Running on Empty

I don't know if it is a lack of maturity, sheer laziness, or just lack of desire, but I have never for the life of me been inspired to eat properly. In the past I think I generally took in enough of the right nutrients just because of the sheer volume of food I was eating, but when i'm not training hard I think I am chronically undernourished. The year before last I started to read the Chris Charmichael book and started to pick a few things up but I have long since regressed into my poor diet. I just really can't bring myself to it. The main problem is I just don't get the satisfaction out of food that other people do, I think anyway. The brief moments of eating food, even when it tastes good just never becomes the payoff that inspires me to spend the time preparing it. I realize there are some quick and easy good meals out there, and I suppose I should just learn them, but even then I don't get any enjoyment out of going to the grocery store and finding the ingredients. Anyway I am just writing nonsense because I always come to the same conclusion, I need to get off my lazy ass and respect my body more and just fuckin learn it as much as I loathe it. Yes I said loathe. So I think this time I am just going to jump into it and hope it sticks, like actually go out this week end and cook some meals for the week, lunches and what not, plan the meals to make during the week, buy the damn ingredients and all that bullshit haha. I suppose I should commit myself to a month of it and see if the benefits convince me to stick with it. I have been living on my own for 10 years, bout time I got with the program. For whatever reason I have comment moderation on, so i'm going to turn it off and if anyone has some good advice or recipes that are quick and easy, feel free to spill some knowledge out!

TIRED

Not sure if its the running or if I am depressed, probably both. One of the worst things about getting back in shape is that a 35min run actually takes quite a bit out of you, sad, but true. I have been running every other day for 35-45mins and it has been pretty great in general, but totally crashing later in the day. I am really looking forward to my body adjusting to the load, and hopefully naturally adjusting to the increased calorie demands.

I met up with the group on saturday which was really nice. It has been months, many months, since I have met up with them and its great to see not much has changed. There are a few new faces(to the group), and it was good just to see everyone who I haven't been able to connect with in a long time. Of course I could only chat with them on the warm up because I had to take up the rear, and only for half the workout! The good and bad thing about that was the fact that it didn't much bother me that I was back there! I suppose I didn't mind it because I can accept where my fitness level is, but it would have been nice if a little part of me wished I was up there with Steve and Richard.....oh well, i'll give it some time. And in all fairness even when I was fit last spring I had a hard time keeping up to them in the park. Regardless, I am enjoying the return and looking forward to being able to do a long run one of these days.

Sucker for Punishment

Last semester I decided in the first week of classes that I would transfer out of a course I needed to re-take and into the hardest course I have taken to date. This more or less set me up for a super busy fall. Turns out masochism extends beyond running because I am doing it to myself again. OK, not nearly as bad but I am now transferring from a 6 credit course involving a thesis paper(with quite a bit of overlap) and a lot of discussion into two math classes. The drawback isn't so much the work involved but the interest level. Anyhow, this time around running will not be sacrificed, which brings me to today.

I have been running now for about 14 years or so but it still always shocks me how great it feels when you start up again after a layoff. Even though I am sore and tired, I am just happier, and feel better all around. I may not get into great shape over the next few months but my number one goal will be to remain consistent and stay in touch with that feeling which often dissipates as you start grinding through training. Today I was up to 40mins in the pouring rain and really enjoyed it despite the slightly sore calves, hamstrings, groin, left compartment.....the list goes on! It is going to be nice to be light and fluid again that is for sure. Goal for the week: meet up with the group on sunday and do 45mins, ambitious I know....

Day One...

OK, this is legit.

I almost can't believe myself this time but really, today I have started running. Not training, running. After a slack summer of passive healing and low motivation and an impossibly busy fall I dusted off the tights and running shoes and headed out into the cool evening air. Sounds nice so far right, but it was pretty uncomfortable, no major pains, a little discomfort in the left compartment, and some gut discomfort but on the whole, not bad, until this joker in track pants and a hoodie decided to chase me! I wasn't going fast by any means and I actually said 'good work' when he went by because he dogged me for at least a mile then moved past me at a decent clip. I'll give him some credit, but he didn't need to kick me when i'm down, ha! Anywho, it was really nice to get out there and clear out the lungs. It actually made me remember how painful it was not to be training in the fall, which is my absolute favorite time to run. I'll have to make the best of the winter months when it isn't raining and snowing, however on Richard's orders i'll be easing into things nice and slow. At this point and probably no where in the near future do I have any racing goals, but will focus on becoming consistent, healthy and enjoying the sport. It is pretty safe to say i'll do the Sun Run and the Times Colonist because they are a couple of my favorite runs out there, but not necessarily race them, and I am going to have to make a decision on registering for the Knee Knacker pretty soon.

In other news, I am well into this semester and busy as ever, but looking forward to classes where I can delve a little more into my interests. I would say most people, myself included tend to learn easier and with more depth when you get to learn about something you have a vested interest in, and something that is more or less tangible.

Well that is about all for now, I am really looking forward to the next few months of a little better balance in life, and also meeting up with the group for some weekend and perhaps even weekday runs since I have relatively few afternoon commitments. I hope the holidays treated everyone well. Happy trails!

Summer Sabbatical

Well as per usual I took the summer off from running and gained about 10 lbs. Oops. It was a great summer of school, the beach and riding around on my fixie but its now the fall and time to get back down to it. I have a really tough semester coming up but had a great 3 week vacation back home to Kitimat and over to Haida Gwaii, which was a good refresher. This morning I laced up the shoes and ground out a 30min run that was exactly that, a grind. My body was not pleased nor were my lungs, I am heavy and out of shape, a little bike riding really doesn't do much of anything to stay even in modest shape. I am somewhat excited to get in shape again although the time constaints wont make it easy, I am setting a goal of not embarrassing myself at BC cross, and I mean to do that by doing some hill work during the week and a long run on the weekend. Hills are the best bang for your buck and it just so happens I go to school on a small mountain so that works out reasonably well. Here we go.

The Itch

Well it took a good 3 weeks for the itch to come back. And today I scratched it till it bled.

Today was my long day of school, 5 hours straight fight to stay awake, and when I got home I decided to go for a nice easy 5 mile jog. But when I got over to the second narrows bridge I ended up crossing it running to the lions gate bridge and into the west end to my girlfriends place hoping she would be home and I wouldn't have to tack on another 35mins. Thankfully she was there but I still had to ride my bike home from there which takes about 20mins going hard. So it was a pretty tough go on the whole but I enjoyed it, its so nice to just go out and pick a goal and suffer it out. It certainly doesn't lend to consistency but as a way to get back into running it is always fun to do. Although I am officially back to running I haven't really thought of any goals right now and just going to take it day by day. The next fun thing is going to be the bike races on July 8th I think, time to get my sprint on, its going to be a blast.

Change of plans, or cancellation

Well the evening after the race last week I realized the wedding I am best man at is on July 4th, which means racing in Kelowna on July 5th is not an option. That being the 5th of the 5 timex races I need means there is no need for me to bother racing every weekend 4 weeks in a row. Which is why I didn't do the Sandcastle 10k yesterday and won't be doing the UBC 5k next sunday. So basically that is the end of any racing plans in the near future. Things have been pretty rough over the last couple of months and struggling with minor injuries is really played out so we have decided to just get healthy over the next month and get into training consistenly over the summer then get into serious training again come september. I think the goals for the fall will be to get a fast 10k in, maybe go to Ottawa for national 10k champs, and to try and have a cross country season. I know I decided last fall I was compltely over cross, but I want to give it a proper try this fall, I feel like there is some unfinished business there of some kind. I can't really imagine going all summer with just running and not racing at all so I think at some point i'll find a trail race or two to get into and keep things interesting.

In other news, I put a fixed gear rear wheel on my bike and have been doing quite a lot of riding around town. It is really strange at first because you always have to keep your legs moving, no coasting, and it ends up feeling kind of similar to running because you have no gears or extra moving parts just the mechanical advantage(and disadvantage) of one gear. Basically is it like the sprint bikes you see in the velodrome, so once you get a couple turns in you can really get moving super fast and it is a ton of fun to ride. I am actually hoping to get some racing in on the bike this summer, no training, just using my funning fitness which should be fun. There are some races around town that are informal and fun social events that I am going to check out.