Autumn approacheth...running w/o September 8

[michelem]

Hey Limewave,

Here's my two cents on doing the 1/2 on Sept. 20. I would say run for as long as you can and then do NOT be afraid to walk the remaining miles. Last year I did my first 1/2 and my longest previous run was 8 miles. I pushed myself to complete the entire 13.1 even though I was hurting quite a bit in the last few miles and I really paid for it. I could barely walk for some days and it really turned me off to running for quite a while. This year I've been gradually upping my mileage and did an EASY 13.15 last weekend. Not even a little bit sore afterward or in the days following. Anyway, whatever you decide, I suggest that you do it to have FUN and don't keep running if you feel pain.

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Only two runs this week, but GOOD ones (finally)!

Tuesday night treadmill: 1 mile warmup, 2 miles MP, 1 mile LT, 2 miles MP, and 1 mile cooldown. Took just about an hour.

2 ballet classes on Wednesday.

Thursday pushups and other upper body/core stuff.

This morning I did my usual 8 mile loop (surface streets and paved trail, rolling). I tried something new and used a Podrunner (www.podrunner.com) podcast download at 180bpm (translates to a cadence of 90 footfalls per foot per minute). AMAZING!!! While the music is kind of annoying (techno stuff), I couldn't believe the difference in my run -- I guess keeping my cadence consistent whether uphill, downhill, or flat really made the difference. I wasn't breathing as hard, didn't get any stitches, my legs didn't ache at all . . . in fact, I didn't feel like I was working as hard as usual and this made me wonder . . . BUT, when I got back home and looked at the clock, I had cut 10-15 minutes off my time! CRAZY!!! I am really excited about this. I was taking much shorter strides than usual.

Anyway, off tomorrow and then on Sunday I'm going to do a long run with a local club for the first time. They have a 5 mile, 10 mile, and 18 mile option and I think I'm going to do the 10 and then tack on the extra 5 loop at the end to equal 15. That's where I'm at on my schedule and I'm afraid to bump it all the way up to 18 too soon. Besides the fact that this is a hilly route and I'm not used to that yet. AND I don't want to keep anyone waiting at the end. The training coach said he'll meet with me afterward to give me advice and stuff.

So, I'm about a month-and-a-half out from the 4 Bridges 1/2 and a little less than 3 months out from the CIM. I never thought I'd EVER say that running could be enjoyable! (I STILL think cycling is the BOMB though!).