My Ideal Sunday

Today began with a 10:30am Sunday run at Burnaby Lake. I met Tasha and Jules for a lap of the lake. Today's run was much shorter than a typical Sunday run because we're beginning to taper for the upcoming Pacific Series.  I must say this was a really enjoyable run, I hardly noticed my foot and the temperature was mild with a light misty rain. This off day run is one of the reasons I love to run! Three strong, fit and most importantly fast women nonchalantly making their way through the soft trails. It was carefree, we chatted the entire way and finished with some good stretching. It felt so good!

After the run I met up with Kaila and Natalie for brunch at Omelettery. We realized it's been about 3 years too long since all three of us have met up. We had to wait for about 40 minutes for a table but wow my denver omelette was worth the wait! It wasn't as good as my usual milestones brunch special but boy it sure came through in a very close second. After brunch I made my way to Bowen but before I hopped on the ferry I grabbed a Starbucks (as if I really needed more coffee but I couldn't resist). My latte was made with 2% instead of skim by accident and they gave me a free coffee card for next time (I love getting free stuff)! I finished the evening off with some core work and some much needed Bowen relaxing.  All and all I can't complain, it was a very lazy sunday.

Sore Foot all over again

I'm sitting here massaging my sore heel (I feel like I've wrote this before). It's not really terrible I mean I made it through the workout today with good times but I must admit to myself that my foot is really sore again. Today I laced up my racing flats, casting my beloved spikes to the side, and finished 3x5x200 in 29-30's.

My foot has been on the verge of being really sore..... again but I have been keeping it in-check until last Sunday. It happened when I tried to run 400's in my flimsy but fast racing spikes. The plan was to run 6 400's with decreasing times aiming for 65-66, 63's and 61's. I was to do them in sets of 2 with 90 seconds between reps and 4 minutes between sets. My workout didn't go according to plan. I finished my first 400 in 63 (oooops) and then 67 (ooops again). The next set was 63,65 followed by 65 and I was cut to a 300 in 49.

I find it so hard to do race pace stuff by myself and being solo on Sunday was no different. I was really disappointed after this workout, it should have been better but I feel like the effort was there but it's hard to get up on my toes and run fluid with constant foot pain. I feel as if my left hip, the hip taking most of my weight, is clunking and putting me at a mechanical disadvantage.

I'm still grateful to be able to run. Today was a confidence booster (especially compared to Sunday) I felt fast and my foot was manageable. I was forced to the elliptical sidelines earlier in the week so for the next while I need to be smart. I need to stay away from my racing spikes during practices and stick to my flats aka rubber boots. I'm looking forward to giving it all I got in the pacific series.

When did running on Bowen become so complicated?

When did running on Bowen become so complicated? I mean it’s been awhile since I’ve run consistently on the island but my years of experience on these trails should leave me feeling like I can do it with my eyes closed. 

The complication began with my evening run on Bowen. I didn’t run until dusk (8pm) because I was tired from an early morning run and spending the day on the EA set. I’m glad I waited because I felt great as I began with a lovely jaunt through the meadow and around the lake. When I came out of the lake I could hear this awful screeching sound. At first I thought nothing of it but as it got louder I looked up and saw two owls staring at me, waiting. I know it seems harmless but both my mom and dad have been clawed in the head by these nocturnal evil creatures. At one point they actually made my dad bleed and I’ve had my ponytail clipped.

I told them they weren’t going to get me this time. To protect my head I stopped and picked up a long, skinny stick in defence. I began waving it over my head while yelling  “aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.”  When all this commotion this did nothing (thank god nobody was around) the owls gave me a mocking glance of acknowledgement while leaving me no choice but to run past them. I went for it, I made whip like movements with the stick while yelling hiiii-ya, hiiiiii-ya. I did this for about five minutes, I was literally a crazy running lady with a stick, and when I was finally in the clear I cast the stick aside and sprinted for home.

The next day I began my long run relaxed. My legs felt a bit tight but my body felt good. I was really enjoying my run through the soft trails.Then out of nowhere about 20 minutes in I tripped over a root, fell flat on my face and rolled down a dirt hill. I was on the ground so fast but it felt like I was moving in slow motion. I had no control, I was falling and it was as if I could see myself. I was literally watching myself on TV fall but I was also in my own body.  It felt like one of those dreams where you're in control of your movements but at the same time you're also watching yourself move.  

I wasn’t hurt from my fall but I totally bruised my ego. I’m grateful nobody was around to see it. After about 3 minutes of feeling sorry for myself I told the universe to bring it on and finished my run as a dirty sweaty mess. See…..

UBC quasi-race

It took me two days to write about this UBC quasi-race. Although I'd like to pretend it didn't happen, it did and I learned so I feel compelled to share.  I was getting over travel to New York and I was happy to wake up feeling awake but my voice sounded terrible. It felt as if my glands were invading my vocal cords. As expected I've been feeling a bit tired since I got back from the NY. I think the terrible travel arrangements made me miss out on some much needed sleep and now I'm paying the price.

This tired from racing may be the case but I don't want to blame my bad race on being tried. I'm always tired. I heard an awesome quote from some coach in NY. He said flat out, "tired is not an excuse!" He went on to say, "what do you expect, you train hard every day. The only time you shouldn't be tired is during your two-week break after track season." 

I tend to agree with him, I let my fatigue and tight hips define my race. Sub-conciously I made the decision to give up before I started. When I was running I didn't feel great and I decided, I chose, to submit to my fatigue. I ran a strong 600 and slowed down with 200 to go. When I finished I felt as if I ran a hard interval during practice instead of a race. I finished up with 6x 200 in 28-29. I should have done better than this, I should have fought, terrible times feel terrible.

From now on I need to realize that running strong is a decision. It's a decision! You may not always have the best hand but it's important to take what you're dealt and run with it (pun totally intended...sorry ;) I'm choosing to run strong!

Travel home, early morning or a late night?

I was up at 3:30 am for my 7:30 am flight, I wanted give myself plenty of time pending terrible traffic . I also had no choice because this was the time the free shuttle was leaving. As it turns out my free shuttle was a limo – not to shabby for Rebecca.

It’s too bad I couldn’t really enjoy the limo because it was dark and I couldn’t shake the intense desire to sleep. In all, I got about three solid hours of sleep at the hotel which is not much but so much better than nothing.

It was funny, I felt like such an outsider as I went to meet my shuttle. There’s a reason why they call New York the city that never sleeps (I would not do well here). I think I was the only person who actually tried to get some sleep last night. The city was probably busier than it was during the day and the line-up at every road-side gyro stand was around the block.

When I travel alone I like to be early so if anything goes wrong I have time to figure it out. Lets just say I was early, I’ve been at gate 80 since 5 am. It's not all bad though despite being exhausted I just finished a venti non-fat Americano misto (the caffeine will not prevent me from sleeping) and I’m enjoying the free internet I managed to snag by sitting right beside the presidents club lounge.  I’m most defenately on the outside looking in but I have no shame and I’ll take whatever perks I can get.

Today is not a pretty morning by any means... see (refer to pict above) but I’m looking forward to getting back to beautiful Vancouver by 10am.

xo Becks

Adidas Grand Prix

This is the closest I’ve come yet to racing in a diamond league meet. I raced in an 800 at a diamond league meet but my race wasn’t at that standard. Thinking back on my race I’m optimistic and I’m strong but I gotta get my real fight back. I’m spending way too much time being passive, waiting too long to strike and getting myself boxed in. I should have won that race.

I felt good during warm-up and this was mostly due to the fantastic adjustment I had by the chiropractor the night before. I have been having a lot of stiffness in the front of my hips and it was really affecting my stride. I've had a lot of therapy for my hips but the focus has been on the front where the tightness is. It wasn’t until I had this deep adjustment to my left SI joint that I felt an almost immediate relaxation to my front left hip. It just goes to show you how everything is connected.

Back to the race, I felt strong at the start. We went out in 28 and unfortunately I went too far to the inside. It was windy so I though I would sit behind two girls and wait for an opening. The leaders slowed and we hit 61 for our 400 split, too slow and everyone caught up so we were in one big pack. Around 450 I should have started to speed up but I let the girl on my outside come up beside me and take my opening. I let her! I should have fought. By 200 it was 1:31/32 and I had to go wide. The leaders went and I tried to fight but not hard enough and finished in 2:04.02.

I had too much left at the end – this is relative to my normal down on the ground puking state. I need to get back there. To do this I needed to go earlier, around 350 I needed more time to fight. I feel great again I am back and I am strong so this makes me disappointed with my performance. I'm so grateful to be back here. During April and early May I would have killed to be in this place. 

 The only problem is now it's June and I need to run fast. To do this I need to be confident and take risks. Before my foot became really sore and I ran all the terrible 208’s, I told myself to go out in workouts harder than I thought I should and just see what happens. So that's the new plan it usually only feels slightly harder at the end. Anyways, 201 is my goal and I see it everywhere. I look at the clock, it’s 201, on cash at lulu total 201. It’s time to fight for it and get back there. Every race is a chance, every race is an opportunity!


xoxo
Becks

Start Spreading the News....NY NY

I’m on the road again it’s a little bumpy and kinda scary. Being 30 000 feet up and feeling like the plane might drop out of the sky makes it hard to relax but as I write this I’m sending mental messages to the plane and to god to not let that happen. It’s way too beautiful we just passed through the clouds and I’m appreciating a lovely sunset of pinks and blues. I’m Heading to New York for the Adidas Grande Prix.  I am so excited to be in this race, I got in thanks to my Occidental meet performance and I’m going to appreciate every moment!

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride over these last few weeks. I’ve had some great workouts and some practices where I was forced to go easier than I wanted to. I’m looking at my last week as a forced extended taper that will make me feel fantastic in the race. I was really trying to listen to my body this week by sleeping and going easy so that whatever was making me feel stiff and exhausted would clear itself up.  It’s hard to go easier than I would like because I feel like I’ve been losing fitness but I believe this's necessary if I wanted to feel good this weekend.

I’m feeling better now, I realized that in these last two days my neck has become a lot thinner and a lot less painful.  It's weird that waking up with swollen glands was normal. I’m taking this neck reduction as a good sign and I’m using the workouts I did well in the two weeks prior to my taper to prove that I’m ready to race. 

xo Rebecca

Fighting Foggy Fatigue

I realize it's past 3pm on a Sunday and I'm still waiting to workout. Something in me disguised as this cloudy fatigue feeling is telling me to hold off.  I feel as if my body is putting in a huge fight protecting me against myself. My mind knows an important race is coming up and it's hyper-sensative to the fact that I've flipped a switch, I'm am able to run strong, but I'm not feeling 100%.

Workouts for the most part have been going well but they've felt harder than they should. This is probably because I was not resting and fighting thrush (in my throat). Either way when I'm not at my best I know it because my glands cyclically go up and down and my legs feel extra stiff at the hip joint. I've had good times through most of my runs but I've been pushing through stiff legs over the past two weeks.

It was last thursday at the hill when my invincibility caught up with me. I'll admit it, I'm over-worked and I know it. I've done everything I can to help my legs feel better: stretch, chiro, massage, ice. Everything that is, except listening to my body and resting. This brings me back to why I'm still sitting on the couch at 3pm.   I love my job but three evening shifts a week + travelling +racing + TRAINING = too much for me.  It's time for a realization and intervention before I find myself in the deep-rooted fatigue that became my last year.

The fact that I can admit I'm doing too much is a step in the right self discovery direction but I still seem to get myself in this place time and time again. Will I ever learn?  My goal this year should be so simple: to take it easy and not become overworked (which leads to overtired). Why is it so hard?

I partially believe my A-type personality is to blame. I realize this isn't an adequate excuse, I like to think of myself as a smart-ish type person who can see past the end of their own nose, but intrinsically I can't let myself do anything half-assed. Working part-time feels like a cop-out. I can't stand to feel like I'm not as involved as I possibly could be. Maybe A-type isn't the only thing to blame this time, maybe the real reason I find myself here again is the fear of running failure. It's kinda pathetic but maybe subconsciously I fill my life up with obligations so that if I don't run fast enough at least I'll have an excuse.

Whatever the reason I've had enough of this self-sabotage! When I feel good I know I can run fast. I know! I am strong and I can fight. The secret is I have to feel good to fight so this is my new plan of attack: address job situation by going down to 1 or 2 shifts a week, develop a social media plan so I can still be involved with the store but off my feet. For now this will be the plan, I know that if I address my work worries other things will fall into place. I know I can have a good race, this will be an easy/tapper week followed by a couple weeks of hard training. It's all coming together I'm feeling motivated, slightly less worried and I'm going to run as hard as I can!

xo Becks

Sore throat the usual culprit

It's been a lot of good running since I last posted but unfortunately I'm overly exhausted from it. I know why which is a relief but I shouldn't be as weak/tired as I feel. It started with this terrible sore throat - my usual culprit. I always have sore throats when the training gets tough so at first I though nothing of it. For about 4 days before the cali race I took it easier than normal to try and get over it. After I got back my throat got worse and it took me four or five days to realize this was a new one. The pain was different because it didn't change. My typical throat injury sees my glands go up at the end of the day as I become tired and after a good night's sleep I wake up back to normal. This cyclic motion wasn't the case, in this situation the pain was constant and my neck was stiff. I was forced to move my head slowly in every direction or face a painful slap. I decided to go to the doctor.

The doctor literally took a one second look into my throat and asked if I had asthma. My immediate response was CRAP! Ha, I said crap to the doctor! I knew I had thrush (in my throat). To avoid this infection a requirement of my breathing medication is to rinse out your mouth after ever use. I do this everyday but somehow it wasn't good enough (story of my running life ;)

I left the doctor feeling somewhat relieved, pissed but relieved because there was an answer to my fatigue. I've been taking the medicine for a few days now and it's working. I can shoulder check with less pain but I'm still feeling weak after hard workouts. I'm still grateful despite being tired because my track work is going well and my foot is holding up. For now it's lots of good sleeps and fast dreams.

xo
Becks