That Redheaded Sister

Ive been testing my feet.  I am dying to get on the training wagon that I fell hard from.  Last week I hit the gym and ran some intervals at a pretty low speed.  I ended up doing 2:2 with a speed of 5 on my run and a 3 on my “jog.”  My legs were really tired after the first 30 minutes.  And the achiness lasted through the night.  My feet felt fine which was a little reassuring.

The next day I couldnt get onto an elliptical (I work out after work), so I took my achy legs and jumped on the mill for intervals again.  The aches and pains melted away.  My legs knew what to do.

Then I got cocky and decided to jump back into training.  Go hard or go home, right?  Let’s not get crazy, my plan is a 18 week plan for a simple 10k.  I am giving myself enough time to be fully prepared for Peachtree in July so I can rock that crappy hill.  I gave up my July show, so the amount of stress will be greatly reduced around that time and I hope that helps the training plan.

My week this week looks like this:

Monday-Cross train/cardio- I didnt have much time on the elliptical because there was a line, so I was only able to do 20 mins of cardio and worked my back and biceps.

Tuesday-run 15 minutes-I MAY have to turn this into intervals because I am still not 100% sold my feet are going to work with me (I also like doing a minimum of 30 mins cardio, so Ill probably jump on the stair stepper after)

Wednesday-same as Monday-Ill be working the triceps and chesticles

Thursday-Same as Tuesday

Friday-Same as M/W-working the shoulders and legs

Saturday-off

Sunday-run 1 mile-trying to take it as easy as I can

The weeks after arent really changing much other than an increase in time and mileage.  Im glad I am only running 3 days a week.  I am also finding this a VERY ambitious plan.

Hi everyone!  Happy Father’s Day first of all.  I hope you are all having a great day so far…I know most of you are probably still sleeping.

This week was a big week for me and I wish I could say it was for running.  Not even close.  It all started Monday morning……

I was sitting at my desk working away when Matt’s sister sent me a gchat asking for help.  She said their close friends just told her they had dropped two of their dogs off at a shelter.  The shelter happened to be a high kill shelter and one dog’s time was nearing the end.  I posted cry out for help on facebook and sent an email out to friends and family in the area.  His sister could not take her because they currently have two dogs (one being elderly and needing extra attention).  I called Matt to ask him to help and and after sitting in silence for a few minutes he told me to get her, but we could NOT keep her.  Instantly we became foster parents.  Oh boy.  His sister got the dog and filled me in on WHY all of this happened.  Apparently the friends decided they no longer wanted to deal with the dogs and the costs associated with them.  There was a second dog, but since he was a great dane and the dane rescue came in to help.  Could we handle a dog?  We had to, she needed help!  As the week went on, I realized her living in our apartment was too much.  She is scared of the cats, the cats hate her, there just isnt enough space, and with work falling into busy season, I dont have the time. Plus a dog needs a yard to run around in.

If you are friends with me on Facebook, you have seen all of my Peanut posts.  Hopefully it is working though.  I have two families that are interested in meeting her.  She is such a great dog and deserves such a happy life.  She has been through a lot and I just found out she was also abused in that household.  It just kills me to think someone could do such a nasty thing.

Hi, I am Peanut and I am the sweetest!

I hope these meetings go really well.  I know both families and I would give them to her in a heartbeat.

With all this being said, I think this event was the biggest sign I have ever been given.  I dont know if you believe in that sort of thing, but I do and this was the cherry on the cake.  A few months ago I was inspired by another blogger to start this.  I did a lot of thinking and a lot of planning to see if something like this would actually work.  Anytime I had down time to think, all I thought about was this.  When I told people about it, they were so positive and supportive I just knew I had to.  Then Peanut came into my life.

Since there was nothing like this in my area, I started an animal rescue aid called Trails and Tails.  We are a group of people wanting to help shelter dogs exercise and be adopted.  We are going to take dogs out on runs, walks, and hikes.  Like I said, there was nothing like this in my area and knew I had to start it.  I am still in the itty bitty baby phase, but I have done a lot of ground work so far.

I am so excited about this and cant wait for our first run/walk/hike.  I hope we can help all of the animals!!  Please like us on Facebook!  I will post more on this as things progress.  My main focus is to find Peanut a home and get through busy season.

Ok, onto running.  There hasnt been much this week because of work and the dog (not leash trained).  Yesterday I did run the Braves Country Father’s Day 4-miler.  I went in with ZERO expectations because of my lack of training this week.  This was literally one of the toughest courses I have run so far.  We started uphill…just cruel.  We ran 4 miles of rolling hills where the uphills were steep and the downhills didnt give you much recovery.  Its Atlanta, you have to expect that.  I started really strong and I was really proud of how I kept it calm.  Of the many hills, there were only 3 that after running 3/4 of it, I just HAD to walk.

But the really cool part was we finished inside of Turner Field at home plate.

It was a well organized race and I was really happy with course, tough or not.  I would definitely do this race again.

I was totally motivated after this race to keep racing.  I WANT to run my half, I just feel under trained at the moment and I dont know if I will be able to get my long runs in during July.

Anyways. With this race, I bought tickets to last nights game.  What a disappointment.  The Bravos really stunk it up against Baltimore.

And last but not least

******

Dont forget to enter the Larabar giveaway!  Its ends tomorrow night!  Peanut says DO IT!

And go call your dad!

How was your weekend?

Have you ever taken in a foster animal? 

Seems like everyone ran a race or had a great run this weekend?  Tell me more

Are you working on any projects right now?

This past week was not a good training week for me.  I dont know what happened.  Oh wait, it was my leg.

Monday: Forced rest day.  I had to stay really late at work because I needed to pick Matt up from the airport. Plus it was a crummy work day

Bad days=alcohol consumption

Tuesday: 2 miles.  2 min run/2 min walk x 5.  It wasnt a bad run.  My leg was a little bothersome

Wednesday: 2 miles.  Ran my favorite trail in the entire world.  The temps were perfect, but it was pretty humid.  For some reason this run felt really forced.  My leg was iffy, but better than being on the mill.

Only the cutest neighborhood on my run.  If these houses werent so far north of the city and so close together, I would consider looking at them.  Doesnt this just look like the happiest neighborhood?

Thursday: rest day.  I had a lot to do to prepare for the weekend and my leg wanted the rest.

Laundry time

Friday: 4 miles.  Wowie wow.  I ran my favorite trail again mid morning because I took the day off.  When I got there the sun was shining and the day hadnt had the chance to let the humidity out.  It rained the night before so when the breeze blew through the trees it would rain a little relief on me.  My first mile was excellent.  My second mile was iffy.  My leg was bothered but not enough to stop.  I hit a few steep hills so I walked them.  After two miles I stopped for a few minutes to stretch and figure out where I was.  Once I started up again, I ran a little bit and decided my leg was bothered too much so I ran intervals.  They responded nicely to that.

Saturday: active rest.  We had the most amazing weekend this past weekend.  A few friends and I went camping and whitewater rafting.  I have never been rafting like this before and it was AH-MAZING! My leg was really really bothered this weekend and I have a lot of concern.

But seriously…whitewater rafting.  I have not had that much fun in a long time.  We went to the Ocoee River in Tennessee which features class 4 rapids.  This was my first time and I will admit I was scared.  I DID NOT want to flip out of that boat.  Luckily I didnt (even though my friend did push me in during our lull point).

It was so much fun.  We went with Adventures Unlimited and I was really impressed with how they ran this trip.  The guide was so much fun and knew the river so well (and where to have people flip).  I am actually considering buying a kayak because I want to do this as much as possible in the summers.

Today I took ANOTHER rest day because camping wore me out.  I have a headache, my leg hurts, and today was a terrible day at work.  Sometimes you just need to recharge your batteries.

How was your weekend?

Good evening all!  I am currently suffering from a severe case of the sweet tooth.  We have nothing.  And when I say nothing, I mean NOTHING!  The only sweet thing in the this house is raspberry jam.  Le sigh.

How many of you have the I-am-not-creative-in-the-kitchen-so-everyone-suffers problem?  When I get home from work, I dont want to cook.  I dont want to stand in the kitchen and pay attention for any stretch of the night.  As you know, Matt works the opposite schedule as I do, so I really have no one else to cook for.  My fallback dinner: pasta.  BAD BAD BAD.  That is how I gained all of my weight my sophomore year in college. When I find a fantastic recipe, it requires the root of a tangerine bush from a small village in Peru.  I checked, Publix does not carry that.

I wanted to go on a meal plan to save money and watch my calories but its hard when I am busy late nights at work.

What do you do for dinner when time is limited or when you are feeling lazy?

Today I put my name in for the 2012 Peachtree Road Race.  I have never run this race, but this was the race I trained for and got me hooked into running so many years ago.  It is a lottery based race, so I threw my name in with a few friends that formed a team, the Liberty Belles.  This race takes place on the HOTTEST day of the year Im sure, July 4th.  I will find out Monday if we have been selected to run the race.  Fingers crossed!!

I thought this last story will help sympathize with my friends having bike issues for tri training.  Today my friend and I decided to run a greenway by our house.  Her five year old daughter was going to pace our run since it was mostly flat and she could go fast.  We had a ton of fun.  When there was a hill, I grabbed her handle bars and ran her up.  Not an easy feat.  We made it 1.1 miles when she decided she wanted us to race her.  She started flying down the boardwalk and just when we figured out what was about to happen, it happened.  She took a nose dive off the boardwalk into the swampy marsh.

She cried for a second not out of pain but from being wet.  It wasnt long after the flip off the bike that we were all laughing about it.  My friend carried her back to the car and I carried her bike back the 1.1 miles while telling her how she should tell her friends this story.  There were trolls, rainbows, fairy godmothers, and princesses involved in that story.

I know tomorrow that my shoulders will be sore from carrying the bike (it was too small to push without hurting my back).

What do you do about being stuck in the kitchen?

Any races you are excited about?

What is your worst bike story?  When I was little and had just learned how to ride my bike without holding the handle bars, I went down the street and lost control of the bike.  I slid across the ground and ended up having a messed up hand, arm, and shoulder.

Spring is here!  Everyone join me in the happy dance.  We are back to the sleeping with our windows open days.  Wearing our adorable skirts days.  Flip flops!

I know I have been talking a lot about running lately, but it seems like that has sort of taken over my life.  When Im not running, Im thinking about it, planning something related to it, or talking about it.  I promise I have other things to write about.  In fact, I have a folder of pictures I need to post that are NON running related.

This week I have been overly exhausted.  Old lady exhausted.  I have been going to bed at 9:30 and waking up at my usual time (5:45) and still hitting snooze.  Not sure what it is (traffic to and from work) but it is kicking my butt.  I have started taking my vitamins and I am feel like they are starting to kick in and making me feel all around better.  I am currently taking gummy multi-vitamins, chocolate calcium chews, and a prenatal vitamin.  No no no, I am not trying to have a baby.  My doctor suggested I started taking prenatal because EVENTUALLY I do want to have kids and I need the extra calcium/vitamins.  Osteoporosis runs in my family and if I am going to really focus on running, I need strong bones.  Plus they are AWESOME for your hair and nails.

On my way home today, I was already feeling like I was going to be in bed by 8 (especially bc I have a 7:30am meeting tomorrow).  I wanted so badly to get a run in, nothing fancy.  Then it literally took me 30 minutes to drive 2 blocks.  2 BLOCKS!  Needless to say, I was tired and pissed.  As I sat at the light by my house, I quickly checked my email and saw Ali posted this comment on my last post:

“YAY!!!!! I can’t wait for the recap! you are going to ROCK this Heather you’ve been kicking trash in all your training! YAY!!!!”

I didnt want to let Ali down!  I HAD to run that run!  (See how much all of your comments mean to me????)

There is a park behind the mall on my side of town that I have been dying to check out.  It was beautiful.  Very quiet and serene.  It used to be a family farm but the county took it over to preserve the land as it once was.

Amazing right?  I was so pleased with this run.  Even though it was only 2.2 miles, it was a really hilly course.  At one point there was a hill kicking my butt so I started running up it BACKWARDS!  Not easy, but does a wonders for your calf muscles.  I also started playing in the 9:45 pace for a majority of the run. My legs are still getting used to new shoes, running correctly.

Plus it smelled like wild onions.

I am glad I went, thanks Ali!!

I hope you all had the chance to enjoy this spring weather (if you have it) this weekend.  This was a pretty active weekend for me and I enjoyed every second of it.

Saturday I had my first softball practice and I am so excited for the season to start.  I was hitting much better than a few seasons ago.  My philosophy when playing softball is you cannot be scared of the ball.  I play on a coed team and a lot of the girls are there for social reasons which is fine, but if you are going to play you also cant go after the ball and then cower in fear.  That is how you get hurt.  I took so many shots to the legs when I played a few years ago.  Heck, I took a line drive to the knee and still played.  I used to play baseball/softball when I was younger and someone hit the ball right to my head….after that, it doesnt scare you.

Today I took my new shoes out for their first run.  I struggled.  My shoes are awesome and I can already feel the difference.  I did not have the pain I usually have in the first mile until about 2 miles and it was not nearly as bad.  Mainly it was from the hills and what I am about to talk about in a second.

While I was on my run, I noticed a few things I know I need to start focusing on to become a better runner.

• My stride:  I have been dipping my toes in the sub 10 minute pace (roughly around 9:30-9:45 and I can tell my stride is how I want it.  Longer and flowing.  Then I realize how well I am doing and panic.  I cut back down to about 10:30 and cramp up/throw my breathing off/discourage myself.  I shorten my stride and it actually slows me down significantly and HURTS.
• My breathing: Not sure what is going on with my breathing but I have a feeling it has something to do with my faster pace.  Either way, I have lost my breathing groove and huff and puff more than the big bad wolf.
• My weight: lets talk about the elephant in the room.  I know I need to lose this weight I gained.  It slows me down and I feel uncomfortable.
• My speed: I know I need to work on the things above, but I want to comfortably run at a 9:30 pace.  That is my overall goal.

I wish I had a running coach, but I am not quite sure how to find one.  Back when I first first started training these were non-issues so I know I can get back to that.

What about you?  Do you have any hurdles you need to jump over?

I have a few DIY projects to share this week, so be ready!