I was Running…

This week I began training for the half marathon on 5/6. As of today I have 24 days until I will be running 13.1 miles. Happily, that fact isn’t scary. I don’t know that I will get a PR (Personal Record) but I should finish easily. And compared to last year it will be easy: I won’t be 5 months pregnant and I don’t plan on having the stomach flu. My hope is to feel good about myself at the finish.

You may be wondering if P90X2 got me ready to run. I was wondering that when I started the week. I had hoped for faster times, though perhaps the problem with always knowing times is that I enjoy the slow long runs a little less. When my husband used P90X to get ready for a marathon he was able to cut about a minute per mile from his time. I have not had that result. But, in fairness, he had been running prior to P90X. I figure that it’s been about a year and a half since I’ve really run. P90X2 certainly got me in better overall shape and helped me lose weight that I wouldn’t want to run with.

This week is about getting my legs used to the motion again. And figuring out routes, pace, etc:

• Monday I went out for 3 miles and discovered that the neighborhood sidewalks are often pretty dark at 5am. There was a mostly full moon, but the light in the park isn’t on at that time. It also seems that the areas with the fewest streetlights are the areas with the most cracks and uneven surfaces. No, I didn’t fall. Or even trip. But, I was a little timid on trying any sort of speed. I was also pretty cold at the start of the run but decided that I dressed appropriately around the ½ mile point.
• Tuesday I decided to go further and utilize some well-lit trails. So I ran 4.5 miles. I hadn’t run this route before but knew that it was hilly. And it was colder than Monday. Again it turned out that I dressed pretty well but my legs definitely noticed that it was the second day in a row of running. I had stated that it had been about a year and a half since I’ve run. During that “off” time there were a couple three mile loops completed, but I can honestly say that I didn’t do two days in a row. And I didn’t go more than 3 miles (I’m not including longer walks, such as last year’s half marathon). Tuesday night I foam rolled.
• Wednesday I wanted to try a short-fast run. Turns out a “fast” fun on really tired legs isn’t possible. The route I chose also didn’t help. I wanted to do two miles but I didn’t want to use my usual two mile loop due to the darkness and unevenness of the neighborhood sidewalks. So I decided to do an out and back along a main road with lights and good sidewalks. The problem with the route is that it’s down a giant hill and back up a hill; then you turn around. Essentially I felt like I was trying to do speed work and hill repeats at the same time. Still, my pace was faster than the previous two days. I foam rolled both before and after the run. I also did Ab Ripper X2. I want to mix in some Beachbody DVDs when my legs need a break or on short run days; so this was my first attempt at that. I thought about the original Ab Ripper X but didn’t think my legs would appreciate that one. Phase 3 of P90X2 never had Ab Ripper (due to all the core work in the P.A.P. routines) and I was surprised at how well I did. As a side note, I really notice that the stronger my core is the more prone I am to side aches while running; I do not like this correlation and need to figure out how to work through this.
• Thursday, today, I wanted to go back to bed. But I didn’t. The forecast called for rain but nothing was falling yet and temps were actually warmer than the previous days. So I decided on a “long” slow run. For me long was 5 miles and it was certainly slow. Somehow my iPhone switched to a mode where it told me pace every mile; maybe this is part of the MapMyRun update. It was kind of nice and I would really appreciate it on a speed day, but today it just reminded me that I am slow. The nice parts were that I knew when I hit 5 miles (amazingly right at the driveway, though I did some weird loops to get there) and I was motivated to finish faster than I started. Still working on dressing for the early morning runs. It was pretty windy a couple of times and the last mile I took off the gloves.

Anyhow, four days in and I’ve run 14.5 miles. Not bad for week one. The length of tomorrow’s run will be greatly influenced by if it continues to rain and what that does to the temperature. Worst case, I’ll do P.A.P. Upper to give my legs a rest. Best case, who knows?