Unscheduled Rest Day

L is home from school today with a tummy ache and the chills. That means no running for Momma. This time next year, I can leave him home sick and go run my scheduled hill repeats. Today, not so much. Alas, I have an unscheduled rest day today. Time to catch up on laundry and ironing.

Happy running y'all!

Respect the distance

Lesson learned from today’s run: respect the distance. It doesn’t matter how far or how short your run is, respect the distance. I had 6 miles on tap this morning. I didn’t think too much of it. I’ve run it before, no big deal. Respect the distance. I did not eat enough yesterday, I didn’t drink enough water yesterday; I went to bed over two hours later than usual. Yup, you guessed it, today’s 6.2 miles spit me up and chewed me out. As I struggled through the last two miles, angry with myself for making rookie mistakes, wondering why I continue to make the fueling epic fail I realized that I did not respect the distance. Lesson learned. Maybe next time I’ll remember.

Happy running y’all!

Wordless Wednesday

PNW: home sweet home

Try not to suck

The theme of this morning’s run was: try not to suck. Yesterday afternoon, I felt horribly nauseous. I blamed it on the G&T that I had with my lunch at hubby’s restaurant. All afternoon, I sipped water and sprite, trying to feel better. As I was doing the dinner dishes, I realized why I was feeling so crummy. Another cyst was rupturing. Darn! I popped my meds, finished the dishes and crawled into bed with my heating pad. I awoke this morning incredibly groggy and with a sore back to boot! My mantra for today’s run: shut up and run and try not to suck!

Rewind ten years. Hubby is a HUGE baseball fan. He used to live and die by the Seattle M’s. Life has gotten in the way lately and he’s lucky to catch a game online nowadays. When we were dating and first married, we went to a lot of games. During said games, we used to taunt Bret Boone. We nicknamed him crap machine and we used to yell at him, “hey crap machine, try not to suck!” This was after the major league performance-enhancing debacle. So, my goal for today’s run was to be better than the crap machine, trying not to suck!

I did a quick warm up to the stop light and the minute I crossed through the busy intersection I hit lap on my garmin and started to pick up my pace. When I reached what I thought was a mile, I kept going, waiting for my garmin to beep. Running, waiting for that beep. Finally I stopped to look at my watch… I couldn’t take my pace any longer. My watch read 1.2x miles so I figured that it had already beeped and I missed it. A few second later I heard it beep. Doh! I forgot that I had hit my lap button so it wouldn’t be beeping ON the mile. Epic fail. My first Magical Mile (MM) on this training plan is 9:15. I know that there is my walking in that time, but I’ll let it stand. 9:15 is still really good considering how crappy I felt this morning. I remember when 9:15 was sprinting for me back when I started running. I can only get faster.

To compensate for my less than stellar attempt this morning, I decided to push on for four miles. By the start of fourth mile, I was starting to get in the groove and I was actually feeling much better. Go figure. Tomorrow I walk, Wednesday I SLOG, Thursday is six miles, Friday I SLOG and hopefully Saturday I can get another four miles in. I was unable to run this last weekend due to hubby’s work schedule and I know that was a player in today’s crappy run.

It’s a great day for running!

Slogging and an ugly 5 miler

Since my recent arthritis diagnosis, I am trying to cross train and put less strain on my back. Enter SLOGGING. My friend G SLOGGED her way to a 10k PR. What exactly is SLOGGING you might ask. Just google “aqua jogging” and you’ll figure it out pretty quickly. A few weeks ago, I took the plunge (pun intended) and bought myself a belt. Yesterday, I tried one of G’s SLOGGING/brick workouts and it was amazing! Boring as all get out, but purely amazing. If you know me very well, you know that I am not a swimmer. I can float, I can tread, I can even do an improvised version of the freestyle. I do not put my head in the water. I blame my mother’s fear of the water combined with wearing contacts. I never learned how to swim with my face in. Yesterday, I taught myself. It scared the poo out of me the first lap, but I started to get the hang of it and dare I say it, I even enjoyed it once I figured it out.

The SLOGGING/brick starts with a 5 minute warm up followed by a 200 m swim. Now that you’re warm, you SLOG for 15 minutes with a 1:1 interval (hard:easy). Follow up with a 400 m swim. SLOG for 10 minutes. Swim for 200 m. Cool down for 5 minutes. This brick rocked my world yesterday and I can’t wait to try another variation tomorrow after my PTA board meeting. (Sorry to mention the Mom responsibilities, but now that school is back in session I have to do my real job too!)

This morning’s training plan was a 5-mile run. I wasn’t sure how it would go due to my SLOG/brick yesterday and having to run 5 miles at 10 o’clock in the morning. I love to run at 7, just after putting the boys on the bus. Unfortunately, I had a Cub Scout meeting at 8 with the Cubmaster (Yes, more of my meetings. That is what happens when you’re Committee Chair!) and I knew the run had to wait. I’m not Kara or Shalane and I can’t whip out a 20 minute 5-miler! Only in my dreams…

Back to the 5-miler. It was H-O-T today. The first two miles felt fabulous. I think it was my excellent fueling: oatmeal breakfast, coffee, cappuccino at Starbucks, plenty of water followed by a Cliff bar. But then the wheels came off after spending too much time in the sun. I know I live in HOTlanta, but I don’t like running in the heat and direct sun. It helped staying in the shade and dousing myself with lots of water. I sucked it up and finished. Slow pace, but I got it done. I was shocked at how fresh my legs felt after yesterday’s SLOG. Proof that I can add two days of SLOGGING into my training schedule and not hurt myself.

Regardless of the heat, it felt great to get out there and pound that pavement! I love being back on a training schedule and I’m so glad that my time in the pool is pushing me towards being a stronger athlete.

It’s a great day for running y’all. 

Wordless Wednesday

Really crappy picture of me and my slogging belt!

One with run

I don’t know if it was the back to school excitement, the oatmeal I had for breakfast or the cool, crisp morning, but I had an epic run today! The boys and I were at the bus stop with ample picture taking time. I snapped away while my 3^rd grader rolled his eyes at me. The 1^st grader posed, hid behind his hood, posed some more and then pushed his big brother. I found myself scolding them, at the bus stop, waiting for the beautiful, yellow bus to turn the corner and turn its lights on. Finally it did! I snapped a few more pictures of the boys bounding on the bus and then quickly dropped off my camera and the boys’ sweatshirts in the house. Run time, fun time!

kids are back to school.

hop on bus. run time, fun time.

epic. one with run.

See, I was so excited about my run; I composed a haiku! I wish that every run would be as exhilarating as this one! As we all know, running, like life, must have its hills, valleys and plateaus. That is what makes runs like today's so enjoyable.

Today may you find that elusive high and become one with your run! It’s a great day for running y’all!!

In the books

The first training run is in the books: 30 minutes this morning and they sure kicked my butt. My lungs (thank you asthma) and my legs were telling me that it had been two weeks since my last run. The good news is that it can only get better after today. After my back injury, I decided to switch from the TLAM Half Marathon: Own It plan to the Jeff Galloway Half Marathon Time Goal plan. My body responds well to the Galloway method and I think that is a perfect fit for me considering my recent injury. I am still planning to use the TLAM: ½ Own It plan for my half this next March. I just need to get back into the pace of running without injuring myself.

With the Galloway plan, I am working on some speed. I attempted some Acceleration Gliders this morning. From my unprofessional opinion, they are very much like strides, but use hills to pick up your pace. That is part of the reason why this run was so hard, I played with my pace the whole time. I know that I need to do more HIIT training and it was my first day back. Excuses, excuses. I will get faster. I will get physically stronger. I will get mentally stronger.

ATL Half: Half Marathon Training Schedule for Time Goal Runners

Week	Fri	Sat (CD/Acg/p)	Sun	Mon (h)	Tues	Wed	Thur
	10-Aug	11-Aug	12-Aug	13-Aug	14-Aug	15-Aug	16-Aug
1	off	30 min	off	30 min	easy walk	off	5 miles
	17-Aug	18-Aug	19-Aug	20-Aug	21-Aug	22-Aug	23-Aug
2	off	35 min/MM	off	35 min	easy walk	off	6 miles
	24-Aug	25-Aug	26-Aug	27-Aug	28-Aug	29-Aug	30-Aug
3	off	35 min	off	35 min	easy walk	off	7.5 miles
	31-Aug	1-Sep	2-Sep	3-Sep	4-Sep	5-Sep	6-Sep
4	off	45 min/MM	off	40 min	easy walk	off	4x800
	7-Sep	8-Sep	9-Sep	10-Sep	11-Sep	12-Sep	13-Sep
5	off	45 min	off	40 min	easy walk	off	9 miles
	14-Sep	15-Sep	16-Sep	17-Sep	18-Sep	19-Sep	20-Sep
6	off	45 min/MM	off	45 min	easy walk	off	6x800
	21-Sep	22-Sep	23-Sep	24-Sep	25-Sep	26-Sep	27-Sep
7	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	11 miles
	28-Sep	29-Sep	30-Sep	1-Oct	2-Oct	3-Oct	4-Oct
8	off	45 min/MM	off	45 min	easy walk	off	8x800
	5-Oct	6-Oct	7-Oct	8-Oct	9-Oct	10-Oct	11-Oct
9	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	13 miles
	12-Oct	13-Oct	14-Oct	15-Oct	16-Oct	17-Oct	18-Oct
10	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	10x800
	19-Oct	20-Oct	21-Oct	22-Oct	23-Oct	24-Oct	25-Oct
11	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	15 miles
	26-Oct	27-Oct	28-Oct	29-Oct	30-Oct	31-Oct	1-Nov
12	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	12x800
	2-Nov	3-Nov	4-Nov	5-Nov	6-Nov	7-Nov	8-Nov
13	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	17 miles
	9-Nov	10-Nov	11-Nov	12-Nov	13-Nov	14-Nov	15-Nov
14	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	Easy 5 miles/MM
	16-Nov	17-Nov	18-Nov	19-Nov	20-Nov	21-Nov	22-Nov
15	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	1/2 Marathon!!!
	23-Nov	24-Nov	25-Nov	26-Nov	27-Nov	28-Nov	29-Nov
16	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	4 miles
	30-Nov	1-Dec	2-Dec	3-Dec	4-Dec	5-Dec	6-Dec
17	off	45 min	off	45 min	easy walk	off	6-12 miles

Next run is Monday after I put the boys on the bus! I might try going to the pool tomorrow, depending on how crowded it is. I am looking forward to going while all the children are at school and I won’t have an audience.

It’s a great day for running, happy running y'all!