Feeling Strong

I just had a great run.  I love those ones in which you feel great and everything seems easy.  I did a 17K run.  I ran to a set of stairs up the Hamilton escarpment.  I did the stairs five times (up and down counting as once) and then ran back.  On the way back it is a long incline, and it's always hard to make it all the way up, but I did it!  I don't know if it's a runner's high or what, but at one point I felt like something was moving me along instead of me dragging my body along (which I have definitely felt on many occasions).  I don't know if it's my body taking over - ignoring the negative talk and just doing it because it has done it before, or if it's my mind taking over.  Whatever happens, it feels amazing.

The Escarpment Stairs are such a great workout, and today in Hamilton all the waterfalls were amazing because of the heavy rains all night.  I saw waterfalls where I've never seen them before, and they were beautiful.  Climbing the stairs is so hard (gravity can really suck) but I was rewarded with views of a flowing waterfall right at the top, going all the way down.  Love it!


 

What's YOUR Internal Dialogue?

This is what Ryan Rannelli asked me today while I was working out at his gym, 'No Excuse Fitness' in downtown Hamilton.

What a great question.

I was doing this one exercise during a boot camp class and he had made me do a harder version, and I was struggling.  He watched me for a bit, and then said, 'What's your internal dialogue right now?'

It made me think.  He was right.  I was saying to myself, 'This is so hard.  I really suck at this.'

I had learned while running that your internal dialogue is important, but some lessons you just need to keep learning.  (Okay, every lesson?)

I needed to change my self-talk from negative to positive.  I said to myself, 'I can do this.'

Honestly, this helped.  It's amazing.  It shows you the power of your mind.

Thank you Ryan!

What's YOUR internal dialogue?

Call Me Crazy - Everyone Else Does

Call me crazy - but I'm sitting on an exercise ball at work instead of my chair.

You know what really started it?  When my friend told me I'd be considered a sedentary person.

I got a little offended.  I mean, I run and I do boot camp.  How could I be considered sedentary?

The problem is that I sit at work all day.  I'm not in my office all day, but if I'm not there, I'm sitting in my car or in someone's home.  However way you look at it, I'm sedentary!

I was crushed.  I'm trying so hard to be healthy and active.

What could I do?

Well, sit on an exercise ball for starters!

Yes, people will look at you funny.  Yes, people who walk by your office will do double-takes.

You'll get comments about people wanting to kick the ball out from under you. (I know who you are.)

You'll also get people secretly trying out your new 'chair' while you're gone.

And you know what?  It works.

I can feel the muscles in my thighs and stomach working as I sit there.

The first day I tried it, I happily texted my friend that my core was strengthening as we spoke!

One day when I was feeling sick, it was almost too hard to sit on it, because you definitely can't slump in it like you can in a chair.  That's the beauty of it! 

Who's with me? (Not many of you, I can tell.)

Why not try it?  If you don't care about core strength, how about this?  You can bounce on it.  That's way more fun than a chair.

Commando Mom

I was reading a book to my kids tonight, and the word 'commando' was used, as in, 'It's good to have a commando on your team'.  The kids didn't know what the word meant so I was trying to describe it. 

"It's someone who is really strong and fit - who can lift heavy things and do hard stuff."  I explained.

My oldest son said to his siblings, "You know...like Mom."

Commando Mom!  I love it.

I do lots of things wrong as a parent, but I like that I'm doing some good role modelling for fitness.

The other day, my five year old daughter cautioned me not to dump out her drink in the sink because she wasn't finished with it yet.  "I still need to hydrate, Mom."  she told me coolly.

You need to hydrate to be the best commando you can be!

Insert Maniacal Laugh Here

The countdown is on for the Raid the Hammer - a 25km orienteering trail race. Three days to go and I'm wondering if I should be more nervous. Actually, I know I should be more nervous. Instead whenever I think of the race I feel like laughing - maybe I'm just a little hysterical.

I mean, 25km of trying not to get lost. Today, while picking up my kids from school I ran into Jen's husband, he shook his head and said, "What were you guys thinking?" I told him he needed to have more faith. But I think he knows us better.

We are actually pretty well prepared. We have our packs and food all planned, and we all know we can pull off 25km. The distance isn't the thing making me nervous. It is the fact that we have limited experience with a compass and finding our way efficiently using landmarks. That is my polite way of saying we get lost a lot and don't really know how to read a map. However, the race is done in teams of three, and we have picked our third wisely. Really it is our teammate #3, Dwayne, who should be nervous as he is taking on the directionally challenged as teammates. Poor Dwayne, he will be our resident map reader and I will owe him big when this is all over.

In reality, I'm sure we'll do fine. As Dwayne said to me the other day, "There will be some stories to tell." And I'm always in for anything that will make a good story.

We Got Lost

I know the race was called, "Don't Get Lost", but we did anyway!

Last weekend, Jen and I signed up and for a 10km orienteering trail run. We did it because next weekend we are doing a 25km orienteering trail run and we thought we should have an idea what this kind of running is all about. We found out - the hard way.

It was the day before Hurricane Sandy was to hit the East Coast and winds and rain were already here, and it was cold. We showed up early for a mini-clinic in navigation. Did I mention we had never used a compass before? Armed with a 20-minute class and a few YouTube videos we set out. I have to say check points one to seven went pretty well considering we had never done anything like this. But at number eight it all fell apart. An hour later we gave up any hope of finding number eight and thoroughly drenched and frozen to the bone, we headed back. We got three more check points on the way in, one thanks to Ralph - Thank you Ralph! And three-and-a-half hours after starting, shivering, we took our first DNF.

It sounds like hell, I know, but actually, it was a lot of fun. In many ways I'm looking forward to the longer run on Sunday, even though I'm terrified it will rain the whole time. But barring that, I think it will be great.

Highlights from our Peak-2-Peak Enduro:

1. Finding the first check point on our first try. Yay for us!

2. Bush wacking from number three to four (not a good idea, by the way). After pushing our way through burrs and thorn bushes, we found the creek on the map. Jen yells, "We found the creek!" followed by, "Correction, we are IN the creek!" Four soakers later we are across the marsh and forcing our way through more thorns.

3. Finding out that the darkest green areas on the map mean "impassable" after our pants are completely covered in burrs and scratched by thorns.

4. The salted almonds that tasted like the best food ever.

5. Being thwarted by a streamer hanging from a tree on the top of a hill we were convinced was number eight. It wasn't.

6. Knowing we were out of our league and this was less than half the distance we were signed up for in the next one.

7. Learning lessons, like not running off into the bushes looking for streamers. Instead, we need to follow "hand-rails" and know exactly where we are at all times.

While it was an experience, I'm not too worried about the 25km run coming up. We have a third member of our team who know what he is doing. And we are experts now too, right?

Running in the Forest in the wake of Hurricane Sandy

It was a beautiful day in the forest!  Yes, it was spitting rain, as it has been for the last nine days.  And yes, the sky was overcast and gray.  But the forest was still beautiful.  Don't believe me?  Take a look:

 

The trees were black with rain.  There were lots of trees down as well as branches, but for the most part the forest in Hamilton had weathered the storm.  The wind had taken down almost all of the leaves, so instead of the previous Berber leaf carpet it was now shag carpet.  The colours on the ground were amazing.  The creeks were overflowing their banks and cascades had turned into waterfalls.  It's always good to run in the forest, even in the rain.