I had meant to post on Saturday (I haven't posted since last Tuesday, but I've been checking in every day) because I went for a 5 mile run that morning. It was a GREAT run -- I managed to hold back my pace at the beginning so I didn't wear out as quickly as I had the week before; it was earlier in the day, so the temperature was perfect, too. And it was long enough that I was able to get into the zone, so to speak -- my mind released its stress and just focused on keeping me moving. I ran 4 minutes, walked 1, all the way through until the last two-thirds of a mile, when I discovered I had plenty of energy just to keep going, so I ran to the end. It was very satisfying.
Yesterday's run, however, was torture. After Saturday's run I had a long car drive, and then yesterday I ran in Springdale, which was designed for runners who are trying to destroy their quads, knees, and feet as efficiently as possible. I started out straight uphill and was jogging slower than a walking pace, I think, though the GPS signal is no good at that point so I didn't get a correct pace (or distance) from my phone (it said I went 0.5 miles in the first minute!). Then I had a lovely flat stretch for about a second and a half before it went back down. Then up. Then more flat in an uphill sort of way. Then a tiny bit of flat and then torturous up to get to the highest point in Springdale -- and this is the route they actually USE for the Springdale 5k! Fortunately the third mile is almost entirely downhill, so I didn't get sick to my stomach, but it's jarring to run straight down for a mile. Then I had another long car ride so I couldn't really relax my legs all day. So today my legs are very unhappy with me, the first time that has happened since I started the program. Probably not the last, though. I'm going to take it easy at the gym today.
I forgot to bring Pilates with me to Mom and Dad's, though I know enough of the exercises that I could have done them anyway -- but I didn't, of course. So I think I've done maybe three days out of seven or eight, which isn't great. And I can't tell that it's making a difference yet. It still pinches in my back on the right when I kneel. But I think I need to keep trying.
3 comments:
Do you use mapmyrun.com at all? Since I don't have a GPS device I can run with, I use this for figuring my mileage, and once I've entered the route I can enter my running time to give me my overall pace.
It works for cycling too (mapmyride.com, but as far as I can tell it's the same site) but that's less of a mystery since I have a computer on my bike.
I love mapmyrun! The phone app plugs in to mapmyrun directly, so when it went wonky I was able to go onto the website and modify the run it recorded to show the correct starting point. I can also record my workouts when I'm at the gym, so I can remember the calorie data and mileage from cardio equipment. But now that I'm doing real running I find myself going to the site itself and not just the training log in the app, so I see the calendar with all its little active stick figures, and that motivates me to record ALL my workouts -- isn't it silly that I'm so easily thrilled? It's like the stickers they give kids for potty training!
It's really fun to have the GPS data because you can see where the hills were and how you responded (and also how I am apparently incapable of running in a straight line) -- though it's flaky enough that it shows impossible spikes and drop-offs (drops-off?) in speed. It also records a moving average, but even that isn't enough to compensate for the times when it spikes up to 25 mph!
OK, that's cool. I've only ever really used it to map my routes--I always relied on my HRM for calories burned, time, etc. I didn't realize you could track just about all of your activity! But I just put in all of my workouts from the past week--I now have little people hiking, biking, swimming, running, and lifting weights. It makes me feel so much more active!
Post a Comment