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Posts tagged ‘treadmill’

Jul 2

About that heat

It’s been a tad warm lately. And by warm I mean, “it’s not hot enough to not run outside from time to time but let’s be real and stay on the treadmill.”

I know my limitations. The hooter temperatures make me not want to run. I get cranky. I want to quit. I basically start out hoping for seven to 10 miles and then stop at four.

On the treadmill, I know I get the distance. And, lately, I’ve been upping the resistance to simulate outdoor running.

The problem with treadmill running is the monotony. I’ve let my mind wander enough times and nearly fell off the deck to figure out some time back that I needed to do something to keep my mind occupied.

I started with music on my iPod.

Then, last summer, I got an iPad for teaching. And we got Netflix. And Hulu Plus.

And now, I spend most of my treadmill runs watching videos. Usually two, which gets me anywhere from eight to 10 miles.

warm1 About that heat

My latest obsession as the mercury rises is The Walking Dead. Netflix has the first season available on instant streaming. I got through the first six episodes pretty quickly during my runs this past week. Having something I’m interested in to watch even helps with mileage, which stands at 33 miles this week, though I’m hoping to hop on for some more after I’m finished cleaning my house and blogging.

Plus, I’m waiting for season two to download onto my iPad.

warm2 About that heat

Believe me, the distraction makes the runs go by faster. It also helps me keep pace. I know I’m at my goal pace if I can finish a certain number of miles before the episode is over.

Of course, the treamill makes Netflix a little wonky from time to time. That means the first four minutes of my run I’m trying to get Netflix to reconnect to the Internet, despite the fact that I’m only 40 feet from the router.

The mill runs are also helping me train for the event I’m doing this weekend: the Brazen six-hour endurance run.

I logged 117 miles for June, which I figure is a good base to run six-hours straight. I’m looking forward to it, to test my endurance, but to also see how far I can get. If I can run a marathon in around 5:20-5:30, I’m hoping the event will be my first ultra. That’s pretty exciting to me, considering I’m using it as a “training run” for the San Francisco 1st Half Marathon later in the month. (I’m not nearly crazy enough for the 12-hour race.)

So I’m beating the heat, staying indoors and keeping cool on the treadmill, with a little help from The Walking Dead.

My hope is that those three words aren’t needed to describe me during my six-hour run on Saturday. After the disaster in San Diego, I need a good run.

May 6

A one-day weekend

weekend4 A one day weekend

I once heard that one in every four women sweat more profusely than the others. I’ve always been one of “those” women. I sweat pretty easily. I’ll start shooting video on a relatively nice day and within 20 minutes beads of sweat will be rolling down my back. This is probably too much information, but it’s true.

In nearly every race photo, I look like a sweat factory.

The photo above is my shirt from today’s run. (No, I didn’t run the marathon last year, only the half, but nearly ALL the apparel for the Nike event is “marathon” related. I only ran five miles too.

Today is Sunday. It’s also my one-day weekend.

Yesterday I had dreams of relaxing and even going wine tasting with my husband. He mentioned it last week. Last night he sent me a text saying his family was having lunch for his nephew today. I didn’t go.

I can count pretty high up on the things I haven’t gone to lately. Ask my parents. Ask my grandmothers. They haven’t seen me in what has been months. Why? I’m tired. And I stay home when I get the chance because every single day Monday through Friday I’m working nearly 12 hours between my two jobs.

What’s that you say? I did this to myself. Yes. And I should be thankful to even have one job let alone two? I am, believe me I am. My second job helps pay for races. And let’s face it, that’s really important to me. Seriously.

But I flat out refuse to do ANYTHING on my days off sometimes. I mean, outside of doing the laundry because if I didn’t no one would. (One time, I’ll tell you about when I went out of two for nearly a week, came home on a Sunday and my husband didn’t have any clothes because he didn’t do his own laundry. It happened.) I’ll be fair, he did vacuum yesterday.

I worked on Saturday launching an annual project at work. I’ll end up switching my day off for Tuesday, which I would have taken as a vacation day otherwise to teacher. So on weeks like this, I do a day switch that results in me having one day off in a 13 day period, because on my day off from my full-time job, I’m at my part-time job all day.

Understand? Yeah, my husband gets lost with my schedule too.

I ran eight on Saturday before work. Today I got up, showered and went to Target early. Because Target early is better, when no one is there. Also because something amazing happened at Target today.

The Shops at Target debuted. It’s like a mini boutique collection. Items from five different shops were put out today. I love it when Target gets fancy.

I score a great navy eyelet skirt for $29.99 from The Webster collection. (No photo because it’s in the washing machine since it’s a very shrinkable 100-percent cotton).

And candy.

weekend1 A one day weekend

The tragedy is that the candy assorted is available in San Francisco, only about 60 miles from me. Not even a long drive considering I lived in Oakland, right across the bay, for two years.

Then I started watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Both movies. One right after another.

I realized a couple hours ago it was time to get my run in. Usually if I wake up, take my shower and start my day, I forget the run. It’s a success when I come back to it and do it.

It was also the perfect time to test out two new items to make my left IT band, the one that rages at me (I imagine it giving me the middle finger when I run), a more happy IT band.

weekend3 A one day weekend

Look! My carpet isn’t a disaster! And I had to tighten that band up quite a bit to prevent it from slipping down over my Nike retro capris, which are longer than most of the capris I’ve been buying lately, a good thing if you ask me. One day I’ll write a side-by-side of the Nike retro capris and the Lululemon Run: In the Sun capris. Same premise, different execution.

I hoped on my treadmill. Which is right next to a window. Which was receiving the bulk of the sun. At nearly the hottest time of the day. Fail.

But I pushed through, watching “Don’t be Afraid of the Dark” with Katie Holmes. I’m usually not a fan of her. I became less of a fan when she married Tom Cruise. Because I’m really not a fan of him. But it was a decently scary horror movie.

I’ve been picking up the pace lately, turning the treadmill to a higher speed. So I averaged a 10:54 mile.

At 54:34 I hit five miles. And, rather than pushing it for a couple more, I decided that was enough.

Then, I tried out my second new running-related item.

weekend2 A one day weekend

It’s the Trigger Point Quadballer. And it’s a little like Heaven.

I immediately rolled out my left IT band, which didn’t have any pain  probably thanks to the new band. It’s much firmer than the Trigger Point Grid roller that I love as well. This puts nice pressure where I need it.

Now I’m rounding out my one-day weekend by watching Netflix on the couch while waiting for clothes to dry for me to fold.

And hanging out with Beau.

weekend5 A one day weekend

Who needs to be brushed. Pretty badly.

A good day? Yes. I know I still need to/want to run outside and not resort to my treadmill. I really want to hit the trails and sidewalks of Mountain House, but my schedule has prevented it lately.

I only have two more weeks of teaching for the semester. Then I’m planning a summer of running. Lots and lots of running.

Jan 8

1 Comment

Back to (somewhat) normal

mileage 400x155 Back to (somewhat) normal

I have to admit, after the California International Marathon I wondered if I’d ever have the desire to run again. I spent a lot of time on my couch, in the pool and getting steady on my bicycle.

And I ate. A lot. Lots of Chinese food. Specifically sweet and sour chicken. So good.

Immediately after the marathon, my treadmill decided to fail. I had to wait a week to get it fixed. Then I hopped back on and didn’t want to run.

My first run outside in a nearly two-week period was a four-miler with Thomas following on my bike.

I like to keep my “typical” runs between six and eight miles. My long runs while training for a half marathon are 10. I worked up to the long 20-miler when training for the marathon. My goal, typically, is to run about 25-miles a week. But I struggled through the month of December.

I didn’t want to run. I didn’t make it to 1,000 miles for the entire year. I contemplated why I even bothered booking more races into 2012.

This week I’ve seem to have found my mojo again. So far, 24 miles. I’m planning a trail run tomorrow with Jennie. Even if that doesn’t happen, I’ll probably at least get in six on the treadmill, maybe eight. Either way, I found my stride, in the bigger picture again.

And I’ve developed my training plan for the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon on June 3. I’ve even factored in some longer races to keep me motivated.

My first official race of the year with be the Brazen Racing Coyote Hills 10K on Jan. 29.

confirm 400x188 Back to (somewhat) normal

I signed up for the race via snail mail because I had a Brazen credit because of an injury in August where I couldn’t run the company’s Summer Breeze race. So I signed up for this race (and even got a tech shirt upgrade!) for $26. I loved this race last year, despite the fact that it’s the only race so far where I’ve thrown up at the end. Sorry, probably TMI. I ran myself silly with that one. It was a solid race. I had a good time in general.

It was a nice, intimate setting too. So I’m stoked for it.

The rest of my race schedule so far:

Feb. 18: Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena Inaugural Half Marathon

March 25: Oakland Half Marathon (This holds a special place in my heart because it was my first. It will be my ninth overall.)

April 29: Big Sur 21-miler (I loved the half so much, I’m trying this one. Plus it’s a great addition for marathon training.)

May 12: Mermaid Series East Bay Sirena 18

June 3: Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego Marathon

July 29: San Francisco Marathon First Half Marathon (To complete the Half it All Challenge.)

And then…who knows. Last year I hit an injury in August from upping my mileage too much that basically took me out of racing for August and September. I didn’t race again until my half marathon PR at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon.

I’m glad to be back to a somewhat normal running routine. I’m glad to have some of my race schedule figured out so far. I’m still hoping to knock off some pounds with increased training. And I still want to increase my speed. I have so many goals for 2012.

We’ll see what happens.

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