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.