Running

hills, speed, lsd

Running: to infinity and beyond!

This past Friday I ran 70 minutes, which a year and a half ago wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but now, it’s a milestone – not because of the time, but because of the distance. After what has seemed like eons, I have finally reached that point in my training where I am once again surpassing the 10 km marker. Wahoo! But the fact I was running longer than an hour, in temperatures way hotter than previous long runs, presented a few new challenges. I couldn’t just rely on a swig of water and a couple shot bloks; sufficient fuel and hydration were required. That meant the ol’ fuel belt came out of storage. Now, I don’t remember having a huge problem running with the fuel belt in the past, yeah it gave me elbow bruises, but I was able to live with that. Well, Friday, I was none to […]

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Some days…

Some days, the last thing you want to do is pull yourself out of bed when the 5 a.m. alarm shrieks from across the room. Some days, the hardest thing is squeezing into your sports bra, putting on your shorts, and lacing up your sneakers. Some days, the thought of a 35-minute tempo run feels as though a marathon was looking back at you. Some days was today. When the alarm sounded, I was dead to the world. My eyes were stuck shut, my body felt as though it was the mass of 5,000 tonnes and my head as though it had vice grips securing it to my pillow. The thought of a tempo run was not at all welcomed. I dragged my sorry self out of bed. I trudged to the washroom with my clothes and gear. I soft stepped down the stairs (no waking Little Ring allowed!). I

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On your marks, get set…

It’s funny, when I compare my MEC 10 km race from last week to my BMO 8 km race in May, it’s like night and day. MEC had me satisfied. BMO had me shattered. And yet, looking at the straight stats, I was faster for BMO… just an average of 4 seconds faster, mind you, but faster nonetheless. However, I went into BMO – my first race back post pregnancy – expecting brilliance. I wanted my pace to be unwavering. I wanted my focus to be sharp. I wanted a perfect race. But when my pace started to drop, my focus waned, my heart sunk, my legs slowed. And that devil on my shoulder kept beating me down, telling me there was no way I could fix it, no way I could crank up the speed in my legs, no way I could make my goal. Honestly, I felt like

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‘Ohmygawd! I just peed my pants!’

Warning: In case you didn’t notice from the headline above, this post may be TMI for some. You have been warned. At about 7 km into Sunday’s race, my brain took a trip down memory lane, to a time when I was seven years old, walking home from school, wearing one of my favourite corduroy dresses. I was just a few blocks from home, less than 10 minutes. I had to pee, like really had to pee, my bladder was so full it was sore. I tried squeezing it in, tried walking with my legs crossed over, but the feeling wouldn’t go away, and my super skinny, short, little legs wouldn’t move fast enough. I knew there was no way I could make it. I looked to my left. I looked to my right. There was no one. I squatted, I peed, Ahhh, relief. I wish I could say I

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MEC 10 km: Personal best!!!

Soooo, hey, I sort of, kind of, totally raced my butt off yesterday morning! Hehe 😀 Beyond a couple tweets, I pretty much kept my participation in the Mountain Equipment Co-op 10 km race hush-hush. I didn’t want to put a huge amount of pressure on myself, I didn’t want extra stresses on my brain, or to feel like I’d be less if I didn’t meet my goals. This race wasn’t necessarily supposed to be about getting a great time, but more about getting my body, belly, blood sugars and brain used to racing again. My goals were simple: Run hard. Don’t give up. I thought it was a good plan. Coach NZ thought it was a good plan. My competitiveness, however, did not. Saturday night I pulled out my race pace calculator, just out of curiosity, you know, to see what kind of pace I’d have to go to

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