So every new run seems to be another chance to analyze whether I'm going to feel ready for Grandma's or not. It gets to be sort of funny when I catch myself making another judgment call after a 3 mile run! The most important is the long runs, though, and the last two have felt fantastic - though, if I'm being honest here, I've only had three "long" runs if you count my first one back which was all of 10 miles. Anyway, good long runs bode well but I'm going to keep taking it a day at a time as long as I can. Nothings wrong with being smart and running Sour Grapes Half instead of Grandma's. Especially if it keeps me healthy.
Saturday was a lovely 13.5ish mile run on the Superior Hiking Trail. Lisa ran 27 miles from her house to Magney Snively and back (!) and was looking for company, so I ran out with her and had Kyle come pick me up. It was a perfect day - cloudy with threat of rain, just warm enough with a nice breeze at our backs (granted, I imagine the "breeze" wasn't fun to run back into and that threat of rain turned into rain on my drive back, leaving Lisa out in it). It made it hard to decide what to wear but was great once we got out there. I was hoping for 12-14 miles today (I hadn't really decided which) and this was a great way to up my mileage without too much extra wear - trails with the soft landing they come with and the slower pace they demand, not to mention the slower pace demanded by someone running twice the distance! I had a great time despite trying to twist my ankle apart at one point via a stick/rock combination. I blame Rick since we were plugging along just fine without incident until he came along!
It's hard to run on the Superior Hiking Trail without wanting to look around. Everything is turning spring green right now so you want to look at the views with the new budding trees and find the sprouting plants on the ground all while trying to watch your step. We saw three turkey buzzards soaring about, too! The great thing was, since we were so high up, they were soaring right at our height and they were close enough to see their red, which I don't think I've been able to see before. I also covered a few parts of the trail that I've never been on before and a lot of trail that I've never run on before. I really wanted to turn around and join Lisa on the way back and even though I knew it was silly and I wasn't in the sort of shape to run 27 miles, I really wanted to anyway!
Next up for the gel test was Gu brand. A Strawberry Banana and a Tri-berry with caffeine. I also tried a chocolate Accel gel with caffeine since we were out there a while. They all worked great - no sticky all over my hands this time! I think the Strawberry Banana was my favorite but since that was the first one, it's hard to tell - the test will be trying it later in a run sometime. Gu is buyable locally, though, which was my aim and also popular enough to be found at an expo should I forget my gels and need to buy them last minute. No negative GI issues with either gel, so far, which is also quite good! I love the idea that Cliff has, though - they have the top tear off but stay attached to the main body so that you don't have to be juggle little pieces of trash with everything else. I wish everyone would copy them.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
From NR: Decision Time!
Decisions to make! I was going to go on to say how I hate decisions but let's stay positive, right?
So, I had a fantastic 12 miler on Saturday! The first half was only so-so and I was getting worried by mile 5 but the second half felt great, even with it being more uphill. In fact, I really wanted to add a mile and make it an "even" 13 but decide to err on the side of caution, which was probably a smart idea. Everything felt smooth and fast on the way back and even with concentrating on going slow and then feeling slow for the first half, I finished in 1:44 for an average of 8:40 pace.
New things on the run - my Camel has mold in the tube so I went with my handheld as 10 miles is about my limit for no food or water. This was the first time I've used the handheld water bottle for any run of length (I've done a couple short runs just to get used to it and hadn't been a big fan) and I actually didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. I think I drink a lot more with a handheld and that is definitely good. It's nice to not have the rubbing on my back from the waist pack, too. However, while I did get mostly used to it it, I'm not a fan of the sloshing noise. Someone needs to invent a handheld with a bottom that moves up as you drink so that the liquid doesn't slosh much.
I also tried gel again, since it's time to switch to something else to make sure I'm taking in enough fuel and gel seems to be the way to go. You might remember that I tried gel once before with results such that I didn't want to try again. This time I tried Shelly's favorite kind - Accel Gel. Orange flavored. It's not SO concentrated that I needed to drink right away, but I did feel as though I needed to drink halfway through which I could see being a juggling problem at water stations but perhaps I'll get used to the consistency. I definitely didn't have the choking that I felt with the other brand. It was easy to open and eat on the run, unlike my first time around. It seemed to be a good size, too - I was able to suck it down quick and while I did spill all over my legs once, I think I'll figure it out and not do it again :) The only problem is that it's not available in Duluth so I'm stuck with ordering online only. I'm not a big fan of this since I like to be able to run to a store in a pinch so I'll have to try some brands of locally available gel brands, too. When I looked around, the Clif Apple looked familiar and I think that's what I tried that first time so I'll probably avoid that!
So the dilemma . . . Saturday was 9 weeks out from Grandma's and I'm just considering myself 'back' from injury in the last couple of weeks here. There's still time to get two 20s (or a 20 and a 22) out my schedule but it only involves one stepback week before the tape. So my long runs would look something like this: 14, 16, 18, 20, 12, 22, 12, 10, race.
I feel as though trying to run Grandma's hard is just not a good idea. I don't want to re-injure myself and I want to be prepared. I think a big problem I had at Whistlestop was that I didn't know my target pace well and I wasn't confident enough in myself to find that pace on my own, so I hung onto a guy who was going faster than I should have been. I need to know my target pace inside and out.
So. Do I forget about Grandma's this year and do the Sour Grapes Half the weekend before instead? I feel as though I have the time to be able to run a good Half. Fox Cities Marathon is September 19 and would be a good race to try for my 3:30 again. It seems like the smartest fallback choice - Whistlestop is only a week before Wild Duluth and there's not much for nearby marathons in the summer. September is a good time, hopefully getting cooler and it's before duck season :)
I could run Fox Cities as my goal race and still run Grandma's but I'm not sure I want to if I'm not ready to give it all and I don't know where I would aim. Do I try and just hit a 3:40 (my age BQ) and see what happens, just to make sure I'm in? Do I try for something bigger? Do I just have fun and not go for time at all (I'm not sure I can do that!)?
Now, the Eau Claire Half is for sure out. If I do Grandma's, I'm thinking about not doing most of the trail series. I need to do some track work and get my pace figured out instead of letting a weekly race count as that.
I don't necessarily need to make a decision now. Grandma's won't be filling for a while so I have some time to see what my knee is continuing to think. But thinking like that means I have to be training as though I were doing it so I guess I really do need to be making that decision soon.
So, I had a fantastic 12 miler on Saturday! The first half was only so-so and I was getting worried by mile 5 but the second half felt great, even with it being more uphill. In fact, I really wanted to add a mile and make it an "even" 13 but decide to err on the side of caution, which was probably a smart idea. Everything felt smooth and fast on the way back and even with concentrating on going slow and then feeling slow for the first half, I finished in 1:44 for an average of 8:40 pace.
New things on the run - my Camel has mold in the tube so I went with my handheld as 10 miles is about my limit for no food or water. This was the first time I've used the handheld water bottle for any run of length (I've done a couple short runs just to get used to it and hadn't been a big fan) and I actually didn't mind it as much as I thought I would. I think I drink a lot more with a handheld and that is definitely good. It's nice to not have the rubbing on my back from the waist pack, too. However, while I did get mostly used to it it, I'm not a fan of the sloshing noise. Someone needs to invent a handheld with a bottom that moves up as you drink so that the liquid doesn't slosh much.
I also tried gel again, since it's time to switch to something else to make sure I'm taking in enough fuel and gel seems to be the way to go. You might remember that I tried gel once before with results such that I didn't want to try again. This time I tried Shelly's favorite kind - Accel Gel. Orange flavored. It's not SO concentrated that I needed to drink right away, but I did feel as though I needed to drink halfway through which I could see being a juggling problem at water stations but perhaps I'll get used to the consistency. I definitely didn't have the choking that I felt with the other brand. It was easy to open and eat on the run, unlike my first time around. It seemed to be a good size, too - I was able to suck it down quick and while I did spill all over my legs once, I think I'll figure it out and not do it again :) The only problem is that it's not available in Duluth so I'm stuck with ordering online only. I'm not a big fan of this since I like to be able to run to a store in a pinch so I'll have to try some brands of locally available gel brands, too. When I looked around, the Clif Apple looked familiar and I think that's what I tried that first time so I'll probably avoid that!
So the dilemma . . . Saturday was 9 weeks out from Grandma's and I'm just considering myself 'back' from injury in the last couple of weeks here. There's still time to get two 20s (or a 20 and a 22) out my schedule but it only involves one stepback week before the tape. So my long runs would look something like this: 14, 16, 18, 20, 12, 22, 12, 10, race.
I feel as though trying to run Grandma's hard is just not a good idea. I don't want to re-injure myself and I want to be prepared. I think a big problem I had at Whistlestop was that I didn't know my target pace well and I wasn't confident enough in myself to find that pace on my own, so I hung onto a guy who was going faster than I should have been. I need to know my target pace inside and out.
So. Do I forget about Grandma's this year and do the Sour Grapes Half the weekend before instead? I feel as though I have the time to be able to run a good Half. Fox Cities Marathon is September 19 and would be a good race to try for my 3:30 again. It seems like the smartest fallback choice - Whistlestop is only a week before Wild Duluth and there's not much for nearby marathons in the summer. September is a good time, hopefully getting cooler and it's before duck season :)
I could run Fox Cities as my goal race and still run Grandma's but I'm not sure I want to if I'm not ready to give it all and I don't know where I would aim. Do I try and just hit a 3:40 (my age BQ) and see what happens, just to make sure I'm in? Do I try for something bigger? Do I just have fun and not go for time at all (I'm not sure I can do that!)?
Now, the Eau Claire Half is for sure out. If I do Grandma's, I'm thinking about not doing most of the trail series. I need to do some track work and get my pace figured out instead of letting a weekly race count as that.
I don't necessarily need to make a decision now. Grandma's won't be filling for a while so I have some time to see what my knee is continuing to think. But thinking like that means I have to be training as though I were doing it so I guess I really do need to be making that decision soon.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
From NR: Preconceptions
I had a great trail run Wednesday. About halfway through, I found my groove and felt like I was just flying down the trail. I thought a lot about things, too.
I do a lot better when I open myself up to failure and I have to remember that. It's why I still think going for 3:30 was good at Whistlestop, even if it didn't work out right. I've always done my best when I decide it doesn't matter if I crash and burn - it seems I sell myself short a lot and could really go harder then I thought.
First experience with this was back in middle school, really. It was the Princeton cross country meet in maybe 8th grade when it was still out at that campground. On the bus ride down, I was informed that I was cut down to JV instead of Varsity for this meet. I was pissed. To make it back up to Varsity for the next meet, I would have to beat the time from someone running Varsity at Princeton when JV and Varsity were running separate races so I wouldn't be able to directly race the people I was trying to beat. The JV race also had a TON more runners than the Varsity and the course was simply not built to handle the amount of kids running at once (probably why it was moved off the course the next year or the year after). So I decided I was going to run like mad - much faster then I thought I could maintain for the whole race. After all, you aren't expected to do well at Princeton so it'd be okay if I crashed and burned. Well, I ended up getting 2nd! All because I let go of what I thought I could do and just ran.
Maybe similar is how I've run my best time for the Trail Series races that very first time I ran each one (with the exception of Rolling Stone). Perhaps because I didn't know what to expect those first times around - I didn't know the course and didn't know who I 'should' be running with.
I guess my moral from the story is that you'll only be as fast as you let yourself be. Just let your mind go sometimes, take the risk and go. Whether this means for a race, a section of a race, a training day, an interval or even long term goal setting. Wednesday, I was running up a hill in the middle of the run, nothing too steep or bad, average trail length, average trail steepness when I realized I was thinking along the lines of "Okay, get to x point and you can walk if you need to." Wait, wait, wait! Evaluation time! Just what exactly is hurting enough to think about walking? Quads? Fine. Calves? Tight but fine. Those sore hamstrings? Just fine. Why was I thinking about walking? Could my mind have just decided without me that this seemed like the type of hill to walk some on or even the type of hill I would 'normally' walk some on? As soon as I stopped (mentally, not physically) to realize my legs were fine, I was able to keep going no problem. I'm trying not to let my mind psyche my body out.
I do a lot better when I open myself up to failure and I have to remember that. It's why I still think going for 3:30 was good at Whistlestop, even if it didn't work out right. I've always done my best when I decide it doesn't matter if I crash and burn - it seems I sell myself short a lot and could really go harder then I thought.
First experience with this was back in middle school, really. It was the Princeton cross country meet in maybe 8th grade when it was still out at that campground. On the bus ride down, I was informed that I was cut down to JV instead of Varsity for this meet. I was pissed. To make it back up to Varsity for the next meet, I would have to beat the time from someone running Varsity at Princeton when JV and Varsity were running separate races so I wouldn't be able to directly race the people I was trying to beat. The JV race also had a TON more runners than the Varsity and the course was simply not built to handle the amount of kids running at once (probably why it was moved off the course the next year or the year after). So I decided I was going to run like mad - much faster then I thought I could maintain for the whole race. After all, you aren't expected to do well at Princeton so it'd be okay if I crashed and burned. Well, I ended up getting 2nd! All because I let go of what I thought I could do and just ran.
Maybe similar is how I've run my best time for the Trail Series races that very first time I ran each one (with the exception of Rolling Stone). Perhaps because I didn't know what to expect those first times around - I didn't know the course and didn't know who I 'should' be running with.
I guess my moral from the story is that you'll only be as fast as you let yourself be. Just let your mind go sometimes, take the risk and go. Whether this means for a race, a section of a race, a training day, an interval or even long term goal setting. Wednesday, I was running up a hill in the middle of the run, nothing too steep or bad, average trail length, average trail steepness when I realized I was thinking along the lines of "Okay, get to x point and you can walk if you need to." Wait, wait, wait! Evaluation time! Just what exactly is hurting enough to think about walking? Quads? Fine. Calves? Tight but fine. Those sore hamstrings? Just fine. Why was I thinking about walking? Could my mind have just decided without me that this seemed like the type of hill to walk some on or even the type of hill I would 'normally' walk some on? As soon as I stopped (mentally, not physically) to realize my legs were fine, I was able to keep going no problem. I'm trying not to let my mind psyche my body out.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Bike to Work!
I had my last PT appointment yesterday! Todd seems to think I'll be fine on my own from now on - though he said I can definitely come back if I feel like I need to. A lot of what we do, I can do on my own now that I have gym access, so that is good. I've made sure to write down what we've been doing just in case I forget. He warned me that I'd definitely be sore from this last session, though . . .
So what do I do but head over to the Fitness Center and do some upper body lifting since my PT focuses on legs and core. I've already been able to up the weight on some of my exercises but I'm still hanging out with the bare bar on the bench press. It's 45 pounds - that's a lot! Yeah. I've at least been able to up the number of reps in a row I can do of them.
Up next is home, eat food, and eventually, get back in my car to head to work only to find that someone (that someone might be me) seems to have left the headlights on and the battery is now unwilling to start the car. Well, I've been wanting to bike to work for a while but have had no idea how long it would take. Call work, let them know I'll be late and get dressed for biking!
Turns out it takes under 10 minutes to get to 24th Ave and about 20 minutes to get up the hill to LSC (jutting over to Piedmont on 10th St) much of that being walking up the hill. I did manage to make it further up 24th before walking then I thought I'd be able to but that's a brutal hill and I'm glad I chose my road bike since it's lighter to push. Then a final 10 minutes or so to get to the mall. So about 40 minutes from front door to work. Not too bad. Probably not a doable thing once it starts getting hot since I don't have access to any sort of showering once I get there but definitely workable in spring/fall. Biking seems to make me kind of hyper once I get to work, too, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
So. Hard PT + upper body lifting + unexpected uphill bike to work = rather stiff and sore today. My neck especially from biking and my hamstrings also. So when my alarm went off this morning to get me going to the pool, despite being rather tired, I was ready to jump up. Nothing like a nice swim to work out those sore muscles, right? I got into some really good rhythms and felt smooth despite the frustrating goggle issues I kept having (I think I need new ones as I've either completely lost the ability to put them on right or the seals are leaking). I haven't done any workouts in the pool for a while, now - today was just a straight mile. I've been following my swimming with stretching in the sauna more, too. It's funny, when I first starting going I could barely stand to be in the sauna. Now I go in, throw a cup of water on and hit the top bench. Rock. Here's hoping this does something to my summer heat tolerance :)
On board for the rest of the day? Finally ordering my Dirty Girls and going for a lovely trail run in the rain with friends and hopefully doing some organizing of my computer room tonight.
So what do I do but head over to the Fitness Center and do some upper body lifting since my PT focuses on legs and core. I've already been able to up the weight on some of my exercises but I'm still hanging out with the bare bar on the bench press. It's 45 pounds - that's a lot! Yeah. I've at least been able to up the number of reps in a row I can do of them.
Up next is home, eat food, and eventually, get back in my car to head to work only to find that someone (that someone might be me) seems to have left the headlights on and the battery is now unwilling to start the car. Well, I've been wanting to bike to work for a while but have had no idea how long it would take. Call work, let them know I'll be late and get dressed for biking!
Turns out it takes under 10 minutes to get to 24th Ave and about 20 minutes to get up the hill to LSC (jutting over to Piedmont on 10th St) much of that being walking up the hill. I did manage to make it further up 24th before walking then I thought I'd be able to but that's a brutal hill and I'm glad I chose my road bike since it's lighter to push. Then a final 10 minutes or so to get to the mall. So about 40 minutes from front door to work. Not too bad. Probably not a doable thing once it starts getting hot since I don't have access to any sort of showering once I get there but definitely workable in spring/fall. Biking seems to make me kind of hyper once I get to work, too, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
So. Hard PT + upper body lifting + unexpected uphill bike to work = rather stiff and sore today. My neck especially from biking and my hamstrings also. So when my alarm went off this morning to get me going to the pool, despite being rather tired, I was ready to jump up. Nothing like a nice swim to work out those sore muscles, right? I got into some really good rhythms and felt smooth despite the frustrating goggle issues I kept having (I think I need new ones as I've either completely lost the ability to put them on right or the seals are leaking). I haven't done any workouts in the pool for a while, now - today was just a straight mile. I've been following my swimming with stretching in the sauna more, too. It's funny, when I first starting going I could barely stand to be in the sauna. Now I go in, throw a cup of water on and hit the top bench. Rock. Here's hoping this does something to my summer heat tolerance :)
On board for the rest of the day? Finally ordering my Dirty Girls and going for a lovely trail run in the rain with friends and hopefully doing some organizing of my computer room tonight.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
"Long" Run!
So PT has been going well - I've cut down to once a week, now, though I'm making sure to do what I can on my own, too. On Tuesday, Todd (my PT doc) told me I could run 4 times this week! Huzzah! Also that I should start structuring my week like I would normally be doing, ie a long run, a more tempo-y run, etc instead of holding around 4 miles. So today I did my long run - 8 miles. It felt quite great - the weather was beautiful and called for shorts and a t-shirt. I did the first two miles on my own and then joined up with the usual Wednesday group and did the last 6 with Leslie. It's really nice to be able to run with my friends again! I'll probably hold at 8 miles another week and then try 10.
I've been trying to maintain a good weight lifting schedule, too, under the thought that if I'm going to be injured then I'm at least going to get good arms and abs from it! Hopefully I can keep it going as summer comes since I love having weight room access again and I've always been very lacking in the arm strength side of things. On a side note, when you start adding weight to your lunges, you start to feel it in your butt . . . Actually, Todd added the weight in PT yesterday, but I added some lighter weight to my second set this morning, too.
I'm also getting stronger and smoother at swimming, too, which is fun. On Tuesday I forgot to bring my watch to the pool with me (I like to leave it on the pool edge so I can check in on the time every once and a while - no timing repeats for me, yet) so I decided to just swim a mile and see what the wall clock said then. So I start slow and then pick up the tempo and just see how long I can go a little faster for. I hit my mile and check the clock and it's just around half an hour! Now, I have no idea in the scheme of things what kind of speed that is, but it feels really fast! It also makes me wonder if I lost count in there somewhere but, ah well, it feels pretty cool right now. I'll give it another go Thursday night and see where I stand. Theoretically, I'd love to do a triathlon this summer but I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to shove that in (especially since the main one in town here, I'm doing as a team with my team from last year) so maybe it will have to wait. Actually, a friend of mine (part of Team MegaTough) is directing a triathlon in the UP, which would be fantastic. However, it's a 1.2 mile lake swim, a 56-mile bike course, and a half marathon. I think that's probably too ambitious for me right now. I'm trying to keep my focus on two (well, three) main things: A) get that mileage up and keep it up ALL YEAR B) first ultra!! and C) Wave 1 for Boston 2011.
I'm not so sure how C is going to go now that my main chance isn't even going to happen anymore (Eau Claire Marathon) but I still have Grandma's in June (maybe, depending how happy my knee stays and what kind of condition I can be in by then and whether the weather cooperates this year) and if that fails, there's others in the summer I could try, I'm sure, it would just mess with some of my shorter race plans.
Also - with the exception of the yummy chocolate milkshake I just made for dessert - everything I ate today was breakfast food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I've been trying to maintain a good weight lifting schedule, too, under the thought that if I'm going to be injured then I'm at least going to get good arms and abs from it! Hopefully I can keep it going as summer comes since I love having weight room access again and I've always been very lacking in the arm strength side of things. On a side note, when you start adding weight to your lunges, you start to feel it in your butt . . . Actually, Todd added the weight in PT yesterday, but I added some lighter weight to my second set this morning, too.
I'm also getting stronger and smoother at swimming, too, which is fun. On Tuesday I forgot to bring my watch to the pool with me (I like to leave it on the pool edge so I can check in on the time every once and a while - no timing repeats for me, yet) so I decided to just swim a mile and see what the wall clock said then. So I start slow and then pick up the tempo and just see how long I can go a little faster for. I hit my mile and check the clock and it's just around half an hour! Now, I have no idea in the scheme of things what kind of speed that is, but it feels really fast! It also makes me wonder if I lost count in there somewhere but, ah well, it feels pretty cool right now. I'll give it another go Thursday night and see where I stand. Theoretically, I'd love to do a triathlon this summer but I have no idea where I'm going to find the time to shove that in (especially since the main one in town here, I'm doing as a team with my team from last year) so maybe it will have to wait. Actually, a friend of mine (part of Team MegaTough) is directing a triathlon in the UP, which would be fantastic. However, it's a 1.2 mile lake swim, a 56-mile bike course, and a half marathon. I think that's probably too ambitious for me right now. I'm trying to keep my focus on two (well, three) main things: A) get that mileage up and keep it up ALL YEAR B) first ultra!! and C) Wave 1 for Boston 2011.
I'm not so sure how C is going to go now that my main chance isn't even going to happen anymore (Eau Claire Marathon) but I still have Grandma's in June (maybe, depending how happy my knee stays and what kind of condition I can be in by then and whether the weather cooperates this year) and if that fails, there's others in the summer I could try, I'm sure, it would just mess with some of my shorter race plans.
Also - with the exception of the yummy chocolate milkshake I just made for dessert - everything I ate today was breakfast food. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
From NR: How 3 miles turned into 4.5
Happy news - I get to run 4 times this week! Things are looking hopefully for at least running the Half Marathon at Eau Claire. Presuming they let me drop down. My long run this week will be 8 miles, I think.
So I ran on a treadmill Friday (ew) and was planning on doing 3 miles since I did 6 on Wednesday. So I'm going along with my music - I definitely try to bring my iPod along for treadmill runs, it makes them so much more do-able - when not a couple minutes in, I jerk the cord and iPod goes flying off the end of the treadmill. Oops. So I stop, pick it up, jigger the cord under my shirt to avoid getting caught again and continue on my way. A few minutes later, I realize I never restarted my watch. Nargh. Okay, so the treadmill is going to say 3 miles before I've actually DONE 3 miles since I let it run until it hits the speed I want and then I jump on. It's not that big of a difference, really, but I like to know, via my watch, what the time discrepancy is. Hm. Okay, I'll play it on the safe side and run a full minute after the treadmill hits 3 miles. Good plan!
So I'm going along on my merry way, upping the pace from time to time (hitting just under 8 min/mile pace at 2.5 miles!), when I hit 3 miles. Okay, just a bit more and then I'm done. Except the next time I look it's something like 3.7 miles. Might as well just do 4 miles! Especially since treadmill time is usually horrific for me, so it's nice for it to go by more or less easily, for once.
Well, just before 4, my iPod keeps shooting out slow songs. I go through shuffle right now so I need to make a playlist for just good runnable songs, I guess. So I'm hitting next, next, next and nothing good is coming up. Then I decide I really want to end with some Mindless Self Indulgence since it reminds me of my first Ragnar :) So I start searching for it and by the time I find it, I'm around 4 miles but I really want to run this song so I might as well just do 4.5, right? Of course!
So I ran on a treadmill Friday (ew) and was planning on doing 3 miles since I did 6 on Wednesday. So I'm going along with my music - I definitely try to bring my iPod along for treadmill runs, it makes them so much more do-able - when not a couple minutes in, I jerk the cord and iPod goes flying off the end of the treadmill. Oops. So I stop, pick it up, jigger the cord under my shirt to avoid getting caught again and continue on my way. A few minutes later, I realize I never restarted my watch. Nargh. Okay, so the treadmill is going to say 3 miles before I've actually DONE 3 miles since I let it run until it hits the speed I want and then I jump on. It's not that big of a difference, really, but I like to know, via my watch, what the time discrepancy is. Hm. Okay, I'll play it on the safe side and run a full minute after the treadmill hits 3 miles. Good plan!
So I'm going along on my merry way, upping the pace from time to time (hitting just under 8 min/mile pace at 2.5 miles!), when I hit 3 miles. Okay, just a bit more and then I'm done. Except the next time I look it's something like 3.7 miles. Might as well just do 4 miles! Especially since treadmill time is usually horrific for me, so it's nice for it to go by more or less easily, for once.
Well, just before 4, my iPod keeps shooting out slow songs. I go through shuffle right now so I need to make a playlist for just good runnable songs, I guess. So I'm hitting next, next, next and nothing good is coming up. Then I decide I really want to end with some Mindless Self Indulgence since it reminds me of my first Ragnar :) So I start searching for it and by the time I find it, I'm around 4 miles but I really want to run this song so I might as well just do 4.5, right? Of course!
Sunday, March 7, 2010
From NR: A more happy knee
What a beautiful weekend! We were pushing 50 degrees both days, I think. Yesterday I did a nice long walk and then a two hour nap . . . I think I might be fighting off some crud. I feel fine but I've been tired and sleeping a lot the last few days and there's some bad stuff going around work. It could also have to do with finally getting a membership to the Fitness Center at St Marys (I was waiting for March to start so I could start at the beginning of the month) and jumping back into a normal level of moving. I've rediscovered the weight room - bench press for the first time in 5 years!
Wednesday brought an hour in the pool (10 laps warm up, 5 times 4 laps hard, with 4 laps in between, 14 laps cool-down), an hour and a half trail walk with my dad and puppies and a try at running at the lakewalk. I also changed my own oil for the first time, with my dad showing me how! When I first started my run, my knee had a couple of sharp pains and I almost stopped right there and turned around. I decided to give it just a little bit longer, though, and things seemed to be fine. I ended up doing 40 minutes, total. Next day - no pain!
So the plan was to try again this weekend, presuming no major pain between Wednesday and today. So after work this afternoon, out I went! What a beautiful day! I ran in a t-shirt! I did make sure to wear pants and bring a long sleeve, though, just in case walking home became necessary. I am very happy to report a completely pain free 4 mile run at a decent pace. Here's hoping this trend continues.
In marginally related news, I had a crazy dream last night! I did a short course triathlon (I think it was supposed to be Brewhouse, but had nothing in common with it) as my first triathlon and did awesome so I decided to give the long course a try the next day (they were on different days). Well, the long course had nothing to do with the short. It started with a short run from the start to a kitchen. There we had to compete to make the fastest and best combinations of pizza from slices that were already mostly made. They were to be judged later. Next came the swim. Only it was a loop course on a river (yeah, the river made a loop apparently). It was dark out and just around the end of winter. It wasn't a great river, it flowed fast, was polluted and had rusty junk stuck in it that you had to watch out for. I originally thought we were to bike on top of the river and just as I was realizing that it was weird dream logic and biking on the surface of a river wouldn't work, it turned into a swim course.
So we went onto the river boat where we had our gear bags set and we had to change for the swim. Well, it was cold water so I didn't know what to wear and was looking around at other people. Many seemed to be wearing what looked like skin suits for skiing as a base layer with various things on top. So I settled for my Icebreaker base pants and my yellow Boston long sleeve with a hoodie over the top. I very specifically grabbed those pieces of clothing, which was interesting - I had this big bag and I was digging through it, trying to find what I wanted but it was dark out and hard to see. Then I found out we had to run a bit to get to where we went into the river, so we needed something on our feet as well. I ended up with these weird Vibram/flippers. I distinctly remember having three or four separate flippers on each foot. So we ran around a town for a bit (I remember I was right behind a woman I work with and it was daytime, now) before hitting the water. It was super crazy water, with fast currents and whirlpools and I caught up with these two other girls and we made ourselves a mini team to help each other along. It ended with us taking a quick rest at one of their houses (which was right OVER the river) to change clothes and they didn't want to go on but decided that I needed to since it was my first one and I was trying to convince them that if I could do it then they should come with too, when I woke up.
And I wonder why I slept poorly last night!
Wednesday brought an hour in the pool (10 laps warm up, 5 times 4 laps hard, with 4 laps in between, 14 laps cool-down), an hour and a half trail walk with my dad and puppies and a try at running at the lakewalk. I also changed my own oil for the first time, with my dad showing me how! When I first started my run, my knee had a couple of sharp pains and I almost stopped right there and turned around. I decided to give it just a little bit longer, though, and things seemed to be fine. I ended up doing 40 minutes, total. Next day - no pain!
So the plan was to try again this weekend, presuming no major pain between Wednesday and today. So after work this afternoon, out I went! What a beautiful day! I ran in a t-shirt! I did make sure to wear pants and bring a long sleeve, though, just in case walking home became necessary. I am very happy to report a completely pain free 4 mile run at a decent pace. Here's hoping this trend continues.
In marginally related news, I had a crazy dream last night! I did a short course triathlon (I think it was supposed to be Brewhouse, but had nothing in common with it) as my first triathlon and did awesome so I decided to give the long course a try the next day (they were on different days). Well, the long course had nothing to do with the short. It started with a short run from the start to a kitchen. There we had to compete to make the fastest and best combinations of pizza from slices that were already mostly made. They were to be judged later. Next came the swim. Only it was a loop course on a river (yeah, the river made a loop apparently). It was dark out and just around the end of winter. It wasn't a great river, it flowed fast, was polluted and had rusty junk stuck in it that you had to watch out for. I originally thought we were to bike on top of the river and just as I was realizing that it was weird dream logic and biking on the surface of a river wouldn't work, it turned into a swim course.
So we went onto the river boat where we had our gear bags set and we had to change for the swim. Well, it was cold water so I didn't know what to wear and was looking around at other people. Many seemed to be wearing what looked like skin suits for skiing as a base layer with various things on top. So I settled for my Icebreaker base pants and my yellow Boston long sleeve with a hoodie over the top. I very specifically grabbed those pieces of clothing, which was interesting - I had this big bag and I was digging through it, trying to find what I wanted but it was dark out and hard to see. Then I found out we had to run a bit to get to where we went into the river, so we needed something on our feet as well. I ended up with these weird Vibram/flippers. I distinctly remember having three or four separate flippers on each foot. So we ran around a town for a bit (I remember I was right behind a woman I work with and it was daytime, now) before hitting the water. It was super crazy water, with fast currents and whirlpools and I caught up with these two other girls and we made ourselves a mini team to help each other along. It ended with us taking a quick rest at one of their houses (which was right OVER the river) to change clothes and they didn't want to go on but decided that I needed to since it was my first one and I was trying to convince them that if I could do it then they should come with too, when I woke up.
And I wonder why I slept poorly last night!
Friday, February 26, 2010
From NR: Swimming
You know what's great about running? You can breathe whenever you want. No, really.
So I've been trying to swim since I can't really run but I haven't been able to go very often. I've been hitting Morgan Park when I can but that's only Thursday nights. I decided to join a gym, since that will also give me access to ellipticals and treadmills, which will make it easier to test running. I decided on SMDC'S Fitness Center since they have a lap pool that's always open (not 24 hours always, but during the center hours, always). They're pretty expensive for a day pass, though, so I'm raring for March 1 when I can get a month pass and get there on a regular basis.
Today I did my first 'workout' in the pool. It's taken a few times in to get used to how to breathe without thinking super hard about it and such so I've generally just been swimming laps and figuring things out. I can only really do the crawl or the backstroke, which is super sad since the breaststroke is my favorite but my knee is most certainly not okay with it. So today I was swimming along and decided it was time to do some sort of intervals. So I went hard for 2 lengths of the pool 4 times, with 2 lengths of easy in-between, then hard for 3 lengths of the pool with 3 lengths easy, twice and another set of the 4x2 lengths. Keep in mind that I don't know how to turn underwater so I'd have to stop briefly after each length. I think that's next on my list of things to learn, it seems as though it would make things much easier and let things flow better.
Let me say, though - it's hard to swim easy after swimming hard. You're breathing hard after finishing but launch into easy laps and thus aren't coming up for air as often. At least it forces me to swim the easy laps at a not absolute crawling speed since I have to breathe more. Or, anyway, something that's not an absolute crawling speed for me.
So, yeah. A workout of sorts! Yay! And then I used the sauna to stretch out some, as someone recommended to me and that was quite nice, too.
Next update will be about some awesome new running clothes that I have. A team I'm on has become sponsored by Icebreakers and as a previous SmartWool lover, I was very interested in trying everything out.
So I've been trying to swim since I can't really run but I haven't been able to go very often. I've been hitting Morgan Park when I can but that's only Thursday nights. I decided to join a gym, since that will also give me access to ellipticals and treadmills, which will make it easier to test running. I decided on SMDC'S Fitness Center since they have a lap pool that's always open (not 24 hours always, but during the center hours, always). They're pretty expensive for a day pass, though, so I'm raring for March 1 when I can get a month pass and get there on a regular basis.
Today I did my first 'workout' in the pool. It's taken a few times in to get used to how to breathe without thinking super hard about it and such so I've generally just been swimming laps and figuring things out. I can only really do the crawl or the backstroke, which is super sad since the breaststroke is my favorite but my knee is most certainly not okay with it. So today I was swimming along and decided it was time to do some sort of intervals. So I went hard for 2 lengths of the pool 4 times, with 2 lengths of easy in-between, then hard for 3 lengths of the pool with 3 lengths easy, twice and another set of the 4x2 lengths. Keep in mind that I don't know how to turn underwater so I'd have to stop briefly after each length. I think that's next on my list of things to learn, it seems as though it would make things much easier and let things flow better.
Let me say, though - it's hard to swim easy after swimming hard. You're breathing hard after finishing but launch into easy laps and thus aren't coming up for air as often. At least it forces me to swim the easy laps at a not absolute crawling speed since I have to breathe more. Or, anyway, something that's not an absolute crawling speed for me.
So, yeah. A workout of sorts! Yay! And then I used the sauna to stretch out some, as someone recommended to me and that was quite nice, too.
Next update will be about some awesome new running clothes that I have. A team I'm on has become sponsored by Icebreakers and as a previous SmartWool lover, I was very interested in trying everything out.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Bummer
Last Wednesday, I went on to the group run at the lakewalk and all was pretty good, until that last 'downhill' that was the ramp at the end of the detour. Then my knee spoke up and reminded me that it wasn't happy. It wasn't far to the end of the run, so I figured I'd be fine. After all, it didn't quite hurt enough to make me limp on it. Of course, as soon as I thought that, I realized I was already limping on it. Lovely. Happily, wildknits was willing to walk the last 4 blocks or so in with me.
So I went swimming the next day and really enjoyed it! I was really in the need to do something until I was exhausted. I'm sick of these slow, short runs. I haven't been swimming for fitness since college, which made it tough to keep a good rhythm going but I was able to tire out nice. I plan to do it on a regular basis as cross training and hope to continue once my knee gets better. I even went out and bought a swim cap so my hair doesn't die. Also so I don't keep breathing my hair.
It's really hard to go for a run in the winter when you might have to walk home. Or maybe I'm just making it out to be worse that it is, but I really don't want to be very far from home and have to walk back when it's cold and I'm probably sweaty and dressed for running and not walking. Today I decided to run in the land behind our house - some guy has been out three-wheeling and snowmobiling recently and the trails are mostly well packed. So I figured I could run around back there and never be too far from home if things went awry.
I could have made a loop out of it, but decided to do a horseshoe around my house since the trails were starting to deteriorate at the close of the loop. My knee was also hurting after a mile in and I could have just headed down the hill and finished the loop but I figured since I was never far too from home, I might as well turn around and go back the other way, so I did 2 miles, which is better than nothing. I got home, ran through my short pilates DVD, showered and made dinner. Half way through dinner, I realized my knee wanted to be iced NOW. No, it wanted to be iced half an hour ago. In fact, standing on it at all was rather painful.
Sigh. Looks like more swimming and pilates are in my future.
So I went swimming the next day and really enjoyed it! I was really in the need to do something until I was exhausted. I'm sick of these slow, short runs. I haven't been swimming for fitness since college, which made it tough to keep a good rhythm going but I was able to tire out nice. I plan to do it on a regular basis as cross training and hope to continue once my knee gets better. I even went out and bought a swim cap so my hair doesn't die. Also so I don't keep breathing my hair.
It's really hard to go for a run in the winter when you might have to walk home. Or maybe I'm just making it out to be worse that it is, but I really don't want to be very far from home and have to walk back when it's cold and I'm probably sweaty and dressed for running and not walking. Today I decided to run in the land behind our house - some guy has been out three-wheeling and snowmobiling recently and the trails are mostly well packed. So I figured I could run around back there and never be too far from home if things went awry.
I could have made a loop out of it, but decided to do a horseshoe around my house since the trails were starting to deteriorate at the close of the loop. My knee was also hurting after a mile in and I could have just headed down the hill and finished the loop but I figured since I was never far too from home, I might as well turn around and go back the other way, so I did 2 miles, which is better than nothing. I got home, ran through my short pilates DVD, showered and made dinner. Half way through dinner, I realized my knee wanted to be iced NOW. No, it wanted to be iced half an hour ago. In fact, standing on it at all was rather painful.
Sigh. Looks like more swimming and pilates are in my future.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Stupid Work
Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and place a lot of blame for my knee on work. I had a lovely week or so of vacation, lots of which was spent walking/bouncing around with an extra 13 pounds (in the form of my adorable nephew). My back was sore, my shoulder hurt, my arm muscles were felt, my knee was fine.
I went back to work yesterday and last night/this morning my knee is upset with me. Time to get back to icing on every break, I guess.
I went back to work yesterday and last night/this morning my knee is upset with me. Time to get back to icing on every break, I guess.
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