Month: September 2017

September Runfessions

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 41 Comments

Lots of runfessions this month! Oh September….how I wish I could rewind you. I feel like each month I sit down and review what I did or didn’t do, I’m still amazed that the month is ending!

September is such a busy month: back to school, work picks up, new activities are starting, birthday parties, races to run, family obligations and just daily life can exhaust you. We had a touch of fall weather only to be followed by a surprise heat of the summer during the last week and we are now back to fall! I’m holding off on running in leggings and long sleeves but it’s going to be hard.

Runfessions

Runfession #1: Though I’m sad to see summer end I’m finally ready for fall. I will runfess that I miss running early in the morning before anyone else us up. I miss the sunrise on my long runs and the feeling of accomplishing yet another distances in my half marathon training.

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Runfession #2: What half marathon you ask? Yeah, that’s how I feel too! After finishing 11.5 weeks of great training, I runfess that I had a “DNS” at Maritime Race Weekend. Some days I wonder if I’m even supposed to run this half marathon as I was unable to do it last year as well due to injury. Is this a sign or just unlucky? 

Runfession #3: I took a much needed social media break the weekend I was supposed to run my half marathon. I logged out of all the apps on my phone. I ignored people’s posts and I disengaged from it all. I even took a two week hiatus from this blog. I runfess that I just needed to disengage from it all.

Runfession #4: I didn’t run that half marathon because two days before I had some health problems related to my heart and was told by the ER Dr. and head of Cardiology not to run the race. (I’m fine). I tried to laugh it off  when the Dr. told me not to run but that didn’t really work. I also tried to really enjoy walking over the last two weeks because that’s all I was allowed to do. You know walking is lovely but it sure isn’t running.

I wasn’t very pleasant to be around (Sorry family). Really, I was stressed out. However, after more testing my heart is absolutely fine and I have nothing to worry about. I was even given the go ahead to run an upcoming local race by the Cardiologist, pretty sure he’s a runner as he knew of ALL the races.

Good news, i’m back to running in the evenings….

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Runfession #5: I runfess that I still want to run the Maritime Race Weekend on my own soon. I don’t share this one lightly or because “if you write it down, you’ll be more likely to do it”. No, I share this because I genuinely want to run the half marathon at Maritime Race Weekend. So, I might just go do it randomly one weekend that works for my family.

There…………I shared, I runfessed, I feel better. Now to enjoy running over the next few weeks and oh, one more runfession! I runfess that I’ll be pacing the Valley Harvest Marathon 10k (1:10 finish) again!!! I’m really looking forward to it and {Canadian} Thanksgiving weekend on Oct 8th.

Have anything you want to runfess?

When was the last time you took a social media break? 

Ever run a course of a race after the fact?

You can check out my other Runfession posts: August, July, June, May, April, March, February, and January. I’m linking up with Marcia for today’s Runfessions post. It’s hosted on the last Friday of each month.

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Fall is here. So is Apple Picking.

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 5 Comments

I didn’t really want to say Goodbye to summer but with the weather we are having the last 4-5 days, it still feels like hot summer days! I’ll eventually embrace fall with cozy sweaters, socks and maybe even a cup of tea. Who am I kidding, it will be hot chocolate – not a tea drinker.

One thing we do every fall is go apple picking. We’ve been going to Gates Farm in Port William (NS) for the last three years. This past weekend, we decided to go last minute. They do a wagon ride around their orchard and tell you the best spots to pick the apples or pears. We even got some small pumpkins – it just fees too early for pumpkins 😉

Hiking through the fields

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You can’t go apple/pear picking without tasting 1 of each. OR 2,3,4…..!

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Pretty sure this bag is too heavy Mom!

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After filling these two bags, she was calling it a day!

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One last stop to check out the sunflowers. 

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In the end, we had two – 10lbs bags of mixed apples and pears! Guess I should get baking! I’m hoping we can get in a corn maze and some pumpkin people next month! It’s hard to believe that October is next week!

What’s the one thing you are looking forward to the most this fall?

Do you go apple, pear, or pumpkin picking?

Is it feeling like fall or still summer for you?

Week 11 Half Training Maritime Race Weekend

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 25 Comments

It’s race week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or week 12 of training, which will be pretty light. I’ll be going to yoga, a short run mid week and then a rest day or two as I’m running a double race. Friday night is 5k and Saturday is the half marathon for me (Tartan Twosome).

Last week was pretty good for training despite missing some mileage and taking an extra rest day but felt it was successful.

What was Planned vs What Really Happened:

Monday: Stretch & Strengthen | Stretch & Strengthen. I finally managed this! I did a Jillian Michael’s DVD workout which I have done in about a year. THAT was fun!

Tuesday: 5k | Yoga + 5k. I went to my normal Tuesday yoga class at lunch but needed to run Tuesday night. It was the night before school and things weren’t going great for bed time. My husband was home so I went for a run after a little frustrating bedtime moments for the girls. It was just what I needed.

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Wednesday: 10 x 400 @ 5k pace | Rest Day. My body needed this.

Thursday: 5k + Strength | 5k + Strength. Nailed this workout too! I went for an evening run in the dark and then did a number of exercises: Clam shells, squats, lunges etc.

Friday: Rest Day | Rest Day. Nailed this one too! We had a kid free weekend and went out for dinner.

Saturday: 5k pace | 13k Trail Run at Cape Split. My husband and I wanted to run this for awhile and this was our opportunity. I’ve hiked it a number of times but the last time we did it together was 10 years ago!

Cape Split

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It’s now a Provincial Park and even has a proper parking lot (yes, you can tell how long ago I’ve hiked it based on the parking lot). When we arrived it was windy and cool and I was worried I didn’t have enough clothing on – fear not – I did!

We started off ahead of a large group of students but had to run past a hand full of small groups of people. It starts off up rocky hill and I was seriously worried that I wouldn’t be able to run it. It’s a 6k out and back – used to be 8 but that parking lot took a bit off the trail since I was last there.

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It’s a small trail where you can walk one behind the other in some places and 4 wide in another section. It’s up/down, small and large mud puddles, extra paths you can take and has a great canopy overhead. When you make it out to the point you can see (if there is no fog) other parts of Nova Scotia. It’s really stunning. There are a few places that you can hike to and sit and take it all in.

We hung out at the point for 15 minutes or so, took a few pictures, ate a snack and drank some Nuun. (You need water and food on this trail). We headed back as the heat of the day was really starting to increase. Sweat was starting to drip down my face from the heat and the challenging terrain was getting hard for me.

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You see, I’m not a trail runner so navigating roots, rocks and large puddles of mud was a challenge. A fun challenge none the less. My husband had trail runners on and would run right through the mud but I’d have to slow down and take an alternative route, sometimes climbing through trees and side paths. My little Asics held up but trail shoes are in my future!

I struggled on the downhills that had a lot of stumps and rocks but just took my time. Luckily my pacer (aka husband) would notify me of what was ahead of me so I could adjust in time. As we got out to the trail head, we reached 12.24km and I wanted to finish on an solid number so I ran around the road and parking lot to finish with 13km.

Sunday: 19k Long Run | 3k walk + Soccer Game. I used my trail run on Saturday as my long run to free up Sunday. Saï and I went for a nice walk in the morning with Carmacks before the girls came home and then Sunday evening I had a soccer game. We won our soccer game 2-1 and I’m achy from everything.

That’s it! Here I am, week 12 of training and the double race is this weekend! It’s a pirate themed event and I have no costume so I’ve gotta figure that one out soon or just wear what I’ve worn the last two years.

I’m looking forward to running my 6th half marathon in a few days. I’m not sure if I’ll get to post here again before the race so if you want to follow along you can check me out on Instagram.

How was your week?

Anyone else running Maritime Race Weekend or another race?

Do you like trail running?

I’m linking up today with Sara Runs This Town, HoHo Runs, MissSippiPiddlin.

Weekly Wrap

Week 10 Half Training MRW

/ Anna @ Piper's Run / 27 Comments

And just like that we’re done week 10 of half marathon training! Despite being on vacation, my motivation to run was extremely low. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt this way about running. I just didn’t want to run. The weather has been cooler and very little sun which makes for a kinda crappy week/vacation.

Also, if you missed my August Mileage and September Goals I posted on Sunday, you can check it out here. I’ve finally started bullet journaling my runs. Check it out!

What was Planned vs What Really Happened:

Monday: Stretch & Strengthen | 5k + Osteopath appointment. I wanted to get in a run before my day started so I got in 3k on my own and came back to our house and ran 2k with Carmacks.

I’ve been dealing with back, SI joint and hip flexor issues for a month now so a trip to the Osteopath was in order. That also means, two days of rest/no activity….and I listened which may have had an affect on my motivation for the rest of the week.

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Tuesday: 8k | Rest Day.

Wednesday: 45 minute tempo run| Rest Day + Massage.

Thursday: 5k + Strengthening |3k + Soccer Game. We got nailed 8-0…seriously! I’m taking soccer as my speed work for the week. I ran 3k in the morning with Carmacks.

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Friday: Rest Day | 16.53 km of cycling. Wasn’t having the best day and wasn’t feeling like running so I went for an hour (1:05) bike ride. My bike chain fell off at 16.53 km, so I walked the half kilometre home with my bike.

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Saturday: 8 km | Hiking with the family. I wasn’t really feeling like running or doing much of any activity so we took the girls for a walk on a trail near our house. Carmacks was loving but went into “sled dog” working mode and just wanted to pull. You can’t take the sled dog out of a sled dog!

Sunday: 18 km| Berwick 5 Miler Road Race. I signed up last minute for this race (literally decided the night before to run it). This was the 66th year of this race and it’s only about 10-12 minutes from my house.

My plan was to just run and enjoy since it was last minute but I found myself running faster during my first kilometre (6:12/km). Lately, I’m around 6:40-7:00/km starting off my runs. Yes, it was a 5 mile race or but since I run in kilometres, I had it in my head 8k. I figured I’d later regret my first kilometre as I didn’t think I’d keep that pace for the whole time.

Honestly, I don’t know where it came from but I averaged 5:56/km! My legs were pumping, my lungs felt great and the course was great. It was mainly flat with a few inclines but I pulled off 47:45 (5:56/km) – a pace and finish I haven’t seen in over a year! My last 8k training run was 53 minutes – now that was a training run and a completely different route but taking roughly 6 minutes off your 8k is pretty sweet. With it being my first 5 miler race, it was an automatic PB for me!!! I’d totally do this race again.

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Weekly mileage: 16 km runnning, 16 km cycling, 1 soccer game.

Yup, so that wasn’t the best week of training but in reality, I got some running in and some other activities so I’ll take it. Now to get a little more serious this week with training, back to work and BACK TO SCHOOL for BOTH girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone else’s children going back to school this week? (or just recently)?

Ever register last minute for a race?

Loving or struggling your weather right now?

I’m linking up today with Pretty Lil Mudder,  HoHo Runs, MissSippiPiddlin.