so i've been kind of sucky about running and blogging...i think i maybe went to the gym once and ran once in the past 2 weeks. i still ride my bike to work and back 5 days a week so it's not like i've been doing nothing...but i do sort of feel like chaos is ensuing.

i know i didn't do the best at the last half marathon, and that even my shorter distance time has suffered. and i feel it to. i keep thinking back to these great runs i've had - i remember deciding to double the distance of a run because i feel so strong, racing strangers who didn't know i was racing them, not stopping to talk to the neighbours who called out hi because i was running so fast i knew i would set a PR, coming home from a run and feeling exhilerated and proud of it. i haven't felt any of those things in a long time - i feel like i'm dragging myself slowly along, tired and bored and resentful and like i just want to get it over with. and that is why i have been for one run in the past two weeks. and the one run i did go on was thanks to the boy believing me when i said i thought i might go for a run in the morning and actually waking up to come along.

the worst thing is that without running, everything else starts to fall apart. i care less about what i eat because i don't have to worry about getting cramps. i have less energy, i stay up way too late because i don't have to get up and run in the morning, i do laundry less often because i don't have to worry about having fresh running clothes, etc. so i eat junk, feel crappy and tired and messy and bored.

so. tonight i have a plan. i clearly cant just wing it and run when and however long i feel like, because that means i won't run.

i'm going to steal a beginner's 10k training plan and hope that with some structure and some challenging workouts i will get fitter and faster soon. the 10k is after all the "foundation of fitness". the plan is good because it doesn't include any runs that will take me more than, say, an hour, and it keeps it interesting by including speed intervals, gradual pickups (increasing speed over about 100m and then slowing down over 100m), shorter and longer runs. it's only 4 weeks so after that if i'm feeling better i can switch back to something more advanced.

the only other thing worth mentioning is that i don't think i'm going to blog much about it here, because i'm going to use some free software that is designed for tracking runs, and gives you lots of neat charts and graphs showing improvement and stats and whatnot.

so yeah. that will be cool. it's a plan. tomorrow is thursday. we'll see how it goes.

fun times

so i ran friday night, 4 miles. i seem to have lost my watch, so i dont know the exact time.... i did run it in intervals though, because it was SUPER hot out, so about 1km running followed by a few dozen meters walking, etc.

sunday, my sister mom and i hiked the grouse grind. since i was with them, going their pace, this took about 1.5 hours. the grind is basically a staircase, so that was a good workout.

monday morning i rode my bike to the gym, did a lower body workout, rode to work and back. had intended to run in the evening but got distracted and before i knew it it was dark...

this morning i rode to the gym, did upper body stuff, rode to work and back, then did make it out for a quick run in the evening. still haven't found my watch, but i did 4miles in definately less than 45 min...which still isn't good for me but felt pretty fast. stopped and watched the sunset at the 2 mile point for a minute or two as well.

the interesting thing with running shorter runs is that it still takes me forever to get warmed up. it's not until about 30 min into the run that i finally feel loose and ready to push for speed. hopefully running more short distances will change that...

overall, it's been pretty good so far this week. the beautiful weather helps.

So
this is the closest thing i can find to a picture of me crossing the finish line. I'm the one in the back in the yellow jacket. ah well.

also i got a very nice letter of apology from the CRS people about the bags. apparently the bus broke down and chaos ensued - suffice to say that at least our bags were there, even if they were soaking wet.

I've been trying to think up some new goals and i haven't really thought of anything good yet. there's another half marathon in october - maybe i should aim to set a PR there? or maybe i should aim to get faster on my short runs, the way i used to before the whole long distance thing. i've been running sporadically the past week or so, plus lots of cycling (to and from work and any other errands).

but the truth is that i want to take a few weeks to just focus on being organized. to get 8 hours of sleep a night. to run short runs regularly. to stop eating fast food and actually plan and cook meals. that kind of thing.

i'm going to keep blogging my runs, because i like having a record of them. Will go for one soon to start it off.