Running Lately

This was a running blog, not just life goals blog, at some point, yes? Some (disorganized) thoughts on how running has been going lately:

Running longer and consistently is making me faster. Which makes completely perfect sense...yet I still didn’t expect it. I assumed I would get more tired or wouldn’t see significant gains since I’m not doing any hard or consistent speedwork. But it’s there: my paces are getting faster; longer distances are feeling easier. Yay improvement! 

That being said...I feel like I’m at a good place, mileage- and frequency-wise, and will probably hold here around 20-25 miles/week. I can’t imagine running more than four days a week--or rather, I can, but I can’t see it being beneficial for me. I feel like I barely have enough time to squeeze in all of the cross-training I want to/should do now, and I think I’d be starting to invite injury. I don’t really have any desire to do a marathon (ever), so I think this is sufficient mileage to stay at for...a while. I could see getting above 25 miles/week for half-marathon training, but beyond that, I’ll probably chill here!

Speaking of a half-marathon...I’m toying with the idea of doing one after my 10-miler. The 10-miler is in early April, and the half is on June 1. I think it is doable to basically just keep increasing my long run mileage until then. I’m going to hold off on signing up until after the 10-miler, just to see how I’m feeling physically and mentally. I’m inclined to do it because a) I have the mileage base that I’d want for a half currently built up and b) I don’t want to train for a half-marathon in the DC heat of July/August (for a fall half). 

Despite all of my general excitement about getting faster and nice weather, etc., I've been having a little trouble getting motivated to run lately. I always end up getting out the door (with a few helpful "you'll feel better if you do" reminders from Dan!), but I'm dragging my feet not wanting to go. I'm guessing it is related to the fact that I already have done a (spoiler alert!) a ten-miler, but I'm still a month out from my race. I'm mentally ready to start building for the next challenge (half!), but scared physically to move on, fearful that I'll push my body too hard and not be able to finish the 10-miler. So I'm finding myself craving cross-training more, where there are new poses to tackle in yoga and new weights to lift at the gym. Which I suppose is not a bad thing! And ultimately, when I do finally get my butt out the door to run, I do end up feeling great afterwards, and I mostly enjoy it while I'm running too (at least after the first two miles--why do they always feel like death?!).

Other random running things 
Um--I don’t fuel or hydrate while running. It only recently occurred to me that this might be an issue, as I’m starting to run double digits and temperatures will increase soon. The blackhole of internet advice seems to recommend “fueling” (aka taking Gu or something else) for a run anywhere from 60 minutes to only on runs upwards of 18 miles, so...totally unhelpful. I think I probably can skip fueling for now though, since I've been running okay without it. Hydration, however, seems to be generally agreed on as “necessary”, no matter the run length. I don’t know--I drink tons of water all day, and then pound water or Nuun* after a run, and I realllyyyy hate carrying water while I run...sooo I’m thinking I’m going to stick with what I know for now. At least until after the race.

I’m going to miss winter running. As pleasant as the nice temperatures have been, there was something so nice about being out there solo in the cold. My usual paths are starting to fill up again as it warms up. Plus, pockets! Man, I really miss my jacket pockets when I don’t need the extra layer. I guess I need to get one of those belt contraptions to carry my phone/keys/etc. in, but my jacket was so much more convenient! [All of this said with the caveat of living in Virginia--where winter running is not real winter running!]

*I was surprised how much I like Nuun. Pleasant tasting but not so sugary/caloric that it makes me feel ill. Basically just tasty electrolyte water--aka perfect for after a longer run. 

Knees and kale

Knee pain?

Ugh I ran on Monday and cut it short to 3.5 miles. The knee pain was definitely not good--it was barely there for the first two miles but definitely started nagging after that. Blehhhh I am so frustrated. This is my first quasi-injury since starting to run (about a year ago). I'm RICEing and trying to take care of it (though I know running on it on Monday was supremely stupid), but confused. When do people go to the doctor for this kind of thing? I would rank it as uncomfortable, not painful--it edges to painful toward the end of the run/right after/if I twist it wrong, but for the most part it is just uncomfortable. So I'm not really sure what's wrong with it. Or how long to expect it to take for it to heal. I want to run! But I need to keep my eyes on the prize. There is no reason currently that I shouldn't be healed up for the race in 2.5 weeks if I properly take care of myself, so if that means missing a few shorter runs to heal then I should. Reluctantly.

Update on the Happiness Project focus at work progress tomorrow!

Workouts

Ughhh see above. 3.5 miles yesterday that felt soo good except for the whole knee thing. The weather was glorious. I got to try out my new long sleeve running top too! It is this one in a pale lavender color that I got on sale. 

Confession, I have a minor Lululemon fixation. I don't know why--I'm not a major yogi by any means, I know how terrible the company's founder was, they are overpriced...but I find it amazingly comfortable, flattering, and functional, sooo I keep buying. Anyway, the run shirt worked amazingly, so much so that I bought another in teal. It is the perfect shirt for fall weather--hopefully I'll be getting out to enjoy it more!

Today was a planned rest day. Hoping I can run tomorrow but that is definitely TBD. 

Eats

The past couple days have been mostly boring (think salads and leftovers), but tonight's dinner was quite tasty! It was my vegetarian version of a traditional meat and potatoes meal. Barbeque tofu (meh, kind of bland, I needed to let it marinade longer maybe?), roasted sweet potatoes, and some kale. I cooked the kale with red onions and apples, as in this recipe from Real Simple (without the bacon). Loved the combination of flavors.

Down home cookin'. Kind of.

And in my usual fashion, I intentionally over-portioned so that there would be lots of leftovers for the rest of the week!

Second 6 miler

On Friday morning I got up and got my long run in for the week. I took a day of "paid time off" (PTO) for a dentist appointment--and also because I just have a lot of days to use up before the end of the year! Even though I prefer doing long runs on Saturday, I decided to squeeze in the run on Friday because we were going up to Baltimore over the weekend to see family.

So this was my second 6 mile run ever (technically 6.2 since I decided to make it an even 10k). I felt fairly strong for the whole run, with enough energy left to kick it up at the end. I managed to negative split for the most part, but I think that had more to do with the fact that there was a slow gradual hill build up for the first 3 miles, and then turnaround and--yay!--gradual downhill. The hills are rolling but there's a net decline on the way back.

Here are my slow splits from RunKeeper!

mi	Pace (min/mi)	Elevation (ft)
1	12:25	87
2	12:07	1
3	11:45	-22
4	11:48	14
5	11:43	-8
6	10:52	-53
7	10:22	-14

I'm not really clear on how the elevation change works on RunKeeper because it says overall for the run the "climb" was 470 feet but if you add up the elevation column it certainly doesn't equal 470. 

Overall my average pace for the run was 11:44 with a total time of 1:12:41. I was happy with that and feel like I'm right where I want to be for the race at the end of October (4 weeks from today, wow!). 

I'm about to settle in for the Buffalo Bills game and hope to hit the gym later. I'll do a weekly workout round up later today!