Author: hoodieruns

hoodie has been MIA in more ways than just blogging

/ hoodieruns / 1 Comment
the last three weeks have just disappeared into a blackhole of… um. I don’t even know how to describe it. they are just gone.

work has been wretched lately. big deadlines and conflicting project schedules. long hours. boo hoo poor me. I’m gainfully employed with a great group of people and a great company and there shouldn’t be an excuse there but work has really been at the root of me not getting anything else done lately.

as Koach Koala can attest, my attendance and commitment to Koala’s workouts has been lackluster, shitty in fact, in the last two weeks. I’ve haven’t made any beach volleyball games yet. haven’t been running on my own. energy levels have been low. I’ve been eating like an American.

lastly, i’m stretched way too thin. see my weekly schedule below. note that it doesn’t include the other workouts for koalas.

current wkly schedule:
mon – golf (7 more weeks)
tues – koalas run
wed – koalas bike
thurs – beach vball
fri – soccer
sat – long bike
sun – long run, baseball

something has got to give so…

proposed wkly schedule:
mon – golf (7 more weeks)
tues – koalas run
wed – koals bike
thurs – free (sub for vball when needed)
fri – soccer
sat – long bike
sun – long run, baseball

that minor thursday tweak, + a recommitment to getting my workouts in, + new badass red highlights, + new bike shoes that don’t make my feet fall asleep + better eating = kicking ass and taking names.

in other news, because I really just cannot slow down…

I’m an official tester for Agion Active (http://www.stinkatnothing.com/)!

this is me in my special test shirt at my volleyball tournament a couple weeks ago (isn’t that a hawt double chin?!):

one half of it is treated with Agion Active and the other half isn’t.
from their website:
“Agion Active is the latest in stink technology for apparel and gear and is so new it’s not even on the market yet. The patented system is built into apparel and will eliminate odor from any source.”
Agion Active isn’t a clothing company – they make this awesome anti-stink stuff and it WORKS.
no joke. I sweated all day in that shirt, balled it up in a backpack and then pulled it out two days later and wore it for Koala’s run practise. one side was a bit smelly, other side… nothing. up next: hot yoga. my yoga mat is stank so if this shirt doesn’t get stinked up from it… it’ll be a miracle. as part of my testing I don’t really plan to wash the shirt, just to see what happens. will keep you posted! FYI – ME, always the voice of reason said it would be bad to wear the shirt everyday for a month for every activity as one side of it IS NOT treated. point taken.
I’ve also signed up for my races this summer:
Gravenhurst – sprint du – July 17-18
Bracebridge – sprint du – Aug 7-8
Wasaga – sprint tri – Sept 11 > I kinda just signed up for this one without looking at how far I’d have to swim. this sucker is 750m. oops. guess I’ll be hitting the pool.
and one last thing. I’ve got a four day bootcamp for PMP coming up in June. I have to study for an exam and I have to have work sheets done and a bunch of stuff memorized by then! dude. I haven’t written an exam in years and haven’t had to memorize anything since approximately HIGHSCHOOL. balls.

Naughty hoodie didn’t do her workouts

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Last week was a bit of a test as we were travelling for ME's 2nd Boston Marathon adventure. A pass was defined as getting in 2 workouts in the 4 days we were away. FAIL.

I did get lots of activity in last week, hitting my projected number of hours of exercise as prescribed as Koach Koala (clever eh… Like that?). The exercise was mostly unstructured and not sport specific though so I guess should be filled under the 'Fun and dirty but not really training' column.

As a result, I'm playing a bit of catch up and trying to get errands done as well. I'm currently sitting in Shoppers Drug Mart waiting for a prescription to get filled. Ran here and looks like I need to run to yoga after if I'm going to hope to make it in time. Did NOT plan this well. Ah well.

C'est la vie and I'm embracing it and giving myself the gift of exercise.

week’s activities

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mmmkay. pretty good week for me. completed 8/10 scheduled workouts, which isn’t equivalent to 90% of my training load. I completed about 75% of my training load but didn’t do my long run yesterday or 30mins of yoga on Thurs.

the weekend was kinda crazy with ME’s cousin here from Orlando and a birthday party and my cousins in town w/ a Dallas (the bar) adventure planned. so if you’re reading between the lines here – I drank too much and ate very poorly pretty much since Thursday.

aside from the previously mentioned workouts, I did:
Tues – 1hr volleyball.
Wed – 30 min tempo run; 1hr bike
Thurs – 1hr run
Fri – off
Sat – 1hr bike
Sun – off

ME has a cold and we’re 7 days until the Boston Marathon and that is Not Good. my resting heart rate was elevated a little bit over the weekend which usually means I’m fighting something, so if ME gave me his cold… Not Good.

this week is shaping up to be a doozy. we’re leaving for Boston on Friday and are there until Tuesday. scheduled workouts for this week:
Mon – weights, 1hr bike.
Tues – 1hr volleybal, 1hr run.
Wed – 1hr bike
Thurs – 30mins yoga, 1hr run.
Fri -off
Sat – 1hr bike
Sun – 2hrs run (~18km)

this is what’s more likely to happen:
Mon – weights, 1hr run.
Tues – volleyball, 1hr bike.
Wed – 1hr run, 1hr bike
Thurs – 30mins low ropes @ YMCA,
Fri – off
Sat – run
Sun – off
Mon – off
Tues – volleyball

for real gold star.

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

want to know why?
well internets, I earned a real gold star (along w/ LM and Mr. A who’s last name I don’t know) last night by going out for a bike ride IN THE RAIN when bike practise had already been cancelled. that’s right I’m hardcore.
Coach’s email said:
Sorry i didnt get out but thought it was going to rain for sure.
Therefore you all get GOLD STARS!

I know. I kick ass.

two gold stars!

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I earned two (2) gold stars last night! Coach Koala sent me my schedule yesterday afternoon and since I’m a keener I tweaked evening plans last night to fit in my workouts. here’s the breakdown of my activities:

bike
55:31
18.65km
622cal
80rpm avg
20.2km/h avg (max 46.4km/h)
143bpm avg (max 187bpm)
instructions were 1hr at 140-160 HR range – success!
ME (aka Captain Fast Bike) came with me for the bike as he wasn’t really feeling a run last night either. he did some of the drills we did at Koalas practice and then I beat him up the hill. Coach Koala! I got out of the saddle and kept up my momentum!

strength
12-15 reps of each exercise (12 exercises total) – mostly success!
sit-ups – boring, did 1 min plank and 15 crunches and 15 reverse crunches instead
stretching – fail
I didn’t get a chance to look up what a dumbbell pullover and side lateral raises were before I went home so I skipped those. at the request of the Physio Goddess, I added 12 reps each side of the hip aductor strengthening exercise she gave me done with a band. I also did different core exercises than sit-ups. and then I skipped the stretching in favour of a shower and bed.

also, I cooked dinner which was a ‘make your own stirfry sauce from scratch’ adventure that turned out quite well. very pleased with that since the last try wasn’t so good. got Captain Fast Bike’s stamp of approval. leftovers for lunch – yum.

gold stars might not be quite so abundant tuesday b/c of volleyball.

beer instead of running on Easter weekend!

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

there I am at Around The Bay. in the other pictures I’m smiling more but I like the yellow sunshine happy shirt more than my coat :o)

in other news – I’m officially a Fighting Koala. race schedule is tbd but planning something in July, August and September with the Ottawa Half Marathon in May, the Waterloo Classic in June, and a fall marathon.

had a 13M run planned for the weekend but that fell apart when Easter weekend decided to be 27 degrees Celsius! golfed 9 holes instead and drank beer. and rye. sigh… time to get back on the fitness bandwagon. at least I walked the course instead of rode.

up this week:

run tonight volleyball tues koalas bike wed run/yoga thurs rest fri bike sat run sun

30K Around The Bay

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ME is still planning to do Boston in 3 weeks. Longest training run to date: 30K Around The Bay

race: 30KM (Around The Bay, Hamilton)
time: 3:23:33
pace: 6:57/km
place in age group: 240/315
notes: ME wanted to take it easy and treat this as a training run. and there was an eight (8!) minute potty break about 20 mins into the race. so we definitely took it easy… very laissez faire. ME also started to struggle with lower leg pain at about 12km. definitely related to shoes. he has big feet so selection is limited for him and finding a good pair hasn’t been easy. as for me, I felt like a million dollars. I think I definitely would have beat last year’s time (3:16:05) had we been racing. my left knee started acting up at 8km though and is still feeling yucky. I’ve got a physio apt tomorrow (today I guess w/ autopost). finished the race with a mad dash to the line. sneaky ME tried to get away from me but I’m a competitive little bugger and wouldn’t let that happen. the finish line announcer said “holy cow!” about my finishing kick. boo. ya.

other news:
Fighting Koalas – Waterloo – I’m planning on joining. typically I do very well under a coach and that accountability will definitely help my fitness. can’t wait to hear back from them!

hard decision

/ hoodieruns / 2 Comments

I came to a hard decision yesterday but one that ultimately, will be a good decision…
as you can likely tell from the blog, marathon training has been almost non-existent. ME is running Boston in 5.5wks and I was planning to run the Ottawa Marathon at the end of May. my longest run to date was the Chilly Half Marathon (race report coming) a week ago Sunday. we are both signed up for Around The Bay in 2wks. that will be the longest run I’ve done this year. given that I want to run a couple marathons this year and run them well, Ottawa wasn’t feeling good. I’ll be signing up for the half in Ottawa and I won’t be worrying about staying off my feet at the Gleeb Garage Sale or the long drive or sleeping arrangements. it’s for the best.

lessons learned from this:
1. don’t be such a hero and sign up for a freakin’ clinic
2. consistency is key
3. I’m inconsistent
4. I’m better at life when I’m running regularly.

upcoming races:
Around The Bay – 28 Mar
Ottawa Half Marathon – 30 May
10K Classic – 20 Jun

in positive ‘getting consistent’ running news: HE and I ran this morning. (woo hoo March Break!)
distance 6.18km time 33:30 pace 5:50min/km calories 330 felt good after loosening up at hot yoga last night. left ankle was sore, like a bruise. felt good to get up and get going nice and early!