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Running to De-Stress?

12/21/2014

Why do YOU run? (If you run). Or why do you exercise? What motivates you? Is it the happy, endorphin-fuelled feelings you get as a result? Is it to meet a specific training goal or for a race? Is it simply because you love it? Is it a habit? Is it to lose or maintain weight? Or is it to get some thinking time and to thoroughly de-stress? For me, it's usually the first 3 or 4 listed here (depends if I have a race fixed in the future or not). If your motivation lies in the latter reasoning, then you may be interested in this article on Runner's World re: the negatives and potential hazards of running whilst stressed or with something on your mind:

http://www.runnersworld.com/sports-psychology/forget-your-stress-while-you-run?adbid=10152479703641987&adbpl=fb&adbpr=9815486986&cid=socTP_20141221_37349407

Seems crazy, yes? That it can be a BAD thing to run while feeling stressed, as (much like many others, I reckon) if I'm feeling stressed or upset there's nothing better than getting out for a run to mull things over and to find my happy-place again. But, I suppose the take-home message from this would be to be cautious and stay aware and focused during your run if you're feeling not 100% mentally speaking. A good reminder to really focus on just the run, and stay in the moment: a mindful, kind of meditative run, which is one of the best kinds there is. I wish you all safe and happy running!

Today is my rest day of the week, and I fully intend to do just that, albeit a bit of necessary house-work and Christmas shopping, I suppose. This week saw me complete: 4x awesome snow-crunching runs, 1x yoga session, 2x strength/weight training workouts. Everything I set out to do, fitness wise, I completed and ticked off = happy days. This week was also the last official week of teaching for me, so now I'm on holidays! Woohoo! We kicked off our long, winter holidays (we don't start work again until the beginning of March, due to Chinese New Year coming relatively late in 2015) by our 'family' Christmas party yesterday, where the three of us (Husband, I and Puppy) visited a local park (that we had pretty much to ourselves) where I felt like I was in Narnia, and we decorated a tree there whilst drinking mulled wine and listening to some tunes. This was great until we got too freezing cold and had to change venues to somewhere a lot warmer.

Here's to safe, stress-free, injury-free running over Christmas, New Year's, and into 2015! Enjoy your weekend everyone! If you're on holiday too, enjoy every minute of it!!

5 Comments

I'm A Convert

12/14/2014

6 Comments

Running in the snow is AWESOME hey! Who knew... That peaceful feeling, the crunch underfoot as you make your way happily along, and the way that the snow has that magical ability to turn otherwise ordinary, boring tarmacked roads or brick-paved paths into instant (and flat!) snowy trails. Finally went for my first run around the snow-covered park this morning, and don't know why I waited so long. However, the snow doesn't appear to be melting anytime soon (due to the very chilly temperatures here: about -14 degrees today) so hey presto, think I've found my new outdoors-gym, and I will put off actually signing up and joining the gym in town for a while yet. It would be great if I can continue running and walking outside for the whole of winter over here, but it is early days I suppose, so we'll see.
The snow sure is beautiful too. I went for a long walk in it yesterday afternoon and walked down past the riverside beaches, which were also covered in snow. I find this completely bizarre for some reason, so here are some photos to show you (apologies for those who have already seen these on fb):

The hunt for dog booties continues! Thanks Kristen for the suggestion of Ruff Wear dog boots - they look awesome! But unfortunately only ship within the USA. However, we will probably buy her some other brand's boots when back in Oz next month, and in the meantime, she'll be wearing these woollen baby booties, tied on using hairbands! They are not waterproof but will keep her feet a bit warmer and stop the ice getting stuck between her little toes, at least.

She wasn't too sure at first and thought they might be better chewed off and removed from her feet, but she soon got the hang of it and was off frolicking in the snow again. Yes, those are in the colours of Australia: green and gold. Stylin Puppy.

6 Comments

Winter Wonderland

12/12/2014

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When I left the house early on Wednesday morning to go and meet a friend for some much needed yoga (I hadn't been for a couple of weeks! This first session back was quite hard and sweaty for me, but totally worth it) at first I thought the air pollution had gotten so bad that there was a semi-apocalyptic haze everywhere making the usually pitch black early morning a bright and visible one instead. But then it hit me: it had magically snowed (stealthily and unbeknownst to us) overnight!! I almost ran back upstairs to wake slumbering Husband and tell him 'it snowed!!' but by the looks of the thick carpeting of snow everywhere, and the lightly falling snow still coming down, the snow would be here for a while yet, and wouldn't melt away quickly as I was used to the snow doing so in London as a child (when there was snow, which was seldom).

We took Puppy to explore the park after work that day and she had a blast running around and exploring the snow (a new thing for her). However, her poor little paws soon got too cold and she got lots of ice stuck between her paw pads and got pretty uncomfortable pretty fast. We are now on the hunt for some doggie-booties she can wear out in the snow.

As for running in the snow? I haven't tried it yet. I plan to get out there tomorrow morning, and will take it really slow and easy, just in case there are some treacherous patches. This morning I did a repeat of last week's crazy hard 'Oh No It Snowed' workout from Meg on Meg Go Run: http://meggorun.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/oh-no-it-snowed-workout.html
This was entirely appropriate today, as the snow is still here in full force (it hasn't actually snowed again but none of it has melted away - so beautiful!). This workout feels super effective! I was very happy this morning: I even managed to do a complete set of the 20 burpees in a row, and didn't stop for a break halfway! (I only managed this once out of the four times - the other sets I did 10 and 10, or 12 and 8). That's progress, right?

Have you been running in the snow where you are yet? Any tips for this?
If you live in freezing weather and have a dog, what do you do about their paws??

Thanks! Have a GREAT weekend!

6 Comments

Molimiao Adventure in Pictures

12/10/2014

4 Comments

Molimiao: Holy Cow!

12/7/2014

4 Comments

Good morning one and all! I hope you're having a great weekend thus far. Ahh, all is well here in sunny (but arctic feeling) Tongliao: I am currently sitting here, in comfy, toasty, lounging-around-the-house clothes (my favourite thing to get back into) sipping a large, hot chocolate, having been on an INVIGORATING (yes, you can guess what sort of run it was: a better word for freezing or faarkin cold though, methinks) run this morning and then having cooked MY version of a breakfast work of art (a stack of lightly toasted cornbread, smeared with mayonnaise, then topped with tofu, a fried egg, garlic-y sautéed bok choy and thinly sliced tomato). I still had on the same amount of layers and clothes as last week's previous cold runs, for some reason (perhaps less wind chill today?) I didn't feel at all cold today, and the more and more I get out there and actually DO it, the easier it seems to be, including the mission of putting all those layers on, in the correct order, and then removing them afterwards, a bit of a struggle but well worth it.

Another reason why it felt easier to get out there in the cold today? Well, we spent practically the entire day outside yesterday, in the -14 degree weather, as we went on a cycling adventure to the nearby countryside of Molimiao, where there is a huge reservoir (according to the map and to info online), so, you know: we CAN do hard things, and thinking about the hours spent outside yesterday would be nothing compared to a measly one hour or so spent running by the frozen river.
Now, the route to get to Molimiao seemed easy enough, and I calculated that for a 45km trip out there and then another 45km back home, would take approximately just over 4 hours. Hmm, how wrong I would be. The day started out a little later than planned, due to a couple of mishaps (feet freezing within the first twenty minutes and so a round trip home for me to change into boots, and then, a complete flat tyre, so had to get my bike to be repaired back at the bike shop we had just visited, ironically for pumping UP said tyres and checking the bikes over), but at about half past ten, we met up with our friend and his travelling buddy 'Le Chat' (his gorgeous kitten who came along for the ride and would hang out in his backpack safely out of the wind or would sit on his shoulders like a monkey when we were inside some warmer places) to start heading out to Molimiao.

Most of the way out there was spent on a main road (with the return journey to be cycled on smaller country roads), but we passed beautiful, peaceful countryside fields, lots of sheep, and some Mongolian villages, and even came across two Buddhist temples, out in the middle of nowhere. Due to the freezing weather (Husband's feet were frozen almost solid for most of the day) we took frequent breaks in various shops, a restaurant and those temples along the way, the first being our lunch break in the village of Feng Tian. When we had warmed back up sufficiently by the power of spicy noodle soup and headed back out into the wind (the worst part of the cold weather) I looked at my watch and was shocked to see it was one o'clock already! What the... My time guestimate was WAY off - we were only about half of the way to even get to our mid-way destination of the lake/reservoir. Oh well, this would obviously be a longer ride than I'd banked on.
We continued on, taking refuge (and photos) in the first temple, and attempting (our Chinese is not too flash) to chat with the kind, and generous monks there who refilled our water bottles and showed us around. They told us it was about another 20km or so to the lake.

It was getting later and later in the day, and it was looking more and more likely that we would be riding back in the dark. And yes, as we rode up to the edge of the 'lake' (a huge, empty or dry/desert lake, apparently the water is underneath all the sand, and there is more visible water in summertime - it was pretty much empty), the sun was setting. We got the amazing sight as we stood on the plateau there of the sun setting on one side and the just risen moon on the other side, turned pink and glowing from the sunset opposite. Sunset and moonrise on a 180 degree view. Awesome.

We were now on quiet, smooth country roads (smoother than the main road, these country roads seemed freshly tarmacked) and we rode on in the quickly growing darkness. We were lucky that it was a beautiful, mesmerising full moon last night as this afforded us at least some light. It was so beautiful too: the full moon, the peaceful environment, and an abundance of shining stars above us (at only about 5:30pm).
However, we were getting pretty tired, hungry and cold again, so were on the look out for any village or out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere shop. Lo and behold about half an hour or so later we rode up to a house-cum-restaurant!! Out in the middle of nowhere! How is that for good luck?! We happily went inside and found that the family were in their house hanging out and playing cards, and not expecting any restaurant guests. They seemed happy to see us though and started chatting with us and offering us drinks and food and warmth, oh and the entire restaurant just for ourselves. We ordered some dumpling soup, cracked open a couple of beers and skulled some hot tea to warm back up first. Got to say: the BEST dumpling soup I have ever had! In such a great, definitely off the beaten track setting. We will definitely go back (although Husband wants to take the motorbike back next time and not cycle that 50km again anytime soon).
When we decided we really should get going (after all we still had about 40km to go to get home! But at least we were well over halfway hey, having ridden 50 already), we bundled back up and onto the bikes and set off into the cold, dark night. About 2 or 3 kilometres later though, disaster struck. Husband's entire peddle arm had fallen off!! The nut must have come lose (who knows where) and so the arm fell off. Oh. Shit. We were about 40km from home, at night, in the freezing cold (maybe -15 by then) with a bike with one peddle. This was a big problem.

BUT, whenever there is a problem, there is a way to resolve it right? Thankfully, we were cycling through a tiny village/hamlet at the time of the peddle disaster so we went into the nearest shop/restaurant to see if they knew anyone who may have spare bicycle parts. I think we caused great amusement and enjoyment to this lovely, warm friendly family inside (we certainly entertained their teenage son, who filmed us on his phone nonstop): a Canadian man (our friend), an English woman, an Australian dude, and a kitten, turning up on bicycles on a Saturday night and telling them they had a problem and could they help. They gave us hot water, beer and one of the locals said he could help. Off he and Husband went to his shop to find a replacement nut. Phew.

Nope, not to be. Each and every nut he tried on the doomed bike didn't fit. The bicycle was to remain armless/legless. BUT, Husband had managed to negotiate a deal with another mystery man who appeared and said he could take us and our bikes back to Tongliao, for a price. Deal. We were exhausted. Just wanted to get home at this point. The other option was waiting until 2am when someone else was driving some supplies there, but we just wanted to get back to our poor puppy who must have been frantic by then (as mentioned earlier, I thought we'd be home by 3 or 4pm at the very latest).

Well, what a day! A great day. I love adventures. And yes, although the bike ride ended up being much shorted than planned (50km instead of 90km) we saw some beautiful sights, met some wonderful, friendly people, and ate some delicious food along the way too. Note to self for future cycling trips: don't estimate how long it will take you based on how many kms you ride in an hour when you are riding quickly and by yourself around a riverside park loop! I was way off with my time and distance estimate.
I'll love you and leave you with a couple of shots from our mini adventure. There will be more to follow, but I need to get them off my phone first (these ones I took with my old-school-point-and-shooter):

4 Comments

Phew, That Was Intense!

12/3/2014

12 Comments

I bailed on my run this morning due to a mixture of the cold weather and my own laziness. Today, my bed won and I stayed put. So, instead, I chose to do the following workout later on, courtesy of Meg at Meg Go Run (thanks Meg and thanks Kristina for the link the other day!):

http://meggorun.blogspot.com/2014/11/oh-no-it-snowed-workout.html

This was an intense workout! Especially all the burpees. Ahhh, burpees - you never get any easier! I had sweat dripping in my eyeballs mid-way through this workout, and my heart rate was most definitely up as I huffed and puffed away. Give this one a try if the weather where you are is putting you off stepping foot outside: it is a great alternative to a run. Actually, I was feeling quite unfit at the end, thinking, how can I run 106km over 3 days (recently, in early November) but I can't do 20 good burpees in a row? I will definitely be giving this workout another go soon. Just not too soon.

Yesterday was a stay-indoors-and-eat-lots-of-stodge-and-sandwiches-while-watching-House-of-Cards kind of afternoon, so I bailed on any sort of exercise then, albeit a couple of quick walks in the -14 degree weather. However, the morning before (when it was -15 and morning was just about to break, that glorious first light part of the day) I did manage to get out there for the coldest run I have ever experienced. To do so, I had on: 2 pairs of running leggings, a pair of shorts, 2 pairs of socks, 3 tops, 2 sports bras, 2 pairs of gloves, a face scarf/wrap thing, a hat, a running jacket. My body wasn't cold (just my face), nor did I overheat shortly into the run, so I think I had just enough layers on for the weather. However, I made the mistake of taking my gloves off one hand while trying to adjust my face wrap/bandana thing (which annoyingly kept freezing solid due to my nose running and my breathing on it, thus it would then fall, frozen and with no elasticity anymore, around my chin, kinda uncomfortable). Ok, that was painful! My hand started to burn and sting with the cold straight away, so no more removing any part of my outfit. The run was pretty good, and I actually felt a lot faster than on previous days, and felt like the cold weather was helping my pace. The only negative part was my face was freezing as the face wrap did not stay put, so I'll need to invest in a proper face mask, and a proper beanie and ear covering too methinks. Then there'll be no excuse for staying put in my warm, cosy bed!

The weather is still faarkin cold today, but this is apparently nothing and will get a lot colder pretty soon. Hmm, can't wait for that! Still, it is quite beautiful with the frost covering the trees and plants. No snow yet, but plenty of frozen water from their sprinkler systems in the park nearby:

12 Comments

Running to De-Stress?

I'm A Convert

Winter Wonderland

Molimiao Adventure in Pictures

Molimiao: Holy Cow!

Phew, That Was Intense!

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