I actually had a really rough week. Last Friday (the 4th), I busted 3 spokes on my bike during a ride to the lake, which bent my wheel and made about 6 inches of the wheel rub against my brakes. This pressure put a ton of stress on the back of my knee. I had a huge knot back there and for the rest of the day, I couldn't fully straighten my leg. This has happened before and I think I need to get my bike fitted. Anyway, I ran 4.25 miles on it anyway, and really messed it up doing that. Iced it the rest of the day, the next day it was back to normal. Since then my knee has felt stiff going down stairs and it's popping a lot. I'm worried, but without health insurance there is nothing i can do about it. Awesome.
Jeff's family was in town so I took Saturday off to heal, Sunday and Monday off to spend time with them, and Tuesday I tried to do yoga, but I just really wasn't feeling up to it. Wednesday I went to the gym with the intention of doing speed work on the treadmill, but ended up just doing the elliptical and the Stairmaster. This injury put me out for quite a while.
Thursday, I finally felt ready for a big run. I did 2.5 miles on the treadmill, alternating speeds between 3.5mph (for one minute) and 6.5mph (for .25mi). Then I walked for a half mile to get my breath back, then ran a mile at 6.0. This is the first time that I can remember running a mile in 10 minutes. I was really excited! To do this after doing speed work made me really proud.
On Friday, my roommate and I ran together. He's a beginner, so we did a 2 mile loop around the neighborhood, alternating walking for 2 minutes and running for 3. He did great and I barely broke a sweat. It definitely showed my progress. Then I did an additional mile and a half with the dogs. I went slow so Ellie could keep up.
I should have run today, but I just really don't feel good. I have a headache, I'm sneezing a lot, and my body temp is running really high. Or at least it feels that way. Plus, I am exhausted. I could fall asleep at any moment. WTH is wrong with me?! Blah. Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow so I can get back on schedule. The race is in 13 days...
On a positive note, I've decided to get back on the wagon and quit drinking completely. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of person, and this goes for alcohol too.
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
My little pup is a champion runner!
Today's 4.25 mile run was difficult and frustrating but I finished without walking!
I woke up and couldn't find the watch part of my heart rate monitor. I have no idea where it could be... probably caught up in my laundry somewhere. So no heart rate for today, which is a bummer because I wanted to make sure I was in the 150-160 zone, no higher.
I got all dressed, ate, and rode my bike to Belmont harbor so I could ride along the lake. Once I crossed under the Red Line I could feel the mist/fog coming off the water and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. It felt amazing and I was SO excited to run on the lake. Get to a good stop sign, set my bike against the pole, and realize I forgot my bike lock. OMG!!! I get so frustrated when I do things like that. It always happens when I throw off my routine.
I rode my bike all the way back home, annoyed and ticked off. Once I was there, I had a glass of water (which I think i really needed!) and put a leash on Chuck to take him with me. I really wanted to run on the lake, so I headed out that way. I ran on Grace to the lake, which was nice because it was very shaded and mostly downhill. I got stopped at a couple lights, so I know my pace time isn't completely accurate. This is why I really wanted to do the whole 4 miles on the lake. Oh well. I ran down the lake to Hawthorne and back up Broadway to Grace and home. The whole thing was 4.25 miles. My knees hurt a lot, my quads are sore, and surprisingly my back is really stiff, but i'm in a great mood. Chuck did great, although I tripped over him a few times. He didn't want water when I offered it to him (that stop must have been at least 3 minutes, trying to get him to drink!). Oh well!
i'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow but hopefully I can get a treadmill/incline workout in either Sat or Sun.
I woke up and couldn't find the watch part of my heart rate monitor. I have no idea where it could be... probably caught up in my laundry somewhere. So no heart rate for today, which is a bummer because I wanted to make sure I was in the 150-160 zone, no higher.
I got all dressed, ate, and rode my bike to Belmont harbor so I could ride along the lake. Once I crossed under the Red Line I could feel the mist/fog coming off the water and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. It felt amazing and I was SO excited to run on the lake. Get to a good stop sign, set my bike against the pole, and realize I forgot my bike lock. OMG!!! I get so frustrated when I do things like that. It always happens when I throw off my routine.
I rode my bike all the way back home, annoyed and ticked off. Once I was there, I had a glass of water (which I think i really needed!) and put a leash on Chuck to take him with me. I really wanted to run on the lake, so I headed out that way. I ran on Grace to the lake, which was nice because it was very shaded and mostly downhill. I got stopped at a couple lights, so I know my pace time isn't completely accurate. This is why I really wanted to do the whole 4 miles on the lake. Oh well. I ran down the lake to Hawthorne and back up Broadway to Grace and home. The whole thing was 4.25 miles. My knees hurt a lot, my quads are sore, and surprisingly my back is really stiff, but i'm in a great mood. Chuck did great, although I tripped over him a few times. He didn't want water when I offered it to him (that stop must have been at least 3 minutes, trying to get him to drink!). Oh well!
i'm not sure what the plan is for tomorrow but hopefully I can get a treadmill/incline workout in either Sat or Sun.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Training for the Race for the Cure
Any triathlon training has pretty much come to a halt since I am training for the Race For The Cure on Sept 26. It's a 10k, which is longer than I've ever done before. I have done about 5 miles in training but I stopped and talked a lot and I'm definitely going to try to run the whole thing, even if it's slow.
I signed up on 8/31 with a $100 donation goal (that's the minimum the Komen foundation asks for) and today is 9/2 and I have raised $400! I'm very happy and impressed with my amazing friends and family. I'm getting donations from people I didn't expect! It's very nice.
So far I've been focusing on the treadmill so I can do my speed work. I'm disappointed that I can't find an outdoor track to run on in the city. Doesn't make sense to me. Two days ago I ran speed intervals on the treadmill - .25 mile at 6.3mph, then 1 minute walking at 3.0 mph at a .5% incline. I did that for about 3 miles - my nike plus said 3 miles but the treadmill said 3.5 so who knows how far it really was. The treadmill accounts for incline that my nike plus doesn't. After that I did a ton of stretching and some ab work, and some simple squats / lunges. I was pretty sore but feeling good.
The next day I ran 2 miles on the treadmill between 5.5 and 5.8mph for my tempo run. A tempo run is basically a short and fast run intended to make your body get used to going long distances at a comfortably hard pace. The thought is that eventually, this pace won't be hard anymore and you'll be able to go that far that fast easily. My nike+ said I ran 2 miles in 22:10, which is 11:05 a mile. Slow, but comfortably hard for me. For the last half mile I had to chant "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Don't stop. I can do this." Over and over again. The guy next to me must have thought I was nuts. Oh well, it got me through. I was really happy with my heart rate too. I maxed at 175, which is 87% of my max (207). That basically means that even though I felt like I was going as hard as I could, my body was keeping up very well. I think my weakness is in my muscle strength and I don't think I have very many/strong slow twitch muscles. I'm an excellent sprinter but I fatigue very quickly. For more about the difference between fast and slow twitch muscles check this out: http://bit.ly/WDTKQ
After working the Chicago triathlon last weekend I'm realizing that I'm not a natural runner. Some of the people in that race did 6.2 miles at a 5 minute mile pace! That blows my mind. I have no idea how they get their legs to move that fast. I guess they've probably been training for 20 years and probably didn't have ACL reconstruction surgery... but still. I just want to be sub-10. If I can finish that 10k in an hour and 5 minutes I will be STOKED. My real goal is 1:15 - that's 6.2 miles at a 12 minute pace. That is allowing me a little time to walk if I get super hot or need to get a drink. I know some people will be done in half that but I'm not in it to win it. I'm just a natural swimmer and a pretty natural cyclist. I miss swimming. The pool at the Y is being emptied and painted this week. I'd love to be in the water today instead of taking a day off, but I know my muscles need a break.
This is my general training plan for the next 4 weeks:
Week 1 (8/31): 4 runs.
1= interval speed.
2= 2 mile tempo run (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--11909-0,00.html).
3= long and easy (4+ miles).
4= mid-length and mid-speed incline work to build muscle and tackle hills (3 miles at 2-5% incline at 4.5-5 mph).
One additional day of cardio cross training (swimming, Spinning, Kempo, etc) and one day of relaxing and stretching Yoga.
Week 2 (9/7): 5 runs.
1= interval speed at 6.3mph,
2= 4.5 mile long and easy,
3= tempo at 6.0 for 2.5 miles,
4= 5.0 long and easy,
5= tempo at 6.0 for 3 miles.
One day of Yoga and one optional day of additional cardio if I'm feeling up to it.
Week 3 (9/14): 5 runs.
1= interval speed at 6.3mph for at least 4 miles,
2= 5.5 mile long and easy,
3= tempo at 6.0 for 3.5 miles,
4= interval speed at 6.6 for 2-3 miles,
5= 6 mile long and easy.
One day of Yoga and one optional day of additional cardio if I'm feeling up to it.
Week 4 (9/21): I'm not sure if I need to taper here. I don't think I do, so I'm just going to keep up the pace until Weds, do cardio on Thurs, and rest on Fri before the race. I'll do 2 runs, one tempo and one long and easy on Monday and Tues.
PSYCHED!!!
I signed up on 8/31 with a $100 donation goal (that's the minimum the Komen foundation asks for) and today is 9/2 and I have raised $400! I'm very happy and impressed with my amazing friends and family. I'm getting donations from people I didn't expect! It's very nice.
So far I've been focusing on the treadmill so I can do my speed work. I'm disappointed that I can't find an outdoor track to run on in the city. Doesn't make sense to me. Two days ago I ran speed intervals on the treadmill - .25 mile at 6.3mph, then 1 minute walking at 3.0 mph at a .5% incline. I did that for about 3 miles - my nike plus said 3 miles but the treadmill said 3.5 so who knows how far it really was. The treadmill accounts for incline that my nike plus doesn't. After that I did a ton of stretching and some ab work, and some simple squats / lunges. I was pretty sore but feeling good.
The next day I ran 2 miles on the treadmill between 5.5 and 5.8mph for my tempo run. A tempo run is basically a short and fast run intended to make your body get used to going long distances at a comfortably hard pace. The thought is that eventually, this pace won't be hard anymore and you'll be able to go that far that fast easily. My nike+ said I ran 2 miles in 22:10, which is 11:05 a mile. Slow, but comfortably hard for me. For the last half mile I had to chant "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Don't stop. I can do this." Over and over again. The guy next to me must have thought I was nuts. Oh well, it got me through. I was really happy with my heart rate too. I maxed at 175, which is 87% of my max (207). That basically means that even though I felt like I was going as hard as I could, my body was keeping up very well. I think my weakness is in my muscle strength and I don't think I have very many/strong slow twitch muscles. I'm an excellent sprinter but I fatigue very quickly. For more about the difference between fast and slow twitch muscles check this out: http://bit.ly/WDTKQ
After working the Chicago triathlon last weekend I'm realizing that I'm not a natural runner. Some of the people in that race did 6.2 miles at a 5 minute mile pace! That blows my mind. I have no idea how they get their legs to move that fast. I guess they've probably been training for 20 years and probably didn't have ACL reconstruction surgery... but still. I just want to be sub-10. If I can finish that 10k in an hour and 5 minutes I will be STOKED. My real goal is 1:15 - that's 6.2 miles at a 12 minute pace. That is allowing me a little time to walk if I get super hot or need to get a drink. I know some people will be done in half that but I'm not in it to win it. I'm just a natural swimmer and a pretty natural cyclist. I miss swimming. The pool at the Y is being emptied and painted this week. I'd love to be in the water today instead of taking a day off, but I know my muscles need a break.
This is my general training plan for the next 4 weeks:
Week 1 (8/31): 4 runs.
1= interval speed.
2= 2 mile tempo run (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--11909-0,00.html).
3= long and easy (4+ miles).
4= mid-length and mid-speed incline work to build muscle and tackle hills (3 miles at 2-5% incline at 4.5-5 mph).
One additional day of cardio cross training (swimming, Spinning, Kempo, etc) and one day of relaxing and stretching Yoga.
Week 2 (9/7): 5 runs.
1= interval speed at 6.3mph,
2= 4.5 mile long and easy,
3= tempo at 6.0 for 2.5 miles,
4= 5.0 long and easy,
5= tempo at 6.0 for 3 miles.
One day of Yoga and one optional day of additional cardio if I'm feeling up to it.
Week 3 (9/14): 5 runs.
1= interval speed at 6.3mph for at least 4 miles,
2= 5.5 mile long and easy,
3= tempo at 6.0 for 3.5 miles,
4= interval speed at 6.6 for 2-3 miles,
5= 6 mile long and easy.
One day of Yoga and one optional day of additional cardio if I'm feeling up to it.
Week 4 (9/21): I'm not sure if I need to taper here. I don't think I do, so I'm just going to keep up the pace until Weds, do cardio on Thurs, and rest on Fri before the race. I'll do 2 runs, one tempo and one long and easy on Monday and Tues.
PSYCHED!!!
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