Double Digits and Week 2 Done

Posted on October 22, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

Whew! I ran 27 miles this week. So, if there is ever a week-long marathon, I’m already ready! Last week, I had a little training lesson: I can’t run at all the day after a long run and I should follow the schedule as written. Got it.

This week, I did my runs as scheduled: 5 ‘easy’ (misleading…) miles on Monday, 4 miles Tuesday, 3 miles Wednesday, 5 miles Fridau and TEN MILES today! I ran TWENTY SEVEN miles this week.

Tuesday and Wednesday were treadmill miles and I ran faster those days. There’s something about the floor moving under you. If you don’t keep going at its pace, you fall off ;-). The other days were pretty slow – ranging from about 12-1/2 minute miles to almost 14 minute miles.

How’s my knee? Today marks three months exactly since my knee surgery! It feels just okay. I can tell that my quad isn’t as strong as it should be, yet. Every once in a while, I feel like my knee is buckling and my quads not strong enough to stop it. Also, today after about 7 miles, it started to ache a little bit. It wasn’t so bad that I felt I should stop but just enough to remind me it’s there.

All in all, I feel good. My husband reminded me this morning that part of this training is to get me mentally prepared to run hours, and hours, and hours, and hours… It can beat you down and make you feel defeated.

I don’t feel defeated. I ran double digits today, 27 miles this week and that’s pretty dang good!!

 

UPDATE:  One day, I will learn to COUNT!  THIS WAS WEEK 3…  😉

 

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One Week Down

Posted on October 16, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

I’ve completed (sort of) my first official week of training for the marathon next February.  It was rough.  I say I ‘sort of’ completed the week’s training because I didn’t do the last 4 mile run. 

I’ve been doing a 21 day ‘No Junk Food’ Challenge and the 21st day was Friday.  My long run for the week was supposed to be Saturday.  I had plans for Friday night that involved fried fish and cake.  Fried catfish and cake do not make for a good dinner the night before a run, so….  I did my long 8 mile run on Friday and planned to do the final 4 mile run on Saturday morning.  Hmph…   That didn’t work out!

I did the long run on Friday. I actually ran 8.18 miles.  😐  (Nike+ GPS strikes again!) It was kind of hard but I got through it.  My only disappointment was how slow I ran it.  I felt myself slowing down and then by the time I thought “I need to run faster”, I’d been running half a mile at a snail’s pace.  My whole run went pretty much like that.  I guess my tempo and pace runs on the treadmill will help with this.  We’ll see.  So anyway.  I did the 8 mile run on Friday instead of Saturday – check.  On Saturday morning, I was T.I.R.E.D. and worn out – there was no way in HELL I was gonna run 4 miles Saturday morning.  I lounged around the house and slept most of the morning but I kept daydreaming that I was going to go to the gym ‘any second now’ and do the 4 mile run.  Yo no lo hice…

So, I SORT of finished my first week of training.  Five days of running is a big jump from my previous 3 days a week schedule.  Hopefully, I’ll get them all done next week.  Wish me luck!

 

I forgot two things:

1.  I almost fell after tripping over something on the sidewalk!  It was Friday at about mile 7 and the grass had been recently cut so clippings were all over the sidewalk.  I didn’t see anything, but I tripped.  I IMMEDIATELY  thought “I am NOT falling on my knee” and shoved my hands out in front of me to try to break the fall.  My knee got about 4-5 inches from the ground but I was able to upright myself.  I twisted my knee kind of weird and had to limp for about a half a mile, though.

 

2.  I KNOW why there’s a short run BEFORE the long run.  Most likely, I’ll be worn out and tired and will NEED the day off after a long run.  I should never have thought to try to do a long run and follow it the next day with with even a short one.  That’s my lesson for the week 😉 – learned the hard way.

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‘Easy’ Isn’t Always Easy

Posted on October 10, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun


This is week two of my marathon training.  My schedule includes days that I should run a ‘tempo’ pace and some days when I run a ‘marathon’ pace.  I wasn’t really sure what in the world a ‘tempo’ pace even was until I found this great training calculator on Runner’s World.com.  The first thing I need to do is decide exactly how fast I think I can complete a marathon.  After I plug that in, the calculator figures out my training paces:  easy, tempo and marathon.  Voila!  Now if I could just figure out a site that could run the runs for me…

Since I still need to be gentle and kind to my knee, I will be moving two of my runs per week inside to the dreaded treadmill.  I think five days on the street (…running…) will be too much for me right off the bat.  (Insert heavy sigh.)  I don’t like running on the treadmill.  It’s SO boring but I can use it to accurately set up speeds for the tempo and marathon pace runs.  This is how I feel about the treadmill:  http://www.badstockart.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/90311026.jpg 🙂

Monday Morning Run:

I just ran my first five-mile ‘easy’ run.  First of all, five miles is NOT EVER easy.  Let’s get that straight.  BUT knowing that it was my ‘easy’ run was nice.  I wasn’t really concerned about trying to go faster.  I did a lot more looking around at stuff, the hills were easier to take and I felt more relaxed overall.  Nice.  I used my husband’s ‘break it up’ idea for the couple of long hills and it worked better than the last time – probably because I wasn’t stressed out about them.

The weather today is kind of weird.  It was about 70 degrees, there were water droplets in the air like fog but it wasn’t foggy and it is HUMID.  I thought I was in Houston for a while!  The ground was muddy because we had a full day of rain (much-needed rain) so I had to run in the street where there was no sidewalk.  School is out for Columbus Day so there weren’t any cars to speak of on the streets so it all worked out.

Tomorrow I run 5 miles at marathon pace.  My goal marathon pace is 12 minutes per mile.  I ran the half marathon last year at 11:16 per mile so I think 12 minutes is reasonable. 

My random thought for today:  I’ve been thinking about buying some expensive ($10-$15) running socks.  I saw some for $12 the other day and ever since then I have been wondering what difference expensive socks like that would make for my run.  ???


Maybe I’ll try out my brand new fancy socks at my next 5K run: http://www.active.com/running/plano-tx/chi-zeta-omega-5k-fun-runwalk-2011

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First Long Run!

Posted on October 8, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

Today I officially started my training program for the Galveston Mardi Gras Marathon that will take place on Sunday, February 5, 2012.  Let me let that soak in for a second.

I am on a 16 week schedule that really started on this past Monday.  I missed two days of running, but they were shorter runs, so I think I’m okay.  The schedule has me running 5 days a week – which will be an adjustment.  One run is short and easy, one is short and at marathon pace and another is short and tempo paced.  I guess I need to decide what I want my marathon pace to be.  Hmmm…  Slow. 😉  

As the weeks go by, all of the runs get longer until I do one 20 mile run.  Weekly mileage will go from 27 miles to FORTY miles.  It would be an understatement to say that I am nervous.  The long runs get really long pretty quickly and it’s pretty scary to think about it. 

This week’s long run was supposed to be 7 miles.  I had trouble going to sleep last night.  I hit ‘snooze’ 4 times before I got out of bed this morning and I had trouble getting dressed and out of the door to start my run.  When I stepped outside, I was almost immediately disappointed.  It was warm, cloudy and muggy.  Great.  I thought it was going to be cool.  So I headed out – trying to remember to thing good thoughts and just take it one step at a time.  My husband suggested a way to get up hills without the mental crash that I usually experience.  He suggested I break the hill up into 3 or 4 pieces and focus on getting to one spot at a time.  At my first uphill stretch, I used the ‘break it up’ method and it was helpful.  If nothing else, it gave me something to think about other than how tired and hot I was feeling.

I made it through the run okayish until about 4-1/2 miles.  I use the Nike+ GPS app on my iPhone to track

Weary

Image by quinn.anya via Flickr

and monitor my runs.  The voice on the app was confusing the crap out of me this morning.  The app counts mileage up until half way.  After you hit your halfway mark, it starts counting down.  It was REALLY cloudy this morning and I disco

vered (after the fact) that the GPS had ‘lost’ me.  The mileage countdown was completely off and it was making the run SOO hard.  I was confused because I knew how far I should have run at different points but the app voice feedback was telling me something different.  Since I was tired and out of it, I just kept trying to figure out what was going wrong.  I couldn’t do simple subtraction:  What is 7 miles minus 2.25 miles?  I just could not get it straight.  When I got back near home where I should have hit 7 miles, the app told me I had  mile left.  Ugh.  I ran around another block and back up my street and my app was still at 6.67 miles.  I had to stop, though.  I was out of energy.

When I got home, I plotted my run on MapMyRun.com and I’d run 7.73 miles.  O.K….  wow.  NO WONDER I WAS SO WORN OUT!  My longest run in the last SEVERAL months has been 5 miles and I’ve only done that twice. 

Twelve hours have passed since I ran this morning and I am still struggling a little bit.  My knee is pretty stiff.  (Yes, I iced it.)  My shoulders hurt a little but most of all, I’m just TIRED. 

Tomorrow is a ‘rest’ day – so there IS rest for the weary, sometimes.  I’ll need it.  I ran 17 miles this week.  Next week, I will run 26.

I’m officially TRAINING FOR MY FIRST FULL MARATHON.  I can do it.  🙂

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Please Get Out of My Way!

Posted on October 6, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun
Official seal of City of Galveston

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been struggling to decide what’s a reasonable minimum amount of time that I need to train for a marathon so I can decide which one I want to run.  I need a race with a flat course so I don’t have any more built in obstacles.  Hills are always going to be a struggle for me after my surgery.  I know there’s no race that’s absolutely flat, but I need one that’s close to it.  I want to run in late winter/VERY early spring in the state of Texas.  Let’s face it.  It might be hot here in Texas in March.  I don’t need heat beating me up, either.  The ‘best chance’ time in my head for a race was mid-February, but there is no viable race in Texas in mid-February.  I think my best chance is the Galveston Mardi Gra Marathon on February 5.  Check it out:  http://www.galvestonmardigrasmarathon.com/. 

 

My training schedule for this race would be kind of aggressive.  (I just thought of a cheer from high school:  Be aggressive.  B E  A G G R E S S I V E…) I’d have basically 16 weeks to train.  It’s aggressive but I think I can do it.  REMEMBER:  I only want to FINISH the marathon.  I’m not trying to do it quickly.

So.  I’m not completely sure, but I’m penciling in the Galveston Mardi Gras Marathon on February 5.  No comment on WHY IN THE WORLD IT’S ON A SUNDAY.  They’ll have Nestle Toll House Cookies at the end of the race, though 🙂  I wonder if there will be King Cake.   Maybe the thought of cookies and cake will keep me going.   Ooh.  Gumbo, catfish…

 

So what’s going on with my training?  I ran 5.31 miles yesterday.  As soon as I walked out of the front door, I knew this was NOT going to be one of those great runs that inspire ‘runners’ to get out there every day.  I felt sluggish.  My knee was feeling kind of off – not necessarily hurting, just stiff and kind of sore.  I just wasn’t feeling it but I got on out there anyway.

 

I don’t think I have ever run as slow as I ran yesterday.  I had to talk myself out of going back home three different times.  Everything was a struggle.  Everything annoyed me. 

 

On the subject of ANNOYING…  Here’s some stuff I was thinking about during yesterday’s run that is particularly annoying to me when I’m running:

  • Moms and Dads:  PLEASE, when you KNOW you see me coming, PLEASE get over.  You and your children’s backpacks DO NOT get to take up the entire sidewalk.  And after you begrudgingly move over after you realize that yes, I’m coming – GET YOUR KIDS CRAP OVER, TOO.  You can be mad that I stepped on Little Buckehead’s backpack strap all you want, BUT YOU SAW ME COMING AND HIS CRAP WAS IN THE WAY.  Get out of the way the next time. 
  • Grown Ars Men riding bikes:  Uh…  ride on the street.  That’s all I have to say about that.
  • Well-Meaning People in Cars:  I appreciate that you want to let me across the street, but don’t sit there WAITING for me if I’m still half a block away.  I’m running as fast as I can already and I don’t need you pressuring me to hurry across the street.  (I know you meant well, but really – just go.)
  • Old couples out for a walk:  So sweet – so glad you’re keeping active.  But, sorry…  You don’t get the whole sidewalk.  Move over.  Really. 
  • Dog owners:  Pick up your dog’s crap!!  This city has a poop scooping ordinance.  It’s gross to step in your dog’s bowel movements because you are too freaking lazy to pick it up OFF OF THE SIDEWALK!  wow…

 

Alrighty then.  I think that’s it.  🙂

 

Fun times ahead! 

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I COULD Talk Myself Out of ANYTHING!

Posted on October 3, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

I can talk myself out of doing most anything, quickly and on the fly.  I am very convincing like that.  I can appeal to my rational side while also roping in the emotional me. 

Who’s going to know if I stop?  Who’s going to care?  I’m supposed to be taking it easy anyway, right?  Pain is an indicator that something is wrong and I should really take the next cut-through back to the house.  Two weeks ago, I could only run 3 miles.  I’ve run three miles already – I’m ahead of the game!  Ouch!  I think my hip is still messed up.  Seriously.  If I keep going I’ll be back at the doctor tomorrow.  Walk now to save up energy to run later.  Wait til I’ve gotten all of my strength back.  This hill is going to hurt.  This music is the wrong tempo.  I have an underwear malfunction (yes, those exist!) – I need to get home.  I shouldn’t run too far on these new shoes.  I should break them in slowly.  blah, blah, blah  I am the MASTER of negative, talking-myself-out-of-stuff.  Sad, but true.

So…  I was running along this morning and it was like I had an epiphany and realized what i was doing.  Who the heck can do their best when they’re constantly trying to talk their own damned self out of something?  I kinda got mad at myself because I know better.  As hokey as it sounds, I started trying to focus on the GOOD about my run.

I WANTED to run.  Three weeks ago, I was WALKING on a treadmill and look at me now.  I ran 12 miles last week.  That is GREAT.  I’m pacing faster than last week.  I have some great new cushy shoes on that are going to help me stay ‘hurt free’.  My knee feels pretty good considering this is only week three back on the street running.  I’m not out of breath.  I’m not flailing about.  My arms and shoulders are loose and relaxed.  I’ve ALREADY run half way.  Take one step at a time.  How great will I feel when I’m finished??

I ran five miles this morning.  I got caught at two traffic lights so I did stop for a few seconds at each.  It felt okay until about 4-1/2 miles.  I started really slowing down and got really fatigued.  I’m convinced that it’s mostly mental.  I lose it at this stretch no matter how far I’ve run.  It’s uphill and the last little piece before I get home.  I need to figure out how to beat this stupid section but until then, I just chug, chug along as fast as I can.  I hit five miles before I got home and I stopped almost immediately after the voice said “You’ve reached your goal of five miles” because I was SPENT.  After walking a few steps, I was fine again – which confirms that the trouble I have on the hill toward home is mostly mental.

My goal is to run ALL OF THE WAY HOME by Friday.  I THINK that’ll make about 5.25 miles.  That’s perfect because next week I want to run 6 miles. 

I have what it takes to do this.  I just need to figure out how to use what I have in the best way to get me where I want to go.

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Knock-Kneed, Waddling, Wide Hipped

Posted on September 28, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

Today’s run was a little better than Monday’s.  On Monday, I was worn out, in pain, mentally deflated and just out of it so I guess it really couldn’t get worse, right?  Maybe it could, but I pray I don’t find out how it could be worse… 

I said I was gonna run 4 miles today and I did.  Yay me.  When I started off, my knee hurt a moderate amount.  What’s a moderate amount, you ask?  It hurt but not enough to make me wince and there weren’t any shooting pains.  The pain was just there; constant.  It almost felt like I was dragging this foreign leg along with me for the run.  If I could have just shaken the leg off, I would have felt much better.  But whatever.  I ran.  I kept my breathing under control for the most part.  I reversed my 4 mile route and man!  It seemed like I ran uphill the entire way.  I know logically that’s not possible, but that’s how it felt.  On the biggest uphill, I had an audience of about 15 high school kids waiting for the bus.  woo hoo…  It DID make me perk up a little bit, though.  I know I shouldn’t have been concerned but I was.

Speaking of things I shouldn’t have been concerned about…  Yesterday I was reading running blogs and came across one and the post was titled “Knock Kneed, Wide Hipped Waddling…”  or something like that.  Wow.  The writer was complaining that in every race he enters some middle aged looking lady with wide hips, knock knees and poor form passes him.  He was irritated that someone who didn’t fit the runners mold (is there such a thing?) was passing him, making better time than him, gonna finish before him.  How dare she.  So, there were all these comments to his post about people experiencing the same thing.  One lady even said her goal in life was to not have any fat runners pass her.  Really?

I don’t consider myself a fat, waddling runner, but I am obviously middle-aged and I have wide hips.  Let’s consider what might be going on:  Perhaps I’ve trained longer than you.  Maybe I’m in better physical condition than you.  Hold on to your seat, but MAYBE I’m just a better runner than you.  You suck and I don’t.  Just maybe.  (I’m speaking for all of the fat, wide hipped, middle-aged waddlers.)

Listen, people.  We don’t know what’s going on with anyone’s training and fitness but our own.  That’s what we need to be concerned about.  I am guilty of looking over at someone and wishing I could do what they do, maybe even feeling a little envious of them, but it really is kind of ridiculous. 

If you run or walk or whatever, the next time you are left in the dust by some unlikely body, just wish them well.  If I pass you by, I’m gonna just think to myself “Sucka!!“. 😉

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Redefining a ‘Good’ Run

Posted on September 27, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

The instruction:  Walk a few minutes, run a minute.  Increase the running to walking ratio a little bit every day until you are running the entire route.  Yesterday I ran 4 miles – straight, without stopping. 

Last week I ran 3 miles three times without stopping and felt pretty good afterward.  Not so this week. I don’t know why, but I felt immediately fatigued and tired when I started the run.  Every step was an effort.  I felt like I’d gained 25 pounds overnight (Is that possible?…).  My head wasn’t into it and my body was surely not into it.  But I kept going.  I’d mapped out a route and I was GOING TO finish this run.  So, I guess High Five!  I did what I said I was gonna do.  It was slow and labored but I finished and that makes it a good run.

It was a good run because I did it but my knees – both of them – hurt now.  I think my ‘good’ knee is just reacting to the extra activity.  My surgery knee pops every time I stand up and when I start walking.  Pop, pop, pop.  It hurts every time it pops.  Ugh.  Walking up and down the stairs hurts.  The ‘bad’ knee hurt while I was walking the dog and we only walked about a mile and a half.

What is going on?  Did I really run too much too quickly?  Is it  the leg exercises?  I was bad over the weekend and didn’t do them.  Could that have made such a huge difference?  I don’t really think so but I’m making sure I do them this week!  I had every intention of following that rule.  😉

No junk food challenge udate:  So far so good.  Today is just day 4.  I had sugar free jello last night.  Is that junk food?  I don’t really think so but I felt like I was cheating while I was eating it.  I NEED to include cereal on the Junk Food list.  I have had WAY too much lately.  The box is just about empty and I don’t plan to replace it so that should be the end of that!

Well, I feel kind of crappy today.  What’s the plan for the run tomorrow??  I am running 4 miles.

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Uphill Downhill – One Week Down

Posted on September 24, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun
Running Uphill

Image by Nancy D. Regan via Flickr

I’ve been running for a week now and I feel pretty good. 

I’ll get this out of the way right now:  I am NOT walking during my runs.  Have I mentioned how impatient I get when I’m walking??  I decided that I’d rather slow w.a.y. down than start walking.  So there you go.  I’m not following instructions about running.  So far, I’ve been just fine afterward.  I’m icing my knee down and I don’t feel any extra pain from running more.

I’ve been doing my leg exercises except the leg press because I haven’t been going to the gym.  😦  I know I said I was going to go with my husband, but he’s been gone.  (On the day that he was here and went, I couldn’t find the list of exercised to do at the gym.)  The leg exercises are going okay.  I still struggle with the one leg squat.  It’s pretty painful after about 3 or 4 squats.  I’m not even squatting very low – ’cause THAT hurts.  Maybe I should just quit doing squats.  I hate them anyway 😉

So about the running…  I have been doing a route that has some significant down hill as well as uphill stretches.  Downhill kind of hurts but nothing like before I had surgery.  Uphill….  well, uphill is hell.  Going uphill just takes my breath away ( and not in a swooning, good kind of way!)  I really struggle going uphill.  Yesterday, I trued to really focus on going faster and just digging in til I got to the top.  Did it help, I don’t know. 

I have managed to run a teeny bit faster on each run.  I ran 13 minute miles on my first run/walk, then closer to 12:45 and the last two 3-mile runs were both just under 12-1/2 minute miles.  I was EXHAUSTED on Friday but I felt good.  I got out and ran in the dark, too.  I had my handy headlamp on but the bulb blew out.  (There is some irony in that…)  Here’s my headlamp:  http://www.princetontec.com/?q=fuel. It’s great when the light shines brightly.

Since diet HAS to be part of training, I’ve started a No Junk Food Challenge today that lasts for 21 days.  It will help me with the things that I’ve had the hardest time cutting down on:  sweets and bread.  I originally saw the challenge on a Pinterest board and posted it on FAcebook.  Several people have also signed on to doing the challenge, so it should be kind of fun.  I went out with a bang last night, though:  Hamburger and fries at Twisted Root Burgers followed by brownie and vanilla ice cream from Whole Foods.  Yum – even if the ice cream did make my stomach hurt.

Have you wondered WHEN I plan to run a marathon?  I have.  I’ll figure it out and let everyone know soon. 

I’m starting to feel like I can do this again!  That is a good thing.

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Chugging Along

Posted on September 19, 2011 by RunDedeauxRun

My second run ‘post being broke down’ went just okay today. 

I ran 2.5 miles, which is a tiny bit further than last Friday.  I ran it 30 seconds per mile faster, too.  My knee was kind of hurting the entire time, though.  I even limped a couple of times.  So here’s my confession:  I ran WAY more than I was supposed to run and I did not stop running when my knee started hurting.  I ‘listened to my body’ but I didn’t change my behavior after I heard what it had to say.  I couldn’t help myself.  I SO dislike this recovery phase.  😦

Gross Alert:  Another toenail fell off!  Why does this keep happening to me?  Yes, I have correctly fitting shoes.  Yes, I’ve got good socks.  Ugh.  There is a new one already there, but it’s thin and weird looking.  I guess I’ll be putting the flip flops away for a couple of weeks.  Hello closed toes…

Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym and do the resistance training that the PT advised for me.  I don’t like the downstairs part of the gym.  The people always look like they are annoyed with ‘outsiders’.  Isn’t that funny?  Maybe there will be that person downstairs wondering if I chose to come to the gym in the middle of the night so that no one sees me exercising.  They will be right!  I think this will be my plan.  I will run in the morning after 8 on the street and do my resistance training at the gym in the middle of the night when my husband goes. 

No random thoughts today.  Nothing weird happened on my run.  No whining.  No excuses.

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