Month: February 2016

Building My Base Week #6

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 11 Comments

It’s been six weeks of building my base for half marathon training which really doesn’t start until the end of March!  I’m hoping that if I keep this “building” phase going it will help me jump into a good half marathon training plan. At least that’s the idea.

The last six weeks have been all over the map. From extremely awesome to struggling to find my motivation, to battling head colds that take over your body and just life in general. Things are changing around here and I’ll tell you more about that in a few days. Don’t worry, it’s all good and no I’m not pregnant.

Building My Base Week #6 

What was Planned vs What Really Happened:

Monday Feb 22nd– Yoga | Yoga. Felt so good!!!! I managed to hold crow pose for 8 breaths and then birds of paradise on both sides for 6-8 breaths. Getting stronger. She did some more killer ab work.

Tuesday: Run | Ran 6k on the treadmill, good run…happy to have done it.

IMG_20160223_213309_edit

Wednesday: Run | Ran 8k  on the treadmill. I’ve been skipping 5-10 minutes before I run lately to warm up and enjoying the challenge. It gets my heart rate up and my legs burning when I’m on a roll. It also hurts when I make a mistake and the rope whips my legs – ouch!

IMG_20160224_200642_edit

Thursday: DVD Workout | Nothing. Starting to feel under the weather. Went to be early.

Friday: Rest Day |  Sick. Full of a nasty head cold.

Saturday: Run | No way I was doing anything today. Pounding headache, nose running, completely stuffed up. Actually, I shouldn’t say I didn’t do anything. I took the girls to our local indoor soccer facility where they have “open play time” each Saturday morning. So we played soccer, baseball, jumped, hoola-hooped and tag. Hilary loves playing tag and SHE can actually run fast. I was running to keep up!

feb 27 soccer dome

Sunday: Run | Ran 5k on the treadmill. It was a good run that I was happy to finish and not bother trying to run any further. 

Even with a nasty head cold, I’m happy with my workouts last week. The weather here has been spring like which is not normal for February. It’s a bit of a tease really.

I also signed up for a spring 10k at the Bluenose Marathon in Halifax (Nova Scotia). I was wanting to run a race before my June half marathon but couldn’t decided between 10k or Half. My brother wrote me a message the other day to say he signed up, so I literally dropped what I was doing and signed up right then and there.

Races I’m signed up for (to date):

  • 10k Bluenose Marathon, Halifax, NS.
  • Half Marathon @ Johnny Miles Running Event, New Glasgow, NS.
  • 5k & Half @ Maritime Race Weekend, Cow Bay, NS

That list seems so little to the 12 races I ran in 2014 and all the races I signed up for in 2015 but only ran two of them. It’s all good. I’ll sign up for a few more; 5k’s and maybe another half marathon, we’ll see. I’d love to do a race with my husband 😉

If you missed the last few weeks check them out here: Week #1 and Week #2, Week 3, Week 4 & 5. 

What’s your secret for getting rid of a head cold?

Can your kids run faster then you thought they could/should?

How was your week/weekend?

Happy LEAP YEAR day!

 

 

I HURT YOGA

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 9 Comments

Oh, sorry….that should have read “I HEART YOGA” but really I’m hurting from yesterday’s Yoga Flow class (and loving it).

As I sit at my desk on a balance ball and move slightly to the right or left, I notice my body is so achy from yoga. THAT is a good thing. It means I worked hard yesterday. I’ve talked before about how I never thought yoga would be enough of a workout for me but it is.

There were three of us in the class and our instructor asked if there was anything we wanted to work on. I said “core” knowing that it could potentially hurt and be extremely challenging. But I asked for it.

Half way through the class I couldn’t believe how warm I was and how much sweat I had all over my body. Seriously! What was up with that? Well, I was pushing my limits and challenging myself. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t do every pose right and I fell over many times as my balance was off. However, I managed to hold “birds of paradise” on both sides with no problems and my crow was on point!

yoga jan 11th

It was great. It was challenging. It was hard. It was just what I needed to get excited about running again. What? What do you mean, running? Well, I needed something to really jump start my motivation again. I needed a push, a challenge and I got it.

I may have been sweaty, I may have fallen out of a pose or two…okay three, I may have pushed myself to try new things and fail but I didn’t give up. As I walked back to the office to quickly get cleaned up for the afternoon, my body felt wonderful.

yoga.jpg

I may hurt all over (upper back, arms, abs, glutes and my thighs) but it’s a good hurt. So tonight I plan to lace up and either hit the streets bundled up (it’s -8C/17F  but feels like -12C) or jump on THE BEAST and get in some kilometers.

When was the last time you hurt all over from a workout?

What challenges you when you have low motivation?

Ever ask your yoga instructor for a specific pose or area to work on?

 

 

 

Lack of Motivation: Building My Base Week 4 and 5

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 19 Comments

Motivation to run is probably at it’s lowest point in a long time. Not sure why but for some reason I’m somewhat okay with that.

Basically, I’m focusing on building my base because soon I’ll be training for a 10k in May (I think) and Half Marathon in June. I don’t want to go into training empty – you know what I mean? I want to have maintained my fitness so that when I start those training plans I’m not struggling like I have before. Mind you last year, I trained for what would have been my 3 & 4th half marathon with a major hamstring injury.

My hamstring still isn’t 100%! What, a year or more later and it’s not better?  Yes and No. You see, IF I don’t stretch properly after a run, I’m in a lot of pain so stretching is key for me. I need to get back into foam rolling regularly again too!

The first three weeks I shared my “building my base” in the same format I did with my training plans. Not this week. Since I’m catching you up on two weeks, I decided to keep it simple.

Week #4

  • Monday 8th: Yoga Class
  • Tuesday: 2k treadmill run, wasn’t feeling it.
  • Wednesday: Noth.ing
  • Thursday: Skipping & 5k treadmill run
  • Friday: Downhill Skiing for 2 hours by myself. (Vacation)
  • Saturday: Nothing.
  • Sunday: Skating with the family.

Week #5

  • Monday 15th: Skiing with the family. (Holiday)
  • Tuesday: Skiing with a friend. (Vacation)
  • Wednesday: Rest Day. Went to bed early, was exhausted.
  • Thursday: 5 minutes of skipping, 5k treadmill run, 50 squats
  • Friday: Rest Day. Just exhausted with life and wanted to go to bed early.
  • Saturday: Nothing. Unless shopping kid less for 3 hours counts? Seriously, my body was aching from running errands all afternoon.
  • Sunday: 7k treadmill run. Finally this was a great run, I felt great during the run and after. So nice to end the week with a GOOD run!

feb 21st run

If you missed the first three weeks you can catch up here: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3.

That’s it. I’m happy with being active in a variety of things but missing the consistency of running a lot. Really, it’s February and I can’t complain. I’ve logged more km running then last year already. I’ve been skiing three times, went to yoga twice so far and did a little skating with the family.

Though my motivation and interest in running is low….I’m still working hard at building my base…or should I say maintaining my base now.

How’s your month of February going?

Anyone else struggling like me?

 

More Skiing & “little” Skating

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 16 Comments

I feel like I’ve been really MIA in the blog (insert all social media sites) lately…and it feels kinda nice. Don’t get me wrong, I love writing this blog but I love more to spend time with my family and that’s what I’ve been up to lately.

I’ve had an extra long weekend (Friday – Tuesday off) and returning back to normal life tomorrow….a.k.a work world. We’ve had some adventures in …

Skating on Valentines. It was around -18C or so….we still had fun. Lilly was learning how to balance since it’s been two years and Hilary was out for a bit. However, she decided snuggling with Daddy was warmer.

There are a handful of outdoor rinks in the communities around us. This one is about a 3-4 minute drive from our house (1.5km in running…ha ha).

skating feb 14th

 

Skiing with the whole family Monday (Family/Heritage Day in Nova Scotia). Skiing, eating and hanging out in the ski lodge with Grammy and Grandad. Then naps in the car on the way home for the littlest one.

Feb 15th family day ski

And a solo shot at the top. Got in a few runs with Sai.

ski feb 15th

I’ve done little laundry, haven’t cleaned the house and pretty sure I ate everything in sight 😉 All kidding aside, we’ve had a great weekend playing outside as a family. No running shoes but lots of fun adventures on skates and skis.

skates and skis feb 2016

Hopefully, I’ll be back to normal 3-4 blogs posts a week soon.

Anyone else play outside this past weekend?

Are you over winter?

For those who had Family Day/Heritage Day in Canada – what did you do?

Have you missed my blog post ? 😉