If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise

My tweet this morning…

Layered up, and I do mean layered up (from bottom to top: 1 pair anti blister socks, 1 pair wool socks, trail runners, thermal tights, windsprint pants, brisk run gloves underneath mittens, flow y tank, thermal long sleeve, run like hell t, running jacket, neck warmer and toque) I met Conny for our 14 mile taper run this morning.

Because it was so cold, I had to put my camelback on underneath my running jacket to prevent the drinking hose from freezing, and Conny was quite amused by my “hump”. I was not; I was kind of cranky because with so many layers and a camelback under my jacket, I felt a little like the Michelin Man, whose real name I was told is Bibendum.

So off we went, once around Hayward Lake. We started from the Ruskin Dam and headed out along the Railway Trail. The sun was somewhat warm (and the only redeeming quality of the run) and for the 40 minutes I reconsidered 1 of my many layers. The last few days on the west coast have been unseasonably cold and windy and there was a fair amount of debris on the trail, but nothing that would prepare us for what we would encounter on the other side of the lake.

After a quick pit stop in the nicest public bathrooms you will ever find we went across the Stave Dam and up to the Reservoir Trail. It was here that I noticed that Conny also now had a “hump”…not so funny after all is it? As soon as we got onto the Reservoir Trail we noticed how much more debris there was across the trail, still not enough to stop us, we kept moving. The sun doesn’t hit this side of the lake, so it was a whole lot cooler making me feel better about the 10lbs of extra clothing that I had worn.

Not far down the trail, we came across a tree down across the trail, then another, then another. We spent a good chunk of what should have been about 70 minutes (which turned into 100 minutes) climbing over trees, crawling under trees and navigating through mazes of branches. It wasn’t just the downed trees it was also the ice. I literally slid into our 12th set! I have never been so excited to see the Canoe Landing Trail until we had to make our way through another 5 or so trees on the side of an embankment.

I am not a fan of danger, Conny saw it as an adventure, and so as invigorated as Conny was, I was winey. We made it out and I lived to tell about it. I guess it was an adventure, but I am grateful that I do not have to go on that adventure again until January.

Tuesday

Sufficiently slathered in Body Glide and Muscle Eze I headed out in the cold November rain to meet Conny for our long run this morning. Not feeling 100% recovered from Saturday’s race, we I decided to back off the miles a little lot today to give our my body a bit of a break.

My run was less than fabulous; my watch died, my legs were ridiculously tired and my running jacket never came off.  On the bright side, only one more long run to go and I have managed to keep my toenails!

I have a cankle

This is what I woke up with this morning. What really woke me up was the burning itch coming from the top of my foot…a burning itch anywhere is never a good thing.

While out on my usual Tuesday morning trail run I felt the most intense pain coming from the top of my foot. Over the weekend I had rolled my ankle and it had been tweaking a little during my run, so I instantly thought that I must have torn the ligaments. My foot was screaming, I even yelped a little! I pulled back the tongue of my shoe and found a wasp caught between my shoe and my sock. I am not sure how many times that it stung me; I am going to say more than once. Having no allergies to wasps I finished the run, went about my business even taught a spin class.

Waking up to my cankle this morning was a bit of a surprise, kinda threw a wrench into Wednesday morning speed training. So I am going to put my feet up and make the most of the sun for the rest of the day, benadryl, a little ice and maybe even dig into the growing pile of books waiting for me to read.

Toning Shoes

You have seen them out and about, in the malls and at the grocery store, toning shoes.   They claim to tone muscles and improve weight loss and posture while you walk or stand (not recommended for running), and they don’t come cheaply either, prices range from $100-245.

Finally there is some ACE (American Council On Exercise) research that puts claims by the manufacturers of these ridiculous looking shoes to the test.    According to the ACE study, a team of exercise scientists from the Exercise and Health Program at the University of Wisconsin, designed two studies.  In the first study researchers recruited 12 physically active female volunteers, ages 19 to 24 years to evaluate exercise responses to walking in traditional athletic shoes (a New Balance running shoe) versus the popular toning shoes. A second group of 12 physically active female volunteers, ages 21 to 27 years, was recruited for the second study, they performed a similar battery of five-minute treadmill trials rotating shoes at random.

The outcome….

”Across the board, none of the toning shoes showed statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the treadmill trials.  There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone.”

I can’t say that I am shocked, I mean really, if you want to improve muscle tone and lose weight you have got to put in the work, cardio, squats, lunges and diet.  There are no quick fixes. There were even concerns that long term wear of toning shoes could alter gait mechanics due to their instability.  I for one am going to stick to my professionally fitted athletic shoes for the gym, and when I am looking for an unstable shoe to walk in, I am going bang for my buck and pulling out my 4 inch black stilettos.

Holy cows

Liz had a llama, Conny has baby squirrels, I came home to one, then two, then three cows in my yard this morning. I have seen the suspect cows at a distance before, they live just behind us.  You know they say, the grass is always greener (and longer) on the other side, so today they went for it and busted through the fence! They seem to have had a great time so far, they have chased and played and crapped all over my yard…it is only a matter of time before my dogs get out and roll in it…ah, life in the country.

Speaking of cows, this morning I was witness to the most diva like behavior that I only thought possible on an episode of the Real Housewives (maybe Atlanta, not that I am ruling out any of the others…yes, I watch them too). So this morning, I went into a locally owned and operated business in my little town of Maple Ridge.  The owner of the business, I will call her Priscilla, was standing at the counter. As I was ignored waiting to be helped (yes she had seen me, it plays out the same way every time I go into her business) one of Priscilla’s employees walked up to the counter with a toasted breakfast sandwich (not the fast food type either, deli type, toasted bread, pickle on the side and on a plate) and two bottles of Pepsi.  Priscilla turned to her loyal servant employee, snatched the plate from her hand, and said in a very Countess Luann (Real Housewives NY) tone “diet Pepsi, precious (or something equally condescending), not regular”, Cinderella the employee apologized, and rushed out of the store to make Priscilla’s order acceptable, Priscilla took an evil bite of her pickle and turned up her nose and said “bad pickle” and threw it in the garbage…I am counting to ten…

I would like to say to all of the young things, and not so young things out there, DO NOT allow your boss (or anyone else for that matter) to treat you like that.  People who treat others in such a disrespectful manner feel so shitty about themselves that they treat others like pieces of crap to make themselves feel better.  You do not need that job that badly to allow yourself to be treated like that. The job market may not be as great as it has been in the past, but there are plenty of fabulous employers out there who will treat you with the kindness and respect which you deserve.

As for me, I should have stopped supporting Priscilla a long time ago, after today I will not set foot in her business again, our town may be small but she isn’t the only shop in town.

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