Week 7 Part 2

Thursday: either 35 or 40 minutes on the elliptical--can't remember now. And I think I did a whole two sets on a single weight machine.

Friday: 45 minutes of yoga

Saturday: 8-mile run! Though I had one walk break I am extremely pleased with how this run went. I ran 1.25, and then had to stop to walk because of the weird uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. I walked .25, drank some water, and then went back into my run--and ran the entire remaining 6.5 miles! I did slow down briefly at both miles 4 and 6, to grab a quick drink, but both times were literally for only about .02 miles. So I don't really count those as breaks. And the last quarter mile I kicked up the speed and finished super strong. I spent over an hour yesterday culling my running playlist and adding new songs and I think the fresh content made a huge difference on this run--every time I was feeling tired a new song would come on that was just right to run to and I was able to convince myself to just run through this one song, and by the time the song was over the desire to stop had passed. And again--this run didn't feel inordinately long, as I know it did last time around. So overall I feel really good about my progress and preparedness!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Only 6 weeks to race time! :)

Week 7 Part 1: Running is Hard!

I've been struggling through my runs lately. My stomach feels, not exactly crampy, but not exactly right whenever I run. It's just not comfortable and makes it hard to enjoy running at all. I'm doing my best, but my recent runs have been more liberally peppered with walk breaks than I'd like...

Monday: 3-mile run. I can't remember now if I ran the whole 3 miles at once. I think I did a half-mile walk afterwards too. Watched one of Nadal's US Open matches--his service seemed off but he hit some killer shots!

Tuesday: nada.

Wednesday: supposed to be a 4-mile run. What I did instead: 1/2-mile walk, 1-mile run, 1/2-mile walk, 1.5-mile run, 1/2-mile walk. Pretty lame. I almost didn't run at all, though, so it could have been worse.

Training Day Uh-Oh!

Oops.

So, I played tennis this evening.  I was goofing around and I threw out my back.

I'm not feeling so well.

Training Day ??: Feeling Poopy and Drained

26 August 2008 / Distance: 3 mi / Time: Approx 26:20

I think the trip to Mexico blasted my running progress.  My most recent runs have been slow and extremely laborious.  My times have been at least a minute slower than prior to the Mexico trip.  This morning, I was supposed to do 4 miles, but I was barely able to muster a 3 miler.  Joel suggested that I cut the run short after glancing at me at the halfway mark.  Yikes - I must have looked like I was struggling.  I came home so sweaty and exhausted it looked like I jumped into the ocean.  I just want to get back to the way things were -- I guess I just have to be patient and start from scratch.

Week 8: Part 2

Thursday: about 45 minutes of yoga
Friday: 30 minutes on the inclined elliptical, 2.5-mile run, .5-mile walk, strength circuit
Saturday: 5-mile run, 1-mile walk

Today's "long" run felt long indeed. I felt really, really tired by about Mile 4.5 and started thinking about how Mile 6 of the half marathon is at about a 45-degree angle. Zoinks! I've still got the fear of 13.1 in me for sure. But as soon as I start walking, as I did after the 5 miles today, I start thinking I'd rather be running than walking--it's harder, but it's so much faster! So, I'm hoping that if nothing else the sheer boredom of walking will keep me from doing too much of it during the actual race.

Week 8: Part 1

Scheduled workout for Monday: 4-mile run; strength circuit
Actual workout on Monday: 1.75-mile run, .25-mile walk, 2.25-mile run, .25-mile walk; 2 sets each on 3 weight machines

Scheduled workout for Tuesday: yoga
Actual workout on Tuesday: cleaned out my desk drawers; read a book

Scheduled workout for Wednesday: 4-mile run
Actual workout on Wednesday: 4-mile run! yeah! I was not feeling well at all before this run and went to the gym planning to walk the whole thing. Once I got there I figured I'd just start out running and see how far I could go; being the contrary person that I am, the total lack of pressure to run resulted in a perverse boost of confidence and the smoothest run I'd had in a while. I listened to Fleetwood Mac and watched Olympic Men's Volleyball while I ran. The volleyball was pretty entertaining. The team invariably gathers for a huddle/group butt-pat/squeeze after every point. I know the women's team doesn't do this--a round of high-fives seems to suffice for them. But for the men it's apparently an integral part of the action. Honestly I think if I'd done a second-by-second breakdown of the match, there would have been more seconds of huddling and butt squeezing aired than actual game play. At one point two of the dudes even appeared to be executing an elaborate waltz. In the end, the U.S. team lost. Too many butt pats? Too few???

Weeks 9 and 10: Training? What Training?

Date: 17 August 2008 / Distance: 7 mi / Time: 62:00

My training schedule has been screwed up since returning from Mexico.  I spent most of my time recuperating from food poisoning.  I was in the Outer Banks a couple weeks ago and ran a couple times on the beach.  Everything was great until I was hit with Food Poisoning Part II in North Carolina.  Just in case you didn't know, spoiled shrimp is bad for the GI tract.  Oh - wait, and then I was hit with Food Poisoning Part III the following week because I ate moldy bread.  Luckily, I was able to do my long 6 mile run before the worst of the food poisoning hit.  Yesterday was my first day back running after Food Poisoning Part III.  I hope everyone else is having more luck with their training schedule.  I know a few of us have been plagued with injuries.  My best advice to you is to steer clear of dirty shrimp and moldy bread.

Week 9

Busy, busy day! A quick recap of my workouts this week:

Monday: 3-mile run, half of my strength circuit (I've been feeling extremely lazy about strength training the past couple of weeks).

Tuesday: a halfhearted 30 minutes of yoga

Wednesday: 4-mile run

Thursday: 40 minutes of cross-training on the elliptical; a glance into the weight room on my way out the door

Friday: another halfhearted 45 minutes of yoga

Saturday: 7-mile run. Oh lordie lou--this was a toughie. I woke up at 6am thanks to the prowling cat and headed out to the gym around 8:00, feeling a little skeptical because my stomach was rumbling pretty badly. Got to the gym, stretched a bit, switched on the old ipod--and it promptly died. My spirits sank. 7 miles with my huffing and puffing and gurgling stomach as the only accompaniments? I ran 2 miles, then started getting twinges of cramps in my sides. I slowed down and walked about 1/8 mile, then went back into a run, feeling pretty pessimistic. At mile 3, the cramps were back, so I walked another 1/8 mile, at this point almost certain I would not be able to finish. By mile 3.5 I hit something of a groove and ran through to Mile 5.5; at that point the cramps were nagging me again so I walked one more 1/8 mile, then finished up the run. I can't say I finished strong, but I finished, and with all my issues only ended up walking about 3/8 of a mile, so it could have been worse. Still--I MUST make sure the ipod is charged for next time--I really needed the distraction!

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Recap: Weeks 12-10

Our Mexican vacation was everything Running Girl described and more. Our exercise for the week consisted of one walk on the beach, one 16-mile bike ride, and one 24-minute run, followed by a whole lot of stumbling to and from the bathroom, with intermittent periods of lying down and groaning. Good stuff.

So Week 12 was a bit of a wash. I missed that week's middle (4-mile) and long (5-mile) run and instead watched a lot of movies, ate mashed potatoes and swilled Gatorade.

Week 11, thankfully, was slated as a recovery week anyway, and I really needed it. I don't remember what I did on Monday, but it wasn't much. Possibly a 2-mile run. Tuesday I either stretched a bit or did nothing. Wednesday I ran 2 miles and walked a bit. Thursday I did nothing again. Friday I was feeling about 80% better, though still really fatigued, and I did 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical, ran 3 miles, and did my weight circuit. Saturday was a lovely 2 mile run + 3 mile walk, which I happily completed. My legs were actually pretty sore after all that walking!

Week 10 dawned much brighter than the previous two and I was able to stop dreading the prospect of exercise quite so much. Plus it was a pretty easy week, with only 3 runs:

• Monday: 15-minute elliptical warm-up, 3-mile run, strength circuit
• Tuesday: 40 minutes of yoga
• Wednesday: some sort of warm-up I don't remember, 2-mile run
• Thursday: 35-minute cross-train on the elliptical, strength circuit
• Friday: 1 hour of yoga
• Saturday: 6-mile run, 1/2-mile walk

Today is the first day I've actually felt ~great~ since we got back from Mexico, which was pretty helpful for this morning's run. The 6 miles felt really easy, especially considering I hadn't run that long of a distance in quite a while! I felt tired at the end but not wiped out, and I didn't have the feeling I'd just completed a major run or anything; it felt like a pretty average-length, reasonable run, which was awesome.

I can't believe summer's almost over. 4 weeks 'til school starts again; and only 9 weeks to marathon time! :)