Newfound freedom

It has been so long since I last wrote anything other than work-related text that whatever narrative ability I ever had has completely atrophied. Finally, I bring fingers to keyboard to celebrate my latest and now favorite running gadget, in fact I love it so much, I took a double. Thing1 and Thing 2, your Chariot awaits (your 2007 CX2 Chariot that is...)

I love the chariot for many reasons (and apparently I love it way more than Thing 2 does in this photo). First off, despite being almost 7 years old (purchased second hand), it rolls like a dream. On flat, even ground there is barely any percpetible extra effort over running alone. The only real increase in effort comes from not being able to swing my arms and not from the actual pushing of the chariot. And even then, the chariot rolls so straight that I find I often give it a firm push and run for a few strides behind it without even touching it. Or, sometimes to the kids dismay, I give it a push and then pick up my pace and run in front of it waving cheerfully at them.

From an assembly/disassembly standpoint, it is super easy even for a klutz like me. I did not watch the previous owner disassemble it and yet I was able to put it together, without instructions, in under 2 minutes. The quality of manufacturing is very apparent in the way the pieces are constructed and fit together. Fully disassembled, it takes less room than I expected. We easily fit it into the trunk of our Hyundai Elantra Touring with room to spare for other items. I had always assumed that if I ever did take the plunge into the double running stroller world, I would not be able to use it as a means of transport for the kids to daycare simply because it would consume too much real estate in the small sized storage room our daycare has to offer for strollers. I am actually feeling optimistic that I will be able to store the CX2 there after all without annoying too many people.

It is also worth mentioning the storage space; there is ample storage space behind the children though overloading it does mean the items will press into the passengers backs.

And the reason I love the CX 2 the most; here is what transpires within the first 5 minutes of the run:

Ok, so one out of two isn't bad... and the one who isn't asleep is still awfully happy. Which kind of highlights the one major drawback. The passengers cannot recline in the Chariot which makes my primary purpose for this stroller somewhat awkward; I was hoping to use it at night to put both chlidren to sleep while ALSO getting my run in. Thing 1, who can sometimes be a tough nut to crack, is clearly demonstrating above that the lack of a proper business class lie-flat seat might mean sleeping by stroller is not feasible.

Overall though I am hoping that having the CX2 in our lives will mean using the car less and therefore reducing our environmental footprint and saving on gas and wear and tear on our 2009 Elantra Touring. In return I hope to increase the mileage on the 1974 PiccolaPineCone because she is in a sorry state of unfit these days...

Talent and Beauty

I ran 18:36 today in a 5 km race today. Off of pretty much no training. At first I didn't understand it. I have been barely training; we're talking 47 km a week has been a cause for celebration lately. I think there is no getting around the fact that I am talented. Wow does that sound obnoxious to just state that outright but here's the thing, I don't think it is bragging to tell people I am talented. Talent, athletic or otherwise, is something one is born with. It's all all just down to random luck of the genetic draw. How can I be proud of or brag about being talented? It is absolutely not an accomplishment. In a weird way, it has nothing to do with me. It has solely to do with which one of thousands of eggs were released to be met by which of millions of sperm on the day I was conceived. I can't be proud of being talented; I did nothing to earn it. It's kind of like being beautiful (which I am definitely not). How can anyone be proud of being beautiful? How is it even a compliment to call someone beautiful? It's rather just a (somewhat subjective) statement of fact. Again, it's all down to the genetic odds. You're born beautiful or (in my case) not. No accomplishment on anyone's part involved. There are characteristics related to these things which are true accomplishment:

-talented athlete: not an accomplishment; working hard and consistently: accomplishment

-beautiful: not an accomplishment; being well groomed and well put together (which I am also sadly not): accomplishment

-intelligent: not an accomplishment; well-read, knowledgeable or a big thinker: accomplishment

 So what then constitutes talent for a runner anyway? How can we precisely define talent. I have come to the conclusion that it means foremost, the extent to which an athlete improves fitness in response to a given workload. A highly talented runner will improve fitness to a greater degree in response to a given work-out than a less talented runner. That is talent in its purest form. Then it gets somewhat greyer... talent also encompasses the ability of a runner to remain injury free (bio-mechanical talent) one might say, that is also purely random chance and genetics. There is the ability to endure pain and push through when common sense is screaming "slow down"... there I am not sure, is mental talent just genetic (which I firmly believe the other two items are) or is that something of which one can genuinely be proud? i.e. is this a real achievement. I think mental toughness is probably truly something that one achieves as opposed to talent which is just gifted.

Whatever. I am grateful to have the talent to make the minute amount of training I am able to squeeze in, pay some big dividends.

Race Report: You never do know

First there was a knee injury in December/January, followed by a torn intercoastal, closely on the heels of which came a fearsome flu. It was no wonder when once I was finally feeling better, a week-end came with good weather and I had access to babysitting for 2 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, I went a little nuts and ran kilometer repeats on the Saturday inside a 20 km run and then ran a 1:34 half marathon training run on the Sunday which naturally led to shin splints. Thereupon followed 2.5 weeks of training of near zero training (maybe 6 sessions total on an elliptical machine) and weight gain.

I started feeling able to run again on Friday and was thinking about running today's 5 km race. After what was supposed an easy 5:00/km jog yesterday would up being a killer 170+ heart rate killer slog 5:00/km jog, I was strongly reconsidering. It seemed I was fighting the latest daycare grunge and there was just no point in wasting the gas to get out to the race site and abadonning hubby and kids. Still and all, hubby had planned on watching them and I was already entered so I decided to go because you know.... you never know.

I got to the race site and promptly sat on a toilet in McDonald's for 10 minutes with massive stomach issues. Decided to go home. Realized that would mean no exercise today and reconsidered. Started to jog the course to warm up. Got to 2.5 km and was just so completely exhausted that I decided to walk back to the car and go home. I am usually pretty spot on about what my body can and cannot do (last race I thought I was in 40:30 shape and, I ran 40:30) and this time it felt like my body might not even finish. Thing is I had to walk past the start line to get to the car and at the start line I of course bumped into tons of people I know, hadn't seen in awhile and I got to chatting and before I knew it, I was taking off my sweats having forgotten in my distraction that I had decided not to run. That I had not, in fact, even completed my warm-up. By the time I remembered I wasn't running and had decided for the fourth time in 48 hours not to run, I was in the middle of the throng on the start line and the friend of a friend who had kindly volunteered to hold my sweats had disappeared with a promise to be at the finish line.

So I ran. I started off conservatively, 4:00 flat for the first km. Then I just started seeing tons and tons of ponytails ahead of me (the most effective way I know how to identify women runners in winter) and I kept thinking, well as long as I am here, I might as well pass that ponytail and score two more points for the series. Everytime I thought I would ease off and just coast in, another taunting ponytail would come into view. Bottom line, approximately 10 ponytails and 18 minutes and 54 seconds later I was at the finish line having run my second fastest 5 km since the birth of Thing 2 in complete shock. The last km was 3:30 spurred on by 3 ponytails (one of which got away).

This is an excellent reminder that sometimes the way one feels before the race has startling little correlation with the final result. The downside is that it can go the otherway as well - feel like Superwoman, run like Minnie Mouse. It was also very personally encouraging because as I have settled into working almost full-time again, it seems like for the forseeable future, training 4-5 times a week to the tune of 65/70 km per week is going to be all I can manage. It seems like it will be possible to get down to the kind of times I want to run with this amount of training if I was able to run 18:55 on substatially less training. Bring on the spring road race season!

A few observations on my training

Four runs this week, three of which were work-outs:

-5 X mile averaging 6:22
-5 X 1 km averaging 3:43
-10 km tempo 41:57

I thought I was going to just bounce right back into race shape but it looks like instead I will scratch and claw my way there. This is fine, having as I do not, any imminent racing goals.

I've noticed two things about my body lately, it is craving salt and when I say craving salt, I mean I am finishing off a jar of green olives and then DRINKING THE BRINE after work-outs. I am downing dill pickles and pretty much anything salty I can find. I almost shook the salt shaker into my mouth today before I talked myself down. As one of my friends used to call it "les rages de sel". Weird.

Also, you know how when you have owned a piece of running clothing long enough that you have run about ten thousand miles in it and it simply isn't possible to get it unstinky anymore? No matter how many times you wash it in hot water with extra soap it still comes out smelling slightly sweaty? That phenomenon is happening to me, only not with my clothing, with my actual body. Sexy.

Finally, unrelated aside, today on my run whilst pushing Thing 1 in the running stroller, she turned around to ask me why I was running. I told her simply because I like to run. She said, with her classic french grammar applied to english sentences: "I like not to run." Yeah, sometimes me neither. But today, rolling along at zero degrees celsius, listening to Thing 1 singing Le roi, la reine et le petit prince who was, best of all, THERE BY CHOICE, running was pretty sweet.

Race Report: About what I thought

40:28.
About what I thought the best case scenario would be.
Slight negative split (20:18, 20:10).
Rather cold, -12 deg C with thankfully only a small wind.

A few observations:
-running a 40:30 is just as hard as running a 36:30 if, in both cases, one is running to fitness.
-I forgot that winning is fun (has been awhile I guess). Yay win.
-Running makes me tired (a good tired)

Race preview: If you can't run fast, run smart

First off, sleep has been much, much better. Alternating night has brought me two nights of eight hours of sleep each (after the second, I hugged many of my co-workers upon arriving at the office and told them they could ask me for anything!). Also, I have not used any sleeping pills for the past three nights and so far, so good. Finally, on at least three occasions, Thing 2 woke up and put herself back to sleep in the middle of the night. So I am feeling optimistic on the sleep front. And to any new or prospective parent I might have scared or discouraged... I am sorry! I loathed being discouraged about sleep deprivation when I was pregnant and then a new mom and I hesitated writing about it just to avoid discouraging others (though I guess there is a difference btwn writing about it on one's blog and having someone come up to you and say "Congratulations on your new baby, are you ready to never sleep again?" which happened on more than one occasion). Anyhow my take home from this is that there is almost always a solution to problems like these, the solution inevitably comes with trade offs (not sleeping with hubby) but it is good to know that there are work-arounds. My other take home is that no matter how discouraging a particular behaviour is (waking up every 90 minutes or stripping naked and rolling on the floor in the subway), 99% of the time these behaviours are phases that pass.

So, 10 km race tomorrow - same one I do every year pregnant or not. After a foot injury, the flu, a cracked rib (torn intercoastal?) which still hurts and sleep deprivation I really have no idea what kind of 10 km shape I am in. And so, I did a "find my 10 km pace" work-out on Friday in which I ran 5 km warm-up followed by 4 km at a pace I felt I could hold for 10 km. That pace wound up being 6:36/mile otherwise known as 41 minutes for 10 km. Yikes. My guess is this is probably right around where I am at at the moment though if the stars lined up, I could perhaps pull off 40:30 and if things get ugly, it could go more like 42:30. It's a little discouraging but it's a start and as I said in the title, if I can't run fast (relative to my PB... sorry that title is really snooty... I mean fast relative to what I have run) I'll have to settle for running smart and trying to beat as many people as possible so I can win this series and get free entries again for next year!

Finally, random treadmill question: I have an amazing treadmill. It goes to 12.5 miles/hour and it a fitness club quality machine. Here's the problem, increasingly when I touch the panel at all during the run (i.e. to change speed or incline) the whole machine just dies, belt stops, display goes blank, as if I am shorting it out. It is much worse in the winter when the air is dry due to our heating system. It makes running intervals pretty much impossible or at least I have to re-start the treadmill after every interval. Also it means I have to commit to a speed and incline for the entire length of my run (which is actually a good thing in some ways since I tend to run too fast on my easy days on the treadmill out of sheer boredom). Anyone else have this issue? I figure I need to ground the treadmill but have no idea how. Just curious if this is a common problem.

It's amazing how...

... the suggestions and support of people on the internet can be so comforting and helpful. Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions yesterday. I slept in the basement, alone last night. It was bliss. I probably got about 8 hours of sleep. Heaven. Tonight is hubby's turn. We will continue in alternation until this "phase" is over.

Meanwhile I am also trying some other things - NO caffeine after 11 am. Loading up Thing 2 on cereal right before bed. Putting a bottle of milk in her crib so perhaps she could feed herself if she woke up (go ahead and laugh... I did too but there is a father at our daycare who swears that his 11 month old self feeds from a bottle in the middle of the night). Going to bed immediately after Thing 2 goes to bed to maximize amount of possible time for sleep. Speaking of which, bedtime.

Thanks again for the support.