August 31, 2004
Not Sure What to Expect
This afternoon I really was not sure what to expect when I went out for my run. I felt this way for several reasons. The first reason was that I really could not sleep last night. I went to bed early and read for a little while, but when I turned out the lamp I just tossed and turned. I probably ended up with a grand total of two or three hours of sleep for the night. One of the big perks of my job is that I get home early and I can take a short nap and still get a decent run in. I tried to nap, but I still could not sleep. This is really unusual for me, I am usually a big sleeper and can fall asleep very easily.
Secondly, I decided to do a back-up long run today. I have not done a longer run during the week since the beginning of June. I took some time off after a big race in mid-June and then had to take some more time off to recover from some aches. On top of that, I'm just getting used to running after work every day. When I'm at work I go up and down the steps about fifty times a day. Sometimes my legs are beat just from doing the steps so much.
Third, I ran my grass loop workout last night. I'm not the strongest runner out there, so running on grass takes a lot out of me. When we run on the track I feel much better the next day.
So I got myself out there. Since I am running in the afternoons and my body is awake I am starting to time my runs again. I started off on the easy side and just ended up picking up the pace as I went along. It has been so long since I did this course that I had no idea what kinds of times I should be hitting when I have to stop to cross the roads, so I really did not have an idea of how fast I was running. I ended up doing 9 miles in 58:30 which is a pretty good time for that course. The humidity finally broke sometime this morning and it was very pleasant while I was running.
My shin/tibia thing felt fine today. I should have called the doctor today no matter what, but I am procrastinating. I will do it tomorrow since I am also concerned that I have not been recovering the same way I usually do. Icing has helped a lot. I notice it is sore when I have to stand too much at work, but it feels fine after I get to rest and sit down.
Posted by Blondie at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2004
Help! I'm suffering from...
Olympics withdrawl. I don't know what I am going to do without the games on every night. I got to watch a little bit of the closing ceremonies, but I had to be in bed early since this morning I needed to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 to get myself ready for work. I can sleep a little bit later, but I would rather have an extra ten minutes than be rushed. Anyhow, I need to get my routine down again. This week at work won't be too bad since most of our students like to set their own schedules, which does not follow the school calendar. It's a short week anyhow, so I really can not complain.
This evening we had a small group for our workout. I guess that the weather scared most people off. The forecast was calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms, but it was mainly just hot and soupy. After a relaxed 2.5 mile warm-up, we went over to the fields. The plan is to work up to doing 30 minutes or more of the 600/200. The first two weeks I did 24 minutes, last week I did about 27 minutes. My plan this week was to do the same number of loops as last week but a touch faster. I figured that should be pretty easy since I tried to hold back last week after my rough weekend. Well, my first problem tonight was that I lost track of how many I did. Then, I went to look at my watch after what I thought was six loops to find that I had forgotten to turn my watch to chronograph and I saw the time! Oh, well. I just did one more loop and called it a night.
My left shin/tibia area feels funny. It does not hurt at all while I am running, but it did feel weird today when I was at work. I asked the nurse to check it and compare it to the other one and she could not feel any difference. I think that I am going to call the doctor tomorrow and set up an appointment anyhow. I might be a little on the paranoid side since it is not debilitating or anything like that, but I don't want it to be something major that I am making worse by continuing to run on it. I also have not had a physical in two years, so it is about time to do that as well. I feel like it's taking me longer to recover from workouts so I would like to have some blood work done. My parents have said that they would pay for it since it is my health and that is important.
Posted by Blondie at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2004
Meb!!!!!
Meb is awesome!! I had very different feelings during the men's marathon than I did while Deena was running. During the women's race I kept thinking is she going to have enough time to make up the distance. By the final three miles today, I was so nervous that I had a hard time watching. He was right there the enire race. He really had guts to get the pack to make a move. I kept hoping that he had something there to win, but it was unbelievable. Two US marathon medals!!! Anyone who says that US distance runners have fallen behind the rest of the world needs to take a look at how well the US ran in both the men's and women's Olympic marathons.
Since I was tired last night and my friend was as well, we were in early. We went to one of the local bars and got a table outside and talked. The nightlife seems to be pretty lame right now since most people around here head to the beach on weekends during the summer. Two glasses of wine and about six glasses of water later we decided that we were tired and needed to head home. My wild and crazy night ended with me in bed before midnight. Due to all of the water I drank I had to get up at 5:30 to use the bathroom and then went back to sleep until about 8:30. I wanted to get back in time to see the marathon and the pre-race stories on NBC.
I must say that I felt much better today than I did yesterday. It is still really sticky around here. I can't wait until this weather goes away and fall comes around. I didn't time this run and just tried to run easy. Whenever I was starting to feel good I made a point to back off. I think that I have been so tired lately that every run feels like a struggle. I saw my cousin and her three kids walking home from church while I was running, so I had to stop for a minute to say hi to all of them. The oldest of her children told me how much he doesn't want to go back to school, but I told him that he is lucky since he still has another week of vacation left. Back home to do some stretching while they showed the story on Geb/Tergat and a quick shower before the start of the race.
My plantar and ankle on my right side feel MUCH better. There is hardly any visible swelling on the ankle and my plantar only feels sore every now and then (like when I don't wear good shoes). Now I think that I am getting to be paranoid because my left shin area feels funny. It doesn't hurt when I run, it almost feels like the skin has been scraped but there isn't anything visible. I figure icing it can't hurt, it's just another part of my body that I put the ice pack on. Since my job took away the insurance we had until at least December when open enrollment starts and they might have another option for us I have been afraid that any little ache is a major injury.
I went out and bought retro Puma sneakers today. We are not supposed to wear sneakers to work, but I am going to tell my bosses that I HAVE to wear sneakers quite a bit because of my various almost foot problems. I don't feel bad everyday, but I want to prevent anything from happening. They also know the way that I usually dress, so my saying that I need to wear sneakers must mean that something is wrong. I could never wear my stinky running shoes to work. I do have a few pairs that I don't run in, but I wanted something that looked cool too.
Speaking of shoes, my favorite shoe of all time is the Mizuno Wave Rider. I have a pair that is only a month old, but these poor shoes have been through the mud so much that they stink so badly I won't bring them inside. I figure in two weeks when we stop running on the grass I will replace them. My poor, poor shoes.
Posted by Blondie at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2004
Getting Older
I really do not think my recovery time is what it used to be. It takes me so much longer to recover from hard runs now that it used. My body is stil lnot very happy with what I tried to do to it last Saturday morning (run too fast with no water). During the week I had pretty good runs mixed with some pretty scary runs. Doing the extra hill repeat on Thursday night seemed to really drain my body as well.
I really did not do anything yesterday. I went to brunch and then went shopping with one of my friends. I did walk around quite a bit while we were shopping, but it was not really substantial. I sat on my behind and watched the women's 10K (which I was a little bit upset with the coverage) and then went out shopping with my mother last night for a bit and walked some more with her. It was a really enjoyable day off, very relaxing. I thought that NBC was going to cover the women's 10K like the men's 10K, but there were so many commercials during it and they didn't even show the start. I was also miffed that they did not show Kate and Elva finish.
This morning I got up for my early morning long run. Fortunately this week was a scheduled cut-back week. My plan was to run 75-80 minutes. The weather was marginally better than it was last Saturday, meaning it was in the mid 70s and very humid as opposed to mid 70s and so humid that you can see the water in the air. I ended up running with a group of seven through a very beautiful historic park with lots of rolling hills. My legs just had no pep. Every step felt like a struggle. I could feel that final hill from Thursday night the whole run. I was prepared this week since I filled two of the bottles for my Fuel Belt and took them along with me. I didn't use either of them, but I felt much better knowing that I had them sitting with me if I needed some water or if anyone else needed some water. In all I ended up with about 11 miles this morning.
I then finished my usual Saturday morning routine. I went to the gym and ran in the pool for 20 minutes and rode the stationary bike for 40 minutes while I read US magazine (I need to keep up on my celebrity gossip just in case I run into someone famous one of these days!). Then I did two sets of upper body weights. The gym was unusally crowded this morning since they just completed renovations and the other branch was closed this morning. By the time I was finishing up things were settling down. It's funny how fifteen minutes can make the difference between not being able to get a bench and having six available benches.
Tonight I am supposed to go out with one of my friends. I seem to get in trouble whenever we go out together (don't go to bed at all, come back to town at 5 AM, etc). I hope that we aren't out way too late tonight since I want to get up tomorrow so that I can see the men's marathon after I run and shower. Don't get me wrong, we always have a good time, BUT I tend to be very tired on Saturday nights due to my extra long workouts on Saturday mornings and that I just take longer to recover from being out all night (another part of getting older).
Posted by Blondie at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2004
Getting Sucked Into the Olympics
Just before I got ready to start writing, I turned the TV on so I would miss as little of the Olympics as possible. Of course the 1500 was on, so I had to watch Carrie run instead of writing. One random comment on the U.S. uniforms: I think that I like the boy style shorts much more than the traditional bun huggers. I think that those shorts would be more comfortable and are more modest.
Onto my running this evening. This was week four of hills. I told my coach how tired and ill feeling I had been the past few days and was not sure if I should add any of the hills this week. His advice was to stay comfortable and treat this week as a cutback week. We think that Monday night was my body trying to recover from dehydration on Saturday. I did the 2.75 mile warm-up and just didn't feel too sharp. The first uphill never feels too hard. After three I was starting to feel really tired, but on the way down from the fourth hill I was feeling pretty good, so I did add one this week and go to five. My total time for the five miles on the hills was 34:45. The hills didn't feel really hard until about halfway up the fifth time. The weather was much more comfortable than it has been the past few weeks, but not nearly as cool as what Alison has been describing. I would guess that the temperature was around 80-82.
My body is definitely looking forward to having the day off tomorrow. Not only is it my day off from running, I also don't have school. This means that I am going to take advantage of sleeping in. I'm planning on going out to breakfast/brunch/lunch with one of the girls and then watching the 10K. I would like to see Paula win it if she chooses to run it. Of course, she is a smart woman and will not try it if she is ill or it will cause her injury. I won't get to sleep very late on Sunday since I want to see the men's marathon. I think that it will be an interesting race with different tactics than the women used since they will have learned from the women. I am looking forward to some great races in the next few days!
Posted by Blondie at 08:12 PM | Comments (1)
August 25, 2004
Sunglass suggestions?
Does anyone have any suggestions for sunglasses to run in? My face is really small and I have a hard time finding shades that aren't way too big for my face. I tried the children's Oakley sunglasses, but they are a touch too small. Thanks for any suggestions!
Posted by Blondie at 06:53 PM | Comments (1)
Hi-ho, Hi-ho, It's Back to Work I Went
Today was my first day of inservice for the 2004-2005 school year. Today was not a very productive day for me at work. Since half of the small staff is new this year, we spent the majority of this morning talking about our school and how things run during the day. For those of us who are veterans, the day was basically a waste of time. As most people in education can confirm, the bulk of inservices are not particularly informative.
Waking up this morning was not easy. I was living in luxury all summer, waking up whenever I wanted most days. I didn't have to be in that early this morning, but waking up early and getting ready instead of lounging around was a shock to my system.
My run this afternoon was pretty uneventful. I felt about five hundred times better than I did yesterday. I did have to hear a golfer to tell me to pick up the pace. That is really one of my pet peeves. First of all, I usually run at a pretty good pace. Second of all, some people can't run that fast. Third, I could have been running slowly for a purpose (recovery run, etc...). My plantar was acting up, but I knew that it probably would. I didn't wear the best shoes to work today and I didn't stretch well yesterday since all I wanted to do when I got home from my run was get some sugar in my system to perk up.
Even though we are not supposed to wear sneakers to work, I think that I'm going to have to tell my supervisors that I have to wear sneakers some days. My feet are not going to be able to handle wearing dress shoes on a daily basis.
Yesterday afternoon I rode the bike for 45 minutes at the gym. I don't think doing that helped my plantar/Achilles/calf tightness. I did ice as soon as I got home from my run this afternoon and I will again tonight while I watch the Olympics.
Posted by Blondie at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2004
Have you ever noticed?
Have you ever noticed that when you are having a bad run, the worst feeling usually sets in at the furthest point from home? This is what happened to me this morning. I don't know what I was thinking trying to get up and run in the morning after how sick I was last night. Since I was having sharp, shooting stomach cramps I could not really eat anything. The little bit I managed to get down did not stay in my body for long, so when I ran this morning I was running off my lunch from yesterday. I honestly do not know how anyone can starve themselves and continue to run well. I had absolutely no energy.
Usually after a workout I do struggle when I try to run the next day in the morning. Today was much worse than I have ever felt. Of course I do know the reason, as I stated above. Even if I had been timing this run, I would have turned off my watch because I could not do anything. If I wanted to feel good, I would have gone in the afternoon after I got some food into my system.
It was much hotter and more humid than I thought it was this morning. The past two days have been very nice, though I still had to run wearing long sports bras since the mid-Atlantic is notoriously hot and sticky in August.
Tomorrow is my first day of work again. I do not know how long I will be able to stay with this job this year. The situation with my employer is not good to put it mildly. I'll be back to a normal schedule starting tomorrow.
On a final note, my elbow is really sore. I ran into a no parking sign last night. I am a klutz. I was talking to someone and we were running two accross on the sidewalk and I smacked my elbow into the sign. Now I have a scratch and a big lump on my poor bony elbow.
Posted by Blondie at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2004
Tummy Troubles
All afternoon my stomach didn't feel right. I have a sensitive stomach and must be very careful about what and when I eat in relation to my running (and just in general). I don't think that I did anything wrong today, but things just didn't feel right. As I sit here writing I am fighting off terrible stomach cramps.
Tonight's workout was the grass fields again. I'll be doing this for a few more weeks, gradually adding more time on each week. This week I did 27 minutes. I ran very conservatively for a few reasons. I really tried to watch where I stepped since my ankle is still on the swollen side and the last thing I needed to do was step in a hole and tear a tendon. The second reason was that Saturday's run was entirely too fast and I still feel pretty beat up. We were definitely running 6 minute pace or faster for quite a bit of the run. In all I ended up with between 9 and 10 miles for the night.
I'm starting to think about what races I'd like to key in on for the fall. I do some and train right through them since they end up being more like workouts than races and others have a cutback since they are considered peak races.
I'm off to lay down and hope these cramps go away.
Posted by Blondie at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
Protein
I was watching a sports nutritionist from Temple on TV this morning talking about foods athletes need to eat. She was comparing what an Olympic athlete needs to eat compared to what a child athlete needs to eat. I know that I don't train at the same level as one of the Olympic runners, but I do know that my training is closer to that than an average person.
Some of what she said confused me. She said that you need carbohydrates to refuel. I do know that. She also said that about 70% of a high level athletes calories should come from carbs. I though that protein helped to rebuild and refuel. She then said that Olympic level athletes need 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight. Again, I don't train at quite that level, so I though maybe 0.8 grams of protein for each pound, but that still sounds like a lot.
I don't think that I ever come close to that much protein. I have added more protein rich foods and powder to my diet. I don't eat any meat because I don't like the way it tastes and I end up getting sick from it, so I don't get the benefits of the meat. I also don't care for the taste of nuts either, so I really struggle to get protein.
I am working on drinking more water. Starting Wednesday, the day I go back to work, I will definitely be better about it since I walk around with my Nalgene bottle all day and try to drink at least two of it during work hours.
Posted by Blondie at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2004
Inspirational
Is the best word I can think of to describe Deena's race. I almost wanted to go out and run again, almost. I was hoping that Paula Radcliffe would be able to pull through and do something ahd that Jen Rhines would do well since she is a local girl. Deena appeared to run a very smart and well executed race.
I woke up this morning to absolutely beautiful weather. It was one of those days that I wish I did my long runs on Sunday since it was cool and dry rather than hot and sticky like it was yesterday. I could barely put one foot in front of the other and really felt like death for the entire run. I felt like I was plodding along. It's funny how now that I've been running faster 7:30 pace feels like I'm dragging my feet. I had to pay for my dehydration issues yesterday.
My right ankle definitely has a minor sprain. It doesn't hurt to run on it or walk around unless I'm out for a long time. I'm trying to stay off it as much as I can and to take care in icing it.
Beth's entry from yesterday about her stomach got me wondering if my usual circumstances apply to anyone else. On the day of my long run I really don't feel hungry, but the next day my stomach is a bottomless pit. I haven't really been able to figure it out and didn't know if this happened to other people.
I was stoked that NBC showed the entire marathon, I really thought that they would cut to other events. Maybe they'll have an interview with Deena during prime time soon!
Posted by Blondie at 07:14 PM | Comments (1)
August 21, 2004
Water is a Good Thing
Of course, as I wrote earlier, I do not drink nearly enough of it. Today was a prime example of this fact. I didn't drink nearly enough yesterday. I tried to drink some at night to make up for it since I run early on Saturday mornings. I don't like to drink too much at night because I end up having to wake up and go to the bathroom and then can't fall asleep again all the time.
I also don't plan ahead. After last Saturday's long run where I wanted water you would think that I would bring my CamelBack or Fuel Belt with me this morning. Nah... I just went. Of course I did think that I would be back at my car around an hour so that I could get some water then. It turned out that two other people wanted to run about an hour and a half so we did the same course as last weekend. Well it was hot and humid, if the air was any thicker I don't think that it would have gotten into my lungs. We were flying, as in we were at least five minutes ahead of the pace that we ran last week. At this point (around 53 minutes) I wanted water. I know that there is a hose about 2 1/2 miles from here where we sometimes get water but when I got there the hose was gone!!! I had to stop and walk some here because my head was starting to feel funny. I know that stopping to walk because of dehydration is much better than trying to run through it. I did run again for a while but about 1 1/2 miles from the parking lot I was starting to feel dizzy so I stopped again. I regrouped and jogged in to finish. Needless to say I was dropped, but I still managed 13 miles in 91 minutes.
All of the aches and pains feel better today. I think that I did have a very minor ankle sprain. It really did not look nearly as swollen this morning. My arches felt tired at the end of my run again, but I think that I'm going to be going through that for a while since I have not been running as long for a few months.
After I guzzled 40 ounces of water and talked with a few of the other runners, I went off to the gym. I ran very leisurely in the pool for 20 minutes and then used cold water in the shower on my legs when I got out. I rode the stationary bike for 40 minutes. I really don't think that I get anything out of it because I just read trashy magazines and hardly break a sweat. I tried to stretch well and used the thera-bands. I was pretty tired, but I did my barebones lifting routine and got out of dodge.
I really need to do laundry. I'm out of my running clothes. I really have lots of running clothes, but I'm getting down to the shorts that I don't like to wear as much. My shorts need to have a snug liner. Length is also a big issue, I hate the really long shorts, but a lot of the shorter shorts are too short on me because my legs are too long for my body (that was a lot of shorts in one sentence!) I think that I only have one long sports bra left too. I'll run in a short sports bra if it is REALLY hot, but I don't really like to have my stomach hanging out. I like to hang my laundry outside but I think that it is going to rain so I might have to dry it on the drying rack.
Posted by Blondie at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2004
I was impressed...
With NBC's coverage of the men's 10,000 this afternoon. When the commentator announced that there was a delay at the track, I thought "great, they'll show the start of the race and then cut to the regular programming". I was so impressed that they did not go to the local news AND they showed the race without any commercial breaks!! It would be nice if they'd do that during the marathon, but I don't think that many people would be happy.
I was going to do some crosstraining today. My legs feel suprisingly fresh after hill repeats last night. The spot that I twisted on my foot, it isn't really the ankle, is still swollen so I thought it would be better to just rest it and ice a lot. It doesn't hurt when I walk or run on it, so I guess that it is OK to keep running as long as I pay attention to it. My dad is telling me that I definitely did something to it because there is visible swelling.
I have my long run on tap for tomorrow. I'm not sure exactly how far I'm going to run. It really depends on who else shows up. I don't think many of the marathoners are coming and almost everyone else is around an hour, so I'll probably run with them for the first hour and then tack on after that. I'd like to be around 13 again this week. I have a half-marathon coming up in 4 weeks. Originally I wanted to have at least three runs of at least 16 miles heading into it, but I think that I'll have to be happy if I get one in. I should have leftover fitness from this spring.
On Sunday I have to get going earlier in the morning so I can have my run in and be showered and clean by the time the marathon starts. It isn't like I stay in bed all day, but I have to be a little bit more structured this weekend so that I don't miss any of the coverage.
Posted by Blondie at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2004
Strong Night
Thursday nights are longer intervals or hills depending on the time of year. Right now it is hill time. We'll do repeats on the same hill for six or seven weeks, depending on how many Thursdays fall during August. The further we get in we add some on. I don't ever remember doing more than six of these. One of the new men asked me when they get easier, I had to tell him that these hills never get easy. My goal is to feel strong on the way up the hill and stay relaxed and not overrun the downs. Last week I did 4 in 27:30, I was told to only do 4 again this week. My goal was to run a touch faster. On this hill if you run a little bit faster you can definitely feel it.
So we warmed up almost three miles. We get to the hill and go off about 10 seconds apart so that there isn't a herd of people running up the hill when cars are driving up and down it. I was one of the first to go off since I was thinking "the sooner I get started the sooner I'm finished". Did I mention that the humidity was about 100% this afternoon? So I go up the first time, trying to feel relaxed. This one feel pretty easy, but the first one never feels too bad. Halfway up the second time my stomach starts really gurgling. I feel good coming down. Onto number three, stomach is still gurgling. Whenever I do more than 3 intervals of anything, I choose one to "slack" on. This is the interval where I try to relax, hopefully maintain my pace and then come back strong. The third hill is the one that I picked to slack on. Yippee, I'm on the last hill. My stomach really is not liking me now, I'm burping and just trying to get to the top to turn around. I made it!! Now all I have to do is run down. Well, when I got to the bottom and stopped my watch I finally understood why I thought I was going to die going up the last two times. I did the course in 27:00, much faster than last week and probably quite a bit hotter and more humid.
Now onto the warmdown, which includes about a half mile of steep uphill back. Of course it is also the first half mile. I was running with two of the guys and we got going way too fast until I mentioned that I was going to slow down. Whenever I get talking with people the I forget that the pace is supposed to be slow.
By the time I finished I looked like I had jumped into a pool. I only had on shorts and a sports bra and everything was absolutely soaked. I sweat quite a bit. I know that I need to get better about drinking water. When I'm working I'm much better than when I am at home most of the time. Since I had to go to the grocery store to pick up a few things I had to change out of my running clothes on the street which is so much easier in the summer than in the winter.
I took my version of an ice bath, which is just sitting in cold water in the bath tub for 10 minutes. I have noticed that my legs feel much better after I do that. I also figured out the root of the outside of my right foot pain. I tried to run on grass some on Sunday morning and stepped in a ditch and turned my foot and then did it again several times on Monday when we were running on the fields. When I looked at it today, the right foot is definitely swollen. Since I've been running on it without pain for the past two days, we decided that it would be OK to run on it and to make sure I continue to ice it at night.
Now I must devote my energys to watching the gymnastics, I don't know what happened yet!
Posted by Blondie at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)
Tight Legs
For almost a month now I've been struggling with a series of not quite injuries. Last night before I went to bed my right calf was so tight I could actually see a knot in it. I did a pretty good job of trying to work it out with The Stick and a tennis ball, but it is still on the tight side. My legs usually aren't tight, in fact the massage therapist usually comments that she can't believe that I'm a runner because my legs are usually so loose. My piroformis tends to get tight, but a nice elbow in the butt usually cures that.
I've tried to be diligent about stretching and using The Stick lately. Does anyone have any ideas other than going to the massage therapist weekly (which by the way is not really in the budget unless it is absolutely necessary). The other problem with going weekly is she works so deep that I can't run afterwards and as I mentioned earlier, I really can not run in the morning before I go to work.
All of the rotating problems on my right foot feel fine this morning as does the funky knee thing. I decided yesterday to not go to the gym to do anything. I took a little bit of the advice that I tell everyone else that the aches and pains are my body telling me that I need to rest and just iced and stretched a little bit at home while I watched the Olympics on TV.
Posted by Blondie at 10:07 AM | Comments (2)
August 18, 2004
So Tired
I know I mentioned this earlier, but I always seem to be exhausted. At the moment I do have the luxury of not needing to get up early in the morning, but it is only for another week until I have to go back to work. I will admit that I stayed up too late last night watching the gymnastics, but I could not drag myself out of bed for anything this morning. I never sleep really late even when I have the opportunity to, but this morning I could not wake up at all. I finally got myself out of bed and was watching Today on the couch and fell back asleep. By the time I was awake enough to do anything it was almost 10 o'clock! I'm starting to get worried about what I am going to do next week when I have to start getting up at quarter till six.
Yesterday afternoon I went for a run in the pool. I had the embarassing situation of a man thinking I was someone else. I must have about eight lookalikes in the area! I ran for half an hour in the deep end. I've been doing my pool running wearing a vest, but I wanted to try to run without the vest this time. My plan was to do the first 20 minutes wearing the vest and the last ten without it. When I took off the vest I could not keep my head above the water. I always wore the vest because I was such a serious swimmer when I was younger that I have a tendency to lean forwards and swim rather than staying upright and running. I put the vest back on for the last ten minutes since I didn't want the lifeguard who was not paying attention to any of the swimmers to think he needed to save me.
This morning I went for a shorter run since I am trying to build back to my usual mileage. Once I got moving I was feeling good and the thought of doing my usual loop entered my mind. After a moment of thinking, I decided it was better to leave my run at five miles, not seven. I wasn't truly injured, but I have been nursing some aches and soreness and I don't want to overdo it. I don't have any courses that are shorter than 7 miles from my house other than the 2 miles to the light and back. I decided to go out to the light and then added a big loop of the neighborhood and then do the 2 miles back from the light for a total of just over 5. I'm not sure how fast I was running since I was just going by feel today. You'll start to notice that I sometimes take a very relaxed approach to my runs. Don't get me wrong, at other times of the year I am much more concerned with time.
I was going to do another pool run today, but when it seems that the outside of my right knee feels weird after each time I run in the pool. Running makes it feel normal again. I might go to the gym this afternoon and do lots of stretching and light lifting. Or I might not do anything. If I listen to my body like I tell everyone else to I should rest. I am definitely looking forward to Friday. I think that I need a complete day of rest instead of a cross training day, but I will have to see how I feel tomorrow night.
Posted by Blondie at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2004
Suprising Morning
Yesterday I wasn't sure if I wanted to run in the morning or the afternoon today. I like to run in the morning, but it takes me a while to get going. I have a hard time waking up and going right out the door to run. I feel so stiff and tight and the run usually ends up being miserable. Without fail, I tend to feel miserable when I try to run in the morning after I run workouts the previous night. On the other hand, since I tend to feel good in the afternoons, I end up running way faster than I hope to on my easy days.
I made a compromise this morning. I woke up this morning and just walked around for a bit and then went out to run after I had been up for a while. By the time I went out the door it was almost 10, but the weather gods are cooperating today and it isn't too hot or humid, actually it is very pleasant weather for August.
In the summer I usually don't time most of my runs. My friend M. tells me I should, because "How do you know if you're running too fast on your easy days?" I get obsessed with the time. After doing a workout last night, going to bed, then running in the morning-my run is not going to be fast, I'm tired! If I want to run easy, I don't even wear my watch.
This morning was strange. After about a mile I started to feel really good. I tried to hold myself back, but when I crossed the highway I was feeling really good so I gradually picked up the pace. I was probably running somewhere around 6:40s. On my way home I saw a friend of the family who is selling a house in the area, so I stopped and talked to her for a while. I know that I was out for just under an hour and I stopped for quite a bit to chat. I probably covered my seven mile course in about 47 or 48 minutes, which is good for a morning run after a workout.
I hope to run six days this week. Tomorrow will probably be a short day since I am still nursing my foot. I can't even go to a doctor for it. The first reason is the aches keep moving. What can I tell the doc, one day it hurts here, the next day that feels fine but this hurts, etc. The other reason has to do with insurance (part of why I need to find a new job). I might run in the pool a bit this afternoon. I don't count that as a workout, I call it my therapy. Tomorrow I'll do more in the pool at a higher intensity.
Posted by Blondie at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2004
Muddy Monday
I don't like running on grass. I don't like running on trails. I like to run on the track or roads. I'm a klutz, I have allergies, and I can't see very well. I've been known to trip over my own feet on many occasions. All of these things add up to why I don't like our Monday workouts for August/September. We do grass loops, but with the Bonnie and Charley rains the loops were really pretty muddy.
The loops are supposed to be 800 meters with a 600 push and a 200 float. For some reason, I think that this loop has the shortest 200. I'm usually a pretty good judge of distance and I think that this is only about 170 meters. Whatever it is doesn't really matter because these are not supposed to be run like track 600s. The idea of this part of my training is strength. I am not a "strong" runner. Tough hills and grass are hard for me. The coach says the whole point of what I'm doing is so that I can run faster on the roads and track when I get off of the grass and hills.
Tonight was the usual 2 1/2 mile warm-up, 24 minutes of the grass loops and then 2 1/2 mile warm-down. I felt good enough. The outside of my right foot hurt some during the warm-down. This is starting to worry me since I hardly ever have aches and pains. I'm going to ice it some more. I'm trying to work my way up to doing ice baths after workouts. I only managed to sit in cold water for about 5 minutes when I got home.
I haven't decided if I want to run in the morning tomorrow or in the afternoon. Each has benefits. I only have another week when I'll be able to run in the morning before school starts again (I work as a guidance counselor, but I am looking for a new job). There will be more on reasons for looking for a new job at a later time. Since I have to be in school by 7 in the morning, running before work just is not an option for me, I need too much sleep.
On a related note, is anyone else always tired. I get 8 to 9 hours of sleep each night, but I am always tired during the day. I guess that some of it could do with my poor eating habits and pushing myself so hard.
Posted by Blondie at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)
Trying to be Better
I have been working this year on a few aspects of my life that relate to my running. The first area is strength. I have been making an effort to get stronger this year. It has actually been going quite well. I do more than just lift. I have been doing body weight work and have really worked on my core. For the first time in my life I am seeing a semblance of a six pack. Based on my genes I will never have a truly cut stomach. I also have an extremely short torso, so it just looks kind of squished.
The other area I have really tried to work on is my eating habits. In a word they are...bad. I do not particularly like to eat. I don't like most foods, and the things I do like do not have many redeeming qualities. My favorites are coffee, diet Pepsi, cereal, and sweet candy. I have a tendency to get sick after eating, so I have negative associations with food. I eat because I have to, not because I like it. This year, in my efforts to eat better I have put on some weight. I really do not have an eating disorder, but I am making an effort to slowly lose some of the weight that I have put on. Most of my clothes still fit, but some are tighter (meaning they actually fit). My main issue is that I am not running quite as well at this weight. I am a few pounds heavier than the weight where I tend to run my best. I feel like I am putting forth more effort to get the same results. I am trying to cut out some of the junk that I like and replace it with healthier alternatives that are not quite as empty.
Posted by Blondie at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2004
Getting Back to Normal
I am slowly building back to my normal running. I feel like such a slacker when I read all of the other blogs. I NEVER run twice a day. I always take a day off from running, every week. I know that my body would fall apart if I tried to do doubles and that I would burn out without my day off every week. My weekly mileage seems so slow compared to everyone else.
This, as I was last week, I ran 5 days. I have been building back from my break after a key race early this summer and my trying to avert real injury. My plantar hardly bothers me now and the other pains I was complaining about seem to have subsided for the time being. I managed to get 45 miles of running in this week along with about an hour of pool running. I hope to build up to my usual 55ish in the next two weeks, but if my body is breaking down I might need to chill for a bit longer.
I have no problem telling other people to listen to their bodies and rest when they need it, but when it comes to myself it is a real problem. I feel like I'm being lazy if I don't run on a day that I am supposed to run. I am a perfect example of "do as I say, not as I do". I know that I always feel better the day after my day off since I am rested, but I do not want to be taking more days off than I run. Of course, I would much rather take an extra day off than end up not being able to run at all.
Time to watch more of the Olympics!! I don't know what I'm going to do when the Olympics are over, I am addicted to watching (but it is better than some other addictions).
Posted by Blondie at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
Sleeping In Sunday
I slept until almost 9:00 this morning which is very late for me. I stayed up way too late last night watching the Olympics. Michael Phelps is absolutely amazing in the water. I wanted to see the women's 400 free relay but I was falling asleep before they broadcast it, so I went to bed. Since it was raining pretty hard when I went to bed, I planned to sleep in because I do not enjoy running in the rain when I don't have to.
Since I do my long runs on Saturday and workouts on Monday, my Sunday run is one of my easiest runs of the week. I took my time and didn't care when I didn't get the walk symbol where I have to cross the highway. I ran a very easy 7 miles this morning. It was extremely humid since I didn't get moving until almost 10. I can't run right after I roll out of bed, I have to take some time for my body to wake up. I make a real effort on Sunday to make sure I don't push the pace at all because I'll end up paying for it tomorrow night.
When I got home from my run I made some coffee and worked on icing and stretching. Like Alison, I am trying to take better care of myself with the "little things". Usually I would just get in the shower and go on with my day, but I have noticed that I feel better if I ice any of my aches and take some time to stretch out right after I run.
Posted by Blondie at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2004
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Thursday night the rains held off enough for me to get my workout in. This time of year, the group I run with does "strength building" workouts versus track workouts. So on Thursdays we do hill repeats. We warmed up just shy of 3 miles and then met at the bottom of the hill. We divided into two groups (one faster and one slower). The slower group went off a minute before the faster group got started. The hill starts with about 300 meters of flats followed by 500 meters of steep climbing. This hill is never ending and gets steeper at the top. I ended up doing 4 repeats all by myself. I was the only girl in the group. I was really happy with how I ran these hills. I didn't time each loop, only the whole workout since the goal is to feel strong going up the hill. I did the 4 miles of hills in 27:30. Any time that I average under 7 on these hills I'm happy. We warmed down the almost three mile course that we ran for the warm up. Then we had a little bit of a party with beer, soda, watermelon.
I always take one day a week off. Well, not always, but at least 50 weeks out of the year, I do not run on Fridays. I might do some cross training, but I feel like I need the rest. So I went to the pool and ran in the water for about half an hour to loosen up my legs after the hills.
Saturdays are my marathon days. I do my long runs on Saturday mornings. This morning I was running with one of the high school boys who has been training with us over the summer. The rains from Bonnie/Charley held off so it was just really humid and drizzled a little bit. We did a course that is somewhere between 13 1/4 and 13 1/2 miles with a nice 2 1/2 mile hill that just never seems to end. We started out really easy and after about half an hour we started to pick up the pace. About two miles from where we finish all I could think of was that I wanted water. We didn't put any out and there really isn't anywhere to find some where we were. Anyhow, we finished in 1:36 which wasn't too bad. After that I went to the gym and ran in the pool for 20 minutes to loosen up, rode the stationary bike for 40 minutes and then lifted.
The right side of my body is all out of whack. My plantar fascia was bothering me, then somewhere on the side of my foot where people get bunions is sore, now the outside of my right foot is hurting up into my ankle and the outside of my right knee is sore. I'm not sure what is going on. I ice constantly and have been taking lots of Advil and I'm trying to stretch more. Right now it feels more like the bone in my heel hurts, not the tendon. If any of you have ideas, please help!!
I'm going to watch more of the Olympics now, since the swimmer in me still enjoys watching the swimming even if I don't want to do it anymore.
Posted by Blondie at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)
A Little Bit of History
Hi there. I thought that I would start with a little bit about myself. I'm a 27 year old single female (gosh, it sounds like the start of a personal ad). I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I've been running off and on since I was 14. I ran cross country and track in high school, but I didn't care too much about how I did. As long as I was on varsity, I was happy. I also swam competitively in high school. I ran one year of D3 cross country and absolutely hated the program. My teammates were not very nice and I didn't really get along with the coach. I swam all four years I was in college and would run a little bit in the off season to stay in some kind of shape.
After I graduated from college I was a gym rat for almost a year. I did the elliptical machine and the stairclimber and ran a little bit. I went on vacation to London and when I came back there was an ad in the newspaper that the local half-marathon was that Sunday. I decided that even though I was not in any kind of shape to run that distance I was going to do it. I started to run more seriously later that spring when I was 23.
Since then I started to care about my running. Like many of the other bloggers here, my eventual goal is to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon. Unlike most of you, I do not have any plans to run another marathon this fall. In fact, I don't want to run one again until the fall of 2006. I'm trying to take my time and work on getting stronger and faster, gradually. Hence my title, The Long Run.
I have done three marathons with three distinctly different feelings upon completion. One was great, one I was lucky to finish, and the third made me say that I've been there and done that, but I don't want to do it again. My PRs at other distances indicate that I am capable of coming close to the trials. I would like to drop some time off all of them so far, but I've run 17:53 for 5K, 29:57 for 5 miles, 37:49 for 10K, 61:45 for 10 miles, and 1:21:40 for 1/2 marathon. My marathon times leave something to be desired, but I'm still learning about the race.
Posted by Blondie at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)