Week 6 Side B

WOW what a run! The first half was like my best run ever. My breathing was absolute tops and my legs weren't sluggish AT ALL! I was super excited!!! ...sooooo I overdid it. BOO!!! I just felt like going fast because I was just gliding along! But I ALSO mixed in a TON of hills and I think that THIS isn't the point where I can mix fast AND hills. So then the second half of my run was completely brutal. My breathing has never been so labored!! I felt like I was either going to trip from exhaustion, pass out, or throw up!! GUH!!! But I just slowed it waaaaay down and kept pushing on. I couldn't help but smile to myself every so often because the pain was so bad...like "jeez this is a nightmare!"...funny huh? ;) But then the FUNNIER part is that ever since the run ended, I've felt like a half million dollars! My recovery time is seriously like 30 seconds for legs and maybe a minute and a half or so for lungs...then I'm golden. I feel totally great right now like that was the best run of my life! WEIRD!!! I don't know what's up, but I'll take it!

What is kinda bumming me out is my mile time. It's pretty much right under 12 minute miles and I feel like I'm never going to knock that down. I know I probably will though...it'll just take time. I can't let it psyche me into running too fast though. I know I keep saying that ;) I just have to keep it slow at the beginning, even if I feel like going faster. If I keep it slow, it'll give me more juice for the end of the run...rather than huffing and puffing and dragging my ass that whole last mile! I just need to SEE it to believe it, that's all. So I promise, my next run I will seriously slow it way down at the beginning and see where that gets me. Maybe it'll help to take a break from the hills too.

PS Run is star'd twice due to the drastic difference between first and second half!

Week 6 Side A

First of all, I was only able to do two runs this week as my good pal Casey was in town visiting (and I was too lazy and wanted to sleep in all three days I was off work!) Both runs were really tough. The first was Thursday afternoon...my breathing was actually very good, but my legs were pretty sluggish. I had also walked three miles that day, so that might've had something to do with it. The second run was Saturday through the streets of Hoffman Estates, IL visiting my good pals Monica and Tim! I took the run right away immediately after getting up...which I've done before of course...but it was also the first "warm" run at 75 and humid. Again, my breathing was good, no stitches or anything, but my legs were even MORE sluggish than usual and I felt like I was running through mud every single step I took the whole 28 minutes :\ Halfway through the run I decided the following: I failed Week 6 and I definitely need to repeat it. While I got plenty of exercise throughout the week (the aforementioned 3 mi walk Thurs, another probably 6mi walk on Wed, and an hour of ice skating with 2-3 hours walking around a library and the Public Museum Tues), running was just rough. And I realize it's getting harder now, but still...I gotta get back on track. Especially now that my knee isn't bothering me...it's just sluggish leg feeling where I feel like I can't pick up my feet. Don't like it!

So starting tomorrow, I'm going to actually try for four runs this next week! AND I'm going to try to eat better too because that's definitely fallen by the wayside.

End of Week 5

I am officially half way through the first 10 Week stage! And today's run actually made me a little fearful of my weeks to come. It was pretty hard! I don't know if it was because I had used up all my energy cleaning the apartment all afternoon, or perhaps the not-that-light rainstorm I was running in, or leftover dehydration from the drunken shenanigans on Friday night...but it was hard. And made me wonder if I can run for six minutes straight. I mean I know I can, but is it going to be completely awful?? I can't psyche myself out, I just can't.

In any case, I ran with a new pair of insoles that my stepdad bought me!!! I'm not sure if they worked for my knee just yet?? I'll have to see how I feel tomorrow. Although if anything ruined my knees it was the giant hill I had to run up from Water St up to Van Buren OUCH!!! David you were right about that spot in Al's Run!! I'm really going to have to keep it seriously slow at the beginning of that race in order to get up that thing.

Anyway STATS:

Week 5 Stats:
Walk 1 Min/Run 5 Min (24 mins total)
Total Distance: 6.75 mi
Ave Distance: 2.25 mi/day
Ave Time: ~10:50 min mi

Good stuff! This week I run/walk for 28 minutes...that's quite awhile! But I think I'm ready :)

Week 5

So I've almost concluded the halfway point to my first 10 week stage! I'm definitely noticing a ton of improvement too. Just yesterday, as I was running, I recalled years ago when I'd try and go out...and just the intense struggle there. And I know the more minutes I add on, the better I'll get. Makes me feel great!!

Tuesday's run was decent...I went pretty fast and had to run in 3428934 mi/per hour winds UPHILL for at least half of it, so that was a little rough. But I do like those more difficult terrain/weather days simply because I think it trains me a little better than an "easy" run would.

On Wednesday my knee hurt pretty bad though and I had to sport the old Ace. I wasn't able to take Monica's "keep leg elevated" advice Tuesday night because I spent an hour and a half cooking PB&J drumsticks :)

Yesterday's run was fast again, but my legs/knee didn't hurt at all! I took Monica's advice of stretching five minutes in and it helped a lot!! I did have some breathing issues, but it was more sharp upper GI pains...and I KNOW it was due to the beer, wine, and popcorn I had ingested only hours prior to the run ;) I would NOT do that under normal circumstances of course! Then, all evening I tried to keep my leg up, and it helped a ton because today my knee barely feels bad at all. No Ace or anything!

So I imagine my final Week 5 run will be tomorrow morning...love the Saturday morning runs!!

End of Week 4

Because I screwed up on Wednesday, these stats are just from two runs:

Week 4 Stats:
Walk 1 Min/Run 4 Min (20 mins total) - minus Wednesday (Week 5 run)
Total Distance: 3.41 mi
Ave Distance: 1.705 mi/day
Ave Time: ~11:50 min mi

My biggest hurdle right now is my knees, especially my left. I even had to wear an Ace bandage on my walk to/from work on Thursday. When I run my knees don't necessarily hurt too much...it's just the next day, especially when stairs are involved! But I'm not going to let it stop me. I read a bunch of stuff on the internet, stretches and such, that can help. I'm going to really try to get back into pilates as I know that will help tremendously. I'm also going to look into insoles as maybe those will help too. I read somewhere that tons of runners have knee issues, but they work through it. It would be one thing if I was a seasoned runner and my knees just can't perform anymore, but since I'm just beginning, I have to believe there's a way to simply strengthen them for the time being. I know I won't be able to run till my dying day, but jeez I'm "only" 29! ;)

whoops!!

I'm a total idiot! I skipped to week 5?? For some reason I thought I was already doing walk 1/run 5 for 24 minutes and that is SO not the case! But at least I know I can do it?? VERY labored though...and here I thought it was because I was dehydrated...which I completely am with those four beers last night. In any case, the run started off pretty stiff, but within the first 5 minutes, I felt perfect! Then in the last 10 minutes I really took a turn for the exhausted!! But in the last 2, there was this chick I ended up being ahead of and I was determined NOT to let her pass me, so I hauled ass the rest of the way home :) Anyway, Friday I'm back to the walk 1/run 4 for 20 minutes ;)

Week 4!

I can't believe I got myself up to run this morning! When my alarm went off, these thoughts crossed my mind: I won't have time tonight if I go to the rents after work, I can't tomorrow evening either if I go out with Scott, but if I go tomorrow morning, that means I have to run on Thursday instead of Wednesday, and Thursday morning is Lostcap, but Thursday evening is church...GAH just GO!!!! So I got up :) But it was such a great run!! The four minutes were a breeze and again, I felt like I could keep going. I had absolutely NO breathing trouble at ALL which is seriously making me all kindsa stoked because that was the one thing I was most worried about when I started this extravaganza. I DID do 12 minute miles though so that totally has something to do with it. I'm slow as molasses! But for now it works and it's a good way to keep me from getting discouraged. I can always pick up the pace down the line. Endurance over speed!

End of Week 3

This was a light week for me. I felt like I needed to take it down a notch, so took the advice of fellow runners :) and took it easy with only three running days and no twist step. Obviously I burst through the gates with some intensity, but now is the time where I really wouldn't want to bite off more more than I can chew and screw everything up! Today's run was a good example of that. I slowed my pace way down and noticed a significant difference in my breathing (not labored at all!) and I definitely felt like I could've kept going at the end of the run. This was kinda sad too because I had walked about a third of a mile down to the lakefront to run that stretch, and then had 2/3rds of a mile to walk back to my apartment. I saw all these runners and wanted to start up again, but kept hearing my mom and didn't want to push it :) I mostly don't want to injure my shins because I can see those taking FOREVER to heal.

Week 3 Stats:
Walk 1 Min/Run 3 Min (16 mins total)
Total Distance: 4.40 mi
Ave Distance: 1.467 mi/day
Ave Time: ~11:25 min mi

My first two runs this week averaged 11 minutes, but this last one was 11:42 as I slowed my pace way down (as previously mentioned). In this next week of walk 1/run 4, I'm going to try to force myself to slow down. I have to get used to holding myself back, especially at the beginning of a run, if I want to do these long distance races. And now's as good of a time as any...before I get into the habit!