'm going to attempt to do it in 1 hour 10 minutes --- which is a SLOW pace, but is pretty close to my goal pace for the half marathon. We'll see -- if I come in at 1:15 I won't be upset at all.

Basically -- this race will get me a free t-shirt, my FIRST running medal, AND it'll be my very first chip-timed event. It's also straight down Yonge Street -- which means that it's covering about half of the same distance as the Toronto 1/2 Marathon -- which will be good experience I think.

Hahaha -- it just occured to me that I'm doing an "experience" run for my "experience" run for the full Marathon :P hahahha -- honestly, I just like the thought of medals.


So I've been using the excuse of having no watch to time my intervals as an excuse to skip practice runs for too long now ---- Today I went by my local Running Room, spoke with Kathryn - who's also my new boss (although I haven't started working yet!) and using the staff discount came out hooked up with a stylish and totally useful watch!

It's pretty -- Pearlescent baby-blue and Grey --- and has all the functions I need, plus more!

Best of all -- with my staff discount I got this little baby at about 30% off!!!!! Sweet deal! ALL of my Running Room wages are SO going directly back into the store!

Feelin' good tonight :)

Just call me Wheezy....

Wow -- now I know why they tell you not to skip runs.

Before tonight I hadn't ran since last weekend -- I was just honestly feeling like crap and couldn't get motivated.

I remembered quickly why skipping runs is a BAAAAD idea though -- aside from the 4 lbs I gained this week --- I was WHEEZING during my warm up jog down to meet my run buddy today!

All in all though -- between going down to meet her, and coming back home --- I did about 6.3 km today -- which is actually pretty good! It took about 45 minutes or so -- which isn't great for time, but that's alright. 6.3km is getting closer to 10! Which of course leads us even closer to 20!

Today we were running at a 6:1 pace --- we did that for 25 minutes total -- the other 20 minutes were the time it took for me to get down to meet her and the time it took to get home -- not too bad actually.

On Monday we jump up to 8:1's which should be interesting. I'd actually like to do maybe 10km or so this weekend at a slow 5:1 pace ----- but we'll see how it goes, my running buddy isn't up for it yet and I'm not sure I want to do it alone.

All in all though -- good run! My joints are a little sore and angry at the time I took off, but that's alright.

Owiiiiiie!

Did about 4.75 km this morning --- IN THE DRIZZLING RAIN!

Today I learned that SORE NIPPLES SUCK! Because it was so cold I had a pair of raging nip-ons by about halfway through the run ---- which in turn became chafing nipples against my cold, damp, sports bra. Talk about painful!

I'm going to hop in the shower now to hopefully thaw out my poor nipples. Otherwise am feeling awesome though -- no soreness or problems to report.

I am the laziest 1/2-marathoner I know!

...okay, I'm really the ONLY half-marathoner I know.

I've had a lazy lazy week filled with bad food, no sleep, and even a Wednesday night smoke :P (Yes - the cigarette tasted SO good -- my first in 3 months -- but I'm still feeling the effects today! Yuck!). Oh -- I forgot to mention that I didn't get any exercise in their either! Not since Monday anyways.....

So it's Friday now -- I'm at home. I think I'm going to do some strip-tease aerobics later on, just to feel like I'm doing something to counter the 2000 calories I've eaten today!

I made arrangements for some super-exercise tomorrow though -- at 9:30 I'm going to meet Jill, my running buddy, at the park for a morning run -- then there's driving school from 11-1, and then SWORDFIGHTING class at 2pm! So exciting, all sorts of exercise happening tomorrow - which is good because tomorrow night is a party that will inevitably lead to lots of drinks!

I'll post later in the afternoon tomorrow to update on my sore muscles.

A skeleton with a Condom on its Head.

A couple of months ago I came across a quote that said that one of the famous coaches for distance runners said that he wanted his team to look like "Skeletons with Condoms on their Heads" (not the exact quote). I mentioned this to a friend who also gets a fair amount of exercise and we laughed.

This is my goal.

The great thing with distance running is that it doesn't really bulk you up. I kickstarted my weightloss by running again -- which was awesome.

Lately though, I've been eating like a FIEND. It's been stress, and PMS, that's been getting me -- and while I'm not gaining weight (because I run) -- I'm not losing anymore either -- which annoys me.

Tomorrow I want to get back on track. I'm going to go vegetarian for a week or so I think -- just to regain control of my foods and stuff....

My friend says that I'm going to waste away if I don't start lifting weights to counter the loss of muscle tissue that comes with endurance running (not that I'm there yet -- but eventually) ----- me, I'm not ready yet. I want to be long and lean before I purposely begin to bulk up again.

Tomorrow I'm going to run a short 3k in the morning when I get up. Hopefully that will kickstart the plan again.

*gasp* 5:1's almost killed me tonight -- was going great until the last 200m or so when I got a KILLLER rib cramp....... it was awful.

Sometimes I really doubt if I'm going to be able to finish the half or not. Sometimes I think I'm going to end up WALKING the last 10k of it or something rediculous like that.......

Monday, Monday...

So I made the valient attempt to get out for 7k on Saturday ---- but it was hot, and my unicycling friend had ridden 40km already this morning, so we basically ran half a km, and walked about 6 ---- at least we got some exercise. We also got to see some animals and ate ice cream.

Tonight is my run club. We're doing 5 minutes run per 1 minute walk ---- we'll probably do about 5km tonight or so.

I have to really start training a little harder. I think I'm going to sign up for a 10km clinic in june -- that will probably kick me into high gear.

Good Friday ---

I'm debating on whether or not I want to run today...

Yesterday I ran/jogged/walked about 5.5km -- and the day before we did about 4k in the pouring rain with the run club. My head is telling me to take the day off, but I sort of want to push myself a little bit.

I may take the day off running today -- but do some yoga or something instead -- maybe I'll go find a drop-in class tomorrow or something.

I was STARVING after my run last night, and ended up at my favourite restaurant with some great friends. Had been planning to take it easy and eat salad, but I was STARVED, so ended up with sweet potato fries and a wrap! It was super good -- and I'm still full.

I do have to walk down to my Running Room today to drop off some paperwork --- I need a new watch too so maybe I'll pick one up then... we'll see.

Well -- here we have the Intro post........

This is my training blog for the Toronto Half-Marathon --- October 16, 2006.

I registered officially yesterday - after many months of "thinking about it" --- so there's no backing down now....

The title of this blog - 2-2-21-point-1 stands for the fact that over the next six months I'll be building my running endurance from 2km to the full 21.1 km length of the half marathon.

Why am I doing this? Basically, I'm doing this as a stepping stone --- In January, in the midst of a whole lot of personal turmoil and reassessment I made it my goal to run a Marathon in 2007. The half-marathon this year is being used as an interim goal --- one that will give me both the experience needed to finish the full, as well as give me a sense of accomplishment before the winter running season starts.

How am I training?
Well -- in March I joined the Running Room's Learn to Run clinic -- and from there we're been building. Right now I'm running pretty slowly -- but every week I see the distance and speed improve a little!

The clinic wraps up in may -- and if all things are okay I'm going to jump right into the 10k clinic from there, and from the 10k to the half-marathon clinic. There's a good chance that my schedule won't allow for either, or both, of the 10k or half clinics ------ So I'm going probably have to train on my own for a bit. In preparation for that I've started reading what I can, and learning more about running and all associated with it.

This is sort of fun for me -- it's a new challenge that makes me feel great and lets me learn a new skill. I've picked up a part-time job at my local Running Room to keep me motivated :)

Okay -- that's it. I'm tired, and this post isn't terribly well written so I'm going to stop :P

Onward and Upwards!