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?

Running from my problems

Running once a week is NOT cutting it.

How do I stay sane when I'm not working out regularly?  

Oh yeah, that's right, I don't. 

I become a tightly wound ball of nerves and I physicalize every last bit of it; my back seizes, my joints stop working (so working out now leads to injury, catch 22!), my skin erupts and then sloughs off, my adrenaline spikes for little to no reason, I become depressive, and my immune system implodes on itself taking the majority of my favorite foods with it.

Hell on earth, or as I like to call it, the entirety of my twenties!

Don't get me wrong, there were good days too

This past week was a bit extra stressy for me for a number of reasons and on Friday I found myself somewhat melancholic and yearning to take a midnight drive to Montauk Point. Unfortunately however it's about a five hour round trip for me and I couldn't see eating through an entire tank of gas in the name of catharsis* (also at that point I wasn't sure the whole route was open as much of it runs along beach).

I had officially signed up for the gym earlier that day so now that I had noticed the inverse proportion between my mileage and my mood (*cough* not to mention the firmness of my tummy *cough*) I resolved that this was the week I was going to get back in the swing of things and try to make my runs the cathartic road experience I was clearly lacking.

Sanity: a mile at a time.

Saturday was a bit whirlwind and draining so I headed out Sunday afternoon resolved to get my kinetic therapy ON.

Sunday afternoon run: Steady run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks
4.03 miles (!!) at an average of 10:53 per mile -  total run time of 43:54

Another distance first for me made all the better by the fact that I felt really good! I wasn't sure how much I wanted to push after a whole week off but even mile two was pleasant so I figured I might as well go for it. Pretty consistent splits (10:59, 10:55, 10:43, 10:54) and I didn't feel like I was swinging back and forth as wildly throughout. I think 11:00 is shaping up to be a pretty reasonable road covering pace for me for the moment.

The 43 degree temperature wasn't thrilling to be sure. My eyes watered for the first mile and I felt like I spent the rest of the night clearing out a layer of gunk my lungs apparently formed to protect themselves against the cold (I must find my balaclava!). Otherwise I was pretty comfortable but I do see why people get extra sleeve layers. I'm almost tempted to reroute so that my first mile loops back to my house so I can drop my vest off after I have worked up a bit of real body heat... then again maybe not, it's not even December yet, it's only getting colder for the next three months. *sigh*

I am mildly concerned that I could feel a slight ache in my right arch again during the middle of my run and afterward I felt it in both arches and in both knees (though all discomfort was gone within an hour). If this continues much longer I may hit up the running store and see if they have a suggestion.

As far as my brain? Road zen officially achieved.
This is usually in the form of my brain just plain shutting off somewhere around mile three, but I'll take it.
I felt better for the rest of the day and formulated a plan of action going forward, so I'm going to call that mission accomplished.

I purchased the Active.com 5k to 10k App and the Garmin Footpod today (that will arrive Thursday), and my plan is to hit the gym three nights a week through the winter to do 10K training, and hopefully get out for a long unstructured run on Sundays when the weather permits.

I'm not sure how the app works without GPS (and there is NO support for ANYTHING from Active) but they do offer the ability to disable GPS so I suppose it must work without.

If I follow fairly consistently that will take me through February/March and I can start thinking about whether I want to move the Half Marathon training plan up from its current start time of July.

*I've only driven to Montauk once (December 19, 2010) and it was (and is) the longest I've ever been behind the wheel.

After spending an evening cleaning the last of my stuff out of storage at my ex- boyfriends house I realized I couldn't just sit home among the box pile, so I hit the road for a drive. I just sort of randomly resolved to go to Montauk after about an hour of aimless driving.

I listened to Nine Inch Nails on shuffle the whole way, enjoyed a light snowfall, almost ran out of gas, nearly collided with about a million deer, and initiated the functional part of reclaiming my sanity in the wake of what had become a rather horrible couple of years (capped off by an exceptionally soul grinding couple of weeks).

I consider it the hard point that separates that time of my life from this one. It wasn't a cure all, but aside from the near wildlife collisions it stands out as one of the calmest and most centered points of my life, and that clarity carried me through.

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.

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!

In brief

I think if I do not go running tomorrow I may go a touch batty.

Ren and Stimpy - Space Madness 

I'm actually pretty tired so more on what's going on in Jawaville after that run (which will be my run4nyc virtual run, by the way), but while I'm thinking of it I thought I would also mention...

I'm going completely stir crazy with this newfangled five pm sunset. This running thing is messing with me something fierce. I'm a night person! I've never been annoyed about the Fall Daylight Savings before! As a result I am finally seriously contemplating a gym membership.

However, on the totally awesome side:

I won stuff! I almost never win stuff! http://www.fortheloveoftherun.com rocks my socks!

Actually now that I mention it; I won another stuff and I've been very rude in not mentioning it. I guess by extension http://www.runwithjess.com rocks my shoes?

On the road again

Today was my first run post Sandy.

My last run was the Freaky 5K on Sunday so it's been just about a week. The majority of this time was spent sitting on my butt in my tiny apartment (being very thankful I had that option), checking in on friends and family, checking the latest news, trying to figure out when (and how) to return to work, willing the power to go back on, eating starchy pre-packaged foods, and drinking chardonnay.

There probably have been better fitness routines.

By Wednesday I had gotten pretty antsy but I had no idea of the condition of the local roads so I went on a walk with my boyfriend to check things out. We took a brisk walk through my normal running route to get some air, watch trick-or-treaters, and stop occasionally for pictures.

There was only one really hazardous spot on my normal path but it was a doozy. Even on the clear streets the roads were COVERED in shattered branches and other debris, there were many spots where I would probably have to run down the middle of the road to avoid breaking an ankle. Probably the most concerning thing was how many compromised trees and branches were clearly being held up entirely by power lines.

I would have loved to run Thursday or Friday but by then I was back at work and the traffic generated by the gas shortage meant I was leaving too early and getting home too late to run (especially given much of my neighborhood had no power) so Saturday it was.

I ended up going out in the late afternoon and since the street from the pic above was still blocked off I had to make one major detour, but otherwise my path was open. The ground was shockingly clear and there were very few areas with bad footing. I was also pretty thankful at the relative emptiness of the streets given I was in head to toe dark grey, but I feel bad that that is pretty much directly due to the gas shortages.

At 48° and windy (my clear streets came at a price) it was officially too cold for my tropical genetics. I was EXCEEDINGLY glad for my long sleeve Freaky5K swag shirt, leggings, and fleece vest, and I noticed that I'm no longer particularly bothered by being covered in sweaty clothing, so that's a plus... I guess?

The aim was to take an easy run but I did find myself pushing 10:00 a bit more often than I had wanted. It's getting harder to go as slow as I need to to maintain stamina, anything slower than 10:30 feels a little awkward, like I'm running through molasses. I guess it's more fun to focus on the burning in my lungs than whatever is going on in the rest of my body? The cold was a bit hard on my lungs and I was unexpectedly winded for most of my run, otherwise it felt great to be back out on the road. I was however VERY dizzy during cool-down and for a bit afterward, and it took a long time to warm up.

My Saturday run: a 5K run plus 5 minute warmup and cooldown walks and negative splits
3.11 miles at an average of 11:01 per mile -  total time of 34:18, max pace of 5:25 (???)

My Nike+Running app has completely lost it's little mind and somehow added an extra mile in to the first mile of my run.

Click image for the runNYC page

I saw this posted via DailyMile on FB a little while ago and as soon as they get their donation page working I'm signing up for the 5k

Per their page:

What is it?

It's a virtual race for those hit hardest by the hurricane. Choose your distance, decide on a donation amount, and lace up to race Nov 4 through Nov 11! Run loops around your neighborhood, through your city… anywhere you please. 100% of all money collected goes to the American National Red Cross relief fund. We'll have a leaderboard and printable certificates for all finishers!

The right choice, in lieu of any GOOD choice.

The 2012 NYC Marathon has been cancelled.

I deeply appreciate the respect for the needs of the city, and feel terribly for those who are missing out.

I can only hope that the various vendors and organizers involved have respect for the efforts of the runners who will lose out on their race and that every effort will be made to pave the way for their return (rather than just their dollars).

Bloomberg however?

After reading the statement from the mayor's office on the subject, Bloomberg can take a long walk off a short pier.

If he can find an intact one that is.

The Rockaway boardwalk in Queens, New York, was stripped down to the piers by Superstorm Sandy.Click image for link to original posting article

I don't pretend to know the best ways to offer and ask for help, but here is a link to USA.gov's Hurricane Sandy recovery page which I hope will be a helpful starting point.

Running on a torn city - The NYC Marathon

I am so divided on this.

As a stubborn New Yorker I so desperately want to call out "The Show Must Go On!" 

As a proud New Yorker I want you to see the gritty, fast paced, art deco glories of my home.

As a fledgeling runner I want to bask in the excitement of the first NYC marathon that's really been on my radar.

But as a fellow human being looking at the devastation around me I really wonder if it's actively irresponsible to shoulder another burden so soon. Especially one which will directly pull so many necessary resources.

The New York City skyline darkened after millions lost power on Monday. Click image for link to original source

This image makes me want to cry a little bit. Ok, more than a little bit.

People keep talking about the money this will bring into the city... as if that somehow balances out all of the expected downsides. As wonderful as it is that people want to help the situation with their money, we can't even get the access to many of these resources with OUR money and that puts us in direct competition for our own resources.

That money would be an incredible boon in one week, or two, or a month from now, but all it is doing right now is buying resources AWAY from the people that need them.

We're not talking about a shortage of I♥NY shirts, FDNY baseball caps, dirty water dogs, and commemorative Lady Liberty statuettes.

Image via LouiseHB on flickr - Click image for link

People are already without shelter, transit, food, electricity, police protection, cleanup crews, and from what I'm hearing access to clean tap water is going away as well. It's BAD, and now with the VERY rapidly descending gas shortage it's only getting worse for many people.

Yet these are all of the same things that the marathon goers will need.

Is this fair to us? Patently not.

Is this fair to THEM? Nope, not fair there either. I assure you that their experience here will NOT be the one they signed up and paid good money for.

I Love this NY, but we've been together a long time and I've had a lifetime to embrace all of her aspects. But this is not the NY I want you to meet, much less fall in Love with. This is a scraped up distracted NY who would love to spend time with you but the insurance adjustor will be here any minute, and anyway she had to skip lunch to get here in time and coffee is a distant hazy memory so please bear with her a bit.

I count myself among the EXTREMELY lucky few who did not suffer direct property damage. My family is safe and I have a lot of support, but by the same token the situation is still pretty grim for the coming days and I wouldn't recommend it as a lifestyle personally. There is a lot at stake.

Would you run a marathon on a torn tendon? 

Would you run a marathon on a torn city?

I do not blame anyone who is still psyched on the idea, but I do recommend having a look at the page below, there are some very compelling statements here.
https://www.facebook.com/CancelThe2012NycMarathon

This post came out of my thoughts regarding this post on the NYC Marathon by BlistersandBlackToenails.