Zero Week

Woke up yesterday morning and found this on my Garmin.

 

That means we did it!  We held out the entire week without running.  They call it a zero week, and it is one of the recommended methods of marathon recovery.  I have never before completed a successful zero week.  It usually starts out something like this...

 

200 metres to the finish line-"What is happening, my everything hurts, WHY DOES THE FINISH LINE KEEP MOVING!!"

 

As I finally catch the moving finish line and my foot strikes the timing mat-"I LOVE RUNNING SO MUCH, THAT WAS AMAZING, LET'S DO IT AGAAAAIIIIINNNNNN!!"

 

Precisely one step over the finish line-"Oh crap...I can't walk."

 

In the car on the way home-"I'm gonna take the week off of running and the gym, I want to make sure I recover properly."

 

Day 1-"Who's dumb idea was it to put stairs in houses, and who made our toilets shorter?"

 

Day 2-"I feel pretty good, I'm just going to roll my legs really well today."

 

Day 3-"Hey!!  I can walk like a normal person

 

Day 4-"The gym is easier then running, I'm just going to go to the gym...Active recovery is good for you.  Oh look...There's a spin class right now...Spinning is easier then running...Low impact right?  You know, active recovery..."

 

Day 5- "My legs didn't fall off at the gym, I'm just going to try a little run.  Just a little, easy, slow 5K. 

 

And thus the demise of the zero week. 

 

After our 50K last September I did a spin class on the Wednesday, and then ran Thursday and Saturday, and then was back to 5 day/week running and 2 day/week strength training the next week.  It took me a very long time to feel fully recovered, and it was my own fault.  As of last week, I had exactly 6 weeks before the start of my next marathon training cycle.  My next marathon is a hugescaryoverwhelmingterrifying goal (which I will tell you about soon), so I thought it would be wise to be very conservative with my recovery but not with my voting.  I want to be ready to train very hard 5 weeks from now.  It's just the motivation that I needed to actually abide by the zero week. 

 

That's not to say that there were not moments of temptation.  I thought that working nights at the end of the week would be a great deterrent.  I never really feel like running after night shifts.  In fact I never really feel like being alive after working night shifts  Unexpectedly when I got up around 11 on Saturday morning I really wanted to run.  The weather was beautiful, and Lucas was going to hang out with my mom for a bit, so I thought it would be the perfect time for Leigh and I to stick Cooper in the stroller and go for an easy run (we recently realized that Lucas has outgrown his stroller running days).  I even managed to influence Leigh and convince him that this was a good idea (he is much wiser with his recovery then I).  After a couple of hours and a trip to the garden centre I came to my senses and realized that I needed to stick to the plan.  Then I started really thinking about how Lesley was running a half marathon on Sunday, a half marathon that I had sorta kinda planned on registering for so I could run with Lesley (early in my marathon traning). I started thinking about maybe just wearing some running clothes, and just jumping in for a few couple uhhh...some miles...You know, just if she looked like she needed some encouragement.  I ran that thought by Leigh, and he very seriously (which is very unusual) said, I really don't think you should run your first run back at that pace.  I wore a maxi dress and flip flops, the least running friendly attire I could conceive.

 

So after a week off I set out for an easy 5K in beautiful weather yesterday morning.  My legs are still a bit fatigued, my IT band still a bit whiney, but running was still there, nothing bad happened, and I still knew how to run after a whole week off.  Planning an easy increase in mileage through the rest of the week, and we'll see how it goes.

Our Marathon Weekend in Pictures

Everyone knows the best way to combat pre-race nerves is to photo blog. We are here safely in Halifax and the weather is beautiful. It's so beautiful in fact, we are hoping it cools down by tomorrow. Race kits have been picked up and we are ready to roll. Time to put our feet up and get ready for tomorrow. Here are a few pictures of our trip so far. 

My first selfie. The smallest airplane bathroom ever!

The weather when we left Moncton. 

Arriving in Nova Scotia

Below is our morning in pictures. Walk along the harbour, farmers market, pizza for lunch, me and a lobster, Tamales, the Citadel (where we first caught the running bug)

The 5k runners taking off. If you look closely you will see some fire fighters running in full gear! 

Some time with Amanda and Ashley

We are off to finish the carb load and try and relax and get ready for tomorrow. 

-Leigh

The East Coast of Canada, Home of the Bagpipes.

The title of this blog was inspired but a great, but certainly NSFW song/track by Canadian rap artist Classified. The song is called "The Maritimes" and you can take a listen here (do not listen with your children around or if you are afraid of profanity). For a family-friendly song that is only slightly related to this blog post but so great that I'm including it, I present to you, the great Rod Stewart:

As I'm sure you do most times I author a post on this blog, you are this point wondering two things 1) When is Lexie blogging again, and 2) Is he going anywhere with this or just trying to make us listen to his favourite songs? The answers are soon, and yes. Moving on.

One of my favourite places on Earth is the east coast of Canada for the following reasons: I enjoy the sounds of Oceans of all varieties, I love Donairs, I have been known to watch The Trailer Park Boys, I love bridges and Halifax is home to many, and most of all I love the people we visit when we go there. I also love run-on sentences.

A few years ago when we were visiting Lexie's Cousins and their cool families in Halifax for the first time we had the chance to watch Amanda, and Lexie's Uncle Mike run a 10k race. It was part of the Blue Nose Marathon race weekend. I can still remember how electric the finish line was. Seeing all these people complete a task I didn't think I was capable of was inspiring. People of all shapes and sizes were crossing the finish line. Now by no means did this inspire me to do the same, but when I think back, I think it may have planted a seed in the back of our minds that has now grown into a big, addicted, obsessed tree. I know that the last sentence made no sense, but you get it.

Fast forward to December of 2013, I was just recovering from my back injury and Ashley (Lexie's cousin who is one of the people we love to visit out east) was here for a visit. Now I can't recall the exact details but we were talking about our next race, and before we knew it, Ashley was talking to Rob (her Beau) and we had decided our next Marathon would be the Blue Nose Marathon in Halifax on the May long weekend (the Blue Nose is a famous sailboat, hence the use of the "Sailing" by my man Rod). You know how the rest goes; time flew, we trained, I got injured, I recovered, we ran long, and far, and fast, and here we are. Race Weekend is upon us. Tomorrow we fly out to Halifax (without the boys, thanks again Oma!) to run a great race and see some great people.

The goal you ask? Under 4 hours.

How are we going to do it?

Catch you guys on the flip side, check back on the weekend for some short but informative posts.

Believe It Or Not...

We are still here, and we do still have the desire to blog.  The trouble over the last 3 months is that the desire to blog has not translated into actually blogging.  Like all of you, we have been busy and tired, and priorities at the end of the day shifted from blogging, to collapsing on the couch in a heap of exhaustion, and then staggering off the couch and up to bed sometime around 9pm.

It all started when I started a new job in January.  I got a contract for the winter semester teaching obstetrical nursing for a college program.  I loved (LOVED!!) it, but it translated into a lot of prep work, marking, and email answering.  Should have scored myself a phys ed gig I guess!  The minutes that I would typically steal to blog in were spent updating Blackboard, marking papers about breastfeeding and skin to skin, and answering panicked emails asking for extensions.

All sorts of other fun stuff has been going on in our household in the past few months as well.   I'm going to give you a little photo run down of what we've been up to!

There was a fun trip to the Raptors game that clearly contributed to their brief playoff stint.  Lucas has been very VERY into The Raptors this year.  It's too bad the officiating was so bad that they lost in the first round.  It was fun seeing Lucas so into it!

Leigh's junior team fared better then the Raps.  He coached them to a ROPSAA Championship!

There was A LOT of this.  Before all was said and done the snow on our front lawn covered about half the branches on the tree.

All that snow resulted in a spur of the moment decision to drive to Myrtle Beach for March Break.  We camped in Myrtle Beach State Park for 4 nights. We had so much fun.  We played at the beach and the park as much as we could.  Night time trips to the park with the lantern and headlamps to maximize our park time were a big hit!  It was a very welcome break from the snow and cold.  Runs on the beach in shorts and t-shirts are much more enjoyable then runs in -30+ windchills wearing 2 pairs of tights, shorts, and compression socks to keep my legs warm.  The day before we left it was 26 degrees C, when we crossed the border coming home, to a massive snowstorm, the temperature was -26 degrees C.  That is a 52 degree difference!

Lucas was just mildly excited to be able to play at the park!

We braved the cold and spent a morning at College Royal.  Here the boys are the the Teddy Bear Hospital.  Puppy had a broken tail that needed casting.  Elmo needed his heart fixed just like Cooper.  Convenient that Cooper still has not allowed us to take off Elmo's Sick Kids band.  He was all ready to go.

Oh...And what about running you ask?  Come on...Ask about running!  We are in week 16 of this little training plan.  That's right, we are in taper week for another marathon!  Bring on the carbs!

Guess What!?!

This week is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week!  This is an annual awareness week designed to educate people about Congenital Heart Defects.  Check out this fact sheet to learn more about CHDs.  Did you know that CHDs occur in nearly 1% of live births.  That makes CHDs as common as autism...But don't tell Jenny McCarthy that, she may go on a campaign against the consumption of apples by pregnant women or something.

CHD Awareness Week has had me thinking a lot about how grateful I am for this guy.  Even when he's crying because he asked for Mini Wheats and I gave him Mini Wheats, or because Lucas is eating Lucas' dinner, or because I am going to the washroom, or doing something as nervy as putting on my hat when we go outside.  Living the reality of CHD and open heart surgery sure does something for perspective, even when your kid belongs on Reasons My Son Is Crying at least once a day.

, 

The Sick Kids foundation posted this graphic on facebook today.

Just in case you didn't know...We think Sick Kids is pretty great.  How blessed we are to live so close to a world class paediatric cardiac program.  

Speaking of hearts (see what I did there?), Friday is Valentine's Day.  With Valentine's Day comes the deadline to register for The Sears Great Canadian Run for the fantastically low price of $20.  After Friday the registration fee goes up to $50.  We currently have 11 awesome folks committed to running with Cooper's Troopers.  We could really use a few more people who want to come out and have one of the best days of their life with us on September 20, 2014.  

Looking for a great Valentine's Day gift?  How about you forgo the overpriced flowers and send a donation to Cooper's Troopers instead!  Our new fundraising link is here!  Let's make the battles that too many small children are fighting easier.

The One Where I Went Streaking

Hey Ya'll, It has been a while. I know our very few readers probably miss us, so we are going to try and get back on the blog train. I'm also happy to report that I'm back on the running train, and I am so happy about it, that I went streaking.

October and November were tough running months for me. It took quite a few weeks for my body to return to normal after our 50K, and when I did, I was having some knee issues that were persisting despite a huge drop in mileage. Then something magical happened, we found our treadmill on Kijiji. I was so excited. It was a great deal and it meant that Lexie and I could run simultaneously in the mornings. However, the day after I picked it up, I threw out my back. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It put me out for 7 days, which it turns out was exactly the amount of time I needed for my knee to start feeling better. Since I have returned, I have been feeling great and upping my mileage slowly to prepare myself for the next marathon training cycle (more on that to come in the coming weeks)

(Since I started writing this post and right now when I'm finishing it, I tweaked my back again. Doing what you ask? MOVING THE TREADMILL! The struggle is real)

As my back began to feel better, I was starting to crave a running challenge. I haven't raced or trained with a plan since September, and despite my mostly Type B personality, it was starting to bore me. So I joined the Runner's World Holiday Running Streak. Essentially it entails running everyday from American Thanksgiving to New Years Day. In order to keep the streak alive you must RUN (not bike, walk, hike, rollerblade, or hoverboard) at least 1 mile each day during the given time frame. I am happy to report I completed the streak and enjoyed it so much that I continued it on past the official ending date. I made it to 55 days (November 27-January 20), but decided to end it when my back started hurting again and I realized marathon training is about to kick off again (more on that later). I usually did two one-mile runs a week, sometimes 3. The other days were usually 3-5 miles with a 6-10 mile run thrown in on the weekends (including a 10 miler on a treadmill during the Ice Storm of the century, the decade 2013). It was a fun challenge, but I fear it has left me with a dependancy on running. I notice now more than ever that my mood is affected by the lack of a run. As a matter of fact, I ran for 4 days after I hurt my back for the second time because I convinced myself I was feeling better. I had planned to continue to streak for a while longer, at least until I got into really high mileage weeks in my marathon training plan, but I have a goal to reach, and I'm not risking it.

In my extensive 2-year running career, 2013 was by far my highest mileage year. According to my Garmin connect website, I ran 926 miles. I am often guilty of not charging my Garmin/forgetting my Garmin/running out of battery on my Garmin and using Lexie's. I also ran on the treadmill a lot, both at work and at home. So I am estimating my yearly total for 2013 to be about 1400-1600 miles. I'll take it. I think this year might be slightly higher as I plan on marathon training for most of the year and keeping the mileage high.

There are three major ways Lexie and I differ in our running. One, she is faster. Probably because she is obsessive about hitting her workouts properly, and I have issues with doing what I'm told. Two, she hates running on the treadmill and I somewhat enjoy it. Three, I LOVE to race, while she saves her racing dollars for races she can PR. So to finish off the official portion of the run streak I decided I would run the Running Room Resolution Run. This is a fairly popular run in Canada, it is done on either December 31st or January 1st, and comes with a "free" running jacket (it costs $50 to register), which if I look into the depths of my soul is probably the reason I wanted to run it.

The "Free" jacket

In case you live somewhere other than Ontario/Don't have Facebook/Were just born, we have a had a coooooooooooooold few weeks in Southern Ontario. December 31st was one of those days. Lexie, because she is the best running partner a husband could have, wanted to come along and cheer, so we bundled the kids up, I put on my warmest running gear and we headed off.

I was slightly disappointed with the organization of the run, I guess I expected it to be more of a race, when really it was more of an organized run. There was no starting line, or finish line, rather we just started in the parking lot of a church across from the Running Room store, and finished in the same parking lot.

The start was rough a it was 200 or so people all trying to run down the same sidewalk. I made the classic middle of the packer mistake and started too far back, meaning I had to walk/run this first few hundred metres when really I could have been running faster. Eventually I made my way around the walkers (not to be confused with zombies from The Walking Dead) and settled into a nice pace. I ran the 10km version of the race, which was two laps of the same same 5km loop. The course was nothing special, just around some residential streets in Guelph. Because of the the wintery weather we had, the sidewalks were covered is slush/ice/snow which made for a very slippery run. Only a few of us were doing the 10K so by the time I had hit my second lap, the sidewalks had opened up. The run finished on a nice downhill and I finished in about 53ish minutes  which is a pretty good 10K time for me. There was no official time, and my Garmin started acting up at the start, so that is an estimate.

Here is a picture of me after the race. I'm not surprised, my eyes are just frozen open.

This picture was taken on January 2nd, the coldest running day I have ever experienced. We did 5 miles and called it a day.

It was a great way to finish of a great year of running, and a great excuse to eat SO MUCH sushi for our fancy New Years Eve dinner. The run streak was fun, and I am hoping next year I can extend it to a solid 100 days.

Check back soon for information on our 2014 running goals! Here is a hint:

-Leigh

Big News!!

Today this happened...

We have been looking forward to this day since about 6:15pm on September 21st, 2013.  Ok, it may have taken Leigh just a little bit longer to get excited about running again...

But we can't really blame him, because he had just moments before finished running 50K, and I had been marinating in all the lactic acid glory of running 50K for 6 hours while he was running.

In all seriousness the day of the Sears Great Canadian Run in 2013 will live on as one of our very favourite days ever.  You can read all about it here, here, and here.  It was truly a life changing day, and not something that you can understand until you participate in it yourself.

So, I guess you know what's coming next.  WE WANT YOU!!!!!!!!!!  50K was a long and tough journey.  We learned that it took a long time to fully recover from that effort.  At some point I would like to try it out again, possibly even a solo 100K effort some year, Leigh is not a glutton for punishment (or stupid) like me.  But this year is not the year.  This year we have other running goals that will not jive with a 50K effort.  So we are looking for teammates to join us.  We would like to put together as many Cooper's Troopers teams as we can.  If you are interested in joining the fun check out the website and let us know.  A few things to note:

-Until February 14th, 2014 registration is only $20!!!!!!!  This is an absolute steal.

-The fundraising requirement is $500/runner.  We are planning on doing some fundraising events this year so we can work together to bring in some big money for Sick Kids.

-You don't have to run far or run fast.  There were runners from all different levels of interest and experience.  There were lots of people who walked.  There are legs of varying distances.  We are hoping that we will have enough interest that we can accommodate everyone who wants to be a Cooper's trooper!

Please let us know (via a blog comment, Facebook, email, phone call, raceposal, CB radio, walkie talkie, or just tell us to our faces) by February 14, 2014 so we can all be cheap together and only have to pay $20 for registration.  Then we can all donate the $30 we save.