Day Seven: Pre-Run and Post Run

Today was my first day back running after injuring myself on Thanksgiving. I was a bit nervous to start running again. The last thing I want/need to do is to further injure my right knee, but I decided that I cannot live my life like that. I decided to wear my brace and compression pants in order to keep everything stable. It seems to have worked.

I was not able to go running until almost 8pm, so I decided that today would be a perfect day to work on pacing while running. I decided that during the times I ran I would only go 3.3 (roughly an 18 minute mile). I will say that today was the only time I was able run without feeling completely wore out by the third run. I decided that at the beginning of the week, I will be going to the gym and doing a pace check for the week. I am hoping that it will help take care of the pacing problems that I currently have. Time will only tell. 

Took A Short Break: Now I'm Back

Okay, so I had to take a couple days off running. On Thursday night, I ended up twisting my ankle when I was getting out of the shower. What I did not realize at the time was that I ended up twisting my knee in the process. This is extremely bad for me. I already have tears in the tendons in my right knee and I do not want to further injure or tear the tendons. I made the decision to not run for a couple days to see what happened. When Sunday rolled around, I decided that it would be best to postpone running until Tuesday, that way I had more time to heal. Injury and pain is something that I am always going to have to deal with, but I also know that when I am experiencing more pain in different areas, that it is time to take a break and let things heal themselves. I am glad I took the five days off, and I am ready to hit the ground running (literally).

Day Six: Pre-Run and Post Run

Today was an amazing day. I was feeling pretty good and I was looking forward to coming home from work so I could go for my run. Who knew it would become so addicting so quickly? The only issues that I have been having are: extreme tightness in calves and a bit of knee pain. This is to be expected, and I think either a massage or more stretching. I would not mind a massage… hint, hint.

Today I went and ran around a neighborhood. I try to map out my routes before I go, but I noticed that I am not giving myself enough distance to run and I have to improvise after I reach my starting point. I also have noticed that I am not pacing myself very well. I start out running pretty fast (for me) during the first interval, but I progressively become slower and slower with each interval. Other than that, I am fairly happy with the way things have been going during my runs, now I just wish I could run faster. I feel like I am running at the same speed I am walking.

Day Five: Pre-Run and Post-Run

I was actually looking forward to running today. I might just be coming around to this whole running thing (fingers crossed). I was feeling a little bit tight in my calves, but it wasn't as tight as it was during the first week (pretty exciting, I think). I am slowly, but surely weaning off high fructose corn syrup. I am still getting cravings and I am still somewhat on edge, but it has been getting better. Hopefully by next week, I will no longer be cranky and irritable.

I was planning on just running around the ASU campus today, but I was waiting for the Orbit bus for almost 10 minutes (it's free, so I guess you get what you pay for). So I decided to run to the school instead and then go halfway around campus. During my run today, my app decided not to work for two sets. I was so upset. I had to use the timer on my phone to keep track of my time for two sets. Talk about a hassle! I finally got it to work, and I was able to resume activities as normal. I was dying during the five minute portions if the run. It may be only two more minutes than I am used to running, but that extra two minutes is a killer! I'm usually ready to give in at the three minute mark, but I push myself into completing everything. I know when I get to that three minute walk, I deserve it!

I am becoming somewhat concerned for the Iron Girl race. I am not sure if it will be possible for me to run the 5k without stopping. I know I have a couple weeks left, so I'll just have to train even harder.

Day Four: Pre-Run and Post Run

Today I was planning on going running at 9:00 am, but due to unseen circumstances (sleeping until noon), I was not able to go running until 4:00 pm. I wanted to wait until it got a little cooler outside. Luckily for me it was pretty cloudy and the run ended up being awesome. I decided to try running in Gilbert today.  It is nice to have an opportunity to run in a different area, but I kind of like the Tempe area better than Gilbert (probably because I know it better and I do not have to drive that far to go running).

I decided to try wearing a different shoe today. I have been having issues with my current K-Swiss Tube shoes . The shoes have been hurting my feet and causing pain to go straight into my shins. OUCH!  So I decided to try my mom's running shoes, luckily for me, my mom was generous enough to let me borrow her shoes for a couple weeks. The shoes felt a million times better, but I think I need to put a different insert in it. It is time to start considering buying new shoes.

Day Three: Pre-Run and Post Run Together

Today was pretty rough. I have changed my eating and exercise habits and today I felt the effects of it. I have been pretty tired lately and I am combating some serious cravings right now. I am trying not eating anything that has any high fructose corn syrup in it. It is so hard not wanting to eat those foods. By the end of the work day I was pretty exhausted and I was contemplating not running today. But I made myself do it, because there will be times when I do not feel like working out or eating right, but I know I'm just going to feel guilty about it later on. Plus I know running will increase my endorphins which will make me happy. So yay!

Today I decided to go running in a neighborhood near ASU. I wanted to see what type running surface I like the best, so I decided to run on the street today. I have to say that so far I like running the sidewalk the best as long as it is not slooping down on the side (that really hurts my knees). This was the route that I ended up taking today.

Day Two: Post-Run

I ran slower today than I did on Sunday. I think it is a combination of the boredom from the gym/tread mill and still being tight and sore from Sunday. Although I am not happy about the amount of miles I ran today, I am happy that I: 1. finished and 2. I pushed myself to my limit. I feel pretty good about the run. I missed running outside today, the gym was exceedingly hot! I did not get any relief until I walked outside. From now on I am running outside so I can enjoy the cool air/ breeze.

After this run, I think I need to download some better running music. My app just randomly chooses music that has been stored on my phone and the app managed to choose every song that was not conducive to running (bad app). Luckily I was on the tread mill and I could change the song, but if I am street running I will not be able to do that. I know I change my the root my phone takes to get the music, so maybe I will talk to my programming buddies and they can help me out. *Wink wink*

Day Two: Pre-Run

I'm ready to get started for day two of running! My knee was giving me a bit of trouble earlier, but I wore my braces earlier and now they are feeling pretty good. I decided today that I am going to run on the tread mill at the gym instead of outside. It's a little too busy and scary out there right now. I am going to have to consult Map My Run to find a safe place to run during the week. I will take a picture of my treadmill after I have completed my run.

Hasta!

A Little Motivation!

I have decided that I want help motivate myself by showing myself what I am working towards, that way I can constantly remind myself what I am working towards. I know that results will not be instantaneous, but when there are days that I am feeling down or I do not want to work out, I can look at this and remind myself that, that is what I want.

Feelings After Day One

I am extremely sore today! The back of my legs are super tight and my bottom (sorry, but it's true) hurts too. I did stretch out before and after my run yesterday, but I suppose I need to do a yoga tape after my runs. On a positive note, my knee is not hurting that much today, which means that while I pushed myself yesterday I did not over strain my knee. Exciting! I am glad to have a relaxing day today and I look forward to my run tomorrow.

Day One: Post-Run

Today was the first day, and I am exhausted. I had to change my route roughly halfway through because I realized that I was not going to make it back to my start point within the 30 minutes. I decided to cut through the ASU campus to make time. Here is my route that I ended up taking.

Running is a learning experience and I learned three things today:
1. It may be cold outside when you start, but you will not want that jacket 30 seconds into your run.
2. People will think you are weird when you motivate yourself.
3. People in cars like to honk at you.

Let me elaborate these three things.

When I stepped outside today I was pretty cold (I live in Arizona and anything under 80 is cold). I decided that I would need my jacket I did my warm up walk and it seemed like a good idea to keep the jacket. When I started my first 3 minute run, I realized that it was a bad idea. I was extremely hot. I could not take my jacket off and put it in my Camelbak, since it is so small, so I had to unzip my jacket most of the way to allow air to move under to cool me off. It was still super HOT!

Today I got about halfway through my run before I was feeling the urge to stop. I decided that I needed to motivate myself in order to keep running. I decided to sing the songs that came up on my playlist. Which I think is just fine and dandy, but I suppose I need to be careful about the songs I choose to sing. Singing “Shake it” by Metro Station is okay until someone thinks you are singing to them. Some woman whipped around and gave me the glare of death until she realized that I was dance/running (oh it’s possible). In my defense, she was behind a bush and I had no idea she was there.

Is there a club for honking at people while they are running? Seriously, I am busy running and I am on the sidewalk. Don’t honk at me.

That being said, I found a magazine called Sweat and inside I found my first 5k that I will be registering for. It is called the Iron Girl. It is strictly for women and it is specifically to help empower women to live a healthier life.

Day One: Pre-Run

Today I basically woke up feeling like crap. My knee is giving me a ton of issues right now (I'm pretty sure my 86 year old grandmother can walk better than I can right now). I am going to go and run anyways I am just going to have to wear my patella strap while I run today. I started running a week ago so I know I can run at least 2.3 miles in the 30 minutes (I'm starting over just for this blog, don't you feel loved?). I decided that I am going to run the Vista Loop from Map My Run. It says it is 2.3 miles, but I noticed that the person who ran did not finish where they started, so I am going to guess that it is more like 2.4 miles instead. It is pretty cloudy outside right now, so I hope it does not rain while I am running because that would make me kind of upset.

Okay bye for now!

Let's Get It Started In Here!

I have been researching running extensively and I believe that I now have enough knowledge and understanding to be able to enjoy running. I will be using the Run Walk Method by Jeff Galloway in order to keep my injuries down. I have also downloaded the app Learn to Run on my phone (I have included a link for phones on the Android system, I am not sure if there is on the iPhone system). I will be using that in order to get started. By the end of the program which is 6ish weeks, I will be able to run for 60 minutes without stopping. It is 25 days that is done 4 times a week.

I will try show the routes I run, but I am not sure how I will go about that yet. I will be using Map My Run to find my routes, so I may just post the link with my time along with it.

Here are my goals I have set for myself in running.
1. I want to be able to run a total of 5 miles (nonstop) by the end of December.
2. I want to run a 5k in under 30 minutes in February.
3. I want to run in the Tilman Run in April (nonstop).
4. I want to be healthier.
5. I want to look better.

I am excited to start, so let's get going!

Yay for Motivation!