Running into Change
Well, it has been nearly 8 weeks of this running madness! I'm currently running 4 days a week and doing 2 days of cross-training. Every day but Sunday. Every week. No exceptions. It's certainly not easy and there are tiny, brief moments I think to myself - I'm tired, I think I will be done now. But I just seem to keep going - one day at a time - and the days just keep adding up into months. I must say I have even surprised myself a little. The motivation of a coach and a team seemed to have worked their magic on my mental hurdles and for that I am grateful! You know those days where you wake up and think - I'll just skip today and start again tomorrow? You can't really have those days when you are relying on someone and they are relying on you to do the work to get you where you want to be.
I can't say that I've lost weight - but I haven't really been weighing myself often enough to find out. As all good runners know, miles do not necessarily add up to pounds. But that is OK because I feel somewhat changed - sort of, I think. How can you not when you are doing something 6 days a week? My primary goal wasn't weight loss to begin with. That's not to say that it isn't a nice side effect of lugging my body around roads, tracks, paths and gyms each and every day. I should probably do a better job of watching what I eat since all of this running makes me ravenous - like a bear coming out of hibernation ravenous. There have certainly been a more than few moments of complete lack of self-control - oops. That being said, my clothes do seem to fit better than ever before so maybe I'm not completely hijacking any progress.
This past week was kind of insane. It was demo week at Resolute Running - meaning we got to try out the fun new classes being offered free of charge. I had plans to take a few more classes than I ended up taking because at some point between all the running and standing on my tip toes this week my ankle/Achilles decided it was going to disagree with everything I tried to make it do. I'm not sure if was the running or the classes or a combination of both but I've become BFFs with the ice maker and my stairs for this exercise prescribed by Coach. Aside from all of the running, here is a sample of the madness of this week (thanks to Coach Alex always being there to take your picture just when you are sweating like a man).
It could have been any one of these fancy maneuvers this week that did me in...
In addition to becoming a balanced, dynamic, ballet, planking running pretzel this week, I had signed up for the kNow More Orphans 5K on Saturday. After speed work on Thursday I was thinking that walking in general - like at all - would not be in my future this weekend. I decided to scrap Friday's work out plan and stay off my foot completely. Lots of ice and rest (and maybe some wine) and things really turned around by Saturday morning. Enough that I decided to go to the race with the plan to at least walk the thing because I had paid money to do so. Once my shoe was on though, I felt pretty good and decided to jog it.
Things I did not realize about this race: it was on a gravel trail...the recent rain had washed a lot of it out, it was incredibly thick in some spots - like SAND thick, and there were obstacles (think trees, roots, pipes, etc.). And the hills. Oh the hills. I also forgot my Garmin which is enough to send me into a mental tailspin - that thing is like a lifeline for pacing I swear! I kept my wits and instead I just used the iPhone Run Keeper App which did OK in a pinch. Run Keeper told me I ran 3.19 miles so it was probably pretty close.
All things considered and the fact that I was totally unprepared for running in the grass, over rivers and through the woods (with a bum ankle no less) I felt like I kept it together pretty well. My official chip time was 38:45:10. At least 3-4 of those minutes were spent waiting on others to cross obstacles in front of me or navigating them slowly myself. But I felt good the entire race and I could definitely tell a difference from all the much loathed speed work I have been doing. Had this race been on an actual road, I think I would have put in a really solid run. My fastest 5K time ever was 32:23 so 6 1/2 minutes off of that on a washed out trail and and an extremely careful run for my ankle and I feel pretty good about things.
I'm feeling more confident about the Peachtree each day (if my ankle stays out of trouble). And while I'm never going to be setting land speed records, I'm feeling good about where I've come from and what I'm doing now.
I can't say that I've lost weight - but I haven't really been weighing myself often enough to find out. As all good runners know, miles do not necessarily add up to pounds. But that is OK because I feel somewhat changed - sort of, I think. How can you not when you are doing something 6 days a week? My primary goal wasn't weight loss to begin with. That's not to say that it isn't a nice side effect of lugging my body around roads, tracks, paths and gyms each and every day. I should probably do a better job of watching what I eat since all of this running makes me ravenous - like a bear coming out of hibernation ravenous. There have certainly been a more than few moments of complete lack of self-control - oops. That being said, my clothes do seem to fit better than ever before so maybe I'm not completely hijacking any progress.
This past week was kind of insane. It was demo week at Resolute Running - meaning we got to try out the fun new classes being offered free of charge. I had plans to take a few more classes than I ended up taking because at some point between all the running and standing on my tip toes this week my ankle/Achilles decided it was going to disagree with everything I tried to make it do. I'm not sure if was the running or the classes or a combination of both but I've become BFFs with the ice maker and my stairs for this exercise prescribed by Coach. Aside from all of the running, here is a sample of the madness of this week (thanks to Coach Alex always being there to take your picture just when you are sweating like a man).
It could have been any one of these fancy maneuvers this week that did me in...
Things I did not realize about this race: it was on a gravel trail...the recent rain had washed a lot of it out, it was incredibly thick in some spots - like SAND thick, and there were obstacles (think trees, roots, pipes, etc.). And the hills. Oh the hills. I also forgot my Garmin which is enough to send me into a mental tailspin - that thing is like a lifeline for pacing I swear! I kept my wits and instead I just used the iPhone Run Keeper App which did OK in a pinch. Run Keeper told me I ran 3.19 miles so it was probably pretty close.
All things considered and the fact that I was totally unprepared for running in the grass, over rivers and through the woods (with a bum ankle no less) I felt like I kept it together pretty well. My official chip time was 38:45:10. At least 3-4 of those minutes were spent waiting on others to cross obstacles in front of me or navigating them slowly myself. But I felt good the entire race and I could definitely tell a difference from all the much loathed speed work I have been doing. Had this race been on an actual road, I think I would have put in a really solid run. My fastest 5K time ever was 32:23 so 6 1/2 minutes off of that on a washed out trail and and an extremely careful run for my ankle and I feel pretty good about things.
I'm feeling more confident about the Peachtree each day (if my ankle stays out of trouble). And while I'm never going to be setting land speed records, I'm feeling good about where I've come from and what I'm doing now.
Comments
Post a Comment