training 6/5
Locale: gym
Shoes:
Sauconys
Distance (on treadmill): 2.0 miles (per Brain) 2.26 miles
Temp:
relatively cool and pleasant in gym
I decided that in June I was going to
do my weekday wogs at the gym, and do my long wogs outside. This was the first
gym wog.
I started out by doing ten minutes at 2.5 MPH. After that, I increased
the speed to 3.0 MPH, and sustained that for about 5 minutes. I noticed that I
was starting to get tired, so back down to 2.5 MPH for the next five minutes.
At the 20-minute mark, I upped the speed again to 3.0 MPH - and immediately felt
as though I'd not be able to sustain it for the rest of my two-mile workout. So
back down to 2.5. I stayed there for a good long time.. but at about 35 minutes
I noticed that I was feeling stronger, so I increased my speed to 2.7 MPH. At
the 40 minute mark, where I'd determined I was going to stop, I switched the read
out to miles, and saw I was just a quarter-mile away from reaching 2 miles. So
I upped the speed again, to 3.1 MPH, and powered through that last bit, finishing
two miles in 44:29.
I'm really noticing how unconditioned I am. Maybe that
1:01:03 wasn't a fluke after all..
At any rate, last night's workout felt GOOD.
training
6/3
Locale: Kitty Tour, one lap
Shoes: NB 853's
Distance (per
Brain): 0.53 miles
Temp: 60s
Tried to go out for my two mile "long wog".
It started to rain halfway through the first lap. GRRR.
posted
by Adrith 8:31 AM
training 6/6
Locale: gym
Shoes: NB 853s
Distance:
(on treadmill) 2.0 (per Brain) 2.52
Temp: really cool and pleasant in gym
Heh.
Must be a day for good gym experiences.
I've probably mentioned it before,
but the treadmill area in my gym is split-level. There is a bank of treadmills
on the floor, and just behind them a raised platform with more treadmills.
One
of the good things that I'd discovered before about the upper bank of treadmills
is that you don't have to crane your neck to watch the radio-tvs. The other good
thing that I'd not discovered before about the upper bank of treadmills is that
if you pick the right one, you can park yourself directly under a ceiling fan.
I
discovered this this evening when I couldn't get my magazine to stay on the page
I wanted to read. LOL.
My 2 miles took 43:35 tonight - shaved almost a minute
off last night's time. I did a plateau-type workout: ten minutes at 2.5, ten minutes
at 2.7, ten minutes at 2.8, ten minutes at 2.9, and the last 3:35 at 3.1 MPH.
I've noticed that my feet feel more comfortable already in the 853s - they were
rather uncomfortable before I got back on program, so I'm betting I've dropped
a little water weight since the last time I wore them. And, of course, each time
I breathed in I got a blast of refreshing cool air in my lungs.
AND the
really pleasant, cute, gym worker was at the desk to bid me good night as I left
the gym. What more can I ask for, really? ;)
posted by
Adrith 10:30 PM
training 5/27
Memorial day weekend, I had a
houseguest, and we did the Redhook Brewery 5k.
Rather, I woke up to rain
at about 8 AM. Beth had woken up to thunder and lightning at about 5:30.
But
Beth had come all the way from Philadelphia to do a road race, so we were going
to road race.
We dressed. We spent a lot of time online checking to make
sure there was no rain date and looking at the 600-mile radar loop. We ate our
energy bars and drank our water and prayed that it would let up. We were heartened
when we walked out to the car and it had (mostly) stopped raining.
When
we got to Redhook, we looked for my husband Joe, and we looked for my friend Karey.
We didn't see either of them by the time the runners were to head for the start.
We
walked to the start. We hugged as we parted ways - Beth for closer to the front
of the pack of runners, and me to the very back.
The race started, in the
rain.
I passed a family doing the healthwalk part of the race during the
first mile. I felt so terribly, because one of the sons had Down Syndrome, and
he DID. NOT. WANT. TO. WALK. IN. THE. RAIN. He made this clear very loudly, and
as I passed them I noticed that the mother was yelling at the kid, and tugging
his arm to make him walk with her.
Um, hello?
Some of us crazies are
out here because we love what we're doing and don't mind getting drenched. If
you're on your own or with your spouse and the both of you don't mind getting
soaked, that's one thing; but if you have kids, and they're not in the mood to
get wet (and potentially sick - I know *I* thought about the potential for catching
pneumonia for three miles).. don't make them do it. I mean, had the rain started
halfway through, sure, you have to get back to your car somehow. But it had been
raining since before the race started, and it would have been much simpler (and
more harmonious) to scratch outright.
Anywho, I was party to this family
drama over the first mile.
At the end of the first mile, I decided that
I was sufficiently warmed up to do running sprints. And since the rain was starting
to demoralize me, I figured I'd run some each time the intensity of the rain changed;
if it got harder, I'd run for about thirty seconds or to the next intersection
or whatever. If the rain let up a bit, I'd run for about thirty seconds or to
the next intersection or whatever.
The first two times I did this it actually
helped lighten my mood, which was great. After the third time, though, I noticed
that my feet were aching, thanks to the cold, wet, water in my shoes and on the
road.
I gave up the thought of wogging and just plodded along for the last
mile and a half. I thanked all of the volunteers who stood out in the rain at
the intersections to direct traffic - all but the one who was sitting in his truck
with his buddy and only got out when people approached, LOL. And I reminded myself
that self-improvement is NOT supposed to be easy, and that sometimes you have
to get cold and wet to get better. All in all, as I approached the finish line,
the mantra running through my head was "left. right. don't fall over."
One
hour, one minute, and three seconds after I started the race, I finished. Wet,
and cold, and really ticked off - ticked off at the mom who was dragging her kid;
ticked off at the cars (closed course, my wet feet) who had sped down the roads
of the tradeport and splashed me five, count 'em, five times; and ticked off at
the clock.
Joe met me at the finish. He was blabbering on about how good
I looked or something; all I saw was the umbrella he carried and the (mostly)
dry sweatshirt he wore. I refused to let him hug me because I wanted that sweatshirt
to change into.
posted by Adrith 11:07 PM
