My husband and I got our very first puppy a week ago. He is as cute as can be and we lucked out with him, he is very smart! He has only had about 5-6 accidents in the week we have had him and he can already understand "Sit" and plays fetch. His name is Miles (after Miles Davis), he is 11 weeks old and is a Boxer/Lab mix. Too cute.
How does this correlate with my runs you ask? Well apparently having a puppy is somewhat like having a baby, he is whiny and sleeps only about 5 hours during the night. Because of this I missed BOTH my track workout on Tuesday morning and my tempo run on Thursday. The funny part of it is that I actually got up, dressed, drove to the track, AND PARKED on Tuesday before I decided I was too tired and went back home. There was an hour of wasted sleep time. I should have pulled my lazy butt out of the car and ran!
Yesterday was our long, slow distance run of 6 miles. I ran with my new best running buds, Andrea, Courtney, and Krista. I think we make a great little running group! Our pace group was running at about 11:30 with 5/1 walking splits. It was a really nice run but humid as hell. When I got home, I took the time I ran the 6 miles and figured that if I had used the 5/1 split during the Minnie Marathon, my time would have been about 10 minutes faster! Walking breaks are so wonderful, in so many ways.
On Friday, Wil (my husband) and I are heading up to a cabin in Tennessee for about 4 days for our 2 year anniversary (it isn't until July 30 though). I can't wait, I am not bringing a single book for school, I am not thinking about work either. I am just going to chill and reread the Harry Potter Series for the 7th time, since the 7th book comes out in 25 days!!! Miles may or may not be with us for the trip, not sure yet. Anywho, the trip will mean I miss my long run on Saturday (8miles) and my track work on Tuesday. I am going to definitely try to get those 8 miles in, though they may be spread out over 2 days or so.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Thursday, June 14, 2007
So tired. So very tired
Today I will tell you about both Tuesday and today's runs. Good times. On Tuesday it was speed work on the beloved track (please note the sarcasm in my internet voice). We did 4 sets of 800's with a recovery break in between each one. A comfortable challenge. I feel like I am stuck in the middle. The group I am with is a bit too easy at times but the next fastest one is still a bit too much. I am hoping that within a month or so I will move up. We shall see.
Today was a VERY easy tempo run of 2 miles, with a 4 minute walking recovery right after mile 1. We kept about a 11:30 pace, which seemed very slow today but I am sure will seem very fast at mile 25 of my marathon. Saturday's long run is only 4 miles since it is a cutback week. This will be my longest run of the program (but not my personal longest distance), since I did not run 6 miles while away last weekend. Oh well, 4 miles is easy anyways. If you had told me I would be saying 4 miles is easy 1 year ago, I would have laughed and then perhaps slapped you.
After this past weekend's food fiasco (see Monday's entry), I have gained 3 pounds but the good news is that I am getting back on track and in control. I ate pretty healthy yesterday with 2 slip-ups of a poptart and a chocolate chip cookie. So worth it though, the cookie, not the poptart.
And I am exhausted. Getting so little sleep is catching up with me. I will have to find ways to get more rest. Suggestions are welcome (keep in mind, I work 7:30am-4:30pm, Mon-Fri, and have class from 6pm to 9:30pm, Mon, Wed, and Thurs.)!
Today was a VERY easy tempo run of 2 miles, with a 4 minute walking recovery right after mile 1. We kept about a 11:30 pace, which seemed very slow today but I am sure will seem very fast at mile 25 of my marathon. Saturday's long run is only 4 miles since it is a cutback week. This will be my longest run of the program (but not my personal longest distance), since I did not run 6 miles while away last weekend. Oh well, 4 miles is easy anyways. If you had told me I would be saying 4 miles is easy 1 year ago, I would have laughed and then perhaps slapped you.
After this past weekend's food fiasco (see Monday's entry), I have gained 3 pounds but the good news is that I am getting back on track and in control. I ate pretty healthy yesterday with 2 slip-ups of a poptart and a chocolate chip cookie. So worth it though, the cookie, not the poptart.
And I am exhausted. Getting so little sleep is catching up with me. I will have to find ways to get more rest. Suggestions are welcome (keep in mind, I work 7:30am-4:30pm, Mon-Fri, and have class from 6pm to 9:30pm, Mon, Wed, and Thurs.)!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Food. I love it! Wonderful food.
Tuna melt. French fries. Pasta. Baked Fish. Bread. Coke. English muffin with butter, cream cheese, and jelly. Banana. Chicken salad sandwich. Coke. Brownie. Grilled chicken. Peas. Carrots with ranch dressing. Rice. Milk. Strawberry shortcake. Gatorade. Bagel with butter, cream cheese, and jelly. Orange juice. Chicken salad sandwich. Chips and salsa. Cheese and crackers. Pasta salad. Tortellini salad. Potato salad. Salad. Pickles. Chocolate cake. Mocha chocolate chip icecream with chocolate jimmies. Bagel with butter, cream cheese, and jelly. Pretzels. Sprite. Graham crackers. Chicken parm with pasta. Sprite.
Yup, that is everything I ate during my weekend at home with family up in Massachusetts. I estimate that is 1,984,687 calories. Maybe even a bazillion calories. Who really knows. Track run tomorrow morning, bright and early. That should get me right back on track.
Yup, that is everything I ate during my weekend at home with family up in Massachusetts. I estimate that is 1,984,687 calories. Maybe even a bazillion calories. Who really knows. Track run tomorrow morning, bright and early. That should get me right back on track.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Hey! from Massachusetts!!
I am enjoying a lovely weekend back home in Massachusetts. It is so wonderful to be with family, talking Red Sox, and eating calzones!!! I have obviously missed my lsd with my running group this morning, being 2,000 miles away and all, so I planned to run this morning (6 miles) but actually slept until 9am. No regrets though, my body wicked needed the rest. Tomorrow I will be sure to get up and out for that run.
On Thursday, my running group had a tempo run of 3 miles. I really am getting use to waking up and getting out for a very early morning run. I joined up with a little bit of a slower running pace, since I had been discouraged previously with the faster pace group. We ran an 11:38 pace and I stayed up front the whole time. I was sometimes even leading the group! Dare I say this run was easy?? Don't want to get ahead of myself! Felt really good though.
On Thursday, my running group had a tempo run of 3 miles. I really am getting use to waking up and getting out for a very early morning run. I joined up with a little bit of a slower running pace, since I had been discouraged previously with the faster pace group. We ran an 11:38 pace and I stayed up front the whole time. I was sometimes even leading the group! Dare I say this run was easy?? Don't want to get ahead of myself! Felt really good though.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Track run = no fun!!
Yesterday was speedwork on the track as part of the marathon training. We had to be there at the God-awful time of 4:45am and somehow I got up and out and there on time!! I am quite proud of myself for showing that much dedication so far. Yes, I know it was only day #2 of training. Bet you were sleeping! Lucky you. So anywho...out I went and got to the track.
I found the pace group I was with on Saturday and we were told to do 6 400's, with a recovery break of 60 seconds in between each one. No problem I think to myself, an easy 1.5 miles. Um, no. We ran each 400 at a pace about 3 and half minutes faster than our normal speed. It sucked. By the third lap I was seriously questioning why I thought I was strong enough to do this crap. But I kept pushing. For the 5th lap I joined up with a pace group that was one level slower. It was easier for me but still a challenge. I was pretty discouraged and cheated myself out of the 6th lap and skipped it. I am still mad at myself for not pushing harder.
Thanks to the mind of a much wiser and more experienced runner, I realized that though my pace may be at 10:15-10:45 for a 5k or 10k, my marathon time will be closer to 12:00 or so. There is no way in hell I can keep up 10:30 for 26.2 consecutive miles. So I have come to accept the fact that I may not finish this marathon in under 5 hours and my goal for my first is just to finish, preferably with no to very little walking. My first marathon (January 13, 2008) will be for fun and the experience of running Disney.
After that, I can begin to consider qualifying for Boston. Yeah, right.
I found the pace group I was with on Saturday and we were told to do 6 400's, with a recovery break of 60 seconds in between each one. No problem I think to myself, an easy 1.5 miles. Um, no. We ran each 400 at a pace about 3 and half minutes faster than our normal speed. It sucked. By the third lap I was seriously questioning why I thought I was strong enough to do this crap. But I kept pushing. For the 5th lap I joined up with a pace group that was one level slower. It was easier for me but still a challenge. I was pretty discouraged and cheated myself out of the 6th lap and skipped it. I am still mad at myself for not pushing harder.
Thanks to the mind of a much wiser and more experienced runner, I realized that though my pace may be at 10:15-10:45 for a 5k or 10k, my marathon time will be closer to 12:00 or so. There is no way in hell I can keep up 10:30 for 26.2 consecutive miles. So I have come to accept the fact that I may not finish this marathon in under 5 hours and my goal for my first is just to finish, preferably with no to very little walking. My first marathon (January 13, 2008) will be for fun and the experience of running Disney.
After that, I can begin to consider qualifying for Boston. Yeah, right.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Long time no blog!
I haven't written anything since March, just haven't been in much of the writing mood plus that thing called life keeps getting in the way. I will try to play a short game of catch-up for anyone who may be reading this. For the tangents I may go on, I apologize.
I think I left off while training for the Minnie Marathon that began at Animal Kingdom and ended in Epcot. It was a 15k race (9.3 miles) and I used Hal Higdon's training program. The runs were going well enough, with my long distance runs on the weekend. The program also called for 2 runs during the week, usually 3 or 4 miles. Sometimes I did those, sometimes not, it depended on my level of tiredness and motivation. Unfortunately, I saw how important it was not to skip those runs when race time came. So, as I was saying, the long runs were going well enough, I had much trouble on my first 5 mile run, I had to walk TONS. This made me very discouraged. Thanks to a pal on runnersworld, Terry, I gave a walking strategy a try for my next long run. I ran 10 minutes and walked 1 minute. This made my following long runs of 6, 7, and 8 miles much easier and actually, dare I say, fun?
May 3 comes, 3 days before the race, and I feel absolutely horrible, very achy, high fever, etc. After about 24 hours it seems to have passed (oh, how fooled I was!). My mom and I go to the race expo to pick up my packet and this being my first expo, I was pretty excited. I bought a cute little "running girl" bumper sticker for my car and have yet to put it on...
May 6th: the big race is here. At 4am, I set off for Animal Kingdom and my husband is still sleeping soundly in bed. Lucky bastard. I meet up with Krista and we get in the giant line for the porta potties. I did not want to have to stop along the race route. We head over to the starting line and Minnie and Mickey Mouse were up on stage and got us started with fireworks. It was pretty sweet. I keep a steady pace, not wanted to start off too fast. I used my 10/1 walking strategy for the first 5 miles. Took a squirt of gu at mile 5 as well. Running through the parks was very nice and got me excited for the Disney Marathon in January. Mile 7 meant the worst side stitches I had ever felt and I had to walk almost the entire way to mile 8. I am hurting that last 1.5 miles and I knew had I done my mid-week runs, it wouldn't have been so bad. Lesson learned. I finish by giving Mickey a hi-five at the finish line and I did not make my goal of under 1 hour and 45 minutes (see race section on the right for times). Oh well. It was fun times and I got a sweet medal, along with everyone else.
The whole rest of the week I felt like poop. May 12th came and I was registered for a 5k (3.1 miles). I trek out there and run along with pretty much zero energy. I beat my first 5k time but I knew that I should have beat it by much more.
The following day I am hit with a fever of 103.4 and I miss work on Monday. Tuesday I go to the doctor's, having also skipped work that day as well. Turns out I have had the flu and bronchitis since May 3 and had since competed in two races. Smart Jessica. Real smart. Apparently by running I hadn't allowed my body to realize that it was sick and that only made it worse. I was sick and out of running for 26 days. That is right, over 3 weeks. It sucked.
The question I had to answer was "did I still want to get out there and train for Disney when I had been set so far back?". Running for a mile hurt. How the hell was I suppose to be able to run 26. 2 miles? My energy had been zapped and being sick had set me back physically and mentally. But this past Friday, I went to the Track Shack and registered for Marathonfest, their marathon training program. I will do this.
New Journey:
1st day of marathon training-
Yesterday was the first run of marathon training, 1 day done out of 7 months of training. Good times. I had to be at the park for 5:30am, I got up at 4:30am and had to shut the demons in my head up because they kept telling me to just lay back down. No. No way in hell. Then I hear the pouring rain, courtesy of Tropical Storm Barry. Whatever, I am a trooper, no excuses.
When I get there I was really quite amazed at how many people turned out in the storm. I go to the pace group that is running 11:00-11:40 minute miles for long distances. Normally I am faster than that but I figured since I was out sick for 3-plus weeks, I better not start off too fast. It was a good thing too, I thought I was going to die and yesterday was only 3 miles! Hopefully I will bounce back to form soon enough.
Oh, and I am officially a runner. After the Minnie Marathon, my toenail turned purple and then black. It is now dead and should be falling off soon. I will be without a toenail. I am a runner.
I think I left off while training for the Minnie Marathon that began at Animal Kingdom and ended in Epcot. It was a 15k race (9.3 miles) and I used Hal Higdon's training program. The runs were going well enough, with my long distance runs on the weekend. The program also called for 2 runs during the week, usually 3 or 4 miles. Sometimes I did those, sometimes not, it depended on my level of tiredness and motivation. Unfortunately, I saw how important it was not to skip those runs when race time came. So, as I was saying, the long runs were going well enough, I had much trouble on my first 5 mile run, I had to walk TONS. This made me very discouraged. Thanks to a pal on runnersworld, Terry, I gave a walking strategy a try for my next long run. I ran 10 minutes and walked 1 minute. This made my following long runs of 6, 7, and 8 miles much easier and actually, dare I say, fun?
May 3 comes, 3 days before the race, and I feel absolutely horrible, very achy, high fever, etc. After about 24 hours it seems to have passed (oh, how fooled I was!). My mom and I go to the race expo to pick up my packet and this being my first expo, I was pretty excited. I bought a cute little "running girl" bumper sticker for my car and have yet to put it on...
May 6th: the big race is here. At 4am, I set off for Animal Kingdom and my husband is still sleeping soundly in bed. Lucky bastard. I meet up with Krista and we get in the giant line for the porta potties. I did not want to have to stop along the race route. We head over to the starting line and Minnie and Mickey Mouse were up on stage and got us started with fireworks. It was pretty sweet. I keep a steady pace, not wanted to start off too fast. I used my 10/1 walking strategy for the first 5 miles. Took a squirt of gu at mile 5 as well. Running through the parks was very nice and got me excited for the Disney Marathon in January. Mile 7 meant the worst side stitches I had ever felt and I had to walk almost the entire way to mile 8. I am hurting that last 1.5 miles and I knew had I done my mid-week runs, it wouldn't have been so bad. Lesson learned. I finish by giving Mickey a hi-five at the finish line and I did not make my goal of under 1 hour and 45 minutes (see race section on the right for times). Oh well. It was fun times and I got a sweet medal, along with everyone else.
The whole rest of the week I felt like poop. May 12th came and I was registered for a 5k (3.1 miles). I trek out there and run along with pretty much zero energy. I beat my first 5k time but I knew that I should have beat it by much more.
The following day I am hit with a fever of 103.4 and I miss work on Monday. Tuesday I go to the doctor's, having also skipped work that day as well. Turns out I have had the flu and bronchitis since May 3 and had since competed in two races. Smart Jessica. Real smart. Apparently by running I hadn't allowed my body to realize that it was sick and that only made it worse. I was sick and out of running for 26 days. That is right, over 3 weeks. It sucked.
The question I had to answer was "did I still want to get out there and train for Disney when I had been set so far back?". Running for a mile hurt. How the hell was I suppose to be able to run 26. 2 miles? My energy had been zapped and being sick had set me back physically and mentally. But this past Friday, I went to the Track Shack and registered for Marathonfest, their marathon training program. I will do this.
New Journey:
1st day of marathon training-
Yesterday was the first run of marathon training, 1 day done out of 7 months of training. Good times. I had to be at the park for 5:30am, I got up at 4:30am and had to shut the demons in my head up because they kept telling me to just lay back down. No. No way in hell. Then I hear the pouring rain, courtesy of Tropical Storm Barry. Whatever, I am a trooper, no excuses.
When I get there I was really quite amazed at how many people turned out in the storm. I go to the pace group that is running 11:00-11:40 minute miles for long distances. Normally I am faster than that but I figured since I was out sick for 3-plus weeks, I better not start off too fast. It was a good thing too, I thought I was going to die and yesterday was only 3 miles! Hopefully I will bounce back to form soon enough.
Oh, and I am officially a runner. After the Minnie Marathon, my toenail turned purple and then black. It is now dead and should be falling off soon. I will be without a toenail. I am a runner.
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