The Need for Speed

I did my first speed training session of the year last night. We train on a 200 metre indoor track and last night I had to do 6 x 600 metres with a 200 metre rest between each set. Here's how they went:

Set 1: 3:01
Set 2: 3:00
Set 3: 2:58
Set 4: 2:56
Set 5: 2:54
Set 6: 2:54

So I averaged around an 8 minute mile for each set of 600. To meet my goal of running a 50 minute 10K, this is the pace I will have to do. I was a little winded after each set, but I think it's doable.

On another note, I did 35 pushups yesterday. At this rate, I'll have to change my goal of doing 50 pushups by the end of the year. Could I do 75? 100?

Deep Freeze

Why I hate winter...



It's hard to tell from the picture, but my car was covered in ice this morning. It took 20 minutes to get it cleaned off. There was more freezing rain during the day, so I had more scraping to do after work. It's snowing now and is turning colder. This is only the second storm we've had this winter, but both of them have been doozies.

Cold and Wet

That's how my run ended this morning. It didn't start out that way, though. I checked the weather forecast when I got up and there was a weather advisory about imminent freezing rain and snow. Everything looked dry outside, so I left for the long run with my training group. We had 10 miles to do this morning, and the run started out really well. The temperature was hovering around the freezing mark. But with 3 miles to go, the freezing rain started. It started coming down harder and in pellets. We decided to take a little shortcut back as we were getting soaked and my hair was crusty from the ice. When we got back, however, the Garmin said we did 10 miles. I hate running in rain and usually wimp out of any run where I might get wet. I made a new years resolution to not be such a wimp this year. So far, I've done two rainy runs and lived to talk about it.

On the diet front, I was over my calorie limit three days last week. I gotta tell you, 1,600 calories isn't very much food. I didn't weigh myself this weekend because of TOM bloating.

Hubby weighed in and he has gained back the pound he lost a week ago. He's starting back to work after 6 months off due to hip replacement surgery, so I'm sure the weight will start to come off a little easier for him.

I made the most awesome dinner tonight. It was Baked Ziti with Shrimp and Scallops. I found the recipe on the Cooking Light website. The recipe called for a bottle of roasted red peppers, but I roasted my own on my new gas range. It was fun.

No More Blur

I did it. A non-blurry header picture. My problem was that I was trying to resize my pictures too much. This time I just cropped it for height and left the width alone. Blogger automatically sized the width to fit when I uploaded the picture.

Fun with Avatars

Check out my cute Avatar on the sidebar. It took me about an hour to figure out how to include it in my blog. Now if I can just figure out how to get a header picture that isn't blurry. I'll keep working on it.

New Header Picture

Well, I figured out how to add a picture to my header, but it came out blurry. I'll have to work on it some more later. I'm too tired right now.

OMG

I just did 30 pushups.

I switched to the new blogger, so I'm experimenting with the layout. Hopefully I can figure out how to add a nice heading. I want it to reflect what I'm about.

On the Farm Front

On the weekend, we picked out kitchen cupboards and countertops for the small house on the farm. The interior painting is supposed to be done this week. Once the cupboards are in, we can get the plumbing fixed and the floors laid, and it should just about be ready to rent out.

I'd like to get some painting done in the big house too, but there's no heat or running water in there right now. We hired someone to paint the small house, but we're going to do the big house ourselves. It's a little overwhelming and I wish we could just get started. If we new this winter was going to be so mild, we probably wouldn't have shut the water off, but we're so afraid of frozen pipes bursting.

I should just enjoy this time and concentrate on my running right now. We'll get the work done on the farm all in good time.

The Scale Lies

I've been diligently tracking my food intake in
SparkPeople and working out like crazy, and the damned scale hasn't budged. Yesterday, I noticed my pants felt a little loose, so this morning I took measurements, and guess what? I'm down a 1/2 inch on my waist and a 1/2 inch on my hips. Yippee! That means I'm gaining muscle while losing fat. I can take being this weight as long as I know I'm not covered in a layer of fat.

Hubby lost a pound last week. He's set a goal to lose 28 lbs. by July 14. He's not an exerciser, and he loves to eat sweets, so it won't be easy. He goes back to work next week after being off for 6 months (hip replacement), so the weight will probably start to fall of pretty fast till he gets used to the routine again.

I Couldn't Take the Guilt

So I went to the running store this afternoon and joined the Gold Team. I tried to lay low this morining with the training group, but the coach saw me. He made an announcement that if we're not registered by Tuesday, we won't be allowed to continue. I'm now past the cut off on my credit card, so it was safe to put more on it. I really need to set some money aside so I don't get caught like this next year. I'll be reimbursed by my company, but they can be slow in paying.

It was a beautiful morning for a run. The temperature was hovering around the freezing mark, there was no wind, and the sun even came out while we were out there. I met up with 3 of my running buddies and we set out to do 10.5 miles. Two of us wanted to do the whole distance and the other two were doing 7 (they're training for a half marathon).

Just past the half way point, another runner we didn't know came up to us and asked if she could run with us. She's a former member of our training group, but burned out a few years ago, so she has just been doing casual running for the past couple of years. She decided she needed to return to the group to help her with motivation. She's about our age and runs the same pace, so it was good and also nice to make a new friend. She's also done Boston, so I can get some tips from her. It'll be great.

The run was fairly uneventful, but it felt good. I didn't lose anything in my level of fitness over the off season. My Garmin said I did 9.70 miles in 1:51:07.

Marathon Training Group

I haven't registered for the marathon training group because Christmas has left me in a little cash deficit. But I did get good news at work the other day. My company has changed their policy on paying health club dues. They have expanded it to include things like yoga and pilates classes and classes taken at community centres. So I put in a request to see if they would pay my gold team membership at the running store and guess what, they said yes! They will pay 100% up to a maximum of $500 per year. It won't completely cover both the running and GoodLife memberships, but I'll end up only being about $130 out of pocket.

Anyway, my coach came up to me on Thursday night and asked if I had registered yet, because he didn't have a training booklet for me. I was a little embarrassed because I thought I could just lay low and he wouldn't notice me. So I guess I'll sign up tomorrow and put in my expense report right away to get reimbursed before it shows up on my credit card bill.

So we all met at GoodLife on Thursday night. The coach gave us our usual pep talk. My friends have been promoted to level two, which means they will be doing more mileage. Since I don't have my booklet yet, I don't know what level he's going to put me in, but it doesn't matter, I'm going to run with my buddies.

We set out for our four mile run - in the rain. What happened to the nice weather we had all day? It wasn't too bad, but we were soaked when we got back.

It was good to see everyone and catch up with them. It almost felt like the first day of school when you haven't seen some of your friends all summer.

24

That's the number of pushups I did last night. Yay me!

Tonight is the first night of my spring marathon training group. We'll have a talk from the coach, get our training booklets and do an easy 4 mile run. The weatherman says it's going to be +9 Celcius with a mix of sun and cloud today. Of course, the sun will be gone by the time we get out there, but what a perfect day to start training.

I've decided to do the Forest City Road Races full marathon on Mother's Day this year. I've never done it and 2007 is the race's 25th anniversary, so there will be special commemorative medals. The only drawback is, I don't like the course and I don't think I'll be able to break four hours. This race is in the city where I live, so the route is very familiar to me. This could be an advantage or disadvantage, only time will tell.

So Far So Good

Day one of my new fitness regime went well. I re-dedicated myself to Sparkpeople to track calories. I was a little over for the day, and only drank 7 glasses of water, but felt good about it as a whole.

I went to the gym at noon to do some lower body and ab work, and then after work I ran 2 miles on the treadmill before going to Bodypump class. Bodypump is this great class at the GoodLife Club. It is weight training set to music. Mo Hagan, Fitness Director for all GoodLife Clubs across Canada teaches on Tuesday nights. She is very motivational and so fit, you just want to try harder to impress her. So, needless to say, I used a little heavier weights than I'm used to and this morning I'm feeling it.

The new class schedules at the club start next week. I want to do some spin classes. I'm going to have to work out a schedule to get in my swims, bikes and runs so I can kick ass at the "Try-A-Tri's" this summer.

I tested myself to see how many pushups I can do. I pumped out 20, but might have been able to squeeze one more out. My goal is 50 by the end of the year, so I've got some work to do, but it's achievable.

Tonight is Firm Parts at the gym. I hope my shoulders hold out. There's a killer ab class after that. I can hardly wait.

Reflections on 2006 and Looking Ahead

Two of my major goals for 2006 were to qualify for the Boston Marathon and to come in first in my age group in a "Try-a-Tri" triathlon. I am happy to report I achieved both. Qualifying for Boston was one of the proudest moments of my life. You see, I have never considered myself an athlete. I was always the last to get picked for any team I tried out for in school. Cheerleading was my forté.

So, on to 2007! I'm going to list my goals here in the hopes it will keep me accountable.

Running Goals:
- Run a marathon in under 4 hours
- Run a 50 minute 10K
- Do more speed training on the treadmill

Swimming:
- 2x per week
- Get a wetsuit

Biking:
- Conquer my fear of my road bike (specifically clipless pedals)
- Learn how to change a flat tire
- Ride my mountain bike on the Lynn Valley Trail on weekends
- Get a bike trainer

Fitness:
- Stretching 2x per week
- Weight training 2 - 3x per week
- Build upper body strength
- Build core strength
- Be able to do 50 pushups (manly ones, not wimpy ones)

Health:
- Goal weight - 125 lbs
- Take my vitamin, iron and Vitamin E supplements every day
- Research food sources of iron and calcium

Nutrition:
- Eat 5 - 6 small meals a day
- Drink 8 glasses of water a day
- Plan healthy meals and do more cooking

So those are my personal goals. I also have goals for our farm renovations. We need to varnish the knotty pine in bathroom and the ceilings in the dining room and kitchen. I also want to strip the wallpaper off the kitchen walls and paint the kitchen, laundry room and back porch. If I get all that done inside the house this year, I'll be happy, because a lot of that will be happening while I'm training for my spring marathon.

Hubby also says he wants to renovate our kitchen and lay new flooring in the living room and bedrooms in our house in the city. It's going to be a busy year.

I should also set a goal to update my blog more often. I couldn't even remember how to log in this morning. The other day I found the blog of a woman I run with occasionally. She is in the same training group as me. As I was reading her entries from 2005, I kept thinking, hmm, I don't remember that and I know I was there. Updating this blog regularly will keep the memories alive for me, so no excuses.

So I'll have to break my goals down and create a plan for achieving them, because a goal without a plan is just a dream.

No PB

Sunday was our last race of the season. It was a very cold and windy day. That's me on the far left with my winter coat on over my running jacket. It was 2 degrees celcius when I got up in the morning and only warmed up to 6 by the afternoon, but the wind made it feel a lot colder.

I haven't run much since my marathon, so I didn't expect a PB anyway, but the head wind was so bad in parts of the race, I couldn't believe it. I ended up with a 54:26 finish time in the 10k race. My personal best is 51:12, so I was way off the mark.

It was still good enough to land me in 4th place overall in the points standings at our local running store, so on Wednesday at the awards night, I will receive a $25.00 gift certificate. Not bad. Last year I was in 5th and got a t-shirt, so I've moved up.

I've already set goals for next year. I want to do a 10k in 50 minutes, a half marathon in 1:45, and a marathon in 3:59. I need to get on the treadmill this winter and do a lot of runs at 7.5 mph, and my goals will be attainable. I just need to find some really flat race courses.

Putting the Garden to Bed

Today was designated garden cleanup and planting spring bulbs day. It was raining when I got up. It seems like that's all it has done for the past 4 weeks. The rain stopped around 11:00 am, so I braved the wet and went out to start cutting down the dead plants in the front yard.

I was wearing gardening gloves and was instantly wet and cold, so I changed to rubber gloves and that felt a lot better. I cleaned up the front beds and planted some spring crocuses and alium. I saved seeds from my cleome and datura for planting next year and sharing with a friend.

Below is a picture of one of my sedums. My mother always called them frog bellies and I often refer to them that way as well. This sedum is a descendant of one I received many years ago from Mom.

I cut it down right after I took this picture. The back yard still needs work and I need to dump the clay pots. I don't know when I'll get to that.

Nesting

I haven't felt much like running since my marathon, but I have felt like housecleaning. I normally hate housecleaning, but lately, I just feel the need to put things in order.

I decided to rejoin the Flylady. You can find her at www.flylady.net. She is just the thing for the housecleaning/organizationally challenged. I've been doing Kelly's missions for the past two weeks, and doing major fall cleaning on the weekends.

We've been thinking about getting new kitchen appliances for a couple of years, but have procrastinated on it. This weekend, we decided we would just go to Sears to look at the different fridge/stove/microwave models and get some prices. We're thinking we'll renovate the kitchen in the spring, so we might as well start doing some research now. We found exactly what we wanted, and Sears was having a promotion, so guess what we did??? These babies are now mine!!!

We get delivery in about a week and a half. We need to have time to get a gas fitter to put in the gas pipe for the stove. I am so excited. I'll have to post pictures of my old appliances and then you'll understand my excitement.

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but they are stainless steel. I wavered back and forth about getting stainless, because they tend to show fingerprints, but we don't have any little kids at home, so it shouldn't be a major issue. I'll just have to polish them up after visits from my goddaughter. No big deal.

Hubby says we're definitely getting new kitchen cupboards in the spring. We'll see. I've only been waiting 13 years.

Marathon Race Report

The Prince Edward County Marathon took place on Sunday, October 1. We left home around 7:00 am on Saturday, September 30 to make our way to the County. The race expo opened at 10:00 and we were there by 10:30. We made a couple of stops along the way. One was to buy some pies at the Big Apple Orchards.

The expo was really small so it didn't take long to get my race kit and head out. We decided to drive the race route so I could get a feel for the course. It looked fairly flat except for one little hill near the end. Why do they always put hills near the end of races? We drove in to Picton and tried to figure out how hubby could get around the road closures when it was time for him to meet me at the finish line.

Then it was off to find our cottage. We stopped at Black River cheese to pick up some locally made cheese. We like to support the local economy when we travel. The cottage was small, but cozy, with a nice view of the lake. It was a wonderful location and only 10 minutes from Picton. By the way, Picton is the prettiest town. If you've never been there, it's worth a trip.

I woke up at about 5:00 am on race morning to pouring rain and asked myself why I wanted to do the race. I don't mind being cold, but I don't like to be cold and wet, especially for over 4 hours. Hubby drove me to the start line, and by the time we got there, the rain had stopped. There was a light drizzle when the race started at 8:30, and it stopped altogether by about the 10K mark.

This is a small race, so there weren't that many people at the start line. I moved up fairly close to the mat so my clock time and chip time wouldn't be too much different. It was a little slow at the start, but that is normal. Once everyone spread out, it was easy to pick up a little speed. I didn't see the first kilometre marking, so I didn't know my pace until I spotted the 2K marker. I was 2 minutes ahead of my goal. This worried me a bit, because I knew if I went out too fast at the beginning, I might not have anything left in the tank at the end.

I settled in to a nice even pace and at every kilometre marking, I was still 2 minutes ahead. This felt really good until I realized I had to pee. I hate stopping during a race, but I knew I had a little buffer time, so I started scouting out the porta-potties. They had one at each water stop. I had to run past about six of them before I found one that was unoccupied.

At the half way mark, I was still feeling good and I was still 2 minutes ahead, even with the pee break. I got a side stitch shortly after that, but it worked itself out and I carried on. At the 30K mark, I knew I could keep this pace up till the end and I had a pretty good idea I was going to qualify for Boston. What a great feeling. When I came to that hill near the end, I plowed up it. I lost about a minute there, but I pushed on and made that minute up. I had family waiting at the finish line and I wanted them to see me cross the finish line as a Boston qualifier.

As I approached the finish line, I could see the clock. It said 4:02. I didn't want it to get to 4:03 before I crossed it, so I gave my last burst of energy and tried to beat the clock. I could hear people yelling my name, but I just focussed on the clock, and I did it. I crossed the line at 4:02:58. My chip time was 4:02:37. The Boston qualifying time for my age group is 4:05. I made it with 2 minutes to spare. I'm just amazed that I kept that 2 minute buffer through the whole race.

Hubby was there with my brother and sister-in-law and a couple of my cousins and their families. It was just the greatest thing to have so many family members there to cheer me on. We all went back to our cottage and had a feast that hubby had spent the morning preparing. I was on a runner's high all afternoon.

Marathon Weekend

We're leaving in about an hour for Prince Edward County where I'll be running the marathon tomorrow. We've got a stop along the way to go to the race expo and then we'll check in to our cottage by 1:00 pm. We're staying for the week to relax and do touristy stuff.

I can't wait. I really feel ready for this race. My last few runs have been good. Now if the weather would just cooperate. The forecast is for rain, but I'm being optimistic.

I'll give a report when we get back next weekend.

Week at the Cottage

We spent last week at a cottage on the Bruce Peninsula. It was great. The weather was really nice the weekend we arrived, so Saturday, we spent a lot of time on the deck and Sunday we did a short hike near Tobermory. The Bruce Peninsula National Park has a new visitor centre, so we hiked from the Cairn that marks the end of the Bruce Trail to the visitor centre, which is only half a kilometre. There is a lookout tower there, so we climbed that to get a look at Georgian Bay. I hate heights, so I was a little freaked out going up that thing. There is a short loop trail that goes to the point so we did that too. Hubby's new hip couldn't take much more of that, so we headed back to the cottage for a quiet dinner and watched a most awesome sunset.

It rained on Monday, so we spent a relaxing day reading and doing a jigsaw puzzle. The rest of the week wasn't too bad weatherwise, so we had more hiking opportunities, and I got three nice training runs in.

On Tuesday, I was running, with hubby following in the truck to save me from getting eaten by a bear. All of a sudden I looked down and there were three baby snapping turtles on the road, so we stopped to rescue them. We ended up saving 19 turtles from imminent death on the road. It was just the neatest thing. We actually watched some of them hatch from their nest. I left the cottage that morning without my camera, though, so too bad I didn't get any pictures of them. They were so cute.

All in all it was a great week. We needed to get away somewhere quiet, and this really fit the bill. If you've never been to the Bruce, you don't know what you're missing. The Georgian Bay shoreline is just beautiful. Here's a picture of the Grotto in Bruce Pensinsula National Park.

Next week we'll be in Prince Edward County. I'm running the Prince Edward County Marathon this Sunday. We've never been there before, so we're really looking forward to doing some sightseeing up there.