The Training Blog of newbierunner » Sweat365 » Fitness Community

Run - 0 hours - 11/07/2008

newbierunner — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Workout: Type: Run Date: 11/07/2008 Time: 15:00:00 Distance: 16 miles

Run - 0.7 hours - 10/26/2008

newbierunner — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Workout: Type: Run Date: 10/26/2008 Time: 19:00:00 Total Time: 00:39:10.00 Distance: 4 miles Average Pace: 9:47.28/mile

keeping little runners motivated

newbierunner — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:52:33 +0000

I love taking the squirts on a race, and today was an illustration of why. It was in support of a parochial school in town, and they had a big spread of goodies for runners, which always goes over well with my crew! The 5K and 10K are a little much for my small kids, but they also offered a 1K, which meant I could include my kindergartener (he can be tough to keep on the race route!) The race had a Halloween theme, so they got to dress up…and waiting for each of them at the finish line was a ribbon and a little prize envelope. Stuff like that makes the whole thing a lot more meaningful for little ones who could give two rips about cardiovascular status and building endurance. Hand them a ribbon and a slip for free bowling, and they have had a good day! My daughter won a free spaghetti dinner once and was just tickled…and she doesn’t even like spaghetti! “I won Mom, look!” Race organizers around here really do a nice job making it special for kids. Hopefully it will keep them running when they grow big!

Run - 0.5 hours - 10/03/2008

newbierunner — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:00:00 +0000

A 5K! It feels great to have come back this far, and also weird to think how far I have to go. Right before surgery in August, I was running fair distances and feeling good. Once I’d gone under the knife, I couldn’t get my own socks on and off. This marks my first 5K since those days. It’s a little unsettling to have this level of afterburn in my muscles with a run of this length, but then…why do any of us engage in endurance sports? Is it a mad need to prance around in skin tight running gear? A compulsion to rack up a monstrous collection of race tees? Alright, that’s one that spurs me a lot…but I think most of us have some need that runs along the same vein…the adrenaline buzz is what many call it. The need to push, to achieve, to see just what we’re capable of. What bigger rush than to strive for that next level, and have your efforts greeted with success? “Yeah, I *can* do this!” My little setback gives me a chance to relive those earlier milestones. That’s not such a bad deal. I think I’ll keep running the 5Ks for a couple weeks until I get better acclimated, and then start training hard. The marathon is in June!

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 10/03/2008
Time: 15:00:00
Total Time: 00:31:00.00
Distance: 3.1 miles
Average Pace: 10:00/mile

Officially hooked

newbierunner — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:04:17 +0000

OK, so I’m nuts…got my newsletter from the local track club, and though I said the kids and I were done running races for the year (I’m three weeks out from surgery), I was soon poring over the fall race schedule. There’s a bunch of short ones…I’ll be ok for a little ol 1k in a few weeks, right?
I know…I’ll square it with the doc on the 8th before I go blowing stitches in front of a horrified crowd (though it would be just the thing for this halloween run). But what’s buzzing round my head isn’t so much the races, it’s the need to be in the race loop. I was talking to a friend just recently who is going through a process I am well familiar with, the road to a gastric bypass. I told her that one critical step to success is to *replace* that food addiction with something positive, citing things like running, martial arts and yarn that have worked for me. I only credited any of those three with partial addiction, but as I sit here and try to will my incisions to heal, I know I’m totally hooked!

Health:

Date: 08/31/2008

Walk - 0.4 hours - 8/28/2008

newbierunner — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 22:37:24 +0000

Well, today was a royal kick up the jacksey! On August 11th, I had surgery that left a belt incision around my waist, so I knew running would be out of my picture for a while. Back in my heavyset days, this would have been a glorious excuse to loaf for a few weeks. As much as my doc tells me to take it easy, I can feel that little devil on my shoulder, prodding me to turn back to my old, sluggish ways. I felt that a solid act of rebellion was in order, so today I hit the treadmill, huzzah!
OK, I wasn’t a total fool about it. I used to cool down at 3.5 miles an hour, so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad to knock out 1.5 miles at that pace. My heart and legs weren’t taxed very much at all, but my sutures are mighty snuuuugggg. I feel like a sudden bend at the waist in any direction would make the stitches just bust open! Sorry if that’s TMI, but I wanted to illustrate my biggest obstacle right now. And keep focused on the prize…the reason for this surgery was losing a bunch of weight, I had the skin trimmed up! All the more reason to keep moving! That’s the thing about losing weight…it’s a race with no finish. I suppose it’s not too different for thin people trying to maintain.
So that’s it for today. I think tomorrow will be martial arts, I don’t want that to slip either. I’ll just go slllooooowwwwww!

Workout:

Type: Walk
Date: 08/28/2008
Time: 22:37:24
Total Time: 00:25:30.00
Distance: 1.5 miles
Average Pace: 16:59.83/mile

Post op comeback!

newbierunner — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:49:16 +0000

Well, surgery happened Monday, and things went fine. Now for the business of getting better! The doc said no serious exertion for about six weeks…*not* what I wanted to hear! I was hoping to be back in martial arts classes in four weeks, maybe starting to run. Well…maybe not so much in four weeks. One thing positive….the old me, who was 100 pounds heavier, would have said “six weeks without exercise, hallelujah! Can we stretch it to eight?” The new me wants to find a way around restrictions. I know, do what the doc says…at the same time, I need to stay in this headspace, where I’m getting a little tweaky cause I can’t run, swim, jump kick, whatever.
Like so many of us, I have an addictive personality. I was stuck on food for many years, and for a stretch, I was also hooked on nicotine. Scientists have started making claims that using drugs, alcohol and overeating stimulate the same pleasure centers in the brain. Ironically, those pleasure centers can also be roused by the endorphins released during exercise. The trick is to make exercise the addiction. I need to stay in this headspace, where the activity is what I want, even when I can’t have it.

Workout:

Type: Walk
Date: 08/14/2008
Time: 22:24:32
Distance: 1 miles

Last race of the summer!

newbierunner — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Le sigh, le bummer…Today was the last race I’ll be part of for a while, and probably the last of the year for the kids. Monday I go in for surgery, so it will be late september before the doc gives me the ok to power walk, let alone tear up the roads. As someone who used to be very heavy, it’s strange to realize how much I will miss both the running and martial arts. Who’d have thought?
The kids ran too, as I mentioned…my girl did well, as professed by one race volunteer “your daughter flew through here!” I tried not to let my chest puff up too much! As for the boys…sigh, hehe…my older son has begun the struggle with his weight, and with this comes some indifference towards athletic pursuits. He goes along, but just isn’t that into it. How much do you push? I don’t want to make running a chore. My littlest guy poses even more challenges. While his weight isn’t an issue, he is young, and autistic. I’m not sure how much he even understands about being in a race, though I want to keep him involved in family stuff. Getting him through a race has consisted of “Mommy’s gonna getcha!” and chasing him. He wasn’t going for that today, so I carried him for about half the distance! Maybe two miles was a little ambitious. So while my girl rocketed past Daddy’s snapping camera, the boys and I took up the last three places. Ah well…we did what mattered…everyone finished (learn about goals, my dumplings!), no one got hurt, and we all had fun commandeering the playground afterward, woohoo!

Workout:

Type: Walk
Date: 08/09/2008
Time: 07:00:00
Total Time: 00:40:00.00
Distance: 2 miles
Average Pace: 20:00/mile

Not the best day

newbierunner — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:16:38 +0000

The following contains a fair bit of moaning and feeling sorry for myself. For those who are whine impaired, discretion is advised.
So I went to Tae Kwon Do class, and was looking forward to having it. This would be my last session before surgery, so I’m sure leaves would be falling before I tried any more jump kicks. Class is in the wrestling room at the high school, so the floor is covered with mats. While this usually is an advantage (much nicer to land on), today it backfired. I was just starting a turn kick when my baby toe slipped into a small crevice between the mats. In a fraction of a second, all of my foot turned drastically to the left, while that baby toe stayed behind, much to my regret. I can’t say how far that toe bent, but it felt like a solid ninety degrees, straight sideways. Yeowch! I bluffed through class and am now icing my dainty piggies. Sadly, it was too late to call into work, so now I sit on the hospital unit, still icing. Could be worse, at least it’s not a day shift.
Just to add to the picture a bit, Saturday is the last race that the kids and I will have this summer. It’s a two miler, and I really need to run, because my autistic son is registered. He won’t be clear on what to do, and I don’t feel right asking one of my other kids to babysit him when their focus should be on their own run. This toe has got to shape up! I should mention that come Monday, I’ll be having surgery and will be wallowing in bedrest and pain meds, so at that point my foot won’t matter much.
All this had made for a funny-stupid kind of day, but the last bit is what really bites. I just got an email from my husband. He’d had the sweetest cat, a little ball of white fuzz named Snowball. Snowball had been our baby for years, but didn’t like it when actual babies came along, so he went to my husband’s mother’s house to live. This email now tells me that Snowball had developed cancer, and was put to sleep a couple days ago. I keep thinking about how he would come up and “headbutt” you when he wanted a snuggle, and how crazy he would get when he got hold of a drinking straw (the best toy in the world!) I feel like crying. Hopefully my co workers will think it’s my foot and just roll their eyes. I don’t think I’ll be able to talk about it just yet.
So this has been my sucko day. For anyone who read it through, thanks for listening!

RIP Snowball
10-31-90 8-5-08

Workout:

Type: Other
Date: 08/07/2008
Time: 19:00:00
Total Time: 1:00:00.00

Run - 0.6 hours - 8/06/2008

newbierunner — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Tempo run today. I have to research more about what my max pulse should be. Turns out I’m not 18 anymore (oh crap, when did that happen?)
:0)

Workout:

Type: Run
Date: 08/06/2008
Time: 15:00:00
Total Time: 00:35:05.00
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:46.32/mile