My monthly fitness goal for February was to run 50 miles. Unfortunately, this did not happen. I ended up running 34.21 miles in February. As I mentioned in my last post, February was just sort of a bust for me. I was having a really hard time getting motivated to work out this month. I think the toll of the cold, short days was finally getting to me. I also felt like my time really just slipped away from me this month, in exercising and in all other parts of my life. I'm really hoping to turn things around in March and start getting my time more organized, especially because I am busy almost every weekend.
My legs have been totally dead ever since I ran that 8:30 mile earlier in February; it feels like I am running with bricks strapped to my sneakers. While they may have been strong enough to do it and I didn't aggravate any old injuries, they might not have been super ready for running that hard. I don't think I've run a sub-10 mile since then.
My monthly fitness goal for March is, again, going to be to run 50 miles. I'm training for a 10 mile race in April and a half marathon in May, so I will meet this goal easily if I do each of my scheduled runs. The first race of the season is going to be on March 13th (my 30th birthday!), and then we have Friday 5ks every week in April (plus the 10 miler). Knowing these races are just around the corner is hopefully the motivation I need to get back on track.
February 24: 2.5 miles in 28:00
March 1: 5K in 33:13
I am having a hard time getting motivated to work out this month. So far I've worked out 13 of 23 days, which is okay I guess, but it's been a real struggle to get myself to the gym. I'm going to have trouble meeting my monthly workout goal for February (to log 50 miles), plus I had wanted to do more strength training this month. I haven't gone to Body Pump at all this month, once because of snow (couldn't get the car out of the garage and I'm not even sure the gym was open), once because I was out too late the night before, and once because we had a wedding-related meeting in the morning... and this weekend, I'm out of town.
I really hope March is a better month as far as working out. I'm going to start to get into the tougher parts of my 10-miler and half-marathon training, but I don't want to slack off on strength training like I did last time I trained for the 10-miler. My legs can push through a little soreness from lunges and deadlifts... I just need to do it!
Latest workouts:
February 20: 5.6 mile run (1 hour, plus 2 minute cool down)
February 22: strength training (I had planned to get a run in, but all the treadmills were taken for the entire time I was at the gym.)
February 23: 5.3 mile run (1 hour, plus 2 minute cool down)
February 9: 45 minute elliptical
February 10: 3 mile run (32:00)
February 13: 60 minute elliptical, 20 minutes strength training
February 14: 4 miles (44:02)
February 15: Restorative Yoga (30 min)
February 17: 4 mile run (46:00) -- my first mile was in 8:26!!!! I walked almost all of my fourth mile.
I've been slacking on the blogging front (both here and there), so below I've just posted a quick summary of my recent workouts. In addition to my goal of running 50 miles this month, I'm also planning on really bumping up my strength training. My friend Angela gave me a copy of Jillian Michael's Biggest Winner DVD set as a gift a little over a year ago, and I finally got around to buying an exercise step and just started doing these workouts.
February 2: Jillian Michael's Shape Up Front, 30 minutes elliptical
February 3: Jillian Michael's Shape Up Backside, 5k run (30:33)
February 6: 5k run (33:33)
February 8: 3 mile run (35:00), 15 minute elliptical. (I wanted to do a 5 mile run today, but my legs felt like lead.)
**bonus workout: On Sunday, Adam and I went out and played in the snow. Not a traditional workout, but trudging through 2.5 feet of snow for an hour and rolling HUGE balls of snow to make a snowman sure gets the heart pumping!
My January fitness goal was to work out four times a week, which I did! Yay! It did require me to get up extra early on January 30 to go for a run before driving up to New York, but I managed to run my fastest 5K (treadmill) in a long time that morning.
My monthly fitness goal for February is to log 50 miles total over the course of the month. That breaks down to four 3-mile runs per week, which isn't too bad... except that I haven't gone for a run yet this month! I start my half marathon training next week, so the miles will start coming on then, I suppose.
Went out last night, so skipped my Friday workout. Today, we're headed up to NY for my grandfather's 80th birthday, so I had to get up early to run. I didn't expect to go very fast... I headed down quickly after I woke up, so my body was still a little creaky and stiff from sleep. But once I got going...
I ran a 5K in 30:31! Fastest 5K I've run in who knows how long! I finished the 3 miles in 29:35! That's 55 seconds faster than my last one.
January 26 (morning): yoga
January 26 (evening): 60 minute elliptical
January 28: 40 minute elliptical
January 30: 5K in 30:31 (3 miles in 29:35)
I went to my second BodyPump class on Saturday. I still can't believe I get up at 7:30am on a Saturday to go to this class! It seriously kicks my butt, in such a good way. I increased my weight on the backs and biceps sections (I didn't have enough weight on in my first class, but it was hard to judge what was proper having never done the class before), and decreased the weight on the lunges section so I could focus on form. By that point, my legs are already tired and a little wobbly from the squats section and last time I was having a really hard time keeping my balance. I'm not as sore as I was last time. I was actually able to walk on Sunday without limping and complaining every time! Adam came with me and did his own thing at the gym. I think we're going to try to make early Saturday workouts a regular thing. It gets the gym thing out of the way early, plus gives us an incentive not to eat too much junk, drink too much, or stay up too late on Friday nights.
Getting up early for a workout even carried over to today! I want to get in more strength training and yoga, so I'm going to try to do two, shorter sessions at the gym instead of one long one. I'm still focusing on increasing my 5k speed, up until the point where I need to start my half-marathon training, so I am going all out for a half hour but then I haven't been doing much else at the gym. My plan for the next few weeks is to rotate elliptical, yoga and weight training in the mornings and get in my 5k run at night. The elliptical felt good for getting that blood pumping through my legs and getting the last of the soreness out, and I did some extra stretching this morning.
January 23: Body Pump class at the *real* gym.
January 25 (morning): 40 minute elliptical plus stretching
The past few days I've done a variety of workouts, rather than my old treadmill and weight training defaults...
January 16: I took a BodyPump class at the real gym with my friend Sarah. I really liked this class and am going to try to go every Saturday when I'm in town. I still can't believe I got up earlier for a class at the gym on a Saturday than I do for work most days, but I think it's going to be worth it. It was a hard workout. I can't believe how weak my lower body is! I didn't have too much trouble with the upper body portions of the workout; sure, I got tired by the end of each segment and I was sore the following day, but that was nothing compare to my legs. I have neglected strength training my legs lately because I make the excuse that I just finished running, or I have a long run the next day. I've just been going through the motions when I do work out my legs, without really pushing it. Well, I sure paid for it! I could hardly walk on Sunday! I'm hoping that doing more strength workouts with my legs will help me increase my speed and stamina for running. Seems pretty logical to me!
January 17: There was no way I could run Sunday after Saturday's BodyPump class, so I did an easy hour on the elliptical instead. I didn't push myself very hard, but my goals was just to get some blood moving in my legs and start getting over the soreness.
January 18: My legs were still sore, so I did a flexibility yoga DVD to give them a good stretch. We also went to a friend's house for dinner last night, so I didn't have time for too long of a workout.
January 19: Another three mile run. I'm trying to increase my speed each time I do it so hopefully I can keep up with my friend Carolyn when she runs her first 5K next month. I'd hate to be the 5K veteran and not even be able to run with her through her first race! I remember how nervous I was for my first 5K and how nice it was to have someone running with me. Today's three mile run was in 30:30, with each of the last two miles at 9:45.
While I haven't updated my workouts for the past week, I have actually been working out. (Unlike when I took a break from posting my workouts last time.) I've been doing a steady diet of 3 mile runs. Pretty boring, but I'm focusing on increasing my speed right now. And it seems to be working!
January 9: 3 miles in 32:45
January 11:3 miles in 31:41
January 12: weight training
January 14: 3 miles in 31:32
I'm not sure whether I'm going to work out tomorrow or not. On Saturday morning, I'm planning on getting up early to go to a BODYPUMP class at the real gym (i.e., not the gym in our apartment building). Adam and I are also planning on signing up for this VIP club through our local running store so we get automatic entry into their entire series of races for the year. It's not cheap, but we calculated it out and we'd basically spend the same amount of money on those races we were definitely planning on running if we signed up for them individually, but now we happen to get entered into a few new races, get a jacket and a backpack, and also get perks at a lot of the races. I'll probably be the slowest person ever in the VIP club.
I did another timed mile again today... 9:01! And then I took a short walking break and finished two miles in 19:52. I finished up a third mile, with some more walk breaks, at 32:52.
It's hard to imagine that 9 minute miles is easy peasy for some people, even when they first start running. It's taken me quite some time to get up to that speed and I don't think I'd be able to keep it up for much longer at this point. Granted, I didn't run that first mile at a steady pace today; I started at 6.0 and gradually increased the speed as I went along, finishing up with a short sprint at 8.0. Back in high school, I spent an entire summer getting my mile time to 8:30. The fastest I think I've ever run a mile is 8:22, and right now that seems SO fast. Yet, it's a piece of cake for some people. It's kind of frustrating. I know that I need to focus on me and my pace and my improvements, but I wish I knew what it was that made some people faster. I improved my form a few months ago, during my ten miler training, and was able to easily drop some time after that. But I don't know what there is left to do except to just keep working at it, trying to push a bit harder each time.
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