Tag Archives: running

by

Running Without a Reason

 

Lately I have been running just to run.  I am not training for an upcoming event.  I am not trying to lose weight (okay, maybe I am always trying to maintain weight thanks to my baked goods addiction).  I ran 8 miles today.  I just thought it seemed like a good distance to run.  It wasn’t a planned “long run” day.  Actually, I am even surprised I made it that far because by the time I was done with work I didn’t appear to have any energy left.  The thought of going home and crawling into bed sounded like a very good idea.  Even though I woke up at 4:30 am and was tired of staring at the computer for 5 hours straight, I still made the decision to run.  I could have very well opted for a coffee and bagel instead, but I figured that I needed to earn that.  It seems to taste better when I earn it.

 

I managed to change into my running clothes and step outside.  The weather was perfect.  It was the ideal running temperature and there was not a cloud in the sky.  I told myself that I could just start running and decide how far I would go even though I was planning on the 8 miles.  The luxury of running by yourself is that you can always change your plans or your pace.  There isn’t so much pressure to go hard.

 

The first mile seemed endless.  I started to think that maybe I was too tired to run 8 miles.  Those are the negative thoughts that should never enter the mind.  I waved off the thought and kept running.  I ran to the other side of the city along the creek, under bridges and past sketchy homeless folks pushing overflowing shopping carts.  This trail has become one of my favorite runs because the greatest elevation change is about 50 feet.  I can just do a nice and easy run without having to compete with the hills of my neighborhood.

 

Once I arrived at the 4-mile mark I knew there was no turning back.  Well, actually, I did have to turn back.  It was another 4 miles back.  I would have to finish 8 miles no matter how I felt… and I did just that.  Of course the run wouldn’t be complete without the coffee and bagel to top it off.

 

The lack of pressure is kind of nice.  I can just run when I want to and however far I would like to go.  But, it won’t last long.  I need a new challenge to set my sights on.  I was thinking about a Half Ironman next summer and I might as well throw in a marathon while I am at it.  It won’t be easy, but isn’t that the point?

 

 

 

 

 

 

by

Littlefoot Triathlon

 

The night before the race I was anxious.  I tried to tell myself to relax.  I think I get myself all worked up because I have high expectations.  It is a bit different from getting my mind prepared for a running event.  I already know that I have no chance when I stand at the starting line of a running race.  There are always hundreds of people who run faster than me.  Just once (out of the 30 or so events I have completed), did I manage to place 2nd in my age group.  I was very lucky that it was a small event and I just happened to be at my prime.

 

Triathlons are a different story.  Yes, they are growing and becoming more popular, but they are still relatively small events in comparison to running events.  With that said, you have a better chance.  Not necessarily a great chance if you happen to be contending with some top athletes, but you still have a way better chance.  The running joke is that you don’t win a marathon, you just finish it (if you are lucky enough to do that).  When it comes to triathlons, I think most people (of course not all) are racing and competing against each other.  Triathletes don’t necessarily agree with the running philosophy of competing with yourself.  Okay, I suppose I can only speak for myself here.  I was talking to a young lady right before the start of our swim.  It was her first triathlon and she told me that she was just hoping to finish.  True or not true?  Who knows? I always say that I just want to finish because I don’t want to make myself look bad if I happen to come in last.  I will have still met my goal even if I come in last.

 

So, when I told my facebook friends (you know, the ones who actually read my posts) that I just wanted to do my best and not hold high expectations…. well, I wasn’t being completely honest.  In my mind, I was telling myself that I wanted to place in my age group.  Whether it be first, second or third place it didn’t matter.  I just wanted to be up there at the top.  However, I didn’t want to say this out loud because I don’t want to portray an obnoxious ego or (on the opposite side of the spectrum) I didn’t want to disappoint myself or anyone else when I didn’t come out on top.

 

But, you know what?  I had trained hard for this event.  I had put in the effort.  I deserved a fighting chance.  So, on the morning of the event, I froze my rear off and got in that lake.  I freaked out for a minute during the start of the swim, but then I yelled at myself (in my head… didn’t want any of the lifeguards to think I needed a rescue) and told myself that I had trained for this.  I knew how to swim in that very same lake.  Get with it girl!  And I eventually snapped back to reality and pumped those arms that best way I knew how (which isn’t the best way, but it is my way and it seemed to work out okay for me).  That was a long half mile in the water, but I finally reached shore and kept going.  I pulled off that tight wetsuit and donned my warm gear even though my daughter was trying to tell me that it had warmed up outside since I had entered the water.  I didn’t want to take any chances so that long sleeve cost me a few extra seconds.  I just knew I couldn’t tolerate being a popsicle.

 

I got on my bike and pumped my legs as hard as I could.  I pumped them up and down the rolling hills for over 12 miles until I was sure that they would fall off before I could manage to squeeze in a 5K run.  I didn’t care that I was huffing and puffing because the air was so thin.  I had a feeling that people thought I was crazy for breathing that way when I passed them with every ounce of energy I had.

 

I was surprised when I hopped off the bike and could still move my legs.  They hadn’t failed me yet.  My lungs were about to, but I ignored them and just let my legs tell me what pace I should run.  I didn’t let one single person pass me during those 3.1 miles.  Not one.  I ran up that darn hill before the turnaround thankful that it was mostly downhill (but smart enough to warn myself that it wasn’t all downhill).  Then, I was finally there… at the finish line.  Right away I wanted to know my place.  Did I make the cut?  I wasn’t sure yet.

I waited and they finally started posting the results.  There I was, third in my age group.  Yes!  I had accomplished my goal, but at what price?  What disappointment lies ahead when I don’t make the cut?  Maybe I have set the bar too high.  Having my name called and being presented with an award (whether it be an exquisite plaque or an odd poster) fills me with pride, but maybe it was just luck on my side.  Will I be so lucky next time?  Everyone says that I should only focus on finishing… is that what I should do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

by

Track Workout

My blog basically tells a story.  It discusses my fitness endeavors.  I have always used a story format in my blog, but now I am starting to think that I should add a bit more technical information.  Once I obtain my personal trainer certification I can even include more fitness tips and workout ideas.  However, I am still in the learning period of this blogging.  I know I have written this blog for quite some time, but I have not figured out ways to add data, pictures and videos.  I think my next step will be to figure that all out and if you have any tips, then please feel free to share!

So, today I will be sharing some data.  One way to motivate yourself is to post your goals and accomplishments for others to see.  When you do so, you feel more obligated to hold yourself accountable.  I have a friend who just started discussing her 10K training in her blog.  She mentioned that she would run that 10K on her birthday no matter what!  Now, it is beneficial that I know because I can occasionally ask her “Hey, how is training going?”  She doesn’t want to be embarrassed to say that she has been skipping workouts, so she will make more of an effort to do that evening run.  Yes, peer pressure still works wonders even at our age.  The best part about it is that I will feel like I am part of her cheer squad from afar and I will be excited for her when she crosses the finish line.

I need to keep myself motivated and hold myself accountable.  Not only that, but I would like to share my experiences with others so that they can learn from my successes AND my failures.

Today was my second track workout here in windy Colorado.  This track stuff is a new challenge for me and I have no experience in working with intervals and splits.  I barely knew that 400 meters equals one lap around the track.  I know that is a surprise for most of you because I consider myself a runner, but I always kind of feared the track for some reason.  Probably because I would just drop my jaw in bewilderment as I tried to interpret something like this:

2 X 400 r=200, 8 X 300, r=100, 2 X 400, r=200 

??????????  Looks like a bunch of math formulas  to me!

Yes, that was our workout for the evening.  And NOW I actually know what it means (for the most part).  To sum it  up for you:  warm-up with a few easy laps, run 400 meters FAST, jog 200 meters, run 400 meters FAST, jog 200 meters, run 300 meters SUPER FAST, jog 100 meters (do that 300/100 8 times), go back to the 400 meters FAST (twice) and then run an easy mile to cool down.  Now, I won’t even mention the whole @5K pace or @10K pace because I am still trying to figure that out.  For now, I just run FAST and SUPER FAST when required.

Great stuff…. really.  It is only 300 meters that I have to run SUPER FAST (well, 8 times), but I feel like I am going to PASS OUT during the last 100 meters because I am pushing so hard.  Then they tell us to do it again and AGAIN.  Oh, maybe I should mention that 400 meters would equal .25 miles.  That would make 300 meters around .19 miles.

So, during each of these sprints we were timed.  These are called splits.  It is great if you can run each one consistently (in this case, all 8 for the 300 meters).  It is even better if you can run each one FASTER than the one before.  Those would be considered negative splits.  I was so thrilled during the Goofy marathon when I found out that my buddy and I had run the second half of the marathon FASTER than the first half.

Here are my splits for today’s workout:

400 meters : 1:40, 1:43, 1:51, 1:50 (sort of consistent, but I obviously hard more energy during the first one)

300 meters: 1:14, 1:14, 1:15, 1:14, 1:13, 1:16, 1:15, 1:14  (not bad for consistency)

After all the FAST running, SUPER FAST running and jogging, I realized I had run a total of 6 miles.

I’m not sure if it good or bad to run with people who are faster than you.  I love being challenged, but I think I about killed myself!

Somehow I have to get my poor body out of bed tomorrow morning at 6:00 am to go swim in a lake and follow it up with a bike ride.   Yes, I love torturing myself.

by

The Quest for New Running Buddies

Most normal (I don’t know if that is the right word… what is normal anyway?) people who stay rooted in one place all of their lives don’t realize how difficult it is for military families to move every 2-4 years.  They might assume we love it and that we get to enjoy endless adventures, but it isn’t always so much fun and definitely not so easy (especially in the beginning).  Besides all of the obvious packing and unpacking, there is the relocation to a new area where you most likely don’t have any friends or family to lean on.  It is easy to understand that kids might have difficulty adjusting, but the parents also have to learn a new place and find new friends.  Granted, some military folks are good at adapting and very extroverted so they instantly make friends with everyone on their block.  But, what about us introverts? We have to face more challenges in that aspect.

Of course, as a military family it is usually easy to get connected with other members who work with the military spouse.  Yet, we appear to be in a very unique situation here because my husband will not be working.  Instead he will be attending school.  A school where there is currently only two other military members assigned to our service.  I guess that doesn’t really matter to me much because I have always tended to befriend more of the “outsiders” (the people not affiliated with the military) so I am used to reaching out in different directions.

Now, here I am.  I have taken some initiative already since I have done years of research into finding my niche.  Anything that deals with running is always a good start.  Therefore, I opened up my laptop and started a search for local running clubs.  Hmm, I was surprised to see… hardly any in this area.  I didn’t type in “cycling club” but I have the feeling that over a hundred options would pop up if I did that.  But wait, I did find something that said “running and cycling” club.  I guess that is better than nothing.

I kind of thought about the club for a couple of weeks before actually getting up the nerve to attend a track workout.  You know, it is always hard to force your way into an already established group of people.  People naturally tend to stick with those that they know (unless they are extreme extroverts I suppose).  That’s not to say that people aren’t friendly, but you kind of just want to stick with what is most comfortable.  I know that I do.

So, I showed up at the track 15 minutes early (of course, because I am naturally punctual thanks to my VERY strict curfews as a teenager… I would get grounded if I was even 10 seconds late).  I watched the football coach on the field yelling at his little team of boys and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for them.  I was thankful that I wasn’t doing their workout.  But, then again, I had no idea what I was about to partake in.  Club members started staggering in and I tried to remember names, but it is almost not fair because they only have to remember one new name.  They all seemed really nice and the one thing that I noticed is that they actually asked me a lot of questions.  That always makes a new, introverted person feel more at ease (take some notes here!).  The coach arrived with his two stopwatches around his neck and I was starting to feel excited about this whole track thing.  I had never really trained on a track before and I suddenly felt like some kind of Olympian.  Then he started talking about 400’s and 800’s and 1200’s and I had to turn to the guy next to me and ask “400 is one loop around the track, right?”.  Fortunately, I didn’t feel like too much of an idiot for asking that question because I was already pretty comfortable with the group and I kind of played it off like this track might be different from other tracks (I mean, it was gravel and there were weeds growing on it).

So, we started off on a warm-up and I ran next to a girl that I enjoyed 2 laps of small talk with.  I remember thinking that it seemed like a great speed to me and that it should be easier than I had anticipated.  Well, then all hell broke loose when we started our intervals.  “Run this at your 5K pace” said the coach.  Okay, sure.  I am just going to run with these guys.  It appears that they run at my pace.  Yeah, they run my pace during the warm-up!  I was huffing and puffing and working so hard to keep up during that first lap.  I finally realized that there was no way that I was going to keep up during all of these intervals because my energy was waning.  I played off the altitude thing.  “Yeah, I just moved here from sea level.”

Needless to say, even though I thought I was about to keel over at the end of those 6 miles, I had a good time through all of the pain.  I love challenges and that was definitely a challenge.  I bid my farewell and promised to return to another training.  That night I received an email from one of the members asking me to run some extra miles during the week.  People asking me to go for a run?  Now that is a friendship in the making.

Funny thing before I close.  I just got a phone call today from a lady my husband and I met in the pool at the YMCA (we started talking about triathlons).  She called to ask me to go for a ride tomorrow.  Granted, I have never been on a group ride.  I am also very slow.  Not only that, but I have a fear of going up and down hills.  Yet, I responded with “sure.”  This will be another new challenge that scares the crap out of me!  I will let you know how it goes.

by

Hello Golden, Colorado!

Well, it has been awhile since my last blog entry but I think I have a pretty good excuse.  I have been moving my family across the country from Jacksonville, FL to Golden, CO.  We are still not completely settled, but there has been a lot of excitement surrounding our inquiry of the new area and all that it offers.  Let me tell you, it offers a whole lot!

However, as a runner in Golden, CO I kind of feel out of place.  I have been on an 8-mile run that afforded me the pleasure of encountering about 5 other runners.  That may seem like a lot, but I must admit that about 50 of my human encounters involved people on bikes.  I quickly learned that Golden is a biking town.  Oh, they are friendly enough and will often wave or nod, but I get the feeling that they might think I am some kind of nut.  I mean, who runs up these insane hills when you can bike up them and then sail faster than the cars as you glide down them?  As a runner, it takes work going up the hill and, whether or not you believe me, it actually takes some work going down them.  Then again, I would only fear for my life if I were on a bike.  I have yet to attempt that because I am still mustering the courage.  I just nod back and silently call those cyclists “crazy.”  Yet, everywhere you look in the quaint little downtown you see a bike rack (and oddly enough, they are actually shaped like bikes).

So, here is runner me gasping for air at 1.2 miles above sea level (yep folks, Golden is higher than Denver… and my neighbor just had to warn me about the fact that we get double the amount of snow during the winter).  Let me remind you that I just moved from flat, sea level Florida.  Granted, the sweltering heat and humidity totally SUCKED, but I am thinking that this altitude really STINKS.  Not to mention the fact that an onion I purchased at the store today nearly jumped out of the back of my SUV which was slanted at 45 degrees in our driveway.  If I wouldn’t have caught the darn thing then it would have literally rolled all the way to the end of our road and then down to the bottom of the valley.  What does an onion have to do with anything?  Well, my point being that we live on a freakishly hilly hill (if you think there is no such thing then I cordially invite you to visit my home). When the training plan says “rest day” I can pretty much throw that to the wind because no day is a “rest day” when you have to climb 200 feet up a hill.  Unless I can run down the hellish thing and persuade my husband to pick me up at the bottom.

Well, it has obviously been an adventure.  The adventure lies in finding a flat place to run, but I have yet to find any such place around here.  Since I should just consider myself screwed, my plan is to run like crazy here (I don’t even have to leave the boundaries of my neighborhood) and then make a trip to a lower, flatter location and run like nobody’s business.  I am sure I will make some kind of world record.  It’s all about making a positive out of a negative, right?