Finally, a good run! My runs over the last week have all felt much harder than they should have, and I was starting to get discouraged. I decided to ride it out, though, and tonight, at long last, I had a solid 7-miler. The pace was still a little on the slow side, but it was faster than I've been running recently, and I felt good the whole way through and like I could've gone further. So, yay!
A slight quibble with the person in charge of choosing the gym's music, though: Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" is NOT good workout music. It's actually kind of creepy.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
ew.
That's all I have to say about tonight's run. There's something wonky with the gym's AC, or else I've had a serious spike in body temperature in the last few days. The past three or four runs, I've sweat so much that I'm *dripping* onto the treadmill after three-quarters of a mile, and by the end, my shorts are clinging to me. In addition to being absolutely disgusting, it also means that in order to get in any kind of decent mileage, I have to slow waaaay down, and even then, I feel lightheaded and nauseous by the time I'm through. And I'm pretty sure it's not just me, since everyone else seems suspiciously sweaty, too, and when I walked in at 5 p.m. today, it stunk.
Anyway. I slogged through 5 miles, putting me at 12 for the week and 29 for the month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be better.
Anyway. I slogged through 5 miles, putting me at 12 for the week and 29 for the month. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that tomorrow will be better.
Monday, August 6, 2007
And In the Beginning...
So, here's the story: I'm 28, a recent law school graduate, and I just finished taking the Bar exam. Now, I'm reveling in the joys of not working for the first time in three years, and finding it surprisingly easy to fill my days with frivolous activities. However, I fear this is short-lived -- I'm the product of 13 years of Catholic college-prep education, an Ivy League university, and three years of political employment, all of which culminated in the aforementioned JD. Oh, and I've also got a serious coffee habit. In other words, I'm your classic type-A, high-strung, eye-on-the-prize, overachiever. The point of this ramble? I am clearly in dire need of a Project to get me through these lean times. Or Quaaludes. But something goal-oriented is probably easier. And less likely to keep me from getting admitted to the Bar.
Part Two of my background: growing up, I was a tall, skinny, gawky, hopelessly uncoordinated kid. Combine this with the fact that I also had so much pent-up energy that I would spontaneously begin jumping up and down, in place, just because I couldn't stand to sit still. After some ill-advised bouts of team sport participation (see above re: "hopelessly uncoordinated"), I picked up running. One foot in front of the other? Don't have to deal with the possibility that people might kick me in the shins or that a base/tennis ball might hit me in the face? My kind of sport. Right off the bat, I demonstrated a freakish endurance, or at least a willingness to ignore the fact that my lungs were burning if other people were watching. Unfortunately, all of my natural athletic "ability" apparently ended up in the slow-twitch column, because I dragged ass. By the time I finished high school, I had improved enough that I was a respectable middle-of-the-pack runner. I quit running competitively in college, and morphed into a half-hearted jogger -- 2 weeks of solid gym-going, followed by a month of pizza and keg beer at frat parties. Lather, rinse, repeat.
A couple of years post-college, I decided I missed running and that I had let myself get woefully out of shape, and that I needed something major to get me back on track. So, I did what any crazy person would do, and signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon. The short version? Not pretty. I crossed the finish line with a time of 6:15. Which, for a 24-year-old female in good health, is pretty pathetic. But, I was hooked, and four years and six marathons later, my time is down to a not-shameful 4:15, and I've set my sights on qualifying for that mother of all marathons -- Boston. Since that 4:15 was run on two-days notice (though I'd been running 40-50 mpw for most of the preceding three months) and involved some serious stomach problems, I think that this is a not-unattainable goal.
So, there you go -- that's why you've read this far, so that I could tell you that this blog is about my efforts to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, 40 minutes. Thrilling, no? I'm using August to build up my base again (it having suffered during that last intense month leading up to the Bar exam), and then will start seriously training in September. I'm still not certain which marathon I'll run for my BQ attempt, since my life/career plans are sort of in limbo at the moment, but I've tentatively picked the CIM in Sacramento on December 2. It's flat, fast, and within a two-hour drive of my parents' house.
Today:I managed 25 minutes on the stair-climber thing at the gym (stupid post-work hordes beat me to it and hogged all the good treadmills), and I'll head back and hit the 'mill tonight to put in some miles. I'm shooting for eight, followed by the usual abs/stretching/etc.
Part Two of my background: growing up, I was a tall, skinny, gawky, hopelessly uncoordinated kid. Combine this with the fact that I also had so much pent-up energy that I would spontaneously begin jumping up and down, in place, just because I couldn't stand to sit still. After some ill-advised bouts of team sport participation (see above re: "hopelessly uncoordinated"), I picked up running. One foot in front of the other? Don't have to deal with the possibility that people might kick me in the shins or that a base/tennis ball might hit me in the face? My kind of sport. Right off the bat, I demonstrated a freakish endurance, or at least a willingness to ignore the fact that my lungs were burning if other people were watching. Unfortunately, all of my natural athletic "ability" apparently ended up in the slow-twitch column, because I dragged ass. By the time I finished high school, I had improved enough that I was a respectable middle-of-the-pack runner. I quit running competitively in college, and morphed into a half-hearted jogger -- 2 weeks of solid gym-going, followed by a month of pizza and keg beer at frat parties. Lather, rinse, repeat.
A couple of years post-college, I decided I missed running and that I had let myself get woefully out of shape, and that I needed something major to get me back on track. So, I did what any crazy person would do, and signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon. The short version? Not pretty. I crossed the finish line with a time of 6:15. Which, for a 24-year-old female in good health, is pretty pathetic. But, I was hooked, and four years and six marathons later, my time is down to a not-shameful 4:15, and I've set my sights on qualifying for that mother of all marathons -- Boston. Since that 4:15 was run on two-days notice (though I'd been running 40-50 mpw for most of the preceding three months) and involved some serious stomach problems, I think that this is a not-unattainable goal.
So, there you go -- that's why you've read this far, so that I could tell you that this blog is about my efforts to run a marathon in less than 3 hours, 40 minutes. Thrilling, no? I'm using August to build up my base again (it having suffered during that last intense month leading up to the Bar exam), and then will start seriously training in September. I'm still not certain which marathon I'll run for my BQ attempt, since my life/career plans are sort of in limbo at the moment, but I've tentatively picked the CIM in Sacramento on December 2. It's flat, fast, and within a two-hour drive of my parents' house.
Today:I managed 25 minutes on the stair-climber thing at the gym (stupid post-work hordes beat me to it and hogged all the good treadmills), and I'll head back and hit the 'mill tonight to put in some miles. I'm shooting for eight, followed by the usual abs/stretching/etc.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)