wojelah

Three miles, yesterday, on the treadmill, after work.

Pro: Did NOT want to fall on my face and die after doing three miles in 1:15; drank lots of water; kept an average pace of around 2.9 mph; had enough breath even 45 minutes in to be able to sing along with the mp3 player.

Con: much harder to keep myself -running- on the treadmill, as opposed to falling into fast walking; still slower than I'd hoped; right calf slightly sore this AM.

Pro > Con, so YAY.

3 miles again tonight, and then somewhere on Friday or Saturday, 6 miles, then cross-training on Sunday. Phew.

I feel much better, though, in terms of general twitchiness, having started exercising again, so yay that!

[Poll #998561]

Today: Run 35, pushing 5, working on arms.

First time back in a while, due to a combination of factors. I've adjusted the [Poll #998561]

... it's definitely  the humidity.

Today: Week 3, Day 1: Run 40, push 5

There's something inherently cool in the fact that I can write "run 40" up there and actually feel like 40 minutes is a pretty normal amount of time. Had to push harder, and definitely not as fast, but I also definitely pulled the first 30 minutes off at an average pace of 3.0ish. Like I said, slower, but still a good (for me) pace. Average for the full forty minutes was 2.95 ish mph. Arches aren't as bad today, though the hip's a little creaky.

Food-wise, I'm finding it kind of tough to get my full point values in - I have a sizable number left today, and it's ten of nine at night. I need to figure out how to do that better.

1) Thank you, everybody. This morning was really, really rough, and the good thoughts and reminders made an enormous difference. You all WIN. A LOT.

2) You all win SO much that I managed to turn my attitude around enough to make it out running tonight despite the rain, which, progress-wise, turned out to be exactly what I needed. (I will admit that the idea of coming home tomorrow and just crashing out without having to run till Friday helped too, as did the knowledge that if I went out tonight, I'd be back on track plan-wise.) Because on

Week 2, Day 2: Run 35, push 5 (breathing)

The left knee is mostly back to normal, just in time for my ankles to start acting funny. I'm going to try to swing by the running shoe shop this weekend to see what they have to say. I wasn't wishing for death quite so hard at the end of the 5 minute push, and my body is starting to understand what the motion of running really feels like and pick it up. I am going to start tracking food, mostly to make sure I'm balancing stuff okay and, as smittywing pointed out, to make sure I'm eating enough (and also not too much).

I managed to cover 1.5 miles in .5 hours, for 3.0 mph, which is my best extended time yet. Even averaged over the full 35 minutes, I clocked in at 2.9 mph, which is good news. 3.0 mph for 26.2 miles = 8 hours and 43ish minutes - at 2.9, it's like 9h 1 min - which means success is a totally plausible concept - which is EXACTLY what I needed to hear to balance out the morning. Because regardless of what the scale says, if I can run at 3.0 mph (or maybe more) for 26.2 miles, I am in a FAR better place physically than I've been in years.

Week 1, Day 3 - Run 30, push 5 (strides):

Made it out - a little later than I wanted, but the clouds did let up enough - and the lightning decrease enough - to make it feasible. I can still manage 5 minutes at 3.6, which is good. It's not getting much easier, but it's only been three days. I'm still averaging out at about 2.8 mph - which, well, it's .2 miles faster than before, I suppose. :-P I was really stiff this weekend - still not sure why - and it's sort of lingering today. My left knee is twinging a bit: it seems to work itself out, mostly, as I go, but I suppose I'll need to keep an eye on it - just feels like there's a little bit of pressure there, and twinges a bit at the start of the session. I'm very happy when that first 5 minutes of pushing is over, right now!

After this weekend, where Friday happened but Sat./Sun. was a bust, I've preemptively shifted the schedule a bit to make up for weekends I know I'm either traveling or have house guests. That way, hopefully, I won't end up in this sort of bind.

The humidity down here is starting to increase - I'm guessing, in a month or so, it's going to feel like running in a wet blanket. I think (especially as temperatures and humidity rise and my runs get longer) I need to find a way of carrying a water bottle - anyone with suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em. Also - how do I know when I need new shoes? I don't think I do -yet-, but it -has- been six months....

*hugs googledocs*

Because there's nothing like terror to bring out the OCD in me.

So I present the master running plan, to be found here. The other goal is to do 3 sets of the six crunches smittywing suggested here every weekday. I've cobbled it together from the Intermediate Program in the Beginning Runner's Handbook, which is where the 1st 13-week (hah!) program came from and which is designed to up intensity and endurance and from the Hal Higdon Novice Marathon Program that purna recommended, which kicks off 18 weeks before the marathon.

Today we kick off with -

Week One, Wed.: Run 30, pushing for 5 (plus 90 crunches). Pushing wasn't too bad, actually - I managed to clock in at about 3.4 miles for the first ten minutes, and was comfortable within a minute or so of slowing down. I need to focus on really lifting my feet and not shuffling, but I'm getting better, and it felt pretty good.

173 days (5 months and 20 days, or just over 24 weeks) until D-Day.

A year and a month ago, I decided I was going to walk around Audubon Park every day it was humanly possible to do so. I was really, really good about it, too, until mid-July - going almost every day. Even after mid-July, I was still going pretty regularly - and then it got too dark, and I was travelling a ton, and things sort of fell off a bit more, but I was still far, far more active than I had ever been.

Along the way, I'd been reading start_running , and it was inspiring.

Somewhere in there, the thought percolated: "I want to be able to do that." By early November, it was morphing into "I should be able to do that."

 On November 29th, it stopped being "I'm scared to try that" and turned into "I'm going to do that."


And for the next few days, I'm going to shout

I DID IT

at the top of my lungs. Because today I did:

Week 13, Day 3: RUN SIXTY MINUTES.

Week THIRTEEN (W00T!), Day 1: Run FIFTY MINUTES.

And I did.

(My body actually feels like it's all moving together. Although I am still slow and performing at what could kindly be called a trundle, it doesn't feel like I have to coax each muscle into the right position, so it is a rather graceful trundle, if I do say so myself.)

One more "practice day" and then one whole hour!

Can anyone direct me to a good OMG WAHOO HOLY CRAP I DID IT icon? Because I'ma gonna be needing that.

Week 12, Day 2: Run 50, walk 1, run 15

The last 15 minutes were definitely an exercise in willpower - really, the last ten were the particularly ridiculous. I was slower today, and it -felt- harder, but that appears to be something of a trend for the mid-week session of each week. Three more sessions and then sixty minutes altogether. Given that today was sixty-five all told, that's not nearly as alarming a concept as it was, say, two weeks ago. There's a lot going on in the world and in more personal stuff (not the least of which is uncertainty over Kaylee), and for the last month or so my motivation has been going down the tubes. I'm -so- close, though. To bail now would suck a LOT. 

Today: Week 11, Day 3: Run FORTY FREAKING MINUTES, walk 1, run 10.

I'm TWO-THIRDS THERE! Today was pretty much the polar opposite of Tuesday. The weather is gorgeous - low sixties, significantly less humidity - and that helped a lot. I was a little achy starting up, but by about twenty minutes in, my body actually felt like it was moving smoothly and I could sustain a pace that looked something a lot like running. I'm not -nearly- as tired, either. Two more weeks/six more sessions before the hour benchmark.

I've decided that when I hit it, I need to do something to celebrate - I just don't know what. Any suggestions?