Below 60 and Running

Last night, I was so stressed out, all I wanted to do was throw on my running shoes and run until I fell over. But I had to work on my writing plan for my thesis which is due today.

This morning, I did not have the same enthusiasm to run. I stayed in bed until 7:00am, and then decided to see what the temperature was like...more so to give me another excuse not to go, especially since I had already mentioned to all of you that I was going to go running today. But when I picked up my phone and hit the weather icon I was shocked. 57 degrees. 

That is all it took. No way was I going to pass up a chance to run in 50-odd degree weather when I've been steaming in 70- and 80-degree weather for the past few weeks.

The beginning of the run felt great because of the cooler temp. But I felt really sluggish, which I think is a result of some poor food choices I made yesterday. My average mile time was 9:45 today.

On my run this morning, along the river, I saw two groups of women rowing out on the water. I wanted to cheer from the park, "whoot whoot. Morning workout!" But decided not too. I've never done rowing before, but I think it would be fun to try it some time...

Flying Solo

Today, I ran alone. No Luke, and no Baxter. Instead, I sprinted against yellow traffic lights and quoted The Little Engine that Could to myself when I wanted to stop and walk.

My mile average for the 3 miles I ran this morning was 9:17. With Baxter, I've been running a slow 13:00 or so. So it felt good to establish "my pace" again, as this is comparable to what I was running before the madness of this summer began...with moving and traveling and quitting the gym.

My plan to ease back into things is to run Wednesday and Friday, then do some kind of fun alternative exercise on Saturday, like rollerblading or biking. Come Monday next week, I would like to begin alternating my run days with strength training again...I can't remember the last time I strength trained. But I guess that's the beauty of writing an exercise blog...I can just look in the archives!

Happy exercising, all. Happy Monday.

Slug-a-lug-lug

Another 3-miler today. Due to my neck issue I had last week, it was my first run in a while. And boy was it tough! I just felt so sluggish the entire run. Here are some of my thoughts about why that was:

• I started the run at a faster clip than I should have. I think I ran my first mile at around a 7:30 pace!
• Baxter is currently spending a few weeks at my parents' place since Luke and I will be traveling for 2 weeks beginning this Friday. Stay tuned! Because I didn't have a running partner, I didn't have anyone to measure my pace against.
• I had a board meeting to get to later tonight, so I felt rushed for time.
• I ate a burger and fries for lunch.
• I knew it wasn't the healthiest decision, but I didn't think about how it would affect my run.
• It was hot this afternoon!
• Even though it is hard to get out of bed early in the morning, this warm streak is really making that look like a better option!

Again, I forgot to stop my chronograph at the end of the run, but my average mile pace was somewhere around 9 minutes. I walked about a block and a half when I hit the hill going back into downtown Saint Paul, which evened out my average pace from my first mile.

Pain Tracker

• Left ball of foot hurt before and at beginning of run. After a few minutes, it stopped hurting.

I noticed that my right heel has started hurting in the past when I run up hill. I mentioned this to my chiropractor, and he suggested I shorten my pace when I go up hill. Once I caught my breath today and started running again up the hill, I shortened my pace and my heel did not hurt!

Since I did not have a running partner today, I looked for other people to run against, so that maybe my competitive spirit could motivate me instead. It helped a bit, but there were very few people out in the hot weather.

Jack & Jill

I wasn't feeling well this morning so decided to wait to see how I felt at lunch. Although I felt much better, it was warmer than I would have liked it to be for a run. And people must think I'm a horrible dog owner for making her dog run 3 miles at high noon.

But there were more people out running at noon today than there were out Tuesday morning, which made it more fun for me and my competitive spirit.

Another beautiful day to be down by the river! Looping around and cutting back up hill from the river was also a good challenge. And hey, I remembered my landmark this time!

So, I have another 3 miles under my belt. And my average mile pace today was 9:05; faster than earlier this week, which I expected, since this was a shorter run. Baxter had a hard time keeping up near the end of the run due to the faster pace.

At right are pictures of me and Baxter after the run today... Baxter looks a little more tired than I do!

Pain Tracker:

• Right heel felt bruised during/after hill