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………
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