Category: running

Logistics

Clothes and shoes. Day 67

I’m not running today because I need a time off to recover and to be ready for the coming weekend long run. I could run but my muscles are a bit tired. My total distance done during last 4 weeks is 33 miles out of 100 miles planned. I definitely need to do better. I have about 12 weeks left.

What I have been up to the last few days? Running has so many minor non-running tasks to do. I have been scheduling races. I got all the big races taking care of but my 5k and 10k races are still up in the air. I looked at the days and all and I will do about 10 or 12 of those. The first one is in Feb. 

About being up in the air, I am looking at hotels and airfare to Seattle which will be my first race far far away (in July). I booked a hotel for the first 4 days but I plan to stay additional days in Vancouver, and that part hasn’t been covered yet.

Also been looking for water bottles and camel pack for runners. Not just normal bottles, which I do have many around, I like some kind that you could carry handfree – some kind of strap.  They are expensive. I am picking between the quiver type (like arrows), vs the normal camel pack. I like a Nathan set. And an Ultimate Direction. And Orange Mud. I hate choices because I don’t know which ones I like best. I might end up buying all three.

I haven’t looked into shoes. The last race messed up my shoes so I need a new pair for racing and another pair for practice. This year, taking on a few ultras, I definitely need couple pairs of trail running shoes. Shopping time.

Cold

Some of us had a day off yesterday in the US for Martin Luther King’s Day. I did. So I had no excuse but to run on my day off. I did two 6 miles run by spitting my 12 miles run into two segments. Yesterday was even colder than Monday. I ran in the morning when I got up and again at dinner time when the sun was setting. The morning run was harder. I guess I am not a morning person. I think I completed it in two hours. It was cold. My eyelids were almost frozen shut. The evening run was much better. I did it in half the time. Apparently I didn’t get tired. Maybe I had warm up and had plenty of food in me. I was in my good old self – the one I like. I didn’t run fast but I felt so much strength and energy in me. I stopped about half mile short from my end point though because my hip, left side this time, didn’t feel quite right.

As I ran, I reflected how lucky I was that my body healed up. I didn’t even remember which of my ankle was weaker (left I think). Both were pretty strong. I had a problem with my right hip a month ago and now the problem was gone. But I guess I jinxed it. My left hip now felt kind of weird, almost like what my right hip was a month ago. It felt like it wants to fall off. So I cancelled my run toward the end. I woke up today and the discomfort was still there. It won’t prevent me from running tonight, but I wish it wouldn’t cause me problem.

Temperature was -12C this morning. I was glad I overslept and didn’t run. This evening will be warmer. It will climb back to 35 ish and tomorrow 50 (F). Sorry about the unit of switching between C and F, when it is below freezing I like to use centigrade so the number would be too scary (like yesterday I was told wind chill was 0 F, and that is scary, I prefer to think of it was only -8C).

Day 66

Hmmm

Yes it was cold. We have the coldest temperature this winter. -8 C today. To some this might be normal (like those in New England or many other parts of the country), and we are a bunch of whiners. But amazingly I ran. I think the harder the condition the more I want to run outside. It was so refreshing.

I am still battling myself to find the will to do my training run. I do love running very much. I know I do. I do not find running to be tedious at all. But there have been way too many things going on for me and I have negret my running. I think the hardest thing for me is to commit in my mind the first thing I have to do for the day is to run. Many times in recent days my heart was trouble or distracted by many things and I couldn’t commit.

I am frustrated that I couldn’t focus or commit. Weird for me to say it but yes running require a strong determined will at least for me… It has been lacking lately. It wasn’t having lack of time issue. For me, time will follow once I set the priority. I am struggling with most is choices. I can’t decide what to do if I am given with a choice. Any way, I have been quite lazy with my runs.

Once I don’t have the will, I tend to put off the run from the first thing in the morning to late afternoon, to late evening and usually it ended out with no more time left to run. It is just hard to muster the will.

I had a very cold run this Sunday. It was a run I have been ‘putting off’ because I want to have the optimal time to run. In the end, I realized the optimal time was now when the sun was setting and my tummy is rumbling (not really, but it was near my dinner time).

I was just so fess up with not having the right time. I decided to go out any way and ran. I realize that there is never a convenient time to run. Every time I go out to run, I have to sacrifice something. There is always something I need to do more. So if it means giving up eating dinner at dinner time, so be it. If it means running in the cold, so be it. I just have to layer up. If it means running in the dark, bring a flashlight or headlamp.

Was the sacrifice too much? Do I go too far out of the way to run? There is never a good time to run at least for me. There is never a perfect place for me to run. There is never good condition to run. I needed to tell myself that to get  out the door today. Only thing I need is to be outside on my feet. At least my mind always makes up too many excuses. Yes I have too much going on with me. I just only want a quiet life and only thing I have to do is to run without distraction.

I was glad I could run and it felt very good.

Day 65

Review 19.02

Day 60 / Second Review – “December Update”

The last 30 days came and  disappeared like a flash. I blogged another 30 days! The highlight was the 31 miles (50K) race completed. You can read all about it in the race report. Before the race I didn’t think I was prepared enough. I, at the time, had no idea how I could run another 5 miles on top of running a 26 miles. Then there were all kinds of panic at the last minute regarding the weather not being optimal on the race day. In the end these fears were moot. The race went well. I did finish, and that all it mattered. Continue reading “Review 19.02” →

Expectation

I would like to believe that I am somehow better than last year in term of having greater endurance after completed all those marathons. I can tough through anything. Anyhow these last few weeks after my marathon (wow almost a month now), I am feeling very lethargic and it brought me down a notch. I would like to think that I am just unmotivated or even lazy. And I would like to blame my body. I don’t know. Probably both. I made a lot of excuses on not running but probably my body isn’t ready yet to run. Continue reading “Expectation” →