Training Update

In the midst of searching for "the best wrinkle cream ever", I am pausing for a moment to post an update on my training! I realized that I haven't really said much as of late about my actual training progress, so although wrinkle cream is very important at this juncture, it can wait.

Did I mention that I'm getting wrinkles?

Yeah. This concerns me.

Moving along.

I am fully immersed in week 4 of my modified Hal Higdon plan, and things seem to be going good so far. I am tired today, but I'm not sure if it is a result of the past 3 weeks of training, or staying up until 1AM cleaning and lugging furniture around in preparation for the painters arrival tomorrow. We're getting the condo painted. It needs it. Badly.

*Week 1 of training consisted of 14 total miles, with a long run of 5 miles. That was the week I was in Tennessee, and got 2 nice outdoor runs while I was there.

*Week 2 of training consisted of 15.25 total miles, with a long run of 6.25 miles. Week 2 was my first semi-self-organized group Sunday run at Centennial Park with Robert, Carol & Amanda. This was the 6.25 beauty (my longest run to date) that Robert had to drag me up the hills on. I love that man. Week 2 was also my first time in YEARS of running 3 consecutive days, which I was very nervous about. My body cooperated though, much to my surprise.

*Week 3 of training (last week) consisted of 16.25 total miles, with my long run again at 6.25 miles. The goal for Sunday long run was 7 miles, but I was really struggling. It was much (much) colder out at a mere 35 degrees at 9:30AM, and my legs felt really heavy from the beginning. I didn't warm up sufficiently, and that was most likely my mistake. I was already walking during the first lake loop, so I knew I was going to be slow. To make matters worse, my stupid dumb Nike + receiver pooped out the night before during my 40 minutes on the elliptical. Due to that, I basically just had to rely on Robert's Garmin to keep track of my time for me.

Sidebar: Have I mentioned how much I sometimes HATE my stupid Nike + thingamabob? Yes, yes, I have. I am so tired of replacing my receiver and sensor...and then my receiver again...then my sensor. Scuse me...Junk Miles? If you're reading, can you please inform the leader of your cult that this Nike + contraption needs to be better engineered so that it will be sweat-proof? Because for realz, I'm going to go bankrupt from having to replace the stupid things every month. And the chances of me sweating less are pretty much nil. Thank you. Muah. Love you.

I have been using the P:I workouts at least twice a week, and I gotta tell ya...this is some really great stuff! Remember how scared I was about trying out the Podrunner Intervals plan? Yeah, not anymore! I just love them. Last Thursday, during my 4 mile workout with Fred Mill at my good gym (as opposed to the gym I go to at lunch on work days), I had an awesome run to the P:I Week 2 interval podcast. For the first time in my life, I experienced that strange tunnel vision feeling while I was running, and it was amazing. Anyone else experience this? I felt like I could have gone on forever, and it occurred around the 3 mile mark. I basically "sprinted" (which for me is more like saying "ran" instead of "jogged") for the entire 3rd mile because I felt so incredible, then I turned down the heat a little and ran another 1/2 mile after that.

*So, here we are. One day into week 4 of "the plan". Yesterday was "stretch and strength" day, and I did a bunch of girlie pushups, some back exercises, walking lunges, abs, bi's and tri's. I was basically just trying to get an overall strength workout, and then I did 15 minutes of good stretching at the gym, followed by 15 minutes more when I got home last night. Pre-cleaning and furniture lugging.

The problem me with right now, at this very moment, is that my right calf is tight. Not as tight as yesterday, but still tight. I have a feeling that it is from the shoes that I wore yesterday, which were flatter than flat...but I did put my nerdy insoles in them, so I shouldn't have really had any issues from them. Who knows...it could also be from Sunday's seemingly torturous run...but I felt fine on Sunday night. I just don't know. I'm going to do some foot stretches at lunch, because they always seem to help.

Have I mentioned that sometimes I feel like a science project?