Running off track.....

What happens when you set a goal to run a 5k on a specific date and everything is going well and you're feeling great? Something comes up to take you off off track and you don't make your goal...and it sucks.

Technically, I did meet my goal of running a 5k before I turned 30 when I ran the Beaverdash in September. But, I had always considered that a practice run and the 5k on Oct 19th was supposed to be my real run. Well, I somehow managed to severely jack up my hip and was unable to run for a few weeks. I just got the okay from my doctor to try running again and I intend to give it a go tomorrow. I'm going to start on the treadmill though to minimize the impact so I don't break myself immediately.

Just thought I'd throw out an update since I know a lot of people were wondering how I did in my goal race. The answer is, I did a great job cheering on my friends from the Injured Reserve bench that my friend Amy I created near the finish line. :)

My First (practice) 5K Race

As I've mentioned before, my goal for my training was to be able to complete (without walking) the Principal 5K that's part of the Des Moines Marathon on Oct 19. Today I ran my "practice" 5K to get used to the race environment so that come October I'm semi-prepared for the nerves, people, etc.

The BeaverDash 5K was the race that I chose as my "practice" race since it's almost exactly a month from my "real" one.

This is was my very first organized race ever. I was a nervous wreck before it started and my stomach was in a knot. I don't get nervous very easily but man, I was a freak this morning. There were 1000+ people there (we'll see the official numbers when the results are up later) and it was a flat course, as promised. Oh, here's a course map for anyone looking for it. I couldn't find one to save my life before the race until I checked in. It was a beautiful morning for a run, too.

Here's the thing though - and this isn't me making excuses...it's me trying to figure out what I need to do to improve for next time - I know I could have done better had I known better how to prepare for a run in the morning. This was the first time I've run any great distance in the morning and I wasn't sure what to eat before hand or anything. I always run at night where I've had food during the day so I have some energy to use. I looked on the internet for breakfast suggestions and I went with a Clif Bar, a banana, and half a bottle of Gatorade. Not a good plan. My stomach was already in a nervous knot before the race, then add on top of that WAY too much food and you have a recipe for an upset stomach. My goal was to run the whole thing and not walk....but I walked when I felt my stomach starting to try and re-gift the Clif Bar. You can see in my Runner+ Jog Log where I walked a bit in the run..just after mile 2. Luckily I didn't have to walk much before my stomach righted itself so that's good.

Overall, not a terrible run but I know I can do better. I'm going to do the following to ensure that I improve over the next month:

1) Make sure I don't have big gaps in my practicing. I've given friends permission to verbally abuse me or even kick my ass if they see anything more than a 3 day break between runs in my Runner+ logs. Those 5 and 6 day gaps are unacceptable. I'm definitely shipping my shoes to DC next week so I can get a run in while I'm on my mini-vacation (yes, I said shipping....I refuse to pay American Airlines to check a bag...bastards).

2) Haul my ass out of bed in the mornings a few times to try and find the perfect amount of food to consume before a run so that I have enough energy but don't have to hold back from throwing up. I'll still run at night because I enjoy it and it works best for me. But I need to get my body used to running first thing in the morning.

3) Get in several runs that are longer than 3.5 miles so that I'm well practiced so that 3.1 doesn't seem like a challenge.

My results will be posted later and I'm sure that my time will be different there than it is in my Jog Log, but since my distance was spot on in my Nike+ thingie I'm going to go with my times since I was near the back of the pack so I didn't get to the starting line until a little bit after the gun went off. I waited to start my Nike+ thingie until I crossed the start line so I know it's accurate.

I knew I signed up for a "practice" 5K for a reason!! :)

Couch to 5K Update

The last time I updated you all on my Couch to 5K progress I was in the middle of week 4 of 9 and progressing nicely in my running. Well, one of the things I was doing was avoiding looking ahead to the coming weeks so that I couldn't try to talk myself out of going on days when the workouts were going to be especially challenging. Week 5 is when the runs that were scaring me started, but as it turned out they weren't that bad!

I just finished week 7 today and I'm still feeling pretty good about my progress. Now, if you do the math you'll see that I should be further than week 7 by now if I stuck to my 3 days a week running schedule. Well, the state fair, weddings, and an ingrown toenail (eew) interfered with my running and set me behind a little bit. I'm still going okay tho! I didn't run for 5 days this week and then picked right back up with my 25min run tonight. My pace was a little slower than I'd like, but really....when you consider I hadn't run for 5 days and my toe was still a little sore....I did pretty well! So, my goal for the coming 2 weeks worth of runs is to really stay on schedule and not let life interfere as much.

As was the case in the last post about my running endeavors, the podcasts and Runner+ have been instrumental in my success! The community on Runner+ has been awesome as ever and I even have a new Facebook friend out of it! I even have their iPhone app as one of my shortcuts so I can access my stats anytime (now that they've blocked the site at work...grrrrr).

I've had a lot of good feedback from this blog and from my Jog Log on Runner+ so I'm going to try and be better about posting updates more frequently than every 4 weeks! I figure I'll give an update at the end of the last week which should be 2 weeks from now and then keep you posted as I just keep on running 5K in preparation for my races.

As always, thanks for reading and wish me luck on the running! Good luck to those of you that are also working through the Couch to 5K program or any other fitness program!

Running...Running....

The Couch to 5K training is going well, I think! I'll be starting on the week 4 workout this week so I'm almost half-way through the program. If I stick with it and make sure that I keep my workouts consistent I think I'll be able to do it.

I bought one of those Nike+ SportBand thingies to help me track my progress. Sure, I can get on MapMyRun after my runs to figure out how far I went but that's kind of annoying and it doesn't keep a history. The Nike+ thingie will allow me to upload my runs so that I can keep track of progress online. I also synced up my Nike+ profile with Runner+ which gives a little better tracking than the Nike+ apparently. At least that's what my friend Kris says! So, hopefully with the tracking, consistent workouts, etc I'll be able to easily meet my goal.

I'm also super excited because I can once again fit into the jeans that I was fitting into before I gained weight again! Sure, they're a little snug around the waist, but that'll change soon I hope! It's really a great measurement of my progress that I can fit into them again. I'm seeing my hips and thighs shrink which makes me very happy. Apparently I wasn't imagining the weight loss afterall!

It's probably not hurting that I'm also taking adult swimming lessons. I took lessons when I was a kid to get me to the point where I wouldn't drown, but I kept getting fried in the sun so I quit. Now I want to be able to do lap swim for a workout and it wouldn't hurt to have a stronger stroke in general. So, I decided to take adult swimming lessons. I feel like I've already improved a great deal in the 2 one-hour sessions I've had. If I keep that up and am able to add swimming to my workout I'll be in great shape.

I'm excited! Tune in later for more updates!

I've set a goal...

...I'm going to run a 5k.

I've always hated running. It's just never really been something I enjoyed. I ran distance in track in high school but that's because I wasn't very fast and distance was something I could do, and in a small school you're in every extracurricular activity. There's also the issue of my boobs. They're not small and without the assistance of a pretty supportive sports bra running just hurts.

I've been trying to shed some weight and nothing seems to be working, so I decided to man up and try running since it seems to work for a lot of people. I know myself, however. So, to ensure I keep running, I signed up to run the 5k Road Race that's part of the Des Moines Marathon in October. I figure this gives me plenty of time to train for it so I don't die and it's in a cooler time of year so I won't pass out from heat exhaustion. Also, I turn 30 in December so it's a good goal to set for a milestone year. "I will run a 5k before I'm 30." I already paid the registration so if I go back now I'm wasting money. So far I seem to be doing okay.

I'm using this program from Cool Running called Couch to 5k. It eases you into running so you can gradually build up your endurance and so your joints don't suffer as much. Thing is, I really hate clock-watching while I work out and I know that if I had to remember which segments I'm walking vs running I'd lose track and my workout wouldn't be as effective. I decided to hunt for podcasts that would help and to my great pleasure I found some! The original is from Robert Ullrey and it's great!! It is a series of songs that are perfect for running and he pops on to tell you when to switch from walking and running and also gives you some encouragement along the way. It's fantastic. It eliminates the clock-watching and makes the workouts go faster. It's also really good to have someone come on and tell me to loosen my shoulders or run on my heels as I start to get tired.

I'm hoping this works for me. I'm not too terribly far along on my training but it's going well so far. My goal is to run the entire thing but I've heard that's rare for first time 5k runners. But, if I can do it, it'd be awesome. Also, I'd like to see some weight come off. I think I'm seeing progress but I could be overeager and imagining things. We'll see.

Wish me luck! I'll try to post updates regarding my progress as I go.