Getting Faster...

So... I thought I was slacking off and was going to do terribly in August. I ran a total of 17.xx miles in July... terrible... I was determined that August would be better.

As it turns out, August is better! I've been running a lot faster a lot easier. I attribute it to doing more fitness type workouts and, as I noticed when looking back in my running notes, doing lots of "fast 1 mile" workouts because I didn't feel like going long.

I feel amazing. I'm super happy.

YAY!

training...and movies...and such

So I've started getting the highs and lows of training... I always have, but it's more emphatic when I'm training for something. The lows are when I feel like I absolutely can't meet my goals; when I feel like I should just give up all together. The highs are when I realiz that, slowly but surely, I'm meeting my goals and getting faster, stronger, better, as it were.

My main goal is to get used to being uncomfortable. Sucess lies in being uncomfortable, sometimes severely uncomfortable. It's the only way to get anywhere.

Honestly, I don't want to be comfortable running.

I really don't have anything against the inspiration quotes that go around saying " A 15 minute mile and a 6 minute mile is still a mile". It does make me feel better. But it also makes me feel complacent. I have a place that I want to be. I don't want to be at a 15 minute mile. I want to be at a 5 or 6 minute mile. So I am avoiding things like that.

Movies? I have found that I really, really, really enjoy the stuff that Casey Neistat (pronounced "nice tat") does. It's just random and rambling enough for me to enjoy and be entertained by... plus, he is a runner so that's always cool. I've considered doing a vlog for a bit now, but I don't know. I'm more comfortable with electronic media when it comes to communicating with people, but I'm still a pretty private and shy person. I've gotten a million times better than I used to be, but still...

First seriously long run...

I ran 9 miles today... and that's farther than I've run in a very long time. It was also the longest I've run. I felt good, but I had to walk after mile 6.6 because I just felt like I was kinda falling appart. I still ran most of it... just had to take a couple walk breaks. I am not irritated or angry about that, just seriously taking it in to account.

I didn't focus on pace at all because I think long runs should be free from pushing the pace. My mid-length and short runs durring the week are where speed belongs. The long runs will get faster with time.

I am looking forward to my next week of training and it makes me happy to know that this long run didn't completely take it out of me. I felt good most of the way, and even though I had to walk, I never seriously thought I couldn't complete the distance.

Until next time - happy running :)

So...hi... and running things...

So it's been over a month since I've written anything... which doesn't surprise me really. I'm bad at being consistant.

I feel like I shouldn't say that though, because I label myself as "inconsistent" and thus make myself feel less accountable and more likely to be inconsistent in the future. So I am consistent. Just inconsistently. haha.

I started my marathon training and I'm on week 4. I have decieded to incorporate speed work into my marathon training beause I feel, for one, that the training isn't challenging enough and, for two, I don't want to just finish my first marathon - I want to finish and be proud of my time as well as the distance.

I haven't done speed work in a while. I did it yesterday though and found it very rewarding and revealing. I found that I certainly have more in me than I think - I just need to push myself a bit harder than I'm used to. Greatness lies beyond the comfort zone and all that.

My main struggle, though, hasn't really been running. I've been having good runs and I feel great; I feel strong. My main problem is nutrition. I can't seem to eat healthily for very long. It doesn't help that I'm pretty much the only one that is health-minded (shall we say) in my house... no one else cares about eating junk food and frozen stuff. I am too soft spoken to be like "hey i know we have a limited budget and we only have X amount of money to get us through two or three weeks, but we should buy some (quickly perishable) veggies and fruits 'cause they're healthy!" Whoever said eating healthy was cheap was wrong. So wrong.

So I'm going to try not to nosh on ice cream, sweets, and completely empty foods. I am going to stick to good protiens (healthy meat, eggs, milk) and calories... getting my veggies as I can via beans, sauces, and such.

I also feel weird wanting to eat healthy when other people see no problems eating tubs of cookie dough. It's not like they're overweight or anything and cookie dough is delicious! It just makes it hard for me to think healthily when i'm like "anything in moderation is ok..."

That's about it for now. I'm going to try taking pictures and illustrating my posts more, especially now that I have a decent phone with an ok camera that I can use on my runs.

Happy running!

Doubles and such...

So I have been working hard to make sure I'm getting my goal miles in. I've run 18 miles in 4 days, which is very cool. I didn't think I could do that but it's exciting! 

I've been running from work and that extra mile almost every day had helped so much!  I've gotten fatter and I feel stronger, better, and faster.

Today is my rest day and, honestly, I was looking forward to it because I was so sore. I'm still a little stiff but right now I just want to go out and do a couple fast miles lol.  I've been trying to run more hills  as well.

I have an excellent route that is hilly (very! ) and 6.69 miles long which is great. .. but it is intimidating because it is almost all uphill. I'm having a hard time doing it again.  Though I find when I get out the door start heading the direction I need to go, it's easier to tell myself "just one more quarter mile..."

So Friday I we'll attempt that loop again.

Happy running :D

Faster!

Yeah, so, I totally meant to post sooner. As in two or three days ago. But time slipped through my fingers as usual... and I didn't.

But today I kind of had to. I am making progress! It seems like it's been so long since I've moved any direction but backward in my running. Today I had an amazing run... It was a 1k, 1mile, and 5k pr for the year (yes, I know, the year is young... but honestly it's the fastest i've gone for probably 6 months) and it was a full minute faster on average than my runs have been as of late. I am very happy.

I have started doing strength training and core training and I did speedwork for the first time in ages. I have also started paying attention to the position of my body as I run... form, ease, where stress tends to settle, whether or not my arms are moving, etc.

I hope that if I continue doing as I am, I will reach my goals (finally!) and become the best runner that I possibly can.

Sick...

I haven't been able to ruin for daaaaaaays because I'm sick. ... it sucks.  I am miserable and my nose is getting more miles in than I every have in such a short period of time.

Ugh...

It is past midnight. ..I have to be up at 5 or 530... doing a double ruin tomorrow-3 morning and 3 afternoon-and my legs feel trashed and I can't sleep because is up in the Lovington and the light is shining in my bedroom. ..I have a really hard time sleeping when it isn't arty lazy 80% dark. .. I am going to be grumpy and tired tomorrow. .. that is all :P

5 miles run and done today... felt good because I got myself out on a new route - which, innitially, I wasn't going to do... but it also didn't feel good because I was slower than usual. I know, I know - i'm obsessed with going faster.

I'm committed to putting in the work, though, to make myself that way. I'm increasing my long runs and trying to incorporate a hard run in at least once a week... hard run as in focusing on form and pushing myself rather than simply letting myself zone out completely.

Certainly, it is nice, sometimes, to zone out and just go with the flow and rythm of the run, but if I am going to improve, I have to pay attention to the machine that is my body and how it feels and what it is doing, to improve the form and function of the biological machine, as it were...

Good news- the route I chose was one that I believed to have no hills. Turns out that it has two appreciable hills... I haven't run hills in so long it felt strange! Not painful per se - actually felt a little easier than usual - almost like I was floating? I enjoyed it though.

I am looking forward to more hills in the future. I am also looking forward to getting faster. I am just... unsure of how to proceed. Today I felt so tired, like I really couldn't go any faster, however I was going slower than normal. I have taken 3 (unintentional) days off since my last run so I should be well rested... but it occurs to me now that, in the past, I've done worse with more days off in a week... as in 1 or 2 rest days is optimal... so next week I guess I shall experiment with fewer rest days.

Breakdown:
5.14 miles/1:34:49

1: 17:00
2: 17:50
3: 19:19
4: 20:24
5: 20:14

Average pace of 18:49...

Run happy!

And Let's Give It Another Go!

Once again, it's been a long time. But, once again, I've gotten to a point where I need to talk (write) about running. I have no ill will toward the people around me, but none of them run so it's hard for them to understand my obsession... which is understandable!

As of this year, I have improved in some ways dramatically, and in others I feel I have fallen short and kind of gotten off track. I have found a way past the mental barriers that I felt, for the longest time, forced me to stop when I was running long... and, for a few months there, when I was running short. I "had" to stop and walk every mile for at least a block or two because I couldn't push past that block. But I knew that if I pushed past it once, I could do it again and again, and if I never let that victory go - never let that mentality creep in again - I would be set. I did just that; I made up my mind and simply ran without stopping. I only focused on running without stopping. Not speed. I wanted distance.

Now I'm to the point, once more, where 3 miles seems like a much too short run, 4 miles seem just right, 5 is a bit of an adventure, and 6 is my long run. I'm doing about 15 mpw, and I'm really enjoying it. I'm upping it to 20 in February and in March, hopefully more.

The part that I feel like I've gotten off track with is effort in other areas - primarily speed. I can run for ages but I'm embarrassingly slow. It's running form and a pace that's only slightly faster than my normal walk. I'm not happy about it. I know that I'm probably never going to be a super fast runner. I tend to do well with distance however - I don't get injured, I enjoy it, and I can increase distance quickly and easily. But I want to be able to finish a marathon in under 6.5 hours!

The route that I have been primarily running for the past year - close to two years, actually - is a relatively flat 1 mile loop around my neighborhood. Not only are my distances getting such that this is an impractical loop, but since it's so flat, I have no hills to challenge me. I do so much better with hills. I hate them, but I love them because I can feel myself getting stronger, and it's a wonderful feeling.

I am changing up my route for a longer out-and-back, which is, admittedly, flat, however I plan on using it on my long runs where I am adding distance and on days where I'm simply doing active recovery. I have another route planned that has two or three (four or five, if I choose) hills in it, going one way. It's another out-and-back, sort of... more like a to-and-from. At any rate, I'm hoping that training on a more difficult route, plus adding form drills and speed workouts, will help me improve. I am also trying to increase my core workouts per week and I'm going to do more strength training.

2015 here I come! I am also going to start marathon training in March. It will not only be my first marathon, but that particular marathon's inaugural run. I'm super excited!

In other aspects of my life, I'm trying also to keep my life a little more balanced and well rounded. I'm making time to do my other hobbies - writing, drawing, reading, languages - as well as making sure I have at least a little time to clean up my apartment.  It's challenging, but I want to have a well rounded life... and not just a well rounded one, one that I enjoy. I don't really believe that a person has to give up things they love for the sake of living "normal". Everyone who has ever been great has the same number of hours in a day as we do, so I don't see why I have to give up anything.

Today is a rest day. I already feel like I want to run, but I know it's an ill-advised idea. I'm still sore from yesterday's long run and I still have to work at 1, where I will be on my feet for some hours. Tomorrow I am going to try out one of the new routes, probably the flat one, and do speed training (sprints or fartlek).

Run well :)