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.