5/30/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

 

I actually did:    Nothing.  Literally nothing.  I didn't even get out of my pajamas all day.  This was mostly due to the fact that I have a sick little boy who just wanted to snuggle, but a day spent in your pajamas is still a good thing.

5/29/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 13 miles

I actually did:    12.01 miles*

* 14.26 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/2 mile for the wind, 1/4 mile for the rain, 1 mile for my socks, pants, and 2 shirts getting soaked through, and 1/2 mile for traveling >10 miles

 

Days to go until the marathon: 119

Miles to go until 1000: 800.46


This run was pretty miserable.  The weather started out crappy, and got crappier as I ran.  Yuck.  The weather made it pretty mentally challenging, and made me start to question what it is I'm doing.  I am someone who doesn't doubt myself a whole lot.  While I don't really consider myself to be great at anything, I do tend to be successful when I set out to do something.  Even in the great unknown of medicine, sometimes I second guess decisions I have made, but for the most part I feel comfortable in what I do.  So I guess this has led to some level of confidence that when I say I want to do something, I will be able to do it.  Because of this, I have never really questioned that I'd be able to run a marathon.  Until today.  This run was just so awful, I started thinking maybe I couldn't run a whole marathon, and maybe I shouldn't even try.  

But I am always one to look for the silver lining, and at the end of this terrible, terrible run, I think I found it.  As awful as I felt today, I kept at it.  Yes, I cut the run short by a mile (which I did knowing it would be >13 miles once the bonus miles got added), and yes, I walked for probably a total of a mile of this run.  But never once did I think, "I'm going to call my husband to come pick me up."  When the going got tough, I walked for a bit.  Which I think is fine.  Honestly, I'll be fine if I have to walk for part of the marathon.

And even when I was thinking I couldn't run a marathon, I wasn't thinking I'd give up on running.  Instead, I thought I'd just run the half marathon that's being held on the same day.

So I'm going to take those things as signs I really shouldn't give up trying to run a marathon.  And I'm going to tell myself that I'm sure everyone has bad days now and again.  And I'm going to remember how much fun running is when the weather is not awful.  And I'm going to go back out for a long run next weekend.

5/26/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

I actually did:    32:03 minutes/ 2.95 miles* (to make up for yesterday's missed run)

*  3.075 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/8 mile for darkness

 

Days to go until the marathon: 122

Miles to go until 1000: 812.47

I just realized I haven't been posting the Red Hot Chili Peppers stat.  They have not played in quite some time, so I guess I have definitively proven that they don't ALWAYS play when I run.

This morning's run brought with it a first: I saw a young woman clearly doing a walk of shame.  My run takes me near a college campus, and she was walking towards campus, at around 5:30 am, in a cute little going-out outfit, walking barefoot and carrying her high heels in her hand.  Ah, to be young again!  These days, for me, walk of shame has a new meaning: it means I have left the house to go out in public in clothes that are covered in some combination of spit up, baby poop, and dried Yo Baby yogurt that got flung at me from the high chair.  Oh wait, that happens once a week at least.

I thought a lot this morning about something about which I've been considering for some time: taking a hiatus from Facebook.  I am growing more and more disillusioned with it and the fake friendships it promotes.  I have written about this before, I think.  Recently a friend of mine posted, on Facebook, similar feelings and since then I have been thinking about a hiatus even more.  I think I'm afraid to leave, though, for a couple of reasons.  For all the fake friends I have on there, I also keep in touch with some of my very good friends that way, and it certainly is easy to have them all in one place.  Also, I think the insecure junior high girl that lives inside me is afraid I'll miss out on all the fun if I leave Facebook.  As it is, I really only interact with the people with whom I want to interact, so I don't know what harm it does if many (most?) of my "friends" are people I barely know.  So, I'll probably stay.  We'll see.  I'll update my status if I change my mind! :)

5/25/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 30 minute run

 

I actually did:   Got up to run, only to discover that my running shoes were still wet from yesterday.  So I went back to bed.

5/24/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 45 minute run

 

I actually did:   43:51 minutes/3.94 miles*

* 5.19 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/4 mile for running in the rain and 1 mile for my shirt, pants, sports bra, and socks getting soaked through.  It was WET on this run!
 

Days to go until the marathon: 124

Miles to go until 1000: 815.42

 

The first song that played today was "Name" by the Goo Goo Dolls.  I always love the line in that song that says "reruns all become our history."  As I've mentioned before, I used to be quite the tv watcher, and although I have watched less and less over the last few years, I do still think that is kind of true.  I started thinking about that today, which got to me thinking about the show Friends.  I think that if I was ever asked what my all time favorite tv show was, I'd have to say Friends.  That is not to say I think Friends is the best show ever (that would be Sports Night, followed closely by the Aaron Sorkin years of the West Wing and Friday Night Lights), or the show to which I looked forward the most (that would be 90210 in the late 90s and Veronica Mars in the mid-2000s with honorable mention going to Gilmore Girls), or even the show I thought was the funniest (that might be Modern Family).  And I do think that by the end of it's run, the characters on Friends were just caricatures of who they had been in the first season.  But Friends started my senior year of high school and ended my second year of medical school.  I did a lot of growing up in those intervening years, and I feel like Friends was always there with me.  To this day, I can watch a rerun in syndication and still laugh out loud.  And often I can remember where I was when I first watched the episode.  I remember watching in the basement of my sorority house surrounded by friends, or watching with my family when I was in high school or home for the summer, or watching with my now husband when we were early in our relationship.  And since tv now has a different place in my life than it once did, it might be fair to say no other show will ever have the impact of Friends.  So in that sense, the reruns really are my history.  So wise, Goo Goo Dolls. 

5/22/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 12 miles

 

I actually did:   5.61 miles*

* 8.36 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/4 mile for running in the rain, 1 mile for running with a cold, 1 mile for running uphill for a total of 2 miles, 1/4 mile for my socks getting soaked (from running on wet grass) and 1/4 mile for sweating through 1 layer of clothing.  I think that's the most bonus miles I've ever accumulated.  I also just noticed that I'm supposed to get 1/2 extra mile for every distance above 10 miles, which I haven't been giving myself. 
 

Days to go until the marathon: 126

Miles to go until 1000: 819.36

 

I told myself when I went out for this run that I would just go as far as I felt I could, since I'm still not 100% from my cold (this cold actually made me miss a day of work this week, which if you know me, you know I don't call in sick lightly).  I started to feel lightheaded at around mile 2, so I decided to start heading home, although took somewhat of a circuitous route so that I'd have at least a little more distance.  I started to feel better around mile 4, but decided to keep heading home so I didn't make myself more sick.

I spent a lot of this run thinking about that guy who predicted the rapture would happen yesterday.  I wonder how he is feeling today.  I would imagine he is embarrassed (although I read that he has once before incorrectly predicted the rapture, so maybe this is nothing new), but mostly I was wondering if the fact that nothing happened yesterday has shaken his faith.  Putting aside my thoughts on religion and whether I think the Bible is meant to be taken literally (I won't get into those here, at least not today), I have definitely seen first hand the comfort religion can provide to people.  So I hope that, if his faith provides him comfort, he still has it.  And if this makes him reevaluate his faith, well, I hope he finds peace wherever he lands from his reevaluation.  

5/18/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 14 x 30-30

 

 
I actually did:   Have my stupid cold return!

 

When I got up at 3 to nurse my son this morning, I couldn't breathe out of my nose and couldn't stop coughing.  So, I decided to skip my run this morning.  I am hoping I'll feel well enough to make it up tomorrow . . .

5/17/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 45 minute run

 

I actually did:   44:25 minutes/3.98 miles*

* 4.575 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/8 extra mile for darkness and 1/2 extra mile for sweating through 2 layers
 

Days to go until the marathon: 131

Miles to go until 1000: 824.97

Things are blooming all over the place, so today's run smelled really good.  In case I haven't said it enough, I'm so glad it's finally spring!!

Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of my husband's and my first date, so I spent most of my run thinking about that.  It doesn't really seem like we've been together that long, and yet when I think about how different our lives are now than when we met, it seems like we've been together for much longer.  When we met, he was managing a restaurant and finishing up his degree.  I was waiting tables at said restaurant, saving money before starting grad school.  In the last 10 years we have lived in Montana, Washington DC, Portland, and now Montana again.  He has gone through 3 careers (restaurant manager, accountant, stay at home dad) and I have gotten 2 graduate/professional degrees and done a residency.  And of course, we now have the most amazing, smart, beautiful son ever.  It is hard to imagine our lives will change that much in the next 10 years, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see . . .

5/15/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 11 miles

I actually did:  11.2 miles*

*12.2 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1 extra mile for traveling uphill for 2 miles

Days to go until the marathon: 133

Miles to go until 1000: 828.95

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: No (but Tone Loc played for at least the third run in a row.  Today "Funky Cold Medina" played, and I started wondering about whether that would be considered a date rape drug?  Made me rethink whether I should listen to that song anymore.)

On today's run, right after I started, I passed a couple walking in matching track suits.  I was happy for them getting exercise, but it cracked me up.  I tried to picture my husband and I in matching track suits, but I just couldn't do it.

My mind wandered a lot on this run -- it had a lot of time to wander since I'm super slow.  I thought about the great family day we had yesterday, and I thought about the pretty crazy week I had at work last week.  And I spent a lot of time feeling like my old running self, which was nice.  I was kind of dreading this run, I thought it'd be really hard since the last 2 times I did 10 miles it felt hard, and I didn't really run this week.  The run was hard for the first 1-2 miles, which isn't really anything new, but then I kind of went on autopilot and before I knew it, I was 4.5 miles in.  Then 7 miles.  Then 9 miles.  It was great.  Let's hope it keeps being great!!  

5/13/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 35 minute run

I actually did:  Nothing

Such a slacker this week, I know.  I just felt that this week was crazy, with the delivery and then seeing my patient in the hospital before work, and then my clinics seemed to be filled with crazy people and this week has felt like 3, work-wise.  And tonight I am scheduled to work a 4 pm to midnight shift, so I decided just to sleep in today.  Hopefully, next week will be a little less crazy!

5/12/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

I actually did:  Nothing

I somewhat thought about doing Tuesday's run that I had missed today, but since I had to go see my patient in the hospital before work, running before work would've meant getting up somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 am, which just seems wrong.

5/11/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 12 x 30-30

I actually did:  12 x 30-30/2.21 miles

Days to go until the marathon: 137

Miles to go until 1000: 840.15

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: No

So I looked up exactly how I should be doing my speed training intervals, and based on my projected marathon time, the website I found calculated that my fast intervals should be 9:51 minute mile pace.  So that was my goal, but I ended up just running fast again, and was usually somewhere around 8 minute miles.  I think the problem is my GPS watch takes about 15 seconds to accurately reflect a pace change, and by the time I saw I was going to fast, the interval was already half over so I just kept at the same pace.  Coming up I have longer intervals, so I'll try to be a little more accurate then!

Also, today I ran after work, and it was my first run in a tank top.  FINALLY warm weather is here!!

5/10/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 40 minute run

I actually did:  Delivered a baby


I actually got up to run this morning and just as I was getting dressed, my pager went off telling me I had a patient in labor.  I was kind of relieved, as it was POURING, and going for a run in the dark didn't sound all that great.  So, I went to see my patient instead of running, and then after work was at the hospital waiting on baby (as anyone who has ever been around a delivery knows, it's a lot of hurry up and wait).  She had a healthy boy at almost 10 pm.

5/9/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

I actually did:  Nothing

I had planned to do yoga this morning, and that probably would've been great, but instead I decided to sleep in . . .

5/8/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 10 miles

I actually did:  10.16 miles*

*11.16 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1 extra mile for traveling uphill for 2 miles

Days to go until the marathon: 140

Miles to go until 1000: 842.36

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: No

Today's run was HARD.  I blame it on the Women's Run yesterday.  Not only did I run much faster than my usual training pace, but I didn't stretch after the race (bad me, I know), and I walked about a mile backwards on the course to find my mom, who was walking, and then walked that last mile again with her.  You'd think that walking and running wouldn't be that different, but I find that walking long distances makes my hips hurt in a way that running never does.  When I got pregnant, I was registered to run a 1/2 marathon but my husband was super freaked out about me running pregnant.  Even though, you know, I'm a doctor, and I knew it was fine for me to keep up my pre-pregnancy workout routine, I thought it was cute how concerned he was so I agreed not to run more than 2 miles (at a time, which is what an older version of What to Expect When You're Expecting recommended) during my first trimester.  So I started doing long walks to prepare to walk the 1/2 marathon with my best friend (who walks several 1/2 marathons a year and, I'm not even kidding, can walk almost as fast as I can run) when I was 8 weeks pregnant.  My best friend was kind enough to walk slowly with me during the race.  Anyway, I found that my hips got really sore during my long walks.  Well, sure enough, my hips were really sore today and I felt them the whole run.  I am really looking forward to yoga tomorrow morning to get a good stretch!

Happy Mother's Day!

5/7/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

I actually did: Montana Women's Run, 5 miles

Days to go until the marathon: 141

Miles to go until 1000: 852.52

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: No 

My first race since the baby (and since June 2009) was great!  I felt strong and (relatively) fast, and came in about a minute under my goal time.  It was so nice to do an organized run again!  I felt all the old familiar feelings: the feeling of how it must feel to be fast at the start of the race when I passed a bunch of people, followed quickly by the shame of getting passed by people pushing jogging strollers, and the surge of energy/excitement when the finish line was in sight.  I always am surprised that I'm able to kick it up a notch when I see the finish line, and finish up the race a lot faster than the last 1-2 miles had been.  I also felt something I hadn't felt in awhile (at least not related to running): pride.  When I saw the finish line of my first half marathon, I actually got teary-eyed, not because I was almost done (although certainly I was happy about that), but because it represented a goal that I set for myself, and had accomplished, and I was pretty proud of myself.  Since then I haven't really felt that in running, but I did at the end of this race.  Which took me by surprise, because the 5 miles of this race are only 1/3 of the miles I'll run this weekend.  But I think it was just because it represents a new phase in my life and my running.  I am fairly busy at work and at home, and it would be easy to say I didn't have time for running.  But I don't, and I am proud of myself for that.

5/6/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 45 minute run

I actually did: Took the day off.  Tomorrow, on what is supposed to be my day off, I am running in the Montana Women's Run, a 5 mile race.  I am excited because it will be my first post-baby race.  AND my first 5 mile race, which means an automatic PR.  Woo hoo!

5/5/2011 Feliz cinco de mayo!

Training schedule says I will do: 30 minute run

I actually did:   38:40 minutes/ 3.51 miles* (including yesterday's speed interval work)

* 3.575 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1/16 mile for darkness.  Technically, darkness calls for 1/8 extra mile, but it was light enough at the end of my run that I felt silly wearing a reflective vest and headlamp (especially when I got home and realized I hadn't turned my headlamp on). 

Days to go until the marathon: 143

Miles to go until 1000: 857.56

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: (But 2 Britney Spears songs played, and what morning doesn't need a little Britney?)

So today was my first day of speed interval training.  I figured, it's only 10 minutes, I'll just do it at the start  of my workout, and then do the rest of my run.  I now see why it is supposed to be it's own workout, it is tiring!  For the rest of the run, I was slow(er than normal).  Yikes.

I think the idea of the interval training is that you run at a certain pace for a certain amount of time, then do a slower pace for a certain amount of time.  I don't know the exact prescription.  So in my making up the workout, I decided I would do my "fast pace" around 10 minute miles.  Any runner reading that probably is laughing at that as a fast pace, and I realize it's really not very fast.  But my half marathon PR is at about 10:45 minute miles (and my 10k PR is at 10 minute miles), so I figure my marathon pace will average somewhere between 11 and 12 minute miles.  So respectively, 10 minute miles are fast.  But when I was running my intervals this morning, I wasn't very good at following a pace on my watch, and instead just ran fast for the fast intervals, and slowed down for the slow ones.  I was averaging between 8-9 minute miles on the fast intervals.  This is VERY fast for me so it is no wonder I was so tired for the rest of my run.  I will have to look into how interval training is supposed to be done and do it right, otherwise I don't know what the utility of it is, as I don't think there will any stretch of my marathon that I feel the need to go all out.

I did my interval work on a track, and it was also the first time I ran on a track.  It was interesting.  Not as awful as I thought it'd be, in fact I considered doing the rest of my run on the track, but ultimately opted to do a regular run.

5/4/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 10 x 30-30

I actually did:  Fed a hungry baby

I got up to run this morning, excited to do the first interval training of my schedule, only to find someone else was wide awake and hungry.  And stayed wide awake after nursing.  Since my husband, who is a stay-at-home dad so can't call in sick, caught my cold and feels terrible, I wanted to let him sleep, and opted to take care of our son rather than run.  So, I'll try to incorporate the interval training into tomorrow's run.

5/3/2011

Training schedule says I will do: 55 minute run

I actually did:  48:45 minutes/4.24 miles*

*5.74 miles using Aubree's Bonus Mileage System, getting 1 mile for the jogging stroller and 1/2 mile for the wind (my poor son in the jogging stroller probably felt like we should be getting more than 1/2 mile for the wind!!) 

I know, I didn't do the full 55 minutes, I decided to turn around a little early because my son was doing such a great job in the stroller, I didn't want to tempt fate.  I'm glad I did, because he sobbed for the last half mile.

Days to go until the marathon: 145

Miles to go until 1000: 861.07

Red Hot Chili Peppers song played during the run: No

Today I had a playdate with an old friend and her son who is a few weeks older than mine.  Like me, my friend recently moved back to our hometown after spending many years in a large city.  So I spent a lot of my run thinking about this.  She and I both feel that our hometown is very much the same and also very different than when we last lived here together (in high school), and I can't help but wonder if the difference is really the town, or us.  I know I have mentioned here many times how much I miss Portland, and that is because I very much felt at home there, I felt like I was always a Portlander and just didn't know it until I moved there.  And I think that's how my friend felt about her adopted city, too.  So it's been a bit of a struggle to adjust to a place that is politically more red than blue, where people don't recycle, where my family is the only weird one who uses cloth diapers and feeds our son homemade, organic baby food, and where we are the only ones we know who root for the Trailblazers.  As I have said before, I do think this is the right place for my family to be, because my son getting to grow up around his grandparents is huge.  And I have to think that if I could be raised a Portlander in Billings, MT, my son can be too (especially since my husband and I plan to get back to Portland every chance we can get).

5/2/2011

Training schedule says I will do: OFF

I actually did:  yoga + Bender Ball, 40 minutes = 3.5 miles toward 1000 mile goal

Days to go until the marathon:146

Miles to go until 1000: 865.31

My cold feels like it is going away, so I decided to get back on the exercise wagon (or ball, as it were) this morning.  This was my first time using the Bender Ball (and it's DVD) that I got for Christmas.  I think I'm really going to like it.  I haven't done a ton of ab workouts since my c-section, so it was definitely hard -- I am hoping for some soreness tomorrow!!

4/28-5/1/2011

I have been sidelined by a stupid cold.  Even though I would get bonus miles for running with an illness, I have taken a few days off from running.  I'm hoping (no, planning!) to feel better tomorrow, and will get back into training next week.