It's been a while since I've posted, but honestly... nothing too exciting has been going on! I'm still running and race day is quickly approaching (4 weeks and counting). I'm very excited and yet very nervous... at this point I just want race day to get here.
I'm at the point now where I'm tryng to maintain my mileage. I'm doing short 4-5 mile runs during the week and then my longer runs on the weekend. Tomorrows distance will be 11 miles... wish me luck!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Weeks 9, 10, 11
I'm officially into the second half of my training regimen and the goal is to consistently run 10+ miles next week on out. I'm very excited, but also very nervous. It's been a while since I've written on the blog, but things have been pretty standard... running, running, running. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way of some of my sessions, so my schedule has been jostled about somewhat. Hopefully, things will start to smooth out and I can get back on my steady schedule. More to come!
Race Day is 62 days away...
Race Day is 62 days away...
Monday, June 8, 2009
Week 8
Almost half way there! I can't believe it. This whole experience has been eye-opening and I'm really proud that I've stuck with it for so long.
Obviously I ran this week, so I won't bore you with those details. But I realized this past week how "in shape" I am! I first noticed this when I went out for my Monday run. Mark decided to accompany Andrew and I since this run was only going to be about 4 miles (ha, I LOVE that I can refer to 4 miles as "only"). As we were running I could hear Mark breathing kind of heavily about half way through... yet I was barely feeling any kind of stress. It was kind of funny. He made a crack about my "in-shape ass" and I thought to myself, "you know, he's right. I am in pretty damn good shape right now!". In his defense, Mark hasn't been running with us on a regular basis and it had been about 4 good weeks since he's been out, but he did finish the run :o) This new found fitness has really made me feel good about myself and to be honest, sometimes I feel a bit superior when I see people out trying to outrun me (I get this a lot surprisingly, mostly from men). I just say to myself "yeah, you're running pretty fast now, but you won't be able to keep that up for long and I WILL outrun you". Then about a mile down the road I see them bending over gasping for air... told ya so!
I'm really starting to get excited about the race in September... I'm convinced I can actually finish it without having to stop and rest which is soooo far from what I thought when I first began all of this. Looking forward to hitting the half way mark (I told myself if I made it to week 10 I would treat myself with day at the spa) and continuing on to my goal!
PS... as of now I've only lost about 2lbs! Yes, that's it, but my thighs are getting to be rock hard, so I guess I'm building muscle mass in my legs. Just a word of advice to people... if weight loss is your ONLY goal, you're not going to make it very far. I haven't let the lack in weight loss get to me as I now see I am more physically fit than I've been in years! That's good enough for me :o)
Obviously I ran this week, so I won't bore you with those details. But I realized this past week how "in shape" I am! I first noticed this when I went out for my Monday run. Mark decided to accompany Andrew and I since this run was only going to be about 4 miles (ha, I LOVE that I can refer to 4 miles as "only"). As we were running I could hear Mark breathing kind of heavily about half way through... yet I was barely feeling any kind of stress. It was kind of funny. He made a crack about my "in-shape ass" and I thought to myself, "you know, he's right. I am in pretty damn good shape right now!". In his defense, Mark hasn't been running with us on a regular basis and it had been about 4 good weeks since he's been out, but he did finish the run :o) This new found fitness has really made me feel good about myself and to be honest, sometimes I feel a bit superior when I see people out trying to outrun me (I get this a lot surprisingly, mostly from men). I just say to myself "yeah, you're running pretty fast now, but you won't be able to keep that up for long and I WILL outrun you". Then about a mile down the road I see them bending over gasping for air... told ya so!
I'm really starting to get excited about the race in September... I'm convinced I can actually finish it without having to stop and rest which is soooo far from what I thought when I first began all of this. Looking forward to hitting the half way mark (I told myself if I made it to week 10 I would treat myself with day at the spa) and continuing on to my goal!
PS... as of now I've only lost about 2lbs! Yes, that's it, but my thighs are getting to be rock hard, so I guess I'm building muscle mass in my legs. Just a word of advice to people... if weight loss is your ONLY goal, you're not going to make it very far. I haven't let the lack in weight loss get to me as I now see I am more physically fit than I've been in years! That's good enough for me :o)
Monday, June 1, 2009
Week's 6 and 7
It's been kind of busy, so I missed last week's update (on vacation for the holiday, so I had to get back into the swing of things!).
The past two weeks went well. My new running schedule seems to be helping my shins a lot and I haven't had any leg pain for awhile now. I'm currently running Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays so that I have rest time in between runs. Before, I would do a back to back run on Wednesday and Thursday, but I think my shins really need a rest day to recover properly. As of now, I'm running 7.2miles which I think is crazy! I remember when the idea of doing a 3 mile run would make my stomach churn with dread, but now I don't fear the distance quite so much. I'll be honest, the thought of running 13.1 miles still seems daunting to me, but I'm halfway there and stillhave 3 months of training to complete. I'd say I'm well on my way!
I've been keeping a training log on RunnersWorld.com (which I highly suggest. It is a great site) and as of yesterday, I've run 85.1 miles since I started!
This week, we're planning to crest the 8 mile mark... should be interesting.
The past two weeks went well. My new running schedule seems to be helping my shins a lot and I haven't had any leg pain for awhile now. I'm currently running Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays so that I have rest time in between runs. Before, I would do a back to back run on Wednesday and Thursday, but I think my shins really need a rest day to recover properly. As of now, I'm running 7.2miles which I think is crazy! I remember when the idea of doing a 3 mile run would make my stomach churn with dread, but now I don't fear the distance quite so much. I'll be honest, the thought of running 13.1 miles still seems daunting to me, but I'm halfway there and stillhave 3 months of training to complete. I'd say I'm well on my way!
I've been keeping a training log on RunnersWorld.com (which I highly suggest. It is a great site) and as of yesterday, I've run 85.1 miles since I started!
This week, we're planning to crest the 8 mile mark... should be interesting.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Week 5... 25% of the way there!
It's now week five and I'm 1/4 of the way through my "journey"! I can't believe I've stuck with my program for this long! I'm very proud of myself because there were a few times when I wanted to just kick a rock and say FORGET IT! But I've been able to stay focused and have come a long way in the past few weeks.
Week 5 had its ups and downs. It started well with a solid run. I felt good, my legs weren't in pain and I was able to kick up the pace a bit (which left me winded at the end, but it was good). In the middle of the week I had a light cross training day just keep my legs strong with a run the following day... and that's when the trouble hit. My shins, again, tightened up around 1.25 miles into the run and i had to stop! SOOOOO frustrating. It's kind of funny, before this, I would look at people running along the side of the road and say to myself either " they're crazy, its too damn hot to be out here running" or "wow, look how motivated they are". Now I find myself cursing them for being able to run with out nagging pain in their shins (or at least it appears they have no pain) because I want to be out there too! With the run cut short, I dragged myself home to ice down and look to that weekends long run.
Saturday morning came and I was up and at 'em by 8am. I started to stretch around 9:00am and was ready to go by 9:30am. I met up with Andrew and we set out on our long run.... which went remarkably well. No pain in the shins whatsoever and I was able to complete our 6mile run (although my legs felt like jelly afterward). It was very rewarding but at the same time baffling. Why am I able to run 6 miles one day and barely 2 another. I can't spot any differences in my warm up routine, so I really don't understand what's going on. It's very weird.
I'm now at the point where, at least for me, I'm running some serious miles. This week's goal is to hit 8 miles on the long run. INSANE! Keep your fingers crossed that I make it through :o) And don't forget... race day is September 6th, so mark your calendars. I'm going to officially register next weekend and then there's no turning back!
Week 5 had its ups and downs. It started well with a solid run. I felt good, my legs weren't in pain and I was able to kick up the pace a bit (which left me winded at the end, but it was good). In the middle of the week I had a light cross training day just keep my legs strong with a run the following day... and that's when the trouble hit. My shins, again, tightened up around 1.25 miles into the run and i had to stop! SOOOOO frustrating. It's kind of funny, before this, I would look at people running along the side of the road and say to myself either " they're crazy, its too damn hot to be out here running" or "wow, look how motivated they are". Now I find myself cursing them for being able to run with out nagging pain in their shins (or at least it appears they have no pain) because I want to be out there too! With the run cut short, I dragged myself home to ice down and look to that weekends long run.
Saturday morning came and I was up and at 'em by 8am. I started to stretch around 9:00am and was ready to go by 9:30am. I met up with Andrew and we set out on our long run.... which went remarkably well. No pain in the shins whatsoever and I was able to complete our 6mile run (although my legs felt like jelly afterward). It was very rewarding but at the same time baffling. Why am I able to run 6 miles one day and barely 2 another. I can't spot any differences in my warm up routine, so I really don't understand what's going on. It's very weird.
I'm now at the point where, at least for me, I'm running some serious miles. This week's goal is to hit 8 miles on the long run. INSANE! Keep your fingers crossed that I make it through :o) And don't forget... race day is September 6th, so mark your calendars. I'm going to officially register next weekend and then there's no turning back!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Week 4 a.k.a. HELL
So as you can tell from the title of this entry, week 4 was awful. I'd begun to have some intense tightening and pain in my shin (this started last week and gradually increased) and as a result was unable to finish my run on Monday. In all honesty, it felt like my shin was about to detach from my leg and this time, I cried. Yes, I cried on the side of the road with all the cars whizzing by... but that's ok. Needless to say, I had to take it easy this week. Instead of running on Wednesday, I did an hour on the stationary bike so that my legs would stay strong. I also spent some time icing and heating my shin in order to relieve the pain. Thursday, I did a short 2 mile run on the treadmill at about a 12:30 minute pace... still leg pain! I pushed through it, but was feeling very depressed about potentially having to shorten or cancel my long run on Saturday. In the meantime, I'd been doing some research online about how to relieve my shin pain and what might be causing it. Let me tell you, the internet can be overwhelming when trying to self diagnose. I found about 25 different potential troubles and ailments that might be causing my problem. Ultimately, I attributed it to my bad feet, which leads to a bad stride and also weak shins. I found an exercise that is supposed to help strengthen the shins and have been doing that everyday, twice a day. You basically use your toe as a "pen" and write out the alphabet. Pretty easy, and I can do it while I'm watching TV or sitting at my desk. Eventually, Saturday morning came along and prior to the run, I did about 30 minutes of stretching and applied a hot towel to my shin in order to warm it up and stretch it out. I don't know if it was the warm towel, the ABC exercise or the attempt to correct my stride, but I was able to finish the whole run (a little shy of 5 miles) and my leg felt pretty decent.
I feel like I'm starting to get back on track and hopefully this rough patch is over. It was beginning to get really frustrated watching all the other runners in my neighborhood bound about like gazelles while I was struggling with shin pain! Looking forward to the upcoming week and putting in some good mileage.
I feel like I'm starting to get back on track and hopefully this rough patch is over. It was beginning to get really frustrated watching all the other runners in my neighborhood bound about like gazelles while I was struggling with shin pain! Looking forward to the upcoming week and putting in some good mileage.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Week 3
Week 3 really put me to the test. Overall, I felt like this was a bad training week and on more than one occasion almost cried. I think my body finally caught on to what I was trying to make it do and basically staged a mutiny. Through out the week, my knees were killer sore and my shin... well let's just say my shin and I are not on speaking terms right now! The frozen peas in my freezer have also become my new best friend...
This week, I had runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a short (1 Mile) speed run on Thursday morning. All three days I ran a little less than 5 miles but again, this week was just hard. I am now beginning to realize the "mental element" that goes along with distance running. At this point, I know that physically I can run 5 miles without stopping... but I've gotten to points in my run where I feel like I just want to stop. I mean really, who would know if I walked a few blocks in between, right? Well this is where I literally have to start talking to myself (and out loud sometimes) and convince me to push past the temporary aches and keep moving. It actually must look pretty funny to the passers by, who hear me practically yelling at myself to buck up and get through this! I can only imagine...
Not a whole lot of new stuff to report this week. I'm getting into my groove and at this point, I'm just trying to add mileage during each run. Later on, I will focus more on speed and trying to get my pace up.
Until next time...
This week, I had runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with a short (1 Mile) speed run on Thursday morning. All three days I ran a little less than 5 miles but again, this week was just hard. I am now beginning to realize the "mental element" that goes along with distance running. At this point, I know that physically I can run 5 miles without stopping... but I've gotten to points in my run where I feel like I just want to stop. I mean really, who would know if I walked a few blocks in between, right? Well this is where I literally have to start talking to myself (and out loud sometimes) and convince me to push past the temporary aches and keep moving. It actually must look pretty funny to the passers by, who hear me practically yelling at myself to buck up and get through this! I can only imagine...
Not a whole lot of new stuff to report this week. I'm getting into my groove and at this point, I'm just trying to add mileage during each run. Later on, I will focus more on speed and trying to get my pace up.
Until next time...
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