I haven't blogged in forever. I know. The good news is I got a new job as a teacher at a charter school nearby. I teach 7th grade writing, 8th grade writing, Composition I (9th &10th), and Creative Writing (High School girls). It has been a blast but also keeps me over the top busy. I joined the YMCA in November with the hopes that I would be able to make it to the gym. I DID make it to the gym. For about a month. Then, the end of the semester coincided with the grading of a major paper for 4 classes, and my 2nd observation. I literally only had time to work and sleep. And barely enough time for sleep. Then it was hard to get back into the groove of going to the gym because I would keep thinking "Well, I'll just get caught up tonight." That happened every single night.
Then came Minnesota Weird March 2012. Our weather has been like spring break to Florida without packing in the bags. Mid 70's today and 70's all week. I finally got somewhat caught up at work and I've been running outside. I will be canceling my membership at the YMCA soon because I just don't need it when I have the beautiful outdoors. Maybe next winter I will join a less pricey gym. But right now, I don't need it. I ran 3 miles this morning with Andy and Duke. We had a beautiful walk this evening. I would be lying if I said it was all peaches and cream though. I put on a lot of weight this year. More weight=more stuff to carry around on my runs. More stuff to carry=turtle's pace. I actually don't even know how fast I am running at but at this point, I don't care. I just want to build up my runs and get back to my former skinnier self!
Other good news....I got ENGAGED! Andy proposed the day after Thanksgiving in font of the Christmas tree after we finished decorating it. He was so nervous that he put the ring on the wrong hand and I didn't have the heart to tell him until we went to sit down. He then proposed another time with the ring on the correct hand. We are planning an April 2013 wedding as we have to wait for my little brother, Joe, to return from Afghanistan. Joe will be leaving next month for Afghanistan.
So along with the motivation to feel healthy, I also have the motivation to look great in my wedding dress! I am hoping lose about 40 pounds before our wedding and I am positive it can happen. I lost 70 in high school in less time than I have now. I can do it again. Here we go: Operation Losing It.
Andy and I also signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon 2012! It will be his first marathon. :-)
If any of you are still out there in Blogland, let me know!
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Friday, August 1, 2008
A LOVE for the run
Run Distance: 12 miles, Run Time: 2 Hrs, 4 min
So this was my 2nd long run this week. Monday I had to make up for last week's missed long run. Anyways, this run went WAY better than Monday's 11 miler. I was a little afraid that the weather was going to be hot. The weather people said it was going to be 89-90 with some humidity. Well by mid-day they were saying that the evening would be in mid-upper 80's with manageable humidity. I can do heat okay...it is the humidity that kills me. When I heard lower humidity, I was jumping on the outdoor long run bandwagon (I was originally going to attempt to hide from the weather on the 'mill). Anyways, so the weather actually turned out to be awesome. No humidity and a nice breeze. It was warm, but not to the point where you can't breathe. The start of my run was a little awkward because it was my first time out with the new hydration belt. I originally had the bottled resting on my back but then after taking two steps with it that way and realizing that it was impossible to run with it on my back, I decided to move the bottles to my front. I felt a bit odd at first but after awhile it was all good. My pace was about 9:47 through much of the run. I had a few points where I walked so I could drink some water but for the most part I kept a good pace. Not once did I feel extremely sore like I did on Monday. I felt like I probably could have ran another mile or 2 but with my half marathon next week, I knew it was best to do what my plan said. Anyways, it is runs like these that make you love running. I will fully admit that my 11 miler on Monday would have made me say something entirely different. But I love a good run. Anyways, that is the story of my blissful 12 mile run. Now I have 1 week until my half marathon!!
So this was my 2nd long run this week. Monday I had to make up for last week's missed long run. Anyways, this run went WAY better than Monday's 11 miler. I was a little afraid that the weather was going to be hot. The weather people said it was going to be 89-90 with some humidity. Well by mid-day they were saying that the evening would be in mid-upper 80's with manageable humidity. I can do heat okay...it is the humidity that kills me. When I heard lower humidity, I was jumping on the outdoor long run bandwagon (I was originally going to attempt to hide from the weather on the 'mill). Anyways, so the weather actually turned out to be awesome. No humidity and a nice breeze. It was warm, but not to the point where you can't breathe. The start of my run was a little awkward because it was my first time out with the new hydration belt. I originally had the bottled resting on my back but then after taking two steps with it that way and realizing that it was impossible to run with it on my back, I decided to move the bottles to my front. I felt a bit odd at first but after awhile it was all good. My pace was about 9:47 through much of the run. I had a few points where I walked so I could drink some water but for the most part I kept a good pace. Not once did I feel extremely sore like I did on Monday. I felt like I probably could have ran another mile or 2 but with my half marathon next week, I knew it was best to do what my plan said. Anyways, it is runs like these that make you love running. I will fully admit that my 11 miler on Monday would have made me say something entirely different. But I love a good run. Anyways, that is the story of my blissful 12 mile run. Now I have 1 week until my half marathon!!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Total Mileage Completed
Thursday Run: 5 miles
Saturday Run: 5 mile tempo
Sunday Run: 9 miles
Despite what I am about to tell you about how bad my 9 mile run was...I finished every single recommended run last week despite my extremely busy schedule. Now that I am very suprised by. Because last week was soooo stressful.
Anyway, the 5 mile run that I completed on Thursday was on a treadmill at the gym. It actually went alright. I finally got around to calibrating my I-Pod during this run...woohoo!
The Saturday run went alright. I remember thinking in my head that I should start rating my runs. Had I rated this run...it would have been "mediocre". I was actually running quite well but I had so much on my mind and so much to do that I kept thinking about getting done. Then I was frustrated because evidently my I-Pod was off by quite a bit because my regular pace for my tempo run was about 8:40 which is quite a bit of a difference from 8:15. So then without really thinking about what it was going to do to my run, I went into a deep state of thinking and started focusing on how my feet and I-Pod were correlating and how to make my pace faster by moving my feet quicker. I know...crazy...because I wasn't really thinking about the fact that--Duh--this is going to make my pace faster because obviously this is how you move faster. So then I ended up with a killer side stitch because I pushed my pace a little too hard. And therefore I ended up walking midway through my tempo run for a bit. But only for a minute and I was back to running and as good as new. I was very happy to find that this time the side stitch was manageable and didn't stick with me the whole run.
Sunday, I had what I would call a bad run. I was supposed to run 9 miles and in fact did go 9 miles...but not completely running. This was my very first run in probably a year that I had to walk a portion of it. Lesson learned: Do not under any circumstances eat a grilled cheese sandwhich and fries during the day that you have a 9 mile run. I don't eat this kind of stuff on a regular basis but Andy and I went out to eat for lunch and I made a bad choice. So anyways, I ended up with really bad heartburn. Another thing I haven't experienced all that often. It really only happened when I was running and it was quite painful. And then...another hinderance...Andy's neck of the woods is like hill city. I'm pretty sure that I ran more hills during that run than I have ever run in my lifetime. By the time I hit hill # 50 I'm pretty sure I was walking every hill. This is where my walking came into play. It's one thing to run 9 miles but to run it with hills is completely different. I know that I need hill training but honestly I haven't had a whole heck of a lot of it and I was on overdose yesterday. And then the last component of my bad run yesterday...I had to make a pitstop at a park port-o-pottie. Let's just say it didn't smell pleasant inside there. However, eventually I finished 9 miles...despite the fact that it took me a whole 1 Hr and 45 min to complete it. Yikes!
This week I don't have a long run (odd I know). So therefore I will be embracing my short runs with much love and preparing for the great big one in the following week.
Saturday Run: 5 mile tempo
Sunday Run: 9 miles
Despite what I am about to tell you about how bad my 9 mile run was...I finished every single recommended run last week despite my extremely busy schedule. Now that I am very suprised by. Because last week was soooo stressful.
Anyway, the 5 mile run that I completed on Thursday was on a treadmill at the gym. It actually went alright. I finally got around to calibrating my I-Pod during this run...woohoo!
The Saturday run went alright. I remember thinking in my head that I should start rating my runs. Had I rated this run...it would have been "mediocre". I was actually running quite well but I had so much on my mind and so much to do that I kept thinking about getting done. Then I was frustrated because evidently my I-Pod was off by quite a bit because my regular pace for my tempo run was about 8:40 which is quite a bit of a difference from 8:15. So then without really thinking about what it was going to do to my run, I went into a deep state of thinking and started focusing on how my feet and I-Pod were correlating and how to make my pace faster by moving my feet quicker. I know...crazy...because I wasn't really thinking about the fact that--Duh--this is going to make my pace faster because obviously this is how you move faster. So then I ended up with a killer side stitch because I pushed my pace a little too hard. And therefore I ended up walking midway through my tempo run for a bit. But only for a minute and I was back to running and as good as new. I was very happy to find that this time the side stitch was manageable and didn't stick with me the whole run.
Sunday, I had what I would call a bad run. I was supposed to run 9 miles and in fact did go 9 miles...but not completely running. This was my very first run in probably a year that I had to walk a portion of it. Lesson learned: Do not under any circumstances eat a grilled cheese sandwhich and fries during the day that you have a 9 mile run. I don't eat this kind of stuff on a regular basis but Andy and I went out to eat for lunch and I made a bad choice. So anyways, I ended up with really bad heartburn. Another thing I haven't experienced all that often. It really only happened when I was running and it was quite painful. And then...another hinderance...Andy's neck of the woods is like hill city. I'm pretty sure that I ran more hills during that run than I have ever run in my lifetime. By the time I hit hill # 50 I'm pretty sure I was walking every hill. This is where my walking came into play. It's one thing to run 9 miles but to run it with hills is completely different. I know that I need hill training but honestly I haven't had a whole heck of a lot of it and I was on overdose yesterday. And then the last component of my bad run yesterday...I had to make a pitstop at a park port-o-pottie. Let's just say it didn't smell pleasant inside there. However, eventually I finished 9 miles...despite the fact that it took me a whole 1 Hr and 45 min to complete it. Yikes!
This week I don't have a long run (odd I know). So therefore I will be embracing my short runs with much love and preparing for the great big one in the following week.
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