Day 5

So today, no warm up or cool down.

I wanted to try a run without then and see if I noticed a difference. First off, I noticed that on my last run when I sprinted I felt all the pain and stiffness go out of my legs. This time, not so much.

I ran Mission 4 of Zombies, Run! It was good, though I admit they could have probably tugged at my nerves a bit more had they used a real infant making sounds for the missing child. As it was I'm 99.9% sure it was a female voice actor, and her sounds went quite a bit over the top. 

I recommend touching the volume down, just a tad for this one. I had it up and each noise seemed to be louder and more annoying than the last.

I was happy with my hodge-podge playlist and it played some tracks that got me going though overall I stuck to a plan of jogging most of the course, with some brisk walking and only one real sprint at the end. 

M4 seemed to over quick, but I also had shorter songs than previous playlists so that may have been part of it. 

I was pretty happy to be able to jog at a decent pace for most of the course and even though it was only half a kilometer faster pace than the previous race; any improvement is good.

Tomorrow its new shoes and I'm hoping Monday or Tuesday I'll get the books I ordered. I may blog again if my legs are hurting as much as I suspect they will be. After I sprinted at the end of the race, my shins, calves (especially my right) and knees (again, especially my right) were aching.

Tomorrow shall tell the tale.

Day 4

So this was my fourth run. I was supposed to do it tomorrow but I didn't sleep great last night and was up early this morning so after work I was dog tired. I had a small dinner - cottage cheese, toast and an apple sauce and something like 24 oz of water. 

I've had a bit of knee pain periodically. Its mild; more of a distraction than a nuisance but it was making me wonder about a morning run since it tends to be a little stiffer in the morning. 

I decided that instead of risking bitching out in the morning (since morning Jay can be unpredictable), I would go tonight. We put our daughter down and I got my shorts and runners on, popped on ZR and went out. 

Mission 3 was a bit better than 2 but I was hoping for more. If it hadn't been for the zombie evasions it would have been pretty boring though. It was a good run; I didn't push as much because I was favoring my knee a bit.

There was one point where I blasted out 26.6km/h - almost speeding in a school zone motherf@#kahs! That shit is going to happen soon; I promise you. 

Hell yeah!

Day 3

My daughter climbed into bed and was parasitically attached to my back when I awoke at around 3:30am this morning. I got up and went to the couch but it was no good - sleep would not come. I was thinking about my running. I had built it up in my mind that this was going to be an amazing run. I was running with Anne-Marie too which was pretty cool. I was too amped up to sleep. I don't get like this about running. That psyched me up even more.

My warm-up was a little different. I went with dynamic movements instead of more static, stationary ones. I'm hoping the train of thought that muscles need to be woken up with locomotive movement as well as stretching before running and relaxed during cool-down with static stretching after running is accurate. I'm not sure my ass wants to feel like this all the time.

It was cold and clear this morning at 5:30am. I had a "No, not this shit." moment when the ZR app on my wife's iPhone informed me it was receiving gibberish from the server. 

It seemed to smarten up as I left. 

Something else I tried was keeping a steadier pace; ramping up to higher speeds and ramping back down when I need to slow down. There are theories that it is quick starts and stops that may cause some of the muscle issues. I'll see if it mattered when I wake up tomorrow.

My headphones pissed me off. I messed with the volume more than once and slowed more than I wanted to. 

Cool moments: I kept telling myself I could keep running, that I didn't need to slow down and that worked. My shins fucking killed though. 

As I made my way around overhanging foliage along Hope River Rd I basically came face-to-face with someone on horseback. They were stopped, just standing there which was a bit creepy but I suppose some sweaty guy lurching out of the bush would be enough to spook a horse so they stopped so it was less so. I couldn't really see the rider, but nodded and strode by. 

I'd be lying if part of me didn't have a flight of fancy that perhaps it was death on horseback, come for me. It gave me a laugh at the time. I embellished the scene in my mind to the point that I envisioned it playing out in a movie as such:

The runner comes around from a low-hanging branch and greenery and there is a black horse and rider. The rider sits motionless. The runner stops; unable to go past as the horse is blocking his way. Eventually the rider pulls back his hood to reveal a terrible visage; pale, smooth white skin; the face of a fetus - translucent skin pulled tight over a bulbous skull and black ovoid eyes. It pointed past the man and he turned, looking back to see a familiar form sprawled out on the grass. His own form. Lifeless. When he turned back to the rider, it was reaching out with one of its emaciated hands; urging him to climb up.

I took it easy for the last leg of the run; my right-side was splitting and is still sore now. I walked it off the rest of the way and eventually shut the app down as it was a run I didn't think worth recording. It took me a few tries to get it to upload to the site and when I did it was showing I stopped halfway and only collected 1 supply. I did adjust the volume at roughly that point but surely hopping over to the music icon and turning the volume up wouldn't shut it off?

Either way, I sent an email to Alex MacMillan from Six to Start to explain the issue I was having.

So the run was okay all-in-all. The fact I had some ZR difficulties tells me I need to have an equally motivating, hopefully non-electronic option so that when technology fails I'm not so bummed that I don't want to run.

All I can say is I'm looking forward to Wednesday's run. 

Bring it on.

Day 2 - Bonus Run (Run 2.0)

Zombies, Run! Check.

Killer Playlist. Chickity-check.

Once the sun goes down and the streets go quiet, its on.

The sun went down. I couldn't wait for it to get quiet. I was stretching as it darkened and hit the streets as soon as I thought I would get some good effect from ZR. 

Two regrets; one - I failed to turn on zombie chases which I'm assuming ups the ante significantly. Also, I didn't immediately see where to turn on shuffling which is what I was hoping for. Even so - it was one helluva good run. What's more, it's two major incentive factors for my next run!

This time out I went way longer, way harder, way faster than the last and when I was done I was impressed to find I didn't get the throat and lung hoarseness I had last time. I do feel it in my legs and ankles, maybe moreso tomorrow. Either way, totally worth it. 

Favorite parts of the run were going through the nearly pitch black school grounds and seeing someone standing near the wall; a dark silhouette against  a lighter wall. No features, just standing there. Thanks for the creep-out. Did someone hire you to do that shit??

Next was running along beside the darkened thickets on the hillside east of Quarry road on the approach to Hope River, then the bridge crossing and running through the park. There is a path that runs along the side of the hill, obscured by trees but open in places. There's also a small cave along there in an open area visible from the road. Bit more creep-out factor. 

Actually I'll fess up - I didn't run through the park. I totally pussied out there. I'm a big enough man to admit it. Along the black banks of the Hope Slough, the grasses higher than my waist and my flashlight failing me I thought it would be safer to stick to the road. I'm strictly talking about hidden foot hazards here. Safety first, people.

Hope River Road was a long stretch but I got a couple of good sprints in. Those were fun. I had that definite sense of 'pulling from the reserve' and finding more energy where the previous run there was less. I know this changes based on a number of factors, but it was very encouraging.

After the run it felt awesome to just sit in the backyard and cooldown; listening to the ambient noises on the street, neighbors talking. I swear I felt like a super-hero for a minute or two.

Total Distance: 4.4K / 2.7M
Duration: 37:10
Average Speed: 7.1km/h
Average Pace: 8:27
Burned: 515 Calories

Oh and 3 packs of underwear? Really? Do they need this many pairs of tighty-whiteys in the post-apocalyptic future? 

Here's a link to this run. Bonus Run. 

Day 1

Not a perfect run but a great run.

Wake up Alarm: 5:30AM
Start of Run: 5:50AM
Weather: Cool, dry, clear 11C
Playlist: View here.
Boards of Canada - Chinook
Just Like You Imagined - NIN
True to Form - Hybrid
Boss - Scorn
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons

The weather was perfect; the roads were deserted. The sky was gunmetal and silver-blue with pinprick stars. 

Slow start; warmed up with Boards of Canada. Worked up to a jog from a brisk walk after that. Went hard when the drums kicked in 'Just Like You Imagined' and again in the homestretch at 1:55 when drums kicked in 'Boss'. Definitely need to get rid of Hybrid - track was too long and messed up my pacing.

I think it's too early for High Impact Interval Training. By a mile. Literally. Once I can run a mile then HIIT is on.

After the run my lungs hurt. A lot. I coughed and felt hoarse. It went away. My lower legs are a bit sore. More lower leg stretches would be good. I felt awesome afterwards. Had a good day at work; demolished my backlogged workload and felt great about that. 

I'm anxious for my next run.

Day Zero

It is the day before I run. 

Calling this the Apocalypse Project is a bit of tongue-in-cheek. Sort of. 

While I don't actually believe there is some great and terrible disaster set to occur; no global cataclysm to shatter the world and bring ruin to the lives of billions; no series of lesser calamities that will culminate into some great tragedy of the human condition. And while I certainly don’t believe in zombies; I do believe it would be foolish to assume nothing bad could ever happen. If something bad does happen; be it earthquake, flood, heck even these solar flares they’re predicting – I want to be able to provide, to survive and to protect.

So, to this end it is time to push myself farther than I have before. Time to train, time to prepare. Time to man up and take my future into my own hands. I’ve tried this before; the drive faded.

It is the day before I run. 

This time will be different. This time I have help. 

Overview of Day 1 Run