Total Distance So Far: 84.5 miles
What a great day for a run! It was slightly overcast, about 70 degrees farenheit, with a welcome warmer breeze blowing through every once in a while. I went out and did my 35 minute run around my work campus again.
Wednesday's Stats:
TIME: 35:01 minutes DISTANCE: 3.53 miles PACE: 9:55 minute/mile
... a nice pleasant run.
On Tuesday in the weight room I was looking at the various running routes my fitness center recommends off campus. The shortest one is 4 miles tho, so I'll probably attempt those once our timed runs hit 40 minutes (which unfortunately is no time soon).
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
a new regime
Total Distance So Far: 81.0 miles
We are solidly in week 6 of the TNT training now. Among other things this means we are mixing up the weekday training schedules a little.
On Monday at the track session, we started doing "hill ascents." Yep, it's about what you expect... running hard up a slight hill for 100-150 meters, and then jogging down the hill back to the start... these laps are meant to be done nonstop. No rest between laps. For our first day we were supposed to do 8 laps. I knew I'd have trouble counting, so I used the handy "lap" button on my garmin.
I found this hill ascent exercise quite delightful actually, and really enjoyed trucking up the hill repeatedly. It's not as miserable as it sounds. I've been told that's probably cause I'm normally a team sport sprinter tho, so a 150 meter hard run followed by a 150 meter trot is about what an ultimate frisbee game or soccer game is about.
Here are my stats:
warm up...
DISTANCE: 0.59 miles TIME: 5:09 minutes PACE: 8:45 minute/mile
laps...
1) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:13 minutes
2) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:19 minutes
3) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
4) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
5) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:22 minutes
6) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
7) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:23 minutes
8) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:54 minutes
The last lap gave me a pretty severe side ache that made it hard to breathe, so I had to step off the track a bit on the trot back to the start so I could catch my breath.
cool down:
DISTANCE: 1.74 miles TIME: 18:29 mintes PACE: 10:39 minute/mile
since I only did 1/2 the warm-up, I did a much longer cool down. Thought that would ballance me off a good deal.
Today was weight training... but this 5 weeks we'll be doing less reps and more weight. Plus we are doing slightly different exercises (like seated row). Anyway, it made weight training today a little more interesting than normal.
We are solidly in week 6 of the TNT training now. Among other things this means we are mixing up the weekday training schedules a little.
On Monday at the track session, we started doing "hill ascents." Yep, it's about what you expect... running hard up a slight hill for 100-150 meters, and then jogging down the hill back to the start... these laps are meant to be done nonstop. No rest between laps. For our first day we were supposed to do 8 laps. I knew I'd have trouble counting, so I used the handy "lap" button on my garmin.
I found this hill ascent exercise quite delightful actually, and really enjoyed trucking up the hill repeatedly. It's not as miserable as it sounds. I've been told that's probably cause I'm normally a team sport sprinter tho, so a 150 meter hard run followed by a 150 meter trot is about what an ultimate frisbee game or soccer game is about.
Here are my stats:
warm up...
DISTANCE: 0.59 miles TIME: 5:09 minutes PACE: 8:45 minute/mile
laps...
1) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:13 minutes
2) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:19 minutes
3) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
4) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
5) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:22 minutes
6) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:20 minutes
7) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:23 minutes
8) DISTANCE: 0.17 miles TIME: 1:54 minutes
The last lap gave me a pretty severe side ache that made it hard to breathe, so I had to step off the track a bit on the trot back to the start so I could catch my breath.
cool down:
DISTANCE: 1.74 miles TIME: 18:29 mintes PACE: 10:39 minute/mile
since I only did 1/2 the warm-up, I did a much longer cool down. Thought that would ballance me off a good deal.
Today was weight training... but this 5 weeks we'll be doing less reps and more weight. Plus we are doing slightly different exercises (like seated row). Anyway, it made weight training today a little more interesting than normal.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
a romp around NW Portland
Total Distance So Far: 77.3 miles
This morning was a group run again. Today we were going 8 miles, and actually (for once) going the same distance as the experienced marathon running group. Normally they are going 2 to 4 miles further than us newbies on the group runs.
Val and I carpooled to Sydney's Cafe where we were all meeting up at roughly 7am. It's located on 14th and NW Thurston (more or less under I-405). All the coaches are out of town this weekend for some TNT endurance event, so today was just the mentors and us runners.
The route was a little complicated. From Sydney's Cafe, we ran over to NW Raleigh, up to NW 23rd, over to NW Everett, downtown to Broadway, north 2 blocks to Glisan, back up to 21st, and then back to Raleigh and back the way we came from Sydney's Cafe... and that was only the first 4.35 miles of the run. It took us roughly 48 minutes to get this far. At this point Val and I attacked the aid station TNT had setup. I occupied myself with drinking Gleukos sport drink and massacring gummy bears. Val decided to try the tangerine flavored Power Bar gel they had out for us, and washed the reportedly terrible taste down with water. She said it was simply awful. During the first half of the run, Val and I found ourselves keeping pace with an experienced marathon runner named Nicole. She was very nice, and the three of us had a great conversation as we wound our way back to Sydney's Cafe. We set out on the second half of the run together too.
The second half of the run went the opposite direction towards Front. Once at Front (only 2 blocks from Sydney's), we ran north along Front until we got to Gunderson's (a welding company?) which was the turn around to go back the way we came... back to Sydney's Cafe. This route was kinda dull, less tree cover, and well, frankly lacked sidewalks for a good quarter mile stretch, forcing us to share the road with the semi trucks. A daunting practice.
Nicole, Val, and I chatted on this leg of the run. She is doing the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco which takes place after the Portland Marathon. She ran the Portland Marathon back in 2004, and completed it without walking. Impressive! She thought it was really cool to meet Val and me, and got excited about the prospect of cheering the two of us on when we attempt the marathon in Oct. She may even run a stretch of it with us! That's way cool.
Like last week, the course laid out for us today was actually longer than they told us, so when my Garmin said we had gone 8 miles, all three of us decided to walk the remaining 0.4 miles back to Sydney's Cafe as a cool down. My legs felt like Jell-O on this walk. I blame the gummi treats.
Our run stats:
DISTANCE: 8.05 miles TIME: 1:30:29 AVG PACE: 11:11 minute/mile
Once back, Val and I decided to try Sydney's fare. I had a 12 oz drip coffee, and the most adorable mini cupcake you ever saw, Val enjoyed an iced soy chai. We both have to say, Sydney's Cafe is pretty good. Too bad it's tucked away in such an out-of-the-way location.
We enjoyed our caffeine while sitting in the parking lot amongst other exhausted TNT runners. Sitting down with our tired leg muscles was hard, but not as difficult as navigating steps (up or down). Finally we decided to head out. I dropped Val back off at her house and went home.
I found out after getting home that I actually weighed 1 lbs less than when I woke up this morning. Now... not to get too technical, but I never went to the bathroom between these two weigh-ins, and actually drank a lot of water and ate several snacks.... which means I sweated and/or burned over 1 lbs of water and carbs running 8 miles this morning. That's actually really surprising I think.
Anyway, the good news is altho the plantar fasciitis made it's presence known initially on the run, the pain turned to a dull ache that didn't affect my run I don't think, but more importantly, didn't make my knee hurt! Then again, on Doctor's orders, I've been doing a number of stretches and exercises before bed every night to aid in the healing of the plantar fasciitis and runner's knee symptoms I experienced last Saturday.
Exhibit A
It takes about an hour every night to get through them all. But... as I learned today... totally worth every second.
This morning was a group run again. Today we were going 8 miles, and actually (for once) going the same distance as the experienced marathon running group. Normally they are going 2 to 4 miles further than us newbies on the group runs.
Val and I carpooled to Sydney's Cafe where we were all meeting up at roughly 7am. It's located on 14th and NW Thurston (more or less under I-405). All the coaches are out of town this weekend for some TNT endurance event, so today was just the mentors and us runners.
The route was a little complicated. From Sydney's Cafe, we ran over to NW Raleigh, up to NW 23rd, over to NW Everett, downtown to Broadway, north 2 blocks to Glisan, back up to 21st, and then back to Raleigh and back the way we came from Sydney's Cafe... and that was only the first 4.35 miles of the run. It took us roughly 48 minutes to get this far. At this point Val and I attacked the aid station TNT had setup. I occupied myself with drinking Gleukos sport drink and massacring gummy bears. Val decided to try the tangerine flavored Power Bar gel they had out for us, and washed the reportedly terrible taste down with water. She said it was simply awful. During the first half of the run, Val and I found ourselves keeping pace with an experienced marathon runner named Nicole. She was very nice, and the three of us had a great conversation as we wound our way back to Sydney's Cafe. We set out on the second half of the run together too.
The second half of the run went the opposite direction towards Front. Once at Front (only 2 blocks from Sydney's), we ran north along Front until we got to Gunderson's (a welding company?) which was the turn around to go back the way we came... back to Sydney's Cafe. This route was kinda dull, less tree cover, and well, frankly lacked sidewalks for a good quarter mile stretch, forcing us to share the road with the semi trucks. A daunting practice.
Nicole, Val, and I chatted on this leg of the run. She is doing the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco which takes place after the Portland Marathon. She ran the Portland Marathon back in 2004, and completed it without walking. Impressive! She thought it was really cool to meet Val and me, and got excited about the prospect of cheering the two of us on when we attempt the marathon in Oct. She may even run a stretch of it with us! That's way cool.
Like last week, the course laid out for us today was actually longer than they told us, so when my Garmin said we had gone 8 miles, all three of us decided to walk the remaining 0.4 miles back to Sydney's Cafe as a cool down. My legs felt like Jell-O on this walk. I blame the gummi treats.
Our run stats:
DISTANCE: 8.05 miles TIME: 1:30:29 AVG PACE: 11:11 minute/mile
Once back, Val and I decided to try Sydney's fare. I had a 12 oz drip coffee, and the most adorable mini cupcake you ever saw, Val enjoyed an iced soy chai. We both have to say, Sydney's Cafe is pretty good. Too bad it's tucked away in such an out-of-the-way location.
We enjoyed our caffeine while sitting in the parking lot amongst other exhausted TNT runners. Sitting down with our tired leg muscles was hard, but not as difficult as navigating steps (up or down). Finally we decided to head out. I dropped Val back off at her house and went home.
I found out after getting home that I actually weighed 1 lbs less than when I woke up this morning. Now... not to get too technical, but I never went to the bathroom between these two weigh-ins, and actually drank a lot of water and ate several snacks.... which means I sweated and/or burned over 1 lbs of water and carbs running 8 miles this morning. That's actually really surprising I think.
Anyway, the good news is altho the plantar fasciitis made it's presence known initially on the run, the pain turned to a dull ache that didn't affect my run I don't think, but more importantly, didn't make my knee hurt! Then again, on Doctor's orders, I've been doing a number of stretches and exercises before bed every night to aid in the healing of the plantar fasciitis and runner's knee symptoms I experienced last Saturday.
Exhibit A
It takes about an hour every night to get through them all. But... as I learned today... totally worth every second.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
on the road again
Total Distance So Far: 69.3
FINALLY, after a couple of awkward weeks, I was able to get back outside running around my work campus for the Wednesday timed run.
It felt GOOD, and I finally feel back on track for my training, even with the plantar fasciitis onboard.
And? I learned that after running 6 miles in my career as a runner, running for 30 minutes is just... nice. Calming. Gentle. Go figure.
Today was a pretty day outside, cloudless. A nice breeze. I headed out for my run when the sun was at it's highest, approximately 1pm, armed with my garmin, ipod, sunglasses, running cap and sunscreen on. I didn't experience any of the same things from that last hot outdoor run either, no side cramp at 2 miles, no listlessness or any feeling like I was losing energy. I also warily eyed every metal grate I passed, just to make sure I didn't step on any.
It just felt GOOD to be out on the open road again.
And, it seems I ran a 5K in my 30 minute run today. According to my garmin my stats for today are:
TIME: 30:06 minutes DISTANCE: 3.12 miles AVG PACE: 09:39 minute mile.
neat! go me!
FINALLY, after a couple of awkward weeks, I was able to get back outside running around my work campus for the Wednesday timed run.
It felt GOOD, and I finally feel back on track for my training, even with the plantar fasciitis onboard.
And? I learned that after running 6 miles in my career as a runner, running for 30 minutes is just... nice. Calming. Gentle. Go figure.
Today was a pretty day outside, cloudless. A nice breeze. I headed out for my run when the sun was at it's highest, approximately 1pm, armed with my garmin, ipod, sunglasses, running cap and sunscreen on. I didn't experience any of the same things from that last hot outdoor run either, no side cramp at 2 miles, no listlessness or any feeling like I was losing energy. I also warily eyed every metal grate I passed, just to make sure I didn't step on any.
It just felt GOOD to be out on the open road again.
And, it seems I ran a 5K in my 30 minute run today. According to my garmin my stats for today are:
TIME: 30:06 minutes DISTANCE: 3.12 miles AVG PACE: 09:39 minute mile.
neat! go me!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
a little humor to ease the pain
Total Distance So Far: 66.1 miles
Last night I went to the track to do the interval training after going to see my doctor. Btw, she confirmed that I have plantar fasciitis, so now is lining me up with either a podiatrist or an orthopedic specialist. Also, I now have a number of exercises and stretches to do every day to try to correct the plantar fasciitis. My time commitment towards this marathon has just increased. heh.
At the track, I informed coach Joe of my unfortunate diagnosis. He told me to take it easy, but I could probably still participate in the run that night, etc. I was supposed to run on the grass to decrease the impact on my plantar fascia (fancy name for part of the heel). I did 4 laps of the track and my warm up and cool down, so about 3 miles total last night. Then I went home and did my leg lifts/stretches/icing for my plantar fascia.
Today was a gym day, lifting weights and whatnot. Not very interesting to blog about.
Anyway I also wanted to share this today. My friend Hugo emailed it to me to show his support for my marathon training. I though it was neat, so I'm putting it on my blog.
Cheers!
Last night I went to the track to do the interval training after going to see my doctor. Btw, she confirmed that I have plantar fasciitis, so now is lining me up with either a podiatrist or an orthopedic specialist. Also, I now have a number of exercises and stretches to do every day to try to correct the plantar fasciitis. My time commitment towards this marathon has just increased. heh.
At the track, I informed coach Joe of my unfortunate diagnosis. He told me to take it easy, but I could probably still participate in the run that night, etc. I was supposed to run on the grass to decrease the impact on my plantar fascia (fancy name for part of the heel). I did 4 laps of the track and my warm up and cool down, so about 3 miles total last night. Then I went home and did my leg lifts/stretches/icing for my plantar fascia.
Today was a gym day, lifting weights and whatnot. Not very interesting to blog about.
Anyway I also wanted to share this today. My friend Hugo emailed it to me to show his support for my marathon training. I though it was neat, so I'm putting it on my blog.
Cheers!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
back from san francisco!
Total Distance So Far: 63.1 miles
I had to go to San Francisco all week for work (hence the lack of blogs this week).
One unfortunate note: I think I have developed plantar fasciitis in my left foot. According to wikipedia, Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammatory condition caused by excessive wear to the plantar fascia of the foot. The pain usually is felt on the underside of the heel, and is often most intense with the first steps of the day.
yep and yep. my symptoms fit this exactly. oof. I think I need to find podiatrist early next week, cause I ain't quitting.
On Monday, I attempted the interval training on the hotel's treadmill. It wasn't super easy, but I was able to run 6 faster quarter mile intervals with a warm up and warm down.
On Wednesday, I was only able to fit in a 20 minute run (instead of the 30 minute run I was supposed to do), but I figured 20 minutes was better than nothing.
So I spent 1 hour 20 minutes on these:
The cool bit was the TV built in, so I watched all sorts of TV while I was doing my workouts.
I skipped the weight training this week for lack of time. I'll pick it back up next week.
I flew home last night, and this morning did the 6 mile group run. Unfortunately thanks to the plantar fasciitis, I think my old runner's knee is flaring up again (hence the quick need to find a podiatrist so all my woes cease and desist).
I was able to run a good amount of the 6 miles at roughly a 10 minute mile pace, but my knee started to stiffen close to 5.5 miles, so I decided to walk the rest of the distance. Val humored me and my aches as she also is having a knee issue today.
Anyway, good to be home. I'm tired, and ready to conquer whatever this foot thing is I have. I hope to be "up and running" in no time!!
I had to go to San Francisco all week for work (hence the lack of blogs this week).
One unfortunate note: I think I have developed plantar fasciitis in my left foot. According to wikipedia, Plantar fasciitis is a painful inflammatory condition caused by excessive wear to the plantar fascia of the foot. The pain usually is felt on the underside of the heel, and is often most intense with the first steps of the day.
yep and yep. my symptoms fit this exactly. oof. I think I need to find podiatrist early next week, cause I ain't quitting.
On Monday, I attempted the interval training on the hotel's treadmill. It wasn't super easy, but I was able to run 6 faster quarter mile intervals with a warm up and warm down.
On Wednesday, I was only able to fit in a 20 minute run (instead of the 30 minute run I was supposed to do), but I figured 20 minutes was better than nothing.
So I spent 1 hour 20 minutes on these:
The cool bit was the TV built in, so I watched all sorts of TV while I was doing my workouts.
I skipped the weight training this week for lack of time. I'll pick it back up next week.
I flew home last night, and this morning did the 6 mile group run. Unfortunately thanks to the plantar fasciitis, I think my old runner's knee is flaring up again (hence the quick need to find a podiatrist so all my woes cease and desist).
I was able to run a good amount of the 6 miles at roughly a 10 minute mile pace, but my knee started to stiffen close to 5.5 miles, so I decided to walk the rest of the distance. Val humored me and my aches as she also is having a knee issue today.
Anyway, good to be home. I'm tired, and ready to conquer whatever this foot thing is I have. I hope to be "up and running" in no time!!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
a big day!
Total Distance So Far: 51.6 miles
After only 3.5 hours of sleep, I was up in time for the group run this morning.
It went great! I was able to run 6 miles with Val in 1:04:17. That's a little faster than an 11:00 minute mile avg pace. That was my longest run to date (both time and distance!). I have to say, the Lief Erickson run in Forest Park is super nice. I actually had FUN today. I never thought I'd say that after a 6 mile run.
I got back home in plenty of time for the garage sale. My friend Paul arrived in good time to help me put up the signs, and get ready for the sale. Sale was on starting at 10am.
It was kinda a slow start, puttered out by noon... and then lagged a bit. The weather was stormy, which altho sucky for a garage sale, has to suck worse for the participants in the grand floral parade in portland going on this morning. At least I have a large garage to seek shelter in.
When Mike showed up at 1pm to fire up the grill and make Otto Sausage Market hotdogs (#3 in the nation), things sprung to life once again, and was reasonably hopping until 4pm.
So, altho I had a slow & late start, and a sparse showing due to weather, I still was able to raise $145.45 (after recouping cost of the otto hotdogs). Not bad at all!
AND, I got a chance to meet some nice neighbors I had never met before. Double bonus!
So, altho the weather sucked, I'd consider today a relative success (still have a garage full of stuff too, ineffect have posted some of it on craigslist).
After only 3.5 hours of sleep, I was up in time for the group run this morning.
It went great! I was able to run 6 miles with Val in 1:04:17. That's a little faster than an 11:00 minute mile avg pace. That was my longest run to date (both time and distance!). I have to say, the Lief Erickson run in Forest Park is super nice. I actually had FUN today. I never thought I'd say that after a 6 mile run.
I got back home in plenty of time for the garage sale. My friend Paul arrived in good time to help me put up the signs, and get ready for the sale. Sale was on starting at 10am.
It was kinda a slow start, puttered out by noon... and then lagged a bit. The weather was stormy, which altho sucky for a garage sale, has to suck worse for the participants in the grand floral parade in portland going on this morning. At least I have a large garage to seek shelter in.
When Mike showed up at 1pm to fire up the grill and make Otto Sausage Market hotdogs (#3 in the nation), things sprung to life once again, and was reasonably hopping until 4pm.
So, altho I had a slow & late start, and a sparse showing due to weather, I still was able to raise $145.45 (after recouping cost of the otto hotdogs). Not bad at all!
AND, I got a chance to meet some nice neighbors I had never met before. Double bonus!
So, altho the weather sucked, I'd consider today a relative success (still have a garage full of stuff too, ineffect have posted some of it on craigslist).
all set!
ok, tomorrow is gonna suck considering what time I'm blogging this. That aside, I just finished setting up for my garage sale in the morning (to be held following the group run).
Very excited! Wish me luck!!
P.S. the panaramic photo didn't stitch together very well, but it seems apt considering how long I've been working on it today. Everything is kinda a blur right now.
Very excited! Wish me luck!!
P.S. the panaramic photo didn't stitch together very well, but it seems apt considering how long I've been working on it today. Everything is kinda a blur right now.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
running in place
Total Distance So Far: 45.6 miles
Today I was scheduled for a 30 minute run. Around 11:45 I left my desk for the little employee shower room, changed into my running kit, got slathered up with sunblock, strapped on my Garmin, took a sip of water, and headed out into the pretty weather of low-60's and partially overcast skies. Good runnin weather.
I switched on my Garmin, and it said 0 hours of battery left. Shutting down.
ACK!
I stood there for a bit, dumbfounded. I had drained my Garmin of it's lifeforce by mistake. I must have forgotten to turn it off on Monday night. oops.
I considered running without my Garmin, and realized I really didn't want to do that. I'd be depressed if I didn't know distance and time. Just straight up, not gonna do. I went and grabbed my stuff in the shower room, and marched across my work campus to the fitness center. I was going to treadmill my 30 minutes today.
All three treadmills were free, so I took the one on the right. Poked at it for a bit to get it to start moving, and then immediately set it to a 9:30 minute mile pace, and tried to settle into a rhythm. After about 4 minutes I found myself kinda struggling with maintaining this pace, so I slowed down to a 10 minute mile.
run run run run run run run.
Man, running in place is boring. The only thing to do that is visually stimulating is to watch the treadmill display, and then you start agonizing over every second. What? that was only 15 seconds? weird! Huh, I've got like 25 more minutes to run, this sucks.
run run run run run run run.
I became painfully aware of my body. My lower back was aching a little... one of my knees had a little pain.
run run run run run run run.
Dude, 24:30 more minutes to run, this sucks.
About halfway, I started to get more into the rhythm of the treadmill, and was entertaining myself by staring out the window at a tree directly infront of me, that I never seemed to get any closer to. Still, you can only stare at a tree so long before you wonder, "how long was I staring at the tree? 1 minute? hm."
I became elated when someone would walk across the parking lot in front of the window. It gave me something to use as a control to guage the passage of time with. It gave me something, however mundane, to WATCH. Anything is better than literally watching the seconds tick away.
I did notice that I no longer was obsessing about my body. My back and knee no longer felt like anything. I was just chugging along.
In the last 7 minutes I noticed I kept bumping the console with my hands... I guess I wanted to go a little faster than a 10 minute mile. So, in response, I pumped the speed back up to 9:30. I was only able to manage that for like, 45 seconds before I felt like I was possibly pushing myself too much. Back down to a 10 minute mile.
The last 5 minutes of the run flew by. I'd have to thank the cafeteria worker who took that opportunity to have her cigarette break and talk on her cell phone in front of the window. Thank you dear girl.
I pushed myself at a 9 minute mile pace for the last 10 seconds. ooo, living on the edge! The clock hit 30 minutes, I desperately tried to slow the treadmill down to a fast walking pace to allow my heart rate to come down gracefully. The treadmill just doesn't adjust fast enough to make that easy.
While walking, I decided to put my hands on the heart rate monitor to see what my heart rate was at. 166! whoah. I watched as it slowed down slowly.
Catching my breath, I looked to see that my run today was 31:48 minutes long (including walking cool down), at a distance of 3.15 miles [I'm guessing thats a 9:40 minute mile avg pace]. The treadmill said I had burned over 300 calories too. hm. I know I was sweating like a pig.
Deep breath, I climbed off the treadmill and dealt with the vertigo of actually MOVING when I took a step. funky. I caught a glimpse of me in the full wall mirror, not a pretty sight. It looked like I had just run 30 minutes non-stop. oof.
Remind me to never let my Garmin die again. I don't think I much like running in place. Time goes slower.
Today I was scheduled for a 30 minute run. Around 11:45 I left my desk for the little employee shower room, changed into my running kit, got slathered up with sunblock, strapped on my Garmin, took a sip of water, and headed out into the pretty weather of low-60's and partially overcast skies. Good runnin weather.
I switched on my Garmin, and it said 0 hours of battery left. Shutting down.
ACK!
I stood there for a bit, dumbfounded. I had drained my Garmin of it's lifeforce by mistake. I must have forgotten to turn it off on Monday night. oops.
I considered running without my Garmin, and realized I really didn't want to do that. I'd be depressed if I didn't know distance and time. Just straight up, not gonna do. I went and grabbed my stuff in the shower room, and marched across my work campus to the fitness center. I was going to treadmill my 30 minutes today.
All three treadmills were free, so I took the one on the right. Poked at it for a bit to get it to start moving, and then immediately set it to a 9:30 minute mile pace, and tried to settle into a rhythm. After about 4 minutes I found myself kinda struggling with maintaining this pace, so I slowed down to a 10 minute mile.
run run run run run run run.
Man, running in place is boring. The only thing to do that is visually stimulating is to watch the treadmill display, and then you start agonizing over every second. What? that was only 15 seconds? weird! Huh, I've got like 25 more minutes to run, this sucks.
run run run run run run run.
I became painfully aware of my body. My lower back was aching a little... one of my knees had a little pain.
run run run run run run run.
Dude, 24:30 more minutes to run, this sucks.
About halfway, I started to get more into the rhythm of the treadmill, and was entertaining myself by staring out the window at a tree directly infront of me, that I never seemed to get any closer to. Still, you can only stare at a tree so long before you wonder, "how long was I staring at the tree? 1 minute? hm."
I became elated when someone would walk across the parking lot in front of the window. It gave me something to use as a control to guage the passage of time with. It gave me something, however mundane, to WATCH. Anything is better than literally watching the seconds tick away.
I did notice that I no longer was obsessing about my body. My back and knee no longer felt like anything. I was just chugging along.
In the last 7 minutes I noticed I kept bumping the console with my hands... I guess I wanted to go a little faster than a 10 minute mile. So, in response, I pumped the speed back up to 9:30. I was only able to manage that for like, 45 seconds before I felt like I was possibly pushing myself too much. Back down to a 10 minute mile.
The last 5 minutes of the run flew by. I'd have to thank the cafeteria worker who took that opportunity to have her cigarette break and talk on her cell phone in front of the window. Thank you dear girl.
I pushed myself at a 9 minute mile pace for the last 10 seconds. ooo, living on the edge! The clock hit 30 minutes, I desperately tried to slow the treadmill down to a fast walking pace to allow my heart rate to come down gracefully. The treadmill just doesn't adjust fast enough to make that easy.
While walking, I decided to put my hands on the heart rate monitor to see what my heart rate was at. 166! whoah. I watched as it slowed down slowly.
Catching my breath, I looked to see that my run today was 31:48 minutes long (including walking cool down), at a distance of 3.15 miles [I'm guessing thats a 9:40 minute mile avg pace]. The treadmill said I had burned over 300 calories too. hm. I know I was sweating like a pig.
Deep breath, I climbed off the treadmill and dealt with the vertigo of actually MOVING when I took a step. funky. I caught a glimpse of me in the full wall mirror, not a pretty sight. It looked like I had just run 30 minutes non-stop. oof.
Remind me to never let my Garmin die again. I don't think I much like running in place. Time goes slower.
Monday, June 4, 2007
a hard run, and some tables
Total Distance So Far: 42.6 miles
Track session again tonight. I got there a little late thanks to an after-hours presentation my work team was putting on for our lab manager (read this as my boss's boss's boss, kind of a big deal). I had to be there to answer any questions she may have around my part of our demo.
Anyway, I rolled up to the track around 6:15pm, all the other TNT people were done with their warm-up run and were doing a group stretch before the real meat of the night (the fast laps). I stood in and did some stretches and listened to any announcements (there weren't any), and when everyone else stepped off to do their fast laps, I started my 10 minute warm-up run (approx at a 10:31 minute/mile pace). Then I started my laps. We had to do 6 faster laps tonight, instead of 4. Ah, the training gets more challenging! I started feeling a side-stitch during lap #3, so I was struggling a little this evening. Was taking kinda longish breaks between my fast laps to try to recover.
Lap 1) TIME: 1:36 minutes PACE: 6:24 minute mile
Lap 2) TIME: 1:39 minutes PACE: 6:36 minute mile
Lap 3) TIME: 1:42 minutes PACE: 6:49 minute mile
Lap 4) TIME: 1:43 minutes PACE: 6:51 minute mile
Lap 5) TIME: 1:51 minutes PACE: 7:02 minute mile
Lap 6) TIME: 1:39 minutes PACE: 6:36 minute mile
By this time it was about 7pm, I needed to do my cool-down run, but I also had my friend Sheri driving out from Newberg,OR with a load of garage sale items and some plywood and sawhorses to use as garage sale tables, and I needed to be home in time to meet her. I wasn't sure what time she was planning on coming out... but I was worried about not being ready for her.
I compromised, and since Val had just gotten there and had done 1/2 her warm-up run, I decided to do 1/2 a cool-down run with Val (the rest of her warm-up) and then take off. I ran 5:10 minutes at a 9:10 minute mile pace with Val (slightly over 1/2 a mile), picked up some garage sale signs from my mentor Vicki, and got on my way.
Roughly 45 minutes later, Sheri pulled up to my house with her truck loaded to the gills with garage sale items, and pulling a U-Haul trailer with some more stuff. I love Sheri. She had some good stuff too! We unloaded it into my (formerly cleaned out) garage, and then she helped me setup 2 tables and started sorting items on them with me. It was super awesome of her. We practically setup all the items I had already sitting in my garage for the garage sale tonight, and I have more in my spare bedroom already priced that I'll move into the garage on Friday, so I'm feeling pretty good about this up-coming Saturday.
Should be a nice little garage sale... now that I have tables.
Track session again tonight. I got there a little late thanks to an after-hours presentation my work team was putting on for our lab manager (read this as my boss's boss's boss, kind of a big deal). I had to be there to answer any questions she may have around my part of our demo.
Anyway, I rolled up to the track around 6:15pm, all the other TNT people were done with their warm-up run and were doing a group stretch before the real meat of the night (the fast laps). I stood in and did some stretches and listened to any announcements (there weren't any), and when everyone else stepped off to do their fast laps, I started my 10 minute warm-up run (approx at a 10:31 minute/mile pace). Then I started my laps. We had to do 6 faster laps tonight, instead of 4. Ah, the training gets more challenging! I started feeling a side-stitch during lap #3, so I was struggling a little this evening. Was taking kinda longish breaks between my fast laps to try to recover.
Lap 1) TIME: 1:36 minutes PACE: 6:24 minute mile
Lap 2) TIME: 1:39 minutes PACE: 6:36 minute mile
Lap 3) TIME: 1:42 minutes PACE: 6:49 minute mile
Lap 4) TIME: 1:43 minutes PACE: 6:51 minute mile
Lap 5) TIME: 1:51 minutes PACE: 7:02 minute mile
Lap 6) TIME: 1:39 minutes PACE: 6:36 minute mile
By this time it was about 7pm, I needed to do my cool-down run, but I also had my friend Sheri driving out from Newberg,OR with a load of garage sale items and some plywood and sawhorses to use as garage sale tables, and I needed to be home in time to meet her. I wasn't sure what time she was planning on coming out... but I was worried about not being ready for her.
I compromised, and since Val had just gotten there and had done 1/2 her warm-up run, I decided to do 1/2 a cool-down run with Val (the rest of her warm-up) and then take off. I ran 5:10 minutes at a 9:10 minute mile pace with Val (slightly over 1/2 a mile), picked up some garage sale signs from my mentor Vicki, and got on my way.
Roughly 45 minutes later, Sheri pulled up to my house with her truck loaded to the gills with garage sale items, and pulling a U-Haul trailer with some more stuff. I love Sheri. She had some good stuff too! We unloaded it into my (formerly cleaned out) garage, and then she helped me setup 2 tables and started sorting items on them with me. It was super awesome of her. We practically setup all the items I had already sitting in my garage for the garage sale tonight, and I have more in my spare bedroom already priced that I'll move into the garage on Friday, so I'm feeling pretty good about this up-coming Saturday.
Should be a nice little garage sale... now that I have tables.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
group run #3
Total Distance So Far: 39.6 miles
This morning I actually managed to get myself up on-time for the 7:30am group run (yes, val volunteered to call me to help make sure I wouldn't sleep in again). Everything worked out swimmingly; I was able to get up at 6:30am to make it to her house by 7:10am.
Today's run went great too! I was really energized for it, and found it alot easier than last week's. I also found myself WANTING to go a little faster cause it felt good (albeit I noticed I was a little thirsty during the run, next week I'll bring my hydration pack on the run).
We did the Willamette esplanade again today. 4 miles total. Same run as last week. Next week gets more difficult though.
Anyway, today's stats:
DISTANCE: 4 miles TIME: 39:24 minutes PACE: 9:51 minute/mile
At the end of the run, the mentors had set up a breakfast for us runners. That is so nice of them! I had a donut, a banana, some strawberries, and some watermelon. It was all so very tasty!
This morning I actually managed to get myself up on-time for the 7:30am group run (yes, val volunteered to call me to help make sure I wouldn't sleep in again). Everything worked out swimmingly; I was able to get up at 6:30am to make it to her house by 7:10am.
Today's run went great too! I was really energized for it, and found it alot easier than last week's. I also found myself WANTING to go a little faster cause it felt good (albeit I noticed I was a little thirsty during the run, next week I'll bring my hydration pack on the run).
We did the Willamette esplanade again today. 4 miles total. Same run as last week. Next week gets more difficult though.
Anyway, today's stats:
DISTANCE: 4 miles TIME: 39:24 minutes PACE: 9:51 minute/mile
At the end of the run, the mentors had set up a breakfast for us runners. That is so nice of them! I had a donut, a banana, some strawberries, and some watermelon. It was all so very tasty!
Friday, June 1, 2007
minimalist training
So, Hana pointed me at this article yesterday:
NYT: Modern Marathoners Have Fewer Miles on Them
It's surprisingly relevant to me right now. Apparently in the last decade or so the school of thought around training for a marathon has gone from RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!! to running smart, and making it count. Neat. I seem to be a member of the minimalist training movement. I like that, since normally I'm more in the "taking things to excess" clique.
Admittedly, I've never been one to jump on a band wagon simply because Oprah showed me how, but look at me now! hee. Mind you, I don't have anything against Oprah. I hear her recommended books are actually quite worth reading. I've just never much followed what she's up to. And, I'm much more inclined to check in on Nancy Pearl for ideas around what to read.
In other news, I played 2 games of indoor soccer last night as part of my cross-training. In the first game (second half) I went ahead and blocked a shot on goal with my foot... and it kinda hurt. Some of the toes on my foot are a little swollen today (only slightly). I'm going to baby it (today is a rest day thankfully) and hopefully it'll be all better in time for my 4 mile run tomorrow morning. Hopefully.
oops.
btw, I gave away 13 muffins last night. I'm not sure any donations will come of it, but I can hope!
NYT: Modern Marathoners Have Fewer Miles on Them
It's surprisingly relevant to me right now. Apparently in the last decade or so the school of thought around training for a marathon has gone from RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!! to running smart, and making it count. Neat. I seem to be a member of the minimalist training movement. I like that, since normally I'm more in the "taking things to excess" clique.
Admittedly, I've never been one to jump on a band wagon simply because Oprah showed me how, but look at me now! hee. Mind you, I don't have anything against Oprah. I hear her recommended books are actually quite worth reading. I've just never much followed what she's up to. And, I'm much more inclined to check in on Nancy Pearl for ideas around what to read.
In other news, I played 2 games of indoor soccer last night as part of my cross-training. In the first game (second half) I went ahead and blocked a shot on goal with my foot... and it kinda hurt. Some of the toes on my foot are a little swollen today (only slightly). I'm going to baby it (today is a rest day thankfully) and hopefully it'll be all better in time for my 4 mile run tomorrow morning. Hopefully.
oops.
btw, I gave away 13 muffins last night. I'm not sure any donations will come of it, but I can hope!
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