Well, spring break is now over. Sob. LOL! Only kidding it was actually a really good break. I almost forgot to do my weekend blog update. What was I thinking? I got in exercise a couple of days, but stayed busy and active all of break (I did a lot of painting and yard work). I started two things while on break. First, I gave up pop for the 1200th time in my life. I figure if I keep trying, one of these times it will stick. I decided to try again after seeing two shows during break that talked about how horrible pop is for you. A fact that I already knew, but it is good to be reminded of from time to time. The second thing I am now trying is a Monday-Wednesday-Saturday running/walking schedule. On those three days I have to go for a walk or a run. If it is a run I have to run for at least a mile. If it is a walk I have to walk for at least an hour. Of course I can go for walks or runs on the other days of the week, but on those three days it is not optional. On Saturday I walked for an hour around Hobart and really enjoyed it. I love Hobart because it reminds me of my grandparents. Between these three days and my Tuesday/Thursday Zumba class, that makes for at least 5 days a week of exercise. The key is going to be forcing myself to go on Mon-Wed-Sat for the first few weeks no matter how I feel.
Anywho, those are the two things I am focusing on for the next month. My April race is next Saturday. It’s a 5K in Valpo. I wish it was more towards the middle of the month since my March race was just last weekend, but I am super excited to be running a race in Indiana instead of taking the train to Chicago.
I hope everybody has a good week, and don’t forget to eat a green thing every day.
Happy Running!
Sally
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Shamrock Shuffle
Another race is behind me. The Shamrock Shuffle was yesterday, and it was actually a pretty typical race. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary happened (not a bad thing). The weather was cold, but not horrible, and it was paradise compared to last year. Standing around before the race was horrible, and I couldn’t feel my legs for the first five minutes or so of the race due to that cold, but after that, that feeling went away and everything was fine.
I don’t have a watch anymore, so I did the same thing I did last weekend on my practice run. I went totally off of feeling and ran until I needed to walk for a bit. I feel like I walked less during this race than I normally do, however when I was running I was running slower. This probably isn’t a bad thing considering my goal is to finish a 5K one day without having to take any walking breaks.
I finished the race in 1:13:12, which is about where I figured. My goal was to finish in less than 1:15. My time is average for me, but becomes a bit depressing when I hear that I came in 25,125th place out of 25,560. 36,000 people registered for the race and 25, 560 finished.
Congratulations to my sister who finished ten minutes before me, bum hip and all, and to my cousin who ran his very first race and finished in 45:28. Slow down Derrick, you are making me look bad.
Anyway, I am starting to get mixed emotions about the Shamrock Shuffle. I love this race because it gets me pumped to start running again every spring, and it’s pretty much the only race I do that’s not a 5k, but it is getting so expensive. On top of the high registration fee, you have to pick up your race stuff the day before at Navy Pier which means two days in Chicago. The price just piles up. I guess only time will tell what I do next year.
My next race is Ringing in the Spring on April 3rd in Valpo (yeah no South Shore to run!!!) I plan on taking a couple days off and then will start training for that later this week.
Happy Running!
Sally
I don’t have a watch anymore, so I did the same thing I did last weekend on my practice run. I went totally off of feeling and ran until I needed to walk for a bit. I feel like I walked less during this race than I normally do, however when I was running I was running slower. This probably isn’t a bad thing considering my goal is to finish a 5K one day without having to take any walking breaks.
I finished the race in 1:13:12, which is about where I figured. My goal was to finish in less than 1:15. My time is average for me, but becomes a bit depressing when I hear that I came in 25,125th place out of 25,560. 36,000 people registered for the race and 25, 560 finished.
Congratulations to my sister who finished ten minutes before me, bum hip and all, and to my cousin who ran his very first race and finished in 45:28. Slow down Derrick, you are making me look bad.
Anyway, I am starting to get mixed emotions about the Shamrock Shuffle. I love this race because it gets me pumped to start running again every spring, and it’s pretty much the only race I do that’s not a 5k, but it is getting so expensive. On top of the high registration fee, you have to pick up your race stuff the day before at Navy Pier which means two days in Chicago. The price just piles up. I guess only time will tell what I do next year.
My next race is Ringing in the Spring on April 3rd in Valpo (yeah no South Shore to run!!!) I plan on taking a couple days off and then will start training for that later this week.
Happy Running!
Sally
Sunday, March 14, 2010
One Week to Go!
The Shamrock Shuffle is one week from today. The bad news is they are talking snow for next weekend, which gives me horrible flashbacks to last year. Last year we ran in the middle of a blizzard and it was the worst experience ever. The good news is I feel prepared. I am not as prepared as I could have been, but I am prepared. The reason why I say that is because the past month I pretty much left the running to the weekends. I had a whole training schedule written up and kept to the weekend schedule, but completely blew off running Monday through Friday on most weeks.
I wanted to run 5 miles this weekend, which is the distance of the Shuffle. I usually run on Saturdays, but completely blew it off yesterday. Today I spent all afternoon in a baby shower. By the time I got home it was too late to go to the gym (they close at 5:00 on Sundays). I knew that if I didn't run today, I would be mad at myself all week, so when I got home I said screw it and went for a five mile outdoors and it took me 1:14, which is about right for me. Last year because of the snow my time was a slow 1:23 and the year before that it was 1:11.
Today was the first time I have run outdoors since last summer. Usually I would say I prefer running indoors (temp and conditions are controlled and the only people watching you are the people doing the same thing), but I don't think that is the case any more. First, running outdoors seemed to go much faster today than running indoors. I usually do Galloway Running, but because I no longer have a proper watch, I was running on feeling today. I would run until I could no longer take it and then walk for a little bit. I found this worked great. It turned into a game. I would tell myself to run to a certain tree and when I got there I'd tell myself to keep going to the next tree or the next street, etc. I ended up running for longer intervals than I probably would have on the treadmill. I also found my walking breaks were shorter too. Often, I'd only be walking for a few seconds and then pick it up again. I also didn't look at my cell phone until I got back to my car. I guess what I am saying is I just enjoyed my run and wasn't a slave to a clock, which made it more enjoyable. Secondly, I notice that my muscles are a lot more tense when running on a treadmill. Maybe because I have terrible balance and always feel like I am falling off. Anywho, after today I think I will try running outdoors more often.
Next Sunday is the big day. I plan on going out to Chicago on Saturday, so my sister and I can go to Navy Pier to pick up our packets and stay out there until Sunday or Monday. Until then...
Happy Running!
Sally
I wanted to run 5 miles this weekend, which is the distance of the Shuffle. I usually run on Saturdays, but completely blew it off yesterday. Today I spent all afternoon in a baby shower. By the time I got home it was too late to go to the gym (they close at 5:00 on Sundays). I knew that if I didn't run today, I would be mad at myself all week, so when I got home I said screw it and went for a five mile outdoors and it took me 1:14, which is about right for me. Last year because of the snow my time was a slow 1:23 and the year before that it was 1:11.
Today was the first time I have run outdoors since last summer. Usually I would say I prefer running indoors (temp and conditions are controlled and the only people watching you are the people doing the same thing), but I don't think that is the case any more. First, running outdoors seemed to go much faster today than running indoors. I usually do Galloway Running, but because I no longer have a proper watch, I was running on feeling today. I would run until I could no longer take it and then walk for a little bit. I found this worked great. It turned into a game. I would tell myself to run to a certain tree and when I got there I'd tell myself to keep going to the next tree or the next street, etc. I ended up running for longer intervals than I probably would have on the treadmill. I also found my walking breaks were shorter too. Often, I'd only be walking for a few seconds and then pick it up again. I also didn't look at my cell phone until I got back to my car. I guess what I am saying is I just enjoyed my run and wasn't a slave to a clock, which made it more enjoyable. Secondly, I notice that my muscles are a lot more tense when running on a treadmill. Maybe because I have terrible balance and always feel like I am falling off. Anywho, after today I think I will try running outdoors more often.
Next Sunday is the big day. I plan on going out to Chicago on Saturday, so my sister and I can go to Navy Pier to pick up our packets and stay out there until Sunday or Monday. Until then...
Happy Running!
Sally
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