Curling and Running Stories

Listening to: The Cars

Wow! Had such a GREAT run last night.  It was a 3 mile tempo run, which means I was doing fast/slower intervals.  Right now I'm doing 3 minutes slower, 2 minutes faster, and speeds of 4.0 mph and 4.5 mph.  Next week I'm going to change the intervals to 2 minutes slow and 3 minutes faster because I'll be ready to increase the intensity.

Training is going great.  I'm feeling really strong and energized after my runs.  Last night my HR was up slightly, but that's because I ate a big dinner (fried chicken and chocolate cake).  It's OK, I only eat crap about once a week and it keeps me from freaking out over food.

Another great thing, I've been asked to spare for someone tonight at curling, so today is going to be a super day.  I'll go for a nice little run (2 miles) before dinner, and go curling after dinner.  So I'll be getting both running and curling in, which is fantastic!

Listening to: Frank Zappa

OK, so yesterday was an amazing day.  Did my long, slow run for the week and curled a great game!  Best of both worlds.

Running first.  I ran 5.5 miles in 10:1 walk/run intervals and my HR stayed nice and low.  I'm definitely ready for a faster pace.  Plus I felt so strong and energized after my run.

Curling was great.  I think the running loosened me up, I curled one of my best games.  Since I play second position, most of my shots are take-outs (where I try to hit the opponent's rocks out of the rings.)  Last night I was "hot to trot" as one of my teammates commented and I made most of my takeouts.  And it was funny, three of the players on the other team were getting fed up with me and all three of them would scream my name when I made some of my takeouts.  Of course it was all in fun and they were good sports.  (especially since we won the game by about 9 points! Considering that they were REALLY good sports!). 

I won't be curling again until Friday, unfortunately, but I may be able to fit a practice in there somewhere...

 

Listening to: The Who

Yeah, so last night was a really good running workout.  Ran for 2 miles at a steady pace and barely reached my target HR.  Looks like I'm going to be increasing my steady pace .  I trained for the half marathon last year and I don't remember progressing this fast so it's pretty exciting.  My goal is to finish in 2:15.  Last year I completed the course in 2:28, so I think this is an attainable goal.

And tonight I'm finally curling again.  It's tough when I don't curl for a few days,  I start to feel rusty.  I don't know why but my skip is all psyched out because of the team we're playing.  It doesn't make sense because  we have a stronger team. Seems like he's intimidated by the opposing skip.  Curling is such a psychological sport - seems like a big part of it is believing in yourself.  My skip is a great curler, but I've seen him get into the hack and totally talk himself out of making his shot.  He starts talking about what's going to happen if he misses the shot and how the other team can take so many points, etc.  That's the totally wrong approach.  The best thing is to imagine yourself making a perfect shot and then you take the shot.  Otherwise you're just working against yourself.  It'll be an interesting game tonight, I think.  Can't wait.

Listening to: David Bowie

Had a great workout last night.  I'm on the third week of training for the half marathon and the training effects are starting to kick in.  HR is going down and my speed is increasing so it's all good stuff.

Last night was fast/medium speed intervals.  Played some great music (Aerosmith Greatest Hits) and my workout was over almost before I realized it.  Of course I was only running 2.5 miles, so it wasn't a huge distance.  Can't wait until I'm really racking up the mileage, that's when things get really interesting.

Looking forward to my run tonight.  Two miles at a steady pace.  Of course running (or curling) is the best part of any day...

Ok.  So the best thing about running on the treadmill is singing along with good music at top volume.  The best running music is, in my opinion, classic and hard rock.  The absolute best CD to run to is "Bat out of Hell," by Meatloaf. 

Not only is the music a great motivator, but I can tell if I'm running "in the zone" without consulting my HR monitor.  Especially when I'm belting out a song as loud as possible. 

With the music blasting and me warbling, I can run for an hour or better and hardly realize it.