hilly

Well the Bear Mountain 10k was yesterday. Now I know why they call it the hardest 10k in Canada. Cuz it is hard. And hilly. I had some extensive chiropractic work done right before the race and I must remember never to do that again. One of the areas he worked on must have been inflamed or irritated because I was in excruciating pain for the entire race and then most of the day after. The usual things that hurt didn't hurt tho, which was amazing, We'll see how it is today, headed out after work for the usual sunday run with Vic.

avoidance

feeling good....foot is a little tweaky after my workout today, but not painful, just kinda achy. 10k tomorrow will be a good test of it's healedness.....which i don't think is even a word.....

currently on the couch, avoiding taking my post-workout supplements....because my liquid iron tastes like garbage....
well, not garbage, like cold chicken broth. that's exactly it, cold chicken broth. it makes me wanna vomit every day. So i avoid it. It takes me a good half an hour after each workout to work up the bravery to take my iron....blargh....ok ok ...here i go,
iron time
ugh

can i run yet?.....how bout now?

so.....remember how much I hate running? well somehow whilst training for the marathon, something magical happened....did I start to love running? no....did I get good at it? not really..just faster....I got hooked. I'm totally addicted to running. Kinda like I got addicted to triathlons. I still hate it just as much, but I hate not doing it more....it's wierd....I've been off, nursing my injured foot and realized that after the 3rd day I was going mental. I'm going to have to go for sure on friday or I might go completely nuts.....wierd. I have no idea when that happened, but it sure did. School is super crazy and I need to run to regain some clarity in my brain. It's becoming a little cloudy in there. Just a little!

taking it easy?

So!! Went to the doctor. He said the foot isn't broken. YAY!! He thinks that I've torn/sprained a tendon/ligament and that it should be better with rest. Rest eh? hmmm. not so good at that one. So I'm not going to run all week. See if that helps. Do a light run on friday and see how it feels. Hill training will proceed as soon as the foot feels good. It actually feels better today than it did yesterday and I'm getting ready to head to the pool. Gotta get back to the swim training and that'll be easier on my foot as well. Next race is the Bear Mountain 10k, known as the hardest 10k in Canada due to the hills...can't wait!! November 21st. It's on. Marissa is going to train and run with me. Katie too. Should be goooooood times!!!

here comes the rain

Well it's officially fall in Victoria, which means it's rain season.....ugh...i'm still all sensitive and spoiled and don't like the rain....give me a week and i'll be perma-damp until march...foot is feeling better-ish....still considering getting xrays, but that sounds like a lot of work....lol...i know, i know, i'm going to do it....20k tomorrow with Vic, we'll see how that goes....I'll tensor wrap it and that should hold it together...in theory...OH..excited for rain running!!! that, my friends, is what we call a silver lining....feeling uninspired...more later...

Definately Maybe

First run post-marathon went well. Just a little guy, did the Gorge route, tried to take it a little easy, ended up pushing my pace  and doing bench sprintervals, I can't help it, the Gorge route just makes me feel the need to interval train. Everything felt decent, foot was achey but fine. And then I took off my runner after and my foot felt like it was going to explode. I think I need to get an xray. It's not getting better. I'll tensor wrap it before I run tomorrow, that should help. It's making wierd grinding and crunching noises and it just feels wrong. yuck. Training now begins for the Bear Mountain 10k. Lotsa hills. ugh. Printed out the course map today, giving it a try with Marissa tomorrow.
Sidebar: I don't feel good about Starbucks instant coffee. I know, I know, I haven't tried it, but it just seems fundamentally wrong. Although instant coffee has gotten a bad rap. Maybe I should give it a try before I condemn it. However, my first reaction is to feel not good about the whole thing!

This is What We Came For

Marathon day was yesterday....it was hard, long, painful....and I can't wait to do it again!! All things considered I'm pretty proud of myself for getting it done. I was unprepared for the the full. With the amount of training I had done, it would have been more appropriate to have run the half. But when I went to register the half was full, so I said screw it and went for the full, but I did register for the early start time (6:30am instead of 8:30) which gives you 7 hours time limit instead of 5 hours, which is the regular time limit. Which I'm glad I did, but that doesn't mean I was properly prepared, considering the furthest I've ever run is 20k, 42 was a bit of a stretch! After work on saturday night, I went home for an hours rest, slept in, and missed the early start time. Not to be deterred, I just decided to go for the 8:30 start and hope I made it in 5 hours. As per usual, the first kilometer sucked. But once I found my pace, the first 26 went by pretty quickly. My hip started to go after that...i told myself some funny stories, zoned out on my music and kept going...by the time I got into the 30's I was hurting...my knees and bad hip were hating me...i had to take a few walk breaks but ran most of the way....if you're not someone who's as crazy as I am, you won't know what happens to your body when you run that far....things hurt...EVERYTHING hurts...especially if you aren't prepared....even my skin hurt.......my feet cramped....my back spasmed...hip dislocated...but you run through it...my Sugoi fizz tank is the best performing piece of clothing I've ever owned.....no chafing or moving...it was amazing. Other race highlights include:
- making new friends along the way...when you have the same pace as some people you spend a lot of time with them...you've got 5 hours to chat..
- the cheerful cheering volunteers along the way....they really are motivating
- whomever put the motivational posters on the trees along the side of the road during the last km, you are my god!! "you started this.....now finish it", "you own this" and other such posters really made the last km not so bad

The only lowlight was the volunteers on the side of the road who were sleeping, or looking grumpy, or yawning....seriously? Are you really sleeping in front of marathoners? Really? If you're gonna sleep, you should have stayed home. All my friends had the courtesy to sleep far away from me....

At the end of the day, 5 hours and 16 mins later....I crossed the finish line....aches and pains and all.....my mom and dad were there cheering, which was amazing....i'm so proud of myself. Best training run ever. Just another stepping stone on the road to Ironman Canada....

20k

sooooo Vic and I ran 2 loops of Elk Lake today....20k...and by ran i mean ran most of the way and walked some of it....but the name of the game is getting the distance in....the most exciting part is that my cardio was awesome. Felt like I could run forever...HOWEVER, my hip gave out on me...stupid injuries....i feel like it will get better...when I first started training the 10k distance my joints hated me....and I pushed through it and now the 10k distance is easy.....now this is a new distance, new pain to push through.....so i feel like it'll get better....in all fairness I made a huge training distance jump..it's only fair that my body takes some time to hate me for it....so this week is tuesday 10k, thursday 15k and then sunday marathon!! sounds like fun, doesn't it! No? I didn't think so either.....