This past Saturday, Danny and I were on a time crunch. He got home around 4:00 and had to leave again at 5:00, but we needed to run! Tuesday and Saturday are the only days we can really get together to do that. So Danny suggested we head up to the arboretum but a short but intense trail workout with hills. I definitely have my days where running is unusually difficult, and this was one of those days. My legs were burning 100 yards into the first hill. Hills are bad, mmkay? And if I didn't have Danny's tiger spirit (yeah, he was actually dressed as a tiger, with face paint and a tail and all) I would have wussed out on myself. As it was I had to walk for a bit... but it was my first time out on any extended hills in months. I think with weekly training that will get much easier, and I will get much more buff, and the runners' legs will be mine. Oh yes, they will be mine.
I have heard and am inclined to believe that if you don't cross train you will never get ANYWHERE. Running at a consistent pace around a flat track for 6 months didn't really get me anywhere, as Mike and I gave up on the hills pretty early on, and then it was fall/winter/cold/gross/snowy/AUGH. I actually ran better when I started out than I had been prior to roommate running. Now I am going to focus on varying my runs, so that most Saturdays Danny and I will do hills, Tuesdays will be for the nearly 5 mile loop, and Thursdays I run on my own so I think I will do interval training (short sprints with walking in between).
The positive spin on the muscle-destroying hills of the arboretum was that the entire second half of the run (when we turned around and got to go downhill) was perfect. I was in that "casual run" mode where I was not at all out of breath. It was really comfortable, actually. And yesterday we went back to the nearly 5 mile loop and I held up okay. We also popped into Creativitea, where we're going to make roommate shot glasses together! Roommate running and roommate drinking go hand in hand, apparently. Along with roommate spandex. Shmexy.
Anyway, Bellingham Bay is an absolutely GORGEOUS view to run next to, and the chilling wind felt amazing when contrasted with the almost-too-hot sun. What's funny is that while I am an over-70-degrees-loving solar powered lightophile (there's gotta be a fancier Latin word for that...), running seems to be best at like 50-55 degrees, slightly overcast. I can go out in shorts and a tank top for a 5 mile run when it's 50 degrees, cloudy, even maybe a slight drizzle... but same weather not running requires my largest ugliest coat and a grim expression. (P.S. Lucy means "light"--Lucifer means "light bringer," haha--so that may explain the love of the sun!)
Speaking of weather, it's currently dumping in a typical Bellingham fashion, and I'm watching it unenthusiastically from the library window, hoping those thundershowers predicted for tomorrow don't come to fruition. DON'T FRUIT, PLEASE DON'T FRUIT!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, 99 Bottles of Beer...
will NOT be our running song. Because I mean, by the time we got to 95 bottles of beer I think the running would get pretty difficult, what with the loss of motor skills and the dehydration and all. But Danny and I need songs to sing while we're running! I suggested Bohemian Rhapsody, but that might be a little too operatic for how stuttered and heavy our voices will be on the footfalls.
...Am I blogging two days in a row? My god, I AM! Fancy that.
Danny and I went on another nearly five mile run today, in my new shoes! I was advised not to do that while I'm still breaking in the shoes, but given the alternative of a five mile run in my old shoes... no-brainer. And I actually feel a million times better now than I did after our first five mile run. IMPROVEMENT! Breathing still pretty dang labored though... and I probably should not have filled up on pasta an hour before we left. Oops. But we looked gooooood in our spandex shorts.
Noticing some ankle issues that may be corrected through the shoes breaking in or may require a brace. My left ankle one summer swelled up inexplicably on a walk, and was painful to the point I was nearly crying. Doctor had no real explanation and was like, here, have a brace! I do have heat edema (my legs/ankles/fingers swell up in hot weather) so that might have aggravated whatever mysterious sprain or something I had at the time. But anyway, that ankle still bothers me sometimes, and it was screaming at me today during the run. Shhhhhhh. This is the story of my red left ankle.
Running again on... Tuesday I guess. So there may be an update there. In the last week I've lost about three or four pounds of my spring break weight (two weeks of pizza and alcohol and sitting on yer butt will do that to ya)!
...Am I blogging two days in a row? My god, I AM! Fancy that.
Danny and I went on another nearly five mile run today, in my new shoes! I was advised not to do that while I'm still breaking in the shoes, but given the alternative of a five mile run in my old shoes... no-brainer. And I actually feel a million times better now than I did after our first five mile run. IMPROVEMENT! Breathing still pretty dang labored though... and I probably should not have filled up on pasta an hour before we left. Oops. But we looked gooooood in our spandex shorts.
Noticing some ankle issues that may be corrected through the shoes breaking in or may require a brace. My left ankle one summer swelled up inexplicably on a walk, and was painful to the point I was nearly crying. Doctor had no real explanation and was like, here, have a brace! I do have heat edema (my legs/ankles/fingers swell up in hot weather) so that might have aggravated whatever mysterious sprain or something I had at the time. But anyway, that ankle still bothers me sometimes, and it was screaming at me today during the run. Shhhhhhh. This is the story of my red left ankle.
Running again on... Tuesday I guess. So there may be an update there. In the last week I've lost about three or four pounds of my spring break weight (two weeks of pizza and alcohol and sitting on yer butt will do that to ya)!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Eye of the Tiger, Man.
This song reminds me of grocery shopping in my old neighborhood in Seattle. It would always play in the QFC by my house, and it was so hilariously overexuberant for a simple grocery trip. I wanted some boxing gloves and fancy footwork, punching out the rows of Hamburger Helper and dancing around the tumbling displays of apples. But more importantly, I think it is the absolute best motivational song for working out.
It was my birthday on Saturday, and through the generosity and support of my family I was able to afford two very important components that contribute to my new goal (which I will get into in a minute)... new running shoes and an MP3 player. I have been complaining about my shoes since Day 1. You all know this. NO MORE! I got some sweet Saucony shoes that feel like clouds and help me push off with each new step. I'm breaking in both of these beauties today... although I have not yet downloaded Eye of the Tiger to aid me.
The aforementioned goal relates to how I'm graduating in less than two months and have no goals. "Pursue internships and jobs" is pretty much what I'm telling people. Which means, "I am scared shitless of the real world; these seem like good ideas." So since I don't want to face the job market and the student loan payments in my future I decided to settle on personal goals. You know, those friendly, unintimidating things that make you feel good about yourself. And it was about time I set a running goal, since I've been aimlessly wandering and not progressing. I have been running in my absence from this blog, but I haven't progressed. That is, until Tuesday.
My wonderful new roommate Danny is like my much more pleasant and infinitely more attractive Mickey, the gruff New York attitude trainer from the Rocky films. With his company and motivation we accomplished a nearly five mile run on Tuesday (about three times longer than I've been running lately and almost twice my longest run... how embarrassing). We stopped a third of the way through to check out Fairhaven Runners, where I got my shoes yesterday. (We also checked out the hot sales guy.) My legs and hips have been paying for that run ever since, especially because I was in my old shoes, but I was so amazed that I actually went that far. Danny is training for an 8 mile downhill run on Memorial Day weekend, so at least once a week we'll be running together. That way, if I wuss out running on my own, I'll have to make up for it when we work out together...
So, I'm back, aaand hopefully here I will remain, because of my goal: work my way up to a marathon. I don't have a goal date set for this, because I don't know anything realistically about pacing myself. But if I am capable of doing a five mile run now--which is only 1.2 miles away from a freaking 10K--I don't think this goal is impossible. I'm on my way.
It was my birthday on Saturday, and through the generosity and support of my family I was able to afford two very important components that contribute to my new goal (which I will get into in a minute)... new running shoes and an MP3 player. I have been complaining about my shoes since Day 1. You all know this. NO MORE! I got some sweet Saucony shoes that feel like clouds and help me push off with each new step. I'm breaking in both of these beauties today... although I have not yet downloaded Eye of the Tiger to aid me.
The aforementioned goal relates to how I'm graduating in less than two months and have no goals. "Pursue internships and jobs" is pretty much what I'm telling people. Which means, "I am scared shitless of the real world; these seem like good ideas." So since I don't want to face the job market and the student loan payments in my future I decided to settle on personal goals. You know, those friendly, unintimidating things that make you feel good about yourself. And it was about time I set a running goal, since I've been aimlessly wandering and not progressing. I have been running in my absence from this blog, but I haven't progressed. That is, until Tuesday.
My wonderful new roommate Danny is like my much more pleasant and infinitely more attractive Mickey, the gruff New York attitude trainer from the Rocky films. With his company and motivation we accomplished a nearly five mile run on Tuesday (about three times longer than I've been running lately and almost twice my longest run... how embarrassing). We stopped a third of the way through to check out Fairhaven Runners, where I got my shoes yesterday. (We also checked out the hot sales guy.) My legs and hips have been paying for that run ever since, especially because I was in my old shoes, but I was so amazed that I actually went that far. Danny is training for an 8 mile downhill run on Memorial Day weekend, so at least once a week we'll be running together. That way, if I wuss out running on my own, I'll have to make up for it when we work out together...
So, I'm back, aaand hopefully here I will remain, because of my goal: work my way up to a marathon. I don't have a goal date set for this, because I don't know anything realistically about pacing myself. But if I am capable of doing a five mile run now--which is only 1.2 miles away from a freaking 10K--I don't think this goal is impossible. I'm on my way.
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