FINALLY Broke 13:00-Minute Mile!!

I feel like Wonder Woman, minus the inappropriate outfit for someone who turned 35 yesterday!  This had to have been the best week I had running, and I'm pretty sure it was because it was my "easy week."  It started off a little rough, but today made it all worthwhile!

So, Tuesday I roll in to the 24-Hour Fitness Shaq gym near my work.  This is the location I ran at all year last school year, and it was recently expanded and refurbished.  I was able to enjoy this gym until Tuesday.  Little did I know, my gym membership that I had renewed the week before was no longer valid because I only had access to "all-Sport" gyms, not "all-Super Sport" gyms (of which there are 4 in the country, and with my luck, that location is one of them).  I was informed that I could upgrade by paying a mere $120 more, to which I screamed, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME??" in my head while politely responding, "Uh, I don't think so.  I'm a teacher, and that will not be happening."  The manager could probably see the fire back-lighting my eyeballs and was kind enough to let me enjoy one last hurrah.  I got on a treadmill and ran a little of the frustration out in my 2-mile run and made a 12:15-minute mile pace.  Maybe being aggravated made me run a little faster...

Fast-forward to Thursday.  I attended training all day (which, in itself it torture when you're used to being on your feet most of the day), then worked at my school for two hours with student registration.  Apparently, my brain was still a bit in "summer" mode when I spoke with a certain student.  I won't bore you with the details here, but let me just say that I've been kicking myself ever since and am fervently praying that I haven't completely soured this poor student towards me or the institute of education.  Anyway, after my brief moment of "athlete's tongue", I picked up the boys, headed home, made & ate dinner, took care of dishes, and then continued the "kicking myself" process on the treadmill at the gym location that will still welcome me (thank you 24-Hour Fitness in Friendswood!).  Once again, irritation helped fuel another sub-13-minute mile pace, but this time it was a tad slower at 12:35-minute mile.  I think exhaustion & running after dinner for the first time didn't have as bad of an affect on me as I thought.  I still like running right after work because once I get home, I can stay put!

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for:  today's "long" run!  Because it was an "easy week", I only had to run 5 miles.  I decided to try out the new RunKeeper app on my phone.  Unfortunately, because the park I ran in had so many trees, it couldn't log as I went.  I had a back-up plan in mind in case that happened.  I just used the timer on my phone to keep track of the time so that all I had to do was keep track of my laps.  I decided to skip the slower songs as they came up on my MP3 player, and I think that made a difference.  It also gave me a personal homework assignment to put only faster songs on it for the future (thank you, Mark Wiesenborn for the idea!).  So, ten laps and five miles later, I looked at my clock.  It read one hour and four minutes.  I quickly switched to my RunKeeper app to input my run and was ecstatic to find out that I had kept at 12:57-minute mile pace!  I probably looked like a complete wacko, fist pumping and hopping up and down like I had won the lottery, but I didn't care.  I finally did it!  I broke that crazy 13-minute mile road block!  The true test of success will come next week, with a full week of teaching & an eight-mile run on Saturday.  We'll just have to see how the week pans out...

Summer's End & 13:00 Struggle

Ah, the final week of just being a mommy & going to the gym mid-morning.  I will miss time with my boys like crazy, but I'll really miss having a bunch of treadmills available when I want to run.  Now I'll be joining all the "working stiffs" trying to squeeze in my jaunts after work & before dinner.  At least my training this week went well!

My 3-mile run on Tuesday went well, followed by hours of work getting my classroom ready for the new school year.  I wonder if climbing up & down ladders and rearranging furniture counts as cross-training?  My 3-mile run on Thursday was a little different.  Apparently, the treadmill I chose for the morning was possessed by some evil gremlin that refused to keep the incline where I wanted it.  Instead of changing machines, I figured I'd just deal with it so I could hurry & get done.  I ran my first two miles like normal (run for 0.25, then walk for .10 and repeat), then I decided to push myself and try to run the whole last mile without a break.  Much to my surprise, I did it!  I made it and didn't feel like I was going to keel over once I hit the stop button.  I felt like SuperMom minus the cape!  I figured that would help my long run on Saturday go faster.

This morning, I started my run with my new app "Run Keeper".  I love it!  It periodically tells me how far I've run, my time, and my pace while I'm running.  Plus, it actually kept an accurate distance for me.  The first half of my run felt great, albeit humid.  I had my stride & breathing down and thought, "This is awesome!  I'm going to break 13:00!"  Once I hit my halfway point, it felt like I had been dropped in a sauna.  I ended up having to stop at mile 5 to buy more water because I ran out.  The rest of the run was slower than I liked, but I got it done.  Unfortunately, it was at a 13:35-minute mile pace. I'm a little frustrated that I can't seem to break the 13-minute mile mark yet, but I think I'll be able to before too long.  I think I may start changing my running pace for my short runs to increase endurance, like run 0.50 instead before a walk, and then see how next weekend goes...

Good, Good, Blah...

My two 3-mile runs at the gym this week were fantastic!  I felt great & finally have gotten to the point where I'm not gasping for breath by the second mile.  The lungs are starting to remember how to do the "run & breathe" thing, which makes life more comfortable.  Plus, watching the Olympics on the screens is amazing motivation to keep going when you feel a little tired.  The only thing that would be more inspirational for me would be watching Tebow... :)

The long run today was a six-mile jalk.  I arrived at the park for my run and discovered a mini tent-city.  Apparently, there was a 5K that was starting & ending there, complete with a DJ from a local country station.  I had a lot more company than I was expecting for my training!  The path is a half-mile, so I completed 12 laps to get my mileage in.  I tried a new app "Map My Run" to keep track of my distance & time, but I think I bumped something by accident or it didn't have a good GPS signal.  Instead of recording my six miles, it only recorded four, and I KNOW I ran six because I was counting laps.  I'll give it another shot next weekend to see if it's just a case of user error or app issues.  What mattered to me was that I ran six miles and kept an average of 13.5-minute-mile pace.  I'm a little frustrated that I haven't dropped below the 13-minute mile mark yet, but I know it'll get better.  That's why I'm training.  We'll have to see what next week holds in store!

Still going strong... sort of...

So with being on vacation, I skipped on blogging.  Now that I'm back home, I can get back into the swing of  posting more regularly (with any luck)...  Here's how the past two-and-a-half weeks of training went.

We flew into Orlando late Friday night.  On Saturday, I had a two-mile run scheduled, but I didn't know the distances from my parents house.  We came up with a consensus that it was about a mile to my old elementary school, so I ran there and back.  I came in the door after my run and said, "That felt too short..." I checked the pedometer, and I was right.  It was only a mile and a half.  Since I had plans that night to go out, I decided to not worry about it.

The next week, I walked a little over four miles with Mom & Mary Monday night.  Then, I skipped my three miles on Tuesday because we went to Legoland and walked six-and-a-half miles.  On Thursday, we were in New Symrna Beach, so I enlisted in the help of the condo manager to figure out my three-mile route (from the condo to A1A, back down to Flagler Ave, back to the condo & repeat).  While my family was playing on the beach, I was completing my training run.  I have to admit, playing in the cool Atlantic felt wonderful after that run!  We were back in Orlando by Saturday for my three-mile "long run."  I ran from my parents' house to Mary's house and back (which we confirmed the distance in the car).  

The following Tuesday, I ran my three-mile route in Orlando while the family ate breakfast.  On Thursday, we were in Cocoa Beach.  This time, I just decided to run for 30 minutes on the beach.  I had never actually run on the sand before, and it was nice.  The only part I didn't like was getting sand in my running shoes.  I'm pretty sure there's still a little bit of Cocoa Beach in my Brooks to this day!  We were back in Orlando by Saturday for my four-mile "long run", so I ran to Mary's house & back for three miles, then ran up & down the main road next to my parents' house to make the fourth mile.  I left on my run to the smells of bacon & pancakes, and I think it help me keep my fastest pace since I started training again:  12-minute mile!

I had one more run in Orlando before coming back home on Tuesday.  I did great for the first two miles, but when I hit mile three, my stomach decided to do a repeat performance of "miles 14-17 misery" from my Marathon.  I got it done, but it drastically impacted my pace (only 13:30-minute mile).  I figured once I got home things would improve.

Unfortunately, they haven't yet.  I ran at the gym yesterday and only made a mile before the stomach began its pyrotechnics once again.  I took a quick break, then got back on and ran in smaller increments.  Talk about frustrating!  I'm really hoping my five-mile "long run" tomorrow goes better.  We'll have to wait and see...

Now that I've gotten caught up online, I need to get caught up on housework (sigh...)...