Saddle Sore

The new goal from now until Christmas holidays is to go to the gym to lift at least twice per week. Starting yesterday with Preston.

I decided that since I hadn't done anything aerobic since the 5 mile run on Thanksgiving, I should ride the bike for half an hour at the gym to warm-up. I thought riding their bike would be a nice change for me, since mine is a recumbant and they have an upright.

O.M.G. Let me just say that riding an upright is soooooo much harder! And my butt hurts sooooooo badly today.

So the new goal is to hit the gym at least twice per week for weights, and to ride their upright at least once (but preferably twice) a week so that my butt is ready for a real bike when the weather warms up.

Preston did C25K Week 1 Day 1 yesterday!!!

I had a nice, but cold, recovery run for 30 minutes and 2.8 miles this morning.

Run Thru The Woods 5 Mile Race Report

I ran my very first 5 mile race in the Woodlands on Thanksgiving Day this year.

A cold front had blown through during the night, and the temperature had dropped approximately 40 degrees from the mid-80's to the mid-40's on race morning. This was frustrating because it was the first incidence of such a cold front this year, so I had no practice for what to wear and how such conditions would effect me. I finally decided on my under armour compression long-sleeved shirt with my new Target pull-over with built-in mittens on the top and my standard Old Navy shorts on bottom. I topped all of that with a stocking hat, sweatpants, my Nike jacket, and a sweatshirt for the ride over and the wait at the start line. Luckily I have a loving husband who wasn't running, so I was able to wait until just minutes before the start before I had to strip down to running gear and feel the cold.


I seeded myself about 2/3 of the way back in the crowd. WHen the gun finally went off, we all stood around for another minute or so, then began the slow stroll to the start. The pace picked up when we were almost there, and I started running.

I figure I seeded myself well because I was being passed about as much as I was passing people. It was actually pretty frustrating - by far the most tight race start I've ever experienced. I tried to just relax and go with the flow near the center where the fasters could get by me on the left and I could left-pass the slowers. There were plenty of both.

Going with the flow served me well the first mile - 9:33 (by my watch).

Unfortunately, that fast first mile freaked me out a little. I mean, I had 4 more to go, and I was running at near my best 5K pace. I pulled in the reins mentally, and soon was forcibly slowed when we were squeezed into one lane when the course went onto a 45 access road. Hit mile 2 at 21:30 (their clock - so probably about 20:10).

The next mile was really quite uneventful - hit the split at around 30:30 and proceeded into uncharted race territory. Fortunately the fourth mile went really well also. We hit the one and only big hill for the second time on the return trip over 45. It definitely seemed steeper in mile 4 than it did in mile 1!! One guy near me yelled out "Love the hill and it will love you!" I thought I'd go with that, knowing that I was almost to my final mile. People down on 45 were honking at us as we ran over the overpass. It was pretty cool.

Hit mile 4 at over 41 minutes, so that hill did slow me down some. Then I tried to pick up the pace a little bit, concentrate on my posture and the fact that I was almost there. I was a little out of breath from the hill, so I tried to get that under control.

Before I knew it, I was on what I thought was the home stretch. I had done really well at visualizing myself in the course map up to that point, and I think it really helped me mentally with running the unfamiliar course, but here I got it wrong. But I learned from the Dad's Day 5K in June, and even though I couldn't see the finish line, I knew I was really close, so I just kept running through it.

Finally I turned the corner and saw the finish line. Crossed in 52:50 by the clock. Forgot to stop my watch til my chip was off, stopped it at 52:18, so I was hoping I had pulled a sub 52 time, but I wasn't sure.

I did. 51:26 for a 10:17 min/mile pace. I achieved all but my most ambitious goal. I'm really pleased with this first 5 miler, but I can already see that if I hadn't psyched myself out about that fast first mile I may have had a shot at a sub-50. I can't wait to give this distance another try. Sooo... next up = the Jingle Bell 5 miler on December 9th.

Exercise is Still Better than Not

Last Thursday, I received a call from my neurologist, who had ordered an echocardiogram approximately one month ago. A call is not what you want from this doc. My echo showed atrial dilatation. I have an appointment with a cardiologist now, and will know more after that next week.

Who knew that some simple facial paralysis could lead to all this: scars on the brain, an enlarged atrium....

Given that, this seemed appropriate.

Time to Bust Out the 5 Miler Goals

With Thursday fast approaching, I've been doing some thinking about this race, my A race for the second half of this year--my very first 5 miler. Actually, technically, it will be my very first 5 mile run ever. Although I've covered the distance in training several times, I've never done it without walking. So I'm a little nervous. But also excited about my first racing foray into distances greater than 5K.

Calculator fun abounds on pre-race days.... This pace predictor based on 29:40 as my 5K PR says I should be able to pull a 49:06!! Running Times gives me a 49:14. Galloway's 10K predictor pace translates to just under 55 for a 5 miler.

So, with all that in mind, what are my goals?
1. To finish.
2. To finish without walking.
3. To finish in less than 60 minutes/less than 12 minute miles.
4. To finish in less than 55 minutes/less than 11 minute miles.
5. To finish in less than 50 minutes/less than 10 minute miles.

Run and Packet Pick-Up

Saturday Preston and I went to go pick up my packet for the Run Thru the Woods. We were standing in line behind this incredibly annoying woman who insisted on taking out all of her t-shirts and checking the sizes even though the guy told her that he couldn't exchange them, but that she could exchange them on race day. The other guy who was pulling the packets came up, looked directly at Preston (who was on the far side of me and not looking at the guy), and asked our names. I responded, he asked if 1 or 2 people, I said 1, and he brought me the packet. Then he asked me which race I was running.

I'm sure he didn't mean to make me feel like I wasn't part of the club. Like my husband who is out-of-shape is more likely to be part of the "runner's club" than I am. But he did. Even though I'm sure it was unintentional.

This was after our waitress at lunch always looked at Preston. *sigh*

Yesterday Preston was really awesomely helpful. I always have trouble with running motivation if I don't run first thing in the morning. It is like I can't find a time where food intake and desire coincide, and thus I often won't run. Yesterday around 1 it had been about 3 hours since I had eaten, and I was toying with the idea of running, but feeling lazy. I told Preston I was trying to decide between running "today or tomorrow", and he says, "why don't you just go ahead and go today". And I did. Couldn't very well wimp out after that, could I?

So yesterday: 3.6 miles in 35:52. Yeah, baby, a training run in sub-10s. Hells yeah. I have Podrunner to thank for that - 179 bpm sped me up without me even really realizing it. Sweet.

Pimp Definition

The results of Unshelved's annual Pimp My Bookcart contest came out today, and an e-mail thusly circulated amongst the staff at the library.

A 76-year-old colleague says to me, "Please tell me there is a juvenile definition of p-i-m-p." And yes, she did spell pimp instead of saying it.

I say, "Well, no, not exactly. It is the word you are thinking of used as a verb to mean 'making something really neat'."

Pat on my back for not saying "tricked out", "ghetto-fab", or "blingbling".

Bat Run!

Went for another run with my ex-work buddy, hereafter known in this blog as BB down at AP. He still kicked my ass, but I held up a little better this time! I didn't walk until 25 minutes into the thing. Then it went like this:

Me: Screw it, let's walk.
Walking.
BB: Isn't that the parking lot just up there?
Me: Shit. Let's run it out then.

I need to work on my mental game! Obviously I had the ability to run it out, since I did. So it seems that it was just that I couldn't see the finish line that killed me. I know that that is a problem I've dealt with in my 5Ks, but not in my neighborhood runs since I'm so familiar with my running grounds now. It definitely illuminates a need for me to get out into unfamiliar territory and slog it out, whether I can see the finish line or not.

The most badass part of this run, though, was that we were approaching the Bat Bridge right at sunset. We could see the bats swirling around under the thing, so we decided to run up on top of it. As we were passing over, they started flying out en masse, dipping and diving and stretching into a long twisting ribbon in the sky. Beautiful.

I Pulled the Trigger

I am officially registered for the inaugural Rock n' Roll San Antonio Half-Marathon next November. My inaugural half-marathon.

Holy shit.