20-miler - check!

Today was my first ever 20-miler and I'm feeling surprisingly good afterwards. While I'm in Barrie, I'm staying with my in-laws, and they are going to be moving to a new house soon. This house is conveniently located about 20 miles away, so that became the destination for my run. 

I left the house at 11am, after a breakfast of delicious ham-and-cheese crepes made by my father-in-law. It was about 6*C/43*F, but with 20km/h (12mph) winds and much stronger gusts, it felt a lot colder. Most of my run was spent running north, where the wind was coming from. That combined with all the hills made for a much slower run than I would have liked, but what can you do?

The first 7 or so miles passed relatively quickly and easily. I had a lot of turns to take as I navigated my way through the rural countryside, so that kept things interesting. However, once I got on the road that runs parallel to the highway (northwards, of course), I was stuck there for a good 8 miles. 8 miles of running straight into the wind and freezing my butt off. It was rough - it took a lot to convince myself to keep going, but I managed.

Once I turned east, out of the wind, the last 5 miles flew by. There were a couple of challenging hills towards the end but surprisingly, I wasn't completely dead when I finished. I think that bodes well for my race in 4 weeks, especially since the course is quite flat. When I was about 3 miles away from the new house, I called my in-laws, who came to pick me up. Here's the link to the Garmin data if you're interested.

A few statistics to note. 

- 20 miles is a new distance PR for me

- April has been my highest mileage month ever with 117.13 miles in the books (and there's still tomorrow)

- My 2012 mileage total is 359.98, which averages out to almost exactly 3 miles per day. This puts me well ahead of the pace to achieve my 1000 mile goal.

Happy running!

Good news!!!

Whew, this week has been a doozie and it's only going to get better.

Monday
Rest day. After Sunday's tortuous run, I took a complete rest day. In the morning, I went to see my chiropractor (aka torturer) who worked on my quads and psoas muscles. I nearly cried. In the afternoon, I worked from home and wrote the final exam for one of my classes. I *may* have been writing in bed.

Tuesday
Another rest day, physically anyways. 
In the afternoon, I got a phone call from the recruiting office with offer to join the military. I've been trying to get in since last February, but due to budget cuts, there wasn't much hiring going on. This was the best phone call I've received in a long time!
My situation is a little bit complicated though. Normally, if you already have a degree (which I do), you would apply to join DEO (Direct Entry Officer) and start your trade training immediately. In this year's budget, they only had openings for engineers and medical professionals (which I am not), so I wasn't able to apply through this program.
However, they were accepting applications for the ROTP program, where they pay for your education in exchange for obligatory service after graduation. It's a bit redundant, given that I have my B.A. already, but it's what the recruiter suggested. Anyways, I applied and got accepted! I will be an Air Force Logistics Officer!!!
What does this mean? It means we're moving to Winnipeg, Manitoba in the summer so I can start classes at the University of Manitoba in the fall. Wahoo!!! 
Why Winnipeg??? Because my husband was supposed to be starting his pilot training and the bulk of it takes place in that part of Canada. With his knee as it is, it's doubtful he'll ever start his training, but the offer was for Winnipeg so that's where we're going. We're still working on all the details regarding the move but it looks like he should be able to come with me while they finish up his knee and process his (probable) release.


Wednesday
I have to admit - I didn't sleep very much Tuesday night. I spent most of the night processing my news and figuring out all the logistics of how it's going to work. Unfortunately, Wednesdays are also my long day (start at 8am, finish at 9pm) and teaching on little sleep is not the most fun. 
When I got to work Wednesday morning, as I got out of my car, I heard this weird "pssssss" noise coming from somewhere. In fact, it was coming from my tire. It seems I ran over a nail driving into work and as I watched the tire deflate before my eyes, I realized how lucky I was that I had made it to work without incident. 
I called my husband and he was able to set up an appointment for me at the Canadian Tire down the street, but I still had to figure out how to get it there in between my classes. I know how to put the spare on theoretically, but I've never actually done it. I asked my students for some advice and surprisingly, they offered to help me. They were fantastic! As it happened, one of them had an air compressor in her car, so we left a class a little early, went out to my car and re-inflated my tire. I turned it into a teaching moment, where we talked about car parts and the like, and we were able to get my tire in good enough shape to drive down the road to the shop.
When I got home after my afternoon class, I was able to squeeze in a quick 3 miles before my evening class started. I really needed it and it turned out to be a fantastic run. It was really relaxing, and the temperature was just chilly enough to be refreshing. It was the boost I needed to get through the rest of the day.

Thursday (today)
This morning, I woke up early to get in 5 miles before work. The alarm clock almost won the battle, but I was able to defeat it with a last minute rally. Aside from some stomach cramping, it was a pretty good run. After that, it was off to work, then to a friend's house to pick up something, and finally to the recruiting centre to ask some questions about my situation.
Before I knew it, it was time to go to the bus station. I'm going back to Ontario for 10 days so that I can attend the Ontario Student Classics Conference (more to come on that) with my old high school. We only have 1 car and since 10 days is a long time to leave Chris car-less, I'm taking public transit to get home. I took the bus from Chicoutimi to Quebec City, now I'm on the train to Montreal, then I'll be taking the overnight bus to Toronto and finally another bus to Barrie in the morning. In total, I'll be on the road 19 hours but it'll be worth it.

And just for fun...How is this possibly comfortable???

A story of perseverance

Ok, the title might be a bit dramatic but that was my long run today. Complete and total disaster. I had 18 miles on the schedule for today and I have to admit, I was not looking forward to it. We got a lot of wet, heavy snow over the weekend and I was not keen on running in slush. Thankfully, that ended up being the least of my worries as most of the roads were dry.

According to the forecast, the high for today was supposed to be 6*C/43*F so I planned to run in the afternoon when it would be warmest. I wore two-part pants (tights with a waterproof shell), a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket. As it turned out, I was way too warm at the beginning but I didn't want to take off my jacket because every now and then, there was a stiff, cool breeze that caused me to zip it back up again.

The route for this run was simple, 9 miles out-and-back, starting from the base and going into downtown Chicoutimi. Aside from being too warm, I really had no complaints for the first part of my run. Just before my turnaround, I passed one of my students, who was out for a walk with his wife, so I stopped to say a brief hello.

Getting to downtown Chicoutimi involves going down a lot of hills as you descend into the river bed. In an out-and-back route like this one, what goes down must go up....This is where the problems started. I had two major hills to climb in quick succession and after each one, I had to take a short break to catch my breath. Even after those two killers, the route was a steady uphill for several miles, with another quick steep hill thrown in for fun.

During this run, I thought I'd try out another fuel option to help me keep my energy up. The last time I ordered my EFS drink mix, they included a free EFS liquid shot. Honestly, it looked and smelled nasty. But, hey, if it works right? Wrong. It made me really nauseous and I ended up heaving into a snowbank. Twice. I felt better afterwards though.

As I was returning home, the temperature suddenly dropped and the wind picked up. Where I was roasting at the beginning of my run, now I was freezing. On top of that, my stomach was cramping and I could barely hold my torso up because my abs and hip flexors were still sore from Friday's workout. Surprisingly, in all this, my legs were doing just fine.

I had the phone with me and I don't know how many times I almost called Chris to come pick me up. The last 4.5 miles were absolutely horrible and I can't even remember how many times I stopped to take a break. At one point, I just sat on the side of the road and cried, thinking about how I still had almost 3 miles to do to get home. However, I refused to give up and I did eventually make it home, though my time was embarrassingly slow.

As soon as I got in the door, it was straight to the bath for me to warm up. I still feel pretty crappy, even 5 hours later, but I think I'm glad I pushed myself to finish. I think.

Snow?!?!?

After a few weeks of spring-like weather, this is what it looked like Friday night:

By morning, we had about 30cm of wet, heavy snow on the ground. It's going to be unpleasant tomorrow when I go out for my 18-miler.

Otherwise, this week, I got in 18 miles (5, 8, and 5) and two upper-body workouts. I'm really feeling the shoulder exercises today!

My first 5k ever

I've done 5 years of triathlon, 3 half-marathons, a 20k race, a 30k race and a staircase challenge, but today was my first 5k race. It was fun!

The race itself (La Jakours) is part of a local race circuit of about 20 races in the region. The vast majority of the runners are members of running clubs and they're all ridiculously hard-core. One thing I've noticed here is that no one does anything for fun - it's all taken super seriously and there isn't a lot of room for amateurs.

Before the start, I ran into one of my students from the tax centre so we chatted a bit while we waited. I couldn't hear a darn word the race director was saying at the beginning because everyone was talking and then all of a sudden the gun sounded and we were off. It was a 2.5km loop through a residential neighbourhood and it was pretty much flat the whole way. I did almost get hit by someone backing out of their driveway - not cool, people.

Compared to all the distance running I've been doing over the last year, this race went by so fast. I don't really remember too many details, to be honest. I pushed as hard as I thought I could get away with, without killing myself before the end. And it worked! As soon as I saw the finish line, I gave it everything I had left and finished in 27:18 (Garmin time). There was one girl I was neck-and-neck with for the last mile, but sadly she pulled away just before the finish and I couldn't catch her. Oh well. I'm really pleased with my time. Normally it takes me about 30min to do 5km, with 28:22 being my best time, so this is a huge improvement. I finished 5th in my age group and 74/97 overall.

New shoes!!!

This week has been a great week for workouts. I got my new shoes on Tuesday!!! Sadly, I didn't get a chance to try them out right away because I already had a yoga class AND a spinning class booked for Tuesday.

Yoga was awesome - it really helped stretch out my sore muscles from Monday's workout at the gym. I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but one of the things I did was a 4-minute tabata calf workout. You do 20 seconds of single-leg calf raises, 10 seconds "rest" in the up position, then switch legs, and repeat the sequence for 4 minutes (8 times total, 4/leg). Come Tuesday, I had a hard time straightening my legs because my calves were so sore. It was a challenge to put my heels on the ground so I ended up wearing high heels to work to help with the soreness. I couldn't believe that 4 minutes could do so much damage. Anyways, yoga was a BIG help but they're still a bit sore even today (Saturday).

I got to try out my new shoes in between my afternoon and evening classes on Wednesday. They're like a dream! They're the exact same model as my old ones, only new (and a prettier colour)! It was just a quick 3 miles but it was fantastic. My last mile came in at 9:23 which is pretty fast for me. Thursday was another easy 5, just out enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.

Friday's run was pretty cool. I did 4 miles over on the base and I got to see the F-18 demonstration jet practising his routine for this year's airshow circuit. It's pretty impressive and I have to admit, having the jets here does make living in Bagotville a little better. Back in 2009, just after we moved, I was over running on the base while the demo jet was rehearsing his routine before the big airshow here. At the time I was a little unsure about this whole Bagotville posting, but I remember thinking that was pretty awesome.

Friday night we went to the weight room. I got my 8x75lbs on the bench press!! I've been improving on most of my exercises, but I've hit a bit of a plateau with my biceps curls and military press. It's frustrating...

Today I got 12 miles in this afternoon. I met up with a co-worker and for the first time, I actually had a running buddy. He stayed with me for 6.8 miles before we headed back to his house, then I finished the rest of my run alone. It was great having someone to talk to - it made miles pass much faster. At the end of my run, I was faced with a huge hill. I could have finished the 12th mile at the base of the hill if I had wanted to but I decided to tackle it. I figured it was the end of my run, so why not, right? It has a 14% grade over about 0.2 miles and it took about 2 minutes to climb, but I did it!

Update on my background check saga

I spent Friday morning on the phone inquiring about the status of my background check. I finally got in touch with someone who knows what they're doing and I had the appropriate document in hand within an hour. Turns out, they actually can do it locally, even though I was told by countless other police officers that it wasn't possible. Isn't nice when people know how to do their job? I just wish I could have avoided the time-consuming and costly saga it took to get to this point. Despite the headache, I get to go to Classics Conference!!!! Yay!

Navigating bureaucracy: the saga of getting a background check

This post is not running-related at all. It is about the ongoing quest to get a Vulnerable Sector Screening (VSS) completed so that I can chaperone a school trip with my old high school. It's a verification that is absolutely required by the school board, in addition to a regular criminal background check. Without it, I can't go.
Alright, here it goes....

First, let's go back 2 years to the last time I went on this same trip as a chaperone. I did a background check at the local police station and sent the results to the school board. I didn't hear anything back, so I assumed everything was ok (my record is completely clean, by the way). When I arrived at the school (after having driven 12 hours to get there from Bagotville), I was told that I didn't have the VSS. I had asked for it at the police station and the officer said that he had given me everything he could, but I guess that didn't include a VSS. I signed a one-time form and was given special permission to go by the principal.

Now, knowing that I absolutely must have this screening, I started the process back in December. To be valid, it must have been completed within the last 6 months, so I couldn't have started it any earlier. First, I went to the Saguenay (municipal) police and they had no idea what I was talking about. Second, I went to the SQ (provincial police) and they sent me back to the Saguenay police. Come to find out, VSS doesn't really exist in Quebec; however, for a VSS to be valid, it has to be completed in the municipality where you live. Grr...

Finally, I discovered that it could be done through the RCMP (federal police). I went to talk to them and they tried to send me back to the municipal police. After doing some research on the computer, the lady found what I was talking about and printed out the documentation for me (in English and in French - keep in mind I'm doing all this in French). She said I would need to have my fingerprints taken and sent to Ottawa. Ok, no problem.

So, I went back to the municipal police to be fingerprinted. I was told that they didn't do fingerprinting at the police station - I would need to make an appointment at the court house. Which I did. I went to the courthouse and explained my situation to the officer there. I showed him the documentation from the RCMP and I emphasized that I needed a VSS. I think I said it 6 times and he assured me, yes ma'am, VSS. We did  the prints, I paid my $25, he filled out the form and put it in a sealed envelope. He said it would take about 8-10 weeks, which back in January was plenty of time. I went straight to the post office to have it mailed and I paid about $15 to have it sent registered mail (you know, because my fingerprints, full name, address, etc were in there - I wanted to make sure it ended up in the right hands).

Fast forward 8-10 weeks. It's now late March. I finally received my letter from the RCMP and as I expected, everything was clean. However, as I read further, I saw "Vulnerable Sector Screening - not requested." Um, what? I'm pretty sure I requested it. When I got home from the post office (after having a minor meltdown), I immediately called the RCMP. Of course, you can't speak to a person directly - you have to listen to a 4-minute recording before leaving a message. A 4-minute recording!!! I put it on speaker-phone and made a sandwich while I waited.

A couple days later, I received a call back from a guy at the RCMP. Was I home to take the call? Nope. So I had to call back, listen to the 4-minute message AGAIN and leave another message. Thankfully, the next time he called back, I was home. He reviewed my application and as it turns out, the officer at the courthouse didn't check of the VSS box. And since they destroy your prints after the search is done, I would have to start all over again. Remember it takes 8-10 weeks to complete? The RCMP guy told me I could have it done faster if I had my prints done electronically, about 3 business days. Unfortunately, this technology doesn't exist yet in the Sag so that would mean going to Quebec City (2 hours away) or Montreal (5 hours away).

The RCMP guy gave me the names of a couple private security companies that do digital fingerprints, so I called one in Quebec City and made an appointment. On the phone, they told me it would take about 3 weeks to process (not quite the 3 days I was told by the RCMP, but I still had enough time for that). Thankfully, we were already passing through Quebec City on our way to my 30k race, so I didn't have to make a separate trip.

The gentleman at the Commissionaires in Quebec City was nice enough. I explained my situation to him and assured me that it would work this time. I watched him fill out the form and made double-sure that he checked the VSS box before submitting the form. I asked him how long it would take and he thought it might take longer than 3 weeks though because of the VSS. Great. Anyways, I paid my $90 and continued on my way.

Last week, I received a call from the guy at the Commissionaires. Apparently, there was a problem with my request because it wasn't being submitted from a police agency plus it wasn't in the municipality where I reside. Thanks for the suggestion, Mr. RCMP guy. He told me he got in contact with someone in Saguenay and he forwarded my request to him. He gave me the name and phone number of the man, and sure enough, it's the same guy who forgot to check the box in the first place. Great. Also, I don't know if my prints will be submitted from Quebec City or Saguenay, which will make a huge difference since Saguenay can't do them electronically. This could mean waiting 8-10 more weeks while it's done by paper.

I've given a deadline of April 20th. If I don't have any results by then, I'm going to have to tell the school I can't go. We would be leaving for the conference on May 1st, but I need to give my work some advance notice whether I'll be gone or not.

Anyways, that's the saga. It's still not over yet, but hopefully it will be soon. And did I mention that this was all done in French????

My foot's feeling better!

I've been resting my foot since Thursday, mostly icing it and keeping off it as much as possible. It feels much better and I think I might be able to squeeze in a couple easy miles tomorrow afternoon.
After my aborted run on Friday, I went over to the weight room for an upper-body workout, and we were back there today for another round. I've been trying to make a more conscientious effort to strength train on a more regular basis. Lately, it's been about once a week but with my workload letting up, I'm making it my goal to go twice. I'm quite pleased with my progress on the bench press and biceps curl!
On Friday, Chris also got me to do some front squats and man did I feel them on Saturday (and Sunday too). I thought I had pretty strong quads from all the running and biking, but I guess I was wrong. I must be a sucker for punishment because I went back for more today.
Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Brief hiatus

Unfortunately, I am on a brief hiatus from running at the moment, forced by the continued grief my left foot is giving me. We've identified the problem as worn-out shoes, since my current runners (New Balance 860s) have about 450 miles on them and haven't given me any issues until now.
It started last Sunday during my long run, where I ran the last 6 miles with a cramping left foot. I know, I know, not the brightest move but we'll call it an exercise in mental toughness. Understandably, the muscles in my foot were not too pleased with me Monday morning, so I rested for a couple days.
Thursday, I tried 5 miles on the TM in a new pair of shoes (the ones that I bought at Christmas -  New Balance 1260s). Even though I was fitted for them and in the store they felt good, I'm not 100% sold on them. The run was alright - the shoes didn't make my foot feel any better but at least it didn't feel any worse.
Yesterday, I had a speed workout on the agenda and I really, really, really wanted to do it. Even though it was cold and windy outside, I bundled up, all excited to run fast. Guess how far I made it? Not even to the end of the street, less than a quarter mile. I had to do the walk of shame back to the house.
Because of my uncertainty I'm having with the 1260s, I decided to order a new pair of 860s online (exact same model, different colour). So I'll probably be on the bench until they arrive on Wednesday or so.

Lack of motivation (NRR)

The last few weeks, my motivation towards my job has dropped significantly. I have about 8 weeks left and I just don't care anymore. Mostly, it's my tax centre groups that are leaving me feeling blah. This is the second year I've taught most of the students and it's just not interesting anymore. I'm finding it hard to put in the same effort as I used to - I just don't have the energy or the desire anymore.
Being an ESL teacher was definitely not what I planned to do in life. It just sorta happened when we got to Bagotville and I was looking for a job. It went like this: you're Anglophone, you have teaching experience and you have a languages degree - you can teach English, right? At the time, it was supposed to be temporary, as was our time in Bagotville. Flash forward 3 years and here we still are, with no end in sight.
Sorry for the depressing post, but that's about how I'm feeling at the moment.

Long run...ugh (with pics)

After my 30k race last weekend, I set out to cover a comparable distance this weekend (18 miles). Honestly, I didn't really want to do it. I would have much preferred to stay in bed or on the couch all day. I didn't care that it was nice and sunny outside - I wanted to be lazy, especially after spending 4 solid hours cleaning yesterday. But I didn't. I pushed myself out the door and got those 18 miles in. It was a fight the whole way and I wanted to give up for most of it.
Like my awesome run from a couple weeks ago, I decided to run from the base into downtown Chicoutimi and this time the plan was to continue to Jonquiere (to my work, in fact) to get the rest of my miles in. Here are some pictures of the river and the fjord:

I continued along the waterfront, following the bike path. The signs told me I would get to Jonquiere eventually so I kept going and going. After two miles of slow, steady climbing, I was beginning to get a bit fed up. I also noticed that I was in the middle of the woods and couldn't see any houses or roads. On top of that, my left foot started to cramp up. I finally decided to turn around and head back into Chicoutimi (which meant 2 miles of downhill - yay!).
I finished my run in 3:19:13 (Garmin data) and then I called Chris to come pick me up in Chicoutimi. While I was waiting, I bought a Coke from the grocery store and man did it taste good! Now, I'm plunked on the couch, icing my left foot, with plans to make chicken parmesan for dinner. Yum!