Best Support Network!

Best Support Network!
2nd Half Marathon

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Change

Hello,
     Since my last post I have completed my undergraduate degree in Honours Geography and Sociology! I also worked as a counsellor at Cairn during Teen Week. I loved every second of it.
     Now that I'm home I am back to my 16k running clinic and Weight Watchers. We had two kinesiologists as our guest speakers last night to talk about over training. We ran a humid, muggy 5k in Newmarket last night. As a result I had difficulty sleeping last night, which I think was in response to the heat and that I was not getting four runs in a week. Yesterday I ran without my Garmin because I knew I would be looking at it every ten seconds. The 5k was hard to get back into especially with the heat. I ran with Suzanne yesterday which was nice since we were running at the same speed. I look forward to getting to know my clinic members better.    
     Tomorrow I will be getting my first taste of tempo runs, my plan is to ensure that I hydrate throughout the day and use Thursday as a rest day. I will not be running the Zoo Run as the 10k portion is sold out. I feel like I have a lot of work to do to train for my Halloween 16k Race. I also need to follow my running program so that I am healthy and feel good for my convocation October 29th. This weeks long slow distance run is 9k.
     How have you been finding the heat?

Saturday, August 14, 2010

New Store = New Friends

New Clinic Update:
    What a  friendly crowd. I really enjoyed the sense of community that I've experienced at the Waterloo and Aurora Running Room, so I wasn't sure what to expect at the Newmarket location. Everybody in my new clinic was delightful. They made me feel welcome right off the bat. I was nervous prior to getting there, but excited about the possibility of forming new relationships. I'm normally one of the slower runners in the group, and the clinic instructor stuck with me for the first half of the run. I was excited to find out that nobody in our clinic brought their ipods, so I carried mine the whole way without using it. I will not bring my ipod to clinic nights but I still plan on bringing my it to hills and slow long distance runs.

Challenges:
    I knew that finishing up my last university course would require a lot of time and attention. As a result of my workload and the fact that a majority of our mark allocation is slotted at the end of the term I have temporarily compromised my running and sleeping schedule.

Advice:
     If you are accustomed to running while listening to music I encourage you to try a run without it at least once. I found I paid more attention to my breathing, and that I had to dig deeper to push through some of the challenging spots. I strongly recommend "listening to your body". When you pay less attention to eating properly, getting the sleep your body needs and proper hydration either decrease your pace, distance or level of intensity in your run to prevent injuries. A lesson I learned from my previous instructor is to stretch properly right after your run. It is easy to get caught up in conversation while you're stretching and look like your going through the motions without the same benefits you would get if you were paying attention to your form.

I have some exciting changes and surprises for the upcoming weeks.
I'll make sure to keep you posted.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

All Signed Up

Hello Sports Fans,
     Today marks the day I signed-up for my 10 Mile Clinic. I am excited to announce that we will be following the 'Half Marathon Manual' for the first twelve weeks. I wanted to join a clinic that built upon the foundation we established in my previous 10km clinic.  I was unable to sign-up for a half marathon clinic as there is currently one in session.
     There were four of us out to do hills training tonight from my previous 10km clinic. We ran 1.5km's followed by 5 hill repeats. I am proud of us for sticking with training even though our clinic ended this week. It was humid out, so I treated myself to my favourite Starbucks drink, the 'Strawberry Vivanno Smoothie'.    
     Todays lesson is to drink enough water to stay hydrated.
Thank-you for helping to motivate me to get out of air conditioning to run today :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

The main emphasis of this blog is three-fold:

1) Motivation. My 10km running clinic with the Running Room has just come to a close. I am feeling motivated, so now is as good a time as any to share my running journey with you.

2) Accountability. I will use this blog to help me be accountable to myself, and to you. I find getting my goals, and achievements in writing to be powerful.

3) Staying on Track. I have been improving my health, and fitness over the past few years, and hope to continue to see improvements.

My Goal Race is the end of May for the Ottawa Half Marathon in 2011.

My Running History
 While attending university I wanted to exercise outdoors in the winter so I joined the 10km Walking Room Clinic at the Running Room. I really enjoyed the sense of community at the Running Room, as well as the educational components. I later joined the Learn to Run program, followed by the 5km Running Clinic. My first race was at the Ottawa Race Weekend in May 2009 where I ran 5km's. I was fortunate to have support both running the race, and with family cheering me on. Upon arriving home after moving away from university I resettled at another Running Room where I completed my first 10km Running Clinic. Our goal race was the Durham 1/4 Marathon in Oshawa raising money for homeless youth, which marked my second race. Once again my family and friends cheered me on.

The Plan
     I am currently enrolling in the 10 Mile Clinic at the Running Room which will be a first for me, and the longest distance yet. The 10 Mile Clinic and shorter distance clinics have a 10 week duration.  My aim (hopefully without injuries) is to run the Tom Taylor Trail 10 Miler goal race October 31st 2010.  Friends from my previous clinic will run 10km's in the Zoo Run October 14th, 2010. I love the zoo, so it should be hilly but enjoyable. I want to join the 10km Clinic upon completion of the 10 Mile Clinic to maintain my running and distance. Their goal race is the Egg Nog Jog December 12, 2010. By mid January I intend on joining the Half Marathon Clinic, which is 4 months long. There are two goal races, the first being Around the Bay March 27, 2011 Relay Team, and the second being The Ottawa Half Marathon May 29th, 2011. The cool thing about the Ottawa race is that it will hopefully be my gift to myself for my 26th birthday by completing a Half Marathon as a milestone!

I look forward to your support, and to sharing my journey with you!