Rhythm to run to.

I think I have found my inner rhythm, well … it’s my inner running rhythm at least. The recent runs that I have done listening to drum n’ bass tunes on my ipod have been extra enjoyable and the throbbing bass has kept my feet moving even when I really, really wanted to stop.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it(Mom!) this genre of music is very bass-heavy(thumpy) and super dance-able in my humble opinion. So it easily can be used to pace a run, or just to give enough “Oomph” to keep going. It just felt like I was “dancing” along to the tunes, bopping to the bass and actually smiling - through the tiredness which was showing on my face, when one of my favourite songs came on. It really does help to urge me to keep on runnin’ and also makes me want to go dancing! Ha!

I’ve downloaded a friends podcast of his online DnB show that he does(Thanks Q!) and this provides 2 hours of tunes to run by which is excellent! So I’ll have a fresh source of pacing regularly from him, and then of course there is my own music library to select the most bassy tunes from and create a selection that will be my back up.

As long as my ipod battery is fully charged - as well as my energy level - I’ll be ready to hit the pavement!!

Peanut butter toast....

Peanut Butter toast, miracle cure for my fatigure?

I dunno, but it happened to be my choice for post-long-run refuelling snack yesterday and i felt pretty decent for the rest of the day..... having run 50mins(non-stop, yay!!) i was ready for a too-tired-to-do-anything day, but nope!

Ok, i'm not sure it was all due to the piece of multi-grain(crunchy with all sorts of seedy goodness)brown bread with a smear of peanut butter(also crunchy) on it, it could have been that i finally managed to re-hydrate correctly or was just having a fabulous day.....OR, it could've been the cold bath(albeit for like 30 seconds) that i had instead of my usual HOT bath.....yeah, yeah, i know, i finally read about it, it's bad for recovery if you have one too soon after running. Ack! Oh well. Out with the hot baths on running days. Pooh.

I'll have my hot bath today instead since it is my rest day after all! And hot baths sure are restful. :)

So perhaps paying closer attention to the particulars of what i eat will help in the long run.....it can't hurt?!

So as i type this i have some quinoa simmering away, and once it's done i'll have it with my lentil/zucchinni/eggplant/tomato saucy stew creation that i made earlier. i think that sounds pretty healthy, and considering it's all i have in the cupboards/fridge i think it will be great!

So anyway, thumbs up to peanut butter toast and i'm going to go eat my quinoa now.....

Toodles!

Thinking about muffins...

Ok, so muffins really have nothing to do with running, except for the fact that muffins which i bake will be used to raise money in a bake sale for the charity that i am running for, so technically it is related to my running!? So there!

Muffins. Ahhhh.....mmmmmm! And of course there is the debate about how a muffin is different from a cupcake. My sister absolutely loves the smell, taste, look and probably the overall "cupcake experience." I, on the other hand, love baking muffins. Of course i do like a good cupcake here & there(more here than there really!). So i was thinking....what the heck is the difference? Is it the icing? The size? The taste? Has anyone got an answer?

I felt the need to research this difference myself. So by combining years of taste-testing muffins & cupcakes, and using my googling skills(they are getting better!)i found the following to be the major difference between the beloved cupcake and the yummy muffin...

Muffin recipes use oil and cupcake recipes use butter.

So apparently that means: muffin = bread and cupcake = cake.

So simple.

Who cares though really.....as long as i get to eat them BOTH!!!

:)

Ouch.

Well, apparently i didn't stretch enough after my Sunday run, ooops.

Ouch!

So yeah... adequate stretching is VERY important, lesson learned.

Ha!

PS......we're planning our first charity bake sale at work to raise money for two of us in the office who are running for charity this year. I have to admit that i'm really excited about the items i'll be contributing to it: My Mom's Recpe for the best ever Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Chocolate Chip Muffins & Pink(in honor of Breast Cancer Care) Almond Crescent Cookies. Well that's my plan at least, but we'll see how the actual baking goes! Cross your fingers for me! And come and buy some yummies from us!!!!!!

Morning best?

I’ve now come to the conclusion that I am best at morning runs. Yep. Best to run in the morning, nice and early before the day steals your energy. Get it out of the way, done & dusted. Tick it off the “To-Do” list.

I am referring to my long runs, not my piddly easy-run days which seem to only ever happen after work so they HAVE to be an evening thing. Mainly that is because I can not realistically see myself getting up at the crack o’ dawn to go running which would then mean I’d be a tired-runner-zombie for my whole work day….. that would not be fun!!!

Not that it’s an impossible task when it comes to an afternoon run, but I must say I perform so much better in the AM, and it’s a good thing that most races are in the morning. I bet they do that on purpose, there’s probably some scientific reasoning behind it too that I’ve just never heard/read about, hmmm….

But, on the flipside… after running on a Sunday morning I am then effectively too tired to do much else, so I don’t know which is worse…..running poorly in the late afternoon but having the first half of my Sunday to do other things, or running first thing Sunday morning and then vegetating for the rest of my Sunday until I crawl into the bed for an early night.

I guess it’s a choice all runners make: when to go on a run? Or maybe the tiredness goes away after a while and you magically can run fabulously at ANY time of day?? I’m crossing my fingers for that option!!



And just a little kitty giggle for ya!!! Too funny!

Dear Team Legs...

Dear Team Legs(aka: my legs)

How are you after our excursion yesterday afternoon? Thirty minutes, without stopping, you did well! You gave it your all when I decided to push it a bit further then the normal “easy-day”, nice one!

So anyway, I thought I would write to say that I appreciate all the hard work you are putting into all this training malarchy. You didn’t even have a choice did you, ha! But you are dealing with it well! You consistently put one foot in front of the other and trundle along with only a few aches and pains as we go, which soon disappear anyway. All part of the sport, I guess? It's all coming together though, and i bet you are reaping some rewards in your own way, more muscle less flab, etc....it's all good!

Thanks also for the support & even encouragement, which you may not have realized you were giving me. The day after I’ve made you push your limits, and you don't ache or hurt, well that’s a big “Whooppeee”! That’s as near to a shout of joy from Team Legs as I could get. That means you & I are doing something right. I bet you enjoy the stretching, probably more then the jogging itself!

Now, Team Feet let’s get on the bandwagon, I want some whooping and cheering from you too!

Love,
The Rest of the Team

The Equipment & friends

So i've now got new shoes which have been road tested for a couple of weeks now, and a funky pink hat to go along with my Breast Cancer Charity theme (pink, pink,pink!!) and a pink boa just to add color - not sure about wearing that during the race tho, it'll be hard enough to complete let alone to run it with sweaty feathers sticking to my neck, ack! Ha!

Ruti was very interested in the feathers of course, and Zoot couldn't help but have a go at wearing the hat! Let's just cross our fingers for some sun so that i need the hat to keep it off my face! (it's currently SNOWING!!!!)

Technically today is a huge milestone in my running career(albeit a very short career, ha!) today we ran/walked the mock-10k(local route mapped out in distance to practice on). I was actually pleased with the amount of jogging i did compared to the amount of walking, thought i would have done more on the walking side of things. But it was surprisingly comfy to do and i feel great now afterwards. Although i did have a nice soak in the tub to soothe my aches & pains. But i'm pleased and i know for a fact that i am "able" to run a 10k, which is the "practice" run i'm doing with a co-worker in June, and then the biggie half-marathon is in October, just one step at a time!

:)

Funny cats...

A friend of mine introduced me to this wacky page which has totally random & hilarious cat images on it....it's to funny not to share! They use silly vocabulary & real photos so it's actually quite creative for what they have. There are tons of these and they just make me laugh!

Here's a few choice ones for you to taste-test, then go check them out on the I Can Has a Cheezburger website




see more crazy cat pics

see more crazy cat pics

Now tell me you didn't laugh????

:)