Category Archives: Running

Fitness Friday: Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K

March 20, 2015Fitness, RunningRacingChelle

Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K 2015 – bib number

Finally! My 2015 race season has begun!

I signed up for the Achilles/Steamwhistle Brewery St. Patrick’s Day run because it was a 5K, it was early in the season without being during a period of time when it’s unbearably cold in Toronto and it was… a St. Patrick’s Day themed (and as I’ve already indicated, I overly enjoy that particular “holiday”) which means I got to wear my amazing neon green Adidas running pants with extreme pride!

Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K 2015 starting zone

Unfortunately, it was a really windy and cold morning. While it was only around freezing, the wind was so horrible that the windchill pushed the temperature down to about -6C. The wind was regularly blowing around 30km/h, with gusts up to 50km/h – it was highly, HIGHLY unpleasant.

It was a smaller race, around a thousand or so people, which makes for faster race times since you have to do a lot less weaving around people before you hit your pace. I wanted to think I’d bust out a new personal best, but I had some harsh realities in front of me: I wasn’t in nearly as good shape as I was last summer when I hit my running peak for speed, I was almost ten pounds heavier as well and while I had been training, I had mostly been “sorta training”. Some weeks I was doing great, and others I just completely fell off the wagon. The only thing I really had going for me was that I had been keeping up with weightlifting and that was going *really* well.

I found the race pattern oddly disorienting for whatever reason (I thought I was going south when we were really running east). Not that it mattered, it wasn’t hard to follow as it was a straight there and back type run. We exited Steamwhistle Brewery (where the start zone was) and ran our way up into the financial district. I don’t remember a lot of the run to be perfectly honest. I was so focused on keeping my pace consistent that I really didn’t look around much. Most of my scenery was watching the kilometers climb on my Garmin!

The last part of the race was incredibly windy. So much so that as I was crossing back over the bridge towards the last section of the race, the wind actually blew me two paces SIDEWAYS! Holy crap! I wasn’t feeling so awesome by the last 400 meters, but I spotted my husband about a hundred meters from the finish line and it gave me that extra push to just freaking finish. What I was really happy about is that I couldn’t bring myself to sprint too much at the end of the race, which means I was pushing myself appropriately throughout the whole race. This was GOOD news because I wasn’t sure I wasn’t really sure I had been pacing myself properly.

Achilles St. Patrick’s Day 5K 2015 Race Map

I ended up clocking in at exactly 26:10:00. My jaw dropped when I saw my chip timing. Right down to the millisecond, that was EXACTLY my personal best race time from 2014 for a 5K. While I’m slightly annoyed that I didn’t manage to a least squeak in a SECOND faster, I’m rather floored that I managed to bust out my previous pb on the first race of the season! Since I’ve set myself a goal of hitting a sub 25 minute 5K this year, this bodes extremely well for the rest of the year – I just gotta keep at my training plan! (For reference, last year I managed to knock off 75 seconds between March and June, so I’m hoping that’s do-able again this year.)

5Ks don’t usually have medals since they’re considered a pretty easy race and the fees are usually quite a bit lower than longer races. However, we were provided a lovely bottlecap opener on a lanyard upon completing the race. Highly amusing! Steamwhistle Brewery then hosted an event inside their building after the race where racers got some beer (yeah, that wasn’t sitting well in my stomach afterwards…) and some seriously amazing chili.

All in all, a fun, simple run, although with a weird course map. I liked that it’s a smaller race, so I’ll probably continue to sign up for it in coming years.

Race Results

Finish Time: 26:10
Pace: 5:14 per kilometer
Overall placement: 283/1129
Age group placement (Female 30-39 years): 27/217
Gender placement (F): 76/634

Fitness Friday: Finally Back On Track

February 27, 2015Fitness, Running, WeightliftingWeight LossChelle

It’s now the end of February, and it’s taken me two whole months to finally get back on track with my running and weightlifting. That feels like an excruciatingly long time. I’m still slipping up every now and again (3k calorie days are cramping my style), but for the most part, I’m feeling positive and upbeat – frustrated at times, but still mostly positive.

YMCA indoor track - photo courtesy of blog.to — YMCA indoor track – photo courtesy of blog.to

February has been spent mostly running around the track above at my gym (I snagged that shot from blog.to – that’s the track I run on, but I’ve never seen those people there in my life). I was originally gearing up for a 10K race I intended to do in Panama City, Florida while on vacation in April, but the whole race moved to the week before we’re going to be there, so I’m kind of training for nothing right now (so irritated… who moves a race that people have already signed up for?!?!). However, having a schedule is what’s helping me stay on track so I’m sticking with that. I’ve been running indoors this winter season because the sidewalks are a goddamn disaster in Toronto!

I do have a St. Patrick’s Day 5K that’s rapidly approaching and I’m a bit nervous for that because I don’t feel like my 5K race pace is anywhere near what it was last year. And sinceI’m planning on breaking a sub-25 minute 5K this year, I’m fairly confident this won’t be the race I do it in. I do, however, enjoy St. Patrick’s Day immensely so I’ll wiggle my butt into my green running pants and freeze my tush off during a mid-March race. If anything, it’ll help me get back into the swing of things.

Most of my running plan has been adapting Hal Higdon’s Intermediate 10K race plan as it’s geared towards lowering my race times. And man, I was not prepared. The tempo runs are interesting, and I can definitely see how they’re speeding me up, but those interval days can go die in a bloody fire.

I’m also planning on running the Sporting Life 10K (early May), a half marathon during Ottawa’s Race Weekend and, of course, the Pride Run in June (when it’s always face-meltingly hot).

My gym... except this shot was probably taken during the summer... because right now it's covered in snow. — My gym… except this shot was probably taken during the summer… because right now it’s covered in snow.

I’m also really happy to report that my weightlifting is also back on track!

Currently squatting 125 pounds with plenty of room to grow.
Bench pressing 75 pounds, although this one is a bit dicey – I’m quite weak in the chest area.
FINALLY doing deadlifts again after more than a year of not doing them due to a piriformis issue (I started back at 95 pounds and like with squats, there’s plenty of room to grow there).
Amongst other many other smaller muscle groups that are all coming together nicely.

While running gives me that “hell yes I’m a super hero!” feeling, it’s really weightlifting that makes me feel the best about myself. It’s shaping my muscles the way I want to be shaped and it’s tightening areas that were wobbling around only last month. I’ve also happily dumped three pounds in the last thirty days which I can only attribute to the consistent exercise.

Now if only I could stop thinking about all the food I want to eat ALL. THE. TIME….

Fitness Friday: Current (Frustrated) Musings

January 16, 2015Fitness, Running, WeightliftingChelle

So I’m kind of irritated with myself when it comes to my exercise routine.

To be perfectly honest, this about sums it up.

I have a 5K race coming up mid-March (Achilles St. Patrick’s Day Run) and a 10K planned at the start of April in Panama City, Florida (we’ll be on vacation there), but I’m feeling kind of like I’ve shot myself in the foot in regards to training. I put on a heap of weight in December and I’m struggling to get it off. All while trying to work on getting my running distances and speed back up to parr. I know that as the weight comes off, my speed will increase, but it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating because while I’m not starting from scratch, I’m working back up from a deficit just from having whacked on the weight and not exercised much throughout December. And that’s just stupid. Why do we do this to ourselves? We just let exercise fall by the wayside and then when we dive back in we’re in all kinds of pain and/or frustration. So while I’m lugging myself to the gym four times a week, I’m still annoyed that it’s gotten to this point. No one likes starting from scratch.

201412_ff_recap2

I’m lifting low amount of weight right now since I need to re-adjust myself so that my muscles don’t cave under the sudden pressure. I’m also only running around 5-7k at a go, which feels really, really puny compared to what I was doing when I was training for that half marathon last year. On the upside, I do have another half marathon planed (Ottawa Race Weekend in May) so I know that at some point I’ll be covering those distances again.

Anyway, that’s a brief amount of moaning about my miseries. It’s not always easy to try to stay fit. I’m not really motivated all that much right now, but I am thankful that I have enough of a “must exercise” mentality that I can drag my ass to the gym at 9 pm at night without having to put too much thought into it. One of the massive upsides to having maintained a consistent level of physical fitness last year is that I no longer find it difficult, or strenuous to push myself to go to the gym. Now it’s just a matter of fact and I do what needs to be done.

So while it’s not always easy, I’ll persevere regardless. I’m sure in a month or so I’ll feel back to normal, but for now… I grumpily push on, all while reading fitspo tumblrs to try to get me motivated! How about you? Are you struggling with your exercise routine, or your motivation to start one?

Fitness Friday: Goals for 2015

January 2, 2015Fitness, Running, WeightliftingRacing, Weight LossChelle

Last year I started something I’d never really put down on paper before; my fitness goals for the year. Having a handy list online to refer to was great at keeping me motivated (even though, realistically, the only one keeping tabs on myself was me) and for having an easy reference point whenever I wanted to re-focus my fitness efforts.

I didn’t succeed on all of last year’s goals, but that’s okay: Not succeeding in all my goals makes me realize I need to refocus if some of them are just too far off the mark (or completely unrealistic).

Here’s my list of things I’d like to accomplish in 2015:

WeightLoss – Let’s try for 145 pounds instead
- Jesus, Mary and Joseph, this must be on everyone’s list and I don’t think it’s ever really going to disappear from mine. I had a goal of hitting 140 pounds last year and never made it. I originally chose 140 as that would make me “healthy” if we were going by those nasty BMI charts (I know, I know, BMI is a really bad indicator of “healthy”). The closest I ever got was 147, and that was pushing it. I only managed to hit that when I was at the peak of my half marathon training in September, and I definitely wasn’t able to sustain it, since I blew up like blowfish throughout December when my running bottomed out. I’m currently looking at a weight of 157 on the scale and it’s… uncomfortable. I felt the healthiest around 148, so I’m kind of aiming for around 145 pounds (gives me some leeway cuz I love me my wine and fries).
  
  lol ain’t it the truth?
Race Pace for 5 and 10Ks – Sub 25 minute 5K, sub 54 minute for 10K
- While I really enjoyed running two half marathons in 2014, I’m not really looking to work too hard on my pacing for that long of a stretch of time (pushing myself for two hours straight? Nothankyou.). What I would like to do is achieve an under 25 minute 5K (my personal best right now is 26:10) and an under 54 minute 10K (pb of 55:14). I’m going to have to work more on interval and speed training (something I really, really despise) and I’m going to go have to get on it PRONTO because I’ve got races already starting in March! I think this is the toughest goal I have set out for myself this year because it means I can’t just “naturally” get better at running, I have to actually push myself to do so, and that can be discouraging and frustrating to me.
  
  Toronto Island 10k – clocked my personal best for a 10k in 2014
Weightlifting – STICK WITH IT
- I really enjoy lifting. It makes me look leaner, burns more calories when I’m sitting on my ass and gives me bulges in nice places as opposed to the not-so-nice places when I’m not lifting. I had goals for how much weight I wanted to lift last year, and never managed to achieve them. I hurt myself pretty significantly throughout the year and I want to avoid that, but I also want to STICK with lifting. I feel like I’d go back to it every few months, get sick or injured, then stop for another couple months, THEN go back to lifting and start at rock bottom again. So while I would like to see a 100 pound bench press and a 160 pound squat out of this body, what I really want is to just freaking stick with the lifting and not let it fall by the wayside. Lifting is the first thing I drop when I need some space in my schedule, and it’s kind of stupid because it’s the one that takes the least amount of time out of my schedule – seriously, 30 minutes three times a week? I can’t manage that? Come on now.
  
  I looked, and was, stronger than I am now. Need to get back to it!
Run more – run over 550k in 2015
- In 2015, I would like to run slightly further than I’ve run in previous years. Given that I have no intention of training towards a full marathon, or working towards consecutive halves, this basically means I just have to run more consistently. I’m not bad when I have a plan, but there were some months throughout 2014 when I only ran about 20k (or like December… 10k :s ). However, I have done as much as 80k a month, and that’s closer to what I would like to be doing. So the goal to run over 550k in 2015 is only a small jump from the previous year (514k) simply because I want to remain consistent.
- For reference, here are my distances for the previous four years:
  - 2014: 71 runs, with an average distance of 7.2k. Total distance covered: 514k
  - 2013: 77 runs, with an average distance of 5.4k. Total distance covered: 417k
  - 2012: 46 runs, with an average distance of 4.3k. Total distance covered: 200k
  - 2011: 50 runs, with an average distance of 3.4k. Total distance covered: 173k
    
    Nike+ 2014 log

And that’s it for me! Pretty short and sweet. The goals are a bit more vague this year compared to last year, but I think it gives me opportunity to grow without getting panicky, which is what I started to feel towards the end of 2014 with my lifting goals (and promptly bombed out of every single one of them). Do you have any fitness goals for 2014? Tell me! I’d love to hear about them. 🙂

Fitness Friday: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront (Half) Marathon

November 7, 2014Fitness, RunningRacingChelle

I really wasn’t planning on doing the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon race. After the race in Prague, I hadn’t been interested in doing another half marathon any time soon. However… I had mentioned to some people on my Ultimate Frisbee team that I was looking for people to run races with (because standing at a start line by yourself really does suck) and one of them invited me out for the half marathon. I was like weeeelllll mayyyyybe I can do the half.

Morning of the race – crack of effing dawn

So race day came and I was really worried about my knees. REALLY worried. I met up with my teammates and we huddled together (it was dang freezing COLD) at the start zone in a slower corral than I was marked for (it didn’t matter, they weren’t really checking our line up skills it seems). One thing I noticed right off the bat was just how well this event was handled.Nothing like Ottawa Race Weekend’s utter fucking disaster zone at the start. And even though there were tons of people in this race since the half and the full started at the same time, it went off without a hitch. At no point were we forced to stop and walk because the crush of people was too large. I cannot say how much I appreciated that. Having to stop and walk because there’s too many people is just soul-destroying as you watch your few seconds/minutes of edge dwindle away into nothingness. OTTAWA – You need to fucking fix your shit for next year because every other city is managing to do this with MORE people than you have and they’re not nearly as clusterfucky!

So we took off and the first section was uphill ( 😐 ) to Bloor Street. It then cut along down Bathurst and out to Lakeshore. I saw some amazing signs (“Pain is temporary, but internet race results last forever” was definitely my favourite!) and some cute costumes (Captain Canada stuck out in my head as he would stop to high five little kids on the side of the street! I also saw some crazy guy JUGGLING the whole way! He ran the half at an incredible pace AND juggled the entire time!). I was having a GREAT first 10 kilometers. I was doing a fantastic pace (around 5:51 per k) and not feeling out of breath or in pain. I hit the first 10k mark at 58:55 which surprised and pleased me.

But then, rather rapidly, around the eleventh kilometer, my knees started to get tighter and tighter as I pushed on. I tried correcting my stride to straighten out my legs/knee. Then I tried knee ups and high kickbacks – those seemed to help a lot and they’d alleviate some of the pressure on my kneecaps, in particular the left one. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t super painful yet. There were some nasty uphills on the loop back into the city (we had run out to High Park, then u-turned back down Lakeshore to head back to the downtown core) and I wasn’t too happy to see those suckers towards the end of the run. (It seems the race organizers have a different definition of a FLAT RACE than I do!)

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront (Half) Marathon Route

When I finally hit the 20k marker, I started to get incredibly emotional. As I approached the finish line, I was on the lookout for my husband who would be very close to the finish line (assuming he could get a spot in the crowds of people) and he had never seen me run a race before. I was really looking forward to seeing him and I was in so much in pain from my knee and broken down physically that it was started to have an impact on my emotional state. (I can’t even imagine what running a full marathon feels like.) I was near tears towards the finish line (although I didn’t spot him due to a miscommunication: he thought I’d said I’d be finished by 11 a.m. whereas I had said I’d be done just slightly after 11) but sucked it up for the last 300 meters and actually managed to sprint towards the finish line (which is interesting, I thought I had been pushing it more than that… I don’t know why I suddenly had more gas in my tank.).

I crossed the finish line at a gallop and came to a grinding halt right after the track mat that logged my official finish time. My left knee completely seized up – I suddenly couldn’t bend it anymore, and if I tried, I was gritting my teeth with the pain. I exited the finishers’ chute slowly and painfully with a peg leg that was not bending. I’m sure I looked ridiculous. I grabbed my medal and silver foily blanket and made my way out to the family area where my husband was waiting.

In the end, I managed to finish in 2:07:25, which was over a minute faster than the half marathon in Prague last month. This surprised me because I hadn’t been training and I was significantly heavier than I was last month as I had gained about seven pounds. I was really happy to have done even that small bit better because it’s such a confidence booster!

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon Medal

Race Results

Finish Time: 2:07:25 (new personal best!)
Pace: 6:02 per kilometer
Overall placement: 5959/10542
Age group placement (F30-34): 431/912
Gender placement (F): 2531/5627