5+ mile run

The alarm went off this morning for boot camp, but I decided that instead of driving all the way out to Natick to exercise for an hour I would just get my long run for the weekend over with early.  That way I wouldn't spend the entire weekend thinking about it, and dreading it.  I went to the free parking area on the Charles, there's a route there that's somewhere between 5.3 and 5.4 miles (depending on which of the paths you take.)  Today was a 5K put on by the Samaritans.  It was nice, but also sad.  Especially the groups of teenagers who were there running or walking for a friend.  It was also a Walk for Literacy day, so I ran into a bunch of people on that walk.

I wound up parking further down than I usually do, which kind of threw me a little on where I was, but on the other hand was nice on the way back.  It wound up being a pretty good run, about 5.4 miles, which I did in almost exactly an hour, which is an 11 min 20 sec ish min mile.  I really tried to pace myself so I could do the entire run, and I think I did a good job.  I was happy to stop, but I definitely could have done another .8 mile.  At the end there was all this free Samaritan water, which I felt a little guilty about drinking.  But of course the people handing it out were very nice and told me to take two!

I got all my Fitbit steps for the day already!  Last night I walked around the basketball court across the street for 700 steps to get to 10,000.  I can just see it, one day the police are going to come by to see why I'm hanging around acting so suspiciously, and they aren't going to believe the fitbit story…  I'll wind up with a fitbit record.

Next weekend I'm going to try to run the race route as a test :)

Passed another runner!

It was such a beautiful evening today, perfect for running on the Charles, by the Esplanade.  Everyone in the world was out there, running, walking, biking, whatever.  The bridges were so crowded, though it did give me and excuse to slow down a little.  On the Mass Ave bridge was where I passed the runner, around Smoot #150, a woman who looked like a real runner, but kinda wasn't.

I love fall in the City, the sail boats were all still out, the sky was such a pretty color, it was a perfect temperature for a run.  Still, I was feeling really tired and hungry all day, and not super energetic.  I wound up doing a longish loop, 3.65 miles, but in 40 minutes.  So, it was an 11 minute mile.  As I was getting to the end I imagined I was running the 10K, and was nowhere near done, and I thought I could keep going.  But I was glad that I didn't have to :)

Today Team in Training sent out the race registration form.  It's so close!  I made my fundraising goal, which I was pretty psyched about.  Hopefully I will raise additional fundage, a couple other people said that they would donate but haven't yet.

Try Try Again

Success!  I realized how little time I had left before the big run, and decided I better get in the long run today.  It was a little intimidating because I had TNT Boot Camp at 9 am and was a little pooped after, plus it was sooo muggy.  But I decided I would drive back to the "crime scene" from yesterday and give it another shot, this time running slower due to the weather and fatigue.  It started out exactly the same as yesterday, but slower.  Feeling good, then needed to pee, then started to get cramps.  Of course this time I knew about the port-a-potty, which was helpful.  I stopped and was thinking about turning around, but the cramps weren't too bad, and I knew I would be sad if I didn't get in a long run.  So, I kept going to the next cross road and then turned back.  I knew it wouldn't be enough for 4 miles, and spent the run back trying to decided if that was OK given running at Boot Camp (about a mile in total I think), the mugginess, and the cramps.  I got to the end and decided I could make it a little longer, so I turned around, when back to the first cross street, and back.  That added another mile!  So, in the end, 4.31 miles in 50 minutes and 7 seconds.  I was glad I went back, because I would have been sad if I had only done 3.31 miles. That's an 11 min 37 sec mile, which was pretty slow.  I felt like I could go all day (except when I needed to pee), hopefully I can do the Tufts 10K a little faster.

While I was out there the boys track team from some high school passed me.  They came towards me first, then reached something, and turned around and passed me on the way back.  Those guys move fast!  And, they were talking while they were doing it.  Wow.

Long Run Fail

I set out to do a 4.5 mile run today on the dirt path at the end of the Minuteman bike path.  My tendon is finally feeling better, and there are only 3 weeks left until the 10K, so I decided it's time to get serious about training, without going overboard and reinjuring  myself.  So, the plan is 4.5 miles this weekend, 5+ miles next weekend, and 6 miles the following weekend, then the race the next weekend.  I think I'm going to have to try for the long run again tomorrow, in addition to boot camp.

So, today I slept in embarrassingly late, got up and was lazy drinking coffee, and then finally dragged my sorry butt out.  By the time I got to the trail it was 3:30, which should have been a good time for running.  The first mile or so went well, but then I started to need to pee.  And the area isn't so isolated that I felt like the woods would be a good idea.  And while I was running along trying to decide what to do I started to get cramps.  Meh. The one good thing that happened was that as I was deciding that I definitely had to stop an pee I came to a clearing and there was some construction and a port-a-potty! It was like the Port-a-Potty Gods knew I would need them.  Anyhow, after peeing I walked around a little to try to get rid of the cramps, and then was like "I can lie down, no one will see." So I tried for a minute or two on some of the construction rocks.  But that just made everything worse. So I got up and started walking back.  After a while the cramps went away and I slow jogged back.  Total running time was 24 and a half minutes.  Total distance with running and walking was 2.6 miles.

After I got back to my car I realized that part of the problem might be that I was starving.  It was 4 by that point and all I'd had to eat that day was a bowl of oatmeal and a yogurt.  So, I decided to go to Whole Foods for sushi (which turned into a slice of pizza and some sushi.)  There was this woman there who was walking around the store eating.  At first I was a little repulsed, but after watching her for a while I was kind of admiring her strategy.  She was pushing a shopping cart, but I bet she didn't buy anything.  And just eating stuff from anywhere.  The salad bar, fruit, I actually saw here open a container of chocolate covered pretzels and take one!  Right next to people who worked there, and they didn't say anything. That's guts.

Up 1.8

Long time again for running - I had a migraine over the weekend and couldn't do anything, and then yesterday I was climbing and Monday wasn't 100%.  I did the elliptical last week at the gym, which is sort of aerobic and running.  But this isn't an elliptical blog (wow, that would be seriously dull) so I didn't count it.

I had a presentation at work on Monday until 7, so I went to WW today, and then did the post run after.  I really prefer the Monday leader, he's this hilarious gay guy who's always talking about how fat he was in high school (he's like 50) and telling ridiculous stories.  The Wednesday woman is this kind of nasally Boston woman who's vary well meaning.  Meh.  (Weight was up 1.8 pounds, but I was wearing heavier pants and totally had to poop.  I gotta get my intestines on plan.)

Anyhow, it's starting to get dark earlier, no denying it.  It was dark by the time I finished, and some of those sidewalks in Cambridge are brick and a little tricky.  The run felt surprisingly good.  I did some of the Team in Training stretches at the beginning, wonder if that made a difference.  I went 3.15 miles - made it slightly longer at the end.  It took me 33 min and 41 seconds, or a 10 min and 41 sec mile, so no speed records broken, that's for sure.  Boston looked so nice when I was running on the Charles, much as running sometimes sucks, running next to the river with the city all lit up is pretty awesome.

On Your Left

I got a new Fitbit this weekend, which I thought would help me to track how much I move.  It turns out that I do take more steps than I realized during the week.  The parking lot is further than I realized, and I walk up three flights of stairs to get to my floor.  And, numerous trips to the bathroom.  It gives a little silent vibration to let you know when you've reached 10,000 steps, which for me today was at the Cambridgeside Galleria during my run.  A part of me was like "must be finished then!" but of course I didn't stop.

It's getting dark earlier, so I did my run before Weight Watchers (down 1 pound, but post run and a little dehydrated).  I kind of like the new route, and I think it's sort of a good habit to run with WW.  I got to the Charles and there was this woman running kind of slowly, and I thought I might be able to pass her, and got all excited about it.  But then it turned out that I couldn't.  No real shocker.  There were a few congested areas, and lots of people on them yelling "On your Left!" trying to pass.  I guess my music was a little too loud, they sounded kind of annoyed.  Ooops.

Sunday was the second Team in Training boot camp. A kind of weird thing happened - we were running in loops around this building (.22 mile loops according to map my run) and I was in front on all of the loops, first for one of them.  The time I was first, I kept waiting for someone to pass me, but no one did.  And then it started to weird me out, and I thought about slowing down, but then decided I needed to grow beyond middle school.  Go me!

Anyhow, today's run was 3 miles, 31 min and 23 sec.  So, like a 10 min 30 sec mile.  For a little while I felt like I had that pace thing going, but then I got tired.  Maybe more treadmill practice is needed.

Achille's Heal

So apparently boot camp + 5 miles = sore Achilles' Tendon.  And a few sore leg muscles too!  My left tendon was really killing after my long run, and then I went to yoga and was like, "holy crap, it's my entire leg!" So, I took a few days off to let it heal.  This past weekend I went climbing in NH at Rumney.  I didn't run, but I did carry a 30 pound pack up hill for about 30 minutes to get to the cliff on Sat, which I am counting as aerobic.  I led 6 climbs over the weekend, all very easy, two 5.5's, three 5.6's and a 5.7.  The 5.7 was the hardest because when I was over my clips there were some pretty sharp rocks sticking out, so if I had fallen it would have really hurt.  I usually am talking to myself a little in my head, but at a certain point I started talking out loud "I know you would like there to be a foothold nice and low, but there isn't, so your going to have to take a big step here.  You can do it, I know you can."  I looked over, and there was this other climber laughing at me.  Ya.

Today I decided that even though the tendon isn't at 100% I should still go for an easy run.  I went after Weight Watchers (stayed the same weight, which I was OK with because I had eaten this entire bag of Trader Joes Crack Mix - so delicious - pumpkin seeds, chocolate covered salted nuts, yogurt covered pretzels, and dried cranberries.  The intensely chatty cashier said that it's a new product - thank heaven's Market Basket has worked things out and I can go back to cashiers who say "hello" and then go back to chatting with their bagger friends in Spanish or Portuguese or whatever!)  Anyhow, I went from WW up to MIT and then up the Charles.  I didn't go over the river this time, d/t the whole bridge thing.  It wound up being 3.1 miles and it took 33 min and 43 sec, which is about a 10  min 50 sec mile. When I was almost back someone sitting at the light yelled out of their SUV "nice ass" and of course I was like "thanks!"  I'm not sure if that was the response I was supposed to give, and/or if it was a sincere complement (because "nice ass" yelled out of a car usually is bubbling with sincerity) but beggars can't be choosers.