How Heart Rate Training Has Saved My Running

This time last year I was in a huge funk.  I had just been diagnosed with runner’s knee and was limping around everywhere and had made the crappy decision that I had to pull out of what was to be my first half marathon.

Well what a difference a year makes.

Since Saturday I have run 55km. FIFTY FIVE KILOMETRES.  I have never run that many kilometres in less than 7 days in my life. Ever.

And I’m still walking. Other than some aching when I walk up stairs, my knees are happy campers, which is a drastic change from March 2012.

The difference this time around has been heart rate training.  Yes this means I have been doing the majority of my runs super slow in order to stay at or below a particular heart rate number.  But in doing so I have built up endurance as well as stayed relatively injury free.

Have I built up any speed? That’s hard to say at this point.  I do know that I can run further and longer than I could before, so by default I’m already faster by eliminating a lot of walking breaks.  As long as my body continues to cooperate with the HR training, I should start getting faster eventually.

Today was my last long run (15.2km) before New York on March 17.  Right now I have no goals other than to finish strong and to maybe finish faster than 2:28:48. A PR would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.  All I know is that I’m going to bring my A game and do my best.

New York, you’d better watch out.

This Is Why I Run

There’s a line in the Mumford and Sons song “The Cave” that goes:

And I’ll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I’ll know my name as it’s called again

I was listening to that in the car tonight and, while I love the song and that particular part, it struck me in a different way tonight than it normally does.

This is the busiest race season of my entire life.  Before 2011 I wouldn’t have even thought about entering a race, let alone the amount I have on my schedule for 2013.  They are all important to me for one reason or another (NYC Half, my first sprint, my first Olympic distance race) but the one that has the most meaning for me is not really a race at all.

On June 2 I will be participating in the Becel Ride for Heart.  I will be cycling 75km long the Toronto highways to raise money to fund heart and stroke research in memory of my father in law who passed away in October of 2010. 

A lot of who I am and what I do was shaped by that night in 2010.  I run to keep my own heart healthy; I run to inspire others to do the same; and I run to remember Manny. 

If you can and want to I would appreciate any support in my fundraising effort.  Feel free to take a look at my fundraising page , and pass it along to others if you’d like.

I had a whole post written out in my head that now sounds contrived and I’m not going to dredge up the past anymore then I have already.  But on June 2 I will ride those 75km for Manny, and for Diana, and for Shawn and Danielle. 

And I hope to find strength in pain.

I hope we all can.

Random Friday…Things?

Yeah I lost the alliteration by posting this a day late. Good thing I’m not governed by internet memes. At least not publicly, anyway.

1. I’ve been tracking my calories with the My Fitness Pal app since before New Years.  I had great success the first week, then stalled, then gained the weight back 3 weeks later.  Seriously, WTF? Anyway my awesome twitter (and triathlon) friend Jennifer suggested I increase my calories and see how I not only felt but how my body reacted.  Well a week later I’m down a few inches and 3lbs.  Not a huge loss by any means but I didn’t GAIN weight even though I have been purposely eating more food. I’m going to keep this up and see how it goes.  Restricting sucks, anyway, and the MFP app really seems to put people on WAY too little calories. This is a whole other post in and of itself.  Check outGo Kaleo’s post on how to properly determine the amount of calories that are right for you – it really opened my eyes.

2. I’ve been MIA from this little blog of mine again, and in February I am aiming to change that (as well as change the blog) by following the 28 Day Blog Challenge from Katy Widrick.  Every day I will follow one of her prompts and change one small facet of the blog to improve it.  Today I edited my “Pages” – so the about me, contact me, blogs, and the dogs sections just underneath my header.  Please check them out and tell me what you think!

3. One thing I neglected to mention here (clearly I’m not into over-sharing) was that from just before Christmas until last Saturday we had a foster dog.  Her name is Miley and she is a lab/hound cross.  I haven’t heard anything from her new family yet so I’m taking that as a good sign that she is fitting in and they aren’t having any problems.  She was a great little dog and she really came out of her shell while in our home. It is truly rewarding to watch a shy, scared dog blossom into a self confident, outgoing, saucy thing. It’s one of the reasons we keep doing it, although I gotta say that being back down to just 2 is so peaceful.

I’m off for a run, then a nap, then some CrossFitting if my shoulder allows it.  Have a great weekend, folks – I’ll be stuck at work but I’ll still be checking in with my 28-Day Blog challenge, so I’ll be around.

Wordless Wednesday

The oldest, and yet smallest furry members of our household – Oliver & Max.

Playing Catch Up

 

After my last post and this long stretch of silence one might think that I had, indeed, decided to give up blogging completely (ahem, Martha).  In fact, I was overwhelmed by the flu-cold that has been going around (everywhere, it seems) and since I was doing nothing except sleeping and trying not to cough too hard I figured I’d spare you the boring details.  Also I just didn’t feel like writing.

That’s changed now that I’m feeling better and I’ve started to, you know, do stuff again. 

I started back to working out this past weekend, which is good considering I have a half marathon in just over 2 months.  On Saturday I went to open gym at my CrossFit box and did a short 30 minute workout from Catalyst Athletics.  I really want to improve my Olympic lifts and I figure incorporating some of these workouts into my week can only help.  The workout was from their “Classic Cycle” and looked like this:

• Snatch – 75% x 1 x 3 (60lbs)
• Clean & jerk – 70% x 1 x 3 (75lbs)
• Snatch pull – 90% (of snatch) x 3 x 3 (70lbs)
• Snatch deadlift – 100% (of snatch) x 3 x 3 (80lbs)
• Front squat – 75% x 3 x 5; follow each set immediately with 3 box jumps (90lb front squats with 20” box)

I followed this up with 3 rounds of plank and 10 sit ups.  My quads are still shot from the front squats and box jumps (that is a killer combo, by the way).  I am most definitely out of shape.

I followed this up by a quick 25 min easy flop swim in the pool.  I floated around, used the kick board, used the pull buoy, and generally reacquainted myself with the pool.  It was lovely.  My shoulder, however, is angry at me today from the swimming this weekend and the weights as well, so I’m icing and taking it easy today.  I have a run on tap (well more walk than run, to ease myself back into training) after a meeting at work this afternoon.

Shawn was snowed in in Newfoundland this weekend due to a blizzard, which in theory sounds fun but not when you’re staying in a hotel without power.  While he dug himself out, I decided to get a little crafty and attempt a few Valentine’s day decorations.  Not that we celebrate it, at all, but the house was lacking something after I took all of Christmas down.

I bought this cute little bird while I was at Michaels:

I don’t even like real birds – well I do, I’m just afraid of them. But I have a tendency to collect little fake ones.  Soon I’ll have a whole flock.

Anyway here are my attempts at Valentine’s Day bunting:

Cardstock, decorative paper, and some ribbon.  It was super easy to put together.  Not bad for a Sunday afternoon.

What did you do this weekend? Any great workouts?

Goals for 2013–No, Not Resolutions

December seems to have gotten away from me. That and I haven’t really had anything to write about. I mean of course there was Christmas and stuff but I think it’s a little pretentious to write about what you got for Christmas. I think a lot about blogging is pretentious, and narcissistic, among other things.  Obviously I’m a little jaded about it right now.

In fact, I’m debating shutting this thing down. Or reinventing it, I don’t know. My goal for it has changed over the last year (OMG my blog had a birthday and I didn’t celebrate – I think that’s some kind of cardinal blogger sin) and I don’t identify with who I was trying to be before.  I’m also trying to extract myself from social media, a little at a time, so getting rid of the blog would be a step in that direction. But I like to write, when the mood hits, so maybe I’ll keep it around anyway.

Moving on…I don’t make resolutions but I do want to make goals for 2013.  I have a lot of things I want to accomplish and I believe that writing them down will help me achieve them, and keep me on track.

Athletic Goals
- PR my half marathon this year
- PR my deadlift (250 at least)
- Snatch 100lbs
- clean & jerk 125 at the very least
- complete some sprint and Olympic distance triathlons (I’m still undecided on the half Ironman)

Health Goals
- Lose weight. Or fat. Or whatever it is that’s hiding my muscles
- get a six pack. Yes, I’m that vain. I want a six pack. Or at least definable abdominal muslces
- make more food at home (we are currently baking our first loaf of homemade bread right now)
- remember to take my vitamins
- stress less and enjoy more

Life Goals
- plan my veggie and fruit garden better than I have in previous years.
- save money (we do this already…maybe it should be not get into debt?)
- spend more time with friends
- spend more time with family
- make our house more homey.  We have decided to stick it out here for a few more years until we can afford our dream property, so it’s time to make it exactly the way we want it.
- start my damn Etsy shop

Whew, that’s a lot of goals.  More than I thought when I started writing them! I think they are all achievable, and now that they’re written down everyone can harass me about them at any time. Keep me on track here people!

I’m stuck at work over the next 3 nights, so my New Years will be spent with some furry friends instead of my human ones.  Here’s to a safe and happy New Years, and an even better 2013.

Three Things Thursday–Let’s Workout

Borrowed from Leigh! This is definitely a way more fun way to do Three Things Thursday.

Three CrossFit movements that I love:

1. Box jumps
2. clean&jerks
3. I love a love/hate relationship with the snatch

Three workouts that I love:

1. CrossFit
2. Running
3. Swimming

Three of the worst things to happen while working out:

1. Having to pee
2. Clothing moving to places it shouldn’t
3. Falling – while running, or with a barbell, or during box jumps…

Three of the best things to happen while working out:

1. PRing, while in a race or lifting is always awesome
2. Hitting goals, like pace or weight or movement
3. Having fun!

Three workouts that I will never choose to do:

1. Zumba
2. Insanity – although i have done it I hated it
3. Aqua-fit

Three pet peeves when it comes to working out:

1. People who don’t wear enough deodorant (or at all) and workout near you (this)
2. People not doing the movements correctly in order to be done faster
3. People not watching where they’re going or what they’re doing

Three workout related goals:

1. Half Ironman
2. Clean&Jerk my body weight
3. Deadlift 2x my body weight