Running Down a Dream: Week of 8/22 - 8/28

[limewave]

Got in my 4 miles of running this morning. It felt pretty good despite the 4:30 AM wake-up call.

[skhill]

Today was supposed to be an easy 5 miles, but it turned into 6. It was such a beautiful morning, I kept on going! Seems I'm taking the training plan as suggestions, not mandates...

School's been in session for 1.5 weeks now, and so far I've seen 2 kids smoking cigarettes at a bus stop, smelled marijuana once, and today saw a pregnant girl. Oh well, at least they've all been in high school, and they're going... What's most depressing is the middle school bus stop by the trailer park where almost all of the dozen or so kids look to be seriously overweight...

[OakLeaf]

It's a beautiful day - I did 9 x 1 minute intervals after my aerobics class.

Thinking I might increase the number of intervals next time (both on these and on the mile repeats). How do you decide when you're ready to do that?

[colby]

It's a beautiful day - I did 9 x 1 minute intervals after my aerobics class.

Thinking I might increase the number of intervals next time (both on these and on the mile repeats). How do you decide when you're ready to do that?

Aside from the ol' "do them until you think you can't do anymore, then do 1 more", I either increase the quantity or speed so that I'm tired by the end. I'm not really sure how you know, honestly. I'm about to shift gears back into running (minus the whole cycling trip in October) so I might be finding out soon

[Jolt]

Finally a good run today! It was about 58 degrees with drizzle and I ran around town, going down random side streets with a general idea of the direction they would take me but not knowing for sure what I would encounter. I stayed out for about an hour, running almost the whole time (did have a couple of short walk breaks after tough hills and also had the occasional brief stop to get my bearings). Felt a little muscle fatigue setting in by the end but still was able to kick it up for the last quarter mile. Much better than I've been doing lately---not sure if it was due to the much cooler weather, the mental stimulation of some new territory, or the cup of green tea I drank shortly before heading out. Not sure what my mileage or speed was, but it did feel good. Now it's time to do push-ups!

[skhill]

There's a hint of fall in the air at last! It was 60 this morning when I headed out the door. Today was a tempo run: supposed to be a 1 mile warm up, 4 miles at 9:04/mile, then 1 mile cool down. But the 4 fast miles were a lot faster than that. The first was 8:28, then I tried to slow down and the 2nd was 8:25, slowed down again and went 8:19, slowed way down and ended up with an 8:14. Seriously. I kept trying to go slower and ended up going faster... Maybe when I try to slow down I relax a little, and that makes me go faster?

[Crankin]

Since it's still pouring here, I experimented with the treadmill again (see the should I start running thread). I added in another running interval, same slow, pathetic speed of 5.6, but i increased the time of 3 out of the 4 intervals to 1:30 or 2:00. The rest was walking at 4.0, with inclines between 3 and 5%. I can't stand more than 30 minutes total on the TM, though. No hip/back pain so far.
I guess the key is to start (again) very, very slowly.

[limewave]

What's most depressing is the middle school bus stop by the trailer park where almost all of the dozen or so kids look to be seriously overweight...

That makes me so sad. I was an obese child and it was a horrible experience. I'm trying to teach my kids healthy food habits. It makes me feel really great when I put a pile of broccoli and cauliflower (no cheese or veggie dip added) in front of DD and she says "mmmm, all yummy foods!"