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Quickie: Long Runs

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

This may be obvious to most people, but long runs take longer to complete, and therefore require more time in your schedule.

Or you could just run faster, but that’s easier said than done.

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I’ve completed Week 2 of my 12-week half marathon training program! It wasn’t easy, but I’m proud to say that I didn’t miss a single workout. I had to rearrange things a little bit here and there due to weather and… life, but I got in every single run.

The first week was difficult, but had the benefit of being exciting: I was starting a new training program! To prepare for my longest race yet! And I had all sorts of new running clothes!

That excitement was enough to propel me through Week 1, even though I was forced to run on the treadmill, which can be torturous. You see, one of the things I like most about running is being outside: The breeze (but not wind!); the sun (as long as it’s not too hot!); the people (as long as they don’t look at me funny!). And with the snow we were hit with, running outside wasn’t an option.

So Week 2 was even more difficult than the first: The excitement of starting the new program started to wear off, and I was still stuck running inside on the treadmill.

Until yesterday, when I ran OUTSIDE.

The sun actually emerged. My city had been shrouded in gloom, and then – remarkably – the sun came out! And, as I tend to do, I took advantage of that sun.

It was fantastic. It felt so good to be outside and running in the elements – not on a conveyor-belt inside a stuffy gym. It also was like running through an obstacle course: While many people have cleared their sidewalks, many still haven’t. This led to a lot of hopping and stretching and jumping. That part was difficult, but was still kinda fun.

What wasn’t fun were the sections of my route that don’t have sidewalks. Usually I run on the shoulders in these spots, but as the shoulders are filled with snow (not run-on-able snow, either), I had to run ON THE ROAD. Decidedly un-fun.

Tomorrow I’m scheduled to run 5 miles. It’s supposed to be a decent day here weather-wise, and I am planning to get outside again, foregoing the treadmill as much as possible. But this time, I’ll plan my route better, so as to avoid those pesky roads without sidewalks.

Week 3: Here we come!

PS – Yesterday’s weight was 169.5. Finally in the 160s!! 7.5 more to the big 1-0-0!

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The Tortoise Becomes The Hare – Kind of.

Friday, February 12th, 2010

Yesterday I went to the gym immediately before my Kung Fu class for my scheduled 2-mile run – the shortest distance I’ll run over the course of the next 3 months.

When I got to the gym, it was pretty crowded. The row of treadmills was full except for one that was out of service and another that had my name on it: Not only was it available and in working order, but it was between two girls who were both running.

I love running beside people who are really putting in effort – it pushes me to try harder. So this was perfect: The girl on my left was going 6.2 and the girl on my right was going 7.8 (yes, I peeked. I always peek, don’t you?). My usual starting pace these days is 5.5, so that’s what I put it on. I generally end up slowing to a 5.0/5.2 , and I average about 11:30 – 12:30 per mile.

Not yesterday, though.

After just 30 seconds or so at 5.5, I bumped it up to 6.0, where I stayed for a bit. It was tough, but the girls on either side of me kept pushing me. Not literally, of course, and not even verbally, because we didn’t talk at all. You know what I mean…

The treadmill I was on had a virtual track with a light that moved around it showing my progress; each lap equals 1/4 mile. For at least 2 of the 4 laps in my first mile, on the second half of the lap I bumped my speed up to 7.5.

If you’re not a treadmill runner and don’t have swanky technology that helps determine your pace (I don’t, and regular watches don’t count) it’s hard to know exactly how fast you’re going and get your precise pace for each mile. For me, 7.5 is fast. That’s an 8-minute mile. Recall that I average approximately 12 minutes per mile.

I’m happy to say that bumping up the intensity during that first mile got me my fastest (measured) mile at 9:27.

Of course, I couldn’t keep that up for both miles, but I was able to finish both miles in under 20 minutes! 19:28 total. So the second mile took me just 10:01, which is far faster than my typical pace, as well.

Believe me: By the end of that second mile I was dead. Clearly I’m not at the point where I can run at that pace for long distances, but it’s a start! It’s nice to see what I’m capable of.

The way my half marathon schedule is structured, there is one run each week that is much shorter than the rest (2 miles for the first 6 weeks; 3 miles for the last 6 weeks). My plan is to work on endurance on the other runs each week, and really push the speed on the short runs.

Just to see what happens.

For now? You can call me Flash :)

Posted in Half Marathon, Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

Weather Be Damned!

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Even if you don’t live on the East Coast, I’m sure that by now everyone’s heard of the current weather situation we’ve been dealing with: “Snowmageddon” as it’s being called. In a way, the crapload of snow we have is messing with my workout plans, and in another, it’s actually helping me as I get back in the running groove.

On Sunday, there was too much snow to run outside and my gym was closed, so I pushed my first run to Monday. It would have been tough to fit that in on Monday, though, because that’s when I have my Hip Hop class. But, that class was cancelled, and the gym was reopened, so I got my first run in just one day late.

On Tuesday, I should have had Kung Fu, but it was cancelled. In the late afternoon, though, the roads between my house and my gym weren’t too bad and my workload was light, so I took advantage and went down there for my next run (3 miles – still tough). It would have been a challenge to do both the run and Kung Fu in the same day on my first week – especially if I wasn’t able to cut out from work early. (Thanks, boss!)

Yesterday, the roads were awful again, but I needed to fit a rest day in there somewhere anyway.

Today, I know that I’ll get to the gym for my scheduled 2-mile run whenever I see an open window for it.

It’s like this: I know that I can’t just go for a run whenever I want to at this point in time, so whenever I see an opportunity for it, I seize it! Especially during this first week of trying to get into the swing of running 11+ miles per week again, it’s kind of nice to have that urgency due to the weather, as well as the forced relief from my other class commitments.

Not that I don’t miss Kung Fu and Hip Hop, because I do. They’re both a lot of fun and I’m ready to go back! It’s just helpful to have that break allowing me to ease into the half marathon training.

I love that I’m not letting the weather hold me back, even when some of my standard workouts aren’t available to me.

Take that, Snow Miser!

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Curses!

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Due to the large quantities of snow dumped onto my city over the weekend, I am unable to run outside for the time being (we’re expecting more tonight, too…). And, due to the power outages that resulted from the snow, my gym was closed on Sunday. Which meant I wasn’t able to start my training for the half marathon until yesterday.

But start I did: My schedule called for 3.5 miles, which I completed, but holy hell: It was HARD. (that’s what she said…)

I believe I’ve mentioned that I’ve made excuses for not keeping up with my running lately. Well let me tell you, it showed on the treadmill last night. I was struggling, bad. I didn’t have to walk, but I had that belt moving pretty slowly for a while there.

Previously, I was at the point in my running that 3.5 miles wasn’t too difficult. It seems I’ve lost a bit of fitness in the last month or two. Blast!

It’s good that I’ve found this out now, and I’m certainly not going to let it stop me. In fact, knowing that I’m not where I was is just more motivation to get back there – and then surpass it. I’ve found that my running improves only through consistency, and I’m terrible at being consistent without a schedule.

And now I have a schedule for the next 3 months, so that should help!

Posted in Half Marathon, Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

It Begins.

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Tomorrow marks precisely 12 weeks (84 days!) before the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon I’ll be running. The majority of training schedules for the half are 12 weeks, and therefore, I’ll be starting to seriously train for this event tomorrow.

After checking out a number of different options, I’ve decided to use Hal Higdon’s Novice Half-Marathon Training Schedule as a guide. I’ve used some of his other training schedules in the past (8k and 10k) and have been happy with them, so I figured I’d stick to what works.

It’s been over a week since I’ve really run and – believe it or not – I actually miss it! I’m looking forward to getting out there again, and since I’m so much more consistent when I’m following a schedule, I know this is just the beginning.

Here’s my current concern, though: Pittsburgh got hit with a major snow storm last night and this morning. I’m from Buffalo, originally, so I’ve seen snow like this before, but not in the 10 years I’ve lived in the ‘burgh has as much snow come down all at once. A lot of trees were downed and thousands of homes and businesses were – or are still! – without power. We lost power for almost 24 hours… big pain in the butt.

The roads aren’t very well plowed and many sidewalks haven’t been shoveled yet; clearly not ideal conditions for running outside. And, my gym was closed today due to a power outage. I’m concerned that they will be closed tomorrow as well. If that’s the case, where do I run?

I guess I’ll call my gym in the morning and see if they’re open. If not, I’ll do a quick reconnaissance mission around the neighborhood to see if it’s safe to run outside. If neither of those prove successful, I may have to put off my training start until Monday (unless anyone has any other suggestions for me!).

I’m confident that one of those two options will be available to me. I’m pretty optimistic that I’ll be running tomorrow, one way or another.

Btw: Thank you for all the props at my 90-pound loss milestone! Between here and my Facebook page (wanna be a fan?!) I’ve received a number of congratulations and I’m humbled by your support. I feel great about how far I’ve come, and having finally hit this number that has eluded me for so long has reenergized me in my quest to lose the next 22 to get to my original goal of 150. So yeah, thanks :)

Posted in Personal Stories, Road Races, Training, Trials and Tribulations, Workouts | Comments

Half Marathon Commitment

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010

I know I’ve already mentioned it, but I’m committing to running a half-marathon in 2010. Ever since the thought first popped into my head, I’ve been really excited about it. Nervous, sure, but excited more than anything.

Remember my first 5-mile run? From my parent’s house to my sister’s? I keep thinking – eagerly – about the day that I can run from my parent’s house to my sister’s… AND BACK. Just thinking about it gets me all tingly :)

The Pittsburgh Marathon/Half Marathon is on May 2, 2010. And as of this evening, I am officially registered. During the registration process, they ask what your expected finish time is. I said 2:20:00. If I finish in that time or less, I’ll be thrilled.

In order to be able to do that – or even finish at all for that matter – I will have to do quite a bit of training. Most of the training schedules I’ve looked at are 12 weeks long. Working backwards, that means I need to start really training on February 7th. Hopefully the weather will be less frigid by then so I can run outside. I am not a fan of the treadmill, but if I must? I must.

It feels good to commit to something so challenging. Because when I accomplish it, I’ll know that I did something big.

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A Christmas Miracle

Friday, December 25th, 2009

I ran 6.5 miles today.

In the rain.

Without walking.

In 1 hour, 16 minutes.

Hallelujah.

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Holiday Magic

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

Yesterday I braved roads overrun with an obscene number of last-minute shoppers and headed to my gym which happens to be in close proximity to a huge, fabulous (and obviously popular) grocery store and a large shopping mall. I jumped on a treadmill at said gym with all the best intentions: At the very least, I would do another 5k as on Sunday; at best I’d break my distance record of 6.2 miles.

After finishing 3.1 miles, I was feeling strong and was interested to see what would happen when I hit the 60-minute mark on the treadmill – the treadmill at Rachel’s gym caps at an hour (ridiculous) so I was curious about mine… It shut off at 42 minutes! Insanity.

I gritted my teeth, restarted my treadmill and kept running. Not long into my fourth mile, I started feeling some discomfort on the instep of my right foot. There was some significant rubbing, and I was afraid the friction was bound to result in a nasty blister. I ran through it a bit, but after a while, it became so uncomfortable that I decided not to keep pushing – if I got that blister, that would cause painful running all week.

So I ran until I got to 5.1 miles and called it a day. That’s 2 miles more than my Sunday run, so I’m pleased with that.

This morning my husband and I exchanged Christmas gifts (a little early, I know!). One of his gifts to me was a pair of athletic socks with a ‘double-layer, anti-blister system’ to prevent the exact problem I had on the treadmill yesterday! And he bought them before I told him about this particular issue – he’s magic :)

I’m really looking forward to hitting a new distance PR, and with my new socks, nothing’s holding me back! I think I’ll do it before week’s end. I declare it to be so – it’ll be a great gift to myself!

On that note, I hope you all treat yourselves to something that will make you feel good this holiday – just not food-related! Take some time out for yourself to read a good book or pamper yourself with a pedicure. After all, ’tis the season for giving!

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I Like Running?

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

I just received an email with photos from the 10k I participated in on Sunday. There have been photographers at most of the races I’ve run, but I’ve never been in (or recognizable in) any of the photos.

Because this event was so small – and they had two photographers! – there are a number of photos of me this time. As I was reviewing them, I was struck by something amazing:

I’m smiling in every* picture. As if I’m enjoying myself.

Apparently, I like running. Who’d a thunk it?

I do like running, though. In fact, I’m seriously considering signing up to run a half-marathon in May. It both excites and scares me to think about. I’m going to mull that one over for a bit…

But for now, for your viewing pleasure, some photos of me (with the fabulous M-Dog in one!). Ignore my crazy running outfit, especially the ridiculous hat over the huge headphones – when you can’t have both, function must win out over form.

Kimberly 10k! 10k Road Race 2pics