I'm Back!

Well, i'm back from vacation!! I was proud to see that while on vacation this year I did not gain a single pound, as opposed to the 8 pounds I gained last years on vacation! (ew).

We got there saturday evening. I ran 3 miles on Sunday, and Monday morning. It was a very hot, and humid run. I was drenched in sweat by the time I got back to the hotel. I used the "My Tracks" app on my phone and tracked my runs. I ran the 3 miles in about 33 minutes. Not too bad considering. On wednesday I took a break and on Thursday and Friday I just took long barefoot walks on the beach, rather than running. Either way, whatever I did worked. I didn't want to gain weight, and I didnt. Yay for me!!

Today, I got my butt out of bed, and drug myself to the canal. It's a beautiful day!! I had my mind set that I needed to push a little further today, and break the 4.5 - 5 mile runs i've been doing. Today I did 6.5 miles. This is pretty much the farthest i've run in SO long. The first 3 miles were a breeze. I felt good and confident that i'd be able to do it. Once I passed mile marker 102 (where I normally turn around) I realized that my reward for pushing onward was the amazing views I got to see on the 3rd mile!! The canal snaked along the side of the potomac river. It was so pretty. The sun was shining down on the water and it was glistening. It defintley made the 3rd mile fly by taking in the scenery i've never seen before! When I reached mile marker 103 I knew that I was feeling tired, dehydrated and my right foot was starting to fall asleep. So I stopped here, stretched my legs and loosened the laces in my right shoe and turned around and began running again. I ran most of the 4th mile. I got to the 5th mile and really started feeling it. I ran some and I walked some. The 6th mile was horrible. I walked alot of it. I felt extremely thirsty, and tired. When I hit the end of my 6th mile, I ran as hard as I could for the last .25 of my run. I had a horrible side stitch. Nothing like i've ever had before. I felt very faint walking to my car. In the sunlight it was 90 degrees.. this is alot hotter than it is on the canal. I sucked down an entire bottle of water when i got to my car. I'm proud of myself. I did it. I did the 6.5 miles.

I've heard of a half marathon coming up on October 2nd. That's really not that long to build up to running 13 miles atleast once. As much as I want to attempt it, I dont know if it's worth any injury.. I'm going to think about it..

Well, I haven't been here in a couple days.. Here's a break down…




Sunday- I took a day off. I only had wednesday and sunday off last week. I ran a lot. 23 miles to be exact. I ran over the goal that I had made for myself that week (22 miles), which made me extremely proud. On Saturday I ran a few errands with my mom and I bought some new running shoes. I got the Adidas Kanadia T 3 Trail running shoes. They are amazing. They feel like walking on pillows compared to what I was running in.



Monday- I went for my run. I set out at my normal pace and by the second mile was really feeling the burn in my lower calf muscles. I don't know if it was from running in the new shoes, or that the day off actually made me a little stiff. I still should have walked or done something, I suppose. I pulled through however and felt great during the last two miles of my run. I don't have times for these runs as I'm just focusing on being able to run without stopping, and when I focus on the times, I think I do a little worse or I get upset for not doing what my goal was. I did run the entire 4.5 miles without stopping. I felt great.



Tuesday (Last night) - I had a lot of energy when I got to the canal last night. I really wanted to push myself the first mile and see if I could get a better time that I had been doing. I think I've been averaging about 11-11:30 for the first mile..maybe an occasional 10:30 but that's still pretty slow. So off I went..my feet moving at such a quick (for me!) pace that it felt like I was sprinting, even though I was not. I started the mile at 6:34. I kept my eye on the watch. I know where the first mile marker is and if I don't push a little harder I know I'm not going to break 10 minutes, so I push faster and faster until I know that I'm going to have to stop running when I reach the mile marker. I got to the mile marker at 6:43. I did it! I did the first mile in 9 minutes! I couldn't believe it. I stopped running but kept walking and walked for a little under half of my 2nd mile. At that point I picked my feet up and made myself jog. I jogged to the end of my second mile marker and the first half of the 3rd mile. I knew that I wanted to push myself on the last mile too, so I allowed myself to power walk the last half of the 3rd mile. Oh the 4th mile.. I knew this was going to be extremely rough. As soon as I started running I was already winded, and my calfs were burning but I MADE myself do this. I pushed and pushed until I thought I could be sick. Looking at my watch I knew I was NOT going to make it in under 10 minutes, but still I pushed harder and harder. It's funny.. the faster you run the more appraising looks you get from people passing by. They are probably just thinking "That girl is nuts" When I reached the end of the 4th mile, I was just 27 seconds past 10 minutes. I give myself a lot of credit for this though. I pushed when I didn't want too and got a really good ending time on this mile.



The most important thing about last nights run is that I CAN run faster if I really try. I know now that It's going to make me more tired, and more out of breath, but I CAN do it. I don't want to get too comfortable at a 11:00mm pace. I need to strive to make myself better, and faster!



The rest of this week will be a little tricky as I'm leaving for vacation on Friday and have a lot to do the next couple evenings. I'll hopefully get atleast one more run in until Saturday/sunday timeframe. Wish me luck!

Saturday Morning

I got up and to the canal on saturday morning about 10 or 10:30 am. It was a pretty uneventful run. I was very hot, and only ran 3.5 of the 5 miles. I didn't want to push myself too hard since my knee had been bothering me. I still ran Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I'm pretty proud of that!
The compliments are still rolling in about how much of a difference people are seeing. Love it.

This week I wont have a day off until Friday night. I'm going on vacation starting friday and I think it's going t be a chore to get my ass up in the mornings and run on vacation butttt i'm going to do it.

Yesterday

Last night I went out for my run even though it was Friday evening, and Friday's are usually always a day I take off!I have to admit my goal was also to run the whole thing, but the second mile was really kicking my ass. I did make it though.. In fact, the last two miles felt easier than the second mile. I'm not sure how that happens, but it made me feel good. I think the second mile has more inclines than any of the other miles, which are relatively flat. It took me awhile to get into my rhythm last night. The canal was empty. There was only 2 cars when I pulled in last night.

SO. Here are the stats:
Total Mileage: 5 miles
Temperature: 75 degrees
Start time: 6:15pm
1st mile end: 6:26pm (11 minutes)
2nd mile end: 6:39pm (13 minutes.....OUCH)
3rd mile end: 6:51pm (12 minutes)
4th mile end: 7:03pm (12 minutes)
5th mile was a combination of before the first mile marker and after.. don't count these times.

So, another thing I think worth mentioning is that for about 6 months now I've been hovering around the same weight. I hit a plateau a while ago and haven't been able to get past it. I got on the scale this morning and i'm down almost 3 pounds from the last time I got on the scale and this puts me at the lowest weight I've been in almost 4 years!!! I could hardly believe it. So now.. i'm kind of obsessed. I wasn't going to run today to give my legs a rest (I had a rest on Wednesday) but I'm thinking about going out this morning and running. I will certainly take off tomorrow, because if I run today I'll reach my 22 mile week goal and thats Awesome!!!

Wish me luck! :)

I did it!!!!

Wow. Wow. Wow. I don't know what happened tonight but my last run and this run were like polar opposites. Tonight I went out to the canal and ran the ENTIRE 4.5 miles. I never stopped, I never walked, and most importantly.. I was never uncomfortable. I kept my breathing under control, I kept my pace where I knew I could maintain it. I felt myself slip into that aerobic exercise where I felt like I could have run for ever. This makes me elated with joy. I remember having this feeling when I used to run, and it was a common thing. I'm getting there, getting back to where I was when I WAS a runner. I could just scream! I'm so happy! This is a HUGE accomplishment for me. Huge. I finally realized that I need to slow down and put my head somewhere else and before I knew it, I was done! It was the closest thing I ever done to meditating. I can't even explain it, and i'm almost afraid I won't be able to do it again ( even though I know its not true). I guess it just boggles my mind how awful my last run was, and how great this one was. It was amazing!

Here are tonights stats:
Total Mileage--4.5 Miles (Ran ALL)
Temperature-- a nice 82 degrees. It had just stormed like crazy, so the canal was a wet, muddy mess.
Start time: 6:25pm
1st mile end: 6:36pm (11 minutes)
2nd mile end: 6:48pm (11 minutes)
3rd mile end: 7:00pm (12 minutes)
4th mile end: 7:11pm (11 minutes)

Another thing I noticed tonight was that I didn't want to stop running. Technically I could have stopped at my last mile marker..I knew I still had a quarter of a mile or so to go, but I didn't want to stop. This is exactly the opposite of how I've been in the past! I've always counted down the steps until I could stop. I really feel like I've hit some sort of breakthrough and I'm so so happy!! Yay me!

Rain or Shine...

As long as the weather allows me, I'll be back on the trails again tonight. The humidity is supposed to be between 67 to 70%, So I'm sure that will make the run that more interesting, and horrible. To be quite honest, I wouldn't mind if I rained while I runned as long as it was not accompanied by thunder and lightening. I'd also have to make sure that my ipod would not get ruined. I've always thought about putting it in a ziploc bag incase it ever does decide to downpour on me while I'm out there. I'm actually anxious to get back out there. I'm really getting into the this whole mental training I'm doing on myself. It's not really about the physical action of moving my body that’s challenging on these runs, but being able to mentally fight against what my bodys natural instinct is to do…Slow down.. stop…catch my breath. You have to train your body to keep going and that's a lot harder than it sounds.


Unfortunatley, I don't know if I'll make my 22 mile week goal. I skipped last night and only plan on doing the normal 4.5 miles I usually do. That only puts me at 13.5 miles for 3 days worth of running. Urgh. Incase anyone is wondering where I'm getting the .5 miles from..here's the explanation.. I park down at Cushwa and walk across the aquaduct to where the canal continues. There isn't a mile marker for awhile when walking down the path. I'm guessing that before I get to mile marker 100 (which is where I start counting my mileage) There is about a quarter of a mile of distance…although after walking it the last time I think there is a bit more.. maybe even half a mile before the marker. I'll stick with 4.5 miles to be safe.



I'll be back to update times later.

Owwww me leg!

Well, I'm injured. Okay..not injured but my left calf muscle is bothering me pretty bad. I'm not really sure at what point last night I hurt it. After my run I went swimming for about an hour and I'm thinking maybe I moved in some way that did something. Either way, I won't be running tonight. I figure it's not too bad of an idea anyway because to be safe and prevent further injury I should take a break anyway. I almost feel guilty, but my body will thank me for it later. I'll be hitting the trails again tomorrow night.

Goal Accomplished--Sub 35 minute 3 miles

Wow.. It amazes me how you can have one incredibly bad day and then have a pretty good one the very next day. Looking at my times, I don't know if anyone would really consider today better, but I certainly FELT a lot better running tonight. I just told myself from the first step that I needed to pace myself to run 3 miles, not to run 1 mile really fast. I stayed focused on my breathing making sure that I didn't get too uncomfortable because that meant I was running to fast to run the 3 miles straight I told myself I NEEDED to do tonight. I also promised myself that if I ran the first 3 miles, that I would allow myself to walk the last mile and half.

Here are tonights stats:

Total Mileage: 4.5 miles (First 3 miles done in 34 minutes) 
Starting Temperature: 98 degrees 
Start Time: 6:30pm
1st mile completed at 6:41 (11 minutes)-- Ran
2nd mile completed at 6:53pm (12 minutes)--Ran
3rd mile completed at 7:05pm (11 minutes)--Ran
4th mile completed at 7:22pm (17 minutes)--Walked pretty slowly
Ending Temperature: 98 degrees

The first mile as I said was pretty easy. It felt like I was moving slow, but looking at the times from yesterday, and today, going my more comfortable pace I was actually much more consistent and a little quicker than I really felt like I was moving. I started sweating pretty quickly considering it was 98 degrees outside. At times my ponytail would come around and stick to side of my face. This was kind of irritating. When I came to the end of my first mile I was feeling pretty good. I was confident that I'd make it to the second mile for sure. 

The second mile did get a little tougher. I started getting those thoughts in my head where my brain is trying to work against my body. I kept thinking "I'm tired. I'm going to slow down and walk..only for a second" and something somewhere would kick in and say "No. You have to do 3 miles and you are barely into the second one. Stop being a baby." It's kind of funny actually.. I feel like I have multiple personality's. And so I pushed on. 

The third mile I really really started to break down. I want to stop, but I want to keep going. I set a goal for myself, and I don't want to break it. There's also the thought that I would get to walk that last mile. I think this is what kept me going through this mile. There was sweat running in my eyes, gnats in my mouth, throat, and nose. My watch was sliding around on my arm. It seemed like everything was distracting me from getting to that mile marker. When I see the turn in front of me that opens out into the open, I start to move my legs faster, and faster. At this point i'm running a lot faster than I should be. My arms are flailing, and my breathing is anything but attainable, but  I hit that mile marker and immediately stopped (i know.. bad) and smiled. I did it. 

I wont ramble on about the last mile too much. It took me 17 miles to walk it. I was sweating so much it was disturbing. It was running in my eyes, which hurts like hell. I had a side stitch and I was really really thirsty( I dont bring water on my runs yet. Usually makes me feel like hurling). This walk seemed to take forever. I wanted to jog just so it'd be over faster, but I would have rather laid down on the canal and have bugs crawl on my face than to pick up my feet and run again.

I'm proud of myself. I set a goal and I did it. Now for the next couple days, I need to just improve on doing these three consecutive miles and then I can amp it up from there. Oh boy!  

Weigh to go!

I just thought i'd share this. I jumped on the scale this morning, and i'm only ounces away from the lowest weight I've been in nearly 4 years. That's a victory in itself! I just have to make sure to keep up my running while on vacation in 10 days..now that'll be rough!

Excited much?

Okay... I spent too much time reading all about running and getting good fast times this weekend. By the time today rolled around I was so excited to get out there and do better than I've been doing. Where exactly did that get me? Well tonight, it had me frustrated and nearly kicking something close nearby. I really did "too much, too soon" even though I've been out there for a couple weeks now (and walking 3-4 miles 3 times a week ALL summer). So here are tonights stats:

Total Mileage: 4.5 miles -- 50 minutes
Starting Temperature: 98 degrees and the humidity has to be close to 100% ha ha
Start Time: 6:24pm
1st mile completed at 6:34pm (10 minutes)
2nd mile completed at 6:47pm (13 minutes)
3rd mile completed at 7:00pm (13 minutes)
4th mile completed at 7:14pm (14 minutes)
Ending Temperature: 96 degrees

As you can see here, I slowly went up in my pace. I went out wayyy to hard in the first mile, as my normal mile is usually 12 minutes. I really think this is what ruined the rest of the run for me. So, I ran the entire first mile (way to fast). I ran about half of the 2nd mile, but already knew at this point the rest of this run was not going to be good. I was already thinking it was a bad idea to have brought my watch. Every time I've come out I've run the first two miles without any trouble, but it hasn't been this hot and humid for awhile either. The 3rd mile was just pathetic but I made myself at least power walk so I wouldn't drop my heart rate too much. This is the point where I got really mad at myself because I've been running at least 3 of these miles any other night I come out here. The 4th mile.. I walked most of. There were a couple sporadic bursts of "slogging" but when I saw my ending mile marker, I sprinted as hard as I could. I'm glad I did or that last mile probably would have been 16 minutes.

There is positive in this. I walked A LOT tonight and it was still under an hour. What that means is when I drop the watch and keep my mind focused on moving my feet and not about my speed, i'll probably do pretty good..and 50 minutes for 4 miles isn't great.. but it sure isn't terrible! :)

Back to the running board...

So I've set a goal for myself for this week. I'm going to run (probably slowly..) 22 miles by Saturday. I've been running on the canal and I'm really enjoying it. It's quiet, peaceful, and pretty cool considering how hot it would be out running on the road or somewhere not nearly as shady. I'm really excited to get back into my running. I can already tell a difference in my body since I've started back into my running again. I've also been getting many compliments about my weight loss. It's all very good to hear. I'll mostly be documenting my running in this blog, but wanted to make it public so anyone who wanted could keep up with it. I once had a friend tell me that just by posting about my running on facebook, it motivated her to go and exercise, and she lost 6 pounds! It made me feel pretty good!


When I first started running again, I could hardly believe I used to run every single day. Back in high school I ran on the schools Cross Country team. It was not unusual to run 5 to 7 miles and day, and I did. I'm just now getting back to it and I'm slowly but surely going to get back to that point, and hopefully even further! My goal is to run a half marathon sometime next summer. I know I can do it, but I just need the proper training to get there. I've been doing about 4.5 miles each trip to the canal so far. I'll usually run the first two miles and then power walk the next half mile..sometimes the whole 3rd mile, but I always run the last mile. I'd really like to be able to run the first 3 miles without walking and feel I'm getting pretty close to it now. It's really all a mental thing…even though I feel like I'm going to die,fall over, or throw up, I know it's not really going to happen. You just have to keep pushing yourself. This is probably the hardest part about running. When I'm done, I feel like I've completed a pretty amazing thing, considering most people can't run around the block. I'm actually excited about going out tonight.. I can actually see how people can get to a point where they need to do this every day!