Endurance vs Speed

I decided to take a step back and re-evaluate what I want with my running. I enjoy doing 5Ks and mud runs and little activities that make me push myself but what I want most during these activities is to last through the whole thing. I would love to be able to run a full 5K straight through. Once I am able to do something like that, I will then focus on my speed and improve my time. With this in mind, I went running last Tuesday (since my professor lets us out late, I may not be able to do body pump on these days anymore), and was able to run a mile and a half without stopping. Even when I stopped to take a break and walk, I only did so because I wanted to cool down before going inside. Since my days are so long now, I cannot do 3 mile runs as often because of the time it takes up that I now lack. I was stoked about the distance. It was a very slow run and I probably averaged a 12-13 mile but I didn't let that bother me because I need to keep my main goal in focus now. On Friday I woke up early to do another quick 2 mile run and, this time, I was able to go 1.75 miles! I thought, "oh I will be at 2 miles in no time."

Tonight, I went with Kale and we ran about 1.5 miles and most of that is up-hill and by far the most difficult part. After we got to a corner before turning, we had to stop for a couple seconds to drink some water. After maybe 7 seconds of stopping, we continued on for about another mile. Besides that 7 seconds or so, we ran almost 2.5 miles. I couldn't believe it. I felt fantastic and I tried to keep my breath steady the whole time and not make myself sick or anything too intense. It was just a steady, nice, cool run. Absolutely perfect.

I believe that by Nov 6th, I will be able to run my whole 5K. I don't think I mentioned that before but there is another 5K in Redlands on that date that I would like to sign up for. So that is my newest goal- run the whole 5K without stopping. I will not worry too much about my time, but I am thinking that if I am able to run at a slow speed, that I still may beat my first time of 37 minutes and 37 seconds. Even if I don't though, I will still be able to say that I ran the whole thing and that alone will be amazing.

Mud Run

School has started, so posts will probably be even more infrequent but I wanted to document my first mud run!

As I said before, it was in Lake Elsinore, so Nicholas and I woke up early to get there in plenty of time to pick up our bibs. We met up with my friend Kale but, sadly, were never able to find Tory. The run started off and I tried to keep a steady pace with both Nicholas and Kale. The beginning was the worst because it was hot as hell , it took a while to actually get to any obstacles to cool ourselves off with mud, and I forgot to drink water that day (whoops!).

The first obstacle was hurdling over concrete barriers, which wasn't too bad (especially since it was the first one). We then came to a hill with tires that we had to run up and that was a tad tricky since I wasn't sure whether to put my foot in the hole of the tire or step directly on them. I tried both ways and neither one was easy.

We had another long run (at least a half mile) and we came to a pyramid of haystacks which, again, were not bad. We ran more. You're probably thinking, "where the hell is the mud?" Trust me, I was thinking the same thing. We then rounded a corner and came to some wooden walls that came up to about my chest. These were by far the hardest obstacle. I didn't think I could get my large body over them but I did! I took a running start at each one, used my arms to lift myself up, and swung my right leg over, and jumped down (I have bruises on the inside of my thigh to prove this). There were four of these walls and I miraculously got over them but was completely exhausted and it was still just the beginning.

We then just went through back to back obstacles, mostly mud pits. The first time I stepped into the mud pit, my foot got stuck. I had no clue how fast my shoes would fill with mud and how heavy they would become. Did I also mention that most of the running portion was in sand? Running in sand with shoes filled with mud is not the easiest feat. We continued on to some other obstacles and then came to the BEST one. An inflatable water slide that leads you into a lake! We all jumped in headfirst and it was the greatest relief ever. We were able to clean off some of the mud and cool down.

After some more obstacles, and continued support from Kale and Nicholas, we came to the finally stretch. The first portion of this stretch was a web of bungy cords. It took every last bit of my energy to get through this web. By this time, I was dragging myself to the high net that we had to climb up and down (which wasn't as bad as I thought it was), ran through some more tires, went in another mud pit, and tip toed past the finish line (I was afraid of sliding and falling in the slippery mud in front of a huge crowd), so there was no running for me in that section!

Some pics are below. Mud runs rock. Can't wait to do one again. Specials thanks to my dear friend Kale and my wonderful boyfriend for motivating me the entire way. They could have finished far ahead of me, but stuck by me the whole time <3 I couldn't have asked for a more perfect first mud run.

Addicted and Tired

That's right. I am addicted to running. Kale and I added a little to our loop today and it came out to 4.17 miles. We ran about 3 miles of that. I was concerned about how much my muscles hurt from body pump yesterday, mostly my hamstrings. Well by the time we started, that was the last muscle I was thinking about. My abs and triceps started BURNING. I loved it though and I still loved the way I felt after, even though it was mostly pain. I am looking forward to my two days of rest. I am exhausted though and will stop this early. Goodnight!

Biggest Loser Inspiration

The biggest loser competition has officially started at work and it's pretty amazing to see so many people eating healthy and giving each other advice. Some of us are a little competitive but in a playful, fun way. It's turning out to be a pretty pleasant experience and has kicked my butt back into shape again. I keep getting healthy recipe ideas and putting them into play as much as possible. Some are not so exciting like the plain salad I had today with plain tuna. Something about plain tuna just makes me want to gag. Oh well, some things work and others don't and I never know it until I try it.

As far as my running, my friend and I are still running our loop in Yucaipa and doing a darn good job at it. We ran yesterday and were able to run most of the 2.5 miles that we went (not counting the mile or so that we walk both before and after we start running). Today I did my body pump class and tomorrow, my friend and I are going to try running again. As long as we go about 6:30 or 7, the sun is going down enough that it is nice and cool and makes running more fun for us. I will give myself a break Thursday (since I am starting school) and Friday, because on Saturday...

I have my first mud run! I am nervous but so excited because I was able to go see my friend do one a couple weeks ago and every person who came through the finish line, looked genuinely happy. I will give more details and, of course, pictures after Saturday. Wish me luck!

Making the mile my bitch

I went to the gym today after being out of commission for about 4 days, so I knew I needed a good workout. My goal in mind was to run at least a mile, so after 1.16 I finally stopped (hell yeah). I then increased my incline and kept making it higher until I got to 8.5... yes, it goes higher... all the way to 15 or something! I don't know how people do it that high but... whatever. Oh I forgot to mention that as I walked into the gym I saw my good friend Tory working away and made sure to stop by and give her a high five. We got weird looks for sure, but it made the start of my workout more enjoyable. I plan on implementing the high five more often. Moving on though- I ended my 40 minutes on the treadmill having burned 271 calories, with a distance of 2.5 miles. I was actually very surprised at the amount of calories. With how bad my ass was burning, I thought for sure I would burn more calories than what I did. Don't you fret though, because I then moved on to the elliptical.

The elliptical shocked the hell out of me. I could not believe how much I was sweating on that thing and I burned just as many calories on that as I did on the treadmill and I was only on the elliptical for half the amount of time! I then got off the elliptical and dragged my droopy, exhausted body over to the mats to stretch. As soon as I started, I got a cramp in my leg. I thought cramps were a sign that you weren't stretching enough or didn't have enough potassium. My leg didn't even give me a chance! I was in the middle of trying to stretch it and I had a banana at home waiting for me. Oh well, it went away and I continued to stretch and will continue to tonight.

Other than that, not sure if I mentioned this before but I finally ran a straight mile on the street last Thursday. I have now accomplished that mile 3 different times- once on the street (in 11 minutes might I add) and twice on the treadmill. I am also starting a "biggest loser" contest at work that I am pretty stoked about it. More to come about that later though. Tomorrow I plan on busting my ass again and it will be a good feeling all over again.

Yucaipa Kills

I did the 3.5 mile run with with my friend on Sunday and we did it again today. My legs are killing me and that hill on Yucaipa is so evil. I decided yesterday that the best way to tackle that hill is to start with small bursts of running. We did 20 seconds of running, 30 seconds of walking and repeated that over about 4-5 times. For those of you unfamiliar to the Yucaipa area, that hill can be rough and it's at a constant steepness. We felt great yesterday and by the time we got back to her house, we were completely dripping sweat.

So today we decided to do it again but this time, her brother-in-law joined us. This guy is incredible. He is not just some body builder ( although his arms are bigger than my head) but he runs like a maniac. He has a series of half marathons coming up, back to back, so he definitely knows what he is doing. What I liked about running with someone who is so experienced, is that it automatically pushed me to try harder so he didn't think I was a wuss, haha. My friend and I tried the 20/30 second run/walk up the hill again but I was feeling it a lot more in my legs today. Overall, it was a great run and I hope that her brother in law will join us "beginners" again :P

Tomorrow is Tuesday which means body pump time. Body pump Tuesdays! My only hope is that my legs aren't too sore tomorrow, so I can do most of the lunges and squats. Hrm, those are my hopes nowadays. Things have changed in my life, for sure, but for the better of course :D

Saturday Hike

Nicholas and I ended up hiking yesterday morning in the Anaheim Hills. Although it was beautiful, we both agreed that it would be even more so in the spring. Since the hills were all filled with dead brush, we were sure that in the spring it would be nice, green and lush. The trail wrapped around each hill that just brought us to the next hill that wrapped around and when we would get to the top of each one, it overlooked the huge Anaheim houses. It was just gorgeous and the hike itself wasn't impossible but it definitely gave us small challenges. There were multiple inclines that I tried to run up as much as possible, so as to get the most of my workout. Then there was one part where it was pretty steep and I feel like something that steep, going down is worse than going up. At least when you climb a hill, you can kind of keep a steady and constant pace. When you are going down though, you have to watch your footing every step of the way so that you don't slide down and fall and it takes a lot longer. When we approached a particular hill, we almost thought it was a drop off, but it was just a very intense and steep hill. My quads were killing me by the time we got back to the car. It was a fantastic workout though, and I look forward to doing it again.

Tonight I am going running with my friend in Yucaipa again and we plan on tackling hills as much as possible. With the mud run coming up Sept 24, we only have a month to train for it. I plan on tackling my workouts 5-6 days a week from now until then. I hope I can gain enough muscle in my arms and legs to carry me through the race so that I don't die! :)