First Tempo Run

Wow so last night I did my four mile tempo run.

The tempo run is a long-ish run that is fast than the normal pace. So since my goal is to run the half marathon in under 2 hours, then my goal time per mile is 9:12. The tempo runs are 15 seconds off the per mile so I ran 4 miles last night at a pace of 8:57 per mile. So all in all with warm up and cool down I ran for 55 minutes, which is longer than I've ever run for possibly. By the end I was exhausted.

Note to self:  do not do a long work out if you're hungry in the beginning. I ate a banana because I was hungry, figuring it would hold me off until dinner, but after the run I was just so exhausted that I was just sitting there in a trance until my boyfriend dragged me off my feet and we went to dinner. It also might have been because I have a slight cold. You know the usual sneezing, sore throat, congestion, exhaustion. All that fun stuff. I figure it's ok to run with a cold as long as you feel ok, but as soon as it becomes a chest cold running is probably not the best idea. You don't want to aggravate your lungs even more so, that would just be awful.

So I'm thinking that the tempo runs are going to be hardest for me, because the speed work outs have variety and the endurance work outs I can do outside where it's pretty, but the tempo runs are on the treadmill, and they're long and hard... yiiikkkeeessss!

So here is how I was feeling -

Mile 1: FANTASTIC
Mile 2: "                    "
Mile 3: ouch, k i'm done
MIle 4: one... more... it's going to kill me but keep running

And yea, I think i'm going to need an ipod/upbeat (read: pop music) lineup so that I can survive the last few miles of all the runs. It's a mental thing that makes me tired at the end (well, and I guess my legs hurt too) but I even tried to trick myself last night and tell myself I had to run 5 miles instead so I could keep going. Funny how difficult it is to trick yourself...

Anyways, I'm looking forward to this endurance run on Saturday. I might skip the cross train today because I'm feeling this illness and do something on Sunday. That would still be sufficient.

Thanks for reading! Until next time...

Contemplating mortality

A lot happened yesterday. November 8, 2011 was significant for my family because we lost someone that we loved, my step-grandmother died yesterday afternoon from terminal brain cancer.

I feel a little awkward about posting this to be honest because she was such a private person. Indeed, she had lung cancer a couple of years ago and only a few in our family knew. Furthermore, she was diagnosed with brain cancer in June and told no one. It was only about a month ago when the cancer spread to her spine that our family became completely aware of it all. Anyways, the point is that she was a private person but devoted, loving and tender to our family and to my grandfather of course. It's difficult to see her pass.

Are there a more significant days in your life besides your birth and your death? They seem to be the be all end all, what everything is shaped around and from where everyone fundamentally derives their actions...whether consciously or not.

What seems to be important to us is that people are there to witness our lives. Whether bolstering us with our achievements or creating a net upon which we can rely when we happen to stumble. The key piece of information to me last night was to make sure that my step-grandmother did not die alone, that she had someone there to witness (not just watch, but witness) and take in the full significance, the end of her journey. Someone was -- her caregiver --which is good. But I find myself wishing I was there to at least hold her hand as I did on the Saturday and Sunday before. Of course her passing makes me sad and will change our lives forever, but it was a significant moment for her. It was the end of her life.

Eventually that moment will be mine. Hopefully not anytime soon, but I think it's useful to keep in mind. This all reminds me of a piece of art that I stumbled across a couple of days ago that I just can't get out of my mind. It's called confetti-death and it's by Miami based artist Typoe. Here is more information if you're interested: http://hypebeast.com/2011/04/typoe-confetti-death/

Now I know nothing about art, but I do know that this affected me viscerally. And the image has remained in my head. From our own contemplation of mortality comes color, passion, life. And, inspiration.

So with that in mind, I've decided that my running, my training isn't only for me. It's for my step-grandmother and all of those in my life who have been affected by cancer. As a reminder of the power of the human body despite the natural process of it's weakening. I'm certainly not the first to do this, just look at all the "run for this cause" or "walk for that cause" events around the world everyday, but to me it feels really personal. Especially right now.

This training is more than just for me. Hopefully in some way I can witness my step-grandmothers life through this, I haven't quite figured out how or why it feels right yet. I feel like I'm falling into dangerous territory looking for the point of inspiration. But that will be saved for a later day.

Today is a 4 mile tempo run, but it might have to hold off for tomorrow since me and my cousins are taking my grandfather out to dinner.

Until next time...

Day 1

I am training for a half-marathon, my first half-marathon. I will document my progress on this blog as a bright, shining, public way to stay honest. This is important because I don't think this training is going to be easy for me, often times I let life get in the way of exercise and training, but with an endurance feat such as this every step you take is built up of all the steps that have come before it. What I'm trying to say is that without training, I will fail. Failing is not an option, because as you will come to learn I'm very competitive when it comes to things like this. Especially competitive with myself. But then again, I think all runners are.

I've thought a lot about the reasons for why I want to do this and have come up with a few:

1) My friend also wanted to do it and that push was a good impetus for starting all of this

2) One of my life goals is to run a marathon, so this is a good place to start

3) Life after undergrad is somewhat...unfulfilling in ways that I was not expecting, so to inject some inspiration/purpose into my life I'm going to challenge myself physically

4) I'll be healthier, it's always been a goal of mine to be physically fit. After losing some of the weight I gained from living in the German Haus last year (and eating all of those desserts), I will be able to lose the rest and gain muscle mass ! When I feel healthy and look good I'm more confident. Statement of the human condition?

So I'm following a plan that allows for 3 days of running a week over 10 weeks (although I have longer than that since I'm aiming for February 2012). The workouts consist of a speed workout with short intervals, a tempo run and an endurance run.

Here is this week:

Speed: 20 min warm up, 4 x 400, 10 minute warm down (Mon)

Tempo: 4 mile run (Wed)

Endurance: 5 mile (Sat)

Yesterday I did the speed run and it was great! I felt wonderful afterward, but then I realized that I had miscalculated the timing for the 400s by running an 8:34 mile pace instead of a 7:58 mile pace.... whoopsies. No wonder it was so easy...haha. It's ok I still have time! And if anything the 4.5 miles was just good for the legs. And if I keep feeling great after workouts I'll be even more inspired.

Tonight is weight training, which left me practically unable to walk last week, hopefully I'll be a little stronger this week since we only did like 500 billion squats. bring it on weight training class, bring it on.

Yesterdays run was topped off by a lovely piece of strawberry rhubarb pie and pumpkin ice cream... all sans guilt :)

Next update coming soon...