noattentionspan

Started the day with 9km in the trails at UBC. Our path at one point near the start (1.88miles in) took us down a trail with a bridge that was out, over a fence, across a stream on a log, back over a fence and then on to the trail again. It was not the fastest of runs averaging 6:34/km but it was nice and enjoyable and what my body needed before running long tomorrow.

I still feel odd about saying that sub 25km is “running long”. Training currently for a half marathon, I guess anything over 16km or so is running long, so tomorrows planned 21.7km (according to the route) definitely qualifies… but it seems weird to me. Mentally I have to be over 25km before it feels long to me and I feel ok about saying it. Sounds stupid, but I feel all wussy calling anything shorter “long”.

I think that mostly has to do with the fact that I still don’t feel like a “real runner”. I’ve only been really running since summer 2006 and I had most of 2008 off. I’ve only done a couple of marathons. I’m still “slow”. In my head “real runners” have done more marathons (5 plus?), been running for ages (at least a decade) and/or can run “fast” (ohhh, faster than me, whatever pace I’m running). It’s funny what the mind does. Heh, of course I’ve only recently started calling myself an athlete and I still can’t think of my self as a “triathlete”, regardless of the races I’ve done. Hopefully that at least changes after Ironman. Most likely though I’ll think that was a once lucky situation and feel as if I’m not a real Ironman until I’ve done a handful of them, ug

Climbing the fences at UBC today I really noticed how stiff and weak my wrist was and how quickly it became painful. I think this is a knock on from trying yoga yesterday, so no more of that eh? At least not until it’s had more time to heal. I think I should probably go and do some physio. I’ll make an appointment next week to get a referral, that should help.

Hit the Bay today to do my patriotic duty and purchase Canadian Olympic gear for everyone but the dog and the cat. Everyone seems very chuffed with the new gear.

Home for a break and then out for a long walk around Vancouver to see the Olympic displays down on Granville. They did a really decent job of most stuff and I think it will be inviting to tourists. And there were a lot of tourists already. One way to tell there are a lot of tourists? More fucking smokers wandering around than usual. ug.

Ah well, that aside I had a very nice walk around Vancouver with Sheryl (and Carly for a bit, but then she had to head out). We parked up at Oakridge and took the new train line into downtown to wander about instead of driving into the core. I think having two train routes into the core is going to cut congestion quite a bit in general if we can get people to get the hell out of their cars for the most part.

Nutrition today wasn’t great, but it was sufficient. I just wasn’t home long enough to make anything good and I think that I did a pretty good job of snacking, for the most part.

Breakfast:
- Gel before running

Snack (0):
- 4 cookies (Kathleen brought them to running and I was only being polite, totally not my fault!)

Snack (1):
- 2 baby bell Gouda cheese pieces
- I quaker oatmeal to go bar

Lunch (late):
- Partially frozen but mostly cooked jalepeno and cheese smokie with grilled onions, from a vendor downtown.

Dinner:
- Chicken, coleslaw, potato salad and 2 small buns (go go gadget Safeway BBQ chicken!)