This week in running: week 4

If this week could be summed up in a word, it would be “sick.” And, not the good kind of sick. The actually sick “sick.” Ugh.

Sunday

I woke up not feeling great. I thought I’d sleep it off and run later in the evening. I attempted this. I made it 1.5 miles before I had to walk-crawl 1.5 miles home.

1.50 miles
16:56

Monday

I had grand plans of running 8 miles after work. Problem: I still wasn’t feeling 100%, but I thought I’d give it a shot on the treadmill at the craptastic gym. If I didn’t feel good midway through, at least I was close to home. I made it one mile (one measly mile) before the heat got to me. I called it and headed home. Failure again.

1.0 mile
12:01

Tuesday

I finally felt better, and I was able to run a slow 3 miles. The view was nice, and I felt pretty decent considering the previous two days.

3 miles
37:18


Thursday

Due to Running Buddy Lori being injured, she gave me her bib for a race on Saturday. This made Thursday an easy speed work day with the running group to have fresh legs for Saturday.

1.5 miles
14:59

Saturday

I woke up not feeling great (different than earlier in the week). My throat was on fire, I was on fire (temperature-wise), and I had a headache. I shook it off, got ready and headed to the race (I actually don’t feel great a lot of mornings because mornings and I just don’t get along, so I was hoping it was just that … but I really knew it wasn’t). I proceeded to run the worst 10K of my life. Then, I walked the 5K portion of the 15K challenge. Yuck. I spent the rest of Saturday getting sicker with Sunday being spent debating how important drinking liquid or going to the restroom really were … because both involved a 10-foot walk.

RunKeeper's version of my 10K

6.2 miles
1:18:21

Do you try to run while sick? Ever have to cut runs short? Do you panic like me about not being ready for a half marathon in three weeks?

This week in running: week 3

Sunday

The first half of this run was awesome. You can probably guess where this is going ... the second half was not. It was probably because I forgot fuel and felt myself slowing fading toward the end. I ended up walking more than I wanted and cutting it 0.5 miles short. I'd love to see what would have happened if I had fuel, but I didn't. And the run is what it is. And I saw a beautiful sunrise.

7.5 miles
1:38

Monday

I felt like running, but it was raining, so I headed to the craptastic gym. I picked the wrong treadmill, and it stopped mid-run. I tried everything, but it would not restart. So, I had to switch treadmills. This is why I call it the craptastic gym, people. I listened to Katy Perry's "Roar" on repeat the entire run. I envisioned myself roaring to the condo board about their crappy gym.

2.5 miles
29:20

It should not have to be like this.

Thursday

It seems like I either love speed work night or hate it. This week, it was love. Maybe I got all my hate out at the craptastic gym. The 800-meter repeats seemed tough (per usual), but manageable (not always the case). It was one of those times that everything seems right with running (these periods are usually short-lived, so I try to savor them when they happen).

3.0 miles
32:36

Ever have a treadmill quit on you mid-run? Anyone else obsessed with "Roar," too? Do you have a love-hate relationship with speed work?

This week in running: week 2

I had another craptastic week of running. Darn you, Summer (or the Summer-like Fall weather)! Go away.

Monday

Since I missed my running group on Sunday, I made up my long run miles on Monday. I started off saying I’d run 8 miles. It went down to 6 before I started. I ended up with 5 miles. I’m just not great at running by myself. In fact, I’m pretty darn terrible at it. I just never got into a groove on this run. I’d go fast, then slow, then really slow (as in walk). I basically repeated this the entire time. Bah.

5 miles
1:03:02

Tuesday
After waiting out the rain, our group finally headed out, and I managed to get in a decent 2 miles. Definitely not as far as I hoped, but I was happy to get in any miles. I was afraid I’d end up with zero and have to run by myself again … yikes. These 2 miles after the rain were actually pretty sweet. It felt a little cooler after the rain, and my pace was closer to what it used to be … before the surface of the sun temperatures hit. It actually gave me some hope for a decent 5K on Thursday.

2 miles
22:00

Job hazard: red pen on the hands

Thursday

I ran my first race since May on Thursday. It was such a fun race (recap to come this week), and I had a fabulous time (as in my time there, not my time for the 5K). It wasn’t the 5K time I wanted, but I really didn’t expect to see anything great with this race. I’ve struggled all summer and with this race being in the summer, I knew realistically that an under-30-minute 5K was probably not happening. I momentarily forgot this during the first half of the race, and I was completely miserable. 

3.1 miles
33:21


I thought the rain might make my run awesome like it was on Tuesday.
I thought wrong.

Do you run by yourself or with a group? Have to have it one way or the other or can you do both? Is summer running miserable for everyone?

This week in running: week 1

So, after I made the big declaration that I’d start posting my training, I probably had one of my worst weeks of running. Ugh.

It didn’t start off so bad.

Sunday

Aside from a few glorious treadmill runs, this summer’s running has been pretty craptastic. So, imagine my surprise when this 7-mile outdoor run went pretty smoothly. Dare I say good? It was a few degrees cooler than it has been (so just really hot instead of really, really hot), and I think that made it decent. I’m still not where I want to be, but this is better than anything in recent times (i.e., the period that feels like the surface of the sun).

7 miles
1:25


Tuesday
It was super windy, which was strange. I’m used to no wind whatsoever. Running along the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront, I really felt the wind. The wind made it difficult, but it also made it cooler, which really, really rocks. I ran almost 3 miles (that were really not that great and I started doubting my running abilities) and walked 1 mile with Running Buddy Lori, who is currently on the DL.

3 miles
0:38

The wind brought out the kite surfers.

Thursday

I was planning on going to running group. I set out my clothes; I wanted to go (even if I hadn’t eaten or slept much in a few days, and I just felt sick due to some unexpected bad news). But, pesky work actually interfered and kept me from going. I kept thinking I’d make it up that night or Friday or Saturday, but I just didn’t get it done. I just really kind of got knocked down last week, and it took me awhile to finally feel decent again. Everything suffered – running included. 

0 miles

Aside from Sunday, the week was kind of a disaster. But, there is no need to panic (I’m telling myself this more than anyone else).

How was your week in running? What are you training for? Do you panic if you miss a run? (For your sake, I hope not. But, I sure do.)

Preparation makes summer running better ... duh, right?

I may have mentioned a time or two that I kind of despise summer running.

Each run is a struggle, I get disappointed in my times, I have to walk, and I sweat a ridiculous amount. 

And, it's just not me. This is from an Active article: "You will be slower, feel awful despite running slower, and your recovery will be hampered. This is impossible to avoid and has nothing to do with a lack of fitness. It's simply a physiological reality."
 
But, this past Sunday, I was determined to have a good run.

So, I drank bunches of water on Saturday to get hydrated. I filled a fuel belt with Nuun to stay hydrated during the run. I started early to get a few miles in before the sun came up. I brought a gel with me.

The beach just before sunrise

And, you know what? It was actually a really good run. There was some walking, but it was mainly wandering looking for a non-existent cooler.

I ran 6 miles and felt better than I have on most of my 4-mile runs this summer.

The 2 miles before the sun came up definitely helped, but I think of it had to do with something I haven’t done much of at all this summer: being prepared.

Since I haven’t been training for anything specifically this summer, my mileage has dropped, and I definitely haven’t been taking it as seriously. When I hear, “we’ll run 4 miles,” I think, “no problem.” That’s nothing, right? Well, nothing when you’re used to running double digits anyway. Do I plan and prep as much as I normally would? Nope. Do I worry about drinking water on Saturday? Nope. Do I bring Nuun with me? Nope.

Well, darn. I wish I would have figured this out earlier so summer running wouldn’t have been quite so miserable.

But, with half marathon training beginning and it still feeling like the surface of the sun, I’m sure this will still come in handy.

Do you prepare as much for shorter distances? How is your summer running going?

Running, I thought I didn't love you

I kind of disappeared for a bit.
 
And, it was partly due to falling out of love with running.

No worries: the love has returned … well, not exactly.

But, I did determine the cause of the no-love feeling: surface of the sun temperatures and 99.9% humidity. Running is really not too much fun at all in those conditions. I get even slower (how is this even possible?), and I feel like any progress I’d made during the past season is completely gone.
 

The evil sun disguising itself as a pretty sunset.

I debated taking a break from running group for the summer. But, then I heard some wise advice from a wise coach: what you’re doing now – even if it’s slower or even if you’re walking – will make you stronger for half marathon training (it begins in August).

So, I’m sticking it out. I’m slow, I’m walking more, but I’m running. And, I’m not letting myself get disappointed with my slower times (most of the time …).

The good news is I’m getting excited for half marathon season (and the costume it entails). Previously, I wondered if I’d ever care about a race again, so this is progress. 

I even started thinking a little bit (not really that much but more than ever before, which wasn’t much) about a marathon. That thought went out the window after Sunday’s craptastic 4-mile run. It was the type of craptastic run that you begin to question why you even run in the first place. If I can’t even run 4 miles comfortably, why bother? Why do I even call myself a runner? Why am I so slow? Why did I ever even minutely think about running a marathon? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So maybe my hot weather attitude could still use a little more work. But, I’m still running, and that’s what matters.

How do you handle running in the heat? Am I being a big baby?

This week in running: week 7

I'm starting to panic. I just don't feel great about where I am with my running. I even talked with my coach about it. She, of course, said not to worry. I'm doing great. It's still ridiculously hot here. 

She's right. But, I'm just disappointed. I expected to rock this training cycle. It's my second time around. I ran regularly during my summer break from running group. I didn't expect it to be easy, but I expected to feel better than I do at this point. 

Tuesday

Yay! I love speed work day! Who am I?!?

Today's plan: three sets of three, 400-meter repeats. We got two sets in and then got into a discussion on running form and never got the third set done. I really wanted to run that third set ... seriously. I like this stuff.

How should the sets look?

 

So, how did I do on the two sets I ran?

Yeah, so I'm still not really doing it quite right. 

I tried to start slow, but then I went too fast for the second. This is difficult to do! I wear my Garmin, but I don't rely on it. In fact, I don't even look at it while I'm running these. Maybe I should? I think the idea is to get a feel for your pace, but I'm not entirely sure.  

Distance: 2.8 miles

Thursday

I don't like Thursdays as much as Tuesdays. We work at sustaining a faster pace for a longer period of time. That's hard! And, I'm not good at it.

Our plan for the day: 10 minutes of warm-up, 10 minutes at a faster pace, 10 minutes at an even faster pace, 10 minutes at an even still faster pace and 10 minutes of cool down. So this was a great day to forget my Garmin. Grrr!

My running buddy and I just relied on feel. We tried to get faster, but I'm not really sure if we maintained it the way we should. We had a few walk breaks, but it ended up being a decent run, I guess. 

Due to running this route consistently, I know we ran 4 miles in 50 minutes (I did have a regular stopwatch to keep time).
Distance: 4.0 miles

Saturday

Not a typical running day, but I ran a 5K paced by my coach. Good things happened, but I did not feel great after the race. Read about the elation and the misery here.

Distance: 3.1 miles
 
Sunday

I did not feel great Saturday after the 5K. I did not eat anything besides a few bites of a roll and an apple that night due to nausea.

I really wanted to make my long run on Sunday, but just didn't have the energy to do it. I woke up Sunday, tried to eat something, but I still didn't feel that great and knew I wasn't powered properly to run 8 miles. So, I went back to sleep.

This really helped me to not panic about my running ...
Distance: 0.0 miles

How was your week in running? Are you happy with your progress? Are you where you want to be in terms of training? Are you enjoying fall weather? What is this like? Can you please send some to Florida?

This week in running: week 6

Sounds like the same story, different week: I loved running until my long run.

Tuesday

With my new-found love of speed work, I was super-psyched for this day! (I'm not sure what's wrong with me). 

I loved this workout. 

• 30 seconds hard, 1 minute easy x 5; then, 2 minutes of rest
• 20 seconds hard, 40 seconds easy x5; then, 2 minutes of rest
• 10 seconds hard, 20 seconds easy x 5; then, 2 minutes of rest
• 20 seconds hard, 40 seconds easy x 3; then, 2 minutes of rest
• 30 seconds hard, 1 minute easy x 3; then, 2 minutes of rest
• Plus, an easy run to and from our "track" (a circle portion of sidewalk)
• Total time: 47 minutes
  

The "track"

This provided me with something I've never seen before: 2 miles with single-digit-minute times per mile! I didn't know this was possible for a turtle!

Distance: 4.33 miles

Thursday 

Today was more mental training than anything else. We did 0.7-mile repeats of the worst part of the race: dreaded Mirror Lake (Women's Half Marathon in St. Pete). I did 4 repeats (along with running to and from the site), and I got progressively faster each time. 

I'm so glad we did this because I hated this portion of the race last year. I was extremely bitter at this point. I was hot, tired and so over it. So really, this was perfect training.

Distance: 3.8 miles

Sunday

I'm still not happy with my long runs.

They're not terrible, but they're not the I-love-running-and-I-want-to-marry-it kind of runs either.

I'm not sure what's going on, but I continually feel like I'm out of energy on these early morning runs. I never feel in the zone. I used to love long runs, so I'm not really sure what's up.

But, it wasn't awful. It couldn't be too miserable if you're wearing one of your favorite shirts.

Love this shirt, loved this race, love Brooks

On a completely random side note, "rock" is my favorite word. People assume that because I majored in a journalism field and I write that I like big, fancy words. Not necessarily the case. Rock is extremely versatile, and I just love it.

But I can't use it in reference to this run, sadly.

Distance: 7 miles

How was your week in running? Are you in love with speed work? Or am I crazy? How important is mental training in running? Why don't I love long runs like I used to? What is your favorite word?

This week in running: week 5

This was a great week running-wise ... until my long run. Pesky long runs can make or break the week, in my opinion. If it's not good, I start to worry. But, I'll focus on the positive first.

Monday

Not a normal running day, but since our last long run got cut short by thunderstorms, I decided to tack on some miles around the neighborhood. I felt great, but I'd just rather not run by myself. I miss my running group!

Distance: 3 miles

Tuesday

Yay! It's running group day! Yay! It's speed work day! (Yes, I just typed that.)

I did my first official track workout, but I did it on a sidewalk. I've heard mention of these 400 meter repeats, and I never really knew what it was. Now I do. Well, kind of ... I don't fully understand all of the terminology, but I know I did them.

I *think* we did three sets of 400 meter repeats. We ran 400 meters, had a 1-minute break, ran 400 meters, had a 2-minute break, and then ran 400 meters. We repeated this three times with longer breaks in between sets. Our goal was to continually get faster, like this.

 
Instead, mine looked like this.

Yeah, not how it's supposed to look. Oops.

But, I loved every second of this workout. From the easy run down to our "track" to the repeats (all of them) to the easy run back, I loved it. I felt awesome. I felt, dare I say it, fast.

Distance: 3.73 miles

Thursday

This was supposed to be a 50-minute run broken out into repeating 10 easy minutes followed by 10 minutes at a faster pace. It really didn't happen for my running buddy and me. We just ran for 50 minutes, and it all rocked.

Our coach said this was fine if we feel we don't really have a faster, sustainable pace. She'd rather us just run a solid 50 minutes. So that's what we did. Maybe someday I'll have a pace besides slow.

Distance: 4 miles

Sunday

OK, here's the bad one. 

It is still way too hot in Florida at 7 a.m. People keep talking about this foreign concept, "fall," and it is definitely not happening here.

I just felt overwhelmed by the heat at first. My face just felt like it was burning up.

I finally settled in and felt a little cooler once we made a turn to run by the bay (yay for breezes off the water). I didn't feel too shabby (aside from the initial heat issues) up until mile 4. Pesky mile 4 made me feel like all of my energy was zapped. I kept pushing on for the next few miles, but I just didn't feel that great. 

So, I finished not feeling that great and feeling hot and frustrated. 

Not feeling great and feeling hot and frustrated

I guess looking back, it wasn't really that bad. But, I feel like it really could have gone better. 

Distance: 6 miles

How was your week in running? Have you done track workouts? Do you like them? Do they help you get faster? Do you base how good your training week was by your long run?

This week in running: week 4

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?

This week in running: week 3

I knew that week 3 of half marathon training would be a challenge because I'd be traveling (for two of the three runs). I'm not great about running while traveling. Plus I really like my training group, so missing two days with them didn't sound all that fabulous (but a vacation did).

Tuesday

This run started off great. My running buddy and I were moving along at a great pace, and things felt right ... except for the fact that we felt like something was about to go wrong. We were right.

The wind that pushed us along in the first half of our run fought against us during the second half. This wind was the remnants of Hurricane Isaac, so it was rather beastly. And rude. Stupid wind kept pushing us off the path.

The water is pretty, but it added to the wind problem.

All of the fighting against the wind caused a few walk breaks, but really, I'm still pretty happy with the run considering the conditions. We finished in 1:02.  

Distance: 5 miles

Thursday  

This run is brought to you by the great state of Texas. My boyfriend is doing contract work in Ft. Worth, so I went to visit for a few days before we both headed to Kansas to visit family. 

He was working all day Thursday, so I had the day to myself and could decide when I wanted to run. I decided to sleep most of the morning away, so morning was out (as was running outside ... it's toasty in Texas). 

I hit up the treadmill for an early afternoon run, and it was extremely miserable. I'm not sure what was up, but I felt horrible (and nauseous when I was done). All I can say is that I did it; I ran for the 45 minutes on the schedule. That's the only positive.

Distance: 3.6 miles

Sunday

This was going to be my triumphant run in the third state this week. Notice: going to be. Sadly, it didn't happen.

Due to allergies (and asthma) and family activities, I did not run on Sunday. We had a jam-packed family day, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for running (as much as I love running).

I flew back to Florida on Monday, and I thought I'd run on Monday night. No dice. I was exhausted (and still wheezing from allergies). 

Distance: 0 miles (should be 5 miles)

I need help. Do I make up the run at this point? Or do I just skip it? If I have time on Friday, should I squeeze in some extra miles? Do you make up missed runs? I'm usually good about it, but I feel like I let this one go too long.