Monday, November 14, 2011

A Sunday Run, a New Read, and a Giveaway on My Food Blog

1.  My Sunday Run.

It rained overnight.  I got up a little concerned that we were not going to get out for a run again today due to wet, cold weather... but as the morning wore on, the temperatures rose a bit, and the rain stopped.  By the time we disembarked at 11:00 a.m. it was about 9°C (that is about 48°F) and quite nice.

I made sure we both had a few ounces of water to drink before we headed out as I was wearing a light jacket and didn't want to bother with a water belt.  I knew that I wanted to run about 8 km and thought that since it was cool and humid, that I wouldn't get thirsty.  That was a mistake.

We started out a bit too fast for me, which is going to happen about 100% of the time if I don't REMIND The Captain to go easy when we first make the switch from walking to running after warming up a bit.  The first kilometer went by in a flash of 6 minutes which is very fast for me.  And that is okay for a few kilometers, but 8?  No way, not right now. 

I started listening to my footsteps after I slowed to a more comfortable pace and a little jingle popped into my head as I ran

Plop plop fizz fizz
oh what a relief it is

It seemed to be just the right tempo for the pace I wanted to keep.

At that point I decided we were going to do 9/1 run/walk intervals.  If I was going to be running a bit faster than I would like, I was going to get a walk break occasionally.  We ran around the harbor on an out and back route that is almost exactly 8 km out and back.... just before the 4 km mark there is a fairly steep, but short hill and we got to that point at 39 minutes.

We turned, did our 1 minute walk break and I took off my gloves and my jacket... tying it around my waist.  I knew I had overdressed.  At this time of year it is hard not to as it is so cool starting out.  At the next 1 minute walk I was really wishing I had packed some water.  I was so thirsty and I know it affected my energy level.  And how unfair it seemed to me at the time, that I had a full bladder too!

I was working pretty hard to keep my pace even and not slow down.

Plop plop fizz fizz
oh what a relief it is

Every time that popped into my conscious thoughts, I would check my pace and carry on.  It really worked well and I found it put some bounce back into my steps!  And lucky for me that I was amused by it or it could have become quite annoying.

I put my jacket back on to do the last leg that brought us back to the marina parking lot, as the wind had picked up a bit.  We finished in 59 minutes which is pretty fair for me for 8 km at this point.  Then we walked around for a couple of minutes to cool down and then did our stretching on the dock 'finger' alongside our boat.

W2 R59 @9/1 W3
stretch 5 minutes

I made us each a smoothie before we had our showers (pb & banana for The Captain, spinach & banana for me) and it was about 3 p.m before either of us was hungry enough to eat lunch.  I quite liked that and it just may become a routine on run days.

Do you sing little songs in your head to help keep your pace even?

What is the longest run you will do without taking water along or making arrangements to have it along the way? 


2. My New Read.

I have been reading Run Your Butt Off! this past week.  It is a new book about learning to run and and about losing weight doing it, but it has very good information in it for any runner who is interested in nutrition and healthy eating.  I read it from cover to cover and really enjoyed it, including all the exercises to add more time to the run/walk intervals the authors use with new runners.

Learning the 'why' behind this information was a real eye-opener for me and I found it very interesting and helpful in formulating my plans for future runs.

If you have anyone in your life who is interested in becoming a runner, point them to this book!  It is set up beautifully as a workbook to take the reader through 12 weeks of running and learning about food as fuel for the body.  Very well laid out and a great reference.

3.  The Giveaway on My Food Blog.

I am doing a Wasa Crispbread/Flatbread review on my food blog


If you are interested, do check it out.  Wasa is giving 5 packages of Crispbreads/Flatbreads to the winner, and who doesn't love Wasa?

6 comments:

  1. Now I'm going to be singing "plop plop fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is" for the rest of the day!

    Great run Elle!

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  2. Nice run. Thanks for the book review. I'm trying to get my weight to 130lbs for the start of marathon training and I think I'll take a look at that book. I have 10lbs to go.

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  3. I am bad for having little jingles in my head when I run. It's bad because usually I get the stupidest things in my head...

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  4. Haha - I always get little jingles in my head when I run - or kids songs! Thanks for the book recommendation - it's going on my library list.

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  5. i love the jingle and how it helped you on your run! i often find random song lyrics in my head...even to songs that are not playing on my ipod at that moment. haha! sounds like a great run! you are very consistent and seem to know your body very well! that is inspiring to me!

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  6. I totally sing songs in my head sometimes to help the run go by and to keep pace. :) Longest without water would probably be 15 miles.

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