Monday, March 29, 2010

ugh... treadmill...

New Follower: Latefa! (Hi. I miss you! Come back from Montana and visit.) I'm very excited to have a new follower and I'm even closer to the 10 followers point. :)

I hate running on the treadmill. Because of time constraints and the fact that running outside at 11 is just plain creepy around here, in my opinion, I ran on the treadmill again today. Running on the treadmill is convenient, yes. However, it is irritating, boring, and difficult. How am I supposed to keep a steady pace when I am watching the numbers right in front of me? I find myself wondering, the entire time, about whether or not I will be able to run just a little faster or finish in a particular time limit. Instead of pacing myself and running consistently, I sprint until I almost fall over and then walk a little and then sprint again. I end up going a little bit faster, but it really isn't even worth it. I need to run outside more so that I can work on my pacing.

Anyways, today's run was on the treadmill and it was tough. I finished at a little under 10 minute miles, which is pretty consistent for my treadmill runs, since I sprint so much. Tomorrow, since I have night class, I'll be back on the treadmill. However, Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll definitely be outside running. Thursday, I'm working, depending on the weather, so that could be either on the treadmill or outside... then it will be the weekend again, which means roughly 10 hours of work a day, plus homework... and I don't know how running will work in with all of that. I'm going to try to map out my week, because it's going to have to be a serious training week. I only have two weeks until the Holy Half Marathon... and I really want to cut time off of my PR.

My first race was 3:15:52, which is sort of embarassing. That's a 14 minute and 58 second per mile pace.
My second race time was 2:55:46.6, which was a 13 minute and 24 second per mile pace... and cut 20 minutes off of my time, impressively.
I kinda want to cut down to a 2:45 half marathon, but I don't know if that's a possibility since my training has slacked off lately. I don't want my expectations to be too high. Hmm..

Anyhow, I know I said that I'd talk about ways that my mom inspires me in my running, but I'm on a time crunch right now, so I guess I'll do it next time...

Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 247.69 miles/143 days
To go: 752.31 miles/222 days

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

motivation (pt. 1)

I finally ran today. It has been over a week and a half of not running. I just haven't really been motivated. I've learned that, when I go one day without running, I end up going several days without going.

These last few days, I've been so overwhelmed with everything going on in my life. I mean, I understand that I have a lot going on compared to other people. I have three jobs, two in ice cream. It's getting warmer outside now, so that means more hours at work. My other job is at Ball State Dining, so my hours are the same every week, though I just dropped one shift today for my own sanity. So my hours are going from 40ish to maybe... like 50+ a week for the rest of the semester. (and I drive home every Friday to work and come back Saturday night. Ugh.) I also have five classes, most of which are 400 level and overwhelming... lots of projects & papers right now. It's overwhelming. I'm trying to find a home in Orlando for graduate school, because that's coming up really quickly. Then I'm trying to run 20-30 miles a week on top of everything else, which needs to increase. It's just really hard to stay motivated right now. It is important that I do stay motivated, though. I did notice that if I make a to do list, I stick to it, as long as I pull it out of my planner every once in a while.

Anyways, like I said in my last post, I officially registered for Goofy's Race & a Half Challenge in January. That's 39.3 miles in 2 days... a half marathon one morning and a full the next morning. So I officially am going to start training. My first goal is to complete 39.3 miles in a week, which is completely doable... if not for time constraints. I had a pretty good run today, it was a little over eight and a half miles and I'm not feeling it too badly. I'm relieved, because my first half of the year is in two weeks. I was worried that I wouldn't be prepared for it in time, but I think that I will be. (and my run today was outside, which was sooo wonderful and the weather was nice and.... mmm...)

I have read a lot of running stuff, but I haven't found a lot of information about staying motivated in running... or what to do if you're not longer motivated. That's a serious problem for me, so I'm going to have to work on it. I think that I need to outline some of my motivators. I have a lot of them, so this time I'm going to start with writing about my roommates.. and then next time I'm going to talk about my family a little. (if it weren't for them, I'd only have four followers on my blog, so this is a big deal... haha.)


Katherine is my rock. She's been my best friend for a long time & has been there for me through a lot of stuff. I've officially coerced her into running in two half marathons with me so far and I'm 99% sure that she's running the half in two weeks with me. (only 99%, because we haven't registered yet.....lol.) I could go on and on about things she has done to help me out during some of the biggest struggled that I've had, but I won't bore you. She motivates me, though. Lately, it's been hard, because we have both been busy and we haven't been able to run together a whole lot in the last month or so, but she's one of my biggest motivators. Seriously, who else is going to listen to me when I whine about how much my life is stressful... & she's always the first to tell me about how I'm doing too much at once, but that she understands why I'm doing it. When I ask her if she thinks that I'm crazy, she tells me, in nice words, that I'm borderline insane. haha. I honestly don't think that I would have finished the Fort-4-Fitness in September if it weren't for Katherine running with me pushing me along. I did start crying when I was racing the Fort-4-Fitness and I thought that I wouldn't be able to keep going. She was there. We didn't run together in the Monumental in Indianapolis in November, so she finished like a half an hour before me, but when I crossed the finish line, Katherine was right there congratulating me. She has shown me a lot of support during all of this and when I'm chosing the most insane goals, she rolls her eyes a little, but she supports me all of the way. When I decided to eat vegetarian, Katherine and I picked out some recipes together. When I decided that I was going to run a crazy amount of miles, she decided to support me all the way. When I decided I was going to run a half marathon, Katherine, eventually, decided that she would do it with me. When I got mad at her for being more in shape and fit than me... and faster, she took my mean words without letting them get to her too bad. When I get stressed out and, sometimes, lash out, she's always the first to forgive. I don't know how I'd do this without her support.




Josh motivates me, too. He doesn't really run a lot, but he does use the elliptical down in the gym. We've used the treadmill a couple times together, but running is uncomfortable for his knees, so we don't really do that. He listens to me bitch about my running goals and how insane I feel like I am... and genuinely seems interested in what I am doing. He's someone that I can talk to about my running and my other goals in my life and, usually, at least pretends to want to know about it. haha. I have also convinced him to try to run with me outside at least once. Now that it's nicer out, we're planning on running soon. Actually, I wrote in my calendar that we'd run together April first, which is next week. Though, that's going to be a little bit tough, because I'm going to be doing serious half marathon training then, so I don't know how that will work out. Regardless, we've been planning this since the end of December, so it will happen and it is going to be a big deal. Josh always seems to know whether or not to talk to me when I'm overwhelmed. I think that he can read my emotions pretty well, which is important. I've known Josh since I was a junior in high school, so it has been almost seven years now of our friendship, so we've known each other for a fairly long time. Our friendship dynamic is definitely interesting, but he is pretty motivational when he needs to be. Even though he's not really a runner, he understands what it is to have something important in life and that's what this running is for me. It's important to have that.
I'm glad that the people that I live with both are supporting me in this. (this is not to say that they are the only ones who are, because they aren't. I just don't have an unlimited amount of time to write about everyone. I'll write more tomorrow.)
Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 243.1 miles/138 days
To go: 756.9 miles/227 days

holy shit!

I'm officially registered for Goofy's Race & A Half Challenge 2011!
I have officially solidified my insanity.

Thanks to my tax check, I finally registered.

I'm embarassed at how long it has been since I've run. I'm studying for a huge psych test that I have tomorrow and then I'm going on a long run. Then I'll update for real.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

lots of miles today. :)

Here are the things I did today:
-eat
-run
-drive to work
-work a double
-drive home from work
-run
-lift weights
-now I'm going to blog, shower, and sleep.

Someone already asked me to cover their shift tomorrow. I haven't decided yet, though. I'd like to have a legitimate day off before going back to work and working my on campus job again. (sometimes, I think to myself: "Why do I have three jobs and go to school full time and run 20+ miles a week?")

I'm exhausted. Spring Break hasn't felt like a break this year. Last night, I could not wake up for a few hours. I fell asleep looking at apartments in Orlando for next year, near UCF and just couldn't move. That has happened a few times this semester, but I didn't know that I had worn myself so thin that I would be falling asleep like that. I'm not stupid; I know that I try to do more than an average human being should, but that's just my reality. I don't think that I would know how to live any other way.

I ran 7.79 miles today, over an average of... twice today. I ran a little over a mile and a half this morning, but I was pressed for time before I had to go to work and then I ran again after I got home. I'm going to be feeling it tomorrow. Being able to run that distance was pretty impressive, though and it makes me feel like I'm almost ready to run the Holy Half Marathon. I think that I will be able to get it done. I really want to PR in this race again. It's pretty exciting to PR in every race- which I've done so far. (obviously, my first was a PR and my second was another PR, by 20 minutes.) I really want to run a half marathon in two hours and forty five minutes. I'm just wondering if I'd be able to get that time in the next month.

I guess I'm going to stop rambling and go to bed. Tomorrow, I intend to run a nice lengthy, easy run outside. I'm not going to worry about time or anything.

Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 234.43/124 days
To go: 765.57 miles/241 days

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

fiiiiiinally.

What a crazy week and a half.
I had three papers and two exams last week, plus my usual hours of work (and I went home for a day to go to the cemetary for my dad's birthday) and I made it out unscathed.

...but I didn't run. At all. I'm a little disappointed.

I thought I'd run on Saturday, but when my alarm went off at 7:25, I turned it off and promptly woke back up at 9:30. I don't even remember deciding to go back to sleep. Then I worked.
Sunday, I felt really sick and didn't run. Then, I worked.
Today, I was going to run seven or so miles after work, but having three jobs means that someone is inevitably going to call you in at some point. So I worked open at one place, close at another. Then I ran a little over four and a half miles.
Tomorrow is exciting, because, as of right now, I will have it off. That means that I'm going to go on a long long run. Maybe I'll run until I collapse. Wouldn't that be fun? I'm also looking forward to read Runner's World tomorrow. I got my new copy in the mail the other day and have only had a chance to flip through it. I'm thoroughly excited about it, though! Thoroughly.

(and I'm going to be responsible and do other things tomorrow too.)
All of these plans mean that I'll probably be working.
That's why working in ice cream isn't any fun when it starts to get warmer outside.

Anyways, I got to run today and it was lovely. (and I'm not the type of person to say "lovely" often, even if it sounds like it through this blog!)
My run was tough and now I feel disgusting and sweaty, but that's the best part... or something. I really do think that running is an amazing hobby.. if you could call it a hobby.
I'd like to think of myself as sort of a runner.

The Holy Half Marathon is in 34 days, or, really 33 since it's officially tomorrow now. (wow, I'm never up this late. A working girl needs her sleep.) I decided that I'm going to do it. Now to convince Katherine to do it with me and pretend that she hasn't been having foot trouble. Today at work, I asked Chris, a friend of mine, if he would run with me in 34 days, and he laughed. I guess I'm funny. I'd at least like someone to be there to be excited for me, even if I do run by myself, I guess. We'll see.

On that note, it's time for a shower, sleep, and a morning run. haha.

(let's pretend that I'm not as far behind in my goal as it looks.)

Goal: 1000 miles/365 days
So far: 226.64 miles/122 days
To go: 773.36/243 days