Monday, January 20, 2014

2 more miles

You might find this hard to believe BUT I ran 2 miles today! Yes, you read that right! I ran yesterday and today! I wish I could report that the run was at a great pace and without pain but my knee was really bothering me today. I did more than adequate stretching before my run and didn't try to push too hard and still ended up with the same pain.

I've been called stubborn before but I really wanted it to be something that would eventually improve with time and exercise. Unfortunately, I don't know if that is going to be the case and I don't want to injure myself before I really even start RUNNING; it's only January; I have 11 more races including a half marathon, which means a million more miles of training and running.

I am going to give it another week of stretching daily and resting to see if it improves and then I will make an appointment with a sports doctor to see if there truly is a problem. I have to get in my third run this week though to a) fill in my fitness log and b)earn my pedicure and c)to feel like I am making some progress.

According to The Running Doc and lots of other Google sources it's just my IT Band and I need to stretch! So I found tons of YouTube stretching videos and people that swear by their workout! I also have found lots of good videos and amazon review for the Protec IT Band Compression Wrap, so I have one of those on the way!

Sunday, January 19, 2014

Google Doctor

A few of my running friends gave me their  best advice for my knee issue, "Try to run/walk for awhile- you are going zero to 3 miles.", "Try the elliptical, less pounding on your knee.", "Try yoga or swimming if you feel like you need to get a workout in.", "Let yourself walk, it's OK if you don't run the whole time.", "Don't be so stubborn, any workout is better than none, you don't have to run 3 miles.", "Don't listen to your body it might be saying, "I'm tired" or "I don't want to run anymore" and it's just in your head". I took all of their advice to heart and then I sought out Google to see if I could get to the bottom of my problem!

After lots of Googling I think my knee/hip issue is due to my IT Band which is a common issue for "new runners." I read LOTS of articles and found several suggestions for improvement. Strength training and stretching seem to be the "cure." I watched several YouTube videos and spent 20 minutes stretching today before I set out for my run. I still had pain but it wasn't as bad as last weekend. I hope THIS is the answer :)! YouTube has a wealth of knee/hip stretches for runners and I also found a few stretch training cardio workouts for off days.

My knee is sore but I iced it when I got home from my run today. I am hoping to run again tomorrow and eventually see/feel improvement. I might also be bribing myself with a pedicure IF I run 3 times this week (since I will be wearing flip flops in approximately 1 week).

Running buddy


Lilly is my sassy, independent, brave, little ball of energy who is always ready to play! I decided to take her for a run with me today and she made an awesome little running buddy! We ran 1.75 miles and made an awesome pace of 9.31 min/mile. 


She couldn't wait to hit the water bowl when we got home! 


Lilly is NEVER and I mean NEVER too tired to play especially if there is a ball near.


She spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the couch. THIS is not a position she is often found in.


Princess Lilly was so tired after her workout! I think she will be coming with me more often!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Running Away

Happy Sunday! We spent the day doing some home improvements and cleaning around the house. We woke up with a mission {clean said house for jewelry party next weekend} and I quickly discovered what I like LESS than running… painting and scrubbing the kitchen! The whole day all I could think about was running {OK, maybe it's not all that I was thinking about BUT its as the most I've thought about running e.v.e.r.}. I don't know if I am slowly becoming obsessed OR if I just wanted to avoid the paint brush and Clorox wipes as well as the other 5,873 things on my to do list (I am also avoiding them now!). I may have been trying to run away from the cleaning which if that is the case I need to put some sort of {miserable} cleaning on my to-do list EVERY day so I feel motivated to run! So I laced up my new Mizunos for their very first run, which was really exciting! I also wore my jazzy new leggings from Lizzie which I love!

                           

I stretched like Gumby, reported my route to my doting husband who worries about me running, downloaded Sam's Letters to Jennifer {and got a mini lecture about only running with 1 earbud and to be aware of my surroundings, etc. etc. etc.}, started up MapMyRun and set off on my run. I had hoped to do at least 2 miles but was really shooting for 3!

                    

My run didn't got quite how I had hoped because my knee started hurting and at about 1 mile I couldn't bare to run anymore so I headed back home. I kept repeating a few of the quotes from the "Running Advice" post {"Any run is better than no run." "Listen to your body." "You will not regret the run you take, you will only regret the ones you don't."}

                               

Roger was a little surprised to see me after only 17 minutes and immediately directed me to the ice after telling me how stubborn I am and that I need to give my knee a rest, etc! 

Friday, January 10, 2014

Running Advice

What's the best running advice you've received? That was the question asked by the Run Like a Diva FB page today! My response was advice given to me by Kimberly. Kimberly is a runner, a real runner. She told me to start counting while running, to inhale and exhale at the same rate. I usually count to three and this has helped me significantly. I had fun reading through the other advice and wanted to share my favorites.

"Keep moving….fast or slow you are always faster than the person on the couch!" - Love this and isn't it so true. Now if I could stop being the person on the couch.

"Eat before morning run and during long runs." - Check, got it! I've heard this a lot.

"Don't stop." -As soon as I get going I am pretty sure I will be unstoppable :)!

"Enjoy it." - I would probably want to kick the person that said this one. Kick them right in the face!

"Your mind will give out before your legs. Push through."- This is by far one of my favorites

"Even the worst run is better than the one you don't do."- I full heartedly agree with this.

"Running is a mental game. Takes much more mental strength that physical."- THIS is actually my favorite I think because it is completely true. The running truly is not a physical strain for me especially the first mile or two.

"If you can run 8 miles then you can do 13.1." - I will come  back to this one when I have actually RAN 8 miles LOL.

"Have a mantra…"this is easy", "you can do this", etc." - Hmmm, what shall my mantra be?!

"You will never regret lacing up those shoes and getting out there but you will definitely regret NOT doing it." - YES!

"Listen to your body."- THIS is the reason I haven't been running since the first 5k. My poor knee is killing me and I am not quite sure why. I don't want to do more damage and not be able to run!

"Speed up your arm swing and your legs will follow."- Note taken, I will keep this in mind the next time I am running.

"Quit your complaining, shut up and do it."- YUP, this one is PERFECT for me! 

Happy Friday! I hope to have some running to report next week!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Governor's Challenge Week 1


So this is The Governor's Challenge, we participate as a school every year. We keep the fitness log on our classroom doors for accountability and I can't wait to see how full mine is in 18 weeks!

Tuesday, January 7, 2014


You don't have to worry about this "new runner" running too much world! I will have no problem with the "rest days" in my training plan and my body will definitely need to recover between runs. Considering I could barely walk after running 3.2 miles on Sunday, I will have no problem resting. I might actually be a little too good at resting (I've gotten into a habit of resting between races!). Actually I am hoping that my knee heals quickly and I can get on with this running. 

Monday, January 6, 2014

Ice and a long cold drink of water….


It's going to be a LONNNNNNNGGG year if this is how each run/race goes. (Side note: Meet Lilly. She is my little ball of energy. She appears blurry because she is always on the go and ready to play. She does not care if I am hurt, she would like me to play.) I have a pretty high tolerance for pain and I really try not to complain about things but my right knee is KILLING ME and by killing me I mean I can't walk! This started around mile 2 of Frozen 5k yesterday. At first I thought it was a lame excuse to trick myself into not running. No trick here! It's totally real and extra painful. I am not sure what I did or how to fix it but after limping around doing errands, Roger suggested I try some ice. Ice is magic when you are in elementary school, I send kids to the nurse everyday for ice and they come back skipping with huge smiles. Didn't happen quite like that with this little ice pack. I also tried a long cold drink of water which can also do the trick for some of my littlest friends. Nope. Didn't work! Not even close! The rest of my body is sore but good sore and I am not complaining about that. My right obliques are also pretty sore and will be very toned from all of this limping around. So, for now my running mission is put on hold.


I mean it's not like I was going to run outside today or tomorrow anyways….look at these subzero temps. We are setting record lows here in Virginia! I suppose with my snow day tomorrow I could've gone to the community center to run on the treadmill but with this knee injury I think I will stay cozied up right here in my nice heated bed. Just when I could've been on a roll… {Sigh!}.

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Race 1- Frozen 5k


One race down, eleven to go! I am exhausted just thinking about it but I feel great after our run this morning! After Jingle All the Way in rain, sleet and snow I didn't think a race could get much colder or wetter but the day started with frigid temps and freezing rain. We arrived early and watched the real runners warm up, stretch and run around the parking lot while we sat in the car with the heat on full blast. We did stretch in the car and then had 8 minutes to get ready at the start line. It was a very long 8 minutes and the National Anthem felt like it was never going to end! 5, 4, 3 (long pause) GO! Really? That's how you start a race? What happened to 2 and 1?


I actually remembered MapMyRun today a.) because I wanted this mileage to count for my 2014 total and b.) because I have forgot at every other race and wonder how far we've gone at about two tenths of a mile. For some reason this felt like the toughest race yet. 

When I heard someone say we had hit 1 mile I wanted to turn around and head back to the warm car and hit up Starbucks drive thru. It felt like we had been running for an eternity or at least longer than 10 minutes! At 1.5 miles I was seriously contemplating all of this running and telling myself what an idiot I was for thinking this was a good idea and for singing up for a race a month and a HALF MARATHON. These thoughts kept me occupied until the next check point. 

Around mile 2 my knee started hurting really bad so I stopped talking to myself about all of the running and started focusing on how I was running. My hip hadn't been bothering me so I thought I had fixed my problem with some stretching and now my knee started giving out. My competitive nature kicked in at some point after mile 2 because of the turn around, seeing other people breezing by on the other lane is extremely motivating. We even saw someone running in bare feet, I was complaining after 1 mile and here comes someone cruising by us IN. BARE.FEET. There was also a dad with a double stroller and two littles who was running in the HOV lane who blew by us. Kids of all ages ran and also passed us! 

We got about 78 compliments on our pink tutus! We may have been the only people in tutus amongst the serious runners, actually there was one other girl. Most of the compliments came between mile 2 and 3. Someone even asked us if they made us run faster! I wanted to say something smart like, "Does it LOOK like we are running fast? Does it LOOK like we are at the front of the pack? Does it LOOK like I want to talk to you about my stupid tutu right now? I can't even breathe and I don't even like running." But I just smiled and said, "No, light up shoes do that! That's my next investment, light up shoes." She laughed and Lizzie asked if I was seriously going to buy light up shoes. We somehow made it to mile 3 and across the finish line.

Seeing the finish line always gives me an extra surge of energy and I can push it hard to the end. We finished in 33 minutes and some change according to the race clock (MMR was started in my pocket while we were waiting at the start line) which really isn't too bad. All that running and only 294 calories, I don't even think that covers the bowl of cereal, brownie and diluted gatorade I had before the race. {Sigh!} It always feels amazing to be done so why can't the actual running be more enjoyable? I am hoping that part comes with time and training...

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Week 1



Ask me how week one went? Just ask…

        and I will tell you that IT DIDN'T GO…
  • New Years Day was rather chilly and I stayed cozy in bed. 
  • Thursday was as close to running as it came! I packed my jazzy runners bag with a warm outfit, my shiny new shoes, etc. etc. etc. and I planned to run after school. Guess what the weather decided to do? The temperatures dropped and it was snowing/sleeting by 3pm. We had a "winter storm" Thursday night and no school on Friday.
  • Freezing temps on Friday were not good running conditions and the sidewalks were covered with ice/snow!
  • Today I did packet pickup for Frozen 5k and I am tempted to put on my running gear and head to the community center to get a quick run in.

Tomorrow is the first race of 2014 and the last time I ran was Jingle All the Way 8k! My new running shoes will meet the pavement tomorrow whether I am ready or not. I feel like a bit of a running impostor since I haven't been running but I have all of these big goals for 2014! While I don't know about conquering the world and these would not typically be my shoes of choice I am hopeful that I will find my motivation when the weather warms up just a TINY bit.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Half Marathon

Happy New Year!!! I didn't run today but I did make this jazzy countdown…
(even though I cannot get it to center for the life of me and it is driving my OCD self crazy)


     
   




Happyasdfkajsdfkljasdf


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  1. WEBSITE COUNTDOWN WIDGE    T
  2. Jakajdfslkasdf



254 days can be converted to one of these units: 
21,945,600 seconds 
365,760 minutes 
6096 hours 
254 days 
36 weeks (rounded down)

If you want to get real specific until exact race time which is 7:30am in Lessburg click HERE!

And when you look at things this way, there is still plenty of time to train!