Heat Training!

So the purpose of heat training is to teach my body how to tolerate heat and intake and process large volumes of water.
Here's the break down: Two weeks straight of heat sessions. Two wet(steam), the rest dry(sauna). Consume 2-3 bottles of water, one containing electrolyte replacement. Day one starts @15 minutes leading up to 60 minutes on day 14.
After calling every hotel and B &B in town I finally found a hotel with a sauna. I haven't thought of saunas since I was like 8. Who uses these things anymore anyways? On my first day of heat training I sat in the bloody thing for 15 minutes thinking it wasn't hot enough. Turns out you have turn it on. Day one, round two worked much better. Except for the fact I have to wait 10-15 minutes for it to warm up. It still didn't feel unbearable though. Oh that's because, I'm told, its actually broken. Missing two out of the three elements. Great. Well at least tomorrows heat sess is a wet one, and I can use the steam room at the public pool. Oh guess what? Its broken too. Just on the day I need to use it though. I can at least read/text in the sauna. Steam room-not so much. I've found this to be a form of torture. I am getting used to it though as the sessions get longer and longer. Although the heat is so intense my earrings burn my cheeks, my water bottles hurt to touch, and I have to hold my book with a towel so my hands don't burn! Oh and a shout out to the gentleman who sings Opera ballads at the top of his lungs while soaking in the hot tub! I sit in the sauna listening to his amazing voice and get hypnotized by his sound. I would also like to thank Opera guy for warming up the sauna for my 6pm arrival-real time saver! Well only four heat sessions left, which means(yikes) four days until I fly out!

Taper Time!

Ok I did it!!!!! 9 hours total this weekend-hardest weekend ever! Hardest part of the training is over, taper time!!!!! I am so so incredibly proud of myself for completing and sticking to 7 months of the hardest training I've ever done!

Just gotta get to the 17th!

The last two weeks of hard training are a dozer!

Sat, 2nd. 4hrs

Sun, 3rd: 2.5hrs run, followed by 1hr powerwalk

Mon, 4th: Rest

Tues, 5th: 1:45hrs with pickups

Strength(gym)

Weds, 6th: 2.5hrs steady

Thurs, 7th: Hill repeats 1.5hrs

Strength (gym)

Fri, 8th: Rest

Sat,9th 4hrs 20 min

Sun,10th: 2.5hrs run, followed by 1.5hr powerwalk

Mon, 11th: Rest

Tues, 12th: 2hr with pickups.

strength (gym)

Weds,13th: 2.5 hrs

Thurs:,14th Hill repeats 1.5hrs

x-train 1hr, my choice elipitical or bike

HEAT TRAINING STARTS

Fri, 15th Rest

Sat, 16th 4hrs

Sun, 17th 5hrs w/ pickups

Then the hard work is done, and the taper begins!

Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride (Solid Gold)

When I start to fade and think I can go no longer during a run, this song always pops in my head and keeps me going! These video images will now pop in my head as well, and keep my laughing till the finish!

The Timberline trail run, that I actually didn't run.

I just spent Christmas week with my sisters in Victoria. I dragged them around for some of my workouts-tee hee. Ran around Thetis lake with Dawn, did two laps around Elk lake, while Ashley power walked the loop once. Dawn and Ashley took me to their local fancy pants gym. TVs! Working equipment! Cleanliness! People! Wow what a difference compared to my small town, old-school gym, where I seem to be the only member.I did a long 3ish hour run on my own(couldn't convince either sister to come near that one!) I went to Mt. Work, I think, to run the Timberline trail. Got lost twice just driving there. As I started my run I realized I wasn't at the intended trail head, and luckily a district staff member was in the forest(releasing a very angry raccoon into the wild) and he re-directed me. Then I start off on what I thought was Timberline trail. Of course trails fork all over the place with absolutely no signage. Whatever, all I know is I saw heaps of mountain bike trails meandering everywhere up a forested mountain. Perfect! I just ran, and ran with no clue, but hey I had all day. Met an 60+ man biking up there-he was rocking it. Covered in mud, all decked out, and hopping over everything! He said" I never see runners up this high. You go girl!" LOL.

Then I met up with two men, who I continued to meet all over, for the next 3 hours. They kept wishing me luck, and told me once I hit the power lines-head home. Of course I had no idea where I was once at power lines, but navigated my way back towards wherever I came from. Ha! I always luck out I do! Still not sure if I was on Mt. Work, or Gowlland Tod Provincial park. As I drove out of the parking lot, I look to my left. Oh hey-there's a big ass sign saying "Timerline Trail". Frig! Next time...I guess!

Brrrrr....

Nothing much to report, except that I bought my tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I leave on Jan 28th, and return on the 13th of February early early. Hopefully I beat all the Olympic fuss. Running back into the 2-3hr range. Trails are perfectly frozen. Not dusty, not muddy-just perfect and beautiful. I stopped on a footbridge today, as it was snowing, just to enjoy the peace of being in the forest all by myself. Pretty cold though and I feel a bit like a blimp all bundled up and running. Good thing I can't wimp out and walk because its too cold! Then my hydration packs water hose/mouth piece froze and I couldn't get any water. So thirsty. I'm sure there is an anti -freezing technique I just don't know about yet. So the next 3-4 weeks are going to be insane with training, as the countdown is near. Not long now! Yippee!

What I miss

I have really missed running. I have missed the obvious: fresh air, rain, the sound of gravel crunching under my shoes, and of course how I feel afterwards. Today I realized what else I missed. I missed my routine. I missed my pre-run oatmeal, filling my hydration pack, packing my truck with all before and after run essentials. I missed the feeling of fear as I wondered " Whats that noise", and "Hey, why are there two guys randomly walking out of the forest in the middle of nowhere?". I missed my recovery drink, my watch, I even missed power gels. I missed being with my thoughts for hours.
But what I especially miss is walking into Starbucks, dripping wet and covered in mud. Squelch, squelching into line behind a "I'm headed to Whistler princess". Then bumping into Mr. Dirt Bag that broke my heart, and saying "Afternoon-you just rolling out of bed are you?" Knowing what I have already accomplished by noon is priceless!

x-training

As I've been waiting for this hammy injury to heal I've been doing everything else known to man besides running on land.

One lovely x-training method:

Water running:
My definition: running my ass off in water getting absolutely nowhere fast.

"The goal is to keep your body afloat while allowing you to perform a running motion without stress to the body.
Submerged in the water you will have resistance on all sides. This forces opposing muscles to work equally. As you move your arms and legs against the resistance of the water you will get a great cardiovascular, as well as, strength training workout."

Yes all of the above is true. Website failed to mention how boring and demoralizing it is. I was rather embarrassed showing up at the pool at 6am on my first day. I was worried I'd look like a tool, flailing away in the pool. The pool was busy with the elderly doing various forms of Aquacise, while sharing stories of recent cataract surgery's, and complaining about their grand-kids and their "antics." Well here I am, jumping(no-I climbed down the ladder) into the pool, floaty belt on-ready to run. Awkward at first, and varoom off I.....go. The speed of my leg/arm rotations definitely aren't matching the speed at which I am NOT moving. I yell to lifeguard (who I know) " I'm running my ass of here! Am I doing this wrong?" Nope, doing it right all right. So I "run" circles in the deep end for an hour, forced into listening all about hip replacements. Good gawd, the time goes so slow, then suddenly I have 10 minutes left! I tell the lifeguard that I may drown, and to please keep an eye on me, as I take the floaty belt off. This is more of a trying to keep my head above water exercise. Oh the fun.
Water running is a great cross training activity, and I quite look forward to the sessions.

(sometimes)

Another form of x-training has been my bike. Sometimes you'll find me at the gym, or riding in my living room, rocking out to my A.F.I concert DVD, waking up my landlords at 5am, and sweating my face off as I usually forget to turn my free heat off. (usually set at 28 Celsius). Good heat training for Costa Rica!!!

P.S. I ran on land today pain-free!!!

Wise little sister.

Injury's are discouraging. My sister Dawn sent me this letter the other day:

You decided to do this. You thought this would be an awesome thing to try to accomplish and a great way to get in fit and meet people and go back to Costa Rica. You thought, yes, let's train for this. I can make this happen. No one forced you to do this. You are not doing this for anyone else but yourself and that is how it should be. You have been doing the best that you can do while you train and you have been training HARD!! It doesn't matter what people do or say. The people that matter will never say anything negative about you and they certainly won't think less of you. And if they do, challenge them up the chief for chrissakes, you've earned this. You've earned it in spades. In all those mornings of early runs, and late evenings at the gym or on the bike or running again, you've earned where you are right now. All those times you thought "No, I can't go out and have a drink cause I have a run tomorrow" or "nope, can't buy that, I'm going to CostaRica" you've earned it then too.When you look in the mirror and think your butt looks fat?? Take a look back at some pictures and look at how far you've come. Look at the difference in your eyes, your skin, your happiness! Think of how many people you have inspired to get outside just because you do. They think, I want to be like her!!!So, yes, you are injured right now and starting to doubt everything and you are starting to get really nervous about whether or not you can do this. Don't. Think about how hard you have worked, how far you have come, what you have accomplished, what you can do now that you couldn't a year ago, how far you can run that you couldn't run that far two years ago!!! Think about how awesome it will be when you are in Costa Rica. And when you are there just think about one day at a time. Not all six days. Think about how there isn't any pressure about your performance-yes there is the time limits each day and the amount of kms...but you aren't defending a title. Yes, you have friends and family thinking about you while you do this but you aren't a defending champion or anything. Yet! All you have to do is look after yourself and do the best that you can. You are not out to prove anything to anyone or outdo someone. And if all else goes to shit and you don't make it to Costa or you make it there and have to pull out days in...you are not the first athlete to get hurt. You are not the first one to be injured or pull out of a race. These things happen and it will suck and it will hurt and you'll be disappointed but there are always other races. The loss in money will be the hardest part to swallow, I know. For that I have no solution. But don't injure your self more because you don't want to stop because of the money.All this is said in nothing but love and support for you so if it comes off as snotty, rude or mean, it's not supposed to be. I just read a little bit of the 4 agreements before I went to bed last night, mostly the "Always do your best" and it kind of struck a chord with me. Know that I love you and am so proud of everything you've accomplished and how far you've come.

Dawno

Hurdles

Well It's been a rough couple of weeks. I have a new hamstring injury that flared up shortly after the Victoria marathon. Its been hurting to run past 45 minutes. So Jen's had me on the elliptical machine, biking, and yoga. Shes also told me to take the next two weeks off of running to get this injury healed completely. So I'll be attempting water running instead! Should be interesting. Hard not to feel totally down when an injury prevents you from doing something you love. Also hard not to feel stressed about a 6 day running race, when one can't run currently. Going from running for 4 hours to barely making it through 45 minutes is a mental obstacle to hurdle! Jen got me re-energized and pumped the other day when talking about her experiences, and how amazing this challenge I'm about to take on will be. I'm still working towards the 6 day race, but also know the 3 day race may be an option. So lets see how the running goes in 2 weeks time!