Tag: Monday Miles

Marathon Training Day #8: Rest

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Today is day 8. This means week one is done. Today is assigned as a “Rest or cross-train” day, but since I’ve worked out four days in a row right now, I’m taking it as a rest day.

Last week was tiring, but went well. I wish I had gotten a yin yoga class in there somewhere, but as long as I foam roll, I think it’ll be okay.

Week two’s plan looks a lot like week one:

Monday: Rest (I’m tired! I want to rest!)

Tuesday: 8k @ a moderate tempo (last week, I stopped on my run twice, so my coach told me I’m only allowed to stop once this week. Okay, coach!)

Wednesday: Speedwork (This time it’s at the track! Fancy! 6×400 splits with 90 second breaks. Anyone know an outdoor track in Toronto that’s actually in commission right now?)

Thursday: REST (holla!)

Friday: Hilly 30 minute route (I’m going to try to do a hillier route than last week.)

Saturday: Optional 45 minute run (I may choose to do yoga instead. We’ll see.)

Sunday: 15k route at an easy pace, as 10 and 1s (my coach stressed I MUST do 10 and 1s. I didn’t last week — oops! — so am planning to do this route solo so it’s easier to do what I’m told!)

That’s it! I’m feeling more confident about this week than last. I also plan to sleep more this week than last too. Because sleep is good.

 

Monday Miles: October 8-14

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A busy work week, a wedding and a day of feeling not great meant only three work-outs this week. Can’t win ’em all.

 

Monday: rest

Wasn’t 100% planned, but since I felt stiff from the long run the day before, decided to take a break.

 

Tuesday: 5.9km in Leslieville @ 7:15am

Almost wasn’t going to run in the morning, but at the last second, decided to do it. I try to tell myself that if I keep thinking about working out, I should just do it, but easier said than done, right?

 

Wednesday: 5k in Riverdale @ 6:45am

I felt so productive and inspired by my Tuesday run that I did it again on Wednesday.

 

Thursday: rest

Planned to go to lunch time yoga. Forgot I had a committee meeting. Went to that instead.

 

Friday: rest

Had to be at work at 6:30am this day so a morning work-out wasn’t going to happen. Planned to do lunch time yoga, but was too busy (and burned out) to do it and post-work plans meant taking a second rest day in a row. This was the day I felt like crap, so figured it was better to be safe than sorry with this one.

 

Saturday: 8k in the Beach @ 9am

With a wedding to attend on Satruday night, I made plans to meet up with Kate to do a morning beach-side run and to check out her new house. I love the beach in the fall: the weather is perfect for running but the cooler temps means there’s not as many people on the boardwalk. It was a sunny, chilly day and this run was perfect, capped off with a delicious coffee from Lazy Daisy!

 

Sunday: rest

I went to a wedding Saturday night. I probably could have gone to yoga if I really tried, but ugh. No. I chose instead to lie on my coach and watch a man jump from space and made promises to myself I’d be better next week.

 

 

Monday Miles: October 1-7

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I know, I know, today is a Tuesday. But yesterday was a holiday, one spent traveling home from Thanksgiving at the cottage. And do you know what you get when you add a chaotic work week to a family-oriented food-filled holiday?

Not a lot of exercise.

Let’s recap.

 

Monday: rest

After working out five days in a row leading up to Monday, I decided to give my legs a rest.

 

Tuesday: 5k, 6:45am @Riverdale

This was my usual “get a quick run in route” through Cabbagetown and Riverdale park. This was a slow one, as my legs are rapidly getting used to the fewer kilometres.

 

Wednesday: Hatha Flow, 1:15pm @ Yoga Tree

Work is getting busy, so I made plans to get to the office early to get this class in. It’s getting tougher to do lunch time yoga, but I’m happier when it happens.

 

Thursday: rest

This was not planned. But I had two after work events, 4 work meetings and stayed up too late watching the presidental debate. Note to self: you don’t need to watch the whole debate if you plan to read every single analysis and recap written about it.

 

Friday: Hot Yoga, 12:15pm @ Yoga Tree

The original plan was to do my usual 1:15 hatha class, but I was in the mood for a workout — even though I forgot to bring lean underwear (TMI, I know) and a towel. Despite these inconvenciences (and the fact this class thoroughly kicked my ass), I’m glad I went.

 

Saturday: rest

This was bad planning on my part. I should have ran first thing in the morning, but didn’t. Then we were going to head to the cottage, so it seemed like there wasn’t enough time. (There was.) Oh well, it happens.

 

Sunday: 10k, 11am @ Cottage

Matt’s cottage is on a hilly road. This makes this run challenging, but also beautiful and interesting. And since Jill is running the very hilly San Francisco half marathon next weekend, it seemed like a good way to prep for marathon Thanksgiving eating and Jill’s final long(ish) run before her big race.

 

 

This week I have fewer work events and no holidays, so I hope to get at least 6 workouts in. Oh, and I’ve committed to running a full marathon in Spring 2013. But I haven’t been very faithful to my race commitments this year. So we’ll see.

 

 

 

Monday Miles: September 24-30

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I want to get back into recapping my weeks regularly. It helps with tracking my work-outs and gives you a true idea of what my fit weeks look like. So here we go!

 

Monday & Tuesday: Rest.

Neither was really planned, but crazy work days meant no lunch time yoga and post-work events meant no evening work-outs, so I just rolled with it. I ran my last race of the season on Sunday (the Island Girl Half Marathon relay, recap to come!) so I felt okay with giving my legs a break.

 

Wednesday: Hour flow yoga, 5:45pm @ Yoga Tree.

Planned to go to lunch time yoga, failed. Opted for the 5:45pm class at Yoga Tree instead.  It was with a teacher I never had before and I was in for a surprise. We started the class with 200 sit-ups (ouch!), but she played Top 40 music, which I secretly love in yoga class. This sit-up challenge inspired me to incorporate sit-ups and push-ups in my morning routine. They are effective and they don’t take that much time. We’ll see how long it lasts.

 

Thursday: 5k run in Riverdale, 6:45am.

With my earlier wake-up time. I’m re-committing to morning runs. There’s nothing wrong with a speedy 5k before 7am. I just need to do it. This run felt good, I felt fresh and strong and enjoyed cranking out a shorter distance before work.

 

Friday: 50 minute hatha flow, 1:15pm @Yoga Tree; 5k, 7pm, same route as Thursday.

A meeting-free day meant I could slip out for yoga! Hooray! The Friday lunch time options at Yoga Tree are not my favourite, but they get the job done. I wasn’t planning on running on Friday, but our friend’s band was playing at 10pm and I knew if I got too settled at home, going out wasn’t going to happen. I chose to head out for a quick run instead, so by the time I came home, showered and ate, it would be time to head out for the night. It worked and I deem this decision a good one.

 

Saturday: 10k hike in Rouge River Valley @ 10am.

JK and I are starting Hike Club to prep for our epic hike next summer. The first rule of hike club is that you don’t talk about hike club — except to recap it for Two Fit Girls. So expect a post this week!

 

Sunday: 8k run to the market, 9:30am.

My pal Kate (hi Kate!) is my almost neighbour. I’ve loved running to the Leslieville Market on Sunday mornings this summer and since she now lives even closer to the market than I do, I thought I’d invite her along. We met up at Pape and Gerrard, which is about halfway between our houses, then did a 5.5k loop back to the market. I was stiff and slow from my hike the day before — but not sore, if that makes sense. Then I got coffee, a croissant and some veggies and it was delightful.

 

It was a good week, fitness-wise. With my races done for the season, I need some new goals. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

September’s Goals: Monday Miles & Mid-Month Check-In

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To hold me accountable, I decided I should post check-ins on how my progress towards my monthly goals (and, ultimately, my personal happiness) is going. If you missed my September goals and the reasons behind them, you can check them out here.

 

1) Eliminate Clutter.

So far, so good here. I went through my book collection for the second time this year and eliminated A LOT. Although, the after picture looks a lot like the before picture, it’s nice to know this is a more curated collection and there aren’t books hiding behind books.

I also tackled the desk in the living room, going through the drawers and throwing out junk. I also gave each drawer a specific purpose (they now store office supplies, cables, and cat toys, three categories of “stuff” that never had a proper home) which is something I had never done before. I found a coffee table that fits our home decor aesthetic and fit our budget (now it just needs to get stocked at a nearby IKEA!). I cleaned the kitchen cupboards. Matt cleaned the freezer. And I decided to give up the fish tank. I’ve had a fish tank and fish since second year university, but it’s the one responsibility I kept failing on. I was a bad fish owner. I didn’t clean the tank as often as I should. And when we were in-between fish, it would sit there, empty, for months before I would go and clean it and re-load it again. So instead of letting the guilt get to me, I’m letting go. It’s one of my happiness resolutions, after all. And I’m at peace with this decision.

Next: I need to buy a mirror and finish my latest art project, find (or make) some curtains, and the living room is done. Then it’s on to the kitchen. Uh-oh.

 

2) Lose 10 pounds.

The easiest way to assess this is to talk numbers, so let’s talk numbers. Ever since university, I’ve weighed between 185-190 pounds, without too much thought or effort. When I took up running and yoga to the extent I do it today, that number stayed between 185-190 pounds. I didn’t decide to become fit to lose weight, but I was expecting it to be a nice side effect of half-marathon training. It wasn’t.

So, this month, I’ve focused on the other culprit: food. My carb intake is at about 10% of what it used to be. Sugar (except in coffee, and then it’s always raw) is almost non-existent. Alcohol, well that could be less. But 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

So how is the weight doing? All this effort is paying off. Sort of. I’ve been doing this for about a month and I’m now consistently between 182-186. It’s been slow. It hasn’t always been fun. But I am moving forward.

 

3) Wake Up Earlier.

This was the biggest surprise of all my goals. Once I made the decision that 6:30 would be my new wake-up time, getting up was easy. And, of all these goals, has been the one to make the most direct impact on my life. As a result of that extra 45 minutes, my house is cleaner and I feel happier and more productive. I’ve cheated a few times (gotten out of bed, then snoozed on the couch until 7), but overall, this is a change I’m happy with and want to make more changes to make sure it’s a permanent one. To build on this goal, I plan to go to bed earlier and to build more morning work-outs into my schedule.

 

4) Do yoga 3x a week.

Well, the first week of September, I was slacking in the fit department and only did yoga twice each week. I think missing only one class isn’t enough to beat myself up over. I just need to acknowledge why it happened, how it made me feel to miss that class, and move forward. That, I can do.

 

5) Make a skirt.

Haven’t done this yet, But I did make my first-ever batch of hummus. It was too salty, but I was reminded how easy it is to make hummus! I will do it again and I hope to have better results.

 

Here’s my work-out rundown from last week:

 

 

Monday: FitStreets 5k

Tuesday: Hatha lunch time flow

Friday: Hot lunch time flow

Saturday: 10k on Martin Goodman Trail

Sunday: 7k to the Leslieville Farmers’ Market

 

I have noticed that without a race in mind (I had to scrap the Scotiabank half-marathon this fall because of a wedding) and with work picking up, my weekly workouts have dropped from 6-8 per week to 4 or 5. I’m going to spend the last two weeks in September concentrating on bringing that back up!

 

 

Monday Miles: Marathon Training Week #1

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The first week of 2012 marked the first week of training for the Goodlife Toronto Marathon. It was a week filled with highs and lows. I didn’t follow my training plan exactly (yikes!) but overall, I am happy with my effort.

 

Outside the Fresh co. I am happy because our run is done and we are going to pick up ingredients for an epic brunch!

Here’s how the week broke down:

 

Monday: 6k @ 45:00

This was my first serious run back after many, many snow-filled Christmases. It was stiff and slow, but it felt good to be back on the road.

 

Tuesday: 5k @ 36:00

I planned for 6k this day, but when the weather was 20 below, I’m just happy I headed outside.

 

Wednesday: 8K @59:00

A slow and steady effort that felt better as the kilometres passed.

 

Thursday: Rest

It wasn’t the plan to rest on Thursday, but after 3 days of running in a row and a dinner invite from the in-laws, I felt good about this decision. Because I knew I’d make up for it…

 

Friday: 5.2k @34:00

On Friday. This was a tough run. My legs were stiff, my foot was hurting, and I got attacked by a dog. Not a great way to spend a Friday night.

 

Saturday: 20 minutes with my Acuball

Even without the close encounter with a canine, my body was screaming for another rest day. I gave in, and spent some time with my beloved-but-underused Acuball. It paid off.

 

Sunday: 8k @ 53:10 in the morning, 90 minutes yin yoga in the evening

Sunday was beautiful! Since Jill wanted to join me for the run, I knocked the planned 10k back to 8. I felt strong, it was sunny, and we even fit in a delicious brunch and yin yoga to boot. If I can have more weekend days like this, I will be a very happy runner.
Tomorrow starts a new week of training. Here are my goals for the week:

 

1) Do at least one morning workout.

Now that the routine of running, reading, working, repeat is back in action, I want to refocus on waking up earlier, going to bed earlier and making each minute count. That means more time being active and less time on Twitter.

 

2) Jump rope once.

I got the old jump rope out and intend to use it. It was a Christmas gift from my basketball coach freshman year. He had devious reasons for giving it to us: have you ever preceded a BEEP test with 30 minutes of skipping? I have. Thanks, Les. But jumping rope is an AWESOME way to mix fitness up. So let’s try it.

 

3) Complete my first-ever hill workout!

Eeeek. I hate hills. And since both my half-marathons were relatively hill-free, I didn’t bother to train for them. But Around the Bay is different. There’s a bitch of a hill at the 26k mark. I’ve decided to include both hills and speed work into this training plan — one week hills, the next week, speed. These will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, depending on how I feel.

 

4) Bring my lunch every day to work.

Homemade lunches are cheaper and healthier. This seems like an obvious thing to do, but I am TERRIBLE at it. The spicy lentil soup in the food court is simply too delicious….

 

5) Hit 40k this week.

I know it’s more than a 10% increase, but before the holidays, 30-40k was doable. I want to get back to that base ASAP and concentrate on getting as marathon-ready as I can in the weeks ahead.

 

We’ll see how this goes!