Five miles & a superhero

Today's run by the numbers:

Miles: 5.12
Time: 1:12:38 (14:11 avg pace)
Temp: low 80s
Wildlife: 2 deer, 1 baby field mouse
3-year-old superheroes: 1

My Nike+ sensor stopped working Thursday morning, so I used my mapped out an approximate 5-mile route for today. The RW smart coach plan called for 5 miles easy at 14:11 (yeah, nailed that!). I had hoped to run it between 13:30 & 14:00 average pace & had written down what those splits would be for each of the 3 sections of the route. I was on target to do just that at the end of the first section.

I was making the turn to go down one of the farm paths when I heard "Mama!" I turned and saw Kate and Will coming towards me on the golf cart. Will wanted to join me for a while, so he and I started down the path with Kate still in the golf cart to give him a ride when he wanted to stop.

A smile, a wave and a "good morning" was all I offered to the crew priming tobacco in the field next to the path. I don't know nearly enough Spanish to even attempt to explain Will's attire: bathing suit (no shirt), homemade cape made from a towel and sneakers. At least he wasn't wearing his goggles on top of his head ...

(We bought an above-ground pool this summer ... now Will wears a bathing suit at all times so he's ready to swim at a moment's notice. At least this is an improvement over the "George of the Jungle" phase when all he would wear was his underwear.)

Will stuck with me for most of the second section even though we had to take a few more walk-breaks and G2 stops than I would have made if I'd been alone. Then, of course, there was a meltdown when I explained that we couldn't run down the path into the woods since we didn't tell Daddy we were going there. He and Kate finally got bored and rode the golf cart back home while I finished.

So, I didn't finish the 5 miles in the time I'd hoped to ... but at least I have the memory of my free-spirit, "Super Will" running with his cape flying behind him. I'll give up a minute or two for that anytime.

Tall Mom's Giveaway

Quickie post while I'm at lunch ... check out the Pearl Izumi giveaway at Tall Mom on the Run! For the couple of people who read my ramblings, she has a great, upbeat blog. If you like what you see, be sure to follow her & mention that I sent you there so we'll both get a bonus entry in the giveaway.

I'll write more when I have a little more time. So far this week, 2 miles Tuesday & 3 miles yesterday. Five miles planned for tomorrow morning ...

Four hot, sweaty miles

I'm back!

I had about 6 weeks of a "look at me NOT running" phase, but that's over now. I rolled my left ankle in early June and had to take several days off to give it time to recover. Well, those few days turned into 6 weeks.

Thankfully, my guilt (and a little fear) about being registered for the Medoc Trail Races 10 miler in October brought the motivation back. I used the Smart Coach program at Runners World online and built an 11-week program to (hopefully) get me to the point that I will be able to survive the 10 miles. I realize it will involve a lot of walking (being on trails will be tougher and I'm way out of shape), but that's okay. It's going to be so much fun!

Today was a scheduled 4 miler and it was tough but I made it through it. It was my longest run in quite a while. I started a little later than planned so it was already hot by 9:30 a.m.. The first two miles on what I call the "big tree" route were definitely better than the last two miles. I ran the "cow pasture" route a couple of times to finish out the run and that includes the tough hill. Here are the splits from my watch (used the distance times from the nike plus which hopefully are fairly accurate).

mile 1: 12:36
mile 2: 13:07 (25:44)
[stopped & rested for a couple of minutes & sipped some water]
mile 3: 13:41 (39:25)
mile 4: 13:30 (52:55)

Still slow, but that's okay ... at least I put a few more miles on legs. My left foot did okay. I've been dealing with some tenderness since the June ankle sprain that I've self-diagnosed as peroneal tendonitis (gotta love the internet and the ability to google ... the symptoms are exactly what I'm experiencing). After a few days of RICE, I successfully tackled three miles the following Saturday. I managed to complete all three runs scheduled this week also.

I'm so glad that I'm enjoying running again. I feel so much better when I'm following some sort of plan. Next week includes 2 miles Monday, 3 miles Wednesday and then 5 miles Saturday. If I'm smart, I'll also add in some cross-training on the other days. Wish me luck!

I registered!

Oh my gosh ... I just registered for the Medoc 10-Miler on October 17 ... I have a LOT of work to do between now and then ...

Have I lost my mind?

I've setup a half-marathon training plan in Buckeye Outdoors. I'm hoping that will be a good preparation for this trail race. Since Medoc is so close by, I'll definitely do some of the training runs there since this will be my first trail race. It's a little rooty & rocky on much of the trails, so that's going to require a lot of attention. The kids enjoy going so we'll make some of them family outings.

3.11 miles yesterday evening when it was still way too hot (80+ degrees). I was very slow and struggled in the heat. Hopefully a couple of miles tomorrow morning will be more encouraging.

the give-away made me do it ...

write this post, that is ...

But one of the bloggers I follow, Erica, is giving away a pair of Thorlo socks and I'm picking up an additional entry by blogging about it. I appreciate the idea for a blog post and especially love the chance to win something! My running budget is not very large and the chance to win a good pair of socks is exciting. I do have 3 pairs of Title 9 socks that I'm rotating now and love. They're thin and I'd like to try the additional cushioning of the Thorlos to see how I like that. Thanks, Erica!

I'm still working on blogging regularly, kind of like I'm working on running regularly. You know, when it comes down to it, I'm still basically the lazy procastinator I've always been. I have good intentions, but actually putting them into practice requires dedication. -sigh- I'm such a slacker, sometimes.

You know, I don't want this blog to be a place to criticize myself, but I've always been very hard on myself. As a whole, running has empowered me and made me realize that I can do it! I just have to constantly fight against the lazy side of myself, and a lot of times, I lose that battle.

Let's see ... what else ...

I've had a successful week with getting up early to run in the mornings 2 times. I love to sleep and am not a morning person at all, so getting out of bed before I absolutely have to is a victory in and of itself! I ran 2 miles both Wednesday and Friday mornings. I did a little upper body workout with my hand weights Thursday morning. I also walked during my lunch hour Thursday and Friday.

Kate and I have not had a chance to continue the couch to 5k plan since the first time last Friday evening. Starting that before school and softball are over was probably not a great idea. She had 3 softball games last week as well as 1 practice. That along with the last "real" week of school did not leave a lot of time for anything else. We'll try to get out and run sometime today or tomorrow. Four more days of school (yay!) and 2 more weeks of softball and then her schedule will free up ... isn't that strange to say that my 8-year-old has a schedule ...

Well, now I need to get up and go outside to help with yard work. It's a beautiful day here in North Carolina and our yard needs lots of attention!

Couch 2 5k & Kate!

I started the Couch to 5k with Kate tonight. She wants to start a training program and from everything I've read, this is the best one. We alternated 1 minute of jogging with 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. She did great! I'm very proud of her and we hope to continue this for the full length of the program (8 weeks, I believe). Here's the graph of tonight's workout minus the 5 minutes walking before and after. We had a great time!

I wanna see a straight line!

The name of this blog is "GISrunner" ... I tell people when they ask about my exercise plans & I say "I run" ... I even have a subscription to "Runner's World." But deep down inside, I don't consider myself to be a runner yet because I think I still take way too many walk breaks and my slow shuffle is really a jog. I'm being very generous to describe myself as a runner.

I've been using the Nike+ since September. I bought it about 5 weeks or so after I started the Couch to 5k plan. I like it because it keeps up with the mileage and pace for me. I know it's not completely accurate, but for the most part I think it's at the most 5% off when I've measured routes on my mapping system. I can live with that. Plus I really like using the slowgeek website to graph the runs so I can see the run/walk portions.

Here's the first run measured with the Nike+ in September. I was at the track and made an effort to warm-up, break up the run/walk portions evenly and then cool down. Yep, I did a pretty good job of doing just that.

Now here's graph for the Harvest Days' 5k in October that was more of a cross-country type course on the horse trails at the 4H Rural Life Center. It measured slightly short and that didn't surprise me at the time. There were parts that were not marked very well and I may have cut a turn or two a little short. I started off too fast and had to take a lot of short walk breaks.

So now here's the graph from Saturday's Patriots' 5k.

Argh, there are those dips from the walk breaks again! I'm really looking forward to the day when I can have that magical straight line graph. I have a few treadmill workouts that are like that. I just have a hard time maintaining a consistent pace outdoors that I can maintain the entire time. The hills in Saturday's 5k were a little unexpected as was the headwind and it had an impact on my legs. But on the bright side, there are some good stretches at a 10:00 pace, so I need to concentrate on that.

Maybe I'm being too hard on myself ... after all, that's what I do best! I just really want to call myself a runner and believe it!