I normally dread 5Ks, but I'm hopeful for this one.
Why?
Look at the start time! It's not early morning! I picked up my packet at my running group tonight!
One of the many benefits of being in a running group at a running store.
And, the coolest thing: one of my coaches is pacing me. What's her plan?
Mile 1: I will tell her stories.
Mile 2: We will have a conversation.
Mile 3: She will tell me stories.
The idea is that I will start off easy and keep getting faster. Mile 3 sounds a little scary, but I think I'm ready for it. The speed work we've been doing has to help, right?
Thanks to the brilliant Bean, I have A, B and C goals for the race:
Goal A: less than 34:32 (my lowest official 5K time)
Goal B: between 34:32 and 36:00
Goal C: have fun and don't fall in the water
For some reason, my running confidence isn't that high right now. I think those pesky long runs are messing with me. All of these goals seem unattainable now. I know I shouldn't think that way, but I can't help it. Hopefully, I can prove myself wrong. Do you like 5Ks? Have you ever been paced? How did it go? Have you ever lost your running confidence? How did you get it back?
This was the week where things started to feel right in my half marathon training. I'm getting used to running at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays (it's still miserably hot, but I know what I'm dealing with) and 7 a.m. (GAH!) on Sunday morning.
Tuesday This was our first night of intervals, and I loved them! I'm not sure if it's because I haven't done them in awhile, I'm crazy or it just broke up the monotony of just running.
Our coaches split our group into fast runners and the not-so-fast runners. I know this is shocking, but I was in the not-so-fast group. We did an easy run down to an area with a circle sidewalk, and then the intervals started.
The interval site
I think there are fancy ways to write this, but I don't understand it, so I'll write it the only way I know how: we did 5 sets of 1 minute hard/2 minutes recovery, 5 sets of 30 seconds hard/1 minute recovery and 5 sets of 20 seconds hard/40 seconds recovery.
Overall, it was just 50 minutes of fun. It was a challenge, and I did end up walking some of the recovery times. But, I felt like I pushed hard and got in a great run.
Distance: 4.2 miles
Thursday
This week is full of new running things. Today, it was a tempo run. I remember these pesky tempo runs from last training cycle, and I remember not liking them. It's hard to pick a faster pace to maintain for a sustained period of time ... well, it is for me at least.
The plan: run a 10-minute warm up, do a 16-minute tempo run, and then do a 19-minute cool down run. As much as I don't like tempo runs, and as bad as I think I am at them, I think this one went pretty fabulously. Granted, my faster time was only about 30 seconds faster than my warm-up time, but it was faster. I'll take it as a starting point.
Happy after a decent tempo run
Distance: 3.6 miles
Sunday
In my fogginess early on Sunday morning, I thought someone was taking pictures outside. It was only after I threw my clothes on and ran out the door in less than 10 minutes that I realized this was lightning. Morning person I am not.
Another thing I am not: a lightning person. I'm frightened of this stuff in a serious way. But, since I was already awake, I headed to running group anyway. Being in Florida, a thunderstorm where I live doesn't mean lightning 10 miles away.
But, I didn't think the continued lightning and then the pouring rain on the way there were a good sign.
I arrived at Fit2Run, our meeting spot, in the rain. I ran inside the store (thank goodness we have it) and found exercise stations set up around the store. We couldn't run due to the lightning (thank goodness the coaches are smart and safe about this), so they set up some stations throughout the store for our workout. We did lunges, push-ups, dips, crunches, squats and climbed stairs for a minute at a time before rotating to the next station. After 20 minutes, the coaches decided it was safe to try and run.
We headed out to tackle a 5-6 mile run (depending on the weather). Unfortunately, it got cut to 2.5 miles. As my running buddy and I were running toward the rest of the crowd, a girl came running back at us saying that rain was coming down in a sheet ahead (and we heard scary thunder rumblings). We promptly turned around and booked it back to the store ... with everyone else on our heels. We then promptly went to breakfast and talked running.
I'm hoping to make up some miles tonight. Distance: 2.5 miles How was your week in running? Did you run intervals? A tempo run? What is your favorite? Any thunderstorms that prevented getting a run in?
Due to Labor Day (and a few vacation days), I'm still trying to figure out what day it is. I swore yesterday was Monday. Unfortunately, Thursday won't let me forget it. I was well aware today was the dreaded day because it makes its ugly presence known. But, there are things I can think of that rock to make it all better.
Running group tonight: my running is getting better. I love that feeling.
My
running group meets at (and is organized through) a local running
store, Fit2Run. The St. Petersburg store just opened in August. Next
Thursday is their official grand opening with 20% off from 5-7 p.m. I'm
thinking shoes.
Shoes make me happy, and these would make me super-duper happy.
They would go fabulously with this shirt that makes me really happy. I'm digging Under Armour shirts these days. This one is long (thank goodness), cool (as it can be on a hot and muggy Florida day) and purple!
Tuesdays are running days – even if it is Valentine’s Day. But,
it wasn’t an ordinary run.
Everyone had to wear one of these.
Taken
Some of the single people really drew attention to their “single”
status by underlining, circling or putting arrows to it. I’m not sure if any
hookups resulted, but I loved the idea.
After the 40-minute run, all of the women got flowers.
Flowers make me happy.
And, there were sandwiches, smoothies, beer, wine and a
raffle after the run. A pretty sweet Valentine’s Day.
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.
So, this happened a few weeks (um, almost a month) ago, but since I was behind on my posts at that point, I forgot to add this to my post when I caught up on all my posts (another reason to not fall behind on posts again).
Our running training group meets at Fit2Run, a running store at International Plaza. International Plaza is a spiffy place. So spiffy that I usually don’t shop there. It has nicknames like million-dollar mall, where rich people shop and fancy mall (OK, maybe I just made those up). It has stores that make me mad (I haven’t decided if this because I can’t afford them or because they really irritate me). I mean, if I had millions of dollars, would I feel the need to buy a Burberry jacket, Gucci hat and Louis Vuitton purse? I don’t think so. And, I think I’d still feel the prices were ridiculous, and I think they’d still make me mad. I think. I don’t know because I don’t have millions of dollars. If someone wants to give me millions of dollars, I’ll let you know if I still feel this way. Thanks.
Well, this particular Thursday, I noticed the parking lot was fuller than usual. People were pulling into the parking lot at an alarming rate. And everyone had their fancy pants on. People usually dress pretty well to go to this mall, but these people were a step up from usual. So, I really stood out in my running gear.
When I got to the door to the mall, a sign on the door stated that by entering the mall you are giving the property rights to use your image in promotional videos. Um, yeah. I don’t think they want an image of a girl in running clothes in their video. Since I really wasn’t concerned about being used in a video (and because I didn’t have a choice), I walked in … and onto a red carpet. Ah, lovely.
I ducked into the store and found my running group. After waiting longer than usual to make sure that everyone had a chance to find a spot to park, we headed out.
After completing our run, our assistant coach let us know about events happening in their store and the mall. He said it was a big deal, and that Jessica Simpson was at the mall.
Eeeeeeek! Jessica Simpson?!?! I LOVE her!
I tried to ignore some of the other girls degrading comments about not finding a parking spot due to Jessica Simpson, and I tried to contain my excitement that Jessica Simpson was IN THE HOUSE (or the mall, as it may be).
After grabbing our post-run smoothie in the store, one girl asked if anyone wanted to try and hunt down Jessica Simpson. I, of course, said “Of course!”
So, we headed out into the crowd of fancy pants in sweaty runny gear.
We hit up Dillard’s, thinking since her clothing and shoe line is there, she’d probably be hanging out in the area. Even though I felt some disgusting glares from the fancy pants crowd, I didn’t care. I just wanted to see Jessica.
Dillard’s had a fashion show happening on the lower level in front of the store, and we searched for Jessica. No luck. We asked a Dillard’s employee. She said if Jessica was there, she’d be at the fashion show. Hmm … Since it was the last fashion show of the night, we figured we could have missed the lovely JS. I managed to hold back tears (OK, not really. Really, not really.), and we went back through all the fancy pants to get out of the mall.
Somewhat disappointed, I headed home. Then, I started thinking. I’m a big Jessica Simpson fan. Huge. I’m friends with her on Facebook. I’m on the Jessica Simpson Collection email list. I check her website. How could I miss her appearance in MY city?!? I couldn’t is the only answer.
After some research, I found out that a “designer from Jessica Simpson Collection” was at the mall. That doesn’t mean Jessica Simpson herself. Pesky assistant running coach got my hopes up!
So, I guess the moral of this story is … never be ashamed to go anywhere in your sweaty running gear. You ran. That’s more than those people in their fancy pants can say (well, maybe they ran earlier, but it's more fun to say they didn't). Oh, and Jessica Simpson rocks!
I can describe Thursday’s training run in one word: hot. I guess there was more to it than that, but that’s all I really remember.
I’m in a training group through Fit2Run, a running store. It’s located in a mall in Tampa, and we run outside the mall along an airport service road. Asphalt. No trees. No shade. Hot.
The plan was to run 40 minutes. I did not. I suck. And, I was really hot (there’s that word again). I also screwed up my watch (I don’t think I reset it), so I’m not really sure how far I went or how many minutes I ran vs. walked. I’m estimating I ran about 25 min., and then did walk-run intervals for the remaining time (ending with a nice 5-minute run — I was proud of this). I stopped running because I felt tingly (best word I know to describe the feeling) all over. I’ve never felt that before, and I was afraid it could be heat related. Heat-related issues scare me. A hurt foot, sore calves or tired legs don’t scare me. I’ll try to run through those. Heat- or heart-related issues are another story.
So, considering the heat, I’m trying to be happy with what I did. I tend to be very hard on myself, though, and I’m actually kind of upset. I know I can run longer. I can run for 40 minutes. I know this. I just haven’t done it in the training group yet. Maybe Sunday is my day.
On a positive note, I think I am hydrating properly for the runs. I drink about four bottles (maybe a 24-oz. bottle?) of ice water throughout the day. About two hours before I run, I drink a bottle of sports drink (as disgusting as they may be). I haven’t been thirsty on the runs, although I did end up buying a small water bottle with a pouch that goes over your hand (so it’s not like you’re struggling to hold on to a bottle while you’re trying to run). I think I’ll need that for longer runs.
The plan for Sunday: I have no idea. It’s our long run of the week. So, longer than 40 minutes. We’re running along the bay, which is nice, but we’re meeting at 7:30 a.m. (UGH).
