it is 5 fahrenheit outside with the windchill?
but i AM going to go running anyway! right? RIGHT?
the wind is comically tossing powdery snow around on my balcony. it's ridiculous. it's like there is a stage hand just beyond my viewpoint tossing bucket fulls of it into a wind stream. it isn't even snowing. it's just blowing. STOP THAT.
i am going to put on everything i own until i get too hot, and then strap a garmin over top and be brave.
DO NOT WISH TO BE BRAVE. but must. ugh.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
december running updates
since i'm in the mood to write this stuff down: here's a little running brain-dump of miscellaneous reports.
1. speedwork at the track! ... sorta. i discovered the day after thanksgiving that the local highschool track is not locking their gates anymore, at least during holiday daylight. so i did 2 miles worth of 800 metre and 400 metre sprints, with 1 min in between each (yes, i choose to use every possible numerical system at once; next time i will measure my intervals in farthings, cubits and Kelvin). and it felt AWESOME! and it felt HARD! and the track is 2 miles from my house so i still had to run HOME! ... yeah, that's a mixed-up solid workout. will try it again next weekend.
2. the return of muscles! or something like. since the marathon i have returned to actually taking other people's strength/cardio/plyo/kickbox/barre/whatever classes, at least 3 times a week, instead of putting myself through (some of) the paces at home. and re-entry was at first PAINFUL -- like, oh god don't ask me to remove a sweater over my head without 15 minutes spare time and a crane -- but i'm getting it back. this actually feels like a really good reason to NOT run a marathon again -- i just couldn't keep up my non-running-specific strength during actual training, or at least i didn't have the mental focus to do it all, and i think i like the long-term feeling of overall conditioning better than the (of course still excellent) accomplishment of holy shit i ran a marathon. is that weird? who cares. ... so, i feel this should inform my 2014 running plans, still in the planning stages. and, i should keep at it.
3. next on the agenda: a 10 miler on boxing day in hamilton ontario, about 40 mins drive from the family home at which i will have had a cozy little family christmas the night before. i ran this race once, two or three years ago, and what i remember is 1. i was freakin cold; 2. just when i was feeling a runner's high at mile 7 or 8 there was like a 70-degree incline cliff to run up and i wanted to die; 3. i finished it in about 90 minutes (i looked it up the other week, but don't quite remember the number.) it will probably be cold, hard and awesome again. this race always has exciting swag, and this year i will apparently receive 'lounge pants' for my troubles? i am highly unclear on the concept, but excited to lounge in them on boxing day eve.
4. the rest of the month is going to be very busy, and increasingly cold, and i will work and bundle up and run and gym and dream of sugar plum fairies bearing more technical fleece (anybody listening???) and bake cookies with healthy fats and bla bla bla.
stay warm! stay limber! and back to it. more soon.
1. speedwork at the track! ... sorta. i discovered the day after thanksgiving that the local highschool track is not locking their gates anymore, at least during holiday daylight. so i did 2 miles worth of 800 metre and 400 metre sprints, with 1 min in between each (yes, i choose to use every possible numerical system at once; next time i will measure my intervals in farthings, cubits and Kelvin). and it felt AWESOME! and it felt HARD! and the track is 2 miles from my house so i still had to run HOME! ... yeah, that's a mixed-up solid workout. will try it again next weekend.
2. the return of muscles! or something like. since the marathon i have returned to actually taking other people's strength/cardio/plyo/kickbox/barre/whatever classes, at least 3 times a week, instead of putting myself through (some of) the paces at home. and re-entry was at first PAINFUL -- like, oh god don't ask me to remove a sweater over my head without 15 minutes spare time and a crane -- but i'm getting it back. this actually feels like a really good reason to NOT run a marathon again -- i just couldn't keep up my non-running-specific strength during actual training, or at least i didn't have the mental focus to do it all, and i think i like the long-term feeling of overall conditioning better than the (of course still excellent) accomplishment of holy shit i ran a marathon. is that weird? who cares. ... so, i feel this should inform my 2014 running plans, still in the planning stages. and, i should keep at it.
3. next on the agenda: a 10 miler on boxing day in hamilton ontario, about 40 mins drive from the family home at which i will have had a cozy little family christmas the night before. i ran this race once, two or three years ago, and what i remember is 1. i was freakin cold; 2. just when i was feeling a runner's high at mile 7 or 8 there was like a 70-degree incline cliff to run up and i wanted to die; 3. i finished it in about 90 minutes (i looked it up the other week, but don't quite remember the number.) it will probably be cold, hard and awesome again. this race always has exciting swag, and this year i will apparently receive 'lounge pants' for my troubles? i am highly unclear on the concept, but excited to lounge in them on boxing day eve.
4. the rest of the month is going to be very busy, and increasingly cold, and i will work and bundle up and run and gym and dream of sugar plum fairies bearing more technical fleece (anybody listening???) and bake cookies with healthy fats and bla bla bla.
stay warm! stay limber! and back to it. more soon.
the little xmas miracle of a 5k race
thursday i spent the day at home working on something hard. and it got harder and harder as the afternoon progressed, and i got more and more frustrated. and then at like 7pm i thought... oh. wait. i see what is happening here. i am getting SICK. fuck.
that caused me a lot of oh, fuck: because, 1. i have all the work to do. and 2. i had a 5k race to run saturday morning.
on thursday night, i slept 13 slightly-feverish hours.
on friday, i didn't do a lot. i put up the christmas tree, did some sloooow (hard?) pilates, and had a couple medicinal beverages with a friend. however, i also spent the evening chilling with my other half, who keeps later hours than i do, so i went to bed at 2am.
and so 6 hours later on saturday morning, i had a cup of coffee and thought: ok, i feel good enough to run. not totally fine, but certainly alive enough. i don't have a cold, so my airways were clear, but i had less energy than your typical me. also it was -14C with the windchill, which is colder than it has been -- and it was that kind of deceptive cold where it's sunny and bright and the sky is bright blue with those white wispy clouds, but turns out that air is brittle and the wind is like an ice-whip? yes, that. great.
but! i put on many things. (I REMEMBERED NOT TO EAT OATMEAL FOR BREAKFAST). and i headed out to the one little pretty street of old town lansing. then, i got a bib and a thick red-and-grey santa toque as swag (not bad!), appreciated the dedication of the other 250 people stomping and freezing wearing absurd christmas decorations and snow-witch costumes (seriously, silver pants, calm down), ran a few warm up blocks to be sure i wasn't kidding myself that i could run, ditched my Garmin to run on feel (excellent idea, am pretty sure), experienced the world's wobbliest port-o-potty (think: trying to pee on a surfboard; ok stop thinking that) and lined up in a rather ragged but cheerful pack on the river trail. and then -- let's go!
it was an out and back, and i felt about the same the whole time: uncomfortable, but not going to quit. it wasn't easy, it wasn't deathly, but i mostly held on. the mile markers were hilarious: although i was watchless, i think the 1 mile marker was about right; the 2 mile marker was honestly 100 yard later, and there were no others. um, what. about a kilometer in, after passing a fair number of people who clearly did not take the 'line-up-according-to-pace' message to heart, i was passed by two women, who were moving slightly faster than me but making it look easy. ... in contrast, i'm pretty sure i was not making it look easy.
so! i decided to not lose them. and i spent the next four kilometres between 5 and 10 paces behind them. when i finished about 10 seconds behind them, i felt fairly triumphant about that! i also kind of wanted to puke, but we've been there before. and now the internet results tell me that they were 23 and 22! also, they probably were going for a jog, but nevermind.
i finished in 25:17, which was 18 seconds slower than i wanted. not bad for a slightly sick and tired me! and i feel like the return to a sub-25 minute 5k is definitely within reach. it's crazy how racing helps -- the last time i was out running and tried to pick up the pace for 5k i ran it in like 27:10, and thought -- man, am i filled with concrete? but having those 23 year olds to chase, i guess... and really, it's a pretty excellent toque. so wins all round.
that caused me a lot of oh, fuck: because, 1. i have all the work to do. and 2. i had a 5k race to run saturday morning.
on thursday night, i slept 13 slightly-feverish hours.
on friday, i didn't do a lot. i put up the christmas tree, did some sloooow (hard?) pilates, and had a couple medicinal beverages with a friend. however, i also spent the evening chilling with my other half, who keeps later hours than i do, so i went to bed at 2am.
and so 6 hours later on saturday morning, i had a cup of coffee and thought: ok, i feel good enough to run. not totally fine, but certainly alive enough. i don't have a cold, so my airways were clear, but i had less energy than your typical me. also it was -14C with the windchill, which is colder than it has been -- and it was that kind of deceptive cold where it's sunny and bright and the sky is bright blue with those white wispy clouds, but turns out that air is brittle and the wind is like an ice-whip? yes, that. great.
but! i put on many things. (I REMEMBERED NOT TO EAT OATMEAL FOR BREAKFAST). and i headed out to the one little pretty street of old town lansing. then, i got a bib and a thick red-and-grey santa toque as swag (not bad!), appreciated the dedication of the other 250 people stomping and freezing wearing absurd christmas decorations and snow-witch costumes (seriously, silver pants, calm down), ran a few warm up blocks to be sure i wasn't kidding myself that i could run, ditched my Garmin to run on feel (excellent idea, am pretty sure), experienced the world's wobbliest port-o-potty (think: trying to pee on a surfboard; ok stop thinking that) and lined up in a rather ragged but cheerful pack on the river trail. and then -- let's go!
it was an out and back, and i felt about the same the whole time: uncomfortable, but not going to quit. it wasn't easy, it wasn't deathly, but i mostly held on. the mile markers were hilarious: although i was watchless, i think the 1 mile marker was about right; the 2 mile marker was honestly 100 yard later, and there were no others. um, what. about a kilometer in, after passing a fair number of people who clearly did not take the 'line-up-according-to-pace' message to heart, i was passed by two women, who were moving slightly faster than me but making it look easy. ... in contrast, i'm pretty sure i was not making it look easy.
so! i decided to not lose them. and i spent the next four kilometres between 5 and 10 paces behind them. when i finished about 10 seconds behind them, i felt fairly triumphant about that! i also kind of wanted to puke, but we've been there before. and now the internet results tell me that they were 23 and 22! also, they probably were going for a jog, but nevermind.
i finished in 25:17, which was 18 seconds slower than i wanted. not bad for a slightly sick and tired me! and i feel like the return to a sub-25 minute 5k is definitely within reach. it's crazy how racing helps -- the last time i was out running and tried to pick up the pace for 5k i ran it in like 27:10, and thought -- man, am i filled with concrete? but having those 23 year olds to chase, i guess... and really, it's a pretty excellent toque. so wins all round.
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