Training Day #25 - July 26, 2010
Worthless run tonight. Absolutely worthless. I’m bloody exhausted and probably shouldn’t have gone to the gym at all, but part of this process is pushing me to not skip out on these workouts. Screw that, I should have just gone to bed like I wanted to. I only ran a mile and a half tonight. I was so tired I didn’t feel like I could even pick my feet up for one more step. So, I just quit, stretched, headed home for a shower and I’ll be off to bed shortly. At least I ran something.
Side note: I just read that back to where I said “I only ran a mile and a half” and I had a brief flashback to high school when I couldn’t even run a quarter or half mile without wimping out and stopping. A lot has changed since then...
Training Day #26 - July 28, 2010
I think I should just scratch this week. I’m still tired and so not in the mood to run. I walked to the gym and immediately started my run. I ran for a little over a mile before I hopped off to take a breather and then switched to a walk. At around minute 14 or 15, my friend stopped me to chat. I paused the treadmill to talk and it only pauses for 60 seconds. I’ve never let the pause minute tick down all the way, so I didn’t know what to expect. I figured the treadmill would just start up again. Nope. It completely cleared out everything I had just done. Dammit.
After my chat, I hopped back on for another mile and barely finished. I just called it quits after that. I was kind of in a foul mood at this point due to my exhaustion and lack of running skill. So, I have no idea what my final time or distance was. But, really, at this point, I didn’t care.
Good grief, I had such a great week last week. Poop.
Training Day #27 - July 31, 2010
Ran outside today. Wasn’t as bad as I thought. Although I think it might have been better on any day other than this week. It rained last night, so it was kind of cool this morning. At least cool for the end of July in the Midwest. It was still muggy though, so I definitely had some sweatin’ goin’ on. But at least there was a nice breeze and it wasn’t 95 degrees out.
There is a park very close to my house that equals a little over a mile all the way around. I figured I would bust out 3 laps and see how long it took me. My body had other ideas.
The first lap wasn’t bad. I made it around in about 12 minutes, including 2 or 3 minutes of walking for the giant hill (I wasn’t in the mood to try to run up that thing). I stopped at my car for a quick water break and to towel off. Shortly after I started my second lap is when the trouble began. I went salsa dancing a few nights ago and I think I pulled/twisted something on my left leg. My calf, shin and ankle started giving me problems with every step I ran. I tried stopping to stretch it out and then walked for a bit which loosened it up some. I tried running again and it flared up once more. I said eff it and just finished the second lap with a walk.
30 minutes had gone by at the this point, so I was tempted to stop, but I wanted to at least finish the 3 miles, even if it was just walking. So, I pushed through and walked the last lap the entire way. I wasn’t happy with my outcome today, but I didn’t want to force anything either and hurt myself even more. Can I get a do over for this week?
Hopefully next week will be a fresh start and back up to where I was last week. Here’s hoping. Only 7 weeks remain. :S
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Stephanie's Training - Week 10
Training Day #29 - July 26, 2010
Running outside…….in the country…….on the gravel……sounds OK, right?
Well, let’s weigh the pros and cons of today’s walk/jog:
PROS:
1. Early to rise means a decent morning…..somewhat cool..ER, less humid.
2. Bonding with nature. Getting to enjoy the sounds and smells of the country.
3. Time to reflect on my inner self.
4. Change of scenery.
5. Challenging my physical endurance.
CONS:
1. Early to rise doesn’t mean it is necessarily less humid or cooler! My shirt was soaked by the time I returned to the house.
2. Bonding with nature. Oh….my….heavens! What is that awful smell? I quickly found out a poor raccoon (I think that was a raccoon!) didn’t survive a nightly jaunt across the road. Talk about trying to breathe through your mouth! Blaahhhhh! :(
3. Flies. Flies. And more flies! Not only did the “house” flies decide I was a target in their sights, but the horse flies decided I was to be a tasty morning treat. Thank goodness none got a bite!
4. GRAVEL. Enough said! At least on the route I took this morning. Note to self: Take a right out of the driveway next time.
5. My physical endurance wasn’t much today. I had a hip not wanting to wake up and a side cramping. Is it just that it’s Monday or is that an indicator of getting old!
2.6 miles in 40 minutes. Not too great. I’m going to chalk it up to being Monday!
Training Day #30 - July 28, 2010
With three girls in tow, I headed to the rec center to meet Megan today. My niece is in town spending some time with us and knew the three little ones could keep busy shooting baskets and watching TV in the lounge while I used the treadmill.
We did our usual weight training and after, we set forth to the illustrious treadmills to program in my first full 5K.
The treadmills have a program setting for a “5K Loop”. We decided we’d run/walk what each of us could until we completed the 3.1 miles. Talk about setting your psyche up for a challenge!
We turned on the good ‘ol “Price is Right” and strapped on our music players and off we went.
I’m noticing my first minutes of jogging are a struggle, but the positive part is knowing I settle into a good groove thereafter. After about 10 minutes, my body AND my lungs found their niche and I was feeling good! I set the speed at 5.0 which is a little faster than my Stephanie Shuffle on the streets.
I jogged real smooth to about the 15 minute mark and took a quick 2 minute walk and then was back at it. I did my best to not watch the computer screen.
I was feeling really good!
I did notice about 2/3 of the way through; fatigue was knocking on my door. I had to slow my speed down to 4.8 to sweat through the last mile to the finish.
And there it was……..the finish! 3.12 miles (that’s what the machine declares as a 5K) in 40:22 minutes with only a total of 9 minutes of walking….the rest was jogging, Baby!
What an accomplishment…..for ME!!
Training Day #31 - July 30, 2010
My intentions were super today. My children and niece (who had been visiting for the past couple of days) were picked up early by my parents. They were whisked away for a fun-filled day with Grandma and Grandpa at their work, then off to spend the night and have some quality time with their grandparents. Great! That worked in my favor, because I knew I could start my workout pretty early to beat the heat.
I had to run to the neighboring town of Centralia to go run errands at the pharmacy. I already had decided I would “map” out a route approx. 3 miles to run in town. Well, this morning turned out great as far as the weather goes. I loaded up all the kids, kissed them good-bye and soon set out for Centralia. All was going well.
I took care of my errands at the pharmacy and asked the clerk if the school track was open to the public. She nodded to a local patron behind me and they both agreed that “yes” it is open for public use. Great! I could track my distance better than running around town. So I headed down the road to the High School with hopes of circling the track numerous times. I was a little concerned that the redundancy would get to me, though. Is a 1600m a ½ mile or a mile? My thoughts, were that I’d be running around that track about 24 times. :(
As I approached the parking lot, my gaze shifted to the clouds rolling in from the west. I had heard the weather forecast for today and the chance of “pop up, severe storms” was a good possibility. Are you kidding me?! Again!!!!!!!
I got out of the van, stared at the clouds and decided it was not worth it. So I hopped back in my van and drove back to Sturgeon, headed towards the rec center. I was glad of my decision because in the 10 minute drive it started to sprinkle and was a steady rain when I reached the rec center. (And by the time I was done with my workout, it was flat pouring!!!)
I skipped weights today, since I knew my run would take approx. 40 minutes. I had things to do at home. I plugged the “5K Loop” program into the treadmill and set forth. It was a really rough start, but I knew from Wednesday’s run, I would be OK after a set amount of minutes. But, MAN, my knees ached and my breath was pretty catchy.
I warmed up with about a 2 minute walk and then increased my speed to the 5.0 I’ve been used to. I listened to my MP3 player with its one-working ear piece (what’s up with that!) and tried to settle into my pace. It took about 10 minutes to find my groove. I settled in and was feeling pretty good. I took a couple “one-minute” walk breaks after about the 16 minute mark. Not bad! At 26 minutes, IT hit! I started to get blurry eyed, and light-headed. Ummmm….what is going on? I slowed down to a brisk walk hoping to catch my breath and set things right, so I could keep going. Then at 28 minutes I was feeling worse for wear and quickly slowed my pace to 3.2. I was thinking that all I needed was to steady my breathing and slow things down.
Nope!
I quickly lowered my speed to 2.5 and was at the 30 minute mark when I decided I had no idea what was going on but if I kept pushing myself something terrible might happen. I decreased speed to “cool down” and pressed the “stop” button at 31:22. I had gone 2.2 miles and really needed to sit down!
It took me a few minutes to get over the “motion” of still moving and catch my breath. I quickly recovered to normal and left the gym miffed!
Running outside…….in the country…….on the gravel……sounds OK, right?
Well, let’s weigh the pros and cons of today’s walk/jog:
PROS:
1. Early to rise means a decent morning…..somewhat cool..ER, less humid.
2. Bonding with nature. Getting to enjoy the sounds and smells of the country.
3. Time to reflect on my inner self.
4. Change of scenery.
5. Challenging my physical endurance.
CONS:
1. Early to rise doesn’t mean it is necessarily less humid or cooler! My shirt was soaked by the time I returned to the house.
2. Bonding with nature. Oh….my….heavens! What is that awful smell? I quickly found out a poor raccoon (I think that was a raccoon!) didn’t survive a nightly jaunt across the road. Talk about trying to breathe through your mouth! Blaahhhhh! :(
3. Flies. Flies. And more flies! Not only did the “house” flies decide I was a target in their sights, but the horse flies decided I was to be a tasty morning treat. Thank goodness none got a bite!
4. GRAVEL. Enough said! At least on the route I took this morning. Note to self: Take a right out of the driveway next time.
5. My physical endurance wasn’t much today. I had a hip not wanting to wake up and a side cramping. Is it just that it’s Monday or is that an indicator of getting old!
2.6 miles in 40 minutes. Not too great. I’m going to chalk it up to being Monday!
Training Day #30 - July 28, 2010
With three girls in tow, I headed to the rec center to meet Megan today. My niece is in town spending some time with us and knew the three little ones could keep busy shooting baskets and watching TV in the lounge while I used the treadmill.
We did our usual weight training and after, we set forth to the illustrious treadmills to program in my first full 5K.
The treadmills have a program setting for a “5K Loop”. We decided we’d run/walk what each of us could until we completed the 3.1 miles. Talk about setting your psyche up for a challenge!
We turned on the good ‘ol “Price is Right” and strapped on our music players and off we went.
I’m noticing my first minutes of jogging are a struggle, but the positive part is knowing I settle into a good groove thereafter. After about 10 minutes, my body AND my lungs found their niche and I was feeling good! I set the speed at 5.0 which is a little faster than my Stephanie Shuffle on the streets.
I jogged real smooth to about the 15 minute mark and took a quick 2 minute walk and then was back at it. I did my best to not watch the computer screen.
I was feeling really good!
I did notice about 2/3 of the way through; fatigue was knocking on my door. I had to slow my speed down to 4.8 to sweat through the last mile to the finish.
And there it was……..the finish! 3.12 miles (that’s what the machine declares as a 5K) in 40:22 minutes with only a total of 9 minutes of walking….the rest was jogging, Baby!
What an accomplishment…..for ME!!
Training Day #31 - July 30, 2010
My intentions were super today. My children and niece (who had been visiting for the past couple of days) were picked up early by my parents. They were whisked away for a fun-filled day with Grandma and Grandpa at their work, then off to spend the night and have some quality time with their grandparents. Great! That worked in my favor, because I knew I could start my workout pretty early to beat the heat.
I had to run to the neighboring town of Centralia to go run errands at the pharmacy. I already had decided I would “map” out a route approx. 3 miles to run in town. Well, this morning turned out great as far as the weather goes. I loaded up all the kids, kissed them good-bye and soon set out for Centralia. All was going well.
I took care of my errands at the pharmacy and asked the clerk if the school track was open to the public. She nodded to a local patron behind me and they both agreed that “yes” it is open for public use. Great! I could track my distance better than running around town. So I headed down the road to the High School with hopes of circling the track numerous times. I was a little concerned that the redundancy would get to me, though. Is a 1600m a ½ mile or a mile? My thoughts, were that I’d be running around that track about 24 times. :(
As I approached the parking lot, my gaze shifted to the clouds rolling in from the west. I had heard the weather forecast for today and the chance of “pop up, severe storms” was a good possibility. Are you kidding me?! Again!!!!!!!
I got out of the van, stared at the clouds and decided it was not worth it. So I hopped back in my van and drove back to Sturgeon, headed towards the rec center. I was glad of my decision because in the 10 minute drive it started to sprinkle and was a steady rain when I reached the rec center. (And by the time I was done with my workout, it was flat pouring!!!)
I skipped weights today, since I knew my run would take approx. 40 minutes. I had things to do at home. I plugged the “5K Loop” program into the treadmill and set forth. It was a really rough start, but I knew from Wednesday’s run, I would be OK after a set amount of minutes. But, MAN, my knees ached and my breath was pretty catchy.
I warmed up with about a 2 minute walk and then increased my speed to the 5.0 I’ve been used to. I listened to my MP3 player with its one-working ear piece (what’s up with that!) and tried to settle into my pace. It took about 10 minutes to find my groove. I settled in and was feeling pretty good. I took a couple “one-minute” walk breaks after about the 16 minute mark. Not bad! At 26 minutes, IT hit! I started to get blurry eyed, and light-headed. Ummmm….what is going on? I slowed down to a brisk walk hoping to catch my breath and set things right, so I could keep going. Then at 28 minutes I was feeling worse for wear and quickly slowed my pace to 3.2. I was thinking that all I needed was to steady my breathing and slow things down.
Nope!
I quickly lowered my speed to 2.5 and was at the 30 minute mark when I decided I had no idea what was going on but if I kept pushing myself something terrible might happen. I decreased speed to “cool down” and pressed the “stop” button at 31:22. I had gone 2.2 miles and really needed to sit down!
It took me a few minutes to get over the “motion” of still moving and catch my breath. I quickly recovered to normal and left the gym miffed!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Heather's Training - Week 9
Training Day #22 - July 19, 2010
Lots of cute boys at the gym tonight. Lots of cute boys to distract me. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite distract me enough to get my mind off of running. I’ve decided to start doing the full 3.1 miles from now on in whatever time it takes me. I shouldn’t have any problems keeping that under 36 minutes at my current pace, so I don’t see a reason not to strive for it each time now. I need to run that much anyways, so I might as well get used to it now. I’m sure I will eat these words though.
I only did a 2-minute warm up to start and then punched my 36 minutes in and away I went. I was kind of random tonight in my intervals. I started with 2-min walk/4-min run, then 1-min walk/5-min run, and then from there it was all over the place from anywhere between 1-2 minute walk and then run for as long as I could. I hopped off the treadmill a few times to catch my breath rather than switching to a walk. I’m not sure that’s the best approach because I should be trying to build up my lung capacity, but I really don’t give a rat’s behind.
I did have a bit of motivation when a cutie patootie hopped on the machine next to me. I had just started a run segment and thought he might motivate me not to stop. That idea didn’t last long. I realized when he was bumping his speeds up to 9.5 for a minute at a time that I really wasn’t going to be impressing this guy with my measly 5.6 pace, red face and raspy breath. Oh well. It was worth a shot.
In 30 minutes, I finished 2.67 miles and completed the 3.1 miles in 34:45 minutes. Another day, another run down.
Side note: The guy at the treadmill next to me when I first got to the gym was wearing big dark J-Lo type sunglasses and a thick sweatband. He looked like a 70s porn star. Awesome.
Training Day #23 - July 21, 2010
Thanks to my sister for her inspiration today. She texted me after her run today and I was incredibly proud of her dedication and results. I decided to kick things up a notch myself and see if I could keep up with her. :)
I headed to yoga first, which is always a nice de-stresser and then hit the treadmill. I started with a 5-minute warmup and then set the timer to 36 minutes. I didn’t even start with a walk. I just punched 5.4 into the speed and off I went. I was incredibly surprised with myself. I ran for 10.5 minutes without even really realizing it. This could be contributed to the fact that my towel was covering the monitor. I realized I needed a drink and was curious as to how much time had gone by. I was expecting 6-8 minutes, so I was pleasantly surprised at that number. I hopped off for a few quick seconds to grab a drink and towel off. I have found that trying to do these things while at a full run is not recommended.
I ran for another 7 or so minutes and needed a break, so I slowed down the speed to a brisk walk and pounded that out for 2 minutes. Then, I was back at the run and finished with 2.71 miles in 30 minutes. I probably could have finished a bit more if I upped the speed, but I didn’t want to pass out. I walked two more minutes and then ran to finish the 5K in 34:31, beating my time from Monday. Score.
I owe you one sis!
Side note: Mini Almond Joys are a fabulous after-run snack!
Training Day #24 - July 24, 2010
It is effing hot outside. Good grief. I need to start running outside, but I didn’t make it up early enough to miss the fireball blazing in the sky. So back to the gym I go. Saturdays at the gym are my favorite. Very few people to get in my way and no waiting on any of the machines.
I drove to the gym since I had an errand to run afterward (and perhaps because I didn’t feel like sticking to the pavement while I walked), so my warm up walk was a bit longer than I have been doing. Then it was game on. 36:00 on the clock and 5.4 on the speed. I made it a little over 13 minutes today without having to stop, lean on the treadmill, take a drink of water or towel off. Sweet sweet progress. What helped that was covering the timer with my towel and pushing myself to finish 4 songs before I even attempted to look at the time. I was so proud of myself.
I took a moment to pause the treadmill, wipe the sweat and take a few deep breaths, then I set the speed to 4.5 and continued with a brisk walk for 2 minutes. After minute 15:00, I started up with the running again.
Unfortunately, the second half wasn’t as pretty as the first half. It seems like after the first break, I felt the need to take more breaks than I really needed to. So, the last half was definitely a mind game. I didn’t walk too much more, but I did pause another time to catch my breath, but not let the time tick away. A few times using the handrails to support myself, but all in all, it wasn’t super ugly. I finished, didn’t I?!
I cleared 2.73 miles in 30 minutes with my total 3.1 completed in 33:42. Sweet sassy molassey kids. I think that calls for some ice cream, don’t you?
Side note: When you’re working out or running with your iPod, do you ever catch yourself kinda groovin’ to the music? Well, I do. And it looks pretty ridiculous when I’m trying to run AND subtly jam to the beat of Tone Loc. I must look like I have some kind of nervous tic or something.
Lots of cute boys at the gym tonight. Lots of cute boys to distract me. Unfortunately, they couldn’t quite distract me enough to get my mind off of running. I’ve decided to start doing the full 3.1 miles from now on in whatever time it takes me. I shouldn’t have any problems keeping that under 36 minutes at my current pace, so I don’t see a reason not to strive for it each time now. I need to run that much anyways, so I might as well get used to it now. I’m sure I will eat these words though.
I only did a 2-minute warm up to start and then punched my 36 minutes in and away I went. I was kind of random tonight in my intervals. I started with 2-min walk/4-min run, then 1-min walk/5-min run, and then from there it was all over the place from anywhere between 1-2 minute walk and then run for as long as I could. I hopped off the treadmill a few times to catch my breath rather than switching to a walk. I’m not sure that’s the best approach because I should be trying to build up my lung capacity, but I really don’t give a rat’s behind.
I did have a bit of motivation when a cutie patootie hopped on the machine next to me. I had just started a run segment and thought he might motivate me not to stop. That idea didn’t last long. I realized when he was bumping his speeds up to 9.5 for a minute at a time that I really wasn’t going to be impressing this guy with my measly 5.6 pace, red face and raspy breath. Oh well. It was worth a shot.
In 30 minutes, I finished 2.67 miles and completed the 3.1 miles in 34:45 minutes. Another day, another run down.
Side note: The guy at the treadmill next to me when I first got to the gym was wearing big dark J-Lo type sunglasses and a thick sweatband. He looked like a 70s porn star. Awesome.
Training Day #23 - July 21, 2010
Thanks to my sister for her inspiration today. She texted me after her run today and I was incredibly proud of her dedication and results. I decided to kick things up a notch myself and see if I could keep up with her. :)
I headed to yoga first, which is always a nice de-stresser and then hit the treadmill. I started with a 5-minute warmup and then set the timer to 36 minutes. I didn’t even start with a walk. I just punched 5.4 into the speed and off I went. I was incredibly surprised with myself. I ran for 10.5 minutes without even really realizing it. This could be contributed to the fact that my towel was covering the monitor. I realized I needed a drink and was curious as to how much time had gone by. I was expecting 6-8 minutes, so I was pleasantly surprised at that number. I hopped off for a few quick seconds to grab a drink and towel off. I have found that trying to do these things while at a full run is not recommended.
I ran for another 7 or so minutes and needed a break, so I slowed down the speed to a brisk walk and pounded that out for 2 minutes. Then, I was back at the run and finished with 2.71 miles in 30 minutes. I probably could have finished a bit more if I upped the speed, but I didn’t want to pass out. I walked two more minutes and then ran to finish the 5K in 34:31, beating my time from Monday. Score.
I owe you one sis!
Side note: Mini Almond Joys are a fabulous after-run snack!
Training Day #24 - July 24, 2010
It is effing hot outside. Good grief. I need to start running outside, but I didn’t make it up early enough to miss the fireball blazing in the sky. So back to the gym I go. Saturdays at the gym are my favorite. Very few people to get in my way and no waiting on any of the machines.
I drove to the gym since I had an errand to run afterward (and perhaps because I didn’t feel like sticking to the pavement while I walked), so my warm up walk was a bit longer than I have been doing. Then it was game on. 36:00 on the clock and 5.4 on the speed. I made it a little over 13 minutes today without having to stop, lean on the treadmill, take a drink of water or towel off. Sweet sweet progress. What helped that was covering the timer with my towel and pushing myself to finish 4 songs before I even attempted to look at the time. I was so proud of myself.
I took a moment to pause the treadmill, wipe the sweat and take a few deep breaths, then I set the speed to 4.5 and continued with a brisk walk for 2 minutes. After minute 15:00, I started up with the running again.
Unfortunately, the second half wasn’t as pretty as the first half. It seems like after the first break, I felt the need to take more breaks than I really needed to. So, the last half was definitely a mind game. I didn’t walk too much more, but I did pause another time to catch my breath, but not let the time tick away. A few times using the handrails to support myself, but all in all, it wasn’t super ugly. I finished, didn’t I?!
I cleared 2.73 miles in 30 minutes with my total 3.1 completed in 33:42. Sweet sassy molassey kids. I think that calls for some ice cream, don’t you?
Side note: When you’re working out or running with your iPod, do you ever catch yourself kinda groovin’ to the music? Well, I do. And it looks pretty ridiculous when I’m trying to run AND subtly jam to the beat of Tone Loc. I must look like I have some kind of nervous tic or something.
Stephanie's Training - Week 9
Training Day #26 - July 19, 2010
A week “off” from training catches up with you in a split second when you’re starting a new week!!
This week I am trapsing back and forth to Columbia to take my oldest to MU basketball camp. So, I’m trying to take advantage of the 2 ½-3 hours of “down” time to wait.
Today, there were no weights. Today, was a back and forth decision to run the concourse of Mizzou Arena OR the parking lot around Hearnes?? Hmmm, what to do, what to do?? The weather forecasted storms, so should I run outside with the prospect of getting drenched? Or there’s running in the AC around the concourse of Mizzou Arena, but gates were up here and there, so would I get caught by personnel and written a citation for breaking the walking speed??
I opted for outdoors. I’ve got to get used to that more and more, so why not!? Let’s turn on some “Sweatn’ to the Oldies” because it was a scorcher and HUMID! That was even with the sun tucked nicely behind the clouds most of the half hour I ran.
I had no pockets today and had to get creative in where to stash my van keys and my cell phone. Decided I better hang onto the cell phone in my hand, because where I stashed my keys would have clearly drowned the phone. Its amazing how a bra can become an instant carry all. :)
I also opted to carry a water bottle due to the incessant heat. Last thing I need to do is get heat stroke!
I started with a brisk warm-up walk across the east side of Hearnes, meandering my way around the parking lot. I soon increased to a run or shall I call it the Stephanie Shuffle. I swear my actual running speed could give a turtle a run for its money. I thought I would run until I felt the dire need to stop and walk, making sure to not stare at the time on my cell phone. When I decided to walk, I looked down and had run 4 minutes. Not bad. Better than I thought. I briskly walked for almost 2 minutes and then was off running again. I stuck with that for 20 minutes before calling it quits. It was darn HOT!!
I noticed, again, when running outside I breathe through my mouth in short gasps. I really tried to focus on “in through the nose, out through the mouth” but it was hard!
I’m not sure how far I went but with my little running shuffle, I’m not in high hopes that I’ll do 3.1 miles in less than 45 minutes. But, hey, there’s still 9 weeks!
Training Day #27 - July 21, 2010
Rain, rain, go away!!!!!! You’re wreaking havoc on my run today!!!
I printed off the race route, which is now posted on the Susan G. Komen site. The route takes participants around the University of Missouri-Columbia. Looks like from my best guess the race will begin/end around, if not IN, Faurot Field. So, my hopes today were to WALK the 3.1 miles around campus. I was looking forward to it, since it has been several years since walking the campus for educational reasons. Lots of things have changed since I went to college there.
As we were arriving at Mizzou Arena to drop off the girls, there were luminous black clouds to the south. Really? Again! I took the girls inside and dropped them off and as I was coming back out to the van….RAIN. Great! So much for the scenic walk around campus. Those raindrops quickly turned into a torrential downpour! I had a couple of quick errands to run, so off I went……
As I arrived back at Mizzou Arena, I decided to take the chance of the concourse being available. I grabbed my MP3 player and started into the facility. The gates to the west of the main entrance were up and the gates to the east of the main entrance were up…but open. That was the entrance for the young girls going to camp.
I started out with some quick stretches and then took off for my warm-up walk. If I was going to get caught, now was the time. I didn’t want to be interrupted mid-jog. :)
My jogging route was a giant horseshoe from one gate to the other. I’m not sure how far that all amounted to, but I KICKED BUTT TODAY!!
My walk quickly became a steady jog (little better than the usual Stephanie Shuffle). The first couple of minutes were difficult….just trying to get my stride figured out and trying to control my breathing. I soon got into my groove and was feeling really good. I had my MP3 player rocking and my cell phone on standby to see how much time went by. I decided after the first few minutes, I would jog until I needed to stop.
I was feeling great! Perhaps the change in scenery was a big plus……who knows. The next thing I know my phone is ringing and its one of the parents of the young ladies I was supposed to take home after camp, so I knew I needed to answer it. Which meant I had to stop jogging so I could at least talk! After my convo, I checked out my time and I had been jogging for 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!!! SWEET!
I walked for just another couple of minutes and wanted to see if I could pull out the last 11-12 minutes jogging. Well, by Jove I DID IT!!!!!
I was walking proud today!!!!!!
Training Day #28 - July 23, 2010
I wasn’t sure how today’s run would figure into my plans. It had been a long week of running to Columbia, along with everything else. I had sent Megan a message that I wasn’t sure when to meet her and left it to chance…..I really wanted to sleep in!
Sleep in. :( Not so much. The girls and I were up before 8am and ready to go. I quickly sent Megan a message to meet our usual time.
We hooked up at the rec center and warmed up with weights for a few minutes. Megan suggested we start looking at jogging outside. We needed to get used to “the outdoors”. I agreed. Its much different (and harder) for me, so why not give the next month and a half some much needed attention to what the race is truly like.
This morning we decided to “map out” a 5K through town by walking it. It was already dreadfully humid! I dropped my girls off with their dad at school and off we went. There was a nice breeze to help with the heat. About ¾ of the way through I was really wishing I had taken my water bottle….I was pretty parched! We made it back to our starting point and, with the cool app Megan had for her IPhone, were told we averaged a 16 minute mile. Not too bad. That’s encouraging to know I could at least walk the 5K in about 45-50 minutes. Its even better encouragement to know that even if I walk AND jog, I could complete the race in less than 45 minutes.
So come Monday, let the outdoor jogging begin………
A week “off” from training catches up with you in a split second when you’re starting a new week!!
This week I am trapsing back and forth to Columbia to take my oldest to MU basketball camp. So, I’m trying to take advantage of the 2 ½-3 hours of “down” time to wait.
Today, there were no weights. Today, was a back and forth decision to run the concourse of Mizzou Arena OR the parking lot around Hearnes?? Hmmm, what to do, what to do?? The weather forecasted storms, so should I run outside with the prospect of getting drenched? Or there’s running in the AC around the concourse of Mizzou Arena, but gates were up here and there, so would I get caught by personnel and written a citation for breaking the walking speed??
I opted for outdoors. I’ve got to get used to that more and more, so why not!? Let’s turn on some “Sweatn’ to the Oldies” because it was a scorcher and HUMID! That was even with the sun tucked nicely behind the clouds most of the half hour I ran.
I had no pockets today and had to get creative in where to stash my van keys and my cell phone. Decided I better hang onto the cell phone in my hand, because where I stashed my keys would have clearly drowned the phone. Its amazing how a bra can become an instant carry all. :)
I also opted to carry a water bottle due to the incessant heat. Last thing I need to do is get heat stroke!
I started with a brisk warm-up walk across the east side of Hearnes, meandering my way around the parking lot. I soon increased to a run or shall I call it the Stephanie Shuffle. I swear my actual running speed could give a turtle a run for its money. I thought I would run until I felt the dire need to stop and walk, making sure to not stare at the time on my cell phone. When I decided to walk, I looked down and had run 4 minutes. Not bad. Better than I thought. I briskly walked for almost 2 minutes and then was off running again. I stuck with that for 20 minutes before calling it quits. It was darn HOT!!
I noticed, again, when running outside I breathe through my mouth in short gasps. I really tried to focus on “in through the nose, out through the mouth” but it was hard!
I’m not sure how far I went but with my little running shuffle, I’m not in high hopes that I’ll do 3.1 miles in less than 45 minutes. But, hey, there’s still 9 weeks!
Training Day #27 - July 21, 2010
Rain, rain, go away!!!!!! You’re wreaking havoc on my run today!!!
I printed off the race route, which is now posted on the Susan G. Komen site. The route takes participants around the University of Missouri-Columbia. Looks like from my best guess the race will begin/end around, if not IN, Faurot Field. So, my hopes today were to WALK the 3.1 miles around campus. I was looking forward to it, since it has been several years since walking the campus for educational reasons. Lots of things have changed since I went to college there.
As we were arriving at Mizzou Arena to drop off the girls, there were luminous black clouds to the south. Really? Again! I took the girls inside and dropped them off and as I was coming back out to the van….RAIN. Great! So much for the scenic walk around campus. Those raindrops quickly turned into a torrential downpour! I had a couple of quick errands to run, so off I went……
As I arrived back at Mizzou Arena, I decided to take the chance of the concourse being available. I grabbed my MP3 player and started into the facility. The gates to the west of the main entrance were up and the gates to the east of the main entrance were up…but open. That was the entrance for the young girls going to camp.
I started out with some quick stretches and then took off for my warm-up walk. If I was going to get caught, now was the time. I didn’t want to be interrupted mid-jog. :)
My jogging route was a giant horseshoe from one gate to the other. I’m not sure how far that all amounted to, but I KICKED BUTT TODAY!!
My walk quickly became a steady jog (little better than the usual Stephanie Shuffle). The first couple of minutes were difficult….just trying to get my stride figured out and trying to control my breathing. I soon got into my groove and was feeling really good. I had my MP3 player rocking and my cell phone on standby to see how much time went by. I decided after the first few minutes, I would jog until I needed to stop.
I was feeling great! Perhaps the change in scenery was a big plus……who knows. The next thing I know my phone is ringing and its one of the parents of the young ladies I was supposed to take home after camp, so I knew I needed to answer it. Which meant I had to stop jogging so I could at least talk! After my convo, I checked out my time and I had been jogging for 15 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!!!!! SWEET!
I walked for just another couple of minutes and wanted to see if I could pull out the last 11-12 minutes jogging. Well, by Jove I DID IT!!!!!
I was walking proud today!!!!!!
Training Day #28 - July 23, 2010
I wasn’t sure how today’s run would figure into my plans. It had been a long week of running to Columbia, along with everything else. I had sent Megan a message that I wasn’t sure when to meet her and left it to chance…..I really wanted to sleep in!
Sleep in. :( Not so much. The girls and I were up before 8am and ready to go. I quickly sent Megan a message to meet our usual time.
We hooked up at the rec center and warmed up with weights for a few minutes. Megan suggested we start looking at jogging outside. We needed to get used to “the outdoors”. I agreed. Its much different (and harder) for me, so why not give the next month and a half some much needed attention to what the race is truly like.
This morning we decided to “map out” a 5K through town by walking it. It was already dreadfully humid! I dropped my girls off with their dad at school and off we went. There was a nice breeze to help with the heat. About ¾ of the way through I was really wishing I had taken my water bottle….I was pretty parched! We made it back to our starting point and, with the cool app Megan had for her IPhone, were told we averaged a 16 minute mile. Not too bad. That’s encouraging to know I could at least walk the 5K in about 45-50 minutes. Its even better encouragement to know that even if I walk AND jog, I could complete the race in less than 45 minutes.
So come Monday, let the outdoor jogging begin………
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Heather's Training - Week 8
Training Day #19 - July 14, 2010
Due to the unfortunate passing of my Grandma and her funeral at the beginning of this week, I’ve been at my parent’s house for four days and unable to run. (Not entirely unable, but it didn’t really work out timewise. I’m also not exactly sad about skipping a run on gravel roads. Not at all.) So, it’s been almost an entire week since my sneakers hit the treadmill. This will be fun.
After I made it back to St. Louis safe and sound, I headed up to the gym to get my run in before the after work crowd showed up. I opted to walk to the gym, and I quickly realized this was a bad idea. It was only about 37 degrees cooler than the surface of the sun and the humidity clogged my airways. Good thing I wasn’t running outside today. I also quickly realized how crappy this run would be due to the 18 mosquito/chigger bites populating my feet from the ankle down. I had been to an outdoor bar over the weekend and the bug population used my feet as their own personal buffet...causing the tops of my feet and ankles to swell with their nasty little poison. I’ve been trying not to scratch for the past four days, but that’s like telling Lady Gaga to act like a lady. Not easy. The swelling has gone down some, but not enough that they don’t rub on my shoes with every step I take. Wonderful.
It was only 4:40, so I grabbed one of my preferred treadmills and did a quick 5-minute warmup. My original goal for this week was to walk/run the entire 3.1 miles in whatever time it took me. I figured with my current pace, I could finish in under 40 minutes, so I’d just set the time at that. With not doing much cardio for 6 days, I wasn’t sure this was the best idea for today. But I went ahead and pushed 40 minutes into the time and figured I could stop anytime after 30, if I was really struggling.
My interval today was walk 1 minute, run for 5, rather than the alternating 1 and 2-minute walks from last week. I figured I should be able to clear a bit more than 2.61 miles (in 30 min), since I was cutting out just a few minutes of walking and changing those to runs. Nope...2.62. In 30 minutes. (I opted to NOT try the entire 3.1 miles today. Don’t judge me.) I completely forgot about my upping the run speed to 5.5 instead of 5.3. See, this is what happens when a whole week goes by in between runs. I probably could have cleared more than what I did if I ran a bit faster. I did kick the last two minutes up to a 5.9. But geez, who wants to run that fast all the time?
I mostly tried not to think about running, which usually led my thoughts into thinking about how badly I wanted to rip my shoes off and scratch my feet until there wasn’t any skin left to scratch. So, to take my mind off of that, I thought about running, which was not the best of ideas either. No one at the gym entertained me today, which was really disappointing. Only 3 days left this week to get in my final 2 runs. Should be interesting.
Training Day #20 - July 15, 2010
Training Day #21 - July 17, 2010
Success. I like running on Saturdays better than after work during the week. First, I’m not mentally exhausted and I’m not stiff from sitting at a computer all day. I can get up, have a yummy breakfast and power through a run in the morning, while still having the rest of my day to do whatever I want. I was up bright and early this morning to mow my neglected yard while it was still cool and humidity free. After that, I took a quick break to watch some HGTV (man, I love that channel) and then headed up to the gym.
It was still fairly “cool” this morning, so the walk wasn’t exhausting. I got my favorite treadmill (it doesn’t squeak or shake, the TV works and it does manual intervals) and I confidently pressed 40 minutes into the timer. I was determined to finish the 3.1 miles if it killed me. But, really, as long as I did 30 minutes, that was A-OK in my book. I just wanted to leave the option open.
I opted for some quicker intervals than Thursday night, so I did a 2-minute walk/4-minute run, then the rest of the time was 1.5-minute walk/4.5-minute run. I’m proud to say that my “hop-offs” were definitely less frequent than earlier this week and I didn’t feel the need to lean on the treadmill for support as much. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to lean on the treadmill at all or hop off to catch my breath, but I’m not getting my hopes up too fast. I also kept my walk speeds at 4.4 or 4.5 and my run speeds at 5.5 and up to 5.7 on the last run.
Score. 2.63 miles in 30 minutes. Yahooooooo! After my final run with the last 4.5 minutes, I switched over to my fast walk for 2 more minutes. By the time that was over, the time was 32 minutes and the distance was 2.79 miles. I figured that if I was that close to the end, I might as well power through and see just how long it would take me. I had guessed 36 minutes, based on my average of 12 minute miles. I reached that beautiful 3.1 on the display screen at exactly 35:23 minutes. Nice. I have never been so happy to press the stop button on a treadmill in my life.
I’m not sure if it was the lawnmowing warmup or the late morning hour, but I felt good when I was finished. Good enough to do some weights and abs for a half hour or so afterward. I hope this will help get me back on schedule and push me forward in the right direction.
I can’t believe I’ve already completed 8 weeks of running. EIGHT WEEKS, people! Who would have ever thought. And I also can’t believe that this is the halfway point. Only 9 more weeks to go. I feel good about where I am (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself) and kinda look forward to seeing just how far I can push myself from here. Wish me luck.
Side note to the girl saving her spot on a treadmill with her outdated Walkman headphones: Sorry I stole your treadmill, but come on, you have to leave more stuff on there than that for people to realize it’s being reserved. And get some better headphones, I thought maybe someone had left them there for a reason (i.e. they were trying to get rid of them.)
Due to the unfortunate passing of my Grandma and her funeral at the beginning of this week, I’ve been at my parent’s house for four days and unable to run. (Not entirely unable, but it didn’t really work out timewise. I’m also not exactly sad about skipping a run on gravel roads. Not at all.) So, it’s been almost an entire week since my sneakers hit the treadmill. This will be fun.
After I made it back to St. Louis safe and sound, I headed up to the gym to get my run in before the after work crowd showed up. I opted to walk to the gym, and I quickly realized this was a bad idea. It was only about 37 degrees cooler than the surface of the sun and the humidity clogged my airways. Good thing I wasn’t running outside today. I also quickly realized how crappy this run would be due to the 18 mosquito/chigger bites populating my feet from the ankle down. I had been to an outdoor bar over the weekend and the bug population used my feet as their own personal buffet...causing the tops of my feet and ankles to swell with their nasty little poison. I’ve been trying not to scratch for the past four days, but that’s like telling Lady Gaga to act like a lady. Not easy. The swelling has gone down some, but not enough that they don’t rub on my shoes with every step I take. Wonderful.
It was only 4:40, so I grabbed one of my preferred treadmills and did a quick 5-minute warmup. My original goal for this week was to walk/run the entire 3.1 miles in whatever time it took me. I figured with my current pace, I could finish in under 40 minutes, so I’d just set the time at that. With not doing much cardio for 6 days, I wasn’t sure this was the best idea for today. But I went ahead and pushed 40 minutes into the time and figured I could stop anytime after 30, if I was really struggling.
My interval today was walk 1 minute, run for 5, rather than the alternating 1 and 2-minute walks from last week. I figured I should be able to clear a bit more than 2.61 miles (in 30 min), since I was cutting out just a few minutes of walking and changing those to runs. Nope...2.62. In 30 minutes. (I opted to NOT try the entire 3.1 miles today. Don’t judge me.) I completely forgot about my upping the run speed to 5.5 instead of 5.3. See, this is what happens when a whole week goes by in between runs. I probably could have cleared more than what I did if I ran a bit faster. I did kick the last two minutes up to a 5.9. But geez, who wants to run that fast all the time?
I mostly tried not to think about running, which usually led my thoughts into thinking about how badly I wanted to rip my shoes off and scratch my feet until there wasn’t any skin left to scratch. So, to take my mind off of that, I thought about running, which was not the best of ideas either. No one at the gym entertained me today, which was really disappointing. Only 3 days left this week to get in my final 2 runs. Should be interesting.
Training Day #20 - July 15, 2010
I should not have run tonight. I had the energy of a sloth. A sloth on downers. It was not pretty. I again walked to the gym and was glistening like a pig in the 6 minutes it took me to get there. And my feet were on fiyah. Damn me and my tasty-mosquito-loving blood.
I played musical treadmills again tonight. The first one didn’t have a TV that worked. The second one had a TV that worked, but once I picked my channel, I realized the treadmill itself didn’t work. That could be a potential problem. By the time I realized this, some other chick had picked the treadmill with the non-working TV. To my relief, there was one more open. To my horror, it was the loud squeaky one on the end. Hmmm...dilemma. Do I go to Squeakers or do I patiently wait for someone to get off another one? Screw it, I’ll use Squeaks, I don’t feel like taking any longer than humanly possible at the gym tonight.
I found the Cards game on the telly (hoping to catch a glimpse of my sis and the fam) and quickly increased the volume ten-fold on my mp3 player and away I went. Sort of. I remembered that this is the treadmill that won’t let me manually switch between speeds with the single press of a button. This one either has the completely manual option or the interval option. The interval option only allows for their specific time increments (unless you start manually changing things which really defeats the purpose of the presets). Shoot. I went with interval training and chose the one with the 2 minute walk/6 minute run. Imagine your favorite cuss word. Yep, I said them all right then. 62 times. I was somewhat managing occasional full 5-minute runs. Now, I would have to bump it up to 6. For every run. Mother of God.
After two minutes of a brisk 4.5 walk, I was ready to call it quits. I even contemplated just throwing in the towel and only getting two runs in this week. I really did not want to run at all. It was a struggle from start to finish. Both mentally and physically. Not to mention the searing pain in my knee. After 30 minutes, I barely squeezed out the 2.62 miles on the display screen. I wish I could be proud of that, but to my disgrace, I hopped off the treadmill for quick 15-20-second breaks more often that I’m willing to admit. And I leaned on the treadmill. A lot. So my actual time was a bit lower than that. I just could not muster the energy to get it done tonight.
I think part of the problem is that my weekly schedule is completely off this week. My sleeping schedule, eating schedule, running schedule, you name it, my world is on it’s arse this week. I’ve found that when I’m rocking a set schedule, I do better. I feel better, and I can run more cleanly (by that, I mean that I don’t huff and puff as much, and I don’t lean on the treadmill for support. Basically, I don’t look like an idiot.) When everything is off, my running is off. And boy, was that apparent tonight. Hopefully, after this weekend, I can get back onto a proper schedule next week and get back into gear. Because I’m hoping I can step up and complete the entire 3.1 miles next week. Heh, we’ll see.
Side note: My towel, my tank and my britches had not a single dry speck on any of them. Sweat was the understatement of the century tonight. I nearly tripped 3 times while trying to wipe the saltiness out of my eyes while running. I’m contemplating the thought of a sweatband. I mean really, how can that NOT be sexy? Right?
Second side note: While walking to the gym, a tasty treat ran past me. Half nekkid. I was half inclined to say eff the gym and tear off after him as his hot buns trotted off down the street. I’m not embarrassed to admit I stared at his backside until he turned a corner and out of my line of vision (maybe he felt my eyes boring into him). I was delighted that he was running in my neighborhood (hey, he could be a neighbor!), but I thought it would be a bit stalkerish to follow him. Not to mention that I probably would have only been able to keep up with him for a block or so, since he was clearly in better shape than I. Sigh.
I played musical treadmills again tonight. The first one didn’t have a TV that worked. The second one had a TV that worked, but once I picked my channel, I realized the treadmill itself didn’t work. That could be a potential problem. By the time I realized this, some other chick had picked the treadmill with the non-working TV. To my relief, there was one more open. To my horror, it was the loud squeaky one on the end. Hmmm...dilemma. Do I go to Squeakers or do I patiently wait for someone to get off another one? Screw it, I’ll use Squeaks, I don’t feel like taking any longer than humanly possible at the gym tonight.
I found the Cards game on the telly (hoping to catch a glimpse of my sis and the fam) and quickly increased the volume ten-fold on my mp3 player and away I went. Sort of. I remembered that this is the treadmill that won’t let me manually switch between speeds with the single press of a button. This one either has the completely manual option or the interval option. The interval option only allows for their specific time increments (unless you start manually changing things which really defeats the purpose of the presets). Shoot. I went with interval training and chose the one with the 2 minute walk/6 minute run. Imagine your favorite cuss word. Yep, I said them all right then. 62 times. I was somewhat managing occasional full 5-minute runs. Now, I would have to bump it up to 6. For every run. Mother of God.
After two minutes of a brisk 4.5 walk, I was ready to call it quits. I even contemplated just throwing in the towel and only getting two runs in this week. I really did not want to run at all. It was a struggle from start to finish. Both mentally and physically. Not to mention the searing pain in my knee. After 30 minutes, I barely squeezed out the 2.62 miles on the display screen. I wish I could be proud of that, but to my disgrace, I hopped off the treadmill for quick 15-20-second breaks more often that I’m willing to admit. And I leaned on the treadmill. A lot. So my actual time was a bit lower than that. I just could not muster the energy to get it done tonight.
I think part of the problem is that my weekly schedule is completely off this week. My sleeping schedule, eating schedule, running schedule, you name it, my world is on it’s arse this week. I’ve found that when I’m rocking a set schedule, I do better. I feel better, and I can run more cleanly (by that, I mean that I don’t huff and puff as much, and I don’t lean on the treadmill for support. Basically, I don’t look like an idiot.) When everything is off, my running is off. And boy, was that apparent tonight. Hopefully, after this weekend, I can get back onto a proper schedule next week and get back into gear. Because I’m hoping I can step up and complete the entire 3.1 miles next week. Heh, we’ll see.
Side note: My towel, my tank and my britches had not a single dry speck on any of them. Sweat was the understatement of the century tonight. I nearly tripped 3 times while trying to wipe the saltiness out of my eyes while running. I’m contemplating the thought of a sweatband. I mean really, how can that NOT be sexy? Right?
Second side note: While walking to the gym, a tasty treat ran past me. Half nekkid. I was half inclined to say eff the gym and tear off after him as his hot buns trotted off down the street. I’m not embarrassed to admit I stared at his backside until he turned a corner and out of my line of vision (maybe he felt my eyes boring into him). I was delighted that he was running in my neighborhood (hey, he could be a neighbor!), but I thought it would be a bit stalkerish to follow him. Not to mention that I probably would have only been able to keep up with him for a block or so, since he was clearly in better shape than I. Sigh.
Training Day #21 - July 17, 2010
Success. I like running on Saturdays better than after work during the week. First, I’m not mentally exhausted and I’m not stiff from sitting at a computer all day. I can get up, have a yummy breakfast and power through a run in the morning, while still having the rest of my day to do whatever I want. I was up bright and early this morning to mow my neglected yard while it was still cool and humidity free. After that, I took a quick break to watch some HGTV (man, I love that channel) and then headed up to the gym.
It was still fairly “cool” this morning, so the walk wasn’t exhausting. I got my favorite treadmill (it doesn’t squeak or shake, the TV works and it does manual intervals) and I confidently pressed 40 minutes into the timer. I was determined to finish the 3.1 miles if it killed me. But, really, as long as I did 30 minutes, that was A-OK in my book. I just wanted to leave the option open.
I opted for some quicker intervals than Thursday night, so I did a 2-minute walk/4-minute run, then the rest of the time was 1.5-minute walk/4.5-minute run. I’m proud to say that my “hop-offs” were definitely less frequent than earlier this week and I didn’t feel the need to lean on the treadmill for support as much. I’ll be happy when I don’t have to lean on the treadmill at all or hop off to catch my breath, but I’m not getting my hopes up too fast. I also kept my walk speeds at 4.4 or 4.5 and my run speeds at 5.5 and up to 5.7 on the last run.
Score. 2.63 miles in 30 minutes. Yahooooooo! After my final run with the last 4.5 minutes, I switched over to my fast walk for 2 more minutes. By the time that was over, the time was 32 minutes and the distance was 2.79 miles. I figured that if I was that close to the end, I might as well power through and see just how long it would take me. I had guessed 36 minutes, based on my average of 12 minute miles. I reached that beautiful 3.1 on the display screen at exactly 35:23 minutes. Nice. I have never been so happy to press the stop button on a treadmill in my life.
I’m not sure if it was the lawnmowing warmup or the late morning hour, but I felt good when I was finished. Good enough to do some weights and abs for a half hour or so afterward. I hope this will help get me back on schedule and push me forward in the right direction.
I can’t believe I’ve already completed 8 weeks of running. EIGHT WEEKS, people! Who would have ever thought. And I also can’t believe that this is the halfway point. Only 9 more weeks to go. I feel good about where I am (I hope I didn’t just jinx myself) and kinda look forward to seeing just how far I can push myself from here. Wish me luck.
Side note to the girl saving her spot on a treadmill with her outdated Walkman headphones: Sorry I stole your treadmill, but come on, you have to leave more stuff on there than that for people to realize it’s being reserved. And get some better headphones, I thought maybe someone had left them there for a reason (i.e. they were trying to get rid of them.)
Friday, July 16, 2010
Stephanie's Training - Week 8
Training Day #23 - July 12, 2010
Today is a continuation of a tough weekend. We found out my grandmother passed away just a few days ago. Funeral is tomorrow, so off to my parents house tonight to visit and help get some things ready. I cancelled my time with Megan and are in hopes of running “the countryside” with my sis while at my parents tonight.
Arrived at the home place to find work to be done. We spent time tiding up, fixing dishes for the unknown amount of folks who may come over for lunch after the funeral, and sharing memories of grandma with the pastor who will be speaking.
Needless to say, running didn’t make it into the plans. When I got there, it was too hot to run and we dove straight into salad making, etc. Heather didn’t want to run towards dusk, as she was dealing with a slew of mosquito bites along her ankles and didn’t want to add to the pain and misery. Our intent was good, but family time was more important.
Training Day #24 - July 14, 2010
Pretty wiped out today…….more emotionally than physically, but it all goes hand-in-hand.
Met Megan after lunch to take advantage of my time at the rec center during Charlee’s basketball practice. Great! Visual stimulation to keep my mind busy. :) During my weight lifting, I could really tell my muscles were stiff and today was going to be rough. I wasn’t sure just how motivated I could be, especially following on the heals of a long few days.
Megan told me she figured out the interval settings to stay within the 30 minute window: warm-up for 4 minutes, run for 5 minutes, walk for 2 minutes.
OK.
The 4 minute warm-up was just not long enough! Really, its already time to run?!
Hardest. Run. To. Present. Did ‘ya get that?! HARDEST. RUN. TO. DATE! Good, gracious!! That was the most mind gripping run I’ve ever had. I was having a mental war-of-words going on inside my head. I had to keep pushing myself, mentally, to finish each 5 minute run. I kept looking down at each interval only to see I’d ran about a minute and a half. Aaaahhhh!
By the end of the 30 minutes, I was gasping for air. I was really hurting. I was so glad to see that final second roll over!
Training Day #25 - July 16, 2010
Cardinals. It’s the Cardinals fault.
Last night, the family got to go to a St. Louis Cardinals game. Sweet! Right?! My husband received some complimentary seats, which of course, he DID NOT want to pass up. We headed to St. Louis for a 7:15pm game. Found out we had AWESOME seats…..3rd row behind the home dugout!
Well, I had told Megan I would meet her today at 9am and on the way home last night, realizing its midnight when we pull into the driveway, there is NO WAY I’m making it in by 9am. I may still be asleep and for sure the girls will not be conscious by then. :)
And, no, I didn’t make time to run further into the day. My oldest played her first basketball game of the Show-Me State games.
No run. Will definitely be sucking wind next week. :)
Today is a continuation of a tough weekend. We found out my grandmother passed away just a few days ago. Funeral is tomorrow, so off to my parents house tonight to visit and help get some things ready. I cancelled my time with Megan and are in hopes of running “the countryside” with my sis while at my parents tonight.
Arrived at the home place to find work to be done. We spent time tiding up, fixing dishes for the unknown amount of folks who may come over for lunch after the funeral, and sharing memories of grandma with the pastor who will be speaking.
Needless to say, running didn’t make it into the plans. When I got there, it was too hot to run and we dove straight into salad making, etc. Heather didn’t want to run towards dusk, as she was dealing with a slew of mosquito bites along her ankles and didn’t want to add to the pain and misery. Our intent was good, but family time was more important.
Training Day #24 - July 14, 2010
Pretty wiped out today…….more emotionally than physically, but it all goes hand-in-hand.
Met Megan after lunch to take advantage of my time at the rec center during Charlee’s basketball practice. Great! Visual stimulation to keep my mind busy. :) During my weight lifting, I could really tell my muscles were stiff and today was going to be rough. I wasn’t sure just how motivated I could be, especially following on the heals of a long few days.
Megan told me she figured out the interval settings to stay within the 30 minute window: warm-up for 4 minutes, run for 5 minutes, walk for 2 minutes.
OK.
The 4 minute warm-up was just not long enough! Really, its already time to run?!
Hardest. Run. To. Present. Did ‘ya get that?! HARDEST. RUN. TO. DATE! Good, gracious!! That was the most mind gripping run I’ve ever had. I was having a mental war-of-words going on inside my head. I had to keep pushing myself, mentally, to finish each 5 minute run. I kept looking down at each interval only to see I’d ran about a minute and a half. Aaaahhhh!
By the end of the 30 minutes, I was gasping for air. I was really hurting. I was so glad to see that final second roll over!
Training Day #25 - July 16, 2010
Cardinals. It’s the Cardinals fault.
Last night, the family got to go to a St. Louis Cardinals game. Sweet! Right?! My husband received some complimentary seats, which of course, he DID NOT want to pass up. We headed to St. Louis for a 7:15pm game. Found out we had AWESOME seats…..3rd row behind the home dugout!
Well, I had told Megan I would meet her today at 9am and on the way home last night, realizing its midnight when we pull into the driveway, there is NO WAY I’m making it in by 9am. I may still be asleep and for sure the girls will not be conscious by then. :)
And, no, I didn’t make time to run further into the day. My oldest played her first basketball game of the Show-Me State games.
No run. Will definitely be sucking wind next week. :)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Stephanie's Training - Week 7
Training Day 20, July 5, 2010
BOOO-YEAH! Let’s DO this! Feelin’ PUMPED today! Four days off and I’m READY TO GO! YEAH! WOOO! So today, I’m that pumped up “body builder” ready to get down to business! Don’t know where the energy has come from, but it’s to my EXTREME advantage. Right?
This week I’m on my own. Megan is on vacation. That means I have to be extra motivated or this fanny ain’t comin’ off the couch. :) So I guess THAT’s what has me so pumped up.
As I had mentioned previously, I needed to up my weights. Today, I increased my pounds on all the weight machines but lowered my reps back down. It felt really good and I could tell my muscles were ready for a new challenge.
After the weights, I headed to the treadmill. Today, I had them all to myself. No one to keep me company. Hmmm? I wonder how that’s going to go. :)
Before I left this morning, I checked on my “Couch to 5K” site to see where I should be at for this week. Well, I forgot that this is week 7 and so thought this was the beginning of week 6. Goodness, the time has flown! Anyways, the Week 6 interval has running for 5 minutes/ walking for 3 minutes. So let the challenge begin!
I started off with our 5 minute warm-up walk. Feeling good. OK, time to start running. I had my MP3 player going and some Keanu Reeves movie going on TV for visual distraction. My main focus today was to NOT STARE AT THE TIME! I wanted to run, not wait for “10 minutes” to flash across the screen.
I made it through the first 5 minute run! WOO-HOO! Feelin’ gooood! Now, 3 minutes of walking. Recovered pretty well! Now time to run another 5 minutes. OK. This is a little more challenging! I kept looking down waiting to reach the 18 minute mark. Gonna….make….it! 18 MINUTES! WOOO…..time to walk.
Now is the time I start analyzing to see if my time is going to come out right. Nope. OK, gotta adjust the run/walk time. Walked to 21 minutes, then ran for 4 minutes. I’ve reached the 25 minute mark. OK, let’s walk to 28 and then I ended with running. I didn’t succeed at ignoring the timing screen….blasted thing!
Wait a minute……my distance didn’t increase. CRAP!!!!!! What a run….feeling very proud of myself, but disappointed my distance didn’t increase. Oh, well……
Training Day #21, July 7, 2010
Monday was such an ego boost! I’m really proud of myself and look forward to the challenge again today.
Today, my oldest had basketball practice again, so I took advantage of the time and ran.
There were three other people working out upstairs, an older gentleman (who was on one of the treadmills) and a mother/son combo. As usual I worked on weights. When I’m working out by myself, I usually only work on the weights for about 10-15 minutes.
Today I figured out how much time I could input into the machine to run/walk even intervals. So, with a 5 minute warmup, 5 min. run/3 min. walk, my total time to enter is 34 minutes.
Now, its time to saunter over to the treadmill. Let me just note, that when the 4th and 5th grade girls are practicing down below, the noise level is increased. Well, as I’m approaching the treadmill area, the TV is at a DEAFENING level. O.K. I grab my MP3 player to drown out the TV and as I’m loading the settings, the older gentleman increases the volume to its HIGHEST level. I guess to drown out the young ladies downstairs. This prompts me to increase my MP3 player to a volume high enough to COMPETE with the TV.
So there I am, starting my run with enough noise to drown out a 757, when I notice the gentleman gets off his treadmill and heads to the weights. HELLO! Turn the darned TV down!! You see, there is only one remote that floats between three treadmills. Did he hand the remote over to me?! Heck no!
After about 15 minutes from him stepping away from his machine, the guy pulls a fast one on me! Remember, I’m jamming to Will Smith’s “Summertime” at an insane volume level….you think I can hear someone coming up to me. NO!! This guy comes, quickly I might add, up to the left side of my treadmill and gets about 6 inches from me and loudly announces that it is “………thundering outside. And if the electricity goes out I’m going to slam right into the front of my machine!” AAAAHHHHH……geez, dude! I’m surprised I didn’t stumble and fall off the stupid machine from being scared to death. Don’t you know, you don’t sneak up on someone…….on a treadmill…….with earphones in……that can’t see you coming up beside them!!!!!!
I guess he at least jump started my adrenaline to push me through the rest of my run. :)
After it was all said and done, I ran/walked 2.59 miles and burned 257 calories. Whew! I made it…hurting a little, but I did it!!
Training Day #22, July 9, 2010
Yea! Megan’s back today. :)
I’m going to make this log short and sweet, as I’m writing this on Saturday morning and have some things to get done today.
I noticed quickly Thursday morning, the day after my last run, that the tops of my feet ached like crazy. What’s that?! That’s a first, usually its my knees that throb continuously. Hmmm…..
Today, I repeated my 34 minute routine from Wednesday, therefore introducing that to Megan. I sucked wind pretty hard today, but pulled through to a 2.59 miles, again. :) I think I’m going to have to check into some sort of knee braces to help with the ache. I had a terrible night’s sleep with sharp pains shooting through my left knee. Glad to have the weekend to recuperate!
BOOO-YEAH! Let’s DO this! Feelin’ PUMPED today! Four days off and I’m READY TO GO! YEAH! WOOO! So today, I’m that pumped up “body builder” ready to get down to business! Don’t know where the energy has come from, but it’s to my EXTREME advantage. Right?
This week I’m on my own. Megan is on vacation. That means I have to be extra motivated or this fanny ain’t comin’ off the couch. :) So I guess THAT’s what has me so pumped up.
As I had mentioned previously, I needed to up my weights. Today, I increased my pounds on all the weight machines but lowered my reps back down. It felt really good and I could tell my muscles were ready for a new challenge.
After the weights, I headed to the treadmill. Today, I had them all to myself. No one to keep me company. Hmmm? I wonder how that’s going to go. :)
Before I left this morning, I checked on my “Couch to 5K” site to see where I should be at for this week. Well, I forgot that this is week 7 and so thought this was the beginning of week 6. Goodness, the time has flown! Anyways, the Week 6 interval has running for 5 minutes/ walking for 3 minutes. So let the challenge begin!
I started off with our 5 minute warm-up walk. Feeling good. OK, time to start running. I had my MP3 player going and some Keanu Reeves movie going on TV for visual distraction. My main focus today was to NOT STARE AT THE TIME! I wanted to run, not wait for “10 minutes” to flash across the screen.
I made it through the first 5 minute run! WOO-HOO! Feelin’ gooood! Now, 3 minutes of walking. Recovered pretty well! Now time to run another 5 minutes. OK. This is a little more challenging! I kept looking down waiting to reach the 18 minute mark. Gonna….make….it! 18 MINUTES! WOOO…..time to walk.
Now is the time I start analyzing to see if my time is going to come out right. Nope. OK, gotta adjust the run/walk time. Walked to 21 minutes, then ran for 4 minutes. I’ve reached the 25 minute mark. OK, let’s walk to 28 and then I ended with running. I didn’t succeed at ignoring the timing screen….blasted thing!
Wait a minute……my distance didn’t increase. CRAP!!!!!! What a run….feeling very proud of myself, but disappointed my distance didn’t increase. Oh, well……
Training Day #21, July 7, 2010
Monday was such an ego boost! I’m really proud of myself and look forward to the challenge again today.
Today, my oldest had basketball practice again, so I took advantage of the time and ran.
There were three other people working out upstairs, an older gentleman (who was on one of the treadmills) and a mother/son combo. As usual I worked on weights. When I’m working out by myself, I usually only work on the weights for about 10-15 minutes.
Today I figured out how much time I could input into the machine to run/walk even intervals. So, with a 5 minute warmup, 5 min. run/3 min. walk, my total time to enter is 34 minutes.
Now, its time to saunter over to the treadmill. Let me just note, that when the 4th and 5th grade girls are practicing down below, the noise level is increased. Well, as I’m approaching the treadmill area, the TV is at a DEAFENING level. O.K. I grab my MP3 player to drown out the TV and as I’m loading the settings, the older gentleman increases the volume to its HIGHEST level. I guess to drown out the young ladies downstairs. This prompts me to increase my MP3 player to a volume high enough to COMPETE with the TV.
So there I am, starting my run with enough noise to drown out a 757, when I notice the gentleman gets off his treadmill and heads to the weights. HELLO! Turn the darned TV down!! You see, there is only one remote that floats between three treadmills. Did he hand the remote over to me?! Heck no!
After about 15 minutes from him stepping away from his machine, the guy pulls a fast one on me! Remember, I’m jamming to Will Smith’s “Summertime” at an insane volume level….you think I can hear someone coming up to me. NO!! This guy comes, quickly I might add, up to the left side of my treadmill and gets about 6 inches from me and loudly announces that it is “………thundering outside. And if the electricity goes out I’m going to slam right into the front of my machine!” AAAAHHHHH……geez, dude! I’m surprised I didn’t stumble and fall off the stupid machine from being scared to death. Don’t you know, you don’t sneak up on someone…….on a treadmill…….with earphones in……that can’t see you coming up beside them!!!!!!
I guess he at least jump started my adrenaline to push me through the rest of my run. :)
After it was all said and done, I ran/walked 2.59 miles and burned 257 calories. Whew! I made it…hurting a little, but I did it!!
Training Day #22, July 9, 2010
Yea! Megan’s back today. :)
I’m going to make this log short and sweet, as I’m writing this on Saturday morning and have some things to get done today.
I noticed quickly Thursday morning, the day after my last run, that the tops of my feet ached like crazy. What’s that?! That’s a first, usually its my knees that throb continuously. Hmmm…..
Today, I repeated my 34 minute routine from Wednesday, therefore introducing that to Megan. I sucked wind pretty hard today, but pulled through to a 2.59 miles, again. :) I think I’m going to have to check into some sort of knee braces to help with the ache. I had a terrible night’s sleep with sharp pains shooting through my left knee. Glad to have the weekend to recuperate!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Heather's Training - Week 7
Training Day # 16 - July 4, 2010
Headed back to the gym today. Had to go early since the gym was closing early for the holiday. I actually chose a treadmill that didn’t squeak and didn’t have a TV on a timer. Score. Of course, I had all of the treadmills to choose from, so that helped. I’m getting pretty good at choosing times when the gym isn’t overly crowded so I have my pick of the machines.
The first 10-15 minutes were kind of tough. I started with the 2/3 interval and I was struggling a bit during the runs. But, halfway through I started to feel stronger and decreased my walk times and increased my run times. By the last 7-8 minutes, I kept the speed at a run and just hopped off for 10 seconds here and there to try to catch my breath. I didn’t do it too often, but it helped me to keep from having to switch back to a walk speed.
Overall, I finished with 2.55 miles. Sweet. I’m slowly getting to my goal. I still wish I was accomplishing more, but I’m happy with how far I’ve come. I need to work on continuing to decrease the total amount of time that I’m walking, so that when I run outside, I can focus entirely on the run times. Because I clearly can’t walk very fast when I’m outside.
I’m happy with the start to this week’s training and I hope I can keep it up.
Side note to the lady on the treadmill wearing white pajama pants and blue underwear: Fail.
Training Day #17 - July 6, 2010
Holy Mind Over Matter, Batman. I decided to kick things up a notch and try to walk for two minutes and then run until I reached the end of a 1/2 mile. That took about 4 minutes, so I was doing a 12-minute mile. Not too bad for this stage in the game. The first mile was pretty solid. Not easy, but solid. The next 18 were a bit of a struggle, but I did manage to continue and finish with this interval.
It was a complete Mind Over Matter kind of day. And if the people next to me could hear what I was screaming inside my head, they would think I was bat-shit-ham-sandwich-butterfinger-crazy. I felt like Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser was standing over my shoulder the entire time, because I was determined to finish strong. “Run, damn you, run!” was going through my head more than once. That and a slew of other things I probably shouldn’t type, because I don’t need any of you thinking I’m any wackier than I already am. I was watching the time like a hawk. 30...29...28...27...26...shit 25 seconds left...23...22...21...20 seconds, really? f*@&%!!!...15...14...13...For. The. Love. Of all things holy in this world, can I just finish running yet?...2....1...About damn time.
Despite the fact that I ran for a total of 20 minutes and only walked for 10 (Yay Me!) I only made it 2.52 miles. WTF? Are ya freakin’ kidding me? I ran my ass off tonight. I sweat in places I didn’t even know had sweat glands. I pushed my sore aching body further than I thought I could. Shit. I guess I wasn’t running quite fast enough or something because my walking speed was off the charts. The guy next to me even looked at me kinda funny during my powerwalk phases. (It was either the way I was walking or the 62 gallons of sweat pouring down my face. It’s a toss up.) I guess I have to push past the 5.3-5.4 running speed in order to make any more progress. Son of a biscuit. This does not make me happy right now. I can go up to 5.7 for a little while, but I’m not sure I can run that fast for 20 minutes. Guess that will have to be the next goal. Joy.
Side note: I know that trainers work with sweaty smelly people all day and they probably get really tired of smelling foul body odor, but that does not give them license to wear an entire bottle of cologne. Hey buddy, here’s a term you should be pretty familiar with: “portion control.”
Training Day #18 - July 8, 2010
Lots of distractions at the gym tonight. Which was good since I needed any distraction I could to take my mind off of running. I know a lot of people enjoy running because it gives them time to clear their head and just decompress, but how does it not get monotonous and boring? I need some kind of stimulation to keep me out of my head.
Fortunately for me, there was an abundance of distractions tonight. First, there was something sharp and pokey in my knee brace that kept jabbing me every 8 or 9 minutes. That was super fun. Especially when I would wince a bit when it would work its way into my skin. I still have no idea what was poking me. Next was the Zumba class going on next to me. That was rife with visual stimulation. (Zumba is a type of aerobics class that mixes latin dance moves, a bit of hip hop and aerobics.) I know I shouldn’t make fun of people since I was gifted with rhythm, but come on. How can I not giggle when I see some of those people attempting to shake their hips and instead shaking their knees? I can’t even begin to describe the half hour of entertainment I got from watching that class.
Then there was the fact that I got a treadmill that felt like it was going to fall apart every time I ran. I was paranoid I was going to break the damn thing. The Cardinal game was also on, so I got to enjoy some closed captioning that described our pitchers as Chris Carbohydrate and Adam Wane Wrat. Brilliant typing skills folks.
Back to the running. I was determined to fare better than Tuesday’s run. I started with a brisk walk for 2 minutes, then ran for 4. I upped my run speed to 5.5 instead of 5.3. Next, I walked for 1 minute, ran for 5. Dear Lord in Heaven, I thought I would never make it. I was heaving and gasping for air. Then two minute walk, 4 minute run, 1 minute walk, 5 minute run and then repeat until the end. I miraculously made it to the end and even got a bit stronger the more I ran. I know I ran on sheer willpower alone, because that’s about all that got me through the run. Oh, that and the guy running next to me, who I wasn’t sure was cute or not. I didn’t want to look over at him while running because a) hello, totally obvious and b) hello, totally not coordinated enough.
I finished with 2.61 miles. Yes!!! I’m getting there baby, I’m getting there. :)
Side note: Guy next to me turned out to be a butter face...bummer.
Headed back to the gym today. Had to go early since the gym was closing early for the holiday. I actually chose a treadmill that didn’t squeak and didn’t have a TV on a timer. Score. Of course, I had all of the treadmills to choose from, so that helped. I’m getting pretty good at choosing times when the gym isn’t overly crowded so I have my pick of the machines.
The first 10-15 minutes were kind of tough. I started with the 2/3 interval and I was struggling a bit during the runs. But, halfway through I started to feel stronger and decreased my walk times and increased my run times. By the last 7-8 minutes, I kept the speed at a run and just hopped off for 10 seconds here and there to try to catch my breath. I didn’t do it too often, but it helped me to keep from having to switch back to a walk speed.
Overall, I finished with 2.55 miles. Sweet. I’m slowly getting to my goal. I still wish I was accomplishing more, but I’m happy with how far I’ve come. I need to work on continuing to decrease the total amount of time that I’m walking, so that when I run outside, I can focus entirely on the run times. Because I clearly can’t walk very fast when I’m outside.
I’m happy with the start to this week’s training and I hope I can keep it up.
Side note to the lady on the treadmill wearing white pajama pants and blue underwear: Fail.
Training Day #17 - July 6, 2010
Holy Mind Over Matter, Batman. I decided to kick things up a notch and try to walk for two minutes and then run until I reached the end of a 1/2 mile. That took about 4 minutes, so I was doing a 12-minute mile. Not too bad for this stage in the game. The first mile was pretty solid. Not easy, but solid. The next 18 were a bit of a struggle, but I did manage to continue and finish with this interval.
It was a complete Mind Over Matter kind of day. And if the people next to me could hear what I was screaming inside my head, they would think I was bat-shit-ham-sandwich-butterfinger-crazy. I felt like Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Loser was standing over my shoulder the entire time, because I was determined to finish strong. “Run, damn you, run!” was going through my head more than once. That and a slew of other things I probably shouldn’t type, because I don’t need any of you thinking I’m any wackier than I already am. I was watching the time like a hawk. 30...29...28...27...26...shit 25 seconds left...23...22...21...20 seconds, really? f*@&%!!!...15...14...13...For. The. Love. Of all things holy in this world, can I just finish running yet?...2....1...About damn time.
Despite the fact that I ran for a total of 20 minutes and only walked for 10 (Yay Me!) I only made it 2.52 miles. WTF? Are ya freakin’ kidding me? I ran my ass off tonight. I sweat in places I didn’t even know had sweat glands. I pushed my sore aching body further than I thought I could. Shit. I guess I wasn’t running quite fast enough or something because my walking speed was off the charts. The guy next to me even looked at me kinda funny during my powerwalk phases. (It was either the way I was walking or the 62 gallons of sweat pouring down my face. It’s a toss up.) I guess I have to push past the 5.3-5.4 running speed in order to make any more progress. Son of a biscuit. This does not make me happy right now. I can go up to 5.7 for a little while, but I’m not sure I can run that fast for 20 minutes. Guess that will have to be the next goal. Joy.
Side note: I know that trainers work with sweaty smelly people all day and they probably get really tired of smelling foul body odor, but that does not give them license to wear an entire bottle of cologne. Hey buddy, here’s a term you should be pretty familiar with: “portion control.”
Training Day #18 - July 8, 2010
Lots of distractions at the gym tonight. Which was good since I needed any distraction I could to take my mind off of running. I know a lot of people enjoy running because it gives them time to clear their head and just decompress, but how does it not get monotonous and boring? I need some kind of stimulation to keep me out of my head.
Fortunately for me, there was an abundance of distractions tonight. First, there was something sharp and pokey in my knee brace that kept jabbing me every 8 or 9 minutes. That was super fun. Especially when I would wince a bit when it would work its way into my skin. I still have no idea what was poking me. Next was the Zumba class going on next to me. That was rife with visual stimulation. (Zumba is a type of aerobics class that mixes latin dance moves, a bit of hip hop and aerobics.) I know I shouldn’t make fun of people since I was gifted with rhythm, but come on. How can I not giggle when I see some of those people attempting to shake their hips and instead shaking their knees? I can’t even begin to describe the half hour of entertainment I got from watching that class.
Then there was the fact that I got a treadmill that felt like it was going to fall apart every time I ran. I was paranoid I was going to break the damn thing. The Cardinal game was also on, so I got to enjoy some closed captioning that described our pitchers as Chris Carbohydrate and Adam Wane Wrat. Brilliant typing skills folks.
Back to the running. I was determined to fare better than Tuesday’s run. I started with a brisk walk for 2 minutes, then ran for 4. I upped my run speed to 5.5 instead of 5.3. Next, I walked for 1 minute, ran for 5. Dear Lord in Heaven, I thought I would never make it. I was heaving and gasping for air. Then two minute walk, 4 minute run, 1 minute walk, 5 minute run and then repeat until the end. I miraculously made it to the end and even got a bit stronger the more I ran. I know I ran on sheer willpower alone, because that’s about all that got me through the run. Oh, that and the guy running next to me, who I wasn’t sure was cute or not. I didn’t want to look over at him while running because a) hello, totally obvious and b) hello, totally not coordinated enough.
I finished with 2.61 miles. Yes!!! I’m getting there baby, I’m getting there. :)
Side note: Guy next to me turned out to be a butter face...bummer.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Stephanie's Training - Week 6
Training Day #17, June 28, 2010
Today happens to be the day after my wedding anniversary!! Woo-Hoo for us…..12 years together!! We took the girls to Oceans of Fun Saturday and it was a blast! We were home late and spent yesterday (Sunday) taking naps and chilling out. So today, I’m rested up and ready to go!
Began, again, today with weights. I think I’m going to need to up the pounds or up the reps. Things are getting pretty “routine” and I think I need to challenge my muscles a little more.
We decided today that I’d run 3 min/ walk 2 min while Megan ran in increments of ½ mile. (I’m not quite ready for that!) We both put in some headphones and listened to music while we turned on the good ‘ol “Price Is Right” for visual stimulation. That darned show is good for focus…..at least for me, anyways. :)
At first, as its tending to be lately, my shins and knees ached for awhile but soon loosened up and off I went. I slowed my running speed down some today and my breath control seemed a smidge better. But it’s funny, though, I felt like I needed to run faster or I was going to run off the front of the machine! All in all, I found my groove and made the most of my 30 minutes. I’m still averaging around 2.1-2.4 miles.
Good day, good day!
Training Day #18, June 30, 2010
Wednesday afternoons are basketball practice for my oldest, Charlee. Megan mentioned switching our morning run to the afternoon to best utilize my time at the rec center………coming to town only ONCE instead of TWICE. Why I didn’t think of that, I don’t know. :)
Megan had some last minute changes today and so I ended up doing our run with my hubby this afternoon. Shawn didn’t run, though, he rode the recumbent bike next to my treadmill. It’s better to have someone working out next to me than no one at all! I don’t like to run by myself.
Today I had more than enough mind-wandering activity to keep my mind off running. I had soon-to-be 4th and 5th grade girls running and practicing bball down in the gym below me AND the Outdoor Channel my husband was watching (RIVETING!), AND my MP3 music going (“…insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain….”), AND my husband’s occasional “grunt” for my waterbottle.
Today happens to be the day after my wedding anniversary!! Woo-Hoo for us…..12 years together!! We took the girls to Oceans of Fun Saturday and it was a blast! We were home late and spent yesterday (Sunday) taking naps and chilling out. So today, I’m rested up and ready to go!
Began, again, today with weights. I think I’m going to need to up the pounds or up the reps. Things are getting pretty “routine” and I think I need to challenge my muscles a little more.
We decided today that I’d run 3 min/ walk 2 min while Megan ran in increments of ½ mile. (I’m not quite ready for that!) We both put in some headphones and listened to music while we turned on the good ‘ol “Price Is Right” for visual stimulation. That darned show is good for focus…..at least for me, anyways. :)
At first, as its tending to be lately, my shins and knees ached for awhile but soon loosened up and off I went. I slowed my running speed down some today and my breath control seemed a smidge better. But it’s funny, though, I felt like I needed to run faster or I was going to run off the front of the machine! All in all, I found my groove and made the most of my 30 minutes. I’m still averaging around 2.1-2.4 miles.
Good day, good day!
Training Day #18, June 30, 2010
Wednesday afternoons are basketball practice for my oldest, Charlee. Megan mentioned switching our morning run to the afternoon to best utilize my time at the rec center………coming to town only ONCE instead of TWICE. Why I didn’t think of that, I don’t know. :)
Megan had some last minute changes today and so I ended up doing our run with my hubby this afternoon. Shawn didn’t run, though, he rode the recumbent bike next to my treadmill. It’s better to have someone working out next to me than no one at all! I don’t like to run by myself.
Today I had more than enough mind-wandering activity to keep my mind off running. I had soon-to-be 4th and 5th grade girls running and practicing bball down in the gym below me AND the Outdoor Channel my husband was watching (RIVETING!), AND my MP3 music going (“…insane in the membrane. Insane in the brain….”), AND my husband’s occasional “grunt” for my waterbottle.
I stuck with the 3/2 intervals from Monday and was impressed, again, with myself for pushing through! Its amazing, my recovery time afterwards is shortening. :)
Training Day #19, July 2, 2010
First off, I have to say, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS!!!” Yep, today is Heather’s birthday and I wish her the best and lots of love!!!
Now on to business:
Have you ever had a day when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and really, you don’t know why you’re in a crabby mood??!! Today was that day for me. I was crabby the minute I got up and, well, pretty much stayed that way all day.
Training Day #19, July 2, 2010
First off, I have to say, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS!!!” Yep, today is Heather’s birthday and I wish her the best and lots of love!!!
Now on to business:
Have you ever had a day when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and really, you don’t know why you’re in a crabby mood??!! Today was that day for me. I was crabby the minute I got up and, well, pretty much stayed that way all day.
We didn’t have big plans today. I just had a couple of errands to do. Shawn asked me several times today, “..when are you going to run?” “….where are you going to run?” (the rec center was rented and not available) I kept blowing off those questions because I really didn’t feel like running today. I don’t know why…….I wasn’t overly tired…..I was just crabby!
But perhaps my subconscious knew something was brewing for the evening because I sure got a workout tonight! We have a small 2 ½ acre field that we’ve had hayed the past several years. Tonight the guy came and square-baled it for us. Well, square bales don’t…..like….rain. And, well, rain’s in the forecast the next several days and even though the chances are “pop-up” storms, you can’t chance it with hay on the ground. Needless, to say, we bucked bales tonight! 128 bales. Now, I was fortunate to be the “truck driver” for most of the hauling…..Shawn bucked them on the trailer and I just drove. The hard work for me came when we UNLOADED the hay. You see, we delivered our hay to the fellow that bought it from us because he is out of town. (Lucky us!) So I hiked my way up the side of the wagon and chucked bales off the side to Shawn. Bales wedged in next to each other don’t come off the wagon so easily.
So I’m glad I didn’t run tonight. I got my workout!!......and a case of the itchies!!!!
But perhaps my subconscious knew something was brewing for the evening because I sure got a workout tonight! We have a small 2 ½ acre field that we’ve had hayed the past several years. Tonight the guy came and square-baled it for us. Well, square bales don’t…..like….rain. And, well, rain’s in the forecast the next several days and even though the chances are “pop-up” storms, you can’t chance it with hay on the ground. Needless, to say, we bucked bales tonight! 128 bales. Now, I was fortunate to be the “truck driver” for most of the hauling…..Shawn bucked them on the trailer and I just drove. The hard work for me came when we UNLOADED the hay. You see, we delivered our hay to the fellow that bought it from us because he is out of town. (Lucky us!) So I hiked my way up the side of the wagon and chucked bales off the side to Shawn. Bales wedged in next to each other don’t come off the wagon so easily.
So I’m glad I didn’t run tonight. I got my workout!!......and a case of the itchies!!!!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Heather's Training - Week 6
Training Day #13 - June 28, 2010
Note to self: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever take a week off of training ever again. This was a craptacular night of running. I feel back to normal, but I don’t quite have the same pep in my step that I did before I got sick. Which is why I wanted to hurl myself off the treadmill tonight. And nearly accomplished it.
I decided that rather than trying a new interval, I’d stick with the 2 minute walk/3 minute run I had two weeks ago, and see how I fared. Not bad for the first 2 minutes. The next 3 were just okay. The remaining 25 were b-r-u-t-a-l. My knee was incredibly pissed off at me and was screaming profanities for every single run. It quieted down a bit for the walks, but it didn’t take long to string together enough expletives to make Ozzy blush. Seriously, my knee was not happy. Which is probably why it decided to halfway give out during the next to last run interval and make me nearly tumble off the back of the treadmill. But, we’ll get to that little gem in a minute.
For some reason, I was running really really far up on the treadmill tonight. I don’t know why. Usually I’m about halfway back and I stay pretty consistent. Tonight I was all up in the tv’s business, nearly running OFF the front of the damn thing. I don’t even think that’s physically possible, yet somehow I nearly ended up doing it 5 or 6 times.
Surprisingly my breath wasn’t too labored tonight. It was mainly just my knee that was giving me fits. You know how sometimes you might be walking or even just standing, and your knee gives a little twinge, causing it to buckle, and if you’re unlucky, make you trip and make a fool of yourself? Well, yeah, that nearly happened to me tonight. I was on minute 24 or so, getting very close to switching to my walk speed and it happened. My knee just said f**k you and collapsed, causing me to stumble and pretty much look like an idiot. Fortunately, I did not fall down, slip off the back or do anything any more humiliating, and I was able to right myself and jump to the sides before any further damage was done. It was then that I decided I’d be walking the remaining 5 minutes rather than trying to run again. Which is why I only accomplished 2.39 miles tonight.
I know I shouldn’t be disappointed, since I’ve been out of the groove for the last week, but I’m still bummed about the outcome. Oh well, there’s always next time, and hopefully I’ll fall back into place rather quickly.
Mental note: Need to remember knee brace next time.
Training Day #14 - July 1, 2010
Okay, so remember when I said I liked to run outside and hated running on a treadmill? Well, I may have to retract that statement and flip it on its ass. It’s straight up B-E-A-yootiful outside tonight, and I figured why go to the gym? I’ll become one with nature and enjoy the fact that it’s the first of July and the humidity is nowhere to be found.
Taking that week off really f’d me up. Not only did it make running more difficult because I sat on my bum all week, but it also made it very difficult for me to be motivated this week. By the end of the first month, I was in a pretty decent routine and made sure I fit in 3 runs a week. Last week threw everything out of whack. Now, I kinda feel like I’m starting over, only I’m slightly stronger than when I first started. I have totally lacked the motivation to run this week and nearly talked myself out of running tonight knowing that I have two days left that I can run.
But, I sucked it up and wanted to enjoy the nice night (although, really how much can you enjoy gorgeous weather when you’re sweating like a Sumo wrestler and gasping for air). I started out pretty strong, and I guess for the most part I ran just fine. I used the alternate song method where I walked for a song and then repeated it and ran for the second run through. Good thing I like some of these songs. So, that means that I ran for anywhere from 3-5 minutes at a time. And miraculously I didn’t want to pass out or even stop really. I also found that towards the end I was bored of walking for 3-5 minutes and would start the song over to run before it was over.
I actually felt pretty good and my knee (thanks to remembering my brace) didn’t hurt at all. So, imagine my surprise when I drove the route afterwards to calculate my mileage and I barely ran 2.3 miles. Shit. And here I thought I was rock-starring it. I think the problem is that when I was doing my walks, they were more leisurely, stop-to-smell-the-roses kind of walks rather than the power walks I do on the treadmill. I mean, seriously, I’m nearly running on that thing when I’m supposed to be walking. But, when I’m outside, in my neighborhood, I kinda feel like a dumbass speed walking down the sidewalk. Think about it. Most people walk their dogs or flat out run. They don’t look like the old ladies hoofing it at the mall in the mornings.
I figure the crappy walk speed is what did me in this time. Which is why I might actually be liking the treadmills better. Not to mention their distance calculation is much better than my car that only deals in 1/10ths of a mile. I even thought about running longer than my 30 minutes because I still felt marginally good. But, since it was dusk, and the bugs were coming out to feed on their prey (and by prey, I mean me....seriously, I got a mosquito bite on my forehead the night before. Yep, my FOREHEAD), I packed it in and walked/cooled down back to my house.
Not too bad for my second run after coming back, but I really need to step it up a notch. It’s time to start making better progress now.
Training Day #15 - July 2, 2010
Ladies and gentlemen, I am back. Booyah. Yes, it’s my birthday and yes I ran this morning. I took the day off of work, because I hate working on my birthday. And since my plans don’t really start until after lunch, I figured I could squeeze a run in before then and round out my week.
I was determined to make a better showing than I did last night, so I headed to the gym. And I made the mistake of choosing the treadmill with the timer TV again. Crap. I didn’t feel like playing musical treadmills, so I just stuck it out and even kept it off for awhile at the end. I was trying to focus on running and reading the subtitles wasn’t helping.
I ran for over half the 30 minutes and finished at a strong 2.52 miles. Yep, I finally broke the elusive 2.5 mile mark. Woo-hoooo! I started with the 2-min walk/3-min run and by the end I was walking a minute and running for 3 or 4. I didn’t feel superb by any means, but I powered through.
And my breakthrough may or may not have been attributed to the fact that Hottie McTrainer was at the gym today. ;-) I always do tend to step it up a notch or two when he’s at the gym. He’s a great motivator even though he’s not my trainer. :) So Happy Birthday to me.
Note to self: Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever take a week off of training ever again. This was a craptacular night of running. I feel back to normal, but I don’t quite have the same pep in my step that I did before I got sick. Which is why I wanted to hurl myself off the treadmill tonight. And nearly accomplished it.
I decided that rather than trying a new interval, I’d stick with the 2 minute walk/3 minute run I had two weeks ago, and see how I fared. Not bad for the first 2 minutes. The next 3 were just okay. The remaining 25 were b-r-u-t-a-l. My knee was incredibly pissed off at me and was screaming profanities for every single run. It quieted down a bit for the walks, but it didn’t take long to string together enough expletives to make Ozzy blush. Seriously, my knee was not happy. Which is probably why it decided to halfway give out during the next to last run interval and make me nearly tumble off the back of the treadmill. But, we’ll get to that little gem in a minute.
For some reason, I was running really really far up on the treadmill tonight. I don’t know why. Usually I’m about halfway back and I stay pretty consistent. Tonight I was all up in the tv’s business, nearly running OFF the front of the damn thing. I don’t even think that’s physically possible, yet somehow I nearly ended up doing it 5 or 6 times.
Surprisingly my breath wasn’t too labored tonight. It was mainly just my knee that was giving me fits. You know how sometimes you might be walking or even just standing, and your knee gives a little twinge, causing it to buckle, and if you’re unlucky, make you trip and make a fool of yourself? Well, yeah, that nearly happened to me tonight. I was on minute 24 or so, getting very close to switching to my walk speed and it happened. My knee just said f**k you and collapsed, causing me to stumble and pretty much look like an idiot. Fortunately, I did not fall down, slip off the back or do anything any more humiliating, and I was able to right myself and jump to the sides before any further damage was done. It was then that I decided I’d be walking the remaining 5 minutes rather than trying to run again. Which is why I only accomplished 2.39 miles tonight.
I know I shouldn’t be disappointed, since I’ve been out of the groove for the last week, but I’m still bummed about the outcome. Oh well, there’s always next time, and hopefully I’ll fall back into place rather quickly.
Mental note: Need to remember knee brace next time.
Training Day #14 - July 1, 2010
Okay, so remember when I said I liked to run outside and hated running on a treadmill? Well, I may have to retract that statement and flip it on its ass. It’s straight up B-E-A-yootiful outside tonight, and I figured why go to the gym? I’ll become one with nature and enjoy the fact that it’s the first of July and the humidity is nowhere to be found.
Taking that week off really f’d me up. Not only did it make running more difficult because I sat on my bum all week, but it also made it very difficult for me to be motivated this week. By the end of the first month, I was in a pretty decent routine and made sure I fit in 3 runs a week. Last week threw everything out of whack. Now, I kinda feel like I’m starting over, only I’m slightly stronger than when I first started. I have totally lacked the motivation to run this week and nearly talked myself out of running tonight knowing that I have two days left that I can run.
But, I sucked it up and wanted to enjoy the nice night (although, really how much can you enjoy gorgeous weather when you’re sweating like a Sumo wrestler and gasping for air). I started out pretty strong, and I guess for the most part I ran just fine. I used the alternate song method where I walked for a song and then repeated it and ran for the second run through. Good thing I like some of these songs. So, that means that I ran for anywhere from 3-5 minutes at a time. And miraculously I didn’t want to pass out or even stop really. I also found that towards the end I was bored of walking for 3-5 minutes and would start the song over to run before it was over.
I actually felt pretty good and my knee (thanks to remembering my brace) didn’t hurt at all. So, imagine my surprise when I drove the route afterwards to calculate my mileage and I barely ran 2.3 miles. Shit. And here I thought I was rock-starring it. I think the problem is that when I was doing my walks, they were more leisurely, stop-to-smell-the-roses kind of walks rather than the power walks I do on the treadmill. I mean, seriously, I’m nearly running on that thing when I’m supposed to be walking. But, when I’m outside, in my neighborhood, I kinda feel like a dumbass speed walking down the sidewalk. Think about it. Most people walk their dogs or flat out run. They don’t look like the old ladies hoofing it at the mall in the mornings.
I figure the crappy walk speed is what did me in this time. Which is why I might actually be liking the treadmills better. Not to mention their distance calculation is much better than my car that only deals in 1/10ths of a mile. I even thought about running longer than my 30 minutes because I still felt marginally good. But, since it was dusk, and the bugs were coming out to feed on their prey (and by prey, I mean me....seriously, I got a mosquito bite on my forehead the night before. Yep, my FOREHEAD), I packed it in and walked/cooled down back to my house.
Not too bad for my second run after coming back, but I really need to step it up a notch. It’s time to start making better progress now.
Training Day #15 - July 2, 2010
Ladies and gentlemen, I am back. Booyah. Yes, it’s my birthday and yes I ran this morning. I took the day off of work, because I hate working on my birthday. And since my plans don’t really start until after lunch, I figured I could squeeze a run in before then and round out my week.
I was determined to make a better showing than I did last night, so I headed to the gym. And I made the mistake of choosing the treadmill with the timer TV again. Crap. I didn’t feel like playing musical treadmills, so I just stuck it out and even kept it off for awhile at the end. I was trying to focus on running and reading the subtitles wasn’t helping.
I ran for over half the 30 minutes and finished at a strong 2.52 miles. Yep, I finally broke the elusive 2.5 mile mark. Woo-hoooo! I started with the 2-min walk/3-min run and by the end I was walking a minute and running for 3 or 4. I didn’t feel superb by any means, but I powered through.
And my breakthrough may or may not have been attributed to the fact that Hottie McTrainer was at the gym today. ;-) I always do tend to step it up a notch or two when he’s at the gym. He’s a great motivator even though he’s not my trainer. :) So Happy Birthday to me.
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