Fitness Friday: Hot Stuff

I’ve had the Wineglass Marathon website open in a tab in my browser for about 36 hours now. I can’t seem to get out my credit card and make the payment though.

If you’ve experienced childbirth, you rarely remember the pain, but you remember that in that moment you felt pain (if that makes sense). That’s kinda how I feel about  the marathon; I remember that I felt pain but I don’t remember what it felt like. And I think that ignorance in this case is not bliss, but a road block. It can’t have been that bad, could it have?

I almost registered for the NYC marathon lottery last night but then I looked at the prices and started adding up all the extras and the time around the marathon, and the waiting in line-ups and I decided that for my first time getting back on the proverbial marathon horse I want to pick one that is relatively stress-free.

So, Wineglass, Niagara, Toronto Waterfront, Montreal (too hilly maybe – the course is not set yet)? I need some input here from you marathon runners.

Onto the subject on the title of this post – the heat. It’s hot here. Running in the sun is hard. Even in our little gym, the treadmill is in the sunniest part of the room in the corner furthest from the little air conditioning units.

I’m still managing to get my runs in though… usually I’ll do part outside while I turn the A/C in the gym on full blast, and then part on the treadmill. The beach here is great for running if it’s not too late in the day. At low tide there is plenty of   flat space and the hard packed sand is fairly easy to run on. The length of the beach there and back is just under 5 km. On the way out there is wind against you and then you’ve got a lovely tail wind to push you home. I think I might do this 3 or 4 times tomorrow for my long run (my bro is planning on doing half with me).

I brought my Fuel Belt for water – since I need it here – except I forgot the bottles. And those tiny little 8 oz bottles are not exactly easy to find here. May have to add that to my online order (or it’ll have to wait till someone I know is coming to visit). For the time being I fill a bottle at the gym and just plan my route around stores at which to chug bottles of water.

In Ottawa I would never be caught wearing this little on run:

Here it feels like too much clothing (sports bra, short top, skirt).

I have seen both men and women running in bikinis. I gagged a bit when I ran by the 55 yr old man running in a Speedo, a tight singlet over his pot-belly, mid-calf socks and sneakers.

This Week’s Running Rundown 

Sunday: 11 km easy 2.5 km on the road; 8.5 km on the treadmill

Tuesday: 5 km easy 2.5 km on the road; 2.5 km on the treadmill

Wednesday: 4.5 km easy on the beach

Thursday: 10 km: 2.5 km warm-up on the road; 6 km tempo at 5:20 min/km on the treadmill; 1.5 km cool-down

Cross-Training

Mon – Fri: plank to plunk down planks plus a set of 10 push-ups

Tues, Thurs: Speed strength training (one set per body part)

Have a great weekend! And don’t forget – I need advice on marathon selection.