This Saturday Joe and I ran the Runway 5K at the Charlotte airport. It is a really cool run. It is flat which is always nice and you literally run on the runway. There are planes taking off and landing around you and it makes the time seemingly fly by. They were hoping for 1,000 people but had 1,600 so there was a great feeling of excitement in the air. I hadn't really trained for the 5K, but was looking forward to the experience more than anything. Now Joe is a better runner than I am and always has been. When we were running together in 2003 he was always faster and stronger and that was when he weighed 150 pounds more than he does now. He literally did no training for the run and honestly, I was worried he would beat me and make all my work seem meaningless. It's not easy getting up every morning to work out and I need to have it matter that I do. So we started the run and I know he could have gone faster but he stayed with me. He jogged almost in place when I took my walk breaks and made me laugh several times and made the run fun.
My goal was to not puke and to listen to my body. It's frustrating though because what is a comfortable pace for my legs to run is not comfortable for my heart and I start to feel the pre-puke come on. I need to buy a heart rate monitor and hopefully the more I run, the more my heart will tolerate. I did let Joe convince me to sprint the last quarter of a mile. I told him he'd have to pay me $10 if I puked...he said no but I went ahead and puked anyway. I had crossed the finish line smiling but then went on a hunt for a nice private patch of ground. Blah. I really hate puking.
Joe ended up tearing his calf muscle so we had a pretty lazy rest of the weekend. He woke up on Sunday sore and tired. His knees and ankles were hurting and his hip was tight. Conversely, I felt completely fine. I certainly hate that he hurt himself so badly, especially because it was a lot of fun to run with him, but do know that my training has its purpose. My body may not run quickly, but it tolerated the exercise and didn't rebel against me on Sunday morning.
My mom is out of town so this morning I kinda had the option to work out. It is really nice to know that someone is counting on you to get up and out so without that I really thought about sleeping in. I went back and forth - would I feel better sleeping in and would that out weigh how bad I would feel for not working out? I finally decided on working out. I want to get better and the only way to do that is to work out. I have Miller this week so it is going to be a challenge to fit in a work out so I needed to go. I did and managed to run and swim. I am so glad I did it. I read a quote once about running and working out where someone said that you just need to get to a point where it is like brushing your teeth...it is just something you do every day no matter what. I am trying to get there. It can't be an option.
Running was good; much easier on a treadmill than outside. I need to incorporate more outside runs into my training. I ran for 30 minutes, 4 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking. I could feel my legs were a little tired, but they hung in there. I think I need to get comfortable being uncomfortable. I tend to like feeling good and honestly, running doesn't. There is a point where my legs are tired, my lungs get tight and that doesn't even include the puking. But I know to get better I need to tolerate this discomfort and know that it will get easier, get better.
Swimming was also good. The pool was crowded so I had to share a lane but I went through the my drills and tacked on an extra few laps for good measure. I was certainly out of breath, but felt good for swimming almost a half mile. I also have to remember that in April when I started swimming I couldn't even do one lap. Really! So overall I am glad I worked out this morning and glad that it is becoming a non negotiable part of my life. Getting up early in the mornings suck and getting up early on Saturdays also sucks. I do it though, because I am always glad that I did. Soon it won't be a question of if I should or have time to work out. I simply will.
Running Summary:
Date 11/2/2009
Time: 30 minutes
4 minutes walking/1 minute running
Incline 1.0
Total Run: 24 minutes at 4.3
Total Walk: 6 minutes at 3.5
Total Mileage: 2.52 miles
Puke: No
Breakfast: 1 mini cliff bar, 30 minutes before the run
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