Weekly Running Recap - 2/17 - 2/23

Don't you just love Mondays?  I do, because it means I can get all analytical and see how my previous week of running was:

 

Monday - 6 miles w/ 2 x 1 mile fast

Tuesday - 5.5 miles

Wednesday - REST

Thursday - am - 2.3 miles easy outside; pm - 4.5 miles including tempo

Friday - 5.5 miles

Saturday - REST

Sunday - 3.9 miles

 

Total - 27.7 miles

 

So total mileage for the week was nothing special...definitely not up to where I want to be.  But I do think I more quality miles in there than I previously have.  And I suppose that's better because my next race distance is 5 miles, followed a week later by 6-7 miles in a marathon relay.  I'm not training for a marathon right now.  I am however, going to run a half marathon in late April or early May (not sure which one yet!), so I do need to be getting in higher mileage for that.

As for Friday's and Sunday's runs:

Friday - I ran 5.5 miles in 45: 35 for 8:17 average pace/mile on the treadmill at the Y.  Nothing special really.  I was planning to go for 8-10 miles, but I just couldn't stand the treadmill anymore.  That thing is killing me now.

Sunday - I ran OUTSIDE!!  Yay!!  I did 3.9 miles in 33 minutes for 8:28 average pace/mile.  I came extremely close to landing on my butt after sliding on some ice, but I used my awesome ninja skills to somehow stay on my feet.  The sidewalks were mostly clear, but still some icy or wet patches that were difficult to navigate.  I moved to the streets though (side streets) and it was a lot better then.  I struggled a lot at the start because it was so cold, but eventually warmed up and felt like I could've ran further (and maybe should have) but I also didn't want to be away from the house for too long because...

 

I was babysitting my younger cousins all weekend!  I got to do some fun, sports-related things with them this weekend:

 

Ryan had basketball games on both Saturday and Sunday and won both of them!

I forgot how entertaining grade school basketball is. It's so much better than watching college or NBA basketball.

Saturday night, Shannon's high school track team had time trials and parents were invited to a meeting and to watch the time time trials. Since this is right up my alley, I tagged along with Shannon as her parent for the night.

 

 

She did the pole vault, recording a tie with her personal record of 7 feet. Shannon missed all of outdoor season last year due to a surgery so I'm sure she will improve quite a bit this year!

She also ran the 400 and won her heat!

Other than that we did a lot of bumming around, watching movies & sports, and eating pizza, Thin Mints, Cheez-Its, and Portillo's.

What is the best part about your Monday?

What is your favorite track event?

An Unplanned 2-A-Day

As you are probably well aware, Chicago has been the victim of feet upon feet of snow.  And then magically, it got warmer yesterday.  Ok so it's not magic, it's science.  But for the sake of the story, let's call it magic because it seemed as if warmth would never come our way.  But alas, the warmth came and the snow melted.  But wait, it gets better.  Then it rained ALL day.

Despite the wet conditions, I still thought I would try to run outside yesterday morning.  I couldn't not take advantage of the first time temperatures were above freezing in as long as I can remember.  So I put on my fave long spandex, a long sleeve, and a short sleeve and headed on my way.  I didn't even bring my iPod because I thought I would just enjoy the pure fact that I was not on a treadmill.  Well, that and although it wasn't raining when I left, I was worried I would get rained on and I didn't want my iPod to get wet.  The poor thing has it hard enough dealing with my sweat.

I expected some puddles, but this was so much more.  I had to either run through small lakes or figure out ways to get around them - which often meant going into the street and weaving around parked cars, etc.  And some parts were slippery because temperatures were getting closer to freezing and causing all the water to turn to ice (more science).  So basically, I felt like I was not getting in a good workout and it was not worth it to keep trying to get through all the water and ice so I decided to call it quits at 2.3 miles.  I had the Garmin and I believe my miles were 8:07 and 8:3x (don't remember exactly).

Fast forward to the evening and I was back at the running again.  I wasn't satisfied with the short morning run since I took Wednesday completely off.  I had no real plan when I went to the gym in the evening, but soon decided I would do a tempo run.  It wasn't a long tempo, but still a tempo.  It went like this:

2 miles warm-up between 8:34 and 8:00 (7.0 - 7.5)

1 mile @ 7:19 (8.2)

1 mile @ 7:13 (8.3)

.5 miles @ 8:00

 

Total - 4.5 miles in 34:45

 

I'm happy with how I felt although I know I need to be doing longer tempos...or at least a long warm-up/cool-down to up the mileage.  But for now, I am really happy with it.

 

I think what I hate most about treadmill running (especially today) is how sweaty I get.  I like that the YMCA has huge fans, so I actually am cold when I enter the area wearing only my shorts and tank, but once I get going I can't control the sweat.  What I don't like about the Y is that they charge you for a towel and I always forget to bring my own!  But even when I do have a towel, it sucks having to wipe your face every few minutes (or more often).  I guess when I'm outside I don't think about it as much.  But when I'm running on a treadmill staring at myself in the mirror the entire time, there isn't much else on my mind except wishing I could stop and clean my face with soap and water.  (Not soup and water as I almost just typed, that would be gross...)

 

So now that I've most recently left you visions of either my sweaty face or washing your face with soup... let's get something happy and fun in here.  It is Friday after all!  But not just any Friday.  It's my dad's birthday!!!  This is a photo from his 31st birthday:

 

 

That beautiful, red-haired baby in his arms is me, along with some of my cousins.

 

And a more current picture of us:

 

My how hair colors can change.  Dad is on his way to Vegas right now for his birthday :)  I hope he'll come back with a present for me.

Do you ever do a 2nd run/workout in the evening if your morning run doesn't go as planned?

Have you been to Vegas?  What was your favorite part?

Give A Girl The Right Shoes...

I wasn't planning to post again today since I usually only post once a day, but I decided to pop in and tell you about yesterday's run.

For starters, yesterday's run was at a normal time of the day and not at 9pm like Monday's speed workout.  It felt weird walking into the gym less than 12 hours after I had left the previous night.

The run ended up being 5.5 miles in 43:30 for an average pace of 7:54/mile.  I started the treadmill at 7.0 and increased the speed by .1 every time the song changed, ending at a speed of 8.1.  I had no real plan for the day, but wanted to get in over 5 miles.

I ultimately decided to call it quits at 5.5 miles because I was so so bored.  I guess that's what I get for saying yesterday that I haven't minded the treadmill that much lately.  And I really haven't, but yesterday I was just not feeling it.  I was unbelievably restless and just wanted it to be over.

I would've like to go farther, as I said last week I want to change what to consider a "normal" run to be closer to 7 miles than 5.  But hopefully that will get easier to do when I can run outside again.  I'm really looking forward to spending some time at the Elk Grove Forest Preserve where the loop is 7.5 miles.  So as long as I hit that up (and run the full loop) a few times a week, I'll be golden.

I was pleased with the average pace though.  I know I had also said a few weeks back that I'm going to try to not really care about my pace as much right now and just get the mileage in.  I've been doing a good job at that I think, but it's also harder to do on the treadmill, whereas outside I can just go by feel.

In other news... I've been playing around with PicMonkey lately and am going to try to make up my own cool graphics and such.  Here's one I just made last night :)

I have a feeling Marilyn Monroe was talking about a different kind of shoes...

PS - Those are my beautiful pink Nike Flyknits that I've been running in a lot lately.  They are minimalist shoes, which I'm not sure yet how they will be outside, but they've been great on the treadmill!  And my poor yellow Timex watch that has been getting neglected since I got the Garmin for Christmas.  Actually the Garmin has been neglected to due to the polar vortexes and snow.

I'll pin this and any future graphics I make on Pinterest and I'm sure I will put them on Instagram as well, so make sure to follow me there!

This is also going to encourage me to start taking more pictures!  I know I keep saying that I need to, but do you really want to see the inside of a gym or a picture of the treadmill dashboard?  It's not that thrilling.

Do you use PicMonkey or any other photo editing program to make graphics?

What shoes do you run in?

What is your favorite non-running shoe?  I really love my pink Sperry's.  And my purple Hunter rain boots because those have been a God send all winter.

Introducing Speed Work Into My Life Again

You read that right - I did mile repeats last night.  And yes, you read correctly again - I did them last night, starting around 9pm.

But that worked out well because I got to watch ice dancing while I ran.

(Photo from The Washington Post)

 

I'm glad the Americans won (I knew they would because I had received the CNN spoiler alert notification in the morning), but I really liked the Canadian pair too.  I think Tessa Moir looks exactly like Katy Perry.  I'd definitely be OK with having the body of one of those ice dancers.  They are more fit than me!

 

But I know you're dying to hear how my mile repeats went! So without further adieu, here's the workout I did:

 

2 miles warm-up

2 x 1 mile fast w/ .25 mile recovery

1.75 miles cool-down

 

The entire run was 6 miles in 46:10 for an average pace of 7:42.  I did my 2 warm-up miles starting at 7.0 and increasing gradually every few minutes until 7.5.  My first fast mile I set at 6:58 and my second fast mile I set at 6:49.  The recovery and the cool down were at 8:00 minute pace.  I'm really happy with how I felt, but I definitely would have struggled if I were to do another fast mile.



 

I wasn't really sure what type of run or workout I would do when I got to the gym, especially since it was so late at night.  But I felt good when I got on the treadmill so decided I'd go for it.

 

My goal for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k, which is my next race on March 30, is to run 7 minute miles.  I haven't come up with a specific training plan for it yet, but I will definitely try to work in speed work and tempo runs at or faster than 7 minute mile pace, while still maintaining mileage of about 35 miles per week.

 

I think it has been beneficial for me to gradually introduce speed work like this into my runs.  Last Monday, I only did 1 fast mile in the middle of my 5 mile run.  The gradual introduction has been good for me for both physical and mental reasons.  I don't want to set too lofty of goals for myself right now and then get upset if I don't hit them.  I will have plenty of time for that over the summer when I am really training.

 

I have to say that right now, I feel proud of myself after every run, just for getting it done....especially since I have been on the treadmill for over a month now.  Is it weird that I am actually really OK with the treadmill?  I don't think I'd even be doing this speed work if I was outside.  I like starting a run with no expectations and just going on how I feel for the day.

 

And a few other closing tidbits:

 

- We didn't just have snow today, we had thundersnow!  That was weird.

 

- Erin and I got our nails done for her birthday - mine are green, ready for St. Patty's Day a month early.

 

- I am in the small minority of Americans that do not like Chipotle.  I really hate cilantro, therefore, I don't like Chipotle's rice.  I heard that you can ask for plain rice without cilantro, so I thought I'd give that a try today and it was in fact true that you can get plain rice.  The meal was MUCH better without the cilantro and I think I will join the majority now and say that I like Chipotle.

 

 

Do you ever run or workout late at night?

 

Do you like Chipotle?

Valentine's 2-A-Day

How do you make your Valentine's Day as good as possible when you're single? Lots of running!

I knew I wanted to do a somewhat longer run in the morning. I was on the treadmill though, so wasn't sure exactly how long I'd make it and didn't have a specific goal. I ended up doing 9.1 miles in 1:13, for an average pace 8:01.

I made up this workout/progression run on the fly and decided to call it the "3, 2, 1 Run."

3 songs @ 7.0

2 songs @ 7.1

1 songs @ 7.2

3 songs @ 7.3

2 songs @ 7.4

1 songs @ 7.5

3 songs @ 7.6

2 songs @ 7.7

1 songs @ 7.8

2 songs @ 7.9

I think this is a great progression-style workout for longer runs on the treadmill.  Since I was planning to go long, I knew I didn't want to be increasing every song, or even every 2 songs and I didn't want to throw in anything super fast.  This pattern of increasing the speed kept it nice and relaxed, but still proved to be a great workout because I was worn out by the end.

I hate that the treadmill turns off after 60 minutes! But I didn't let myself take a break.  I let the treadmill stop on its on and started up right back up to where I left off.  After an hour of running, the last thing you want to do is give your legs a nice break and then have to start up again!  It's all about the mental will power I guess.  This would be equivalent to running an hour outside, and returning to your house...but then keep going for another loop away from the house.

And then in the evening I headed to the South Loop Fleet Feet for a Valentine's fun run!

Upon arrival, they gave out wristbands dependent on your relationship status - green, yellow, or red.

After some general introductions and directions on where to run, it was time to head out into the cold.  I spotted Jackie and we ended up running the whole way together chatting.  Jackie and I actually met on Twitter a few months ago and realized that we are from the same area of Chicago suburbs and share a love of running :)  We were both planning to come to this event so it was a perfect opportunity to meet IRL (in real life, in Internet speak haha).

It was not as cold as I was expecting, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to the cold since I was just glad to not be running on the treadmill and to be running with other people!  The route was 3 miles and went by super quick.  Parts were really icy, but once we got onto the lakefront path it was nice and clear.  Towards the end of the run, Jackie and I met Linton.   The 3 of us hung out during the after party, where they had snacks and beverages at the store.  None of us won the raffle, unfotunately.

All in all, it was a successful Valentines Day, with a total of 12 miles running, a fun event in the evening, and meeting new friends!

How was your Valentine's Day?

Do you have any internet friends who you haven't met in real life yet?  Or that you have met and are now real-life friends?

Friday Five - Valentine & Olympic Edition

Welcome to the Friday Five - Valentine's Day and Olympics edition.

For starters,  I'm not a big fan of Valentine's day.  Mostly because I'm single.  So it's a holiday that I am currently excluded from.  Like how I imagine non-Christians feel around Christmas.  I'm sure when I am in a relationship, for at least the first Valentine's day, I will be the girl posting flowers (provided the guy sends them I guess) and checking in wherever we go out for dinner and brag about what we did.  But this year, I have plans with some girlfriends - including a running event!

Tomorrow evening I'll be heading to this run:

(www.fleetfeetchicago.com)

Each runner receives a reflective wristband based on your relationship status.  So to start of my Friday Five, here are five pick-up lines I'm thinking of using:

1) "I bet I'm faster than your girlfriend."  (Juuuust kidding, I'll stick to the single ones.)
2) "Your pace or mine?"
3) "When I blog about this, it will say I ran 3 miles with my future husband"
4) "I'm like chocolate pudding.  I look like crap, but I'm sweet as can be." (For after the run, because that's definitely not my most attractive time.  I will wear make-up and my cutest running clothes though.)
5) "On a scale of 1-10, you are a 26.2!"

Ok, so I didn't make up those last 3...thank you, Google.  And I altered the one about blogging.  I will obviously blog about the event, but you can bet your glutes I will not say something like that.

Besides Valentine's Day, it is also one of my best friends Grace's birthday! Happy Birthday, Grace :)

I haven't talked about them much on the blog yet, but I really love the Olympics!  I would like nothing more than to compete in them, but I don't foresee that happening, unfortunately.  I have to say though that I'm really not as big a fan of the winter Olympics as I am of the summer.  But so far, here are what I think are my five favorite winter Olympic sports:

1) Figure skating
2) Cross country skiing
3) Alpine skiing
4) Speed skating
5) Curling

These are my five favorite summer Olympic sports:

1) Marathon (what did you expect?)
2) Triathlon
3) Gymnastics
4) Swimming
5) Track

Five Articles I've Loved This Week:

Runner's Valentines - Runner's World
17 Things You Should Know Before You Date A Runner - Thought Catalog
Matchmaking App Tinder Sees Huge Spike in Sochi During Games - Wall Street Journal
Beer Fridge at Sochi Olympics Only Opens for Canadians - NY Daily News
The Olympics' Most Interesting Man - Crave Online


And since I didn't tell you about it yet, here are 5 things about Wednesday's run:

1) 4.75 miles in 40 minutes (8:25 average pace)
2) Treadmill...what else is new?
3) Started at 7.0, increased by .1 every 2 songs, so ended at 7.5
4) Took it nice and easy because the lunges at BodyPump on Tuesday destroyed my legs
5) ...and then I went to Panera with my dad.

I took Thursday as an off day, but I'll be back at it today!  I'm going to do a morning run on my own before tonight's fun run.

What is your favorite pick-up line?  Running or not running related!
What are your favorite Olympic sports?

A New ID & Changing My Normal

I did my workout at the YMCA yesterday and the worst thing ever happened.  They made me get a new member ship ID card.  This was traumatic because I've had the same membership card since 1997.  That's how long I've been a member of the Y.  And my whole self-confidence and source of pride is that I still have that ID card - I never lost it or damaged it.  Same with my UD student ID card, by the way...and that's even more of a feat since I took it out with me every where I went...including to parties, bars, etc.  Anyways, OK so that was exaggerating, but I really do laugh every time I see my old card that says member since 3/20/1997 and has a picture of me at 8 years old.

When I gave it to the lady to swipe this time, apparently it didn't work and she said I would need a new card.  So she took my picture and gave me a card.  I was dismayed to learn that the new card didn't have show the picture.  I'm sure in 17 years I'd want to have it to laugh at.  Oh well.

(old card on top, new card on bottom)

After the card fiasco, it was time to work out.  I knew I wanted to go to body pump at 5:15 and if I didn't have to get a new card, I could have ran for 30 minutes.  Instead, I was only able to run 3 miles, which I did in 24 minutes.  It was fairly easy, but I was feeling at the end.  It's always harder those last couple minutes when you know you're almost done, right?  I started at a speed of 7.0 and increased by .2 each time the song changed, so I ultimately ended at 8.0.

Right after my run, I had just a few minutes to get upstairs to Body Pump.  When I showed up, the room was almost full, but the instructor greeted me right away and showed me to a spot I could use.  I told her it was only my 2nd Body Pump class, so she helped me set up what I would need.  I could tell that a lot of others in the class probably come to this same class every week because they were joking around with each other and the instructor and asking when they could do different workouts/music.

The class was the same tracks and music as the class I went to on Sunday.  But it felt so much harder.  I am pretty sure I was using the same level of weights, but my muscles were getting fatigued quicker.  I had to pause for a few reps of some of the exercises, but the instructor was very encouraging and kept me going.  I am probably a little sore from Sunday perhaps.

I'm going to try to keep going to Body Pump a few times a week because it's definitely better than any weight lifting I do on my own!  Once I get a little better/more familiar with it, I'll try to give a whole run-down of what we do, how I think it's helping my strength, etc.

You also may have noticed that I have been completely failing on the 30-Day Challenge I made for myself.  Basically the challenge was to run 60 minutes a day for 30 days straight.  I did a decent job, but some of my runs turned out to only be 30-50 minutes instead, for various reasons.  And some days I just didn't run.  There was only one day - 4 days into the challenge, that I felt like I could physically not run for an hour.  I can't say how the rest would have gone if I was actually doing it.  But I think a lot of the problem has been the weather.  This isn't just trying to run 60 minutes - this is trying to run 60 minutes on the treadmill.  And while I have been generally OK with the treadmill for now, some days I just couldn't bring myself to go to the gym knowing that I had to be on the treadmill for an hour.

One of the other big reasons I have not been running for a full hour has been that I'm trying to cross train/weight lift more than I have in the past.  I think I want to do another triathlon.  And I know I need to strength train.  Therefore, I've cut runs short so that I can swim or go to spinning or Body Pump.  I'm also going to try out a few new classes!

Although I am disappointed because I really want to run higher mileage, I definitely feel like I've been doing a lot more lately than I have before.  Last week I was only at 26 miles though, and I know I want to be consistently above 30 so that by the time the nice weather comes around and it's time to really train hard, I can more easily transition to 50-mile weeks.

Even though I'm going to stop this challenge, because really I was the only one doing it anyways and already "failed," I am still going to aim for an hour on a lot of my runs.  In the past, a "normal" distance run for me meant 40 minutes, 5 miles.  To get better at the marathon distance, I know that for me, more mileage is key.

Do you have a membership card or something of the like that you're surprised you haven't lost yet?

What is your go-to run distance or time that you consider on a "normal" run day?

Monday Runday & Big News!

I surprisingly am not getting too fed up with the treadmill right now.  Maybe because I've been doing it so consistently that it's just become routine.  Routines are good.  If I was used to running outside and then forced inside by the weather every once in awhile, it would be like a punishment.  But since right now there isn't another option and hasn't been another option for weeks, it just seems normal.  Also, as I highlighted in a previous post about the positive aspects of treadmill running, I really like that I can set my pace.

For example, yesterday I decided to throw in a fast mile in the middle of my run:

.5 miles @ 7.0

.5 miles @ 7.2

.5 miles @ 7.4

.5 miles @ 7.6

1 mile @ 8.6

2 miles @ 7.5

Total of 5 miles in 39:45 (7:57 average pace)

 

I was in a particularly good mood (I'll share why in a just a minute), so I decided I should try out some speed work.  I haven't done speed work since probably September, before the Chicago Marathon.  And I didn't want to do anything crazy, but I knew I could handle to go a little faster since I have been finishing most of my treadmill runs at faster than 8-minute pace.  After a 2-mile warm-up, I increased to 6:58 pace for a mile, then back down to 8:00 pace for the remainder of the run.  It definitely wasn't the easiest mile, but not super hard either.  My main struggle was that I forgot both a headband and a water bottle.  And since I have short side bangs now, it was rather uncomfortable running with that hair bopping around in my face/eye the whole time.

After the run, I went to the locker room to gather my things, and found a nice little treat waiting for me (and all the other female patrons of the YMCA):

Someone must work for Hallmark and had all these leftover Thanksgiving cards, because there were a ton of nice Hallmark cards!  I took one of each variety (so like 12 cards total)...  now I need to remember in 9 months that I have these cards to send out.  This one is my favorite (I actually took 2 of this design):

 

 

Alright, well that's enough fluff - onto my big news!!  I found out yesterday that I've been selected as a ZOOMA Chicago race ambassador!!  I'll be promoting the race, running it myself, and helping out with all the fun events and training leading up to the race!  I'll have more info on specifics later, but mark your calendars for Saturday, August 9th for the ZOOMA Chicago Half Marathon and 10k!  I'll have a promo code soon so you can all get 10% off your entry fee too :)

What do you tend to forget most when you go to workout?

Do you like sending greeting cards?

The Positive Aspects of Treadmill Running

Here we are on hump day, just another snowy day in Chicago.  It has gotten to the point that talking/tweeting/posting about the weather and its inconveniences is like beating a dead horse.  But I wrote an awesome haiku yesterday:

It's snowing again.

When will it all melt for good?

I hate the treadmill.

(You can read more of my spectacular running poetry here and here.)  Treadmill running is probably the epitome of what runners love to hate.  And my relationship with the treadmill truly is a love/hate relationship.  So instead of highlight the negative aspects of treadmill running, as most of us usually do during this time, I decided I'm going to focus on why treadmill running is better than outdoor running.

People watching.  People watching is obviously fun outside too, but you generally just run past a person never to see them again.  But on the treadmill, you can observe people and their working-out habits/techniques.  At XSport, the treadmills are right next to one of the fitness studios, so chances are a class is going on.  It is funny to watch people doing the routines, but to the music in your own headphones.

Controlling your pace.  If I was able to go run for an hour outside, chances are it would be just an hour right around 8 minute pace or so, with little variation.  I like that the treadmill allows me to pick and choose exactly what speed I want to go for the day without any guesswork.  I can easily change up the pace when the song changes or after a certain number of minutes without always needing to look down at my watch to see when to do so.

Hillwork.  There is no such thing as a hill in Chicago.  Sometimes there are very slight inclines, but they are about as close to a hill as my net worth is to Warren Buffett's.  Or my basketball skills are to Michael Jordan's.  You get the picture.  Now, I am not going to pretend I've actually done hill work on the treadmill.  I'm not one to voluntarily run hills.  But I know that I should and used to run on hillier terrain when I lived in Dayton.  Catherine recently sent me a few treadmill hill workouts to try by varying the incline setting for intervals, so I plan to work those in over the next month and will share them when I do.

(There ARE hills/mountains in Denver!)

Readily available supplies.  I always have a towel and water bottle right at the treadmill with me.  In addition to varying the speed every time the song changes, I also am in the habit of taking a drink of water every time the song changes (after I change the speed first of course).  I usually use a towel to cover up the display panel so I am not constantly staring at my time or distance, but I also use it to wipe away sweat from my face which is something I can't do outside.

Entertainment.  Along the lines of supplies, I must admit that I do bring my phone to the treadmill sometimes and text or tweet while I run.  Same with the Kindle, which only works to read while running at the slower speeds, otherwise I'm too bouncy.  I can also watch/read the closed captioning on the TV.  I can't tell you how many episodes of Sex and the City I've "seen" but not heard.  They are always on and I watch and read the captioning, but while I'm listening to my own music.

And a recap from today's run:

Day 10 - 7.5 miles in 60 minutes (8:00 pace average)

This run was very similar to yesterday's.  The total time and mileage ended up the same as yesterday, but today I started at a speed of 6.8 and increased by .1 each time the song changed, ultimately ending at a speed of 8.4.  I was happy with it, especially because I was almost going to stop early a few times.

I was at the YMCA today instead of XSport and used the treadmill while Mom was in Zumba class.  I was starting to feel very fatigued and knew she'd be done right around when I would hit 6 miles.  I figured I would just call it quits when she finished Zumba because obviously I want to be polite and not make her wait.  But instead, I told her she should get on the treadmill next to me and walk/run for a bit until I finished, which she did.  (I am trying to get her to be a runner of course.)  By this time, I was at a speed of 8.1 and was pretty sure I was not going to make it much longer.  I declared that I would stop at 7 miles.  But once I got there,  I told myself it's only about 4 more minutes to finish out the hour, so I kept on cranking through it.  Boo-yah.

I do like doing these gradual progression runs, but I think tomorrow I'll go back to sticking around the same general pace for the duration of the hour.

What do you like about the treadmill?
What TV shows do you watch on the treadmill?

Hairstyle Changes & Running Relaxed

Hello friends!  I have many things/workouts to update on from over the past few days.  Btw, does that seem normal to have 3 prepositions in a row (on, from, over)?  Is there a rule on how many prepositions can go in a row?  Prepositions are my favorite part of speech so I always notice them.  Anyways...

First, a recap of last week's mileage (click on the links for details of each run):

Monday - 7 miles

Tuesday - 7 miles

Wednesday - 7 miles

Thursday - 3.65 miles

Friday - 7.5 miles

Saturday - 3.5 miles

Sunday - Rest

Total - 35.65 miles

Second, I realized that I have been failing on taking pictures lately.  And I will tell you why.  It's because of SnapChat.  Whenever I find interesting things to take a picture of or take silly selfies on the treadmill (not that I'd put my sweaty treadmill pictures up here for the world to see anyways), I snap them to my friends instead of take a normal picture.  So I am now resolving to take more real pictures so I will have more for the blog :)

I did just look through the photos on my phone though and found 3 I would like to share:

Each of these 3 pictures was taken within 3 weeks of each other.  My hair was so long and blonde.  Then I decided it was time to go back to brown, my natural color, but I was going to keep on growing it long.  It's much easier for running when I can nicely pull all of my hair back into a ponytail.  But then I got an offer by a friend in cosmetology school to do a hair cut on me for free.  So why not?

OK, now to the running!  Here's how the past 4 days of my 30-Day Base Building Challenge have gone:

Day 6 - 3.5 miles in 30 minutes (8:34 pace average) + 500m swimming
Day 7 - Rest
Day 8 - Rest
Day 9 - 7.5 miles in 60 minutes (8:00 pace average)

I was about to put little sad faces by the 2 days that I didn't do my challenge, but I decided that in the end, I think the rest is a good thing.  I felt awesome on today's 60 minute run!

But let's back up to Saturday.  I went to XSport with the intention of not running a full hour so that I could try my hand (body?) at swimming.  I have completed a few triathlons in my day, and I plan to write a whole post on my thoughts on doing another one this summer, but let's just say I'm not exactly a swimmer and need some major improvement.  So I got in the pool, not sure how it would go considering I have not swam since the last triathlon I did back in June.  I ended up doing a total of 500m, stopping for a short rest every 100m.  My 100m segments were: freestyle, freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, freestyle.  It was definitely an arm workout as well as a cardio workout, so I'd like to try mixing in some swimming twice a week and I also plan to take a stroke class.

And on the 7th day, I rested.  I decided more for mental reasons that I did not want to deal with another day on the treadmill.  Another impending doom of a winter storm is heading for Chicago now and I knew I'd be on the treadmill all of this week...and who knows how much longer.  So, I decided that since it was the Super Bowl and Groundhog Day and Sunday, it was an appropriate day to rest.

Similarly, Monday was a mental health day/I don't want to go to the treadmill day in my book.  I figure I could take that day off and still get in 6 quality runs each of the remaining days this week.  So that is my plan.

Which brings us to today.  I ventured out to the gym and thought "hmm it's not that cold, I could run outside."  But then I remembered that the issue is not the temperature right now (we seem to be past this round of the polar vortex), but rather the snow and ice that still blankets the sidewalks.

On the treadmill today I was surprisingly content and relaxed the entire time.  I started at a speed of 6.7, which has been my normal starting speed lately, and I increased by .1 every time the song changed.  After I got to 6 miles (I was at a speed of 8.0 I believe), I decided to get a little crazy and increase the speed every 1/4 of a mile.  I still felt very relaxed and at ease, which was a nice little boost to my running self-confidence.  For the last 5 minutes I increased the speed each minute, ultimately ending my hour at a speed of 9.0 (6:40 pace).  I think next week I'll try working in some actual speed work to my runs.  But for now, this 8 minute/mile average run was a wonderful start to the week.

Do you change your hairstyle a lot?

Any tips on learning to swim?

Treadmill Pacing and January Round-Up

Happy Saturday!  Remember how my legs felt so fatigued on Thursday and therefore I only ran 30 minutes?  Well, yesterday I went back to the treadmill and felt awesome!

Day 5 - 7.5 miles in 60 minutes - 8:00 average

I really didn't think I'd make it the full hour again last night because I thought for sure my legs would feel so tired and sluggish like they did Thursday.  I started the treadmill at 6.7 (8:57 pace) and increased by .1 every time the song changed (I always do my treadmill workouts by number of songs instead of minutes).  I wasn't sure how long I'd make it and kind of thought once I got to 7.5 (8:00 pace), I would just keep it there and cruise for as long as I could, hopefully an hour.  But I was feeling great, so I just kept increasing with each song and when I got to about 43 minutes I really wanted to quit...but I had made it that far so quitting wasn't allowed.  I finished the run at 8.3 (7:14 pace) for a total of 7.5 in 60 minutes - exactly 8:00 pace average.

Boom.  I did not expect to have that good of a workout after Thursday's not-so -good workout.  But I guess I just needed a bit of a rest day!  Today will probably be an easier day.  And we are getting more snow :(  So I think the treadmill will be calling my name for awhile.  And I will answer it's call and bring my BFFs Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and a few others to help get me through it.

Here's a treadmill pace chart:

And alas, it is February.  So I must do my analytical-self thing and give you a recap of my January mileage:

Total Miles - 66

Total Runs - 12

Average Miles/Run - 5.5

And here is a comparison of this January to all my previous Januaries since 2008:

I think I was trying to get super motived in 2012 and show the tax busy season who's the boss...but it didn't work out (tax busy season is always the winner) and by April of that year, I wasn't running any more... but we can analyze that when we get there.

All in all, I guess the years I'd want compare to the most are 2010 and 2013 because those are the years (although not until October) that I ran good marathons.  However, January 2010 was when I was still injured (groin muscle) so running was a struggle until May/June.  I think I'm where I need to be for now, just building up the base and mileage.  And actually, about half that January 2014 mileage is from the past 5 days.  So my goal for February is to run higher mileage, but evenly spaces throughout the month.  That shouldn't be a problem if I keep up with my 30-Day Challenge!
 
I didn't do a Friday Five post this week, but I do have a few really great articles or blog posts you should check out!

What I Learned From My First Marathon - from Kristin @ Glitter and Dust

15 Reasons Cousins Make The Best Friends - Thought Catalog

Weight Is Just A Number - from Elise @ 9 to Fit
Los Angeles Will Host The 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials - LA Times
Season of Humbling - from Katie @ Peace, Love, & Oats
Why Can You Bet on the Super Bowl But Not Races? - Runner's World

Running Playlist - February 2014

I made a new running playlist this week and I am loving it!  I tried it out for a few days, deleted some songs I had added, but realized while I was on the treadmill I actually didn't care for.  I posted my Chicago Marathon playlist and other playlists here and here before, but here's the most recent.

Brave - Sara Bareilles

Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

The New Workout Plan - Kanye West

People Like Us - Kelly Clarkson

Wake Me Up - Avicii

The Phoenix - Fall Out Boy

Shake It - Metro Station

Legendary Lovers - Katy Perry

Timber - Pitbull, Ke$ha

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

Pompeii - Bastille

Dark Horse - Katy Perry

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift

Wasting All These Tears - Cassadee Pope

Red - Taylor Swift

Chillin' It - Cole Swindell

Compass - Lady Antebellum

Face Down - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Heels Over Head - Boys Like Girls

Five Minutes To Midnight - Boys Like Girls

Club Can't Handle Me - Flo Rida

Bottoms Up - Keke Palmer

If I Had You - Adam Lambert

Dark Side - Kelly Clarkson

 

 

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me tweet about the fact that I was basically rotating through 3 songs: Teenage Dream, Dark Horse, and We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.  Some days certain songs just get you pumped.  And those were working for me today.

 

Which leads me into Day 3 of my 30-Day Base Building Challenge.  I completed 7 miles in 60 minutes, for an average of 8:34 pace.  I did the same little game as Monday with my songs and the speed.  Started at 6.7 and every 2 songs I increased .2, then decreased .1, and so on.  But it felt oh so much harder, both mentally and physically.

 

Each of my hour runs over the past 3 days now have been on the treadmill, and I think that's about my mental limit for that death machine.  After 30 minutes, I was not quite sure how I was going to make it another 30.  I was extremely close to stopping.  Once I got to 25 minutes, I decided I would stop at 30 for about 3.5 miles.

 

But then I did the right thing and put on Teenage Dream.  That did the trick.  You know the saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough put on Katy Perry and get going" or something like that.  (I'm way too excited now that I have concert tickets for August...so far away.)  Anyways, I suffered/persevered/ran through the last 30 minutes really rocking out.  I'm glad nobody was next to me because my music was really loud.  But obviously they would've enjoyed it too.

 

That was all really dramatic.  Long story short, I'm really proud of myself for doing the full 60 minutes!  If I didn't have this challenge for myself, I definitely would not have done it.  I think I will try running outside tomorrow and see how it goes.  It's the age old question - suffer on the treadmill or suffer in the cold?  Decisions, decisions.  Sorry, more dramatic-ness.  Running isn't suffering, it's fun!!  That's what you gotta tell yourself!  So get on out there (after adding the above songs to your playlist), and RUN!  :)

 

Do you have a specific song or 2 you put on when your workout gets tough?

 

What do you tell yourself to get pumped up? (The last couple sentences above were my words of motivation to both you and me)