my boring running journal

[dislvr74]

Hi! I am a 35 year old woman and I will be completing my 4th 1/2 marathon on 4/11 and my 5th on 5/2. (Yes, three weeks apart. It seemed like a good idea 6 months ago.) I use a walk/run plan to complete these things, but I have a secret dream to run an entire race...to finish in less than 3 hours...to have less chub rub to deal with. Nothing against walkers or walk/runners, I just want to be one of those people who finishes before the post-race snacks are all gone.

I need to lose at least 20 pounds in order to get to a healthy weight. I'm 5'5" and at my last appointment, my doctor told me she "would like to see [me] at 140 pounds." I told her that I would like to see me at 140 pounds too!

So, I signed up for the 2010 Disney half and will start training to run after the Indy mini-marathon on 5/2. I plan to use a couch-to-5K program and then start training for Disney. I also hope to lose 1 pound a week which would put me at my goal weight in time for Disney. I have this vision of me running down Main St. in a cute running skirt and little t-shirt or even, gasp, a tank top!

I need to hold myself accountable and I would like to have some record of this process, which is why I am here. Feel free to read and comment, or not.

Tonight's training goal is 4 miles at r1/w1 pace. My time goal for the 1/2 on 4/11 is 2:50:00 and so far I have been on pace for that. But, my last long run wasn't pretty and I didn't make it to the 10 miles I planned for. I'm trying to be more consistent with my weekday training so that I will be stronger for my long runs.

 

[momof2minnies]

Hi there!
Just read your post.I am in the same boat as you.I am 43, 5'5' and want to lose 20 lbs.That will bring me to 145.
I am also doing the 1/2 in Jan. at WDW.Even though my initial thought was to do the 1/2 last year I changed my mind and did the full. Now I want the Donald medal.

Maybe we can motivate each other because I am lacking right now.Journaling has not helped this year as it did last year because not as many people posting.

Keep up the great work and hope to continue "talking " to you.

Linda

 

[dislvr74]

Hey I have a reader! Welcome!

Last night's run was a total disaster. I have a nagging injury (I won't bore you with the details) and it has flared up in the last few days. I only made it through one mile and I was supposed to do four. I've got my ankle brace on at work and I brought my ice pack in the hopes of improving enough to run tonight. Unfortunately, that means running on the TM because DH will be working until 7:30 tonight.

I have been taping my ankle for long runs and that really seems to help. My chiro told me not to tape for short runs because I need to build up some strength. But, I think I am just going to tape it all the time until I finish that 2nd half in May. After that I can work on rehabbing my leg while following the couch-to-5K program.

 

[dislvr74]

My leg is still very achy and I decided it would be better to rest tonight and get a good 5 miles in tomorrow rather than risk another bad 1 mile run again. Hopefully I will have a good report tomorrow night.

 

[dislvr74]

I think choosing to rest last night was a good decision because my leg/ankle feels less sore today. I going to attempt the following plan before the 1/2 marathon on 4/11:

tonight: 5 miles
Fri: rest
Sat: 10 miles
Sun: rest
Mon: 5 miles
Tues: rest
Wed: 5 miles
Thur: rest
Fri: rest
Sat: race!

I haven't quite figured out what to do in the three weeks between 4/11 and 5/2 (the 2nd 1/2 that I am training for). Any suggestions?

 

[momof2minnies]

Well if you figure it actually takes 2 weeks they say to lose conditioning then maybe just do one LR 1 1/2 weeks out or so then taper again.

Just a thought.

Linda

 

[dislvr74]

I can't even think about training for the second race right now because I still can't run! Not even 1 mile! I am completely freaking out and I have no idea what I am going to be able to do next weekend. I've got an appt with my chiro tonight and a massage therapist on Mon. Hopefully one or both will be able to get me moving again.

 

[dislvr74]

I got my 10 miles in on Saturday, but it was slow going. I'm not sure I could have gone any farther, so I am still pretty worried about the 1/2 on this Saturday. I swear, I am in training hell. Last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and was very congested. Now I get to deal with a cold, too? I could just scream!

I'm staying home with DD today because I think she has pink eye. I'm still going in for some deep tissue work this afternoon and another adjustment from my chiro. Hopefully with rest and lots of fluids I'll recover quickly.

Oh, and it's snowing today. It was 60 and sunny here on Sat. I just love the midwest in the springtime.

 

[dislvr74]

Still sick...

Might not get a run in this week and so my official goal is to just finish on Saturday. I just don't see me reaching my time goal of 2:50 in my current condition. Oh well, I think I'll get that 2:50 in Indy next month.

 

[dislvr74]

I finished and I FINALLY finished in less than 3 hours (2:58, but it still counts)! I really struggled with my breathing due to my sinus infection and I was clearly hurting after almost no running during the last two weeks. But, I finished and that's all that matters. I'm going to take a few days off and get ready for the Indy mini-marathon.

Oh, and I also gained two pounds. But I don't want to talk about that right now.

 

[C_leen]

Hi! You did it! You didn't let anything stop you!

Way to go Disilvr!

 

[dislvr74]

Colleen, Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks to the miracle of antibiotics, which I finally got around to picking up yesterday, I am feeling so much better. I am planning to run tonight, Thurs night, and then do about 11 miles on Sat. I have no reason for selecting 11 miles as my distance of choice, it just sounds good to me. I want to see if I can maintain a r1/w1 ratio for that long. In the half last weekend, I stuck with r1/w2 because I wanted to actually finish in one piece. I am willing to push myself more at Indy. If I can maintain r1/w1, I should be able to finish in 2:50 or less, which would be so darn cool.

 

[dislvr74]

I only made it through 1.5 miles on Tuesday night, but finished 3 last night. Still trying to figure out why my short runs are painful but my long ones seem okay. I taped my ankle last night and that helped, but I will still fighting my injury the entire way. The good news is that I was at a 2:45 pace for those 3 miles. Now I just need to be able to sustain that for 13.1 miles!

Also good, those 2 pounds that showed up last weekend have disappeared. I think I was just bloated up on Gaterade and sports beans.

 

[dislvr74]

It just keeps getting better and better...

Went for what was supposed to be a 10 mile run on Saturday. Made it about 5 miles before I started feeling pain on the outside of my "good" knee and thigh. I'm sure it is my IT band, but I can't understand why I am starting to have problems with my right leg when it has never bothered me before. I ended up quitting at 6.5 miles and limped the 2 miles home.

I iced the knee, got on the foam roller, and have been stretching like crazy. Going to try to run a bit tomorrow. I would really like to get 10 miles in next weekend!

 

[dislvr74]

Ugh, I've become one of those people that starts a journal and then fails to keep up with it. I'm going to try to do better.

When I last wrote, I was getting ready to run/walk my second 1/2 marathon in May. I made it through, but my knee on my "good" leg gave out around mile 7 and I ended up walking the rest of the way. It was frustrating because I was on pace to finish in 2:45 and I ended up finishing at 3:00. At least I finished!

I still haven't lost any weight. That probably has something to do with the fact that I haven't really changed my eating habits. I'm going to work on that now that I'm not training for a distance event.

I am thinking about doing a 1/2 marathon in November as a sort of warm-up for Donald in January. I don't want to go too long without serious training. My DD and I are currently training to run a 5K on July 4th using the couch-to-5K plan. If I can run an entire 5K in July, I know can be ready to run an entire 1/2 marathon in November.

 

[dislvr74]

DD and I are on week 6 of the couch to 5K plan. Last night we ran 10 minutes, walked 3, and ran 10. It is so terribly hot here and we were struggling, but I think we would have been fine if we weren't under a heat advisory.

I went to the store and bought enough Lean Cuisines to get through the end of the week at work. I clearly need the structure of frozen meals to get my eating under control. I ate one for lunch and, of course, I am still hungry. I'm trying to be okay with that. I remember reading once that the only difference between fat people and thin people is that thin people are okay with feeling hungry and fat people cannot deal with that. I want to be okay with feeling a little hungry!

Food today:

strawberries and vanilla yogurt topped with grape nuts
Lean Cuisine baked potato and broccoli
20 Reeces Pieces
Trail Mix bar

planning to make eggs and turkey sausage for dinner. I will not make home fries!

 

[dislvr74]

After gaining and losing the same two pounds for three months, I'm once again revising my goals. I am commiting to tracking my calories on the mydailyplate site and have been doing really well. In the last two weeks, I have lost 4 pounds. My hope is to be within 5 pounds of my goal by our trip to WDW in December.

Running is also going pretty well, although I gave up on the running a half without any walking breaks goal. My body just isn't made for that and I wasn't enjoying training at all. I am shooting for a run 3/walk 1 pace and think I do can about 12:00 miles. That would be a significant improvement over my previous times. That's still much more running than I have ever done and something to be proud of. I want to reach my 2:45 goal at the half I am doing in November so that I can just relax and take my time during Donald.

 

[dislvr74]

ORN: 7 miles yesterday in about 1:32. Walked all of mile 6, but then did mile 7 in less than 12 minutes which is amazing for me. Did a 5K with DD today. My quads are screaming!

My goal for the weekend is to maintain 156. I tend to gain quite a bit on the weekends and will be thrilled if I can just maintain for a change.

 

[dislvr74]

I haven't run since the 5K last weekend. I've benn fighting a bad cold which has me feeling just crappy enough to keep me on the couch. I really want to get in 8 miles tomorrow, but I'm going to need to feel much better in order for that to happen!

I did lose another pound and that puts me just into the overweight BMI range. I have to lose 6 more pounds to get into the normal range.

 

[dislvr74]

Just checking in. My good news is that my pace is down to about 11:30 min/mile. The bad news is that I gained back a couple of those pounds that I lost. Lesson learned-I need to check in here more often!

I've been pretty sick for the last few weeks and haven't run very much. I need to get back on track because I only have a few weeks before my next half marathon. I realized today that I am doing 5 half marathons in the next 7 months!