All Downhill From Here

I ran today, for the first time in two weeks. No, I haven’t been injured or ill; just busy enjoying Christmasy days, resting and reconnecting with family and friends.

My run was not long, but I did conquer several hills on the snowy dirt paths in two doggy parks. I met two schnauzers, a couple of big mutts, a blue heeler and a german shepherd puppy. After about 30 minutes my left knee got kind of loose and wobbly and whiny, and the zipper on my jacket jammed, so it was a good thing I was just about home.

I then had a lovely soak with some of Lush bath bomb I got for Christmas – Jingle Spells.  Since I was indulging myself so well, I also brought the box of chocolate covered cherries along to the bath, and proceeded to nearly die of suffocation when I leaned back in the tub and the cherry syrup went down the wrong pipe. Apparently, trail running is safer than bathing while eating chocolate. Who knew?

Saturday morning I’m heading over to the Douglas Fir Trail for an 8k Charity Goat Run. I’ve never run the DF in the winter – this could be fun.

On the Feast Table

Originally uploaded by Downhillnut

As promised, here is a pic of the koloch that Little Runner and I made before Christmas. We are Ukrainian enough to enjoy our 12 course meal on the night before Christmas, but Canadian enough to celebrate the occasion on December 24 (instead of in January, like good Ukrainians do).

I captured most of the bread braiding process in a series of pictures on my flickr site, if you’re interested.

I think The Grinch may have made off with my blog’s comment section. If you’ve tried to post a comment in the last few days, it might not have come through. I’ve called in a Cindy-Lou Who to get to the bottom of it, but until then, feel free to reach me directly at cooksc (then use that shift+2 sign) shaw (dot) ca.

On the running side of things, I haven’t run since Tuesday. Preparations are just about under control here now, so I still might get to squeeze in one run before Christmas.

First, however, I will bake up some kolach (Ukrainian braided bread). I’d post a photo of one of my previous years’ loaves, but the photo hosting function seems to have been Grinched, as well. Not the end of the world – we’ve got a Christmas to get on with, eh? A merry celebration to you all!

Editor’s Note: Wow, the Who-Ville P.D. (a.k.a. Mark at Complete Running) works quickly around here! Thanks, and Yay! Of course, now I’ve misplaced my bread photo…

Last night some of my Calgary Roadrunners buddies and some other joyous souls met at the U of C for a Christmas Light Run. I arrived barely in time to head out with the group; just in time to hear Dave repeat the instructions one last time. We would run down to the Foothills Hospital, around Toronto Crescent (I think), across Crowchild on a bridge, up and over 16th Street (just a wee hill and then up & over a pedestrian bridge), over to the 14th St. Confederation Park lights, and then back up to the University. I had no idea how far this was. I didn’t care. We were together, in a very festive mood, and apparently there were to be caroling stops along the way.

We started by singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” for Gabino‘s camera just outside the building, and then took off running. The fast runners ran mercifully slowly and when they couldn’t hold back they waited for us at key points. We back of the packers didn’t have much trouble keeping up.

One of the first stops was on Toronto Crescent, where there was a beautifully decorated house overlooking the ridge. We paid tribute to its beauty by singing Jingle Bells, and it was then that I realized… we were not a singing group. We were a running group with a singing problem.

We stopped and sang at a few other houses along the route. I could barely catch my breath and the group would start singing. Most of us didn’t know the words after the opening lines, and it was always funny to hear us fizzle into la la la’s as the songs went on. Nobody actually came out of the houses to acknowledge us, but nobody told us to shut up, either, so it was all good.

It took us a long time, about an hour, to get to the beautifully lit Confederation Park, where we once again sang like drunken sailors for Gabino’s camera. Apparently, our “practice” along the way had not done much good. We were not very organized, but it didn’t matter.

Eventually we headed back to our meeting point, and said good bye and Merry Christmas to friends who had to leave early. We ended up running for about 90 minutes, long for me, but we had those singing/laughing stops along the way. The plan was to head over to Moose McGuire’s pub afterwards for refreshments, but I headed over to the mall to rescue Soccer Boy from his Christmas shopping.

It was a fun night, but next year I’m lobbying for a shorter route.

Last night Little Runner and I made special buns and this morning she woke Soccer Boy and Hubby up with a plate of buns and a travel mug of tea, while I carried the flashlight. Traditionally she’s also to wear a wreath of lit candles, but the flashlight worked nicely. We’re supposed to sing a song, too, but I don’t remember much of it, so we played a Youtube version of it that I found on Mama Lisa’s World Blog.

I like this tradition, so we’ve been doing it on the years I remember, ever since Little Runner was big enough to carry a plate.

Last night at the Oval track our 10k running group did a ladder of laps, instead of the usual track distances that end in 00’s. The inside running lane around the ice is about 446m, to accommodate the regulation speedskating ice.

Being slower, I usually keep to the inside, left lane most of the time. The running lanes are narrow – two skinny runners can run elbow-to-elbow per lane when they’re taking it easy. When folks kick into high gear on a busy night, shoulder checking before passing on the outside (right) is very important.

Our ladder was very simple. After 4 laps of warm up, we picked up the pace and did 1 lap, 2 laps, 3, 2, and 1 again. I felt pretty good through most of them, though had to work hard to keep my breathing under control in the last 250m of the 3-lapper.

I broke down the workout into even smaller bites by focusing my vision on targets less than 25m away. I used bleacher railings, posters along the walls, doors, wall fixtures, etc. and concentrated on gliding smoothly along as I approached each point. It really helped me keep the mental momentum up.

Once I even got to yell “TRACK!” at a bunch of rugby players walking all bunched up across the lanes on the back straight. That was fun. I so rarely get to do that.

It wasn’t a particularly long workout, but by the time I finished my 4 lap cool down I was spent, in the best way.

This Thursday I’ll be doing hills outside, not stairs inside. Just a few, to get me all ready but not worn out for Saturday’s cross country 8k.

Everywhere (Facebook buddies, Blogland, Penguins, etc.) I read about athletes setting their 2008 goals and I’m just not in that frame of mind yet. I haven’t set my heart or mind on any one race or distance or personal record to smash. I’ve toyed with a few, but I’m really still in limbo.

I don’t have to choose yet if I don’t want to.

I understand that if I’m to accomplish any amazing self-improvement goals I should have some nice big goals for motivation. That’s what motivates EVERYONE, right? I’m not sure about that. Last summer I had a big 29k Moose Mountain haunting/tempting me, and it didn’t work. I didn’t get myself out for the long runs.

There’s something to be said for living/training in the moment and just enjoying the workouts as they come. I’ve enjoyed making short term goals (that still require effort) that could possibly lead up to a big race if successful, but not just “work to get through”.

Tonight’s short term goal is a lap-ladder of speedwork at the Oval; 1,2,3,2,1 laps of just over 400m/lap. This week’s short term goal is to refrain from doing stairs, so my calves are fresh for the Silver Springs XC on Saturday. Saturday my goal is to smoke the 8k without falling into the river.

Maybe sometime over Christmas I’ll dig a little deeper for some 2008 goals, and work out some fun, self-motivational ways to accomplish them.

Obligatory Running Notes:

Thursday: I told you about the interview with the training questions, but forgot to tell you about the running part. I sandwiched 3 full sets of stairs (including all the emergency stairwells) in between 4 solid laps each for warm-up and cool-down. I was rewarded with very little stiffness on the weekend, thank goodness.

Saturday: No running for me, but I did drop by the Dinos Opener Indoor Track Meet at the U of C. I took Little Runner along to absorb the atmosphere and we took in about an hour’s worth of the 60m races. Little Runner didn’t like the noisy starter’s pistol, but we did enjoy watching nearer the finish line instead. It was very different from our XCs and the usual 5/10k fun run atmosphere. I was particularly fascinated by the pre-race routines of the racers, how they kept loosened up, how they set themselves up in the blocks, etc.

Sunday: I got my rear out the door for my favourite, hilly, multi-neighbourhood, doggy-park trail jaunt. I only discovered this route last spring, so I’ve never tried it in the winter. I’m still discovering little loops through treed areas I didn’t know about before. The cool part about running these trails in the winter is that without all the leaves on the trees it’s easier to spot some previously-obscured paths. In some parts of one valley it’s actually easier to read the trail terrain, without long grasses covering up the bumps.

We’ve had some snow lately, so it is very Christmasy and wintery looking out there. The snow conveniently fills up some of the deeper crevices and smooths out some bumps, while making the ground a little slipperier in other places. It’s all good. I was out for over an hour, though I’m not sure of the exact time. I’m not very focused on numbers at all lately, and I’m kind of enjoying it.

Yesterday I made to the Oval late as usual for a Thursday. The mom-taxi schedule just hasn’t worked out that kink yet. Gabino was still there, wrapping up some interviewing he’d been doing with the Dinos. He had 4 minutes of tape left, if I had a little time to answer a question or two. We talked a little bit about the mind-set of back-of-pack racers versus faster ones, and competition-based relationships.

Then he asked a question I couldn’t finish answering on tape, but it got me thinking. The question went something like, “You’re in maintenance mode in your training right now. Do you expect to train harder in the new year for some big goals, and if so, how?” (not verbatim; I can’t remember the exact words). I chewed on it overnight and here’s what I came up with, as I e-mailed to him this morning:
Gabino, 

Next time you’ll have to bring more tape. Darnit, I think I was having a GREAT hair day yesterday.

Hey, thanks for asking such a theraputic question! Hope I didn’t bore you with my answer. Gabino? You can wake up now…

Karen

What do you think, oh great blog readers? Is that answer true? How do I make those longer workouts more attractive to myself next year? Should I train harder, AND longer? Go ahead, find that commenty box below and fill it in.