Run Chart Update

I like what I see...things are going REALLY well!

Run, baby, Run!

Run Every Day Revisited

Yeah, so Tom and I will be heading to LA Fitness this afternoon after work - YAY! A week ago I posted about how I don't think I was quite at the point of obsession that would make me want to run everyday. Today, I think I want to run...I ran yesterday...I run tomorrow - it's nearly madness or is that obsession?

If there are few treadmills open I'll skip it, but I'm thinking of hopping on one of those death machines and at least doing a mile. Maybe a FAST mile...naaah.

Back on Track

It has been a week since I started my 8K running plan....and I'm STILL on track!

Seriously though, it has been a few weeks since the Century and the last organized ride and I'm starting to feel somewhat rested. Enough to be running again at least. So, I'm on week two of my current 16 week running plan. WHY do I start running plans that go thru the holidays?! I think I tried this last year also and had to put off seriuosly running until the beginning of the year...oh wait, that's not tru, I had a stress fracture...yeah, that was it. That was a set back for sure.

So far all is well right now. I haven't experienced any pain in my foot, so I'm going for it! It would have been fun to do the Run Like Hell had we known about it...Sally said it was fun! Maybe next year

Feeling better and having a pretty good time with the running...so all is well.

Run, Baby, Run!

Run Chart

OOH - Check it out...I've been running! Things are looking up...

run every day?

Nonrunners cannot see how they can afford the time to run every day. But runners cannot imagine getting through a single day without it. ~~

Hmmm...I haven't quite decided if I lean more toward the nonrunner or runner. I know that I have just enough obsession to run when I need to, but haven't quite reached the point of running EVERY day. I enjoy running more and more all the time, but to do it everyday would definitely take away from the other activities that I have chosen to embrace.

As long as I am able I'm going to run - even if I NEVER get faster. At least I can say I got out there and did it!

Spring Classic Duathlon here I come!!!!

Starting Up Again

Yup, I've taken some "rest" time for the last couple of weeks - it was easy too because with the weather being crummy I haven't wanted to get out early and ride to work. No bike commuting gives me more opportunity to hit the gym right after Tom heads out for work and then if I want I can go back after work.

This morning I decided it was time to start on my 5K soon to be 8K training. My Saturday morning run was awful and my right thigh was giving me some trouble so we cut the run part short, but had to continue walking since we were on the road. I was a little bummed, but I'm finally getting used to the fact that every run will be different and how I feel will make a huge difference. So, this particular morning I wasn't feeling all that happy...so my run suffered. Also, I was running with Tom so I think that threw me off a little. His pace is MUCH faster than mine, so I felt like I was going faster than my body really wanted to. This morning on the treadmill felt good even though it is a treadmill, but like Shawn says, the treadmill is "cake" compared to a cycle trainer. He's right about that - I have dreaded getting back on the treadmill, but then I don't want to stop running. I am slowly making friends again with that machine! The one thing I look forward to is the fact that I can at least do road runs on the weekends or go to the track (now talk about boring). If I haven't already lost my running partner, I'll still have the opportunity to get out on the track on Wednesday mornings. We'll see how things come along I guess.

My ultimate goal is to continue running thru the rest of this year - playing catch up after a month or so of not running is no fun. I am already looking forward to the Spring Classic Duathlon - I swear I'm turning into a maniac! Oh well, just like Tom says "All this training keeps me out of bars"...yeah, like that is a problem!

run, Run, RUN!

SO MUCH FOR....

REST.

Who am I trying to kid? Yeah, I'm tired....wore out...in a crazy sort of way. However, on my way home from work yesterday I was thinking to myself how great the late afternoon was and that I should go for a run. Mind you, I have not gone out for a run since September 23, that's like 3 weeks ago!! At least my distances have been consistent, that has to count for something! Anyway, I got home from work and got changed into my running gear and off I went. Note to self, don't take so much time off from running ever again! I have rediscovered muscles that I forgot I had and a little soreness from the measly 2 miles that I ran. I'm a whiner.

Today after work I'm off to the gym for a spin class.

Obsession - it's okay right?

Crazy Wore Out

Wowie! It's October and it seems like the year zipped by, but then at the same time the start of the year seemed to just creep by slowly...let's see what might have made this year go by quickly...

January - 1st Run (Portland)
February - Worst Day Ride (Portland)
April - Monster Cookie Metric Century (Salem)
May - RACC (Clark County)
June - Pioneer Century (Canby), Blue Lake Duathlon (Portland), Tour de Blast (Toutle)
July - 4th of July 5k (Ridgefield), Cycle Oregon Weekend (Monmouth)
August - All Women's Event (Blue Lake), Vine Ride (Newberg), Mid Valley Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour (Albany),
September - Vancouver Bicycle Club Time Trial, Peach of a Century (Salem)
October - Harvest Century (Hillsboro)

On top of that, we did a lot of bike commuting, riding with friends and I did a fair amount of training runs and rides for the duathlons. At the beginning of this year I was fortunate enough to make an adjustment in my work schedule to allow for training runs and rides during my lunch break. Those were limited, but it gave me a jump on what I needed to do before Spring arrived so I could switch my runs to the road. I think it would be safe to say that this year has been a little tiring. 

I'm glad that we did all the events that we did and I am also glad that we cut out the events that we consider "junk" events. Events that were once fun, but now just are plain annoying because sometimes riding around people that don't ride often on open city streets can be downright frustrating. I'm sure that it would be different if we were to ride with a group of friends, but more often than not, the urban rides have turned out to be just Tom and I. Which is kind of sad because we had so much fun with our buddies on those rides.

There is a toss up on which event was the most challenging - my first Duathlon or the Century. I trained for six months to do the Du, but I rode all season to get ready for the 100 miles. The Du took just over 2 hours and the Century was over 8 hours...I wasn't nearly as emotionally spent at the end of the Duathlon, rather I was more exhilerated, so I'm going to say that the century was most challenging. I still haven't decided whether or not I had fun on that ride or not....and we are more than two weeks past it now. I'm pretty sure that we'll do another century, but probably not the Peach. That's just too far to travel to ride all day long and STILL have to drive home a distance more than 20 miles. We would definitely go back and do the metric century. It's not that the whole ride was challenging, just the last 45 miles - hills, hills, hills and wind, wind and MORE WIND. I guess I haven't gotten over this ride yet. Ask me again in another week or so...

My favorite event, hands down, the All Women's event where Robin and I teamed up and "won" our division. I think it helped that we were the only ones signed up for that particular division! It was all good though...I got to run and then cheer on my best teammate ever.

I am forever hooked on multi-sport events now. After saying over and over again that I don't swim - I have started swimming and have been entertaining the thought of doing a sprint tri in 2011. Hmmm...still making friends with the idea of swimming in open water. We'll see how well things go in a POOL enclosed in a nice climate controlled building with a jacuzzi nearby before I make the move to open icky, murky water...I'm a little concerned.

This year has been a fun year and it's not quite over yet, but as far as events go, it is. It's time to start looking to 2010 and put together a list of events that I plan to participate in and need to train for. The cycling events are easy, we start with 30-40 mile organized rides and work our way up throughout the summer. So another century might in the plan for late summer. I'm looking to add another Duathlon to bring the total to 3 for next year and then of course all the cycling events and at least a 5k fun run here and there. Now that I have discovered Time Trials, I think we'll be doing those more often, just to see how things progress thru the cycling season.

First, I'm taking a little time off for some much needed rest and then gradually starting up again next week. I haven't run in a couple of weeks, so I'll start up my new running plan next week and add stuff as the weeks come and go.

This year was filled with so many fun events and I'm looking forward to next year and making it just as crazy fun and tiring again!

My inspiration for Swimming...

I'm just going to sing this song while I'm at the gym using the pool...

how long would it take for me to get kicked out?!