Week 8 - A new run, a new adventure!

So this week I was determined to do a GOOD JOB with regards to the training schedule, and amazingly enough, it wasn't too shabby. Granted, real life got in the way again, but in a GOOD way for once (see Wednesday's blurb) so I am not complaining (I know - are pigs flying? has hell frozen over??).

Meanwhile, this week starts the "long run-ramp up" as I like to refer to it. Starting this week's Saturday - and for the next 5-6 weeks or so - every long run goes up by a mile. So last week I ran a 5-er. This Sat was time for a 6-er, which I hadn't done since the last 10K I ran. No biggie I guess, as I know I can run 6 miles, but there are two inherent problems with this ramp-up:

1. I have never run MORE than 6 miles at any given time, and I really am not on board with the run 10 min (or 1 mi) and walk one min type of training that so many runners abide by. Too many years of having "DON'T WALK!!!" shoved down my throat by track coaches I guess.

2. The time committment that comes with longer and longer runs. If I thought it was hard to get away just to run for 30 min - how the hell am I going to have the time to run a hour, all the way up to 90 min, 100min or however long it takes for me to do 9/10 milers???? I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but I can't help but already start stressing over it.

Now, back to thta 6-er I was to do on Sat. Considering I'd never done one around town (re: Hville) before I decided to map out a new route and see what happens. Check out Saturdays' blurb to find out...


Oh, and BTW, as a side note: I finally committed to run the half. HAHAHAHA!! No, really. I hadn't registered yet. Until this week. HAH! There it is - I've committed. Or, is it, I should BE committed for committing to run a half-freaking-marathon. Not sure.


here's the week's recap:

Monday: ran 3 miles. hip felt ok. I have the beginnings of turf toe (really just inflammation/tendinitis of the big toe) in my left foot. Advil, ice, and ignorance. whatever works.

Tuesday: OFF.

Wednesday: was planning to mountain bike with Leanne. Instead, well, we all decided to hit Founders. Why you might ask? Turns out my paper got accepted...the one I'd been working on for what felt like an ETERNITY but was more like 6 months or so. YAY! So, yeah, scratch training - on to drinking and celebrating!!! Me likey.

Thursday: Ran 4 miles, because my training book told me too (good girl!). Actually felt pretty good, and I am realizing that no matter what distance I run, I pretty much run at the same pace - hovering around the 9:30min/mi mark. That's ok with me. I'll take it.

Friday: NOW we mountain bike. It was ok - both Leanne and I were tired. And WTF - where did all the sand come from??? Especially the large load that seems to have gotten dumped IN THE MIDDLE OF GINORMO-HILL!!! NO FAIR!!! Didn't make it up - at least not in one fell swoop. Got to the sand in the middle and spun out and skidded into a tree. PISSED ME OFF. So I got back on the bike, pushed past the sand, and, from a standstill, biked the rest of the way up that EFFER. YEAH!!!

Saturday: 6-er day. I map my route, wait for the rain to stop and head out around 6pm. So this run, I've never run this route before, but I figure, what the heck. Yeah, well, it takes me into a trailer park, where I promptly get LOST. Nice. (BTW- the name of this "park"??? Presidential Estates; no joke, with street names like Nixon, Eisenhower, Truman, and Cleveland. Yep - classy. Trailer park owners, if nothing else, sure have a sense of humor). OK, so I am 30 min into the run and lost in this trailer park. I know eventually it leads to a main road that I'm supposed to meet up with on my route so I keep going. Except...as I am running (with my headphones cranked so I can't hear a damn thing) I see a little girl, I'm guessing maybe 6 years old, walking towards me with about 4 other little girls following her. This girl is dragging the smallest kiddie bike I've ever seen and she's clearly talking to me. So I take an ear bud out and she asks me if I can help fix the chain on her bike.

Yeah, I admit it, 30 min into a run that was feeling pretty damn good, my first instinct was to say "NO" and keep running. Don't worry - I didn't. And yes I did fix the chain on her bike. Unfortunately it was the RUSTIEST chain EVAH and took me a full 10 min of kneeling on gravel in the middle of the road with a host of random trailer park residents eyeing me up (and no one offering to help mind you) to fix the damn thing. By the time I fixed it and stood up, I almost fell over my muscles had tighened up so bad. Great. Well, onward I go!

But lemme tell you - it DID NOT feel good. not good at all. I managed to make it back home in another 30 min or so and ran 6.3mi total, but geez. Between the tighened up legs, and the FREAKING WIND it was a crap second half of a run. The wind, holy hell, the wind. Heading straight north, which meant that for the last 2 mi of my run (which was due south) I was running straight into it. And I tell you, this running nonsense has made me a little wacky, as I actually said to myself, OUT LOUD, to the wind: "BRING IT! I AM NOT STOPPING! SO BRING IT!" I am clearly losing my mind.

But I didn't stop. SO THERE! And the hip didn't bother me at all! Not during and not after. HALLELUYAH.

however, not sure I'm going to run this particular route again. judge me. go ahead. I DON'T CARE.


Sunday: took it off as my legs were really freaking worn out from the Sat run - stop - run.


so the final score: 3 mi + 4 mi +6 mi running + 4 mi biking = 17 mi total. Next week I am shooting for 20 mi total...