It’s a Long Slow Road from Scorched Earth and TEAM PAWS

As anybody who reads this blog is aware, this will not be the marathon year for me. With the downtime from the Easter stress fracture, I’m coming back from ground zero or as we economists like to say, from scorched earth. I’m just starting the third week of a training program under the guidance of a running coach and I have to say, although none of this is something I couldn’t have figured out on my own, having a coach has been good for me. When I start to do more than Caroline has prescribed, I say “no, there’s a reason she only wants you to do…. Fill in the blank” and I behave. I guess this says something about my personality. I always did my homework in school and still like following rules. With the start of the third week, my aspirations are starting to be bigger than my current capability – I want to run that marathon, dash that half marathon, etc. These things may come but not now.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. So, I can’t run the Chicago marathon but I paid for the bib. Even though I cannot run, I planned to attend the health and fitness expo on Friday, October 5th. Why not check out all the vendors, charities, etc.? Then it occurred to me, maybe they need volunteers and maybe TEAM PAWS my charity group needs help? Sure enough, I am now working the health and fitness expo on Friday morning and will be able to look around in the afternoon. Then on marathon day, I will help them dismantle the TEAM PAWS charity block party and be there to cheer runners at mile 14. I hope to be there early enough to help them set up too but 6:30 am from the western suburbs might be a push. I’m almost as excited to be volunteering as to be running. OK, well maybe not that much but it is exciting.

My TEAM PAWS donation page is still active at http://pawschicago.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1006413&supId=352351163 I would be very grateful for your donations. I’m a suburbanite and have adopted all my best friends from ADOPT or the Naperville Humane Society but Chicago is full of unwanted animals and PAWS does a great job. If you got your best friend from an adoption agency, won’t you please consider donating.

More about PAWS Chicago below:

“In 2007, PAWS Chicago opened the Midwest's only cageless, state-of-the-art, No Kill shelter. With proactive adoption and spay/neuter programs, more than 5,000 dedicated volunteers, and a nationally renowned shelter medicine program, PAWS Chicago is transforming animal welfare and saving lives.

In 2011, PAWS Chicago found homes for more than 4,300 homeless pets and performed more than 18,000 free and low-cost spay/neuter surgeries, the majority for families who could not otherwise afford the procedure. These two efforts are reducing the number of unwanted pets entering shelters and increases the number of lives saved.”

Thank you all!!!

Coming Back Slowly....

I am now making my third attempt at a comeback after a stress fracture laid me down in April.  Hoping that the third time is a charm.  Time to start the blog up again.  A few weeks ago, I started a comeback program that I found in a spring copy of Runners World.  It is clearly a not too much, not too soon program starting with 20 sec intervals of running followed by 40 sec intervals of walking ramping up over 4 weeks to 45 minutes of 30 sec run/30 sec walk intervals.  Then, however, it just leaves you cold.   Although the program was working, it just didn't seem like it was going to get me to where I need to be.   So, I started Googling "running coaches" in my hometown.  After a little research, I called Caroline Yashuda and boy am I glad I did.  Just meeting her is inspirational.  Caroline has run many marathons and ultra marathons, paces for other runners and is just an all around upbeat lady.  I have to say her fitness level is a bit intimidating but heck, shouldn't a running coach be fit?

267 hmmmm there were only 209 runners

Her plan for me is different than what I was doing with longer running intervals followed by even longer walking intervals for now.  She also has worked strength training and cross training into my plan.  I am just finishing up my first week working with Caroline (it is mostly via email although we did run together on Thursday morning) and I'm pleased.   Today, I ran my first 5K since last year's Thanksgiving Turkey Trot.  Ok, I only partially ran it, but I was out there.  Caroline worked the 5K into my program and I mostly stuck to the run walk intervals that she suggested.  I got a little carried away and ran a bit more than she had mapped out but I was pretty careful.  It was a miracle that I even got there!  Last night, Peter was baking bread in Chicago and got home late.  Although he was very quiet, I woke up a little when he came in, disrupting my sleep.  Then, this morning, it was so cool and comfy in bed that I could have easily convinced myself not to go.  But, the run was for DuPage PADS (public action to deliver shelter) and I had checked runners in last night and it looked like a bunch of good people.  I forced myself out of bed, ran the run and was home before 9:30 AM.

DuPage PADS Race Shirt

It took me 38 minutes to finish and I was 170 out of 209 runners.  Not exactly a PR but it was a lot of fun.  It was 55 degrees at race time with a crystal clear sky.  Perfect running weather.  By the end of the run it was actually hot -- 61 degrees.  If you're feeling cold, get out there and run.  It is like a free furnace.

I still want to run longer runs and eventually get to the Chicago marathon.  But first, I'm hoping with a bit more care I can become a daily runner. 

Running The Plan

I have to run. My husband has been taking a Bread and Pastry baking class at the local community college. The treats he brings home have been amazing. There's no way I can eat all of them and not up my activity level. This week he made and shared chocolate filled croissants, almond filled croissants, banquettes and cherry turnovers. And yes, I had them all. They were all fabulous So I have to run.

Today I stuck with the plan. 30 min of intervals- 20 sec running, 40 sec walking. To make it interesting, I increased my speed a little for each successive interval. I really wasn't into it when I arrived at the gym but it felt great as I got into it. After the running, I did a 20 min elliptical workout and weights. All good.

Tomorrow we are going to a wedding so post workout I had a pedicure. My feet feel great and look good. Thank you Ethel. Peter and I will be in dancing shoes tomorrow night. Does not mean we will dance but we will be in dancing shoes.

Moderation Ain't My Style

I'm in the middle of week two of my comeback. I was so excited to run yesterday I KNOW that this is suppose to take time. I KNOW that I should stick to the plan. I KNOW that I should keep the running intervals short and the overall time low. BUT no, I had to run a few minutes straight rather than the predetermined 20 sec intervals, run the intervals at an 8:10 pace instead of a 10 min or greater pace and run an hour instead of 30 min. Today, I am a bit sore (I followed the run with weight training) and feel a few twinges in my leg but I think I survived my indiscretion. However, I think I was lucky. Tomorrow I go back on plan. But man it felt good to go a little faster and a little farther. Patience is not my strong point.

Week One

The restart is going well. Today I finished week one of the program with 30 min of 15 sec run/ 45 sec walk intervals. Some of those run segments were more like 20 sec as I couldn't get the touch pad on the treadmill to respond quickly. I'm trying to keep the run segments at or around a 9:13 pace. I have a little tightness in my leg after sitting for awhile but other than that, it's going well. Followed up the treadmill with weights

Temperatures are at inferno levels here in the Midwest. Having grown up in NY weather like this is unknown to me. I've lived in Chicagoland for nearly 25 years and although we've seen 100 before never multiple days of it. I find this really scary as I think this is how it will be for the rest of my life. Sure we will have a few cool summers but overall it will be warmer and warmer.

At least someone is enjoying the summer ...

Hot, Hot, Hot

The come back is going really well (fingers crossed.)  It seems mighty slow, so little actual running but nothing hurts and I can see that the slow progression is the right thing to do.  The 15 seconds running intervals I'm doing at about a 9:40 pace, not too fast, not too slow (remember my age here.)  For those 15 minutes, I feel absolute joy!

The Midwest is unbearably hot at the moment.  Chicagoland is looking at three days in a row with 100+ temperatures.  This was taken at 2:00 PM in the shade...

Way too hot to run outside.  So I did my 25 minutes of 15 sec run/45 sec walk intervals on the treadmill at the gym.  It felt great and nothing hurts at the moment.  Part of my return is to be much more diligent about weight training.  I pretty much had forsaken weight training for running - probably part of the reason I got injured.  This time out, weight training at least 3 times a week.  This afternoon I did 25 minutes of weight training following my run.

I had a funny experience at the gym today.  I'm such a creature of habit. I like to use a particular treadmill at the gym because it handles intervals very well.  The path I take to the treadmill is the short route.  Today, there was a woman coming through from the other direction (there's only room for one) and it really threw me.  The irony of the situation did not escape me.  I'm at the gym to get exercise but I take the short cut to the treadmill!  I do park at the opposite end of the parking lot, even today in the oppressive heat.

Happy Independence Day!

Walking Counts Too

Day 2 of the Runners World come back program is a 30 to 60 min walk. Walking seems like such a let down after a little running but I am not going to push this. My nature is to go full steam ahead and ignore the signs that I am over doing it. Not this time. The 3 months off has been too difficult. So walk it was.

To give the walk a purpose, I headed out to the local Walgreen's to return a movie at the Redbox. It was very humid and close to 90 degrees. That 3.5 mile walk felt like a 5 mile run. I was totally drenched when I walked back in the house. I'm looking forward to a little more running tomorrow on the treadmill. I read somewhere ( probably Runners World) that people coming off stress fractures should run for about 6 weeks on a treadmill before heading outside. Makes sense to me and frankly until the weather cools off, I'm ok with going to the gym and using the treadmill. After running, I can get a few pool laps in

As an aside, if you've never used Redbox, what a great concept. $1 per movie if you return them overnight. I watched J Edgar with Leonardo Dicaprio. The bad makeup job in aging the characters was very distracting but a good movie nonetheless.