Odd Duckling

I'm sure we all do a strange thing at the gym here and there. I like to think that whatever strange quirk that I might have is completely unintentional. But sometimes people do things intentionally that just make me turn my head to the side. Yesterday I witnessed a girl on the treadmill doing the strangest thing. She was holding herself up with both of her arms and perhaps flying?? on the treadmill. I'm not entirely sure what her intentions were...perhaps to do some sort of a half pushup/ half swing your legs in the air sort of thing. Yes, her feet were touching the treadmill slightly...but she was clearly not surfaced. Perhaps I'm missing the logic, but I wasn't understanding what she was trying to get out of that workout...Maybe some of you are air runners and can tell me what I'm missing??

Anyways, so Monday I had a wonderful amazing 5 mile run. It was supposed to be 3 miles but turned into 5 because I knew I was going to be crunched for time this week. I ran 3 last night with little problems. This weekend I am all set to run the Lindstrom Loppet 5k and hopefully PR on last year's time. We'll see what happens. And Andy is running it with me!! Yay!

A Fish at Sea

Distance: 7 miles Time: 1:16



Yesterday I was actually starting to feel better so I decided to go for a run. It was in the 60's here and actually quite pretty outside so I decided to take my new Nike + system to the trails. Well...I don't have the internet at home right now so I had no music on the Nano. BUT I figured out that the Nike+ system still works without it. So...yes...I was a dork running around with headphones in my ears and no music playing in them. But the Nike+ feature was excellent. I set out on a trail that I had been wondering about for quite some time and realized it goes clear into the Cities. It was so beautiful outside with tons of cyclists and roller bladers galore on the trail.



I loved being able to run outside and knowing how far I'd gone. However, I ended up with a killer dose of side stitches again. But for the most part I was able to control them. The real killer was the runny nose factor. My nose started burning something fierce at about Mile 3.5. So I began walking to try to prevent the running nose. And then realized hey...I'm going to have to make it home 3.5 miles! Yikes...forgetting about return time is not a good thing. The trail was just so beautiful that I wanted to keep going. Anyways, I ended up with some pretty bad side stitches part way through the return (while walking). But then they went away after a mile or so and I ended up running the last portion. It was actually an interesting run/walk yesterday. The Nike+ system told me that my pace was 8:10 which is actually greater than my pace on the TM so I figured this may have been why the side stitches were pretty bad. I have a harder time trying to stay at a slower pace when I'm outside. But maybe the side stitches will just go away and I won't have to keep worrying about it. One can only hope that some miracle will happen.



Tonight is likely my last workout before the 5K this weekend. I have class tomm until 10:00 pm and then class on Saturday. It looks like I'll probably be running the 5K in the rain and cold. But oh well...I'll deal.

3 Miles of Tough it Out

Run Time: 30 Min. Run Distance: 3 miles Elipticals: 30 minutes/3 miles Lifting: 3/15 Abductors @ 80 lbs, 3/15 Adductors @ 80 lbs, 50 lateral crunches

Yes...you guessed it. The side pain didn't go away yesterday. BUT at least after doing my normal cycle of stretching and odd manuevers on the treadmill to try to alleviate pain, I was able to lessen it. It was still well present, but more like someone pinching my side really hard for the duration of my run rather than a knife sticking into my abdomen. So I was grateful for that. I think mainly it was because I really wanted to get a good run in and so I kept trying to tell myself that it wasn't there. You know, the whole pain is in the mind kick. Well...I think in some cases...no matter how much you tell yourself it's not there...it still is. So I got a good 3 miles in. Nowhere near where I wanted to be...but good enough considering the circumstances. I also did some elipticals which were even causing a milder version of the pinching. This tells me that there definetly is something more to it because I shouldn't get side stitches on the eliptical. That is the one place that is like a safe zone because your body has less impact, less jiggling of the organs!

Anywho that's the status on the side stitch issue. I have added an additional race into my training schedule here. Mother's Day I will be running The Race for the Cure at the Mall of America. It's only a 5K but I really thought it would be good for my training. That and it gives me an excuse to beg and plead with my nonrunner friends and family to join me as it is a pretty easy race for them to complete as well (with a walking option).

Anyway, I'm either going to be taking it low this weekend in an attempt to repair this aching side issue or I'll be doing some rollerblading or something. And hopefully next week I can get back up to where I was a week ago!

Enjoy your runs!