Nico Week Nine-Oh

Monday April 28th -- Day sixty

Ok, I've given up the food discipline of the 84 days. I've been pretty good about what I've been eating but I have gained a pound or two! I totally thought I'd be tiny by now. Oh well, at least I'm running well.

Today I did a very easy morning run in Montreal with one of my workmates. I got home at 8pm then headed out again. I had a "Snow White" kind of run. The birds were chirping, squirrels and bunnies were crossing the path and then -- a buck and a doe ran by! The doe stopped and gave me a wink then kept going. Oh Toronto...who knew?

Km : 17

Tuesday April 29th -- Day sixty-one

Brrrr chillsville. Ran in evening 1hr 28min

Km : 20

Wednesday April 30th -- Day sixty-two

No morning run, just lazy and stressed with heavy work stuff. In the evening I worked out on the track in Newmarket. We did 4x200(I couldn't break 36 -Doh!), 1.6k (5:37), 2x0.8k (2:44), 3x1k(3:25). One teammate mentioned my "slow" times. I guess he was right - I used to average 3:10-3:15 for 6k work-outs. Hopefully I'll be back there by fall!

Km : 17

Thursday May 1st -- Day sixty-three

Chiro in am. Lots of work. I feel stressed and I also pigged out today. I'm taking a day off so I'll feel rested for the weekend (not to mention my tummy probably wouldn't co-operate anyway!)

Km : 0

Friday May 2nd -- Day sixty-four

Ok, so some of my discipline has waned. No am run. I did get out (after a nap) later this afternoon for 1hr 20min. I feel SO tired, it's crazy. I'm sure it's from the change in weather and all the flora blooming out there.

Km : 18

Saturday May 3rd -- Day sixty-five

I have been a real whiner this week, eh? I'm sure it's from a couple of crazy weeks of work, travel and trying to run fast. This morning I feel better. I skipped a bike ride with Dr Z (sorry to bail!) and took a leisurely first couple hours to the day. Then I drove to the west end of the belt line and ran for 1hr 19mins and really enjoyed it. If I get the gumption today, I might even do some yoga to help relax before the big effort tomorrow.

Km : 18

Sunday May 4th -- Day sixty-six

Big ol' marsh run, last one before race day. 35km in 2:16:35. I think we were fairly even. I fell back from the leaders over the last 3km but I guess that's ok...I'll guess at splits for each 6k: 27:21, 47:2, 1:11:20, 1:34? 1:54:51.

Km : 37 (w' wup and c'down)

Week total

Km : 127

Come on Maggie!

I'm recapping Nicster's "race" last weekend.

First she ran for an hour and a half, and was conned into running the inaugural 11km run. Everyone was running fast, Nicster started out slow, talked to one of the locals, who said Maggie was the one to beat. She asked Nicster what her time was..."Don't you mean 42 minutes sweetie?" UHM NO. 32 minutes.

Then she caught up to Maggie, chatted her up a bit. Let her take the lead. Then raced passed her, told her, "Come on Maggie, let's go"....and left Maggie way behind...by 2 minutes!

New phrase of the week..."Come on Maggie!".

Anyways, to sum up my week - not nearly as good as Nicster's.....I only ran Mon, Tues, Fri & Sat...not the greatest runs. My sat run was horrible, I only did 15.5 kms, and it was a good thing there were two bathrooms on the route. The good thing about last week was that a vendor took us out for an excellent dinner with a couple bottles of $200 red wine. Can't complain about that!

Sporting Life Sunday! Woohoo! Come on Maggie! CJ's going to rock (as long as she doesn't actually wear her sporting life tshirt).

Julie

Nicadoodle Week 8

Monday April 21 -- Day fifty-three

Ouch! Back is back-breakin'! Tried to run after work and managed 43min. I'll call it 10k but that's questionable! Got chiro treatment in evening with acupuncture and ART. Hope it kicks in.

Km : 10

Tuesday April 22 -- Day fifty-four

Still very bad back. No run, no nothin'. Having a tough time getting around and especially getting up - maybe I should just stay standing?

Km : 0

Wednesday April 23 - Day fifty-five

Ok I need to get training here! Still stiff in am but I think not as bad. In afternoon went out for a jog. Very stiff till about 40min then things seemed to ease as long as I didn't stop (ie: traffic lights). Total time 1hr 10min. 

I think it's time to get crackin' again! Can't afford to take much time here, so if I'm healthy enough in the morning I'll do a work-out. I have chiro at the crack of dawn so I'll tell him that I'm getting back on track - no pain allowed!

Km : 16

Thursday April 24th -- Day fifty-six

Ok, I have to thank goodness that the world developed chiropractors and acupuncture! I saw Dr DO'C this morning and he totally fixed me! I was able to do an 8k work-out at Mt Pleasant afterwards and averaged 3:23/km or something. Yahoooo! Then I flew to Calgary and no probs. I even did a 2nd run when I landed just to socialize with Jer D and Ken M. Oh I'm so happy!

Km : 25

Friday April 25th -- Day fifty-seven

Wow time is tickin' eh? Man I hope everything goes well on May 25......today I ran 1:17 with Lisa H and Jer D and Ken M in Calgary. I had to break out the tights and jacket again but it was worth it for the company.

Km : 17

Saturday April 26th -- Day fifty-eight

I got up early and drove to Canmore with Jer D. I don't usually tag on extras to business trips but I do love the Rockies. Jer and I ran 1hr 24min (I was hurtin' the first 1/2 hr!!! altitude? mountains? travel? I had tons of excuses!) then I hopped into the inaugural rocky mtn women's 11km race. The first loop I conceded to finish with a silver but during the 2nd loop I caught the leader and I couldn't resist but throw in a 2k surge to win me the crown by 2mins. It was probably a bigger effort than I needed to do today but for a total long run of 2hr 10min I really only pushed for about 10mins, so that can't be soooo bad??? I had to bolt right out of there to fly home and was pleasantly surprised to be upgraded to business class. Nice! Twice in two weeks that's happened...

Km : 30

Sunday April 27th -- Day fifty-nine

Geez this week went by fast! I can't believe there are only 4 weeks to go. Only one real long run left. I'm feeling good and ready and hungry (for a good race, well and hungry in general!) Today I had a tough time getting out of bed but managed to get out the door and drive up to Aurora to cheer on a bunch of Huskies in the 5k at Hartwell. BSD also drove up and did his long run. I did 70mins with lots of stops/starts for cheering and socializing (glad I did my long run yesterday!) Now off to Montreal for 25hrs. I should bring stuff to do a morning run but maybe I'll just do circuits in my hotel room instead! I don't want to check my bag, lazy me.

Km : 16

Week total

Km : 114 (2 weeks in a row of lower mileage...hmmmm)

Julie's recap from last week

A much better running week for me! And hardly any alcohol!

Seanna - your beer mile record is mentioned in the latest issue of Canadian Running!!

Mon - Did an awesome hill training run - I haven't done hills since January, and I smoked my overall time by 45 seconds.

Tues - Light run with my sis. Legs still hurt from hills.

Wed - Tempo runs with the running room girls around Wanless Park.

Thurs - Rest

Fri - Light 5 k run.

Sat - Got my ass kicked on an 18.5 k run with one of the running room girls. Then I came home, walk / ran (more of a walk) up to Finch & Willowdale to meet my sis who ran from her house to mine (yup - she runs now), and then did a slow walk/run back to my house. Then helped my dad move furniture for two hours. Topped off the night at the Bier Markt - only 3 drinks all week!

I'm hoping to really push myself this week. I'd like to break 55 minutes at Sporting Life...and, although I'd love to break 2 hours at the Mississauga Half, I'll stick with a more realistic goal of about 2:06.

J.

Back in T.O.

Saturday, April 19
Off. Does 12 hours of travel with an 11 1/2 month old count as exercise? There were non-stop squats of bending down to pick up/sort through luggage while holding a 20 lb baby, and non-stop lifting and carrying in various positions of said baby. My legs actually felt like they had had a workout the next day. One time I squated down while holding him and hovered there for a while almost not making it back up. Now THAT would have been embarrassing!

Sunday, April 20
run 1 hour. Awesome day! Legs were a bit fatigued (ref April 19) but it was so nice out that the run was enjoyable.

Monday, April 21
10 mins with H in the BOB to Riverdale Farms and the same home after hanging out. Is that log-able? Pretty pitiful.

Tuesday, April 22
42 mins in the evening. I went before dinner and was a tad underfueled so it felt harder than it should have.

Wednesday, April 23
Off. Hmm, maybe I will have to start training for something in order to get my butt out there??

Thursday, April 24
40 min run in the evening. Fealt great. Was well fuelled with H's leftover dinner. Nice evening.
Nic, do I really have to do the marathon, or can I just do the half?

Friday, April 25
Off. 1st day of work - exhausted! I was definitely feeling it at 2pm when I normally nap... (think I'd get much sympathy from my boss if I gave him that excuse??)

Sat, April 26
The guy I coach had a 45 min Tempo slotted for today so I told him I'd run it with him. I was expecting an easy effort as I've gotten together with him twice for workouts before. Wow. He seriously challenged me through the run. I'm super pleased - he's one of those awesome athletes you love to coach who follows your program to a T. Hope he has a good one in Mississauga. Total was 1 hour 4 mins for me.

Sunday, April 27
54 min run up don valley trail then down moore pk ravine. Nice. Then ran with Dan and H in the BOB to Riverdale Farm and back. Hey, I'm counting that! ok, Nic, I'll think about racing the Half. Better get in touch with Ross again. I'm not into the long long runs anymore, but I can handle some intensity (I think...)

Past halfway for Nicstah!! Week 7

Monday April 14th -- day forty-six

After work ran 1:16. Felt very dehydrated from yesterday's epic exercise but had to bolt to Oakville to see some sick kiddies.

Km : 17

Tuesday April 15th -- day forty-seven

OKAY! Today I feel it. Doesn't help that I barely had dins last night and only a drop of aqua. Ooops. Barely made it over 50mins.

Km : 12 (a generous 12!)

Wednesday April 16th -- day forty-eight

am: 20min to make up for last night's dismal effort!

pm: Track: 4k w'up, 4x200 (39-36 wow I'm slow!), 3x1.2k (4:08, 4:09, 4:07), 2x.8k (2:41, 2:39), 1.2k (4:04 - someone ran with me for two laps = much easier!) , 4k c'down. Felt pretty good just not zippy. Nice to be on the track, when did I start liking track work-outs???

Km : 20

Thursday April 17th -- day forty-nine

am: chiro for my spasmy back. Ouch!

pm: did my long run b/c of race this weekend. 2hr to a tee. Felt ok but tough to run at 5pm long after a 5:30am wake-up!

Km : 28

Friday April 18th -- day fifty

Ok I thought I'd added this but it never showed up onscreen. Darn!

Early morning start to fly to Mtrl (bumped up to business class = sweeeeeeeeet!) Busy day with work meetings all the way till dinner. No run but that's ok, I kind of knew it would be a day off.

Km : 0

Saturday April 19th -- day fifty-one

Ran up Mt Royal with 2 Brooks guys. On way back down back spasmed again. I couldn't even do strides, felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. Suck it up Buttercup! Asked Whitsey to do some work on it when I got back. Nerves???

Km : 10

Sunday April 20th -- day fifty-two

Race day! 1/2 marathon champs. I wish I was more fit then I would have run like TQS and sat with Catherine the Great (Ndereba) for as long as I could. As luck would have it, I was fortunate to even start the race. My back was in serious distress as soon as I woke up. After warm-up jog, I asked Coach if I should even attempt to race. He suggested to start then evaluate after a few km and bail if necessary. So I started (painfully!) but by 4km no more back pain and I got clickin'. I was pleased to finish 2nd Cdn in 1:15:21. Splits were silly : 17:30/17:40/17:56/18:24 - doh! Ok, I have some endurance to work on for the marathon next month! But I PB'ed in the drug testing with 2x the amount of sample required. Yay me! No cool down due to drug testing and then scooting out of there. Pleased with the day but worried about the consequences to my back. I have a marathon to run in 5 weeks!!!

Km : 25

Week total

Km : 113 (oops, low!)

Hatteras - week 2

Sunday, April 13
"Long" run of 1 hour. ok, not that long, but I ran the first bit of BSD's 18.5 miler with him. Pretty good - back into the wind.

Monday, April 14
48 mins - good with BSD. Felt good. Windsurfed later in the afternoon - good sesh.

Tuesday, April 15
Off running day. NUKIN' wind!!! Windsurfed in crazy over-powered conditions - scary sesh - only marginally 'fun'. Managed to not get catapulted or killed.

Wednesday, April 16
Wrkt w BSD. went into the crazy wind on the way out and with it back. 6 x 3 min on, 2 min off. Felt strong. BSD was lagging - think he may be a tad under-rested. Then windsurfing again in crazy over-powered conditions but felt more comfortable than yesterday. My Dan said I looked better too. Whew! 'cause we all know it's about how you look.

Oh, and a comment on the alcohol - JLo - I'm drinking a tad much too. Oh well, it's vaycay. I'll try to cut back when I get home. It's been mostly beer and wine with some Pina Colada's thrown in and a G&T tonight.

Thursday, April 17
40 min VERY slow. Glad BSD is gone - don't think he would've stayed with me. Bod sore from windsurfing/running.

Friday, April 18
Last run down here. 48 mins. Good. Not much to elaborate on. Still drinking...

Suzanne April 15

Ladeez! way to go CJ! Jlo, can't wait to meet you--nice running for you too!

BSD in surfing with you seanna? jeals of the sun and ocean:)

Nicole's ironman sunday was uber impressive i gotta say. hope your presentation went well even though you were tired.

my first weekend of 1.5hr run instead of 2 and i have to say i felt a lot better. what a difference 30 mins makes! so, last night i ran 3 mins, 6 mins, 3 mins with hard with tara (uoft speedster) and then she was kind enough to run my 4 x 800s at race pace...hmm, can't say that felt easy, but as my mental coach told me this morning "if you want life to be easy, stay on the couch!"
i swam masters in the morning and lifted after Mount Pleasant workout.

this morning i did a hard interval session on the bike (after legs in the gym last night) and it was tough! will swim short and easy tonight and do upper body in the gym.

cj update

just ran my longest ever! - 6.26 km in 45 min at a real decent pace...not so fast that I was about to collapse at then end!

should do a repeat tomorrow eveing after an all day conference downtown!

cj

cj update

ran about 5k today outisde in the rain! with a dead IPOd to boot....and a wicked blister from wearing new shoes....
felt good though....still took alot of breaks but at least I still got out....
Nicster, i am sooo proud that you are stickin to you 84 days...that's totally awesome!
cj

Good Alcohol week = Bad Running week

Monday - that Pilates video was the hardest thing I've ever done. And it was only a half hour session. It was worse than the first time we did Yoga together (and you ladies remember how bad I was then?!?).

Tues - best 5K run in about a year. 27.5 minutes (I know its twice as slow as the rest of you crazy runners!!). Then I celebrated with a couple martinis at Canoe and some wine with dinner at Jump.

Wed - Bistro 990 for dinner. Only 2-1/2 glasses of wine and one sour apple martini. No Running. But abs still hurt from Pilates on Monday.

Thurs - Volleyball night. We won! But no Running. No drinks either.

Fri - Drinks after work (only one vodka & cran) followed by Thai Food. No running.

Sat - 19kms again. Same route as last week, except no walking this time! Although, I was only about 5 minutes faster than last week, which meant I must have slowed down my pace quite a bit. But at least I ran it without walking! Tonight - will celebrate with a couple of Margaritas.

My plan for tomorrow - try the pilates video again! Next week - no alcohol.

J. Lau

Down in Hatteras

Friday, April 11
50 min run with BSD. Pretty solid - he said we were running 7:10's and we negative split it. Dan kept going for an hour, but I figure that an hour is unecessary at this point for me. I'm running to feel good, not tired. I've been running every day here so far, which is more than I've done in a while, but they've all been 40 min outings. Again, that seems to be the magic time range where I feel refreshed and satisfied, but not overly fatigued. Had some good windsurfing days and today I went for a little surf. Hopefully the ARMS will re-emerge...

Suzanne gets serious

'kay, thanks to Nic, i am polishing up my training plan to get serious for a fast 10k off the bike at worlds.

Saturday was my last 2 hour run which i will now shorten to 1:30...i love the long runs...but need to start getting some speed happening. Rode 40k of the Kona course:)

Sunday: easy bike with some cadence work 1 hr followed by 5.5km swim

Monday:HARD master's swim 3.2 km
evening run in Mount P. of 2 x3min with 1 min and 3 x 1km at pace. cool down and strides, followed by upper body weights and abs

i was really spent last night...but i like the pace work stuff:)

Tuesday: Hard 1hr bike, 3km swim, legs and abs in weight room.

Nicoletta 1/2 way Week Six

Monday April 7th -- Day thirty-eight

Wow - time is flying! Can't believe it's about 1/2 way already. I am feeling the power!

Today - easy run with stretches after. Feeling the fatigue from that exercise-laden weekend. I love it!

Km : 17

Tuesday April 8th -- Day thirty-nine

Ummmmm helloooo??? Where is everyone? Whatevs. I'll labour on. Had an awesome run today in the gorgeous, warm sunshine. 1:22 total with 5x5min hard/2min jog. I woke up early and tried to do something - any exercise - but just wandered to the couch and slept another 20mins. The mornings aren't working out like they used to...soon they'll come back and I'll squeeze in some circuits or an extra few miles.

Km : 19

Wednesday April 9th -- Day FORTY

Yay! I did it! I finally woke up and did a morning run. 35min, I'll call it 8km. After work I scooted in 10km before catching "Spirit of the Marathon." I'm such a running geek! I loved the movie. Awesome to see elites on the big screen.

Km : 18

Thursday April 10th -- Day forty-one

Yay! I convinced myself to do my work-out tonight to avoid rainy Friday and weekend intervals. I started with 1x3.7km and followed up with 3x1.85km, all done at around 3:28 pace. I can't seem to get the wheels turning faster than that but I am definitely getting stronger. That work-out was over 9km of intervals!

Km : 19

Friday April 11th -- Day forty-two

Hmmmm day off? Nah. Went for nice'n'easy jog with the iPod for 61 mins.

Km : 14

Saturday April 12th -- Day forty-three

Meet the Huskies up in Bradford and did a hill work-out. I didn't push hard except on a couple of them.

Km : 17

Get ready for this one!

Sunday April 13th -- Day forty-four

6:30 am wake-up. Kinda worried because missed dins last night for a movie so I ate popcorn and late night cereal...not the best before a long run. Doh!

8:30 - 2hr 32min run with Brooks gals and a couple of guys. Felt great, awesome company and delicious gossip!

2:30 - met DrZ for a 90min bike ride on Computrainer (she beat me by a few miles!)

4:00 - 20min run off bike

4:20 - stretch

5:00 - ready to drop and roll. Phew I am tired but I LOVED today!!!!

Km : 39

Week total

Km : 143

Cross train : 1 bike ~90min

Sun Apr 6 - Julie's update

I'm finally blogging!

Sat - I had an awesome 5 k run - I felt like I was running really slow until I looked at my watch, and realized I kept up a 6min/km pace throughout. My first "good" run since ATB.

Sun - I attempted 19kms today. I was so hyped from my good run yesterday, but at about the 14km mark (I was doing really well until then), I realized that I was not only still recovering from ATB, but the Indian Food was still hitting my stomach. That or it was the couple of glasses of wine I had last night. Since my run wasn't that good, I decided to go for a brisk 3km walk to my parents house before dinner.

Tomorrow - rest day for me. I might try the pilates video I was forced to buy.

This Angel's out.
J.

cj update

okay...so after having a terrible week, i just finished 5.5k on the treadmill and felt really good...I followed that with a bit of a weight workout with free weights...hopefully not too sore tomorrow morning for a 4k run outisde in the sunshine...
What was helpful today was the Powerade I drank before running, and the oatmeal and banana for breakfast....now i should be able to pig out for dinner...
i am getting a little worried as the 10K race in only a month away!!!! Holy S**t!
a little inspiration...a client of mine out in burlington, who ran the marathon in barbados in december with 10 of her girlfriends...is training for a 50k trail run...SHE IS CRAZY!!!
cj

Seanna - post race week

Monday
yoga in the p.m. - felt good. My yoga instructor who rocks is going to a west-end studio which sucks, but I'll likely fall off the yoga bandwagon soon as I'm going to Hatteras, and then WORK and all...

Tuesday
easy 35 min bike. Felt good but I can tell I'm being lazy just for the fun of it.

Wednesday
NOTHING. So much running around to get ready to go...

Thursday
17 min easy run - just 'cause it was nice out and I could fit it in between dropping H off and hustling around to do all my other chores. Maybe I'm feeling stressed 'cause I'm not working out enough to release it? Maybe I should schedule a run tomorrow...

Nico Cinquo

Monday March 31st -- Day thirty-one

In Chicago. Went on a llllllllong walk today in the drizzle because I was too stubborn to cab to the conference centre. I'm such a goof! Then I starved till 2pm, at which time I wolfed down a club sandwich and french fries(!!!) I ran less than 2 hours later and nearly threw up all over the place! Oooops.

Km : 14 (iffy)

Tuesday April 1st -- Day thirty-two

April fool's! I had a big meeting so was up super early (5am) then didn't have time to run till after my flight home. At least once I got out the door I felt awesome, despite fatigue and travel.

Km : 17

Wednesday April 2nd -- Day thirty-three

No morning exercise, felt anxious to get to work, lots to do. In pm, went up to Newmarket and did 4x4min tempo but my "tempo" was way off. I guess I was tired from Sunday and travel and busy days. No biggie. We went and saw "Run Fatboy Run" afterwards and it was hilarious!!

Km : 16

Thursday April 3rd -- Day thirty-four

Feeling much better today. Ran in shorts and tee (was 10C, what can I say? I'm eager for spring!) and ran like the wind compared to previous day.

Km : 18

Friday April 4th -- Day thirty-five

Blah, blah, blah-blah. Came home early, took a nap and still I didn't feel motivated. Just did a mileage run

Km : 16

Saturday April 5th -- Day thirty-six

Today is a day to appreciate friends. I called BSDan for some support this morning and he pretty much told me to get my lazy ass out the door. That's exactly what I needed because I did 3 x 1.85km (6:31, 6:25, 6:22) and 2 x 0.94km (3:11). Nice! During the 2nd interval two women were out walking their dogs and they cheered me on. Amazing how the little things make all the difference.  I got faster after that! THEN home, quick shower and off to meet SZ at Absolute End for a 30km bike ride. Thankfully I got a 2km head start so I wasn't embarrassed by SZ smokin' past me!! Right off the bike I ran another 20mins and phew! Nice day of exercise. Giant plate of pancakes followed...

Km : 20

Sunday April 6th -- Day thirty-seven

Plan is for epic long run of 2:30-2:40. Mission accomplished! Ran to Ed's Gdns 38min), met BSD and ran together for another 2:00. I guess I'll call it 35 but deep down I think it was 36km. Wow gorgeous day! Too bad now I must rest or my body will punish me all week for the past 2 days of exertion. I loved every minute of it though!

Km : 35

Week total

Km : 136

April 1 Suzanne

way to go at ATB ladies! no surprises there, but still proud of you!

CJ were you able to get outside during lunch today while it was sunny?

am missing my training partner:( it's amazing how important they are to us huh? she's getting ready to kick some butt in Arizona tho, so i'll forgive her her absence.

took a full day off on Friday and while i'm implementing those into my schedule, i can't say i like them much:)

Saturday: thanks to Nic and Jen, I got in an hour of my long run with company. i lifted later that day while Andy went to his trainer session...i confess to watching him out of the corner of my eye and giggling uncontrollably many times:) Piper came to goodlife with me. she's a trainer at Bay and Bloor and always has some new stuff to show me.

Sunday: 5km master's swim practice, ride and lifting. got a great MASSAGE from my friend Suzette who is also my RMT that i don't see that much because she is so kind and gives me a discount and i don't want to over use it. but, i must relate the upper body treatment thing--bet you guys NEVER get that worked on. i didn't before i started swimming and i gotta say it can be as painful as getting your IT bands stripped! still, i love it!

Monday: masters swim in the morning and mount pleasant in the PM: 5 x4minuters with 1 between...with Piper who kicked my butt on the last two, but that's good for me. my tummy still is not cooperating for hard tempo stuff...any suggestions other than not eating for the whole day?

Tuesday: hard bike in the AM and easy swim of drills and steady stuff in the PM followed by legs and abs in the weight room.

re: your diet confession Nic...i think that's ok...you were away on business after all.