Wanted: A new sport to love

I haven't really been the best blogger lately...sorry about that. That tends to happen when running isn't going so well for me. There's that saying that comes to mind..."if you don't have anything nice to say..." yada yada yada, you know the rest :)

So i'll save you all the depressing talk about my foot as i'm not sure what happened...it went from what seemed like almost better, to really hurting again. And I didn't make any changes in distance or anything to my runs. Oh well. Back to square one.

After a brief session of extreme annoyance and anger, i've since calmed down and just decided I will have to mix it up and do a bunch of other things while I anxiously wait, hope, pray for my foot to get better. I need it to heal within the next 2 months so there is still a hope of me to start training for the NY marathon that is in November. I've already pretty much realized that all of my other racing goals for the summer are likely to be thrown out the window. So just let me be able to start 4 months of marathon training beginning July 1st on a happy foot...and i'll be a happy gal.

My friend had borrowed my road bike last fall for a test ride and that's where it remained over at her place for the winter. So tonight i'm getting it back and have decided i'm going to try and learn to love the bike. Is it possible for me to love something else as much as I love to run? Skiing has come pretty darn close this winter...maybe i'll feel the same way about cycling, who knows. Might as well get in some good crosstraining eh? Winter has made an extra long appearance in Calgary the past couple of weeks so if it's too cold to ride outside I guess i'll just suck it up and put the bike on my trainer and do that for a bit.

This weekend i'm also going to head back to the pool for my first swim since I think the fall. Sometimes I just don't know how I grew up as a swimmer as I find the endless laps boring...even when I mix it up with sets. I dunno but once I manage to get through a session I do always feel much better. It is a great workout and I love how loose all my muscles feel after! Plus there is an added bonus of a nice hot tub sesh at the end!

Oh and one other thing that I finally decided I needed to get back into is weights and core training. I did my first workout on tuesday and I can still barely move today...it's kind of that good pain, but a little bit more intense...ok a lot more.

So that's it...that's what's going on with me and running. The future is unknown! Everything else is going well though. A little extra winter made for a great day of skiing at Sunshine last sunday! I'm pretty sure that will be my last day of skiing this year, though I bet it would still be great this weekend too. My friends are heading to Europe on vacation tomorrow and i'm taking care of their little westie for the weekend...he just happens to be Logan's best friend too. It should be interesting as I don't have a fenced in backyard so it'll likely be madness at the house.

Have a great weekend!

I'm tired!

What a weekend...and my body is clearly telling me that it needs a break after it so i've decided that today is going to be my second day off in a row to help it out :) I feel like kind of a wimp because I wonder how I'll ever train for an ironman if i'm this tired after 3 big workout days....but I digress....

I had a 3 day weekend so friday I decided to get a good swim in since I knew it would be relatively empty during the middle of the day. I made up a pretty decent workout and covered 4000 m. I was super proud of myself and felt great afterwards...I really am getting back into the swing of things swimming wise...I love it!

Because Sunday was the St.Patrick's Day 10km race, I decided to do my long run on saturday...normally I wouldn't do this before a race....i'm not crazy!!! But I did have to get it in as there's only a couple of more long runs to go before Boston! Saturday was a beautiful day and I had a really fantastic 32km and held a great pace!

Sunday - race day...I woke up feeling pretty decent...not sore from the long run...but couldn't help thinking, am I really stupid for racing this today? Why don't I just take it easy and not go balls out for a change? The simple answer to that is this...i'm super competitive...i don't deny it, i can't help it...i love to race and i love to see how fast I can go and if i can get a PB! Anyhow...from the very start...1 km into the race I immediately thought uh oh...this is going to be a nightmare...and then immediately I always think why do I register for 10kms...give me a half or full marathon any day...10 kms are bloody HARD!

I couldn't stop looking at my garmin and cursing the pace I was at so eventually I just stopped looking...after 5km I felt just awful but my watch told me otherwise and I was like...whoa, if I just double that time i'll get a sweet 10km time...and that's exactly what I did! I don't know how I held on but I managed to run a PB by about 10 seconds and finished in 42:30...I was super happy...and then of course I wondered how fast I could have gone had I not run 32km the day before! :) The overall results aren't posted yet but i'm super curious to find out how I did! I'll keep you posted :)

Anyhow, i'm going to try and enjoy my second day off even though it's giving me a little anxiety and I really wish I was out running right now instead of blogging! I've learned over the years though that it's always best to listen to your body so as much as i don't want to i'd better do it or pay dearly down the road! Hopefully i'll feel much better tomorrow...just in time for a tough hill workout!

Have a great day!

Being injured sucks....

If anyone has experienced or have had to train with plantar fasciitis I'd really appreciate your comments! I've read lots about it and tried what seems like everything...except take a break from running which I really don't want to do! I have to run the Boston marathon in exactly 2 months from tomorrow...every day I experience emotions based on how my foot is feeling when I first get out of bed in the morning and stand up...this morning I was like sweet, pretty much pain free...yet monday morning I could barely walk after my 32km on sunday...my heel was pissed which made me pissed...and sad. Being injured really sucks and this is the first time in so long that I've had an injury and boy do I hate it.

I seem to do much better when I run every second day so I guess i'm going to stop trying to do back to back to back days of running and focus more on swimming and strength/core as well...yes i'm starting to get back into the pool...tonight is my first night back! I'm quite excited...funny how something that was such a huge part of my life growing up just ended and I haven't really been back since. I'm also hoping that if I continue to go that it'll get me even more excited about triathlons...and i figure it's definitely great crosstraining for running and with no rough impact to the body...should be nice. I'll let you know how it goes...I think i'll be happy if I manage 1500m tonight...in the past when I've gotten ideas to get back into swimming, I make it about 1200m and get completely bored out of my mind! Then I start doing lots of kick because I LOVE kick...could kick forever I think! :)

Anyhow...I hope everyone is having a better week of running and training than I am!
Cheers!