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!
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Friday, August 7, 2015
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
The Awesomesauce
...is that I broke my official course PR on my "hometown" 5k course. By 0:40. Yes. I know. It's awesome.
So, I decided to do this because I was tired of it hanging over my head. My previous (official) PR on that course was 42:28. Part of that was because I freaked out because I had gone out quicker than usual and wasn't really feeling it, aside from some calf stiffness that I was used to at the time (it was a shoe problem). At that time, I don't think it was as good as I had done before, but it was pretty close. I don't even remember what it was before that. (Do you ever forget old race times? It's been a year since I did that and it was never posted anywhere; I just remember...)
So, yesterday, I made a decision to break PR today. Not a goal, not a hope - a decision. What made me do that? I don't know. Somehow, I knew if I tried really, really hard - I could. So, I got myself ready. I figured out my splits, I told people what I was going to do (accountability) and geared up.
I woke up this morning and my ankle was hurting a bit. I was tired. I didn't feel that great because I had eating waaaaaay too much for dinner last night. Around 9:00 my brother knocked on my door and said that I should get up (in the nicest of terms) for getting ready to run. I debated with myself for 15 minutes about whether or not I should do it. I finally got up and was starting to put on my everyday clothes when I thought: "You know what, why not? My ankle thing doesn't really do any worse if I run; it has a range of "good" and "bad" that's not going to change if I try to PR today, this morning!" Also, I didn't want to tell my brother again (I do this a lot) "Let's wait until later..."
So I went. My planned splits were 14:00, 13:00, 12:00, and at most 2:00 for the last 0.1 (really 0.19 on this course).
Break Down:
Lunge Matrix Warm Up
Mile 1: 13:24
2: 12:35
3: 13:42
last .19: 2:06 @ 11:18 pace
Total: 41:48
Just about perfectly what I wanted, although towards the end I was thinking: "Anything less than 42:28, even if it's by just a second! Just keep going!" And I did. It was AWESOMESAUCE, as I promised before.
R. ran the last 0.6 mile with me. He also PR'd in the same distance, same course by 58 seconds. I was quite proud of him, especially since he thought it would be quite difficult for him to get even a few seconds off that time.
So yay! I'm going to be doing this exercize (hehehe) once a week during marathon training until it gets too hard, or I'm not noticing results. But it was fun, and it showed me what I really can do, no matter what.
I think it also helped that I just kept my concentration on that one goal of PR'ing. I'm so happy!
Happy Running!
So, I decided to do this because I was tired of it hanging over my head. My previous (official) PR on that course was 42:28. Part of that was because I freaked out because I had gone out quicker than usual and wasn't really feeling it, aside from some calf stiffness that I was used to at the time (it was a shoe problem). At that time, I don't think it was as good as I had done before, but it was pretty close. I don't even remember what it was before that. (Do you ever forget old race times? It's been a year since I did that and it was never posted anywhere; I just remember...)
So, yesterday, I made a decision to break PR today. Not a goal, not a hope - a decision. What made me do that? I don't know. Somehow, I knew if I tried really, really hard - I could. So, I got myself ready. I figured out my splits, I told people what I was going to do (accountability) and geared up.
I woke up this morning and my ankle was hurting a bit. I was tired. I didn't feel that great because I had eating waaaaaay too much for dinner last night. Around 9:00 my brother knocked on my door and said that I should get up (in the nicest of terms) for getting ready to run. I debated with myself for 15 minutes about whether or not I should do it. I finally got up and was starting to put on my everyday clothes when I thought: "You know what, why not? My ankle thing doesn't really do any worse if I run; it has a range of "good" and "bad" that's not going to change if I try to PR today, this morning!" Also, I didn't want to tell my brother again (I do this a lot) "Let's wait until later..."
So I went. My planned splits were 14:00, 13:00, 12:00, and at most 2:00 for the last 0.1 (really 0.19 on this course).
Break Down:
Lunge Matrix Warm Up
Mile 1: 13:24
2: 12:35
3: 13:42
last .19: 2:06 @ 11:18 pace
Total: 41:48
Just about perfectly what I wanted, although towards the end I was thinking: "Anything less than 42:28, even if it's by just a second! Just keep going!" And I did. It was AWESOMESAUCE, as I promised before.
R. ran the last 0.6 mile with me. He also PR'd in the same distance, same course by 58 seconds. I was quite proud of him, especially since he thought it would be quite difficult for him to get even a few seconds off that time.
So yay! I'm going to be doing this exercize (hehehe) once a week during marathon training until it gets too hard, or I'm not noticing results. But it was fun, and it showed me what I really can do, no matter what.
I think it also helped that I just kept my concentration on that one goal of PR'ing. I'm so happy!
Happy Running!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Best Run Ever...
Okay, so this is going to be a two-in-one post because I forgot to blog yesterday... le sigh... (I'm going to relieve the suspense and tell you that the second run was the best. Just so you know).
So, yesterday I did an easy 6.3 miler. It was on-purpose-easy because 1) I didn't feel that good once I got started and 2) it was the 4th day of my streak, which may not be a lot for some, but it's been a while since I've ran that much, so I wanted to take it easy. For number 3, I keep getting reminded that slow, easy miles are good and should be a regular part of endurance training.
My goal was a 15:00 pace and I actually ended up doing 14:32, despite loads of walking to keep myself on my goal pace. I really, really didn't want to go too fast on a longer run for fear of blowing up, plus, as I said before - long, slow miles.
So a breakdown of that:
Lunge Matrix warm up
Mile 1: 15:14
2: 14:00
3: 14:52
4: 16:21
5: 13:56
6: 14:41
Last .3: 4:28 @ 14:43 pace
So yeah, I got a good easy run in, which I was happy about. I listened to 100 mile ultrarunning (one of my favorite podcasts) and enjoyed it immensely. As a matter of fact, I wasn't done by the time the podcast was and so I switched to music. I found that it was just too much. I realize that, at least for now, the stress of finding the "right" song for the "right" pace is just too much and is overriding the "listen to your body!" mantra that works so well for me! So I'll be taking a break from music and going back to podcasts (which I really have missed!) at least for now.
Okay, the second (today's) run was awesome. It's the 5th day in a row that I've ran. I felt sure that my legs were going to be sore and just uncooperative and miserable. I had planned a 6 miler again but only did 3.2, but not for the reason you might think (aha!).
Earlier, I was looking at the time limits for the marathon in May (yippee!) and found that only the first half had a time limit. The first 13.1 miles had to be done in 3:30 because of road closure issues. I decided that on Sunday, I was going to run 13.1 (or as much as possible) just to see where I stand. Thus, I decided that I'm going to take it easy on today's and Friday's run so that I'll be more prepared for Sunday.
So, on my run, I felt awesome! I was able to just zone out and multiple times I forgot that I was even running! I've never had that happen to me before. I had to stop and walk a couple of times, sure, once because I was really charging a hill and decided to slow up and ended up talking (while walking) to someone for longer than I absolutely wanted. Another time I stopped because I was getting abdominal cramps (dehydration?), and at the end, I was feeling so good and didn't want to "ruin" it that I walked a short, steep hill. I felt so, so, so good. I think the fact that I jump started my mileage and started running more has maybe broken through a rut I was in and didn't realize it - or didn't know how to get out of. So, the truth really is, run more to run better!
I was aiming for a 14:00 pace just so I knew I could take it easy. I knew I would probably do better once I got going because I felt so good. I actually did a tiny bit of sprinting, haha. This time I was listening to Running From the Reaper (another favorite) and was really, really able to zone out. I didn't PR or anything, but it was a very happy, satisfactory run. It was a run that made me realize what I can do, instead of feeling like my body can't do what I want it to. I didn't even look at my Garmin that much! I sort of just loped along at a pace that my body and the road allowed, which wasn't too slow - especially considering the insta-boost in mileage- and it was just awesome!
Anyway, breakdown:
Lunge Matrix warm up (slightly abbreviated)
Mile 1) 14:35
2: 13:02
3: 14:23
Last .2: 2:22 @ 11:49 pace.
My average pace ended up being 13:52.
So not especially speedy, but it was especially nice. I hope tomorrow's goes just as well!
Happy Running!
So, yesterday I did an easy 6.3 miler. It was on-purpose-easy because 1) I didn't feel that good once I got started and 2) it was the 4th day of my streak, which may not be a lot for some, but it's been a while since I've ran that much, so I wanted to take it easy. For number 3, I keep getting reminded that slow, easy miles are good and should be a regular part of endurance training.
My goal was a 15:00 pace and I actually ended up doing 14:32, despite loads of walking to keep myself on my goal pace. I really, really didn't want to go too fast on a longer run for fear of blowing up, plus, as I said before - long, slow miles.
So a breakdown of that:
Lunge Matrix warm up
Mile 1: 15:14
2: 14:00
3: 14:52
4: 16:21
5: 13:56
6: 14:41
Last .3: 4:28 @ 14:43 pace
So yeah, I got a good easy run in, which I was happy about. I listened to 100 mile ultrarunning (one of my favorite podcasts) and enjoyed it immensely. As a matter of fact, I wasn't done by the time the podcast was and so I switched to music. I found that it was just too much. I realize that, at least for now, the stress of finding the "right" song for the "right" pace is just too much and is overriding the "listen to your body!" mantra that works so well for me! So I'll be taking a break from music and going back to podcasts (which I really have missed!) at least for now.
Okay, the second (today's) run was awesome. It's the 5th day in a row that I've ran. I felt sure that my legs were going to be sore and just uncooperative and miserable. I had planned a 6 miler again but only did 3.2, but not for the reason you might think (aha!).
Earlier, I was looking at the time limits for the marathon in May (yippee!) and found that only the first half had a time limit. The first 13.1 miles had to be done in 3:30 because of road closure issues. I decided that on Sunday, I was going to run 13.1 (or as much as possible) just to see where I stand. Thus, I decided that I'm going to take it easy on today's and Friday's run so that I'll be more prepared for Sunday.
So, on my run, I felt awesome! I was able to just zone out and multiple times I forgot that I was even running! I've never had that happen to me before. I had to stop and walk a couple of times, sure, once because I was really charging a hill and decided to slow up and ended up talking (while walking) to someone for longer than I absolutely wanted. Another time I stopped because I was getting abdominal cramps (dehydration?), and at the end, I was feeling so good and didn't want to "ruin" it that I walked a short, steep hill. I felt so, so, so good. I think the fact that I jump started my mileage and started running more has maybe broken through a rut I was in and didn't realize it - or didn't know how to get out of. So, the truth really is, run more to run better!
I was aiming for a 14:00 pace just so I knew I could take it easy. I knew I would probably do better once I got going because I felt so good. I actually did a tiny bit of sprinting, haha. This time I was listening to Running From the Reaper (another favorite) and was really, really able to zone out. I didn't PR or anything, but it was a very happy, satisfactory run. It was a run that made me realize what I can do, instead of feeling like my body can't do what I want it to. I didn't even look at my Garmin that much! I sort of just loped along at a pace that my body and the road allowed, which wasn't too slow - especially considering the insta-boost in mileage- and it was just awesome!
Anyway, breakdown:
Lunge Matrix warm up (slightly abbreviated)
Mile 1) 14:35
2: 13:02
3: 14:23
Last .2: 2:22 @ 11:49 pace.
My average pace ended up being 13:52.
So not especially speedy, but it was especially nice. I hope tomorrow's goes just as well!
Happy Running!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Aaaaand number 3 for the year!
Okay, so I woke up this morning and my calf was cramping up (I think it's a combination of not enough water, the cold, possibly lack of electrolytes, not stretching enough, and a crowned road (yay California :P)). So, I decided I would run later to see if it would work itself out. It's sort of a thing that escalates the more I run, so I gotta stretch it out and give it a break now and again or I can't run. BAH.
So I got back from a thing and it was 4:00. The sun sets at about 5:00, so I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and run. I changed quickly and realized I had to go to the bathroom. I decided it could wait (although I knew I had had a cup of coffee earlier...) since I was racing the sun, and I only planned on doing ~ 2 miles.
So, fast forward a bit to me running at a good clip (keeping an 11:00 - 10:00 pace quite easily; good for me!) and not having to stop, pushing myself a little. A fast run, I thought, since it's going to be short. I turn around, make my way down the other side of a little, steep, hill and realize I have to stop.
My bladder, I just knew, would betray me in the worst way possible if I continued. I mean, I couldn't feel any of the proper muscles down there.... cause, you know, running means a large bit of blood flow diverted from places to just the legs and heart/lung area.
I still managed an okay pace.
I'm glad I ran today - that's 3 in a row! The longest streak in a long time, hahahahaha.
So, here are the stats:
No warm up
1.77 miles total distance
23:17 time
13:09 average pace.
So yeah. It felt like a really, really good run. It was a shame that I had to stop...
There's always tomorrow!
Happy Running!
(P.S. I'm really hoping to find some trails at some point; trail running seems like it would be sooo much fun and I haven't done any, aside from that marsh run last year, which I don't think counts too much...)
So I got back from a thing and it was 4:00. The sun sets at about 5:00, so I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible and run. I changed quickly and realized I had to go to the bathroom. I decided it could wait (although I knew I had had a cup of coffee earlier...) since I was racing the sun, and I only planned on doing ~ 2 miles.
So, fast forward a bit to me running at a good clip (keeping an 11:00 - 10:00 pace quite easily; good for me!) and not having to stop, pushing myself a little. A fast run, I thought, since it's going to be short. I turn around, make my way down the other side of a little, steep, hill and realize I have to stop.
My bladder, I just knew, would betray me in the worst way possible if I continued. I mean, I couldn't feel any of the proper muscles down there.... cause, you know, running means a large bit of blood flow diverted from places to just the legs and heart/lung area.
I still managed an okay pace.
I'm glad I ran today - that's 3 in a row! The longest streak in a long time, hahahahaha.
So, here are the stats:
No warm up
1.77 miles total distance
23:17 time
13:09 average pace.
So yeah. It felt like a really, really good run. It was a shame that I had to stop...
There's always tomorrow!
Happy Running!
(P.S. I'm really hoping to find some trails at some point; trail running seems like it would be sooo much fun and I haven't done any, aside from that marsh run last year, which I don't think counts too much...)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Double Post...
...and it's late, so I'll be brief.
Yesterday, I ran a recovery run, 3 miles. R decided to run right along with me because we were going to try a different route and we wanted to do the same one, because I had the Garmin and we wanted to be sure of the mileage for both of us. He decided that since it was a recovery run, he would just go at my pace, which was perfect.
We did a little experiment where, right before we ran, we weighed ourselves and didn't drink or go to the bathroom after that. We ran, and then weighed ourselves again - still not having drank or evacuated anything since just before the initial weigh in. R lost 2.4 lbs and I lost 2.2. Amazing! Admittedly, it was warm, so we probably sweated a bit more than, say, if the temperature was more mild, but on the other hand, it was a recovery run, thus quite easy.
Break Down:
Warm Up: Lunge Matrix
Mile 1) 14:00
2: 16:00
3) 14:01
Last .16) 1:53 @ 11:59 pace
My calves were a bit sore for this one; don't have any idea why. For the last part, it was my heart rate that was really holding me back. It was harder to keep down. I'm guessing because of the sweating and loss of water.
___________________________
Second Run:
Today, I ran with K and her son (him in the jogging stroller). It was so fun! I didn't pay too much attention to my heart rate monitor because it kept slipping down and giving me bad (like in the 200's) readings. Also, I was kind of tired of watching it so closely!
It was nice and cool. I'm not sure exactly what the temperature was, but while I was driving over to meet K, I had 3 out of 4 windows down and I was getting cold! Two of the three, by the way, I couldn't roll up. Yeah, that's my clunker of a car for you!
I tried not to push it too much on this run because I have a long run tomorrow. We still did good though; a time of 41:39, which is pretty good for 3.18 miles. Especially with a jogging stroller and multiple hills!
Break Down:
Warm Up: (Abbreviated, 5x4) Lunge Matrix
Mile 1) 12:43
2) 14:22
3) 12:57
Last .18) 1:35 @ 9:03 pace.
Yesterday, I ran a recovery run, 3 miles. R decided to run right along with me because we were going to try a different route and we wanted to do the same one, because I had the Garmin and we wanted to be sure of the mileage for both of us. He decided that since it was a recovery run, he would just go at my pace, which was perfect.
We did a little experiment where, right before we ran, we weighed ourselves and didn't drink or go to the bathroom after that. We ran, and then weighed ourselves again - still not having drank or evacuated anything since just before the initial weigh in. R lost 2.4 lbs and I lost 2.2. Amazing! Admittedly, it was warm, so we probably sweated a bit more than, say, if the temperature was more mild, but on the other hand, it was a recovery run, thus quite easy.
Break Down:
Warm Up: Lunge Matrix
Mile 1) 14:00
2: 16:00
3) 14:01
Last .16) 1:53 @ 11:59 pace
My calves were a bit sore for this one; don't have any idea why. For the last part, it was my heart rate that was really holding me back. It was harder to keep down. I'm guessing because of the sweating and loss of water.
___________________________
Second Run:
Today, I ran with K and her son (him in the jogging stroller). It was so fun! I didn't pay too much attention to my heart rate monitor because it kept slipping down and giving me bad (like in the 200's) readings. Also, I was kind of tired of watching it so closely!
It was nice and cool. I'm not sure exactly what the temperature was, but while I was driving over to meet K, I had 3 out of 4 windows down and I was getting cold! Two of the three, by the way, I couldn't roll up. Yeah, that's my clunker of a car for you!
I tried not to push it too much on this run because I have a long run tomorrow. We still did good though; a time of 41:39, which is pretty good for 3.18 miles. Especially with a jogging stroller and multiple hills!
Break Down:
Warm Up: (Abbreviated, 5x4) Lunge Matrix
Mile 1) 12:43
2) 14:22
3) 12:57
Last .18) 1:35 @ 9:03 pace.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
So Tired...
But I'm not waiting for anyone...,
Yeah, I know... I'm not that funny...
Anyway, the past 3 days I've been really tired, especially in the morning. Well, mostly in the morning. Resulting in? You guessed it. Another evening run today. Which, of course, did not make me or my parents very happy. We live in couger country, remember?
So, anyway, I thought I might be able to run earlier in the afternoon (it wasn't very hot today) and ended up waiting for R, which I don't mind; it's cool that he has so much steady work to do in this economy, even if it is manual labor!
We got out of the house just before 7:00 pm and ended our run about 9:10 pm... keep in mind that the sun was practically gone at this point and we were discussing the advantages of headlamps as we ran the last .36 miles. Hah.
The run itself was nice. I actually ran it faster than my 6.36 mile run a few days ago, by about 2 seconds... but still! This is 1.4 miles more than that! Okay, it was actually supposed to be a total of 8 miles, but we got out so late that I thought it would be best to cut my losses and just leave that .24 miles where it lay, or whatever. Okay, I'm done with metaphor; I'm not good at it!
Also, I think I need new shoes. Mine are starting to make my feet sore and I'm starting to feel a lack of arch support, which can be alarming - because it feels weird - in the middle of my runs.
Fortunately, it wasn't too hot... but I must've worked hard because nearly every inch of my clothing (all of it! All!) was covered in sweat. I don't think I've ever drenched my clothes that much in sweat.
So, tomorrow morning, I get up early... depending on the forcast, between 7:00 and 8:00 am and do ~2-4 miles. I have to look on my schedule to see which one it is. This should be quite easy and feel short compared to today. That will be nice. Not that I don't enjoy long runs; they're my favorite! The main portion of my training, of course, and I love them. But short runs after long runs are fun. They're not great because, you know, you're not supposed to run the day before or the day after a long run...but here I am, breaking the rules... oh, well. I'll live!
Also, when I was In Town yesterday, I bought Hal Higdon's Marathon training book! It's so awesome! I'm so glad I got it. It was at Borders which, in case you haven't heard, is going belly up, which is unfortunate, but it also meant that the book was marked down 10%. It was only $19.95 and I had a gift card... still, it's nice.
That's all for now, I think. More after tomorrow's run. Here's the breakdown from this run:
Warm up: Lunge Matrix (of course!)
Podcasts: Running Stupid, interview with Geoff Roes; Running From the Reaper, latest one - the 5 year aniversary episode, I guess you'd call it!
Mile 1) 13:49
2)13:14
3)15:18
4)16:28
5)13:37
6)14:22
7)16:12
last .76) 11:14 @14:49 pace.
That's all. I'll get in an early run tomorrow. Now, to scrounge for some food! And water... lots and lots of water...
Yeah, I know... I'm not that funny...
Anyway, the past 3 days I've been really tired, especially in the morning. Well, mostly in the morning. Resulting in? You guessed it. Another evening run today. Which, of course, did not make me or my parents very happy. We live in couger country, remember?
So, anyway, I thought I might be able to run earlier in the afternoon (it wasn't very hot today) and ended up waiting for R, which I don't mind; it's cool that he has so much steady work to do in this economy, even if it is manual labor!
We got out of the house just before 7:00 pm and ended our run about 9:10 pm... keep in mind that the sun was practically gone at this point and we were discussing the advantages of headlamps as we ran the last .36 miles. Hah.
The run itself was nice. I actually ran it faster than my 6.36 mile run a few days ago, by about 2 seconds... but still! This is 1.4 miles more than that! Okay, it was actually supposed to be a total of 8 miles, but we got out so late that I thought it would be best to cut my losses and just leave that .24 miles where it lay, or whatever. Okay, I'm done with metaphor; I'm not good at it!
Also, I think I need new shoes. Mine are starting to make my feet sore and I'm starting to feel a lack of arch support, which can be alarming - because it feels weird - in the middle of my runs.
Fortunately, it wasn't too hot... but I must've worked hard because nearly every inch of my clothing (all of it! All!) was covered in sweat. I don't think I've ever drenched my clothes that much in sweat.
So, tomorrow morning, I get up early... depending on the forcast, between 7:00 and 8:00 am and do ~2-4 miles. I have to look on my schedule to see which one it is. This should be quite easy and feel short compared to today. That will be nice. Not that I don't enjoy long runs; they're my favorite! The main portion of my training, of course, and I love them. But short runs after long runs are fun. They're not great because, you know, you're not supposed to run the day before or the day after a long run...but here I am, breaking the rules... oh, well. I'll live!
Also, when I was In Town yesterday, I bought Hal Higdon's Marathon training book! It's so awesome! I'm so glad I got it. It was at Borders which, in case you haven't heard, is going belly up, which is unfortunate, but it also meant that the book was marked down 10%. It was only $19.95 and I had a gift card... still, it's nice.
That's all for now, I think. More after tomorrow's run. Here's the breakdown from this run:
Warm up: Lunge Matrix (of course!)
Podcasts: Running Stupid, interview with Geoff Roes; Running From the Reaper, latest one - the 5 year aniversary episode, I guess you'd call it!
Mile 1) 13:49
2)13:14
3)15:18
4)16:28
5)13:37
6)14:22
7)16:12
last .76) 11:14 @14:49 pace.
That's all. I'll get in an early run tomorrow. Now, to scrounge for some food! And water... lots and lots of water...
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
And Everything Turned Out Better Than Expected... mostly...
Had a planned run with K this morning. Just met her; she's cool. We try to run once a week. The route we run has basically stayed the same. It's been about 3.1 miles. A bit hilly, but only one brutal one. I like it because the smaller hills push you (well, me) just enough so I know that I'm really getting my hill muscles built up, but not so much that I have to stop.
Well, that's not entirely true; last time, and I think the time before, I had to stop and walk a couple of times, because of dehydration (mild) and stuff. Last time it was just awful. This time, all good... well, mostly - we'll get to that in a minute.
So, usually we go along this 2-lane country road that sort of ends in a gate. It doesn't really end because you can slip past the gate. But we haven't, until today. The road sweeps down at a pretty steep .22~ mile hill, which is nice as you're going down, because you get a nice break. So, we went past the gate; there's a little hill there, which I had to walk about 3/4 of the way up. My calves were starting to feel really sore (thus the mostly... I hate having to walk!). Ran down that little hill to a big hill...where we turned around. I ran up the other side of the little hill, ran again, walked a bit since I could not make it up the .22 mile hill... unfortunately... it's quite steep! But after that, I was mostly good. Had to walk a couple more times, but really focused on pushing myself further than last time, and getting a better time.
Lately, I've had a hard time pushing myself and dealing with legs getting sore, labored breathing, just psychological "do-not-want-to-run" laziness, mostly, and having a hard time getting through that on my runs. I love to run! I just am not used to it yet, I guess... My brain isn't used to physical, athletic challenge. I'll get better though! This time, it was easier!
I want to talk about those burning calves for a minute, though. They are just not up to multiple hills! I mean, the hills on this run were there, but (except for that one) they aren't severe. On my 'normal' route, I have 2 hills, one of which I repeat. The first is kind of steep, but not really, and is about .5 miles. Perhaps a touch less. The second is quite short, but quite, quite steep. This is the one I do twice on my normal 3 mile runs. I can do these okay without my calves giving out too bad, but apparently I still need to build up strength because the repeating hills (about 6 maybe, counting the fact that you have to go up them twice) is really getting to me! So, if anyone knows of any good non-running exercises to really target those muscles, let me know! I really want to be able to do hills without my legs feeling like they're on fire when I'm done.
So, the run was 3.56 miles long. Break down:
Warm Up: Lunge Matrix
Mile 1: 12:06 pace
2: 12:55
3: 16:42 (The mile I walked a lot... blegh)
Last .56 miles: 12:11 pace (took 6:46 to do this bit)
Total time: 48:31. Not fast, but descent, well, for me at least, and with the consistancy of pace and all. K is really good at keeping a fairly even pace, which I appreciate a lot... also having someone right there, running with me, is a good incentive to not stop when my mind is saying "Come on! Just walk for a minute!"
Long run tomorrow. 6 miles. Because I didn't get it in on Sunday. I know this is kind of a bad idea, especially since it will be sandwiched between 2 run days. I know I'm pushing it. I'm trying to keep my nutritional and physical stresses (the bad kind!) down as much as possible (though I do have my weaknesses...) so that my recovery is high quality.
So, all in all, excellent day! I really like getting runs done early (although I tend to have a hard time getting up in the morning...) because it makes the rest of the day nice. Residue of the 'feel good' hormones from exercise, I guess! Either way, I'm happy.
Well, that's not entirely true; last time, and I think the time before, I had to stop and walk a couple of times, because of dehydration (mild) and stuff. Last time it was just awful. This time, all good... well, mostly - we'll get to that in a minute.
So, usually we go along this 2-lane country road that sort of ends in a gate. It doesn't really end because you can slip past the gate. But we haven't, until today. The road sweeps down at a pretty steep .22~ mile hill, which is nice as you're going down, because you get a nice break. So, we went past the gate; there's a little hill there, which I had to walk about 3/4 of the way up. My calves were starting to feel really sore (thus the mostly... I hate having to walk!). Ran down that little hill to a big hill...where we turned around. I ran up the other side of the little hill, ran again, walked a bit since I could not make it up the .22 mile hill... unfortunately... it's quite steep! But after that, I was mostly good. Had to walk a couple more times, but really focused on pushing myself further than last time, and getting a better time.
Lately, I've had a hard time pushing myself and dealing with legs getting sore, labored breathing, just psychological "do-not-want-to-run" laziness, mostly, and having a hard time getting through that on my runs. I love to run! I just am not used to it yet, I guess... My brain isn't used to physical, athletic challenge. I'll get better though! This time, it was easier!
I want to talk about those burning calves for a minute, though. They are just not up to multiple hills! I mean, the hills on this run were there, but (except for that one) they aren't severe. On my 'normal' route, I have 2 hills, one of which I repeat. The first is kind of steep, but not really, and is about .5 miles. Perhaps a touch less. The second is quite short, but quite, quite steep. This is the one I do twice on my normal 3 mile runs. I can do these okay without my calves giving out too bad, but apparently I still need to build up strength because the repeating hills (about 6 maybe, counting the fact that you have to go up them twice) is really getting to me! So, if anyone knows of any good non-running exercises to really target those muscles, let me know! I really want to be able to do hills without my legs feeling like they're on fire when I'm done.
So, the run was 3.56 miles long. Break down:
Warm Up: Lunge Matrix
Mile 1: 12:06 pace
2: 12:55
3: 16:42 (The mile I walked a lot... blegh)
Last .56 miles: 12:11 pace (took 6:46 to do this bit)
Total time: 48:31. Not fast, but descent, well, for me at least, and with the consistancy of pace and all. K is really good at keeping a fairly even pace, which I appreciate a lot... also having someone right there, running with me, is a good incentive to not stop when my mind is saying "Come on! Just walk for a minute!"
Long run tomorrow. 6 miles. Because I didn't get it in on Sunday. I know this is kind of a bad idea, especially since it will be sandwiched between 2 run days. I know I'm pushing it. I'm trying to keep my nutritional and physical stresses (the bad kind!) down as much as possible (though I do have my weaknesses...) so that my recovery is high quality.
So, all in all, excellent day! I really like getting runs done early (although I tend to have a hard time getting up in the morning...) because it makes the rest of the day nice. Residue of the 'feel good' hormones from exercise, I guess! Either way, I'm happy.
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