Daniel sent me this really cool article that I want to share with you guys about training at the right intensity. Definitely have a look! It puts things into perspective for sure.
http://www.runnersworld.com/rt-web-exclusive/train-at-the-right-intensity-ratio
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
Am I crazy for signing up for a 5k ocr while healing from a meniscus injury? Maybe. Did I have a blast though? Heck yeah.
On Sunday, Daniel and I participated in Rugged Maniac Kitchener which was at Chicopee Ski Resort. If you’ve been following my blog for a bit and that name sounds familiar, it’s because Daniel and I went skiing there a few months ago and I blogged it. It was pretty cool to run up and down the same hills I was skiing down just months before. In this recap, I’m going to talk about the location of the race, expo, race, post-race after party and what I would’ve done differently.
The Location
Chicopee Ski Resort is only just over an hour from Toronto. Parking was a little crazy, but it was a huge event that was near sold out. If I’m not mistaken, parking was $20, however you could pay $10 and just be further away from the site. TONS of people just parked on the grass or in random ditches to avoid paying the fee which made me laugh. We ended up getting a prime parking spot, just a few dozen feet from bag check.
The view from our parking spot…we totally lucked out!
Expo/Bag Check
The expo was a breeze, and we were in and out pretty quickly. The only issue I had here was that it seemed that the volunteers looming around the grounds didn’t know where the expo was. It turned out that it was on the opposite end of the base of the mountain, so we couldn’t see any signage. When we approached a volunteer, she had to ask someone who had to ask someone WHO HAD TO ASK SOMEONE ELSE. Grr. It was quickly resolved though, so I got over it fairly quickly.
Once we got our wristbands, race bib and t-shirt, we headed to bag check which consisted of a giant tent that housed everyone’s bags. It wasn’t as chaotic as it sounded; bags were kept on tables so they were almost organized in bunches. That being said, when we went to pick up our two bags at the end of the race, it was FILTHY. You could tell it had come into contact with mud. I guess that’s to be expected at an ocr…I’ll probably just bring a grocery tote next time so that it can be tossed if need be.
The Race
Holy crap this race was tough. The amount of time I put into training was nowhere near what I wanted it to be due to my knee and being in recovery mode. I thought about pulling out of the race, but at my last physio session I asked my physiotherapist what she thought and she gave the green light to race. Daniel’s also recovering from some knee issues, (birds of a feather flock together, eh?), so he was in the same boat as me. Nevertheless, we both had some cardio training in us and gave the race all we had. My knee didn’t hurt at all, (despite dragging it over numerous rocks during muddy army crawls), and Daniel was THE BEST teammate ever. My mom was actually supposed to be part of our team as well, but her leg ulcer, which seemed to be lying dormant for the past while flared up. The obvious choice for her was not to run. When she’s all healed up, she promised me that we’d do an ocr together so stay tuned!
My favourite obstacle was probably The Warped Wall. This consisted of a half pipe-type wall that you had to run up and climb over in order to get to the next obstacle. There was a ladder beside it should you chose not run up the half pipe, however who likes to do things the easy way? Our strategy was to have Daniel run first up the wall since he felt pretty confident that he could make it over. He did, (not that I was surprised), and gave me a thumbs up to run toward him. I was able to grab the top of the wall, but couldn’t swing my legs over to get up and over myself. Daniel managed to grab my right ankle and swing me over – not only did he save the day, but he saved me from sliding down the wall…so he also saved me from embarrassment, haha.
My least favourite obstacle was probably Bang The Gong. This involved jumping up to bang a mini gong which subsequently leads to you falling in approximately five feet of water. For some reason, I thought the water pit would be shallower…needless to say I was in for a surprise when my head was full immersed in the water for a few seconds.
The course map. The obstacles were densely packed together which I loved!
The sense of camaraderie at Rugged Maniac was insane. Strangers were helping out strangers at every obstacle or giving words of encouragement as they passed you. I remember at one obstacle called Jacob’s Ladder, I got stuck at the top and was scared to swing my left leg over since my right leg couldn’t quite reach the next step on the ladder. Daniel had already gone up and over the obstacle and was at the bottom trying to give me pointers. After yelling down to him that I couldn’t do it, a girl who was about to pass me climbed back down and spotted me. She totally didn’t have to do that, but it was awesome that she did. Because of her, I swung my left leg over and continued on.
The Post Race Party
The post race party was exactly that – a party. After getting hosed off and changed into clean clothes, Daniel and I decided to cash in on the cool stuff going on around us. Daniel doesn’t drink so he gave his drink wristband to me. Score! Once I got drinks, (nothing says lovin’ like double-fisting after an ocr), we headed over to the food trucks and got some food. Daniel got two pulled-pork sandwiches from an unknown vendor while I got a pulled-pork grilled cheese sandwich from a food truck called Fo’ Cheesy. Ssssoooo delicious. During our delicious eats, we watched a pull up competition and a stein hoisting competition. How do these people do all that after what they just ran through?!? Although we didn’t take part in these events, there was also a mechanical bull and beach volleyball complete with amazing music.
Daniel & I all hosed off after the run. I’m in love with the finisher’s medal!
What Would I Have Done Differently?
-Trained properly (though I guess there wasn’t much I could do about this)
-Worn Sunscreen: I figured the mud would protect me, but I totally forgot to account for the post-race party and the fact that we would be lingering around for a while after the race. Since I didn’t pack any sunscreen, we both got pretty burnt.
-Not Wear a Black Long Sleeve Shirt: in my defense, it was dry fit. Daniel also wore a similar shirt…we both reaped the consequences of said action
-Worn My Garmin: I didn’t wear my Garmin because I thought the mud would get caked in the buttons. I felt good about my decision until I saw so many other runners wear GPS watches. I manually entered my run on Strava in sadness.
Race photos don’t get released until Thursday, so I’m planning on doing a post on Friday with just the race photos. Keep your eyes peeled!
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
Is it just me, or did this past month go by super quickly?!? Before I know it, the summer will be over and I’ll be starting my final semester of university. I’m going to attempt to hold on to every inch of summer I can!
This past month was interesting, as it saw the rehab of knee, which meant no half-marathon. This made me kind of sad, because this is something that I worked really hard towards and it flopped. That being said, I know what I did wrong and what to fix going forward. Enough about my knee…below is what my month looked like!
Total Mileage This Month: 14. Not much I can do about this unfortunately. Though I feel that June will definitely be higher.
Best Performing Blog Post: Ironically enough, the best performing blog post this month was April is Done! I guess you guys like to read about how the month has looked as a whole.
How was the Strength Training this Month: Like I said on Monday, I wish I made more strides in the strength-training department but everyone’s bound to have off-cycles. I’m looking to make crazy gains in June so watch out!
Cool Products I Tried this Month: I posted this on Instagram a bit ago, but I’ve fallen in love with Clif’s Nut Butter Filled Bars. I’ll probably be doing a review on them in the near future, so keep your eyes pealed.
The coconut almond butter is my favourite flavour, but they have a hazelnut one that tastes like Nutella. Mmmmmm
Cool Things I did: Treetop Trekking hands down. Read my review for it here.
So much green space! The actual area where the treetop trekking takes place is just beyond the trees. This photo doesn’t do it justice, it’s huge!
What cool products did you guys try this month? Anything I should try/do a review on?
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
I’m pretty sure I talk about this in pretty much every blog post, but I tore my meniscus two weeks before the Mississauga Half Marathon, (yes I’m bitter about it, haha), and have since began physio. After having to research different physio clinics based on some recommendations from my doctor and from you guys, I settled on Athlete’s Care which has different locations all over the Greater Toronto Area as well as Ottawa. Out of respect for the other patients I couldn’t take any photos in the clinic, but I’m going to give you an in-depth review of my experience thus far. FYI, I’ve had three sessions so far and my physiotherapist thinks I’ll need 4-6 more.
Logistics of the Clinic
The clinic itself is a little confusing to get to. I Google Mapped how to get there but since I live close by, I had a rough idea of where I was going. Google Maps told me I had to walk down a certain street that would later feed into the street that Athlete’s Care is on, however you literally cannot walk down this street; it only goes north and not south, (the direction I need). LUCKLY I know Scarborough well enough that I could get my bearings, but for someone who isn’t familiar with my neighbourhood, this could be troublesome.
The clinic is located on the ground floor of an office building so it has a very clean appearance. The only thing missing is the fact that AC seems to be at a minimum in the clinic. I find this odd since people are moving around and generating heat. I also am always running behind, so by the time I get to the clinic I’m sweating and that really doesn’t make for a great combo.
I had a little hiccup with my insurance on the first visit. I have two insurances, (one through my dad’s work and one through my school, both of which cover physio WITHOUT a referral), however when I informed the front desk of this, they immediately told me that they don’t bill directly to my dad’s insurance company and my school insurance wasn’t going through. This kind of irritated me, because I went from thinking that I wasn’t going to have to pay for anything that visit to having to pay almost $100. I always have issues submitting claims to my dad’s insurance myself, so I was hoping that it could be done for me. I guess not. I was also able to submit the claim to my school’s insurance without any issues so I guess that’s the route I’ll be going.
The treatment area is a giant room with hospital-like beds and curtains that can be drawn around them. I’ve never been there when it’s been super busy, but I’d imagine that it would kind of suck – after all, I almost hit someone with a tennis ball as I was doing an exercise.
The Physiotherapist
Uma! I have nothing but good things to say about her. She’s super sweet, attentive, and listens to all my concerns. She always asks how I’m progressing and what’s normal vs. what isn’t. She also cracks some jokes with me during those somewhat painful massages which is nice.
The Treatments
Uma has me doing a variety of exercises that strengthen my knee, surrounding areas, and test my balance. She’s really through when describing what to do, and gave me a new set of exercises to do in addition to what my doctor prescribed to me.
How am I Progressing?
I told Uma this, but I feel like my progress has kind of plateaued. I made huge progress the week following the tear, and then somewhere after my first physio session is when it stopped. Uma said that in her experience, she finds this is common since the meniscus gets such poor blood supply. If I haven’t progressed further than where I’m at right now, I’m supposed to get an MRI and we’ll go from there. I don’t think this will be necessary though, seeing as I went for a short run yesterday with no pain. I was advised though to ice my knee post-run regardless of if I felt any pain, which seemed to do the trick.
Got to roll out the glutes! Check out my my review on this roller here:
What kind of experience have you guys had with physio? Anything else I should be doing additionally that you guys found beneficial to speed up the healing process?
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
The hardest month of my fitness journey is done! If you’ve been following along with my blog for the last little bit, you might’ve heard about my recent injury. Needless to say, it’s been tough to navigate. Despite that, I still got some decent mileage in, some great workouts, and wrote about some pretty cool stuff. Here’s what the month of April looked like for me:
Total Mileage: 45.7mi
This definitely had the potential to be higher if I hadn’t injured my knee. That being said, I think this is still pretty good. I found some cool trails and started to get the hang of taking gels and chews while on the run.
I also mastered the art of selfie-ing mid-run!
Best Performing Blog Post: Half-Marathon No Longer
It sucks that I had to write that post, but it’s good to share not only all the good stuff that happens with running and weight lifting, but all the bad as well.
Favourite Product This Month: Clif Shot Energy Gels
Like jam in a packet.
Favourite Strength Training Exercise: Although it’s a part of my abbreviated leg day, I love doing lying leg curls. It’s a great way to work your hamstrings, and you can do it unilaterally or isolaterally.
Worst Thing That Happened This Month: My meniscus tear. *insert crying emoji here*
How was the month of April for you guys? Anything exciting happen?
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
If you follow me on Instagram, you probably already know what’s going on. Near the end of my long run on Tuesday, I felt a pop behind my knee on the right side. Since I didn’t have much left of my run, (and I’m stubborn), I decided to see it through to the end. As I limped through my cool down, I knew something wasn’t quite right. After stretching and rolling out for a bit, I would still get that popping sensation whenever there was any flexion in my left leg. Would I be able to run my half marathon? Would I be able to squat ever again? I’m a huge drama queen, but my mind started going to the worst places.
The Diagnosis
After three days of RICE and no progress, I decided that I should probably get my knee checked out. After describing my symptoms, the doctor examined my knee and ordered an ultrasound; all of which led to a torn meniscus. Aside from breaking both wrists and fracturing my ulna, I’ve never done anything like this so it’s a little scary. The doctor told me that anything that could aggravate my knee is out of the question until I’m pain free; this means no half marathon.
How am I Feeling
Really bummed. I feel like the last few months have just been flushed down the drain and have been a waste of time. All the time, energy, and money I’ve spent FEELS like it was wasted. In terms of my knee, I don’t have any issues walking, but stairs kill and I can’t do anything past a leisurely stroll. My range of motion is limited, and the right side of my knee is fairly swollen. The doctor that I spoke with gave me some exercises that I’m supposed to do once or twice a day, (they take about 5-10 minutes), in addition to a referral for physio. Since I’ve never been to physio, I’m not quite sure what to expect, but I’ll be sure to blog about my experience. I’m discouraged, but it’s time to heal.
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these! I think a mixture of blog scheduling and my own schedule had something to do with that. This past week has been so challenging. Final exams are around the corner, (literally, my exam’s on Thursday) and I’ve had a ton of papers due this whole month. A well-planned week can only get you so far before you have to cut something out. After Thursday passes, I should be back to normal again, so I’m just trying to hang in there! Without further ado, here’s what this past week looked like:
Monday
7.6mi run with an average pace of 10:59/mi and a moving time of 1:24:08.
*I talked about this run a week ago on the blog…it was actually supposed to be longer, (13.1mi), but if you read the blog post, you’ll discover why it wasn’t.
Tuesday
Rest Day.
Wednesday
Back & Biceps:
-5 min warm up
-Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: 110lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Concentrated Bicep Curls: 30lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Deadlift: 100lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Barbells Preacher Curls: 40lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Low Row: 105lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Bicep Curls (machine): 70lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
*This day was awesome! I was super happy with my deadlift results since it’s such a difficult exercise.
Thursday
3mi Progression Run with an average pace of 9:40/mi and a moving time of 29:11.
*I was super wowed by this. I don’t think I’ve ever run a pace this quick for this duration of time. Maybe this is a sign of things to come!
Friday
8.5mi run with an average pace of 10:53/mi and a moving time of 1:32:32.
*Since it was Good Friday and Daniel had the day off from work, I got to run part of this run with him, (his knee started bothering him so he stopped early). I forgot what it was like to run with someone!
Saturday
Chest & Triceps:
-5min warm up
-Assisted Dips: 50lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Cable Flyes: 27.5lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Tricep Kickbacks: 30lbs @ 17 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Dumbbell Bench Press: 30lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
*There’s a few things worth mentioning for this workout. One, I felt HORRIBLE going into it. It was just one of those days where I wasn’t into it and it was definitely reflected in the results. I didn’t do any incline bench press since the only incline bench was constantly in use, (with people working in with each other no less!), and my dumbbell bench press weight had to be knocked down 10lbs since I had zero energy. Not super happy about that. Just as a side note, the weight for the cable flyes is per arm and not cumulative.
Sunday
Rest Day.
Not the greatest week, right? It happens. School is clearly my priority and if I have to drop some runs/workouts in order to feel better prepared for my exam/finish a paper, so be it. That being said, I’m very excited for the end of the semester so I don’t have to do that for a bit.
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
A couple of weeks ago, I made a trip to National Sports to get some chews/gels. I ended up buying two packs of Clif Bloks Energy Chews, (one black cherry and one tropical punch), and two Clif Shot Energy Gels, (both were the razz flavour), while I’ve already done a review on the gels, here’s my review on the chews. Just as a head’s up, you can probably expect a gel vs. chew post in the very near future.
I decided to take one chew every 35 minutes rather than 3 every 45. There are two reasons as to why I arrived at that time interval:
With that said, this is what I gathered from my experience with Clif Bloks Energy Chews:
-Like it said, it’s huge. Because of its size, it makes it challenging to chew…especially while running.
-The tropical punch flavour was really tasty. I always have a huge sweet tooth, so it’s kind of nice to get that while on a run.
-Not super convenient to take while on a run since it comes in a long package.
-Digests well, (it’s also organic which is a plus)
-The caffeine gives you a quick boost without the crash
I still have one more pack of chews to go through, but I think I’m going to stick to gels after this. Question for you guys: how do you guys run and take gels or eat chews? I literally have to stop and do it…clearly I’m not the greatest multitasker!
Running Fast, Lifting Heavy Approved: I’m going to say yes, but I wish the size was smaller.
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
Usually I like to do a weekly recap on Mondays, but I had a really interesting, (if you want to call it that), run today that I felt was a little more important to document than what I did this past week. I’m considering this a lesson learned, although I feel like it’s a rookie mistake…hear me out:
Today was supposed to be my long run for the week. I tend to do my long runs on Mondays, since it gives me enough time to take a rest day afterwards and then get back on track. Since getting my Garmin for my birthday, I’ve stopped running with my phone so I only bring keys, gels, (if needed), my iPod, and a hydration pack, (if needed). Today was no exception. Daniel happened to be working from home today and advised that I throw in some Vega Sport Electrolyte Hydrator in my hydration pack to which I obliged. I checked the weather one last time before heading out when I saw that it was scheduled to rain pretty heavy in the evening. Not a big deal though, since I was already suited up for my run and it wasn’t even 2:00. Off I go.
Smiling because I don’t know what’s in store for me yet!
My route was one that I’ve done before, the only difference was that I ran to the end of the trail and had to continue on the street. I planned an out-and-back, with the turn around point being at 6.6 miles. The turn around point was also at the bottom of the hill, so when it was time to turn around, I had to go back up and gassed it a little too hard, (problem number 1). Once the elevation began to even out, I went to drink some of my Vega only to discover that I finished it all. 1.5L down and I was only just over half way through, (problem number 2). This meant that my chews had to be put on the backburner since I didn’t have any liquids to take them with, (and Clif Bloks are MASSIVE – also problem number 3). Again, not the end of the world, I was just probably going to be fatigued more than usual.
As I approached a highway overpass, I got a really good look at the sky and realized how gray it was. I thought to stop since I was passing potential shelter, (a gas station), but kept going since it wasn’t even raining. Two blocks later, I saw a giant bolt of lightning about 200 yards away from me. Game over. My world started to crumble…especially when I realized I had no bus pass, no money, and no phone. The level of screwed I was was unreal. Desperate, I ran to a convenience store and asked to use their phone. I was so thankful when they said yes, and I quickly tried to remember Daniel’s phone number, (damn you speed dial). After telling Daniel my dilemma and where I was, he rushed over and picked me up. Literally as soon as I got off the phone with him, the sky opened up and it really poured. “You really should have some money on you or something.” Daniel said. Yeah. You’re telling me.
I’m so thankful that my boyfriend was home, or else I would’ve been crazy stranded. I never thought to run with money or a bus pass before despite hearing it all the time, but now that I was in this situation, I’m thinking about it a lot. Never doing that again, especially on a day where the weather’s bad.
Right where I crossed the 401 is where things got a little hairy.
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
This week was an interesting one, haha. On Monday, I decided to take my interval workout to the track at my gym. Mid-interval, I felt a breeze on my right mid-thigh. Once I stopped that particular interval, I looked down and noticed that there was a tear about two and a half inches long along the inner seem of my leggings. Reluctant to stop and go home due to my wardrobe malfunction, I continued to run which caused EXTREME chafe on my thigh. I literally thought I was going to die from the pain. Since walking was extremely painful as the chafed area would rub against the fabric of my shorts/pants, I had to rearrange my workouts until it healed. I’m fine now, (it actually scarred), but here’s what I managed to squeeze in this week:
Monday
Interval Run (Chafe Day): 3mi with an average pace of 10:25/mi and a moving time of 31:14.
Tuesday
Rest Day.
Wednesday
With the help of some gauze and medical tape, I was able to get in a leg/shoulder day:
-5 min warm up
-V-Squat: 140lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 30lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Standing Calf Press: 75lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Standing Shoulder Press: 55lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Hip Adductor: 190lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 20lbs @ 16 reps (1 min rest between sets)
*I talked about this briefly on Instagram, but after having issues lifting the barbell over my head for my standing shoulder press, it suddenly dawned on me that I should use a squat rack. A huge world of a difference! I also wanted to use the hip abductor machine, however it was in use and wasn’t in the mood to set in with someone.
Thursday
Back & Biceps:
-5 min warm-up
-Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown: 75lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Concentrated Bicep Curls: 20lbs @ 25 reps (1 min rest between sets)
-Deadlift: 90lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Barbell Preacher Curls: 35lbs @ 20 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Seated Row: 70lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Bicep Curls (machine): 50lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
Friday
Rest Day.
Saturday
Rest Day.
Sunday
Chest & Triceps:
-5 min warm-up
-Incline Bench Press: 40lbs @ 10 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Assisted Dips: 70lbs @ 25 reps (1 min rest between sets)
-Cable Flyes: 17.5lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Tricep Kickbacks: 15lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Dumbbell Bench Press: 25lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
-Tricep Press: 100lbs @ 25 reps total (1 min rest between sets)
3mi Run: average pace of 10:17/mi with a moving time of 30:51.
Since my thigh’s feeling good, I’m pumped to go hard this week. Like I said last week, I decided to combine my leg day with my shoulder day since they were both relatively short and would buy me an extra rest day. I really want to up my mileage this month, so I might try to get out there and run a couple extra miles, even if it’s on the treadmill.
-Running Fast, Lifting Heavy
Running Fast, Lifting Heavy 