Up and Running.

So, I'm as over the cold as I think I'll ever be. Well, almost. So I got up at 6:45 this morning and went running by the river. I love running on the river path. It's so pretty and for some silly reason I just feel more like a runner running on a path made for runners. Is that ridiculous?

The run was okay. For ten minutes of the workout, I ran one minute as fast as I could and then walked the next minute. My breathing, which is awful to begin with, was a little bit worse as I had to suck snot up my nose every five seconds and the cold made my lungs feel weird. It was C-O-L-D! So cold that after about 8 minutes i ran back to my car and put on gloves which helped.

So I am up and running once again. : ) Finally...

185 miles and sick.

After two weeks of mandated rest time by my trainer husband, my back is finally better. My friend seph and I came up with a way to help each other find the time to run so we ran on Monday and on Wednesday. And then I started not feeling so great. You know - scratchy throat, losing my voice, can't breathe out of my nose. So, I took Friday off. So since November 1st, i've run 5 miles.

sigh.

I just want to get back on track. So bad! This week will be impossible since I have family coming for thanksgiving, but on december 1st, I'm planning on resuming my regular workout. We'll see.

180 miles and injured.

I'm injured.
I accept it.
It's not a minor twinge of pain that fades anymore. Nope. It's sharp shooting stabbing sinister sciatic nerve pain on my left side.
I have to take a break from running or I might break. I hurt bad on thursday after my run. I didn't run yesterday. i ran two miles today...not wise.

I'm so sad. really. I just ran my 180th mile since august 1st. and now...i'm dunzo.

I'll be back. I'm giving myself a week. And then I'll hit the road again.

Oh, how I'll miss thee, sweet dear road. We will find each other again...we will!

for the sake of a new post title that doesn't make me cringe.

I'm writing this to get rid of the last title. Geez. triple yuck.

I have a goal of running at least 4 times a week, with each run being no less than three miles in distance. I need to work back up to 6+ miles really bad. And I need to find some hills.

The time is about to change so that should make things unusually challenging. But I will persevere! I shall. I will. I must!
Because, here's the thing: I really just love running now. I like having a goal. I like having time alone. I like the energy I get from running. And I like my body more. That's not a typically wise thing to say out loud, much less write so that it can be thrown back at you, but it's true. And the thing is, I've run almost 200 miles since august 1st. If i didn't like the changes i've seen something would be wrong, right?

so my doable goal:
4 times a week
at least 12 miles a week.
find hills.

set a goal and reached it.

Yesterday I had just a little bit of time to run so I set the goal of running two miles in less than 16 minutes. And I did it!

I ran 2.01 miles in 15:38!

I almost died afterwards, but, hey, i did it.

I AM still running...

Just not like I want to, used to, or should be.

I haven't run more than 4 miles in i don't know how long...3 weeks maybe?

Life just isn't letting me run. It'd be 5am or 9pm. Both are not an option due to safety(or my willingness to get out of bed at 5am), so i haven't been able to run.

I ran on Sunday - 5k in about 27 minutes. Monday - 4 miles in about 33 minutes. So, i'm sort of maintaining my speed, but my endurance is definitely suffering.

Four runs a week is my goal. I think troy has a lunch break today so I'm going to try to run then. we'll see. And then maybe on Saturday?

The one good thing - I miss it. So I don't feel like I'm going to just lose it all together. It feels great when I get back from a run. I just have to find the time! I just have to!

Erasing the Lie, part 2

My FAKE fastest mile: 7:58
My REAL fastest mile: 7:53

Uh-huh. : )

Only two miles in endurance, but both of those in 16:14.

The only lie left to erase - fastest 10k - 52:04

That one'll take a while...

Erasing the Lie.

My nike thing keeps track of my fastest, longest, and farthest runs. For the last three weeks or so I've been annoyed at my farthest(furthest?...) distance so far - 7.14 miles because that's from the Human Race which was, obviously, only 6.2 miles.

The only way to erase it - delete the run altogether which would be sad, or beat it.

So, yesterday I beat it. I ran 7.15 miles in 1:05:05. I nearly died.
Now, .16 of that was my walking warmup, so technically I ran, what? 6.99. Oh, geez. I just realized that. That's annoying. Crud.

Whatever. The point is when I look at my trophies I can look at 7.15 and know it's the truth. I actually ran 7 miles.
The first three or so felt pretty hard, 4 and 5 were a little easier, then 6 was like toying with possible death, and then after 6.2 it was like, "I'm going to beat that stupid 7.14 like it's nothin'!"
At 7.15 I pressed my "end workout" button and all but collapsed in a stranger's yard.

But I did it. I ran 7, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 MILES! I wonder if I could do 8...

Needless to say - no run today. : )

haphazard.

that word would sum up my runs here lately.

I run with no goal in mind. I sprint. I jog. I run. half the time i don't even know where i'm going to go.

I skip one day, then two...

I have no program.

I've run three times since my last post - a total of 10 miles. I haven't run a 10k since the 11th. I'll be doing that again on...?

But i'm not going to let the haphazardness get to me. When my husband works hours that change at a moment's notice...when I have a "job" that often requires me to be out at my normal running time....when 6am is pitch black...haphazard is as good as it's gonna get.

Today i did 3.8 miles in 30 minutes. I walked after i reached a 5k.
My lofty goal of a 24 minute 5k is way too lofty. Let's make that 26 minutes.
I'm going to start doing some form of at home strength training on the days i can't run.

going the distance

I have, according to nike, run over 100 miles since august 1st. Wow!

Last night I ran 6.2 miles and it literally felt like i had run 400 miles by the time i got back. Gaw, i hurt. My stomach hurt. Like queasy hurt. I think my big lunch at chili's was not happy about the running.

But i ran. I didn't walk any of the 6.2miles and I did it in under an hour. So success.

I know at some point i need to run farther than 6.2 miles to really increase my endurance, but geez. 6 miles is impossible. a step more than that and I might die.

I have a new goal i'm aiming for. It's pretty lofty. A marathon. NOT. um, the real new goal is to run the shannon 5k in 24 minutes. That's no more than 8 minutes a mile. I have three weeks to shave off 2 minutes from my best ever time. yikes. two minutes is a pretty decent chunk of time....

let the speed training begin!

rainy run

Troy didn't get off until 8:05 and with the cloudy rainy sky and all, it was pretty dark by then. But i didn't use that as an excuse not to run.
Today I needed to run.
The house seemed a little claustrophobic...grant was...fussy. To put it mildly. A little time away with my thoughts, even spent running in the rain, was much needed.

Due to the impending darkness, I attempted speedy. I ran a mile in 8:04! Two in 16:24. I felt pretty great the whole time. Running in sprinkling rain is kind of refreshing, and as stupid as this may sound, it makes me feel "hard core." Like i'm a runner no matter what. And when I think that while running, i run faster. Hey, whatever works.

I just didn't have it in me today.

I was going to run this morning before church. Totally didn't happen. I felt almost drugged I was so sleepy this morning.

So I ran tonight. I decided to run by the river again because it's just so nice. And I wanted to get away for a bit. I was feeling pretty good and was all set to run a 10k at least.

I made it to 5 and stopped and felt as though I were two strides from death. So I stopped my nike plus workout and then walked for one song. Then I RAN one more mile. For a good piece, or about 200 meters, my pace was a 7 min mile. But over all, I ran the mile in 8:40.

I really wanted that 10k today. But I just didn't have it in me.

My knees have been hurting when I'm done running...I need to remedy that...

One really cool thing - I am almost to my 100 mile mark. Since August 1st. Of course, some of those miles were lies, but that's a heck of a lot of miles in a little over a month.

6.2 miles. For Real.

I calibrated my nike thing yesterday on the asu track. Then I ran a couple distances to make sure it was accurate. It was.

So today I ran 6.2 miles. My time: just under 55 minutes. And I was hustlin'.
My average pace was 8:48/mile.

So, that's the truth after a month of lies from nike. It's not terrible. But kind of a let down from what I thought I was doing. But it's my fault for not calibrating it.

Hills are going to be my biggest challenge. I think I'll be running in the bluffs some.
And I need to do some speed training. And i should probably figure out if I have good form when I run...

But it was a good run today. If austin was suddenly flattened out, I could beat my dad's time today. But, uh, yeah, the hills will defiinitely be there on March 29th...

Bluffs. Here I come.

Where I rank with the world.

I ran by the river today. Man, it's beautiful there. And a nice cool breeze. I ran back and forth until my still-not-calibrated nike thing told me that I had gone 4 miles. So I probably did like 3.25. Tomorrow I'll calibrate it. I must. The lies it has been telling me for a month were giving me false motivation. I need to know the real deal!

On a side note I checked today and my official rank in the Human Race:
Overall (out of like 700,000 runners worldwide): 117, 296
In Austin alone: 3,540th
Austin Females: 1,126th.

Not bad right?
Not as great as I thought i'd do, and I can do better. This race was just to see what it's like. To have the experience. Now, now, i start training. For real.

6 months. Oooh, I am going to be one lean mean running machine!

Running in the rain...

That speeds you up too.

Also, dying of thirst helps.

That was my run tonight. Rain and terrible dessert-dry-throat thirsty.

See the perk of running 3.1 miles away from my house is that I am forced to run 3.1 miles back. No matter what. Rain. Thirst. cramps. complete and total exhaustion. It doesn't matter. You're still 3.1 miles away. The fastest way to get back - run.

TOnight I ran 6.3 miles. In like 52 minutes or so. Paula Radcliffe (marathonner) told me in her british accent that I had recorded my fastest mile - 7.58. Wowza!

I've run seventy miles since the first. That's C-Razy!

Today was my last run until sunday. I'm so excited!

The Key to Running Faster.

Run as the sun sets. The fear of being out in the dark will definitely speed you up.

That's what happened to me yesterday. I started running a bit late and ran away from my house until it said 3.1 miles, then I turned around and ran back. It started getting dark really quickly so I just kept running fast. My average pace was 8:20! Fear will do that to a person.

On another slightly unrelated note, the path I ran was great. It was generally flat, and down one great street full of beautiful houses that I love. They're very old and classic. I love them. So it was a nice distraction to stare at their splendor as I sweated every ounce of energy from my body.

Some Nike Plus Stats.

In 15 workouts, I have run 47 miles.

My average pace is 9.06.

I have a goal of running 80 miles in 4 weeks. I am 5.7 miles behind where I should be to accomplish that goal.

Another goal I have is to have 10 workouts under an average pace of 9 minutes in one month. I've done 4 so far.

And in a nike plus challenge with runners from literally around the globe, I am 7th out 17 to see who can run the most in 30 days.

In another challenge, I am 3rd out of about 20 beginning runners in the battle of fastest 5k.

If I haven't already said it, this Nike Plus thing is truly the coolest thing ever. I have never been so motivated to work out in my life. Dad would have LOVED it. It's just so easy to see your progress and to find new motivation.

Speedy Juanita Gonzalez.

That's me!
Last night I ran a little later in the evening because troy wasn't home. since i knew I couldn't run very far, I tried to run faster. I did interval training for 10 minutes. That's where I run one minute as fast as I can, the next minute I recover.

I sprinted during those intervals. I mean, I wasn't like there's-a-lion-chasing-me sprinting, but pretty good all out full throttle run for the full minute.

The result of said sprinting? My average time for my mile last night was 8:13. And I ran 2.3 miles in about 19 minutes.

So my new name is speedy Juanita Gonzalez.

I am more interested in becoming Little Miss Endurance though...

SUCCESS!

Today I ran 6.1 miles in 54 minutes and 11 seconds. I burned, supposedly, 555 calories. And my average pace was 8:49.

After mile two, I just felt like I could run forever. I just kept going and going and going. I even ran past my house which is almost the hardest thing in the world to do because it's so tempting to stop, but I didn't want to stop.

It felt amazing. Absolutely amazing.

I think I found that second wind that my dad was talking about.

Amazing...

4.5 miles...

That's the farthest (furthest?...no, I think it is farthest...and I taught english...) I've run. What's funny is once I get past about 1- 1.5 miles, I feel like I can just run. I don't feel good by any means but I feel like I could just keep going and going. But that first mile, I want to quit so bad.

According to nikeplus I have run just under 40 miles since the august 1st. I was impressed too! Unfortunately i'm 16 miles off track from a goal i have of running 80 miles in four weeks. I gotta step it up a notch.

What's cool is I'm noticing some minute changes in my body...a little firmer here, a little lift there...that's motivating.

I like running. I look forward to it. I get annoyed on days that I can't because schedules don't work out. I think it's safe to say, I'm becoming a runner. How about that, dad? : )

on the road again.

After two days off because of the massive amount of snot pouring from my nose, I ran today.

Nike gave me this free workout playlist for joining the human race. It's almost all latin music. A little odd, I must say. But, the beat and rhythm was surprisingly invigorating. Plus the workout is varied - warm-up, easy run, speed intervals, easy run, speed intervals, cool down.

I ran 3.3 miles in a little over 30 minutes. Now, I did walk some. I am still pretty sick-ish and I didn't want to overdo it. And during the speed intervals I was RUNNING. Not sprinting, but i was going at a pretty impressive run.

I ran a new path today - one big circle which was nice.

And that's all I can say about today's run.

I am still running...

It's just the nike plus thing is kind of taking over this journal. It records my run times, distances and even graphs my speed. Crazy, I know.

So I won't update here as much.

I have been sick-ish since like Monday. Really stuffy and congested. Just can't breathe hardly at all. I've run a few times since getting sick, but the last two days, I haven't. I am going to run tonight though. I have to. The nike race is in like 20 days. That's super close. I'll get it done though. I will.

I have to.

I do wish the heat would kind of lay off a bit. It's so...oppressive. I am aching for fall...

a new toy.

So, for our anniversary, troy bought me that nike plus thing!!!

I am so excited to try it out. From what I can tell, it's amazing. You can workout with distance goals or time goals. There's a button you can push that plays your chosen PowerSong when you need to get pumped up (here lately, for some random reason, Jesse's got a Girl has been that song for me...i don't know!) and you can download certain athletes workout mixes or build your own. And a voice will come on and tell you every once in a while how far, how fast or how long you have been running!

AND, (i know! It just keeps going!) AND, when I'm done with a run, I can come home, plug my ipod into my computer and upload my run info to nikeplus.com and it will track my progress. Yeah, it's too cool!

I am pumped. Now I just have to wait for my new shoes, which i've earned by 4 weeks of working out consistently. and my shoes are way old.

(working out consistently when possible - yes, I took a few days off when Troy was out of town, but I can't control that. Every other time and chance, I've gone! I earned my dang shoes!)

Reunited.

Me and the open road. Together again at long last.

I just ran my normal two mile path. I have to admit I walked some. But just very little. I can't find my watch so I have no clue how fast I was. But I felt FAST. There's this one stretch that's a teeny tiny almost unnoticably downhill and when I turned onto it I just ran. I ran.

And then I walkeda bit...: )

Now, tomorrow, I leave again but I can run where I'm going.

***

I remember my dad talking about getting his second wind. I think that's what he called it... Where you are dead tired and then all of a sudden, from out of nowhere, you feel great and can just run and run. I thought about that while I was running tonight. I want to run so much, so often that someday I'll get that feeling.

Oh, how I miss thee...

Troy's been gone this week. I've run once. I miss it. Bad. And I know i'm losing any gains I may have made. That annoys me. And saddens me.

I actually MISS running.

He's home tomorrow. Running and I will at long last be reunited.