Taper (ha ha!) week!

I'm getting ready to leave for my first run of my last week of 5k to 10k, and I was thinking about why I haven't been too psyched to get out for this run* (beside the horrible travel conditions) but I just figured out the holdup while I was changing into my workout gear.

This is "rest/recovery" week with the idea that the end of this week should be an actual 10k race so I have to do a fifteen minute run with five minute walk on each end for warmup/cooldown. 

The effective upshot of that is that it literally took me longer to get dressed then it will to do my entire run today.

img src: isucceedbook.com

I think it took longer just to get my new sneakers de-tissued and laced on just right.

The bright side however is that I will be trying out my new sneakers so I'm pretty psyched about that.

*I was going to go yesterday but there was apparently an accident on the road immediately next to my gym so I couldn't go right after work... aaaaaand then I got a Kindle so the whole evening pretty much disappeared after that.

So I guess today was a good run!

This is a screenshot from my Nike+ profile - you may perhaps notice a pattern

Clicky for bigger version

Trying to figure out if I could run a 5k in 30 minutes was probably not the *best* plan for a day which I knew was going to be my longest run ever, but nothing ventured nothing gained I guess.

I would have preferred to be outside but the roads are still coated with ice here, so I hit the theatre room at my local Retro Fitness, hopped on a treadmill, and mostly ignored about an hour of the second Sherlock Holmes movie (I had seen it in theatres so it was just the perfect amount of distraction).

I ran at about 6.4mph for the first mile (which was well within the ranges of do-able) in the hopes of getting a sub 30 5k, but upon realizing I still had OVER FORTY FIVE MINUTES LEFT of my scheduled run reason won out and I dialed that down considerably for the remainder.

I'm still trying to get used to using speed versus pace so I think even after dialing it down I still ended up going faster than the situation called for, and that 10 minute long stomach cramp a bit after mile three was less than awesome... but now that it's over I don't have to think about it too much so I'm calling it good!

A quick update while I hydrate

I did end up downloading the Expereal app the other day and so far I've been exceedingly mellow at all the times it chooses to ask.

It gives me a reminder a set number of (random) times a day and I'm supposed to record my mood at that time. I set it to three because I like multiples of three and six just seemed too often. So far it's not terribly intrusive but I wonder if there may end up being a bit of bias as all of the times I'm likely to be too busy to stop and record my mood are likely to be the times I'm doing something really cool or really crappy.

I'm currently waiting for the 32 oz of water I just drank (just now!) to cycle through me enough to go to the gym without fearing a potty emergency halfway through my workout. I think a lot of my problems with running in former years can be pinned on chronic dehydration so I have a strict hydrate before working out rule.

I have a 32 oz water bottle which I try to fill and empty into my face twice a day. I have to have at least finished one bottle full before a run (more if it's later in the day) and I have to be peeing clear or close to it.

Not what I would call ideal running form
image via http://werner.fm/post/26471931081/bathroom-occupied-taken-with-instagram-at

I'm about two thirds of the way through the 5k to 10 program and today's workout will have a short tempo run, so here's hoping I can clear some of that out soon and get to the gym in that golden window between the after work and the after-dinner crowds. Looking forward to trying out some new tech today so hopefully more on that later.

Oh, oh, oh! While I'm thinking of it!

I'd be awfully jazzed if those of you who haven't already would go like me on Facebook!

Click this text to go to my Facebook page

There's a Facebook widget link over on the right side of the page for those immediate reward button clicky types.

I have been starting to post a bit of extra content on Facebook that I hope you will enjoy - mostly random links I find and the occasional pithy comment.

Click it! I know you're out there and I'd love to know more about who you are!

Oh, hey wow... uh hi!

Hey, sorry everyone! Apparently I got a little wrapped up in the holidays.

So let's see, what has happened since last we spoke...

The Garmin/Nike+ converter thing I mentioned in my last post got fixed a couple of days before Christmas so I was able to upload almost all of my data to Nike+. In the process I figured out that I was less than 10 miles away from running 150 miles for the year so I made that my goal by New Years day.

I had the week off so I decided to put 5k to 10k on a bit of a break so I could do some outdoor running without any particular limitations. My one structured run during this stretch was a 2.6 mile Virtual run for the victims of Sandy Hook which I did on 12/23. I liked Running on Candy's twist and so I did 2.7 miles with the extra 0.1 honoring the memory of Nancy Lanza.

I slacked for pretty much the entirety of the rest of the week though to be fair there was a LOT going on and it didn't feel like much of a vacation. On the 29th I did an easy 5k run and tried out a screaming pink Underarmor shirt I got for Christmas. The weather has finally settled into the freezing range here and it was actually drizzling on me the whole time so I have been VERY thankful for the various pieces of cold weather gear I got from my boyfriend.

The pink Underarmor shirt went quite nicely with the cotton candy pink hair dye job I had gotten the day before. *grin*

The 30th was my birthday so I figured it was pretty reasonable to take a rest day.

That left the 31st to finish out my 150 miles for the year. I only needed 2.6 miles and had attended a pretty kickass party for a friend's birthday the night before so I didn't expect to exceed that by much or push it too hard speed-wise. Famous last words. Instead I found myself hovering around 10:00 for most of the run and finished out the year with new 5k and mile PRs!

Bringing in 150 miles for the year with a PR (and a snazzy new cold weather running jacket)

I took another few days off after that and then resumed the 5k to 10k plan back in the gym on Thursday. I also finally picked up the Zombies, Run! app as it is apparently half off again, though I haven't tried it out yet. I ran in the gym again on Friday and did another long run outdoors today beating my previous distance record.

Running in 2013

I don't have an specific "Resolutions" for this year, but I have come up with a few goals with regards to my running.

While I'm not planning to specifically run a mile a day, I'd like to run a mile FOR each day so that I hit 365 miles for the year. Seven miles per week is well within my current abilities so I don't see this being a problem by any means. I'm probably lowballing with 365 but it's a nice solid number and there's nothing saying I can't run more (aiming for double digits per week would be pretty cool I think).

Another goal is to run a sub 30 5k though really I'd love to see how close I can get to 28 by the end of the year. I wouldn't call that a goal so much as a mirage-like twinkle in the distance.

Once I finish 5k to 10k I plan to start half marathon training with a goal of not dying or hurting myself too badly at the Diva Half Marathon this coming October.

Clearly races are not a big thing for me (more to the point getting up early on the weekends is not a big thing for me) but I would like to hit a few more this year. The only one I'm specifically psyched on right now is the Color Run but I'm sure I'll find more as the year goes on.

The big list of runs I haven't told you about

12-11-12 5k to 10k wk3 d1
1.74 miles with an average pace of 11:30
20 minute "steady" run

12-20-12 5k to 10k wk3 d2
2.22 miles with an average pace of 11:16
10 minute steady run +5 minute tempo run +10 minute jog

12-21-12 5k to 10k wk3 d3
3.52 miles with an average pace of 11:21
40 min steady run

12-23-12 2.7m Virtual Run for Victims of Sandy Hook
2.7miles in 29:22 with an average pace of 10:50

12-29-12 Outdoor 5k run
3.1 miles in 33:40 with an average pace of 10:51

12-31-12 Outdoor 5k run PR!
3.1 miles in 32:07 with an average pace of 10:21

1-3-13 5k to 10k wk4 d1
1.79 miles in 20 min with an average pace of 11:10
20 minute "steady" run 

1-4-13 5k to 10k wk4 d2
2.5 miles in 30 min with an average pace of 12:00
10 minute jog + alternating 2 minutes each of fast running and jogging (three times) + 8 minute steady run

1-6-13 5k to 10k wk4 d3 distance PR!
4.16 miles in 45 minutes with an average pace of 10:48

As a holiday bonus for those of you who slogged through to the end, here's a pic of me getting ready for the 12-29 run looking like a chewing-gum-themed superhero with my ultra sexy cotton candy pink morning hair!

It's not the length of the run...

Its the motion of the... oh wait, no, that's something else entirely.

It is absolutely the length of the run.

As it turns out I'm a bit of a workout size queen! Today I finished week two of 5k to 10k and the mileage drop is becoming a real point of annoyance.

First there's the actual mileage drop.  I'm sticking to the training program which means three structured runs per week, which is about what I was doing before, but given the structure of the runs I'm only doing about one and a half to two miles per workout compared to a minimum of 5K per run previously. It doesn't help that mile two is typically my least favorite part. Today's run was actually long enough to get a full 5k in but looking at the next few workouts I probably won't get to do that again until next weekend.

While I'm sure the speed-work will help me make better use of my time so that I will be pushing my mileage back up again quite quickly I won't get to exceed my current longest run (time wise) until week 6 day 3! It's kind of frustrating at the moment to be cutting my mileage in order to... run more miles? I'm sure it wouldn't be as much of an issue if I hadn't run so little in the storm aftermath, but regardless scrolling back through my last month and a half worth of workouts is making me feel like a massive slacker and I'm itching to rack the miles back up.

As much as I question whether running a marathon is really a good idea for me, based on my reaction to this mileage drop I have a feeling that in the long run (hah!) I'm going to end up doing one anyway. "That's good enough, I'm done now" did not come as a standard feature in this model.

Secondly there's the Nike/treadmill issue. As flawed as its measurements have been Nike has been my favorite fitness community hands down. It's shiny and I get all sorts of awards and badges and nifty metrics when I do stuff. Apparently I must have really internalized all of that gold star sticker stuff when I was a kid because every time I get a new badge on Nike+ I totally eat it up.

However I don't have the Nike footpod so none of my treadmill workouts are counting toward my stats and it is kind of driving me a little bit bonkers. My listed November mileage is literally half my October mileage.

I feel rather blessed that I can recognize just how much of a ridiculous First World Problem this is.

Luckily Gigi from Running on Candy showed me this super nifty conversion site that takes Garmin data and uploads it to Nike, but it seems like the code is being a little glitchy at the moment so I'm hoping that's back up and running soon (and thank you to Angus Smithson for setting it up in the first place - please consider checking out his page and donating for his chosen cause "In 2012 I am running 2,012 miles (equivalent to nearly 77 marathons) to raise money for CLIC Sargent, a charity supporting my cousin’s son Hamish who is fighting rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of children’s cancer").

While we're on the subject of First World Running Problems - I tried to pull out a pair of dressy pants for a work holiday party this weekend and all of mine are too big, including a brand new pair in size small that are so new I hadn't even had a chance to have them hemmed! Pants shouldn't puddle when you are wearing five inch platforms, right? Hopefully I can just shrink the new ones a bit in the wash and re-claim them but finding out I'm too small for a pair of smalls was a bit ridiculous at that point in time.

It actually isn't so dire as that as I still have a lot of old clothes I have yet to slim down to, but even if it fits my body I don't know if my college wardrobe will fit me so much anymore.

5k to 10k Week 2

Sorry, I know I've been slacking on this, I have no excuse really.
Here, have three days worth of runs!

Just for reference I'm aiming for about 10:00 or under as "fast", somewhere between 11:00 and 12:00 as "steady", and anything over 12:00 as "jog".

Day 1 - Tues Dec 4 - Treadmill - Steady run
1.7miles at an  average pace of 11:46
goal - 20 min at an "easy pace"  plus warmup/cooldown

It's just way too hot in the gym

Day 2  - Thurs Dec 6 - Treadmill - Intervals
2.11 mi 27 minutes at a 12:35 pace

goal - 10 min jog, 2 minute fast runs alternating with 2 min jogs - 2 times , 8 minute steady run plus warmup/cooldown

I could have pushed the fast run way more but I have been feeling like I am maybe coming down with something and I'm still trying to get used to the treadmill. I figure there's plenty of time to work up to it. Still way too hot a the gym

Day 3 - Sun Dec 9 - Road - Steady run

3.23 miles at an average pace of 11:10 min/mile

goal -35 min at an "easy pace"  plus warmup/cooldown 

I think I pushed myself a bit overly hard during the first half of mile three, anything slower than 10:15 at that point felt impossibly slow! As a result I got a sidestitch just before mile three but otherwise I felt good.
It rained in a really annoying spitty manner the majority of the time but I got to see a red fox make a full-on dash across the street about thirty yds in front of me so that was TOTALLY worth it.

Very slow and very steady

That's what she said!

*ahem*

I used a treadmill for the very first time on Wednesday. Hooray for not getting launched off at any point!

I have seen enough of The Biggest Loser to recognize the unending shame of being launched bodily off of a treadmill so I decided to take it as slow as I needed to until I knew I was truly comfortable.

I started out at pretty much dead minimum pace and clicked up the speed one notch at a time until I was thoroughly bored of walking and knew I could safely run.

I felt a little silly moving along at a snails pace for as long as I did (I literally "warmed up" for about 25 minutes and only covered a mile) but the way I see it one day of feeling a touch silly in front of strangers totally beats wasting a year's worth of gym membership because I'm too mortified to ever go back.

Once I decided it was run time I started day one of the 5k to 10k training program app I got for my iPhone.

5k to 10k wk 1 d 1
5 minutes warm up/cool down and  20 minutes of running at an "easy conversational pace".
1.5 miles over 20 minutes at an average pace of 13:28

I started out the run section holding on to the handles but quickly realized that it was really uncomfortable and messing with my posture something fierce, so I let go of them as soon as I (again) was reasonably sure I wasn't going to launch myself.

I ended up starting out much slower than I expected (between 13:00 and 14:00) and struggled a surprising amount for about the first mile. I think in retrospect the newness of the situation and a bit of social anxiety (am I breathing to loud? is everyone watching? NO DON'T LOOK AT THEM, THEY WILL KNOW YOUR SHAME) may have had me breathing more shallow than I normally would. By the end I was able to up the speed considerably and I think I got up to running at a bit slower than 11:00 at one point, but the treadmill readout was not very conductive to tracking that sort of thing so I don't have exact numbers. I had the treadmill at the recommended 1% rise to make the run feel more properly outside-ish.

The treadmill was (as advertised) insanely boring and the lack of wind in your face seriously sucks. Next time I'm putting on the TV - even if I don't listen to it - and positioning myself as close as possible to the giant fan. I am VERY glad I remembered my towel this time. That was gross.

image from http://mastercowfish.blogspot.com but props to Douglas Adams

I do not see myself doing my weekend runs indoors unless I absolutely have to.

I received my Garmin footpod yesterday and after some fiddling I got my watch to notice it. If you get one make sure you're moving while pairing, it took a number of tries and more than a few Google queries to work this one out. I'm really excited to try it out because it annoys me a great deal when I can't functionally upload my runs to the various run sites and trying to read the pace for that split second it shows up on the treadmill readout when you change the speed was awful. I don't understand why you can't toggle between the two if it's obviously programmed in anyway.

Sassy!

I was going to hit the gym tonight in the hopes that working out would fix the unrelenting skull-in-a-vice headache, but I fear running with the unrelenting tummy blahs will have a different ending.

The usual sick rule (above the neck - suck it up, below the neck - go take a nap already!) makes a lot of sense to me with colds... would you say the same line applies to other body systems?

Push it real good!

I think maybe I pushed it a little too good?

Salt n Pepa got nothing on Jillian Michaels!!!

Friday afternoon I went back to Retro Fitness to test out the gym by taking advantage of their free personal trainer session offer. I figured that would give me the best overview of the place and make it a little less awkward to be running around looking like a spaz.

Garrett and I started with a rough overview: my diet, experience, interests, goals, body fat % (I think it was 24% which is apparently the upper end of "fit"?) and a very general idea of how they structure their programs. He pretty much went out of a binder on this part which was admittedly not terribly impressive but I suppose they can't all be Bob Harper.

We got going with a few minutes warmup on the elliptical and then moved on to body weight exercises in their TRX Training area. This basically worked out to doing immensely awkward movements while holding onto a pair of wall mounted straps. Oh, and sweating a whole lot. This is the sort of thing I think most people are going to want to do with some sort of live instruction as the body mechanics are not terribly intuitive. Looking like a spaz achievement: UNLOCKED!

See how effortless they look? Now imagine THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

After that we bounced between a few machines sort of whirlwind style. My favorite was the assisted pull up machine because a) I miss being able to do pull ups b) I had to really climb to get on to it (I'm five foot two) and c) I had to climb off three times for him to adjust the counterbalance to be lighter because I was stuck on top of the arc like the small kid on the see saw.

I was very sweaty and felt terrible that I did not have the opportunity to wipe the equipment off as we were going through. Proper hydration is so overrated. I have a towel ready for next time though (actually I had it ready for that time, not sure why he suggested I leave it with the rest of my stuff). I feel this was an excellent object lesson in wiping off machines before I begin.

We finished up by doing intervals on an elliptical and I got to show the trainer how whacked out my heart rate is!

During the intake we were talking about intervals on the cardio machines and he said something like "you would do say a minute at an easy pace and then maybe a minute at a hard pace, aiming for say a heart rate of 150..." at which point I laughed. He looked at me quizzically and said "I'm a hummingbird, my heart rate runs fast". He asked how my blood pressure was (insanely low, for the record) and said "well as long as you don't have that in combination with high blood pressure it shouldn't be too bad".

Fast forward back to the actual intervals, I'm chugging away and he's standing off to the side so that he can reach the controls but isn't really watching the readouts too closely. He ups the difficulty and I'm going at a pretty good clip, sweating and expending effort but not feeling too badly (still conversant but a bit out of breath) and I look at the HR readout which reads 195. I point it out and he blinks at it a few times and says "I... I don't even know what my body would be doing... wow".

The trainer session was neat and I'm glad I did it, but in the "pitch" part of the session at the end I found  that their cheapest deal is the Black Friday special which involves a mandatory full year signup with a minimum of ONE SESSION A WEEK.

The DISCOUNTED price of $20 a session comes to just over a grand with fees (keeping in mind that membership for the entire rest of the gym is only $240) and the internet indicates that their trainer sessions are even harder to cancel than their memberships.  

Overall it was pretty enjoyable though I feel bad that the trainer went so deep into my potential training possibilities pretty much entirely for nothing.

The next morning my legs were doing surprisingly well (a bit of quad soreness but not terrible) but my upper body was PISSED. I got to do everything T-Rex style for about three days because my arms pretty much refused to do anything useful.

http://www.604republic.com/prod/epic_duel_t_shirt

My left biceps was so tight I couldn't straighten my arm for most of the weekend. I feel good now but after Sunday's run I actually got stuck getting out of a new blinding orange mesh jacket (Low light visibility issues you say? Solved!) to the point of requiring assistance. Removing my sports bra for showering involved many curses, a couple of popped stitch noises, and possibly bending space very slightly.

Regardless of what my upper body felt about physical activities I ended up running Sunday and decided about a mile into it that I would keep things easy pace-wise but aim for 3.5 miles instead of my usual 3.1. This made it my longest non-stop run ever.

3.5 miles at an average of 11:05 per mile -  total time of 38:48, max pace of 5:24 (???)
Avg HR of 193bpm

Overall I felt good and while my pace was sort of all over from minute to minute, my splits were extremely consistent. My quads were still a touch sore to start but I think running actually helped work a lot of that soreness out. The inside of my right foot was complainy for a bit but otherwise it felt great!

I'll be doing gym sign-up tomorrow, though ironically I'll probably do a road run since I have the day off. I plan on testing out a new Handful Adjustable bra I won in a giveaway from For The Love of the Run (I've only tried it on standing still so right now all I can really say about it is "SHINY PURPLE!" and "ooh, bonus matching mesh laundry bag!").

I've decided to hold off on the half marathon training for a bit and will be doing some sort of 5k to 10k training program in the meantime, but I haven't decided which yet.

I'm leaning toward getting the same brand of app I used for C25K, but I'm not sure how well it will work on the treadmill.