Easy 5 miler and new shoes

So, last night I impulsively bought a pair of Saucony Progrid Ride 2 running shoes online without every trying them on. I have wide feet, so it's not easy for me to find running shoes locally. I found this website, www.endless.com, that sells all kinds of brands of running shoes. They are having $25 off a purchase of $100 and FREE Overnight Shipping. What?? Free Overnight Shipping, you say?? That's right! I ordered these babies at 7:50 PM yesterday evening and they were on my front porch today. Now, that's awesome! What's even more awesome is they actually fit. I got a 6.5 wide and they fit. Felt pretty good. However, when I started running, I started having doubts. I started having little aches in my achilles area and in a muscle right above my right ankle. The funny feelings went away about 3 miles into my run and then I felt fine. I think I laced them too tight, too. They have lots of cushioning in the heel, but I'm not a heel striker. There wasn't as much flexibility in the mid/forefoot area, and that's wear I land when I run. I'm going to give these shoes a few more tries before I decide if I like them or not. If I decide not to keep them, I may end up selling them.

As for my run, it was great. I did 5 miles on the Kanawha Terrace. I'm already seeing the benefit from my slower paced 10 mile run Sunday, as my heart rate was a lot lower on this run than it usually is. It usually averages around 168, and this evening it was 153 at an 11:30-ish pace. I felt a lot better and didn't feel as drained afterwards. My goal is to get my HR under 150 on my easy runs and still run a decent pace. I have a tempo run scheduled for tomorrow and a 5k on Friday evening. I'm going to try to hit 27:30 on the 5k.

Running stats:
Total miles: 5.01
Pace: 11:34 min/mile
Time: 57:59
Ave HR: 153
Calories burned: 598

Next run: Thursday, 6 miles total, 4 miles @ 9:40
Total miles this week: 15

I gained 2 pounds, poo poo!

So, I was on my way to a 1 pound per week loss, then I hop on the scale this weigh-in and I'm up 2 pounds! Waaaaaahhh!! Honestly, I haven't been eating right and I know it. I guess I just need to refocus and start eating better again. I know what I'm supposed to do, I just need to do it.

OMG, I ran 10 miles!

So, I ran 10 miles on Sunday. I don't know what possessed me to do this. I think I just wanted to see if I could do it. I was only supposed to run 8. Another reason I did it is because I skipped my easy 2 miler on Saturday and felt guilty, so I figured I would add the 2 into my long run. I still cannot believe that I did it. I mean, that's double digits! When you say, "I ran 10 miles", you realize that 10 miles is pretty darn far! I never in a million years would ever have thought that I would be capable of doing something like that. I was always overweight in elementary school and junior high. Some of you know what it's like to be overweight growing up. I had a lot of friends, but there were always people that would make fun. I lost some weight in high school playing softball, but I have never been skinny. I've always stayed around 150-155 pounds since high school. It's just really satisfying to look back on that and see where I am today. I love running. It has given me so much confidence. I have never done anything that makes me feel the way running does.

I also approached this run differently in regards to how fast I ran it. I've been reading a lot about training programs and what the different types of runs you incorporate into your training plan do for your running, like the long run, easy run, tempo run, speed run, etc. There are target heart rate zones you should be running these in. For example, the long slow run should be run at a HR of about 65-75% of your max HR. For information on how to calculate your max HR with the new formula, see this article from Runner's World, or you can do it the old way by taking 220-age (Obviously this is only an estimate). The RW article talks about using a HR monitor and the benefits of knowing your HR. Another really great source of information about HR training is McMillian's Running. My max HR is 192, so on my long run I should be keeping my HR between 124-144. For me, this creates a problem because on all of my long runs my average HR is always around 165. There are two reasons for this: 1. I haven't been training long enough and am in not good enough cardiovascular condition to have a HR this low while running and 2. I'm running my long runs too fast. I'm always telling myself I'm too slow, so I try to run faster, but I may be doing myself harm, not good. I have read that training at a HR of 65-75% of your max HR will improve your running, and your HR will start to come down with continued training. I think that I have started off too fast for my own good. So, to make a long story short, I started this run will the intent to keep my HR around 135, but it resulted in a pace of around 13:30 min/mile. Now that is just ridiculous! I couldn't run that slow, it would kill me! So, I settled for keeping my HR around 153, which is about 80% of my max HR. That way, I kept a pace of 12:00 min/mile and didn't feel like I was as slow as a turtle. I think I'm going to start either taking a long walk once a week or use the elliptical, keeping my HR around 136 and see if that helps.

I know I would not have been able to run 10 miles Sunday had it not been for me slowing my pace down and watching my HR. Sometimes running isn't about running fast, but about running smart! I am going to start paying more attention to my HR during my runs and hopefully my running will improve as a result.

Monday was a rest day, so I did 40 minutes on the Wii Active and 35 minutes of my new Billy Blanks Ab Bootcamp DVD. Billy Blanks kicked my butt!!

Running stats courtesy of Garmin Connect:
Total miles: 10
Ave pace: 12:17 min/mile
Time: 2:02:52
Ave HR: 154
Calories burned: 1,083!! wow!!

Next run: Tuesday, easy 5 mile run
Total miles this week: 10

7 mile speed workout

Yesterday I did a 7 mile speed workout. I accidentally posted that I was doing a tempo run in a previous entry, then realized it was a speed workout. Yesterday's weather was not typical. It was about 70 degrees and felt really cool outside at about 10:00 and was very overcast. I piddled around the house, then finally got myself out the door. As I was driving down to the Kanawha Boulevard, I realized just how overcast it was and that I was probably going to get rained on. I considered turning back, but thought maybe the rain would hold off for another hour. I was wrong, lol. About 1/4 of the way through my run it started a steady sprinkle. Not too bad, I thought to myself. It started coming down harder at the halfway point. I have never been caught in the rain before. It was exhilirating! I actually kept to my speed pace much better and probably ran a little faster because I told myself I was trying to "beat" a downpour. There were people out walking and had umbrellas and here I am running. I really felt like a runner, as only "real" runners would run 7 miles in the rain, right? It felt good. I did a 1.5 mile warmup, then ran 3 repeats of 1 mile at 9:00 min/mile pace with 1/2 mile recoveries, then a 1 mile cooldown. The downside, was coming home later to news that my beloved Michael Jackson was dead. I was glued to the television the rest of the day. My husband and some friends were working on the rec room, so I ended up eating pizza for lunch and dinner, 4 slices total. Then, I was so depressed about MJ that I begged my husband to take me to Mayberry's for a chocolate hot fudge sundae. And yes, I ate it all by myself and it was delicious. Today, I'm jamming to MJ's tunes all day at work. I love you MJ!

Stats courtesy of Garmin Connect:
Miles: 7
Ave pace: 10:25 min/mile
Time: 1:12:54
Ave HR: 168

Next run: Saturday easy 2 miles (or more if I'm feeling skippy)
Total miles for the week: 17

RIP MIchael Jackson

I am in tears. I absolutely love Michael Jackson, even though it has not been acceptable to love him over the past 10 years. Nobody can deny that he is the true King of Pop and influenced the music industry in more ways than we can ever appreciate. I was really looking forward to his comeback tour in England. This is truly a devastating day.

I am in mourning. I will be eating icecream later. This is horrible.

Easy 2 miler

Ran an easy 2 miles this evening at a nice park hidden away near a friend's house. Felt great. I have no idea what my pace was or how long it took me because I forgot my watch and was having a good time with friends. They were walking while I ran. I seemed to recover well from the 8 miler on Monday. I did Zumba and a Turbo Jam Abs workout on Tuesday.

Next run: Thursday, 7 mile tempo run
Total miles this week: 10

Long Run #5 - 8 miles

Had a great long run today. I had planned on running it this evening, but as I looked at the weather.com I realized it would be better to do it before noon. Usually 11:00AM is still too hot, but it was about 72 degrees and not too humid, so I thought I would go ahead. Glad I did because the weather felt good. It was sunny, but there was a nice breeze. I ran 8 miles on the Kanawha Boulevard, nice and flat with great scenery. I ran from Drug Emporium near the Patrick Street Bridge to the State Capitol and back. I felt good througout the whole run and kept a pretty constant pace.

Stats on http://connect.garmin.com/activity/7429241
Total miles: 8
Average pace: 11:20 min/mile
Total time: 1:30:42
Calories burned: 966
Ave HR: 168

My heart rate seems to always be too high on my long easy runs. I just couldn't get myself to slow down. I still felt great at this pace. I'm hoping with continued training it will start to come down.

Next run: Wednesday - easy 2 miler/hills at the end
Total miles this week: 8