Regaining fitness

Life events are now categorized as either "before hip surgery" or "after hip surgery."

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...yay

Well now I’ve gone and done it.

I got into med school.

I’ll start in Sept 2017 after being out of school for 3 years. So long to double workout days, and spending 2 hrs at the gym 5 days a week.

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shopping...ugh.

Buying an off-the-rack business suit (because I can’t afford bespoke)...

through trial and error:

my jacket size: US size 8

my pants size: US size 4.

but if you were to look at my “weight loss”, I lost 5 lbs. over the past year.  big whoop.

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Question #1

Anyone else running a race (any distance!) in 2017?

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Design your own

...for shoes, you end up with an awesome colour scheme

...for training plans, you end up with frustration and scribbles

I’m trying to modify the Hansons Marathon Method beginner’s plan. this is going to take more than two sheets of paper.

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Progress

2016 race calendar:

MEC London Race 3 - 10km

Toronto Waterfront 10k

Peterborough Run for Mental Health - 10k

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront half marathon

2017 race calendar (so far)

Around the Bay - 30 km

Glass City half marathon

...and a fall marathon? maybe? doesn’t seem so crazy now.

I’m already ahead. now “all” I have to do is train consistently through the winter...while living in the snowbelt of Southwestern Ontario.

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The extent of my "Black Friday" shopping. I'm Canadian, so I don't even know why Black Friday has become a thing - we already have Boxing Day (or week or month). But a sale is a sale.

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My summary of using The Hansons' Half Marathon Method

Disclaimer - this is the first time I tried following a half marathon plan. I probably should have started with an easier one, but the book was good.

Before it starts: 😐 that's a lot of mileage for a half marathon...six days a week of running!?! 😟 I HAVE TO FIT IN WEIGHTLIFTING EVEN IF IT MEAN DOUBLE WORKOUT DAYS.

Week 1: not bad

Week 4: meh. No difference so far

Week 6: Tuesday speedwork begins 😞

Week 9: OMG I'm halfway thru the plan

Week 12: did I really just run 48 miles (76.8 km) this week? WTF

Week 15: I’m definitely feeling this “cumulative fatigue” thing. I hope it works.

Week 16: Last 12 mile run...huh. It wasn’t that bad.

Week 17: TAPER STARTS ON WEDNESDAY!!! Rejoice, for I have made it through the plan without overtraining or getting injured.

Week 18: Jittery - but I don’t want to run extra before race day.

Race day: Amped up and ready to race on rested legs. Just don’t fall.

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Not in a rush to run my first marathon

I could...probably...train to make my first go at the marathon for the end of April 2017. 

but I’ve never trained outside during the winter. I’ve always retreated to the treadmill, and spent more time lifting at the gym. so I’m going to train outside this winter...see how it goes...an then re-consider training for a fall marathon debut.

I picked my next race:  Around the Bay (Sun. March 26, 2017)

a 30km race...in which the last 10km are rolling hills. I definitely have to run outside this winter.

but hopefully not too much. and I don’t need to start (re)building my mileage up until January. and I’m going to enjoy my next week of easy running (not wearing a GPS watch, not thinking about pace) while I get back into weightlifting.

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2016 STWM half result

so...I ran my first half marathon at 2015′s STWM.

I ran my second half marathon at this year’s 2016 STWM.

same course, still crappy weather, but I trained properly/better...and improved my race time by 15 minutes.

my goal for half marathon #3 = a sub-2:00 race

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Course map of the STWM half marathon. Race plan: -settle into race pace and don't die -eat ClifShot chews thru opening 5km, GU gels at 9km and 15km because those PowerGels offered at 12km aid station are taste disgusting (too sweet, too thin) -stay ahead of the 2:15 pace group

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Day before

16 weeks of training, and my half marathon is tomorrow. I actually followed a training plan this time, so this race (my 2nd at the half marathon distance) should be better than my last one. Also, it doesn't matter what city I'm in, I still spent a few hours at Starbucks...drinking a tea and working on university applications 😑

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A shitty weightlifting workout is better than not making it to the gym at all -missed half of my low hang snatches...new exercise, will try again next week -well below 80% of clean -still felt better than when I first woke up

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Heat and humidity

a.k.a. the non-elite runner’s altitude training

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reality check

Spent five days at a friend’s house out in the country...

A friend who is a fencing coach, and strongly believes in sport-specific conditioning.

reality check: I have the body type of a power athlete...but I’m training for an endurance event (Oct 2016 half marathon). so I haven’t been working on my explosive power at all...

change: add Olympic weightlifting classes 2x a week

when: next week...because I have a 10k race in three days

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Rehearsal

About to run a 10k road race in warm & muggy weather. Gross. This is a rehearsal for fuelling, pace, and breathing...goal 10k race in 4 weeks. The warmer weather started...yesterday. Definitely need to practice running in the heat next week.

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today’s reason for not weight training: migraine.

enough said.

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25 min treadmill run. ran 3.65 km using 1 min walk, 4 min run.

totally worth it, even though my throat feels like sandpaper.