November 1st,

Here we go again! Another long run Sunday is approaching. After the many hard learned lessons of the week we are toning down our run this Sunday, November 1st. We are looking at a 5-7 miler, as we listen to our bodies and pretened we have held onto some sanity. I am also glad to remind us all that the time change this Saturday night gives us an extra hour as we turn BACK our clocks and sleep an hour longer before we arrive at our 7 am meet, located at 'Daily Grind' coffee house located at 185-3393 Portage ave and Cavalier. See you all there.

Just got the news, Congratulations to T&S on your new baby girl! We will wave as we go by Sunday morning.

Nicole

Life Lesson # 53, Humility

Disappointment arrives when expectations have not been met! (Lesson #24)

When expectations are not met, it is sometimes followed by a sense of humility as we come to recognize the current level of expectation may have been well over estimated.

The latest example of this comes from last week’s runs. It had been a busy week and between sick kids, sore bodies (you know, the one I haven’t been listening to) and a lack of sleep I was unable to get out for any weekday runs’. C did an awesome map for us and we were excited about the craziness of running a new distance of 14-15 miles, there was no consideration given to the preceding nights plans’. This just happened to be the 10km Nike human race. Along with ignoring my tight calf from the Sunday before and G was still being careful of her knee, we really were looking forward to the long run in the morning.

Sunday morning arrives and we are our usual ½ asleep selves, until we get moving where the laughter and the moods begin to rise. The pace is nice, possibly a bit faster to start, and all seems well as we look forward to our longest run yet. C was taking us on some new trail that was nice to run on. We saw the usual bunny along the way (we have many of those critters in the city) and we were pleasantly surprised to watch a deer cross our trail. We kept checking with each other to see how our bodies were managing, and all seemed fine (usually is in the land of denial). Then about mile 7 a confession was made and it was time to head home. Our bodies had decided we were ignoring them and the bodies were going to set us straight, weather we liked it or not!
I’m not sure that the night before I even questioned that I would not be able to run the full 14 miles. As we turned back for home I felt like I had just fallen on my face into the mud.

I have been humbled!

I cannot force my body to go a distance I have not trained it for, not without injury anyway. I will still chalk it up to a good run, as the many lessons I learned from it are useful and will be with me for a while.
So with a pride that has been appropriately run over and but back into its’ place I will hit the trails running with a new respect for learning the language my body is speaking to me.

Nicole

Life Lesson #52

I am not sure if I believe that I could over train. Being a bit overweight I find it hard to believe that I could somehow overwork myself to a detriment. Now with that said...Yes, I do realize that I have a tendency to live in denial......

I do believe that there are times where I need to learn to listen to my body better as it speaks (screams out in agony) to me.

Life Lesson #52:

I am not very good at listening to my body,and hearing the things it has to say to me. I have a really hard time finding a pace, I have a hard time noticing if I am slowing down, I sometimes think I am going much faster than my average pace to only discover I am not really increasing my speed.For Christmas last year my awesome, thoughtful husband bought me a garmin. It was everything I could ask for! It keeps my heart rate, shows my time and pace and (my favorite) distance (of course the maps are really cool too). There is a point where I found myself relying on the garmin to tell me how I was feeling during a run as I would look over the numbers after I returned home. I know it is silly, but I guess I didn't need to really listen to my body now did I...

I admit it, I am addicted. So now,...

Now it is time to start listening to my body better, and not the numbers. We ran our first race this year with minimal footwear (the water shoes) Friday Oct. 24Th. In realizing that my addiction has become something I needed to face I decided to leave the heart rate monitor at home. (yahoo for me). As we began the run my garmin timer wouldn't kick in.... I felt like I had just quit smoking again cold turkey! Panic set in, then it left me like the weight of my old shoes. Thank you Lord for crapping out my garmin for the evening to show me how I don't need to rely on it. I went on our first minimal footwear race with minimal technology as well!

I still will like to have a distance monitor to make sure I am on route for the long runs and I will still use the garmin to help me train, but I don't need it to tell me how I am feeling. As a matter of fact I will tell it how I am doing as I train for the longer distances.

Which brings me to Life Lesson #53: a lesson on humility, to be saved for another time...

I love to run and the lessons I find along the way keep me coming out for more!

Nicole

Water Running

A few of us will be at the Y on Portage Ave at 6 am tomorrow  for water running and you are welcome to join us.  We'll  be in deep water tomorrow and  flotation belts are provided.  Ask for the one with the least flotation as you want the water to come up to  as close to your neck as possible.  Those accustomed to frequent injuries may want to invest in a proper running belt as it has less buoyancy  than a regular belt.  I  bought my share of running gimmicks over the years but found this  to be a good investment.

Gail

1st Barefoot Race

The irony of running the   Nike 10K race  without running shoes was not lost on us.

See previous post for tomorrow's run schedule.

Gail

Long Run Sunday

It is the last day before long run sunday! Tomorrow we are going to meet agian at 'Daily Grind' coffee house located at 185-3393 Portage ave and Cavalier. The establishment is not open at 7am, but is well into it's morning when we get back. Our estimated running time tomorrow is about 31/2 hours. Yes it is me that holds us up, as I am the slow runner! But our fast pacer will hopefully be there as well. C has planned our route for tomorrow and I'm really excited about it. We are travelling some new trails (new to us) and we always like some new scenery. The trail looks to be in the 14+miles, but we will have some shortcuts as well for those who may not want as much distance this week. As there are those who may be holding an injury at bay. I am looking forward to getting in some off road time. Hope to see you all in the morning. As usual I will bring base camp in case anyone needs to leave something behind, or needs a ride home after.

If you need a warm up there is the Nike Human Race 10km tonight at 7pm, at the Kenaston Running Room.

Nicole

We did 13 miles on Sunday!

I am finding that my feet and legs are recovering much faster. Everything after this distance is new territory. We began this journey 5 weeks ago with the minimal shoes and the terrain has been familiar. Now all the distances from this point on will be firsts again. I feel like we have approached the edge of a cliff/trail and it is time to go over/on! From here on in it is all new again. I am looking forward to the new lessons I am going to learn (most of them anyway) and the new trails we will see. Thanks C for the trail planning this week.

"Bite off more than you can chew, and than chew it!" Ella Williams

This is the quote I found after I decided I wanted to try running again. I had not run for a few years and I was trying to get back into it, but found myself frustrated as I could not get past 40 min of constant running without crashing.So I decided to sign up for a 1/2 marathon clinic and get some help.That is just what I got out of the clinic, an inspiring coach/instructor who was beyond amazing with his ability to share his love for this sport, as well as some excellent winter dress hints (never before had I thought I would EVER were a balaclava without coercion) and some help adding mileage without trying to commit suicide. I was able to finish my first 1/2 exhilarated and a little exhausted.

Just to make sure that my finishing wasn't a fluke I signed up for a second 1/2 later that year (2008). I ran and finished in spite of having a flu bug. This year I wanted to add to my finishes and signed up for and accomplished three 1/2's in May, each had a better time as I worked towards my goal. I am a slow runner so I am always looking to better my time, but as I am progressing I would also like to add to the distance if I am able to keep the timing steady. This has been fantastic, and as I remember the fear of signing up for the first 1/2 marathon, I am looking forward to once again facing it as I find a full marathon to sign up for.

26.2.... the next fear to conquer! then maybe 30 miles? then 50? on to the ....... let's just work on the next level of training and see where that gets us!