...I used to run. A lot.
Then I got pregnant. And sick at the same time. So then I didn't run much. I hope to get back into things sometime...I'll keep you posted when I do!!
Friday, April 15, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
15 miles. No, wait. 15.2.
It always feels good to reach a milestone. I reached one last night when I ran the longest distance I"ve ever run. Ever. 15.2 miles. It was supposed to be a 14 mile run, but I was feeling good and I guess I got a bit carried away. Actually, it was due to (mis)estimating my mileage by time as I was running. I estimated a mile too much. Well, 1.2 miles too much. This run was, of course, part of my marathon training plan.
Speaking of, the training is going well. I am now in week 3 of my training regimen and I'm starting to get used to the patern of things. Eventually I think I'll move my long runs off of Mondays and to Saturdays, as running 18 or 20 miles in one weekday evening could be a bit much. As it was, my 15.2 miler yesterday took me over 2 hours. That's a long time to be running!
I like the training program so far, and so far, my body is holding up well to it. I've run about 3 40 mile weeks so far and will do a rest week (30 miles) next week. 30 miles may still sort of sound like a lot until you realize that there is no run over 8 miles (usually no run is less than 9 these days) and that there is no long run to speak of. There also won't be any speedwork or tempo runs. I'm sure it will feel like a vacation for the legs.
I took my first ice bath yesterday. It was cold. I did like it, though. It made my legs feel really good. Running for a long time is always hard on the legs so it feels good to numb them with the cold. And I guess the cold is good for them anyway. We don't have a proper tub, so I took it in Christian's little toddler tub, crouching down on my knees to immerse my lower legs. My feet don't like extreme cold, I've discovered.
I did my first speedwork session of the training program last week. Loved it! I always like running fast, and doing 1600 intervals made the 8 miles go by super fast. From a mental perspective, that is.
The marathon is approaching! Now that it is February, it seems like it is getting closer and closer!
Speaking of, the training is going well. I am now in week 3 of my training regimen and I'm starting to get used to the patern of things. Eventually I think I'll move my long runs off of Mondays and to Saturdays, as running 18 or 20 miles in one weekday evening could be a bit much. As it was, my 15.2 miler yesterday took me over 2 hours. That's a long time to be running!
I like the training program so far, and so far, my body is holding up well to it. I've run about 3 40 mile weeks so far and will do a rest week (30 miles) next week. 30 miles may still sort of sound like a lot until you realize that there is no run over 8 miles (usually no run is less than 9 these days) and that there is no long run to speak of. There also won't be any speedwork or tempo runs. I'm sure it will feel like a vacation for the legs.
I took my first ice bath yesterday. It was cold. I did like it, though. It made my legs feel really good. Running for a long time is always hard on the legs so it feels good to numb them with the cold. And I guess the cold is good for them anyway. We don't have a proper tub, so I took it in Christian's little toddler tub, crouching down on my knees to immerse my lower legs. My feet don't like extreme cold, I've discovered.
I did my first speedwork session of the training program last week. Loved it! I always like running fast, and doing 1600 intervals made the 8 miles go by super fast. From a mental perspective, that is.
The marathon is approaching! Now that it is February, it seems like it is getting closer and closer!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Training for a Marathon!
Just a quick post to say that I'm officially training for the Geneva Marathon! Super excited! I've done one week of "official" training which totalled out at about 37 miles. I'm doing a Runner's World program that the SmartCoach spit out. I realize that because it's an automated program, it may not be optimal in many ways, so I'm willing to tailor it as needed. However, it does seem fairly reasonable, having me run only 4 days a week (I generally have been running 5) and topping out at just under 50 miles a week. According to this plan, I should be able to run a sub 3:30 marathon come race day. Optimistic? Almost certainly. But something to shoot for, I guess.
Week one of said program has been good. I did two 10 milers, an 8 miler and a 9 miler. All but 5 miles of the 8 miler were at a slowish pace (9 min/mi) which has made me feel my left knee a bit. The "tempo" run I did on Friday had me running 5 miles at 7:52 pace. I've discovered I'm pretty good at estimating how fast I'm running, because without the Garmin, I ran almost exactly that. It felt faster than what I've been doing (as I've been doing quite a few "easy" runs recently) but not really all that fast. I have "speedwork" coming up this week and I hope I really get to stretch my legs out a bit.
Did I mention I'm EXCITED!? It's been a lifelong dream to run a marathon. And it appears that this is my year!
Week one of said program has been good. I did two 10 milers, an 8 miler and a 9 miler. All but 5 miles of the 8 miler were at a slowish pace (9 min/mi) which has made me feel my left knee a bit. The "tempo" run I did on Friday had me running 5 miles at 7:52 pace. I've discovered I'm pretty good at estimating how fast I'm running, because without the Garmin, I ran almost exactly that. It felt faster than what I've been doing (as I've been doing quite a few "easy" runs recently) but not really all that fast. I have "speedwork" coming up this week and I hope I really get to stretch my legs out a bit.
Did I mention I'm EXCITED!? It's been a lifelong dream to run a marathon. And it appears that this is my year!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Goals for 2011
As promised, here is my post about what I hope to accomplish this year in running.
As one of my selected personal themes for this coming year is COMPLETION, there are a few things I hope to complete, including:
1. Run my first marathon! I don't know exactly when this will happen, but there are some plans in the works that might make this dream a reality. I have always wanted to do this, and after running very consistently for almost a whole year now, I think this is my year.
2. Improve my speed. I'm not very fast over the short haul, so I'd like to train myself for a little bit of speed.
3. Officially break my 5K PR. This is tied to #2, I guess, Speed and endurance.
4. Keep running all year. No peetering out!!
As one of my selected personal themes for this coming year is COMPLETION, there are a few things I hope to complete, including:
1. Run my first marathon! I don't know exactly when this will happen, but there are some plans in the works that might make this dream a reality. I have always wanted to do this, and after running very consistently for almost a whole year now, I think this is my year.
2. Improve my speed. I'm not very fast over the short haul, so I'd like to train myself for a little bit of speed.
3. Officially break my 5K PR. This is tied to #2, I guess, Speed and endurance.
4. Keep running all year. No peetering out!!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
I Never Update Any More...Sorry
Does anyone still read this blog? Maybe if I ever updated, they would...
Much has happened in my running life since moving to Denmark. I guess I kind of saw running as an outlet from all the stresses that were hitting me at once and ended up concentrating pretty heavily on it. I worked for a long time on being able to run 4 and then 5 times a week. I also worked on upping mileage, topping out one week at about 35 miles. I still hope to get to around 40 miles a week and hold it there before I decide what to do next.
I've been working on speed as well. I do more tempo runs now (generally at around 7:10 pace or slightly slower, maybe more like 7:20) and some faster miles (at around 6:20 pace.) My easy runs are now at around 8:15 pace. It's crazy that that would have seemed so fast earlier this year but that now it is totally easy.
My long runs have hovered at about 10 miles, mostly because I haven't worked on eating while on the run. This week, however, I did a 12.5 mile run, so maybe I can work on lengthening the...length...of my long runs.
Running in Denmark is fabulous. There are so many runners here. It is nothing like it was when I lived in France and everyone looked at me strangely whenever I went out running. Here, everyone runs, and I feel like a Dane most when I'm running! Most often, my runs take me either through a swampy marsh, through a beautiful desiduous and conifer forest or up the Ringgade, a street that runs around the center of town.
As it is almost the new year, I am looking forward to what I hope to accomplish in running this coming year. Hopefully I'll post about that soon. In the meantime, here are some 2010 running accomplishments to look back on...
1. Building up mileage from 10 to 35 miles a week.
2. Extending long runs from 4 to 12 miles each.
3. What a "fast/hard" run feels like: from 9:00 pace to 6:20 pace
4. What an "easy" run feels like: from 12:00 pace to 8:12 pace
5. Coming in 3rd at a local 5K
6. Adding running days from 3 to 5 days a week.
7. Adding tempo sessions
2011 goals to come soon....
Much has happened in my running life since moving to Denmark. I guess I kind of saw running as an outlet from all the stresses that were hitting me at once and ended up concentrating pretty heavily on it. I worked for a long time on being able to run 4 and then 5 times a week. I also worked on upping mileage, topping out one week at about 35 miles. I still hope to get to around 40 miles a week and hold it there before I decide what to do next.
I've been working on speed as well. I do more tempo runs now (generally at around 7:10 pace or slightly slower, maybe more like 7:20) and some faster miles (at around 6:20 pace.) My easy runs are now at around 8:15 pace. It's crazy that that would have seemed so fast earlier this year but that now it is totally easy.
My long runs have hovered at about 10 miles, mostly because I haven't worked on eating while on the run. This week, however, I did a 12.5 mile run, so maybe I can work on lengthening the...length...of my long runs.
Running in Denmark is fabulous. There are so many runners here. It is nothing like it was when I lived in France and everyone looked at me strangely whenever I went out running. Here, everyone runs, and I feel like a Dane most when I'm running! Most often, my runs take me either through a swampy marsh, through a beautiful desiduous and conifer forest or up the Ringgade, a street that runs around the center of town.
As it is almost the new year, I am looking forward to what I hope to accomplish in running this coming year. Hopefully I'll post about that soon. In the meantime, here are some 2010 running accomplishments to look back on...
1. Building up mileage from 10 to 35 miles a week.
2. Extending long runs from 4 to 12 miles each.
3. What a "fast/hard" run feels like: from 9:00 pace to 6:20 pace
4. What an "easy" run feels like: from 12:00 pace to 8:12 pace
5. Coming in 3rd at a local 5K
6. Adding running days from 3 to 5 days a week.
7. Adding tempo sessions
2011 goals to come soon....
Thursday, October 14, 2010
What to do next?
I'm stuck in a kind of running funk: I don't know what I should train for/work on next. Speedwork? For what? Another 5K? Should I train for a 5K? Or should I start working now on my sometime goal of running a marathon? But which one?
Also:
How many miles can my legs take a week?
Also:
Did I destroy them by running the 5K and then running (eventually) 4 times the following week?
So many questions...
Also:
How many miles can my legs take a week?
Also:
Did I destroy them by running the 5K and then running (eventually) 4 times the following week?
So many questions...
Lyseroed Loerdag Kvindeloeb 5K
I know I haven't blogged about running in a long time, but here are some pictures from the last race I did - my first here in Aarhus. I came in third and ran a 24:04. Not what I was hoping for, but okay given the hills!
You can even see Richard and Christian in the background of this one!
You can even see Richard and Christian in the background of this one!
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