Heather's Training - Week 15

Training Day #37 - August 30, 2010

Who wants to either a) run alongside me with a cattle prod to keep me motivated or b) drive alongside me and pelt me with rocks if I slow down? Seriously, how can it be this bad now? I think I hit my plateau a few weeks ago and it’s been downhill ever since. Good grief. I really wish this race was here already so I can just get it over with. I keep trying to think of the reason that I’m doing this, but the other side of my brain keeps interrupting by saying “Screw running, it’s naptime!” I’ve been a bit stressed lately, so I haven’t really had the mental capacity to deal with running. I had hoped it would actually clear my head, but it’s the complete opposite. Running gives me lots of time to think and worry about all the stuff I have going on. So, I guess I’m just trying to finish running as quickly as possible so I can get stuff done.

Went for a run outside in the nice weather and I swapped back and forth between walking and running. Finished a little over 2.5 miles before the sun started to set. Not impressive at all. Blech.

I really need to kick things up a notch if I’m going to be ready for this race in 3 weeks. Again, does anyone want to run with me?! Please!

Training Day #38 - August 31, 2010

Found someone to run with me. My friend Chris volunteered, or rather, I volunteered him. He warned me he wouldn’t be able to keep pace with me, but I told him I didn’t care. I just needed the motivation. And it really seemed to help. Somewhat.

I decided to just go back to the basics and try run/walking again like I did in the beginning. It seems the only way to go right now and keep my sanity. So, we headed to Francis Park, which is close to my house. The great thing about this park is that the sidewalks aren’t full of tree roots and it’s roughly a mile all the way around. I think it’s a bit over, in fact.

We started out at a brisk walk and I was walking ahead of Chris the whole time. Really? He has longer legs than I do. This is starting to be a weird trend. We walked the first quarter and then started jogging. Chris quickly overtook me and off he went. See, this makes more sense. Longer legs=longer stride ( ;-) just kidding, sis!) He quickly took a break and I passed him up and made it to the end of that quarter. He was still behind, so I ran back to get him and then we walked to the end again. The next quarter was started with a run and we booked it all the way to the end, and then the last quarter was a half walk/half run. One mile in roughly 15 minutes. Hmmm, a bit slow but I’ll take it. The next mile was very similar, start the quarter with a walk and then finish with a run. Chris and I did’t really see each other until the end when I went back to get him.

I did a little over 2 miles in the 30 minutes. That’s better than I anticipated. I also got to practice hills. Glorious hills. I didn’t feel too bad when I was finished, and probably could have finished another lap, but I didn’t really have time to. It was getting close to dusk and Chris had to leave. I didn’t really want to stay by myself when it was getting dark even though there were tons of people around. I like to be on the safe side, not to mention the mosquito population comes out at this time. Plus, I’m swamped with crap to do, so it was off to home to shower, eat and buckle down on projects. Lovely.

I’ve decided not to beat myself up over the fact that I’ve regressed some. I will finish the race on the 19th. I know that I can. I may not finish in a time that I’m completely thrilled with, but I will finish. And I have to remember that that is the third most important thing. The first is that I’m raising money for a great cause. And the second is that I’m running in honor of all the people who’ve had or currently have breast cancer. Finishing in a record time is so much farther down the priority list.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to finish in under 35 minutes. We’ll see what happens!

Training Day #38 - September 4, 2010

Had a pretty good run today. I’m kinda shocked. I called my sister earlier to chat about a few things, but we ended up talking awhile about how we’re both kind of burnt out with running right now. I think maybe we should have started our training a month later than we did, so we wouldn’t feel this way now! We’re both pretty busy, with her family headed back to newly renovated school, and me dealing with my assistant out on emergency medical leave. So, the last thing either one of us want to do, is run.

I surprisingly woke up with an over abundance of energy today. Good thing too, I have a ton to do today on this gorgeous Labor Day weekend. After lunch, I opted to go to the gym rather than running outside. I know it’s a beautiful day, but I really needed the ego boost that running on the treadmill gives me. And for the most part, I didn’t disappoint myself.

I ran for 1.5 miles before taking a break, but even then, I was still feeling good. Not horribly winded and my body wasn’t yelling at me. I walked for a few minutes and then started running again. A few minutes later, and my body started yelling. Actually, it was just my knee. It was screaming in agony. This is the same knee that occasionally acts like someone is jabbing it with a hot poker. And today, it decided to be ornery. The last mile or so of my training was walk/run/walk/run every minute or so. That’s about how long I could run before it started hurting. At which point, I’d start walking. That was a bit disappointing.

I finished in 34:52, which considering the circumstances, is phenomenal. I probably could have shaved 2 or 3 minutes off of that had I been in tip top shape, but I’m very happy with that finish. I’m still kind of amazed at how much energy I had and that the only thing stopping me from running was my knee and not my lung capacity.

I think, even if the weather is nice, I may finish my training on the treadmill. I don’t know if that’s the best way to go, since I don’t have a lot of training running on concrete, but I like being able to know how long I’m running, and being sure I run the entire 3.12 miles. We’ll see how it goes.

Good gravy, only two weeks left!

If you want to donate, but haven’t had a chance to, be sure to log on to my site or my sister’s to donate. And make sure you contribute to us specifically. My aunt and uncle were incredibly generous to the cause, but they ended up donating to the overall fund, rather than to us individually. ;-)