real motha fo ya

Here are some facts of life:

Humidity sucks.

Chaka Khan is fabulous.

I set the time for 45 minutes, like I usually do, with plans for my 4 mile route. The goal is to complete the route in under 45 minutes and over the past few weeks, I've been coming closer to that goal - even if I still have a long way to go to reach it.

Ten minutes into my run, the heavy, stifling blanket of humidity was smothering me. The thing is, this morning's playlist was the fabulous Miss Chaka Khan. Miss Chaka does not allow you to stop until you drop.

Another fact of life.

So I changed plans. Rather than focus on my 4 mile run, I decided to walk some major hills in the area. Hills that make Heartbreak Hill look like an oversized speed bump kind of hills. Further, I set a different goal: 15 minute miles up motha sized hills. I took a right hand turn off my usual route and started walking.

Now what makes these hills bad is not so much the size of them, it's the deception they create. You see, they wind around in a funny way so you don't realize you've crested and gone down the hill until that final turn and you have to go uphill, again. Thus my assertion that this route is uphill both ways. But there it is and there I went and eventually I crested on last time and ran down the hill to my house.

My average pace on the motha hills? 16 minutes. Not bad, not bad at all. :)

I couldn't have done it without Chaka. So happy Thursday everyone and if you need something to get you going, a little Chaka or maybe some Funkedelics should do the job quite nicely.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning

I stepped outside and there was an ever so slight bite in the air.

YES!!!!

This rebuilding effort is going well. I'm not keeping to the training schedule in that I haven't been doing my long runs. I just don't feel like I have the mileage to be building like that, but I'm feeling stronger. If it means putting off my half until Hyannis in February, so be it. This is one of those long haul/big picture things. It's a matter of constant reevaluation as I go.

Today was the closest I've felt to "running" in quite some time. The periods of running are taking less effort and I can push past the interval where I normally start walking. Longer running + shorter walking = feeling good.

The drums, the drums, the drums, the drums OH!

Like most people who run to music, I'm looking to the music to set the tone and rhythm to the run. Last week I added the album "Knuckles Up" by Flatfoot 56 to my iPod and today I decided to give it a try running.

Excellent choice.

Flatfoot is a Celtic punk band (think Dropkick Murphys or Flogging Molly or the Pogues). When I saw them last week, their piper blew me away and I picked up all 3 of their CDs. The one thing about "Knuckles Up" is the way the piper and the drummer keep such an even rhythm through the music that it was easy for my feet to follow. It made for a great run, especially after last night's storm seemed to have broken the humidity.

I think the best description of Celtic punk came from my son a few weeks ago when my mother asked him about his Flogging Molly t-shirt. He looked and said, "It's where your Irish music meets my Irish music in a happy place."

Another, far more comfortable, 4 miles are in the book and tonight is a Marsh Post night. Since it's the Michael Collins run, I'll be working the finish chute and grooving on Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones for a more traditional Irish feel.

Humidity: it's the killer

I'm not really a summer person. I don't think I ever really was. I'm more of a temperate climate sort of girl. I love chilly mornings where the weather is brisk and it warms up to maybe beyond needing a sweater a little later in the day and ending with a nice snuggle under a bit of a blanket to end the day.

So when the humidity rolled in a couple of weeks ago, I knew it was trouble. Last week I barely made it two miles and then everything moved back indoors to AC and gentle stretching. It set me back a full week in training as a result and this morning I knew I had to start powering through the weather and just cope.

At 6am it was 68* and 83% humidity.

Damn.

The first two miles were fine: w5+r5, circle around the stop light pole and back down the hill. Then I started to feel it. The next mile was r3+w7 and the final mile was "screw it, I'm walking...." As they say, it is what it is and I've got 4 in the books for today.

Let the training begin!

Here is the half marathon (beginning level) training schedule Nike+ has laid out for me:

Half Training Schedule

Week	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1		Rest	Run 4 Miles	30 min XT	Run 4 Miles	30 min stretch & strength
2	Run 6 Miles	Rest	Run 4 Miles	30 min XT	Run 4 Miles	30 min stretch & strength
3	Run 7 Miles	Rest	Run 4 Miles + 20 min strength	30 min XT	Run 5 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min stretch & strength
4	Run 7 Miles	Rest	Run 4 Miles + 20 min strength	30 min XT	Run 5 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min stretch & strength
5	Run 8 Miles	Rest	Run 4 Miles + 20 min strength	30 min XT	Run 5 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min stretch & strength
6	Run 5 Miles	Rest	Run 5 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 3 Miles	30 min stretch & strength	Run 2 Miles
7	Run 10.2: 2 mile warm up 10k time 2 mile cool down	Rest	Run 5 Miles + 20 min strength	30 min XT	Run 6 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min stretch & strength
8	Run 10	Rest	Run 6 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 6 Miles + 20 strength	30 min stretch & strength
9	Run 11 Miles	Rest	Run 6 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 6 Miles + 20 strength	30 min stretch & strength
10	Run 11 Miles	Rest	Run 6 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 6 Miles + 20 strength	30 min stretch & strength
11	Run 12 Miles	Rest	Run 6 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 6 Miles + 20 strength	30 min stretch & strength
12	Run 8 Miles	Rest	Run 5 Miles: 1-2 miles easy; 2 min tempo 3 min recover	30 min XT	Run 4 Miles + 20 strength	30 min stretch & strength	Run 2 Miles
	Race

I added in the cross training per Hal Higdon's general wisdom. Per my general wisdom, I'm leaving Saturday and Monday as rest days and Friday as my stretch & strengthen days based on my general overall life. Also, on days where it looks like they're back to back, I'll actually focus on things like core strength one day and arms/legs another so it's not really backed up.

So here's to the start of something new.

Let the games begin

Today is the fist day of training for my first half marathon. It was already in the mid-70's and humid at 6 am, but I got my backside out the door and covered 4 miles.

There is one thing I look for when I start any running/health program: bunnies. For some reason, if I see a bunny when I'm starting something or really struggling, somehow I know it will all be OK. I don't know why, I just do. As I started this morning, there was a bunny just sitting on a lawn a couple of feet from me watching. He didn't try to hop away or anything, he just watched as I went past. About 1/3 of the way through, as I was feeling the humidity, there were two bunnies playing off to the side. The happily played - darting towards me and away before disappearing under a bush. It really renewed my sense that I'm doing the right thing with the right plan.

So 4 miles are in the books and it's time to shower and move on with my day thanks to the bunnies. :)