the flood

it has been raining steadily from sunday to the present.  today may be a bit drier, but i am not holding my breath.  my kingdom for an ark!

week 2, day 3
thursday september 1

i ran.  i know i did.  i remember doing it, but my life has been such a mad rush that i remember almost nothing about the running.  i was thinking about lesson plans, and the prospect of chewing out a student really filled my brain.  my side stitch nagged me in the very first interval, but it went away quickly and i managed to finish up feeling pretty good.

that's all folks!

week 3, day 1
monday september 5

Happy labor day! i went to the Maryland State Fair on Sunday and then the rains came, so I missed my chance to run.  i dodged the rain drops and managed a Monday evening run.  this was my first week of 3 minute runs, and i have to say, i did shockingly well.

i was afraid that i would burn out and not make it, but just the opposite happened.  by the time i finished, i was feeling good enough to keep running.  i think because the runs are longer and there is less switching between walking and running, i was not tiring myself out with the change of form and pace.

i didn't run more, instead i kept my cool down walking pace up for longer.  i am now afraid of injury because i had some serious issues last week with my right side hip/butt.  i think i had an angry piriformis.  it felt very similar in location to a sciatica flare up without the actual nerve pinch.  i went swimming on saturday and let it rest on sunday which seems to ave been enough to calm down things again.


week 3, day 2
friday september 9

i have had the longest and most taxing week.  just when i needed running to keep from punching anything, it has rained and rained!  wednesday and thursday were to wet to be out, and i was super busy friday, but i decided at about 9:30 last night that it had to happen.

earlier in the day, i had lunch with my friend N and she is training for a 10 miler while planning her wedding.  part of her training is to run a less-awesome 10 miler before the actual 10 miler she is trying to make a good time for all before entering wedded bliss.  (let's not even talk about how she is crafting 100% of her wedding decor and making the food for the party as well) obviously after a delicious vegan lunch with this amazing woman, i had to go running at 10pm on friday.

it was really really good.  i ran really well.  earlier in the week my friend db was telling me about the awesome times when he is running and it feels like your heart and feet sync up and you could run forever.  that didn't exactly happen for me (far too soon for that!) but at the end of my run, i relly wanted to keep going.  it was great.

mixed emotions

Week 1: Day 3

Thursday August 25

Very difficult today.

It seems like when I peel away one layer of distraction, another one then appears!  Feeling more secure in my route, the actual running was fine for the most part.  I am still working on form, of course.  The thing that got me today was the weather.

It was very sunny when I took off, and about halfway in, it started to rain.  But it remained sunny.  I couldn’t really keep my sunglasses on my face because it was so wet, but if I took them off, I couldn’t see anything.  I just tried to stay loose and continuously push up the glasses.  It stunk.

To make matters worse I had three near-falling incidents.  Some things are very slippery when wet.  Namely, manhole covers, yellow “no parking” paint on curbs, and the inset plastic grips that are installed in handicap access ramps at corners.  That last one was very surprising for me.

Stitch in my side came around the 6^th interval of running,  At least I can say that today, I did not hate running so much.

Week 2, Day 1

Sunday August 28

I have been so lazy.  I didn’t do my strength training interval workout on Wednesday because my neck was in knots and Friday I was just too busy.  Adding the running to the strength training has been difficult.  I was on 3 days per week of strength/cardio and now I am 3 days per week of c25k.  1 day off just doesn’t seem to be cutting it for my body yet. 

Must find balance.

The actual running was better and worse today.  I took a friend with me, and he was doing the week 1 routine so we walked together at the beginning and end and more or less ran in proximity to one another during the intervals.  It was nice to have someone else out there.

I say it was better and worse today because I think my form is improving, but switching up the intervals showed me I was running too fast.  I know that is all mental.  I walk very fast in every day life.  People comment on it without fail.  Because I walk so fast, I feel like I should be running a lot faster than I walk, which is not feasible at this point.  At least not a lot faster. 

The good news is that after the 2^nd interval of running I managed to correct myself and the new pace helped.

Week 2, Day 2

Tuesday August 30

Happy Birthday to me.  I didn’t have any birthday cake, but I did do my strength/cardio workout yesterday and my running today.  Don’t worry, I had some Utz potato chips, so it is not as if I did not indulge on the big day

I thought I was in for a disaster, but it managed to correct itself.  I had the worst stitch in my side (ever!) on the very first running interval.  It nagged me in the 2^nd, but somehow it went away and I did the rest of my run with little difficulty.  I even enjoyed the weather and being outside despite the running.

For the first time while running, my tighter left hamstring acted up enough for me to notice.  It is very obnoxious when I am doing strength/cardio interval work.  I must figure out what it will take to get it to loosen up and join the party.