HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Notice the new addition to the links ---> That's right, I'm stuf on the NYC Marathon for 2007. Call it my new found love affair with New York - it'll happen. I'm thinking that because there's no way I'll be able to run the 8 qualifying races this year in NYC that guarentee's entry - so I have 3 choices otherwise:

1. Do the Lottery thing and pray that I get in.
2. Buy guarenteed entry through a tour-company.
3. Run for a charity.

I'm thinking I'll pick the third option, it seems like the best one. I'm just waiting now to see which charities are approved for this event to contact one.

Otherwise, I went out for my first run of the New Year today. 5km. It started off well, my ipod wasn't charged so I was running without aid today. The first 2 1/2 km were FAST, and I slowed down alot for the last 2 1/2. Judging by today my lactic acid threshold and my cardio fitness level needs some work. My muscle tone actually isn't terrible, a little squishier than I'd like, but it has been worse going back in the past.

My plan is to do about 7km tomorrow morning, hopefully down by the lake. I'm also going to do some Yoga & Ballet today to improve my muscle tone a little.

I'm having surgery this coming Thursday, which is going to put me back further. I've been advised not to do ANY excercise for two weeks --- though I think I'll make it a week, depending on how I feel. That said though, the Chilly Half Marathon is slipping further and further away from me....

So Sonia, Kayla -- and all the rest of my running buddies. I'm not holding on to that one at this point. Yes, I realize I ran Toronto after being deathly ill for two weeks prior, but I had been training all summer for it -- I'm starting to realize that for the Chilly Half I may just have to be "last 5k runner" for those of you competing. We'll see though. If I can do a decent (read: 1 hour 30 minute) 15 km run by February 1 then it might happen afterall.

It's been awhile my friend...

So it's been a long while since I've posted --- it's safe to assume 3 things about that time:

1. I did minimal exercise (true)
2. I gained between 5-10 lbs (also true, though I think as of today I'm only up 5lbs)
3. I went soft in all the wrong places (true)

BUT...

I'm officially on holidays now, and I've come to the place of X-mas (hint - it is much colder and has a foot of snow to Toronto's 4 degrees and greenery). I've come armed with 2 technical tees, two long sleeved technical tees, 1 pair of lycra pants, 1 pair of thermal running tights, 1 pair of Brooks Adreneline's (Size 9.5), an assortment of fleece hats, gloves, scarves, and a pair of double layer CoolMax socks (only because I could only find one pair!).

I even got up this morning and god out for my first run in the snow EVER! And it didn't even suck!

I went about 3.8km (a slow 30minutes) - exploring strange blocks. I was warm, it was awesome. -10 degrees out and I wasn't even cold - All I can say is -- thermal tights rock!

I love warm weather!

So the 8 lbs I had regained is now down to my being up 4.5 lbs --- Thank G-d!

I woke up this morning with noticably less belly -- which is going great things for my confidence this morning --- and is excellent ratification for NOT going out for that pizza last night!

Okay -- so yesterday morning I ran 4km in the sunshine -- that wasn't too bad. Today I've got a pretty little 6km route mapped out that I'm going to force myself run in 10:1's. Tomorrow I have 7km with my running group, which puts me back on track with my half-schedule.

I'm still not in great shape --- but it's getting there slowly, I'm hoping to be back in good form by mid-December ------ and for me good form means back to my "preferred" weight, and not feeling like I'm going to die on every run.

I also need to push my lactic acid threshold a little...but I think come december I'm going to make more of an effort to get into the gym ----- I really do think elliptical work helped me tackle those hills back when I used to hit the gym 3 days a week and run as well.

That's it. The weather's calling for 11 degrees today, and all the way through until Wednesday! I LOVE THAT!

(Sonia -- you can save your ass-kicking for the minus 5-20 degree weather!)

Sunshine makes me happy!

YAY! 7 degrees outside makes for fun times on the run!

Seriously. I'm a little out of shape. I've been stressed, gaining weight, and not doing nearly enough exercise lately. It took me awhile to come to terms with the fact that I'm actually OUT OF SHAPE ----- mostly I just thought I was lazy.

So yeah, this little recognition comes along with a gameplan. I'm taking tonight off from my running clinic (mostly to finish a term paper) -- but today I ran a few km this morning, and will again tonight if I need a break. I'm going to dedicate this week to getting comfortable with shorter distances again --- and go out for the 8:30am group run on Sunday morning.

Really though -- I'm happy with running today because the weather's supposed to be awesome for the rest of the week :)

Yay sunshine!

Well --- if Sonia said so......

A Quote From Sonia :
"Don't give up lady!!! And you're not canning the half-marathon! I'm gonna be there with my newfie and we're all gonna run like a happy family!! lolAnd yes, it's hard for everybody... this weather is just so so GROSS!!! I wish I could stay in drinking a hot latte and watching tv under a blanket all day... unfortunately life goes on... there are races to race and we will do it!! Get use to it!!... ... ... I don't want to come out too harsh... just a gentle kick in the butt :P "


So. It's been said. Me, Sonia, her newfie, Kayla (and Andrew?) and possibly a handful of people from the half-marathon clinic I may just quit --- will be running the Chilly Half like a big, giant, happy family. And then we will all eat bananas and chilli after. Sonia kicked my ass into recommitting to it!

Seriously, I read this comment this morning and it made me laugh... but it also motivated me not to give up just yet. We'll see -- I need to rethink the running clinic thing. It's good because it gets me out there, bad because it means there's a constant pressure to keep up with a competitive group. That and last Wednesday's run re-aggrevated my old hip injury..... so I don't want to keep doing it if I'm just going to get hurt.

But yes ---- not giving up yet! Though I'll probably need Sonia to kick my ass 4-5 more times before the actual race :P

BAH!

Officially the first REALLY bad run I've had in a LONG time.

I went out with the intention of doing an easy 10k. It's 1 degree celcius outside, but I was dressed to run in it.

The first 4km weren't so bad, but I was moving pretty slow --- but things quickly went downhill from there. By the end I was walking, cold, and ended up getting on the bus to come home.

I keep telling myself it was just a bad run, and they happen --- but my motivation is lagging some. I can't imagine feeling fantastic running outside in the dead of January.

I have ALOT of cross-training scheduled for this winter - tennis, ballet, not to mention gym work. After today's bad run I'm honestly thinking of canning the Chilly Half and training indoors all winter where I'll be warm and happy.

I miss those Spring mornings when I would wake up at 6:30 am totally psyched to get down to the Lake and be in the sunshine....... why can't all running be like that?

Oh -- hello Half-Marathon Training..... I haven't missed you.

Bah! First day of the half-marathon clinic tonight.

I remember now why I stopped running with the groups, I'm just not competitive when I run, that's not WHY I do it. We ran a 3km warmup tonight followed by a mile for which they were going to time us in order to get into pace-groups.

Now.... on a GOOD day it takes me 4-5km to really warm up and get into it, today was no different. My preference is to start super slow, basically to ease into the run. This is part of the reason I love long runs --- there's no pressure to do it fast, you can start slow - warm up slowly - just go with the flow. This is also why I skipped alot of the short runs when I was training for Toronto.

So tonight I started running, and did pretty good - considering. I was 2km into a brisk tempo run when I realized that I was a> running cold and b> there was no immediate plan for a walk break (I usually take a short walk break every 5 minutes or so for the first couple of km) -- at about 2.5km I stopped to walk for a minute. At 3km I was in relatively decent shape.

We stopped at the 3km mark to line up for the mile-time run. This time I vowed to do it at MY pace --- there's no point in an inflated mile-time --- So I ran at the back at a comfortable pace, and another girl fell in with me, she seemed grateful that I made that move. We ran the whole mile at a steady pace at the back of the pack - chatting, then low and behold - THE GROUP DIDN'T WAIT FOR US! They literally turned and left about 30 seconds before we got to the end! I don't even think they realized they had left us!

So I guesstimate my mile time was around 10minute to about 10:30 --- who knows. *shrug*

My hips hurt, as do my ankles. Part of this is because I was in new shoes tonight (my flashy metallic blue Adrenelines!) - part of it is because I was pushing too hard to keep up to a group I can't keep up with on my best day.

We'll see ---- my goal for the Chilly Half is 2:15:00 -- IF I am 100% healthy on the day of the race. I think in order to be able to train through for this race I'm going to have to keep running primarily on my own --- I liked running with the girl I met tonight, but I can't take the competition week after week.