June 25, 2009
Daily Run
Distance: 5.32 miles
Time: 52:26
Ave. pace: 9:51/mile
This is by far the furthest I’ve run since coming back from injury. To be honest I totally did not feel like climbing out of bed this morning to complete this run. In fact, I wanted to wimp out and just do a quick 3 or 4 miler. It was tough waking up! I’m so gotta continue working on this. In any case a run is a run, so why not just go the full distance, right? Another thing is that I’ve been getting insomnia lately. Not sure what is going on with my body clock. I’m usually mentally tired at the end of the day and concentration is basically out of the window, but I just cannot sleep! So yes, it required a truck full of willpower to get this morning’s run in and I am so glad I did 
I got my new orthotics today too! Because I’m not used to the new feet/leg (?) alignment my lower back is pretty sore from just two hours of standing in them. Let’s hope the break in process is not as painful as the shin splints itself. Another news is that….
*cue hate music*
I didn’t do as badly as I thought for my essay, which is paradoxically a nerve-wrecking relief. I certainly don’t think I deserve it based on the amount of effort put in, but as said a few posts earlier, I need to focus more on school work rather than checking out Runner’s World forums doing anything other than doing what I have to do. Moreover uni work will get progressively more challenging so it can’t be a bad thing!
Priorities mate, priorities.
June 24, 2009
No run this morning, because I couldn’t sleep last night and decided to sleep in. Sleep is very much needed on a day of exam! And no, I wasn’t a wee bit nervous. I just couldn’t sleep. Ugh. But I did cycle to and fro the exam venue so that should count as something, right? Ha!
I’m going to do up a list of post exam stuff to do tonight. This hour has finally arrived
And I wonder how the next semester will be like?
June 22, 2009
Daily Run
Distance: 3.03 miles
Time: 29:41.14
Ave. pace: 9:47/mile
Surprise, surprise! Today’s effort felt less difficult than the last two. Granted, it is one mile less….. but still. The good weather streak continued despite me waking up at 6.30 am to hear rain sloshing and winds howling outside. It was 14 degreeC in the morning. Erm… hello? In winter?!? Nevertheless, it took me so long to get out of bed this morning, a large part because of the cold in the morning! You just feel like sleeping in, but the feeling after a run is so totally worth it. Anyway, I pulled my act together and was up a little late, 7.10 am to be exact, before heading out 25 minutes later. A record time!!! Yay!
This is the view from my room today:
BUT there is work to be done, especially after yesterday’s post. BOOOOOO! So, no bike ride today although I am very tempted to ride up to and along the beach and back based on a map I found online. Let’s hope this good weather continue so that I can put that on my agenda after my exam on Wednesday. And if it is really scenic, maybe I’ll organize a bike ride with friends. LTC, you girls should come over!
And so before I continue revision, I leave you all with some food photos:
Homemade pita pizza
Photo as promised: Carrot cake muffin
Mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (I used rolled oats, hence the grainy texture)
June 21, 2009
Weekly run down
MPW: 12.8 miles
Time spent cross training: 1 hour 50 minutes
Strength training: 1x
Daily run
Distance: 4.02 miles
Time: 39:49.67
Ave. pace: 9:54/mile
Another tough run this morning, but I’m thankful for the gorgeous weather. Just like yesterday, I started out too fast and ended up with positive splits. Darn, that’s something I need to work on! 4 miles shouldn’t feel so painful, and I can really feel the effect of taking time off from running to cross train. That’s one of the worst things about injuries- they undo whatever effort you have put into training. My previous ‘high’ of 30 miles per week was gone just like that. Okay, maybe a morsel of it is left. But only just.
I can finally sit down and think of what to write for the half-time report. Running wise I still need on working to become a smarter runner. Natural talent (not like I have much) will only get you so far, but for a sport like distance running you have to respect the distance, and the way your body responds to it. The distance itself can be covered easily, yet to cover it well requires so much more knowledge. It is not only about the technical aspects of running- the hardware, but also the software of running, your body. This injury has taught me so much about myself, as well as how my body responds in approaching the distance. Not many people understand why some of us run, and I don’t force them to do so. But one of the greatest things about running is that it is precisely through these stress that you put your body through that you truly understand what it is capable of, and how it responds to the different variables.
School life is a lot less to be desired though. I have no idea how I manage to screw some essays and tests up. Yes, I probably screwed my final politics essay big time, and till now I have no friggin’ idea how I did that. This semester was one of transition, but in all honesty it wasn’t as hard as I thought it should be. What I really lacked was FOCUS. Many times I just put off my work till the last minute, and for God knows what reason, take a slug-like approach to finishing tasks at hand. In fact, surprise, surprise (!!!) when I opened up my student account this morning to see my MCQ test result I so wanted to hit myself on the head for doing last minute work. Granted, that week I had other assignments to tick off the list, but I absolutely hate making excuses for myself.
So where does that leave me? Next semester I shall aim to 1. Slowly build my mileage up again. Hopefully I’ll reach 30-40 miles per week by the end of November. 2. Focus on the task at hand. No excuses at all.
June 20, 2009
Distance: 3.37 miles
Time: 33:31.60
Average pace: 9:57/mile
You would have noticed that the unit of measurement is in miles. I’ve recently switched to this system because I found that it is easier to take splits. For example, in a marathon (42.2 km/26.2 miles), you only need to take splits 26 times instead of a whopping 42 times! It did take some getting used to, but I am now more conversant in the conversion between miles and kilometers than say, three months ago. Today’s run wasn’t the nicest. I had that mid run slump, whereby my legs felt like bricks. Breathing was heavy, and to keep on running was hard. It’s like a battle between mind and body. One wants to go further but one wants to slow down. A lot of mind games and pep talk go on in your head and what did the trick today was the desire to become stronger mentally. If this was the start of the year I would have given up and walked, but not now. So yay for improvement!
I’m not sure if that slump or my lethargy in general was due to the beer last night. Yes, you didn’t read that wrongly. I was at a farewell party for a friend from the university’s running club. He’s going back to Germany, hence explaining the party. I don’t like beer, but thought I’d give it a try anyway since it was weird that almost everyone had a drink in hand. Half a can was what I managed! No pressure there of course, just me being adventurous as usual 
It was a really good night of catching up with friends and the hospitality was fantastic. One of their housemates (the only guy from France) in particular deserve an award for being the master chef! From pizza to cookies to bread, he’s one heck of a kitchen star! My only regret was to not be able to thank him before I left. Boo.
Since it is only a few days left to freedom my one and only French final, I’m going to sit down and mug. It’s definitely hard to get going after being in a holiday mood for awhile!
June 18, 2009
Cross training activity: Elliptical
Time: 40 minutes
Add ons: Core work and upper body strength
I almost bailed on this workout today. I totally did not feel like getting out of the house this morning! Actually I overslept my alarm and woke up really late at about 9 am. Dang. After lots of pep talking to my lazy self, I packed my stuff and dragged my butt out of that door, partly because I cannot resist the thought of spending a good weather day indoors! This good weather streak should really, really continue. I realized that I feel heaps happier every time I walk/cycle out of the door to face the cool breeze and warm sunshine. One weird thing I have noticed is that it is always raining on Sunday. Does that remind you of a particular Maroon 5 song?
I had a couple of errands to run today, so I took the opportunity to cycle to uni and back, hitting the gym, post a letter and of course, to check out the Kathmandu sale! I am totally in love with Kathmandu. It sells all things outdoor related and they are really cool. The only drawback, especially to cash-strapped uni students like me is that the stuff in there are really pricey. A soft shell jacket for 250 dollars? No, thank you. There was a 40-60 percent sale today, and I needed a good fleece jacket since I am freezing at night here. There were tons of people in the shop too waiting to pounce on the reduced prices. Oh boy, I was so tempted to get everything in there! Woah. Thankfully rationality prevailed and I walked away with a new fleece jacket and coolmax socks. Hey, have I mentioned before that I love coolmax socks? I own a few pairs and they totally rock! The fleece jacket was really good too. It feels so light- perfect for traveling!
To end the day on a happy note I saw ginger cat! When the sun shines, it comes in full force. Ha!
June 17, 2009
Daily Run
Distance: 3.16 miles
Time: 31:52.52
Avg pace: 10:04/mile
I ran 3 miles today. Woo hoo! Yesterday I was out and about town getting my sister’s present (is that a present?) and I happened to be at Rebel Sports where they are having their mid year sale. On a whim I got myself another pair of 2140s since they were on discount. My normal shoe size is between a 5 and 6, but I wear a 7.5 for my running shoes. Yet I walked away with a size 7 only to reach home and discover what a bummer that was. I tried them out on my run this morning and it turns out that it wasn’t too bad! Maybe the distance was short but I am hoping that nothing major happens. I compared the insoles with my size 7.5 and they were almost identical, so the orthotics should be able to fit. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Today’s weather is really lovely! I’m just back from the podiatrist where I got my plastic ‘cast’. No no no, I’m not going to hobble around in that thing. They should be ready by next week and then I’ll file a claim with the insurance company. They better pay! I made a really funny error today. While talking to the podiatrist as we waited for the plaster on my feet to mould and harden, I said that you don’t need to study a journalist to be a journalist. What?
See, sometimes I make errors like that. Thankfully they rarely occur.
Running wise I will continue to do so 4 times a week with 2 days of cross training. Hopefully I can get a physiotherapist to correct my form since the excessive pronation has caused my ass glutes to be weak and hip (?) imbalance, or something along that line. I’m also thinking of incorporating a weekly run down of my runs, and/or doing a daily run post/section to keep this blog from becoming too dead. Next up will most likely be a halftime report on studying in Roo-land, so stay tuned!
June 15, 2009
That is the question.
Sooooo… I’ve finally got news from the podiatrist. We did a gait analysis today, and I saw for the first time my own two feet magnified onto a TV screen. They were like movie stars! Of course, not to mention my name scribbled next to my feet which seemed very much like The Criminal’s Feet. The doctor lifted my leg and immediately exclaimed, “Your calves are tight!” Oops. The good news is, I do not have a stress fracture! The bad news is, because of my excessive pronation and that running shoes often don’t offer enough support, I need orthotics. And those guys cost a ton! I just hope my insurance covers the cost of it. The other thing is that I can still run without the orthotics for now, but I have to do an ice massage and do the prescribed stretches afterwards.
So where does that leave me?
To run or cross train?
Common sense tells me that I should be running less and with lower intensity. That means no hill work and speedwork. Did I say I have a race this weekend? I signed up for it a long time ago, and given current circumstances I am not so sure whether to bail anymore. I’ll most likely give it a miss actually. Think long term.
On to cooking news- today’s guacamole was nice! And I tried making burger patty lookalikes for my sandwich this afternoon. Not too bad, I’ll say. Moreover I am having a good cup of cuppa every morning now. That’s the life, isn’t it?
June 14, 2009
Um, okay Roy. The search for Roy has turned into ‘ruoyi nus’. I don’t know if I am supposed to laugh. Sorry if I am still taking this as a joke! Or maybe not. Take care Roy, you have a stalker. And by that I really mean TAKE CARE
So what happens when school’s out, the weather is cold and rainy and you have a painful shin that hinders your running? You bake, of course! I have been experimenting quite a bit for a day or two. Yesterday I made about a dozen tweeny mini muffins. The first few were banana chocolate chip muffins and for the remaining batter I got adventurous and made banana kit kat blueberry muffins! I wasn’t too happy with the miniature size of them so I switched it up and made some huge carrot cake muffins today. They were slightly burnt (cut me some slack, this is only my second attempt at muffins) but tasted pretty good. Well, what’s next? Guacamole (easy), oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (we shall see) and other goodies when I can think of it. Photos will come shortly!
Since we are on the topic of food I think I will give a verdict on a documentary I watched last night a go. Last night my friend lent me a DVD on Coffee. I am very much fascinated by the spread of coffee in Europe, the subsequent colonization and today’s problems in Latin America which was a large part due to colonization, and the big coffee chains in today’s world! Did you know that coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil? I so didn’t know that, but now I do And hey, do chip in a little more money for fair trade (and organic, if you must) coffee, alright? Not going to be preachy here, but consider this- if we think that spending a little more money on fair trade coffee will literally cost us an arm and leg, what about the farmer in say, Brazil who struggle to feed his family? Fair trade eliminates the middlemen, who often suck off most of the profits, and it is high time consumers know what goes on behind their consumption of goods, coffee included. Besides, fair trade ensures good quality coffee which obviously tastes better!
Anyway my podiatrist appointment is tomorrow and I am somewhat afraid that bad news will roll in from tomorrow onwards. Ugh. If that’s the case then I do intend to keep a high level of optimism, concentrate on other areas of my life like baking and the upcoming vacation, find a way to love the gym cross train knowing that I will get stronger and not to mention, fill my time by reading those books lying around! I know that I still have time to recover, build a base and train for a marathon next year. We’ll see how it goes!
June 11, 2009
Today’s run by the river was beautiful. Compared to summer, the winter showers have brought to life all the greenery that was missing in summer. I totally felt like myself again, and wished that my stupid left shin will stop hurting. Yes, it has started to act up and I am getting very, very worried. So worried I was I skipped a scheduled gym workout and headed straight back home with the intention to ice it. No wait, it is high time I get this shin checked out. So I walked over to a nearby podiatrist and got an appointment booked. This sucks, because just when I thought I was recovering my left shin decides to go haywire once again. I am praying that it is not a stress fracture because that will mean a very long layoff, which will probably drive me nuts.
On to less gloomy news. My friend gave me a coffee maker today! Woo hoo! No more of those instant crap. I should ride down to the central market to get some coffee beans soon! Speaking of bikes, my bike is in a state of limbo, and it is just a few months old! The bike keeps falling over because of my mishandling and guess what? The last fall broke the bell off. Now it is effectively a silent bike, which is dangerous considering the many old folks here who don’t watch where they are going. It’s not fun to avoid old people all the time!
I have another final paper due tomorrow, so tonight will be a second round of spewing rubbish. But hey, at least I had a cup of really nice cuppa just now from that coffee maker to tide me over tonight
PS: RUOYI, apparently someone has been finding his/her way here by googling your name. What have you done?!?
