3.5

again today. It finally felt good. I may try a long this weekend.

So . . .

I did 3 on Sunday (along with 1/4 swim and 7 mile bike). I did 3.5 on Monday and 3.5 again today at about an 11 min pace. That's all I'm committing to right now.

Plan for the week

I went five miles today. Will do 3.5 on Tuesday morning and will do eight on Thursday morning with Missy in Tucson. Then, I'll do ten miles on the 9th or 10th, and then nothing until the half. Sounds good? Sounds good.

fatigue

I just did 3 miles at a 13:54 mile pace, which makes me very happy. I had set out to do 5 but turned around when I hit the light at Valencia, so I knew it would be about 3 miles. My muscles were still complaining at that point (they usually complain for the first 1/2 mile or so). They need more recovery time from the miles in Castle Rock. I'll probably take tomorrow off and eat lots of protein in the next few days to encourage muscle growth.

I, Marianne, do hereby solemnly swear......

to walk once today or tomorrow, again on Tuesday, and at least once while in Tucson.

I went!

yesterday that is. And, I only went half a mile. On the treadmill. Before I just said screw it. Do I still win cause I went?? :)

I haven't gone.

But when Marianne leaves for work, I am going to go.

Update from Hawaii

I did 3 miles on Monday Dec. 14. Haven't gone since although I am currently wearing my running clothes and the plan is to head to the hotel gym from here. So.

moving along

I went 2.5 miles on Tuesday and 3 yesterday, and I'm off today. I am thinking about doing 5 tomorrow and then take Saturday and Sunday off because we'll be traveling. Then, on Monday try to do my long in Castle Rock. We'll see how it goes. I think if mom comes through for me with the GPS for Christmas, I can stick it to my forehead so I won't get lost.

Six

is what I did today. Somewhat struggled for the first half and found my groove in the second half after I dropped a deuce. Not sure how its going to go from here. I'm going to New York Tues/Wed for work and leaving Fri for Hawaii for a week. I'm sure I'll hit the hotel gym but I really hope I can keep it up.

6 miles

Well, I did my stupid six miles. It didn't go all that great, although I am not too sore. But I had to stop twice to pee, once because I accidentally pulled the emergency stop thing on the treadmill, and twice because I somehow managed to disconnect my ipod and it went flying off somewhere, so I went to look for it, and when I had decided that it must be under one of the other treadmills, some chick comes and gets on the one right next to me that I was pretty sure it was under. SO, I got back on and waited until she was done and then I had to stop again, dig out the ipod and then finally finish the walk. It felt like it went on forever.

I'll do seven next week. We'll see how it goes.

7.8

is what I did today. Just barely over 15-minute miles. Think I'll be all right.

3.5

I did three and a half, in an hour. Which was probably just fine for a Thursday. I'm going to do six this weekend, so we'll see how that goes.

I didn't go

My 8th grade benchmark results are in so I have been looking at numbers all morning. It looks like my kids did relatively well. I'll have to do a short one tomorrow because I'm still planning on my long for Saturday... running around in a big circle after I drop my car off to get serviced for our big trip.

It's the climb

I am ashamed to share with you that I like a song by Miley Cyrus, but this one is actually good. I think it's a pretty good encapsulation of what drives us to do things like half marathons.
Anyhoo, sharing my goal with my students was the best thing that ever happened to my teaching, and it's not hurting my training either. I put a long entry about it on my other blog.
I went 2.6 yesterday and worked pretty hard. I think I will take today off... my hips and knees are not happy and my muscles are feeling awfully tired. If I take today off then I can go 3 or so tomorrow, take Friday off and be ready for my long on Saturday. Saturday night is my work Christmas party so I'll be having a couple beers and won't want to go Sunday.
Sandy, "the moment had passed?" There's no moment. Just put your shoes on and go. One mile, anyone can do a mile. If you go, you win.

Back to bad

Well I didn't go last night, dammit. K had a basketball game to cheer for and then we stayed and watched the next game (cause they are really entertaining!). And by then the moment had passed. Our tradition on Mondays has been that I go the gym and run, then we stay for the MNF party at my gym. So I blew that one.

I went at lunch today grumpily and resentfully. I so totally didn't want to go. So I did a bitter 2.5 miles and called it done. I am growing increasingly concerned about getting this damn thing done!!

I finally went

I did five miles on the treadmill last night. At about a 3.6 mile pace, so I know I am doing okay. I am okay this morning, a little bit sore, but nothing I can't live with. The plan right now is to do 3.5 on Thursday and 6 on Sunday.

I think the sub-zero temperatures around here might have finally cured me of my aversion to the treadmill once and for all, exercise epiphanies aside. There is no way I'm walking out there! You just would not believe how cold it is around here.... you'd think it was winter or some such thing.

My plan is to forgo the bike from now until the marathon, treadmill only, to make sure I can do this thing. I don't hate it as much as I used to, so I can do it. Plus, it's good for me to have some variety and such.

Missy, the cold here really might be a problem, but not to worry. What I'll do is, I'll get you a guest pass for my gym for the time that you are here (I think I can purchase it, it's not expensive and no big deal), that way you can just go to my gym and do your run on the treadmill. That's what Sandy and I did when she was here and it worked out just fine, we both held each other accountable. So no worries!

Sandy, that is so funny that you fell! But also very awesome that whoever you were with was only concerned about you being hurt, and not laughing at you. Although he probably laughed when he got home.

I didn't go today at all!

Seriously, when I got up this morning and walked down the stairs I got this huge cramp in my calf that didn't go away for a couple hours. So I decided to wait until the afternoon. And after my second nap, I decided I needed to use today as recovery time. Yah, that's it.

Anyhoo, I forgot to write the best part of my run yesterday. I was running with this guy, and about 4 miles in was feeling really tired and not picking my feet up very high. And I tripped over a lip in the sidewalk and went sprawling, full out, hands in front, body on ground. So badly that said guy was worried I may have injured my wrist. But let me tell you, I popped right up and kept running. I do have a bruise on my knee cap and a small raspberry, but mostly its my pride thats injured.

5.8

So I did 5.8 today, which was satisfactory given the hiatus I took. I thought I went farther but I mapped it when I got home and nope. I did just over 15-minute miles which is also satisfactory. I'm feeling pretty good about things.
I am looking forward to training in Denver. I am going to try to do 2 long runs while I am there. It will be hard because I know I will be very sore and will have to go really slow and probably not run a whole lot because I won't be able to breathe. So I'll need a lot of encouragement from you two.

5.25

An odd number, I know, but a friend invited me to go with a running group this morning at 6:30. So yes I got up at that ungodly hour and went. It was nice to have a group of people to run with. Except that I really was way off my pace, and was doing 10.5 min miles. It felt ok for awhile but I got fatigued much more quickly than normal. I ended up at 5.25 in 11 min miles, which is great, but now I'm befuddled as to what to do tomorrow. As in, I'm not sure 5.25 counts as a "long" at this stage of the game. But, my legs are really tight from the workout this morning. So I'll probably try to do 6 or 7 tomorrow but real slow.

wishin' hopin'

I am taking today off in preparation for my long run tomorrow, and hoping it doesn't ruin everything!! I can hardly assign the kids homework today anyway... it's Friday and benchmark testing starts Monday. Dumb testing.
Anyway my plan is to go until my body says F U. Somewhere between 5 and 7 miles.

Nike

The Goddess Nike has intervened on my behalf. After I posted yesterday I felt so relieved that I went ahead and did 1.8 miles, which is 1 trip around the loop in which I live. While I was out there, it occurred to me that there was a common thread running through my teaching and my personal life, as is often the case. I have been doing a lot of talking with my students about setting goals. How to set smart goals and how to meet them are frequent topics of conversation as testing nears. I noticed that my students truly do not understand the connection between effort and achievement. When I asked them this past week to set their goals for their benchmark 2 test scores, almost all of them said they wanted to meet or exceed the standards. Some of them said they wanted to exceed when currently they are falling far below the standards. I askes them to write down the steps they will take to meet their goal, and they wrote about coming to tutoring, doing their homework, paying attention in class, etc. So far, no action has been taken, and nothing has changed. Setting the goal has no effect because they do not know how to make it happen. They are not motivated to put their words into action because they don't believe they can do it; and if they think they can do it, they don't believe it will make a difference.
So, I cut my students a deal. We spent class time writing down goals for the math benchmark scores and detailing the steps we were going to take to meet them. Most of the kids said they were going to do their homework and pay attention in class. I told them about my goal of a half marathon in January and asked if they thought I could do it. Of course they said no, and didn't want to tell me why because they would not be that mean to me. We talked about how I don't LOOK like someone who could do a half marathon. Then I took out my medal and said, guess what. I CAN do a half marathon. I just have to work at it. They were awe-struck. I passed around the medal, and we talked about how it doesn't matter how you look or what others perceive you to be. What matters is what YOU think about yourself. Then I separated a little corner of the white board and told them that this is where I will keep track of how many miles I run each day. If they come in and there is a number there, any number greater than one, then I will assign homework and they are expected to complete it. But if they come in and it says 0, they are homework free for that day. They were pretty game, as they don't think I will do my part. We talked about working toward meeting a goal and how important it is to think about it every day, congratulate yourself each time you take even the smallest step toward meeting it, and check your progress periodically to show yourself that your efforts are indeed producing results.
I am typing out their goals (for privacy) so I can print them in big letters, and hang them up on the bulletin board that they face when they are hanging up their backpacks and getting ready for class. We're going to think about our goals every day, congratulate ourselves when we work at meeting them, and keep track of our progress.
And now I have a date with the pavement.

four

I was able to do four at the gym tonight which is kindof a miracle because a) I'm so fatigued and b) I had to go after work when it was dark, which is always a challenge. But I didn't have anywhere else to be, and I went straight from work, so I was able to do a slow and easy four. I'm taking tomorrow off and maybe Friday since I have my test on Friday. Then definitely getting in a long this weekend.

It's just not happening.

I can't make myself go. I can't even make myself walk. I think it's about time to give up the ghost on this one. You guys will do great.

The wheels on the bus go round and round . . .

Back at the gym for lunch today, I did three. I think I'm getting a shin splint. I'm icing it in my office right now.

Back on the bus

I went to the gym yesterday. Did my usual 45 on the bike. Will do treadmill on Wednesday. I have to re-do my training schedule now and make it a bit more vigorous. I need to make sure I can do at least 9 miles here in Denver, because I'm pretty sure if I can do that, then I can do the 13 in Phoenix. I have six Sundays until the marathon. So, I have to increase the training walks by one mile per week. I'm going to do five miles on Sunday. We'll see what happens I guess.

And I still can't get over the fact that I exercised on Thanksgiving. I'm one of those people now. Maybe I'll do it every year now. Sandy, how about it? You and I will make it a Thanksgiving tradition and act all self righteous every year at Thanksgiving dinner and we'll be all "well, you know, I need to load up on protein because I exercised pretty hard today, so I better take extra turkey" and then everyone will be all awkward and silent and we'll think they are being awkward and silent because of their simultaneous admiration for our commitment and shame at their own lack of exercise, when really their awkward silence is that they are wondering what we are trying to prove.