The only thing easy about tonight's run was getting to the gym. And even that was kind of hard.
Dozed off right before going but still made it there before Castle started. We had a major temperature drop from yesterday's warm and sunny weather, and the night walk was kind of brutal.
My favorite treadmill was again taken but who cares anymore. My Nike+ is more or less calibrated for distance but the speed it measures was a total lie. I totally did not run at a high speed during mile 1 and slow down afterwards. But I guess that doesn't matter either.
I've decided to push my training plan back by a week so this will just be a catch-up week. I got a 3/4/3 on my plan for this week but I doubt I will get to them. Yoga tomorrow and a show on Thursday that I promised to go with a friend, and a weekend in Boston so the only other definite running day is Friday. I don't know if I can actually do a 4-miler.
Running on the treadmill is SO boring, and I think if anything Castle made it worse. The suspense moments mess with my heart rate and that is very distracting. I think I do better with a harmless show that does not require too much of my attention or emotional investment but at the same time can distract my mind from the run. I found myself staring at the treadmill monitor, looking at distance already covered, time lapsed, and thinking about how much longer I would have to run, how much longer I would have to run till my Nike+ registers the proper distance, and that really drives me crazy. There was a very appropriate blog post a few days ago about treadmill running tips, which I found somewhat helpful, but not entirely useful. It's mostly about running with a positive attitude and make the run more interesting by playing with the speed and what not, and that makes sense. I tried to distract myself. I tried to tell myself that when I do my 25K (in less than 3 months, yikes!), 3 miles will just be 1/5 of what I will have to do. That sort of set me in a calmer mood for about 1 minute before I gave up trying to talk myself out of how boring it is.
I also felt more pressure on my feet with this run. I don't know if it's the longer distance, the short rest before my last run and this one, my greasy dinner (I will never ever eat another greasy dinner before a run ever again). the fact that I tried to increase my speed during the run (by only ever so slightly), or the fact that I gained a few pounds during my hiatus (which I didn't really feel until after my run when I looked at myself in the mirror), but I think I was putting more pressure on myself than I wanted. I guess the few days of rest before my next run won't be so bad.
I know it's not even March yet, but I am really over with this winter and can't wait till I can run outside. The hills in my neighborhood may make the runs tougher, but I think I would gladly trade the scenery for the stuffy indoor runs, even with the TV thrown in.
Showing posts with label Half Marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Half Marathon. Show all posts
Monday, February 23, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Exercise Diary: Church goers, fitness fanatics
Week 2 of my half-marathon training completed!
I tried to start some HIIT routine yesterday, and I think I seriously did something bad to my knees by attempting to do some air squats. I think given my weight and my general lack of exercise and muscle strength I shouldn't do anything too strenuous, especially to my knees. The thing is, the day before yesterday I tried to do my core exercise again, and the next day my abs were sore like crazy so I figured I shouldn't repeat what I did, and instead tried to find some other moves.
So screw HIIT, I'm going to try some bridge variation next.
Anyhoo, I got up before 8 this moring, cooked some rice with salmon so I have protein, healthy fat, and plenty of carb before exercising, waiting half an hour, and did my two miles.
I have to say, even after arriving almost 30 minutes before last week's workout, the gym was still full of people. They must've waited outside for the gym to open or something. All the cubbies were full, and half of the people there aren't even students. I'm really starting to think that of all the people who get up early on Sundays, half of them dress up to go to the church, and the other half lace up their sneakers for the gym.
Couldn't get my usual treadmill again, but this time the TV worked on my alternative. To my delight the 2 miles went a lot easier this time. I had to look at the time and milage about 7 minutes in and wonder why it's taking so long, but after about a mile in I no longer had that feeling. My insoles arrived yesterday so I switched them in, and although now I wish I have more arch support my feet were a lot happier. Could feel stress on my knees but that went away after a while (it's coming back now so I have to be extra careful).
Given how I had a terrible night of sleep (with tiring dreams) I think last week was bad because I didn't have a good and full breakfast. And maybe I didn't give myself enough time to wake up. But it's definitely improved. Coffee helped too I think. But carb and protein, and enough of them, I think is the key.
Anyway, running late now, gotta go. 3/2/3.5 next week. It's gonna be tough since I will be having a busy week and I'm going to Boston and staying the night over the weekend. But we'll manage.
I tried to start some HIIT routine yesterday, and I think I seriously did something bad to my knees by attempting to do some air squats. I think given my weight and my general lack of exercise and muscle strength I shouldn't do anything too strenuous, especially to my knees. The thing is, the day before yesterday I tried to do my core exercise again, and the next day my abs were sore like crazy so I figured I shouldn't repeat what I did, and instead tried to find some other moves.
So screw HIIT, I'm going to try some bridge variation next.
Anyhoo, I got up before 8 this moring, cooked some rice with salmon so I have protein, healthy fat, and plenty of carb before exercising, waiting half an hour, and did my two miles.
I have to say, even after arriving almost 30 minutes before last week's workout, the gym was still full of people. They must've waited outside for the gym to open or something. All the cubbies were full, and half of the people there aren't even students. I'm really starting to think that of all the people who get up early on Sundays, half of them dress up to go to the church, and the other half lace up their sneakers for the gym.
Couldn't get my usual treadmill again, but this time the TV worked on my alternative. To my delight the 2 miles went a lot easier this time. I had to look at the time and milage about 7 minutes in and wonder why it's taking so long, but after about a mile in I no longer had that feeling. My insoles arrived yesterday so I switched them in, and although now I wish I have more arch support my feet were a lot happier. Could feel stress on my knees but that went away after a while (it's coming back now so I have to be extra careful).
Given how I had a terrible night of sleep (with tiring dreams) I think last week was bad because I didn't have a good and full breakfast. And maybe I didn't give myself enough time to wake up. But it's definitely improved. Coffee helped too I think. But carb and protein, and enough of them, I think is the key.
Anyway, running late now, gotta go. 3/2/3.5 next week. It's gonna be tough since I will be having a busy week and I'm going to Boston and staying the night over the weekend. But we'll manage.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Exercise Diary: Week 2's Long-ish Run
So last night I did what I had planned to do with this week's training, and did my 3-mile run on the treadmill while watching Castle. I didn't even finish the episode since my 3 miles were up and walking seemed boring, but I didn't want to continue running in case I screw up my legs and what not. Besides, as much as I still love Castle the plot is getting more and more predictable, more so than it is acceptable I think.
Anyway, the run went fine, much to my surprise, and at the same time I wasn't really surprised at all. I knew I could run 3 miles without stopping or too much struggling. Granted I was going at a pretty slow pace, and had to slow down a bit (but not walking) about twice in the middle, before gradually upping the speed again. I hovered my pace at ~4.8 mi/hr, which is probably extremely slow, but I figured since I was covering a long-ish distance at the beginning I shouldn't push myself too much.
I had a normal sized dinner about 1.5 hrs before I went, I even took a small nap before I left for the gym. My only warm-up was the walk to gym (in deep snow). It was like every other night runs, and although I had to slow down during the run I didn't struggle too much, physically or mentally, to finish. Also, knowing that I had to watch an hour-long TV episode as well as running 3 miles made the first 2.5 miles seem extremely. It was only after that I started to get anxious and my mind kept wondering to the finish. Maybe the solution is to trick myself into thinking that I was actually doing a much longer run?
My insoles were still bothering me, to the point that I really wanted to stop about 1.5 miles in, and that's where I think I slowed down for the first time. It wasn't as bad as the day before, but still uncomfortable. Can't wait till my new insoles arrive. In the mean time I think I will switch to another pair of shoes.
This was also the first time I didn't finish an entire episode of Castle. I left before the murderer was even revealed. I couldn't quite figure out why that is, whether the show got boring, or I was anxious to move on to the next thing (going to lab for a quick set-up and go home to sleep), or I have finally pushed through the treadmill boredom and no longer need a good distraction to keep me going. The other day I happily watched part of an episode on PBS where Hugh Bonneville was talking about "Midsummer Night's Dream, " and found it extremely interesting. On Sunday I watched/listened to part of a documentary about fake Egyptian artifacts and the beginning of some show where an Archbishop was interviewed about his life experience. Either I've become more curious or I no longer need a good distraction. I've also started to pay more attention to my stride and breathing and posture. For the past two days that was inevitable since my feet were hurting, and last night I felt slight pain in my right knee at the beginning of my run. Hopefully that will not happen as often when I space out my runs again. I think I'm going to yoga tonight, but if not, I think I will try and do some elliptical work at the gym, or something else that's not as stressful on the knees.
Anyway, the run went fine, much to my surprise, and at the same time I wasn't really surprised at all. I knew I could run 3 miles without stopping or too much struggling. Granted I was going at a pretty slow pace, and had to slow down a bit (but not walking) about twice in the middle, before gradually upping the speed again. I hovered my pace at ~4.8 mi/hr, which is probably extremely slow, but I figured since I was covering a long-ish distance at the beginning I shouldn't push myself too much.
I had a normal sized dinner about 1.5 hrs before I went, I even took a small nap before I left for the gym. My only warm-up was the walk to gym (in deep snow). It was like every other night runs, and although I had to slow down during the run I didn't struggle too much, physically or mentally, to finish. Also, knowing that I had to watch an hour-long TV episode as well as running 3 miles made the first 2.5 miles seem extremely. It was only after that I started to get anxious and my mind kept wondering to the finish. Maybe the solution is to trick myself into thinking that I was actually doing a much longer run?
My insoles were still bothering me, to the point that I really wanted to stop about 1.5 miles in, and that's where I think I slowed down for the first time. It wasn't as bad as the day before, but still uncomfortable. Can't wait till my new insoles arrive. In the mean time I think I will switch to another pair of shoes.
This was also the first time I didn't finish an entire episode of Castle. I left before the murderer was even revealed. I couldn't quite figure out why that is, whether the show got boring, or I was anxious to move on to the next thing (going to lab for a quick set-up and go home to sleep), or I have finally pushed through the treadmill boredom and no longer need a good distraction to keep me going. The other day I happily watched part of an episode on PBS where Hugh Bonneville was talking about "Midsummer Night's Dream, " and found it extremely interesting. On Sunday I watched/listened to part of a documentary about fake Egyptian artifacts and the beginning of some show where an Archbishop was interviewed about his life experience. Either I've become more curious or I no longer need a good distraction. I've also started to pay more attention to my stride and breathing and posture. For the past two days that was inevitable since my feet were hurting, and last night I felt slight pain in my right knee at the beginning of my run. Hopefully that will not happen as often when I space out my runs again. I think I'm going to yoga tonight, but if not, I think I will try and do some elliptical work at the gym, or something else that's not as stressful on the knees.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Exercise Diary: First week of HM training completed
And yesterday's 2-miler was hard.
I'm not sure why that is, but I'm glad I discovered this so early in the training, since the actual race is going to be in the early morning. If I can't get used to running in the morning then I will be fucked.
I have run in early mornings before, when it was nice and warm out and I used to get up early on weekends and do my long runs in the morning sun. And I used to like it a lot. I had all the time in the world, I explored new routes, and I didn't have to worry about wondering too far away and lose the sun.
And I ate breakfast. Not a large one, but one after which I didn't feel hungry. It was health too: I finished the last of my homemade chia pudding (just add coconut milk to chia seed and let time do the rest). And I drank water before I left. Maybe it wasn't enough but I didn't want to wait too long for a big breakfast to digest before going out of the door.
I slept a reasonable amount too. About 8 hours. Granted I slept very little the night before and had a long day Saturday, but when I got up on Sunday morning I didn't feel like I had to be dragged out of the bed.
Apart from the fact that the TV shows were kind of dull and the gym was more crowded than usual (with more people going for the treadmill so I couldn't get my usual spot), I couldn't think of how yesterday morning was different from all the other nights. My shoes were acting weird too. The insoles, which normally feel fine, were particularly uncomfortable yesterday. The arch support was way too high and I felt weird pain all over the bottom of my feet. Not sharp pain that indicate some sort of acute injury, but annoying dull pain that made me slow down and want to stop.
I also felt tired. Making it to the 2-mile mark felt particularly long and difficult. I don't know if it was the psychology of having to be there and do two miles at a time I no longer regularly run, or if it was just the physical fatigue that seeped into my psyche, but it was just hard. I blamed most of it on my lack of a better breakfast, since it's the easiest thing to fix for next time I guess, and I ordered a new pair of insoles as soon as I got home, but I think it's going to take more than those, and more trial and error to fully adjust to a better morning run.
Which also scares me, since weekends are supposed to be my long-run days. How am I supposed to do that if it's the one day I'm mostly out of shape? I could very feasibly switch my long run days to another night, like tonight when I have to be there for an hour anyway (for the newest episode of Castle), but I don't like this idea as much since the actual race day is on a weekend morning. But temporarily it could be a solution, until I get my weekend morning routine set up and going.
If I'm doing this then I'll have to pretend that last week was all short runs (which they kind of were) and today is the first long run of the first week of training, or I'm simply switching the order of this week's run. I'm not sure how much difference it will make to my body, but for someone who likes to follow a good plan it is slightly disorienting.
So 3 miles tonight then. Which is still not that big of a deal but still good to get me into the routine.
Happy Running!
I'm not sure why that is, but I'm glad I discovered this so early in the training, since the actual race is going to be in the early morning. If I can't get used to running in the morning then I will be fucked.
I have run in early mornings before, when it was nice and warm out and I used to get up early on weekends and do my long runs in the morning sun. And I used to like it a lot. I had all the time in the world, I explored new routes, and I didn't have to worry about wondering too far away and lose the sun.
And I ate breakfast. Not a large one, but one after which I didn't feel hungry. It was health too: I finished the last of my homemade chia pudding (just add coconut milk to chia seed and let time do the rest). And I drank water before I left. Maybe it wasn't enough but I didn't want to wait too long for a big breakfast to digest before going out of the door.
I slept a reasonable amount too. About 8 hours. Granted I slept very little the night before and had a long day Saturday, but when I got up on Sunday morning I didn't feel like I had to be dragged out of the bed.
Apart from the fact that the TV shows were kind of dull and the gym was more crowded than usual (with more people going for the treadmill so I couldn't get my usual spot), I couldn't think of how yesterday morning was different from all the other nights. My shoes were acting weird too. The insoles, which normally feel fine, were particularly uncomfortable yesterday. The arch support was way too high and I felt weird pain all over the bottom of my feet. Not sharp pain that indicate some sort of acute injury, but annoying dull pain that made me slow down and want to stop.
I also felt tired. Making it to the 2-mile mark felt particularly long and difficult. I don't know if it was the psychology of having to be there and do two miles at a time I no longer regularly run, or if it was just the physical fatigue that seeped into my psyche, but it was just hard. I blamed most of it on my lack of a better breakfast, since it's the easiest thing to fix for next time I guess, and I ordered a new pair of insoles as soon as I got home, but I think it's going to take more than those, and more trial and error to fully adjust to a better morning run.
Which also scares me, since weekends are supposed to be my long-run days. How am I supposed to do that if it's the one day I'm mostly out of shape? I could very feasibly switch my long run days to another night, like tonight when I have to be there for an hour anyway (for the newest episode of Castle), but I don't like this idea as much since the actual race day is on a weekend morning. But temporarily it could be a solution, until I get my weekend morning routine set up and going.
If I'm doing this then I'll have to pretend that last week was all short runs (which they kind of were) and today is the first long run of the first week of training, or I'm simply switching the order of this week's run. I'm not sure how much difference it will make to my body, but for someone who likes to follow a good plan it is slightly disorienting.
So 3 miles tonight then. Which is still not that big of a deal but still good to get me into the routine.
Happy Running!
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Half Marathon Training Week 1: 2/2/2
After a long but absolutely wonderful trip abroad (went to Japan for 8 days and Shanghai for 5), I came back with a stronger resolution to: 1) keep running, 2) lose weight/ become more fit, 3) run a half marathon this year, 4) try to run a marathon at the end of the year and 5) learn Japanese.
The last one has nothing to do with the theme of this blog but I'm a firm believer of knowing the language of the country you visit. Obviously it's not possible (and probably not very necessary) if you speak English and visit a bunch of European countries in one trip, but although I speak English and Chinese and can understand most of what I was seeing and doing while in Japan, I felt utterly useless and often frustrated because I couldn't communicate with the people there. And that's changing now, I'm slowing building my vocal and grammar skills using an app called Memrise, and since there is no time pressure, I figured that as long as I use it everyday to review what I have learned and keep learning a few new things a day I'm in good shape.
I just hope that running and exercise can be as easy. I do feel a time pressure on this one, since my coworker and I decided to run the 25K event at the Pineland Trail Festival at the end of May, and although it seems so far away from this cold January, it's only about 16 weeks away. And although I'm determined and excited to do this, I'm honestly uncertain of my physical ability to tackle this >half marathon event.
And 16 weeks is the longest training plan time I could find too. I like this plan because it doesn't make you run for two days in a row, as opposed to the shorter plans. I found early on that I need at least a full day's rest after every run since I tend to over do things. As in, if I go for a run it has to be a long one since I've already invested my commitment and energy to go. And I often found myself tired out or injured when I do that. The non-running days are either filled with your-choice cross training slots or rest days, and I plan to fill those with either yoga classes or core work. I found a series of 9 core exercises that promised a set of nice abs if you do it 4x a week for at least a month. I don't think I can commit 4x/week to it, nor can I do the suggested number of rep, and I have too much fat protecting my abs so I won't be seeing a 6-pack in a month. But I know that core muscles are important for running and I also know that if I keep at it for long enough it will pay off.
So Monday I did my core exercise since there was no new episode of Castle and I went running on Sunday. The site where I found these exercises suggest 3-5x of 12-15 reps per move, but I decided to take it slow and only do 2x10 reps for each, just to see how it feels. I'm still feeling it today, 2 days after my exercises. I guess taking it slow was a good idea since I haven't had the thought to quit yet.
Yesterday I went for my first 2-miler. That's the first week of the training plan: 2:2:2 miles. Easy right? It's gets longer later on but the short runs don't get too bad. I hope by the time I have to do 7-12 mile long runs it would be warm enough to do them outside since I can't imagine the boredom of doing that on the treadmill. But the 2 miler went okay, and I was proud that I did go since I had a serious issue of laziness last night, and the weather didn't really help either.
So so far so good, I really hope I can complete this 25K with ease and lack of injury.
The last one has nothing to do with the theme of this blog but I'm a firm believer of knowing the language of the country you visit. Obviously it's not possible (and probably not very necessary) if you speak English and visit a bunch of European countries in one trip, but although I speak English and Chinese and can understand most of what I was seeing and doing while in Japan, I felt utterly useless and often frustrated because I couldn't communicate with the people there. And that's changing now, I'm slowing building my vocal and grammar skills using an app called Memrise, and since there is no time pressure, I figured that as long as I use it everyday to review what I have learned and keep learning a few new things a day I'm in good shape.
I just hope that running and exercise can be as easy. I do feel a time pressure on this one, since my coworker and I decided to run the 25K event at the Pineland Trail Festival at the end of May, and although it seems so far away from this cold January, it's only about 16 weeks away. And although I'm determined and excited to do this, I'm honestly uncertain of my physical ability to tackle this >half marathon event.
And 16 weeks is the longest training plan time I could find too. I like this plan because it doesn't make you run for two days in a row, as opposed to the shorter plans. I found early on that I need at least a full day's rest after every run since I tend to over do things. As in, if I go for a run it has to be a long one since I've already invested my commitment and energy to go. And I often found myself tired out or injured when I do that. The non-running days are either filled with your-choice cross training slots or rest days, and I plan to fill those with either yoga classes or core work. I found a series of 9 core exercises that promised a set of nice abs if you do it 4x a week for at least a month. I don't think I can commit 4x/week to it, nor can I do the suggested number of rep, and I have too much fat protecting my abs so I won't be seeing a 6-pack in a month. But I know that core muscles are important for running and I also know that if I keep at it for long enough it will pay off.
So Monday I did my core exercise since there was no new episode of Castle and I went running on Sunday. The site where I found these exercises suggest 3-5x of 12-15 reps per move, but I decided to take it slow and only do 2x10 reps for each, just to see how it feels. I'm still feeling it today, 2 days after my exercises. I guess taking it slow was a good idea since I haven't had the thought to quit yet.
Yesterday I went for my first 2-miler. That's the first week of the training plan: 2:2:2 miles. Easy right? It's gets longer later on but the short runs don't get too bad. I hope by the time I have to do 7-12 mile long runs it would be warm enough to do them outside since I can't imagine the boredom of doing that on the treadmill. But the 2 miler went okay, and I was proud that I did go since I had a serious issue of laziness last night, and the weather didn't really help either.
So so far so good, I really hope I can complete this 25K with ease and lack of injury.
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