Eliza’s Workouts … Week 5, Run 4

I was a wee bit nervous about today’s run after the shin splint fiasco of this week’s third run when I ended up walking rather than running four miles due to sinking into the hellish vortex of shin pain. I stretched and iced them over the past two days and hoped for the best.

My plan was to run outside, but it was pretty cold (for here), and I couldn’t find my little headband thing that covers my ears. That and the feeling that my shins would fare better on the treadmill led me to the gym for today’s six-miler. Normally I would hate running such a long distance on the treadmill due to boredom and Hot Face, but today wasn’t so bad.

My calves were sore, but my shins were okay. And I watched the last hour of You’ve Got Mail. Which is a great treadmill movie until the “I’m heartbroken. I feel as though a part of me has died and my mother has died all over again and nothing will ever make it right” part when Meg Ryan looks at her empty store and sees the memory of being twirled around by her mother, when I started crying right there on the treadmill which was a little embarrassing and also made it a little tough to keep up my pace. But I pulled it together and kept going. I continue to like this movie a little more every time I see it, and I’ve seen it A LOT. I still am not crazy about the last line of the movie, but overall, I pretty much love it. I love when Meg Ryan throws her face into the pillow after admitting she doesn’t really know the man she’s been falling in love with. I love when Tom Hanks is wondering why she can’t forgive him and says, “Oh how I wish you would.” GOD, I AM SO GLAD YOU’VE GOT MAIL WAS ON TODAY WHILE I HAD TO RUN SIX MILES. Thank you, you wonderful movie.

After it ended, I hoped against hope for another movie that would help me pass the time but not make me cry and voila! The Bodyguard! Perfect. 

So, overall, I feel great about today’s six-mile run. It’s the farthest distance I’ve gone so far on this round of training, and it didn’t kill me. 5 weeks down … 11 to go! Today’s best running song … “Bend and Break” by Keane.

 

Erin’s Workout – Nov. 9-16

I hae been woefully bad about updating here, mostly owing to a lot going on in my personal life. I just got a new job this week (yay!) and that process took up so much time that sitting down to blog was not a priority.

In fact, I just shut down Lose The Buddha in an effort to start simplifying my life a bit more!

This week my long run cranks up to five miles. I will tell you: I’m worried. My hip continues to give me problems, which I’m sort of blaming on my new-found love of the mega stairclimber at the gym. There is something really satisying about 20 minutes of sweating on that machine that I’ve become addicted to. I cannot explain why.

We bought a foam roller that is one of the best investments ever – Scott and I are both gym rats with a lot of aches and pains – but I’m still waking up with a sore hip. We shall see. It’s made for one-day-on, one-day-off work outs, in order to help heal my hip a bit, and gotten me off my shorter runs. I’m happy to say I haven’t missed a long run yet, which in my head, I guess, feels like the run I have to keep up with. All that said, the shorter runs become longer, and the whole point of training is, well, to do those too.

I started running last week at the gym and … Lawdy. What agony. What torture. I feel like I need to invest in some mittens and a balaclava so I can run outdoors or I will never get through this winter of training. It’s cold here in Chicago, but gym running is awful. Even with an episode of Law & Order to entertain me!

Now to tackle my day. I may take another day of rest, to be on the safe side. I’ve got five miles to get under my belt this weekend and I am not missing it!

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 5, “Run” 3

Well, that was a bust. This afternoon’s run, I mean. I left work a little early in order to have some daylight to run my four-miler in. I strapped on my shoes, walked for 5 minutes to warm up, stopped and stretched my calves and shins, and started running … and I knew right away something was wrong. My shins started killing me straight away. After several runs of little to no shin/calf pain, this surprised and upset me. I tried to run through it for about a quarter of a mile, thinking maybe it would fade out, but it just got worse. So much worse that tears sprung into my eyes and I felt I had no choice but to stop at a bench, stretch my calves and shins, and compose myself. I did just that and tried to jog again, but the pain was still so severe that I gave up and walked briskly for basically the entire four miles.

I don’t know what happened, I honestly don’t. I’ve been icing my shins after every run for the past several weeks and stretching them and my calves, but I guess I haven’t been stretching enough. Maybe hitting the pavement for the fourth consecutive run rather than breaking up the routine with a treadmill run here and there just proved too much for my sad, sorry shins. 

I’m very bummed to be hurting and to have missed out on four miles of running, but I also don’t think it’s smart to keep running when the pain is so bad. While walking, it lessened to a dull, constant ache, which I felt had to be better for my overall health and training than the shooting, piercing, excruciating pain of a even a very slow jog. 

Walking gave me lots of time to think. When “Roxie” from Chicago came on, I thought about how Jan Levinson is about to play the role on Broadway. I still remember her from Little House. Anyway. I enjoyed watching all the ducks and egrets and other birds slowing down and settling in for the evening, and I thought about The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, which is a FANTASTIC book. The thing about being out at dusk is that lights go on in houses with curtains open, allowing little peeks inside windows. I like seeing people’s wallpaper and cats staring out behind the glass. One of the best things about outdoor exercise is that it reminds you that despite the sometimes shitty aspects of life, there are people out there making an effort to have fun — playing frisbee in a field, frolicking in the dog park, running, walking, biking, pushing kids in strollers. All of these sights make me happy.

I plan to rest the shins for two days, stretching and icing in the meantime, and then hit the road again for the six-miler at week’s end. I’m not sure what else to do.

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 5, Runs 1 & 2

Happy belated Veterans Day! I celebrated my freedom yesterday by sleeping in and hitting the road for my first run of the week, a four-miler. I was deluded into thinking it was a nice, breezy morning, but it was a bit mugtastic. I felt like an oaf lumbering through a soupy fog for most of the run, but AT LEAST MY SHINS DID NOT HURT! I consider this a tremendous victory. But still … it felt like it just took forever. 

:::

This morning I set my alarm clock and hurled myself out of bed at sun-up for an early morning run. It was 64 degrees outside, cloudy, and windy when I hit the streets for my two-miler of the week. I have to say that it was sort of awesome to be out there with the wind whipping and the clouds gathering and darkening overhead as they readied themselves for the rainstormy day ahead. My favorite running song of the morning was “That Thing You Do.” That’s right. I’m not ashamed. During my cool-down walk as I headed home, I happily listened to the finale song from Moulin Rouge.

Overall, weather permitting, I’d like to try and run more in the mornings before work. It’s great having it behind me for the day. It allows me to think think all day long that if I do nothing else productive or worthwhile today, at least I went running.

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 4, Run 4

Today’s outdoor 5-miler was pretty pleasant. It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed the gorgeousness around me and my tunes. It’s great that it’s still warm enough here during the day to run in shorts and a sleeveless shirt with no cold weather gear necessary. I tried working on the stride I attempted on the treadmill Friday night, and it seemed to work pretty well. So well that I somehow shaved six minutes off of my 5-mile time from a week ago. Which seems pretty impossible and I still don’t really believe it, but there you go. As usual, I iced my shins upon returning home and tried to stretch out the old calves as much as possible. Then I ate two chocolate mint chocolate chip cookies.

Today’s best running song was “Who Loves You?” from Jersey Boys. (You can see it here, about 2:30 into the clip.)

And … with the completion of today’s run, training for the half-marathon is officially 25% done! That makes me happy. It’s nice to be done with 4 out of the 16 weeks and feel like I’ve officially gotten into the groove of training.

Oh, I almost forgot! The highlight of today’s run was seeing my older brother pass by me in his car, squinting as if questioning, “Is that my lazy-assed, totally un-athletic sister jogging slowly yet determinedly?” When he realized it was me, as he drove off, he threw his fist up through his sunroof and pumped it in what I interpreted as encouraging, triumphant pride. Brothers are good for that.

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 4, Run 3

Friday night at the gym = super fun times! It actually wasn’t so bad, as I knew that Thai take-out, The Daily Show, The Office, and a replay of Obama’s victory speech were waiting for me when I got home and I saw an old friend there. 

It was a 3.5-miler, and I actually tried to alter my stride somewhat. I tried to really concentrate on what I could do to make the run less heinous, and I said to myself, “Self, are your feet hitting the treadmill more than they need to at this speed? Can you lengthen your stride a little bit and see what happens?” So I tried to be a little less bouncy and short-strided (made that up) and a little smoother. It felt sort of foreign but sort of good (or, if not good, less bad). I think I will try it again, though I’m not sure how I will pull it off when I’m on the road and not the treadmill. We’ll see. 

What I dislike most about the gym, I think, is how it gives me a severe case of hot face. My face turns tomato red and feels like it’s in flames. This does not happen outside. Tomorrow is a five-miler outside, and I might try to carve out a new route so there’s some new scenery along the way. That’s it for now … coffee time.

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 4, Run 2

Sometimes I wonder why running is so hard no matter how far I’m running. Two miles last night felt no easier than 3.5 miles on Election Day. It’s very weird. I’d like it to be less hard. I kept telling myself that it’s just about putting the miles in and it doesn’t have to be fun. Maybe the fun comes from feeling better mentally and physically and being healthier as a result of running, not from the act of running itself.

Last night’s run was my first night running at the gym in a while … I’ve tried to do it in the morning because the gym at night is sort of a depressing place to be. It’s also when the men who run the farthest and and most ferociously run on the treadmills, and their sweat flies fast and furious. I’m not trying to be sexist, but as a whole, their sweat is somehow more airborne and mobile than the women’s, and when it literally hits a person in the face, it’s a little daunting.

I was also hit in the face last night by Lou Dobbs, whose show I never watch and will probably never watch again. I found him highly annoying.

Last night’s best running song was “Our Love” by Rhett Miller. What a fantastic running song! I tried to embed it here, but it would not work. So I hunted it down in a “fan vid” for The Office and in one for Johnny Depp. Take your pick.

 

Eliza’s Workouts … Week 4, Run 1 … Election Day

I spent the morning of Election Day voting and hitting the gym for a 3.5-mile run. The run felt eternal, but it was okay because I was glued to MSNBC and running for hope, change, victory, and all that jazz. I honestly will miss the election coverage when all is said and done. What will I watch on the gym TV if not the pundits?

Speaking of pundits, I was sort of dismayed to see Dan Rather among the random MSNBC pundits this morning. I mean, he is Dan Rather. I don’t really know or care what happened to cause his fall from grace, and I wonder if he sits there thinking, “What the hell am I doing with this bunch of clowns?” He spoke eloquently and with great dignity about covering the Civil Rights Movement and how he never thought this would happen in his lifetime and how pleased and honored he is to be witnessing this and to be a part of this day of all days. Somehow my calves stopped hurting and I felt light and free as I thought about that and thought about what we are going to be celebrating (I hope) tonight.

I guess I could come up with some metaphor about this election — this race — and the race for which I am training, but that would be too cheesy even for me.

 

Eliza’s Workouts ~ Week 3, Runs 2 & 3

So I only did three of this week’s scheduled four runs. And I’m okay with it. I think pushing myself to the limit might have permanently wrecked my shins.

I skipped one of the 3.5-mile runs, but today I did the long run of the week, the 5-miler, and I’m thrilled to have made it out alive. More on that in a minute.

Yesterday morning I went to the gym for my second run of the week, a 3.5-miler on the treadmill. It seemed to take forever and I always sweat so much more inside, so that wasn’t too pleasant, but I enjoyed watching election coverage on CNN and dedicate the successful completion of the run to the Killers and the cast of Mamma Mia.

After waking up and starting the day a little off-center due to the time change, I headed out at about 10 a.m. to hit the road for my outdoor five-mile run. My shins ached a bit, but that pain was muted by the heinous hip pain! I swear I look like I am both hobbling and limping along at my slow jogger’s pace, but what can I do? Quit? No. I did not quit. I might as well fess up just how slowly I run … it took me an hour and 6 minutes to finish 5 miles. That’s right. Maybe someday I will get faster; maybe I won’t. I’m just proud of myself for finishing no matter how long it took. It was an incredibly gorgeous day and I really enjoyed passing by the dogs scampering, ducks paddling, and egrets sunning. 

3 weeks down … only 13 to go!

 

Erin’s Workout 10-29 through 11-1

I had to switch things around just a tad this week. I ran my normal two-miler, though not nearly as fast as I would have liked. The caliburation on my Nike+ thing is way, way off. I’ve heard from others that after a while it all just goes kerplunk. Which is sad since I love how lightweight it is, and that it has all of the neat interfacing stuff through Nike.

One of these days I’ll break down and buy a Garmin.

Anyway, so I did my two-miler on Wednesday and ended up taking Thursday off. Friday, instead of the rest day, became my long run day. My friend Brenda and I ran a little over four miles on the lakefront. It was probably one of the most pleasant, wonderful runs I’ve had in a long time. My sinuses did not act up, we had a pleasant conversation the entire time, and I didn’t feel a lick of pain.

Of course, the Nike tool said we ran 12:12 miles, too.

So today was some Turbo Jam – the Fat Blaster series – and tomorrow morning I’ll run my three miles and I’m done for the week. I will start incorporating some serious weight training come Monday as 1) I’d like to burn some more fat in time for our honeymoon in Cancun next month and 2) I need to start that up as a rule once again.

It’ll be a lot of working out, but I figure it will be a temporary situation. After the honeymoon,  I’ll turn down the intensity a few notches and stick to the Higdon training schedule and not try to rockstar it up. But you’ll have to cut me some slack for now – I am facing an entire week of having to live in a swimsuit. I don’t expect to lose twenty pounds between now and then, but I’d like to head off at the pass any tantrums and breakdowns by tightening things up a smidge.