I took yesterday off as a rest day! I opted out of our scheduled morning run due to a torrential downpour, and I canceled my “Learn to Run” clinic at the school due to rain…I decided to extend my scheduled massage session by 15 minutes, and had a VERY relaxing day and evening! Boy does deep tissue massage ever hurt, though!

My legs feel better today, although a little stiff. We ran 11.5 kms this morning with the “10 km” clinic that we help to instruct on Saturday mornings, and it went well! It was a nice, slow, easy pace.

Now, I’m going to take it easy for the rest of the day. I have a half-marathon race tomorrow, and I’m scared to say that I’d like to beat my personal best, because that makes it official that I have a time goal…I’m always so worried that I won’t make it, and end up disappointed! I’m debating running without a watch for the first time ever, and just gauging my effort by how I feel…what a concept! lol

I’m nervous, not gonna lie!

What I envision myself as looking like during yoga:



What I probably actually look like during yoga, due to my extreme inflexibility:



I think I need to stretch more often. Like, every few hours or something. lol

Slept in yesterday. Went to Blair’s Boot Camp from 8:00 - 9:00p.m.That was definitely a different experience to be working out at my usual bedtime (practically). lol

Slept in this morning (skipped RPM…Sorry Josee & Kerri) because I didn’t feel so hot when I woke up at 5:20 a.m. to get ready…Ended up staying in bed until 7:20. So, no cardio today; now I’m on my way to Runner’s Yoga. So far it’s been quite an experience. We’ll see what tonight brings!

Saturday: Coached 10 km Clinic, and then headed to Sulphur Springs to support some friends who participated in a 100-mile relay (each person ran an 18.75 km leg)…Arrived home at 2:00 a.m. and FELL into bed!

Sunday: Up at 6:20 a.m. to meet my friends for a “long run” at 7:00! What the heck were we thinking?! Nevertheless, we rocked out 15 km. Woo! Then it was home to shower, and head to a local park/walking trail for the Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis (which my twin nephews are afflicted with). THEN I headed home for a heavenly two-hour nap, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day working on assignments for my media literacy course. Blech!

Monday (Yesterday): Blair’s Boot Camp in the a.m. (My shoulders are STILL sore!)…Speed workout was cancelled due to yesterday’s INSANE temperatures (with the Humidex taken into account, it was 40 DEGREES - which equates to ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR!!!). Not particularly safe for conducting a track workout! Therefore, the track workout got deferred to this morning (Tuesday).

Tuesday: Headed to the track to make up yesterday’s workout. Except that it had been POURING down rain, thundering, and lightning only an hour before (at 5:00 a.m.)…Only ONE clinic participant was brave enough to come out! We went for an easy run (7 kms) instead of holding the track workout, and JUST missed the next bout of rain! Phew!

Now I take it easy for the rest of the day….I’ll try to stay on top of posting more regularly so that I don’t have to do these “my week in a nutshell” blog posts anymore!

Wednesday: Boot Camp again, which meant Thursday = OUCH! (Sore muscles all over my body after the two-week hiatus in attending boot camp. I’m never slacking again!)

Thursday: Physio at 4:00 to work out my tight left leg muscle….DOUBLE OUCH! Pretty much needed a leather strap to bite down on as the masochist (I mean, physiotherapist) tried to massage out a MONSTROUS knot….It was good to get new stretching suggestions, though. And the muscle definitely feels looser than it has! Then, it was off to yoga at 7:00. Yoga was okay, but I find it frustrating to not be flexible enough to do many of the poses (although, being frustrated somewhat defeats the purpose of yoga, which is meant to calm, restore, and heal)…It was good, though.

Friday (this morning): The.dreaded.track.workout. YUCK! We ran from the mall to the local track (3 kms), did 4 x 800, with 400m recovery in between each, and then ran back to the mall (another 3 kms) to where our vehicles were parked. It was a brutal workout, but I feel SO great now that it’s done! MAN, I need to do track workouts more often. They’re killer!

So, we’ve decided as a group that Friday mornings will be our track workout day….Of course, we decided this in the afterglow of this morning’s workout, so we had the runner’s high going on…We’ll see how we feel next Friday morning before we begin…haha

Now, off to work I go!

Saturday morning I woke up and helped to instruct the run clinic, as per usual. We had a really nice 9.5 km run in the BEAUTIFUL weather (sunny, and warm, but not too hot!).

Afterward, I spent the afternoon in Windsor, shopping with my Mom and sister, and then Jared and I headed to my parents’ place for a family night of homemade pizza and socializing. It was a fantastic day!

Sunday, we were under smog advisory here in Chatham-Kent, and against my better judgment, I decided to continue with our running group’s plan to run 21 kms. It was hot as hell, and literally every breath was a struggle. Longest. 21. Kms. of. my. entire. life. PERIOD. It was a freakin’ BRUTAL run, it took me way too long (sorry for slowing everyone up with all of the breaks that I needed to catch my breath!), and I have never in my life been so grateful to finish a run (well, except maybe at the end of both marathons. Believe it or not, the feeling of relief was comparable!)

Then yesterday was another fantastic day! I got to spectate as my husband and one of our running partners raced in a sprint-distance duathlon (4 km run; 30 km bike; 4 km run). It is seriously just as fun to spectate as it is to participate. SO exciting to watch! I was so proud of them both! After that, we went out for a nice, well-deserved lunch (well, THEY earned it; I had just spent two hours sitting on my @$$, baking in the sun, while they worked their @$$e$ off!). It was great!
Once home, we had about an hour and a half to just chill and relax in our house (which is currently INSANELY hot, since our central air conditioning is on the fritz….BLECH!). Then, we went to help instruct the run clinic during their speed/hill workout. It was a tiring, busy day, but a FANTASTIC one!

And then, I awoke this morning and got my tired butt out of bed to meet one of my running partners (Kerri, one of my closest friends) at the mall, where we proceeded to run to a park about 3 kms away; complete 12 hill repeats (it’s a small hill, don’t be TOO impressed…lol), and then run back to the mall to our cars. A nice 46 minute (7 km total) workout in the chillier morning temperatures. It was fantastic! And the best part? The smog advisory has been officially lifted as of later last night, so I could breathe this morning! Yay! :)

Now, I head to work for what will hopefully be a great day, and then I’m off to ride the Heart and Stroke’s Big Bike (29 people all riding on the same long bike; pedaling in tandem!), and indulge (well, sort of) in a complimentary dinner afterward. Goooooooooooo Run CK (our running group, which we are advertising on the big bike). It should be a fun time!

The RPM sucked (although, it’s an AMAZING workout!).

The physiotherapist visit didn’t suck. She pinpointed exactly where my muscles were tight, and causing me so much grief. In fact, she told me she couldn’t believe I was still able to run, my muscles were so “locked up”. Weird! I mean, I knew it hurt a bit, but it’s not THAT bad!

Anyway, I took today off as a “rest day”, and just ran for 20 minutes with my “Learn to Run” clinic after school today. Then, I headed off for my first-ever massage appointment. I must admit, I was pretty nervous, but MAN was it ever amazing! Don’t get me wrong, it hurt like a b****! But WOW!

So, this massage therapist ALSO immediately pinpointed exactly where my muscles were “locked up” (she even used the same phrasing!), and then proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t believe I was still able to run! Umm…did these two women call each other and plan this?!

Anyway, I had the full 60 minute treatment done, and holy crap. I almost cried, it hurt so badly, but I feel SOOOOOOOOOOO much better now! I can’t believe I never bothered to do this before! I can’t wait to book another!

So tonight = relaxation. I WAS going to go out on the road bike with hubby and some friends for the first time this season, but I think I’d much rather just veg out on the couch, and then in the hot tub, and then call it an early night. HOORAY for long weekends!

Well, it was supposed to be easy, but we definitely pushed the pace a bit. It felt nice. What felt even nicer? NO LEG PAIN! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

That about sums up our 7.3 km run this morning…GREAT weather, EXCELLENT company, a FANTASTIC run!

Then, Learn to Run clinic after school. ‘Twas a good exercise day!

Tomorrow morning: RPM again. Oh boy. haha

 

My friend (and running partner) Kerri once said “Is it weird that I would rather run 42.2 kilometres than BIKE 42.2 kilometres?”….It’s scary how alike she and I can be, because this is EXACTLY how I feel about biking!

MAN is it ever a good workout, but holy cow, RPM class is INTENSE! I’m not used to “climbing mountains” on a bike…We live in Southwestern Ontario…It doesn’t get any flatter than here! That was just pure torture!

Sweated a lot. Got rid of a few toxins, I would think. I actually DRIPPED at one point…Ewww. That’s the sign of a good workout, I think. lol

So, what have I been up to these past few weeks? Well, I did NOT drop off the face of the Earth….In truth, I totally forgot to blog for weeks…Life got busy!

I DID run a marathon last Sunday (which I don’t even want to talk about, but which I will briefly touch on anyway….what an abysmal race! Although, I sure did learn all of the things NOT to do for next time).

Lessons Learned In My Very Underwhelming Marathon:

a) TAPER PROPERLY! I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT run 8.5 kms the day before…TAKE IT EASY THE WEEK BEFORE, LIKE THE FREAKIN’ TRAINING PLAN TELLS YOU TO!!! Do not do boot camp, and yoga, and Learn to Run clinics! Seriously, TAPER, TAPER, TAPER!

b) DON’T run in old shoes that should have been replaced a month or two ago.

c) DO NOT think that Tylenol in the days preceding the race will suddenly get rid of the muscle fatigue…It really does only mask it. During the marathon, be forewarned that the fatigue will come back in full force, with a vengeance!

d) DO NOT go out too fast! Yeah, sure, you might be totally proud at the half-way mark that you’re on par for a 3:45 or less…Trust me, you won’t be so proud when you hit 26 kms and your muscles start cramping like mad and you realize that you have another sixteen freakin’ kilometres left! You’ll be even LESS proud when you have to start walking (REPEATEDLY), and end up with a waaaaay less than stellar 4:06:32. SEVEN MINUTES SLOWER than your first marathon (and personal best). YIKES.

AND now I’m struggling with pain in my outer thigh, and a little in my quad. Anyone know of a possible cure? Someone? PLEASE?!