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!

How fuchsia footie pajamas made me a runner.

I've been feeling a little more off every day for the last couple of weeks.

To be fair there has been a *bit* of stuff going on in the world around me, so at first I passed everything off as temporary reactions to the immediate environmental stresses.

By this past Thursday it became clear that regardless of what was going on my body had just plain settled into full on Bleah! mode; complete with allergies, tiredness, crappy eating, random adrenaline spikes, headaches, and a solid case of the HULK SMASHes.

Only then did it occur to me that I had switched from running three 5ks every week (with all the healthful eating and hydrating that entails) to a single 5k in two weeks, eating absolute junk, living in front of my computer (or my phone when the power was off), and drinking a glass or two of wine every couple of nights... and that maybe this had a little something to do with my general feelings of crappyness too.

I have apparently transitioned into the time of my life that living healthy actually feels better than doing whatever. Weird.

I was already determined to run this weekend because I had signed up for the run4nyc virtual 5k,  but this mood shift made me all the more determined to get out and get moving again.

I don't get a lot of sleep on average during the week so sleeping in and chilling out on weekends is key to my sanity. I recently dug out all of my winter gear so for the first time this year I got to rock out my fave winter PJs while kicking around my apartment.

I have clearly cornered the market on everyday sexy. Hope I don't get any of you in trouble at work with the racy content!

I spent the late morning and early afternoon relaxing in my footies. It was starting to get late and if I wanted to get a run during full daylight I would have to GO.

And so it came time to remove my delicious warm microfleece Muppet pajamas to put a meager few layers of cold flimsy tech fabric between me and the universe. I readied to leave my wonderful boyfriend and snuggly cats behind; to venture out into the cold; to test and exhaust myself on messy dangerous litter strewn roads... and I didn't think twice about a single second of it.

I think it was sometime around when I finished painstakingly weaving and tucking my earphones around and through a carefully crafted bra strap/safety pin maze that I fully recognized the decision I had made, and what that meant to me about who I am now and what I'm about.

Running is just what I do now, I'm a runner. Hunh.

Sure I may be a painfully slow runner all things considered, and apparently I set myself up to suck wind big time by going a week with only one short walk for exercise, (who put all that invisible plastic wrap in my lungs anyway?) but if any of that sort of stuff was going to stop me it probably would have done so months ago, and being able to say that feels pretty darn awesome.

Incidentally: if you're looking for some sexy Muppet footie PJs of your own you can get them here.

My Saturday run: run4nyc virtual 5k - a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks
3.10 miles at an average of 11:34 per mile -  total time of 35:53
Positive splits all around! Not kidding, this one was hard.

So, what are my options for running at this point?

Like it or not road running has officially become a weekend activity. I don't typically get home from work until four thirty, and with daylight savings time it's pretty much dark at five now, so weeknight running is pretty much out until spring. The sun rises at about six forty am this time of year, which is less than a half hour before I already get up to be at work at eight. Given the amount of time it would take me to cool down and shower if I ran in the morning I would still be running in the dark then too (I do have to admit I'm immensely happy that's not a remotely viable option).

I have an extremely generous offer from Gigi of Running On Candy to use her treadmill since she lives very close (and is awesome), but transitioning my entire running workout routine to right in the middle of someone's home seems like it would get intrusive right quick and we Jawas are shy, retiring creatures. I love her for the offer but I think I'd be too mortified to actually make good on it. She does have cats which rival mine in awesomeness, (and she has a whole extra one) but by the same token I see treadmill + amazing cat time rapidly devolving to shenanigans.

I had already been looking into a Retro Fitness extremely close to me and I found out that they are running a cash special Thanksgiving weekend that makes the dues work out to ACTUALLY twenty dollars a month. I had already figured out a few things I could easily cut out of my budget to cover that and then my parents offered to kick in a sizable proportion of the membership as a holiday gift, so I'm pretty much decided.

I plan to do a guest pass one day in the intervening time to check it out (make sure they're not a front for trafficking endangered animals or anything like that) and if it seems worth it I'm going for it!

Victory is even sweeter when it's a little salty

Cupcakes taste WAY better when there's a little bit of honestly earned salt on your lips.

I ran Run With Jess's Cupcake Classic virtual 5K last night.

My warmup stretching was complicated by my inability to find safety pins, I left late, my left knee felt kind of crappy, the roads were covered in wet leaves, and I had plans for the evening I was a bit afraid of missing. Two blocks out, (watching the sky go dark rather rapidly) I felt kind of like a marionette with tangled strings and very nearly turned around to go home.

5K later I had finished what I think may be the best run I've ever done.

It had rained all day and I figured (incorrectly) that the overcast conditions might give me a little more daytime. I think I made up something about the sunset refracting through the cloud cover (something like that anyway) to justify it to myself but by fifteen minutes in it was DARK.

My knee was protesting a bit for the first mile and it took some time to get my coordination, but otherwise my legs felt good. No protests from my ankles or shins at any point, even after turning my right ankle a bit stepping on a hidden stick. I couldn't see my watch very well and didn't want to look away from the road more than I had to so I paced pretty much entirely by feel. I knew I was pushing my pace a bit but it felt good so I went with it. While I was definitely pushing myself the whole time I think I am developing a good feel for when I need to back off a bit and I never felt like I was killing myself. I think the four days I took off really helped out with the fatigue I've been feeling the last few weeks.

It was full on night time by the end which had be a bit freaked out between general safety concerns and footing. I really feel like I could have pushed the last half mile far more, but at that point I was on a busier street with fewer streetlights and with the wet leaves I didn't want to chance stepping wrong and ending my illustrious running career.

I walked a few blocks to cool down, headed inside to stretch, and that's when I saw this...

I beat my PR by just under three minutes!!!

Friday's run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks. Negative splits throughout!
3.11 miles at an average of 10:47 per mile -  total time of 33:34

Splits:
mile 1 - 11:26
mile 2 - 10:42
mile 3 - 10:21
that last little bit - 1:04 (pace of 9:37)

Lessons of the day: 

Night running is rather pleasant aside from that "constant fear of imminent death" part.

The fact that I felt this much better after four days off leads me to believe that I'm probably over-training, I need to figure out how to address this.

Listening to your body works, who woulda thunk it!
Getting better is still happening, if I continue doing this the right way I may not be half bad at some point.
Victory is sweet indeed, but sometimes you can help it along with some vanilla cupcake and a healthy slathering of lemon curd.

Achievement unlocked: shiny pink medal!

image via http://www.runwithjess.com

Bears, and headwinds, and pumpkins, oh my!

I'm not gonna lie, Sunday's run pretty much sucked.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I finished up happy and all, and my initial temptation was to use the smiling smiley on my Nike App, but it's easy to rate a run as good when the endorphins have already kicked in.

Nope, large swaths of it out and out sucked, and (now that it's over) I'm pretty darn glad for it.

It usually takes me a block or two to get into the rhythm of running but after that I can usually (thankfully) let my legs go on autopilot. When there is the usual lack of pain or fatigue in my legs I can focus on directing my energy toward pacing and getting more air into my lungs, so I can hopefully not puke or keel over into someone's prize azaleas. I did feel a touch less winded throughout than usual, for which I am HIGHLY thankful because otherwise I felt a bit like a confused drunken bear.

 

It took two and a half miles for me to forget my legs enough to just run, oh and also there was a headwind.

Since when do I care about headwinds? Since Sunday, apparently.

My ankle pain seems to have finally calmed down, but only to be replaced by a sort of dull pain in the opposite knee (probably after effects of compensating for that ankle)*, some sub-threshold shin splint action, and some good old general muscle fatigue. It's nothing I'd call deal-breaking, but it certainly wasn't fun and I had to sternly talk myself out of taking more than one walk break.

I had a lot of trouble with pacing at first and found myself edging up on 10:00 more than once very early on. I think my body was just trying to get it all over with, potential for exhaustion blackouts be damned! Still, with much cajoling, and more then a few "suck it up buttercup" type platitudes I got through an entire 5k without pause. I even beat Wednesday's overall pace by four seconds per mile.

Once I forgot about my legs I actually felt good enough to end with a bit of a kick, but getting there took far too long for my liking. I spent that half a mile swinging between 7:30 and 10:00 and still ended up with positive splits up around the 12:00s, which I think says a thing or two about how bad the beginning of mile three was.

Why am I so cool about this sucking so much? Because it actually kinda sorta counted for something. Sunday was when I chose to do RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race. Times aren't being entered, there are no official winners or losers (though the last time she did this sort of thing there were a whole lot of randomly picked schwag winners, so that's something to look forward to) and yet... and yet...

I feel like I solidly earned my very first medal (virtual though it be) and I'm going to be rudely shoving this run in my own face making "nyah nyah" noises for a while to come. I really struggled with myself, and I won out against my doubts, and you can bet I'll be dragging out those bragging rights out over the parts of me that want to walk it or go home early in the future.

Pumpkins are already a huge thing for me and I couldn't ask for more welcome addition to their symbolism.

On a more technical note: I find it's taking me longer to regain my equilibrium after running and despite it being an afternoon run I don't feel like I really got my brain back until after dinner. I think my cool down stretching is actually suffering a bit as I often find myself just sort of holding my toes and staring off into the distance for long swaths of time.

After something like the fourth "give me a rare steak now or forfeit your left arm" meal planning discussion with The Boyfriend this week I'm starting to think I am missing out on some essential cow vitamin and I have to wonder if that has something to do with my sore muscles and extended post-run space cadet time.

Once I had fortified myself with some shrimp fondue and a petite sirloin (it was medicinal fondue, I needed nourishment, don't you judge) we hit a dollar store for cheesy decorations and a Trader Joe's for pumpkins and then spent the rest of the evening watching cheesy 80s horror (House II and Night of the Creeps, in case you were wondering) and eviscerating gourds.

I do carve a sexy pumpkin.

How do you kick your own butt?

Do you have any personal symbols that work into your running?

Have you ever found yourself drifting a bit too far into LaLa Land after a workout?

******
My Sunday run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks.
Official running of RunningInSanity's The Great Pumpkin Race
3.1 miles at an average of 11:50 per mile -  total time of 36:43 max pace of 6:49 (?!?)

******
Next up is another virtual run - The Cupcake Classic. It is "open" now and runs until Sunday (click on the image below for more detail - registration is still open!). I have not yet decided which day I will be running this but signs point to, uh, not Wednesday or Thursday?

Reply Hazy. Ask Again Later

******
*I had a physical today after writing most of the bits above and mentioned my knee pain, after a bit of manipulation he declared it tendonitis and basically said "rest it if you can, but as I'm realistic I'm going to say also hit it with anti-inflammatory meds as you must". 
I am quite curious to see what my iron levels look like.