Running Out of Time
With all my various pre-surgery appointments and late meetings at work, not to mention a number of work deadlines that I'm racing to meet, working out has taken a bit of a back seat in the past week as I do my best to wrap things up before my surgery next week.
In the past week, I've managed to get in the following workouts:
Friday: 5km Run (w Tay)
Monday: 5km Run (w Tay)
Tuesday: Body Pump
Thursday: 7km Run (w AL)
I probaby shouldn't be too hard on myself for my lack of exercise considering the above schedule is still more than most people do in a typical week and I know that I would have been out last Saturday except we spent the day in Niagara doing a wine 'tour' with some friends. Yesterdays run with AL was a bit of a juggle - I was in to work at 7am (damn staff shortage!) until 7pm and AL had to be at work at 1, so she came down at 9:30 when my replacement staff showed up and we went for a run in the drizzly cold weather - despite the rain it was a good run (our first run since she got back) and a far run too - we ran from John Street along Queen all the way to Dufferin and then up Dufferin to Dundas where we split off and AL continued on home and I went down Dundas until I reached work. It worked out to about 7.6km total and just over an hour with us only stopping really once at our breakaway point (we chatted a good 10 minutes or more), and I quite enjoyed the solo latter half of my run as I ran through Chinatown, swerving around fruit stands, shuffling old people and men with dollies filled with vegetables.
I've worn my heart rate monitor on my last three runs and it's been a bit frustrating to slow down my pace to keep my heart rate in it's target zone - it's annoying when it starts to beep and annoying to I'm sure to my running partners because I slow my pace down to accomodate my heart rate, but I think it's worth it in the long run because I'd rather train for a marathon and focus on my endurance rather than my speed - and at a steady, regular heart rate, I'll be more physically prepared to go for longer periods of time rather than just getting out there and going fast.
At my surgical appointment this morning I asked about exercising after my surgery and was told no running for at least 2 months and no Body Pump or yoga for 6 weeks. I could almost feel my muscles start to atrophy as she said that, and I felt an almost despair as I thought about hanging up my runners for the next 8 weeks. Tay said after that appointment that I'm going to have to get my diet bang on after my surgery so I don't start losing muscle mass and I agree - I've worked too hard in BP to waste away - and it's bad enough that 2 months of not running is going to set me back considerably and will mean that I might not have enough time to train for the marathon in May (I may have to settle for a half in May and then do the Toronto Marathon in October). Regardless, it's going to be a long 6-8 weeks without exercise and in giving up what I've been loving recently, I will have to rediscover all the non-physical things that I loved before working out became such a priority in my life like reading reading, knitting and computer games - I guess it's back to the land of Sims I go :).
So with time running out and running on a very short supply of energy this week, I need to figure out my last few workouts before my surgery next week. I'd like to get a run in tomorrow and then the CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday will be my last run I think (still need $35 in pledges to earn the fancy silver and pink shoulder bag that matches my ipod AND my runners, and last minute generous souls can still pledge me here) - and then I'll probaby go to Body Pump Tuesday morning and that will be it :(.
In the past week, I've managed to get in the following workouts:
Friday: 5km Run (w Tay)
Monday: 5km Run (w Tay)
Tuesday: Body Pump
Thursday: 7km Run (w AL)
I probaby shouldn't be too hard on myself for my lack of exercise considering the above schedule is still more than most people do in a typical week and I know that I would have been out last Saturday except we spent the day in Niagara doing a wine 'tour' with some friends. Yesterdays run with AL was a bit of a juggle - I was in to work at 7am (damn staff shortage!) until 7pm and AL had to be at work at 1, so she came down at 9:30 when my replacement staff showed up and we went for a run in the drizzly cold weather - despite the rain it was a good run (our first run since she got back) and a far run too - we ran from John Street along Queen all the way to Dufferin and then up Dufferin to Dundas where we split off and AL continued on home and I went down Dundas until I reached work. It worked out to about 7.6km total and just over an hour with us only stopping really once at our breakaway point (we chatted a good 10 minutes or more), and I quite enjoyed the solo latter half of my run as I ran through Chinatown, swerving around fruit stands, shuffling old people and men with dollies filled with vegetables.
I've worn my heart rate monitor on my last three runs and it's been a bit frustrating to slow down my pace to keep my heart rate in it's target zone - it's annoying when it starts to beep and annoying to I'm sure to my running partners because I slow my pace down to accomodate my heart rate, but I think it's worth it in the long run because I'd rather train for a marathon and focus on my endurance rather than my speed - and at a steady, regular heart rate, I'll be more physically prepared to go for longer periods of time rather than just getting out there and going fast.
At my surgical appointment this morning I asked about exercising after my surgery and was told no running for at least 2 months and no Body Pump or yoga for 6 weeks. I could almost feel my muscles start to atrophy as she said that, and I felt an almost despair as I thought about hanging up my runners for the next 8 weeks. Tay said after that appointment that I'm going to have to get my diet bang on after my surgery so I don't start losing muscle mass and I agree - I've worked too hard in BP to waste away - and it's bad enough that 2 months of not running is going to set me back considerably and will mean that I might not have enough time to train for the marathon in May (I may have to settle for a half in May and then do the Toronto Marathon in October). Regardless, it's going to be a long 6-8 weeks without exercise and in giving up what I've been loving recently, I will have to rediscover all the non-physical things that I loved before working out became such a priority in my life like reading reading, knitting and computer games - I guess it's back to the land of Sims I go :).
So with time running out and running on a very short supply of energy this week, I need to figure out my last few workouts before my surgery next week. I'd like to get a run in tomorrow and then the CIBC Run for the Cure on Sunday will be my last run I think (still need $35 in pledges to earn the fancy silver and pink shoulder bag that matches my ipod AND my runners, and last minute generous souls can still pledge me here) - and then I'll probaby go to Body Pump Tuesday morning and that will be it :(.
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