Monthly Archive: January 2010

A challenging route

Categories:

Sun. January 31, 2010

Whenever I go out for a run with my group, I’m always reminded of just how tough and determined they are. For this Sunday morning, based on the schedule we were scheduled to do 18 kilometres. I was looking at the map trying to figure out where to take them to add another two kilometres to the 16K route that we’ve done in the past. That route was already rather hilly. Since everyone seemed to be feeling strong on that route I decided to keep all of the ups and downs. For the extra two, I decided to take them through two roads that have reputations for both being hilly and seemingly endless. Perhaps the decision to take these roads is part of a sadistic side that I normally keep tucked away. Whatever the case, I wanted to see how everyone would fare both physically and mentally.

A lot of the route came from snippets that we’ve all seen before. It was just a little different seeing it all tied together. Early on I knew that the run would be challenging. The winds were a little bit strong and seemed to pummel us at various parts of the route. Like I mentioned, there were a good number of up and downhill parts. It was definitely challenging. I could tell that everyone was feeling it late into the route, but we just kept on going. All I wanted was for everyone to do their best. It’s all I could ask for, right?

When we got back to the store, I started polling my group for their opinions. I told each one of them that it was tough, and that I was definitely feeling a bit rough. Just about everyone told me that it was a tough route, though no one was really sure if it was because of the hilliness, or if it’s more due to the resistance created by the wind. Still, everyone really seemed proud of the fact that they completed the route. There wasn’t a person there that seemed resentful. My big comment to them was that if they could do such a hilly route so strongly then our goal race, which is a very flat course, will be absolutely no problem, which is true! I know that my group is going to rock that race in March.

Tags: ,

Leave comment

Need better time budgeting

Categories:

Sat. January 30, 2010

Note to self:

Instead of complaining that there aren’t enough hours in the day, I just need to work harder on budgeting my time better and not losing time here and there doing random things. I’m not saying I should be more robotic and have things timed down to the second. I mean, if I want to piss my time away, I need to own it. However, I should not complain too loudly if it’s suddenly the end of Sunday and X, Y, and Z never got done.

This post has no tag

2 comments

Outside of my wheelhouse

Categories:

Fri. January 29, 2010

Was talking with an old friend for the past few hours on the phone. I’m glad that I did. I mean, I have this decent phone plan and I don’t take enough advantage of it. Plus, I figured that having some voluntary social contact with friends would do me some good. Our conversation helped me to re-frame my perspective in a couple of areas. For example, no matter how much I insist that I’m quite introverted, I actually lean more toward extroversion.

That really made me think about the whole improv class thing that I’ve been pursuing. I’ve justified taking the class to myself by saying that I wanted to do something that was totally and completely out of my comfort zone. That’s fine, and it makes me actions seem all that much more impressive. However, if I were to just breathe out and take a step back to examine the situation, I’d realize that improv isn’t that far out of my wheelhouse at all. With my propensity for loudness, the ability to act larger than myself, and the guts to be occasionally shameless, I’d say this all totally within reach. I’m not saying it’s not challenging, because it damn well is, but I can say this doesn’t really make me crippled with fear. Does that make sense?

Tags: , ,

2 comments

Dwindling numbers

Categories:

Thu. January 28, 2010

When the team was larger, thing were a little bit more tolerable because at least the workload was more spread out. Now, as our numbers are dwindling it’s just becoming more and more difficult. This is especially true on a day like today that involved a code release. Handling an eleven hour work day, with a good number of those hours on my own, is just too much.

*sigh*

Tags: ,

Leave comment

Transforming opinions on speed

Categories:

Wed. January 27, 2010

Throughout this clinic that I’ve been coaching, I’ve been inviting guest speakers to come in to speak to the group on specific topics. Yesterday, with the topic of speed training on the schedule I decided to perform the talk myself. From my experience, a lot of people just simply go way too fast for their abilities. As a result, people burn out too fast and get to the point of exhaustion far too soon. Then, all that’s left is a horribly bad impression of speed training. Back then I felt the exact same way. Oh, if I only had a dollar for every time someone said “I hate speed training!” Well, about a year ago I had my eureka moment with this type of training. With a bit of technique, everything finally clicked. All of a sudden, I actually grew to love speed training. Crazy, that. So, I knew that if I could explain the training properly to my group, I would be able to gain at least one convert among the group.

The talk itself went well. I kind of think though that I was rambling. Either that or I was speaking at a little bit of a fast clip. I had everyone’s attention though. Frankly, I think that not everyone was used to the message that speed training isn’t about going all out until you feel like puking. When we were out there I could tell that no one was going egregiously fast for their abilities. I had stressed to them that they should be going a little bit faster than their anticipated race pace. Everyone paid attention and went according to their abilities. For myself, I was going at a good speed–faster than I’d gone last year at this time, for sure. Yes, it was tough, but that’s expected for this type of workout. By the end, I was just happy to have completed it all. I waited around for the group to finish before we headed back to store.

Back at the store, we were all stretching out at the side. I polled the people in my clinic to see how the felt about it. Everyone told me that it wasn’t bad at all. Upon hearing that I was pleased with myself. I knew that I’d transformed people’s opinions. What really blew me away was when a couple of them told me that they actually enjoyed that more than hill training. That kind of thing doesn’t happen! Except it did! I rock! For me, this was entirely an unexpected triumph. It’s definitely something that I will hold with me from this coaching experience.

Tags: ,

Leave comment

Egg timing and zombie watching

Categories:

Tue. January 26, 2010

I was on lifehacker a few minutes ago and saw a link for EggWatchers. It’s a site that times out the cooking time needed to cook an egg to your specifications. After putting in your egg info, it prompts you to put your egg into boiling water. When you click on “start the timer” it picks a random YouTube video that’s as long as the required cooking time. That way, you get a perfectly cooked egg, all while being entertained. Neat, right?

Just as a test run, I told it I had a large egg that was straight out of the fridge, and I wanted it squidgy. It told me the cooking time was 6:40 and picked out an appropriate video. I was expecting something random and boring, but the video it picked up was actually quite cool. I just wanted to share it with you all here.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d-tNXxTRBA

Chainsaw Maid: THEY are coming for your FLESH and BLOOD!

No kidding. If I was really cooking an egg I would have been thoroughly entertained.

Tags: , ,

2 comments

Sleep attacks

Categories:

Mon. January 25, 2010

I’m not even going to scare myself by thinking about worse case scenarios, but I’ve been seriously fatigued as of late. I know, I know, after yesterday’s post which wondered out loud whether I’m doing far too much the reason for the fatigue should be obvious. In the past week, I’ve fallen asleep on the couch four times. I’m not talking about simple napping either. Often, I find myself sitting on the couch…then I find myself needing to get comfortable in a horizontal position while listening to music. Then, after a blink or two I suddenly find that hours have passed and it’s suddenly the middle of the night. I’ve done so in my work clothes and in my running gear. The lights are often on in the kitchen and in the living room.

Yes, I know that it’s a horrible habit.

I need to figure out what to do with myself. Perhaps I’m just not eating enough. Before I was saying that I was eating too much, and now not enough? Well, my current caloric ranges are based on me burning around 2450 calories through exercise per week. Last week I went over 4000. So, it’s possible that I’m under-eating by a little bit. Still, I don’t want to raise my ranges and sabotage my efforts like I did over the holiday period. Then again, I totally am burning way more calories now that I’m late into my training cycle, so it’s a legit concern.

Fatigue isn’t so bad on occasion, but when it starts blocking me from getting some things accomplished, then I know that there are bigger issues afoot. On my way home I was thinking about how I wanted to bake something because it’s been a long time since I’ve done so. Now that I’m here, the fatigue just kind of hit me over the head. It shouldn’t be a struggle to do something that I so obviously want to do.

Anyway, I’m not whining. I just need to get my thoughts in order.

And I need to get a good night’s sleep.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Tags: , , ,

Leave comment

Possibly overdoing it

Categories:

Sun. January 24, 2010

Some days I wonder if I’m starting to overdo this whole fitness thing.

No, for God’s sake I’m not bragging. Ugh.

I sometimes fear that I’m doing way too much and that my body just isn’t strong enough to handle all of the strain that I’m placing on it. As the coach for the half marathon clinic I’ve really been trying to be on top of my game. I mean, it’s important for me to set an example for everyone else, right? This late into this training cycle, our distances are now up to 16-18K. That’s nothing to sneeze at. It burns a heck of a lot of calories. My heart rate monitor claimed that I burned 1800+ cals on this morning’s run. Also on Sundays are those plyometrics classes. I just don’t have opportunities to take that class at any other time during the week. So, I’ve really been training myself to be able to handle that strenuous class even after having done several hours of running.

Today, after I finished the route, instead of heading back home for a pit stop I decided to hang around north of the city and visit a Tim Hortons to down two cups of coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I figured that I needed something to make me not feel tired and something to help me refuel. It’s a good thing that I did that prep work; I actually came out of plyometrics feeling strong. That class burned another 650+ cals. Combined with running, that’s simply a lot of exercise in one day.

I worry. Will my body just rebel one day and tell me that enough is enough? Probably not, but it’s still something I need to observe. For sure, I don’t mind the side-effect of burning a large amount of calories. It’s a factor that’s really helped me to shed some weight. If I continue at this rate though, will I become all sickly? I figure that it’s very possible that something has got to give. It’s a good thing then that I’m doing my best to keep my body healthy. I’ve recently started taking various vitamins and minerals in supplemental form. They should help to keep things in great working order, no? If I somehow fall along the way though, I’m quite sure that someone will tell me. All I can do is to try my best.

Tags: , , ,

2 comments

Older posts «

Switch to our mobile site