Boom. Let’s go!

May10

I registered for the Seek the Peak race recently and I thought I would start this blog as a sort of training diary and page for people, who I hope, will pledge for my run. I have done the Seek the Peak before in a relay with my Aunt Anna, friend Connor Macleod, and one other. It was 8 years ago. We raised about $600. I’m a little older, and have been doing a bit of training(a failed attempt to do the half marathon at the BMO Vancouver Marathon). I have never been much of a runner but my friends Sean Kato and Jane Emerick turned me on to it earlier this year. Now I enjoy it. This blog is my Seek the Peak blog. I hope you find it informative if not entertaining.

This is the official theme song of Myrosha-4-Boobs: Take it to the Top by Trouble Andrew

http://grooveshark.com/s/Take+It+To+The+Top/3jMbYB?src=5

Thanks for reading,

Myrosha-4-Boobs – Pledge here.

Training Day 13 – 12km/long Distance Day

May22

Stanley Park is a rad place to run!

The half marathon training schedules are built up with a series of short runs, and one long distance run per week. Each, the short and the long, slowly increase in distance over the training period. Saturday is my long distance day. This week the weather was awesome and my sister was available to go for a run. We decided to lap the Seawall around Stanley Park. We stuck to the 10 & 1 method to allow ourselves a minute of rest for each 10 minutes of running. As mentioned in a previous post this is a great way to increase distance without risking injury associated with tendonitis as you repeatedly put impact on muscles, tendons, and bones. With these long distance runs we are focused on increasing and completing the distance vs posting a quick time. On Saturday we did 12km in 1 hour and 30 minutes.

See the route in a 3D Fly Over version here.

- Myrosha-4-Boobs

Training Day 12 – 6km with 3D Fly Over video

May21

Friday was a good day. After having a day off and some stretching and exercises at physio I was ready to rock. I prefer to run in the morning and usually do it immediately after rolling out of bed. Everyone is different, my sister for example prefers runs after work. Understandable considering she leaves for work at 6am. But for me it is a killer way to kick start the day. It will leave you buzzing of a fresh rush of endorphins so you will walk into your day feeling good and in a good mood.

I tackled 6km in 34mins on Friday morning before cycling to work. My ride to work is about 5km and after work I cycled downtown which was another 10km’s. Pretty good training day. I just found this Google Earth enabled 3D Fly Over video embed offered from MapMyRun. It’s a crazy way to see a route. Check it out!

- Myrosha-4-Boobs

Training Day 11 – Tools of the Trade/Physiotherapy

May21

Thursday’s are a ‘day off’ in the training schedule. On this day I will usually do one or two of a few things including; yoga, cycling, and/or physio. This Thursday I did went to physiotherapy. My physiotherapist is Steve at Lynn Valley Physiotherapy. The training for long distance running requires some attention or maintenance on your body. Stretching is a must. I’ve decided to enlist physiotherapy support while I train. When in a session Steve will look at how different muscles are pulling on other parts of the body which can lead to pain, discomfort or more concerning, injury. He will prescribe some stretching and strengthening exercises to essentially tune up the parts of my body that need it in order to continue pushing myself further down this crazy running road.

The most common body part to become tight on runners and athletes, and can result in knee problems, is the IT Band. This can be a hard one to stretch conventionally. The trick is to use a roller. Check out this below instruction to see how to do this stretch. I have now incorporated this into my post run stretch session. *these images and exercise description are the property of Lynn Valley Physiotherapy

Place your foam roller on the floor take a side plank position with the outside of one hip over the foam roller and the other leg in front for support.
Roll the entire outside of the leg from the pelvis to the knee in an up and down motion.
Maintain abs tight and proper low back posture during the exercise.

Special Instructions: Only perform this if you can get into this position without pain

Here is further information on stretching out you ITB.

- Myrosha-4-Boobs

Training Day 10 – Hills Training (again ooof)

May16

Today marks day 10 of training for the Seek the Peak event. It was a Hills Day. I should mention that I actually missed a 4km run earlier this week as per my schedule. I’ll get a schedule up this weekend so you can see how I am preparing for this race.

Here is today’s route info:

 

- Myrosha-4-Boobs

Training Day 9 – Yoga is no joke!

May16

 

Over the last few years I have done a Yoga class on occasion. A few old timers that I know, one who skis and the other who mountain bikes and plays floor hockey, told me that without it they wouldn’t be able to do the sports that they do. And when I was how for Christmas this year i learned that my dad has been doing Yoga once a week for 10 years! Who knew? I’m not over the hill yet but I remember thinking I want to be able to do activities when I’m old too. So in order stay flexible for snowboarding I dropped into a few classes. Sometimes I go twice a week sometimes I don’t go at all.

*this is note me pictured here

Running does a lot of things for you, like increases bone density, improves cardio, reduces risks of disease (including breast cancer), provides a ‘feelgood’ rush of endorphins and strengthens muscle. It will also make your muscles very tight and can reduce flexibility. I decided that during my Seek the Peak training I will do at least one Yoga class per week to help with staying loose and strengthening core.

I go to Yogapod in North Van because it close, but it is also a nice little studio. If you think Yoga is a whole lot of sitting around stretching, you have a another thing coming. Yesterdays Hot class was no joke! I was sweat soaked, my cardio was up, and there several points where I almost tapped out because what we were doing so physically challenging. Check it out if you haven’t already.

 

Myrosha-4-Boobs Pledge here.

Training Day 8 – 5km Easy

May15

This is my first time training like this or following a 1/2 marathon schedule. And you have to run lot. You only really get two days off a week. I usually run in the morning but yesterday I tackled my 5km run in the afternoon. It took me 30 minutes and went pretty well. Doing the small runs so regularly really builds up the stamina.

-Myrosha-4-Boobs