Spring is here

So it's finally getting warm enough to run outside again and I've found myself sorely out of practice. Having used the dreadmill only sporadically through the winter I'm pretty much back to square one. In any case, I'm happy to retrain myself, hopefully I can still run a mile.

3.02

You know there's always that mile that you think you'll never finish. My first mile was fine, my third a breeze, but the second mile...I was about to let my dog drag my body back home. But I made it.

I'm off to Vegas for the day tomorrow. Wish me luck! I'm taking 50 bucks and hopefully turning it into 100!

p.s. this is the longest run I've had in ages. I feel pretty damn awesome.

1.05

I was absolutely exhausted yesterday and didn't end up going for my short run. Maybe running the day that you give blood wasn't such a tremendous idea. I was laid out today as well but I really couldn't go two days without any activity. I have a good habit going and it would be a shame to let it lapse. I just went for a short walk with a few minutes of light trotting stuck in there. It's getting really cold, though, and my warm little couch is so very inviting. I dread the day when I'll actually have to run on the treadmill because the ice is too thick on the roads. 

I think I'm going to go to Las Vegas for a few days starting Monday. I've never been there and it's getting chilly enough that I could use some warm weather. I have to run while I'm there though. I still feel pretty guilty about not running in England. Especially since I gave up a ton of room in my bag for my shoes! I have the opportunity to totally redeem myself this week and, although the idea of partying in Vegas does sound amazing, I should probably fit in a quick run or two between mojitos. 

2.66

First hard day back after my little excursion. I forgot that I had committed to giving blood before I left and I sort of wish I didn't schedule it on the same day I had a 3 mi run. I went out anyway, thinking that I'd probably just do 2.5 instead of the full 3 miles. I felt pretty good all in all. Wasn't my fastest few ever but it was decent for leaving a bag of blood behind!

1.02

Even though I was beat, I still went out for a short, slow, mile walk. I didn't think it was possible to actually fall asleep while moving but I do think my eyes closed a few times in that short while. I was trying to find some sort of explanation for my extreme fatigue and then I realized that I had run out of my pills and had just been too lazy to get refills. No freaking wonder I'm walking around like a zombie. 

Meds = energy.

2.06

EXHAUSTION.

that is all.

2.02

Well then. My walk to run program has decided that I need to be beaten into submission before I get too confident. Today started both a mileage increase and a shorter speed interval. I'm now expected to do 2 miles a day and shorter walk breaks. Oh, and I'm also expected to avoid keeling over. Today it was raining buckets all day and I had a massive headache so I skipped out on work early, went to buy some new brushes (I'm starting a new oil painting), and came home to relax. I kept putting off my run, thinking the rain would let up but at 9:45 it was still sprinkling so I decided to gamble on it staying light for the next half hour. I was slower than usual today. I think the rain and my general sluggishness is to blame. Yeah, that's it. The rain made me slow. Right when I got home, the skies opened up and I was glad I had gone when I did.

I had forgotten how much I love running in the rain or snow, then coming home, stripping off all your wet clothes in the entryway and walking around in your underwear until you find some cozy old ripped teeshirt and a raggedy pair of shorts to sleep in. Is it just me? I probably should always live alone. 

1.07

I had this weird shin pain all day and I thought for sure it was going to splint-out on me during my short run. Strangely enough, it hurt at all times except for when I ran. I still iced it when I came home though. Paranoia and all.

1.31

I was pretty tired today after work and was going to knock out my short run when I got home. Instead, I decided to ask my dad if he wanted to come with me for a walk and so I waited while he suited up (my dad cannot be seen if he is not looking as GQ as possible, even at night) and leashed up our old Aussie.

While I wanted to hurry up and get my short run done so I can do some reading (I'm in the middle of a strangely fascinating book), I'm glad my dad came out with me. He is in remission after having liver cancer and surgery to remove the large tumour that came with it. My dad and I have gotten closer as I've gotten older and the thought of losing him to cancer made me so glad we're good buddies. I was happy to sacrifice a run for a little bonding time. Plus his doctor put him on strict orders to walk, so I can goad him into it, which is one of my favourite pastimes. 

I was also looking up trails near my house. I'd like to try trail running, as I heard it was a bit easier on your joints and a hell of a lot more interesting than running past the same garden swans and lawn gnomes every night. I might go scout out the woods near my place on my next day off. Any trail runners have any advice for a beginner?

1.47

Tonight was a hard but good run. That 4 minutes is not impossible, but not really a piece of cake either. Next week I go into a different kind of interval training-very short walks in between short runs. My right shin was acting up a little in the beginning of my first interval. It might get some ice later on.

OT: Work was insane today. Here in Michigan, our unemployment is among the highest in the nation. The automakers are all in serious trouble and have laid off thousands of workers in the past year alone. Unfortunately, the entire state economy is built around the Big Three (Ford, GM, and Chrysler for those not in the rust belt) and when they started to go down, EVERYONE started to go down. I work in the airline industry which is incredibly unstable at the moment. I've seen at least five airlines go under in the last six months and the company is scrambling to combat high fuel prices, mechanical cutbacks, and climbing fares. While I have my issues with the airline industry (as we all do), I've ALWAYS been grateful for a job-a rare commodity here. This morning I watched as more than 30 people were laid off in my office alone. They had no notice, they arrived to work and were taken right away to a room and then were walked off the premises. Some were crying, some had young children at home, single mothers, people who just married, just bought a car, just bought a new home, sent their kids to college last month. I felt terrible for them. More than that, though, I know that I'm next. In our system, people who are hired last are laid off first. Now that they're gone, there's about 40 of us who will probably be on the chopping block in the next few months. I'll be okay as I have a really solid backup plan (the peace corps and then graduate school), very few bills, and no family to support but I know a lot of other people have aren't so lucky. I hope they're all okay...

1.08

I hurried up and did my run because I was rather tired and wanted to go to sleep ASAP. My shins are still okay but my run was a bit slower than usual. I think maybe because I was just not that into it. Also, my dog was being kind of bad, she got her nails clipped and even though I gave her lots of praise during and an apple afterward, she was sort of wary of me for the rest of the night. Maybe I was just tired and we were both sort of cranky.

I did make my goal, however, of running 16 times in 4 weeks. I'm going to up that to 20 and see how I go.

1.61

I actually made it through 4 minutes and really didn't think about walking at any point. I took water with me this time and I think it made all the difference. That and the fact that I avoided running any of the uphill slants in the neighbourhood. I didn't check my time every 5 seconds either, which for me is a pretty huge deal. I still hate being slow but I can say that my average pace went down about a minute from the last time I ran. I took a look at my stats on the Nike+ website and I'm continually improving. My mileage is getting higher and my avg pace is getting lower every week. I know I'll hit the wall soon but hopefully looking at things like this will help me get through it.

1.06

Well hurray, my shins seem okay now. The biggest problem I had when I started running was terrible shin splits. I went to a running store, switched my shoes from my trusty New Balance to some stability Saucony Revolutions. It pretty much went away after that but I've been semi-terrified of an injury ever since I spent a month in bed after pulling a muscle training which ended up pinching my sciatic nerve. It is so, so, so unfun to go to doctor appointments where you get both electric shocks AND needles. I felt like maybe I shouldn't be paying to be tortured.

I took it slow, observed my rest day, and then just did my 15 minute walk, 1 minute run, 2 minute walk as per my training schedule. No jumping the gun. Tonight is my long run and I hope that the rest and active recovery has paid off. If not, I'm back to square one...

1.63

While I was shuffling along home tonight after my interval run, I wondered why my feet and legs were so sore and heavy. I wasn't in serious pain, but I felt sluggish on my cooldown walk. I wondered if I shouldn't have just walked yesterday when I was supposed to instead of running intervals. When I got to my door and ended my run on Nike+, not only had I just finished my second longest run but I also ran my fastest mile yet. It brings my horribly embarrassing mile time from 15'07" to 14'50". I am officially under 15 minutes! There are actually people in the world who are slower than me now! Mediocrity, I'm comin' for ya!

Also, my left shin hurts a little. I'm glad tomorrow is my rest day.

1.29

I had a decent run last night. It was supposed to be my slow day but I didn't really feel like walking for 15 minutes. Maybe it was bad of me but I did 5 minute walk, 1 minute run x2 and then walking the rest. I definitely don't want to fall in the beginner trap of overtraining and trying to be a couch commando, getting injured quickly, and then giving up. I'm just not a fan of walking with no purpose. I guess that's contradictory.

OT: I've been preoccupied by trip planning lately and have had a stupid worry. I'm taking my first trip to Europe later on this month and I'm going to bring my shoes and my Nike+ with me. I took it with me when I lived in Australia and I was pretty proud of having red outback dirt on my shoes (they're still a nice ruddy color, a year later) so hopefully I'll have some English dirt on them as well. I'm just sort of concerned about keeping to my running schedule as I'll be by myself for half of my trip. I know that my travel buddy will trot beside me for part of the trip but I need to stick to it or I think I'll fall far behind.

Anyone ever run on vacation or do you just let it rest for awhile?

1.27

Well, I didn't die. That's just about the best thing I can say for tonight. I was tired, I put it off for as long as possible, and it was so cold I think I froze my lungs. But I did it. I REALLY didn't want to run tonight. I also REALLY didn't think I'd be able to do 3 minutes again. 

I'm trying really hard not to think about how painfully slow I am. I know, logically, that I will get faster. In fact, I ran my fastest mile tonight. I try to just think of one or two days ahead and I know that eventually, I will run 5 or 6 miles and not even think twice about it. But today it seems hard. Not impossible, just really hard. 

I think I need to lay off the cheeseburgers and fries.

1.08

I decided to run early because it was absolutely bloody freezing today. It started sprinkling and despite wanting to rush home, I wished today was my long run day. It was really refreshing. 

I had a question as I was running though, that I think I'll pose to the one or two people who actually read this blog: Do you carry water with you on your runs? If so, is it every run or just your long ones? How many miles should I run before I take water?

1.76

I got lost.

My subdivision is brand new and thus mostly unfinished. It's great for running because there are streets but no cars, no houses, just woods and meadows. There are also lots of strange empty cul-de-sacs and dead end streets which, at 10:30pm, can seem sort of creepy. I took a few wrong turns in the dark and ended up on this weird loop through the woods. It was pitch black, late, and my dog is afraid of her own shadow at night. I'm sure it's very pretty and peaceful during the day but tonight I kept thinking I was going to trip over a garbage bag with a torso in it or something. It didn't help that I was watching a show about the Boston Strangler right before that. 

My three minute intervals were pretty easy. I'm running better this time around than last time I think. I'm remembering to go slow, concentrate on my form, lean slightly forward, use my core and not my legs or my back, avoid t-rex arms, and relax my shoulders. As a result, I'm not getting as winded as I was the first time around. It was a pretty decent run despite the fact that I kept looking behind me every 10 seconds expecting to see Jack the Ripper. 

OT: I'm planning my October trip now. I want to spend a couple of days in London, a few days in Scotland, and then fly back down to spend the rest in Bath with a friend. Anyone been that way? I know what I want to see in London and Bath but I'm clueless on Scotland.

1.24

I was so exhausted today that I tried to weasel out of work early, to no avail. It is so wrong that I can basically go home early every day if I wanted. Great for my free time, horrible for my paycheck. I spent the entire day eating halloween cookies, talking to my work buddies, and planning my upcoming travel on Lonely Planet. Best. Job. Ever.

I came home at about 6:30pm, ate a bit of dinner, and tried to take a nap. I tossed and turned for about an hour and a half, changed nap strategies and crashed in my bed instead of my couch, and finally fell asleep at about 8pm. I woke up to complete darkness and my dog dreaming in his bed (so cute, except when it wakes you up). I thought it was the middle of the night and I was kicking myself for missing my run. I flopped over to check the time and it was only 10! YES. Even though I could have just rolled over and slept through the night, I got up, got my scrub-gear on, and went out for my run. I've been nervous about running more than 1 minute at a time as my walk-to-run program has assigned me a (gasp!) whole 3 minutes tomorrow. I know it's idiotic to be nervous about a 3 minute run when I used to run 5k but I feel like a total noob. I took a crack at running 2 minutes straight tonight and didn't even really feel out of breath at the end. I could have easily gone at least another minute. This makes me feel a lot better about my previous visions of keeling over and possibly dying tomorrow. Death averted!

Has anyone else ever been nervous about running such a small distance? I cannot be the only one.

1.1

Despite being ridiculously tired this evening, I had a great run. Also, I realised that my Sunday 5min run/1min walk was a typo. SWEET.

I don't want to jinx myself but after my walk to run program is over, I'm going to start training for a 5k. I'm sort of paranoid about injuries though. When I was boxing I pulled a muscle in my lower back during a training session and it pinched my sciatic nerve which laid me up for nearly a year. Now I'm so worried about something like that happening again. I try to take things slow and read all I can about common beginners injuries and how to prevent them.

I was wondering as well if I should join some kind of running club. Part of me is amazingly embarrassed about my slowness but I was looking up some race times tonight and I realised that I'm pretty solidly middle-of-the-pack time-wise. I don't mind being mediocre in the least. I tried to scam someone into running with me but everyone I know lives too far away or refuses to run on principle.

How can I convince someone to be my running buddy without resorting to extortion, blackmail, or torture?