Monday, March 31, 2008

B.R.I.E. v R.I.C.E. and a PR

Good morn! I can't believe it's Monday already. Geez. I forgot to mention last week that I finished "The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide". It might be the first book I have ever read cover to cover...I read the intro, body, epilogue, acknowledgements, about the author, etc. I just couldn't get enough. Then I got sad because I thought "What do I have to look forward to now?! This is horrible." Somehow, I shall go on.

I put a new twist on an old classic on Friday: B.R.I.E. instead of R.I.C.E. For those of you not familiar with the acronym it stands for "rest/ice/compression/elevation". My version consists of "beer/rest/ice/elevation". On Friday I did a short warm up, then ran 3 miles straight. My left leg was bothering me a bit and as I waddled around the kitchen (somehow looking like I'd just gotten done with a 14 hour horseback ride), I decided to grab a brew, a bag of frozen corn, and flop down on the couch to watch season 3 of The Office. I was quite pleased with the results.

Saturday was a rest day. Dave and I went to St. Pete Saturday morning. I LOVE downtown St. Pete very much. There is always something going on. On Saturday mornings they have a Farmer's Market from 9am or so until 2 pm. There is always a band playing (usually cover songs), and there are food vendors, crafts, plants and tons of people walking around with their dogs and/or kids. I love to walk around and take everything in. There is just so much LIFE happening and it always puts me in a good mood to be there. We walked around for a while, did some shopping, had lunch at our favorite pizza joint, and watched "Run Fat Boy Run". It was pretty cute. Of course I wanted to see it because it's about a guy who decides to run a marathon to win his ex back. Ever since I made the decision to do this challenge, I have been consumed by all things running: books, magazines, movies, blogs about running, just to name a few.

Sunday we went to Caladesi Island, which I BELIEVE has won several awards for being a top beach in FL if not the country. I need to read up on that. (Yes, Dr. Beach made it #2 a couple years ago and it's 4th best beach in the country according to another source.) Anyway, you go to Honeymoon Island state park, then take a ferry to Caladesi. On the ferry ride we saw a momma dolphin and a baby. SO CUTE! I've never seen a baby dolphin before. It was quite a bit darker...I guess they lighten with age. So we got to Caladesi, walked to the beach area and plopped our stuff down. As I sat down and looked out at the completely smooth, clear beautiful water, I could have sworn I was in a Corona commercial - except for the beer drinking part :(. It was absolutely beautiful. One thing I really love about our beaches is the white sugar sand. We walked for a while, looking for sand dollars because for whatever reason, Dave is obsessed with them. We found quite a few of them, as well as some other cool shells. Oh, and we saw a HUGE starfish that washed up on shore. Dave put it back in the water. I hope it was ok. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of any of this. We figured the camera was better off in the car. Not really. We just forgot it. I was so pissed. I didn't ask Dave if we had the camera in our bag until we were literally walking onto the ferry and he said "oops. it's in the car, behind your seat." I wanted to scream. I wish I'd have asked him sooner...like while we were waiting in line for 15 minutes waiting to get our ferry tickets. Oh well. It was still a lot of fun. We stayed there for a couple hours and then decided to pick up some food on the way home to cook out. After that we went to an impromptu get-together at my aunt's house and then came home. I knew I had to do my long run but was totally pooped. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. I groaned about it for a while, trying to figure out if I could somehow justify NOT doing it. I couldn't. So I suited up and got on the treadmill. It was a bit painful starting out. I felt like I couldn't quite catch my groove. I worried that I wasn't going to be able to do 3 miles, let alone 4 (if not more). Somehow, 1.5 miles went by pretty quickly. I started to feel a bit better. Around 2 or 2.5 miles, I decided I wanted to do 5. Prior to this, the most I'd ever run straight without stopping was 3 miles. A few weeks back I did 4 miles in one of my workouts but it had walking intervals. To keep from feeling overwhelmed at having more miles to do around the time when I am normally stopping, I decided to start counting songs.."Oh wow, only 6 or 7 more songs until I can stop. That isn't so bad". Then when I got closer to the end I started counting down laps "Yay, only 3 more to go!" More than anything, I wanted to be able to say that I did 5 miles. My body felt great during the run. My biggest obstacle was convincing my brain that I could do it. Five miles sounded like SOOOO much. But here I am. I did it and felt great. So that was my PR (personal record) for distance. It took me 58 minutes to do the 5 miles. I won't be breaking any records with that, but it's ok. For now the only records I care about breaking are my own.

Also, I want to give kudos to my body, which has refused to relinquish even a SINGLE pound despite going from being sedentary to running over 40 miles this month. A round of applause everybody... Seriously, I'd like to lose just a few pounds to get things rolling. PLEASE. I'm dyin' here. Does anyone want to start a "I'm running my ass off but the pounds aren't going anywhere" club? Let me know.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Feelin' good

Wow. I feel great. I just got off the tread. My workout was splendid. In fact, I was feeling so good after I was done with the running portion that I walked another .75 miles (also because I wasn't quite ready to end my private "Jen sings Maroon 5" concert). I warmed up for 5 minutes (.25 mile), then ran 1 mile at 11:50, the second mile at 11:45, and the third at 10:29. Yay for negative splits! So, including the walking portions my workout was 4 miles. Should I be counting my warm ups and cool downs in my mileage? I think the way I've been doing it has sort of been a mixed bag. Oops. Oh well.

I have no idea where the energy is coming from but today and yesterday, my legs have just been wanting to sprint their little hearts out. My typical slower pace is simply not sufficient for them. It's like they're saying "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, can we PLEASE go faster?!" So slowly I increased my speed until I found a comfortable pace where it didn't feel like the bottom half of my body was going to miraculously split and take off running in front of me. I can't properly express how wonderful I felt while I was running. It was insane. Maybe a music change was what I needed in my workouts or something. I was running along, singing my heart out with as much passion and vigor as Adam Levine himself (and far more arm movement, bravado and ridiculous facial expressions). Could this be my very own "runner's high"?! Whatever it is, I'll gladly accept it.

Yesterday I did a quick warm up, then ran 2 miles and quickly cooled down. I think my pace was somewhere between 10 and 11 minutes/mile...whatever I started out at I gradually increased speed and I think my final half mile was at 10 minutes/mile. Good stuff.

27 random facts

Following are 27 things you may or may not know about me.

1. I was Lady Liberty in a play in 5th grade.
2. Some people can pull off funky toenail polish colors like blue and purple; I'm not one of them.
3. I HATE barnacles. They disgust me.
4. My dad used to wake me up in the morning by singing Elvis's "Blue Christmas" (regardless of the month).
5. I once made someone laugh so hard on an airplane that she peed her pants.
6. I love boiled peanuts.
7. I love boiled peanuts so much that my bff Kim and I contemplated moving to Seattle and opening a boiled peanut stand outside the Space Needle to bring a slice of the "South" to the Pacific NW. Sadly, I doubt this dream will ever be realized.
8. Keeping with the boiled peanut topic, Kim and I brought cans of boiled peanuts onto a flight once as a snack. I think the pop tops on the cans would now be considered weapons.
9. When I was 5 or 6 my sister got angry that I would never try new foods so she surreptitiously added tuna fish to my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. All it did was make me cry and then swear off tuna fish for the rest of my life.
10. I hate seafood.
11. I got a friend to complete my button sewing project in Home Ec class in 6th grade.
12. I did not get a manicure or pedicure until I was 24.
13. I am addicted to 'Rock of Love'.
14. I watched the movie American Pie in the theater with my friend Jes and my Grandma.
15. Sometimes when I'm cooking I pretend I'm on a cooking show and describe what I'm doing while periodically looking up at the (invisible) camera and audience.
16. My mom is going to Alaska for four months to work at a lodge in Denali. She kicks ass.
17. My ideal breakfast consists of pancakes, crispy bacon and coffee with french vanilla creamer.
18. Sometimes I really enjoy public speaking - like if I'm really comfortable with the group...or am slightly intoxicated.
19. I've been a bridesmaid in 5 weddings.
20. I get teary eyed at sporting events when there are fly-overs.
21. I'm a pizza monster.
22. I was the District champion for #5 singles in high school - either jr or sr year. I forget.
23. I have a really horrible memory.
24. My cat, Ava, sleeps on my pillow or curled up by my side at night. It's precious.
25. I have the funniest, most fantastic boyfriend in the world!
26. I hope to be able to one day walk in high heels without looking/feeling like an assclown.
27. When I was 6 I told my Dad I was going to run away if he didn't make me pancakes for lunch. I even packed my bunny duffel bag (it had a bunny head at one end and a tail at the other). I walked to the end of the driveway with my bunny bag, looking back every few steps, waiting for him to run out and say "Ok, I'm sorry. Of course I'll make you pancakes!" I'm sure you see where this is going...when I realized I wasn't going to win I turned around, dejected, walked back to the house and ate p-jelly for lunch instead.

Happy Hump Day! Woo!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Potpourri

I think the way my last entry ended was with a prediction for the workout I was going to do that night. I should have known better than to do that because every time I do that, there is no follow through. It's like a weird curse or something. I should start writing what I am NOT going to do and maybe that will be more accurate. I think I ended up lifting some weights and doing a few yoga poses while watching C.S.I. reruns. On Friday, I ran 2 miles: 1 mile straight and on the second mile I did speedwork: 1 lap running fast, 1 lap walking, 1 lap running fast, 1 lap walking. Then I cooled down. I'm mad because I usually write my workouts down so that I can log them but I guess I didn't do that on Friday. Bummer. So I THINK that's what I did...Saturday was a rest day.


Sunday was supposed to be another long run day but that fell through. My dad and Michelle were in town for Easter and we went to John Taylor Park and met up with the family and ate, had an easter egg hunt, played volleyball, and ate again (we REALLY like food). The weather was absolutely perfect: bright and sunny, but cooler (70's) with a nice breeze. I thought I was too old for easter egg hunts but apparently not because I was recruited to be a part of it. Just to make things interesting, the adults decided to partner us up and tie our legs together with jumpropes. This was every bit as difficult/entertaining/embarrassing as one would imagine. I was partnered up with my cousin Matt and I have to say I think we made for a spectacular team. We ran pretty well together. Surprisingly, I didn't fall at all while we were running around. The biggest challenge was navigating among all the trees. Neither of us was very vocal so we'd be heading toward a tree and I'd just start screaming "Tree, tree, tree!!!" (no, he isn't blind or anything, I just tend to panic as opposed to formulating any sort of plan. It's much easier). Of course we'd each try to go on our own side of the tree then we'd feel the other person pulling so we'd each go for the other person's side of the tree and then finally one of us would call a side. We ended up tied for 2nd place with a whopping 7 eggs. Bear in mind there were 5 teams and about 36 eggs hidden. So we didn't do too badly.


Although I didn't do my long run, at least I got some unscheduled cross training in...sort of. The volleyball game was a lot of fun (and just a little intense) and I had no idea until the next day just how many different muscles I jolted to life with my wild sliding, running, spinning, and diving. I could barely walk. It was horrible. I STILL ache. So I guess this is a wake up call that I need to broaden my exercising horizons because there is a whole lot that I'm NOT doing to activate certain muscles. Hmm. Who'da thought?!

I bought a book last week called The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women. It's got to be one of the funniest books I've ever read. If you enjoy running, are training for a marathon (or have ever trained) or just enjoy laugh out loud funny, sarcastic humor, please check into this book. At one point, I was laughing so hard I was on the verge of having an asthmatic reaction. I got all wheezy and had to take a few minutes to catch my breath. I'm probably going to be done with it tonight or tomorrow. It's really fantastic. :)

Here are some pics I took last Saturday. We went to the Safety Harbor pier hoping the manatees would be there. No such luck but I got some nice pics. Sometimes Dave and I ride our bikes to this pier. It's a really beautiful ride and we're so lucky to have the trail so close to home.



Thursday, March 20, 2008

A.M. Workout

On Tuesday I got pumped to try a morning workout after reading some discussion threads on the Runner's World website. Somehow, I managed to abide by my loud and irritating cell phone alarm that went off at 6:10 yesterday morning. How I was able to spring up out of bed at that time remains a mystery to me since on most weekdays, I cannot get out of bed until around 7:40 when Dave is yelling at me for at least the 3rd time to get up. At any rate, I got up, brushed my teeth, changed into the clothes that were laid out, and went downstairs to drink some water and have a small snack - piece of bread with some crunchy pb. I went on the back patio and plugged the treadmill in and put my brand new Lenny's Greatest Hits in the cd player. It was really nice to listen to him without the skipping. Since it was still dark out, I didn't open the blinds because I would have been staring at my reflection and that creeps me out. Side note: another reason I can't open the blinds when it's dark out is that I get a recurring daymare (a daydream that is a nightmare. I think I just made this word up) that I'll be trotting along happily and a clown will pop up outside the window (as if from nowhere) and scare the bejesus out of me. And of course I'll be paralyzed with fear, unable to scream and he will fly through the wall and most likely kill me. Fortunately, this isn't something I think about all the time. It usually only happens on the treadmill...or sometimes when I'm washing dishes at night and the porch blinds are open (there is a window above my sink in the kitchen that looks out onto the patio). Although I don't view myself as an unstable or bizarre person by any means, I can certainly see why one might think otherwise after reading what I just wrote. Oh well, I gotta keep it real. I hate clowns. Always have.

Ok, back to my workout: I hopped on and warmed up for about 3 minutes. Then I did 6/1 intervals for 4 miles. It was kinda tough and I was really tempted to stop after 3 miles but just kept going. One thing that tripped me up a bit was that as I was on my last .25 mile I realized that I didn't reset the distance on the tread and that if I wanted to truly do 4 miles, I would have to go BEYOND the 4th mile. Grrr. So much of the workouts are mental and when you've got an end point in mind and have been focusing intently on it, it's a real pain to push beyond said "end point". Of course, I wasn't awake or bright enough to look at the distance after I finished my warmup, so I just ran an extra .25 mile to be safe - I knew I hadn't gone nearly that far in 3 minutes walking as slowly as I did to warm up. As frustrating as it was, I'm really glad it was only .25 and not a longer distance. My cooldown was about 8 or 9 minutes and then I stretched a bit.

I know a lot of people love working out in the a.m. because they feel energized for the rest of the day. Prior to yesterday's workout, that had never really happened to me. Sure, I only had a handful of a.m. workouts but I never had that fantastic feeling...I'd be good for a while and then I'd crash in the early afternoon. Thankfully and surprisingly, yesterday was different! I felt really good physically as well as mentally - knowing my exercise was already done for the day and that when I got home from work I could do whatever I wanted (unfortunately, this turned out to be laundry, dishes and vacuuming). I didn't experience my midday slump either, it was incredible! Here we are today and I could literally fall asleep as I'm typing this. I planned on getting up this morning but couldn't muster it. Bummer. I'm going to attempt to remember these two days and how drastically different I felt so that I can encourage myself to get up early at least a few days a week. For the longest time I've said that ideally, my day would start with waking up early to work out, followed by shower, breakfast, reading the paper, and then heading to work.

Tuesday Kevin and I wogged, which entailed more walking than jogging but it was good nonetheless. I think we went about 3 miles. Tonight I'm going to do 2 or 3 miles, depending on whether I decide to do speed work or not. Happy Spring! :)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Rookie Plan with a splash of Galloway

First of all, Happy St Patrick's Day!!! Second of all, I really want green beer. I doubt I will have any today but a girl can dream, right? Anyway, let me get to the point here. My training thus far has been all over the board. I was going to try to stick with any one training program but that hasn't really worked out. Originally, I was going to do the Jeff Galloway plan but I feel like I should be doing more jogging than 3x week (here I go being a Numbers/Distance Queen again). So I came across the "Rookie Plan" on the Runner's World website and think I might do that instead.

Plus, with Galloway's plan, Mondays are "off" days and although I could shift my days, I'm just really impatient and hardheaded and want a plan that starts NOW. I will definitely incorporate Galloway methods (i.e. walking intervals) but am confident that this Rookie Plan will be a good match. So, today is 30 minutes of cross training. I think I'll see if Dave will ride bikes with me. The weather right now is absolutely perfect: 76 degrees, sunny, with a nice breeze. I went out to the mailbox a few minutes ago and had to force myself to come back in. I wanted to just take off for a walk. Maybe I will do that at lunchtime. Hmm. Anyhow, I hope everyone has a happy SPD. Slainte!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

aaaaaaAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaa

So, Thursday was my massage. I don't think 90 minutes has ever gone by so quickly! It was fantastic!! I'm very glad that the masseuse knew it was my first massage. She did a really good job of making me feel comfortable and explaining things to me (not that there was THAT much to be explained: you strip and lay on a friggin table, but still). The room was small and dark with candles lit and a table in the middle of the room at a diagonal angle. There was just enough light to see the warm light brown walls and inspiring* (I'm really ashamed to admit that I just typed "inspirating" and had to correct myself a few minutes later after rereading what I'd typed. Sheezus.) and relaxing words on the wall: "love, light, energize, gratitude", etc. It was cute. So I hung my clothes up on the wall hooks, took my jewelry off and hopped on the bed. There was a weird body mold thingy under the sheet (light brown jersey sheets in case you were curious - and they smelled fabulous: Downy fresh) and she had instructed me how lay and what anatomy went where: "stomach here, breasts here, neck here, head here". She came in a few minutes later and turned soft music on. It was some sort of "landscapes" or "seascapes" type of cd. Very relaxing stuff.

She asked me a few questions which was kind of awkward because the headrest muffled my responses but I didn't want to pick my head up and interrupt anything she was going to do on my back or neck. So I kind of just mumbled and apparently that was ok because we just kept talking for a few minutes. She took warm towels and placed one across my upper back, and one on each of my feet. Ahhhh. Then she just dove in. At times I would have sworn there was another person in the room massaging me as well. Both hands would be running down one arm, gently but firmly massaging and then all of a sudden I'd feel pressure going down my back while my arm was still being massaged. I seriously wondered if maybe someone else slipped in the room while my eyes were closed. Fortunately, I don't think that happened. I think she was just THAT good. And she always had at least one hand on me, massaging. There were a few little parts that hurt; as I was laying on my stomach she bent my leg up and rotated my lower leg in a circle as she pressed her other hand on various points of my gluteus muscles. I was really paranoid that she would hit some sort of reflex and I'd kick the crap out of her. Lucky for both of us, my worries were for naught. After massasing everything from my back to feet to arms to hands, she made me flip over so that she could work on my face (a nice surprise), head and neck. At one point, I almost lost it and started cracking up because some weird song came on that sounded like a bird making a crow-like "caa" noise and this coincided with her lifting my head up and turning it to the side. I wondered if I was on some hidden camera puppet show. I would have felt like a psycho if I'd have started laughing because I don't think I could have explained it well and God knows sometimes people don't find the same things funny that I do. A while later, just as I was drifting into a completely new level of consciousness, I noticed her hands weren't on me anymore. I opened my eyes and saw here with clipboard in hand and she said "ooohhhkkaaayyyyy..." I said, "Please don't tell me it has been 90 minutes already. There is no way". She just laughed. I'm sure she gets that a lot. Not that I thought she was a dishonest person, but as soon as she left I checked my watch - in case she'd pushed the clock in the room ahead - she hadn't. I think my only suggestion would be to design a new face rest with a drool cup. When I was laying on my stomach, every few minutes I'd have to (very quietly) kind of slurp and make sure I wasn't going to drool on the floor. I'm sure I wouldn't have been the first though. So all in all, it was a fantastic experience. If I could, I would get a massage every single day.

Unfortunately, I decided to take Thursday off from training (thinking, "I'll just jog tomorrow before we leave". Wrong! DO NOT put off for tomorrow what you can do today!) Friday I got home late (stupid traffic) and was too irritated and tired and didn't have as much time since we were leaving for Sebring. I walked a bit on Saturday and walked 2 miles on Sunday...I was going to jog when we got home today but it didn't happen. So tomorrow, I've got to get back with the program. Dave got me some books on running for my bday, as well as a new Lenny Kravitz cd. YAY!!! No more skipping! Oh, and headphones for my mp3 player. Woo hoo! :)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Update

On Tuesday and Wednesday I did 3.5 miles each day. Tuesday: 3.5 miles/45 minutes total: .25 mile warm up, 3 miles of 4/1 intervals, .25 cool down. My shinsplints were bothering me in my left leg but it wasn't too bad. Then on Wednesday I jogged 3 miles straight. I started out thinking "Ok, I'm just going to jog 2 miles. I don't want to push it too hard". Then since the time was about 23 minutes, I figured I may as well just run 30 minutes total. As the 30 minute mark approached I noticed that I had gone over 2.5 miles and figured I may as well make it a nice round number and stopped after 3 miles. Then I did a long cool down: about 10 minutes. My left shin and both ankles bothered me a bit but I was happy to have gone 3 straight miles. And my time for the 3 miles was 33.44, which is almost 30 seconds faster than the 3 mile jog I did with my aunt and uncle a while back. During the jog I did 2 fartleks (that's what the Swedes call "speed play"). I wasn't quite sprinting but significantly picked up my pace for 30 seconds during the first one and then 5 minutes later did a minute long jaunt. The original plan was to do one every 5 minutes but I was worried I would hurt myself. Overall it was a good workout though.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

yay massage!

My boss, Jerry, who is the best boss one could imagine, has scheduled an hour and a half long massage for me tomorrow for my b-day present! I can't wait! Maybe I can pick the masseuse's brain for a bit since I was considering going into the massage field at one point. Jerry said after an hour and a half I'm gonna "be like butta". Bring it on! Oh, and it's another thing I can cross off my list, so that's cool too. Yay.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Oh dear

I knew I shouldn't have said anything. Even though I knocked on wood, it didn't turn out to be enough. I had no idea that my weekend would be such a vast departure from what my last blog entry stated. Yes, running is exciting. Yes, my body is my temple. No, I did not remember these things over the weekend while I consumed massive quantities of wings, french fries, pizza, bacon, biscuits, beer, and cookies (curse the girl scouts! not really. just their crazily addictive cookies). I will say that we had friends in town...so it's not like I went on some insane "I've gotta eat all the worst things I can think of" binge. I didn't work out Saturday or Sunday and I ate really horrendous things. So it's no huge surprise then, that Sunday afternoon/evening I felt like CRAP! My stomach hurt, I felt lethargic and I felt sad. I missed my workout and I missed fruits and veggies and feeling like I am doing good things for my body.

So yesterday I jogged. Dave agreed to ride his bike while I jogged. (I told him he'd be better off walking or trying to jog with me because I was probably going to be pretty slow. He didn't listen) I was sick of being in a room running on a treadmill and decided that I HAD to get outside and jog in the fresh air. It started out ok. I didn't walk at the beginning to warm up. I just started a slow jog. I concentrated on looking graceful and strong as we ran by the Starbucks where several people were talking and sipping their beverages on the outside patio. Then we turned and went into a neighborhood that leads to the Clearwater East/West trail. It's got a few hills, which is a nice albeit challenging change. I jogged for about 10 minutes and then decided to walk for a minute. I felt like such a tortoise! It seemed like I was going much more slowly than I do on the treadmill, and it seemed more difficult. I guess my treadmill is a lot more forgiving than the concrete. I jogged 10 more minutes then walked for 2. I planned to then jog the rest of the way home but stopped for a few more walking breaks. Of course, I jogged by Starbucks again on the way back. It's so funny how when I knew people COULD be watching, I kicked it up a notch (and didn't feel too bad doing it). I wish the entire route could have been lined with spectators cheering me on...I bet my performance would have improved significantly. I have no idea how far we went but since it was only 30 minutes, I would guess somewhere between 2-2.5 miles. It was pretty disappointing. I don't know whether I just never found my groove or if I was trying to jog too far or what. I will probably just do my 5/1 interval tonight on the treadmill. Wish me luck.

P.S. Oh, I forgot to mention that I DID jog on Friday night. I think I ended up doing 3.5 miles: 2 miles of 5/1 intervals and 1.5 miles of straight jogging. The miles were alternated: 1 mile of intervals, 1 mile straight jog, another mile of intervals, then a .5 mile jog. I desperately wanted to do a full fourth mile but felt the shinsplints again along with a few other aches and pains and didn't want to push too hard. It's frustrating because I don't know what is causing them. It could be the way I run, the shoes, that I started doing too much too soon, etc. I hope they don't flare up again. I feel like I should slow down a bit with the training but I don't want to slow down TOO much. Where's the line, ya know?

Friday, March 7, 2008

Progress?

Last night's training jaunt was a little different. I decided to increase my jogging interval (5 min jog/1 min walk), which was cool, however, I only did 3 miles. So it was kind of bittersweet. I was bummed about only doing 3 miles but I decided not to push it and do a fourth mile as I felt like I was getting shinsplints in my left leg. I'm still struggling with some of the details of my training..."is it more important to do longer jogging intervals or more miles?" "how long should my 'long runs' be?". I'll figure it all out but I guess I'm just going to experiment and see how I feel.

Whenever I get to the end of my mileage for the interval or jogging portion, I always want to kick it up a notch and finish fast. My body's saying, "Come on, this is the end, let's make it happen, captain" but my mind's saying "Nope, we're not ready for this yet. We're just building mileage so cool your jets. There will be a time and place for building speed and kicking it up later." Aaarrrrghghghgh!! It's so frustrating sometimes!

I feel pretty good today. My legs feel strong and for lack of a better word, light. Yes, they feel light. It sounds weird and contradictory (to them feeling strong) but I don't really know how else to describe it. I've been feeling that way for about a week now and had noticed it before, usually the day after a good workout. I'm also filled with this anxious energy...I'll get up from my desk to fill up my water glass and I just want to take off running. It's kind of funny. I don't want to curse myself...hold on, let me knock on wood...but I don't think there has been a day yet where I have NOT been excited about doing my training. That makes me very happy. I think that is due to the fact that I'm not doing this to lose weight, so it doesn't feel like a chore. Since it's a personal goal and something I'm very focused on (which is rare for me because I swear I've developed adult-onset ADD), I look forward to it. I love the way I feel during and after a workout. I love to sweat!! I feel like I'm gaining a new respect for my body. We are capable of SO much and we only get one body, so it makes sense to treat it as your most precious and valuable possession. You know, all that "your body is your temple" jazz. I'm starting to really buy that. It's been a long time coming but I'm diggin' it.

I've been much more aware of the food I eat as well. This isn't to say I've done a complete overhaul and eliminated all the bad stuff. But I'm more conscious of at least attempting to eat more balanced meals...more veggies and fruits; more whole grains; less fast food and soda; more water; smaller portions, etc. You get the picture. I've been thinking of food more as fuel than something to reach out to when I'm bored. I do A LOT of mindless eating and that is something I hope to eliminate. Speaking of eating, I'm going to have some lunch. I hope to do 4 miles tonight but will probably take it pretty slow. Wish me luck (and no shinsplints) :)

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

week 2

Monday was my "rest" day so Dave and I just went for a short walk: 1.6 miles. I was pretty eager to get rolling again and decided that I was going to up my mileage on my workout days. Yesterday, after my warm up, I began my intervals (4 min jog/1 min walk). I decided to slow down a bit to see if I would feel better. Sure enough, I did. My pace was just over an 11 min mile. I was trying not to be a...whatever the equivalent to a 'size queen' would be for running pace (a 'speed queen', a 'time queen'?!). I breezed through 3 miles of intervals and then decided to jog a mile straight. It wasn't too bad. So with warm up and cool down I did about 4.5 miles in about 55 mins. I was thrilled that I did 4 miles. yay. I think I will try to do the same on Thursday and Friday.

I'm still undecided on the marathon I will be doing but am leaning toward the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in November. I think it's right on the TN/GA border. It's a smaller race and is supposed to be really beautiful. Also, I figure I will save a lot of time and $$ on travel expenses if it's closer to home (which will hopefully be Murfreesboro/Nashville at that time). Check it out: http://www.marathonguide.com/races/racedetails.cfm?MIDD=1195081108

Monday, March 3, 2008

ouch

This is a shame but I am PRETTY sore from yesterday. My thighs and calves are killing me. The sick part is that I kinda like it though. It means I worked hard. I'm moving slowly today and am wondering how tomorrow will be when I resume running. I think I might just take a walk today.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

"long" run

This morning I did my "long" run for the week. As a novice, this translates (at least for ME) to a straight 3 mile run with no stops. In my book, that was a pretty good accomplishment as I cannot remember the last time I ran 3 miles straight. Go me, go me! My aunt and uncle, Jed and Patsy, accompanied me. I think our time ended up being 34 minutes. I can say with about 97% certainty that had I attempted a 3 mile run on my own, I would have stopped to walk half way through (and that is a generous assessment). At one point, walking was all I could think of. Naturally, as I was struggling with fighting off that urge I wondered, "How in the world am I EVER going to do this times 8, and then some?! Am I nuts?!" It's a scary and intimidating thought. Luckily, I pushed through all the exhaustion and can safely say it was definitely worth it. About an hour or so later (after I stretched and cooled down), I felt fantastic both physically and mentally. What a fantastic way to start my day! Sooo, counting today's workout, my first official week of training consisted of approximately 11 miles. Woo hoo. I'll take that. :)
"If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right."

~Henry Ford