websiteilliteratedon'tknowwhatthisbitis
Running Through China
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Race Pictures
  • Nutrition For Runners
  • Contact Me

Really Rather Rocky-esque

5/17/2014

6 Comments

 
Another rainy, wet Saturday here in China, so no run outside as planned (I pussied out - I was aiming to run it on the track, as when I speed up to threshold pace or VO2 max pace or whatever is on the plan, I like the convenience of not having to stop for pedestrians or traffic, hence any session that specifies a pace to aim for, I have been running on the track. When it's wet, I have this inner fear that: speed work, looking at Garmin for my pace, and trying seamlessly to run through puddles and water will somehow lead to me tripping over my own feet. Anyhoo, I digress...)

Instead, I chose to do some stair running (30 reps of the building again) followed by some strength moves (i.e. squats, push-ups etc, nothing too fancy). I was harnessing my inner Rocky, and it was intense hey! Here's a sweaty, tired snap of me on the stairs in question:


Picture
Yes, that IS a Rocky t-shirt! (Thanks again Josh, love it!). And yes, I did put my camera on a self-timer mode to take this red-faced shot, haha...

So, I know these stairs aren't exactly the terrain I'll be running on, but I hope they'll prepare me somewhat for some of the uneven surfaces and up and down sections (which, I'm pretty sure form the majority of the trail race).


Picture
Hope you're all having Super Saturdays. Got to run now (no, not literally) as watching an awesome documentary series with Husband that is kind of blowing our minds! Will post the links soon. See you!
6 Comments

Healthy Living in China

5/8/2014

2 Comments

 
As 'running through China' seems to be synonymous with 'eating through China', I thought I would share a little more today re: the food and eats on offer in our local neighbourhood, and show you, via the power of photographic representations, why I feel I am currently living the healthiest life I have ever lived.

Firstly, let's get the running / training update business out of the way (not that I'm implying it is a minor or unimportant thing at all!): this morning's run occurred down at the lovely track. I ran the following: 1.6km warm-up, 4x 3.22km at threshold pace (4:07 - 4:18) with 3 minute rests in between, then another 1.6km cool down. All up came to just over 15.6km, and about 1 hour 13 minutes of bliss.

Now, onto these pictures. I'm hoping you'll see what we see daily here. That everything is fresh, and abundant, and that veggies are gold and highly valued (and there is a HUGE range of veggies, ones we've never seen before coming to China too). So, without further ado, here are some photos of our neighbourhood taken by Husband early one morning:


2 Comments

May Day

4/30/2014

0 Comments

 
It is the May Day holiday here in China, which means it's a holiday today, tomorrow, AND Saturday (which is usually a 'holiday' for us anyway). So, in true Chinese fashion, we're working the Sunday to compensate for having a holiday fall on a weekday. Hmm, I think someone in charge must have got confused re: what constitutes a holiday! Hey-ho... I kicked mine off with a speed session at the lovely track this morning which saw me doing the following: 1.6km warm-up, 5x 1.6km at VO2max pace (around 3.55 for me) with 3 minute rests in between each 1.6, then 4.8km easy pace run/cool down/recover. My calves were still a little tight but overall it was a good session. Then Husband and I went on a cycle/explore around town, drank some coffee, and we will soon be drinking beer and meeting our friends to go shopping. BUT, it's a beautiful, sunny, HOT day today, so maybe too nice to spend indoors doing our least favourite activity of shopping? Hmm, needs to be done though (Husband needs new clothes).

As for the rest of our holiday? Not sure. I have a long run scheduled for Saturday morning: I'm aiming to do around 25kms and include LOTS of steps and mountain trails. I paid the entry fee for the 50km race this morning, so this trail race business just got real.

Think we'll also be doing lots of planning of our itinerary for our upcoming amazing caravan adventure, and I'd love to do some writing and general chilling and resting. Hopefully this beautiful weather lasts all three days of it!

Last year today, I was HERE undertaking this extremely difficult, crazy adventure 'running' race on the beautiful Great Wall of China:




Picture
All the best to those runners who have gone back for a second year running - you guys are amazing! Once was enough for me, haha.
0 Comments

For The Love of Track

4/23/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
Once the rain subsided I made it (at last) to the track for the following run: 3.22 easy pace, 6.44 threshold pace, 3.22 easy. My threshold pace is supposed to be between 4.07 and 4.15, and I stuck to this range, sometimes going up to 4.15 but sometimes going too low to 4.00 or 4.05. When I remembered to take note when Garmin beeped at my kilometre marks, my average times were 4.07, 4.07, 4.08, 4.09, and then 4.03 (oops, the last one was a little fast then). Total time of 58:07.  Fastest 5 km was 20:38. Felt great. LOVED leaving the track, haha…

So, come on people, HOW do I change my trackitude and learn to LOVE going there for a run, rather than having to psych myself up to even get there? It is definitely a love/hate relationship. Ok, let’s look at the positive aspects of running at the school’s track:

  • It is accurate in terms of distance and speed (now that I’ve got my trusty Garmin)

  • There is no traffic or lights to have to stop at

  • No pedestrians to avoid (or motorbikes on the pavement coming straight at you)

  • Most of the time I have got it all to myself

  • It is 300 metres from my apartment

  • I feel amazing at the end of a workout at the track

Ok, a couple of those pesky (but substantial) negative aspects:

  • It is kind of (ok, sometimes, very) monotonous. Akin to an outside treadmill?

  • It is synonymous with speedwork (or attempting speedwork on some days)

  • Sometimes there are some awkward moments when others are on the track and I attempt some ‘excellent’, mid-running Chinglish.

So, you see, lots more good than bad going on down at the track, so I hope this helps me next week to bound on out there full of enthusiasm and genuine excitement for my speed session. Ahem. Watch this space.

2 Comments

WHY Does It Always Rain...

4/21/2014

0 Comments

 
…when I have plans to go to the track?? Not keen to sprint in the wet, so opted to change up for my tomorrow run and this morning I did an easy paced 12.8kms instead. Fingers crossed this rain pisses off in time for tomorrow’s run at the infamous track!

Not much else to report: gloomy, drizzly weather and lessons as usual (we think). Surely they are due for some more exams or some sort of outing day, or any other reason why we will not be required, haha, come on Universe!

Have a trippy Tuesday everyone!
Picture
0 Comments

Accidental Naked Run, and Doubling Up

4/16/2014

6 Comments

 
Yesterday’s run at the track bombed. I did indeed get myself out there at about half 7 last night, and started warming up (1.6kms). Felt ok. Then, I didn’t even complete ONE of my six 1.6kms intervals at VO2max pace, but stopped after just 800m to walk. WTF?! Yep, some weird, random, intense pain that I get from time to time, and its kind of crippling and agonizing (they have investigated at various hospitals but everything looks normal, so it’s hard to explain when it’s not happening). So, that was kind of (= very) frustrating, and I called it a night there, after oh, maybe just 15 minutes. Went home and ate some amazingly tasty carb-laden food prepared by Husband (who is a not-so-secret, awesome chef, just sayin), surely that counts as training instead? J

 

So, this morning’s training is an 11km (ish – depends on the route I end up taking) run this morning, and a short 4km run later in the day. Yep, a double-up day. First time I’ve done this or seen this on my training schedule, but it looks like this is to be the norm for Thursdays now. So, I hope I like it! Do you ever run more than ONCE in a day?

Picture



Phew, back from Run Number One for the day. Was an awesome run! So, maybe missing the speedwork yesterday (or most of it anyway) was in fact a (painful) blessing in disguise? Anyway, just got back from one of those awesome, feel-like-I’m-flying runs, which turned out to be an accidental naked run (Garmin couldn’t find my location, so after a while it turned to power save and I forgot to switch it back on, oops), but I think it was roughly 11kms, maybe slightly more. A beautiful morning for a run. And now to face those Thursday kids! Hmmm, wish us luck, we’re going to need it. J

6 Comments

Oops, I Did It Again...

4/15/2014

1 Comment

 
Yep, 'swapped' that speedwork session that I had scheduled for early this morning, to a later unidentified point in the day. So really, I swapped it for more sleep. Seemed a good idea at the time. Actually even really thought I had gotten up and was heading to the track at about 5:20 ish as planned, but alas, was only a very boring life-like dream. So, now will be aiming to get this track workout in at oh, say around 7:30 or 8 tonight. This will be a challenge for me, so will have to tell myself to 'just f*&ken DO IT!'

In other news, we MISSED that supposedly awesome, beautiful sight of the 'pink moon' or the red, coppery coloured moon that was supposed to come into effect due to a lunar eclipse. We read about it and it sounded awesome, But, unfortunately missed it due to, you guessed it, sleep. It was apparently red in appearance at around 3am between 14th and 15th, d'oh... Maybe we'll catch it next time. Did anyone see the Pink Moon??

Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Will Run for Wine

4/8/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
Ahh, trackwork done and dusted, yeewww! Feel like I smashed it this morning. Well, for me personally anyhoo. This morning was a 1.6km warm up, then 6x 1.6 at VO2max pace (between 3:45-3:55 for me) with 3 minute rests and then 1.6 cool down. Felt really strong and much better at this workout than two weeks ago, so wow, training must be working hey. Who knew?! My fastest kilometer according to trusty Garmin was 3:47, woohoo! Last time it was 3:55. And my fastest mile, although I don’t work in miles so this is fairly meaningless for me, ohwell, was 6:05. I still very much needed those 3 minute rests though, and walked to recover during those delicious 3 minutes.

 

So, training for this week = very much on track = happy Lou J

 

Another thing making me happy this week = finally having found a wine that I love here in China – and it’s only taken me almost 2 years to find it, haha. It’s a Chilean Sav Blanc that one of the bigger supermarket sells and is slightly pricier than the Chinese reds we usually buy, but sooo much nicer and one bottle usually lasts me three days, so I feel fully justified in this purchase.

 

So, another sunny but hazy (polluted?) day here in our part of China. Kind of counting down the weeks now til AUSTRALIA!!! Just a bit excited. Then it’s our Chinese road-trip to Inner Mongolia straight after that! Roll on July. Have a GREAT day everyone!
3 Comments

Break in the Weather

4/1/2014

2 Comments

 
My husband (and coach!) is full of good ideas hey. Last night, for example, he put it out there, that why don't I still try and get a track workout in, later that night? (maybe my uber-grumpy mood about the rain stopping play was that obvious??) So, hmm, I thought, maybe just maybe there's a chance of getting my speed session in after all. We had a very early dinner at around 4:30-5 ish, so I thought, yeah, why not? Wait til about 8pm then give it a go. Now, bearing in mind this is usually when we're definitely winding down for the day and not drinking coffee to go and do some speedwork around the school's track, this was definitely new ground for me. But the rain had all but dissipated to nothing more than a gentle, light mist (like running through a cloud I reckon), and the light pollution around town meant that I wasn't running in complete darkness and so threw out my fear of tripping in the dark and twisting an ankle again. So there I was, warming up in these perfect running conditions, plus I had the whole track to myself, when I began my first interval: on the plan for this session was 12x 400m ran at economy pace (my pace calculator tells me that this should be between 3:30 - 3:45), with a 400m jog in between, with the usual 1.6 warm-up and cool down. I did it, made the correct pace all the way around, then happily settled down to my jog. Then interval number two. Ok, that didn't feel so good. Weird heartburn / sick feeling, and was a bit of a struggle. This got worse and worse until on my 5th interval I thought I was going to actually heave and vomit everywhere in the not-so-pitch-black open space of the track. Hmmm, maybe I wouldn't finish the twelve planned economy pace laps as planned, and instead focused on not throwing up everywhere as I slowed it back down to cool down and retreat back home. I wasn't sick in the end, hurrah! But note to self: do not attempt speedwork within 4 hours of eating (maybe 5?). I thought 3 hours would have been enough time, but definitely not. Sucks, as the conditions were perfect and my legs felt great. Still, happy that I got a short session in at least. But, I'll definitely be trying out some more night-time runs in the future, so thanks Husband!

This morning's run was a 12.8km run at easy pace, and that was all fine and dandy. Except upon returning having no power for the start of the day. An electrical mystery, which is all fixed now, luckily.

So, back on track with the training and running, and the rain has stopped for now. Fingers crossed this continues!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone! What are your running, or otherwise, plans for today?

2 Comments

Back to Track

3/24/2014

2 Comments

 
Ahh, speedwork. I love it and I hate it. (Hate it when I’m in the middle of it and pushing myself so much that am well and truly out of puff and feeling a bit sick at times / Love it when it’s over and I feel amazing and badass at having done it and showing myself that yes, I can do that.)

 

This morning’s training saw me back at the track doing this: 1.6km warm-up, then SIX times: 1.6km at VO2Max pace with 3 mins rest, then finish with another 1.6km cool-down. According to a pace calculator (where you plug in the time you are aiming for and the length of the race), my VO2Max pace should be between 3:46 – 3:56. This was tough hey, not going to lie. So, most of the time (according to Garmin) my pace crept back up to about 4:05 and sometimes 4:10 (even though it felt like I was running at the same speed). Garmin told me at the end that my fastest km took 3:55, so I guess I kept it pretty close to the target pace. It was tough but I feel AWESOME now. J

 

Yesterday’s run was a nice 10 km (I think – Garmin reckons it is 10, but mapmyrun.com had it at almost 12km?! wtf??) run on a usual route down by the river. Spring has definitely sprung and the beautiful pink, purple, and white flowers adorning trees all around town = a beautiful, early morning run.

 

So, we’ve got the usual four lessons today, but quite frankly, I kind of just feel like staying in our flat and organizing and having a massive spring-clean instead. Better snap out of it, as Tuesdays are great lesson-wise and student-wise.

 

Husband is busy studying and preparing for his Chinese driving test (theory) tomorrow. Wish him luck! He will ace it I’m sure. The only trouble being that most of the questions do not make any sense (very bad translations) and some are completely wrong but you have to put the answer that they say IS correct (even when it’s clearly not). Hey-ho. Positive thoughts he will pass first time, and then we can get one of these babies to tour around China in and to drive up to Inner Mongolia with our puppy:

Picture
2 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Author

    A 30-something's running and travelling experience around the world.

    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    27th
    50km
    Abs
    Acting
    Active Recovery
    Afghan Hound
    Albert Einstein
    Amazeballs
    Angry
    Anhui
    Annie
    Anniversary
    ARD
    Australia
    Auto-pilot
    Autumn
    Awesome
    Bacon
    Badass
    Bali
    Barefoot Running
    Beautiful
    Beijing
    Ben Elton
    Besties
    Biryani
    Bliss
    Blog
    Blogger
    Blue Sky
    Boobs
    Books
    Bread
    Brighton
    Busy
    Calves
    Camelback
    Caravan
    Carbo Loading
    Carboloadingf2e058d5a9
    Cardio
    Caring
    Carpet
    China
    Chinese
    Chinglish
    Chocolate Milk
    Christmas
    Cleaning
    Close
    Coach
    Coffee
    Coincidence
    Cold
    Cooking
    Core
    Covert Mission
    Cross Training
    Cycling
    Dad
    Date
    Deepak Chopra
    Dehydrated
    Dough
    Driving
    Duck
    Excited
    Expectation
    Feeling Tired
    Flowers
    Flying
    Food Addiction
    Fresh Food
    Friday
    Fuel
    Full Moon
    Gangsta
    Garmin
    Genghis Khan
    GM
    Gods
    Gold-coast
    Goldilocks
    Goose
    Grass
    Grasslands
    Great Wall
    Green Tea
    Grief
    Grumpy
    Hair
    Halloween
    Hangover
    Hangry
    Hangzhou
    Hard
    Hasfit
    Hastings
    Hazara
    Health
    Healthy
    Henan
    Herbs
    Hohhot
    Holiday
    Hotel
    Huangshan
    Hui
    Hulunbeier
    Humid
    Hungry
    Hunter-valley
    Husband
    Ill
    Inner Mongolia
    Internet
    Jiangxi
    Jiuhuashan
    Kickboxing
    Knee Pain
    Lembongan Island
    Liebster-award
    Lijiashan
    Longmen Caves
    Long Run
    Lushan
    Mantra
    Marathon
    Mask
    Massage
    May-day
    Medical Exam
    Meh
    Memory
    Monday
    Mongolian
    Monsanto
    Mood
    Moon
    Morning
    Mother
    Motivation
    Motivational
    Mountains
    MTB
    Negative
    Nerves
    Newcastle
    New Job
    New-zealand
    Night
    Oatmeal
    Off The Beaten Track
    Oil
    Over Trainingffa29052b5
    Pain
    Past
    Pb
    Peanut Butter
    Photos
    Ping Pong
    Pingyao
    Playing
    Pollution
    Pool-running
    Porridge
    Positive
    Poyang-lake
    Procrastination
    Program
    Progress
    Pumped
    Pumpkin Pie
    Puppy
    Pussy
    Pyjamas
    Qingming
    Questions
    Quickie
    Rain
    Ready
    Recovery
    Red Belt
    Rest Day
    Riverside
    R-kelly
    Rob-schneider
    Rocky
    Runners-world
    Running Bracelet
    Running-group
    Running Movies
    Santos-bonacci
    Sav Blanc
    Scam
    Sex
    Shaanxi
    Shanghai
    Shanxi
    Shaolin Temple
    Shoes
    Sickness
    Singing
    Skittles
    Sleep
    Slow
    Smog
    Snickers
    Snow
    Solo
    Sore
    Speech
    Speed
    Speedwork
    Sports Bra
    Stationery
    Steps
    Stiff
    Strength
    Students
    Teaching English
    Temple
    Tempo
    Terracotta Warriors
    Text Message
    The Bund
    The Wall
    Threshold
    Time
    Tired
    Tofu
    Tongliao
    Track Workout
    Trailer
    Trail-race
    Training
    Triathlon
    Turkey
    Turmeric
    Twice
    Two
    Universe
    University
    Unsatisfied
    Vo2max
    Voice-over
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Weekend
    West Lake
    White-horse-temple
    Whitney Houston
    Wine
    Worried
    WTF
    Xiamen Marathon
    Xian
    Xilinhot
    Yiwu
    Yoga
    Yungang Caves
    Zongzi

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.