Pushing to the Limits

This week I decided to skip days of rest and just go full throttle. I am nicely surprised what I accomplished and feeling great afterwards.

I ran 2 miles on Monday.

Biked, on a stationary bike, 18 miles on Tuesday.

Ran 9 miles (3 miles on a hilly course in a friend's neighborhood and the last 6 at a park with many hills) on Wednesday.

Ran 2 miles and then did a high intensity hour long strength training session.

Ran one mile with a 5 minute warm up (3 mph), ran at 6 mph for 500 meters, and then cool down for 5 minutes at 3 mph plus Pilates with a body band on Friday.

Today, Saturday, I ran 6 miles in my friend's neighborhood. Actually ran into them and they rode their bikes as I finished my 6 miles. Also, I ran about 4 miles straight with my old record being only 3 miles.

This 20 mile week did not include 29 hours of work at retail, 4 hours subbing, and 5 hours babysitting.

I hope this training week will help me through this upcoming month with my first race, a 5k will occur on the 28th of Feb. and the last race, a 5k will occur on the 27th of March. In the middle of those two I have a 10k race and Half Marathon.
I hope I can hold out and feel strong as I did this week.

Built to Run

If anyone told me I would be running more than a mile or even a mile 10 years ago I would of laughed in their face and walked away. In middle school I decided to wait till my 8^th grade year to try out for basketball so I could get use to the new work load. I did not make it, because I apparently did not have enough aggression and they wanted to keep the players from the year before. My friend at this point talked me into track. That was a bad move for me. I wanted it to be social only. I would slack at practice and at competitions gave it my all, but hated it.

Yet I was decent they couldn't make me a runner, because of my hate of the sport. Once again I waited till my second year, of high school this time, to try out for softball. Once again I was not aggressive enough and a freshman and I were neck to neck. She got on, because she could be taught longer. They told me to run track since I was a "very fast runner." I didn't. I disdained the thought of running.

About 6 years later I am running stronger, faster, and for fun. My body has been trained and it goes into automatic pilot. Feeling the strength of my muscles working and knowing they are taking a beating, but still fight for miles and speed. My side hurts, toes tighten, stomach grows sick and yet I still push through. Breathing becomes labored and yet I still sing to myself of songs from my Ipod. My love is dancing, which is where I go after 3 miles and I escape. This helps me stay strong and happy. The dance of my run relieves stress and lets me get away from life. It's a dream land that can set all problems straight.

I guess I was built to run and didn't know it, just had to learn to love it. This week I ran 5 miles (planned on 4, but felt good) tempo run (5.5 mph) with 2 farleks (6 mph) one a minute long on Tuesday. Ran 4 miles tempo run and 2 farleks, both 2 minutes long. Friday ran 2 fast miles with 2 fartleks, one 5 minutes long and the other 2 minutes long. Today, Saturday, I ran a 10k. Ran the first 5k straight without stopping and took maybe a 5 minute stretching break. That 5k was just about 30 minutes. The second 5k was just under 35 minutes. My fastest 10k so far is an hour and 25 minutes, which I shaved off about 20 minutes. Plus, I ran in a new neighborhood with many low grade hills. Feeling strong with 17 miles, strength training sessions, Pilates with body band, and stretching under my belt this week.