Ah, late February. The hum of air conditioners, the feel of 97% humidity in the morning, the rising dew points, the temperatures in the 80s....
Wait, this should really not be February. Come on, Florida.
But it was today's actuality. So I decided to get my revenge by breaking out the aqua jogger.
If you're wondering what an aqua jogger is, it is basically a buoyant belt that allows you to 'run' in the water. Now, I am not claiming that this is the same as a land workout, although it does pose different challenges (for instance, water weighs more than air, as you undoubtedly know, so you are pushing more weight upward with your quads). It is much nicer as a workout than running with rampant humidity, at least as far as I'm concerned. So today, rather than sweating like a maniac, I opted for the aqua jogging instead.
If you're wondering whether you wind up looking like some old lady at Aquafit class when you use an aqua jogger, the answer is absolutely you do. And there is no way to get around it, really.
I did half an hour with some 3-6 minute sprints in there. Wasn't awful. Probably wasn't the hardest workout I've ever completed. But it was significantly better than nothing.
Saturday I did get to the gym (yay!). Did 17 minutes on the treadmill, then just wasn't feeling it any more. Is there such a thing as runner burnout? I did do some weights, though, for the first time in months, and that felt really good.
PS - That was kind of a facetious question, but I hadn't done much research yet. Yes, there is running burnout and it is common after a marathon. One of the tips: "You don't have to run your heart out in every race you enter. Sometimes it's fun to run at an easier pace than your race pace and just enjoy the race without putting any pressure on yourself." This would be easier to do if I didn't walk in the middle of a freaking 5k. But let's hope that this weekend's race goes better (...boo, it's still going to be hot....).
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
I'm seeing a pattern here
Stop me if you've heard this before:
Monday - I go for my run. All seems well. I resolve that this will be a good week of running.
Tuesday - Something gets in the way. The run doesn't happen. Maybe I do some other kind of exercise, but I don't run.
Wednesday - Whole plan gets derailed by something. I get frustrated and vow to do better. Frustration lasts until Monday, when all temporarily seems well.
Yep, again. Tuesday morning I had put in my schedule to run. That didn't work out because I needed to be at home for something. Tuesday afternoon was no good since I had to be at work (or work-related events) from 3:20pm - 10:30pm. By the time I got home, I was completely knocked out--in fact, I was too knocked out and grew concerned. Wednesday I hit the 'snooze' button five times, which is generally a bad sign. Then I grew concerned that I was sick again, particularly since I was exhausted all of Wednesday afternoon and into the evening. Worried that the stomach flu was back, I tried to sleep in this morning, meaning another chance to run slipped away.
BLECH.
However, there is good news in this annoying. I don't think it is stomach flu. I think that it is pollen (how do you confuse those, you ask? You feel really wiped out for a couple of days). So tonight, I will do yoga. That is on. It's not running, but it's happening. This weekend, I will get to the gym on Saturday (I'm off to Pittsburgh where they have much snow, so running is not a great option). That is also happening. See how it's in bold? That's how I know it will be done. Dammit.
Monday - I go for my run. All seems well. I resolve that this will be a good week of running.
Tuesday - Something gets in the way. The run doesn't happen. Maybe I do some other kind of exercise, but I don't run.
Wednesday - Whole plan gets derailed by something. I get frustrated and vow to do better. Frustration lasts until Monday, when all temporarily seems well.
Yep, again. Tuesday morning I had put in my schedule to run. That didn't work out because I needed to be at home for something. Tuesday afternoon was no good since I had to be at work (or work-related events) from 3:20pm - 10:30pm. By the time I got home, I was completely knocked out--in fact, I was too knocked out and grew concerned. Wednesday I hit the 'snooze' button five times, which is generally a bad sign. Then I grew concerned that I was sick again, particularly since I was exhausted all of Wednesday afternoon and into the evening. Worried that the stomach flu was back, I tried to sleep in this morning, meaning another chance to run slipped away.
BLECH.
However, there is good news in this annoying. I don't think it is stomach flu. I think that it is pollen (how do you confuse those, you ask? You feel really wiped out for a couple of days). So tonight, I will do yoga. That is on. It's not running, but it's happening. This weekend, I will get to the gym on Saturday (I'm off to Pittsburgh where they have much snow, so running is not a great option). That is also happening. See how it's in bold? That's how I know it will be done. Dammit.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Getting back on track
Yesterday I went for a run, but didn't have time afterward to blog about it. So here we are, a day later.
I meant to go around 5pm; unfortunately, other events interfered that prevented me from following this plan (by which I mean, I discovered Angry Birds). Yet I knew I was going to go running. I could feel it deep in my runner's brain. There is some point you reach where you know that regardless of how much you procrastinate or put things off, you are eventually going to go running. I haven't felt this for a few weeks, so it was nice to know that my 'get up and go' was still in there somewhere. Yay.
Because it was dark by the time I got out (thanks, Angry Birds!), I decided to run around my complex. The loop is around 0.7 miles. It is not the most exciting run, but has several good aspects: it is well lit, there is not much traffic, and you can't trip on any sidewalks or anything. I've done the complex loop before and while it's not the most inspirational route, I like it when running at night. Also, if any alligators pop out of the sewers, there are people around who can hopefully help before I suffer a fatal injury.
I decided to do 4 loops, so around 2.8 miles. This wasn't about the distance or time, it was about getting out of the house and running (try that sentence in a Canadian accent!). The first lap, I actually felt good, better than I had about running in a while. Laps 2-4 were less enjoyable because the humidity -- which is still high -- caught up with me. However, it wasn't as bad as Saturday since there was no Mr. Florida Sun to add insult to humidity. Anyway, I figure that probably it is good to get acclimatized since likely the humidity will be here for a while. I am doing another 5k in a week and a half...this was the one at which I was hoping to set a new personal record (PR), but that is not happening now.
Also, I became more acutely aware of how marathon training and shorter distance training really were different. Back when I was training for the marathon, I would have just done my 2.8 miles (or whatever) and really not worried about performance. Yesterday, I found that I was trying to keep up a faster speed. This wasn't on purpose, but it did feel different. So maybe it is okay that I'm not switching from one plan to another with ease. Maybe that is normal.
I meant to go around 5pm; unfortunately, other events interfered that prevented me from following this plan (by which I mean, I discovered Angry Birds). Yet I knew I was going to go running. I could feel it deep in my runner's brain. There is some point you reach where you know that regardless of how much you procrastinate or put things off, you are eventually going to go running. I haven't felt this for a few weeks, so it was nice to know that my 'get up and go' was still in there somewhere. Yay.
Because it was dark by the time I got out (thanks, Angry Birds!), I decided to run around my complex. The loop is around 0.7 miles. It is not the most exciting run, but has several good aspects: it is well lit, there is not much traffic, and you can't trip on any sidewalks or anything. I've done the complex loop before and while it's not the most inspirational route, I like it when running at night. Also, if any alligators pop out of the sewers, there are people around who can hopefully help before I suffer a fatal injury.
I decided to do 4 loops, so around 2.8 miles. This wasn't about the distance or time, it was about getting out of the house and running (try that sentence in a Canadian accent!). The first lap, I actually felt good, better than I had about running in a while. Laps 2-4 were less enjoyable because the humidity -- which is still high -- caught up with me. However, it wasn't as bad as Saturday since there was no Mr. Florida Sun to add insult to humidity. Anyway, I figure that probably it is good to get acclimatized since likely the humidity will be here for a while. I am doing another 5k in a week and a half...this was the one at which I was hoping to set a new personal record (PR), but that is not happening now.
Also, I became more acutely aware of how marathon training and shorter distance training really were different. Back when I was training for the marathon, I would have just done my 2.8 miles (or whatever) and really not worried about performance. Yesterday, I found that I was trying to keep up a faster speed. This wasn't on purpose, but it did feel different. So maybe it is okay that I'm not switching from one plan to another with ease. Maybe that is normal.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Back to running, back to humidity
This morning, I ran a 5k with a friend of mine. My 5k didn't go so well. Hers was awesome because she completed her first 5k ever where she ran throughout. Yay!
I've been mulling over why mine didn't go so well (at one point, I walked *shudder*). In part, it is undoubtedly due to the fact that I haven't been running as much as I would like. There's no getting around this. However, now that the deadlines are past, I'm hoping that running can be restored to a normal event on my calendar. It should be doable for the next little while.
The other part of it, though, is that this morning got humid again. Not summer hot by any means, but high humidity (low-ish dew point). Accuweather put the humidity at 93% to start, then rising to 97% (!) by 8am. Which is to say that in the process of the race, the humidity went up instead of abating. Ick. I was reminded of the last time I ran a half-marathon in Florida, which was two years ago as part of the Gasparilla weekend here in Tampa. The temperature started at a reasonable level, in the 60s, but the humidity was about like this morning. After the first hour, I wanted to quit and never run in Tampa again unless there was a cold front--actually, this is the race where I vowed to never do a long distance (i.e., over 10k) in Florida again. Fortunately, a storm came through after the first hour and things were much more manageable, even if there was a driving wind in the wrong direction for a chunk of the race and downpour-level rains. This was vastly superior to icky sweat.
In addition, the warm weather returned just a couple of days ago, so there has been no time to adjust. As I know already, I'm useless in humid weather. So although I know that I need to step up my workouts (or at least get them back on track), I think that this morning's run was not helped by the weather, not one bit. I still can't quite believed that I walked, but I just needed to. I can't explain it any better than that. My head was pounding like crazy when I did. Obviously, it's still bugging me.
Along with increasing the number of times I run per week (from zero to a value larger than zero), I'm hoping to add weights for real this time. Here's how crazy the last month has been: I got a book on weight lifting out of the library, had no chance to read it over the 3-week loan period, and had to give it back since someone else had put a hold on it. Crazy. Today's I went and got three more (different) books out and am hoping to find something with a good routine for me in it. Going twice or three times a week would be great. However, I don't want to overload myself now that I am able to get back into things because I feel like that would defeat the purpose.
I've been mulling over why mine didn't go so well (at one point, I walked *shudder*). In part, it is undoubtedly due to the fact that I haven't been running as much as I would like. There's no getting around this. However, now that the deadlines are past, I'm hoping that running can be restored to a normal event on my calendar. It should be doable for the next little while.
The other part of it, though, is that this morning got humid again. Not summer hot by any means, but high humidity (low-ish dew point). Accuweather put the humidity at 93% to start, then rising to 97% (!) by 8am. Which is to say that in the process of the race, the humidity went up instead of abating. Ick. I was reminded of the last time I ran a half-marathon in Florida, which was two years ago as part of the Gasparilla weekend here in Tampa. The temperature started at a reasonable level, in the 60s, but the humidity was about like this morning. After the first hour, I wanted to quit and never run in Tampa again unless there was a cold front--actually, this is the race where I vowed to never do a long distance (i.e., over 10k) in Florida again. Fortunately, a storm came through after the first hour and things were much more manageable, even if there was a driving wind in the wrong direction for a chunk of the race and downpour-level rains. This was vastly superior to icky sweat.
In addition, the warm weather returned just a couple of days ago, so there has been no time to adjust. As I know already, I'm useless in humid weather. So although I know that I need to step up my workouts (or at least get them back on track), I think that this morning's run was not helped by the weather, not one bit. I still can't quite believed that I walked, but I just needed to. I can't explain it any better than that. My head was pounding like crazy when I did. Obviously, it's still bugging me.
Along with increasing the number of times I run per week (from zero to a value larger than zero), I'm hoping to add weights for real this time. Here's how crazy the last month has been: I got a book on weight lifting out of the library, had no chance to read it over the 3-week loan period, and had to give it back since someone else had put a hold on it. Crazy. Today's I went and got three more (different) books out and am hoping to find something with a good routine for me in it. Going twice or three times a week would be great. However, I don't want to overload myself now that I am able to get back into things because I feel like that would defeat the purpose.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
On Failure
This is a hard post to write and I've been going back and forth about it all day. But I figured that in a worst-case scenario, I could delete it from the internet (hopefully) forever. So here we go!
As you probably got from the past few posts, things have not quite gone as planned with this new running goal. So I am preemptively choosing to fail it. My goal was to set a new personal record (PR) at a 5k at the start of March. I had a plan mapped out with all kinds of the right workouts. But unfortunately, I don't feel like I can complete them right now. And I'm trying to make my peace with that.
Like most people, I don't like to fail. Actually, during my running career, I have been pretty fortunate; I haven't experienced too many total failures, like having to drop out of a race or having to quit running for a while. If anything, I've been somewhat fail-free. The one exception was last spring, when I decided that I wanted to break my 10k time. For some reason, 10k is a distance that I do not seem to have an understanding with. Even last fall, when I was training for the marathon, I thought that I had a really great chance at a PR when I did a 10k as a turkey trot in Detroit. Feeling pretty good through four miles, my plan was to gun it through miles 5-6.2, thus hopefully breaking my 10k PR. Sadly, I missed the 5M marker and was not wearing my nifty phone with its nifty running distance app. Imagine my surprise when I saw the 6-mile marker. I did manage to gun it for the last 0.2 miles, but that was not enough for a new record.
I feel that this experience pretty much sums up me trying to improve my 10k time. When I think that I'm about to do well, things don't go as planned. In fact, I had a better 5M mile split for quite a while and just could not seem to bring up the slightly longer distance. Last year, after a decent turkey trot 10k the Thanksgiving before that was a PR -- albeit not that impressive of one, I felt -- I found a 10k plan, signed myself for two 10ks, and set out to break my PR. I thought that this would be a piece of cake because I was going to put in good, solid training and I had broken my 5k PR in the fall.
It didn't happen. I didn't train as often or as well as I wanted. Neither of the races went particularly well. The first one I overheated, even though it was in the 30s (dumb!). The second one, I overheated, but that was because it was getting hot again (normal). In fact, in the second one, I thought that I was last at one point and was ready to actually quit. That would have been a first. But somehow I powered through it and, as it turned out, was nowhere near last (this was fortunate because there were two super-slow walky-runny people behind me or I would have been. But I wasn't. We can argue about the absolute value of this accomplishment another time).
I realize that some people might not see this as failing necessarily. After all, I did run both 10ks. I did complete them in relatively acceptable times. But it still felt like I failed, and that I could attribute my failure to the fact that training was not very good.
Maybe my lesson here is that the late winter/early spring is not my time to train well. Work tends to get busy at this point in the year and I generally feel more tired. That leads to not wanting to run, even when the workouts are shorter than my marathon ones were. Not to mention that I have more days when I just want to rest. Or maybe I am not being as diligent about carving out my running time as I was during marathon training. Whatever it is, things are not working right now. Hence my preemptive quit.
I still plan to run my 5ks, although I don't think that either of them will be a PR (I would put big money on this). And I do see this as a failure. But I'm trying to keep my focus on the big picture. A long time ago, I decided that I would not get mad at myself for what I can or cannot do as a runner. Because if I do spend my time getting angry, then I won't want to run anymore, and then I will quit. That would be a true failing and the worst one. It's hard enough to motivate yourself sometimes without having a little voice inside working against you.
So for the next week -- until February 15, when my work deadlines will abate -- I have a new plan. Actually, it's a new not-plan. I am not planning what to do. If I want to run, I will run. If I want to do an exercise video, so I shall. If I want to swim, that's good too. However, I will do something. The schedule will be today, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. For someone who is a born planner, this is quite a change of pace.
Today I went for a run. It was short. I cut it shorter than I had initially planned for it to be. I had no watch or phone or fun toy--they will come back, just not for right now. However, I succeeded. I went. I got the shoes on and left the house. In my long-term plan, I've still failed. But what matters now is what I do afterward.
As you probably got from the past few posts, things have not quite gone as planned with this new running goal. So I am preemptively choosing to fail it. My goal was to set a new personal record (PR) at a 5k at the start of March. I had a plan mapped out with all kinds of the right workouts. But unfortunately, I don't feel like I can complete them right now. And I'm trying to make my peace with that.
Like most people, I don't like to fail. Actually, during my running career, I have been pretty fortunate; I haven't experienced too many total failures, like having to drop out of a race or having to quit running for a while. If anything, I've been somewhat fail-free. The one exception was last spring, when I decided that I wanted to break my 10k time. For some reason, 10k is a distance that I do not seem to have an understanding with. Even last fall, when I was training for the marathon, I thought that I had a really great chance at a PR when I did a 10k as a turkey trot in Detroit. Feeling pretty good through four miles, my plan was to gun it through miles 5-6.2, thus hopefully breaking my 10k PR. Sadly, I missed the 5M marker and was not wearing my nifty phone with its nifty running distance app. Imagine my surprise when I saw the 6-mile marker. I did manage to gun it for the last 0.2 miles, but that was not enough for a new record.
I feel that this experience pretty much sums up me trying to improve my 10k time. When I think that I'm about to do well, things don't go as planned. In fact, I had a better 5M mile split for quite a while and just could not seem to bring up the slightly longer distance. Last year, after a decent turkey trot 10k the Thanksgiving before that was a PR -- albeit not that impressive of one, I felt -- I found a 10k plan, signed myself for two 10ks, and set out to break my PR. I thought that this would be a piece of cake because I was going to put in good, solid training and I had broken my 5k PR in the fall.
It didn't happen. I didn't train as often or as well as I wanted. Neither of the races went particularly well. The first one I overheated, even though it was in the 30s (dumb!). The second one, I overheated, but that was because it was getting hot again (normal). In fact, in the second one, I thought that I was last at one point and was ready to actually quit. That would have been a first. But somehow I powered through it and, as it turned out, was nowhere near last (this was fortunate because there were two super-slow walky-runny people behind me or I would have been. But I wasn't. We can argue about the absolute value of this accomplishment another time).
I realize that some people might not see this as failing necessarily. After all, I did run both 10ks. I did complete them in relatively acceptable times. But it still felt like I failed, and that I could attribute my failure to the fact that training was not very good.
Maybe my lesson here is that the late winter/early spring is not my time to train well. Work tends to get busy at this point in the year and I generally feel more tired. That leads to not wanting to run, even when the workouts are shorter than my marathon ones were. Not to mention that I have more days when I just want to rest. Or maybe I am not being as diligent about carving out my running time as I was during marathon training. Whatever it is, things are not working right now. Hence my preemptive quit.
I still plan to run my 5ks, although I don't think that either of them will be a PR (I would put big money on this). And I do see this as a failure. But I'm trying to keep my focus on the big picture. A long time ago, I decided that I would not get mad at myself for what I can or cannot do as a runner. Because if I do spend my time getting angry, then I won't want to run anymore, and then I will quit. That would be a true failing and the worst one. It's hard enough to motivate yourself sometimes without having a little voice inside working against you.
So for the next week -- until February 15, when my work deadlines will abate -- I have a new plan. Actually, it's a new not-plan. I am not planning what to do. If I want to run, I will run. If I want to do an exercise video, so I shall. If I want to swim, that's good too. However, I will do something. The schedule will be today, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. For someone who is a born planner, this is quite a change of pace.
Today I went for a run. It was short. I cut it shorter than I had initially planned for it to be. I had no watch or phone or fun toy--they will come back, just not for right now. However, I succeeded. I went. I got the shoes on and left the house. In my long-term plan, I've still failed. But what matters now is what I do afterward.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Change in plans
Today was Superbowl Sunday.
I spent my Superbowl Sunday finishing up some busy work and cleaning out my work email, which had reached borderline negligent proportions. I missed kickoff because I was completing a class outline. After Superbowl, I wrapped up some grading.
I'm not complaining. But I did realize something important today: things are pretty overwhelming for me right now.
In general, I am not a person who succumbs to the 'I'm too busy for stuff' excuse. In fact, I'm not a big fan of it whatsoever. But in the matter of my running plan, I think that the time has come to face reality. There is too much right now that needs doing and not enough time to do it...much less run.
So I need to switch gears, switch attitudes, switch plans, and switch goals. Maybe this is not the time to be aiming for a new 5K PR. Maybe this is the time to find a running plan that I can follow consistently and make time for. That's not happening right now with my plan and it's stressing me out.
Tomorrow I am going to sit down and find a new, more viable plan. I'll still run my two upcoming 5Ks, but with the expectation that they may not be my best. And more importantly, with the acceptance that if they aren't, that is fine. Unfortunately, life again has intervened and my time is being taken up with other things. But this too will pass and hopefully better balance is not too far away.
I spent my Superbowl Sunday finishing up some busy work and cleaning out my work email, which had reached borderline negligent proportions. I missed kickoff because I was completing a class outline. After Superbowl, I wrapped up some grading.
I'm not complaining. But I did realize something important today: things are pretty overwhelming for me right now.
In general, I am not a person who succumbs to the 'I'm too busy for stuff' excuse. In fact, I'm not a big fan of it whatsoever. But in the matter of my running plan, I think that the time has come to face reality. There is too much right now that needs doing and not enough time to do it...much less run.
So I need to switch gears, switch attitudes, switch plans, and switch goals. Maybe this is not the time to be aiming for a new 5K PR. Maybe this is the time to find a running plan that I can follow consistently and make time for. That's not happening right now with my plan and it's stressing me out.
Tomorrow I am going to sit down and find a new, more viable plan. I'll still run my two upcoming 5Ks, but with the expectation that they may not be my best. And more importantly, with the acceptance that if they aren't, that is fine. Unfortunately, life again has intervened and my time is being taken up with other things. But this too will pass and hopefully better balance is not too far away.
Places I've Run
Last week was madness and chaos. Really. Far too many deadlines and far too little time. But it was okay. I also was out of town for a couple of days for work. However, I did manage to get out for a run during my trip, which was great. I had taken my running stuff, but taken it with cautious optimism. I did a loop around, intending to run for thirty minutes, but the loop extended for more like 24. Definitely better than nothing!
It was in Louisiana and super flat, so no big challenges here (also not particularly scenic where I was). Nothing like running in the French Quarter when I was in New Orleans last year.
This got me thinking about the different places I have run, in the States and abroad. It was kind of fun compiling this list in my head, so I decided to write it down here:
Massachusetts
Michigan
New York
Washington D.C.
California
Louisiana
Florida
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
Abroad
Canada (Ontario...this one I should probably do by province)
Austria
Great Britain
Not bad for a start. I realized that this was one advantage to attending conferences: you get to run in a lot of different places!
It was in Louisiana and super flat, so no big challenges here (also not particularly scenic where I was). Nothing like running in the French Quarter when I was in New Orleans last year.
This got me thinking about the different places I have run, in the States and abroad. It was kind of fun compiling this list in my head, so I decided to write it down here:
Massachusetts
Michigan
New York
Washington D.C.
California
Louisiana
Florida
South Carolina
Pennsylvania
Abroad
Canada (Ontario...this one I should probably do by province)
Austria
Great Britain
Not bad for a start. I realized that this was one advantage to attending conferences: you get to run in a lot of different places!
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