Dear Friends,
I have an unfortunate update: my shin splints have returned. Apparently it was the 1.5-2 weeks off of running during finals and my road trip home, and not my new shoes that made them disappear.
This morning we began the four mile square that surrounds my house (Dry Creek-Quebec-County Line-Holly) and I was feeling decently optimistic. It's a hilly route but given my success the other day and the cool weather this morning I was prepared to conquer the darn thing. With my very first steps my shins were screaming at me (I had been aware of their stiffness/sorness the previous two days just walking around) but as I continued on the pain became more dull and less sharp so I thought I'd be fine. When we stopped to stretch about a mile in, however, I was in quite a bit of pain. I'm used to training with pain (thanks to my high school swim coach) so I'm not a good judge of when I should push it and when I should stop. Thankfully my dad is a much better judge of such things, so we walked home with me wincing and limping a bit, and discussed our two options: going to a orthepedic or exploring Newton running. We'll pursue both.
To make up for my lame-o run, I headed over to Lone Tree Rec Center and did an eliptical, weights, and ab work out. Thankfully the eliptical doesn't hurt at all so that might be the best option to maintain leg strength/adjust to altitude/build cardio endurance without aggrevating my shins.
Hopefully two days off of running will be enough rest to get me through my leg of the marathon relay Sunday. We'll see.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
4 miles. Check.
Friday Dad and I went for a late afternoon run. Poor choice. I hadn't had lunch, it was over 90 degrees outside, and I still can't breathe here. Needless to say, I didn't last long. We ended up walking the entire second half our three mile loop and I had a near asthma attack (sheesh, that is a scary feeling when you breathe in but can't get enough oxygen... my heart goes out to all your asthmatics!). Lesson learned: don't run in 90 degree weather on an empty stomach without being adjusted to the altitude.
Last night was a different story. We left the house at 10pm to accommodate for our late dinner and the Bachelorette (which my entire family ended up watching!) and went for a 4 mile run on the paths behind my neighborhood. As we started out, Dad asked me if I preferred a large hill at the beginning and a gradual decline from there on out, or a gradual incline the whole way and a steep decline at the end. Is that a legitimate question? Obviously, I chose the former.
Psalm 119:105 says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I remember hearing once that the lamp the Psalmist refers to would have only provided enough light for a step or two, and that is how our walk with the Lord ought to be-- taken by faith, and not by sight. I was thinking about that as we ran last night only by the ambient light of interior house lights and distant street lights. I struggle to keep running in broad daylight, when I can see the path clearly ahead of me and can easily calculate how far I've left to run. But at night, as we run without even the light of the moon, I am only able to see a few feet ahead of me, and poorly at that. Ironically, it's easier to keep going when all I can focus on is the next step. I think the Lord knows that. He knows we couldn't handle to see the whole picture, so he reveals things little by little, piece by piece, giving us just enough information or insight to act in obedience. We'd be overwhelmed otherwise.
Although I strongly prefer running at night, it still wasn't easy. As I wrote in my first blog post, one of my motivations to train for this marathon is to regain the discipline I lost when I quit swimming. Last night was further confirmation of the weak state of my mind. With virtually every step I wanted to quit... not for any legitimate reason... but simply because it was hard. The temptation to stop was at points overwhelming but I overcame that by reciting this phrase-- "beautiful legs, beautiful body." Sounds ridiculous, right? But it worked. Whenever I wanted to stop I said that phrase over and over and over (making it my virtual companion for the last two miles). The inspiration for the phrase came from my dear friend Amelia who gave me marathon advice a few months ago. She told me that after all the months of training that my legs would be beautiful. For some strange reason, that stuck with me. The second part is one of my deepest motivations for running at all... I want my body to be in beautiful shape.
Anyway, I made it the whole way. It was a good feeling to finally accomplish something I promised myself I would (too frequently over the last few months have I given into temptation to take the easy way out). I'm slowly on the path toward regaining mental discipline
One of my favorite standby phrases is "Rise up and do the next thing faithfully." Reciting that over and over narrows my focus and allows me to continue on in the midst of stress or anxiety and to continue on after failure. It's my hope that whatever situation you find yourself in today and always, that you would find encouragement in that the Lord only ever asks us to rise up and do the next thing faithfully.
Last night was a different story. We left the house at 10pm to accommodate for our late dinner and the Bachelorette (which my entire family ended up watching!) and went for a 4 mile run on the paths behind my neighborhood. As we started out, Dad asked me if I preferred a large hill at the beginning and a gradual decline from there on out, or a gradual incline the whole way and a steep decline at the end. Is that a legitimate question? Obviously, I chose the former.
Psalm 119:105 says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." I remember hearing once that the lamp the Psalmist refers to would have only provided enough light for a step or two, and that is how our walk with the Lord ought to be-- taken by faith, and not by sight. I was thinking about that as we ran last night only by the ambient light of interior house lights and distant street lights. I struggle to keep running in broad daylight, when I can see the path clearly ahead of me and can easily calculate how far I've left to run. But at night, as we run without even the light of the moon, I am only able to see a few feet ahead of me, and poorly at that. Ironically, it's easier to keep going when all I can focus on is the next step. I think the Lord knows that. He knows we couldn't handle to see the whole picture, so he reveals things little by little, piece by piece, giving us just enough information or insight to act in obedience. We'd be overwhelmed otherwise.
Although I strongly prefer running at night, it still wasn't easy. As I wrote in my first blog post, one of my motivations to train for this marathon is to regain the discipline I lost when I quit swimming. Last night was further confirmation of the weak state of my mind. With virtually every step I wanted to quit... not for any legitimate reason... but simply because it was hard. The temptation to stop was at points overwhelming but I overcame that by reciting this phrase-- "beautiful legs, beautiful body." Sounds ridiculous, right? But it worked. Whenever I wanted to stop I said that phrase over and over and over (making it my virtual companion for the last two miles). The inspiration for the phrase came from my dear friend Amelia who gave me marathon advice a few months ago. She told me that after all the months of training that my legs would be beautiful. For some strange reason, that stuck with me. The second part is one of my deepest motivations for running at all... I want my body to be in beautiful shape.
Anyway, I made it the whole way. It was a good feeling to finally accomplish something I promised myself I would (too frequently over the last few months have I given into temptation to take the easy way out). I'm slowly on the path toward regaining mental discipline
One of my favorite standby phrases is "Rise up and do the next thing faithfully." Reciting that over and over narrows my focus and allows me to continue on in the midst of stress or anxiety and to continue on after failure. It's my hope that whatever situation you find yourself in today and always, that you would find encouragement in that the Lord only ever asks us to rise up and do the next thing faithfully.
Monday, May 24, 2010
oh heyyyy
So, let's establish something you already know:
I'm terrible at blogging.
Perhaps this blog should be named anti-blogging blogger. Bah. But here's an update... I'm at home (Colorado) and have begun the glorious task of adjusting to the higher altitude. One of the first items on my to-do list upon arriving home was to purchase new shoes. Friday morning my dad and I headed over to Boulder Running Company and found (after many trips between the diagnostic treadmill and a pile of size 8.5 shoes) a beautiful pair of pink, burgundy, and white Mizuno Wave Alchemy 9s. I've begun tallying miles on the soles (credit: Brenna Case).
My dad is following the Jeff Galloway Marathon Training Program which is a run/walk strategy to avoid injury and increase endurance. As I've asked around I've heard great things about this program so I'm in. Also, as a true anti-running marathoner, how can I say no to a program that demands you walk one out of every ten minutes during the long runs? And has you run at a barelyfasterthanwalking pace? Yes please. The only issue is that because this program is longer than the one I was previously following, I'm behind where I should be for mileage. But I'm not stressed... I'll catch up.
My first run last Friday was... unimpressive. My dad and I went out about 4pm and ran on the trails between our neighborhood and the next one over. My legs felt fine-- which was surprising because my runs during finals could best be called sporadic if not nonexistent-- but about fifteen minutes in I began to feel pretty nauseous and lightheaded and so we stopped and walked for a bit, ran another 7-10 minutes and then walked the rest of the way home. So our "40 minute" run turned into a 50 minute run/walk.
The run yesterday went much better. My dad was scheduled for his 9 miler and I am obviously not there yet so he went out for the first six with my cousin Philip and then I tag teamed Philip out and ran the last three. The weather was gorgeous-- I SO prefer running at night. The whole day is behind you, the air is cool, and something about the dark makes the time and miles go by faster. Our pace was nice and easy, so other than my dumb shoulder ache, the run was perfect. Things are looking up!
I'm so thankful to have this goal. (you might need to remind me of this later). It gives me an excuse to go to bed early, the motivation to exercise regularly, and the desire to be healthy-- I need all three of these desperately but find them all too often illusive.
I'm terrible at blogging.
Perhaps this blog should be named anti-blogging blogger. Bah. But here's an update... I'm at home (Colorado) and have begun the glorious task of adjusting to the higher altitude. One of the first items on my to-do list upon arriving home was to purchase new shoes. Friday morning my dad and I headed over to Boulder Running Company and found (after many trips between the diagnostic treadmill and a pile of size 8.5 shoes) a beautiful pair of pink, burgundy, and white Mizuno Wave Alchemy 9s. I've begun tallying miles on the soles (credit: Brenna Case).
My dad is following the Jeff Galloway Marathon Training Program which is a run/walk strategy to avoid injury and increase endurance. As I've asked around I've heard great things about this program so I'm in. Also, as a true anti-running marathoner, how can I say no to a program that demands you walk one out of every ten minutes during the long runs? And has you run at a barelyfasterthanwalking pace? Yes please. The only issue is that because this program is longer than the one I was previously following, I'm behind where I should be for mileage. But I'm not stressed... I'll catch up.
My first run last Friday was... unimpressive. My dad and I went out about 4pm and ran on the trails between our neighborhood and the next one over. My legs felt fine-- which was surprising because my runs during finals could best be called sporadic if not nonexistent-- but about fifteen minutes in I began to feel pretty nauseous and lightheaded and so we stopped and walked for a bit, ran another 7-10 minutes and then walked the rest of the way home. So our "40 minute" run turned into a 50 minute run/walk.
The run yesterday went much better. My dad was scheduled for his 9 miler and I am obviously not there yet so he went out for the first six with my cousin Philip and then I tag teamed Philip out and ran the last three. The weather was gorgeous-- I SO prefer running at night. The whole day is behind you, the air is cool, and something about the dark makes the time and miles go by faster. Our pace was nice and easy, so other than my dumb shoulder ache, the run was perfect. Things are looking up!
I'm so thankful to have this goal. (you might need to remind me of this later). It gives me an excuse to go to bed early, the motivation to exercise regularly, and the desire to be healthy-- I need all three of these desperately but find them all too often illusive.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Happy Ash Wednesday
Two days ago I went for a morning run/walk with Laura. We went down to the road halls, up Hull to Bringham and around back to Wilson. I forgot how lovely it is to run with someone else-- it makes the time go by so much quicker!
Yesterday Julia and I were planning on running in the morning but because I had a paper to write, we decided to go in the afternoon and by then it was snowing heavily. I really wanted to run in the snow (it sounded like so much fun!) but Julia wouldn't let me (something lame about falling down...) so we ran on the indoor track of Bennett. I don't really like running on tracks in general, especially not ones that take 10 laps for a mile, but it's better than a treadmill (does anybody else think treadmill running feels artificial?). SO we ran 1 mile, stopped to stretch, and then ran another 2. I felt pretty good, minus my face feeling like it was going to explode (it's pretty warm in there). I didn't struggle for the third mile at all, so I think I could have handled another mile or two, but I'm glad we didn't push it. My legs were tired afterwards but today I feel completely normal. And again, it was so much better having someone else to run with.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Fairly Pleasant
So I went for a nice little jog around campus today... back around Bringham, down Hull, down Grapevine and around the backside of campus. I was planning on going out dancing tonight (which failed... hence why I'm blogging right now and not out) so I decided to cut the run a little short cause we all know how killer clubbing is on your quads. So, all in all I ran for about 25 minutes and it was (ready for this?) fairly pleasant. I was adequately dressed and had some good tunes which I think makes a world of difference.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Delirium
Today was a no-run day... so designated because I was working off 2 hours of sleep and not feeling super with-it. But some of the girls on my floor and I did end up playing an impromptu game of basketball for a bit so I wasn't a complete bum... just a partial one :)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Run #?
Ooookay. So, it's been a while. Turns out writing this accountability blog has so far been an epic fail... but don't worry... I haven't given up.
Here is a synopsis of the last month-ish. I've been running. Inconsistently. This means I'm still in the stage of working on getting my endurance up because it would be foolish to start my distance training plan if I can't even schedule consistent runs. The good news is that the 26 week plan I'm on gives me 10 weeks to get in shape which means I still have 6 weeks to get my act together (at least that's how I see it).
Today I ran on the treadmill (that's my cop-out when it's too cold or I'm feeling particularly squeamish about running on ice on a non-existant shoulder of a curvy road) and did an hour of walk/jog hill intervals at an average of 12min miles. Nothing impressive, I know, but an hour of some variation of running is better than nothing, right?
In other news, I started researching marathons in October to register for. Right now I'm thinking The Cape Cod Marathon... it's described as "beautifully challenging"... lots of hills but runs along one of the prettiest stretches of coastline in America. I'll let you know when I officially pick one.
So here are my commitments:
I will write on this blog daily. Run or no run. And I will be honest.
I will be able to consistently run 5 miles in 50 minutes or less by March 15th. And will train accordingly.
Here is a synopsis of the last month-ish. I've been running. Inconsistently. This means I'm still in the stage of working on getting my endurance up because it would be foolish to start my distance training plan if I can't even schedule consistent runs. The good news is that the 26 week plan I'm on gives me 10 weeks to get in shape which means I still have 6 weeks to get my act together (at least that's how I see it).
Today I ran on the treadmill (that's my cop-out when it's too cold or I'm feeling particularly squeamish about running on ice on a non-existant shoulder of a curvy road) and did an hour of walk/jog hill intervals at an average of 12min miles. Nothing impressive, I know, but an hour of some variation of running is better than nothing, right?
In other news, I started researching marathons in October to register for. Right now I'm thinking The Cape Cod Marathon... it's described as "beautifully challenging"... lots of hills but runs along one of the prettiest stretches of coastline in America. I'll let you know when I officially pick one.
So here are my commitments:
I will write on this blog daily. Run or no run. And I will be honest.
I will be able to consistently run 5 miles in 50 minutes or less by March 15th. And will train accordingly.
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