My New Long Run Routine:

Sundays are my long run days. Since summer seems to be in full swing in South GA, I decided to get up early and do my morning runs before church every week to avoid the blazing hot afternoon sun. I'm not much of a morning person and my legs proved that today.

This morning, I got up before 9:30 mass to do my long run. It was slow, but it felt good for the most part. I ran 9.41 miles in 1 hour, 24 minutes, and 50 seconds (about 10 minutes slower than my 15K time... blah). I was sooo tired afterward. At church, I had to grab on to the pew in front of me in order to stand up/sit down/kneel.

Jason ran the last 3 miles with me, which was nice. He kept me going when I really wanted to quit. I have been running without my iPod lately, which has not been too terrible. I should wear it next time to see if that makes me run faster. I would like my 80 minute runs to eventually be 10 miles long. Although I am off pace, I'm still pretty proud of myself. :-)

Average Pace: 9:00 per mile/6.7 miles per hour
Number of Intervals: Running around the neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: slight pain in my knee, I think it was a tired muscle though, nothing to worry about
Breakthroughs: Maybe I need my iPod to speed me up.
Age of Shoes: about 3 months

Track Workout

I did 10x200 today. It was... weird. I have NEVER did a 200 workout, but it was on my training schedule. I ran them all in about 44 seconds each, which I know is not that impressive, but I was running it in my 5K pace. Anyway, Annie ran it with me. She decided she wants to do the half marathon with me (she's not a runner at all), so we are getting her into shape to begin training. I will also update you on her status.

Average Pace: 7:30 per mile
Number of Intervals: 10x200
Aches and Pains: ----
Breakthroughs: ----
Age of Shoes: about 3 months

It's supposed to stop raining today.

I got up early on my first day off for the summer to go all the way to Moody to run on the treadmill. It was good except for the fact that the air was now working at the gym. Anyway, I walked for the first 5 minutes then ran for the next 35 minutes at about 6.5-9.0 mph. It was cool, but not :-)

Average Pace: 6.5-9.0 per mile
Number of Intervals: 4.57 miles on the treadmill.
Aches and Pains: ----
Breakthroughs: ----
Age of Shoes: about 3 months

I did not fall today!!!!

I did not run very fast today either. :-( However, I did enjoy my run. I ventured our of my little neighborhood and ran though different parts of Valdosta. It was cool, I got to see some of the bigger houses with nicely manicured lawns. I also got some more ideas for my front yard which was good. All in all, I felt sore and tired at first but that went away. I did not stop feeling that I was running slow though, and I was running slow... very slow. Oh well, it was a beautiful day and a very enjoyable run. I ran 7.78 miles in 1 hour 12 minutes and 56 seconds.

Average Pace: 9.24 per mile
Number of Intervals: 7.78 miles around Valdosta.
Aches and Pains: sore from yesterday's RUN not FALL :-)
Breakthroughs: ----
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

Wipe Out!!

It has been storming for over a week now and I have been using that as an excuse not to run. Today, however, I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. I've done this before, but you would never be able to tell.

About 30 minutes into my 45 minute run, I tripped on my shoelace and fell. Not just a little fall, a huge loud fall causing everyone in the cardio room to look at me. I did get up to finish the workout scraped knee, bumped chin, slight pain in my elbow, and a serious bruise to my ego :-). I should have known, I trip all the time in these shoes. The laces are sooo long!

Oh well, I'm going to attempt 60 minutes tomorrow as long as it doesn't rain. I will probably run less if I have to run on the treadmill again :-(. The weather man promises Monday to be a beautiful day... I hope he's right.

Average Pace: 7.5-8.5 miles per hour on the treadmill.
Number of Intervals: 43 minutes
Aches and Pains: all pains are related to my spill
Breakthroughs: tie your shoes real good :-)
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

I was only going to run 10 minutes today.

But it turned in to 31 minutes and 2 seconds. I ended up running 3.94 miles. It felt good. The people around here are awesome! Whenever I see people while I'm out on my run they always say hello and cheer me on. It really pumps me up to have strangers getting excited for you.

I also took the time while I was running today to check out the front yards in the neighborhoods. There aren't that many that are perfectly manicured. I think ours will be one of the best... but I'm a little biased :-)

Oh well, here are my stats:

Average Pace: 7:54 per mile!!!!!! I finally got below 8 minute miles!!!!
Number of Intervals: 3.94 mile run around the neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: my chest felt heavy, but not difficult to breath, around mile 2
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

Early Long Run

I got up at 7am to go on a long run this morning. I ran about 8.52 miles (I mapped it to the best of my memory) in 1 hour, 11 minutes and 6 seconds. It was a pretty random run. I mean what else can you do if you plan to run 70 minutes. The first part of the run I felt really tired and slow, but soon I was awake and running strong. It felt pretty good and it was a pleasant morning (mid 70s) with a slight overcast. Well, I'm off to finish painting the front of the house. Have a great Sunday!! :-)

Average Pace: 8:18 per mile. Still looking for a metronome!
Number of Intervals: about 8.52 mile run around the neighborhood and the neighborhood across the street.
Aches and Pains: a little tired at first
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

LOST

I decided to map a new run on www.mapmyrun.com today. I really like this site. I can plan my runs and when I finish, I can log the run to find my average mile time and calories burned based on my personal information. However, I am not familiar with the neighborhood across from ours and I got lost. It's OK, it added a little to my run, which I did not appreciate at the time. My legs felt really tired.

I always thought that you burn the same number of calories walking a mile as you do running a mile, but time does matter. Shockingly, you do not burn more calories running faster. At some point if you run to fast, you burn less calories. I'm sure it has something to do with your heart rate and getting your body in to the fat burning/cardio sections according to those gym posters. I don't know. Maybe someday I will be interested enough to learn about it.

Anyway, I ran 5.17 miles today in 42 minutes and 10 seconds. A little slower than I had hoped, but better than yesterday so I can't be too mad. According to my training plan, I was supposed to run 5 miles fast today. I had to keep reminding myself to run fast, then try to convince my legs to do the same.

Average Pace: 8:10 per mile. Still looking for a metronome!
Number of Intervals: 5.17 mile run around the neighborhood and the neighborhood across the street.
Aches and Pains: ----
Breakthroughs:
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

HOT! HOT! HOT!

It wouldn't have been so bad if I weren't running at 6pm in late spring in south GA. It was slow and not very fun, but I had to go early since we have dinner plans with some friends. I did, however, enjoy the smell of jasmine throughout the entire neighborhood/run. Today I ran a rather slow 3.17 miles in a whopping 27 minutes flat (yuck). Oh well, I'll do better tomorrow, :-)

Happy Friday everyone!

Average Pace: 8:31 per mile. Still looking for a metronome!
Number of Intervals: 3.17 mile run around the neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: cramps in my left side
Breakthroughs: I need to start planning my runs around the heat.
Age of Shoes: about 2 months

Put My Running Shoes On

...for the first time in over a week. My back was hurting after my last run and it lasted for about 4 days. I should have started running when it stopped hurting, but I was lazy. I hate taking more than 1 day off at a time. It's so hard for me to get motivated after a few days off.

So, I decided to go for a 3 mile run today. Well, I wanted to go for a 4 mile run, but agreed to be OK with stopping after 3 miles. While I was running, I felt OK, not great, but not half as bad as I expected. Coming around on my usual route, I decided I was only going to run 3 miles despite the fact that I didn't feel like I needed to.

In order to not be a loser, I decided to change my route. I had no idea how far I was going or when I would stop. It was fun. I remember reading about this and I have to admit, I was skeptical. It works and I think I will do it again sometime. :-)

When all was said and done, I ran 4.7 miles in 38 minutes and 43 seconds.

Average Pace: 8:14 per mile. Still looking for a metronome!
Number of Intervals: 4.07 mile run around the neighborhood.
Aches and Pains: cramps in my right side and shoulder
Breakthroughs: Change it up!! It keeps you interested! :-)
Age of Shoes: about 2 months