Running pic

Running pic
Yup, that's me!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Here's to a full recovery! I'll drink to that!


I’m totally back baby.  Baby got back? Whatever – no more leg problems means I’m ready to run - faster! I ran 6 really slow but consecutive miles on Saturday morning on the beautiful lakefront path and I felt fine – no twinges.  My running buddy and I did mix it up a bit with the Bunny Rock 5K people about a mile from my car – one guy even teased us and asked if we had taken a short cut – it made me remember why I’m not a huge fan of running on the lakefront path. Then I took Sunday off – if you can consider a super-hard yoga sculpt class a recovery day. Yesterday I did a 6-miler at a much faster pace than I planned on (thanks Monica…) but it went really well and nothing hurt at all – during or after! I switched back to my beloved Newtons to run in last night and I’m in love again. I had forgotten how light they are and how fast they make me feel. Seriously – go get a pair. Unless you need a ton of stability, then they’re probably not for you.  But, since the speedier pace didn't seem to kill me I guess I can start pushing things a little bit and I hope to get in on the weekly speedwork sessions at Fleet Feet leading up to the Ravenswood Run.

I looked at my mileage totals for the year and I think even with February having only 45.75 miles and March having the completely dismal total of 35.5 miles (counting walking and swimming and the little bit of running at the end) I can still make 1000 miles for 2013. There are 8 months left and I have to run 807 miles – about 100 miles per month.  I can totally do that now that I’m healed. I’m planning on running 6 on Wednesday at the Fleet Feet Chicks Night run and then 5 on the Friday long loop in the morning and then Shuffling the Shamrock on Sunday for an additional 5 – that will be 22 for this week.  Then next week I want to step it up and start doing 8-milers on Monday and Wednesday and then longer runs on weekends - like 10-12 miles.  I have to get in Ragnar shape and then there’s that pesky Green Bay half-marathon in May that I’m doing with two friends. I really, really don’t want to get left in the dust by them because, I’ll admit it, I’m vain and I’ve got better times than both of them on the record books despite their being like 15 years younger than me and I'd like to keep it that way (the better times, not the 15 years older - I'd TOTALLY fix that if I could).  I’ll have to employ my secret weapon: an iPod shuffle filled with crappy techno hits and top 40 remixes. I use it so that I. WILL. RUN. TO. THE. BEAT. OR. ELSE. It’s cheesy, but it seems to work pretty well. I know that if I miraculously became an elite runner I'd have to give up my audio crutch but since that won't be happening anytime soon I don't see a reason to stop using the iPod.

In other news I secretly signed up my husband for a half marathon in September. I’m sure he’s going to kill me, but he did recently say that he thinks he’d like to try running one so I took the thought and made it a reality. I found a local-ish half that runs on crushed limestone trails and is mostly flat – what’s not to love? It’s a week after our annual vacation where he runs a ton because he loves the paths so much – similar paths to the one the half is on – get my thinking? It’s not that he doesn’t run and I’m springing this on him to get him to start – in fact he’s the reason that I started running – but he usually only goes out for 40 minutes or so and considers himself done. I have gotten him to do 5K’s and an occasional 10K with me in the past and I’d love it if he turned it up a notch and ran further (farther? I never know which one to use) because then he might consider doing long runs with me. I signed myself up too and I’m considering splurging for a hotel room for the night before the race so we don’t have to drive so far in the morning (he hates getting up early for races). Now, how and when do I break the news to him? Right away so he has time to prepare or should I wait a month or two since he’ll have started his annual running program by then? Thoughts?
Here's the rest of my week: Tonight: spin class, Wednesday: Hard Core Class, 6-mile run, Thursday: Yoga Sculpt, Spin, Friday: 5-mile run, swim? Saturday: work all day at the Shamrock Shuffle Expo - come see me at the Fleet Feet Womens Half-Marathon booth!, Sunday: Shuffle, Yoga Sculpt.
See you all on Monday with an expo and race report for the Shamrock Shuffle!

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you have a great time at the Shamrock Shuffle. It looks like the weather is going to be ideal.

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