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An Award for Me!

I got an award! Zaneta at Runner’s Luck nominated me for the above distinction and I accept it gratefully.

Here are the rules:

#1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?

#2. The second thing you have to do is, pick 6 people and give them this award. You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.

#3. The third and final thing is, thank the person who gave you the award.

And here are my answers:

#1. I don’t think that I should have given up running when I trained for my first 10km race back in 2000. My husband and I participated in a training clinic, ran the Vancouver Sun Run and then sort of abandoned it. We half-heartedly did the race the next year, but to much poorer results and then gave it up. Not sure why, though. We were dating then, didn’t have kids and were capable, but apparently we found better things to do. Unfortunately I can’t recall what they were. Imagine what my PRs would look like now if I had 10 years of running under my belt instead of just 1-1/2 years.

#2. I’ve given the following bloggers this award because I truly enjoy reading about their running experiences…

– Andrea at Sub 4:30 – local blogger training for Victoria too so hopefully we’ll be able to meet up.

– Erin at The Making of a Runner – will be running the Disney Marathon with Team in Training.

– MJ at Girl Running – she has a Mickey-ears tattoo which I think is so cool. Oh, she’s training for a half marathon too.

– Canadian Runner at Running Adventures – runs, plays hockey, is Canadian… what’s not to like?

– Michelle at Fitness Diva – the amount she works out puts me to shame! Very inspiring!

– Diana at Done the Run – new(ish) blogger who ran her first half marathon at the Seattle Rock ‘n’ Roll in June.

#3. Thanks Zaneta for giving me this award! It’s nice to know that someone reads my blog and doesn’t think that it’s boring… 🙂

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 25, 2010 | Categories: award, bloggers | Leave a comment

Who ♥s GU? Giveaway

If you read my blog you will have seen a recent post in which I talked about my love for GU. I attend a clinic at a local running store and we were fortunate enough to have a GU rep come in to talk to us about their product. Since many of you know all about GU (for great reviews check out Secrets of a Running Mom here, who also has a huge GU giveaway going on until the 26th) I won’t do a review. What I will do is say that I managed to convince my clinic leader to get some to give away!

So, in the spirit of shameless self-promotion, I am hosting a giveaway (my first!)…

Here’s what’s on offer (one person will win all 5 items):

1 x Strawberry Chomps (promotional size)

1 x Jet Blackberry Gel

1 x Blueberry Pomegranate Roctane Gel

1 x Lemon Lime Electrolyte Brew

1 x Orange Pineapple Recovery Brew

There are 3 easy ways to enter:

1. Follow my blog or let me know you already do (mandatory) – leave me a comment.

2. Add me to your blogroll – leave me a comment.

3. Link this to your blog – leave me a comment.

Entries will be accepted until midnight PST 31 August 2010 and the winner will be chosen 1 September 2010, most likely out of a hat by my 3 year old.

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 24, 2010 | Categories: contests, gu | Leave a comment

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!

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

Sunday Long Run + Core Work = Sore Monday (But Not Too Bad)

Original Route

Actual Route (we only got a little “lost”)

On Sunday I had my longest run ever! It was a whopping 29km (or 18 miles). As a change of pace we went downtown to run around Stanley Park and out to a couple of the local beaches. It was a perfect day. A little too hot, but the breeze off the ocean made up for it.

As you can see from the above maps I didn’t quite hit the whole distance. There were 5 of us running together and, as none of us had a written route, it was kind of a hodge-podge of what we could all remember from the email. It was technically 28.3km, but by the end all of us were in need of water and food so we called it as it was rather than run the last little bit.

I tried out my sample pack from GU on this run and had a couple of hits and misses, but at least I know that now not further down the road. I think I’ll just stick to the ones that I already love.

The group at the turn-around.

Once Colin and I got home I figured that I’d throw in a little core work as the Hard Core Club challenge was starting (and I was already sweaty and gross). I only did 7/13 exercises, but it was better than skipping… and I just ran 29km so I figured I deserved the break!

* Started Legs Love Lunges challenge today – 10 per leg. Not much, but it’s a start…

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 16, 2010 | Categories: beaches, core, long run, lunges, Stanley Park | Leave a comment

Challenge Time

I am potentially crazy.

Somehow I’ve become a sucker for online challenges and I’ve signed up for two that will surely make me stronger, but also make me question my judgment at the same time. However, after sucking it up big time on the hills on my last long run I know that I need to get into this.

The first is being hosted by 5 Miles Past Empty and is a lunge challenge. That’s right… LUNGES. The bane of my existence during boot camp. Unfortunately they work wonders for making me stronger and helping with my hill training. Truth be told I think I’ve actually missed them. So the challenge is this: do lunges (at least) 3 x week from 10 August to 10 September. I’m already behind since I only signed up today, but I’ll have to get them in soon. I think I might be short this week as I’ve got hill training tonight to contend with. I have to post pictures of my legs, but couldn’t get anything decent in the mirror so Colin will have to take them when he gets home.

The other challenge is being put on by Jamoosh of Last Mile Lounge. It’s starts on Sunday and is a 13 week core workout to be done 2 or 3 times per week. Since I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot motivate myself enough to start on my own (my exercise ball has been sitting in-box in my closet for over a month) I felt like I should at least have the support of strangers online!

So we’ll see how it goes. I’m sure I’ll post soon about my inability to walk, laugh, lay down comfortably, cough, stand…

Who knows, I might even get the guts to post pictures à la P90X for before and afters.

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 11, 2010 | Categories: challenge, core, lunges, training | Leave a comment

I ♥ GU

One of the perks of doing an in-store clinic is that we have featured talks. I’ve learned some great stuff about heart rate and hill training, nutrition, and speed work.

But I have NEVER been as excited for a talk as I am for the one tonight!

Herb, our wonderful leader, has arranged for our local (and generous) GU Rep to come in. I already use GU gels – I’m partial to the mint chocolate although they really need to put some caffeine in it – but haven’t really gotten into their other products. So I’m looking forward to learning more. What I’m really looking forward to, though, is the goody bag that we’ve been promised! Apparently it’s a little bit of everything, which is great since I have a 29km (18 mile) long run this Sunday and can test it all out then.

I’ll post a picture of my loot tonight! It doesn’t take much to make a runner happy does it?

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 10, 2010 | Categories: clinic, gu | Leave a comment

Barney Stinson: How To Run A Marathon

I love How I Met Your Mother and totally forgot about this episode:

If only it was that simple!

Thanks to Courtney at Run, Courtney, Run for posting this a couple of days ago… I’ve shamelessly ripped off her post!

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 9, 2010 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wordless Wednesday (or How I Spent My BC Day Long-Weekend)

Posted by lovemyrunners | August 4, 2010 | Categories: 26km, Keremeos, long run, training, Wordless Wednesday | Leave a comment

Running into new territory…

Tomorrow will be the longest run I have done thus far in my life! Up until now the longest distance I have run is 21.1km, also known as the half marathon.

I have a 23km (14-and-a-bit miles) training run in the morning and am super-psyched about it. I’m pretty sure that if you’d told me last year that I’d say that now I would have laughed my head off. Really, when I started running last year just getting up to “run 10 minutes/walk 1 minute” was a pipe-dream.

It’s going to be a fairly easy route – just straight, rolling hills for the most part – and the online weather powers-that-be tell me it will be a beautiful, sunny, 24° C (75° F). The only hard part about it is that we’re taking M with us, but we’re planning on switching off half way through as long as I pass by Colin’s faster pace group at the right time; otherwise, I’m pushing the whole way.

What’s on your agenda for this weekend?

Posted by lovemyrunners | July 25, 2010 | Categories: long run, training | Leave a comment