Sunday, November 26, 2006

 

Just Another Day Of Training

I was very tempted to stay in bed this Sunday but convinced myself to get up and go to practice. Once there I felt much better and was glad I hadn't backed out.

Nothing too exciting to report on for today's training. We did a shorter run and then did some drills and then ran back to the meeting point. I'm still feeling a little slow and wish I could increase my speed a little more. Perhaps in time.

Friday, November 24, 2006

 

Did I Actually Sign Up For This On Thanksgiving Morning?

So I actually did it and actually managed to get up and do the 9.5 mile trail run on Thanksgiving day. I really thought I'd wind up backing out since I went out wednesday night and since registration for the trail run was free. But despite having only had 2 hours and 45 mins of sleep I dragged myself out of bed and made it to the trail run in plenty of time to start with the early (slow) runners.

I was happy to see that a few other people from my training group made it out as well so I wouldn't be running alone. However, our coach who encouraged us to do the run was a no show. This would be my first trail run and I knew going into the run that it would be tough, however, I don't think I realized how tough it actually would be. It was very cold when we started, so I was anxious to get going. We started going on the trail and it wasn't too bad in the beginning since we were just running along a little trail and having to walk across the creek beds since they were rocky. It was a little annoying b/c the trail was only really wide enough for one person and I really don't like setting the pace for people behind me. It was also a little tight and the branches would sometimes hit up against my legs. But still this wasn't that big of a deal, and once I stepped to the side and let the quicker runners pass me I was feeling a little better about the run. However, shortly after that came the hills. Now I had heard that there would be hills that we'd definitely have to walk up, however, I didn't realize they'd be difficult to even walk up and that half of the 9 miles would be extremely steep inclines that never gave. Once we hit the hills I was back with most of the other TNT members and together we attempted the hills. We had to walk up them and even that was quite a challenge. The toughest part was that they kept going up and up and never leveled off, not even for a little bit. Everytime we thought we had finally reached the top we turned the corner to see more incline. At this point I was miserable and trying to figure why the heck I had actually woken up so early on Thanksgiving day to put myself through this, but was happy that at least registration was free and that I hadn't paid to put myself through this. Now the "run" was in the hills of Pacific Palisades and well was absolutely beautiful, but it was rather difficult to fully enjoy it as I was just feeling so tired and worn down and miserable from all the hills.

I wound up running pretty much the whole thing with a friend of one of the girls on my team as the other girls managed to go on a little quicker than the two of us. Her and I had a great time together though and it definitely made it easier and more fun having her there to chat with the whole time. The hills did start getting more gradual and a little easier to handle, however, my left knee was killing me and only got worse as I went on. People passing us kept trying to encourage us that it'd get better and start going down hill eventually however, I was skeptical that there was a downhill section as it seemed we just kept getting told that and yet just kept going uphill.

We eventually hit the half way mark and sure enough we finally started heading downhill. This however acuatlly hurt my knee more and made it a little tough. After one stop to stretch a little and one stop to walk down a slop that was a little too steep and hurting my knee too much we managed to run the entire second half and did the entire run in about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Not an amazing time considering the distance, but considering the trail I was very very pleased with the time.

Well so I've now officially completed my first trail run and I am rather pleased with myself, however, I rank it as one of the toughest things I have ever done. I'm not so sure I'll be joining the trail runners club, but perhaps I'll attempt another trail run one day.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

 

But The Sun Isn't Even Up

So I managed to yet again get up on Tuesday morning to make my morning run at 6 a.m. with 3 other members of our team. It was still dark out, which just seems wrong to me, and I was rather groggy but I made it.

We for some reason decided to take a route with more hills and well it was much more difficult for me this time but again I survived.

However, the blisters and knee troubles returned. My knee is ok after I run, but my feet are covered in blisters and are gross and now the blisters hurt.

Well tomorrow morning, Thursday, I'm supposed to get up and run a 9.5 mile trail run in the Pacific Palisades. I hope to make it but am not sure I'll be able to get up early enough. We'll see and I'll keep you updated.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

 

She's Going The Distance!

So today we bumped up our distance and went out for an eight mile run. I don’t think I’ve ever actually run eight straight miles so I was a little excited and a little worried at first.

I wasn’t feeling my best this morning when I woke up and just overall felt more exhausted than normal and really felt like my body was in need of more rest. However, I talked myself out of bed and made it to the run knowing it would probably be a rough run today since I wasn’t feeling that great. Then I got there and found out it’d be an eight mile run and well then knew it’d be a rough run.

The run started off pretty bad despite the fact that we were taking it pretty slow and the purpose was to focus more on going the distance over the time. For about the first mile and a half to two miles my leg muscles were burning and really hurting me. This is normal, it just doesn’t usually last this long. So that was a little upsetting and discouraging. However, for some reason I suddenly started feeling a million times better and was able to pick up the pace a bit and keep going.

However, this time my knee troubles came back and so did my blisters. This was upsetting since I had thought those problems were gone now with the new shoes. Still not sure why it started, perhaps it was just the longer distance. The good thing was none of it was too much to make me stop and I actually continued on my run.

I managed to get through the run with only one stop, at the water/food station, as I had worked up quite an appetite so had to make the pit stop for a banana and power bar bite. This is another great benefit of training with Team in Training since they set up water/food stations along our routes. After refueling I went back to the run and managed to run all the way back in.

I felt pretty good once I had finished which was surprising since I had just run what was probably my longest distance. So perhaps this training is already working !

Saturday, November 18, 2006

 

What's Motivating Me

So as most of you know CBS reporter Ed Bradley recently passed away due to Leukemia. As a result there has been some attention on Leukemia, which is what I'm running to help cure and raising money for. Below is an article you can read for some more information on Leukemia.

More on Leukemia

Also please be sure to check out my links on the left where you can visit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's page, Team In Training's page, my team's page, my own personal fundraising page, and I've also included a fun link to Map My Run where you can map any run and it will tell you the distance you ran or will run and has additional features too that can tell you how many calories you burned, etc.

Well please check back frequently as I'll be trying to update this often.

 

So I'm Running A Marathon

Well I wanted to start this blog so I could share with everyone my experiences while training for my first marathon.

The way the training works is that every sunday morning I'll be meeting my group to do our long runs here in Santa Monica. Outside of that we are supposed to do two shorter runs midweek. We are given a run schedule and have the option to do the runs on our own or to meet with members of our group that meet at various times and places throughout the week.

Now I've only been training for two weeks so it's still early and our runs are averaging about 4-5 miles. My first sunday was a little rough as I was pretty out of shape and hadn't run for a few months and we went out for about a 4-5 mile run. I was so happy to be running with the group though as I met some great people who really helped encourage me to keep running and really helped me get through it.

We also had a shoe clinic on my first sunday where they had someone come in and discuss what kind of shoes we should be wearing as well as clothing, etc. The man who spoke to us was from a run store in Venice and he encouraged us to come to his store for shoe fittings and would then give us a discount on everything in the store. So I went to his store the following Tuesday as I was pretty sure that my shoes were horrible as my feet were covered in blisters and my knee was killing me after Sunday's run. The guy at the store was very helpful and really took a lot of time to analyze my feet and walking style to ensure I had the proper shoes. He had me try on a few different shoes and try each one out on the tread mill and after three shoes I finally settled on a pair. The surprising thing was that I actually wound up with a size 8 1/2 which is surprising considering I'm usually a size 6 or 6 1/2 and have never gone over a size 7. But the 8 1/2 actually felt good and so far I can notice a world of difference with these shoes. My knee has stopped hurting since wearing the shoes, and no more blisters! I also had to get a special sock that fits like a glove since I have trouble with my pinky toe slipping over and cutting the neighbor toe. They're kind of weird but it's helped so much. In addition to all of this I also purchased some better running gear and since using all this the runs feel so much better. It's really amazing how much shoes and clothing can really make a difference.

After all of that I did my mid week runs on my own on tuesday and thursday. Then on Sunday I had my second Sunday training and this time I was decked out in proper gear. We went on a long run which was so much better than the week prior. However, this time we ran to the Santa Monica Steps which are two sets of stairs running down a huge slop. Lots of people use them to train on and this week we were to walk down one set and "run" up the second. Well I got maybe half way up with running before I thought I was going to die. I walked up the remaining half with my mentor and by the time I got to the top my legs felt like rubber and I could barely breathe. But thanks to my mentor's support I managed to continue running as we head back down San Vicente to Ocean and back to where we started. It was a tough workout that kept my calves hurting for a few days after.

This last week we finally had the organized runs mid week with mentors so believe it or not I actually got up and met one group at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and did a great morning run with them. I did my second midweek run on Thursday evening and again had a great run.

So now we're up to date on my training so far. This Sunday will be my third Sunday run with the group and I hear we're going to bump up the distance this time so we'll see how I handle it.

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