Week 7, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).

Last Nights run was Spooktacular...

As you know we are back to running around the lake and Mandy had the idea to 'shake things up' and run the opposite direction around the lake then we were used to going. Which was fine by all of us. We needed a change of scenery.

Little did I know that that route was much more 'wooded' and hilly, and when you're running at your own pace, you tend to pull away from 'the pack' so to speak and the next thing you know you're all alone...on a path...that is dark, and wooded, and you hear all kinds of noises (or you would if you didn't have your iPod blaring in your ear so that you COULDN'T hear all kinds of noises.) and wildlife could jump out and attack you at any minute. But they didn't..so that's a bonus.

So needless to say that fact that I felt completly isolated in the dark woods kept me running my little butt off.

Okay, so there was an occasional couple walking or kids riding their bikes, but still....it was spooky.

And definetly not the same as running on the wide open path across the lake where you could see eachother and keep track of where everyone is at all times...and can see the deer as they come bolting down the hill at you...and not have to worry about them jumping out of the trees and scare you have to death and peeing your pants. Which did not happen. But it could have been a real possibility because of all that water I chugged before running....

Anywhoo...The 'hills' were a killer for me. I was definetly feeling the pain, especially on the run back.

I had decided again to try and shoot for a 10 mintute run, then a small break, then another 10 minute run back. The first run went as planned. This time I didn't start my timer until after our 5 minute warm-up walk so that I'd have a better idea of how far I actually ran. At the 10 minute mark I ran .93 miles. Not good. I would love to get to around a 8 min mile...but not sure if that's going to happen. At this point I'd be happy with anything under 10 mintues.

At the 10 minutes mark I turned around and started on my way back. Walked for about 3 mintues and then picked up the running again, but it was much harder to keep the running up...those darn hills!!

It felt like I was running forever on the way back, but it had ended up being only about 4 1/2 mintues and I have to give myself another small break.

To be honest, at this point I didn't pay much attention to how much I ran/walked. I just wanted to get out of those woods and find everyone else. I started to have a small panic attack that I was lost, but then came across a walker that I had run past in the beginning, so I figured I was heading in the right direction and picked up the running again. By the time I got back up towards the parking lot, I spotted Mandy, who I hadn't seen since the first 7 1/2 minutes of running and felt much better, but was tired for sure.

I think I probably ended up running close to 8 or 9 minutes on the second run, but they were broken up by a few brisk walks, especially up hill.

I can't remember now what the Garmin said when I stopped running..either 24 or 26 minutes...so shorter then the previous run back at the lake, but since we were on a different 'path' I didn't have a good sence of the distance we had gone or anything to compare it to time wise.

Distance wise, I was sitting at 2.04 miles.

I guess thats decent...but still aways to go to that 3.1 mile goal.

We've also talked about heading over to 'the other lake' where our race is actually going to take place to see if we can figure out the path of that race and try and run it to see what we are up against. We have a feeling it's also going to be a pretty hilly path/race and would like to try and practice running it before the big day.

I'm hoping it's not too bad...and I'm still praying hard for nice weather for August 15th!! We've been pretty spoiled here! This Friday the high temp is forcasted to be 90 degrees and if it hits that, it will officially be the HOTTEST day we've seen in July yet. That is just crazy!!! Usually by this time, 90 would be considered a cool day!

This is one thing I am very thankful for right now. I know the cool weather has really helped keep me motivated and in 'shape' to run. And by that I mean, NO KNEE PAIN! Even with being back on the pavement. That has been great!!

So as a recap:

• Still working up to 3.1 miles
• This week the workout goal is 2.5 miles or 25 straight minutes of running each day this week
• We are back at 'the lake' with a goal to move to 'the other lake' maybe by the end of this week
• Tues. if we are back on the 'original' path we were doing at the lake, I'm going to try and push myself to get to 1 1/2 miles of running before stopping..not matter the time it takes.

Week 6, Day 1

But I ran Day 2's workout. Because I skipped Day 1's workout. Because I wanted to catch up to Lisa and Mandy. Understand? Good. :)

This is Day 1's Workout:

Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

And this is what I actually ran...sorta. :)

Brisk five-minute warm up walk, then:
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)

It was hella hot last night. Probably the hottest, most humid night we've ever ran, or can remember running. It was still close to 90 degrees when we started at 9:00 p.m. And that sucked.

I was prepared to totally crap out fast since A - it was hot, and B - I skipped Sundays run so I hadn't ran since last Thursday...and I was feeling pretty lazy about that.

BUT, much to my surprise, option B above might have actually helped me this time around. I'll chalk it up to being well rested and no knee pain, but those first 10 minutes running seemed to go by pretty fast. I tried not to look at my watch too much, mostly because it was too dark out to see it, plus I had the iPod charged up this time so it didn't die on me after the first song. I think the music helped keep my mind off of the time.

The second 10 minute run was considerably harder and that had everything to do with the heat. After about 4 minutes I just felt like I could not control my breathing or catch my breath so I stopped right there. Had the weather been cooler, I think I might have been able to make it. But I'm not positive.

We're actually having a 'cold wave' this week. I don't' think it's even going to get up to 80 on Thursday, so that will be a bonus. Our plan (Mandy and I...Lisa is a running queen right now) is to try and just do the same run Thursday as we did last night. Break it up into two 10 minute runs with a small break in between instead of 25 straight minutes.

We figure we have the time to work up to the long runs. We have exactly 1 month from today until our race, and will be done with this program by then. It will give us another week or so to try and attempt the longer runs. Plus this week is the last week of any type of runs with breaks in them. Week 7 - 9 has you running the same work out each day, 25, 28 & 30 minute runs for the last three weeks.

At this point, that will be a challenge. But one I'm looking forward too

Week 5, Day 1

This week we start to mix it up a bit and every day will be a challenge:

Today's 'Workout':

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

It was hot this morning...not as hot as I'm sure it will be at night this week for Day 2 & 3's workout, but we were pretty spoiled this last week with the temps around a cool 70 degrees all week.

Not sure of the exact temp, but at 9 a.m. with the bright sun beating down on you, and stupid me wearing black, it felt like at least 90 degrees.

I was a bit nervous about the jump up to full 5 minute runs today, but I hung in there, gave it my best and was able to complete the entire workout..but it was hard...hot...and exhausting!

Paying more attention to my running pace and breathing, and less attention to how much time it's been since I started running, has really helped.

We aren't quite hitting the distance that the workout states we should be at (at 5 minutes we should have gone 1/2 mile, or two laps around the track and we are just getting over 1 1/2 laps), but we are hitting 1 full lap (1/4 mile) at 3 minutes so I try and hold off looking at the time until I've made that first full lap..then it feels like I'm at least half way there...at least for today. :)

I feel like the last few runs have gotten easier for me, even with the times getting longer, but I'm trying not to give myself a false sense of confidence. Especially when each day the times get longer, instead of each week. I don't have three days to build up to the next jump in time.

And with the temps climbing back up this week, it's going to prove challenging for me. I am NOT a fan of hot weather at all.

Plus I'm still worried about the knees. They are still giving me some grief, but not nearly the amount they were for the past two weeks. I'm chalking that up to the cooler weather, so we'll have to see what happens now that the heat is back on. But in the back of my head I'm very aware that at any minute they can decide to poop out on me again.

So for today, I'm very happy with my run. On Tuesday we are jumping up to 8 minute runs and I'm going to have to give myself a little pep talk to remind me that I can do this! What's 3 more minutes when you've already done 5? :)

Week 4, Day 1

Here's the Weekly Plan:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds) Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

Yesterday was a GOOD DAY!

I'm almost completely convinced that the heat/humidity are my worst enemy...and since yesterday was a beautiful day, low temp, low humidity, I had a GREAT run.

Knees held up very well. I had little or no pain all weekend.

We decided for last nights run to give a track another try, just not the same track. :)

We headed over to one of the local high schools and ran on their track and it was WONDERFUL! I felt like I could actually run again and at a decent speed.

The 5 minute runs were still a challenge for us. I was only able to make it to 3 minutes on the first 5 minute run and then my side just started cramping up big time and I had to stop and walk a bit. I assume that has alot to do with breathing? I need someone to teach me how I'm supposed to breath when I run!

The second 5 minute run I had to stop after about 2 1/2 minutes, walk for about a minute and then finished up running to our starting point...probably just another 30 second or so. I was just pooped by the time that last 5 minute ran came along.

The 3 minutes runs were really good. The first seemed easy this time around. Again, I'm sure that had alot to do with the cooler weather. And I'm pretty sure that I ran the entire second 3 minute run after I had the bad side cramp..the 90 seconds of walking, even though it goes by way too fast, did help.

I really needed this run to be great. I was really getting down on myself about not being able to keep up and was starting to think that maybe I was just one of 'those people' that just can not run. I'm feeling much more confident today.

But also pretty sore! :)

My knees are feeling good, but my legs in general are just hurting. Just that normal feeling after a good workout, but still sore.

I need Niki to tell me more about these Recovery Socks! :) Are they just for after serious runs/races? Or would I qualify to wear them with the little running I'm doing? :) Would they make my legs hurt less the next morning? And most importantly, where do I get me a pair! :)

Also, on a side note, two things:

First: Lisa has been out of commission for the last few days...feeling a bit under the weather and we've missed her! I hope she's feeling better and back to running with us this week sometime.

Second: Since Lisa didn't run with us last Thursday (or yesterday) we were missing our official time keeper! So before we ran last night I asked the Husband if he happened to have some sort of stop watch we could use and he said it just so happens that he does, and then he pulled this out:

WTF? Why did he not mention to me that he had this little baby before?!?! I *might* vaguely remember that it exsisted....but don't you think a little light bulb should have went off in his head when I started running to alert him to the fact that he had a device that does this:

"The Forerunner 201 offers athletes a personal training device with GPS that measures speed, distance, pace and calories burned, and runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. After you run, connect your Forerunner 201 to your computer to store and analyze your workout."

Um, HELLO!? :)

Week 3, Day 1

Now that I'm on the right schedule, I'm changing the titles to reflect that..and that way if I miss out on a run or fall behind, you'll all know that I'm slacking off. :)

Here is the schedule for this week:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:

• Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)

Can I say that this SERIOUSLY kicked my butt. I went from feeling like I was a 'running machine' to feeling like I could just fall over and die. :)

It probably didn't help that my left knee was/is seriously hurting...it started bothering me from day one, but usually only hurt the following day and was fine by the next. I think the fact that I ran so hard on the last day of week 2 and thought I was kicking butt, finally caught up with me. I've been icing it since yesterdays run.

We decided to run in the morning yesterday, as opposed to night as we have been, and so we were ready bright and early at 8:30 a.m. to start. My body was NOT ready for that.

Also it seems that somehow this plan skipped the week where you ran/walked for 2 minutes. :) We jumped from 90 seconds to THREE minutes! That may not seem like much..but it was a HUGE difference! :( I really struggled.

So the combo of 8 a.m. running, plus achy knee, plus the three minute jump really effected my running yesterday and I didn't feel as confident about my ability to do this as I had before.

Tomorrow is Day 2 of this schedule..and I'm nervous. :(

I'm really hoping my knee hangs in there. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!