Day 34 (Oct. 25)

Oh, you dreaded speed workout. Oh, you pesky intervals. You’re definitely not my favorite. In fact, I’d rather run 10 miles than deal with you most days.

It takes pumping myself up in the car and taking awkward car photos to prepare myself. 

Our training group workout today: run for a total of 55 minutes with a 10-minute warm up, then five, four-minute hard intervals with a four-minute recovery jog in between each. Whatever time remaining is used as a cool down (I guess I could do the math and figure out the minutes, but my brain isn’t ready or willing to do complicated math at this time of the day … anyway, I think you get the idea).

After mass confusion at the beginning (due to a changing start time that some people knew about and some didn’t or maybe it affected only the marathon runners and not the half marathon runners … I’m still confused), the run turned out to be pretty great. I ran with a different group tonight because our groups were split (the marathoners and some half marathoners took off before the rest of us … like I said, I’m still confused). I went way faster than normal at the beginning. This, of course, led me to go slower toward the end. I’m still not very good at establishing a good fast interval speed. Well, it didn’t help I was with a faster group either.

Overall, it was still a good workout. I’d like to find my happy pace on those faster intervals at some point, but I guess I’ll just keep trying.

Day 28 (Oct. 11)

Lately all I’ve wanted to do is sit around and eat Peeps. Yum.

Thankfully, I’ve kept my Peep intake to a minimum so far. Notice I wrote “so far.” I love them so. And, candy corn. Yum. I haven’t been around any candy corn yet this year, and I know it’s for the best. I have the desire to eat massive amounts of it.

After last Thursday’s tough run and the resulting tired legs, followed by Sunday’s frustrating run, I became a little unmotivated. I was really hoping for good things after my brilliant 7-mile run two Sundays ago, and I feel like just the opposite has happened. Hence the desire to sit around and eat Peeps and buckets of candy corn.

Fortunately, I didn’t sit around and eat loads of Halloween candy. Instead, I went to my training group on Tuesday, and I had a great run, which lessened this desire for sugared goodness.

We had a 50-minute run on Tuesday with four, five-minute speed intervals with four-minute jogs after the intervals. I forgot my Garmin watch (Well, I didn’t forget it, technically. I’ve temporarily misplaced it. Eek!), so I had no idea what pace I was running. I just had to do it by feel and by my position to other runners. I’m at the point where I know who should be in front of me and by how much, so that really helped in terms of pacing.

It was difficult (especially that last killer interval that felt like it lasted 15 minutes), but I felt really good about how I did. I felt great the entire time, and my legs finally feel back to normal. Yippee!

In my quest to include more photos, here is a picture of happy me post-run at home. I avoided the awkward, in the car pre-run photo this time.

I think this is the happiest part of my day. I have such a feeling of accomplishment and a stockpile of all those great running endorphins. And, I have the rest of the evening to myself. Well, mostly myself. My dog demands some attention, which I gladly give her.

New kicks!

I love shoes! But, this is first time I've been super-excited about running shoes. Mainly because this is the first pair of "real" running shoes I've bought.

My first pair was an impulse buy at Off Broadway Shoes. Yeah, not a running store. Not even a sports store. Just a shoe store. They were Asics. They served me well. They got me running. They were with me for my first race and my first training group. They were comfortable. I never had an issue with them.

Then, I started noticing everyone's spiffy shoes in my training group. And, my coach mentioned that I am a moderate overpronator (my  foot rolls inward too much while running, which can lead to knee pain or injury). This called for a shoe with support, my coach said. My Asics were a neutral shoe. I finally gave in and last week, I went to my training group early to try on shoes at Fit2Run, the store that puts on my training program.

Since my coach already evaluated me running, I didn't hop on the treadmill in the store, which is what normally happens. I did step on a machine that evaluated where I put pressure on my feet and my arch level. I put more pressure on my heels, which is normal, and I have a high arch.

I tried on three shoes that met my moderate-overpronating, high-arch feet. I tried a pair of Asics (felt pretty good), Brooks (felt better) and Nike (yucky).

After making a fairly easy decision, I went with the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11th edition.

Sadly, after evaluating my feet, the store employee said I needed to go up a size from my previous shoe. Ugh. Really?!? I'm a size 10. I really, really, really didn't want to move up to an 11. It just sounds so huge and boat-like. But, after trying them on, I knew I needed to go with the bigger size. Just don't tell anyone I wear a size 11!

I really was hoping for some of the cool, bright-colored shoes. Unfortunately, these are pretty plain. And red. Blech. I don't care for red (Side note: as I was talking about my shoes to people at work while walking down the hall to get coffee, I said, "I hate red" just as a guy in a red shirt walked by. Oops. Sorry, dude.). I have no red running clothes. I turn red when I run. I don't need to wear a red shirt and look like a giant tomato (as much as I love tomatoes, I don't want to look like one).

Aside from the color (and on to more important things), these shoes are comfortable! And supportive! They made me feel like I was running on two pieces of crap before (no offense to the Asics shoes; I think they were just old and worn out).

I wore these on my Tuesday run (50 minutes total with three, five-minute speed intervals), and I loved them. They were supportive and comfortable. I guess I really didn't know what it is like to own a real pair of running shoes that I was evaluated for and picked just for me. I couldn't believe I could throw them on and hit the road. No issues whatsoever. No blisters or sore feet. Just running in wonderful comfort.

Day 25 (Oct. 4)

Tuesdays are dreaded speed intervals day!

This week’s workout involved running a total of 50 minutes. Easy enough, right? Well, throw three five-minute speed intervals in there. It was difficult, but manageable. I made it, and I was really happy with my time. My hard intervals were significantly faster, and my warm up and recovery times weren’t too shabby either. Yay! Improvement!

Since I always include pictures of the crappy gym, I thought I should include a more pleasant photo of my Tuesday-Thursday route.

The big, scary sun is really big and scary. It’s getting less big and scary with somewhat cooler temperatures, but it is still my enemy. I’m pale. And, I sweat a lot. These are two things that are in direct conflict with the sun.

But, I think training in the hot sun beginning in September will make running in cooler months a breeze … or so I’m hoping. If Sunday is any indication, this theory is coming true.

Aside from the big scary sun, you can see a nice flat road. I like flat roads. At least for running, I do. Our group of about 20 girls runs along this road every Tuesday and Thursday. We actually run on the road for about a mile before we hit a sidewalk. There isn’t much traffic since it is an airport service road. I’m thinking of investing in some fluorescent running clothes before the time change. I always wear black pants and a darker shirt. I’d prefer to not get hit by a car, so maybe some bright colored shirts are in order.

I don’t care if I have to deal with a big, scary sun or traffic; it’s still better than the craptastic gym.

Day 16 (Sept. 13)

Since I felt like death during the previous speed intervals one week ago, I was a bit nervous about adding one more interval (three, three-minute speed intervals). But, I did it (and felt less like death) and managed to run the entire 45 minutes. Sweet!