Running In Circles

I'm kind of wondering... what happened to Summer? I know other parts of the country are experiencing typical Summer weather, but we're not. Cool, blustery, drizzly, more humid than normal weather is what we have right now. It's actually perfect running weather if you plan on an easy run, but for everything else it's kind of a damper, pun intended.

My new workout schedule is going OK. The only problem I'm having is pool time. The pool I want to go to isn't opened when I have the time available, and now that it's summer the swim lesson sessions occupy most of the pool. The gym pool is available and usually crowd free, but every time I swim there I come away with irritated, red eyes, and I wear goggles. It takes a days to recoup from that! Ick! I'll have to start looking around for another near by pool that does not require membership.

I trekked out to the gym for intervals per my new schedule.  I thought it might be easier to keep track of the intervals on the treadmill instead of taking it to the streets.   One minute warm up, then I did 4 sets of intervals x 6 minutes moderate pace and  3 minutes faster pace. Lows at about 5.2, highs at about 6.5 and 7. It was just OK. I have a lot of catching up to do, but I'm taking it slow. I cooled down off the treadmill and walked around the gym track for 5 minutes. Stretched afterward. 
3.46 miles
37:00 minutes
10:41 pace

I'm still working on nutrition. Something is off kilter, but I can't figure out what it is, yet. In the past I could pin-point exactly what was throwing me off and make adjustments, but this time I can't. I'm attempting to eat as clean as possible, using less processed foods, eating out less, no fast foods, no junk foods, keeping on top of my water intake, and so on. I've been tracking everything on Daily Burn just to make sure I'm on top of the macro-nutrients. I'll probably track my nutrition for a month. I find tracking nutrition to be tedious, but it's helpful when trying to pin-point what my weaknesses are.

Robin over at Running Circles Around Turtles featured me on her blog yesterday.  (Check it out!) I was honored that she she featured me and what I had to say. Most of her interviewees give concise, short answers. Ummmmm... I was a bit wordy by comparison, but there's a lot of explaining to do. I was pretty excited to see the interview on her blog and how she took the time to enlarge and bold certain words and phrases. Pretty cool, Robin. Thanks!

 At the 4th of July run, I saw a friend from the track club who I had not seen in a few months.  She actually remembered my sea green and white Pearl Izumis, and asked why I wasn't wearing them.   They have been retired to gardening duty, and this is what they now look like:

They're so beat up, but still one of my favorite pairs of shoes!

Yesterday's Song:
Morning View - Greg Howe

PEACE

What It Takes

Even though I ran the 5k on Sunday, Bryan at RU showed no sympathy on Monday. I had a hard, sweaty workout. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was good workout and it wasn't long before I ready to be done.

Speaking of working, I filled in at work on Monday. It was nice to be back, in spite of having to learn their new computer programs and fee schedule. It wasn't difficult, just different. Everything else was just like riding a bicycle and it was good to see some of our regular patients again. I keep hinting that I'm available to put in more hours when they need me, especially since my coworker (who is on maternity leave) may not want to return to work so quickly.

Monday was also another Runner's World wear test shoe event for March 2010 issue.* Even though this event is now (supposedly) by invitation only, people start lining up for this event at 3:00 PM, and it begins at 5:30 PM. There are always new people in line, hoping to get something after the people with invites go through, and sometimes they do score some running shoes. Since I worked I couldn't leave the office until 5:30 PM. I showed up at 6:00 PM, placing me at the back of the line. I am so thankful that they decided to check IDs a few times (I was on their list) and I moved up to the middle of the line. Whew. By the time I made it to the front of the line, there were only two pairs of my size left. I ended up with Brooks Switch 3.


I've never tried Brooks before, nor have I ever worn a stability shoe. I normally take a neutral or neutral plus. With my inserts for high arches, they seem to be OK. I took them for a test run on the gym treadmill today, and immediately noticed that they had a lot of heel cushion, and that's a good thing. Time will tell how these shoes will fare for my bones. Bonus points that these shoes aren't Easter egg colored. It's difficult to see in the picture, but the trim is royal blue and dark purple.

I'm also trying out a new sport's bottle.* It's from Smash Sports. The concept is similar to that of a Playtex nurser, which is what my husband immediately pointed out. The bottle holds the liquid inside a biodegradable liner. Just hold your finger over a small hole on the bottle and squeeze. It took me a few times of squeezing the bottle before I realized I had to cover the small hole, but once I did that, everything worked great. Since the bottle isn't super hard, it's ergonomic. There's also hand strap available to place on the bottle. I'm not sure if I'll go the strap route yet, until I become more familiar with this bottle. I'm also not 100% sold on the idea of the liners, since they have to be replaced, but it does prevent that sloshing liquid sound that can be rather annoying.

Today
Activity: Run
Date: 11/10/09 10:00 AM
Distance: 3.31 miles
Time: 0:32:00
Speed: 6.2 mph
Pace: 9'40 min/mile
Calories: 304

I put in my intervals on the gym treadmill. As sore as my body was from yesterday's workout, I felt really good on that treadmill. Being plugged into some really good tunes helps. I did pyramid intervals and took one minute walk breaks between sets. Walking pace was 4.2 mph and built up to a sprint pace was 7:50 mph. My goal for intervals is to get rid of the walk pace completely. I'm not quite there yet. I still need that walk pace to recoup from the sprint. At least I can now hold the sprint pace for a minute without wanting to pass out or throw up. I know, I'm still not super speedy, especially when compared to the women in my age group who can run 6 minute miles, but, hey, it's good for me at this moment.

Sunday's song:
Dancing In The Streets - Martha and the Vandellas - Run-DMZ

PEACE



*Disclaimer - I reviewed these on my own. Other than receiving the products for free, I didn't get paid to give my two cents.

Running on a Treadmill

On Monday I had a killer workout at RU. I can usually conquer what ever it is they set out before me, even if I am dripping in sweat when I am finished. In addition to my regular workout, Bryan put me on a treadmill with grade set to 10, to simulate a hill, and had me do intervals, but he wanted me to keep running the entire time, even if I went slow.

I know.

Treadmill hill intervals.

Treadmill.

*deep breath*

Just take me now...

Under normal circumstances, it takes me a good 5 minutes on a treadmill to get a breathing rhythm down. This is at a gym with fans in front of the treadmill section and air conditioning. I'm also plugged into my iPod and have my water bottle within reach. This was not my normal circumstance.

No air conditioning.

No fans.

No iPod.

No water bottle within reach.

How prosaic!

I pride myself in that I can do just about any workout with a "bring it on" attitude and not complain, even if I am struggling. Complaining takes too much negative energy. I'm basically asking for the challenge, and I do like the challenge. This was different. I was gasping for my breath. I sweat so much it was ridiculous. I struggled. I wanted it to be over. I felt defeated. I couldn't run the entire interval session. I had to walk. Ugh. Stupid treadmill.

That was Monday.

Yesterday I decided to take on THE HILL in my neighborhood, the one with the 16% grade. I wasn't going to let that stupid piece of machinery's fake hill defeat me. I get to THE HILL and it's blocked off. Once again, I pick a day when the city is ripping up a section of THE HILL due to ruptured water pipes or for the underground wires. There's other hills in my neighborhood, but THE HILL is the one that offers the most challenge due to its distance and grade. I had no choice so I ran around my neighborhood, taking on other shorter, steep hills, but there were a lot of flat parts to get to those other hills. It wasn't quite what I wanted or needed to do, but I made sure I motored up those hills full force without giving in or giving up.

Needless to day, I'm a bit sore today, and I still have the group workout to look forward to this evening.

Bring. It. On.

Saturday's song:
Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks - Run-DMZ

PEACE


photo from http://josefbrandenburg.com/