Monday, May 21, 2012

Big, exciting news...

As you all know, I've become a little obsessed with running.  I completed my "For women Only" clinic through the Running Room, which is the "Learn to Run" clinic...for women only.  It was a great experience and I'm still amazed at how quickly my body adapted to running.  Twelve weeks ago I struggled doing 1:2 intervals (that's 1 minute running, 2 minutes walking).  Today, I can easily do 10:1 intervals and don't feel like I need to stop for my minute rest.  I think this week, while running on my own, I'm going to try and run straight without stopping to rest.

On Friday, I met my gal Beverly for a run.  We did a fairly difficult route that my former running instructor showed me and Enz.  It's got a real steep hill and a fairly long incline.  I love the hill/incline routes because they work the muscles in my legs really well and I feel like I'm getting an optimal workout.  I can recover from doing a hill while I'm running which just proves to me that I'm really getting the hang of this running thing.  This morning I had a run with Enz and we ran 4x10:1 intervals, which was up a gradual incline.  It was definitely harder going than coming back.

This morning's run was good, because I learned something else about my running.  I've always said that I was not a morning runner, but this morning I felt great.  The difference, I believe, is in what I ate.  I normally eat 2 hard boiled eggs every morning.  We had a guest speaker talk to us about nutrition and running a few weeks ago and she mentioned that just eating protein before a run may not be the best option, because it takes longer for protein to settle and digest in your stomach.  This morning I ate a protein bar (which has carbs) and drank a coffee.  I felt like I had wings on my feet.  My run was very easy.  This excited me because I really want to be a morning runner.  I will try this again this week and see how I do.  We'll see how good I feel at 6am, as opposed to 8:30am.

So now my BIG exciting news.  Me and my running gal Beverly are going to co-instruct the next "For Women Only" clinic through the Running Room.  What?  That's right, I'm going to teach other women how to run.  Who would have thought that I would ever get here?  I'm so excited about this and can't believe that I will get paid...to run!  My dream come true.  Actually, I'm not sure if I get paid, I know I get the employee discount though.  That's more than enough incentive for me.  I only hope I'll be as much of a role model and inspiration as Carol was to me when I took the "For Women Only" clinic.
The next "For Women Only" instructors at the Hamilton
Running Room!