Week 8, Day 1

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes)

I guess yesterday was really the first official day of Week 8 for me. Even though I ran on Sunday, it was the Week 4 workout, so I'm not counting it.

Sad thing is, Sunday was a much better day for me. Not only did I set my personal best running distance/time to date, but I just felt great running that day, despite the heat of the early morning.

I skipped out on Running Tuesday night...actually, we all did I think?? Everyone had plans, and Monday was actually my birthday, so we celebrated Tuesday night with family. I figured I wouldn't want to run much after grilling steaks that night! :)

But skipping out on Tuesday really hurt my run last night. It started out well at first. We were back at the track to see if that would help with my knees. My first two laps around the track were averaging about 2:30/lap, which is awesome! It was taking at least 3 minutes to run a lap a few weeks ago when we were at the track and I was able to do two laps in about 5:15.

After that though, it was all down hill.

My legs just were not cooperating with me. They were tight and cramping and just didn't feel like moving. I tried alternating walking and running for a bit, but with no motivation. I ended up walking the rest of the 24 minutes we were out there.

Next week is the final week of the Couch 2 5K training and I am nowhere near ready for the race...and not even close to getting that 3.1 miles in.

I'm starting to think that maybe I should run more often after next week?

I definitely think I need a 'doable' Sunday run each week...something like the Week 4 plan that was really easy to accomplish for me to get the week started off right and me feeling good about running again. I think I'm starting to get bored with it, and I don't want that to happen at all.

Me & My Buddy, Me & My Buddy, My Buddy & Me!

Sunday I should have started Week 8 (Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes)) but Linda was in town this weekend and since I got her hooked on this running thing, I figured it would be fun for us to be able to run together once!

Plus since Linda was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" in high school, and she was valedictorian, I figured this would be something I might be able to do better then her for once....HA! :)

I actually thought this would be a pretty easy run for me, considering she was just starting Week 4:

Run 3 mins
Walk 90 sec
Run 5 mins
Walk 2 mins
Run 3 mins
Walk 90 sec
Run 5 mins

But then I remembered that when it came time for us (Mandy, Lisa & I) to run Week 4 we almost died...and decided to repeat Week 3.

Also factor in a BBQ the night before that might have involved a few drinks, and rolling out of bed before 8 a.m. to run...on the hottest morning in a long time, and it was pretty tough....

But we did it.

We ran back at the track and somehow I also managed to run my best time/distance so far. I'm not sure exactly how that happened...I assume it was probably due to the fact that I'm running at a faster pace now then back when I was running Week 4, but even with the short breaks in between, we ended up running 2.18 miles...my best before that was 2.08 miles.

That made it worth it!

Props to Linda too for a great run! Unlike me, she made it through the first day of Week 4 without dying or having to do a repeat of Week 3!

Week 7, Day 3

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


Tonight we took it easy and decided to walk our 25 minutes instead of run. I was still feeling pretty 'blah' about running for some reason and didn't object to walking tonight at all. Plus, my knees are starting to get a little bit of a 'twinge' in them again. I'm probably going to have to start wearing the brace on them again to see if it helps, but I'm pretty sure alot of it has to do with the fact that we are running on the pavement again.

Maybe I can convince everyone to head back to the track for a few days to see if that helps.

Only 3 more weeks of training before 'the big race.' I've been really obsessed with watching the weather lately...dreading those hots days making a comeback. Today the temp is supposed to be around 95 degrees...with is normal July weather here, but it will actually be the first time this month it has gotten that warm and it's expected to cool down again tomorrow already.

We have been so spoiled! I'm not sure if this is going to me a very mild August as well, or if Mother Nature is going to make up for all the cool July days with super hot August ones. :( I just hope she waits until after the 15th to do that! The hot weather and humidity will make me think twice about running...I hate being hot! :(

This weekend Linda is in town so I told her she and I needed a morning to run together...but I don't think I'm going to talk her into running my Week 8 schedule! She should be starting Week 4, so I can handle that!

An easier run might get me motivated again!

Week 7, Day 2

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
Last night was 'BLAH'. I just wasn't 'feeling it', ya know?

I pushed to try and do that first mile in 10 minutes, and was close, but no cigar. At the 10:00 minute mark I was at 0.92 miles. And I would have gladly called it a night right then and there, but I had to somehow get back to the parking lot.

It was the farthest I have gotten so far on our original path around the lake. I have no idea where exactly I was, but there was a road you had to cross to get to the other side of the lake and it was the first time I had seen that, so that was a bonus.

The run back took me a bit longer. I walked 3 minutes before I picked back up and ran, but only for another 1 1/2 before I had to walk again. Like I said, I just wasn't feeling it.

I walked for maybe another minute and then slowly picked backup the running again..but didn't push it. After another 4 mintues I walked again for a few, then ran off and on until I got back to the beginning...

It was a cool night, so I didn't feel hot, but just more exhausted. I know I wasn't well hydrated for the run and my legs (not knees) and side seemed to cramp up alot last night. I think I may have started out running too fast again because the side cramps came on pretty fast. And I think I probably only have a few more days until the legs/knees start giving me trouble again. So far I've been lucky, but I have a feeling my luck is running out. Last night as I laid in bed I kept thinking about recovery socks and where I could get a pair pronto.

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 2

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


Again, I'm a day behind since I only ran Tuesday and Thursday nights this week. We decided to stick with the Day 2 plan as that seems more attainable with the break in between runs.

We also decided to switch it up a bit and move back to the lake and an earlier time since it is so cool out this week. It felt great running out there with a cool breeze!

I pretty much accomplished the workout for Day 2. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what we ran by the time on the Garmin...I know when I reached the parking lot and stopped the time it was 28:14. So I'm going to talk this out here and try and figure it out. :)

We got to talking during our 5 minutes warm up walk and lost track of time a bit, so we actually walked 6 minutes instead of 5...and so that threw me off. I'm so used to running until the timer says 15 minutes now that I'm trying to get to 10 minutes before breaking, and that's what I did..then realized after we stopped that we had only ran 9 minutes because we walked an extra minute in the beginning...(Timer read 15:00 when we stopped)

We had just passed the 1 mile marker around the lake when my timer was at about 14:45. Because of the walk at the beginning, my Garmin actually showed .95 miles at that point. Lisa went on and ran to the 1 1/4 mile marker, but Mandy and I turned around there to head back and ran the last 15 seconds or so until I stopped us early at 9 minutes.

I *thought* we walked an extra minute (4 total) after that first run, but I'm almost positive the timer read 18:00 when we started running again (3 minutes). I'm not sure. I know we ran another 7 minutes, had just rounded the Corner and could see the parking lot when Mandy asked me how many minutes we had run and I said 7. That would have put us at 25:00 minutes...I don't remember what the Garmin said at that point. We both stopped there for a quick breathe....I shuffled the songs on my iPod and decided with the 'finish line' in site, I was just going to go for it, so after about 30 seconds of walking I took off again.

That last stretch didn't seem like it would be that long since I could see my car, but It ended up being at least 3 more minutes..like I mentioned above, I stopped the Garmin when I got there and it said 28:14 and 2.08 miles.

Mandy and I talked about that time/distance a bit and it didn't really seem accurate...but I'm assuming it was....If you remember back to my post about the Bennington Days race, I finished that 2 mile run in a time of 28:25....so that is what is confusing me, because I had to walk a lot of that race because my knees hurt so bad...and I definitely felt like I ran A LOT more last night then I did in that race, but the time/distance are almost identical....and that seems off.

I guess if I think about it, with the warm up walk and the break walk that is 8 or 9 minutes total walking time...so only about 20 minutes of running...I still think I walked a lot more at the race, but I'm not going to dwell on it right now.

I just feel really good about being able to run at or very close to 10 minutes without stopping. :)

One thing about the Lake is that you really do not have a good sense of distance like at the track, where your just running in a circle and you know how far you have gone....there are markers at the lake that tell how many yards (?) you've gone and then mile markers, but come on...how many of us can actually judge how far 400 yards are? Anyone? Anyone?? Not I. So having the Garmin at the Lake with the timer/distance tracker is huge.

I was also surprised at how well my knees are doing. I didn't wear any of the braces on them last night, and they are great this morning. Haven't had to ice for the last 3 runs or so...I didn't feel like I needed to, but I probably should be doing it anyway just in case.

Trying to keep a steady pace was a bit harder for me as well at the lake...I felt like I was going too fast right off the bat and my sides were both cramping up pretty early on...but I'm sure that had a lot to do with the fact that there were some pretty decent inclines on the path we were running...and it probably didn't help that I had a bowl of fettuccine alfredo for dinner either...but I did eat a small portion...didn't want to be hurling that up while running. :)

I'm hoping that while it's cool this next week, we'll stick to the lake. That will get us used to running on the pavement again and pretty much the exact same conditions as we will be running the 5k in August in. I wish the weather would stay in the high 70's, low 80's until that race, but who am I kidding. We've literally been breaking record lows for temps here over the last few days, so I'm expecting to have god awful record high temps by the time the race gets here! But hopefully before that happens I'll have a decent running time down.

Next week I think my focus will be on watching my mile time and seeing if I can keep that consistant. I'm thinking that I'll have Lisa time our first 5 minute walk, and then I won't start my Garmin until we actually run...that way the time/distance is calculated by running and not the walks too.

After 6 Weeks of Running...

I've gained 3 pounds....

I'm not positive, but I think that that is a step in the wrong direction.

I am positive that if my husband was running, he would have lost 10 pounds in the first week...because that is how it works in my world.

Do NOT say it's muscle weight...It doesn't make me feel better. :)