New Year, New Goals, New Perspective

Ah, 2013, you can eat my poo.

Seriously, though, with the exception of my bestie getting murried in March, this year has been a piece of crap. 

So now that it's over, here I am again home in Florida, looking at a 15+ hour trip back to Virginia and thinking about all of the things that I want to happen in 2014. My "new years resolutions," if you will. Which, based on my expectations from last year, you would think I would have learned my lesson.

Well universe, calling your bluff. I'm putting some plans down. Hit me with your best shot (please don't). 

January starts my newest monthly dietary/food-related "thing." I actually seriously fail at dinner most every night of the week (and cleaning up). So this month, to help myself, I'm pre-making all of my food this weekend and sticking it in my freezer. That's right, one whole month of pre-made meals that I can pull out, stick in the crockpot (using a liner), turn on all day, and enjoy after my workout. In addition, I'm putting some healthier stuff on the menu for lunch everyday, like quinoa salad variations and lettuce wraps. The goal is to detox after my annual fattening in Florida. 

Although, I am proud to admit that I HAVE been exercising while I've been down here. I'm still in foot-recovery mode - 1-2 minute intervals have been all I've been able to do. Which has actually been worse for my poor asthmatic lungs than for my foot (but let's face it, my foot hurts sometimes too). Today I need to quit blogging and go out and do 5 (!) minute intervals. 

These intervals are actually kind of nice because it's forcing me to learn how to run faster slowly. So who knows, maybe when I get back to normal running, I'll actually be doing 9 minute miles! 

When I'm not running, I'm being a total boss on my mom's elliptical. Because that's how I roll. And on that note, it's time to go for a run.

Jacob's Ladder

Tonight was another fun round of track repeats at TC Williams (Remember the Titans!). After a frenzied search for a parking spot, which was a total ordeal, I finally made it to the track. And since I was all hot and bothered about trying to get to the damned place, I was already warmed up too!

The plan for this evening was to run what is known as the ladder. Basically, you increase the distance for each "rep" then come back down. I checked with my intended marathon pace timing and came up with the following times for each of the different splits (Ch-ch-ch-check out my HTML table building skillz below).

Rep	Distance	Goal Time	Actual Time
400m	434m	2:11-2:19	2:10
800m	756m	4:34-4:45	4:09
1200m	1223m	7:01-7:32	6:45
1200m	1223m	7:01-7:32	7:10
800m	708m	4:34-4:45	3:58
400m	434m	2:11-2:19	1:30

Both the HTML table and my awesome splitz. 

(PS: Yes, I know there's supposed to be a 1600m rep in there, but it was lightening out and was getting dark, and I did not want my good friends Joe and Sonia to get electrocuted. Also, if you look at the garmin info, you'll note the last rep is shorter. That is because in my excitement to get a-moving, I forgot to turn on my watch. But I know I was freaking flying, so the last one is a guesstimate).

Round and Round We Go....

Wednesday night is Speed Work at TC Williams (Remember the Titans!)

Today I was only on the schedule to run 2 miles, since I'm trying not to go too nuts with increasing mileage while I play catch-up.

And my friends over at Pacers told me that today we were running 400m repeats. Which, if you've never run track (and, let's face it, I haven't), means 1 lap.

1 lap running hard (ish)
1 lap jog
1 lap running hard (ish)
1 lap jog

And so on and so forth.

Now running on a flat surface is just the bee's knees. So, naturally, I'm busting out 10 minute miles (and even one 8 minute mile loop). Although, as happy as I was about it, I was doing my "tough" jog at the same pace the other folks were doing their "easy" jog. But at least we finally got to run together!

Total today was just over 2 miles (you'll see I forgot to turn on my damned watch for a minute). I could have done a few more, but, like I said, the focus now is to slowly build mileage.

I will say that Mother Nature is going to be oh so kind the rest of the week, and give us some nice weather. So perhaps that'll do something with my heart rate.

And speaking of heart rate, took it VERY easy tonight, pausing after each loop. Average was 162/84%, maximum was 180/93%.

I picked up my Flovent and took my first puff of it tonight, after the run. I also picked up some more Allegra, so we'll see if that helps with any of the crap in my lungs.

I'm really getting tired of having to deal with this - at what point can I just RUN without all of this shenanigans!!!

In other news..........I really want a big, juicy steak.

Interval Make Up

RunKeeper Result

Total Distance: 5.9 miles
Total Time: 1:09:07
Avg Pace: 11:42

This morning, I had one final run to do before I made my mileage this week. And that was the make-up intervals from Thursday. I let myself sleep in an extra hour this morning, and ended up getting out at 8:30. But luckily it was cool and I ran through a shaded route so the heat wasn't that big of an impact.

Out I went, and immediately, my legs felt like lead. Great start....

I promised myself at the first mile, I would stop and stretch. I really regret not doing yoga these past few weeks - I've got a 20 class pass, I need to get my ass over there and do it. I did the mile, and stopped to stretch out my IT band and hamstrings, and then I felt better.

Between miles 2 and 3 of the 3 mile first section, I started to feel the SIML - that is, the S...chtuff In My Lungs. Usually happens when I've recently had a sinus headache (ahem, Wine Festival on Saturday), or I haven't taken my inhaler in a while. And it usually results with me coughing up narsties on the side of the trail like a pack-a-day smoker.

But I muddled through to 3 miles and stopped to catch my breath before heading out to do intervals. I knew run keeper was off by about .25 of a mile, because I had passed the 4 mile marker - and I started before the 7 mile marker. But no matter, I kept going until it told me to start intervals.

Let me just tell you - intervals are my least favorite part of training. I hate running uncomfortably, and intervals push me out of my comfort zone. However, I know they're good for me, so I have to do them anyways.

Today's intervals were 2:30 minutes, 3:00 minutes, and another 2:30. Blargh! I hate intervals. I had to stop at the end of my last one to cough up another lung.

Once I got into the grove of my 2 miles back, I honestly felt a lot better. Probably because I was lost in my thoughts. But before I knew it I was done!

Although I hate intervals, I know they are good for me, and will help me increase my speed and stamina. I foresee doing a lot of them over the winter, when I focus on getting up to 9:30/avg for 4 miles and under. So I might as well get used to them.