Tip Tuesday

Tell key people in your life you're running.  When people you see regularly - coworkers, your hairdresser, your mother-in-law - know that you've committed to a race, they'll ask you about it and keep you accountable. 

And that my friend is one of the reasons we started a blog.

5 DAYS until race day!

Tip Tuesday

It's not uncommon to feel some anxiety about completing a new distance.  Counter negative thoughts with a positive mantra, such as "I can do this" or "I am strong."  Focus only on the time remaining until the next walk break.

ALONE (Part 2)

As you know I went home for the long weekend and I really didn't think I would get up Sunday morning before dawn and run and I don't think anyone else expected me to either but it was too close to run time to not run.  With that being said on Thursday before our long run we decided to go for a bike ride instead of our scheduled run and I think taking that night off gave us the rest and determination to run on Sunday.

One thing that had me worried was every time we go down home Mom always has baked goods and I tend to pig out but this time she made me work for my food.  I had to pick blueberries if I wanted anything baked like a blueberry pie or cake so off I went with my icecream bucket and filled er up.  Saturday I took Onyx to the beach, washed and vaccumed the car etc and fell asleep early Saturday night to be well rested for the run. But like every other early run I get nervous I won't hear my alarm and wake up every few hours to check it.  Finally 5am rolled around and I got up to eat before I ventured out.  Onyx was up with me and Bill got up before I left so I took Onyx and told him to come pick her up in 20 min.  Off me and her went.  She went half a km and no further so I turned around and took her back home so that was an eventful first km.  Someday after this run I'm going to start taking her on runs once she gets the polite leash walking under wraps.

So off I started again and I get another km up the road and an animal came running out of the woods. I thought it was a fox as it was orange with white feet and we both stopped and had a staredown trying to figure out what each of us were to each other.  We finally figured out that I was a human and it was a cat so we greeted each other and carried on our merry way.  I have to say that running around the river is way more interesting and prettier then running by house after house that all are remotly the same in our city subdivisions even though we both live in pretty ones but nothing beats New Harbour.   It was nice to know every house I came across I knew who lived there.  One thing I didn't know was how many rolling hills there were on the chiped and dirt sides of the river but turns I didn't find them all that bad so our training is working especially those hill trainings we all hate so much.  I was in a grove for the first 4km and then my pace bunny showed up. 

He drove and talked me up a hill and then went ahead and waited for me at the crossroads.  He asked if I was doing 8 then turning around but I had it in my head to run the whole thing so I stuck to that.  The pace bunny listened to the 7am news then drove ahead and waited for me again at the next crossroads where the dirt road meets the pavement.  I knew I was almost halfway when I was on the other side.  I ran by my Uncles and Aunts houses and grandmothers houses and waved at them all just in case they were all looking out their windows as country folk do so early in the morning....turns out no one even saw me.  I was thinking that for New Harbour days they should have a run around the river because now it seems more people are into running then ever before.  It's a great veiw all around.  The temperature was perfect and the sun was just starting to come out and warm up as I was about 10k into it so I only had 6 more to go.  Once I went up the hill past Grammie E's I knew that was my last hill.....or so I thought.  I looked across the river to Mom and Dads and saw my pace bunny over there getting coffee.  He showed back up again and took some pictures of me to prove that I got out there and did it.

When I was rounding the corner to come across the bar the most wonderful smell filled my nostrils and if you've ever  been there you will know what I'm talking about.  There were a few inclines in the last 6k that you would never know existed unless you were on bike or foot.  I was almost home and I was only hitting the 12k mark so I told my pace bunny that I would have to run by the house again....he tried to tell me that 12 was a good run and I should be happy with that but for some reason I had to keep to my 16 that I had in my head and on the schedule to do.  As I ran by home everyone was standing out there waving and I yelled to them that I was almost done.  I went past a few more k and turned around and came back.  I thought that if I was training  for a full then I would have to run the whole thing again....would I ever run that far? Doutful but then again we said 10k would be our max we would ever do.

As I came towards home the family was out clapping and cheering and as I rounded the corner they had a finish line for me because they said they wouldn't be in Ottawa so they wanted to cheer me on there.  It was great and made me smile.  I WAS DONE AND DID IT BY MYSELF!  I was proud.

The best thing was that when I was finished the run the Sunday morning pancakes were already made. That is usually my job on Sunday mornings.   So I went in and had breakfast and whiped the run from my mind just like our last long one.  It definately seems like it went fast once it's all over.

We took a rest day Monday as usual and cancelled our run Tuesday because of getting home late et. We did our intervel run on Thursday and again skipped our second run of the week as on Friday but like we've said before who likes running on a Friday night?

Tomorrow is a busy day. 18k in the morning and we start Zumba at the community rec center tomorrow night. Sundays are not just rundays now they are also FOOTBALL days!!!!!! The NFL regular season has arrived which means its officially fall.

GO CHEIFS!!

ALONE

This weekend past was Labor Day weekend.  Twin 1 headed to the parents and Twin 2 stayed in the city.  Sunday Runday called for 16k.  Alone.  This was HUGE.  We were each left to our own devices.

RECAP by Twin 2

As the race is getting so close (16 days left!!!) and panic is starting to set in, my usual thought on Saturday is “What can I eat for supper tonight to help fuel for Sunday’s run?”.  On Saturday I went out for the afternoon with Sista Wi to do a bit of shopping and to get some groceries (I figured Sunday’s grocery run as per usual would be crazy b/c of the store closure on Monday).  I racked my brain wondering what to eat for supper and came up with a salad, sweet potato and chicken (beats the chocolate bar suppers I’ve been having every other Saturday). 

I checked in with Twin 1 after supper on Saturday evening to ask her what time she was heading out in the morning.  The plan was to leave the house around 6:00/6:30 a.m. as per usual. 

I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and had my staple of toast with peanut butter and banana.  Not sure why but I didn’t quite get ready in time and didn’t head out the door until approximately 7:00 a.m. when the sun was coming up and it was starting to get warm out.  At that moment I thought “well maybe I should wait and do it tonight when it cools off” but then thought better of it because our actual race starts at 9:30 a.m. in the morning and it will definitely be hot by then.

My original plan was to leave the house and run 4k out and back toward Hubley then back to my house and run 4k out and back toward Lakeside for a total of 16k.  Let’s go.  When I hit 4k I thought to myself “I wonder if I should just continue at least another km because if I run by my house I’ll probably want to stop in for whatever reason and then not start up again”. So I decided to run at least another km.  As I approached 5k I thought “if I turn around now that will take me to 10k by my house and I will only have to do 3k out and back after passing the house”.  While in the process of thinking about turning around I again thought maybe I’ll just do one more and saw a side road into a fairly new subdivision that looked pretty quiet.  I made the turn into the subdivision and it was the best decision.  It was just me and the road. No houses, no cars. 

As I approached 6k the road I was on ended so I turned down a side street and continued on.  As I was approaching 7k I thought “I could turn around now and that would take me to 14k and then only do 1k past the house and back” but then thought “well it’s so quiet here and such a good run and I’m not worrying about traffic why not keep going as it’s only 1k more”.  So I did.  And it worked out perfectly because as my Garmin beeped at 8k the road ended and I had to turn around anyway.

I usually carry my phone with me on my runs and when I was about 2k from home I heard a text coming in and I thought to myself “I bet that’s Twin 1 texting saying she is done”.  YAY for us!

Tip Tuesday

Eat at least three meals a day - every day.  Our bodies have become hardwired to conserve calories when faced with a food shortage.  When you skip meals, your body immediately slows your resting metabolic rate.  And when you skip meals on a regular basis, your RMR may remain permanently low.

Stay tuned for each of our 16 long lonely km run recap...

Was It A Dream?

August 19/14 - Last round of hill training – 9x300m hills

During the warm up km run to the hill (steepest one yet – we apparently saved the best (or worst) for last) Twin 2’s shins were bothering her again.  As Twin 1 made her way up the first hill run Twin 2 tied her shoes a little tighter and walked the hill to see if she could walk out the splints.  It worked.  Like normal, as Twin 2 was making her way down her first one Twin 1 was on her way back up.  We both decided to walk down the hill as it’s so steep that while walking down you felt like you were going to go head over heels so running just wasn’t an option. 

Towards the last few hill repeats Twin 2 figured that Twin 1 had 2 hills on her (because Twin 2 didn’t count the one she walked).  When Twin 2 mentioned it to Twin 1 the convo went like this:

Twin 1: “Oh we’re not counting the walks?”

Twin 2: “Well I’m not because you ran up the first one and I walked”

Twin 1: “Oh, well I walked up 2”

Twin 2: “What? When?” (and here Twin 2 was feeling bad about the first walk up)

Twin 1: “I walked when I couldn’t see you but when you started coming down over the crest of the hill I started running”

HA!  Twin 2 didn’t expect that at all.  Anyway we did our 9 hill climbs and went home.

August 21/14 – 6k

A short run around Glengarry on the road.  Nothing fun to report.

August 24/14 – 19k

We wish we could say that we could remember this run but we mentally blocked it out – both of us.  Completely forget running it.

We do remember trying to get out at 6 a.m. (it’s still dark out) but not making it out until about 6:20/6:30 a.m.  Weather was overcast.  We started from Lakeside (Twin 1’s house) to Hubley and back on the road all the way (no trail).  Road running is certainly different than the flat gravel trail under foot and on the body.  There are way more hills/turns/angles to run on.  During most of our runs, until now, we have been doing a mix of trail/road runs but we thought as the race is only 3 weeks away that we should do all runs now on the road to become more accustomed to the inclines, etc.  We again ran 10 and walked 1 the whole time.  That 1 minute certainly gives you a little break to catch your breath and get revved up for the next 10 min.  We kept pumping the Honey Stingers into us about every 5k and water every 3k (there are water stations every 3k on the race route so thought we would try this out to see how it works).

Twin 2 may have mentally blocked this run out because for some reason after 18.88 km her Garmin stopped tracking her running.  She didn’t realize it until during the last .15 metres her Garmin kept telling her she was at 18.88 km and for some reason just couldn’t get that 19 km in on the Garmin.  Now she knows that she did run 19 km because Twin 1’s Garmin tracked it and so did mapmyrun.com but the Garmin doesn’t lie….but in her head she never reached that 19 km mark.

Aug 26/14 – 8k

This was our first “interval” training.  We looked at the schedule and it said 6 x 3 min int for 8km.  HUH? The math doesn’t add up cause if we only run 6 times for 3 min that would only be running for 54 min and we can’t get 8k in 54 minutes like I’m sure some people can.  So we forgot about warm up and cool down which would have been equal to 8k with a few minutes between the intervals but we are not so good at math and didn’t figure this out until after we were half way through.  We set our watches to Run 3, Walk 1.  We did this for 4k and we were getting tired as we were running faster than the norm for 3 min.  At the ½ way mark and during the 4k home we switched it up and Ran 1 minute and walked 3.  Those 1 minutes were all out sprints.  It was actually a very fun run and more enjoyable than running a steady pace for a full 8k. (Which we are scheduled to do on Thursday).

Tonight calls for strength training and HAIRCUT!! WE LOVE HAIRCUT DAY!!