Tag: run

Wardrobe oops!

Sunday marked 10 weeks to my next half marathon and 8 weeks to my next 10K! If I didn’t have such high PR hopes (goals) this might not be so nerve wracking. I have a 5K planned as well, but that is just for fun 🙂 I finally have some friends running with me!!!

Sunday I headed to the track to get in a few miles. I ran a pretty good 5K and decided to try some quarter mile sprints. Ha ha, that was funny. So on the first one after I restarted the Nike app, it said that I completed it in 1:42, so that would break down into a pace of 6:48 per mile. Yeah, ummm, no. I almost started crawling after that, I was breathing so hard. I completed another one but not at that pace. All in all, I ran 4 miles.

Then I went and helped my mother clean up and get the tennis courts ready for the new school year and season. There was a crank (holds the net up) that tried to kick my butt, however, I had a hacksaw and I won!! I then completed some really slow ladders. I managed to do them right this time but very slowly, I had to count out the foot work! But perhaps, I got a little more sun than I had anticipated, oops.

After work, I hit the park to get in a few miles. Having run Saturday and Sunday, I normally may have taken today off, but I am having a girls night tomorrow, and I am planning on Eating 🙂 So had to get a few preemptive miles in.

Ever have one of those days where everything fits all wrong? Yeah that was me today. I set out from the car with the belt that I have been trying to break in. Yeah, no thanks! It was either riding up my waist or down below my but but managing to pull my shorts up at the same time. What? I began the run in perfectly respectable shorts that tried to turn into racing briefs. Umm, Shalane Flanagan I am not. So to anyone on the path tonight who saw way too much of my upper thighs, I apologize. The belt was driving me so crazy, I actually stopped at my car at the first pass and switched to an armband. Luckily, I keep lots of spare gear in my car 🙂

I pulled a nice 3.5 miles at a good pace actually. Which was all I could take, the sports bra was so not friends with my sunburn.

So Monday run done! And good times planned for tomorrow, hope everyone else has something to look forward to this week!

Anyone else ever have wardrobe issues while running?

Ahh, the joy of a good run :)

Sadly, my Saturday began with work. My commute though different than usual was still pretty. However today, it was so freakin’ foggy which made the fact that the hill drops off just past the road side even creepier. I couldn’t see the drop off 😦 You couldn’t see oncoming traffic until it was already at you which made the cyclists that randomly appeared out of the mist extra fun. I know that everyone is supposed to share the road, especially considering I run roads, but why would a biker ride in that kind of fog? Without any of those lovely flashing red lights? Really? It’s like running at night wearing all black.

I came home to a late lunch, yummy pizza, and some errands before heading out for a run. The weather was in the mid-eighties, and I took water and remembered my gum! The plan was to do a couple easy miles, maybe a hill or two, test out my new belt and some new tunes.

I maintained a similar pace to Thursday but since I walked parts of it I was ok with today’s pace. Plus the music was great so it made the miles fly. It felt hotter than it was but that’s ok. Had some glitchy moments where the music just stopped, and I had to go even slower while trying to figure out why it died. Not cool 😦 Of course, I usually accidentally paused the Nike+ app and had troubles getting it going again. But even with those issues, I completed 5.5 miles. Since I ran from home, I was able to get in a nice stretch on our wall. All in all, a good effort.

Pretty sure I heard something over there, eek!

Now I have a new issue of Runner’s World to finish 🙂

Hope everyone had a good Saturday!!!

I run, why can’t I do this?!

Apparently working in a town that rarely gets above 72 has killed my heat resistance. Living in a town that averages triple digits in the summer makes that a problem. Today’s workout was only around 90, but holy hotness I was dying.

Hit the track with the intention of doing 5 miles. Ha! I maintained race pace for 2 miles, then did some speed work for the remaining 2 miles, completing only 4. I think I finally started to notice a difference in my running after 27 days of squats. Running the straights, I felt like my legs were working more efficiently even if the heat was kicking my butt. Of the course, the breeze didn’t pick until I was done running. After running, I decided the grass looked nice and comfy 🙂

So my mother was there too, having absolutely no problems with the heat. Then she spends most of her time in it, she’s the tennis coach. Before we left, she challenged me to do some ins and outs? Umm, do what now? So we went over near the tennis courts, where I saw ladders painted on the ground. I got it now.

So she demonstrated. I thought, “sure no problem”. Ha!! I couldn’t even complete one. So it’s an in then out pattern with each foot, so 1-2 in, 3-4 out, repeat. I kept turning it into hopscotch! She does it 5 more times and I fail every time. I thought I was somewhat coordinated, apparently not 😦 It was a good thing no one else was around, because the more I messed up, the more colorful and vocal I became.

New goal, complete these damn ladders. Will attempt it again next weekend, fingers crossed! Anyone else have problems with these or is it just me?

Slow but rewarding

It’s only Thursday but this week has felt like a month. Back to work on Monday with a little run. Volleyball playoffs were on Tuesday. Class final due on Wednesday (seriously I must have been insane to take a course in the summer), work today with a run after. And through it all, my ankle has been making its presence known. I am now also 25 days in that squat challenge.

Playoffs on Tuesday were, umm yeah. Well, we made the playoffs, maybe we should leave it there. Haha, we came in fourth. The better part of the night was $1 tacos and $2 beers with the team afterwards 🙂

Today was just an “ugh” day. Nothing wrong, just in a funk. Ever had one of those? Left work for my run and was dragging. Met my friend at the park and was happy to see the jogging stroller. Yeah! A reason to go slow! Plus her baby is so stinkin’ cute, its impossible to stay cranky.

I am kind of an all or nothing kind of person. I am either running or I am a total slacker. I spent so much time trying to get faster and working on my speed that I have troubles going out easy when something hurts, so the stroller was awesome. 2 slower laps with them and 1 faster after. Today may have been slow but it was still 3.5 miles. And jogging strollers are harder to push (better workout, hehe) when the tires are low on air. The thing is brand new; do they all lose air like that? Finished my 220 squats and am done, woo hoo!

Tomorrow may be Friday but for now, I am in my comfy chair with a fan on, and an ice pack on my ankle. I have a snack of chips and salsa, oh and a nice cold, homemade margarita. With real fruit!

Squats, strollers, and a mini horse!!!!

So, three days into the week and I have stuck to the plan!

Monday’s run turned out to be a little less than 3 miles:). It was over 90, yowza! So on to cross-training, hehe, of volleyball went really well. Played harder than usual, getting out of bed this morning was so hard. I was so sore; not used to that. I have played almost every Tuesday night for the last 5 years, think I would be used to it by now. I also decided to complete a one of those squat challenges for July. Its starts you out at 50 and hopefully at the end of the month, you can complete 250… ummm, what was I thinking? Oh mama, my legs are sore. And I still have another 25 to do today.

So tonight I leave work planning to meet a friend for our Wednesday run. We like to run this trail around the lake in a city park. The town is halfway between work and home for me, so perfect! Turns out we were both dragging tonight, so it was great that she brought her daughter in her jogging stroller. Got to test it out and go a little slower. Yeah, not as easy as it looks, for as much as they look so easy to push, you can totally feel the burn in your calves. They may have been way slower than normal but it was still 3.5 miles. Forward motion counts right?

One thing I like about this trail is that there are so many people. Quite a lot of them are walking dogs as well. There is the cutest Chihuahua with sunglasses that I have seen a few times too. Tonight was a new record, though. There were huskies, labs, daschunds, border colliesL, schnauzers, etc. Now most who know me, know that I tend to have interesting animal encounters when out running. I have had run-ins with possums, snakes, cats and there is a valid reason one of my friends husband calls me “ass-bite”. Tonight I got to add a new one to the list. There was a couple walking a mini-horse!!!! It was so stinking cute, way smaller that I had imagined. I so wanted a picture but the owners seemed a little stand-offish:(. Anyone else have any interesting animal encounters?

So here’s to feeling inspired enough to do a couple miles tomorrow after work, now onto 25 more squats.