First, in case anyone was wondering, it is not a good idea to do heavy exercise on very little food. On a more positive note, I ran 10 miles today for the first time in well over a month. It was a hard 10 miles. I went faster than usual, so it's hard for me to know if it was hard because of that, or if it was hard because I hadn't had enough food and water, or if it was hard because I'm not in long distance shape anymore, or if it was a combination of all of those things. Regardless, I was really happy with my overall pace/time. I set out trying to just run it at my natural pace, which was fine for the first 5-6 miles until I went up a big hill. That hill is one that I run at least once a week, often more, but today it almost killed me. I was thinking thoughts of stopping before I got to the top. Not normal (anymore). After the hill, I was tired, but still in good spirits. I was able to maintain my pace but it took a bit more effort. When I was done, I had run the 10 miles at a 9:12 pace. For my goal of running my next half-marathon in under 2 hours, I need to run at least a 9:08 pace. I think I could have done it today, but it would have been really hard. As it was, I was really pooped, like I mentioned earlier. But this makes me really optimistic about my ability to do the sub 2 hour half marathon in the spring.
On a related note, I'm considering doing a half ironman (Ironman 70.3) in the spring. Don't hold me to it, but it's probably my best chance. Our lives are going to be a bit crazy starting in June or so, we imagine, with Peter graduating and interviewing, etc. Right now, since I'm so tired from that 10 miler I just ran and I haven't eaten enough yet, that sounds incredibly intimidating. The way I feel now is probably more realistic than the way I normally feel, so it's probably for the best. BUT...
I really need something to work toward now. I feel a little aimless. And the holiday foods around me are impossible to pass up (yum!), but this is not proving to be good for my waistline! With no marathon AND no soccer, all I have is regular running and dance classes, which is great on the weeks Peter can come home early enough for me to get to most of them. If not, some days the only exercise I get is one dance class, which is not enough for me. I think I have a slow metabolism (and I KNOW I have a big appetite). So even putting in lots of effort not to eat too much leaves me eating enough that I still need to exercise A LOT to not gain weight.
So, that's where I am right now with exercise. I've made huge strides in my running pace, which feels really awesome. And now I just need to choose what things I'm working toward and just start, otherwise I fear I will become lazy.
The prattlings (if such a word could ever be used to describe what I do) of a mediocre yet obsessive runner.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
One Down...
Today I ended up running by myself again, so it took the "opportunity" (that's in quotes because I really wouldn't want to do this more than once every few weeks) to work on my speed. I set out hoping to run 10K faster than normal but slower than my goal, so that I could see how it felt and still have a fun race time to beat. (Un)Fortunately, that's not how it turned out! I set out fast (for me) from the get go and aside from some slow downs at a couple of hilly sections, I kept up a pace in the 8's (EIGHTS!!!!!!!) for the entire 10K. Holy wow! I didn't actually think that was possible for me! My 5K time was only about 50 seconds slower than my awesome fast one earlier this year, my 5 mile time beat my previous best 5 mile time by a minute and a half, and my overall pace for the whole 10K was 8:40. For me, that is some seriously awesome and amazing running. My goal (see the previous blog post) was to run a 10K this fall/winter in under 57 minutes, which I thought was doable, but would still be really hard. This morning, I ran it in 53:46. Wow Wow Wow. That makes me so happy! (And really afraid to try running another 10K distance anytime soon, because I'm not sure I'll ever be able to duplicate that!!!)
Thursday, October 20, 2011
What now?
So, where am I exercise-wise with my past goals? See below. And then below that for some updated goals!
Long Term Exercise Goals:
1) Exercise at least 5 days/week.
Check. I've got 4 dance class possibilities per week, soccer once a week, and 3 days of running per week to fill up all those days.
2) Exercise between 250-300 minutes per week.
Check. See above.
3) Keep exercising when my friends move away and eventually when I move away.
The exercise buddies keep changing, but it's still working out for now. And actually, only half of my exercise relies on my buddies now, which can be a good thing.
4) Have a regular strength training routine.
Whoops. If "regular" can mean once a week, every other week, then sure. But I don't think it's enough, so I need to work on this one.
Short Term Exercise Goals:
5) Run a half marathon on April 30
Did it!
6) Run a marathon sometime in the summer of 2011
Did it!
7) Complete at least 1 triathlon before the year ends
whoops! I did a second marathon instead! Hopefully next year will be triathlon year...
8) Play me some soccer!
Doing it! Woohoo! I love soccer!
So....new goals?
1) Exercise at least 5 days/week.
2) Exercise at least 250 minutes each week (because that's the number in a study that showed weight loss to stay off)
3) Run a 10K this fall/winter in under 57 minutes.
4) Run a 5K this fall/winter faster than 26:30.
5) Attend 2 of my 4 dance classes each week, minimum.
6) Start doing regular strength training again!
Long Term Exercise Goals:
1) Exercise at least 5 days/week.
Check. I've got 4 dance class possibilities per week, soccer once a week, and 3 days of running per week to fill up all those days.
2) Exercise between 250-300 minutes per week.
Check. See above.
3) Keep exercising when my friends move away and eventually when I move away.
The exercise buddies keep changing, but it's still working out for now. And actually, only half of my exercise relies on my buddies now, which can be a good thing.
4) Have a regular strength training routine.
Whoops. If "regular" can mean once a week, every other week, then sure. But I don't think it's enough, so I need to work on this one.
Short Term Exercise Goals:
5) Run a half marathon on April 30
Did it!
6) Run a marathon sometime in the summer of 2011
Did it!
7) Complete at least 1 triathlon before the year ends
whoops! I did a second marathon instead! Hopefully next year will be triathlon year...
8) Play me some soccer!
Doing it! Woohoo! I love soccer!
So....new goals?
1) Exercise at least 5 days/week.
2) Exercise at least 250 minutes each week (because that's the number in a study that showed weight loss to stay off)
3) Run a 10K this fall/winter in under 57 minutes.
4) Run a 5K this fall/winter faster than 26:30.
5) Attend 2 of my 4 dance classes each week, minimum.
6) Start doing regular strength training again!
Marathon 2.0
I'm so tired of thinking about long runs and marathon stuff, so it's hard to get up the energy to write this update. The short version is that we did it! Woohoo! All three of us completed it without any hitches. It was really hard and we were all very tired and very sore for a few days, but I think that aside from a few very minor twinges here or there, we're all recovered now.
The marathon started at 7am, and it was actually still dark when we started running. It quickly got lighter, but it was a gray day, which turned out to be awesome. Since it was cloudy, the temperature at the start of the race was about 63 degrees instead of the forecasted 46 degrees I was expecting from the forecast 1 week prior to the race. The temperature after the race--68 degrees. It really doesn't get much better than that for almost 5 hours of running.
We started off holding ourselves back a lot, trying to make sure that our pace stayed in the mid to upper 10's, which is what we were hoping for as an overall pace at the end. If you recall, my mistake in Marathon 1.0 was to start off way too fast, which caused me to hit the wall around mile 16. We were trying to avoid that. In addition to the perfect weather, the course was beautiful. We ran past rolling green hills of vineyards and oak trees. Race conditions were really just ideal. I opted not to run with my water bottle, but I put on my Armpocket loaded with 6 Fig Newtons and I planned to drink at every aid station and eat whatever was available whenever I felt like it. I think this ended up working pretty well, but I did get a bit thirsty between some of the aid stations.
The first 15 or so miles were pretty uneventful, aside from the turnaround point at 13.1. We had taken it nice and easy and came in the halfway point at 2:22, which meant if we kept the same pace on the way back, we would come in at 4:44. Marathon 1.0 was 4:49 and some change, although my halfway point in that race was just under 2:19. I figured we'd slow down in the second half, but I was still hopeful that we would beat my time. (I definitely didn't expect it to happen though.) At about mile 16, we saw our gaggle of husbands and kids--3 husbands and 9 kids combined into 2 minivans. The kids ran with us and the husbands took pictures. It was great to see them and really fun to have them run next to us. We continued to run and then they drove past us (right on the road we were running the race on!) and waited for us at another point up ahead. We continued to play this leapfrogging game for about 4 miles.
In those 4 miles, Buddy Amy and I tooke a potty stop and Buddy Cami continued on (which we were expecting to happen at some point because Buddy Cami is capable of much better running than Buddy Amy and me). Right around mile 20, maybe a bit before, I hit the wall. It wasn't horrible, and not as bad as in Marathon 1.0, but my ability to be optimistic and hold my head up high and enjoy myself was gone. (At that point we actually sent the families to the finish line so we could stop trying to look happy to see them and just grit our teeth and finish the race.) Only 10K left to tough it out! So short yet so far! I'm not sure about Buddy Amy--I know her legs were sore like mine and she was very tired...but, when we had 3 miles left, Buddy Amy started leaving me in her dust and I could NOT keep up! Rather, I couldn't find the willpower inside myself to make my legs go fast enough to keep up with her. She had some hidden energy reserve inside that I either didn't have or was finding it impossible to tap into. Actually, I did manage to go fast enough to tag behind her by about 100 feet, and twice I caught back up to her (um...really, she allowed me to catch back up to her after I exerted enough effort to make it obvious that I was attempting not to get left in the dust). Those last 3 miles were SO HARD. Really. Really hard! But thanks to my Garmin, I could just see the remaining distance ticking down and I kept saying to myself, "Just chip it away. Chip it away."
When we had 0.2 miles left, there was a bend ahead that you knew turned into the finish straightaway, and I saw Buddy Amy was a little closer to me than before, so I turned on my long stride to catch her so we could run in together. Thankfully, she was slowing down for me instead of sprinting in to the end. If she had decided to sprint before I caught her, there was no way I was going to be able to turn on a full sprint. But, like I said, she was giving me a chance to catch her, so we ran in together, and I made sure to let her finish before me because she was so nice and let me catch her. In the end, we finished in 4:56:07, which is about 15 seconds per mile slower than Marathon 1.0. But that doesn't really bother me because this race course was rolling hills the entire way and Marathon 1.0 was almost all flat, so this course was a slower course.
All in all, it was really hard, but still worth it! As usual, I couldn't keep my tears from popping out at the end. Dangit. I'm really not one for public tears (for myself--I totally don't mind when other people do it!). And ooooohhhhhhh man did my legs hurt! (But I got to ease the pain a bit with a jacuzzi afterward, which was AWESOME.)
So, yeah. Marathon 2.0. We did it!
The marathon started at 7am, and it was actually still dark when we started running. It quickly got lighter, but it was a gray day, which turned out to be awesome. Since it was cloudy, the temperature at the start of the race was about 63 degrees instead of the forecasted 46 degrees I was expecting from the forecast 1 week prior to the race. The temperature after the race--68 degrees. It really doesn't get much better than that for almost 5 hours of running.
We started off holding ourselves back a lot, trying to make sure that our pace stayed in the mid to upper 10's, which is what we were hoping for as an overall pace at the end. If you recall, my mistake in Marathon 1.0 was to start off way too fast, which caused me to hit the wall around mile 16. We were trying to avoid that. In addition to the perfect weather, the course was beautiful. We ran past rolling green hills of vineyards and oak trees. Race conditions were really just ideal. I opted not to run with my water bottle, but I put on my Armpocket loaded with 6 Fig Newtons and I planned to drink at every aid station and eat whatever was available whenever I felt like it. I think this ended up working pretty well, but I did get a bit thirsty between some of the aid stations.
The first 15 or so miles were pretty uneventful, aside from the turnaround point at 13.1. We had taken it nice and easy and came in the halfway point at 2:22, which meant if we kept the same pace on the way back, we would come in at 4:44. Marathon 1.0 was 4:49 and some change, although my halfway point in that race was just under 2:19. I figured we'd slow down in the second half, but I was still hopeful that we would beat my time. (I definitely didn't expect it to happen though.) At about mile 16, we saw our gaggle of husbands and kids--3 husbands and 9 kids combined into 2 minivans. The kids ran with us and the husbands took pictures. It was great to see them and really fun to have them run next to us. We continued to run and then they drove past us (right on the road we were running the race on!) and waited for us at another point up ahead. We continued to play this leapfrogging game for about 4 miles.
In those 4 miles, Buddy Amy and I tooke a potty stop and Buddy Cami continued on (which we were expecting to happen at some point because Buddy Cami is capable of much better running than Buddy Amy and me). Right around mile 20, maybe a bit before, I hit the wall. It wasn't horrible, and not as bad as in Marathon 1.0, but my ability to be optimistic and hold my head up high and enjoy myself was gone. (At that point we actually sent the families to the finish line so we could stop trying to look happy to see them and just grit our teeth and finish the race.) Only 10K left to tough it out! So short yet so far! I'm not sure about Buddy Amy--I know her legs were sore like mine and she was very tired...but, when we had 3 miles left, Buddy Amy started leaving me in her dust and I could NOT keep up! Rather, I couldn't find the willpower inside myself to make my legs go fast enough to keep up with her. She had some hidden energy reserve inside that I either didn't have or was finding it impossible to tap into. Actually, I did manage to go fast enough to tag behind her by about 100 feet, and twice I caught back up to her (um...really, she allowed me to catch back up to her after I exerted enough effort to make it obvious that I was attempting not to get left in the dust). Those last 3 miles were SO HARD. Really. Really hard! But thanks to my Garmin, I could just see the remaining distance ticking down and I kept saying to myself, "Just chip it away. Chip it away."
When we had 0.2 miles left, there was a bend ahead that you knew turned into the finish straightaway, and I saw Buddy Amy was a little closer to me than before, so I turned on my long stride to catch her so we could run in together. Thankfully, she was slowing down for me instead of sprinting in to the end. If she had decided to sprint before I caught her, there was no way I was going to be able to turn on a full sprint. But, like I said, she was giving me a chance to catch her, so we ran in together, and I made sure to let her finish before me because she was so nice and let me catch her. In the end, we finished in 4:56:07, which is about 15 seconds per mile slower than Marathon 1.0. But that doesn't really bother me because this race course was rolling hills the entire way and Marathon 1.0 was almost all flat, so this course was a slower course.
All in all, it was really hard, but still worth it! As usual, I couldn't keep my tears from popping out at the end. Dangit. I'm really not one for public tears (for myself--I totally don't mind when other people do it!). And ooooohhhhhhh man did my legs hurt! (But I got to ease the pain a bit with a jacuzzi afterward, which was AWESOME.)
So, yeah. Marathon 2.0. We did it!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Another 20!
Last week was our maximum mileage week, pre-marathon. This week our taper starts, although the only thing different between this week and last week is that our long run this week will only be 10 miles, instead of 20 like last week. It's kinda crazy, but we have another running buddy now who will be running our marathon with us. She came along on our mid-week 9 miler less than two weeks ago, after running 2-3 miles 5 or 6 times a week. The 9 miles were no problem, and neither were the 7 miles we did two days in a row after that. She came on our 20 mile run with us on Saturday and had to run ahead of us because running so slow hurt her knees. Then she would stop and wait for us anytime there was a fork in the path. haha I just have to laugh at that. Some peoples' bodies were just made for running in a way that mine was not! But it's okay. I'm cool with not being so fast.
Anyway, the 20 miler went really well for me! My original marathon buddy had a tougher time for this one (to balance out the fact that it was the other way around for 18 miles?). I came into this run with the intent to have as many calories and drinks of water as my body desired and to make sure I took in something every few miles. I started off drinking some sports drink (here's a shout out to my mother-in-law! She can hook you up if you want to buy some.) and a banana. Then I brought 4 Fig Newtons, several grapes, a Gu AND about 24 more ounces of sports drink. I ingested all but a few of the grapes during the run PLUS more water from water fountains along the way. The night before I had burritos stuffed mostly with rice and beans (and some meat). Not the carbo loading I would have normally done, but it was our courtyard welcome to the beginning of another school year event and that's what was for dinner. It seemed to work out ok. So, anyway, all of those calories seemed to work out great! Around mile 15 or so my legs were already protesting but I never hit the wall for the entire 20 mile run which is pretty freaking amazing. Sorry for the pseudo swear. You're lucky it wasn't worse! haha Anyway, I'm feeling pretty optimistic after that run but I know based on my experience from the other marathon that a good 20 mile run does not make a good 26.2. On Saturday I felt like I could have run the entire marathon without a hitch, though, so I'm going to have to say this 20 mile run was even BETTER than to 20 mile run in my first training. Woohoo! Cross your fingers that my running buddies and I will ALL be having a good day when the marathon comes!
Anyway, the 20 miler went really well for me! My original marathon buddy had a tougher time for this one (to balance out the fact that it was the other way around for 18 miles?). I came into this run with the intent to have as many calories and drinks of water as my body desired and to make sure I took in something every few miles. I started off drinking some sports drink (here's a shout out to my mother-in-law! She can hook you up if you want to buy some.) and a banana. Then I brought 4 Fig Newtons, several grapes, a Gu AND about 24 more ounces of sports drink. I ingested all but a few of the grapes during the run PLUS more water from water fountains along the way. The night before I had burritos stuffed mostly with rice and beans (and some meat). Not the carbo loading I would have normally done, but it was our courtyard welcome to the beginning of another school year event and that's what was for dinner. It seemed to work out ok. So, anyway, all of those calories seemed to work out great! Around mile 15 or so my legs were already protesting but I never hit the wall for the entire 20 mile run which is pretty freaking amazing. Sorry for the pseudo swear. You're lucky it wasn't worse! haha Anyway, I'm feeling pretty optimistic after that run but I know based on my experience from the other marathon that a good 20 mile run does not make a good 26.2. On Saturday I felt like I could have run the entire marathon without a hitch, though, so I'm going to have to say this 20 mile run was even BETTER than to 20 mile run in my first training. Woohoo! Cross your fingers that my running buddies and I will ALL be having a good day when the marathon comes!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Update
Don't worry--I'm still here! It hasn't even been a month since my last post, but a lot of exercising happens in 3 1/2 weeks. I guess I never mentioned on here that I'll be running another marathon in October? If I didn't...guess what? I'm running another marathon in October! I know, I know. It's so soon after the first one. But my friend was feeling like it was a possibility for her, after running 15 miles before our half marathon last month. We only needed 3 runs longer than that to complete the marathon training, and when you're so close, why not, right? Right. I knew you'd agree. So...what have I been up to for the month of September?
In early September I did a nice 16 mile run with my friend. She was sick so we took it easy. It was awesome of her to even be able to run all of that while sick. Then we took off for Utah for a short, less than a week long, vacation. We actually crammed all three kids into the middle seat and stuck 3 bikes and a double jogging stroller into the back of the minivan. It was awesome having all of that with us, but I don't think we'll do it again. There was a reason we bought a minivan, and being able to have the kids easily buckle themselves (like they can three across in the van) was NOT the only reason! Dang, those were some crazy driving days!
I was going to go on a 12 mile run with my friend who moved to Utah, but our husbands took forever going on a 67 mile bike ride (go them!) and I was feeling a bit sick, so I decided to skip it. It was okay though, partially because I ran twice (extra) while we were staying with my sister-in-law (once with her! Woot!). But then I missed my Monday run because we were driving, so, really, I still ended up quite a bit under. But what can you do when you're sick? Meanwhile, as I was in Utah, my fall soccer season started back up and I had to miss the first two games! Major bummer. I also missed the annual Palo Alto Moonlight Run, which I've run 3 years in a row. AND, they had a thunderstorm at that race, which is something VERY RARE in the Bay Area! Peter and I MIIIISSSSSSS thunderstorms! But, we got to see our niece get married, and she was a beautiful bride.
Oh yeah, I should also mention that my hip (I think my IT band, but I haven't looked it up yet to confirm) started bothering me in Utah and now every time I run I feel like an old woman and, with the exception of yesterday's run, it hurts THE ENTIRE TIME I'm running and makes running incredibly tedious. It also hurts when I play soccer. I'm starting to wonder if I should stop exercising for a while, but, y'know, I don't want to. So...hopefully it will go away. Otherwise, I will be very sad!
So, upon returning from Utah, I did a few "with-stroller" runs because Peter was on another backpacking trip (I guess I didn't mention he was backpacking in Utah for a couple days...). I caught a dance class (yay dance!) the day after he came home, and then...dunh dunh dunh...came Saturday. Saturday was a crazy day! We ran 18 miles in the morning, at quite a respectable clip! Nothing amazing, but it was a pace we have run for lots of our 5 mile runs, so totally a great long run pace! I was actually still feeling sick from earlier in the week so that run was pretty hard for me. Really, it was one of my worst 3 runs ever.
After that long run I had about two hours to recover and get ready for my first soccer game of the season. Luckily my legs were feeling pretty good! Of course, no matter how good your legs feel after an 18 mile run, there's only so much your body can do in one day. So, yeah. I stunk pretty bad at that soccer game! I played midfield for the first half, but then I was tired of running for the whole time and I switched to defense. By the last 30 minutes of the game my calves were cramping up every time I tried to sprint so I couldn't defend all that well against the speedy striker I was guarding. Too bad... After Saturday, my legs were sore for the next several days! In fact, Friday was the first day that seemed pretty normal (and maybe that's why my hip finally loosened up enough to not hurt for the entire run that day?).
Gee whiz, I guess 3 weeks of exercise is like a novel... Well, anyway, this week was another fun week of running. There was something going on today, so we rescheduled our miles this week so that we could get all of the miles in without doing a long run today (Saturday). That meant that we ran 9 miles Wednesday, 7 1/4 on Thursday, and 6 3/4 on Friday. That's the first time I've ever done even 2 days in a row with high miles like that, let alone 3 days in a row. Besides my sad hip, it felt great. I ended both Thursday's and Friday's runs feeling great, despite the first 6/7 of Thursday's run feeling so pooey. And now that I think of it, I came under by 4 miles this week because I skipped Tuesday to see if my sad legs could recover a bit from that crazy Saturday!
This week, I've had two soccer games, one on Thursday and one today, and they were both awesome!!! I felt really great, and I feel like my game is coming back to me after all those years. In fact, I think I'm even gaining some skills that I never picked up back in the day. I have to say, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE soccer!
So, that's basically it for my last few weeks. Aside from that, I've got 2-3 dance classes per week that I'll be doing for the next few months. So I've got a marathon in 3 weeks, some dance classes, and soccer. Woot! Exercise is great, people! You know you wanna do it!
Stay tuned for our longest marathon training run this Saturday--20 miles!
In early September I did a nice 16 mile run with my friend. She was sick so we took it easy. It was awesome of her to even be able to run all of that while sick. Then we took off for Utah for a short, less than a week long, vacation. We actually crammed all three kids into the middle seat and stuck 3 bikes and a double jogging stroller into the back of the minivan. It was awesome having all of that with us, but I don't think we'll do it again. There was a reason we bought a minivan, and being able to have the kids easily buckle themselves (like they can three across in the van) was NOT the only reason! Dang, those were some crazy driving days!
I was going to go on a 12 mile run with my friend who moved to Utah, but our husbands took forever going on a 67 mile bike ride (go them!) and I was feeling a bit sick, so I decided to skip it. It was okay though, partially because I ran twice (extra) while we were staying with my sister-in-law (once with her! Woot!). But then I missed my Monday run because we were driving, so, really, I still ended up quite a bit under. But what can you do when you're sick? Meanwhile, as I was in Utah, my fall soccer season started back up and I had to miss the first two games! Major bummer. I also missed the annual Palo Alto Moonlight Run, which I've run 3 years in a row. AND, they had a thunderstorm at that race, which is something VERY RARE in the Bay Area! Peter and I MIIIISSSSSSS thunderstorms! But, we got to see our niece get married, and she was a beautiful bride.
Oh yeah, I should also mention that my hip (I think my IT band, but I haven't looked it up yet to confirm) started bothering me in Utah and now every time I run I feel like an old woman and, with the exception of yesterday's run, it hurts THE ENTIRE TIME I'm running and makes running incredibly tedious. It also hurts when I play soccer. I'm starting to wonder if I should stop exercising for a while, but, y'know, I don't want to. So...hopefully it will go away. Otherwise, I will be very sad!
So, upon returning from Utah, I did a few "with-stroller" runs because Peter was on another backpacking trip (I guess I didn't mention he was backpacking in Utah for a couple days...). I caught a dance class (yay dance!) the day after he came home, and then...dunh dunh dunh...came Saturday. Saturday was a crazy day! We ran 18 miles in the morning, at quite a respectable clip! Nothing amazing, but it was a pace we have run for lots of our 5 mile runs, so totally a great long run pace! I was actually still feeling sick from earlier in the week so that run was pretty hard for me. Really, it was one of my worst 3 runs ever.
After that long run I had about two hours to recover and get ready for my first soccer game of the season. Luckily my legs were feeling pretty good! Of course, no matter how good your legs feel after an 18 mile run, there's only so much your body can do in one day. So, yeah. I stunk pretty bad at that soccer game! I played midfield for the first half, but then I was tired of running for the whole time and I switched to defense. By the last 30 minutes of the game my calves were cramping up every time I tried to sprint so I couldn't defend all that well against the speedy striker I was guarding. Too bad... After Saturday, my legs were sore for the next several days! In fact, Friday was the first day that seemed pretty normal (and maybe that's why my hip finally loosened up enough to not hurt for the entire run that day?).
Gee whiz, I guess 3 weeks of exercise is like a novel... Well, anyway, this week was another fun week of running. There was something going on today, so we rescheduled our miles this week so that we could get all of the miles in without doing a long run today (Saturday). That meant that we ran 9 miles Wednesday, 7 1/4 on Thursday, and 6 3/4 on Friday. That's the first time I've ever done even 2 days in a row with high miles like that, let alone 3 days in a row. Besides my sad hip, it felt great. I ended both Thursday's and Friday's runs feeling great, despite the first 6/7 of Thursday's run feeling so pooey. And now that I think of it, I came under by 4 miles this week because I skipped Tuesday to see if my sad legs could recover a bit from that crazy Saturday!
This week, I've had two soccer games, one on Thursday and one today, and they were both awesome!!! I felt really great, and I feel like my game is coming back to me after all those years. In fact, I think I'm even gaining some skills that I never picked up back in the day. I have to say, I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE soccer!
So, that's basically it for my last few weeks. Aside from that, I've got 2-3 dance classes per week that I'll be doing for the next few months. So I've got a marathon in 3 weeks, some dance classes, and soccer. Woot! Exercise is great, people! You know you wanna do it!
Stay tuned for our longest marathon training run this Saturday--20 miles!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Pics from the race
These are not the most interesting pictures ever, but here are the pictures of me running in to the finish at the half marathon from Saturday. I was really tired! Thanks to Peter, as always, for taking them!
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