As my last post is from Monday and it's now already Friday I thought I fill you in on what I've been up to this week.
First of all, on Wednesday I had my first run in the rain. I know that's kind of hard to believe considering that I'm in New Zealand, it's winter and I've been running at least 3 days a week for the last 3 months. But I guess the weather has been on my side. Until this Wednesday that is. It was raining quite heavily and for a few seconds I thought about not going but then I thought what if it rains on the race day. Besides, it's just water :-)
And it turns out running in the rain is really not bad at all. While I was running it kind of felt like it was only really raining a little bit. It wasn't until I got back and noticed how wet all my clothes and especially my cap were that I realized how much it must have been raining. It's good to know that running in the rain is not a problem for me :-)
As part of improving my running technique I'm working on my breathing this week. It's kind of funny cause I feel like breathing should be easy, but it's totally not. It's actually quite difficult to breath in through my nose and then out through my mouth. It works fine in the beginning, but then when I get more tiered it's really difficult and I find my self breathing through my mouth all the time. So what I'm doing it I've shortened the running intervals a little, especially in the beginning. I used the start each of my runs with running as far as I could and then starting to walk - run -walk -run. I like doing this long bit in the beginning because it makes me feel good to know that I can run a little bit longer every week - was up to 8 minutes on Monday (-: But the problem is that towards the end my running intervals get shorter and shorter. Usually I do a few 1.30-2min intervals after the first long one, but towards the end I'm struggling to keep running for 1.30min. So on Wednesday I changed the strategy and only ran 3 minutes in the beginning, followed by 1 minutes walking - 3min running- 1 min walking -... (you get the idea). I was a lot fresher towards the end and my breathing was much better, so I'm guessing this is the way to do it. Still, it's weird having to concentrate so much just to breath right (-: Overall I did the same distance as on Monday in the same time and with the same amount of running, just spread more evenly across the distance (-:
I've also signed up for my first two races. I thought it would probably be a good idea to have one or two test races before the marathon to get a feeling for this type of thing. It also is a good training as it forces me to go the distance. The first one is a 14km race at the 11th of September (when I figured out that is only 7 weeks away I almost had a panic attack) and the second one a 16km on the 2nd of October (which is only 4 weeks before the half marathon - almost another panic attack). This means that I REALLY need to get my training plan sorted now otherwise this is probably going to kill me :-) So my mission for the weekend is to plan my training. I will probably tell you about it sometime soon!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
buying new running shoes
On Sunday I finally did what I probably should have done weeks ago: I bought a new pair of running shoes. When you start reading about running and especially running long distance one of the things that comes up over and over and over again is shoes. Apparently they are one of the most important thing to avoid inquiry and achieve goals. I'm thinking the 'running shoe industry' is probably employing several full time people that spend all day just spamming the internet with information about how important new shoes are. But just in case they are right, I thought it was time to get a new pair. So I went to this store on Dominion Rd. where they measure you feet and analyze your running to make sure you get the right type of shoe. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this cause I thought they were gonna make me run like 30 minutes on a treadmill to assess my running style and I was worried that I would be totally out of breath after 10 minutes and it would all be kind of embarrassing. But turns out, as so often, I was just totally over-thinking the whole thing. All I had to do was run about 2 minutes at about 7.5km/h and that was it. I was quite happy with myself that I wasn't the least bit out of breath after that (a few months ago that would have been different). After that I was told that I have slightly inwards bending ankles and was shown a number of shoes that are best for that type of runner. I tried a few on and eventually choose a pair from Adidas just cause they felt the best. The whole procedure took maybe 20 minutes. Given that I love new shoes (probably explains why I have about 70 pairs) I was extra motivated for my first run in my new shoes yesterday and finished with a new personal best (-:
Hm, what else is new? Oh, on Saturday I want to this running seminar that was organised by the Adidas Running Clinic and the Auckland Marathon. It was specifically for people who entered the Auckland Marathon and was for free so I thought I'll check it out. I was kind of hoping to maybe meet some like-minded people. And by like-minded I mean people who look like they could never in a million years run a half marathon. Unfortunately that was not the case. Everyone looked very fit and I kind of felt like everyone was starring at me thinking I must be completely crazy (that might have been just in my head though). Anyway, it was an interesting session and I learnt some more about the actual event and how to best train for it. And I'm telling myself that there are other people out there like me they just have better things to do on a Saturday morning (-:
Hm, what else is new? Oh, on Saturday I want to this running seminar that was organised by the Adidas Running Clinic and the Auckland Marathon. It was specifically for people who entered the Auckland Marathon and was for free so I thought I'll check it out. I was kind of hoping to maybe meet some like-minded people. And by like-minded I mean people who look like they could never in a million years run a half marathon. Unfortunately that was not the case. Everyone looked very fit and I kind of felt like everyone was starring at me thinking I must be completely crazy (that might have been just in my head though). Anyway, it was an interesting session and I learnt some more about the actual event and how to best train for it. And I'm telling myself that there are other people out there like me they just have better things to do on a Saturday morning (-:
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Everything hurts - in a good way (mostly)
Everything hurts! But there’s good news as well!
I’ve just googled how many muscles a human body has and turns out there are around 640 – 850 (depending on who you ask). The number of pains I feel today comes pretty close to that number. My face is alright, but pretty much every other part of my body is sore and aching. The Reason: Well, I’m not really sure why it is so much worse today. I have increased the weights at the gym and have also added some new routines which certainly is one cause. I’ve also increased the time I’m running (compared to the time I’m walking) during my runs. But still, I didn’t even feel this bad when I first started working out. Hm,… anyway, there are two good news. Firstly, today is rest day! That means no gym and no running. The most exercise I got today was when I walked up the hill to get some coffee in the afternoon. Since I’m doing some work out on 6 days a week, this one day off is always really good, but also sort of weird. It’s like my body is getting used to all the activity and it feels like something is missing when I don’t do anything for a day. However, given the sore and aching muscles today, rest day just sounds like heaven (-: Hopefully my body will recover today and then I’m fit for my run tomorrow.
The other good news; every time I move something hurts and I’m reminded of how good I’m doing and how hard I’ve been working. You might think it’s weird but it actually makes sense. I only feel the pain because I’m using muscles that I haven’t used in a while and it makes me feel good to know that I’m doing something. Every pain gets me a little closer to my goal. I do admit this morning when I woke up (and for a few seconds thought I couldn’t move anymore) I didn’t feel this way. But now (after I realized that I actually can still move – huge relief!!!!) I’ve decided to focus on the positive!
Besides, the experts at the gym told me that I will be feeling sore for a day or two but after that I should feel a lot better. Let’s hope they’re right.
Tomorrow is long run day. Well, technically you probably can’t call 5km long but you got to start somewhere and eventually I will run 90-120minutes on Saturdays (at least that’s the plan) and that is definitely long. So at the moment it’s two short ones of 4km per week and then a longer one on Saturdays. Starting with 5km this week and then slowly increasing every week.
I’ve just googled how many muscles a human body has and turns out there are around 640 – 850 (depending on who you ask). The number of pains I feel today comes pretty close to that number. My face is alright, but pretty much every other part of my body is sore and aching. The Reason: Well, I’m not really sure why it is so much worse today. I have increased the weights at the gym and have also added some new routines which certainly is one cause. I’ve also increased the time I’m running (compared to the time I’m walking) during my runs. But still, I didn’t even feel this bad when I first started working out. Hm,… anyway, there are two good news. Firstly, today is rest day! That means no gym and no running. The most exercise I got today was when I walked up the hill to get some coffee in the afternoon. Since I’m doing some work out on 6 days a week, this one day off is always really good, but also sort of weird. It’s like my body is getting used to all the activity and it feels like something is missing when I don’t do anything for a day. However, given the sore and aching muscles today, rest day just sounds like heaven (-: Hopefully my body will recover today and then I’m fit for my run tomorrow.
The other good news; every time I move something hurts and I’m reminded of how good I’m doing and how hard I’ve been working. You might think it’s weird but it actually makes sense. I only feel the pain because I’m using muscles that I haven’t used in a while and it makes me feel good to know that I’m doing something. Every pain gets me a little closer to my goal. I do admit this morning when I woke up (and for a few seconds thought I couldn’t move anymore) I didn’t feel this way. But now (after I realized that I actually can still move – huge relief!!!!) I’ve decided to focus on the positive!
Besides, the experts at the gym told me that I will be feeling sore for a day or two but after that I should feel a lot better. Let’s hope they’re right.
Tomorrow is long run day. Well, technically you probably can’t call 5km long but you got to start somewhere and eventually I will run 90-120minutes on Saturdays (at least that’s the plan) and that is definitely long. So at the moment it’s two short ones of 4km per week and then a longer one on Saturdays. Starting with 5km this week and then slowly increasing every week.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Quality not Quantity part 1 - relax your shoulders
So I have been reading Jon Acklands book and have also been reading quite a bit about half marathon training on the Internet (no, I don't have anything better to do). There are soooooo many training programs out there that it actually gets a bit confusing. However, there is one thing everyone seems to agree on: If you do too much too early you either get injured or you peak before the event. Both scenarios I would like to avoid. According to these so called experts I'm doing too much right now and need to slow down and built up slowly. However, that is completely against ALL my instincts which are screaming and shouting at me to run as often and as far as I possibly can (sort of in a 'your life depends on it' style).
I just feel like I'm sooooooo far away from being able to run a half marathon that if I don't train as much as possible I will never make it. Besides I feel like I have to make up for all these years without any exercise at all. So what to do? Listen to my instincts or the experts?
Well, considering that my instincts have been wrong in the past pretty much 99% of the time, especially when it comes to working out and having a healthy life-style I think I should be listening to the experts. Can't help but feel like it wouldn't be very smart to listen to the same instincts that have been telling me for the last 10 years that it's OK to be lazy and eat chocolate all the time :) Besides, if I do what the experts say and it doesn't work out in the end at least I have someone I can blame ;-)
OK so now that I've got that figured out, what do the experts actually say? According to what I've read so far it's about starting slowly then building up towards the event with regular recovery weeks in between. Furthermore, technique is extremely important. The better your running technique the easier it gets to run long distances and the lower the risk of injuries (that's what they say anyway).
So I have decided to reduce the distance of 2 out of my 3 weekly runs and only do 4km instead of 5 and work on my technique. From there I will then start to increase the distance following some training plan (haven't picked one yet).
This weeks goal: Drop and relax my shoulders! I always get really tense shoulders when I'm running, especially towards the end. Actually tense shoulders are not just a problem when I'm running. The comment I hear the most when I working out at the gym is "Lisa (yes, they do actually now my name by now) drop/relax your shoulders". And I noticed, even when I sitting at my desk in front of the computer, like now, I tend to pull up my shoulders. And then I wonder why I'm having back and neck pain (stupid me).
I read on some website that a good trick to relax your shoulders when running is to open your hands. Most runners have their hands in fists - like I do. And the harder it gets the tighter my fists get and when my fists are right my shoulders get tense and my back starts hurting so it gets even harder and I squeeze my fists even tighter (I think that's what they call a vicious circle). So yesterday I ran with open hands and fingers stretched and I feel like it's working. I think it looks a little bit weird though. Like I'm some sort of super athlete who is trying to be as faired as possible. I think people who see me might thing 'oh, girl that's hopeless' (-: but hell, if it works I risk looking a little stupid.
And it seems to work, cause I had a really good run yesterday. 4km in 30 minutes of which I ran 21. And all of that without music! I usually hate running without my ipod but couldn't find my headphones and after searching for them for 20 minutes I decided to go without. This morning on the way to work I remembered where they are - in the backpack I took hiking on Saturday. Guess this whole active lifestyle takes some getting used to, in the past I only had stuff in a backpack when I was travelling so that's about the one place I didn't search yesterday (-:
I just feel like I'm sooooooo far away from being able to run a half marathon that if I don't train as much as possible I will never make it. Besides I feel like I have to make up for all these years without any exercise at all. So what to do? Listen to my instincts or the experts?
Well, considering that my instincts have been wrong in the past pretty much 99% of the time, especially when it comes to working out and having a healthy life-style I think I should be listening to the experts. Can't help but feel like it wouldn't be very smart to listen to the same instincts that have been telling me for the last 10 years that it's OK to be lazy and eat chocolate all the time :) Besides, if I do what the experts say and it doesn't work out in the end at least I have someone I can blame ;-)
OK so now that I've got that figured out, what do the experts actually say? According to what I've read so far it's about starting slowly then building up towards the event with regular recovery weeks in between. Furthermore, technique is extremely important. The better your running technique the easier it gets to run long distances and the lower the risk of injuries (that's what they say anyway).
So I have decided to reduce the distance of 2 out of my 3 weekly runs and only do 4km instead of 5 and work on my technique. From there I will then start to increase the distance following some training plan (haven't picked one yet).
This weeks goal: Drop and relax my shoulders! I always get really tense shoulders when I'm running, especially towards the end. Actually tense shoulders are not just a problem when I'm running. The comment I hear the most when I working out at the gym is "Lisa (yes, they do actually now my name by now) drop/relax your shoulders". And I noticed, even when I sitting at my desk in front of the computer, like now, I tend to pull up my shoulders. And then I wonder why I'm having back and neck pain (stupid me).
I read on some website that a good trick to relax your shoulders when running is to open your hands. Most runners have their hands in fists - like I do. And the harder it gets the tighter my fists get and when my fists are right my shoulders get tense and my back starts hurting so it gets even harder and I squeeze my fists even tighter (I think that's what they call a vicious circle). So yesterday I ran with open hands and fingers stretched and I feel like it's working. I think it looks a little bit weird though. Like I'm some sort of super athlete who is trying to be as faired as possible. I think people who see me might thing 'oh, girl that's hopeless' (-: but hell, if it works I risk looking a little stupid.
And it seems to work, cause I had a really good run yesterday. 4km in 30 minutes of which I ran 21. And all of that without music! I usually hate running without my ipod but couldn't find my headphones and after searching for them for 20 minutes I decided to go without. This morning on the way to work I remembered where they are - in the backpack I took hiking on Saturday. Guess this whole active lifestyle takes some getting used to, in the past I only had stuff in a backpack when I was travelling so that's about the one place I didn't search yesterday (-:
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Why I'm blogging about it...
Well, that's a good Question. Why am I blogging about this? Honestly, I don't really know.
If I actually do manage to complete the half marathon in October I will probably look back at it for the rest of my life and consider it one of my biggest achievements. And even if I don't make it (for whatever reason) the fact that I tried and took the risk will probably make this a significant time no matter the outcome. So it seems like a good idea to write down my progress, my experiences, the little successes along the way and the doubts and set backs that will almost certainly be a part of this journey.
First, I though I would just keep a journal or something just for myself. But then I thought it might be nice to share this experiences with others. At first I wasn't sure if I would really tell anyone about this blog. Some of the stuff I will be writing about will probably be quite personal and the idea that everyone knows about it is a little weird (what if I don't make it? it would be so much harder if everyone knew that I failed). But now I have just decided that I will tell people so everyone who is interested can follow my progress. Why? Because first of all, it's sort of an extra motivation to keep going. Now I'm not just proving something to myself but also to everyone else. And secondly, this is going to be a significant experiences, so sharing it with friends and family hopefully makes it even more significant. At the end it comes down to taking the risk.
I came across this book today that was on sale at Borders and I thought it can't hurt to read a bit more about what I doing. The book is called "Half Marathon - Complete or compete" written by Jon Auckland. It includes a 14 week training plan but I haven't really decided yet which training plan I will follow. However, it also includes lots of other useful information. I've only just started reading it so can't really review it yet (might give a complete book review later on). But here is a short paragraph from the introductory chapter:
"The sooner you put up those shutters, the sooner, it seems, you will be shut off from the world - for good! So face your fears, take a few risks and keep stretching your boundaries"
That statement pretty much sums up why I'm training for a half marathon (stretching my boundaries) and why I'm blogging about it and tell everyone about it (facing fears, taking risks).
If I actually do manage to complete the half marathon in October I will probably look back at it for the rest of my life and consider it one of my biggest achievements. And even if I don't make it (for whatever reason) the fact that I tried and took the risk will probably make this a significant time no matter the outcome. So it seems like a good idea to write down my progress, my experiences, the little successes along the way and the doubts and set backs that will almost certainly be a part of this journey.
First, I though I would just keep a journal or something just for myself. But then I thought it might be nice to share this experiences with others. At first I wasn't sure if I would really tell anyone about this blog. Some of the stuff I will be writing about will probably be quite personal and the idea that everyone knows about it is a little weird (what if I don't make it? it would be so much harder if everyone knew that I failed). But now I have just decided that I will tell people so everyone who is interested can follow my progress. Why? Because first of all, it's sort of an extra motivation to keep going. Now I'm not just proving something to myself but also to everyone else. And secondly, this is going to be a significant experiences, so sharing it with friends and family hopefully makes it even more significant. At the end it comes down to taking the risk.
I came across this book today that was on sale at Borders and I thought it can't hurt to read a bit more about what I doing. The book is called "Half Marathon - Complete or compete" written by Jon Auckland. It includes a 14 week training plan but I haven't really decided yet which training plan I will follow. However, it also includes lots of other useful information. I've only just started reading it so can't really review it yet (might give a complete book review later on). But here is a short paragraph from the introductory chapter:
"The sooner you put up those shutters, the sooner, it seems, you will be shut off from the world - for good! So face your fears, take a few risks and keep stretching your boundaries"
That statement pretty much sums up why I'm training for a half marathon (stretching my boundaries) and why I'm blogging about it and tell everyone about it (facing fears, taking risks).
Thursday, July 8, 2010
How I'm training at the moment
So now that I've explained why I'm training for a half marathon the next questions that comes to mind is probably how I'm planning on doing that.
I'm known as someone who doesn't do things half way and this is no exception. At the moment I'm walking/running three times a week and go to the gym another three times a week. Overall that makes for some work out on 6 out of 7 days (pretty good I'd say). The gym is mainly for strength training to built some muscles but I usually also do some cardio on the bike or the cross trainer while I'm there.
The running is the tough part for me. At the moment I do just under 5km in about 40 minutes of which I'm actually running about 21 minutes while the rest is walking (I'm doing a walk-run-walk-run ... sort of rhythm). The goal is to increase the running time. On average I run about 30seconds more every week and I hope that will increase faster the fitter I get (and the more weight I lose).
I'm planning to keep this up for another 4 weeks and then start a 'real' 12 week half marathon training programme during which I will slowly increase the distance (I'll probably write more about the training plan once I've started it). That should get me fit for the event on the 31st of October. That's the theory - something tells me the reality is gonna be very very tough. But I am fairly confident that I can do it if I keep up what I'm doing right now - as long as I don't get injured. Doing this much exercise relatively sudden and while being overweight comes with quite a few risks. If I would get injured within the next 4 months and had to take a break from exercising, I probably would have a really hard time to get started again. That's why I'm being careful and try not to do to much at once (not always easy, I tend to get very impatient with myself). I do proper stretching before and after working out and stop when I feel any pain. So far I've been alright - fingers crossed.
I'm known as someone who doesn't do things half way and this is no exception. At the moment I'm walking/running three times a week and go to the gym another three times a week. Overall that makes for some work out on 6 out of 7 days (pretty good I'd say). The gym is mainly for strength training to built some muscles but I usually also do some cardio on the bike or the cross trainer while I'm there.
The running is the tough part for me. At the moment I do just under 5km in about 40 minutes of which I'm actually running about 21 minutes while the rest is walking (I'm doing a walk-run-walk-run ... sort of rhythm). The goal is to increase the running time. On average I run about 30seconds more every week and I hope that will increase faster the fitter I get (and the more weight I lose).
I'm planning to keep this up for another 4 weeks and then start a 'real' 12 week half marathon training programme during which I will slowly increase the distance (I'll probably write more about the training plan once I've started it). That should get me fit for the event on the 31st of October. That's the theory - something tells me the reality is gonna be very very tough. But I am fairly confident that I can do it if I keep up what I'm doing right now - as long as I don't get injured. Doing this much exercise relatively sudden and while being overweight comes with quite a few risks. If I would get injured within the next 4 months and had to take a break from exercising, I probably would have a really hard time to get started again. That's why I'm being careful and try not to do to much at once (not always easy, I tend to get very impatient with myself). I do proper stretching before and after working out and stop when I feel any pain. So far I've been alright - fingers crossed.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Why I'm training for a half marathon!
OK, now that I've spend about an hour making my new blog look pretty it's probably time to write my first post.
I kind of assume that everyone who is reading this has already read my 'About me' blurb and knows that I am training for a half marathon and that I intend to blog about my progress and experiences, the ups and downs and the highs and lows.
I kind of feel like I need to give some background info about me so that you can understand how I got here and why a half marathon is such a big deal for me - no worries, I'm gonna keep it short, I know that no one wants to read in details about my insignificant little life :-)
So, I've been overweight pretty much all my life, sometime more sometime less. Last year I've lost quite a bit of weight which should have been a good thing and something that I'm proud of, but the problem is that I've done that before. I've lost weight before, I've just never managed to keep it of long-term. I know something needs to be different this time. Everyone tells you to lose weight permanently you have to chance your lifestyle. That sounds easier than it is and I guess I never managed to do it in the past. I simple LOVE chocolate and there is not way I'm gonna live without it in the future (guess I'm just not that disciplined). So what do you do if you want to lose weight and keep it off but still be able to have some chocolate every now and then? RIGHT, you got to do some exercising.
Now you might think "she's got a point, but why a half marathon? why not simply start with going to the gym a few times a week".
Well, the answer is quite simple. I thrive under pressure. I NEED a good challenge to be motivated! Funnily enough I only learnt that very recently. Last year was extremely stressful and hectic and challenging in a number of different ways. I might write some more about last year another time but all that really matters is that last year I was more challenged then ever before and I was good! I was more than good, I achieved everything I wanted and I was better than ever. A lot has changed this year, I've finished Uni and started my first full-time job and unfortunately all of that is not quite as challenging as I would like it to be.
Therefore, I've decided that I need to find a new Challenge. Losing weight alone just didn't seem enough. First I wanted to do a 10k race but then someone told my that I'm not challenging myself enough. I couldn't just accept that (-: So now here I am training for a half marathon.
I kind of assume that everyone who is reading this has already read my 'About me' blurb and knows that I am training for a half marathon and that I intend to blog about my progress and experiences, the ups and downs and the highs and lows.
I kind of feel like I need to give some background info about me so that you can understand how I got here and why a half marathon is such a big deal for me - no worries, I'm gonna keep it short, I know that no one wants to read in details about my insignificant little life :-)
So, I've been overweight pretty much all my life, sometime more sometime less. Last year I've lost quite a bit of weight which should have been a good thing and something that I'm proud of, but the problem is that I've done that before. I've lost weight before, I've just never managed to keep it of long-term. I know something needs to be different this time. Everyone tells you to lose weight permanently you have to chance your lifestyle. That sounds easier than it is and I guess I never managed to do it in the past. I simple LOVE chocolate and there is not way I'm gonna live without it in the future (guess I'm just not that disciplined). So what do you do if you want to lose weight and keep it off but still be able to have some chocolate every now and then? RIGHT, you got to do some exercising.
Now you might think "she's got a point, but why a half marathon? why not simply start with going to the gym a few times a week".
Well, the answer is quite simple. I thrive under pressure. I NEED a good challenge to be motivated! Funnily enough I only learnt that very recently. Last year was extremely stressful and hectic and challenging in a number of different ways. I might write some more about last year another time but all that really matters is that last year I was more challenged then ever before and I was good! I was more than good, I achieved everything I wanted and I was better than ever. A lot has changed this year, I've finished Uni and started my first full-time job and unfortunately all of that is not quite as challenging as I would like it to be.
Therefore, I've decided that I need to find a new Challenge. Losing weight alone just didn't seem enough. First I wanted to do a 10k race but then someone told my that I'm not challenging myself enough. I couldn't just accept that (-: So now here I am training for a half marathon.
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