Happy Wednesday all! I have my life back after a super busy last 2 weeks of the semester here, and life will pretty much be smooth sailing through the summer since we run at 1/3 our load all summer :)
Today is a day that I have been waiting for for weeks, no months, and yet it is already 9:30am and I am STILL waiting! Today is the announcement of the winners of the NYC marathon lottery, and while I have tried really hard to not get my hopes up since the odds are pretty crappy, it doesn't change the fact that I want in! We will just have to wait and see, I have been holding off on all of my fall plans and races until I knew whether or not I would be doing New York, I am glad my wait is now mere hours instead of days.
On to more fun news- I am back to normal! I know I mentioned it last week how sick I had been, and even though I ran 6 days last week, it was a struggle to say the least. While many of my fellow runners are excited and welcoming the beautiful days of spring and nice weather, it is officially summer here- 90+ degrees ar the highs we have seen for the last week or so. So in addition to sucking it up big time from being sick, my body is also trying to acclimate to the inferno like conditions it will be expected to run in for the next 6 months.
As much as last week was rough and this week is still leaving me a little frustrated with my times, I must say that I would rather have 2 bad weeks trying to get used to the weather AND get back from being sick then to have had 2 weeks coming back after illness followed by 2 more slow weeks of getting used to the heat- so kill 2 birds with 1 stone I suppose.
Last week I did try to get in my track workout which was 8x400, but it was literally 92* when I was supposed to go to the track at 6pm, and my coach told me that with only being back for 3 days AND the heat that I may literally die and renounce my love for running so he sent me to do it on the treadmill- it was rough, I average a 7:25 pace which is about 35 seconds slower than my usual 6:50ish pace for 400s.
This week I felt I had enough energy finally to get back to my normal workout schedule, so this is my week:
Monday AM- 4 miles bridges run (3 hills covered) 37:42 or 9:26 pace
PM- Spin class + 10m stair climber
Tuesday AM- holy tired legs!!! 4M tempo run (2 @8:00) HA that didn't work- 35:17 (9:31, 8:00, 8:24, 9:22) average pace 8:49 + 45 min full body weights
Lunchtime- 2M run easy (9:26 pace) this was stress induced, I was not supposed to run again! 15 minutes bike, 15 minutes stair climber
Wednesday AM- TRACK! I went to morning track today to avoid today's 94* high, and it was the most lovely thing ever- I think I will be going to morning track every week! On the schedule 4x1200
When I was out there I felt like such a slow-poke, like seriously thought my times were awful because my range that I have for 1200s is 5:15-5:30, my actual times were
5:33, 5:34, 5:42, 5:38
I went back and checked, and the last 2 times I have done 1200s my times were all ~5:40, so maybe that's not so bad, but it felt bad at the time. Hopefully by this time next week my legs and lungs feel back to normal.
Another fun waiting for: The Royal Wedding. I plan to actually watch the early morning coverage from the treadmill at the gym, I figure this may accidently turn into my long run this week just because I don't want to leave the tv coverage to go shower.
Is anyone else planning to watch the Royal Wedding Friday????
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Back from the Sick
Wow, so I couldn't even tell you the last time I blogged, but it has been a while.
I have been sick for the last 2 weeks, like sleeping all the time, can't breath, sore throat, on bunches of meds, kind of sick. We all know with that kind of sickness also comes 0 workouts. The first week of the sickness I would waiver back and forth between feeling awful and feeling ok. When I felt ok I would go run, and then I would begin to feel like death again. So per Doctor's orders, I have taken a full 2 weeks off- it sucked!!!!
Don't get me wrong, I guess I needed the break, and mentally I am so eager to be back, so I guess that's good, but a 2 week break is a little harder to come back from. It's not like 2 weeks of no running where you cross-trained and kept some endurance or 1 week off where you can see it as a break- after 2 weeks of nothing there is most certainly a noticible difference in my cardiovascular capabilities.
I was allowed to pick it back up yesterday, but was told to cut my normal load in half and build back up- ha! In my head I would cut my run shorter but still hit my 90 minutes for the day through some sort of cross-training combination, so I had a plan to do a 3 mile run and then go to spinning.
I knew the run would hurt a little, but was determined to hit my pace ranges for what I am working to become the new easy (8:55) and the new moderate (8:25). I took the first mile super easy, even for 2 weeks off it felt easy and then did one at each of the 2 other paces. While they were certainly tougher than they were before I got sick, I didn't feel like I was dying, so a small victory- then again, this was only 3 miles.
After I finished my 3 miles I just did not have the energy to throw into a spin class. I had enough energy to finish my workout, but not at the intensity that a spin class requires- and the revelation of how much fitness I lost sinks in. I do 35 minutes between the arc trainer and the bike and call it a day at 60 minutes, not a great feeling.
Today, was back to the weights, and I knew I would have to drop certain weights as I would not do very well with some higher weights after not lifting for 2 weeks. I made it through my normal routine and felt pretty good, I am sure I will be sore tomorrow, but I can deal with that. I did 20 minutes of cross-training and am planning an easy 4 mile run this afternoon, here is hoping that it doesn't kill me.
I have not had to take a break like this since I started running. Sure injuries kept me from running, but I could cross-train, bike, swim, etc. Doing nothing for 2 weeks has made me feel like a lazy ass and a blimp, and it seems so hard to get back into my routine, but hopefully I can pick it back up easily after a week or so, I have a big race in just 8 weeks that requires some serious attention and I need to get at it!
Hopefully regualr blogging will also resume now that I am an active and functioning human being again!
I have been sick for the last 2 weeks, like sleeping all the time, can't breath, sore throat, on bunches of meds, kind of sick. We all know with that kind of sickness also comes 0 workouts. The first week of the sickness I would waiver back and forth between feeling awful and feeling ok. When I felt ok I would go run, and then I would begin to feel like death again. So per Doctor's orders, I have taken a full 2 weeks off- it sucked!!!!
Don't get me wrong, I guess I needed the break, and mentally I am so eager to be back, so I guess that's good, but a 2 week break is a little harder to come back from. It's not like 2 weeks of no running where you cross-trained and kept some endurance or 1 week off where you can see it as a break- after 2 weeks of nothing there is most certainly a noticible difference in my cardiovascular capabilities.
I was allowed to pick it back up yesterday, but was told to cut my normal load in half and build back up- ha! In my head I would cut my run shorter but still hit my 90 minutes for the day through some sort of cross-training combination, so I had a plan to do a 3 mile run and then go to spinning.
I knew the run would hurt a little, but was determined to hit my pace ranges for what I am working to become the new easy (8:55) and the new moderate (8:25). I took the first mile super easy, even for 2 weeks off it felt easy and then did one at each of the 2 other paces. While they were certainly tougher than they were before I got sick, I didn't feel like I was dying, so a small victory- then again, this was only 3 miles.
After I finished my 3 miles I just did not have the energy to throw into a spin class. I had enough energy to finish my workout, but not at the intensity that a spin class requires- and the revelation of how much fitness I lost sinks in. I do 35 minutes between the arc trainer and the bike and call it a day at 60 minutes, not a great feeling.
Today, was back to the weights, and I knew I would have to drop certain weights as I would not do very well with some higher weights after not lifting for 2 weeks. I made it through my normal routine and felt pretty good, I am sure I will be sore tomorrow, but I can deal with that. I did 20 minutes of cross-training and am planning an easy 4 mile run this afternoon, here is hoping that it doesn't kill me.
I have not had to take a break like this since I started running. Sure injuries kept me from running, but I could cross-train, bike, swim, etc. Doing nothing for 2 weeks has made me feel like a lazy ass and a blimp, and it seems so hard to get back into my routine, but hopefully I can pick it back up easily after a week or so, I have a big race in just 8 weeks that requires some serious attention and I need to get at it!
Hopefully regualr blogging will also resume now that I am an active and functioning human being again!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Friday Confessions
I hope everyone is looking forward to their weekend as much as I am! As much as I have been MIA lately you had better bet there have been a lot of things I haven't fessed up to, so here it goes.
- I have been sick as a dog all week this week, and yet for some reason I will not let myself call in sick. In my last job you could bet your ass you would be fired if you called in sick for anything other than losing a limb, you had to go in sick and be so bad that they would send you home- I guess I still have this fear instilled in my brain.
- While out of town last weekend I did a glorious "long run" of 7 miles at an 8:43 average pace...in elevation...on hills- I know ridiculous!
-I have been sidelined all week from this lovely ailment, but refused to miss Wednesday's track workout...The Mizuno Bus was coming to let everyone test out their new shoes lines, get discounts, and a fun tshirt. Yes I should have been in bed, but I coughed, sniffled and hacked my way through 6 miles with 3x1600 (at 7:43) to get to try some fun new shoes and get my tshirt- I have issues.
-I have picked back up my addictive reading habit this week to replace my running addiction. I have finished 2 book in 5 days...and I have my eyes on another before the weekend is out :)
-I found my wedding shoes!!!!! And then someone stole my size :( My size 10 foot will not fit in a teensy little pair of 5.5 sandals that is left. FAIL!
- Bridesmaids dresses are still causing problems. We found a dress that was great, and it is not laying right on people the way it did in the pictures...hoping this issue can be resolved as the idea of finding another dress highly disinterests me.
- I think I have eluded to this a bit, but John has started doing CrossFit recently. He has been going for a little over a month and absolutely loves it. He has amended his diet some with it also which has been great for both of us too. He has urged me to come try it, and part of me is intruigued, but then I hear the word pull-up and panic...sheer panic.
-Very Serious Confession: I have never done an unassisted pull-up. Ever. No, this is not an April Fool's thing, I really can't do it. The idea of pull-ups scares me, I don't know why, but it seems so hard and taxing and diffcult, and people lash about all weird to get themselves all pulled-up. And besides, knowing I can't do one now, why would I try. Everyone at the gym would laugh at me as I haphazardly attempt to pull myself up over the bar with no success, so I figure I will stick to dumbbells at the gym and call it a day.
Is there anything strength related you struggle with?
I can handle push-ups, but talk about pull-ups and I will run away.
Have a fab weekend everyone, hope Spring has shown up where you are, it's already summer here!
- I have been sick as a dog all week this week, and yet for some reason I will not let myself call in sick. In my last job you could bet your ass you would be fired if you called in sick for anything other than losing a limb, you had to go in sick and be so bad that they would send you home- I guess I still have this fear instilled in my brain.
- While out of town last weekend I did a glorious "long run" of 7 miles at an 8:43 average pace...in elevation...on hills- I know ridiculous!
-I have been sidelined all week from this lovely ailment, but refused to miss Wednesday's track workout...The Mizuno Bus was coming to let everyone test out their new shoes lines, get discounts, and a fun tshirt. Yes I should have been in bed, but I coughed, sniffled and hacked my way through 6 miles with 3x1600 (at 7:43) to get to try some fun new shoes and get my tshirt- I have issues.
-I have picked back up my addictive reading habit this week to replace my running addiction. I have finished 2 book in 5 days...and I have my eyes on another before the weekend is out :)
-I found my wedding shoes!!!!! And then someone stole my size :( My size 10 foot will not fit in a teensy little pair of 5.5 sandals that is left. FAIL!
- Bridesmaids dresses are still causing problems. We found a dress that was great, and it is not laying right on people the way it did in the pictures...hoping this issue can be resolved as the idea of finding another dress highly disinterests me.
- I think I have eluded to this a bit, but John has started doing CrossFit recently. He has been going for a little over a month and absolutely loves it. He has amended his diet some with it also which has been great for both of us too. He has urged me to come try it, and part of me is intruigued, but then I hear the word pull-up and panic...sheer panic.
-Very Serious Confession: I have never done an unassisted pull-up. Ever. No, this is not an April Fool's thing, I really can't do it. The idea of pull-ups scares me, I don't know why, but it seems so hard and taxing and diffcult, and people lash about all weird to get themselves all pulled-up. And besides, knowing I can't do one now, why would I try. Everyone at the gym would laugh at me as I haphazardly attempt to pull myself up over the bar with no success, so I figure I will stick to dumbbells at the gym and call it a day.
Is there anything strength related you struggle with?
I can handle push-ups, but talk about pull-ups and I will run away.
Have a fab weekend everyone, hope Spring has shown up where you are, it's already summer here!
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