Monday, February 15, 2010

Whew! Have you heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D)? Well, yesterday and this morning I was suffering from Night-Shift S.A.D. I was exhausted and woke up this morning not feeling well. Moreover, I had pizza yesterday and didn't take any lactase enzyme pills. I was too lazy or tired or whatever to ask my husband to bring me the pills upstairs last night.

I ran two miles this morning. I was exhausted emotionally and physically from my night shift work this weekend. I work every Friday night and every other week I work 12 hours on Fridays and Saturdays. This was my Friday/Saturday week. My stomach was still unhappy. Due to stomach pains, I was really dragging and had to do 30 second run/walk intervals.

A man in a home improvement truck was working on a home nearby. As he was leaving the area in his truck he stopped to ask me how many laps I'd done. He imagined that I was doing many laps. I told him I was only doing two miles today and he looked impressed. I'm looking forward to Wednesday's run which will be 12 laps, a six miler. I'm looking forward to the day when I can run away from lapping and run to Publix or to the park. For now I must stay close to home to be near my three blessings.

Near the end of my run I had my second confrontation with an ugly dog. This dog was much smaller and I was not afraid this time. I shouted, "Go home! Leave me alone! Don't mess with me!" with my thumb on the button of my MACE for Dogs." The dog cowered away. Joy!

I crashed at 6:30 PM due to not eating enough protein and carbs for lunch. From 1 PM to 5:30 PM I had not food whatsoever. I can't do that, especially on a running day. A friend of mine was here and I was distracted. I ate at 5 30 PM but that wasn't soon enough. I prepared dinner for my husband and our children and collapsed into bed for two hours.

Next time if I'm visiting with a friend, I will snack on almonds or cranberries or a little tuna to avoid crashing.

I've been snacking since I woke up a couple of hours ago. Thankfully, God is giving me the self control to snack on healthy foods and not resort to my old stand-by of Ben & Jerry's or Klondike bars.

It's been a rough couple of days. Tomorrow's a new day.

God's mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-24)

Friday, February 12, 2010

Today I ran for one mile. It took me 16 minutes. I didn't drink enough water yesterday. I think this is why I had to walk near the end of the mile. The temperature was about 60 degrees.
My weight is down 3 1/2 pounds and I'm happy about that. It's interesting that it would go down during a week in which I've decreased mileage.
Next week I will go back to my regular schedule which will include a six miler.

Wednesday, Feburary 10, 2010

Today I'm one day shy of having five months of running experience.

I was scheduled to run one mile this morning. I am pleased to report that I ran the mile in sixteen minutes. That is slow for many runners but excellent for me, a new runner with asthma. With no previous history of regular exercise I am happy with my progress.

The temperature was 62 degrees and the wind was blowing at 14 mph. The wind made some parts of the run difficult. I took no walk breaks as I was timing how long it would take me to run one mile. I'm going to time myself every three weeks when I'm scheduled for a mileage decrease.

We have an recumbent exercise bike now and I used it for 45 minutes Sunday night. I plan to use it on my non running days. Above is a photo of our 5 y/o working out on it.

I'm signing our 10 y/o and I up for our third 5K today. The organizer is having a special today: $10 off for each registration in honor of the 10th annual race. The race is next month. We're looking forward to it. This will be our last race for a few months as the weather is going to get very ghetto here for a few months. There is no way I'm running a race here in the summertime.

Monday, February 8, 2010

This week is a week of decreasing mileage by 30%. The purpose of the decrease is to allow my body to rest the older cells and give it an opportunity to create new cells. It is difficult to not keep running but I must have self control and follow the schedule I've created.
Today I ran three miles. I don't recall my pace.

Friday February 5, 2010

Last night my husband and I had two ounces of champagne to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. I felt terrible this morning. I was sluggish and found it difficult to wake up. I didn't want to miss today's run as I missed Monday's run due to a cold.
I ran three miles today. There was a slight drizzle. The temperature was 74 degrees. Our 10 year old ran with me for a mile. Our other two children rode their scooter and bicycle for a half a mile.
I started out doing 3 minute intervals but didn't feel well. I switched to 30 second intervals after a mile and felt much better.

Five Miles!

This morning I ran five miles. To date, that is my longest run. I felt every bit of the last mile. My right hip ached a little but I pressed on to the end. After the run I made made a point of eating within 15 minutes. Frequently, I don't eat for 45-60 minutes after running, which is unwise. After eating, I applied an ice pack to my right hip. The ice felt so soothing that I kept it on for 35 minutes.

It took me sixty-four minutes to run five miles. That's a long time. I stopped a few times for water. I have a cold and I'm taking Sudafed and an antihistamine; thus, I was very thirsty.

My albuterol inhaler expired in January 2010. It doesn't seem to be helping as much so I discarded it tonight. We'll see if the next inhalation from a newer inhaler proves to be more effective.

Next week I'm going to follow Jeff Galloway's suggestion of decreasing my runs by 30%. I would like my body to recover from the long runs I've added. Being an older runner I don't want to get hurt.

I am exhausted and drowsy tonight. Usually, I reach for sugar for such a time as this. Instead, I'm going to drink some water, travel the road less traveled and go to bed.

Feb. 1-2, 2010

I missed my run on Monday due to a cold & general malaise. Besides that, it rained from 6 AM to 4 PM. I didn't feel well and I pretty much collasped from fatigue after we went to the boys' piano lesson.

I can't taste anything due to my cold but I keep eating. It's emotional eating and I've gained two pounds from snacking on junk. Yuck.

Last night I found a 20 minute strength training video and I did that. I'm reading a very good book by Jeff & Barbara Galloway called Running and Fat Burning for Women. Galloway explains that if you walk for 45 minutes or longer that's when you really start to burn fat. I believe it! This summer I walked for one hour a day from May to September and my body completely changed. I never knew one's arms could get so toned from simply walking. I'm going to start walking more on my non-running days.

This morning I walked for one hour. For the next 2 1/2 hours I chopped down a massive plant jungle on the side of our house. There were so many leaves that they filled up our practically empty dumpster 2/3 of the way. Our boys and daughter helped me carry all the leaves to the dumpster. My right thigh is a little store. It was a good workout!