Complaining, Part Twenty Seven

I feel like I complain a lot on this blog. I would say that I don't mean to, but I've come to realize I'm kind of a complaining kind of gal. I'm getting so frustrated with the fact that any time I take one step forward with my running, I have to take about 3 steps back. As usual, my steps back are the fact that I'm getting sick. Luckily it's not H1N1 (yet...it's going around my daughter's school right now!) but rather my usual asthma-related sickness I seem to get every time this year. My breathing is labored even walking up my stairs.

And yet...I had a pretty good run today. I felt like crap the whole time-breathing heavily, calves hurt, running super slow, but I broke the 2 mile barrier again! I ran for 22:19 and did 2.03 miles. I'm sure you can work out that that means my pace was slow. 10:58 slow. And the only reason I got it under 11 minutes is that I sprinted at the end to force the overall pace down. Kind of cheating I suppose, but it had to be done for my ego.

The bad part is that looking back over my past runs shows a pattern-I always seem to have a really good "final" run before a sickness, and then go about 2 weeks without running, and undo all of my hard work. I really hope that isn't the case this time.

PS. I ran on Wednesday as well, 16 minutes at the park, but I chose not to write about it because Moxie was being obnoxious and trying to kill squirrels the whole time.

Brrr!

I guess I'm not used to running in chilly weather again, because today felt so cold! It's 54 degrees, which I'm aware is not that cold, but with the wind it felt downright nippy. I really bundled up and of course was regretting it pretty quickly.

I did 17.5 minutes today, a minute increase over last time. I keep telling myself I just need to slowly but surely add to my time, and soon I'll be right were I want to be. Unfortunately my pace is still embarrassingly slow-10:46 overall this time. I feel like I should be walking if I'm going to go that slow!! But there's nothing I can do about it now. I'm in no position to work on speed when I can't even hit 2 miles.

Regardless of my slow speed, I'm happy that I'm building my time again. It's been almost 6 months since I was consistently running 2 miles, and I'm desperate to get back to that point. It seems like a never-ending battle, this running business.

Just A Run

The good news is that after a week of retraining my body to run, I was able to do 16 minutes today, without any walking breaks. The bad news is it was a slooow 16 minutes-I managed just 1.5 miles. Also bad? Not sure if I'll be able to keep it up-next week I might have to go back to the Couch to 5k training and add a few walking breaks back in.

A crazy headwind really slowed me down today. It was so weird running into such strong winds. The wind was blowing in my eyes, despite the fact that I was wearing sunglasses. Not sure how such a thing is possible, but it happened. Our temps are back up, it was 83 degrees yesterday after we experienced 40s and 50s on Monday. So back out came the running shorts and tank tops.

I'm glad I got some exercise today. The husband and daughter left this morning on an overnight trip, and I fully intend on eating some really bad for me food today. At least I started the day well by burning some calories.

Starting Over At Week 4

September 24th was the last time I ran, and it was a mile. I've been out of running for too long, due to my sprained ankle and bad breathing. A trip to California last week packed on a few pounds, so today was the first day of getting back to running. I decided to start over on my "Couch to 5K" training, in the hopes that starting slow will allow me to get back to 5K shape in time for the Jingle Bell Jog in December.

I picked week 4 as my starting point-easy enough to manage (I hoped) but still enough to actually be able to say I "ran" today. The repeats were run 3 minutes, walk 90 seconds, run 5 minutes, walk 90 seconds. I did that twice for a total of 20:30 minutes of exercise, covering 1.71 miles. It felt good to be out running in the cool (50 degree) weather, and I was pleased I managed to actually do the training. I purposefully kept my pace slow (hovering between 10:30 and 11 while running) and that was definitely a good idea! Going much faster would have tired me out too quickly.

My breathing seems to be doing it's usual thing for this time of year-a hit on the inhaler before I run allows me to complete my run, but my lungs are tight enough that walking up stairs winds me. It's really embarrassing-and perplexing. Hopefully I'll keep any serious sickness at bay this winter and keep working on building my mileage.

I HATE Walking

So on Friday I fell down stairs not once, but twice. Oh yes! I'm so clumsy that I can manage such a feat. The first time was pretty legitimate, I thought. Wobbly, high shoes combined with rainy weather and porch steps. Down I went, injuring my right pinky toe, twisting both ankles, mangling my very cute shoes, and injuring my ego immensely. It was traumatic, but not traumatic enough to keep me from my goal of going out with my friend. More wobbling around on the shoes all night long left my ankles very sore and tired. I made it home in once piece and while walking downstairs (in bare feet, no less!) I completely ate it and sprained my right ankle, AGAIN.

All that to say that instead of a run today, I walked. Walking is slow and boring, and I hate it. Moxie and I both need the exercise desperately, but the running is going to have to wait a while. My ankle seems to be quite the pro by now, this being it's 3rd sprain and all. It's not nearly as swollen as it was on Friday and walking on it feels totally fine. Any weird flexing or contorting is met with loud protests, so stairs and running are both no fun.

I'm very disappointed. Tomorrow is my one year anniversary of beginning my couch-to-5K plan. When I started last year, I had big visions of celebrating my accomplishments with a quick 5 mile run on my anniversary. Instead tomorrow I'm getting my hair done while nursing an injured ankle, unable to run even 3 miles. It's not what I expected at all. I thought I would be in great shape, and a whole lot skinnier. I'm about 8 pounds less than when I started, but it's creeping back on, and besides, no one can really tell anyway. My runs are still slow and laborious. I haven't run anything longer than a 5K. It's hard to stay positive sometimes, but I am looking forward to the cooler weather and starting over again, essentially, in November. October is full of traveling for us, so I'm going to use that opportunity to rest my ankle and get ready to tackle running again. Maybe my 2nd anniversary will see me running 5 miles.

Seriously?

All that I've done in the last few weeks is a few mediocre runs and a few downright horrible runs. Like last Friday, for example. The husband and I decided to do a quick run before we left on a short vacation. Well short it was: only 3/4 of a mile. Yep, you read that right.

Today was no better. I did a mile. Yes, my pace is improving and I did it in 10 minutes. I've knocked over a minute (maybe more) off of my pace since I started running. But a mile? In exactly 2 weeks it will be the first anniversary of when I started running. I really expected to be at a much better place than plodding along, dying while running a mile.

And furthermore, what's up with my shins absolutely killing me when I run? It's downright painful and has been a huge obstacle on my runs lately. My dream of running 3 or 4 miles as a regular run isn't going to come true anytime soon, methinks.

She's Alive!!

So apparently what's been keeping me from halfway decent runs is the hot weather. Our temps dropped rather suddenly yesterday due to a huge storm, and this morning was almost cool. The humidity was low and it was breezy. What a difference it made! Don't get me wrong, it was still kind of hot, and that breeze turned into an unfortunate headwind, but I finally got in 2 miles! Finally!! It had been so frustrating to me that I just couldn't increase my distance back to what I consider my minimum, so I'm thrilled to finally have done it again.

Even better is that my pace has definitely dropped a bit. Today I was at 9:56 overall, a definite improvement. I hope that as the weather cools down (probably not until next month), I'll see continued improvement and I can get back to more serious training. I have high hopes for the Jingle Bell Jog this year!