UGH UGH AND MORE UGH!

Well, I was doing well training for a half. I was base-building really, but trying to increase my long run miles and just run them slowly. I figured my half in October would be more of a training run for me than a "race". However, I've been hobbled now for three weeks. I'm going to shoot for doing the Big House Big Heart 5k in Ann Arbor on the 30th of this month, but beyond that I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I know BHBH won't be a PR for me.

I have been fighting peroneal tendonitis. Anyone who has had tendonitis knows it takes a long time to heal. And my doc gave me the negative on running for at least 3 weeks. That will be up this weekend. I've had some time to reflect during the last 2 of those 3 weeks and I've realized that this is just a short blip. Yeah, maybe I just started and so to me it feels like the end of the world, but any loss I endure right now will be regained once my ankle is healthy. I have to look at it as part of the game and realize that now when I start running again and use better form, I will hopefully be able to avoid injury again.

So, I've come up with a list of goals for the end of 2007 and the whole of 2008. And here they are:

1: drop another 20 pounds
2: eat more cleanly
3: work on cross-training and general fitness
3: build up to 25-30 miles per week safely and properly
4: Detroit Half Marathon NEXT year

Oh, to keep myself from going absolutely insane I volunteered my time at the Dances with Dirt in Hell, MI this past Saturday. AWESOME time! It was amazing watching the 50k/50 milers come across the finish line. And the relay teams for the 100K relay had a blast and it was great watching them too. I got to do the data entry for the team relay and also hand out some prizes to the 50k/50m people. And at the beginning direct traffic and cheer on the runners. It was an absolutely fun time and I'm going to volunteer again next year unless I get the guts to actually do part of the relay with a team. Check it out at http://www.danceswithdirt.com!

Now, I'm off to stretch the ankle...HEAL DAMMIT! :)

Safe for now...

Turns out clinicals will be Thursday/Friday either mornings or afternoons every other week. I can handle this. I'd prefer afternoons and I signed my form as such, but there's no guarantee. However, this pretty much means I'm not doing the Tower of Terror race on 10/27. Not really happy about that.

Looking at it from a different perspective, at least right now I'm training and building a good base. I plan on walking part of the Detroit half marathon, right off the bat I'll say it. It's more important for me to do base training right now than jump into a training plan for a half. So I'm going to treat that day like any other day on my plan, do my scheduled plan run, and then walk the rest..or some combination of such. If I feel I can run the whole thing I will, but I'm not going to push it.

I've learned a lot these past couple months. One is that I'm burned out beyond all belief on school. I've slipped from a 4.0 student to a 3.0 this past semester. But I didn't care..it's not going to bring down my overall average enough to make a difference. Two is that although it was a great experience doing the marathon, the euphoria during training (and that damn taper madness) made me sign up for races that I should have known I wouldn't really be ready for. I could say that my marathon training got me in good enough shape that I shouldn't start my plan where I am right now, but my endurance was never really good. I really want to run for the rest of my life..and to do that I need to learn proper form and do things the right way. So I'm kinda pretending that I'm starting from scratch. I started on the 3rd month of the Daniels white plan, since I did at least feel I had enough endurance to do so. And so far this week I have been doing really well. I was supposed to do a planned run tomorrow, but I'm switching my Friday and Saturday workouts so that I can do the running on Saturday with TP (Team Playmakers). So tomorrow I'm just doing some powerwalking for 30 minutes as soon as I'm awake. Then Saturday it's:

5 minutes walking
20 minutes running at easy pace (which I learned is about 13-14 min/miles to keep me below 79% MHR)
5 minutes walking
10 minutes running at easy pac
5 minutes walking

Once I get through 4 weeks of this, then I'll be running 30 minutes straight. I can do so now, actually, and probably could have started on Level IV of the plan, but I really feel where I'm starting is a good place to get my endurance to optimal levels. By January for the Disney half, I should at least be able to run 75% of it if not more. I'm not sure that I'm going to do a full training plan..but from reading the book and estimating time, I should be able to run a lot of it at an easy pace and still finish. I'm going to save PRs and pushing it for after January. I could start an actual half-marathon training plan after January and be ready for the Flying Pig in Cincinnati in May. :)

So enough of me blabbing. My birthday's in 3 days..and I have to go rest my liver for my friend's bonfire tomorrow night. :-D

Yeah yeah...

Okay, so it's been a month almost since I posted. Not like anyone's reading this anyway. :)

Been a hectic month. School is over this week and I'll have a life again for about 28 days and then it's back to the last 2 semesters. Hopefully. It's entirely possible that the schedule will be impossible for me to handle with my job if it turns out the way I've heard it will. And I can't live without the job, so school will have to be the one that bites it if the schedules don't mesh. Anyway, not going to fret about that right now. I'll know more tomorrow.

Starting a new training plan. I'm still going to run in Detroit but I'm going to be very careful about it and be slow and not really do it as anything competitive. It's not like I have a snowball's chance in hell of winning anything...so I'm just going to go and have fun. :) I've changed my mind about doing the Capital City River Run half marathon on 9/30 and instead I'm going to do the Big House Big Heart 5k in Ann Arbor. Much more fun, and I joined a team that is going to do either 10 miles or another 3.1 miles before the actual race so you can get in a half marathon or 10k for the day. I'll be wearing Maize and Blue of course!

I did the Ele's Place 5K on 7/22. Took over 3 minutes off my previous time. My new PR is now 35:55 for a 5K. The reason I'm starting a new plan is because I know that running is something I want to do for life. And I don't feel that I've been making any gains in the last month..mainly because I think I'm pushing my bod too hard for what it's ready for right now. So, I bought Jack Daniel's book and I'm following the White plan starting in the Level III. I could probably start in the Red Level but I've been noticing that my HR is above where it really should be for optimal "easy" training runs, and that's something I really want to improve. If I'm constantly running in an anaerobic zone, then I'm not going to make any improvement. So I went out today and did the first day of training on the plan. Kept my HR below 80% (he states that 65-79% is where I should be during easy runs. My pace was pathetically slow but everything I read says that's what it should be when you're doing easy runs (obviously relative to one's normal pace). So I'm going to just double-fist it for a while and wear my HRM and my Garmin until I am really comfortable with where my HR is in a certain pace zone.

I'm also starting today to try and eat more healthfully. I have been pretty good, but I eat enough that I'm maintaining my weight and I'd really like to start losing. Since I've decided not to really train for the half marathon and instead treat it as more of a fun run/walk, I'm going to fuel myself just enough for my base-building and hopefully drop 10 or 15 more pounds before the end of October. I'd like to drop about 30 but I'll take whatever I can get. :)

Well, that's life in a nutshell lately. I'm off to enjoy some grilling and studying for my final peds exam. Glad this semester is almost over with! And glad that it's the last summer I'll have to give up! :D

Oh how I hate..to have to wait...

I have a mild (thank God!) case of peroneal tendonitis in my left ankle to go along with the PF in that foot. The peroneal tendon is the one that goes around the back of the lateral malleolus (ankle bone) and attaches to the side of the foot. And guess when it got aggravated? Running on the slant on Hwy 163 in San Diego. Doc said it's not bad and two weeks of no running, lots of stretching, ibuprofen and wearing my arch supports, arch strap and Strassburg sock should get rid of it, as well as ease up the PF I've been suffering from for months. I'm not too happy about not running. But he did say walking was fine, as was anything at the gym besides running on the treadmill. So I suppose I should listen to him and take it easy for a couple weeks.

It means I won't be fully ready for the local half mary, but I'll be fine for Detroit. I'm not sure about the Crim 10-miler in August. I still want to do it, but we'll have to see where I'm at at that point. Might go anyway just to enjoy the festivities. :)

So, today is a stretching/strengthening day. I'm going to go for a short walk when I get home and then stretch it out for an hour or so..maybe do some yoga. One thing he did say is that I have very stiff ankles..and that lots of stretching should help ease up those calf muscles and my achilles tendon, which should in turn help my ankles be a bit more flexible. And that, in turn, would help my running gait so I'm not slapping my foot down (which I noticed I do on the left foot). We shall see!

No running sucks!

So the last time I ran was Tuesday morning. I wanted to run on Thursday but I had a buttload of clinical paperwork to do (I'm a horrible procrastinator). Since my Friday night was taken already I knew I had to give up the Thursday trail run in order to get it done. Lesson learned. Friday morning I was going to get up but wasn't feeling so hot so figured I'd try and get it in between getting out of work and going to my NICU observation. That didn't work out either. My observation was from 7:15 pm to 10:30 pm and I had to get up at 3:45 to be ready for carpooling to A2 for clinicals. Thought maybe I'd get a run in afterwards. That didn't work out either. We got lost getting home from dropping off another student who doesn't live in Lansing and we were all so tired and slap-happy we missed the split to the highway we were supposed to take and ended up halfway to Battle Creek before I realized we weren't going the right way (I wasn't driving BTW..).

So I got home and went to a 4th of July party (yes, I know it was June 30th but they have the party the weekend before the holiday). I wasn't going to drink or stay late so I could get up this morning and go for a run with the Playmakers group. Okay, so that didn't work out either. ;)

So today I'm going to take it easy in the morning, get the remainder of homework I need to finish all out of the way and go for a run later this evening, without fail. I HAVE to or I'm going to start losing it! I did figure out though, that I can work off a 12 week training schedule for the half. If I plan on just walk/running the local half, I could wait until the end of July to start training for Detroit. I'd like to do the 10 mile Crim race in Flint in August too though..so I'm debating today about when to start my actual training plan. I tried to start on the 18th of this month, and the first week went well, but this week just wasn't meant to be..so I'm just considering it further recovery and officially I'm not going to start training until the 8th...since that's when I SHOULD have started training anyways seeing as how I've had a nagging ankle pain since San Diego.

Okay, enough rambling. I'll post something once I've actually gone for a run. ;)

And this one time, at training...

I thought it would be a good workout to go work with the local training group. It was. A grueling workout. Over trails. Lots of hills. Lots of branches. Lots of sand. Up hills. Lots of hills. Did I mention there were hills? According to Motionbased, some of these hills were a 30% grade. I made it..I ran up all the hills I could. I walked very little. I made it through at least 2.6 of the 3.4 miles straight running. And I felt it. Garmin said I was running anywhere from an 11 to a 14 minute mile. I felt like I was running 9 minute miles the whole time..I was WINDED! But wow, that's a great workout and one I want to do with them every Thursday.

There was a nice woman who I ran into at the start, and she hung out with me for her first loop of the trail. I kept telling her it would be okay if she wanted to take off and go faster, but bless her heart, she stuck with me and it really helped me to push myself a little harder than I might have otherwise. We got back to the starting point and she said her goodbyes and took off for a second loop. We had fun talking and I'll be running with her again on Sunday during the informal long run.

I was wearing my awesome John Bingham Racing shirt that I got in San Diego. The one that says..."I'm slow. I know. Get over it.". Three women were coming up behind us (presumably doing their second lap..sheesh) and started saying "Oh no you're not. No you're not." I had no idea what they were talking about and then when they passed me one of them turned around and said "You're doing fine! You're not slow!" I laughed and said thank you...and that I only bought the shirt because it was pink. ;) I like this group.

So my legs hurt now. I stretched but my lower legs hurt differently..probably because of all the uneven terrain. But it was fun and I'm totally pumped up for a short 2 miler in the morning. Then it's rest on Saturday for clinicals and off to a 7 mile long run on Sunday morning. Woohoo! It feels SO good to be back in training!

Finally a week to run!

So now that my race schedule for the year is set, I need to start training for my first half (and the one 3 weeks later). This week will have more running than I've done in the past couple weeks and I can't wait. I'm feeling good, my legs are strong, my foot isn't hurting much, and the tenderness that appeared in my ankle after the marathon usually lessens after stretching, so I'll watch it but I'm not worried about it.

Clinical rotation yesterday was exciting. We didn't have a chance to do much patient care but we got to meet a few patients. And being that it's pediatrics they're mostly babies and toddlers on our floor. :) At one point when our instructor was showing us how to do an assessment on a child, the one in the crib next to him was keeping an eye on me, and we were having a lot of fun playing peek-a-boo through the crib slats. Finally we got done with the assessment and the nurse asked us if we wanted to assess the other kid too. I jumped at the chance. The baby was such a cutie with big cheekers! ;) We played with him and assessed him and when we left the room he was quite upset about it. Luckily there was another group of students coming in to pay attention to him. :) I want to go into pediatrics or the neonatal ICU, so this experience is a lot of fun for me. Our floor deals with congenital heart defects. It's one of the only hospitals in the region that does work with these kids, so this experience is going to be absolutely great.

I do hate giving up my Saturday long runs, but I will get a small workout in climbing the stairs from the parking area to the hospital. It's 130 stairs up a steep hill. Only get it once a week but still..it's fun. :) I've decided that I'm going to put some effort into hill training, which means once clinicals are over and I can go to the Saturday group runs, I can run the cemetery route which is VERY hilly. If I do loops of that once a week I'll be in pretty good shape by the time the first half-mary rolls around.

I'm officially out of the post-marathon blues. I'm in a much better state of mind and able to concentrate a little better. My appetite still isn't 100% but I'm still considering that a blessing at this point. I've lost 4 pounds since the marathon, which was now 2 weeks ago, so I'm not doing too bad. Don't want to lose any faster than that..and I'm sure with training now I'll slow it down to a 1-lb per week loss. I'm excited about this week because we're having our TNT victory party grillout at my coach's house and it'll be fun to see my local TNT teammates and hear how their marathons went. Most of them did a race 2 weeks before we did, there were only 2 of us from the Lansing group that did San Diego.

Here's to a good week!

Detroit, Here I Come...

So first it was just the local half and the 2 Disney races. Then I decided I wanted another shot at San Diego. Then I decided that during training for SD, the Martian 10k and the Flying Pig half would be good "training" runs. And now I've completely lost my mind and have signed up for the Detroit Free Press half. Which means this is my current schedule:

9/30 - Capital City Half
10/21 - Detroit Free Press Half
10/27 - Disney ToT 13K
1/12 - Disney Half
3/? - Martian 10k
5/4 - Flying Pig Half
6/1 - SD RnR again

To be honest I don't think it's that crazy. I can do 2 half marathons pretty easily 3 weeks apart..I did that many miles in training runs on a weekly basis training with TNT for the RnR. The 13k 6 days after the 2nd half might wear me out a bit but then I have 2 months until the Disney half. And the other races fall during training for San Diego so really they won't be anything out of the ordinary. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Enough..

Okay, I've had enough of this funk I've been in. I've thought a lot about it the last couple days and I'm realizing that most of my problem is that I can't quiet my mind. I'm not happy with school, not sure what I want to do in a year when I graduate, not sure what's going on in my relationship, frustrated with my performance at the marathon, etc., etc. I have all this stuff that's driving me nuts and because I can't sort any of it out individually right now it's been bringing me down. So, ENOUGH! I'm going to deal with things one day at a time. I want to be my normal mostly happy self..this person I am right now is irritating me. :)

Today I'm doing a 20 minute easy run per the recovery plan I found on the marathon website. This is the last week I'll follow it. I walked enough of the marathon that I feel comfortable starting training for my half next week. That and if I don't start doing something concrete I'm going to become one really cranky biatch. ;)

Since all my Saturdays until the end of July are taken by clinical rotation, I'm doing long runs on Sundays. That means the informal group with no aid stations. Luckily most of my "long" runs (funny how long back in January and long now are totally different) until then are below 10 miles, so I should be good with my Amphipod bottle pack and a gu or sport beans. I'm going to also make an effort to meet with the informal weekly group on Tues. & Thurs. so that I can get in some good quality runs with other people. I like running by myself too, but sometimes I just want to have that extra push that running with a group gives you.

I have managed to not have an appetite pretty much since the marathon. Now, normally that would be bad, but I am still eating enough calories. What it has been allowing me to do is be a little more choosy about what I'm eating, and it's paying off. I've been eating lots of fruit and whole grain stuff, and avoiding heavy fatty foods as much as possible. And I feel better for it and am not gaining any weight back. I've been drinking lots of water and tea and I'm really feeling good physically. I'm hoping that once I start training again here next week I can start losing weight again. I'd like to get down another 20 pounds by October, which is a pretty reasonable goal. Then I'd only really need to lose about another 20 before I'd be at a really healthy ideal weight (let's set that goal for next June at San Diego). I haven't really gone by poundage so much lately as I have by clothes and inches. And I know that with cross-training and strength training, etc., that I'll probably end up weighing a little more but looking better. I bought two new running skirts from the place I got the one at the expo, and they arrived yesterday. Normally I'm hugely critical about my legs (okay, my whole body), but these skirts looked CUTE! They hit my thighs in the right spot and make them look really nice and muscular. Nothing to pick you up like looking good in a miniskirt. ;)

So, I'm feeling better today, and I'm hoping to keep it going. Here's to a happy remainder of the day and a bright outlook for tomorrow!

So there's a fork in the road...

not literally, of course. How weird would that be?

There's a point we all come to in our lives where we have to decide what we want most and how to get it. I never, EVER thought that I'd finish a marathon. I never thought I'd WANT to run. I never thought I'd find it in me to even try to accomplish a task like that. Before January and my uncle's diagnosis, I was content to sit on my ass and do very little. I was floating through school, floating through work, floating through everything. Then came the bad news from my uncle, and what followed that news, in my life, seems to me to be nothing more than miraculous. I took on the task of raising as much money as I could, of getting out of bed at 5:00 every Saturday morning to get ready for a long run, of freezing my ass off in those early winter months just to make some progress. I pulled energy out of places I never thought I had, and pulled resolve out of places even deeper. I knew if my uncle could go through what he was going to go through then I could get off my butt and do this for him. And I did...and what followed that has brought me to today.

It's time for me to start making decisions. Decisions as to whether I'm going to keep on floating through life or if I'm going to take it by the horns. Decisions as to whether or not I'll do it alone. Decisions as to whether I'm going to let another year pass me by before I really start LIVING life instead of letting it happen TO me. I'm ready to start making those decisions and so I know the next few months for me are going to be a very different time in my life. I know that no matter what happens, though, that I can make it through. If I can find it in myself to complete a marathon from where I was when I started, I can do anything I have to.

On a more upbeat note, I went to the local running store's team kickoff tonight. It was fun getting signed up and finding out the options for training. Essentially I'll have people to run with quite often so I'm really excited about starting training again. Plus I got a cool shirt and free socks and that's half the fun of doing these things, isn't it? ;)

Slogging through recovery

I don't think there's anything worse at this point that being forced to not run. I jogged really slowly today for a couple miles just to go out and clear my head. It felt wonderful but I was fatigued at the end..so I know that I need to keep taking it slow the next week or so. I'm starting training for my half in September on the 18th though..so essentially I am taking one more week of recovery and then slowly getting back into training. Had I run more of the marathon I'd take more time off, but I really feel like I will be fine seeing as how I did more walking than running this year.

My goal is to try and finish the half on September 30th at around a 2:45:00. I'll take a couple weeks off and then start training again for the Disney half in January. Once I've run that I am taking a month to just run for the fun of it before starting training again in February for the RNR next year on June 1st. I've got a couple races planned in there (Martian 10k in April and Flying Pig Half in May), but those will fit in just fine with my training plan for the marathon so I'm not worried about them. The RNR next year will also be a fun one because I'll be DONE WITH SCHOOL! The trick will be not applying for a job while I'm out there. I think part of the funk I'm in is that I want to be back in CA! ;)

Post Marathon Weekend

Okay, I admit it, I've fallen victim to post-marathon depression. I'm not gloomy gus depressed, just a general sense of not caring as much about stuff as I usually do. I've read everything I could about it, written up my new training schedule for my half this September, registered for a few more races here and there, and decided I'll do San Diego again next year for sure. None of it really seems to help and I think the main reason is that I can't run right now. I know that I'm supposed to recover this week so I've just been walking. I'm going to do a longer walk tomorrow with the local group..maybe 5 miles at an easy pace just to get some fitness activity in with other people.

I had issues before the marathon, but the training helped me work through all that stuff and now that I don't have that training going on, those issues are coming to the surface. Mainly things like hating this last year of school, not being sure what I want to do when I graduate as far as where I'll live, etc. Nothing huge or life-threatening..just those things that can get overwhelming when you don't have a clue what the hell you're doing with yourself. ;) It's like the only steady thing I had that I was absolutely sure of was training for this marathon.

It's funny, because I used to think marathoners were a bunch of crazy freaks. I couldn't even fathom the idea of doing ANYTHING for 26.2 miles let alone run. I know I didn't run all of my marathon, but I will next year and I'm actually looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to training for the half in September, and then the half in January, and then the full in June again..and the main reason is because all that time out on the trail lets me get in touch with who I am and really think about the things I need to think about without any outside influence. I've learned a lot about myself in the past 5 months. Some good, some not so good. But now at least I know the things I'd like to improve or change completely, and I know I am capable of doing that.

And weirdly enough, typing all this out is actually helping too. :)

Marathon weekend...

The trip was fantastic. I left on the 31st, lived through the flight, got to the hotel that the team would also be staying at, and then headed off to the San Diego Zoo. I took lots of pictures but not all of them came out. I'll upload them soon. I was in bed that night by 7:00..which would translate to 10:00 my time, and try as I might, I couldn't stay up past 7:30. So of course I woke up the next morning around 3:30 and had force myself back to sleep a couple times so I could adjust to the time a little better.

Next day woke up, checked out, checked back in and waited for my team..and waited..and waited. Finally I saw a couple familiar faces and after I realized they hadn't flown in with the team, I checked the airline website and found out the team flight had been delayed almost 3 hours. So the three of us headed off to the expo alone and picked up our packets and stuff. I didn't do much shopping that day...but I did kinda make a list in case I went back the next. :) Hung out with friends that night and met my roommate sometime around 11:00 at night when I woke her up (sorry Janie!). ;)

Saturday was fun, had breakfast and went back to the expo with my roomie and spent lots of money. She was having as much fun as I was I think. :) I bought new shoes, a running skirt, a couple John Bingham penguin items, some Nuun tablets (great for electrolyte replacement and $1.50 cheaper than at the running store!), and a headband to keep my hair from driving me insane during the race. After that we came back, waited for the pasta party and hung out relaxing for the night. Surprisingly we were both asleep by about 9:30. I think it took me longer but I made it. Woke up about 3 times during the night and finally started getting ready at 2:30. No need for the alarm. Everything had been laid out the night before so we just got dressed and headed over to the bus pickup where we met the team and took some pictures and all looked like deer in the headlights. ;) Janie was keeping me pretty calm and laughing, and when we got off the bus we managed to stick together until the potty station. :) Everyone headed for the first available, and noone got out at the same time, so that was the last I saw of anyone on my team until Janie found me at the Accelerade station. I was trying to shove a bagel down my throat but I can't eat that early or when I'm nervous so I ended up just drinking a lot of water and a couple cups of Accelerade. I lost Janie when I went to throw out a Gu packet..never saw her again until the end of the race.

Okay, so now that all the mundane details have been covered... :) I started out at the back of the pack. I was glad to be back there because it did make me start out slower, but it was hard getting around the REALLY slow people. I managed about 13-14 minute miles for the first 8 miles, which was what I wanted..slow to start so I could push it at the end...and then started to feel pain in my foot again. We were on the freeway by this point, and it had a horrible lean to the left..which of course is the bad foot. I was putting so much pressure on the foot running on that angle that I aggravated it and my ankle, and by mile 9 I was really feeling it. My times kept getting slower but I knew that I would still make the first cutoff, so I just took it easy on the freeway until we were back on level ground. I was still managing about 16 minute miles with the walking.

Once I got to the halfway point things really started to go downhill. I was really feeling the foot, it was starting to feel like someone had taken a hot poker and just shoved it in my arch with every step I took. It was nearly impossible to run, but I managed to walk as fast as I could. By mile 18 I had to stop at the med station. At that point the pain had gotten so bad I was crying while I walked. Thank God for sunglasses. :) I had actually stopped because I thought my toes were rubbing on my right foot, but when I sat down I just started this flood of emotion that wouldn't stop, and the doc asked me what was going on and I told her how my foot had been hurting. She whipped out the tape and taped up my arch so well that I was able to pick up the pace a little bit. I tried to run as much as possible but I think at that point I had decided that it was better that I just finished rather than risk pushing too hard. In hindsight, I wish I had pushed myself, but I know that I can do it next time. I made it to the 25 mile point where my team's coach was waiting for me. I hadn't been crying but when I saw her and saw how close I was I just started bawling. :) She walked with me to the 1/2 mile point and I decided to jog the rest of the way in. I finished in 7:28:04, which I was horrified with, but I finished. I FINISHED a marathon! I also got about a 3rd degree sunburn. I can barely wear a shirt right now without wincing in pain. Hopefully it heals soon!

So before I left I was already signed up for Disney half in January and a local half in September. And now I'm seriously considering signing up for next year's San Diego Rock 'n Roll just so I can prove to myself that I can do it on that same course in a better time. Well, and because it was freaking beautiful there and I'd love to run that course again with a healthy foot and a healthier body than I had this year. I've lost my mind, I know, but it's fun. :)

Okay I lied..

Not that anyone is reading this..

I did a 5k yesterday and was very happy with my results. The first 5k was run after having done 10 miles the day before and working 7pm to 5am the night before. I was tired and sore and out of energy. I finished in 41:54, which was still okay for me as it was under a 14 minute mile and considering the circumstances I felt lucky.

However, yesterday I ran another one and finished in 39:07, so almost 3 minutes faster! :) I ran most of it, slow as could be but it was still running! If I can manage that pace or something close to it for the marathon I'll finish in under 6 hours, but I'll be happy even if I finish in 7.

I'm signed up now for the Disney Half Marathon in January (the souvenir ChampionChip is pretty cool), and a local half mary at the end of September. I figure if I take a few weeks off after the marathon and start training again right towards the end of June, I should be able to do pretty well in the September half-mary and then train some more to kick some butt (maybe just my own..but still) at Disney. By then I should also be down to my goal weight which I'm sure will help my speed and endurance considerably.

Anyway, 13 days or something like that until the marathon. I'm nervous but excited. I'm happy, I'm ready, and I'll finish even if I'm crawling over the finish line!

Probably the last post for a while...

Completed 20 miles. I should say, completed 10, crawled through 10. My foot was doing fine for a while, and then all of a sudden during the 20 miler, after having run/walked the first 10 miles in just over 2 hrs, my hips tightened up and my foot started aching. I stopped to use the facilities at the park we started at after the 10, and we had to do the same loop all over again. I stretched for a second, went back out, ran through 3 run/walk intervals, and then decided I just couldn't run anymore. I tried, but the pain was too much. So, the last 10 miles were all walking, and the last 5 of the 10 were probably less than a brisk walk pace, but I made it through all 20. I even have a purple TNT ribbon to say so! ;)

Today I can walk, but it hurts. I will probably try and do my 4 miles..see how it feels. I don't want to kill myself though, so if I have to take today as a rest day I will. I've decided I don't want to do another marathon anytime soon. I was waffling between Disney and Las Vegas half marathons, but since the rest of the clan wants to go to Disney, I decided on that one. So I'm registered for the half marathon and I figure I can take about a month off, and start training mid-July to actually run the whole thing. When I can run a good distance at a decent pace then I'll look into doing a marathon again..probably in a couple years. Until then, I really like the feel of a half.

Will post again after I get back from SD. Less than 20 days!

Freakin' Lazy

Hmmm..guess maybe I should change the name of my blog? I didn't realize it's been damn close to 2 months since I posted last. :)

Things are going well..except that last weekend during the 14 mile training, my foot disagreed with me. I walked about the first mile to warm up my legs as I've been having shin pains (not really sure if it's shin splints or not) at the beginning of my runs for about the first 10 minutes or so. Started running, made it about 10 minutes before I felt a weird pain in my calf that started on the inside of my ankle. Shrugged it off and just started walking figuring it would work itself out. Kept walking for the next 4-5 miles and then it was gone. I'm figuring that, or the pain that started in my foot just completely made me forget about it. :) About mile 10, the middle of my foot was starting to get really irritated. Figured it was just my inserts and I'd adjust them when we hit the next aid station. So, got there and looked and they hadn't moved at all, but I just took them out and put them back in anyway.

Well, needless to say, that didn't help. So my coach asks me if I want to head back to the start building to which I replied "No FREAKIN' way!". I actually used a different F word there..but you get the idea. We start walking through the big subdivision and it starts getting to the point of being damn near unbearable. Still wouldn't back down..and by the time there was only a mile to go I knew I had just screwed myself. I got home, took off my shoes and could barely move for the rest of the day. I iced it for three days..and it still hurts. It's less painful now but I can't run..only walk. And that REALLY pisses me off. I was finally making some progress on endurance and then this happens. And if I had just not been stubborn and gone back to the building before it really started screaming I would probably be fine.

Regardless, it's a 16 miler this weekend. I'm going to do as much of it as I can..without letting my foot get to the point it did last week. And I intend to at least try and run a bit of it. I guess I have to tell myself that I really am only trying to finish this marathon, not set a time goal, and that if I have to walk it, I have to walk it. If I had the summer off, I wouldn't care if I couldn't walk for a month. But the day after I get back from San Diego, I start my pediatrics rotation and that means 9 hour days on my feet once a week for 2 months. I will be SOOOOO glad next summer when I can be finally DONE with nursing school.

I'll try not to let another 2 months go by before the next post. :)

Progress..

It is slow, but it is being made. My math sucks, but I'm pretty certain that my running pace is just about 11:30 per mile. However, because I still walk a bit I'm in the 13-14 minute per mile range overall. I have 86 days or something like that to increase the running time and improve my time. Regardless, I've signed my registration form and put in that I plan to finish in 6 hours. I can easily accomplish that at the pace I currently go, even with the walking. I figure by then I should be able to do a 9-10 minute run/1-2 minute walk and that would have me finishing below 6 hours. Now that the recommitment papers are here, I am VERY nervous. It's all starting to be real now, and I'm realizing just how far I've come, both physically and mentally, with my running.

I'm able to run much further than when I first started. My lungs don't feel tired and I've trained my brain to run landmarks when I start thinking I'm getting tired to keep myself going. I've only lost about 10 pounds (30 overall since last August) since I started running, but I've lost inches and I think I look better now than I did when I weighed the same before. I still have a ways to go on the weight loss, but saying I only have to lose 30 pounds is much nicer than saying I have to lose 60! :)) If I can lose half of the last 30 before the marathon I will be ecstatic. That's five pounds a month and I have three months..shouldn't be too hard at all! I haven't really even been trying that hard to lose since I started running and it's coming off..so if I actually pay attention to my intake I'm pretty sure it would melt like butter. ;)

Mentally it's been helping to release stress. I'm not happy with school right now. I'm burning out and the subject matter this semester isn't really my thing, and with that and work I tend to get really tense and stressed and cranky. So when I really start feeling that, I have been using it as my motivation to get my butt out the door and run. Nine times out of ten I'm happier when I get back. I plan to keep this up well after the marathon. My next goal is Disney in January, and at some point I'd like to do another TNT event. I'm slowly becoming addicted to running..scary! ;)

First 6 miler..

It went amazingly well. My legs were like Jello the rest of the day, but that was my own fault. I ran first thing in the morning with nothing in my stomach..bad idea! I had guzzled down some water but that was it. I had to do 3 laps around the windy part of the trail in order to get a full 6 miles in at the end. Part of the trail by my house runs through a bunch of trees, so that part was nice. But once I got out to the loop, it was WINDY! I came back and the entire front of my body was red, and I was bundled as much as I could be without being too hot. Next time I'm taking a PowerBar or something so that I can refuel. About mile 4 I was starting to feel the effects of running 6 with no nourishment.

The good part though, was that I was able to run a lot farther than normal. I was doing more running than walking and THAT is an accomplishment for me now. It made the day go much better. I did some fundraising after the run and pulled in another $100 for the cause, so it was worth getting up super early and then standing on my feet for 3.5 hours.

This week is another 3 day running week with an 8 miler on Saturday, and next week I have 4 running weekdays and then my first double-digit run on Saturday. Now I KNOW I'm freakin' crazy! ;)

Why does it always seem...

Like no matter how hard I try, something ALWAYS gets in the way of me getting in my mileage during the week? I was supposed to do 3 miles today. I couldn't get it in..the weather was crappy and I hadn't brought my gym gear with me to run. Now the weather has cleared up but it's too dark.

Tomorrow I have to do 6 miles. Because of a last minute opening at the Younkers fundraising gig (and my nonwillingness to give up fundraising dollars!), I can't run it with the group. So I'm trying to decide whether to do 4 miles on the trail by my house, drive over to group training quick and just do the last 2 miles with them, or just do my 6 all at once on the trail..which really makes more sense.

This week I do mileage on Sunday, which should help me tremendously. I seem to be happier and more willing to do mileage when I'm home and can be outside. I'm definitely no gym rat. :)

First Team Social

4 miles today. Still walking a little more than running, but it's getting a lot easier! We had our team social tonight and people had some great fundraising ideas. Plus some great food at Hobie's, which I hadn't been to in YEARS. I used to love the place when I worked downtown but they closed and I would say it's been a good 7 years or so since I went to the one near campus.

I have now raised $1382 for the LLS in honor of my uncle. I hope that by May I'm able to surpass my goal of $3700. If you would like to donate, please use the link on the right navigation.

It's a beautiful day!

It's 30 degrees outside! And sunny and windy. To someone in a warm climate that would be cold, but to me right now it's warm enough to break out the bathing suit..ha! I did the 3 mile trail by my house and I'm supposed to do 4 miles tomorrow. I think I'm going to push it to Wednesday unless I do it tomorrow night, because I take the NCLEX in the morning and I'm not going to want to get up early and run..I'm going to want to try and cram as much information in my head as possible! ;) I almost talked myself out of going today but I looked outside and decided that it wasn't worth giving up the sunshine just to be lazy. :)

After a week of unexpected setbacks...

Today was a 4 miler, but I only did just under 3. I have been sick all week with migraine and then food poisoning! I did my 3 miles on Monday and hadn't done anything since. So today I took it easy and walked. However, I'm up to a 3 minute run/2 minute walk interval, and I've picked up my running speed to around 5mph. It seems to help alleviate some of the achiness I was feeling in my joints. Monday this week will be 3 miles and I'll be doing it at the trail by my house. I'm one of those lucky folks who gets the day off on President's Day! But I'm keeping busy taking an exam for school, selling more coupon booklets at Younkers, and going to the dentist! And on Tuesday I take my NCLEX-PN (nursing boards for LPN). I'm N-E-R-V-O-U-S! 'Til next time!

More miles

I did 4 miles this weekend with the Team Playmakers group at Hawk Island Park. It was fun. Very nice wooded trails..I can't wait to run them in better weather. We do part of the run through a cemetery..LOTS of hills, and so my time was a lot worse than what I normally do, but I didn't really time myself too much. I think I was still somewhere in the 13-13:30 min mile range when factoring in my walks. I've realized I shouldn't be so hard on myself. I think my run pace is probably closer to 12 min miles or less, but with the walking I slow down a lot. I'm hoping that in the next month I'll build enough endurance that I can start working on a little bit of speed. I'd like to do the marathon closer to a 12-13 minute mile even with my walk breaks.

I bought a wool t-shirt at our clinic last week. I LOVE WOOL! It keeps me warm and doesn't feel like a wet sock when I'm done. I know wool well because I knit and spin it, but I never, EVER thought of wearing it for exercise. I have a whole new respect for those cute little sheep now. :)

This week is 3 miles 3 days, and then another 4 miler this weekend with the Team In Training group. Then I go do a fundraising thing at Younkers and hopefully get some good donations! :)

Shoes

So I made it through last week on a 4 min walk, 2 min run x 5 repeat training plan. Happily did 2 miles outside on the icy trail by my house in the cold. Rested yesterday and was all geared up to do the same repeat today. And my shoes decided they hate me.

I've loved my Brooks Adrenaline 6's unconditionally. I kept them lovingly out of the dust while they weren't being used. I tried to avoid puddles or anything that might sully them when they were being worn. And what do I get in return? Leg pain. That's right, my beloved Adrenaline's declared mutiny and dumped my foot overboard. Literally.

My left foot was rolling so far out that I had to actually stop in the middle of the track from the pain that started shooting up my leg and hobble over to the stretching area where I could scream in relative peace. After a few seconds I was okay, but I swore at the shoes nonetheless. And then after work I went out and bought Adrenaline 7's.

Now, that might sound crazy, but up until today these shoes worked for me without fail. I think something happened in the left shoe since the last training session I wore them in last week, and even the inserts couldn't save me. So I'm happily looking at my new shoes and looking forward to training tomorrow morning. As long as I don't have to go out in the cold.

First Crazy Post

Well, you've probably reached this site from my Team In Training page. If not, go there and help me out! ;)

My uncle was diagnosed with leukemia last week. So I decided that this year I would stop waffling and join Team in Training. And so, I decided it would be fun to train for the Rock 'N Roll Marathon. Now, I have no intention of running 26.2 miles four months from now, when I can't even run more than 2 right now. However, with 4 months of training I figure I can run/walk it. As someone recently told me, the medal doesn't say "she walked some of it".

So, this is where I'll be posting training updates and the like. Hopefully I'll reach my goal of raising $3700 by May, and hopefully I'll make it to San Diego in June without killing myself! Wish me luck!