Why oh why does this always happen to me?
It seems that every time I finally get going with my training I get sick and it stops me in my tracks.
I started coming down with a cold on Monday, complete with sore throat, running nose, fever, and aches, and it's gotten progressively worse ever since.
*sigh*
Yoga class on Tuesday was great!!
It really was a true beginner class - probably the most basic I have ever taken. Sometimes you just never know! It may say beginner, but often times there are individuals that have taken the class a few time before, so the class is taught at a semi-beginner level to try to teach the newbies without boring the old timers that aren't quite confident enough to move up a class level.
The instructor spent a lot of time talking and explaining things for the first part of the class, which was good for a number of reasons. I actually picked up quite a few pieces of new information and insight that I had never learned before.
Starting with the basics is a great refresher for me and it is all coming back easier than I thought it would. I may not remember the names of any of the poses, but my body seems to remember how to breathe and how to flow from pose to pose. I'm really glad that I signed up for the class, and I'm hoping that it will continue to go just as well as the first evening did.
My boyfriend asked me a few days ago how my training was going for this race. Since he had asked, I actually stopped and thought about it which I really hadn't done. I was mostly just trying to get my head back in the game, and taking it as it was coming with out evaluating it. What I decided was that this time it hurts more.
I feel sore-er (is that even a word?) than I ever have along with more little aches, pains, and twinges than before. It's not a feeling of major pain or anything that I think is serious and it is never in the same spot. Just some rumblings from my body letting me know that it's not completely happy with me.
I don't know if I am pushing too hard, but I don't feel like I am. Or if my body is just having a harder time getting back into the groove. Or if I am just paying closer attention, looking for any sign that my knee or my ankle are going to start to give me problems so I am now noticing things that I wasn't before. But I'm encountering a new experience with it all, instead of thinking to myself that I want to stop because I'm tired, I'm thinking that I want to stop because my knee, ankle, hip, feet, back, etc, etc, are uncomfortable.
Well, my morning was supposed to consist of a 6 mile run outside, before I leave to go out of town until Sunday. Unfortunately, I have the feeling that no running will be done by this runnergirl while I am away. I will be spending the time catching up with one of my best friends while we scrapbook to our heart's content. Which usually means sitting in one spot without moving anything but our hands and mouths for days on end, combined with too much, bad for us food, and no sleep.
Instead of my 6 mile run outside, I'm hoping to get it done on the treadmill before my power goes out! I woke up to a dark looking sky. Which quickly started casting down rain and lightening and making my house rumble with the thunder. My lights have flickered twice in the course of my typing, so I do believe it would be wise for me to end my post earlier than planned before I lose power and my computer crashes.
So, until next week...... Happy Running!
Two short hours from now, I will find myself some place else.
Some place I haven't been in a really loooooonnnnnngggggg time.
Some place where I will be spending an hour every Tuesday evening for the next 2 months.
And I will be doing something, umm... shall we say, different than what I'm used to,
and I'm a little nervous.
Because, well, what if...
what if...
I, oh I don't know... tie myself in knots and fall flat on my face?
Because that is entirely possible.
What is this new activity?, you ask.
Yoga.
And it's not like yoga and I are complete strangers. It's more like we're long lost friends.
And we will be reuniting after a long separation.
But the question remains... what if we no longer like each other?
It could end up being a very long 8 weeks!
The "4 mile leisurely run" that I had planned for Tuesday afternoon turned into the 1 mile torture session from hell.
I made it less than 1/4 of a mile and my calves started to cramp up. I stopped and stretched them out, but as soon as I started running again they started cramping again. So, after repeating that process a few more times, I decided to toss in the towel and give up after a mile.
I'm giving myself today off, and hopefully tomorrow my legs will be willing to cooperate for the 6 mile long run that is supposed to occur this week.
Since the running seems to be on a fast track to nowhere, I decided that it was a good time to concentrate on other things. So, I've been getting up early every morning to do some ab work and have been getting myself back into the habit of drinking plenty of water. I'm also trying to convince myself that since I'm back at the training, maybe I should start making friends with a vegetable, or two.
I woke up this morning before it was light out.
That tends to happen when you go to sleep before 9:00 PM!
I made my customary bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, and wandered upstairs to the computer. I ate my breakfast, checked my email, and read a few blogs. By then the sun was starting to make an appearance, and I proceeded back down the stairs to go do my sit ups.
I got halfway downstairs, and was able to see out the window next to my front door.
Holy @#*&! Where did that white crap come from?
I knew they were predicting snow for the weekend, but when I went to sleep last night it was raining, not snowing!
I heard that our high on Tuesday was 76 degrees. Today the ground is covered in snow.
I think Mother Nature must be suffering from PMS!
Do you ever have one of those 'Oh my god, what the @&*$ did I do?' moments?
Where you made a snap decision about something..... not something extremely, critically important or life changing.... but something that maybe you should have thought about for a little longer than the 10 seconds you took to make the decision?
Yeah. Well...
I went to get my hair done this morning.
{Are you sensing the impending doom?}
So, I tell my stylist that I'm getting bored with my hair and have been thinking about doing something new.
I tell her that I'm liking the color of it, since we just changed that a few months back. But, I've had the same cut, more or less, for a long time. So, I was thinking about doing something different.... thinking how my cousin and the girl I work with both just cut their hair much shorter, and it looks so cute.... thinking maybe I should cut mine. Blah. Blah. Blah.
But, I don't really like having short hair when I run. I like to be able to pull it back into a ponytail. I hate having to put in a million bobby pins to keep it off my face.
But I'm so tired of it. I feel like it's flat and lifeless. I've had it the same style for a long time. Blah. Blah. Blah.
I just don't know what to do, I tell her.
Poor girl!
So, she says to me...
"Well, we could cut in some bangs and bring all the layers up. It'll still all go back into a ponytail, but the shorter layers will give it more body. And you'll just have to put a bobby pin in to hold the bangs back."
After about 5 seconds of consideration, I say," OK. Go Ahead."
So, she colors my hair, and then proceeds to cut it, dry it, style it, and then hands me my glasses and turns me towards the mirror to look.
OH MY GOD!
I feel like I'm in kindergarten!
I don't think I've had bangs since, oh I don't know,..........NEVER!
Sure, I had the huge "mall hair" bangs back in the 80's that stood a foot off my head. But I don't think I've ever had real, lay across my forehead, bangs combined with the rest of my hair being longer. If I ever have, I certainly don't remember it.
And it's not that I don't like it.
It's that I look in the mirror and feel like I don't even know the person looking back at me! How can a few snips of the scissors make me feel like I've lost my identity?!?! And it isn't like the rest of my hair is that different! It's got a few more layers, but it's been like that before. It's basically the same as it's been for the past 6 years, except for the bangs.
I know it'll grow on me! My hair stylist said she felt the exact same way when she cut her bangs a month ago, and now she loves them. She was teasing me that I was going to send her a myspace message in 3 days telling her that I love my hair. Just like I always do.
And she's probably right.
Once I stop wondering what the #&*@ I did to myself!
"I am a runner."
I say that to people, and sometimes I feel like a fraud. I mean, yes, I run. But does that really make me a runner?
Do I run fast enough to call myself a runner? Do I run long enough distances to call myself a runner? Am I dedicated enough to call myself a runner? Since I've never ran a marathon, can I call myself a runner?
What defines what "a runner" is? Is it a set number of miles? Is it a certain state of mind?
With all these questions running through my mind, I've been feeling the need to give running my all lately. I've been feeling the need to prove to myself that I do, indeed, still deserve the title of runner.
Come on, you know what I'm talking about.
There are times when we need to see just exactly what we are made of. When we need to leave it all out there on the road behind us. When we need to give it everything we've got.
Just to see exactly how much that is.
We may all have our own reasons for doing it, and our own means of accomplishing it, but there are times when every runner feels the need to test just what they are made of.
For me, last Thursday's long run was one of those runs.
Because, let's be honest here for a minute...
If you were to look up the word slacker in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of me sitting there, on my butt, grinning back at you.
And I just might have a bowl of ice cream in my lap.
I used my ankle injury as an excuse to be lazy for the past 6 months.
And I really don't feel very good about that!
So, now that I'm getting back into running, I needed to see just where things stood. I needed to bare it all and lay it all on the line.
I needed to see where I am,
and just how far I have to go.
So, even though the run was only 5 miles, I gave it everything I had to give. And I ran it as fast as I could. And I didn't stop until the very last gasping breath that took me sailing over that 5 mile mark.
And the good news is that I'm in better shape that I was expecting.
The bad news is that my calves were so sore that I could barely walk for 3 days!
So, even though our weather has been gorgeous, I haven't gotten out there to see any of it. I did manage to hobble through my 3 mile run on Saturday evening. But, all I did was add insult to injury, and decided that maybe skipping Sunday's 4 miles was a good idea since I was pretty much limping by then.
So, this afternoon a leisurely 4 miles is planned where I am expecting to enjoy some wonderful sunshine!
The high today is supposed to be around 70 degrees.
They are predicting snow on Saturday.
Does anyone else see a problem with that?
Ah Yes...Guilt.
The ultimate motivator!
I had decided that I was going to wait until tomorrow to do my 5 mile long run. But 10:00 PM rolled around and I decided that I just couldn't do it. So I gave in, donned my running shoes, and hopped on the treadmill to crank out the miles.
I did, however, blow the dust off my garmin and plug it in to charge. I have a feeling that the road is going to be calling my name tomorrow anyway, and I just might end up going out and running a few miles just for kicks. They upped the predicted temp to 50 degrees and it is supposed to be sunny, too. And we haven't had too many sunny days in these here parts lately!!
I am always astounded by the ability of the human body to adapt to the stresses that we put it under. When I started back 2 weeks ago, 2 miles about killed me. And I just ran 5 miles tonight and it felt great. I even managed to do it in a time that was 1 minute faster than I ran 4 miles a week ago.
We don't want to talk about how slow that time was, though!
Progress, people. It's all about the progress.
That is the question.
I do my long runs on Thursdays, and take Friday as an off day because of my work schedule.
This week my "long run" is only 5 miles. That doesn't sound like much of a long run, but it'll be more consecutive miles than I have run in months. I'm actually really looking forward to it, even though I know it's going to kick my butt and take my name.
Weather.com says that it is supposed to be 35 degrees on Thursday and 46 degrees on Friday. Do I wait until Friday to run and see if we actually get the warmer temp they are predicting, or do I assume that they weathermen are being big fat liars again and just run on Thursday like I usually do?
I'd love to get back outside for a run, but I'm going to be very disappointed if I wait, only to find out that the weather is still cold!
Tonight's run was 3 miles. I was making up the miles that I missed on the first day of my training schedule last week.
Whoops!
I am going to try really hard not to miss any miles this go round. If I don't do the miles, I'm not going to get any faster!
And I want to get faster, darn it!
Not much, just enough to PR in my race, even if it's only by a second or two I'll be happy!
My blisters are gone! Yeah.
Today was the first run since I started back that didn't end with my feet covered in blisters. And my beloved calluses are well on their way be being back. Yipee!
Now you've really heard it all, right? Someone celebrating the return of calluses!
The comments on a previous post were full of wonderful advice about how to prevent blisters. But the ironic thing is that it has never dawned on me to try to prevent them! I guess I just view them as a rite of passage of sorts. I just grit my teeth and resign myself to the fact that for the first week I am going to hobble around on sore feet. After that the skin has toughened up enough that I no longer get any blisters.
So, 3 more miles have been added to the log book, and hopefully the last of my blister filled runs have passed!
Did someone say ouch?
My right arch has a blister about the size of 2 quarters side by side, plus a few other smaller ones scattered around my foot. The ones on my left foot aren't quite as big, but they are reminding me that they are there just the same.
So, I decided that today was going to be a rest day.
The original plan was to run 3 miles to make up for the ones I missed on Saturday. Great way to start off a training schedule: miss the first day! But, I thought since I can barely walk, running was probably out of the questions. So, I'll just try to work the 3 miles into next weeks schedule instead.
I usually start my training weeks on Saturday instead of Monday. I'm sure that seems a little strange, but it works out well with my work schedule. Bumping the days up like that makes the long run day fall on Thursday, my day off, instead of Saturday, a work day.
As I am starting out on this training journey, I have been thinking about my goals for the next 12 weeks, and for the race. I'm trying to decide exactly what it is that I want to accomplish.
The last time I trained for a half marathon my goal was simple:
Finish the race without keeling over first!
But this time, I have a little more experience under my belt. So, I am wanting something different. I'm hoping that I have the ability to train a little smarter, and accomplish a little more.
My goal for the race itself is quite simple. I'm hoping to finish it in a faster time than I finished the Indy half marathon last May. Which means that I need to finish in a time faster than 2:42:32. I think that is doable. I didn't push myself much during the training, or the race, last go 'round. And I intend on working harder this time, and I picked a training schedule with higher mileage for this race.
My other goals are actually rather simple, as well.
First, I intend on incorporating some ab work into my workout routine, and hopefully, I can improve the appearance of my mid section. I'd really like to be able to put on a 2 piece swimsuit this summer and actually be comfortable in it!!
Second, I would like to lose 5 lbs during the course of my training. I really don't think that should be too difficult. I don't think that 5 lbs in 13 weeks is too much to ask of myself. And since I'm basically making a shift from couch potato back to runner, I hope the increase in activity should be enough to drop a few pounds.
Losing 5 lbs would put me right under 140 lbs, which is a place that I haven't seen in a very long time, and would very much like to be!
As long as I don't use my running as an excuse to eat everything in sight, like I did last time, I should be fine. I think I gained 10 - 15 lbs while training for my last race (which I have since lost!). I had to reward every run with a treat.
Even if the run was only 2 miles!
I mean, 2 miles still deserve a chocolate extreme blizzard as a reward.
Right?
After sleeping for a blissful 12 hours and 45 minutes last night, I awoke at 10:45 AM to find that the outside temperature was a mere 36 degrees. And while that isn't quite freezing, it is a long way from the 51 degrees that the weatherman had predicted.
Liar!
I decided to give it a few more hours to see if it would warm up any. By 3:00, it had climbed to a whopping 39 degrees.
So, I decided that wasn't warm enough for me to brave the rain, so I ran on the treadmill instead. Where I managed to actually run all 4 miles today!
Woo Hoo!
I also learned a very valuable lesson: Running and crying aren't a good combo!
While I was running, I was watching Save the Last Dance. I bet I have literally seen that movie 25 or 30 times by now, but it still reduces me to tears in several spots. Like after the ballet, when Sara is talking about giving up dancing because of her mom's death. And when her dad shows Sara her room all done and tells her he loves her. And when Derek goes on stage during her audition and tells her that she was born to [dance]. I kept having to hold back my tears in order to keep running or I knew I was going to start having a hard time breathing and have to quit.
I just love that movie! I guess the determination that Sara shows for her dancing is the same kind of determination it takes to train for a long race. Plus it's just an emotional, touching coming of age type story.
I highly recommend it to any females out there who haven't see it. All of you guys would probably just roll your eyes and call it a stupid chick flick!
