Running after vacation ends

I have been a fat, lazy ass the past week. John & I took the kids to the beach for a long weekend and I didn't do one bit of exercise, running, nothing! Unless laying on the beach looking for young, hot surfers counts as exercise. I did boogie board the last day there, so I will take that as a workout ;) We got back home super late Monday night & I got back to the gym yesterday. I only did it to attempt to lose the 3 pounds and poochy stomach I had gained while stuffing my face with unhealthy food for several days. I ran 2 miles & thought I would die. Running after indulging on vacation for 5 days is NOT an easy task! I was a hot mess. I am attempting to get back on track with my running again. I got up early this morning to head out, but not before I slather every inch of exposed skin with SPF 55 sunscreen. I think I found an old lady wrinkle running down the middle of my chest, so I am freaking out! All this sun CAN'T be good, right?

Anyways, I tried to get outside by 5:40ish to avoid as much of the heat as possible, but didn't leave until 15 minutes later. I had mapped out a 4.6 mile course last night that I was attempting today. SCORE! I did it!! It felt so good to be running, with my lungs on fire and my breathing all loud & ragged....it just felt great to be moving like that again! It was hot. And my first half of the run was uphill, but I enjoyed it so that I could enjoy the downhill part that much more. But it felt l-o-n-g and I felt like I was running in slow motion. I had to take a very short walk break just to regroup my thoughts and concentrate on how fast {...or slow...} I needed to be moving. All in all, it was a good run. I did have to take 3 walk breaks, so short & insignificant that I almost don't want to mention them, but I would feel like I was "cheating" if I didn't say anything ;) My calves are throbbing like crazy right now & I definitely feel a strain in my knees & ankles. I think I will stay at 4 and a half miles for the next week or 2, at a slow & easy pace {uhhhh, my normal pace} then try to build up my speed after I can "easily" do my 4.5 miles. *sigh* It's a work in progress.

No fun

So I've been a slacker since Friday. I had a crazy, busy weekend with Emma's dance recital & dance commitments we made, so I feel like I've been nonstop. My mind has been in La-La Land the past couple of days and I been feeling out of sorts. Not motivated to get out there. I was set to go running yesterday morning, but when my alarm rang, I just could not get myself out of bed...so I didn't. I had every intentions on running last night, but that went out the window as soon as the kids went to bed. I was drained. I DID set my alarm for 5:15 this morning, but totally slept through the damn thing! John & I went to the gym and I decided that I should probably run on the treadmill. Yikes...no fun at all! I love how easy it is for my body to run a few miles. I DON'T love how damn boring the treadmill is! I feel like I run so much slower and a few miles takes SO much longer! It's no wonder hamsters have a life-span of only a couple of years...they're so bored running on their damn wheel, going nowhere, that I bet they PRAY for a short life! How miserable. I literally could not run if I had to run on the treadmill day in and day out. It was pure torture. If it wasn't for the effervescent goodness of my nuun drink {it's like a party in my mouth!}, I would have hurled myself in front of the feet of the person running next to me, in hopes that I would be trampled to death just so I could be out of my misery ;) That will teach me to sleep in when I should be up & out the door. I do have to say though, when I don't run for a few days, I sure miss it. I feel good that I was at least able to run today. You can bet that I won't sleep through another alarm though :)

Damn dog

What a frustrating morning already! I have come to enjoy the mornings I get to wake up at 5:15 and go for a run. It's mentally cleansing for me. This morning was not one of those times. As I'm sitting here, I'm already forming a headache, I'm not in a great frame of mind...and I have a hugely long day ahead of me. John & I started bickering the second we got up for something I can't even remember {I know...it was THAT important!}, so he decided not to run with me cause he hated my guts [and I hated his}, then I being the dumb ass that I am, had the BRIGHT idea to take our fat-ass, overweight 60 pound pitt-bull on a run instead! WTF? Anyone who knows me AT ALL knows that although I own 2 dogs, I'm not a dog lover. These dogs are a part of our household simply because I have kids {and a husband}. I prefer my dogs to have a life-span of less than 10 years {3 years, ideally}...BUT I do like them because they're my dogs. I know better than to take my stupid dog for a walk...let alone a run: she does NOT listen to me at all. So as we start on our run, Jerk-Face {not her real name} is ALL over the effin' place. She's sniffing here & there for the first half mile until I can get to a street where there's no dogs. She does somewhat OK until I get back on the side streets closer to my house. There are dogs going ballistic all over the damn place! And Jack-Ass is yanking my arm out of it socket to try to crash through people's fences to get to the other dogs. This is all not even 3 miles into my run! OK and get this: every damn morning when I run by myself, I might see a rabbit...as in ONE rabbit. Today? I saw probably no less than 3,459 of those little bastards all over the place! And you know why? Because I had my damn dog with me who attempted to chase every single one she saw. I was so pissed by this point that I cut my run short and walked my dog home, praying a train would appear out of nowhere so I could push her in front of it. So I only got 3.75 miles in today, with maybe 3.25 of that a run...a broken up run. That will be the last time Dummy comes with me. I feel frustrated and not at all energized or accomplished. I'm going back to bed :/

4 miles

I did it! I was a little stressed last night thinking about how long it would take me to run 4 miles...surely foreseeing over an hour. Good to know it only took me about 48 minutes. Not great, but far exceeding what I thought my slow ass was capable of! It didn't help that the wind was blowing against me all the way back, so I felt like I was running extra slow. Not fun! I need to remember not to map runs that are one long continuous stretch of almost a mile & a half. Meaning, I ran one straight line for over a mile, and it felt like it was 6 miles...it was worse coming back! It is so much better for me {mentally} to have little stretches of side streets thrown in to break up the monotony. I did use my ipod today, which I'm not sure if I actually enjoyed it or not, but I guess it gave me something else to focus on besides my own breathing. I wanted so badly to cut my run short. My knees started hurting, which only started right after I did the mud run, my calves were hurting, but I was not PHYSICALLY unable to keep going. Once again, that's where my mental blocks come in. But I knew if I just walked home, I'd be really pissed all day, so I finished up and was not dying as I came into the house. Score! So happy I made it, and SUPER happy to be done for the day.
Note to self: May need new running hat. Noticed my shadow as I was running and saw that my head looked slightly cone-shaped. Damn hat. It IS the hat.....right?

Yay!

I seriously was not going to get up this morning. My alarm, once again, annoyed me @ 5:15am. But I was feeling like crap: my calves hurt, my head hurt, I slept crappy, my hip hurt....how OLD am I? Geez. John finally got up and said he was going to run because he was already awake, so there was NO WAY in hell I was going to let him do a run while I laid in bed!! ;)
We headed up the hill that we live on...the hill from hell that defeats me every single time. Well I conquered that bad boy today! I ran every single step of my 3.27 mile run! Woot woot! Gotta celebrate the small victories, right?! And it was hot, but I welcomed it instead of fighting it. I found that when I focused on each little milestone along the way {run to the pole, then run to the sign, get to that small rock...}, I am able to get through every pain in my calf, every voice in my head that tells me to stop....instead of looking all the way down the road and think "holy crap, I still have to run all the way there!" I felt fantastic! I think by this weekend I will be ready to kick my mileage up a notch....actually, I don't think I will give myself a choice. I HAVE to up my mileage...and I can do it! :)

Lame :(

Friday night, half of our Ragnar team had our first team meeting. We were trying to come up with a name, which by the way, we didn't agree to one. My husband & another husband wanted the team name : "Poker in the front, Liquor in the back"...funny, but not sure how I feel being a chick and having to wear that on my shirt. I thought "Tortoises and Hares" would be cute, with the fast runners dressed up as rabbits, and slow pokes (uh, ME) dressed up like turtles. So cute! So that was as far as we got that night.


Today was supposed to be my 5 mile run......let me rephrase that: today I was going to ATTEMPT a 5 mile run. I'm lame. 2 of my kids each had a birthday party to go to, then my hubby wanted to go shopping. Soooooooo, here I am, sitting here at 8:30pm feeling guilty cause I just couldn't get my ass out the door today. And in all honesty, my calves are feeling really tight, so maybe I should take that as a sign and just rest them another day ;)
I will try again tomorrow. Each day is a new beginning...or something like that, right?

I am AWESOME!

LOL! I didn't do anything spectacular, but my run this morning felt great! I am really using this internal self-talk to get myself through a run when I just want to quit. Have you ever noticed that 5:30am comes really quick? John didn't look like he was ready to get out of bed anytime soon, but when I couldn't fall back asleep {thanks to my very tiny bladder} I decided to go ahead with the run before it got too hot. It helps for me to keep in mind that I am training for Ragnar...11 other people are counting on me to do my part, so it's only fair I try my best every chance I get. When I forget that, I find that I'm likely to deny running when I'm not feeling up to it {which is often}.

I feel like mentally, things are getting better for me. I find that I'm actually looking forward to my run time, maybe not the run itself, but I don't DREAD it as much as I used to. It's time I'm actually ALONE. Just me. No one needing something from me or demanding that I watch them as they do something I've already seen 5996 times, dammit! I've stopped using my ipod since I normally run by myself & don't want someone sneaking up behind me to fondle me or stab me in the head, if you know what I mean ;)

John got up to run with me today, but OH.MY.GOD! I love this man...God knows I do, but holy shit...he's like a frikkin' chick! When I get up to go running, I'm up & out of the house in 15 minutes TOPS. But no, everything is an event with him. Going to the bathroom is an 18 minute ordeal, then he wants to drink a cup of coffee, then he's watching "Millionaire Yachts" on the travel channel. Then he's making a toast/peanut butter meal that he has to enjoy, while perusing the yachts...good GOD! I finally told him I was leaving. Mind you, I had been up for 20-something minutes by this point, dressed & ready to go.....He forgets that running is really hard for me, so I don't want to run when the sun is at it's highest, where he can run 6 miles in the heat of the day & is fine. I hate him. And see...it's 10 after 7:00. I've been home for 25 minutes & he's nowhere to be found.
Ok, thank you for listening to my rant. I'm good now. I have an hour long massage lined up in 2 hours, so I'm going to start my morning. Have a great day!
PS- guess who JUST walked in the house ;)

Back in the zone!

There's officially only 4 and a half months left of training before Ragnar!

You know what I wish? I wish I were one of those runners who could go out and do my 12 mile run everyday...and if I only happen to log 10 miles, I would consider it a bad day. *sigh* I got back into my training today after taking off since Thursday. I tell ya, when my alarm rang at 5:15, I was pissed. I thought I turned it off {and was prepared to go back to sleep}, but the snooze buzzer rang 10 minutes later and suddenly I was wide awake. I got dressed, brushed my teeth, ate a banana and did some light stretching...then I was off. It was kinda nice. I saw a little bunny hop across the road and for some reason that made me happy. I guess if I was going to get up and running {literally} so damn early, I had better see some freakin' wildlife! Then I saw another idiot like myself going for his morning run and I thought "why in the HELL would someone choose to go for a jog at 5:45 in the morning?" Seriously. Why would we?

Today was a pretty good run day. Only did my 3 miles {not yet ready for 4}, but my first half was awesome. I did it with no problems at all. I think the way back from a run always messes with me. I start to think "oh my God, I have to run all the way back!" but honestly, I worked super hard on my mental thoughts and for the first time ever, I {internally} talked my way through the entire run home....and I didn't even want to puke until I stopped moving ;)

That's when I laid myself down on my cool tile, thankful for the peace & quiet in my house until I was able to regroup myself. Now I think I will brew some coffee and watch my tivo'd Bachlorette from last night :)

My run is done & out of the way for today...and I feel awesome!!

Triathlon

NO...not me!!

I thought I'd brag a little about my awesome kids! My 2 sons (ages 11 & 5) competed in a kids triathlon this morning & it was one of the cutest things I had ever seen! They both swam 50 meters, did a 2 mile bike ride & ran 1/2 a mile. So adorable!! My 11 year old took 3rd place in the boys division in his age group and my 5 year old took 2nd in his division (they obviously got their athletic skills from their dad!). I had such a fun time watching them and I couldn't be prouder! I'm already looking forward to next year :)


Good job to all the kids who participated! Awesome job!

Day 3: OUCH!

5:40am sure comes early! Thank God for the snooze button! But hubby & I got up were out of the house by 6:05 for our 3 mile run {ok, I can't lie...I only went 2.75 miles today. Booooooo!}. I knew right off the bat something was wrong, cause John did not smoke my ass in the first mile, and normally he's just a little speck by the time I get around the first corner. It was not a great day in terms of how my body feels....run wise, it wasn't too bad.

I have to learn to accept that I'm no longer 25, no matter what my mind thinks. My BODY definitely does not feel like it's 25. I think I will have to spread my runs {jogs, whatev.} out a little bit. Running everyday does NOT feel good. My calves are in burning agony, my hips hurt, my periformis muscle hurts, my shins hurt....so, so badly. I will take a break tomorrow & hopefully that will give my body a small, glorious break then try again on Friday. If I feel good on Friday, then I know an everyday run is just too much and the following week I will go every other day. All in all, on a scale from 1 to 10, I'd rank today's run a 5. I pushed a little harder than I normally do, but hopefully with some recovery, I will do better. I am SO happy today's run is out of the way and I can now focus on my kid's last day of school!! I'm now off to limp my way into the shower. Enjoy your day!

Day 2: Ugh

Today's run walk sucked!! My original plan as of last night right before bed, was to get up @ 5:45am and head out for a 3 mile run before the sun came up. That didn't happen. By 9:30am, I was so not in the right frame of mind to run that I simply gave up half way. Here's what I have learned from today:

1. I, personally, should never eat peanut butter before a run. I've done it before & wanted to vomit it up during my last 5K, and I did it again today & still wanted to vomit it up.

2. Never, and I repeat...NEVER run @ 10am in June if you live in Vegas. Holy crap. I thought my husband was going to have to scrape me off the asphalt.

3. If you DO decide to run @ 10am in June in Vegas, have the smarts to at least take your 5 y/o kid along with you on their bike, so that you can use your child to take walk breaks while you push their bike up the hill.

4. Take extra water.

5. Good-inner voice never wins in my head while running uphill. I need to find a way to kill that damn BAD-inner voice.

6. I will never, ever make fun of my stupid dog when after a long run or walk, she comes home and plops her fat ass on our cold tile. I understand now.