So there hasn't been tons to report on lately. Just the usual running routine.
I did another 10k. I believe that makes 3 total 10ks; all ran in different settings: trail, cross country, and road. The latest 10k was the Girls on The Run back in November. I ran a 53:17, which is a 8:36 mile. Not going to lie, that is way faster than I thought I'd run. I got second in my age group! Actually, it's not that exciting. I've come to realize that the 25-29 age group tends to be the "slowest". You know what age group is super fast? The old people. Like 50+ age groupers. I'm telling you, those baby boomers don't mess around when it comes to running. They are FAST. Yikes.
I'm continuing to do speed session workouts. I skipped once from not feeling well, but other than that I've been a champ at attending. And that's saying a lot because it is cold outside and I despise the cold. Nothing is more unmotivating than the prospect of a cold, dark run and time away from the family. It's so easy this time of year to just throw in the towel and say, "F it. I'm staying in my nice warm house and cuddling with my babies." But I always feel great after the workout and have tons of energy when I get back home. I'm trying to focus on that positive side of it.
I've started trying to go to the gym Wednesday nights after the babies go to sleep. I've always been a nighttime gym person and would much rather go at 8pm than 5am. It's been nice. I get to lift; which I think is great! I forget sometimes how much I love lifting. I don't,however, forget how much I love flexing in the mirror when I brush my teeth after a lifting session at the gym. Try it sometime. You'll probably feel like a Jersey Shore wannabe, but it's ok because you'll probably be alone in the bathroom anyway. Seriously, try it.
The next big race on my radar is the Bentonville half marathon April 6. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to run this one or not becaaaaaauuuuuse........ wait for it....... I might be in Paris!!! I can sacrifice the Bville half for Paris. Plus I'm kinda thinking maybe I'll just make up my own half marathon in Paris while I'm there. I might even make jerseys and race numbers for Husband and I to wear. So exciting!
I don't know if I talked about wanting to run a 50k next year or not. Well, I do. I think. Maybe not. 31 miles of trail is a lot of trail running. And it is before the Chicago marathon, which is risky to do if I want to be in tip top shape for Chi. I keep going back and forth in my head. It kind of reminds me of when I was preggo with Baby2 and for about 3 months I thought I wanted to give birth without an epidural. And then I changed my mind. This 50k thing is kinda like that. For about 3 months I've been totally convinced that I could and would do the 50k. Now I'm changing my mind. Maybe I should aim for the 25k instead. I'll have to keep you posted on that.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Seconds Dates with 10ks. It's Like We're Married.
So I ran my second 10k back on October 13. And I kicked it's ass! Which I seriously did not think would happen. Let me tell you why. But first, let me paint a quick picture of this race. Our friend said it best when he described it as "a cross country race for adults". That is exactly what it is. An open 10k cross country race for anyone. And then a college race. And then a high school race. And then a junior high race. It brings back memories of the Glory Days, for sure. On with the story:
My morning started just peachy- there were no major child/husband/me disasters that caused us to be late or anything like that. I had coffee. And a peanut butter bagel. I was set. Everything was going smoothly. And then we arrived at the parking lot and waited for the shuttle to take us to the race. And we waited. And waited. With two kiddos under 2, a BoB duallie, and about 8 backpacks full of baby-ly and running-ly things, my waiting time patience was maxed out at 20 minutes. We also hadn't considered a long shuttle wait-time into our morning agenda.
.....So here is where I could seriously write an entire book about our adventure getting onto the shuttle, the shuttle ride, and departing the shuttle. But I won't. Because it's really frustrating and I don't really care to relive a play-by-play of everything that happened. But I will say this, which pretty much sums it all up: In all my years of running, I have always found that the running community is full of really amazing, encouraging, helpful, totally rad people. None of them were on the bus that morning. Except for 1 guy and the other family that was juggling 3 kids. Everyone else sucked. Bleh.
Anywho. We got to the actual race area way later than we intended. The check-in was setup as a men's line and a women's line; which meant my husband got his number in about 4 seconds and I had to wait 15 minutes. Such is life when you have a vagina. At least there wasn't a line for the porta potty (this is my attempt at optimism). This race always does a super job of having a plethora or porta potties. I bet a woman organizes that part of the race. Anyway, after all that, I had just enough time to change shoes, put on my number, find my headphones, and run to the starting line. Forget any warming up or stretching. Bleh again.
The gun fired and we all took off! I was running on straight-up adrenaline/pure outright frustration about that damn shuttle ride for the first 2.5 miles. It was awesome! They even had a guy calling out your mile times- just like in high school! It made me smile :) The little 8ish-year-old girl that I kept running back and forth with made me smile too. She looked like she'd much rather be playing with Barbies than running a 6.2 mile race early in the morning with a bunch of lame adults.
I had no idea what time I should go for in this race. I've decided it's difficult to have goals other than "faster than last time" when you are still getting back in shape. So instead I went for "people goals". There were lots of people at this race that I recognized from other races and I wanted to beat them all. Ok, well, at least beat the ones I knew were possibly beatable. And I did! I had my sights set on one girl in particular who is always at the speed sessions and is always faster than me. And I passed her! I was so proud of myself (that's right, I just tooted my own horn. Deal with it). So I don't remember off hand what exactly I ran, but I believe my splits were sub-9:00 miles which is beyond anything I could have expected for myself! The running store owner/speed session coach yelled at me to kick it in with about 1/4 mile left, so I did. I've found it makes my life (read, my Monday speed sessions) easier if I do what he says. Plus, there were two "old dudes" in front of me that I had no intention of letting beat me. I thought of about a million different smartass things to say to these "old dudes" as I passed them ("hey old guys. I can't believe you are going to get chic-ed this close to the finish line. hahaha"), but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. Now, if you know me in real life, this will surprise, nay, SHOCK you. You probably don't even belive me. But it's true. I'm still not sure if I'm sad about it or not..... ;)
The next 10k will be Girls on The Run on Nov 17. It's a road 10k and will be the real test of where I'm at. My running has taken a step down lately because of traveling (my husband just ran his first marathon!!), and the husband traveling and just overall craziness of life. I'm hoping to be able to get in at least two 6+ mile runs before Nov 17.
My morning started just peachy- there were no major child/husband/me disasters that caused us to be late or anything like that. I had coffee. And a peanut butter bagel. I was set. Everything was going smoothly. And then we arrived at the parking lot and waited for the shuttle to take us to the race. And we waited. And waited. With two kiddos under 2, a BoB duallie, and about 8 backpacks full of baby-ly and running-ly things, my waiting time patience was maxed out at 20 minutes. We also hadn't considered a long shuttle wait-time into our morning agenda.
.....So here is where I could seriously write an entire book about our adventure getting onto the shuttle, the shuttle ride, and departing the shuttle. But I won't. Because it's really frustrating and I don't really care to relive a play-by-play of everything that happened. But I will say this, which pretty much sums it all up: In all my years of running, I have always found that the running community is full of really amazing, encouraging, helpful, totally rad people. None of them were on the bus that morning. Except for 1 guy and the other family that was juggling 3 kids. Everyone else sucked. Bleh.
Anywho. We got to the actual race area way later than we intended. The check-in was setup as a men's line and a women's line; which meant my husband got his number in about 4 seconds and I had to wait 15 minutes. Such is life when you have a vagina. At least there wasn't a line for the porta potty (this is my attempt at optimism). This race always does a super job of having a plethora or porta potties. I bet a woman organizes that part of the race. Anyway, after all that, I had just enough time to change shoes, put on my number, find my headphones, and run to the starting line. Forget any warming up or stretching. Bleh again.
The gun fired and we all took off! I was running on straight-up adrenaline/pure outright frustration about that damn shuttle ride for the first 2.5 miles. It was awesome! They even had a guy calling out your mile times- just like in high school! It made me smile :) The little 8ish-year-old girl that I kept running back and forth with made me smile too. She looked like she'd much rather be playing with Barbies than running a 6.2 mile race early in the morning with a bunch of lame adults.
I had no idea what time I should go for in this race. I've decided it's difficult to have goals other than "faster than last time" when you are still getting back in shape. So instead I went for "people goals". There were lots of people at this race that I recognized from other races and I wanted to beat them all. Ok, well, at least beat the ones I knew were possibly beatable. And I did! I had my sights set on one girl in particular who is always at the speed sessions and is always faster than me. And I passed her! I was so proud of myself (that's right, I just tooted my own horn. Deal with it). So I don't remember off hand what exactly I ran, but I believe my splits were sub-9:00 miles which is beyond anything I could have expected for myself! The running store owner/speed session coach yelled at me to kick it in with about 1/4 mile left, so I did. I've found it makes my life (read, my Monday speed sessions) easier if I do what he says. Plus, there were two "old dudes" in front of me that I had no intention of letting beat me. I thought of about a million different smartass things to say to these "old dudes" as I passed them ("hey old guys. I can't believe you are going to get chic-ed this close to the finish line. hahaha"), but I thought better of it and kept my mouth shut. Now, if you know me in real life, this will surprise, nay, SHOCK you. You probably don't even belive me. But it's true. I'm still not sure if I'm sad about it or not..... ;)
The next 10k will be Girls on The Run on Nov 17. It's a road 10k and will be the real test of where I'm at. My running has taken a step down lately because of traveling (my husband just ran his first marathon!!), and the husband traveling and just overall craziness of life. I'm hoping to be able to get in at least two 6+ mile runs before Nov 17.
Friday, October 12, 2012
First Dates with 10ks
One down, one to go!
So it wasn't the worst first date with a 10k. It was, however, a little misleading. You know when someone posts a Brad Pitt-like picture and they are like "this is my profile picture. I really do look like this." And then when you meet them in person, you think they probably should have posted a picture of Steve Buscemi instead. Because that would have been more realistic. No offense to Steve; I bet he's really nice.
Anyway. So the 10k wasn't really a 10k. It was like a 6.4-6.9 miler depending on whose GPS who choose to believe. Which actually kinda makes me happy. My splits for an actual 10k were about 10.02, but since it wasn't really a 10k, that means I had sub 10 minute mile splits. Yay me! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that whatever time you would normally run a road race at, add at least a minute to your mile pace when you are doing trail races. They are hard.
Here's the down low with the race. I had no idea where the course was going to go. My plan was to make sure there was always someone in front of me that I could follow. This ended up being the best plan in the world. There were a lot of people who took wrong turns. I guarantee you I would have been one of those people had I not made sure I was following someone at all times. But the race itself was so much fun! Trail running requires so much mental power (step here, watch out for that branch, jump over that log, etc) that you almost forget to be tired. It was a total brain workout. The end was the worst. The last couple of miles were all up hill, down hill, up, down, up, down. Really short and steep uphills and really short and steep downhills. Of course, by this time your legs and brain are about fried which make trail running even harder. A lady bit it right in front of me and I tried to help her up. She totally ignored my attempt (jerk!) so I made it a point to run past her. So mature, I know. Then karma hit and I almost bit it twice in a very short period of time.
Next 10k is the Chili Pepper Cross Country 10k tomorrow morning. I've always wanted to run it so I'm really excited! It's been raining all day today so it'll be interesting to see how crazy the course ends up being. My goal is to run 9:30 splits. Woohoo!
So it wasn't the worst first date with a 10k. It was, however, a little misleading. You know when someone posts a Brad Pitt-like picture and they are like "this is my profile picture. I really do look like this." And then when you meet them in person, you think they probably should have posted a picture of Steve Buscemi instead. Because that would have been more realistic. No offense to Steve; I bet he's really nice.
Anyway. So the 10k wasn't really a 10k. It was like a 6.4-6.9 miler depending on whose GPS who choose to believe. Which actually kinda makes me happy. My splits for an actual 10k were about 10.02, but since it wasn't really a 10k, that means I had sub 10 minute mile splits. Yay me! I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that whatever time you would normally run a road race at, add at least a minute to your mile pace when you are doing trail races. They are hard.
Here's the down low with the race. I had no idea where the course was going to go. My plan was to make sure there was always someone in front of me that I could follow. This ended up being the best plan in the world. There were a lot of people who took wrong turns. I guarantee you I would have been one of those people had I not made sure I was following someone at all times. But the race itself was so much fun! Trail running requires so much mental power (step here, watch out for that branch, jump over that log, etc) that you almost forget to be tired. It was a total brain workout. The end was the worst. The last couple of miles were all up hill, down hill, up, down, up, down. Really short and steep uphills and really short and steep downhills. Of course, by this time your legs and brain are about fried which make trail running even harder. A lady bit it right in front of me and I tried to help her up. She totally ignored my attempt (jerk!) so I made it a point to run past her. So mature, I know. Then karma hit and I almost bit it twice in a very short period of time.
Next 10k is the Chili Pepper Cross Country 10k tomorrow morning. I've always wanted to run it so I'm really excited! It's been raining all day today so it'll be interesting to see how crazy the course ends up being. My goal is to run 9:30 splits. Woohoo!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
First 10ks and Weird Mental Things
Let's talk about the weird mental things first.
The reality of my situation is that I don't run that often. My goal was three times a week, and that rarely happens. I am faithful about doing speed sessions on Mondays when my husband isn't out of town and I try to sneak in one other day throughout the week. And that's it. That's all she wrote. But here's the kicker: every week I continue to feel faster. And the speed session workouts are telling me that I am faster. I feel in shape (ok, not like Boston-qualifying-in-shape, but I feel good). I can, and have, run 6+ miles without feeling like I was going to die in the middle of it. Or feel like I needed a month to recover afterwards. I find this amazing because, like I said, I'm only out there 2 days a week.
The reality of my situation is that I don't run that often. My goal was three times a week, and that rarely happens. I am faithful about doing speed sessions on Mondays when my husband isn't out of town and I try to sneak in one other day throughout the week. And that's it. That's all she wrote. But here's the kicker: every week I continue to feel faster. And the speed session workouts are telling me that I am faster. I feel in shape (ok, not like Boston-qualifying-in-shape, but I feel good). I can, and have, run 6+ miles without feeling like I was going to die in the middle of it. Or feel like I needed a month to recover afterwards. I find this amazing because, like I said, I'm only out there 2 days a week.
I guess here is my point:
You don't have to workout everyday in order to feel good about your training, or working out, or weight loss, or getting in shape, or yourself in general, or whatever your personal motivation is. Being told that you have to workout everyday for 30 minutes and it has to be cardio and your heart rate has to be above 180 for that entire 30 minutes blah blah blah blah blah is really unmotivating. You end up beating yourself up when you miss a day or have a bad workout and, honestly, it can be really hard to pick yourself back up after that. You will make progress at 2 days a week.
Soooo.....
Maybe this is the wrong way to looks at things; but set the bar low. Maybe your low bar is really higher than you thought. But also, and super importantly, don't be afraid to move that bit** up when it's time :)
Speaking of which:
10ks. Always wanted to run one, but I've totally been chicken about the whole idea.... up until now. Not only did I sign up for one, but TWO within three weeks. And they're not even "easy" road races. The first is a trail race this Saturday and the second is a cross country race on October 13th. Holy cow. I'm excited! And nervous. I feel like I'm going on a first date. With a 10k. What if the 10k takes a fake phone call in the middle of dinner and never returns? Am I suppose to still go on the second date with the 10k?? Or do I say "screw you, 10k. You suck. I'm going to sleep with your cousin- the 5k"? But then what if the 10k is glorious and I fall in love?? And then I say, "Ugh. 5k's. Gross. Who would ever stoop so low?I mean, please, have some self respect." And then I'll turn into a running snob and a 10k slut. Agh!
I'll keep you posted......
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Rockin' It Out
Here's what I've been up to in the recent past:
I did a speed session the last Monday in August. It wasn't a particularly difficult session, my running buddy wasn't there, but I did manage to do my lunges super duper slow which led me to win one of those things you wear on your hand that holds a water bottle. I have no idea what those are called. But I won one. I love surprise surprises!
They don't do speed sessions on Labor Day because there is always a race going on somewhere around town. I had all intentions of running it. And then I got sick which resulted in me not running for 11 days. (Honesty time. Only 4.5 of those days can really be blamed on the sickness. Whew, that felt good to admit)
So that Thursday morning 11 days after said speed session was my first run in, like, forever. And I only did it because I had a running buddy (the power of a running partner should never be underestimated). I have a strong aversion to running in the dark, especially by myself. And it's dark at 5am. And let's face it, running on a treadmill for 4 miles at 5am doesn't exactly scream of excitement. I made sure my running buddy was aware that she needed to show up with lowered expectations since I'd been sick and not running and was sure this was going to be a terrible run for me. Can't you just feel my positive attitude emanating through the blog? Don't you feel all warm and sunshinny inside now? Anyway, I arrived early to our meeting place. And by early, I mean on time. My running buddy also arrived on time. And by on time, I mean 10 minutes late. I greeted her in my usual friendly manner, "Wow. You look really tired." She laughed. Then we ran 4 miles. And it was awesome! I totally felt great the entire time. You always hear of people who do the whole 'mind over matter' thing; which was obviously not my approach to this run. This run ended up being 'matter over mind'. I thought the run was going to be awful, but it was actually super awesome! (Honestly time again. Pre-run, my running buddy said that typically she has really great runs after she's taken a break. Even if the break was due to a sickness. She was right.)
I did a speed session the last Monday in August. It wasn't a particularly difficult session, my running buddy wasn't there, but I did manage to do my lunges super duper slow which led me to win one of those things you wear on your hand that holds a water bottle. I have no idea what those are called. But I won one. I love surprise surprises!
They don't do speed sessions on Labor Day because there is always a race going on somewhere around town. I had all intentions of running it. And then I got sick which resulted in me not running for 11 days. (Honesty time. Only 4.5 of those days can really be blamed on the sickness. Whew, that felt good to admit)
So that Thursday morning 11 days after said speed session was my first run in, like, forever. And I only did it because I had a running buddy (the power of a running partner should never be underestimated). I have a strong aversion to running in the dark, especially by myself. And it's dark at 5am. And let's face it, running on a treadmill for 4 miles at 5am doesn't exactly scream of excitement. I made sure my running buddy was aware that she needed to show up with lowered expectations since I'd been sick and not running and was sure this was going to be a terrible run for me. Can't you just feel my positive attitude emanating through the blog? Don't you feel all warm and sunshinny inside now? Anyway, I arrived early to our meeting place. And by early, I mean on time. My running buddy also arrived on time. And by on time, I mean 10 minutes late. I greeted her in my usual friendly manner, "Wow. You look really tired." She laughed. Then we ran 4 miles. And it was awesome! I totally felt great the entire time. You always hear of people who do the whole 'mind over matter' thing; which was obviously not my approach to this run. This run ended up being 'matter over mind'. I thought the run was going to be awful, but it was actually super awesome! (Honestly time again. Pre-run, my running buddy said that typically she has really great runs after she's taken a break. Even if the break was due to a sickness. She was right.)
Thursday, August 30, 2012
NYC Running
We went on a little trip to NYC last weekend to visit my brother and his super cool wife. And we flew. With both babies. And a husband who had just arrived home from China not even 12 hours prior to our departure. We are hardcore in our family. We don't just fly- we fly with 2 infants (first time for either baby on a plane) and 1 jetlager.
We didn't really have anything on our agenda- just Central Park mainly. I wanted to take Beverly to the zoo. So we did. And secretly I wanted to run the Central Park loop with my husband. It's 6.2 miles, which intimidated me a little. I know I needed to be running that kind of distance, but I was a little scared to try. What if I have to stop and walk? What if I start running too fast and just die half way through? Heaven forbid I just go out and run. Geeze. Anyway, here is the play-by-play of the run:
Both babies decided to take long naps so the husband and I decided that would be a good time to go run the loop. It was awesome to be able to go on a long run with the husband, just the two of us. I think it's super cool that we have running in common. It's like date night for nerds. "Hey baby. Wanna go for a run?"
The first part of the loop smelled like horse poop. Then I got hollered at by a girl on roller skates to "watch behind" me while I was running. I could seriously type for 3 pages about roller skater girl's comment, but let's just move on. We ran up around the reservoir for a short while too. Didn't even know there was one in Central Park. Then we entered into this super cool part of Central Park that doesn't resemble NYC at all. You couldn't really see any buildings or hear any street noise. It was like you could convince yourself that you were running on a hilly, tree lined road anywhere in America. I thought that was cool. And there was a pool. Then there was a garbage truck in front of us. Gross. I almost threw up. NYC trash smells worse than any other trash. Except for maybe in Korea. Korea definitely smelled bad. We ran some more. Then got stuck behind another garbage truck. Gross again. We ran some more. Then the smell of horse poop came back and I knew we were close to being done. And then we finished! It was one of my all time favorite runs. We ran the whole time at about a 10:00 mile pace. It was amazing.
It was fun to see how far Clayton's watch said we had ran (his uses GPS) and how far mine said we had gone. They were pretty close. In the end I think they were only like .1 miles off of each other.
We got back home on a Sunday and I went to the speed session Monday night. I hadn't been in about 3 weeks. It was an easier session which was fine with me. My running buddy wasn't there- sad. But I did "win" a water bottle holder hand grip thing. I did my lunges at the end of the workout the slowest. Who knew you'd win a prize for that??
We didn't really have anything on our agenda- just Central Park mainly. I wanted to take Beverly to the zoo. So we did. And secretly I wanted to run the Central Park loop with my husband. It's 6.2 miles, which intimidated me a little. I know I needed to be running that kind of distance, but I was a little scared to try. What if I have to stop and walk? What if I start running too fast and just die half way through? Heaven forbid I just go out and run. Geeze. Anyway, here is the play-by-play of the run:
Both babies decided to take long naps so the husband and I decided that would be a good time to go run the loop. It was awesome to be able to go on a long run with the husband, just the two of us. I think it's super cool that we have running in common. It's like date night for nerds. "Hey baby. Wanna go for a run?"
The first part of the loop smelled like horse poop. Then I got hollered at by a girl on roller skates to "watch behind" me while I was running. I could seriously type for 3 pages about roller skater girl's comment, but let's just move on. We ran up around the reservoir for a short while too. Didn't even know there was one in Central Park. Then we entered into this super cool part of Central Park that doesn't resemble NYC at all. You couldn't really see any buildings or hear any street noise. It was like you could convince yourself that you were running on a hilly, tree lined road anywhere in America. I thought that was cool. And there was a pool. Then there was a garbage truck in front of us. Gross. I almost threw up. NYC trash smells worse than any other trash. Except for maybe in Korea. Korea definitely smelled bad. We ran some more. Then got stuck behind another garbage truck. Gross again. We ran some more. Then the smell of horse poop came back and I knew we were close to being done. And then we finished! It was one of my all time favorite runs. We ran the whole time at about a 10:00 mile pace. It was amazing.
It was fun to see how far Clayton's watch said we had ran (his uses GPS) and how far mine said we had gone. They were pretty close. In the end I think they were only like .1 miles off of each other.
We got back home on a Sunday and I went to the speed session Monday night. I hadn't been in about 3 weeks. It was an easier session which was fine with me. My running buddy wasn't there- sad. But I did "win" a water bottle holder hand grip thing. I did my lunges at the end of the workout the slowest. Who knew you'd win a prize for that??
Saturday, August 18, 2012
I promise I'm still running!
I've actually had a pretty good month. Well, for me at least. I've been going to the Monday night speed sessions and I've been running every Thursday morning for the past month+. "Hey, 5am. How YOU doin'?" I've even managed to finagle someone into running one morning with me. But only once. My goal was to run at least one other day during the week- either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. That hasn't happened. Except for 1 race. I don't have a legitimate excuse but I do have reasons...
It's totally because I'm making other things my priority instead of running (which is exactly what my husband called me out on the other week). Sometimes its laundry or other cleanliness related thing. Sometimes its errands or little to-dos that need to get done. This is obviously a balance issue that I need to figure out.
Time for good news! Last weekend the husband and I did a 5k. It was an absolutely perfect morning for running! The nasty heat we've been having for the past few months finally broke so it was an amazing 70 degrees that morning. We even had to bust out the long sleeves! My goal was to break 27:00. I ran a 26:30. Yay! The watch really helped me on this run. It was awesome to see what pace I was going at and how far I'd run.
I've had to skip most of my running this week since husband is away on business. I managed to sneak in a little 4.1 miler at 9:13 pace yesterday though. I'm still deciding on a short run later tonight. I really want to give the double BoB a whirl so I'm leaning towards going. We'll see.
The next race I'm planning on doing is a 10k trail run down in Fayetteville at the end of September. I haven't really done any trail running and haven't run over 6 miles in like........ ummm...... 6 years?? Something like that. So needless to say I have a lot of work to do before then.
It's totally because I'm making other things my priority instead of running (which is exactly what my husband called me out on the other week). Sometimes its laundry or other cleanliness related thing. Sometimes its errands or little to-dos that need to get done. This is obviously a balance issue that I need to figure out.
Time for good news! Last weekend the husband and I did a 5k. It was an absolutely perfect morning for running! The nasty heat we've been having for the past few months finally broke so it was an amazing 70 degrees that morning. We even had to bust out the long sleeves! My goal was to break 27:00. I ran a 26:30. Yay! The watch really helped me on this run. It was awesome to see what pace I was going at and how far I'd run.
I've had to skip most of my running this week since husband is away on business. I managed to sneak in a little 4.1 miler at 9:13 pace yesterday though. I'm still deciding on a short run later tonight. I really want to give the double BoB a whirl so I'm leaning towards going. We'll see.
The next race I'm planning on doing is a 10k trail run down in Fayetteville at the end of September. I haven't really done any trail running and haven't run over 6 miles in like........ ummm...... 6 years?? Something like that. So needless to say I have a lot of work to do before then.
Monday, June 25, 2012
First 5K and other milestones
A couple items of note happened in my training world in the past few weeks.
1. I ran really far. 5.7 miles to be exact. It was another awesome run where Superman himself was running through my veins and I felt like I could go on forever. I set out determined to run until the sun went down, and that's exactly what I did. It was glorious. My next step is to do 6+ miles. I'm thinking I can make that happen next week......
2. I did the Cancer Challenge 5K this past weekend. I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped, but I ran what I felt like was a realistic (albeit sad and humbling) picture of where I am with training. I'll spare the details. I ran 3.1 miles in 27:30ish. I was really hoping for an under 9:00 mile pace. But at least now I have a starting point and it'll only get better from here!
3. Rush Running speed session happened today. How hot was it, you ask? 100+ degrees. But my running buddy was there so that made the heat at least tolerable :) It's amazing how having someone to run with makes the workouts and the weather not seem as bad as they would if I was by myself.
4. New training set-backs that I hadn't really thought about happened as well. (Or maybe I did think about them...... I'll have to go back to post #1 and see.) Husband out of town + highs in the upper 90s = no running for this lady. That could have been a partial contributor to my less than stellar preformance on Saturday.
August 11 is the next race that I know for sure I'm doing. Tontitown's Run for the Grapes 5k. I did it last year with a friend, pushing a stoller, newly preggo, and it was awesome! My goal this year will be 25:30. Game on.
1. I ran really far. 5.7 miles to be exact. It was another awesome run where Superman himself was running through my veins and I felt like I could go on forever. I set out determined to run until the sun went down, and that's exactly what I did. It was glorious. My next step is to do 6+ miles. I'm thinking I can make that happen next week......
2. I did the Cancer Challenge 5K this past weekend. I didn't do nearly as well as I'd hoped, but I ran what I felt like was a realistic (albeit sad and humbling) picture of where I am with training. I'll spare the details. I ran 3.1 miles in 27:30ish. I was really hoping for an under 9:00 mile pace. But at least now I have a starting point and it'll only get better from here!
3. Rush Running speed session happened today. How hot was it, you ask? 100+ degrees. But my running buddy was there so that made the heat at least tolerable :) It's amazing how having someone to run with makes the workouts and the weather not seem as bad as they would if I was by myself.
4. New training set-backs that I hadn't really thought about happened as well. (Or maybe I did think about them...... I'll have to go back to post #1 and see.) Husband out of town + highs in the upper 90s = no running for this lady. That could have been a partial contributor to my less than stellar preformance on Saturday.
August 11 is the next race that I know for sure I'm doing. Tontitown's Run for the Grapes 5k. I did it last year with a friend, pushing a stoller, newly preggo, and it was awesome! My goal this year will be 25:30. Game on.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Outta The Funk. At Least for a Day
My last run was a great run! One of those runs where you feel like you could just go forever. I was determined to make sure my run was longer than 3 miles. I did just over 4. I kept the pace easy going for the first 3 miles. For the last mile-ish I picked up the pace and tried to keep it at under 9:00. And I still felt great at the end!
I'm still planning on running later today. I have a feeling that it will either start raining or I'll get distracted by baking and end up not going.
Tomorrow is Monday which means speed session day. I do believe I will be participating again this week. We'll see.
I keep going back and forth between wanting to do the 5k or the 10k at the Cancer Challenge in a couple weeks. I've never done a 10k, only 5ks and a marathon. Kinda backwards, isn't it? And it's not like there are a ton of 10ks around. But at the same time, I need to work on speed and a 5k would be a good judge of where I am fitness wise. Decisions, decisions.
I'm still planning on running later today. I have a feeling that it will either start raining or I'll get distracted by baking and end up not going.
Tomorrow is Monday which means speed session day. I do believe I will be participating again this week. We'll see.
I keep going back and forth between wanting to do the 5k or the 10k at the Cancer Challenge in a couple weeks. I've never done a 10k, only 5ks and a marathon. Kinda backwards, isn't it? And it's not like there are a ton of 10ks around. But at the same time, I need to work on speed and a 5k would be a good judge of where I am fitness wise. Decisions, decisions.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
I Found Out I'm Slow. And I'm Commiting to the 4.
So I did end up doing a trail run after my last post. Well, part of the run was trail. I finally got around to running through the Crystal Bridges Museum trails. They are so nice! And so fun! I forgot how much fun trail running is and how different it is from running on paths and sidewalks. I feel like I could run forever on a trail. It's like every step is a challenge- where to put your feet, step up, step over, run through- it's a blast! I think I might try to trail run a couple times a month from here on out.
I did my first speed session last week. Just in case our local running store, Rush Running, wasn't awesome enough as it is, they put on free speed sessions at the track every Monday. I'm not even kidding that there are 70ish people who attend every week. Some people are super duper fast and some people have never even ran before. It's totally cool. Last summer Hubs and I would trade off weeks. Someone would do the speed workout and the other one would take little Beverly on a run in the BoB. I haven't done a speed session in almost a year. And it showed. Holy cow. We had to sprint 200m before we got into our intervals and I thought my legs were going to fall off. Really it was my quads. I decided that after each run from now on I'm going to do some sprints up and down my street. I can't even believe how slow I was. It's like my body forgot how to sprint. Weird, but I guess it makes sense.
I totally made one of the girls at the speed session run with me. Or I made myself run with her, I'm not sure. But either way it was nice to run next to someone and have them push you. She made me run more than I originally intended to and I appreciated that from her. Even though I thought I was going to puke after the last set. I've never puked from running before, but man I was close last Monday :)
I feel like I'm in a 3 mile funk. All my runs are right around 3 miles. I think it's time to up my game and Commit To The 4. I need to make all my runs at least 4 miles to get out of this funk. And if they are less than 4 miles, they need to be fast. Like under 9:00 fast. (Please hold your comments- under 9:00 is fast for me right now.) I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
I'm going to sign up for my first race soon. It's going to be the Cancer Challenge June 23 and I will be doing the 5k. I originally thought 10k. But that was before I realized how slow I am. So I'm going to use the 5k as a speed workout. If my splits are under 8:30 I'll be happy.
I did my first speed session last week. Just in case our local running store, Rush Running, wasn't awesome enough as it is, they put on free speed sessions at the track every Monday. I'm not even kidding that there are 70ish people who attend every week. Some people are super duper fast and some people have never even ran before. It's totally cool. Last summer Hubs and I would trade off weeks. Someone would do the speed workout and the other one would take little Beverly on a run in the BoB. I haven't done a speed session in almost a year. And it showed. Holy cow. We had to sprint 200m before we got into our intervals and I thought my legs were going to fall off. Really it was my quads. I decided that after each run from now on I'm going to do some sprints up and down my street. I can't even believe how slow I was. It's like my body forgot how to sprint. Weird, but I guess it makes sense.
I totally made one of the girls at the speed session run with me. Or I made myself run with her, I'm not sure. But either way it was nice to run next to someone and have them push you. She made me run more than I originally intended to and I appreciated that from her. Even though I thought I was going to puke after the last set. I've never puked from running before, but man I was close last Monday :)
I feel like I'm in a 3 mile funk. All my runs are right around 3 miles. I think it's time to up my game and Commit To The 4. I need to make all my runs at least 4 miles to get out of this funk. And if they are less than 4 miles, they need to be fast. Like under 9:00 fast. (Please hold your comments- under 9:00 is fast for me right now.) I'll keep you posted on how that goes.
I'm going to sign up for my first race soon. It's going to be the Cancer Challenge June 23 and I will be doing the 5k. I originally thought 10k. But that was before I realized how slow I am. So I'm going to use the 5k as a speed workout. If my splits are under 8:30 I'll be happy.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Quit counting and just run!
I've decided to quit counting days now. I do believe I have 3 runs under my belt since the last update. Now let's see if I can remember anything about them....
1. This was a short 2.6ish miler. I don't remember how I felt, but I do remember that I counted animals while I ran. I saw a turtle. He ducked his little head in as I ran past. Apparently I'm intimidating. I quit counting once I got to 9 rabbits. Although, some of those could have been counted twice since I did and out and back run.
2. Upping the distance here with about 3.2 miles. I was going to run by myself, but little Beverly was being high maintenance while I was getting ready so I decided to take her along with me. We went to Orchards Park to run. I drive past it and through it all the time and I keep wanting to run there. It was a good decision. There were an unbelievable amount of people at the park, which I think is super cool. There were soccer, baseball, softball, and sand volleyball games going on all over the place. I love seeing people outside like that. Bev was a superstar running partner and did awesome even though it was pretty much past her bedtime before we even got out there.
3. Yesterday. 3.3 miles. I was kinda in a hurry to get my run in. It's amazing how quickly your days fill up when you have a flex week at work (I can work, but I don't have to work during flex weeks. It's a pretty sweet job). Nothing fancy to report on this run.
I'm about to go do my run for today. I'm thinking I'll go back to Orchards Park and hit up the trails around Crystal Bridges. My trail shoes have been sitting, waiting, dying to be ran in for about a year now. Then I'm going to pick up the kiddos from daycare all stinky and sweaty. They're going to love me today :)
1. This was a short 2.6ish miler. I don't remember how I felt, but I do remember that I counted animals while I ran. I saw a turtle. He ducked his little head in as I ran past. Apparently I'm intimidating. I quit counting once I got to 9 rabbits. Although, some of those could have been counted twice since I did and out and back run.
2. Upping the distance here with about 3.2 miles. I was going to run by myself, but little Beverly was being high maintenance while I was getting ready so I decided to take her along with me. We went to Orchards Park to run. I drive past it and through it all the time and I keep wanting to run there. It was a good decision. There were an unbelievable amount of people at the park, which I think is super cool. There were soccer, baseball, softball, and sand volleyball games going on all over the place. I love seeing people outside like that. Bev was a superstar running partner and did awesome even though it was pretty much past her bedtime before we even got out there.
3. Yesterday. 3.3 miles. I was kinda in a hurry to get my run in. It's amazing how quickly your days fill up when you have a flex week at work (I can work, but I don't have to work during flex weeks. It's a pretty sweet job). Nothing fancy to report on this run.
I'm about to go do my run for today. I'm thinking I'll go back to Orchards Park and hit up the trails around Crystal Bridges. My trail shoes have been sitting, waiting, dying to be ran in for about a year now. Then I'm going to pick up the kiddos from daycare all stinky and sweaty. They're going to love me today :)
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The End of The Hiatus!
Holy Hiatus!
The eccentric exercises totally worked (even though I cheated and didn't do them at the gym or as often as I was supposed to). Today was a 1.85 mile run in 16:30 which is an 8:55 mile. It was hard and it hurt. It was great! I was so glad to be out there.
I think I'd better sign up for a race soon to make sure a hiatus doesn't happen again.
As a reminder to my future self, here are the reasons for said hiatus:
1. knees
2. rain
3. Hubs was out of town for 3.5 days
4. there are only 24 hours in a day and sometimes that just isn't enough to accomplish everything you want to. Especially during this crucial time when baby2 is super tiny and I just want to cherish every second of it :)
The eccentric exercises totally worked (even though I cheated and didn't do them at the gym or as often as I was supposed to). Today was a 1.85 mile run in 16:30 which is an 8:55 mile. It was hard and it hurt. It was great! I was so glad to be out there.
I think I'd better sign up for a race soon to make sure a hiatus doesn't happen again.
As a reminder to my future self, here are the reasons for said hiatus:
1. knees
2. rain
3. Hubs was out of town for 3.5 days
4. there are only 24 hours in a day and sometimes that just isn't enough to accomplish everything you want to. Especially during this crucial time when baby2 is super tiny and I just want to cherish every second of it :)
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Diagnosis Without a Doctor
We have a local running store here in town that is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Every Monday they do these speed session workouts on the track at one of the schools in town. We try to attend as often as possible. One of us usually does the workout and the other one has kiddos, but we always go together as a family. It's great to have a reason to be outside and hang out together. Anyway. My mom was in town and she volunteered to watch both babies while we speed sessioned it out (yay!). I wasn't sure how my knees would hold up, but I hadn't ran since last Tuesday so I thought maybe the knees be okay since they should have been well rested. Wrong. I couldn't do the workout so I just jogged along the outside lane of the track instead.
The owner of the running store is the one who puts on these speed sessions and comes up with the workouts and whatnot. He asked why I was running in the outside lanes and I explained that I wasn't doing the workout because of my knees yada yada yada. He started asking questions about where and when they hurt and immediately let me know that I had patellar tendentious and needed to do eccentric exercises to fix it. Ummmmm.....eccentric exercises? I don't know what that means but in my head I pictured someone sporting bright pink hair, a hula skirt, tall socks from the 70s and some sweet sunglasses doing jumping jacks. Eccentric, right? Apparently that is not what this form of "eccentric" means. My bad. An eccentric exercise is like when you do a bicep curl but it's the part where you bring your arms down; not the part where you bring the weight up. Or something like that. Google it.
So I'm supposed to do lots of reps (like 50) on the quad machine at the gym with minimal weight and go really really slowly on the 'eccentric' part of the lifting. I don't know if I worded any of that correctly but I know what I'm trying to say and that's what counts :) I haven't had a chance to do the eccentric exercises yet but I'm sure by the end of the week I will. And then cured (hopefully)!!
**Side note about Rush Running (our local store).
Running stores and runners and workouts put on by running stores for runners can be super intimidating for people who are not runners or not in shape. But that is so not the case here in Bentonville! I don't think I've ever seen or heard of a more welcoming place for runners of all abilities. And by all abilities I mean even people who aren't runners at all. I just wanted to let you know how cool it is to have a place and a group of people who truly are judgement free, welcoming, and above all else, encouraging of everyone! It blows my mind in the best way possible.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Unforseen Demotivators
Saturday April 21
At what point in time do you stop saying "my knees hurt" and start saying "I have a knee injury"? I haven't had anything that I would consider a legit injury before, so I'm not sure. I think running again probably isn't going to happen any time soon and that makes me really sad.
I forsee a knee doctor appointment in my future. I don't really want to go because I'm afraid their answers will be predictable, not very helpful, and super expensive. "Well Mrs. Patrick, your knees hurt because you had two kids super close together and your joints are still recovering. Take some ibuprofen, drink plenty of water, and rest for a while. That will be $1500. Please pay at the front desk".
I suppose I better start thinking about other work out-ly things to do. Maybe kickboxing. Maybe pilates. Maybe P90X. Decisions, decisions.
At what point in time do you stop saying "my knees hurt" and start saying "I have a knee injury"? I haven't had anything that I would consider a legit injury before, so I'm not sure. I think running again probably isn't going to happen any time soon and that makes me really sad.
I forsee a knee doctor appointment in my future. I don't really want to go because I'm afraid their answers will be predictable, not very helpful, and super expensive. "Well Mrs. Patrick, your knees hurt because you had two kids super close together and your joints are still recovering. Take some ibuprofen, drink plenty of water, and rest for a while. That will be $1500. Please pay at the front desk".
I suppose I better start thinking about other work out-ly things to do. Maybe kickboxing. Maybe pilates. Maybe P90X. Decisions, decisions.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Day 6 Tuesday April 17
So remember how my Watch is a dirty liar and tells me I ran really far when I really didn't?? Well, it heard me. Watch decided to go in the opposite direction today. And remember how my last run was on a treadmill and uneventful? Also opposite today. And yes, I would like some cheese with the following whine.
Let me begin by saying that my knees still hurt. A whole lot. Even when I'm not running. Which makes running very unfun. It also makes me look really silly for the first 10 minutes of the run while I try to figure out my stride with shooting pain going through my knees. It's not that I care that I look silly; I really don't give a damn. It's more that "my stride" is not my stride when my knees hurt like that. Its like wearing someone else's clothes or driving someone's else's car.... it just doesn't feel right.
It took until 18 minutes into the run before my knees went from shooting pain to an aching pain that I could live with. At 20 minutes I started to feel the effects of the run (of course). I really don't like being out of shape. And I really don't like being reminded of that a meager 20 minutes into a run.
I checked my pace a couple times on Watch throughout the run. I knew I wasn't running fast. I wanted distance, not fastance. That's right, fastance. I made up a word, I think. But I didn't think I was going that slow. Like 12:00 per mile slow. I found that information very depressing and just figured my knees must really be affecting my running more than I was willing to admit to myself.
When I knew I was reasonably close (half a mile-ish) to my house, I decided to sneak a peak at how far Watch said I had run. Mentally I had logged about 8 miles (it was a tough run), but I thought realistically it was probably closer to 3.25. Nope. 2.6. Let me say it again. TWO point SIX! And you know how long my watch said I'd been running for? About 34 minutes. I tried to figure out how "fast" I was apparently running and gave up once I realized that it was slower than 11 minutes a mile. Ridiculous.
Belive it or not, I could keep going on and on about this run, its few ups and many downs, and how it was an overall mental beating (I was going to say something way more vulgar than "mental beating" but decided to take the high road. However I will not take the high enough road to not let people know that I'm thinking of a way worse choice of words, even if I didn't type it). But I'll spare you and just get to the point.
I used two different run-mapping websites once I got home to check my run. There was no way it was only 3.12 miles in 37:42. I was right. It was 3.8 miles. THREE point EIGHT. Which works out to be way faster than 12:00 miles. Stupid watch.
I'm super stoked that I ran that far. My goal was 4 but I knew I'd be lucky to get 3 with the way my knees were hurting. So 3.8 is awesome! I am just not super stoked that I'm still fighting the accuracy battle with my watch. So here's the score: Watch 2, Eileen 1. Even though I just complained a ton, I still ran farther than I thought which means I'm awesomer than I thought which means I won today.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Day 6 Sunday April 14
Nothing fancy to report here. Just a good ol' run on the treadmill. 3 miles. Very slow. Lots of knee pain. I blame it on the weather. Does anyone else's joints hurt like crazy when it's rainy outside? This only started happening to me after I ran the 2003 Chicago marathon. Stupid marathons..... who runs those? Oh yeah, crazy people.
The hubs and I had a nice sit down conversation about the races we want to do this year. Better start saving now; these entry fees are adding up quick! Who would have thought you'd need to budget for races??
Here's my list so far (in no particular order):
1. The Cancer Challenge in June. I'm shooting to run the 10k but I'm fine with a 5k too.
2. The Chili Pepper in October. Hubs did this cross country 10k last year and I was so jealous that I couldn't participate. So we'll both be doing it this year.
3. One of those crazy obstacle course 5ks. I'm throwing around the idea of doing a Tough Mudder next year..... we'll see. 12 miles of obstacles is asking a lot.....better start with a 5k.
4. Run for the Grapes. I did this one last year when I was newly preggo. I ran with a stroller and a friend and it was a blast!
The hubs and I had a nice sit down conversation about the races we want to do this year. Better start saving now; these entry fees are adding up quick! Who would have thought you'd need to budget for races??
Here's my list so far (in no particular order):
1. The Cancer Challenge in June. I'm shooting to run the 10k but I'm fine with a 5k too.
2. The Chili Pepper in October. Hubs did this cross country 10k last year and I was so jealous that I couldn't participate. So we'll both be doing it this year.
3. One of those crazy obstacle course 5ks. I'm throwing around the idea of doing a Tough Mudder next year..... we'll see. 12 miles of obstacles is asking a lot.....better start with a 5k.
4. Run for the Grapes. I did this one last year when I was newly preggo. I ran with a stroller and a friend and it was a blast!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Pork Chops and Appley Things
I've heard the best way to learn how to cook is to follow recipes. Then once you get comfortable in the kitchen, you start being able to do things on your own. Not only am I in the recipe stage, but I'm in the "crap, I don't own that seasoning/spice/liquid-thing-used-for-cooking" stage. I've decided it will take a full year of recipe cooking before my kitchen is adequately stocked. This Pork Chop and Apple-y Things recipe is a perfect example of how unstocked my kitchen is.
Give credit where credit is due. This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman's blog. I heart her blog, especially the recipes in it. They have all turned out pretty well; even for someone with absolutely no skill in the kitchen. This is the Recipe. You should read it before you read any further. Or not. Either way. But you definetely should make this recipe.
So here are the things I had to go without even after a trip to the grocery store:
First. Pure Maple Syrup. Do you know how much pure maple syrup costs?? You don't? I'll tell you. It's like $8! So that wasn't going to happen.
Second. Dry White Wine. I don't even know what that means other than it's not red. And I live in a dry county (did you know those even still exist?!). So that wasn't going to happen.
Third. The bacon-cheese grit thing didn't happen. At all. I'm not that daring yet.
And this is how I, with the help of Hubs, changed it up. Instead of pure maple syrup we used honey (his idea- way to go!) which I did actually have honey on-hand from a different recipe (one step closer to a fully "stocked" kitchen). And instead of wine I used water. If there is another more appropriate substitute for "dry white wine" I'm all ears. I added a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of maple flavoring. I was afraid that the maple lost from not using the syrup would really affect the end flavor.
**Side Note** Maple flavoring should be sold by the drop. No matter what size container maple flavoring you purchase, it will be too big. I literally used a drop and my whole house smelled like maple for the rest of the night. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that stuff is strong.
OK. So the recipe was super easy to follow. I didn't do a lot of measuring. The recipe is to feed an entire family. I just wanted to feed me and Hubs. I ended up needed more liquid in the pan towards the end. And I probably cooked everything longer than it needed to be. But holy crap was it good! And it looked pretty. And smelled pretty. This ended up being one of those meals where the first bite is good, the middle bite is great, and the last bite is awesome!
Damn. I should have taken a picture........
Give credit where credit is due. This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman's blog. I heart her blog, especially the recipes in it. They have all turned out pretty well; even for someone with absolutely no skill in the kitchen. This is the Recipe. You should read it before you read any further. Or not. Either way. But you definetely should make this recipe.
So here are the things I had to go without even after a trip to the grocery store:
First. Pure Maple Syrup. Do you know how much pure maple syrup costs?? You don't? I'll tell you. It's like $8! So that wasn't going to happen.
Second. Dry White Wine. I don't even know what that means other than it's not red. And I live in a dry county (did you know those even still exist?!). So that wasn't going to happen.
Third. The bacon-cheese grit thing didn't happen. At all. I'm not that daring yet.
And this is how I, with the help of Hubs, changed it up. Instead of pure maple syrup we used honey (his idea- way to go!) which I did actually have honey on-hand from a different recipe (one step closer to a fully "stocked" kitchen). And instead of wine I used water. If there is another more appropriate substitute for "dry white wine" I'm all ears. I added a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of maple flavoring. I was afraid that the maple lost from not using the syrup would really affect the end flavor.
**Side Note** Maple flavoring should be sold by the drop. No matter what size container maple flavoring you purchase, it will be too big. I literally used a drop and my whole house smelled like maple for the rest of the night. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying that stuff is strong.
OK. So the recipe was super easy to follow. I didn't do a lot of measuring. The recipe is to feed an entire family. I just wanted to feed me and Hubs. I ended up needed more liquid in the pan towards the end. And I probably cooked everything longer than it needed to be. But holy crap was it good! And it looked pretty. And smelled pretty. This ended up being one of those meals where the first bite is good, the middle bite is great, and the last bite is awesome!
Damn. I should have taken a picture........
Day 5 Wednesday April 11
Believe it or not, there wasn't anything flashy that happened while on this run. Seriously. No Chuck Norris, no scary dogs following me around, no outrageous wind. That being said, here's the workout:
I ran. 2.5 or 2.3 miles depending on whether you believe my non-gps watch or one of those 'where did I run' websites. My pace was faster than 10 minute miles which is awesome in my book!
My watch seems to be .2-.3 miles off. I wouldn't mind as much if my watch said, "You ran 3 miles" and then the website was like, "No way watch, it was 3.3". I'd be like, "I'm a superstar and ran farther than I thought!". Unfortunately the conversation (yes, conversation) between watch, Eileen, and website looks more like this:
Watch: "You ran 3.57 miles already! Didn't that go by super fast? Good job Eileen, you can stop running now since you've gone way farther than you originally planned. You're a superstar!"
Eileen: "Thanks watch! I think I will stop running now. That felt great and it did go by fast!"
Website: "Of course it went by fast. You only ran 3.2 miles. Oh, and that pace your watch told you; yeah, that's wrong too. You were running waaaaay slower."
Eileen: "......awesome................"
I think I should rename Watch. How about the Disappoint-inator. You know, like disappointment but so extreme that it has to have a Terminator reference.
Final Thought: I really do love the watch, seriously! It's a Nike+Sportband and I feel super cool when I wear it. I like what it does and love that Hubs bought it for me. Watch and I are just in the beginning stages of our relationship and working out the kinks :)
I ran. 2.5 or 2.3 miles depending on whether you believe my non-gps watch or one of those 'where did I run' websites. My pace was faster than 10 minute miles which is awesome in my book!
My watch seems to be .2-.3 miles off. I wouldn't mind as much if my watch said, "You ran 3 miles" and then the website was like, "No way watch, it was 3.3". I'd be like, "I'm a superstar and ran farther than I thought!". Unfortunately the conversation (yes, conversation) between watch, Eileen, and website looks more like this:
Watch: "You ran 3.57 miles already! Didn't that go by super fast? Good job Eileen, you can stop running now since you've gone way farther than you originally planned. You're a superstar!"
Eileen: "Thanks watch! I think I will stop running now. That felt great and it did go by fast!"
Website: "Of course it went by fast. You only ran 3.2 miles. Oh, and that pace your watch told you; yeah, that's wrong too. You were running waaaaay slower."
Eileen: "......awesome................"
I think I should rename Watch. How about the Disappoint-inator. You know, like disappointment but so extreme that it has to have a Terminator reference.
Final Thought: I really do love the watch, seriously! It's a Nike+Sportband and I feel super cool when I wear it. I like what it does and love that Hubs bought it for me. Watch and I are just in the beginning stages of our relationship and working out the kinks :)
Monday, April 9, 2012
Day 4 Sunday April 8
Happy Easter!
This day was full of working out-ly things! We went for a 2.5 mile family walk around Lake Atlanta in the morning. I believe we were under the impression that most of the path would be paved. We were wrong. Which is not really a big deal when you have a BoB (even if the tires are still flat) but is a big deal when your other stroller isn't (the Duallie is on our shopping list we just haven't bought it yet). So we walked really slow and tried not to jostle the itty-bitty baby too much. Actually, I think she liked the bumpy ride. Every time we stopped she unhappily woke up. By the end of the 2.5 mile loop both babies were asleep so we headed home.
3 hours, 2 beers and a bratwurst later.......
To run or not to run. And by not running, I mean taking a nap. I thought about the calories burned napping versus the calories burned running and decided that I needed to run.
If this run was a kung fu movie, I would be Chuck Norris and the run would be the poorly-dubbed-Mandarin-speaking ninja who ends up mangled on the ground with "x"'s over his eyes. I karate kicked this run's butt!
I felt great the whole time. The sun was shining, the wind was hiding, and the traffic was almost non-existent. I logged just under 4 miles at about a 9 minute mile pace. I felt like I could run forever.
Musical shout-out from this run: Verona Red. If you need a song to get you through the last 4ish minutes of a run, especially if you're trying to go fast, you should listen to "Goodnight" by Verona Red. It's a perfect running song.
This day was full of working out-ly things! We went for a 2.5 mile family walk around Lake Atlanta in the morning. I believe we were under the impression that most of the path would be paved. We were wrong. Which is not really a big deal when you have a BoB (even if the tires are still flat) but is a big deal when your other stroller isn't (the Duallie is on our shopping list we just haven't bought it yet). So we walked really slow and tried not to jostle the itty-bitty baby too much. Actually, I think she liked the bumpy ride. Every time we stopped she unhappily woke up. By the end of the 2.5 mile loop both babies were asleep so we headed home.
3 hours, 2 beers and a bratwurst later.......
To run or not to run. And by not running, I mean taking a nap. I thought about the calories burned napping versus the calories burned running and decided that I needed to run.
Best. Decision. Ever.
If this run was a kung fu movie, I would be Chuck Norris and the run would be the poorly-dubbed-Mandarin-speaking ninja who ends up mangled on the ground with "x"'s over his eyes. I karate kicked this run's butt!
I felt great the whole time. The sun was shining, the wind was hiding, and the traffic was almost non-existent. I logged just under 4 miles at about a 9 minute mile pace. I felt like I could run forever.
Musical shout-out from this run: Verona Red. If you need a song to get you through the last 4ish minutes of a run, especially if you're trying to go fast, you should listen to "Goodnight" by Verona Red. It's a perfect running song.
Day 3 Thursday April 5
This was one of those "put you in your place slap you across the face you're sooooo out of shape" kind of runs. Allow me to elaborate.
It was an evening run. I went out after the hubs got home from work. We decided I should try and take our little 17.5 month old Beverly to see how she does. She did great! The first 50 yards of the run were her laughing her little head off- greatest sound in the world! So that was awesome. Now for the un-awesomeness. The tires of the BoB were in desperate need of air, which I didn't realize until I was too far from home to be able to do something about it. Have you ever tried to push a running stroller with almost-flat tires? It's like trying to push a couch across a sandy beach. Seriously.
First half of the run was pretty good. We were both in good spirits. Then I turned around. Holy wind! Oh how easy it is to forget about the wind when you're running with it. So once 30lb Beverly, BoB with flat tires, wind, and I reached an uphill, I was done. You know when you're running so slow that if you stopped to walk you'd actually be going faster than if you kept trying to run? Yeah, that happened. So I walked the uphill then started running again. We did walk one other time for about 2 minutes before finally making it home.
Lessons learned: Air up the tires and remember the wind!
It was an evening run. I went out after the hubs got home from work. We decided I should try and take our little 17.5 month old Beverly to see how she does. She did great! The first 50 yards of the run were her laughing her little head off- greatest sound in the world! So that was awesome. Now for the un-awesomeness. The tires of the BoB were in desperate need of air, which I didn't realize until I was too far from home to be able to do something about it. Have you ever tried to push a running stroller with almost-flat tires? It's like trying to push a couch across a sandy beach. Seriously.
First half of the run was pretty good. We were both in good spirits. Then I turned around. Holy wind! Oh how easy it is to forget about the wind when you're running with it. So once 30lb Beverly, BoB with flat tires, wind, and I reached an uphill, I was done. You know when you're running so slow that if you stopped to walk you'd actually be going faster than if you kept trying to run? Yeah, that happened. So I walked the uphill then started running again. We did walk one other time for about 2 minutes before finally making it home.
Lessons learned: Air up the tires and remember the wind!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Day 2 Tuesday April 3
Did I previously say walking was unacceptable? Let me rephrase. Walking is unacceptable when the original plan is to run. Walking is perfectly fine when that is the plan all along. Do I seem like less of a snob now? Aaaahhh I didn't think so. You'd think for being such a big running snob that I'd be a fast runner. Or a good runner. Or have a wall dedicated to awesome medals I've won while running. Alas, I am none and have none of those things. I do have a silver glittery wall in my dining room though which is pretty cool......
Let me just say one thing before I totally lose myself to your or my own good graces. This "running snob" view applies only to myself and to no one else. I don't care if you walk during your run. I don't scoff in the general direction of someone who stops to take a little breather. For my own personal training and mental well-being I cannot allow myself the choice of walking during a run. Once I take the "easy" route once, I'm done for. It will be 1000x harder for me not to take the easy route again. And again. And again. It's like me and Chik-fil-A. I can go for months (theoretically. I mean have you had their breakfast??) without eating Chik-fil-A. But once I give in, I will invariably find myself in the drive-thru line everyday for the next week.
Alas..... I digress....
THE WORKOUT:
I walked for 35 minutes with Baby2. It was so nice to be outside! I'm trying to enjoy the sun and heat before humidity makes her debut and ruins it all. I find walking is more difficult physically for me than running. Isn't that strange? My legs seem more tired and I always get a side stitch. Hhhhhmmmm maybe that's where my aversion to walking stems from.
My initial plan was to walk for close to an hour. I obviously didn't make it. Let me tell you why. I saw a dog. I am terrified of dogs and always have been. We're talking sweaty palms, heart racing, scared to tears (literally), the whole nine yards. When Baby2 and I went walking last week there were 2 dogs that followed me through my neighborhood. They were running and barking and dangerously close to my heels which I just KNEW they were going to bite off. And then I was scared that they would jump in the stroller and bite my baby. Or pee on me or hump my leg or harass me in some other embarrassing way. Of course none of this happened but it did scare me half to death and it took me an hour to stop shaking. I will never walk down that street without another adult again. So I walked up a different street in my neighborhood. 50 yards away at the end of the street, there was a dog sitting in his front yard, staring at me. I briefly contemplated the odds that the dog was bound to the front yard by one of those invisible fence things and decided the odds were not in my favor. So I turned around and went back home.
Let me just say one thing before I totally lose myself to your or my own good graces. This "running snob" view applies only to myself and to no one else. I don't care if you walk during your run. I don't scoff in the general direction of someone who stops to take a little breather. For my own personal training and mental well-being I cannot allow myself the choice of walking during a run. Once I take the "easy" route once, I'm done for. It will be 1000x harder for me not to take the easy route again. And again. And again. It's like me and Chik-fil-A. I can go for months (theoretically. I mean have you had their breakfast??) without eating Chik-fil-A. But once I give in, I will invariably find myself in the drive-thru line everyday for the next week.
Alas..... I digress....
THE WORKOUT:
I walked for 35 minutes with Baby2. It was so nice to be outside! I'm trying to enjoy the sun and heat before humidity makes her debut and ruins it all. I find walking is more difficult physically for me than running. Isn't that strange? My legs seem more tired and I always get a side stitch. Hhhhhmmmm maybe that's where my aversion to walking stems from.
My initial plan was to walk for close to an hour. I obviously didn't make it. Let me tell you why. I saw a dog. I am terrified of dogs and always have been. We're talking sweaty palms, heart racing, scared to tears (literally), the whole nine yards. When Baby2 and I went walking last week there were 2 dogs that followed me through my neighborhood. They were running and barking and dangerously close to my heels which I just KNEW they were going to bite off. And then I was scared that they would jump in the stroller and bite my baby. Or pee on me or hump my leg or harass me in some other embarrassing way. Of course none of this happened but it did scare me half to death and it took me an hour to stop shaking. I will never walk down that street without another adult again. So I walked up a different street in my neighborhood. 50 yards away at the end of the street, there was a dog sitting in his front yard, staring at me. I briefly contemplated the odds that the dog was bound to the front yard by one of those invisible fence things and decided the odds were not in my favor. So I turned around and went back home.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Day 1: Go Eileen Run!
Day 1: Saturday March 31st
I decided I'm going to mark my days by when I actually went running as opposed to calendar days.
My goal was to run for 20 minutes. I have enough of a running background to still be a snob about it- walking is unacceptable. 20 minutes was a good goal.
This was my first run since the end of July 2011. I had planned on running all through being preggo but that ended up not being possible. The doc told me in August no running. I was 13 weeks preggo. By the time I got the all clear to start up again I was 20 weeks along and officially out of shape. I thought it was best not to start up until after the baby was born. So here we are! 6 weeks post baby and run #1 in the books!
The beginning of the run was strange. My legs were tight and it was weird to be running again. But that soon passed and I felt great! It was amazing to be out in the sun! I started to feel like it was my first run at minute 19. I ended up running exactly 25 minutes (there I go setting the bar low for myself again). Don't ask how far I went, I have no idea. I would be shocked if it was even close to 2 miles. My concern right now is time out running, not pace or distance.
I decided I'm going to mark my days by when I actually went running as opposed to calendar days.
My goal was to run for 20 minutes. I have enough of a running background to still be a snob about it- walking is unacceptable. 20 minutes was a good goal.
This was my first run since the end of July 2011. I had planned on running all through being preggo but that ended up not being possible. The doc told me in August no running. I was 13 weeks preggo. By the time I got the all clear to start up again I was 20 weeks along and officially out of shape. I thought it was best not to start up until after the baby was born. So here we are! 6 weeks post baby and run #1 in the books!
The beginning of the run was strange. My legs were tight and it was weird to be running again. But that soon passed and I felt great! It was amazing to be out in the sun! I started to feel like it was my first run at minute 19. I ended up running exactly 25 minutes (there I go setting the bar low for myself again). Don't ask how far I went, I have no idea. I would be shocked if it was even close to 2 miles. My concern right now is time out running, not pace or distance.
Why I Run and Motivational Reminders
Let's start with the basics. Why am I doing a blog? Two reasons.
1. Because everyone else is
2. I want (need) to remember where I started so I can be proud of how far I've come (will have come). This is a purely selfish blog meant for my own motivation and record keeping.
This is the beginning of a blog that will end once I've reached my goal: 2013 Chicago Marathon in less than 4 hours.
Most marathon training programs give you 3 months to prepare for a marathon- or something like that. I'm giving myself 2 years. Here's the true reasons why.
1. I will undoubtedly spend the first year making excuses to get out of running.
2. It really will take me an entire year to get myself into mental and physical shape for a marathon.
3. I'm an underachiever. Absolutely okay with mediocrity. It's sad, but its true. If I set the bar super low (like 2 years to train for a marathon) and manage to go above it, then yay for me. No need to stress myself out by setting a goal that will actually challenge me on a deadline. Ugh I'm pathetic....
Challenges (read excuses) I forsee in reaching this goal. And the reasons why they are crap (in case I forget, you know)
1. I have 2 very young kiddos.
Crap because: A. I have a super supportive husband who is always willing to watch kiddos while I run.
B. Duallie strollers-- duh, Eileen
2. I work full time
Crap because: A. It's only 4 days a week
B. Okay Future Eileen reading this, if your super flexible job is really keeping you from running than you have bigger problems that Current Eileen cannot help you with. GET IT TOGETHER WOMAN!
C. That's what 5am is for
3. 5am.... seriously.....?
Crap because: ....Let's not kid ourselves here, it's not crap. Waking up at 4:30am to get a long enough run in before work just plain sucks.
4. It's too hot/cold outside
Crap because: A. That's what 5am is for (damn, not the 5am reason again!)
B. You own a treadmill AND have a gym membership WITH daycare
So why the 2013 marathon and planning so far ahead?
You just had a baby, Eileen, duh! So 2012 was way out of the question. In 2013 I will turn 30. Yikes! Just kidding, I really don't mind getting older and I like that 30 is a nice round number. A marathon seems like a cool thing to do right after 30. It will also be 10 years since my first Chicago Marathon. Oh yes, I've done this before. Maybe I'll even make it a tradition every 10 years (or not). I was disappointed in my first marathon. I did all the training in the middle of a hot Kansas summer while working 2 jobs and having a ridiculous social life typical of a 19 year old. I changed colleges in the fall and completely slacked on my training. I found it difficult to go for 10-20 mile runs in a town that was unfamiliar to me. And I didn't have a car to be able to plan routes, leave water for myself, all that jazz. That's what I tell myself anyway. So the result was my legs died at mile 8. I finished but it hurt. My time was a full hour slower than I had hoped. And I managed to jack up my knees so bad that I couldn't run without tons of pain for about 5 years. Lesson learned: TRAIN!
So Here We Go...
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