Chase the wind and touch the sky - a training journal (comments welcome)

Anyway, speaking of totals, my total for the month of August is 17.11 miles. That's down 6.82 miles from July, but considering that break in training felt like it lasted an eternity, I had sort of expected it to be worse than that! Anyway, I get a fresh start for September, so no worries.

Considering the break, that's a great total for the month! 17 miles in what, 2 weeks? 3 weeks? That's awesome! Congrats!
 
Considering the break, that's a great total for the month! 17 miles in what, 2 weeks? 3 weeks? That's awesome! Congrats!

I think it must have been around that, yeah! It’s wild, back in June I was really excited when I managed 1.5 miles, and now I’m talking myself down to only 3.5 for tomorrow. And it adds up; I’m really happy with those monthly totals.
 
Yesterday's run was very good, but I could tell around the end that I'd overdone it a bit. The numbers (I guess I'm not getting so far away from wanting to share them!):

Distance: 3.51 miles
Time: 56:30
Overall pace: 16:06
Mile 1: 16:36
Mile 2: 16:14
Mile 3: 15:55
Final half mile: 7:45 (pace of ~15:30)

This is the first time I had my Garmin break out the miles as "laps" (hadn't even thought to check whether I could before this week) and I like seeing how it actually breaks out! Very happy that I got faster rather than slower as the run went on; I think the difference between miles 1 and 2 is mainly a matter of warming up and getting into the groove...but also I changed my intervals at the 2.5 mile mark. I'd tried 10/40 before on a weekday run and found I was getting tired too quickly, so I told myself yesterday that I'd do 10/45 until I hit 2.5 miles, and then I could lower my rest interval to 40 seconds if I was feeling good. I was, so I did. I think it would have been too much to do the entire run that way; by the time I reached 3.5 miles I felt like I was running out of steam (despite how my pace makes it look).

16:30 has been my average on weekday runs since I started being mindful to take things slow, and going by feel and by what happened before a pace between 15:30 - 17:00 is just where I need to be right now to avoid injuries. I was more sore than usual after yesterday's run and my shins are still a little tender today, so I think this coming week is going to be a step-back week to recuperate before I push the distance again. I don't run again until Tuesday and the swelling hasn't come back, so I'm not worried, just trying to be kind to myself in the overall pattern of my training.
 


I LIIIIIIIVE

October turned out to be a lot busier than I thought it was going to be, plus I've had a very, very hard time getting back on my early-to-rise sleep schedule and ended up skipping almost all my runs this month because I just "couldn't" get up early enough (that it's cold and dark in the mornings now didn't help my motivation). Finally got serious with myself this past week and decided that if I can't manage mornings, I'll just run after work -- and it's working! The weather is very nice in the early evenings right now and it felt good to get outside again. I think this is probably going to turn into a seasonal shift going forward; mornings were great in summer but now that it's colder and darker evenings are looking like a better bet.

I did a race recap over in the 2018 running thread for this morning's 5K. I did pretty good for someone who hasn't trained all month!
 
Well done in doing the 5k! Would have been easy to blow it off, but instead you participated and succeeded!

My family and I were discussing the carrying pumpkin challenge that was part of your race. My old crossfit gym used to do sandbag carry team runs, so somewhat similar (although much shorter distance). Such a unique challenge!
 
So the September/October stress turned into not getting started back up until after my Disneyland Paris trip in November (which was amazing, btw), and then that turned into not dealing with it until after Christmas, and by then it had turned into a general habit of Not Running....

And then yesterday I realized I was fed up with it, decided to change my approach, and got out and ran this morning. I only did two miles and I think I set my intervals too challenging for how much conditioning I've lost, but I covered the distance and kept a good pace compared to what I'd been doing in the fall. It felt like a real workout, though, even at two miles and what should be an easy pace, which tells me I'm basically starting over in terms of building my base. But that's okay! I did the thing, and I have a plan!

Up until now I've been insisting to myself that I need to get a gym membership before I can start running again, since the weather is fickle and I can't count on being able to run outside. The problem is, I think that's been making me put it off longer because my reasons for disliking going to the gym have remained--it still takes more time than just going for a run, I still dislike using public showers, I still just generally want to be alone when I work out....

So right now the plan is to go back to the idea of home workouts on days when it's too cold to run. The basement ceiling is too low for a treadmill, but I've always liked rowing--and while it's not the same as running, it's the kind of crosstraining I should probably be doing anyway to build other muscle groups. I'm also shifting my sleep schedule to stay up later at night so I have time to run after work, when it's warmer; I think I'm just going to have to change my sleep schedule twice per year to be awake at the best time for running. The big thing is to get back into a routine, and having a rower in the basement will mean that there's no excuse not to do something on my scheduled running days. At the moment it's just a matter of deciding what machine to buy. I've narrowed it down to the Concept2 Model D (an air-resistance model that's highly recommended) or the Velocity Magnetic Rower (which costs a third as much but doesn't give the same kind of increasing resistance at higher speeds).
 



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