Week three in training

Well, just put week 3 of the 16 week marathon training behind me. It felt easy enough. I did 6k on Monday, 8k on Tuesday, nothing on Wednesday (I'll talk about it further i the blog), on Thursday, we trained at the track, inside, learned to do 800 repeats. Boy, I sure slept well that night. I took Friday off as I was feeling a little tight in my left IT band and did 16k on Saturday with Team in Training. I had a feeling it would take long but I didn't expect to run/walk with another girl for 2 hours and 16 minutes!

We started running together because we were the only 2 slower runners, the others were way ahead of us. We started out 4 but then one of the girls IT band started acting up and they decided to head home. So that left me runing with a very nice lady who has been running for 5 weeks. (OK, my mind goes, 5 weeks, she won't make it for 16k (10 miles) I'd better stick with her or she'll give up). Well, we stuck together, not talking much but just making sure I didn't get too far ahead and staying strong. I was so happy to see our coach running to meet us at mile 8, he always has a nice word and such positive energy. I got to pick up the pace a little, it was freezing!

I have always been a solitary runner. I have been running with my dogs for a while but they don't really count as "runnng buddies". I'm starting to like to run with people. I know it sounds strange but running has been my way of dealing with the harder sides of my life. Now, running is about helping others dealing with the harder sides of their lives. And I just can't think of a more difficult thing to deal with as cancer.

I'm happy about my training this week for another reason. We had to let go of some fine people where I work, 6 to be exact. That's a lot considering we are a company of 72 people. It was heartwrenching. People were crying, everyone was paranoid, scared to death to hear their superior calling them. It was all done in a half hour. It will take weeks for everyone to start having fun at work again. I'm happy I kept my job but sad about my friends losing theirs.

I'm writing this from home on Monday as I have a fever. I'm wondering if it's caused by the cold on Saturday, the flu, or just plain too many emotions. If it doesn't let up by tomorrow morning, I'll go see the doctor. Wouldn't want to miss too much training.

Love and hope

Weight issues

OK, I'll admit it. I started to run to lose weight. Hated it at first. Lost the weight, got injured, stopped running... gained the weight back on. Sometimes this feels hopeless.

So, I started marathon training and Weight Watchers since I don't want to put on weight as I've seen some bloggers do during marathon training.  My biggest worry is being hungry all the time. I love eating, so does my husband my son and my 2 dogs.  We'd be lost without cheese. Now I'll have to learn to count and weigh and approximate and make good choices.

I've been on a lot of diets in the past. South beach, Atkins, Cabbage soup (don't even try that one) and diet pills. So many I just can't remember. I have lost and regained and lost and put it back on, well, too many times.  Hey I want to lose 25 pounds. That's not too much to ask. It's not shinking down my whole body size or going under my healthy weight. I just want to get it over with!

What got me thinking was reading this : www.msteechur.com.  This lady is amazing! I met her (virtualy) on the runners roundtable, a podcast, you can get it on ITunes, she was talking about her experience as a marathon maniac. Marathon maniac... this lady used to be so big and now she runs marathons. Well, that's it. If she can do it, so can I.

Running 6k at lunch, the weather is beautiful and I plan to listen to a podcast or two.

Love and hope

Last week's runs

Well, here's last week's schedule. I ran 10k on Sunday, rested on Monday, ran 8k on tuesday, yoga on Wednesday, ran 6k on Thursday and nothing on Friday and Saturday (unknowingly ate some gluten, realised it too late so paid dearly for it) Did I mention I was allergic to gluten?

On Sunday I ran 13k. It was beautiful outside, a little on the nippy side but you could feel the sun's rays on my back making me a little too warm but it was soooo nice I even stayed on that path a while longer to bask in the sunlight.  My only problem was that my water bottle became so cold that I almost choked when I took a sip. I coughed for the rest of the day but I still don't know if it's the cold water or maybe some smog as I live in the city and run very close to downtown.

This week I plan to do 6k tomorrow, 8k on Wednesday and then yoga at lunch, yoga on Thursday and then track (we're doing intervals, don't know what they are) and another 6k on Friday. I should do my long  run with the TNT Montreal gang on Saturday, we have 16k planned.  Just saw the route we'll be taking, it's going to be fun. Not too hilly but not too flat either. We'll run part of it downtown and the second part in a residential area, I like these runs that take me all over town.

I'm reading up on nutrition right now and I got the book "marathoning for mortals" from  John Bingham (The Penguin).  Everything seems to be so important. I guess I'll pick a few things to change and go from there.

I also plan to feed this blog more often, way more often and as soon as I figure out how to link my Buckeye outdoors training log on my blog, I'll be very happy. I can be very happy or very sad for the smallest things. For example, I got the most beautiful Valentine's day card from my 7 year old son it was quite a surprise as he is autistic and doesn't show much interest for "girl" things and since valentine is all in pink it must be a girl thing.  Well, I got the most beautiful RED card with NO PINK!  But what he wrote made me cry with joy and poor him, he thought I was sad. I told him that sometimes mommies cry when they are too happy.  He looked at me very seriously and said : "That's wierd!" and left to play with his legos. 

I'm still surfing on this wonderful feeling of joy and pure love. Just hope it can carry me through the rest of the winter.

Love and hope

Running with Bella

This morning I did a 6k run with Bella. Bella is the second of my fabulous dogs. Our first dog is  a Lab called Luna but she doesn't really like running. She whines and cries until she sees that we're heading back home.  So, Luna goes walking with my darling husband and Bella comes running with me.

This dog is so funny. If there is a snow bank she has to climb on top and run there. If there is none, she will run in front of me, pulling until we pass 4k and then she let's up. She's only been running with me for 2 weeks now as she just turned 1 year old.

We both came home with frozen noses, her fur was frozen around her mouth and my eyelashes were sticking together.  Heck, it was only -10C (14F) but it was very humid.  It's really encouraging when you start noticing the sun going up in the sky at this time of year. Although we still have a long way to go before spring, the early light makes me believe spring's near. 

I won't be running outside tomorrow as I have to drive my son to a Padovan therapy session at 8am.  I'll run at the gym (Yuck!) during my lunch break.  At least I have a few podcasts to listen to.

Please visit my Team in Training website at : http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?retistrationID=589824.  

I know, it's in French, I'm working on the English page, it will be online in no time.  

Feel free to donate (please, please, please...)

Have a fantastic day!

TNT Montréal

I joined Team in Training in my hometown, Montréal, to run the Ottawa marathon on May 24, 2009.  This is going to be my very first marathon but not my first experience at racing. I've completed a few races in the past years but never with much thought about setting a goal or a PR or anything in particular. 

Of course, with no goal I pretty much got bored of running and sort of gave up for a while.  Strangely, I'm a goal oriented person but for some reason, I was scared of setting goals for my running because I didn't want it to become another thing to get all worked up about. I think I also have a problem with fear of success or failure. Anyhow, I had no goal and quit running. 

Six months ago, I re-started running seriously and started looking for an event I could participate in.  Ottawa seemed nice, it's not far from home, I could easily pack up my son and husband and we could make a nice week-end out of it. But, I wanted more. I wanted to be able to make a difference while training for a marathon. I wanted to reach more than one goal. I wanted more, much more.

Let's go back in time for a second. In 2004, my beloved son was diagnosed with Autism. His father and I were devestated. I couldn't go on and slipped in a deep depression that took almost a year away from my life. After some therapy, I started going to lectures and meetings with other parents with autistic children. After one particularly difficult meeting where most of the mothers present were crying and talking about how unfair this was and how are we going to get through this, etc, etc, I had an "AHA!" moment.  MY SON IS NOT DYING! He's alive and well, happy to be with us and learning every day. I will have my son with me for the rest of my life.

But some parents won't. Lukemia still kills too many children (and adults). As with any other cancer, research needs to be done. I wanted to be part of this. I wanted to do something for the children. I strongly believe that parent should not bury their children.  I wouldn't be able to bare that and wanted to make a difference.

So here I am, after our first group long run last Saturday.  The weather was beautiful, everyone was chatting along and 10k (6.21 miles) went by without even noticing, hey I even sprinted the last 2 blocks (I really had to go...).

This blog is my way of sharing my training, my fundraising, the fun and the frustrations of it all.

I hope you enjoy the run!