Running Through Life

Monday, January 24, 2011

Running, even on a treadmill, is NOT "a waste of time"!

I don't know what the deal is, but it seems like this statement is everywhere these days... trainers at the gym, other health and fitness blogs, tv, internet all saying "stop wasting your time on the treadmill". Now, I kind of get what they are saying... in terms of weight loss (which, hey, it's January, so what other possible goal could anyone in a gym possibly have?) jogging along at a moderate pace at a 0% incline is not probably going to make you loose massive amounts of weight. Of course strength training and interval training are helpful to weightloss and overall fitness, but this hardly means that treadmill use is a waste of time. I, as a runner, refuse to believe that running (even on the treadmill) is a waste of time! And I really really wish people would stop saying that it is! Even treadmill running can be quite challenging, if done correctly.

I myself did a very challenging hill workout (which i'm hoping will help to prepare me for my upcoming trail race) on the treadmill last week. I stole the idea for the workout from: http://instephsshoes.blogspot.com. Personally, I did not feel it was a waste of time AT ALL. In fact, IT KICKED MY ASS! I should really do hill workouts (outdoors and on the treadmill) more often.

Here's the recap:

Sunday - 7 very chilly miles (8 degrees outside, 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts.... I'll still take it over hot and humid!)

Saturday - 5.5 Chilly miles (below 10 degrees - but the sun was out!)

Friday - 4 miles easy (on the treadmill BTW)

Thursday - rest

Wednesday - Cardio intervals (on random cardio equipment at the gym) interspersed with mainly upper body weights.

Tuesday - 5.1 miles total with Treadmill Hill repeats as follows: 1%, 2%, 1%, 4%, 1%, 6%, 1%, 8%, 1%, 10% for one minute each. Repeat twice.

Monday - Full Body Weights

Weekly Milage Total: 21.6 Miles

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A good running week.

This past week was a good running week. I managed to meet my 20 mile/week "off season" goal and work in two strength training sessions. I'm getting better at picking outdoor snow routes that allow me to run in the street (since no one shovels the sidewalk here). Today's run was great! It was 17 degrees, "feels like" 6 degrees temperature wise, so it was chilly, but the sun was out, which made it feel much nicer. At one point a guy ran past me and turned to me and said, "you know, most people think we are crazy for being out here doing this today, but I like it". It is so true, runners are a little nuts, but in a good way :-)

Here's the Weekly recap:

1/10/11-1/16/11

Sunday - 7.03 Miles

Saturday - 4.20 Miles

Friday - off

Thursday - 4.1 Mile tempo run on the treadmill

Wednesday - Weights with a focus on upper body.

Tuesday - My favorite speed workout: 1600 (400 recovery), 2X800 (400 recovery), 2X400 (200 recovery), 4X200 (200 recovery). With warmup and cooldown 5.11 Miles total.

Monday - Full Body weights

Weekly Milage Total: 20.44 Miles

Saturday, January 15, 2011

New Years Resolutions?

I don't like New Years resolutions. I don't really know why... I guess it always seems so forced and like everyone makes the exact same resolution, like to loose weight. Maybe that's why I've been procrastinating my first 2011 post. What are my 2011 resolutions? I don't want to make any, so there (stomping feet). I like the sound of "goals" more than I like "resolutions", so how about some 2011 goals. (1) Mainly I would like to run more races in 2011 than I did in 2010. With all the moving craziness that happened last year I only did 3 races! It shouldn't be too hard to run more races in 2011. If I run the races i'm already registered for i'll be at 3 already. (2) I also want to have more fun running this year. I really did not enjoy the marathon training, so this year I want to get more enjoyment out of running. P.S. I wont be running another marathon this year. (3) As far as a milage goal, i'd love to hit 1000 miles again, but without marathon training, i'm not sure that's realistic, so i'm going to set a goal of 800 miles for this year. (4) I'd also like to really re-incorporate weight training into my routine, which i've started to do again, but i'd like to be more consistent about it.

Since i've been totally slacking on my weekly milage posts, here's the last 2 weeks:

1/3/11 - 1/9/11

Sunday - 5.85 miles

Saturday - 8.5 miles

Friday - 3 miles

Thursday- 3.06 miles

Wednesday - body pump

Tuesday - 4 miles

Monday - off

Weekly Total: 24.41 Miles

12/27/10 - 1/2/11

Sunday- 6.10 miles

Saturday- 5.26 miles

Friday - off

Thursday- 3.22

Wednesday- 2 miles + weights

Tuesday- 4.34 Miles

Monday - Weights

Weekly Total: 20.92 Miles

2010 Stats

So that I can start putting up some 2011 stats, here's what happened in 2010:

mONTHLY MILEAGE

Thursday, December 30, 2010

End of the Year Thoughts

Looking back over the past year 2010 brought so many changes in my life. The first half of the year was spent preparing both at work and at home for the transfer to Cleveland: Looking for a place to live, figuring out how to transfer to a new school, packing up at work, packing up at home, trying to figure out how two people could survive on a student stipend while Dan looked for a job. There have definitely been a lot of ups and downs and a lot of change for us over the past year. The move eventually came and went and overall I think we have finally settled into life in a new city. It's amazing how long it can take for a new place and actually feel at home, but I think we're getting there. With all of the move preparations, and then the move itself I raced MUCH less than I have in years past, BUT I also had some big accomplishments in the races I did run. At the Colfax 1/2 Marathon in May I finally got back under 2 hours (something I have not been able to do since my very first 1/2 Marathon). Perhaps the most important accomplishment: Running my first Full Marathon. It's a goal that's been on my bucket list for a while and i'm extremely happy to have done it. I don't know that there will be any more Full marathons in my near future. I find the 1/2 Marathon to be much more enjoyable to fit into my life, but someday.... maybe another Full.

This is the first year i've blogged about my running and kept track of my milage, so I don't know how it compares to years past, but running over 1000 miles this year sounds good to me :-).

2010 Yearly Milage Total: 1073.41 Miles

See you next Year!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Is Winter cold better than the Heat and Humidity of Summer?

Grudgingly, I think yes. Although, Cleveland cold is much more bitter than Colorado cold and I have learned that I need to modify a few things:

1. I need a second layer over my tights.

2. I need some sort of face protection.

3. Why don't people shovel here??? Seriously??

4. I need some new snow routes where I can run in the street because of #3.

Looks like a shopping trip to stock up on more cold weather running clothes is in order, as well as some map questing for some new routes. My weekly milage for the last couple of weeks has been kind of low. Last week we were in Colorado visiting family, so I got to do some beautiful mountain running. The altitude got me a little and my pace was slow, but the scenery was so worth it! The reason I complain about Cleveland winters:

This is what I got to look at on my runs last week in Colorado. This is the kind of winter i've had the luxury of experiencing. Beautiful weather and BLUE skies. It was 30 degrees, but so much less depressing than the gray skies here in Cleveland. Yes, I have been spoiled.

Weekly Update 12/20-12/26:

Sunday - off

Saturday - 3.23 miles

Friday - 4.14 miles

Thursday - off

Wednesday - 4.09 miles

Tuesday - off

Monday - off

Weekly Total: 11.46 Miles

Weekly Update 12/13-12/19:

Sunday - off

Saturday - off

Friday - 5.00

Thursday - 6x 800 with 400 rests. With warmup and cooldown 5.5 miles total.

Wednesday - upper body weights and core

Tuesday - 5 mile tempo run.

Monday - total body Weights/cardio circuit workout.

Weekly Milage Total: 15.5 Miles

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Winter has arrived in Cleveland

Well I think I may have spoken a little too soon... I was starting to feel better, but I seem to have this horrendous sore throat that will not go away. I'm not congested anymore, so getting back to exercise this week felt good after being pretty much in bed for 2 weeks, but my energy levels are still pretty low. I made my third trip to the doctor, where they confirmed that my lymph nodes are very swollen and my tonsils are inflamed. Duh.... I already knew that. I was really pissed off that they didn't seem to think it was worth doing any type of throat culture or test for mono considering i've been sick for 3 weeks, but I guess i'm just going to have to wait this one out.

Winter has officially arrived in Cleveland. As far as I can tell this means its going to snow pretty much every day... which i'm sure will get tedious and depressing after a few months, but so far it hasn't prevented me from running outside on the weekends. I do like to keep those dreadmill miles to a minimum in the winter.

Sunday - 5.38 miles

Saturday - 6.11 miles

Friday- 6X800 w/ 400 jogs. With warmup and cooldown 5 miles total

Thursday - off

Wednesday - off

Tuesday - 4 miles easy

Monday - Spinning Class

Weekly Milage Total: 20.49 Miles