Wednesday, April 28, 2010

at least I crossed the finish line

Sorry this is way later than it should've been. So the race was last Saturday. It was my second 5K (the first being this past Thanksgiving). Results the first time was 37:41. Results this time was 34:54. A little better, but didn't hit my goal of 32 minutes.

To my surprise, I was pretty upset with myself. I think it's because I've been working on becoming a better runner since January and putting a lot of effort into it, but life happens and gets in the way of training. As we all know, consistency is key. I got really sick and didn't run for a week and a half in February, For a couple weeks in March I was home with my family when my great-grandmother got sick. And this month I sprained my foot and didn't run on it for two weeks. It's LIFE. It happens!

HOWEVER...the two martinis I had the night before the race did not just "happen" and was a choice. The wrong choice. Never ever ever again. I almost barfed my gatorade halfway through. After A MILE AND A HALF. Lame lame lame.

I was pretty sore all over after the race since I got so out of shape after my sprain, so I took off 3 days (of running). Today was my first day back on the mill and I decided to go back to week 4 of the couch to 5K. I used the podcasts. It got a little tough in the middle but I was able to really push it at the end. I think tomorrow I will crosstrain and then Friday do the week 4 workout again. If I feel like I'll be able to move on to the 8min and 5min intervals (now on 5min and 3min) then that will be Sunday. If not, I'll just do another day of week 4. I've always had a problem of rushing this because there are "soooo many people who can just run forever and it's not fair". Way to think like a 13 year old! It takes time and consistency. I want to do this right because I love running. I love the feeling. I love the feeling after I run. I love the changes that have happened to my body. I love that my heart is able to pump blood through my body much easier. I love that it has caused me to eat better since crappy food and running are not friends. EVERYTHING!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

oh hello!

Welcome to my fancy new blog! I assure you, this will in no way be interesting or entertaining. It's mostly a place where I can talk about my runs without boring the pants off of my friends/family and keep track of my workouts.

But just in case the cutesy little catchy title stolen (with love) from the soulful singer Adele piqued your interest, here's a little about what I'm doing.

I was always the type of person who would create really absurd "weight loss plans" for myself and I thought I was so smart and it was going to be GROUNDBREAKING and I would lose like 50 lbs in a week. I think we all know how these things end up. So enter now: 25, in a full time double master's program in Boston, and a bit of a chub. The truth is, this blog is getting a late start. Every Thanksgiving, my best friend (www.simmiecakes.com) does our local 5K with the cute little title: the Feaster Five. So every year she'd run the race, then I'd meet her out for breakfast...on Thanksgiving. Makes a lot of sense yes? This past fall, while I was tipping the scales at 185 lbs (I'm 5'8"), I told her in October I'm going to do the 5K with her. It's a fun run/walk, so I knew that there would be a lot of other walkers if I really couldn't run it.

I printed (actually wrote by hand since my printer was busted) the trusty old "Couch to 5K" plan (C25K as the cool people call it. At first I thought it was a plan to run a 25K and I was like oh HELL no). I followed it, sort of, until I was hit by the SWINE. Knocked me right off my ass for 2 weeks, the first 2 weeks of November. Enter sadface here. After I felt better the race was quickly approaching so I got in a few solid runs. Solid meaning running my first ever mile in 10 minutes. So I could do one mile...but 3.1 seemed impossible. I was excited and really nervous, but so curious to see what these 5Ks were all about. I ran it with my superstar track athlete friend, who stayed with me and motivated me the whole time, and finished in 37:41. An absolutely craptastic time for a 5K, but I felt amazing, alive, changed. I never looked back.

So here I am, about to do my second 5K this Saturday. My goal is 32 minutes (I did it in 31 minutes a few weeks ago on the treadmill). I was out of commission for two weeks when I got my very first running injury! It sucked but I felt wicked cool, naturally. It wasn't even anything major. My left foot swelled up for a week and a half and hurt like a mother. I went to the doc and got x-rays done, and there was nothing there. I asked him if I was being a giant baby, and he said it was probably a sprain and yes, I was a giant baby. AWESOME!

My foot stopped hurting literally 4 days ago, so I've been running like crazy to try to make up for the two weeks of lost time. I still did exercises where my feet were immobilized though, like the elliptical, bike, and lots of arms and ab work.

Oh I also lost 20 lbs, but honestly I'm not sure if I would've stuck with it if I didn't get brutally dumped by my boyfriend in January. I replaced my boyfriend with this new hobby, and now that the pain of the breakup is long gone, the running is now a habit. As we all know, running and cheeseburgers are not best friends, so I made a lot of changes to my diet too. I replaced ramen noodles and cheez-its with greek yogurt and zucchini. A lot of the weight that I packed on was also attributable to working at a not-so-good-for-you chain restaurant for 5 years. "Just one fry" every 10 minutes really adds up.

So there's the gist, the very long gist.

Today was a rest day (except for crunches and stretching) .I ran or cross trained the past 4 days. My last run is tomorrow. I'm thinking 2.5 miles or so. Friday I will rest again, and Saturday I will run 3.1 in 32 min or bust!