75 very humid degrees, and not a speck of breeze = Ugh!

Since it's Saturday, I got up a little later to run.  8 am!  I checked the temp and it was "only" 75 degrees, which, although warmer than I like, isn't as bad as it could be. Humidity was about 80% but when I stepped outside it was like walking into a (kind of puny) sauna.  Not a blade of grass was moving and the air was completely still.  


I did my scheduled run with the single walk break that I was supposed to take.  Once again, I kept feeling like I needed to take an additional break to slow down a little, but pushed past it, convincing myself that I only wanted to slow down, but that I didn't need to slow down.  And that was right.  I didn't need to slow down at all.  In fact, when our neighbors drove by and waved at me, I managed to speed up a little.  I saw another neighbor and was even able to smile at him when he nodded (I seriously doubt that I ever smile when I'm running... I'm much too busy trying to breathe for that kind of thing).  


I felt good while I was out there, but knew that I was slow, for the most part.  The sun was shining on me and sweat was running into my eyes.  Who would have ever thought that Ms. Radcliffe would be congratulating my on a PR for the mile!  Certainly not me, I can tell you that!  But to my utter dismay, that was exactly what happened!  Whoda thunk?


There really wasn't much going on in the neighborhood this morning.  Aside from the two neighbors that drove by, I saw a woman down the street drinking her coffee on her deck and another woman riding her bike.  She moved to the other side of the road when she went by me.  I think she might be worried that this running thing is "catchy" or something.  


It's supposed to be 88 with scattered thunderstorms today.  Tomorrow is supposed to be more of the same, but in the 90s.  I really am looking forward to running in the fall when it's not so blasted hot out.  I think I'll spend some time researching some interesting places with scenic routes and try to get some of those in in September and October.  Well, I'll sign off here, until tomorrow's run (hopefully not in the rain).

Woo hoo! Longest run ever!

Well, it was the longest for me, anyway!  Today was the day that the C25K program had me do one single run!  5 minutes of warm up walking, a 20 minute run, and then another walk to cool down!  If that weren't enough, I actually ran a couple of minutes longer than I needed to.  I figured that I might as well just go all the way to the other side of the mailboxes before I slowed to cool down.  I must admit that there were a couple of points that I thought I really needed to take a walk break,  but then realized that it wasn't that I needed to take the walk break - it was merely that I wanted to take a walk break.  There's a big difference between needing and wanting, so I persevered and it got me another PR with Paula Radcliffe chatting at me!  Yay!

Not that I am speedy yet, by any means!  And I know that my recorded pace is off because my Nike+ isn't calibrated correctly, but I LOVE that I can see progress!  Oooh!  I need to hear/say that again... I can see progress!  I feel particularly good about today's run because my muscles are a little sore.  

You see, I started my boot camp class yesterday morning.  I got up at 4:30 am to leave by 5:00 and went to exercise outside in the dark.  I'm not going to lie...  It was hard!  The class was intermittent strength/core training and running laps.  It was already 76 degrees (24 C) and humid at 5:30.  And it was dark - but not too dark for the mosquitos!  Today it hurts to cough or inhale deeply and raising my arms is a real challenge.  But I'm going to go back and do it again tomorrow!  Tomorrow's routine is supposed to be a "total body blast" and I'm hoping that doesn't include abs and arms.  I have a feeling I'll be disappointed, though!  Our instructor told us that there will come a time when we look forward that sore feeling from working out.  Desire it!  I don't know.  That seems odd to me.  Who wants to have pain?  If I want pain, I could just get a tattoo and have some cool new body art to show for it.

Today's run was totally uneventful, with the exception of going faster and longer than I have in the past, and continuing on when I wanted to slow down.  Hmmm... put it that way and maybe it wasn't so uneventful!  It was dark when I started and light when I got back home.  I scared a small family of rabbits out of a neighbor's yard.  That will teach them for nibbling in the garden. 

Boot camp tomorrow and running again on Thursday.  See ya then!

Two for the price of one!

As I was out running this morning, I realized that I had been so busy this weekend, that I never wrote after Friday's run.  I didn't write after Wednesday's run either, but that was because I skipped it.  Actually, I skipped 2 days last week, which isn't good at all!  Wednesday it was really hot out and I hadn't slept well, so decided to pass on the morning run.  Sunday, I was just lazy and decided to sleep in on the last day of a busy weekend.

On Friday, though... I had an amazing run!  I was going along and it came time to walk, but I was feeling pretty good and decided to keep running.  Then it was time to run again, and then time to walk again, but, again, I didn't really feel like I needed to walk, so I kept trotting along.  I only took ONE walk break, and it was the last one during the program.  Who would have thought I could run for  more than 15 minutes, straight?  Not me, for damn sure!

As I said, I skipped yesterday, but was out bright and early this morning.  I opted to do the program as scheduled, walk breaks included, because on Wednesday I'm moving on to the next level.  It felt good - not effortless or anything like that, but good!  I find, however, that I have one thing that bugs me more and more each time I run.  Headphones!  Earphones, earbuds, what ever kind I use and what ever they are called, I hate them!   They are never really comfortable.  They fall out all the time!  I find that I have to poke them back into my ears every 15 seconds or so, otherwise they pop right out.  I've tried using different sized silicon ear inserts.  I've tried the kind that hook over your ears.  There are the kind that go over your head and the ones that go around the back of your neck.  I don't know how many different kinds I've tried, but I haven't found any that I like yet.  It's very frustrating.  I know, I know... there are a lot of people who feel that you shouldn't use them at all while you're running, and I can see the reasoning for that.  I find music very helpful in these first stages of my running routine, and also use the audio cues on the C25K app on my iPod Touch.  At times when there is more activity, I do have the volume down or use only one ear.  I like to know how out-of-breath I sound when I say hello to my neighbors.

One other thing, today... You may have noticed that I actually used the word RUN without quotes around it.  Now that I am actually running more than half of the time/distance that I go each time, I feel that I can call it running.  Quite the milestone for me...  I'm a runner!

Downhill doesn't really feel any easier than up hill!

Woo hoo!  Went to the MetroPark today to start my next level of C25K and it nearly doubled the "running" time in my routine.  As you can tell, I didn't die!  I thought I might a couple of times - and wished I would at one point, just to get it over with, but I actually came away unscathed and feeling pretty good.  Plus I earned DOUBLE the Weight Watcher's Points that I usually do!


The extra"running" trimmed 1:05 off my pace, giving me a new PR.  At this rate, I'll have Paula Radcliffe chatting at me weekly!  I'm hoping to hear from her again later this week.  There were lots of people out running, riding, walking and blading this morning.  When we headed out of the house it was 68 degrees, but the sun was up and knew it would be warming up quickly - and it did!  I was heading down a small hill, during one of my faster moments, and there were 3 runners coming toward me up the hill.  They were running faster up than I was down and still head the breath to say "good morning" to me.  Show offs!  By the time I got back to the car, they had run to the end of the park and were on their way back, but I saw that they lost one of their team-mates.  With friends like that...


I find that the most difficult thing for me is breathing.  Sometimes I forget to and then try to take deep breaths but it can be really hard to do.  I need to work on some deep breathing exercises a couple if times a day, I think.  My understanding is that when they call cadence, while running in the military, it helps keep them breathing properly.  It occurs to me that I could just sing out loud, along with my iPod, while I'm out, but that may disturb the neighbors at 5:30 in the morning.  


All in all, I felt good about this morning's routine!  I'll be out again before work on Monday to see how I do in my own neighborhood, where it's just me and the road.  I wonder what the next week holds.

Another one bites the dust!

So... I skipped out on my "run" yesterday.  I woke up when the alarm went off, but dozed back off and then, when I woke up again, I heard the guy on the radio say that it was 82 degrees out - or something like that.  I turned the radio down and went back to sleep.  And slept in.  A lot!  I  think I slept for a total of 14 hours!  That's like 3 night's worth of sleep for me! I must have needed it because I felt great when I woke up, despite the fact that I finally woke up and went in the bathroom and saw a poster for the 1988 Michael Keaton  movie, Beetle Juice, only to realize that it was my reflection.  Yikes!

This morning, I DID get up as soon as the alarm sounded, and headed out.  It was 77 degrees out and, I have to say, I didn't like it!  I really prefer temps in the 60s, especially for exercising, but since it's barely mid-July, I guess I should be prepared for several more weeks of hot "running" weather.

I was going to write today about speed-shuffling past a half-smoked cigarette during one of my longer "run" segments and considering taking a smoke break while I was out this morning.  No, I don't smoke - and don't promote it because it causes cancer! - but for a break at that particular moment, I considered pretending and sitting on the curb for a little rest.  Alas, I decided that even pretending to smoke was worse than overworking my legs, so I just kept going.  

But, instead of telling you about that, I'll get to my subject line for today's post.  One of the last songs that I heard while I was out was Queen's Another One Bites the Dust (not Weird Al's Another One Rides the Bus) and I was feeling particularly good - like I had gone a little faster than last week... maybe even had a personal record (PR) mile, and was thinking "Yes!  Another one did bite the dust!" Another "run" and, possibly, my last best-time for the mile.  I thought it was an appropriate song to wind down on, and I did, indeed, set a new PR for the mile.  In fact, I trimmed off 32 seconds from my last PR!  Mind you, my time isn't fast, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a significant improvement, and Paula Radcliffe congratulated me, once again.  Woo hoo!

Holiday weekend off to a running start!

Got out for my "run" first thing this morning and felt great!  I headed the opposite direction that I normally go so the scenery would be a little different.  It helped, too, that I didn't know exactly where the walk breaks were coming.  I try not to look at the clock while I'm running and just go by the audio cues from my C25K app.  I find that it's better for me to not anticipate when the walk breaks are coming up or when I'm going to have to start running again.  

There was a bit of thin fog and lots of condensation so it was quite pretty out.  I scared up a bunny who I was hoping would hop along with me to keep me company, but he just went under a shrub and hung out.  Lazy rabbit! Then, a handsome cat was watching me from the perch in his window.  I'm pretty sure he yelled to me that I was doing great and starting to look like I know what I'm doing, but I had my headphones on and couldn't hear him well enough to know exactly what he said.  Either way, he had an expression of approval on his face.  I saw another cat, but he was outside and just gave me a dirty look for running on his road.  I did get to hear from Paula Radcliffe this morning when I stopped my Nike+ on my iPod.  She congratulated me for my personal record for a mile.  My pace wasn't great, but it was an improvement so as long as I can continually do better, I'm happy.  Thanks Paula!

My plan is to go out again tomorrow morning at the Metro Park, and then go back there on Monday since it's a holiday and I don't have to go to work after my run.  I figure the park will give me a real change of scenery (instead of the same scenery from a different direction) and the terrain isn't level like that of my neighborhood, so I'll be able to switch things up a bit.  Plus the park trail is so long that I can start at a different spot and it will be all new.  Since it's my 4th "run" this week, I'll repeat today's C25K program tomorrow and then move on to the next week on Monday. 

Schedule 5K countdown:

Detroit (Marathon) 5K - 106 Days

Jingle Bell Run - 134 Days

Today's run weather:  63 degrees with no breeze and a bit of moisture at 5:50 am.