10.35 miles

Ran an intense 10 miler today that was mostly uphill and included some of the steepest, most intense hills I've experienced yet. Never stopped. Took the hills slow and steady, despite intense quad burning halfway up the incline.

 I ran without my hydration belt which was a huge mistake. Never has garden hose water looked so appealing (I was running through neighborhoods). Ran at a 10:06 pace. Not bad for being pretty hungover...

...oops, did I say that? (this is why this blog is called BAD marathon runner btw, haha!)

Unexpected

I can't run with music anymore.

Maybe it's because I listen to Pandora and can't control what song comes up next...or avoid advertisements without paying...but I feel more comfortable running with just the sound of my feet hitting the pavement and my (very heavy) breathing. It's pretty nice not being distracted by my headphone wire banging against me as I run as well.

Scheduling and more treadmill fail

Missed a long weekend run due to a camping trip and ended up getting stuck on the treadmill again for one of my 4 mile runs this week. Once again, couldn't finish and only ran 3.16 miles. I need to promise myself not to do this anymore and just suck it up if the weather is bad because not being able to complete only 4 miles isn't exactly making me feel like I can complete 26.

No.More.Dreadmill.

Dreadmill

I get it now. I get why so many people bitch about running on treadmills.

I used to run on a treadmill and be "okay" with it.

NO MORE.

It was raining tonight and I decided to do my run at the gym since I was feeling a little sickly and didn't want to be drenched the entire time. I couldn't even finish my run. It was so disheartening...I only made it 3 miles and just felt awful the entire time. I kept looking at the time and looking at my speed and couldn't seem to run as fast as I do when I'm running outdoors.

My legs felt strange and sore and I didn't know what to do with my arms.

Is this normal?! What happened?!!

It's not the worst development ever...but nothing makes you feel worse than not being able to finish your run.

8.92 miles

Another Sunday morning beach run. I ran north this time to change things up a bit. Still struggling with the first three miles. I'm not sure there's a solution for that. Maybe it's the same for everyone? I guess it's hard on your body to go from sitting around to suddenly running...I just wish it wouldn't take 20+ minutes to do so. I ran an 8:30 min/mi pace today somehow. I refuse to look at my pace while I'm running because it's just not that important to me. It's kind of a nice surprise to see that I'm running at a decent pace though.

I'm still struggling a little bit with the big hill that comes at the end of the run. I'm able to run up the entire thing now, but I slow down a lot. Big Sur involves a 2 mile long hill at a 5% grade so I'm trying to get ready to endure that. Baby steps.

Hydrate with...wine?

Today went something like this:

Work busy 10 hour day

Rush home, change, run 5 miles

Turbo shower

Dinner/wine with friends

Provide ride home from LAX

Busy days make me feel productive, but wow am I exhausted. Proud of myself for actually running though despite the busy schedule. I guess it is possible to balance everything?!

6.88 miles

Ran along the beach this morning and felt good again. My knees were a little sore after the run, but nothing that couldn't be cured by walking around and a couple ibuprofen. I'm starting to realize that the first 3 miles of a run is the worst for me. My breathing never seems to settle in until after 3 and it seems like if I'm going to get any weird muscle spasms or stomach cramps they will show up between mile 2-3. Not super motivating to continue, but so far I seem to be able to run through it with success.

I ran a little under a 9 minute mile pace today. I'm still not setting any "time" goals for the marathon since it's my first one ever and I really don't know how I'll handle the Big Sur course. I really just want to finish under the time limit (6 hours). Maybe that will change as it gets closer to the race, but right now I think finishing is a pretty good goal :)

3.9 miles

I mapped out a loop around my neighborhood tonight and ran that. Once again, google maps was about 0.5 mi off for the pedestrian option, but whatever. Better to run more than less I suppose. I felt infinitely better tonight than I did Monday morning. I skipped a workout last night because I just couldn't find it in me to run, fearing a struggle like I had earlier this week. I have to try and pull it together to avoid skipping workouts just because I don't "feel" great about it. Running will make me feel better and I need to keep running to train properly.

I managed about a 9 min/mi pace tonight which I felt pretty good about. My course had some hills and was rarely flat. At least I regained some confidence.

This weekend I'm going to run along the beach one morning and see how that goes.

3.96 miles

I had the day off today for the New Year's holiday but ended up working anyway. I woke up early and went for a run and felt terrible. Sore legs, sore ankles, flaring-up asthma. Nothing seemed to be working in my favor. I stretched for a long time afterward and still ended up with sore quads. I I'm gonna blame the lack of running over Christmas for this and try and regain some semblance of desire to run more this week...

Feh.

The Christmas holiday really wrecked my training schedule. Yes, I still have 4 months until the marathon but jeez...I feel lazy after not running for a week and it's hard to get the motivation back to run again. I thought my biggest issue would be finding the time to run...but it seems like finding the focus is even more challenging.