A Non-Runner's Running Blog

13mins pace, 6x (1min fast, 2 min pace), 13 mins pace

4 Miles is pretty much the most I have ever run at one time....EVER!  Now that's where I'm starting and it only goes up from here.  Pretty scary to think about.

The run was actually a bit easier than I thought...and by easier I mean that I didn't think I would even finish, but I did.  I even finished ahead of a few people, which surprised me. 

Man, did my legs hurt afterwards though.  I had done my weight lifting class at the gym the night before and was already sore from that to begin with. 

I am soooo sore.  There's no way I'm doing anything today.  The end.

Already made dinner plans for tonight last week, so I'm not doing anything tonight.  Probably for the best though, I'm still hurting!

Gym today for a few hours to do some light cardio.

Biked for 20 mins, Elliptical for 20 mins.

9 mile run tomorrow...aaaah!  We're running at 6:30AM on a Saturday morning.  Are they kidding me?!  I usually don't make it out of bed until noon on Saturdays.  Freaking insane. 

So I woke up to a phone call from Krista at about 5:45...I had slept through my alarm, even though I went to bed early last night, around 10:30.  Jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, tried to get my ipod which in turn froze up my computer.  No breakfast or anything, which could really hurt me today (oh wait, I'm pretty sure no matter what I do I'm gonna be hurting), jumped into the car and sped off to Coronado.  Nothing like running late to get that adrenaline pumping, right?

Well, I made it through the run.  Stopped a couple times for water, but that's really about it.  I could barely feel my legs at the end.  We walked a few mins at about the 8-mile mark, which ended up being a bad idea because once we started running again I was so stiff I could barely pick my legs up.  It's nice being able to do this with a group.  I kept pace with Krista and Rob the whole way.  If I had been by myself I probably would have gone slower or walked more.

I hate this, but I like it at the same time.  You can't possibly have a better place to run than Coronado, watching the sun come up over downtown San Diego across the bay.  It's also a really good feeling when you finish.  I've never run anywhere close to 9 miles in my entire life, but I did it today.  I think I'm going to stick with this and see how it goes.

No running today.  Played beach volleyball for about 2 hours.  I think I pulled a muscle on my left thigh diving for a ball.

To my surprise, I wasn't that sore (relatively anyway) today from yesterday's run and I actually had quite a bit of energy. It was bad all day yesterday though.

24 Lift class at the gym.  Especially focused on the upper body, and tried to go easy on the lower since I'm running again tomorrow.

Ran today, but not with the group.  Apparently we can't be flexible by 15 mins with schedule times at work, for no logical reason.  Fantastic.  Wasn't unexpected though.  Rant over.

Steph left late too, so we ran together.  She's faster than me so I think I held her back a bit.  We ran to the 3rd airport sign before turning back. 

Also the first time running with the new ipod.  It was nice having the music, but the music's rhythm screwed up my breathing rhythm and I got a sideache.  Darn it, sometimes being musically inclined has it's drawbacks...j/k.

For some reason I thought the second week would be a bit easier...not so much...Calves are still killing me.

Did an easy workout at the gym today.  Nothin' special.

Was suppsed to run 6 miles today, but it was cold and rainy outside so I didn't.  By the time I got to the gym, only had about a half hour before I had to leave to make it to La Mesa by 7. 

Did 2 miles on the elliptical and 1.5 miles on the treadmill.  I hate the treadmill...it seems so much harder and takes longer than regular running.  I was also getting pains in my shins and up the outside of my right leg.  Workout over!!

Today is a rest day, so no running, no gym.  I did go dancing though, so I got some exercise in.  I noticed while dancing that I think my endurance is a little better already.  Cool.

So after last Saturday I knew what I was getting myself into and I was scared! 9 miles was awful, so 10 miles was going to be brutal.  If I can do 9 though, I knew I could make it through one more.  It just wasn't going to be pretty!  Got advice early in the week from a seasoned marathon-er that I shouldn't run so much so fast, but do I listen?  Of course not.  What's the fun in that?

Got up early enough to eat some breakfast (kashi cereal and a glass of juice).  My back was a little sore this morning so I took an ibuprofen.  While we're on the subject though..my back has started feeling pretty good overall since starting this running thing.  Maybe it's the few pounds I've lost so far or just that I'm moving those joints around so much.  I thought that running had the potential to re-injure me, but so far it seems to be the opposite.

The first 5 miles were ok.  Seemed harder than last week, but I think most if that was mental.  Now that I know where we're going and I know kind of where the landmarks are it seems longer.  The last 4 miles or so we started to run a mile, then walk a minute (which sometimes turned into 2 or 3 minutes...oops).  I was kinda skeptical about that system since walking last week made it hurt a lot more once we started back up.  Actually though, once we started again I felt somewhat rejuvinated (sp?) and was able to run faster for a while.  We ended up with an average pace of about 10:30/mile.  Hey, don't laugh.  I'm just glad if I finish.

My calves are still killing me!  People keep telling me that since it's only my second week my muscles aren't used to it yet.  They need to get used to it pretty quick, cause I'm getting sick of limping up and down stairs!  Took a hot bath after the run today.  I hope that will help some.  Also need to drink more water.  I have a hard time with that, especially during the run because it gives me sideaches to have stuff in my stomach while I'm running.  Next week will use Icy Hot on the legs before running, maybe that will help too.

Also was the first long run with the new ipod.  I still have to concentrate really hard to breathe with my running pace instead of breathing with the beat of the music.  Got a couple of aches today because of that.

Gotta get some new shoes.  Will have to wait until the next paycheck I think.

Running was good today.  Felt guilty for slacking off yesterday, had kind of a stressful day today, so was actually looking forward to the run a little bit.  I don't know the exact distance I went, to the 5th airport sign, but was somewhere between 5 and 6 miles.  Feelin' pretty good!

Today was rough!!  Got about 5 hours of sleep, woke up knowing that hardly anyone from the group would be there today, then got there to see that NO ONE was there.  I came pretty close to turning around and going home, but decided to go ahead and start running...I'm not going to be able to make it next Saturday so I can't skip 2 weeks in a row.  Initially I didn't plan on doing the entire thing, but as I kept going I got a lot more energy and ended up doing all eleven miles. 

Went slower than usual I think, without anyone to keep up with.  Was probably not a bad thing.  I'm not going for speed at this point.

On and off during the run my knees would hurt for a while then it would go away, it was kind of weird.  Not a sharp pain though, just kind of achy so I didn't think it was anything too serious.

Umm, that's about it!  I think I'm starting to get used to it.