Annie: running

Nothing but potential

We're home from our little mini-vacation in the Prairie at our family farm. I've been spending a few weekends and the occasional week here every summer for more than a decade, but until now it was all about the farmhouse and its lack of telephone and Internet (though of course the trusty mobile devices have always come with me - can't go completely cold turkey!), and, since Child was a baby, the fabulous community pool that serves the entire area.

Now, suddenly, I'm interested in the roads.

In the Canadian Prairies, farm land is divided into sections of a mile square, with "section roads" marking each mile. The size of a farm operation is described in terms of the number of sections it occupies, and the farmer has access to all parts of his/her farm because of the section roads.

For a runner, the section roads provide an almost-perfect track. They're pre-measured, so I know that completing a lap around the section facing our farmyard is just under 6.5K (that is, exactly 4 miles) -- and, at this particular moment in my training, provides a nice 5-minute warmup walk, a 5K run, and a 15ish-minute cooldown walk.

It's beautiful, as you can see from the photo above - it's hard not to feel as though you're breathing cleaner air running there, as compared to running in the city at home (though if you have allergies, as I do, "cleaner" may not necessarily mean "better," ha!). Running on the section roads (near our farm, anyway) makes you feel like you have unlimited runway, fresh air for your lungs, and blazing sunshine. You feel like you have nothing but potential!

OK, I have to admit there are a couple of minor drawbacks.

1) It takes a bit of getting used to running on loose gravel when you're accustomed to nicely paved city streets. You may be able to see from the photo that there are established tracks where cars, trucks, and farm equipment tend to drive - if you run in those tracks you have less loose gravel to deal with, but you're actually running down the middle of the road. Not bad if you run without music, but I have to run with music, or the sound of my own panting discourages me.  :)  My solution this time: run with Husband, who ran without music in the neighbouring track on the road, and warned me whenever a vehicle was coming up behind us.

2) When a truck flies by on a gravel road in an area of low humidity, you get sprayed with gravel, and then live in a little cloud of dust for a few minutes afterward. I wondered whether I should have been running in a surgical mask!

Really, though, that was it for drawbacks. It was lovely, frankly.

I had done my "long slow distance" run on Sunday before we left, so normally wouldn't have run until Tuesday -- but Monday was gorgeous (see photo!) and I thought it would be a waste of a beautiful, not-too-hot, sunny day not to run. So I convinced Husband to come out with me (grandparents were with us to watch Child) that morning.

It was harder work than I was used to (apparently, the degree of difficulty for running surfaces goes treadmill -> road -> gravel, and I can only imagine sandy beach comes after that!), but I really, really enjoyed it. We even had the opportunity for a laugh, when we unwittingly caused a stampede of cows in a pasture alongside the section road. (If you're unfamiliar with the nature of cows, they're curious enough to want to know who you are, but not always smart enough to know to stop running once they hit the fence.)



Sorry ladies!
(photo taken later, after everyone had calmed down)

And because I really, really enjoyed it... we went back out again on Tuesday.

We drove home Wednesday, and I was all set to do the "cross-train" day The Faithful Mo had put in my training schedule for this week... but Thursday was, incredibly, another beautiful day. I checked with her to make sure it would be OK to run again rather than cross-training (I'm scheduled for 4 runs next week, so I switched one of them for this week's cross-train), and then headed out again, back around my neighbourhood.

As I ran, I plotted out this weekend's "long slow distance" run, which will be 6.5K and will require me to widen my little neighbourhood track - I'm running out of new territory.   :)

And I realized: I am actually enjoying this!  That may sound silly at this point, but until now I have been enjoying the "having run," without particularly enjoying the "running."  Now, I see a beautiful day outside and I want to run. It feels like a waste not to.

Today is gorgeous again (seriously, how long can this luck hold out?!), but I can't run again. I'm planning my long slow distance for tomorrow (hopefully the weather holds out at least that long for me), and I don't want to get injured and put myself out altogether. So I'm headed over to meet a friend (Jillian - see her blog at right!) for lunch and a walk in the sunshine.

What would I have been doing with a day like today a year ago?

Probably staying inside, hiding from the heat. Probably sitting on the couch or in my desk chair. Probably dreading every invitation to join people who would be dressed for summer, every opportunity to do anything outside in the heat, because I'd have refused to go out in shorts, and would have been miserable in long pants.

Today, I feel 10 years younger than I did this time last year. It's an amazing thing.

Annie: George Eliot

I watched the season finale of Brothers & Sisters this week, and was struck by Nora Walker's quote from George Eliot at the end: "It is never too late to be what you might have been."

"Was" vs. "might have been"

I was "fat" in my mind long before my body was overweight.

I look at pictures from high school, and my heart breaks to see a girl embarrassed to have her picture taken because her size 12 dress is so embarrassingly huge.

It became a self-fulfilling prophecy: the less I believed in myself, the less I took care of myself. I hated my appearance and battled my weight throughout my teens, twenties, thirties (except for about a month after I lost the 70 lbs in 2003), and the first couple of years of my forties.

Then, after years of gentle support, The Faithful Mo broke through.

Not that Mo was responsible for this Thanksgiving Project - that was my own, latest "big idea" to get myself together. (It followed far too many other unsuccessful "big ideas" to even mention.) With that said, when I floated the idea with her (you have to realize this was likely the 50th "big idea" she'd had to listen to, and might well have expected to suffer the same fate as all the others), she was enthusiastic and promised to be a faithful reader (which, as you might have noticed from our comments, she is!).

But the difference between this time and all the other times is that this time, I'm actually liking my body.

Not how it looks naked - frankly, I don't know if that will ever happen! Had I gotten my act together in my 20s, maybe... But how it works, and what it can do. And that's where Mo gets the credit.

In 2003, I lost the weight, fine. But it was all about food, even then. I counted carefully, I journaled faithfully... until I stopped doing those things. And then everything was back to "normal" - I ate huge volumes of garbage, I didn't exercise, and I gained it all back.

Now, though the food remains a struggle (and always will), I am actually enjoying exercise, for the first time in my life.

As a kid I played hours and hours of tennis, and loved it - but not because it was exercise, because it was fun. Getting older, I didn't have all day and all night to play, and I moved away from my tennis-playing friends and family... and my body didn't cooperate the way it had before. While I had never been a particularly good tennis player, the playing had come easily (physically). Now, it no longer did.

So for decades now, I'd been hating all forms of exercise - until I started to run.

I won't say that running is "fun" for me, or even that I exactly enjoy doing it. But I love the feeling of having done it each and every time I go out -- and I love the feeling that I can do it. I never believed I could, but I can.

Mo, and her husband, and our brother and sister-in-law, and my own husband, all runners, told me I could run if I wanted to -- but for years I simply didn't believe them. My body had let me down in so many ways for so many years - orthopedic problems, arthritis, miscarriages, etc etc... I just had no faith that it could do anything beyond simple survival. Mo tried again and again, gently, to encourage me, but my faith in my own body was so low that I never even tried, until now.

Thanksgiving Project + Mo's 5K training program = the key

Today, I sat outside on the front step and changed out the laces on my running shoes to new special ones I bought at The Running Room (they apparently won't come untied while you're running - a big problem for me for some reason!). As I laced them up, I found myself excited for tomorrow morning's run, to try them out.

Me, excited to go out tomorrow morning and try out new shoelaces.

I still kind of can't believe it, and I don't think about it too much, because I'm afraid somehow the spell will break. After all, it's only been a couple of months, after more than 20 years of hating my body and having no faith in it.

But that Eliot line struck something in me, and somehow gave me permission to accept that maybe I can be a runner, and maybe I can be comfortable with my body, however it ends up looking.

I'm 42 now, and I'm angry to think of how my "good" years (beauty-wise!) were wasted in this vicious food battle. But, with luck, 42 isn't the end of the line, and if that's how long it took me to find my stride, then I should just be thankful that it didn't take me until 52. Or 62. Or, terrifyingly, until it was too late.

It's never too late to be what you might have been.

I have faith, and I feel good, starting now.

Thanks Mo.   :)

Annie: weigh-in week 26

Wow - it's been half a year.

I had a lovely afternoon yesterday with an old friend who is planning a WW adventure of her own in the next little while - we talked about food, and the program, and running, on top of all the usual topics. (The "usual topics" are what our kids were up to, on their play date happening at all points in my house!)

Over tea, we chatted about our challenges. She seems inspired by the success I've been having, and I am inspired that she's motivated to get healthier, even though she's currently just over my GOAL weight! Smart people get in control before things get so bad that they have 100 lbs to lose - I get that now, and admire her for it.  :o)

I know more about the WW program, but she knows more about running, so we'll be in good position to support each other as she gets underway!

It's funny to think about how I'm only halfway through the year, but a fair bit beyond the half-way mark on the weight loss goal I had set for The Thanksgiving Project. It's a good thing it's worked out this way, because I know the early pounds go much more quickly than the later ones... it's good to know I have a bit of progress in-hand for when the next plateau comes.

What else is funny, is that I feel like I'm almost there. I mean, I know I'm not: I still have 35 pounds to go, and that's a lot. And even then, my goal weight is a goal weight set by my doctor given my body shape, and well above the recommended "healthy" BMI for my height.  So really, I'm not "almost there" by any objective measure.

But I have to say, I am feeling so good right now. I feel fit, I feel pretty, and I feel like I'm in control.

It feels good!

I hope I have a while to enjoy this before the next plateau.  :o)

Loss this week: 2.9
Lost so far: 65.1
Still remaining: 34.9
Activity points earned this week: 18
Weeks to go: 26

The Faithful Mo's guest post: "Carbs aren't the devil"

Annie asked me if I was interested in writing a guest post about how nutritional needs for athletes are different than for others.  I thought this was a good idea, especially in this age of Atkins and similar “carbs are the devil” diets, to explain how carbohydrates can really be your friend if you’re active and to give some guidance to those reading who exercise for longer periods of time.  Honestly, this post is a little hypocritical of me to write considering I had gastro-intestinal (GI) issues during my first marathon from unwise fuelling the days before my race but all I can say is - do as I say, not as I do!  And as a firm believer in “you learn a lot more from your mistakes than you do from your successes”, I will certainly not be making that mistake again.

Talk to anyone who does any type of sport at any competitive level and they will tell you that they rely on carbs to keep their energy up.  This is not an excuse to pig out on pasta the days before a big race or big game.  This is simple science.

The simple fact is, your body can only store enough energy (glycogen) to sustain about 90 minutes of exercise.  After this point, without extra fuelling, you’re in danger of running out of energy and doing as they say in running circles “hitting the wall”.  Poorly fuelled muscles are associated with needless fatigue so the more glycogen stores you have, the more endurance you will have.  This fatigue is not only represented by tired body parts, it also seriously affects your mind and how mentally strong (or weak) you are.  It’s amazing, really.

How carbs can help

You can extend your endurance either by storing up glycogen before your event, replenishing glycogen during your event, or both, using carbs. 

Replenishing glycogen involves consuming carbs during the event.  Thanks to sports drinks and gels, this is becoming easier and easier to do while “on the run”.  For athletes in sports that are given breaks and a convenient place to store their gear, like tennis players on changeovers for example, they have the luxury of being able to use much more cumbersome forms of carbs, like bananas.  Runners unfortunately have limited space to store their carbs and therefore usually rely on sports drinks and gels.  I don’t think you’ll ever see a runner go by with a bunch of bananas strapped to their fuel belt!

Popular during event carbs – Gatorade, trail mix, sports gel:

Increasing your glycogen stores involves “carb loading” the days leading up to your event.  This is generally only required when your event is longer than 90 minutes but even if your event is shorter, you will reach the starting line with maximum energy already in your system to perform at your best.   Most people associate carb-loading with plates upon plates of pasta, but there are many other forms of great carbs if you’re not a pasta person (but really, who isn’t a pasta person?!).

The trick to both storing and replenishment is knowing how much to do and when to do it.  Not enough or not often enough and you’ll run out of gas.  Too much or too often and you’ll likely wind up with GI problems.  Just like training for your sport, this too has to be practiced so you can figure out what routine is good for you on your big day.

Carbs’ best friend: protein

To make the effect of your carbs last even longer, pair them with protein.  Protein slows the digestion of carbs, which encourages the body to release energy slowly and steadily, rather than a quick hit – something that is crucial for endurance events.   Have pasta with chicken or a poached egg on toast.

Carb-loading doesn’t mean fat-loading

Be careful as fat often comes together with carbs.  Instead of eating a roll slathered with butter, eat 2 rolls.  Instead of cream sauce on your pasta, have tomato sauce or primavera.  Some fat is needed of course but don’t stray from your normal fat intake. In fact, you shouldn’t even increase your daily caloric intake, just increase the proportion of your calories that comes from carbs. 

Yes you will gain weight - temporarily

Your body will automatically store an additional few grams of water for every gram of glycogen so during the days leading up to your event it is common to gain a bit of weight.  This extra weight is primarily made up of the carbs you’ll need to get through your event so don’t worry, you will use it all up!

Not all carbs are created equal

There are good carbs and bad carbs.  This is pretty simple but it should be mentioned.  While beer is a source of carbs, not a good pre-event choice.  Post-event, for sure!

There are so many factors in play on your big day, whatever competition it may be.  Things like the weather and your opponent are totally out of your control but if you have worked really hard, the last thing you want is for something like an upset stomach or heavy legs to keep you from performing at your best.  Ask me on June 1^st how my marathon went and I can assure you, I will not be telling you I had 3 porta-potty stops!

Taken during my 1^st marathon, at about km 18:

Good training and good eating!

Annie: Get a coach.

This week's exercise lesson: if you're trying something new, get a coach.

Mae and I are both trying to learn to run. We are both trying out programs recommended to us by others - similar, but not exactly the same.

Despite having prescribed programs used successfully by others, we've both been having trouble - because we didn't ask questions.

As you may have read in Mae's post this week, once she asked the person who'd recommended the program about what she was doing (which seemed to be too much, too soon), she realized she was following the wrong version of the program.

For my part, I thought I had it all figured out: the faithful Mo had built a reasonable-looking run/walk program to build me up to my 5K in May - she had even put dates to all the workouts for me, so I'd know exactly when to start, and what to do. She even gave me a logbook to track my progress.

So what else could I possibly need, right?

Well, it turns out we don't all have the same definition of "run." Since my first post a couple of weeks back about having run two minutes, I've incorporated two minutes of running into each treadmill session (45 minutes total).

But even though it was only two minutes, and not even consecutively, I was finding it pretty challenging, and was halfway secretly doubting I'd ever really be able to run more than a couple of minutes without stopping.

I talked to the faithful Mo about it one evening this week, and we got on the topic of how fast I was running for my two minutes (between 4.5 and 5.0 mph). She instantly said that was too fast - that I should be between 4.0 and 4.5 at this stage, no more.

This morning, I did my two minutes at 4.3 - and lo and behold, I can actually see how I might be able to build up to significantly more.  Hallelujah!

Maybe someday I will be able to run at 5 mph - but not now, and not safely at my current weight.

So the moral of the story is: get a coach. And if (you're lucky like me and) you have one available to you, use her! Ask questions! Don't assume you know what you're doing! Because honestly, if I'd kept trying to run at 5 mph as I began my gradual conditioning program next month, I may very well have given up, thinking I simply couldn't do it.

If you don't have a friend like Mae's or a faithful Mo like I do, and you can't afford a personal trainer, there's a great range of online coach programs and apps available, like the Adidas miCoach system (check out a video about it here) and the Nike Training Club app. 

Some advice has got to be better than none - you don't have to do it alone!

Mae: Running confusion

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have opted to start a 13 week walk/run program that I thought was pretty similar to what Annie would be doing. This book was recommended to me by a co-worker who picked it up last year and subsequently ran a 5K. After listening to her story and seeing Annie's running journal, I got my cranky arse on the treadmill. The last thing I wanted to do was overdo it and injure myself, and the book I chose specifically mentioned that the program was designed to prevent injury in new runners.

I was speaking to said co-worker yesterday about a completely unrelated matter and mentioned that I've completed the first two walk/runs in week 1, and that I've run (cumulatively) for 21 minutes. Her response: "WHAT???!?!?! Are you kidding me? THAT is not the program that I did!" I got a similar response from Annie based on her Running Room program. Hmmmmmm.

I came to the conclusion that I must have picked the maintenance program instead of the starter (there are several in this book). Turns out, I didn't. I was/am doing the recommended 13 week beginner walk/run, and yes, it does start with 1 minute of running followed by 2 minutes of walking. Co-worker said she started running for 30 seconds followed by something like 4 minutes of walking. That sounds more reasonable to me given my weight and complete lack of running experience. I have to admit that after those first two workouts I was feeling like I perhaps pushed a little too much, but I wanted to trust the "proven" method. What the hell?!

Amazon to the rescue! This comment explains everything. Turns out I was following the program in the newest edition of the book, which is completely different than the one published in 2001. Damn revised program, you're getting the heave-ho! Thanks for nothing, Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia!

Annie: I ran for two minutes!

Haha, I know, big deal. But to me, it really is!

I've been reading John Stanton's book "Running," which I wrote about in my last post. One of the pieces of advice he gives is that you should look to increase your challenge to yourself in your workouts somehow every week or so, both to push yourself to improve and to guard against boredom.

At my stage of the game, I'm pretty sure that just getting back on the treadmill multiple times a week is taking care of improving things - so I'm not too worried about that. But I am easily bored when exercising, which is why I was always better at sports like tennis, which involve some competition and keeping track of score (even if I usually lost!) than individual, solitary sports like running. Once my mind starts to wander, I'm sunk.

Last week I added a couple of minutes to the duration of my treadmill sessions (now up to 42) - today, I added a couple of minutes of honest to goodness running: one at the 18:30 mark and one at 29:00.

I can't believe I will ever be able to run many minutes consecutively - but I've also read numerous testimonials of runners who've said the very same thing. Stanton himself talks about having started out overweight, running in the wee hours of the morning so his neighbours wouldn't see him struggling to make it from lamppost to lamppost. So we'll see!

The other thing that keeps me from getting bored? The new playlist the faithful Mo made for me! It has something like 76 songs on it, so I'm good for a couple of weeks before I run into repeats. It's great! She's going to make me a race playlist for Ottawa, which I'll hear for the first time that day - fun!

I've already requested that a song from my latest playlist be included... here it is (turns out I'm a Flo Rida fan - who knew?!). I dare you to sit still!

Annie: Excited and scared

As I've mentioned before, I'm planning to run a 5K race in Ottawa in May.

I haven't run more than a minute, consecutively, since my early twenties (and at that, I wasn't a runner - I was using a treadmill in a gym purely to burn calories). I think the longest I've ever run was 10 minutes.

While it's been kind of a mental thing for a couple of decades ("I could never do what runners do"), in the last couple of years it's been physical too, as my left knee has decided to give up on me. I had problems with that knee in university that led to many different therapies and two surgeries without a real "cure," and then generally took it easy on my knees for years as the problems gradually went away.

Suddenly in the summer of 2009, though, the problem came screaming back. I remember the moment I realized it: I was at the Rogers Cup tennis tournament with the faithful Mo, and started having trouble getting around in Montreal.

Was it caused by the strain of carrying my weight? I'm not an MD, but it would seem logical to me. At any rate, my knee hurts a lot of the time now, when it's been in the same position for too long (whether straightened or bent). It doesn't hurt that much when I'm walking on the treadmill, but it hurts a fair bit afterward. The good news is that both my GP and my rheumatologist tell me that running won't do any further damage to it.

I can only hope it gets less painful as the weight drops. If it doesn't, the road to this 5K is going to be very painful.

So, that's the scared part.

Now, for the excited part. Despite the pain that follows every treadmill session, I keep wanting to do more. I feel so good when I get off it - I can understand where the exercise addicts come from (haha, though I am f-a-r from ever being one of them!). When I get off the treadmill I feel like I could do anything - including that 5K.

This Christmas, I was spoiled with gifts that will help me get there.

1. A book about running by John Stanton, the founder of the Running Room, that gives great tips for beginners as well as information to help more experienced runners train for longer distances.

2. A personalized training log book - the faithful Mo knows how I love to make lists and check off to-do lists to track accomplishments!

3. A new pair of Mondetta Performance Gear running pants.

4. A Garmin Forerunner GPS watch, which will help track my progress and motivate my performance as soon as I am able to get outside to run!

As if that weren't enough, I headed out to the Boxing Day sale at my local Adidas outlet last night and picked up new running shoes, 2 jog bras and another pair of pants (thinner fabric, better-suited to indoor treadmill running).

I am so excited to begin running, and still a bit scared that I won't be able to do it. I was reading testimonials from the Running Room's Learn to Run clinic in Stanton's book last night as I waited for dinner to cook, and heard the voices of women who sounded like they could have been me (never were runners before, at the beginning couldn't even run for a minute straight, were over 40, started running to lose weight), who came to love running and to enter races regularly.

I hope I'll be one of them some day!

Mae: To run or not to run

A big "congratulations" to Annie's sister, who just completed a marathon and a major milestone. This is an amazing accomplishment by any standard, but even more so for someone like me who cannot even fathom what it must involve. And while I am in awe of this feat, I also have a cringe-y look on my face just thinking about it.

I'll admit it. I've never liked running and all of it's accoutrements: shin splints, sore arches, wrecked knees, achey lower back, etc. Yes, sure, there are many health benefits, and who am I, of all (out of shape) people, to dis it? I've never had a runner's um, structure and composition, and always found it very taxing. It's possible that I'd feel differently if I were actually capable of running without feeling like I'm going to die. I've scoured the medical literature on this and there are plenty of qualified professionals who say that the human body (and not just one type of body) is designed to run. Period. So, fat people, get over yourselves and quit yer whinin'! Right?

Well not exactly. I caught a news item on Daily Planet last week that discussed the results of a study from Quebec on the condition of marathon runners' hearts.  The study was provoked by the untimely deaths of a few marathon runners during their runs, and it turns out that not all runners are necessarily 'fit' to run these gruelling events. Marathon runners who train properly and who are in good health may experience some temporary and reversible tissue damage in the heart, but those who are not in good shape and who do not follow a proper training regime may not fare as well. Basically, running long distances when you're not ready/fit/prepared can have some pretty serious consequences. The Daily Planet host commented that an unfit person is physically capable of running 45 km (I must have heard that wrong, right?), but that doesn't necessarily mean that because they can, that it's not without risk to their cardiovascular health.

So the lesson in all of this is that if you're on your way to a healthier weight and improved overall health, incorporating exercise/running into your daily routine is important, but it's essential to do it right. I mentioned in a previous post that I'm getting a book on a walk-to-run training regime and I am doubling the weeks it suggests (16 instead of 8). At the end of 16 weeks, I won't be running marathons, but maybe 5 km. I suspect I'll be at that level for a while until I work up to the kind of stamina and hard-work required to run around Greece ; )