Week 5 & 6

I've fallen behind on my blogging, so rather than try to do a bunch of entries to get caught up I'm just consolidating to bring things current. I skipped the group workout last Saturday since my big sister Kristie was in town. Instead of doing the "step down" workout of a 5 miles in Balboa Park with the team on Saturday, Kristie and I went for a 40 minute jog on the beach on Sunday morning.

We ran on the sand from the state park at Torrey Pines up to Del Mar and back. I'm kind of at a loss for how to describe how much I LOVE running / biking/ playing with my family members. I particularly miss the "Winter's Loop" rides Kristie and I used to do with Dad on Saturday mornings...
Had SUCH a nice jog with Kristie. I, of course, didn't even begin to feel decent till we'd been out 30 minutes or so. By the time we made it back to our friends and family who were surf fishing, we were hot and ready for a little surfing in the cool water. Have I mentioned that I LOVE living in San Diego!?!?

Week 6 brought a head cold and very little mid-week training, but a nice Saturday run with the team. I learned a couple of techniques for self-massage with a tennis ball that I'll be sure to use and then we headed north from Torrey Pines on the roads through Del Mar, up to Solana Beach and back again. Before the run I couldn't decide if I was going to do the 7 mile run with the A group or 9 miles I was scheduled to do with the B group.

I set out nice and slow (didn't even wear a watch), and at the 3.5 mile mark I decided I felt strong enough. Ended up finishing all 9 miles with strong legs and a reasonably well-behaved stomach. Still need to figure out what to do about replacing carbs while running cause the red stuff (Powerade) seems to be a bad idea even though it's super convenient...

Big thanks to Janean and her dog Edward for entertaining Sean while I ran and Lloyd did his monthly military service! :-)

On the fundraising front, I'm past the 10% mark now and finally feeling less terrified of my goal. Slow and steady...

Week 4 -- Midweek training helps ... imagine that!

I did a MUCH better job this week of being consistent in my training and it really impacted my long run on Saturday ... some of those side effects were better than others.

Short jog on Monday

Hilly loop on Tuesday afternoon at work. (For those of you that don't know, Active's offices WOULD have to be on the top of a giant hill so any run near the office is a hill workout by default)

Thursday evening I was struggling with motivation and barely made it to the gym in time to run for 30 minutes so I took it as an opportunity to swallow hard and attempt my first interval training in more months than I care to remember. Running into Liz at the gym was a huge boost to my morale and I ended up getting in a great workout.

By Saturday morning my stomach was acting up again (of course) and my shins were SORE from the treadmill but I was so happy to be joining the group for the strength and running form clinic that I tried not to focus on it. According to Liz, more of the tummy ache and sore shins were showing through than I had planned (I think the quote was "you didn't seem too motivated"). After an hour of sitting on the ground in the parking lot watching some hilarious demonstrations of what NOT to do and a lecture from Coach Cheryl about Group B not heading out too fast (see last week's post to understand the humor here) we headed out for our run.

Due to the pain in my shins (and last week's adventures), I started out VERY slowly. Stopped at the first aid station to take my shoe off, stretch and retie it VERY loosely. Felt about a million times better. Avoided the red stuff and the blue stuff and the snacks -- just water for me, thanks.

Our run took us from SeaWorld, around Mission Bay, along the boardwalk at Mission Beach and then back again. Chatted a bit with a mentor named Monica near the middle, then decided I was feeling good and picked up the pace on the run back to Seaworld. It's amazing what a difference a couple of workouts, extra stretching and a chiro appointment can make!

I wrapped up the 8 miles feeling tired, but happy and headed off to pick up Sean (he was with my friends Toya and Michael cause I was running and Lloyd was in the ocean catching yellowtail). Sean's loved watching cartoons and eating "chocolate chip pancakes with REAL whipped cream and orange juice so-that's-1-serving-of-fruit-for-today-auntie" ... and I loved having friends that helped me take the next steps in my training without having to worry about negatively impacting Sean or Lloyd's weekend.

On the fundraising front -- I passed $200 this week (5% of my total goal). Slow and steady...

Week 3 - The climb ahead...

Our Saturday team run this week took us to UCSD for an injury prevention clinic and another small mileage increase. My group's scheduled path was to do the "campus loop" plus an out and back to Hilton Torrey Pines for a total of six miles. Despite only getting one workout in since the last Saturday run and despite that this week was our first adventure in climbing hills, I decided that I would only be satisfied if I finished the course in under one hour.

When we started out I jogged along with the group ... felt pretty happy about being up and moving my body in a beautiful foggy morning until I noticed that I was REALLY working hard. I tried convincing myself that I was just being a wimp and that I needed to suck it up, but when nearing the 1st aid station I decided that I wasn't even going to finish the jog unless I slowed down. SO ... with visions of the exhasted and beaten Tour de France climbers falling off the peloton flashing in my head, I swallowed my pride and dropped off the back of the group.

I jogged into the aid station, stood still and took a couple of deep breaths, a cup of water and a 1/2 cup of the red stuff (I think they said it was Powerade) before starting down the road again.
I continued down the road with one group of runners ahead of me and another one of the groups coming up behind me but was essentially alone with my thoughts. I made peace with a lesson I have to learn over and over again ... to listen to my body and DO NOT go out too fast. There is something about training for a marathon that forces me to be brutally honest with myself.

I was able to recover and jog up both of the moderately steep but relatively short hills. I DID decide to walk on a couple of the flat spots to catch my breath. By the time I was done with the 4 mile campus loop I had settled into a comfortable pace and noticed that I was right on track to meet my goal with a time of 40 minutes.

Things went great until right near the turn around when my IBS decided to flare for the first time on a Team in Training run. You'd think I would be used to this garbage by now, but it's still upsetting to me whenever it happens. I had about 2 minutes from the time I felt the first discomfort (eyes bulging out... "uh oh") to the time I got sick. Mercifully, I was right next to a physical therapy center (with a nice bathroom) that was open early on a Saturday morning. I re-learned another one of my favorite lessons -- I should never underestimate the abilty of my intestines to act up at inopportune times. I definitely have a lot to do to try and get my symptoms under better control.

After my little detour for the loo, I got back on the road and finished every single step I set out to. I ended up finishing in 1:06 and feeling like it was a huge victory because I was able to make it to a bathroom before getting sick AND because I was able to jog most of the way at a decent pace. Funny how our priorties change...

I'm pretty concerned about the slow pace my fundraising is coming along, but I am doing each of the weekly goals I set for myself, so I'm trying to apply my lesson from the road by being patient with my pace and staying optimistic.

I'm also quite certain that I've got to do a better job this week of mid-week workouts. Yesterday (Sunday) I went to the Rock and Roll Marathon and was appropriately touched and inspired. Today started out good with 2.5 miles in 27:30 ( jog/walk) with Sean -- right as planned. I better stay on track with gradual increase in mileage since we're going up to 8 miles this Saturday!