Rest Day

Today was a much needed rest day. I need to let my muscles recuperate a bit. I find that rest days are mentally tough sometimes. I feel like I should be out doing something but I can tell my body needs a break and will perform better if I take a day off. Its bit of an internal battle.

Not only that but today was a big family gathering for my step-dad who is nearing the end of his battle with lung cancer. It was a beautiful sunny day and family had traveled from all over to come visit. We all sat in the back yard and ate, drank, laughed, cried. It was nice and hard, he's under a 100lbs now and couldnt participate much in the conversation. I didnt get to give him a hug before he went to bed and I'm not sure i will see him again :( I just hope he felt the love of everyone there.

 I way overate. I logged all my food and drinks and I think I was around 4500 calories, but I'm not going to beat myself up. It was a nice day and at least tomorrow is a long run day. Its not even 9 on a Saturday but I think I'm going to head to bed. I'm emotionally done.  

Weigh-In Day and Weekly Summary

This morning was my "official" weekly weigh-in. I like to weigh-in on Friday mornings, indulge and little on Friday and Saturday night and then stick to my regular meal plan Sun-Thur. I ended up being down 1.2lbs this week. Considering we spent the weekend away and ate out for 2 days straight I'm pleased with this. 

 I have been religiously counting calories now for about 2 weeks. I have always meal planned and kept an eye on calories but not to this level. If I pop even a grape into my mouth I have been logging it. Mainly for experimental purposes to get a true idea of how many calories I eat and what level I lose weight at. I know that I burn on average 500 calories a day through exercise. I also know that I like to eat a bit more on Friday and Saturday nights. I have figured out that if I go below about 1650 calories (overall not net) I get hangry and cant last without binge-ing. So what does this all mean.... 

Can you tell I love numbers and spreadsheets?! lol. If I want to lose a lb a week. I should aim for 1750 total calories Sun-Thur and around 2200 Friday/Sat. With the amount I run that should be enough to lose 1lb in 7 days. I'm not totally sure that is doable, but it is a good benchmark to aim for. Even coming in at 0.5lb loss per week I would be happy with. If I feel deprived its not sustainable and I will just eat it all back...gotta take this slow and steady :) Especially while strength training and racing. 

I got out for an easy run today which was nice and its a miracle, my legs are actually starting to loosen up!! A little over 4 miles through the trails by my work. Tomorrow is a rest day which will feel so nice.  Then Sunday is a longer run with 4 miles of speed in the middle.  

Speed Day!

Today was the last hard scheduled interval run before my race next weekend. My legs are still so sore from the marathon...4 days later!! But, I can finally walk down stairs without turning sideways so that has to be an improvement...right? lol.  When I got to work this morning I found out my running buddy only got 3hrs of sleep. I gave him the option of postponing our speed day till tomorrow, but he said he would rather get it over with and not have it "ruin" his Friday! So we decided despite me being sore and him being tired we were going to man-up/woman-up and do our best. So this was the plan...

We actually managed to do the first 6 reps at sub-7mins/mile. But, by the last two we were exhausted and totally fell apart coming in around 7:25 and 7:55. We were gasping and sore and tired and sooooooooo glad to be done!!!  Despite the slower paced final 2 reps we still averaged exactly 7:00min/mile on the intervals and I was proud of the run. 

Tomorrow is an easy 4.5 miles and then Saturday is a rest day. I'm really hoping my quads return to a more normal state after that!! Tomorrow is also weigh-in day, last week I was up a little when I felt like I should have been down so we will see how this week plays out.

Work & Before and Now Photos

As I suspected I couldnt get a run in today due to my work schedule...bummer! I was on the go non-stop and didnt even get my breaks. But I did get a bit of a workout in regardless. I manage rec sites and trails for my job and today I had to deliver a culvert and structure to one of my contractors. I knew he wasnt going to be home but I had told him not to worry I could manage things on my own. Well apparently I vastly underestimated the size and weight of the things I was delivering! I had them put on the truck with a forklift and decided I would just figure out how to get them off when I got there...(smart I know). Well I got to his house climbed in the back of the truck and attempted to shove the culvert out and it would not budge. It also happen to be sitting on top of the structure so I couldnt remove it. I tried taking the walls off the side of the truck to roll it off but the weight of the culvert was holding them down. The dumping mechanism on the truck is broken and I was starting to panic. I had driven an hour and a half to this spot I did not want to turn around at take it all back to the office. 

Thankfully I managed to find a way to flip it end over end and off the truck. Then I was able to roll it where it needed to go. Next I hauled the 4 wooden walls, floor and ceiling off too. I was beat! Took me about 30 mins and I definitely got my strength training in today!

(woohoo...got it done!)

This morning when I opened Facebook I was shown a "memory" from 8 years ago today. It was a picture of me from when I was at my heaviest. It made me reflect a bit on how far I have come on this journey. So, I thought I would post some then and now photos. I hesitate to call them "before and after" because I think weight loss and fitness is a ongoing and not something I am done with (now or ever).

The first pic was me running a triathlon in 2008 and I was about 170lbs and the second picture is running a 12k race in 2016 at 138lbs.

The first one is from 2007 and I was also around 170 and the second one was last month at 137. It took me a long time to come to the realization that in order to be where I like to be physically, calorie counting and exercise need to be something I commit to doing continuously. I was always trying to lose weight thinking that when I hit a magic number I would somehow be able to stop and maintain that weight. But now I know that I need to track my intake, commit to my meal planning and home-cooked meals forever. Exercise including strength training has become a habit and I dont always want to do it, but I just do because its what I need to do to be where I like to be. 

The other thing I've realized is there will be fluctuations and not to beat myself up. I will go on vacation or eat too much over Christmas and see a gain on the scale. But I cant let that set me up for a cycle of punishing myself through deprivation and then binge-ing. I just need to get back on track and know that as long as I put in the effort I can get back to where I like to be quite quickly.   

Recovery Run

So today was pretty much as bad as yesterday in terms of stiffness. The office I work out of this week I'm up on the 3rd floor. I have this thing where I absolutely refuse to take the elevator. Not out of any fear or anything I just think its silly to take the elevator when you can get a little bit of extra exercise in and wake your brain up a bit! Especially if you work in front of a computer most of the day!

But that means I have to trek up and down 44 steps...yes I counted! And on an average day I go up and down the stairs 5 times a day. I figure I burn an extra 40-50 cal and that negates the cream I put in my coffee :) But today was down right ridiculous...going upstairs was manageable although I would have to shout at other employees to "go around." But trying to go down was impossible. I actually had to turn sideways and go down like that! I must have looked like a freak :) 

But I was determined (read stubborn) to stick to my regular routine. So that meant at 10am I went down and did my weights routine. Most of that is upper body but I do 2mins of plank and 2 sets of 20 push-ups and those were tough on the thighs as well. 

We were trail running today through this little loop by our work and it was probably easier on the legs than the road would have been so that was in my favor. We took it really easy and once I got into the swing of things it wasnt too bad. There was no way I could push it and my form was definitely a bit off, but I got my 10k done and felt better for it. 

I might have to take a forced rest day tomorrow as I think I'm on the road for most of the day for work...boo. While my legs could probably use it, I'm not a big fan of rest days, especially when I have an important 10k coming up and I just rested yesterday! We'll see how the day goes...

   

Stairs are the enemy...

 I cant believe how sore I am today! Possibly the stiffest I have ever been!!  Usually the day after a race I will go for a really easy 3-5mile run to loosen up the legs, but not today. I could barely hobble around my house and office! Every time I had to pee I regretted being a girl and not being able to pee standing up! So I made today a rest day and messaged my running buddy that our speed drill tomorrow is now a "lets just see if I can run without crying" drill.

My husband did the bedtime routine tonight with the girls so I could sneak off to the pool. I spent some time in the hot tub and steam room and that helped a bit. We'll see what tomorrow brings though!

Race re-cap: Sunshine Coast Trail Marathon Shuffle

What a challenging but awesome race!!! I got up early to eat my standard pre-race breakfast which is always a bagel with PB and banana. Chugged 2 cups of coffee and headed out to the rendezvous spot for 7:30. It was calling for rain the night before but when we got up it was just cloudy. I was a little freaked out because I actually woke up with a cramp in my side...how is that even possible? 

(waiting at the rendezvous point)

They had 3 big buses come and pick us up and drive us about 30 mins out to the start line. It was really neat because you made a ton of friends on the bus and it was a really great atmosphere. 

I rode the bus with a banana and a beer keg :)

I chatted with a few people who had done the race before and they all kept saying it was "brutal" or "hellish" so I was starting to get a little apprehensive! They also were talking about road runners who enter the race and think they can run fast but then dont know how to run trails. I still had that side cramp too...not a great feeling when the race hasnt even started yet! 

We got to the start line and they tried to corral us by expected to finish time. I was hoping for 4-5hrs so I went and stood in that section. Well, apparently that was a bit of a mistake. I spent the the first 4 miles trying to pass people who were going slower than I wanted to go. The trail is single track and rough. Lots of big rocks, roots, puddles, mud. I full on bailed once and almost bailed more times than I could count (I actually stopped counting at 12). Including one time where I tripped over the side of a bridge and almost took a header into the creek. 

The course was hilly and steep! Like... my quads are on fire and I feel like I can barely put one foot in front of the other type of steep. I downloaded the elevation profile off my app afterwards and this is what it looked like. The two steepest peaks were un-runnable. Luckily the cramp when away as soon as the race started...maybe it was just nerves?

I ran the first half of the course with a guy I knew who had run it before and he said he could do it in about 3hrs and 45 mins. I knew when I could keep up with him and eventually passed him that I was going to do better than I had expected. At that point I changed my goal to sub-4hrs.  I ate half a running gel at mile 4, a fully caffeinated one at the half way mark and the other half of the first one at mile 12.5. I had brought a power bar and cliff bar but I was going faster than I had planned and didnt need them. 

The second half of the race we met up with all the people who were only doing the 12km half shuffle. I thought it was going to be a pain trying to get by them all but the race organizer had apparently read them the riot act about moving out of the way when someone said pass. I would barely get close and they would all hop out of the way and shout encouragement...it was actually really nice and kept me going through those tough miles. Mile 11-14 were pretty hard. My legs felt like jello, I was tripping and slipping lots and the terrain was really tough. Hard to get any momentum going. I was glad to pass the last aid station and know there was only one more peak left. I had my camel back on so I didnt have to stop for water. 

The last peak almost killed me...it was so steep going up and the sun had come out and it was warm. I actually stopped at the top to take a pic of the view

And then flip the camera around to take a pic of how I looked at that point...lol

The downhill was almost equally brutal on my quad muscles. Mile 15-16 we descended 581 feet...ouch! But at that point I knew the finish line was close and I started to get that adrenaline of knowing its going to be over soon. Unfortunately a girl I had been leap-frogging with passed me right at the end...I blame myself for stopping to take the selfie! But I was totally pumped to cross the line at 3hrs and 43mins! Blowing my expected time out of the water...woohoo!! 

I came in 10th overall out of the women and was proud to make the leader board. A lot of people I knew were at the finish line and it felt so good to be done!! I'm super pleased with the race and even though it was really hard it was also a great time!

I can barely walk right now though!! I do not even want to imagine how stiff I am going to be tomorrow. Going up and down any stairs requires some serious cost/benefit analysis :) Total calories burned 1674!

Race Day Eve :)

Tomorrow is race day!! 

Bright and early I will be getting up to run the the Sunshine Coast Trail Marathon Shuffle. A 29km trail race/hike along a portion of the Sunshine Coast Trail in Powell River. Its the first time I've done this race and only my second trail race ever. I'm actually really looking forward to it! There is no pressure time-wise as I've never done this race before and its a random distance so I'm just looking to set a baseline for future improvements. The race is capped at 400 and some people run and some people hike. The fastest time is just under 3hrs and some people take up to 8. I'm hoping to finish around 4-5hrs but really have no clue!  I've heard its a fairly competitive group this year. One of my worries is that the only other trail race I have done was my absolute worst race ever! But, there was a lot of other factors that played into that so I'm hoping this is different! I'm also running solo and there are a lot of warnings on the website about making sure you stay on the right path...so fingers crossed I dont get lost in the mountains somewhere! They posted the elevation profile for the first 23km....



Km's 3-10 look pretty brutal!! But I put together a playlist of upbeat music that will hopefully pump me up and keep me going. I had to add a couple Prince songs on there as it seemed fitting! Will update with all the race details tomorrow. We meet at 7:25 and then are shuttled out to the start location and the race begins at 9am. So hopefully I am done sometime around 1-2pm...and no later than 4 as we have a 5:15 ferry to catch home!!

(on the ferry)

My husband and I caught the early ferry over this morning so we had to leave home just past 8am. I packed some snacks for the morning and then once we got to Powell River we stopped at a really great little Thai place for lunch. We visited with some friends in the afternoon and then checked in to our hotel. We decided to eat at the Shingle Mill Pub for dinner as that is where we meet the shuttle in the morning and its where the finish line is. The food was terrible!!! Dont you hate when you have the chance to indulge and it's bad...makes it feel so not worth it! Oh well, drinking lots of water and hoping for a good sleep tonight. Weather is forecasting rain for the entire time tomorrow so my motto is going to be...

  

Tempo Run

I woke up and did not feel like running today. I was tired and it was raining. I needed to get some speed training in though. It's not often I have flex day off work and the kids are in school/daycare so I had to take advantage. I laced up my shoes and sat on the stairs willing myself to go out...lol! 

I decided to go for 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at sub-7min/miles (race pace) and 1 mile cool-down. Usually tempo runs are about 10 seconds slower than race pace but I decided to give er today. I wasnt sure if 4 straight at sub 7 was achievable but I figured I'd give it a shot and ended up averaging 7:01 :) Close enough! 

Not a bad run! The sun came out and it felt great to have pushed myself to get it done despite the lack of motivation! I love the difference between the pre and post-run pics. It is a total visual representation of why I run! 

Weekly Weigh-In

I weighed in this morning at 138.6...grrr. A little frustrating. According to MFP I've burned more calories than consumed and I should see a small loss, not only that I can totally see the difference in the mirror.  Instead I'm up 0.6. So what do you do when the scales being a bitch?

For me I rely I lot on measurements. I find with training hard my body composition changes a lot but the scale number can be pretty wonky at times. I do my measurements in cm's cause I like to see big changes :) So I did my measurements I am officially the smallest I have ever been even though I have been 134 for a while on the scale. I am apparently denser right now...lol. (The purple highlight was just showing the lowest I got in 2014). 

 I noticed that in the last two years and difference of maybe 8lbs I have lost 3 inches off my chest...sigh

I also take regular progress photos and keep an album going of those. Although I've realized now that they are mostly in underwear so I'll do sports bra and shorts so that I can actually post them! 

So in summary scale weight is up, but I am smaller...I'll take it even though I like to see that number validation!!

Weigh-In tomorrow

Today was my last day in contract training...woohoo! There is only so long you can sit in a windowless room and learn about contract modifications! It also meant I couldnt do my coffee break weights or my regular 5-6mile runs. I did manage to squeeze in a shorter easy run today which was nice though.

I think I will do a 6 mile tomorrow and then rest Saturday. Sunday is the Sunshine Coast Trail Marathon Shuffle (29km trail hike/run....eek!)

I just found this feature on myfitnesspal! My excel loving nerdy side is all about this kind of stuff! This is very typical of my weeks. I weigh-in Friday mornings and then totally overindulge Friday nights, Saturdays can be a bit of a mixed bag and then Sunday-Thursday I eat quite healthy. 

Net calories might be a bit more representative because it shows my long run on Sunday and my rest day on Wednesday. Last Friday I was 138.0. I'm expecting to be somewhere close to that tomorrow.  

Training Plans

People often ask me about my training schedule and I've tried a few over the years and what I do now is a bit of a mish-mash of a few. Especially since I'm often training simultaneously for 10k's and half-marathons. But, basically it boils down to 1 interval speed drill (these are hard!), 1 tempo run (also tough but I feel less like puking after, 1 long run on the weekend (10-16miles) and 2-3 easy runs mid-week (4.5-6miles).

 I'm also obsessed with excel...I keep all my training runs, paces, weight, races, etc logged and color coded of course :)

Intervals!

Today I was working out of Port Alberni in a training course all day. I had to modify my interval drill as I knew I wouldnt have as much time as I normally do for lunch. I decided to do 6 half mile intervals at sub 7 min/miles instead of 8. I also knew it was going to be 24C so I was hoping I could find a shady spot to run near the hotel where the training was!

I found a path nearby that was partly shady and also followed the water so there was a bit of a breeze which helped! My legs felt a bit tired but the path I chose ended up being really flat and I didnt find it too difficult to get six repetitions done. Average interval pace 6:55mins/mile. I have been running for a long time and just figured out the interval function on my running app (runmeter) ...it is revolutionary!! I always did my intervals on the treadmill before but I'm loving this new option!

So I returned to my training session a hot sweaty mess...lol. No time for a shower, I hope I wasnt too fragrant :) Luckily the room was heavily air conditioned and I cooled down quick!

Easy runs and headstands!

It was 28°C today where I was working so I was glad it was an easy run day! A few days a week I run with a friend from work on my lunch hour. Today we did 5miles at 9:11mins/miles and it was nice to "relax", enjoy the sun and chat easily. I need to get in to the mindset of hot running again though. Sunscreen, a towel and water bottle required!


I was in the field this morning but I managed to get my weights done at my afternoon coffee break. About 3 times a week I do a 10 minute weights routine on my coffee break. This consists of 1min plank with arm extensions, 15 bicep curls, 15 rear-delt raise, 15 tricep dips, 20 push-ups and 15 bent over row and tricep kick backs. I go through that twice and still have time to wolf down a snack :) I have been doing this for months now and I cant believe the difference it has made to my arms/back and shoulders. Running tones my lower half pretty well but my core and upper body strength has always been lacking. In the past I often tried to start a weights routine but gave up because I dont like doing it and hated spending 30 mins doing something I dont like. But 10 mins is easy! and its while I'm at work...even easier!


I work out of two different offices and both have weight rooms which is awesome. I even finally figured out how to do a headstand!! (I am very clumsy and it has always bugged me that I could never do this!)

Long run and weekly summary

So today was my long run and it was beautiful out. Sunny but not too hot and I was totally in a running mood. Put on my water backpack and packed a running gel and was good to go. The plan was to warm up, run 13 miles and then cool down. 

  I set my running app to yell at me if I went above 9 mins/miles and it actually felt pretty easy to maintain...I love runs like that! I ate half my gel at 4.25 miles and the other half at 8.5miles and that seemed to work out pretty well. 

The only issue is I keep forgetting to put my body glide on when I wear my running backpack. The weight of it on my sports bra chafes at the clasp and I get raw patches on my back...ouch!! Also the super sexy sock tan lines are back :)

Weekly Summary:

Monday: 6 miles @ 9:04mins/mile
Tuesday: 5 miles (3Miles Tempo @7:01mins/mile)

Wednesday: 4.79 miles (Easy - 9:28mins/mile)

Thursday: 5miles (8 intervals of 0.5mile@6:53 mins/mile average)

Friday: 4.85miles (Easy - 9:24mins/mile)

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 0.5warm up, 13miles at 8:47min/mile, 0.67 cool down

 

Total weekly mileage: 39.81miles or 64km ... not bad :)