gwennefarrell

I am going to struggle a bit this week to get all my workouts done. It is not because I don’t want to, it is because I am just booked solid. Today for example, 8 k run followed by 2 k walk with the dog then some strength exercises. Managed a quick shower before attending a virtual meeting after which it was a hurried lunch before starting my volunteer income tax clinic which takes the entire afternoon. Somehow I have got to manage to get in at least one more 1/2 hour walk to meet today’s goals. The rest of the week doesn’t look much better but I will find a way to get it all done. As I warned my husband, this is what retirement looks like.

Saturday my husband and I were out walking the dog for an hour. At one point my husband told me his calves were burning. I tried really hard not to laugh at this as we really hadn’t gone far and the incline we were walking up was not really that steep. A while later into the walk he suggested I write a blog on discovering new muscles and I was like Babe, all my muscles were discovered about a year ago. He reminded me that anyone starting out won’t be in the same place I am which made me think, this could be a good topic.

I mentioned before that my husband is retiring soon (Friday) and he has committed to letting me do some walking training with him. He does do a fair amount of walking on the job sight, maybe 5-6k a day, but I realized it is not what I do. Rather, he walks at a slower pace and doesn’t really deal with elevation. This is likely why his muscles were burning, they haven’t done this in a long time (can’t wait to see how he does going up the dreaded Oxford hill but that won’t likely be until the summer).

I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I started to find muscles that hadn’t been worked enough. I do recall though finding those calf, quad, and hamstring muscles when I first started running. I guess the last time I really felt they were working harder than normal was doing the hill interval training. Or, maybe when I started doing my strength training and was working on 1 legged bridge lifts (ok, when you first start these it is really hard). Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like there aren’t days when I finish a good workout such as the 18k run that my muscles are a bit sore and tired, I just seem to have gotten to the point where I am fit enough for them to handle it.

I guess brings us back to a point my coach has told me all along, listen to your body. Yes, it is ok to feel some discomfort and that means your muscles are working. But, it is important to recognize the difference between discomfort and damage. I’ll be working on that with my husband in the coming months.

I thought I would start with an update on the beach beaver (as I fondly have named him). Turns out some caring people were concerned as really, beavers don’t hang out at the beach and reached out to find help for him. Two RCMP officers rescued him and took him to a local wildlife rescue centre. It was determined he was about 2 years old making him a teenager in beaver years. He had also overdosed on salt water which made his liver and kidney functions deteriorate. Fortunately he should fully recover and when that happens they will find a safe place to release him back into the wild.

Today was a walk day. Even though it is Saturday I still get up at 5am and hit the road by 6am. It was a little chilly this morning and I wondered if I should have worn a heavier jacket as opposed to my running jacket. Still I walked at a brisk pace to make sure my heart rate was where it needed to be. However, about 1/4 of the way into the walk I started feeling bad about the fact that I wasn’t running. Seriously, what the hell is happening to me?

To put this in perspective, I do some form of run training 5 days a week. There are 3 different runs which right now I do during the week, 5k, 8k and 18k. I then on 2 other days do my sprint training. This is a lot of running but still I couldn’t help think of walking today as somehow slacking off. I know it is not, I need this day for my body to get some recovery time but it was almost like that little voice in my head was telling me I need to work harder. I decided to shut it down because I don’t need to work harder, on top of all my runs I am doing a lot of walking each day. I am making myself even more fit each week which has always been the overall goal.

I realized that my mindset has changed in a couple ways. Firstly is the ability to stop doing the self criticism which for a long time I was so good at. Secondly, I no longer look for excuses not to work hard and instead question whether I should be doing more (again, I shouldn’t). I realized I want to work hard, I want to be the most fit that I can be. Most of all I always want to feel good about myself which really I do. Funny, I am now very attuned to the fact that I can not think of myself as physically lazy anymore. I really am becoming a runner.

One other thing I noticed on that brisk walk today (note there was a 2nd not so brisk walk as I am working on my husband’s walking skills but I will talk about that next week). This walk, which I did numerous times starting in the summer of 2020, used to take me 1.5 hrs. Today it was under an hour with my heart rate never peaking. Yep, I’ve come a very long way.

Today was my long run day and it was to be another 18k run (note, I like long run days because I have a big bowl of oatmeal and raisins for breakfast so I can carb up). I decided to try a new route so ran from the the east side of White Rock to the west side (note this is only about 5k). I had planned to do this a couple times round trip but decided the route was not well lit and there were too many dips in the sidewalk. I turned and headed south toward the beach. That was a nice run and by time I got to the west promenade I was 1/2 way through my run. When I had run a couple k along the promenade I noted a couple at the fencing that blocks the rail tracks taking pictures and they were very excited so I figure with the tide in there must be a seal in the water. As I ran by the woman called out to me, look there’s a beaver. I thought, um I don’t think there is a beaver down at the beach then holy shit!!!, there’s a beaver down at the beach. I thanked her for pointing it out to me and I got to see it later further along the beach. I always really enjoy my runs when I see eagles or the tiny baby rabbits but this was even better.

I admit lately I have been a little too engaged in social media. Between the ‘freedom convoy’, border shutdowns and continued rallies to now the Russian invasion of Ukraine it is almost overwhelming. The invasion is particularly concerning as I worry that this will result in things like the use of nuclear weapons. My husband suggested yesterday that maybe I should talk about stress and the things I am doing to help relieve it.

You would think the past 2 years dealing with the pandemic would have been enough for the world to handle but the latest issues have taken it over the top. Having said that, one of the things that COVID and my brother’s recent health issue managed to teach me is how to not let things overwhelm me. Ok, the obvious thing is running which simply gives me a way to distract me thoughts from the scary stuff and instead focus on myself. Alright, that may sound a bit selfish but I really don’t think it is, rather I see it as self-preserving.

But there are some other things I turn to when things are making me anxious. The biggest one is my pets. A walk with the dog or throwing her ‘babies’ for her brings on a significant sense of calm. When that isn’t necessarily working then cuddling the cats always helps. The other is (oh, and I so hate to admit this) but cooking. Now I don’t really like cooking but I find it tolerable if I have a new recipe to try using one of our vast number of appliance or a new cooking method (I made the most amazing steaks using a sheet pan recipe recently). To do this I go through all sorts of cookbooks to find something that I think I will really enjoy. My latest is an Irish Pub cookbook which has a few interesting recipes that I want to try including a beef and Guinness pie which with marinating takes over a day to make.

I finally have a few fail safes. I look for a good book that I can read. I have started doing diamond painting (a bit stalled right now) which makes you concentrate incredibly hard so there is no room for stressful thoughts. I also listen to my favourite music especially songs I find soothing. Soon, my husband and I are going to work on some refinishing projects. Lastly is a good soak in the hot tub (even if I am not stressed this happens on my long run days) which really helps me relax.

So don’t let what is going on in the world right now take over. Find the things that help keep you centered. Remember, taking care of yourself is just as important as taking care of others.

I am so happy!!! Today was my 8k and the temperature was beautiful and mild. I only got a little bit of rain during the run and I am noticing it is getting lighter so much earlier. What a difference this made compared to the freezing cold of last week especially when I got to see several eagles. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed that run.

Today starts yet another round of volunteering for me. While I belong to Boards for various organizations, it is the community volunteer work that means so much to me. For a local seniors’ organization I currently call isolated seniors once a week, lead a group of seniors for a walk every Wednesday and today I started my 2nd year doing the Community Volunteer Income Tax Clinic. This one is easy for me, complete and file income tax for low income seniors.

But why would doing income tax be make me feel good? Simple, because just as I do during my calls or my walks I find the time to check in on my seniors to make sure they are doing ok. Often times when doing the taxes I learn a lot about the senior I am talking to. Sometimes they are just happy to have someone new to chat with. Other times they are lonely and need to hear a friendly voice. The hard ones are when they are dealing with a recent loss and having to admit they need to change their status to widowed brings up a lot of emotions for them. That is all ok, I just make sure I am there to listen to them as that is likely what they really need. The vast majority of them thank me profusely at the end of the call and I know I have done a good thing.

You know how I talk about I don’t get that runner’s ‘high’ but I do get a sense of accomplishment? Well, knowing I have made a difference does give me a ‘high’. It makes me feel really great about myself knowing I might have made even a small bit of difference to someone’s life. That just really makes me feel better on my worst day.

Trust me, helping others helps me feel I am doing the right thing.

My husband is home for the weekend so I suggested he join me in walking the dog this morning. Off we go and I try to get my husband to understand what we need to do to keep our dog from going crazy when she sees other dogs. The walk went pretty well except it was SLOW. A walk that normally takes me 45 minutes took us an hour. According to my Fitbit not once during that walk was I in a training zone. I told my husband he is going to need to pick up the pace and he laughed and said maybe I should slow mine down a bit. Hmm, apparently I have some work to do with him.

But big changes are coming to our lives. Since 1998 my husband has worked in the States. Sometimes he would have projects that would take him away from home for a couple months at a time with a 2 week break before he was back at it again. Since 2007 he has worked out of the Seattle area which has meant (until COVID) he would be home every weekend. You combine this with my travels when I was working and it resulted in us spending a awful lot of time apart but we always knew we were making sacrifices for our future together. Well, that future has finally arrived.

March 11th will be Tom’s last day of work as he starts his retirement. We’ve known it was coming for a long time but all of a sudden it is right on our doorstep. After barely seeing each other during the past 2 years we are about to go to being together pretty much 24/7. Wow, is that ever going to be a change.

We have already started talking about what we will do when Tom retires. There is a lot of things that we have said we wanted to do but they had to be put off. Seriously, we are talking of going fishing, something we haven’t done together for about 25 years. There are all sorts of projects that we kept saying we were going to do and now we will have the chance to tackle them. I think one of the first ones will be refinishing a cedar chest that belonged to my Mom. Regardless, we are finally at the point in our lives that it can just be about us.

I have to admit, we have kind of already started reconnecting. At Christmas we did a scaled down open house but Tom’s best friend from high school as always came by with his lovely wife. We committed at that point that after 2 years of not seeing each other we were going to get together more often this year. And so, every 2 weeks since we got back from Mexico in January we have met for lunch on a Saturday. Today we agreed that to celebrate the official retirement that in 2 weeks they will come by for dinner and we can toast the new adventure we are embarking on. Moreover, we are planning a trip for the 4 of us to our condo in Mexico come the fall and we all can’t wait.

Big changes are coming and seriously I have never been more excited.

Ok, weather Karma, time to give us a break. I woke up this morning to find it had snowed last night and once again it was freezing cold. Despite the fact that it was less than 2 millimeters and it likely will melt this afternoon I still went out and shoveled the walkway, sidewalk and around my brother’s vehicle. This is all because with his prosthetic he is at a high risk of slipping and falling so if I don’t clear the walk to his vehicle for him he is stuck in the house. I then proceeded to spread some melting salt everywhere. This was not what I had in mind when I planned my strength exercises for this morning.

As the weather has been so cold other than walking the dog (and trust me I make her move pretty quickly during those walks) I have not been venturing outside. Instead I have been doing runs on the dreaded treadmill (seriously I hate that thing and find running on it extremely boring) as I don’t want to lose momentum. But yesterday was a Fartleks day and it just isn’t possible for me to do those on the treadmill. So, up I got and hit the treadmill by 6am to do a 6k run. Then it was walk the dog for a few k followed by leading a walk with my seniors group. After lunch I decided the temperature was decent enough so got in the training I really wanted to accomplish for the day. Yep, I still managed to pull everything off.

Today was my long run and the thought of 18k on the treadmill was nearly killing me however I was resigned to it. This was simply reinforced by the snow from last night. I picked out a movie on my iPad that would last 2hrs 45mins (including credits) and thought that should get me to 18k (normally I count blocks to plan my long run). I started out at a comfortable pace and tried everything I could to focus on the movie. I willed myself to avoid at all costs checking the time on my Fitbit and just focus on taking one step at a time. My husband Facetimed me at one point and noted I was ‘glistening’ (read, really sweaty). I replied of course I am, I’ve been running for 2 hours! You bet I made it through that run and when I finished I had already reached all my Fitbit training goals for the day.

I should note, I did realize on today’s run when I was trying to find things to distract myself that I no longer have to think about things like keeping my back straight or my abs tight, it is all just 2nd nature to me now.

Overall, my training is going great. I have actually kicked things up a notch and am ensuring I do at least 2.5 hours of walking/running each day and that I get in a minimum of 20,000 steps. No, I don’t feel I am pushing myself too far, before I started running I was doing even more time and steps, this is just to help get me to the level I want to be within the next few months.

Bottom line, I am just going to keep carefully doing what I am doing so that I improve. That reminds me, time to do a 30 minute stroll on the treadmill.

Holy crap, -11 C (12 F) here today. The biggest problem is the strong wind that is blowing. I didn’t even stick my head out the door this morning, I just headed to the garage to do my 8k run on the dreaded treadmill. Now I was supposed to do some Fartleks intervals during this run but quite frankly really hard to adjust the speed on the treadmill while setting the stopwatch on my iPad. I decided instead to just run hard which worked because in what I thought would be the right time to run 8k I actually ran 10k. Then, after my cooldown it was time to walk the dog. I put a pair of sweats over my running pants, donned a long sleeve t-shirt, put on a hoodie under my winter coat then topped it off with 2 scarves and a very thick toque. Still, it was freezing cold so my poor stubby legged dog was practically running to keep up with me as I just wanted that walk to be over. I’m having to re-think what training is going to look like for the next few days as the cold settles in.

Today was my annual physical with my doctor. She asked how I was feeling and if I had any questions (why she opens the door for me to do this is beyond me). I first asked her if I should retake my urine test. It had come back as too diluted to measure so I explained about my tiny veins and how I have to drink a ton of water before having blood tests done which allows them to get the blood but then can mess up the urine concentration. She looked at all my other test results and said absolutely no need as everything is perfectly normal. We then moved on to the bone scan I had done back in November. She had wanted this done because I have lost so much weight and sometimes that can lead to significant bone density loss. Apparently, not for me as the results came back normal.

We then got into a discussion about my diabetes. For the past year I have not had a single A1C test (the one that is done quarterly to measure average glucose levels) that has come back outside the normal range despite the fact I don’t take any medications. I explained I’m not asking so that I can make changes in my lifestyle, rather it is an important mentally for me to know where I am on the diabetes spectrum. Well, turns out I am basically in remission and if I continue to watch my weight and exercise regularly there is a good chance that the diabetes may not rear its ugly head again. You have no idea what a relief this is to me especially after watching all the complications from diabetes attack my siblings. I am now even reduced to a semi-annual A1C test which may eventually be reduced to annual.

So, I am perfectly healthy and ready to run my 18k this week!

Yesterday was my 2nd day this week that I did my Fartleks (excluding the 2 sets I did on my run Thursday) and I realized they are getting easier. Now don’t get me wrong, these short sprints are still really tough and even though it is my shortest workout of the week, by time I am done I am soaked in sweat and panting away. But, they aren’t as hard as they were last week. Hmm, maybe they are worth doing.

This morning I went out with the plan to do a 5k run (with some high intensity intervals). I was about 1/4 of the way into the run and thought, my legs feel a bit sore and tired. I’m at the point now where I just want to do everything I can to get the most out of my workouts so knocked the run back to 3k and then did a 5k walk including up the dreaded Oxford hill. Quite frankly when I was done my legs felt much better and mentally I felt good because I didn’t give up, I just changed direction a bit.

This led me to thinking, something has really changed in me. I have never thought of myself as a lazy person, ask anyone who has worked with me and they will tell you I have always given it my all. But I realize that for a long time I have been physically lazy. Seriously, I had no qualms about driving around a parking lot looking for a spot closer to the store. I’ve talked before about the excuses I would use to enable that laziness, bad knee, bad back, etc but really, I was just lazy and didn’t want to do things that might involve difficult activity.

When I first started walking, which led to my weight loss journey, even that did not in push me physically. Yes, I walked a lot but it was never at a really fast pace. Even when I started running my focus was always on keeping a steady even gait and yes that was probably the best thing for me to do to build up my strength. Now though, I am different, I want the challenge. I want to feel at the end of every day (ok, except Sunday because that is my recovery day) that I have pushed myself in some way. When I was doing my big run Thursday my husband called me (as he does each morning) and when I told him I was at the 11k mark but still had to get another set of sprints in he said you’ve got this. I was a bit surprised by my response which was, I know I do, because now I want to prove to myself that I can do the hard stuff.

I realized I have changed. I want the physical challenge of making myself even more fit. I look back at the walks I used to do even last fall where it would take me an hour, now it is 45 minutes for the same distance because even what I now consider a ‘gentle’ stroll is done at a good pace (note, not sure my dog is really happy with this when we do our daily walk). I find it interesting that I didn’t even see this change creeping up on me, it was just as I was finishing off my workout today that I realized that I want to feel that sense of accomplishment every time I train no matter what that training is.

I guess it is now time to say I like training and challenging myself. That acknowledgement is likely going to keep me pushing myself to run that 1/2 marathon.

Today was my long run, 16k however, my coach decided to kick it up a notch. I did about 1/2 the run and then added 5 high intensity intervals – 1 minute of hard running followed by a 1 minute jog. I then had to do the same thing during the last 20 minutes of my run. Ok, the 1st set was hard, the 2nd set I thought would kill me but obviously it hasn’t. I can’t believe how hard I am starting to train but I admit, all I can think of while I do it is that I am soon going to run a 1/2 marathon.

Before I started on this journey I usually only ate once a day, at lunch. Little did I know what a disservice I was doing to my body. By skipping meals all you are doing is making your body get used to using less fuel so that it can protect itself. It also tries to store ‘reserves’ of fuel (aka fat) because it thinks it will need it for later. 3 healthy meals a day is so much better for you and I can say I haven’t skipped a meal in years now.

But why is breakfast so important? Well think about it, when you eat breakfast you haven’t eaten in hours, the body needs fuel to do things like energize and bring up glucose levels. It also helps boost your immune system which fights illness. Studies have shown eating breakfast boosts your level of serotonin in your blood which can help balance your mood, appetite and sleep thus making you happier. Other studies have shown that those who eat a healthy, balanced breakfast have a longer life span. For me, the number one reason is those who have lost weight and continue to eat a healthy breakfast each day are more likely to maintain their weight loss as compared to those who skip breakfast (this is a big motivator for me).

I do admit Sundays may be the only day of the week that breakfast might not be quite as healthy but its not like I eat a bunch of donuts that day though there may be bacon involved. Most days I balance my breakfast with the amount of training I will do that day. Take today for instance, I knew it would be a tough workout so a large bowl of oatmeal, not the instant flavored stuff that tends to be full of sugar but rather home cooked with lots of cinnamon and some raisins. The other day when I ran the 8k it was a home made whole wheat cinnamon waffle (you may notice that I like cinnamon). On days where I do lighter training it might be a healthy grain cereal with blueberries or perhaps some fruit with plain Greek yogurt. I’m always cognizant of the amount of fuel that I am going to need to get through the morning and if a snack is required after a hard workout then a handful of almonds will do.

I know that mornings are often rushed and it is hard to find time to prepare a healthy breakfast. But let me assure you, finding a few minutes each day to get a healthy start for the hours ahead is so worth it. So, eat a healthy breakfast everyday and trust me you will notice the differenct.

It was my 8k this morning. The weather was pretty good, a little on the chilly side but at least dry. The past couple weeks I have put a lot of effort into running my 8k at the best pace that I can. Much to my surprise, today was the slowest I have done in a month. I don’t know what happened as I felt I was running pretty hard. Well I guess I just have to work harder next time.

I noticed this morning that there were more people out running than normal for a Tuesday morning. Then I realized something very disconcerting. The first runner I saw had on all black, pants, jacket, hat, shoes. On top of this she was running on the less lit side of the street. The next runner I saw was a man who was running while dressed in all black. As I ran along the promenade I realized most of the runners were dressed in dark clothing. I get that some of them just run along the promenade where there are no vehicles but I also know some of them like me run on the streets as well. It worries me that when it is before dawn these people cannot be seen by drivers.

So here is how I look when out running in the dark, this time of year it is always a very bright running jacket that has reflective stripes. As the weather gets warmer, instead of the jacket I will wear a light weight reflective vest. If I am running along the west promenade early in the morning I now also wear a head lamp (that side of the promenade is not well lit). And, when I lead my seniors’ walking group on Wednesdays I always wear my reflective vest to ensure I can be easily seen

Everyone needs to take a minute when they are walking/running outdoors and ask yourself, if I was driving would I be able to easily see a pedestrian if they were dressed as I am? If not, change the way you are dressed and keep yourself safe.