My mom, women's rights and running

Since I'm off on vacation this weekend and won't know when I can blog again, I'm gonna talk about something personal but still about running.

When I first started racing in Sept 2006, I was doing it all in northern Illinois. I had friends but yet no one was coming out to see me run, even if they were local and in town. So I was getting a bit disappointed and lonely. I picked a race in southern Illinois where my family could come out and see me run. I probably guilted them into doing so.

So Memorial Day 2007 was the weekend. I had talked to my brothers and my mother and it all seemed fine. My mother didn't want to drive to this town but my brother said that if she drives to his place then they can go together. Then a bomb was dropped in that my father was going to come up from Mississippi to see me run. While this was great and I loved it, I knew that it was going to cause a problem with my mother.

Sure enough, when my mother found out he was going, she didn't want to do go anymore. Even though it was a 10k race and I told her that she can stand at the 3 mile mark and Dad can be at the finish line. She said that he'll find some excuse to come over and talk to her. They haven't talked in years to one another. So she said that she wasn't going. I cried and begged but wouldn't hear anything of it. So she didn't go. I didn't talk to her for the rest of the summer and into the fall. I ran my first half marathon that Dec 07 and I never heard back from her before the race for luck or after for congrats. I didn't even see her at Christmas time since she thought my youngest brother and I were incahoots against her and didn't want us over.

But in 2008 we got to talking again a little bit. She was introduced to my boyfriend at the time in late July so we were talking by that time. She still didn't take interest in my running however. I ran my first marathon Dec 08 and she again didn't respond to any of my emails so I stopped including her on them. In Feb 09 she had a health scare and we siblings were together with her before a doctor appt. We were at a fast food chain where the St. Louis marathon was going to go by. So I mentioned that to her. First time that we really talked about my running in depth. She told me that I was going to wear out my knees and hips. And that I should stop before I can't do it anymore. She didn't say anything else, didn't ask any questions. Just chastised me.

While she was in the hospital for 9 days that next month March, I would run before coming in to see her. She knew that. We talked a little more about my running then. In the following months, Spring 09, I would go down and stay with her on the weekends to help her out and keep her company, I would run. I did my longest run of 18 miles while in the town. She saw how I got ready, the many items I have on me. The food I need before and gels on my run. She offered to follow me in her car so that in case anything happened she'd be there. That was amazing to hear her say that. My heart jumped a bit. Still nothing about how proud she is of me. After the St. Louis Marathon, I sent out an email to my family about it. She actually wanted a picture of me crossing the finish line.

Last summer, she emailed me a health update and she said that she brought my St. Louis Marathon Finisher picture in to her nurse and the nurse got a big ole smile on her face because she's a marathon runner as well. My mom even told me that she doesn't have 3 toenails. Asked me about my toenails. Told her I have yet to lose any but I do have 2 black ones!

I came down in May and I had mentioned that I had started my period earlier that day. She asked oh well, you're not still going to run tomorrow are you? I told her of course. She didn't understand how I could do that. I went down at the end of June and it was really humid. She was worried that I was going to get heat exhaustion and collapse. Didn't want me out there.

I think she's still of the mindset that women can't do everything. They weren't officially allowed in Boston until 1972, 6 years after the first woman, Roberta Gibb, unofficially cross the finish line in 3:21. In 1971, the first female beat the 3 hour mark in a marathon. In 1979, it was a sub 2:30 NYC marathon for Grete Waitz. The New York Times ran an editorial pointing out that in just fifteen years the women's record had been lowered by one hour. Women didn't even have an official Olympics marathon until 1984!!! That was because of the exhaustion condition of many women after smaller races and the rumour that their uterus's could fall out. Apparently, according to this article, it could (almost) happen to a few select women.

My how times have changed. We are not as weak as the men (used to) think we are. We have a higher tolerance for pain than most men actually. Let's see them push something the size of a watermelon out of a hole the size of a peach! :-P That's why women are found to be in the top tier of ultras a lot more than men. But really, I'm glad that I can run. I would be lying if I said that I didn't take some glee in passing a guy in a race. Doesn't happen often and they're usually just starting to run at that point. I know I'm not the fastest girl out there but I'm pretty happy with my pace. Other people seem to be impressed with it too.

The next stereotype to get over would be pregnant woman running. I've heard many woman complain how they get dirty looks from people as they run on by. I did see a video of a woman who looked like she was about 6 or 7 months pregnant running (she owns a running skirt company so she was selling a new skirt for pregnant runners) and I must admit, it did look kinda funny. I know someone who recently became pregnant and she was a runner before she got pregnant. Even signed up for her first half marathon in September. Her doctor told her specifically not to get her heart rate above a certain number. Doctors tell their patients that nowadays so they have liability if anything should happen to the mother or baby. But it's best for both mother & baby. To keep the mother's health in shape. Plus, if you're a runner before getting pregnant you can still run up to when you feel it's comfortable.

But even after the baby is born, many women (granted if they find the time) can start running within a few months or even a few weeks! Paula Radcliffe won the New York City Marathon just 9 months after her baby was born and she had a fractured tailbone that happened during childbirth too!

I hope that if I have any nieces that I can empower them to embrace who they are and that they can change the world and never think "Oh, I'm just a girl, I can't do that."

Categories: family, women rights

Triple workout Wednesday

(First workout was a 6 mile tempo run early morning)

I did end up getting my bags (well, I decided to go with one bag instead of two) packed and headed over to Luke's house for us to work out together.

After making our pizzas the other night, I had some left over spinach. After thinking & looking around what to make, I realised that a blogger I used to follow always raved about "Green Monsters." Spinach, flax, banana & milk (soy, cow's, almond) & ice. Doesn't sound too good, right? I knew that we weren't planning on eating before working out, so as soon as I got to Luke's I made these concoctions & just doubled the recipe. Then waited & waited & waited. 15 minutes after he said that he'd be home, I called his work. Sure enough still there. So I drank mine. I loved it!! I couldn't believe it! The banana gave it such a sweet taste and the ice made it nice & cold.

After waiting an hour, Luke finally had his. I told him I already drank mine and even went back for what was left in the blender. He had one sip and he said, well, you'll be having some more. I made the shocked face and said, what? you really don't like it? After a few more sips, he claims he liked it. I don't know if it's because of my shocked and hurt expression or if he really meant it. He did end up drinking the rest of it.

Then to the gym where we did weights. The big new one for me was the barbell bench press. Sweet guy thought I could lift the barbell as well as 10 pounds. Just in the first set of 10 alone, I started to sweat with just the barbell! But I did manage to do another set of 10 and finished up with only 8 in the 3rd set. Another new lift was again on a bench and a barbell. Again, he thought I could do 30 lbs but I downgraded and went with 20! This time, I lifted the barbell straight up, hands close together and bent my elbows & brought the barbell to my forehead and back up again. Holy triceps! In addition to the workout my poor triceps already got earlier, then we threw a medicine ball at the wall and caught it above our heads.

Then swimming. I stink at swimming again. After 3 lengths, I had to pause for a rest. Boo. I did manage to get 16 total and I could have kept going but only with pauses again but once I hit the wall at 16, I threw off my googles and said, dammit, I ran 6 miles this morning. I don't need to workout that badly!

Afterwards, he suggested another Green Monster and we split one serving. Just to get rid of the spinach however it's still not gone! Then I had a veggie sausage & fries with BBQ sauce.

I added up all that I ate & worked out in my Lose It! app on my Touch and I had a net loss in calories for the day. Whoops. I told that to Luke and he asked if I was doing all that for him. God, no, I responded. For him, no. Because of him, yes. I wouldn't have done a triple workout if not for him. And he even said that if I hadn't had been there, he wouldn't have gone swimming, much less gone to the gym. I told him that I was doing pushups right around the time we became official. And then my co-worker & I started to workout to help motivate each other. I always wanted to incorporate some sort of weights in my workout (I've got such skinny scrawny arms) but never could keep it up. But now, I have bicep definition! Aaaaand... that's about it. :( Nothing in the legs yet. My tricep cut is now gone, it looks like. But if I start the pushups again and keep up with the medicine ball (did that at lunch today) then I should get it back in no time!

Off to San Francisco tonight, skiing at Lake Tahoe over the weekend and a 12 mile run on Monday somehow...

Categories: calories, Green Monster, Luke, swimming, weight training

An early morning tempo run

I got up extra early today to get to my work's gym well before my start time of 9 am. And I pounded out 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at 9:05, and then another mile cool down followed by a quarter mile of walking.

Took me exactly an hour to do all that. I even had time to get under one of the shower heads and rinse off (didn't wash my hair, no real time for that, maybe if I had short hair). Their showers are lovely here! I was impressed and the water warmed up very quickly.

I did have a problem about 2 miles into the run when a lady got next to me & had on perfume and the smell started to choke me. I also didn't have the treadmill set to any incline, save for the last 3/4 of a mile of the tempo part and that was at 1%. My legs became heavy by the end of that though.

Luke was nice enough to give me a bit of a boost in confidence yesterday when I told him about my run. He said that I should have no problem doing that. So while I was running, I was thinking about that. And actually, that's how I got through the past 2 weekends of running. I kept thinking how disappointed he'd be (sometime I even tell myself he'll break up with me!) if I'd walk or stop and that helped me to keep on going.

Last night we didn't end up going swimming as I mentioned. However we did make homemade pizzas. Well, in that we bought the crust and everything else. It was his first time making homemade pizzas and after we checked out (he bought his stuff & I bought my ingredients), he said that we could have bought 3 pizzas for how much it cost us (the $10 pizza deal at Pizza Hut). I apologised and said that we didn't need to do this, it was just a suggestion. Walmart does not carry my fake pepperoni anymore (nor the ham or turkey slices :( ) so mine was "meat" free but had a little bit of garlic, tomato, yellow onion, red & yellow pepper, broccoli and spinach. His had "beef", 2 Tomato & Basil Pizza Morningstar burgers, orange & yellow roasted peppers, cooked spinach and a bit of onion and tomato. He also bought "bacon" to put on there but he decided against that last minute. But after we cut everything up and put our toppings on there, baked it to our own perfection, he loved his pizza. Plus, I think he had a good time putting it all together. I put my peppers into strips and laid them out in a design!

His was insane. I went up to get a piece for him and I licked my fingers after putting his piece on his plate and it didn't taste good. He seemed to enjoy it though. But I do like my veggies! The reason his is half covered in cheese in the above picture is we kinda forgot to put the peppers on until after I already covered mine totally in cheese and he got half of his done. Whoops. So mine was extra cheesey.

If I get all packed in time tonight, I will be going over to Luke's place again so we can hit up the weights together and then also swim as well. Wow, guess this'll be a triple Wednesday workout day!

Categories: food, Luke, tempo run, treadmill runs

A recovery run it was not

I did a 5 mile recovery run on Saturday. Only it ended up not being a recovery run at all but instead a race. I even beat my 8k PR easily. Whoops. I'm not quite sure what it was. Weather was OK; it was snowing though and the snow kept getting on my eyes & eyelashes driving me absolutely bonkers. I ran around Luke's parents neighbourhood; same as the 10 miler last weekend. I had to run past the house to finish up a tenth of a mile. Luke saw me and when I came back, he was outside waiting for me. At first he said that he couldn't believe that it was me because it was too soon. Then I showed him my watch as I was still catching my breath. 42:57 for 5 miles. He couldn't believe it. Hell, I couldn't believe it.

I saw my first mile was 8:32 and was like OK 2nd mile I'll be slow. Nope, 2nd mile 8:36. OK, well, I'll keep this up for 3 miles and be slow in the last 2 and I'll still be under 45 minutes. Nope, 4th mile was still fast and 5th mile was even faster. No idea what happened.

Luke had his 15k race that afternoon. He's injured because of it. He still managed to squeak out 11th overall and 2nd in his age group. But he's limping. Badly. Wasn't bending his knee. We iced it all day on Saturday night. And he took some painkillers. He even cancelled on skiing with me and 2 of my friends on Sunday. That's how bad it was.

I did end up going skiing with my friends Wes & Joe at Cascade Mountain north of Madison, WI. It was a fun time. Such great weather, over freezing and I didn't get cold until the sun nearly went down. I went down several blues, several times. I didn't want to risk too much for fear of breaking anything so no blacks for me. I did pull a groin or lower stomach muscle pulling myself up a hill to a line for a ski lift. But it only hurts when I flex my lower muscles. Doesn't bother me when I run.

I ran 3 miles today. Man was that tough. My calves are a bit sore because of the skiing. And then I added an incline to the treadmill of 1% so that didn't help matters but you know how it goes. It's a good burn. I keep stretching out my calves everytime I get up from sitting for a while.

Tomorrow Luke is coming out and we're going to hit up my YMCA for swimming. We actually didn't do it. But might do it tomorrow if I drive out there. Then we're going to sit down and discuss the strategy for our trip out west to San Francisco and Lake Tahoe for more skiing!! Hopefully he'll be able to do something this weekend. We were supposed to run 12 miles together on Monday around the piers but alas, he can't run. Not sure what the deal will be. Either I'll be out running my 12 miles alone in SF -OR- waiting until I get back to midwest and trying to squeeze it in somehow before 14 miles the following weekend.

And finally, I always hoped to find friends through my running. Meet them in running groups or races or something. We could talk about running, go running, or even maybe just have a glass of wine and hang out to not talking about running. Haven't really done that unfortunately. I have a few "friends" online through these blogs but no one I really hung out with. Jesse & I have hung out the most; from Chicago Marathon twice to St. Louis Marathon and then Milwaukee and again, we'll be together for Rockford Marathon. I was really just hoping to meet other people (more specifically girls but could have taken anyone) my age. My running group here locally, not too many people my age so thus they get up at an ungodly hour of 5am for runs since they have the family thing going on. And then the Rockford Road Runner's group is too far away for any of their runs. I did try to meet up with a few people on Saturday night from a unofficial running group that Luke is in and I know one of the guys in there but the bar was too crowded and I got too intimidated since I only barely knew that guy. Guess what I'm just trying to say here is that I'm jealous over what some people seem to have with their running friends while I don't really have it. Oh well. I have Luke now, that'll do.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 869 ft Location: Cherry Valley, IL Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 02/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+232/-229] Time: 09:35 AM Difficulty: 2.5 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:42:57 Speed: 7.0 mph Pace: 8' 35 /mi Calories: 529 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 33 -0' 02 7.0 +0.0 +26 ft 2 8' 37 +0' 02 7.0 -0.0 -13 ft 3 8' 41 +0' 06 6.9 -0.1 +3 ft 4 8' 45 +0' 10 6.8 -0.1 -6 ft end 8' 22 -0' 13 7.2 +0.2 -6 ft Versus average of 8' 35 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 5 miles, Luke, running with friends, skiing

Running is my boyfriend

OMG. How long have I been saying the above phrase? For a long ass time now. It's even a label in this very blog. I now can own a shirt with that phrase on it.

Screw Luke. He can be my second boyfriend, running will be my one and true love. That will never leave me. That I can always turn to in times of need. That will help me get all sweaty and make me feel good about my body.

Now... how many types of shirts do I buy?? :-)

Categories: running is my boyfriend

Mind games on the treadmill

I normally don't go into work until 9a on Wednesdays. Today I was lucky enough to decide to squeeze in a 5 mile run this morning beforehand. Unfortunately, I didn't start until 8:30a (I am always late for everything!) and so I didn't get up to work until 9:30a.

I kept the treadmill at 1% incline the entire time. And also kept it at 6mph as well. A student jumped on the treadmill next to me when I was at 1.5 miles in. He was going 6.1. I let him have it. I was just concentrating on my run. Once I got to 3.5 miles in, I started to feel a second wind. But by this time, he had upped his pace .1 every so often. I kept saying to myself, this is a step back week, do not race him. Stay at your 6mph.

But I was playing other mind games against him. I told myself that I was going to outrun him. He started after me but yet I'm going to finish after him. He finally got to 6.6mph and I was like he can't be going that much faster than me. So I increased mine to 6.1mph. Figured 1/2 mile faster is all I can let him get to. Plus, I was on my last mile.

Then he increased it to 6.7, so I went to 6.2. Luckily, this was only with .2 miles left. I did unfortunately, stop the treadmill before he did. He also had gained .2 miles on me. At 5 miles, he had 3.7 miles total. But by the time I walked a quarter mile, he was also walking. So he didn't last that much longer. :-)

Plus, I don't think he was at an incline. Like to see him keep that pace & distance up while running at 1%. Booya! (At least this is what I tell myself).

*****************
Active.com sent out an email this morning about how strength training for the upper body will help you run. I looked at their 5 moves and 2 of them, the Lat Pull Downs & Cable Seated Rows, I do with my co-worker on Tuesday/Thursdays! Looks like I'm doing something right! I also did chest presses with Luke the other day but we were going up at the same time. Guess I'll have several more to add in to my routine on those days!

An effective twice-a-week upper-body resistance training regimen for runners might look like this. Three 12-rep sets of each (load = 12RM), with 45 seconds rest in between:

Lat Pull-Downs


Performed seated at a weight machine with knees under pad and a grip on the bar wider than shoulder-width.

Alt. Dumbbell Chest Presses


Performed prone on a weight bench, pushing weights up one hand at a time.

Cable Seated Rows


Seated with legs straight out and knees slightly flexed, bring the pulley handles toward your trunk with both hands. Squeeze the shoulder blades together and down, keeping arms close to the body.

Alt. Standing Shoulder Presses


Lift dumbbells one at a time above your head from a standing position.

Dumbbell Side Delt Abduction


Standing and holding weights at sides, bring both arms up parallel to the floor.

And in other news, I now weigh under 140 easily while having my workout clothes & shoes on. Which means that I'm back down to my normal weight. This makes me feel better that I'm carrying less while running. I had a feeling that all it took me was to get back to running consistently to lose the weight again. I have been keeping tracking of how much I eat but to be honest, I haven't done anything different since doing so. I'm eating the same amount as I always do which is waaaaay below the 1584 calories that the program told me I should be eating to lose 1 pound a week. Sometimes I do go over the amount but that's usually when I go out to eat. So how I manage to survive is beyond me. I didn't know I was eating so little before.

And finally, I have decided to give up pop, yet again, for Lent this year. Same thing that I did last year. Two years ago I gave up all liquids but water. That meant Gatorade too. That wasn't good for training I found out. In 2007, I gave up beer, that was awesome and helped me keep it under control after it was over. Maybe next year, I'll give up chocolate. Definitely not running. Never running. :-)

Categories: Lent, treadmill runs, weight training

A fast 10 miles

OK, so this is going to be a completely opposite run description than my 9 mile from last weekend.

This 10 miles was one of the best ones I've had in a while. To get right to the point, I finished 8 minutes faster than I had told Luke I would, for an average of 9:16 min/mi. I have no idea what happened.

Didn't do anything different the morning of before my run. Had a bagel & cream cheese and a half a bottle of Gatorade as Luke drove us up to his parents house. Had my iPod with me, which I didn't last weekend. Maybe that's the difference right there? Another difference, I didn't know the route too well. Friday night we mapped out a 10 mile route around his parents neighbourhood. I printed it out on Saturday morning and uploaded the course to my Garmin. And finally, the temperature was in the low 20's & a slight wind. Nothing like last week's strong wind. But I figured with the cold & new route I would be slow.

I left Luke at his parents house to chop wood (he's slightly injured so not running before his 15k this coming weekend) and told him I'll be back in 1:40, 10 minutes per mile pace and off I went. He watched me leave and as I looked back behind me when I got to the end of the driveway he was still watching me. Poor guy. He misses running.

I left my Garmin on the navigation screen so I can see the directional arrow which meant I couldn't see my pace or my time. I did get chased by a little Shi Zu dog right at the heels. I was so afraid I was gonna kick him! I kept telling him to go back but he wouldn't listen. Finally I stopped my watch and turned around getting ready to pick him up and take him back to his house when his ears perked up and he went tearing back to his garage thankfully.

There was one huge hill that I ran UP. Only because I went opposite of how Luke told me to go but the route had a half mile tacked on at the end and I didn't feel like walking half mile back so I figured I would take a few short cuts here & there. Bad move for this area. It's around mile 5 on the elevation chart. Check it out. That hurt me bad.

There was another hill at mile 8 that kinda hurt my legs and a final hill at mile 9 that I really started to feel soreness in my calves. I was thinking Luke is gonna give me a calf rub when I get back!!

My slowest mile was in fact that 8th mile with the 3rd hill; 10:03. That's when I decided to switch screens and I saw that my average pace was 9:18 per mile. "'Scuse me? I'm what?!" I never figured I would have seen that pace on my watch. I didn't feel like I was going that fast, that's for damn sure. And I finally got that knocked down another 2 seconds in the last mile of my run.

Came back to his parents place & Luke wasn't there. :( I was so ecstatic about my run that I wanted to show him. I managed to even take a shower & eat before he got back. When he came in, he told me I looked sad and was afraid my run didn't go as well. I did tell him that I was a bit disappointed that he wasn't there but I got over it as I went to tell him that how it went. And then he gave me a quad & calf rub over my jeans so all is good. Plus, he told me he was out shopping for my Valentine's Day present (last minute of course) and had to stand in line for 30 minutes. Ah, dating a procrastinator, fantastic. He did say that next time he's gonna go shopping earlier cause everything was picked over and thought about getting me a running silhouette pendant.

Then as I was sitting on the couch, I was actually feeling good muscle wise. So I thought outloud about actually doing something on Sunday, which I normally don't do. He suggested going to the gym and swimming together. Works for me!

We spent an hour & a half on weight machines on Sunday. OUCH. Dumbbell bench presses, fly machine, incline sit-ups, SQUATS, dips, crunches, obliques, calf presses, leg raises, upright cable rows, leg presses. The squats was interesting since I used a bar and well, I have really never done any squats before. Then we played a bit of basketball. He blocked my shots nearly every single time. Out ran me for the rebounds. I couldn't get by him not one bit and he even managed to knock the ball out of my dribble a few times. I do NOT like playing basketball with him. The only thing that I was good at was keeping him from getting to the basket too well.

After all that, Luke went swimming because I forgot my swimming suit at my house. I thought I grabbed the bag that had it but grabbed a backup running outfit. So he swam, while I critiqued his form. He's not exactly the best swimmer. For once I have him beat on something for sure.

Later that night my muscles started to hurt. Specifically my quads. Stupid squats. Today everything felt OK except for my stomach muscles, more specifically my obliques. Stupid crunches. So I knew the run tonight was going to be tough. This is my step back week so I only have 5 miles on Monday, Wednesday & Saturday. And sure enough, it was tough. I did it at 1% incline for the majority of my run but not all the time. And I kept it between 6.0, 6.1 and 6.2 mph. Nice and slow. My hamstrings are feeling it now. Wednesday's run should be better, I hope!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Cherry Valley, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 02/13/10 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 11:55 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 10.01 miles Time: 1:32:55 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 17 /mi Calories: 1062 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 48 -0' 29 6.8 +0.3 -- ft 2 9' 19 +0' 02 6.4 -0.0 -- ft 3 9' 10 -0' 07 6.5 +0.1 -- ft 4 9' 07 -0' 10 6.6 +0.1 -- ft 5 9' 19 +0' 02 6.4 -0.0 -- ft 6 9' 30 +0' 13 6.3 -0.2 -- ft 7 9' 32 +0' 15 6.3 -0.2 -- ft 8 9' 03 -0' 14 6.6 +0.2 -- ft 9 10' 03 +0' 46 6.0 -0.5 -- ft end 9' 02 -0' 15 6.6 +0.2 -- ft Versus average of 9' 17 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 10 miles, Luke, weight training

Loving the treadmill

I think I might be the only runner on the planet that enjoys running on the treadmill. It seems like everyone is complaining and moaning about running on the treadmill during the winter. If I could, I would do all my runs on it. Yes, even my 20 milers. Have I? No, most I've done is a 10k but I bet I could! I mean, it's just so convenient! My rest stop, water & gels would all be right there and I wouldn't have to worry about anything! As long as I have music or a TV in front of me (not up high like all the gyms have it) I wouldn't get bored. My pace would be consistent and I probably wouldn't get injured as much either. Sure I would have to do a few runs outside, just to gauge my own pace and not have the treadmill run for me. Which I will admit it does sorta do for you. But to not have to worry about dogs, or cars, or finding the distance, or running out of water, or heaven forbid a toilet? That'll be nice.

But alas, I don't have a way to do my long weekend runs on the treadmill. So I do my easy, tempo & speed runs on the treadmill on Monday and Wednesdays and I look forward to those times. Running in shorts & tank tops, make me long for warmer weather again. Not having to be bundle in 2 layers while having people look at you all funny cause you're dressed in all black like a freaking ninja.

I called up the YMCA last night to cancel my membership. Come to find out, I have to call them before the first of the month to do so. Not before they take out the money from my account which is on the 15th. I asked if I could cancel and then can I still use the gym for the rest of the month and they said no. So I didn't cancel and will instead try to remember to cancel before the end of the month. HA! I think that's why they do that so people won't remember to cancel before it's too late. Guess I'll try to get a few more swims in sometime!

Speaking of the end of the month, I have to sign up for Rockford Marathon before March 1st. I can save $10 for being a Rockford Road Runner member. I'm heading out to Lake Tahoe for some skiing at the end of the month. I just want to wait until after I get back from that ski trip on Sunday the 28th. I mean, if I break a leg, registering for a marathon won't do me much good right?! :-)

Categories: Lake Tahoe, treadmill runs, YMCA

A tough 9 miles

Boy, I don't remember 9 miles being so difficult before! In fact, I had to go back and read about them here, here and here.

Finally got out the door around noon. I was gonna leave earlier but I looked at my iPod and my Garmin and realised that both had no battery. So I had to wait half hour while they charged just enough. I ended up deciding not to use the iPod since I was gonna wear my bakalava and that makes it a little hard to wear headphones.

The wind was very strong today, another reason why I was glad to go later on in the day. 28mph earlier that morning and then only 23 or so as the day went on; the winds were to calm down even more. I also knew that I wanted to stay on my in-town trail, away from the openness of the Great Western Trail that would be hard with a wind that strong. It would make it more difficult to get 9 miles out of it but I'll figure it out.

I kept saying to myself in the first mile to take it nice and easy; to slow down. Unfortunately, that did not happen. Since it was the fastest mile of my run. But I was nice & consistent once I got tired enough! I really had to work to eek out 9 miles but I did it perfectly from start point to end point. That I was afraid is the only awesome part of my run. Made me think of other things besides my faitgue. The trails were pretty clear except for one part where it was all ice.

But other than those things, it was decent enough running. Next week is 10 miles. I'll be doing that on the Great Western Trail I'm pretty sure. Don't want to deal with running down to campus and back. It'll be nice to run 5 straight miles and then 5 miles back.

When Luke has his 15k in 2 weeks, it'll be my step back week. So I'm not sure if I'm gonna do the run while he's out doing the race or what. I'll only have 5 miles to go. I think that might be a wait & see how the weather is and if I want to run on the trails!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 02/06/10 Up/Downhill: [+354/-354] Time: 12:08 PM Difficulty: 4.1 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 28 F temp; 62% humidity 28 F heat index; winds NE 16 G 22 Performance Distance: 9.00 miles Time: 1:28:10 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 48 /mi Calories: 972 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 50 -0' 58 6.8 +0.7 +27 ft 2 9' 29 -0' 19 6.3 +0.2 -17 ft 3 9' 47 -0' 01 6.1 +0.0 -16 ft 4 9' 48 +0' 00 6.1 -0.0 +30 ft 5 10' 01 +0' 13 6.0 -0.1 +10 ft 6 10' 07 +0' 19 5.9 -0.2 0 ft 7 10' 02 +0' 14 6.0 -0.1 -17 ft 8 10' 03 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 +10 ft 9 9' 59 +0' 11 6.0 -0.1 -26 ft Versus average of 9' 48 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 9 miles, DeKalb Nature Trail, windy

Speed work: Am I doing it right?

Tonight's speed work stats:

1 mile warm-up: 6.0 mph /10 min

1 mile: 6.9mph/8:42 min

1/2 mile jog: 5.5 mph/11:05 (I think)

1 mile: 6.9mph/8:42 min

1/2 mile jog: 5.5 mph

1 mile cool down: 6.0 mph

So my question is; the warm-up pace I'm fine with. It's just about my conversation pace. And the first speed mile, I was working it and wasn't really hurting until a quarter mile to go. So that's a good news. Then the jog part was good, since I knew I was recovering very well and it went by really slow. But then the second jog and then to the cool down mile, well, I upped my pace. Um, was I supposed to?

I asked the question on Twitter and they said that the jog pace should bring my heart rate down. Which it did. But I didn't want to seem like I was bugging people so I didn't ask about the warm-up and cool down pace. It just seemed weird to speed up in my cool down mile.

I saw in my schedule further down the weeks that my speed work will up to 4 miles at a faster pace than this. Joy. That's what I'm NOT looking forward to. Positive thinking positive thinking.

Weights tomorrow and then 9 miles on tap for Saturday. I'm actually running by myself!! Luke will be in Rockford and I will be in DeKalb. This may be the way it will probably be for the rest of the training actually.

Categories: speed work