20 Miles on my "FT"

Hello again running world, today was my first 20 mile run of my training and it felt pretty good! I was a little nervous for it because I have had a sore hip/hip flexor this week. It was supposed to be an easier training week for me, but I couldn't even finish my mile repeats on Thursday, so I ended up on the stationary bike for the rest of Thursday and Friday. We had sponge hockey playoffs this weekend, and I was debating not playing to save my hip for my long run, but it ended up being okay. My long run felt great, probably for many reasons. First of all, other than spongee I took the last two days off running, just sticking to the bike, so I was pretty rested. Secondly, I have been doing many of my long runs outside this past month and I ended up doing my long run on the treadmill at the Y, so my legs/hip didn't have to deal with slippery conditions today and I was able to get it done a bit faster.

Halfway done!

Luckily I got my first pick of treadmills when I got to the Y today because no one goes to the Y at 8:00am on a Sunday. It may seem silly to some that I have a favourite treadmill(FT), but I do. My favourite treadmill (yet to be named) has special powers! It is the only treadmill at the downtown Y that will run beyond an hour. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is! Today my run took 2 hours and about 45 minutes, and it only had to restart one time. Some of the other treadmills reset after every half hour, and I think you can imagine how annoying that could be! My FT is very smooth, it doesn't rub in any places, and all of the TV channels have a clear connection (not fuzzy). It is also on the end of the row, so you don't have to walk by tonnes of people to get to it, and if you have to take a bathroom break, it is the closest one to the bathrooms. If I go to the gym after school at my regular time (5:30ish) it is always taken because other people must know how awesome it is. Don't get me wrong, I don't love running on the treadmill, I would much rather go outside, or even running around a track with friends. When I do HAVE to go on treadmill, my FT treats my extremely well!

While I was on the treadmill for 2 hours and 45 minutes today I watched a show on Netflix called "Departures". It's a show about two guys, about my age who give up their lives for year and travel the world. It's pretty neat to be able to see the world from my FT. At a time in my life where I am trying to save money for a house/cottage it's really cool to be see the world through their eyes!

After my run I had to rush home to pick up Kristjan so that we could make it to our spongee double-header. Yes, I said 2 games of spongee after a 20 mile run. It was kind of rough, but I was still standing at the end of it all. After my first game I had to run out to pick up some recovery food/drink. It's crazy on a day like today to fuel myself properly. So far today, I ran 20 miles, had two spongee games and in about an hour I have a soccer game with few subs. I probably will have burned about 3500 calories. I probably had 1.5 litres of chocolate milk and another 1.5 litres of Gatorade today, and I'm actually feeling okay(I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon, which helps). I may end up taking the day off tomorrow, luckily it's Louis Riel Day so I can sleep in as long as I want. 

Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to tread lightly and run happy!

10 Weeks Out

69 days until Boston, training is going well, I feel happy and healthy! I am now Powered by Chocolate Milk as well as Brooks. It's so nice to have the support of companies that care about athletes.

Last week wasn't a particularly hard week in my training, my long run was only 16 miles, but I also had a 12 mile progression run on Thursday. Next weekend I have my first 20 miler and I think I am ready for it!

I ran with my friend and old teammate on Saturday and ran with my other friend today. I find being a distance runner can be quite lonely sometimes, you have to make friends with bands, ebooks and podcasts. Once in a while you get to actually run with people and it's awesome! Running buddies can be surprisingly hard to come by. Most people think that because my significant other is also a runner, that means we run together. Not a chance! Most of my running friends will tell you the same thing! My boyfriend's easy run pace is about 7min/mile, which is basically my marathon race pace. Needless to say, his easy runs are my hard runs. We've tried in the past and always ended up fighting. Now we run together maybe once or twice a year. Usually it's when I have a tempo and he paces me. Other than him, I sometimes will run with my younger brother who is a cook and a retired competitive paddler. He is actually perfect to run with, except because I am his sister he never tells me if I am going too fast or too far, he just sucks it up every time. His work/school schedule is also brutal so I only end up running with him about once a month.

My two main buddies are the two friends and former Bison teammates I was talking about before. Neither of them are training for a marathon, but at least they run a good speed and the conversations are entertaining. I usually drop them off at their houses and then keep going for another hour or so. We always run towards each other and meet half way. It's so funny because we will both leave 5-10 minutes past the time we actually say we are going to leave. I usually will meet up with one of them a week.

I really appreciate my running buddies, even if I only run with them twice a year, once a month or once a week. It is so much better than doing every run on my own.

Of course my best running buddy is chocolate milk! (lol) It helps me recover every time!

That's all for now. Run Happy! (Brooks)

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I celebrated my 27th birthday by going for an 18 mile run. It was -33 with the windchill today so I didn't go outside the whole time. I ran the first 10 miles on the treadmill and then did 8 outside. I was eager to try out my new running gear that my boyfriend/coach bought me for my birthday. The run felt pretty good, it was my third 18 miler this year. 

I was well fueled from my birthday dinner last night, we went for a delicious tapas style dinner at Segovia in Osborne village. My pre-run meal today was homemade soup with rice vermicelli noodles and veggies. My post-run meal was the same thing, it was even better the second time. Of course I had chocolate milk right after my run to help with recovery. 

The Boston Marathon is 77 days away. My training is on track, I am feeling healthy and strong. I was quite sore after my last workout on Thursday, which was a 9 mile tempo. I think I was mainly sore from my soccer game that I had the same night at 11:00pm. I kind of felt my hip flexor at the beginning of my run today and felt really nervous, but it went away in the first half mile. It was probably just from playing spongee yesterday. I'm excited that the spongee season is almost over so that I don't get anymore mysterious aches and pains.

In the deep, dark, cold months of winter, it can be hard to convince friends to go out for runs. On the days that there is no one to run with, I would highly recommend listening to audiobooks or podcasts during easy runs and long runs, it makes the time go by faster. Last week I was listening to a podcast called "Serial" when I was running, but I finished it pretty quickly.  I started a new one called "Invisibilia" on Friday, and so far it's very good. If you have any recommendations for audiobooks or podcasts feel free to leave me a comment.

Have a great week everyone!