5km Rattle me Bones race

I ran my final race for this year on Sunday.  I say it's my final race because I froze my ass while waiting for the start.  It was so cold that I wore a large hooded sweatshirt and gloves and was still cold while running.  BRRRR!  I also tried to keep warm the whole time by running the whole thing.  I only stopped once for a small hill near the water station and strangely enough my finish time was 45:10 and the Army run race in September (with walk breaks)  my finish time was 45:09.

I was amazed that I could run so consistently and for so long, it makes me feel great.  I may not be faster yet, but it shows to me that my endurance is really getting to all time lifetime high :)  I hope I can continue with the increased mileage that's required for the 10km races and that my weight will also begin to drop again with the extra distance.

I do feel really rough this morning tho... oh boy.  Headache, achy body and I just wanted to stay in my warm toasty bed.  Alas, I must work for a living to pay for my "running in races" habit among others hahahaha

The race was well organized and they fed us bagels, bananas, chili, cookies and lots of water after the race.  Ensure was also there handing out a little bag with a bottle of vanilla flavoured Ensure and a pamphlet with some coupons.  I didn't drink the Ensure, it's on my desk right now staring at me.  It's almost 6 points worth in that tiny little bottle.  I can eat a ton of food for 6 points.... so I think I'll pass... might have drank it after the race if it were chocolate.

I'll post a picture of the bib, medal and my cool skeleton hoodie sweatshirt that struggled to keep me warm :)  It was a Halloween themed race, but not many people got dressed up.  My hoodie was pretty unique, so I'm guessing there will be some Zoom photo shots that I can steal later on :)

Pictures

That's what a happy 40 year old looks like.

Me with my friend Tonia.  I have beer in hand and I'm just waiting for pizza.  Notice the massive amounts of bling :P

The ambitious 10k schedule

My new toy!

YES!

*DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE*

I am down another pound... yes! Love it when the scale goes in the right direction.

Last night was my first run after 2 weeks off. I was scheduled to run 6kms, but I told John that I would accept anything over 3kms. I ran 5kms! Because I was wearing my new Garmin in the dark, and I'm still not 100% sure how to use it, I couldn't figure out how to get it to tell me when I'd run for 10 minutes, so I had to keep glancing at the watch. First 1 minute break was after 12 minutes of running... (wow, I ran for 12 minutes and could have kept on going... that was just the first glance) the second break was at 27 minutes and the third was at 40. I'm stunned LOL

It was really cool to see the graphs that the Garmin spits out... it even showed the spot where the skateboarder dude and I almost collided almost giving each other heart attacks as well.

I'm not fond of running outside at night by myself because I've seen too many crime dramas that always seem to have stories about female runners getting killed. Now I'm not cute and skinny enough to be a target... but I might be someday! Besides, serial killers can be chubby chasers too! Aside from the annoyance of trying to stick to large streets with lot's of lights, it was a good run, the air was cool so I wore my running jacket and gloves (thank goodness for those gloves!) and I was back in safety behind closed doors by 8pm.

This morning I defied the laws of nature and actually got up early and did my first ever run through of Jillian Micheal's 30 minute Shred, level 1. It was tough, especially after a night of running (my knees were a bit tender) but I was surprised that I got all the way through it without too many issues. Apparently running has gotten me in better shape than I realized! SWEET!

Today I'd like to leave you with a quote from one of my favorite bloggers Ms. Bitchcakes http://msbitchcakes.blogspot.com/

"You are not going to "lose the weight" or get to goal if you don't make the changes - so focus on what you have control over: the changes and the choices you make - NOT the number on the scale."

That quote just really rang in my head like a big GONG!!! Might just print it out and put in on my inspirational bathroom mirror...

Yes, I owe you guys tons of photos... but I can't post them from work... I'll try and get better at that :)

Back in the saddle aka running shoes :)

Time to get back to the running schedule! 40th birthdays are fun and all that, but I am missing my running and since I'm signed up for a 5km race this coming Sunday, I have to get my lungs back in gear.

I might have mentioned this in my last post but this time, for some strange reason, taking a break from running didn't make me feel like a big fat loser hahahaha The first week that I was "away" was a stay-cation that involved a fair amount of physical labor (mostly climbing up and down a ladder) and last week I had a few days off just to bum around in the days around my birthday, but I didn't sit on my laurels (what the heck are laurels anyway? def: award: a tangible symbol signifying approval or distinction Oh well, now we know!) So I didn't sit on my "awards" (ouchy on the buttocks is all I can say there) and I did some fun running around like spending my birthday gift cards and walking around malls in general. Not high intensity cardio, but enough to take care of some of the extra food calories :)

I think at weigh-in this week I will either be the same or one pound or two higher.

But enough of that garbage, I'm tired of maintaining the weight that I don't want to be. I know I have myself to blame, and I know that I've not been dedicated enough to add extra amounts of exercise and way more diligence on the food plan front.

It's time to get out of the 230's and into the 220's and I want to accomplish that before Christmas. It's a reasonable goal, and I think with some reasonable adjustments to my life and renewed commitment to making the scale in the right direction instead of up or horizontal -> that 10 to 15 pounds can be lost before the Xmas family reunion.

I did get some great running gifts for my b-day: Running socks and a baseball cap headlight from Alex and with the gift cards from 4 other good friends I finally bought my geek running nerd toy that I have coveted for awhile.. the Garmin 305. Yes it's the older clunkier version, but I don't care, it's going to be awesome to be able to track my distance.

I was not thrilled with the end of my last running clinic when the group was down to me, the instructor and maybe 2 other people. The instructor would call out the route, everyone would take off and I would make it back to the store before everyone else, not because I'm speedy Gonzalez, nope, because I was so far at the back of the pack that when they would reach the store with their GPS watches and realize they hadn't yet completed 5km, they would run a few more circuits around the street behind the store, but I would have no clue where the heck they were ... so I would do my stretches and go home pissed off that I'd only run 3 or 4kms. Damn my slowness! Now with my new toy, I don't have to rely on others, I can run my own speed without stressing out and I can complete my kms as per my schedule.

Another thing I'm looking forward to testing out is pushing my pace to go faster and wearing the heart monitor to see how much time I spend in that good heart pumping zone. You know, just after getting off the couch and just before heart attack :P

Tonight it's back on the running schedule... not sure if I can run 6kms after 2 weeks off, but I'll aim for more than 3kms and see where that takes me.

I am also planning to try and get my life a bit more organized so that I can do the 30 min Shred in the morning before work a few times a week *shudders in fear* The hardest part is getting out of bed, but I'm sure that after a week or two of doing it, I'll get used to is... but be prepared for a ton of cry baby whining until I get used to it!

I'll try and post some pics of my 40th... after I steal em from my friends heheheh

Going the distance.... the new distance that is :)

Sorry for the disappearing act, but I took a week off to stay at home. No I didn't sit around, eat bon bons and watch TV all week. I got a lot of stuff done:

Painted upstairs bathroom
Painted french door
Hemmed all living room curtains
Hemmed the powder room curtain
Oil change for my car
E-test on my car
New stickers for my car
Prepared two pans of lasagna, froze one in pieces and fed the other to us and some friends on Thanksgiving.

I even managed to fit in some *me time* which to me means taking myself to a movie, or stop at Starbucks/Chapters and enjoy a skinny Latté and browse the books and "stuff"

I am now working on a new distance: 10km!!!!! That's right folks, I'm finally moving myself forward to a bigger challenge. I pulled a schedule from an online training website, not sure I can keep up and complete 10km in the prescribed weeks listed, but I'm gonna give it a shot!

It's a very ambitious schedule... makes me break out into hives and breath in a paper bag when I look past week 3 LOL

Another thing worth mentioning is that last week when I ran my 5km on the treadmill, I noticed that I was running too slow.... yeah, you read that right... too slow....and I noticed I wasn't breathing hard... at least not as hard as when I run outside... so I pumped up the speed from a 5.5 (pace of about 11:00) up to a 6.0 (pace of about 10:20) and was breathing hard like I'm used to hearing. I do remember my average race pace for the Army run was listed as 10:01, so obviously I'm not hard enough on myself at home LOL Time to take out the whip!! I won't run at 6.0 all the time, but I'll try to do it for one or two of my 10min intervals. Gotta keep pushing the boundries of speed and distance!

How to build a fire... under your ass :P

So I decided, in my infinite wisdom, to reward myself with a week off after running my last 5km race. Not quite sure why I figured I *deserved* a reward because I didn't beat my personal best, but I guess combined with it being that time of the month, and a strong craving for crap food seemed to make me fold like a house a cards... which obviously didn't take that much effort. During my week off I ate badly a few times which caused some weight gain, and I didn't exercise at all which caused some anxiety, mainly because I kept looking forward to this week when the running could start again. I thought my body would be happy with the break, but I seemed to get more and more tired and my legs got more and more stiff, or odd feeling... not the same kind of stiff that you feel the day after you exercise... just weird.

I decided that unless I'm injured, I'm not going to totally cut out the running... I can reduce the kilometers /miles, but not stop cold turkey. It wasn't fun :( It wasn't fun like quitting exercise used to be. Quitting exercise used to feel like "Oh finally I can't stop subjecting myself to that stupid torture and just get back to watching TV, surfing the web or crafting". Now when I stop running, I think about running more, I read more about running online and in the running magazines I get, I make plans to register for more races, it was like I was becoming frantic about it and had to keep telling myself "it's okay, next week you can rack up the kms again" and that would help for a bit until I'd find another running blog or look at the photos from last year's Princess run. Totally strange and alien of me. Welcome to area 51 LOL

But to get to the main subject that I wanted to talk about: How do you build a fire... under your ass? And by that I mean this: at this point in my adult life, I know how to eat, I know how to exercise, I know what to do. The big thing that is hit or miss is the fire, the burning desire to succeed. It seems dumb to continue to *abuse* myself with another chocolate bar or bag of chips because that instant gratification only adds pounds to my ass and is counterproductive. I know this. I've read countless articles and blogs and books about all this stuff and *I KNOW* but why do I keep sabotaging myself? This is a question that is universal, I see so many people struggle with this, especially women. It shouldn't be gender specific, but it seems to be. Scientifically they say women are made to carry more fat, men have more muscle by default, blah blah blah. Yes, we know this, and I'm pretty sure it's true, because I've seen it in my own household.

I guess what I'm trying to do is get to the part of my brain that needs to not only have that fire lit, but to keep it burning and burning really hot. I am very proud that I've continued my running for this long, and amazed that I haven't stopped that like so many other things... so movement is possible, once you find an activity that you love. So how does one find an accelerant for that fire? How do you keep it white hot? I tell you, if I could find the answer to that I'd be frigging rich AND skinny LOL

In the massive amounts of reading I've done, most experts say that you've just got to want it. Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure most of us want it really bad... sometimes desperately so for health reasons among many others. But allow me to get a bit whiny here for a moment: How the hell do you keep the momentum of wanting it really bad and working for it so hard when it takes so fricken long? Move the Biggest Loser and stuff like that out of your mind for a moment and try and figure out how us mere mortals with jobs, families, responsibilities can achieve this, how can we compete? How do we win against ourselves?

It's not easy, that's for damn sure. Sometimes I feel like an Amazon warrior, fighting against all odds, and just hacking away at the same opponent for days, months, years. It's kinda exhausting, but you can't give up, because if you do, that opponent will win, you'll gain back the weight plus more, get more health problems and die early. We all know this, but I keep making the same mistakes. Maybe it's because I can't see the enemy as something tangible, or as an actual immediate threat. We all seem to think "oh, I'll do it later, I've got lots of time" It takes a lot to scare us into getting healthy....

I think about when I work on do it yourself reno projects.. I usually tackle those until they are finished and really go at it for hours and hours. Hell I remember this one time I moved into a new apartment and unpacked my whole apartment, got all the boxes out, cleaned the bathroom/kitchen, placed all the furniture, put up drapes and had absolutely everything done by midnight... I went so long and so hard at it, that I got a nose bleed. I know, insane in the membrane.... So how come I can't bring that kind of desire and determination to the weight loss thing for any length of time? Maybe if I thought of myself as a reno project that it would go better LOL

Tight shirts, cute army guys and nipply weather aka Ottawa's 5km Army Run

I can't believe I've run three 5km races this year and soon prepping for a 4th... wow I'm easy to impress hahaha

Sunday morning was sunny and cold!  I was going to take the bus downtown like we did for the May race weekend, but it was a Sunday morning and the buses seem to run when they feel like it, so I quickly drove downtown whilst keeping my fingers crossed on getting a parking spot (I should get a medal just for that amazing feat!)

I lucked out and got a great spot in the World Exchange underground parking.  I wandered over to the "Athletes recovery zone"  hehehe  I'm an athlete :)  *ahem* anyway, after pinning my number on, putting my hoodie in my backpack and stashing it with the lugage check people, I headed over to my coral to wait in the cold for about 40 mins in a tight technical shirt whilst trying not to show too much nipplage around the young cute army guys hahaha.

There were less people than the May race, so after the cannon went off and scared the beejezus out of all of us, it took me less than 4 mins to get across the Start.  So i'm freaking out... cause I have no reason to not run up the hill... so I ran up the hill.... DUH!  I should have power walked it.... Anyway, the race went really well otherwise... I tried to catch up to the 40 min pace bunny, but she was gone so fast, I never saw her again.....  then once I got to the point where I could see the finish line and the recovery tents... the 45 min pace bunny passed me!  WTF????  But again stupid me had skipped my last walk break because I didn't want to get too far behind the 45 min bunny.... so instead of giving er hell for the last 500 metres, I kept the same pace and finished with a cannon time of just over 50 mins.

I tried to stick around to find out my chip time, but the results were only printed up to 37 mins and I had people waiting for me at a local restaurant.  Then began the excruciating wait to find out my race results.... I saw the results last night just before bedtime... finally!  I finished with 45:09.  

It's not the 42 mins I was waiting for, but I'm still quite pleased.  It just proves to me that I still love running, I still want to do more and that I desperately need to get me a Garmin watch... cause then I could have pushed it a bit more by keeping an eye on my pace.

As promised... here is a comparison between me of June 2009 and me of September 2010... guess which one is which :P