(re)Charge

Today I hit a big goal - 4 miles in under an hour.

I have spent the summer chasing goals: running more than I walk when I go out; running more routinely and running 4 miles in under an hour. Today I hit all 3 milestones in a single run and it feels fabulous.

It comes on the heels of being asked "What's your goal this fall?" Fall? Already? I hadn't hit my summer goals fully. But with one week left until labor day, I guess it's a good question to ask. It was probably what pushed me along this morning as well as I thought about strategies and goals for the fall.

What I came up with was: continue to run more routinely; begin pushing my pace; running the Tufts 10k in under 1:10 and be able to do a Thanksgiving 5k in about 30 minutes.

Taking the scenic route home

I stepped outside today and a line popped into my head: "Every time I back out of my driveway, I'm just taking the scenic route home..."

Today's run was a scenic route home. The sun was starting to shine through the clouds as the skies cleared after days and days of rain. The sunrise was beautiful as it broke, the sky was a light, bright blue touched by hints of rose and yellow and orange as the sun broke over the horizon. The temps were cool, the air was fresh and it was just a scenic route even if it was the same roads I run over time and again.

Every run brings it's Deep Thoughts with Jack Handy moments - here was mine today: the difference between a mocking bird and a regular bird is that a mocking bird watches you run towards it, lazily hops off to the side and tweets as if saying, "Is that the best you can do? You're pathetic." Regular birds don't even bother to acknowledge you.

I hate them both.

My other Jack Handy moment: if coyotes are killing local pets, why don't they ever feast on the damn chipmunks eating my strawberries and tomatoes?

In the end it was a good run and I feel stronger for it as it was a reminder that fall is almost here and I couldn't be happier for it.

Dreams of what could be...

This morning was a morning I had to beat back the bed magnet and push myself out the door. We are entering the time of year when 5:30 am is dark and today it was raining. But I made it downstairs, grabbed my obnoxious yellow BAA jacket and opened the door.

Sometimes running in the rain can be a beautiful thing, sometimes it's just wet. Today was somewhere in between. I felt pretty bad ass out there holding myself to what I now call my "fives" (five minutes walking at a 15 min pace/five minutes running around an 11 min pace) since I took last week off from life, the universe and everything.

I could have run longer and farther, but I need to be aware of my ankles. Cursing myself for the stupidity that lead to past injuries and fearing future injuries.

At one point I was lamenting my speed, or lack thereof, while I watched the real bad ass athletes going past in the other direction. That was when it hit me, I will never be fast enough.

When I was "running" a 15 min mile, I dreamed of running a 10 min mile consistently. Now I walk a 15 min mile and run around a 10-11 min mile and I long to be able to run faster. I want to run an 8 minute mile. What happens when I get there? I won't be content until I hit 6 minutes? What's the cut off: a marathon, an ultramarathon, the ironman?

Like my weight, I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied. I lament I have only shed 15 pounds after a year of Weight Watchers and still have at least 35 more to go. But when I get to goal, what will my attitude be then? When I was 125 lbs of solid muscle in college, I wasn't happy with my size. I kept thinking, "If I only could lose 10 more pounds...." I would love to be that size again when I thought I was fat.

Like the rhino on the treadmill longing to be a unicorn, at some point I will need to accept this is who I am and my boundaries. It's not to say I can't improve, only that sometimes we all need to take a step back and look at what is and celebrate.

Nu Shooz

I feel this should start with, "Bless me Father for I have sinned. It's been 11 days since my last run...." That's what today felt like, the release of a clean soul after doing penance.

When you struggle with the sort of funks I fall into at times, there is this odd tug between I know running will make me feel better but I don't feel good enough to run. It's a horrible spiral until you can finally break out of it some how, some way. For me, it was a new pair of shoes to break me out of the spiral:

I have been tempted to try the Newton's since I first laid eyes on them last spring. A lot of runners I know and respect have been wearing them and really like them. But they are pricey. The fates aligned and conspired and with great thanks to Paulie, yesterday I walked out of Marathon Sports fitted and ready to go.

Like all new design of shoes, these force your body to align anew and force your foot to strike differently. The advice to get used to them is go out for some short runs - a mile or so - a few times. Try some speed work and then, once you're used to them, go for it. So this morning I went out for a short run - my 2.25 loop.

Walking in them is nice - they match my walking stride nicely. Running, well let's just say I understand the advice. The entire time I was making notes: tighten the right laces, more weight on my left and so on. The best feel I got was when the song "Devil's Dance Floor" by Flogging Molly began to play. Between the steady rhythm of the music and the way it drives me to run through whatever I may be feeling, it is the perfect song to cover a fair distance at speed and get a good feel.

I am interested to see how I run in my Saucony's for my next run... since I need to go some distance again and I'm quite comfortable with these for distance yet.

I'm excited again and this should be the bit I need to propel me back into the "Running makes me feel good, so let's go for a run" cycle again.

Knuckles Up

This has been one of those weeks where I really understand and can empathize with Stephen Slater, the Jet Blue attendant who snapped on Monday. Like him, I deal with an angry, indifferent general public. I just got worn down listening to everyone tell me how much they hate Steve Jobs, hate Apple and, by extension, hate me.

So this morning I got up and I ran. I ran to angry celtic punk. Each foot fall making satisfying contact with the pavement as I ran in the early morning light. The sweat washing away my anger and frustration while stinging my eyes as it rolled down past my eyebrows. This was the run I needed. This was the run that reminded me why I run.

Through the angry pounding there were moments that made me smile. The bird hopping down the sidewalk ahead of me playing catch. The squirrel that darted back and forth and around me. The smiles and waves of other runners out there today - all of it conspired to channel the anger away from my soul and let it drive me along the road so I could see the joyful things.

It would be a lie to say all is forgiven and I will be open for another day of customer anger, but I am better equipped to handle it today because I ran hard this morning.

I like running

I do. I like running a lot. Days like today remind me of that reality.

It was the same 4 mile run I do on a regular basis. Today was about pushing some limits in myself and I'm proud to say I rose to my own challenge. Granted there were some uncomfortable moments that made me wish my route had a bathroom on the way - so having to walk large segments until things adjusted properly is not fun, but it's not the worst that could happen either.

The running was longer and stronger than I have done in a long, long time. My goal of a consistent 10 min mile is within reach. I see, I feel it and I'm so close I can feel myself breathing down it's hot neck. It was the type of run you come in from, go about your day and see people running and think, "I'd like to go out for another run and join them...."

So the goals for this week: mileage will creep a little this week - 4 miles today and 3 miles on both Tuesday and Thursday. The 3 miles will be limit pushers of longer/stronger run segments.

There's a word for that..

humid.... crazy.... fabulous....

Those were words on the edge of my consciousness this morning as I went out for 2.5 in heavy, heavy humidity.

Humid has been the word of the summer. It's been a tough summer for asthmatics like me. If it weren't for two puffs of the steroid inhaler before going to sleep each night I would be in horrible shape. No steroid inhaler means lots and lots of rescue inhaler, which means the shakes and upset stomachs galore. Steroid inhaler means I pretty much leave the albuterol in my bag and maybe I might need it in a really touch situation.

Crazy is another word that struck me. Here I am sweating like Richard Simmons in a bedazzled nylon outfit under TV lights. It's not hot out - 75* maybe - but the humidity makes it feel like you're running in a cloud. I'm sweating buckets as I slowly jog along. I purposely slowed myself down today once I opened the front door and realized just how bad it was out there. Most folks were snuggled in air conditioned bedrooms while I'm out huffing and puffing.

Fabulous was another word that came to mind. To finally beat the humidity instead of it beating me was nothing short of feeling fabulous. I ran slowly and steadily in one of the loneliest runs I've had in a good long time. Practically no one was out (see above about air conditioned bedrooms) so it was me out there pushing myself.

There's another word I should add here: accomplishment. I was wearing a shirt I earned in the Apple Nike+ challenge this year. I had a comfortable gait while running. I managed to start shaking the inner loser off my back.

In the end, it all adds up to one thing as best expressed by Tony the Tiger: it was

GREAT

two steps forward...

Going out for 2.5 miles felt like a step back instead of a step forward. Really, going out for a half hour was like going out for a quickie. And yet, this is how I'm adding a run and mileage. As I said, the increase plan this week was to go from 2 four mile runs to 1 long run on Sunday and two shorter runs on Tues/Thurs. It's more mileage, more time running but sensible.

This morning I got to the turn around point. Normally I cross the street and run up the hill, not circle back. It was a hair frustrating and yet I felt I could (and did) run for longer stretches. My stride felt relaxed and it was a good run.

It also allowed me to beat my inner loser back down. The inner loser used to run with me a lot a few years back. He usually resurfaces after an injury and I have to beat him back down again. This morning, after I turned around, he stuck his head out of that dark place and began whining: he was tired, he couldn't breathe, this is hard, isn't that why you're not running as far today? wah wah wah wah wah.

For a second I slowed my stride and thought about walking when that strong core in me said, "What the hell are you doing girl?" I grabbed onto the reality that I was reducing to increase... a bit of a paradox I guess. Was I straining a little? Well yeah, the humidity was creeping up a bit this morning ... but no biggie. I pushed forward and left the inner loser crying on the curb.

Like the garden gnomes in Harry Potter, he'll climb back in over the garden wall when he gets a chance and thinks no one's looking but for now I'm good and strong and on my way to being a strong runner again.

Can I get a Woot!

This week's challenge: add a run and miles without overdoing. So I decided to add a third run but make my Tues/Thurs run a 2.5-3 mile run.

So today I set out for a 4 miler and along the pedestrian mall piece on the way back I did my Achilles grapevine while listening to some Flatfoot 56 doing some amazing pipe playing. I flew through and at the end of the block I let out a "WOOT! YEAH!"

One of the Sunday gazelle runners going by smiled and gave me a high five.

Funny how runners do things like that. I have seen folks congratulate other runners when they let out little "woo hoo" stuff. I've seen runners help complete strangers get through a difficult stretch - running or walking along with them and encouraging them.

It's a good feeling that even in a sport where it's you vs yourself, you're still not alone.

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. :)

3.1 on a Sunday morning

After realizing the cramping problem was due to the Asics (damn! I liked those shoes too), I stopped in a Marathon Sports yesterday to be refitted. I left with a pair of Saucony Pro Grids to try out over the next couple of weeks to see how they work out.

I also had the summer cold from purgatory last week that had me feeling a little like Ariel in "Little Mermaid" as I had no voice for 2 days along with our companies 3rd product launch in 10 weeks... well, running was the last thing I had time for (along with grocery shopping and laundry).

This morning the sun was up, so I pulled on my new shoes - which look sort of lizardy because they're a moss colored green with silverish mesh over them - stoked up the Nike+ and headed out for my 3.1 mile route. It was clear when I started running that my lungs still weren't 100%, not surprising to me given last week's congestion, so I opted for a w5+r5 option for the route. That was pretty comfortable for me over all. By the end of the week I'll decide if I'm doing the 4 mile Hingham 4th of July race or not next Sunday.

Out on my run today I interrupted several groups of squirrels out playing tag in 3's and 4's. A couple of them hopped along with me, making me laugh. The birds were in full chorus and you could smell the flowers in the air. Summer is truly here and the world seems to be soaking it all in. All in all, it heralded a nice return from my break as I start to gear up for my half training.

So let's hear it for summer, new shoes and running.

once again, this time with feeling: OWWW

I took almost a week off from running. Any walking I've done has been in my old shoes... per usual. No problems, the calf felt fine so I went out for a run and sure enough, a mile in I got hit with crampcrampcrampcrampcramp again.

After a half hour of normal household stuff (carrying laundry up from the basement, making breakfast, etc.) it feels fine. So tomorrow I try a new experiment: wear my old shoes for my run and see what happens. If things are fine, then I know it's the shoes. If they aren't, I'll call my ortho.

another run turned walk

OK, maybe the leg cramp is coming from needing new warm up strategies. Maybe it's because I haven't been taking my vitamins. Maybe it's just one of those things.

I honestly don't know, but I don't like this happening again 10 minutes into my run. I did try pushing past it, but no.

So today it's a case of searching the net to see what I can figure out. I know it's not fatigue, my mileage goal make look insane, but that's just recording the walking I normally do as well as the running for a Nike+ challenge. So that leaves nutrition and stretching to work on.

Starting today: I will lay out my vitamins for the rest of the week and make sure I take each one. I think I'll start by moving my PT to the front of my run instead of end. Perhaps that will help loosen things up enough.

Tomorrow instead of running in the AM and walking the Marsh Post course, I will walk in the AM and PM and see how that feels. I'll take Friday off, walk Saturday and my "long" run Sunday will maybe be 3 or 4 miles. If I can't make it through Sunday's run, I'll call my orthopedist on Monday.

Sounds like a plan.

owowowowcrampcrampcramow

Today was w5+r10+owowowowcrampcrampcrampow w5+r5+ owowowowowcrampcrampcrampowowow w5 +PT for 2.5 miles

I don't like it when my calves cramp up at all. I haven't really had that problem, I hear about it all the time with runners, but it never really hit me before.

Before the owowowow moments, I noticed some things. I am walking faster. Because of a Nike+ challenge at work, a lot of us are logging our walking as well as our running. I'm covering more distance in less time, which is nice. Today when I went out, I realized that I am covering a 1/4 mile more than I used to in the same time. That is, I walk for 5 minutes as a warm up. Normally that takes me to just inside a set of traffic lights, and then I run. Today it took me to the far side of the lights and then some.

It used be that I would hope to cover a full mile in 15 minutes. Today I noticed I covered close to a mile and a quarter in that same 15. I didn't feel any faster and I wasn't exerting myself more ... or at least it didn't feel that way and there I was - all the way down the block. :)

A little heat and massage and the cramp is now history and it's time to move on with the day. Here's to it being ancient history.

How did I get here?

Today's run was brought to you by some Funky Soul music...the fabulous MISS CHAKA KHAN and Stevie Wonder.

It started by pushing myself out the door on a muggy morning after hitting the genius booger on the iPod while listening to "I Feel For You." iTunes knew better than to mess with a good thing and kept putting up some old school Stevie Wonder mixed with Chaka Khan and every so often tossed in a few other bits here and there.

The first five minutes of my run were, "Well, at least I'm out here." Then the rest of the run was "How did I get here already?" At my turn around point I figured, "Oh, I'll run as far as the turn off and then I can walk." At the turn off it was, "I'm here already? I guess just down the hill..." next thing I knew, I was at my stop running and cool down point.

All in all, an odd run with some old school funk and soul to carry me through.

Not a great run, but a good one and many days that's more than a girl can hope for in the end.