Double blah

Hm, blogger seems to have changed their "Blog This!" window...

Anyway, I did my 30-minute run yesterday at around 1 pm -- weekday runs seem to keep getting later and later. I was tired and ploddy and my sinuses were stuffed up, making it another blah run, but I did it.

Now, I'm checking the weather for this weekend, wondering if I should do my 8-mile run on Saturday or Sunday -- it's supposed to be slightly warmer on Saturday and possibly slightly less likely to rain. But, weather being weather, I don't think it'll make that much difference. I keep thinking that, with the worst of winter yet to come, it's inevitable that I'll have to run at least once in the cold and rain and possibly even snow. I really wish they hadn't decided to make the slower runners start at 7 am for the group runs -- I'd have liked to try driving down to LA to run with the group, but not if I have to be there at 7.

I was really hoping that posting the link to my donation page on my main website would drum up a donation or two, but so far, it hasn't. Which leaves me with $800 of my commitment to cover. I can do it, but it sure would be nice to get a few more donations. I don't know where, though. I think I've hit my limit.

Blah

Have been feeling very tired and down since Christmas... no real reason, I don't think, just post-holiday blues, I guess. It was hard to get myself out there today, but I did my 30 minutes at 2:3. I am determined not to miss a run, whether it's a maintenance run or a recovery run or a mileage-increasing run, unless I absolutely have to. It would be cool to be able to go to the marathon knowing I did every bit of training on my schedule, and run the best marathon I can.

Week 16: Twenty miles

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday's run went really well. I started out early (early for me, meaning 8:15 am) because I wanted to get finished in time to have lunch with my mom, get home, shower and change and wrap Christmas presents, then head back into town to go out to my brother's for Christmas eve.

I used the 1:3 run/walk ratio, started out with five miles around the house, then had a Zone drink (grotesquely sweet, but it had the protein & carbs I wanted), then headed out to mom's house. The weather was gorgeous -- mid-60s, sunny, light breeze, perfect for running. I felt great the whole way. I used my iPod about half the time, keeping it turned low enough so that I could hear my watch beep. Except when, near the end of my run, the iPod decided to play "READY STEADY GO", which forced me to turn it up loud and play it twice. Heh.

Arrived at my mom's at about 12:30, refilled my water bottle and used the bathroom, then headed down to the park for my last six miles. I don't think I slowed down much at all in the last miles. I continued to feel fine -- used my caffeinated GU at about mile 16 for a little lift -- wasn't even breathing hard on my walk breaks. I felt as though I could have kept right on going when I finished at 2:15 pm.

Total run took just about exactly six hours, including the two bathroom breaks at 5 and 14 miles. Which averages out to 18-minute miles, or about 17 if you subtract the 15 minutes for the breaks.

Woo! One more long run done.

Aargh!

After driving all the way into the library -- a 15-mile round trip, thereabouts -- and futzing around getting my donor message updated, re-typing the changes because the copy I'd uploaded to my web space for easy access didn't word wrap and I didn't know if it would work right if I just copy/pasted it, I got home to find a BIG STUPID MISTAKE in the message. Which I couldn't fix, because I didn't want to drive all the way back into town to change ONE WORD in the text.

Sigh. I'm meeting a friend online in a little while, so I'll ask her to make the change for me. But how frustrating! ::kicks stupid web page that doesn't work on Macs::

So I ended up wasting most of the afternoon trying to see if I could fix it using my old, old computer (don't even have a working browser on it any more, I discoverd) or my PalmPilot (the simplified browser won't run the javascript). Came very close to skipping my Thursday run, but the thought that I haven't missed a run yet and I don't want to start now finally got me out of the house at around 3 pm. Heh. Frustration makes for lots of energy.

So, run done, message updated (except for ONE STUPID WORD, which will be fixed in about an hour, I hope), donation page linked from my website, check!

A memorable run

I totally forgot to log my Tuesday run. But I did do it! Honest!

And now, I head into town to go to the library and use their computers to update the message on my donor page, since their updating app doesn't work on my Mac, and it doesn't seem that the website person I emailed my message to is going to update it any time soon, and I want it done! Now! Because I have at long last decided to link to it from my web sites, and I want something other than the fairly lame generic message on it.

Week 15: Nine miles

It was a sleepy run today, in cloudy weather -- but fortunately, only a few drops of rain. I ran at the park, with my running watch and iPod. I turned the iPod volume down and managed to hear most of the beeps. I missed one run interval altogether, but other than that, I did all right.

For some reason, I was very tired and low-energy today, and glad it was only a short run.

Run silent

Ran without the iPod again today. Thirty minutes, it was a run, not much to say about it.

In addition to my run today, I did some work outside, chopping up some branches for the fire, and bringing more firewood up onto the porch. I feel that I need more upper-body work, but the lymphedema in my left arm makes it difficult. I have to find a balance between strengthening my arm and overworking it. Maybe I should schedule in a "yard work" day on Thursday, and spend at least an hour a week gathering kindling, chopping branches, etc. That would complement the housework day on Tuesday, with laundry and cleaning and such.

Quiet

I decided to do my maintenance run today without the iPod. Sometimes, I just like the quiet. Plus, I wanted to be able to hear my watch beeps and not have to watch the seconds count down. In order to wear my watch on my wrist and not have to worry about static electricity, I cut a small square of rubber from a roll that I have (why do I have a thin sheet of rubber in a roll? I don't know) to put under the metal case. It seemed to work fine.

The new watch counts Reps when using the interval timer, which makes keeping track of a whole run easier. When doing a 2:3 interval, one rep is 5 minutes, so a 30-minute run is 6 reps.

It was nice to have the beeps of the watch telling me when to run and when to walk. I was able to let my mind wander, and think complete thoughts without being interrupted by "How long have I run? Is it time to stop yet? How many seconds left?" and constant watch watching. It made the run go by much more quickly.

Perhaps I'll retire the iPod, or at least try turning the music way down, so I can hear my watch better. Maybe I can do something like running for an hour with music, then an hour without on the long runs. Or save the iPod for the last hour or so, when I need a boost to finish.

Week 14: Eighteen miles

The plan this week was to run to my mom's house (to fill my water bottle and use the bathroom midway through the run), then to the park to finish the run. It wasn't until I got up this morning at 7 am that I thought about it and decided to run four miles here around the house first before setting off to mom's. I started at 8:30 am -- with my new watch, iPod, wearing a nylon/flannel track suit my mom gave me years ago -- and ran a little over an hour, then took a break to drink a protein drink and call my mom to let her know I was on my way, and hit the road at around 9:50 am. I think my break was about ten minutes long.

I ran -- I hardly like to say "ran," since at 1:3, I'm walking more than running -- from here, down Dennison to Valley, and down Valley to my mom's. Pretty straightforward. Running along Valley past Curry wasn't as bad as I thought it would be -- between getting stronger and getting used to running in town, I felt fine. Slowed up a little on the last mile up Valley to Golden Hills Blvd -- uphill, bumpy shoulder, lots of traffic -- but arrived at Mom's at around 12:26 pm.

Took another ten-minute break for water and bathroom and emptying the rocks out of my shoes, then it was off to the park for my final five miles. The 1:3 interval was relatively easy to keep up. I finished at just about 2 pm. Subtracting 20 minutes for my two breaks leaves me with a time of 5 hours and 10 minutes for the 18 miles, or about 17.22 minutes per mile. Yay! Barely any slower than when I was doing the 2:3 interval. And this time, I was supposed to be doing 17-minute miles.

I had two GUs along the way, one at about 10 miles, and one with caffeine after I left mom's house. On a longer run, I might want something to nibble on at the four-hour mark, but for today, I was fine. For the 20-mile run, I'll probably take a Clif Bar along, just in case.

All in all, it was a good run. I feel like I'm figuring out all the little details about what/when to eat and how much to drink and so on. Even though it wasn't terribly cold today, I'm glad I wore the track suit instead of my usual CoolMax-type running clothes, which tend to be really cold in the wind.

Eighteen miles down, eight more to go!

New watch!

I went to the Copeland Sports in Bakersfield yesterday, and not only did they have the watch I wanted (Timex Iron Man Triathlon 50-lap Sleek), it was on sale for 30% off! Yay!

I tried it out on my run this morning. My biggest question was, would I be able to hear the beeps over the music on my iPod? The answer is yes, if I'm paying attention and the music isn't too loud.

My other question was, where should I carry it? I put it around my wrist, but over my jacket cuff, where it was fine for most of the run, but then it slipped down so that the metal case was touching my wrist, which is not good, because I'm prone to shorting out watches with static electricity. Sure enough, the watch stopped soon after. I banged it and it started again, and from then on held the watch in my hand by the rubber strap, and it was okay for the rest of the run. On long runs, I can loop it around my belt, but if I wear it around my wrist, I'm going to have to insulate it by putting something underneath the case. Or put it in my pocket, or something. But if it's in my pocket, I probably won't be able to hear the beeps well enough. Hm. I have some thin sheets of rubber here somewhere, I can probably rig up some kind of insulation for the case.

Anyway, have watch, have new shoes, am all set!

New shoes!

The shopping expedition on Sunday was only partly successful -- I didn't find a running watch, but I did find another pair of shoes exactly like my happy red shoes, except black. I wanted red ones! But I figured I was actually lucky to find the same style in my size at all, let alone in the same color. I ran in them this morning, and they were very comfy. I can tell that they're more comfortable than my old shoes, which are clearly wearing out. I'll use the new shoes for my maintenance runs to break them in, and save them for the marathon.

Today's run was fine, as usual. I got up early today, but waited until after 11 am for my run, to see if it would warm up a little. It was pretty nice by the time I actually ran -- sunny, no wind, probably around mid-50s. I hope it's like that on Sunday when I do my 18-mile run!

Week 13: Eight miles

I did my long run a day early this week, because of the planned trip to Ontario Mills tomorrow for Christmas shopping. A mere eight miles! I did about 11-1/2 loops at the park, and walked the final 1/2 loop for a cooldown. Whole thing took about two hours and 15 minutes, right on pace.

It was a good run, no problems, except that it was C O L D!!!!! I don't think it got much above freezing all day. I knew it was going to be cold, and wore my cotton exercise pants, running shirt, and hooded sweatshirt -- but it was still just barely enough. I should have worn my sweatpants, too. I had planned to, but decided at the last minute that they might be too warm (and they might have been, if the sun had come out, as it was forecast to) and changed to the cotton pants. But it was cloudy and windy and probably a good 10 degrees colder than the weather forecast said it would be, so BRRR.

It was my first long run with my iPod -- way cool! I listened to "Common Threads," Green Day's "American Idiot," and Linkin Park's "Hybrid Theory." I had wondered, if you set it to play the songs in order instead of randomly, whether it would start from the beginning each time, or pick up where it left off last time. Answer: it picks up from where it left off. That's cool, that way I'll get more variety in my music.

Afterwards, I went to mom's house for lunch. We'd been planning to go out to lunch, so I brought a change of clothes so I could shower and put on street clothes when I was done. We ended up staying in, but I was glad to be able to shower and change afterwards, anyway. Wearing sweaty running clothes all afternoon gets uncomfortable and cold.

I'm going to shop for a running watch and possibly a new pair of shoes tomorrow. I might see if I can find some cold-weather running clothes, too. It's only going to get colder for the next couple of months.

iPod!

I got my iPod yesterday, loaded it up with seven hours of music, and tried it out this morning on my maintenance run. Whee! I put it on shuffle for the 30 minute run, and was treated to songs by Green Day, Marilyn Manson, Korn, and others while I ran around the house. The sound is great, and the iPod weighs practically nothing. It's kind of weird for me to hear the songs all mixed up like that, when I'm used to playing whole CDs, but it was fun. For the long runs, I'll probably use the option to play the songs straight through rather than the random shuffle, but for only 30 minutes, it's kind of fun not to know what's coming up next.

It was a great purchase! I'm glad I got it.

I'll be doing eight miles this weekend, while the gang in LA does 17. I got an email from our site rep saying that the five slowest pace groups should show up at the site at 7 am to get an early start -- yikes! That won't affect me now, but if they continue starting the slower pace groups an hour early for the long runs, that kind of puts a monkey wrench in my plans to try driving down to run with the group for the 22+ mile runs. Getting up at 5 am to get there by 8 am would be bad enough, but getting up at 4 am to get there by 7 am? I dunno. I need to email our site rep and find out about that.

Also, for the 17+ mile runs, we are supposed to slow our pace by another minute, and subtract one minute from our run interval. So, I should be doing 1:3 instead of 2:3. Which means I really need to get that timing watch now -- I can manage 2:3 on a regular watch, because it divides up neatly into 5-minute intervals, but trying to keep track of 1:3 will be pretty much impossible, I think. I don't know whether I'll be able to hear the beeps with the iPod on, but at least I'll be able to see the countdown timers and know whether I should be running or walking.

This Sunday I'll be going to the Ontario Mills Mall with my mom for some Christmas shopping -- I'll see if I can find a sporting goods store there and pick up a watch and possibly another pair of running shoes while I'm at it.

I haven't been mentioning much about my fundraising lately. That's because there hasn't been much to mention, sigh. I have gotten a few more donations from friends -- I expect to have a total of about $750 in donations and sales by the time my credit card gets charged for the balance, so I'll end up paying $750 out of pocket. Which is kind of scary, but more or less what I expected when I started this. I should be trying harder to raise money, but... bleah.