So... How's your quarantine going?????? (Warning, lots of running discussion!!!)

Well, we went from being super busy to super not busy as one activity after another closed down to try to minimize the spread of Covid-19.

It all started when they closed school on March 21.  Then skating and swimming and STEM class closed.  Then the running groups stopped meeting up.  Frankly, within a week the only thing still happening was I was still going to work as a merchandiser.  Many clients cancelled regular visits, however a co-worker has a son who is immuno-compromised so I've taken over her stores, and another co-worker was planning to leave the company anyway, so I'm now covering for 3 representatives, but there's less work to do. I'm also still finishing up tax returns as I've still got about 15 US clients and have been doing their returns virtually ever since we moved here 6 years ago.  I'm working in the field for merchandising 1-2 days a week and getting our groceries while I'm out.

The big news is we expedited Husband getting home because of uncertainty of what would happen with the border and we brought him home March 13 and he's now home PERMANENTLY!!  I did decide I'd like to be home with him as well and gave my notice at my merchandising job.  They've found a replacement but she's not able to start right away, so the current plan is that I will continue to work through May and be done working by June.

The kids had March break off the week after they called off school and an additional 2 weeks so the teachers could scramble and figure out how to do online learning.  The strikes were now small potatoes compared to full-time on-line learning at home.  So far the smaller kids get a few things to do each day (the Minister of Education is prescribing approx 1 hour of school work a day for their ages) and although they have certain items they do right away with no problem, they tend to "forget" "rush" or "gloss over" some assignments so we've had to do a mandatory check in with Mom or Dad before freedom to play is given. The high schooler was behind some assignments when this all started due to a week of being sick the week before school let out and although he seems to be keeping up with current work he apparently was not motivated to catch up over the three weeks he had off and is highly dis-tractable when working in his room.

I'm baking up a storm, my current goal is to start using up some of the items that have been in the cupboards for awhile.

H's goal has been to perfect my grandmother's Mountain Bar/No Bake Cookie recipe-after 4 batches he's cut the sugar in half which has required the addition of oats.  I've had to hit the store for more oats, flour and coconut.

The good news is that this family was made for self-quarantine. We are home bodies who don't really like going anywhere (the little kids were not like this as kids-they always wanted to go out).  Really I'm the only one struggling and I'm going out once or twice a week for work and do my shopping.  I'm still running once a day, which frankly is keeping my alcohol intake from skyrocketing. Alone time and endorphins.

Things that have surprised me about quarantine:

I forget until summertime or the Sunday night of a long weekend how much my younger children talk.  They give narration of everything they are doing at times. Yesterday I believe they talked for 15 hours straight about homework, the video game they were playing together, their own video games, and the game they were watching Husband play.  My quarantine has been noisier than I expected.

How fast I'm getting when running. (more on this later) When Husband first moved and I started running daily as a necessary self-care, I was very fast, I got out all my angst and loneliness, etc. in running.  Once I got in a groove and was ok with being the only adult at home, my runs slowed down and relaxed.  Now with quarantine, I'm a speed machine again. Particularly after work. I set two Personal Records for 5km just last week.

I'm not lonely.  I do miss having a normal schedule and knowing what to expect each day and my friends I'm used to seeing.  However. I'm never alone. There's always someone here. Because even though I'm self-isolating, I'm self-isolating with 4 other people. Husband has taken to running with me sometimes, however, sometime's I'm too wound up and leave him in the dust without meaning to and sometimes I just need to be alone. I always knew I needed alone downtime, but assumed I was a pretty extroverted person. Turns out I'm way more introverted than I thought.  Running and being able to close the door to my craft room for bits of time and be by myself have been mental sanity savers.

Things that have not surprised me:

I love my routine. I miss knowing what day it is.  I cling to garbage day and knowing that it's Wednesday.  I cling to the school days that I know it's a weekday vs. a weekend.  I relish any sort of item I can put on my now very empty calendar and without anything going on I feel very unanchored.  I loved having certain things I did on certain days.  That I knew I'd miss and I was right.

(Warning: the rest of this post is about running, if you aren't interested or fear dying of boredom, feel free to end reading here, you've caught up on the family news. If however, you are interested in running, or, like most of the world, you have nothing better to do, by all means, read on!)

More on the running.... Some of my races have been cancelled or rescheduled. As you can tell from recent posts.  A lot of my life currently revolves around kids and running.  2020 was going to be MY YEAR OF RUNNING.  Now it's not. I had the 1/2 marathon in February. So far my 30K from March has been moved to November, my Marathon has cancelled (no word on if it's being rescheduled, turned into virtual, etc.) my 50K has been moved to September.  My 28km trail race is making a decision about when to reschedule. If nothing else changes instead of my races being 1/2 marathon, 30km, full marathon, marathon, 50km now it looks like my fall will be: 50km, marathon, 30km.  

With all the races being cancelled early on my running buddies and I started getting disappointed and Running Partner and I decided we needed a goal.  We started brainstorming.  I asked her to run with me in a banana costume, because we felt we had "gone bananas".  As a good Running Partner she did of course.

 and one Sunday on a run she said, "I have an idea.  Don't say no right away......"  She then said, "what if we ran 25km (15mi) every day for 7 days straight starting tomorrow (Monday).  We don't have to run it all at once. We could run 15km together in the morning, then 10km later in the day."  I said, "I'll think about it"  then I thought, what the hell??

So, Monday we ran 15 km together, we ran a Dead fish run I'd wanted to do, then enough to get to 15km then I ran 10km  on my way home because I was afraid if I waited I wouldn't do it. It was fine, didn't die. 

 Tuesday we did speed work. Running Partner is using a running coach (who did not sanction the 25km/day plan BTW) and coach suggested a speed workout which we did after a warm up  and knocked off 16.5km then ran another 8.5 with Husband.

Wednesday I worked then we met up and did a 25Km "Covid Sucks" run in homage to it ruining our race plans.  This was a follow up to my previous 18.5km "Die virus" run earlier in the month.

Thursday we ran 20km using a 16km loop we've done before and adding a little on the end, then I ran 5 more km with my husband who considered himself a rockstar and even ran ahead of me because I was DYING and slow.

Although we were extremely tired after Wed's run all at once, we didn't die and decided to just do 25km together every day because it was too hard to motivate to do the 2nd run.   So, Friday we did another giant loop north of town that dropped us off at our respective homes along the way.

Saturday there was a backyard Ultra Marathon challenge. A backyard Ultra race works as follows: Where ever you are in the world you have a 4.17 mile route. You have one hour to complete the route.  Every time you finish a loop you report in. You keep doing this until you are the last one standing.  In solidarity, we selected a route of the appropriate size west of town and ran it 3.5 times to get 25km for the day.  Frankly we were pleased that our route was fairly downhill and the uphill was so gradual it wasn't a strain. The other advantage to the loops was we didn't have to carry water or anything with us and could drop jackets etc. off at the car each time we passed.

Sunday we finished off with the speedy group's 16km loop (remember I told you about the group that runs super fast???) plus an extra 9km out and back to explore a road we knew was on the map but we weren't entirely sure where it went or what it looked like. Ended up being a former road turned farm road that went out to a busy highway we've run along. So we managed to fit in something new.  And we finished!!!  We also felt that although most of the trails here are closed, hindering our desire to train for an ultra-marathon (more than 42.2km, in my case a 50k, in Running Partner's case, a 50k and 60 k) we felt doing the 25k runs back to back for a week made us feel more like we COULD do 50 or 60km in a day.

So now might be a good time to talk about how my running has progressed in the last 6 months.  Me on the left is after 6 months of running a minimum of 5km a day, doing a 1 hour speed work a week and running a long run of 20-34km once a week.  I've lost 18 pounds and a full size.  My resting heart rate is down, my heart rate during workouts is now mostly in the Zone 4 instead of all in Zone 5 rate. I'm sleeping better, I have other health benefits I've seen that might be a little too TMI but let's also say my mental health is WAY better than  6 months ago. I yell less at my kids, I'm more patient and overall calmer.  Another interesting thing I've noticed that I wasn't expecting. I'm not sore in the morning.  That's right. I run every single day and even if I've run 35km (over 20 miles) the next day I wake up and am NOT sore. 

Really the only thing I'm still impatient about is people who tell me "running will ruin your knees" (typically non-runners) or other nonsense-you know what? I spend a small fortune on running shoes that fit and change them when they are no longer cushioning my joints. I take care of myself and listen to my body.  I've tried some supplements like collagen for joints, amino acids for recovery and magnesium to counteract any cramping. Losing 18 pounds will do way more FOR my knees than AGAINST my knees. It's not for everyone, but it's working for me and I'm so glad I've done it.  I literally wake up each morning thinking about where and when I'm going to fit my run in.  It's now as natural as brushing my teeth or eating breakfast.  I feel like this habit will stay with me because a) I've stuck with it for now 7 months and b) I ran ALL winter. Must I remind you I live in CANADA??? That being said, I don't expect to lose any more weight, esp while I'm still training like I am with long runs in the 30km range.  My body tells me, "hey lady, you are going to need that bit of extra I'm holding on to when you run for 3.5 hours on Saturday!!!" But I'm fine with that. I'm at a goal weight my doctor and I agreed up on YEARS ago that I've seen a few times as an adult, but never for 3 months straight! (15 of the pounds were lost mid Sept to mid December, meaning I've lost only 3 pounds but not GAINED any mid Dec to mid April).

Since the 25km a day, I did slow down a bit the following week and the next week did my speed workout and am back to my long runs (a few weeks ago I ran 36km as my long run).  I am running very fast 5km runs as I'm more anxious about what Covid is doing to our lives and it's my way of getting it out of my head.  My "normal pace" has gotten faster.  I am underestimating how fast I'm going overall because I'm getting faster. It's also making me believe that the next goal of a 4 hour marathon may be within reach....