It's been two weeks since my last post and I know my four followers are probably worried about me. It has been a busy couple of weeks. I am working hard at work and school. Oh ya, and running. :-) There is a big difference in the amount of running I have done this September compared to last September.
I tried out my new trail shoes and they were great. I loved the bigger size and didn't feel like my toes were pressing against the end of my shoes when I was going down hill. I also felt better in general and even ran some parts of the trail. It felt so much better than any of my runs the week before so my husband was right. I needed to take a break. Glad I did because the last two weeks have been much better. We tried out a new trail that started out on Highway 99 by the Adair gate and met up with the Nettleton loop we have done before. We passed part of the Peavy Arboretum and the whole trail was really beautiful.
It was a little rainy when we went on the hike but the leaves haven't gotten serious about falling yet so we didn't get wet with all the tree cover.
Self image is such a funny thing. I know that I'm looking better and getting healthier every day. I'm trying to be more willing to have my picture taken because I don't want to be the person who never does because of how I look. But I will be honest. It is hard for me to look at pictures of myself. I see chubby legs, flabby arms and a poochy stomach. This makes my husband so frustrated with me. He hates it when I pick at my looks. I know that's not what other people see. It's an area that I'm really working on now. I see the positive in everyone else, I need to be more willing to see the positive in myself.
My next three runs were just three mile runs. This was what my training plan calls a recovery week. All three runs went very well. The first had an average pace of 11'47, the second was 12'09 and the third was 11'46! Wow! All the defeat and frustrations that I felt the week before were annihilated! This is a serious improvement in my speed and I was very stoked. Saturday I had to do a 7.5 mile run and I was a bit nervous about how it would go, especially since I hadn't run my long run the week before.
That run was excellent. I had a consistent pace and felt really good the whole time. My average pace was 12'18! I have never done a run that far with a pace that low. I have to say I did a little happy dance when I got home.
This past week was a little rougher. My Monday run was a four mile run and I had an average pace of 11'49" which I think is the fastest I have ever done for that distance. That felt pretty good. I also liked that I had a really steady pace. I wasn't slowing down and then speeding up to try and make up for it. I just trucked along.
Tuesday was a long day at work and I was really tired when I got home. I was supposed to do five miles with a 1-2% incline. It was pouring down rain and I didn't want to run in it and I just couldn't bring myself to run on the dreadmill so I didn't do my run.
Wednesday I got up early and did my swim. It felt pretty good. I did 750 yards in 25 minutes. The first 500 felt good, the last 250 was a struggle but I really want to work and doing that distance without a kickboard or fins since that is the distance in the triathlon I'm doing. Two weeks until the triathlon and I'm starting to get nervous about it. I just don't want to embarrass myself. :-) I got to school at 7:30 a.m. for a meeting. Wednesday was an Early Release day for the students so they left at 1:30 and then we had meetings for the afternoon. That was followed up by Open House which lasted until 7:30 pm. That was a very long day!
Thursday I woke up with a headache. It was a pretty bad one so I took some medicine and took things kind of slow getting ready for work. I headed to work but on the drive in the headache got worse and by the time I got to the school I had a full blown migraine on my hands. I haven't had one that bad for over two years. It was so painful I knew that I could not work. So I put in for a sick day, made sub plans and headed back home. I got in the house, took more medicine, crawled under a blanket on the couch and slept from 9:00 a.m until 1:00 p.m. I woke up, ate something and then fell asleep again. I woke up around 3:30 to the sound of a parent, sitting in their car outside of my house waiting to pick up their child from the elementary school around the corner that had his stereo blasting. I could hear it very clearly in my house, with no windows or doors open. The bass made a nice rhythm with the banging in my head. I walked outside and asked him to please turn it down. He seemed surprised that I could hear it in the house. But he did turn it down. Sometimes I am amazed at how unaware people are of their surroundings and how things they do affect others.
I'm really glad that Thursday was a rest day because I wouldn't have been working out even if I was supposed to. I did manage to get my homework done for my class and that took quite a bit of concentration that evening. I went to bed early and slept like a rock. Friday I woke up and felt so much better. I am pretty sure that the migraine was because I was over-tired and a bit stressed with some added things at work, grad school and trying to balance family, work, school and running. On the plus side, the students really missed me and did surprisingly well for the sub which isn't always the case, especially this soon in the school year.
Friday I ran three miles. This time I ran from the house and then had my route end at the pool so I could do a swim workout with my friend Betsy. I had another good run with a pace of 11'49". Then we swam, sort of. It was more like we swam a lap and then talked, swam another lap and talked some more. Repeat. Then we went and sat in the hot tub with Joe and Meighan.
Today I had to do an 11 mile run. I really didn't want to do it. It is so far and takes so much time. And I haven't run that far in months so I was pretty sure that when it was over I was going to be feeling it. Also, the weather was not good. A big storm was arriving in the Pacific Northwest and things were just getting started. But I knew that I couldn't put it off until Sunday because the weather was supposed to be downright nasty by Saturday night and only going to get worse on Sunday. So off I went. The wind was awful! I ran straight into the wind from about mile 1.5 to 3. I felt like I was slogging along. It was a little better when I turned but then the wind made me feel like I was getting pushed sideways into the ditch so I had to work to run in a straight line. When I finally got onto Three Lakes Road, mile 6, I had the wind at my back and that was so much better. I felt really good until mile 9. Then I hit the wall.....hard! The last two miles were a struggle. They were a struggle to run, they were a struggle not to quit and walk and they were a struggle not to shortcut the run and go straight home. I had to really do battle with both mind and body. My body hurt and it was hard to to keep going. Everything seemed to start hurting or getting tight at the same time. Then my mind started up. I had done 9 miles and that was really good. Nobody would know/care if I didn't do the whole 11 miles. It wouldn't hurt to go home, after all the weather is crappy, nobody would blame me if I didn't finish because of the weather.
I would know. I would be mad at myself for not doing what I was supposed to do. I knew my friend Betsy was doing 12 miles this morning and I had told her I was doing 11. By golly I was going to do the whole 11. I was NOT going to tell her that I quit early or walked.
I was supposed to run an easy 11 miles which means that I am not supposed to push it to try and be fast. I'm not supposed to run at race pace. But I kept it at a 12'55" average pace for the first 9 miles. The last two miles blew that pace. I ended with an average pace of 13'10". I've had worse and actually this is a really good pace for me at this distance. I'm hoping that if I can do this well (mostly) for a training run then I will be able to do even better for the Runaway Pumpkin Half next month. We shall see. I keep telling myself I have to trust in the training.
My first month of work, school, running and family is just about done. Some things have gone well. Some things I will need to work at. Feeling a bit behind at work. Can't seem to find my rhythm this year with all the extra meetings. I'll get there eventually. School is going well and I turn in my last assignment tomorrow to finish up my first course. Didn't miss any assignments and so far am getting a good grade so that's a good feeling. My family doesn't appear to be too upset with me or how things are going. I don't think I have become the crazed woman that sometimes appears when I am completely overwhelmed. I only missed to workouts in my training plan for the month of September and that is really amazing.
I am going to have to work on doing a little better with the housework. The family has stepped up but no one seems to want to step up and tackle the bathrooms. I'm going to try and get to those tomorrow before something grabs my leg the next time I'm in the shower. It's almost to the gross stage which is not good!
I tried out my new trail shoes and they were great. I loved the bigger size and didn't feel like my toes were pressing against the end of my shoes when I was going down hill. I also felt better in general and even ran some parts of the trail. It felt so much better than any of my runs the week before so my husband was right. I needed to take a break. Glad I did because the last two weeks have been much better. We tried out a new trail that started out on Highway 99 by the Adair gate and met up with the Nettleton loop we have done before. We passed part of the Peavy Arboretum and the whole trail was really beautiful.
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| Me at Peavy Arboretum |
Self image is such a funny thing. I know that I'm looking better and getting healthier every day. I'm trying to be more willing to have my picture taken because I don't want to be the person who never does because of how I look. But I will be honest. It is hard for me to look at pictures of myself. I see chubby legs, flabby arms and a poochy stomach. This makes my husband so frustrated with me. He hates it when I pick at my looks. I know that's not what other people see. It's an area that I'm really working on now. I see the positive in everyone else, I need to be more willing to see the positive in myself.
My next three runs were just three mile runs. This was what my training plan calls a recovery week. All three runs went very well. The first had an average pace of 11'47, the second was 12'09 and the third was 11'46! Wow! All the defeat and frustrations that I felt the week before were annihilated! This is a serious improvement in my speed and I was very stoked. Saturday I had to do a 7.5 mile run and I was a bit nervous about how it would go, especially since I hadn't run my long run the week before.
That run was excellent. I had a consistent pace and felt really good the whole time. My average pace was 12'18! I have never done a run that far with a pace that low. I have to say I did a little happy dance when I got home.
This past week was a little rougher. My Monday run was a four mile run and I had an average pace of 11'49" which I think is the fastest I have ever done for that distance. That felt pretty good. I also liked that I had a really steady pace. I wasn't slowing down and then speeding up to try and make up for it. I just trucked along.
 |
| Nice steady pace with a little spurt at the end to finish fast. :-) |
Wednesday I got up early and did my swim. It felt pretty good. I did 750 yards in 25 minutes. The first 500 felt good, the last 250 was a struggle but I really want to work and doing that distance without a kickboard or fins since that is the distance in the triathlon I'm doing. Two weeks until the triathlon and I'm starting to get nervous about it. I just don't want to embarrass myself. :-) I got to school at 7:30 a.m. for a meeting. Wednesday was an Early Release day for the students so they left at 1:30 and then we had meetings for the afternoon. That was followed up by Open House which lasted until 7:30 pm. That was a very long day!
Thursday I woke up with a headache. It was a pretty bad one so I took some medicine and took things kind of slow getting ready for work. I headed to work but on the drive in the headache got worse and by the time I got to the school I had a full blown migraine on my hands. I haven't had one that bad for over two years. It was so painful I knew that I could not work. So I put in for a sick day, made sub plans and headed back home. I got in the house, took more medicine, crawled under a blanket on the couch and slept from 9:00 a.m until 1:00 p.m. I woke up, ate something and then fell asleep again. I woke up around 3:30 to the sound of a parent, sitting in their car outside of my house waiting to pick up their child from the elementary school around the corner that had his stereo blasting. I could hear it very clearly in my house, with no windows or doors open. The bass made a nice rhythm with the banging in my head. I walked outside and asked him to please turn it down. He seemed surprised that I could hear it in the house. But he did turn it down. Sometimes I am amazed at how unaware people are of their surroundings and how things they do affect others.
I'm really glad that Thursday was a rest day because I wouldn't have been working out even if I was supposed to. I did manage to get my homework done for my class and that took quite a bit of concentration that evening. I went to bed early and slept like a rock. Friday I woke up and felt so much better. I am pretty sure that the migraine was because I was over-tired and a bit stressed with some added things at work, grad school and trying to balance family, work, school and running. On the plus side, the students really missed me and did surprisingly well for the sub which isn't always the case, especially this soon in the school year.
Friday I ran three miles. This time I ran from the house and then had my route end at the pool so I could do a swim workout with my friend Betsy. I had another good run with a pace of 11'49". Then we swam, sort of. It was more like we swam a lap and then talked, swam another lap and talked some more. Repeat. Then we went and sat in the hot tub with Joe and Meighan.
Today I had to do an 11 mile run. I really didn't want to do it. It is so far and takes so much time. And I haven't run that far in months so I was pretty sure that when it was over I was going to be feeling it. Also, the weather was not good. A big storm was arriving in the Pacific Northwest and things were just getting started. But I knew that I couldn't put it off until Sunday because the weather was supposed to be downright nasty by Saturday night and only going to get worse on Sunday. So off I went. The wind was awful! I ran straight into the wind from about mile 1.5 to 3. I felt like I was slogging along. It was a little better when I turned but then the wind made me feel like I was getting pushed sideways into the ditch so I had to work to run in a straight line. When I finally got onto Three Lakes Road, mile 6, I had the wind at my back and that was so much better. I felt really good until mile 9. Then I hit the wall.....hard! The last two miles were a struggle. They were a struggle to run, they were a struggle not to quit and walk and they were a struggle not to shortcut the run and go straight home. I had to really do battle with both mind and body. My body hurt and it was hard to to keep going. Everything seemed to start hurting or getting tight at the same time. Then my mind started up. I had done 9 miles and that was really good. Nobody would know/care if I didn't do the whole 11 miles. It wouldn't hurt to go home, after all the weather is crappy, nobody would blame me if I didn't finish because of the weather.
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| Long Run! |
I was supposed to run an easy 11 miles which means that I am not supposed to push it to try and be fast. I'm not supposed to run at race pace. But I kept it at a 12'55" average pace for the first 9 miles. The last two miles blew that pace. I ended with an average pace of 13'10". I've had worse and actually this is a really good pace for me at this distance. I'm hoping that if I can do this well (mostly) for a training run then I will be able to do even better for the Runaway Pumpkin Half next month. We shall see. I keep telling myself I have to trust in the training.
My first month of work, school, running and family is just about done. Some things have gone well. Some things I will need to work at. Feeling a bit behind at work. Can't seem to find my rhythm this year with all the extra meetings. I'll get there eventually. School is going well and I turn in my last assignment tomorrow to finish up my first course. Didn't miss any assignments and so far am getting a good grade so that's a good feeling. My family doesn't appear to be too upset with me or how things are going. I don't think I have become the crazed woman that sometimes appears when I am completely overwhelmed. I only missed to workouts in my training plan for the month of September and that is really amazing.
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| Slight difference in my commitment to working out between last year and this year in September! |
Looking forward to October getting here and getting my next to races in the books.
Whether you are a slow runner or a fast runner, you are on your first run or a seasoned veteran of the roads, way to go! Keep at it! Good for you! :-) From this slow runner who is getting faster, it's worth the effort!
Go Lisa! I´m so amazed and impressed by what you are accomplishing! Still in my heart, and in my mind :). Hugs from Kari
ReplyDeleteKari! Thank you so much! I think of you often and love seeing your beautiful smile on Facebook, even when I have no idea what you are saying. ;-) You are still in my heart too! Hugs right back!
DeleteI am glad I am not the only one who feels like they are woefully behind and can't get in the groove and has a million household chores to do! You know how we can tell we are serious about running? We feel guilty when we think about shortening a run or not going at all (unless injury or illness) and we choose workout over vacuuming ! Keep it up you are amazing!
ReplyDeleteBarb, you are always so supportive!! How can I not keep at it when I have so many great people in my life cheering me on? You are amazing, congratulations on your awesome 10K this weekend. :-)
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