Made it to the gym tonight. Decided to give my poor feet a rest, so I just did elliptical for an hour. I’m definitely in better shape than when we began this whole affair.
Still doing my core stuff. I’m amazed I’ve stuck with it for a whole week.
Still not drinking. I’m amazed I’ve stuck with it for a week.
Depending on the weather, I’ll run or gym tomorrow.
I took a few minutes to go back and read this blog from the beginning yesterday. They say that a journal is a good way to keep motivation high. I’d have to agree with them. It is cool to look back at the good times and bad, and realize how far I’ve come on this journey to 21.097 Km. It is also distressing to look back and realize that I should have been using the spell check feature more often. Oh well. The spelling mistakes make is simultaneously grittier and more cerebral. Like a James Joyce novel.
$$$ I bought a watch so I can start timing my runs. Now that I’m actually shooting for a time instead of just completion, I need to pay attention to this sort of thing. I also bought a water bottle and a belt to hold the water bottle. I used to be OK on 10K runs, but as I’m out longer, I find I need water half way.
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Distance: 7.85 km
Time: 45 min
Lucky for Michael. It’s 6C where he is but only 0C here. In any case I had similar thinking and donned my new sweater and headed out for what was supposed to be 10k. I bailed, though. I’m still recovering a bit from Friday, but the big reason I cut it short was the ice. We’ve had such a thaw here over the last couple days that the sidewalks and streets are:
- Completely bare and perfect
- Slush
- Solid ice
- A mix of all three
Add in the wind and the cold in the shade and it was pretty yucky. At least I got to try out my new sweater and I’m very happy with it. It’s lighter than the hoodie I was running with before but I think that’ll mean I can use it throughout the entire spring
Another thing that struck me is that I need to start wearing my shades, and maybe even some sun-block.
My warm weather is Monday (+2), Tuesday (+8), Wednesday (+9). Tues/Wed are going to be rainy so it’s going to be a big mess all week (but at least all the snow will be gone). I haven’t decided if I’m going to head out tomorrow or try to get fully rested for Wednesday Ultimate.
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I use the cold as an excuse to not run, so when it is sunny and 6C out, I decided I should take advantage of the rare good weather.
I played indoor ultimate this morning for 1.5hours and then ran 11.5k. The run was hard, but at least I did it.
Time to rest.
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Distance: 15.3 km
Time: 89 minutes
Michael beat me to the 15k post. I agree, though: I feel really confident now that I’ll be able to handle the half-marathon under 2 hours without too much trouble. In the meantime, however, 15k is pretty far.
I’d like to try the power gels, and to run with a friend.
I bought a new fancy Adidas jacket today. I’m really excited to go running tomorrow.
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Just finished roughly 15k. Probably a bit more, but the 15k part took me a little under 90 minutes. Not that fast, but finishing a half marathon in under 2 hours seems pretty easy now. I’d like to do the whole thing in 1hr 45min. I think this can be done.
Comments on the run:
I went with a friend. It was good to have someone pull me along and keep me going when the going got tough.
15k is pretty far.
I brought some power gels with me. Basically sugar, salt and caffine. It was handy, although some water would have been nice. I’ll keep using the gel’s on my long run. I think it will be good to take one or two on race day.
Pain I felt:
My left foot: I have a crack on the bottom of my foot, residual from the New Year’s Day run. It hurts, when I run, when I walk, and when I play ultimate. It is slowly getting better.
My right foot: This foot seems to fall asleep sometimes. I’m aware that this is bad. Today it was asleep for the first half, but then was fine at the end. I’ll take this as a good sign.
Nipples: I won’t elaborate here, but I’ll need to solve this problem in the near future.
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Distance: 14.4753 km
Time: 78 minutes
After such a difficult run last week it was encouraging to have a new “farthest ever” run yesterday. I’ve been running on the treadnill at the gym more than outside, so I found it refreshing and fun to be outdoors (capitalising on a rare “warm” day). I haven’t run in these conditions very much, and had to contend with slippery sidewalks, un-plowed sidewalks, lack of sidewalks altogether, slush, and it getting cold very quickly once the sun went down.
Still, it was fun. I’ve now run (even leaving some “in the tank”) two thirds of the half-marathon.
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Today I ran about 12k. It was a nice day out and a friend showed me a few new trails in London that I didn’t know about. Pretty good run. I felt fine at the end, I could have run longer if I had to.
New:
1) A friend and I agreed to not drink from February 2nd to the 28th (from Super Bowl to the meeting of the Men’s Book Club). I’m a little annoyed that I haven’t lost any weight yet. I think not drinking will help this situation. I have a feeling about half my calories come from beer.
2) Speaking of not losing weight, I’ve decided to start focusing more on core exercises. I think a stronger core will a) help my ultimate, b) give me more power when I play squash, c) make me look smokin’ hot when beach season arrives. I’ve printed off this set of core exercises http://tinyurl.com/dez37d and will endeavour to do them 3x/week. Wish me luck.
Between the core workout and the lack of beer I should be a new man in 4 weeks. (ha!)
3) I just registered for the race.
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