yesterday morning: i had told myself i was going to do speed work. it was early and my body was unimpressed. but i ran 5k and some of it was faster than i would have liked. there's this park, a mile from me? and it has a .35 mile loop. so i ran to there and back at like 9:15/mile pace, and then i ran the loop three times, at 8:20/mile pace. with jogging about in between. ... as they always say, the best speed workout is the one you actually do. so, that's not a normal one, but it's the one i did.
today: i had told myself i was going to do a long run, right? break out of that 50-mins mold? ... nope. my other half has something that's been diagnosed as not strep, but close enough, and i'm just resting today. i'm pretty sure it's what my body needs. i am going to drink some hot cider with bourbon and sit on soft things. ugh. ... i teach at the gym tomorrow twice, so that will have to be the weekend's exercise. it's 6:15pm and i'm seriously thinking of napping, so this was probably the right move.
eh, you win some you lose some.
more soon.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
every road is 45-50 minutes long
my new current running goal is, oddly, my old current running goal. maybe it's my always current running goal? anyway: it's three runs a week. one tempo, one somehow hard, and one long. the somehow hard is supposed to include hills or speed or something.
in the last week, i've run three times. so, that's good.
did those three runs fit the criterion? ... er, no.
they were, instead, exactly the same run: 45-50 minutes, at a moderate but not easy pace.
they were all different places -- different times of day, different towns, different elevation profiles -- but i gotta tell you, it's hard to find an actual hill in mid-michigan, so i wouldn't describe any of them as actually hilly. (ann arbor does have real hills, but they overlap with the strangely large part of town that's dramatically underlit, so this time of year you can't do hill after 5pm without breaking your neck.) so -- ok, that's some running, but that's not actually what is required.
the thing is: they felt extremely different. on saturday, running 45-50 minutes at that pace felt like damn fool hard work. today, that same distance and pace, with rather more hills, felt like swimming along in running butter, and when i finished i felt i had done no work and should do it agian. ... this is a tricky thing about training -- when to push, when to cruise for better results next time, when to listen to your lungs vs. your legs vs. your brain. ... yeah, almost never listen to your brain.
anyway. i'm one for two. we'll call today's run the 'hard' one, insofar as they were inclines. thursday, i will get up before teaching and run faster! and saturday, i will run for longer than the damn 45-50 minutes! and then next week i'll do it again.
i have two 2017 goal races right now: one in february and one in march. but i'm not going to let myself start planning for them for real until i convince myself i'm going to do the real training thing, not the fake three-same-runs-a-week thing. so (if you're here to begin with)... stay tuned.
in the last week, i've run three times. so, that's good.
did those three runs fit the criterion? ... er, no.
they were, instead, exactly the same run: 45-50 minutes, at a moderate but not easy pace.
they were all different places -- different times of day, different towns, different elevation profiles -- but i gotta tell you, it's hard to find an actual hill in mid-michigan, so i wouldn't describe any of them as actually hilly. (ann arbor does have real hills, but they overlap with the strangely large part of town that's dramatically underlit, so this time of year you can't do hill after 5pm without breaking your neck.) so -- ok, that's some running, but that's not actually what is required.
the thing is: they felt extremely different. on saturday, running 45-50 minutes at that pace felt like damn fool hard work. today, that same distance and pace, with rather more hills, felt like swimming along in running butter, and when i finished i felt i had done no work and should do it agian. ... this is a tricky thing about training -- when to push, when to cruise for better results next time, when to listen to your lungs vs. your legs vs. your brain. ... yeah, almost never listen to your brain.
anyway. i'm one for two. we'll call today's run the 'hard' one, insofar as they were inclines. thursday, i will get up before teaching and run faster! and saturday, i will run for longer than the damn 45-50 minutes! and then next week i'll do it again.
i have two 2017 goal races right now: one in february and one in march. but i'm not going to let myself start planning for them for real until i convince myself i'm going to do the real training thing, not the fake three-same-runs-a-week thing. so (if you're here to begin with)... stay tuned.
Friday, November 25, 2016
hey, and then it was now
i haven't been blogging for the last oh, 15 months. but i have still been running.
my last post in august 2015 was anxious, and three weeks before Hood to Coast. which i did run, and it was hard and weird and worth it. maybe you should watch the documentary about the race. 200 mile relays are very human activities.
this year, 2016... well, i am still here. i ran three halfs: one in february in new orleans, one in june on trails in the upper peninsula near paradise, michigan, and one a couple weeks ago in fairly flat and downhill roads and lakefront in hamilton ontario. i am running slow these days -- my road times are like 2:06 territory -- but i am not too broken. last weekend i ran a combined 15k race, and it wasnt too bad?
so. i think it is time to get back to actual training. and actual blogging about it, which neednt be interesting for anyone but myself. (setting the bar low, all the better to trip over it.)
i signed up for a 10 miler on boxing day, and an old friend's cajoling the other month started me thinking for real about running Around the Bay (a 30k) in march. i have not broken the details of this actually-training plan to my other half yet. ... perhaps i can just let it sneak up on him? not that i walk around very delicately after a long run.
... today is the day after this local thanksgiving, and our fridge is jammed with leftovers and my body is sore although at least this year i learned from previous pains and wore Supportive Shoes while cooking all of yesterday. life of glamour. at any rate. now i will suit upmand go for a contemplative run in the late november gloom, running past dead things and looking for signs that now is the time to be reborn. you know, just a little bit reborn. it happens. we will see.
my last post in august 2015 was anxious, and three weeks before Hood to Coast. which i did run, and it was hard and weird and worth it. maybe you should watch the documentary about the race. 200 mile relays are very human activities.
this year, 2016... well, i am still here. i ran three halfs: one in february in new orleans, one in june on trails in the upper peninsula near paradise, michigan, and one a couple weeks ago in fairly flat and downhill roads and lakefront in hamilton ontario. i am running slow these days -- my road times are like 2:06 territory -- but i am not too broken. last weekend i ran a combined 15k race, and it wasnt too bad?
so. i think it is time to get back to actual training. and actual blogging about it, which neednt be interesting for anyone but myself. (setting the bar low, all the better to trip over it.)
i signed up for a 10 miler on boxing day, and an old friend's cajoling the other month started me thinking for real about running Around the Bay (a 30k) in march. i have not broken the details of this actually-training plan to my other half yet. ... perhaps i can just let it sneak up on him? not that i walk around very delicately after a long run.
... today is the day after this local thanksgiving, and our fridge is jammed with leftovers and my body is sore although at least this year i learned from previous pains and wore Supportive Shoes while cooking all of yesterday. life of glamour. at any rate. now i will suit upmand go for a contemplative run in the late november gloom, running past dead things and looking for signs that now is the time to be reborn. you know, just a little bit reborn. it happens. we will see.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
keeping on
last sunday, six days ago, i went to the gym and did a fairly typical workout. it involved slightly more being on the ball of my foot than many workouts i do, but nothing memorable. that night my right foot was kind of sore, where the toes meet the foot.
and it's been sore every since. FUCK.
... there's been a little bit of bruising. there has been much ice, much speculating, much fretting. however, i have also run twice and it has seemed ok? i don't know. and i think it is very gradually getting better.
tuesday i went on a running/drinking run? a hash, if that means anything to you. it was my first time, and i think it's fair to say it's not my thing, but many of people were great. i like my beer *after* the run, and i like to run continuously. if you are starting and stopping the whole time, surely you are just amplifying the traffic lights, stop signs, and other worst parts of every road run? ... anyway. there was some running, maybe 3 miles total (or more?) and the foot felt the same as the previous several days.
i didn't run again until today, despite life events we will ignore here that were really crying out for a damn run. but no, i did other things and waited for today, when i went for about a 6 mile run. it was humid. SO HUMID. it even rained at some point, which was great because it meant the water in the air was actually doing something with itself. ... i ran slow but fairly steady. i was worried there would be foot pain but... yeah, i don't know. there was some, but not a lot, and over the run it if anything got better rather than worse. i don't know, i don't know.
anyway. i keep moving. it is 3 ish week until Hood To Coast and i am getting worried about how that's going to play out... some doubles are necessary, and i need to know that my foot isn't going to break off. also we have to move between now and then, assuming we actually get to own our house... right, so. i will focus on the fact that i got a good endorphin kick today despite insane humidity and cranky body parts, and that will be enough to keep on keepin' on.
and it's been sore every since. FUCK.
... there's been a little bit of bruising. there has been much ice, much speculating, much fretting. however, i have also run twice and it has seemed ok? i don't know. and i think it is very gradually getting better.
tuesday i went on a running/drinking run? a hash, if that means anything to you. it was my first time, and i think it's fair to say it's not my thing, but many of people were great. i like my beer *after* the run, and i like to run continuously. if you are starting and stopping the whole time, surely you are just amplifying the traffic lights, stop signs, and other worst parts of every road run? ... anyway. there was some running, maybe 3 miles total (or more?) and the foot felt the same as the previous several days.
i didn't run again until today, despite life events we will ignore here that were really crying out for a damn run. but no, i did other things and waited for today, when i went for about a 6 mile run. it was humid. SO HUMID. it even rained at some point, which was great because it meant the water in the air was actually doing something with itself. ... i ran slow but fairly steady. i was worried there would be foot pain but... yeah, i don't know. there was some, but not a lot, and over the run it if anything got better rather than worse. i don't know, i don't know.
anyway. i keep moving. it is 3 ish week until Hood To Coast and i am getting worried about how that's going to play out... some doubles are necessary, and i need to know that my foot isn't going to break off. also we have to move between now and then, assuming we actually get to own our house... right, so. i will focus on the fact that i got a good endorphin kick today despite insane humidity and cranky body parts, and that will be enough to keep on keepin' on.
Saturday, August 1, 2015
friday night flight
that feeling where you start running, and various things hurt to various degrees, and they need some attending to, but the overall fact is that you can run, and run slightly hard, and do it for an hour and not get tired, and want to do it for an hour more.
that feeling that you are BACK!
also, the realization that it's probably because it was evening and only 17C, as opposed to like 30C and blazing sun. and as for the things that hurt, they may need a little coddling this weekend. some weird foot thing. ice and pilates, maybe swimming.
but whatever. focus on the feeling BACK! ... hood to coast is in less than a month and i'm teaching cardio kickboxing and we're moving and everything's happening. but it's going to be good! run on.
that feeling that you are BACK!
also, the realization that it's probably because it was evening and only 17C, as opposed to like 30C and blazing sun. and as for the things that hurt, they may need a little coddling this weekend. some weird foot thing. ice and pilates, maybe swimming.
but whatever. focus on the feeling BACK! ... hood to coast is in less than a month and i'm teaching cardio kickboxing and we're moving and everything's happening. but it's going to be good! run on.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
race! (and other running, plus extra wildlife.)
a couple of reports.
on friday night i was in the worst mood possible. so i went for a run. well, first i went for a 15 minute walk and i was going to start running but then when my headphones died i thought 'well, shit sucks anyway so i might as well run'. and then i ran for like an hour and 15 or 20 minutes!
here is what it felt like: - slow - humid - easy - scary.
don't know why it was so easy; i just felt like i could go forever, but i thought i shouldn't (see why below).
but why was it scary? because wildlife was everywhere, being too wild! examples include a mom duck and her ducklings running TOWARDS a busy road, why, wrong, stop, so i suddenly got my sprint on and shooed them back away from the road into the bushes... and then right near the end of the run there was a sudden huge DEER in a dark front yard, that was startled into lunging AT me for one bounding and then turning on a deer-leg-shaped- dime and bolting away into the woods, while i screeched to both a literal and figurative halt (as in, i stopped and screamed.) ... still, a success.
then this morning, i ran my first 8k race in ages! it took me about 46 minutes, which is like 9:20 miles so pretty slow for me, but it was hot and there were HILLS that i did not anticipate (because when you tell me the race is on the river, i do not think it can go up and down? because, uh, river? but apparently bridges are long and not flat) and it started at 7:45am which is a horrific punishment of a time, so overall i feel alright. (i was also 4th in my age group. um, this is not a fast racing pack. :)
a good sign from this race is that during the few times i felt like i was genuinely overheating, i slowed down briefly and it was easy to recover; another maybe more important sign is that when it felt slightly uncomfortable my brain was willing to overrule my body, which i have felt out of practice at as of late. so: good work, brain. way to show up. as soon as i was done; like as soon as my breathing slowed actually, i felt like i hadn't raced hard enough; my legs don't really feel it at all. but at the time, i did NOT feel i was wimping out... so maybe my limiting factor is breathing and not leg strength or turnover right now? certainly i was stronger on the uphills than some other people running my speed. it might also be that i'm inefficient at running in heat? not that heat doesn't slow everything down, because obviously it does, but i mean: i would expect to be able to run 9-minute miles in that weather without a crisis, but my body felt that wasn't an option. hmm.
possibly there is track work in my future. possibly i just need to handle being slower. possibly i am being silly. definitely it was hot.
final good things: at the finish line was my friend (who ran her first post-baby 5k) and also said baby, and said baby's father, and then later there was a bulgogi omelette. so, a number of successes.
and now i might nap.
on friday night i was in the worst mood possible. so i went for a run. well, first i went for a 15 minute walk and i was going to start running but then when my headphones died i thought 'well, shit sucks anyway so i might as well run'. and then i ran for like an hour and 15 or 20 minutes!
here is what it felt like: - slow - humid - easy - scary.
don't know why it was so easy; i just felt like i could go forever, but i thought i shouldn't (see why below).
but why was it scary? because wildlife was everywhere, being too wild! examples include a mom duck and her ducklings running TOWARDS a busy road, why, wrong, stop, so i suddenly got my sprint on and shooed them back away from the road into the bushes... and then right near the end of the run there was a sudden huge DEER in a dark front yard, that was startled into lunging AT me for one bounding and then turning on a deer-leg-shaped- dime and bolting away into the woods, while i screeched to both a literal and figurative halt (as in, i stopped and screamed.) ... still, a success.
then this morning, i ran my first 8k race in ages! it took me about 46 minutes, which is like 9:20 miles so pretty slow for me, but it was hot and there were HILLS that i did not anticipate (because when you tell me the race is on the river, i do not think it can go up and down? because, uh, river? but apparently bridges are long and not flat) and it started at 7:45am which is a horrific punishment of a time, so overall i feel alright. (i was also 4th in my age group. um, this is not a fast racing pack. :)
a good sign from this race is that during the few times i felt like i was genuinely overheating, i slowed down briefly and it was easy to recover; another maybe more important sign is that when it felt slightly uncomfortable my brain was willing to overrule my body, which i have felt out of practice at as of late. so: good work, brain. way to show up. as soon as i was done; like as soon as my breathing slowed actually, i felt like i hadn't raced hard enough; my legs don't really feel it at all. but at the time, i did NOT feel i was wimping out... so maybe my limiting factor is breathing and not leg strength or turnover right now? certainly i was stronger on the uphills than some other people running my speed. it might also be that i'm inefficient at running in heat? not that heat doesn't slow everything down, because obviously it does, but i mean: i would expect to be able to run 9-minute miles in that weather without a crisis, but my body felt that wasn't an option. hmm.
possibly there is track work in my future. possibly i just need to handle being slower. possibly i am being silly. definitely it was hot.
final good things: at the finish line was my friend (who ran her first post-baby 5k) and also said baby, and said baby's father, and then later there was a bulgogi omelette. so, a number of successes.
and now i might nap.
Monday, July 13, 2015
stumbling, quite literally, onwards
just to say that since the Horrible Mosquito-Infested Bury Me (with) Wounded Knee Four Miles From Home Tragedy of last wednesday, which i am not the slightest bit dramatic about:
- i have been REALLY careful not to trip or run my knee into anything
- i have acquired some wicked bruises and gnarly scabs (you're lucky i never get pictures off my phone), but...
- i have run twice, and my legs still bend and propel me forward
... so i guess i'm fine.
one of those runs was yesterday, and it was 4 miles in 38 minutes which isn't awesome, BUT it was also after a dance class and it was STUPID hot and humid and really i'm amazed i didn't just lie down and sleep in the ditch. and why didn't i? because i had the genius idea (for real) to leave my wallet at the gym where the dance class happened, which i knew would only be open for another 45 minutes, so i had to make it back!
on the other hand, my attempts to crosstrain in the pool keep getting stupidly thwarted by stupid weather and stupid swim meets and other stupidities, so of course because i planned to swim tomorrow, there is a currently an epic thunderstorm flinging rain at my window and causing the dog to lose her shit.
well, maybe the weather gods will have shaken it off sufficiently by tomorrow afternoon.
or maybe i will swim just by *going outside*.
and/or maybe i will run.
onwards.
- i have been REALLY careful not to trip or run my knee into anything
- i have acquired some wicked bruises and gnarly scabs (you're lucky i never get pictures off my phone), but...
- i have run twice, and my legs still bend and propel me forward
... so i guess i'm fine.
one of those runs was yesterday, and it was 4 miles in 38 minutes which isn't awesome, BUT it was also after a dance class and it was STUPID hot and humid and really i'm amazed i didn't just lie down and sleep in the ditch. and why didn't i? because i had the genius idea (for real) to leave my wallet at the gym where the dance class happened, which i knew would only be open for another 45 minutes, so i had to make it back!
on the other hand, my attempts to crosstrain in the pool keep getting stupidly thwarted by stupid weather and stupid swim meets and other stupidities, so of course because i planned to swim tomorrow, there is a currently an epic thunderstorm flinging rain at my window and causing the dog to lose her shit.
well, maybe the weather gods will have shaken it off sufficiently by tomorrow afternoon.
or maybe i will swim just by *going outside*.
and/or maybe i will run.
onwards.
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