Running in circles is boring. Even if you get to run around a beautiful lake and kick at (not kick, kick at) pigeons. Even the turtles trying to sun on the submerged logs have their charm.
Running up hill at the end of a run is hard. Even if I get hit by sprinklers and accomplish something difficult. It's hard.
Running a route with fewer uphills, all of which are in the first mile, is better. Getting on paths big enough to pass tourists is better. Getting out of the park, if only for a few blocks, is better. So this new route seems to be the new favorite. Even in the wind (into the wind, uphill both ways-Dad) didn't slow me down.
Sounds like I found my new 3 mile route!
Oh, and if you notice the ending location is not where I started, that's because I needed to get a few things at the grocery store. Who wants cranberry oatmeal white chocolate chip cookies? Next goal-better then Hot Cookie.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Goal: 3 miles
Goal: Accomplished.
New goal: 3 miles without having to jump over fat pigeons the tourists are feeding.
New goal: 3 miles without having to jump over fat pigeons the tourists are feeding.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Miss me?
I'm baaack!
It has been a while since I've blogged about the running process For those who have sent the love and support about the last post-YOU ROCK! That new swimsuit has now swum in the Sea of Corez and provided some lovely tan lines. For the record-yes, I did get a sun burn; Yes, it is almost done peeling.
The Couch to 5K program is complete! After thinking things over, I did move on to the 9th week run. I was jogging 2.75 miles on my little hilly route in 30 minutes. Pretty good, if I do say so myself. With the trip to Mexico, the plan was to take the week off.
Now, there are a few reasons for taking the week off. One-it's vacation. Two-the weather was quite warm. Not quite warm. Crazy hot. Insanely hot. Melt-your-face hot. 100*+ during the day, and in the 80s after 9 pm. Past experience with hot day jogs convinced me I would die. As in drop from heat exhaustion. And margaritas are better at night.
SIDEBAR: Came up with a way to make money. Take a bunch of people into the ocean at about torso-deep. Have them stand in one location without using their arms for an hour. Call it a core workout. Float out some music and change position every 90 seconds to keep it interesting. You know people would pay a lot of money for an "Ocean Core Workout". We could even make a video! Try it-it's harder then you think.
Looking forward to getting home and resuming exercise. The heat slows me down and lack of sustained exercise was making me feel lazy. Relaxed (hard to not be) from the slow pace of life. See the above picture for one of the beaches we spent time at.
The trip home was reminiscent of the trip to Greece (see-"How I made 3 out of 8 flights" in the History of Kristina). Late bus, no one spoke English, I didn't speak enough Spanish to understand anything, bus broke down, nice gentleman who gave me a ride from the bus stop to the airport, and making the plane because it was already delayed. The usual.
Got on the plane. Than it hit.
Food poisoning.
Worst places to get food poisoning-confined spaces (like an airplane), lack of access to a bathroom (like when taking off or landing), when you smell everyone eating food (like the start of the flight). Suffice to say I was glad to get home, cried through the night, didn't sleep well, and got a good core workout.
No run on Tuesday. Or Wednesday.
But Thursday, first run back!
Only did 2 miles. (Pshaw. Listen to me: "Only 2 miles". Who am I?)
Mile 1 was pretty comfortable. A few stitches in the side as I went, got pretty sweaty, and by the end I wanted to keep going. (Ha ha ha. "Wanted to keep going." Stop. I'm killing me!) Glad I stopped when I did. My hand was shaking as I held my glass of water. Guess I need to eat things other then saltines and Gatorade.
Next goal-3 whole miles on a flat course.
The Plate to Plate 5K is in 3 weeks! Look out for the countdown...
Saturday, July 9, 2011
unexpected information
Two things to talk about, and it took me a few days before I could post these thoughts.
Last time I didn't know if I would move on from week 8 or stay at that level. Two days ago, I completed Week9Run1. That got me up to almost 2.4 miles. For those of you keeping track, that is .7 miles off of my distance goal. On the other hand, there is no way I'm going to maintain a 10 minute mile pace.
Message here: YEAH!!!! I RAN A FULL 30 MINUTES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! That is a major accomplishment.
The plan is to complete week 9, then start to increase distance. I'm thinking of track running, though there is distaste for running in circles. SOOOOOO glad I left enough time to finish training to finish the distance.
Second thing:
Went shopping for a new swimsuit yesterday. Usually something I avoid. Why? Because as any woman who is sightly uncomfortable with her body will tell you, swimsuit buying will point out every part of the body she is not comfortable with. Personally, I fall into that category. However. I found a few suits (there weren't that many to choose from). Then I went to try them on. Since my pants have been a little baggy, I decided to try on a variety of sizes.
Guess what?
I've got a new swimsuit (approved of by three people who saw it later that night). It's two sizes smaller then the last swimsuit I bought.
So I went to the regular clothing. I usually buy tops or dresses, since those are generally sizes I can handle. Then there was yesterday.
I bought pants. And shorts. And capris.
All two sizes smaller then the last time I tried on pants.
F*#&ing running. Now I have 7 new bottoms (only keeping 3), 2 swimsuits (only keeping 1) and a dress (keeping it-goes great over the swimsuit). All because of running.
Donated blood this week. My blood pressure is down.
The lesson is this:
Even if I don't really like the running/jogging. Even if my muscles in my legs hurt the next day (which is likely from the stairs I did before a walk with darling Char yesterday). Even if, and this is the big one, I think it's hard and maybe I'm hurting my knees or the bottom of my feet. Or really, even if I don't ever see myself as a jogger.
I'm going to have to keep it up.
Think of what could happen if I keep jogging and don't change eating habits (as per the way life is working now). I don't even know what I weigh any more. A friend keeps threatening to buy me a scale (have never owned a scale. Scared of them) to keep track of my progress.
Who wants to take a jog tomorrow morning? I've got to to 30 minutes.
This should feel crazy. But it doesn't. Weird.
PS Love you, Svenny! Thanks for the couch time!!!!!
PPS Carpel tunnel is activated by 3 hours of pinball playing. Love the PinBall Museum!
Last time I didn't know if I would move on from week 8 or stay at that level. Two days ago, I completed Week9Run1. That got me up to almost 2.4 miles. For those of you keeping track, that is .7 miles off of my distance goal. On the other hand, there is no way I'm going to maintain a 10 minute mile pace.
Message here: YEAH!!!! I RAN A FULL 30 MINUTES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!! That is a major accomplishment.
The plan is to complete week 9, then start to increase distance. I'm thinking of track running, though there is distaste for running in circles. SOOOOOO glad I left enough time to finish training to finish the distance.
Second thing:
Went shopping for a new swimsuit yesterday. Usually something I avoid. Why? Because as any woman who is sightly uncomfortable with her body will tell you, swimsuit buying will point out every part of the body she is not comfortable with. Personally, I fall into that category. However. I found a few suits (there weren't that many to choose from). Then I went to try them on. Since my pants have been a little baggy, I decided to try on a variety of sizes.
Guess what?
I've got a new swimsuit (approved of by three people who saw it later that night). It's two sizes smaller then the last swimsuit I bought.
So I went to the regular clothing. I usually buy tops or dresses, since those are generally sizes I can handle. Then there was yesterday.
I bought pants. And shorts. And capris.
All two sizes smaller then the last time I tried on pants.
F*#&ing running. Now I have 7 new bottoms (only keeping 3), 2 swimsuits (only keeping 1) and a dress (keeping it-goes great over the swimsuit). All because of running.
Donated blood this week. My blood pressure is down.
The lesson is this:
Even if I don't really like the running/jogging. Even if my muscles in my legs hurt the next day (which is likely from the stairs I did before a walk with darling Char yesterday). Even if, and this is the big one, I think it's hard and maybe I'm hurting my knees or the bottom of my feet. Or really, even if I don't ever see myself as a jogger.
I'm going to have to keep it up.
Think of what could happen if I keep jogging and don't change eating habits (as per the way life is working now). I don't even know what I weigh any more. A friend keeps threatening to buy me a scale (have never owned a scale. Scared of them) to keep track of my progress.
Who wants to take a jog tomorrow morning? I've got to to 30 minutes.
This should feel crazy. But it doesn't. Weird.
PS Love you, Svenny! Thanks for the couch time!!!!!
PPS Carpel tunnel is activated by 3 hours of pinball playing. Love the PinBall Museum!
Friday, July 1, 2011
28 minutes- Week 8
It's been a while, so for those of you sitting on the edge of your seats, I am sincerely sorry. If you are sitting on the edge of your seat (i.e this blog is what you live for) again, I apologize. For a completely different reason.
Here are the short and long of it. Summer vacation started one week ago! This means that on Monday I procrastinated sooo much, I missed the run. Then on Tuesday, rain. Huh. Rain. End of June. California. Huh.
Anyways. After the rain (washes away the tears/and all the pain) stopped on Wednesday, I put on my running shoes and left for the first run of Week 888888888 (hear that voice fading out dramatically). The fact it has been four whole days since my last run had me a bit worried. Was it going to be hard? Would I be able to run for 28 minutes without stopping? The answer to both questions was:
YES!
The relatively flat Stow Lake route has given me the chance to watch Canadian Geese grow from yellow goslings to full-flighted poopers. I see older asian men and women out for their constitutional. It's tourist season, and without a permit you can't shoot them. Unless they hand you their camera. But it is so cute to see them out with their backpacks and sensible (or not so) shoes. Can I pinch their cheeks?
Today was a different route. This is actually an old training route from the Avon walk last year. When I was walking 3 miles every other day, this route fit the bill:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4618018
It's a loop, and once I go out, there's no going back. Notable sights are bison, portals into the past, the turducken creature, and tourists (this time on bicycles!). Also of note is the fact that no matter which way one approaches the loop, going out is downhill and coming back is uphill.
This poses one major question. Do I...
a. Go out on the sharper downhill slope and come back on the more gradual, though still discernible, uphill slope.
b. Go out on the softer slope then run up the bigger slope, knowing there is no hill at the very end?
I chose A. Here's what that looks like, in mental monologue form:
Man, this warm up-walk seems long. I better stretch. Mmmmmmm. Stretching feels soooo goood. Maybe I should stretch before every run.....
Hm. Is that guy on the bike homeless or just running errands?
Oh! Tourists! Better blend into the tree-no, wait. Didn't get the permit.
Ok, lets start jogging!
Jeez.
The first five minutes seem really easy. And I'm running a little faster then I normally do. This feels pretty good!
Oh! Downhill! Zoooooooooommmmmmmmmm.
Frisbee! Darn the golf course.
Just keep jogging, just keep jogging!
Wow! Half way through? And I'm up to Sprekles? This is going to be awesome! I may hit a whole 2.5 miles!
Squirrel!
There are the bison, there are two people taking up the entire walkway, and now I'm going to not step in that dog poo. Stupid dog poo non-picker-uppers.
Crossing the street-don't hit me, idiot! Can't you see me jogging here?
Cop on a horse. Hi horsey! Sir.
This is where the uphill part starts. Maybe I should slow down just a bit.
Ok. This is more of a hill then I remember.
Oh, tourists sitting. Gotta keep going.
Keep Going
Why are you walking! Sweat doesn't bite!
Keep. Going. Keep. Going.
5 walking steps! Not acceptable. Jog!
5 more minutes. I can do 5 more minutes.
Stitch in side. Sweat running into eyes. Legs burning. Can't keep going....
60 seconds left. Must. Not. Stop. Running.
Must. Run. Extra. 20. Seconds. To. Make. Up. For. Walking.
Voice says stop running.
WALK NOW YOU CRAZY LADY!
And here's how far I got!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4618015
Since this is now my goal (do the loop without stopping), I may stay on Week 8 for an extra week. We'll see how the last run goes. On Sunday.
TTNF!
Here are the short and long of it. Summer vacation started one week ago! This means that on Monday I procrastinated sooo much, I missed the run. Then on Tuesday, rain. Huh. Rain. End of June. California. Huh.
Anyways. After the rain (washes away the tears/and all the pain) stopped on Wednesday, I put on my running shoes and left for the first run of Week 888888888 (hear that voice fading out dramatically). The fact it has been four whole days since my last run had me a bit worried. Was it going to be hard? Would I be able to run for 28 minutes without stopping? The answer to both questions was:
YES!
The relatively flat Stow Lake route has given me the chance to watch Canadian Geese grow from yellow goslings to full-flighted poopers. I see older asian men and women out for their constitutional. It's tourist season, and without a permit you can't shoot them. Unless they hand you their camera. But it is so cute to see them out with their backpacks and sensible (or not so) shoes. Can I pinch their cheeks?
Today was a different route. This is actually an old training route from the Avon walk last year. When I was walking 3 miles every other day, this route fit the bill:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4618018
It's a loop, and once I go out, there's no going back. Notable sights are bison, portals into the past, the turducken creature, and tourists (this time on bicycles!). Also of note is the fact that no matter which way one approaches the loop, going out is downhill and coming back is uphill.
This poses one major question. Do I...
a. Go out on the sharper downhill slope and come back on the more gradual, though still discernible, uphill slope.
b. Go out on the softer slope then run up the bigger slope, knowing there is no hill at the very end?
I chose A. Here's what that looks like, in mental monologue form:
Man, this warm up-walk seems long. I better stretch. Mmmmmmm. Stretching feels soooo goood. Maybe I should stretch before every run.....
Hm. Is that guy on the bike homeless or just running errands?
Oh! Tourists! Better blend into the tree-no, wait. Didn't get the permit.
Ok, lets start jogging!
Jeez.
The first five minutes seem really easy. And I'm running a little faster then I normally do. This feels pretty good!
Oh! Downhill! Zoooooooooommmmmmmmmm.
Frisbee! Darn the golf course.
Just keep jogging, just keep jogging!
Wow! Half way through? And I'm up to Sprekles? This is going to be awesome! I may hit a whole 2.5 miles!
Squirrel!
There are the bison, there are two people taking up the entire walkway, and now I'm going to not step in that dog poo. Stupid dog poo non-picker-uppers.
Crossing the street-don't hit me, idiot! Can't you see me jogging here?
Cop on a horse. Hi horsey! Sir.
This is where the uphill part starts. Maybe I should slow down just a bit.
Ok. This is more of a hill then I remember.
Oh, tourists sitting. Gotta keep going.
Keep Going
Why are you walking! Sweat doesn't bite!
Keep. Going. Keep. Going.
5 walking steps! Not acceptable. Jog!
5 more minutes. I can do 5 more minutes.
Stitch in side. Sweat running into eyes. Legs burning. Can't keep going....
60 seconds left. Must. Not. Stop. Running.
Must. Run. Extra. 20. Seconds. To. Make. Up. For. Walking.
Voice says stop running.
WALK NOW YOU CRAZY LADY!
And here's how far I got!
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4618015
Since this is now my goal (do the loop without stopping), I may stay on Week 8 for an extra week. We'll see how the last run goes. On Sunday.
TTNF!
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