Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday Workout Update - All About the Running!

Last week was a good one - by forcing myself to workout before I sat down to knit each day, I swam or ran every day (except for Sunday - rest day).  This week?  A little tougher, but I'm managing.  The hardest part is that my ankle hurts and that makes me hesitate before running.  Once I get started, though, it doesn't hurt any worse, so I'm able to keep doing it. 

Running is hard but fun.  Last week, I felt great doing 3 minute walk/1:30 minute run intervals, so by Thursday, I decided to step it up and do quarter-mile run/2 minute walk intervals.  What was I thinking?!?  That was more than double the run time.  I died.  Well, obviously not, as I lived to blog another day, but it was incredibly hard - I managed to do a mile , but it was awful.  And my ankle really bothered me for days after that run.  Not the wisest decision - I guess my body has not caught up with my mind when it comes to running.  Motrin has, once again, become my very good friend.

On Saturday, I set Ricky Bobby (my Garmin) to even 2/2 intervals for our 2.5 mile run.  Oh, let me back up for a minute.  Like most of the country, we've had a really mild winter - until Saturday morning.  The first official running club meeting, and it was freezing cold and windy!  We were standing outside from 6:30 am until we finally started running at 7:30 - the temperature was 36 degrees with a wind chill of 26!  Frozen is what we all were.  We normally don't have such a long delay, but the first day always has new people signing up, introduction of the coaches, a little bit about running safety...at least I knew it was going to be rough, standing out there in the cold like that, and I wore an extra jacket and wrapped a blanket around my legs.  It helped, but still...fingers, toes and faces were numb by the time we started our run.

Anyway, our group started out and I ended up running with a new member, Molly, who I ran intervals with last week on our track-workout-that-ended-up-being-a-run.  Not gonna lie, it wasn't easy, and several times I glanced down at Ricky Bobby, sure he had stopped working.  One thing that surprised me was that it didn't take very long to recover between the running intervals - I can see dropping down to a one minute walk interval in the near future...but not quite yet.

Yesterday, Jenny and I ran 2/2 intervals - we were huffing and puffing and finally, around the third or fourth run, I said "we've got to slow down!" so we did.  The one thing about setting Ricky Bobby for an interval workout is that your running pace doesn't show on the screen, and while I'm sure I could push buttons and have it appear as we ran, I'm afraid I'd either mess up the interval settings, or trip and fall because I'm looking at my wrist and not the road.  So I wing it when it comes to pace, unless Jeff is running with me - then we can use his Garmin for pacing.  Jenny and I pushed each other through that run, which is a major benefit to having a running buddy...harder to quit, mid-run!  Anyway, after I got home and uploaded the Garmin info, I understood WHY we were having such a hard time - we were speed demons!  Well, for us.  I'm sure plenty of runners would laugh at this, but almost all of our two-minute running intervals were between 11:20 - 11:47 range - which is fast!  Again, for us.

We ended up running just over three miles, and my ankle didn't start hurting until about the last 6 minutes, which is an improvement from the weekend.  I can see that I'll just have to keep slowly building up the amount of running time on it, and appreciate the pain that comes, because it's stopping me from overdoing it.

Life is good.  I'm running!  Yay!!!

18 comments:

  1. huge improvement. youre on your way back!

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  2. Shelley I can't tell you how happy I am to read a full running post from you. You had to wait so long before you could start running again.

    Great workout week my friend, you inspire me to pick up my running again too, especially now the weather here is better.

    I have used my Garmin once for intervals but I ended up fighting with it and now keep the intervals in my head.

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    1. Unfortunately, when I try to do intervals in my head, it results in a lot of walking and about 30 seconds of running...Lazy Shelley kicks in too easily, so technology is necessary for me, lol!

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  3. So glad you sound so happy! Yeah for running!

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  4. I do walk run intervals, and what is interesting is that I usually end up with the same pace whether I do 3/1 or 2/1 intervals. You have to definitely take it slow so you don't get hurt, there's no hurry. I am one of the slowest runners ever!

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  5. I had to laugh at your comment about not checking your pace because you were afraid you might mess everything up--i have so been there. Great job on the running. The running club is a great idea.

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  6. Thanks for writing about the interval setting. I really don't know how to do much with my Garmin - this sounds like something I can figure out!

    Great job on the running, and I think your incentive to workout before knitting is great!

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    1. It's pretty easy: training>workouts>interval>time/rest time. You can customize it or use one of the preset settings. Let me know if you have any trouble.

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  7. Run Shelley Run! Yep, if you're recovery quicker time to lop at least 30 seconds off the walk and add it to the run. I'm so proud of you - and HAPPY FOR YOU!!

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  8. Well, you know I was glad to hear that it got better. That first one had me worried! Plus, I am VERY impressed with that pace time! You go girl! ( but take it SLOW!)

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  9. Life is indeed good! Hooray for your running!

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  10. Love that Ricky Bobby is back! You'll be surprised, your stamina will improve each week, you'll see!

    I had to laugh at Helen's comment - run Shelley run! :D

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  11. I ran on Saturday and it was freezing too! 10 degrees with 20 mile an hour winds, yet during the week it was in the 40's! They only let us run 60 minutes and I was supposed to do 8 miles so I was very happy about that!

    Yeah that Ricky Bobby is coming back!

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  12. Thanks for posting this! I was just feeling like I wasn't wanting to go on my run today but now you've motivated me to get out there and get it done! Thank you.

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  13. So glad you lived to "blog another day", hehe. I'll be looking for you at the finish line Sunday!

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  14. So good to read this post and see you lived to tell about it hahaha!

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  15. Love this post!!!! And I always crack up because you named your Garmin Ricky Bobby. Hilarious! Have a wonderful Wednesday Shelley!!!

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  16. I'm also doing the"life is good, I'm running YAYYY" dance these days! I've run like just shy of 6 miles so far this week, which is like, way more than I've been able to with this back injury!

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