Running with Pixie Dust

Yesterday's run:

Half Marathon Training Week Two, Day One

2.87 miles/40:00

Today's workout(s):

ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit One

227 calories/36:42

Turbo Fire HIIT 15

163 calories/16:38

It had been a while since I did a HIIT workout... and by "a while," I mean that the last time I did a HIIT workout and actually wrote about it was in the middle of May.  Nearly two months ago.  And it was cold.  Now it's a gazillion degrees outside all the time.  So HIIT workouts leave me looking a little bit scary.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Yesterday's run (since I fell asleep drooling all over myself like a classy lady before I could blog about it) went all right.  I ran in my neighborhood, and honestly, I don't know why I run in my neighborhood.  It just seems like every few weeks or so, my brain goes, "You should just run the neighborhood.  Those hills aren't that bad."  Let's be clear - that's a lie.  Those hills are that bad.  And I'm at an elevation of almost 6,000 feet anyway, so anything more than that and my lungs assume that I've decided to kill myself and they give up.  

Buuuuut... the run went okay anyway.  I'm still kind of wavering about what training plan to follow, or if I'm going to combine aspects of different plans.  My original decision was to follow Hal Higdon's Novice plan, which is a 12 week plan with one long run a week that builds from 3 miles to 10 miles.  But then I started reading Jeff Galloway's Half-Marathon: You Can Do It, in which he kind of suggests doing the bare minimum of running that is possible so as not to overtrain.  I'm big on doing the bare minimum, and I'm really big on not getting injured.  So I think I'm going to adopt one of his ideas - increase the mileage of the long runs every week, but don't necessarily increase the mileage of the shorter runs.  In Hal Higdon's program, the short runs increase from 3 to 5 miles long, whereas all of Galloway's plans keep the short runs consistent - 30 minutes every time.  For some reason, 30 minutes seems a lot less daunting to me than 3 miles, and obviously 5 miles makes me want to die, so I'm going with 30 minutes.  Hence why yesterday's run didn't so much hit the 3 mile mark.

Yesterday's run also wasn't so stellar in the pace department, which is why the HIIT workouts will be making a triumphant return.  HIIT workouts are eeeeeeevil... very sweaty, very intense, very exhausting.  You may be able to tell from the witty title of this blog (it's past my bedtime, it's the best I could do) that HIIT workouts leave me pretty winded.  But they're quick, they torch calories, and most importantly for me right now, they make regular cardio a lot easier.  And I need running to be easier.  Or else we'll be back to this.

My average pace for yesterday's run was almost a 14:00 mile... even with the excuse of walk breaks, that's just not going to cut it.  Especially because two days earlier, I maintained an average page of a 12:00 mile, including regular walk breaks.  My running pace was more like a 10:00 to 11:00 mile.  So, I'm going to destroy myself with HIITs for a couple weeks and see what happens.  And since I'm already getting wishy-washy about my training plan, I'm looking into something that would incorporate a little bit of speedwork too... like this program from Runner's World.  I know I'm not going to become a speed demon overnight, or possibly ever, but I would like to at least get faster than a 14:00 mile.  That's going to make any "slow runs" I'm supposed to do really hilarious.  Should I slow to a 20:00 pace?  I'll have to start getting up at three in the morning just so I can finish my run before McDonald's stops serving breakfast!

Another short run is on the schedule for tomorrow.  Maybe I'll even blog about it on the same day it happens instead of falling asleep on my keyboard.  

No promises.

Today's run:

Liberty Run 4 Miler

4.10 miles/49:44

Why, yes, now that you mention it... that IS a significantly faster pace than Saturday's downer run.  And YES, I AM COMPLETELY THRILLED!

This was a pretty wonderful race.  I ran it and my mom walked it.  Sidenote: SNAPS FOR MY MOMMY FOR ROCKING THOSE FOUR MILES!  And she came in 20 minutes before she thought she would!  My mom rocks.  

Okay, enough bragging.  This was a pretty cool race.  First of all, it was a green race, meaning no cups for water.  And before you start thinking this was abusive, they gave us these kind of weird kidney-looking things called a HydraPouch - it's a $17 value, and was included in the registration fee!  The only problem was that they ran out of water fast... I kind of regretted not bringing along my running water bottle.  In the future, I probably will, because I'm a baby.

Like that... only mine has a sweet Liberty Run sticker on it.  All in all, not a bad deal, especially since the shirt included as well was a tech shirt, and kind of awesome looking.  I'm already looking forward to wearing it, and I rarely wear tech shirts.  

The race was significantly smaller than I thought it would be, which I really appreciated - a little bit of bottlenecking at the beginning, but that was it.  No real crowds to fight through, and in my case, I didn't feel like I had to sneak into a corner to take my walk breaks so that I didn't get trampled by the stampede behind me.  And I did take a significant amount of walk breaks, especially in the last two miles.  

As great as the race was, and as ECSTATIC as I am over my improved pace (all I wanted was to get sub-50 today, and I DID IT, KIDS!)... it was another important lesson in pacing.  I felt really good at the start and so I ran pretty quick for the first two miles.  I did take my walk breaks, but when I was running, it was generally right around a 10:00 mile pace.  Yes, SkinnyRunners of the world, this is slow for you... but bear with me, as it was pretty speedy for Miss SlowPants over here.  And around the 2 or 2.5 mile mark, I hit a bit of a wall.  I got a bad blister on the arch of my left foot (how sad, I have to go shopping for new insoles... or maybe new shoes...) and my left hamstring seized up so badly that it made my knee throb.  Heck, it made my whole leg throb.  But at that point, I knew I was over halfway done, and I wanted my sub-50!  So I pushed anyway... and then came home, immediately got in my sweatpants, abused myself with The Stick for a while, and then iced the hell out of my knees.  And now I'm in bed under a down comforter.  Thanks, forefathers, for making this dream possible :)

Also, I owe a huge THANK YOU to Christy and Christina for the wonderful comments on my whiny post from Saturday.  You ladies are awesome - honestly, as much as I love the whole blogging thing because it gives me an excuse to talk about myself (and I really, seriously love that), I am so motivated and inspired by the other amazing bloggers that I have had the honor of coming in contact with.  So thank you two, and thank you to all of my readers!  Even if I slack sometimes, I really love having the opportunity to connect with all of you.

More pictures of the Liberty Run are to come because my very tolerant father tried to snap lots of pictures of me with my thumbs up, per usual.  For now, please enjoy this advertisement that I found in a mall in LA with David.  And yes, I do want this smoothie now.