4 miles Monday, 3.5 miles Tuesday (speedwork 7x400 sprints), 3 miles easy Wednesday, rest Thursday, 8 miles Friday, 3 miles Saturday
I've felt kind of cruddy this week, but I did all my runs! Some were good and some not so good...lots of them I was pretty dizzy and nauseated. Yesterday's 8-miler was an endurance test--it was just under 90 degrees (at 7 pm) and insanely humid (thunderstorms on their way). I ran 3.5 miles to meet a friend, ran 3 miles with her, and ran 1.5 miles home by myself. I'm so glad that I was meeting her halfway because it would have been really hard to run that all by myself--the first 3.5 I was motivating myself by trying to catch up with other runners (and felt inordinate satisfaction when passing them!).
3 miles tonight were so revitalizing--I felt SO incredibly sick all day. I took a nap this afternoon and then spent about an hour and a half lying on my bed while everyone else was eating dinner, which I felt too yucky to eat (I got almost done making it and then I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I ended up boiling myself two eggs and lying down to eat them). When I finally got up Neil had the kids almost in bed, and I got dressed and went out to run hoping that would make me at least feel better mentally if not physically. The eggs started to come back up about 2 minutes into the run, but I hung in there, and ran out to what used to be my favorite route and is now a construction zone. I ran through the muddy mucky mess of road-in-progress and up the hill and it was the best part of my day--just being alone out there with NO cars and no people and nothing (not even any construction equipment--just a deserted sweep of dirt road) but geese honking and swimming in a nearby flood zone. When I turned around I was so sad to go back to civilization!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
8/25
I've done all my other runs this week; they just haven't made it on here.
So 3.5 miles on Monday, 4 miles Tuesday, 3 miles on Wednesday (which oddly enough felt harder than either of the shorter runs, because I'd pushed those really hard and I was trashed on Wednesday, plus I got up about 5:30 to go run). Another 3 miles yesterday, and then 7 today.
And whew! Today's run was a first in that it is the first time I have ever ever ever run in public wearing just a sports bra. We ran the first 3 miles and I was dying, so when we got to the woods I just carried my shirt for the rest of the run. Since it was right around 90 degrees at 6 pm and I was starting to get dizzy, I think it made a huge difference in being able to finish comfortably. I felt SO much better afterwards.
So 7 good miles through heat and hills...much slower than we'd normally go, but since it was the end of the day and we'd done 3 hours of yard work that morning (I mowed the lawn in that awful heat and then spent forever weeding the garden!) I was pretty happy with it. Stopped 3 times for water.
20.5 miles for the week; knee is a little twinge-inducing but overall pretty good.
So 3.5 miles on Monday, 4 miles Tuesday, 3 miles on Wednesday (which oddly enough felt harder than either of the shorter runs, because I'd pushed those really hard and I was trashed on Wednesday, plus I got up about 5:30 to go run). Another 3 miles yesterday, and then 7 today.
And whew! Today's run was a first in that it is the first time I have ever ever ever run in public wearing just a sports bra. We ran the first 3 miles and I was dying, so when we got to the woods I just carried my shirt for the rest of the run. Since it was right around 90 degrees at 6 pm and I was starting to get dizzy, I think it made a huge difference in being able to finish comfortably. I felt SO much better afterwards.
So 7 good miles through heat and hills...much slower than we'd normally go, but since it was the end of the day and we'd done 3 hours of yard work that morning (I mowed the lawn in that awful heat and then spent forever weeding the garden!) I was pretty happy with it. Stopped 3 times for water.
20.5 miles for the week; knee is a little twinge-inducing but overall pretty good.
Monday, August 20, 2012
8/20
Really relaxing run with my friend Doreen on Saturday morning; there was mist everywhere and it was beautiful and cool. Came home and biked (up INSANE hills!) for a couple of hours with the family (which means toting kids on my bike) and then mowed the lawn; by the end I was glad that I'd only run 3 miles that morning so I had energy for the rest of the day.
3.5 miles today on the treadmill, kept the resistance at 1 to mimic some of the wind resistance outside; 8:34/average pace, topping out at 8:00/mile and running a tempo run. It still feels really weird to be running such short runs, but it is great to focus on building up speed again (finally! My 3.5 is back under 30 minutes), and it's nice to be running 5 days a week. I'm excited to hit a couple of weeks down the road when I'm running 5-milers on my regular days and 10 on my long days. (Especially excited to start running with Neil, who has not run a step since we ran today on my birthday, almost a month ago, and it was probably 3 months before that. He keeps insisting that he wants to run the half-marathon with me, but he isn't doing any running, so we'll see. The fact that he's 11 inches taller does give him an unfair advantage on training for pace, but I am secretly hoping that I show him up when we run together this weekend. I love it when I have to slow down so he can keep up. How's that for a nice wife?)
My knee is still feeling decent--it grates occasionally, but my hip on the opposite side is getting a little achy. Come on, body!
3.5 miles today on the treadmill, kept the resistance at 1 to mimic some of the wind resistance outside; 8:34/average pace, topping out at 8:00/mile and running a tempo run. It still feels really weird to be running such short runs, but it is great to focus on building up speed again (finally! My 3.5 is back under 30 minutes), and it's nice to be running 5 days a week. I'm excited to hit a couple of weeks down the road when I'm running 5-milers on my regular days and 10 on my long days. (Especially excited to start running with Neil, who has not run a step since we ran today on my birthday, almost a month ago, and it was probably 3 months before that. He keeps insisting that he wants to run the half-marathon with me, but he isn't doing any running, so we'll see. The fact that he's 11 inches taller does give him an unfair advantage on training for pace, but I am secretly hoping that I show him up when we run together this weekend. I love it when I have to slow down so he can keep up. How's that for a nice wife?)
My knee is still feeling decent--it grates occasionally, but my hip on the opposite side is getting a little achy. Come on, body!
Thursday, August 16, 2012
8/16
Today was supposed to be a rest day but I ran six miles (makes sense, right?) I opted to run tonight because I'm hoping to go hiking Saturday, and I figured that I would have more free time tonight than I would tomorrow.
Pretty tired, so I didn't push incredibly hard. Ran at a level 1 resistance and threw in some hills of 2, 3, and 5 resistance. Stopped at 2.2 and 4.7 miles for water.
Six miles; right around 9/mile...not great, but not bad considering that it was a treadmill run at the very end of a day where I was so tired I fell asleep reading to the kids...multiple times!
Pretty tired, so I didn't push incredibly hard. Ran at a level 1 resistance and threw in some hills of 2, 3, and 5 resistance. Stopped at 2.2 and 4.7 miles for water.
Six miles; right around 9/mile...not great, but not bad considering that it was a treadmill run at the very end of a day where I was so tired I fell asleep reading to the kids...multiple times!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
8/15
So far, so good on the half training, although my knee has been bothering me again lately. Not excited about that...I think I may have strained it this past weekend (ran 6 miles and didn't roll it afterward). Hopefully it will get better soon--I'm excited to have a rest day tomorrow!
Not sure on pace for today, since I was running outside with a friend. 6x400 yesterday; the first couple were a little slow since I stopped after both of the first 2 (helping Isaac with some things) but then the next 4 were much better. Pace for the whole set was 8:45; pace for the last mile was 8:09. Getting there!
Not sure on pace for today, since I was running outside with a friend. 6x400 yesterday; the first couple were a little slow since I stopped after both of the first 2 (helping Isaac with some things) but then the next 4 were much better. Pace for the whole set was 8:45; pace for the last mile was 8:09. Getting there!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
8/1
I started half-marathon training earlier this week. It's good to be back on a rigorous daily schedule like that. Unfortunately, this also means that I backed out of running with my friend, partially because of Neil's schedule (he likes to go into work really early), partially because I was really struggling with the post-run crash hitting mid-morning, and partially because I was enjoying easy runs and conversations too much, and I wasn't pushing myself hard enough. Today I ran hills on the treadmill-- as hard and steep as I could stand--until just before I started throwing up and I felt so much more satisfied with myself than the gentle runs where I was having fun talking with my friend. And then I toed off my shoes and realized that my mind is very messed up sometimes. Maybe it's just the fever talking (oh yeah, i'm really sick right now, which is another awesome reason to go run the crap out of some hills). I've realized over the past year how crazy it was to find someone with my exact same schedule who ran the exact same pace and was training for the exact same run...I really want to find someone who is training for a half so that we can trade babysitting but so far, I don't know anyone else who is running that much.
Another thing--I have been totally feeling like crap lately, mentally and physically. So in an effort to dig myself out of my little black pit of despair where I've been living for the last four or five months, I'm trying to be much more disciplined about what I eat. And one of the ways I want to do this is by writing down everything I eat. I'm hoping that the combination of race training and watching food intake will work some magic (I'm also downing a lot of interesting vitamin combinations). And tracking my sleep and exercise.
Breakfast: apricot, homemade whole-wheat toast with honey, strawberry yogurt, pint of water
Lunch: four carrots, quinoa bowl (with peppers, cannelloni beans, red onion), and green smoothie (spinach, blueberries, carrots, OJ), pint of water
Snack: another pint of water and 1.5 apricots (Luke dove on the second half)
Dinner: roasted tomato soup, one homemade whole-wheat roll, and 3 helpings of quinoa salad (quinoa with spinach, lettuce, craisins, apples, and cashews). and another pint of water.
looking at this I think I need a lot more protein. and maybe I should measure portion sizes. that sounds exhausting.
Sleep: 5.5 hours
Run: 3 miles of really crappy hills, around 9:05/mile (so slow, so slow, but I am so not where I need to be and I seriously feel like death today). Ran 5x400 yesterday, around 8:50/mile or so and another 3 on Monday. Kind of nice having a break from my regular 5 milers and I'm trying to run harder and work in more hills while my mileage is still so low. I always love that first week of training.
Another thing--I have been totally feeling like crap lately, mentally and physically. So in an effort to dig myself out of my little black pit of despair where I've been living for the last four or five months, I'm trying to be much more disciplined about what I eat. And one of the ways I want to do this is by writing down everything I eat. I'm hoping that the combination of race training and watching food intake will work some magic (I'm also downing a lot of interesting vitamin combinations). And tracking my sleep and exercise.
Breakfast: apricot, homemade whole-wheat toast with honey, strawberry yogurt, pint of water
Lunch: four carrots, quinoa bowl (with peppers, cannelloni beans, red onion), and green smoothie (spinach, blueberries, carrots, OJ), pint of water
Snack: another pint of water and 1.5 apricots (Luke dove on the second half)
Dinner: roasted tomato soup, one homemade whole-wheat roll, and 3 helpings of quinoa salad (quinoa with spinach, lettuce, craisins, apples, and cashews). and another pint of water.
looking at this I think I need a lot more protein. and maybe I should measure portion sizes. that sounds exhausting.
Sleep: 5.5 hours
Run: 3 miles of really crappy hills, around 9:05/mile (so slow, so slow, but I am so not where I need to be and I seriously feel like death today). Ran 5x400 yesterday, around 8:50/mile or so and another 3 on Monday. Kind of nice having a break from my regular 5 milers and I'm trying to run harder and work in more hills while my mileage is still so low. I always love that first week of training.
Friday, July 20, 2012
7/20
And another month down...knee is much better these days, it seems (I have been having some pain in the opposing hip that I assume is derived from shifting things around with my knee).
I've been running in the mornings with a friend for the past couple weeks. I have to say that while I've loved being done with my run by 7 am, I'm not thrilled by my performance. I feel so much slower and weaker than I did a couple of years ago. But at least I'm running, and it's good to be back on the roads and have the wind resistance (I'm running 1.5 miles to meet her, 2 miles with her, and then the 1.5 miles home).
I still haven't decided if I'm running a half this fall or not...when I'm not running, I want to do it, but at 5:45 am when I'm staring down another bleary-eyed five miles in the insane humidity, it doesn't sound so great.
I've been running in the mornings with a friend for the past couple weeks. I have to say that while I've loved being done with my run by 7 am, I'm not thrilled by my performance. I feel so much slower and weaker than I did a couple of years ago. But at least I'm running, and it's good to be back on the roads and have the wind resistance (I'm running 1.5 miles to meet her, 2 miles with her, and then the 1.5 miles home).
I still haven't decided if I'm running a half this fall or not...when I'm not running, I want to do it, but at 5:45 am when I'm staring down another bleary-eyed five miles in the insane humidity, it doesn't sound so great.
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