A change of plans, a new PR, and new shoes

It's a day of new stuff! I'll start with the change of plans. Around 2 weeks ago, my bff Liz and I decided that it would make more sense economically to do a local marathon rather than the Cowtown in Ft. Worth, in Feb. It just doesn't make sense to pay for a hotel and gas and try to drive 3 hours after running 26.2 if our DHs can't go to the race. Therefore, we have officially switched to the OKC Memorial Marathon on April 28. I had to rework the training plan; we are using Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme plan, but we didn't want to go all the way back to week 5. So I duplicated weeks in the plan until the schedule is back on track.

Just because I can't bear to lose my record of what I did in the weeks between my half and switching races, here's my training plan prior to switching:

And here's the new one, as of Thursday:

The Putnam City Cancer Classic 5K was yesterday. The bad news is that it was supposed to be Liz's first race, but she got sick and had to stay home. The good news is that I PR'd. My chip time is 32:13.63, so I'll just call it 32:14. I finished 120th of 235 overall, and 7 of 18 in my age group (F 25-29). I am really happy that I finished in the top half of my age group. The shirt is pretty awesome:

My finishing photo (taken by DH) looks pretty much the same as the one from my half:

Finally, I bought some new running shoes. While I fell in love with a pair of Brooks Glycerin 10s, my mom sent me $100 for my birthday, so I couldn't swing $140 for the perfect shoes. You can bet that I'm going to watch for them to go on sale though, or maybe I can get them for Christmas. I ended up with a pair of Saucony Progrid Ride 5 in the blue/white color. They were my second choice, but I still like them. In a weird coincidence, they are the exact same kind of shoes that Liz runs in.

Run Summary:

10/17/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 3 miles in 37:05. Shins a little sore but ok. Left hip sore too. Watched Cosby; lifted weights afterwards-legs & shoulders.

10/18/12: (Thursday)
Stats: 3 miles in 36:20

10/20/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 6.02 miles at hefner in 1:13:16; HP & the prisoner of Azkaban

10/23/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 3 miles, TM, 35:39

10/24/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 3 miles, TM, 37:49

10/28/12: (Sunday)
Stats: 6 miles, TM, 1:11:31

10/31/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 6 miles, TM, 1:11, 23, Once Upon A Time

11/3/12: (Saturday)
Stats: Putnam City Cancer Classic. 3.1 miles, 32:14.

Post-race recovery

I had originally planned on taking an entire week off from working out after my half in order to give my hamstring a break. I mentioned this plan to a coworker who also runs, and he acted like that was too much time off. So I decided that 2 days off was sufficient, and ran on the Wednesday after the half. My shins were so ridiculously tight, but I kept on running. Then I ran on Thursday, and it was so painful that I could barely finish. I was hobbling for days. I ended up skipping my "long" run last Saturday. I'm going to try running with Liz today out at her cow pasture, and I hope things are better. Right now my left hip is so tight that I can't crouch down and then get back up easily. My hips have always popped out easily, and now I can't make it pop. I'm sure the 2 are related somehow.

I guess I didn't learn as much about listening to my body as I thought I did. I'm a bit worried about stress fractures or something, but I hope my legs are just sore from the combination of weather changes and the fact that I ran a half. If this is how long it takes me to recover from a half, I'm going to end up bed-ridden after the marathon lol.

My birthday was last Sunday, and my husband got me a pair of those yurbuds headphones. I really wanted a blue pair, but the volume button control thing isn't available in the blue ones, so I got the red pair. I can always buy a blue set of the ear covers when I eventually have to replace them. I haven't run with the headphones in yet to see how well they stay, but they withstood my bouncing up and down test. Mom is sending me $100 towards new running shoes for my birthday, and Liz and I are going to hit up the Red Coyote running store after our 5K on Nov 3.

I've been trying to figure out if I should get a gps watch. I really like the Garmin Forerunner 10, but I'm concerned about the battery life (rumored to be only 6hrs-not sure of what my marathon time will be yet) and lack of foot pod compatibility. The dcrainmaker reviews a lot of the GPS watches, and he's very thorough. His wife is very petite like I am, and she liked the forerunner 10, but prefers the FR310XT. But then she's a triathlete, and I'm not (but want to be someday). I've been looking at the Nike+ GPS watch too, but it seemed very loose on dcrainmaker's wife's wrist. I really like the Motorola MOTOACTV because it can clip on your waistband, but the battery life sucks. I just can't decide what I need, or if I even need a gps watch at all. Right now I use my mapmyrun app on my phone, and listen to audiobooks at the same time. I really like how the app yells at me every mile to tell me what my pace/distance/speed is, and a watch wouldn't necessarily yell at me (although I could just look down lol). I'd have to get an ipod shuffle or something to put the audiobooks on if I leave my phone in the car too. I'm worried about my phone getting damaged from the sweat in my spibelt. I can't decide if I really need a watch or if I'm just lusting after new toys. I'd lose the ability to text people during runs/races if I left my phone in the car. It sounds like I really don't NEED one per se, but that I just want a new toy. I can't decide.


Run Summary:

10/10/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 3 miles in 37:11. Shins very tight.

10/11/12: (Thursday)
Stats: 3 miles in 37:51. Shins very very achey.

Spirit of Survival Half Marathon Race Recap

I did it! I finished my first half marathon! My time was 2:36:45, which blew out both my official goal of <3:15 and my secret probably-not-attainable goal of 2:45. I'm fairly sore today, but I'll be ok.

Earlier last week, the weather reports all said that the temp when the race started would be around 45F, which I could probably handle since you're supposed to dress like it's 20 degrees warmer. However, as we got further into the week, it became clear that the temp was more likely to be in the upper 30s (correct-it was 38F at the start). I wasn't really worried about running 13.1 miles, but my nervousness manifested in a freakout about my clothes. I had my clothes planned out for the past 2 months, and I've done all of my long runs in them. I wanted to wear an underarmour tank and compression shorts. That won't work for 38F, so I wore some compression capris, my underarmour tank, and my running jacket. I added some cute gloves and an ear warmer and I survived.

Here are the tech shirt and my bib number. I find it very ironic that my number for this race was 17, and my number for my first race (the redbud classic) was 717.

We were freezing to death before the race. I'm pretty sure I was about 10x colder than Gnome was.

The race itself was fairly smooth. Either my mymyrun's GPS was off, or the mile markers were off. My app would yell at me about .1 miles or so before I passed each mile marker. I took my water bottle with me so I could use the pouch to hold extra sport beans (cherry and grape). I drank water until about 4 miles or so, and then I started drinking gatorade at every other water stop. I refilled my water bottle at the other stops. I went through 2.5 of the 4 sport bean pouches I brought with me (both cherries and 1/2 of a grape). I managed to not stop for the portapotties, although I don't think I'll be able to avoid it when I run a marathon. I was not able to run the entire race, but I didn't walk as much as I thought I would need to either. The turnaround point is at the top of a hill, and it was a bit rough getting up there. The rest of the course had gradual hills, and part of it was flat (mostly the part on the city streets). There was a tiny hill at the end of the race, which I thought was a bit cruel, but I ran it anyway.

Here I am, about 50 feet from the finish line:

And now I'm finishing:

My app says that I actually ran 13.59 miles, although I did forget to turn it off for a few mins in the confusion after I finished. It was like my brain completely shut off in the excitement of finishing. Also, my legs decided that they were going to cramp up if I stopped moving, so I had to keep walking. At one point I was walking circles around Liz and Katie because I just couldn't stand still.

We took our obligatory photo with our medals and went back to the hotel. Liz refused to get in a pic with us, unfortunately.

Stats:
13.1 miles
2:36:45
12:01 pace
165/233 females
24/33 in 25-29 females

Other stats:
Mapmyrun says I ran 13.59, with an 11:37 pace. I'll go with the official stats for this, but I like the MMR stats better :)

Training for this race was sort of difficult, since I initially pulled my hamstring on the Tuesday before training started, and then re-injured it in week 8. I ran about half of the mileage that I should have (108.74 of the 177.4-204.4 scheduled). I only ran the mileage that I was supposed to for 4 of the 12 weeks. But I'm proud of my effort, and I've learned some things about injury management, listening to my body, and differentiating between regular pain and injury pain.

I have finished this:

Now I'm starting this:

139 days until the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth, TX, on Feb 24. It'll be the first marathon for both Liz and me. She started training 10 weeks ago, and I am jumping in at week 11.

**Note: the end of the half marks 252.77 miles on my shoes.**

1 week to go

The half is one week from today! I am so ridiculously excited about the whole weekend. I will be off from both jobs on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. My bff Liz is coming to my house sometime on Friday, and we're going to do some shopping and watch Bridesmaids. We will leave for Lawton on Saturday, and meet my other bff Katie at the hotel. Since she's going to get there too late for the carb-loading dinner, we're going to go to Olive Garden on our own. Then, theoretically, we'll go to bed and get up super early. We'll race on Sunday morning, and I hope to finish in 3:15 or less (ok, there's a voice whispering that less than 3 hours is possible, but I don't want to get too optimistic). Gnome (Katie) was going to run the half with me, but is waiting to hear if she can switch to the 5K instead. This weekend is going to be the best of the year, I think.

I love how the past 3 real long runs have each been the longest run of my life. 7 miles was the longest, then 9.58, and now 11.41 miles. I ran at Earlywine park again, and it was drizzly and a bit cold this time. I had to run with a jacket on. I finished in 2:20:52, and Runner's World's training calculator is taunting me by telling me that my half time should be 2:43, which would be freaking awesome. However, after 11 miles, I was very sore for the last .41 miles, so I don't know what kind of pace I'll have for the last few miles of the half. I'm going to officially stick with my goal time of less than 3:15, with a secret goal of less than 3 hours.

Also, I have decided that I love listening to audiobooks while running. I used to always say how much I hate audiobooks because I am so easily distracted that I lose whole paragraphs because I saw a cute bird. However, I have read the Harry Potter books twice, and therefore I can listen to the audiobooks without really missing any details, even if I am distracted or my mapmyrun app drowns out the audio at every mile with my stats. I'm going to listen to HP6, The Order Of The Phoenix, during the half.

Running Stats:

9/24/12: Monday
Stats: 5 miles in 1:14:38. Watched Bones.

9/25/12: Tuesday
Stats: 5 miles in 1:07:35. Started a Cosby Show marathon on Hulu.

9/29/12: Saturday
Stats: 11.41 miles in 2:20:52. Last long run before half. Earlywine park, HP3 audiobook.

15 days to go

There are 15 days left until the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon in Lawton. I had a minor setback with my hamstring 2 weeks ago, but I rested it and now it's much better. I am still hyper-aware of it when I run, but I think it's ok.

I just finished my scheduled long run for this week. I was supposed to run 9 miles, but I had to run in a new location on a paved circular track, so I ran 9.58 miles in 1:59:40. The runner's world training calculator puts my half time at 2:46:44. My goal time was less than 3.5 hours because of my hamstring, but I'm beginning to think that 3:15 might be possible. My hamstring was a bit painful around miles 2-4, but the pain went away when I actually ran, so I continued. I like that I am getting better at distinguishing between discomfort pain and injury pain. This is the second week of training where I actually did the mileage I was supposed to do.

I've managed to convince my BFF Liz to run the Cowtown Marathon with me on Feb 24, and I've run with her out in the country a few times recently. We run on a dirt road in a pasture, and we have quite the confused/fascinated audience. At least they'll fit in with the name of our planned marathon.

Running stats:

8/21/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 2.02 in 32:22. Sore tight hamstrings. Watched Grimm.

8/22/12: (Wednesday)
Stats: 3 miles in 41:56. 3 mins running at 5, 2 mins walking at 3.5. Hamstring felt much better. Probably could have done 4 miles. Did tabata biceps with a resistance band afterwards. Watched Grimm.

8/25/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 5.23 miles in 1:14:15. Watched Grimm.

8/27/12: (Monday)
Stats: .5 miles in 5 mins in group training. 1 min walking at 3.5, then [30 secs 5.5, 30 secs 8.0]x3, then 30 secs at 3.5, 30 secs at 2.0. Interval runs suck. Later, I ran 4 miles in 54:14 on the treadmill, for a total of 4.5miles.

8/28/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 4.5 miles in 1:02:43.

9.1.12: (Saturday)
Stats: 7 miles in 1:28:06. 1st actual long run of training. Generally ran for .9 miles at 5.5 and walked .1 miles at 3.5. Felt hamstring while running after about 5 miles-slowed down to 5.0 after that. Downton Abbey. Runner's high is awesome.

9/4/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 1 mile in 14:41. Angry hamstring.

9/8/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 3.07 miles in 50:14. Ran at Liz's house with the cows. Ave pace 16:20. Lots of walking. Hamstring hurt, but was ok after a bit.

9/11/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:32:37. Hamstring sore but ok. Downton Abbey.

9/15/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 6.15 miles in 1:41:08 at Hefner with Liz.

9/17/12: (Monday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:08:51. Grimm, Revolution.

9/18/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 5 miles in 1:10:56 at Liz's pasture.

9/22/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 9.58 miles in 1:59:40 at Earlywine Park (Hefner closed due to the Redman Tri). Listened to HP and the Order of the Phoenix on audiobook. Hamstring was noticeable from miles 2-4, but was ok.


Here is a pic of my training plan so far. Yellow=did scheduled workout; Blue=deviated. Fill in the last 3 days with yellow with your imagination.

I am running again.

I am so stinking excited to be running again, finally. I'm trying to force myself to ease back into it. On Tuesday, I ran 2 miles of the 4 that I was supposed to do. I ran very slowly, and I ran for 1 min at 4, walked for 3 mins at 3. I hate how slow I'm going, but it's much better than not running at all. The hamstring hurt a little bit on Wednesday, but it feels completely fine today. Once I'm completely back into running, I'm going to find some hamstring-strengthening exercises to do. I also need to work on my core.

Here's my running updates:

8/14/12: (Tuesday)
Stats: 2.01 miles in 38:38. Ran 1 min at 4.0, walked 4 mins at 3.0 to ease Sammy the Hammy back into running. (Scheduled to run 4 miles). Watched Grimm.

8/18/12: (Saturday)
Stats: 3.14 miles in 50:01. Ran 2 mins at 4.5, walked 3 mins at 3.5. Scheduled to run 6 miles. Watched Grimm again. Still trying to finish up last season. Proud of myself for not giving into going faster than I should when a guy started running sprints on the treadmill in front of me. My mind was screaming "I can go faster than this, honest," but I managed to avoid kicking up the speed. Yay for willpower.

The plan is to do 3/4 of the mileage I'm supposed to do this week (I did half last week). So I will 3 miles instead of 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't know if I'll try to go faster, but I will do 3 mins running, 2 walking (or more walking, if needed). I'm supposed to run a 5K race in lieu of my long run on Saturday, but I'm going to run 5 miles instead. Then next week, I'll try to do the full mileage for the week, and hopefully be back on track.

Here's a pic of me prior to running on Saturday. I think this is likely what I'll wear in the half in Oct. I was comparing it to my before pics here. A friend said that she can see that I've increased my muscle mass, but I'm not sure. I've been doing strength training/weights for 3 months now, but I'm still not really happy with how I look. I realize how weird that sounds, believe me. I understand that I am quite thin, and in better shape than a lot of people. But I can still find a lot of things to pick apart. Sigh.

But hey! I'm running again, and that's reason to celebrate. 48 days left until the half.

I have a mutinous hamstring

So. The hamstring. Here's the timeline:

Tues, July 10: Injured (although I suspect it started on July 9 with sloppy step ups)
Fri, July 13: next run, a very slow 2 miles
Sat, July 14: Long run, 2.94 miles at the lake with the dog.
Didn't run for a week
Mon, July 23: Dr visit. He said no running for the rest of the week, ease back in next week.
Mon, July 30: Ran/walked 2x for 4 minutes during cardio blast workout. Felt great
Tues, July 31: Ran/walked 1 mile, biked 4, ran 0.5 miles. Felt great while doing it. Not so great the next day.

I haven't run since then. I've biked every time that I'm supposed to run (usually 2x the mileage). I've just about come to the decision that my hamstring is really just screwing with me. One day, it's perfectly fine. Then this weekend, it hurt badly enough that I was almost limping. I had planned to trying gently running again tomorrow, but I think that might be a bad idea. I'm supposed to run 2 miles on Friday, so I may try it again then, or I might wait until a week from tomorrow (scheduled 4 miles).

I just don't know what to do. One day, it's fine. The next, it's not. I'm not running. I'm icing it after biking, and sleeping with a heating pad on it at night. I try to stretch it frequently, but it seems like it hurts worse if I stretch it than if I don't. I bought a stick thing last night, and I'm going to use that too. I realllllly like it.

Back to the hamstring, and the obvious problem. I have a half marathon coming up on Oct 7. I have already paid for it, and the hotel has already been reserved. It's a week before my birthday, and I want to participate. Today starts week 4 of our training plan. The long runs are not yet longer than my longest distance (this week's long run is 5 miles). Week 7 is where the long run exceeds my longest distance (a 10K). I'm pretty sure that I need to sit out this week, and possibly next week too. But at what point do I have to decide that I can't run the race? I never intended to actually run the whole thing-I planned to run/walk it. I essentially have no running base now. I have a decent biking base (and a sore behind), but I don't think one translates to the other.

I'm fairly certain that Dallas is out. My running partner isn't sure she'll run it (half or full), and we may try for the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth on Feb 24 instead. It does have a cooler name. If I run the full in Feb, that might derail my plans to run the Memorial Marathon at the end of April.

Here's my training plan, to date. Last week I finally managed to do all of my workouts, even if I didn't do what I was supposed to do. Yellow means I did the scheduled workout; blue means that I deviated (usually meaning bike instead of run).

 

Runs, just to keep my shoe mileage up to date:

July 31 (Tuesday): 1.5 miles (split 1, .5 by a 4 mile bike ride)

Riversport Challenge, Half Marathon Training, and a bit of insanity

On June 30th, I participated in the OK Riversport Challenge on the OK river at the Chesapeake Boathouse. The race was a 500m kayak followed by a 5K run. It was incredibly hot, but still a lot of fun! I've never kayaked before, and this is my first 5K race, so it was an automatic PR. Here's the breakdown:
Total time: 44:21
Kayak: 6:48
5K: 37:33
9th of 10 in my age group (25-29)
52nd of 66 women
101st of 127 overall

Obviously, there's room for improvement. But it was hot, and it was my first time kayaking. I got caught up in a jam with another girl who had never kayaked before, so that took a lot of time. I decided while running that a slower time was better than heat stroke. There were only 2 water stops-one at the beginning/end and one at the turn around. I think they should have had one in the middle because the temp was over 100F that day. Here is a pic of my running buddy Angie and me after the race:

I unofficially started half marathon training about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to gently ease myself into the schedule of working out almost daily. Unfortunately, I pulled my right hamstring last Tuesday. I iced it that night, and rested it Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. I ran 2 (very slow) miles on Friday, and while it hurt, it felt better after stretching. Because of that, I thought it was ok to run 3 miles at the lake on Saturday. That was a bad idea. Between that and being on my feet for a full shift on Saturday and Sunday, it got fairly angry. I put heat on my hamstring and kept it elevated for several hours on Sunday.

My friend Gnome and I are going to run the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon in Lawton, OK, on October 7. We officially started training on Monday. Here is my training plan, altered a little bit from Hal Higdon's Novice I program:

On Monday, I worked out my arms and abs in the group training class (and they still hurt, btw). I rested yesterday. The trainer, Kelie, said that it is ok for me to bike instead of run, but I've decided to just take the entire week easy. I've been putting icy hot patches on my hamstring and am putting heat on it at night. My plan is to avoid running this week, and try biking next week. I might try the bike on Friday and see what happens, and maybe get on a treadmill for a few minutes on Sunday to see how it feels. I'm super worried that it won't heal and that I'll suck in the half. I'm really OCD and schedule-oriented (think Sheldon from Big Bang Theory), and this deviation from the schedule is stressing me out big time.

Now, on to the insanity portion. Gnome's husband has suggested that it is possible for us to train for the marathon in Dallas, rather than the half. We could pick up on of Hal Higdon's novice supreme plans around week 22, and be right on schedule. If my hamstring gets straightened out, there's a pretty good chance that I'll try the full. Crazy-talk, that is.

Here's a recap of my runs since I blogged last:

6/19/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 2.31 miles in 30:04
Notes: Continued walking dead, season 1 ep 1

6/23/12 (Saturday):
Stats: 4.17 miles in 54:56, pace 13:09, ave speed 4.56mph. At hefner with Angie

6/26/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 3.41 miles in 45:01.
Notes: also, rowed 2511 meters in 15:30, 2:48 500m/m, resistance at 6. Walking dead, ep1, 2.

6/30/12 (Saturday):
Stats: Riversport Challenge. 3.1 miles in 37:33
Notes: also, 500m kayak in 6:48

7/3/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 3.1 miles in 38:24, ave sp 4.8.
Notes: walking dead ep 2 & 3

7/7/12 (Saturday):
Stats: 4.1 miles in 50:21, ave sp 4.9
Notes: Once Upon A Time: world w/out magic

7/10/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 3.1 miles in 38:07
Notes: Grimm. Injured my right hamstring.

~~NOTE: This marks 139.12 miles on my shoes~~

7/13/12 (Friday):
Stats: 2.0 miles in 30:46
Notes: Hamstring still not happy.

7/14/12 (Saturday):
Stats: 2.94 miles in 43:45 with Jake at Hefner. Pace=14:53.
Notes: Hamstring not better. Also, Jake is an enthusiastic runner who expends all of his energy at the beginning and lags at the end. Also, note that he is scared of bikes. 2nd also: came back to a flat tire.

My running schedule sucks, but I am lifting weights

My running lately has been terrible. I haven't been running much at all, although I am doing a group fitness class at least once/week since May. I think the cross training will help me. I'm already lifting bigger weights than when I started, so I'm making progress. My gym also recently got a rowing machine, and I plan on cross training on it too.

This is a recap of my running since I last blogged:

5/15/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: Treadmill class in work gym. 2.57 miles in 29:26. Hills, sprints, basically death on a treadmill. Sucked majorly. lol.

5/22/12 (Tuesday):
Stats: treadmill. 1.3 miles, 19:11. (2) 30 sec sprints at 7.0, walked up one hill-30 secs at 5.0 inc, 30 secs at 10 inc. Ave speed=3.7mph. Teacher wasn't available for treadmill class, so I tried to do it on my own.

5/28/12 (Monday):
Stats: at Hefner with Angie. Forgot to set MMR app for first half, so numbers are estimated: 3.8 miles in ~1hr. Approx pace was 12:55.

6/7/12 (Thursday):
Stats: 2.3 miles, 30:03, ave speed=4.6.
Notes: Watched Walking Dead season 1 ep 1. Not a good idea to watch a scary zombie show in a gym with headphones on. The opening door could be mistaken for monsters attacking and will raise your heart rate.

6/9/12 (Saturday):
Stats: Hefner with Angie. 4.25 miles, 12:11 pace.

I have plans to run with Angie again this Saturday morning. I think having a running partner who is counting on me to show up helps me actually show up.

Now on to some exciting news. A few weeks ago, I registered for my first half marathon. Gnome and I will be running the Spirit of Survival half in Lawton on Oct 7. Our half training officially starts on July 16 (28 days away). I think I will be able to force myself to run once I am officially training. Next week, I am also going to register for the Dallas Half Marathon (formerly the Dallas White Rock) on Dec 9. I am currently working 70hrs/week in order to get out of debt. We will pay off the last of our credit cards on Nov 30. What better way to celebrate than to run a half?

I am also thinking about running the Memorial Marathon at the end of April next year.

The mother of all update posts

I'm just going to list my runs, and get that over with. Lately, I haven't done much running, but I hope to get back in the groove. I am going to start going to a treadmill class at noon on Tuesdays, and maybe a group fitness class at 12:30 on Tuesdays and noon on Thursdays. Hopefully that'll help keep me motivated to run. Without a race ahead of me, I've struggled with motivation.

3.18.12 (Sunday):
Stats: .97 miles in 13:03. 4.4 ave mph, 14:37 pace
Notes: Swollen ankle, felt light-headed.

3.20.12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 5.05 miles in 66:15. 4.5 ave mph, 14:07 pace w/out CD. 3 min runs at 5.5, skipped 20 and 35. Walked rest at 3.7.
Notes: 1.5 Once Upon A Time Episodes

3.22.12 (Thursday):
Stats: 5.00 miles in 63:20. Burned 636.9 calories, 4.7 ave mph, 13:10 pace. Ran 12x for 3 mins each at 5.5, plus 20 secs at end, walked rest at 3.7.
Notes: Finished Once Upon A Time: Heart of Darkness, started Biggest Loser Hawaii episode.

3.25.12 (Sunday):
Stats: 5.0 miles in 63:55, 4.6 ave mph, 13:36 pace. Ran 12x for 3 mins each at 5.5, plus 55 secs at end, walked rest at 3.7.
Notes: I think 1 run was 2 mins instead of 3 towards the end. Finished Biggest Loser.

3.27.12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 1.25 miles in 16:00, 4 ave mph, 13:12 pace. Ran 3x for 3 mins at 5.5, walked the rest at 3.7.
Notes: Once Upon A Time: Hat trick. Got overheated, hence the short run.

4.3.12 (Tuesday):
Stats: 3.15 miles in 42:06. Ran from 20:00-27:30; walked from 27:30-30:00. Ran 8 mins, walked 2. 4.4 ave mph, 13:59 pace.

4.10.12 (Tuesday):
Stats: Joined work gym. 2.40 miles in 30:54. Ran 8 mins at 5.0, walked 2 at 3.7.

4.12.12 (Thursday):
Stats: 2 miles, 26.25. Ran between 4.7 and 5.0. Ran when I felt like it (including one 10 min run).

4.15.12 (Sunday):
Stats: Redbud classic 10K. 6.1 miles in 1:15:31. 12:10 pace.

4.22.12 (Sunday):
Stats: 2.08 miles in 26:01, ave speed 4.8 mph. Ran an entire mile in 12:10. Running at 5.0, walking at 3.7.

4.25.12 (Wednesday):
Stats: 3.1 miles in 40:02. Running at 4.8-5.5; walking at 3.7 when needed. Ave speed=4.6.

4.28.12 (Saturday):
Stats: 4.01 miles in 52:01. Running at 5.0, walking at 3.7 when needed. Ave speed=4.6
Notes: Bones

5.7.12 (Monday):
Stats: 2.01 miles in 27:26. Ave speed=4.4.
Notes: Bones

First 10K recap

I survived! It wasn't all that bad either! I was really worried that I'd have a horrible experience and hate running forever. I had one minor cramp in my calf that worked itself out around 4.5 miles or so, but other than that I didn't have any trouble.

Here I am before the race, a bundle of nerves:

The last sign for pace was a 9 min mile, so I went to the very end. My normal pace is somewhere in the 13 min mile. I couldn't even see the starting line from where I was standing (it's slightly beyond the second light pole, btw):

The race finally started (I stood for at least 45 minutes, waiting for it to start). It took me a while to get to the starting line, but DH kindly took a pic of me as I walked by:

 The route goes through the nichols hills area of OKC, which is a very affluent neighborhood with mansions everywhere. There were people sitting in their yards and cheering us on. There were also 3 live bands on the route. Thankfully, there were several water/powerade stations along the route. I alternated drinking water and powerade.

Fast forward a little over 6 miles, and here I am finishing:

My whole goal for the race was to beat the time of one of my friends from last year. His time was 1:33. According to the clock, I finished in 1:17. I think my time is probably a minute or 2 less than that since it took me so long to actually get to the starting line. This is the pic I sent him, just to rub it in a bit:

I'm so glad I ran it. I need to find something to run between now and the Spirit of Survival Half Marathon on Oct 7. I'm a bit apprehensive about running in the Oklahoma summer heat though. We had a mild winter, so maybe we'll have a mild summer. The weather seems to go in cycles like that. I'm also planning to run the Dallas White Rock half marathon with my friend Katie on Dec 2. I suppose it's only a matter of time before I end up trying to run a marathon.

ETA: My official time was 1:15:31, and my pace was 12:10 min/mile. I finished 538/651 and 117/136 in my age group. Not bad for my first race! :D

My first race is tomorrow

I have a running log update drafted, but I haven't had time to finish it. I ran 4.5 miles this week. I picked up my race packet yesterday. Here's my bib:

I'm both excited and scared. I'm afraid that I'll suck and will never want to run again. I'm also afraid that I won't beat my friend's time from last year of 1:33, and then I'll have to take back all of the trash talking I did. Maybe it'll be ok. The high is supposed to be 74. Local weather says it'll rain in the am, and weather.com says it'll rain in the afternoon starting at 3. We're having a tornado outbreak this weekend, so hopefully it doesn't rain during the race.

Catchup post, with a few lessons learned

2 jobs are really making it hard for me to remember to blog. I'm behind on both blogs. So this is a major catch up post.

2.25.12 (Saturday):
Distance: I had to start my run on a different treadmill, and I really think that the display is inaccurate on that treadmill. It said I ran .71 miles in 20 mins, when I ran every 5 mins (so 4x). The speed felt off. Once I was able to get on my treadmill, I ran 3.2 miles in 46:30. I ran 9x at 5.5 for 1.5 mins each, walked the rest. 50:00=3.5 miles. 4.0mph, 16:13 pace.
Time: Who freaking knows, thanks to the evil treadmill. 46:30/50:00
Notes: Biggest Loser. This run taught me an interesting lesson about my comfort zone. Take my normal treadmill away from me, and I get all panicky. This worries me with a 10K coming up.
Pic of treadmills below. The Evil Treadmill is the one on the left. My happy place is on the right.

2.28.12 (Tuesday):
Distance: 3 miles in 41:30. 4 miles in 55:30. With CD: 4.24 miles in 60:00, 4.2mph, 15:08 pace. Ran 11x at 5.5 for 1.5 mins each. Walked at 3.6.
Time: 55:30/60:00
Notes: Grimm: Last Grimm Standing.

3.1.12 (Thursday):
Distance: 3.75 miles in 52:20. Ran 10x for 2 min each. With CD, 3.87 miles in 55:30, 4.1mph, 15:50 pace.
Time: 52:20/55:30
Notes: SVU

3.3.12 (Saturday):
Distance: 4 miles in 54:25. Ran 10x at 5.7 for 2 mins each, walked rest at 3.7. With CD: 58:30, 4.19 miles, 4.2mph, 14:45 pace
Time: 54:25/58:30
Notes: Grimm

3.6.12 (Tuesday):
Distance: 4 miles in 51:40. Ran 10x at 5.7 for 2.5 mins each, walked rest at 3.7. With CD: 56:40, 4.22 miles, 4.4mph, 14:31 pace
Time: 51:40/56:40
Notes: Once Upon A Time: Dreamy. I also noticed that I have pretty calves now. Evidence below:

3.8.12 (Thursday):
Distance: the treadmill stopped on me at 11 mins when I stopped to take off some layers of clothing-1 mile, 2 runs. After that, 1.77 miles in 23:35, 4.5mph, ran 4x for 2 min each. 14:10 pace. No cool down.
Time: 34:35
Notes: SVU

3.10.12 (Saturday):
Distance: Bad treadmill: 8 mins, .27 miles (so wrong!). 1 run. Good treadmill: 0:4:10 to get to .27 miles (walking most of that). 47:00, 3.68 miles, 4.7mph, 13:26 pace (w/out CD).
Time: 55:00
Notes: I hate the evil treadmill.

3.13.12 (Tuesday):
Distance: 2.01 miles in 26:17, 4.0 ave mph, 14:30 pace. (4) 3 min runs at 5.8, walked at 3.7. Stopped early because my head started pounding and my face was beet red. Got overheated.
Time: 26:17
Notes: SVU: Child Services. I think the overheating was a combo of pushing myself too much and the a/c not working well in the gym.

3.16.12 (Friday):
Distance: 4 miles in 52:52, 4.5mph, 14:02 pace (Not including cool down). Ran 8x at 5.5 for 3 mins each, ran at 8 min mark for 1.5 mins, skipped run at 43 min mark (felt too hot). Walked rest at 3.6. Did a 20 min cool down because biggest loser wasn't over (.7 miles).
Time: 52:52
Notes:  Biggest Loser. I realized that I can run farther if I slow down. I'm not at the point where I can run for 3 mins at 5.8, but I can do it at 5.5.

5 freaking AM.

So with the 2 jobs, I won't have time to run this afternoon. I get off #1 at 3 and have to be at #2 by 4. So I got up at 5am this morning to go run. It was about 5:30 before I got there, but I still did it! I was super awake and cheery for a while, but now I'm starting to crash a bit. It's probably because I'm sitting at my desk. Anyway, it was pretty much identical to Monday's run, except for the ungodly hour.

2.22.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3 miles in 44:37. W/CD, 3.23 miles in 49:03. Walked at 3.6, ran every 4.5 mins for 1.5 min each at 5.5. Ave speed=3.9mph, ave pace=16.15.
Time: 44:37/49:03
Notes: FIVE A to the M. Watched Sister Wives season 1, ep 4 & 5 via netflix.

I get paid next Wednesday, and I am going to register for the Redbud Classic 10K that day. The race is April 15. It starts at 1pm, which I think is a bit weird, and I'm sort of disappointed that I can't find any info about getting a tshirt with registration. I want a tshirt from my first race. I'm definitely going to get a pic (I'm assuming they must sell them or something) so I can frame it with my medal. I'm not entirely sure what a realistic goal is for me for that race. I'd love to actually run the whole thing, but I'm fairly certain that that is out of the realm of possibility. I think I can run/walk most of it, but I've been told that because I run on a treadmill there's no way to predict how I'll run. I'm not sure if I should set a time goal  or just a goal to run as much of it as possible.

1 month of running

Today marks one month since I started running. I can feel a difference in my fitness, but I'm not seeing much of a physical difference yet. I think it's possible that my thighs are more muscular because my pants are all getting tight in that area, but my stomach is still flabby. I had planned to take more pics, but seeing as I'm bloated due to AF and I literally cried last night after seeing myself in a fitting room mirror at Target, I decided pics can wait a while.

As for the difference in fitness, when I first started I was running during the commericals in hulu shows. There are 4-5 during a typical show, and they last about 30 seconds. Now I am running every 4.5 minutes, for 1.5 minutes each time. Not a drastic improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. I've also done crunches and push ups most nights before going to bed. I'm also proud of myself for running a few times when I didn't want to (like today).

Here's my last gazillion runs:

2.11.12 (Saturday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:52 (not including warm up (WU) or cool down (CD). Walked at 3.6, ran 8x (every 5 minutes) at 5.5. With cool-down, 3.2 miles in 51:01, 3.7 ave mph, 17:04 pace.
Time: 45:52/51:01
Notes: I watched Grimm. :)

2.13.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:00. Walked at 3.6, ran 8x at 5.5. Every other run was 1.5 minutes, rest were 1 minute. W/CD, 3.20 miles in 50:00, 3.8mph, 16:39 pace.
Time: 45:00/50:00
Notes: Watched Once Upon A Time

2.15.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: repeat of Monday. 44:45; w/CD: 48:45, 3.2 miles, 3.8mph, 16:28 pace.
Time: 44:45/48:45
Notes: SVU

2.17.12 (Friday):
Distance: Repeat of Wednesday. 44:50; w/CD (cut CD short): 46:50, 3.08 miles, 3.9mph, 15:55 pace
Time: 44:50/46:50
Notes: Sister wives season 1 ep 2 & 3

2.20.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles in 43:25. Walked at 3.6, this time every run was 1.5 mins. Ran every 4.5 minutes at 5.5. I tried one run at 6.0 because I remember being more comfortable at the faster pace, but the treadmill tried to kill me and somehow amped up to 9. I jumped off before it succeeded. Anyway, w/CD: 3.2 miles in 48:30, 3.9mph, 16:40 pace.
Time: 43:25/48:30
Notes: Once Upon A Time-What Happened To Frederick.

I'd like to try adding in some cross-training, either through time on the elliptical in the gym or trying yoga on my wii fit that I've hardly ever used. I just got a second job though, so I'm not sure how crunched I'll be for time. The thought of running at 5:30am is repulsive to me, but I may have to do that. I also want to up my mileage. I think I'm going to start upping it the recommended 10% per week, along with upping the time I'm running by 30 seconds per run segment each week. I don't plan on being able to run the entire 10K on April 15, but I have a friend running it as well and I intend to beat his time. I'd like to be able to run the majority of it. Competition is good for the soul.

I need more post titles already. LOL.

Here's a recap of my last few runs.

2.6.12 (Monday):
Distance: started cool down at 2.45 miles because my stupid left shin hurt. I'd rather stop early than injure myself though. I got 2.63 miles in 43 minutes including the cool down. I walked at 3.6 and ran @ 5.5 6x for 1 min each.
Time: 43 even steven.
Notes: I didn't watch TV while cooling down, and I was still dizzy. Boo.

2.8.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3 miles in 45:52 (not including warm up), 3.16 miles in 50:00 including cool down. I walked at 3.6 and ran every 5 minutes at 5.5 for 1 min (8x total). My pace was 16:59 and the average speed was 3.7 (all of that is including the cool-down).
Time: 45:52; 50:00
Notes: I think I'll start writing down what I watch since I watch Hulu or Netflix on my phone while running. Today I watched Sister Wives, Season 1 Ep 1. Hahahahaa those people are odd and it looks so scripted.

New shoes

I got some fancy-schmancy running shoes on Friday. The guy at the running store declared me a neutral runner, so I guess we'll go with that. I think that I overpronate, but we'll see how my feet like these shoes. I also learned that my feet are 1/2 size different-the left is a 6 and the right is a 6.5. Apparently, this is pretty common, but I think it's sort of cool. I ended up with a pair of Brooks Switch 4:

For future reference, the mileage on them starts with 2.4.12. Right now, that's a whole 3 miles! I've heard that I need to replace them everywhere from 300 to 700 miles. I've been lazy when it comes to tying my shoes since mid-HS or so, and for at least the past 10 years I have almost immediately laced my shoes up like this:

Thank you, bff Liz for teaching me that. I haven't tied my shoes in probably 13 or 14 years. So far I haven't done that to the new shoes, but their time is coming soon. The shoes in that last pic are my Saucony excursions that DH bought me last year. I guess I could count them as my first running shoes, but I bought them because they were cute and I needed new sneakers.

I ran again yesterday, and I sort of failed at maintaining the exact same pace. I'm going to have to be careful about that. Yesterday's run was the same as Thursday's, except I threw in 1 extra 1-min run @ 5.5 (bringing the total to 8 runs) and the 7th was actually 1.5 mins rather than 1.

2.4.12 (Saturday):
Distance: 3 miles with part of the warmup, but w/out the cool down in 45:30; with the cool-down it was 3.24 miles in 52:09. I burned ~334.3 calories, my average speed (with CD) was 3.7, and the average pace was 17:12.
Time: 45:30; 52:09

I need to figure out how to get my pace from the treadmill without including the cooldown. Is it ok to stop the treadmill for a min or so to get the stats from the display and then do a cool down? Speaking of the treadmill, I get dizzy when I stop it. When I googled that, it said to do a longer cool down. I've been extending the cool down with each run-this time it was nearly 8 minutes.  I decrease the speed about every 2 minutes or so, eventually stopping at 1.5mph. I'm going to ask for advice on the Nest's Health and Fitness board, but please comment if you have any recommendations.

Great run

Last night after work I ran again. It was one of my better runs! I can really feel a difference in my fitness level, even after only 2 weeks. My hip never hurt this time, although I did feel some twinges in my left shin that I really hope are not the beginning of shin splints. I ran across some exercises to prevent them the other day, but I'm going to need to google it again to figure out where I found them.

2.2.12 (Thursday):
Distance: 3 miles w/out warm up/cool down; 3.19 miles with cool down. My warm up was walking to the car to get my headphones and then over to the gym. My ave speed was 3.7, my pace was 17:23. I allegedly burned 323 calories (how accurate are those things, anyway?). I ran at 5.5 seven times (approximately every 5 mins) for a minute each time. I walked at 3.6. I actually had to finish last Sunday's episode of Once Upon A Time in my kitchen!
Time: 44:30/51:02 with cool down.

DH and I are going either tonight or tomorrow to get fitted for running shoes. I'm pretty excited. I also found the Fab Ab February ab plan thingy on Pinterest, and I started that last night. Holding a plank for 20 seconds is hard! Anyway, here is the plan. The image is blurry, which makes my OCD twitchy, but I can't fix it unfortunately.

I'm going to try this running thing.

I've decided to start running for a few reasons. One, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up in May, and since I'm likely to revert to the loser I was in HS as soon as I see my classmates, I might as well have an awesome body to help lessen the humiliation. Two, I want to firm up. I want to look at my body and not think I'm flabby. I'm only 4'11", so every pound shows on me. Three, DH needs to lose weight, and I hope that if I start running, he'll start to like it as well and join me. Four, I want to be proud of myself for something. I doubt I'll ever win a race, but maybe I could place in the top 10 of my age group or something.

I actually ran quite a bit in September of last year. I started walking with some friends, and we did 4 miles 2-3 times per week. Unfortunately, things changed and I stopped walking with them. I just started walking/running again almost 2 weeks ago, and this time I'm by myself. I don't live in a very safe neighborhood and I don't have a gym membership, so I've mostly been running on the treadmills at my apt complex's little gym. Apparently a lot of people find treadmills boring, but I just use my hulu plus app on my phone to watch tv while I exercise. I walk during the show and run during the commercials. I call it the hulu exercise plan lol. It works fairly well for me.

Here is a summary of my runs to date:

1.20.12 (Friday):
Distance: 3 miles (Treadmill)
Ran 4x for 30 seconds each at 6.1, walked at 3.5 for the rest
Time: I didn't write down the time for this one, but I remember having to go longer than the 45 minute Once Upon A Time episode. We'll just say it was 55 minutes.

1.22.12 (Sunday):
Distance: probably 1 mile (Lake Hefner)
HOLY WIND BATMAN. Mike and I decided to walk at Lake Hefner on the lake side in 30mph sustained winds with stronger gusts. There were a few times the wind actually pushed me. We mostly walked, but I ran 1x for about 50yds. Hello, resistance.
Time: Less than an hour.

1.23.12 (Monday):
Distance: 3 miles (Treadmill)
Walked at 3.7, ran 6x at 6.2 for 30 secs-1 min (walked during the show, ran during the commercials). This is the day I hurt my hip. Stupid me decided that I would challenge myself to finish the 3 miles before the end of the tv show on hulu. My hip started hurting and I decided to run through it. It still hurts when I run a week later. Note to self: IF IT HURTS, STOP RUNNING IDIOT.
Time: Well, I did finish before the end of the TV show, so we'll say it was 43 minutes.

1.25.12 (Wednesday):
Distance: 3.17 miles (Treadmill)
Walked at 3.5, ran 2x at 6.0 for 30 seconds. Left thigh/hip sore. Did a longer warm up & cool down (3.17 total; 295 calories; ave mph 3.4 including cool down)
Time: 50:45

1.27.12 (Friday):
Distance: 3.21 miles (Treadmill)
Distance includes 6 minute cool down. Burned 304.5 calories. Walked at 3.7, ran 3x at 6.0 for 30-45 seconds.
Time: 53:20

1.29.12 (Sunday):
Distance: 2.04 miles (Treadmill)
Distance includes warm up and cool down. Mix of walking at 3.5 with (4) 1 minute runs at 5.5. Concentrated on having a short stride. Stopped at 2 miles because of hip pain (hey, I'm getting smarter).
Time: 34:44

1.31.12 (Tuesday):
Distance: 3.06 miles (Lake Hefner)
Mike and I walked at Lake Hefner. He actually seemed to enjoy it! I'm so glad. We walked slower for 5 mins for our warm up and cool down. We jogged several times for 30 secs-1min. I think the pace for the jogs was around 5.5-it was hard to tell. I used the MapMyRun app. Apparently I shouldn't hold it in my hand when swinging my arms, since it told me that my top speed was 9.4mph (unless that was when DH and I raced? We didn't go far or very fast lol). I thoroughly enjoyed this run.
Time: 54:23 (not too bad, esp since DH isn't used to running more than 30 secs and I doubt he ever goes above 3)

And now for the before pics. I debated about whether or not to put the sports bra ones on here or not. I'm naturally thin, so I think that if I only use the shirt ones, I won't see the difference in my abs. Also, it is unbelievably hard to get a clear iphone pic.
Before, with shirt:

Before, without a shirt:

I need goals if I'm going to stay motivated. Therefore, I want to run at least the half marathon at the Dallas White Rock Marathon on December 2, 2012. I also want to run (not walk, run) the Warrior Dash on June 2. I'm scared of fire and I think DH will have to help me over the flaming hay bales, but I'm going to finish it. I also want to walk/run the 10K at the Redbud Classic on April 15. I'm not sure if that is pushing myself too quickly though, so I may end up doing the 5K instead. I can be incredibly competitive, and I don't want to hurt myself again. Also, I'm going to look into trail running, since that seems interesting. I'm going to the running store this weekend to get fitted for proper shoes.