schedule

Positive Thinking aka What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

After a good couple of years of mediocrity and probably being a sports psychologist’s dream I think that this might actually be a good running year for me.  The very abbreviated back story (that will probably never be expanded on) is that I had a failed experiment with heart rate training that knocked me so hard on my butt that it’s taken me a really long time to mentally come back from.  When your head’s not in it everything else is on the back burner.  Suffice it to say that I did not love my runners for a while, but I think I’m back!*

I think my turning point was being included in a UBC NIKE study on running.  They gave me a 13 week prescribed running program to follow during a time of year when I would much rather sit on my couch.  Dark, rainy, winter-y Vancouver is not my favourite place to run.  However, a treadmill and a decent amount of accountability kept me running on average 3 times a week.  So what if my runs were predominantly inside?  I’ve actually come to love my treadmill (hopefully the downstairs neighbours do too!).  We had a slightly illegal 10km race at the end and I came away with a respectable 1:05 finish time.  Considering I ran once outside in 13 weeks I’m pretty happy with that!

Another key to me being more optimistic is that around Christmas I got my hands on a downloadable goal tracker from Believe I Am.  I’m not usually one for journals – although I’m keen to get one of theirs when they’re back in stock – as I start and never finish.  But this one made me sit down and think about what I want from running this year.  I want to get faster and I want to finish my 50km race in August.  Voilà!  I suddenly found myself with goals that are attainable.  The other helpful part of the tracker was an outlook calendar.  I don’t usually race a lot, but I wanted to this year.  I’m not wealthy by any means so it’s usually a stretch to get too many races in.  But I found some affordable ones (and ways to get in free, too) and I have about one a month.  This will give me more race and trail experience, which I very obviously need in tackling an ultramarathon.

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I haven’t paid for all of these yet, but they aren’t really negotiable anymore.    

I have goals, people, and I will darn well reach them!!

What’s on the agenda for you this year?  And will I be seeing you anywhere along the way?

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*Notice that I’ve removed the subtitle “Slowly Reconciling With Running” from by blog (and on Twitter, too).  No self-defeating thoughts, please.

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February 10, 2014 | Categories: goals, racing, running, schedule | 4 Comments

Challenges Week #1 – DONE!

So I finished week 1 of both the Hard CORE and Legs Love Lunges challenges. I can’t say that I hurt as bad as I expected – I’m pretty sure that having previously done bootcamp prepared me well. The problem with these two workouts is that I don’t initially feel the pain. It usually sneaks up on me halfway through the next day. This means that tomorrow night I’m going to suffer… suffice it to say that I barely made it though the first two exercises tonight (crunches and bicycle kicks). The one thing I can take into next week is that it only takes about 30 minutes to complete so I don’t need to split up the core workout like I did.


I haven’t quite set which days I’m doing my workouts. I was going to go with Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, but this week made me question it. Sundays I do my long run and I liked doing core afterward as I was already a sweaty mess. Tuesdays, if I do run, I do a short tempo so I have the time. I was supposed to work out on Thursday, but after hills x 8 on Wednesday and 10km that night my body just wasn’t into more. I caught up today and Fridays might work out better, but I’ll have to see how I feel on Sunday and if I need the extra time between core and long run to better determine my schedule. What do you think?

Here’s how this week went:

1.1
– Bicycle Kicks – 25 each leg
– Leg Lift – 30 seconds
– Hip (bridge) Lift – 30 seconds
– Plank – 45 seconds
– Lower Back Stretch – 30 seconds
– Push Ups – 20
– Side Bridge – 30 seconds each side
– 10 lunges each leg

1.2
– Crunches – 30
– (Face up) Supine Bridge – 30 seconds
– Ankle Grabbers – 25 each ankle
– Diamonds in the Sky – 20
– Shoulder Taps – 25 each shoulder
– Superman – 15
– Lower Back Stretch – 30 seconds
– Plank – 45 seconds
– 15 lunges each leg

1.3
– Crunches – 30
– Bicycle Kicks – 25 each leg
– (Face up) Supine Bridge – 30 seconds
– Ankle Grabbers – 25 each ankle
– Diamonds in the Sky – 20
– Hip (bridge) Lift – 30 seconds
– Plank – 45 seconds
– Lower Back Stretch – 30 seconds
– Push Ups – 20
– Shoulder Taps – 25 each shoulder
– Superman – 15
– Side Bridge – 30 seconds each side
– 20 lunges each leg

*meant to do whole set of exercises, but missed the leg lifts – oops!

August 21, 2010 | Categories: challenge, core, lunges, schedule | Leave a comment