Run Day 14 ~ Conquering my Wimpy Tendencies

So I have figured out that I have wimpy tendencies. I've had it all my life, really. As a child, I remember guitar lessons that I was excited about, only to quit when it got a little bit hard. When faced with just about anything hard, I gave up all too easily if there was no one to push me.

It is the reason I am still not at my goal weight. I always want to take the easy route, what's convenient, so I give up on tracking my calories, and I often don't want to go through the trouble to fix a healthier meal, so I wimp out and have something more convenient and less healthy.

To change something, you must be willing to get uncomfortable for awhile. When you're in a certain zone for awhile, you get comfy there, kind of like being in bed all cozy when the alarm goes off. Staying there is easy and comfortable, sure, but you have work to do, things to accomplish, so you make yourself get out of that comfort zone and get going.

I decided yesterday morning that I wasn't going to wimp out on my run when it got a little hard. My daughter was in school and I was stroller-less, so I had it easier. After only about a half-mile, I wanted to stop. But I told myself No. This time I pushed myself and gave myself a pep talk. I had read about one woman's plan to run in a 100-mile race and was so awed by that. I told myself, "If she can run 100 miles, then you can run a measly 3.1 miles with no problem. And today, you can run at least one mile again without stopping." So I pushed myself, and felt myself get stronger and suddenly, it was easier to run again.

I ran nine tenths of a mile (which I thought was one mile at the time), took about a three-minute walk break, then ran another six-tenths of a mile, sprinting the last 100 yards or so. My hamstrings and shins were yelling at me by then, so I decided I had better call it a day and walked the rest of the way home. Foam rolling and stretching will be a must for today, as I am still really feeling it in my hamstrings. Which is a good thing, it means they're getting stronger.

Today if you are faced with a seemingly monumental task that threatens to overtake you, tell yourself to be strong, face it head on, and push through. For me personally, I love having quiet time first thing in the morning where I read my Bible and pray, it is where I draw my Source of strength from.

Don't "just do it." Do it with strength, and do it well.

Run Day 13 ~ One of "those" days

The picture says it all. That's exactly how I felt today after my run. Funny, I didn't even run that far. It was one of "those" run days. If you are a runner, you know what I'm talking about. I could feel it before I even set out to run. I was hoping I was wrong.

My plan was to run another mile without stopping today, then walk for 2-3 minutes and do another half mile, possibly even another mile total. My daughter wound up needing to stay home sick from school again--which I didn't know until after I had woken her up--so part of my running gear would include a non-jogging/out of alignment/wobbly-wheeled/zero shock-absorbing 5-year old Graco stroller, packed tight with 54-lb. girl. I wasn't looking forward to the whole running/pushing/steering hard thing, and was kicking myself for not running when I had woken up earlier this morning at 5:30am.

I decided to try a new route today, one where the road would be "mostly" flat, or so I thought. It didn't help make it any easier, though, because, well, it was one of those days. A half mile seemed more like a mile, and I stopped to walk much sooner than expected.

When I finally ran again, there was a point where I started to feel like I was getting in the groove, but it wasn't long before my body just gave out and I was done. My engine was out of gas. I was so hot and out of breath that I literally leaned over on the stroller for part of the walk back to my van. I decided to call it a day, and made plans to run again this evening, minus the stroller, post husband getting home from work.

When I got back in the van to head home, something happened that has never happened to me before. I could feel my heartbeat pounding hard in the back of my head. Any other runners out there ever experience something like that? I checked my pulse to see if it was too high, but it was fine and sounded normal. But wow, the pounding.

I started having dizzy spells this evening, so maybe my body was indeed trying to tell me to slow down today for whatever reason. I did manage to at least get in ten minutes on the elliptical tonight, dizzy or not. Hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling much better and I can try for another run.

Ironstrength Workout #2 ~ Grunting helps.

Saturday I did the IronStrength workout again, and this time I was able to do more reps on a couple of the exercises! That was a great feeling. But by the time I got to the last exercise, I was totally spent, and was struggling to do that one last rep. Sweat was pouring off of me, my muscles gave out, and I fell down flat on the floor on my stomach, face squished into the floor, breathing like a horse. My daughter was quite concerned and asked, "Mama, are you okay?" That me laugh, because it made me realize just how pathetic I must have looked. I breathed that I was fine, just resting a little before trying to do one last rep. In her sweet voice she said, "C'mon, mama, you can do it!" It is hard to explain what that did for me. I said to her, "You're right. I can." So I got up, and did it indeed.

Grunting helps, by the way. And so does having a little cheerleader.

This time my legs have been even more sore than usual, even after a rest day yesterday. I was still too sore to run this morning. I mainly feel it in my thighs, especially the back of them. Today I'll focus on getting some housework done, do some stretching, and by tomorrow hopefully be good to go again.

I am loving the energy I have today, and hope it continues. I didn't do so great with my food this last week, though, so I'd better start eating much healthier again this week if I want the energy to continue. I'm off to a good start so far today, breakfast was oatmeal with raisins, two scrambled eggs with low fat cheese, and a cup of orange juice. My daughter is sick right now so I'm upping the Vitamin C (hence, the orange juice) in hopes of not catching what she has. I'll also be drinking green tea today.

The last thing I want is to get sick right now, which would put me behind in my running schedule. I'd really love to be able to run the 5K on April 28 without stopping. It would be an awesome feeling of accomplishment after so many months of being "on the bench," watching from the side lines and wanting so badly to be back in the game.

Run Day 12 ~ One mile without stopping. Conquered!

Today I wanted to try running one mile straight without stopping. The farthest I had run prior to that was 1/2 mile straight. My total running time was further than that, but not without walking intervals in-between. My daughter was off from school today for a teacher planning day, so I had planned to get up early and run before my husband went to work. But upon waking at 5am, I found my daughter asleep on the couch in the living room, and when I moved her back to her room, she told me she wanted to go with me on my run, asking if I could push her in the stroller. Her sweet voice won me over, so I went back to bed, and later we set off at about 10:30am. Thankfully it wasn't too hot, and it was windy which helped cool things off.

The first half mile was uphill, and at one point there was a pretty stiff wind. But I welcomed it as a challenge and pushed on. I felt really good today and was surprised that I wasn't winded much at all until I neared the top of the hill. I also discovered something new: that if I got closer to the stroller, it was easier to push and gave me more momentum.

Coming back downhill was much easier, but as it leveled out again, I was beginning to feel it. When the end of the mile began to come into sight, I kept telling myself, "The faster you run, the faster you'll get there, and then you'll be done!" And it worked. I did get there faster. And it felt so good. I did it. YES. So grateful. One mile down, two more (and a tenth) to go.

I thought I would just walk the rest of the way since I knew I'd be doing the killer IronStrength workout again tomorrow morning, but my daughter wanted to get out and walk with me, then wanted to run, so we ran about one tenth of a mile. Then she found a white rock and wanted to play hopscotch, so I drew it out on the sidewalk and we hopped. It was so much fun. I was glad I had taken her with me today.

Run Day 11 ~ IronStrength Workout and 14-minute Run

I want her abs. Okay not her abs, but to have my abs look even close to that would be awesome.

Late Tuesday night, I did the IronStrength workout, and realized that I have a LOT of work ahead of me to attain the level of fitness that I want. When the man directing the workout said for most of the exercises, "I want BEGINNERS to do FOUR sets of 15 reps," I knew I was in trouble. I can barely do ONE set of all those exercises right now, much less four!

One of the exercises that challenged me, among the many that did, was the side plank (as in the picture above). I have a weak core, and it shows.

The deep squats and deep lunges (some with added plyometrics) weren't too hard for me (though again, I could only do one set before my legs were on fire), as well as the plank exercises and the upper body work while balancing on one leg, but when it was time to do full situps, I was in for a surprise. I didn't think it would be hard at all, I had done them all the time as a kid, and besides, the woman doing the demonstration make it look so easy. But when I got halfway up, I got stuck and couldn't go any further. "What in the world?" I thought. "This is crazy. Is my core really that weak?" I thought about putting my toes under the couch to "cheat," but decided not to and instead put my arms straight out to use as leverage and tightened my stomach muscles to make myself sit all the way up. It wasn't easy, and I'm feeling it today, even though it's almost a full two days later.

The full pushups challenged me as well. No surprise there, as I have struggled with them in other workouts. If I do more than one full pushup, I feel like I'm going to die. How sad is that? I had to improvise and do half pushups, and even then, I have difficulty going all the way down (because then I can't go back up, lol).

I SO NEED to do this workout. I refuse to let the fact that it is hard (for me) discourage me from doing it. I must push through until I get stronger.

Yesterday morning, I wasn't sure if I should run, being that I had done the IronStrength workout so late the night before, but with a 5K race coming up in five weeks, I figured I'd better stay on schedule as much as possible. So I ran. It was a good run, and I did better than I thought I would, though I did have to stop shy of my goal of 16 minutes. When I got to 14 minutes, my legs were telling me I had better stop, so I listened.

Today I have been so sore, all over, which is a good thing. It means I worked hard enough Tuesday night and didn't wimp out. I plan to go for a long walk today, then tomorrow morning I want to try and run a full mile without stopping, walk for three minutes, then run another half mile. 

I was thinking about it today and realized that if I want to be able to run a full 5K by April 28 (without stopping to walk constantly), then this week I need to conquer one mile without stopping, then I will have four weeks left, so the following week I want to do 1.5 miles without stopping at least one day that week, then 2 miles the week after that, then 2.5 miles, and finally 3.1 miles (5K) the week of the race, which will give me a chance to run the 3.1 miles at least one time before race day, maybe even two times.

I don't know if my body is quite ready yet to meet that goal, but I'm going to try with everything in me. Wish me luck!

Run Day 10 ~ The Need for Speed

Running fast has its benefits. Yesterday I worked on my speed, the idea of which came from the book, "Run Less, Run Faster," which I scanned briefly at Amazon.com. I plan to get the book, but since I don't have it yet, I'm winging it for now.

After my usual 5-minute brisk warm-up walk, I ran 1/4 mile as fast as I comfortably could. It was quite invigorating, and when it was time to stop, I didn't want to. I wanted to keep going. So after a few seconds of walking, I ran again for about a minute, then repeated. Then it was time to run 1/2 mile, but this time it was uphill. Not a steep hill, but an uphill run nevertheless, and it was much harder to keep up the fast pace. Eventually I had to slow down so that I could keep running.

Then I walked about two minutes, ran another 1/4 mile, walked about three minutes, and then it was time to run the last 1/2 mile. It was downhill this time, and yet, I still found it tough to keep up a fast pace, so I slowed a little in order to be able to finish. For some reason the last half of that run was really tough, I had to push myself to keep going. I tried to remember to have fun, to look at the scenery, and to challenge myself to run "to that light pole," or some other landmark not too far ahead, and then I would look ahead and pick another landmark to run to. As I was nearing the end, I kept telling myself, "Not much further. C'mon, you can do it! You told your daughter to push herself during the Fun Run, now you'd better push YOURself!" I also worked on my breathing, using my diaphragm instead of my chest. And I made it.

16 minutes total of running and 1.5 miles. My pace: 10:39 (if you are new to "paces," it basically means how long it takes you to run a mile). Not a great pace, but it's a start. My goal is to get to at least a 9:30 pace by the day of the 5K race on April 28, which is only 5 weeks and 4 days away now. I'm not sure if I can increase my pace that much by then, but I'm going to try.

Something interesting about yesterday's run was that I was less sore afterward. Running faster actually made me less sore. I did have little mini-leg cramps and mini-charlie horses every now and then throughout the rest of the day and into the night, but none of them were that bad at all, and something new: neither of my knees hurt, and my hips didn't, either. I slept like a dream last night.

Sometime today I hope to have time to do the Ironstrength workout, even if it's later tonight after my daughter is in bed. I don't have the kind of hand weights I need to do one part of the workout, but I will simply skip that one for now until I can get to the store to buy them (hopefully this afternoon while running other errands).

My daughter has been affected positively by my return to running, which I am so thankful for. On my run days, she will ask if I, "did my run" that morning. Then yesterday, on her own initiative, she got on my elliptical machine, reaching as far as her little legs and arms would go, and worked out on it periodically all through the afternoon. She actually did pretty good, too! I wish I could share a picture with you here, but I have chosen not to share close-up pictures of us here being that I decided to make this Blog public (in case there is anyone else out there who might be helped in some small way by this Blog).

Happy Tuesday!

Race Day ~ Lighthouse 5K and 1-Mile Fun Run

 The 5K Race (that I watched and drooled over, LOL)

Note the woman in yellow on the left, more on her in a minute.

Me and my daughter crossing the finish line of the 1-Mile Fun Run

A nearby pier that we walked out on while waiting 

for the races to start. It was a beautiful place for a 5K.

We arrived early on Saturday to register for the Fun Run. There were only children's shirts left, so I asked if they had a child's extra large. They had a medium, which to my surprise actually fit me, though a bit snugly. My daughter played in the park playground there for awhile, then we wandered out onto the pier, then down to the beach for a little while. 

When there were 30 minutes left before the 5K race began, we had made our way back to the park, and I noticed there were some runners that were running circles around the park. I thought that was a bit odd, that they would be warming up 30 minutes in advance, and at a pretty good pace. I could understand warming up for a 5K about 5 minutes beforehand, even 10 minutes before, but 30 minutes? 

Then I noticed something else. Only the men were doing it. All the women were standing around talking (which is what we're good at, of course). I had to wonder: was this just a "man" thing I was seeing? Or was this something that some seasoned runners did?

Anyway, when it was time for the 5K race to start, I wanted to go watch, but my husband and daughter weren't interested, so I walked down to the start line alone with my camera. I watched them take off, then waited for them to make a one-mile loop and come running back past us to run the rest of the route. I observed the ones that were out in front very closely: their pace, their running form, etc. Two things really stood out about the ones who were leading the pack. One ~ they were all very lean. Two ~ they were all very muscular. Age didn't seem to matter. Those two things did.

I saw part of the end of the race, too, mainly the first few runners coming across the finish line. Remember the woman in yellow I mentioned in the caption below the first picture? She came in second overall. Not second overall in her age group, but second overall in the race! A woman beat all the other men except ONE! I thought that was awesome. She wasn't out in front at first, in fact, there were several men in front of her. But I guess as the race wore on, she began to increase her pace. It's too bad I couldn't follow the entire race to see what her exact strategy was.

As I was watching the runners out in front, I dreamed of being there someday. Yes, this 43-year old, inexperienced runner wants to be a top runner someday. Probably a pipe dream. But I'd like to try. I mean, I love running, so why not? I would like to think I'd be happy just doing the very best I can for me. And I will. But I want more than that. I want it so bad I can taste it. Not for the recognition, not to say I beat someone else, but because of the CHALLENGE of it. I LOVE a good challenge. Tell me I can't do something, and I will set out to prove you wrong. LOL.

And then there's the thrill of it, too. It's what will motivate me on those days that I don't think I can run any further. It's something to work toward, to achieve. Maybe I'm competitive by nature? I don't know. All I know is, I dream of coming in first place, even if it's just in my age division, in SOME race, I don't care if it's a ho-dunk, hillbilly, back woods kind of race. Ok maybe hillbillies don't run in 5Ks, but you get my point.

Back to Race Day. As the time drew near for the 1-Mile Fun Run, my daughter suddenly told me she didn't want to run in the race anymore. She had been so excited about it all week, and now she suddenly didn't want to run. But I didn't let her change her mind. I told her we had paid the registration fee to run, and we were going to run, and that was it. I promised her it would be fun, and she seemed to be okay with it then.

She started out great, but it wasn't long before she stopped to walk. All throughout the race, I had to really encourage her, cheer her on, and tell her several times to push herself. At one point, she stopped and said, "I need some water." I told her that water would be waiting for her at the finish line (she drank plenty beforehand). Then another time she stopped and started whining for me to pick her up and carry her. I told her I couldn't, and reminded her that her daddy would be waiting for her at the finish line and would be so proud of her. At hearing that, she took off running again. In the end, she did really well, and I was one proud mama.

Next up will be a 5K race on April 28. This time it will just be me. I certainly don't expect to place in that race, just to finish, and finish strong. 

I worked on my speed during today's run, which I will talk about in my next Blog entry.