Running Thoughts

I keep thinking I'll get on the computer and blog about my favorite 3-mile run EVER!  And the fact that I keep not getting to the weight lifting... Three miles yesterday in crisply cool air in the sunshine...ah!  I really basked in the day.  Loved it.  One problem with training for a long run is that when I have a short run, I don't pace myself well where I can appreciate the feeling of moving.  I tend to think, this is a short run, so I'll go faster.  This time, I took time to notice a cave I'd not see before waaaaaay up on the cliff.  I realized that the creek is completely melted and splashing along especially fast at one bend where the road takes me closer in toward the water.  I counted 3 chipmunks who've discovered that it's spring around here.  And, I watched little slides of rocks as water trickled through tiny crevices in the rock wall that hugs one side of the road.  I love long run days even when it's a short-long run. Now, about the weights.  Fus...

Food....so much to think about without complications.  What do you do when one of your family members has special dietary needs?  Well, ya get busy and cook.  One of my little people has severe intolerances to gluten and casein.  Gluten is the protein found in wheat and most other common grains from which flour is made, and casein is the protein found in milk.  Happily, both of these are found in most foods as fillers and are called mysterious things on ingredients lists like "added ingredients" and "natural flavoring."  So, I get to cook. a lot.  And guess what???  Wonder of all...I really am not a fan of cooking.  I should insert here the love I have for my mother who not only cooked thousands of meals for our family growing up, but also helped me when I realized I needed to cook special foods for my son.  She came to my house and cooked.  She rescued me.  And since that's what mothers do, I learned to cook without gluten or casein for my son.  I'm rescuin...

Let's see if this post makes it to my blog or if cyberspace-monsters eat it like they did my last try! I had a beautiful run yesterday...5 miles.  Today was Yoga.  I meant to lift too, but didn't.  Now I'm glad because our yoga practice was pretty intense.   I run, etc., at 9000 feet above sea level.  Many elite athletes train at high altitudes.  I read about a guy who tries to simulate high altitude by running with a gas mask.  Hahahaha!  I'd like to see that.  Anyway, I read a little more about training at high altitude and found out why it's become popular.  With less Oxygen in the air, your blood is forced to thicken (produce more red blood cells) to carry more oxygen to your working muscles.  Then, when you go back down to sea level for a race, your body can run longer, faster, and more efficiently because you still have those red cells carrying more oxygen.  Interesting, eh?  

I'm leaving town for a couple of days, but will possibly still be on here some.  But if not, then you can know that I'll be back! Been feeling female-ish, but I lifted yesterday.  I'm sore today, so yay for that!   Did I mention that I bought a fuel belt?  I have a camelbak, but it's hot and uncomfy and really not necessary until I get closer to the 13 mile mark.  My belt has a pouch and two small water bottles.  I also got some pepper spray for trail running this summer.  Look out Mr. Bear!  (I probably won't see one, but it's possible)  I'll haffta take my big ol' doggy with me.   www.trailrunning.com

As I did lunges and the clean-n-press and 3 point rows and then yoga yesterday.... I had some thoughts.   I recalled how I used to feel trying to stretch my very stiff muscles and trying to lift weights using a body that was fatigued and carrying way too much weight to begin with.  It's not easy to lose weight.  Add off the chart thyroid levels to that as well as all hormones "out of whack" as a result of the thyroid condition, and it's even harder.  I struggled back then.  I was 60 pounds overweight and completely unhealthy.  It was sort of a catch 22 as my thyroid condition was much to blame, and the weight gain and unhealthy state perpetuated the hormonal imbalance...round and round.  I set my mind to becoming healthy and now, 3? years later, I find myself struggling with an overworked thyroid still, and again.  My thyroid has never been "fixed," but the thyroid replacement tablets that I take daily had gotten it to a desirable level.  The last few months...

I meant for Sunday to be a 5 mile day, but when my daughter asked if she could run 3 with me, well...of course, I changed my plan to 3 miles.  She totally outran me too.  Too bad we don't have a middle school track team.  She really does have the endurance for a cross country team.  I have great news!!!!  I thought I was just a slug, but NO!  My thyroid is waaaay off again.  That's all it is...whew!  I've been gaining weight around the middle for no reason (seriously, no reason), my running pace has gotten slower instead of faster, I'm tired all the time...among lots of other things.  Found out that my TSH level which should be around "2" is over "18."  Isn't that great in a weird way?  I take hormone replacement tablets and had my level down to a reasonable "5" or so, but apparently, I need to talk to the doc again.  Moral of the story?  If you have these symptom s, have your thyroid checked.  Note:  I have most of these symptoms, but ...

I did part of my lifting workout yesterday, and I thought I'd finish today instead of taking the day completely off.  But, no.  I took it completely off.  It was fun!  

Yoga yesterday and lifting the day before.  After yoga last night, I was so energized that I ran on the treadmill.  I meant to run yesterday, but never did find a big enough time block after it got warm enough.  So, I reluctantly called it a "miss."  But after a yoga class of backbends, I was full of energy, so I ran it off.  I guess the moral of this story is that if you are low on energy, do a few backbends.  Today, is lifting again.  I should have thought to do it this morning, but I didn't.  I'm so used to waiting until later that, on a morning that I could have started that way easily, I didn't even think of it.  We should get snow tonight and tomorrow.  This morning is warm, and Sunday should clear up.  But you never can tell for sure!!  Maybe my long run can be on Sunday.

What a cold, windy, but sunny strange day!  I inclined to 4% grade and ran Hiits on the mind-numbing monster.  Why does the treadmill seem so hard when studies show that it's easier?  Is it just me?  

I just haven't gotten to blogging...and have very little time right now, but here is a short post! I did my lifting the day before yesterday and ran THREE miles yesterday.  I'm just so slow that the FIVE miles I had planned didn't fit into my day.  It was really scheduled to be 3 anyway, I think, but 5 sounded fun.  Five takes me an hour.  (slow, I know.) No Need For Speed, right?   I was a bum today, though.  No lifting, no yoga.  I spent the day with my hubby, though.  That's always a good exercise.  :)

In the mountains, we don't get spring showers.  We get spring snow.  The little birds were so confused today as the snow floated down, then blew all around like a small blizzard.  I think the HIGH today was around 30 degrees.  I decided that it was a good day to NOT run.  I did go to Yoga, though, and that was good.  I figure there will soon be a prettier day for a run outside...probably Saturday.  Tomorrow, I will lift, but will probably be sore from Yoga.  Hubby is assembling this right now.  Will try it out tomorrow!

Got those weights done...just wanted to say so!

I went for a short run this morning, working on form and enjoyment.  My road that I love to run on is being worked on, so I ran as far as I could before the road grater mess and then retraced my steps and wound around through town.  I made this discovery:  Trying something new is good, but having an old favorite is good too.  I'll be back on my old favorite soon.

I like the full body, multi-joint workouts, but I've figured out what it is that I miss.  In BFL and with the Maximum Growth lifting, you isolate muscles and reach for a "10" in every workout.  With this new (to me) method, it's harder to feel a "10" because muscles aren't isolated.  Now, not isolating a muscle, but working more muscles per exercise is a good thing in my opinion, but I do miss that feeling of reaching a TEN.  There are exercises in this program (The New Rules...) in which I do get that "I can't do one more" feeling of 10.  Like push ups which I can't do as many of as I did not long ago what's up with that?  But like with squats (one of my favorite exercises), so many of such large muscles are in use, that it's really hard to feel that feeling, but I know that I worked hard none-the-less.  Anyway, I did my lifting today!  Totally forgot to go to Yoga.  But I feel my core from my run yesterday which means that I w...

I have the attention span of a toddler when I run. Maybe that's why I don't get bored. I go from one thought to another, like this: checking in with my posture and foot strike. wow that's pretty. so is that. I can't believe no one else is out today, oh, HI (to a biker that surprised me), oh yeah, my posture..I don't remember seeing that before, I wonder if we should change some things in homeschool, oh! I want to re-do Kaegan's playroom, I should look at paint colors...posture, and while I'm at it, breathe deeply....I felt poetic at moments, too, but those thoughts never made it home. Maybe I'll remember them another day, another run. I know that some people solve problems while they run and some people mull over things that upset them. I think my brain just sort of enjoys not having to concentrate on any one thing. How about you? What goes on while you move one foot in front of the other? Yesterday, I could not wait to get out and run! I wante...

Alas, I did not lift yesterday.  I have trouble fitting in yoga and lifting.  The yoga is power yoga and very muscle-intense, so it's hard to decide whether to lift or rest.  Yesterday was yoga, so I didn't lift.  Today, I had only 20 minutes to run, but it was fun!  The sun was shining and I felt more comfortable with the new running form.  So far, my knees are liking the chirunning style.  I always feel knee pain, but not lately!  I'm really happy about that.  Part of the focus is on relaxation of legs and arms and working from your core.  So, yoga really helps with that.   Now for the more interesting section of this post... I read about Jonathon Brunot, a 19 year-old with severe autism.  He speaks only about 10 words.  He trained with "Rolling Thunder" which is a special needs running program and ran the New York City Marathon in 4:49.  At the finish line, he clapped and waved to his family for the first time ever .  Afterward, he received his medal and looked...

Today marks my 3rd attempt at aligning my posture, lifting my legs behind me, tilting my pelvis upward as I lean forward, relaxing, making sure my feet land underneath me, and swinging my arms back rather than forward.   I'm talking about chirunning.  And sure enough, my knees are liking this better running form so much more.  No pain during or after my somewhat faster runs.  Relaxing while remembering everything is the hardest part and I find that my neck and shoulders could use some loosening up!  I have to slow to a walk often to re-focus, but I'm liking it.  Every now and then, I feel that childlike feeling of running.  So great! I'm having trouble getting around to lifting...I'm not sure why.  I'm just so into the running part right now.  But, I will continue to plan my lifting sessions and JUST DO IT! I went to Yoga on Monday, too.  I did a headstand!!!  I've never been very inclined toward gymnastics, so I surprised myself, lifting myself up from my core ...

Ok, so I'm very excited about my running pal, Sara, becoming a (really great) mommy in November.  But now she will not be running with me and there will be only me for the July 4th Half Marathon that Ruthie is planning.  So, woe is me as I am also rejoicing about becoming a pseudo-grandma.  (So cool.  I've never even had an opportunity for grandishness until now.) In honor of my new grand-status, I have been shopping, and I think Sara will need this to go along with the all terrain stroller she will certainly HAVE to HAVE.  

I've been pondering what to do about lifting and losing the few pounds I gained while training for the Half I ran in October.  And I want to run another Half in July which means more long runs and possibly more weight gain.  When I trained before, I lifted on my cross training days for the first half of the training time, but I stopped lifting toward the end because I was zonked from all the running.  Building muscles through running means building those slow-twitch muscles and sort of ignoring the fast-twitch muscles.  This training time, I plan to keep the lifting and include more core work and more sprints within runs.  I'll have to be sure to eat enough carbs for the running and enough protein for the muscles.  And I'll have to be sure to listen to my body and not over train, which was one thing I was worried about before.  So, I lifted yesterday...yay!  And today looks lovely for a run day!

I found a new tiny camera that works.  It's a fab disney princess camera.  See?  How cute is that? I took it with me on my first attempt at chirunning today.  I forgot to take a picture until the end of the run, but it works!  The only problem is that the software doesn't jive with my mac.  I'll have to get my hubby to download the pics to his pc and send them to me.   Chirunning is new to me.  I ordered the book and the dvd but they aren't here yet.  I have been looking online and reading about it, though, so I went out with what little knowledge I have about it and I was faster.  And my knees don't hurt.  I had to walk between running intervals because it's a new posture and took some work and concentration.  It felt young and free and best of all...pain free.  I don't complain alot about my knees.  But I could.  Not today, though!