Woo hoo Wednesday!

Planned: 4 miles
Actual: 4.01 miles

I was really sleepy this morning and I didn't feel like getting up to run. But I did it anyway, and even managed to achieve negative splits. Just barely - the last mile was 1 second faster than mile 3 - but I did it. My overall pace was much faster than yesterday. Considering it was a much shorter run, I would expect that to be the case but it doesn't always work out that way for me!

Seven miles on the agenda for tomorrow, which means a very early wake-up call. Guess I'll be recording Top Chef tonight instead of staying up to watch.

Happy Tuesday!

Planned: 7 miles
Actual: 7.02 miles (yes, that .02 makes a difference!)

What a gorgeous morning! We finally had a break in the nasty, hot, humid weather so it was in the 50s and delightfully NOT humid when I went out to run this morning. It was great not to be sweating before I even started running.

My legs felt pretty good, especially considering the 17-mile adventure was just two days ago. And it was nice not to have intestinal cramping, too. :)

For the past few weeks I've been thinking that the hot weather is what was making me so slow. Turns out, that's not it. I'm just slow! I felt like I was cruising right along this morning, so it was disheartening to notice my poky slow pace every time I looked at my watch. Must work on that!

Victory!

This morning I woke up once again to a disgustingly hot and humid early-morning temperature. My schedule called for six miles, but I was already telling myself that maybe I could just do four because it was so yucky out. Plus I'm lazy.

Once I started running, I was feeling okay. Repulsively sweaty, but otherwise okay. Got barked at by a big, scary dog who had nothing but an invisible electric fence between him and my throat. Fortunately he just pawed at the ground where his invisible fence was and he didn't come after me.

Then I saw a cute black lab and also a couple of golden retrievers. Given the opportunity, they may have sniffed me but I didn't fear for my life like I did with big meanie. Anyway, I enjoyed the dogs and in the course of running along, I managed to convince myself that I could and would complete the six miles I was supposed to do. Certainly I could cut it short, but who would I be cheating? Only myself. So I did six miles.

Victory over laziness. Woo hoo!

Still running

Planned: 4 miles
Actual: 4.15 miles

Nothing interesting to report from today's run. Didn't even see anybody out with their dogs, which is usually a benefit of running early in the morning. I love dogs.

Once again it's gross and humid outside. When I'm already sweating when I wake up (no air conditioning at my house), it really doesn't make me want to get up and run. But guilt rules the day again! Glad my guilt complex serves a good purpose sometimes.

Been too long!

Wow, I've sadly neglected this blog. I don't feel like I have much to say. My marathon training schedule officially started on June 29th and I promptly skipped a couple of days of running that week. Whoops! Oh well, better to goof up the first week instead of the more important weeks later on.

I skipped the Wednesday running class a couple of weeks ago because I was swamped at work and also thunderstorms were going through the area. They did a track workout that day so I may have missed something interesting.

This past Wednesday's class was okay. The run itself was nothing special. They sent us out on the roads to run 4-6 miles. Once again, the coaches went with the fast runners and those of us who are slower were left on our own. The weather was good so it was an enjoyable run. I did only 4 miles since I'd already run 3 miles on Wednesday morning (just in case work was too busy for me to get away for the class).

After the class, we had a seminar on injury prevention. Not sure exactly what the credentials were of the speaker; I think he is some sort of physical therapist. In any case, it was really interesting and he talked a lot about improving one's posture and showed us a few exercises that will help us keep in alignment more easily. He'll come back for another session some time to talk about core strengthening.

One of the coaches gave me a marathon training schedule that he selected for me. Not sure how he selected it since he really hasn't seen me run, nor has he talked to me. The coaches do know our running distances and times because we have a website where we log all our runs so they can review it. The schedule the coach gave me is higher mileage than the schedule I'm using and I don't think I'll be following it. My current schedule may be a little light on mileage so I'll probably end up doing a compromise between the two. Since this is my first marathon and there are approximately a billion different training schedules out there, it's tough to know what's right.

This morning David and I met Vicki at the park for a 6-miler. I ended up doing 6 1/2 miles. It was hot for 7am (over 70 degrees) and really muggy. But it started raining part-way through the run and that kept us cool. The only other times I've run in the rain it's been a cold rain in winter or fall. Running in a warm summer rain was actually surprisingly pleasant.

Okay, done rambling for now.

Nice and slow

Went out for a run this morning. I turned the Garmin on when I started running and then didn't look at it again until I was done. I wanted to run nice and relaxed without pushing myself to go faster. My goal was to do something a bit longer than the 3-milers I've been doing since the Bayshore half, but I didn't want to go all out since I have a race tomorrow plus it just felt like a good day for a relaxed run.

I hit the rail trail and ran until I felt like turning around, then ran some more and did a little random neighborhood running, too. When I bought my condo 15 years ago when I was tubby and inactive, I had no idea how wonderful it would be to have that rail trail a mere 1/4 mile from my front door. I love it! They've expanded it in the last several years so I could go a good 12-14 miles or so from end to end if I wanted to (with a couple of scary-ass road crossings in there).

Weather was perfect this morning - low 50s and sunny. A delightful day all in all, and lots of people out enjoying the trail with me. When I got home I expected to see maybe 4 1/2 miles on the Garmin, but it turns out I ran 5 1/4. Loved every minute of it.

Another beautiful day

What a gorgeous day it is today! It's currently about 50 degrees and beautifully sunny. David is helping a friend's dad move some furniture at 10am today, so we headed out a 8am for a nice three mile run. I'm so thrilled that David is enjoying running. It's been great to run with him these past two days and I hope we have many more great runs together in the future.

Yesterday we discussed that he's interested in doing a half marathon some time in the future. We haven't identified a race yet, but you can bet I'll be ready and willing to sign up for it and run it alongside him (if I can keep up with him - he likes to pick up the pace!)

That's all I have to report for now. I hope everyone is having a great Sunday.

Milestone!

Recovery from Bayshore has been really smooth this week. I haven't run a ton, just 2-3 miles a day until today. This morning I went to Stony Creek to meet my friend Vicki. I planned to run six miles and she was planning 12 since she's training for a half later this month.

My beloved boyfriend David decided to come join us. We're running a 5K in Midland next Saturday - his first race - so he wanted to run three miles and make sure he could handle the distance since he's a new runner. I am so freaking proud of him and delighted, because he ran six miles today! We took a couple of short walk breaks but by far the majority of the six was running. He did a great job! I love running with David and I'm really excited about getting to do that more often.

He may be a convert to the delights of the early morning run, too. He felt great after finishing. I always love running first thing in the morning because then I don't care if I'm a lazy bum the rest of the day. I still know I accomplished something good. Now David understands that feeling. :)

The speed continues

On Thursday, I went to the gym before work and ran three miles on the treadmill. Did it at a pretty slow pace. I went back to the gym after work with the intention of running more, but I got through a quarter mile and my legs felt dead so I just walked a couple miles and called it good. I strength-trained on Friday, no running.

Today, I met a couple of running buddies (Erica and Josh) at the park for a run. Josh is the person with whom I ran the first two miles of last Sunday's 4-mile race. He and Erica are much faster than I am. I was determined to see how long I could hang in there with them. Turns out that today the answer was seven miles. After that they started pulling away because I had to slow down a little bit.

The awesome thing about today's 10 miles was that my average pace was a mere 2 seconds per mile slower than Sunday's 4-mile race. I'm so amazed that I could sustain that pace over a longer distance. It was over a minute faster per mile than the half marathon I did in January. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will PR by a good chunk of time in one of my upcoming halfs.

Redeeming myself

As mentioned earlier this week, I was all ambitious and did my Wednesday morning run on Tuesday evening instead. (Incidentally, the bad weather predicted for Wednesday morning never showed up.) So Wednesday became a day off and I was supposed to run five miles on Thursday. But I didn't, I was just feeling super lazy. So then I considered and rejected the idea of going to the gym before work this morning. Lazy again!

However, I redeemed myself after work by hitting the treadmill and getting those five miles in. It actually turned out to be a great run. I got into the groove almost right away and felt fabulous.

Tomorrow I'm scheduled for nine and it's supposed to snow several inches, so I won't be running outside. Looks like I have another treadmill run in my near future!

Signed up for another one

I've been running a bit this week, trying to get back on track for my 1,000 mile goal for the year. I took Monday and Tuesday off, but ran on the treadmill at the gym on Wed, Thu and Fri. I also went out to the park today to run with the TNT people. It was freaking cold - bitterly cold. Thought hard about not going, but I'd already told a few people that I'd be there. I ended up doing six miles (one time around the park loop) and called it good. I will hit the treadmill at the gym tomorrow and then I think I'll be back on pace for 1,000 miles.

While at the park today, a couple of people mentioned that they were planning to do the Martian Half Marathon on April 5th. I'm already signed up to do the Bayshore Half Marathon on May 23rd (as is one of the Martian half-marathoners).

I thought about it for a while after I got home and then thought what the hell, I'm going to go for it. My training schedule for Bayshore calls for me to do an 11 mile long run the week of the Martian half. So I'll just treat the Martian as my long run, a little longer than called for, and not worry about my time. Bayshore is still the race where I'll be aiming to beat my RNR AZ time. Martian can be slower and I won't care - I'm just going to consider it a training run. A training run that happens to have one of the ugliest race shirts I've ever seen in my life. Can't wait to get it! :)

Only a week to go!

Today was my last group run with Team in Training. I feel really sad! It's a great group of people. I'll miss it so much that I'm still going to show up for the Saturday group runs, because I know several people who'll be doing the same. Also, a few people are talking about getting together for short runs on Wednesdays after work, so I'll probably do that, too.

I can't believe the half marathon is just eight days away. I feel ready for it and I'm looking forward to high temps in the 70s. And even better, I have an online friend who lives in Phoenix, so my boyfriend and I are going to have lunch with her and her husband. We've known each other online for probably seven years, but have never met. So this will be a really cool trip for multiple reasons.

I have this urge to get my suitcase packed already. Heh, I will wait a while on that. But I tend to overpack, which is a problem since I only want to have carry-on for this trip. So packing will probably be a challenging process for me.

Still loving it

I've run two more times since my last post and I did indeed do three intervals at the faster speed. It's challenging me and I love it. It's like I had some sort of running epiphany - it can be lots of fun to push yourself! Who knew? :)

Tomorrow the schedule calls for two measly miles. I'll get up early to do those before work, like I have done lately. It really starts my day off right.

I'm at 18 1/2 miles so far this year, so a long way to go to reach my goal of 1,000 miles. I'd like to have more mileage these days but I'm doing what Coach Sandy says and respecting the taper. I don't want to end up injured right before the half marathon so I'm following the schedule. But after 1/18, then I can do what I want for a while. Some time in February, I'll have to dig up a good half marathon training schedule and start prepping for Bayshore in May.

Also, once I get back from Phoenix I'll start working on strength training, which is one of my other fitness goals this year.

I feel great

Today was a strange day for me. I was filled with positive energy for some reason. I had three miles to run, so I went to gym and got on the treadmill. Just like yesterday, I was wishing I could run more. So I pushed myself and made my base speed a little faster than I usually run. And then I did a couple of three-minute intervals at an even higher speed just to push myself. I found that I really enjoyed it! Now I'm excited for the next time I get to run, when I will aim for three intervals at the faster speed instead of two.

I think I've finally started to love running, instead of just loving the way I feel AFTER I run.

New goals

Today was the six mile "long run" with Team in Training. It was great. Never before did I think I would say it was "only" six miles. But I said it today. It felt like a short run. I wanted to run more. I think this taper is good for me; it's leaving me wanting to run longer so that will be handy when I have to run 13.1 miles two weeks from tomorrow. :)

I signed up today for the Bayshore Half Marathon, which takes place in beautiful Traverse City the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. I figured it would be a good idea to get another race on the calendar to keep me motivated when the Phoenix half is done. I'm excited about it. My dear boyfriend David will go with me and we'll make a fun weekend out of it. We snagged a great hotel room overlooking the bay and within walking distance of downtown. Also within easy walking distance of the race shuttle and the end point of the race. Yay!

I don't really do New Year's resolutions, but I did set some fitness goals for 2009:

1) Keep running at least 4x per week and complete at least one more half marathon in addition to Phoenix. In fact, my goal is to run at least 1,000 miles during 2009. I think this is totally feasible, just 20 miles per week. I will exceed that during many half marathon training weeks. I suspect I will sign up for another half marathon or two later in the year.

2) Lose the last 25 pounds. Possibly I'll stop before I reach 25 pounds; it really depends on how I look and feel. I won't starve myself to reach an arbitrary number. I do need to lose at least 10 more pounds to get to the top of the healthy weight range for my height, so I'll achieve that at a minimum.

3) Do strength training at least 2x per week. I've kept away from strength training for far too long and I need to get back to it. Woman cannot live by cardio alone!

4) Remain injury free. Other than my weird foot problem that I experienced a while ago, I've been really lucky not to hurt myself and I dearly hope to continue that. Just means I can't get stupid with my training.

That's it! I think they're good goals - a little challenging but certainly not impossible.

The taper

Now we're into the taper period before the race, so the miles will be decreasing up until race time.

I felt quite ill on Monday. Fortunately it was a day off anyway, so I didn't have to worry about running. On Tuesday, I felt much better so I headed to the gym after work for my five miles.

I still kind of mentally trick myself into running. When I started, I said to myself "just get through the first mile." Then after the first mile flew by, I said "you can stop at three if you want to." But of course when I got to three, I told myself just get to four. And when I got to four I figured I may as well complete the full five.

I feel great after I run so I'm not sure why I have to con myself into doing it sometimes. This morning I had four miles scheduled and it seemed to go by pretty quickly, despite the fact that all my weekday runs are happening on a treadmill these days.

Tomorrow is Christmas day and the gym doesn't open until 3pm. I'll be at my brother's house celebrating the holiday then, so if I'm going to do my planned five miles it will have to be done outside. I'm hoping there isn't any precipitation since I don't particularly enjoy running in the rain or snow. I'll do what I have to, though. I'll probably head over to the park where we do our weekly TNT group runs.

Happy holidays!

Final 12 mile run

We had a honking huge snowstorm on Friday so I was a little apprehensive about Saturday morning's group run. But kudos to the Metropark staff, because they did a great job plowing the parking lot and getting pretty much all the snow off the path where we run.

This was the final 12 mile run. Woo hoo! Now we're into the taper so the miles just decrease from here until the race on January 18th. I did most of Saturday's run on my own. Started out with a few people but they split off around 3 miles in because there were a couple of team members who had to run 20 miles for marathon training. So they were doing a different route than me.

I should have followed last week's successful run one mile / walk one minute plan. But I didn't. Why didn't I? Who the heck knows! Instead I tried to be all tough girl and run the whole thing. Which only led to me having really sore legs and walking more distance than I would have if I'd followed the run/walk strategy. Live and learn! I still feel like this was a successful training run. I'm fully confident that, barring some freak injury, I'll be able to complete the half marathon in January.

And when that's over, I'll probably sign up for a spring half marathon somewhere to inspire me to keep training. I really love the way I feel after I run.

Last week's long run

Last Saturday was my second 12-mile run and the first one that I did outside. It was very cold, but it wasn't snowing and the path at the park was pretty well cleared off. Quite an improvement from the snowy long run the week prior!

I had a really hard time with the 12-mile run I did on the treadmill over Thanksgiving weekend so I approached this run with a different plan. I wanted to take a one-minute walk break after every mile marker. I was running with the TNT coach, who intimidates the heck out of me, so I ran the first four miles without doing the walk breaks. I finally decided to grow up and let her know what I wanted to do, which she was totally fine with.

So I took the walk break after each subsequent mile and it helped me so much. Thinking "I have to run 12 miles" is daunting to me, but thinking "just one mile until a walk break" is much easier. I was very pleased with the run. And my legs were super sore for the rest of the day, but felt much better on Sunday.

Never thought I'd be a morning person

Okay, I'm still not a morning person, but I did manage to get up unreasonably early (4:45am) three days this week to go to the gym and get my scheduled runs done. I did six miles on Tuesday, four on Wednesday, and six on Thursday as per the TNT schedule. It wasn't much fun but I'm so glad I did it, because otherwise I would have ended up skipping runs due to a busy week.

It's amazing to me how many people are at the gym at that hour of the morning. The dedication is really impressive and inspiring. I don't think I'll make a regular habit of early morning gym visits, but I think I'll be doing it for at least until Christmas break rolls around.

Tomorrow I'll be running 12 miles with TNT. Fortunately, this 12-miler will be outside rather than on the treadmill. I really don't ever want to be on a treadmill for that long again! The only thing that will change my mind is ice. If the path at the park is icy, then off to the gym I'll go. I already fell on my butt on the ice once this week, while walking to my car. I don't care to repeat the experience!

Running in the snow

Today was another group run day with TNT. I was scheduled for 10 miles. When I woke up, the temperature was less than 20 degrees. Not unexpected for an early December morning in Michigan! As I headed out to the park where we run, I saw it was starting to snow. It was snowing fairly hard, actually, and starting to accumulate. A new adventure! I've never run in the snow before.

I went into the warming room where we meet and here's what I saw: two coaches, two mentors, one LLS employee, one LLS volunteer. NO other runners from the team! The coaches and mentors said "We were just talking about whether anyone was going to show up and we all said Cathy will be here." Ha! I told them I had strongly considered just going to the gym instead, but running 10 miles on the treadmill alone isn't my idea of a good time. I really enjoy the group runs because long miles are more fun with other people around and definitely better done outside.

So we headed out into the snow. It's kind of intimidating being the only team member there and having two mentors and two coaches focusing themselves on me. I tend to be a pretty slow runner and I feel more conspicuously slow with all those people paying attention to me. Everyone is really awesome and supportive, though I suspect the running coach is not too impressed by my pace. She's quite athletic and usually runs with another team member who is impressively fast and also athletic (in addition to being a very nice guy).

As it turns out, running in the snow is not totally fun but is WAY better than running in the rain. The snow accumulated quite a bit as we ran, so it wasn't easy going. My legs felt much more tired than normal so I took some walk breaks. We all had snow frozen to our eyebrows and lashes. My lips were blue, as usual!

It felt great to finish and I rewarded myself with a delicious oatmeal cranberry cookie. Yeah, yeah, rewarding yourself with food is bad, but the cookie was fabulous. Plus, I burned over 1,000 calories on the run so I can get away with eating one cookie. :-)