Adventures in Cross Training: Les Mills Body Pump, Canadian Style + Biking

I'm now officially a member of the Goodlife Fitness gym.  My membership is good Canada-wide, and lasts 6 months.  Hurray for the free gym membership (thank you to the Saskatchewan Marathon folks).  

My first official act will be to attend Les Mills Body Pump class tomorrow.  The idea here is to start strengthening my leg muscles and ward off overuse injuries.  Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty ripped thanks to all the running, and my previous Body Pump sessions at 24 Hour Fitness in New York City.  Yet, running is such a difficult endurance sport that you need more than just strong leg muscles, you need *really* strong leg muscles.  So I'm thinking I'll do two sessions of Body Pump each week, and try to also fit in a day where I do fewer reps with higher weights.  Maybe even do a full body work out.

Special bonus: 35-45 minutes of biking per gym day (I do need to get there, of course).

This week I've biked about 40 kilometers on a mountain bike.

So that's the rundown for today!

Humboldt recap + Injury!

It just so happens that we arrived in town at the same time as the carnival!

So I'll start with this: until this spring I had a twisted pelvis.  Chiropractor fixed it, but I'm still adjusting, which means I'm susceptible to things like IT band syndrome and so forth.  Naturally on my third consecutive weekend of racing things didn't go so well.

About 1.5 kilometers into the race, my right knee became an issue.  At that point, unable to really run, I walked the rest of the way--I might also add that instead of doing the full 10k route, I "switched" to doing the 5k and removed my race bib.  As of now, I'm not going to be doing any more racing until I'm at least 90% healed.  

So my next adventure will consist of strength training and cross training.  Lunges?  Check!  Squats?  Check! Mountain biking?  Check.

As it turns out, back in May I won a 6 month gym membership to Good Life Fitness (good, evidently, at any of their locations in Canada).  So we'll see how that works.

More important than the gym will be actual cross training so that I keep my conditioning.  If there's one thing I don't want to do, it's feel gassed after only running a few miles.

Today's race, the 2014 Conexus Sizzler Strut, was in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, which is about an hour east of Saskatoon.  Despite the fact that flooding appears to be a serious issue in Humboldt (at least when it rains), the city's elevation is actually greater than that of Saskatoon.

Jasmine and I camped out--despite the rain--under a small pavilion.  All the tent campsites at the local campground were flooded pretty bad!  The ground under the pavilion was so saturated with rain water, that when I removed one of the tent pegs, a small clump of wet earth came with it.

The second night we stayed at Pioneer Hotel Motel on 9th Street.  I'm not a huge fan of hotels/motels, but this one was pretty good and old-fashioned.  Notable was the diner on the ground floor--Sunday morning breakfast buffet was $10.99, and worth it.

The rain came and went all weekend, leaving behind vast puddles, soaked streets and an even more lush greenery than before.  On the way back to Saskatoon, we encountered this:

So that's the recap for today.  It anyone has has been battling Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, feel free to reach out to me.  I'm always eager to hear how folks have dealt with this.

More photos from Humboldt:

Training news and weekend recap

Wednesday: I went out for a run today in the cold rain and got about 150 meters when my knee started hurting again.  So that's that.  I'll try again on Friday and see if I can do at least 5k without pain, and if so, will do the 10k race on Sunday as planned.

Instead of running, I did a squat/lunge session.  Yay.

Friday:  it's raining out, and cold (hey, this is Canada).  A brief run may or may not happen today.  My chiropractor did something to my right knee (ie the one now affected by IT band pains), and that seems to have relieved some pressure.

Still planning to run the 10k in Humboldt on Sunday.

Recap: Intrepid Dezine Half Marathon

Intrepid Dezine Half Marathon
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Distance: 21K (Half Marathon)
Time: 2:06:40
Pace: 9:36
Best Split: 8:17
10k: 54:59 (PR)
Rank: 1511/3127
Post race meal: Chocolate milk, sun chips, banana, half whole wheat bagel.


Comments: Another rainy race.  We started at six minutes after 7am--the delay was owed to a vehicle that stalled on the course.  All-in-all, I found it easier to run in Winnipeg than in Saskatoon, and was headed to a new personal record when near disaster struck about 3/4 of the way through.  Thanks to a build up of lactic acid, my quads and hamstrings really suffered, making it difficult to run. Ultimately the IT band on my right left became an issue.  I had banked enough time early on that I still consider my time (2:06) respectable given the circumstances.  The course started at the University of Manitoba and wound up Pembina into a residential section.  Runners were met along the route by a lot of locals with signs--a few even wanted to slap us five as we ran by.

The aid stations were more numerous and more useful than was the case at the Saskatoon Police Half Marathon.  Water and Gatorade were available, as were soaked sponges; at one point, volunteers were handing out sticks with Vaseline (for chaffing).  I used the aid stations primarily as a walk break--the theory being that my legs would hold up better.  Alas, my theory was wrong, as lactic acid flowed in.

I stayed hydrated by drinking water with GU Brew.  I fueled with Salted Caramel GU (3 packs total- take once before the race, and twice during). All-in-all, I never felt tired.

We crossed the finish line on a running track in a stadium.  Although I didn't sprint, I did greatly pick up the pace at the end, and crossed at 2:06:40.

I've certainly never hurt so much after a race.  Part of the reason for this (and for the one week delay between this post and my previous post) is that I've been under the weather.  First with a cold, then with gastroenteritis (which followed immediately after my previous race).  Clearly, when you're just getting over an illness, you're not necessarily going do your best.   However, sometimes you find out who you are when you keep running after realizing that there won't be a PR.

Recap: Bridge City Boogie 8

Another strange 10k race experience. Although the morning seemed like it might provide warmth and sunshine, it delivered neither (for very long, least). At the gun it was raining a bit and chilly (remember, this is Saskatchewan) and eerily similar to the Saskatoon Police Half Marathon back in April. 

This time I had calf trouble--as opposed to knee trouble--and ended up finishing in 57:01.  That said, it was a pretty fun run overall, and it was a terrific course.  One day I will conquer the 10k.

Next up is the Intrepid Dezine Half Marathon at the Manitoba Marathon in Winnipeg next week.

National Running Day... Sort of.

It's National Running Day in the US today, and although this does not appear to be gaining any traction in Saskatchewan, I'm going to run 10k this evening.

My recovery from SI joint dysfunction is going well.  I'm comfortable running 10k without any pain--probably not a bad thing since I'm 1.5 weeks from a half marathon. I intend to do 10k this evening, then another 5k tomorrow.

This Sunday is the Bridge City Boogie in Saskatoon.  I'm running the 10k event--if I were 100% healthy, or close to it, I'd run the 5k and try to get a PR.  Should be a fun race!

Long Run Saturday and the war on Cheezies

Few things in your running life are as satisfying as a nice long run on a beautiful late Spring day.  On Saturday I ran with the Saskatoon Road Runners over at Brainsport.  We did 10k along Spadina Crescent, and the temp never got above 25c.

This was only my second 10k run since my ill-fated half marathon in April.  The it band issues were a non factor, and the SI joint pains were similarly a non issue. This is good news as I've got a 10k race in 7 days, and another half marathon in 14 days.

But yes, since my running totals have slid my weight has gone up about 10lbs.  Yes, some of this is new muscle weight  from squats and lunges, and some of it is new weight from my muscles adapting to my hips being realigned, and indeed some of it may be from inflammation.  But lets not kid ourselves... some of this weight is from eating Cheezies.  Cheezies are Canada's answer to Cheetohs.  Cheezies contain trans fat and are in no way healthy.  So why am I eating these things?   Because they are highly addictive.  So yes, I have suspended all cheezie-eating activities.

My other recent food addiction has been the pineapple freeze smoothie from Booster Juice.  Luckily this is a healthy obsession.