A Sunday quickie

July 27  Plan: 3k steady  Actual:  3k steady

Today I knew there was a short one on the agenda but I had no idea when I was going to fit it in.  The weather forecast was all over the place and I really wanted to sleep in so I did just that and decided to roll with the weather punches, whatever they had to offer.

Got my sleep in on (after one of the most severe thunderstorms I've ever been through!!) and hopped out of bed at 8:30.  Micheal was leaving for the day with his sisters so I knew my time was entirely my own.

I popped open the blinds and there wasn't a cloud in the sky - nothing but sun everywhere.  I waffled back and forth about when to go and decided that if I wanted to run outside I might as well go right then and there to get it over with before the temperature increased even more.  Higher temps AND all that sun?  Killer combo.

Thankfully the schedule only called for 3k so I knew it was something I could get done relatively quickly.

I donned the race shirt from yesterday, thinking it was as good a day as any to break it in.  At first I wasn't wowed by the colour but it grew on me over time.  Sure made me easy to spot on the road!

 

Was going to do a quick out and back but decided half way through to just keep going.  Actually worked out perfectly and I got back to the house just over the 3k mark.  Will have to remember this for future 3k days!

Incredible how the weather changed though.  Not a cloud in the sky just after 8:30?  Here's that same sky about 40 minutes later.  Clouds galore!  Which of course made for even nicer conditions because I wasn't being blasted by the sun. 

 

In hindsight it was the perfect time to go out for a run.  Got it done nice and early, left me plenty of room to do alllllll the errands I had to do today, and I didn't have to a) run later when it got even hotter or b) run in the rain tonight or c) hit the treadmill.  Woot!

Rest day tomorrow then back at it Tuesday night.  Hard to believe there are only two more runs before we leave for Mexico on Friday!  I'll miss my LSD on the weekend but have packed my gear so I can do at least two runs while at the resort.  I WILL do at least two.  :)

That's it for today!  See you on Tuesday.

Debbie Downer runs again

July 24   Plan: 3k steady  Actual:  3k steady

So this run really sucked.

I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately.  My runs have sucked.  I feel like I get tired so quickly and don't have the energy to get through them properly.  I feel slow and fat and hippo-esque.  My pace is getting slower instead of faster and the more I run the harder it seems instead of easier.  This isn't the way it's supposed to be!

See? Debbie Downer.  I warned you right in the title!

I guess part of it is running in the summer.  Today wasn't crazy hot but it wasn't cool, either.   But I'm sure that most of it is due to the excess bit of weight I'm carrying right now, extra pounds that just make it harder than it already was to run from point a to point b.

I'm sure I've said before that I've lost a boatload of weight over the past few years.  A few - just a few, thankfully -  of those pounds have crept back on and I'm attempting to deal with them yet again.  Believe it or not, losing weight is the easy part - it's keeping it off that's the biggest challenge of all.  Trust me on this.  And again, it's not like I've gained it all back, not by a long shot.  But I'm sure anyone out there would agree that you really do feel an extra 10, 15, or 20lbs when you run.

As I said, I'm working to get them back off again and I know I will.  I'm not worried that I'll return to over 330lbs.  No way.  Not even close.  Ever.  Not happening.   I just want to be at a lower, more manageable weight in time for my 15k race in September and the half this blog is all about in October and mark my words, I will be.   I WILL BE.

I also take into consideration that I'm going on vacation down south one week from tomorrow and I know that I'll come home up even more.  Just the nature of vacation and the way my body processes food.  And alcohol.  So I'm in this weird spot now where I'm trying to eat super well - give myself just enough to fuel what I need to run while taking off a few pounds to give me that buffer for when we go away.  The hard core weight loss work will start again when we get back. But I'm trying to be extra good this week and next in particular to mitigate some of the damage to come.

To top it all off, I have a race Saturday morning.  The Durham Quarter Marathon, starting at Oshawa city hall and running through some trails and parks, ending at the waterfront.  It'll be my longest race to date albeit not by much - 10.59k or something like that compared to Sporting Life 10k in May.  And I know I can do this distance, I've done it and more many times before.  But I'm down on myself right now because I feel so crappy and bloaty and tired and gross.

Fingers crossed tonight's run was like a dress rehearsal in the theatre.  Conventional wisdom dictates that a bad dress means a good opening night.  Here's hoping that theory applies to running as well!

So now I'm going to do my best to eat well, stay away from the new granola I tried that I think is making me bloaty, take some Advil to counteract the pain in my arm from getting a tetnus shot yesterday during a routine doctor's appointment (seriously - if I had known it would hurt this much and make every step of my run jar my arm I might have skipped it!!), get lots of sleep before the race and hope for one hell of an opening night.

If you've got a moment for some spare good thoughts Saturday morning 

Will be back to tell you all about it on Saturday!

Boo to summer colds

July 2  Plan: 3k tempo  Actual:  3k steady

So yeah.  Feeling craptastic.  A cold is coming, I can feel it.  Have been fighting it off for a while now but I think it's winning, sadly.  You know how as it shows up you don't sound like ass but you feel like you've been run over by a truck you're so tired?  Yeah, that was me today.

Was hoping that I'd feel better as the day wore on but alas, just felt more tired.  So I left work about 45 minutes early today to get home a bit earlier.

Debated whether or not I'd run.  Was really torn - the whole feeling tired part of me said skip it.  The whole optimist part of me said maybe it will help and make you feel better, so do it.  So I compromised and instead of doing a 3k tempo as per plan, I swapped out tomorrow's 3k steady and did that tonight on my treadmill.  At least the rain helped make the treadmill decision that much easier.

Got home, threw on the running clothes and jumped on, promising my husband that I'd quit if I didn't feel great.   Decided on 4.6 as my speed and managed to get my 3k in with one short walk break so I could drink some water half way through.  Ended up with a 8:04 pace but I'm totally cool with that, all things considered.

In the end I'm glad I did it.  Helped get rid of my headache and I'm glad I didn't just give in.  The plan for the rest of the night is to watch Big Brother at 8, then bed at 9.  Fingers crossed lots of rest and sleep helps to stop this in its tracks before it gets worse.

Until tomorrow!

Dog days of summer

June 29 Plan: 3k steady  Actual:  3.01 steady

Lesson learned from yesterday, I got up much earlier and made it outside by 7:20ish.  I'll go earlier on days that I have long runs and therefore have to be outside for longer, but since I knew it was only 3k I figured it was a good compromise.  

Decided to take my almost three year old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier named Finn with me for the run.  He's an active guy but isn't a huge fan of the longer runs - 3k is pretty much his max.  True to form, for the first k he happily ran out in front, pulling me along behind him.  I had to try to slow him down a bit as he was going faster than I wanted to but he came around quickly.

The second k he ended up running pretty much beside me, still excited to be out but much more into my groove.  And, as always, for the third k he was a few steps behind but kept pace enough that I didn't need to slow down.

As with Thursday's run, the schedule called for steady so I ran the whole thing without walk breaks.  I did, however, stop briefly once to give Finn some water as it was pretty hot, even at 7am, and then again quickly to snap this cute pic of him and our shadows as we passed in front of the park behind our house.   He wasn't too excited to stop - started to whine in a 'let's get this show on the road so I can get home' kinda way.  So off we went, rounded a few more corners, and home it was.

Even though it was only 3k and only 7am it was stinkin hot and I was one sweaty Betty when it was all said and done.  Had a quick shower then hopped back into bed with hubby to at least pretend I had a chance to sleep in.

Tomorrow is a rest day as per the schedule so I'll enjoy not having to get up super early.  I've got the day off but Micheal doesn't so will likely be up around 7 anyway.   Now to enjoy the rest of this beautiful, hot day!