She’s at the very end of the video.

Once again Twitter proves to be more useful that I thought it would be.

The weather has been glorious and we’ve been outside as much as possible trying to take advantage of it. It is so nice not to have to worry about frostbite or exposure or whether 10 minutes is too long to be out in -20 degree weather with a baby. Our walks are getting longer and more wide-ranging, since Amelia doesn’t need to eat quite so often during the day anymore. Now we’re just waiting for the mountain to dry up enough that we can take walks there, away from the car exhaust and the hustle and bustle sounds of city life.

I let Amelia take a video of herself yesterday. Once I cut it a little I’ll post it later on. It’s pretty funny.

The city does seem to be becoming more bike-friendly. They’ve laid out a new bike path on Cote-St-Catherine and installed one in downtown last year. We are finding that we don’t take the car nearly as often anymore with Ian having a permanent office downtown and Amelia & I choosing to walk whenever we go out to do errands. When Amelia gets a little bigger, I wonder if we’ll start biking places more frequently as well.

Today I went out for about 50ish minutes and ran 8.2 km. Clearly I run faster by myself, but it is less interesting. It also was warmer and there was no wind so I felt like I could run a little quicker without affecting my breathing. I love finding that rhythm of a run where you just feel like you are on autopilot because your breathing pattern is steady and consistent. My “comfort” pattern is two breaths in, two breaths out, in time with my footfalls.

If I manage to throw in one more run this week I will be very pleased. Three runs a week seems like a good goal at this stage.

1) Fascinating article about women, eating disorders and sports. Basically, the article discusses how many female athletes do not eat enough for the amount of exercise they do and as a result have trouble losing weight and may have other issues such as more injuries, lower bone density, fatigue etc.

2) There is way too much cute stuff on Etsy! I love toys that let your kids use their imaginations without flashing and blinking and plastic. Who wouldn’t want one or several of these?

3) Check out this other DIY site and their cool idea for using an old scrabble board as a bulletin board/picture frame. Neat!

Today the calf was feeling better and the weather was glorious so I went for a jog. I have been having calf pain off and on for several years during the ultimate season, which started at Worlds in Finland in 2004. I know it is related to an imbalance on my left side, and the fact that my hamstring is not as strong as it could be. It all comes back to ACL surgery (10 years ago), and how I still need to keep working out the left side so it is as strong as the right.

In any event, the run was great. It was completely different than last week’s indoor run. I ran about the same distance (6.2 km) in less time (40 minutes) with hills and a headwind. Furthermore, it felt great to be outside enjoying the day and the time just flew by. I didn’t have a pre-set route so I just made one up as I went along. Using the google maps mashup, I was able to calculate how far I had run once I got home. I could have kept going, but I didn’t want to push the calf too much. This week is supposed to be warmer so I am hoping I’ll be able to follow the training schedule a little more closely. But, I’m not really too concerned about following it to the letter. As long as I feel good about running and am able to keep increasing my distance, I think I’ll be ok.

Can I just state for the record that I hate running on a treadmill? I don’t like the option of looking at the time/distance because then, of course, I look at it every 2 seconds and expect 5 minutes to have passed. I also find it too hot in the gym. And I get thirsty. And a little dizzy from trying to watch the TV on the monitor build into the treadmill.

But, on the positive side:

a) I can check how high my heart rate is (Sonia, you will be happy to hear I was up around 170 today for most of the run)
b) I can know my exact distance right away
c) I don’t wear out my new fancy running shoes as quickly
d) I can gather inspiration from other people who are working out at the same time
e) I can sit in the sauna/steam room once the run is over and relax

And, now I am looking forward to tomorrow – a day of rest, according to the training schedule.

The program is 12 weeks, which is just about how much time we have until the race. So, tomorrow morning I am off to the gym (or potentially I will run outside, since it is supposed to be warm). Four miles (6.4 km) here I come. I am going to do my best to post about the training to keep myself honest (read: to force myself to go train when I don’t want to).

I would also like to state for the record that I have only ever run one 10-km race. And I spent the whole time talking to a friend, so it’s not as though we were really “racing.” While I have run longer distances in training, I tend to max out at about 70 minutes. I will admit that I joined Sonia for two of her long “training” runs for the 1/2 marathon in 2007. We probably ran about 15 km or so each time (on flat). It was not pretty (on my part), so running for 2+ hours is definitely going to be a challenge. And one to which I am looking forward, but about which I am also a little nervous.