Iron

In midlife I am richer in sight than at twenty
Realising that pretty soon I will be closing the circle
Or come out the other side of the woods, if you want to call it that.
And in that grey dusk, in that soft gloaming
I will remember my father
His one great strength amidst the frailties.
Integrity. The iron honesty of farmfolk and mountainfolk
If I leave nothing else behind but that
I will have bequeathed the world a world.

Week 11: The hills are alive with the sound of huffing

Run 40, walk 1. Run 20, cooldown.
Brutal. Especially with hills thrown in.
....
.....
And still, I'm thinking I might do the half-marathon program after this is over.

Masochistic!

60 minutes today and I survived!

Gorgeous day with a lovely, lovely spring sun. My group ran 60 minutes for the first time, broken only by 2 minutes of walk breaks at the 10- and 30- minute mark. Kept a pretty good pace throughout. Hooray!

Rustic, super rustic skillet apple pie

Recipe as provided here is nearly perfect. I flubbed the part where it says drop tablespoons of the biscuit batter on top of the apple slices; for some reason I thought any old method will do so I dumped ladlefuls of batter, resulting in The Blobs. To compensate I sprinkled brown sugar on top five minutes before I was to take it out of the oven, and broiled for a few minutes to get a nice golden brown look.

55 minutes and going strong!

So, today was THE day. After a relatively gradual increase in volume over eight weeks we ramped up quite a bit to 55 minutes today. I wasn't sure I could do it. On the other hand, I'm fast learning that you can talk yourself INTO doing something almost as easy as talking yourself OUT of it. So I psyched myself, locked up the dogs, grabbed an umbrella and was out the door, despite the nonstop rain.

A largish crowd showed up for the run and we all did fine! I was amazed that although I felt very tired at some points I was nowhere near the gasping stage -- a sign perhaps that I wasn't pushing myself to the limits, just yet? If so, a good sign. We were all soaked though and by the end my hands were chilled through and through. But I did it, we did it! What a great Sunday. Knowing I am pushing myself out there, moving out of my comfort zone.

Week 8 and volume's up!

We ran 10s and 1s today for the first time, having missed last week's workout. What a blast! Total run time was 40 minutes plus warmup, cooldown etc. I struggled a bit towards the end but didn't really hit the wall, and my recovery was quite fast! My pulse normalised within the one-minute walk breaks. Next week will be even more challenging as the running time increases by 15 minutes and we will be doing 10, 15, 20, 10 with one-minute walk breaks sandwiched between the running. Sounds quite daunting but I'll do my best!

On a roll

You know it's your day when two people compliment your boots, another two admire your scarf and a fifth person enthuses over your teeth.

Just.show. up.

So yesterday was a big snow day (for the lower mainland anyway) and not having slept properly the night before I entertained one or two thoughts of chickening out, especially when I looked out the window and saw 6 to 7 inches of snow on the ground (so pretty though!) and snowflakes still falling fast. But my pack was ready, I was up before 7 and champing at the bit to get out there and get running, since last week I missed both the Tuesday and Thursday runs AND the big group run on Sunday. Anyway, put the dogs away, was out the door and caught the bus. Unfortunately, the session was cancelled even though about a dozen of us showed up. I got home, put the leashes on the dogs and we went for a walk. Quite a lively exercise walking on snow. And in the evening worked out for a half-hour on the cross trainer.

I felt really good about just showing up yesterday morning. Sometimes it's all about just being there, isn't it. Plus had some nice chats with the rest of the group, AND we got our training shirts. Isn't it pretty?

In the thick of Week 6

I pretty much jammed out of most of my training last week (blame procrastination) and so now it is catch-up week and I'm a little bit nervous as we head into the first run of week 7 which is intervals of 10s and 1s, total running time of 40 min. Last week I did nada, zilch, nothing, except for a quickie half-hour run around the neighbourhood on Friday and walking the dogs for an hour the following day. Decided to drop out of the Sunday group run because I had to pick up a friend from the airport. This morning (Monday) I made up for it by doing the Sunday run on my own out on the dike. Was struggling a bit toward the end (who am I kidding, was struggling from the start) but determined to work out lots and show up on Sunday, Feb 26!

Meanwhile here's my running group - don't we look nice and fresh? It was just before the long run on Week 5.

Week 3 update

Highlight: A nicely brisk 5k walk with the puppies...followed by the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie chowdown.

Overall this week has been pretty good for fitness. I didn't get to do the two workouts we are supposed to do in between our Sunday training runs (see the programme) but I managed to fit in the spin class on Monday, a 5k walk with the furball babies on Tuesday, and a 20 minute elliptical cross trainer session last night. I plan to take Mags and Patz walking in an hour or so. Feeling good!

Tomorrow is the start of week 4, aka "Easy recovery week" with a run/walk interval of 3min/2min x 6. Looking forward to it! The weatherman called for light rain in the morning, so hopefully we won't be too damp!

New year, new fitness!

Early in January I made a resolution to step up my fitness regime a few notches. I'd been working pretty steadily since March 2010 at a new kind of job that entailed somewhat more physical activity than I was used to, and although I hadn't been running since the Sun Run in May I felt I was somehow more attuned to the whole running thing despite having dropped out of my beginner's running clinic which started in November 2009.

I realize now that that clinic was clearly above my abilities and fitness leel (at the time). Not the fault of the lovely peppy instructor at all. Last month, though, I registered for a proper training clinic for the Sun Run, and with 13 weeks to prepare till race day on April 17, I feel refreshed, ready and resolute!

The first session was pretty much an orientation, though we did run a few minutes. The training leaders emphasised doing a "shuffle-jog" instead of running, and wonder of wonders, I found it quite easy going! Exhilarating, in fact, to be in pace with a group instead of struggling, struggling, struggling to keep up. The past two weeks have followed the shuffling pace, with the run time increasing gradually. Last Sunday's session went like this: a 5 minute warmup and a 5-min cooldown and in between, a total of 21 minutes running (3 min run, 2 min walk x7). I felt really good at the end of the session. My running buddy was pretty cool too and I think she and I will be keeping each other motivated throughout this training.

Yesterday I took my first spin class and loved the challenge. Since I was a complete beginner I took it at my own pace, and used lower resistances and speeds, but overall it was a fabulous workout and I plan to do it at least once a week. (Note to self: wear longer workout shorts or tights next time! One of my thighs sported an ugly red bruise from the bike seat by the time it was over). I think I'll get the hang of this in a few weeks, and I expect the sore bum will heal up soon too. Those bike seats are HARD!

Really looking forward to a marvellously active winter and spring!

And now some bonus pictures of the garden, where green things are starting to come up. It's been a mild winter so far, not counting that cold snap in late November.

Workout log

Here's the 10k training program I'm following.

Jan
16, Sun: Week 1, session 1, 34min. Run 1, walk 2, repeat 8x
17, Mon: yoga 40 min
20, Thu: 20 min cross train on elliptical
22, Sat: 30 min (14 min run) around the block

23, Sun: Week 2, session 1, 38min. Run 2, walk 2, repeat 7x
25, Tue: 43 min walk/run with Magz

30, Sun: Week 3, session 1, 45min. Run 3, walk 2, repeat 7x
31, Mon: First spin class at FU
Feb
1, Tue: 5k brisk walk with dogs
4, Fri: 20 min elliptical
5, Sat: Quick walk with Maggie

6, Sun: Week 4, session 1, 40min. Run 3, walk 2, repeat 6x
7, Mon: rest
8, Tue: Week 4, session 2, 30min. Run 2, walk 2, repeat 5x. Around the block
9, Wed: rest
10, Thu: Week 4, session 3, 40min. Run 2, walk 3, repeat 6x at MRSS
11, Fri: rest
12, Sat: rest

13, Sun: Week 5, session 1, 46min. Run 3, walk 1, repeat 9x
14, Mon: Gym, strength training
cancelled
15, Tue: Week 5 session 2, 34 min. Run 2, walk 1, repeat 8x cancelled
16, Wed: LC, 6pm spin class cancelled
17, Thu: Week 5 session 3, 42 min. Run 3, walk 1, repeat 8x
cancelled
18, Fri: Yoga 800 to 830: Half-hour run in the neighbourhood
19, Sat: REST

20, Sun: Week 6, session 1, 52min. Run 5, walk 1, repeat 7xAbsent
21, Mon: Makeup for missing Sunday. Ran 30min in 5s and 1s.
22, Tue: 50-minute spin class! Good workout.
23, Wed: nada
24, Thu: nada
25, Fri: nada
26, Sat: nada
27, Sun: Week 7, 10s and 1s for the first time Showed up, but the run was cancelled! Walked the dogs instead in the snow, and put in a half-hour on the cross trainer

March
1, Tue: missed spin class, not feeling good.
2, Wed: 10s and 1s x 4 on the cross trainer
3, Thu: no workout
4, Fri: NW
5, Sat: NW
6, Sun: We did Week 8 today, which meant we ran 10s and 1s for the first time.

7, Mon: rest
8, Tue: Bad chest cold kept me out of spin class.
9, Wed: Did 30 minutes on the cross trainer for my weekday training
10, Thu: rest
11, Fri: Went for an early morning run around the area, with Maggie.
12, Sat: rest
13, Sun: Week 9 workout: 10, 15, 20 and 10 minutes running with 1 minute walk breaks in between.

14, Mon: rest
15, Tue: Spin class, 1 hour
16, 17, 18: Rest. Lazy bugger.
19: Half-hour walked the dogs
20, Sun: 1 hour run!

22, Tue: No spin class due to spring break. Got really busy, didn't work out at all this week.
26, Sat: Walked dogs
27, Sun: Run 40, walk 1, run 20. Whoa!!