Swim, bike, run - How Bad ASS can I be?

Most runners, at least the ones I know have a little OCD mixed in with Type A characteristics. This is not meant to be a negative – as a triathlete I tell everyone I have ADD, OCD and triple TYPE A – try being me!?!   It is exhausting some days.      So how am I relating this all to the mileage versus time debate you ask?   Well as endurance runners – yes if you run anything over 5km, in my book, you are now an endurance athlete.   There are levels but yep you have definitely moved past the 20 minute after work run – and if you can do 10 km in 20 min – well I dislike you a little bit.   Again back to– see the ADD thing I am not kidding – tying this together.   Once our mileage goes up and we start doing half marathons, full marathons, ultras and such we start to become more obsessive about our mileage.   Especially those who are new to long distance running.   There is this fear that if you do not get the exact precis...

As the mileage starts to increase the aches and pains increase and the chance of injury as well. Recently I started listening to Podcasts .  One podcast I am enjoying immensely is IM Talk.  They talk about everything to do with Ironman, triathlon training, racing, nutrition, and so on and so forth.  I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in triathlon. One of the topics on their most recent podcast was Injury and how to not become depressed and stressed out while rehabbing.   As soon as they started talking about it I knew I was nodding my head and thinking Bingo.  We all know what it is like - we start out training and then it becomes part of our life, it defines us and it is what we do. The sense of pride and accomplishment that we get after we finish that 29km run on Sunday morning.   Especially as we decide to get into longer distances - marathon, Ironmans and Ultra's.  Things go great and then all of the sudden boom in...

About 4 - okaaaaay maybe 5 weeks ago my right foot/inner heel/ankle starting hurting.  I was able to keep running but it got gradually worse and started going up my calf muscle so I went to see a physio.  Now before you all become judgmental I did go get it x-rayed about 3 weeks in and confirmed there was no fracture but yet it kept getting worse!?! Hmmm - time to go see a physio I guess - see progress before I would wait till I was completely hobbled.  However at the risk of suffering another lecture by my regular physio I got her to refer me to a new physio closer to work. Well he looked at it and said nothing major but no running for a week - WHAT - no road running you can water run, ride and swim but no water running for a week.  Okay - no running for a week - now he did not specify which week - rookie mistake on his part :). I am not  a total brat that was a week ago Friday so I ran the next Sunday and did not run all week on pavement. ...

I love being active.  I love all sports - team and individual - with the exception of downhill skiing.  Seriously - what is up with that death sport?!?   I am originally a flat lander and any time I have tried to careen down a mountain on 2 teensy pieces of wood attached to my feet bad things have happened. After being taken from a local bunnyhill on a stretcher I called uncle and decided to just be good at apres Ski. But I digress... Back to my pontificating about how much I love sports with the big 3 obviously being: running, swimming and riding. I love registering for races and going out to train most of the time.... Oh come on - that's right I will say it out loud - sometimes I don't want to! (insert collective gasp)  And that is where the great debate comes in.  The internal discussion that starts first thing in the morning and goes on all day back and forth, back and forth.  Until finally you decide to go or not - in my ca...

So the last couple of years, I guess really after Ironman, I have kind of felt like I am just going through the motions. Register for a race, train for a race, do a race.  Repeat.  I have not really been excited it just has been an ends to a means.  I mean I have been excited about the locations but the actual distance or type of race - not really. That : wow how do I go about doing this, holy crap am I seriously thinking about doing this, I feel kind of sick, seriously HOW BAD CAN IT BE feeling.  It just has not been there.  Well it is back and it feels awesome!  I feel anxious, a little worried and excited all at the same time.  You ask - what is it, what is it?  Background first - my very first running Coach - Louise. .  She was so inspiring and really touched me and helped develop my passion for running.  She was/is an amazing athlete and her passion for running was contagious.  She really cared about us and encouraged u...

Happy New Year!  Since Vegas I have been taking it easy - still running , but no cycling or swimming and way too much turkey among other things and well I can feel and see it.  My clothes are a little snugger around the middle than they have been in a long time.  Not to worry though I have registered for some races as I find that is always a good way to motivate me to stay true to my workouts. Vancovuer BMO Full Marathon - yep I know I said I would never do this one again because I had done it a few times and it was old news but this year they have changed the course.  Now this was not enough to convince me because I am not a big fan of running on the seawall due to the canter but Judith decided that since the start line was a 6 min jog from her front door it was time to run her first full.  Sounds wierd when she has walked one and done 2 Ironman's but yep it is true this will be her first time running a full marathon.  So with the new course, me not ...

It is just over 2 weeks since June bug, Pam and I went to Vegas to do the Vegas Rock'n'Roll Half marathon. I have run lots of marathons, half marathon, and triathlons and I can honestly say I will NOT run this race ever again and it will take some serious convincing for me to even consider ever doing another Rock'n'Roll event again. I was super excited about this race as I have heard good things from friends about the Rock'n'Roll races and this would be my first one.  I expected a class act - I mean if you run dozens of races across the states and world you figure you got it down to a fine art- right?  This is the first time they would be running the race at night but the race had been there for at least 6 years since I had friends who ran it in 2005.  Besides the change to night they had increased registration to 44,000 but I was not concerned - Dublin was 27,000 and it worked out well and New York was 57,000 so I did not see that that would be a problem. ...