Back again...can I remain consistent?

Here we are in mid-July 2012.  I haven't blogged since February.  A lot has happened, most of which I really don't want to go into too much detail. 
Short story:
Bron was diagnosed with ITBS...No, not IBS...but I wish it was.  At least I would have had my medical costs covered under the provincial medial coverage instead of having to shell out $65 twice a week for physio.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome.  Summary:  it sucks ass.  I spent a whole lot of time stretching, on the foam roller and taking time away from my marathon training.

As I was on the mend, during a long run I dislocated the cuboid bone in my foot.  My physiotherapist concluded (upon inspection of my shoes) that this was caused by a manufacturer's defect in my Nike Lunarglide 3....at that point, I had to let this race go.  The good news is I was able to sell my entry, so at least I wasn't out of pocket.  I had a good cry, mourned the loss of seeing my goal achieved, kissed my months of training goodbye and set out to get mended.

Running buddy, rockstar, and all around cool chick Shannon, completed her marathon.  I was happy to be there to cheer her on.  She finished in 5 hours.  I'm so proud of her.

I think my biggest disappointment, companied with having to let my goal go by unachieved, is I wasn't able to run a race with Meg.  My friend Meg, who I look up to in so many ways, was going to be my pacer for my first ever full marathon.  She even registered as "Bron's pacer".  I do however, believe that everything happens for a reason.  Meg also sustained injury, having returned from Boston (that's not why she was injured).  Like me, Meg shouldn't have run that 26.2 miles.  And she didn't.  We were both able to sell our entries to deserving folk that seriously kicked some BMO ass.

I've known Meg for about 8 years I think.  I have always been in awe of her dedication, effort and results.  Meg is my inspiration for beginning to run and continuing to push myself.   Seeing Meg race AND FINISH Ironman Canada 2010 is what inspired me to train for a half marathon in the first place.  Meg has been a rock of support for me.  Meg understands things about me that no one else does, and maybe never will.  Simply put, Meg is amazing.

Tomorrow, Meg races in the Kelowna Granfondo.  She will kick ass, like she always does.  And if anything doesn't go as planned, she will analyze it and figure out a way to prevent it from happening again.  Nothing holds this woman back.  Nothing.  Like I said, AMAZING.

Body Rock.TV

http://www.bodyrock.tv/

A source for kick ass workouts.

2 weeks of training log catch up (there's a surprise here...and it's NOT a good one)

LSD on January 22nd left me with a giant blister on the inside of my big toe.  Yep, between my toes!  How the heck do you avoid rub there?  My toe looked massive, this blister was like almost half the width of my regular big toe (or the Captain, as they say on Seinfeld).  And boy did it HURT!  It was weird because during the last hour-ish of our run, I felt just like there was something stuck in between my toes.  Once I got my sock off, it became apparent what that was (blech!)

And not only was I left with the blister, I was left with a sore leg and knee from running on the uneven ground (snow and ice).  The uneven terrain engaged all these little muscles that aren't trained for the endurance like my regular running muscles.  Needless to say, I felt like a bit of a mess.

If I'm remembering correctly, I took Monday off (that's usually a spin day for me) and I skipped my Tuesday run to let my knee get back to normal and have my blister heal up.  I didn't want to aggravate either one and have it get worse.

Monday, January 23rd (Happy 3rd birthday, Ashley!)
100% REST

Tuesday, January 24th
As previously stated, I skipped my run.
I had my first Fitness Theory class this night.  EXCITING!  This is the first step on my journey to helping others meet their health and wellness goals.  More on that later though.  This is supposed to be a quick post, remember?

After my tutoring session (I'm taking the class one one one...but seriously, Bron, shut up.  Quick post!  Quick post!), I rushed home, scarfed down dinner, took the dog out to stretch her legs and then met up with Bri at the gym. 

We did some pretty heavy strength training.  It felt great and was a decent substitution for running I guess...My knee was not feeling right and that combined with Mister Blister told me to take it easy on the impact factor.

Wednesday, January 25th
I hit the 6am spin class.  My foot/knee felt fine.  It was a good class, as usual.
I went out for a Greek feast with an out of town rep from work.  It was a great dinner, and I had too much to drink (and eat!).  I love Greek food, and we dined with the restaurant owner, so the wine and food just kept showing up at the table.  Then dessert and Spanish coffees...mmmmmm.....I was passed out in bed by 9:30 and slept like a baby!

Thursday, January 26th
Back into my runners tonight for an easy 10KM.  I have been wearing bandaids, gauze and medical tape to support Mister Blister all week.  Tonight was no exception.  He seems to be shrinking so I thought I might as well go for it, plus I start to go through running withdrawal after a few days.  Oh and thinking about the endless calories I consumed the night before may have had something to do with my motivation.  I needed my fix and the weather was good with no new snow.  By the time it was all said and done and I got home to take my sock off, it was a little bit of a mess.  It certainly could have been worse, but it definitely could have been better.  I didn't think much of it, assuming it would heal up in the next few days in time for the weekend LSD.

At some point during the day, I thought it would be a great idea to go to hot yoga after my run.  It didn't turn out to be such a great idea after all.  I arrived at Hot Box Yoga studio already hot from running for just over an hour.  I guzzled water, but starting a hot yoga class already heated up on the inside is NOT a good idea.  Trust me....you think it's hot when you turn up cold?  Try starting it already well warmed up.  It was brutally hot, I felt like I was melting from the inside out.  In retrospect (oh retrospect ...(sigh)... you and I have a love/hate relationship.  I love you for the insight you provide, but I hate the unspoken 'I told you so' that always accompanies you), I should have hopped in the shower before class.  Anyways, the practice that night was great, but it aggravated the already newly angered Mister Blister.

Friday, January 27th
I actually can't remember what I did this day.  Fridays tend to be a bit of a blur because I don't have a set routine.

Saturday, January 28th
Mister blister continues his spiteful tirade, so I opted to move my LSD to Sunday.

Sunday, January 29th
Mister Blister was well packaged in a couple of different bandages.  I put moleskin around my 2nd toe to hopefully stop any rubbing from the bandaging/medical tape around my big toe.  Earlier in the week, I had spent like $15 or something ridiculous on first aid supplies for this damn thing.  After waiting around for my Garmin to charge, because it mysteriously had a low battery (after it had charged ALL DAY on Saturday), I set out for my 12 miles.  9 miles at LSD pace and the last 3 at LSD+ (which is LSD with 30 seconds shaved off each mile pace).  My LSD pace is 11:40-12:40 min mile according to McMillan tables, so LSD+ is 11:10-12:10, although I typically keep a pace of about 11:15 on LSD runs.  {note to self, re-calc McMillan's at a later date}.  This was a long frikkin run.  I'm not going to lie.  Shannon is out of town for a couple weeks, so I ran this one solo.  Just me, my iPod and Mister Blister (that bugger!). 

My foot hurt for the whole run, which was a total of 2 1/2 hours.  There was ice, slush, snow and mercifully, some bare pavement.  I wore my spikes on my shoes and incorporated varied terrain, flats, hills etc.

By the time I got home, I thought I was going to take my runner off to discover a blood soaked sock, that's how badly my foot was hurting.  There was no blood, but Mister Blister was now bigger than ever.  He has now taken over half of my toe (side and bottom) and was so very painful.  Speaking of pain, my legs were also jarred from the hell I had just put myself through.  I figure that I was compensating for my sore foot and my gait was off.  That combined with trying to run in the snow, hopping puddles and avoiding slush left me a hurtin' unit.  I took a hot Epsom's salt bath on Sunday night after I layed around on the couch for the afternoon.

Monday, January 30th
I awoke to a great deal of pain in my left leg.  I could barely hobble down the stairs to make coffee.  My knee was really hurting and my whole left leg was stiff.  So here I am trying to limp to favour my left leg, but Mister Blister will not allow me to forget him.  He resides on the right...so trying to limp to take pressure off my left leg on a foot that won't allow any weight to be put on it without excruciating pain proved to be pretty challenging.  Now keep in mind, he's so big at this point, it's like I have an extra toe in between the Captain and the First Mate (aka big toe and second toe).  Except he's not durable like a toe...he's a big puffy piece of delicate skin filled to the brim with liquid.  Yes, I realize I'm not painting a pretty picture and trust me, it's worse than you can mentally envision.  I lived it....it was disgusting.

I could not wear normal shoes, I sat in my office barefoot to give him air to hopefully help him to dry out or something (ANYTHING!) that might help.  I had to wear UGGs to work with dress pants.  I felt like a schmo.  I tried to hide in my office most of the day.

Needless to say....100% rest day!

Tuesday, January 31st
I still have a freakshow for a right foot.  My left leg is feeling better, but now the right one is messed up.  OY!  I decide at this point, I'm not running tonight (obviously!) or Thursday.  I need to get better...I've never had an injury and I didn't want to start now.  Still not in normal shoes.

Wednesday, February 1st
Rest day #3.  I'm now feeling a little squirelly.  I usually find some sort of fitness activity 6 days a week, so 3 days in a row of nothing (barely even walking, for obvious reasons) is getting to me.  Mister Blister is now taking some abuse with a sterilized needle.  He needed to be punished.  Normal shoes that actually go with my outfit have now become a distant memory.

Thursday, February 2nd
That's it, I'm done with this rest thing.  I can't take it anymore!  I went to 4X4 spin class in the evening.  WOW!  What a GREAT class.  It was super hard, but it felt so good to push myself and get out of my comfort zone.  The instructor was outstanding.  My foot did ok...it hurt a little so I just eased it out of the pedal harness (or whatever it's called) a little so it wasn't pressing against my toe.

Friday, February 3rd
I decided to go back to hot yoga.  I picked up a girlfriend at 5:30 in the morning and we went to the 6am class at the Hot Box.  It was a great class and renewed my sentiments about hot yoga and liking the heat.  Not like the last one (never to be spoken of again).  Mister Blister held up alright and I was back in normal footwear today for work!  WOOT!  Shoes are important to me, so this was a major victory for me. 
Me:  1 Mister Blister:  0
(that's just today...if you look at a cumulative score, I'm really on the losing end at this point, but the past is the past and we need to look forward people!)

I have now decided that I'm not doing my long run this weekend...this was a very difficult decision to make since the long runs are VERY important.  But I have a half marathon next weekend.  That takes priority and I need to be able to get that done.  It is such a weird feeling not planning for a long run...like I feel a void.  Almost like I'm forgetting something really important.

Saturday, February 4th (Happy Birthday, Raina!)
After preparing some delicious cupcakes for game night @ Marci's, I head off to the gym.  I picked up Bri and we arrive at the Y.  I'm full of energy from 3 days off and not having run all week.  Bri is in ass kick mode too.  She's in wedding planning mode with only 7 months to go, she's thinking about wearing that dress I'm sure.  So we climb aboard the pain train.

We spent 2 hours lifting, crunching, kicking, squatting, lunging etc.  We lifted some HEAVY weights.  I may blog the workout details later, but time is still a concern as I type this.  We left with fatigued muscles and feeling proud of our efforts.

Sunday, February 5th
I'm SORE from yesterday's workout.  I made 9am yoga at Lululemon and am so very glad that I did. 

Training Summary:

Jan 23rd-29th
1 hour fitness theory (ya, I know this isn't marathon training, but it's HUGE for me and I want to include this in my journey)
1 hour studying for fitness theory (on my lunch hour at work)
Total Mileage:  18.2 miles/29km
Spin:  50 mins
Yoga:  1 hour
Resistance Training:  1 hour

Jan 30th-Feb 5th
1 hour studying for fitness theory (on my lunch hour at work) - next class is February 6th (Happy Birthday Axl!)
Total Mileage:  1 mile on the treadmill to test out my foot :(
Spin:  60 minutes
Yoga:  2 hours
Resistance Training:  2 hours

Tomorrow marks a new week!  Buh-bye Mister Blister (I hope!) and hello to fast feet!

Time for a little bit of catch up

Here we are on February 5th, and I haven't posted since January 24th-ish...yowza, this is what I was afraid would happen.  Life gets too busy and I'm a perfectionist so I'm not just going to throw something up here.  I edit and re-work and then edit again.  And that's time consuming.  Today, I have a ton to get done in preparation for a business trip this week, then it's straight to Vancouver for the weekend which finishes with a half marathon.  I'm not racing said half (it's considered a training run for me), but it's still an organized event nonetheless and a long run.  I take long runs VERY seriously.  Hell, you're out there for 2+ hours.  You need to be prepared.  I always have this fear of being an hour+ away from home and being screwed.  For example, I run out of fuel or hydration or I'm not dressed appropriately.  So ya, like I said, I take the preparation for long runs very seriously.  I think everything out and write down what I need to bring with me at least 2 days in advance.  That gives me time to buy more gels and stingers or do laundry if the gear I need is not in fresh rotation.

In the interest of time saving, I'll post a short training log catch up and then move on to the tasks at hand.

Is it really just a number???

Lately I’ve been attempting to whittle down that number on the scale.  My motivation behind that is to of course shrink my ass, but more importantly to lighten the load on my runners.  Hell, if I’m running 42.2km, I want to run as efficiently as I can and have the least amount of weight pounding on my legs, knees and feet.  It only makes sense, right?

Or does it? 

From everything I’ve read, the lighter your poundage, the easier it is on your body for endurance running.  I read that for every pound lost, you lighten your pavement pounding load by 4lbs per step.

Then I hear that little voice that we’ve all heard for most of our adult lives saying “muscle weighs more than fat”.  So logically speaking, if I am building muscle to be stronger to support my load, then shouldn’t I weigh the same in terms of pounds (or kilos for you metrically minded people out there)? 

Then my 3^rd voice (you don’t even want to know how many of them there are in there!) joins the conversation and says “but what about balance?”

Shouldn’t there be a balance of fat reduction and muscle gain?  And what goes into finding that balance?

The no brainers are obviously water, exercise and diet.  How do you know you’re eating the right amount of calories to avoid fat storing mode?  For example, I burned almost 1600 calories on my long run this weekend.  And right away, I think SWEET, that’s half a pound!  But is it really?  If I’m in a major calorie deficit my body is going to think it needs to hang on to everything instead of burning it as fuel.  Your metabolism tanks and goes into starvation mode and clings to every little bit of food you stuff in your face.  And let’s not even touch sugar in relation to blood sugar and insulin levels….ok we will, but just a tiny bit.  Simply put, insulin is a storing hormone and when levels are high it negatively affects fat burning.

Then there are also factors like keeping your system “moving” (for lack of better terms).  If you’re all backed up in there and toxins are building up, no amount of water and exercise is going to save you from that.  So then it starts to get more complicated…soluble and insoluble fiber, nutrients, vitamins, amino acids etc.  I started adding barley grass powder to my smoothies because it’s a cleansing agent.  I recently slacked off a little and lo and behold, now that number is back up a smidge and I’ve noticed I’m not {ahem} as “efficient” as I had been once before in the import/export business.   

I will continue to experiment with all these contributors and hopefully – sooner rather than later – I’ll find the magic combination.  Until then, should I care about that number?  The jury is still out.

Sunday marks the end of my week

My program consists of running 3 times each week. Simply put, 2 short runs during the week (working on different aspects of running) and 1 long slower paced run to build endurance.  I won the cross training battle once again this week!

Monday, Jan 16th: 
6am spin class @ the Y (50 mins)...it was a tough class this week and I pushed myself.  It felt great.
Evening easy yoga class @ Oranj...a nice relaxing stretchy class. 

Tuesday, Jan 17th: 
5 Yasso's @ 4:32 each.
A Yasso is an 800 metre done in a specified amount of time.  The concept of a Yasso is that if you can run 10 Yasso's in the same amount of minutes as your goal race time, you will achieve your goal time on race day.  For example, if  I want to run a 4:30 marathon, I need to be able to pull out 10 Yasso's @ 4min 30 sec each.  You work up to being able to repeat each Yasso 10 times with a short recovery in between.  On Tuesday night, I did 5 (they ramp up as I progress through my training).  Tuesday was effing freezing cold (it was like -16 or something ridiculous with another -10 degrees of windchill), so needless to say I was not so secretly happy to hit the treadmill.  I love Yasso's on the 'mill because you're forced to keep at pace.  I realized after the fact that I was too fast.  My Yasso's should be at a max of 4:35 and a minimum of 4:48 according to McMillan (more on him in a future post maybe, depends how much I feel like rambling on).  Now I know you're thinking, seriously Bron..3 seconds?  That's totally insignificant.  I had to walk my recoveries.  If I had slowed it down 3-10 seconds per 800 metres, I bet you I would have been able to jog out those recoveries.  Now I'm not sure if that matters....but I have a feeling it does.  More importantly, it matters to me.  You always want to push yourself when you train for anything athletic, but you have a threshold and you shouldn't cross it before you're ready.  You invite injury and risk the dreaded "over training"
If you're intrested in finding out more about Yasso's, hit this link: 
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244-255-624-0,00.html

Wednesday, Jan 18th: 
100% REST DAY

Thursday, Jan 19th:
4.91 miles/7.8KM run with my group @ Lululemon Run Club.  I love this group, we have a great mix of runners and our leader, Kim, is awesome.  She's a 2 time Ironman Canada finisher (as this blog progresses I'm sure that I'll share my absolute amazement of anyone that takes on triathlons, but specifically an Ironman.  I stand in total awe of these athletes and instinctively want to fall to my knees proclaiming "I'm not worthy" a la Wayne's World).  It was snowy and it was a tough run.  We generally move at a good clip, well for me anyways.  And in the snow it becomes that much harder because you're engaging all your stabilizing muscles to avoid slipping.  My calves were screaming pretty good and I came home to a good soak in an epsom salt bath.  Did you know epsom salts help to pull lactic acid from your muscles?  My RMT recently informed me of this priceless little fact.  It has changed my world, let me tell ya!

Friday, Jan 20th:
I met my girlfriend and gym buddy Bri at the Y at 6 bells in the a.m. (ok I was probably like at least a few minutes late, something I'm really trying to work on!) and we had a kick ass gym workout.  We did supersets and worked shoulders, a little core, some bi's and tri's and did some Bosu Ball torture.  Out the door by 7am and then off to start the day.  Just the way I like it.  A quick and quality workout complete before the sun is up.

Saturday, Jan 21st:
YOGA DAY! 
A girlfriend of mine wanted to try Hatha Yoga.  She has wrist problems so any practice involving poses like cobra and down dog hurt her wrists.  I offered to take her to the Yoga Loft for a 90 minute practice.  Helena rarely (if ever) includes those types of poses in her practice so I figured it would be a good bet.  This particular girlfriend is interested in becoming more active so I am happy to be able to show her some options for getting out there and moving.
In the afternoon, another group of us girls were off to try some hot power yoga at Hot Box Yoga.  Bri and her sister had done hot yoga before.  Meghan and I had not.  Hot?  Check.  Power?  Double check!
This was a challenging practice, but it felt so good.  I felt strong and I really enjoyed the instructor, Pam.  I was pretty sore later that evening and of course the following morning.  I can definitely see how people get addicted to hot yoga.  I'm trying to determine how I can bring more hot yoga into my life without breaking my bank account.  For those of you that haven't tried it or gotten a membership at a yoga studio, it is certainly the definition of spendy.

Sunday, Jan 22nd:
13 miles/21KM long slow distance run (so if you see me referring to LSD, I don't mean a hit of acid).  I ran this with my training partner and run buddy, Shannon.  We usually run on Saturday mornings, but Shannon had to work.  LSD's are always better with a buddy.  She is also doing the BMO and it is also her first full marathon.  It was snowy (but not slushy!) and those stabilizers were kicking in again.  I'm left with a sore right leg and a big 'ole blister between my big toe and second toe on my right foot.  Not fun.  We completed the distance in full and didn't feel like we were going to die at the end.  I felt like I was high maintenance today and I felt bad for Shannon because of it.  I kept having to walk to fiddle with fuel or hydration.  Then it was a stitch, then a sudden pain in my right knee.  After that I thought to myself "suck it up buttercup and just finish this". 

In Summary....
Total mileage:  20.41 miles/32.8KM
Spin:  50 mins
Yoga:  3.5 hours
Resistance training:  55 mins

All in all, a well rounded week.  There is too much snow, but such is life.  It is January after all. 
The key to winter runs is layers.  Kim (our run coach) is always offering us great tips for training.  In retrospect, I feel very good about what I accomplished this week.  I do not feel exhausted.  Just a little sore.  I'm taking tomorrow off.

Lessons learned:  I need trail running shoes for snowy conditions and don't do power yoga less than 24 hours before a scheduled LSD.  I secretly knew that, but I really, really wanted to try hot yoga and this was the only time it fit into my schedule this week.  The reduced drop in fees are ending on Jan 31st.  Since I'm cheap, I felt the need to take advantage of it.  My thought process was if I liked it, I would still have opportunity to take advantage of the reduced drop in fee at least one more time before the month comes to an end.  The curse of frugality (I don't even know if that's a real world, but this isn't scrabble so I'm not concerned).

Do Differents

Last year when I trained for my first half marathon, I struggled to find any energy to do anything other than my 3 runs each week (with the exception of a handful of days of XC Skiing).  I wanted to cross train (translation:  do other fitness activities) but found I was way too tired.  Cross training is very important to keeping your body balanced.  Plus I was starving all the time.  Conclusion:  poor fuelling and sleep habits. 

I wasn't sleeping much and I was a grain whore.  Meaning that I wanted bread (and I think I ate it) every single day.  True, you need carbs for endurance sports.   Simply put, carbs top up the glycogen in your muscles.  But nothing is ever simple, right?  There are 3 types of carbs:  monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides.  If you're interested in more detail, head over to this link:
http://fitnessforoneandall.com/nutrition/article/glycogen.htm

Then at some point, I remembered that carbs don't just reside in grain and starch (bread, rice, potatoes, beans etc).  You get plenty of carbs from fruit and vegetables too (Atkins taught all of us that, didn't he?).  Eat fresh fruit and veg, and less gluten and feel good - what a concept, right? 


I recently overhauled my food regime with the help of a "cleanse" (for lack of better terms).  I have broken my grain addiction, which I have always felt was impossible.  I always said "I can never give up my bread" (Yup, one of those!)....but did I ever really try? 

I'm now making a point to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep every night.  And this is quality sleep, people!  I've never slept this well in my life...maybe because I'm not saturated with gluten, who knows?  Don't get me wrong, I still eat flour products and grains.  But my main source of carbs is produce.  And it has really turned out to be quite delicious. 

Needless to say, cross training is coming easily this year.  And I'm pulling MORE miles than I was last year.  Since I'm training to race double the distance, I guess that kind of goes without saying (Thank you for your valuable input here, Captain Obvious!).

In addition to my 3 runs each week, I'm pulling off weekly spin, yoga and resistance training.  And even some core focus from time to time! 

The moral of this story is, take care of yourself, sleep well, train smart, feel good.