Change in direction

Wow! It's been a long time since my last post! I've kept running but it hasn't been a cake walk. I've only been running outside and I've been pounding the pavement around the seawall. It's beautiful as all heck and I love it but it's starting to take a toll on my body.
Possibly a week after the last post, I caught a cold which stuck around for two weeks. I didn't run for those two weeks because I had a cold and also because my hip got so bad that I was Terry Foxing it home after my runs. I saw a massage therapist that tore the shit out of my muscles and told me to stretch. I did. It hurt.
I bought new shoes and so with the combination of massage, a break and new shoes I set out to tackle more running. It went well... for about two weeks. Then four days ago or so I was running and wasn't able to finish the sets (I am currently running for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and walking for 2 minutes and 30 seconds ten times). When the signal went to run my body went forward but my legs kept walking. I almost ate pavement but managed to catch myself. I walked the rest of the way home. I was going to run but the last two sets before I stopped completely I was toying with the idea of punching a lamp post so I could focus on the pain in my hand instead of that in my hip.
I talked some sense into myself by asking myself 'what would you do if you were your own client." My answer was ' tell them to stop running and take care of themselves before they run again.'. Well, maybe I should listen to me!
A wise runner told me to run in the present and try not to think about the goal. If your body hurts, take care of it. If it feels fine, go forth. This makes a lot of sense, however part of me really wants to run that 10k in July and I would be really upset if I didn't make that goal. I do have to keep what's important in mind. Is running 10k more important than my body's well being? Really, it's not. And it's not as if I am sitting at home loafing around. I run my own business, work at a clinic and work in a spa. I also went for a 4 hour walk around Bowen Island on Tuesday and will be doing the Grouse Grind tomorrow and possibly an other hike on Sunday then an other on Tuesday... so what if I am not running?
The thing is, I've gotten used to that feeling of heading out in the morning and taking in the beauty. I guess I've also become a little addicted to the pain... either that or the accomplishment of pushing through the pain. I've seen myself progress each time I go out and that makes me happy. Anyways, I am thinking of trail running, perhaps that will be gentler on my body. Heck, I know it is! The worse thing you can run on is pavement (then packed trail, then regular trail - with rocks n roots n stuff - then sand). Maybe I'll just nurse my body when I am in Hawaii with lots of running on the beach :) After all, Hawaii is less than a month away!
During all this, I bought and am reading the book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall in the hopes that I can learn a thing or two. Here are a couple of snippets:
'Running seemed to be the fitness version of drunk driving: you could get away with it for a while, you might even have some fun, but catastrophe was waiting right around the corner."
'How come my foot hurts? Because running is bad for you. Why is running bad for me? Because it makes your foot hurt.'
'Relax enough, and your body becomes so familiar with the cradle rocking rhythm that you almost forget you're moving. And once you break through to that soft, half-levitating flow, that's when the moonlight and champagne show up.'
So I am aiming for the moonlight and champagne that comes with relaxed running. It may take a while but I think I can do it... maybe not in time for July but maybe one day. In the mean time, I'll keep sending myself out there and running. I won't push as hard (no more wanting to punch lamp posts or Terry Foxing it home) and I will respect my body. I will keep seeing my massage therapist but I will bring him a mouth guard in case I kick him again (last treatment I actually kicked him... it was a reflex, I didn't mean it but I felt and still feel really bad!).

Earth Day Run

In honour of Earth Day, Angelo and I ran outside. It was the first time I ran outside and it was the first time I ran with Angelo. Though it was a little crisp when we walked out, it soon warmed up (or rather we warmed up). It was tough running with someone else, especially that the treadmill wasn't setting the pace, we were. I struggled with this until about the 3rd time when I decided to go at my own pace. He would either run ahead of me to keep going slower. We stayed at the same pace the entire time and at the end, he admitted that the last two times were a little more challenging. Funny that he finds the last two to be the hardest too.
While running, we saw an eagle in the trees about 15 feet above us. It was amazing! Two seagulls started to attack him and he flew ahead of us. They're so massive! All I could think was 'wow! he better not shit on me! Is my mouth closed?' Of course, I was gawking with my mouth closed... I've seen some youtube videos of people being pooped in the mouth by birds... I can't say that it's something I would like to experience in this life time.
Good news! Our team now has THREE team members! The newest addition is Jennifer Garcia. You can help her with her fundraising here! Slowly the team is growing :) It's pretty exciting! So far, we're three registered massage therapists... kinda cool eh :)

*Photo taken this morning after my run, looking back at Vancouver. It was stunning! Next time, bring sunglasses!

New Team member!

Hooray! We now have a team of TWO! My coworker Melissa has joined The Thunder Panties and will run the 10k as well! When I asked her if she runs, she said "I run 14k every time I run." I don't think we'll be training together but she'll be a great inspiration and it'll be great to have her on the team :)
Welcome Melissa! If anyone wants to support Melissa, click here!

Ow.

Today was a challenge! I am not one to quit so I hauled ass through the rest of the run. I am still doing intervals and have been running every other day. Sundays are my hard days. It's when my run time goes up by 30 seconds and instead of doing 8 to 9 reps of run/walk, I do 10. Sunday went better than anticipated. I was a little bit uncertain about running 1:30 and walking 3:30 10 times because it seemed like a lot... I was also struggling with running 1 minute straight (towards the end of my work outs). But Sunday went really well! I was so proud of myself I walk/ran 4.29 miles in 57 minutes!! That means I just have two more miles to squeeze in there and I'll be able to do 10k in under an hour. Today was rough though. By the last two reps I was cheering myself on and sweating so much my eyes burned.
My right hip has been causing me trouble and when I asked Melissa (a fellow RMT) she suggested ice baths. I was REALLY hoping she would have suggested a steam or sauna or something like this... but she told me what I didn't want to hear. I hate cold at the best of times! Sunday I did my first ice bath... to make it easier, I called my best friend Maja as a distraction while I sat in frigid water. Luckily because it was RIGHT after my run, my muscles were still really hot so it warmed up the water quite quickly. I didn't have ice cubs on hand and Tugger doesn't fetch ice cubes (yet... though he does bat them around the apartment when they're in his water dish) so I just sat in the gradually warming water. Today I sat through 10 minutes of ice cold misery all by myself (well Tugger almost fell in but I pushed him out before he completely got wet... it's bad enough, I don't want him to have to do ice baths too!).
I am encouraged because if I keep going at this pace, I'll be able to run it under an hour. Yesterday I also found a head piece to go with my outfit! I am totally stoked :) I think the outfit will look good! :) So it looks like I'm on track to success... even if success hurts!

Who would have throught...

Who would have thought I would enjoy this so much? I signed up for a conference this weekend so it threw my running schedule all out of whack! Because of commute time, early starts and late endings, I was a bit confused as to when to run. Running after the conference didn't seem like something I wanted to do so after my run on Thursday, I ran again on Friday. Friday I did a 5 minute warm up, then ran 30 seconds and walked 4:30 eight times. I gradually increased the incline on my hamster wheel as I did on Thursday.
Saturday's conference was interesting but it ended earlier then anticipated. I tried to make it home before 7 but the gym closed at 7. Yes, I COULD run outside but nawe. I was ready to run 3 days in a row!!!
This didn't stop me from hitting the gym at 8am when the gym opened this morning. This time I did a 5 minute warm up, then ran 1 minute and walked 4 minutes nine times. Again, I increased the incline on my hamster wheel but I didn't go all the way up to 2 (only 1). Because for the first time I actually started to give up form and get sloppy. Sure, this didn't happen until the 8th rep but I still want to focus on running properly. I was surprised to see that at the end of my workout, I had 'run' nearly 4miles! That's in under an hour! And I walked the majority of the time! It makes me hopeful that I can actually run 10k... because 10k is 6.2 miles. I hope the treadmill is in miles anyways.... otherwise... well that's a little discouraging!
I did an ab work out afterwards, went to work (I didn't go for the second day of the conference because I had clients booked at my clinic) then went out and did some slacklining for an hour (first time of the year! It was amazing! I was out in my shorts and t-shirt and I was barefoot). Right now my body is sore, I am contemplating taking a bath or going for a steam at the gym downstairs... unfortunately the bath is really tiny in our apartment and the steam smells like mold, so I will probably just go to bed and suffer the consequences tomorrow. Actually, I think I might go for a run tomorrow... and ask the gym staff if the treadmill is in miles or kilometers... Hopefully it's miles :)
Oh and as inspiration, I read on my friend Susan's facebook status that she ran more than 48k today!!! That makes my 4miles seem like a cake walk!! 48k! Wow! She's a machine! Maybe we won't train together but she sure inspires me :)

iHurt

Day 2 of training (or is it day 3? Do I count rest days? Who knows.) and I hurt! I don't think I hurt from the running so much as I do from the ab work out and the yoga that I did. Really I don't know what the culprit is.
My first day of training I ran for 30 seconds and I walked for 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I did this 6 times on a 0 incline on the treadmill. It was relatively painless and I felt I could go longer. Right after that, I did an ab work out from the fitbuilder app and I think that's what killed me. I added in some techniques that my personal trainer taught me to love to hate. I felt the burn! After a delicious dinner, Angelo and I did some yoga which... either helped my muscles or made them ache more, I really don't know anymore. It felt good so we're doing it again tonight.
Yesterday I woke up and my abs were aching! I was disappointed to see that I didn't wake up with 6 pac abs... I mean for all this pain, you'd think you'd wake up with a 6 pac! But it didn't matter which way I contorted myself and flexed... there was no 6 pac to be seen... My legs (especially hip flexors) were sore but overall I felt quite good. Over the course of the day, my aches grew but nothing was unbearable. I had done more damage in the past when training with my personal trainer, so this was a cake walk. Even though today was my rest day, I still did a stretch therapy class. My muscles were fatigued and my whole body shook like a leaf when I was stretching my lower extremity. A hot bath after the class had my muscles feeling like puddy.
Today was run day. I increased the incline by 0.5 for every set of 4 min 30 sec walk and 30 sec run. The max incline I walked/ran at was 2 and then I worked my way down. Apparently running on a treadmill doesn't quite do justice to pavement running because we don't push off the same. If the treadmill is at an incline between 1 and 2 then it better stimulates running on pavement. I worked up more of a sweat but it felt good. I bought an arm band for my iPhone so I am less likely to throw it across the room or drop it on the treadmill while I am running. It's great! I love the running program! It keeps me motivated to keep going. Saturday is my next run day and I am already looking forward to it... me, looking forward to running... that was quick. Maybe it's just a phase...
Tonight I am cooking black-bean and tomato quinoa then Angelo and I will do some more yoga. I think the yoga and the stretch therapy will come in handy. I am quite flexible but it will most likely prevent injury by increasing the circulation to my muscles without overly challenging them.
It feels good to be back at the gym :) iHurt but it feels good.

J Made of Sugar

Welcome to J Made of Sugar! This will be my training blog while I train for my first 10k run this coming July.
The title is inspired by something Angelo used to tell me. 'You're not made of sugar.' He would often say this when I was making a fuss about getting wet when it was raining out (which is often because we live in North Vancouver). My usual response would be 'Actually, yes I am :)'. Yes, I know, I won't actually melt but sometimes it feels like I just might!
Now what inspired me to run this 10k? Well I've participated in the Underwear Affair for 3 years now and I've always walked the 5k. This spring I went through a tough time. It required me to pool all my strength to get through it. When I did get through it, I looked back at my life and was proud at all the challenges I'd accomplished so far. I'd always liked the idea of running but then when I actually started running I would remember why I liked the idea and not the actual act of running itself. My lungs burn, I get hic ups, sweat pours down my body and sometimes I throw up. It's really not pretty! So I've often tried but just as often as I've tried, I've given up.
This year is going to be different. I am going to run the damn thing! My plan of attack? I've got an iPhone loaded with Oceanlab, Jay-z, Lady Gaga, Santigold, Ozomatli, MGMT and Metric to keep me going. I've also got the app Couch to 10k. This is an app that will guide me through training for the 10k. According to this app if I run 3 days a week for 13 weeks I should be able to run 10k by July 10th. I live in North Vancouver where the mountains are in my back yard and the seawall is in my front yard so I REALLY don't have an excuse... if it's raining, and I feel like I just might melt in the rain, there's a fitness world (which I am a member of) 18 floors below where I live. Really, this sounds like the optimal environment for teaching a non runner to run. I shouldn't have any excuses...
Today is day 1 of training... The clouds are gray and threaten of rain, so this fair-weather runner will be running on the treadmill... hamster style!