Off day, got some rest

Days until the relay: 132

After yesterday's run, we were all gung-ho and feeling good. Then we stretched out and rested for a little while... and completely failed when we tried to stand up. We kept trying to keep it loose and shake it out, to no avail. The knees were a tiny bit swollen, but that's to be expected. I kept them elevated and I'm sure the cold water in the shower helped.

Eventually we went out for dinner and the two block walk took about double the time as it normally would. It was snowing pretty hard by that point and I was glad we hadn't waited to run. We came hobbling back, watched Rambo 2, and went to bed at 10:30pm (Saturday night!!). I fell asleep within 30 seconds of my head hitting the pillow and wasn't conscious until 8:45am.

This morning was pretty good, minimal soreness. I would say my legs were probably at 90%. We walked around a lot, went to Ikea in Brooklyn and decided that a short run would keep the legs from atrophying without overdoing it. We ran about 1.25 miles and didn't time it because The Beast (read: Chewie) came with us and despite keeping up and showing lots of spatial intelligence about where his leash was and how to not get snagged around pedestrians' legs, he did feel the need to mark random street corners, slowing us down a bit. As for pace, we pushed it faster than yesterday. Sorry, no real numbers, but using my vast timing knowledge I would say it was probably closer to a 8:30 ballpark.

I think tomorrow will be a longer run for me because as long as my legs are ok with it, I have to really start getting used to it. I also now understand the humongous need for strong quads and hammies, because mine felt destroyed yesterday, so there will be a lot of stairs and wall sits in the future.

Sit-ups: 25
Push-ups: 15
Pull ups: 0 real ones, 5 lame attempts with my feet on the stool

"If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don't spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it."
Priscilla Welch

First timed run!

This past week I did some light running, stairs and strength training (like push-ups, sit-ups and "pull-ups"... which mostly consisted of hanging pathetically from the bar). The running distances were mostly ~1.4 miles with a break for stretching. I didn't have a stopwatch, and since it's still pretty cold out and the iPod screen doesn't like responding to cotton-enshrouded fingers, I just ran them without paying attention to pace.

Today, though, started with the purchase of a crappy bright blue stopwatch from Kmart which nixed my excuses for not timing myself. Adam hadn't been doing any kind of running, just sit-ups and push-ups on the stability ball and shaming me on the pull-up bar. We went out at 2:40pm; it was about 35 degrees, so definitely long-sleeved shirts, zippy coats and gloves. Adam opted for the 180's, too (the around-the-back-of-the-head ear muff things). I was listening to a mix of Hilltop Hoods and Adam had on the David Guetta Pandora station.

We ran to the East 85th street entrance of Central Park and stretched at the 90th Street entrance. We started the time there, and ran in a loop around the reservoir. Everything is still covered in snow, so we didn't want to stay on the actual reservoir path (not shoveled!!), and we ended up just kind of winging it. We were on the roads, paths, and at one point on the packed snow, which was extremely slippery. Since this was the first "real" run, we definitely took it slow and we were both doing good by the time we got back to the start point.

Stats:

Warm up: 1.13 miles (not timed)

Run: 2.03 miles in 19:05 (pace = 9:24/mile)

Cool down: 1.13 miles

Total: 4.29 miles

When we got back, it was snowing again. We grabbed bagels and I took a cold shower to save the leg muscles.

I'm pretty happy with our pace, especially since it was intentionally slow. The relay officials recommend a pace of 9:00/mile. Of course it's different if you're going 8 miles instead of 2, but if we train for distance at this same pace, then kick it up a notch, we should be totally fine.

Good start!!

This is probably a bad idea.

And by "bad", I mean simply that the top reactions to this idea are either a) sincere horror, b) a mildly sarcastic "Good luck..." or c) immediate and complete dismissal.

So, what's wrong with me? Why, oh why on God's green earth am I attempting this?

And here we go. "This" is the New England Relay, a non-stop relay race touching all six states of New England (and for those of you unfamiliar with the geography, they include Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine). More information is here: http://www.newenglandrelay.com/

The course is 220 miles, meant to be run with either 6- or 12-person teams, and the map is admittedly frightening:

(http://www.newenglandrelay.com/images/map.gif)

Words of encouragement from the organizers of this delightful monstrosity are as such: "Nothing builds camaraderie like a dozen perpetually hungry, tired, sweaty, smelly, tired runners driving around in two vans living on bananas, bagels, granola bars and Gatorade. Right?"

....Yes.... right.

So, how am I qualified to do this?

I'm not, really, which makes tracking my progress all the more interesting.

Despite being fairly active in childhood and up through high school, including countless hours on the soccer field and ski runs, team sports and anything other than spotty, because-I'm-bored exercise ceased to exist. I jogged when I felt like it, lifted in the gym when I couldn't help with the boxes on moving day and did some sit-ups on the living room floor when the Olympics were on in a rush of guilt. Even when I was in pretty good shape during the soccer years, that kind of running consisted of 15-second sprints that were definitely not going to help me in my mile test in gym class. As far as I can recall, my best mile time was 7:14. And it hurt. And I was 15 years old.

So the plan is simple.

1) Connive, sweet-talk and/or emotionally blackmail my boyfriend, Adam, to do this with me. [Check!]

Note: This has other pros besides the obvious companionship and motivational upsides. Adam ran varsity track for a long time and knows how to get ready for something like this - a skill which I lack. Oh, and he can get in shape, too. Ha!

2) Set up a training schedule that first focuses on strength and overall fitness and then goes to longer distance running. [Check!]

3) Eat all the right food, and enough of it, and DON'T OVERDO EXERCISE. [ ]

Note: This part is hard for me, because I'm the kind of person to rabidly latch onto a new idea and not want to waste any time, and this will probably lead to injuries or getting burned out early.

4) Get going! [ ]

5) Don't stop! [ ]