Well, today was the day... my first 10k... and I loved every minute of it!!!
Today's weather was perfect for the Penton Memorial Turkey Trot 10k at LCCC... sunny and 50 degrees. And my running companion Jen did a great job of setting the pace to ensure that I could actually complete the entire race. Unfortunately, the two days of rain that led up to this morning's run didn't make for a particularly dry course and we spent a good half of the race trudging through puddles, thick mud and soggy grass. Of course, once we accepted our fate of wet shoes and socks and freezing cold feet, we were able to move past that fact and enjoy the rest of the race.
My biggest concern at the beginning was whether or not I could handle running the cross country style course - all grass - considering the fact that all of my recent training has been on the pavement or a treadmill. However, that may have been the one thing that helped me make it through the entire race. Running on the softer ground seemed to help a great deal with the persistent hip pain I'd been dealing with and I didn't feel any discomfort for more than half the race. Unfortunately, after a very short stint on the pavement, the pain kicked in and stuck with me the rest of the way, despite getting back on the grassy course. Fortunately, it wasn't enough to stop me from crossing that finish line.
And this was not my first time on this particular course. During my high school cross country days, this was a course we ran two to three times every year. Of course, it was the shorter 5k version, but still, it took me back many years. The one part in particular that stuck with me was the rather large hill that we had to run twice. It felt good to tackle that terrible hill again... and it was awesome to know I could still do it... even without the assistance of cross country spikes.
All in all, I'm very proud of my 88th place finish. Hopefully the results will be posted online at some point and I'll get to find out how I did in my own age group, but with 200+ runners registered, I'll take a better-than-half finish any day.
And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I can tell you that I'm particularly thankful this year for dry socks and hot showers... and, of course, my husband, whose patience in waiting for me to get our traditional Turkey Day started allowed me to run this race in the first place.
In more unfortunate news, there's no doubt at this point that this race was a bit much for my hip. It's clear there's an injury being battled and I'm determined to win... and I'm afraid it's going to require some time off. No worries... I'll be back...
Friday, November 25, 2011
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Day 72 (11/22): 3 miles / 30:00
So... you know that hip problem I was pretending not to have?... yeah... about that...
After a great 8 miles on Sunday and a day of rest on Monday, I'm finding myself pretty uncomfortable today with whatever this hip issue is. Unfortunately, I'm probably not doing at all what I should be doing about it. I've been so determined to get in a 10k before the end of the year and was lucky enough to find one on Thanksgiving (which is only two days away). At this point, I'm still unwilling to give it up, so, I've decided that I will allow myself at least a week of rest... right after Thanksgiving...
In the meantime, I gave myself a little break and stuck to an easy 3 mile run... which would have been a lot easier if I wasn't dealing with this discomfort.
Keep your fingers crossed that my Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 10k doesn't do any more damage and that Thursday's post is full of things to be thankful for :)
After a great 8 miles on Sunday and a day of rest on Monday, I'm finding myself pretty uncomfortable today with whatever this hip issue is. Unfortunately, I'm probably not doing at all what I should be doing about it. I've been so determined to get in a 10k before the end of the year and was lucky enough to find one on Thanksgiving (which is only two days away). At this point, I'm still unwilling to give it up, so, I've decided that I will allow myself at least a week of rest... right after Thanksgiving...
In the meantime, I gave myself a little break and stuck to an easy 3 mile run... which would have been a lot easier if I wasn't dealing with this discomfort.
Keep your fingers crossed that my Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 10k doesn't do any more damage and that Thursday's post is full of things to be thankful for :)
Monday, November 21, 2011
Day 71 (11/20): 8 miles / 1:12:43
I have to admit, I'm starting to second guess whether my pre-planned routes are as long as I thought they were. I'm certainly not concerned if I'm off by a tenth of a mile in an eight mile run, but I'm just having a hard time believing that I'm capable of running 8 miles at a 9:00 pace. I'd love to believe that I am, but I'm definitely planning to drive my route again just to be sure.
Nevertheless, I'm thrilled with today's run. After pushing myself harder than I should have yesterday, I was a little concerned that I was asking for trouble by not resting the body parts that might seriously need rest. Unfortunately, this is a damned-if-I-do, damned-if-I-don't scenario... I could take it easy and blame the threat of injury when, in all reality, maybe it would just be me making excuses for not pushing myself past a minor discomfort. On the other hand, I could be pushing my body beyond its limits with the hope that an injury would allow me to be lazy for a few days. I can honestly say that I'm not sure which is actually happening here and I'm finding it kind of annoying that my own mind games are getting in the way.
With that said, I did push past my discomfort and found that I actually felt a lot better than I thought I would. Clearly, my leg is not going to fall off and, after giving birth, I'm pretty sure I can handle a lot more pain than what I've been dealing with for a few days (and trust me when I say that what I've felt the last few days can hardly be classified as 'pain'). I was so glad to get past it and find that, after the first mile, I felt great. My mile times made me a little nervous because I seemed to be going a lot faster than I thought I would be capable of, but if my route is, indeed, accurate, than I can honestly say that I'm much further along than I thought I would be at this point. At the completion of my run I enjoyed one of those "I know I can do this" moments... and that, in itself, feels pretty damn good.
Nevertheless, I'm thrilled with today's run. After pushing myself harder than I should have yesterday, I was a little concerned that I was asking for trouble by not resting the body parts that might seriously need rest. Unfortunately, this is a damned-if-I-do, damned-if-I-don't scenario... I could take it easy and blame the threat of injury when, in all reality, maybe it would just be me making excuses for not pushing myself past a minor discomfort. On the other hand, I could be pushing my body beyond its limits with the hope that an injury would allow me to be lazy for a few days. I can honestly say that I'm not sure which is actually happening here and I'm finding it kind of annoying that my own mind games are getting in the way.
With that said, I did push past my discomfort and found that I actually felt a lot better than I thought I would. Clearly, my leg is not going to fall off and, after giving birth, I'm pretty sure I can handle a lot more pain than what I've been dealing with for a few days (and trust me when I say that what I've felt the last few days can hardly be classified as 'pain'). I was so glad to get past it and find that, after the first mile, I felt great. My mile times made me a little nervous because I seemed to be going a lot faster than I thought I would be capable of, but if my route is, indeed, accurate, than I can honestly say that I'm much further along than I thought I would be at this point. At the completion of my run I enjoyed one of those "I know I can do this" moments... and that, in itself, feels pretty damn good.
Day 70 (11/19) 4 miles / 38:11
With a small twinge in my hip for the last two days, I figured it might be a good idea to take it easy... now's not the time to battle an injury. Of course, for me, that's easier said than done...
I set the treadmill for 6 mph and figured that 4 miles in 40 minutes would be good enough for me. Unfortunately, with very little patience to work with and a never-ending desire to push myself harder, I quickly lost interest in taking it easy. Allowing for the few seconds it takes for the treadmill to get to full speed, my first three miles were completed in 30:05. And it was all downhill from there...
I decided to see just how fast I could go for my last mile - something I'd done before and was determined to improve upon. I'm sad to say that I didn't improve upon my last mile from a few weeks ago, which I had done in 8:04. Still, the 8:06 I achieved today was nothing to be unhappy about. I'm thrilled that I can run three miles and still push myself to run the last mile as quickly as possible. Of course, this makes me even more determined to get that time below 8 minutes... and I don't doubt there will be another run like this in my near future...
I set the treadmill for 6 mph and figured that 4 miles in 40 minutes would be good enough for me. Unfortunately, with very little patience to work with and a never-ending desire to push myself harder, I quickly lost interest in taking it easy. Allowing for the few seconds it takes for the treadmill to get to full speed, my first three miles were completed in 30:05. And it was all downhill from there...
I decided to see just how fast I could go for my last mile - something I'd done before and was determined to improve upon. I'm sad to say that I didn't improve upon my last mile from a few weeks ago, which I had done in 8:04. Still, the 8:06 I achieved today was nothing to be unhappy about. I'm thrilled that I can run three miles and still push myself to run the last mile as quickly as possible. Of course, this makes me even more determined to get that time below 8 minutes... and I don't doubt there will be another run like this in my near future...
Friday, November 18, 2011
Day 69 (11/17): 6 miles / 55:10
Life sometimes has a way of reminding you that you aren't necessarily in charge. Thus the reason my training schedule took a crap this week... not that I'm complaining. As it turned out, my adorable new nephew decided to make an early appearance and I'm not ashamed to say that running will always take a back seat in times like these. So, instead of blogging about a 6 mile run on Wednesday, I spent my evening with little man's big sister talking about how excited she was to meet her baby brother. It doesn't get much better than that.
Unfortunately, that meant a 6 mile run today. I'm not gonna lie - there was no part of me that wanted to run. After a busy day at work and a hectic week all around, what I really wanted to do was plop my ass on the couch and watch a cheesy Christmas movie. But I had to remind myself that I wasn't going to get any closer to my goal by sitting around eating ice cream... and since I'm not even close to being prepared for the marathon in May, I figured I should stick to the program. So, off I went...
At the beginning of my run I was very unsure I was going to hang in there for all 6 miles. I tried to focus on smaller goals - getting through one mile at a time, slowly increasing the speed with each mile. Instead of thinking about the 6 miles ahead, I focused on the 1 mile I had to run at 6.2 mph. For mile 2, I thought only about the mile I had to run at 6.3 mph. Shorter goals made it far easier to get through and, before I knew it, I had less than a mile to go. That's not to say that it didn't feel like an eternity at the time, but at least I can say I finished. Which I feel I can be quite proud of. A few months ago, when I first started this crazy thing, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to jump on the treadmill and run 6 miles. Now I find myself gearing up for 8 miles this weekend. I feel I've come a long way in 69 days (training days that is) and I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the next 6 months :)
Unfortunately, that meant a 6 mile run today. I'm not gonna lie - there was no part of me that wanted to run. After a busy day at work and a hectic week all around, what I really wanted to do was plop my ass on the couch and watch a cheesy Christmas movie. But I had to remind myself that I wasn't going to get any closer to my goal by sitting around eating ice cream... and since I'm not even close to being prepared for the marathon in May, I figured I should stick to the program. So, off I went...
At the beginning of my run I was very unsure I was going to hang in there for all 6 miles. I tried to focus on smaller goals - getting through one mile at a time, slowly increasing the speed with each mile. Instead of thinking about the 6 miles ahead, I focused on the 1 mile I had to run at 6.2 mph. For mile 2, I thought only about the mile I had to run at 6.3 mph. Shorter goals made it far easier to get through and, before I knew it, I had less than a mile to go. That's not to say that it didn't feel like an eternity at the time, but at least I can say I finished. Which I feel I can be quite proud of. A few months ago, when I first started this crazy thing, I couldn't imagine what it would be like to jump on the treadmill and run 6 miles. Now I find myself gearing up for 8 miles this weekend. I feel I've come a long way in 69 days (training days that is) and I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the next 6 months :)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Day 68 (11/15): 4 miles / 38:08
With a lot of miles to put in this week (7 on Sunday, 4 today, 6 tomorrow, 4 Thursday, 4 Saturday and 8 Sunday), I decided, once again, to mix it up. First of all, I did the one thing I never do, I picked a speed and stuck with it for the entire run. I set the treadmill at 6.3 mph - I wanted to go a little easy on my legs to make sure I could get through every day this week. Second, I didn't want to be so focused on the distance. I decided I would only look at the distance at the end of every third song on my ipod. It was difficult at first and, I have to admit, I looked down at .12 miles. But, after that, I managed to stick to my goal and didn't look again until 1.1 miles, 2.35 miles and 3.4 miles. One more song got me to 3.7 miles and I checked the distance about every minute after that just so I was sure to stop and get an accurate time at the 4 mile mark. All in all, I would say it was a success.
There was only one issue... the songs on my ipod have never before seemed so long!
There was only one issue... the songs on my ipod have never before seemed so long!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Day 67 (11/13): 7 miles / 59:44
I can't even believe I ran 7 miles in less than an hour! I guess it's time to revamp my thinking when it comes to the times I should be expecting to run...
Whenever I'm gearing up for a long run, I estimate my time based on a 10:00 mile. I don't know why that is... I haven't run a 10:00 mile in some time now. I guess I just have a hard time believing that my times have improved so much over these last few months.
Don't get me wrong... I worked very hard at these 7 miles. When I left the house, I told myself I would take about an hour and 10 minutes to finish (10 minutes a mile). I started out at a comfortable pace and was surprised to see close to 9:00 at the first mile marker. If I continued at that rate, it meant closer to an hour and 3 minutes. I was right on pace through most of the next 4 miles. When I checked my watch at the 5 mile mark, I was surprised to see that, if I put in a little extra effort, I could actually finish in under an hour. It took everything I had in me, but I managed to pull it off... and end up with an average per mile pace of 8:32. I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty damn impressed with myself.
Now for the big test... how sore am I going to be tomorrow and will my body recover any faster than it did last weekend? I guess we'll just have to wait and see....
Whenever I'm gearing up for a long run, I estimate my time based on a 10:00 mile. I don't know why that is... I haven't run a 10:00 mile in some time now. I guess I just have a hard time believing that my times have improved so much over these last few months.
Don't get me wrong... I worked very hard at these 7 miles. When I left the house, I told myself I would take about an hour and 10 minutes to finish (10 minutes a mile). I started out at a comfortable pace and was surprised to see close to 9:00 at the first mile marker. If I continued at that rate, it meant closer to an hour and 3 minutes. I was right on pace through most of the next 4 miles. When I checked my watch at the 5 mile mark, I was surprised to see that, if I put in a little extra effort, I could actually finish in under an hour. It took everything I had in me, but I managed to pull it off... and end up with an average per mile pace of 8:32. I'm not gonna lie - I'm pretty damn impressed with myself.
Now for the big test... how sore am I going to be tomorrow and will my body recover any faster than it did last weekend? I guess we'll just have to wait and see....
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