Posts Tagged With: #100happydays

#100happydays Day 83 Hill Training

#100happydays Day 83 Hill Training

Hill Training Motivation from Get Out There Magazine

Hill Training Motivation from Get Out There Magazine

This morning was the first day of a weekly rotation of hill training. Only 4 hills today but over the next few weeks the number of repeats will increase as will the angle and length of hill.

Hill training is a necessary evil when training for a race. We often skip speed work to work on our strength (as well as improve our form) and hills do that.

Hills - Down and up.

Hills – Down and up. (The hill is actually a lot longer and steeper than it looks here. I’m just not too good at capturing it with my camera.)

There are lots of different ways to approach hill training. Check out these tips in Runners World.

The best way is just to do them.

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#100happydays Day 82 Cross training with a hula-hoop!

#100happydays Day 82 Cross training with a hula-hoop!

So the other day we were running through Walmart looking for bug spray when we passed a bin of hula-hoops, on sale no less.

Laughing we selected two of them. A couple of years ago we went to a Hula-hoop exercise class called Hulabics. What a hoot! Trying to get the ring to circle around us was one thing but then while ”hooping”, trying to walk & run, kick a ball, play catch and jump about. We cracked right up in the class. Apparently I do a great chicken walk while “hooping”. It was a good thing it was a small class.

It really is a lot of fun, the look on my face is just concentration to keep the hoop moving!

It really is a lot of fun, the look on my face is just concentration to keep the hoop moving!

It looks a little silly, an adult playing with a hula-hoop but the games we played as children actually will benefit us as adults. Hula-hooping has many benefits. It is aerobic, it builds core strength, flexibility and balance, stamina and concentration oh yea, and it’s fun, all of which we all can use more of.

We spent $4.00 on our hoops, probably the cheapest piece of exercise equipment we will ever own.

 

 

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#100happydays Day 81 The Monday Long Run

#100happydays Day 81 The Monday Long Run

It’s not often we get to run long on a Monday. We started out in the forest but the bugs drove us out onto the side roads. We ran in new territory today but sure enough we ran into another runner that we knew. I could tell by the way he ran that it was Bob.

Long run day and there are the Queen Ann's Lace, their fragrance is lovely.

Long run day and there are the Queen Ann’s Lace, their fragrance is lovely.

It was a hot run in the muggy sunshine so after the run it was into the pool and a nice holiday afternoon with friends. Hey Sister!

After the run - the pool!

After the run – the pool!

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#100happy days Day 80 Back to Basics

#100happy days Day 80 Back to Basics

This long weekend is proving to be a busy one for us. Yesterday was the Bad Ass Dash (which we are feeling the effects of today), today was the last day of the sale at Running Free and we both worked, (great to see all our running friends) and tomorrow is the first long run of an intensive schedule getting us ready for the next “big event”.

We are both really looking forward to this month’s training run. July was a busy one with races or volunteering every weekend. In August we are going to concentrate on our training and get some long slow runs in. I think we both miss running for hours on our back county roads. August is the time for Queen Ann’s Lace, daises and the dreaded deer flies and I think we miss all of them.

Road side wild flowers

Road side wild flowers

There is a little story about Queen Ann’s lace or Daucus carota– wild carrot. Queen Anne was tatting white lace.  (Tatting is the all-but-lost art of making lace by hand.)  The beautiful white lace she was tatting became the white lacy flowers of the wild carrot plant.  She pricked her finger and one drop of blood oozed out.  This became the central dark red or purple sterile floret that is present on some, but not all, Queen Anne’s Lace flowers. Now you know.

Queen Ann's Lace

Queen Ann’s Lace

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#100happydays Day 79 – The Bad Ass Dash Challenge!

#100happydays Day 79  The Bad Ass Dash Challenge!

Wow, what a hoot! We just finished the Bad Ass Dash at the Roc in Georgiana. I’ve had to add a new category to the blog – Obstacle Races – because this race had 37 obstacles and not one of them involved mud! The Warrior Dash was a walk in the park compared to the Bad Ass!

Bad Ass Girls!

Bad Ass Girls!

The overall distance was only 7k but half way through, after 20 obstacles that involved running, climbing, somersaults, climbing over transport trailers, pushing tires, running pump tracks, carrying sandbags, dodging heavy bags, walking balance beams and crawling under stuff, we were beginning to feel it. In the video you can see that the first bag I passed swung back and walloped me!

 

After balancing on floating dock supports (I think that’s what they were) we found ourselves running up and down the Roc’s ski hill about 4 times then wadding through a waist deep pond.

At one point Glenis ended up on her belly on the floating dock things. I just crawled across them, my knees are shot!

At one point Glenis ended up on her belly on the floating dock things. I just crawled across them, my knees are shot!

After that it was back up the ski hill. Part way up we had to crawl on our backs up a water soaked sheet of vinyl under a cargo net while two eager volunteers sprayed water on us with fire hoses. That had to be the toughest obstacle yet. I just wanted to lie on the ground to recover from the effort but no, we were off to the slip and slide, the inflatable over, under and through thing, the monkey bars, the tunnels in the sand and the over and under rain soaker.

#100 happydays - Sliding in to the finish! Too much fun!

#100happydays – Sliding in to the finish! Too much fun!

The last few obstacles gave us as another chance to climb over hay bales and some sort of cargo container and then it was up cargo netting and down the huge inflatable slide into a pool of water. I don’t even think I have listed all the stuff we did here. We both agreed that if we did all of this once a week we would be in great shape!

Along the way we ran into another Running Free Team athlete who was going to race the canine race with his beautiful dog. It was great to see a face that we knew at the event.

Gord

Gord

While all this was going on, Phil the photographer was there taking some great action shots. I’ll update this post when he post them to his site.

 

 

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#100happydays Day 78 Gone in a flash!

#100happydays   Day 78 Gone in a flash!

We can’t believe July is over! I think we are still waiting for summer to start and then all of a sudden we are hearing back to school commercials!

Now the count down is on to our next adventure! 6 weeks to go!

 

What happened to July? Half the summers is over!

What happened to July? Half the summers is over!

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#100happydays Day 77 Nature’s little dive bombers!

#100happydays Day 77 Nature’s little dive bombers!

Deerflies, most runners hate them, so does anyone else who wants to enjoy the outdoors in the summer.

Dark-eyed deer fly

Dark-eyed deer fly

 

Glenis really hates them. She does this little twirly thing when they start to buzz around and then gets a panic look in her eyes and takes off. It’s sort of amusing to me because the flies usually buzz around her more than me. So if is stay a few feet behind her, I’m usually bug free.

You usually see us running with a face cloth clutched in our hand. While it looks kind of silly, that cloth not only wipes up sweat and blood, it smacks bugs and makes a good fly chaser.

Deerflies are in family Tabanidae, genus Chrysops similar to horse flies which can also take a chunk out of you. They are blood sucking pests which can really ruin a good day. Wouldn’t you know it only the females bite, the males are nectar and pollen feeders. Did you know they are attracted to blue? I should tell Glenis…

Bug hat selection

Bug hat selection

The web has lots of ideas to protect yourself from these beasts. One involves a blue cup or bucket covered with stick stuff called Tanglefoot worn on your head! Another is to apply double sided tape to a hat and wear that with all the little suckers stuck to it! That wouldn’t be too yucky, would it? I could see Glenis doing that! Maybe if enough of them were stuck there, we would be faster. Can’t you just see us in our next race running with blue cups covered with bugs on our heads?

What do you think? Could we rock the look?

What do you think? Could we rock the look?

Maybe I’ll just tell her not to wear blue.

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#100happydays Day 76 Our next adventure – The Bad Ass Dash

#100happydays Day 76 Our next adventure – The Bad Ass Dash

The Bad Ass Dash is on Saturday up at the Rock in Georgina.

We think the course is 5 – 6 k and they are boasting 30 obstacles! These obstacle races usually aren’t difficult to run, there isn’t much running involved. Usually you just sprint to the next obstacle and wait your turn to climb over, through or around it.  They are fun, why else would we do them, and they test our abilities, where else would you be able to walk on top of a tractor trailer?  Glenis flies through them while I teeter on the balance beams and cringe at the heights of the walls. Still we are glad we have included them in our schedule this year.

We though we would share a little bit of our training!

The tunnel crawl

The tunnel crawl

The overhead monkey bars

The overhead monkey bars

This should give you an idea what the obstacles really look like!

This should give you an idea what the obstacles really look like!

Thank goodness for our local park playground where we can test our skills or try to develop some.

LOL! What ever we look like we are going to have fun!

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#100happydays Day 75 – Darn weather – where’s summer?

#100happydays Day 75 – Darn weather – where’s summer?

I think a lot of us are still waiting for summer. The temperatures have been below normal and there seems to have been more rainy days than necessary. I mean, I haven’t got tan lines and my grass it growing faster than ever.

#100happydays Day 75 - Darn weather - were's summer?

This was the temperature outside this morning.

To look on the bright side of this cooler summer weather we sat down and made a list. When I asked Glenis to come up with 3-4 reasons why she liked the cooler weather, she told me that it would be tough for her unless I was asking about coolers and then she could list 3 or 4 of her favorite flavors. LOL

While this isn’t a list of cooler flavors, here are our good reasons to like cool summer weather:

  • Because when I’m at work I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything – Glenis
  • I’m not drinking as much – Glenis
  • The grass and weeds don’t grow as quickly (maybe on Glenis’s lawn)
  • Cheaper air conditioning bill – Glenis
  • Fresh air – Glenis
  • Can still cuddle with my favorite blankies at night – Glenis
  • Still wearing my all in one jammies – Glenis
  • Can let the hair grow on my legs because no one is seeing them – Glenis
  • Still feel like I have time before bathing suit weather is upon on – Glenis
  • Trails are softer to run on. – Janis
  • Quicker recovery in cool weather- Janis
  • You can wear more clothing leaving less skin exposed to the sun and bugs – Janis
  • My hair isn’t as frizzy – Janis
  • There is water in the creeks – Janis
  • The farmers are a little happier – Janis
  • Deer flies don’t buzz around in the rain – Janis
  • No sweat marks in the office  – Janis
  • No frying in the sun when volunteering at races – Janis

We know this weather is better than last winter, and that alone is something to be happy about, burrr, but a little heat would go along way to make us feel like we had a summer.

 

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#100happydays Day 74 Pictures are up from the Rockstar!

#100happydays Day 74 Pictures are up from the Rockstar!

Photographer Phil has done an excellent and speedy job of going through the 1000 images he took on Saturday and posting the best of them to his site, philjarvis.ca

Click on the image below or here to go right to all the great photos!

Rockstar Paddler

Rockstar Paddler

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