Running Chick

Man, I have the worst time coming up with witty, creative titles for my posts. “Running and Yoga”. How lame. I should just write a little program that randomly creates a title and I’ll use that. Probably would be better than what I could come up with.

Anyhooters, I’m running again.  I’m taking things very slowly right now because I don’t want to overdo it and annoy my legs. So, I’m trying to go between one & two miles a few times each week. Last week, I think I ended up with just under five miles. This week, I’ll go a bit farther, and a bit farther than that the following week. You get the picture.

There are good and bad points to this approach. I do like that my runs are short so I’m not outside for long when it’s cold. I like that I can be out & back in less than 30 minutes, heck maybe even less than 20 minutes, and my clothes don’t get all stanky from sweat because I’m barely breaking one.

But I don’t like that my legs barely feel like they’ve loosened up before my run is over and unless I haul-ass, I hardly feel like I’m doing anything for my cardiovascular system. Also, it’s annoying to pile on all my running gear for only 15 minutes of use. Hopefully by the end of the month I’ll have worked myself up to three miles, which somehow my brain has defined as an real run, and I’ll be happier.

I’ve been reading a lot about running injuries and how lots of them come about from having a weak core, so I started some core training last week:

I hemmed and hawed over whether I should get this dvd because, while Jillian’s workouts are pretty intense, I can’t stand her harping about how I should be gurgling my heart or how my heart should be ready to shoot out of my throat. Girl, please. No I shouldn’t.

Anyway, I signed up for Amazon on Demand on the Roku and got a $5 credit which made this video around $4, so I went for it.  Her program is designed to be done five days/week, but I tend to get bored & lose interest when I do the same thing over & over again so I’m going to shoot for three times/week. I figure it’s better than nothing. And yes, it is intense. And it’s not just my abs that are getting worked, it’s arms & shoulders from all the planks and legs from all sorts of squats & lunges. I feel like I got a good all-over workout when I’m finished.

I also started doing yoga pretty regularly. Here’s one of my regular sessions, Candlelight Yoga with Sara Ivanhoe:

I get this one off of Netflix and it’s a really good for relaxation and light stretching. At the end of this session, I just want to go & take a nap.

Finally, and this is turning out to be my go-to yoga/stretching video, I do Yoga for Runners with Erica Schnike. I got mine from Sport Skool Yoga on the Roku and I couldn’t find any pictures or details about it. But, this is probably the best all-around dvd that I have for stretching. I don’t know the names of all the different poses that she goes through, but they really seem to target all the areas in my legs & hips that are tight. Of course there are a couple of nutty poses that leave me wondering what they’re supposed to be doing, but they’re few and far between.  I do this session right after I get back from a run so I’m nice & warmed up and it feels really good. If I’m feeling ambitious one day, maybe I’ll document all the poses here.

Namaste, people.

The weather was looking awesome for Friday, so I took the afternoon off (yay, 35 days of vacation in the bank) to get my 9 miler in.

I actually thought about my nutrition and hydration needs a bit longer than 10 minutes before heading out the door, so I felt confident with one bottle of water, one bottle of water/Gatorade mix and a Gu.

I felt great until around mile 5, then things started to go downhill.  My legs didn’t feel like going anymore, and my brain didn’t feel like convincing them to go. I struggled through the last three miles, doing more walking than running, and when I was running, it was mostly shuffling. I was able to finish running, but I’m pretty sure it was only because my body knew it was all going to be over soon.

This same thing happened on my 8 miler the other week, so I’m pretty sure that’s my body telling me that I’m doing too much too soon. I tend to ignore my body most of the time, but in the spirit of trying new things, this time I decided to cut back a little.

Oh, and not to take credit for this idea all on my own, I was inspired by a few comments from my Facebook friends who, when I mentioned that I ran 8 miles, said (paraphrasing):

“Wow, eight miles already? That’s pretty quick!” and

“Eight miles! What are you training for?”

It occurred to me that I’m NOT TRAINING FOR ANYTHING HELLO and there’s not really any sane reason that I should be pushing myself so soon. It’s not like I’ve been injured for the past 16 months or anything. Duh.

Of course, my crazy insane multiple-times-over Ironman friend said “Good job, keep it up!”.  Yeah, I’m chosing to ignore her.

I’m going to take all of this week off and focus on yoga/pilates/strength training and then pick back up next week, but I’m going  to keep things short and sweet. I’ll keep it at 3-ish during the week and peak at maybe 5-6 on the weekends.

My miles for last week were 13 @ 10:35.

Six miles into my eight mile run this morning, I bonked. It wasn’t a huge bonk, but it was enough to turn those last two miles into a real struggle. It’s clear that I’ve completely forgotten how to properly fuel and hydrate for anything over five miles.  I was carrying two bottles of a Gatorade & water mix and a pack of sport beans. I took swigs from my bottles every two miles and at four miles I ate some beans. I probably should have forced myself to eat the entire package, but I only ended up taking four or five of them, which wasn’t enough to keep me going. Actually, I really should have taken a gel with me instead of the beans for more calories. Ah well, live and learn.

I came home and my legs were doing a fair amount of complaining so I decided to hop into an ice bath. Fill the tub up with 4-5” of water (enough to cover the legs), climb in and get accustomed to the cold, then dump an entire bag of ice over yourself. The first 30 seconds are pretty unpleasant, but you quickly acclimate. It helps if you have a giant mug of hot coffee and are wearing your warmest sweatshirt. I stuck it out until the ice melted (around 15 minutes) then took a hot shower. My legs felt so much better!

So, the mileage report for this week:

Monday – 3 miles @ 10:17

Wednesday – 3.5 miles @ 10:19

Saturday – 8 miles @ 10:32

Total – 14.5 miles @ 10:26

We’re spending the rest of the day doing amateur radio stuff for Lake Superior Performance Rally. Our shift starts in Kenton at 7:00 and ends sometime in the wee hours of the morning. We’re stationed at the mid-point of one of the stages so we should really see some action.