And then I struggled

After having a terrific run/yoga combo on Saturday, the run on Monday sucked.

I can't belief this is all I walked.  At several points, I actually just thought I will give up and walk the rest of the way home.  I couldn't get my cadence right to save my life. I kept starting and stopping until I was so close to home, I thought what the heck.  I was able to pull out the last three minutes to finish.  


I'm glad I didn't give up, but this run side-tracked me the rest of the week.  I let work become the priority or the excuse so much that I didn't even strength train or cross train except for a measly 20 minutes on the bike trainer.


I did get up on run Saturday morning before hubby left for work.  He had to work both days this weekend, so I knew this was my shot.  And so glad I went.  The next neighborhood over was having a yard sale, and it happened this was the weekend I decided I needed a different route.  

Much better.  Had to dodge a number of people and cars but hopefully this slowed me down a bit.  I don't know where this need to be faster has come from.  I try to slow myself up so I can focus on the cadence, but it's not working so well.


There's always this week.  


The plan is:
Monday - Strength training
Tuesday - Run 3 miles
Wednesday - Strength train, 20' on bike trainer
Thursday - Run 3 miles
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Run 4 miles

I'm a Runner

I was looking at my schedule for this weekend. I wanted to try a community yoga class offered by Lululemon, and it was close to my house. So a crazy thought crossed my mind, maybe I could run to yoga. When I mapped it, it came out to 2.8 miles. I thought, I could do that. Except for a very large hill. And how would I get my yoga mat there because I'm too weirded out to borrow a mat. And how would I get back home because running there is one type of crazy but running back would be insane.

So what does a crazy person do next, casually bring up this idea. To which, my husband threw out every excuse blocking my way. Except the hill because even he can't move mountains (not really a mountain, but you know what I mean). He said, "I'll bring your mat. And I'll pick you up after the class." Well, maybe my idea is not as crazy as I thought.

Then I mentioned it to a couple of other people who were nothing but encouraging. Dang it, now I should probably just do it. I tried to talk myself out of it, but guilt got the best of me. So, I'm glad people knew of my pseudo plan, because that's what actually made me do it.

Yoga class starts at 10:45, but because the class and instructor is popular, I knew I should be there a little early. I left the house at 9:52, and hubby would meet me at 10:30.

First mile 9:37, what the heck? Too fast even for a short run, slow down because there is really big hill coming up.

Second mile 10:15, still fast for me and I did walk a few seconds up the hill when my cadence dropped. But I made it to the top. I stopped to catch my breath and get some water because I haven't mastered running, breathing and drinking all at the same time.

0.53 mile 5:09, little shorter than I thought. And I made it there with time to spare.

Total time 25:02, 2.53 miles, avg SPM 170

Then I had a great yoga class. It was almost New York style (two fingers between mats) because it was so crowded. The instructor had us laughing at the end.

I'm so glad I did this. It's great to break out of your comfort zone. Even if it's so you can say, "Yeah, I did that." The old me wouldn't have had a ITB healthy enough to try crazy things like this. Glad everything is working as it should.

So, what's next? And I know many of you do much crazier things than this, so I don't think I'm tough. I'm just inspired by those I read.

Jelly Bean Virtual Run

Today, hubby and I ran the virtual run sponsored by Run with Jess. Since we just completed the Monument 10K last Saturday, we opted for the 5k. I ran as Jilly Bean, hubby was Mac Bean, and little guy was C. Mac.

Someone wanted to run with us, and had a mini-meltdown when we left. But Grammy came in to save the day. We did have a quick race down to the next mailbox and back, and that helped some.

This is the first run hubby and I have done together in probably 10 years. We clipped along at my slow pace (still working on my cadence), which was easy for both of us.

We finished around 32:30, (two different times depending on whose Garmin you go by). We are huge techie nerds when it comes to stuff like this. Average pace, 10:34, and my average cadence was 87. Somehow, my watch is telling me I only burned 142 calories (14 the first mile, 34 the second). Anyone else have this problem with calories being off?

We are going to try a bike road tomorrow, nice and easy to see if I can get the hang of road riding. Wish me luck. My goal is to keep upright .... simple enough, I hope.

Monument 10K, 2012 (the numbers)

I couldn't be happier with the run I had on Saturday. For once, so many things went right after three years of trying. I have battled right side ITB through Monument Ave 10K 2010 and 2011 and HCA 8K 2011. A smarter person may have just given up, but I kept at it with a lot of reading about ITB and gait retraining, very supportive friends and husband, an awesome group of Mother Runners, and an extremely cool Garmin watch that counted every foot strike.

When you add all those things together and throw in some butterfly wings, anything is possible.