Month: September 2016

Very Little Running Motivation

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 26 Comments

This has been the fastest month of the year for me. Has September just flown by for you? I seriously can’t believe that tomorrow is October.

I’m trying hard to embrace fall but my Birkenstock are too comfortable, layering my clothing just seems to take way more time and I’m not loving how dark it is outside in the early morning and evenings now. I’ve yet to turn on my heat, blankets will do just fine for now.

Even though I’ve been given the okay to run again, I’ve done very little and feel like I almost have no interest in it! WTF, crazy, I know. First I’m training in the summer heat and loving it, then injured and cursing that I couldn’t run. And now, I’m just feeling blah about running…I need some kind of motivation people…help me out!

I did play three games of soccer last weekend which was fabulous. It was so great to be on the field. My lungs crying from all the sprinting, my legs happy when the ball was at the other end of the field and feeling every muscle in my body days after.

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Oh….and I signed up for another race a few weeks back, ha ha ha! Seriously, I did it when I was still injured. I’m registered to run the 10k at Valley Harvest Marathon on Thanksgiving weekend (Canadian – Oct 9th). I paced the 10k last year and it was so much fun! However, I’m starting to think about moving down the 5k distance and taking it easy rather then push myself to do the 10k…I’m just not feeling it right now. Motivation, drive, interest – all at an extreme low. I’m also tired…so tired lately. Battling a head cold and lack of sleep are the main culprits.

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The fun part is that the girls will be running the kids runs at Valley Harvest Marathon the day before my race. They LOVE this and can’t wait to run on the track again. And of course, Thanksgiving food with family …yum!! I did manage to get out for a run this week while I was away at a conference…that should be bonus points right there 😉

What’s your best motivation to go?

Any weekend plans?

What fall races are you running?

 

Back to Running

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 24 Comments

I’ve been cleared to run again and play soccer….wooooohooooo!!!!!!!!!

This past Wednesday I had my much anticipated physiotherapy appointment and it was great. I injured my ankle Aug 14th playing soccer but it was the oddest injury to date. Very little swelling with lots of pain. I rested, I swam, I did yoga, I even cycled a bit. Then I broke down a snuck in a run AND then a double race at Maritime Race Weekend.

After my hour and a half assessment, it was figured that I probably had a first degree strain but most of the injury was joint not ligament, hence the limited swelling I had. He was happy with where I was at and asked me to stay a little longer to go over some exercises. My stability is horrible so most of the exercises focus on that, plus will assist with my running.

Back to Running Favourites:

  1. Easy running outside in the fresh cool air. Glorious!
  2. Running is time to myself. This may sound greedy or selfish but I know that when I’m running consistently, I’m a better Mom and wife.
  3. The sound of my Garmin beeping, I think it’s happy I’m back to running too.
  4. Permanent smile on my face during last nights run. I even had people wave at me and I don’t know who they were.
  5. The struggle. When you are almost done your run and your lungs are giving up before your legs but you just keep pushing forward anyway.
  6. Accomplishment. That feeling when you finish the distance or time you’ve set out for. You smile, you breath easy, you feel great.
  7. PT exercises that are actually really hard to do. My stability is horrible I’m learning.
  8. The support from loved ones, thank you 🙂

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For now, I’m back to running one day and taking the next day off so I can build up my distance and avoid injury. I’m even allowed to play soccer with my brace so, yup you guessed it…I’ll be back at that too.

If you’ve been off running for a while, what’s your favourite thing when you get back to it?

Any weekend plans? Racing, training?

Are you into fall temps yet?

Maritime Race Weekend Sunrise 5k Tartan Twosome Recap 2016

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 14 Comments

One of the fun parts about Maritime Race Weekend is that you can run two races if you want to and it’s called the “Tartan Twosome”. You get a medal for each run plus one more medal for completing the Tartan Twosome duo!

If you missed my Sunset 5k recap check it out here. That was the Friday night run and this is about Saturday morning’s Sunrise 5k, which was supposed to be my half marathon. Though I was really wanting to run the half I’m so glad I made the decision to change over to the 5k.

Saï and I got up at 5:30 AM and left the house around 6:20. The race started at 8 am but we wanted to get there before 7am to get a decent parking spot which was about 1km away from the start area. It was cool enough to need a long sleeved shirt and I even saw some people with gloves on! We hit up the porta-potties cause you never know on race day, right! Then made our way to the start and waited for the crowd to fill in.

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Eventually, Krystol met up with us. Somehow she always finds me in the start area in time for a selfie and good luck wishes. Both her and Saï were running the half and thought they’d probably run together.

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As the gun went off to start the race, I wished them both good luck and that I’d see them later on. My ankle was a little stiff but after the Sunset 5k the night before, I was expecting it. This run would be an easy run, take in the scenery and just be present. I quickly lost Saï and Krystol and just tried to focus on a comfortable pace for my ankle.

High five happy

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A house was blasting Michael Jackson from their home stereo, the small waves were crashing on the rocks, lots of chatter and excitement between runners and the most beautiful view you’d want to see at 8am on a Saturday morning was off to our right. Kilometre 1 hit, 6:35 and I thought, perfect…just where I need to be. As I kept running my ankle loosened up a bit and it felt good.

Kilometre two hit, 6:10…apparently I picked up my pace a little. At the 2.5km mark, all the 10k runners, half and full marathoners kept running straight while we turned around and headed back to the start. There was a massive sea of red shirts on my right and the ocean on my left. I took a number of glances to the ocean as the sun was just hitting it right. If I wasn’t running a race, I would have stopped to really admire the view but instead I just glanced back three or four times.

Kilometre 3 hit and I saw 6:07. Part of me got a little excited and though maybe I could run a negative split! However, reality of no training for four weeks hit and I had to slow down and take a short walking break at a water station. I was back at it as kilometre 4 hit and 6:22 came across my Garmin. Dang…no negative split but hey I’m running pain free – win win win!

I started to pick up my pace again and my last kilometre was 6:01. I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face in 32:18. No complaints, no regrets, nothing but happiness. It was the run that I needed.

My booty!

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After I finished I managed to find a number of RunATCan {Running Atlantic Canada} folks and hung out with them for a while. I used the foam rolling station *loved this* and ate an amazing bagel. I saw family friends and spent a short time with them, then found Krystol’s husband Casey and kids.

We waiting on the side of the road for them to finish and I saw Saï coming in the distance and jumped up to take some photos. Casey took some great shots of us running!

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It was then that I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud of him. He was looking so comfortable, like he was out for an easy Sunday shuffle and gliding across the pavement with ease. I knew he was going to finish under two hours as we smiled at each other and high-fived as tears fell down my face. I was truly excited for him. However, it was the first time that I was really sad that I didn’t get to run my half marathon. I honestly had the half distance out of my head and was so focus on getting through 5k that it kinda just hit me. By the time he finished and came out to the road for us to see Krystol finish, I was all done with my pity party.

Finished!

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Saï finished in 1:54:45 and Krystol in 2:03:xx. We all had great runs, loved the views and just had a great weekend of running. Maritime Race Weekend is such a great event and we didn’t even take in all the events; race-kit pick up, fireworks, temptation station on the half route (candies and Adirondack chairs to take in the amazing view), a Captain’s bell you can ring if you PB and the kids parade to name a few. We did go to the candy shop and bought our girls some treats…which I may or may not have taste tested.

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I had some issues post run with my chip time not showing up in the stats which didn’t really bother me until I had three people tell me I wasn’t in the stats. I contacted Atlantic Chip timing and they shorted it out quickly. They were so easy to work with..

My ankle held up amazingly! No pain, no aches, no problems. It feels stronger but I know it’s not close to being better. The good news is that I see my PT tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Anyone run the Sunrise 5k, 10k, half or full?

Post race, what do you do right away? Water, food, stretch?

And yes, I’m signing up for the half marathon next year!

Ever done a double race?

 

 

Maritime Race Weekend Sunset 5k Recap

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 52 Comments

I don’t even know where to start! The weekend was great, just great in so many ways!

Friday actually started with 4 laps around Lilly’s school soccer field for the Terry Fox Run and then a drive to the city. We dropped off the girls to my parents and drove over to Cow Bay to find parking and make our way to Fisherman’s Cove. My gawd it’s beautiful there!

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This was one of the views on our runs! I taped my ankle in the car and then we walked just around 1km to the start area. This was nice as it gave my foot some time to settle into the tape job I did and this was the best one I’ve done so far this injury.

Just *some* of the race swag!

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We met up with my friend Tracey and then Krystol (my running buddy) and her family. As the race time approached we headed to the starting chute and waited. Garmins turning on and beeping, space getting limited, making friends with your neighbours you were standing by and the sun slowly setting behind us.

With a few minutes to go we were all jumping up and down doing a warm up. However, when the lady said to kick your butt, we all turned around to make sure we didn’t kick the person behind us. Everyone kinda laughed and just moved as they could – WE HAD NO ROOM TO MOVE.

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The gun went off and we slowly moved forward. It took us 1:17 to get to the starting mat and then we were dodging runners. It was expected with all 2000-2500+ people running all together. I was a little further back in the crowd then I wanted to be but my husband and I just started weaving around people when it was safe. There is literally people everywhere on the out and back course.

My watch hit the first kilometre and I saw 6:08 and I thought…nice, but that’s fast for me. We kept moving forward through the sea of mostly red shirts. My Garmin beeped kilometre 2 with a pace of 5:51 and I though oh shit this isn’t good, this is too fast for me. As we came close to the turn around the middle of my chest was painful, likely from breathing too fast. My fitness wasn’t there and this pace was too fast, the middle of my back started hurting too!

Shortly after this my husband said to breathe in twice – or at least what I thought he said. For some reason I took two breaths in and then two breaths out which actually relieved some pain. However, that is not what he said or meant but when your running sometimes you can’t always hear the person running beside you clearly. We had a laugh about this post race.

My husband wanted to pick up his pace so we wished each other good luck and we’d meet up at the finish. At kilometre 3, I hit 6:01 and wasn’t sure if I could keep this pace as my body wasn’t loving it so I slowed down and too a break walking and stretch my back out for a few seconds. I was trying to relieve the pain I was having in my back and it work.

I saw so many old and new friends running, I high-fived some I’ve met on twitter which was fun. As kilometre four hit and my Garmin beeped 6:22 and I was having no pain in my ankle still – yeah! As I approached Fisherman’s Cove where you run a semi-loop to the finish line I picked up my pace even more. Pushing my body forward, keeping my posture upright and trying to just enjoy the pain of finishing hard. I’m confident I had the ugly runner’s face on as I knew I was so close to a sub 30 – 5k.

I cross the finished line and paused my Garmin {30:14} and had to take a break on the side of the chute where I saw Krystol. Her face was looking like she was concerned for me but I assured her I was okay and that I just pushed it a little too much for my current fitness level.

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I was happy. My husband finished in 26:31 and Krystol in 25:08, she was just 8 seconds or so off a PB!! We grabbed a banana and met up with Krystol’s family, found Tracey and Saï. We took off after a few pictures in the long line of cars and made our way back to my parents house. Both girls were sound asleep when we got home but Saï got to snuggle with Hilary as she woke up for a short period of time.

I had no intentions of running so fast with my current fitness level and injury that I’ve been told “not to run on” but I have no regrets. It felt good minus the chest and back pain but I’ve done very limited upper body strength as well. You don’t just run with your legs! It was fun running with Saï, seeing friends, then finishing the race really strong. It was just great!

Race recap for Saturday’s Sunrise 5k to come next (provided I have time to write it).

Anyone race this past weekend?

MRW Runners: did you love Friday night’s Sunset 5k?

What’s the first thing you do after crossing the finishing of a race?