whew! this past week was just an intense rollercoaster of emotions/events for me. this blog post is not very exciting, but i'll do my best to summarize my past week.
i just didn't feel like running since returning from seattle. and then Friday morning, i found out that my grandma passed away, but that was a blessing, so i felt better and decided that if i was going to run 8 on saturday, i had better run a little before then. So i went for a quick 3 miler on friday afternoon. it felt pretty good, except for the humidity.
friday night i went to the ben harper concert at starlight theatre with jamie and lauren. it was absolutely AWE-SOME. a-maz-ing. if you didn't go, you missed out. so after that fabulous night, i was all kinds of excited for the saturday morning run.
and what do you know....it was rainy too!! sweet!! i love rainy running. so, my original plan was to run 8 miles but i decided to turn around at the 3 mile water stop instead and run the last 3 miles back faster and push myself. it felt really great, i've just been having a problem with my shins hurting once i stop running. i suppose a cure for that would be to keep running and running and running........um, yeah, no.
but saturday night was what i was looking forward to all week. several Team in Training teammates from san diego, along with our honored patient and her husband met for dinner at a japanese steakhouse. first off, i love japanese steakhouses and second off, it's always a laugh-tastic time when we all get together.
sunday i got up early to get in a quick 2 miles before i headed home for the funeral since i knew i probably wouldn't have time/energy to run that evening or on monday.
tuesday i was back in full force, working in an 8 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run after work. the cooler weather is invigorating. ok, by 'cooler', i mean around 80s, not 90s or 100s like it has been the past couple of works.
i snuck in a 7 mile bike and 2 mile run tonight. once again, the shins are fine during the run, but sore afterwards. but i suppose that's better than them hurting during AND after, right? right.
so, in summary:
8/25 3 mi run....26:45....9:12/mi
8/26 6 mi run....58:08....9:41/mi (just for the record, my last 3 mi pace was 1:00/mi faster than the first 3 miles)
8/27 2 mi run....14:50....7:25/mi (my gps had trouble finding a satellite, so that's probably not accurate)
8/29 3 mi run....26:52....8:57/mi + 8 mi bike
8/30 2 mi run....16:57....8:28/mi + 7 mi bike
i think i'll run 4 tomorrow morning and shoot for 8 on saturday. maybe 10. we'll see.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Seattle Awesupertacular
Seattle was awesome. super. spectacular. Therefore, i have created a new word to describe it. Awesupertacular. that pretty much sums it up. Since my visit in July was filled with touristy excitement, we decided to just hang out and relax more this time.
I finally got to sleep in on saturday, something i haven't done in a long time. The Todd (as he has been deemed by a co-worker of mine) dropped me off at the Lake Sammamish trail around 11 and i headed off on my six-miler. I really didn't have any idea where my final destination was, so i just decided to run until i hit 6.0 or until i ran out of trail and into the lake. which actually.....that wouldn't have felt too bad. It was a pleasant 73ish degrees during my run, but when the trail emerged from the cover of the trees, the sun was blazing down on me and i really wanted to jump in the water.
The trail was flat, soft gravel and ran all along the east side of the lake, next to the endless row of lake houses and docks. At this time of morning, there were hundreds of boats already out on the lake and it really made me want to waterski. It made me miss the summers growing up, spending every weekend at the lake, trying to perfect my slaloming skills. I need to get a friend with a boat..............my mind is wandering....
It was such an incredible view and my shins/knees felt great, i think i could've kept going. But that Seattle sun was pretty hot and i called The Todd to meet me at a rendevous point. Great run.
6.15 miles. 54:35 min. 8:52 pace
My knee was a little sore once i stopped running, but i think the Glucosamine actually might be making it somewhat better. *probably the placebo effect*
The rest of my stay in Seattle was spent doing some shopping, meeting some of Todd's friends out for his birthday dinner on Lake Union, running around downtown on the Harbor Steps... Oddly, i didn't take many pictures, which is weird because usually i'm a photo-fanatic. I really wish i would've taken a camera with me when i did my saturday morning run or at the lakefront dinner. better luck next time... I still have yet to see a single drop of precipitation during my times in Seattle. I was actually a little bit disappointed about that, but can't complain because i'm sure i'll be begging for sunny days once the rainy season starts.
It was difficult to leave Todd and come back to kansas. I think it gets harder to say goodbye each time. Also frustrating is that i haven't been able to run since saturday. most of monday was spent at airports/in flight, and yesterday i was looking forward to helping out at the Team in Training Kick-off meeting but i had to make an emergency trip back home to see my grandma. Her heart is slowly giving out on her, so all 6 of her children and several of us grandchildren were there to say our 'Goodnights' and now i guess we're just waiting for God to take her to an eternal rest. It's been a harried week thus far and not looking to get any better.
What day is it today anyway? Wednesday?? It's my only obligation-free night for awhile so I'm hoping to get a 3 mile run in and maybe go to the gym, but I haven't unpacked, laundry is piling up, Project Runway is on tonight and my energy level is just hovering above zero, so i'm not sure if that will happen.
I finally got to sleep in on saturday, something i haven't done in a long time. The Todd (as he has been deemed by a co-worker of mine) dropped me off at the Lake Sammamish trail around 11 and i headed off on my six-miler. I really didn't have any idea where my final destination was, so i just decided to run until i hit 6.0 or until i ran out of trail and into the lake. which actually.....that wouldn't have felt too bad. It was a pleasant 73ish degrees during my run, but when the trail emerged from the cover of the trees, the sun was blazing down on me and i really wanted to jump in the water.
The trail was flat, soft gravel and ran all along the east side of the lake, next to the endless row of lake houses and docks. At this time of morning, there were hundreds of boats already out on the lake and it really made me want to waterski. It made me miss the summers growing up, spending every weekend at the lake, trying to perfect my slaloming skills. I need to get a friend with a boat..............my mind is wandering....
It was such an incredible view and my shins/knees felt great, i think i could've kept going. But that Seattle sun was pretty hot and i called The Todd to meet me at a rendevous point. Great run.
6.15 miles. 54:35 min. 8:52 pace
My knee was a little sore once i stopped running, but i think the Glucosamine actually might be making it somewhat better. *probably the placebo effect*
The rest of my stay in Seattle was spent doing some shopping, meeting some of Todd's friends out for his birthday dinner on Lake Union, running around downtown on the Harbor Steps... Oddly, i didn't take many pictures, which is weird because usually i'm a photo-fanatic. I really wish i would've taken a camera with me when i did my saturday morning run or at the lakefront dinner. better luck next time... I still have yet to see a single drop of precipitation during my times in Seattle. I was actually a little bit disappointed about that, but can't complain because i'm sure i'll be begging for sunny days once the rainy season starts.
It was difficult to leave Todd and come back to kansas. I think it gets harder to say goodbye each time. Also frustrating is that i haven't been able to run since saturday. most of monday was spent at airports/in flight, and yesterday i was looking forward to helping out at the Team in Training Kick-off meeting but i had to make an emergency trip back home to see my grandma. Her heart is slowly giving out on her, so all 6 of her children and several of us grandchildren were there to say our 'Goodnights' and now i guess we're just waiting for God to take her to an eternal rest. It's been a harried week thus far and not looking to get any better.
What day is it today anyway? Wednesday?? It's my only obligation-free night for awhile so I'm hoping to get a 3 mile run in and maybe go to the gym, but I haven't unpacked, laundry is piling up, Project Runway is on tonight and my energy level is just hovering above zero, so i'm not sure if that will happen.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Ramblin' On
oopsie, i've put off blogging for too long. i just couldn't really think of anything and then i got busy at work and delegated my blogging to someone else. so here's my post, according to JOSH:
I ran again this Saturday.
Yipppppie!
Four hilly miles I ran.
Woooo whoooo!
Four long, hilly miles.
Go Katie!
so there you have it. thank you, Speedy Josh.
but since his post just doesn't do much justice (no offense) to my actual training, i'll spice it up a bit.
let's see where we left off last time..........since we last saw Katie's blog, she did a sweaty 2.5 mile run in 100 degree heat, an uncomfortable morning 3 mile run (thanks to tummy issues) and then the hilly 4 miles. with a few 7-8 mile bike rides sprinkled in. (but it actually wasn't 4 miles. it was more like 4.35 miles. so we'll just say 4.5 and call it good.)
i really commend those who are training for the Nike Women's Marathon. those hills at Shawnee Mission Park are nothing to be laughed at and my knee was definitely hurting the rest of the day. i took a teammate's advice and bought some glucosamine/condroitin in the hopes that will ease the knee pain. i also found this info and it (kinda) helped convince me it was a good buy:
A recent Internet poll at runnersworld.com showed that 94.5 percent of respondents said they had tried one of the supplements. What's more, 79.8 percent reported that their symptoms "somewhat improved" or "greatly improved" after taking glucosamine and/or chondroitin. Less than one percent reported that "things got worse" with the supplements.
I mean, really.....if less than 1% reported that "things got worse", how much harm could it do me? those are pretty good odds. i can't tell a difference yet, but i've been slacking on keeping up with the correct dosage. see katie, it's reasons like these that you can never get fully healthy.
but i'm no slacker. if anything is for sure, i've realized that sleep is of little to no value to me lately. i'd say that 5 out of 7 days during the week, i wake up around 5:45 to go to the gym or run. which isn't really that bad, except that when your boyfriend lives in Pacific Time it makes for a late bedtime and i only get an avg. of 5-6 hours of sleep. i'm not complaining though, it's nothing a pot of coffee can't fix. but usually sundays are my day to sleep in and for some reason (actually it was for a good cause so that's why i did it) i volunteered to help with late registration at the Race for the Cure. That meant another alarm awakening at 5:30 to make it to Union Station by 6. i was (not surprisingly) a little late, but it was fun and i kinda wished i would've done the actual race. another year perhaps.
i ran a quick 2.5 mile run on monday. IN THE RAIN!!!! that's by far my favorite weather to run in. not the torrential rain, but the light soothing drizzle-y type. i run without my ipod and just listen to the sound of my surroundings. if i would've woken up earlier, i probably would've kept running longer....but that stupid alarm clock and i have been having major battles lately. biked another 8 miles tuesday and am planning on a 3 mile run tonight. this 'cooler' weather makes me happy.
but what really makes me happy is that i'm jetting off to Seattle on friday night!! and that means that my 6 mile saturday morning run will not be taking place at hilly Shawnee Mission Park, but on the shores of Lake Sammamish. some people may complain about Seattle always being rainy, but if it does rain, i would be ecstatic. just as long as its not rainy the entire weekend, i was hoping to do some kayaking. i just have to convince somebody else to accompany me :)
I ran again this Saturday.
Yipppppie!
Four hilly miles I ran.
Woooo whoooo!
Four long, hilly miles.
Go Katie!
so there you have it. thank you, Speedy Josh.
but since his post just doesn't do much justice (no offense) to my actual training, i'll spice it up a bit.
let's see where we left off last time..........since we last saw Katie's blog, she did a sweaty 2.5 mile run in 100 degree heat, an uncomfortable morning 3 mile run (thanks to tummy issues) and then the hilly 4 miles. with a few 7-8 mile bike rides sprinkled in. (but it actually wasn't 4 miles. it was more like 4.35 miles. so we'll just say 4.5 and call it good.)
i really commend those who are training for the Nike Women's Marathon. those hills at Shawnee Mission Park are nothing to be laughed at and my knee was definitely hurting the rest of the day. i took a teammate's advice and bought some glucosamine/condroitin in the hopes that will ease the knee pain. i also found this info and it (kinda) helped convince me it was a good buy:
A recent Internet poll at runnersworld.com showed that 94.5 percent of respondents said they had tried one of the supplements. What's more, 79.8 percent reported that their symptoms "somewhat improved" or "greatly improved" after taking glucosamine and/or chondroitin. Less than one percent reported that "things got worse" with the supplements.
I mean, really.....if less than 1% reported that "things got worse", how much harm could it do me? those are pretty good odds. i can't tell a difference yet, but i've been slacking on keeping up with the correct dosage. see katie, it's reasons like these that you can never get fully healthy.
but i'm no slacker. if anything is for sure, i've realized that sleep is of little to no value to me lately. i'd say that 5 out of 7 days during the week, i wake up around 5:45 to go to the gym or run. which isn't really that bad, except that when your boyfriend lives in Pacific Time it makes for a late bedtime and i only get an avg. of 5-6 hours of sleep. i'm not complaining though, it's nothing a pot of coffee can't fix. but usually sundays are my day to sleep in and for some reason (actually it was for a good cause so that's why i did it) i volunteered to help with late registration at the Race for the Cure. That meant another alarm awakening at 5:30 to make it to Union Station by 6. i was (not surprisingly) a little late, but it was fun and i kinda wished i would've done the actual race. another year perhaps.
i ran a quick 2.5 mile run on monday. IN THE RAIN!!!! that's by far my favorite weather to run in. not the torrential rain, but the light soothing drizzle-y type. i run without my ipod and just listen to the sound of my surroundings. if i would've woken up earlier, i probably would've kept running longer....but that stupid alarm clock and i have been having major battles lately. biked another 8 miles tuesday and am planning on a 3 mile run tonight. this 'cooler' weather makes me happy.
but what really makes me happy is that i'm jetting off to Seattle on friday night!! and that means that my 6 mile saturday morning run will not be taking place at hilly Shawnee Mission Park, but on the shores of Lake Sammamish. some people may complain about Seattle always being rainy, but if it does rain, i would be ecstatic. just as long as its not rainy the entire weekend, i was hoping to do some kayaking. i just have to convince somebody else to accompany me :)
Monday, August 07, 2006
Humidity Stupidity
AAAaaaaaaaaargh. this stupid, stupid weather is stupid, stupid, stupid. i guess i can be thankful that i'm still recovering from my injury and my mileage is not up in the double digits, but still, it makes it really hard to motivate myself to even run a short distance.
regardless, i had a pretty good week of running since my last post. it's all about quality, not quantity.
on wednesday, i was already at the gym and figured, hey why not revisit my old friend mr. treadmill? so we had a good reunion of 2 miles together. despite being in a gym that felt like a sauna, the run felt great.
friday, got off work at noon so i went to the gym, but just couldn't bring myself to run on the treadmill again so i went to the trail and ran 2.5 miles. (well, actually 2.65) aside from the afternoon heat that nearly killed me, my legs felt great. i decided to reward myself with some tasty Smoothie King since i didn't end up passed out in the grass. mmmmm, i should do that more often. i've discovered that i just need to keep my right knee moving once i've finished running, otherwise it gets tight and painful. stretch, stretch, walk like an ostrich, stretch some more.
saturday, i had a little bit of trouble with my alarm again and woke up at 5:45. not good, since i was supposed to be at the TNT run at 6:00 and it's about a 25 minute drive from my house. i don't think i've ever gotten dressed faster than i did that morning. granted, it does make it easy when no one cares if you show up looking like you'd be better off with a paper bag over your face.
(note to self: in the future, please print off the directions to your destination instead of trying to use your internal GPS to guide you there.)
i got a little lost since it was my first time to meet at Shawnee Mission Park and i thought i knew a quicker back road to get there. wrong. by the time i arrived, the only people in sight were some fisherman and they just looked at me like i was lost. i had no idea which direction to run, so i just headed off and decided to run until the Forerunner said 3 miles. it felt good to run along the lake, to help combat the mugginess but the hills were not too gentle on my knee. (and by 'hills', i mean slight inclines. it's a good thing i didn't run the planned route because those large hills would've destroyed me)
i finished up at 3.25 miles and manned the water station for the next hour or so, which was lots of fun and made me extremely admire those who ran the hilly 8 miles and came back so sweaty they looked like they'd been hanging out in a car wash.
i rested on sunday and ran a quick 2.25 miles this morning, making it home just before it started downpouring. counting this morning's run, i'm looking to put in around 12 miles this week. hopefully the temperature drops, otherwise i'll be spending some quality time on the treadmill.
regardless, i had a pretty good week of running since my last post. it's all about quality, not quantity.
on wednesday, i was already at the gym and figured, hey why not revisit my old friend mr. treadmill? so we had a good reunion of 2 miles together. despite being in a gym that felt like a sauna, the run felt great.
friday, got off work at noon so i went to the gym, but just couldn't bring myself to run on the treadmill again so i went to the trail and ran 2.5 miles. (well, actually 2.65) aside from the afternoon heat that nearly killed me, my legs felt great. i decided to reward myself with some tasty Smoothie King since i didn't end up passed out in the grass. mmmmm, i should do that more often. i've discovered that i just need to keep my right knee moving once i've finished running, otherwise it gets tight and painful. stretch, stretch, walk like an ostrich, stretch some more.
saturday, i had a little bit of trouble with my alarm again and woke up at 5:45. not good, since i was supposed to be at the TNT run at 6:00 and it's about a 25 minute drive from my house. i don't think i've ever gotten dressed faster than i did that morning. granted, it does make it easy when no one cares if you show up looking like you'd be better off with a paper bag over your face.
(note to self: in the future, please print off the directions to your destination instead of trying to use your internal GPS to guide you there.)
i got a little lost since it was my first time to meet at Shawnee Mission Park and i thought i knew a quicker back road to get there. wrong. by the time i arrived, the only people in sight were some fisherman and they just looked at me like i was lost. i had no idea which direction to run, so i just headed off and decided to run until the Forerunner said 3 miles. it felt good to run along the lake, to help combat the mugginess but the hills were not too gentle on my knee. (and by 'hills', i mean slight inclines. it's a good thing i didn't run the planned route because those large hills would've destroyed me)
i finished up at 3.25 miles and manned the water station for the next hour or so, which was lots of fun and made me extremely admire those who ran the hilly 8 miles and came back so sweaty they looked like they'd been hanging out in a car wash.
i rested on sunday and ran a quick 2.25 miles this morning, making it home just before it started downpouring. counting this morning's run, i'm looking to put in around 12 miles this week. hopefully the temperature drops, otherwise i'll be spending some quality time on the treadmill.
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