Today started off well, Did a 7km run in the morning :) Such a rarity for me to do one on a weekday - and just before work too! My initial plan was actually to head to the gym for a body combat class. However, as a person who loves to put the alarm on snooze control, that sadly didn't happen. In effort to make the best of it, I made my way to the beaches and did a quick run. The run went well, nothing much happened aside from the usual battle with my allergies. Oh wait, I did see a familiar face! There was this fellow that I always bumped into when I did my weekly long runs on the weekends. It was such a coincidence, such a small world.

I finished my run around 8ish, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to work. Feeling rather accomplished, after work, I pushed myself a little further by doing a bike ride. I admit, my legs were a bit sore, but through my friend's (Jeff) encouragement, I managed to do 3 consecutive up hills on the bike. Mind you, I'm no pro at it, but I was quite proud to have made it up. This was the same hill that I had so much trouble at the beginning, the one I could barely manage to do once! Practice makes perfect :)


Afterwards, we biked our way back to the other end of the boardwalk where the rocks were. We explored some of the other paths and found the scenery there to be quite beautiful. We biked for a while, I would say about 10-11km, more or less, and finally called it an evening.

By the time we headed back, the sun was already setting, just starting to dip below the horizon. I forget sometimes how the simple things in life are the most beautiful. Just have to remember not to stare at it :P Black Spots are a side effect to that.

Back in training: 6km easy run

Last night I felt a little nostalgic, so I decided to watch some old movies - The Planet of the Apes (1968 version). I remember my brother watching the Planet of the Apes when I was younger, but the marathons always ran so late into the night that I couldn't stay up... dozing on and off, I would only catch pieces of it. Sadly, I never really caught on about it except that there were talking apes, human slavery, an orangutan named Dr. Zaius, and some great revalation at the end of the first movie. I was sorta right, but I missed out on a whole lot of stuff appearantly.

It was funny though as I was watching the movie(s), I couldn't help but think back to a simpsons episode... that song "Dr. Zaius, Dr. Zaius" kept popping up in my head...



Not going to go into spoilers about the movies (yes, I imagine anyone reading this will rush out to get the boxset :-) you never know...), but I was hooked. One movie led to the next and the next, it wasn't until nearly 2am that I realized how late it was. Getting up at 5:30am was not going to be easy.

I was right. lol. In fact, I didn't even hear my first alarm. The 8:30 alarm finally managed to pierce through my cloud of dreams. I wasn't too happy, but I knew that putting off my run would not bold well for the rest of the training schedule I had planned for the next few months.

After freshening up and eating a mango (ran out of bananas), I hung around in my backyard and did some stretches. I also checked out the progress of my garden. I am sad to report, nothing edible has really grown up yet - just lots of flowers that I'm allergic to blossoming about... They are very pretty though.

I left the house by 9:00am, and started my run by 9:15am. The run wasn't as smooth as I'd like to have been, I admit sleeping so late was a large fact. My speed was steady, but not very fast. I was, however, not breathless any given time. Minor annoyances consisted of just my IT band slipping off every once in a while.

I am happy though that despite it all, I did finish my 6km within 45 minutes and in my 10 and 1 interval. No slacking in the water breaks this time around.

I'm going to aim for some hill training sometime this week, tomorrow? I've been avoiding it for a while now. Time to face the music! And it isn't going to be pretty...

In the meantime.. maybe I'll watch another part to the Planet of the apes series :-) Can't wait till "Rise of the Apes" comes out in August!

Becel Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart 2011 - 50km

Today was race day for the 2011 Becel Heart&Stroke Ride for Heart..and I can say it was an amazing experience! I have always wanted to do the ride but have never the courage to ride the distance that it demanded. In fact any long distances with biking made me rather tense given my novice skills with the bike. And sharing the road with other bikers, crowds of them, did not make it any better.

Some years ago (Actually, many many years ago... HS years...), I had two biking accidents. Rather...unbelievable ones that could happen to someone, but they happened to me no less. It was really the second accident though that had quite an impact on me, where the breaklines of the bike nearly punctured my neck.

After that accident, my mountain bike went into storage in my basement... and... stayed until just the past 2 years. Last year I replaced it with a lighter framed bike - the Trek 7000 series. Best bike ever.




This year in preparation for the race, I had wanted to start biking earlier in the season - on stationary ones at my local Goodlife gym. But sadly, in mid-february, I threw out my back. One morning I couldn't even sit up to get up from bed. I went to see my doctor and a physiotherapist, and after doing a series of recommended stretches, hot yoga, and rest, my back was feeling back on par in may.

Training for the ride for heart event however, started later in the game than I anticipated. After returning from my trip to Asia (Taiwan and Vietnam), I was sick from the common flu. It took me about a full week to recover and by then it was mid-may. Weather in Toronto also wasn't great, some rainy gross days came about, and so it was only the gym and stationary biking there.

It was fortunate that I had a hardcore biker buddy Jeff to do the rideforheart with, that really pushed me to get out there and just bike - regardless of how nice or bad the weather it was. Lucky for me though, the days that were chosen turned out to be nice :-)

Within 3 practices, I was starting to get into my grove, having more control with the bike, and a slightly better time going uphill! As Jeff says, it's all in the gears and the breaks. They're my friends :-)

Fast forward about 2 weeks, its June 4th, and I'm eating a pasta late at night at a local place on the Beaches (Tulips!). We literally stepped inside the restaurant at a quarter to 11pm. Jeff's younger brother and his aunt were there to join us as we wolfed down our carbs in prep for the next day's race.

We finished quickly and I got dropped off at my place by 12:30am. I was so exhausted, but mentally very alert. My pre-race day adrenaline was going through the roof. I think I layed in bed unable to sleep till 2am in the morning! Finally, realizing that I had set my alarm to go off at 5:30am, it was a good idea to just SLEEP.

So sleep I finally did. Alarm went off at 5:30am. Got up, turned it off, and went back to sleep. I finally got up at 6:30am, and by the time Jeff and I left the place to go to the Ex it was 10 to 8.





We started the race on time, 8:30am. It was crowded, but not so bad as I imagined. We rode up about the halfway point for the 25km (which was what we had originally signed up for), but neither one of wanted to turn back. Our sticker allowed us to go on the 50km route, so after a quick discussion, we went for the 50km :-)

We stopped a few times, had some apples at a rest station, took water breaks and photos of the downtown skyline, the rogers centre (formally known as the skydome), and the cn tower.

The ride back to the Princes' Gates was more leisurely than expected because both Jeff and I had expected a tough uphill to go through, but it turned out to be not so bad at all. It was in fact easier than the circuit route at the water filtration plant I had trained on. Phew :-)

We finished at the 50km finish line and made our way to grab some food: Bagel, Water, Banana, and a Juice box.

I don't think I ever polished up food that was given at an event that quickly. But I have a feeling it was because I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast since we were pressed for time to head out.

The entire ride took us about 2 and a half hours. I was really happy that I didn't "tap" out on any of the hills :) I barrelled through them, grit and sweat!

So ends my ride for heart journey of this year. Next year, I hope to do the End Cancer or perhaps the Ride for Heart 75km. Maybe the latter first :-)

But before signing off: Thank you again for the wonderful sponsors who contributed to making this event possible for me! My cousins, Cecilia, and Kai (the sane). Special thanks to Jeff who really helped me train for the event!

Speaking of events...

Next one up... Warrior Dash?! We'll see how training goes for that!

Day 2 - The 30 in 30 Run Challenge

A better run today - 5.5km; a very consistant 10 in 1. Incremental speed and with no sign of breathlessness!

I'm at 11.5/48.2km (23.8%)

Day 1 - The 30 in 30 Run Challenge

Day 1

Skipped out on breakfast (had 3 clemintines instead) and headed to Goodlife (for the first time in months! Makes me cringe when I think about my idle membership there.

Did a little bit of stretching, and hopped on to the treadmill.

Things I forgot was to bring a bottled water (drank from fountain instead). No watch. Phone ran out of battery. Good thing for my iTouch :)

First 10 minutes was pretty tough, and it only got tougher after that. 10 and 1 intervals became 10 and 2. Followed by 10 and 3.

After an hour of struggling to keep a steady set interval run I ended my workout at 6km.

I'm at 6/48.2km (12%)

Thinking some need for speed and consistancy is in order.

Until my next workout... :)

The 30 in 30 Run Challenge

It's been nearly 3 1/2 months I have been rather in-active - the last time I did a run was in fact on my cruise trip last October. And that wasn't much of a run from what I recall (the ship was rocking so badly, I had to grip on to the treadmill to keep steady).

As if a reminder of my lack of activity, today I discovered in my email a little reminder from MapMyRun. Curiosity got me and I clicked it open to find a nice challenge presented to me: 30 miles (48.28032 km) in 30 days. Incentives? Some small prizes if you meet it by Feb. 18th. Given today is the 5th, that roughly gives me about 13 days to make the deadline.

I think I'm up for the challenge. It's about high time I started to get back into my routine (said that many times, but first time in writing!). If I don't make the goal (being realistic...) it still will serve as a benefit by jumpstarting me back into running again. Win Win; I like the sound of that.

Wish me luck!

Final running event of year completed!

Last week, I completed my last running event for the year, the Scotiabank Waterfront full marathon (Sunday Sept. 26, 2010). I was nervous I will admit - having to do it alone with no coaches or a team to run with and also having cut my training almost by half. I think I have learned that training alone has its pros and cons - pro being a great way to just have time to do reflection, con because sometimes its also nice to talk to someone as you do those long 15km + runs. I guess I got accustomed to the training through TNT to talking to my teammates :) I miss that.

Although I was running the marathon alone, my friend susan had decided to join me this year to do her first half-marathon. We hadn't the chance to train together (only in hiking), I had given her pretty much the marathon training 101 that I had learned through experience. Including the 10 in 1 interval part, in hopes that if she did decide that was the type of pacing she wanted to do, we could run together for the first half of our course on race day.

The weekend kicked off with a great start - celebration of my friend Cecilia's birthday. High tea followed by a massage at Elmwood Spas! Way too relaxing for what I was about to put my poor body through!













We finished off the evening with a carbs feast at Epicure Cafe. DELICIOUS food. If I wasn't pressed for eating only carbs, I would definitely have ordered a whole lot of other stuff! :D

Susan and I checked back into our hotel (Super 8) at around 10:00pm, and set up our gear, bibs, and laced up our race chip. Air con troubles (it failed to turn on because we had set it below 70 degree F) caused us to extend our bed time... but thankfully we were able to sleep by 12am.

We were up at 5:45am, and having breakfast by 6:30am. My breakfast was so pathetic: half a muffin and some apple juice. My friend at least managed to have some cereal + a drink and an apple (not sure if she ate the apple though...)

We had made our way to catch the 506 street car, but just missed it by a minute. we ended up flagging down a cab and arrived at the Sheraton hotel (across from Nathan Phillips Square) to do our baggage check; it was about 7:05am. Baggaged checked, both of us headed down to the start line which was at University St. and we tried to make our way through to get to our correct corals.

Failed attempt.

It was too packed and there was no way we could make it to our corals before the race started. As we waited I remember wishing we could sit lol. My coach last year gave a really great tip about sitting before doing a race - but sadly, there wasn't even time to sit and relax before the race. We should have booked a closer hotel I guess. lol. Ah the sacrifices to save $$.

7:30am, the anthem started, and there was a cheer as the race began.

Calm and steady we ran together; and I remember at the 5km mark, Susan turned to me and said in a rather sad and disappointed voice, it's only 5km?? I smiled and nodded. Yep. 5km in!

8km in, I was starting to get really hot. The morning had been really cool - as a precautionary measure I had worn a sweatshirt that I was going going to donate/throw away anyway. I told my friend that I was going to stop and toss my sweater away... and that was the last I saw of her. lol So happens very often in races; I didn't see her again until after my race.

15-17km in, I saw two of my clients standing in the sidelines. Sid Ikeda and Yoko Matsuno - they were going to be doing their 5km run at 10am. Seeing them really helped me, and added more power in my strides.

21km, I was still feeling strong in my run. I had improved my time vs my Midsummer night run, at 2.33 (minus time to get to start line).

29km, my poor hip started to bother me. It started as a little twinge of pain, but eventually uncomfortable to the point where I had to walk it off. Ironic that my ipod started playing "OMG" by Usher.

29-38km, I did shorter intervals of running, a slight cramp on my right thigh area - at this point I busted out my emergency trailmix and started popping peanuts, cashews, and almonds into my mouth. Quite delicious considering I had been chewing primarily on electrolyte packed jube jubes and downing gatorade :)
Also did some self-reflection (life, goals, etc) and also to whom this race was dedicated towards.

38-40km, I had a slight mental wall, weariness tugged at me, my legs hurt, my thighs hurt, my feet hurt, AND my hip hurt!

40km-finish, sucked it up (realized I was running short on time), and made my fastest ever recovery run as I blazed towards finishing the marathon.

Happiest feeling ever crossing that finish line. It meant SITTING, MASSAGE, and FOOD. lol and yes, in that order. They slipped the medal on me, and gave me an emergency blanket (so that as our body cools down from all the running, we wouldn't be cold) and I made my way to the closest seat.

As I sat down, I remember having the urge to pull off my shoes to ensure that all my toe nails were still there! Yes, both sad and gross I know! But no. I didn't pull them off there...I did that only after I got my baggaged checked out to slip into my sandals. It took me nearly 10 minutes to get across the street to the hotel, up the stairs and claim my backpack. I bloody wished I hadn't packed so much though. Truly an overkill on my part. Picture my poor exhausted feet and hefting a backpack that weighs like there's a 17" laptop in it + a textbook or two!

I contacted susan and madeline, and set to meet with them; first with mad since I found her literally as I was going to meet with Susan. I left Madeline at Eaton's Indigo bookstore and utilized the Goodlife facilities (finally, my membership there for good use!!). All clean and exhausted, susan and I booked for a foot massage back at the super 8 hotel. Mad held the remote control and we watched a movie on the women's network to which we had no idea what the movie title was... (After some googling, was actually "In her Shoes").

After foot Massage, we ended the evening with sushi buffet dinner. Carbs galore. Never felt less guilty eating so much rice :)

So that ends my recollection of my most anticipated event of the year (right next to the Oxfam hike!). Thank you again to everyone who has sponsored me for all the different events I have participated in this year! Thank you for helping make a difference :)