Well that’s it, the last remnant of my marathon experience is no more. The last of the purple toenails to come off did so this morning – almost 5 months after it first arrived. And just in time for new ones to show their ugly face … I’ve still got 2.5 months of training to go for my next marathon, I’m sure they’ll try.
(Don’t worry I didn’t take a picture this time :D)
I’ve been experiencing a lot of odd cravings this week (and no I’m not preggers thank you very much). It all started on Monday when I was filling my car up with gas and saw the seasonal Cadbury Creme Eggs in the basket at the till, and suddenly I had to have one. But I showed restraint, I willed myself not to pick up the egg. Good job, right. Wrong. After the creme egg, I craved peanut butter cookies, not a cookie I generally eat, and then there was the desire for a buster bar, which I never order at DQ, but have a fond memory of from high school, and the had-to-have Shreddies, which I haven’t eaten since I was a kid, and forget regular milk, I had to have it with chocolate milk, and then on Wednesday morning, arguably the weirdest craving all: I was leaving the biomed lab, walking down the cement stairwell when all of a sudden my nostrils filled up with the smell of salty chicken noodle soup, and I had to have it – at 8:30 a.m.!!! My empty belly was screaming at me to go and grab some, and make sure it’s salty, she told me. What the heck? I didn’t act on almost any of these cravings (except for the Shreddies; that was a major impulse) until today. I was back at the gas station filling up my tank and this time my hands just wouldn’t listen to my head; they reached for the creme egg. Did you know there’s 28 grams of carbs in those suckers??? Needless to say, the egg is now stored in my chocolate drawer, which has further ignited the belly cravings.
What’s the craziest craving you’ve ever had?
YESTERDAY’S HILL TRAINING:
- 5:45 p.m. BG before: 10.3
- Temp. basal: -50 per cent
- Distance: 6.45 km
- Average pace: 6:28 min/km
- Average heart rate: 160 bpm
- Max heart rate: 190 bpm
- Time: 41:43
- 7 p.m. BG after: 6.6
About a month ago, my favourite running leader suggested we change up our hill training. Instead of doing consecutive hill repeats, we’d do a 6 km hilly route and try to be faster every time we went out. At first I was skeptical. I love hills and I didn’t want to lose my skills of kicking the hill’s butt. But once I got to thinking about it, it kind of made sense. For consecutive hill repeats you’re averaging maybe 5 km if that, so I wouldn’t be losing kilometres. And as much I love the up in a hill, I don’t love the down, it has long been an enemy. And while the designated hilly route (which by memory I believe consists of 4 to 5 hills and could have more added if we so desired) has downhills, they’re more spread out, hopefully making it less likely for me to cripple my legs.
So last night we did the route again, and while I was a little quicker a couple weeks ago (that was one of those crazy amazing runs where everything worked beautifully) I still managed to push my threshold on the up, thanks to my hill hero’s words of wisdom dancing through my head, and Carol’s words – “I want you to power up that hill!” – booming through my ears. The last hill, my heart rate was soaring at 190 beats per minute. Until this morning, that number really meant nothing too me. I knew it was high, but I didn’t know exactly how high, until I finally calculated my max heart rate. If I did the calculation right (which is debatable) my max heart rate is 188 beats per minute; at 190, I’m definitely pushing the threshold 😀
Tomorrow I’m getting a bone scan done, wish my ankle luck!