Run 4/11/2009

I didn't get around to blogging yesterday. When I got home, I rushed around to head back out to my uncle's retirement dinner. It was Kool and the Gang. I saw some family that I haven't seen in a while, so that's good.

So on to the run. I spent the whole run telling myself to slow down, because I'm convinced that I'm probably training too fast. The first mile was slower, then everything after ended up being sub-9:00. Yeah, not quite as slow as I would have liked. And honestly, I'm surprised mile 4 was sub-9:00. It was the hardest mile. All the sudden, my quads were really feeling it. Again, I have lack of food to thank for how I was feeling. Luckily, I had my fill at dinner to make up for it.

Anyway, I've been looking more at the Runner's World training plan. I tweaked it a bit to train hard. Still the pacing seems all off. I'm thinking that it would be more challenging if I ran 30sec faster than the suggested pace. Or maybe I should just throw all of that out the window and just run. I still like my idea of just running for 2hrs. If I can run that long, then I can run a half. Whatever I decide, I need to figure it out soon. Tuesday should be the first day of training.

I'm off. I need to prepare myself for today's long run. It's supposed to be 75min. We shall see, because I really don't feel like going out.

Happy Easter!

Run 4/10/2009

Happy Friday, y'all! And Happy Good Friday too! So yeah, I bring my camera with me everywhere. I took a picture with my friend, Camella, today at work. It's funny because she's actually taller than me by about an inch. But she's wearing flats, and I'm wearing heels. And she kind of bent down for whatever reason.

So on to this running business. I figured I'd do some kind of training plan from Runner's World, but alter it a bit. Anyway, I decided to incorporate a mini one mile race test into today's 25min run to come up with a pace for the training plan. So I did a one mile warm up, then one mile fast, then the remainder a cool down jog. So my fast mile was at 7:54. After that, I would have loved to just stop and fall out on the track. I resisted the urge to stop and walk and just jogged it out. It was a pretty decent cool down. My legs were up for the challenge. Again my lungs are a different story. But I am improving. I don't think it would have been possible for me to run a sub-8:00 mile before. Especially on the track. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't run well on completely flat surfaces. That would explain part of my treadmill hatred.

Anyway, I was looking at the training paces Runner's World came up with. I don't know if I can bear to run an easy pace of 11:04. On top of that, I don't think that the paces for tempo runs and speedwork are challenging at all. So maybe the whole one mile test thing was pointless. I guess I'll need to do a lot of tweaking to come up with my own plan. I believe most of you are more experienced than me. Tell me, what do y'all think?

Run 4/8/09

Crappy food = crappy run

See, this is what happens when you don't get enough sleep. Wake up, rush around and not have time to prepare anything. So the work day started with Dunkin Donuts and ended with peanut butter crackers. With that, it felt harder than it should have been. The best part about the whole thing was when I stopped to take pictures of the deer.



They were actually kind of far away. I didn't want to get any closer. They could have a) run away or b) sized me up and jumped me. That's three against one. I didn't want to chance it. So away I stood.

Anyway, back to the run. It was pretty uneventful. And that sucks because I was looking forward to running today. Well, all runs can't be glorious. Better luck next time. Oh, I'm kinda sorta thinking about joining one of the local running stores for a group run one night. Maybe tomorrow. But I've never run with anyone and I'm afraid I may be too slow. The running store peeps have their bios online. They've been running for years and years, and have personal records of sub-5:00 miles. Or maybe I'll chicken out and just take my butt to the park. Maybe I'll run faster if the deer actually chase me next time. Yeah, that should get me into the sub-8:00 category. Still not good enough to hang with the elite though.

So on to other business. I've registered for the Brooklyn Half Marathon. Again, thanks to Michelle twisting my arm. She somehow roped Ted into registering (probably by way of a headlock. She's one tough cookie. Ha! I kid. Love ya girl.) I was all excited about it. But during the not so great run, I started thinking, "What the hell was I thinking?" I'm sure that will all go away once I have a decent run again (I really should start getting to bed sooner so I can at least start the day right with a good breakfast). Oh, that reminds me..I must call my aunt in Brooklyn to let her know that I'll be cramping her style for three weekends. I hope she has nothing to do. Luckily, I'm one of her favorite nieces.

And on that note, I'm out. Night all!

Run 4/2/09

This was a fast one, 3mi @ 8:49 pace. I didn't expect it to be so fast. But at least I know now that I'm capable of running a decent 5k, if I choose to run one. Short distances really aren't my strong suit. About time I'm warmed up, the race will be over. Anyway, I told myself to slow down. But once you get going, it's hard to ease up. Oh well. It was one hell of a workout. I wasn't too hard on myself though or I'd be feeling it now. Once I got into the cool down, it was like I didn't run at all.

And yes, those would be random pictures of my legs and feet. I bought a Nikon Coolpix yesterday. I figured I'd treat myself to a camera. I've never owned one. Isn't that sad? A camera phone and a web cam don't count. I feel like I want to capture life. I have no pictures to look back on and that stops now. So yeah, you may see some random pictures here. It would be nice to have something here other than stats (see below if you're interested).








So tomorrow's a rest day. I am going to my favorite lounge spot. Well, that's if work doesn't tire me out. I really hope not. Or maybe I'll just come home and take a nap first. But I love the music and I love the company. And I love that I can walk up to the DJ and ask what he's playing, and he'll actually show me. I'm a big, BIG music fan. I ended up buying an album he recommended since the last time I was there. Music just makes me feel so much better. You don't want to see me if I'm lacking food, sleep or music. It's not a pretty sight.

Well, enough of the random talk. I'm off to bed. Night all.

Run 3/31/09 Almost There

I am really surprised this run turned out the way it did. I didn't have a decent meal all day. Of course I ate, but it was mostly snacking. I did manage to work in a banana and an orange, which to me, is still snacking (but good snacking). Anyway, instead of the track, I went to the park. I figured I could get in a decent run before it got dark. There were a lot of people out too. I ran three times through the woods, and the last mile on the road since it was kind of dark at that point. Wait a minute. Let me back track.

I didn't run Sunday because for one, I had a ridiculous headache all day. And two, my right head of fibula knee thingy was bothering me. Well, it bothered me towards the end of Saturday's long run. This would be the injury that notified me over a year ago that my old sneaks needed to be replaced. Yeah, I learned the hard way. I took off yesterday as well to rest it. Fast forward to today, and it didn't make an appearance at all.

So back to the run. Mile 3 at 8:58 surprised the heck out of me. It helps that it was downhill. Same deal for mile 5 at 8:59. At that point, I told myself that I couldn't possibly have a negative split in the last mile. It helps that I ran the last mile on the road though. Not as hilly. Thank God. Mile 6 was done in 8:39. What in the world? I'll take it. And with that, I finished up with an overall pace of 9:05.

This is all just amazing. Maybe a month or so ago, I talked about my goal of maintaining a sub-9:00 pace. And I so didn't see it happening anytime soon. But the more I run, the more I believe it could actually happen sooner that I thought. So with that, to all you speed demons, I'm on your heels. LOL!

Have a good night.

Run 3/28/2009

BiM Active is still refusing to post to my blog. But whatever. I'm not going to dwell on that. The important thing is I ran the scheduled 90min, and I kicked ass. That would be 9.58mi @ 9:24 pace!! And get this, today's run felt a whole lot easier than yesterday's 15min burst of speed. I may continue to make short runs fast so that longer runs feel heavenly. That will just be my version of speed work. I'm still trying to get my mind around how much I've improved and how good I felt. I found myself thanking God somewhere around mile 6. Running is such a wonderful gift and I am so grateful. I hope I continue to improve and feel great every time I'm out there. I just hope that's not too much to ask.

So tomorrow, there's 45min on schedule. I'm going to treat it as a recovery run. Well, that's if I get out of bed. It's supposed to rain. And rain is good sleeping weather, so we shall see. Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. Happy Running!

Run 3/27/2009 and stuff

I don't know how you speed demons do it. In any case, I did this run pretty fast. May as well make a workout out of it if it's only 15min long. I ran 30min yesterday on the indoor track. No stats and I didn't feel like posting anyway. I have 90min scheduled tomorrow. If I don't punk out, it will be nice and easy and SLOW.

I'm catching up from last weekend. I was in Philly Friday night for music and drinks. Love me some Xochitl. The margaritas are on point and I don't even like tequila. And I love, LOVE the DJs, the mood, the vibe, the atmosphere, the bartenders, the parking garage right around the corner. It's my lounge spot when I feel like loungin'. Then Saturday, I was in NYC for a friend's birthday. I stayed at my aunt's in Brooklyn that night. Well, actually Sunday morning. I got in around 5am, went to bed at 6am, and was up before 9am. I was beat. I hung there with family all day. I finally got home Sunday night after 9pm. Yeah, long weekend. And since then, I've been waking up at the last possible minute before getting ready for work. I haven't cooked a thing. I haven't even prepared my Yerba Mate chai. The only thing I've done is iron my clothes the night before just so I can roll out of bed 20min or so before I need to leave.

And on that note, I'm starving. So I need to handle that. Peace.



P.S.
Since BiMActive is being a total douche and won't post anything, I've had to copy and paste some stuff with another program. Oh well. At least the info is here.

Run 3/18/09 and a recipe

I wasn't feeling quite right, so I cut my 60min run down to 45min. My stomach just wasn't agreeing with me for whatever reason. I can always make up the 15min some other time. Anyway, the run went better than expected considering I was on the track. I'm convinced that I run slower on flat services. It just feels so much harder to me. I felt like I was hardly moving. I had a decent pace though. Go figure. Anyway, I've been all rawlicious lately. Right now, I'm enjoying a frozen ripe banana, blended with a bit of almond milk (homemade - I feel so natural), some cacao powder, and a sprinkle of cacao nibs. Oh, and in case you're interested, my breakfast has been 1/2 cup of soaked steel cut oats, 1/2 mashed banana, 2 tbsp dried coconut, some raisins, some chopped walnuts, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dash of salt, and a squirt of agave. The first time I ate it, I kept staring at my bowl in disbelief at how good it was. Now, I can't wait to eat breakfast in the mornings. Damn, I just remembered that I'm out of raisins now. Oh well. Activity Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 03/18/09 Up/Downhill: [+3/-0] Time: 06:35 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 58 F temp; 53% humidity 58 F heat index; winds S 5 Performance Distance: 4.80 miles Time: 0:45:02 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 23 /mi Calories: 531 Notes Cool Down = .33mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 44 +0' 21 6.2 -0.2 +3 ft 2 9' 26 +0' 03 6.3 -0.0 0 ft 3 9' 10 -0' 13 6.5 +0.1 0 ft 4 9' 19 -0' 04 6.4 +0.0 0 ft end 9' 20 -0' 03 6.4 +0.0 0 ft Versus average of 9' 23 min/mile

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Run 3/15/09

This run went surprisingly well. My only gripe is that my shoulders were bothering me. I tried to shake it out and loosen up. No such luck. But anyway, it started out feeling easier than it should, although it was faster than usual. I never do a longish run that fast (9:17) in the beginning. It didn't feel like work until after mile 3. That's cool though. I'm still trying to get my mind around maintaining the pace for 6mi. And the pace would be 9:07. How sweet is that? And just think, my week was crap energy wise. As far as my speed goes, I'm doing pretty well now that I think about it. I outweigh a lot of people. No, I'm not a big girl by any means. But I tend to outweigh women who are my size by about 20lbs. I have big, heavy bones. My ankles are 9 inches around. I have a hard time finding anklets that don't cut off my circulation. Yes, there is such a thing as being big boned. If you don't believe me, just try to pick me up. Anyway, I would think it takes more effort to get your speed together if you weigh more than the average chick. So on to other things...it's starting to get a bit warmer. The days are getting longer. And it makes me want to get my raw food on. No, I'm not going raw. But I do want to incorporate more raw foods into my diet. I've had an awesome raw breakfast that I've eaten almost every day this week. I made almond milk this morning. I need to tweak the recipe a bit before I'm satisfied with it. I went to Produce Junction today to get my fruit and veggie on. I think I'll make zucchini pasta with pesto tonight. I don't know. We'll see. Depends on my mood. And on that note, I need to start getting my food prep on. Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 26 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -42 ft Date: 03/15/09 Up/Downhill: [+187/-229] Time: 01:25 PM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 45 F temp; 60% humidity 45 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 6.00 miles Time: 0:54:44 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 07 /mi Heart Rate: 179 bpm (Avg) Calories: 664 193 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .5mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 180 - 200 0h 38m 69% 4.21 mi Zone 4 160 - 180 0h 12m 23% 1.37 mi Zone 3 140 - 160 0h 03m 6% 0.37 mi Zone 2 120 - 140 0h 02m 4% 0.24 mi Zone 1 100 - 120 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 17 +0' 10 6.5 -0.1 152 -50 ft 2 9' 11 +0' 04 6.5 -0.1 177 -3 ft 3 9' 03 -0' 04 6.6 +0.0 185 +13 ft 4 9' 06 +0' 01 6.6 -0.0 187 +17 ft 5 9' 08 +0' 01 6.6 -0.0 188 -7 ft 6 8' 53 -0' 14 6.7 +0.1 189 -13 ft Versus average of 9' 07 min/mile

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Run 3/12/09

I'm not back to normal. Yeah, I'm still tired. I'm sure it's a combo of getting over this damn cold, feminine issues, and daylight savings time. Whatever the case, it's not a good formula for running. My stats for the month are gonna suck. I guess that's the way it goes sometimes. Anyway, 30 minutes on the indoor track. So no pretty graphs and such. And on that note, I'm out.

Run 3/10/09

I am beat. I was tired yesterday and didn't run. It's mostly my fault though. I haven't treated myself to Yerba Mate chai (my caffeinated beverage of choice) for about a week. And I never get to bed when I should. I'm just hard headed. Well, that's not going down tonight. I'm taking my butt to bed. Oh, and I ran for 25min today. No stats since it was the indoor track though. Anyway, night all.

Run 3/6/09

I finally got to run outside, YIPPEE!! It's was Kool and the Gang, however I felt like I was working with half the normal lung capacity. And it probably was with all the coughing I've been doing this week. I couldn't breathe as deeply as I would have liked to. But I didn't feel like I was struggling to catch my breath either. Maybe my music selection had something to do with that. Apparently, I was listening to "a mix of super soulful broken beat, nu jazz, and future soul tracks." I love Philadelphia for the underground music scene. And that's about all I love about the city. Anyway, I have 90 minutes for tomorrow's long run. That works out to about 9mi or so. I'm not 100%, so I just may run easy until I feel like stopping. I'll have to play it by ear. Music: Electric Soul Vol. 2 by DJ Lil' Dave Too bad this selection isn't available for download anymore. But if you're ever in Philly, you may want to catch one of his venues. Brotha puts his thing down. Activity Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +3 ft Date: 03/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+3/-0] Time: 07:33 PM Difficulty: 1.4 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 50 F temp; 60% humidity 50 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 2.19 miles Time: 0:20:00 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 08 /mi Heart Rate: 160 bpm (Avg) Calories: 239 182 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .44mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone Zone 5 180 - 200 0h 01m 5% 0.14 mi Zone 4 160 - 180 0h 14m 73% 1.62 mi Zone 3 140 - 160 0h 01m 7% 0.16 mi Zone 2 120 - 140 0h 03m 16% 0.35 mi Zone 1 100 - 120 0h 00m 1% 0.04 mi (none) out of range 0h 00m 1% 0.03 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 23 +0' 15 6.4 -0.2 145 +3 ft 2 9' 05 -0' 03 6.6 +0.0 174 0 ft end 8' 20 -0' 48 7.2 +0.6 180 0 ft Versus average of 9' 08 min/mile

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