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Ran the neighborhood - I am so not impressed with myself. 3.94 miles in 47 minutes. In my defense:
It is cold
It is windy
It actually snowed a little
Cosmo was out of sorts. He was very distracted and didn't settle down until almost the mile point. We stopped for several sniff and pace around breaks, one actual pee break and one actual poop break. I didn't stop my watch for any of these and that surely added a couple of minutes.

Fickle is catching

Jen isn't the only one I would apply the term fickle to today. (And for the record, I might tell her she is fickle but I really suspect she is one of those talented, creative type people that just isn't bound by pedestrian habits like the rest of us).

I have one 'feel good' run and I sign up for a half marathon. Today, I have one struggling run and I want to apply for a refund. LOL

The initial plan was to run 6.5 miles around my house this morning with W. #2 son came home from an overnight shift and said we would be nuts to run on the roads - the visibility was very poor due to fog. So we shifted our locale to the park and I brought Cosmo. We were going to do a run 9, walk 1.

In my quest to lose weight and increase my fitness for the half training, I took a weight lifting class, taught by a friend, JP, at the Y yesterday afternoon. The first weights I have lifted in about 6 months! I told JP I would go on the condition that we do NO walking lunges and she takes it pretty easy. I stuck with very light weights too. I didn't feel too bad after the class or even early this morning. Then I ran this morning and immediately I could tell I was approaching 'over done'. My inner thighs - which I never notice while running, but we did lots of plie type squats yesterday - were screaming within the first mile. My hamstrings felt shredded and I just felt tired the whole way. W wasn't feeling 100% as she hadn't run in about a week so we ended up doing 5.5 miles very, very slow.

I know if I stick with the class, I will get used to it quickly and it will benefit my running. However, right now, it hurts to walk and I have no idea how I will be able to teach a 45 minute cycle class tonight. Should be interesting.



And no. I am not going to ask for a refund but the thought seriously crossed by mind at about mile 4.5!

WTF???

I feel like I had a out of body experience. Today's run. W cancelled because of a work commitment so it was Cosmo and I at the park trail. I wasn't sure what my distance would be....3....3.5.....maybe even 4. I was going to play it by ear. Also thought I might throw in a few walking breaks. I really didn't expect much. We started off and hit the first mile at about 10:40. Huh. I thought that we would wait and see how things were lying at the 1.5 mark and maybe turn around there. Hit the 1.5, felt pretty good. Actually, I felt better than pretty good so on we went. I figured if I wanted to, we could walk a minute or so at the 2 mile mark. Got to the 2 mile mark at 21:30 AND I still felt pretty good. I was starting to fret a little by now. After all, it has been a long, long time since I have run and felt good. Specifically, 9/5. That was before I got sick and the last time I clocked a sub 11 mile for a run. On we went, hitting the 3 mile mark under 33, so I decided to go for it. Cosmo, who had been trotting along by my side the whole way, seemed to realize that things were looking up and he picked it up. He trotted (it is really unfair to call his pace a 'run' when he is with me. It is practically a fast walk) up in front of me and stayed there the whole last mile. You could tell he was happy, he was all perky and prancy.

The final verdict? 43:22, 4 miles, 10:50 mile pace. It felt so good, I am a little scared.

Training Update

The cold is finally all gone with the exception of a lingering, innocent little hack at night. And my training is back on track. But I am slower. Oh Gawd, am I slower. My schedule calls for a weekly tempo run, intervals and a long run. I added into that mix a fourth run - less than 3 miles. Just a jaunt to keep the leg muscles from atrophying and the calorie count from jumping. I thought the route was 2.82 miles. And I was throwing down some killer times so suspicious minds and all that jazz......I re-calculated the route. I did it using USATF, Gmaps and Mapmyrun. The overall concensus is 2.46 miles. So one day it was a 12:12 miles (just 2 seconds a mile faster than my 6 mile run WITH WALK BREAKS earlier in the week!) and today was 11:13. The real kicker is both times, I felt like I *was* running fast. Oh well, guess it is going to take a little longer recovery time for me....

Three Strikes, am I out?

8 am. 80 degrees and 80% humidity. Three lousy runs in a row.

I know that this is SOP for some of you southern runners, but for us above the Mason-Dixon line? It is pure hell.

Schedule called for 6 miles.
The only shows were Bridget, Bill and me. Everyone else has some sense. Bridget and I talk about cutting it down to 4. Bill says he is going for 6. We stash our water at the start point (you will see the significance of this later).

About a mile in, Bridget says let's cut it to three miles. I am all over that. We are doing about a 11:30 pace at this point. We get to the turnaround and at the two mile mark, I apologize and slow to a walk. It was like running in a sauna. Bridget didn't seem all that upset about walking. Of course, Bill just happens to pass us on his way back as soon as we started walking. As he passes us he says he is only doing 4. After less than a quarter mile walk, we start up again. I am thinking to myself, 'can I run any slower and not be walking?' At one point, I actually hear her exhale and ask her, 'did I just hear you breathe?' While I am a 'huffer-puffer' runner (I actually sound like a 90 yr old asthmatic running), Bridget never breathes heavy. When she struggles with a run, it is always with leg and lower body fatigue and discomfort, never cardio-vascularly. So to hear her huff, even if it was only once, was strange. We manage to make the last three quarters of a mile and grab our water.

Someone let their dog pee on our water bottles! Not only is that rude but could have some serious consequences in weather like this. We could have been doing a really long run and was counting on that water. Nasty, nasty, nasty and shameful. I hope your dog pees in your bed.

I am still undecided about running in Montreal. Do I need a break or just cooler weather? I will bring my gear and decide later.

So now I have cooled off enough to shower - I hate showering when you haven't cooled down enough and you keep sweating after getting out of the shower - I am going to use the peppermint soap judiciously. We are going to hit the State Fair tonight to see Dickey Betts and the Outlaws. Oh man, it is enough to make me feel 16 again! I am off to practice my rock hands!

It was ugly out there today

Saturday - good race
Monday - good run
Wednesday - starting down that slippery slope
Friday (today) - crash and burn

Ugh. Bad, just bad. A regular death march. I didn't feel good from the first step. I didn't bring Cosmo because it is very humid. The kind of humid where sweat doesn't evaporate but goes flinging off your elbows every time you swing your arms. We walked 3 times, and not just little minute walk breaks but quarter mile walk breaks. My legs felt tight and heavy, like I could barely lift them. The only good thing about today's run is that it is over. Right now, the way I feel, Saturday's run is iffy.

I almost left my time off my training log and put only the distance. I feel bad enough and didn't think I needed to be reminded of the torture every time I look at my blog. But I decided to suck it up and put the evidence of my misery out there for everyone to see.

I am leaving Sunday for Montreal and coming back on Wednesday. Of course my plan was to bring my running gear but now I am wondering if I should. W thinks I should just take those days, relax and recuperate and come home renewed, rested and ready to resume training. Do I really need a break? Is it possible to overtrain on less than 20 miles a week? LOL

On a positive note, Real Time with Bill Maher returns tonight so I have something to look forward to, that is if I can stay awake. :-)

ETA: W kept telling me that part of the reason I was so tired was that I taught a cycle class last night. I don't know what came over me but we did do a lot of hovers, a maneuver where you come up out of the saddle, stabilize your upper body and pedal, with no upper body engagement. They suck. And we did lots of them. But I don't think they are to blame for my crappy run.

Midday runs.....

stink.



I had an early morning dental appointment to replace a temp crown with a perm. And then I had an appointment with my friendly neighborhood masachistic hair stylist so this morning's run became this afternoon's run. No big deal, right? After all, it isn't as though my days are chockful of peace brokering in the Middle East.



I have a nice little morning routine. Coffee, water, a light fruit breakfast, do whatever else has to be done and then run. The problem with a mid day run is you are held captive to all that has preceeded your run. In my case, it ended up being a bowl of cereal, two rolls (with vegan Earth Balance), a huge 16 oz fruit smoothie - everything I ate before 3 pm. Let me tell you, tummy no likey smoothie while running. Some weird gastro-intestinal brewing was going on.



It started off decently. First mile 10:45, second mile 21:50, and then Cosmo decides he has had enough. So we walk a minute and then start again slowly. At the 3 mile mark, I have had enough and we walk for a minute while I try to get rid of a stitch in my side. First time I had one of those in years. So we end our 4.5 at 51:42, a full 3 minutes slower than I hoped. Oh well. Such is life. Maybe Friday's run will be better.

Wednesday Run Report

W and I have been thinking a lot of about the half, which one, what time of the year, how to train, etc. Up until now, our training has always been the 'get out and run and try to do it a little faster and/or longer each time. Yep. Not very scientific or guaranteed to get results. And we haven't gotten many results. :-) We need a serious half plan. I have been reading about this one. More info here.

Pros:
Workouts are very specific.
3 weekly runs
Seems to have a reasonable success rate
Lots of down time
Low mileage = less chance of injury

Cons:
Only 3 weekly runs but those runs are hard

Today I ran 4.5 by myself. Too hot and humid for Momo and W had a prior engagement. I decided to mix it up and so I did 4x400 speed repeats. My original plan was to do six but I was too tired after 4. That might be a problem on FIRST.

When we ran Saturday, I was shooting for 11:30 pace. Our first two miles were under 11 and we hit 3 miles at 11:03 pace. It seemed like every quarter mile I was giving Sue the 'palm face down slow it down' motion. Today, keeping in mind the 400 repeats, I was determined to be very slow with a 1.5 mile warmup. I clocked it right at 12 m/m. Perfect. My goal was to shoot for a 2:35 400s (10:20 m/m).

First 400 was 2:25 (9:40 m/m). Oops. But how was I to know? I just started running. Second and third were a little bit slower but still under 10 m/m pace. Fourth and last 400 was around 2:33. I ran 400 slowly in between each repeat to recover. Of course, by the end of the 4th repeat, I was feeling vaguely nauseous and walked .25. I must say, though, it was fun. It broke the run up nicely. And it was fun to run fast - remember, in this case, speed is all relative. I felt like I was a kid, running so fast. It made me wonder just what it must feel like to run those 5 - 6 minute miles. Overall pace was 12:15. Not too bad considering the .25 walk.
I will probably need a nap today :-)

Monday run report

I managed to get all the miles planned last week done but it wasn't easy due to scheduling. Today, we started back on our MWFSat rotation. The result of today's run meant that in three days I have run a total of 14.5 miles. Now, that is an amount that some runners can do in their sleep but make no bones about it - it is a lot of miles for me in 3 days. So, I was really tired today and I also had a scare right before leaving to run - one of those that elevates your heartrate to 170 in 15 seconds and leaves you with the shakes and nausea. Add to this scenario W ran last night and that it was much warmer and humid than I expected. This is a recipe for a run/walk day. And run/walk we did. 10 minute run/2 minute walk - a 12 and change pace.

On a positive note, I assembled a list of possible half marathons for us in early 2008. I would love to accept this invitation but I don't think I could convince the husb to let me travel almost 2000 miles for a race :-( So we are sticking to the east coast races.

Caesar Rodney Half - Wilmington, Delaware, March
National Half - Washington, DC, March
Frederick Marathon and Half - Frederick, MD, May
Ocean City Marathon and Half - Ocean City, MD, April
Hyannis Port Marathon and Half, Hyannis, MA, February

I would love to do Hyannis in February - all that cold, brisk air but I don't think W will go for it. She is a much more temperate runner than I :-)