Well, as is typical for many beginning exercisers, I've allowed all of life's little stresses to throw me off my training schedule. The past month has been a whirlwind for me, both professionally and personally, and because I've yet to really build exercise into my daily routine (without fail), I went adrift quite easily.
I'm still walking 3-4 times every week and feeling good about that, but I have to admit, the idea of being the slowest person in the 5K is starting to intimidate me. I know I can walk 3.1 miles; I've already done it several times recently. But can I do it quickly? Not a chance.
Of course, my "fit" friends keep encouraging me to just push forward and do it anyway, no matter how slow. But those people are skinny. Me, I'm still fighting through the discomfort of moving a body that's carrying too much weight. It's the conundrum faced by all fat folks: you know you need to exercise to lose weight, but until you lose weight, exercise is really not so fun.
So...what to do? For now, I am pushing forward. I'm going to continue to train for the 5K and just keep listening to my body. If it's ready for 3.1 miles on May 15, so be it. If not, there's always the one-mile fun run. I figure anything is better than nothing at all...
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
The break was nice but now I am back at it ...
After the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon, I gave myself a week of eating bad and not running. Well, more like my body gave me the week of not running and I just allowed myself to enjoy the new establishment in town (Hill's Brewhouse - one of the 5k sponsors.) I went there a few times in the last week and had to try the beers and a few of the things on the menu - all very good.
So, as of Sunday, I am back on track meaning back in training. One good thing about signing up for a run and sharing that information with people - you are held accountable. My friends dont make me wrong when I eat dessert or dont run, they just ask if I ran or when I will run again AND now, since most of them are running in the 5k, they are asking when we can run together.
So, my friend that I mentioned in the blog a couple of weeks back wanted to run again. He had improved since our last ran and I was a bit slower - I would like to say it is because of the half marathon but the truth was that I had a few samples of the beer at the Brewhouse the day before ... oh well, I was still out there running some of it off and getting back on track!
Allow yourself a break every now and again as long as you get back on track eventually ...
So, as of Sunday, I am back on track meaning back in training. One good thing about signing up for a run and sharing that information with people - you are held accountable. My friends dont make me wrong when I eat dessert or dont run, they just ask if I ran or when I will run again AND now, since most of them are running in the 5k, they are asking when we can run together.
So, my friend that I mentioned in the blog a couple of weeks back wanted to run again. He had improved since our last ran and I was a bit slower - I would like to say it is because of the half marathon but the truth was that I had a few samples of the beer at the Brewhouse the day before ... oh well, I was still out there running some of it off and getting back on track!
Allow yourself a break every now and again as long as you get back on track eventually ...
Monday, April 12, 2010
13.1… DONE!
by Blue Tapp Scheffer
Well we did it! Yesterday, Craig and I ran the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon. It was difficult, as always, to run 13.1 miles, and not without pain. But we did it! And it was a fantastic experience.
We had already planned to run slowly. Neither of us felt well-trained for this year’s race. My bronchitis, the early hot weather, and then my allergies all conspired together to sabotage my grand training plans. My last “long” run had been eight miles almost a month before. And I hadn’t run 10 miles since my exuberant first post in this blog back in February. This would be the least conditioned I’d ever attempted to run a half marathon.
To add to our worries, yesterday morning as Craig was pulling on his running clothes, his occasional recurring back injury flared up. I heard his panicked “oh no!” and knew from his pained expression what happened. This could certainly end his race before it began.
But he is a stubborn Navy Seal and what is a touch of excruciating back pain to stand in the way of a race we’ve trained for since January?! We picked up my brother and headed downtown.
The weather was sublime. High fifties and cloudless before the 7:00 a.m. race start. I did my requisite porta-potty visit (after waiting in the long lines for 25 minutes) and then gathered with 17,000 other runners in the starting area along Market Street – a five block long roped off area divided into running paces. The fastest runners at the front and the slowest along with the walkers in the back. Craig and I usually begin in the 10:00 mile area but today we moved further back far behind the last marked pace sign of 11:00 minute miles.
We’d never started the race this far back before and the mood here was decidedly different than in the faster sections. People seemed more relaxed, less nervous, playful. They were not worried one bit about when that starting gun would sound. Afterall it would take us over 15 minutes from the gun start until we actually worked our way up to the starting line. 17,000 people is a LOT of people.
And we were off! And running very slowly… our final average pace was 11.9 minute miles, almost a full two minutes slower than our usual pace. Craig’s back was hurting but loosened up a bit as we ran and we really enjoyed the run. The weather could not have been better and the run course is scenic (although a bit hilly) through downtown St. Louis and Forest Park.
According to plan we walked through all seven water stops, drinking water and Gatorade. We had given ourselves permission to walk whenever we needed to during the race. We were both in some pain during the last several miles but besides the water stops, we walked only once up the final long hill at the 12 mile marker.
10 minutes before we reached the finish line I asked Craig if he planned to do a final burst of speed at the end. “I don’t think so,” he said and I said that was fine with me! But as we closed in on those final yards we couldn’t help ourselves. We sped up and finished at all out sprint. Craig grabbed my hand and we raised our arms in victory as we crossed the finish line (I hope they captured that on film!).
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people line the race course every year, cheering on the runners. Many hold signs with encouraging or funny adages. My favorite this year, held by a young boy sitting on the sideline with his parents, stated “If it was easy, I’d be doing it!” That’s the crux of it for me. It’s not easy at all to run that far. But the pain and challenge of it gives it meaning for me and for Craig. The more difficult the challenge, the more victorious we feel at the finish. And that is why we’ll do it all over again this October at the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon.
Well we did it! Yesterday, Craig and I ran the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon. It was difficult, as always, to run 13.1 miles, and not without pain. But we did it! And it was a fantastic experience.
We had already planned to run slowly. Neither of us felt well-trained for this year’s race. My bronchitis, the early hot weather, and then my allergies all conspired together to sabotage my grand training plans. My last “long” run had been eight miles almost a month before. And I hadn’t run 10 miles since my exuberant first post in this blog back in February. This would be the least conditioned I’d ever attempted to run a half marathon.
To add to our worries, yesterday morning as Craig was pulling on his running clothes, his occasional recurring back injury flared up. I heard his panicked “oh no!” and knew from his pained expression what happened. This could certainly end his race before it began.
But he is a stubborn Navy Seal and what is a touch of excruciating back pain to stand in the way of a race we’ve trained for since January?! We picked up my brother and headed downtown.
The weather was sublime. High fifties and cloudless before the 7:00 a.m. race start. I did my requisite porta-potty visit (after waiting in the long lines for 25 minutes) and then gathered with 17,000 other runners in the starting area along Market Street – a five block long roped off area divided into running paces. The fastest runners at the front and the slowest along with the walkers in the back. Craig and I usually begin in the 10:00 mile area but today we moved further back far behind the last marked pace sign of 11:00 minute miles.
We’d never started the race this far back before and the mood here was decidedly different than in the faster sections. People seemed more relaxed, less nervous, playful. They were not worried one bit about when that starting gun would sound. Afterall it would take us over 15 minutes from the gun start until we actually worked our way up to the starting line. 17,000 people is a LOT of people.
And we were off! And running very slowly… our final average pace was 11.9 minute miles, almost a full two minutes slower than our usual pace. Craig’s back was hurting but loosened up a bit as we ran and we really enjoyed the run. The weather could not have been better and the run course is scenic (although a bit hilly) through downtown St. Louis and Forest Park.
According to plan we walked through all seven water stops, drinking water and Gatorade. We had given ourselves permission to walk whenever we needed to during the race. We were both in some pain during the last several miles but besides the water stops, we walked only once up the final long hill at the 12 mile marker.
10 minutes before we reached the finish line I asked Craig if he planned to do a final burst of speed at the end. “I don’t think so,” he said and I said that was fine with me! But as we closed in on those final yards we couldn’t help ourselves. We sped up and finished at all out sprint. Craig grabbed my hand and we raised our arms in victory as we crossed the finish line (I hope they captured that on film!).
Hundreds, perhaps thousands of people line the race course every year, cheering on the runners. Many hold signs with encouraging or funny adages. My favorite this year, held by a young boy sitting on the sideline with his parents, stated “If it was easy, I’d be doing it!” That’s the crux of it for me. It’s not easy at all to run that far. But the pain and challenge of it gives it meaning for me and for Craig. The more difficult the challenge, the more victorious we feel at the finish. And that is why we’ll do it all over again this October at the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Six Miles on a Hot Afternoon
By Blue Tapp Scheffer
Last Thursday afternoon was 88 F, which is pretty hot for the first day of April. It was also my birthday, by the way! So this past Thursday, Craig and I had planned to do our final long run before the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon coming up this Sunday. Our goal was a 10 mile run but we quickly realized that a 10 miler wasn’t possible for us in that kind of heat. So we changed our plans to six miles but that was even difficult. We ended up walking the last quarter mile.
Heat REALLY affects running! You can acclimate gradually but this year the high temps popped out of nowhere and our bodies have been struggling to catch up. So here we are with the half marathon less than a week away and Craig and I haven’t accomplished a long run in several weeks. We’ll take it slow and just focus on having fun rather than completion time. I’ll post a race report after the race!
Let’s give a cheer for Dwayne, our intermediate runner, who will also be running the half marathon this Sunday! If you go to the GO! St. Louis website, and look at the rotating pictures in the top right corner, you’ll see our Dwayne featured front and center in one of the rotating pics from last year’s run.
Last Thursday afternoon was 88 F, which is pretty hot for the first day of April. It was also my birthday, by the way! So this past Thursday, Craig and I had planned to do our final long run before the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon coming up this Sunday. Our goal was a 10 mile run but we quickly realized that a 10 miler wasn’t possible for us in that kind of heat. So we changed our plans to six miles but that was even difficult. We ended up walking the last quarter mile.
Heat REALLY affects running! You can acclimate gradually but this year the high temps popped out of nowhere and our bodies have been struggling to catch up. So here we are with the half marathon less than a week away and Craig and I haven’t accomplished a long run in several weeks. We’ll take it slow and just focus on having fun rather than completion time. I’ll post a race report after the race!
Let’s give a cheer for Dwayne, our intermediate runner, who will also be running the half marathon this Sunday! If you go to the GO! St. Louis website, and look at the rotating pictures in the top right corner, you’ll see our Dwayne featured front and center in one of the rotating pics from last year’s run.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
4 More Miles – Getting Better!
By Blue Tapp Scheffer
Craig and I ran four miles again on Monday. This run was a much better experience than my previous attempt (see March 24 post) but I’m still not at 100%. My bout of bronchitis has certainly hindered my half marathon training. With only eleven days to go, I should be in the ramping down stage before the big run. I should have been racking up significant mileage over the past several weeks but I’ve hardly been able to run at all. Craig and I will run one more long run tomorrow (11 miles) before the race on April 11. I don’t think I’ll have any problem finishing the half marathon. But I won’t be as fast or pain free as I’d like to be. My biggest concern is that I haven’t logged in enough running time in my new shoes yet so I might have a bit of leg pain in the final miles. We'll see how it goes!
Craig and I ran four miles again on Monday. This run was a much better experience than my previous attempt (see March 24 post) but I’m still not at 100%. My bout of bronchitis has certainly hindered my half marathon training. With only eleven days to go, I should be in the ramping down stage before the big run. I should have been racking up significant mileage over the past several weeks but I’ve hardly been able to run at all. Craig and I will run one more long run tomorrow (11 miles) before the race on April 11. I don’t think I’ll have any problem finishing the half marathon. But I won’t be as fast or pain free as I’d like to be. My biggest concern is that I haven’t logged in enough running time in my new shoes yet so I might have a bit of leg pain in the final miles. We'll see how it goes!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
On my way ...
Today, I did nine miles ... well, 6 miles and then another 3 miles but that equals nine!
A friend put me on a schedule of running to get me ready for April 11th - 13.1 miles of running/walking and even crawling maybe. April 11th is the Go!St. Louis half and full marathon for which I am registered for the half.
A few tips ...
A friend put me on a schedule of running to get me ready for April 11th - 13.1 miles of running/walking and even crawling maybe. April 11th is the Go!St. Louis half and full marathon for which I am registered for the half.
A few tips ...
- I have to sign up for the next race to keep on track. I need that target - so know yourself if you are running or training. Are you running for fun? or for the next race? either way, do what you do.
- Make a schedule that works with your existing schedule. If you have a meeting every Monday, then find or revise a schedule that does not have you running long runs on that day.
- And last, do what you can how you can when you can. Today, a friend wanted to run three miles as part of his training. My schedule had me down for a long run. No problem. I planned my run to run 6 miles early and then meet him to do the next 3 miles. It worked for me because I needed someone to get me through those last 3 and it worked for him because I would be too exhausted to push him to do a longer run than he wanted.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
4 Difficult Miles in New Shoes
by Blue Tapp Scheffer
Got my new shoes! I tried to run 4 miles yesterday and just had a terrible run. I was never able to get into a good rhythm and felt like I was gasping for breath. Every once in a while I just have a bad run. This time it was a perfect storm of three things: new shoes, heat, and recovering from illness.
Breaking in new shoes can be very painful. I got the same kind of shoes I had previously so I’m hoping the break in process won’t be too difficult. But you just never know until you get out there and run. I had shin splints that brought me to tears when I broke in my last pair of shoes. I had never experienced the dreaded shin splints before and consulted with several long-time runner friends. Yep, new shoes can do that to you, they said. As long as you’ve been properly fitted, the only solution is to run through the shin splints. There’s no way around it. So I did and they were right. But boy oh boy, did it hurt. I hope I don’t have to go through that again.
I didn’t really run far enough yesterday to see how my new shoes are going to affect my legs. I did feel a bit of tightness in my shins but not too bad. We’ll see how it goes.
The temperature was about 65 F during my run which is 20 degrees hotter than I’ve been running in lately. Heat can really affect a run. It usually FEELS 20 degrees hotter than it is when you run so it felt like 85 F to me. It is much more difficult to regulate body temperature in hotter weather. My body does acclimate eventually but this first run in the hotter temp was tough. I was sweating like crazy and drank my entire bottle of G2 before my four miles were finished.
Got my new shoes! I tried to run 4 miles yesterday and just had a terrible run. I was never able to get into a good rhythm and felt like I was gasping for breath. Every once in a while I just have a bad run. This time it was a perfect storm of three things: new shoes, heat, and recovering from illness.
Breaking in new shoes can be very painful. I got the same kind of shoes I had previously so I’m hoping the break in process won’t be too difficult. But you just never know until you get out there and run. I had shin splints that brought me to tears when I broke in my last pair of shoes. I had never experienced the dreaded shin splints before and consulted with several long-time runner friends. Yep, new shoes can do that to you, they said. As long as you’ve been properly fitted, the only solution is to run through the shin splints. There’s no way around it. So I did and they were right. But boy oh boy, did it hurt. I hope I don’t have to go through that again.
I didn’t really run far enough yesterday to see how my new shoes are going to affect my legs. I did feel a bit of tightness in my shins but not too bad. We’ll see how it goes.
The temperature was about 65 F during my run which is 20 degrees hotter than I’ve been running in lately. Heat can really affect a run. It usually FEELS 20 degrees hotter than it is when you run so it felt like 85 F to me. It is much more difficult to regulate body temperature in hotter weather. My body does acclimate eventually but this first run in the hotter temp was tough. I was sweating like crazy and drank my entire bottle of G2 before my four miles were finished.
And I’m still struggling to get over this blasted bronchitis. I’m nearly there… I’d say I’m at around 80% but I’ve had a sore throat for several days. Otherwise I feel great. But this last stubborn remnant of my illness is hanging on. So all three of these factors added up to a less than fun run for me yesterday. I even had to walk several times. And I was only going FOUR miles. Very frustrating. But don’t ever give up after a bad run. It just happens sometimes. I enjoy most of my runs and the bad ones make the good ones seem even better!
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