Desperately Out of Shape

Yesterday, during my walk, I decided to do a little slow jogging...you know, just to see what it felt like having not jogged in 7 months or so.

I jogged for two minutes, maybe three...maybe. That was about all the milking instruments could take, even in a good sports bra.

Sure, I was pushing the tandem Graco stroller with Kate and Robert in it. But that isn't very hard to do when you are just going straight on level ground.

Three minutes, tops. SLOWLY.

Today? My hipflexors are sore.

Pathetic.

"The Best Little Road Race in California"

We did it! Joel and I both ran the entire 6 miles of the Wharf to Wharf on Sunday. It was great! 15,000 people (plus all the "bandits" who were unregistered), a bunch of crazy bands, lots of hoses being sprayed by the people who live along the route, and plenty of California sunshine made for a really enjoyable race. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Well, until the last mile, anyway. Thank God the end was downhill because the last mile was the only time I started to feel like I might not make it. But we did! Hurrah!

We are very proud of ourselves, even if our knees and hip flexors aren't terribly happy with us today. Actually, I feel OK, but Joel is hurting a bit. He claims he has never run over 2 miles before, so I can see how his knees would be mad at him. Our time of 1 hr 6 minutes was decent considering the first mile took us 14.5 minutes. Once we passed the 2nd mile, we were able to keep a more steady pace of a 10 minute mile, but before that, it was just too crowded. I think it took us at least 3 minutes just to cross the starting line. I was surprised by how crowded it was the entire race. I was picturing everyone being more spread out by mile 2, but we were pretty packed in there up until the end. Next year I may try to start farther up just to get a more accurate time.

So now I'm thinking about what to do next. I was interested in doing the Danskin Women's Triathlon, but there are none by me this year. I like that it's only women and it's a sprint, so the distances are totally doable. There's a bunch of 5K and 10K races around our area, I just don't know anything about them. I'm really not interested in doing a 1/2 marathon or anything. I like my knees and don't want to wear them out at a young age. This looks fun (and messy), but I already missed the one in our area. Maybe next year now that I know about it.

So, I'll keep looking for something to keep me motivated to work out. It's been great having a tangible goal. I'd like to keep that up. Anyone want to join me?

Laziness

I've been very lazy this week. I haven't posted since last Saturday, I missed my good friend's birthday (sorry, Jules), and I can't seem to make myself clean up my house. I blame it on the holiday we had in the middle of the week. It was terribly random. No long weekend connected to it...just a Saturday-like day on a Wednesday. It through me for a loop.

But, I haven't been as lazy with my running. Taking advantage of Daddy being home on Wednesday I went for a run around town. Do you know how long I ran for? An HOUR. I'm not sure what the distance was since I went a little ways down a creek side trail and the rest of the time ran in random circles around downtown. I don't think it was a 10 minute mile pace. I'm sure I would have been hurting more cardiovascularly if it was. I did have to stop for 4 minutes to meet Daddy and the girls at the coffee shop and call my friend to see when she was going to be arriving at my house. (She was only a few minutes away and I didn't want her sitting in my driveway. That's not being nice to your friends). But even with the stop taken into account, I still jogged for an hour. I think it was about 5 miles. Yesterday I rested, and I haven't worked out yet today, but I'm hoping to accomplish that tonight when J gets home from work.

An hour. I'm so impressed with myself. Because, really? It wasn't too long ago that 10 minutes killed me.

And, it makes me feel better about my ongoing struggle with laziness.

Breakthroughs

I had a breakthrough today. I ran 4.5 miles OUTSIDE, without stopping. (Well, almost. There were these two stoplights along my route. I tried to keep moving, but it's just not the same.) It took 50 minutes, but again, stoplights, and it was hilly. The last mile? All uphill.

But you know what was really awesome? Not once did I think "I can't do this" or "I have to stop now or I'll die" or "If I just lay down on the sidewalk, do you think anyone would notice?" Nope. I visualized the whole route before I left, purposely ran out for 2 miles so I knew I had to come back at least that distance, and I just kept going.

Now, don't misunderstand. I didn't feel like it was easy. It was still sucky in parts...especially those uphill parts. I had a lot of help from my iPod. But when I was done? I felt like I could have kept going.

I've already been asked once today why I didn't keep going. Honestly, I just couldn't do anymore uphill...

Here's the best part. Today is the first day where I actually believe I can run the entire Wharf to Wharf in 3 weeks time. I don't think I've honestly believed I could run the 6 miles before.

Today I believe.

For all You Keeping Track...

...no pun intended...

Four miles today...
39 minutes and 30 seconds...
Treadmill...
Not so fun, but I wasn't dying, nor wishing I'd fall off so I could stop. That's something.

Not as good as this, but 2/3 of the way to this.

I need to do 2 more miles in about 20 more minutes.

I can do it, I can do it, I can do it...eventually.

What Did We Do Before the iPod?

For all you out there keeping track, here's what's been keeping me going on my runs lately. It's my new "Faster Farther" playlist on my iPod Nano. So far, I've only made it through 10 songs. The eleventh one might not be upbeat enough to keep me going after 3 miles. Today while I was doing weights, a Seventh Day Jesus song came on while I had the iPod on random shuffle. It might be a good replacement. But let's see if I can get through 11 songs first before I go changing the list that so far is really working for me.

1. Message, Sanctus Real
2. Harder to Breathe, Maroon 5
3. Here it Goes Again, OK Go
4. Hollaback Girl (the super clean version), Gwen Stefani
5. All the Small Things, Blink 182
6. Smooth Criminal, Alien Ant Farm
7. My Own Worst Enemy, Lit
8. Jump (the extended version), Madonna
9. Do What You Want, OK Go
10. Be My Escape, Relient K
11. Things Like You, Sanctus Real
12. Stars, Switchfoot

And for cool down...

13. Over My Head (The Cable Car Song), The Fray
14. Mrs. Potter's Lullaby, The Counting Crows

Any other suggestions?

Going the Distance

Over the last couple weeks, I've slowed up a bit and have been unable to run as far as I wanted due to illness, travel, and time constraints. But I decided on Saturday that it was time to get back in the game if I was going to stick to my newfound goals. Here are my current stats. I'm feeling pretty good about them. It's nothing excellent, but then again, I don't strive for excellence...just endurance.

Saturday, May 5th 3:30pm
distance: 3 miles
time: 30 minutes
venue: outdoors
songs listened to: 9

Monday, May 7th 9:45am
distance: 3.5 miles
time: 34 minutes
venue: treadmill
songs listened to: 10

Oh, and now I have a new goal. 6 miles. I need to get ready for this in July. J and I signed up a couple weeks ago. I'd like to be able to say I ran the whole thing.

Challenges

Today I got back on the treadmill and ran another 5 kilometers. (I would rather be running outside, of course, but in my current life, the gym and the treadmill fit more nicely. ) So, there I was on the treadmill HURTING through mile 1. I so wanted to quit, but I kept thinking that I had told all you I was going to do it again, so I knew I had to. Instead of quitting, I dropped my pace a bit and turned my iPod up louder. I had to repeat a few songs to stay motivated, but I managed to trudge on for another mile and a half.

At the 2.5 mile mark, I increased the speed in an attempt to match my time on Tuesday. It sucked. Really really REALLY sucked. I wanted to stop. I wanted to walk. I wanted to slide right off the back of the treadmill and sink into a puddle against the back wall. My favorite Counting Crows song just wasn't helping me anymore. And really? Who cares about some stupid goal? I could always try again tomorrow, right? I was totally done.

And then I saw her. My friend. Over on the lat pulldown machine that I had showed her how to use the other day. Slowly adjusting everything to fit her petite frame. Choosing an appropriate weight amount that was going to challenge, yet not exceed her capabilities. She didn't want to be on that machine, working her muscles, forcing her brain to focus on anything other than what has been tormenting her for 2 weeks. Yet there she was. Just doing it.

Kinda put it into perspective for me.

30 minutes and 55 seconds today. Not too bad. Not too bad at all.

5K Baby!

Aaron's Mom probably didn't realize she was setting me up with a challenge when she first posted about running 5K a couple weeks ago. Well, challenged I felt, therefore, a self-challenge I created. I really wanted to be able to run 5 kilometers. Really run it. Like, without stopping or walking. So I started working my way towards that.

I've never been a runner. NEVER. In school I purposely avoided the sports that had a lot of running. I completely avoided soccer. Forget track. Why would I ever possibly want to do that to myself? But since I got married, I started jogging slowly here and there over the years. I usually hate it, but it's the one form of exercise that really gets me the results I want. So I've tolerated it. And slowly, it became less painful. I wouldn't say I've come to the point were I enjoy it or anything. By no means am I interested in training for a marathon or anything crazy like that. But I've reached a point were if I do some other cardio exercise instead, I don't feel as if I've had a really good workout.

Mostly I run a mile and a half or so. Two miles has been my distance lately. It's not too hard or too long, yet I am ready to quit and do something different by then. I haven't been able to run 3 miles for a LONG time, and the few times I've come close over the past year, it's been at an extremely slow 3 miles, broken here and there with walking. I've slowly been building up to 3 miles at a 10 minute mile pace since Katelyn was born, but every time I got close to my goal, I'd get sick or the girls would get sick or we'd go on vacation and I'd end up back at the starting point, panting my way though a mile again.

But that changed today.

Today I ran 3.1 miles in 31 minutes and 10 seconds.

Without stopping.

I know, I know. For you real runners out there, that's so lame. But I don't care. It was a big accomplishment for me. I'm very proud of myself. I feel GREAT about it. I think I'll do it again tomorrow.

And you know the best part? I have more hope of reaching my true goal, which is to be able to run 5 miles. Now I know I'll eventually do it. It may takes months and months, but the 5K was just the beginning. And I've done it. There's no stopping me now.

(Still not interested in a marathon, though. Triathlon-yes. 26 miles? No way in you-know-where.)