illuminationpier.com

Is quilting.

My mom taught me to quilt when I was in high school.

Or maybe I was home from college for the summer.

I’ve made a handful of quilts, some that turned out well, some that didn’t.  Some that still need to be finished.

But this one has been the best. I love it.

Inspired by this.

On my schedule last night was a 45 minute run.  Just a few weeks ago, 45 minutes was my long run!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, if a little windy, so I even ran in a t-shirt for the first time this year.  I had started out with a light jacket (because of the wind), but even that was too much I quickly realized.

Within this 45 minute workout, I was supposed to run hard for 4 minutes, recover 3 minutes and repeat 3 times (total of 21 minutes).  So I warmed up for 10 minutes at my normal slow and plodding pace, and then started to run hard.  Except I ran a little too hard… When 9:09 was flashing on my watch as my “average mile” pace, I knew I was going too hard.  I tried to slow down and the next two sections of “run hard” I tried to keep myself in check.

But its good that I CAN push myself now!

I did stop to walk a few times, never for very long (30sec-1min).  Once to catch my breath, twice because my foot was acting up and I was trying to get it back to “normal”.  I’ll just call it the Galloway method and pretend like I meant it.

Today I headed to the gym to do a weight lifting routine from the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Haven’t done any strength training in quite awhile!  Truthfully, I get bored with it easily, so I don’t often keep with it.  But I need some cross training in my schedule.  And, you know, all of the other good reasons to have a weight lifting routine.

Tonight is dedicated to homework… it sucks, but I’m getting close to the end!

Yesterday was my long run day. It’s the fourth week in a row that I’ve “run long” and I am looking forward to this week’s break.

Long yesterday meant 1:35 minutes. So I headed over to my favorite long trail, all bundled up because it is suddenly kind of cold again, and set off.

Lately, my running has kind of a pattern. For 10 to 15 minutes my shins feel sore. I can feel every step, but still, this time passes fairly quickly. Then I start to think, “am I done yet?”. A dangerous thought when you still have over an hour of running left. Sometime around 30-40 minutes my left foot starts acting up. It feels like it has fallen asleep! Not at all pleasant to run on I have no idea what causes this. If my run is close to being over, I just deal. Yesterday, I walked for a couple of minutes trying to get the feeling to go away. It helped some, but not much.

Not long after that walk break, we turned around to head back. Hines drive is closed to traffic on one day a week during the warmer months to allow bikers/runners to use the road. But I can never remember which day It is also closed sometimes because it is prone to flooding. So when we came upon the road closed sign yesterday, I wasn’t sure why. So, we just turned around.

At this point, I really started to feel better. The wind being at my back probably helped. Around 46 min we walked again for snack time. I ran pretty strong for awhile and then really started to fatigue. There were a few more walk breaks, mostly on the hills. I was so ready to be done, and then finally, I was. 8.23 miles. Not fast by any means, but DONE nonetheless.

I meant to take a few pictures, but whipping out my phone seemed to be too much work.

Afterward, we quickly showered and ate so we could go to a gem show! I got some pretty things. (below are a few of them).

It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but fun anyway.

This morning I went out for a 2 mile recovery run. My legs were so tired an stiff, but the shortness of the run made it go by fast.

And this weekend I’m running a 5K! My plan is to run hard and try to hang on. We’ll see how it goes!

This morning’s training run was a 40 min “hilly” workout. I eyed it last night with trepidation. I contemplated skipping it, or maybe doing something easier. But still, I laid out some clothes, set my alarm for 5:30 am and hoped I wouldn’t die.

When the alarm went off, it was more then tempting to hit snooze and stay in bed for another hour and a half. But the run had to be done in the morning since I’ve got class tonight and am leaving straight from work. I’ll admit to one round of the snooze button before begrudgingly getting out of bed.

After a quick snack of 1/2 a banana and peanut butter, Ron and I headed to the one running route I knew of that had hills, the Rouge River Gateway Trail. My plan was to run back and forth along the 0.5 mile section that featured two hills. My plan also involved not being told to go home because it was not quite dawn (the trail “closes” at sunset though I noticed this morning the sign does not mention when it opens.)

I won’t say it was easy, but I finished it! 41 minutes, 3.74 miles, 3.5 trips up and back down those hills (7 assents?). More and more of my runs have been going like this, completed with minimal fuss, and I couldn’t be happier. How about some speed? Why not. Hills? Demolished. Long runs… Still need a few walk breaks, but not many. I think of where I was just a few months ago and am so glad I have stuck with it so I could be where I am now. I have so far to go still, but I’m excited to see what improvements the next few months bring.

So if, like me, you’re just starting out, or starting again, and you doubt if you can do something, let me tell you, yes, you can. Just stick with it and you will get better.

Several years ago, while we were still living in Kentucky, Ron bought me a Garmin Forerunner 205 for my Birthday.  I was very exited about this because I have always liked knowing how far I run.  The 205 can do a lot, and it was great.  But then I moved to Michigan and I started having trouble getting a satellite signal.  I reset it.  I downloaded updates.  I wondered if I was the only person to ever buy this watch that didn’t love it?  When it worked, it was wonderful.  But it never worked.  I stopped using it.  I would pull it out from time to time hoping that maybe this time would be different.  It never was.  It had turned into the most expensive stop watch known to man because that is pretty much all it was good for.

I have been considering buying a new Garmin.  On the one hand, it seems the 205 I have may just be a defective unit.  I have never come across any comments (and I have SEARCHED) that people have as much trouble on a consistent basis as I do.  But the watch is maybe 5 years old, too late to do anything about it now.  On the other hand, I don’t want to throw money at a new watch that is going to give me the same trouble.  But Ron, once again, came through on that front.

Meet my Valentine’s day gift:

Hello Pretty! I hope you work.

Garmin Forerunner 110W and no, I had no idea I was getting this!  I am cautiously optimistic about this new watch.  It found a satellite when setting the watch up.  It found (and kept!) a satellite on a test walk I did a couple of nights ago.  And it is pink.  Well, the strip is pink.  Ron told me, “it’s the only pink one, I looked.”  It has a heart rate monitor, which I haven’t used yet in case I have to send it back.  It does not have as many functions as my old 205, but hey, that’s OK.  I’ll take a watch that works at what it CAN do over a watch that can do more but NEVER works!

Excited!

I didn’t mean to go almost two months between posts, promise!

I have a lot to share in between homework (only 30ish days left!), work, and trying to work out.  I’ve had some successes over the last few months as well as a few failures.

But I want to talk about my run yesterday.  My plan was 30 minutes easy running.

It SUCKED.

I couldn’t do it.  I don’t know why - maybe because it was the morning when I normally run after work.  Maybe it was because I hadn’t eaten anything yet.  Maybe because my legs were still tired from other activities.  Maybe it was the dinner, dessert, and adult beverages I’d consumed the night prior for Valentine’s day.  Whatever the reason, the run was terrible.  And it shook my confidence.  “Maybe I can’t do this.”  “Maybe I’m fooling myself”.  No!  Bad runs happen.  I know this.  They have happened before and they will happen again.  I can’t dwell on the bad runs.  I can only move forward.

I also found myself wondering, almost immediately, if I should try this workout again the next day.  Or perhaps when I got home from work?  Maybe if I just ran a mile around the block.  Fast maybe, to make sure I still can.  Again, No!  None of those ideas are smart.  So it was a crappy recovery run.  Trying to redeem it isn’t going to help the “key” runs.  The “hills” I’m supposed to run tomorrow or the “long” run I’m supposed to attempt on Sunday.  Again, I can only move forward.

And hope the next run isn’t as bad.

I recently participated in a cookie swap at work.  I baked 4 dozen 6 dozen cookies and got 4 dozen in return.

‘Tis the season for cookies after all.

But it turns out that I was not the best at rationing the cookies.  So after a couple of days of having too many, and then a day of eating other desserts at school that I didn’t need or particularly want beyond that moment… I put the rest of my cookies in the freezer.

I am annoyed with myself that I let myself eat so many.  But I did and it is in the past now.  And now I need to move forward…

BTW, I made this Ginger Spiced Molasses Sugar Cookie recipe.  It was very good!  I subbed 1 cup of white whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all purpose flour.

Yesterday I posted a little about motivation and how I’ve been coping with a lack of it this week. Today was no different and it took just about everything I had to get out the door for a run. I wouldn’t normally post again so soon about motivation, because I think at some point it can start to sound whiny. But I want to be real here, and this is me, feeling like this journey might just be impossible and struggling to find he motivation to get in another workout. But I’m going to keep going because I know it is impossible only if I give up.

So, enough about that. Look what came in the mail today!

My new shoes! Very excited and even wore them on the run I finally did tonight.

To skip a workout or run, to order a pizza, to give up.  I feel like that has been my mantra all week.  And then, cursing, I try to make the right decision.  To go on that run even though I’m feeling stuffed to the gills or tired.  To make dinner even though I also have to make cookies for work and it is already 7:30.  To get a workout in even when the thought of the torture that is BodyRock has me wanting to hide out on the couch.

It’s been three weeks since Thanksgiving, when I ran the Stuffing Strut 5K and recommitted myself to getting fit..  Because I have tried this whole “lets get fit!” thing in the past, I know my typical pattern is to go strong for about three or four weeks.  And then life seems to get the best of me.  I get busy, or lazy, or sick.  And I give up.  I don’t want that to be the case this time.  So I’m battling the sudden lack of motivation and telling myself “it’s too easy” to quit.

I know I’m not always going to make the right decisions.  There will be times when life gets in the way.  There will be times when I want to go out to dinner instead of make it.  There will be times I choose sleep or homework or even a book over a run.  And that’s okay, as long as its not every day.  But for this week, it’s too easy to give up.