TGIF AND THERE IS NO RUNNING!

Although I am on vacation in Montreal, I have been running steadily 5 days a week since getting here. I don't know if it's the mix of parties and getting up "early" (9AM) to run but I feel really tired all the time!

Tuesday I ran 3.5 miler in the heavy snow, I used my new rubber spiky thing to put underneat my shoes (called Get-A-Grip Advanced from Sure Foot), those have great traction and it seemed like I wasn't running in snow.

Wednesday I did some speed work on the treadmill: 5 times 500 m at 9 min/mile (with 10 mins before and after easy run).

Thursday I ran 3 mile outside with a great sun in 29:50.

Saturday will be another 3 miler and Sunday I'll run 7 mile. The schedule says to run a 5K race this week-end but the Montreal Resolution Run was already full so I couldn't get in... bummer! I'm going to have to do a lot of running until Thursday because I won't do any for 4 days when my newfie/boyfriend is coming to visit.

Happy running everyone!! =)

JOYEUX NOËL / MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Merry Christmas everyone!! =) I hope you will all celebrate with your families tonight and tomorrow. It's difficult to believe it's Christmas eve with that temperature, 6 oC without snow! Me and my dad decided to play a little prank on my boyfriend who has never been to Montreal and make him believe that we were ready to go for a swim.... hence the picture!! And we were not even cold! =)

This weather feels like we are in the spring!! I'm not complaining because this is great weather to run in! Although it did start only today, yesterday I did 3 miles in the ice rain and ice grounds and today was beautiful like that for my 6 miler. I finished in 1:00:03 must have been my fastest time so far. I've read that the "off season" as they call it should be a time to run slower but I don't feel like I'm pushing myself hard when I run... not sure if I should try and slow down, any opinions from other experienced runners?

I'll leave you on this and I hope you will all have a great time with your families! Joyeux Noël and don't indulge in food and wine too much!! =)

GOING BACK TO MONTREAL TOMORROW!!

I'm finally on vacation!! YAY! I'm leaving with the 6 AM train tomorrow back to nice Old Montreal. I'm excited to see the family and my niece again, she must have changed so much since the last time I saw her in early November!!

I didn't have any time to run today but will definitely do some speed work tomorrow on the dreadmill at my parents'.

I felt so special when I read on Kristi's blog that she tagged me!!! The Good Doctor (a blog that I often read without leaving any comments!!) started this game which consist of going to the closest book and typing the title and author here. Then to turn to page 123 and find the fifth sentence on that page and to let you know the next three sentences...

So here we go, you guys are lucky this is a French book!!

Title: Carnets de Naufrage, Author: Guillaume Vigneault
Quote: Je suis passé au frigo me préparer une sorte de repas, comme je le fais toujours en rentrant du boulot. Du fromage, du jambon, un oeuf dur, un reste de saucisson, et un concombre pour me donner une bonne consistence. Avec une bière, pour les bulles.

Then we have to tag three more people. So I've chosen, Amanda (who hasn't blog in too long!!), Yumke and Liv (who Looooves these chain things!! :P).

Last week before Christmas!! Happy running everyone! =)

FUEL YOUR BODY WITH WINE...

And you'll have a crappy run! I had a couple of wine glasses yesterday and decided to get up early and go for a run....

1- I felt dehydrated to start with
2- Ipod had no batteries (seem the problem is bigger now...)
3- It's freakin' cold

I have no clue how you music-less runners do it, that wasn't the most pleasant run for me, I missed Madonna! Oh well, hopefully I can fix the Ipod and my problems will be solve!

Have a good running week.

I AM FREE!!!!!

I just successfully passed my doctoral qualifying exam today and I'm officially a Ph.D. Candidate!!!! YAY! I haven't run for the past week but that's part of the deal when you're studying so hard! So GLAD it's over and I am not looking back! I will be putting on those running shoes tomorrow and starting at week 2 (yes I missed the first week...) of Hal Higdon's Half-marathon training schedule. Can't wait to run again!!!

Happy Running all!!! =)

FIRST DOUBLE DIGIT RUN SINCE THE MARATHON!!

I haven't been posting much lately because my 2 runs a week are not that exciting! I was trying to get back at long runs on the week-ends since the marathon (Oct 15!!) and always backed-out at Mile 7... For some reason I thought I was out of shape and lost all my fitness... but on a 6h night of sleep with an outside temperature of -2 oC and a wind from HELL (30 km/h). I decided to suck it up and stop trying to find excuses and go for a 10 mile run.

First 5 miles were a breeze, wind was at my back (52:52) but when I switched directions it was painful... let's say I didn't stay near the water for long where the wind was blowing directly in my face. I finished the remaining 5 miles in a less scenic place but buildings are a great shield against nasty wind (55:47)!! I'm overall very satisfied with this run, nothing hurt (knee or legs) and it felt great to be back there for so long. An improvement of 8 mins since my last 10m in training this past summer (1h55).

After reading all about people putting up their Christmas tree, I finally put mine up, I believe Rocky really enjoys the colorful lights (fiber optic one!) That also answers Marty'S question about the size of the pooch... small!!


Now, I really gotta get back at this studying business..... Happy Running everybody! =)