Runners Questionnaire

So as these questionnaires tend to make their way around the blogosphere, I found this one over at Living Mint Green, and thought, that looks fun.

1. Would you rather run along a beach path or along a mountain trail?

This is a tough question, because in my mind, beaches are for sand and sun and swimming. And a mountain trail, well that's hiking not running right? (and I know, you can trail run, but I'd rather take it slower and take it all in). But I do love running alongside water, particularly fresh water. Here in Calgary I mostly run on the river paths. The photo above shows the water front in my home town, Sault Ste. Marie, where I ran a 10 km last summer, alongside the shores of the St. Mary's River.

2. If you could choose the flavour of Gatorade at your next race’s aid station, what would it be?

Water, the flavour I prefer is water. In fact I steer clear of sports drinks in general. As for the most part our bodies are actually incredible at maintaining hydration through quite a lot of exercise. If you're interested, CBC Marketplace did a great evaluation of sports drinks and the 'need' for them last year. (read about it here) And found that generally your kidneys are great, and although you might lose water volume, your blood electrolytes and glucose don't change at all during about an hour of heavy exercise. In fact they found in an elite cyclist, it took over two hours of intense cycling before there was a measurable drop in electrolytes or glucose. Add to that the fact that most sports drinks have more sugar than soda and more salt than french fries and no thanks! So if I'm running 15 km or less, it's just water for me, thank you very much. And when I've done my two half-marathons? I grabbed a half banana from the halfway point aid station.

3. If I gave you a $100 gift card to a running store, what would be the first thing that you would purchase with it?

I'd take it to Lululemon for sure.... even though I clearly don't need anything else from there.

4. Do you prefer to follow a training plan or wake up and then decide how far and fast you want to run?

I wish I could sit down and follow a training plan, but I haven't managed to commit seriously to one yet. So I am for sure more of a just go out and run kind of runner.


5. Would you rather start your run with an uphill and end on the downhill or start your run with a downhill and end with an uphill?

I usually prefer the uphill to be in the middle of my run, if it's right at the beginning, I may not be warmed up enough, and I may push too hard, and then the rest of the run goes to crap. If it's at the very end I just want to cry. So the middle is very good.

Here I am smiling despite have just trudged up the hill behind me on km 9 of a 10 km run.

6. When you can’t run, what kind of cross-training do you do?

Yoga. I have flirted with kickboxing/martial arts in the past as well. And what ever workouts Kevin puts me through at the gym, which usually leave my body feeling like jello the next day.

7. What is your preference – out and back, point to point or loop runs?

Loop runs for sure, and the running paths along the rivers here and Calgary are perfect for this. Run down one side, cross on one of many pedestrian bridges. Run back along the other side. It's almost like a there and back, but the paths are different on either side.

8. If you could recommend ANY running related item to a new runner, it would be…?

Oh my Body Wallet from The Running Room for sure. It's simple. there's no velcro to fiddle with, it stays in place and it doesn't get too sweaty and gross. I hate having things on me when I run, and usually never bring a phone or ipod. But just before my first half, I new I wanted to run with music, and with a 10 min/1 min timer, so I needed something to keep my ipod on me. And this is the perfect simple solution. Plus just throw it in the wash after a race!

9. Do you ever see wild animals while out for a run?

Of course, Alberta's dog-sized jack rabbits are everywhere in this city.

10. Ever gotten lost while out on a run? 

Not a chance.... no picture for this one either.

11. If you could have one meal ready and waiting for you each time you got home for a run for the next 30 days, what would that be?

(image source)

Oh a smoothie bowl for sure, with some added protein and tones of granola on top!

12. Capris or shorts…what do you run in most often?

I do wear my shorts to run quite a bit....even tho I have to admit, I do get chafing between my legs....so you know that's fun.

13. At what mile (or how many minutes) into your run does your body start feeling like it’s warmed up and ready to go?

Once I get past the first 2 km, I get into a grove. Sometimes that first km makes my body cry out with "you could be sitting on a couch! why are you doing this crazy thing." You just have to get past that, then it feels great.

Yeah this picture has nothing to do with this question, but I'd rather sit there than on any couch, no matter how comfortable.

14. What do you do with your key when you run?

Sometimes in my pony tail, sometimes in my bra, sometimes in a pocket... but only if I know I can trust that pocket.

For instance, I one trusted this pocket to my two keys, and it took then about 2 km to wear a hole in the mesh and fall out. Which I didn't notice but luckily I was running on a busy path and a nice lady grabbed them and stopped me.

15. If you could relive any race you’ve done in the past, which would it be?

   
Maybe color me rad... because it's only 5 km, and all just for fun, and you can drink in the beer garden before and after your race, and then throw coloured powder at people, and have purple snot, and there was a band too. So maybe next summer, especially if I can get Kevin to do it with me.

Besides, I already have the fanny pack.         


That's all for now folks! Happy Thursday, the weekend is so close now!

Sunday Morning Free Yoga at Lululemon Market Mall: Barre Body

Yesterday I attended my first Free Yoga class at a lululemon store. I guess I decided that I spend enough money there, I should start taking advantage of some of their perks. So I rolled up my mat and headed to Market Mall before it opened. Only I didn't quite realize that it wasn't going to be a Yoga class this week. Instead, Marlo from Barre Body Calgary lead us through a tough/amazing class aimed at toning our arms and glutes... Needless to say she had my muscles shaking before the hour was out.

I might just have to give Barre Body a try sometime in the near future. It was a great mix-up for someone with past ballet experience like me. The plies, especially in 2nd position really brought me home and made me work. The arm series tho, it was a challenge to say the least, I think I had my arms collapsing to my side about as much as I could keep them up. But then maybe that's an indication that I should start working them harder on my own?

Has anyone tried a Barre class, or Barre Body  in Calgary? Let me know what you thought about it in the comments.

St. Patrick's Day Road Race 2013

Last Monday as I was sitting at the myograph in the lab, browsing the internet while running experiments, I spontaneously signed myself up (last minute) for the St. Partick's Day 10km Road Race. Although I haven't been doing a tonne of running lately, I thought I'd have no problem with 10km. The weather had been beautiful for the last week, it felt like spring was on the way and I thought, why not.

The second I finished registering, and payed for it, Nature decided to screw me over. The beautiful spring weather began heading out of town, and by Saturday night I was wondering what I had been thinking.

Source: theweathernetwork.com via Sara on Pinterest

This was the weather I woke up to, at 7am Sunday morning. Feels like -22'C (that's -7.6'F), with gusting winds and tonnes of snow. Needless to say, the race I had happy-go-lucky signed up for, was turning out to be one I'd not forget.

I don't do a lot of winter running outside. Correction I really don't do any. Living here in Calgary, it's possible to run sporadically outside in winter only during chinooks when the sun is out, the paths are clear and it's relatively quite warm. I have never run in actual snow. So I made the choice and decided I'd rather over dress for the race than underdress!

Bundled up in 3 pairs of pants (lulu leggings, a pair of loose pj's, lulu track pants). 3 shirts (underarmour cold gear, and two long sleeve lulu's) 2 pairs of socks (regular and soccer socks) a wind breaker and a poofy vest, plus running gloves, a big pair of mittens and a thin cotton scarf, I was ready to brave the cold. By the end of the race I'd be carrying an extra 9.2lbs of cloths, sweat and snow with me (I know because I weighed myself with and without as soon as I got home)!

Trying to keep warm before the race, runner's were invited to dress up for St. Pats, I opted in favour of dressing only to keep warm. As for the run itself, by the end of the first kilometer I had a real idea of how much more effort running on loose snow is. Despite the beautiful route along the Elbow River reservoir, I spent little of the race enjoying the scenery. You had to constantly watch your footfalls for hidden black ice under the 2 inches of snow. Also my glasses were fogged over from my breath for most of the run.

This was also my first time running with music. Normally I hate being distracted by earbuds popping out and the cords bouncing around, but I figured with the headband to keep em in place, and the cords run down under my vest, maybe it be worth a little musical motivation.

Me after crossing the finish line. Your can see the ice frozen to my face, there's nothing like having to constantly wipe snot-icicles away. This photo, courtesy of Neil Zeller Photography, you can see the rest of his race day photos here.

All in all, Sunday was certainly not a personal best time for me, however it may be one of my proudest runs. Sure I've done some crazy stuff in winter before, jumping through the ice in the annual Bon Soo Polar Bear Swim, is just one of them. But I was truly proud for not quitting, for getting out there and running, by myself and despite the stupid weather. Also, I was only 7 minutes slower than my 10km personal best; pretty good considering I haven't run more than 7km distances in months, and of course the weather. It's a great feeling to know that the level of personal fitness I am at is sufficient to get up and run 10km, with really no preparation, and to feel good afterwards. Of course maybe all that really means is it's time to start getting serious about that looming half marathon goal.

What have you done recently that you are proud of? What goals do you have set for the next couple months?

A Three in One Day

Yesterday I was a three in one day.

I woke up bright and early and headed to my MMA boot camp class up in the North East. 45min of early morning sweating that included TRX, throwing punches and smashing up an old punching bad with a sledge hammer.

Ok except I don't really hate it, it's been lots of fun and empowering so far!

Then after a long day of fun at the passport office, in the lab and TAing I went to my first Hatha style yoga class. And let me tell you, it was a great way to de-stress and relax (excellent way to round out a week). I haven't been to a yoga class in a while, and 30 seconds into shavasana I knew how much I missed it. Good thing I've activated my Passport to Prana and can start hitting up studios all over Calgary.

Sometimes you really need to take some time to just breath.

Finally after a chicken quesadilla and a beer for dinner at Moose's, Kev and I decided to work it off by doing the deck of cards workout. I saw this one on the Biggest Loser a couple weeks ago, and if you read Nut Case In Point, then you'll know Jen's been rocking this workout lately too!

Unlike Jen, who usually does two rounds, we were killed after one.

For ours, these were the exercises we did:

Hearts: Burpees

Diamonds: Ball Pass (video how to)

Spades: Jump Squats

Clubs: Pushups

If you are unfamiliar with this workout, the aim is to work your way through a deck of cards, doing the card's number of each exercise, face cards worth 10 and aces are 11. Just for fun, we through the jokers in and had to hold a plank for as long as possible each time they came up.

What I have to say, if you work your way through at a respectable pace, one set will exhaust you, in an awesome way. And if you're like me, and did all three of these workouts yesterday, your arms/shoulders/armpits/back/abs/legs will be hurting for it today.

Have you tried this new card game yet? I think its a great idea, especially to make up for using cards only for drinking games all this time.

Spartan Race Calgary 2012

Yesterday I woke up bright and early, thru on some pink spandex and black paint, and got ready to sweat in the sun.

The spartan race had come to Calgary, and I, the boy, and countless foolish others, signed ourselves up for 5km of hot misery under a cloudless sky. The course featured flames to leap, walls to climb, bricks to drag, more hills and mud than a person ever needs. Oh and burpees....every time you failed a task you did 25 burpees...I did 50.

Nothing will make you feel prouder tho than being able to carry a sand bag up and down a near vertical hill, low crawling under like 50m of barbed wire (getting your pony tail tangled in barbed wire is less than fun) and high stepping through waist deep mud. So even tho I didn't have the fastest time (the boy was a true gentleman and stuck with my dragging ass the whole race to make sure I didn't keel over and die) and even tho I was woefully under prepared.....and even tho I got a mean case of sun stroke and spent the evening in a shivering huddle....

I still feel incredibly proud to have came, and ran, and overcome everything they threw at me. I can call myself a spartan!

Now to spend the rest of today getting mud off my things and prepping for a committee meeting tomorrow.

What did you overcome this weekend?

Sexier on Saturdays : Dailymile!

Alright...so I haven't Zumba'd as much as I promised. In my defense it was really....really cold this week, so when I got home at night I took food to my bed, and a cocoon of blankets, and called it a day.

On the other hand, I spend 10km moving my ass this week! My friend Sarah and I have committed to the half marathon goal together.

We are holding each other accountable.

And so we went forth and ran, on 3 separate occasions this week.

I'm tracking it all on Daily Mile.

This is a pretty accurate summary of my 2011 physical fittness. Sure I did some hiking, played some ultimate Frisbee, and ran on like 3 separate occasions. But over all it's fair to say a whole lot of zeros.

So anyways, if you're on dailymile, come say hello. If you're not, but are interested in taking up something like running, check it out, and if you're like "the title of this post made me hope to see a hot chick in a bathing suit" well then maybe you're at the wrong place, but if you stick around long enough that hot chick will be me!

Get Sexier on Saturdays

Ok, so tis the new year, and as such, I'm sure I'm not the only one resolving to get a little (a lot) more in shape.

Lose a few pounds.

Run a half marathon this year.

Straight up get sexier.

Like Victoria Secret Sexier.

Not to sure how to go about growing the 12 foot wing span tho. But you get the point. Look like you could just throw on leopard panties, a scarf round your tits and some 15 000 peacock feathers at a moments notice. And rock it.

So how does this relate to my trip to Cosco tonight you might ask?

Well they had Zumba Fitness 2, for the Wii there, and I picked it up, brought it home, and proceeded to sweat my hypothetical balls off for the next 26minutes.

 So all you have to do is strap your wii remote to you waist (belt included) push your coffee table out of the way. Open you patio door all the way (if you don't want the Birkram Yoga studio feel). And dance your butt into shape.

There's the option to do Short (20min) Med (?) and Long (?) classes (you can see which one I did) or select and individual song (which I did first).

Review, after one go, holy hot! it does certainly get you moving ladies and gents. Con, you can't pause in between songs to do things like run to the fridge to refill your glass, or open your patio door. Another con, my sofa snuck up on my twice, and almost took me out both times. (I thought zumba was a non contact sport?) Is it as good as say The Xbox Kinect Dance Central 2 (which I tried over the holidays)? Not really, it's not so accurate at picking up your moves, just hopes the wii remote is bouncing in at the same beat as the on screen character is bouncing, and didn't pick up some moves all together. Also the belt rides up your waist.

But I'm glad I bought it, it still resulted in me getting my sweat on, and my shirt off, so alls good!

Game plan, do a class every day this week. I'll let you know how that went for me next "get  sexier on Saturdays".

Cheers!