Sorry for the hiatus on the running front. I have been taking a break from the training aspect of running. I also have been feeling a bit of the post marathon blues. I want to capitalize on my good result at the Calgary Marathon this year. Yet, the timing with my work schedule and other commitments has not aligned for me to run any other races this summer. Not being signed up in race has left me somewhat unmotivated to follow a training plan. Not to say that I do not have goals for the rest of and next season. I do have big goals for the up coming season. I…
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Race Day and Recovery
Pre- Race Day My parents decided to come watch me and my husband run. I love having my parents around to support me on race day, mom has run so many races that I find her presence to be calming, and she just gets it without having to explain. The day before the race Jake and I went for light 4km run with a few strides to finish. The strides were 200m: we built to max effort throughout the 200m, then brought ourselves back to easy pace between each one. The goal is to warm up the muscles, and get rid of the stale feelings from the last week of…
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Peak Performance and Tapering
Taper: can be described as decreasing exercise before an important competition; it designed to create optimal performance on race day. Typically tapering for marathon is approximately 3 weeks from race day. The goal of tapering is to get your body into peak performance for the race. As Greg McMillan states in his article “Don’t Taper. PEAK!” you do not want to change your weekly running routine. Decreasing your regular routine can lead to feeling flat on race day. Gradually ease off mileage over your tapering period (2-3 weeks prior to race day). McMillan also states, “more runners fail because of tapering too much rather than no enough”. Part of keeping…
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Dreaming Big While Running
Are you ever running and get caught up in day dream, a fantasy? Is it ever a reoccurring one? I do, and I always have the same fantasy when running, I have it even when I am not running. It is the Boston Marathon, always the Boston marathon. It may vary slightly from running the actual race, to qualify for the race to getting through the training. I heard about the Boston Marathon way before I really started running. Even then I respected it as ‘the race’ for those who ran marathons. This mostly came from my mother and her friends that were already running marathons. It was mostly just…
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Training Update: March
This past month has flown by. I cannot believe that is 7 weeks till race day; it’s coming up so fast! I finally registered in Calgary Marathon after putting it off for no reason in particular. Registering in a race always gives me a certain amount of anxiety because it means you are committed no matter what and now there is an expectation to perform on race day. There is a lot of unknown that can happen on race day: weather, nutrition, how well you are going to sleep the night before etc, yet the training you put in now, that you have already put in is truly what is…
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Training Updates: Half way there
Congratulations! We survived the freezing cold weather of the past month. My first long run in March was as cold or colder than most my runs in February. For my first long run of March I opted to run indoors instead. I do have limits in running outside even though I greatly prefer it. I am extremely hopeful we are entering the shushing/spring running soon and will be able to wear less layers!! February: If you are training for spring race you have now been fully commitment to your training program. If you are like me at all you starting feel slightly tired yet are able to stay motivated…
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Art of Peace and Discovery
"Try to learn to breath deeply, really taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will dead soon enough" -Ernest Hemingway
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Getting into It
"The more I run the more I love my body. Not because it's perfect, it's far from it, but because with every mile it is proving to me that I am capable of more than I ever thought possible" - unknown
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Everything
Expectations: the belief something will happen. Creating, placing expectations on myself often helps me achieve but it also creates the overwhelming pressure to meet them. The expectation that I will be excellent at what I set to achieve is both empowering but also paralyzing. Why are expectations both empowering but also paralyzing? They can be destructive to our happiness or a source of inspiration to it. The idea, however subtle it may be, that one person, one job, one project is your everything is blocking your route to happiness. All your relationships, all your career choices and your passions make up parts of you, all create parts of happiness. No…
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Unconditional Love
We all battle with self-doubt and insecurities. Often we are not fully aware that they are even present in the moments we share with our friends and relationships. When these insecurities sneak into our minds, into our relationships with ourselves, our friends, our significant others and our families; we often end up fighting or getting frustrated with the other person. We become pulled into self-doubt and our immediate reaction is self-preservation of our own ego instead of understanding the other person’s truth. In this state we feel alone, we feel isolated. THIS IS NOT TRUE!!! I was reading a friend’s (@ammday) post today about loving unconditionally and it reminded me…
