Well, it is Tuesday already and I do not have a single mile to report yet this week. My alarm goes off bright and early but I am finding that I am just too tired. Michael continues to get up every night and wipes away 1 - 2 hours of my precious sleeping time. I can not wait until we get into a sleep all night routine. Will that every happen?
Today is Jack's 3rd birthday and he came to work with me. He was so excited when he learned he did not have to go to school and would be taking the train with me. He spent the entire train ride on his knees watching out the window giving me a play-by-play of what he was seeing outside. Very cute.
On Sunday we went to the store and he picked out his cake - Thomas of course. We are going to leave work early - pick up his cake - and have a few people over to celebrate his big day tonight. I am going to try to squeeze a run in somewhere between work and party. Hopefully I will have something to report tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Prairie Path
What do you see on the Prairie Path during marathon training season? LOTS AND LOTS of runners. Our run club was out there with about 60 people. I figured we would do our run and see a handful of bikers and a couple of individual runners. As it turns out CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) does their long run on Saturday's along the same path. It was pretty awesome to see so many people out training - everyone seems so pumped - and there is tons of support. As our groups passed one another you would hear things like - "you're doing great" -"keep up the good work" - "beautiful day out here" - and there was lots of high fiving people as you were running along who you've never even met. We'll see if everyone is as chipper when our mileage hits the high teens:)
We did 8 miles (our last single digit long run) and my pace group was right on target - we came in at exactly 10 minutes per mile. Running on the path was great because of the shade - and it's much more gentle on the knees and ankles than the pavement. This is where the remainder of the long runs will take place so I am pretty pleased with that. One thing I did find out today was that I need to add more weekly mileage. Our pace leader said we should be at about 25 miles per week - I'm at about 18:(
I am going to start adding one track work out per week to work on my speed. I found a group that meets every Thursday at a local high school - I am pretty excited about this. I hope it helps...if not it will at least add some variety and mileage to my log.
Week 2 - Complete!!! 14 weeks to go.
We did 8 miles (our last single digit long run) and my pace group was right on target - we came in at exactly 10 minutes per mile. Running on the path was great because of the shade - and it's much more gentle on the knees and ankles than the pavement. This is where the remainder of the long runs will take place so I am pretty pleased with that. One thing I did find out today was that I need to add more weekly mileage. Our pace leader said we should be at about 25 miles per week - I'm at about 18:(
I am going to start adding one track work out per week to work on my speed. I found a group that meets every Thursday at a local high school - I am pretty excited about this. I hope it helps...if not it will at least add some variety and mileage to my log.
Week 2 - Complete!!! 14 weeks to go.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Week 2 Run 2
For those of you that actually read this blog - today I am just recording a quick note about my run. I have been entering the quick dets into my log book - but figured I will just do it here instead. This way I will have everything in one place. So, no stories about bunnies or old men today - just my notebook entry.
Scheduled Distance: 4 miles
Actual Distance: 4.06 miles
Time: 40 minutes
Woke: 4:40 am
Out the door: 5:00 am
Comments: weather was a little cooler and a bit less humid than Tuesday. Run felt good - was able to keep on 10 minute mile pace. Would like these shorter runs to be more like 9:30 - I'll get there. Need new music!!!!!!!!
Scheduled Distance: 4 miles
Actual Distance: 4.06 miles
Time: 40 minutes
Woke: 4:40 am
Out the door: 5:00 am
Comments: weather was a little cooler and a bit less humid than Tuesday. Run felt good - was able to keep on 10 minute mile pace. Would like these shorter runs to be more like 9:30 - I'll get there. Need new music!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
4:50 am
Yep - that is when the alarm rang - 4:50 am. The kids slept all night, I felt rested, didn't even need to hit the snooze. I hopped out of bed, brushed my teeth, put on my running gear and headed out the door.
It is so peaceful outside that early in the morning - during my 3 mile trot I saw 8 bunnies, 1 stray cat with 1/2 of a tail, 2 cars driving, and 5 old dudes running (not together). It was so muggy out there I broke a sweat before I even started running - hopefully that resulted in extra calories burned:) I'm not sure how the old dudes were able to tolerate it. Anyhow, enough about running...
This morning on the train I read an essay in this month's Real Simple magazine by Jancee Dunn titled "You've Got To Read This" and it was just so sweet - (I thought so anyhow). It is about parents whose kids are grown and have moved away. They give advice to their grown children by clipping and mailing them newspaper articles. Maybe it is their way of keeping their kids close - trying to protect them - or just letting them know that they are thinking of them, which as a parent who could see herself doing this very thing thinks is just precious.
Enjoy!
It is so peaceful outside that early in the morning - during my 3 mile trot I saw 8 bunnies, 1 stray cat with 1/2 of a tail, 2 cars driving, and 5 old dudes running (not together). It was so muggy out there I broke a sweat before I even started running - hopefully that resulted in extra calories burned:) I'm not sure how the old dudes were able to tolerate it. Anyhow, enough about running...
This morning on the train I read an essay in this month's Real Simple magazine by Jancee Dunn titled "You've Got To Read This" and it was just so sweet - (I thought so anyhow). It is about parents whose kids are grown and have moved away. They give advice to their grown children by clipping and mailing them newspaper articles. Maybe it is their way of keeping their kids close - trying to protect them - or just letting them know that they are thinking of them, which as a parent who could see herself doing this very thing thinks is just precious.
Enjoy!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Week One - Success
I think I am finally out of the funk I found myself in last week. I did get through all of my training runs successfully and have completed 6.25% of my marathon training:) Hooray for me!
Saturday was the first long run and it was AWESOME! Nike Run Club organizes group runs for folks like me training for the marathon - which is perfect to keep me on track with and true to the long runs. It was neat to see 60'ish people out at 6:30am on a Saturday all chipper and ready to run. They had pace groups to ensure we would all be training with people of similar speed / ability. Karen - the leader of my pace group was very upbeat and motivating. She ran 7 miles right along side us - talking, talking, talking about the weeks to come, about the 25 marathons she has run, about how she is going to convince us all that it is better to run without our iPods - WHAT? Hell no - I need my music to keep me going. How anyone gets through hours of training - or a 4 + hour race without the distraction of music is beyond me. Anyhow...at the end of the 7 miles of running in the hot sun she had barely broken a sweat and was nowhere close to being out of breath. The 12 of us in her group were all red faced and dripping - but we all finished and no one died. And I am very excited about the next long run.
Sunday we were at the lake in Michigan and Jeff and I took advantage of having the grandparents there to hang with the boys at the lake while we went off for a run. OMG - the hills out there can really kick your ass! What a workout! I bet my next run in the flat lands of Naperville will be a piece of cake.
One last thing - my new running gadget - the Garmin Forerunner - LOVE IT! So, after a run I put my forerunner on the docking station and it feeds all of my workout data. I can view my pace, distance, calories burned, heart rate, and the coolest thing of all - it shows me a map of the route I ran. It will even reenact my run - how cool is that? I still have my Nike + system which I will continue to use so I don't feel like I lost the first 140 miles of training - it makes me feel good to watch that number grow! Plus - how else will I know when I hit the 500 mile mark and need a new pair of shoes??? :)
Saturday was the first long run and it was AWESOME! Nike Run Club organizes group runs for folks like me training for the marathon - which is perfect to keep me on track with and true to the long runs. It was neat to see 60'ish people out at 6:30am on a Saturday all chipper and ready to run. They had pace groups to ensure we would all be training with people of similar speed / ability. Karen - the leader of my pace group was very upbeat and motivating. She ran 7 miles right along side us - talking, talking, talking about the weeks to come, about the 25 marathons she has run, about how she is going to convince us all that it is better to run without our iPods - WHAT? Hell no - I need my music to keep me going. How anyone gets through hours of training - or a 4 + hour race without the distraction of music is beyond me. Anyhow...at the end of the 7 miles of running in the hot sun she had barely broken a sweat and was nowhere close to being out of breath. The 12 of us in her group were all red faced and dripping - but we all finished and no one died. And I am very excited about the next long run.
Sunday we were at the lake in Michigan and Jeff and I took advantage of having the grandparents there to hang with the boys at the lake while we went off for a run. OMG - the hills out there can really kick your ass! What a workout! I bet my next run in the flat lands of Naperville will be a piece of cake.
One last thing - my new running gadget - the Garmin Forerunner - LOVE IT! So, after a run I put my forerunner on the docking station and it feeds all of my workout data. I can view my pace, distance, calories burned, heart rate, and the coolest thing of all - it shows me a map of the route I ran. It will even reenact my run - how cool is that? I still have my Nike + system which I will continue to use so I don't feel like I lost the first 140 miles of training - it makes me feel good to watch that number grow! Plus - how else will I know when I hit the 500 mile mark and need a new pair of shoes??? :)
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Run 2 - Check
My plan during training is to do my weekday runs bright and early in the morning. I finally got around to my run yesterday at 8:45 pm. My alarm rang at 4:45 am - but at that point I had only about 31/2 hours of sleep under my belt and couldn't fathom getting out of bed to run. I did consider for a split second getting up but then figured that since the kids being up all night was the cause of my sleeplessness I would allow myself to change the schedule. However, if my lack of sleep was my own doing I would have to get up and run. That said, the run was rescheduled for the evening.
I got home after work - cleaned up the breakfast mess from the morning - made dinner - semi-cleaned the kitchen - gave the boys baths - played with them for a bit - put Michael to bed - and finally went downstairs to get this run in. I logged my 4 miles and was happy when it was over. I learned the following from training day 2...
I hate running inside on the treadmill!!! It takes me 1 1/2 times as long to run the same distance - why would it be so much harder to run and maintain the same speed as I can outdoors? Must be a mental thing. Also, watching the display is really disheartening - it's like waiting for water to boil.
I get very agitated and fussy when plans change. Getting home from work knowing I still had a run to do just put me in a sour mood and I couldn't shake it until well into this afternoon. It's kind of funny how I do that to myself - get myself all worked up and make the experience way worse than it should be. I must apologize to my family for being such a grouch - sorry guys. The plan was to have the run over and done with first thing. I could have been easy going and all "I'll get to it when I get to it - no worries - I love running." But no.
Jeff got me the Non-Runners Marathon Trainer book and chapter one talks about this thing called "Locus of Control". I will give you the first paragraph so you understand what I am talking about.
Psychologists have been studying people's concepts of what is called locus of control for many years. The word locus means "place" and what the psychologists are interested in is what effect it has on people if they believe the place of control in their lives is somewhere inside them as compared to the effect it has on them if they believe their lives are controlled by forces outside themselves.
I have figured out that I tend toward having an external locus of control - meaning I let the outside world influence the events in my life. I am going to work on this during my training hoping to master the internal locus of control. How awesome would it be to feel 100% in control of everything in your life?!?! I'll let you know once I figure it out.
Today is a rest day so no miles to log until tomorrow morning. :)
I got home after work - cleaned up the breakfast mess from the morning - made dinner - semi-cleaned the kitchen - gave the boys baths - played with them for a bit - put Michael to bed - and finally went downstairs to get this run in. I logged my 4 miles and was happy when it was over. I learned the following from training day 2...
I hate running inside on the treadmill!!! It takes me 1 1/2 times as long to run the same distance - why would it be so much harder to run and maintain the same speed as I can outdoors? Must be a mental thing. Also, watching the display is really disheartening - it's like waiting for water to boil.
I get very agitated and fussy when plans change. Getting home from work knowing I still had a run to do just put me in a sour mood and I couldn't shake it until well into this afternoon. It's kind of funny how I do that to myself - get myself all worked up and make the experience way worse than it should be. I must apologize to my family for being such a grouch - sorry guys. The plan was to have the run over and done with first thing. I could have been easy going and all "I'll get to it when I get to it - no worries - I love running." But no.
Jeff got me the Non-Runners Marathon Trainer book and chapter one talks about this thing called "Locus of Control". I will give you the first paragraph so you understand what I am talking about.
Psychologists have been studying people's concepts of what is called locus of control for many years. The word locus means "place" and what the psychologists are interested in is what effect it has on people if they believe the place of control in their lives is somewhere inside them as compared to the effect it has on them if they believe their lives are controlled by forces outside themselves.
I have figured out that I tend toward having an external locus of control - meaning I let the outside world influence the events in my life. I am going to work on this during my training hoping to master the internal locus of control. How awesome would it be to feel 100% in control of everything in your life?!?! I'll let you know once I figure it out.
Today is a rest day so no miles to log until tomorrow morning. :)
Monday, June 15, 2009
Training - Day 1
The 122 day test began today. Will I be able to see something through all the way to the end - start to finish with no excuses in between? YES I will! I am going into this fully understanding the commitment it will take from me. I am totally aware of my personal flaws that can undermine my progress. Procrastination and Excuses. I am going to complete my training without procrastinating and without making excuses so I can successfully run 26.2 miles at the end of all of this. That is the goal.
Today was day 1 of my marathon training. The goal was to run an easy 3 miler - there was nothing easy about it. The alarm went off at 5am and I was out the door at 5:15. The weather was awesome. No wind - cool temps. The kids did not wake during the night so I got a full 6 hours of zzz's. Conditions seemed ideal for day 1 of training. Why was it so hard? I was not prepared - didn't think I needed to prepare for a simple 3. Going forward there will be some lifestyle changes implemented.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! I really wish wine counted - but I'm sure it only makes things worse. Water will be my new friend.
A better diet. Jeff and I are doing this one together. We both have weight loss goals and I'm sure we'll be able to keep each other on track and offer support when needed. We will reach our goals by the end of this then vacation somewhere warm to show off our new skinny selves. But, I can't believe how difficult it is to cut out the foods I've become accustomed to eating. If I could have cheeseburgers and fries 3 meals a day every day I would be so happy. Tell me I have to eat fruits and veggies - and I don't hate them - it just makes me sad having to eat them and give up (cut back on) the stuff I love to eat.
Get plenty of rest. With my alarm going off at 5am now - and earlier as we progress through training - I will have to get my butt in bed earlier. I love to unwind on the couch after everything is done and the kids are in bed. I could stay there for hours if there are shows on the tivo and wine to drink. But, for the next 16 weeks my time to unwind will be greatly reduced. Possibly one show - one glass of wine - then off to bed.
That is all for now - I'll let you know how day 2 goes.
Today was day 1 of my marathon training. The goal was to run an easy 3 miler - there was nothing easy about it. The alarm went off at 5am and I was out the door at 5:15. The weather was awesome. No wind - cool temps. The kids did not wake during the night so I got a full 6 hours of zzz's. Conditions seemed ideal for day 1 of training. Why was it so hard? I was not prepared - didn't think I needed to prepare for a simple 3. Going forward there will be some lifestyle changes implemented.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! I really wish wine counted - but I'm sure it only makes things worse. Water will be my new friend.
A better diet. Jeff and I are doing this one together. We both have weight loss goals and I'm sure we'll be able to keep each other on track and offer support when needed. We will reach our goals by the end of this then vacation somewhere warm to show off our new skinny selves. But, I can't believe how difficult it is to cut out the foods I've become accustomed to eating. If I could have cheeseburgers and fries 3 meals a day every day I would be so happy. Tell me I have to eat fruits and veggies - and I don't hate them - it just makes me sad having to eat them and give up (cut back on) the stuff I love to eat.
Get plenty of rest. With my alarm going off at 5am now - and earlier as we progress through training - I will have to get my butt in bed earlier. I love to unwind on the couch after everything is done and the kids are in bed. I could stay there for hours if there are shows on the tivo and wine to drink. But, for the next 16 weeks my time to unwind will be greatly reduced. Possibly one show - one glass of wine - then off to bed.
That is all for now - I'll let you know how day 2 goes.
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