Moncton 10K

I ran the 10k race in Moncton today. It was fantastic. Well except for having to stop for a potty break (no.2) and not knowing whether I was going to find one or not. That was pretty stressful. Then I had to stop to get rocks out of my shoe. All told, I lost 4 or 5 minutes off my "coulda been" time.

2 weeks ago at my first 10k, my chip time was 1:25:44. Today my chip time was 1:23:15. I'm thrilled with that. If I hadn't had to stop, it could have been 1:19:00 ish. I finished really strong. I really could have kept going at the pace I had set. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. 

I'm looking forward to doing it again in two weeks. Not sure which race I'm going to do though. The Muir Murray Winery race on the 5th or the MEC race at Shubie on the 6th. (As I was writing I thought I'd check the sites for availability. Looks like I'll be running the MEC race. The Winery registration is closed)

So besides the running stuff, I've got to back into healthy eating and some weight loss. 27 lbs to be exact. Plus it makes running easier and better when I'm eating well. So, I've taken all my measurements again and weighed. And I'm ready to get back into the swing of things.

I'll be running Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. On Monday and Wednesday and maybe Saturday, I'll be either going to the gym for a class, or doing some Wii Active workouts. I've set MFP to lose 2 lbs per week. That allows me 1200 calories a day, plus eating all my exercise calories. We'll see how that goes and I'll adjust if I need to. Times to eat will be 9:00 am, 11:00 am, 1:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm and a little snack at 9:00pm.

Today (Monday) is going to be a yoga workout, I think. To stretch out my muscles and aches and pains from yesterday. I'll have to check to see if there is one at the gym or not.

Anyway, that's my update.

PS: I'm switching all my trackers over to km.

October Stats

Total Distance: 33.5 km
Total Time: 5:38:52
Average Speed: 6 kph
Average Pace: 11:31 min / km

I have a long way to go, to get back to where I was in June and July. But I'll get there.

Running in the rain

So, it looks like it's going to be chilly and rainy next weekend for the Moncton race. I'm looking up information about running / racing in the rain.

Here's what I'm learning:

• Dress for temperature, not for rain.
• Wear a water-resistant jacket. Not water proof. Water proof with retain sweat / moisture.
• Dress in layers. Layer closest to your body should be a technical fabric
• Wear a hat with a brim to keep the rain off your face.
• Sunglasses will help protect your eyes from the rain
• Wear gloves
• Wear something reflective. Tape.
• While you are waiting to start a race, wear a garbage bag with holes cut out for arms and neck. Then throw it away when the race starts.
• Wear old sneakers while you are waiting. Change to your good, dry racing sneakers just before the race starts.
• Put cell phones, ipods, mp3 players in zip loc baggies.
• Put balled up newspaper in your sneakers after the race to help keep their form and to help them dry out.
• In the fall, watch out for wet leaves

I think that's all I've come across. Anything else I should be thinking of?

Valley Harvest 10K

Ran my first 10K race today at the Valley Harvest Marathon in Wolfville. It was a good run. I'm really glad I went and that I didn't back out because of my lack of training. Racing really is a lot of fun. Keeping track of times, keeping ahead of people you're racing against, passing people that you are racing against.

I left the campground at 6:30 am. It was quite cold. I had my long track pants on over my running shorts, my tshirt and a jacket. Arriving at 7:30 ish was a perfect time to arrive. Any later and I would have had a bugger of a time with parking and bathroom duties et al.

Picked up my kit walked around for a bit, went and watched the start of the full and half marathons and waited for the start of the 10k.

Boy was I warm. I didn't dress appropriately at all. It was still really cold before the start so I left my long pants on. And the race shirt was long sleeve, so I was warm. I spent at least 75% of the race thinking about whether to take my shirt off and run with just my running bra on, or take my long pants off 'cus I still had my running shorts on underneath. Oh the dialog. Where was I going to stash my clothes? Tie them around my waist? Should I just drop my drawers in the middle of the run, or find a porta potty? As it were, I left all my clothes on until after the race. But it was warm.

It was a really nice course, a couple of inclines, the largest of which was at the ramp to Port Williams, and really, compared to what I run on regularly, it wasn't that bad.

My legs finally gave out at the 8km mark. Exactly. Saw the sign and my legs said, that's it. I did manage to jog the last 300 metres around the track to the finish line. It was pretty painful. But I did it.

My goal was to complete the 10k in 1:30:00. I switched my garmin over km because it was easier to track an average pace of 9:00 minutes per km than try and figure out what that would be over 6.24 miles. I finished the first 5k in 40:26 a little over 8 minutes per km. I finished the whole 10k in 1:26:08 that's a little more than 8:36 per minute.

I'm running the 10k in Moncton in 2 weeks and I'm really looking forward to it. I'd like to finish it with a pace of 8:30.

Here are some pics from todays run.

This was during the drive.

Thanks for reading.

It gets dark earlier now

That's no surprise to anybody. We are half way between the longest day of the year, June 21 where it stays light until 10:00pm and the shortest day, December 21, where it's dark at 5:00 pm. If you don't want to run in the dark, time to run is getting scarce. Well that is if you have a full time job or two.

I did think last night that if I left at 7:00pm, It would still be reasonable at 7:45 when I was done. Not so much.

Here's an article from Active.com. 3 tips to stay safe while running in the dark.

I did my 3.5 miles at a 14:45 pace. Meh. Not as fast as I was. I'm back at a C25K week 2 ish. That really sucks. But it is a plan. I will just follow the plan and I will improve. AGAIN. I don't think I'll get down to my 13:20ish pace for the 10k, but I will finish in 1:30:00.

So back to the fact that it was dark on my run last night. There are creatures out in the dark. I was out minding my own business jogging along when all of a sudden I saw this thing moving in the grass.

"ACK! What's that?"
"OMG! It's a puppy"
"Where do you belong, puppy?"

With that he looked at me, started barking in his little chihuahua voice and ran back to his house.

I won't even bother talking about people that let their little bitty dogs out in the dark, off leash, on a suburban street, where they can get run over.

Off to running I was again. I got around a corner and there is something else crouched in the grass.

"Cripes! What the hell is that?"
"Oh FFS, it's a stupid cat."

Now I'm just paranoid. The dark is starting to get to me. UGH!

I keep running, and I'm going up a hill. OK. I'm walking at this point. And I see three guys running toward me. In the dark. I'm done for. Did I mention I run alone?

Then I recognize the running form of one of the runners. He's somebody I see on my runs regularly. He has a really unique running form.

"Phew. Don't think I'm being murdered today."

And with that, I think I'll start running before supper instead of after.

Running cures what ails me

I have been so out of sorts lately. It started out as being a little down. Then it turned into not doing things I used to enjoy. I even started having some cigarette puffs while I was drinking. That's not good. Not eating well. Eating junk. 

Then I started hating. Hating people. Hating things. Everything and everybody was pissing me off.

I was even feeling sorry for myself. I'm not good at anything. Everybody does everything better than me. I wanted to do the half marathon in October and failed miserable at my training. I know it's my own fault for making excuses, but I made them. I was even trying to put myself out there, to get to know other runners in the area. And got stomped on. Twice. 

I knew I was in a funk and it was getting worse. I was trying to figure my way out. I was actually this bad this time last year too. Last year I went to my Dr for some "medicine". I still have some if I need some, but I'd like to try and do this without.

I thought I'd finally sign up for a race. 10K in the Valley. I was hoping that if I had something to look forward to, I might get my ass in gear again. Nope. Now, I've just wasted $50.00 

This last week I was just plain nasty. Cranky. Nasty. Say rude things and not care who I hurt, nasty. That is so not me. 

I woke up this morning and decided today was the day. I had to get my sanity back. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I was going to do something. Smart Coach said I have to run 3 miles today. It's not crazy hot out. Hopefully I won't be exhausted when I get home. I won't be. I'll have a cup of coffee at 3 pm. That should keep me going until I can get a run in.

I got home. I made supper. And then Pat and I went out for a 3.5 mile run.

I didn't realize how much I needed that. I actually haven't felt this mentally good in weeks. I know. I know. It's the endorphins. But I'll take whatever I can get at this point. And probably the caffeine. 

I'm going to try and keep up with the running. Knowing that it might help with the mental me, might give me the push I need. I'm not feeling so bad about the 10K in the Valley. I will do it. And I will do the 10K in Moncton at the end of October too. I know I will be ready. Ready to finish anyway. 

So that's my little sob story for the evening. I don't have any pictures to post. It's 11pm and I'm tired. I'll post my September stats tomorrow as well.

Good night. 

Homemade Clif Bars

@eastcoastknits just asked me for a recipe for my Clif bars. Can't twitter it, so I'll blog post it. These are really yummy.





1 1/4 cups rice krispies
1 cup quick oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts or seeds
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine honey, peanut butter and vanilla in a pan over medium heat until well melted and blended. Combine the rice krispies, quick oats, flax seed, dried fruit, nuts and cinnamon in a seperate bowl.

When the liquid ingredients are well melted, pour over the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon.  Spoon out into an 8 inch pan. Cool. 


Cut into 8 servings.


Each bar has 294 calories. 30 g carbs. 19 g fat. 8 g protein. 3 g fibre. 186 mg sodium.


You can probably reduce the amount of fat by changing the peanut butter to another nut butter.
There are so many variations to try.

Cherry Almond
Raisin Walnut
Apricot
Spiced Pumpkin ( replace the cinnamon with a pumpkin pie spice)
Apple Pie (Apples with pecans)

The mind is a wonderful thing

I haven't posted an update in almost a month. That's bad. That's bad because  I haven't really had any great runs in a month either. I'm kinda thinking that my hopes to run the half in October are dashed. I'm almost positive I'll be running the 10K instead. Not that I'm crushed about that or anything. The fact that I'm even out running is incredible in itself.

I went for a run at the campground... Sometime... This is the country road I was running on.




Then I came home and went for a run... Here...





But let me tell you about this run. It was my first long run in probably a month. We had crazy July heat. I hurt my foot. Then it rained. And I was lazy. I did manage to do a few runs on the treadmill, but it just isn't the same. I end up walking more than I run because I actually find it awkward to run on the treadmill.

Anyway, back to my story.

I left the house on my long run route. That route gives me the option to do a 3, 5 or 7 mile run depending on how I'm feeling. It was easy to pass the 3 mile turn. There is a fairly large hill on this route that I haven't conquered yet, but I will. It's an incline of 26 feet over 528 feet. 4.9% incline. About a third of a mile later there's another hill. 43 feet elevation over 897 feet. 4.7%. When I first started running this route, I wouldn't run either hill. Now I can "almost" easily run the second hill. I can't even tackle the first one. The inclines are virtually the same, and the first one is a shorter distance. Go figure.

I passed by the 5 mile turn and kept on going.

Another couple of hills over 1.15 miles at 3.2% incline. Can't run up that at all.

The last little bit of my run, I was jogging along and my mind kept saying, "OK, you've been running long enough" and I'd stop. Then the other side of my brain said "Hold it, you're not tired, keep running" so I did. This actually kept going on for the last mile or so. It was actually quite humorous, once I was finished.

The lesson that I learned over this run, is that I need to make sure my mind and body are working together for the common goal. That it's too easy to take the easy way out and let my mind rule the roost.

Aug 11

Total Miles: 7.13
Total Time: 1:41:06
Avg Pace: 14:10


Stats for August

Total Miles: 17.6
Total Time: 4:16:58
Average Pace: 14:49