Blog – Page 27 – RunningWell

Resolutions

January 5, 2014/1 Comment/in Blog Posts/by RWadmin

‘Tis the season to take a look at ourselves and decide what we’d like to change or improve for the coming year. I have many many areas where I can improve, but I think it’s wise to choose resolutions which are realistic and measurable. Here are some things which I plan to do but are not resolutions: set business and running goals and work towards them based on yearly, monthly and weekly plans. These are not resolutions; these are goals, and I how I move forward in life. (for the record, my current running goal is to run the Around The Bay 30K in a personal best time of under 1:57:30).
To me, resolutions are about making a decision to change something. My resolution this year is to work on an area which I know has been part of my character for a long time. This is my absolute lack of culinary diversity.
I was reminded of this trait a while ago when a friend was recounting a time when I happened to be living in a tent in the Yukon (1996 to be exact), and she happened to be tree-planting a few hundred kilometers south of me, and came to visit me on one of her breaks. She somehow found my tent after a day or two of travel (this was before we all had cell phones or even email) and asked:”Do you have anything to eat?” I produced from my tent what had been sustaining me for weeks: puffed rice cereal and canned beans. Granted, that is not what I would find appetizing these days, but the premise is the same. I find the few ingredients which I know I like and think will work for me, and I don’t branch out.
I was reminded of this again recently when my mother was feeding dinner to my kids. She served them their dinner and they looked at their plate and said “what is that?” My mother stared at them and then gave me a funny look and said “potatoes.” Right, I guess I’ve forgotten to include potatoes in my rotation.

unrecognizable food item to my kids

What I would like to do most is broaden my vegetable repertoire. Here is a list of the vegetables I regularly buy, prepare, eat and feed my family: carrots, broccoli, cucumber, cauliflower, mushrooms, yellow pepper, onion, celery, snow-peas and sometimes frozen spinach. Nothing else – ever. The other day while grocery shopping my son wanted to buy a Chinese cabbage. Strange, I thought, but maybe it would break me out of my rut. So I bought it thinking if I had it I would eat it. But the poor sad cabbage sat in my fridge looking more and more wilted until my husband finally threw it in the green bin (lucky raccoons).

Chinese cabbage in fresher times

I’m sure there are other vegetables out there which I can create into some sort of dish which breaks me out of my rut. I have heard of a popular thing out there called kale. I’ve never tried it, as I don’t even know what it looks like, but it will factor into my resolution. Also: parsnips, bok choy, eggplant, zucchini, lettuce (I know, I know), tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, squash, rutabaga (I don’t know what this looks like either, but it sounds exotic). I’m sure I’m missing some vegetables, but that’s pretty much all I can think of and I think it’s a good start. I’ve already come a long way from puffed-rice and canned beans. Onward to 2014!

Learning to love winter thanks to some great role models

December 19, 2013/in Blog Posts/by RWadmin

I’ll be the first to say that as a dedicated runner who likes to train to compete at my best, the winter months have not typically been my favourite. Everything from tempo runs to long runs to intervals are just that much more difficult and uncomfortable when you’re struggling with icy footing, multiple layers of clothing, frostbitten skin that you forgot to cover and numb fingers which can’t press the buttons on your watch. However, I realize, it being only December, that we’re in for a fairly long winter, and if I don’t learn to love the snow and ice I’m destined for some frustrating months ahead. So I’ve decided to re-frame my attitude. Instead of pining for warm summer days or wishing I lived in California, I am going to enjoy this – even if it kills me! To start, I am taking a lesson from my family members.

My husband’s sport is water based. Here is a shot of him in his ideal conditions:

Hawaiian Ocean in the summer

This is what his playground looks like these days:

Lake Ontario in December

But he doesn’t complain. He goes out and enjoys his sport.

Getting in and out can be a bit tricky, but after that it's a breeze!

getting in and out are the tricky parts

Then there are my kids. To them, winter is “the most fun season of the year” (that is actually a direct quote from my 6 year-old yesterday).

Walking to school is never boring. There is always a new adventure in scaling various snowbanks.

walking to school via snowbanks instead of shoveled sidewalks

And now their weekends are spent doing this:

skating outdoors

And this:

tobogganning!

Obviously my family members have no problem getting out and enjoying themselves in this weather, so I am determined to have as much fun as anyone. It’s all about how you look at it.

So this will be my playground for the next few months, and I will appreciate the beauty and stillness, I won’t worry about my pace or times, and I’ll reap the benefits of stronger legs for bounding through snow.

My snowy running trail

Here’s to playing outside this winter!

Filling up on junk

December 11, 2013/in Blog Posts/by RWadmin

Some people are very anti-junk. I’ve been lectured on consuming too much. I don’t always add junk to my running diet, but when I do, I really enjoy it. Right now I’m in a junk phase and loving it. I’m talking about junk miles.

Junk miles can be described as any running that does not serve a specific purpose in moving you towards your running goals. During some specific training phases, (especially when I’m working on speed) I don’t include any junk miles in my training. At those times, my runs take the form of either tempo runs, intervals (long, short or hills), recovery runs, long runs and race pace runs, and between those specific runs it is all about resting and recovering for the next effort. That’s a pure diet with no junk.

Right now however, a lot of my runs do not have a specific training purpose, and many are full of what people might call junk miles. For example, many of my runs look like this:

– I’ve been at my desk for too long and need to get out so even though I ran that morning, I run an extra two to three miles mid-day to clear my head.
– I need to run some errands, so I decide to literally “run” them, with no idea how far it will be, and it can include upwards of four stops of varying lengths.
– My six-year old wants to run with me, so I do – adding two to three miles of stop/start running extremely slowly.
– I make run dates with friends who are pregnant or returning from injury, and don’t worry about the pace or distance – it’s all about the company.
– On a weekend I find some rare time to myself so I think: “I’ll take advantage and go for a second little run just for fun.”
– I just can’t muster the courage to brave the cold for too long, so I break my run up into morning and afternoon three mile sessions.

Enjoying some junk miles last summer with slower running buddies

Although they’re not specific for training, I do think junk miles can help in the off season by making running more enjoyable.

During some training phases, I may also add junk miles to reach weekly mileage targets. It is debatable whether these snippets of 2 and 3 mile runs sprinkled around the rest of your training really help your running, or whether they just serve to satisfy compulsions. I have experimented with running 100 mile weeks in the past (for no other reason than to hit that number – slot me into the compulsive group!) and I definitely relied on some junk to get me there.

I’m nowhere near those weekly numbers now, but I am definitely enjoying my diet of junk. There is some quality sprinkled in, but mostly I’m running unplanned, unstructured and often untimed miles whenever I feel like it. ‘Tis the season I say – enjoy your junk guilt-free!

Not quite two delicious junk miles