It must be annoying at times for the partner of a runner to keep the enthusiasm up when night after night they have to hear about yet another run's high's and lows. After awhile, all we runners seem to speak about is running, running, and more running. Especially when we're training for a race. And if you're not a runner, it may be hard to understand our one-track minds and how much running seems to take over our lives. How many times can you say "Wow, that's great that you had a good run tonight," with the same amount of enthusiasm as the last 50 runs?
But this week, with four weeks left to go till race day, I asked my husband to step in again to be my running coach. When he's in coach mode, he's always so terriffic at encouraging me before and after a run, cooking me healthy meals, pushing me out the door when I don't want to go, running me a warm bath on cold winter nights...He also does things like research recipes for certain training periods.
And that's how he discovered my favourite pre-run/race dinner: Gordon Ramsay's Pancetta Spaghetti. It's clean, light and yummy, too! (Of course it helps that it was dreamt up by a marathon-running super chef with an attitude.)
So tonight, knowing that I have a 29k run in the morning, hubby cooked up a plate of Pancetta Spaghetti for me, served with a side pep talk. "Don't worry about time tomorrow," he said as I savoured a flavourful mouthful of Proscioutto (he subbed it in for the Pancetta, and it's just as yummy). "Just do the run, and call me when you're done so I can run you a bath. And make sure to eat oatmeal and some fruit for breakfast."
God I love my husband!
So tomorrow as we're running in the rain (100% P.O.P., according to The Weather Network), I'll hear his voice in my head, offering one last bit of advice as I bit into my last mouthful: "Just get 'er done."
How lucky am I?
~ HRG
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
My favourite running accessory: Arm warmers
The weather lately has been weird. Last week was sunny and 6 degrees. Yesterday was rain and ice pellets. Today there's snow drifting. But hey -- that's spring in Nova Scotia!
One of the running accessories that I love for this time of year are my arm warmers -- they're perfect for starting a run with a little extra coverage, peeling down once you warm up, and easy to slip on and off if you get cold throughout the route.
I've owned a pair of LuluLemon's Brisk Run armwarmers for about three years now, and they've been great up until the last few wears. The pair I own has reflective birds on it, which are not only cute, they're handy when you're running at night. There are thumb holes and little pockets at the wrist that you can pull over your hands to act as mitts when your fingers get a little chilly.
The newer versions that I've seen have a slit in the wrist so you can wear your watch or Garmin under the sleeve and have the face poke through, which is handy because with the older version if you wear your watch over the sleeve, you're pretty much stuck with the sleeve on until you finish your run (unless you stop to remove the watch, remove the sleeve, put the watch back on, etc etc). The only thing is that a few friends of mine tested them in the store and the slit is not quite in the right spot. But hopefully that's something the designers will fix for their next version, which I'm told is coming out in the fall (why don't they release them in the spring too? It would be perfect for this time of year, especially out here!).
The newer versions also have a little pocket on one side for your iPod, and extra hemming in the elbow to give you room to bend your arm without stretching the material too much. Lat fall they had some funky patterns like striped grey and black, or bright neon yellow, which are a nice change to the usual black.
I really liked the second generation of these arm warmers, and was looking for a new pair -- my older pair has strangely stopped wicking, so if you sweat at all and then it gets chilly (like say for instance you end up running by the Arm or the harbour where the winds are colder), you end up with a pair of freezing sleeves on your arms for the rest of the run. Unfortunately, as I said, when I emailed them Lulu told me that they won't be releasing a new series of arm warmers until the fall.
So instead, I ended up going to Mountain Equipment Co-op and purchasing a pair of their nylon-esque arm warmers for $23 (I didn't want to invest the $80 or so for a pair of Saucony armwarmers at Aerobics First -- I can't imagine paying that much money for something that only covers a fraction of my body surface!).
The MEC versions are nothing special. They're lined, so they keep you warm, and so far they seem to wick well. There's only a small reflective logo on one arm, and no thumb holes or pockets to slip over your hands. But otherwise, they do what they're designed to do, and they were a good buy. I look forward to testing them on future runs, but I'll also keep my eyes open in case I find any at Lulu in the future.
Who knew you could write so much about arm warmers?
~ HRG
One of the running accessories that I love for this time of year are my arm warmers -- they're perfect for starting a run with a little extra coverage, peeling down once you warm up, and easy to slip on and off if you get cold throughout the route.
I've owned a pair of LuluLemon's Brisk Run armwarmers for about three years now, and they've been great up until the last few wears. The pair I own has reflective birds on it, which are not only cute, they're handy when you're running at night. There are thumb holes and little pockets at the wrist that you can pull over your hands to act as mitts when your fingers get a little chilly.
The newer versions that I've seen have a slit in the wrist so you can wear your watch or Garmin under the sleeve and have the face poke through, which is handy because with the older version if you wear your watch over the sleeve, you're pretty much stuck with the sleeve on until you finish your run (unless you stop to remove the watch, remove the sleeve, put the watch back on, etc etc). The only thing is that a few friends of mine tested them in the store and the slit is not quite in the right spot. But hopefully that's something the designers will fix for their next version, which I'm told is coming out in the fall (why don't they release them in the spring too? It would be perfect for this time of year, especially out here!).
The newer versions also have a little pocket on one side for your iPod, and extra hemming in the elbow to give you room to bend your arm without stretching the material too much. Lat fall they had some funky patterns like striped grey and black, or bright neon yellow, which are a nice change to the usual black.
I really liked the second generation of these arm warmers, and was looking for a new pair -- my older pair has strangely stopped wicking, so if you sweat at all and then it gets chilly (like say for instance you end up running by the Arm or the harbour where the winds are colder), you end up with a pair of freezing sleeves on your arms for the rest of the run. Unfortunately, as I said, when I emailed them Lulu told me that they won't be releasing a new series of arm warmers until the fall.
So instead, I ended up going to Mountain Equipment Co-op and purchasing a pair of their nylon-esque arm warmers for $23 (I didn't want to invest the $80 or so for a pair of Saucony armwarmers at Aerobics First -- I can't imagine paying that much money for something that only covers a fraction of my body surface!).
The MEC versions are nothing special. They're lined, so they keep you warm, and so far they seem to wick well. There's only a small reflective logo on one arm, and no thumb holes or pockets to slip over your hands. But otherwise, they do what they're designed to do, and they were a good buy. I look forward to testing them on future runs, but I'll also keep my eyes open in case I find any at Lulu in the future.
Who knew you could write so much about arm warmers?
~ HRG
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