Tag Archive: Running Room

Chicken, socialization, or beer

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Thu. January 7, 2010

I’ve been craving chicken wings for a few days. I don’t know, that’s pretty random isn’t it? Then, out of the blue I got an invite to meet up with running friends for beer and wings on Friday. Apparently I willed it and the universe obliged. Isn’t that how The Secret works? Hahahah.

Knowing what’s in store for tomorrow, I’ve been doing my homework. I’ve been checking out the caloric content for wings and potentially beer. I know what I can get away with and what my limits should be. I know how much variance I can get away with. That’s right:I’m going in with a game plan! Yes, it sounds all very fastidious, and even a bit overboard; however, I acknowledge that I need to at least make the effort.

I’ve been working hard for the past few months! It’s not that I’m forcing myself to be good. I actually kind of believe this is now part of a good habit thing that I developed. I’ve been doing this long enough that I don’t think I could just go ahead and throw caution to the wind. Of course, once I get there, it might all just go out the window and I might end up eating wings like they were going out of style. Even if that happens, if I do some prep work before hand then it at least minimizes the damage. See, I’ve thought it all out. This evening, I made a pasta sauce that was loaded with veggies. I normally toss in a few meatballs for some protein, but I met my protein reqs earlier in the day. As such, I knew that I could skip the meat. The result was a lower calorie meal. I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to deprive myself of chicken, socialization, or beer. It’ll all work out!

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Listening to my body

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Fri. January 1, 2010

Ever since I started running in May of 2007, there have been a multitude of lessons that I’ve had to learn. I have no doubt that all of this has helped to build my maturity levels. I expected that it would definitely give me a greater sense of self-confidence, and would make me more fit. There are a couple of things that were unexpected though. In particular, the one thing that I’m thinking about right now is my increased level of body awareness. It’s been stressed to me many times over these years that I need to listen to my body. And now I’m passing it on to the people that I’m teaching.

So, today was our scheduled Resolution Run. I participated in the run in the past two years and was intent on doing it again. I paid my fees early on and picked up my “free” running jacket after Tuesday’s run. Frankly, I think I look awesome in the jacket, but that’s besides the point. Anyway, when I got home that night, I noticed that my left calf was feeling weird. It felt as if I had pulled a muscle or tore something. It wasn’t a good feeling at all. I decided to just rest the leg and see how it would feel by the time the morning came around. Unfortunately for me, when I woke up the calf felt worse. The pain was very localized and really only manifested itself when I tried to flex my calf. Go figure. Well, that night I had hill training scheduled. After weighing my alternatives, I decided that I was in no condition to run hills with my issue. Hill training is pretty vigorous, and I knew that if I did it I’d probably aggravate it all. So, I emailed all of my group leaders to make sure that at least one of them would be there to guide the rest of the class. In the end, I knew that everyone would manage without me.

So, along came today. My leg was feeling a little bit better. The pain went from being sharp and localized to feeling like a bruise. Thing is, the day prior my right knee started hurting. I think my body was busy compensating for the bad left leg and somehow caused a misalignment on my right side. Given that the Resolution Run isn’t timed and wasn’t meant to be hardcore, I was tempted to run through the pain. I probably could have, too. Ultimately though I decided that the smart thing to do would be to just not participate in the run itself. Seeing as how I’d already paid the fee, I decided that the best thing to do would be to show up early and volunteer; they always need people to marshal these things. So, I brought my camera and headed for the Running Room early on. I was given my station, and that was that. I spent most of my time taking photos of everyone that passed by. I got plenty of great shots. I made sure to smile and cheer everyone one in the attempt to get everyone to really look dynamic in the photos. I’ve actually uploaded my photos for the event to my gallery. You can check them out here: Resolution Run 2010. The whole time, my fingers were exposed to the cold winds just so that I could get a proper hold of my camera. Sure, I was cold, but I didn’t mind. Despite the fact that I wasn’t participating as a runner, I had a great time out there. I was just happy to see so many friendly faces out there starting the year off with the resolve to have a healthier lifestyle. It’s great, you know. I’m entirely glad that I listened to my body. I wouldn’t have experienced what I did today if I’d forced my way through the discomfort. It’s not a matter of quitting. It’s more a matter of intelligent training. It’s important to take the time to heal.

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Jason’s 2009

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Thu. December 31, 2009

Just like I stated last year, at this time of year I have a tendency to avoid doing these run down type posts. I tend to do these on my birthday, and usually it’s enough. Thing is, I think for a year like this a little bit of navel-gazing is necessary. There’s a lot of talk about this year being a tough one. By and large, yes, it was tough. With all of the doom and gloom, it can be easy for me to sink into a dark place. There are, however, enough reasons for me to look up and forward. That’s why it’s important for me to see what I’ve gone through.

This is one heck of an entry, so I’m placing it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

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Just another hat I wear

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Wed. December 16, 2009

Today was that Markham RR charity event that we had in store. Many toys were collected, and I’m sure they will go to some wonderful people in need in the community. There were a lot of post run treats there donated by a lot of people. I decided to join in by donating cookies. Yes, those glazed lemon shortbread cookies I made the other day were for this event. In addition to those, I made a maple cinnamon version of the cookie last night while doing that bit of work I offered to do last night. When I woke up I made the maple cinnamon glaze. I didn’t have enough icing sugar, so I made a half batch. For these cookies, I dipped the tops in and really made sure to drain any excess back into the bowl. I needed to make it last. Anyway, after it was all dry I put all the cookies back into the fridge to make them all harden. To me, both types of cookies were great, but I wasn’t sure how they’d be received.

I brought them in in a small grey basket that came from that gift basket I won earlier in the month. There were arranged kind of nicely to separate the flavours. After the ride over though they kind of got jumbled up. So, they joined the big table of treats that were there. There sure was a lot of food. Maaaaan. Of course, we weren’t allowed to go near it until our respective runs were done. For my group, we had a night of hill training to contend with. With four hill repeats on the schedule, I knew that it wouldn’t take that long, and that we’d all be pretty hungry when we got back. The actual running wasn’t so bad. I was in a great mood so I paid more attention to the people that were having a rough go at it. All I could do was give encouragement, and unless I was imagining it the encouragement was working well. The roads were covered with a thin layer of snow with icy patches here and there. It was a little bit harder than usual, and I really felt it in my quads. The snow caused my footing to shift by small amounts, but that was enough to really make my muscles work harder to stabilize things. So, long story short, everything went well. By the time we were done, everyone had a smile on their face knowing that they had completed a tough workout. Plus, the thought of all of the treats back in store made us rush back.

So, really, when I made it inside, as much as I wanted to try the things that other people brought, I wanted to get reactions for what I made. The simple truth is that I had nothing to worry about. The reviews were amazingly positive. I had apparently hit the right level of sweetness without it becoming cloying. I’m sure the lemon and maple cinnamon flavouring in both the cookie and glaze created this double impact effect that was maybe unexpected. So yes, I’m really pleased.

I couple of people there were pretty surprised that I had made the cookies myself. The common reaction was “What?! You made these yourself?” Is a guy that cooks/bakes that rare? It shouldn’t be. A couple of people joked that I should be a baker in another life. I can see that. To be honest, if time and money wasn’t an issue I’d probably be doing this more regularly. At this point it’s just not in the cards. Maybe I could start something on the side. Heh. I don’t know. Anyway, the positive reviews are giving me drive to hone my skills more and more. Nothing wrong with gaining more renown, right? This whole food thing is just another hat I wear. Got to keep working at it.

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Lemon shortbread

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Mon. December 14, 2009

I’ve an evening monitoring shift, so I was here at home for most of the day. Due to an upcoming event I decided to use my time to make some shortbread cookies. I decided to use Anna Olson’s shortbread cookie recipe as a base. Judging from the ingredient list I knew that it’d be pretty easy to slap together. Given the success of the last shortbread I made I decided to modify the recipe to make orange shortbread. I really enjoy making substitutions and modifications like this. I mean, the changes are often pretty easy to do, and the results often end up being something special or unexpected. Like I wrote a while ago, the tweaks are sometimes spectacular failures, but even then the results turn out to be a good lesson learned.

Anyway, after the dough was put together, I went to the fridge to pull out an orange. In the back of the fruit and veg box though was a bag of lemons that were being neglected. So, I decided to use those instead. To the dough, I mixed in the juice and zest of one lemon. It all came together well. Lemon zest is some potent stuff. A small amount is enough to make its presence known. Instead of using the drop method that the recipe called for, I chilled the dough before rolling and cutting. I probably wouldn’t have put in the extra effort but knowing that other people would see these I wanted the results to be uniform. I ended up rolling the dough out really thinly in an attempt to get a big yield. The oven timing was a little bit weird; some batches cooked unexpectedly quickly. I took it upon myself to eat dispose of the really brown ones. Overall the cookies were tasty. The lemon was mild, but definitely there. I’m not sure why I decided to glaze the cookies, but hey, why not? The glaze consisted of the juice and zest of one lemon whisked with 1.5 cups of icing sugar. Yeah…pure sugar, right? Crazy. Well, you can see the results down below.

Lemon shortbread cooling on the rack

They look tasty, no? They’re pretty sweet. Combined with the tart character of the lemon it’s sort of a one-two face punch. I’m actually happy enough to present these to others. No shame with these ones, eh? Going to take some resistance to not eat them beforehand.

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Running log: 2009/11/25

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Wed. November 25, 2009

I am full of rice, and regret.

Despite having gone to an all you can eat sushi place with colleagues at lunch, it looks like I still managed to have a decent run this evening. Going in to the Running Room I was still feeling full from all of the food excess. I was fearing that any attempts to run fast would result in me puking all of my stomach contents all over the route. I did well, though. I wasn’t running my fastest, but it was still a good run. I’ve had runs before where smaller meals gave me much more trouble.

Now, as I was going slower I felt at ease: my breathing was under control, and my heart rate was lower than it might normally be. I checked my watch and found that I was running at an average pace that would have been the extent of my running abilities even just a few months ago. This is telling me that my body really is making improvements. I don’t know if it’s the result of consistent training, or the fact that I’ve lost a little weight. Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s a combination of the two. Knowing all of this is just making me want to work harder. That may not necessarily mean pushing myself, but at least maintaining a level of consistency as well as continuing to take an intelligent approach to training. I want to become stronger. I want to become faster. If I keep it up, all of this will come naturally.

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The first clinic night

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Tue. October 27, 2009

I guess it’s time for a little bit of happier news from me today. It’s not coming from my work sphere though–the news is coming from my running activities. Go figure, right? I mean, whenever I have issues I’m usually able to run my troubles into the pavement. Well, today started a new half marathon training cycle for me. The big difference this time is I’m actually teaching this clinic.

My, my, Jason really has come a long way.

I’m not going to talk about how I got to this point at length because I’ve already discussed it back in September. I will say though that I was nervous. I guess, why wouldn’t I be? Would I be able to keep people motivated? Would I be able to drum up enough enthusiasm? Can I hold their attention and respect? Well, being that it’s the first night, it’s hard to tell, but certainly I think everyone is really responsive. All things considered, most of the group consists of people that are familiar with me. So, really, immediately it feels like I’ve got so many allies. As much as I’m coaching and wishing for them to succeed, on some level it feels like many want me to succeed as well, which is a great feeling. The store manager spoke to the group first among the general information was a lot of praise for me based on my stint teaching the Learn to Run class. There’s no reason for her to lie, is there? I did work my butt off to keep that class inspired. I guess I need to believe that I can work the same magic for this class.

Seventeen weeks is a long time. Even so, I know that it will fly by.

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Setting the curriculum

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Tue. October 20, 2009

Part of the job of teaching a Running Room clinic is setting up the curriculum. Given that the whole thing starts next week I figured that I had better get off my butt and piece one together. I was actually planning on using the topic order from the clinic I’d just been in to give me an idea of when I should have certain topics. Even thought the old clinic was completed, I still had it in my dropdown list on the RR site. So, today, I went in and started to poke around only to find that the old clinic info was finally closed, completed, and gone from my list. D’oh! It’s a good thing I still had the contact info of my previous instructors. One of them was kind enough to give me a small spreadsheet of topics and dates that she had.

So, now everything has been set up. It starts on October 27 and runs right through to the end of February. That’s a very long time! If you recall, I do have experience with coaching from the Learn to Run clinic. That stint was certainly fun. I had a good experience with crafting the emails every week and designing the routes. Some weeks I got many emails with questions from the students and I’d spend the time giving each one some thought and replying in an honest manner. If I think about, I suppose I could say that teaching that clinic should be harder than the half will be. I mean, at that point everyone is still a newbie: of course they’ll have many questions. Besides acting to support them, it was my job to make sure that they developed a solid running foundation so that they’d be able to train for longer distances with confidence. With this new clinic, everyone should have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work. I think my biggest role this time around is to play the role of the encourager. I mean, 21 kilometres sure is a ridiculously long distance. Sure, people need to be physically conditioned to run it, but the mental preparation is such an important part: it’s easy to be intimidated.

Actually, I’m feeling a little intimidated as well. This clinic is 17 weeks long! Will I be able to come up with informative emails every few days? Will I be able to provide information and routes in a timely manner? It’s a little bit more work in that sense. Still, I’ve been through this clinic 4 times now in the span of a little over a year. I think I have enough knowledge to not have to wonder what the heck I should be saying. All of this madness starts in a week. I’ll be ready!

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