I ran 5 miles!

Yeah so I have done 5 miles.  I've done 6 miles.  All in my training for the Hot Chocolate 15K.  But I haven't run the whole entire time.  I'm still kind of figuring out my fitness level and quite honestly I might be allowing myself to walk when I don't need to.  Whatever the case, my running mojo isn't quite where it was before I got sick.   But yesterday I left work, drove to the park in town to start running so that I could beat sunset.  The town I work in is much more hilly than the town I live in. So I was worried about running the whole 5.  There's a 1 mile loop at the park that has some hills that look small, but 5 times around would be killer. So I went around it once, then headed to the main street which is more flat.  I ran till I hit 2.5 and then turned around and ran back to the park doing another loop.  I was pretty proud of myself!

The funny thing here is that the pace of 11:36 is the *same* pace as the last time I did 5 miles when I walked 1/4th of a mile in the middle. I find that amusing and disappointing.

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Remember the phone drama I spoke of in my last post?  We returned all the phones to Best Buy on Saturday and rolled back our contract.  I'm not sure what we will do.  I honestly want my husband to get on his own plan.  Why?  Because I don't think we'll be together for 2 more years.  So separating the plans later would be more complicated.  I guess that's only *if* I upgrade the 2 year contract.  Otherwise, the no contract options that providers are doing these days would be much easier to separate.

So here I am back to my cracked Galaxy S4 and hating every minute.  The phone is laggy and the cracked screen is annoying.  Plus I think it's kind of faulty to touch as when I'm typing suddenly words that I had no intention of typing are flying on the screen.  Oh well.  I also took the insurance on all these phones off my Sprint plan cause let's be honest - that's a scam. 


Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Rain delay = more workout!

This weekend marked the 5th weekend of a row with a 5 mile run.  That was a goal of mine - one day on the weekend is a 5 mile run.  The other day is 3.  Then there are various 2-3 mile runs during the week.  Since I am not training for anything this is the pattern I enjoy and it doesn't take a huge commitment.  It also keeps me in decent running shape and I'm not burned out like I was at the end of last year.

One of my secret wishes was that the weight I've lost this year would positively impact my running pace without much real effort from me.  I think that's actually happening as the pace right around 11:00 is becoming easier for me.  I think before it was more like 11:20-11:40.

We've had massive rains (yes this is a huge problem for those of us that farm).  So it's been humid even if the temps haven't been sky high.  Of course today we have a heat advisory with a heat index expected to reach 105.  I saw that coming.  Flood us first and then hit us with dangerous heat. Thanks mother nature.

I got up Saturday morning and saw an overcast sky and decided I wasn't pressing my luck - 5 mile run - GO!  I had a great run!  I've been wanting to see if I could get a sub 11:00 avg pace in 5 miles and I finally did it!  I will say that I busted ass on the last half mile cause I realized how close I was to making the goal.  Whoop!

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Sunday morning rolled around and it was a 3 mile run scheduled.  I wanted to hit the pavement early cause I knew I had to clean Eli's stall and I was also going to ride him.  He's been stuck inside for over a week thanks to this tropical storm we've had going on here in IL.  *eye roll*  So I've been working him every day with the plan that he gets today (Monday) off due to heat.    I woke up Sunday morning to thunder. What the what?!  More rain?  Come on!  I was getting ready and my husband told me it was lightening.  Oh well.  I said I'll call you if I want you go come and get me.  I didn't really think the storm would hit us.  My expert meteorological knowledge lead me to believe it would go north of me.  So off I went.  Run!  Run fast! Beat the rain.   I went out a mile and turned around.  I figured I'd go back and forth on my actual road after that to get the distance so I was closer to home should something happen.  When I turned around - lightening!  Then more lightening that made be flinch.  The rain was picking up.  Umm. . . texted hubby told him where to come get me and started heading kind of away from the storm. He got me at mile 2.28.  I was booking it though.  I'm so bummed I couldn't get all 3 in.  It might have been my fastest 5K!

So back to the house we go.  I'm anal - I need to get the rest of that mile in.  But how long do I wait.  I decide to do Chalean Extreme during my rain delay.

Haven't I been blabbing about doing more weights?  Haven't I been promising myself I'm going to build some muscle?  My husband got the weights out like 2 or 3 weeks ago and there they sat.  So I tell my husband I'm going to do this. . . he says the storm is past.  Oh well. . . . my mind is made up.  So I do Burn 1.  Then I go back out and hit another mile.  Holy hell!  My legs felt so heavy.  As you can see above that one mile is much slower.  I'm so sad I couldn't finish those three miles before the storm. There's nothing like a storm coming to make you run fast!  I did 3 miles that way a could years ago, before I had my Garmin and I'm pretty sure I rocked it!  However the rain delay did cause me to workout more than I planned.  So that's a win.  And I'm *sore* today.  I need to commit to continuing with this program a few times a week and see if I can get some muscle tone back.  The scale is sitting still again, back in the 180-181 range unfortunately.  I really would like to see 176 before I go to Canada.  

Inches lost. . .

Oh gosh. . . I'm so discouraged by the scale.  Up and down. . .the same 2 lbs basically.  This weekend I saw the 30 lbs lost mark. . . but my scale was goofy.  It took like 6 attempts to get two weights of the same number.  So scrap that.  I'll wait till I really believe it.

Yesterday I measured.  I needed some motivation.

Total lost since May 9th (that was the end of my last cleanse and the last time I measured)
Chest: -2 inches (really?  goodness.  I don't need or want to lose my chest!)
Waist: - 1 inch
Hips: -1 inch
Thigh: -0.5 inch

My totals since the beginning of the year when I first started Advocare:
Chest: -4 inches
Waist: -5 inches
Hips: -6 inches (I freaking LOVE this!  That's my problem area)
Thigh: -3.5 inches

The scale doesn't show it all, but gosh darn it if I won't do a happy dance when I see that 30 lbs mark for realz.

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Sunday I did my first real 5 mile run (ran the whole thing) in a long long time.

I cannot freaking tell you how good this felt!  Whoop!   I had negative splits!  Holy crap. I never have that on a 5 mile run.  It was cold!  It was like 58 when I started my run.  Breezy too.  I had a head wind from miles 0.5-1.5.  That was kind of a struggle and might explain the slower miles 1 and 2.  Normally my first mile would be below 11:00.  Funny how running into the wind can be tough, but when it's a tail wind, I can't feel nothing and it sure doesn't feel like it pushes me on!  This was one of those runs that felt so steady and strong. Just very rhythmic.  I LOVE those.  I was flying high after this run.

I've been taking Advocare's 02 Gold before my runs on the weekend.  People call it a 3rd lung.  I haven't quite got the timing down - you are suppose to take it an hour before you run. I'm usually out the door well within that first hour that I'm awake.  That being said I do feel like it helps and it's on my list to reorder this week.  I don't tend to keep using things that I feel don't work.  So there's something going on!

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I don't think I mentioned this here, but this past week I had Brussels Sprouts for the first time.  In my life.  First time ever.  I loved them.  Of course they were made with pork belly and might have been fried to some capacity.  I tried to roast some last night with oil and balsamic vinegar. 

They were ok.  I'm going to keep trying. If you have a recipe that rocks, please share it with me.  

Knee Update

Knees are complicated things.  Prior to running my 15K in Dec, I don't remember having such issues with my knees.  I wonder if I've beautified my memories, so to speak.  I know that often times you block out the bad and remember the good.  For example I'm struggling with running and I don't have any memories of struggling like this during 15K training.  I'm sure I argued with myself during runs, but I did the miles.  This time I feel like I gained 100 lbs.  My body is heavy and I'm slower.  I know I'm slower, so there is something going on.  

I remember telling someone that my knee would start hurting between miles 3 & 4 but that I'd run out of it.  It would twinge for a bit, but it went away.  Did it go away?  I'm sure it did!  But now I'm questioning it.   Maybe I just ignored it and thought it went away.  But I distinctly remember telling someone that I would run out of the pain.  *shrug*   So when my knee hurt during the 15K I didn't think much of it.  I have no memories of when it started hurting or what it felt like after it started.   There's so much adrenaline during a race.  What I do remember is that as soon as I started walking after crossing the finish line that it hurt.  It hurt bad.  I was limping.  I thought it was from the race, the miles, the hills (I don't normally run hills).  I gave myself 2 weeks off at some point.  I started running lightly before really starting training for my half.  But yet here I still struggle with my knee.  I don't think it's my shoes anymore.  

I ran 3.5 miles on Wednesday and I told my chiropractor that it starting hurting after 1.5 miles.  Somewhere between 1.5 and 2 miles.  She said there's inflammation in my knee.  My massage therapist says there are muscles pulling on it and she finds some majorly painful trigger points.  My chiro gave me some natural supplements to help with inflammation.  I'm now icing my knee even on days I don't workout or run.  I'm also taking fish oil gummies as fish oil is suppose to help with inflammation also.   

Today I had 5 miles on the schedule and I'm not going to lie, I was worried about it.  I woke up and I iced my knee for 25-30 mins.  I took one Aleve and 2 Advil, hoping to help with inflammation.  I stretched my inner thighs before starting.  I ran 3 miles before I felt any issues and then it started out really minor.  I'm sure that I'm favoring my left leg even when my knee doesn't hurt in a way to protect it.  So I'm trying to keep my gait between my left and right leg the same.    When my knee stared hurting it seemed as if I increased my stride length that it felt better.  I run with a really short stride given how tall I am (5'10").  I finished the 5 miles at a very slow pace. (Why am I so slow right now?)  The good thing is that as soon as I walked there was no pain.  I was walking without a limp in my stride, no hitch in my giddy-up! :)   That's positive.  I should note that my knee never hurts when I'm not running.  When I first started running and I had the wrong shoes my knees ached when I wasn't running.  I felt pain going up and down stairs.  That is not the case now.  I think that's positive. . . sort of.  I'm not sure.  I stretched out my inner thighs when I was finished running and I rolled my IT band on the foam roller.   I then made my Shakeology smoothie and iced my knee again.  Next week my long run is 6 miles and then I have a step back week.  I hope I can keep making improvements.  I should note that my knee never hurts on the treadmill.  I know there's more give in a treadmill, but I'm still surprised that it doesn't hurt at all.  

For my five miles I ran around the block near my house.  I heard there was a 5K in town and I didn't want to get in the mix.  A country block is 1 mile on each side and I live a half mile off the block.  So from the end of my drive, the block, around the block and back to my drive is 5 miles.  It's kind of a boring run and I don't love it.  Here are my splits. . . slow as a turtle. 

You know, I have a degree in math. . . I've never understood the avg pace column.  The numbers match the lap time.  For example, on mile 2, my avg pace would be less than 12:06 cause my first mile was faster than my 2nd.  I don't get what that column is for.   It doesn't make sense to me.  

It was 30 degrees when I started running and 35 when I finished.  It's a heat wave!  It was sunny and felt so warm.  I took my light jacket off at mile 1.5 and ran the rest of the run in a tank top.  What a great day!