What would you do if you were running through your new neighborhood park and you ran past a car parked with the windows rolled slightly down.
And saw a black poodle hopping around in the back seat...
and then realized a man was sitting in the back seat...
and that the poodle was hopping on him...
too rhythmically to be actually hopping...
and most likely it was not a poodle but a pony tail....
This week was pretty good. I'm making consistent progress considering I had to start over. I didn't really run through the winter months and that's something I'm going to have to work out for next year.
I ran my longest run - 7.44 miles - at a 9:26 pace. I did notice that around mile 4, I had sharp pains on the inside of my left kneecap and back spasms. I was running on an asphalt track. Flat, nothing different. Only felt it on the track. Not before, not after. Weirdness.
mi
pace
climb (ft)
1
10:06
92
2
9:21
15
3
9:30
-33
4
9:34
-18
5
10:02
16
6
9:38
12
7
9:04
-75
8
9:21
-25
My weekly mileage was also the highest for the year.
And my overall pace is still improving since my re-introduction in March.
My biggest concern is preventing an overuse injury. This coming week is as "back-off" week. My long run will be at 5 miles again and next week I'll go for 8. Maybe. If all goes well. At the slightest hint of something being off, I'll drop back.
My goals this week were to cross train with the Brazil Butt Lift DVDs from Beach Body and to NOT eat peeps.
Peeps? Didn't eat a single one. It helps that they aren't on the store shelves anymore. I looked. Twice.
Butt Lift? I did the 35 minute Bum Bum (pronounced "boom boom") DVD yesterday. It's one of several DVD workouts that promised to reduce, shape and lift my pear-shaped butt.
OMG! It was like running uphill for 35 minutes straight! I can run 6 miles without stopping. (Yeah, 6 miles - do NOT laugh!) I can't do Bum Bum without stopping 4 or 5 times. Apart from the sweat dripping off my face and the inability to catch my breath, I didn't think my muscles would getting that much of a workout. You know - all aerobic, no strength training. I changed my mind when I got out of bed this morning. My butt hurt, my inner thighs hurt. The tri-angle of gluteal muscles that Leandro promises to work were feeling it. I was sore and it felt awesome!
Chandra of Chandra's Shenanigans is a personal trainer, instructor and a Beach Body Coach. If you have any questions about this or any of the Beach Body programs like P90, get with her. (I image she'd also answer questions about nutrition, training, running, or whatever if you asked her...)
I've never taken an ice bath before. I wonder if I can do an ice "sink" in the kitchen and just soak my butt...
I have an iPhone and I've been using the free version of RunKeeper for quite awhile now. I started using it in April a year ago and since that time the development team has added so many new features. I finally broke down and bought to Pro version after hearing about it on Two Gomers Run a Marathon. Oh yes. I am in Love.
Of course RunKeeper tracks your run using the GPS from your iPhone. When you save the run from your iPhone, you also upload the data to their website where you can view it interactively. Check it out:
Click on the picture of my "Dashboard" below. This is REALLY cool. Try it - really try it now! I'll wait for you.
Run your mouse across the Elevation/Speed and you can see how fast I was running at any moment during the run.
Done? OK, moving on. RunKeeper also keeps track of my splits.
I made all of my other activities private for safety's sake. I suppose it could be hazardous to my health to provide too much information to bad guys about my running habits. Am I being paranoid?
Some of the added feature to the Pro version (which is $9.99, the third app I've bought and the only one that cost over $0.99) include:
A voice that tells you your time, distance, and pace at intervals you chose. I turned the time off and just go with distance and pace.
A display of your mile splits.
The ability to add workouts like intervals with a voice telling you when to start or stop.
Integration with iTunes so that your running playlist starts each time you start your RunKeeper.
"You can post geo-tagged photos that will be in inserted on your route where they were posted from." (I put that in quotes because I copied it from the website. They ended the sentence with a preposition. I didn't.) I really don't know what this geo-tagging means so I'll have to play and figure it out.
Initially, the website didn't allow the manual addition of runs so I couldn't use this for ALL of my running needs. If I ran in the rain, no joy. Now you can manually add the runs so this is no longer an issue. The only drawback I see is that RunKeeper is only as good as the iPhone's GPS and the GPS signal itself. The distances change from run to run by minute amounts that are just enough to irritate someone with a bit of OCD. (Or CDO, as it should be spelled. Alphabetically.) So it's not really a RunKeeper drawback but an iPhone/GPS drawback. The other thing on my wishlist would be a "gadget" for my blog like LogYourRun has. I imagine something will be available soon. The development team is very responsive and very talented.
All in all, if you have an iPhone, get it. It's worth the bucks. Love it, love it, love it.
Morgan - Boston And anyone I didn't know was running, too!
On a trivial note, I ran today. And I ran fast. 3.4 miles at an 8:34 pace.
I also swallowed a bug. Or maybe a cherry blossom. It didn't wiggle against the back of my throat where it was phlegmy but I didn't see it blow it so it must have snuck in from the side which is why I think it was a bug. Ummm. Extra protein!
Damn! I am one hard-core runner myself! I ran 5 more miles after receiving this life-threatening wound. I am a serious, determined, nothing-can-stop-me, hard-core runner!
I tripped on the sidewalk. The fall was executed in slow motion. I fell forward (of course) and used my hands to break my fall (of course.) I let my left elbow bend and tucked my chin down. My momentum carried me over my shoulder into a beautiful martial arts type of roll that ended with me sitting up looking at my hands. And the blood and the loose flappy skin. Eewww gross! I was a mile from home and after a few moments of thought decided to continue on. I did make sure to deduct a good 30 seconds from my total time to account for the fall and post-fall ruminations. There were no witnesses.
So how was the week? Fine. Nothing to speak of except my spectacular fall. 17.3 miles, 9:24 pace. Same pace a last week. Probably would have been better but I was slow on my Long Slow Distance run. Which I actually now officially have, btw. 6 miles this week. 7 next. And after subtracting the 30 seconds for my fall, it was right at about 10:00 per mile. I suppose that's OK right now for a Long Slow Distance run.
Al, Tara, Meg - I didn't have a single Peep!!! (I only looked for them in the store once and I didn't look very hard.) Lots of chocolate. No Peeps. Apart from that, Food as a 7.
Didn't do the Brazil Butt Lift dvds though. Exercise was a 6 or 7.
That I had a white fluffy dog that gave birth to bunny rabbits.
That there were two big brown bears and two deers in my back yard.
That the bears ran off so my hub and I followed in our truck. One deer ran past us then the second deer followed, dragging a sled of firewood it had stolen.
I don't do drugs, really. I promise.
Now on to running related matters
It must be marathon season. Look at what all these amazing women are up to!
Morgan - Boston Anne - Ottawa Half 5/30 Al(lison) - KY Half in Louisville 4/24 (I'm from KY btw.) Nicole - Borgess Half in Kalamazoo 4/24 Tara - Ft. Collins 5/9
I'm sure there are even more races planned that I didn't find on my blogroll list. Wow. I never thought I'd want to run a marathon. Still not sure but I'm actually considering it. Maybe next year? This year I'm actually pretty sure I'm going to try a half-marathon. It's a bit scary considering that my longest run is 7 miles.
There are so many of you women, young, seasoned, all shapes and sizes, all experience levels, running marathons. What an inspiration. I'm so excited for all of you! I can't wait to hear about your adventures. Have fun, be safe, make memories! You Rock!
Eating Habits
On a scale of 1 to 10 my eating habits have been about a.... Hmmm. 1. It's the 60 - 65 Peeps and the Cadbury chocolate eggs that did me in. I bypassed the Snickers eggs but just can't pass up a good Peep. Hopefully, they will be unavailable for awhile.
Running
What an awesome week! Everything felt effortless. If I felt any odd twinge, I would reassess my form and the twinge would go away. If only every week were this good!
Weekly Total: 16.43 miles
Monthly Total: 24.42 miles
Yearly Total: 90.2 miles
2009 Avg pace: 10:24
2010 Avg Pace: 9:56
Injuries
No injuries to speak of. My hip things have mostly disappeared. The only thing left is some pain where my left butt cheek meets my leg. (Sorry - I just can't type the word Buttocks with a straight face. :-) I have no idea what that pain is but it's not as bad as it has been in the past. Maybe it will disappear, too.
Goals for Next Week
On my rest days, I'm going to do Brazil Butt Lift DVDs.
No Peeps
I've been hearing on again/off again how High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFC) is bad for you, toxic for you, the same as any other sweetener, blah blah blah. How do you know the truth?
Not so, say Princeton. Check out this article: "A Sweet Problem."
In results published online Feb. 26 [2010] by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity. [SeeGirlRun: This is a third-party study by reputable scientists, hopefully without $$ riding on the experiments.]
The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas. [Emphasis mine]
Rat drinking HFC and water ended up fatter than rat drinking sugar water.
The second experiment -- the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals -- monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet."[Emphasis mine]
Six-month study
Rats eating HFC had higher triglycerides
Rats eating HFC were fatter
Rats eating HFC had more gut fat (which causes heart attacks)
Male rats got particularly fat
Rats eating HFC gained 48% more weight that non-HFC eating rats.
I've seen HFC in Ketchup. In apple sauce. It's everywhere. It's in all flavors of pop except diet of course and then you end up with the other fake sweetener evils. Coca Cola has a Coke product made with sugar and it's sold only during passover (yellow lid is the give-away.) I also understand that Mexican Coke products are made with sugar as well.
So in response to the question in Jess' well-written post about this same topic in her blog Run Girl Run, yes, I think we need to lay off the HFC. We probably need to lay off sugar in general and processed foods in particular.
I recently made homemade Ketchup using a modified version of a recipe I found on the internet:
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste 1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup 1 tablespoon granulated sugar 1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until smooth. When mixture comes to a boil, reduce heat and slimmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. Remove pan from heat and cover until cool. Chill and store in a covered container.
My son didn't like it. My neighbor like it better than Heinz. It was thicker and sweeter than the bottled version so I probably could have gotten away with 1/4 cup of sugar and then added a bit of water for consistency. (The HFC is what gives bottled ketchup the smooth glossy look.) I also saw a recipe that called for 1/4 cup of white vinegar and 1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar. I may have to give that a go.
Either way, I need to find alternatives to produces without HFC.
I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. I have been eating Peeps everyday for a week now. OMG I love Peeps. I'm going to miss them so much. The bunnies, too. Especially the chocolate bunny Peeps. Those are awesome! Easter is over now. Time to get off the Peeps and show a little discipline and self-control.
I got a run in around noon yesterday but the temperature was already up to 74 degrees or so. Today the high is going to be 84 degrees. Where did Spring go?
So yesterday's run was around 4 1/2 miles. Today's run was around 3 1/2 miles.
Yesterday, I felt like elephant poop. Today, I felt like Wilma Rudolph.
Yesterday, I plodded along. Today, I flew - I felt efficient and in synch.
Yesterday, I couldn't get my breathing into any sort of rhythm. Today, no problem.
Yesterday, I ate 1/2 a PB&J before I ran. Today, I ate 1/2 PB&J before I ran.
Yesterday, I ran at Noon. Today, I ran at 10:00 AM.
RunnerDude, whose posts seem to be very timely, tells me that my fatigue is caused by
Overtraining - (Nah)
Improper hydration (Possibly - Saturday night I drank a bit of wine.)
Lack of Sleep (Possibly - see above)
Low Iron Levels - (Nah)
Insufficient post-run fueling (This I never do. But it's not like I'm running that far.)
It just amazes me how one run can be so awesome and the next so lousy.
Today's run was an easy 3.4 miles with a 9:28 pace. My splits are below. The first 1.5 miles are uphill. The second 1.2 miles are downhill, and the last .2 is really uphill. But this is really pretty typical. The farther I run, the faster I get. I'm sure there is a point of diminishing returns though. Maybe at mile 4? :-)
mi
pace
climb (ft)
1
10:17
85
2
9:36
-16
3
8:51
-119
4
9:21
18
I plan on adding another 4.6 mile run on Sunday which will make this week's total around 16 miles. The interesting thing for me is the Pace - last column. It's dropping. I'm getting faster. I've never been fast, so to speak. Fast is such a relative term.
So my plan is to add to my Sunday long runs. OK, honestly? My plan is to have a long run. Period.
Mon: Easy recovery 3.4 miles
Tues: Rest
Wed: 4.6 miles?
Thurs: XT?
Fri: Easy 3.4 miles
Sat: Off
Sun: Long Run
