|
Click here to send me an e-mail June 11, 2003
Hey! I added a new page for the next phase of my marathon adventure. Change your bookmarks to the new journal page!
June 7, 2003
The pictures from the race are finally available! Mine are mostly horrible but the official one at the end with the medal is OK. I looked up everybody's picture and saved them so you can see them. Hopefully they won't hate me for this -- but they all look good in the shots so they shouldn't care.
Have you ever seen such happy faces?
|
| Pat |
|
| Tina |
|
| Coach Karen |
|
| Me |
|
| Gina |
|
| Aggie (3 time marathoner!) |
June 6, 2003
I think the marathon buzz is finally wearing off.
Actually, it hasn't but I've realized that I'm boring people to death talking about it so I'm going to try to stop. I did wear my official t-shirt to work today though, so I'm hoping that will prompt a few people to ask questions so I can ramble on about it a few more times.
In other news I got some e-mail about the mentor program. My first official mentor duty is going to a TNT info meeting in July. That will be fun but I kind of which is was sooner so people could see how excited I am this week.
I figured out that I have another week or so to kick back and relax before I have to get started with the run/walk plan for the 1/2 marathon. I want to give my legs a little bit more time to recover. They feel fine, but I'm sure they're still pretty worn out. The week of June 16 will give me 14 weeks until the Philadelphia Distance Run in September. The Virginia Beach even is about 3 weeks sooner and I figure I'll be in pretty good shape for that too.
It's going to be tricky trying to do the run X minutes, walk X minutes thing without a treadmill. I wonder if I'm smart enough to keep track of this with my not particularly sophisticated watch? We'll see!
Joan is getting enthusiastic again about training for the Disney 1/2. I told her I'd be her coach so keep your fingers crossed that it will work and she'll really do it. She'll be happy she did.
This weekend is going to be shaky weather-wise I think. Saturday is a total washout and Sunday is iffy. The US Pro Cycling Championship is on Sunday and if it's nice we're going to go. That will give me an excellent opportunity to walk a lot and work out any remaining kinks in my legs without really walking fast or too hard.
June 4, 2003
I made a bunch of edits on the marathon report. They are purple and bold and hard to miss. Check them out!
| After the Marathon |
|
| June 1, 2003 |
June 3, 2003
I can't believe that I am a 2 time marathon finisher!
The trip and the marathon were both totally great! We both had good races and I even managed to finish faster than 6 hours, which I am completely excited about! I took good notes during the trip and will post all my stories & pictures soon.
There really isn't anything that feels better than finishing a marathon.
To read all about the weekend, check out the Marathon Report. It has it's own page that you can link to from the menu bar at the top of the page or you can just click here.
I should also mention that the 3,900 TNT runners/walkers participating in the Rock'N'Roll marathon raised over $12 million for cancer research. Go TEAM!
That's a pretty amazing task and I hope all those rats out there who think TNT is all about getting other people to pay for your vacation see that figure and realize that TNT people do a whole lot more than clog up the marathon course and make the finish area crowded. [I'm talking to all the grouches at the Runner's World Marathon forum!]
| San Diego Here I Come! |
|
May 29, 2003
Nervous Nellie!
I'm super nervous. Good nervous, I think, not bad nervous. I've made a list of what to pack, although I haven't packed a thing. I've figured out how to drive to the airport but I haven't figured out yet how I'm getting there -- should I drive myself, should I get Brian to drive me, should I car pool with Aggie? I really don't feel like going myself but the times for the flight are so bad that I feel terrible having either B or A make the trip for me.
I think that if I stay at home, instead of at Aggie's tonight, I'll have to leave no later than 4:30. Which means I need to get up at 4 or even sooner. I hate to set the alarm and make Brian wake up at that horrible time of day. The alternative is sleeping on the Aero at Aggie's. That's a half hour closer to the airport and allows for a last minute carpool decision as well as chatting about the trip and making last minute plans into the night. I'll probably sleep there. That makes the most sense.
Today I printed out a pace tag for a 6 hour marathon. I hope to break 6. That's a vast improvement over Bermuda, and I'm not sure I can do it, but I'd like to try. I think 6:30 is far more realistic (and more likely) but you know, it can't hurt me to aim a little higher. 6:30 is still a big improvement over Bermuda.
I checked the log today and so far in 2003 I've put up 328 training miles. That doesn't sound like nearly enough, does it?
Also -- the Amazing Race starts tonight! That's the most awesome show ever.
May 27, 2003
Nothing to do but wait
I'm back at work after a rainy and uneventful holiday weekend. I didn't do much of anything except think about the marathon and plan a vacation for when I return. We've settled on going to Bar Harbor/Acadia National Park. It should be a great trip -- but before we get involved with that I have to get through San Diego.
I got the plane tickets, the goodie bag and everything at VF on Saturday and heard lots of good stories about the coaches previous trips. I really can't wait. Aggie and I are both just dying to get there already.
I feel a little guilty about Brian not coming -- I know it's the right decision but I still wish that he could go. Actually, I want him to be there when it's over but not at all before the race. How rotten is that?
In any event, I don't think I'll have anything to report until after the marathon. But this time, I swear I'll write and post the report quickly and not months later like I did with Bermuda.
May 23, 2003
This time next week..I'll be on my way!
Wow! It's pretty much here. I'm going to VF tomorrow to pick up my tickets and the goodie bag for the race. It's amazing that it's here already. This marathon has never really seemed real to me -- I guess because I wasn't planning on doing it and the prep time was shorter -- but it's here and I can't wait!
I have 8 miles on the schedule tomorrow -- hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can do them w/o too much trouble. It's supposed to be raining hard but I'm hoping for a drizzle or even less. I've had an off week so I need to do the distance.
I was reading some nice stuff in the Penguin's new marathon book --- I'll have to post a couple of little excerpts before I leave for California.
This weekend I have to think about what to bring with me and make sure I pack all the best stuff for the trip. I need to choose socks, pack the right gels, find some Gatorade and settle on the proper clothes. I never did get new sunglasses like I wanted to. Pesky.
I don't have anything to write here I just don't feel like working. But I better work anyway.
May 20, 2003
Root Canal --- it's not so bad!
Let's see -- this weekend was pretty dull. Friday night was so uneventful I can't even remember it. Saturday we were at Lizzie's first communion party and we got to see the fabulous new house. Wow! John is so lucky to be able to buy such a totally cool house. Saturday night we went to the book store and tried to figure out which gardening book could solve all of our cluelessness. The answer was none of them alone -- we need to buy every book on the shelf. So what did we do? We got none! Here's something odd I discovered while browsing the garden shelves: Barnes & Noble sells two different books devoted to growing pot in the home. Wouldn't you think that would be illegal?
Anyway, Sunday morning it was raining AGAIN! I swear, we're never going to see the sun ever again. Luckily Brian was in on the plan to walk 10 miles so he made me put on my rain gear and get out there even though I wanted to lay on the couch and watch "The Negoiator" instead. He was right, because the rain stopped about a mile into the walk and it was pretty nice by the end of it. We walked from the house, through a nice neighborhood and onto the Perkiomen Trail then all the way into Collegeville Borough before turning back and heading home. It came to just over 10 miles. What a great change of scene!
I hope this week to get in a couple 5 mile walks or so then walk each day of the holiday weekend. I really, really can't believe that the marathon is this close. I'm so not ready!
The root canal was Monday morning, and just like everybody said, it didn't hurt at all. The dentist was super nice and he even talked about The Bachelor. (Yay! He didn't pick that horrible Kirsten!) Today my jaw is a little tender but mostly I'm cured. I have to go back to the regular dentist to deal with my other cavities and to get a crown put in but I'm on the road to recovery and it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.
May 16, 2004
Not too much to report. The teeth are a mess, as expected. I have root canal on Monday and probably another one looming. I also have assorted other cavities and gross things going on but now they'll be fixed and hopefully I can avoid any real pain or big giant problems. Hopefully.
I walked the loop yesterday after the dentist so the day wasn't a total loss! I also updated the Book Shelf, which I've been neglecting forever. There's about 8 new books on the list.
May 14, 2003
17 days to go
I can't believe it's so close. I can't believe my knee is still stiff. I can't believe that I broke a tooth today. [If you are reading this and you haven't been to the dentist in the past 6 months, call the dentist today and get over there!]
Yesterday was my first walk since the big one on Saturday. Brian and I walked around the neighborhood. I'm really glad he was with me because we twisted and turned around so many corners I had no idea where we were. The really odd part is that we were never more than about a mile from the house. The walk felt good and my leg felt fine, although it's still a bit stiff. I hope 17 days is enough to cure it completely.
I tried to transmit but for some reason Sportbrain doesn't like me these days. I can't transmit my data so I'm not exactly sure how far we went. Brian was able to transmit and his brain said 5.6 miles. I sure hope that it was right! We were out for a little more than an hour though, so that sounds about right.
Which brings me to today and the broken tooth. I was at Subway for lunch and nothing hurt or anything but when I was finished I could tell that something was missing from one of my bottom molars. This tooth had been a problem recently -- parts of the filling were starting to disentegrate and I knew that I needed to call the dentist. But I'm a big chicken and it's been so long since I've been to one that I really don't even have a dentist. I would have to find a new one and it was just too much trouble to go through for something that wasn't actually painful.
But today, there's a big hole -- so there is no more discussion. Luckily it doesn't hurt (yet) but there is no question that I have to act and act fast. My first move was to call Aggie's dentist and they were incredibly mean, unsympathetic and told me that they had no appointments until June 30 and that I should find a Yellow Pages to solve the problem. I tried to find Brian and get the scoop on his dentist, but he was unavailable so we came up with going to my Mom's "million dollar dentist".
The million dollar man was very nice, and said I could come in a 9:10 tomorrow morning. So --- that's where I'll be. Freaked out and scared to death but at least it's first thing in the morning and I can sleep through most of the time I have to wait until then. Plus, I will be distracted by American Idol & the Bachelor.
Do yourself a favor: Avoid the horror and panic I am living through right now. Luckily my broken tooth is mostly one giant filling anyway, so it doesn't hurt (yet) but I'm still scared to death that I have to face a dentist tomorrow at 9am. I wonder how many other really big problems he's going to find in my mouth? I can think of at least one. I am so dead.
But the good news: at least my teeth won't be falling out or hurting in San Diego!
| My 17.5 mile walk at Valley Forge |
|
May 10, 2003
Should I walk 20 or is 17.5 good enough?
Total miles: 17.62
Total steps: 35869
Time: 4:10:30
First thing I need to mention is that the 20 mile long walk was moved from the nice, flat loop at Kelly Drive to the hilly loop course at Valley Forge. This was because of the Dad Vail Regatta. The good news is that it's closer to where I live and I wouldn't have to be threading my way between giant boats and millions of people. The bad news is that VF is super hilly and there is nobody around to sell me a delicious soft pretzel when I'm done with the walk.
Saturday morning was chilly, gray, humid and generally dismal. As it turns out this was a good thing because the coaches told us that this is just like the start in San Diego! I started the walk with a sock experiment -- I was wearing my super cool CoolMax 26.2 socks. I was hoping to be able to wear them during the marathon but I wanted to try them out first. Good thing I did a test because by mile 3 they were already bugging me. I stopped at the parking lot after 5 miles to change my socks to my standard cotton Nike socks. I guess I suspected they'd be a problem because I was smart enough to bring that spare pair with me.
But I skip ahead. I started the walk with Gina, a fun girl who is headed to San Diego and also had 20 miles on the agenda today. Unfortunately, she had pulled a muscle earlier in the week and couldn't really walk to fast. I didn't mind going slower but eventually she was going too slow for be to stick with her and I didn't feel so bad because she decided to stop the walk at 5 miles.
Ok, so I get back to the parking lot and it caused a bit of a ruckus because they all thought something must really be wrong for me to be returning to the car. But I smoothed the feathers of the coaches by explaining the sock experiment and once I changed the socks, and ditched my fleece, I was on my way again. I ate my first gel as I was leaving the lot: strawberry bananna. Not my fave, but not horrible either. It's more stawberry than bananna. (Thank goodness!)
The 2nd loop was pretty uneventful. Even less exciting than the first one when I was fretting about the socks. Char and Laura (my friend from Bermuda who is now a TNT mentor) were working a water/snack station just past the 3.5 mile mark of the loop. That meant it was at about mile 8.5 for me. I had a pretzel and a half of a strawberry nutra-grain bar. Yum!
Nothing of interest happened until I got to the end of the 2nd loop. I stopped by a tree, did some stretches to loosen up my shoulders and work out some of the slight tiredness I was feeling in my legs. I fixed my shoelaces and then was on my way again -- this time doing the loop in the opposite direction. Sticking to the plan, despite just having had a snack, I popped another gel. This time vanilla.
I ran into Char and a TNT employee whose name I can't think of right now but who is doing San Diego, walking towards me and they waved and that was fun to know I was ahead of somebody and not completely alone out there! I passed a couple other people who I knew were TNT folks also -- a lot of Fall teams started today and there were some Bermuda alumni in the mix.
I was getting pretty bored on this third loop and was glad that Karen had suggested three loops and then an out and back to the arch instead of doing the full 20 miles. It seemed like cheating but already by my 13th mile I was glad for the shortened time. It was really an unpleasant, chilly, damp day and I wasn't too keen on being out there very much longer. Finally I hit the 5.0 mark on loop and turned around to head back to the Arch. That's about a mile and a quarter from the parking lot. I was still, at this point, feeling kind of bad about doing less than 20 and was going to push to the 2.5 mark and really complete the full distance. But when I hit the 1 mile mark I just hit a wall. Not the lack of fuel wall (I'd had yet another gel -- green apple with caffiene) more a bored, frustrated, stiff kneed kind of wall.
My left knee, injured slightly at the Broad Street Run, re-aggravated in the thursday basement jogging insanity, was really starting to bother me. It didn't hurt it just kind of messed with my gait and the hilly course and the slant of it, which normally don't really have an effect on me, seemed huge and unpleasant and just not worth the hassle. I decided to follow Karen's instructions, turn around at the arch and call it a day.
Am I disappointed in myself? A little bit. 17.5 miles is far -- but it's not 20 miles and that was the real goal. But I know, deep down, that I can finish a marathon. And I know that it's not worth jeopardizing the real goal just to get to 20 miles. It's better to rest the knee, and push on through the discomfort (if there is any) in 3 weeks and not today.
After the walk, I was starving, so I ate a couple of granola bars, guzzled some water and headed home. Then I took some motrin, iced the knee, ate some pasta and took a nap. A couple hours later, my legs are stiff but not too bad, the knee is a little sore but I'm sure it'll be fine by June 1st.
Check out the groovy graph from the sportbrain website. Isn't that neat!
May 7, 2003
There's not much to say
I've been taking it easy this week for a couple reasons -- partly to revcover from the weekend that was hard on my legs. Today (Wednesday) I feel fine but the last two days they were a little bit achy. Not nearly as bad as I'd expected, actually, but I could certainly feel the fatigue when I was on the steps.
The other reason is that the weather has been kind of yuckky. It's been raining off and on and just looking unpleasant. Today is cloudy but not wet -- and I hope to get in a few laps around the neighborhood but there are storms in the forecast and we might have some thunder & lightening so I may be putting up a big fat zero again. I really need to get a treadmill.
I guess this rest is OK though, since I have the 20 mile walk (or walk/run?) this weekend. I have to run out at lunch this week to pick up some supplies for the long walk, most notably a camelbak cleaner since my tube is all moldy. I really want to buy the redesigned Flash-Flo but I don't know. It's kind of wasteful but it's a lot nicer than the one I have, I think. I still have my $25 REI rebate check so I guess it'll be half price, but I still don't know if I should do it.
I need to solve my sock dilemma too. I wore Smartwool in Bermuda and had blisters. I don't want to do that again. I've been wearing cotton recently, but I'm not sure I want to go with that in the real race either. I think on Saturday I'm going to try my thin, coolmax, 26.2 socks and if they work, they're going to San Diego. If they don't, I'm going to wear the socks that worked for me on the 15 mile walk and the Broad Street Run.
Saturday is going to be really important for me --- I still don't know if I'm going to try to run at all for the marathon. I can't imagine that I won't want to run after the experiences I've had during training, but the camelbak definately changes things. You know what? If I buy the new one, and then wear the old one in San Diego, I can ditch it if I feel good, the water stops seem full, and I want to run. Hmmmm. Very interesting idea...
Other news: The Goo Goo Dolls are the band playing at the end of the Rock'N'Roll Half in VA beach. That's awesome!
May 4, 2003
The Broad Street Run - 10 miles
At last a fun run! I wasn't really looking forward to this race at all, which is probably why I ended up loving it so much. Well, loving is probably a strong word, but I did really have fun and I'm really pleased with my performance.
Aggie and I hit the road for the race at about 6:30. The Broad Street Run is a 10 mile race straight down Broad Street. We had to drive downtown to the First Union Center to park and then take the subway up to Broad and Olney for the start of the race. We were good girls and followed the instructions that said be on the subway no later than 7:15 so we were at the start a full hour before the race. This turned out to be a good thing because we were able to sneak into Einstein hospital and use the bathroom before a giant line formed and before the hospital lost patience and told the runners to beat it. (I don't know if they ever actually turned runners away but it seems like the should have done it. I mean, if I was running the place I probably would have!)
The weather was good for running -- it started out cold so I was wearing a sweatshirt -- but even before the race started I realized that I was going to be too hot. I wound up pinning my race number to my shorts so I could wear or not wear the sweatshirt as the temperature dictated. As it turns out, it was tied around my waist for the full 10 miles. (Talk about a hassle! If I didn't like the thing so much I would have dumped it by the side of the road.)
We were milling around trying to find my walking friends so I wouldn't have to do the race alone. Close to the start time a whole bunch of the showed up, although there wasn't anybody from the San Diego team except for Karen the coach. When the gun went off the walkers quickly dissolved into two groups -- the fast ones, Karen & Marie and the slow ones. Unfortunately, I realized that I was in the middle, faster than the slow ones but not fast enough for Karen out of the gate. So I decided that I was doing this race on my own and that I'd walk or run as the mood struck me. Thinking back on my Saturday workout I realized that walking the first 2 miles got me all warmed up so I decided to stick with that method during the race.
As I crossed the line for mile 2 I started my run/walk "plan". The plan consisted mostly of trying to match my footstrikes with some goofy guy in blue and white striped shorts who seemed to be crusing along at a great, comfy pace. I would run until I wanted to stop and then I'd make myself keep going for 2 more traffic lights and then I'd stop. If I came across a mile marker or a water stop before the 2nd light, I'd stop there and also if I saw one of those things past the 2nd light I'd keep going until I hit it. Anyway, I never felt horrible at any point and this pseudo-random method worked out really well for me.
The course is a pretty straight line and there are a decent number of spectators along the way. Everybody was really happy and cheery and I was never alone like I felt in the Distance Run. I was surrounded by a pack of slow runners and I stuck with them most of the way. There were some interesting characters too like some crazy guy dressed as Superman (non-running) and a guy in mummer's suit who was running. We also had a celebrity sighting near City hall and I got to fist bop Ed Rendell (Governor of PA). That was kind of fun.
Anyway, I wasn't carrying water or anything because I wasn't expecting a hot day and I knew there were lots of water stops. I was doing fine hydration wise and managed to eat my lone power gel somewhere along mile 5. Just past City Hall, at about the halfway mark, I saw Char, one of my TNT coaches, and she handed me a bottle of frozen Gatorade. That was awesome! I was set for the next 3 miles or so with that and other than the hassle of tightening the sweatshirt around my waist while running and holding a bottle, it was a real treat to have it.
I was, by now, keeping pretty good pace with the really fast walkers and by mile 8.5 or so I had managed to pass them. Once I did that I was determined to stay ahead of them and I was really trying to do well at this point. Around here I also had a Donna Braun sighting. I was dying to stop and talk to her but I knew that if I did I wouldn't manage to keep on running. One of these times I'll manage to talk to her.
Around mile 9 I ran into Carey from work which was kind of shocking and then I was in the home stretch! There's this gate near the Naval Base where the race finishes that is quite evil because it appears to be the finish line, but it's not -- that's still a quarter mile away. I kept running though, and almost finished with a sub-2hour clock time. I wasn't quite quick enough though and finished just over 2 hours. My chip time, 1:54:07 is a major accomplishment for me though, and I'm super happy about it.
The had good snacks at the end of the race - I got an oatmeal raisin bar from Tastykake, a thing of yogurt, a bag of cheese curls and a banana. Yum!
All in all a great weekend!
May 3 2003
Less than a Month to go!
I haven't posted in ages because there hasn't been much to post. Last week was kind of hectic because I started to move from the apartment to the new house and that ate up a lot of my time.
I manged to get in only one walk at VF during the week -- 5.5 miles -- but other than that nothing until the weekend. I did 10 miles today as a run/walk getting ready for the Broad Street Run tomorrow. I felt quite good, despite not really wanting to do it. It's funny, I knew that I had to do the miles because San Diego is right around the corner, but I really wasn't looking forward to it. 10 miles tomorrow wasn't going to cut it but I hope that doing 10 miles today plus the race tomorrow will count as a long walk. I read somewhere that long miles in a 24 hour span trick your body into thinking they were done all at the same time. I don't know if that's true but I'm going to pretend that it is!
I was in a hurry because we were having company so I had to finish the distance quickly so I could so I could get to the store. It turns out that that was good for me because it made me hustle. I finished in about 2:08.
April 28, 2003
A little less doomed (maybe)
My group walk on Saturday did indeed get rained out. The group probably met and did it, but when I woke up to the sound of rain on the window I just rolled over and slept some more. I knew that Sunday was going to be a gorgeous day so I didn't see the point of being miserable on Saturday.
What did I do instead? I went grocery shopping for Brian and sort of cleaned up the house and got ready for Retie & the kids to come visit. I made cookies (Pillsbury peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are really good!) and watched a lot of TV. I was kind of frustrated because the weather cleared up a lot -- from downpour to just random sprinkles. I certainly could have done the 15 miles on Saturday and I was bugged that I wasn't doing anything. To make up for missing it I walked around the neighborhood a couple of times and pumped up the tires on my bike and took a very short ride -- but still it was better than being a total slug.
Sunday I slept later than I wanted to but I still hit the trail a little before 11. I got a late start because I was searching high and low for my little radio. I would have never managed to finish the 15 without the radio, so the time spent looking was well worth it.
I went to Valley Forge and faced the hills because the March of Dimes walk was a Kelly Drive so I couldn't go there to walk on the flat path. The first 5 mile loop was pretty uneventful. I felt fine, I listened to the radio for the first couple of miles and I made decent time. I did take out the earphones by mile 4 though because they started to hurt. I tink I really slowed down without the music.
Towards the end of the 1st loop I started to feel kind of sick -- I guess the PB&J I had for breakfast wasn't really the best thing. I turned around at the 5 mile mark and started to do the loop again, in the opposite direction, to get myself to the 10 mile mark.
I still felt a little queasy but I forced myself to eat a power gel anyway. I really think half the battle is establishing a routine for how to get through the marathon and part of mine is a gel every 5 miles. The gel was very melty and kind of gross but I ate it anyway and it didn't make me feel any sicker. By about mile 8 or so I was over whatever made me feel icky so maybe the gel did help. At mile 10, my feet felt fine, my legs were fine and my stomach was fine. Whew!
I crossed over the river to the flat path, stretched out some and filled up on regular water instead of the water/gatorade combo I had in my camelbak. I also ate another gel - this time it was green apple with caffiene. I got into a rhythm of walking and was listening to "Class Reunion Sunday --- Class of 1987" on the radio. I felt pretty good, so I decided to do the run/walk thing like last week and so I did miles 10.5 - 14.5 running and walking in half mile increments.
I felt fine for this stretch and my only complaint was that 1987 has really slow, lame music. I was happy when they finally switched over to the much peppier 1986 show. Walk Like an Egyptian and R.O.C.K in the U.S.A. are much better to run to than the pathetic Janet Jackson "Let's Wait Awhile" and that terrible remake of Lean On Me.
Anyway, that was it. I crosed back over the river and back to the parking lot and that was 15 miles. Overall it took 3 hours and 28 minutes and that includes a couple of pit stops. It's not a great time, especially since I did a little bit of running, but it wasn't completely terrible either. The good news is that I felt perfectly fine when it was done. No aches or pains, no blisters, and I felt like I could continue without any trouble.
I was a little concerned that I would have blisters since I haven't walked a big distance in quite some time but I but blockers on my trouble spots and my feet were fine.
I think the weather was a pretty good simulation of San Diego too -- upper 60s/low 70s and sunny with a slight breeze. I got some sunburn on my right shoulder. I was wearing sunscreen in most places but my t-shirt must have shifted and exposed something that I thought would be covered. Thank god I was wearing it everywhere else though because that patch is really, really red!
I feel better about the marathon now, but I still need to do a lot of work before June 1st. I hope my time will improve over Bermuda but considering my recent efforts -- I'm not counting on it.
April 25, 2003
The longest day in the history of the world
I'm at work, it's 1:30 and I feel like I've been trapped here for days. There is NOTHING to do. Except maybe dust or rearrange file cabinets. I am so totally bored I could scream!
In training news -- Valley Forge loop last night. Snooze-o-rama. That brings my total for the week up to about 14 miles. I need to do 15 plus another 6 or 7 on the other day of the weekend. It's going to pour rain tomorrow so I guess Sunday will be the long day. That means I'm blowing off the group walk -- which I feel kind of bad about, but no way am I doing 15 in the pouring rain.
In other news -- so far this year I've managed about 240 training miles. That's a mix of running and walking. I'm well ahead of the pace for 500 miles this year and I really do think I'll be able to crack 1000. especially since my training for the Disney marathon is going to be far more intense than this San Diego fiasco.
Speaking of San Diego: there are only 37 days until the marathon (counting today) and I've yet to walk over 13 miles. I am DOOMED!
April 23, 2003
So far so good
Well, the week so far has been pretty good. I didn't hit the gym on Monday as planned but I did do a nice VF loop on Tuesday followed by about a half hour on Aggie's silly little trampoline thing. I'm not sure what that does except condition my lungs a bit and help me catch up on my sportbrain reward challenge, but whatever, it made me feel like I did more than the minimum and that's what I need to do these days.
Speaking of Sportbrain you should really go check out their webpage. It's an awesome pedometer gadget that transmits your steps and workouts to the web so you can compare youself to others and also try to win prizes. Right now I'm trying to win one of three iPods that they're giving away. The only thing I don't like about my brain is that you can't see your steps/miles while you're doing the activity. So I have to wear both my Digi-Walker and my sportbrain on my long walks to track distance. But that's a small flaw, I think.
Tonight is probably an off night -- or at least a low intensity night. I might go for a walk around the new neighborhood with Brian but it's not going to be anything super long. It should be fun though, to see what it's like there and how long a walk of that nature will be.
Keep your fingers crossed that the rain will not be here on Saturday so I can do my 15 miles in peace.
April 21, 2003
I'm starting to panic
I'm really starting to get worried about the marathon. I think I'm going to be really under-prepared for the whole thing. I don't know what's going on with the training schedule and why there don't seem to be enough long walks. I also can't figure out why I've been so easy going about getting in all my miles every week. I have to seriously kick it into high gear for the next few weeks or I'm dead.
I went for my long walk on Saturday -- I wanted to go at least 13 miles. I only made it to 11.5 I don't know why it was such a rough day. The weather was nice, I had plenty of sleep, a good breakfast. Everything. I just couldn't concentrate on the walk. I guess maybe I really needed to have music with me or something. I wanted to quit from about mile 3. I forced myself to do the extended loop for a change in scenery and then go over to the Betzwood trail. Over on that flat section I actually ran for big chunks of time because I was so bored I just wanted it to be over. I hate to run with the Camelbak but putting up with that thing bouncing around was better than spending even more time on the trail.
The good news, I guess, is that physically I felt OK. My legs weren't bothering me and while I had some small blisters they didn't hurt or anything. But the boredom! Oh my! I just didn't think I could stand covering one more inch of distance. I really don't know how I'm going to face the longer milage.
I've also come to the conclusion that the Broad Street Run may be out of the question. I've decided that I have to put up big miles on Saturday -- like 16 or 17 -- and then we'll see how I feel about doing Broad Street on Sunday. But no way on earth can that be my long distance for the weekend. No way.
In the best case scenario now I'll have only 3 walks over 13 miles before the race. That really scares me. I'm worried for me but I'm really worried for the people who have never done this before. That includes me doing a really long walk the day before Broad Street. If I add one more long walk before the taper that will give me 4 long walks pre-race. I guess that's OK but I'm still nervous.
I also think that my new shoes might be a mistake. I have tiny blisters on the tips of my toes in addition to the ones I had last marathon. I need to get better socks and be sure to wear the real blister blockers on the next long walk.
Tonight I want to get home and go to the gym for a short run before the Flyers game. I think maybe 2 or 3 miles will be good and help to put a dent in all that bad food I ate on Easter Sunday. Then Tuesday and Thursday I can walk at VF and maybe I'll even try to meet the fast walkers on Wednesday. Then I can take off on Friday and do big miles on the weekend.
Keep your fingers crossed that I can improve my time in San Diego!
April 18, 2003
It's 37 degrees outside!
This weather is just brutal. I walked the loop with Brian last night (6 miles, yay!) and it was really windy and ice cold. There were almost no people there and that was really unusual. I think we see more people there when it's rainy than we did last night.
In any event, that puts me at 12 miles so far for the week. According to the schedule I should be at 16 so maybe I'll hit the gym tonight. I'm a little reluctant to do that because I have a lot to do around the apartment to get ready for Easter and I have to do a 12-13 mile walk tomorrow but we'll see. Maybe a quick half hour run.
My only other news is that I've lost more weight! I hopped on the scale today and I was way lighter than I expected. I guess the increased milage and the running is really paying off. Let's hope this stays off for good. I can't wait to put it into the sportbrain thing and see what my BMI is. Hopefully this will move me out of the yellow "too fat" zone and into the green section!
April 16, 2003
It's 85 degrees outside!
I can't figure out this crazy weather. Today it's 85 tomorrow it's going to be in the 40s. It makes no sense. I'm trying to figure out where I can go to run tonight in the nice weather and save the trip to the gym for the cold nasty weather tomorrow.
Hopefully, I'll get out of work at a reasonable time and can scoot over to that middle school track to get in some miles before it gets too dark. I should be able to get in 4 or 5 miles before it gets too dark out. I might just go to the treadmill though. I can't decide what to do.
Last night I walked the loop with Brian from the apartment so I got in 6 miles. According to the schedule I should be doing 8 tonight. I don't think I can pull that off. Maybe I could do some outside then hit the gym for the final set. I hate to skimp since I'm really feeling like I'm undertrained. Of course, for Bermuda I didn't do all that many 8 mile mid-week walks. I'm really a dope for not bringing my stuff with me so I could just head to the park after work.
Oh well. There's always tomorrow!
April 14, 2003
Busy weekend (and 7 weeks to go)
Where to start? I guess the first thing is that Brian's move to the new house went very smoothly. The house looks awesome and we both totally love it. Who knew that you needed so many silly things for a house -- like a million trash cans or extra towel bars or even so many bottles of soft soap for the bathrooms? But it's a whole new, fun way to shop and I just love it. I can't wait until I can live there too.
Saturday I got up and went to VF to get in some desperately needed miles. I did one loop -- walking the first mile then run/walking the remaning four. I wasn't trying to be super fast (which is good, since I wasn't at all speedy) but I was anxious to get over to the house so I didn't go too slow. It was good motivation. Anyway, I finished the loop in 55 minutes and change. I was happy with that. The rest of the day was spent at the house while Brian's sister came to visit with her family. She made us a really cool afghan and the girls found a bunch of bullfrogs out in the stream. Ick.
Sunday was the group walk with TNT. That was cool because they had all the team people from all the summer events at VF at one time to take a giant team picture. There are TONS of runners and a lot more cyclists than I thought.
We had 12 miles on the schedule but only did two loops, sportbrain says that it was only 10 miles but according to the marks on the trail, which always seemed to match up with the digi-walker, the double loop is closer to 11. It's still cheating but I was happy to stop since I was developing a little bit of a hot spot on my left ankle (I really have to work on finding a good pair of socks for these new, bigger, sneakers). The girls I walked with were both really nice and fun. One is doing Rock N Roll and the other is headed to Alaska. We weren't overly speedy but were brisk enough, and finished the loops in 2.5 hours with a stop for water and stretching close to the end. After practice we got a quick class on racewalking technique. I stink at that and I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing!
I had really good step days this weekend according to sportbrain. Over 19,000 for Saturday and over 28,000 for Sunday. And the worst part? No rewards and I'm still not beating Sarah or Brian. Unfair! I demand a recount!! In other annoying sportbrain news, I lost another sportport auction. Somebody got me by 50 cents in the middle of the night. They rot.
April 10, 2003
No running but I do have pictures!
No running the last few days due to the new house stuff -- hopefully I will get a couple miles in tonight.
I'm posting some pictures from the 5K so you can see Sarah & Pat's cute kids. I don't have any proof that Sarah and I were there but there is a picture of Patrick approaching the finish line (he looks like he has a stop sign growing out of his head) You can also just catch a glimpse of the wheel on the stroller Pat was pushing to the left of Patrick. Pat and the rest of the stroller are completely blocked by the dork in the plaid coat though so you can't actually see them.
| Patrick & Thomas looking pre-Race |
|
| Patrick Running to the Finish |
|
April 8, 2003
Thank goodness for HGTV
I really wanted to take Monday off from the gym since I did the 5K on Sunday. I didn't feel sore or weak or anything but I felt like I deserved a day off. Unfortunately, I blew off Saturday's workout and I know I'm going to miss others this week because of the house (settlement is tomrrow!!) so I forced myself to get to the gym.
I was even wimpy enough to drive over there since I didn't feel like getting all soggy in the sleety, snow stuff that was falling yesterday. I decided to do quarter mile intervals and that was going fine -- I was walking between 4.7 and 4.9 and running between 6.0 and 6.4. But I was instantly bored even with the TV on Jeopardy. I was going to give up at 2 miles because nothing good was on TV but then I was saved by HGTV and House Hunters. I love that show! So I stayed on the treadmill until I saw all the houses and that took me right up to 3.5 Not perfect but good enough for me!
Brian settles on the house tomorrow and moves on Thursday so I'm not sure when I'll be running or updating. Hopefully, I won't skip too many workouts this week.
| Run With Aimee 5K |
|
| April 6, 2003 |
April 7, 2004
5K Complete!
Next Event: Broad Street Run (10 miles)
I was the most incredible slug in the world on Friday and Saturday. I have no excuse for why I slept until noon on Saturday and skipped my 7 miles but I did it. What a loser! I think I put up less that 3000 steps both days. That's about as slug-like as it gets. But Sunday was a good day.
The 5K was really fun. Sarah & I were doing the 5K while Pat and the kids were signed up for the 1 mile "ramble". Patrick, Thomas, Pat and Christopher did the ramble first and got snazzy green ribbons for their efforts. Patrick was a real whiz and ran most of the way -- pretty good for a little guy! Thomas took the slug way out and hung onto the back of the stroller for the whole race. He'd been talking a lot about using his "runnin' power" but I guess he used it all up before the ramble actually began. They thought they were cool with their race numbers though, and had fun.
Sarah and I were suprisingly nervous considering this distance is something we've both done a million times and it was a race that we knew we had no chance of doing really well in. It was just for fun but we were still totally nervous. Did I mention yet that it was FREEZING outside? I was expecting a nice spring day and came with shorts and a sweatshirt. At race time is was well below 40 with a strong wind. We were running in circles around the parking lot before the thing even started just to keep warm. Once we really got going though, we heated right up.
The race itself was fun -- around 700 people turned out and there were plenty of slow people involved so we weren't completly last. I'm happy to report that even though I didn't manage to run the whole way (I stopped to work out a side stich and to stretch a little between 1 mile and the 1.5 mile mark) I still beat the lady with the cane. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless!
Here's the scoop:
Total runners: 651 Total female runners: 295
My official finish time was 32:32
My watch time: 32:02 (we started at the very very very back of the pack)
Pace: 10:28.2
Overall Place: 534
Gender Place: 210
Age Group Place: 17 of 28 Percentage 44.2
Sarah did much better (I guess it helps when you don't stop in the middle!). She finished 497 overall, with a time of 30:56 and pace of 9:57. The good news is she was only 15 of 28 in our age group so she didn't TOTALLY kill me!
And I'm sure you're curious about the really important thing: what were the t-shirts like? They were actually sweatshirts! And nice too! White with a kind of cool abstract design on it. It was a lucky thing too since half the participants were so cold they had to put the sweatshirts right on! We also got excellent goodie bags with a "premium item" that was a really hideous tote bag, a cool water bottle from the sponsoring bike shop and a baby Clif bar. Oh! And samples of Band-Aid Blister Blocker. Seriously good goodies!
April 4, 2003
Weekly Update
It's been a long week when I've been completely unmotivated. Here's what happened:
Tuesday: 3-4 miles on the schedule. Totally not into doing it. I went to the gym (sweltering again) and was plodding along when another girl came into the gym and she started controlling the TV set. That was Ok since she let us watch Curb Appeal and then some Croc Hunter show about kangaroos. Then she flicked on the war news and we found out they were waiting for a briefing from Centcom. This was really odd because it was the middle of the night over there in Qatar. Then they told us it was "good news" and that the press conference would start shortly. Well, just when I'm hooked on the story she decides to flip the station and put on the Simpsons. I was already hating be there so this was the last straw. I gave up at 2.5 miles and went home to watch the news.
What was the big story? Jessica Lynch the resuced POW. Yeah, hearing about that was better than another half mile on the treamill.
In other news: YAY! That revolting Corey Clark got kicked off American Idol for being a dirtbag. I'm so happy!
Wednesday: I met Brian out at the Valley Forge to do the loop. We ate dinner first and got a late start so we had to take the shortcut. I still got in 5.5 miles though, and I needed them. I love the spring weather and I can't wait until next weekend when Daylight Savings Time kicks in and I won't be so rushed to get in the mid-week workouts. Of course, having Brian not live right on top of the park is going to change things a bit...I hope not much though.
Thursday: Great workout! I finally figured out that I should wear my sports watch to the gym and time the 5K myself instead of relying on the treadmill to do it for me. This time I warmed up with a quarter mile then started the stopwatch and timed my 5K. I was thrilled to do it in 31.37! That's great for me! I was hoping to be able to run the whole thing, but I'm not quite there yet. Still, I ran the first 1.5 and then only took tiny, short breaks at 4.9 or 5.0 Most of the time I was running at 6.0 or 6.1 I know that's slow by runner standards but it's good for me. I'm looking forward to Sunday to see what happens in the real race.
April 1, 2002
Two months to go!
Saturday was a 10 mile walk down at Kelly Drive. The weather was great for walking - not too sunny, not to hot, not too cold. I got off to a decent start for the first mile with a racewalker girl I'd never met before. We stopped with the group at the first mile and did a series of stretches before getting into "time trial" mode. They timed us for one mile and we were instructed to walk as fast as we could. I am very happy to report that I caught up with racewalker girl (Marie I think her name was) and Karen the racewalking coach. I did the mile in 12:30 and felt great. Karen was shocked that I didn't run to catch them but I really didn't. The first quarter mile was a little rough on the shins but I warmed up and got used to it and the pace felt good by the end.
Marie & I continued walking (fast) and I was really on a roll for the rest of the walk. By the time I met up with Karen and Char at around mile 7.5 they were really surprised that I was still walking at a quick pace. In fact, I was feeling so good I was thinking about running the rest of the way, but since I started walking with Karen I stuck with the racewalking pace. She was impressed and suggested that I really team up with the racewalking club that meets down at Kelly Drive to work on my pace and technique and see if I can really improve a lot before San Diego. I'm not sure if I'm going to take her up on the offer, but I probably will.
I finished the 10 mile course in 2 hours and 7 minutes. I think that's pretty good for all walking!
Sunday I hit the treadmill for just the minimum 5K. I finished that in 33:28 which I think is my fastest time yet...so things are looking good for the weekend.
March 28, 2003
Let's do the quick update: Tuesday night was a loop walk with Brian at VF. Pretty uneventful and we did it at a decent pace.
Wednesday was a day off.
Thursday back to VF only this time I went alone and I did a great deal of running. I had to get the running in since the 5K is really coming up quickly -- just a little more than a week away. I started out walking the first half mile and then began running. By the time I hit the mile 1 marker my shins were killing me. Hmm. That never bothers me on the treadmill so I don't know if I was going too fast or if it was the hills that got me. Anyway, I stopped to stretch out and then I was fine for the rest of the loop.
I didn't have a real plan but I wanted to run more than I walked. I tried to run until I couldn't stand it anymore then walk (fast) to catch my breath before starting to run again. The hills, at times, were really killers but I guess I'll eventually get used to them.
I finished the 5 mile loop in 54:45 or something like that and I'm quite thrilled about that 11 minute pace. Of course, at the time I felt like a big snail because these fast guys kept passing me like I was standing still.
I was kind of worried that my legs would hurt today from the impact but I don't feel like I did anything out of the ordinary.
Tonight is an off day and the tomorrow I'm at Kelly Drive for 10 miles with the team. I'm not sure if I'm going to just have fun there, walk as fast as I can or if I should mix in running. I guess I'll just play it by ear.
I got my TNT fundraising statement from Paycor. The Red Wings money is there but I still don't see my carry-over funds. They haven't contacted me about being deadbeat so I guess they're taking care of that. It's a little bit scary to see just a measly $520 in the account though when I need $3800 before the marathon. I know it's all on it's way with the Joan check and the matching gifts but it's still quite intimidating to see that small number in the ledger.
March 25, 2003
Spring has Sprung!
Miles last week: 19.2
Total Miles this year: 143.88
Days to Marathon: 68
Days until the new house: 16
You can't possibly imagine how happy I am that I can now get outside to excercise. That gym is like a horrible sauna and I hate being in there for even a half hour. Last night both eliptical machines were full plus all three treadmills and I thought I would melt before I hit the 2.5 mile mark. I couldn't bear to stay on there any longer even though my legs felt strong. It can't possibly be as hot in San Diego as it is in that stupid gym.
On Saturday I did 10 miles out at Valley Forge! What a fabulous day to be outside. The weather was perfect the breeze was great so there were a lot of people out flying kites. Not just regular dull kites, I mean really big sophisticated cool kites. It makes walking the loop so much more interesting when they're out there.
Anyway, I started out walking and stuck to that mostly. I did run some stretches mostly when I had to pass packs of slow moving old folks or swarms of boy scouts on bikes. Once I would start running I'd keep it up for awhile until I got bored or the Camelbak drove me so nuts that I'd have to stop. The end results of this random walk/run plan was that I finished the 10 miles in 2 hours and 4 minutes. If I could keep that up for the whole marathon I'd finish San Diego a full hour faster than Bermuda. A FULL HOUR! That's totally exciting to me. I don't know if I can pull that off but it's certainly something to think about.
I sent the big check to TNT and the forms for the matching gifts so I think I'm pretty well covered on my fundraising. Whew!
In other news, I went shopping for new spring clothes and I'm thrilled to report that I am now a size M instead of a size L. I can't remember ever being an M before. This is awesome!
March 21, 2003
Good run last night - 5 miles. I got stuck on the lousy treadmill so I wound up running 2 miles on that one before switchig to one of the good ones for the final 3 miles. I did a 4 minute warmup then ran the next 12 minute stretch. I got a wicked side stitch towards the end so I guess I was trying to go too fast.
Moved to other treadmill and did 3.1 more miles in quarters. Finished the 3.1 in 35:15 which I think is a decent time considering the fact that it was the last 3 out of 5 miles.
Nothing else is going on -- I'm nervous about the Hawks and I'm losing my basketball pool to Joan. How unfair!
| The Dunking Hawk Will Never Die! |
|
March 20, 2003
It's Gotta Be The Shoes
I found my SuperNova Cushions! Thank you Dick's sporting goods! I got three pairs for the bargain price of $49.98 and also found good Nike shorts for $14.99. Unfortunately, my excellent shopping trip kept me from getting in any miles on the treadmill. Hopefully I can do that tonight!
In other news, the Hawks play in the NCAA tournament tomorrow against Auburn. I hope they can win with an injured Delonte West, but I have high hopes. Be sure to tune in at 12:25 EST. I refuse to use the new Hawk logo because I hate it. But as you all know that whatever logo they use:
The Hawk Will Never Die!
Somebody sent this to me and I think it's really cool and I feel like I should do something patriotic today in light of everything that's going on over in the Middle East.
The 2002 Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper Flag dimensions as described in Executive Order #10834.
This Flag is 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed Stars comprised of White Larkspur.
Each Star is 24 feet in diameter; Each Stripe is 30 feet wide.
This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants with 4-5 flower stems each for a total of more than 2 million flowers.
You can drive by this flag on V Street south of Ocean Ave. in Lompoc, CA.
March 19, 2003
Good run last night. I was hoping to go for 5 miles but it's like a sauna in the gym since the AC isn't on yet and it was 70 degrees outside. I guess it's good prep work for San Diego but it's miserable when you're working out.
I did quarter mile intervals then ran for a mile between 2.1 and 3.1 and then went back to the intervals for the final mile. I had tight legs for the first mile and a half and had to stop and stretch before I could continue. I guess that's because I haven't really been to the gym since last Thursday. The times were similar 46 minutes for the 4 miles and about 35:35 for the 5K.
I'm getting worried that I'm not putting up enough miles -- the Marathon is only 11 weeks away. Oh well, nothing to do about that but starting going out more and since the weather is warming up and it's not quite so dark I should be able to manage that.
11 weeks prior to Bermuda I was doing 8 miles on Wednesdays. that's today. I don't see me doing 8 tonight but maybe 6. Also they had 13 on the schedule for this coming weekend and I'm only scheduled for 9. Hmmm.
March 17, 2003
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Brian & I spent the weekend at Gettysburg. The weather was awesome and this was a great way to get outside and do something. It was nice. I think we probably walked between 5 and 6 miles each day. I have to admit though, as enjoyable as it was, I really don't understand why people get so wrapped up in the Civil War.
Last real workout was Thursday and it went pretty well. I did 4 miles in quarter mile sets and tried to go as hard as I could. I finished in 46 minutes and I'm pretty happy with that.
I'm bummed that I tried to get new SuperNova Cushions at the bargain price of $49.99 from RoadRunner but they were all sold out! I can't believe my monster feet are the most popular size! Unfair!
| Chris Isaak |
|
| The guy who will be singing to me post-marathon |
March 12, 2003
Finally, an update!
I haven't posted in awhile but it's not my fault this time! The web hosting company has been down for days and I couldn't get to editing interface until today. I have a lot of news to report so I think I'm going to break it into smaller chunks.
San Diego Rock'N'Roll News
The first bit of news is that I now know who the headline concert is going to be at the Rock'N'Roll Marathon. It's Chris Isaak. (You can read the press release about the concert if you click on his name.) Now I have this idea in my head that I like him but I can't think of any of this songs other than the one with the sandy girl on the beach. I think I like him because he seems goofy. Let's hope he's entertaining enough to keep 20,000 tired marathoners happy.
| Our San Diego Hotel |
|
I also found out where we're going to be staying in San Diego. It's the Holiday Inn On the Bay. According to the website it's "newly renovated" with "breathtaking views". That's great but my main concern is that it doesn't have brown water like the hotel in Bermuda did!
Actually, what's good to know is that this hotel is close to the start & finish areas and is just a couple of blocks away from the convention center where the Expo is going to be. Plus, they have airport shuttles, which will make life far easier for Aggie. Still, it does look like it has a nice view of the water. I hope our room gets to look out over the pretty boats.
Disney in January
This is the next set of big news! We're going to have a real family affair on marathon weekend 2003. Aggie & I are both registered for the full marathon, Brian, Joan and Steve are registered for the half marathon and Stephen is signed up for the Kids Races the day before the marathon. We're all probably going to do the Family Fun Run (5K) the day before the marathon too. That's going to be an awesome trip. If you talk to Joan please be sure to encourage her to stick to the plan so she can do the whole 13.1 and get her awesome Donald medal.
| Guess where I'll be in January 2004? |
|
| This is what I'm working towards |
|
| Full marathon in June the 1/2 in August = 39/3! |
Regular Training Updates/Information
Long Run at Kelly Drive with Aggie on Saturday - 6 miles
This was quite a challenge! Neither one of us are the least bit used to running outside so we were anxious to get away from the treadmill and out in the fresh air. It was a really nice day -- sunny and probably in the 30s but it warmed up to the 40s or so by the time we were finished.
Aggie was nice and let me control the pace so we were pretty much snails the whole time but that's the best I can do right now. We did the whole 6 miles in "fartlek" mode and from looking at my sportivity and thinking about how I determined when to walk and run I think we wound up running / walking in quater mile increments.
I got a couple side stictches between miles 3 and 4 so that slowed us down some and caused us to walk a lot more in that section but overall we had about a dozen running segments along the course. It's been awhile since we did this but I'm pretty sure we completed the 6 miles in 72 minues. I'm going to check that stat at sportbrain and I'll come back and fix it if I'm wrong. It wasn't blazing speed by any stretch of the imagination but still good to be out there moving.
Sunday - short run on the treadmill
My quads were a little bit sore on Sunday -- not dreadfully so but a little tender. I wanted to take it easy plus I was trapped at the grocery store for a long time and couldn't hit the treadmill for a full session.
I managed to run 2.5 miles in about 27 minutes which isn't bad since I didn't really want to go at all!
Monday - good but slow paced workout
I still had the slightly sore quads on Monday. Mostly I felt the discomfort when driving the car -- moving my leg from gas to brake was when I could feel the muscles. Pretty strange!
Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to hit the gym on Tuesday or Wednesday so I had to do it on Monday. It wound up being an excellent workout -- I alternated fast walking and running in half mile increments. I finished the first 5K in 36 minutes. which is slower than usual, but this was a far easier method. I continued on for another mile and did 4.1 total for the day in 48 minutes.
Total running miles this year: 107.68
March 5, 2003
Long Slow Distance
So I've decided that I'm going about training for the 5K all wrong. I've been too competitive with Sarah and too focused on the actual 5K finish time that I haven't really ever pushed myself to run farther than just the 3.1 Last night I decided to go for a "long run" and see if I could continue doing the run/walk thing for a whole 4 miles. I know it's a little bit late to start this plan but I think a couple of long runs before the race will help at least a little bit.
For some reason, the gym was packed last night so I got stuck using one of the old lame treadmills. This was good because the timer counts up on that machine so I was able to see my 5K time (34:44) and then continue on for my whole session without having to stop for a workout summary or do complicated math. It was bad because there isn't a cup holder on the machine so I had to hop off twice (at 2 miles and just past 3.1) to get a quick drink and too cool off a little bit. I kept moving during those breaks but it was still a break.
Other than that I pressed on and tried to keep up the 5min run/1 walk for the whole time. I know there were a couple periods where I walked longer than a minute but probably never more than 2 and I wound up finishing the 4 miles in a hair over 45 minutes. I felt pretty good about that but I realize that I probably didn't need to have run as fast as I did in the early part of the session. I forgot that I should have been looking to run at an easy consistant pace for that long time instead of trying to gain speed. Oh well, I ran a little more than usual and that's the good news.
The other big flaw is that the old treadmills face giant mirrors. Oh my god! There's nothing more horrible than having to stare at yourself plodding along like a dork and getting all sweaty and red-faced for 45 minutes. I kept trying to look at other people in the mirror but then they'd catch me so I'd have to stare at my feet instead. It was an awful 45 minutes. The running was OK but the rest, yuck. I can't wait until I can take this excercise stuff outside!
March 3, 2003
Great weekend!
Weekend miles: 9.5
5K speed: 34:36
Saturday morning was a team walk down at Kelly Drive. It was supposed to start at 7am because the Rome team had their 20 mile walk scheduled but since there were so few of them the coaches decided to switch practice for us low-milage folks to 8 am. It's a good thing too because it was a miserable, gray, wet, damp day. It was actually snowing a bit as I hopped in the car to drive downtown.
We had a 6 mile walk scheduled and that turned out to be perfect because it was just starting to rain as we finished up. Starting later, or walking further would have totally sucked.
I met some other people on the San Diego team and I'm excited about them! They're run/walkers! Well 2 of the 3 are run/walkers, the the third person, who I did most of my walk with on Saturday, is leaning more towards walking but she can run some and wouldn't mind running parts of the marathon. I think they're going to be great companions for me and can maybe help me figure out how to approach my training for San Diego.
They're interesting too because they're dragging along their husbands in various ways. One of the husbands is running the marathon too, just not with TNT. One signed up to volunteer on the course and the 3rd husband hasn't been convinced to do anything yet but she's trying to talk him into walking it. I think that's really cool that the one guy signed up to volunteer. That's a neat idea, I think.
The walk itself was good -- it was nice to be outside. We finished in less than an hour and half but I'm not sure of the exact minutes. Sportbrain says I had a 4.5 mph pace. That's pretty good, I think.
Sunday I did my running practice and really tried to push myself a little harder than normal. I wound up going with the 3 minute warmup and then was planning on doing sets of 5 run/1 walk but instead I tried to push my speed up over 6mph and run longer. I wound up doing a couple sets of 10 minutes each with about a minute in between and at a higher average speed that normal. Towards the end of the session I was just running and walking as the whim struck me. What's that called fartlek? Anyway, I finished the 5K in 34:36 so that's quite an improvement. It wasn't easy but I'm happy to see that number anyway. I cooled down with another .5 walking so over all I had a great excercise weekend.
Oh! I almost forgot. On Thursday I went to the meeting for the MS Challenge Walk which is a 3 day, 50 mile event. It was a nice presentation, and it seems like something I'd like to do someday but no way can I commit to it this season. There is just too much practice required over the summer and I can't do that plus San Diego and Disney. Just no way I'd be mentally into it for all that time. I'm not sure what to do about the volunteer thing. Part of me would still like to crew for the event and be there for the 3 days but I'm not sure I want to do that either -- I might be more content with just a quick one day pop-in. Either way, I paid the big donation and got a t-shirt and I hope that I can be involved in some way but I'm not making a decision any time soon.
OH -- and registration for the Disney Marathon opened on Saturday. I'm definately doing it I just need to convince Brian that he needs to sign up too.
February 27, 2003
I don't have much to add but I did put up some pictures of the new house.
February 26, 2003
I hate snow
Let me catch up from the weekend...
Saturday I went to the gym in the pouring rain. It was raining so hard I got soaked walking over there even with an umbrella. The good news was that the workout was easy and good.
36:24 for the 5K and then I stayed on the treadmill and did another 2 miles so I wound up completing 5 miles in about 62 minutes. Not bad.
Sunday and Monday were non-gym days. Sunday because I was lazy and Monday because I was wrapped up in the home inspection and then telling everybody about the house.
Tuesday Workout: I finished under 36 minutes!
I've been experimenting recently with the run 5 minutes, walk 1 method. This time I only warmed up for 3 minutes after getting on the treadmill (after jogging over from the apartment) and then tried to do the 5/1 method for the whole 3.1 It worked out pretty well. I know at one point I walked closer to 2 minutes but I don't see anything wrong with that. My speed started slow at 5.4 and I eased up to 5.8 in each set of 5 minutes then back down again. I'm going to try to push that more in the future. Anyway, the end result was a finish time of 35:36. Which is about a minute faster than normal and I find that pretty significant.
I wrapped up with an additional mile on the treadmill walking 4.4 and 4.5 on hill intervals. I probably should have done 2 miles but I was starving so I went home for dinner.
I'm going to post some pictures of the house soon but I'm busy at the office. Check back tomorrow for those!
February 21, 2003
Back in Action
Last night I finally got back to the gym. I haven't done any kind of miles since Saturday pre-blizzard and that was a half-hearted icy struggle for 3 miles at VF. Then the snow came, and the gym was closed and I had to shovel out my Mom's car, so I wound up doing nothing until last night.
The good, and shocking, news is that I didn't gain weight during the layoff and I didn't seem to lose much in terms of speed or capabilities. I finished my 5K in 36:18 which is slightly better than usual and I stuck it out for a little over 3.5 on the treadmill before I had to take off to watch Survivor. I really am hoping to get in some quality time/miles over the weekend.
Today is Brian's birthday so I won't be running tonight but I should be able to do it the next 3 days or maybe even the next 4.
| That's not be -- but it looks fun! |
|
February 14-18, 2003
What an amazing weekend!
Where do I start? I guess I should start by saying that I didn't do much in the way of working out -- but this time (for once) I have pretty good excuses. On Saturday I did manage to go about 3 miles on the VF loop but once I started to see people falling down on the icy, snow pack, I gave up and went home. But I did try -- and it was really cold, like 11 degrees!
Reason #1: There was a BLIZZARD! Yep! Officially we had 18 inches of snow. Unofficially, when I went to dig out my car, the snow was way over my knees -- kind of mid-thigh. It was A LOT of snow. The gym wasn't open. It snowed for 2 days straight. Bad footing, bad weather, no working out. I did have to do some shoveling, so I guess that counts for something. Mostly though, I sat in the house, ate junk food and talked on the phone about reason #2.
Reason #2: We bought a house! Or more accurately, Brian bought a house, but it's going to be our house! YAY! What an awesome valentine! Here's a picture of it:
| This is the side of our new house! |
|
| Wait until you see the front, it's much cuter! |
The house is in Collegeville on Fairhill Drive, which is close enough to Fairhill Street (where I lived for just about my whole life) to make me feel like it was meant to be.
It has 3 bedrooms, a big yard, a 3 car garage, a fabulous deck and some nice landscaping. I just love it and I can't wait until we can really live in it. The home inspection is on Monday so I hope to have some more/better pictures by then.
February 14, 2003
Happy Valentine's Day!
I had a lousy run last night. I only went for a half hour and managed 2.5 in that time. I stink! I just couldn't get into a rhythm and wound up walking most of the time. The good news is that I walked pretty fast -- up over 4.5 mph. I'm having a really low milage week since I only did 2.5 Sunday and then 4 on Tuesday. I need to crank out some miles over the weekend and hopefully the snow won't keep me from doing it.
In other news, I signed Brian & I up for the Rock'N'Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach. It's on Labor Day Weekend and I'm really excited because we can do it together and I hope that I'll be able to run most of it. I also am excited that I'll be getting the extra cool medal that says "I rocked 39.3" since I will have done the Rock'N'Roll San Diego as well as the 1/2 in Virigina Beach.
My race calendar is getting pretty full! I have the 5K with Sarah, the Broad Street Run on May 4th, the Marathon June 1st, the Urban Challenge on June 21, the 1/2 on August 31st and the Philadelphia Distance Run in late September. That's a maybe right now.
OH! And I think I'm going to sign up to be a volunteer for the 50 mile MS Challenge Walk in October. I think it would be neat to do the event but I don't think I'm up to raising more money that quickly and it's about time I did something nice like being a volunteer. I still haven't decided if I want to be a crew member for all 3 days or just help out for one of the three. We'll see!
February 10, 2003
Snow is a pain
Miles this week: 12.5
Training miles so far: 37.1 (I think, I had to guess since I don't have my chart with me at the office.)
I had a pretty bad week in terms of miles but did OK in the 5K training. It snowed on Friday, which was a pain, but I did manage to get to the gym for a pretty good workout. I did my 5K in 36:31 and didn't get too stressed over it.
Saturday we were house hunting (no luck yet but we have a hot prospect) so I didn't have a chance to walk. I was hoping to do the VF loop in the afternoon but they still hadn't plowed from the 8 inches of snow on Friday.
Sunday I got to the gym but I had some time constraints and only was on the treadmill for 30 minutes instead of for 3.1 I did well though, since I ran a full mile at onces which was a new milestone for me. Over all I did 2.5 in the 30 min. Not great, not terrible. I really wish that I'd done more over the weekend but luckily the miles haven't been adding up on the training schedule so I'm still not too far behind.
Book sales are going well. I was worried but they picked up a lot on Saturday and I mailed out a dozen packages today.
February 6, 2003
Rest makes a difference
Miles this week: 6.35
Total training miles: 25.15
I had the best run last night! I did my 5K in 36:23. That's an awesome time for me. And that was still a run/walk. I have stopped looking at time until I'm done and have tried to run for distance and that seems to work out much better for me. Plus I've figured out how to position the TV to best suit my running posture. Oddly enough I think that makes a big difference. My legs felt great and so did my brain, I could have run farther if I didn't have to rush back to settle in for American Idol.
I got a nice donation at work from a guy who understands the headaches of fundraising since he does a lot of it himself. Thanks, Lou!
February 4, 2003
Finally, a day off!
Today is finally going to be an off day for me. I was hoping to take off last night but realized I wouldn't be able to run today so I went to the gym to watch part of the St. Joe's/Villanova game. The Hawk Will Never Die!
I am trying to continually improve my speed for the 5K so this time I set the treadmill for 38 minutes, the time I want to beat, and then just tried to ignore the clock and run according to distance. I wound up running at 5.5 or 5.6 (a decent pace for me) for 3 different half mile stretches. In between I'd walk between 4.2 or 4.5 until I felt ready to run again. I did one shorter run towards the end of the walk.
Including my 5 minute warmup I finished the 5K in 37:45. Not my best, but still under my goal of 38 minutes. Then I did a cool down and watched some more of the game until I hit a nice even 3.25 miles.
I had some muscle stiffness in my calfs but I think that's because I was running on a bit of an incline and also because this was my 4th day in the row of working out. I'm not used to that but it felt good to have done it.
But thank goodness today is a day off!
Book sales are still pretty good (check out my fundraising page for a link to my book sale on Amazon.com) and I'm cooking up some other schemes that might pay off too.
February 3, 2003
To run or to walk?
Training Miles to date: 18.8
Well, I had a pretty good weekend. I met with the group at Valley Forge on Saturday morning. It was cold and misty and nasty but the walk itself felt great. It was nice to be out in the air instead of stuck on the treadmill. It looks like a small set of people but that could be good.
Sunday Aggie & I went back to VF and did the full loop. We ran for 2 tiny portions, mostly just to pass some really slow people, but at least now I can say I ran outside.
The book selling is still going well and I've decided to add som CDs into the mix. Hopefully I will continue to make money using this scheme.
January 31, 2003
Just call me the Used Book Tycoon
Training miles logged: 6.2
It seems that I have great taste in books! Since I first put up a few books on Amazon.com I've sold 22 books and cleared more than $160. I'm so glad that I thought of this!
Perhaps you'd like to buy one of my great books. Click here to see what's for sale. That link should take you to Amazon and show everything I'm selling. If it doesn't, you can go there and search the marketplace for by my nickname: hkt1012.
If I know you and might see you in person, I'll cut you a break on the price!
In other news, I rolled up a bunch of change and came up with over $100 so I'm making great progress on the fundraising. I was expecting to hate it but I'm actually enjoying the challenge of thinking up new ways to find money.
I've only done two training days so far, and I have a date with the treadmill tonight. That will put me at 9.3 miles for the week days. That's pretty good for this early in the game.
Our first team meeting is tomorrow. I'm looking forward to that and seeing who is on the team this time around. Of course, it's going to rain. But at least it's supposed to be a little bit warmer!
January 28, 2003
124 days to go
Things are going great so far! I'm really sticking to the whole 5K plan thanks to Sarah. We're doing it together and we're really keeping each other motivated. I'm still doing a walk/run format (of course) but I've already shaved 2 minutes off my time from the Jingle Bell Run. By the time the race comes in April, we should be quite speedy.
Yesterday was the first official day of the marathon training. I'm not sure how I'm going to work the 5K training in with the marathon thing, that's going to take some planning to not get burned out or improperly trained. Anyway, I put up my first 3.1 miles that can be logged as marathon miles. Only about 600 or so to go. (HA!)
As for the fundraising -- I've put notices up around the office begging for penny jars and spare change and I've started to sell my extra books on Amazon. I just put them up yesterday and I've already managed to sell 5 of them. That's about $25 effortless dollars. Yay!
I have to think up more fundraising schemes though. This is so much trickier than last time since I can't pester my relatives for handouts this time. At least not yet.
Stay tuned for more adventures.
January 20, 2003
San Diego Here I Come
Well, the Eagles aren't going to San Diego, but I am! Aggie and I signed up for the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego on June 1st! I'm doing it with Team In Training again and this time I hope to run at least part of the race. Either way, I'll go faster than I did in Bermuda.
If anybody wants to donate, please e-mail me -- I need to raise $3800!
December 31, 2002
Last day of the Slacker!
I've been a shocking disgrace never updating this page but that's going to change in 2003. I'm going to add a new Journal Page and make this into an archive and you can follow my exciting adventures in the new year. I promise that before I'm going to finish the marathon story -- the pictures might not all make it online by then but the story will. It might be there right now --- go look!
I plan to update the bookshelf too so stay tuned.
My plans for 2003 fitness wise revolve around learning how to run and my master plan is to do a few 5Ks and then run the Philadelphia Distance Run in September. Until then I'll be fooling around with the 2000 run fitness challenge. Check out their webpage, it's cool and you can get a medal for keeping fit.
December 9, 2002
Race Results
I finished 76th overall, and 60th out of 199 women in the race. That's not bad, I don't think.
The Jingle Bell Run was yesterday. We had a lot of fun with that. Brian was amazing and finished in 33:20 without running. Good for him! I did my pathetic version of running on and off and still only managed to finish in 39 minutes and change. Aggie, of course, beat us both. You can see those results by clicking here: Jingle Bell Run 2002 Results.
I've been a big slacker and haven't had time to finish the marathon report. Seeing the results has given me a jolt though, so I will do it soon.
|
